Mobilising The Other India

Land has emerged the great Indian fault line of the early 21 st century
Sudipto Mundle

   India has done well from globalisation. No historic transformation can occur with only
gains and no losses, on which more below. But on net reckoning, India, like many other
developing countries, has gained. Despite the dire predictions of radical theories of
imperialism, the old Ricardian theory of comparative advantage has asserted itself, albeit in
a dynamic form. Today, it is the developed world that is haunted by the spectre of free
trade, not the developing world.
   However, the benefits of globalisation have accrued only to one part of India: the India of
IT parks and financial markets, businessmen and traders, corporate leaders and executives
and, yes, also the white-collar workers in new corporate hubs like Gurgaon, Whitefields or
Rajerhat, and their blue-collar counterparts in the smart new factories. Let us call this
globalised India.
   Then there is the other India: Bharat as we once used to call it. The India of small
farmers, of tribals clinging to their disappearing forests in Orissa, of landless Dalits living in
the shadow of upper caste atrocities, of shivering Bihari workers building roads in the frozen
deserts of Ladakh. It is another world, till recently untouched by globalisation.
   Now, global competition and insatiable hunger for profits are driving globalised India into
a headlong collision with this other India over the right to land and other natural resources.
Clashes over land, the forests that grow on it and the mineral resources that lie beneath it
have become almost daily fare. From Nandigram and Singur to the forests of Orissa and the
Chotanagpur Plateau, from Karnataka’s illegal mines to the farmers protesting against an
expressway in Noida, land has emerged the great Indian fault line of the early 21
   Ominously, the frequency and intensity of these clashes are growing across the country.
Often, though fortunately not always, the ‘law and order’ machinery of the state has backed
globalised India in its onslaught on the other India. In a recent notice to the UP government
relating to land acquisition in
Noida, the Supreme Court described such partisan government intervention as state-
sponsored terrorism. The Naxalites thrive on such partisan state violence and the sullen
anger it generates in the other India. It creates the support base for their violent
confrontation with the state.
   Now, with great foresight, Rahul Gandhi and his mother, the leader of the Congress, are
positioning themselves to represent this same constituency in the democratic process. You
don’t need rocket science to see the underlying arithmetic. This other India is by far the
largest constituency in this country. But there is more at stake here than the rise of an
individual political leader. Mobilisation of the other India within the democratic space is
probably the single greatest political challenge of our times. If politicians of the democratic
process fail, then the Maoists gain. Thus, the fault line between globalised India and the
other India also marks the dividing line between the politics of violence and the path of non-
violence.
Mobilising The Other India

Land has emerged the great Indian fault line of the early 21 st century
Sudipto Mundle

