14

THE TIMES
Enough words have been exchanged; now
at last let me see some deeds!
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

s the NDA government approaches its one-year anniversary, bad

economic news is threatening to rain on its parade. Investors
vote with their feet. Delhis slow progress on big-bang reforms
and a lukewarm mood in India Inc has meant that the stock market
has shed 2,800 points in two months, falling from a high of 30,000 in
March. It must now undertake some tough measures to lift growth
and business sentiment. On the plus side of the governments ledger
inflation has gone down and fiscal deficit is falling. Yet, corporate
India is not jumping with glee as it did a year ago when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi swept to power. Modi has vowed to improve Indias
ranking in the World Banks ease of doing index from an abysmal 152 to
50 during his term but a lot needs to be done to achieve this aim.
Modi can take a leaf out of David Camerons book. Much like Modi,
Cameron first came to power at a time of
economic strife in Britain. Instead of being populist, he chose to take the politically risky path of austerity and pain with
the promise that it would eventually lead
to growth and more jobs. His historic
return to power, belying all opinion surveys, shows that this gamble worked.
Indias politics is much more
complicated but broadly speaking the
time for Modi to take some calculated
risks and make drastic changes is now:
when he still has the political capital. A policy of incremental change
in a bureaucratic system built on stasis will not work. Moreover,
important state assembly elections will come up every year and its
futile pegging reforms to the assembly election cycle.
Legislatively speaking, while the government has built broad
consensus on the far-reaching GST bill, which is now with the Rajya
Sabhas select committee, the amendments to the land acquisition
bill remain stuck in a political quagmire. The government can get
around this with a joint session but it must continue to build the case
for changing the political conversation itself by highlighting the
benefits of reform. While some green shoots such as road-building or
the announcement of the new Google complex in Hyderabad are
visible, this is the year for a massive push for reform. Modi must
not squander this opportunity.

Beijing should consider the benefits of having a settled boundary with India
Rajeev.Deshpande@timesgroup.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to

China, beginning today,
could yield positive
outcomes in trade,
tourism and commerce
and global concerns like terrorism and
reform of international financial
institutions. On the border dispute,
steady progress rather than a shift in
gears seems likely. It need not be so as
India needs to signal that the calculus
that gave China an upper hand is now
more even and Beijing should consider
the benefits of a peace dividend.
Though both sides draw comfort from
the relative peace on the India-China
border since 1967, the dispute is caught in
stale rhetoric. In February China objected, as it routinely does, to the prime
ministers visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Commenting on the upcoming Modi visit,
the Chinese spokesperson said: The
boundary question is an issue of common
interest. We look forward to enhancing
communication with the Indian side
to strive for more progress. Indian
comments are perhaps equally bland.
There is merit in incremental
progress in a dispute that has defied resolution since the early 1950s. Diplomacy is
best conducted discreetly and Modis
discussions with President Xi Jinping
last year were followed by an unusual
Chinese defence ministry communiqu
reminding the military that it reports to
Xi and must be mindful of the leaderships political and diplomatic goals. Given that the immense power centralised in
Xi hardly requires reiteration, the statement seemed intended to make a point.
The way forward in difficult relationships is to build trust and move in line
with Deng Xiaopings cross the river by
feeling the stones approach. Verify before trusting might be a close English
equivalent. But the stage is also set to
acknowledge that as Indias national
power rises it will over time erode the
economic and military advantage that
gives China an edge in negotiations.
IMF predicts India will be the fastest

Terror In Karachi

Sat Sri Akal, cockpit-ji

growing economy by 2016, ahead of China. Despite contested politics, Indias

political system is stable. Pakistan, for
long Chinas partner in checking India,
looks increasingly dysfunctional. The
traditional calculus of containment is
failing as India and the US forge a
global partnership, India retains
close ties with Russia and cosies up to
Japan. Meanwhile, Pakistans selective
approach to terrorism causes global
disquiet and poses a security threat to
Chinas Xinjiang.
India offers attractive economic
opportunities as China moves to a new
normal of 7% growth and banks on
visionary initiatives like Xis land and
maritime Silk Routes to boost economic
and strategic interests. Its relations in
East and Southeast Asia are still raw and
China can do with a few partners apart
from Pakistan and North Korea. A
border deal will increase, not decrease,
the sanctity of Tibet as part of China.
Though in dollar terms Indias econo-

