Shivsena heading towards a wall? An argument for an open society

What is the first thing coming to your mind when you hear the name Shivsena? At least a good percentage of the answers may look like – ‘banning some books, movies, channels etc’. This may be because of the active criticism (also due to the cut throat competition for primetime space) of electronic media or Shivsena themselves wants to be like that. A party, which always works for banning ‘everything’, that are supposed to be/ or imagined to be against them (in their words – against the culture).

Now a days Shivsena is always in paper, requesting (or ordering?) the government to ban something.  Usually parties and leaders are coming to the frontline politics by using some issues/strikes as their carrier. Some will remain in the forefront by working for or against something, others will simply fade away. They always require something to act against, living in a constant confusion – will their support base erode if they are not inflating the already hyper inflated negative ego of people?

There is nothing wrong in protecting our own culture, opinion etc. But every element of culture and opinion can’t be a universal truth. For example, respecting elders and divisions based on caste lines (untouchables and all other worst things related to it) are part of Indian system for a long time. But first one doesn’t become bad practice and the second one will not become good practice only because the system belongs to us or existing here for a long time. If you are keep on saying (no matter what others think) that the first one is correct and second one is also correct because it is part of out system, what will happen?

There are many things in our society which have to change. All these rotten eggs will be visible when some one dares to challenge it – like Raja Ram Mohan Roy did, like Sri Narayana Guru did. But if you are not allowing some one to raise their voice, to hear their opinion how we will came to know what is actually rotten in the system? European society took long time to agree that Earth is round; many people in India are still unable to wipe out the feelings of caste divisions from their mind.

Many radical changes pushed us a lot of degrees in the progress bar. Like the changes from Newtonian Mechanics to that of theory of relativity, from the hand written books to that of the printing machine. But for that to happen we have to open our ears and eyes to see the world, to hear what others have to say. I agree that all the ideas airing every day have any weight than air itself, many are coming simply to fade away in the flow of time. But a lot of ideas came and withstood even the strongest whirlwind. Sun may finally set in the British Empire but still the Westminster democracy is active in India. Gandhi lost his Physical body but his ideas still form a huge body in front of us. These are possible if you are ready to hear, assimilate the good and reject the bad portion of it – like what we are doing with food.

Now some may argue that everyone don’t understand good from bad and they are required to put all the good things in a capsule and give them in a regular interval’s. But let me ask one question– why some people believes in the some other ideas – not yours? Why huge number of people joined Buddhism along with B.R Ambedkar? Why a ruling party is failing in election even if they think, they ruled well?

It’s all about perceptions, it’s not necessary that your golden ideas have to be golden for others also. Another interesting thing is that, the subject of ban will become an instant hit. I don’t know whether writers secretly like requests to ban their books from political parties and groups. These are the best helping hand they can have. It is another matter that whether all the people who are requesting for banning books already read it etc.

I am not fully against bans. There are materials whose only purpose is to create negative influences in the society. But a blanket ban is not a solution for anything just like selective reading will not do much good. As we usually say, at least reading two news papers is necessary for getting the real news, reading for and against is necessary to find a good solution. By not giving a chance for opposite opinions, people are making their stands much weaker. US give almost full freedom to their citizens and in China, until some years back (even now?) everything is controlled by party. But this procedure doesn’t make US a weaker state or China stronger (in terms of openness – Tiananmen is a good example) one.

Shivsena can do a lot of good things for the development of Maharashtra, than simply making noises. Indeed Maharashtra needs a credible opposition and strong parties for the future. Shivsena can fill these gaps. Their name gives them more responsibility!!!

Sajeev

A village market in Bangalore

I didn’t think about walking so long at first. But in that morning – nothing seems to be better than that. Walking long distances always helped me to solve my problems. But Hosur road (NH-7) is no longer a better one for walking. Here you can breathe as much carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide etc. as you like, that too, free of cost. No more green cover in the sides; six lane highways along with its four lane service roads are as good as desert for walking.

Still it offers a long stretch for walking, and I slowly moved through it in the direction of Hosur. The usual noises and carbon dioxide winds are yet to gain its momentum. After all who wants to wake early in a Saturday morning? Even if it is ‘Navami’ – the ninth day of Navrathri – not much people are in the streets; shops are yet to open. As I continued down the road life slowly started creeping in to the streets. Many buses are decorated using mango leaves and banana trees.

