Doing ‘katti’ with Pak is not diplomacy. So why are we being silly? By Aakar Patel

Two of India’s dangerous trends are: Misplaced Patriotism and intolerance towards different points of view. 

The real heroes of India are those who “criticize” government, and not those who do the chamchagiri (yes men). The heroes criticism is a warning to the goverment, that they are doing something wrong and need to get back on their feet, back to dharma. Those who cannot tolerate criticism of government, deeply want the government to fail and resort to defending the government instead of opening their eyes.  Heroes raise the nation for the common good of all, whereas the chamchas bring down the nation by keeping their man at helm in a bubble giving him false assurance that everything is alright.

If Modi were to fail, it is not because of the people who criticize him, but because of the people who do not hear criticism, and because he has gathered around him a bunch of chamchas who relentlessly give him false assurances.

A few idiots among us are hell bent in denigrating our neighbors, particularly Pakistan, what they lack is critical thinking and a vision. If India has to gain a seat in the U.N. Security council, we have to demonstrate that we are above the pettiness, if we aspire to become super power, we have to have more allies, not enemies, our sanity is judged by our ability to solve our local problems.

Do not ask the politicians, sportsmen, and those who get their paycheck any way, but ask those who earn it - like the business men, movie people, singers, truck manufacturers and others,  if they are not eager to expand their customer base.

The Indian government has to rise above pettiness, Modi needs to take charge, he should scream at all those who are tearing the nation apart, and place all his frogs in the bucket and contain them, and manage them.  He is an intelligent man and need to demonstrate that now. 

Jeete hain kisi ne desh to kya
Hum ne to dilon ko Jeet hai


Mike Ghouse
http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com

Here is another good piece from Aakar Patel.
Doing ‘katti’ with Pak is not diplomacy. So why are we being silly?  
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/aakarvani/doing-katti-with-pak-is-not-diplomacy-so-why-are-we-being-silly/

Quiz question: Which of these 12 statements is a part of our official Pakistan policy?

We will talk to Pakistan.
We will not talk to Pakistan.
We will not talk to Pakistan so long as it keep firing across the LoC.
We will talk to Pakistan only after it stops exporting terror.
We will not talk to Pakistan if it talks to Kashmiri separatists.
We will talk to Pakistan but only about terrorism.
We will exchange sweets with Pakistan.
We will not exchange sweets with Pakistan.
We will do cricket diplomacy.
We will never have cricket diplomacy till terror ends.
We will reply to each bullet with a bombshell at the LoC.
We will pursue peace but alas, Pakistan is continuing firing at the LoC.

The right answer is, of course, all of the above, which have come out of the mouths of ministers of this government over the last 15 months. I am quite sure I have left out a few other absurd contradictions that have passed for policy (remember the bizarre episode of V K Singh at the Pakistan High Commission?) but my head is spinning. There is no strategy, there is no thinking. There is only reaction to the immediate event.

Look at the comical manner in which the Hurriyat leaders were held and then freed. What must the world make of “the world’s largest democracy” locking its citizens up for fear that they will gossip with the enemy? But have we seen any shame or embarrassment? Not a chance.

Let us remember again why we are supposed to be talking. To make sure Pakistanis stop coming over to do terror, something that Pakistan says it wants to help with. How will not talking solve this? I cannot wrap my head around that. Nations manage disputes in three ways. The first is mediation, which India does not want. The second is war, which hopefully India does not want, but which in any case is off the table as an option because of the N-word. There is only one other option, and that is to talk. The BJP is passing off sulking as a strategy, but I am afraid it is not. If we are serious about getting something out of them, we have to engage with them. Also, and I wonder if this has occurred to those who are paid to think about such things, it is inevitable that at some point we will have to bend. Doing ‘kutty’ is not particularly effective diplomacy.

One reason not to talk to Pakistan is that terrorism in India is at an all-time low. This will surprise those who only get their news from our fine television debates, but it is true. Violence in Kashmir peaked 14 years ago. It has dropped each year since and total deaths have fallen from 4,507 in 2001 to under 200 in each of the last four years. You have to be particularly innocent or stupid to think that all violence in Kashmir is the doing of Pakistan. But even if you do, if we insist that Pakistan is responsible for ratcheting up terror in India, we must conclude that it is responsible for bringing it down. That is something, of course, that this government will not do.

Terrorism in Kashmir, I repeat, is at its lowest level since 1990. Weirdly, this is what has given India the freedom to not engage with Pakistan. I suspect this is one reason, though perhaps not the main one, why the Modi sarkar is playing fast and loose on a subject that it claims to be serious about. It can afford to, because what we want from Pakistan — an end to cross-border terror — we are already getting without talking.

What happens if, and I hope that it does not come to pass, this changes? If the Pakistan army decides to again calibrate terrorism to a higher level, what will we then do? Will we still sulk? It astonishes me that such a fatal weakness in our foreign policy is being continued. And yet it is, because Hindutva has a Pavlovian response to the word ‘Pakistan’. It is difficult for such people to put our national interest above their emotion. I have been on TV debates this week and there has been no respite from the enthusiasm of the armchair generals.

It was said of that overrated warrior, Field Marshal Montgomery, that he had one essential battlefield talent. He had ‘grip’, meaning that he was in control of the actions of his side. Compare that to the helter-skelter manner in which we are being led in this important engagement. Observe the total lack of control and direction in those 12 statements above.

I am absolutely sure that this government has not understood it, but what we have done is give Pakistan a veto over our relationship. This policy, if it can be called that, has made us smaller.

