It’s the ultimate political game. Been played with variations since 4th century BC when Chanakya jerked the rug under the Nanda dynasty and installed Chandra Gupta as the ruler.

It’s just brand new for Malaysia. There are scams. And there are scams which create scams. Any politician with access to public funds can do the former. It takes a real seasoned hand to do the latter. The script is by now familiar in Indian politics. Mid way through a Governments term a high ranking minister, usually the no.2 suddenly gets infected with righteousness and accuses his boss the PM of high level corruption. In an impassioned plea to his boss he urges him to come clean for the sake of democracy. The government goes into extended paralysis for the next two years and all sorts of worms emerge from the woodwork. Accusations fly and the swords are out. The no.2 resigns and joins the opposition party. Elections are held. The ruling party gets wiped out and no. 2 emerges as the new PM.

VP Singh in India pulled it off quite successfully using the Bofors scandal. 40 years on, nobody still knows the truth of what happened during Bofors. Its sole purpose seemed to be just the unseating of a government. Cut to 2014. The 2G scam too had all the makings of a scam. Not the real 2G scam, whatever that is. But the scam of creating the 2G scam. The moment the CAG dropped the 176,000 crore figure the media trial was over. The ruling party collapsed a couple of years later, and three years after that a special court acquitted all the accused in the 2G scam and set them scot free. Nobody much talks of the 2G scam anymore however there is a caveat namely Dr Subramanium Swamy. Its sole purpose also seemed to be the unseating of a government.

Now to Malaysia, so far innocent in the fine art of creating a scam that creates a scam. Is Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, 92 year old challenger and former PM following the Indian political script of 1989 and 2014? To seasoned political analysts, the pattern of events in Malaysia since 2015 seems to suggest some mischief is a foot. Here is a brief chronology of events.

2003 – Dr. Mahathir Mohammed retires from politics as the longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia. He puts his feet up in his farm at Langkawi with cows and horses, and looks forward to grooming his son Mukhriz Mahathir in politics.

2008 – 2013 Mukhriz serves as a deputy minister of international trade. Papa feels it’s time he does something bigger.

November 2013 – Mukhriz gets defeated in the elections of VP of UMNO the leading coalition partner of the ruling party. This shock defeat is ascribed to back channel strategy by PM Najib Razak.

2014 – Mahathir announces he has lost confidence in Najib.

July 2015 – Mahathir’s lieutenant and Attorney General Abdul Gani Patial publicly pronounces Najib Razak guilty of accepting 681 million dollars in the 1MDB scandal, the same day leaked documents were published in the Wall Street Journal.

Najib reels with the media onslaught and international outrage. With his own AG calling him guilty the trial by media is concluded, he is guilty as charged. In the hullabaloo many facts go unnoticed. The Saudi foreign minister gives a press conference stating that the money was sent by the Royal family to PM Najib in order to help him fight Islamic terrorists and that most of the money had been returned by Najib. BBC correspondent Frank Gardner with extensive connections to the Saudis confirms that this is indeed true. Nobody is prepared to believe this. Najib’s guilt seems to be firmly established. In a near fatal second blow Najib’s own deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin speaks out against his boss, telling him to come clean.

All sorts of worms come out of the woodwork. Many facts surface in the 1MDB scam, some linked to Najib’s step son. US Department of Justice starts an enquiry. Media takes this as further rock solid proof of Najib’s guilt even though he was not the target of enquiry by DOJ or any other investigating agency worldwide. Najib fights back. He asks the Public Accounts Committee consisting of both ruling party members and opposition leaders to investigate. The committee deliberates and gives Najib a clean chit in 2016. Then former Deputy PM Yassin quietly joins Mahathir Mohammed’s camp and the two start off a new political party PPBM, whose sole purpose is to cleanse the Nation of Najib and of course come to power. It’s time for the final death blow to Najib and the knives are sharpened and ready.

Najib might still win, given his popularity and support of the Malaysian voters who seem be getting tired to Mahathirs daily whining. Mahathir is hoping the momentum of the 1MDB scandal and the Malaysian people’s inability to understand political strategy will work in his favour. To political analysts all over the world who are keenly watching this is the ultimate prize fight. For the next month or so, all eyes are on Malaysia.

Writer Sudheer Mopperthy is Far East countries expert, views expressed are personal opinion.
kaalisudheer@gmail.com

Led by a core central leadership, distinct terror groups purposely urged with common beliefs, “We are expected to face until the origin of jihadi terrorism is addressed in all seriousness and authenticity”.

With the collapse of Islamic State’s (IS) dream of a Caliphate and severe depletion of Al Qaeda Central (AQ), the two icons of global jihadi terror, the focus is now shifting on the emerging landscape of global terror. IS which rose to fame in 2014 after being divorced from its parent organisation AQ, soon became the trendsetter and poster boy for global jihad. While on the other hand, after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, AQ kept losing its sheen and gradually also lost the leadership of global jihad. Though they shared a common ideology, their differences grew larger and bitter with the rapid successes of  IS overshadowing the rivalry between the two. The golden era of the Caliphate announced by Baghdadi and his claim of being the Caliph, supreme leader of all Muslims of the world, has now become a part of history with its defeat in Syria and Iraq with virtual loss of all the territory it captured and its sudden collapse. But from all available inputs, it is abundantly clear that IS has been defeated but not destroyed.

Many of the IS fighters have returned to their native nations and others have redeployed in smaller groups by relocating themselves in different parts of the world thus spanning the wings of the terror group. However, the lure of foreign jihadists to fight for the Caliphate has almost ended. The iron hand control that was exercised by Baghdadi over IS fighters has diminished to a great extent.

On the other hand, AQ, known for its network of radicalised Islamic extremists and Wahhabi jihadists properly trained in terror training camps in Afghanistan, and virtual leader of global jihad and international terror till 2014, has been badly enfeebled leading to its decline. It has not carried out any major terror attack for almost a decade now. It has been badly decimated in Afghan-Pakistan region, its stronghold once. Its actions are limited to sporadic terrorist acts by its associated groups and lone-wolf operations. The rout of AQ has to some extent been compensated by its regional groups and allies like Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, Al Qaeda in Arabian peninsula, Al Qaeda in Indian subcontinent, Taliban, Haqqani Network, LeT, JeM etc., who are effective in their respective regions.

While ISIS is transforming into a terror organisation with a flat hierarchy, with cells and affiliates increasingly acting autonomously, Al Qaeda, despite the debilitation of Al Qaeda Central, continues to exercise influence in several regions through its regional groups and allies. Despite suffering reverses, the hatred of both the terror groups’ for the West, non-believers, democratic regimes and apostate Islamic regimes has not diminished.There has been no significant reduction in the issues that led to the rise of global jihad terror groups. On the contrary, the improved technologies have facilitated better integration between the global terror groups and local/regional insurgents spread across the globe. Growing solidarity among Muslims across the globe has given a spur to regional resistance movements, like the one in Kashmir. The fast-spreading radical Islamic ideology has boosted the potential for catastrophic global terrorism. Though every radicalised Muslim is not an extremist, the educated, unemployed radicalised Muslim youth continues to be attracted towards jihad employing terror as a legitimate instrument of avenging the perceived injustice being done to the members of their community world over. They have entrenched belief in the fact that rule of Sharia is the panacea for all ills and discrimination facing the Muslims.

Though both the global terror groups have been weakened, the end of global jihadi terror is nowhere in sight. In the future, will they continue to operate with distinct existing identities or manifest in a different form?

There has been fervent appeals in the recent years for jihadists to unite world over. Some members of both organisations have been willing and able to support each other in the preparation of attacks. In a recent statement, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged warring jihadists to “unite and agree and gather and merge and cooperate and stack together as one rank” as “this is the basis of victory and salvation”. He told terrorists in a video last year that unification against the “international satanic alliance” on a global front was critical: “Communicate, link up with each other and extend a helping hand to your Muslim brothers in all Muslim lands. This is the surest way to victory.” Zawahiri’s recent audio message urging jihadist groups and mujahideen, “Unite and close your ranks with your Muslim brothers and mujahideen not just in Sham [Syria], but the entire world, for it is a single Crusader campaign being waged against Muslims the world over,” indicates the urgency for unity.

