Wake up call on Defence

 

Anurag Viswanath: Clouds of history

Anurag Viswanath / New Delhi January 17, 2008

 

Apart from the border dispute, China's encirclement of India remains a serious cause for concern.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s maiden visit to China with an “open mind” concluded on a high note with the joint declaration on “A Shared Vision for the 21st Century”, a commitment to building a harmonious world of durable peace and common prosperity through developing the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership. The declaration supports China’s commitment to support India’s aspirations in United Nations, cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy, besides positively viewing India’s participation in regional and sub-regional multilateral process and furthering bilateral trade.

Clichés aside, the visit was symbolic — issues such as the border dispute will fester in the background. The PM’s visit to China provides not only an opportunity to deepen a win-win economic relationship but also, importantly, an opportunity to take a well-deserved cue from the Chinese to delineate what should be Indian foreign policy’s pragmatic face.

The visit marked a sustained effort to institutionalise high-level visits and sustain the momentum of dialogue, which received a boost after former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit in 2003. The 2003 visit had concluded on a high note of the Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation, which marked India’s tacit recognition of Tibet as a part of China, in lieu of China’s recognition of Sikkim. Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit in 2005 led to an agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the settlement of the boundary question, and in 2006, President Hu Jintao’s visit reaffirmed the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership.

The bilateral visit comes after the conclusion of the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation between India and China in 2006 which culminated in the first ever joint military exercise “Hand in Hand” held in Kunming, Yunnan province, in December 2007. This also comes on the heels of the 11 rounds of discussions between the Special Representatives on the unresolved border issue and the Third Round of Strategic Dialogue held in Beijing in 2007.

The visit took place in the backdrop of growing trade between the two. Sino-Indian trade which was $2.1 billion in 2000 has grown dramatically. It touched a high of $35 billion in 2007, up 54 per cent compared to 2006, making China India’s second largest trading partner. The target of $40 billion by 2010 set out in 2006 will be realised earlier.

On this visit, the target is to be further pushed to $60 billion a year. Border trade between India and China has resumed at the Nathu La pass after a hiatus of 44 years in 2006, facilitating the export of 15 listed Chinese goods and 29 Indian goods. However, trade is uninspiring at a meagre $1 billion.

This visit will also take forward the recommendations of the Joint Study Group (Feasibility Study) on the Regional Trading Arrangement (RTA) and measures to facilitate the same. While there has been progress on bilateral trade, India’s growing trade deficit, estimated at $9 billion in 2007, as well as the composition of the trade of low-value primary goods (such as iron ore) is worrisome. India is the 10th largest export destination for China.

The visit comes on the heels of new developments in the border region. Border negotiations continue to be tricky and remain under wraps. During the 11th round of talks between the Special Representatives, both sides agreed to form a Joint Working Group on the framework to resolve the issue.

The dispute in the Western Sector (WS, that is, Aksai Chin) and Eastern Sector (ES, Tawang) remains intractable with 14 areas under dispute (eight in the WS and six in the ES). There is no dispute in the Middle Sector. The dispute in the Western Sector has become complicated with the transfer of Shaksgam Valley (in PoK) by Pakistan to China. China does not recognise the Mcmahon line in the north-east and incursions along the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) have been reported in Arunachal Pradesh, an area which China covertly claims as South Tibet. Indian diplomatic channels have indicated China’s intransigence. China, on the other hand, alleges intrusions by India in the Western Sector.

China’s entente cordiale by way of defence or military arrangements with India’s neighbours — “encirclement” — has been cause for concern. China has upgraded or stimulated communication channels with India’s neighbours. The China-Nepal bus service started on the 736 km Kodari Highway since 2005; China also proposes to build four more road routes through Kunjerab Pass (PoK) to Pakistan doubling the existing network to eight. China and Pakistan also signed an MoU to upgrade the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in 2006. Pakistan has allowed China clout at Gwadar deep sea port at the mouth of Persian Gulf, an important Sea Line of Communication (SLOC). This will reportedly overhaul China’s maritime security, and enable an “energy channel” by giving it a strategic foothold in the gateway to West Asia. Plans are on the anvil to build a rail along the KKH, linking Western China to Pakistan.

