Ex: Jonathan Power Subject: How to win the Indian election. Date: April 4 2014 The drum beats are already sounding for the soon-to-be-held general election in the worlds largest democracy, India- the country that shows China how it should be done. There is a sense in the country that the ruling Congress Party and the influential Gandhi/Nehru core of it is on its way out after 10 years of a government that has hit the high points and the lows. To my mind, if the inexperienced Rahul Gandhi steps back from offering his own candidacy for prime minister and his mother, Sonia Gandhi, president of the party, pushes to the fore the very clever finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, Congress is still in with a chance. If not, the BNP candidate, Narendra Modi, looks like romping home, despite the cloud hanging over him as chief minister of the state of Gujarat at the time of Hindu-Moslem riots in 2002 when, it is said, he didnt use his authority to halt the rampaging Hindus who slaughtered Muslims. The Supreme Court later absolved him and now the US has lifted its refusal to give him an American visa. Many say he now has a clear run. His other claim to fame is that he has presided over the industrialisation of Gujarat that has produced the second highest rate of growth of any state in India- consistently each year over the 10% mark, putting it in Chinas league. (Moreover, these statistics in India are more reliable and probably less inflated than Chinas.) His critics say there has not been much “trickle down” in Gujarat. The middle class has grown fast but the majority of the working class and the peasantry have not seen much improvement in their lives that they can credit Modi with. In contrast the poor have seen their lives improved, as they have in most of India, because of what they receive in the increasingly generous financial and social aid from the central government in Delhi. This ranges from income support to guaranteed work, to subsidised food, to improved health and educational facilities. Three indicators alone prove the effectiveness of these- the rapid falls in infant mortality and in the deaths of mothers during child birth, and lengthening life spans across the board. In fact the sub-story of this election is how well some of the Indian states are doing, despite a gloomy set-back for the country as a whole that 3 years ago reached a growth rate of 10%, only to see it fall back to 5%. Three other states have done as well as Gujarat in their economic growth- Maharashtra (that includes Mumbai), Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Orissa has done nearly as well and has become one of the top destinations for foreign companies investing in India. Two states have done even better- Uttarakhand, at the foothills of the Himalayas, and Bihar which used to be the basket case of India with crippling poverty, extensive kidnapping and deeply rooted corruption. The novelist, V.S. Naipaul, once described Bihar as “the place where civilization ends”.These latter two states have experienced growth rates of 12% over the last five years. In Bihar, when Nitish Kumar became chief minister he reformed the crooked police, ordering them to move aggressively against all criminals, from robbers to corrupt senior officials. He established a new fast-track court to hurry their path to jail. The state, in the far north, doesnt have a natural market like Gujarat, for the export of manufactured goods. So Kumar put the states energies into improving agricultural yields and encouraged a boom in construction. Although Congress is poorly represented in most of these states it is the Congress government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which has devolved power to the states, giving them the chance themselves to kick start speedy development in contrast to the overweight central government. Moreover, the average age of state chief ministers at their election is 56. In the central government the cabinet averages 65. Interestingly, the more successful chief ministers are unmarried, a highly unusual state in India. It suggests they are highly focussed individuals who give all to their careers. Whoever is elected as Congresss candidate must go for the soft underbelly of Modi. This means attacking his chauvinist Hindu-first attitude. There are as many Muslims in India as there are in Pakistan. A peace deal with Pakistan should be a political priority. Second, he or she must highlight that Gujarat is not the only state to have had economic success and that many of the other high growth states have a better record in helping the poor than Modis Gujarat. Third, it must stress that in its outreach programmes it has done more to help the poor than any previous Indian government. Fourth, it has avoided confrontation with Pakistan. Modi deserves to be defeated. It would be a bad day for India if he won. Wickipedia. Jonathan Power: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Power is British, born in 1941 in North Mimms and grew up in Oldham and Liverpool. He is a journalist, filmmaker and writer who is best known for his weekly column on foreign affairs that ran in the International Herald Tribune (now the International New York Times) for 20 years.