a mismatch of nuclear doctrines

8/12/2019 A Mismatch of Nuclear Doctrines

1/64

A mismatch of nuclear doctrines VITAL QUESTIONS: The massive retaliation promised in the Indiannuclear doctrine is being increasingly questioned by scholars and analysts.This handout photograph released by the Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation shows the launch of Agni V intercontinental ballistic missile atWheeler Island, Odisha, on September 15, 2013.

India intends to deter nuclear use by Pakistanwhile Pakistans nucle ar weapons are meant tocompensate for conventional arms asymmetry.

Manufacturing a nuclear weapon does not, as a senior Indian Minister in1998 claimed, create credible deterrence. Deterrence is entirely a matter of

perceptions, a mental effect that is created on the adversary that nuclear usewill entail assured retaliatory holocaust. The possibility of nuclear use isthereby pre-empted. The Indian nuclear doctrine, in that sense, is wellarticulated on paper. Since 1998, more than 15 years have passed and inthe Indian sub-continent, nuclear arsenals have grown far beyond the smallnuclear ambitions that were articulated then. Yet there is an increasing fundof world literature being published, pointing to structural and operationalweaknesses in the Indian nuclear arsenal. The question is not whether Indiahas built enough nuclear bombs. Hardly anyone questions this basic fact, butthe ideational systems that will ensure the massive retaliation promised inthe doctrine are being increasingly questioned by scholars and analystsworldwide. Pakistani observers cannot help but be swayed and dangerouslyinfluenced by such literature, thereby inducing them to think the unthinkable.What does not help in encouraging sober thinking is the fact that since theend of the Second World War, South Asia has seen the largest number of

shooting wars in the world. So the questions of nuclear use will not arise inthe quiet peace of neighbourly relations, but in the stress of combat over theLine of Control or the international border.

The 1998 test

Critics of the credibility of Indias nuclear arsenal begin with their doubts onthe success of the thermo-nuclear test of 1998, which they claim was afizzle. There has been much toing -and-froing in technical journals, of theveracity, accuracy and interpretation of seismic readings. There has also beenan occasional closed door briefing by select bomb makers but surprisinglythere has not been, to date, a clear unambiguous public statement from theright source about the countrys thermo -nuclear capacity being fielded inIndias nuclear arsenal. This is a matter of some negligence, considering thatthe only members of the scientific community who have spoken on this issueare deeply sceptical of the success of the thermo-nuclear test.


2/64

The command and control of nuclear forces are another area of criticism, andnot surprisingly so, since India is the only nuclear weapon country without aChief of Defence Staff to act as the interface between the Prime Minister, the

National Command Authority and the military who own the weapons atleast most of it. In the guise of safety, Indias nuclear weapons are not onlyde-mated and the core and ignition device separated from the warhead, butthe separate components are under different departmental control. The actualreason for this bizarre arrangement is quite obvious. There is a petty turf war,and neither the Department of Atomic Energy nor the DRDO is willing to letgo of the controlling part of the bomb, even if it means a cumbersome andunnecessary loss of control. Needless to say, between the military, the DAEand the DRDO, none of them has any hierarchical control over the other two.

Other critics have written to say that having opted for road or rail mobilelaunching arrangements, India does not have the robust transport, road andrail infrastructure to move the missiles, warheads and cores from safe storageto launch hideouts and dispersal points with confidence and alacrity.

These weaknesses have led to critics stating t hat Indias nuclear capability isdisaggregated and with weak institutional features. In the case of China, it isconceded that India feels more threatened by Chinese nuclear delivery thanvice-versa. Yet, in the absence of the Agni long-range missiles, it is vaguely

surmised that the Indian retaliatory capacity is based on air delivery weapons,which could mean anything Mirages, Jaguars, Su 30s. The absence of theCDS results in even knowledgeable Indians conjecturing that the StrategicForces Command (SFC) will completely bypass the military chain ofcommand and operate directly under the PMO. This, of course, raises othermore serious problems.

In the case of deterrence with Pakistan, it is accepted that the doctrines of thetwo countries are mismatched. India intends to deter nuclear use by Pakistanwhile Pakistans nuclear weapons are meant to compensate for conventionalarms asymmetry. At the same time, Pakistan relies on 20,000 LeT cadres asan extension of its armed forces to create terror strikes, to which the Indiananswer is to punish the Pakistani state with conventional war. Thus arises thevague and elastic concept of a nuclear threshold. Yet, the Indian NationalCommand Authority is ill designed to manage the inevitable South Asiantransition from conventional war to a possible nuclear exchange or thefrantic strategic signalling that is bound to occur as the threshold approaches.

If, for instance, the threshold was to materialise as a result of an armoured

incursion, the Indian NCA by its location, composition and infrastructurewould be entirely unaware of the impending catastrophe. Hanging untetheredto any commanding authority, civilian or military, would be the IntegratedDefence Staff, a well-staffed organisation designed for the civilian-militaryinterface, but currently without a head, nor with any links to the SFC.

After much persuasion, there now exists a skeleton nuclear staff under the NSA, normally headed by the retired SFC. But while its Pakistani


3/64


4/64

Indias first indigenously built nuclear -powered submarine, INS Arihant, willundergo sea trials in a few weeks or months as its preliminary harbouracceptance trials were over, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff Rear AdmiralL.V.S. Babu said here on Tuesday. During the trials, all systems, including its

ballistic missiles, will be tested before the submarine is finally commissionedinto the Navy.

The submarine would be indigenously designed, built, operationalised andmaintained, said Rear Admiral Babu

Hybrid cloud is the way forward in

India: Microsoft Yuthika Bhargava

Microsoft, which is seeing a good traction for its cloud platform WindowsAzure, is betting big on growth of the hybrid cloud environment in the Indianmarket for increasing its customer base as it feels the solution allowsorganisations to derive maximum benefit from the cloud infrastructure.

According to Srikanth Karnakota, Director (Server and Cloud Business),Microsoft, cloud computing has already become mainstream in India. It isno longer in nascent stageadoption of cloud started with private cloud model and growth has been phenomenal. If you look at the overall cloudmarket, 70 per cent of it is private cloud today, while 30 per cent is publiccloud, he said.

Explaining the concept of a private and a public cloud in an interview withThe Hindu , he said, Private cloud is like you have a large mansion you haveand it is all yours. A public cloud is like a massive apartment not justyours.

He said security concerns mainly drove companies to opt for private cloudmodel rather than going for a public cloud. However, now that these concernshad been dealt with, organisations were moving to public cloud, giving rise toincreasing use of hybrid cloud environment, he added. Companies opted for

private cloud because of security concerns. But that is changing. No longerare people worried about security on public cloud. Companies are adopting itand they are looking at what applications can be put on public cloud. The

savings there are phenomenal, he said.

Talking about the change in trends, he said, Today conversation has shiftedfrom security but to how can companies shift more apps to public cloud. Canan end user log into an app in-house (private cloud) and need not log in againinto an app running on public cloudso single sign on for both, that is hybridcloud. Talking about the adoption of the cloud model, he said, Companiesare not entirely moving to public cloud. They still want some apps running


5/64

in-house. But private cloud alone will not grow. That is why the trend ishybrid. In the next t wo years every thing will be on hybrid.

Windows Azure is seeing a 300 per cent growth rate, and has over 15,000customers in India, adding over 2,000 new India customers every month.

The companys Azure platform has over 15,000 customers in India

Two countries, two elections

The 2014 elections need to be watched in both

India and Indonesia for their potential to changethe tried-tested-and-failed politics of theentrenched political elite.

India is not the only populous and diverse Asian country to be gearing up forelections later this year. Its maritime neighbour, Indonesia, will also hold

parliamentary elections in April, followed by presidential polls in July.Compared to India, Indonesia is a young democracy.

The election this year will be the coun trys fourth since the downfall ofmilitary dictator, Suharto, in 1998. Democracy has nonetheless taken firmroot in this sprawling archipelago and elections here have the same chaoticand exuberant timbre that characterises polls in India.

The parallels between the two countries do not end here. Elections in bothnations look set to feature a political googly in the form of Arvind Kejriwal inIndia, and Joko Widodo in Indonesia. Both these leaders have stirred up theelectoral pot, and represent a break from the standard establishment-

politician, whom the public has grown increasingly disenchanted with. BothMr. Kejriwal and Jokowi (as Mr. Widodo is universally called) are politicaloutsiders, known for their personal integrity, and anti-corruption crusadingzeal. They both represent a newly engaged electorate that senses in them the

possibility of political renewal and a break from the tired, venal, dynastic politics of the past.

Like Mr. Kejriwal, Jokowi is an aam aadmi . Son of a carpenter, Mr. Widodois slightly-built and humble, and wildly popular as the Governor of Jakarta.