   India has done well from globalisation. No historic transformation can occur with only
gains and no losses, on which more below. But on net reckoning, India, like many other
developing countries, has gained. Despite the dire predictions of radical theories of
imperialism, the old Ricardian theory of comparative advantage has asserted itself, albeit in
a dynamic form. Today, it is the developed world that is haunted by the spectre of free
trade, not the developing world.
   However, the benefits of globalisation have accrued only to one part of India: the India of
IT parks and financial markets, businessmen and traders, corporate leaders and executives
and, yes, also the white-collar workers in new corporate hubs like Gurgaon, Whitefields or
Rajerhat, and their blue-collar counterparts in the smart new factories. Let us call this
globalised India.
   Then there is the other India: Bharat as we once used to call it. The India of small
farmers, of tribals clinging to their disappearing forests in Orissa, of landless Dalits living in
the shadow of upper caste atrocities, of shivering Bihari workers building roads in the frozen
deserts of Ladakh. It is another world, till recently untouched by globalisation.
   Now, global competition and insatiable hunger for profits are driving globalised India into
a headlong collision with this other India over the right to land and other natural resources.
Clashes over land, the forests that grow on it and the mineral resources that lie beneath it
have become almost daily fare. From Nandigram and Singur to the forests of Orissa and the
Chotanagpur Plateau, from Karnataka’s illegal mines to the farmers protesting against an
expressway in Noida, land has emerged the great Indian fault line of the early 21 st century.
   Ominously, the frequency and intensity of these clashes are growing across the country.
Often, though fortunately not always, the ‘law and order’ machinery of the state has backed
globalised India in its onslaught on the other India. In a recent notice to the UP government
relating to land acquisition in
Noida, the Supreme Court described such partisan government intervention as state-
sponsored terrorism. The Naxalites thrive on such partisan state violence and the sullen
anger it generates in the other India. It creates the support base for their violent
confrontation with the state.
   Now, with great foresight, Rahul Gandhi and his mother, the leader of the Congress, are
positioning themselves to represent this same constituency in the democratic process. You
don’t need rocket science to see the underlying arithmetic. This other India is by far the
largest constituency in this country. But there is more at stake here than the rise of an
individual political leader. Mobilisation of the other India within the democratic space is
probably the single greatest political challenge of our times. If politicians of the democratic
process fail, then the Maoists gain. Thus, the fault line between globalised India and the
other India also marks the dividing line between the politics of violence and the path of non-
violence.
   Is there a possible path of peaceful dispute resolution on the question of land? The answer
is yes. The principle is really quite simple. Turn the potential losers from land acquisition
into a support base of winners. If you wish to acquire someone’s land, don’t coerce her or
try to rip her off. Instead make her an offer attractive enough to induce her to sell. In
countries with well-developed and competitive land markets, this is how it works. This is
also the principle adopted by multilateral agencies when they support public projects
requiring land acquisition: the displaced persons must be compensated enough to be better
off after displacement than before. The coercive approach leads to conflict between winners
and losers, and sometimes every one becomes a loser as in Singur. In the inducement
approach, everyone becomes a winner; there are no losers.
   We have examples before us of how the two approaches work. Singur is a classic example
of a coercive approach that failed. But in Sanad, where the Nano project moved from
Singur, you have an example of the inducement approach. Handsome compensation for
farmers led to a win-win outcome for all. Other successful examples include the Mohali
international airport in Punjab, the Cochin international airport in Kerala and the profarmer
land acquisition policy of the Haryana government.
   Given our inequities, our law needs to be tilted in favour of the weak, with mandatory and
harsh punitive provisions against attempts at regulatory capture by the strong. It is
promising that lawmakers are beginning to get their act together on the land question. The
group of ministers reviewing the draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation)
Bill, 2010 reportedly reached a consensus that 26 per cent of annual profits must be set
aside for displaced families. This is quite radical in the Indian context.
   There will be strong resistance to such initiatives from globalised India. But if politicians
hold firm, they will successfully mobilise the vote banks of the other India in the democratic
process. Globalised India too will eventually come to terms with this new reality of not
taking the other India for granted. Democracy in India will then have taken a great leap
forward.
   The writer is an emeritus professor at the National Institute of Public Finance &
Policy, New Delhi.

State Of Flux

Pakistan’s political establishment gets itself into a bind again

   The perennially shifting world of Pakistani politics seems to be in even greater flux than
usual. First, there was the crisis meeting last week between army chief Ashfaq Parvez
Kayani, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari. Given the multiple
problems facing the current Pakistan Peoples Party-led ruling alliance and its rather
lacklustre response to them, the nature of the meeting is not difficult to guess. Then, more
recently, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf claimed that Pakistan was on the brink of
another coup and called for a greater constitutional role for the army in the governance of
the country.
   These developments are different aspects of Islamabad’s ongoing crisis of credibility.
Musharraf may have made a habit of offering unsolicited advice from his exile in London,
but this time it may not be all bluster. Over the past few weeks, several commentators
within Pakistan have also dwelt on the possibility of a change at the top. These
apprehensions are a telling comment on the cyclical nature of Pakistani politics and the all-
too-familiar phase it finds itself in right now.
   Islamabad’s rather apathetic response to the floods that have devastated the country is
the latest in a long line of political missteps. After the solidarity shown by the political
establishment to bring back democracy and the PPP combine’s subsequent rise to power,
familiar problems have set in. Instead of utilising the opportunity to focus on governance,
strengthening the institutions of democracy and thus offering a genuine, effective
alternative to the military, there has been recourse to short-term political manoeuvring in a
throwback to the past. It is no coincidence that the Pakistani economy has nosedived since
2008.
   In contrast, the military has been at the forefront of flood response. In popular perception
it has, therefore, appeared to uphold its reputation as an effective institution, a foil to
civilian authority. By reading the administration the riot act and demanding the removal of
corrupt officials as he is reported to have done, Kayani has made his willingness to crack
the whip abundantly clear. However, he will perhaps be content to remain the power behind
the throne. Given the host of problems spawned by the floods, this is a bad time for anyone
to be the visible face of the government. The army has, in any case, already increased its
role to the point where it controls defence and foreign as well as, increasingly, economic
policy. What the latest round of speculation shows up is the political establishment’s
contribution to the country’s seeming inability to consolidate the forces of democracy.
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Grand Beginning

