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Scholar Explodes Myth of ‘India Shining’ Image
KARACHI: The image of ‘India Shining’ is one that applies to only about 30 per cent of the Indian population, but it is taken by many around the world to apply to the majority of the population, when in fact the remaining 70 per cent of Indians have very little to do with that image at all, according to a British academic at the University of London.
Dr Marie Lall, South Asia specialist at the University of London and an associate fellow of the Asia Programme at Chatham House, was speaking at a seminar titled ‘India Today: Rising Star or Land of Snake Charmers?’ organised at a local hotel here on Saturday.
Beginning her talk, Dr Lall asserted that in her experience Pakistanis and Indians tended to have very ‘incomplete pictures’ of one another, and that this tends to colour their perceptions.
She spoke about the development of the idea of India’s identity and its aims as a nation. Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and other leaders at the time of partition, she said, were primarily educated in the West, and so the anti-colonial movement was shaped ‘primarily by Western ideas of the nation state’.
‘Nehru’s first challenge,’ she said, ‘was framing a new identity for India around something. For Pakistan this was simple, as there was a common religion, but for India this was not workable. So he chose the idea of shared history.’
She argued that there is a disparity between the image of India and the realities on the ground. ‘There is an India of the 70 per cent, and an India of the 30 per cent. To the outside world, they see just the 30 per cent.’
Dr Lall also provided a brief overview of Indian political and economic history, with particular emphasis on the 1991 financial reforms, which were necessitated after India was forced to empty its gold reserves to pay off loans to international institutions. She said that reforms led to devolution of power from the Centre towards the provinces, thus leading to the growth of smaller, local parties. The south of India prospered more in comparison to the north, and there were rural/urban demographic shifts. She further said that the rise of Hindu nationalism is directly linked to the reforms that were brought about between 1991 and 1996.
She said the 2004 and 2009 wins for the Congress party in the Indian general elections were relatively unexpected, particularly to analysts, who assumed that India would go whichever way the middle-classes went, which was presumably with the BJP.
‘But the masses dictated the elections, and the Congress won, something which most analysts did not factor into their calculations,’ she said.
Regarding foreign policy, Dr Lall asserted that India’s ‘aim was always to be a global power and to be recognised as such’.
Prior to the 1990s, she said, India’s claim to being a global power was on the basis of ‘moral standing’. Nehru’s vision was that India would ‘lead the postcolonial world’.
This, however, proved to be problematic as time went on, as India’s ambitions then grew to leading the developing world, many of whom were not postcolonial and had no interest in being led by the South Asian giant.
With Indira Gandhi, she said, one saw a gradual shift to a more realistic approach on the regional level, where India recognised that it was the hegemon, and acted as such by dominating smaller states such as Nepal and Bhutan. ‘Again,’ Dr Lall said, ‘you see a dualism, where there is regional hegemony on one hand and then ‘moral standing’ on the other.’
Post-1991, she said, things changed significantly, and India went from being non-aligned to dictating foreign policy on the basis of economic growth and needs. ‘To open markets you need to trade, and there was no real foreign policy vision from either the Congress or the BJP.
The only government which did have that vision was the short-lived United Front government, led by I.K. Gujral. There was also a gradual shift towards welcoming mostly Hindu non-resident Indians, who had in the past been shunned by the Indian state, to invest in the country. Congress followed in BJP’s footsteps, as far as this was concerned.’
She added that it was significant that during this ‘new era’ of foreign policy, India also approached other states it would in the past not have, including the US and Israel.
Indian energy security
A significant part of Dr Lall’s talk also centred on India’s new focus on energy security. She said that as of 2004 India realised that it requires this security in order to fuel its economic growth in the coming years.
‘It is now energy that drives Indian foreign policy. Nothing else,’ she said. ‘Right now there is no idea how they are going to meet the needs they will have in 2020, and even though there is increasing cooperation with other states, the energy secured so far is not enough.’
On the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, she said that the project will likely not only provide India with energy, but will also foster regional stability. The economic and logistical feasibilities were all worked out in 2007-08, she said, but the only remaining issue was the US’s objections to the deal. In the past this would not have stopped India, she said, but now there was the India-US nuclear deal to consider. As such, she said, her feeling was that the pipeline would not in fact be built.
