Freedom First

Summary

Issue No. 357 of Freedom First (November 1982, Re. 1.50), edited by Nissim Ezekiel with founder M. R. Masani credited on the masthead, opens with Ezekiel’s own editorial ‘Shuffle and Reshuffle’, a sardonic look at the pattern of Cabinet and Chief Ministerial reshuffles in Indian politics, arguing that these changes are almost always about personalities and factional accommodation rather than policy or genuine efficiency. The issue then carries Bhabani Sen Gupta’s report on Soviet strategic thinking towards South Asia following a Moscow visit, J. G. Tiwari’s polemic against the economic inefficiency of communist systems, B. C. Upreti’s analysis of the Nepalese monarchy’s role in (and limits to) national modernisation, Rama Swarup’s short piece on the practical difficulties of doing business in China, and Major M. P. Vora’s essay on the neglected problem of venereal disease among Indian children in the aftermath of the UN’s International Year of the Child. The back pages carry two book reviews (of Lord Denning’s ‘What Next in the Law’ and the edited volume ‘The India of Our Dreams’), a Letters column debating an opposition peace march and a Kashmir-related editorial exchange, and the recurring ‘With Many Voices’ page of quotations from the world press.

Essays

Shuffle and Reshuffle

By NISSIM EZEKIEL

Nissim Ezekiel’s editorial argues that the constant churn of Cabinet and Chief Ministerial reshuffles reported in Indian newspapers is misleadingly treated as significant news, when in fact it almost never reflects a change of policy. He contends that ministers are dropped or moved chiefly over personality clashes and factional pressure rather than principle, that Chief Ministers reshuffle their councils to accommodate followers and ‘broaden the base’ rather than improve governance, and that commentators’ habitual wait-and-see stance (‘it remains to be seen’) is itself part of the problem, since the outcome of such reshuffles is entirely predictable.

• Newspaper focus on Cabinet/Ministerial reshuffles overstates their importance.
• Vasant Sathe’s removal from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is cited as an example of a minister losing his post for attracting excessive personal attention rather than for policy disagreement with Mrs. Gandhi.
• Chief Ministers replace ousted council members with factionally reliable loyalists rather than on merit.
• State Councils of Ministers grow larger each year for factional accommodation, not administrative need.
• The media is criticised for praising reshuffling Chief Ministers as ‘skilled’ despite the personal-enmity basis of such moves.
• The editorial concludes that nothing new ‘remains to be seen’ — the wrong means (factional reshuffling) cannot lead to the right ends (party discipline, efficiency).

Russia, America and India

By BHABANI SEN GUPTA

Bhabani Sen Gupta reports on discussions held with Soviet academics, media figures, and foreign-service officials in Moscow on Soviet strategic perceptions of South Asia. He lays out the Soviet view of a single geo-strategic ‘Southwestern and South Asia’ region (a framework Sen Gupta says Brezhnev advanced during his December 1980 Delhi visit), the competing Soviet and American ‘frameworks’ of international relations, and Moscow’s classification of Afghanistan as Soviet-aligned, Pakistan as American-aligned, and India (along with Iran) as occupying an independent ‘zone’. The piece covers Soviet views on the war in Afghanistan and conditions for troop withdrawal, hostility toward Pakistan’s alignment with the US, warm Soviet perceptions of India and Indira Gandhi, and Soviet caution about a possible India-Pakistan no-war pact and India’s economic liberalisation.

• Soviets see South Asia and Southwest Asia as a single geo-strategic region, a concept Sen Gupta traces to Brezhnev’s December 1980 Delhi visit.
• Soviet, American, and non-aligned ‘frameworks’ are described as the three competing structures of international relations in the region.
• Afghan officials told Sen Gupta that 40% of Afghan territory was Kabul-controlled, 20% rebel-controlled, and 40% contested.
• Soviets require a ‘congenial regional environment’ rather than territorial control as the condition for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• Moscow views Pakistan as firmly pro-American but detects growing anti-American and self-rule sentiment among the Pakistani public.
• India is described as held in very high esteem in Soviet perception, with Indira Gandhi ‘universally admired’ and hailed as a world peace leader.
• Soviets classify India as an ‘Independent Capitalist’ country, not part of the imperialist periphery, and are watching India’s economic liberalisation and openness to multinational investment for its political impact.
• A Soviet-Indian no-war-pact position is described: Moscow would welcome it only if it reduces Pakistan’s linkage to the US, not otherwise.

