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The April 2008 edition of ‘Pragati’ carries a ‘condensed’ and ‘edited’ version of the two posts ‘An ignorant and Pompous Army Chief’ and ‘Batting for the General’ that dealt with the Army Chief’s uncalled for comments on the Chinese intrusions on Indian territory in an interview to a TV channel under the title ‘It Matters What Generals Say’.

The Armed Forces in India are held in a very high esteem by the public compared to the rest of the “corrupt, indisciplined and inefficient” civilian part of the establishment. A trust that has been earned by six decades of exemplary conduct and dedication to duty and country on the part of the Armed forces.

And it is this trust that was sought to be abused by the current Army General on behalf of his political masters, viz the UPA dispensation by helping it to carry on with its weak-kneed China policy by peddling his “different perceptions on the LAC” theory to explain the worryingly high number of Chinese intrusions on Indian territory in recent years on nationwide TV.

Fortunately Jaswant Singh, the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and an ex-Army officer himself took up the matter and pulled up the government and the Army Chief for his uncalled for and ill-considered statements which could easily become propoganda fodder for the Chinese side and weaken India’s case.

Also in a recent article Brahma Chellaney has blasted the Army Chief for his ignorant comments on the said issue of Chinese intrusions on both Indian and Bhutanese territories.

Take another shocker: The Army chief had the gall to say recently that India is as culpable as China in committing cross-border intrusions. His statement not only made light of official assertions about growing Chinese incursions — about 300 in the past two years, or more than three per week — but also flew in the face of a glaring fact: China’s continuing refusal to clarify the frontline, in order to keep India under military pressure. Beijing’s breach of promise to exchange maps has brought the bilateral process to define the line of control to a grinding halt. Instead of stressing China’s intransigence, General Deepak Kapoor witlessly justified Chinese cross-border forays by saying the “Chinese have a different perception” of the frontline. The Chinese have a different perception because it suits them.

Earlier, Gen. Kapoor betrayed his ignorance of India’s security commitment to Bhutan by saying that Chinese military intrusions into Bhutanese territory are “a matter between China and Bhutan”. When the Army chief does not seem to know (or care) that India is responsible for Bhutanese defence, which neighbour can bank on this country? Bhutan, in any event, is the only friend India is left with.

The defence ministry has contributed its own bit to lowering India’s esteem, earning in the process a grudging compliment from China’s official Xinhua news agency, which in a March 25 Mandarin commentary states: “India’s defensive and cautious attitude toward China appears to have permeated its defence ministry”. The ministry has completely watered down the China section in its latest annual report, as if India’s concerns have just vanished.[link]

Shortly after his release from a Pakistani jail after nearly three decades of solitary confinement Kashmir Singh has admitted that he was a spy who was captured on the line of duty. And what did the Indian government do for him all these years when he was kept chained in solitary confinement in a Pakistani jail and most certainly brutally tortured?

Did it try to get him released in a prisoner exchange which is what most foreign countries routinely do?

Did it take care of his family in his absence?

The answers are self evident and reflects very very poorly on the Indian state. If people do not have confidence that they and their family will be well compensated and supported by the government for their services to the nation in case something happens to them on the line of duty then obviously fewer and fewer people will come forward. It is a virtual no brainer. The expected sixth pay commission largesse not withstanding.

Kashmir Singh, who was freed from Pakistani jail after 35 years, on Friday admitted that he was an Indian spy and did his best to serve the country, but deplored that successive governments at the Centre did nothing for his family.

“After my arrest in 1974, the successive governments did nothing for my family. I did the duty assigned to me as a spy, but the government, after my arrest, did not bother to spend a single penny for my family,” a calm and composed looking Singh, who was accompanied by his wife Paramjeet Kaur, said.

“The Central government did not bother to take care of my family following my arrest. The government does only the paper work,” he said.

Asked whether he was sent to Pakistan by the military intelligence and the route he took to go there, Singh said, “Even Pakistan authorities failed to get this information from me. I was paid Rs 400 as salary. As per duty, I went to serve the country,” he said.

Asked what he would like to say for some other people who are working in similar kind of professions, Singh said, “I was a spy and did my duty. About others I will not comment, I am not President of the country to give a reply to such queries”.

Singh, who was lodged in seven different jails in Pakistan, said, “I will not tell the story of my ordeal in Pakistani prisons as it will damage the cases of about 100 other such prisoners languishing in jails there”.

