Commonwealth Games Unveil India’s Culture of Corruption

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                                                                                                            11 August, 2010

 

Commonwealth Games Unveil India's Culture of Corruption  

; Greek Economic Crisis follows $ 12 Billion 2004 Athens Olympics

 

The extent and depth of corruption in the organization of 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) by the Committee led by the Congress politician Suresh Kalmadi , the Ministries of Sports and Urban Development ,the Congress ruled Delhi administration , the Municipal Committee and others being unveiled by Indian media led by Times-now and the brazenfaced stone walling by India's corrupt ruling elite is a symptom of the decline of the Indian state . More than 5,000 athletes from 71 countries and thousands of visitors are expected for the games, the 19th such event for countries formerly colonized by Great Britain and scheduled to be held in October. But the preparations are behind schedule , with terror security threats looming in the background.

 

The can of worms of the corruption in CWG was opened by former Minister of Sports, Mani Shankar Aiyar , who said that he would not be unhappy if CWG failed as it would stop bids for organizing Asiads and Olympic games (and more corruption ) which India can ill afford . As the Minister , Mani had opposed the bids for Asiad and other games . It would be a waste of money , he said .This money could be better utilized by creating sports facilities in villages and districts to cast a wider  net for talent hunt and to nurture and train it ( as did the Communist states before the Fall of the Berlin Wall.)Mani's sports portfolio was taken away .Earlier his portfolio of oil and gas was taken away since Washington did not like his efforts to create energy security by tying up with Iran and Maynamar.US ambassador in Delhi publicly demanded his removal. Germany and others in Europe have tied up energy supply from Russia and even possibly Iran despite regular admonitions from ally Washington .But Manmohan Singh administration remains beholden to US and has caused immense harm to India's strategic and vital interest and continues to do so.

 

Total Expenditure to be $ 20 billion?

 

When work on the CWG began in 2006 the mega budget was Rs 22,000 crores (4.7 crores = US$ one million.) Now it is Rs 30,000 crores and balooning ! The Delhi government increased taxes and rolled back crucial subsidies. The CWG Village budget of Rs 465 crores in 2004 is now Rs 1400 crores. Traffic and communication infrastructure budget doubled from Rs 40 to Rs 80 crores. The budget for 11 stadia ,Rs 1200 crores in 2004, has risen to Rs 5000 crores. The construction is shoddy and way behind deadline. Work on flyovers altered mid-way several times and new unplanned additions made the budget jump to Rs 1,650 crore.  Another unplanned expenditure is Streetscaping , Rs 1000 crores.

It is easy to inflate costs of construction projects and siphon away money. The various agencies had enough time but delay and then urgency provides a cover for corruption.  Security will cost Rs 370 crores, thanks to terror scare .Events planning has increased from Rs 920 crores in 2004, to Rs 2307 crores  now. Indian Express quoted a figure of around forty five thousand crores around 10 billion US dollars. Everyone is making hay (money ) under the sunshine of political cover , with major money going to the political bosses .The general public perception, rightly ,is that barring a few exceptions all politicians have their fingers in the public till. According to media reports a lion's share of this money had moved out to the bank accounts of the officials of Organizing Committee and others and not for the games.

Sharad Yadv, leader of the opposition Janata Dal (United) party claimed in the Parliament that one lakh crores Rs ($20 billion) would be spent on the Games .In a typical Indian rope trick style , no one knows how much money will be spent and where the buck stops . Media reported from time to time that huge sums were demanded by the Committee and others and accepted . The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights and the Housing & Land Rights Network disclosed that the Delhi government even diverted over Rs 740 crore from funds meant for SCs and STs (Dalits ) to the games .

CBI sleuths are investigating allegations of bribery, over-billing, illegal commissions, improper contracts, substandard construction work - and perhaps millions of dollars siphoned off to secret bank accounts.  Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which investigates government corruption, has found irregularities after inspecting 186 Games-related projects , ie construction of five stadiums, upgrades of six old ones, and building of a Games village and about 20 training venues.

A CVC report states that "almost all" quotations for the Games have been inflated but still there was, "poor site management, delays and quality compromises and frauds like fake certificates ,tampering with sealed bid documents." The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Comptroller and Auditor General are scrutinizing 16 Games-related projects for corruption, including contracts to buy overpriced goods. Sports equipment, stadium chairs, air-conditioners, even soap dispensers and umbrellas, were marked up over market prices by an eye-popping 800% to 1,000%.

 

The CWG paid over Rs 3 crore without a written contract to a little known firm in the UK—AM Films of Ashish Patel —for cabs and audio-visual services during the Queen's Baton Relay function in London. In defence, Kalmadi said the Indian High Commission recommended the firm. He produced an e-mail from the high commission, which the Ministry of External Affairs said was doctored. As is usual Kalmadi had threatened to sue for defamation but has now piped down. India's Enforcement Directorate is investigating payments of over Rs 50 crore to two firms—Switzerland-based Event Knowledge Services and an Australian firm, Sports Marketing and Management.

 

India has laws against all crimes and evils .In fact too many laws , which cannot or are not implemented or in fact become a means for bribe taking or extortion of money and other corrupt practices by regulatory authorities. All across the Indian polity and the country there are clear signs of the state reverting back to the corrupt and feudal ways of the last days of Mughal empire ,ie when every job is for sale ,emergence of medieval practices of Khapps (Caste councils) ordering killings of couples for marrying against the obscurantist injunctions , continued burning of brides for dowry, or the widespread apartheid like caste system .Outside urban centres the Dalits continue to be maltreated and victims of criminal acts in spite of laws galore.

 

Were Athens 2004 Olympic Games , the beginning of the Greek Economic Crisis

Even at the time of the 2004 Athens Olympic, the Greek media was full of reports of massive corruption ie, inflation and rigging up of the costs and wrong doings. There appears to be similar pattern in 2010 CWG .

Writing in Aljazeeranet of 10 May 2010 Mark Cochran said that in the biggest multilateral economic bailout ever attempted over the next three years, Greece will receive $146 billion from Euro-zone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lift the bankrupt country out of its debt crisis. But Greece's fundamental problems remain unresolved: corruption and massive tax avoidance which fuels the black economy. Popular anger is growing because of the tax rises, wage reductions and savage public spending cuts required as part of the Eurozone/IMF deal.

Blaming the Olympics

Many Athenians believe their economic downfall began with the 12 billion euros spent hosting the 2004 Olympic games. The world-class sporting facilities now lie largely abandoned.

Costas Bakouris , now the corruption watch dog who ran the Athens Olympics Committee said,.

"I have seen many assessments of what it takes to make, let's say, a 15,000 seat stadium and I have seen how much it cost Barcelona and Atlanta and how much it was in Sydney and the estimate we used to have in Greece for some of those, it was anywhere between 50 per cent more to four times more," he says.

"So therefore I knew that there was probably a lot of corruption and other things and therefore it cost a hell of a lot more."

There is a saying that Greece is a poor country full of rich people. As the good times rolled through the 1990s and soft loans and grants poured in from the European Union, fashion was just one industry that boomed.

