Blogs anyone

The race to the White House

2008-02-21T00:09:00.000-08:00

The race to the White House, specifically the race by candidates to secure their party nomination for the White house is certainly very interestingly poised. It almost seems a foregone conclusion that John McCain will be the republican candidate, this given the fact that Matt Romney, the only real threat dropped out of the race, has backed him and urged Republicans to solidly stand behind McCain. And McCain will require this backing given the fact that his liberal views on certain key issues like abortion have not endeared him to conservative elections. But what works in his favor is the fact the TINA factor ( There is no alternative ) for the republicans and that he speaks his mind on key issues and stating one’s opinion up front in key times is seen as a hallmark of leadership. (Whether this is right or wrong is something which I’m not too sure about).

The Democratic Party is a much more tricky and complex issue. At the time of writing this, Barrack Obama clearly has the upper hand and Hillary Clinton needs to come back strongly to stake a claim for the Democratic Party nomination and with her key support base slowly but surely moving away to Senator Obama, that chance to make a resurgence seems to be slipping away rather quickly. What might work for her is the fact that the entire process of selecting the Democrat candidate has been rather divisive and bitter with both claimants taking personal pot-shots at each other. In this situation it may very well happen that the Party decides to ignore the popular vote process (which traditionally decides the candidate) and might even choose a consensus candidate. Since Obama is most likely to win the popular vote, Hillary can attempt to influence key party delegates to get her nominated. However this move is fraught with risks. First there is the risk of party supporters being disillusioned and moving away because their verdict is effectively annulled by way of party delegates internally deciding the party candidate. Also the delegates may be hesitant to take decisions which would be seen to subvert the democratic process of choosing a candidate. However they might still be tempted to choose a candidate internally and for good reason. My guess is that if such an eventuality does occur, Hillary Clinton would most likely be the Democrat candidate. Reasons are shared below:

I suspect that although Obama is the most charismatic and popular candidate amongst Democrats, that logic stops there. America is at cross-roads and they need to choose a President who while being decisive will initiate a process of healing that has hit rock bottom during the last few years. Barrack Obama is a greenhorn and while he speaks well and confidently, does not have many years of public service to back up his words, in other words a novice. Secondly and probably equally important is the fact that he does not have the complete support of the different groups. He is not African American, he is African and American (His father is Kenyan) and that makes his credentials at least amongst African American voters a bit suspect. On the other hand, the Clintons have had strong relations with the African American community and amongst women voters as well. And if it comes down to a national election, while African American voters might still vote for him, there is a strong possibility that women voters might vote for McCain given his liberal views on key issues. And something in me tells me that people in America are ready for a woman president but not for a black president. It will be a few more elections before we might see a black president. Of course, one can never say about these things… can we? It will only be revealed once we have the new president in place.

Why Raj Thackeray behaves the way he behaves

2008-02-16T02:03:00.000-08:00

If there is one person who is heir apparent to Bal Thackeray, it has to be Raj Thackeray. Brilliant writer, fiery orator, cartoonist par –excellence; all the traits which runs in the Thackeray family, handed down from his grandfather to his uncle and now to him. Logic should have dictated that he be anointed heir apparent; however blood being thicker than water, Uddhav was made the head of the Shiv Sena and Raj formed the MNS. Even while his new party was being formed there were considerable expectations that a large chunk of Shiv Sainiks would change loyalties and side with him. However this did not happen primarily because many of them had much more faith in the old patriarch who professed that MNS would fail and that Raj would return to the Sena fold and accept Uddhav as his leader.

At the time of the starting his party, Raj undertook massive rallies throughout the state harping on an agenda on inclusiveness – trying to distance himself from the right wing politics that the Sena had come to be associated with him. He hoped to build secular credentials for himself and targeted the ever growing and powerful North Indian community as a potential vote base.

However major events along the way, like the Municipal elections in Mumbai made it amply clear that the north Indian community would never vote for him because they saw him as just another Thackeray who was out to drive them away from the city. The Marathi youth whom Raj hoped to target because of his charisma and age saw his stance of wooing non Maharastrians as betrayal and stayed away from him.

2 years down the line, the fortunes of the MNS were flagging and an inclusive agenda really did not seem to be going anywhere. He really needed to do something which would get his people back. He went back to basics and went back to the Marathi Manoos who would give him his votes. The unabashed violence in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra by the MNS is merely his homecoming. Violence has always been a culture of the Shiv Sena and he merely continues to propagate that tradition.

He has played his cards very smartly and now the Shiv Sena which was the vanguard of the Marathi Manoos finds itself perched in a very awkward situation. It can’t be seen to encourage Raj as that would be playing into his hands, at the same time it can’t be seen to not react to the North Indian issue. It’s a situation which works perfectly for him. Raj Thackeray has finally emerged from the shadows of his uncle.

Having said all that, I must conclude by saying that when Raj began MNS, there were a lot of people including me who had a lot of hope in him. He was young, dynamic and spoke his mind. There is a lot which he could have done but alas that was not to be. His return to ‘his roots’ while good for him makes one thing absolutely sure, he will never get my vote.

A retirement age for people in power???

