Much has been said about India’s policy towards Pakistan in the recent days. If I were the Indian Foreign Minister, this would be my take on the subject. India has always been a peace-loving country. That is considered as one of the reasons that foreigners have been able to easily conquer and rule us be they the Mughals or the British. I am not saying that India should be overly aggressive like some of our neighbours. At the same time, we cannot have a utopian approach while dealing with Pakistan. Pragmatism is the need of the hour. As our present Foreign Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna himself said that India will have a graduated dialogue with Pakistan; we cannot sort out all the issues at once. We could first start dealing with the easy issues (are there any?) and then move on to difficult ones. The civilian government in Pakistan may really want peace. But it is common knowledge that the ISI and the military rule the roost and peace is not what they want. So what the Pakistani President , Prime Minister or Foreign Minister want does not matter at all. They ultimately have to dance to the tunes of the Army and the ISI and indulge in aggressive anti-India posturing in accordance of the wishes of the real bosses. In this kind of situation, how does it make sense to attempt dialogue? Of what use is talking with puppets? What we are actually doing is overlooking their anti-India policies, making concessions hoping that this time things will work out and obliging the US which funds and backs Pakistan in spite of all the mischief it plays. This kind of attitude is suicidal to India. Whenever attempts are mad to chalk out a peace process, some event happens or is made to happen to derail all the efforts made. When Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in India for talks in November 2008, the Mumbai terror attack happened. A few days ago, when SM Krishna went to Pakistan a big hue and cry was raised over Home Secretary GK Pillai’s remarks on Pakistan which were perfectly true. It is said that Gen. Kayani ensured that the recent talks had no positive outcome. And in … [Read more...]
If I were the Railways Minister…
The Indian Railways is the single largest employer in India and supposedly the fourth largest in the world. So, one can imagine the size of this organisation. Heading this humongous establishment as the Railways Minister is no joke, and one would think that such a person will have his or her hands full, with no time for anything else. But the story today seems to be quite different. If I were the Minister for Railways, my job would occupy my full attention. Sure, work in my constituency would take up much of my time (after all I would like to be voted back to power), but I would make sure that I have professionals running the organisation just like one of my predecessors, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. It is said that the one quality of his, which ensured that the Indian Railways did well during his tenure as Railways Minister, was the autonomy he granted to his officials. Though introducing new trains, convenient routes in my home state would surely help me earn brownie points with my electorate, I would be fully aware that such steps would be meaningless without the necessary infrastructure in place. Right now, Indian Railways falls woefully short on this front. As more and more trains are introduced without corresponding upgradation in safety equipment and additional man-power, accidents like the recent Sainthia mishap will continue to happen. Yes, the public wants convenience, but not at the cost of their lives. Unlike the current Railways Minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, I would attend my office at Rail Bhavan, New Delhi as often as I could. After all, the presence of the boss inspires the hard-working and makes the shirkers put in at least some effort. As an employer, the Railways have a responsibility not only to the customers, but also to the employees. I would keep employee welfare in mind and ensure that the railway staff do not have excess work load. With new trains introduced, it often happens that the additional work falls on the heads of the existing employees. This will stress them out and safety will be compromised, especially in the case of employees like loco-pilots (train … [Read more...]
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