What makes news is how many Porsches, Bentleys, Mercedes and Ferrari were sold in Greece. It is the easy money from EU 1980s which created a culture of wheeling and dealing rather than hard work guaranteed wealth. He says that a generation or more of Greeks have been lost to that mentality. ( In India , where 70% of population subsists on less than a dollar per day, with India's neo-liberal policies favouring the rich and the crooks , you have private jets , helipads ,yachts and huge mansions costing US$ Two billion).

Tax evasion is now a national sport and fuelling the black economy. "The rich people don't pay taxes. There's an old saying in Greece – the more money you steal the better off you are. If you steal a few euros, a few hundred euros you go to jail ... you steal thousands of euros, we'll talk about it ... you steal a few million euros you become a hero," said  Kyriakousis , a taxi driver in Athens.

Such people do not understand that consistent hard work, competitiveness, efficiency, and  innovation which pays not wheeling and dealing

'War against governments'

Greece's "nonsense bureaucracy" means that in certain instances, 25 people have to vet one piece of paper to get something agreed to and they have to be bribed . Small business permits, even basic services, such as getting a drivers license or treatment in a public hospital often require an illegal payment called fakelaki

The government has now announced a range of austerity measures - wages and pensions will be cut, taxes increased and government spending slashed. Public servants face 10 per cent pay cuts and an end to early retirement in their forties .Tens of thousands of Greeks have taken to the street to protest against the government's measures.

India's culture of total corruption

 

The Congress led government has stone walled the removal of Kalmadi , though some chinks have appeared .The Congress party General Secretary Digvijay Singh suggested that if there are prima facie charges established by CBI , Kalmadi should resign . But Sports Minister MS Gill defended Kalmadi in the Parliament and stonewalled by suggesting that information could be obtained by using Right to Information (RIT) law leading to a walk out by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). "Is the RTI more important than Parliament?" asked BJP Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

 

Gill did not cover himself with glory when after retiring from the prestigious constitutional post of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India , he went around and got himself nominated as a Member of Rajya Sabha ( Upper House) . This sent a wrong signal which the politicians exploit .Like Jimmy Lyngdoh ,another CEC, he should have kept away from any position of profit .MS Gill was probably brought in to tackle a  strong willed Gill , KPS , who as the Police Chief had eradicated terrorism in Punjab.KPS Gill was entrenched as the Hockey Federation Chief .This battle between Gills has only uncovered the mess in the hockey administration in India , once a top dog in this game .

 

Incidentally, in recent elections to Rajya Sabha , state legislators , who elect them, had demanded Rs 50 lakhs ( one million is 10 lakhs) to one crore for the vote .Rich industrialists reportedly spend up to Rs 50 crores to get into the Rajya Sabha . As MPs and ministers , they can easily manipulate the policy and decisions to favour their companies .Indians have little concept of conflict of interest . A striking example is the Reddy brothers of Karnataka who own and mine iron ore and are ministers in the state government .Quite obviously they use their official positions to browbeat any opposition to their schemes or illegal mining and exports as alleged by the Congress members and the media . Similar illegal mining is being done all over India.

 

Apart from CWG scams , there are other scams like handouts of G-2 telecoms bandwidth, Jharkhand's ex- chief Minister Koda's corruption scam running into billions of US dollars, the old Bihar fodder scam and Telgi stamps scam. These are just some tips of the icebergs in India's vast polluted ocean of corruption. With inordinate delays in dispensation of justice amounting to a denial of justice , along with the power of the corrupt ruling classes , their henchmen officers and a greedy rampant corporate and business community, there  seems little hope or relief for the aam aadmi (common man).

There is something rotten in the (Judicial) State of Denmark .

At a seminar in Chandigarh two years ago on the 'Responsibility of Judicial System towards the Society', Supreme Court judge G S Singhvi said that the judicial system had become a business in the eyes of the people. He said that due to the harassment suffered by the common man in his struggle for justice, 95 per cent of the people do not go to courts at all, suffering silently. "Those 5 per cent who do go, wait in queue for many years, empty their pockets to hire a lawyer. It's a nightmare for the common man --," adding that this was the reason people had started taking law in their hands. ( The judicial system is therefore openly and brazenly misused by the rich , the politically powerful and the criminals)

Recently in the case of the former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, who was promoted to the Supreme Court had his promotion challenged following confirmation by the Tamil Nadu government of land grabbing allegations against him. Still he has now joined as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court.

The collegium, headed by Justice KG Balakrishnan had promoted Justice Dinakaran but leading advocates including F.S. Nariman, Shanti Bhushan, Ashok Desai and Ram Jethmalani had suggested the reconsideration of the decision . Justice Balakrishnan had defended his decision on a TV channel . The Advocates Association of Bangalore Thursday threatened to boycott the court of state Chief Justice Dinakaran in view of the allegations against him. There are many cases of corruption against high court Judges.

Justice Balakrishnan has now taken over as the Chairman of the Human Rights Commission .Quite often retired judges with tainted reputations are routinely used by sly politicians for commissions and enquiries to get the desired opinions.

Central Bureau of Investigation

 

It is pathetic to see on Parliament TV channels , well fed and opulent opposition members shouting hoarse about the poverty and misery of the people but when in power they are equally venal .When criticized about the pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat under Chief Minister Narendra Modi , his BJP party leaders point to the killings of Sikhs in 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh body guards .Some justification . It is sickening.

 

Day in and day out opposition members in the Parliament complain about the misuse of CBI by the government of the day .But all attempts to make CBI an autonomous constitutional body have been thwarted by the political parties themselves. Even measures suggested by the former Chief Justice of India , JS Verma to grant autonomy were throttled .Since forty years ,attempts to create and appoint an Ombudsman to look into corruption charges against politicians have been stonewalled by the politicians .The political class is not interested in free and fair investigations and trials .Period .

 

The cancer of abuse of political power

 

The political classes across the political spectrum have taken control of all levers of power in the country. You cannot recruit, transfer or promote civil servants even at the lowest level without in most cases the political masters having a cut in which their henchmen bureaucrats join hands. I was told by police officers that a bribe of Rs 3 to 5 lakhs must be paid to join as a police constable .A few years ago a chief of a state recruiting commission was charging Rs two and half crores for the post of a deputy superintendent of police and equivalent jobs in other departments .It was reported that the home minster of Mumbai auctions the post of the city police chief to the highest bidder .

 

Kalmadi like most politicians heading majority of sports bodies is not a sportsman, like elsewhere in the world except dictatorships . Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, is a former Olympian and Sebastian Coe, who won the 2012 Games for London, is an all-time great of the world of athletics. Even Jacques Rogge, current president of the International Olympic Committee, is a former Olympian. Unfortunately, in India ,politicians , most with little ability in sports or expertise and their civil servant henchmen head almost all sporting organizations and remain entrenched for decades using their political clout . In cricket where the revenues run into tens of billions of US dollars huge amounts of money which are siphoned off .The control of sporting boards is used for patronage and political gains .It leads to waste and suppression of talent , when favourites are selected .There are scandals galore but suppressed .Recently  following complaints of sexual harassment , sporting officials in women's hockey and wrestling had to resign. Like in other sectors of Indian polity little punishment is likely to be meted out finally.

