Four Facets of Bharatiya Intellectuals

I am sure the intellectuals that we're talking about here won't liked to be called Bharatiya intellectuals - Indian intellectuals would be more apt. More on that below.

Peter deSouza offers an excellent dissection of the intellectual life in India, taking forward Pratap Bhanu Mehta's absolute ripping of left wing intellectuals. (Rohit blog on Mehta's article at Retributions.)

Because intellectuals are almost left wingers in India - those that occupy the chair, head , or dean positions in all the better known universities nationwide, the practices here are about them. And, according to Peter, they are four categories:

The first is the ‘if you are not with us then you are against us’, or what can be provocatively called the ‘camp follower’ syndrome, which divides the world of ideas into distinct camps — black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. Each side is infused with missionary zeal and its sole purpose is to vanquish the other, the enemy. All means are legitimate in this battle... This is the defining practice of the Left intellectuals in India and so, while it may have opened up many and valuable new vistas of understanding, it has no patience with dissent or intellectual openness.

I think the intellectual hollowness of Indian intellectuals become apparent here - yes, they are on par with George Bush. They have all the right answers. But in case they don't, it's not appropriate to bring up the right answer, at least not now -

The second is what can be referred to as ‘the moment is not opportune’ syndrome where critical comment, asking inconvenient questions, and challenging established orthodoxies, are to be avoided since it will aid the enemy. Let me call this the ‘strategist syndrome’, where truth is trumped by a strategic calculus. The truth can be dangerous. It can be misused. Timing, here, is important. The inconvenient data, the necessary product of any intellectual enquiry, must be kept out of the public domain lest it strengthen the campaign of the other side. So while US imperialism in Iraq must be rightfully condemned, one must be silent about Baathist tyranny, and while Hindu majoritarianism in India must be rightfully opposed one must say little about Muslim fundamentalism.

We could see this in the derision of the intellectuals during Bush's visit to India in March '06. But this relates to the forth point. Peter gives Khushwant Singh a pass at this point which I think is unwarranted because, even though his stance during violence in Punjab is highly commendable, lately he has become an undeniable caricature of left wing intellectualism with his nostalgia for the heydays of India's socialism and statism - just like his brethren. But first the third category:

The third is what can be called the ‘comprador syndrome’ according to which Indian intellectuals adopt a different disposition when dealing with overseas academic institutions than they do in India. They make time, write papers on short notice, mentor young scholars, adjust curiosities to suit the projects of these institutions. This is particularly galling since the same intellectuals will not devote time to their own students, will decline seminar invitations from Indian institutions, will be more harsh and critical in their response to papers of local scholars than they are with overseas scholars, and will join research projects with overseas institutions on terms which are blatantly asymmetrical. Here truth is trumped by glamour. C’est la vie, monsieur.

Need I say more? Anyone who went to college or watched a media debate on culture would know this. And finally:

The fourth is the ‘poverty of imagination’ syndrome where intellectuals adopt an idiom and participate in a discourse which is fashionable in the West ignoring all the while the local and the vernacular. That it is imitative has been said before. It is charged with having no engagement with the social and cultural imaginary of India. This is indeed a pity because India is perhaps one of the most fertile fields for social science scholarship. You can work on local level issues that are multi-dimensional and you can be absorbed in issues that have civilisational scope. For example, it is unfortunate that we have not done to our epics what the West has done to theirs. If Ulysses Unbound can be the title of a book by Jon Elster, which can look philosophically at the issue of rationality, pre-commitment and constraints, would it not be fascinating to have a book titled Yudhisthir’s little lie: Why the chariot dropped only by six inches to look at the issue of political truth. But unfortunately we still do not have the intellectual culture to support such scholarship.

This affliction in social and culture areas is widespread and increasing. Peter refers to intellectuals historically.

But, now, it's not just the intellectuals, in their high chairs separated from normal Indian life, but everyone is lining up. Seeing gowns worn by Hindi movie stars to award shows while they imitate their Hollywood counterparts in mannerisms (absurdity of the utter artificiality of imitation is laughable), or reading about one's perception of what enjoying life is all about, or reading argument for national priorities based on social needs and capabilities of other societies makes me wonder will we be ever able to keep, nurture, grow, and advance our own culture or is our culture on the path to extinction taken over by the utterly monotonously boring largely western culture.

