Kashmir_ TheSimmering Dish

            Kashmir: The Simmering Dish


A few years back, I asked Mr. Maharajkrishna Rasgotra, ex- Foreign Secretary, as to what he thought would happen to the Kashmir situation twenty years later. “It is simmering today. Twenty years hence, I guess it will still be simmering.”

So far, his forecast has held out. But if Modi is the Masterchef that he claims he is,  a dish that has simmered for decades is hardly  the Super Royal Delicacy  he has promised the  125 crore Indians.
Imagine some alternative scenarios.

If Kashmir had acceded to Pakistan with 70% Muslims and 30%  Persons belonging to Other Religions, the percentage figures would have  by now changed to Muslims (99%) and Other Religions (1%).

Had it been annexed by China, the soldiers   of the People’s Liberation Army would have married the Kashmiri girls and created a new , distinctly recognisable mixed breed that was neither Han  Mongoloid nor Caucasian Aryan.

The Hindu rulers of India have, in a spirit of benevolent secularism and non-violent tolerance been mute witnesses to the conversion of district after district  in all the three regions of the State of Jammu & Kashmir to Nizam-e-Mustafa.

The fidayeen of Lashkar-e-Toyeba  consider this to be a mere opening gambit. Their ambition is  nothing less than the  conversion of the entire lot of 125 crore Indians to Islam.
That is the challenge. And it has to be squarely met with all the resources at our command.

The Problem:

Ever since Islam came to the region, the Muslim rulers have tried to convert the Kashmiri Pandits, who had been living in the Kashmir valley for 5000 years, to their own faith. One of the worst genocidal attempts was made in the reign of Sikander Butshikan. The slogan coined in his time was Raliv(Convert), Chaliv(Run away) or Galiv (Die). The three options were clear and unequivocal. The Pandits could either get converted to Islam, or run away from the valley or die. Legend has it that all the three options were exercised, leaving just eleven families alive and still practising Hinduism.
 Some historians have claimed that Sikandar’s son was a visionary. He saw that the Pandits contributed much to the intellectual capital, administrative acumen, skills as teachers and medical practitioners and so on. His administration was paralysed. So he called the Pandits back. There are not many details available of the reverse movement, but one can make a fairly shrewd guess of what must have transpired. Although much is made of Badshah’s benevolence, there is little evidence of the Pandits returning to the valley in large numbers.

Seven exoduses has taken place so far. The lesson of history is clear. Exodus is immediate, sudden and wholesale. If at all there is a reverse movement, it is slow, deliberate and in driblets.

So let Modi try to learn from history. Return of the Kashmiri Pandits is not a financial problem. It is a facet of a larger bundle of issues. How Modi tackles Pakistan,how he punishes the terrorist gangs who bleed India almost on a daily basis, how he treats those Indian
Muslims who for whatever reason show a misplaced loyalty toPakistan and not to India. It is a tangled web of disparate factors: Wahabi Islam, the Taliban,the balance of power in the SAARC region and the subdued but resurgent forces of Hindutva.

A practical solution: building a conducive environment:

Let us look for practical solutions to this seemingly intractable problem.
The first and foremost step is to tell the whole world what happened in 1989 to cause the Seventh Exodus. Pakistan and its agents have been spreading the canard that the then Governor Jagmohan advised the Pandits to leave. We all know the real story. It can be pieced together by assembling the reports of intelligence agencies, newspaper accounts, documentation done by associations of Kashmiri Pandits, judgements of the National Human Rights Commission etc. There is enough material available to cull out a credible narrative of what happened and why. Govt. should place this in the form of a White paper before both Houses of Parliament.

The second step is for the Prime Minister to express his regret at the Government not being able to protect its loyal citizens and hold out a credible promise to send them back to the valley with honour and dignity.

The third step is a little difficult, but not impossible. While making peace overtures to Pakistan and talking glibly of improved relations between the two countries, Modi should hit out at the infrastructure of terror and physically destroy it.