 

The politicians turn up for photo ops and have little to show in terms of advancing the games and sports .Many of us in diplomatic service remember how some politicians in charge of sports travelled  to East Europe whose athletes did well in Olympics .They would then request that a coach be nominated so that India could beg an Olympic medal or two . The pernicious system of misused and abused reservation system makes our politicians to think on these lines. The level of performance by Indian athletes in international arenas , except cricket , which has become almost a religion with the masses ,is abysmally low bordering on the pathetic .But more officials travel to international meets than Indian athletes , the latter being generally from poor strata of society are made to share the accommodation and food with the officials .I remember in 1972 Munich Olympics an AP journalist telling me that Indian wrestlers did not get their due since the Indian officials were away and their cause went by default .Fair amount of hanky panky goes on everywhere.

 

Scams and the Indian Economy.

 

Indian economic decision makers led by PM Manmohan Singh and Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia , both imbued with the theories and practices of Washington Consensus outfits like the IMF and the World Bank , created to safeguard US interests ,are more or less following US policies , except perhaps with some modifications like not letting normal banks in India to function as investment banks and invent and create hundreds of trillions of crazy financial instruments , benefitting only the banksters . US economic policies brought down the prestigious institutions like Lehman Brothers and Meryl Lynch among others in 2008 and will certainly lead to US economic denouement sooner than later.

 

Americans believe that they can loot money from wars and by other means like globalization. They can create money on computer screens as they have done in last few decades . Indians believe that when God gives them opportunity for amassing wealth by fair or foul means , they should embrace it . One can get away , since rule of law can be outflanked, since legal institutions can be exploited to delay and obstruct any punishment after financial wrongdoings and venality . Apart from the ongoing CWG scam, let us look at some other recent scams.

 

In early 1990s there was Harshad Mehta , an Indian stockbroker. Known as the 'Big Bull' , he triggered a rise in the Bombay Stock Exchange in the year 1992 by trading in shares at a premium across many segments. Taking advantages of the loopholes in the banking system, Harshad and his associates triggered a securities scam diverting funds to the tune of Rs 4000 crore (Rs 40 billion) from the banks to stockbrokers between April 1991 to May 1992. He died of a massive heart attack in 2001, while the legal issues were still being litigated. He was very popular and a hero for  the public .Everyone wanted to become rich overnight like him .

 

Then there was Abdul Karim Telgi , a convicted-counterfeiter. He earned money to the tune of several billion dollars by printing counterfeit stamp paper. His 300 agents sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, FIs, insurance companies, and share-broking firms. His monthly profits were estimated in the neighbourhood of Rs 202 crore (slightly more than US $40 million). The size of the scam was estimated to be more than 43,000 Crore Rupees.

 

Such scams can not be operated without the support of the politicians as kingpins. Under the influence of the truth serum, Telgi is said to have blurted out the names of some prominent Indian politicians which he was coerced to recant.

 

Then there is the perennial Bihar Fodder Scam , with an alleged embezzlement of about Rs 950 crores  (US$ 206.15 million) from the government treasury .This theft involved many Bihar state government officers , business people and even chief and other ministers belonging to various political parties led by Lalu Yadav , Dr. Jagannath Mishra and others  .It involved fabrication of "vast herds of fictitious livestock" for which fodder, medicines and other equipment was supposedly procured. Although the scandal broke in 1996, the theft was spread over two decades. It revealed, and is an example of the mafia rule having penetrated several state-run economic sectors in the country.

 

It is said that the government of India is really not interested in extraditing the notorious Mumbai gangster Dawood Ibrahim, resident in Karachi, Pakistan and now a collaborator with Pakistan aiding ISI in various terrorist activities in India in general and Mumbai in particular. His interrogation, if extradited would indicate his linkages with many prominent politicians in Delhi and Mumbai .

 

The biggest recent corporate scam in India involves one of the most respected (!) businessmen. Infotech Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju resigned as its chairman after admitting having cooked up the account books. He showed "fictitious assets with real ones" through Maytas acquisition which failed, and he decided to confess to the crime. It involves a fraud of about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion). The government stepped in and with help of another private sector company set the affairs right ie sweeping the misdeeds under the carpet .But suspicions remain ! Who knows what is hidden in various accounts of other private companies all over India.

 

Quoting the observations made by the post and telecommunications audit office in a memo to the department of telecom, senior opposition CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said the issue of 2G spectrum licence to private telcos "lacked" fairness and transparency. He claimed that the exchequer has lost a staggering Rs 1.9 lakh crore from the 2G spectrum sale. The government dare not dismiss the tainted minister A.Raja of the ruling coalition's DMK party , whose leader flew to Delhi and forbade thought of any action against Raja. Period

What about the Madhu Koda scam , a tribal labourer pitch forked as the Chief Minister of the mineral rich state of Jharkand .The ingenuity of Koda and his associates continue to surprise investigators probing what is the Great Jharkhand Robbery. Charged with laundering a whopping Rs 4,000 crore through hawala transactions and secret bullion trade, Koda stands accused of having a business empire, from Africa to Dubai to Mumbai, ranging from mines in Liberia to bullion companies in Mumbai and a hotel in Thailand.
Then there is the case of Syed Mohammed Hassan Ali Khan , a 56-year-old stud farm owner based in Poone ,India ,who is reportedly worth US$ 8-9 billion or more according to police-authorities. Disclosing the list of defaulters of income tax in the Rajya Sabha on 4th August 2009, the Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply that Hassan Ali Khan tops the list of tax defaulters with an outstanding arrear of more than Rs 50,000 crore. Another Indian miracle .It could really open a can of big and stinking worms.
But do not hold your breath. It will involve the high and mighty in politics across the political spectrum , industry, bureaucracy and others. So nothing is likely to ever happen.

Will the suffering masses across India ever revolt ? There is a major Maoist movement in the backward but tribal dominated states across India , where  tribal lands are being taken by an axis of evil consisting of politicians ,corporate houses ,bureaucrats and other middlemen .This well organized  robbing of India's poorest is called development by Bhagidari – yes, shared looting .

 

Will an India wide large scale revolt ever take place and succeed ! Going by the past record , unlikely .Till then India will remain a collection of people and not a nation , whose identity is based primarily on caste and clan , religion, language , region and such feudal ideas .The nation is a European concept and construct , evolved over centuries after  bloody warfare between Popes, holy emperors .kings, barons and revolutionaries during which kings were guillotined , Czars killed, Caliphs and Shahs and rulers like Chiang kai Siek  made to flee . Only then begins the equality before law and the rule of law, abundantly missing in the sub-continent .Equality before law has to be won by force .

Conclusion
As in the story of the Pied Piper , New Delhi India is obediently following Washington's policies, which like the engine in the film 'Run away train' is leading the globalised world towards economic upheaval and worse. US treasury has created over US$ 2000 billion on computer screens without any real intrinsic backing .With the industry in USA , except the military Industry in decline , huge sums are sloshing around the stock markets around the world including Mumbai .After all the Indian Sensex had rock bottomed to around 8000 in the wake of the October , 2008 ( first shoe ) collapse of Lehman Brothers and Meryl Lynch. This hot money created in 2009 has again taken Sensex to over 18,000 now .The stock markets are behaving like a Casino out of control.

