Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech on India's Independence Day

My dear countrymen, brothers, sisters and dear children, I greet you all on this anniversary of our Independence. The leaders of our freedom movement, under the stewardship of Mahatma Gandhi, had dreamt of an independent and prosperous India. On this day in 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru took the first step towards the realization of that dream by hoisting the Tricolour at the Red Fort. The journey we began on 15 August, 1947 is now 65 years old. We have achieved much in these 65 years.
Today is certainly a day to celebrate the success of our democracy. However, on this occasion we should also introspect about what remains to be done. We would achieve independence in the true sense only when we are able to banish poverty, illiteracy, hunger and backwardness from our country. This would be possible only when we learn from our failures and build on our successes.

Brothers and Sisters,

You are aware that these days the global economy is passing through a difficult phase. The pace of economic growth has come down in all countries of the world. Seen together, the European countries are estimated to grow at 0 percent this year. Our country has also been affected by these adverse external conditions. Also, there have been domestic developments which are hindering our economic growth. Last year our GDP grew by 6.5 percent. This year we hope to do a little better.

We cannot do much about the conditions that prevail outside our country. But we must make every effort to resolve the problems inside our country so that our economic growth and the creation of employment opportunities in the country are again speeded up.

While doing this, we must also control inflation. This would pose some difficulty because of a bad monsoon this year. However, we have taken many measures to deal with the situation. In districts where there has been a deficit of 50 percent or more in the rainfall, diesel subsidy is being provided to farmers by the Government. Seed subsidy has been enhanced. Funds available under the Central scheme for fodder have been increased. Our effort is to ensure that people do not face difficulty due to shortage of seeds, fodder or water in any part of the country. It is good that we have a big stock of foodgrains because of the hard work of our farmer brothers and sisters, and availability of foodgrains is not a problem for us.

Brothers and sisters,

As far as creating an environment within the country for rapid economic growth is concerned, I believe that we are not being able to achieve this because of a lack of political consensus on many issues. Time has now come to view the issues which affect our development processes as matters of national security.

If we do not increase the pace of the country's economic growth, take steps to encourage new investment in the economy, improve the management of Government finances and work for the livelihood security of the common man and energy security of the country, then it most certainly affects our national security.

I promise to you today that our Government will work hard for India's rapid economic growth and for shielding the country from the effects of the global economic slowdown. I promise that we will work hard for creation of new employment opportunities for our young men and women living in villages and cities. We will make every possible effort to secure the livelihood of our poor brothers and sister, our workers and our farmers. We will leave no stone unturned to encourage investment in our country so that our entrepreneurs can make a substantial contribution to our economy.

My dear countrymen,

I believe that this period of difficulties will not last long. Even as we face these problems, we should be encouraged by the fact that we have achieved extraordinary successes in many areas in the last 8 years. We now need to replicate these successes in newer areas.

Brothers and sisters,

It has been our endeavour in the last 8 years to empower our citizens socially and economically so that they can contribute to the sacred task of nation building.

Today, one out of every 5 households in the country has become eligible to benefit from the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Act through a job card. In only the last one year we have provided employment to more than 8 crore people under this scheme.

When the UPA Government came to power in 2004, we had promised that we would provide electricity to all villages. To fulfill this promise, we launched the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme. More than 1 lakh new villages have been provided with electricity connections under this scheme and now almost all the villages in the country have been electrified. Our next target is to provide electricity to each and every household in our country in the next 5 years and to also improve the supply of electricity.

My dear countrymen,

No praise is high enough for our hard working farmers. They have produced a record output of crops successively in the last 2 years. Because of our Government's efforts for development of agriculture and for protecting the interests of farmers, agriculture has grown at an average rate of 3.3 per cent in the 11th Plan which is substantially higher than the 2.4 per cent we achieved in the 10th Plan. In the last 8 years, we have doubled the support prices of crops. We are providing loans at low interest rates to lakhs of farmers.

Our children are the biggest strength of our country. If our children are provided with good education and are healthy, then our future would be bright.

This is the reason why we have paid special attention to the needs of children in our policies and programmes. The education of children has been made mandatory by law. In the year 2006-07, only 93 per cent of children in the age group 6-14 years were getting admission in schools. Today almost all children in this age group are being admitted to schools. More than 51,000 new schools have been opened in the country and about 7 lakh teachers appointed in them in just the last 2 years. Now we will focus on improving the quality of education. In the next few months we will put in place a system of continuous assessment of the benefit our children are getting from teaching. Participation of the community and parents would be ensured so that they can be satisfied with the quality of teaching.

The Mid-day-meal Scheme provides nutritious meals in schools for about 12 crore children everyday. This is the biggest scheme of its kind in the world.

In the last one and half years no new case of polio has come to light and now India does not figure in the list of countries affected by this disease.