India offers attractive

economic opportunities as
China moves to a new normal
of 7% growth and banks on
initiatives like Silk Routes to
boost economic and strategic
interests. It can do with a few
partners apart from Pakistan
and North Korea
my is only 20% of Chinas, it is expected to
grow faster till 2020. Indias power will lag
China in the foreseeable future but robust
growth has consequences for the military
balance on the Tibet-India border. On the
other hand, as reputed thinktanks like
Stimson Centre note, India will develop
greater latitude and options in conventional forces on the western border.
China was able to wait it out over a

California discovers even

driverless cars have accidents

Pakistans security forces must shed

selective approach to militancy
error struck Pakistan again as gunmen boarded a bus and fired
indiscriminately upon members of the minority Ismaili Shia
community in Karachi, killing at least 43 people. The attack
which has been claimed by the extremist Jundullah group affiliated
to Islamic State reiterates the jihadi scourge plaguing Pakistan. It
highlights how fertile that country has become for terror groups
as well as the abject failure of the authorities to stop them. While
Pakistani minorities have been increasingly targeted by the extremists, last years Peshawar school attack shows that Pakistani civil
society in general faces an existential threat from the terrorists.
Theres no denying that much of the blame
for the current scenario has to be borne by
Pakistans military-intelligence establishment.
The latter has consistently pursued a policy of
using terror groups as instruments of gaining
strategic leverage in neighbouring countries.
This approach has compelled it to make a false
distinction between good and bad jihadis. The
murky role of Pakistans security agencies has
also been brought out in American veteran
journalist Seymour Hershs recent account on Osama bin Ladens
2011 killing. According to Hersh, Osama was secretly hosted by the
ISI at Abbottabad before being sold out to the Americans.
In fact even Pakistans own leaked Abbottabad Commission
Report, not officially released to the public, has hinted at Osama
receiving support from that countrys security machinery. All of this
means that Pakistans security establishment has followed a duplicitous anti-terror policy which is coming back to haunt ordinary
Pakistanis. While expecting Pakistans military-intelligence complex
to accede to strict parliamentary oversight may be wishful thinking,
the former must stop its murky games and comprehensively fight
terror. Else, more blood will be spilled and the stalemate will continue.

Chad Crowe

Modi government must take some tough

economic calls as it completes its first year

THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

What Modi Must Tell Xi

A thought for today

Boldness Pays

OF IDEAS

Still safer than us

Ban driverless cars

Renuka.Bisht
@timesgroup.com

isclosures mandated
by the California
Department of Motor
Vehicles have revealed that
self-driving cars are not
crash-proof. While this has
given sceptics a new stick to
beat up driverless cars, they
are not really studying the
new data properly, which
unequivocally shows that
even with accidents driverless cars are far safer than
those driven by humans.
Take the Google prototypes,
which in six years have
reportedly totalled only 11
accidents, in none of
which the self-driving car was at fault.
What have these
cars seen human drivers get
up to? From the usual talking
on the phone and driving in
the wrong direction on a one
way street to reading a book
and even playing a trumpet!
Driverless cars learn from
each of these encounters, the
software and sensors getting
better and better at sidestep-

ping a sticky situation. Not

to mention the big bonus that
they never ever drive drunk
or succumb to road rage.
When the driverless cars
being tested in California
wend their way to Kolkata,
of course theyll be
in for a big culture
shock. Then they
will adapt. But
nothing can stop artificial
intelligence zooming ahead
across the transport sector.
France already boasts driverless trains, the Delhi
Metro will go the same way
sooner rather than later,
planes fly often on autopilot.
The future is driverless and
thats simply safer.

timesview

Pyaralal.Raghavan
@timesgroup.com

oogles admission that

its much vaunted driverless cars remain
accident prone despite years
of testing is a
pointer to insurmountable problems that have to
be tackled if these vehicles
are ever to become roadworthy. The company and its competitors, who have sunk huge
investments to launch driverless cars, would do well to
junk the experiment and cut
their losses. Rising accidents
will only invite more government regulation and snuff

out this nascent business.