Business with China

By RAMA SWARUP

A short unsigned/staff item on the practical frustrations of Western and Asian businessmen operating in mainland China: inadequate office and hotel space, high rents, arbitrary and inconsistent tariffs (25-300%) on imported goods, opaque and inconsistently enforced commercial law, and a dual pricing system requiring foreign currency certificates. The piece cites the case of the Friendship Hotel in Peking, where 181 foreign business guests protested a doubled rent, and references a briefing by a Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation manager on the difficulty of confirming legal enforceability of agreements under Chinese commercial law.

• About 350 foreign firms have offices in Peking and hundreds more send travelling businessmen, despite China’s economic retrenchment.
• Housing and office space shortages are described as the biggest foreign business annoyances.
• Import tariffs on goods including typewriters and filing cabinets range from 25% to 300% and are arbitrarily applied.
• Foreigners must use foreign currency certificates rather than yuan, part of a dual-pricing system.
• 181 people protested when the Friendship Hotel doubled rents for business guests.
• A Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation manager described difficulty obtaining confirmation of legal enforceability of agreements from Chinese authorities.

Inefficiency of Communism

By J. G. TIWARI

J. G. Tiwari argues against the common assumption that communism, whatever its costs to human rights, is at least economically efficient. He contends communism’s core weakness is that it subordinates economics to political control by a totalitarian centre, citing Soviet agriculture (where tiny private plots supply a disproportionate share of dairy, meat and produce) as evidence of the inefficiency of collectivised farming, and arguing that a communist party’s inherent drive for total power creates expansionist foreign policy that provokes Western hostility, arms races, and diversion of resources to the military — all of which further degrades economic performance. He concludes that communist economies are structurally marked by poor incentives, sectoral imbalance, high production costs, shoddy goods, distribution bottlenecks, and scarcity.

• Communism’s basic weakness is that it subordinates economics to totalitarian political control, per Tiwari.
• Soviet private farm plots, at only 3% of cultivable land, supply 30-66% of dairy, meat and agricultural output, cited as proof of collectivised agriculture’s inefficiency.
• Communist party structure is described as geared to ‘total power,’ producing an inherent expansionist foreign-policy tendency.
• In 1966-67 communist states (China, North Korea, Albania, Vietnam, Cuba) spent 10.18% of GNP on armaments versus 3.8% average for India, Korea, Greece.
• Foreign capital inflow is framed as critical for developing nations, and going communist is framed as a way to cut off that capital by antagonising the West.
• Communist economies are said to suffer poor incentives, sectoral imbalance, high costs, shoddy goods, distribution bottlenecks and scarcity.

Monarchy and the Modernisation of Nepal

By B. C. UPRETI

B. C. Upreti traces the political history of the Nepalese monarchy and its contested role as an agent of modernisation. He covers the founding of the present monarchy by Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1769, the century-long eclipse of royal power under the Rana oligarchy (1846-1951), the monarchy’s revived and religiously-grounded significance (the king as an avatar of Vishnu in a constitutionally Hindu state), the 1951 restoration and 1959 experiment with parliamentary democracy, King Mahendra’s 1960 abrogation of that democracy and 1962 introduction of the party-less Panchayat system (explicitly modelled on Ayub Khan’s ‘basic democracy’, Sukarno’s ‘guided democracy’, and Nasser’s one-party system), and the Panchayat system’s built-in contradictions: proclaimed decentralisation that in practice concentrated power further in the monarchy. Upreti concludes that despite five-year plans since 1956 and efforts at infrastructure, health, and agricultural development, real economic modernisation has been superficial, benefiting only the rich, amid corruption, faulty planning, and dependence on foreign aid.