2008-01-23T02:13:00.000-08:00

The other day I was attending this talk by renowned sociologist Andre Beteille[1] and was extremely excited at the prospect of being part of that lecture. Just when we arrived at the venue, we were told that there might be a slight delay because the Governor of Karnataka, Mr. Rameshwar Thakur[2] had decided to attend as well and he would be presiding as the Chief Guest. Like all VIP attendees, the organisers expected him to be late for the function & true to tradition, he not only came in late but also took a great deal of time in settling in and delivering his lecture due to which the subsequent lecture by Prof Beteille had to be considerably shorter than the original version and he had to rush through it. I really did not enjoy the lecture as much as I would have liked to enjoy it.

Naturally the blame fell on the Governor for being the prime reason of that delay. And while I don’t completely disagree with that view-point, his fragility and health or lack of it did make me think about the topic at hand i.e. should there be a retirement age for leaders who are in positions of power especially within the ambit of the legislature and executive. My experiences with people who have held such positions in the past and have now retired lead me to believe that indeed that should be the case. Coming back to the instance which I narrated above, when the program was getting delayed due the late arrival of the Governor, initially there was a palpable sense of anger amongst the audience; however when he actually arrived, that sense of anger quickly changed to one of pity seeing the way Mr. Thakur was struggling to walk or even the way he was struggling for words. It clearly indicated that he was well past his prime and not in a position to govern a state.

A similar case in point was experienced when I had the opportunity to work with a retired senior Supreme Court Judge who was in his seventies. Prior to working with him, I often wondered that considering the paucity of judges in India, why doesn’t the government extend the retirement age for serving judges. (The retirement age for SC judges is 65 and that of HC judges is 60). However after working with this particular judge I came to realise that issues are obviously not that simple and there is logic to the reason. In the case of this judge, when the entire team was deliberating on decisions to be taken, we found that the time taken by him to respond or even comprehend parts of the issues was quite long and not reflective of the facts presented before him.

It has been well established that as we age (sixties to seventies onwards), our abilities especially mental faculties tend to become less acute and this certainly affects the quality of the decisions that we make. The thought of a judge in his/her seventies taking decisions which could affect the lives of defendants is extremely scary. Also I do not have the confidence that politicians in that age group would be in a position to take rational decisions for the country. (This is of course not to say that young politicians make good decisions) Thus, there should be an upper limit regarding the retirement age for people in positions of power and that is the end of that.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_B%C3%A9teille

[2] http://orissagov.nic.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/dec2004/englishPdf/biodataoframeshwarthakur.pdf

The Bhutto Era

2008-01-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

The killing of former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto and the repercussions flowing from it present Pakistan with a peculiar and potentially explosive situation. That Benazir Bhutto would be the target of assassinations was never in doubt. After all, she was a key player in providing logistical and monetary support to Mujaheddin/jihadi elements in aid of their various causes, be it in Afghanistan or Kashmir. Her turnaround during the post 9/11 phase when she was in a self imposed exile where she completely washed her hands off the Jihadi elements which she harbored was not entirely surprisingly. Bush’s famous line ‘You are either with us or with them’, ensured that world leaders past and present quickly toed the American line. This move clearly did not endear her to the Jihadis who saw this and betrayal and vowed revenge. (This of course does not establish that Jihadis assassinated Benazir, it could have been anyone, though I suspect they had the most to gain from her assassination and I would stick my neck out and say that it was probably them).

Her years in exile shuttling between London and Dubai meant that she was away from the intense glare of the media. It was during this phase that she probably got to spend maximum time with her family especially her 3 children who probably needed all the time from a parent since their father Asif Ali Zardari was still lodged in jail in Pakistan on charges of corruption. During conversations with the media she often maintained that though being out of the country was distressing, she also looked upon this opportunity to spend time in the upbringing of her children for which she was very grateful. During this phase she also was a backdoor diplomat, guest speaker at various international universities… all with a view to bring about democracy in Pakistan. While her talks to academic circles certainly drew a lot of applause, the same was not the case with her diplomacy efforts, simply because Musharaff was seen to be doing a good job and was indispensable in the ‘war on terror’ campaign and because politicians like her and Mian Nawaz Sharif were seen to be the reason why Pakistan was under military rule at all … which is true in many ways.

We all know that over the years that followed, the honeymoon between Musharaff and the US deteriorated due to various reasons and the US began covert negotiations with Benazir Bhutto to get the PPP to support Musharaff’s government in return for him dropping all corruption charges against her and her family. Thus began this long and arduous courtship process with Musharaff which finally actually never materialized. During negotiations with Musharaff hit a rough patch, she also inked a pact with Nawaz Sharif to form an alliance to depose Musharaff and restore democracy in Pakistan, a move which unraveled rather quickly when negotiations between her and Musharaff resumed. One can only assume that the only logic in the entire tangle was known to the people involved as seasoned political analysts themselves were flummoxed by the rapid turn of events. Politics certainly makes strange bed-fellows. During the last few months, her parlays with Musharaff were becoming increasingly strident yet more and more hesitant. The imposition of emergency meant that Benazir could not be seen to publicly support Musharaff lest her own popular support start waning. However, her tactic support to Musharaff even during the emergency ensured that her return to Pakistan was tolerated, welcomed even. As the emergency dragged on, public pressure on her to cut ties with Musharaff became more and more vocal and she bowed to that pressure, though she never publicly criticized Musharaff. Even in her last days, she was very careful about the language she used while sloganeering against the administration, using words like ‘people high up in the government’, ‘elements in the administration’ and so on. My guess is that she harbored hopes of being the next Prime Minister come elections in January which is why she was probably guarded in her language.