“After my husband’s arrest, the Central government gave no compensation to the family and left me in a lurch,” she said.

He said in Pakistani prisons, he was known by the name ‘Ibrahim’. “I was kept in solitary confinement and remained chained for 17 long years”, he said.

After hemming and hawing and trying to wriggle out of a very difficult situation the BCCI finally found succour in the same time tested tactic that the Congress has used for several decades ever since the time of the senior Gandhi and has since been adopted as standard procedure in the country. Ride out the public opinion storm somehow and then once the hullabaloo dies down, make a silent and incremental U-turn to get back to the point where they started.

The BCCI which had earlier threatened to pull out of the tour at any stage if the baseless charges against Harbhajan Singh were not withdrawn now sensing that the public busy celebrating harvest festivals across the country is no longer paying as much attention to this controversy as a week ago has quietly changed its stance saying that the tour will go on even if the baseless charges against Harbhajan wasn’t dropped! virtually sealing this talented cricketer’s fate to a 3 match ban and the tag of a “racist” which will soon be on record against him and the Indian cricket team forever.

Read the rest…

It is sometimes very painful to watch the rest of the world run circles around the gullible Indians as they squirm and squeak and try to maintain a stiff upper lip as indignity upon indignity is being heaped upon them at every turn. Such as the case during the second test match in Australia. As Captain Steve Bucknor and his able British deputy led Australia to a much deserved 16^th successive test victory. The Indians who once upon a time led the attempts to isolate the Apartheid regime of South Africa now stand accused of “racism ” by a bunch of white men with a reputation of being the worst foul mouths in the sporting world.

In the midst of all this one wonders whether the Indian establishment will ever tire of turning the other cheek and learn to take the fight right into the opponent’s camp?

Perhaps one good place to learn from is from the “champion” side themselves. The way they close ranks is amazing. Not even one Aussie has broken ranks in even one single instance whether they knew it was right or wrong, whether it is the bhajji issue or Clarke’s catch of Ganguly where he clearly grounded it. Every Aussie whether player, TV commentator, ex-player, journalist or spectator is speaking from the same playbook. While in the case of Indians every one wants to play his or her own tune. This tendency to kneejerk moralism among Indians at large is another weakness that many a times works against their own interests.

In this case the Indians brought it upon themselves. The entire cricketing industry today runs because of the Indian market. The BCCI instead of using this market muscle power to bludgeon their opponents into submission has chosen instead to meekly appeal to the very instruments of power used by the White countries(read Australia and UK) to maintain their own position at the helm. And no prizes for guessing what the end result will be in either cases on the table now. Bhajji will be reprimanded perhaps even docked some match fees or handed suspension for a couple of matches while the umpires will be coolly let off to return another day to torment team India while the sheepish Indians will continue to maintain a long face and walk away with their tail between their legs.

By unfortunately neglecting the political aspect of the game the BCCI has unwittingly made sure that Indian cricket in the long run will go the way of Hockey where the White countries simply changed the rules to suit themselves and undid Indian dominance which they had repeatedly failed to do on the field of play.

In a way this is symptomatic of the way India approaches its foreign relations, trying to belong to institutions and abide by the rules of a world order shaped by other powers to suit their own agendas and hoping that its “good behaviour” will be recognised and rewarded rather than like China which threatens to undermine it unless it is satisfactorily accommodated in the global power structure. And no prizes for guessing who is getting the better bargain.

And on a lighter note the laughably pathetic Brits who are on the verge of irrelevance on the global stage on every indicator of sporting power including the no of Olympic medals won, or even the scale of their losses in cricket and football to every team, champion or middling, that they play against are trying to puff up their chests and pat themselves on the back at Australia’s “victory” against India.

And the fact that 10 of the current sequence of 16 wins have come against England and South Africa, past and present holders of the second-ranked position in the world ratings, tells you everything about the strength of their current “challengers”[link].

The reason why the Brits are gloating- they lost the recent Ashes 5-0. truly English cricket is now well and truly dead.This added to their glorious defeat to Croatia in the Euro cup qualifiers has rounded off a very successful 2007 for them.

The sobriquet that Tata’s pet one lakh Rupee car could soon be earning by the time it hits the roads in a year’s time.