In such a situation a large crowd in the side of the road wasn’t natural. There is no possibility for any politician to come early in the morning and give new promises to the people – that too at a time when all the elections are already over. Elected representatives are more interested in going to the luxury hotels in Goa – to prepare for the next boxing in the legislative assembly - than coming to these hot areas of Bangalore.

As I went on, the visual become clear to me. These people constitute a village market – and the items to sell are sheeps. As I approach the market, I can saw more and more sheeps coming in Bajaj’s new pulsars, Omnis and other vehicles and many are going out in similar fashion.

Now I am right in front of the market, one person is pulling a sheep to the other side of the road. The poor four-legged white animal is unwilling to go – yet to come in terms with his new owner. Suddenly another person pressed its tail side by his right hand and sheep started jumping forward.  Whenever it stops this person repeated the procedure.

Suddenly two more sheeps came and joined in this pandemonium. Their arrival was in a royal way – One is sitting in the lap of a person who is driving the bike, another is sitting behind him in his co-passengers lap, two front legs in one side of the bike and another two in the opposite side. After getting down from this royal chariot they slowly marched towards the middle of the market and joined in the rank of other sheeps – waiting for the new master.

All of a sudden one man in his locally made ‘Honda Raincoat’ (in this part of the world you can get any brand you want, it doesn’t matter whether it is existing or not!!!) approached them; he wrote something in his book and removed a coupon from it. At first I thought he was selling some lottery ticket or raising money for something else. But the man who owns the two sheep gave him a five hundred rupee note. Seems like people who have sheeps too sell, have to buy these tickets (anyway not sure about this thing). I can’t see what type of facilities they are getting in return. The tarred road in which they are standing – full of water and sheep’s urine – hardly had anything special; it’s an extended portion of the service road. Why they have to pay for selling their sheeps in a public road? Road tax for sheeps?

As time went on more and more people came and joined in this pandemonium. Market is dominated by men but ladies are also there. After some time a couple – man wearing a pant and shirt and lady wearing a yellow sari came with their sheeps. Both are appearing more aged than they actually are – may be the result of their hard work. Suddenly ticket seller approached them started played his part in the act. They too give him some money in return of a ticket.

Now from the other side some one is shouting in top of his voice. The other one is requesting – almost begging – some more money for his sheep. But the buyer is not ready to shell out anything more. As the seller becoming more and more earnest the buyer become more and more stern. Buyer is running from pillar to post, trying to justify his request for more money. Finally they offered some more many and this person went back to his earlier position. A typical view of old markets; where a man’s physical appearance and bargain strength tilts the transaction in his favour.

As the time went on, more and more people started shouting in top of their voice – some times it’s buyer and in other cases it’s the seller. The new age ‘customer relationship principles’ are yet to present their identity in this small road side market. Slowly the views become a repetition of the earlier ones and slowly moved from there. Life is slowly creeping back to the streets; ladies are buying new flowers (especially the yellow ones) and other things to celebrate the ninth day of Navarathri. Still I am walking with out any idea about the destination.

Sajeev.

A review of M.B Naqvi’s "Pakistan at Knife’s Edge"

Naqvi’s book is indeed a good analysis about the internal struggles of Pakistan and her relation with other countries. This first hand narrative is indeed lively and concentrates on the ground realties instead of far-fetched imagination. A good book to get an understanding about the political activities of various parties of Pakistan; her numerous constitutions (which is always subjected to rework) along with the bizarre policies of politicians and army.

a) Lawyer’s movement:

Through out the book author give high importance to the lawyer’s movement. The book describes various situations in Pakistan’s history even if the prime focus (or over focus?)is on lawyer’s strike against Musharraf’s regime. Throughout the book he describes his doubts about the support for the now famous lawyer’s movement from various political parties. We will get a first hand taste of this when he describes,
“No leadership in any party, it appears, was wholeheartedly supporting the cause of lawyers; perhaps none of them really wanted a truly independent judiciary. While in power each party tends to want to do things that it doesn’t like the Supreme Court to look too closely into”.