He burst upon the political scene in 2005, when he was elected mayor of themid-sized Javanese city of Solo. Formerly a furniture businessman, Jokowisuccessfully transformed what was then a crime-ridden city into a regionalcentre for arts and culture.

He campaigned against corruption and went as far as to refuse a governmentsalary for his job as mayor. He enacted several pro-poor policies, includingones that helped rehabilitate th e citys street vendors, and earned a reputation


6/64

for mediation. In 2009, Jokowi was re- elected as Solos mayor with anunprecedented 90 per cent vote share.

His second tenure in Solo was cut short when he was asked by his partyleader to stand for Jakarta Governor in 2012, a post he won easily. AlthoughJokowi is yet to hold any national office, all major polls show him as thefrontrunner in the elections, were he to stand.

And it is here that one of the crucial differences with Mr. Kejriwal becomesclear.

Unlike Mr. Kejriwal, Jokowi does not front his own political party, and is beholden to Indonesias grand -old nationalist party, the PDI-P (Partai

Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan). The PDI-P is embodied in its leader,Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of nationalist leader Sukarno, the firstPresident of independent Indonesia.

The PDI- P has essentially functioned as the vessel for the Sukarno familys political ambitions. The identification between the family and the party isakin to the Gandhi/Nehru-Congress nexus.

Therefore, despite the polls indicating that Ms. Megawati has virtually no

hope of winning the upcoming elections (she lost in both 2004 and 2009), sheremains loath to give up control and hand over the Presidential ticket toJokowi. Her final decision is expected to be announced after the

parliamentary elections in April, but it is widely reported that she might tryand stand herself, again, with Jokowi on the vice-presidential ticket to boosther electability.

While Mr. Kejriwal might also come to depend on outside support from theCongress, as he currently does in Delhi, the AAP leader is not subject in thesame way to the whims and fancies of the Congresss leading family. But, onthe other hand, unlike Jokowi, Mr. Kejriwal has no track record at all in

politics. Nor has he shown the Indonesians ability to mediate and strikecompromises between different political stakeholders, yet.

Mr. Kejriwal and Jokowi are both potential party poopers for rival candidateswho would have been clear frontrunners in their absence: Narendra Modi inthe Indian case and Prabowo Subianto in the Indonesian.

Mr. Modi and Mr. Prabowo have some commonalities as well. They stand

accused of human rights abuses in the past. They are strongmen who appealto voters desirous of the steady hand of authority at the centre, believingdecisive leadership to hold the answers to the myriad woes faced by theirnations.

Until the Jokowi wild card cropped up, Mr. Prabowo, who leads his own political party, Gerindra, had been the favourite for President.


7/64

This is despite the allegations levelled against him of human rights violationsduring his years, in the late 1990s, as the general in charge of the Indonesianmilitarys elite special forces unit, Kopassus, which is known to havekidnapped and tortured political dissidents at the time.

Although never charged with wrongdoing, a military commission dismissedhim from the army on the grounds of his having exceeded orders. And likeMr. Modi, Mr. Prabowo continues to face a travel ban to the United States.Asked last year how he would handle the travel restrictions if electedPresident, Mr. Prabowo wryly answered: I will send my Vice -President toWashington. I can always visit Beijing.

One major differe nce between Mr. Modi and Mr. Prabowo lies in the latters

overt commitment to religious and cultural plurality. He has been carefullycultivating the powerful Indonesian-Chinese vote, a diaspora that has beenthe subject of pogroms in the past. He is also avowedly anti-Islamist, and hasargued that only he has the ability to keep Islamic fundamentalists, in thisMuslim majority country, in check.

But, in fact, political parties with an explicit Islamic agenda have consistentlyunderperformed in Indonesian politics. The combined vote share of allIslamist parties in Indonesia dropped to 29.2 per cent in the 2009 elections,

down from 41 per cent in 2004. Most analysts do not see the Islamist partiesimproving their electoral fortunes this year, regardless of the outcome of the presidential race.

Whats clear is that the 2014 elections need to be closely watched in bothIndia and Indonesia for their potential to change the tried-tested-and-failed

politics of the entrenched political elite.

If Mr. Kejriwal pulls off a coup in India, it will signal to Indonesia the real possibility of an aam aadmi -led change from below; a phenomenon mostIndonesians are hungry for.

On the other hand, if Jokowi emerges the next Indonesian President, it shouldserve as a wake-up call to the Congress party about how to effect a transitionfrom a dynastic fiefdom to a relatively democratic and egalitarianorganisation. For the Congress, as for the PDI-P, this may well turn out to bean existential imperative.

The AA P leader and the Jakar ta Governor represent a break with the

standard establi shment- poli ti cian

On a wing and a prayer At the crossroads:Although a military operation against militants is the lastoption for Pakistan, it has resorted to targeted strikes in North Waziristan


8/64

against the Taliban. The picture shows people fleeing the military offensiveand entering Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

The Pakistan government finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Thespate of bombings targeting the security forces and the police, and the blastnear the military General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, a day after the suicideattack in the Bannu cantonment, are too close for comfort. Every attack has

been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with which thegovernment was mandated to have a dialogue for peace by the All PartiesConference (APC), at its meeting on September 9, 2013.

Within two months of the APC, on November 1, 2013, TTP chief HakimullahMehsud was killed by a drone strike and the Minister for Interior, Chaudhry

Nisar Ali Khan, slammed the United States for sabotaging the peace process.He said at a well attended press conference the next day that ties with theU.S. would be reviewed. Some interlocutors had been about to fly to meetMehsud with a formal invite for talks with the government, he said. Even

before that, a week after the APC , militants killed two army officers inUpper Dir, and followed it up with week-long bomb attacks in Peshawar,including an attack on a church that killed over 80 people.

The TTPs new leader Mullah Fazlullah has refused to talk to the

government, if the militant outfits publicists are to be believed. The outfitsrecent attacks have not spared even the media. Last week, the TTP brazenlycalled up a television channel whose staffers it killed in an attack in Karachito claim responsibility.

Air strikes

Blasts are occurring with unfailing regularity and the government which is putting together a draft National Security Policy can only react in shock andcondemnation. The policy envisages a military operation against militants asthe last option. At the APC, outgoing army chief, General Ashfaq ParvezKayani, was also on the same page as the government on the need for adialogue. The government keeps saying the army is on the same page evennow, despite the constant targeting of security forces. However, there aretargeted operations as in December when the security forces killed over 20militants in North Waziristan after an army checkpost was bombed. After theBannu attack, the army used air strikes to hit suspected militant hideouts in

North Waziristan, which killed 40 terrorists, including top Taliban leaders.

The TTP is putting out conflicting statements, calling for a ceasefire firstfrom the government side and clearly not favouring a dialogue on its avowedaim of spreading the Sharia law across Pakistan. Mr. Chaudhry Nisar,responding to the Bannu Cantonment bombing which claimed the lives ofover 20 Frontier Corps men, said the government was in favour of a dialoguewith those who believed in peace but it could take action against those who

believed in bloodshed.


9/64

For some time now, Islamabad has been trying to make a distinction betweenthose elements in Pakistan Taliban that favour a dialogue and those that areunrelenting in their violent quest. It brackets the two late TTP leaders, Waliur Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud, as those who favoured a dialogue whichcouldnt take off due to their deaths. The government is under tremendous

pressure to initiate action but can it negotiate for peace from a position ofstrength? What are the issues it will take to the table for the talks? The TTP,as the government says, has over 50 factions, making a dialogue difficult.

The unseen enemy which operates from the shadows, as the Interior Ministerdescribed the TTP, is clearly calling the shots for now.

The Opposition parties, including a vociferous Imran Khan, leader of the

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), have been questioning the dialogue process.How can talks fail when they didnt take off to begin with, Mr. Khan asked.In Parliament, politicians have repeatedly demanded updates on the talksfrom the government and the response has left them far from satisfied.

Externally too, Pakistan is under fire for not clamping down on cross-borderterrorism, and not curbing the Haqqani network which is engaged in fightingin Afghanistan, something the U.S. has pointed out time and again. It did nothelp matters that a senior financier of the Haqqani network, Naseeruddin

Haqqani, was shot dead in the capital city some time ago.U.S. funding

President Barack Obama signed a bill last week which clearly linked fundingto Pakistans actions on terrorism and the release of Dr. Shakil Afridi who isin jail for helping the CIA track down Osama bin Laden in 2011. There are

provisions to withhold $33 million unless Dr. Afridi is released and clearedof all charges.

Another provision can block aid until Secretary of State John Kerry certifiesthat Pakistan is not supporting terrorist activities against the U.S. or thecoalition forces in Afghanistan. A key element of the bill is Pakistanscooperation with the U.S. to deal with counter terrorism efforts against theHaqqani network and other terror groups, and preventing them fromoperating from Pakistan.

