How Institutions are Destroyed

PLUNDERING OF INSTITUITIONS BY A BLUNDERING GOVERNMENT-NOW THE ARMY: 

January 19th, 2012 | Professionals Party of India

Just when we felt that we had seen it all, the Government in power (PPI likes to call it “Government in office”) decides to prove us wrong. Every Institution so carefully built to protect the citizen and provide good governance is being embarrassed or neutered systematically..CVC, CAG, UPSC, Minorities commission, Election Commission, etal. Rampant corruption, non adherence to well outlined procedures and practices and lack of coherence in decision making have been exacerbated by ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease  of senior Ministers and inability to communicate and connect with the Nation when it was most required.
The saga of age controversy of the Army Chief is perhaps the last straw. There is not a country in the world which could have blundered and prevaricated in the manner that this Government has. All it needed was good communications with the Army Headquarters and decisive action without delay.
The story of this controversy has been discussed adnauseam, thanks to the media. PPI would merely look to focus on the lessons of this episode with the sole objective of underscoring the importance of Good Governance. 
The Army has undoubtedly created a situation which should not have been referred to the Govt in the first instance. The systemic inadequacies and delineation of duties between two principal divisions i.e.MS branch and Adjutant General would have by now been addressed and corrected to avoid such embarrassments in future.
What needs to be addressed is the Civil-Military relation in the Indian Context, which has shown a continuous down slide since Independence. The containment of Service Headquarters by the Ministry of defence, relegating the service headquarters to an attached office status with neither decision making powers nor adequate financial powers, are some of the reasons pointed out by various committees set up by Governments in the past. These recommendations have not been implemented or selectively implemented to maintain status quo.
The Kargil review committee chaired by late Sri K Subrahmanium,a reputed Security analyst, had recommended integrating the Ministry of Defence with the service headquarters so that policy making bodies are a mix of civilian and Military personnel and seamless functioning is facilitated for better planning and deployment of our scarce resources. Had it been implemented in letter and spirit, there would have been no differences between the MOD and the services, since they would have been one entity.
There are some seminal lessons on which the Govt needs to concentrate instead of knocking at the doors of Supreme Court. Do read the Security Manifesto of PPI. You will notice we have underscored institutional remedies, such as integration, many years ago. Don’t you want professionals in Govt. Do not shun politics if you want your children to have a happy life.

SEMINAR ON PIRACY AT KARACHI

Despite all the right noises that Diplomats and politicians make on both sides of the Indo-Pak border,a genuine visitor still has to go through a harrowing experience to merely seek a visa.The situation is perhaps the same whether you are an Indian or a Pakistani who wants to cross the border.People to people contact which has been on the priority list for decades has made no progress whatsoever,as I discovered during a recent memorable visit to Karachi.

The organizers of a seminar on "The Human Face of Piracy" which was jointly conceived by a group of Indians and Pakistanis and supported by Dalhousie University of Canada(which has done seminal work on the subject) NDU of USA and conducted at the campus of Bahria University at Karachi;, were determined to ensure that the two players(India and Pakistan) who contribute substantial seafarers to the Merchant Marine participated in the seminar. To those who are not aware of the complications of conducting a seminar in either Pakistan or India, let me explain.The respective Ministries of External Affairs and Internal security have to scrutinize the proposal and satisfy their "curiosity" on why it should be held in the first instance. Thereafter the participants from India/Pakistan have to submit all their papers defining their profession and interests while filling the visa appliction form-which by itself is a very unique one. It becomes more complex if the applicant had anything to do with the Armed forces or other "Interesting Services" run by the respective Governments.

Adhering to every rule laid down by our Govts, the organizers processed each of the papers and followed it up at regular intervals. But then there is a very strict code of conduct based on the principle of quid pro quo-which somehow conspires to harass the applicant till almost the day of departure.People tp people contact is just not on the agenda of our officials who continue to treat every visitor as a possible threat to national security.   All this when the youth and the electronic media- enabled citizens  on bothsides have moved on from the post partition trauma. The information flow which cannot easily be controlled has brought about a realistic assessment of each others intentions and capabilities. That ,India under sustained democratic polity has gained substantially in all walks of life, is an acknowledged fact at the' people- level.' There is quite a desire to see what has empowered India to enable her to leverage her soft power under the overarching umbrella of economic growth. There is genuine desire to participate in a similar growth venture through exchange of ideas rather than confrontation through outdated and bankrupt politico-military strategies which have kept the two apart.
 How will any of us know that such a desire among the youth of Pakistan in particular is going viral, unless we visit each other as tourists,businessmen,scientists,scholars and simply professionals.
This visit of mine after a lapse of 25 years bewildered me.There were no signs of violence on the streets of Karachi as one is made to believe by the media. The students,a large cross section of them,were as global in their thinking as they were gizmo savvy. A mirror image of an upper middle class section of India.Commerce,business,bollywood,music,the Delhi Metro,the new international airports of Delhi,Bengaluru and Hyderabad etc were the subjects of curious and admiring youth with a strong desire to visit. Why not study in one of the IIM's or IIT's. When can we travel freely? Can we stay with you? These were the exchanges and not religion,mullas,fundamentalism or even talibanisation-not even mentioned in passing. They are too busy looking ahead at their future prospects and appear to have little or no time to worry about possibility of a failed state.

 Had I not been there during the regime of President Zia, I would not have pinched myself so many imes to remind myself that I was indeed in Karachi. Some may say that Karachi was always different-the Mumbai of Pakistan where the next meal was more important than everything else. But then the spontaneous warmth, the ready engagement even after being told that I was an Indian and the tears at farewell cannot easily be enacted. In any case at 65, I have seen enough to judge what is genuine. I suggest you judge for yourself when the borders are opened with a new vias regime. I am told it is round the corner.!!That will be the beginning of a new era in the sub-continent.