[1] Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Education 3 Career 4 Prizes 5 Other work 6 Summary of journalistic work 7 Latest Book 8 Previous Books 9 References Background[edit] For twenty one years his longer articles appeared in Encounter magazine and Prospect magazine. His Encounter article, The New Proletariat (September, 1974) was regarded as a profound analysis of racial strife to come.[2] His interviews of leading political figures from every continent have been printed all over the world. A number of them caused political waves, including the ones with George Arbatov, President Mikhail Gorbachevs foreign policy advisor and Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carters National Security Advisor.[3] Also the one with Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India.[4] These followed an earlier one with Arbatov which became the cover story in The Economist.[5] One of his latest was with his old school friend, Paul McCartney, talking about foreign policy issues.[6] Paul McCartney wrote an introduction to Jonathans book Like Water on Stone- The Story of Amnesty International (Penguin, 2002). Education[edit] He was a pupil at the Liverpool Institute High School. He did his bachelors degree at the University of Manchester and masters in agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Career[edit] Before his masters he worked advising peasant farmers in Tanzania and then after his masters he worked on the staff of Martin Luther King in the slums of Chicago, where he lived near Dr Kings own apartment. Later, he became a journalist but continued his community work in a Dickensian London neighbourhood. He began his journalistic career in 1968 with a one hour documentary talk, Black Power, on the BBC Third Program. It received much praise in reviews and one of the highest audience positive ratings in the programs of that year. He made a number of subsequent documentaries for Radio 3 and 4. His foreign affairs column is now syndicated to newspapers in Asia, Africa and Canada. Over the years he has written columns for the New York Times,(where he was a guest columnist),[7] the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and contributed many articles to the Times of London.[8] Prizes[edit] Jonathan received a Silver Medal at the Venice Film Festival, 1972, for the BBC documentary film,Its Ours Whatever They Say, about a group of mothers who fight for a piece of railway land to be made into a playground after one of their children fell to his death while playing on the roof of their block of council flats. He made 10 full length documentary films for the BBC, World in Action and This Week. His film, The Diplomatic Style of Andrew Young was repeatedly shown on the BBC and in the USA on PBS. Other work[edit] He was editorial adviser to the Independent Commission on Nuclear Disarmament and Common Security, chaired by the Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme. According to Willy Brandt, the Chancellor of West Germany, it had a great influence on Mikhail Gorbachevs foreign policy when he was president of the Soviet Union. He was a member of the original BBC committee that conceived the idea for BBC World. He was the chairman at Manchester University of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and led the biggest demonstration in the UK on the first day of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was also a member of London Universitys Anti-Apartheid Society where he invited Oliver Tambo to be its honorary chairman. He was the founder of the Haslemere Group, an action group focusing on development in the Third World. He is a member of Swedens Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research which keeps a library of all his columns.[9] From time to time he has been quoted in prominent media outlets- notably in an editorial in the Washington Post for his views on desertification[10] and in a number of British and US newspapers and TV for his opposition to Rupert Murdoch.