The fourth step is to declare that anyone living in India and giving overt and covert assistance to Pakistan will be construed as engaging in seditious activity and be incarcerated. Or if diplomacy does not permit such an open declaration,follow this as the undeclared policy.

The fifth step is to nominate two Rajya Sabha members from the KP community , create three constituencies in exile for the J&K Legislative Assembly, give a minority status to them and declare them to be Internally Displaced Persons and make them entitled to all the provisions of the Geneva Convention.

The sixth step is to pass the Temples and Shrines Bill as presented by the community through an Ordinance.

The seventh step, which is optional, is to abolish Article 370.There is much houha about this, but there is actually little of Article 370 left. All  Indian laws are already applicable to J&K and all Indian institutions have jurisdiction. Contrary to popular belief, it is not Article 370 whih stands beteween demographic colonisation of the state; it is an order issued by the Maharaja in 1927 which defines who  a State subject is and what his rights are. In any case, such restrictions on acquisition of property are also applicable to other hilly, tribal and backward states of the country.

Is this proposal too hawkish?

When I place the above steps in an informal discussion forum, my friends accuse me of being too hawkish. Hindus have always had this psychological barrier to realpolitik. Look at how Mohammad Ghori behaved. He attacked India seven times. When he attacked the Rajputs, he lost and out of compassion  Prithviraj  Chauhan let him go. The next year  Ghori  returned and won the battle by breaching the rule that there was to be  no fighting at night. He made Prithviraj a prisoner and blinded him.

The misplaced sense of history

The other major problem we have is a misplaced sense of history in our top leadership. Jawahar Lal Nehru had written “The Discovery of India” and was bedazzled by the achievements of Ashoka the Great and Akbar the Great. Somewhere in his mind he held the ambition to go down in history as Nehru the Great. That is the only credible explanation for his friendship with China, which should have struck him as the natural rival of India in the Asian continent. That is the only explanation for his ordering a ceasefire when the Indian Army was fully poised to throw out the Qabaili raiders and the Pakistan Army from what is now known as Pak-Occupied Kashmir and his puerile reference of the Kashmir “dispute” to the UN Security Council.

To a lesser extent, this was Atal Behari Vajpayee’s problem also. When the NDA Govt. took over, many of us expected them to do what the Congress had failed to do, to wit, teach Pakistan a lesson,build the Ram temple at Ayodhya, abolish Article 370, enforce a uniform civil code and take the KPs back to the valley.

But we had not reckoned with Atalji’s sense of history. So we had Lahore, Kargil and Agra. Had it not been for a Joint Secretary of the MEA , a KP bearing the surname Katju, one doesn’t know what sort of agreement would have been signed at Agra.

One only hopes that Narendar Modi does not suffer from similar illusions of greatness and does not sacrifice the few Kashmiri Pandits left at the altar of a misplaced sense of history, so as to be known as the architect of SAARC on the pattern of the European Union.

The Revised PM’s Package

So now we can prescribe the kind of revised PM’s package Modi should announce:
 10,000 jobs in the Central and State Govt and their PSUs without upper age limits, affidavits, conditions, to be filled within one year
 Immediate access to transit accommodation at district headquarters, and around tourist and temple complexes
 Construction of multistoreyed complexes in modern, well-designed residential colonies
 Option of going back to one’s house in town or village if the security situation so allows
 Declaration of all sales as invalid, with suitable compensation to the purchaser
 Settlement of KPs in their traditional or preferred occupations in agriculture, horticulture, trade, industry, tourism etc.

Implementing the Package:

What the Central govt. should have grasped by now is that the Kashmiri Muslims who are ruling the State since 1947 are very much interested in keeping the Pandits  out. They want everyone out. Left to themselves, they would make it a 100% Islamic state. So if you expect them to implement the package, you have another guess coming.

The moral of the story is that the Central Govt. would have to do it themselves. So we need a National Commissioner for Welfare of Kashmiri Pandits in the MHA.