‘The India-US nuclear deal has nothing to with energy, let’s be clear about this,’ she said. ‘It has nothing to do with energy and everything to do with great power status.’
Further, she argued that US and Indian priorities on the deal were actually conflicting. While the US wants to use India to counter China as a growing economic threat, and to increase trade with it to ease its own balance of trade deficit, India has pursued the deal mainly to be recognised as a military and civilian nuclear power, and to have access of fissile material and the latest nuclear technology. India, she said, also wants a greater role to play in the Asian balance of power, and believes that the nuclear deal gives it a greater ‘status’ as a country.
Dr Lall also spoke briefly about Indo-Pakistan relations, as well as about relations between India and Myanmar. Concluding her talk, she said that in the Indo-Pakistan set-up at present, India ‘does not need to do anything, and so it is treating Pakistan like China treats India. It can afford to stand back’.
Dr Lall’s research has focused primarily on India, Pakistan and Myanmar. She has written widely on issues of political economy, energy security and foreign policy. She also works on education policy in Pakistan and India, and is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Education at the University of London.
She is currently residing in Lahore, where she is a member of the visiting faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Beijing’s Missile in Tibet, & Hainan Naval base scare Delhi: Dramatic rise in India-China tensions
The Chinese Red dragon’s reach has scared the pants off the Indian elephant. Many have predicted a war between India and China within the next few years. Some called that prediction alarmist. First there were repeated statements from Delhi that China was their biggest enemy and threat. Then news stories that China has built a huge infrastructure on the undefined and undemarcated Mcmohan line (the de factor border between India and China). Now the escalating tensions are sounding alarm bells around the world. The Federation of American Scientist has just published pictures of Chinese missiles which can target all of India. The incompetent intelligence agencies of India didn’t have a clue about the missiles. Any high school drop out could have paid a a commercial satellite a nickel and gotten the pictures of the satellites. The fact that the FAS pictures has so unnerved Delhi that it has decided to form to new intelligence agencies is a subject of much discussion around the world
Analysis of new commercial satellite photos has identified an extensive deployment area with nearly 60 launch pads for medium-range nuclear ballistic missiles in Central China near Delingha and Da Qaidam.
The region has long been rumored to house nuclear missiles and I have previously described some of the facilities in a report and a blog. But the new analysis reveals a significantly larger deployment area than previously known, different types of launch pads, command and control facilities, and missile deployment equipment at a large facility in downtown Delingha.
The U.S. government often highlights China’s deployment of new mobile missiles as a concern but keeps the details secret, so the discovery of the deployment area provides the first opportunity for the public to better understand how China operates its mobile ballistic missiles. FAS Security
The Peoples Republic of China possesses one of the largest land-based missile forces on the planet. The Chinese plan never aimed for ICMB parity with the US or Russia the rapid growth of a modern 2nd Artillery Corps has created a very potent deterrent force for Beijing. China’s missiles are capable of inundating the region surrounding China with thousands, of conventional and nuclear armed missiles. The Peoples Liberation Army’s 2nd Artillery Corps is now recognized as one of the most devastating military branches found in any military worldwide.
NEW DELHI: Stung by China’s aggressive posturing, including its deployment of missiles in Delingha near Tibet, and other increasingly hostile activities in India’s neighbourhood, the Cabinet Committee on Security is considering a proposal to set up separate centres for nuclear or missile intelligence and maritime security. In fact, with strong backing by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, the CCS, which is still smarting under the Chinese `aggression’, is all set to give the go-ahead to the proposal.
From Delingha the DF-21 is in range of northern India and three Russian ICBM fields and a bomber base. Photo Courtesy: FAS
The inability of central intelligence agencies like RAW, DIA and IB in keeping a tab on recent deployment of intermediate range missiles like DF-4 and reports that Beijing might station ICBMs in the Delingha region seem to have alarmed authorities into action. The medium-range ballistic missiles which are already deployed in Delingha can hit targets that are almost 3,000 kilometres away. China has also built several launch pads for nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles in the same region.