It is another matter that he later gives much praise to former premier Nawaz Sharif for his support for the movement. He continued further and gave a detailed description about how the lawyer’s movement succeeded in removing Musharraf from power – leaving considerable portion of the book to explain this movement. At the same time it doesn’t give much information regarding to the support of common people to the movement apart from some sentences here and there. This leaves as to guess about what common people think about the lawyer’s movement? And if lawyers can accumulate so much strength, then what happened to them at the time of Musharraf’s take over?

a) Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy

Author also give us a birds eye view on what happened in Afghanistan, starting right after the Saur Revolution of April 1974, and US entered in to this western boundary of East Indian Empire. It become a lot more clear and somewhat satirical when he says,

“Military controlled Pakistan was the obvious beneficiary of Afghanistan’s political transformation in to a virtual satellite of Pakistan- which itself was, and is, a satellite of America”.

But he defies all the logic on issues of ‘peaceful’ conquest of Afghanistan by Taliban and not much mentioned much about the atrocities they did when they are in power (anyway this book is concentrated on Pakistan).

b) Pakistan’s nuclear program:

This book is good to have a bird’s overview of Pakistan nuclear program – ‘A thousand cuts on India’? From
A Q Khan’s announcement - Pakistan had mastered the technology of enriching Uranium in the Indo – Pakistan seminar at Islamabad in 1984 to that of the explosions in 1998. He also describes his interview with a noted Pakistani civil servant – Dr. R.H Usmani (former head of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, he also served in IAEA)- in the 1960. One of the answers in that interview force as to think about the effectiveness of IAEA safeguards.

“No matter how many secret cameras they install, we can always cheat them. They can’t be sitting all the time in a reactor control room. Wee will burn Uranium slowly at the cost of having less power than rated…. This will enable as to stockpile, slowly of course, enough Plutonium for a bomb and for more bombs. ”
This clearly reveals the ineffectiveness in IAEA safeguards. If things are always like this, safeguards are doomed to fail. Author didn’t mentioned much regarding to the question - whether Pakistan actually tested nuclear bomb in the beginning of 1990’s or not – as some people claims. His concerns regarding to the effectiveness of nuclear deterrence principle is indeed a valid point. For the question of whether the nuclear weapons will be able to stop the war? He quotes the former Indian Defence minister George Fernandes,
“Let Pakistan use its nuclear weapons first in accordance with its own doctrine. And then wait for India’s riposte: Pakistan’s seven or eight industrial urban centers will be wiped out by India’s second strike capability; Pakistan will have to revert to the Stone Age”.

Later he concludes that “While a certain amount of deterrence inheres in all atomic weapons, it’s not conclusive enough. As Fernandes said one nuclear bomb can be checkmated by another such bomb”.  Anyway now the bomb becomes vulnerability for not only Pakistan but also for the entire world because of the possibility of bomb falling in to the hand of terrorists.

c) Women of Pakistan:

The books don’t describe much about the situation of the women of Pakistan. Apart from the former premier ‘Benezeer Bhooto’, it hardly describes any other women. Why??

d) Agriculture in Pakistan:

Author is successful in describing the pathetic state of agriculture in Pakistan where large tracts of land is concentrated by a small group of people. In these lands, rich landlords and retired military generals reap huge benefits by the usage of modern machinery. He also explains - to some extent - necessity for the redistribution of land - a long time demand in Pakistan.  But after reading about the politicians of Pakistan, we can easily reach to the conclusion Land reforms will be a non-starter. How they are going for the redistribution of land when the legislators themselves are big land lords.

Trust deficit between Central Government and various Provincial governments and also among various Provincial governments didn’t help to make the things better - no matter whether the issue is regarding to greater autonomy to provincial governments or the Indus water sharing agreement. This statement indeed illustrates the point -

“There is a terrible amount of trust deficit among the provinces. Take any major issue like division of waters of Indus water system. Sindh complaining Punjab is stealing its water. Baluchistan accuses Sindh for not giving its share.”

e) Pakistan military:

Indeed the author is very open in his view regarding to the position of Pakistani Military and the pointless arms race with India.

