MEA recommends PM attend CHOGM
Within Core Group, Antony and Chidambaram express reservations; BJP has no objection to anyone attending meet
As pressure mounted from within the Union Council of Ministers seeking that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo later this month, the External Affairs Ministry recommended that he should go.
In view of India’s “paramount security and strategic interests” in and around Sri Lanka, a senior MEA official told The Hindu , India’s national interests dictate that the Prime Minister should represent the country at CHOGM, a view that seconds the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Prime Minister is understood to have dwelt on the issue during his inaugural address to the country’s top diplomats at the Heads of Mission (HoM) conference here on Monday. “The MEA recommendation is there. It was made at the ministerial level and now it is up to the powers-that-be to take a decision,” confirmed another MEA official.
For the government, the issue has become tricky with MoS in the PMO V. Narayanasamy and MoS (with independent charge) for Environment Jayanthi Natarajan joining Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan, who had already made known his opposition to the Prime Minister travelling to Colombo. Interestingly, the Congress Core Group — the party’s highest, if informal, decision-making body — is also divided on the issue.
However, the Prime Minister can draw solace from the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted a positive line on his travelling to Colombo even though, given the political sensitivities of its potential political allies in Tamil Nadu, the party remained shy of articulating its position in public at this juncture. “We have no issue with anyone, including the Prime Minister, representing India at the highest level,” a senior BJP leader told The Hindu , adding, “Our concern is solely about justice and equal political rights for Tamils.”
He added that there was no case for India to either boycott the meeting or let the delegation not to be represented at the highest level, especially after the Tamils in the North-East province exercised their franchise recently and elected a Tamil Chief Minister.
“We understand the sentiments of the people in Tamil Nadu, but … Indian foreign policy has to be guided by larger interests of the country and our geo-political interests,” the leader said, stressing that it wasn’t in India’s interest to antagonise a neighbouring country — its objectives are better served by a policy of engagement and dialogue.”
Meanwhile, within the Congress Core Group, two Ministers have also expressed their reservations about the Prime Minister making the trip. They are Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Defence Minister A.K. Antony, party sources say. Mr. Antony, it is understood, has said that even if a small section of Tamils is opposing the visit, it could create a security problem. He has also made the point that the delegation need not be headed by the Prime Minister. The last meeting of the Group on October 30 was attended by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon; Mr. Khurshid made a presentation on the issue at the meeting, favouring the PM’s participation.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Narayanasamy told reporters, “I have conveyed my opinion to the Prime Minister that he should not visit Sri Lanka. Some [other] Ministers have [also] met the Prime Minister, insisting he should not attend the meeting… the majority opinion is he should not visit Sri Lanka.” Echoing the same sentiments, Ms. Natarajan said in Chennai that she would write a letter to the Prime Minister urging him not to attend CHOGM, keeping in mind the atrocities perpetrated against Tamils in Sri Lanka as well as the sentiments of people in Tamil Nadu. “I hope the Prime Minister,” she said, “will take a good decision.”
However, even within the Congress’ Tamil Nadu unit, there are differences; Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B.S. Gnanadesikan and MoS for Commerce E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan are backing the visit, with the latter saying India should be there at CHOGM to highlight the grievances of Tamils in Sri Lanka and to ensure their welfare. Mr. Gnanadesikan, for his part, pointed out that if the communication link between India and Sri Lanka was cut off, it might adversely affect the interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka and Indian fishermen. There was an elected government in Colombo, he added, saying, “If we don’t talk to the government in Sri Lanka, then with whom should we speak?”
For the Congress, another point of concern is the opposition of the DMK, as it is still looking for allies in Tamil Nadu ahead of next year’s general elections. DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu toldThe Hindu that India’s participation in the Colombo meeting would be “nothing but adding insult to injury.”
Jayanthi Natarajan and Narayanasamy too against participation
EC order on NOTA depiction
The Election Commission has said that the “None of the Above” (NOTA) option to be included in the EVMs/ballot papers (in some cases) for the electors to reject the candidates, if they wish, would be printed in pink for the Assembly poll and in white for the Parliamentary election.
