Mother Teresa, the saviour of the destitute

'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away?' Sam Manekshaw, the first field marshal in the Indian army, was at the ringside of events when Independent India was being formed. Then a colonel, he was chosen to accompany V P Menon on his historic mission to Kashmir. This is his version of that journey and its aftermath, as recorded in an interview with Prem Shankar Jha. At about 2.30 in the afternoon, General Sir Roy Bucher walked into my room and said, 'Eh, you, go and pick up your toothbrush. You are going to Srinagar with V P Menon. The flight will take off at about 4 o'clock'. I said, 'why me, sir?' 'Because we are worried about the military situation. V P Menon is going there to get the accession from the Maharaja and Mahajan.' I flew in with V P Menon in a Dakota. Wing Commander Dewan, who was then squadron leader Dewan, was also there. But his job did not have anything to with assessing the military situation. He was sent by the Air Force because it was the Air Force which was flying us in.' Since I was in the Directorate of Military Operations, and was responsible for current operations all over India, West Frontier, the Punjab, and elsewhere, I knew what the situation in Kashmir was. I knew that the tribesmen had come in - initially only the tribesmen - supported by the Pakistanis. Fortunately for us, and for Kashmir, they were busy raiding, raping all along. In Baramulla they killed Colonel D O T Dykes. Dykes and I were of the same seniority. We did our first year's attachment with the Royal Scots in Lahore, way back in 1934-5. Tom went to the Sikh regiment. I went to the Frontier Force regiment. We'd lost contact with each other. He'd become a lieutenant colonel. I'd become a full colonel. Tom and his wife were holidaying in Baramulla when the tribesmen killed them. The Maharaja's forces were 50 per cent Muslim and 50 per cent Dogra. The Muslim elements had revolted and joined the Pakistani forces. This was the broad military situation. The tribesmen were believed to be about 7 to 9 kilometers from Srinagar. I was sent into get the precise military situation. The army knew that if we had to send soldiers, we would have to fly them in. Therefore, a few days before, we had made arrangements for aircraft and for soldiers to be ready. But we couldn't fly them in until the state of Kashmir had acceded to India. From the political side, Sardar Patel and V P Menon had been dealing with Mahajan and the Maharaja, and the idea was that V.P Menon would get the Accession, I would bring back the military appreciation and report to the government. The troops were already at the airport, ready to be flown in. Air Chief Marshall Elmhurst was the air chief and he had made arrangements for the aircraft from civil and military sources. Anyway, we were flown in. We went to Srinagar. We went to the palace. I have never seen such disorganisation in my life. The Maharaja was running about from one room to the other. I have never seen so much jewellery in my life --- pearl necklaces, ruby things, lying in one room; packing here, there, everywhere. There was a convoy of vehicles. The Maharaja was coming out of one room, and going into another saying, 'Alright, if India doesn't help, I will go and join my troops and fight (it) out'. I couldn't restrain myself, and said, 'That will raise their morale sir'. Eventually, I also got the military situation from everybody around us, asking what the hell was happening, and discovered that the tribesmen were about seven or nine kilometres from what was then that horrible little airfield. V P Menon was in the meantime discussing with Mahajan and the Maharaja. Eventually the Maharaja signed the accession papers and we flew back in the Dakota late at night. There were no night facilities, and the people who were helping us to fly back, to light the airfield, were Sheikh Abdullah, Kasimsahib, Sadiqsahib, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, D P Dhar with pine torches, and we flew back to Delhi. I can't remember the exact time. It must have been 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the morning. (On arriving at Delhi) the first thing I did was to go and report to Sir Roy Bucher. He said, 'Eh, you, go and shave and clean up. There is a cabinet meeting at 9 o'clock. I will pick you up and take you there.' So I went home, shaved, dressed, etc. and Roy Bucher picked me up, and we went to the cabinet meeting. The cabinet meeting was presided by Mountbatten. There was Jawaharlal Nehru, there was Sardar Patel, there was Sardar Baldev Singh. There were other ministers whom I did not know and did not want to know, because I had nothing to do with them. Sardar Baldev Singh I knew because he was the minister for defence, and I knew Sardar Patel, because Patel would insist that V P Menon take me with him to the various states. Almost every morning the Sardar would sent for V P, H M Patel and myself. While Maniben (Patel's daughter and de facto secretary) would sit cross-legged with a Parker fountain pen taking notes, Patel would say, 'V P, I want Baroda. Take him with you.' I was the bogeyman. So I got to know the Sardar very well. At the morning meeting he handed over the (Accession) thing. Mountbatten turned around and said, ' come on Manekji (He called me Manekji instead of Manekshaw), what is the military situation?' I gave him the military situation, and told him that unless we flew in troops immediately, we would have lost Srinagar, because going by road would take days, and once the tribesmen got to the airport and Srinagar, we couldn't fly troops in. Everything was ready at the airport. As usual Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, 'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away'. He (Nehru) said,' Of course, I want Kashmir (emphasis in original). Then he (Patel) said 'Please give your orders'. And before he could say anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, 'You have got your orders'. I walked out, and we started flying in troops at about 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock. I think it was the Sikh regiment under Ranjit Rai that was the first lot to be flown in. And then we continued flying troops in. That is all I know about what happened. Then all the fighting took place. I became a brigadier, and became director of military operations and also if you will see the first signal to be signed ordering the cease-fire on 1 January (1949) had been signed by Colonel Manekshaw on behalf of C-in-C India, General Sir Roy Bucher. That must be lying in the Military Operations Directorate.