“Requirements of the military that actually needs a minimum of $500mn to $600mn every year for current overseas payments may be considerably more on occasions when new weapon systems are introduced. The expenditure of 500mn $ doesn’t include the replacement of major ordnance”


“Unless the arms race ends, there would be little change in Pakistan’s circumstances”

His opinion regarding to the relation of Pakistani army vis-à-vis US is indeed a revolutionary one. May be even the most influential politician dare not express it.


“The earliest ruling politicians, or really bureaucrats in the early 1950’s, actually did what amounted to renting out the army to the Americans. The unwritten and even unspoken understanding was that let the armed forces foreign exchanges needs be met by American aid and it would be at their disposal for their geostrategic purposes”.

Like any other Pak citizen he also expresses his disappointment with Drone attacks and operations of US Special Forces inside Pakistani territory and civilian damage associated with it - a reflection of popular opinion in Pakistan.

f) Pakistan Economy:

We can get a basic but effective overview of Pakistan economy from the book. Concerns - regarding to the unequal development in Punjab vis-à-vis other Provinces, bad state of economy which requires foreign aid to float, alarmingly high debt to GDP ratio.

“Debt of $45bn to $46bn in 1998, and in 2009 after many rescheduling and considerable write offs still owes $50bn to foreigners and another $50bn in domestic debts; 95% of GDP“.

[The interesting thing to note here is that until 90’s Pakistan’s growth rate was higher than that of India]. He agrees that tis type of aid money will force Pakistan to submit themselves to the will of others. World politics is not the playground of angels; each and every nation will be more interested in securing their national interests. As the author rightly pointed out-

“This kind of aid to an indigent and satellite regime has created a predilection in US that it has somehow to interfere in Pakistan politics and realize its purposes by manipulating various political forces in Pakistan.”
The situation is much worse in International trade where, imports are many times bigger than that of exports - not at all good for a country. Even if he criticizes Musharraf everywhere else here praises him for the growth in economic activity and industrial production [it’s another matter that he goes back to his original views in the later pages.

g) Jihad:

Considerable space is allocated to explain Jihad and Taliban. The below mentioned extract is enough to explain this situation-

“The term jihad made the jihadis, as individual, to expect paradise if they died or some more money if they came back as Ghazis. In retrospect, this cynical exploitation of popular faith of simple Pushthoons for imperial ambitions of the US – and of some bizarre aims of Pakistani generals – has never been widely discussed much less emphasized”.

Just like any other person who is interested in the development and progress of motherland, terrorism is unbearable to the author also. The extract from the text given below is sarcastic and thought provoking one -
“Anyone with small money to recruitment a small Lashkar sets out to become a Taliban leader of his own area. Since the discourse in Pakistan has always been in the religious idiom, he now uses that idiom to a telling effect: he claims enforcing the Islamic Sharia”.

h) Relations with China

Just like any other Pakistani, author is also quite grateful towards the all weather friend China. He is wondering why China is helping Pakistan with out expecting anything in return!!! Later he concluded two reasons for that – to checkmate India, to act as a bridge between US and China. No explanation for ceding a portion of Pak occupied Kashmir to China in the sixties. What about the naval facilities Pakistan offering to China especially in Gwadar, and the non-transparent nuclear program?

Views about India:

In the beginning of book, author went out of his way and with out any logical reasoning concluded that Hindu communalists supported Hindi and Muslims were against Hindi; and this language controversy contributed to the growth of Hindu - Muslim communalism,which ultimately resulted in the partition!!! But he didn’t give any reason why India – which has hundreds of languages including the 23 officially recognized ones – remains as single entity.  If we are looking each and everything through the eyes of communalism then there is no doubt that everything will be connected to communalism in one way or another.

a) Kashmir – viewing through wrong mirror?