What will happen when the second shoe falls. The so called Indian economic growth of over 8% with 12-15% inflation is hitting everyone in India very severely , except the rich and upper middle classes, further widening the inequality in wealth to obscene levels. Except the ruling coalition , all opposition political parties had organized an all India strike against price rise last month with heavy participation by the suffering masses of India. Does the Indian government has an acceptable road map for equitable economic growth .The current economic decision makers are blindly following Keynes. Said Hyman Minsky.

 

"Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff,"

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author http://tarafits.blogspot.com/

 
 

 

Mohamed Rafi of Africa

Mohamed Rafi of Africa

 

Thirty years ago , when posted at Dakar , capital of Senegal in West Africa, I was going up in the lift to my office when a young lady joined me . After some hesitation she asked if I worked at the Indian Embassy. On my saying yes, she enquired if Mohamed Rafi was dead. I said I had heard so . Her face lost color and she started sobbing .When I enquired if I could do anything, through tears she replied that she had come only to confirm if the tragic news was true. There were many messages of condolences.

 

There was even a Mohammed Rafi Club in Dakar , which held annual singers competition to crown the Mohammed Rafi of Africa. So popular he was among Senegalese ,but I marveled how a person so chosen was declared the best in the whole of Africa!

 

Rafi was one of the triad of singers my generation grew up listening and humming to his songs. The two others were Mukesh and Talat Mahmood. While Mukesh got clubbed with Raj Kapoor and for long ,many in the Soviet Union , where Raj Kapoor's films were very popular ,thought that Raj Kapoor sang his film songs. In the autumn of 1998 when travelling along the old silk route from Andijan, in Ferghana valley and birth place of Babur  to Tashkent , Samarkand, I stopped for a cup of tea before reaching Bukhara. The owner of the Chaihane , played a Mukesh song sung by an Ozbek , who he announced proudly was the Mukesh of Ozbekistan .Of course he would not accept any money for the tea.

 

Talat with a crooner's lilt in his soft voice was perhaps the finest singer of Ghazals , before they became a rage in India. Of course later there were other singers like Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar , the last then surpassing almost all of them in popularity.

Born in 1924 near Amritsar , Rafi died on July 31,1980 .Trained in classical music, apart from Bhajans and Qawalis , he sang in a dozen Indian languages other than Hindi .

Before Indians grew rich ,could travel abroad and large number of engineers, scientists , doctors and managers migrated to north America ,UK and Western Europe ,Indian films were popular every where except for north America and Western Europe .

 

But Senegal , a former French colony. was perhaps the most amazing of all the countries in its love for Hindi films . The Senegalese have no film industry of their own , although they produced a filmmaker of world repute, Ousmene Sembene, who like Satyajit Ray, wrote his own stories, produced  and directed them apart from being the art , decor and music director. He headed the Jury at India's 1979 Film Festival.

 

The Senegalese are not too fond of French films except for a small French elite and some Franco-phone Senegalese . The Arabs or rather the French speaking Christian Lebanese, mostly traders migrated to Senegal , Ivory coast and elsewhere to escape the conflicts in Lebanon and for better life , occupied the same position as Sindhi and Punjabi community does in East Africa .There were two theatres  exhibiting French films and another  few  screening Lebanese or Egyptian films. But the majority of cinemas screened Indian films. Every week there had to be two fresh releases. The state monopoly which imported, distributed and exhibited films in its theatres, made 80% of its profits from Indian films.

 

The Senegalese had almost adopted the Indian film industry as its own. The pecking order in popularity was like in Bombay. At the height of Amitabh Bachchan's popularity , when a film showing him as the brother of the heroine was screened it was an instant flop. They will have him only as a hero. Smitten girls in Senegal and neighbouring Gambia would spend little fortunes trying to contact and speak to him on the telephone, then a luxury. Discussion about Indian films was common with Senegalese even at odd places ,e g , while waiting for ferry to go to the island of Goree , from where Africans were exported to Americas by white slavers .Certainly , various Kumars , beginning with Dilip Kumar ,Rajendra Kumar and others like Dharmendra were very popular .'Mother India' was a popular hit ,so was   'Yadon ki Barat' ,which I had not seen and viewed only decades later on TV.

 

It was quite an experience for me and my children during their vacations in Dakar to watch  Senegalese watching Hindi films in awe and wonder, clapping when an actor made his entry in the film the first time, even Mukri or Sundar. They lapped the Indian masala films and others with their legends and myths , like if you killed a snake , its alive mate will take revenge ,the family fights between the couple and their in laws being the stuff of their daily lives. Like all Africans , fond of music and dance , Indian films had all they wanted- a total experience of life .

 

I went regularly to countries of my concurrent accreditation ie Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde and Mali , in the last I visited the fabled Timbuctou (Travel to Timbuctou ). But in Dakar with not much to do, after cocktails, I would go and tuck in a film. During my tenure of 28 months (1978-81) I saw more Indian films than in my 28 previous years put together. By the time I left I could differentiate between some of the Kapoors, Khannas, Kumars and even between Rekha and Rakhee.

 

The Senegalese love for Indian films and what they could embrace from it as Indian culture blossomed into music clubs and groups. Apart from the Mohamed Rafi Club , there was another club named the Rajasthan Club, for some inexplicable reason. I attended a commercial show of 'Dosti Bandhan' club , house full even with entry ticket being around $ 2 . Apart from singing of Indian film songs, it was a valiant attempt at reproducing dances from Indian films, with young Senegalese boys and girls dancing and miming the words with a LPs playing in the background. The' piece de resistance' was a dance by a tall willowy ebony colored  Wolof  male with rubbery  flexibility gracefully replicating very slowly whatever he had imbibed from Indian films of  Bharat Natyam, Oddissi and Kathak , all put together in a most sinewy way ,outdoing even Sri Devi in Nagin. It was unbelievable ( I later learned that he was performing at Paris's famous night spot Moulin Rouge  )

 

I invited the group for a reception one evening. Coming from middle class conservative families, they did not approve of Indian heroines and others donning western dresses ; skirts and jeans and aping them. They were happier with Saris ,Lehngas and Salwar Kameez .I presented to the groups LPs of Indian films and folk music. The video film was still in infancy .The Senegalese love and understanding of Indian culture through Indian films had a comic tragic example. A young Senegalese boy , who came to study at Poona's Film and Television Institute, thought singing to Indian girls in the streets could charm them. It ended with not very happy experiences.

 

Our efforts to canalise export of films through Indian government agency failed, because they could not match the perks of smooth Sindhi film dealers in Morocco and elsewhere, selling far more copies than licensed in too many territories. Although AB Vajpayee was then the Foreign Minister, a proposal to open a Cultural Center in Dakar to teach Indian classical dances and music did not yield any results . The humble Bollywood masala film with its dances and songs can be used as a very powerful weapon of cultural diplomacy, through missions, Doordarshan, and Radio.