And now, let sport be in the spotlight

   Aweek ago, most people would have had an overwhelming sense of relief had the
Commonwealth Games opening ceremony just gone off without any glitches. But, on
Sunday, what 60,000 spectators in the packed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and millions of
television viewers across the globe got was a magnificent collage of lights, colours, sounds
and highoctane razzle-dazzle. Showcasing 5,000 years of Indian culture, on display were
drums from 10 different corners of the country, dancers representing different classical
styles, the heritage of yoga, a montage of tribal arts and vivid sights from everyday life. A
cacophony of rhythm and beats that yet cohered, the opening ceremony captured the spirit
of a vibrant, diverse country. It was a grand showcasing of India as a carnivalesque tropical
democracy.
   There were hiccups in the run-up to the Games. But if the opening ceremony is any
indication, the challenges appear to have been surmounted and the Games look slated to go
off smoothly. As many of the visiting foreign athletes and dignitaries have affirmed, the
facilities provided are world-class. As a spin-off of the Games, sporting standards in the
country are bound to improve manifold while the national capital will inherit impressive
infrastructure to meet the growing needs of its residents. Delhi has so far played the good
host and people have come together to actively support the unprecedented security and
logistical arrangements. However, the primary task now is to stage the Games well, and to
keep the focus squarely where it really belongs: on sport. If the event promotes people’s
participation in an augmented sporting culture, the Commonwealth Games 2010 would have
secured its legacy.

Empire strikes back

Old habits of the Raj die hard

Janardhan Roye

   On a crisp sunny morning, the tricolour was unfurled solemnly at the club’s lawn. Men in
smart blazers and striped ties took the salute. The army band rolled out good old martial
notes. Independence Day it was again in the country – celebrated regally in the club. The
building circa mid-1800s stood grandly with its abundant Victoriana, vestiges and practices
in place. Anything else, members will tell you, is just not ‘cricket’.
   Such colonial club ambience was once replete with the gentlemen members’ wish to be
away from their female relations. Over the years, the clubs’ watering holes that carried the
sign ‘Women and Children Not Permitted’ have given ground to the winds of change. Close
to a century later, such signs have become rare and the last all-male bastion is precariously
alive today as the ‘Men’s Bar’.
   The trend is not something that the snobbish archaic remnant of the Raj, Colonel Blimp, a
cartoon character created by Sir David Low, would approve of. After taking off a long time
ago, the old Colonel still turns up mysteriously, unexpectedly at odd times and places –
indicating that old practices are hard to shake off.
   On a recent morning, in the sylvan settings of the club taking breakfast, i noticed a
‘bearer’ chasing away crows from the trees. Time was not too long ago when a ‘native’
employee was assigned this job on a full-time basis as at a golf club Calcutta. ‘Chokra-boys’
with catapults scared away crows on branches of trees to prevent them from mucking up
the outdoor dining experience. In addition to ‘crow-boy’, there was a ‘dog boy’. The latter’s
duty was to take the memsahib and the sahib’s pet for a walk, as they demolished
scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages, blackened tomatoes, toast, and pots of Darjeeling.
Beyond the clubs, Colonel Blimp’s presence haunted many a British plantation and tea
estate. After a hard day’s work in the tropical sun, life became easy once the solar hat was
hung up. Managers, after a brisk round of tennis, returned to their spacious bungalows and
had a ‘native’ attendant to take care of their ‘personal needs’. First it was a welcome glass
of chilled lemonade. As the ‘brown master’ sat down with the refreshing drink, Boy Friday
took off the Dunlop Volley and gently eased the soggy tube socks, both imported from
London. Minutes later, when the water was mixed to the right temperature, the master was
led in for a relaxing hot bath. Soon after the ablution, his bath-towel was taken off and
replaced by a bathrobe. Evening clothes lay spread on the bed and before master jumped
into them, the attendant ensured the feet and toes were suitably dried and dusted with foot
powder. This cushy manager’s life, right from Munnar to the north-east, became history
only in recent times.
   Some months ago i checked into an outsized room in a sailing club in Mumbai. After a
shower, i breezily stepped out into the bedroom with nothing on but an upbeat rendition of
That's the Way (I Like It) on my lips and dampness behind the ears. To my horror i found,
standing outside the door, a grinning toothless old uniformed gent, holding up a bath-towel.
After covering myself up hurriedly and regaining some poise, i learnt that he was a ‘bearer’
who had let himself in with a spare room-key, and that he would organise meals, do up the
bedroom and attend to other personal ‘needs’. Still reeling from the shock, i politely told
him that i’d ring for him when required. As i led him to the door, his face took on a puzzled
look, and i noticed he kept throwing furtive glances at my wet feet. “No, no, i will dry and
powder them myself,” i found myself saying a tad loudly.
   The ghost of Colonel Blimp just doesn’t seem to go away from the old colonial hang-outs