(Peter's analysis on why India has maintained democracy while our neighbours haven't, while I don't agree completely with it, is well worth reading.)

It's Also The Intense Pressure

Yes, it was the fielding, it was the batting, it was the format, and the coaching, but, primarily, it was also the intense pressure. From everyone and everything.

Anyone who ever went to an interview or took an intense time-constrained exam knows the feeling. You prepare really hard for that exam or for that interview with a company that you really want to work for - and create intense pressure on yourself. But once you start making mistakes early on, those first two or three questions, or start babbling in that interview, most people just loose it and give up. If you went in there with lower expectations or with a I have nothing to lose attitude, you may recover from those unanswerable early questions and go on to complete the rest of exam or the interview. But with intense pressure irrationality takes over and most don't recover.

That's what Indian cricket team went through, especially in the third match, the game with Sri Lanka. As a batting team, they kept it up until 15-17 overs but broke down completely under pressure of high expectations and can't lose this cup attitude. None of top players have the cup and all of them will be gone in four more years. With no time to relax, just as in high pressure exam or interview, there was just no chance of recovery, once the fumbles started. It's not the same as weakness or blinking first. Nor does experience from normal cricket matches help. World cup is just not another game, not for us anyway. The hysterical pressure took away any appetite for risk; perfection was only option. As Vivian Richards says it takes mental strength to fight back in a match, but that's not the only burden these guys were carrying.

As Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara says, from his first hand experience with the team, in his wonderful review of the match that India lost :

Of course, when you prepare for key games like last Friday you don't think about such things. We would have stayed in the tournament even if we had lost, but we were determined to claim the two extra points. There was no doubt in our minds that we would win the game. We were completely focused. The same cannot be said about India's players. I thought our body language, right from the warm-ups to the conclusion, told the story. We were up for it, positive and very upbeat. India's players looked under pressure and their body language betrayed their edginess. This is completely understandable, of course, because they were under an incredible amount of pressure. [I feel sorry for India's cricketers - Circinfo]

A former fan - CricInfo

I am sure players from other countries are envious of the earning power and celebrity status of Indian players, but, I am also sure they don't envy the extreme pressure that the players have to play under. Yes, support for the team is important for the moral of the team, but hysterical pressure to win is unwise and, ultimately, backfired. The entire media which now preaches that it's just a game, after the exit, could have helped lay off some of the pressure with, "we support you but it's just a game," attitude before the games began.

Unfortunately the whole cycle is already well placed to repeat in four more years.

Update: Ajay Shanker, in IE, has background analysis of the relationship between coach Chappell and the players.

As for the senior players, at least one of them was not very enthused by the bookish” captaincy of Dravid, but stressed that the team would rally behind him in this time of crisis. And both made their disgust at the coach’s methods very clear - they blamed the Aussie for repeatedly leaking team plans and his opinion on various players to the media; they said this finally led to an atmosphere of divisiveness within the side. “He played around with our minds,” said one of them. [How the war was lost before India began its first World Cup battle - Ajay Shanker]

Can a foreign coach think the way Indian players do and even understand Indian cultural physcology on what motivates them, when to apply pressure, and when to back off?

Apple's iRack

If the embedded video doesn't work try this link.

If Doordarshan had Won the World Cup Bid...!

"Over a week after the World Cup began, Doordarshan is yet to send a team to the West Indies.

Admitting this at a press conference here on Thursday, Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer B.S. Lalli, however, refused to divulge details as to why a team had not been sent till date.

Awaiting clearances

But, he did indicate that a team was to have been sent and that the public broadcaster was awaiting clearances." [The Hindu] :) Dumb bureaucrats.

Little China's Nandigram Killing Conspiracy Becomes Clearer

Earlier Gudem offered parallels between Bengal and China on how Bengal was able to keep absolute control over the state for three decades (more on this later) and is now following Chinese path to industrialization earning the moniker Little China. Now, more evidence, evidently ignored by mainstream media, comes out on how the police worked hand in glove with Commie party thugs to kill and maim demonstrators at Nandigram.

