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Wednesday, 22 June 2016
योगाचा निरामय संवाद!-YOGADAY
योगाचा निरामय संवाद!
दुसरा आंतरराष्ट्रीय योगदिवस साजरा झाला. सगळ्या जगात लोकांनी उत्साहात एकत्रित येऊन योगासने केली. स्वत: नरेंद्र मोदी यांनी चंदीगड येथे योगासने केली. योग ही भारताने जगाला दिलेली एक अमूल्य अशी देणगी आहे. आपले आरोग्य अधिक चांगले राहावे म्हणून योगासनांच्या हालचाली करायच्या, स्नायू बळकट करायचे इतकेच योगाचे प्रयोजन नाही. भारतीय तत्त्वज्ञानात योगाचा अर्थ खूप व्यापक आहे. भारतीय तत्त्वज्ञान हे केवळ स्वत:भोवती केंद्रित कधीच नव्हते आणि नाही. व्यक्ती, समष्टी, सृष्टी आणि परमेष्टी अशी विशाल होत जाणारी वर्तुळे आहेत. या सर्व वर्तुळांना स्पर्शून जाणारी एक स्पर्शिका म्हणजे योग आहे. योग हा एक निरामय संवाद आहे. व्यक्ती आणि समष्टी, व्यक्ती आणि सृष्टी, व्यक्ती आणि परमेष्टी यांच्यातील हा एक विकासाचा संवाद आहे. २१ जून हा दिवस आंतरराष्ट्रीय योगदिवस म्हणून जगाला सुचविला याचे कारण, हा दिवस वर्षातला सर्वात मोठा दिवस असतो. त्यामुळे एक ऊर्जावान दिवस म्हणून या दिवसाचे एक महत्त्व आहे. त्यामुळे पंतप्रधान नरेंद्र मोदी यांनी हा योगदिवस साजरा करावा, असा प्रस्ताव संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघाला दिला आणि त्यांनी तो स्वीकारला. भारताला स्वराज्य मिळाले तेव्हापासून जास्तीत जास्त काळ सत्तेत राहिलेल्या कॉंग्रेसच्या नेत्यांनी आणि सरकारांनी सतत पाश्‍चात्त्यांची नक्कल करण्यातच धन्यता मानली. भारतीय संस्कृतीसुद्धा जगाला काही देऊ शकते, यावर या लोकांचा विश्‍वासच नव्हता. जगाकडून विशेषत: पाश्‍चात्त्य देशांकडून उधार उसनवारी करून, भ्रष्ट नक्कल करून, स्वत:ला धन्य समजण्याचाच या लोकांचा स्वभाव वेळोवेळी प्रकट झाला. नरेंद्र मोदी पंतप्रधान झाल्यानंतर पहिल्यांदा, जगाला देण्यासाठीही या देशाकडे काहीतरी आहे, याची जाणीव आपल्या देशवासीयांना करून दिली. जागतिक योगदिवस साजरा करण्याचे आवाहन त्यांनी संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघाला केले आणि ते मान्य झाले. सर्व भारतीय नागरिक आणि जगाच्या कानाकोपर्‍यात असलेले भारतीय वंशाचे नागरिक यांची छाती गर्वाने फुलून आली. माझ्या देशाकडे जगाला देण्यासारखे काहीतरी आहे, याची अनुभूती पहिल्यांदा भारतीयांना आली. योग आणि प्राणायाम म्हणजे केवळ हातापायांच्या हालचाली आणि श्‍वसनाचा व्यायाम नाही. यामागे वैज्ञानिक आणि मानसिक प्रक्रियेचा विचार केलेला आहे. मानवी शरीर हे केेवळ भौतिक तत्त्वांनी बनलेले नसून यात अभौतिक तत्त्वांचाही समावेश आहे, याचा परिपूर्ण विचार करून योगाची रचना केलेली आहे. अनेक असाध्य रोगांवर योग आणि आयुर्वेद यांनी निराकरण करण्याचा मार्ग दाखविला आहे. योगाच्या माध्यमातून हिंदुत्व थोपण्याचा किंवा भगवेकरण करण्याचा प्रयत्न चालविला असल्याचा सरधोपट आरोप पोथीनिष्ठ डावे आणि समाजवादी करत असतात. हिंदुत्व ही एक जीवनशैली आहे, हे समजून न घेता हिंदुत्वाचा अर्थ फक्त प्रार्थनापद्धतीपुरता संकुचित करून जे लोक हिंदुत्वाकडे पाहतात, तेच अशा प्रकारचा आरोप करू शकतात. योगाच्या बाबतीत रूढार्थाने जे हिंदू नाहीत अशा अनेकांना अत्यंत आश्‍चर्यकारक अनुभूती आलेल्या आहेत. नांदेड जिल्ह्यात किनवट येथे एक मुस्लिम तरुण काही कारणाने पाठीच्या कण्याने आजारी झाला. अनेक औषधोपचार केले. युनानी, ऍलोपॅथी, फिजिओथेरेपी अशा प्रकारच्या चिकित्सापद्धती अवलंबून झाल्या, पण झोपलेल्या या तरुणाला उठून बसता येणे अशक्य होत होते. असहाय अवस्थेत त्याला कुणीतरी योग विद्याधाममध्ये जाण्याचा सल्ला दिला. योगाचा चमत्कार असा की, योगोपचारामुळे हा तरुण उठून बसला. आपला हा पुनर्जन्म आहे, असे मानून त्याने उर्वरित आयुष्य योगाच्या प्रचाराला समर्पित करण्याचे ठरविले. घरात योगाचे वर्ग सुरू केले. भिंतीवर मोठा ॐ कार काढलेला आहे. त्यासमोर बसून हा योगाचे वर्ग घेतो. स्वामी रामदेव यांचा संपर्क आल्यानंतर हा तरुण त्यांच्या पतञ्जली योग समितीचे काम करतो आहे. स्वामी रामदेव यांच्यासोबत परदेशातही जाऊन आला आहे. योग हा भगवेकरण करण्याचा प्रयत्न आहे, योग करताना ॐ कार म्हणायचा की नाही, अशा सर्व खोडसाळ विषयांना हा किनवटचा मुस्लिम तरुण हे एक जिवंत उत्तर आहे. आता दिल्लीतील योगदिवसाच्या कार्यक्रमात, दिल्लीचे मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल सहभागी झाले नाहीत. त्यांनी प्रोटोकॉलचा मुद्दा उपस्थित केला आहे. योग ही स्वत:चे अहंकार समर्पित करण्यापासून सुरू होणारी प्रक्रिया आहे. अहंकार विसरायचे तेथेही हे लोक जर आपले पद आणि प्रतिष्ठा यांचे गळू जर सोडायला तयार नसतील, तर यांना काय भवितव्य? दिल्लीमध्ये प्रजासत्ताकदिन तोंडावर असताना, जे महाशय सगळे प्रोटोकॉल झुगारून उपोषण करण्याची आणि प्रजासत्ताकदिनाची परेड उधळून लावण्याची भाषा करत होते, त्यांनी प्रोटोकॉलचाच बाऊ करावा, हे अनाकलनीय आहे. काहीही झाले की, ऊठसूट मोदी यांच्यावर तेच ते गुजरातच्या दंगलीचे गलिच्छ आरोप करायचे. म्हणे योग म्हणजे तोडणे नव्हे तर जोडणे. गुजरातच्या दंगलींचा दोष मोदी यांच्या माथी मारून त्यांना बदनाम करण्याचे सगळे प्रयत्न पराभूत झाले. न्यायालयांनी मोदी यांना कोणत्याही प्रकरणात दोषी मानले नाही. भारतीय जनतेने तर त्यांना पंतप्रधानपदी नेऊन बसविले! मात्र, ज्यांनी हिंदुत्वाला, भारतीयत्वाला विरोध करण्याची सुपारीच घेतली आहे, त्यांना मोदी यांच्यावर तेच ते आरोप करण्याशिवाय दुसरा पर्याय तरी कोणता? योग करणे म्हणजे तोडणे असे कोणी सांगत असेल, तर किनवटच्या या तरुणासारखे अनेक जण हे त्यांना सणसणीत उत्तर आहे. मोदी यांनी योगदिवसाच्या कार्यक्रमात बोलताना योगाच्या क्षेत्रात काम करणार्‍यांना पुरस्कार तर जाहीर केलेच, पण योगाचे महत्त्व आपल्या शैलीत सांगितले. योग हा झिरो बजेट आरोग्य विमा आहे, असे मार्मिक वर्णन मोदी यांनी केले आहे. आगामी वर्षात आरोग्यसंपन्न भारताचा संकल्प करण्याची गरज होती. देशात मोठ्या संख्येने मधुमेह आणि उच्च रक्तदाबाचे रुग्ण आहेत. मोदी यांनी योगाच्या माध्यमातून मधुमेहावर नियंत्रण मिळविण्यासाठी योगाचार्यांनी लक्ष केंद्रित करावे, असे आवाहन केले आहे. एखाद्या पंतप्रधानांनी आपल्या देशाचा वैभवशाली ठेवा कशात आहे, याचा अचूक अंदाज घेऊन देशातील लोकांचे आरोग्य सुधारण्यासाठी वर्षभरासाठी देशाला अशा प्रकारे कार्यक्रम देण्याची ही पहिलीच वेळ असेल. भारतीय जीवनदर्शन संपूर्ण जगातील मानवतेला पावन करणारे आहे, हे केवळ शब्दांमधून सांगून पुरेसे नाही. हे जीवनदर्शन भारतीय समाजाने जगून दाखवावे लागेल. जगाला या उदात्त भारतीय संस्कृतीचे दर्शन आपल्या जीवनदर्शनातून घडवावे लागेल. योग हा त्याचा एक विषय आहे. येत्या वर्षभरात आपल्या स्वत:साठी, समाजासाठी, देशासाठी आणि जगातील मानवतेसाठी योगमय जीवनाचा योग आपल्या जीवनातून जगाला दाखवावा लागेल
Dear Mr Parrikar, Do Visit Military Training Centres To See Raw Recruits Become Soldiers
Dear Mr Parrikar, Do Visit Military Training Centres To See Raw Recruits Become Soldiers
LT GENERAL VIJAY OBEROI
Monday, June 20, 2016
THE CITIZEN
http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/NewsDetail/index/4/8017/Dear-Mr-Parrikar-Do-Visit-Military-Training-Centres-To-See-Raw-Recruits-Become-Soldiers
Dear Shri Parrikar,
It was good to see your photographs interacting with air force pilots under training, in both the print and electronic media; launching the new Trainer HTT 40; and testing the ergonomics of the pilot’s seats in the Trainers!
It is this news report that set me thinking about your visits to various military units and formations. I was a little perturbed to note that you seem to have neglected visiting units and formations of the army, possibly because the army modernisation continues to languish and hence there is limited scope of inaugurating anything new, for the equipment currently in service was introduced decades back and needs no inauguration in its present state of obsolescence!