 

K. Gajendra Singh , 3 August ,2010. Delhi

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author http://tarafits.blogspot.com/

 

British Premier Cameron’s Visit to India-Much Ado About Nothing

British Premier Cameron's Visit to India-Much Ado About Nothing

The latest successors of East India Company in London, after having colonized and looted India have not hidden their objective,"Begging for India's money". British premier David Cameron made no bones about it. "Economic power is shifting - particularly to Asia - so Britain has to work harder than ever before to earn its living in the world. I'm not ashamed to say that's one of the reasons why I am here in India ".That is perhaps what the clerks of the East India company said in the Mogul and other courts in 17 century.

Prime Minister of a fast downsizing economy Cameron brought the largest ever official delegation to India since its independence .But then, Washington has replaced London in its priorities and affection . The visit of Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, for example ,enjoyed wall-to-wall media coverage of her five-day visit, while Cameron's visit was sparingly covered ,that too by the usual suspects.

It is more than a decade since a Tory premier visited India. The relations during Labour years were  of little interest except that Labour foreign ministers and other leaders with Pakistani and Mirpuri voters to please too often hurt Indian sensitivities, especially in relation to Indo- Pakistan problems and the complex issue of Kashmir. Foreign minister Robin Cook, was particularly unpopular for his frequent pronouncements on Kashmir .Only last year an awkwardly looking and undiplomatic the then foreign minister  , David Miliband, hoping to become the next Labour leader had the temerity to suggest on Indian soil that to stop Pakistan terror activities ,India should solve the Kashmir problem ( initially created by the perfidious Albion). He should have been boycotted and escorted out of India by the ears.

Washington and London find a very receptive Indian Prime Minister in Manmohan Singh, who studied at Oxford on a scholarship and remains ever grateful ( when awarded a honorary doctorate in 2005 ,MM Singh lauded British colonial era as beneficial , much , rightly, to the chagrin of the opposition Bhartiya Janta Party and others ). Praising Cameron for a "distinguished political career" and his "strong personal commitment" to take the India-UK partnership to an even higher level of understanding and purpose, MM Singh said India shared the same vision for a renewed and enhanced partnership between the two countries. Singh continued: "We have agreed on specific initiatives in the areas of economy and trade, science and technology, energy, education, defence, culture and people-to-people contacts." The two sides decided to constitute an India-UK CEOs Forum and an India-UK Infrastructure Group. "We will work towards doubling our trade in the next five years. Building upon past experience, we have also agreed to launch a new phase of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative," Singh added.

During his Indian sojourn Cameron kept repeating his Conservative party election manifesto pledge of a "special relationship" ( used for relationship with the masters in Washington) , while Queen's Elizabeth's policy speech at May's state opening of the British parliament had actually rephrased this to an objective of an "enhanced partnership". Indeed, throughout a recent interview, his foreign minister, William Hague, of coalition partner the Liberal Democrats refrained from referring to the former. So did Vince Cable also of the Liberal Democrats - the junior partner in the current coalition administration in the United Kingdom - and an influential minister for business, innovation and skills .He rather brushed aside the term."We don't want to trade on that; we want to approach this in a sort of a hardheaded, business-like way."

By chance or otherwise no member of the Gandhi family was slated for a call in the official programme. Cameron's personal equation with the Gandhis is essential to the success of any new engagement.

The most concrete achievement in Indo-British military ties, was the 700 million pound (Rs 5,200 crore) deal for purchase of an additional 57 Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer Aircraft from British Aerospace Systems (BAE) witnessed by Cameron in Bangalore .This is the second tranche of the purchase by India since 2004 when it had finalised a deal to buy 66 Hawks after 18 years of negotiations. Cameron said he was delighted to witness the signing of the deal in Bangalore where he first arrived  . "This is an outstanding example of India-UK defence and industrial partnership. The agreement will bring significant economic benefits to both our countries. It is evidence of our new, commercial foreign policy in action," he added.

Repeating the business deals of Tata's purchase of Land Rover, Jaguar and Corus in the UK and Vodafone's record-breaking inward investment in India to buy Hutchison Essar will be more difficult than the banter about cricket and differences over the creation of the most popular T-20 League.

 

Wrote Sunanda K Datta-Ray in Business Standard ,"What Cameron wants — especially after a dramatic fall in Indian imports from Britain — is our burgeoning market. He also seeks a share of India's defence (the Hawks got the trip off to a flying start) and infrastructure spending. Hence soothing talk of a "special relationship" with Britain the "junior partner". ---But Cameron doesn't want settlers. He wants expats. Not Swraj Paul's Caparo but Tata's Corus and Mittal's Arcelor. He wants the East India Company process reversed. But could he explain to his hosts how the expansion of Indian enterprises in Britain, or any other foreign country, helps India's economy?"

 

On trade, Cameron believes that India could ease up certain restrictions that discourage investments. Companies like Vodafone, which have made big investments in India, are suffering because of a skewed tax regime and which discouraged British investors. The delegation also made a pitch for opening up the retail sector.

On climate, the British PM expected India to take on higher commitments on emission control .It was argued that when the Kyoto protocol was signed a number of countries were still economic laggards. Now these countries have grown and, in aggregate terms, responsible for a large proportion of global emissions.

In spite of historical linkages between India and UK of over 300 years, the two countries signed the first MoU on culture . There are many East India Company Paintings in Britain which they would like to digitise for universal access . Both countries also want to fill gaps in their Persian and library collections. Similarly, India Office Records, 1857 papers, diary of nationalist leaders and viceroys could be shared. A suitable research grant for Indian research students would be established.

 

UK does not need or wants semi-literate or even qualified Indians like doctors , one met at Heathrow doing cleaning duties or at British surgeries .England and Europe can now get fair colored equally cheap immigrants from impoverished East Europe and the Balkans .This has made historic  migration of poor and even qualified personnel from former colonies in Asia and Africa difficult into Fortress Europe Union. So do not expect any relief on immigration of Indians , more so since the EU economies following US-UK neo-liberal economic model are in deep trouble.

As for greater exchanges which Cameron said he wants in a new economic and cultural partnership with India , by his government's order, Indians who travel to the UK regularly for business or cultural reasons must shell out a fee of £610 for a 10-year visa, with the final amount usually higher with other charges. In comparison around £90 are charged for a 10-year visa to the US and around £50 for a multiple-year visa covering most European countries. This fee is disproportionate meant to discourage exactly those regular visitors who would underpin any "economic and cultural" partnership.

Economically, UK must now compete for a slice of Indian business with the Americans, the Europeans and even the Chinese and Japanese. The British hope to use the influence of the two million strong British-Indian community , in ghettos like South Hall , some of whom have done well and also the fact that a number of top Indian companies are now operating in the UK. Every year, Indian students spend some £300m ($465m) in tuition fees at British colleges and universities since many cannot get admission into premier institutions in India , most others being substandard and run by India's corrupt political elite .A British or any foreign degree still impresses the Indian natives . Then there are British Councils and other temptations to promote British soft diplomacy.

UK has also created Gujarati Barons like Meghnad Desais ,an economist with a funny Afro hair style, whom Indian media invites to berate us on Nehru and Indira Gandhi's policies .He has little idea about history and should advise the British how to get the fast falling economy of his adopted country into some shape .India is full of such non-Indian residents and Indian origin jokers in UK and USA doing down India for personal gains .