“The entire northern India and parts of central India can be hit from there. The way these missiles have been deployed, they can only hit four countries — Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar and India. And because the other three countries are not potential adversaries of China, there is obviously deep concern here about China’s intentions and you can say that this is one way of addressing this concern,” said a source, adding that the separate centres for missile and maritime intelligence will initially comprise officers from central intelligence agencies. Till now, the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) has worked as the nodal agency responsible for the functioning of all internal and external intelligence agencies.
A security official admitted that the need for separate missile intelligence centres was primarily because of China’s expanding missile development programme. The new agency will not just gather information but also analyse information available with central agencies like DIA, RAW, IB and NTRO and recommend action to counter any adverse development.
An increase in deployed DF-21 medium-range ballistic missiles is reported by the Pentagon. Commercial satellite images in 2007 indicated possible DF-21 deployment at Delingha in the northern parts of Central China.
“This agency, once it comes into being, will deal exclusively with nuclear and missile intelligence. The agencies carrying out this work now function under the JIC but the committee is not exclusively for missile and nuclear intelligence,” he added. The new agency will function directly under the National Security Council and will be accountable for all inputs from the neighbouring region on developments related to missile and nuclear technology.
This proposal was first mooted by a joint task force on intelligence headed by former JIC chief S D Pradhan. Two other members of the task force are former IB director P C Haldar and scientist Roddam Narasimha. The task force was constituted at the behest of Narayanan himself and it has submitted its report to the government.
Similarly, a separate centre for maritime intelligence is also likely to be cleared by CCS. This centre will work as pivot around which all intelligence agencies involved in maritime security will function. Intel centres to keep tabs on China’s missiles, navy. Sachin Parashar, TNN 18 July 2009, 02:41am IST
The PLA’s land-based ballistic and cruise missile force consists of 38 operational missile units spread throughout the country. The missile force is heavily oriented towards mobile short and theater range systems, with only eight facilities supporting ICBMs. This lethal mix of missiles now threatens an almost defenseless Delhi whose missiles don’t really work, and whose nuclear explosions are the subject of much doubt and debate even inside Bharat.
Two weeks after photographs of China’s nuclear submarines set alarm bells ringing for the Indian authorities, a commercial satellite has revealed a launching site for over 50 nuclear ballistic missiles, capable of striking all north Indian cities.
According to commercial satellite images analysed by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), China has significantly reorganized the launching facilities near Delingha in the northern parts of Central China, said Hans Kristensen, a researcher with FAS.
The medium-range missiles also have Russia within striking range.
“From these launch pads for DF-21 missiles, southern Russia and northern India would be within range, but not Japan, Taiwan or Guam,” Kristensen added.
The DF-21 is a medium-range ballistic missile estimated by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to have a range of approximately 1,330 miles (2,150 kilometers). It is China’s first solid-fuel ballistic missile and believed to carry a single warhead with a yield of 200-300 kilo-tonnes.
“The US government often highlights China’s deployment of new mobile missiles as a concern but keeps the details secret, so the discovery of the deployment area provides the first opportunity for the public to better understand how China operates its mobile ballistic missiles,” Kristensen said.
The revelation has come two weeks after satellite images of the Chinese Navy’s upcoming base at Hainan Island, 1,200 nautical miles from the strategic Malacca Strait and an access route to the Indian Ocean, has set off alarm bells across the Indian establishment.
The latest images were posted along with Kristensen’s analysis on the website of the Federation of American Scientists. Kristensen said the imagery revealed missile launch sites along a 275-kilometer (170 miles) stretch of highway leading from the city of Delingha through Da Qaidam to Mahai in the northern part of Qinghai province.
Thirty-six launch pads were arrayed in three strings extending north of the highway and west of Delingha. Another 22 launch pads were detected in an area running west of Da Qaidam to Mahai, according to Kristensen’s analysis. newsx.com/story/9976. Chinese nuclear missile base has north India in sight, Fri-May 16, 2008, New Delhi / NewsX Bureau with IANS inputs
Nepal wants to scrap much hated “Treaty of Friendship” with India
By: RupeeNews
Red Maxist of Nepal are Anti-India
The Nepalis hate being slammed around and dislike hegemony. Delhi is surrounded by problems of its own making. It is hated in South Asia for good reason. The “Indian Union” has had wars with all her neighbors, and it constantly interferes in the affairs of all of them. It calls all of them “failed states” proposing a raison d’etre under which it can absorb them into this huge behemoth called “Akhand Bharat“–an land mass which encompasses most of Asia– from Kabul in the West to a mystical land called Raj Kilhani, which is east of Bali in Indonesia. This is the “Bharat” that religious Bharatis dream of.