THE SPEAKING TREE

Hold A Mirror To Yourself

Girish Deshpande

   Most of us invariably take a look at ourselves in the mirror at least once a day. The mirror
diligently and without being judgemental, reflects what is and what is not. We accept what
it tells us without much complaint. We then try to better, in whatever way possible, that
which is possible to change for the better and simply accept the rest as given. We take pride
in what we have in terms of form, beauty and appearance and try not to dwell too much on
what we lack outwardly. We may also resolve and work towards those areas that need to be
improved. We step out of the house, with this ‘approved’ confidence, and are ready to take
on the world.
   Let’s say we are able to hold the mirror to reflect our mind and heart. Chances are that
most of us don’t make the effort, not so much because we may not know how to do so, but
more perhaps because we may not approve of the kind of reflection we might get to see. It
may be too much for our ego state to accept. It is never easy to get ourselves to accept
what we don’t like to see in us, especially that which we cannot actually ‘see’.
   Imagine a plump person standing in front of the mirror. The person would try to see
himself from those angles that are more flattering to him. When we attempt this through a
session of meditating in calm abiding, where we are only watching our mind, we will initially
try and see our reflected mind from only those angles which our ego state or nurtured mind
will encourage us to see. For example we might think “I do get angry, but not so often, so
it’s OK” or “Yes, i do get somewhat envious when my neighbour buys a swank car and
desire the same for myself too, but i don’t really keep it in my heart”, or we might see
ourselves to be someone most humble and put on this act when we are in reality filled with
pride.
   Similarly, when we try to see our heart in the mirror, our nurtured mind convinces us that
we are the most considerate and compassionate of all. In reality, however, we may be
sympathetic in some cases but not truly empathetic to all. All these projections that distort
the true reflection are created by ego.
   In meditation sessions, we reflect on the clouded state of heart and mind and when we
see the pollution, it means we have made a good beginning. Then there is scope for
cleaning the mind. With sustained meditative reflection, we are able to observe the mind
and heart more and more closely and reach a stage where we are able to see them in their
clear state, free of pollution. At last, we come face-to-face with our true nature. This whole
selfcleansing experience takes us on the path to lasting bliss.
Anger, greed, ignorance of our true nature, jealousy, pride, desire, habitual tendencies,
mental formations and perceptions can prove to be toxic and so need to be phased out.
Destructive thoughts and actions are not worth retaining; they only bring harm and
suffering. Since the very purpose of life is happiness, all these negative tendencies must go!

   At the onset of the festive season, many of you would soon begin to clean up your homes,
throwing or gifting away things no longer needed. Just the same way let us spare some
time and effort towards cleansing of the heart and mind and discard the attributes that are
useless to us.
   May Buddha nature be yours!

In tune with tech-enabled education, a London

school outsources maths classes to India

The smarter the better

   Tech-enabled education is a global trend. Not only are teaching methodologies being
reworked, technology is helping plug demand-supply mismatches. A north London school,
for instance, has outsourced maths classes to India, courtesy a felt dearth of teachers in the
subject at home. Thanks to online classes arranged by a UK firm, British students can turn
to tutors in India on condition interactive sessions are booked in advance. Another example
is cross-border English teaching whereby instructors in, say, Asia are getting to teach
students in America.
   Via internet, access to quality education anywhere in the world becomes a possibility,
scoring a goal for choice. Knowledge acquisition gets truly globalised, broadening the
horizons of both students and instructors. Those forwarding protectionist or nationalist
arguments against technology’s revolutionising potential fail to see that. Equally,
proponents of pedagogical orthodoxy don’t realise that fun is the key to successful teaching.
Happily, in India, educational institutions are increasingly seeing virtue in smart classrooms.
Multi-media content for syllabuses creates scope for innovation. With interactive
whiteboards – content stored in them can be viewed online – and facilities like video-
conferencing and live broadcasting, smart classrooms can boost pupils’ interest in studies
like never before.
   Some say tech-dependence makes students inattentive and impairs basic skills such as
speaking and writing. Surely making technology an asset rather than a liability depends on
a teacher’s skills, inventiveness and sense of balance. Conventional teaching by and large
encourages bookishness and can dull students’ sense of engagement. With access to
classroom audio, video, graphics and 3D animation, children can embrace learning as a
pleasure, not a chore. As time goes on, tech-savvy will increasingly be demanded of youth.
So, let’s catch them young.