Pakistan has already reacted with disappointment to the withholding of fundsover Dr. Afridis release. But the other issues related to preventing cross -

border terrorism are equally vital. It is significant that the Prime Ministersadvisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, is scheduled tomeet Mr. Kerry on January 27 as part of the strategic dialogue ministerial todiscuss a range of issues.

The PTIs blockade of NATO supply lines to protest U.S. drone strikesinvited the ire of the U.S., and Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, during his


10/64

visit to Pakistan in December, requested the government to ensure that landroutes were kept open.

He reviewed shared concerns regarding the activities of terrorist groups,including the Haqqani network, on Pakistani territory.

While Pakistans protests against drone strikes as a violation of itssovereignty have been raised at the United Nations, they cannot overshadowthe real threat of terrorism that the country has faced for several years.

With the coalition forces set to leave in a few months and the generalelections in Afghanistan, it is not a moment too soon for Pakistan to weigh itsoptions and develop a measured response to the ruthless militancy which had

its beginnings even before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11. Thegovernment is aware that fire-fighting may not be the best option but in theabsence of a focussed and timely strategy, it could continue to be on the

back- foot in the war against terror if it doesnt get its act together soon.

Paki stan should develop a measur ed response to the ruthless mi li tancywhi ch star ted even before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan

Oil exploration and security First it was telecom a couple of years ago and now it is oil and gasexploration. It looks like the Chinese ghost will not go away. The UnionHome Ministry has advised the Petroleum Ministry against consideringChinese firms for the award of exploration rights in oil and gas blocks due tosecurity reasons. The on -land blocks in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab

proposed for auction are located close to the border with Pakistan whereapparently China is engaged in different projects. The blocks in the northeastand offshore ones in the Mahanadi basin, says the Home Ministry, ar e closeto sensitive defence installations and strategic assets. In its view, these

blocks should therefore be given only to Indian public sector companies forexploration. The Home Ministry also wants its advice to be kept in mindwhile finalising sub-contracts for services such as equipment procurement,consultancy and maintenance. Truth to tell, it is not as if too many foreigncompanies are lining up to invest in the countrys oil and gas explorationsector, not to talk of Chinese ones. The auctioning of oil exploration blocksunder the New Exploration Licensing Policy has attracted but tepid attentionfrom foreign bidders in the last couple of rounds, and the story is likely to be

the same in the upcoming one as well.

Yet, the bogey of threat from Chinese companies needs to be busted. For allits exertions in recent years, the government has not provided concreteevidence of any wrongdoing by Chinese companies in the telecom and ITsectors. Its warnings have been based on mere suspicion which is notenough grounds to keep out a foreign investor, especially in these difficulttimes for the economy. On the other hand, it was Facebook, Google and


11/64

Twitter, companies that are headquartered in what is supposed to be afriendly country, which were in the eye of a storm over sharing data fromtheir servers, including that of Indians, with the U.S. National SecurityAgency. This proves companies from friendly countries are as capable ofaiding espionage as those from not-so-friendly ones. And the answer is not to

ban or show the door to all multinationals but to put in place protectivesystems to safeguard the countrys interests and assets. In the case of the oil

blocks there is indeed a problem as these are located in strategic or sensitive parts of the country. Instead of trying to keep out companies from onecountry or the other, the government would do well to create a reporting andmonitoring system that will enable security agencies to keep an eye on theactivities of these companies, especially when it comes to blocks locatedclose to defence installations. That is the way to handle security threats.

Nagaland: descent into chaos R.N. Ravi

The reckless ceasefire between the Government of India and the NationalSocialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM), a militia predominantly of theTangkhul tribe of Manipur, for the last 17 years is pushing the Nagas into a

state of civil war. While the protagonists of the ceasefire, New Delhi andthe NSCN (I-M), are in mutual comfort capering about the mulberry bushwithout a stopwatch, the process has landed the Nagas in an orbit of self-destruction. They are far more fragmented and fractious than before.

The Naga society is seething with multiple tensions intermittently eruptinginto morbid fratricidal violence. The wars in Zunheboto between the localSema Nagas and the NSCN (I-M) that left several dead and scores injured on

both sides, the discovery of mass graves in and around Dimapur, and theclosing of ranks by six tribes of eastern Nagaland Chang, Konyak, Phom,Khaimniungan, Yimchunger and Sangtan for a protracted fight for

political and administrative separation from other tribes of Nagaland aresome of the latest grim portents of their fraught predicament.

Over 1,800 Nagas have been killed in some 3,000 fratricidal clashes since the beginning of the ceasefire (1997 -2013). Contrast it with the violence duringthe 17 years preceding the ceasefire (1980 -96) that took a toll of some 940

Naga lives in 1,125 clashes mostly with the security forces. The irony isunderscored by the fact that while the security forces and the NSCN (I-M)

have been at mutual peace during the ceasefire, twice as many Nagas havedied, killing one another in some 300 per cent escalation in fratricidalviolence. The vector of violence has turned inward with a vengeance, from

between the security forces and the Naga militias to the one among the Nagasthemselves. Some in New Delhi gleefully chuckle at their remarkable feat oftrapping the belligerent Nagas in this vicious cycle of fratr icidal killings.


12/64

The term Naga is a rubric for a host of over 25 distinct tribes inhabiting the Nagaland State and adjoining areas of north-eastern India and Myanmar.Their mutual differences far outnumber their commonness. Each tribe isculturally distinct and linguistically unintelligible to the others. In the not sodistant past, contacts between two tribes were, more often than not, marred

by bloodshed. Modern state, modern education and the Gospel have had asomewhat sobering influence on their world view.

Secession bid

The Naga National Council, the first credible political entity of the Nagaswith pan-Naga political ambitions, born just before the British left India,sought to engender a shared political consciousness among the disparate

tribes. Under the stewardship of A.Z. Phizo, an Angami Naga, it launched anarmed campaign to secede the Nagas from India. The NNCs campaign forsecession and the counter-campaign of the Indian state were much tooviolent.

The NNCs enterprise to forge a politically conscious and socially united Naga society was largely anchored in its projection of a common enemy post-British India. It challenged the Indian state with the gun. The conflictwas grossly asymmetric. The Indian state had far superior guns in far superior

numbers. A gun-inspired political enterprise to forge a collective politicalidentity on a disparate sociological base merely on the fiction of a commonenemy was fraught and foredoomed.

The Nagaland State created in December 1963 with enhanced autonomy onmatters, including the customary laws of the tribes, administration of civiland criminal justice and ownership and transfer of land and its resources,offered unprecedented democratic space to the Nagas of Nagaland to fulfiltheir aspirations and allay their apprehensions. The Nagaland State as ademocratic polity took the wind out of the NNCs sails and unleashed forcesand interests that were incompatible with and antithetical to the kind of

politics being prosecuted by the militant Nagas. The NNC got splintered andeventually faded into political irrelevance although, thanks to the failure ofthe Nagaland State to deliver on its promises, its motto still tugs at the Nagashearts and minds.

The dynamic of democratic politics within the special framework, howsoeverimperfect in the eyes of the Nagas, guaranteed by the Constitution of India,created imperatives for peaceful co-existence and co-mingling of the Naga

tribes. Several ultra radical Naga nationalists joined the new constitutionalorder and helped in weakening the centrifugal politics of their erstwhilecolleagues. Although the weakened ultra radical strain did not die andsporadically asserted itself with a vengeance marked by mayhem and

bloodshed, it increasingly ceased to be the mainstream politics.

By the 1980s, ultra-radical nationalists were pushed to the margins of the Naga political space. Their capability to influence Naga politics was grossly


13/64

eroded. Violence 105 killed in 10 years (1981-90) was the lowest in Nagalands history. T he Naga issue began inching towards a sort ofChekhovian resolution. Unlike a Shakespearean tragedy where, at the end,the stage is splashed with blood and strewn with corpses, a tragedy by AntonChekhov ends with the characters unhappy, disillusioned, even bitter butalive, bracing themselves for a new beginning.

The process of a slow yet steady political reconciliation and socialassimilation of the Nagas got perverted with New Delhis cynicalengagement with the NSCN (I- M) since August 1, 1997. The ceasefire withthe outfit was in utter disregard for the logic of the prevailing situation. Thecrucial stakeholders the popularly elected State government, the traditional

Naga bodies that wield wide and deep influence on their respective tribes and

other active militias in the fray were excluded from the process. NewDelhi missed the vital fact that the NSCN (I-M), notwithstanding its pan-

Naga pretensions, is essentially a militia of the Tangkhul tribe of Manipurwith little resonance with the broad Naga family. A deal cut with it would not

be acceptable to the Naga society.