China’s $3.1 billion Qinghai-Tibet Rail, which commenced operations in 2006, is also likely to have implications on Indian security. The 1,956 km rail line connects Xining with Golmud (both in Qinghai province) to Lhasa (TAR, Tibetan Autonomous Region). This line is to be further extended by 254 km at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. The rail line will now extend to Shigatse, TAR’s second biggest city, during the ongoing 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) and then onwards to Nepal. This would make India more accessible to China’s Chengdu Military Region (MR) and Lanzhou MR manned by the People’s Liberation Army.

There are allegations that tunnels built ostensibly for the railway may be used as missile bases. There are also unconfirmed reports that China is working on a military installation near Shiquanhe, Ngari prefecture, TAR. This backdrop explains India’s current initiative to step up infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh — seven roadways in the Indian state have been mapped out and 20 more planned in the border areas in the near future — which the Prime Minister will inaugurate later this month.

While the PM’s visit is a step forward, it is necessary, in the words of a famous sinologist, to see “China by daylight”, that is, to understand China in all its complexities and reign in both unbridled enthusiasm and cynicism about China.

Given the nature of the above developments, rabble-rousing about the “China threat” provides no solutions; the Chinese have not prevented India from setting its house in order, such as developing relations with peripheral states or upgrading infrastructure in border areas. Both vacillate between the promise of genuine friendship and the inextricable cloud of history. It is necessary to close the “knowledge gap” between the two. Geo-strategic compulsions and globalisation have underlined that there are no permanent friends or enemies.

And last but not the least, the visit entails lessons for India from China. From Mao to Market, leadership in China has maintained a constant goal, a long-term vision of fuqiang (fu, rich; qiang, strong) — of making the country rich and strong. China’s infrastructure has been one of the keys to becoming a manufacturing superpower.

What is admirable is China’s remarkable foresight. Defence preparedness, defence cooperation arrangements with neighbouring countries, developing relations around its periphery, progressive multi-dimensional relations with countries as disparate as United States, Congo and Myanmar, to name a few, proactive presence in regional and global fora, and a commitment to the goal of “Development is the fundamental principle” have propelled China’s resurgence in Asia and the world. The lesson for India is to take the cue.

 

Some thought provoking possibilities

-          Will the Nano or its equivalent finally replace the ‘autos’ in India?

-          Can voting for PAN card owners, tax payers be made compulsory and can an e-ballot be casted through the cellphone?

-          Can our multinationals, with the power to raise more money than the government does, in just 1 minute, think of adopting a district each for the ‘other India”?

-          Reverse colonization- Will Indians spread to all parts of the World in their quest for economic opportunism?

-          Could there be an Indian Amazon- how come there are no E-retailers for books, when there are so many for travel?

The book retailing business

Just an observation- I buy a lot of books on Amazon because they are not available in the retail shops. But if one is in India, it is a bad proposition to use Amazon. On an average it takes 8-11 weeks for books to come to India, if you order on Amazon. I think that is too inefficient. With companies like Reliance getting into book retailing, if a company wants to take advantage of the current situation, it could establish a warehouse at Nagpur, particularly for discounted second hand books and tie-up with an express delivery companies (such as your) for a 48 hours delivery anywhere in India. There are plenty of E- travel agents, infact there are too many for any of them to be profitable for a long time but there currently is no Amazon type book seller in India. Amazon has warehouses even in China- a non-English speaking country, even in France, but not in India. If a tech company or even an existing book retailer wants, it can get into e-retailing in India very easily.

 

 

 

China bans free plastic shopping bags

China bans free plastic shopping bags
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

China will ban shops from giving out free plastic bags and has called on consumers to use baskets and cloth sacks instead to reduce environmental pollution.

The regulation, effective in June, was decided on about 15 years after shopkeepers started handing out cheap, flimsy plastic bags to customers. "White pollution," a reference to the color of many bags, has cluttered landfills.

"Our country consumes a huge amount of plastic shopping bags each year," said the State Council, China's cabinet. "While plastic shopping bags provide convenience to consumers, this has caused a serious waste of energy and resources and environmental pollution because of excessive usage, inadequate recycling and other reasons."

The regulation is part of Beijing's increased efforts to fight the pollution that has accompanied breakneck economic growth. As factories churn out low-cost products for the world's consumers, they have severely fouled the country's air and water.

Beginning on June 1, all supermarkets, department stores and shops will be prohibited from giving out free plastic bags, the State Council said. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from tacking that price onto products.

