Sunday, August 21, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Why EPW matters
In early 1966 more than 50 of India’s leading commentators, academics and senior government officials appealed for contributions of Rs.500 each to establish a trust that would publish a new journal of economics and politics.
Tomorrow (August 20) marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW).
EPW has become something of a global phenomenon over the past half century. Week after week it has presented informed commentary on the important issues of the day as well as research papers on a wide range of social science disciplines. Its authors have included everyone from political activists to Nobel Laureates, from lecturers in colleges in small towns to professors in the leading universities in the world, from members of non-government organisations to government officials.
Actually 67
EPW is actually now 67, and not 50. The Economic Weekly (EW), conceived and edited by Sachin Chaudhuri (an economist from what was then Dacca who had moved to Bombay), had begun publication in 1949 in the western metropolis. It quickly made a name for itself as a much sought-after platform for publishing opinion and research about India’s development policies and the politics around it. But that weekly, financed by the Sekhsarias, a group of cotton merchants, closed at the end of 1965 after differences between the editor and the publishers. Within a few weeks some of India’s leading academics and thinkers made the appeal to launch a new journal that would be edited by Chaudhuri and build on the legacy of the very influential EW.
EPW is actually now 67, and not 50. The Economic Weekly (EW), conceived and edited by Sachin Chaudhuri (an economist from what was then Dacca who had moved to Bombay), had begun publication in 1949 in the western metropolis. It quickly made a name for itself as a much sought-after platform for publishing opinion and research about India’s development policies and the politics around it. But that weekly, financed by the Sekhsarias, a group of cotton merchants, closed at the end of 1965 after differences between the editor and the publishers. Within a few weeks some of India’s leading academics and thinkers made the appeal to launch a new journal that would be edited by Chaudhuri and build on the legacy of the very influential EW.
The new weekly, with “Political” added to its moniker in acknowledgement of its widening intellectual mandate, was published by the new Sameeksha Trust. In this new, revitalised avatar the weekly blossomed.
Within a decade EPW had grown in the range of disciplines and themes it published. EPW’s pages hosted some of the most important debates, about economic strategies, change in village societies, foreign policy, political representation and ever expanding fields such as secularism and the politics of the Left. Then and later, some of India’s best gave their best work to EPW and EPW, in turn, helped launch many a career by publishing the first works of young writers.
What explains this success of the EPW, when world over independent “little magazines” rarely, if ever, manage to survive for a few years? One reason surely is the thriving(grow,पनपना) intellectual climate in India of the first few decades after Independence when everyone put their shoulder to “nation building”. Later, the cross-disciplinary open-ended nature of the journal helped it grow and prevent being painted into a corner.
The editor has always been pivotal(crucial,निर्णायक) in making EPW what it is. Krishna Raj, who took over as editor a few years after Chaudhuri passed away (after a brief interregnum when R.K. Hazari was editor), opened the pages of the weekly to an even wider range of authors, gave it its trademark left-wing flavour without closing it to other viewpoints. He went out of his way to encourage young scholars, got activists to write academically rigorous(strict,सख्त) articles and got academics to sustain a public-political purpose to their work By the 1970s, EPW became a journal which a large number of people identified with, looked forward to reading each week and hoped to contribute to. Krishna Raj built up a team of EPW staff who worked to produce a veritable book-size publication every week, and of ever widening circles of contributors and subscribers who felt a sense of fraternal bonding with the journal. Together, these circles of committed authors, readers and employees provided the support which sustained the EPW even when conditions were hard.
Perhaps Krishna Raj’s greatest contribution lay in building up and nurturing this world of the EPW where everyone felt ownership of the journal. The legal form in which it has been published may be of a trust but it has really worked like the best of the cooperatives, with everyone a trustee.
What lies ahead?
EPW has never been shy of publishing the new,peculiar( unusual,अजीब) or offbeat argument. And, of course, its defining identity is its independent and critical stance on issues. EPW has always looked for new fields to cover. In the 1980s, EPW added gender to its pages, and later health, education, the environment and much more were included in its portfolio. (Like much of academia, EPW “rediscovered” caste in the 1970s.)