In a circular sent to all the Chief Electoral Officers of the States/Union Territories, the Commissions said the depiction – NOTA – would be printed in the last panel after the words; “None of the Above”.
The Supreme Court, in its verdict on September 27, had asked the EC to provide a NOTA option on the EVM and ballot papers so that the electors who did not want to vote for any of the candidates could exercise their option in secrecy. The Court had held that the provisions of Rule 49-O, under which an elector not wishing to vote for any candidate had to inform the Presiding Officer about his decision, are ultra vires of Article 19 of the Constitution and Section 128 of the RP Act.
Confident of containing CAD below $60 bn: Chidambaram
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday exuded confidence that India’s current account deficit (CAD) will be contained below $60 billion this financial year as against an earlier estimate of $70 billion.
“I am confident that we can do even slightly better than $60 billion,” he told CNBC Awaaz.
The CAD, the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, had touched an all-time high of $88.2 billion, or 4.8 per cent of GDP, in the last fiscal.
The deficit for April-June was at $21.8 billion or 4.9 per cent of GDP.
High gold imports was one of the main reasons that pushed CAD to a record high in the previous financial year.
However, various curbs put in by both RBI and the Centre had helped in containing gold imports this fiscal.
On impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s gradual stimulus withdrawal, Mr Chidambaram said the tapering will happen, but both the markets as well as the government are prepared to deal with it.
“We now know it (tapering) will happen...it will happen perhaps in January or February, today they say it will happen in March...Market and government are now prepared for this, in the sense we know it will happen...
“Therefore, we need to strengthen the fundamentals of the economy, what the (RBI) Governor said bullet proof balance sheet, which means we will contain CAD, we will contain fiscal deficit, improve the revenues, contain expenditure, take steps to prevent excessive speculations on the currency...,” he said.
The Finance Minister further said number of measures are being taken so that when tapering happens, “markets won’t be taken by surprise, we won’t be taken by surprise and whatever impact it will be a minimal impact”.
India-origin scientist explains how life began on earth
Palaeontologist Sankar Chatterjee claims he has found the answer to how life began on earth
An Indian-origin scientist claims to have solved the mystery of how life on earth exactly began about 4 billion years ago after studying three sites containing the world’s oldest fossils.
According to Sankar Chatterjee, a Texas Tech University palaeontologist, meteorite bombardment left large craters on earth that contained water and chemical building blocks for life, which ultimately led to the first organisms.
How life began on earth has baffled humans for millennia.
Dr. Chatterjee, who was born in Kolkata, believes he has found the answer by connecting theories on chemical evolution with evidence related to our planet’s early geology. “This is bigger than finding any dinosaur. This is what we have all searched for — the Holy Grail of science,” he said.
Thanks to regular and heavy comet and meteorite bombardment of earth’s surface during its formative years 4 billion years ago, the large craters left behind not only contained water and the basic chemical building blocks for life, but also became the perfect crucible to concentrate and cook these chemicals to create the first simple organisms. Dr. Chatterjee’s research suggests meteorites can be givers of life as well as takers. He said it was likely that meteor and comet strikes brought the ingredients and created the right conditions for life on our planet.
By studying three sites containing the world’s oldest fossils, he believes he knows how the first single-celled organisms formed in hydrothermal crater basins. “When the earth formed some 4.5 billion years ago, it was a sterile planet inhospitable to living organisms,” Dr. Chatterjee said, going on to add: “It was a seething cauldron of erupting volcanoes, raining meteors and hot, noxious gasses. One billion years later, it was a placid, watery planet teeming with microbial life — the ancestors to all living things.”
Dr. Chatterjee presented his findings at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver.
Farming goes hi-tech in Kerala
Assistance t be provided to selected villages to set up rooftop solar panels, rainwater harvesting structures and waste management units
Farmers in 14 villages across the State will soon be equipped with hi- tech and precision farming methods to boost the production of banana and vegetables.
The government has accorded administrative sanction for a flagship project mooted by the Agriculture department to establish poly houses and popularise precision farming techniques.
The model Hi-tech Green Village project will also promote renewable energy and eco-friendly options for environment conservation. All the households in the selected villages will be provided with assistance to set up rooftop solar panels, rainwater harvesting structures and waste management units.