Cameron on Pakistan and Kashmir

 

Whenever British or US leaders come with the aim of selling something or getting some concessions from India ,they sweet talk on Kashmir .Recently when the US Military Chief Adm Mullen visited India he even said that US would be with India in case of hostilities with China .( In 1962 after the Chinese invasion US and US had wanted a solution of the Kashmir problem first to suit their ally Pakistan). So, expectedly Cameron warned Pakistan against exporting terrorism to India, Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world. "We want to see a strong, stable and democratic Pakistan, but we cannot tolerate in any sense export of terrorism, whether to India, Afghanistan or anywhere in the world," he said at an infotech company in Bangalore where he first went before coming to the capital New Delhi for talks .He also expressed concern over the reported leakage of funds from the multi-billion dollar military aid Britain and the US had given to Pakistan post-9/11 to fight militants on its territory.

"I will apprise Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday in New Delhi on what I had discussed with US President Barack Obama during my recent visit to Washington on the issue because when it comes to protecting innocent people, we cannot overlook what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Cameron added. Cameron continued that groups like the Taliban, the Haqqani network or Lashkar-e-Taiba should not be allowed to launch attacks on Indian or British citizens in India or Britain.

"Your relations with these countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) are a matter for you (India) and you alone. But like you, we are determined not to allow the terror groups to attack our people, whether soldiers or civilians from both our countries who are working in Afghanistan," Cameron asserted.

There was swift response from Pakistan and UK's opposition Labour party's wannabe aspiring leader , the skewed Milliband .

Pakistan fielded its High Commissioner in London , Wajid Shamsul Hasan. Writing in the Guardian, he said: "One would have wished that the prime minister would have considered Pakistan's enormous role in the war on terror and the sacrifices it has rendered since 9/11.

"There seems to be more reliance on information based on intelligence leaks which lack credibility of proof. A bilateral visit aimed at earning business could have been done without damaging the prospects of regional peace." Later, Hasan told the BBC that he hoped Mr Cameron's comments were a "slip of the tongue" and "not a meant by him"."He is new in government, maybe he will learn soon and he will know how to handle things," said the high commissioner.

"I hope he will make amends and he will pacify the people of Pakistan as well as the government of Pakistan because it has been taken here very adversely, people are really hurt."

Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit dismissed the claims as "crude, self-serving and unverifiable" and said Cameron should not use them as a basis for his analysis of the situation, adding: "There is no question of Pakistan looking the other way." Pakistani senator Khurshid Ahmad, vice-president of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Party, warned that Cameron's remarks risked fuelling "anti-American, anti-West" feeling on the streets, in an interview with BBC Radio 4's ,The World at One.

And Shadow foreign minister Miliband ( he certainly casts a long evil shadow on Indo-UK relations) said the prime minister needed to think "through carefully what he is going to say" on such occasions. While Britain must speak with "conviction" on important issues, he said Mr Cameron had only told "half the story" and "failed to recognise" Pakistan had lost thousands of its own citizens, including former leader Benazir Bhutto, to terrorist attacks."There is a fine line between a straight talker and a loud mouth," he told the BBC.

Nor even the marines will believe that UK/US and Pakistan are not responsible for the foundations and ills of terrorism in south west Asia and the Middle East since end 1970s , which is now boomranging on Pakistan with collateral damage on India perpetrated by Pakistan's ISI as a state policy. UK's intelligence chief during Tony Blair's regime told the Chilcot enquiry, another British pointless drama that following the illegal invasion on Iraq, terror related activities among British Muslims increased and the government doubled the budget for countering it. Blair remains in a state of denial.

So what is the value or weight ,if any ,of Cameron's utterances !The whole sordid Western and Pak lies have been unveiled by the Wikileaks now.

Cameron arrived in India from Turkey where he pledged to help Ankara's EU entry bid. Both UK and UK routinely support Ankara, knowing that entry is unlikely to fructify with staunch opposition from Greece ,France and Germany ,with the ruling Party in Turkey using it to keep the military out of decision making apparatus .Turks are no longer eager to join EU and are looking eastwards for closer leadership relations with former Ottoman provinces.

Cameron last visited India in 2006, in his first year as the leader of the opposition.

 

Reinventing the Raj

Writing on the Oped page of the subservient Indian Express C.Raja Mohan , a former leftist sold out to neo-liberalism ,exhorts that an emerging India has everything to gain by deepening its British and Anglo-Saxon connections, with Cameron being just the right interlocutor for India.

That security vision in turn must have two elements. -- the emphasis must be on returning India and Britain to the Raj tradition of keeping the global commons secure and open for all. This would involve India and Britain pooling their resources to keep open the sea lines of communication in the Indian Ocean and beyond. -- As Britain cuts its military expenditure, downsizes its armed forces and limits its political objectives amidst a big resource crunch at home, India should take the opportunity to propose a comprehensive partnership between the defence industries of the two countries.

India on the other hand needs partners who can ease its path to a larger international role. The people, resources and institutions of Britain are India's welcome force multipliers. Delhi and London, then, have every incentive to pool their resources — in other words reinvent the Raj — for mutual benefit.

Raja Mohan , always on some US endowed chair or the other is a perfect example of Indians available for a price like many others in India and abroad to promote Western cause .

Chinese Reaction

 

The Chinese reaction was extreme .An article in the web edition of People's Daily, the mouthpiece of ruling Communist Party of China, in an article titled "Britain, India also to make bilateral ties special" said "for Britain, this kind of relationship usually refers to the ties of alliance between Britain and the United States, so the implication of Cameron's remarks seems to be quite profound."

Picking out British trade minister Vince Cable's remarks that British government will first permit the export of nuclear energy to India for civil use the Daily commented, "India has so far not signed the Nuclear Non- proliferation Treaty and the British government had long been in opposition to exporting its nuclear technology and equipment to India," it said without referring to the Indo-US nuclear deal.( Sounds funny from Beijing , one of the greatest proliferators of nukes technology and missiles)  

"Nevertheless, the British government considers it necessary now to differentiate the civil and military nuclear facilities and, so it would be likely to issue a nuclear export permit to India as soon as possible.

"Furthermore, he acknowledged frankly that India has a civil nuclear power market of more than 100 billion US dollars and, once the ban is lifted, British business is expected to win huge amounts of orders," it said.

On UK-India defence ties, it said "India is well-known for relying on foreign in particular Russian military equipment and technology to modernise its military forces. But in recent years, India is trying to diversify its weapon suppliers for whom the potential market is immense. "And Britain has a certain appeal in this regard. So, Prime Minister Cameron's trip to India opens the door for British arms manufacturers to expand their weaponry exports to India," it said.

UK as a partner

Only Indian English speaking ignoranti see UK and US as reliable allies in spite of their past record and proclivities. While making soothing statements both Washington and its poodle London have ignored India's vital concerns .BBC still calls the ISI trained terrorists who raped India's economic and cultural metropolis Mumbai as gunmen. It allows so called freedom organizations which affect adversely security of India and other countries in south and central Asia.