Not only the deal itself was a nostrum ab initio , New Delhis emasculationof the institutions of the state such as stripping the police of their statutoryobligations to enforce the laws and maintain the public order against unlawful

activities of the NSCN (I-M) further worsened the situation. The NSCN (I-M)has been unrestrained in demonstrative use of brutal force. Dressed in battlefatigues and armed with sophisticated combat weapons, its cadres freely roamthe streets of towns and villages. In the teeth of popular opposition, NewDelhi allowed it to set up multiple garrisons, almost in every district to helpexpand its reach in the State. In the guise of giving the NSCN (I-M) a secure

political space for building a workable consensus on the fractious Nagaissues, New Delhi has given the militia a free military run of the Nagainhabited areas.

Fragmented society

The NSCN (I-M) leadership has, however, failed to grasp the fragility of thefiction of a Naga nation imagined on the base of an ethnically fragmentedsociety riddled with historical contradictions. Instead of building a workableresonance with the Naga society, it used the ceasefire, under the tacit

patronage of New Delhi, to augment its weapons inventories, its promiscuouskilling-machine to terrorise people into submission and establish its militaryhegemony over all tribes.

However, true to their martial character, the Naga tribes have refused to besubdued and they often strike back with a vengeance. The violent clashes inZunheboto during the last Christmas week in which some 10,000 Sema

Nagas from over 100 villages armed with traditional weapons attacked a local NSCN (I-M) garrison in a fight that lasted three days and claimed over adozen lives are a pointer to the popular resistance to the outfit. The Semas,who were resentful of the NSCN (I- M)s garrison in their land, were


14/64

provoked by molestation of their women by the armed cadres of the outfitsome days earlier. They dismantled the garrison and chased away, at leasttemporarily, the armed NSCN (I-M) cadres.

The ceasefire with the NSCN (I-M) has resulted in the retreat of the statefrom the crucial areas of governance and subversion of democratic politics. Itis undoing the political and social gains achieved since the creation of the

Nagaland State that has been rendered tentative in its aftermath. The absenceof a credible state has created a power vacuum that is being filled in bychaotic sub-nationalist forces often at war with one another. The powerfultraditional tribal bodies are alienated and, in their eagerness to flout NewDelhis dalliance with the NSCN (I -M), are fostering the other Naga militias.The secessionist politics that was profoundly circumscribed by the politics of

expanded democracy is seeking to regain centre stage.

Thanks to New Delhis cavalier policies, the Nagas are in a dystopia and thegrapes of wrath against India are ripening for the vintage.

(The writer is a retired Special Director, Intelligence Bureau.)

The absence of a credible state in Nagaland has created a power vacuumthat i s being f il led by chaotic sub-nationali st f orces

often at war wi th one another

Contact lens as a diagnostic tool

The tear fluid between lens and cornea hashundreds of proteins and metabolite molecules,

an indicator of the health of the bodyContact lens can be used to diagnose glaucoma, blood pressure anddiabetes. photo: R. Ragu

Advances in mini and microcomputers are turning science fiction into reality.A couple of months ago, we had a visitor from MIT to our lab who waswearing a strange kind of spectacles. When I asked him about it, he said itwas actually a wearable computer called Google Glasses, made by Google.And of course we now know of a wrist watch computer made by Samsung.Last week Google announced the introduction of a wearable contact lenswhich would monitor the sugar levels in your tears and let you know if youare a diabetic or not. With this, you no longer need to invade or prick yourfinger to draw blood and wet it on a litmus-type paper to read your sugarlevels. And we all thought that a contact lens is worn to correct your eye sightto normal.


15/64

So, with the Google contact lens, there is literally more than what meets theeye! We have come a long way since 1508 when the great Italian Leonardoda Vinci thought up the idea of slipping a glass piece over the eye to correctvision, and 1823 when the British physicist John Herschel thought up a

practical design.

Fifty years later, such a glass was made, though it covered the entire eye.With the advent of plastics, the first lightweight contact lens was made in theyear I was born, 1939, and was made to cover not the whole eye but thecorneal surface.

But it was Drs. Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lim in 1959 who introducedthe hydrophilic soft contact lens. Currently we have contact lenses that you

can wear and sleep, lenses that are disposable after each use, and those meantfor fashionistas.

A typical contact lens is lighter than feather, has a diameter of about 14 mm,curvature of about 8.7 mm, fitting smug over the cornea and held in placethanks to the surface tension of the tear fluid that wets it.

And it is this tear fluid that holds the key for the diagnostics. Produced by thetear glands on the outer surface of the eye, it contains hundreds of proteins

and metabolite molecules, and thus an indicator of the health of the body.

Non-invasive

And since one does not have to pierce the body to collect blood but simplycollect it or study it as it is held between the cornea and the contact lens, it

becomes an attractive diagnostic fluid.

All that one needs to do is to fit the contact lens with an appropriate sensorwhich measures chosen properties or levels of any component in it.

This last sentence is easier said than done; and it is here that innovation has played a role. Early enough, in the 1990s and 2000s, Drs Matteo Leonardiand Rene Goedkoop from Switzerland, supported by Sensimed, used thecontact lens to measure the pressure within the eyeball, also called theintraocular pressure (IOP), which is an indication of the pressure that theoptic nerve feels.

If the IOP becomes higher than normal, the optic nerve can become

inefficient over time, thanks to this higher than normal pressure and caneventually lose its activity, leading to loss of vision. This condition is termedglaucoma, a silent stealer of vision.

What the duo did was to put together a circular strain gauge on the edges ofthe contact lens in order to measure the changes in the circumference of theouter surface of the eye due to IOP, and read out as electrical signals. This


16/64

was an alternative to the conventional method of using a pressure sensor(tonometer) with which the eye doctor would contact and slightly press thecurved corneal surface (applanation) and measure the intraocular pressure.

Any change beyond the accepted normal ran ge of IOP would be diagnosedas possible glaucoma.

The Leonardi-Goedkoop machine, termed Triggerfish, does this in a moreconvenient way. Likewise, Drs Stodtmeister and Jonas Jost of Germanydevised a method to measure the systolic and diastolic pressures of theophthalmic artery, and have used it as a method to make blood pressuremeasurements.

And in all this the main function of the contact lens (to correct the refractivepower) was not affected so that it does double duty.

What Drs Brian Otis and Babak Parviz of Google have done is to put in asensor on the edges of the contact lens, which measures the level of glucosein the tear fluid which bathes the contact lens, and thus monitors diabeticstatus in a continuous manner.

Currently it has been tried out on a series of subjects, and awaits FDA

clearance for marketing and widespread use. Dr Parviz, who was earlier at theUniversity of Washington, Seattle, had already used the contact lens as a GPSdevice to let the wearer know where he/she is going. This was done by

putting in a tiny integrated circuit, powered by a cell phone in the pocket, andwhich contains a GPS set up and can voice- announce directions.

This bionic lens has wireless communication system, rf power, andtransmission capability. The use of this to the visually handicapped isobvious. Such use of the contact lens as a multifunctional device wouldcertainly have pleased da Vinci.

D. BALASUBRAMANIAN

Minuscule device that powers bodyorgans developed Thin, flexible mechanical energy harvester, with rectifier and microbattery,

mounted on the bovine heart. photo: University of Illinois and Universityof Arizona

Researchers from universities in the U.S. and China have developed amicroscopic device capa ble of producing power from the bodys organs.


17/64

They say such devices could in turn be used to power other implanted biomedical devices, like pacemakers, heart-rate monitors and neuralstimulators, eliminating the need for invasive surgeries to replace their

batteries.

This device mounts onto the surface of the organ of interest, to produce andstore power associated with mechanical motions, wrote Dr. John Rogers,Director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at theUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in an email. He was a part of thisresearch which involved scientists from four universities.

The device relies on the piezoelectric effect, where electricity is generatedwhen some pressure is applied on a specific crystal.

In the resear chers system, they are lead zirconate titanate (PZT) crystals,which are one of the highest-performance piezoelectric crystals known.

The PZT is mounted on a thin sheet of plastic, with a chip for a rectifier and asmall chip-scale battery. The pacemaker, or other implantable device,connects to the device through the battery component.

Our harvester provides about enough power, on average, to operate a

pacemaker, Dr. Rogers added. The battery acts as a buffer between the PZTharvester and the pacemaker, evenly spacing out the power to be fed.

The testing

The researchers tested their device with both experiments and computersimulations.

During experiments, they implanted the device on the hearts of cows andsheep, the size of whose hearts, lungs and diaphragm are close to those ofhumans. They found that the device operated at an efficiency of 2 per cent.

Implanted devices like cardiac pacemakers need about 1 microwatt tofunction, and last for some 10 years. Currently, such devices come with a

built-in cell that produces this power, and requires replacement after thelifetime period. Dr. Rogerss team observed that stacking five of the PZTharvesters on an organ resulted in a power-density of 1.2 microwatt/cm{+2},sufficient to operate a pacemaker.