The Sri Lankans hate the Indians for supporting th the LTTE terrorists. The Bangladeshis are fed up with the “Rakhi Bahni” which tried to rule Bangladesh under an Indian general. The Burmese would rather be isolated than deal with a Delhi bent upon making it a protectorate, The Maldives almost drowning don’t want a lifeboat from Bharat. The Chinese have huge boundary disputes with Delhi. In the early days of independence Delhi thought that it could grab Tibet and thus bifurcate China into small pieces, perpetuating the colonial division of China. Mao Zedung would have none of that and took over Tibet, Aksai Chin and told Delhi to lay off Tibet. Then of course there are the Pakistanis, a huge impediment to Bharati hegemonistic designs in West Asia.
Former Prime Minister of Nepal and the Chairman of the Nepal Communist Party- Unified Maoists’ Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal said beamingly on Saturday August 22, 2009, that the “five day official visit of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to India was an a summary failure”.
Mr. Dahal, while addressing a journalist gathering in Birgunj, further said that the Indian media which did not give any importance and coverage to the PM’s India stay was in itself a glaring proof of the failure of the visit.
“It was a brazen insult of Nepal PM in India”, he said.
Prachanda however, remembering those good old days, visiting New Delhi as the prime minister of Nepal, said, “I was the prime minister with the peoples’ mandate…prior to my arrival in New Delhi, the Indian media had made headlines.”
“Madhav Nepal’s has no peoples’ mandate and thus his visit did not draw much attention from the Indian media”, Prachanda said. Madhav Nepal’s trip to India a summary failure: Prachanda: TGW
Nuclear flashpoint: How India lost Nepal to China. Even though Nepal is Hindu, the people of Nepal have been struggling to get away from the yolk of Delhi. For years, Delhi supported the brutal monarchy which had signed “the treaty of peace of friendship” which made Nepal a protectorate of Delhi. An insurgency ensued for decades. The Maoists looked towards Beijing. Nepal’s former Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, or Prachanda (“fierce”) has publicly stated that is policy would be to equi-distant his country between Delhi and Beijing. This sort of talk keeps analysts up at night. A neutral Nepal gives huge headaches to Indian defense analysts. A Pro-Chinese Nepal is catastrophic for Delhi. A Nepal which is more friendly to China eliminates Delhi’s access to Tibet, and puts pressure on Sikkim and Bhutan. A hostile Nepal places the Indian union in jeopardy because it is a Damocles sword on Delhi. At the drop of a hat Nepal could choke Indian access to the seven Indian states in the Northeast which are already up in arms against Delhi.
“It’s not that 98 percent of the border disputes have been resolved, but that a total of 98 strip maps have been prepared. And we are not going to sign those maps”
India is now trying to support a pro-Indian government and keep the Maoists out of power. This could be very dangerous, because it could lead of widespread Anti-Indian riots. Already the Indian companies working Nepal face an uphill battle. Various project have been put on hold and trade is in jeopardy.
Maoists insurgents in Nepal and Naxalites in India
“Both, India and China are our friendly neighbors, we want to benefit from their economic prosperity”, said Mr. Nepal.
The Indian Minister for Home Affairs and a person known for his deep hatred against China and Pakistan, Mr. P. Chidambaram, met with visiting Prime Minister of Nepal Madhav Kumar Nepal in New Delhi. Mr. Chidambaram, expectedly, raised the issue of criminalization of Madhesh, insecurity along the porous open border and the impact it was having on Indian security.
Chidambaram also exhibited his concerns over the growing anti-India activities in Nepal and requested PM Nepal to curb them immediately. The Prime Minister, in response, assured the Indian minister that Nepali soil will never be allowed against friendly countries.
“Terrorists were using the Nepali soil to target India, mushrooming Madrasas along the border have turned into center of anti-India activities and that Nepal has turned into the hub of fake currency trade”, the India side categorically mentioned.