In such a situation, the question that begs an answer is who will bear the mantle of leadership of global jihad or what will be its future? There are three likely scenarios. First, the total integration of all terror groups into a single “Super Terror” group or an IS-AQ ‘Frankenstein’ with unified central leadership and top-down control. Second, a convergence of purpose at the regional level with regional command and control but continue to maintain their separate identities. Third, the merger of the cadre of the two global terror groups with the local resistance movements in their respective regions/countries.

Given the vast differences and ego-clashes that exist today between the leadership and cadre of the two global groups, there is less likelihood of the first two options seeing the light of the day. The third option appears more viable and likely emerging future of global jihad motivated by a common ideology of Universal Jihad. Universal Jihad will be directed against kafirs, democratic Governments and man-made laws which are against the spirit of a strict form of Sharia Law in a specified region. Distinct terror groups with regional identity and purpose spurred by a common ideology of Universal Jihad guided, financed and motivated through a core central global leadership is what we are likely to face in the coming years until the root cause of jihadi terrorism is addressed in all sincerity by the international community.

A new breed of Jihadists, radicalised and motivated through social media, ready to fight wherever they feel their Muslim brothers are under threat, will also be contributors to Universal Jihad. The fight will be ideology driven and geographical boundaries will be no barriers. Such groups will also rise within a nation-state. Thus, we in India will have to be prepared to face jihadists from other parts of the country joining their Kashmiri brethren and vice-versa. It would be a major challenge for intelligence agencies operating at various level. The likelihood of an individual not affiliated with any terrorist group to be able to inflict widespread loss of life through acts of terror will also increase.

Internet will become the primary source of training, training materials, motivation, target nomination, technical know how and coordination of terrorist operations that would aim at mass causalities and high visibility. IT will be exploited to the hilt to enable connectivity with the core group which is unlikely to remain stationary.

The terror threats will manifest in form of lone-wolf attacks, use of explosives-laden vehicle, suicide attacks. According to a top US think-tank: “Terrorists probably will be most original not in the technologies or weapons they use but rather in their operational concepts — i.e., the scope, design, or support arrangements for attacks.” One such concept that is likely to continue is a large number of simultaneous attacks, possibly in widely separated locations.The likelihood of terrorists using Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), the biological weapons, in particular, will increase. With a view to cause mass causalities, the danger of bio-terror and use of mini nuclear or radiological devices looms large. With highly educated and skilled youth joining the jihad, chances of a cyber- attack can also not be ruled out.The terrorists are also likely to resort to the use of advanced explosives and drones. The use of the third dimension by the jihadi terrorists is a new challenge. narco-terrorism is another challenge.

The new global war on terror will also get decentralised to a large extent. The success of counter-terrorism operations will depend on the willingness and capabilities of nations to fight terrorism on their own soils. The concept of  ‘good’ and ‘bad’ terrorists will have to be sacrificed. Nations will have to ensure that their soil is not used for the cross-border terror by organised terror groups. The global cooperation on counter-terrorism will include intelligence-sharing, training and capability building. Thus, India’s strategy of signing bilateral agreements with affected nations to fight terror is a step in right direction and in keeping with future challenges. However, a major overhaul of our internal security apparatus including capability and capacity building as well as issues relating to command and control, centre-state coordination and the national consensus is urgently needed to meet the emerging challenges.

(The writer is a Jammu-based political commentator, columnist, security and strategic analyst. Views expressed here are personal)

Writer: Anil Gupta

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Vinay Sitapati’s book, Half Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India, seeks to restore the Prime Minister’s place in the pantheon of great Indian leaders. He has enough evidence to demolish false accusations against Rao in Babri Masjid demolition case.

The bane of modern Indian history is the unconscionable distortions injected into it by historians owing allegiance to the Marxist and Nehruvian schools. This has resulted in a string of untruths being bandied about for decades about personalities and events both in the pre and post independence eras.

Such is the grip of these two schools over academia that even after free thinking historians, who are not prisoners of ideology, ex-hummed many truths that negated the mythologies palmed of by these palace historians, misrepresentations continue to permeate the text books and lectures in schools and colleges.

Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, BR Ambedkar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Rajendra Prasad are some of the names that immediately come to mind of national leaders whose contributions have been deliberately ignored and who have been victims of the falsification of history. In more recent times, a prominent victim of the machinations of these two schools is PV Narasimha Rao, one of India’s most cerebral and successful Prime Ministers who saved India’s unity and integrity and pulled the country out of an economic rut during 1991-1996 and put it on the high road to growth.

The purpose of the so called scholarship by entrenched academics from these two schools has been three-fold: one, to present members of the Nehru- Gandhi family as near faultless individuals who were deeply wedded to the core values of the Constitution and who sacrificed everything for the country; two, to present all their contemporaries as petty individuals with petty goals and with questionable commitment to constitutional values; and, three, credit all national achievements to members of this family and all failures to others.

This shameless and continuous glorification of one political family makes one wonder whether our academia secretly pines for a return to monarchy. Seen in the context of this fraudulent output by these historians, specially in the capital’s universities, Vinay Sitapati’s Half Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India comes as a breath of fresh air.

Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister at a critical moment in the nation’s history. India was standing at the door of the International Monetary Fund with a begging bowl and its foreign exchange reserves had slipped to such an alarming low that there was danger of default on loans. Rao picked up Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister and began the noble task of dismantling the socialist economy that Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had thrust on the country. He opened up the economy, liberated it from the licence permit raj, unshackled the entrepreneurial instincts of millions of Indians and invited foreign investments into various sectors.

These decisions brought about a spectacular turn around in the economy, restored hope among Indians and gave them the confidence to take on the world. He also pulled Punjab, which was engulfed by secessionist forces, from the brink and saved the unity and integrity of India. Instead of acknowledging the man’s phenomenal contribution, the Nehru-Gandhis and acamedics and writers hovering around this family, have falsely accused him of damaging India’s secular fabric and of being complacent in the fall of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Having pinned this monstrous charge on him, they hope this will wipe out his phenomenal contribution to the country. one scholar even spread the story that Rao was napping while the Masjid was being demolished. Another said he was “doing puja” while the demolition was on. Sitapati’s scholarly book covers a of constitutional machinery.

The law and order situation, specially on the communal front “is satisfactory”, he declared. Yet, Rao ensured massive deployment of central forces near the disputed structure prior to December 6. These forces could be called in within minutes, if there was danger to the structure, but the call would have to be taken by the State Government, because ensuring law and order was the responsibility of the State not the centre. There was also the worry that the Supreme court may quash a presidential order based on presumptions. Thus, the situation that prevailed just prior to the demolition was that “the Supreme Court, the State Governor and law Ministry officials, all seemed against Central rule”.

That is why after the demolition, Pranab Mukherjee told party men “all of you were members of the Cabinet and some of you were members of the CCPA. All decisions were taken in the meetings of the Cabinet and the CCPA. Responsibility is collective; the onus cannot only be on the Prime Minister or the Home Minister.” Sitapati, who had access to Rao’s personal papers, takes us through this narrative that presents facts that negate the spurious tomes that have been churned out on this issue until now. There is lots more to this book, but that will have to wait till later.

Half Lion is the first scholarly effort to correct the distortions that have crept into our understanding of social and political developments in India over the last three decades. It also seeks to restore Narasimha Rao’s well-deserved place in the pantheon of great Indian leaders.

