Another hogwash!

The US does not intend Iraq to unite as nation again
Bush is losing Iraq & that too in a rather ungracious manner. The desperation of the American administration over Iraq is clearly visible nowadays. The US is haplessly trying to appease the same Bathist elements in Iraq, who they had earlier condemned as destroyers of Iraq. Recently, the United States gave a tacit approval for a new policy in Iraq and that will allow low-level Baath Party officials in Iraq to serve in the government. The agreement signed by some of the top Shiite, Sunni & Kurdish leaders endorses an upcoming draft bill that, if passed, will help relax rules preventing most of the members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party from holding government posts. According to American officials, the law is aimed at encouraging disenchanted Sunni Arabs to support what is being called the “Shiite-led government.” Easing the ban on Baath members is among the benchmarks the US has demanded as a condition for continued support to the Iraqi government.

The deal also talks about holding regular provincial elections, an important clause pushed by United States - and help security forces in stopping the bloodshed. Reforming the law has long been considered a top priority of the Iraqi government, but the political parties have disagreed on the best course of action. Many Shiites & Kurds have objected to allowing Sunni ex-Baathists into jobs related to national security and are nervous that they could regain dominance in the government. Earlier, in April 2003 the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) headed by US Army top-brasses had de-bathised the Iraqi establishment. CPA Order 1 held that: “Full members of the Baath Party and its subsidiary wings are hereby removed from their positions and banned from future employment in the public sector. These Senior Party Members shall be evaluated for criminal conduct or threat to the security of the Coalition.

Individuals holding positions in the top three layers of management in every national government ministry, affiliated corporations and other government institutions shall be interviewed for possible affiliation with the Baath Party and subject to investigation for criminal conduct and risk to security.” Talking to B&E, noted conflict resolution expert at Centre for American Progress, Brian Katulis said, “The move by the Bush administration to lift the ban on the former Baath party members is an act of desperation aimed at achieving even a small appearance of progress in advance of a major White House report to Congress on Iraq.

In 2003, the Bush administration committed a major mistake by dismissing the Iraqi army and telling even the lowest level members of the Baath party not to come back to their jobs, and now more than four years later, they are trying to correct this mistake.” Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Baath Party, Abu Muhib al-Baghdadi, dismissed the draft legislation, saying his group would not deal with the Iraqi leadership until all US & foreign forces leave the country. He termed the resolution as a “trap” laid down to make Sunni resistance dysfunctional. In the end, all these manipulative gestures from the Bush administration are guided by the domestic political considerations and are hardly aimed at improving the ground situation in Iraq. Perhaps the Democrats could provide a more viable solution to the country.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

COMMUNALISM

There is a growing clamour in India to punish those guilty of the 1992-93 riots that victimised the Muslim community. But unlike those accused of the bomb blasts, will the guilty here be brought to book? Was the Mumbai police polarised, pressurised or simply patronised by the political class to carry out their sinister strategies? Why have the policemen, who behaved in a partisan manner during the 1992-1993 riots not been punished till date? Leave alone punishing the guilty, what has the Mumbai police done towards de-communalising the force & introducing professionalism?

In an atmosphere of communal polarisation, what does one expect from the police? The guardians of ‘public good’ are expected to be non-partisan; diligently douse the fires of bigotry & display compassion for the victims. And what happens when the police fails to meet these constitutional & of course, the moral obligations? In short-term, such a behaviour flares up the passions, leading to gruesome atrocities against the community failing to find favours with the protectors. In the long-run, the social fabric of the nation suffers an irreparable dent. This heinous crime was committed by the Mumbai police during the 1992-93 Mumbai riots, where the Muslim community was systematically allowed to be butchered at the behest of saffron-clad politicians. Recollecting the police apathy & insensitivity during the riots, Prabhat Sharan, Senior Editor, The Free Press Journal told B&E, “I & a colleague of mine was sitting with a high ranking police offi - cer & we heard police personnel on the wireless jocularly stating, Mandir Wahin Baneyenge and Udhar Landiya (a derogatory term for Muslim) ko marne ki report hai, zara dekh lo. The police officer did not know what to say he just sheepishly grinned.” The evidence of this, rather obnoxious behaviour of the Mumbai police is adequately documented in the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission report on Mumbai riots of 1992-93. These facts have recently been corroborated by a leading television news channel in India, which has released the wireless messages of the policemen, exposing them as accomplices in the brutalization during that period. Explaining the police behaviour Prabhat Sharan added “We cannot say the entire police force is communalised but then a section of it does carry the germ of hatred towards Muslims in their bosoms.” Now, if a section of the police force only carries the germ, it leads us infer that Mumbai police has been deeply infiltrated by communal elements belonging to the majority community & it is this section of the Mumbai police, which acted at the behest of their political masters instead of following the lawful command of their senior officers. And if this is true, then what happened in 1992-93, surely constitutesa mutiny in the police force.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

While the mayhem continues!