Regarding Kashmir also author seems to forget the ground realities. He agreed that Pakistan started a proxy war in Kashmir in 1989 by sending Mujahedeen to create Mayhem in Kashmir. But with out any evidence he declared that – “in the process thousands of Kashmiris, some say 70,000 to 80,000, were killed by Indian troops”.  No one knows who is this ‘some’. He simply put the responsibility on Indian side and easily forget what the militias send by Pakistan was doing. No were in the book he mentioned anything about the situation in ‘Pakistan occupied Kashmir’, in fact this is a black hole in the world. No one knows what is happening there; contrary to that J&K which is fully open to the public and media. It will be helpful for the Kashmiris- who want to join Pakistan - to know what is happening in PoK and why Bangladesh fights for freedom from Pakistan.

b) Comparison of Maoists and Taliban

It’s still unclear on what basis the author is comparing Taliban and Maoists. If it is regarding to the terror they are creating, then the comparison is justifiable, but in other cases both are totally different. Maoist activities are mainly concentrated on the jungles and tribal areas, it have no or very little effect in urban areas of India. And until now Maoists are not in the path of suicide bombing techniques, apart from that Maoists mainly targets security personals, Tribals who are opposing them, people associated with Police and class enemies. It’s another matter that anyone can become their class enemy. But suicide bombing is killing every one indiscriminately.

Author is also quite open and concerned about the socio-politic situation in Pakistan. Malnutrition, various diseases due to the uncleaned water still prevails. State is more interested in arms race with India and attaining their bizarre aims. What about the educational sector? Recently terrorists groups were blowing away the schools for admitting girls. We can easily make out what is happening in educational sector from this single statement – “State never provided enough schools, nor they ever been persuaded to send their children to schools”.

He went on to say that the solution for Taliban and militant Islam in Pakistan is political not a military one; giving social, economical and political rights to all the people, Jobs for young people, provisions for – education, healthcare and other infrastructural services. But certain amount of peace is necessary for all these things. No one can teach students in schools which can be blown away at any moment – and what about the education of girls? Recent activities of militants in Swat proved that they will allow education for girls. So will they climb down from that position? And what will be the price Pakistan will have to pay for these negotiations? But it is true that as far as any one can observe there isn't any better option than this one.

Author wishes that the new middle class will change the political scenario – they required more political space than feudalism and army ever conceded. More democratic freedom and more organized democratic dispensation to breathe freely and not feel ashamed of their leaders who have had best things so often and for so long and still achieved nothing. Indeed a quite a good book to read...

Sajeev

"Common Wealth" Games - Another disaster for India?

[Common Wealth Games - Delhi 2010]

“Let’s accept the fact that there is corruption in almost all government departments, but this is too much, at least they should do the work properly in time”.

“I feel very angry towards the congress government” --- Some statements from my friends.

There is one obvious advantage of yet to begin 2010 Common Wealth Games. It made even the most non-political person to raise their voice against corruption (at least temporarily), even the recent 2G telecom scam failed in that account. Suddenly Kashmir issue and Naxal problems disappeared from the front pages, not much news about the so called all party delegation went in to Kashmir. Much hyped IPL cases no longer runs in the prime time. Papers stopped giving the photos and statements of ‘Laliat Modi’ in sports page – otherwise there will be one photo and statement from them on every other day. It is a happy time for journalists; they are completely drawn in the floods of news – If they don’t have any news just go to any of the CWG venues – either something will collapse (Is there any more foot over bridge in CWG venue to collapse?) or some other country will publish they doubts on whether to participate or not in the games.

I don’t know who coined the name Common Wealth Games for this sporting event, whoever it may be; this CWG - Delhi 2010 took it in full spirit (literally). People really made it “Common Wealth” Games.

[Broken Foot Over Bridge]

Corruption is not new in India; you have to pay money from village offices to Police stations to make the system work. If you know whom to approach and have the money to spend, you may not have to worry about anything, overnight spirit will be converted to water and victim will become accused. As one of my friend said this time it was too much – beyond the digestive power of ordinary Indians. I got the depth of public angry towards the commonwealth games when one of my friends - a hard core supporter of Congress party, no matter what is their policy - started criticizing the party and government for the mess. It’s interesting to note that he didn’t said much against the thousands of crores 2G scam.

# Back to the Beginning:

From beginning itself everything went wrong. There is no doubt that - it was a good decision from the previous government to bid for the games, but the bad part of that bid is – do we really need to bribe other nations (around 1 lack $ for each participating nation) to get the games? That too, at a time when many parts of India - especially central Indian states like MP - have Child’s who are under severe malnutrition. Many reports even compare these parts of India to the war torn Sub Saharan African countries where civil wars never ends.

Work still not completed?