EPW has never been shy of publishing the new,peculiar( unusual,अजीब) or offbeat argument. And, of course, its defining identity is its independent and critical stance on issues. EPW has always looked for new fields to cover. In the 1980s, EPW added gender to its pages, and later health, education, the environment and much more were included in its portfolio. (Like much of academia, EPW “rediscovered” caste in the 1970s.)
Another remarkable feature is that EPW has been produced all these years without any commercial backing, depending entirely on its income from circulation sales and whatever limited advertising comes by. It has as a policy never taken any grants from abroad. At home, other than the occasional donation to its corpus, it has received only three generous one-time grants from institutions/individuals, all in the first decade of the 21st century. Difficult as it has been, this way of functioning has helped EPW maintain its independence.
The world of publishing, the world of academia and the world of public debates have all changed dramatically over the last decade or so. EPW has ridden the waves of these changes and we feel a sense of satisfaction that at our time at the journal we managed to steer its course where today the number of article submissions and the circulation have both doubled over the past dozen years, the finances are better than they ever were in its history even when staff salaries are at their best and EPW is ready to meet the demands of digitisation and growing specialisation.
Yet, success brings forth new challenges.
EPW may be reaching the limits of its ability to cater to the needs and demands of India’s intellectual life. The widening range of commentary and research that EPW receives every week has already been testing the limits of editorial capabilities and the space available for articles. How can the massive numbers of new students, researchers and teachers who have come into the social sciences in India over the past few years be socialised into the old world charms of the EPW? How can the hundreds and thousands of commentators who are turned away from mainstream publications find a place in EPW? Can the digital world provide answers? How will EPW’s financial security be ensured when everything comes for free on the Internet?
Strengthening the EPW community
There are no set answers to these challenges, yet the only way to meet them is to strengthen the community which is the EPW. In these testing times, with the forums for debate under scourge(threat,खतरा) and intellectual activity frowned upon by the ruling elite(specialist,विशिष्ट), EPW is needed more than ever before. Fifty years after EPW started publication, today the country perhaps needs fifty more such journals publishing from all parts of the country, from all viewpoints and in all forms.
There are no set answers to these challenges, yet the only way to meet them is to strengthen the community which is the EPW. In these testing times, with the forums for debate under scourge(threat,खतरा) and intellectual activity frowned upon by the ruling elite(specialist,विशिष्ट), EPW is needed more than ever before. Fifty years after EPW started publication, today the country perhaps needs fifty more such journals publishing from all parts of the country, from all viewpoints and in all forms.
EPW has survived and grown over the last half century on the backs of successive teams of dedicated staff and a close-knit community. Its very success has created conditions where future growth and survival may well depend on the growth and spread of an entire ecosystem of independent publications hosting varied research, debates and readership.
courtesy:the hindu
know your english
How is the word ‘albeit’ pronounced? (J Sunitha, Hyderabad)
The first syllable sounds like the word ‘all’ and the third like the word ‘it’. The ‘be’ in the second is pronounced like the word ‘bee’. The word is pronounced ‘all-BEE-it’ with the stress on the second syllable. This rather formal word has the same meaning as ‘even though’ and ‘although’. In the early twentieth century, experts on usage believed that this old fashioned word would die a natural death, but it continues to be used fairly frequently in writing even today. Albeit, in Robert Burchfield’s opinion, is “one of the persistent archaic sounding words in the language.”
Rahul tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to give up eating sweets.
The teacher paid me a compliment, albeit grudgingly.
The teacher paid me a compliment, albeit grudgingly.
What is the meaning of ‘the devil is in the detail’? (A Myilsami, Coimbatore)
The earlier expression was ‘God is in the detail’. Sometimes, we may fail to perform what appears to be a simple task because we have not paid sufficient attention to the minor details. The expression ‘the devil is in the detail(s)’ is frequently used to sound a note of caution to someone. You are telling or warning the individual that if he chooses to overlook the minor details, his attempt to do something will result in failure. The expression is also used to suggest that something that looks simple may not necessarily be so — the steps required to accomplish the task may be complicated.