Animal models

Conversely, although computer simulations have shown that the device cansurvive over 20 million bending-unbending cycles in a moist environment,Dr. Rogers wrote that longer term survivability tests are needed in animalmodels.


18/64

This direction represents an area of current work, he wrote, adding that itwill be at least two more years until they can progress to human tests.

Protection

Simulations proved that the silicone encasement of the crystal protects it fromdeformation when implanted on an organs surface.

The team also notes in their paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on January 20 , that silicones pliantmechanical properties meant their device could be used to measure other

bodily functions by attaching on the skin or around fingers.

Fish contain genetic blueprint forlimbs

Nandita Jayaraj

Think of a world populated only by giant insects on land, and fishes in water.According to Joost Woltering of University of Geneva, that is what Earth

would look like if the transition from fins to limbs had not happened. In astudy published this week in PLoS Biology , Woltering and colleagues havefound some definitive clues about this transition. By studying a group ofarchitect genes present in both fish and mammals the Hox genes thescientists were able to find out that the DNA structure and regulatorymechanism for limb and digit formation were present in fish even before thetransition happened, but the enhancements required to activate digitformation evolved only in tetrapods (ie. four-legged land animals).

The role of Hox genes in limb and fin formation is crucial. MalfunctioningHox genes result in animals missing large segments of their limbs.Mammalian Hox genes have an interesting feature. In the forming limbs theHoxA and HoxD genes are switched on in two independent waves the firstmaking the proximal limb (arm/leg) and the second making the digits(toes/fingers), said Woltering in an email to this correspondent.

Limb formation in tetrapods is usually attributed to this bimodal behaviourof Hox genes. So the scientists were surprised to observe the samemechanism in Hox genes in zebrafish fin radials (the bony part at the end of

fins) , too. So are the two structures ancestrally the same or homologousstructures?

To test this, the team inserted fish Hox genes into mouse embryos and foundthat in the resulting mice, Hox genes were active only in the proximal part ofthe limbs, not in t he digits. This showed that the fish counterpart of themouse digit domain cannot yet make digits, said Woltering. Therefore


19/64

fish fin radials and tetrapod digits are not homologous in the classicalsense.

However, keeping in mind the shared regulatory mechanism in Hox genes offish and those of mice, the team propose the re- definition of homology.For instance, there are genes that are expressed in the hand and in hairfollicles, this fact doesnt make them homologous structures, he said. Onlyif the underlying switches that determine where a gene is expressed arehomologous, the structures are homologous.

Dr. Arkhat Abzhanov, an evolutionary biologist from Harvard Universitywho was not involved in the study, agrees. Identical expression pa tterns ofthe same gene(s) could in principle be established by non-homologous

regulatory mechanisms so it might be very helpful to look at the regulatorydetails, he said in an email.

Coming full circle: Shinzo Abe inIndia Ananth Krishnan

A normal Ja pan that takes on greater securityresponsibilities in Asia, coupled with its new-found confidence under Mr. Abe, bodes well forIndia and the region.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. PHOTO: AP

When former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi travelled to New Delhi in2005, he was the first Japanese leader to visit India in more than half adecade. His visit took place at a time when Tokyo appeared somewhat warytowards Indias overtures for building closer defence ties. Fast forward adecade, and the relationship has appeared to have come full circle. It is nowTokyo that appears eager to broaden the security relationship with India, even

pushing to sell its home-grown amphibious aircraft.

Mr. Koizumis visit has since come to be seen as a turning point. The past

decade has seen an unprecedented level of engagement between bothcountries, underlined by regular annual summit meetings between their PrimeMinisters, a rare occurrence in Indias di plomacy with most countries. Thisintensive engagement has persisted despite the many changes of governmentin Tokyo over the past nine years as many as four different PrimeMinisters have visited India during this time.


20/64

While this has reflected the consensus across the political spectrum in Japanfor pursuing closer ties with India, no leader has perhaps been as vocal anadvocate for the relationship as current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Mr.Abes ties with India stretch back over two generations. His gr andfather,

Nobusuke Kishi, who visited India as Prime Minister in 1957, had deeply personal reasons to be grateful to India, particularly for its support to Japanduring its traumatic and isolated post-war years.

During the Second World War, Kishi served as a senior official in the puppetManchukuo government established in northeastern China following theJapanese occupation. In charge of its industrial development, he presidedover a regime that oversaw widespread and notorious exploitation and abuseof the local labour force. Charged with war crimes he is still regarded in

China as a Class-A War Criminal Kishi was subsequently cleared of thecharges and went on to become Prime Minister. India extended a warmwelcome to Kishi in 1957 at a time when the country was still largely isolated

by its neighbours. Kishi made clear his gratitude by making India the firstrecipient of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Mr. Abe will certainly be mindful of this history when he arrives in NewDelhi this weekend on a visit which will also see him preside over theRepublic Day parade as chief guest. When he visited India as Prime Minister

in 2007, Mr. Abe met with the son of Indian jurist Justice Radhabinod Pal,the only member of the post-war International Military Tribunal for the FarEast, who cast a dissenting vote against punishing Japanese officials for warcrimes. Among the 50 suspects charged with war crimes was Mr. Abesgrandfather, Kishi. Pal presented a lengthy dissenting opinion questioning thehighly politicised tribunals legitimacy and motivations, although heacknowledged the atrocities committed by Japanese forces.

Mr. Abe has made clear that his government is looking to reinvigorate therelationship with India, which has been framed by his aides as a central pillarto his governments foreign policy objectives for the region. His first term asPrime Minister, in 2007, ended in just one year after a series of missteps lefthim a widely unpopular leader.

Mr. Abe was given a second chance in December 2012, when his LiberalDemocratic Party won a resounding victory amid public dissatisfaction with aseries of governments that failed to revive a stagnating economy. Mr. Abe, inhis second innings, wisely made the economy his first priority, shelving, atleast for much of his first year in office, his more controversial political

agenda. Mr. Abe turned to Koichi Hamada, a professor at Yale University, incrafting a bold and ambitious revival plan, announcing three arrows to savethe economy.

Dubbe d Abenomics, the three arrows involved massive monetary easing,an expansionary fiscal policy and a plan for long-term growth. The first twoarrows had largely succeeded in hitting their target, Mr. Hamada wrote in arecent essay, evinced by a soaring stock market which has recorded a 40 per


21/64

cent gain over the past year. The Japanese currency has also fallen 20 percent against the dollar, boosting Japanese businesses by making their exportscompetitive again.

There is an unmistakeable return in confidence for beleaguered Japaneseindustry and enterprise, a resurgence that is good news for India. Japaneseinvestments have continued to play a crucial role in building Indiasinfrastructure, including the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. Japaneseassistance towards a Chennai-Bangalore high-speed rail project is expected tofigure during Mr. Abes visit. Trade between both countries reached $ 18.6

billion last year. According to the Japanese governments figures, investmentinto India grew from 15 billion Yen ($ 145 million) in 2004 to 543 billion ($5.25 billion) in 2008. In 2011, the figure stood at 181 billion ($ 1.75 billion).

Cumulative development assistance committed to India, according togovernment figures, has reached 3800 billion Yen ($ 36.7 billion).

On the foreign policy front, however, Mr. Abes record has been mixed sofar. Mr. Abe has for long stated his ambition of making Japan a normalcountry and turning the page on elements of the post -war imposed pacifistConstitution that limits the development of the military. His project has takenon all the more urgency in the wake of renewed tensions with China over thedisputed Senkaku or Diaoyu East China Sea islands and the rapidly growing

strength of the Chinese military.A normal Japan that tak es on greater security responsibilities in Asia,coupled with its new-found resurgence and confidence under Mr. Abe, nodoubt bodes well for India and the region. Only this month, both sides agreedto enhance defence consultations, particularly on the issue of maritimesecurity, when Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera visited NewDelhi.

Mr. Abes government has, on the other hand, risked undermining its regional promise as tensions with China and South Korea have worsened on thesensitive question of wartime history. Mr. Abe became the first Japaneseleader in seven years to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a memorial for thecivilians who lost their lives in the war that also enshrines 14 Class-A warcriminals.

The visit understandably angered China and South Korea, who view theshrine as glorifying the brutalities of Japanese militarism. The Yasukuni visiteven brought criticism for Mr. Abe at home.

Mr. Abe will be the fourth Asian leader to be received as the Chief Guest atthe Republic Day parade in the last five years, following leaders from SouthKorea, Indonesia and Thailand. The trend albeit partly a result ofscheduling highlights Indias increased attention towards deepening itsengagement with the region. It does, however, remain to be seen how Indianavigates the increasingly complex tensions that have cast a cloud on East


22/64

Asia, and left unclear what impact a resurgent Japan under Shinzo Abe willultimately leave on the region.