Evidence gathered by the CBI is believed to suggest that West Bengal Police acted in connivance with the CPI(M)'s 'Harmat Brigade', comprising Marxist cadre trained in hit-and-run tactics, during the March 14 violence that claimed at least 14 lives and left scores injured at Nandigram. According to reports, the evidence suggests at least two senior IPS officials had held several meetings with a CPI(M) MP, an MLA and a zilla parishad member at the State Electricity Board guesthouse in Kolaghat where they chalked out the action plan. In order to keep the deliberations a closely guarded secret, even the District Superintendent of Police was not allowed to participate in the meetings, the last of which was held on March 13 evening. Though CBI officials investigating the police firing have not gone on record, it is believed they have found evidence that shows Rs 50 lakh was sanctioned for the police operation. Part of the money was spent on procuring at least 50 mobile phones. Around 25,000 bullets were requisitioned. The reports also suggest that one of the IPS officials had withdrawn to the Nandigram police station with 150 men after giving firing orders. The official subsequently feigned ignorance as to who ordered the firing. This official was in constant touch with the MP who, sources said, kept changing cell phones to converse with various persons. The politician could have used as many as 30 mobile phones, sources said. Not only was the Chief Minister kept in the dark over what took place in Nandigram but policemen who carried out the firing were also briefed in a fuzzy manner as to what they were expected to do. On how CPI(M) inducted outsiders for attacking the farmers, Trinamool Congress MLA from Egra Sishir Adhikary said, "The raiders came from Potashpur, Garbeta, Keshpur and Khejuri," all CPI(M) strongholds.[ Police connived with Marxist cadre - Daily Pioneer]

Over at IEB, I asked one Mousumi, a Bengali living in Bengal, in the comment section of a post regarding Nandigram, how CPM was able to retain control over the state for such a long time. His response mirrors exactly how Mao through Hu Jintao maintain control over the vast land of China. (There are also couple of party apologists comments on the same post. As usual, their fall back is lot of words with little substance and plenty of diversionary explanations.)

Everywhere they use their their cadres to win with the help of police.(Some days before in a school commitee election in Burdwan district police killed a teacher by firing with the help of CPM cadres.)In all these elections their workers judge who are against them and before the general election they drive them away from their locality ,or give them caution not to go to the polling booth.In West Bengal you will get no job without the character certificate of CPM.They let the poor people do some kind of corruption ,yes a very much interesting tactics,to get them loyal to them.They provoke them to do so.In each area there is a local commitee secretary i.e LCS and he is the lord of the locality,not police or any other govt. official, his is the final say and people are bound to go to him for any kind of problem. [Mousumi's comment]

There are party cadres in every state in the country working to enable their party to win - but they usually stay away from major economic, security, and non-political matters. Apparently not in Communist Bengal - true to ideology, party is everywhere. And the media has largely been silent on this tyranny for decades portraying Communists repeated wins as fair verdict from people of Bengal.

Unwise RBI Manipulating Growth Pattern

The socialist Indian government has always done this. Make a lot of noise about an economic policy and distort it beyound recognition without understanding the long term implications. And considerable damage these policies takes forever to unwind and let market force prevail to let people, individually, all 100 crore of them, decide what they want to buy and consume just like a normal economy is supposed to function.

One recent example is the sugar policy. As though buying off sugar barons will help them win UP election, without any objection from anyone, post-Punjab and Uttarakhand loss, Congress I quietly scuttled sugar price deregulations but the sops that were put in place to reduce the short term turmoil of price deregulations are being allowed to become law - further distorting the sugar market. Talk about bad coming out of a situation that was trying to do some good. And the worst part is Congress I is not going to win any additional votes by this policy. It's a distortion that nobody wants, where Congress I doesn't get anything in return, where the consumers will continue to be penalized with higher sugar prices, where the tax payers subsidy bill just went up, and where the only beneficiary are the sugar factory owners all over the country.