Even the Wilkileaks giving details about US perfidy have not persuaded Indian policy makers not to outsource Indian security to Washington and embark on an independent line to guard Indian national interests . India has unnecessarily ruffled China's feathers to please Washington , angered Iran by siding with the US effort to browbeat Tehran on the nuclear issue on which Tehran is quite justified .Washington's ambassador in New Delhi even got Oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar dismissed for his efforts to ensure energy security. His successor , a nominee of a rich corporate house in Mumbai has done pretty little in that direction. India's relations with Russia have also suffered .

Indian US relations have become hostage to Indian corporate houses and Americans of Indian origin who look to their and US interests first unlike the Jews or the Chinese .Indians have little feeling of nationalism whose identity is based on caste, religion, language and region .

Conservative party leader Cameron heads a coalition with Liberal Democrats, after the likes of Tony Blair mouthing half truths and lies who led UK into a disastrous misadventure tagging along for crumbs of loot with the US led illegal invasion of Iraq .It was very unpopular among the people who defeated the New Labour under Gordon Brown who took over after Blair was almost cornered into resigning . Earlier Maggie Thatcher's disastrous anti- people policies had destroyed the party 's popularity among the masses .

Death Agony of Thatcher Deregulated Finance Model

Wrote F. William Engdahl in January ,2009,"During the end of the 1970's into the 1980's British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the City of London financial interests who backed her, introduced wholesale measures of privatization, state budget cuts, moves against labor and deregulation of the financial markets. She did so in parallel with similar moves in the USA initiated by advisers around President Ronald Reagan. The claim was that hard medicine was needed to curb inflation and that the bloated state bureaucracy was a central problem. For almost three decades, Anglo-American university economic faculties have turned to Thatcherite deregulation of financial markets as 'the efficient way,' in the process, undoing many of the hard-fought gains secured for personal social security, public health care and pension security of the population. Now the 'poster child' economy of the Thatcher Revolution, Great Britain, is sinking like the proverbial Titanic, a testimony to the incompetence of what is generally called Neo-liberalism or free market ideology."

Kohinoor

The proposal for the return of the fabled Indian diamond Kohinoor , now part of the British crown jewels, was raised by British MP of Indian origin Keith Vaz just before the visit. Cameron shot it down , saying if such demands were agreed to, it would lead to empty rooms in British Museums. But there is more than the priceless pieces in British museums like Buddhist Amravati railings or the Sultanganj Buddha, also known as the Birmingham Buddha, which was stolen in 1861,

Colonial Exploitation and Loot

"The conquest of the earth, which means the taking away from those who have a different complexion and slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look at it too much." Conrad's Marlow in Heart of Darkness

India must not forget that before the arrival of the British East India Company in the late 18th century, the sub-continent's share in world manufacturing was 24.5 percent in 1750 ( 32.8 percent for China ). But by the time the British had finished with India, the sub-continent's share had fallen to 1.7 percent (in 1900) and that of the British increased from 1.9 percent (in 1750) to 22.9 percent (in 1880) - Rise and fall of Big Powers by Professor Paul Kennedy.  In these bald figures lie tens of millions of deaths in famines , many times because food grains were exported for profits or not distributed where needed and in time .The riches looted from India and export of industrial products in exchange for India's raw materials triggered British industrial revolution , expansion and maintenance of the vast British empire over which the Sun never set.

Ten millions killed after the 1857 revolution.

In his book "War of Civilizations: India AD 1857" writer/journalist Shri Amaresh Misra states that 1857 revolt was a revolution which failed because it was not sufficiently well organized. It was much more broad-based than thought and lasted well beyond 1857, all the way into the 20th century. It was a war of civilizations. "The conventional view that Indians lost militarily or politically has to be overhauled… Despite everything, Indians could still have won a conventional victory — it was only internal betrayal that probably skewed this possibility." (Internal betrayal can be seen everywhere and everyday)

The number of Indians killed in revenge after 1857 has been estimated at 10 million (7 per cent of the population) in UP, Haryana and Bihar alone based on primary sources in the National Archives in New Delhi and the state archives in Lucknow, Patna, Bhopal, Bombay, and Ahmadabad apart from the Raza Library in Rampur, Shibli Numani Library in Azamgarh, Khuda Baksh Library in Patna, and the Deoband Library. The original sources are in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic.

The British did destroy all records on the genocide but preserved the story of the battles because the British had to report to their superiors. The figures of the genocide were tabulated from land, railway and labor survey reports. From Lahore and Bangladesh Misra obtained the gazetteers of districts of Punjab, Sind, and NWFP of Dhaka, Chittagong, and Fareed Pur.

Wrote Soutik Biswas , the online correspondent for BBC News in his blog," Most of Indian colonial experience was extremely unsavoury.Experts point to the tendency of the British rulers to cultivate local elites, empowering some of them and dividing the masses. (Lord Macaulay, who spearheaded the founding of India's education system, suggested it set up natives who were "Indian in colour and blood, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect".) [ Unfortunately Indians have still not evolved a basic Indian model. Against brown English speaking elite brainwashed by the British and now the US way of life ,are ranged the indigenous grass roots leadership in India, where many oppose English , now almost the international language and even computers for political consumption .But flaunt computers , a necessity and send their own children to English media schools and colleges.

"The collaboration with entrenched elites strengthened feudalism in what was already a deeply hierarchical society. Income, urbanization, education and health care stagnated. Average economic growth in the first half of the century under British rule was 1%. Colonial trade was extractive and exploitative, leaving India poorer. –But the colonial understanding of this complex nation was suspect, i.e. Winston Churchill predicted that if the British left India the country "will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages"

However unlike 17 century, there is now a big boy Washington entrenched in New Delhi since the collapse of the British Empire following its over reach and unbearable defense expenditure in WWII and unraveling of the Soviet Union. It is another matter that like London and Moscow, Washington too has over reached itself and with 700 billion on defense ( as much as the rest of the world put together ) and over 600 billion current account deficit is being financed by Beijing and others investing in soon to be worthless securities , caught in Iraq quagmire and realizing that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable and has arrived at the same historical denouement along with the poodle , the United Kingdom.   

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author http://tarafits.blogspot.com/

 

 

A CHINA-PAK NUCLEAR AXIS AGAINST INDIA

 A CHINA-PAK NUCLEAR AXIS AGAINST INDIA

Below is an article by Kanwal Sibal ,former Indian Foreign Secretary who also held top posts in Washington and Moscow .Unlike Indians posted to Washington he does not suffer from the Washcon sickness .He gives a very clear exposition of the China-Pak Axis nuclear axis against India .It also exposes those who were crowing over the US-India nuclear deal , where so much was given away – for what .

Of course we have not thought of countering China , say with Vietnam in 1980s or with Japan when the US hegemony is over .We have allowed ourselves to be a tool in Washington's plans to counter Beijing for US benefit and our disadvantage .We have put all our eggs in the sinking US basket , where Indians, citizens or NRIs  unlike Jews , look after their own personal interests ie gains , since Indians still have only caste , region, language and religion based identity . New Delhi has cornered itself where US, China and Pakistan want it to be – with few friends and options.

Since it suits Washington now, there were discussions between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in Islamabad and at the end a free for all press conference .Normally such acrimonious differences do not take place in public and are later described  as free and frank exchange of views. The Anglo-Saxon monkeys as in the fable enjoy sub-continental cats quarreling since 1947.