Malnutrition in children is a big challenge for us. We have taken steps in many dimensions to deal with this problem. In the last 8 years, the number of mothers and children benefitting from the ICDS has doubled. The process of making the ICDS more effective is in its last stages and will be completed in the next 1 or 2 months.

We had launched the National Rural Health Mission in 2005 so that health services can be extended to each village in the country. Today this Mission is being implemented with the help of 10 lakh health personnel including 8.5 lakh Asha workers. After the success of the National Rural health Mission, we now want to expand the scope of health services in our towns also. The National Rural Health Mission will be converted into a National Health Mission which would cover all villages and towns in the country. We are also formulating a scheme for distribution of free medicines through Government hospitals and health centres.

Brothers and sisters,

We want to create many new job opportunities for our youth in the coming years. To achieve this it is necessary that we train them in skills which our economy needs. It is our endeavour to put in place a system in which training facilities are available in many new skills. We also wish to provide short duration training courses of 6 weeks to 6 months for our young brothers and sisters. The National Skill Development Council has formulated a major scheme for skill development in which 8 crore people will be trained in the next 5 years. This is an ambitious scheme which can be implemented only through a specialized agency of the Central Government. Therefore, we are considering the establishment of a National Skill Development Authority so that skill development programmes all over the country can be implemented in a coordinated manner. We would also need contribution from the private sector and non-Governmental organizations in this work.

Creation of new employment opportunities is possible only when we encourage industry and trade. For this we need to speedily improve our infrastructure.

Recently we have taken new measures to accelerate infrastructure development. Ambitious targets have been fixed in roads, airports, railways, electricity generation and coal production. The Government will take steps to increase investment for infrastructure development with the help of the private sector. To attract foreign capital, we will have to create confidence at the international level that there are no barriers to investment in India.

Brothers and sisters,

Just 10 years back only 3 out of every 10 households in our villages were benefitting from banking services. Today more than half of the rural households get the benefit of bank accounts. It will be our endeavour to ensure that all households benefit from bank accounts in the next 2 years.

We want to create a system in which money from Government schemes - pension for old people, scholarship for students and wages for labourers - can be credited directly into people's bank accounts. This would reduce inconvenience to the beneficiaries, make it easy for them to receive payment and increase transparency. For this work, we will take help from the Aadhar scheme under which about 20 crore people have been registered so far.

To provide housing for our poor brothers and sisters residing in urban areas of our country we will soon launch the Rajiv Housing Loan Scheme. Under this scheme, people belonging to the economically weaker sections would be given relief on interest for housing loans of less than Rs.5 lakh.

This year we will present the Twelfth Five Year Plan for consideration of the National Development Council. The Plan would determine the future course of action on all important matters relating to the country's development. It would lay down measures for increasing our present rate of economic growth from 6.5 to 9 per cent in the last year of the Plan. The Plan would focus special attention on areas important from the point of view of reaching the fruits of development to each citizen of our country and specially to the weaker sections of our society. I have full confidence that the Centre and the States will act together to implement the Twelfth Plan in an effective manner.

Brothers and sisters,

The incidents of violence which occurred in Assam recently are very unfortunate. I know that these incidents have resulted in the disruption of the lives of a large number of people. We fully sympathize with those families which have been affected by the violence. We are doing everything possible to provide relief to them. I also promise to you that our Government will make every effort to understand the reasons behind the violence and work hard with the State Governments to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in any part of the country.

We have achieved success in many areas of internal security. In Jammu and Kashmir, people participated in large numbers in the Panchayat elections. There has been a reduction in violence in the North Eastern States and we are engaged in dialogue with many groups there so that they can join the mainstream of development. We have initiated new schemes of development in areas affected by naxal violence to ensure that the grievances of the people residing there, especially our brothers and sisters belonging to Scheduled Tribes, can be removed and their lot can be improved. However, we need to be constantly vigilant as far as internal security is concerned. Communal harmony has to be maintained at all costs. Naxalism is still a serious problem. The incidents which occurred in Pune in the beginning of this month point to the need for much more work to be done in the area of national security. We will continue to do this work with sincerity in the future also.

My dear countrymen,

I would like to congratulate our scientists and technologists who have enhanced our prestige by successfully testing the Agni V Missile and launching the RISAT- I Satellite in space this year. Recently the Cabinet has approved the Mars Orbiter Mission. Under this Mission, our spaceship will go near Mars and collect important scientific information. This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology.

Brothers and sisters,

We have seen a lot of discussion in the recent months about the role of our armed forces and their preparedness. I would like to emphasise here that our armed forces and paramilitary forces have defended the security of our country both during war and peace with valour and honour. Our soldiers have made the biggest of sacrifices, whenever needed. Today I would like to reassure our countrymen that our armed forces and paramilitary forces are prepared to face any challenge. The Government will continue to work for modernizing these forces and providing them with the necessary technology and equipment. Today, I would like to thank our security forces, who are guarding our frontiers bravely, from the bottom of my heart. We will continue to make efforts for their welfare.

