Sher Shah Suri Good article detailing Sher Shah Suri`s achievements. I do remember having read about his administrative reforms and GT Road building in school.

One problem with this article is that it calls him ``the first true social reformer in the history of Indo-Pakistan``. The history of the region is very long and it would be unwise to call him the first social reformer. Indeed the article itself mentions Ashok who built the original GT road as well as several other roads and put in place an extensive administrative system. His impact on Indian society and on the world through his delegations of scholars to various areas was monumental. His reforms certainly outshine Sher Shah and also predate him by two millenia.

Ashish

Lets Destroy The Bamiyan Buddhas! re: Studebaker # 56

I am indeed appalled by the news that the haj tour operators provide the same tour for Rs 70,000 for which the Central Haj Committee chaired by Mr. Salamatullah, charges Rs 80,000 after receiving a subsidy of Rs. 19,640 per person.

Please read the following article about the way the Haj committee is constituted and operated.

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/nikhilpatwardhan/wisaths.html

It is high time India privatizes these tours and does away with religious subsidies altogether. The job of the government should only be to provide for law and order and not subsidies for religious travel. Especially when there are no proper checks and balances on the organizations getting such funding.

Many Hindu organizations that grew too big were taken over by the government in the past ostensibly to maintain transparency. In case such interventionist policies are not eliminated maybe these rules should be extended to minority institutions too. The Central Haj Committee would be a fine organization for a start. A proper audit of this organization and a review of its constitution would set a nice precedent for improving the conduct of many other NGOs receiving government funding.

Even if the government decides to discontinue intervention in Hindu organizations it would be a good idea to require all religious bodies receiving tax exempt status to be subject to regular audits.

And finally let me reiterate my demand for a massive expansion of the judiciary from the present colonial levels so that criminals are prosecuted and punished faster. Maybe some of the money saved from the elimination of subsidies can be used for this purpose. We need a judiciary with atleast ten times as many judges. It is time Indians as a nation paid more attention to matters affecting their daily lives.

Ashish

Making Religion Sexy Ms. Versey:

In your reply#63 you say

``About the ‘naag’, I can fill up pages. It is vastly different in its Christian and Hindu avatars. In one it is temptation, in the other it is the performer, so to speak. The ‘naagin’ in Hindu mythology, however, is quite clearly a seductress.``

I would like to offer you a quote from the Bible where the serpent is a plague as well as a symbol of deliverence. This may change your view that serpents are always a symbol of evil in Christianity/Judaism. This is from the book of Numbers.

``21:5The people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread. 21:6Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 21:7The people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh, and against you; pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us. Moses prayed for the people. 21:8Yahweh said to Moses, Make you a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. 21:9Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the standard: and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived.``

Ashish

Yet Another South Asian Story re: sb # 39

I agree with you about unemployment if zoning laws are applied strictly. The governments in Delhi and all other parts of India should have been working to fix this problem beforehand. This is what they are there for. But even if they have woken up now (after the Supreme Court has threatened them with contempt proceedings) they should be applauded by those who believe in the law. And suggestions to solve the problem of unemployment should be forthcoming. What disappoints me is that nobody in the media seems to have any idea how to solve these problems, when practically the whole world knows what needs to be done.

Compensation is a good idea. But monetary compensation is very prone to corruption. Moreover, what has the taxpayer done to have his/her money diverted like this. On the other hand, pardoning these violators and allowing them to continue sets a very bad precedent. What I would propose, and this needs to be a continuing process throughout the country, is the designation of new industrial and residential zones in Delhi, west UP and Haryana. Connect these zones by good roads among themselves and to commercial zones in central Delhi. Set up municipalities and municipal services in these new zones. And maybe provide land to the businesses being displaced by implementation of the laws. This should be done before and not after a city becomes the most polluted in the world. There is nothing profound about this. These solutions should be implemented fast and the media should be a watchdog. What really gets me angry is that instead of doing this the intelligensia (which prides itself in playing golf on courses in the UK) keeps debating whether India should follow the ``western model of development`` and so on. And when someone proposes common sense solutions they are told to not bother our media with such ``profound aspects`` and ``infallible logic``. Just agree with them about the human aspect of the tragic stories they bring us.