In your nearly two years in office as the Raksha Mantri of our nation, you have interacted with the navy, the air force, as also on a few occasions with the army, in that order, usually at rarefied levels. You have sailed in naval ships, including an aircraft carrier; had ‘a day at sea’ as the navy loves to call it; and have visited at least one submarine. This is good, as a defence minister should make as many visits as he can to units and formations of the field force, instead of only listening to the MoD bureaucrats and ordering committees, whose reports are rarely acted upon. Such visits also add to your image, which is oxygen for all political leaders, especially with photo-ops appearing in the media!
Since I do not see acquisitions of any new helicopters; tanks; medium artillery; air defence missiles and guns; and even the humble rifle that every soldier carries; on the horizon, for the army, photo-ops may be somewhat incongruous! However, may I suggest an apparently mundane activity, but one that is extremely important, so that you are able to witness first hand as to how the army manages to still be professionally effective, even with the ancient weaponry it is equipped with. The activity I am suggesting is the high grade training that the army imparts to its officers and soldiers. We have a very large number of training establishments, at every conceivable level for our officers, JCO’s and jawans, but perhaps the lowest level is the most important.
It may be a good idea to start visiting our training institutions and perhaps it may be best to start at the lowest level and see how the army converts rural and urban young men into effective, proud and highly capable soldiers. My suggestion, for whatever it is worth is that it may be a good idea to witness how the army trains its largest component, the infantry soldier, which has been and continues to be the cutting edge of the army. As you must be aware, the army fields over 500 infantry battalions and they are the ones who are in the forefront of all types of operations, be they war; manning the LC in J&K and the LAC on the northern borders; counter-insurgency operations; internal security duties; disaster relief; or any other duty you can think of. Despite this, their modernisation somehow remains on the back-burner and yet they deliver!
It is my suggestion that you start by visiting an infantry regiment training centre and see how gawky youngsters get transformed to professionally competent, smart and efficient soldiers, who then are ready to sacrifice even their lives for their regiment, the army and the nation.
I strongly recommend that you choose the centre of my regiment, viz. the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre at Belgaum for your first visit. I am not being parochial, but there are a number of good reasons for such a selection. For starters, it is the best infantry training centre and has been adjudged so a number of times. It is also the closest to your home state and you speak the same lingo as the recruits. It is also the only regimental centre that has fought bravely in major campaigns, in its earlier ‘avatar’ of 114th Marathas, which won great laurels in the Battle of Sharqat in Mesopotamia during World War I and was made the training centre of the regiment during the reorganisation of the army in 1921. It also played a sterling role in the Liberation of Goa by organising the operational and logistics base for launching military operations to evict the Portuguese in 1961.
There is one unique and additional reason. The Regiment and specifically its senior most battalion, the First Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry, which is popularly known as Jangi Paltan, the nom du guerre that was awarded to it within 20 years of its raising in August 1768, for its bravery in every battle, would be celebrating its 250 years of Raising in 2018. Prior to celebrating its bicentenary (200 years of Raising) in 1968, it had volunteered to serve in the then most difficult terrain in the country, viz. the cold desert of Ladakh at forbidding heights. Siachen Glacier was not a battlefield at that time. Now, prior to celebrating its 250 years of Raising, it has again volunteered to serve in Ladakh and that too on the Siachen Glacier!
Within a year of the raising of Jangi Paltan, the Second Battalion of the Regiment, known as the Kali Panchwin was raised, and other battalions followed in succession.
I was commissioned in the Jangi Paltan; fought the 1965 India-Pakistan War with them; was part of the bicentenary celebrations in 1968, as a major with less than eight years’ service; and hope to be with them in the Sestercentinial (250 years) celebrations in 2018.
Reverting back to my suggestion, may I request you to visit our Regimental Centre at Belgaum and spend a day with the recruits; witness how they are trained in Physical Training (PT); Drill; Weapons Training, including bayonet fighting and firing; Map Reading; Education and Computer Training; Orientation Training for serving in different types of terrain; Malakhamb and other Maratha sports and games; and interact with them. It will be a proud day for the recruits under training; their Officer, JCO and NCO instructors; and indeed the entire Regiment. You will also get an intimate insight to the glorious and gallant history of one of the oldest regiments of the Indian Army. In all regiments the pride of place is accorded to symbols that are dear and inspirational for the Regiment. You will see these too and they would include the War Memorial with the statue of Chhatrapati Shiva Ji Maharaj as the centre piece astride his horse; the Centre Quarter Guard; the Officers Mess showcasing its invaluable artefacts; and of course the Regimental Museum, our heritage and the reverence with which they are preserved and handled.
However, it is the soldiers who continue to be the soul and the most valuable part of every regiment. You would be able to see them resplendent in their uniforms, with their colourful red and green hackles fluttering in the Belgaum breeze, or in combat dresses or both.
Last but not the least, as a continuation of the old adage – “the army marches on its stomach”, you will be able to partake of the delicious and unique spicy Maratha cuisine with the recruits, the NCO instructors, the JCO’s and the officers.
The present Colonel of our Regiment, Lt Gen PJS Pannu is currently serving in Army Headquarters as Director General Infantry. I am sure he would plan a visit by you at your convenience, whenever you so desire.
Do start visiting and interacting with our troops, Sir; they are the best you will find anywhere.
The Many Shades of Violence-Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain
The Many Shades of Violence
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain
Despite the influence of radical Islam and the antipathy of the Kashmiri youth towards everything Indian, a positive that remains is that radical religious fervour has not travelled the full distance. It is existent, yet is different from that of the
Don’t fight the war against waste in my backyard
The many shades of violence
Sub-conventional conlict: Security personnel after an encounter with militants, at Raj Bagh Police station in Jammu. Low-intensity conflict is peculiar to regions. PTI
A recent media report revealed that a Jaish-e-Mohammad "suicide bomber" has been apprehended in Baramula in Jammu and Kashmir. In the 26 years of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, suicide bombing has been a rarity. I do recall that we had one or perhaps two attempts at suicide bombing at the Batwara gate of Badami Bagh Cantonment, Srinagar. In one such event in 2001, a young Kashmiri student studying abroad blew himself up in a Maruti 800 while attempting to ram the double-gate security system.
There is much difference between a "suicide bomber" and a "suicide attacker". Most people confuse the two and treat them as synonymous. A suicide bomber comes strapped with explosives or drives a vehicle laden with explosives to take on a specific target or a gathering and cause maximum casualties. The suicide attacker is one who is armed to the teeth, takes hostages but isn't wired and geared to blow himself. He targets individuals and groups at random and is prepared to die in the response of the security forces (SF), without making any serious effort to escape.
The regretful assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a rare case of suicide bombing in India. The kind of security measures you need to take against threats of that kind can actually paralyse societies. Ask the Pakistanis, Afghans and Iraqis; no one knows better than them. India has been fortunate in this regard despite a clutch of internal security threats. It is the Improvised Explosive Device or IED which has been the usual weapon here, for many years.
The IED was truly introduced as a military weapon in our context by the LTTE in Sri Lanka in 1987. Our troops used to the conventional anti-personal mines thought that we could use detection methods to unearth the IEDs and mines but the LTTE's Johnny mine, was virtually non-detectable. The LTTE employed more IEDs than mines. Those were the days when remote control and mobile- initiated IEDs had not come into being.
When I mentioned the role of IEDs in military operations at a talk to the US Marines in Hawaii in 2000, I received blank stares. Two years later, the Marines were battling IEDs in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. The Hollywood film Hurt Locker captured the threat of IEDs most graphically. The US came up with various counter-IED concepts but could never achieve supremacy over the car bomb in particular.
India has been free from car bombs quite unlike our neighbours, Pakistan and to an extent even Sri Lanka. There is hardly a counter measure available against them and methods of prior detection or controlled detonation haven't fully succeeded.
The last time a major car-bomb incident took place was in 2004, when an Army bus was targeted by terrorists near Pattan using a Maruti wired and laden with explosives. It only killed the driver. Another attempt at Udhampur in 2011 did not succeed. The last time a major IED was successfully detonated in Kashmir was on July 20, 2008, on the Srinagar-Baramula highway. Nine brave Army soldiers travelling home were killed. Does seven years of absence of such terror activity indicate a transformation of conflict?
Conflict undergoes transformation for various reasons. Among them is the availability of resources, both human and material. Good intelligence ensured targeting of "IED doctors" who are essential for the fabrication of IEDs. There is no dearth of explosive available within Kashmir, mostly for quarrying and none of it is under security control; detonators are also available but it was the cleaning out of IED doctors which did the trick. IEDs in Manipur still appear to be more frequent, particularly on rural roads but in Naxal areas the frequency is even higher.
One of the ways of preventing IED attacks is to minimise movement. The security forces in Naxal areas need to open roads just once or maximum twice a month with all light logistics maintenance being done by helicopters. This was the model the Indian Army adopted in Sri Lanka. It dramatically reduced IED incidents and, therefore, casualties. The CRPF badly needs aviation support which can enable this.
Focusing on suicide attacks, often referred to as Fidayeen attacks, we can see that 1999-2003 was the period in Jammu and Kashmir when these were at the highest pitch. Very few locals were ever involved. These terrorists were sometimes death-row convicts from Pakistani jails and even a few HIV patients motivated for the afterlife. Against these, a high level of alert and physical security measures were required which forced out-of-proportion deployment. We have not seen too many of these type of attacks in the North-East or the Naxal areas, where it is usually ambushes on which insurgents depend.
In 1999, almost in conjunction with the operations in Kargil, there was a sudden surge in these sneak suicide attacks against military garrisons. It was a phase immediately after the virtual drying up of the presence of foreign (other than Pakistani) terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. The security forces had to expend much of their budgets to raise masonry walls and wire obstacles, besides establishing double gates and execution of domination of their perimeters.
Suicide attacks of the 26/11 variety are similar operations on a larger scale. Attempts to infiltrate the Srinagar airport in November 2000 and the recent events at Pathankot are also examples at varying levels. In today's environment, the vulnerability of North Punjab and the Jammu-Kathua sector is higher for such suicide attacks because of the ease of infiltration and availability of potential high-value targets in the vicinity of the border. Pakistan-based terror groups, backed by ISI, have a supply chain of potential suicide attackers and even bombers, psyched and motivated with religious fervour.
Currently in Kashmir it isn't easy to carry out such attacks, unless it is by home- grown renegades. Despite the influence of radical Islam and the antipathy of the Kashmiri youth towards everything Indian, a positive that remains is that radical religious fervour has not travelled the full distance. It is existent, yet is different from the Taliban, TTP or Daesh variety. Which is why, the hope holds out that given suitable psychological conditioning and a positive outreach the situation can still be recovered. The recently experienced tactics of mob-based obstruction of Army and Police at encounter sites in Kashmir is considered by some as virtual suicide tactics. This is rare in the sheer volume of turnout but not something unseen in other areas where there is low-intensity conflict. It is a dangerous trend which is emboldening resistance, just as stone throwing did in 2008-10. The intent of separatists here is to showcase the David-and-Goliath effect to the Rights' community; picked up from Palestinian Intifada but taken beyond.