• The present Nepalese monarchy was founded in 1769 by Prithvi Narayan Shah; the Rana family effectively ruled behind a figurehead king from 1846 to 1951.
• The king’s status as a Hindu religious symbol (‘Avtar of Lord Vishnu’) is described as central to the monarchy’s unifying role across Nepal’s ethnic communities.
• Parliamentary democracy was established in 1959 under King Mahendra but abrogated by him in 1960.
• The 1962 Panchayat system is explicitly compared to Ayub Khan’s basic democracy, Sukarno’s guided democracy, and Nasser’s class organisation as rejections of Western-style democracy.
• The Panchayat system’s decentralisation was nominal; political parties were banned and power remained centralised in the monarchy.
• 94% of the population was dependent on undeveloped agriculture as of 1950, with almost no transport, communication or industry.
• Despite five Five-Year Plans (a sixth underway) and foreign aid dependence, Upreti concludes real economic benefits have gone chiefly to the rich amid corruption and faulty planning.

The Year of the Child and V.D.

By MAJOR M. P. VORA (R)

Major M. P. Vora argues that the 1979 International Year of the Child failed to draw attention to venereal disease as a serious hazard to Indian children, a topic he says was entirely absent from the extensive publicity given to childhood disabilities such as blindness, deafness, and mental retardation. He argues that congenital and person-to-person VD transmission in children is systematically underreported due to a ‘conspiracy of silence’ and the false assumption that VD only afflicts those engaged in promiscuous behaviour. Citing an old (1920) Bombay Social Hygiene Council report on Bombay City, Vora presents historical statistics on VD-linked stillbirths, infant deaths, blindness, deafness and mental deficiency, and calls for authentic, systematic data collection by health authorities — noting that even this striking old report failed to become the ‘eye-opener’ it should have been.

• The 1979 International Year of the Child gave extensive publicity to childhood disabilities but none to VD as a childhood hazard, per Vora.
• VD in children is under-recognised due to the false assumption it is linked only to promiscuous adult behaviour.
• A 1920 Bombay Social Hygiene Council report on Bombay City is cited: J. J. Hospital recorded 18.7% of indoor and 23.3% of outdoor patients showing evidence of VD.
• At Motalibai and Cama women’s hospitals, 10-15% of patients were seropositive for syphilis.
• Of 2,000 yearly stillbirths in the city, 18.5% (370) were attributed to syphilis; of 9,000 children who died annually, 3,000 died of congenital syphilis.
• Of blind children 30%, of deaf children 25%, and of mentally deficient children 50% were attributed to VD in the cited report.
• Vora calls for authentic qualitative and quantitative data on child VD, which he says health authorities have overlooked or ignored.

Book Reviews: What Next in the Law (Lord Denning) [rev. K. S. Venkateswaran]; The India of Our Dreams (ed. M. V. Kamath) [rev. V. B. Karnik]

By K. S. Venkateswaran; V. B. Karnik

K. S. Venkateswaran reviews Lord Denning’s 1982 book ‘What Next in the Law’ (Butterworths), part of an annual series of memoirs/commentary by the English judge. The review recounts the controversy provoked by Denning’s remarks on jury selection — that only ‘sensible and responsible’ community members should serve on juries and that England is no longer a racially homogeneous society sharing common standards — which led the Society of Black Lawyers and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers to demand his retirement, the publisher to withdraw 10,000 copies, and Denning himself to announce his retirement effective 31 July. The reviewer nonetheless praises the book’s pen-portraits of legal reformers (Bracton, Coke, Blackstone, Murray, Brougham) and singles out the reproduced 1980 Richard Dimbleby Lecture, ‘Misuse of Power,’ as the book’s most compelling section.

