Sethusamudram Project: Reason should reign over religion

The proposed Sethusamudram project is back in the eye of the storm after its opponents have gone ballistic in their objection, with the issue rocking the Parliament.

The BJP is leading the charge on behalf of various Hindu groups who claim that the submerged land formation is what’s left of the bridge built under the supervision of Lord Ram to facilitate his invasion of Lanka. The saffron brigade is stubborn in its stand that damage to the ‘holy’ bridge is unacceptable, and their credo has backers in legal luminaries like Subramanian Swami — who are capable of keeping the project tangled in judicial knots forever.

The project faces stiff opposition from local fishing community, who say the present alignment would destroy marine life and corals. There are also concerns raised by some experts about creating an artificial breach in a natural barrier capable of buffering tsunami waves, thereby preventing extensive damage to the entire southern coast.

A government-appointed committee headed by Rajendra K Pachauri recently released its report terming the proposed project unviable from ecological and economic aspects — but the Centre has decided to reject it and go ahead.

Some say Sethusamudram Canal will provide India with the benefits akin to those provided by Panama Canal or Suez Canal — though the reality is that neither the distance reduced, amount of traffic, nor time saved is anywhere in that scale. It must also be noted that the 12 metre-deep channel cannot be used by ships above 30,000 tonnes. This would rule out most big container ships, let alone massive crude carriers. And when one considers the massive dredging costs, part of which will be recurring, things look less promising.

However, some are of the opinion that the advantage of reduced distance is dwarfed by strategic concerns. It would ensure better security for cargo and more effective monitoring by security agencies. The added benefit would be that smaller ports in Kerala and Tamil Nadu will see more business, and in turn, revenues.

In 2007, after filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) came under heavy criticism for questioning the authenticity of Ram-built-it-theory. The officials, rather candidly, pointed out that mythology cannot be the basis of government policy. All hell broke loose in the land of the holy cow: the officials were suspended, ‘objectionable’ passages removed and the then law minister HR Bharadwaj smoothened ruffled feathers by accepting the historical and cultural relevance of Ram.

We have the dubious distinction of the highest level of judiciary entertaining cases where God is made a party... such periods in Europe are now known as Dark Ages.

Since we are a nation where people take offence at the drop of the hat, the mythological angle should be left out in the case of Sethusamudram project. Hardly any opinion can be made on any topic under the sun without offending someone or the other. And soon cases will follow for “offending the sentiments” of X community, Y caste, Z interest group and XYZ people who want their 15 minutes of fame by getting their names published in news reports for filing cases.

Allowing development issues to be hijacked by political and communal elements with vested interests would not only create divisions, but also open floodgates of questionable methods to stall anything and everything.

Reason, and not religion, alone should decide public policy.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on February 27, 2013.)

Coffins to choppers: No end to scam plague

Even as an Italian investigation is bringing out damning information on the VVIP helicopter deal, the Indian response has been divided. Defence minister and patron saint of clean politics ‘St Antony’ has realised (though a few years late) that “something happened somewhere”, which also threatens the image he has painstakingly built for himself — thereby meriting cancellation of the deal.

However, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid is not keen to “overreact” because it would affect our “defence preparedness”. But the venerable mantri doesn’t elaborate what role helicopters transporting VVIPs are going to contribute to defence preparedness.

Khurshid has stressed that Letters Rogatory, which request a foreign government’s or government institution’s cooperation for an investigation, will allow India to get to the bottom of the alleged scam. However, the charade of investigation into the Bofors scam has amply demonstrated to us how the government can sabotage such processes from within.

Though Khurshid vouches for the capabilities of Augusta Westland helicopters, the claim is difficult to stomach when it has emerged that performance requirements were tweaked to benefit the company.

AK Antony is clean and honest, but has always demonstrated to be spineless when it comes to dealing with filth in his team. His terms as chief minister of Kerala saw some of the biggest scams and criminal activities of party leaders, coalition partners and ministers (of course, all alleged and never proven). Even when a senior Cabinet colleague was under investigation for sexual misconduct (Ice cream Parlour Sex Scandal), Antony would not ask him to stay out of ministry till he is cleared. The minister has been acquitted by all trial courts and the Supreme Court. There are plenty more, but this one is the crown jewel.

The inevitable presence of middlemen and ‘consultant’ companies (where many top military officials find employment after their service) in defence deals is a clear demonstration of the lack of willingness of the government to put national interests first. From coffins to choppers, rations to munitions, those tasked with protecting the country (service personnel, bureaucrats and political leaders) are looting it or facilitating the plunder.

The anger and tirade of the defence minister will play to domestic galleries but need not translate into actions of consequence, especially when the investigations involve other countries. Their judicial process follows due procedure of law and usually does not cater to requirements of “public conscience”.