The Poor Rich Indian MP

MPs IN GENERAL are rich, endowed by flourishing business interests or hereditary handovers. The Association for Democratic Reforms, an NGO that works towards strengthening democracy and governance, says there are 315 crorepatis — persons whose net worth exceeds 1 crore — in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Further, the average asset holding of the members of the Lower House is 5.33 crore. Mind you, this is just the calculation based on disclosed assets, which are often not exhaustive —or even, the colour of the majority of assets — that MPs own. Whatever the party or state, barring some exceptions, the prevalence of wealth among MPs is universal.

Crorepati MPs: By party Wealth is not the preserve of candidates from a certain party. Seven of 10 MPs from the Congress are crorepatis. As is every second BJP MP. The two parties whose candidates show a lower disposition towards declared wealth are both based in Bengal: the CPI (M) and the Trinamool

Crorepati MPs: State-wise There seems to be some correlation between the prosperity of a state and the prosperity of its representatives. At one end, all the MPs from Punjab are crorepatis. At the other, the Communist states – Kerala and West Bengal – show the lowest presence of crorepati MPs

Average assets per MP of various parties Regional parties occupy both ends of the wealth continuum. Some of them have extremely wealthy MPs, some of them not so much. Among national parties, the average assets of a BJP MP are nearly half that of a Congress MP

Average assets per MP from various states It’s a big divide: the average declared assets across states varies from 12 lakh (Andaman & Nicobar) to Rs 18 crore (Haryana). MPs from north-eastern states have the lowest declared wealth

Shikar Kalmadi

10 reasons why Mera Bharat is not quite Mahaan

By churumuri

Yet another Independence Day (August 15) has come and gone with a culturally bankrupt English movie channel actually having the absence of mind to show a film titled Independence Day (July 4).

And, yet another independence day has come and gone with a linguistically challenged and militaristically inclined Kannada news channel, a) airing Hindi desha bhakti geethe as if patriotism doesn’t lend itself to the local language, and b)  saluting soldiers as if the Indian army had a secret role to play in securing freedom.

And, yet another independence day has come and gone with A.R. Rehman‘s Vande Mataram putting up an increasingly weak show against A.R. Rehman‘s Jai Ho.

Nevertheless, as word after vacuous word flowed from corrupt leaders and crooked bureaucrats, as they have for 63 years before, SUJATA RAJPAL lists ten reasons why all this patriotic bullshit leaves her stone cold.

And why, despite independence, she admires, well, the West:

1) If you misuse public money, you can’t get away scot free, regardless of who you are or who you are related to or who you know in the echelons of power.

2) If you have a grudge against a public servant, you know how to seek redress. And you know you will get it, regardless of who she is or who she is related to.

3) You are held accountable for what you do irresepctive of who you are or what strings you pull or what ever you can do to hush it all up.

4) The CEO’s kid and the cleaning lady’s children go to the same school, learn the same lessons and have an equal opportunity when they step out in the real world.

5) There is no caste column in the school application forms or in the company service records. And it is not the yardstick with which someone gauges you and treats you.

6) No one looks down upon you if you don’t speak their language. Or no one looks up at you if you speak a language “superior” than theirs.

7) Religion is a personal question like one’s age and salary. It is certainly not the USP of political parties to ride to power or pull someone down.