Though it sounds attractive and convenient, the proposal for driverless cars was
doomed right from the start.
This is because car traffic,
unlike trains that run on
rails, is too unpredictable and
chaotic for machines to get
the hang of in the near future.
And its pointless blaming
human driven cars for the
accidents. The fact of the
matter is that human driven
cars will remain on the roads
for the foreseeable future;
they cannot be wished away
by waving a magic wand.
The issue, therefore, is
what can cope with human
driven automobile
traffic and the
answer to that is
only other human
driven cars. Every futuristic
technology need not be
realised. Dont be surprised
if driverless cars end up like
supersonic commercial jetliners, mothballed after a
short stint, or personal jet
packs that remain confined
to science fiction books and
Hollywood films.

counterview

dilbert

bachi.karkaria@timesgroup.com
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/erratica

Bangla Blogger Murder

he murder of
secular Bangladeshi blogger
Ananta Bijoy Das
by suspected Islamists marks the
third such killing
in less than three
months in Bangladesh. The increasing number of
attacks on secular activists poses a
serious challenge for Bangladeshi society and tests the resolve of the Bangladeshi government to uphold the
values of secularism as enshrined in
that countrys Constitution. Unless
such attacks are deterred, Bangladesh could go the Pakistan way.

Naked Confessions
nly in California. For 11 years a
California professor has been
asking his class to come naked to
the finals for a course on performing the self. Finally someone has accused him of perversity. The professors
defence is that hes nude
too, the lighting is dim,
and students can opt for
emotional nudity. That
they choose physical
nudity instead
makes one wonder what secrets
those Californians are hiding under
their sun-baked skins.

Need For Empathy

The essence of love and
compassion is understanding,
the ability to recognise the
physical, material, and
psychological suffering of others,
to put ourselves inside the skin
of the other. Shallow observation
as an outsider is not enough.

Bachi Karkaria

erratica

snapjudgment

Sacredspace

A spunky pilot gives flyers

a surprise at 30,000 ft
Frequent flyers have become frequent panic-ers courtesy
third-rate encounters of the cockpit kind. A pilot forgets
where his plane was heading, demands a strong cup of coffee
and abuses a passenger daring to question such unsettling
behaviour. A co-pilot punches the captain for calling him
uncle. This weeks US incident of a pilot making an emergency
landing because he felt uncomfortable about the presence of an autistic
child is familiar enough at our own airports where equipment is sensitive but
staffers are not. So heres a different story.
The flight took off from Chandigarh last Sunday noon. Several passengers
slumped into a nap without waiting for the pleasures of Veg or Non-veg. Even
the ubiquitous laptops observed the day of rest instead of being self-importantly flipped open in the split-second after the seatbelt sign was switched off.
The cockpit PA system crackled to life and so suddenly did the whole cabin. A
bright, smooth voice said, Sat sri kal. The guy continued: Mera naa(n) Jaspreet Singh hai Main tuhada copilot flight deck ton bol reha han. Captain Kaizer Ahmdabadi command kar rahene. Aap di Flight 9W 469 te swagat hai jedi Mumbai hoke Chennai jaigi. Tusi flight da maza lavo.
Aap da Jet Airways di flight lain vaste aapda dhanvad kardaha.
This deviation from the authorised flight path took no
longer than three minutes but its effect lasted through the nearly twohour flight. Never mind that much of the Punjabi was double Dutch to the
passengers: Mumbais mongrel breed and thair-sadam-soaked Tamilians.
They understood that spirit matters more than letter.
It would be stretching a point to say that polyglot India coalesced into one,
but our cockpit coagulant certainly reinforced both unity in diversity and vice
versa. Normally, the North is another country to those living in western and
eastern states and another planet for everyone south of the Vindhyas.
So i hope some manual-bound official doesnt penalise our spunky
Sardar for his defiance of civil aviations two-language formula. Worse, no one
from the rising tide of Hindi zealots should try to drown him for sidelining the
rashtra bhasha. More such announcements will remind us that the regional
rainbow is our pot of gold.
***
Alec Smart said: So, were the earlier indictments of Jaya a case of
disproportionate facets of justice?