Apart from the Departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Dairy Development and Soil Conservation and Soil Survey, the Rs.42 crore project also involves the Kerala Agricultural University, Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam, Horticorp, Agency for Non conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT), Suchitwa Mission, Jalanidhi and local bodies.
Director of Agriculture R. Ajithkumar told The Hindu that the project was aimed at popularising hi- tech methods of farming while ensuring the integrated development of villages.
“It is the largest multi-institutional project taken up by the department. Each of the participating agencies has been chosen to implement a component in its area of specialisation”. He said the project would be extended to more villages in due course.
Inauguration of mini Vidhana Soudha in Mysore
After the inordinate delay in completing the structure and related projects and the confusion over its opening date, all is ready for the inauguration of the mini Vidhana Soudha here by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on November 6, who, incidentally, was also present when the foundation stone for the building was laid (during his tenure as Deputy Chief Minister).
The mini Vidhana Soudha will accommodate various government departments under one roof. The opening is expected to provide a big relief to government office-goers, who had to run from pillar to post to reach offices scattered across the city. For instance, the four offices of the sub-registrars were located in different parts of the city, inconveniencing employees and citizens alike.
Boost to hi-tech farming in 14 villages
Farmers in 14 villages across the State will soon be equipped with hi- tech and precision farming methods to boost the production of banana and vegetables.
The government has accorded administrative sanction for a flagship project mooted by the Agriculture department to establish poly houses and popularise precision farming techniques. The model Hi-tech Green Village project will also promote renewable energy and eco-friendly options for environment conservation. All the households in the selected villages will be provided with assistance to set up rooftop solar panels, rainwater harvesting structures and waste management units.The Rs.42 crore project also involves the Kerala Agricultural University, Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam, Horticorp, Agency for Non conventional Energy and Rural Technology, Suchitwa Mission, Jalanidhi and local bodies.
(THE HINDU OP- EDITORIAL)
The EU flexes its muscles on caste
The practices concerned are most widespread in South Asia and in South Asian diasporas. The European Parliament’s recent resolution circumvents India’s contention that caste oppression does not constitute racial discrimination.
On October 10, the 766 members of the European Parliament, who represent just over half-a-billion people in 28-member-states, passed a historic resolution recognising caste-based discrimination and discrimination based on work and descent as a violation of human rights and an obstacle to development. The resolution, which was approved by an overwhelming majority, condemns all such forms of discrimination, and notes that they affect over 260 million people in several countries. Although many countries — those affected include Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Somalia, Japan, Yemen and the United Kingdom — have ruled such discrimination illegal and even unconstitutional, the relevant practices are deeply entrenched. Among diaspora communities they often take new forms, such as restricted access to political participation and “serious discrimination” in the labour market. The latter is prohibited by several instruments in international human rights law.
In Asia
The practices concerned are most widespread in South Asia and in South Asian diasporas; the EU resolution also notes that the “overwhelming majority” of bonded labourers in South Asia are from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It states, further, that those most affected by caste discrimination are victims of multiple forms of discrimination in employment, in access to education and health care, to land, and to protection by the police and the judicial system. Nevertheless, the term preferred by the United Nations, namely discrimination based on work and descent, is wider than that of caste, which specifically relies on ideas of purity and pollution as well as a graded hierarchy with procedures for exclusion and untouchability.
By what may amount to a cruel irony, the European Parliament passed the resolution the day after the High Court in Patna acquitted all 26 convicted defendants in the case of the Laxmanpur-Bathe atrocity, in which 58 Dalits had been murdered by a 100-strong mob in 1997, in what seemed to be revenge for seeking an increase in the amount of grain they were paid monthly as wages in kind.
The case tragically exemplifies the problems. The victims knew their attackers and the survivors named them, but the police did not record the names, and then took three days to deliver the first information reports to the Chief Judicial Magistrate concerned. The investigating officer, despite substantial evidence of blood at the scene and on a boat on the Sone river, as well as 100-150 sets of footprints along the river bank, did not cross the Sone to investigate further. It took 11 years for the trial even to start, but the sessions court sentenced 16 of the accused to death and 10 to life imprisonment, only for the High Court to issue a blanket acquittal — in 2013.
