The need for talks between India and Pakistan are urgently needed especially because peace between the two countries will facilitate economic transformation of South Asia. But relations between the two countries still throw doubt on the prospect. The continuing conflict between the two countries escalated with the Mumbai tragedy. But there are hopes of a thaw. First, there will be a meeting at the foreign secretaries level and then Indian home minister P. Chidambaram is to meet Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s interior minister on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Islamabad. Positive results may not be forthcoming. But the accord on talks is a step forward.

Islamabad has taken some action against a number of key figures in the LeT. But if India is adamant about saying no to talks, it may find itself out of the Afghan reconstruction process. The US and Pakistan are getting close on the issue. New Delhi cannot be blind to it. A democratic and unitary government in Kabul will be to the interest of both India and Pakistan. A radical regime there will be most unpopular with Islamabad. Talks between India and Pakistan can take in all issues - business, cross border terrorism, curbing Jihadis and of course Kashmir. The talks on Kashmir had made significant progress under President Pervez Musharraf. They have been halted. A solution of the Kashmir problem will be most welcome and it will enable Pakistan to clamp down on internal terror. And it will be in the interest of South Asia all round.

Circa pre-1947: India, a conglomerate of 565 States, resounded to the battle cry of "throw out the British". Sprinkled with a heavy dose of nationalism, all Bharatvasis pledged to unite the country more than ever before.

Circa 2008-10: Mera Bharat Mahan comprising 28 States is about throwing out the "outsider aam aadmi" from respective States. Infused with loads of patriotic provincial chaap, all promising to make their respective States more local than ever before.

The ‘Maharashtra for Maharashtrians’ and "throw out the North Indians" bugle first sounded by Shiv Sena’s "paper tiger" Bal Thackeray’s estranged nephew Raj’s non-descript Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in February 2008 unleashed a volley of regionalism in Mumbai and the rest of the State. The baton of Amchee Maharashtrians was picked up by cousin Udhav’s Sena last week which not only sent India’s commercial Capital into a tail spin but also unleashed a volley of vitriolic tu-tu-mein-mein between the SS and the Congress.

All over Bollywood superstar and Indian Premier League (IPL) team owner Shahrukh Khan’s criticism of the exclusion of Pakistani cricketers from the IPL. Predictably an incensed Sena, accustomed to having things all its own way followed its set pattern: abused Khan for being "Pakistani", tore down posters of his new movie and intimidated theatre owners from screening the film till he apologised. Equally familiarly, the police did not clamp down on the violence.

The raging controversy hit a new low following "Congress Prince" Rahul Gandhi assertion "Mumbai belonged to all Indians." A livid Sena countered, "he is a frustrated bachelor." Next it targeted his mother Sonia’s foreign origin, "Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian mummy." Shot back the Congress "Bal Thackeray is senile."

Caught in the cross-fire a rattled Shahrukh asserted, "If there is an issue with me you have to sort it out with me". It remains to be seen if Khan will do a Karan Johar and apologise in person. Recall, how Johar bent over backwards to placate Raj Thackeray when he objected to Wake Up Sid being set in "Bombay and promised changes in the script as well as in all future scripts.

Amidst the mayhem, trust our netagan to use this opportunity to play the ‘insider-outsider’ game to their electoral advantage. True, both the Congress and BJP have come out against the Shiv Sena’s chauvinism on Mumbai. Not because they have rediscovered nationalistic fervor but to exploit the issue for their own selfish gains and maximize their political return, read votes Specially, the ‘migrant’ Bihari votes in the forthcoming Bihar Assembly polls. No matter that they only stoke the flames of hatred and pit the aam Bharatvasi against each other. As also revive the time old controversy of "sons of the soil" demand once again.

While the Congress, in theory, is committed to one-India-all-Indians view, in practice, it has played copycat politics. Remember last month its State Government issued a decree that taxi drivers in Mumbai should speak and read Marathi and have been domiciled in the city for over 15 years to get new licences. Only to hastily backtrack and reiterate that these requirements were a part of an old law. Sic. Also recall, how it turned a blind eye to the MNS violence against north Indians and humoured it against bête noir SS in the run-up to the Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2009.