border settlement as it grew at 9-10%

while India crossed the 6% barrier only
in 2006. A RAND study shows average
growth rates projected for China and
India for 2020-35 are 5.7% and 5.6%.
While the number of women of childbearing age is a declining curve in China
from 2005 onwards, it gently levels out
for India. An ageing population will be
just one of the greater burdens on China.
A more level playing field may well see
India calculating on being more insistent as the relatively weak hand it has
held so far changes.
PLAs tactics are intended to test
Indian nerves and incrementally
realign the border. But the public outcry
over such intrusions has resulted in a
concerted economic and military focus
on the border as no Indian government
can risk being outwitted.
China has resolved no less than 17
border disputes since 1949 and in 15 of
them Beijing made significant concessions over land claims. An important
reason for settling land disputes was a
far-sighted assessment of likely benefits. An agreement with Russia in 2004
finally closed a bitter chapter of SinoSoviet armed clashes along the Ussuri
River in March 1969. Pacts with central
Asian countries have enhanced Chinas
internal cohesion and security.
There is a solid platform of interactions that can be built on if the two leaderships look beyond limiting factors.
Talks that began in 1981 were followed by
the 1993 peace and tranquillity treaty
and the 1996 confidence building agreement along the Line of Actual Control.
Recent statements of the Chinese
leadership are encouraging. China has
the determination to work with India
through friendly consultation to settle
the boundary question at an early date,
Xi said during his India visit last year. As
things stand, China stakes ownership of
98,000 sq km in the eastern sector and
India claims 38,000 sq km was illegally
occupied in Aksai Chin. The actual
ground positions could lead to workable
compromises but if attitudes harden
and are influenced by jingoism, a
solution will slip out of grasp.

Thich Nhat Hanh

From Relative To Absolute Consciousness

Jayant B Dave

onsciousness, meaning awareness

or knowledge, has two dimensions. The consciousness in
normal human beings that I am So-andSo is a relative, objective, physical or
psychological consciousness rooted in
names and forms, cause and effect.
Whereas absolute consciousness or pure,
objectless, divine consciousness is
beyond names and forms, cause and
effect and is an essential attribute of the
Self, Atman or Brahmn, referred to as
chit, in the phrase sat-chit-ananda.
Self is all-pervading and omnipresent.
All that exists is referred to as the sat
aspect of sat-chit-ananda. All existence can
be grouped into two main entities living
and non-living, sentient and inert, seer and
seen, knower and known, subject and
object. The Self in its chit aspect is vividly
expressed in all living beings, particularly
human beings, due to presence of mind and
intellect and is dormant in non-living
objects. Hence conscious beings perceive,

think, analyse, discriminate and evolve

whereas inert objects do not perceive and
evolve or, they evolve very slowly.
Relative consciousness has its merits
and demerits. The obverse side is that we
can perceive each and every object and
being bearing a name and form and we
can relate ourselves with them. It also
helps express our apparent identity as
body, mind, intellect (BMI)
equipment bearing a particular
name and identity and lead our
earthly life with personal, professional and social objectives
and values. The obverse side is
that BMI equipment becomes a
blockade in manifestation of our
essential divine consciousness.
In ordinary human beings,
world or physical consciousness
covers God or divine consciousness like a moss covering the
surface of pond water. When a spiritual
aspirant follows the process of removing
world consciousness clearing the moss
higher consciousness comes to the fore.

However, when one stops the effort, world

consciousness creeps in like moss on the
waters surface. Spiritual process is
therefore persistent and tenacious effort
to gradually cease world consciousness
and transform it into spiritual consciousness. What is the root cause and way out?
Avidya or ignorance of our true Self is
the root cause. Avidya sprouts into ahankara, ego, that leads to raga,
attachment; dvesha, likes and
dislikes and abhinivesh, clinging to worldly objects. As long as
these five kleshas or obstacles
persist, relative consciousness
and pairs of dualities like pain
and pleasure persist and our
true Self cannot manifest.
The irony is that this very
relative consciousness helps us
in reaching absolute consciousness that is not known to us as
such. When antakaram or the BMI equipment is cleansed of its dirt and dross in
the form of subtle impressions and tendencies and rendered still, by spiritual

the

speaking
tree

practices such as selfless service,

devotion and meditation, the faculty of
intuition is awakened, enabling the manifestation of absolute consciousness.
Intuition is possible only because of interconnectedness and essential unity of
all objects and beings. Intellect leads to
psychological consciousness that is indirect, mediate and relative whereas intuition leads to spiritual consciousness
that is direct, immediate and absolute.
Purusharthas, the three objects of
human aspirations dharma, artha and
kama are pursued when one is in a state
of relative consciousness. The fourth
and final aspiration of moksha, liberation, is attained when one transcends
psychological consciousness and abides
in spiritual consciousness. Relative
consciousness is characterised by exclusivity where one beholds oneself as
Dehbuddhi or BMI equipment or residing in it (jivbuddhi). Whereas absolute
consciousness is characterised by inclusivity where one beholds all existence
as one mass of consciousness and bliss.