Even after seven years, works are not finished and even the finished structures are coming down. Recently Army was called to create a foot over bridge in one of CWG venues and they are supposed to finish the work in five days. So what happened to the crores of rupees (some papers reported it as 10 crore) spend on the crumbled down bridge? It may require 1000 page book to articulate all the problems regarding to CWG-2010 - a perfect example of what not to be done in organizing sporting events. It’s not that we don’t have any experience in these fields – Indians conducted the first ever Asian Games and Afro-Asian Games, Asian games come back to India one more time- in the eighties. BCCI organized Cricket world cup in India – they even conducted the 1996 Cricket world cups in different parts of the country. Indians organized the second part of IPL completely in South Africa. Many people even predicted that IPL 2 will be a complete failure as it is happening completely in South Africa, but it turns out to be another success story. Even now cricket matches are conducted across the country and the venues are separated by thousands of Kilometers. 
 # Do we really need the Games?

As Moody’s report pointed out, CWG created severe damage to the credibility of India’s ability to organize large events. It also created a hole in India’s financial system. Using that money we may be able to give at least three time meals to the under nutritioned child’s of India; for infrastructure development; for new schools; for basic research. We may be able to buy much more fighter planes for IAF than we could ever imagine (the number of new generations planes in Indian Air Force is in an alarmingly low level. It’s better not to talk about the aviation wing of Indian Navy). We may also be able to buy some more sub marines (or construct new ones) for Indian Navy or new tanks for Army.

# Let’s also look in to the problem in another perspective,

It is also possible that many of these problems – like cleanliness – are more hyped than actually it was. It is obvious that the rooms will not be handed over to athletes in such condition, but there is no justification for such a scenario at this point of time -Organizing committee got seven years to complete the work. The flood waters also didn’t help the games in anyway. Problems like the collapse an over bridge is not so uncommon during construction scenarios – it got much attention now as it happened in the last moment and done in a mad rush to complete the things. No one will care a damn about it if that happened some three years back.

What about the safety? Suddenly Delhi becomes unsafe for living, and many countries have second thoughts of coming to India due to safety reasons. It’s interesting to note that - it was not long back Australians are assuring Indians every now and then that Australia is a safe country to live, Canada was perplexed on what to do with the ‘Kanishka (An Air Indian Flight) bombing’ and subsequent reports, it was not long time back when terrorists attacked London. But these are not justifications for the photos of CWG venues uploaded in BBC, CNN and in many other news portals.

# Aftereffects:

Even in the wildest of imaginations one can’t justify the amount of money flowing in to this event. Certainly the overspend, waterlogged, incomplete, broken over bridges, dirty games villages, and the n number of corruption scandals made the CWG, one the great disasters for India. Only Hamilton (India beat this Canadian city to host the 2010 game) and terrorists – who even after the nonstop action of decades failed to make considerable damage to India – can laugh at this moment. Will anything happen after the CWG games? I don’t think so, after the games government may announce that the CWG 2010 was an extraordinary event and a proof for India’s ability to conduct multinational sporting events - All is well!!! It’s curious to know, how many are considering the next Olympics in India?

Sajeev.

[All the images are taken from dailymail uk]

America’s wrong turn to Protectionism; Need to take a note from the early Indian protectionist era

[Fully protected by state?] 

Globalization has changed us into a company that searches the world, not just to sell or to source, but to find intellectual capital - the world's best talents and greatest ideas - Jack Welch.

• Indian experiment with Protectionism:

There was a time in India when Swadeshi (Using the Indian made products) movement was on its height – at that time it to protect the local economy from the injustice of administration; a fight against the mighty British Empire and its notorious taxation laws.

Even after independence government vigorously promoted country made things. Travelling in State owned Air India, Indian Railways and various State Transport Corporations - which rarely produces any profit; banking in state owned banks like SBI etc.; Oil Exploration business through state owned entities like ONGC; Coal exploration through Coal Indian which doesn’t face any completion from Indian market;  Using the electricity produced by various state owned corporations – where production rarely met the demand; calling friends and family using the telephony services provided by Government  - there was a decade long waiting list to get a new connection at that time; notoriously corrupt Public Distribution System(PDS); severe restriction in holding foreign currency; commonly known as the era of the infamous License Raj.

