The shooting dead of the four accused in the horrific gang rape and murder of 27 year-old vet Disha has resulted in two public responses: the first overwhelmingly celebratory, that they met their just deserts when the Hyderabad police killed them for that is what they deserved. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar were lauded by the public at large including the father and neighbour of the murdered Disha. Rough justice, it assuredly was, say those appalled by the lack of due process of a trial by a court of law and sentence.
The Hyderabad police say in their defence claim that the accused when taken to the scene suddenly broke free, snatched a gun and started firing at them; they retaliated killing the men. The explanation is not implausible. Desperate men have been known to fall back on desperate remedies. As Minister Maneka Gandhi said herself in reproach to the police action, the accused would have been hanged anyway by a court of law. Precisely. The accused knew this too, hence their last desperate action. To meet the ends of justice a top level inquiry should be held including an autopsy report. All the relevant evidence to be placed before a panel of experts before a conclusive verdict is reached. Justice must then be done and seen to be done.
(The rise of Sundar Picchai)
Madurai (Tamil Nadu) -born Sundar Picchai, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, is among a number of Indian CEO’s to have made it big, joining the global CEO A-list as Alphabet chief. Picchai remains Google CEO, but as head of the parent company and its subsidiary is to run both as world’s second and third most valuable company respectively. Satya Nadella, sharing a similar background, runs Microsoft, whose market capitalisation was $1.4 trillion a few days ago, while Alphabet market value closed at $893.3.billion. Apple is globally the most valuable firm, with Amazon in fourth place.
Mahidra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra tweeted: ‘India’s most robust export is probably the global CEO. It’s now a universal perception that Indian executives are leadership material. If only there was some way of monetising these exports, India would have a perpetual balance of payments surplus.’
That said, the critical question is why Indians achieve such stellar success abroad and markedly less at home. To the achievements of Pichai and Nadella, one may add those of Shantanu Narayan at Adobe, Rajeev Suri at Nokia and Ajay Banga at Mastercard. – the list of Indians leading tech-centric companies is undoubtedly impressive by any standard, but what hinders their replication in India? This is not to deny that India has considerable achievements in the size and quality list of companies; it has excellent CEOs too, but of their success revolve round their ability to work the prevailing eco-system including its rotund bureaucracy, of applications and clearances raj, winking bankers granting dubious loans to favoured clients, projects with padded costs loans create a system tends to negate enterprise and out-of- the- box thinking. The weight of rules and regulations are calculated to wear out the patience of the sturdiest souls.
All is not lost, however. Around 2014, the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business, India ranked 130 in a list of 192 countries. Several years ago in almost one fell swoop, her ranking rose to 77, then to 63. China, from 46 is now 32, while Russia, US and EU economic sanctions and all, stands 28. The target for India must now surely be somewhere in the forties. Cabinet approval for India’s first debt exchange traded fund to bring in retail participation in bond market is welcome news. Edelweiss has been appointed to launch the plan to be called Bharat Bond ETF, Economic reforms continue apace.
Jihadi terrorism a global menace
The recent attack by Pakistani jihadi terrorist Usman Khan (whose body was flown back to his village for burial) in the London Bridge area, stabbing to death two innocents, before he was grappled to the ground by a courageous member of the public, then shot dead by a police marksmen. It is a reminder, if such were needed, of grave threat posed by fanatics determined to impose their warped vision of a new world order – a new Caliphate, if you will, on the lines of the late dreaded Abu Baker al- Baghdadi and his nefarious organisation was built on rape, torture and beheadings of captive infidels across a swath of the Middle East. A revolting picture 10 Coptic Christians lined up for decapitation sears the mind.
Countries in Africa are beset by the presence of these home-grown terror groups, foremost among them Nigeria’s vicious Boko Haram. Jihadi operatives, singly or collectively, have attacked targets in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, and a series of of chosen sites in Germany. In Sri Lanka Easter bombings of churches by a local jihadi businessman claimed the lives of some 247 innocent worshippers. It would appear that the US and its European allies are somewhat coy on the subject since evidence suggests they categorise two such groups, one covertly acceptable, the other clearly not. It depends on their geopolitical goals. America‘s CIA Director General Bill Casey in the 1980s funded an ambitious anti Soviet grand alliance stretching from Egypt, the Gulf states to China, its hub Pakistan and its military dictator Zia ul Haq, Frankenstein’s monster, as it turned out, who funnelled the funds through the country’s notorious Inter Services (ISI) directorate to train and equip jihadi terror groups for operations on India and Afghanistan, perceived as a strategic buffer against India. Mumbai was assaulted twice, first in March 1993, then in November 2008. During the first commando-style attack 300 innocent died, during the second the figure was 167. The US response to March 1993 was embarrassment, in the aftermath of the second much handwringing and breast-beating on terrorism per se without mention of the P-word, Pakistan, which received $20 billion as military and economic aid passed through bipartisan legislation in Congress. Mark Curtis’s researched work, Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam is well worth perusing.
The BBC and other Western Broadcasters refer to jihadi terrorism in markedly neutral tones for fear of being branded Islamophobic by their radical chic constituents and by defensive Muslim groups in seasonal hunts for Islamophobes, now a fashionable buzzword. This is one plausible explanation, the other more damning, is geopolitics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warnings on international terrorism receive vigorous nods of approval from European leaders, but no further. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s appeal to NATO for cooperation on terrorism was greeted with silence. No matter, Russia signed a multi-billion dollar contract with neighbour China for the supply of Russian gas from eastern Siberia, a blow to sanctions regime imposed on Russia by the West.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expelled two Russian diplomats for ‘not cooperating enough’ in the investigation into the death of a Chechen jihadi granted political asylum by her government. She then rushed off to the NATO summit at Watford in England, hoping, no doubt, to press her credentials as a loyal member of the Alliance as its anti-Russian crusades, even as the poison of Nazism and anti-Semitism spreads inexorably across her country.
Memorable evening at ‘Tolly’ Club
Kolkata’s Tollygunge Club is famed for its sylvan setting that includes its legendary golf course and myriad other luxurious facilities. Membership is much prized. The club recently hosted a Brains Trust, its co-organiser the British High Commission in New Delhi. The speakers were both eminent and varied and riveting. The opening speech was delivered by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, former Indian ambassador to UNESCO, spoke about the exploration of India’s North East and the discovery of the mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries which flow through Assam and southwards into the Gangetic plain and the Bay of Bengal. Colonel Ajai Shukla, former company commandant Hodson’s Horse, author and defence analyst, presented in a colourful detail the history of the India-China border.
Major General Cardoza, Indian Army, legendary Gorkha officer -, who recounted how he had stepped on a mine in the Sylhet district now in Bangladesh) during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 forcing him to amputate the injured limb with a khukri to prevent gangrene setting in. General Nicholas Carter, Chief of Britain’s Defence Staff closed proceedings with an arresting account of the challenges posed by digital world. It was some evening, warmly appreciated by an enthralled audience.
