Even making allowances for hyperbole, the grain of truth in that statement cannot be denied even by It was a lack of this trait, combined with its innate lack of self-belief, that led to Even if it means standing up to the dragon on our east – as was evident during Dr Singh’s recent foray into its backyard – never mind that The standing up was evident not merely from an attendance at the Asean and EAS summits, but that these engagements served to bring to the discussion table a topic that China would rather engage bilaterally with the Asean nations – maritime security. Aka, right of navigation in the South China Sea, which With a bulk of the trade from the region using this route to reach the western shores of “ First with the AB Vajpayee government – which initially invited global opprobrium by going nuclear and soon engaged with the world thanks to its growing economic clout – and the succeeding Manmohan Singh one which forged ahead with So was it mere economics at play here? “Of what use is your economic strength if you are unable to defend it?” counters the official. “ But with the Indian economy grinding to a slow halt, in reflection of global cues, was “Yes, our economy is in slowdown mode,” says another official. “But let’s not forget, we will still grow at 7 percent – which, if you look around us, is not bad at all. And isolation is no more an option, it is an increasingly dependent world, as even Which, if you look at the country with which So despite his advancing age, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh keeps a punishing schedule, clocking admirable airmiles in the process, and engaging with the world as never before, even inviting the criticism ‘prime minister for foreign affairs’. And despite perceptions to the contrary, the Indian foreign office is at pains to explain that what is at the core of Indian policy is to do what is best for “If we are targetting What has changed, he says, is that India-China relations, which were uni-dimensional once upon a time, today cover a gamut of issues. “Previously our only engagement with Perhaps reflective of the many dimensions of the bilateral relationship, at their bilateral in Bali “which lasted longer than the scheduled 40 minutes,” Dr Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao – the two have met at least four times in the last one year – spoke of there being room for both the Asian giants and the importance of working together. And, while Asean discussed maritime security much to “We are not a threat to So is In a region where the Indian – Indic, if you will – historic influence is all too clear in the customs and languages, perhaps it is only right that Indian re-establish its presence, a desire that is in sync with the sole superpower America’s unstated aim of containing the Chinese dragon. As In his opening remarks Dr Singh ‘reported’ to the ‘We have tabled the new guidelines, it is for the American industry to let us know they meet their expectations,” said sources in the government. In another sign, Australia – whose Prime Minister Julian Gillard held a pull-aside meeting Dr Singh in Bali – relented from its earlier refusal to supply uranium to India, a move that will still have to be approved by the ruling Conservative Party caucus in December. And All of which, when read together rather than as isolated developments, would indicate an American nod behind it all. “We are not in any camp, the days of the world being divided into camps are over,” says an Indian official. “For those with the outdated cold war outlook on the world all this would seem strange, but it is not ‘if you are not with us, you are against us’ anymore.”
A comment on a social networking site summed it up neatly: ‘Twenty years ago
Posts Tagged ‘India’
Grouchy dragon, defiant tiger
November 30th, 2011India looks east, but with a firm eye on South Asia
November 22nd, 2011India can take heart that its Look East policy, after an initial period of fits and starts, has gone well, with membership to important multi-regional forums and the world respecting it for the way it has come out of its shell, but that does not mean it has taken its eyes off the immediate neighbourhood whose developments pack the punch to derail its hard-earned progress. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned from Bali and
Joined at the hip siblings
One, the incident of the missive that was sent to Mansoor Ijaz in
Two, the army has so far not found the “last link” to Zardari in the incident, the sources said, but that doesn’t mean things are hunky-dory.
Imran Khan pads up
Three, given the above backdrop, over the last few weeks cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is being steadily built up, said the sources.
But times have changed, and a military coup is no more a viable option today and runs its own risks. “It makes so much more sense to put your own man in the job.”
Unlike his cricketing glory days, Imran Khan has so far not been able to translate the mass adulation for him into political support but over the last few weeks he seems to have caught a tail wind.
“The old Musharraf hands are backing him,” believe top sources in the Indian government, as are Shah Mahmood Qureshi and many Pakistan Muslim League members. But the risk here is for the democratic structure. “You can’t sideline the two main parties in the country, that could lead to a fresh set of troubles,” they warned.