The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags - those less than 0.025 millimeters, or 0.00098 inches, thick - were also banned, according to the State Council notice. Dated Dec. 31 and posted on a government Web site Tuesday, it called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets."

It also urged waste collectors to step up recycling efforts to reduce the amount of bags burned or buried. Finance authorities were told to consider tax measures to discourage plastic bag production and sale.

Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan, where authorities either tax shoppers who use them or impose fees on companies that distribute them. Bangladesh already bans them, as do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.

Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban petroleum-based plastic grocery bags.

Roger Cohen: Brazilian lessons for '08

By Roger Cohen

Published: January 2, 2008

RIO DE JANEIRO: It's good to begin the year in a country where coconuts are cleaved with nonchalant grace and the air is salty-sweet and there are guys on the beach from the "Life is Too Short Surf Club" and the Minister of Tourism advises those frustrated by long lines in airports to "relax and come."

That last remark, from Marta Suplicy, was voted one of the quotes of the year by the daily O Globo, along with another from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva evoking the most sensitive point of the female anatomy to explain his search for the essence of an energy accord with the United States. Brazil is different.

This is a serious as well as a sensuous country with a stock market up more than 70 percent in 2007, burgeoning oil and ethanol industries, planes for export, iron ore to keep the Chinese happy, and much else to buttress its rising-power status. But pleasure trumps sacrifice and there's a "jeitinho" - ingenious fix - for anything.

So I've resolved to adopt Brazilian karma for 2008 and forget all the little irritants that plague American lives: microwaved croissants, high-five contagion, globalized brunch, death by PowerPoint, shops calling themselves "shoppes," the inconsistency of belt- and-shoe-removal rules at airports, Apple addicts vaunting the latest gadgets and people who convey agitation or anger by writing in ALL CAPS.

I'm not even going to be irked by automatically flushing toilets that flush before you're done, "hot towels" that are just wet, automatically activated faucets that never activate, congealed risotto, the prodigious capacity for getting tangled of cords for iPods and computers and cellphones, backpacks with wheels, rolling backpacks being rolled by adults, voice-mail hell, or the middle-aged trying to sound hip about the Web.

Nope, I'm done with irritation. Give me expiring hotel key cards, yet more on Princess Diana and Dodi, TV correspondents waiting for hurricanes, headache-inducing prosecco, Web sites I'll only visit once that require a password, conspiracy theorists, people afflicted with the control-freak-martyr syndrome ("I do so much I never have time for myself"), tape dispensers that don't work, sommeliers who decant indifferent wine, even Christmas starting the day after Halloween - I won't raise an eyebrow.

Test me with flickering video images on planes, the noun-verb frenzy as in "you disrespected me," the insidious beat from others' iPods, people who say "waiting on" rather than "waiting for," the systematic relegation of Saddam Hussein's crimes to a subordinate clause, offshore wind turbines, the unerring instinct of hotel mini-bar replenishment people for arriving at the wrong moment, equally ill-timed calls from mothers-in-law, and the decorative use of indigestible red peppers. You'll find me happily tuned to Bossa Nova.

I refuse to be troubled in '08 by sensible "orthotic" shoes, kids staring at computer screens, kids saying "wait" at the start of sentences, surreptitious below-the-table BlackBerry use (the technological equivalent of picking one's nose, as my colleague Jill Abramson noted), undercooked arctic char, cinnamon or chocolate on cappuccino, greetings on your TV screen in hotel rooms, overfilled wine glasses in restaurants, organic everything, or people on the train saying "Hi, honey, I'm on the train" into cellphones. Nope, this is my Candomble season.

You can throw it all at me: overheated rooms, bank clerks who ask "Have I exceeded your expectations?" and rob you with the fine print, Brian Williams' bristling chest, theft-dissuasive hotel hangers that can only be suspended on rings with key-like slots, super-sized sushi, "adventures" in Africa for the rich, fear-mongering from banks about identity theft, Starbucks staff operating in slow motion, Chicago's ban on foie gras, and, as my daughter Jessica pointed out, all those people who respond to a compliment by telling you how much they paid ("I got it at Banana Republic for 75 percent off"). I'll be viewing the world through the surfer's prism.