Meera thought she could write the instructions in an hour. It took her all day. The devil was in the details.
It’s not as easy as it looks. The devil is in the detail.
It’s not as easy as it looks. The devil is in the detail.
What is the difference between ‘conceited’ and ‘proud’? (R Ganesh, Vellore)
The word ‘conceited’ always has a negative connotation. A conceited person thinks very highly of himself and may refuse to mingle with those around him. When he does talk, it will always be about himself — his achievements, his hobbies, his abilities, etc. He tends to be an ‘I’ specialist! Unlike ‘conceited’, the word ‘proud’ can be used to show both approval and disapproval. It has both a positive and a negative meaning. A person who is pleased with his achievement can say that he is ‘proud’ of it. Unlike an individual who is conceited, a person can be proud of someone else’s achievements as well. ‘Proud’, like ‘conceited’, can also be used to refer to someone who thinks no end of himself. There is, however, a difference in degree. Some dictionaries define conceited as being ‘excessively proud’.
I refuse to team up with that conceited man.
Damini is a proud and arrogant woman.
I’m proud to win this championship for the sixth time.
Damini is a proud and arrogant woman.
I’m proud to win this championship for the sixth time.
What is the meaning of ‘all but’? (Mohit Somani, Bhilwara)
The expression seems to have two different meanings. It can be used to mean ‘almost nearly/completely’ and ‘all except’. Here are a few examples.
He was a star once upon a time. But now, his name is all but forgotten.
We managed to rescue all but one of the miners.
We managed to rescue all but one of the miners.
* * *
Those who like me, raise your hands. Those who don’t, raise your standards. — Unknown
courtesy:the hindu
Friday, August 19, 2016
An experiment with power
On a visit to Manipur, I asked several people which aspect of their lives had changed the most from the perspective of governance and/or delivery of public goods and services. This wasn’t meant to be a systematic sample survey and was more of a dipstick indicator. Manipur has a population of 2.86 million and nearly 30 per cent of it is urban. The people I spoke to were from Imphal, so there is a bit of a bias(unfair,पक्षपात) in the sample. The Imphal agglomeration(mass,ढेर), not just the municipal area, has a population around 5,50,000. This gives you some idea of the possible sample bias.
Electricity distribution found the top mention in the people’s responses. Electricity supply has three aspects: Generation, transmission and distribution. Generation will be a major issue in Manipur, especially in times other than the rainy season. Much of the power will have to come from outside the state — Arunachal Pradesh (Lower Subansiri), Assam (Bongaigaon) and Tripura (Palatana) — even if hydroelectricity generation from the Loktak project increases.
The responses of the people I spoke to had to do with distribution, not generation. They talked of prepaid electricity. Manipur is not the only state to experiment with such an idea. Haryana was the first state to introduce prepaid electricity. Lucknow, in UP, has prepaid electricity vouchers. These vouchers require a prepaid electricity meter, so that consumers can be alerted when a recharge is requisite(necessary,आवश्यक). Such meters make life easier. In addition, the Lucknow electricity supply authority offered a tariff rebate to encourage the switch. Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh has a similar scheme, though there has been resistance in the state with consumers complaining that their monthly bills have increased. Their complaint is understandable. After all, the purpose of prepaid meters and prepaid vouchers isn’t only to make life easier. They also intend to reduce aggregate technical and commercial losses (ATC), a part of which is euphemism for theft.
×
In Manipur, the idea of prepaid electricity was targeted at clandestine(illegal,अवैध) power connections. Seen this way, the resistance to meters in Itanagar does not seem odd. That there were no reports of resistance in Imphal appears bizarre(strange,अजीब).
Some towns and some types of domestic consumers in Madhya Pradesh will also have prepaid connections once the MP Electricity Regulatory Commission approves the scheme. Chandigarh is also slated to have a similar scheme, so are Pune and Mumbai. Telangana plans prepaid meters for government offices.