 – Shalini Saksena (The Pioneer)

Emirates Center for strategic studies and Research ECSSR is an independent organization, an intellectual arm of the UAE government. ECSSR conducts studies and research on topics relevant to the national security and socioeconomic well-being of the United Arabic Emirates in specific and the Gulf region in general with relevant international concerns. ECSSR provides community services with highly scientific activities with the convening of symposia lectures and conferences on topics related to the research agenda and actively assists the professional development of UAE nationals through training programs. ECSSR support to the government decision progress by preparing reports for the best policy scenario mix and ECSSR provides qualitative research for the decision-makers.

In a rapidly changing world, with new horizons and challenges expanding the scope of human activity at every turn, the wise leadership of the United Arab Emirates envisioned the creation of an advanced and independent research institution that would not only keep abreast with new developments at the political, economic and social spheres of human endeavor, but would also formulate the most suitable responses and strategies for keeping the UAE society ahead in the race of modernity.

It was with this vision that the UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, established the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), a premier institution of its kind in the Middle East, which has ever since set new benchmarks of excellence and expertise in the field of strategic studies and research.

At the heart of the Center’s mission is its adoption of a strategic and rational approach to addressing today’s and tomorrow’s pivotal and pressing issues. It also places a premium on rigorous discipline in the triumph of the academic and scientific enterprise. In addition, the ECSSR’s core research group involves a cadre of well-educated nationals that derive a qualitative benefit from a specially designed program. The dedication and sense of duty that characterize these young professionals are remarkable. In their development, they have cultivated a sense of initiative and courage that will undoubtedly light the path to an even greater future. H.H. His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, appreciates the role of ECSSR in imparting quality planning to the government for delivering world-class governance to its people. According to the President of UAE,  “As the United Arab Emirates is not isolated from these developments, it has striven to adopt essential measures for keeping pace with the requirements of the age, including the establishment of a prominent scientific research institution, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). The Center has demonstrated in past years that it is one of the most dynamic and effective bodies in the United Arab Emirates in monitoring global events.

The Center is concerned with tracking, analyzing, and investigating local, regional, and international developments on a structured scientific and methodological basis that guides appropriate decision-making. This process is inspired by the sound directives and the exclusive, unstinted support given to ECSSR by the UAE government, borne of the need to earnestly enhance the intellectual skills of UAE citizens and help them develop their potential as progressive citizens of the modern world.

Through its many concrete achievements, ECSSR has proven its ability to surmount all challenges and obstacles and has consequently become a well-established intellectual institution not only in the United Arab Emirates but also in the Gulf and the Arab world. Furthermore, ECSSR has acquired distinguished academic and research status at the international level. Hence, there is a need to continue our support for the Center within the context of strengthening scientific and intellectual traditions that lay the foundation for the building of modern societies that aspire to follow the path of accelerated development and progress.

Dr Jamal Sanad Al Suwaidi Director General ECSSR, the visionary intellectual brain behind ECSSR has pioneered a great road map for framing policies that created UAE in recent times. Dr Jamal spoke about ECSSR and the role of the ruler of Abu Dhabi ” Center?’s varied achievements and contributions could not have been realized without the honorable patronage of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the constant support and laudable interest of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

They have also spared no effort in supporting ECSSR, sponsoring its various activities and closely monitoring them with great interest, enriching the Center’s course with their sound directives, and promoting its activities and achievements. God willing, this support will help the Center to enhance its performance towards achieving excellence. The visionary leadership of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed government of Abu Dhabi with Dr. Jamal Sanad-Al Suwaidi have envisioned making the ICT sector the fifth pillar of the economy. With the advent of the Abu Dhabi knowledge hub, Opinion Express Group of companies has presented its solutions with programs that can enhance bilateral ties between UAE and India in the Information Technology sector. Mr Prashant Tewari Executive chairman of Pantal Technologies and Opinion Express group of companies visited Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi with Dr Mohiba Khalil to present IT solutions in the ICT sector that can cover health care, Bio-matrix identity cards, micro-credit scheme and cashless society, national security services and national identity cards and similar possibilities. This will lead to better ties between the two friendly nations. According to Dr KhalilUAE society is shifting towards the knowledge domain, the vision of its great leader Sheikh Zayed had laid the foundation years ahead. Mr Prashant Tewari strongly feels that the ICT sector can fuel the tremendous growth of the UAE economy. Pantel Technology with its consortium partners would like to coordinate with ECSSR to facilitate the following reference to achieve the objective.

Excellent IT and Communication infrastructure

Infrastructure facilitating good quality of life

Availability of skilled human resources for all categories of IT jobs.

Cost-effective operations

Facilitative policy, regulatory and institutional framework

The UAE is setting a pioneering model for constructive interaction between the leadership and the people gives top priority to the interests of the citizens and spares no effort in providing them with a decent life. highly appreciated by the citizens who are willing to play an active role in national development and boost nations of the world.

The interaction of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu D Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, with UAE citizens in Al Dhaid on Friday is an example of the close leaders and the people and a true reflection of the policy of openness which this relationship is based Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was keen to learn about the needs of the citizens, said that His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Supreme Commander of the (God protect him) to public concerns, and His Highness the President believes in providing a decent considers the true treasure of this nation.”

The UAE’s wise leadership strongly believes that human capital is the most invaluable resource and contribution to the development process is the means for national progress and prosperity. His Highness Gbin Zayed Al Nahyan’s statement made in Al Dhaid that “our leaders are keen to communicate with the p them a better service to both the nation and citizens” demonstrates the UAE citizen as central to the vision of our wise leadership.

Human resources, the main engine of development, are the country’s most invaluable asset. These wise leaders listen to the citizenry and make efforts to promote their welfare, in areas such as modern medical care and social services to provide citizens with a decent life. It is the tangible manifest. Stage launched by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan by “providing an empowerment of citizens in order to contribute to their social and political life.”

During their meeting with His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, citizens express satisfaction and loyalty. There was reciprocity of mutual affection and appreciation between the leaders the magic mantra for the security, stability and welfare of the UAE.

 – Report filed by Mohiba Khalil from ECSSR HQ, Abu Dhabi

The insurgencies that impacted the Indian landscape till early this decade were generally in isolation. Though, they like all insurgencies had external links, the internal linkages between them were at best tenuous.

The Khalistan insurgency could be extinguished because of its unidimensional nature. It was confined to a specific geographic area and was supported by a specific group of people, easy to identify. Their cadre base was low.

The Kashmir militancy had not fully reared its head. The ISI patronage and support was well-known. The pioneering ideologues of the movement were based abroad and did not belong to the segment of the community, which provided the foot-soldiers.

The objective of the insurgency was to carve out another theocratic state.

The same can be said about insurgencies in the Northeast (NE). They too were supported by China, but in a manner that the deniability factor could be maintained. A separate country was their objective and not the destruction of the Indian state. The acts of terrorism in these insurgencies were to intimidate the local populace and preempt any support to the security forces.

Over the years, there is fusion of insurgency and terrorism. It first took the shape of proxy war with territorial objectives. Therefore, when the Indian Security establishment was faced with the Kargil misadventure, it initially appeared bewildered because it could not appreciate that a low-intensity conflict could assume the shape of a conflict, which was constricted in limit and scope due to internal and external considerations and pressures.

The overall military superiority that India enjoyed vis-a-vis Pakistan could not deter the latter.

Convergence of Terror

The proxy war waged by Pakistan and China are now converging on Delhi. This proxy war has various terrorist groups as its main tool. The main instruments of this war are none other but some Indians who are allured by ideology or money or both.

They have been convinced that India in its present form is a demonic state and needs to be destroyed.

The Maoists, Pakistan based terrorist groups, and terrorist groups in Northeast, Punjab and J&K are now in collaboration. They have forged a nexus for training, procurement of arms, establishing external linkages and providing safe-havens to each other. They are leveraging on one another's strength and reach.

Their common objective is to destroy the Indian State.

When the Army Chief talks about a two-front situation, he must realize that India is already facing a multi-front situation in terms of proxy war being waged by China, Pakistan and other inimical powers. This multi-front proxy war is rendering the country hollow from within. The inimical elements within the country are debilitating both our military resolve and our conventional capability.