H e will be the four th Asian leader to be received as the Chi ef Guest at th eRepubl ic Day parade in f ive years

A law that raises more questionsthan it answers K. Chandru

In order to inquire into complaints of sexualharassment of women at any place, a law mustbe enacted to deal with offences, delinking themfrom employment rules

Rare instance:The Supreme Court used its extraordinary powers under Article142 of the Constitution to formulate the Vishaka guidelines. PHOTO: R.V.

MoorthyComplaints by two law interns against two retired judges of the SupremeCourt have created several controversies, which include the mechanismrequired for conducting enquiries against members of the higher judiciary.They have also thrown up the question of the application of Vishaka

principles which set up a mechanism to enquire into such complaints. Theaborted action pursuant to the report of the three-judge committee, nominated

by the Chief Justice of India, also received flak from different quarters. Whilethe Supreme Court washed its hands of the report, which found a prima facie case, the judge himself questioned the wisdom of constituting a committeeknowing full well that he had already retired from service and the law internwas not an employee of the Supreme Court. He also lamented that he wasunjustly dealt with by the court at the cost of his honour.

In the midst of this debate, pursuant to the direction issued by the SupremeCourt in Binu Tamta s case (2013), it notified The Gender Sensitisation andSexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013. Many high courts notified such

regulations and formed their complaints committees.

However, the full court of the Supreme Court hurriedly decided that no morecomplaints of sexual harassment would be entertained by the court against itsretired judges. Subsequently, when a complaint against another retired judgewas not entertained, the aggrieved intern challenged the decision and noticehas been ordered. It was observed that a mechanism would have to be found


23/64

to deal with complaints against even retired judges. The mechanism to beevolved and its source of power were not explained.

When Chief Justice J.S. Verma embarked on a law to deal with complaints ofSexual Harassment at the Workplace (SHW), he drew support from theConvention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) inVishakas case. It defined sexual harassment and directed the formation ofComplaints Committees consisting predominantly of women and includingan NGO. They were made applicable to private work establishments. It was arare instance where in the absence of a parliamentary enactment, the courtitself enacted a law with its extraordinary power under Article 142 of theConstitution. Conscious of its limitation in making such a law, the court saidits directions would be binding and enforceable in law until suitable

legislation is enacted to occupy the field.

Ten years later, although a bill was introduced in 2007, for unexplainedreasons it was not made into an Act. Following Vishaka, in Medha Kotewal

Lele s case (2013), all governments were directed to amend the relevantservice rules, and incorporate a provision by which the enquiry report given

by a complaints committee would replace the enquiry by an employer, andthey were to initiate action based on the report alone. Under this process, anaggrieved woman employee need not depose more than once first before

the Vishaka Committee and again during a departmental enquiry.Though the Central government amended its Discipline and Appeal Rules, itwas reported that many State governments were yet to amend their rulesunder Article 309 of the Constitution. The Central government amended onlythe model standing orders in the Industrial Employment (Standing Order)Rules.

At this stage, Parliament enacted The Sexual Harassment of Women atWorkplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (SHW Act) andgot assent from the President (April 2013). It came into effect fromDecember 9, 2013. Curiously, the Act nowhere referred to the Vishaka

judgment. Its Objects and Reasons only referred to Articles 15 & 51A of theConstitution. The SHW Act borrowed the definition of the term SexualHarassment from Vishaka. It mandates all the employers to constitute anInternal Complaints Committee and requires that at least 50 per centmembership should be women. Contrary to the earlier direction of theSupreme Court, the SHW Act put in place a two-tier mechanism forenquiring into complaints. When the ICC arrives at a conclusion on an

allegation, it can recommend to the employer action against the personconcerned in terms of service rules (in such an enquiry the employer willnominate his own enquiry officer who need not be a female). The SHW Actalso provides for a settlement procedure, appeal to a court/tribunal against thedecision of the ICC. It provides for the prosecution of the person concerned.In case of malicious intent of a complainant, retributory action iscontemplated.


24/64

Following the special law enacted by Parliament, the Vishaka guidelines willno longer apply since the Supreme Court itself had ruled that its guidelineswould be followed only till a law was made by Parliament. A number of Stategovernments, public sector and private employers have not amended theirservice rule/statutory orders switching over to one-time trial and the bindingnature of the report of the complaint committee. Hence, in future, anaggrieved woman will have to depose before the ICC and, in case the ICCagrees with her complaint, once again before the employer under disciplinaryrules.

The future application of regulations framed by the Supreme Court and othercourts drawing their power only from Vishaka is in doubt since the power toframe rules under the new Act vests solely with the Centre. Parliament, no

doubt, had ignored the earlier directions issued by the Supreme Court but itattempts to safeguard the interest of persons who are accused of harassmentin workplace by providing for conciliation, appeal and retributory action incase of complaints with malicious intent.

The SHW Act has thrown up more questions than what it seeks to achieve. Itis because Vishaka limited its operation till the time a new law was made. Infuture, a person charged with sexual harassment is likely to demand that heshould be tried only under the SHW Act and not under the earlier rules or

directions by courts.It is not clear under which authority the Supreme Court constituted a three-member committee to go into the allegations against Justice A.K. Ganguly.Further, after resolving not to entertain future complaints against retired

judges, entertaining a writ petition so as to explore the possibility of evolvinga mechanism to deal with complaints against persons who ceased to be inemployment. If a person is not in the employ of an employer, the SHW Acthas no mechanism to deal with complaints. The Act contemplates onlydisciplinary action against a person accused of committing SHW and noaction can be initiated after anyones retirement. The law also does not dealwith conduct outside the workplace unless it is connected to the employment.

In order to inquire into complaints of sexual harassment of women at any place by anyone, a special criminal law must be put in place to deal withSHW offences delinking them from employment rules as was done in Tamil

Nadu which enacted the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of WomenAct, 1998 to deal with such type of cases.

(Justice K. Chandru is retired judge, High Court, Madras)

The law has put in place a two-tier mechani sm to enquire into complaintsof harassment


25/64

National communal harmony awardfor CSSS Special Correspondent

The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, has been selectedfor the National Communal Harmony Award 2013 in the organisationcategory. Mohinder Singh of Delhi and N. Radhakrishnan of Kerala have

been selected for the award in the individual category.

Established in 1996, CSSS is a Mumbai-based organisation working to

promote peace, secularism and communal harmony in the country. It has also been working on human rights issues and for the cause of the marginalisedand deprived sections of society.

Dr. Singh, 72, is a scholar and member of the National Commission forMinority Educational Institutions. He was a Member of the NationalCommission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities from 2005 to 2007. In1984, he, along with other social activists, organised relief camps at Delhiand restored friendship between the Hindu and Sikh communities in the wake

of the anti-Sikh riots.Dr. Radhakrishnan, 69, is a well-known academic, Gandhian scholar and

peace worker. He initiated the Shanti Sena programme at the GandhigramUniversity and extended the work to other parts of the country. He has beenactively working to restore peace in communally tense areas of Tamil Naduand Kerala.

Largest domino kidney transplantin India conducted Sukhada Tatke

12 patients operated on

A father donated his kidney to his son. Two husbands did the same for theirwives. Three wives gave a lease of life to their husbands in the same way.These transplants happened simultaneously on Saturday morning across threehospitals here. The medical exercise became the second and largest dominokidney transplant in India so far.

While this procedure is routine in North America and Europe, Indias firstdomino kidney transplant comprising five surgeries happened only in June,2013. It took two years to execute.


26/64


27/64

Parveen Sultana, Ruskin Bond, J.S.Verma, Vairamuthu, Paes to getPadma Bhushan Top row:(From left) Padma Bhushan awardees Ruskin Bond, Parveen Sultana, J.S.Verma, Leander Paes, Vairamuthu and Pullela Gopichand.Second row:(From left)Padma Shri awardees Vidya Balan, Mallika Srinivasan, H. Boniface Prabhu, DipikaPallikal, Paresh Rawal and Parveen Talha.

Padma Shri for Vidya Balan, Boniface Prabhu,Mallika Srinivasan, Santosh Sivan, Yuvraj

Classical singer Begum Parveen Sultana, Justice Dalvir Bhandari, authorRuskin Bond, the former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma, formerComptroller and Auditor General V.N. Kaul and Tamil lyricist Vairamuthuare among the 25 people select ed for this years Padma Bhushan.

Lyricist Vairamuthu, who holds the unique honour of receiving thePresidents award for lyricist six times, said he was happy about receiving thePadma Bhushan.

Cine stars Paresh Rawal and Vidya Balan, sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik,theatre artist Bansi Kaul, Chairperson of the Chennai-based Tractors andFarm Equipment (TAFE) Mallika Srinivasan, P. Kilemsungla, UnionMinister Sharad Pawars brother Pratap Govindrao Pawar, owner of Sakal newspaper group, have been chosen for the Padma Shri.

