An Unfair Agreement

                                   Policymakers in Delhi seems to have finally bitten the bullet by comprehensively gravitating towards USA by approving LEMA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum Agreement) . It's the biggest policy shift of independent India completely debunking Nehruvian Non Alignment foreign policy, since the treaty isn't signed yet only hope is some sanity might prevail in Modi government and India-US LEMA will be shelved or at least put in cold storage for good. The agreement sought by USA since 2004 is a definitive trap of US to suck in a democratic and independent foreign policy of India to gyrate towards Imperialist designs of US and allies in its misadventure of containing and perhaps confronting China.

                                        In its bid to dominate Asia, a formidable alliance was necessary for US and given the scale of Indian economy,demography and geography its indispensability in US eyes is understandable . The Asian group involving potent players with formidable power projection was necessary to comprehensively counterweight Chinese hegemony in Asia. The four country alliance between Japan,Australia with India in middle while US acting as catalyst is for long envisaged by US policymakers. US already has alliance with Philippines  Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (http://www.gov.ph/2014/04/29/document-enhanced-defense-cooperation-agreement/ ) to safeguard territorial integrity of Philippines (in response to Chinese - Philippines South China Sea dispute). The only objective of US to seek such alliances with disgruntled nations is to reassure its allies(Japan,Australia) about safety and thwart Chinese aggressive designs in Asia while maintaining its leadership position in the uni-polar world after the collapse of USSR .

 

                                  The previous regimes in India have withstood the temptation to participate in such an alliance but present dispensation seems to have wilted under pressure. The LEMA gives clear advantage to US with logistics support provided at Indian bases, clearly this agreement has no meaning for India as we doesn't have any interventionist agenda abroad and thus access to US military bases for logistics is a far fetched and futile idea. The recent attempts by US to normalize relationship with Myanmar, engaging Vietnam, reestablishing American base at Subic Bay in Philippines, pledging support for Taiwan territorial integrity are few steps indicating US renewed attempts to marginalize China .

                                        There are many reasons for abandoning overambitious treaty midway. This Indo-US LEMA agreement will sow the seeds of distrust between India and  Russia, directly affecting bilateral relations. Russia had been a reliable partner and an all weather friend for India in international arena since beginning .Such adverse perception about India will create apprehensions among Russians endangering defense,nuclear and trade cooperation between two and eroding trust. The US allurement of providing cutting edge military technology to India is a trap of America to increase its foothold in South Asia and isolating Russia . 

                                         US is notoriously supporting Pakistan both financially and supplying lethal weapons on one pretext or other against farcical threat of terrorism to Pakistan. While "encouraging" India to continue dialogue process with Pakistan after every terrorist attack on Indian soil US lip service ritual of condemning terror is a crude joke and points towards dubious American policy of only furthering its interests.Thus trusting US friendship is a sin India can afford to ignore.

                                   India has always maintained an independent foreign policy and becoming part of any aggressive group to poke China isn't in its best interests. Firstly,China is a vital economic partner of India with shared vision of multipolar world. Our emphasis should be on resolving border dispute with China amicably and weeding out distrust between two giant neighbors.Secondly China is cooperating extensively with India as visible in BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO). Thirdly, China isn't a weak country both militarily and economically so for India seeking confrontation is devoid of any merit. India has some unresolved border disputes with China but joining an alliance with US to unnecessarily confront will only jeopardize our national interests. Our national priorities should be economic prosperity and lifting downtrodden from clutches of poverty while war undermine these efforts.

                                        Democrats(Obama,Clinton) and their party is anti-Indian and Pro-Pakis to the core. Republicans except Richard Nixon who was wrongly directed by Henry Kissinger were a bit better and the Bush Junior was definitely pro India but these arguments doesn't justify major policy shift and devoid of reasons to join American bandwagon . Modi government should explain to nation the justification in the paradigm shift in India's foreign policy. The threat perception to country or the pressure mounted on Modi government for foreign policy change should be debated in parliament and government should refrain from continuing the treaty unless consensus emerges.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

                                      One of the finest novel(fiction) i have come across. It is an intriguing, comical novel by the Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif based on the mysterious plane crash that killed General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, former president of Pakistan near Bahawalpur on 17 August 1988 . There are plenty of circumstances nicely elaborated, laced with humour and perfectly blended with satire and hardships faced by commoners for readers to enjoy and find the book worth reading.

                                    The story revolves around a young military officer named Ali Shigri who accuse Dictator and President General Zia ul-Haq to be the conspirator of his father Colonel Shirgi's suspicious suicide. Hanif playfully gets into the heads and lives of multiple characters, including that of anxious General Zia who's obsessed about his security, his over ambitious ISI chief General Akhtar, torturer named Major Kiyani,an interesting room partner Obaid at PAF Academy, a communist street sweeper,a blind rape victim accused of fornication; and a wayward and sugar-drunk crow.