[11] Also for his criticism of UN censorship. He has consulted for the International Red Cross, the World Council of Churches, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF and the Catholic Churchs Commission for Justice and Peace in England and Wales. Summary of journalistic work[edit] He made many scoops in this column: In a column 40 years ago he predicted that the US would have a black president before the end of the century. He was the first journalist to predict two weeks before the event that India would explode its first atomic bomb. The first international journalist to call for a UN Anti-Torture Convention; to call for an International Criminal Court; one of the first foreign journalists to interview Jimmy Carter when he was governor of Georgia, a couple of years before he became president; to unveil the “Baby Killers”, Nestlé’s marketing of baby milk powder to unsuspecting Third World mothers. (This ran in the Washington Post as did many subsequent columns.) In 1978 the first foreign journalist to write about El Sistema youth orchestras of Venezuela. In 2000 the first to write that Africa was going to be a new growth “tiger”; to foresee that the Soviet Union under Gorbachev would end its political and military interest in Africa; to prove that the massacres of Indians and dissidents in Guatemala were organised from the president’s office; to prophesy in 1974 that the world was on the edge of a major food crisis. (This also ran prominently on the op-ed page of the New York Times, as did many subsequent columns including the Guatemalan one.) The first to track on the spot and write about the traffic of African migrants across the Sahara and into France. The first foreign journalist to write about the Grameen Bank in 1987. The first to predict 16 years ago that India would come near to China’s high rates of growth. My human rights columns were regularly put on President Carter’s desk and my column on Lebanon and the need for UN intervention was circulated in the UN Security Council. His full page interviews with world leaders: Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor who gave him his first full length interview lasting 3 hours which ran in the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post and the London Times. Newspapers, TV and radio in many parts of the world commented on it. Later when he was President Barack Obama’s mentor on foreign policy he gave him a second one for Prospect magazine, World Policy Journal, New York, and Global Affairs, Moscow. Georgi Arbatov, the Soviet Union’s chief America-watcher. This was run in the IHT and reported on by the New York Times and was the subject of The Economist’s cover story. Edward Crankshaw, the well-known Soviet expert, wrote in the Observer that this was the most important thing to come out of Moscow since Khrushchev’s 1956 secret speech denouncing Stalin. Later, for Prospect magazine, World Policy Journal and for Global Affairs, he interviewed him when he was retired after he had been Gorbachev’s chief foreign affairs advisor. Mrs Indira Gandhi on the eve of her election victory. It was a two hour interview exclusive to the IHT and Washington Post. Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania. This was a 3 hour interview, the longest and most detailed he had ever given on the details of the Zimbabwe peace negotiations. It ran in the IHT and Washington Post. Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, a barely known trade union leader who later became Brazil’s reforming president. This was his first full length interview with a foreign journalist and ran in the IHT, Washington Post, Die Zeit, El Pais, and The Guardian. Cardinal Evaristo Arns of São Paulo who was the best known campaigner, apart from Lula, against the military government. It ran in the Guardian and Washington Post. Archbishop Helder Camara of Recife and Orlando, the “red archbishop”, for the IHT. Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany. This ran at length on the BBC and in many European newspapers at full page length. Andrew Young, chief aide to Martin Luther King and US Ambassador to the UN for the IHT, the London Times, The Observer, BBCtv and PBS. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. He interviewed him early in the morning after he’d been chosen at near midnight the day before. It was the first interview of his premiership either to an Indian or foreign journalist and ran in the IHT. Also an interview with Sonia Gandhi that ran in Prospect- the first to a foreign journalist since she became chairman of the Congress party. Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s first elected president, after decades of military rule. Another first. This ran in Prospect and the Los Angeles Times. President Goodluck Jonathan for my syndicated column and for “The Leadership”, Nigeria, “The Nation”, Kenya and “The Citizen”, Tanzania. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh for the IHT. He also made long interviews with Willy Brandt, West German Chancellor. Secretary-Generals of the UN, Kurt Waldheim, Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Boutros Ghali for the IHT. Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden and his successors, Ingmar Carlsson, Goeren Persson and Fredrik Reinfeldt for the IHT. UK Foreign Secretaries David Owen and Lord Carrington for BBCtv and IHT. US Secretary of State Cy Vance for the IHT. President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast (the first head of state to be sent for trial at the International Criminal Court) for the IHT. Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, Vice-President of Cuba and leader of the Cuban communist party for The Economist. Giorgio Napolitano, former international secretary of the Italian Communist party and President of Italy for the IHT. Stokely Carmichael (who coined the phrase “Black Power”), Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers for the BBC Third Programme. Angela Davies, revolutionary, for The Times, The Sunday Times and BBCtv. Novelist James Baldwin for the BBC Third Programme. Jesse Jackson, aide to Martin Luther King and US presidential candidate for BBC. President Ben Mkapa of Tanzania, Nyerere’s reforming successor who put Tanzania on the path to high economic growth for Prospect. President Musharraf of Pakistan and Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Minister, for Prospect and Finance Minister Mahbub ul Haq for the IHT. Brian Urqhuart, under-secretary for UN peace-keeping, for the IHT. Robert McNamara, president of the World Bank, Jacques de Larosiere, head of the International Monetary Fund and James Grant, executive director of UNICEF, for the IHT. Presidents Kikwete of Tanzania, Yar’ Adua of Nigeria and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda for Prospect. President (and poet) Leopold Senghor of Senegal and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe for the IHT and BBCtv. President Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea for the New York Times. President Dilma Roussef of Brazil for Prospect. Hans Blix, chief UN arms of mass destruction inspector in Iraq for IHT. President of India and former finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, for his column. President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for Prospect. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan for the IHT. Imran Khan, Pakistani opposition leader and former captain of Pakistan’s cricket team, for Prospect. Munir Khan, leader of the team that built the Pakistani nuclear bomb and former chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for Prospect. Prime Minister Edward Heath of the UK, for the IHT. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti for the IHT. Nobel Prize winners Maraid Corrigon and Betty Williams for Encounter and the IHT. Miriam Mkeba, singer, for the New York Times. Nobel Literature Laureates Mario Vargas Llosa and Jose Saramago for the IHT. Barbara Ward, economist and author, for the IHT. Most recently he made a long interview in Prospect with ex-Beatle, Paul McCartney, mainly on foreign affairs. This was widely reprinted and was reported on in many parts of the world. Latest Book[edit] His latest book Conundrums of Humanity- The Big Foreign Policy Questions of Our Age was reviewed positively in Prospect magazine by Author and Op-ed columnist William Pfaff[12] Pfaff, Americas most respected columnist on foreign affairs, wrote: When Jonathan Power told a friend that the book he was writing was meant to solve 11 of the most formidable contemporary threats to peace and human rights, the friend replied that Power must be bidding for the Nobel prize. George Bernard Shaw once said that all progress depends on the unreasonable man. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world as it is, but the unreasonable man is determined to change it. This book is filled with reason, good sense and optimism. His is a powerful statement of ways to make the world better. He is unreasonably good, as demonstrated by his commitment to the developing world, the fortunes of the poor, the defense of human rights, and his devotion to the societys progress. Is that worth the Nobel prize? I say, why not? Previous Books[edit] Economic Development Longmans, 1968 “World of Hunger”, (together with Anne-Marie Holenstein), Maurice Temple Smith, 1976. “Migrant Workers in Western Europe and the USA” (together with Anna Hardman and Marguerita Garling), Pergamon, 1979. “Against Oblivion” Fontana/ HarperCollins 1981. “Vision of Hope” (on 50 years of the UN), Regency, 1995. “Like Water on Stone- the Story of Amnesty International”, Penguin, 2002. Conundrums of Humanity, Nijhoff/University of Lund, 2007. Conundrums of Humanity: The Big Foreign Policy Questions of Our Day, Amazon, 2013. Exposing War Crimes and Trying the War Criminals, Nijoff. (Now being written.) References[edit] 1. Jump up^ query.nytimes/search/query?query=%22jonathan+power%22&srchst=p&d=&o=&v=&c=&sort=oldest&n=10&dp=0&daterange=period&year1=1851&mon1=09&day1=18&year2=1980&mon2=12&day2=31& 2. Jump up^ Encounter, September, 1974 3. Jump up^ Global affairs, Moscow, January 2008 and World Policy Journal, New York, Fall issue, 2007. 4. Jump up^ Washington Post, December 30th, 1979. 5. Jump up^ The Economist, November 18th, 1978. 6. Jump up^ Prospect Magazine, London, January, 2009. 7. Jump up^ New York Times, periodic includin
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:41:52 +0000
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