The Indian side claimed that the Pakistani Intelligence Agency, ISI was sponsoring anti-India activities in Nepal. Nepal’s Prime Minister however, said that he had no information if ISI was involved in such activities in Nepal. Similarly, Nepal’s Prime Minister in an hour long interaction with Indian intellectuals and journalists in New Delhi, Thursday, assured that Nepal will never turn into a hub of anti-India activities in Nepal.
The Indian journalists who were keen on raising “planted questions” categorically looked aggressive towards China. “China has never tried to influence Nepali politics”, Nepal’s communist prime minister replied when asked if Chinese activities were on the rise in Nepal? “I have never found that China has a desire to influence Nepali politics”, said Mr. Nepal.
“Both, India and China are our friendly neighbors, we want to benefit from their economic prosperity”, said Mr. Nepal.
“This government will not play one country against the other…I would like to assure our stand point over this fact”, Mr. Nepal said. “We are serious over the Indian concerns and we hope that India will also understand our sensitivities.” Telegraph Nepal
The Maoists recently quit the government protesting Indian interference. Peace is in jeopardy in the Himalayan state. The issue–getting rid of a pro-Indian general who had refused to listen to the Pro-Chinese Maoist rime Minister. The Maoists are a huge migraine headache for Delhi. The Maoists support the Naxaliteswhich control 40% of the Indian landmass. Once in power the Maoists continue their links with the Naxalites. Red Nepal: Clear and present danger to India
The Maoists are mad at Delhi for the interference. If India continues its diktat, the Maoists could retreat to the mountains and begin the war once again. China has a lot of influence in Napal.
The two neighbours have finalised a revised trade agreement and a treaty on controlling unauthorised trade.
Secretary Commerce Rahul Khullar (R) with Nepalese Counterpart Purushottam Ojha (L) signing the agreemnet in the presence of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna with Commerce and Supplies Minister of Nepal Rajendra Mahato, during the signing of Indo-Nepal agreement ceremony in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI
New Delhi and Kathmandu revealed the decision to review the 1950 peace and friendship treaty in a joint statement that was issued on Saturday – the last day of the Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Nepal’s five-day tour to India.
The negotiators of both the countries failed to narrow down differences on the issue of reciprocity of re-export facility, but went ahead to finalise the Agreement of Cooperation to Control of Unauthorised Trade without inserting the contentious provision.
India map: Naxalite Maoist insurgency map of India map : More than 89 insurgencies rage in India
New Delhi is reluctant to reciprocate Kathmandu’s offer of allowing India to re-export to Nepal imports from third country. The Ministry of Commerce in New Delhi anticipates that such a provision might turn Nepal into a transit point for export of Chinese products to India. The revised Treaty of Trade is expected to give a boost to the economic engagement by increasing the mutually agreed points of trade and result in both investment and employment generation. It aims at enlarging the scope of the existing institutional framework, under which India gives goods manufactured in Nepal duty-free access to its market.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Nepalese Commerce Minister Rajendra Mahato were present when commerce secretaries of both the countries initialed the agreements. The present trade between India and Nepal during the year 2008-09 (April-February) is US $ 1,862.02 million and is expected to go beyond US $ 3 billion.
To help boost foreign trade of Nepal, India has also agreed to let its landlocked neighbour to use the Vishakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh for transit traffic. Nepal has already been using the port in Kolkata. New Delhi agreed to consider Kathmandu’s request for use of an additional sea port on the western coast for trade purposes.
The 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between India and Nepal allows for free movement of people and goods between the two nations and a close relationship and collaboration on defence and foreign affairs. For New Delhi, the treaty is a tool to lessen Beijing’s influence on Kathmandu. But it has been drawing flak in Nepal, with the Maoists who now outnumber others in the Himalayan country’s Constituent Assembly demanding revision of the treaty.
The decision to review the treaty was taken during a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the visiting premier of Nepal. According to the joint statement issued on Saturday, the two PMs directed the Foreign Secretaries to discuss and review the treaty and other bilateral agreements to strengthen the relationship between the two neighbours. India, Nepal agree to review Friendship Treaty, New Delhi, Aug 23, DH News Service: Saturday, August 22, 2009.India and Nepal have agreed to review the 59-year-old bilateral Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Matrika, who was with his wife, rejected the India offer for arms and financial support, claims Janadharana quoting sources.
Siyasat Aur Pakistan 
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