Our Government has set up a committee to examine issues relating to pay and pension of armed forces personnel. This committee will also look into matters concerning pension of retired men and officers and family pension being paid to their families. We will take prompt action on the recommendations of the committee, once they are received.

My dear countrymen,

Our Government has paid special attention to the welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities, women and other weaker sections. The special needs of our tribal and backward districts are being met through programmes such as the Integrated Action Plan, Backward Regions Grant Fund and Tribal Sub Plan. Through the Forest Rights Act, we have given proprietary rights to lakhs of our brothers and sisters belonging to Scheduled Tribes on land on which they have been living for generations. We are formulating a scheme to ensure that people belonging to Scheduled Tribes can get fair and remunerative prices for the forest produce they collect. The Government wants to speedily convert the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill into a legislation. Through this law we want to provide funds for the benefit of our tribal brothers and sisters in the mining areas.

We will make the 15 points programme for minorities more effective. The Multi-Sectoral Development Programme being implemented in districts with large minority populations will be expanded.

We have enhanced the amount of post-matric scholarship available to children belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and minorities. Our efforts to make these scholarship schemes more effective will continue.We are considering a new and effective law to put an end to the repulsive practice of manual scavenging and to provide opportunities to those engaged in this practice to begin their lives afresh.

Brothers and sisters,

Our commitment to make the work of the Government and administration transparent and accountable stands. On the last Independence Day, I promised you that we would take many steps for this purpose. I am happy to state that during the last 1 year we have achieved good progress in this area. The Lok Sabha has cleared the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill. We hope that all political parties will help us in passing this Bill in the Rajya Sabha. A number of other Bills have also been presented before the Parliament. The Cabinet has cleared a Public Procurement Bill. We will continue our efforts to bring more transparency and accountability in the work of public servants and to reduce corruption. But we will also take care that these measures do not result in a situation in which the morale of public functionaries taking decisions in public interest gets affected because of baseless allegations and unnecessary litigation.

Brothers and sisters,

In my first message to the country after assuming the office of Prime Minister I had appealed to you to contribute to the sacred work of nation building. I am very happy that today more of our citizens than ever before, and specially the youth, are taking interest in issues related to the progress of our society and country. Our Government believes that the difficult problems which India faces can be resolved only with the cooperation of the common man. It will be our endeavour that in the coming time, still more people help us in tasks like removal of poverty, illiteracy and inequality.

I believe that no power in the world can stop our country from achieving new heights of progress and development. What is needed is that we work together as one people for the success of our country. Let us once more resolve that we will continue to work for a progressive, modern and prosperous India.

The looming global food crisis and the way out

Global food crises are turning out to be far too frequent to be dismissed any longer as a freakish phenomenon — in much the same way as the extreme and erratic weather patterns associated with global warming. A spike in the prices of agricultural commodities is again looming, threatening a repetition of the 2007-2008 global food crisis when international prices skyrocketed to their highest in 30 years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s food price index rose by over 80 per cent between the start of 2007 and mid 2008. Severe drought in the United States, flooding in several parts of Europe, a massive shortfall of rain in Africa and India are feared to lead to huge loss of output and a scramble for markets and supplies.


Meanwhile, steep prices, high production costs and slow global output for the whole decade have been forecast by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Agricultural output growth is said to average annually at 1.7 per cent over the next 10 years, down from trend rates of over 2 per cent in recent decades. Moreover, with only a slight increase in farmland area expected in the coming decade (with 25 per cent of all agricultural land degraded), production will have to be raised through enhanced productivity, says the 2012 FAO OECD Agricultural Outlook.


The trigger behind the current episode is believed to be the severe drought in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter of corn, wheat and soybeans. But drought or no drought, at the core of the current crisis is the pressure to convert grains into fuel by diverting corn (maize and other coarse grains) to the manufacture of ethanol. U.S. oil companies are required to dilute gasoline with increasing amounts of biofuels under the renewable energy programme of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA). This year’s target for biofuels production is some 13.2 billion gallons, almost all of which is said to be from corn.


The situation is reminiscent of the 2007-2008 global food crisis when the U.S. and European biofuels policy of subsidies, tax exemptions and incentives for corn-ethanol production was roundly criticised by multilateral agencies. The IMF in particular, pointed to the policy’s detrimental effects on staple food crop output, citing estimates that U.S. corn-ethanol production accounted for 50 per cent of the increase in the global demand for corn in the preceding three years. Now, U.S. grain, meat and dairy lobbies are concerned that in the current extreme heat and sparse rains, a disproportionate diversion of corn could cause a further spike in prices, hurting livestock and poultry feed and the demand for meat. The crippling effects of the U.S. drought, the worst in 50 years, and an impending crop failure could impact world markets in the absence of corrective steps.


Significantly, explanations for the unprecedented escalation in the prices of grains was also sought in the changing food habits of the rising middle classes in the emerging economies of Asia, while volatile international oil and energy markets exacerbated the situation. But there is ample evidence that points to the role of commodity derivatives in destabilising and driving up food prices around the world. This resulted in food prices becoming unaffordable to poor people in the developing world who rely on imports. Not surprisingly, the World Food Programme reported a cash crunch of millions of dollars in its efforts to feed the world’s hungry, even as the crisis sparked hostile and violent (even fatal) protests around the world, leaving deep scars of social unrest long thereafter.


The other policy shortcoming is the perilous resort to a ban on exports of agricultural products to shore up supplies in some 30 countries during the 2008 crisis. In the wake of the destruction of crops in the Russian Federation in the droughts during 2010, Moscow resorted to restrictions on wheat exports — producing an extremely destabilising effect on agricultural markets. If Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Egypt clamped restrictions on wheat exports, curbs on rice exports by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and India have similarly pushed up global prices. The response from poor food importing countries has been either to lease or buy land overseas in order to bolster supplies and stocks.


In the developing world, the rapidly rising demand for food linked to the exponential rise in population and the challenge of alleviating endemic poverty are exerting enormous pressure on conventional forms of rural agriculture. There are two contending models on offer. One is to invite huge agribusinesses to exploit hitherto large unused land via capital and technology-intensive farming methods with a view to promoting the so-called trickle down growth that has been increasingly discredited. Such land acquisitions often impose their own set of choices in crop and cultivation patterns — and the ultimate sacrifice of relinquishing ownership rights over land.
The alternative to this G8-backed proposal is the formula put forward by the Africa Progress Panel. Proponents of this approach advocate raising the productivity of farmers through small holdings of land and technology, with a view to mitigating the widening inequalities that result from the trickle-down model of development. Given the grave implications of dislocation and dispossession of local populations of their land, not to mention loss of livelihoods, models such as the FAO’s International Soaring Food Prices Initiative to help small-holder farmers to grow more food seems a more realistic and sustainable way forward.
Clearly, the international community has yet to formulate an effective and concerted policy response to the underlying causes for the crisis over food prices. People in the developing world are said to spend about 75 per cent of their income on food compared to a meagre 25 per cent by those in the advanced economies, according to the FAO. Thus regulation of financial speculation relating to commodities, reversal of the distorting effects of biofuels policies and according respect and recognition to the rights to land and livelihoods deserve the highest international priority

Judicial Activism in India

Judicial activism is not an easy concept to define. It means different things to different persons. Critics denounce judicial decisions as activist when they do not agree with them. Activism, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. In India, the opening up of access to courts to the poor, indigent and disadvantaged sections of the nation through Public Interest Litigation, popularly known by its acronym PIL, is unexceptionable judicial activism. From 1979, the judiciary led by the Supreme Court in India became relevant to the nation in a manner not contemplated by the makers of the Constitution and became an active participant in the dispenser of social justice. It is a matter of concern that over the years this original, beneficial and unexceptionable character of the Court’s activism in PIL has been largely converted into a general supervisory jurisdiction to correct actions and policies of government, public bodies and authorities. This is a type of judicial activism unparalleled in any other judiciary. FOR BASIC RIGHTS PIL jurisdiction began haltingly with little idea of its potential when the Supreme Court, in 1979, entertained complaints by social activists drawing the attention of the Court to the conditions of certain sections of society or institutions which were deprived of their basic rights. In 1979, Supreme Court advocate Kapila Hingorani drew the Court’s attention to a series of articles in a newspaper exposing the plight of Bihar undertrial prisoners, most of whom had served pretrial detention more than the period they could have been imprisoned if convicted. Sunil Batra, a prisoner, wrote a letter to Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court drawing his attention to torture by prison authorities and the miserable conditions of prisoners in jails. This was taken up as a petition and the Court passed orders for humane conditions in jails. In 1980, two professors of law wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper describing the barbaric conditions of detention in the Agra Protective House for Women which was made the basis of a writ petition in the Supreme Court. The exploitation of workmen at construction sites in violation of labour laws was brought to the attention of the Supreme Court by a letter. The slave-like condition of bonded labourers in quarries was brought to the attention of the Court by a social activist organisation. A journalist moved the court against the evictions of pavement dwellers of Bombay. Several cases of this type followed. In dealing with such cases, the Court evolved a new regime of rights of citizens and obligations of the State and devised new methods for its accountability. In 1982, Justice P.N. Bhagwati, correctly stated the purpose of PIL as it originated. He emphasised that PIL “a strategic arm of the legal aid movement which is intended to bring justice within the reach of the poor masses, who constitute the low visibility area of humanity, is a totally different kind of litigation from the ordinary traditional litigation.” No longer were the Court’s clientele drawn from landlords, businessmen, corporations and affluent persons. With PIL, the common man, the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society had also easy access to the Court with the help of social activists. This unique judicial activism was not found in other countries and leading judges abroad such as Lord Harry Woolf of the United Kingdom and Justice Michael Kirby of Australia, applauded it. THE NEW INTERVENTION However, over the years, the social action dimension of PIL has been diluted and eclipsed by another type of “public cause litigation” in courts. In this type of litigation, the court’s intervention is not sought for enforcing the rights of the disadvantaged or poor sections of the society but simply for correcting the actions or omissions of the executive or public officials or departments of government or public bodies. Examples of this type of intervention by the Court are innumerable. In the interest of preventing pollution, the Supreme Court ordered control over automobile emissions, air and noise and traffic pollution, gave orders for parking charges, wearing of helmets in cities, cleanliness in housing colonies, disposal of garbage, control of traffic in New Delhi, made compulsory the wearing of seat belts, ordered action plans to control and prevent the monkey menace in cities and towns, ordered measures to prevent accidents at unmanned railway level crossings, prevent ragging of college freshmen, for collection and storage in blood banks, and for control of loudspeakers and banning of fire crackers. In recent orders, the Supreme Court has directed the most complex engineering of interlinking rivers in India. The Court has passed orders banning the pasting of black film on automobile windows. On its own, The Court has ordered the exclusion of tourists in the core area of tiger reserves. All these managerial exercises by the Court are hung on the dubious jurisdictional peg of enforcing fundamental rights under Article 32 of the Constitution. In reality, no fundamental rights of individuals or any legal issues are at all involved in such cases. The Court is only moved for better governance and administration, which does not involve the exercise of any proper judicial function. In its most activist and controversial interpretation of the Constitution, the Supreme Court took away the constitutionally conferred power of the President of India to appoint judges after consultation with the Chief Justice, and appropriated this power in the Chief Justice of India and a collegium of four judges. In no Constitution in the world is the power to select and appoint judges conferred on the judges themselves. The Court is made the monitor of the conduct of investigating and prosecution agencies who are perceived to have failed or neglected to investigate and prosecute ministers and officials of government. Cases of this type are the investigation and prosecution of ministers and officials believed to be involved in the Jain Hawala case, the fodder scam involving the former Chief Minister of Bihar, the Taj Corridor case involving the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and the recent prosecution of the Telecom Minister and officials in the 2G Telecom scam case by the Supreme Court. MILITARY OPERATION The Supreme Court has made an order even in a military operation. In 1993, the Court issued orders on the conduct of military operations in Hazratbal, Kashmir where the military had as a matter of strategy restricted the food supplies to hostages. The Court ordered that the provision of food of 1,200 calorific value should be supplied to hostages. Commenting on this, an Army General wrote: “For the first time in history, a Court of Law was asked to pronounce judgment on the conduct of an ongoing military operation. Its verdict materially affected the course of operation.” Even proceedings of Legislatures are controlled by the Court. In the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly case, the Supreme Court ordered the Assembly to conduct a Motion of Confidence and ordered the Speaker to conduct proceedings according to a prescribed agenda and not to entertain any other business. Its proceedings were ordered to be recorded for reporting to the Court. These orders were made in spite of Article 212 of the Constitution which states that Courts are not to inquire into any proceedings of the legislature. OTHER EXAMPLES Matters of policy of government are subject to the Court’s scrutiny. Distribution of food-grains to persons below poverty line was monitored, which even made the Prime Minister remind the Court that it was interfering with the complex food distribution policies of government. In the 2G Licenses case, the Court held that all public resources and assets are a matter of public trust and they can only be disposed of in a transparent manner by a public auction to the highest bidder. This has led to the President making a Reference to the Court for the Court’s legal advice under Article 143 of the Constitution. In the same case, the Court set aside the expert opinion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to sell 2G spectrum without auction to create greater teledensity in India. The Court has for all practical purposes disregarded the separation of powers under the Constitution, and assumed a general supervisory function over other branches of governments. The temptation to rush to the Supreme Court and 21 High Courts for any grievance against a public authority has also deflected the primary responsibility of citizens themselves in a representative self government of making legislators and the executive responsible for their actions. The answer often given by the judiciary to this type of overreach is that it is compelled to take upon this task as the other branches of government have failed in their obligations. On this specious justification, the political branches of government may, by the same logic, take over the functions of the judiciary when it has failed, and there can be no doubt that there are many areas where the judiciary has failed to meet the expectations of the public by its inefficiency and areas of cases. Justice Jackson of the U.S. has aptly said: “The doctrine of judicial activism which justifies easy and constant readiness to set aside decisions of other branches of Government is wholly incompatible with a faith in democracy and in so far it encourages a belief that judges should be left to correct the result of public indifference it is a vicious teaching.” Unless the parameters of PIL are strictly formulated by the Supreme Court and strictly observed, PIL which is so necessary in India, is in danger of becoming diffuse, unprincipled, encroaching into the functions of other branches of government and ineffective by its indiscriminate use.