For
The fact of the matter is, they said,
But the problem, the sources said, is that one is not dealing with just one
Net verdict: We are sorry for what they are going through, but they will have to handle this themselves.
Alert in
But what Indian government sources find worrying is that of late, even this lip service has dried up. “We detect a hardening of stance on their part vis a vis
Treating
The Tiger is dead, long live the Tiger
More than two years after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was decimated by the Sri Lankan army and its leader V Prabhakaran eliminated, the Indian government has said there have been intelligence reports of the outfit trying to regroup.
“We have been receiving scattered reports of the LTTE trying to regroup, and obviously
The fact is, while the LTTE may have been neutralised, its network of sympathisers and financiers remains intact, especially among the Tamil expatriate community.
“The remnants of all this support are still around, there are a lot of sympathisers, but so far they are too scattered to pose a live threat,” said the government sources in
While
More than with any other country, it is with
“Who are we to judge?” said the sources, adding, “Nothing has really changed for us. We have always said that there should not be a new nuclear power in a region fraught with tension and we maintain that position. At the same time, we also believe
At the same time,
“In that sense, nothing has really changed for us.”
As Myanmar gets ready to take over as head of an international forum (Asean) for the first time, there are other things happening that have justified India’s engagement in the face of criticism with the military junta in an effort to goad it towards the democratic process, said Indian government sources, crowing, “But we said so!”
US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit the country — which shares a border longer than Pakistan with India and which is our first geographical touchpoint to Asean — next month, dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said she will stand for Parliament, the monks have emerged as a big force, and Myanmar’s speaker is visiting India in December in a bid to better understand the democratic process, said the sources.
“They are slowly changing their sytem, but it will have to be within their comfort zone,” they said, and we can’t hurry them along. “Remember, they have 56 ethnicities in the country, and they don’t want to do anything to upset their internal systems.”
The message from
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may have put a spoke in
Since then Banerjee has told the visiting
“Mamata’s concerns are genuine, she doesn’t want to sacrifice North Bengal’s interests while at the same wanting to help Bangladesh, and things are being worked out on how best everyone can be satisfied with the treaty,” said the sources.
And once that happens, the last remaining kink in ties between the two neighbours will have been ironed out.
A government official recalled how even 10 years ago
What made the difference, he believes, was the nuclear capability
Said another official: “Even 10 years ago we were boxed into the
“Of course
Gone, in fact, is the traditional pussyfooting of
“You may find it contradictory, but remember today
And as
Ties with US, China: All is well, says government
November 22nd, 2011Addressing the media in On the nuclear deal between the two nations, which has been vexed by the question of supplier liability, it was for the US to say if the new proposals limiting the period of liability to five years was ok or not. “There is a reality you have to accept, and that is that you cannot say Indian laws won’t apply,” the sources said. The talks between the two sides will cover bilateral relations as well as the situation in the region, apart from economics. While maritime security will be discussed, it won’t be the centrepiece of the talks. Perhaps so, but that maritime security is an issue of concern in the region, especially in the face of Chinese intent to call the shots in the region it considers its backyard, is evident from the fact that it will also be discussed at the East Asia Summit on Saturday, with several proposals being lined up before the EAS. From Ahead of the meeting between Dr Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday, the sources also categorised the relationship between the two Asian giants as “complex, with elements of cooperation and competition” between them. You can take slices of it and analyse them separately and conclude that intrusions are high etc, but if you look at the big picture over the last 10 years, it is clear that both sides have improved capabilities, the sources said. Terming the two nations as “mirror images” of each other, the sources said what mattered was the balance between the two sides. “Over 10 years the Chinese presence has increased, but so has ours.” The other aspect of the complex relationship between the two sides was the phenomenal trade between them. With The third aspect to the India-China relationship was that while in the past it was a one-issue one, the border, today the two sides have enormous political interaction, and are ready to discuss maritime security, in fact everything. That is because, the sources said, we are both looking for the same thing, to be allowed to grow uninterruptedly. Border intrusions from the Chinese side was less, the sources said, but at the same time the capability was higher. Refusing to put too big a spin on Chinese troops crossing over to plant the flag on the Indian side etc (”it’s ok, we do the same thing too”), the sources said the ties between the two sides was hardest to manage and predict because the pace of change was so fast. Naturally, then, the Special Representative level talks between the two sides on the border issues has not been “loaded with a timeframe”, with the laborious process of fixing a framework being underway. “The real issue is that
Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s bilateral meeting with United States President Barack Obama on November 18 in Bali on the sidelines of the India-Asean summit (lasting one hour, according to the official itinerary handed over to the accompanying Indian media), highly placed sources in the government sought to rebut the impression that the two democracies had lost their way in the labyrinth of domestic preoccupations.