Ashish

Yet Another South Asian Story re: HN # 36

Thanks, Mr. Nambiar, for clarifying your position. I will henceforth not reply to your articles. I would, however, make one request. In future when you write human interest stories please present them as ``Yet Another World Story`` or as ``uniquely human`` tragedy so that people like me aren`t confused by the title or the postscript.

I find it also interesting that you prefer ``scum of the earth`` to ``armpit of the earth``. And you believe in vigilantism (from your response to reply#35) more than due legal process. I find this more tragic than the story itself because of its implications for our society and other such cases.

Ashish

Yet Another South Asian Story re: sb#31

Literacy is certainly not sufficient for employment. Vocational training is essential for productive employment. But most modern jobs need the worker to atleast have the ability to understand written instructions. Literacy by itself usually gets most people much better alternatives compared to their illiterate parents. Most unemployed graduates you see are children of educated parents who haven`t paid much attention to studies, graduated with some meaningless degree and then don`t want to take up a job that pays less than what they expect or involves physical work. People can create employment themselves if they are willing to work and move to a different place to obtain the same. Here government restrictions in India on businesses can certainly be lesser but even in the present circumstances employment is not too difficult for those willing. An educated workforce creates a qualitatively better economy. Even a handicrafts worker can benefit from literacy by knowing the true prices the retailers charge for his work.

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On the issue of zoning in Delhi, it is the businesses in residential areas which are the cause of a major part of the pollution. The intelligensia needs to support the government and ask for a better implementation of zoning laws, the exact opposite of what they are doing now. They should be calling for more development of industrial zones in the outskirts of the city (better still prevent migration of more people to Delhi by developing other areas across the whole nation), and better public transit from residential to industrial and commercial zones. The way to make the courts relevant is not by showing contempt for their rulings or changing the laws themselves as you suggest. The way to improve the effectiveness is to increase the size of the judiciary so that it is faster. There is no need to get rid of a law that prevents factories in residential areas. Who wants children living and playing next to welding shops?

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I do not like the way Deshpande behaved in this story. But it is the typical way people try to resolve problems in India. Hiding rape cases, asking people not to get involved in court cases in general, forgive and forget, etc. The police, public prosecutor and judge acted in an honorable manner in this case and went with whatever limited evidence they had. Which is why I demand an increase in the size of the judiciary. If the courts are faster people will discover that they have a system that is not too bad. It will become relevant to them. Corrupt officials or those who ignore the law like Deshpande will be facing action within their lifetimes. This will in turn clean up the legal system and even the political and bureaucratic systems.

I don`t find this story as one of major misconduct. Recently I read that a policeman in AP was trying to act as a mediator in fixing a marriage between a rapist and his rape victim. Fortunately, he was suspended from his job. I find that case far more disturbing and would like to have a follow up on that. Did the policeman ever lose his job completely? Unless he does lose his job what prevents others from acting with what they think are good intentions on their part like Deshpande. I heard of a similar story in Latin America of policemen (and priests too in their case) fixing marriages between rape victims and their rapists. Which is why I also object to the way this has been presented as a ``South Asian Story``. This is just a case where the slow judicial process has emboldened a doctor like Deshpande to ignore it or to remain ignorant of it. And it is also a case where you see hope in that the police, prosecutor and judge acted in the best manner they could. What I find unfortunate is that neither Mr. Nambiar nor Ms. Virani nor anybody else is campaigning for the solution to fix this. I hear solutions ranging from revamping the entire legal system (how much time and effort will it take), constitutional review, presidential system all the way to benevolent dictators. And recommendations for self-flagellation from left liberals. But I don`t hear a demand for a simple expansion of basic government services like law enforcement.

Ashish

Yet Another South Asian Story re: sb # 28

I am sorry to jump in here but literacy and then higher education are good in their own right. They are not being promoted to ``wean`` people away from traditional professions. They just open up opportunities for them in other fields. Nothing wrong with farming/handicrafts but why force people to follow these professions by keeping them away from education. Given a choice they may continue to practice farming/handicrafts. But if they want to become doctors/engineers/lawyers/big business owners why not give everybody this opportunity. After all, people in urban areas do have the option to go back to farming/handicrafts. They just don`t want to. Let us increase mobility in the other direction also.