Great News for India: Tata Group Plans $8 Billion Infrastructure Push

URL-http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/03/great-news-for-india-tata-group-plans-8.html

In my Economic Geography class in 1970, I learned that the road and rails are the lifeblood of the economy; it is so true. The US economic boom was triggered by the Interstate freeways*. It opens up people to commute freely, people will become more mobile and with that starts un-regionalization of a national India.

The Tata initiative needs to be lauded. A good infrastructure of roads and power grids will boost India's growth. The construction of Roads will create jobs; the economy builds on itself, once you set it in motion.

The timing of the announcement needs to be questioned, was this on their drawing boards for a while, or is this announced to give a political boost through May, and then shelve it? During elections, we need to guard ourselves from a variety of schemes and question everything; the essence of freedom.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
# # # #

 BLOOMBERG NEWS

Tata Group Plans $8 Billion Infrastructure Push: Corporate India

Cyrus Mistry, chairman of India's Tata group, is planning to spend at least $8 billion building roads, airports and housing, betting a stable administration after India's coming elections will lead to a new wave of infrastructure development.

Mistry, 45, who took over as the group's chairman in December 2012 after Ratan Tata's two decades at the helm, is expanding at least three unlisted infrastructure companies within the $100 billion conglomerate, according to two people familiar with his plans. The businesses will get more attention after Mistry has overhauled operations at bigger, listed Tata companies including the auto and steel units.


The initiative from Tata, which control assets including Jaguar Land Rover and New York's Pierre hotel, underscores the hope among Indian corporates that infrastructure project approvals and spending will pick up when a new government is formed after elections ending in mid-May.

"Mistry looks at this sector as a phenomenal opportunity," said U.R. Bhat, managing director of the India unit of U.K.-based Dalton Strategic Partnership LLP, which manages $2 billion globally. "It's a natural extension of their capabilities. Tata has the financial muscle to bid for the biggest of the projects and dominate," he said.
India needs to spend $2.2 trillion by 2030 on urban transportation, housing and office space to boost infrastructure ranked below that of Guatemala and Namibia by the World Economic Forum, McKinsey & Co. said in a 2010 study.

Triple Order Book

From 2012 through 2017, India is likely to spend 41 trillion rupees ($668 billion) on infrastructure with almost half of it being provided by the private sector, Siddhartha Roy, Tata Group's chief economic adviser, told reporters in June.

Tata Housing Development Ltd., Tata Projects Ltd. and Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. or TRIL, which builds information technology parks, malls and residential complexes, are among the infrastructure units that are aiming to more than triple their order books to 700 billion rupees in five years, said Sarika Kapoor Chokshi, a Tata Sons Ltd. spokeswoman in Mumbai.

TRIL plans to spend 227 billion rupees in the next five years building highways, airports, hotels and urban transportation, according to a presentation made by Managing Director Sanjay Ubale last June. Tata Housing is developing 26 projects across 10 Indian states.

Looking Abroad

Mistry also is encouraging the units to seek contracts abroad, in particular in western Asia and southern and western Africa, according to one of the people familiar. Tata management expect infrastructure activity will expand in a year or two after a new Indian government spurs an economic rebound, the person said.
India's growth slowed to 4.7 percent in the final three months of 2013, idling below 5 percent for the seventh consecutive quarter and denting the Congress party's chances of extending its decade-long rule in national elections that start next month and conclude in mid-May.

Narendra Modi of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party will have the best chance of leading the next government, polls indicate. Modi has run on his record of stronger-than-average growth in the western Indian state of Gujarat, which he has led since 2001.

"Developers are either not investing in or exiting highways projects citing the government's inability to provide the required clearances in time," analysts at India Ratings and Research, the local unit of Fitch Ratings, said in a March 11 report. "Following the completion of upcoming parliamentary elections, the sector is likely to gain renewed attention from policy makers," they said.

Construction Background


Infrastructure interests Mistry the way designing cars fascinated his predecessor Ratan Tata, said one of the people familiar, pointing to his family's 150 year experience in the construction sector. Mistry's billionaire father and elder brother control the $2.5 billion Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a construction conglomerate that was started by Mistry's great grandfather with an Englishman in 1865.

The infrastructure initiative is a component of Mistry's strategy since becoming the Tata group chief. He also has sold assets, written down overvalued ones and restructured units.

"Ratan Tata had an aggressive strategy of leaving a global footprint," said Shishir Bajpai, a Mumbai-based director at IIFL Wealth Management Ltd. with $1.7 billion under management and advisory. "A few worked and a few didn't. It makes sense to relook and redefine it. We have been buying shares of Tata companies over the past few months."

As for infrastructure, Dalton Strategic's Bhat said: "They are trying to find the next big opportunity and capture that."

To contact the reporters on this story: Bhuma Shrivastava in Mumbai at bshrivastav1@bloomberg.net; Rajhkumar K Shaaw in Mumbai at rshaaw@bloomberg.net
 
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arijit Ghosh at aghosh@bloomberg.net Dick Schumacher, Suresh Seshadri


* "The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, Interstate Freeway System, Interstate System, or simply the Interstate) is a network of freeways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation. Construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later. The network has since been extended, and as of 2012, it had a total length of 47,714 miles (76,788 km),  making it the world's second longest after China's. As of 2011, about one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country use the Interstate system. The cost of construction has been estimated at $425 billion (in 2006 dollars)." Wikipedia.