Dr Singh heads to Bali with an eye on the future
November 22nd, 2011India
Unlike, say, the
Yet, look at the facts.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Compare this with Dr Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao. The two leaders who, between the two of them preside over the destinies of nearly one-third of humanity, met last October in
Naturally, when Dr Singh meets both Obama and Wen in separate bilaterals in
Maybe not, but the fact is that the three nations are engaged in some amazing footwork that will make the Mohammed Ali-Joe Frazier bouts look like an evening in the park. For the first time since the existing world order was drawn up following two bloody conflicts, unfairly according to most nations,
The question is, will it be in Mandarin or in English?
The APEC summit in Hawaii, the Indian Ocean Rim conference, G20, and the imminent ASEAN talks and other alphabetical regional conclaves are nothing but shadow-boxing between the sole superpower and the sole aspirant.
And India, given its long years of isolation when it chose to plow a lonely furrow rather than join either of the ideological blocs, knows that any deviation from the straight and narrow path may result in immediate economic bonus but also mean a vassal status in the long term. Which explains its impulse to hedge its bets.
Which was why, at his pre-departure briefing on Wednesday, secretary (east) in the ministry of external affairs Sanjay Singh dwelt almost entirely on the economic framework between
For unlike the first two world wars, the third one that has been underway for a while now is not being fought with arms and ammunition. Trade is the weapon here and it’s all about economics, not geography.
But like the previous two conflicts, allies will make all the difference to the outcome. So nations are engaged in an elaborate fire dance that is being choreographed with the passion and skill of a Bolshoi Ballet performance.
If China looks like a spoiler it’s only because it is the challenger to the world order that like India it too had little role in creating but is being asked to maintain it — a task neither Asian nations are keen on discharging. But unlike
To that extent at least, it is a game of containment that the
The Association of South East Asian Nations and East Asia summits later this week, which will see the attendance of India, the US, China and Russia, is one more exercise in a long train of carving out the world. Unlike the previous two exercises in 1914 and 1939, this one maybe bloodless. But it sure won’t be painless.
My I-Day take: New India, old politics
August 14th, 2010
For someone returning to
The change is reflected not just in the glittering towers, the sweeping reach of white goods once considered luxuries, automobiles on the road, in the glitz and glamour dished out by the largest film industry in the world.
There is a new India in the mindsets as well, one that doesn’t want anything to do with the old shibboleths, or yesterday’s dogmas, or to walk the trodden path – witnessed in the diverse educational options, the radical career choices. It is an
As sector after sector recasts its rules to adjust to this new reality, of a bold and young India, one group seems to have not heard the bugle call of change. The tragedy is, this group is at the head of the table.
Three recent events show up the chasm between the leaders and the people they claim to represent.
With few weeks remaining for the Commonwealth Games, the largest sporting spectacle that India has ever hosted, you will expect a media carpetbombing on the world-class facilities, the grandeur of the stadiums, the awe-inspiring infrastructure etc.
Instead, what we have been seeing are mind-numbing instances of financial malfeasance, official complicity, and brazenness in the face of exposure.
With thousands of crores of rupees allotted for the Games, we are not talking of small change but of amounts big enough to change
What has been drowned out in the charges over filthy lucre is the focus on
And the scam cuts across party lines, so even as various political parties go hammer and tongs at the government in Parliament over the shocking allegations of complicity, everyone knows that it is all part of political posturing and nothing has changed. Nor will anything change.