During the British Raj country slipped from the top positions in trade - looks like the ghost of the past glory. Even after independence Indians was unable to regain the pre-colonial dominance (controlled close to 23% of world trade) in the world trade and economy. Things changed in the early 1990s, after the then government of India forced to do critical surgeries in economy to save it from the total collapse. Still opening up insurance, banking, defence sector faces severe opposition from the left and trade Unions. It may take several more years for India to completely eliminate the protectionist policies.

The result of License Raj was disastrous. The so called ‘Asians Tigers’ – Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea marched in front of us. Japanese economy starts flying like a Phoenix, Chinese opened up their economy, and Pakistan attained more growth rate than India. Oil boom in Middle East changed that sector from a mere desert to that of a golden oasis – but still India didn’t have proper exploration policies. When we finally discovered huge oil deposits in KG (Krishna- Godavari) basin there was long legal battle between Government and Private Companies. What more; despite having thousands of kilometers of costal area, we are depending on Singapore, Salala and Colombo ports for transshipment.  

Because of our ‘uncontrollable appetite’ for the products from state owned companies which doesn’t face any competition from market – a characteristic of socialist countries, we are still depending on the technology transfer agreements and so called foreign collaboration, no matter weather it is for the development of a new Boiler for power plants or fighter plane. Still we are not producing a civilian aircraft on the lines of Boeing, Airbus or Embraer. The list will be too long if we are going to describe all the things.

These are the things happened in Indian and may other countries that got freedom after Second World War and vigorously promoted state owned companies. If US wants to going back to that era where state decides everything, from how much a person can eat to how much he can earn, it will not take much time for them to experience the above mentioned things.

• Effect of Protectionist policies in Education:

It’s good that new US government encourage education, they should do. Because the only way a country can remain in the top echelons of trade and prosperity is through innovation. But innovation will not come from the protected test tubes. It required some air. Countries are prospering when there is an exchange of ideas between the nations, interaction between the people.  There is no need for reinventing Newton’s or Keller’s laws when it is already proven and available.

If US don’t allow companies to hire best brains in science and technology sector – which can also be come from abroad – their efficiency will be eroded over time. In this era of knowledge explosion you should always have the best resources. It is also to be noted that the scientific progress in the US after World War II have heavy contributions from European scientists who migrated to US.

• Effect of Protectionist policies in Agriculture:

The protectionism in agricultural sector may provide temporary advantage to the farmers but it will raise the expenditure for food among common people, every one can’t be a farmer and those who are not farmers have to buy food grains. In the absence of competition, improvement in production and quality will take the back seat.

• Effect of Protectionist policies in technology and Service sector:

What If US government restricts/ban the services of foreign companies in IT and other technology sectors? If the US House of representatives can pass two different bills that mandate the congress and Department of Homeland Security to purchase only US made goods, the other legislative assemblies around the world also can do the same. For example, India can decide to cancel the entire orders for the aircrafts from Boeing, Lockheed Martin etc. and redirect it to Airbus, Eurocoptor or Embraer etc. There is no need for giving orders for the construction of new nuclear power plants in India to GE or any other US company for that matter - Avera and many Russian companies will very happy to grab the orders. 

What about Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Apple, Xerox etc? Can’t we use 100% non American products? US have to realize the outcome of their old philosophy of Globalization and Liberalization. The world is more interdependent than ever before, and it is for the mutual good. So instead of forcing Indian IT professionals to fund for the construction of walls in Mexican border, they can use them to improve the competitive levels of US technology, educational sector etc.

[Shanghai deep water port - benefits of globalization]

• Effect of Protectionist policies in oil:

What about Oil, like the Berry amendment originally enacted in 1941, requires the department of Defence to procure a range of domestically produced or grown items with 100% US content, why not US use 100 % oil from US soil instead of importing it from Central Asia, Africa, Middle East etc.?

• US ready to lose the leadership?

US have to realize the hard facts, if they are not ready to face the global order and ground realities their position as a leading country in the world will soon become history. A lot of countries in this world are more than willing to assume that position.

Former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan once said - “It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity.”

Sajeev.

[Both pictures are from Wikipedia]