We have seen how the meagre sums placed at the disposal of the State Govt. have been surrendered year after year. Then there is the unseemly spectacle of proposals getting shuttlecocked between  the MHA and the State. Budget is kept under “Security Related Expenditure”. What is required to be done is to keep  budget provisions under suitable heads of development expenditure, to be spent by the MHA.

Monitoring:

At the top of the pyramid should be two Monitoring Committees or authorities (we know how allergic the PM is to committees). Let the PMO and the HMO monitor. The Pandits are only interested in the results.


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(12th July,2014,1645 words)

Review of Kaw Caw Silly Point by Prof. O.N.Koul

	[Year]
	Review of Kaw Caw Silly  Point by Prof. O.N.Koul

Review of Kaw Caw Silly Point by Prof. O.N.Koul

Governance, Modi Ishtyle

                           Narendra Modi is rewriting all the established theories of governance. He started by coining the moolmantra for his ishtyle as “minimum government, maximum governance”. Pundits are even now trying hard to understand the esoteric meaning hidden in these four innocent-looking words.

If we interpret “government” as the actions of his ministers and “governance” as his own initiatives as Prime Minister, perhaps we shall approach the impenetrable occult import of his overall strategy. Modi sees himself as the fountainhead of all brilliant ideas, which would be faithfully implemented by the loyalist babus imported from Gujarat, with the Ministers providing a smokescreen and a camouflage.

                               From all accounts, this ishtyle has been successful  in Gujarat, and one would not like to be a cavilling critic on the facile assumption that what works in a State need not work at the centre. Let us analyse Modi’s report card for the first  three weeks and see how he has fared with reference to the babus.

                              One of his first acts was that he appointed Nripendra Mishra as his Principal Secretary. Most of us know Nripendra and were happy at the choice. And just as we were celebrating the appointment came the devastating news that  there was a statutory embargo on the appointment of a former Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. A lesser man would have been shattered, but Modi is made of sterner stuff. Before the matter escalated into a scandal, he had persuaded the President to promulgate an Ordinance. He did not allow himself to be deterred by the consideration that laws are not amended to cater to an individual case, or that an Ordinance is justified only to meet an emergent situation when the Parliament is not in session or likely to hold a session.

                                         Modi met all the Secretaries. Previous Prime Ministers had also held a meeting with the Secretaries but more as a ritual.The difference this time around was that he shook hands with each one of them, saw and heard them , and  memorized their names and faces. (They say he has a photographic memory.)

                                       He asked them to come early and go late, and dispose of the files with speed. He assured them that if they gave sound and fearless advice, they would be protected. If they had a problem with their Ministers, his doors were always open for them. They could come directly to him and seek his protection.

                                        He responded positively to the general complaint that it was impossible to get a posting in the Government of India unless the Minister sponsored your name. And he has acted fast. The older procedure of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approving all senior appointments has been restored. Plus as a bonus, Modi has decreed that the Department of Personnel will use information technology to choose officers on the basis of their qualifications and experience.

                                    The good news is that the babus have realized that finally they have a boss. The babus are like mettlesome steeds and only an expert rider can control them. Modi has started with the basic virtue of punctuality. He has used the tried and tested techniques of inveigling the babus into the office. The central government is supposed to work from 9 a.m.  to 6 p.m. The burra sahibs who used to lazily saunter in around 11 a.m. are now seated in their offices at 8-45 a.m. and they cannot leave before 9 p.m. because there are too many deadlines to meet. Resultantly, the chhota babus are in office at 8.30 a.m. and the cleaning staff has to be wakeful and working at 7 a.m. Thus the various Bhawans present a look of cheerful industry and merry diligence.

                                   Having started this campaign, Modi should not stop there. If he can pull it off ( and if he cannot pull it off, no one else can!), he should revert to a six-day week. And while he is about it, why not also implement the strong recommendations made by the previous two Central Pay Commissions and reduce the number of gazetted holidays from sixteen to three? India is the only country of the world where all the Government offices are closed just because the founder of a religion was born on a particular day, even if his followers constitute just one or two per cent of the population. Government can simultaneously increase the number of restricted holidays from three  to six, thus enabling the followers to celebrate their holy days without forcing a holiday on the entire nation.