Earlier this week, the Agriculture and Food Ministry withdrew its Cabinet proposal to phase out government intervention in the sugar sector which had included doing away with the practice of lifting levy sugar at controlled prices. A revised note has now been sent to the Cabinet excluding the long-term solution of gradual decontrol from April 1 while retaining the short-run relief of buffer subsidy. And as a sop to sugar manufacturers, it introduces ocean freight (essentially export) subsidy, which, ironically, Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar had ruled out just last month. [Indian Express]

Another more pernicious market distortion - this time financial - continues at full speed under RBI. RBI manages monetary policy and exchange rate (and acts as GOI's treasury). And RBI is favoring one while talking about the other in the name of controlling inflation for aam admi. Inflation is generally caused by excess demand (leading to supply constrain) due to availability of liquidity, i.e. with easy access to credit. Beyound manipulating prices and tariffs of almost all consumed goods by our ever vigilant (of election wins and loses, that is) FM Chidambaram, thereby disrupting export orders, import plans, and sometimes, destroying businesses, RBI has talked about controlling inflation by removing liquidity from the economy by raising interest rates, among other things. Just like a distorted economy doesn't grow at full potential for very long, inflation is not budging despite all the talk and apparent action.

It turns out what RBI is taking away with one hand and it is giving back with another - for specific industries - undermining its own actions, distorting financial markets, and impacting everyday lives of ordinary people. In order to maintain its other function, exchange rate management, RBI is buying up dollars paying for it with newly minted rupees, thereby increasing liquidity in the economy. Why exchange rates needs to be baby sat is mind boggling enough. But any manipulation of exchange rate - to keep rupee weak against dollar, for example - is benefiting only the exporters. So RBI is taking liquidity away from people who have hard time accessing credit, usually the poor and small industries, and turning it into a subsidy to exporters. The liquidity in the system is still there, just unavailable for the most needy, with no impact on inflation!

Data for RBI purchases only runs till January 2007. From April 2006 to January 2007, the RBI purchased USD 12.6 billion. In other words, the RBI quietly added Rs 56,543.05 crore to the domestic monetary base. It has not been able to fully “sterilise” these dollar purchases, so money supply has gone up. The RBI then turned around and tried to take steps to suck this liquidity out of the system. These steps included raising interest rates. Many borrowers now face higher loan rates and others, especially SMEs, have little access to bank credit. [Ila Patnaik]

Exports are an important component of any country's economic growth. But any export growth has to be market driven - ie the world should consumer Indian products because they are globally competitive, not because they are subsidized by RBI. So RBI is subsidizing an American consumer, US being the largest export market for Indian goods, while punishing Indian consumer! All the while taking about helping aam admi!

RBI is killing the country's consumption led growth to promote export lead growth by distorting the financial markets. Economists consider Indian economy to be healthy because, with an economy supported by 60% internal consumption and 40% exports, it is less prone to impacts from recessions in large non-Indian economies, unlike Chinese or other East Asia economies which are largely export driven economics. RBI is distorting India's economic growth pattern and making Indian economy more vulnerable to global external factors.

Update: Suman Bery writes lot more extensively on this subject in Business Standard.

what India continues to struggle with is the familiar monetary “trilemma”: trying to reconcile an open capital account, a targeted nominal exchange rate and independent monetary policy. In the pure case targeting all three magnitudes would be impossible. But, in common with many emerging markets, the RBI attempts to square the circle by operating “intermediate” regimes all round: a semi-open capital account; an exchange rate in an undeclared band; and a “multiple indicators” monetary policy which targets narrow money, broad money, credit growth, prices, economic activity and interest rates at various moments.

Cross-posted on INI Signal

Brahmi Script Reader

There is an interesting short article in The Hindu about Sri Parabrahma Sastri. Apparently he is one of the few who read Brahmi script - the language spoken during Gautama Buddha life.

Parabrahma Sastry is one of the very few, if not the only, living epigraphists who can decipher the Brahmi script (Prakrit language), the archaeological DNA code to the hoary past of Telugus.

The article says Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil originated from Brahmi and Telugu and Kannada had a common script until 12th century - to me they seem lot closer.

He deciphered many epigraphs, particularly those in Brahmi, Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada. Until the 12th century AD, Kannada and Telugu had a common script. Dr. Sastry says Telugu and Tamil had evolved from the inscriptions on crystal caskets in which the Buddha's relics were preserved at Bhattiprolu in Guntur district. But Telugu eventually developed into the current form from the Brahmi script. [The Hindu]

Tata Should Withdraw from Little China

We hear these stories from China - they trickle out because of news blackout of all things bad from Communists China. Local Communists party officials beat up farmers with the help of local thugs and police and confiscate land for development, a euphemism for building a factory, or office building, or a golf course.