The security of a country is the harmony between internal security and external security. Pakistan is collapsing because it always viewed internal security from the prism of external security. India on the other hand has been notorious in ignoring the external dimensions of internal security problems and treating them as that of law and order.

If the Maoists, who are trampling the heart of India, and the Pak sponsored jihadis of Kashmir as well as terrorists groups in Punjab, and the China-backed insurgent groups of Northeast, who have been trying to severe the head and limbs respectively, are now acting in concert, the internal security situation is grim.

A Super Power like the Soviet Union with its massive military capability, col-lapsed because it could not harmonize internal security with external security. India must not repeat the mistake. The Indian Army must revisit its threat perception and the very definition of 'enemy'.

Joint terrorist training camps

The arrest of two Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) leaders of Manipur Arun Kumar Singh and Dalip Singh in October 2011 exposed the emerging links between the militant organizations in the NE, Kashmir, LeT, and the Maoists. They revealed the ongoing effort on part of these groups to form a 'Strategic United Front' since they had the common objective to overthrow the Indian government.

They reckon that it is only collectively that they would be able to take on the might of the Indian State. They also revealed the plans of setting up a 'Joint Training Camp' in Myanmar. The Times of India on 08 October 2011 quoted official sources "ISI and PLA are in-touch and supply Maoists with arms. They are supposedly using China as the alternative route."

The official sources also claim to have photographic evidence of Maoist cadres from six Indian states being trained by the PLA of Manipur, in Orissa and Jharkhand.

This author has learnt through top intelligence sources that the Chinese have supplied a weapon manufacturing facility to the Kachin Insurgents in Myanmar. This facility is manufacturing replicas of AK-47, which is being supplied to all terrorist groups in India including the Maoists.

The latest recovery of explosives from a car on 12 October 2011 has also exposed the links between ISI, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Babbar Khalsa. Their objective was to target Delhi.

Taking into consideration, the seizures made by the security forces in the last few years, two important facts emerge - first, that Babbar Khalsa, the militant outfit, which carried out the killing of the Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh has been under the revival mode, under the patronage of ISI, and second, that the organization has no dearth of sophisticated arms and explosives supplied by the ISI.

The revival of Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan insurgency received impetus after the creation of the Pakistan Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee under the Chairmanship of Lt Gen Javed Nassir, former ISI chief. He is instrumental in forging the link between LeT and the Babbar Khalsa.

In October 2010, the Indian government had alleged that the Maoists of Nepal (PLA) had been imparting training to Indian Maoists on Nepal's soil. Further, the Maoists were receiving training from LeT instructors in these camps. There was information of 234 Maoists training in Nepal under the supervision of Naxalite leaders like Vinod Gurung, Prakash Mehto and LeT members like Razak Khan and Latif Khan, who hail from Karachi. In August 2010, Karnataka and Andhra Police, following four arrests in Hyderabad and two in Bangalore that the ISI through the 'D-company' had managed to establish links with the Maoists terrorists in the country. There were plans to invite Maoist leaders to Dubai to coordinate terrorist activities in India.

The spearheads of the modern terror network are people, who enjoy or have been conferred respectability by way of international awards or member-ship of NGOs ostensibly engaged in public cause. Some of these ideologues are active in forging links between various military groups. A noted Human Right activist, based on telephonic intercepts, has come under the scanner of intelligence agencies for trying to bring together various terrorist groups at the behest of Pakistan.

Even in the national capital the ideologues of the Maoists, Kashmiri and NE separatists have come together on a common platform on many occasions.

Their agenda is common, i.e. to weaken the resolve of the Indian State to fight terrorism. It is in this backdrop that their diatribes against the state, the security forces, and the Armed Forces Special Power Act should be viewed. This Act, they feel is the most robust tool in preserving the unity of India.

The Maoist agenda

It is pertinent to note that when Anna's agitation was at its peak, the eternal fast of Sharmila Irom of Manipur, was consistently highlighted. The focus was not she, but the removal of Armed Forces Special Power Act from Manipur.

One of the active members during the agitation is known for his ULFA links. During the same period, the so-called Lawyer civil activist and core member of the Team Anna, in one of the television channels, had categorically stated that the days of elected representatives are over, thereby implying that the India must jettison multiparty democracy.

He was only articulating the Maoist agenda. He also had then spoken that it is the Kashmiris who should decide whether they want to be part of India or not. Such was the hysteria during that period that these statements were lost in the din and did not receive adequate attention. The same gentleman has now advocated plebiscite in Kashmir and repealing of the Armed Forces Special Power Act.

One of the members of the Team of interlocutors on Kashmir has enjoyed the hospitality of Fai Foundation, headed by Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai the face of the Kashmir separatist cause in the United States. The Fai Foundation is funded by the ISI. It was a foregone conclusion that the team of interlocutors would recommend more autonomy for Kashmir. The timing of the submission of the report and utterances of the lawyer is not a mere coincidence.

The most formidable spearheads for convergence of terror in India are there in the media and amongst people who fancy to be called as intellectuals. The 'terrorism economy' is also formidable and has the ability to sustain some big media houses and other public platforms. They decry the Indian State, but 'Misuse the Freedom of Speech'.

The entire region in the surround of India is in unprecedented geopolitical flux. The US-Pakistan strategic partnership, which ensured the survivability of the latter since its inception is now under tremendous strain, arguably on the verge of collapse.

The internal problems of Pakistan seem to be intractable. The specter of the country's split is haunting. Pakistan's strategic maneuver space is getting increasingly constricted. The conventional tools available in the hands of Pakistan in leadership to alter the dangerous geopolitical discourse are in disarray or blunted.

It is not India, but Pakistan's machinations in Kashmir and Afghanistan, which has brought the country to this juncture. The emerging strategic partnership between India and the US, and India and Afghanistan has unnerved a tottering Pakistan. The only recourse available to Pakistan is to destabilize India by leveraging on all terrorist groups, i.e. the Maoists, who are active in one- third of India, and the terrorist groups in Kashmir, Punjab, Northeast, and Pak based terrorist groups and crime syndicate of the Dawood Ibrahim.

In this there is a congruency of interests between Pakistan and China. China too is not comfortable with the Indo-US strategic partnership and consequently the direction of the geopolitical discourse in the region. It has very high strategic stakes in Pakistan as well as in the Indian Ocean, particularly in the Bay of Bengal, where it is seeking presence by way of ports on Myanmar's western coast for convenient supply of oil from Gulf for its energy needs.

It is for this reason that China is engaged in thwarting India's 'Look East' outreach by increasingly brazen sup-port to Northeast terrorist groups and the Maoists.

Economic consequences

The convergence of Pakistan and China backed terror and spearheaded by the ideologues has dangerous portends for India. While the aim of this terror is to paralyze India, its main focus is shifting to its heart, i.e. the National Capital. In all probability terrorist attacks in India are likely to become more vicious, more deadly, more wide-spread and more frequent.

This proxy war has disastrous economic consequences. There is a thriving parallel terrorist economy. The Maoists are disrupting train services at will. Bandhs orchestrated by Maoists are having crippling effect on the economy and the livelihood of the people.

Corporate houses are paying ransom to the Maoists because the State cannot enforce its writ in large chunks of the hinterland. The Maoists menace is making thermal power plants starve for coal. India is becoming a dangerous place on this earth. Investors are being deterred. The Indian state machinery has become inured to the insecurity of the people. It probably feels that time itself will resolve the problem. The internal war against terror is being fought in a disjointed and half-hearted manner. The resolve mechanism and instruments to fight this convergence of terror is in disarray.

If this war is not won, India despite its conventional war-making capability, will collapse. We are fighting the war with wrong tools, wrong mindset, and misplaced ideas of war, oscillating between law and order approach and internal security approach. While there is convergence of various terrorist groups, the Indian authorities have a compartmentalized approach on the specious argument of federalism.