In Pursuit of Life

Everything in the seven-minute action-packed entry sequence, starting with the spacecraft hurtling in at over 21,000 km per hour and ending with the six-wheeled robotic rover being lowered by nylon cords to the surface of Mars, went just as planned. Back on the home planet, controllers and mission staff assembled at the famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the U.S. jumped up in elation and celebrated when word came through in the form of radio signals that Curiosity, as the rover is called, had indeed landed safely. Soon afterwards, the first grainy picture taken by a camera on the rover came through. The plan is for the car-sized rover to spend the next two years trundling about, looking for indications that Mars could, at least in the past, have supported life. Humans have long been excited by ideas of life that might exist on the neighbouring planet. In the early years of the last century, it was thought that intelligent beings there had constructed a network of irrigation channels. From that, with a bit more imagination, ‘Little Green Men’, who might have designs on Earth, emerged. But in the years since then, it has become clear that Martians, if they indeed existed, would be microscopic and microbial, rather than the swashbuckling sort found in science fiction. Spacecraft that surveyed Mars from orbit and earlier rovers that wandered its surface have found convincing evidence that although the planet is now dry, liquid water once existed on its surface. Where there is water, there could have been life. Curiosity has been put down in the Gale Crater, which appears to have once held a large body of water. The rover’s instruments will look for more evidence of water and how the environment in the crater changed over time. It will study whether other ingredients needed to support life, such as key chemical elements and sources of energy, were present. If organic molecules are discovered, that might suggest life had existed, assuming that non-biological origins could be ruled out. Perhaps the most exciting possibility is finding unmistakable indications that life in some form still survives somewhere on the planet. India’s Mars mission, which was recently cleared by the Cabinet and is scheduled to be launched at the end of next year, should be able to contribute to such a search by scrutinising the planet’s atmosphere from orbit. There may be methane in the atmosphere, which could have a biological origin. The next logical step in the exploration of Mars will be to bring rock and soil samples back to Earth for detailed analysis. Such an ambitious and costly effort could well be an international one. Only then will the issue of life on that planet be finally settled.

Tourism in Tiger reserves must reinvent itself

The temporary halt to tourism in core zones of tiger reserves is a wake-up call to an industry that has grown rapidly and become disruptive in some places. Rather than view the Supreme Court’s interim order as a setback, tourism operators should see it as an opportunity to set things right. While there is no question that commercial tourism must be strictly regulated, a total ban on public access to wildlife reserves would be extremely harmful, as it will negatively impact conservation education, monitoring and other conservation activities by non-governmental organisations. Sensible tourism has an important role to play in conservation, and if government and tourism stakeholders work together, it is possible to craft solutions that benefit local communities, nature lovers, tourism operators and, most importantly, wildlife itself. While all of us may feel that we have a right to enjoy nature and the great outdoors, it is imperative that we understand that natural habitats are fragile, and ought to be trod on softly, observed quietly and enjoyed responsibly. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa and South America, have succeeded in establishing tourism practices that are low on impact and high on educational value. Many of their features can be emulated with appropriate adaptations. In India, Kerala’s Parambikulam Tiger Reserve has developed an enlightened model of wildlife tourism that is praiseworthy. TWO PROBLEMS; THE WAY OUT Two fundamental problems have led to the mayhem that prevails in some of our most popular reserves: first, a majority of tourism operators have little or no regard for nature, lack any sort of long-term vision and operate only for profit — tigers and their habitats be damned. The second problem is that most domestic tourists have very little interest in nature or the quiet wilderness experience, and come almost exclusively for the thrill of seeing charismatic mega fauna, mainly tigers. Consequently, wildlife tourism in many of our tiger reserves is more akin to a visit to an amusement park, with screaming tourists, harassment of animals and traffic jams being the norm. Most resorts provide no orientation to visitors, and most jeep drivers and guides — who receive little or no training — are usually only interested in the tips they can earn. The result is a mad scramble to spot the tiger so that each resort’s visitors can feel that they got their “money’s worth” out of the visit. This type of tourism does not build a constituency for conservation. There are other negative aspects of mass tourism. Due to a lack of land use planning or regulation, tourist resorts of all kinds have proliferated around the edges of some of the most popular reserves, creating a plethora of problems — from curtailing the traditional movement of animals towards water sources or other forests nearby, to excessive groundwater extraction and firewood use. Add garbage, sewage and noise pollution, and you have a mess that is as far from eco-tourism as it can get. There are a few sensitive resort operators who try to do the right things, and attract guests who come for the entire nature experience and not just for tigers. But like an organic farmer surrounded by pesticide-happy neighbours, the efforts of these operators and the aspirations of their nature-loving guests come to naught. While it may require the wisdom of Solomon to mitigate tourist pressure in and around reserves where tourism has already grown too large, all is not lost. So far, the chaos described earlier is largely restricted to a dozen places, whereas India has over 650 wildlife reserves, of which about 40 are tiger reserves. So, straightaway, we have a golden opportunity to ensure that the mistakes committed in a few places are not repeated elsewhere. As a first step towards ensuring sustainable and meaningful wildlife tourism, the National Tiger Conservation Authority has formulated Eco Tourism Guidelines. With appropriate consultation and implementation, these could finally help create a win-win formula for all stakeholders. Meanwhile, tourism operators would do well to move away from an obsessive tiger-centric focus and promote themselves as offering a broader nature experience, with the tiger as a tantalising possibility. For instance, tiger reserves like Corbett and Ranthambhore also have an excellent diversity of birds and other species. But, at the moment, one cannot watch other wildlife in peace in these reserves, with thrill-seekers whizzing past in clouds of dust. While it may initially seem financially foolish to look beyond the tiger, this strategy will ultimately pay off by attracting the right kind of visitors — people who are more interested in experiencing nature rather than creature comforts. This would not only usher in more peaceful tourism in wildlife habitats, but also enable lodges to cut down on unnecessary luxuries and optimise their profits. To survive and justify its existence, the wildlife tourism sector has no choice but to reinvent itself and get creative. The government must nurture the right atmosphere so that new ideas and initiatives have a chance to flower.