Ashish

Yet Another South Asian Story re: sb#20

I do not think the death penalty for rape is going to improve the prosecution of such cases. It might even worsen the conviction rate. I raised this issue with Mr. Nambiar because he suggests that the punishment Sohanlal got was too little. Indeed the 7 yrs that he got was the standard punishment for rape till the recent legal changes. The judge in this case seems to have given him the punishment for rape (on the excuse of theft) even though he wasn`t prosecuted for that. The small theft he carried out didn`t merit this punishment.

Personally, I believe that the NDA hasn`t got it right. They have moved to the other extreme from the prior low 7 yr sentence. The mandatory sentence should have been raised to say 20 yrs or life (I believe life sentence should also be raised to actual ``life`` sentences up from the current maximum of 20 with earlier parole). The death penalty will only make judges even more reluctant to convict.

The doctors and judge in this case acted in what they thought was in the best interests of the victim. Though this case is tragic it is not one of moral misconduct by the authorities (legally of course it is). Sohanlal should have been prosecuted and convicted for rape, and he should not have been punished so severely for theft. There is a general disregard of the legal process in India. And our journalists and bleeding-heart elite are the worst offenders. For example, on the issue of implementation of zoning laws in Delhi (the current hot issue) the media seems to be sympathetic to the illegal businesses in residential areas.

The court system in India was designed for a time when most were not supposed to have access to them. In order to teach respect for law to the entire populace the courts have to become relevant to them (for the first time for a large segment of the population). The number of judges needs to be increased to between 5-10 times the current number (to bring it to international levels) which will reduce the backlog and increase the pace of the judicial process to a decent level. This is an issue that should be occupying the minds of our intelligensia and prime space in our news media.

Ashish

Yet Another South Asian Story A very tragic story. Mr. Nambiar, I have a few questions though. Has a case been lodged against the rapist now? Are there any legal reasons why he cannot be prosecuted and what has been done to change these laws if there are any such? What is your position on the recent legal changes by this government introducing the death penalty for rape? Have there been any changes to the definition of rape, as that seems to be a problem in this case? Is there any piece of legislation that can be supported by the populace.

Do you expect a bout of self-flagellation by South Asians on reading this story? If so, why?

Science Is A Dead End Career re: Urstruly # 3

Your reply is a very nice rebuttal to the article itself. Very well put :)

Ashish

A Different Story I had expected something other than Kashmir from the title of this article. Neither is South Asia limited to India and Pakistan, nor is Kashmir the only issue facing the region. In fact, as Chairman Mao said, let us leave this dispute for a generation wiser than ours. There is a lot which can be done in the rest of India, Pakistan and other SAARC nations until the Kashmiris realize that their great ``Kashmiriyat`` is nothing more than what the rest of South Asians call common decency.

All this religious, cultural nonsense and historical baggage in the region can be washed away with economic growth as in the west, east and south east asia. Let`s concentrate on a massive expansion in infrastructure; building of expressways, railways, ports, court houses, schools, hospitals, in the region and promote entrepreneurship among every section of society. This will bring about true winds of change.

Ashish

The Autonomy is for India re: mohajir # 40

Thanks for posting this interesting article.

As a Chattisgarhi I need to make a few corrections. Chattisgarh constitutes not 7 but 16 districts of Madhya Pradesh. It is 1.5 times the size of Portugal, 4 times the size of Belgium and close to the size of Bangladesh. MP before this division was larger than Unified Germany. The agitation for Chattisgarh wasn`t active since there was consensus among all political parties on this issue. The Prathak Chattisgarh Sangharsh Samiti (literal translation: Separate 36-Forts Struggle Committee) was an all party body which formed a consensus early on.