After all, this script has played out so many times in the past by different political parties, when
Fattening on the common weal is not the only thing that is unchanged about
The media interaction at the end of resumed foreign minister-level talks, suspended by a miffed
As SM Qureshi ticked off Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai over naming ISI as the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks and equated him to terrorist Hafeez Saeed, did
South Block, which houses the ministry of external affairs, could well take a few tips from the Men in Blue on how to overcome the Pakistani bogey. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team, after all, is a fitting metaphor for the new
But nothing represents the persistence of Old India-style politics in the face of failure as does
As a restive populace in the border state picks up stones to beat the
More than any other challenge,
In the two years he has been in office – but very little of it in power – things sure changed, but for the worse. Abdullah Jr has no idea of either the problem or the solution, and he comes off only slightly better than the other great hope in the valley, Mehbooba Mufti, and that by virtue of pledging his troth to
As the stone-pelters and the men in uniform and khadi stare each other down, what is on balance is the future of
Sri Sri? Shiva Shiva!
June 2nd, 2010It was, by all accounts, a stray bullet, but one that has ricocheted through the Art of Living bio-system. Was it meant for the popular founder, Sri Sri Ravishanker, as the guru and his band of followers believe, or otherwise, as almost everyone else believes, including Home Minister P Chidambaram?
As of now the only point of certainty is that a bullet was fired. Not by who, at who, when, how, from where, why.
Considering that the police are nowhere near knowing, leave alone apprehending, whoever fired that shot even three days after the incident, it’s safe to assume that this will join the long ranks of unsolved cases.
I have been to the ashram outside Bengaluru, interviewed the guru, and attended the evening satsang there, and agree with Sri Sri that the assailant needs to attend the satsang to get rid of his negative feelings. It’s a wonderful feeling to be part of it.
Having said that, what I don’t agree with is the chorus from various sections pointing to the dangers that our religious leaders face and for the State to provide them with security.
I am dead against such a move.
The primary reason for my resistance – much as I respect religious leaders of various persuasions whose contribution to the wellbeing of a spiritual nation like ours cannot be discounted – is that a secular nation has no business to get entangled in matters religious. That the State already is entangled, in various forms and guises, is not the issue. Should we sink deeper into the mess, since anyway we are already knee-deep in it, as some seem to suggest? I think not.
The other point is, given the multitude of religious leaders in
Finally, who is going to pay for this security of a million gurus/teachers/whoever? Should you and I be subsidising it through the tax we pay, never mind we may be atheists and abhor all things religious and divine? A few gurus – most, actually – may be able to pay for the security themselves, but what about the vast many who cannot?
Considering the landmines on this path, I think the State should not even entertain thoughts of providing security to the religious leaders – after all, if, as religions say and the gurus teach, God created life and He alone has the right to take it, why should a secular State be concerned with something that is beyond its jurisdiction!
Sania, yeh tune kya kiya?
March 30th, 2010Lest you think this is the cry of a love-lorn male, let me clarify. I wish Sania Mirza and her husband-to-be the best in their married life and, mashallah, may their togetherness last forever.
She’s a role model for millions of young girls in
It must have been hard on Sania when she was at the focus of negative attention from the religious clergy over her on-court attire, and how she handled that is entirely to her credit. Across all faiths, religious clergy is the same, a bunch of self-seekers who put themselves between the believer and god. And across faiths, they need to be put in their place.
My admiration for Sania went up when she didn’t let them get to her; we all know it is easier to succumb than to stand by what we believe in.
Naturally, I expected the young and liberal Sania to show this attitude in her personal choices as well. So I was disappointed when she went in for a proper arranged marriage.
Again, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against marriage, only arranged marriage. I believe the era of parents choosing one’s partners etc is passé, and belongs to another era. Marriage has an inherent 50 per cent chance of success/failure, and I think the odds are better in a love marriage. Also, marriage needs to be about free choice.
I won’t say I was elated when Sania’s betrothal came unstuck; after all, it was something I expected. It takes a lot for a male to accept/handle a successful wife, and an arranged marriage where the couple has not spent time in courtship and get to know the faultlines between them does not exactly contribute to it.