Increasingly a lot of people both in India and abroad are concerned that this car could bring about the realisation of a much feared doomsday scenario.

A car very affordable to the masses in their opinion could mean that more and more people would abandon their bikes and scooters for this car leading to more gridlocks on already overburdened Indian roads,more pollution, greater demand for fossil fuels meaning further escalation of already record high oil prices, more demand for parking spaces and not to speak of the demand for raw materials to make those cars.

Mr Thomas Friedman in an recent column in NYTimes has joined this chorus and appealed to the Indians to figure out more innovative solutions to their transportation problems rather than churning out cheap versions of the west’s greatest mistakes. He gave an example of how innovation on the mobile phone in countries like India making it cheaper has finally benefitted even western consumers and hopes Indians will do something similar on the transportation problem.

All very well but one main piece missed by most is that India has for the past two decades had such a car- Maruti 800. And rising prosperity in the recent years means that the basic version of that car is now within reach of a lot more people. And what’s more even Ratan Tata has gone on record saying that when the Tata car finally comes out it would retail for near about the same price. It is quite difficult to go below that.

But while its already low price and very low maintainance costs was never enough for Maruti to make the two wheelers obsolete why would it be any different for the Tata car? The ground reality is that even at the lower price point of one lakh rupees the car costs nearly 10 months income for an average middle class Indian family while a bike or scooter on the other hand costs only about 3-4 months income. And added to that the fuel and maintainance costs which is very low or negligible for a bike or scooter on the other hand the fuel efficiency of a small car like Maruti 800 or the to be released Tata car though impressive is still only about less than one fourth of a two wheeler which means it costs four times more to commute using a four wheeler. and with soaring fuel prices it makes owning a four wheeler that much less attractive.

This reality is not going to change anytime soon. Whichever way one looks at it this car like any other car comes with a hefty monthly bill.And that could easily kill this car. so the key for the success of this product will be to bring down the monthly costs.So it is inevitable that the innovation will happen in this direction. That could mean that within a few iterations the market is going to figure out the best processes and materials to make the cars at the cheapest possible cost, improve the fuel efficiency, bring down the cost of the spare parts, servicing and maintainance costs. which means that this product line will be most open to experimenting with alternate fuels and power sources. Which is already happening, a lot of people have converted their Marutis and Tata Indicas to run on LPG and CNG.

And the very fear that more of the cheap cars will lead to escalating oil prices is based on the wrong assumption that the Indian consumers will be willing to pay premium prices for their fuel.They won’t and that is going to force most automobile manufacturers wanting to sell more and more cars to Indian consumers to speed up the research on cars that run on alternate fuels.

To return to Friedman’s example of the Mobile phones, the Indian consumers not only made the Phone companies to manufacture and sell them phones at the lowest possible cost but they also demanded that they sell them phones with longer battery backup, greater talktime, usage of a single charger across their entire product line, sturdy build, more intuitive user interface, crystal clear voice clarity even with very weak network signal, more memory, a colour screen, camera, bluetooth and a host of other great features at the lowest possible cost. Those companies that responded to this demand are now the dominant players in the market. Now it is the turn of the Automobile industry and hopefully they will rise to the challenge.Because the one who wins here could go on to become the Ford or GM of the 21st century.

Update: Tata-ISRO team up to build Fuel Cell powered Bus prototype

“During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.”

This  above statement made by Al Gore, then Vice-president of USA during a 1999 CNN interview on Wolf Blitzer’s show was twisted by a journalist (any surprises) to mean that he claimed to have “invented” the Internet.

This is what two of the pioneers of the Internet Vint Cerf and Bob kahn had to say on the controversy.

[A]s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore’s contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: “During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet.” We don’t think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he “invented” the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore’s initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective. As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept.[source]

And yet again at a time when few people were concerned about the issue of Global Warming. It was again Al Gore who took the lead in raising awareness on the issue. He may be right or he might be wrong.only time and more research will tell. But one great contribution of his is raising AWARENESS on a pressing issue- Environmental degradation and its consequences.

The Catapult congratulates Al Gore on his much deserved Nobel Prize Win.

Five things I liked about Chakde India!

1. It does not shy away from dealing with any relevant topic be it regionalism, the indiscipline, the appalling attitude of the bureaucrats who run India’s sport bodies  or the Internal politics that goes on within the team between the senior players.