It's a war and given its import and spread, the internal enemies can only be defeated, if the Indian Army is in the forefront.

The writer is a former military intelligence officer who later served in the Research and Analysis Wing, or R&AW. The author of two books: Asian Strategic and Military Perspective and Military Factor in Pakistan, he is also Associate Editor, Indian Defence Review.

After the death of his old friend, Albert Einstein said "Now Besso has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us … know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

New evidence continues to suggest that Einstein was right - death is an illusion.

Our classical way of thinking is based on the belief that the world has an objective observer-independent existence. But a long list of experiments shows just the opposite. We think life is just the activity of carbon and an admixture of molecules - we live awhile and then rot into the ground.

We believe in death because we've been taught we die. Also, of course, because we associate ourselves with our body and we know bodies die. End of story. But biocentrism - a new theory of everything - tells us death may not be the terminal event we think. Amazingly, if you add life and consciousness to the equation, you can explain some of the biggest puzzles of science. For instance, it becomes clear why space and time - and even the properties of matter itself - depend on the observer. It also becomes clear why the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be exquisitely fine-tuned for the existence of life.

Until we recognize the universe in our heads, attempts to understand reality will remain a road to nowhere.

Consider the weather 'outside': You see a blue sky, but the cells in your brain could be changed so the sky looks green or red. In fact, with a little genetic engineering we could probably make everything that is red vibrate or make a noise, or even make you want to have sex like with some birds. You think its bright out, but your brain circuits could be changed so it looks dark out. You think it feels hot and humid, but to a tropical frog it would feel cold and dry. This logic applies to virtually everything. Bottom line: What you see could not be present without your consciousness.

In truth, you can't see anything through the bone that surrounds your brain. Your eyes are not portals to the world. Everything you see and experience right now - even your body - is a whirl of information occurring in your mind. According to biocentrism, space and time aren't the hard, cold objects we think. Wave your hand through the air - if you take everything away, what's left? Nothing. The same thing applies for time. Space and time are simply the tools for putting everything together.

Consider the famous two-slit experiment. When scientists watch a particle pass through two slits in a barrier, the particle behaves like a bullet and goes through one slit or the other. But if you don't watch, it acts like a wave and can go through both slits at the same time. So how can a particle change its behavior depending on whether you watch it or not? The answer is simple - reality is a process that involves your consciousness.

Or consider Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle. If there is really a world out there with particles just bouncing around, then we should be able to measure all their properties. But you can't. For instance, a particle's exact location and momentum can't be known at the same time. So why should it matter to a particle what you decide to measure? And how can pairs of entangled particles be instantaneously connected on opposite sides of the galaxy as if space and time don't exist? Again, the answer is simple: because they're not just 'out there' - space and time are simply tools of our mind.

Death doesn't exist in a timeless, spaceless world. Immortality doesn't mean a perpetual existence in time, but resides outside of time altogether.

Our linear way of thinking about time is also inconsistent with another series of recent experiments. In 2002, scientists showed that particles of light "photons" knew - in advance - what their distant twins would do in the future. They tested the communication between pairs of photons. They let one photon finish its journey - it had to decide whether to be either a wave or a particle. Researchers stretched the distance the other photon took to reach its own detector. However, they could add a scrambler to prevent it from collapsing into a particle. Somehow, the first particle knew what the researcher was going to do before it happened - and across distances instantaneously as if there were no space or time between them. They decide not to become particles before their twin even encounters the scrambler. It doesn't matter how we set up the experiment. Our mind and its knowledge is the only thing that determines how they behave. Experiments consistently confirm these observer-dependent effects.

Bizarre? Consider another experiment that was recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Science (Jacques et al, 315, 966, 2007).

Scientists in France shot photons into an apparatus, and showed that what they did could retroactively change something that had already happened in the past. As the photons passed a fork in the apparatus, they had to decide whether to behave like particles or waves when they hit a beam splitter. Later on - well after the photons passed the fork - the experimenter could randomly switch a second beam splitter on and off. It turns out that what the observer decided at that point, determined what the particle actually did at the fork in the past. At that moment, the experimenter chose his past.

Of course, we live in the same world. But critics claim this behavior is limited to the microscopic world. But this 'two-world' view (that is, one set of physical laws for small objects, and another for the rest of the universe including us) has no basis in reason and is being challenged in laboratories around the world. A couple years ago, researchers published a paper in Nature (Jost et al, 459, 683, 2009) showing that quantum behavior extends into the everyday realm. Pairs of vibrating ions were coaxed to entangle so their physical properties remained bound together when separated by large distances ("spooky action at a distance," as Einstein put it). Other experiments with huge molecules called 'Buckyballs' also show that quantum reality extends beyond the microscopic world. And in 2005, KHC03 crystals exhibited entanglement ridges one-half inch high, quantum behavior nudging into the ordinary world of human-scale objects.

We generally reject the multiple universes of Star Trek as fiction, but it turns out there is more than a morsel of scientific truth to this popular genre. One well-known aspect of quantum physics is that observations can't be predicted absolutely. Instead, there is a range of possible observations each with a different probability. One mainstream explanation, the "many-worlds" interpretation, states that each of these possible observations corresponds to a different universe (the 'multiverse'). There are an infinite number of universes and everything that could possibly happen occurs in some universe. Death does not exist in any real sense in these scenarios. All possible universes exist simultaneously, regardless of what happens in any of them.

Life is an adventure that transcends our ordinary linear way of thinking. When we die, we do so not in the random billiard-ball-matrix but in the inescapable-life-matrix. Life has a non-linear dimensionality - it's like a perennial flower that returns to bloom in the multiverse.

"The influences of the senses," said Ralph Waldo Emerson "has in most men overpowered the mind to the degree that the walls of space and time have come to look solid, real and insurmountable; and to speak with levity of these limits in the world is the sign of insanity."

Robert Lanza has published extensively in leading scientific journals. His book "Biocentrism" lays out the scientific argument for his theory of everything.

If the Congress had been sincere about fighting corruption, it would not have drafted a toothless Lok Pal Bill whose provisions are laughable

The promise of bringing in an effective law to curb corruption in the top echelons of the state should undoubtedly go down as the biggest hoax played by the political class on the people of India after independence. Every Government, from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru to Mr Manmohan Singh, promised to establish an institution to bring to book corrupt Ministers and MPs and reneged on it.

But, going by the statements of Mr Manmohan Singh and Ms Sonia Gandhi after the recent settlement with Anna Hazare, there can be no doubt that the Congress and the Prime Minister have taken deception to a new level altogether.

The first acknowledgment that the cancer of corruption had begun to destroy the great gains of the freedom movement came in the 1960s when the Santhanam War of Independence from Corrupt Rule.

Is neither sincere about nor capable of working for? Does the community have the right to recall?

Santhanam Committee was appointed to assess the extent of the problem and to suggest remedial action. This was followed by the report of the first Administrative Reforms Commission which recommended the appointment of a Lok Pal to inquire into the conduct of Ministers and MPs.

The farce vis-à-vis the Lok Pal Bill began after Mrs Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister when her Government introduced it in the Lok Sabha in 1968, knowing fully well that the Bill would lapse if the Lower House was dissolved prior to its passage in Parliament. Sure enough, the Lok Pal Bill faced sudden death when Mrs Gandhi opted for early dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1971. Since then, eight more half-hearted attempts have been made to legislate on this issue in Parliament and on a majority of these occasions, it was the Congress that was in power.

After all this humming and hawing for over four decades, the Lok Pal Bill proposed by the Manmohan Singh Government last year constitutes an affront to the intelligence of every citizen. Here, it must be made clear that this draft had the tacit approval of the Congress and the attempt to distance party president Sonia Gandhi from it is as disingenuous as the attempts by the ruling party to accuse Anna Hazare of re-sorting to "blackmail" and undemocratic means.