India breaks into top three in terror casualty chart
The serial blasts in Hyderabad are a reminiscent of the fact that terrorism is here to stay and that no one is safe from being at the receiving end of terror. While Special Task Force of Andhra Pradesh Police is out on major manhunt, this incident has once again shown sheer incompetence of the state police in fighting an invisible enemy, remote-controlled mostly from across the border. And while a spineless government is expressing its helplessness to both remove or reduce terror as well as give shape to strong anti terror laws, it is the common man who keeps paying the price. Terrorism in India has already claimed more than 47,371, since January 1994, which is just second to the war-torn country - Iraq.

India is the worst hit country on the terror chart experiencing more than 3,000 terrorism incidents and 2,070 hostage cases. As per Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS), India ranks second in terms of incidence of terror related casualties, third for hostages (next to Iraq & Nepal). Absence of a professionally managed pan -India anti-terror federal agency severely inhibits the ability of the country to confront unforeseen contingencies and save precious lives, through prevention of terror act. From India’s financial hub Mumbai to Ayodhya, to Delhi, to Malegaon to prestigious Indian Parliament and now to cyber capital Hyderabad, all these cities have confronted terrorist activities. In last three years alone, over 8,430 people were severely injured in terror acts. Terrorism has its impact on the economy too. Projects worth Rs.11,000 crores in Kashmir valley and projects worth Rs.3,800 crores in Assam were abandoned due to severe threats from the militias which additionally is a reason for internal instability. If India has to survive and flourish, it acts has to be effective and fast. Or else....

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Billions spent on million light years...

The Nasa has been a big hole in the pockets of the American tax payers...!
What the world opines about NASA has changed dramatically lately. An organization infamous for its widespread depletion of resources – that was the association of NASA. But the success of NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis seems to have made all the difference. But does that necessarily mean that recent success off - set the blunders that NASA did in the past? NASA has spent a staggering $450 billion since the Apollo 11 Project of 1969, of which most has been sheer wastage. If one was to believe Wernher von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration during his times, then by the year 2000 there should have undoubtedly been a sizable operation on Moon, manned Mars landing and men in the outer planets. Even the common people looked up to NASA and that was evidently clear from the popular movie: A Space Odyssey. That was the kind of expectation which NASA had to meet. But the end result by 2000 was rather disappointing, to say the least. To begin with the Constellation Programme, was a failure by itself.


The programme launch vehicles Ares & Orion, were derived on a premise which was proved to be incorrect by engineering analysis as a consequence to which NASA beleaguered a lot of unanticipated expenses. Another instance for that matter would be the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The scientists working on this project were well aware beforehand that the project was unsystematically conceived and would soon follow the list of other futile projects. However, a lot of resources, both intellectual and monetary, were invested in the OSP project, the end result of which was nothing but the foregone conclusion – isolation of the project. The project Cassini & the JPL mission called CRAF (Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby) are also classic examples of NASA’s spendthrift nature. These missions were spent an exorbitant amount on and were then eventually sold to the Congress. The only use of these profligate projects was their capability of beautifying an exhibition, to sound the least scornful.


The Hubble Robot Repair Mission is also no exception to the extravagant projects by NASA. This project as claimed by NASA is the most imperative in deciding whether to continue with the observatory’s servicing by robotic means and is worked upon to repair the depreciating condition of the Hubble Space Telescope. This project started of with a budget of $600 million and has currently rocketed to $2,200 million. That’s the kind of hole that NASA makes in the pocket of the American tax payer. However, whether the Government agrees to tamper with so much of the American citizens’ money, is all a part of the bigger political game plan. The bottom line is just that if NASA succeeds (which obviously is not a regular issue), then it reflects well upon the contemporary Government. The real question out here is whether so many failed projects can be compensated with a single successful project, that too after a period of over 35 years? For those who participated in jubilation of NASA’s much awaited success – it is not yet the time because furrowed eyebrows of tax paying Americans will only relax after a series of such success...perhaps! Till then, be at receiving end of their failures.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative