LETTERS

Veerappan

That a long-time outlaw like Veerappan is able to negotiate on his demands with two State governments shows the complete failure of the system of law enforcement in the country ("Waiting for Rajkumar", September 1). Many innocent people are put behind ba rs on false charges while a criminal, who has killed over a hundred persons and a large number of elephants, has been accorded the honour of meeting a government emissary. It is difficult to believe that the state machinery, with all the forces at its co mmand, is not able to catch the dacoit.

Anil Sarwal
Chandigargh

R. Rajaraman
Chennai

Kargil

The article on Peak 5353 metres ("Kargil questions", September 1) was timely. The peak's strategic importance was explained clearly - how its loss could cripple Indian defence positions from Mushkoh to Bhimber and how any attack on it would mean a resu mption of hostilities in the Drass sector. The question assumes more importance in the light of reports about firing across the Line of Control. Pakistan's military spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi has said that "even today Kargil is not out of reach for us".

A. Jacob Sahayam
Karigiri, Tamil Nadu

Finance Commission

Apropos "Devolution dilemmas" (September 1), while the Constitution gives the institution of the Finance Commission the maximum freedom to operate in the areas under its purview, the Finance Commissions, except the first one, were required to follow cert ain guidelines laid down in their terms of reference. This practice gives the impression that the issues to be examined by the Finance Commissions are pre-determined by the Centre. It is like a player in a game laying down the rules of the game and also choosing the referee. What is needed now is to ensure that the guidelines do not come in the way of Finance Commissions taking their own approach to the issue. Only this can ensure their independent functioning.

C. Ramesh
Keeramangalam, Tamil Nadu

Tea industry

I refer to the article "Storm in tea country" (September 1).

Fewer than 10 major tea brokers operate in the auction centres at Coonoor, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Calcutta and Kochi and they virtually control the business.

Tea-tasters play a vital role in fixing prices for various grades of tea. The system of tea-tasting is as old as the tea industry itself and it has many drawbacks: tea-tasters are appointed by tea brokers; tea producers have no mechanism to contest the f indings of the tea-tasters; the tea-tasting method is not scientific and the whole process depends on a few individuals. Since the tea-tasters are appointed by tea brokers, there is room for market manipulation.

The sugar content in sugarcane is determined by chemical methods and the price is fixed accordingly. The fat and SNF content in milk is determined by a chemical method and the water content with a lactometer. A similar scientific method should be develop ed to determine the quality of tea to fix prices.

It is alleged that some brokers operate as buyers under different names and the nexus deprives the producers and thousands of workers who depend on tea for a living of their due.

The government's stipulation that 75 per cent of the tea produced should be sold through auction causes great hardship to producers. The producer should be free to choose the marketing method.

A casual survey of the retail market will reveal alarming facts. Some branded varieties sell for prices ranging between Rs.120 and Rs.150 a kg. Therefore it is evident that the tea crisis is the result of market manipulation by vested interests. Consumer s pay the prices quoted at the retail outlets. The worst aspect of the whole process is that the actual producer and the workers are the victims of the machinations of the major players in the trade.

Another significant aspect is that only 20 per cent of the tea produced in India is exported and the rest is locally consumed. When there is no downturn in tea prices in the local market, it becomes the paramount responsibility of the government to ident ify the causes and provide relief to the farmers.

V.Nadesan
Gudalur, Tamil Nadu

Tourism

I was disturbed by the stand that Jayati Ghosh took in "The trauma of too much tourism" (September 1). It smacks of an elitism that is quite uncharacteristic of her.

I agree that low-value tourism causes environmental degradation. Banning it and promoting only high-value tourism appears to be an insult to a large section of tourists. Not everyone can afford to pay for high-value tourism. Any decision in favour of suc h tourism will not be all right for two other reasons: 1. It will exonerate the state from its failure to curb poor town-planning and waste disposal methods. 2. It will affect the livelihood opportunities generated for poor and lower middle class people by low-value tourism. High-value tourism (read five-star tourism) will benefit only big builders and hoteliers.

Rajiv Kumar
Received on e-mail

Economic reforms

The review by C.T. Kurien of Rob Jenkins' recent book Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India ("Reform by stealth", September 1) was thought-provoking. Stating that several questions have to be raised about Jenkins' treatment of the subj ect, Kurien draws the readers' attention to the global situation that prevailed between 1985 and 1991 when socialist regimes collapsed. This situation provided the logic for the initiation of reforms in 1991 in India by the P.V. Narasimha Rao government. Speaking at the World Business Forum at Davos and other similar forums, Narasimha Rao said that what he initiated in India was a "middle path paradigm of development" per se. Commenting on this, some sections of the media described Narasimha Rao's move as a wily act of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

What compelled Narasimha Rao to make this adventure was neither the changing economic situation in East Asia nor the shift of orientation from socialism to the market economy in the East European countries and the Soviet Union. He had merely yielded to t he machinations of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had a powerful presence in New Delhi; their functionaries had access to and influenced policymakers in the Finance Ministry. Quite a few of the policymakers had a substant ive track record of having served the World Bank or the IMF. The Fund-Bank combine sought to exploit India's dire need for development finance and arm-twisted its policymakers to adhere to what has come to be known as the Washington consensus and its mid -1990s version, 'post-Washington consensus'.

To those in charge of governance in New Delhi, irrespective of their ideological affiliations, this came as a convenient soft option to source development finance. World Bank functionaries started interacting closely with the coalition governments of the 1990s and with the governments in States such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Fund-Bank combine succeeded in tightening its octopus-like grip on economic policy and decision-making in India. Sadly, all those in power in New Delhi since Narasimha R ao have displayed a sort of 'Stockholm syndrome' in their interaction with the Fund-Bank combine. Neither Jenkins nor Kurien has brought out this aspect of the economic reforms.

K. John Mammen
Thiruvananthapuram

Kashmir

Praful Bidwai has said that "some" of the Central laws have been extended to Jammu and Kashmir "without proper warrant" and that "the Centre amended its (J&K's) Constitution no fewer than 42 times" ("The Hizbul's ceasefire offer", August 18). His asserti on is untenable. The fact is that the Centre has at no point of time during the 53 years of accession imposed any law on Jammu and Kashmir against the State's will. Nor has it ever amended the State's Constitution of 1957. The Centre has no authority to amend it. It is, however, true that the Centre has issued 43 (and not 42) Constitution orders. But it is also true that these were issued with the "concurrence or consultation of the State Government". This is the procedure Article 370 had laid down. Th at the Centre has all along honoured Article 370 and not taken any step that could erode the internal autonomy Jammu and Kashmir has enjoyed since January 26, 1950 can be seen from the Report of the State Autonomy Committee.

However, I fully endorse Bidwai's view that "the State Autonomy Committee report is politically flawed" and that, if implemented, it will "lead to over-concentration of power in the hands of the Chief Minister" (read the ruling party). At the same time, I would like to point out that the solution to the Kashmir problem does not lie in autonomy as Jammu and Kashmir already enjoys it. It lies in a dispensation that delinks the Valley from Jammu and Ladakh. Such a segregation on regional lines, as opposed to religious and sectarian lines, alone can meet the needs, compulsions and political aspirations of the people inhabiting the three linguistically, geographically, ethnically and historically distinct regions. Those who believe that grant of greater aut onomy to the State and transfer of some power to Jammu and Ladakh within the ambit of that greater autonomy will meet the needs of different people and the exigencies of the time are living in a different world. We must remember that the people of Jammu and Ladakh will under no situation allow New Delhi to grant a political concession that would drive the State further away from the country's mainstream.

Hari Om
Department of History
University of Jammu
Jammu

The Kashmir problem has been with us right from 1947. Pakistan is clear about how it looks at the problem. It treats Kashmir as a problem that is part of a process that started with Partition. It is India that has paid a heavy price on Kashmir. Pakistan' s losses are meagre because it is financed by Islamic countries, which share Pakistan's ideology. Our policy of "secularism" has in fact contributed directly to Pakistan's intransigence. Pakistan will not give up because its religion encourages fighting for a cause that assures one a place in heaven. Religion is the only motivating force in this dispute and we should not deny this aspect to satisfy our "secular" mindset.

L.T. Sippy
Pune