Instead of empowering the aam admi to complain against corrupt Ministers and MPs and arming the Lok Pal to go after the wrongdoers, the Government's draft Bill seeks to protect the corrupt in a variety of ways, while simultaneously trying to intimidate complainants.

The Government's draft says the Lok Pal will only be an advisory body without any police powers or the power to register FIRs against the corrupt. Nor will the CBI be under it. Further, the Lok Pal will have no power to initiate suo motu action or receive complaints of corruption from citizens. It will be empowered to proceed only if the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (both political appointees) permit it to do so. And, after all this, the punishment for guilty politicians who swindle the ex-chequer of thousands of crores of rupees will be a minimum of six months and a maximum of seven years in jail.

As against this bogus Bill drafted by the Government, Anna Hazare's 'Jan Lok Pal Bill' wants the Lok Pal to be an independent body like the Election Commission with suo motu power to investigate complaints against Ministers, MPs, judges and bureaucrats, to file FIRs and prosecute the corrupt, and not be just an 'advisory body'. Further, the 'Jan Lok Pal' will directly receive complaints from people and act on them.

There is another major point of difference. Mr Singh and Ms Gandhi do not want the Lok Pal to have the power to investigate the Prime Minister in regard to foreign affairs, security matters and defense-related issues. Anna Hazare's draft makes no such exception and rightly so. Bofors was a defence deal (purchase of field guns) in which Ottavio Quattrocchi, a friend of the Gandhi family, received commission payments from the Swedish company. Obviously fearing a repeat of a scandal of such proportions, the Government does not want the Lok Pal to investigate defence deals.

The Government's draft Lok Pal Bill is also so cleverly worded that everything can be classified as coming within the purview of 'security matters' and thus kept out of the Lok Pal's scrutiny. For example, if we had a Lok Pal last year on the lines proposed by the Government, the Prime Minister would in all probability have claimed that the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G Spectrum scam was a 'security matter' that cannot be probed by the ombudsman.

There are other areas of divergence which are equally significant. Mr Singh and Ms Gandhi prefer to go soft on the culprits (jail term of six months to seven years) whereas Anna Hazare wants the jail term to be five years to life imprisonment. Further, Anna Hazare says the loss to Government must be recovered from the accused. For example, if A Raja is held guilty, then all his properties must be confiscated. Mr Singh and Ms Gandhi do not want such a provision.

Finally, there is a clear attempt in the Government's draft Lok Pal Bill to scare away complainants by saying that those who file false complaints will be penalised and imprisoned. Anna Hazare's Bill is devoid of such intimidation.

All this is not to say that everything is fine with Anna Hazare's draft 'Jan Lok Pal Bill'. It has its flaws and hopefully these will get ironed out in the coming months. But, is it not ludicrous for Mr Singh and Ms Gandhi, who are primarily responsible for allowing Quattrocchi to walk away with the Bofors loot, to now claim that they are committed to a strong anti-corruption law? Or for Congress loudspeakers to claim that the settlement with Anna Hazare is indicative of the "sagacity and wisdom" of Ms Gandhi and Mr. Singh?

Even more laughable is the contention of the 'Amul Baby' of the family (whose great grandfather, grandmother and father fooled the people into believing that they would bring a strong anti-corruption law) that he too favours a strong anti-corruption law. If so, what was he doing all this while when his party and Government were circulating a draft Lok Pal Bill not worth the paper it was printed on?

It has been wisely said that you cannot fool all the people all the time. But this is one lesson that the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty will never learn.

IT IS OUR DEMOCRACY THAT IS TO BLAME FOR THE SORRY STATE OF INDIA

I have been witnessing the revolution at Jantar Mantar since 5 April and have listened to responses on TV debates.  The Executive and the legislature are worried about losing what they consider their rights and their exclusive space. One basic premise of their responses runs as follows; We are a democracy with a constitution and nothing can be done or even attempted outside the constitutional framework. Legislative, Judiciary and Executive alone can make laws, change the constitution, adjudicate constitutional disputes until it is amended and execute laws through procedures and rules laid down by the executive. Civil Society and the citizen at large have no locus standi in decision making once they have sent their pseudo representatives to the legislature.

The following beg serious consideration.

1 Whose constitution is it? Is it of WE THE PEOPLE or is it of they the legislature?

2 Who is the sovereign? The Citizen or the MP/ MLA or the PM/ Cabinet?

Following subsidiary questions then arise:

1 Does the legislature indeed represent the majority as should be the case in a democracy? Most Win with 15 to 20 % of total votes cast.

2 Do the voting citizen have any say in selecting candidates? Does he have a real choice of selecting? Parties allot tickets through an opaque mechanism.

3 Is the elected legislator free to work in the best interest of those who he pretends to represent? Or is he subservient to Party whip or his own political interest?

4 What recourse does the voting community have to correct an errant legislator who manages to get elected on promises he is neither sincere about nor capable of working for? Does the community have the right to recall?

5 Does our democracy enable citizens to get laws they wish passed? Is referendum not their right especially when their interests are obviously at variance from those of the elected legislators? Are we not stakeholders in our own governance in a democracy 'of the people for the people and by the people'? People as in the public and as in the Civil Society. Our legislature has a vested interest in Corruption and power of patronage. Are they our patrons or are they our servants? The question reverts to who is sovereign he or we?

Anna's agitation as it is being termed is only the starting point for getting answers to these very basic questions in the public mind. It cannot stop here because the root causes of the maladies of misgovernance and corruption lie, not in the lok Pal Bill not being in position. It lies with our Electoral System, with our Party System indeed with our democracy.  The politician has to find his rightful place as a servant of society who must work for the common good of the majority and for the maximum good of the nation. His own survival (Not his best political interest) must be co-terminus with the best interest of the people of India.

To that end this movement must aim at rectification of our democratic system. The constitution is sacrosanct only so far as it serves the interest of the people who have adopted it for themselves. Despair and frustration have reached the stage where People don't give a damn for being called a Democracy. They would rather exchange it with good governance with or without the false glory of being called the largest democracy in the world. Long Live Veteran Anna Hazare Long Live Veteran Solidarity with Anna. Veterans Will go all the way in supporting the Second War of Independence from Corrupt Rule.

Uttar Pradesh is now home to a people with dangerously wide gaps in skills, income and caste

If Uttar Pradesh was to be declared a separate country today, it would be the sixth-largest nation. With a total population at par with Brazil, population density comparable to that of the UK and per-capita income similar to Kenya's, it indicates the paradox of its citizen occupying the same space as his Latin and UK counterparts, yet living in conditions similar to those in Africa.

Setting this hypothesis aside, let us visit a few demographic facts. Uttar Pradesh has nearly 80% rural population, and its 76% population comprises scheduled castes (SC) and backward classes. A quick analysis shows that by 2016, more than 95% of the 8.5 crore population in the 25-60 age group would be looking for earning opportunities with neither sufficient education nor skills.

"(80% Rural population & 76% SC/OBC population has given birth to state-level parties namely BSP and SP led by Ms Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav respectively, tactically national parties namely Congress and BJP are lacking in appeal in rural and SC/OBC constituencies) Even in the best-case scenario, we cannot expect more than 5-7 lakh graduates along with another 10 lakh secondary-educated in that age group. The remaining would have attended only primary or middle school, or no education at all. The picture becomes more alarming when we see that the quality of education at lower levels is poor and completely disconnected from increasing employability.

