Honest able losers

When honest and sincere politicians are made to lose by electorate in elections, it should qualify as one of the most remarkable paradoxes i...

When honest and sincere politicians are made to lose by electorate in elections, it should qualify as one of the most remarkable paradoxes in Indian politics. On one hand, there is much hue and cry over corruption in politics and a common public petition for purging politics of all corrupt people, on the other, people with clean profiles like Kerala8217;s CM A.K Antony fail to win a single LS seat at the time of elections. No other CM can boast of a profile like Antony, who embodies Gandhian principles of simplicity and honesty. Not just that, he had also proved himself as an able administrator, taking Kerala to a stage where it bagged several accolades as one of the model states in the country. Ashok Gehlot is another case in point. An honest, tireless administrator who tried earnestly to give good governance to the rural poor and downtrodden in his state. He too suffered the same verdict in recent elections. S.M Krishna, a Fulbright scholar was widely regarded as a development-oriented CM. He even surpassed the achievement records of neighbour Chandrababu Naidu in just five years. And look at the fate he suffered in recent Lok Sabha as well as assembly elections. Why people are driven to vote against honest, hardworking politicians clearly deserves analysis. Perhaps the phenomenon can possibly be explained by the fact that people are far bothered by tackling corruption at lower levels, the officials, inspectors, engineers and the likes, and are not too bothered by how good or bad the political leadership is.

Talking business

The recently announced international trade policy is indeed a shot in the arm for India8217;s exports. Despite a healthy growth in domestic manufacturing post liberalisation, exports from India have been suffering with a lowly 0.8 percent share in world trade. The first state policy on foreign trade seeks to correct this anomaly with Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath setting a target of 1.5 percent share by 2009. The pragmatic policy with a slew of export incentives, reforms and initiatives give a clear direction for expanding growth in Indian exports particularly in the services sector. Good news indeed for BPO companies, and also for lakhs of young Indians working in the sunshine sector. Not just that, the reforms announced will enhance India8217;s competitiveness for trade in agricultural as well as manufactured goods. Now that the exporters cannot blame lack of a clear and pragmatic state policy, the onus is clearly upon them to take Indian exports to its rightful share in the global economy. They also need to set their own houses in order, for Indian products have long suffered a worldwide reputation of being low-quality, while exporters have been accused of focusing solely on exploiting the system to the maximum by claiming drawbacks and incentives offered to them. There have been innumerable cases of fake exporters setting up entities just to evade taxes or to claim drawbacks, in connivance with officials. Having said that, it is also necessary to take note of problems faced by our genuine exporters today. They face massive corruption at customs clearance at every port in India. A fixed fee is charged as bribe for getting shipments cleared, both in case of exports as well as imports. If indeed we are striving to match China8217;s performance in exports, we need enormous reforms in exports process, especially at the customs. So strict are the Chinese authorities with bribe-takers that recently they asked for execution of 200 Chinese officials who were caught taking bribes. While such extreme measures are irrelevant for a democratic India, we must clearly draw the lines on corruption and mark a few fields where corruption will not be tolerated at any level. There is also a case for computerization of customs to ensure full transparency in all transactions. In the absence of this transparency, often genuine exporters are made to look like frauds by custom officials and face unnecessary hurdles at each step of their shipment. While the announcement of a practical and effective policy is a welcome step, the devil lies in the details of implementation. If our Commerce Minister can indeed pull off a systems overhaul, with a little help from Finance Ministry of course, there is no reason why India cannot surpass its own target of 1.5 share in world trade.

US and us

The recently released election manifesto of US President George W Bush8217;s Republican Party acknowledges India as a growing power, further talking of a historical transformation in Indo-US ties under Bush8217;s leadership. As a convener of Indo-US Parliamentary Forum, I can clearly vouch for the fact that relationship between India and US have seen a tremendous improvement over last 10 years. The process initiated by Late Rajiv Gandhi and later carried by PV Narsimhan Rao and Atal Behari Vajpayee is bearing fruits now, as two of world8217;s biggest democracies inch closer and closer. Of all the things, special credit is due to the efforts of hugely successful Indian Americans, who by virtue of their professional success are now playing a significant role in US political process. Some of them are today members of campaign committees for both parties. Perhaps they are behind references to India in manifestos of both Republican and Democrat parties. In this background, the forthcoming meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush may provide further pointers on the changing relationship, even though it is hard to expect something major, now that US elections are just a few weeks away.

The writer is a Congress MP. He can be contacted at shuklarajeevgmail.com