To get back to Manipur, the Manipur State Power Distribution Company Limited has plans to provide meters to all consumers. People unfamiliar with Manipur may not realise that the state has two distinct geographical regions: The valley— where 60 per cent of the state’s population lives — and the hilly areas. Access to public goods and services is much more arduous(difficult,कठिन) in the hilly regions, terrain being a major constraint. There will be 1,00,000 electronic meters outside the valley, but except for district headquarters and towns in the hills, these will not be be prepaid.
The experiment with prepaid meters has begun in four districts: Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur. The government did not embark(start,प्रवेश) on the project in all the four districts at one go. Prepaid meters were first installed in central parts of Imphal because the government wanted to gauge if the experiment would work.
People have been jailed for stealing electricity and tampering with meters. The power situation has improved. Collections from payments of electricity bills have increased. At the same time, demand for electricity has reduced by 50 per cent and tripping incidents have become rarer. The number of consumers has also gone up. One should reiterate(repeat,दोहरान) that this is an increase in the number of legal consumers. There is better planning — on the supply side — and there is no need for VIP lines (those guaranteed uninterrupted power supply regardless of what was happening in the rest of Manipur).
My respondents — not just people who work for the government — told me all this with a sense of pride. If consumers know exactly how much electricity they are consuming (there are instant alerts) and how much that costs (not quite the same with post-paid bills), they are more judicious in using electricity.
Although the connection is somewhat distant, the prepaid metering experiment reminded me of an anecdote in Prafulla Chandra Ray’s (1861-1944) autobiography — it has not been translated into English. It was published in 1937. Ray studied BSc (physics, chemistry, biology) at Edinburgh University. At that time, Edinburgh University didn’t have a system of tuition fees. If a student liked the lecture, he/she left some money for the lecturer while leaving the lecture hall. I wonder if we will ever have prepaid vouchers for higher education, specific to the lecturer.
courtesy:indian express
know your english
“You were planning to visit your uncle on Sunday, weren’t you? Did you manage to....”
“Yes, I managed to spend about two hours with him. As usual, I spent most of the time listening to his laundry list of complaints.”
“Laundry list of complaints? What does it mean?”
“It means a long list of complaints. The items on the list may or may not be related.”
“So they aren’t really genuine complaints? You’re complaining for the....”
“They may be genuine. You’re not complaining for the sake of complaining. But the problem is, it’s a lengthy list. When I asked Usha how I could help, she gave me a laundry list of things to do.”
“My friend moved into a new apartment a few months ago. Every time I talk to her, she gives me a laundry list of problems.”
“That usually happens when you move into a new place. Tell me, did....”
“Talking about new flats, have you decided whether you’re buying a new one? Has...”
“It’s up in the air. I was planning to...”
“Up in the air? Does it mean that you haven’t made up your mind?”
“Very good! When you say that something is up in the air, it suggests uncertainty. You haven’t really decided what to do regarding someone or something. The company’s plan to hire more people is still up in the air.”
“No decision has been taken. Our trip to Shimla in December is still up in the air.”
“Sounds good. The proposal to build a new airport on the outskirts of the city is still up in the air.”
“I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Five years from now, the government will give a laundry list of excuses why they couldn’t build the airport.”
“Just like you! I’m sure you and your classmates had some lame excuse for not submitting your project today.”
“Most of my friends managed to submit their project, but a few of us have managed to get some extra time to hand it in.”
“Why are you making such heavy weather of a minor project?”
“I’ve heard of hot and cold weather. But heavy weather? What are you....”
“When you say that someone is making heavy weather of something, it means that the person is taking too much time to do something that is fairly simple.”
“I see. So, you’re saying that I’m making the project seem much more difficult than it really is!”
“That’s right! Just like the Indian batsmen. The bowling was mediocre, but our batsmen made heavy weather of it.”