Sub-conventional violence is a subset of hybrid and asymmetric warfare. It is peculiar to regions and communities and the dynamics need detailed study by security experts and psychologists to determine counter-narratives which will work against them. There is no all-in-one formula to counter such violence, least of all the use of unbridled counter-violence, especially after stabilisation
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Millions stretch and bend as Indian PM Modi leads International Yoga Day exercises-PAKISTAN NEWSPAPER REPORT
Millions stretch and bend as Indian PM Modi leads International Yoga Day exercises
21st June 2016 | AFP
CHANDIGARGH: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called yoga a "people's mass movement" as he took to the mat Tuesday along with millions of others worldwide to celebrate the ancient practice.
Across India, sailors, soldiers, school children and bureaucrats bent and twisted their bodies from early morning at mass outdoor sessions to mark the second International Yoga Day.
Sessions were also held around the world including at the Sydney Opera House where colourful mats were spread outside the Australian landmark, while Afghans and foreigners gathered at the Indian embassy in Kabul.
Yoga-loving Modi, dressed in a white tracksuit, led more than 30,000 people in the northern city of Chandigarh for a mass session where they performed poses and breathing exercises at the outdoor Capitol Complex.
"Do not wait, make yoga a part of your life," Modi urged in a brief speech to mark the event, an idea he successfully asked the United Nations to adopt.
"This is a day linked with good health and now it has become a people's mass movement," the 65-year-old premier said.
Modi took a short break to inspect the poses of his fellow yogis, who included students and soldiers, before returning to his spot.
His ministers were also dispatched to cities around India to stretch and bend alongside school children, while the navy tweeted photos of sailors on mats spread atop an aircraft carrier.
Modi, who credits yoga for his ability to work long hours on little sleep, has been spearheading an initiative to reclaim the practice as an historic part of Indian culture after his Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014.
Indian scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence of poses found inscribed on stones and references to Yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.
Modi, who has established a government ministry charged with promoting yoga, last year led around 35,000 people in New Delhi in an outdoor session to mark the first world yoga day.
In this photograph released by the Indian Press Infor
'He is Raghuram Rajan, nothing more, nothing less' – Counterpoint to doomsday theories
'He is Raghuram Rajan, nothing more, nothing less' – Counterpoint to doomsday theories
'We must give Rajan respect, but let’s not elevate him to the pantheon of gods.'
Ramanathan S.| Sunday, June 19, 2016 - 17:07
PTI
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Since RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s announcement that he will not me seeking another term, several commentators and observers have slammed the Modi government for not retaining him.
We speak to one of the people who believe that it was the right decision to let Rajan go. MR Venkatesh, a Chartered Accountant based in Chennai, and a popular commentator voicing concerns of the Indian right, speaks on Rajan, the hype and the reality.
Do you think it is bad for the Indian economy that Raghuram Rajan is leaving the RBI?
First I must say that Raghuram Rajan is very respected and knowledgeable, and he is one among those at the high table of economists in the world at any point in time. He shot to fame sometime in 2008 when he predicted the American crisis.
But I must add that someone like S Gurumurthy had predicted the American crisis far back as 2001. And Dattopant Thengadi predicted the downfall of USSR in 1975. Even professors like Varadarajan of Vivekananda college in Chennai have spoken about it.
But they don’t have a Harvard, Stanford or Chicago behind them. So they are not talked about in the local media. They are not fair, they are not accented, they don’t have a foreign degree, they don’t speak like him – they are not the kind Lutyens’ Delhi recognizes.
Raghuram Rajan’s recognition comes from that. He has pedigree I don’t deny, but there are several people of the same pedigree, homegrown and with the same credentials as him or more. We have had governors in the past, and will have more in the future.
YV Reddy did insulate India from the global economic meltdown in 2008, and we did not celebrate him. Subba Rao did a great job, but we did not give him the kind of credit that he deserved. We don’t recognize Bimal Jalan for his contribution.
Suddenly we have terms like ‘rockstar economists’ for foreign-bred economists like Rajan. We must give him respect, but let’s not elevate him to the pantheon of gods. He is Raghuram Rajan, nothing more, nothing less.
So he is a man of good pedigree. He has hinted that he wanted to continue. Don’t you think that the government should have done more to retain him? Would India not have benefitted from it?
Every exit has to be graceful. But let’s look at his entry, when he was appointed in 2013. He has come on a vacation to India. He has not resigned from the University in Chicago, has he? Has he resigned? And he is all set to go back to Chicago now, it is like he was on a holiday here, to put it crudely.
If he was so sure that he is getting back to academia, that means he was only on leave. If he was only on leave, then can he truly be "independent"?
Do you see any serious questioning for having a part-time RBI governor? Did the media ever question him? And has he applied for American green card? Would China appoint a banker with an American green card?
He is pedigreed, but these are questions and unsettled debates. He is still probably on the payroll of the University of Chicago even if he is not being paid by them. Don’t you think these questions need to be asked? It was never asked, and if this government feels that a part-timer cannot be a full-time RBI governor, then the government can decide not extend his term.
And I want to make it clear, whether it is Arvind Subramanian, Arvind Panagariya or Raghuram Rajan, the moment their term is over, they take the first business-class ticket out of India, and pontificate as to why India does no grow.
But these questions notwithstanding, do you think he has done a good job in the past three years?
I will give you some examples.
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu has many small businesses, and the whole textile industry is not doing well, so there are huge NPAs. More than 200 mills are facing problems. There are no buyers for these assets so even bankers cannot do anything about it.
Take Tiruchy’s case. All the small businesses there are facing problems because of a flawed purchase policy of the BHEL. So they are all on losses.
Now take the case of Sivakasi. Here cracker producers are facing problems due to competition from China. There is a policy issue here, and there is an identification problem.
Now tell me what has RBI done in identifying the remedies for these issues? It is the regulator of the banks. All of them are not scoundrels, all of them are not willful defaulters. Majority of them are honest people and have gone NPA for reasons beyond their control.
In terms of identification of NPAs, he has been late. In terms of providing solutions, he has been well behind the curve. And in terms of going ahead, it is not what the country wants.
But he has been credited with controlling inflation?
There is a big difference between the market in 2013 and now. Oil prices have dropped significantly. Fiscal deficit has come done because of that. So interest rates come down, so everything has come down. We can ask, what has he done for dal prices going up? He cannot do much about it, but we don’t ask him. Then don’t credit him entirely for controlling inflation as well. We say that Modi has reaped the benefits of oil prices going down, why can’t we say Rajan also did?
Now let me tell you what the biggest problem is with Raghuram Rajan.
Corporate lending massively increased under the UPA government. But revenue did not grow enough. So corporate earnings are behind the curve, but the loans are highly leveraged. What has he done about it?
But what could he have done?
But as a regulator if you say you will only report, then even I can be a regulator. What has he done about it? Tell me one step? Has he done any deleveraging?
Not all corporates are rogues, some of them have put it in projects and they have been stuck. This is where deleveraging has been done. He cannot sit in his office and say ‘oh all of them are bad boys’. That even my grandmother can do. Anyone can criticize, but what has he done.
Don’t you think the political attack carried out on him was not warranted? Why was the national interest argument brought in by Swamy?
If you look at this way – the PM has not yielded to media pressure. He has put his foot down on his decision. At least the authority of the PM has been restored. It is not like the previous government where media touts were discussing appointments.
As for Swamy, whatever his politics, please let us not forget he is a top notch economist. So if he has an issue, why should he not raise it?
It can be raised, but why talk about national interest and doubting his intentions?
India still runs on small family-run businesses. These are the people running the economy, and asking for money. And the government wanted to give them a Mudra bank. But Rajan has opposed it. We need such banks, but he did not understand how India works. Swamy understood this problem.
Further, the licenses to the new private banks were given in contravention of the RBI guidelines. That was problematic. These are the issues Swamy pointed out.
There was no allegation of him being anti-national, he is just not national enough.
He is a smart economist, but not a smart Indian economist.
Everybody’s predicting a doomsday scenario for India, billions of dollars will flow out of the country now that Rajan is not seeking a second term. How would you react to these predictions?
If Rajan has left the Indian economy in such a fragile situation that it will be impacted just by his exit, then for the sake of India, we should let him go
India ranks 10th in FDI inflows: UNCTAD report
India ranks 10th in FDI inflows: UNCTAD report
India’s FDI inflows rose to $44 billion in 2015 from $35 billion in 2014, and the growth has been across the board
The US tops in FDI inflows, with China at third place and India at 10th. Graphic: Naveen Kumar Saini/Mint
The US tops in FDI inflows, with China at third place and India at 10th. Graphic: Naveen Kumar Saini/Mint
New Delhi: India continues to be among the top ten countries in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows globally and the fourth in developing Asia, as per the World Investment Report 2016 by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
India’s FDI inflows have increased to $44 billion in 2015 as compared to $35 billion in 2014, and the growth has been across the board, the report said.
A surge in investments in the first four months of 2016 is mainly on account of the Make in India initiative, along side liberalization measures and reforms initiated by the National Democratic Alliance, which make India an attractive investment decision, according to Nagesh Kumar, who heads the South, South-West Asia office of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
The huge potential offered by India, the fastest growing major economy, is also one of the main reasons, he added.
To be sure, China with more than three times India’s FDI at $136 billion in 2015 is ranked third in terms of FDI flows among all countries, as per the report.
In terms of outflows, there has been a decline in most developing and transition regions. However, China is one of the exceptions.
According to Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist and senior director (head, public finance) at India Ratings and Research, “The declining trend in India’s outflows can be explained by the collapse in the commodity side. In the past most of the corporates used to buy assets outside and that too commodities such as coal and oil. Their own good performance aided to this.”
Globally, FDI activity has increased by 38%, in a signal that a revival in investment sentiments is on the cards.
“The way India is performing in terms of growth rate now along with our competitive location in terms of wages and policies like Stand Up India should benefit us in future. At the same time, issues like land acquisition, GST and labour reforms need to be handled,” said Kumar
Monday, 20 June 2016
Raghuram Rajan exit: RBI governor used as ploy to score political goal against Modi govt-MUST READ
Raghuram Rajan exit: RBI governor used as ploy to score political goal against Modi govt
Prakash Nanda Jun 20, 2016 16:37 IST
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With the announcement that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan will not continue in office when his term ends on 4 September, we will not be able to know now whether (or not) the Modi government was thinking of offering him an extension.