Student-teacher rapport is key

Ajay Vaishnav

   A north London school’s decision to outsource online maths classes to India is baffling.
The teachers’ union in Britain is justifiably concerned about the consequences of the
decision. Ideally, shortage of qualified teachers in a particular institution should be
addressed by recruiting more teachers, including from abroad. But, in this case, the policy
of
the school concerned points to a flawed assumption that technology-enabled distance
learning can be a substitute for classroom teaching.
   Traditional modes of education can never become obsolete simply because technology can
never replace a teacher. A classroom serves as an immediate social environment, which is
central to any quality educational experience. The value of other instructional materials
grows only if a teacher-student rapport exists and makes education stimulating. In a
classroom, a teacher gets to know the aptitude of students and their levels of understanding
and engagement. Technology can only support this face-to-face between the student and
the instructor. Online teaching sessions cannot match or even compensate for such live
interaction, since the teacher can’t communicate with or get to know his students personally
or attend to their individual needs to the same extent.
   Also, increasing use of technology in school hampers development of skills in a child.
Handwriting and vocabulary suffer most. Gone are the days when students used to score
extra marks for beautiful handwriting or elocution. Yet another problem arising from
excessive use of technology is the sedentary lifestyle it encourages and its accompanying
health risks. Lastly, with increasing incidence of cyber crime, there’s a need to be vigilant
about children using the internet. If such supervision is possible in school, that may not
always be the case at home.
Mobilising The Other India

Land has emerged the great Indian fault line of the early 21 st century
Sudipto Mundle

   India has done well from globalisation. No historic transformation can occur with only
gains and no losses, on which more below. But on net reckoning, India, like many other
developing countries, has gained. Despite the dire predictions of radical theories of
imperialism, the old Ricardian theory of comparative advantage has asserted itself, albeit in
a dynamic form. Today, it is the developed world that is haunted by the spectre of free
trade, not the developing world.
   However, the benefits of globalisation have accrued only to one part of India: the India of
IT parks and financial markets, businessmen and traders, corporate leaders and executives
and, yes, also the white-collar workers in new corporate hubs like Gurgaon, Whitefields or
Rajerhat, and their blue-collar counterparts in the smart new factories. Let us call this
globalised India.
   Then there is the other India: Bharat as we once used to call it. The India of small
farmers, of tribals clinging to their disappearing forests in Orissa, of landless Dalits living in
the shadow of upper caste atrocities, of shivering Bihari workers building roads in the frozen
deserts of Ladakh. It is another world, till recently untouched by globalisation.
   Now, global competition and insatiable hunger for profits are driving globalised India into
a headlong collision with this other India over the right to land and other natural resources.
Clashes over land, the forests that grow on it and the mineral resources that lie beneath it
have become almost daily fare. From Nandigram and Singur to the forests of Orissa and the
Chotanagpur Plateau, from Karnataka’s illegal mines to the farmers protesting against an
expressway in Noida, land has emerged the great Indian fault line of the early 21
   Ominously, the frequency and intensity of these clashes are growing across the country.
Often, though fortunately not always, the ‘law and order’ machinery of the state has backed
globalised India in its onslaught on the other India. In a recent notice to the UP government
relating to land acquisition in
Noida, the Supreme Court described such partisan government intervention as state-
sponsored terrorism. The Naxalites thrive on such partisan state violence and the sullen
anger it generates in the other India. It creates the support base for their violent
confrontation with the state.
   Now, with great foresight, Rahul Gandhi and his mother, the leader of the Congress, are
positioning themselves to represent this same constituency in the democratic process. You
don’t need rocket science to see the underlying arithmetic. This other India is by far the
largest constituency in this country. But there is more at stake here than the rise of an
individual political leader. Mobilisation of the other India within the democratic space is
probably the single greatest political challenge of our times. If politicians of the democratic
process fail, then the Maoists gain. Thus, the fault line between globalised India and the
other India also marks the dividing line between the politics of violence and the path of non-
violence.