I know, starting in Iowa today, we will watch the race for the most important post on earth unfold, one that will end our subjection to President Bush's irritating smirk and Vice President Cheney's irksome scowl, and we will watch in the hope that the fear that has pinched our lives and made us more irritable will be undone by November's winner.

No new president is going to deliver a tropical United States, which is more or less what Brazil is, or cabinet members who recommend sex for airport blues.

Still, it's a rich political moment. We've got a woman, a black, a Mormon, a creationist and perhaps a Jew in the race: Some U.S. taboos are falling. The end of a vexed political season may be in sight. Here's to an irritant-lite, liberating 2008 for all, and not just in Copacabana.

 

Govt plans financial sops for solar power units

New Delhi, Jan. 2 The Centre plans to offer financial sops for the running of solar power units to enable developers to overcome high initial costs and ensure electricity generated by these units become cost competitive for injection into the grid.

“We will provide financial assistance amounting to Rs 12 per unit to developers in case of solar photovoltaic and Rs 10 per kilowatt hour in the case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid under a demonstration programme,” the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Mr Vilas Muttemwar, said here on Wednesday.

Pvt sector investment

Addressing a press conference, Mr Muttemwar said the private sector is expected to invest about Rs 1,000 crore in solar plants eligible for assistance under the scheme during the current Plan period. The demonstration programme would be limited to a total installed capacity of 50 MW of solar power during the Eleventh Plan. A maximum capacity of 10 MW in each of the country’s States and a maximum of five MW per developer will be considered under the scheme.

“To generate each unit of solar power, it costs around Rs 15 and the cost per MW comes to around Rs 20 crore. But with the announced incentives, more people would be interested,” he said.

Incentives

Developers would sell electricity to state-run utilities and the incentives will be paid to them based on the tariff the utilities provide. Project developers will be given the incentive at a fixed rate for a period of 10 years and these incentives would be over and above any financial assistance extended by States. “Due to the incentive, the volumes are likely to go up, which would further bring down the cost,” Mr Muttemwar added.

Currently, renewable energy accounts for about 7.5 per cent of the country’s installed generation capacity of 1,27,673 MW, with most of it coming from wind energy projects. The share of solar power in renewables is small and only 2 MW of grid interactive solar power is generated in the country.

 

 

Diamonds, Gold & War

This looks like a sequel to Guns, Germs and Steel.

 

When Frederick Boyle, an author, returned from diamond diggings in 1871, he wrote about the need for monopoly in the industry, thus: “You cannot drown the market with an article only appertaining to the highest luxury — without swift and sudden catastrophe…”

By royal monopoly alone, or by means of great and powerful companies, can jewel digging be made a thriving industry, he proposed. Citing this, Martin Meredith writes in Diamonds, Gold and War ( www.landmarkonthenet.com ) that several attempts at amalgamation had since been made. “Two companies had emerged by 1885 as the most likely nuclei for a diamond mining monopoly: Kimberley Central and De Beers,” he narrates. “Both set about crushing smaller rivals by producing as many diamonds as possible; in the words of a Standard Bank report, by ‘swamping them with production’.”

De Beers developed its operations at breakneck speed, doubling the amount of ground it excavated in the process and showing, according to the Standard Bank, ‘a reckless disregard for human life’, informs the book. “With accidents multiplying and disease rife, the death rate in the mine reached 150 per thousand employed.”

Within a few years, at Cecil Rhodes’ behest, a new company was set up — De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd.

“Instead of being limited to diamond mining, Rhodes wanted the new company to be able to engage in any business enterprise, annex land in any part of Africa, govern foreign territories and maintain standing armies.” At the first annual general meeting of the company, held on March 31, 1888, Rhodes “triumphantly proclaimed his determination to make De Beers ‘the richest, greatest, and most powerful Company the world has ever seen’.”

By September 1889, he had achieved ‘a complete monopoly of all Kimberley’s mines – 90 per cent of the world’s production.’ Together with the world’s principal diamond merchants, he then set out to achieve a marketing monopoly of the diamond trade to ensure that the market could be manipulated to the best advantage, keeping supply in line with the highest price available…”

Standing tall: The hardground barasingha

Kanha National Park, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh

The Kanha National Park is spread over Mandla and Balaghat districts with the Mukki range in Balaghat district being one of the homes for the rare hardground Barasingha (Cervus duvauceli branderi) with the swamp dwelling barasingha (Cervus duvauceli) being found in Terai, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. Besides Kanha National Park, the hardground species is not found anywhere else. The best place to see the swamp barasingha is the Dudhwa National Park, put up by Billy Arjan Singh in U.P.