But if one goes by the reactions of the habitual Modi-bashers, who, in turn, dominate the national discourse, then it is the government that forced the exit of one of the outstanding economists of the world – who had done a great favour to India by becoming the governor of the RBI. With Rajan’s taking decision on his career move, Modi-bashers are having a field day.
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan
I am writing this article after talking to a number of senior functionaries in the RBI. They unanimously agree that Rajan has been a wonderful boss. He has been a man with clarity of vision. But some say that Rajan could have avoided or been a little more circumspect on occasions when he made 'political or semi-political' remarks on the state of liberalism ('tolerance to dissents' in India under Modi, or pace of development under Modi, “one-eyed king in the land of the blind” as for him “the glass is half empty, not half full”).
Rajan was appointed by a different government (UPA) in 2013, and in India’s increasingly partisan politics, there will always be predictable political reactions; the Congress, Left and so-called liberals praising you sky high and those like Subramanian Swamy challenging your integrity. And this is precisely what has happened.
In other words, criticism over Rajan’s alleged ouster are based less on differing perceptions on economic issues between the Governor and the Government and more on their perceived political incompatibilities.
In fact, sources at the RBI say that contrary to press reports and what the politicians in opposition say, the Modi government has been extremely fair to Rajan and allowed him to have the last word on the monetary policy of the country.
Well, there have been occasions when there have been animated discussions between the officials in the Finance Ministry and those of the RBI over the anti-inflationary measures – such as cuts in rates of interests – but ultimately the views of Rajan have prevailed, with both Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley standing by him.
It is true that two important policy objectives of Rajan – his targeting of the retail inflation as the main thrust of monetary policy, and his forcing of banks to come clean on the forces assets – have invited adverse reactions in many quarters, particularly from all those 'crony capitalists' who want cheaper interests but are reluctant to deposit their money in the banks.
The likes of Subramanian Swamy argue that Rajan has 'killed' the small and medium enterprises. However, my RBI friends say that in this 'battle against the RBI Governor', he has been fully supported by the Modi government, or at least by those who ultimately matter in this government.
One national newspaper, which, according to me, has played a leading role in the excessive politicisation of Rajan’s decision to move out, says in a report that the RBI Governor faced three 'hostile' ministers in the Modi cabinet, but nowhere in this report it has been mentioned who they are.
In another report by another correspondent, the same newspaper talks of Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman 'taking broad swipes at Rajan'. This led me to Google these two ministers and their remarks on Rajan. And what did I find? Sitharaman had said in a press interview, when asked about Rajan’s remark on the government highlighting its achievement of 7 .5 per cent rate of growth (In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. We are a little bit that way) that, “His choice of words, the metaphors that have been used, are unnecessarily giving a handle to people like Mani Shankar Aiyar to give quirky interpretations like ‘Who is this one-eyed king that Raghuram Rajan is referring to?’ I would like people like Raghuram Rajan, who know the truths behind the economy and the dynamics of the economy, to be able to speak with better choice of words,” Sitharaman said.
What do you expect a minister to do when asked questions like these? Will he or she say that his or her government is a non-performer? In fact, junior finance minister Jayant Sinha had also said at an event organised by industry body Assocham that, “I don't agree with what the governor said."
This did not mean that either Sitharaman or Sinha talked of the ouster of Rajan. In fact, Rajan himself subsequently clarified that he did not mean that the government was a non-performer. “My intent was to signal that our out performance was accentuated because world growth was weak, but we in India were still hungry for more growth,” Rajan said. Incidentally, Sinha is an old friend of Rajan’s -- they were class mates at IIT Delhi.
Regarding Piyush Goyal, I did not find any story on the web about his remarks on Rajan in the last two years. The one I found was a story from February 2014 in the Economic Times when Goyal, as a MP and member of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance, had said that, “Governor Rajan is only aggravating the problems and making it worse by increasing interest rates.”
But the same Goyal changed his views in two months, when according to a Bloomberg story (it was also reported in many other papers), he assured that Raghuram Rajan’s job would be safe if the opposition-- the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the elections ending 16 May.
“Just because he’s been appointed by someone else doesn’t mean we have an agenda to remove him. No government can dictate to the central bank. It’s an autonomous body and he holds a constitutional position. We don’t have any likes or dislikes,” Goyal had said.
On the other hand, see the remarks made on Rajan by Finance Minister Jaitley and Prime Minister Modi. According to a report in the Hindu on 21 May, “Arun Jaitley has stepped in to put an end to the controversy sparked off by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy with a letter containing disparaging remarks about Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
"Seeking to 'pour cold water' over the issue, the Minister had a word with members of the BJP upset with Dr. Rajan for his bhashanbaji (rhetoric)…and explained to them that Dr. Rajan was ‘very bright.’ Earlier, speaking at an event organised by Indian Women’s Press Corps, the Finance Minister had said, ‘As far as the Finance Ministry and the RBI are concerned, there is an institutional relationship between the two... a very mature relationship…at the highest level the two institutions have discussion and each other’s views are considered between us," the report said.
Now, let us come to Prime Minister Modi’s views on Rajan. According to a report by India Today, Modi had called Rajan his 'best teacher' for explaining complex economic issues to him.
“The Prime Minister backed Rajan in the monetary policy panel's composition and blocking moves to strip the RBI's authority to regulate government bonds and manage public debt. Modi's office also directed the Finance Ministry to pursue only those policies where there was agreement with the central bank”, the report said.
Now, when the Prime Minister calls him his 'best teacher' in economics, the Finance Minister rates him as 'very bright' and the junior finance minister considers him as 'one of my best friends since college days', then it would not be wrong to presume that there were chances and indications that Rajan would have easily got an extension.
Therefore, it does not make any sense when one says that 'under fire from BJP, Rajan heads for the door'. Did the BJP president ask him to go? Did any BJP secretary or authorised party spokesmen say so?
True, Subramanian Swamy wanted him to go. It is also true that there have been murmurs within the BJP over what some thought were Rajan’s selective criticisms of the Modi government, criticisms that, as some of his colleagues admit, could have been avoided.
All told, Rajan never made any comment having political overtones during the previous UPA Government’s tenure. But, all told, his job was never in jeopardy, with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister reposing their faith behind him and the BJP, as a political party, avoiding any official position on him.
As views of a Digvijay Singh or a Mani Shankar Aiyar cannot be necessarily official lines of the Congress party, strong opinions of a Subramanian Swamy and his friends, cannot be described as the representative views of the ruling BJP.
National parties that the Congress and BJP are, there are many shades of thought in them. And that is how it should be in any large democratic organisation. The finality of a view is that which is official.
In my considered view, Rajan seems to have been a victim of those who claimed to be his friends. These friends, almost all of them being habitual Modi-bashers, succeeded in creating a climate for Rajan to distrust the government.
They are least interested in Rajan, who, in any case, has a secure future in Chicago University. Their main ploy was to score a political goal against Modi. And it has so happened that Rajan allowed himself to be the football in this political game
Twitter पर सुबह-सुबह हुई केजरीवाल की खिंचाई, लोगों ने कहा #Oye_Pakhandi_Kejri
Twitter पर सुबह-सुबह हुई केजरीवाल की खिंचाई, लोगों ने कहा #Oye_Pakhandi_Kejri
अरविंद केजरीवाल Twitter पर सबसे ज्‍यादा troll की जाने वाली शख्‍सियतों में से एक हैं।
Author जनसत्ता ऑनलाइन नई दिल्‍ली | June 20, 2016 13:10 pm
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[Twitter पर सुबह-सुबह हुई केजरीवाल की खिंचाई, लोगों ने कहा #Oye_Pakhandi_Kejri]
(Source: Twitter)
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दिल्‍ली के मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल के ऊपर सोशल मीडिया में जोक्‍स की भरमार रहती है। रोज उनसे जुड़ा कोई ना कोई हैशटैग Twitter पर टॉप ट्रेंड्स में शामिल रहता है। साेमवार को सुबह-सुबह Twitter पर लोगों ने #Oye_Pakhandi_Kejri हैशैटैग के साथ ट्वीट कर केजरीवाल पर जोक्‍स की बौछार कर दी। आप भी देखिए लोगों ने किस तरह उड़ाया दिल्‍ली के सीएम का मजाक:
http://twitter.com/Dib_Speaks/status/744734998670934016
REAL ALSO: पूर्व क्रिकेटर बने फैशन इंस्टीट्यूट के चीफ, TWITTER यूजर्स बोले- सलमान खान को ISRO हेड बनाओगे ?
READ ALSO: Twitter पर ट्रेंड कर रहा #बकLOL_मोदी, खूब हो रही प्रधानमंत्री की खिंचाई
- See more at: http://www.jansatta.com/trending-news/arvind-kejriwal-trolled-with-oye_pakhandi_kejri/108425/#sthash.j5FZE5Mz.dpuf
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Is Army throwing its officers to the wolves?-BRIG V MAHALINGAM
Is Army throwing its officers to the wolves?
By V. Mahalingam | 18 June, 2016
The recent arrest of Colonel Jasjit Singh indicates yet another occurence of an Army official being illegally arrested.
An exposé by a TV channel and The Sunday Guardian uncovered the truth that the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Mumbai withheld information on the Malegaon blasts case from the Army to arrest Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit. This was contrary to the advice of the Army’s legal experts suggesting the need for an FIR or reasonable evidence to allow the arrest of the officer. The Army gave in and handed over the officer to the ATS, ignoring the relevance of his intelligence work in the context. He was deceitfully moved from the AEC Training College, Panchmarhi to Mumbai, without revealing to him his destination or the purpose of his move. Was the Army in collusion with the ATS? His whereabouts between 29 October and 4 November 2008 are untraceable. He was possibly detained illegally and tortured in custody, as alleged. The Army forgot about the officer after his arrest and remained a mute spectator to his incarceration, unmindful of the evidences of its own officers suggesting that the investigations were flawed and possibly motivated. Has the agony and misery to his wife and children besides the loss of eight years of freedom to the officer irked anyone’s conscious? What has happened to the Army’s ethos and values?
Has the Army learnt any lessons from the incident? If the recent arrest of Colonel Jasjit Singh, the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Aizawl based 39 Assam Rifles (39AR) in Mizoram is anything to go by, they have not.
The officer and eight other ranks were arrested on 5 May 2016 by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for their alleged role in a highway robbery of gold smuggled from Myanmar. The incident came to light for the first time when the driver of the vehicle, Lalnunfela, filed an FIR at the Aizawl police station on 21 April 2016, four months after the incident, alleging that his vehicle was waylaid by armed men from 39 AR on 14 December 2015, who decamped with 52 gold bars worth Rs 14.5 crore.
The SIT also arrested a government-supplier, Bulaki Chand Baid and a former Mizoram Students’ Association leader, Lalmuanawma Mathipi. A counter FIR filed by them labelled the FIR false, which revealed the relationship between Mathipi and Lalmingthangi, a woman heading a smuggler gang with whom the former was working earlier. Has anyone seen the gold? Undoubtedly the alleged robbery on the night of 14 December was the result of a fallout between the two. Or were the smugglers at the receiving end trying to cheat the owner by blaming the Assam Rifles for the loss of the gold?