Since Shoaib Malik is Sania’s choice without the families pushing them into it, there’s greater chance of it lasting this time round. But I wish Sania, a youth icon, will have been a little bolder in her choice. Yes, she has shown her admirers that it’s fine to make one’s own choice, but I feel she could have done more.
Growing up, I’ve always wondered how come my friends who went in for a love marriage mostly married a person from the same community. Like a Protestant would have a love marriage with a Protestant, ditto a TamBrahm or a Muslim. To me a love marriage had to involve persons of different backgrounds where the offspring are exposed to both sides as befitting a multi-cultural nation like
You can argue that Sania, by agreeing to marry a Pakistani, has done something similar. In these troubled times where a Shah Rukh Khan can invite ire for something innocuous he said about Pakistani players, you can say what Sania has done is equally important, and sends out the message that there’s really no difference between Indians and Pakistanis. Before 1947 we were one people, after all.
Perhaps. But my point is, given that barring political the only difference between an Indian and Pakistani is religion, which doesn’t apply in this particular case. Since Indians and Pakistanis are one people, it is nothing but a Muslim marrying another Muslim. I would have been much happier had Sania Mirza, who is a youth icon, showed by example that it’s fine to marry the other by marrying outside her faith. And inspired her young admirers to along similar lines. There is no point boasting of our multi-cultural, multi-religious nation if we restrict our mingling to the social level.
Which is the only reason behind the headline for this post.
This time it’s for real
February 24th, 2010Has
If true, and the news coming on the eve of the talks between the two nations resuming after 15 months, there’s more to Thursday’s talks than what we have been told.
Among all the Indian bones stuck in Pakistan’s throat, New Delhi’s global aspirations have been the biggest, and if Islamabad is really willing to go along with our UNSC candidature it show that at least this particular bone has been swallowed, and could even be digested some day.
But there are other bones to be dealt with on both sides. I remain deeply sceptical of the peace moves between the two nations – not because peace is undesirable; on the contrary – but because there has been no genuine overture of its friendly intentions from
But the facts are there for all to see.
A friendly nation won’t harbour a fugitive like Dawood Ibrahim and his cronies, all Indian citizens wanted in
A friendly nation won’t offer territory under its control to be used for activities aimed to destroy
A friendly nation won’t let its history books teach hatred against
Conversely, are we harbouring anti-Pakistani elements in
If
That’s because for one, we are not talking to the real stake-holders in
So what should
Sexy sexagenarian
January 26th, 2010It’s all a question of perception. When a man turns 60, the traditions have it that he becomes a vanaprastha, the renunciate readying for the final stage of his life.
In a nation’s history, 60 is but a pause, at best a comma in its transition. And if the young nation were to be an ancient civilisation that has witnessed countless cycles of transition, you realise that the passage of time is but a ritual.
Young or old, 60 is a time for celebration, never mind if, like in India today, there is really little to celebrate or cheer. The tryst we made so grandly with destiny is still to be kept, and perhaps will never be. When you consider it, there’s more reason to ponder over than fete, yet we drown ourselves in a sea of self-congratulation.
I ask myself if the blitz across the media is justified. Don’t our radio jockeys and television presenters know that what we see, experience in urban India is but maya, the reality out there in the countryside very stark and very different from what we believe it to be in our malled out existence.
Sure, if you want to notch up the milestones we have done well in some spheres. When you look at the mess the region is in, it is achievement that we are still a cohesive nation, one people. India is on the move, the elephant has transformed into a tiger, go the paeans. India may be on the move, but its country cousin Bharat has been left behind in Jhumritalaiya. So we have this unusual sight of the engine steaming ahead, with the coaches stranded somewhere.
Trickle-down theory, when I read about it as an eager student in college, sounded fascinating. Applied to my billion+ people, I find it a cruel joke. Poet nonpareil Subramaniya Bharati wondered when our thirst for freedom will be quenched, and provided the context for the freedom too: if a lone man were to have no food we will destroy the world, he roared. From such idealism we have descended to a level where the crores of rupees allotted for poverty alleviation is being used to alleviate the poverty of the ruling class.
Some day it will all change, I am sure, someday we will keep the tryst with our destiny, so what if it won’t be in my time or yours. Happy Republic Day!