Statisticians might argue that the unemployment rate in UP at 2-3% is quite low, and it may be true; but when we view this through the lens of nature of employment, a different picture emerges. About 96% of the economic activity in Uttar Pradesh is in the informal sector with low productivity and low income. This mostly includes daily wagers working as agriculture labourers, construction workers, drivers, cleaners, carpenters, cooks, waiters, Kirana owners and so on. With very low monthly per-capita expenditure (MPCE) about. 828 rural and 1,365 urban - we see a grave danger of incomes not matching expenditure. The low education levels and work skills along with poor socioeconomic bargaining power further dampen productivity, thereby affecting income levels and making people more vulnerable. This vulnerability would be significantly high in the age group of 25-34 years, which would see the highest rise in population to a whopping 3.5 crore in 2016, almost a 25% rise over the present population of 2.8 crore. The aggregate position may be alarming, but a region and religion-wise dissection is starker. As in 2011, nearly 8 crore of the 20 crore people in UP are spread over 27 districts of east UP who live in despair with a MPCE of. 838 compared to. 1,124 of west UP that comprises Noida, Ghaziabad and richer districts of upper Gangetic Plain. With more than a third of the state population at the lowest MPCE, 90% rural and a burgeoning youth population, east UP is one of the most vulnerable regions in India. No wonder we have hotbeds of crime like Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and others.

(The East-West divide of UP in terms of development is huge, it has impacted the social demography of the population at large hence the voting patterns are different)

Now, let us look at west UP that has nearly 32% Muslim population in 10 high-growth districts compared to an average of 17% in all of UP, yet the benefits of growth seem to elude them. The MPCE of Muslims in west UP is 49% lower than that of Hindus whereas in east UP, the difference is only 16%. Another alarming figure is that west UP has the highest urban population of 35%, indicating a strong case where the two religious groups are strongly concentrated near each other with wide disparities in income, creating a situation that could be easily exploited by religious forces.

(Muslims votes are key in 128 constituencies specially in 10 districts of West UP and six districts of East UP. Congress-RLD combine tie-up in West UP is build on attracting Muslim votes And SP is focused on Muslims votes on the East UP But emergence of Peace Party may challenge SP position in 2012 elections)

Though the state has witnessed sensitive situations between religious groups in the past, the last two decades have seen sharper divisions along caste and class lines. The state's 51% OBCs are divided in over 230 groups and its 25% SCs are now more sensitive around caste and class than religion. The OBCs in west UP have become stronger and are 23% more prosperous than their counterparts in east UP.

(51% OBC population has thrown leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Ajit Singh (RLD), Beni Prasad Verma (Now with Congress), Kalyan Singh (Former BJP poster boy), Vinay Katiyar/ Uma Bharti (BJP) And political parties like Apna Dal, Mahan Dal ETC)

Similarly, SCs in east UP have become the poorest in the country with an MPCE of. 699 while their counterparts in west UP are located much above the state average at. 948. Such disparities have been consistently exploited by political parties, leading to inequity at the time of distribution of wealth, justice and services. Uttar Pradesh, which represents nearly a fifth of India, is reckoned as the biggest contributor to the demographic and economic paradigm in the country. With rapidly-changing demographic trends, the state would soon have a very large uneducated, unskilled and low-income workforce that is vulnerable to crime, anti-social activity and an easy target for radical groups.

(Consolidation of Poor SC population under the banner of BSP has made Ms Mayawati strong in UP politics)

A lot of debate today revolves around India's demographic dividend, drawing comparisons with China. However, India fail to analyse that China in the 1980s made some radical reforms in education and employment apart from industrial and investment policies which led to its phenomenal growth over the last two decades.

Learning from what China did 30 years ago, the government and policy-makers in our country and states have to put together an integrated approach to manage this looming danger. Industrial, investment, education and employment policies have to be aligned, parallel systems of skill enhancement have to be set up and labour markets have to be organised. India cannot politicise the issue asthe danger cuts across party, religious and caste lines. Over the next decade, the large pool of uneducated and unskilled youth mostly engaged in the informal sector with low productivity may become a 'liability' instead of 'dividend', unless acted upon now.

(The national planning authorities must act, irrespective of which party that rules UP, state government has limited budget and vision hence the national government must take responsibility of bridging the gap between "have & have not's" in UP to avoid national disaster)

RADIAGATE HAS BROUGHT THE FOCUS BACK ON ETHICS IN MEDIA

Finally the malice has reached fourth pillar of democracy, though there were some whisper campaigns running on internet but the final nail in the coffin is set in by the Radiagate episode. It poorly reflects the misuse of power enjoyed by certain individuals holding strategically important positions in the national media and selling the access to power to corporate interests. Now senior editors in India are considering putting in place systems to ensure ethical practices in journalism.

The move follows a scandal involving high-profile journalists after tapes of revealing phone conversations with an influential lobbyist were leaked. At the center of the controversy are two well-known journalists, Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt. Critics say they acted like deal-makers, not journalists. Neither denies the conversations took place, but they deny any wrongdoing. The larger question is why they have to do it? Money can be an important factor though both of them are paid handsomely by their respective employers. Sadly, there conduct shows a poor light of individuals who acquire power and indulge in proxy governance by corrupt means .

Ms Dutt is heard on tape offering to relay messages from the corporate lobbyist to politicians to influence the process of forming a cabinet. Columnist Vir Sanghvi is heard offering a businessman a “rehearsed” interview.

‘NO GREY AREAS’

“Journalists need to exercise their judgment and verify everything that is said by a source. There are no grey areas, it’s black and white,” Vinod Mehta, editor of Outlook magazine which published the tapes, said. Corporate lobbyists represent certain interests which should be clear to everyone.” Mr Mehta was among a number of participants who spoke in a debate held at the Press Club of India.

Rajdeep Sardesai, the editor of the TV channel CNN IBN, said: “Let us not over- look the fact that it is the media’s unflinching attempts that have exposed these scams. Most of us are doing a very good job. “This rot is not new – it’s been around for three decades at least.”In this competitive age, access is information which is where the politicians have co- opted the journalists. Corporate India and politicians are subverting the system,” he said. Rajdeep is having a valid point that media is the recent past have played a crucial role in streamlining clean governance. More than 100 tapes of conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and leading journalists were recorded as part of an authorized police tap. Police were acting on a request from income tax authorities investigating the alleged mis selling of mobile telephone licences.

Last month, federal auditors said former telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja had undersold mobile phone licences worth billions of dollars, resulting in an estimated loss of $39bn to the exchequer. It is not clear who leaked the tapes to the media. Transcripts of the conversations have appeared in the Open and Outlook magazines and have angered many Indians.

‘ Error of judgement’

In the tape recorded in the summer of 2009, Ms Dutt is heard discussing with Ms Radia who should be in the cabinet. Ms Radia was pushing for Mr Raja to be reinstated as a minister. Ms Dutt, currently group editor at NDTV is heard assuring Ms Radia that she would speak to a senior Congress party leader on her behalf. Barkha Dutt has apologized for “an error of judgement”, but she insists that she has not done anything wrong.

Mr Sanghvi  who is heard offering a “fully scripted” and “rehearsed” television interview to Ms Radia’s client, India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani says he was “just stringing her along”.Ms Radia works as a lobbyist for two of India’s biggest industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata.Since the leaks, Mr Tata has gone to court saying that conversations between him and Ms Radia were “personal” and that the leaks violated his right to privacy.

But who is clean?

Just blaming Ms Dutt and Mr Sanghvi should not do any good to the country, the corruption malaice has reached in every section of the society. And the most disgusting fact of the entire corruption saga of the country is that it is affecting the lower class of our country, people are suffering at large and sectors like health, education, rural development, are the worst sufferer because they are largely funded by the government grants in a socialist country. Today, political class, bureaucracy, judiciary and media are becoming syndicated tool in the hand of few powerful lobbies operating in the country thus directly challenging the ethics of democratic practice. Hence short listing Ms Dutt and Mr Sanghvi for the entire misadventure will not solve any problem.

– BY PRAKHAR MISRA for OPINION EXPRESS

OBAMA FINALLY GETS OSAMA

Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted terrorist, was killed early today by US special forces in a helicopter-borne operation at Abbottabad near the Pakistani capital, climaxing a over 10-year long massive manhunt.

The special forces personnel swooped down on the compound where bin Laden was holed up guarded by his ultra loyal Arab bodyguards in a predawn operation killing the dreaded terrorist, US officials said.