Curiously, the proceedings of the first press conference held in the office of Mizoram Home Minister, R. Lalzirliana, in the presence of senior police officers on 11 May 2016, the only official account on the subject, were taken off the web after a short period.
It transpires that on the night of the incident the CO was out at Silchar. Prior to his departure, based on information, he had nominated a team to carry out an operation for a possible arms consignment at a time and place to be signalled by Rifleman Pachhunga who was to receive the intelligence input. The party was sent for the task but returned on 15 December 2015 without any seizure. The matter was reported to the higher headquarters as per the laid down procedure.
The police considered it vital to arrest the colonel but did not find it basic to arrest or interrogate the driver and his accomplices, who had acknowledged bringing in smuggled gold, or impound the vehicle that allegedly carried the gold. Were they let off to save the bigger fish or to situate evidences and witnesses appropriately?
The modalities of the arrest of the officer are intriguing. He was served a notice under Section 41A of the CrPC by the SIT asking him to appear before it at 1000 hours on 5 May 2016. Without disclosing this fact to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Aizawl, the very same SIT obtained an arrest warrant against him on 4 May 2016. A notice under Section 41A is issued only when the arrest of a person is not required and the section forbids the arrest of the individual if he complies with the notice. The officer was thus illegally arrested.
Anticipating trouble, Colonel Jasjit Singh applied for anticipatory bail on 5 May 2016. During the course of the hearing, the SIT produced in the court an order of the 23 Sector AR dated 5 May 2016, suspending the officer from duty. While the suspension order was available with the SIT and the media at the time of the hearing, the officer was handed the order only after his arrest at the court premises. Was the Army colluding with the civil police? Was this meant to dilute the effect of Section 45 CrPC on the arrest of the officer without the Central Government’s sanction?
The officer was granted conditional bail on 31 May 2016. Obviously, the search of the officer’s house had not yielded any result and credible evidence for continued detention was not produced. Did the harassment end there? The officer, who was staying with his family, was attached to a minor unit and was asked to vacate his house without giving any alternate accommodation, thus throwing his wife and children virtually to the streets. Is this the Army’s brotherhood all about?
Precedence has been set by allowing the civil police to arrest a CO and that too based on an FIR filed by a smuggler four months after the incident. The officer’s house was allowed to be searched. Has anyone thought the effect this act will have on the troops and the psyche of the COs of Army units operating in insurgency areas in the future? A smuggler’s words seem to have convinced the Army more than that of its own CO. Has anyone seen the gold or was there any claimant for the alleged loot? Is there any evidence? If indeed the Army had any information on the complicity of the officer in the incident why did it not act but allowed the civil police to arrest the officer and his men? Why were the provisions in the Army Act to initiate disciplinary action against such crimes committed by service personnel ignored? The provisions of CrPC Section 45, which prevents the arrest of any member of the armed forces for anything done in the discharge of his official duties, without obtaining the consent of the Central government too has been blatantly flouted. Was the Army surrendering its powers to investigate and prosecute its own troops to the civil police?
Mizoram shares borders with two neighbouring countries and three states and is a hub of smuggling activities. 39 AR, during the one year command of Colonel Jasjit Singh in Mizoram, had captured over 16 automatic weapons, including AK 47s, a huge quantity of detonators, US $48,000, Myanmar currency worth 42 lakh and other war like stores. Was the arrest of the officer a reprisal action? Has anyone cared to investigate the source and the destination of these smuggling activities? Has any action been taken against any of these gangs, their leadership and the conspirators? Needless to say, this is how weapons, drugs and money get smuggled and transported into our states from neighbouring countries to ignite crimes and insurgencies. Are these activities possible without the connivance of the police and nexuses between police, politicians and smugglers? Why have we failed to probe these relationships and activities? A military man cannot wade through these webs of nexuses. This is a fit case for investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). If Colonel Jasjit Singh is involved in the pillage he must be punished. If not, all those who had implicated the officer in a false case including those in the Army should be taken to task so that such impertinences are mercilessly brought to an end.
Senior officers in the Army hierarchy, who had failed to investigate and apply their mind in the matter before allowing the civil police to arrest the officer, must be made to pay. CBI investigations must aim at unearthing various links in the chain and prosecute those who are involved in these activities.
Brigadier V. Mahalingam (Retired) is a former Army officer.
PL SEE THE STORY AT http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/5378-army-throwing-its-officers-wolves
Saturday, 18 June 2016
पंतप्रधान नरेंद्र मोदी यांचा पाच देशांचा यशस्वी दौरा भारताची आर्थिक, संरक्षण चौकट मजबुत करण्यासाठी उपयुक्त
MODI &MEDIA MUST READ
गेल्या रविवारी एका इंग्रजी वाहिनीवर पंतप्रधान नरेंद्र मोदी आणि त्यांची दोन वर्षे, या विषयावरील चर्चा ऐकायला मिळाली. त्यात अत्यंत ज्येष्ठ असे दिल्लीतील अनुभवी पत्रकार सहभागी होते आणि त्यातला एक माजी पंतप्रधान मनमोहन सिंग यांचा माध्यम सल्लागार होता. त्या चर्चेमुळे एक महत्त्वाची बाब नजरेस आली. दोन वर्षे पंतप्रधान असताना आणि त्याच अधिकारात अनेक परदेशी दौरे करणार्‍या मोदींनी, आपल्या सोबत भारतीय पत्रकारांचा जत्था घेऊन जाण्याची प्रथा मोडून टाकली. पण त्याचवेळी दोन वर्षात पंतप्रधानांनी एकही पत्रकार परिषद घेतलेली नाही. आताही सरकारला दोन वर्षे पूर्ण झाल्यावर त्यांच्या अनेक ज्येष्ठ व तरुण सहकारी मंत्र्यांनी विविध माध्यमांना खास मुलाखती दिल्या आहेत. पण मोदी त्याला अपवाद आहेत. पंतप्रधान झाल्यावर एकदाच त्यांनी देशातील काही निवडक जाणत्या संपादक पत्रकारांशी खाजगीत संवाद केला होता. पण तो प्रसिद्धीसाठी नव्हता. फक्त हितगुज म्हणून ती भेट झाली होती. पण पत्रकारांचा त्या संवादात आलेला एकही प्रश्‍न मोदींनी टाळला नाही व प्रत्येक प्रश्‍नाला सहजगत्या उत्तर दिले होते. मात्र, त्यातली देवाणघेवाण वा चर्चा प्रसिद्ध होऊ शकली नाही. अशी माहिती त्याच वाहिनीच्या चर्चेत एका ज्येष्ठ महिला पत्रकाराने दिली. मग पंतप्रधानांनी पत्रकार परिषद घेण्याचे कशाला टाळावे? आणखी एक प्रश्‍न असा, की दोन वर्षे उलटूनही पंतप्रधान मोदी यांनी आपल्या कार्यालयात कुणालाही माध्यम सल्लागार म्हणून नेमलेले नाही. खरे तर ही बाब एखाद्या दिवशी वाहिन्यांवर चर्चा व्हावी, इतकी सणसणित बातमी होऊ शकते. पण वहिनीवरची ही चर्चा अपूर्ण होती. हा पंतप्रधान पत्रकार व माध्यमे यांच्या बाबतीत असा का वागतो, याचे उत्तर खुद्द माध्यमातील जाणत्यांनी शोधणे अगत्याचे ठरेल. त्याचे साधे उत्तर त्याला माध्यमांची गरज वाटत नसावी.
माध्यमे समाजापर्यंत संदेश घेऊन जाण्यासाठी असतात. तो संदेश माध्यमांना बाजूला ठेवूनही पोहोचत असेल वा पोहोचविणे शक्य असेल, तर सार्वजनिक क्षेत्रातील व्यक्ती तोच अन्य सुटसुटीत मार्ग पत्करणार ना? मोदींनी इथेच मोठी बाजी मारली. पंतप्रधान झाल्यावरची पत्रकार परिषद दूरची गोष्ट झाली. त्याच्याही पूर्वी गुजरातचे मुख्यमंत्री असताना त्यांनी सात वर्षे सलग पत्रकारांपासून स्वत:ला अलग ठेवले होते. ते पत्रकार व माध्यमांना भितात,
अशीही चर्चा खूप झाली होती. पण काहीसा तोच प्रकार त्याच कालखंडात कॉंग्रेसच्या अध्यक्षा सोनिया गांधींच्याही बाबतीत म्हणता येईल. सोनिया गांधी तब्बल अठरा वर्षे कॉंग्रेसच्या अध्यक्षा आहेत आणि त्या काळात त्यांनी किती पत्रकार परिषदा घेतल्या? यातला फरक इतकाच आहे, की मोदी फर्डे वक्ते व हजरजबाबी व्यक्ती आहेत. उलट सोनियांना भाषा व भारतीय जीवनशैलीची अडचण आहे. २००२ सालच्या गुजरात दंगलीचा माध्यमांनी इतका गाजावाजा केला, की त्यानंतर मोदींना कधीही आणि कुठल्याही जागी दंगलीतील त्यांच्या भूमिकेचाच प्रश्‍न सातत्याने विचारला जाऊ लागला. तेच तेच प्रश्‍न आणि तीच तीच उत्तरे देऊनही, हा प्रकार थांबला नाही. त्यामुळे नंतरच्या कालखंडात मुलाखती वा पत्रकार परिषद याकडे मोदींनी कायमची पाठ फिरवली. अगदी पंतप्रधान पदाच्या शर्यतीत मोदी उतरल्यानंतरही त्यांनी माध्यमांकडे पाठ फिरवली होती. प्रत्यक्ष लोकसभा निवडणूक रंगात आल्यावर तेच जिंकणार असे स्पष्ट झाले होते. तेव्हा विविध माध्यमे व वाहिन्या मोदींची मुलाखत घ्यायला व्याकुळ झाल्या होत्या. पण मोदींनी कटाक्षाने सर्वच माध्यमे व मोठ्या पत्रकारांना टाळले. प्रामुख्याने नावाजलेल्या वा मान्यवर माध्यमांना मुलाखती देण्यातही टाळाटाळ केली. त्यातही नगण्य वा दुय्यम अशा पत्रकारांना मुलाखती देऊन मान्यवरांना अगतिक करून टाकले.
मध्यंतरीच्या काळात सोशल मीडिया नावाचा पर्याय मोदींना उपलब्ध झाला होता आणि त्याच नव्या माध्यमातून प्रस्थापित माध्यमांशिवाय सामान्य लोकांपर्यंत जाणे त्यांना सहजशक्य झाले होते. आपल्या विधानाचा विपर्यास केल्याची तक्रार बहुतेक राजकारणी नेहमी करतात. मोदी त्याला अपवाद नाहीत.