                               The judiciary has raised the issue that having vacations in the courts is an ancient practice not justified in the present day and age. One could easily persuade the Supreme Court of india to abolish this antediluvian custom. And if the courts can do it, why not the educational institutions? Can you believe it if I tell you that universities work for about 80 days in a year! And if you request the faculty to mark their presence in the attendance register, there is the threat of a strike.

                                  One needs to go institution by institution and remove these hidebound practices which are the remnants of a pre-historic era. And increasing the number of working days is not enough. We have to ensure that government employees come to office in time and do not leave it on various pretexts, that they do not disappear from their seats  for precious hours to have tea in the office canteen and that they do not spend most of their time talking to their friends and relatives on the mobile.

                                          So if the Government is sincere about bringing about a sea change in the working atmosphere of Government offices, the following steps have got to be taken:

·      Employees should be required to punch in their entry and exit timings in a biometric time –clock.

·      Employees should be provided with an identity card with a built-in GPS, so that their geographical whereabouts can be monitored at all times during office hours.

·      Tea and snacks should be served at the table and canteens should be abolished.

·      Employees should have to surrender their mobile phones at the entrance.

·      Important establishments like hospitals, dispensaries, banks and shopping establishments like Mother Dairy, Super bazar etc should be kept open in the mornings and evenings to enable employees to use these facilities without having to absent themselves from their offices.

                              The great point about Modi is that he has his fingers on the pulse of the burra sahibs. The grapevine has it that Modi has called for a list of senior officers who play golf. That is the Achilles’ heel of the civil services. I suggest that when he has embarked on this heroic  enterprise, he should also compile a list of officers who play bridge and paploo!

                               Let us close this piece on a note of optimism. The Chief Minister of Goa had decided to send an official delegation of politicians to Brazil so that they could see how the traffic was being managed during the FIFA World Cup. There was an uproar in the media, but to no avail.

                             Suddenly, the CM announced that the officially sponsored junket had been cancelled. Those who wanted to witness the World Cup would have to bear their own expenses.

                            I have no evidence that would stand in a court of law. But a little bird tells me that a call from the PMO did the trick.

                              That is governance Modi ishtyle with a capital G!

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REVIEW OF KAW CAW SILlY POINT BY ARUN WAKHLU

Review of   the book  'Kaw Caw Silly Point' 

                                                                 Arun Wakhlu

                    In a national  atmosphere rife with  constant seriousness and bad blood embellished with  equally bad news, this book by MK Kaw ('Kaw Caw Silly Point', Konark Publishers) comes as a welcome breath of fresh air.  As a  “a wonky look at contemporary India” , the book more than succeeds in bringing  a smile to the heart, and an expansion of the mind on many current issues facing the nation. In it, Shri Kaw has woven his literary magic once again with a heady amalgam of insight, wit, twists of words, creative connections and pure unadulterated lampooning of the Aloo Yadavs, Kayawatis , Samatas and  Gayalalithas of the world, and others of their ilk.

The book is a collection of articles which the author has written  over four decades. He started writing 'Kaw Caw' as a column in 1982 for the Times of India and later for other newspapers.  Some pieces ghave come from 'Silly Point' (a monthly column in 'G-Files', a special magazine about governance issues in India). Readers  of  Naad,( the mouthpiece of the  All India Kashmiri Samaj)  inspired him to add some pieces from his monthly column “Kaw Caw” in this magazine too. So in a sense, the anthology is a Crème de la crème of the humorous outpourings of the author, curated by himself.

From the elephants of Kayawati, to  politics to cricket, it is a heady and creative mix all the way.

Whether it is  Rahul Baba and the  File( Ch. 4), or  The Myth Called Narendra Modi (  In Ch. 9 ), the author’s satirical jibes have not spared anyone.  While a luminous and  humourous vein runs through all chapters of the book, like the  string in a pearl necklace, the book is not all “Hasna Khelna” (laughter and Play). It offers  some very practical tips for discerning people in the fields of Public  Service and  Education . The Ancient, the Fresh and the  Migrant Battas (Ch.21) is a panoramic and erudite view of the recent history of the Kashmiri Pandit community (The Battas).