Successive assassination attempts on her life clearly indicated that some very influential people did not want to see her come back to power. Whether those people were Jihadi elements or people from the administration or renege elements from the army or some other people may probably never be known though one hopes that the investigation being conducted by the Scotland Yard will throw some light on the same.

The other aspect which needs to be discussed briefly is that of Benazir nominating her son Bilawal as heir to the PPP. The dynastic elements of politics are well known and sons and daughters of political leaders all over the world are groomed to take on the political mantle after the time of their parents/aunts & uncles are over. However, it is probably for the first time that any political leader has anointed an offspring heir to a political party in a will. Although one may argue that the PPP in all essence was an extension of the Bhutto dynasty (it was started by Benazir’s father, Zufikar Ali Bhutto), treating the political party like a family fiefdom where inheritance is decided as per a will is more than slightly scary and does not bode well for Pakistan, democracy and the Bhutto family. One hopes that better sense prevails and the forthcoming generations of the Bhutto clan democratize the PPP.

About Pakistan and its future, in the short term at least… fortunately or unfortunately, the Pakistani army and America will be the guiding force in the way Pakistan’s future is shaped. With Musharaff no longer the head of the armed forces, America now has to deal with two centres of power, namely Musharaff and the Pakistani army. Given the tumultuous history of Pakistan where it has been governed for more than 30 years by the military, one really does not know when the present army decides that it has had enough of Musharaff and decides to depose him. For the sake of Pakistan, one hopes that it is able to move towards an ecology of democracy and that the general elections are a step in this direction.

A final point on Benazir herself. She probably will be remembered as a leader of immense stature who attempted to bring about genuine change in Pakistan at least earlier on in her career. That she was a woman leader in an Islamic republic brought her tremendous acclaim throughout the world and in a sense gave hope to a lot of women. In addition to the above, my belief is that she will be remembered as a person who did the mistake of linking up with Jihadis and in a sense, a person who lived by the bullet. And as they say, ‘Those who live by the bullet die by it’. Case in point.

Important Issues of Internet Governance from an Indian Perspective

2008-01-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

The WSIS declaration of principles at Geneva 2003 with its focus and commitment to build a ‘people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life’ aptly sums the concerns that issues revolving Internet Governance can and should address.

Issues of Access, Openness, Diversity, Security and Critical Internet Resources are seen to be the main platforms around which discussions and deliberations on Internet Governance have been organised at the annual Internet Governance Forum at Athens (2006) and Rio (2007) and will continue to be the focus areas at the IGF New- Delhi (2008). This paper will explore the meanings of these themes, look at critical issues within these themes from an Indian perspective and suggest possible courses of action.

1. Access

Access, as articulated in IGF meetings, broadly covers all issues of the physical infrastructure of the Internet, with value being placed on universal availability of the Internet. There are several enabling conditions, the establishment of which are paramount to achievement of universal availability of the Internet. These are

Low cost access solutions – The way to achieve this is by ensuring universal deployment of the physical infrastructure (pipes and cables), reduced inter-connection charges (especially for developing countries), ensuring that the routing of content over the Internet which is most likely to be accessed by communities in countries such as India is kept close by as this will bring down the exorbitant charges that developing countries have to cough up to access this content (since most of this content is nested in servers outside the country). A key project which has set out to accomplish some of the issues which have been mentioned above is the Common Service Centres (CSC) scheme by the Government of India. By setting up a 1, 00,000 centres all over the country to serve 6,00,000 villages, the Government is ensuring that disadvantaged communities are getting an equal voice in the development process. While the intentions of the Government are laudable, it must ensure a balancing of issues of social justice and equity along with issues of commercial viability. It is our belief and something which has been amply demonstrated through projects like Akshaya (Kerala) and the Rural E-Seva (West Godavari – Andhra Pradesh), that the former purpose takes care of the latter one.
Creating bottom-up and people centric accountability structures – The recent move by the government to grant community radio licences is yet another welcome step, where communities by creating content which is relevant to their development needs are more aware and are in a position to be better empowered. A process wherein more and more government schemes and services are accessible online, the disbursement of which can be vetted by local self governance institutions and community based organisations will go a long way in creating a bottom-up accountability structure.

2. Openness

Openness is a very broad category and includes issues ranging from standards ensuring openness of the Internet, to freedom of expression, and enriching the public domain versus protecting IP, to network neutrality.

Enriching the Public Domain: A cursory glance of the knowledge which resides over the Internet reveals that most of it has been created by people whose aim is to enrich public knowledge by putting the information out there. Yet we find that the media (websites, ISPs and so on) which host this content have lock in mechanisms by which they gain the Intellectual property to this content, thereby taking away Intellectual Property Rights from the creators and more importantly, by restricting access to this knowledge through exclusionary processes do a tremendous amount of disservice to development. This urgently calls for the creation of a public domain on which all content which is generated through public monies and which the creators feel should reside in the public domain is hosted. This will mean that more and more content which is currently locked in rent seeking regimes is available for the public access. The Government must also look at collaborative knowledge creation efforts like Wikipedia which will only enrich the public knowledge base and its authenticity.