अशा स्थितीत आपले नेमके शब्द व आशय जनतेपर्यंत घेऊन जाणारे माध्यम, म्हणून मोदींनी सोशल मीडियाची कास धरली. त्याचा इतका कुशलतेने वापर केला, की आजही त्यांना प्रस्थापित पत्रकार व माध्यमांची गरज उरलेली नाही.
पंतप्रधान झाल्यावर रेडिओ आणि दूरदर्शन या सरकारी माध्यमांचा मोदींनी अतिशय चतुराईने वापर करून घेतला आहे. साहजिकच पंतप्रधानांना आपण प्रश्‍न विचारू शकत नाही, ही प्रस्थापित मान्यवर संपादक पत्रकारांची व्यथा होऊन बसली आहे. पंतप्रधानांपर्यंत पोहोचण्याचा सोपा मार्ग त्यांचा माध्यम सल्लागार असतो. पण मोदींनी अशा कुणाचीच नेमणूक केलेली नाही. त्यामुळे तर मोदींपर्यंत पोहोचण्यात दिल्लीच्या प्रस्थापित पत्रकारांना मोठी अडचण होऊन बसली आहे. मात्र, त्यामुळे मोदींचे काहीही अडल्याचे दिसत नाही.
प्रामुख्याने सरकारी योजना व संदेश लोकांपर्यंत नेमके पोहोचत आहेत. उपरोक्त चर्चेतला चिंतेचा विषय तोच असावा. जी माध्यमे विधायक मार्गाने वाटचाल करीत आहेत, त्यांना कुठलीही अडचण आलेली नाही. प्रादेशिक वा भाषिक माध्यमांचे गाडे मोदींच्या अशा दुर्लक्षामुळे कुठेही गाळात रुतलेले नाही. पण दिल्लीच्या राजकारणावर आणि त्याच्या प्रसिद्धीवर मक्तेदारी गाजवणार्‍यांची मात्र तारांबळ उडाली आहे. दुष्काळ, दादरीची घटना, पुरस्कारवापसी किंवा विद्यापीठीय विवादानंतरही मोदींना शरण आणण्यात अपयशी झाल्याची ही कबुली म्हणता येईल की माध्यमातील दिल्लीकरांच्या मक्तेदारीला धक्का लागल्याचे भय त्यात आहे?
दिल्लीतले तथाकथित मान्यवर पत्रकार संपादक मध्यंतरीच्या काळात इतके सोकावले होते की तेच राजकारण खेळू लागले होते. प्रामुख्याने युपीए वा सोनिया गांधींचा अजेंडा पुढे घेऊन जाणारे वा रेटणारे पत्रकार अशी मग त्यांची ओळख होऊन बसली. त्यांनी सुपारी घेतल्याप्रमाणे गुजरात दंगलीनंतर काम केले. भाजपाच्या वाढत्या लोकप्रियता व विस्ताराला खीळ घालण्यात कॉंग्रेस अपयशी ठरत होती. ते काम त्यांच्याशी वैचारिक साम्य असलेल्या पत्रकारांनी हाती घेतले. योगायोग असा की त्याच कालखंडात इलेक्ट्रॉनिक माध्यमांचा विस्तार होत गेला. त्यात पैसे गुंतवणार्‍यांनीही अशा पत्रकारांची तत्कालीन सत्ताधीशांशी जवळीक असल्याने त्यांनाच माध्यमांचे सर्व अधिकार सोपवले. त्यातून अनेकजण माध्यम सम्राट असल्यासारखे वागू लागले होते. पण मोदी पंतप्रधान पदाचे उमेदवार झाले आणि सोनियांच्या युपीए राजवटीने या तमाम पत्रकारांना त्या जुगारात पणाला लावल्यासारखे वापरले आणि असे बहुतेकजण मोदींचे विरोधक म्हणून ओळखले जाऊ लागले. सुपारीबाज म्हणून मोदींनी त्यांना चार हात दूर ठेवण्याचा जो प्रयास केला, त्यातच त्यांना थेट सामान्य जनतेपर्यंत पोहोचण्याचा नवा मार्ग सोशल मीडियातून गवसला होता. पुढे पंतप्रधान झाल्यावर दूरदर्शन व सरकारी माध्यम उपलब्ध झाले. तितके पंतप्रधानाला आपली बाजू जनतेपर्यंत घेऊन जाण्यास पुरेसे आहे.
मात्र, या गडबडीत मुख्य प्रवाहातील वाहिन्या आणि वृत्तपत्रे मागे पडत गेली. प्रथम मोदींच्या विजयाने या माध्यमांची विश्‍वासार्हता संपली आणि आता गरजही संपत आली आहे. त्याला एकप्रकारे त्यातली सुपारीबाजी कारण ठरली आणि दुसरीकडे नव्या माध्यमांचा कुशलतेने वापर करणारे मोदी कारणीभूत झाले.
म्हणूनच ही चिंता आहे. मोदींना बदनाम करण्यात दहा वर्षे घालवणार्‍या या पत्रकारांना आता मोदींचे गुणगान करायचे आहे. पण त्याचीही संधी उरली नाही, म्हणून हे रडगाणे त्या वाहिनीवर गायले जात होते.
Thursday, 16 June 2016
Scuffle at border as Indian troops counter aggressive Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh
Scuffle at border as Indian troops counter aggressive Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh
PTI | Jun 15, 2016, 07.52 PM IST
Chinese troops entered the Indian side from four different points in Arunachal Pradesh
Incident occurred at 'Shankar Tikri' on the LAC of Yangtse area
Tension eased after four PLA officers accompanied by an interpreter met Commanding Officer of the Indian Army
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Chinese troops intrudes border, share chocolates with Indian jawansChinese troops intrudes border...
NEW DELHI: A scuffle had broken out between troops of Indian Army and Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) when Chinese personnel entered the Indian side from four different border points in Arunachal Pradesh last Thursday, according to an official account of the incident on Wednesday.
The incident occurred at 'Shankar Tikri' on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) of Yangtse area in Arunachal Pradesh with the PLA claiming the area belonged to China .
The area, which is being guarded by the Indian Army, was immediately covered and Army moved in its men to prevent the aggressive PLA troops from crossing the perceived LAC in the region.
An estimated 215 PLA troops reportedly tried to push their way at 'Shakar Tikri' and simultaneously 20 each from 'Thang La' and 'Mera Gap' and another 21 from 'Yanki-I' of Arunachal Pradesh made similar attempts.
During the normal banner drill, the PLA troops striking an aggressive posture tried to attack the Indian Army personnel physically but were overpowered immediately, official sources said today.
The Army has officially reported that there was only a "mild scuffle" between the Army and PLA at east of 'Shankar Tikri'.
Tensions reportedly eased only after four PLA officers accompanied by an interpreter met Commanding Officer of the Indian Army formation in the area and presented him with two packets of chocolates and one gift packet to the in charge of Yanki-I post.
Top Comment
manmohan Singh should resign. he and his Govt are spineless cowards. That is why china is able to take such liberties.
If the CM of Gujarat narendra modijeee had been our Prime Minister , China ... Read MoreProud Bhakt
Yangtse is one of the identified disputed pockets between the two countries and is an Indian territory. PLA carries out unusually big patrols as compared to other areas along the LAC.
The area has been reportedly witnessing transgressions by the Chinese side at regular intervals since 2011
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
As India's power grows, China's containment strategy will get frenetic-By Rajesh Rajagopalan
As India's power grows, China's containment strategy will get frenetic
12 Jun, 2016,
China’s action has little to do with NSG, but is simply the latest indication of China’s containment strategy against India.
China's decision in Vienna to object to India entering the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) should not come as too much of a surprise. China has been uncharacteristically open about opposing India's membership. This also makes it unlikely that it will change its view in the next 10 days, before the NSG meets in plenary in Seoul on June 24.
China's action has little to do with NSG, but is simply the latest indication of China's containment strategy against India. Understanding this reality is the first step to finding an appropriate strategy to managing India's relations with China.
The NSG membership is important for India but not so much for any material gain. Its importance is mostly that it strengthens the legitimacy of India's nuclear programme and permits India to have some say in making the rules of the global nuclear order, all without joining the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Since the NSG, under American pressure, had in 2008 already permitted India to engage in nuclear commerce with other countries, what China's veto does mostly is hurt India's pride but not much more.
China's objections have little to do with its fidelity to NSG rules. NSG has admitted members who were not NPT members. Moreover, China's own actions after it joined the NSG demonstrate a completely dismissive attitude towards NSG rules. Against these rules, and its own solemn commitment, China agreed to supply additional nuclear power plants to Pakistan.
China's actions are not about the NSG as much as an attempt to balance and contain India within South Asia. This is why it might not object if India and Pakistan join together, thus ensuring both their hyphenation and having someone inside to use as its cat's paw against India.
But this is not likely to happen for a while because Pakistan's terrible proliferation record makes other NSG members wary of letting it join.
The policymakers in New Delhi need to recognise China's containment strategy against India and respond accordingly. China's behaviour is a reflection of three factors. The first is the balance of power in Asia. It was clear since the 1950s that India and China would be the most powerful countries in Asia.
This led China to form an axis with Pakistan that is based on nothing but their common desire to balance India. India has never fully acknowledged or responded to this axis.
The second is China's rise, which has led to greater aggressiveness with all of its neighbours and with the us.
Though China initially attempted to portray its rise as "peaceful" and different from previous great powers, these are now distant memories. China's behaviour has become increasingly unyielding and pugnacious, as when the Chinese foreign minister told his Singaporean counterpart in 2010, in effect, that small countries should know their place.
It is important to remember this because in the coming days there will be arguments that China's actions are the consequence of India getting closer to the US.
That would be wrong. There is a certain uniformity in Chinese behaviour that applies to all of its neighbours, not just India.
These are, moreover, neighbours with which China has close economic ties, countries that tried hard to engage with China in order to integrate it into the regional order in the hope that this would tame any temptations of power. They have all reluctantly concluded that China's power can only be balanced, not tamed, and are seeking closer security ties with the US because it is the only country that can effectively provide such balance.
The US too tried hard to integrate China into the existing international order, seeking to partner with it rather than contain it. For almost a decade, the US was also diverted by its entanglements in the Middle East, giving China plenty of space to grow.
US President Barack Obama's initial instinct, as befits his liberal view of international politics, was also to frame the relationship as a partnership, the G-2.
None of this has helped keep China's rise peaceful. As China's power grew, its ambitions have also expanded. China, it turns out, is just another great power and its change in behaviour tracks well with its growing power.
Finally, China also has a paranoid strategic culture that automatically sees the world in conflictual terms, which is sometimes short-sighted. Indian leaders should be intimately familiar with this. It is this short-sightedness that unnecessarily antagonised a very pro-China Jawaharlal Nehru, helped cement the Indo-Soviet alliance, forced India to restart its nuclear programme by helping Pakistan's nuclear weapons quest and is driving an instinctively anti-American Indian strategic elite into reluctantly considering an alliance with the US.