Pat for Indian public sector
In the light of such episodes, the European Parliament calls on the European Commission, the administrative arm of the EU (which also drafts EU secondary legislation), to recognise caste as a distinct form of discrimination which is “rooted in the social and/or religious context” and needs to be tackled together with other forms of discrimination. The Parliament also calls on EU bodies to monitor the effect of EU programmes on victims of caste discrimination, to assess the impact of trade and investment agreements on the groups concerned, and to address those matters with the public and private sector as well as civil society bodies in the relevant countries. The resolution notes that the Indian public sector, for example, has made more headway — with its mandatory affirmative action procedures — than the private sector has done. The lack of such measures in the private sector worsens existing inequalities, but the European Parliament calls for EU bodies to include a clause on caste discrimination in all trade and association agreements, and to promote affirmative action for Dalits and others similarly affected in the labour market and the private sector. Forced and bonded labour are practices particularly prevalent in agriculture, mining and garment manufacture; the garment industry supplies to many multinational and EU-based companies. The EU is the world’s largest trading bloc.
The European Parliament resolution is, however, less interventionist than it might seem to be, and is remarkably constructive. By recognising the salience of caste in multiple forms of discrimination, it circumvents the Indian government’s contention that caste is not an element of race and therefore must be excluded from laws against racial discrimination, be they domestic laws like those of the U.K. or international agreements like the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. One implication is certainly that if countries which are caste-affected in the wider U.N. sense of the term do not address caste discrimination seriously, the EU will require them to do so in all their dealings with them — but if caste-affected countries themselves take a lead on the issue, they can be certain that the EU will aid and assist them in trying to eliminate the practice.
Tackling new maritime challenges
The international maritime order will continue to gradually but fundamentally change as new powers acquire greater economic and naval heft
Maritime challenges are being fundamentally transformed by new technological and geopolitical realities, shifting trade and energy patterns, and the rise of unconventional threats. The fact that about 50 per cent of the maritime boundaries in the world are still not demarcated, accentuates the challenges.
Water covers more than seven-tenths of the planet’s surface, and almost half the global population lives within 200 km of a coastline. It may thus surprise few that 90 per cent of the world’s trade uses maritime routes. With countless freighters, fishing boats, passenger ferries, leisure yachts, and cruise ships plying the waters, a pressing concern is maritime security — a mission tasked to national navies, coast guards, and harbour police forces.
Altering equations
The maritime order has entered a phase of evolutionary change in response to global power shifts. Maritime power equations are beginning to alter. The shifts actually symbolise the birth-pangs of a new world order. Emerging changes in trade and energy patterns promise to further alter maritime power equations. For example, energy-related equations are being transformed by a new development: the centre of gravity in the hydrocarbon world is beginning to quietly shift from the Persian Gulf to the Americas, thanks to the shale boom, hydrocarbon extraction in the South Atlantic and Canada’s Alberta Province, and other developments.
The United States, for the foreseeable future, will remain the dominant sea power, while Europe will stay a significant maritime player. Yet, the international maritime order will continue to gradually but fundamentally change as new powers acquire greater economic and naval heft.
According to a projection by the recently released Global Marine Trends 2030 report, as the global GDP doubles over the next 17 years China will come to own a quarter of the world’s merchant fleet. Several other maritime states in the Asia-Pacific, including Japan, South Korea, India, and Vietnam, are also set to significantly enlarge their maritime footprints.
Admittedly, there are real threats to maritime peace and security from the changing maritime power equations and the sharpening competition over resources and geopolitical influence. The Asia-Pacific region — with its crowded and, in some cases, contested sea lanes — is becoming the centre of global maritime competition. Maritime tensions remain high in this region due to rival sovereignty claims, resource-related competition, naval build-ups, and rising nationalism.
A lot of attention has focussed on the maritime implications of China’s rise. President Xi Jinping has championed efforts to build China into a global maritime power, saying his government will do everything possible to safeguard China’s “maritime rights and interests” and warning that “in no way will the country abandon its legitimate rights and interests.” China’s increasing emphasis on the oceans was also evident from the November 2012 report to the 18th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party that outlined the country’s maritime power strategy. It called for safeguarding China’s maritime rights and interests, including building improved capacity for exploiting marine resources, and for asserting the country’s larger rights.