Ensuring Open Standards over the Internet – The increasing emergence of video and audio based content over the Internet is extremely good news. The power of these media to bring about change relatively quickly as they can be understood by even non-literates is what sets it apart from other media. However, the formats over which this content is viewed are varied and proprietary, meaning that unless and until the viewer purchases these formats from those companies which make them, s/he really cannot view any of the content. It goes without saying that the prices of such formats are extremely high and disadvantaged communities would not have the purchasing power to invest in these technologies. Clearly what is required is the mandating of open standards which would allow for content to be shared over multiple platforms.

Freedom of Expression: What goes undisputed is the fact that the Internet has great power to organise protest rallies, to galvanise pro-democracy activists and to give the world a perspective of life within closed societies. Over the past few months, one has come across various cases where the Internet has been increasingly been used to report cases of human rights violations and pro-democracy movements. In majority of these cases, the regimes of these states have managed to suppress these demonstrations, arrest activists who have reported such violations over the net and have cut off Internet connections to prevent activists from grouping through the Internet and prevent the outside world from knowing what is happening in that country.

In fact within the IGF, many countries (which face allegations of human rights abuses) have gone as far as saying that they would walk out of that space (IGF) and create their own Internet if issues of human rights are even brought up for discussion. Clearly, this is one issue which has been a tight-rope walk. Given this delicate state of affairs, what is required is a call for consensus and the establishment of a broad framework of principles for governance of the Internet especially looking at convergences between Human Rights and the Internet which countries will adhere to. GOI should play an active part of this process. Also at a national level, there is need for an urgent dialogue to see whether the tenets of the Indian Constitution in the fields of freedom of expression are robust enough to deal with the emergence of the Internet or whether there is a need to enhance the scope of the Constitution to be more encompassing and understanding of issues like freedom of expression especially when seen through a medium such as the Internet.

3. Diversity:

The issue of diversity is significant in the context of hegemonic cultural and linguistic tendencies of the global Internet, and highlights the importance of development of a culturally diverse Internet the reflecting the cultural diversity of the world.

Linguistic Diversity: It is well established that the Internet is the medium over which knowledge is being organised and more importantly has the power to influence development in very powerful ways. Content over the Internet has till now been restricted to languages which follow the Latin script mostly English. This has meant that communities which do not have knowledge of these languages and scripts are loosing out on opportunities. The Government must actively encourage research and development for content development in traditional Indian languages over the Internet.

4. Security

Security is an important issue as more and more activities shift to the Internet, and involves issues like cyber-crime, spam and privacy.

Cyber Security: As India moves towards a culture of e-governance, and where more and more critical installations are connected through online means, it is extremely important to secure the safety of these cyber – installations from cyber-attacks. The recent case where Estonian (which is the most e-connected country in Europe) cyber-space was allegedly attacked by Russian hackers[1] points to the urgent need to work towards and develop a global framework towards cyber-security.

Privacy: And while the Indian government should go about strengthening its cyber defenses, it will come across gray areas where issues of national security will clash with areas of free expression and human rights. Issues of security are paramount, so are issues of privacy and free expression. The area of electronic eavesdropping is a slippery slope and one must be careful in this regard.

5. Critical Internet Resources

Critical internet resources (CIRs) include all those ‘logical’ resources which are at the very heart of the working of the Internet, and without which the Internet cannot function at all – for instance IP address, domain name allocation and other such issues.

Depletion of IPV4 addresses and the need to move to IPV6 addresses: An IP or Internet Protocol Address is the unique address which is given to any computer terminal which is connected to the Internet. The current system of IP number allocation is termed as IPV4 where each terminal has a 4 point numbering pattern (eg. 192.168.1.3). The number of IP address under this current system is limited and is expected to run out in the year 2010. The US alone controls 55% of the world’s IP addresses with the top 15 developed nations controlling 90% of the IP addresses.[2] The current level of Internet penetration in India is extremely low and the threat of IP addresses running out in the near future will be a major stumbling block in our plans to increase Internet connectivity. The solution to this impending problem is through implementing IPV6 standards, which allows for a vastly larger amount of Internet connections and which can accommodate the demand for IP address most of which will primarily emerge from developing economies.

However the magnitude of this threat does not have seem to sunk in and there have been no policy deliberations either at the global or the national level to move from an IPV4 regime to an IPV6 regime. The governments of developing nations should take this opportunity and take the lead in initiating such a dialogue, lest there arises a situation that people from India are not able to connect to the Internet because there are no more Internet connections available.

[1] http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-09/ff_estonia

[2] http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/arc/governance/2008-01/msg00003.html

The need for a positive outlook during times of conflict (for lack of a better title)

2007-12-31T04:41:00.000-08:00

The need for a positive outlook during times of conflict (for lack of a better title)

The other day, I was taking a walk in the evening when I came across this huge poster splashed across a signboard which had a picture of Babri Masjid with Kar –Sevaks demolishing it and the title to the poster screaming ‘Betrayal … Lest we forget it’ . Somehow at that moment, it made me extremely sad… and that’s because whenever people try to put things behind them and move on, posters like these bring it all back.

I have often wondered how different communities ( in this case different religions) react to situations of conflict, in the sense , the methods of conflict resolution well after the actual period of conflict is actually over (lets define this period as maybe a decade – this is just an arbitrary period) ; do they have a sense of simmering anger (of course they do!!!). However the question which I’m posing here is whether communities who have gone been situations of conflict look inward and get into a cycle of blame/retribution/self pity which then gives rise to further trauma, anguish and related emotions or do they inspite of harboring such emotions are capable of rising above it and building their life afresh. I have posed this question to a number of friends (from various communities) and have been given various responses.