                                    Its a funny yet cleverly attempted story by Hanif that added new dimension to the conspiracies and coincidences leading to the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed Pakistan’s dictator General Zia ul-Haq.

Ghuman Literature Festival

                                        India is divided into distinct linguistic regions. Leaders of every major linguistic region project their own language to be the lingua franca of India. There are instances in our history where group of people have clashed over linguistic skills creating acrimony in society. In this madness of one upmanship a ray of sunshine is"The Ghuman Bahubhasha Sahitya Sammelan", a multi-lingual literary festival organised at Ghuman town in the border district of Gurdaspur in Punjab on April 3 and 4.

                                      Surprising it may sound, for organizing Marathi literary festival in Punjab but the reason behind it, is to commemorate the legacy of much revered saint Namdev, a legendary 13th-century reformist Marathi poet-saint Namdev from Maharashtra who lived in this village for nearly two decades. He was associated with the Bhakti Movement of that time. Locals embraced the saint as there own and incorporated 62 of the shabads(hyms) in sacred book of Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib, as Namdevji ki Mukhbani.

                                   A Gurudwara named after saint Namdev bears testimony to the fact that the social and spiritual bond between two diverse cultures is beyond rhetoric of symbolic secularism. Thousands of pilgrims throng to Ghuman Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Baba Namdev Ji  for annual pilgrimage.

                                  Marathi language and literature acted as catalyst to support and bringing together different languages of India as most other literature festivals are dominated by English and Hindi. The Ghuman literature festival has also stimulated translation of literary work between Marathi and Punjabi languages and hopefully into other languages in future to benefit readers. The theme of this year Ghuman literature festival was “renewal and restoration” of Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Bodo and Hindi languages. 

                                   Celebrating the connections between two languages and cultures is also a way to pay tribute to the saint tradition which is progressive and liberal and literature plays a positive role in uniting the society through emotional and intellectual content in it. The Ghuman festival is aimed at building bridges between Maharashtra and Punjab through literature which hopefully will grow with time and include and revive other local endangered languages of India .

India On Edge

                                       In these political turbulent times sane voices are overruled and are steadily browbeaten into silence and cowardice. Unfortunately everyone today holds a piece of truth and claims they hold the entire truth with windows of dialogue firmly shut. The recent turmoil in Central Universities points towards this disturbing social trend with politicians playing there nefarious part for ulterior objectives for usurping power.  Like all developing countries India too has its share of vexed social problems. Many social ills plague our society but the biggest and ugliest is the caste cauldron.

                                      Universities play a decisive role in shaping the worldview of students regardless of there social or economic background. It provides an environment where debates are conducted and encouraged. Conflicting opinions and ideologies are freely exchanged and contemplated in harmonious environment. Unfortunately our universities have become a hunting grounds for politicians who have vitiated and surcharged political environment of campuses across India. All political parties have there students wing to propagate ideology and garner support among gullible ,idealistic and impressionable young minds.

                                         The suicide of Rohith Vemula (UOH) indicates the tug of war between different ideologies inside educational institutes. People with divergent ideologies doesn't allow other to flourish without consequences. The sad part is the witch hunt carried out by politicians and some organizations to demean a section of society after his death . Politicians from across political spectrum rushed in droves to politicize and benefit from unfortunate death. The self proclaimed saviors of underprivileged politicized the issue by sensationalizing and exploiting the sentiments of aggrieved only with ulterior objective of vote bank politics.

                                    The commotion in JNU wasn't different either where a politically affiliated group denounced and deplored constitution and  openly indulged in contempt of Apex court. The sloganeering and opinions expressed by ultra left group were rude and demean country in large and section of society in particular. The intrusion of political parties and clout they hold can be easily gauged when multiple parties rushed to accommodate an accused in total defiance of social and moral values. Surprisingly the blatant hero worship of an executed jihadi terrorist by accused wasn't an issue for these politicians.

                                      In the name of freedom of speech group of Islamist students and their leftist allies chanted slogans praising the convicted dead terrorist and also slogans were made for the breakup and destruction of India as the ultimate goal of this leftist-Islamist alliance inside JNU campus. This perverted group claims to own the ultimate truth about society and thus behaves like judge, jury, and executioner. The action taken by civil authorities thus was carefully portrayed as oppression and victimhood card was played to hilt.

                                      The economic reforms and education for all along with social reforms in harmony should be priority of government and social organizations should pitch in with ground realities for inclusiveness of underprivileged. The pious environment of Universities should be utilized for peacefully exchanging of ideas and deliberating upon the proper resource allocation for upliftment of marginalized, thus, doing away with social ills of the past for peaceful bright future. Concerted efforts by society should be made to refrain politicians from the hallowed gates of educational institutions.