The risks of maritime conflict arising from mistake or miscalculation are higher between China and its neighbours than between China and the U.S. There has been a course correction in the Obama administration’s “pivot” toward Asia, lest it puts it on the path of taking on Beijing. Washington has bent over backward to tamp down the military aspects of that policy. Even the term “pivot” has been abandoned in favour of the softer new phrase of “rebalancing.”
The U.S., moreover, has pointedly refused to take sides in sovereignty disputes between China and its neighbours. It has sought the middle ground between seeking to restrain China and reassure allies but, as former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg has put it, “without getting ourselves into a shooting war.” China has also shied away from directly challenging U.S. interests. It has been careful not to step on America’s toes. Its assertiveness has been largely directed at its neighbours.
After all, China is seeking to alter the territorial and maritime status quo in Asia little by little. This can be described as a “salami-slice” strategy or, what a Chinese general, Zhang Zhaozhong, this year called, a “cabbage” strategy — surrounding a contested area with multiple security layers to deny access to the rival nation.
Bit-by-bit strategy
This bit-by-bit strategy increases the risk of maritime conflict through overreach, and the inadvertent encouragement it provides to neighbouring countries to overcome their differences and strategically collaborate.
The new international maritime challenges, however, go beyond China’s jurisdictional “creep.”
The oceans and seas not only have become pivotal to any power’s security and engagement with the outside world but they also constitute the strategic hub of the global geopolitical competition. The growing importance of maritime resources and of sea-lane safety, as well as the concentration of economic boom zones along the coasts, has made maritime security more critical than ever. The maritime challenges extend to non-traditional threats such as climate security, transnational terrorism, illicit fishing, human trafficking, and environmental degradation. The overexploitation of marine resources has underscored the need for conservation and prudent management of the biological diversity of the seabed.
Deep seabed mining has emerged as a major new strategic issue. From seeking to tap sulphide deposits — containing valuable metals such as silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt and zinc — to phosphorus nodule mining for phosphor-based fertilizers used in food production, the inter-state competition over seabed-mineral wealth underscores the imperative for creating a regulatory regime, developing safe and effective ocean-development technologies, finding ways to share benefits of the common heritage, and ensuring environmental protection.
Inter-state competition over seabed minerals is sharpening in the Indian Ocean, for example. Even China, an extra-regional power, has secured an international deep-seabed block in southwestern Indian Ocean from the International Seabed Authority to explore for polymetallic sulphides. More broadly, some of the outstanding boundary, sovereignty and jurisdiction issues — extending from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean — carry serious conflict potential. The recrudescence of territorial and maritime disputes, largely tied to competition over natural resources, will increasingly have a bearing on maritime peace and security.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have set an example by peacefully resolving a dispute over the delimitation of their maritime boundaries in the Bay of Bengal. They took their dispute to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for adjudication. The Tribunal’s verdict, delivered in 2012, ended a potentially dangerous dispute that was fuelled in 2008 when, following the discovery of gas deposits in the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar authorised exploration in a contested area, prompting Bangladesh to dispatch warships to the area.
However, some important maritime powers, including the U.S., are still not party to the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Iran recently seized an Indian oil tanker, holding it for about a month, but India could not file a complaint with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea because Tehran has not ratified UNCLOS. The seizure of the tanker, carrying Iraqi oil, appeared to be an act of reprisal against India’s sharp reduction of Iranian oil purchases under U.S. pressure.
The threats to navigation and maritime freedoms, including in critical straits and exclusive economic zones (EEZs), can be countered only through adherence to international rules by all parties as well as through monitoring, regulation and enforcement.
Great-power rivalries, however, continue to complicate international maritime security. The rivalries are mirrored in foreign-aided port-building projects; attempts to assert control over energy supplies and transport routes as part of a 21st-century-version of the Great Game; and the establishment of listening posts and special naval-access arrangements along the great trade arteries.