Indian media specially English TV Channels ( which I am told mercifully attract low eye balls ) had the usual suspects to cover the conference and its aftermath .It was as usual confined to South Asia as if US ,China etc have no role , thus unwittingly strengthening the Pak-India hyphen which we then do not like. The elephant in the room is Washington , for whom this kind of exchange  serves its purpose so that it pursues its agenda of breaking up Pakistan .

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39432.html

"A de facto partition for Afghanistan" Writing in Politico ( above)  ,Robert D Blackwill , former deputy NSA and US Ambassador to India , suggests partitioning Afghanistan and keeping north and west under its control .It also talks of Pushtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan coming together and possible further divisions of Pakistan. This was one of the post US scenarios suggested in my

http://cms.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Blogs&sd=Blog&BlogID=210

 

Take care Gajendra Singh 16 July , 2010 .Mayur Vihar, Delhi .

 A CHINA-PAK  NUCLEAR  AXIS  AGAINST  INDIA

The issues involved in China's sale of two more nuclear reactors need to be better understood. Arguments that India, as a non-NPT state, has itself secured a nuclear deal with the US and therefore has little ground to oppose a China-Pakistan nuclear deal, or that two additional reactors for Pakistan is not going to enhance the nuclear threat to India, miss the point. That Pakistan has acute energy shortage and needs to tap nuclear energy as a source, more so as it is environmentally cleaner, is not sufficient reason to justify the Sino-Pakistan deal in the way it is being considered at present. The argument that China and Pakistan will in any case go ahead and therefore it makes little sense for India to oppose the deal is a defeatist position. A further one that, given this reality, it might be better to engage China and Pakistan diplomatically on this question in a conciliatory mode does not take into account the deeper strategic and political intentions behind China's nuclear cooperation with Pakistan and this specific deal.

China has engaged in strategic nuclear proliferation in the subcontinent by transferring nuclear materials and weapons design to Pakistan, and even testing Pakistan's weapon  in 1990 at its testing site in Lop Nor. China's objective has been to strategically neutralize India through Pakistan, give it the muscle to continue its confrontation with India and the capacity to deter serious Indian military reprisals for its adversarial policies. China has manoeuvred to blur the reality of any direct China-India nuclear rivalry, transferring such rivalry to the subcontinent, making India appear as the initiator of a nuclear arms race in the region, and creating in the mind of the international community a dangerous India-Pakistan nuclear equation with the potential of a nuclear conflict erupting between two "historical enemies".

The US has overlooked errant Chinese nuclear conduct vis a vis Pakistan for several reasons. Pakistan became central to US effort to counter the Soviets in Afghanistan, and, therefore, despite evidence that Pakistan was pursing a nuclear weapon programme with Chinese assistance, the Pressler Amendment was devised to allow military and economic assistance to Pakistan debarred under US law for a proliferating country. For Cold War considerations, the US was unwilling to apply any serious sanctions on China which had  by then become a strategic partner against the Soviet Union. The US, opposed to India's nuclear ambitions and wary of the perceived India-Soviet axis that had successfully broken up Pakistan in 1971, has long backed a "strategic balance" in South Asia, which explains  its remarkable tolerance of Sino-Pak nuclear collaboration. US unwillingness to expose the A.Q.Khan affair in full, in which the the Pakistani political and military establishment has been involved to the hilt, is consistent with US equivocation on China-Pakistan proliferation infractions.

The Indo-US nuclear deal marked a strategic "de-hyphenation" of India and Pakistan in US  policy, evoking anguish in Pakistan and distrust in China. The US was seriously disturbing the hitherto tacit entente between it and China to contain a nuclear India. Pakistan, obsessed with parity with India, has vociferously opposed the deal and also asked for one for itself. For China, making an exception for India to the current nuclear rules could only mean building up India as a potential counterweight to it. By signing up for two aditional nuclear power reactors for Pakistan, China wants to send several messages to the US, India and the wider world. Its warning that if the US made an exception for India, other countries may do likewise for their friends is being translated into action. What the US has done for its protege, India, China is doing for its protege, Pakistan. If the US is disturbing the nuclear balance in South Asia- as China has alleged- China is restoring it. If the US will not accord parity of treatment to Pakistan, China will do so. China is signalling that the US cannot set the nonproliferation rules for all others, or use its clout to break the global consensus on the nonproliferation regime to suit its strategic needs, and that China will take autonomous decisions to suit its own interests. China is occupying space being ceded by declining US hegemony and setting itself up as a rival power to the US. China no doubt calculates that a militarily and financially embattled US will avoid a frontal conflict with it on this issue, keeping in mind also that the US needs its political support in dealing with the nuclear defiance of Iran and North Korea, problems of higher strategic priority for the US. Finally, China is declaring to India that it will continue to build up nuclear Pakistan against it, deny India any advantage, counter any potential India-US axis with a countervailing China-Pakistan axis. That China is willing to extend its patronage to Pakistan in disregard of its non-proliferation obligations and the NSG guidelines implies high stakes on both sides: need for the facade of civilian nuclear cooperation to continue Chinese technological and material support for Pakistan's military programme with its suspected extra-regional linkages.

India must therefore oppose the envisaged China-Pakistan nuclear cooperation. If this passes through an open, widely debated process, with legislative underpinning and imposition of stringent nonproliferation conditions on Pakistan, India would have no reason to object. If, as the Chinese argue, both sides are respecting their international obligations and the new power plants will be under IAEA safeguards, why was India, with a clean nonproliferation record, no A.Q. Khan type baggage, no religious extremism, terrorist groups and clandestine proliferation networks blotting its landscape, required to separate its civilian and military facilities, shut some reprocessing units, accept the "right to return" if it tests, legally commit itself to a testing moratorium, agree to cooperate with the US on FMCT negotiations, establish a special reprocessing facility according to US dictated specifications for reprocessing US spent fuel, put its future fast breeder reactors under IAEA safeguards etc. We too could have obtained nuclear cooperation by simply agreeing to put internationally assisted reactors under IAEA safeguards. Why was cooperation with India by others opposed by the US until it cleared the way? If China does not have domestic legislation on nuclear cooperation like the US, the NSG can stipulate the conditions under which Pakistan would become eligible for civilian nuclear cooperation as a non-NPT state.  We struggled hard to get a "clean waiver" from the NSG, and didn't quite get it. There cannot be different standards for China/Pakistan and India. The US, so far subdued, must insist on the projected China-Pakistan deal being presented to the NSG for approval. If China ignores the NSG, the intended cooperation should be blocked in the IAEA where the issue of safeguards will have to be addressed and decided. Our strategic partnership with the US will lose meaning if the US once again overlooks nuclear cooperation between our two adversaries avowedly intended to counter the strategic advantage India has ostensibly obtained through the India-US deal. If the US sacrifices India's interests to protect its China and Pakistan equities, the India-US nuclear deal would look most invidious.

 The writer is a former Foreign Secretary(sibalkanwal@gmail.com

For US and western role in overlooking China-Pak and north Korea nuke and missile proliferation see 

  http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-in-the-press/press-coverage-2005/september-2005/emerging-strategic-nuclear-environment/