“This is a simple recipe. You should be able to make the dish in twenty minutes. Don’t make heavy weather of it.”
“That's a good example. Now, you’d better go home and work on your project.”
“You’re right. If I don’t do a good job, they’ll make me to do it again.”
“They’ll make you do it again. Not make you to do it again.”
“If I don’t do a good job, they’ll make me do another project.”
“That’s what you get for being lazy.”
* * *
An income tax form is like a laundry list — either way you lose your shirt. — Fred Allen
courtesy:the hindu
Irom Sharmila is the doer who breaks a grand vow to protect the greater common good
Once during their regular evening walk in the grounds of Kala Bhavan, Tagore posed a question to his friend and colleague, the Hindi scholar Hazari Prasad Dwivedi. Why, asked the poet, is Bhishma Pitamah, the grand patriarch of the royal Bharata clan, in the Mahabharata, not considered an avatara, while two other Yadava heroes with no known royal lineage — Krishna, the bender of many rules and his peacenik farmer brother Balarama — are still revered as divine?
Hazari Prasad answered that the difference between Bhishma Pitamah and the Yadava brothers lay in their leadership style. Faced with a moral dilemma(doubt,दुविधा), Krishna and Balarama both decided to depart from rules and break a personal vow to protect the greater public good. But whenever he faced moral challenges, Bhishma, aka Devdutt, chose to uphold his own vow rather than natural justice. Nothing could make Devdutt break his terrible (bhishan) vow of celibacy(unmarried status,ब्रह्मचार्य) (hence the name Bhishma). Not even after his brother’s demise the empty throne needed an heir, or to assert his authority when sons of his physically handicapped nephews — Pandu and Dhritarashtra — were heading for a fratricidal(sibling murder,भ्रात्रवध)war. He also disregarded Draupadi’s plea to intervene and save her honour even as she was being dragged by her hair by her husbands’ clansmen. All through the epic Bhishma is content to quote platitudes(cheap remark,तुच्छता) from scriptures and history that justify his inaction. How can he be awarded an avatarhood after such chicanery(cheating,छल), asks Hazari Prasad?
It is not hard to understand which kind of martyr creates a revered figure for posterity(generation,पीढ़ी) in India. People prefer a doer(Performer,कर्ता) who can willfully break a vow and change the course of wars and battles aiming only to protect the greater common good and restore sanity. Never mind if that means losing face and breaking a grand vow that has created a divine aura around him or her. Take Gandhi after Chauri Chaura, doing a 180-degree turn, when he saw the peaceful movement degenerating into violence. No matter how brave or morally upright someone may appear in the context of history and scriptural rules, if he or she puts saving a personal image over saving humanity, posterity will remember him at best as an awesome but essentially tragic and terrible figure: A Bhishma Pitamah (literally Terrible Grandfather).
×
It is not hard to make out what kind of martyr Irom Sharmila is closer to being. The problem is that as the stock of universally accepted ideas has diminished(reduced,कम) in politics the responsibility of someone seen publicly as an ideal activist has increased. People will turn again and again to him or her for answers to questions which, in former generations, would have been beyond the scope of an activist. But if the activist were to recognise the divisions in his or her own psyche, accept the state of doubt and anxiety and change strategy, his or her claim to authority is suddenly seen to have shrunk.
Yes, Sharmila’s decision to break her vow and reclaim her personal space and contest elections may seem whimsical(fanciful,सनकी) to many, but it is not cowardice. Most of the people who have turned away from her have watched contentedly from the sidelines for 16 years as this lone crusader was moved from jail to hospital bed to isolation and back to the hospital. Those who shouted “Sharmila tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain” cannot accept that Sharmila has realised that her fasting will not lead to much. Other paths need to be chosen to share one’s message. In our times, only a direct participation in the political process may give someone like her the authority to have the dreadful(fearful,खतरनाक) AFSPA removed from her state.