For me , besides the above, I found two things to be endearing about the book. The author paints graphic  and funny pen pictures of things we have all encountered from   an obsession with storing water, to malfunctioning ATMs . We see our own lives  and experiences reflected in the book, albeit through a funny lens. Secondly, the author lovingly makes fun of himself, thereby jumping into the funny circus  ring of life like a true joker.

To understand the pool of experience from where the richness of book is coming, and also its value, you need to understand the multidimensional person that the author is. He is almost like a “Renaissance Man” born in the wrong century. His experience spans across several important assignments as an the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Himachal cadre. (1964 batch). 

He has held important posts at the state and central levels.  He served as the  Principal Secretary to two chief ministers. At the Centre, his postings were in the Ministries of Rural Development, Defence and Finance. He was the Member Secretary of the Fifth Central Pay Commission, Secretary Civil Aviation, Principal Adviser (Education) Planning Commission and Secretary Human Resource Development  launching vital schemes like the 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan'. He retired in 2001.

Besides having  written 15 books, he  has published several books of poetry in English and Hindi, a novel, short stories, plays, middles and so on. His earlier title Bureaucrazy is still a bestseller and The Science of Spirituality a classic on philosophy. Besides, he has authored a 13-episode serial Kehna Aasaan Hai for  the Kashir channel of Doordarshan.

To those who have the go fortune of knowing him personally, he is also a good singer and sketching artist , an ardent  poet who can pull out an appropriate  couplet at the drop of a hat, a devotee of Sai Baba, and a deeply spiritual person.
The book draws beautifully from this amazing and rich pool of experience.

Having been blessed with  such a full life, where one has “seen it all and done it all”, when one is on the verge of Enlightenment, the role of the  Joker/Jester comes naturally.

In medieval courts, the court jester was someone who was not expected to follow the same rules as others. He could observe and then poke fun. This makes the jester  unpredictable and full of surprises. He reminds us of the unlimited potential and spontaneity inherent in every moment. The Joker  adds the new and unfamiliar to a situation. He  also represents the complete faith that life is good and worthy of trust. Some might call the Joker too innocent, but his innocence sustains him and brings him joy.

While researching for this review of Shri M K Kaw’s book, I discovered that the Divine Jester  is called  “ Il Matto” in Italian. (By a not so strange coincidence, the Divine Jester   is also called a “Mattoo” in Kashmiri.)  He represents mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The  Jokers  wisdom and exuberance, come from his divine nature…a form of  holy madness or 'crazy wisdom'.

What no one dared to tell the King in ancient courts was conveyed through wit and jest by the Court Jester. Like James Bond had a “Licence to Kill” , the Court Jester had a licence to tickle!  He forced people to see things differently, to not take life too seriously. Maharaj Krishan Kaw, seems to be playing this role beautifully. This book is evidence.

The book alters our perspectives, gets us to re-examine our  inner “operating system” and challenges  how we look at ourselves and  life. By observing the incongruous, and connecting the apparently unconnected, the author has managed to create a heady   mix of   satire, wisdom, creative insights and pur unadulterated fun! This is no mean task.  The book is a delightful read that is light on the brain and yet infuses light into our minds. Heartiest Congratulations to the Author for pulling this anthology together.

In the Bhagawad Geeta (Ch4, Shloka 8), Maharaj Krishna (the Real One) says  that to protect the righteous, and to destroy evil,to establish  Dharma as the core purpose of life, I manifest from time to time. (Paritraanaya Sadhunaam…etc.). He also takes on different forms to do His work .

Since everything is His Leela (Play) and all is Him dancing ,it is true  to say that He has taken on the form of Maharaj Krishna  Kaw, to not only restore what is true and beautiful, but also bring a smile to our lips and cheer to the Heart.