The treatment that Chattisgarh got from western MP has been pathetic. They hadn`t even bothered to connect Bhopal to Chattisgarh properly. The fastest way to go from Bilaspur (central Chattisgarh) to Bhopal is through Nagpur in Maharashtra (now the focus of the Vidharba movement and formerly the capital of Central Provinces & Berar of which Chattisgarh was a part). It takes 18 hrs to reach Bhopal from Bilaspur by train (which is the fastest way). This is the main reason why there is a demand for a separate state. Bhopal as joint capital defeats the whole purpose of a separate state. The article has properly described the injustice in resource allocation that Chattisgarh has endured inspite of being a major revenue contributor.

As an ethnic Andhra and with relatives in Andhra Pradesh I must state that there is a significant difference between Chattisgarh and Telangana. Hyderabad, the capital of AP, is in Telangana. This is quite unlike the case with Chattisgarh. Most of the population of AP is in coastal Andhra which produces most of the revenue too. I wouldn`t be surprised if it turns out that Telangana is actually getting a bigger share than what it contributes. The CM Chandrababu Naidu belongs to Telangana. Telugu is spoken by the vast majority in Telangana too which isn`t clear from the way the author of this article put it. Again this is different from Chattisgarh where Chattisgarhi is a distinct dialect. Coastal Andhra, apart from offering an educated population that is currently driving the software boom of Hyderabad and the rest of India, actually provides a long coastline for Telangana and Rayalaseema (the south-western part of AP, bordering Karnataka, TN). The coast offers ports for exports if Telangana develops industries. MP, in contrast is land-locked like Chattisgarh. They could have developed better links with Maharashtra and Gujarat with whom they have common borders and cultural links. Unfortunately, despite eating up Chattisgarh`s revenue, MP hasn`t even emulated the business culture of these states. Chattisgarh with its revenue can connect itself better to Orissa, AP and Maharashtra for ports. I do not see why Telangana should give up this opportunity when it doesn`t have a similar history of exploitation. The case is similar for Vidarbha though they may have genuine grievances in that Bombay dominates Maharashtra and probably takes away resources from the Nagpur region.

On a different note, Habib Tanvir is highly respected and loved in Chattisgarh. Though I haven`t seen any of his plays my parents still talk about ``Charan Das Chor`` and his other plays. I can see a Habib Tanvir School of Arts in the not too distant future in one of the Chattisgarhi Universities.

Ashish

The Autonomy is for India re: tahmed321

The election commission of India had ordered the parties to submit their expenses to independent auditing and also asked for intra-party democracy in the last few elections. Unfortunately, the first order was ignored by most parties. Threats of disqualification haven`t as yet been carried out as disqualifying a major party will rob the electorate of an option. Maybe an example should be set in a small regional election through the disqualification of a major party which will send a message to all parties. The second is more difficult to implement as it involves taking away the freedom of political parties to have their own organizational structures. Even today the Congress does have elections to the AICC, CWC and for party office bearers. Unfortunately, more often than not these turn into sham exercises with infighting leading to factions asking for the ``high command`` to resolve the dispute. The ``high command`` itself goes through a unanimous vote with people in ``smoke filled backrooms`` deciding the outcome. The only parties that religiously go through intra-party elections are the communist parties. The only way to really resolve this issue is for the media to make this an issue. This will happen only if some maverick politician like John McCain rakes up this issue or some watchdog organization springs up to take the challenge. Certainly an idea worth exploring.

Even the American primaries aren`t that transparent. In New York the Republican leadership was trying to prevent McCain from being on the ballot! Intra-party democracy is a difficult task as it depends on the party membership. Constructive media criticism with follow-up can surely help as in the case of McCain who eventually made it to the NY primary.

Ashish

The Autonomy is for India Re: Mr. Kapuria

An interesting article. I do share your concerns about the need for economic growth. However, I would like to point out some of the contradictions in your article.

I agree that states should have the right to formulate their own laws to promote economic growth. But it is not true that states in India don`t have this right. In fact, in your example of Punjab and TN, the state legislatures are using their independence to provide free electricity and water. If you remove the checks on their budget all states will start accumulating huge debts (like african nations). What we really need to do is to reduce central government deficit ALSO.