It is an uneven battle. Party and government officials at the village, county, township and provincial levels use their power to exploit provisions in Chinese law that allow land confiscation in the name of the public interest. They retain a monopoly on deciding the public interest and the compensation. The China Daily newspaper cited official estimates that nearly 10,000 square miles of farmland were transformed by development in 2003. Rice paddies became factories. Cabbage patches became apartment compounds. Wheat fields became golf courses. [Washington Post]

Bengal is proving to be a little China - beyound being a communist strong hold in India.

In the latest trouble in Nandigram, farmers protesting against land confiscation were shot at, apparently, by police according to official reports. Tata wants to built a factory to make low priced cars at this location. But the farmers don't want to sell their land. They have been protesting for months. And they have support from Mamata Bannerjee and other politicians, including some from BJP.

Now it turns out the doctors who are treating the patients from this police shooting incident say the bullets are not standard issue police bullets. The farmers were injured or killed from shot gun wounds - pellet spray, not a single bullet shot, or from crude pipe guns used by local thugs to settle political scores during election time. Here is Offstumped Yossarin's political analysis of the situation.

Communists have made a 180 degree turn. For three decades they used the same methods to terrorize political opposition and driving away sane people, causing decline of Bengal as industrial base, to retain power. Now they are using the same methods to turn Bengal into an industrial base.

The Save Land Committee, comprising cadres of Trinamool Congress, Congress, SUCI, BJP, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and even the CPI, locked horns with local CPM leaders, led by its MP and strongman Lakshman Seth of Haldia. CPI MLA Mohammad Illyas has been a staunch supporter of the Save Land Committee. Lakshman Seth and his men had told the locals that their interests would be taken care of if land were to be acquired but not many believed them, resulting in desertions from the party rank and file. “Over the past two months, it was the same crisis of credibility that haunted the Save Land committee members who feared that Lakshman Seth would have the last word in Nandigram and not Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,” said a CPM member in Chandipur near Nandigram. In Nandigram, a CPM zonal committee member told The Indian Express that “the battle has assumed political dimensions”. So when the state administration was told to “restore the rule of law” in Nandigram which since January had been sealed off by the Save Land Committee, the local CPM cadres followed the police to regain lost ground. This led to a pitched battle between the two sides. In Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress called a 12-hour Bangla Bandh on March 16. Banerjee was on her way to Nandigram in the evening but CPM cadres had blocked the road at several points. Congress leader Subrata Mukhjerjee’s vehicle was attacked near Chandipur crossing and he was not allowed to visit Nandigram. The vehicle carrying The Indian Express team was also attacked by local CPM cadres but no one was injured. [Indian Express]

Their methods are eerily similar to the Chinese communists. For decades communists thugs beating up people for the sake of revolution; since Chinese industrialization began the communists thugs, did a 180, to beat up people for the sake of building factories on confiscated land from poor farmers.

Tata, which makes everything from tea to lorries, always commends itself as clean, non-bribe paying Indian company with lot of tradition. If the doctors accounts are true, Tata should pullout from the venture and setup the factory at a different location away from Bengal to show the communists in Bengal that it's all for industrialization but not at any price.

Update: It's clearer that both sides were getting ready for a clash and the commie thugs were working hand in glove with the police during the clash.

In the villages of the region, The Indian Express team found improvised weapons by the roadside, among them crude single-shot firearms. It seems both sides — the CPM cadres and those with the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee — had been prepared for clashes.[Indian Express]

Learning Foreign Policy From Terror Organization

One would have thought Indian Communists parties have mended their ways after the collapse of Soviet Union - after leading a revolution against a nascent country, with the help of Soviets; after providing moral and diplomatic support to enemy nation when Chinese attacked India; and after engaging in anti-national activities for decades. Sure they continue to support Naxalites, who continued to ravage the country from Goa to Nepal. But their revolutionary stance has reduced in the past few years - at least that's what one would have thought.