At this point, I must say that there are certain thoughts/biases/assumptions (for lack of better words) that I myself bring into this discussion, some of which have been strengthened and others which have been weakened during the course of discussions with friends.

My first point is this; I believe that in order to move ahead in life, one cannot be inward looking; one needs to rise to the occasion to overcome various challenges and difficulties. While this statement is generic and not many may dispute this, this is true for communities affected by conflicts as well. In fact, in their case it is even more paramount that they look outward and start actively re-building their lives because otherwise it is very easy to get caught in a cycle of self-pity and a feeling of retribution out of which there is no escape and there is nothing to look forward to.

The second point which I find, at least in the Indian context is that there are certain communities affected by conflicts which are more likely to be more inward looking and actively look for retribution thereby possibly missing out on development opportunities and other communities (also affected by conflicts) who would harbor negative emotions of the experiences that they have gone through albeit passively and who are more likely to engage proactively in processes and activities which would ensure that over a period of time they can once again claim their rightful place in society and get back what has been taken from them . The simple point which I’m making here is that wallowing in self pity over something which has happened in the past is not an option; one must look outward and start rebuilding one’s life in order to move ahead. What I’m also saying that it does not mean that you forget what has happened with you. You take legal recourse… the chances that you would see a positive outcome during your lifetime are pretty slim…but justice will prevail. You do not create an ecology where the only job you do is to berate other communities who may have led to your community being negatively affected, you do not portray a situation where retribution is seen as martyrdom. What you do is that you pursue the process of justice and more importantly what you do is to start re-building your life. That is the only way forward.

Somewhere above I talked about communities who represent both streams of thought. At the risk of being wrong, I will name communities and pinpoint what they do and where they go right or wrong and what they need to do to right the wrong.

History has shown that the path of retribution has been one of a downward spiral from where there is no return. The partition of the sub-continent which led to the creation of India and Pakistan was an extremely dark chapter for millions of families which still continues to evoke extremely strong emotions on either side of the border. Amongst many communities which were affected by the partition was the Sindhi community (mostly Hindus). An entire people whose ancestry was founded and nurtured in the Sindh province (now in Pakistan) were uprooted and suddenly found themselves traversing thousands of kilometers and be put up in refugee camps in various parts of India. I’m absolutely sure that like different conflict affected communities, they too would have been absolutely shattered and devastated at the fact of leaving their homeland without knowing where they were headed and what was to become of them. The question to be asked is… what did they do of the anger and devastation? Did they say that, ‘hey we have been wronged and therefore we must avenge the wrongdoings that we have suffered’ or ‘ ok… well while what has happened with me has been wrong, I will not let that come in the way of my progress and will start rebuilding my life from scratch’. They chose the latter option. Refugee camps which could have become a hell-hole without a future slowly saw themselves being transformed into business centres, where people of the Sindhi community made a name for themselves and have since then been rated as some of the people with the finest business acumen in the country…and all this when without silver spoons in their mouth(s??).

The Sikh community too has gone through hell over the past 3 decades before seeing a phase of relative normalcy and prosperity from the 90’s onwards. The Khalistan movement in the 70’s and 80’s and its violent repression by the administration which culminated in Operation Bluestar to flush out militants holed up inside the Golden Temple (the holiest shrine of the Sikh community) which led to the temple complex itself close to being destroyed created deep fissures and led to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her own Sikh bodyguards. Not surprisingly Congress workers led by Congress leaders like HKL Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler amongst others went about massacring Sikhs en masse especially in and around the Delhi region. The debate about whether Khalistan would emerge as an independent nation or would remain as part of India in the form of Punjab was settled over the next few years either through state suppression and/or through new economic opportunities which made themselves available especially during the early 90s, making Punjab an economic powerhouse. I really haven’t had the opportunity to talk to many people from the Sikh community, however the few of whom I have interacted with tell me the same story which I narrated of the Sindhi community. True… they were very upset and angry with the Indian government for Operation Bluestar, for the carnage and the mass slaughter of Sikhs that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi. There were times when they actively wanted to join the Khalistan struggle… not because they may have believed in it, but as a way to get back at the government. However, at some point of time they moved on… not forgetting what had happened but making a conscious effort to put behind them what has happened and to move on in life. 3 decades hence, efforts at justice are slowly bearing fruit. Sure HKL Bhagat was acquitted… but he was made to go through hell through the courts and he died a lone and bitter man… a far cry from his ‘days of glory’. The noose seems to tightening around Jagdish Tytler too and it may not be very far away when he is held accountable for his actions.

Somewhere in the beginning, I started off with a statement where I said that I hope to illustrate both sides of the story… where one can get to look at stories of communities rising back from situations of conflict and other communities which look inward and the need therefore to rise above these difficult situations and look forward.

I was very tempted to write about those communities whom I felt were inward looking which was an impediment to their growth. Personally, I still do believe that there are elements within those communities who are inward looking and its because they tend to dominate media spaces, there is a danger in labeling the entire community in a certain way which would be the worst kind of injustice on one’s part towards that community.