The news of the slaying of the world’s most prominent terror mastermind was broken to the world by US President Barack Obama, who made the announcement live from White House.”Bin Laden, 54, is dead and his body is in US custody,” President Obama said at half past 11 mid- night US time after initial story had been broken by news channels.

Though it was dark, crowds massed out- side White House chanted ‘USA, USA’.Besides the al-Qaeda chief who carried a bounty of USD 25 million, two couriers one of whom was his son and the other a woman, reportedly used as a human shields, were killed in the operation, unnamed American officials were quoted as saying by ABC News.First reports said that it was through these couriers that bin Laden had been traced.Other women and children present in the compound were not harmed, ac- cording to Pakistani officials.An American helicopter was destroyed by US Navy Seals after it was damaged and crashed during the operation that targeted a large compound in Bilal Town area near Abbottabad, 120 km from Islamabad.There was no word from the Pakistani government or military on the operation.Two US helicopters swept into the com- pound at 1:30 am and 2 am and 20 to 25 Navy Seals under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command stormed the compound in cooperation with the CIA and engaged bin Laden and his men in a firefight, US officials told ABC News.Bin Laden fired his weapon during the fight, the US officials said.The Americans took bin Laden’s body into custody after the firefight and confirmed his identity.One of the US helicopters was damaged during the operation and the troops decided to destroy it themselves with explosives. Several Pakistani news channels beamed grainy footage of a burning helicopter on the empty lawn of the com- pound.They also beamed footage of the compound surrounded by Pakistani troops this morning.

A PHONE CALL THAT TRACKED OSAMA

When one of Osama bin Laden’s most trusted aides picked up the phone last year, he unknowingly led US pursuers to the doorstep of his boss, the world’s most wanted terrorist. That phone call, recounted Sunday by a US official, ended a years-long search for bin Laden’s personal courier, the key break in a worldwide manhunt. The courier, in turn, led US intelligence to a walled com- pound in northeast Pakistan, where a team of Navy Seals shot bin Laden to death.

The violent final minutes were the culmination of years of intelligence work. Inside the CIA team hunting bin Laden, it always was clear that bin Laden’s vulnerability was his couriers. He was too smart to let al-Qaida foot soldiers, or even his senior commanders, know his hideout. But if he wanted to get his messages out, some- body had to carry them, someone bin Laden trusted with his life.In a secret CIA prison in Eastern Europe years ago, al-Qaida’s No 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, gave authorities the nicknames of several of bin Laden’s couriers, four former US intelligence officials said. Those names were among thou- sands of leads the CIA was pursuing.One man became a particular interest for the agency when another detainee, Abu Faraj al-Libi, told interrogators that when for the agency when another detainee, Abu Faraj al-Libi, told interrogators that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed as al-Qaida’s operational leader he received the word through a courier. Only bin Laden would have given al-Libi that promotion, CIA officials believed.

If they could find that courier, they’d find bin Laden. The revelation that intelligence gleaned from the CIA’s so-called black sites helped kill bin Laden was seen as vindication for many intelligence officials who have been repeatedly investigated and criticized for their involvement in a program that involved the harshest interrogation methods in US history.

“We got beat up for it, but those efforts led to this great day,” said Marty Martin, a retired CIA officer who for years led the hunt for bin Laden.

Mohammed did not reveal the names while being subjected to the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, former officials said. He identified them many months later under standard interrogation, they said, leaving it once again up for debate as to whether the harsh technique was a valuable tool or an unnecessarily violent tactic.It took years of work for intelligence agencies to identify the courier’s real name, which officials are not disclosing. When they did identify him, he was nowhere to be found. The CIA’s sources didn’t know where he was hiding. Bin Laden was famously insistent that no phones or computers be used near him, so the eavesdroppers at the National Security Agency kept coming up cold.Then in the middle of last year, the courier had a telephone conversation with someone who was being monitored by US intelligence, according to an American official, who like others interviewed for this story spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation. The courier was located somewhere away from bin Laden’s hideout when he had the discussion, but it was enough to help intelligence officials locate and watch him.In August 2010, the courier unknowing- ly led authorities to a compound in the northeast Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where al-Libi had once lived. The walls surrounding the property were as high as 18 feet and topped with barbed wire.

18 feet and topped with barbed wire. Intelligence officials had known about the house for years, but they always suspect- ed that bin Laden would be surrounded by heavily armed security guards. Nobody patrolled the compound in Abbottabad.

In fact, nobody came or went. And no telephone or Internet lines ran from the compound. The CIA soon believed that bin Laden was hiding in plain sight, in a hide- out especially built to go unnoticed. But since bin Laden never traveled and no- body could get onto the compound with- out passing through two security gates, there was no way to be sure.

Despite that uncertainty, intelligence officials realized this could represent the best chance ever to get to bin Laden. They decided not to share the information with anyone, including staunch counter terrorism allies such as Britain, Canada and Australia. By mid-February, the officials were convinced a “high-value target” was hiding in the compound. President Barack Obama wanted to take action.

“They were confident and their confidence was growing: ‘This is different. This intelligence case is different. What we see in this compound is different than anything we’ve ever seen before,'” John Brennan, the president’s top counter terrorism adviser, said on Monday. “I was confident that we had the basis to take action.”

Options were limited. The compound was in a residential neighborhood in a sovereign country. If Obama ordered an airstrike and bin Laden was not in the compound, it would be a huge diplomatic problem. Even if Obama was right, obliterating the compound might make it nearly impossible to confirm bin Laden’s death. Said Brennan, “The president had to evaluate the strength of that information, and then made what I believe was one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory.”

Obama tapped two dozen members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six to carry out a raid with surgical accuracy.

Before dawn Monday morning, a pair of helicopters left Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. The choppers entered Pakistani airspace using sophisticated technology intended to evade that country’s radar systems, a U.S. official said.

Officially, it was a kill-or-capture mission, since the US doesn’t kill unarmed people trying to surrender. But it was clear from the beginning that whoever was behind those walls had no intention of surrendering, two US officials said.

The helicopters lowered into the com- pound, dropping the SEALs behind the walls. No shots were fired, but shortly after the team hit the ground, one of the helicopters came crashing down and rolled onto its side for reasons the government has yet to explain. None of the SEALs was injured, however, and the mission continued uninterrupted.

With the CIA and White House monitoring the situation in real time presumably by live satellite feed or video carried by the SEALs the team stormed the compound.Thanks to sophisticated satellite monitoring, US forces knew they’d likely find bin Laden’s family on the second and third floors of one of the buildings on the property, officials said. The SEALs secured the rest of the property first, then proceeded to the room where bin Laden was hiding. A firefight en- sued, Brennan said. The SEALs killed bin Laden with a bullet to the head. Using the call sign for his visual identification, one of the soldiers communicated that “Geronimo” had been killed in action, according to a US official.

Bin Laden’s body was immediately identifiable, but the US also conducted DNA testing that identified him with near 100 percent certainty, senior administration officials said. Photo analysis by the CIA, confirmation on site by a woman believed to be bin Laden’s wife, who was wounded, and matching physical features such as bin Laden’s height all helped confirm the identification. At the White House, there was no doubt.”I think the accomplishment that very brave personnel from the United States government were able to realize yesterday is a defining moment in the war against al- Qaida, the war on terrorism, by decapitating the head of the snake known as al- Qaida,” Brennan said.US forces searched the compound and flew away with documents, hard drives and DVDs that could provide valuable intelligence about al-Qaida, a US official said.

The entire operation took about 40 minutes, officials said.Bin Laden’s body was flown to the USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian sea, a senior defense official said. There, aboard a US warship, officials conducted a traditional Islamic burial ritual. Bin Laden’s body was washed and placed in a white sheet. He was placed in a weighted bag that, after religious remarks by a military officer, was slipped into the sea about 2 am EDT on Monday.Said the president: “I think we can all agree this is a good day for America.”

– OE News Bureau