A natural choice for world heritage status

“Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations.” Unesco Founded in 1787, George Town, capital of Penang State, Malaysia, was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco on July 7, 2008. Fort St. George in Madras that is Chennai is 150 years older and sowed the seeds for territories such as Penang, but has not received similar recognition. For over a decade, I have been appealing for the older Fort St. George to be declared a World Heritage Site (WHS), given its historical significance. And it is this case that I present again for consideration to the Committee on World Heritage Matters constituted by the Central Ministry of Culture when it holds a meeting in Chennai today to hear local views. Unesco defines a WHS as a place or environment of “great significance” or meaning to mankind. It may be a living urban city or a rural settlement, a natural landscape (an underground cave, for instance), a forest or a water body, an archaeological site (where excavations have revealed relics of the past) or a geological phenomenon. Thus, it could be a natural site, a cultural site (which would be a traditional man-made settlement representative of a culture or cultures resulting from human interaction with the environment), or a site that’s a mix of both. FOUR POINTS To be slotted into one of these categories, a potential WHS would need to, according to Unesco: 1) be of outstanding universal value which would be reflected in the historic, social, scientific, aesthetic and/or spiritual value of the place to mankind. 2) display progressive developments in architecture, technology, the creation of monuments, town-planning, landscaping, etc., 3) reflect a distinct cultural tradition/civilisation that is still vibrant or which has disappeared; and 4) have exceptional examples of building styles that reflect its history. Fort St. George, from where Madras was born and from which modern India grew, meets all these criteria and more. In historical terms, its outstanding universal value is unquestionable. From 1640 to the 1770s it was the chief British settlement, from Aden to Manila. From here grew not only the Empire, but also every institution of modern India. From governance by a governor and council and a municipal corporation, to the birth of the Indian Army and the founding of such institutions as the country’s first Western-style school (St. George’s today), the first technical school — the Survey School (later the College of Engineering, Guindy) — the first General Hospital, the first modern observatory and a host of other institutions, to, in more recent time, the first regional political party to sit in an Indian legislature (the Justice Party) and the introduction of Prohibition heeding Gandhiji’s call, Madras has a near-375-year-old history of achievement that is truly outstanding. Like the Fort, the “Indian” town that grew outside it — first the Old Black Town (now the High Court-Law College campus) and then the New Black Town (now George Town, Madras that is 50 years older than George Town, Penang) — has over the years reflected multiculturalism in ethnicity, language, religion, the arts and cultural tradition ranging from those of the English and Portuguese, to the Armenians, Gujaratis and Marwaris and the native Tamils and Telugus, of scores of different communities. Here flourish, or are remembered, all the major religions of the world. A score of languages are spoken every day and numerous cultural traditions are followed as a matter of course. And the architecture ranges from the centuries-old traditional to its later variations and the classical and colonial, from Madras’s own contribution, Indo-Saracenic, to art deco and the modern. As for town-planning, the gridiron lay-out for the “native” shophouses and other quarters behind the Fort and the merchants’ offices along the shoreline is colonial urban development pioneered here. With Fort St. George and George Town up to the Old Town Walls as the core zone, and from Royapuram to Park Town, Purasawalkam, Egmore and Chepauk to Triplicane High Road as the buffer zone, here is a site deserving of World Heritage consideration for its historic contribution to not only modern India but also to the empire the British spread beyond it. Empires may come and go, but history remains to be remembered and commemorated.