As one person whom I was talking tells me … how can you even begin to tell residents of Palestine that they should look forward to life and start rebuilding their lives when there is nothing in fact they can look forward to. Their economy is in shambles, their airways, waterways and all modes of transport and communication are controlled by an apartheid state and where there are no visible means of livelihood. They probably don’t know what is going to happen the next day … whether Israeli helicopter gunships might target them claiming as they are militants and where they have to survive on dole outs from the UN. What do you even tell such people... and frankly I don’t know what to say. The same is true of conflict zones such as Kashmir and the North East or even the Naxalite affected areas.

The road to reconciliation though difficult and arduous, must be attempted in the truest sense. The best instance of reconciliation which I recall was one attempted by the South African administration after the end of apartheid. Titled as ‘Peace and Reconciliation’, the process aimed at bringing both victims and perpetrators together and attempt to create a process of unraveling the truth and finding out what even happened to individuals who lost their lives during the ant-apartheid struggle. The aim was not to create a negative atmosphere, but to make people realise their wrongs and to heal wounds which would have otherwise gone unaddressed. While some cynics were of the opinion that it let the perpetrators go almost scot-free, and the process itself did not meet its intended outcomes, the truth remains that we need more of such interventions if we are to become a more humane society.

Ahmedinejad and his politics

2007-12-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

This posting is once again something which i read over an email posting on the Iranian president and his simple ways. The URL to the original posting is given at the end. Do read that before reading the blog itself.

While I'm sure that the author of this report must have done his homework as far as this news story is concerned (inspite of the fact that the source is Fox News), the tenor of the article itself is quite disturbing. It portrays Ahmedinejad as a very simple man etc etc, we know for a fact that this probably is 1/100th of his personality trait. Lets not forget for a moment that this very same man makes the denial of the Holocaust state policy, his ultra orthodox views on the role of women in society is nothing short of appalling, he openly calls for the annihilation of a country and makes awful foreign policy which takes his country to the brink of war (and for an instant let it not be assumed that I agree with Bush's views on Iran). I think both of these world leaders are equally crazy and that their ultra hawkish views are bad news for the entire globe. I will also add Hugo Chavez to this list.

I actually wonder if someone wrote a similar article on Narendra Modi, would we have given a similar response. Yes, he has brought about development, he has brought in some sense of transparency to the bureaucracy, but the one issue which defines his rule is the divisive nature of governance which he has encouraged and to which he has been an active promoter of. So while we might applaud at the finer points, its important to be acutely aware of the larger picture, because these are not merely individuals who have a skewed point of view, rather they are leaders who then enforce their skewed writ through the might of the entire state apparatus at their disposal.

So with Gujarat going to the polls today, one can only hope that better sense prevails in the minds of the voters and they do the right thing by voting out Modi. BTW the Congress in Gujarat is nothing short of a 'B' grade version of the BJP. So God help the people of that state.

A final point on Ahmedinejad( I cant even pronounce his name)... apparently his hawkish attitude is really not endearing him to the masses back home as well.... masses including the mulah's as well... so I won't be very surprised if one sees the return of Rafsanjani or Khatemi even...

URL: http://www.apniisp.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41913

The case of IT policy and civil society non-engagement

2007-12-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

This musing is in response to an article on Internet censorship which I read today morning. ( The article is posted below ). The article talks about the fact that a man who was arrested for allegedly tainting the image of ‘Shivaji’ – a prominent Maratha(Hindu) ruler, over Orkut was finally released after 50 days… because they had got the wrong guy and he in fact was innocent…

What is disturbing is the fact that this person was behind bars for 50 days… I mean we know that there are probably hundreds of thousands of people in India and all over the world even who are behind bars for donkeys years without facing any kind of trail/not knowing why there are in there in the first place… however there are 2 aspects to this story which appalls me

1. One is this inherent disgust with the Indian citizenry which does not seem to care… and it is something which I keep talking about … and if this beautiful attitude continues to pervade us, not even the Almighty can help us… brings me to this very touching and moving poem???, which I came across a couple of years ago, and something which I thought was worth sharing… This was apparently written in a Nazi concentration camp (that’s what a lawyer friend of mine tells me)… So here it goes

They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up

And I think this quite sums up the mental attitude of citizens who dont seem to care as long as it does not affect them

2. The second point which I want to raise and specific to this context is the fact that, in the case of shaping policy for the subject under consideration… what clearly seems to be happening is that policy is already getting enacted very discreetly by the government… just last week there was this report in a newspaper(Recipe for killing internet in India - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Recipe_for_killing_Internet_in_India/articleshow/2464971.cms) , which says that a govt committee had recommended that the onus of filtering all ‘objectionable material’ on the Internet broadcast over Indian territory should fall on the ISP’s. Now, the newspaper itself said that the committee itself did not understand the nuances of the functioning of the Internet and therefore was making such wild suggestions. The truth however as we now know is that, with tremendously powerful technologies being available, it is relatively easy for governments and companies to regulate the content which is being broadcast over the Internet. As long as governments did not grasp the complete nature of the Internet, they let it develop on its own and did not interfere. However, with a deeper understanding of the Internet and the realization that the Internet in fact could make or break governments and so on, governments have started investing heavily into these technologies. In fact, for the first time this year, the government had a dedicated portion of the IT budget for procuring such powerful servers which when fitted to the backbone, could very easily differentiate content and block ‘unwanted content’. FYI… a court in Belgium has ruled that ISPs are responsible for filtering content entering that country.

So the point which I am making or trying to make is the fact that the engagement or lack of engagement by civil society in shaping policy in an area whose implications are still nebulous and where there is a real chance to do some good is damning . Amongst those few organisations in civil society itself working on this issue, there seems to be an amazing ambivalence … that ambivalence had got to do with the fact, whether one should have a policy at all ( since having a policy may in fact be detrimental to the Internet which is the last free space and so on )… and others who are fence sitters who are not too sure which way to go, but feel that not having a policy is not an option, the only question being whether to influence policy at the national or global level … since negotiating policy spaces at UN type summits could be more broader than national ones which are seen to be more restrictive. My position is that, there needs to be a policy and there can be no two ways about it. The moot question of course being, how, where and under what conditions does one being to negotiate a policy space on this front… As I said non engagement is not an option.

The article which I have referred to write this article is as follows

"Shivaji taint off techie", The Telegraph, October 25, 2007

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071025/asp/nation/story_8471391.asp

An Urban Mess

2007-09-18T20:58:00.001-07:00

Bangalore (I will gladly change the name to Namma Bengalooru once the Centre gives its permission for the name change) is witnessing some of its heaviest rains … I believe that it rained around 108 mm last Thursday (14th September 2007) and as usual the roads were clogged up with rainwater which refused to drain off well after the rains were over with. Most of this mess (the clogging up of rain water) has been rightly blamed on the man-made obstructions caused to the natural flow of rainwater that would have otherwise found its way into major water bodies and helped the rainwater drain off more quickly. Citizens and the media (who usually slumber for the rest of the year) are now asking tough questions. The BMP is sweating and in their quest to find the genesis of the problem (read scapegoats), they have declared that major obstructions including housing complexes, which have been constructed illegally atop the course of natural water bodies, must be demolished. And thus begin the demolitions in right earnest. As of today, around 11 such illegal buildings have been demolished, most of them residential.

It is a story that is not limited to Bangalore. Delhi has seen some pretty intense demolition/sealing drives against unauthorised constructions. The suburb of Ulhasnagar near Bombay also suffered a similar fate. And while there should be no leniency towards such illegal constructions, I really wonder as to who is paying for whose deeds and where does the buck stop. Reading news reports today, it was pretty apparent that the residents of these ‘illegal constructions’ were caught totally unawares that their houses were in fact unauthorised in the eyes of the law and in a few hours time, they would have no roof over their heads. And even though I have a pretty serious and uncompromising stance when it comes to issues concerning urban governance, I can’t but feel sorry for these people who are suffering for something that very honestly was not even within their control. And I’ll explain why I feel sorry for them. A couple of years ago when my sister and brother in law were scouting for a house in Bangalore, they took great pains in ensuring that they were on the right side of the law with respect to purchase of the house … which meant ensuring that the builder showed them that the ‘title’ to the land was clear… having a look at the Development Plan (DP) of the area… to ensure that the area earmarked was in fact meant for residential use. There were a couple of times when they were about to seal the deal when they realised that something was amiss… and they came pretty close to being duped …given these experiences, it took quite some time for them to satisfy themselves …and touch wood… they have a house that is not ‘illegal’, till now at least. However, what became amply clear is the fact that getting these intricate details can be an arduous task and a majority of people who buy a house are probably not aware of many of these details. Even looking at the development plan of your area is no guarantee that a space earmarked for a specific purpose is actually meant for that. It is very easy to show a wrong DP or to manipulate/misrepresent the DP in a way that can confuse the shrewdest of people.

So what I’m trying to say is that it’s next to impossible to be a 100% sure that the plot of land on which your house stands is in fact legal. One might argue that nothing in fact is a 100% and that one must satisfy oneself to a certain degree after which one must have faith in one’s actions… and while I agree with this stance, the sheer scale of racketeering in this business makes you shudder.

In the Bangalore case, it was only after the houses were demolished, did the house owners actually come to know that their apartment complex was in fact sitting atop a riverbed. And there is no way that this fact could have been omitted in a DP which clearly lays out the geographical terrain of any place and then accordingly earmarks the areas fit for development. The residents whose houses were demolished, clearly had no idea what they were in for and the DP that they had been shown at the time of construction did not highlight these facts, which is the clearest indication of collusion between builders and civic officials.

The same was the case with Delhi and Ulhasnagar. What really worries me though is the case of Bombay, cause there the problem is much greater and it is a ticking time bomb. In Bombay the DP shows huge chunks of area as being available for development (residential and commercial), however it has recently come to light that many of these areas in fact are forest land which had not been reflected in the DP. Forest land or no forest land, the truth is that these are now full fledged residential areas and the implications of declaring these constructions as illegal would be catastrophic and would probably displace 40% of Bombay’s populations… a ominous thought indeed. The truth also is that the courts will declare these constructions as illegal and all hell will break loose … a situation very similar to that in Delhi where there was full fledged rioting. It is a very scary proposition indeed and something that I would not even like to consider.

In the case of Bombay, it is quite clear that 2 departments (forest and revenue) did not talk to each other while the DP was getting made … and while this is something, which happened close to 20 years ago… it will be people who invested their hard earned money in purchasing a home who will be made to suffer. And here, the law must show compassion liberally towards house owners and in fact treat them as victims rather than criminals. In the case of Delhi and Bangalore, it is a clear instance of collusion between builders and civic authorities and here this nexus must be brought to book. In Delhi, they said that nothing could be done since the violations happened close to 2 decades ago and the government officials who allowed these violations are now long gone … some retired … some dead … and some transferred… I don’t agree and I think that these people must be held liable for their actions and an example must be set. In Bangalore, the slide is more recent and there might still be time to catch the perpetrators.