The evolving architecture of global governance will determine how the world handles the pressing maritime challenges it confronts. The assertive pursuit of national interest for relative gain in an increasingly interdependent world is hardly a recipe for harmonious maritime relations. Another concern is the narrow, compartmentalised approach in which each maritime issue is sought to be dealt with separately, instead of addressing the challenges in an integrated framework.
A flawed and unwarranted move
The Election Commission might be well-intentioned in seeking to ban opinion polls in the run-up to an election, but the move does not seem to be sound in law, and is certainly not desirable in practice. The reasoning for a ban is that opinion polls influence voters prior to polling, and therefore the results of such polls should be withheld until after the end of voting. Needless to say, this is a flawed argument, and a ban, while imposing needless restrictions, will not in any way enhance the purity of elections. Whether opinion polls influence voting is debatable, but even if they do, that is no reason to ban them. Election campaigning ends only 48 hours before polling closes, and political parties and their supporters are free to indulge in propaganda to influence voters till then. If parties and candidates are allowed to try and influence voters during the campaign period, why cannot the media or others publish poll findings that may or may not influence voter behaviour? Even if some of the surveys are not scientific, and some others are fraudulent — just as some election manifestoes may include tall promises — a ban cannot be the solution. Opinion polls that are not transparent and are carried out unscientifically, quickly lose credibility. In any case, the voters must be allowed to judge for themselves the extent of reliability of the innumerable opinion polls and exit polls.
Actually, any ban on opinion polls runs counter to Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution that provides all citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. Of course, this freedom is subject to reasonable restrictions listed in Article 19(2): in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. Any hypothetical influence on voters does not figure in this list. Any ban would therefore contravene the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and belittle the intelligence of voters. Already, by a 2009 amendment to the Representation of the People Act, restrictions have been placed on the publication of results of exit polls from the beginning of polling on the first day in a multi-phase election till half an hour after the close of polling in all States. The rationale behind the restrictions on exit polls is their claim to greater credibility, and therefore, their greater ability to influence voters. The distinction between opinion polls and exit polls on this basis is surely untenable, but what needs to be done is the removal of restrictions on the publication of exit poll findings, not the placing of similar restrictions on opinion polls.
Staying on the rails
The move by the Indian Railways to privatise a section of passenger traffic, and the launch by Minister Mallikarjun Kharge of the High Speed Rail Corporation, at this juncture, need to be very closely evaluated. The talk of privatisation in the Railways has gone on for long, though not many efforts had borne fruit in the past. There needs to be some clarity and a clear policy on privatisation in India’s biggest monolithic public sector undertaking. It must be remembered that only the Railways have an annual budget of their own, outside the general budget. So long as this route and the Public-Private Partnership model were looked at from the commercial or goods movement angle, or even for the production of coaches and locomotives, there was no problem. Obviously, the Railways cannot keep on investing in new production units. These efforts have succeeded only to a limited extent. Is that why the Railways have now turned to opening up a segment of passenger traffic to the private sector? When they speak of high speed corridors and the need to run trains at 160 kmph or even 200 kmph, it naturally means creating new infrastructure that calls for massive investment — which the Indian Railways cannot afford now.
But the decision to offer seven identified high-density traffic corridors to this model is fraught with danger. Take the Mumbai-Ahmedabad or Chennai-Bangalore sectors, for instance. Any number of trains or flights on these routes are bound to be full. Of course, the rail routes have reached a saturation point and there is need to go in for dedicated, perhaps elevated, high speed corridors. The country’s experience with the private sector in the transport field has not been too good. Air India remains a standing example of how the public sector was made to lose out to private airlines. Private bus transport stumped the nationalised road transport corporations for a variety of reasons. The seven corridors likely to be offered in PPP mode can surely generate enough profits for the private investor. What do the Railways get from it? Where is the regulator to look at traffic, tariff, and safety on the rails? The Commissioner of Railway Safety can handle only the track, and nothing more. There needs to be a larger debate on this proposal and this government, which is nearing the end of its current innings, should not be taking such a major plunge. Having delayed this concept for so many years, nothing will be lost if all these issues are discussed threadbare, and the new government next year can take the right decision with all the inputs. Meanwhile, it would do well to focus on the many major infrastructure projects that are waiting to be implemented.