The BJP and RSS’s opposition to ally Sena stems from a different form of chauvinism, one that talks of Akhand Bharat and excludes non-Hindus from its concept of citizenship and nationhood. "India is one from Kashmir to Kanyakumari." It cannot accept Mumbai, or another city, belonging only to a sub-set of the nation.

Importantly, the moot point is not whether our rulers should be allowed to play havoc with the rule of law? But encompasses the wider question of ‘outsider’ versus ‘insider.’ A concept that seeped in when States were formed on a linguistic basis and sowed the seeds of sub-nationalism. Pride in the mother tongue became a chauvinistic badge of honour and led people to assume that they had the first lien on the economic gains. ‘Others’ were second class.

However, Constitutionally, Article 16 is clear. It provides: "There shall be equal opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State." Sadly, opinions have deferred right from the Constituent Assembly debate. Some leaders felt that the States should have the unfettered right to give employment to locals. Not a few quibbled about the years of residence, should it be 10 or 50 years. Others felt that every citizen must be made to feel a citizen of the country and not a particular State.

From then to now the controversy continues. Regionalism first raised its ugly head in Tamil Nadu in the early 60s, where the alienation of the people from the Centre led to the birth of the DMK, which later split into the AIADMK and other groups. It then moved to Maharashtra where Thackeray’s SS became the self-styled champion of the ‘Marathi manoos' whereby everyone in Mumbai was an `outsider' except the 28% Maharashtrians. It attacked skilled labourers from the south who were branded as "lungi-wallas." Now it’s the North Indian, UP bhaiya or Bihari migrant.

Assam followed in the 70’s when the All Assam Students Union (AASU) started an "oust all illegal migrants from Bangladesh" movement and won the elections. In nearby Nagaland too, the students want all non-Nagas out. Regionalism had arrived. In 2003, Assam resounded to parochialism again when the locals stopped 20,000 Biharis from taking a recruitment test in Guwahati. The Biharis retaliated by stopping trains from the N-East, dragged out the people, killed some and beat the rest. The Assamese hit back and killing more Biharis. The Delhi Chief Minister recently too took up cudgels against the influx of Biharis and Purabias.

More. Mandalisation in the 90’s unleashed the Made in India leaders all with a common USP: "We are the locals, Delhi is doorust – an outsider." Be it Badal’s Akali Dal in Punjab, N.T. Rama Rao’s Telugu Desam in Andhra, Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD in Orissa.

Thus, with both people and parties making regionalism their mantra, it gave a fillip to the "sons of soil" issue. The local youth demanded "reservation" of jobs in their area, and to some extent rightly too. Arguably, why should people from outside a particular State apply for menial jobs? If outsiders corner jobs of sweepers or helpers as in the case of the Railways, where should the locals go for their bread and butter?

The tragedy is that now we are Marathas, Tamilians or Biharis first and Indians next. Worse, our polity has chipped away at the reality of a united and integrated India preferring to take the regional route and basking in the ignorance of the emotionally trapped, majorly illiterate, locals. Does this mean people in India cannot live and work in a different city? Think. Only a Himachal-born can buy land in the State. Why? Is this a nation marching towards progress in its 60th year of Independence?

What next? First, the Government should come up with a law to ban parties trying to divide the country on regional lines. True, language and cultures need to be protected but should not be used to divide people. There must be a legal provision allowing people of one State to earn their livelihood in any part of the country. Second, movement of human capital and resources is necessary to prevent stagnation from creeping into the body politic.

Importantly, the periodic outbursts of outsider’ vitriol and violence witnessed in Mumbai and other parts of the country will not end unless the ‘sons of soil’ conception and practice of goonda politics change. Unless democracy is envisaged as a genuinely inclusive and participatory project, with an attendant focus on broadening the socio-economic pie and making development more equitable across geographies and communities.

Clearly, regionalism will lead to disintegration of the country. It does not behove anyone to ignore the basic philosophy of India’s unity and integrity and impose curfew on "outsiders". Let politics be a healthy exercise to unite, not divide. Every citizen of India is a "local of India." ----- INFA

There is a growing concern across the country over the spiraling food prices, especially of essential commodities including rice, wheat, pulses, sugar etc. According to reports, food inflation which had increased to around 20 per cent is now about 17 per cent. Despite signs of prices coming down a little, there is a possibility of food inflation threatening to spill over onto the wider economy. It is understood that the Agriculture Ministry is taking steps, which include import of pulses and also release of five lakh tonnes of wheat and 25 lakh tonnes of rice through NAFED.