In conclusion, I think 2 things must be done… the law must really look at each case independently and not merely go by the book … and house owners must be more vigilant towards property investments … though it is a tough job as I have said earlier.

One final point that I would like to make is that, this entire mad rush for land is part of a larger malice emerging out of the ill effects of urbanisation and that needs to be addressed… though I will keep that for later.

Blogs Anyone???

2007-09-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

So what does blogging entail and why should one take it up or not take it up…. I think (and I could be wholly wrong even) that the word ‘blog’ arrived from the word ‘weblog’ which literally means maintaining an online dairy. (Note: MS Word refuses to acknowledge the word ‘blog’… it gives me a spell check error and instead suggests that I replace the word ‘blog’ with ‘bog’… quite emancipatory I must say… but seriously what else would you expect from MS Word) Somewhere along the way …some person decided to give it a jazzy name and hence the word ‘blog’ evolved. Pretty catchy I must say… A blog could relate to anything… your thoughts about life capturing different emotions, hues, various moods etc etc…in essence it is a personal diary which reveals much about you (or does it J) … could be personal ramblings, which you would like to share with a certain audience (oops … I mean ‘constituency’ … since the words ‘audience’, ‘target-group’ and their ilk are not supposed to be used by development practitioners… and for better or for worse I am one by qualification...sigh…lol). However, if one goes back to the very classical understanding of a personal diary, diaries are meant to be extremely intimate in nature… usually not shared with all and sundry… a passage to one’s deepest secrets privy only to oneself.

So, if a blog is the web equivalent of a personal diary, what is it that makes all those people who maintain blogs literally advertise it to the entire world… and trust me even with the strictest of privacy settings, it’s impossible for your blog to remain anonymous on the big bad world of the Internet (so my notions about the Internet or at least some facets of it have come out pretty strongly in this sentence). I have a strong hunch that people who maintain blogs are not privacy purists anyways… they typically know that information of this sort is bound to be accessed by people the world over. So I come back to my original question… why do people blog… why do they reveal so much about themselves… and here I think there are two important points to understand… one about the seductive nature of the Internet and the second point, about human psyche, which typically likes to flirt with this seductive nature of things… Internet or otherwise. And at this point, I must draw your attention to something similar … not exactly a parallel but something which intrigues me immensely … it’s from the original Star Wars Trilogy of which I am a HUGE fan… it’s a beautiful trilogy…masterpiece even… and has something for everyone…and you can draw parallels with different aspects of life … the thing about that trilogy which really intrigues me is the entire concept of ‘the dark side’ and especially ‘Darth Vader’… I mean, there is something about the dark side/Darth Vader that really pulls you towards it… you know it represents evil and yet you are completely enamoured by it. The tremendous power that it brings along with it, the sway that it has over matter … there is something extremely compelling about it which draws you to it… The seductive nature of the Internet is akin to the power of the dark side… it completely overwhelms you… though by no means am I suggesting that the Internet is evil ;-) … just to illustrate the power of the Internet :).

So now I have this situation where I was so caught up about analysing about the dark side that I have totally forgotten what I am writing about… So coming back to blogs, bloggers and the Internet (MS Word once again reminds me that the word is not ‘Bloggers’ … but in fact ‘loggers’… thank you MS word once again for showing the light), it is extremely easy to put a cloak of anonymity over who you really are. The Internet does not ask who you are, does not demand any kind of verification. It accepts you as you are and allows you to be who/what you want to be (I think this line is borrowed from some movie or something… can’t remember which one though). And therefore it is not entirely surprising that millions of people the world over are coming online and giving themselves an ‘online-avtaar’. People create blogs, communicate with fellow bloggers, share stories, criticise each other (constructively and otherwise) and so on.

The human mind is a unique entity. It requires to vent, to be acknowledged, loved, loathed and so on. And the human mind will search for all possible avenues to satiate these diverse needs. A blog is the simplest way in the pursuit of the above points. When we want to vent, all we need to do is to go ‘clickity clang’ on the keyboard and voilà… there you have it… a blog allows you to create your own truths … it is your own space to do whatever you want …well at least virtually :). Some of us would blog to just express our thoughts which would otherwise have been difficult to get across other medium, while others would, as I said hope to achieve something totally different. Who knows what are my hidden motivations to jot down these points ;-)…

Personally, I think that blogging is a good stress buster, mentally and physically (you get a good exercise for your fingers and eye muscles). It has tremendous potential for the immediate future, some people have referred to it as a new wave in journalism… which allows for people to do their own thing… and while I am initially tempted to agree with that point… a majority of the blogs which I have read are nothing but vanity and trivia … they represent the values of people who are presently connected to the Internet… typically the yuppie middle class population (I’m talking about Indian bloggers) and we very well know what kind of value system they represent and the danger in equating their writing to journalism and their views as the voice of India… Therefore, at this point of time, lets leave journalism to serious journalists (such as those from Indian Express and Hindu) and take blogs less seriously, however at the same time hope that increased Internet penetration will bring about a divergent population online who will and I’m sure that they will… take up blogging on serious topics and that’s when blogs will truly realise their potential.

P.S. - Darth Vader on the Internet

“The Internet … it is your destiny”