• Lord Denning’s ‘What Next in the Law’ (Butterworths, 1982, 352pp, £5.95) is the latest in an annual series since 1979.
• Denning’s remarks that only ‘sensible and responsible’ people should serve on juries, and that England is no longer racially homogeneous, provoked the controversy.
• The Society of Black Lawyers and Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers demanded Denning’s retirement from the Bench.
• The publisher withdrew 10,000 copies issued on 20 May in the face of threatened legal action.
• Denning announced on 25 May that his judicial career would end on 31 July.
• The review praises the book’s pen-portraits of legal reformers and highlights the reproduced 1980 Richard Dimbleby Lecture, ‘Misuse of Power,’ as the book’s strongest section.

Letters (Opposition Peace March; editorial reply on Farooq Abdullah editorial)

By S. G. Mampilli; Ms. S. S. Rao

V. B. Karnik reviews ‘The India of Our Dreams’, edited by M. V. Kamath (IBH Publishing Company, Rs. 25, 226pp). The volume collects contributions from five prominent journalists plus a joint piece by several economists, all offering their visions for India’s future. Karnik notes that despite differing perspectives, none of the contributors argue for a withdrawal of liberties or tightening of state control; all favour expansion of freedom and decentralisation of power, with some expressing strong resentment at the recent tendency toward concentration of power.

• ‘The India of Our Dreams’, ed. M. V. Kamath, IBH Publishing Company, Bombay, Rs. 25, pp. 19+226.
• Five prominent journalists contribute individual essays; a group of economists contribute a joint piece.
• All contributors favour expansion of freedom and decentralisation of power over tightening state control.
• Some contributors express strong resentment against the recent trend toward concentration of power.

With Many Voices (quotations column)

The Letters page carries two items. S. G. Mampilli of New Delhi writes about the 4 October 1982 opposition-led Peace March in Delhi (organised by the CPI, CPI(M), Democratic Socialist Party and Forward Bloc), arguing that the marchers’ simultaneous demand for a ban on nuclear weapons and unconditional support for the PLO was self-contradictory, since the PLO is ‘a terrorist organisation.’ Ms. S. S. Rao of Bombay objects to language in Freedom First’s October 1982 editorial on Farooq Abdullah that she reads as implying Kashmir is not fully part of India; the editor replies defending the original phrasing as reflecting Kashmir’s ‘special relation’ with India.

• S. G. Mampilli criticises the 4 October 1982 Delhi Peace March (organised by CPI, CPI(M), Democratic Socialist Party, Forward Bloc) as self-contradictory for combining anti-nuclear demands with unconditional PLO support.
• Mampilli invokes Gandhi’s teachings against violence and cites Pope John Paul II’s meeting with Yasser Arafat as a model of non-partisan engagement.
• Ms. S. S. Rao (Bombay) objects to wording in Freedom First’s October 1982 editorial on Farooq Abdullah that she says implies doubt about Kashmir’s integration with India.
• The editor (Nissim Ezekiel) replies defending the phrasing as reflecting Kashmir’s ‘special relation’ with India, not questioning its status.

Essay 10

The recurring ‘With Many Voices’ feature reprints a set of quotations from the international and Indian press (September-October 1982 dates, plus two from Encounter magazine, August 1981), on subjects ranging from Indian chief ministers’ job security and Martina Navratilova on commitment, to Menachem Begin’s comparison of Israel’s position to Chile’s, Mark Twain on dangerous months for stock speculation, and reflections on global political violence and Soviet expansionism during the 1970s detente.

• Quotes India’s Jyoti Basu, M. G. Ramachandran and Farooq Abdullah as jokingly named the three most secure chief ministers (The Sunday Observer, 19 September).
• Martina Navratilova, quoted in Newsweek, distinguishes ‘involvement’ from ‘commitment’ using a ham-and-eggs metaphor.
• The Economist (21 August) asks rhetorically why a schoolboy can’t wear a turban if a judge can.
• Israeli PM Begin, quoted in The Times (11 September), says ‘Israel is not Chile and I am not (President) Allende.’
• Two quotations from Jean-Francois Revel and Robert Elegant (Encounter, August 1981) reflect on Soviet expansionism during the 1970s detente and on Angola/Afghanistan/Iran counterfactuals tied to the fall of Saigon.

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