Indeed, inflation has crossed the RBI’s forecast of 6.5 per cent by the end of the fiscal year. It has reached 7.31 per cent and the Government is rightly being attacked from all quarters for its inability to handle the crisis. Experts believe that though food inflation may not rise, general inflation is likely to rise above 8 per cent by March-end. In their pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, trade union leaders have urged the Government to take immediate steps to check price rise.

Although food inflation is not the same as general inflation, it is the former which affects the poorer sections of society. Moreover, real wages have barely increased pushing the poor and the economically weaker sections (EWS) to greater hardship. People in the unorganized sector and the daily wage earners are finding it difficult to make both ends meet. Even the lower middle-income sections of society have felt the pinch with the increasing prices of rice, pulses, onions, sugar, eggs etc.

In such a situation, a high growth rate has no meaning. Are essentials of life being provided to the masses at a reasonable price? As per the Suresh Tendulkar Committee report around 37.2 per cent people are deemed to be poor but this food inflation is bound to have affected at least 65-70 per cent of the population, which includes the EWS and the lower income group (LIG), if not more.

While the Government appeared quite desperate to divert attention to almost non-issues like tabling the Liberhan Commission report, new plans in sectors such as higher education sector and power, etc, the Opposition failed to utilize the winter session of Parliament to focus solely on the issue of food inflation. Therefore, revealing that most of our people’s representatives have little concern for the masses, who are not only reeling under poverty and squalor but are facing the worst food situation.

While the Government appears to be interested in discharging its responsibility by increasing employees’ salary, allocating more money to the so-called developmental projects and raising the loanable funds of banks to overcome the recession, it is yet to get cracking on the phenomenal price rise issue, which directly affect the country’s poor.

All these years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been affirming that economic reforms will not only boost growth and prosperity but also have the power to reach the poorest segments of the population. Even the 11th Plan has an emphasis on inclusive growth but sadly it has not become a reality. As per the estimates of the Planning Commission for 2004-05, India’s combined poverty ratio had been estimated at 27.5 per cent but this has now been found to be 37.5 per cent by the expert group chaired by Suresh Tendulkar with rural poverty as high as 42 per cent.

Obviously, food inflation has further deteriorated the situation – as though the per capita income grew by 62 per cent, poverty declined by only 22 per cent during 1993-94 and 2004-05. Again, while the urban per capita consumption expenditure was over 63 per cent higher than in rural areas, it jumped to 88 per cent in 2004-05, indicating a sharp jump in urban-rural disparity over the decade.

Poverty as is well-known is related to food insecurity. India ranks 66 among 88 countries in the ‘Global Hunger Index 2008’ prepared by the International Food Research Institute. It is estimated that around 300 million Indians live under the most trying conditions. More than 230 million are undernourished which is 27 per cent of the global total. The country also has among the highest rates of child malnourishment and female anemia. To tackle hunger, the government has passed the Food Security Act, which entitles all BPL families 25 kg of grain (wheat and rice) per month at Rs 3 per kg. But to translate such measures into reality and ensure that the beneficiaries get the requisite amount is indeed a big challenge.

The big question is what is required to be done? The planning and development strategy has been geared to benefit largely the well-off sections of society. Some benefits have accrued to the economically weaker sections but the real poor have not benefited in any tangible manner. The condition of the farming community, who should have derived benefits from the rise in food prices, has regrettably remained the same and in some parts of the country has actually deteriorated. The beneficiaries have been the industrial class and most organized sector employees whose percentage is a small fraction of the country’s population.

The emphasis on private sector participation in the economy has again helped in boosting up the GDP but not helped in upgrading the conditions of the poor and the distressed sections of society. Clearly, the share of public investments in irrigation have not increased and irrigation potential as percentage of the gross cropped area is still around 60, which has contributed to no appreciable increase in agricultural productivity. While pulses production stagnated at around 14 million tonnes per year since 1990 with the population having increased by 360 million, per capita availability of cereals has also fallen.

Keeping in view the long-term demands of an increasing population, especially food, it is imperative for the government to give more attention to agriculture. While research has to be geared up for productivity increase in the lagging States and explore ways of multi-cropping, there is also the need to develop a chain of cold storages to meet shortages in times of need. More government investments are needed in this direction as a priority area. A time-bound action plan for revitalization of agriculture through a second green revolution is called for to tackle future rise in prices of essential commodities.