Heckling Sharmila for saying that she thinks there is not much use in continuing her fast since it has not changed the ground reality in all these years makes no sense. This is a fact most are trying hard to ignore. Her desire to get married to a non-Manipuri man has drawn hostile(unfriendly,विरोधी) reactions in her community. Such hostility has racist undertones and also asserts the definition of female as either a celibate devi or a perennial(everlasting,चिरस्थायी) subordinate to gender (read mostly male) taboos.
courtesy:indian express
Thursday, August 18, 2016
The Beijing balancing act
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s August 11-13 visit to India was closely watched for clues on the current state of India-China relations and the outlook going forward. There are two forthcoming multilateral summits, the G-20 summit hosted by China in September and the BRICS summit hosted by India in November. Neither country would like the summit it is hosting to be overshadowed by bilateral differences. Therefore, at the very least, both need to downplay their differences and seek to create a positive ambience for the forthcoming summits in whose success each has a stake as host country. Mr. Wang’s visit does appear to have achieved that.
Putting mechanisms in place
On the vexed(disputed,विवादास्पद) issue of China’s opposition to India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), it was agreed that a focussed dialogue take place between the Indian Joint Secretary dealing with disarmament and international security and China’s Director-General of Arms Control and Disarmament. On other issues having a bearing on bilateral relations, another mechanism has been established between the Indian Foreign Secretary and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui. This appears to be in addition to the existing annual Strategic Dialogue at the Foreign Secretary level and the regular Special Representatives dialogue which, in the past, has gone beyond the mandate of border negotiations. One presumes that the issue of China’s “technical hold” on the listing of Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad leader, as a terrorist at the United Nations, and Chinese activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative will be on its agenda.
On the vexed(disputed,विवादास्पद) issue of China’s opposition to India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), it was agreed that a focussed dialogue take place between the Indian Joint Secretary dealing with disarmament and international security and China’s Director-General of Arms Control and Disarmament. On other issues having a bearing on bilateral relations, another mechanism has been established between the Indian Foreign Secretary and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui. This appears to be in addition to the existing annual Strategic Dialogue at the Foreign Secretary level and the regular Special Representatives dialogue which, in the past, has gone beyond the mandate of border negotiations. One presumes that the issue of China’s “technical hold” on the listing of Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad leader, as a terrorist at the United Nations, and Chinese activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative will be on its agenda.
It is unlikely that China will materially change its stand on these outstanding issues but the proposed dialogue creates a more propitious(favourable,अनुकूल) ambience for the forthcoming summits. Since these dialogue mechanisms are engaged with these contentious(controversial,विवादास्पद) issues, the leaders themselves need not have to deal with them beyond generalities. At least that would be the Chinese expectation. For the Chinese, summit meetings are expected to be orchestrated(organised,आयोजित)encounters where leaders avoid unpleasant exchanges and project all that is positive in the relationship. One has learnt from Chinese friends that both at Ufa last year and Tashkent this June, Chinese President Xi Jinping was unprepared for the blunt talking and persistent(firm,दृढ) airing of differences by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Wang would have wanted to ensure that forthcoming leadership meetings do not cause discomfort to his boss.
China is faced with a complex and deteriorating(worsed,बिगडती) political and security situation in its Asia-Pacific periphery. The categorical and entirely negative arbitration award against China over its claim to the South China Sea — handed in July by a tribunal constituted under the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) — is a major setback for Beijing. Its relations with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are now under unprecedented(new,अभूतपूर्व) strain. To add to its woes, the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile defence system by the U.S. in South Korea has led to a worsening of relations with a neighbour with which China has, over the years, assiduously(laboriously,परिश्रम से) nurtured close political, economic, commercial and even cultural relations. (Korean pop music is extremely popular in China.)
These are new and adverse developments even while the U.S. and Japan continue to be perceived as major security threats to China in the region. Against this background, China would want to keep its western periphery with India relatively stable and benign(kind,सौम्य). It is for this reason that Chinese official media has persisted with the message that there is no fundamental clash of interests between the two countries and that their convergences outnumber their differences.