Unless there is conviction and policy decision that national interests will come first, these investigations will take the usual long and winding road to nowhere, bleed the exchequer and finally peter out.

There was a time when military had a good standing in the public eye, but it is no longer the case. There are stains that need to be removed and creases that have to be smoothened before the uniform can return to its former glory.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on February 20, 2013.)

Time to streamline anti-Naxal ops

Two Central ministries, ministry of defence (MoD) and ministry of home affairs (MHA), are engaged in a nasty war of words over an incident involving Indian Air Force personnel during an anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh.

An IAF Mi-17 that was providing logistical support to the police was brought down by Naxal fire. The MHA lashed out at the “cowardice” of the IAF personnel who, reportedly chose to abandon the machine and the wounded man where the chopper landed and flee to the nearest camp. The rescue party and reinforcements reached the spot three hours later.

The IAF also came under fire because its personnel did not bother to leave behind its commandos to guard the chopper and the injured cop — leaving the machine and its load of weapons unguarded in the Naxal-infested territory for three long hours.

The Air Force, in its defence, said the blame lay on the state’s police which did not ‘sanitise’ the area near their camp.

While the blame game continues and respective departmental inquiries are on, the uncomfortable issue of (and the ambiguity regarding) the role of the armed forces in anti-Naxal operations has raised its head.

The MoD had earlier declared that its personnel (read IAF) can return fire if fired upon by the Maoists guerrillas. It has not emerged clearly why the armed helicopter, with highly trained commandos on board, could not respond to the attack and went down.

The IAF personnel, before scramming, left an LMG and a pistol with the wounded policeman — how noble!

May be, in that condition, he was supposed to do a Rambo and mow down any possible Naxal assault team.

Now, imagine a scenario if the chopper crew had decided to hold their position. No matter what their training, the sheer numerical superiority of a Naxal party would have overwhelmed them. The result would be that other IAF teams would tend to get trigger-happy, raising the possibilities of civilian casualties. In an area where human intelligence is minimal and terrain preventing easy distinguishing of Naxal patrols and foraging tribals, this would have serious consequences.

There is also the issue of setting up Army camps and training sessions in Naxal strongholds. True, a sovereign country will not be dictated by presence of guerrilla groups when it comes to training and deployment of its forces. Though there has been no untoward incident so far, there is a high probability of the Army getting dragged into the conflict.

The Naxals are no fools to attack army personnel or camps and bring on themselves the wrath of a well-trained and heavily-armed force. However, if a communication gap or a case of mistaken identity results in such an attack – and casualties – things are going to get ugly.

The Army would get involved in the direct action and soon the conflict would snowball into a full-fledged civil war. And when such a conflict takes place it always tends to take a heavy toll on lives (uniformed and civilian) and scars the region’s psyche — and that is something nobody wants.

The government agencies should shake off their lethargy and revisit standard operating procedures (SOPs) so that the forces (police and the military) are in a better position to deal with delicate situations like the one faced by the IAF personnel in Chhattisgarh.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on February 6, 2013.)

Why mullahs and morons fear Kashmir's all-girl band

In another clear indicator of ‘cultural terrorism’ ruling the roost, the Kashmir all-girl band has decided to pull the plug on themselves a day after the Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad termed singing as un-Islamic and told them to abandon it.

Though a wide range of eminent person, beginning with Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, came out in their support and asked them to rock on ignoring the ‘morons’, the scared girls have decided to call it a day.

While condemning singing, the mullah seems to have forgotten the liberal Sufi-inspired culture of Kashmir and the tolerance of Kashmiriyat. Ever since the Valley began to see the rise of West Asia-funded Wahhabis, the core cultural values of Kashmir has witnessed a decline — usually staring at the business end of a Kalashnikov.

The band, Pragaash (light), symbolises everything the mad mullahs, their Pakistani and West Asian benefactors and the militant groups fear — return of hope and normalcy to the region.

There are some major concerns that arise for those who fan unrest and live reaping its benefits: How can fundamentalists claim the support of a population when teenagers are chilling out with music and not attending terrorist-training camps across the border? What answer will the domestic stooges give their paymasters across the border? When there is peace, stability and semblance of governance in the state, why would youth want to support irrational shutdowns and raise slogans in praise of Pakistan?

These moron mullahs who are never short of ridiculous fatwas may have silenced a few scared teens, but it is not the end. All their diktats, guns, threats and violence put together are not powerful enough to break human spirit.

The clouds of extremism may cover the sunshine of aspirations of the people for a while, but ultimately it will be the radiance of Kashmiriyat that prevails.