Arab Spring? The season has turned

Wissam Hassan would never commit murder in private life, he had no aspiration of taking a weapon either. Fourteen months ago, the discontented and frightened youth crossed over from Syria into Turkey traversing the dense yet porous terrain. He fled for his life, he told me in our first meeting in Yayladag˘i, Turkey, and transcended into a new state of being. As a refugee of the “Arab Spring,” unwilling to submit to Assad’s regime, he found home in one of the many rebel safe houses in Turkey’s Hatay province. Fourteen months ago he held his first automatic weapon and six months ago he fired his first bullet. He hasn’t stopped since. “The guns keep flowing,” he said. In a society ruled by the sword, might had to be matched with might and as lawlessness gripped the Syrian state, he became a foot soldier in the battle for power determined to rid Syria of a decaying political leadership. Now the battle cries have been sounded from other quarters. The Obama administration has abandoned dialogue and has upped the aid to rebels, following in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Policy rooms in Washington discuss policies to safeguard Syria’s chemical weapon arsenal while an official in the Syria’s Intelligence Ministry calls this chapter of the Syrian misadventure “a battle to create chaos.” In Damascus Damascus is petrified: hardly a soul stirs on the streets, shutters to already struggling businesses are now drawn and the sanctions imposed by the U.N. have crated a fragile economic calamity. Gunfire reverberates, armed thugs in uniform and the army in choppers battle each other and rebels egged on by the recent suicide attacks that took from Assad members of his inner circle create havoc placing Syria on the edge of anarchy. Yet the international community continues to ballyhoo the crisis in leadership in Syria under the guise of the Arab Spring; are they unaware? Do they not realise that seasons change? Let us first rid ourselves of delusions. There is no Arab Spring, the term itself coined in Washington to reflect a period of openness in the Middle East in 2005 is an immensely popular and appealing gimmick-ridden campaign. There indeed was a bona fide revolution in Tunisia, but the Egyptian, Yemeni and Libyan cases have brought the sweetness of the Arab Spring into question. There has been no fundamental shift in power; people’s power has failed to replace the old system where powerful generals continue to preside over power in Egypt and thugs run Libya into the ground. Indeed there is a discontented youth frustrated with the constipated view of life and chronic discontent with the existing order has allowed for new stakeholders to stoke already rife tensions. Take Turkey for example. The state with a “zero-problem” foreign policy not so long ago now houses the opposition to the regime in refugee camps found along the Syrian-Turkish border. It also makes forays into the international arena with a policy that can be likened to a sort of neo-Ottomanism. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have channelled funds for the uprising allowing a ragtag militia to morph into armed gangs with an agenda of open rebellion. NATO and the U.S. have allied themselves with peoples, the Syrian National Council (SNC), who live in a world of ideas with little contact to physical realities. The highbrow benefactors of aid, the Europeanised opposition, rule from five-star hotels in Istanbul and bicker among themselves, each motivated by his own political agenda. Misguided strategy Now a Libyan style intervention into Syria is on the table for discussion. This would be a misguided strategy, the Libyan case should be proof enough. In the last days of the Qadhafi regime, a senior aide to the Brother Leader asked who we reporters would speak to when the night sky was calm. Today, armed thugs united to defeat Qadhafi, battle each other pushing Libya towards civil war. Syria has ushered many comparisons, parallels have been drawn to the Balkans yet the closest comparison is Iraq, its weakened neighbour where Sunni and Shi’a and Kurd jockey for power unwilling to share authority resulting in political deadlock. Let us not love the dictator but let us also avoid romanticising the revolution. Assad has indeed clung onto unabashed privileges, and hammered political dissent creating a system where organised alternatives, so-called governments in the waiting like Tunisia’s Ennahda and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood do not exist. Yet a stalemate has been reached with neither side, rebel or government, willing to engage in constructive dialogue. Recent efforts at diplomacy by Kofi Annan and the blatant disregard to his calls for ceasefire push a country further towards an all-out civil war. Another stalemate in the Security Council — Russia and China have vetoed further sanctions — creates a space for another push at diplomacy. Would it not be wiser for foreign powers meddling in the region to back off and push for dialogue? In a recent conversation with Adib Shishakly, once a Gandhian philosophy-espousing founding member of the opposing SNC, I was alarmed at his request. “What we need are anti-tank missiles. There is no space for dialogue,” he said. Would the rebels he helped arm lay down their weapons once the conflict was over? He had no definitive answer. Would he and other members of the SNC genuinely unite to lay the groundwork for a new Syria? He hoped so but Wissam Hassan, the rebel with the gun, wasn’t as optimistic. To him the opposition are disconnected Europeanised technocrats incapable of leading and not worthy of leadership. Tragically, one cannot simply change from one system to another. In the Syria of today, no leader has emerged from the ranks of the rebels, no flag-bearer of the opposition has won the people over and Bashar continues to rule with his eyes shut.