At one point of time in the 1970s, the number of hardground barasingha had dropped to 66, going by an article, Hardground Barasingha, written by Kishor Rithe in Sanctuary dated October 2005. Today, the number of barasinghas is put at slightly over 300 and is thought to be a viable population.

After a 25-km run to Mukki range from Kanha, Ganesh and this writer, hit the Bishanpura meadow, which impresses one with its quiet spread, rather more than the Kanha meadows. Tall, dry grass nod with the wind and at a distance one could see with the help of binoculars (also naked eyes) a barasingha family – a male, a female and a cub. One also noted, far away, a sizable herd of the animal.

We were keen on seeing the animal from near and our guide took us to Sounp Meadows, where again one spotted a male and a female together. The rutting season is on in the winter months and one heard the rutting call resembling “a shrill baying sound” as S.H. Prater puts it. However, the best viewing was the last, Friday morning drive into the Park. Motoring along at a slow pace in the Kanha meadows, we watched a male barasingha, looking comical with grass stuck at the top of its left antler. Taking dainty strides, the animal walked past our vehicle, waited for a few moments near the forest track, before crossing over followed by a second male, which had lost its antlers.

“There is a handsome grace in the animal,” remarked Giri and it seemed so. Kishor Rithe writes, “Barasingha have special habitat requirements. They feed on special grasses and enjoy aquatic plants found in and around water bodies on the hard grounds. Though their diet consists chiefly of grass, they also enjoy the tender leaves of sal and other trees. The presence of tall grass is essential to their breeding, as it provides shelter to pregnant females and protection for young fawns, from tigers, leopards and jackals.” Our guide told us wild dogs went after the animal as it was sluggish, and a tad dumb, mover.

Over the years, the park officials tried their best to alter the environment to lift the number of barasinghas. Kishor Rithe contends: “Though the efforts of most researchers and funding organisations came to naught, the barasingha eventually responded to that most simple of solutions – village resettlement, habitat regeneration and minimal forest management designed to keep meadows healthy and vibrant.”

Khageswar Nayak, who was the Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Kanha National Park, in his book Kanha: Glimpses of a Tiger Reserve, writes of a future plan to keep this animal going. “The Kanha meadows are anthropogenic – old sites of relocated villages and abandoned agricultural fields – and are in an arrested stage of succession. Besides, the meadows have become regressive due to the long history of annual early burning. These have resulted in the encroachment of grasslands by woody species such as Butea monosperma (Palas), Lagerstroemia parviflora (Lendia), Shorea robusta (Sal) and Diospyros melanoxylon (Tendu). ….Keeping this is view, the park management erects chain-link enclosures before monsoon in some portions of the grasslands that require this treatment and allows them to recuperate for a season or two until they grow rich in heterogenous species,” writes Nayak.

Today, the barasingha have moved from Kanha to Kisli, Mukki, Supkar and Bhaisanghat. One can hope to live with this fascinating animal, with its antlers dancing above the grass, for long into the future.

Surprisingly, the book of Nayak seems to have missed out on the rare white-backed vultures (Gyps bengalensis). We saw nine vultures a distance away from Shravan Tal – five in flight taking the thermals and four absorbing the sun atop a dried up tree. In the bright sunlight, they circled the air and on the turn one could spot the white back of theirs which while resting is hard to see.

There is a crash in the population of the white-backed vultures and the drug Diclofenac has been banned. Expert Rishad Naoroji in his book – Birds of Prey of the Indian Subcontinent – says most of the potential substitutes for Diclofenac hurt the kidneys of the vultures. He is in favour of captive breeding “to ensure viable populations for future reintroduction (into the wild).”

Rounding up the case for vultures, Rishad says: “At the time of this book going to print, permissions have not yet been granted for holding and captive-breeding facilities and capture of three species of vulture, despite the gravity of the situation. The MoE has shown itself to be completely impotent and this lack of effectiveness and bureaucratic indifference will be recorded by history.” Well, the way the script is running, every common bird of yesteryear, including the common house sparrow (Passer domesticus), could become uncommon.

P. Devarajan