Strategic Blindness
That Beijing's behaviour is so self-defeatingly short-sighted should provide no comfort to New Delhi because it has led to a policy that has consistently sought to balance and contain India. China's decision to object to India's entry into the NSG is no different. China is reacting not so much to India's behaviour as much as to India's power. As India's power grows, India should prepare for China's containment strategy to become even more frenetic.
In New Delhi, there is almost a wilful blindness to this. The dangers of such strategic blindness cannot be overstated.
If there is one positive outcome of the NSG issue, it is that it provides a further demonstration of China's containment strategy. If India's strategic community and decision-makers continue to sleep on, they will have no one to blame but themselves.
China-Pak Economic Corridor: Why Gwadar Is An Overrated Port -must read
China-Pak Economic Corridor: Why Gwadar Is An Overrated Port
Sanjay Dixit
June 13, 2016,
The China-funded Gwadar port in Pakistan is unlikely to provide any meaningful economic or strategic advantage to the Chinese
Most likely, it is only a ploy by Beijing to extract funds from the Pakistani government with tacit approval of the latter’s army
Having served in the Merchant Navy before joining the IAS, I can claim to have visited almost all the ports in the Persian Gulf, specially the oil terminals. At the height of Iran-Iraq conflict, we were picking up crude from Kharg, an Iranian island in the upper reaches of the Gulf, which is its major oil export point, just as Ras Tanura is for Saudi Arabia. So I claim an expertise in the area of analysing ports, specially from the point of view of logistics, and through my present calling, I can also now lay claim to understanding a bit of the strategic compass.
With that caveat, let us have a closer look at the frenzy which has gripped Pakistan. CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) to them, is the panacea for all their economic ills and Gwadar is the best port in the world.
The frenzy is such that a even a reasonably sober twitter handle, @karachipost, came up with this:
Similarly, I read a piece today in The Diplomat by Muhammad Daim Fazil giving five ridiculous reasons for the supposed superiority of Gwadar over Chabahar.
Let’s find a framework for this. What are the qualities a port needs to become a great one?
As per the Gwadar port website, it has 3 berths at present with a plan to add 3 more (a multipurpose, a grain, and an oil berth). Its projected draught is 12.5 metres with which it claims it will be able to handle 50,000 DWT (Dead Weight Tonnes, which denotes carrying capacity) vessels.
Chabahar has 10 berths already, and is expanding to include a deep water berth which would be able to handle VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) of 22 m draught or more.
Let’s look at some of the other ports. Mumbai port has 26 cargo/container berths and 6 POL/chemical berths; Karachi has 12; Nhava Sheva has more than 10, and Dubai (Jebel Ali and Port Rashid), which Gwadar is supposed to be threatening commercially, has 102 berths, with VLCC POL supply terminals as well.
So we can quite clearly see that logistically, Gwadar is just a little dot.
Let’s now see the hinterland that the two ports would serve. Gwadar can have cargo headed for either Xinjiang, or for Pakistan’s internal consumption. The back of the beyond location of this port means that for a private business to switch from Karachi to Gwadar, comparable stevedoring and clearing agencies would be required along with a reliable rail link. That’s not happening any time soon. Even if the infrastructure is complete, the soft support system in a hostile terrain would remain hobbled for a long tie to come.
Comparison with Chabahar is not even warranted, as Chabahar is coming up as a transit port for all of Central Asia and Afghanistan. Muhammad Daim Fazil posits it as a port for India to access Afghanistan and Central Asia through Afghanistan. Only if he had looked at maps.
The route to Central Asia from Chabahar doesn’t have to go through Afghanistan at all. Moreover, it gives India an alternative route to Russia and the republics to its east, as well as to the 5 ex-Soviet nations. After Ukraine became independent, Odessa has come to be used less and less. Crossing the Suez has its own costs. So, the Iranian north-south corridor would be very useful for India and most south-east Asian countries. As a post on Quora said (Joseph Boyle):
“Gwadar is simply unlikely to ever be profitable. It means going an unnecessarily long, long way over the world’s highest mountains and through rebels to get to nothing - after all that you’re still separated by water. If you look at a globe and great circle routes instead of the deceptive Mercator projection, you see a direct, low, feasible route between China and the Middle East is going directly through Central Asia to Iran. Turkmenistan already has pipelines selling large volumes of gas to China, and is right next to Iran.”
Joseph Boyle on Quora
Singapore PSA found Gwadar unviable in the long run and left. China stepped in not because it found Gwadar viable, but because it looked at Pakistan as a client state and it was sure it would make Pakistan dance to its tunes. China does not even have much of a use for operating this kind of port because it is already operating a ten times larger terminal in Fujairah, UAE, just across the Gulf of Oman. China will use it only to exercise its hegemony over its willing client state.
I do not foresee a gas or oil pipeline from Gwadar to Xinjiang as a part of the CPEC, at least not yet. China is concentrating on pipelines from Kazakhastan. Its principal silk route runs via Urumqi-Kashgar-Almaty-Tashkent-Ashkabad-Tehran. From Ashkabad, Chabahar is directly connected.
So, Chabahar connects everybody to everybody. That’s the reason Iran offered a connectivity to Pakistan as well, which I am sure Pakistan would find offensive. Gwadar by comparison is just a provincial port for Pakistan over high mountains which even China would not find viable.
Another oft-repeated argument in favour of the CPEC is that it is a good strategy by China to bye-pass the Malacca choke. This makes no sense either, as China’s consumption areas lie nearly 6,000 kilometres to the east from Kashgar, the northern point of CPEC. In the event of a war, both China and Pakistan would do well to remember that Malacca straits at its narrowest choke point below Car Nicobar is 200 km wide, but the CPEC is just 75 kms away from north Kashmir - well within the range of BVR missiles, Prithvis and Brahmos. Gwadar lies directly in the line of Indian Navy, and would be the second one to be blockaded - After Karachi that is.
China would definitely factor that in its strategic calculations. The CPEC infrastructure is passing through a territory which legally belongs to India, and it would be easy for India to blockade Gwadar.
Now, let’s discuss CPEC’s economic calculations. China plans to put in $46 billion over 10 years. $34 billion would build up a power capacity of around 17,000 MW (though I have also heard figures of 7 and 10K MWs). The agreements are not on the table (so much for transparency). We don’t know whether there is any element of a grant involved. From whatever sketchy information is available, it looks like a combination of loans for road and rail infra, and power plants to be built by the Chinese for which Pakistan has given a sovereign guarantee to buy all the power produced at a fantastic rate of PKR 18 per unit (INR equivalent 11.53). Even the power plants which are going to be all thermal variety are going to be put up at a minimum of $2 billion per GW (1 GW=1000 MW).
India routinely builds its thermal power plants at less than $ 1 billion per GW. The average rate per unit on the India power trading exchange has been INR 2.50 for over a year. Bangladesh is buying 1100 MW from India at INR 6 per unit. This is a classical colony-making exercise by China, which Pakistan establishment and the Army is quite excited with.
So, it looks to me as if the CPEC is purely a marketing exercise by China to rip off some good money from Pakistan for its thermal power companies which have to dismantle their old plants in the mainland to meet the emission norms agreed to by China at the Paris meet. It gives an excuse to the Pakistan Army to rip off more money from the exchequer in the name of providing security and strengthening its occupation of Balochistan. It has got an 11 percent raise in its budget in a year in which GDP grew by 4.7 percent.
India need not even discuss this. The CPEC route passes through a treacherous terrain prone to landslides. All India needs to do is to target its missiles on N35 of Pakistan, otherwise better known as the Karakoram Highway.
So my advice to my Pakistani friends is - please don’t parade the CPEC and Gwadar to the world. It’s not your salvation, it’s your cross
Monday, 13 June 2016
CHINESE ARE NOT TEN FEET TALL -INDIAN ARMY CAN TAKE THEM ON
QUALITY OF CHINESE SHIPS & CREW MEMBERS
We tend to imagine the Chinese as being ten feet tall. It is also true that the greatest strength or weakness of a nation is its people and their fundamental character. If that be so, we, too, are somewhat less than ten feet tall. And yet, we do enjoy comparative advantages and these are not inconsiderable. Indeed, we would do well to concentrate upon our comparative strengths, namely, our 'capability' (mostly intangibles such as superior training, professional skill, organisation, innovativeness , frugal infrastructure-development, cultural sensitivity and consequential regional acceptability, etc.), rather than expend undue time and effort bemoaning real or imaginary comparative shortfalls in terms of 'capacity' .SOLDIER VS SOLDIER ,ARMY VS ARMY Warhip versus warship, I would confidently bet upon the Indian Army,
While I have no experience about PLA Navy personnel or of their ships, I've interacted with Chinese Merchant Seamen and their officers since 2000. I share my experiences with you. I expect the personnel of the PLA Navy would generally be drawn from the same manpower pool as are those of the Mercantile Marine, therefore the following lines may hold some relevance.
I've sailed on board a Hong Kong flag bulk carrier (Trading worldwide) which had PRC crew and junior officers. Since 2003 I've been attending on board ocean going vessels calling at Australian Ports. A large number of them are manned by the Chinese Officers & Merchant Seamen, flying both PRC flag and Flags of Convenience (FOC). I've loaded Alumina on close to 500 ships, as the ships’ Port Captain/ Loading Master. About 60% of these ships had Chinese Officers & Seamen. Of my personal experience of the Chinese built ships and Chinese seamen, I can say:
VESSELS.
• The build quality, metallurgy, workmanship and design of the vessels are indifferent.
• The user friendliness and quality of the ships' documentation is poor.
• It is usual to find a two-year-old China built ship that in terms of appearance and material state looks more like a five-year-old ship, or even older.
• The Chinese Yards have a long way to go before they come anywhere near the Japanese Yards or even South Korean Yards; which are the other big players in the market.
DRY DOCKINGS.
• I have sailed on a Chinese built bulk/general cargo carrier that at the time was six months old.
• The vessel had a Warranty Defect List which resembled a mini encyclopaedia.
• In one of the first voyages, I sailed from Xing Gang, China to Vancouver BC, Canada. North Pacific in January can be pretty rough, although not quite as much as the North Atlantic. As expected, we did run into rough sea conditions. The effect on the ship however was extreme; all our inflatable life rafts were washed overboard, our rescue craft became a tangled mess and early one night our 'S band' radar scanner came crashing down on the bridge wing. When we got into relatively calmer waters I inspected the ship and noted that flexing had caused wide cracks on the hatch coamings (Port & starboard) of one of the forward holds of the ship.
• As for the accommodation, all drawers in my cabin were out and slid from one end to the other of the cabin, each time the vessel rolled. The steel filing cabinet of my office worked loose from the bulkhead and battered the office bulkheads on all sides.