There is anxiety that India may move closer to the U.S. and participate in security arrangements more directly challenging China in the South China Sea. Beijing has cautioned that India should avoid getting “entangled” in the South China Sea issue, but there is also an expectation that it will continue to adhere(follow,पालन) to its stated policy of strategic autonomy. In fact, India’s reaction to the tribunal award has been measured, calling for utmost respect for the UNCLOS but also stressing the need for resolving differences through peaceful dialogue. It is reported that Mr. Wang did not raise the South China Sea issue in Delhi. This appears to confirm the view that China’s current preoccupation is to prevent India from escalating its stand on this issue. China expects that at the forthcoming G-20 summit at Hangzhou, the U.S. and its western allies and Japan may raise the South China Sea issue and embarrass the host country. India’s role could prove to be significant in this regard. That gives India a tactical advantage and this may well have been the reason for Mr. Wang to appear forthcoming on issues India is concerned about. I doubt whether China will change its substantive stance on these issues any time soon.
New Delhi’s reality check
In dealing with China, India has to be conscious of the fact that in terms of both economic and military capabilities, the asymmetry(imbalance,विषमता) between the two countries continues to expand. China’s economy is five times as large as India’s and even with slower rates of growth China will be adding more muscle from a larger base while India will have to grow much faster over a longer period of time to begin to narrow the gap. There are only two ways to deal with this power asymmetry; one is to acquire and deploy capabilities which will make any aggressive military move by China a risky proposition. The other is to enmesh(entangle,फ़साना) oneself more tightly in the U.S.-led countervailing coalition targeting China. The latter does run counter to India’s view of itself as an independent power but there is a steady creep in that direction.
In dealing with China, India has to be conscious of the fact that in terms of both economic and military capabilities, the asymmetry(imbalance,विषमता) between the two countries continues to expand. China’s economy is five times as large as India’s and even with slower rates of growth China will be adding more muscle from a larger base while India will have to grow much faster over a longer period of time to begin to narrow the gap. There are only two ways to deal with this power asymmetry; one is to acquire and deploy capabilities which will make any aggressive military move by China a risky proposition. The other is to enmesh(entangle,फ़साना) oneself more tightly in the U.S.-led countervailing coalition targeting China. The latter does run counter to India’s view of itself as an independent power but there is a steady creep in that direction.
In terms of developing asymmetrical capabilities, my sense is that we are not quite there and remain vulnerable(weak,कमज़ोर). This vulnerability increases if there is a coordinated move by China and Pakistan. In previous India-Pakistan wars, post-1962, China supported Pakistan politically and with supplies but refrained from attacking India across the border. This reassuring pattern of behaviour needs to be under our constant review and assessment. China’s willingness to stand alone in blocking India’s membership of the NSG on behalf of Pakistan, and in shielding it from international pressures consequent upon its use of cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy against India, point to an enhanced strategic role for Pakistan in Chinese regional and global calculations. Pakistan has so far been important to China as a low-cost and effective proxy against India. It is now becoming important for China’s ambitious OBOR project, which is long term in nature. It is also assuming importance in China’s Central Asian strategy. No surprise therefore that China is reported to be encouraging the Pakistan Army to take charge of implementing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) since the civilian government of Nawaz Sharif is said to be too slow on delivery.
With Mr. Modi now explicitly(clearly,स्पस्ट रूपसे) committed to the return of PoK including Gilgit and Baltistan to India, how would the Chinese react? Without Pakistani control over this disputed territory there would be no CPEC. If India additionally encourages anti-Pakistan militants in Balochistan, this would adversely affect the utility of Gwadar port, another key link in the OBOR. China would at least be under pressure to assuage heightened anxieties in Islamabad, and this may have a negative fallout on India-China relations.
The setting for managing India-China relations has become more complex and risky. Over the past several years, leaders of both countries have seen it in their mutual interest to keep relations on an even keel despite their essentially adversarial nature. A careful balance has been maintained between the competitive and cooperative components of the relationship. This has just got much harder to deliver.
source:the hindu
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