2. The way irrational pacifism or pacifism for its own sake, the bane of Indian society since atleast the last two thousand years is discredited.

3. Team work is emphasized over and above Individual milestones and accomplishments.

4. The clear message- Winning is glorious, participation is for tourists.

5. The Women’s national hockey team can score 2 goals against the Men’s national hockey team.I still can’t figure out whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Otherwise i think that there have been much better sports movies than this one.

B.Raman’s new book “The Kaoboys of the R&AW” is his personal memoir of the 27 years he spent as an intelligence agent in the services of the IB and the R&AW between 1967 and 1994.

Billed as the first such memoir from an authoritative source from the usually super secretive organisation. The Book doesn’t disappoint.

It gives an insight into the internal workings of the R&AW, and the intelligence profession in general, the professional rivalries and intrigues within, the challenges and hazards faced by someone in this profession and the successes and failures of the organisation in its nearly 40 years of existence since its founding in 1968 under the leadership of Mr Rameshwar Nath Kao.

The book also deals in length on some of the most tumultous events that happened in the country’s recent past starting from the beginnings and growth of the insurgency in the North-East in the 50s and 60s, to the 1971 war, the Emergency, the subsequent fall and rise again of Indira Gandhi, the Khalistani movement, operation bluestar, the assassination of Indira Gandhi,  the Bofors controversy, the Srilankan IPKF fiasco, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the beginnings of the Pakistani sponsored jihadi terrorism in the kashmir valley and other parts of the country.

The author bills the R&AW operations in support of the 1971 war effort as one of the earliest successes of the organisation. But he laments the way the newly independent country of Bangladesh finally ended up- a cesspool of religious fundamentalism and also continuing to be a base for anti-India terrorist organisations operating in the North-East.

On the origins of Khalistani terrorism, the author traces it to the frustration and disappointment of many Sikh migrants towards the “hands-off” policy followed by Nehru and the Indian embassies abroad who refused to intervene with the host governments on their behalf to allay the hardships they were facing in the foreign lands inspite of repeated pleas from them. This resulted in some of them forming organisations such as the “Sikh Home Rule Movement” and the “United Sikh Appeal”. thereafter he says over time one thing led to another and with the continuing apathy of the Indian govt towards the concerns of the Indian citizens and People of Indian origin abroad, and following active aiding and abettment from foreign agencies such as the ISI and the CIA in the 70s and 80s the Khalistani movement was born.

The author has many more such examples of India’s “enlightened” foreign policy. He mentions how in the 1950s the Chinese were busy training the Nagas and other North-East militants while at the same time Nehru and the Indian diplomats were championing Communist China’s cause in the International fora. And also how the Indian embassy in Rangoon turned a blind eye to the Chinese aerial survey of the Indo-Burmese border and which helped the PLA plan an attack on the Indian position in the NEFA from the Burmese side in the 1962 war. He also has strong criticism of the so called “Joint Anti-terror inititative” with Pakistan announced in late last year in Havana giving examples of the experiences of Pakistani perfidy in the past on many similar such initiatives.

But one of the biggest barbs of them all is reserved for the US State Dept. He gives many examples of its strident anti-India and pro-Pakistani tilt and how it has consistently over the decades white washed and ignored Pakistan’s sins even in the face of overwhelming evidence of its neck deep involvement in terrorist activities.

The book has two complete chapters dedicated to the analysis of the circumstances that led to the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. The author blames it on the Indiscipline, the rampant corruption and politicisation that had seeped into the security detail of the Prime Minister. He says that some of those in the security detail where even involved in smuggling of white goods from foreign countries they had visited. He also mentions one such incident where Indira Gandhi herself had taken note of this and tried to put an end to it but to no avail.

An interesting aspect of this book is its treatment of the craft of intelligence as it exists in the real world. unfortunately here there doesn’t seem to be any cool gadgets, super cars, breathtaking locales or blonde bombshells. It is a seemingly tough profession which involves building one’s sources carefully over a period of time, collecting information and then joining those dots and making sense of them in good time before its too late. In short a thankless profession where one’s successes are unknown but failures become huge scandals. And added to that one has to deal with indiscreet wives and politicians who might unwittingly spill the beans.