The 10-year Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia Programme (CSISA) which aims to increase yield by 0.5 tonne per hectare on five million hectares of four million farmers should give a push towards the second green revolution becoming a reality through the project. It is also necessary that all sorts of hoarding in food commodities must be stopped with an iron hand through strict enforcement of the Essential Commodities Act and this has recently been reiterated by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. It may be added here that, if necessary, direct intervention of the Centre may be resorted to.

Editor,

Sometime in 2009, the construction of a Resting Point and now the covering of the drain has restored to the road joining Don Bosco Square to St. Anthony's College its original name : Jacob's Ladder. For many years, a familiar, not so pleasant, all pervasive odour accompanied one and all, along the road much travelled! Totally overwhelmed, local wags renamed the road "Jacob's Bladder"! Ousted contributors to the aroma have lost no time in discovering an alternative - Lady Veronica Lane - opposite the State Bank of India, Laitumkhrah. At all times of the day, notwithstanding who is walking along the lane, scores of males of the species, give the wall all along the lane a blast of their impudence resulting in puddles of natural urea and the familiar, not so pleasant all pervasive odour. Since the narrow lane is made narrower by incorrigible Shillong drivers parking right along the NO PARKING signs, it is quite likely that passing vehicles could shower you with …………!

Before local wags can think of a creative name for the lane, could an initiative similar to the one on Jacob's Ladder be taken up immediately and prevent the late Lady Veronica turning in her grave and save pedestrians from an early grave!!

Yours etc.,
C. Noronha
Shillong

Editor,

Meghalaya has come to the limelight yet again not for any extraordinary achievement as but for a political circus we have witnessed during these past years- power crazy politicians wanting the moon! This news is a mockery to the state and to the Constitution. We remember the slogan of the BJP a few years back -"India Shining." Here our politicians are shining not for good reasons but for selfish interests. Why do they do this? Is it to save their chairs? Is it for the good of the state?

Residing outside the state we have to bear the brunt of being ridiculed. I am sure none of our politicians hear the remarks that people around the country are making about our state and our politicians - 'selfish people', 'obsessions of power', 'murdering of the constitution' and the like. And yet look around and tell me which part of the state is making any progress? No drinking water, no power, no industries, no communications, no farming system, no proper education, health……the list is endless. This is only natural. When those elected to rule are so obsessed with power and enveloped by ego how will they have time to govern? Our elected representatives have betrayed our trust; they have butchered our hopes. But who will bell the cat? Do we have to wait for the next election when our heroes have had enough?

We had one option earlier-bandhs and protests. But now even these lifelines are taken away. We are robbed of everything and now they can sit on our heads and dictate terms. It's a sorry state of affair. Do we have to follow our father Mahatma Gandhi and call for non-cooperation? I ask our leaders to reflect and our people to analyse and act.

Yours etc.,
Gervasius Nongkseh
New Delhi

Editor,

Purno A. Sangma is no doubt the elected MLA of our constituency, Tura, but where is he? Why is he not stationed here? On many occasions, people make a beeline for his house to get signatures or approval on his MLA letter pad for something or the other. But he is never there. Is he basking in his daughter's glory in Delhi? In the run up to the 2008 legislative assembly elections, he would visit every house that had a funeral; he would attend any denomination church gatherings and weddings at alarming regularity. Once elected no more 'mande sia chi' ( dead house), no 'sobha' (church gathering) no 'bia' (wedding). Now he is missing, rather absconding from performing the duties of an MLA. So much for his rhetoric " I'm sacrificing my career at the centre to serve my people in the state." At least during Christmas time, he should have taken an opportunity to be in his home town to wish his constituents- No he was busy organising a party for the who's who of Delhi, spending crores of rupees on a single night party what with five-star multi-cuisine food and the best drinks. How happy the poor villagers who make a sizeable number of his electorate would have been with just 'na·kam bitchi' (dry fish curry). And then to top it all he is questioning the Constitution about which House of Parliament our PM should come from. Why doesn't he engage himself with more relevant issues? God help us if we elect him again in 20

Yours etc,
S. Ch. Momin
Dobasipara, Tura

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