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* Executive Chairman, Pragati Leadership Institute, Pune. (www.pragatileadership.com)

ENLARGING THE PERSPECTIVE

Kaw caw

Enlarging the Perspective

Today, I met Mr. Kapur after a long time.

“Where have you been all this while?” I asked.

”Well, I  have generally been at home,” he said, despondency dripping from each word he spoke. “What else do you expect? I am getting on in years. You know my age? I am sixty seven.”

“Sixty seven?” I laughed uproariously, “You call sixty seven old? What about me then? What am I?”

“It is not age alone. My knee is troubling me. I cannot walk properly.”

I said, “Is your knee troubling you or are you troubling your knee?”

He looked at me, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, look at your weight . You have put on at least ten kgs since we met last. Don’t you realize how you are punishing your knees with all that extra weight?”

“Of course, I do. But it is a vicious circle. I can reduce weight by walking, but I cannot walk because of the pain.”

I was reminded of a conversation my mother once had with Sathya Sai Baba. She was requesting for his intervention in curing Papaji of the pain in his knees.

Baba said,”knees ko pain nahin hoga to aur kya hoga? Itna zyada wazan uthhana padta hai. Wazan kam hoga to pain apne aap chala jayega.”

Mother: ” Wazan kam kaise hoga? Isko bhookh lagta hai to khana dena padta hai.”

Baba laughed, “Maine kab kaha khana kam do. Bhook lagta hai to ek kilo cucumber de do. Do kilo cucumber de do. Us se wazan  nahin badhta hai. Cucumber bas pani hai. Jitna chahe utna cucumber kha sakta hai.”

Kapur asked with his usual innocence, “Cucumber kya hota hai?”

I clarified that cucumber is kheera.

“O kheera?” he made a face.

“And let me tell you one more thing. When I was sixty seven, I had this notion that I will live at best up to seventy. That gave me a time perspective of three years. What can you plan for three years? And that too the last three years of your life?”

“Exactly”, Kapur said half-humorously, “I have the same feeling. The reverse count has begun.”

“No, it has not.” I said vehemently. “ A very strange incident took place which changed my entire outlook on life.  My brother-in-law Kanwarji was going on a tour of Uttaranchal. He took my wife and me along. We were on our way to Badrinath. When we stopped at some place on the way, Kanwarji told me that he will go out for an hour to meet someone.

“Is it someone official?” I enquired.

“No, no, nobody official. You will laugh if I tell you.” Kanwarji replied.

“Try me,” I challenged him,”I don’t laugh easily.”

“If you insist,” he said, “Last time I was here, someone introduced me to a Panditji who lives in this village. My informant claimed that Panditji just looks at your face and forecasts the events in your life. He doesn’t need a horoscope. And his predictions  all come true.”

“Kanwarji, Kanwarji, “ I said in a tone of reprimand, “You are a scientist. Don’t tell me that you believe all that balderdash.”

Kanwarji is much younger to my wife, so I can take liberties with him. He made a rueful face.

“I told you, Bhai Sahib, that you will dismiss this whole thing with a laugh. But I can tell you that the three predictions that he made last time I was here have all come true.”

Goaded thus, I decided to accompany Kanwarji. The Panditji saw each one of our party individually. My turn came. I went in with a beating heart.

I was curious to see Panditji, but he was so ordinary if I had met him in the street, I would not have given him a second look.

“What is your question?”he asked.

“My age, “ I found myself blurting out.

“We don’t generally answer such queries, but you have come with Doctor sahib. I can say with the utmost confidence that you will live up to ninety two.”

He said many other things about me, but I hardly heard him. But ever since that day, my perspective on life has changed.

I now saw a stretch of twenty five years before me. One could start projects, learn new things, write books and do other things with the clear understanding that a quarter of a century was available.

“So, Mr. Kapur, do you see? The question is not about your present age. What matters is how long you will live.” I advised my friend of the Park.

“Go and find your Panditji. Your whole perspective can get enlarged.”

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                                                   (9^th July,2014  785 words)