Absolute state control on laws or something like the US will lead to a lot of duplicate procedures and grey areas. Such a system exists in the US for historical reasons but this is not the cause of the economic success of the US. Rather it is a drag on their economy and pace of social reform. Imagine the delays in the legal system of India, already pathetically slow, if you have a scenario where state supreme courts and federal supreme courts start debating who has jurisdiction on a certain issue as the current battle between the state of Alabama and the federal government on the issue of discrimination on the basis of physical diability.

You bemoan lack of interstate trade in India and the bureaucratic hurdles in the path of this. Indeed it is the right of states in India to impose taxes like octroi which is the cause of the hassles. Removal of octroi and other restrictions on inter state trade (which served imperial purposes in British times- and national purposes in the princely states- and are not inventions of independent India) will have to be achieved by the central government. This would reduce the power of the states on taxation not increase it.

There is no state sales tax/ state income tax in India and we should be thankful for this. Though collection of both state and federal taxes will perhaps improve if state taxes were allowed. Taxation will not decrease but increase with such autonomy- which will probably not be bad viz. western Europe. I am not arguing against autonomy on this issue but just pointing out that the result may not be what you are expecting.

Article 356 certainly needs to be used less frequently or modified to ensure less usage. But I disagree that there are less checks on the Indian government. The impeachment by the senate of the president of the US is a very rare occurance and needs 2/3rd majority in the senate. In contrast, the Indian PM is constantly under the gun of a no-confidence motion which needs just an absolute majority (more than 1/2). The problem in the past has been that the MPs were willing to go along with 356. This has changed with the recent coalitions because the centralized power structure of the Congress-I no longer dominates. A presidential system in India (adopted in the US at the time of their independence as it resembles a monarchy with a strong individual authority) will only make abuse of power more frequent and take us back to the Indira Gandhi era (Nehru should not be accused of her doings). You have to look at other presidential systems in poor nations to see its potential performance in India (something most advocates of this don`t seem to consider). Again it is not the presidential system that is the cause of US prosperity. Japan doesn`t have one and seems to have done ok.

The separation of the judiciary and legislature is better in India than in the US. The judicial appointments do not require approval by the legislature. This is the reason why our judiciary has not been politicized like the US. Imagine a populist president from Bihar in a presidential system, (unlike our current presidents who are more academic type) appointing judges to the Supreme Court, who will ensure that no progressive legislation on gender equity is passed. After all, it is some MPs from Bihar who through their paper snatching and hullabaloo succeeded in delaying the legislation on 1/3rd reservation of parliamentary seats for women.

The current structure of the government is not the problem in India. There is sufficient autonomy in place already. Indeed many consider this to be a failing of the Indian system compared to, say, the Chinese model. But this doesn`t mean that we should get rid of our own system and adopt something which may aggravate existing problems and which doesn`t show any logical reasons to expect improvements, either American or Chinese. There is a lot of progressive legislation that has been enacted through our current system in the past 50 yrs. What is needed is for the public to put pressure on politicians to reduce economy related restrictions and bureaucracy(a legacy of the Raj), improve revenue collection (for this the defaulters shouldn`t be elected in the first place as MPs), improve efficiency in public spending while simultaneously increasing spending, and balancing the budget to reduce inflation. Yes, I believe a lot more needs to be spent if infrastructure is to be improved. And this is possible if a larger fraction of our population than the current 0.7% pays taxes. In fact, I believe we can simultaneously cut taxes, increase revenue by improving collection, increase spending substantially, and also balance the budget. Such a thing is unthinkable in developed economies.

Which brings me to my pet suggestion. That is an increase in the size of the judiciary. Mind you, I am not calling for any qualitative or structural reforms. Merely, increasing the size of the judiciary, by forcing our MPs to allocate more money, will reduce backlog and re-establish the faith of the populace in the judicial process. Again, criminals shouldn`t be elected by us for this to happen. If this is done the public might even discover that they already have pretty decent laws. This scenario will involve increasing the current judiciary by atleast 5 times.