8) You don’t have to answer ‘where is your native?’ from even a bank clerk just because you look different. And get treated differently as a result.

9) Your single status does not worry your colleagues, neighbours or their visiting relatives. And your sexual prowess is not a mater of public debate.

10) You will not die from the bite of a street dog. Or from a passing mosquito. Or from a little insect in yoursoppu.

Happy Independence Day

ESSAY

Cricket booms in India

A big hit

The Indian Premier League is raking in money but its teams are not

Mar 25th 2010 | DELHI | From The Economist print edition

703m for two

FOR cricket connoisseurs, the Indian Premier League, a six-week contest involving a shortened version of the game known as Twenty20, is horribly crass. With the onus on fast scoring, the world’s best batsmen are encouraged to swipe at every ball, inducing a monotonous sort of thrill, not unlike what the IPL’s European cheerleaders achieve with sparkly miniskirts and pompoms. Cricket punters, needless to say, love it, and the IPL, which recently began its third six-week season, is booming. On March 21st two new IPL teams were sold at auction for a total of $703m (32 billion rupees), only slightly less than all eight existing teams sold for two years ago, when the IPL was launched.

For Lalit Modi, the IPL’s boss, this showed it was “recession-proof”. No kidding. Mr Modi has brought previously unimagined riches to a sport that was until recently managed amateurishly in India and elsewhere. Having sold the main broadcasting rights to the contest for 82 billion rupees, he has hawked it widely—striking recent deals with, among others, Google, to broadcast IPL matches on YouTube, and Britain’s ITV. According to Brand Finance, a consultancy, the IPL is worth over $4 billion, double its valuation of a year ago.

ITV must be pleased. In Britain, the birthplace of cricket, nearly half a million people watched the IPL’s opening game on March 12th—easily more than peak viewership for an ongoing Test-match series between the English and Bangladeshi national teams, which admittedly is only being broadcast on a pay-TV channel.

Yet this is small beer by comparison with Indian audiences. According to TAM, India’s television-ratings agency, 42m Indians watched the league’s opening game, in which the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team part-owned by Shah Rukh Khan, a Bollywood star, biffed the Deccan Chargers. In its inaugural season, the IPL took four games to accumulate 50m viewers; this year it took only two.

For advertisers, the IPL’s fans in India are an especially enticing crowd, with around 45% of them free-spending 15-35 year-olds. An early breakdown for the current season also shows a significant hike in the number of women watching, to around 38% of the total audience. These figures indicate an unparalleled opportunity to get into the heads of India’s vast and growing middle class. By contrast, the opening match of the hockey world cup, the premier tournament for what is arguably India’s second-favourite sport, drew only 8m viewers last month—though it was held in Delhi and pitted India’s team against its Pakistani archrival.

Hence the hot bidding for the two new IPL teams, or “franchises”. Sahara, a conglomerate that is also a leading sponsor of India’s national cricket team, will pay $370m for a team it will set up in the western city of Pune; Rendez Vous Sports, a consortium, will pay $333m for a team in southern Kochi.

Even Mr Modi said he was surprised by these sums. But he pointed to an impressive business model. Franchise owners pay the IPL for their teams in ten annual instalments. In return they receive a big slice of its broadcast and sponsorship revenues. According to Mr Modi, the second of these payments already exceeds the first, two years ahead of schedule. That leaves players’ salaries, capped at around $7.5m a year, as the owners’ main expense, which they may try to recoup through ticket sales and team sponsorship. According to Mr Modi, “They should all be making money.”

Most are not, however. To be profitable, according to Ness Wadia, co-owner of the lossmaking Kings XI Punjab team, it is “critical” to build a loyal fan-base. This was always an uncertain undertaking, given negligible interest in India’s pre-existing state-based cricket contest. And it was made more difficult last year, when the tournament was abruptly shifted to South Africa for security reasons. To fill its ground in Mohali, Mr Wadia’s team currently gives away around a quarter of the tickets. “I’m very gung-ho about the IPL,” he says. “But we need to ensure the fundamentals are better inculcated.”

The profitable Knight Riders, tirelessly promoted by Mr Khan, show that this can be done. For several big industrialists who own teams, meanwhile, the value of associating their firms with the IPL may compensate for their teams’ losses. Most notably, Vijay Mallya’s UB Group, India’s biggest brewer, is forbidden by law to advertise its alcoholic beverages. But it has named its team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, after one of its brands of whisky.