The author is quite straightforward in his analysis of the positive and negative aspects of the R&AW close to its 40th Birthday. He calls the organisation as weak in its capacity to collect, analyse and assess intelligence, weak in HUMINT but strong in TECHINT, strong in investigation and crisis management but weak in their prevention, obsessed with secrecy, having an antiquated recruitment policy, and being burderned with the ills of careerism as opposed to professionalism in its ranks.

On the whole the book is a great read which sheds some light into the secretive world of Indian intelligence. On the other hand one of the weak points of the book if any is that it assumes that the reader is well versed with the post-independence history of India. therefore unless one is familiar with atleast the timeline of India’s post-independence history one is bound to feel lost especially when the book sometimes jumps back and forth between different events which were happening at the same time or were somehow impacting each other.

Another point is that even though it is supposedly a memoir. The Book doesn’t give much insight into the personal life of the author himself. One never gets to see the real person behind the dark glasses and the trenchcoat.The author himself admits as much in the beginning of the book itself when he says that he was throughout his career known as someone who didn’t show much emotion but was merely concerned with the work at hand.

One issue that has dominated the headlines since the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003 has been the Shia-Sunni divide. Just what is this divide really? and what are its origins, causes and implications for today’s world?

The following article stands out because of its thorough and incisive analysis of the subject. Another intriguing part about this article is that it traces this divide to the ancient family rivalries in Arabia dating back to pre-islamic times rather than just ideological differences.

Those who are intimately familiar with Islamic thinking and historical Arab politics argue that the Shia-Sunni split should be understood as a sociopolitical development that is associated with the early formation of the city state in Arabia before and immediately after the arise of Islam.

In fact, those who objectively trace the evolution of the Shia-Sunni split point out two fascinating aspects that often stand out. These do not revolve around how a clannish struggle for power and influence evolved gradually and persistently into political aspirations expressed in religious beliefs.

Rather, these two aspects are linked to the fact that unchallenged myths often emerge as powerful force and, accordingly, are often treated as reality. The first aspect is the blind acceptance of certain myths by intellectuals, including reporters, both in the West and in Muslim dominated countries, and how they subsequently have failed to formulate a reasonable knowledge-driven outlook to comprehend this historical development. The second aspect is the never-ending utility, for politicians, of employing this split as a means to optimally serve their political aspirations and consolidation of power. In this regard, an attempt is made in this paper to briefly deconstruct the most widely held myths.

The article begins by framing the evolution of the Shia – Sunni split into five general stages. These stages briefly capture the most significant factors including tribal, political, and religious which have shaped the nature of the division in Islam and ultimately changed the course of action in Islamic polity. The outline offers a better understanding of the progression of the split across centuries. More importantly, the presentation, at each stage and collectively, helps to deconstruct the preceding myths without underestimating the historical value attached to the emergence of the division or compromising the integrity of its key actors.

Read the complete article

Iranian-American scholar Reza Aslan takes issue with the many critics who demand that Islam “modernise” and argues that the Islamic reformation is already well under way even though they have failed to recognise it as such.

The Islamic Reformation in the 20th century

The roots of the modern reformation of Islam – the growing individualisation of Islam – lie in the experience of colonialism and the geopolitical fragmentation of large parts of the Arab and Muslim world into nation-states, often fabricated from without. There was an attempt to recreate the umma (the universal community of believers) through ideologies like pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism. But those identities failed. As new generations arise very comfortable with their nationalist identities, the new sense of individualism and nationalism is no longer seen to be anathema to Islam and is quite comfortably absorbed into “the Muslim mindset”.

However he also warns about the dangers of certain modern islamic ideological groups who are interested in democracy only as a means through which they can gain political control(or subvert the political process to their advantage).

Certain modern Islamic ideologies, even if articulated in peaceful terms, do pose a threat to democracy. The problem with activist and political Islamist groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir is that they’re only interested in democracy as the means through which their kind of politics and ideas become ascendant. This is the new kind of Islamist democratic position, evident in Palestine, Egypt and Lebanon: the idea that democracy is the means through which institutions and groups like them can gain control.

That’s far different from what the notion of democracy is supposed to mean; it’s illiberal, not liberal democracy.

It’s hard to talk about the motivation behind these groups, but the notion of somehow melding democracy with a “caliphate” is ridiculous. There are very few Muslims in the world who know what a caliphate is, let alone desire its return. That idea is so antiquated that it’s really hard to have political discussion about modernity that begin with the recreation of the caliphate.