Changing the system to introduce the confirmation of judges by the parliament is a nighmarish scenario in the Indian case. With the current power of only allocating resources, politicians have succeded in emaciating the judiciary. Imagine what they will do if they have the power to actually influence the quality of judges.

An improved judiciary will put criminals behind bars and not in legislative assemblies, enable quick settlement of business/agricultural disputes and reduce misuse of power by the executive branches (like the police). The law abiding majority will gain confidence and start improving the economy through entrepreneurship. They won`t have to operate from within modest buildings like the diamond industry or software but will have the confidence to actually invest in traditional industries in a large way.

All this talk of changing the system of government is just hogwash. What really needs to be done is to improve the way it operates. Which is mainly in the hands of the electorate. And the responsibility for providing alternatives to the current crop of politicians lies with the middle class. The uneducated poor can`t do it and the established rich won`t. And when we have elected a sincere crop of politicans they can make the relatively minor corrections ie. ordinary legislation not constitutional amendments to achieve rapid economic growth. Current levels of autonomy will do just fine.

Ashish

The Imperatives of Power re: Ferozk # 47

I agree with you 100%. Neither India nor Pakistan should ratify CTBT. Unfortunately, in India`s case the process is not similar to the US. Signature by the executive is the same as ratifcation by the legislature. After all, the government comes into existence only if it has the confidence of the parliament. If the process were to be changed now it would have to be specifically for the CTBT and would perhaps require a constitutional amendment (I am not sure about this).

That may not be such a bad idea considering the fact that the international media is surely going to miss such an event. And so will the domestic media which just parrots the western media. Do you have any suggestions how this can be achieved within a parliamentary system or if there are any other nations that have such a process in place?

Ashish

Joint Indo-Pak School History Textbook on the Web An admirable effort. I wish all the best for the the historians tackling this huge job. There should be similar initiatives between academics from India and those from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapur, Combodia, China, etc. so that a balanced version of cultural/social interactions in this region can be presented for children. This would be especially helpful for children in regions which aren`t bordering Pakistan but are closer to, for example,Thailand physically and culturally.

Ashish

re: Umairr

BJP`s vote share is around 20% (30% among men, 10% among women). Because of the multicornered nature of electoral contests in most areas this is enough for them to win 180 seats in parliament. Their vote share is less than that of the Indian National Congress but the Congress vote is spread out all over India and hence the Congress has 140 seats. BJP`s support is concentrated in the North. Both, therefore need to form coalition governments if they are to come to power. Something that the Congress is less willing to do. Hope this explains why it is possible for many interacters here to have nothing to do with the BJP. Within the BJP there are many divergent trends. The person who created their website belongs to one vocal (though not necessarily influential) section. The main reason for middle class support for the BJP is the ineffectiveness of the Congress and other parties in tackling issues of common concern. The BJP has taken the space vacated by the Congress in states like my home state of Madhya Pradesh which has almost no communal problems. The congress strongmen like VC & SC Shukla (brothers) and Arjun Singh (involved in a lottery scandal) have a firm grip on the party in MP. In contrast the BJP has no big entrenched leaders in MP. Hence their success as also the recent successess of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party which is mainly the party of the backward classes). The issues in MP are very different from those in the north. A lot of media attention is given to UP, Bihar and other northern and some vocal southern states like Tamil Nadu. That`s why most people are unaware of the political goings on in other parts of India. For perspective, MP is larger than Germany in area and is about 85% of Germany in population. Another thing to remember would be that the state has been alternating between the Congress and the BJP in the past few elections.

I have used the example of MP as it has been mentioned in the article. The reason why history textbooks are being manipulated by certain sections of the BJP there is that it is such a low priority issue there. Even the media discovered it after it was done. I believe now that the Congress is in power there they have corrected it unless those idiots are involved in infighting and jockeying for power. As for Pakistan it doesn`t figure in any discourse in MP. It is too far for people to be bothered. Bangladesh is much closer though even that is around 650 kms from the eastern border of MP. Nepal is somewhat closer. Most people aren`t aware of their existence either. This is also the reason for my concern about too many India-Pakistan issues dominating the media. Why create a problem where none exists?