It is a matter of pride for the team [in TAFE], said Ms. Srinivasan. Weaccept this with pride and humility. The award would inspire us to buildthe company into a global one with the focus on improving the lot of thefarming community. Our thrust will be on developing rural India, she said.

Ms Kilemsungla, the first woman from Nagaland to be appointed as memberof the Union Public Service Commission, has been awarded Padma Shri forher contribution to the field of literature and education. Ms. Vidya Balan, 36,has portrayed strong female protagonists in Paa , Ishqiya , The Dirty Picture and Kahaani. Among the other Padma Shri awardees are tabla player Vijay

Ghate, filmmaker and cinematographer Santosh Sivan, theatre personalityMohammad Ali Baig, TV actress Nayana Apte Joshi, musician Musafir RamBhardwaj, Manipuri dancer Elam Endira Devi, Kathak dancer from BengalRani Karnaa, film animator Ram Mohan, dancer KalamandalamSathyabhama and former UPSC member Parveen Talha. Ms Talha was thefirst ever Muslim woman to enter any Class-I civil service through the CivilServices examination. In sports, tennis star Leander Paes and badminton

player-turned-coach Pullela Gopichand have been selected for the Padma


28/64

Bhushan, while cricketer Yuvraj Singh is among the seven sportspersonschosen for the Padma Shri. Gopichand, one of the finest badminton players inthe country, is the second renowned sportsperson to be conferred the PadmaBhushan this year.

Squash player Dipika Pallikal, former Indian womens cricket captain AnjumChopra, Sunil Dabas (kabaddi), Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu and MamtaSodha (mountaineering), and H. Boniface Prabhu (wheelchair tennis) are theother sportspersons selected for the Padma Shri. PTI

Emerging economies need to

unleash structural reforms: IMFchief With the global economy on the path to recovery, emerging nations wouldneed to put in place various structural reforms to unleash their growth

potential, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Saturday.

... structural reforms are needed in emerging market economies also. They

would have to do away with bottlenecks and protective barriers to unleash the potential they have, Ms. Lagarde said here while listing out potential risks before the global economy.

In a session on global economic outlook on the last day of the WEF annualmeeting, the IMF Managing Director said the key news today was thatadvanced economies were growing at rates slightly better than expected whilegrowth of emerging economies had been slower than what was previouslythought.

New risks

More interestingly, the debate has begun on new risks, such as how taperingtakes place, at what speed and how it is communicated and what would be thespillover effects especially on emerging economies. This is a new risk on thehorizon and needs to be watched, she said.

Deflation

Noting that another emerging risk is deflation, Ms. Lagarde said monetary policies have to be re-formulated after some time. Debating what should beon top of the agenda for global economy in the year ahead, other panelistssaid that nearly seven years after the crisis surfaced in 2007, the mood wasgenerally positive today. PTI


29/64

The case for a land value tax Navin Singh

The real estate bubble will not burst anytimesoon, but capital is being hit as nothing new iscreated

In a feudal society like India, land ownership has always been a source ofwealth and power.

While the traditional feudal class has largely faded out, post-Independence,especially in the last decade, real estate prices have soared to vertiginousheights, bringing realty back to the centre stage of the Indian economy.

The fall in property prices in 11 out of 15 major Indian cities in 2013 ascompared to 2012, has created a feeling that the overheated real estate sectoris showing signs of correction. Some have gone on to speculate that thismight be the sign of an impending real estate bubble- burst. But bankers seeno reason to be worried as the Indian realty sector differs from that ofdeveloped world in many ways.

First, the mortgaged propertys market value is more than its book value asup to 50 per cent of the value of a property is paid by the buyer in black,and banks lend only by book value. So the sector can absorb considerabledownward correction. Secondly, a major share of the investment in real estateis in undeveloped land, which is not financed by banks. Finally, money is

parked in this sector usually to evade taxes, and this flow of unaccountedfunds is not likely to slow down anytime soon.

It is a tragedy that the same factors which make this sector immune to ameltdown, are bleeding our economy. Black money, whether earnedlegitimately or siphoned off from government-spending, is getting suckedinto a vortex of shady land deals, which provide not only anonymity butassured returns. It creates artificial scarcity, jacking up land prices for end-users. Moreover, it creates an incentive for the builder-politician nexus todelay clearances to residential or commercial building projects of individualsor communities without political patronage, leading to a mushrooming ofirregular colonies, with non-existent infrastructure such as water lines andsewerage.

It has created a new feudal class of landowners which extracts a ren tiersincome from the economy without adding any value. The overdeveloped realestate sector is worthless for Indias balance of trade, as construction projects,even if world-class, cannot be exported. Even if the real estate bubble doesnot burst, capital is still being destroyed and nothing new is created.


30/64


31/64

Ananth Krishnan

China has overtaken India to become the largest contributor of Foreign DirectInvestment to Nepal over the first six months of the current fiscal year,underlining the rising Chinese economic presence and strategic influence

in the country, according to new figures.

Investment from China reached $174 million between July and December,accounting for over 60 per cent of the total FDI commitment, the ChineseState- run Xinhua news agency said, citing a new report released by NepalsDepartment of Industry.

Three-fold increase

This marked a three-fold rise from the same period in the previous 2011-12fiscal year, where Chinese investment reached $55 million. The Xinhuareport noted that since last year, China has begun to surpass the investmentfrom India into Nepal. While India was the biggest source of FDI during the2011-12 fiscal year, investment from China rose the following year toaccount for 31 per cent of total foreign investment.

The Chinese investors had always desired to expand their investment in

Nepal. However the political scenario in the past discouraged them, Dh rubaLal Rajbanshi, an official at the Nepali Department of Industry, told Xinhua.

As the political course took positive shape following the ConstituentAssembly election, the Chinese investors have introduced huge amount ofFDI, he said.

Maharashtra students create record

for largest lezim dance Students, numbering 7,338, of the schools run by Sangli Shikshan Sanstha setthe world record of forming the largest lezim dance here on Sunday. Theirfeat was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records and a certificatewas given to the organisers at the venue.

The event had been organised by Sangli Shikshan Sanstha at the ChhatrapatiShivaji stadium, here on Sunday morning on the occasion of the Republic

Day. The students dressed in their school uniform , composed of boys andgirls aged 10-16 years.

Nikhil Shukla, a representative of the Guinness Book of World Recordsawarded the certificate of achievement, organiser of the event Vijay Bhidesaid.


32/64


33/64

politicisation of rural development by the regime in Colombo, thecooperatives, which managed to survive the war, are weakening and face thedanger of collapse.

While the Sri Lankan fishers also compete with Indian small-scale fishers onnon-trawling days, it is the more high-powered trawlers that are the cause forrage in the coastal North. The humming and the lights of the larger trawlersventuring close to the shores are the disquieting reality of the Sri Lankanfishers stolen future. With crippling indebtedness, some fishers areabandoning their way of life and resorting to day wage labour as masons orseeking work as migrants.

Deep-sea trawling

On the environmental front, years of trawling have led to the depletion of fishstocks. There is ample evidence of ecological damage by trawling, whichscrapes the seabed, destroying biodiversity. Indeed, trawling is banned inmany countries. In Sri Lanka, fishery policies in recent decades opposedtrawling, which culminated in a ban in 2010. Research by marine scientists isnow beginning to map the environmental damage due to Indian trawlers onthe ocean bed.

Why has this dire situation arisen? It is not that fishers in the past orelsewhere did not face such conflicts. When such conflicts did arise, therewere struggles, negotiations and agreements reached. Indeed, that is how thetrawling from the Tamil Nadu side came to be restricted to three days a week,as small-scale fishers hit back at trawlers. The problem with the Palk Bayfishing conflict is precisely its interstate character. Indian trawlers ravage

Northern fishers livelihoods, but cannot be confronted and negotiated withon the shore as they live in two different countries.

In this context, there have been two significant rounds of talks between Tamil Nadu and Northern fishers in 2004 and then again in 2010. The agreementreached in 2010 called for a complete end to trawling in Sri Lankan waterswithin a year, giving Indian trawl fishers time to shift to other forms offishing. The agreement has not been implemented by either country acrossthe Palk Straits, and three and a half years later, the situation has reachedcrisis proportions.

The irony of the tragedy facing the Northern fishers is that the Tamil Nadu polity, which claims to champion the rights of the Sri Lankan Tamils, has

been complicit in the dispossession of the Sri Lankan Tamil fishers. Thishypocrisy also extends to the Sri Lankan Tamil middle class, the Sri LankanTamil media and the Tamil National Alliance. With the singular exception ofthe recently elected Chief Minister Wigneswaran, who recently called for a

principled cessation of trawling, the Sri Lankan Tamil polity has been, for themost part, silent, reflecting its class and caste bias towards fishers. The SriLankan state, in turn, has used the issue as a leverage in a difficultrelationship with its bigger neighbour on issues ranging from a constitutional


34/64

political settlement, continuing militarisation and the acrimonious humanrights debates in UN forums.