• We touched a minor Canadian port before Vancouver and received new life rafts and rescue boat.
• On reaching Vancouver the ship was inspected by Port State Control and was detained for being un-seaworthy as well as debarred from loading her intended cargo. Local workshops together with a Naval Architect attended on board for repairs. In the Naval Architect's opinion, 'the ship's foundations were unsound'. It was a sad commentary on a six-month old ship.
• Due to very competitive rates provided, a large number of ship owners and operators dry dock their vessels in Chinese Yards.
• I once dry docked a ship in a Yard at Qinhuangdao (North China).
• The Chinese workers are poorly trained, equipped and motivated.
• It is not unusual to find that that some steel renewal in a tank has been only partly welded, or ballast piping has gaps or worker’s items like gloves or cotton waste has been left inside a tank to be sucked into the suction valve, or the paint work is poorly executed without adequate surface preparation. They lack work ethics.
• It is natural for the Australian surveyors to assume that vessels coming straight after dry docking will be in a good material state. That simply isn't true for the vessels that dry dock in China.
In view of the above:
• Are the warships competently built and are they fitted with quality weapons and sensors? Do they function as they are intended to?
• Are they maintained, up-graded and re-fitted professionally and competently?
PERSONNEL.
• The Chinese Seamen to my mind represent the real China, unadulterated and undiluted.
• Their competence and professionalism leaves a lot to be desired.
• Their sense of responsibility and duty is poor (On board PRC flag vessels) and just tolerable (On board FOC vessels). For example, on board a ship which is provided De-rusting machines in Australia by the owners, for de-scaling the cargo holds’ tank tops, the Chinese seamen mistreat and misuse the machines and cause them to breakdown within the first twelve hours. Thereafter without completing the job and without informing their officers/ supervising staff they just go to bed. These are national traits and are seen on board ship after ship.
• The gap between the officers and the crew members is very narrow. I routinely see, the deck crew sitting down in the Ship's Office and smoking and chit chatting with the Captain and the Chief Officer. This doesn't happen on board ships manned say by Filipinos, East Europeans, Indians, Egyptians and Turks. It is simply unthinkable on board the ships manned by the Greeks and South Koreans.
• As can be inferred, this adversely impacts the officers' authority and in turn the ships' running.
• I've seen a large number of PRC flag vessels that have only one mess, which is used both by the Officers and the crew members.
• On FOC ships, where there are separate messes, the stewards do not serve the officers. The accepted practice is to place foods in plates (Steel with compartments, Udupi restaurant style) and put them on the tables.
• Before ships call at various ports it is common for various concerned personnel (Stevedores, shippers and inspectors) to check the Officers & crew nationality. In Australian ports, as I'm sure it is in the other ports around the world, the persons enquiring have their fingers crossed that they don't hear the 'C word'.
• Their standard of ships' upkeep is poor.
• Their hygiene and housekeeping is extremely poor. Eating or drinking something on board a Chinese vessel can be very injurious for one’s health.
• As regards the on board toilets, the lesser said the better.
• The officers and crew social skills are poor. The officers peep over inspectors' shoulders to read their notes; they often pick up an inspector's note book when they think they're not being observed. They routinely smoke in the presence of port officials. They argue with inspectors on their ships receiving adverse comments.
• The personal hygiene of officers and crew is poor. Every single officer and seaman has bad breath.
• They're generally shabbily turned out.
In view of the above:
• In terms of training, motivation etc. I would presume the PLA Navy personnel wouldn't be very different from their cousins in the other navy.
• So while in photographs, the Naval Officers & Ratings may appear squeaky clean with dazzlingly glamourous uniforms, are they indeed as good?
• Can the officers and men maintain, sail and fight their ships competently and professionally?
Formidable as the PLA Navy may seem to be, are they really as good?
That said, the Chinese are also reputed to be a devious lot (Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.). They hold in contempt the nations they can push around. Therefore, they need firm handling. Gen. Sundarji's actions at Sumdorong Chu/ the Namka Chu river and George Fernandes’ actions when he held the Defence Portfolio are relevant. PRC is a very insecure state too. They go hyper on the travel plans of an eighty-year-old monk as also on hearing a petite Taiwanese lady speak
Sunday, 12 June 2016
PROJECT VARSHA INDIAN NAVIES UNDERWATER BASE AT --- -MUST SEE U TUBE VIDEO-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHJLnPMuAo&sns=em
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHJLnPMuAo&sns=em
Saturday, 11 June 2016
REMAINING SAFE DURING LIGHTENING-विजांचा कडकडाट; जीव वाचवा!
विजांचा कडकडाट; जीव वाचवा!
डॉ. सुनील पवार
मान्सूनच्या आगमनापूर्वी आणि नंतर ढगांच्या गडगडाटासह पाऊस पडतो. या काळात विजांचा प्रचंड कडकडाट होतो. अशावेळी वीज पडून मृत्यू झाल्याच्या घटना घडतात. वीज कशी पडते आणि त्यामागची कारणे काय आहेत, यावर पुण्याच्या केंद्र सरकारच्या भारतीय उष्णदेशीय मौसम विज्ञान संस्थानमधील वरिष्ठ शास्त्रज्ञ डॉ. सुनील पवार यांनी गेली २० वर्षे संशोधन केले आहे. मोबाईलवर बोलत असताना वीज पडत नाही, हे संशोधनातून सिध्द करतानाच झाडाखाली उभं राहिल्यानंतर जवळपास ९० टक्के मृत्यू वीज पडून झाल्याचे त्यांना दिसून आले आहे.
अवकाळी पाऊस म्हटलं की विजांचा कडकडाट असतोच. मान्सून दाखल होण्यापूर्वी विजांच्या कडकडाटासह पाऊस पडतो. विजांचा कडकडाट सुरु झाला आहे. त्यापासून सावधान राहण्याची वेळ आली आहे. वीज जेव्हा चमकते आणि तिचा आवाज होतो तेव्हा ती पडली असे म्हटले जाते. म्हणजेच विजेची ऊर्जा जमिनीत जाते. उंचावर असणारी ठिकाणी म्हणजे पर्वत, डोंगर, इमारती, उंच वृक्षावर वीज पडते. जेवढे उंच ठिकाण असते तिथे वीज पडण्याचे प्रमाण जास्त असते. समाजात असा एक असा समज दिसतो की, मोबाईलवर बोलत असताना विजांचा कडकडाट सुरू असेल तर, ती मोबाईलमधील लहरींकडे आकर्षित होऊन वीज पडते. मात्र, संशोधनातून असे सिध्द झाले आहे की, त्या मोबाईलमध्ये मेटलचे प्रमाण किती आहे. त्यावर वीज पडण्याची शक्यता आहे. मात्र, मोबाईलमध्ये मेटलचे प्रमाण जास्त नसते. त्यामुळे मोबाईलवर बोलत असताना वीज पडण्याची शक्यता नाही असे दिसून आले आहे. अगदी मेटलच्या दागिन्यांनीसुध्दा विजेतून येणार्‍या लहरी आकर्षित होतात.
आपल्याकडे वीज पडून होणार्‍या मृत्यूंमध्ये ९० टक्के प्रमाण हे झाडाखाली उभं राहिल्यानंतर दिसून आले आहे. ज्या घरांना ओल आहे. किंवा घरातली फरशी सतत ओली असेल तर, तिथे वीज पडते. विजेच्या प्रकारांचा अभ्यास करताना परदेशातील आणि आपल्या देशातील विजांचे प्रकार वेगवेगळे आढळून आले. देशात मुख्यत: ईशान्य हिंदुस्थानात वीज चमकण्याचे आणि वीज पडण्याचे प्रमाण जास्त आहे. मात्र, वीज पडून मृत्यू होण्याचे प्रमाण महाराष्ट्रात सर्वात जास्त आहे. कारण ईशान्य हिंदुस्थानात वीज चमकते तेव्हा वादळ, वारे जोराने वाहतात. गारा पडतात. मात्र, महाराष्ट्रात वार्‍याचा वेग असतोच असे नाही. शिवाय विजा चमकत असताना घराबाहेर पडण्याचे प्रमाण ईशान्य हिंदुस्थानात फारसे नसते. मात्र, आपल्याकडे सर्रासपणे शेतात काम करणे, रस्त्याने फिरणे सुरू असते. काहीच होणार नाही, असे समजून आपण काम करण्यात व्यस्त असतो. विदर्भामध्ये वीज पडून मृत्यू होण्याचे प्रमाण जास्त दिसते. यावर उपाय योजनांचा विचार केल्यास एक गोष्ट आपण करू शकतो. वीज चमकत असेल तर, शेतात काम करू नये. आम्ही नांदेडच्या जिल्हाधिकार्‍यांना शेतकर्‍यांसाठी त्यांचा शेतात अडोसा म्हणून काही शेल्टर उपलब्ध करून द्यावेत असे सुचविले. हे शेल्टर्स अनुदान स्वरूपात मिळावेत. जेणेकरून शेतकर्‍यांना पावसात किंवा विजांचा कडकडाट सुरू असताना या शेल्टर्समध्ये थांबता येईल.
अजून एक महत्त्वाचा उपाय करता येतो. घरावरती लोखंडी रॉड बसवून त्यावरून ‘अर्थिंग’ची वायर घेऊन ती जमिनीत पुरायची. ज्यामुळे विजेचा प्रवाह जमिनीकडे जातो. ती घरावर पडत नाही. काही घरांवर असे प्रयोग केल्यानंतर त्याचे चांगले परिणाम दिसून आले. शिवाय पाऊस पडल्यानंतर रस्त्याने साठलेल्या पाण्यातून चालणे टाळावे. बर्‍याचदा वीज महावितरणचे पोल रस्त्याच्या शेजारी असतात. त्यातून प्रवाह पाण्यात उतरतो. त्याचवेळी विजाही चमकत असतील तर, हमखास वीज त्या पाण्याकडे आकर्षित होते. त्यामुळे प्रतिबंधात्मक उपाय जो आपल्या हातात आहे, त्याकडे दुर्लक्ष न करणे हेच हिताचे ठरेल.
दक्षता घ्या!
– झाडाखाली थांबू नये
– घराला ओल असेल तर, विजा चमकत असताना बाहेर यावे
– रस्त्यावर साठलेल्या पाण्यातून चालणे टाळावे.
– विजांचा कडकडाट सुरू असताना शक्यतो घराबाहेर पडू नये.
– शेतात काम करत असताना विजा चमकत आहेत, असे लक्षात येताच खाली बसून अथवा वाकून चालत जावे. काम करणे शक्यतो टाळावे.
– शब्दांकन : मेधा पालकर
- See more at: http://www.saamana.com/utsav/lakshyavedhi-vijancha-kadkadat-jiv-vachva#sthash.70qD1RHZ.dpuf
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