But not so fast. Just when India is developing a clear partnership with Israel on defence issues and enhancing its relationship with US on nuclear, defence, and other areas, the communists are it again. Now they are taking foreign policy cues from a terrorist organization. Hizbollah, which acts as a state within a state in Lebanon and started a mini-war, all by itself, with Israel last year, with active funding Iran, is meeting with the Communists luminaries such as Prakash Karat and A.B. Bardhan, in, of all places, New Delhi. Ironically, the conference is called "International Conference on War, Imperialism and Resistance."

Ali Fayyad, a spokesperson for the Hizbollah, was present at New Delhi’s India International Centre on Monday and spoke on the West Asian crisis at the ‘International Conference on War, Imperialism and Resistance’, using the occasion to state the Hizbollah’s viewpoint. So far, the conference has had a straightforward anti-Israel flavour with Indian speakers enthusiastically endorsing the stand against Israel, and the audience quick to applaud all anti-Israel sentiment and some tasteless humour at the expense of Israelis.

This comes at a time when US Ambassador Ronen Sen is talking to the American Israeli lobby about the closeness of India-Israel relationship and drumming up support for anti-terror policies in US. And when the official India-Israel Joint Working group is meeting in New Delhi. Commies are working against UPA - a marriage of convience. And the Congress I is apologizing for them once again.

But this being a ‘private’ occasion, no effort was made to restrict his entry. Chinmaya Gharekhan, the government’s special envoy on West Asia said, “I don’t think his (Fayyad’s) presence will embarrass the government. Besides India hasn’t banned the Hizbollah.”

How convenient.

As usual, JNU, communists hot-bed in India is organizing the Hizbollah conference in India.

JNU academic Kamal Mitra Chenoy, on the organising committee of the conference that has drawn speakers from across the Arab world, defended the presence of Fayyad...[IE]

Terror and treacherous activities just comes naturally to the communists. And this is one more example of communists and left-wingers all over the world actively supporting Islamic terrorists and terrorism. Islamic terrorists are doing - massacring innocent people by the thousands for their cause - what the red-bridge world over always wanted to but were never able to do.

Neither Part of the Quid Nor the Quo!

In the current Spring issue of Washington Quarterly, Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet point out that US didn't get its money worth from Pak, all $10 billion worth of it - aid to Pak since 2001. I think it did buy support of Gen Mush and occasional and easily replaceable arrest of # 3 through #10 Taliban/al-Qaida men. They say for all the money spent, Pak military hasn't gotten better at fighting Taliban and al-Qaida forces. I wonder why Messers. Cohen and Chollet think Pak military was even attempting to do this. Most of the military aid was in the form of antimissile systems and fighter jets which invariably face east - away from the troubled area of NWFP.

Although foreign military financing is often justified to Congress as playing a critical role in the war on terrorism, in reality the weapons systems are often prestige items to help Pakistan in the event of war with India.26 When high-ranking Pakistani officials visit the U.S. secretary of defense, they are more likely to hand him a wish list of hardware than have a discussion about strategy.27 Looking at the total approved U.S. weapons sales, including weapons purchased without the benefit of direct U.S. assistance, Pakistan has spent $8.4 billion between 2002 and 2006. Most of this has been spent on weapons such as F-16s and other aircraft, anti-ship Harpoon Block II missiles, and antimissile defense systems. Few of these weapons are likely to provide much help in rooting out al Qaeda or the Taliban.

And there is little money, and even little monitoring, for social stability and infrastructure projects like modern education. The article looks at the total aid provided to Pak and where the money went. Most of the money was for coalition troops support. But the rest has no accountability attached to it, including $1.62 billion budget support - cash for Pak to do whatever it pleases. No wonder Pak economy has been growth at around 6% or more in the past few years.

They narrate a story showing parallels between now and US-Pak nexus in the 80s when US lead the proxy fight against the Soviets in Afghan.

It is history repeating itself, resembling the 1980s, when the United States established a quid pro quo with General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq to help fight the Soviets. Any efforts by U.S. officials to alter its terms to focus on internal reforms would prompt Zia’s reply, “Sir, what you are proposing is neither part of the quid nor the quo.” [Washington Quarterly]