It is in this context that multi-level talks and negotiations seem to be the onlyway forward. It is critical that the affected fishers and their interests are

placed at the centre, but the governments will have to arrive at agreements.While confidence building measures such as releasing Indian and Sri Lankanfishers arrested on both sides of the maritime boundary are welcome, there isspecificity to those releases. The Sri Lankan fishers arrested in India aremainly from the South involved in deep-sea fishing and a differentconstituency from the war-affected small scale fishers of the North. It istherefore critical that the negotiations are inclusive of the representatives of

Northern fishers cooperatives.

Introspection needed

For now, the vision and initiative has to come from the Indian side; NewDelhi, the Tamil Nadu polity and the trawl fishing communities have toengage in some serious introspection. Otherwise, the mounting anger amongthe Northern fishers may place a wedge between the post-war North andIndia. Indeed, Indias support for devolution of power, substantivedemilitarisation, the massive fifty thousand housing scheme for the war-

affected and building of the Northern railroad are all now overshadowed bythe Palk Bay fishing conflict. Addressing the Indian trawling problem is fast becoming the litmus test for Indian solidarity; not only towards the fisherfolk but the war affected North and East as a whole.

Negotiations are not about demonising the Tamil Nadu trawlers, but ratherabout calling on them to take responsibility. On the Indian side, while a banon trawling would be welcome given the ecological damage, it may, in realityrequire a process of buyback of trawlers by the government to reducecapacity and, over a period of time, complete decommissioning.

On the Sri Lankan side, while an end to poaching by Indian trawlers will givesome relief to the Northern fishers, their devastating past means there needsto be much support for their revival. There are calls by fishers forcompensation for their loss of equipment and catch over the years. There is aneed to rebuild fisheries infrastructure such as jetties and harbours. Next,training and investment in multi-day boats capable of deep-sea fishing for atleast some sections of the Northern fishers are needed. It is such investmentthat can ensure that the fishers affected by the war for decades can catch up

with fishers in Southern Sri Lanka. India can support such efforts to revitalisefisheries in the North and thus address the damage done by Indian trawlersand rebuild goodwill across the Palk Bay. The Government of Sri Lanka andthe Northern Provincial Council must realise that the revitalisation offisheries in the North is inextricably linked to credible reconstruction policies

by an engaged civil administration and to democratisation that strengthensinstitutions such as the fisher co-operatives.


35/64

The vast Indian Ocean has both a history of coexistence and the resources toaccommodate the peoples of the subcontinent. It is our modern predicament,shaped by muscular nation-states and avarice of capitalist institutions, thatexploitation for profits and destruction of natural resources have createdcrises, be it be armed confrontations or fishing conflicts. It is now time toreclaim the Palk Bay to rebuild these fractured social relations. There is anurgent need for dialogue and cooperation between Northern and Tamil Nadufishers to end destructive trawling. At the same time, we must imagine afuture where Sri Lankan and Indian fishers collaborate and traverse theIndian Ocean on deep-sea vessels, while fishing for the sustenance of thesubcontinent. And closer to the coast, the socially-excluded and dispossessedfisherfolk should be given respite to revive their livelihoods in their fishingvillages and re-imagine a future that can be prosperous.

(Ahilan Kadirgamar is a researcher and political economist based in Jaffna.This article draws on discussions at a recent conference on the Palk Bay

fishing conflict held at the University of Colombo )

Indias support for devolution of power and substantive demilitarisation areall overshadowed by the Palk B ay f ishi ng conflict between Tamil N adufi shers and Northern Sri L ankan fi shers

Nothing fishy about this geneticallymodified biofuel Damian Carrington

A genetically-modified plant that produces seeds packed with fish oils is setto be grown in open fields in the U.K. within months, scientists announced onFriday. The oils could provide feed for farmed fish, the researchers hope, butthey could ultimately be used as a health supplement in human foods such asmargarine.

Fish oils specifically omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids have been shown to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease and are a popularfood supplement. But about 80% of the fish oil harvested from the oceansevery year is actually fed to other fish being raised in aquaculture. With manyfish stocks already over-exploited, the government-funded researchers fromRothamsted Research in Hertfordshire, southern England, have spent 15

years developing the new GM plant and hope to have permission for fieldtrials by March, with planting to start shortly after if approval is given.

Testy over trial

Environment minister Owen Paterson, who will make the final decision after public consultations and advice from experts, said: The longer Europecontinues to close its doors to GM, the greater the risk that the rest of the


36/64


37/64

Symbolic:The recent six- day India visit of Japans Imperial Majesties presages a relationship that can influence the global power structure. Photo: Kamal Narang

Within two months, we have received from Japan, first that rare, andsymbolically greatest, gesture, the visit of Their Imperial Majesties, then theDefence Ministers, and now, the Premiers. It is heartening that such animportant country attaches such importance to us, despite our best efforts to

prove ourselves unready, if not unable, to play the role clearly expected of us.Formally, we have so many strategic partners, the term has lost meaning,

but Japan surely could give it solid contents. The economic component isobvious, limited largely by our own non-performance; the strictly strategic

part is even more important but even less attended to. We could grow

economically even without making the most of Japans cooperation, but toour national security interests, it is irreplaceably valuable. Moreover, therelationships significance is more than bilater al; it will influence others andthe global power structure.

The power-politics and balance-of-power calculations we denounce are factsof life, standard practice for all serious countries which plan for their nationalsecurity interests with evaluations of the international distribution of power.Having multiple, often conflicting, interests to manage, all countries need

some organising principle. During practically all of Indias first half -century,the Cold War furnished that principle for everyone, the pursuit of otherinterests being conditioned by this central fact of international life. Since itsend, all countries have been at sea, casting around for some new sextant toguide them. We Indians, like all others who only took charge of their owndestinies just before or during the Cold War, are dealing for the first timewith the interplay of multiple powers, some rising and some weakening. Theyall act without the constraints, indeed the discipline, imposed by the ColdWar, but one development provides a major sort of organising principle, formany states if not all: the enormous rise of China.

No country has divined the ramifications of this for itself or globally noteven China. How far it will prove an alarmingly assertive power, throwing itsweight about aggressively, and how far a constructive, if self-centred, leaderin shaping a new, equitable world order, is a question that has spawned quitean industry, but leaving everyone guessing. Great powers have, historically,

been both, usually more the former. China should prove no exception, but ina very new setting.

Most countries cop out with the banality that one must build on areas ofcooperation with China while remaining wary of unwelcome possibilities.The first depends on Chinese attitudes, the latter on your own capabilities.Since no regional country comes anywhere near Chinas present capabilities,leave alone tomorrows, each must strengthen its own, which includes

building partnerships. Each will strenuously and genuinely maintainthese are not aimed at harming, or even containing, China, but that is whatChina will consider them. Is that a reason for eschewing them?


38/64

Territorial integrity paramount

Perceptions are often more consequential than actualities, but that works bothways. China surely knows that how it appears to others inevitably shapestheir policies. We should not fight shy of readying ourselves for unpleasanteventualities, nor imagine that these wont happen if we do not give Chinacause for misunderstanding. In this complex world, we must deal with many,varied concerns, but in regard to our national security there is surely a clearand imperative organising principle: do whatever you must to ensureterritorial integrity.

That imposes compulsions arising from one stark fact: two states alreadyoccupy substantial parts of our territory and claim more. Our differences

certainly need not erupt in major violence; we should keep trying for arelationship, with both our neighbours, in which a realisation of the benefitsof peaceful cooperation outweighs any calculations of gains from conflict.But the surest way to preclude conflict is to manifest capabilities which makeit too costly. If miscalculation or mischance should nevertheless causeeruption, nobody will help us: we would have to cope alone. We are nowherenear equipped for that, on the ground or, even more importantly, in ourthinking. Japans interest in us should at least be a stimulus for the thinking

part, as well as leading potentially to improving our ground position.

Uncertainty about the intentions and will power of the America so manycriticise but rely upon to limit any Chinese hegemonism makes all affectedcountries rethink how to safeguard their interests. We Indians are oftenaccused of not overcoming our neigh bours animosities towards us, butChinas are not exactly in love with it. Unlike us, however, China enjoys arespect that shapes its neighbours behaviour towards it. A distinguishedASEAN diplomat once remarked that, when deliberating some issue hisFor eign Office no longer ask themselves first what Washington might bethinking, but what Beijing might. He added: we hope we can soon also askwhat Delhi might think. That hope has kept fading, thanks entirely

a mismatch of nuclear doctrines

Documents