India yet to stabilise as a nation state

Far from reaching the sky, the Indian project seems to be sinking. This is the message coming out of a clutch of unconnected developments: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh abandons his plans to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka because of protests from political parties in Tamil Nadu; West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee bans the export of potatoes from the state to ensure that the price of the commodity does not rise in her state. In retaliation, elements in Orissa have enforced a blockade of fish and other commodities to West Bengal. We have heard of water wars between states, now things are getting a little bit more elemental.
The founding fathers of this country were imbued by nationalist history, which believed that India had been conquered repeatedly through its history because it was disunited. That is why our constitution provides the Union government exclusive jurisdiction over foreign and defense policy. Foreign and defence policy is understandable, but in many ways the constitutional scheme limits India’s maneuverability since it compels states to turn to New Delhi for even issues relating to trade, consular representation, foreign direct investment and so on. China, for example, has been successful in pushing its provinces to take the lead in various aspects of regional policy.
However, given the CHOGM development, and before this, Mamata’s last-minute torpedoing of the Teesta water pact in 2011 which broke the momentum of good relations between India and Bangladesh, there is some merit to the idea of central control of foreign policy. In Bangladesh, not only have the prospects for India getting transit rights to the North East receded, but also the prestige of Sheikh Hasina, India’s most important partner in the country, has suffered a setback.
The Sri Lanka issue is another case in point. India’s tortured history with the Sri Lanka Tamils is well known. So is the manner in which it has been intertwined with Tamil Nadu politics. Even so, New Delhi managed to actually start a war on Tamil separatists in the island in the form of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Yet now, the ghost of the LTTE, has been resurrected by Tamil politicians in India to damage India-Sri Lanka relations in a possibly fundamental manner.
Simply put, it means leaving the field in both countries to Chinese influence. Already, Chinese investment is making massive inroads into Sri Lanka and has been skillfully used by the Sri Lanka leadership to offset India. Sheikh Hasina remains friendly to New Delhi, but there is no telling what the coming election in the country will bring.
People tend to forget that the India we know is a “constructed” nation, in other words, it wasn’t always there. Indian civilisation may have been around for a while, but the Indian nation is just 66 years old. Moreover, it is far from having stabilised as a nation state: witness the many separatist movements that afflict the country. Not many people realize that the Indian nation of today was a near run thing. The original Mountbatten plan as of April 1947, which had approval of London, was to allow each of the British provinces the option of independence and a partition of Bengal and Punjab. Princely States would have the option of joining any of them. In other words, instead of one India, we had the possibility of five or six Indias emerging.
It was only Nehru’s vehement objections that resulted in the subsequent plan of two dominions being created as the core of the two subcontinental states.
And, as is well known, it was Sardar Patel and civil servant V P Menon who then welded the 560-odd Princely States into the Union of India. Any number of things could have gone wrong here — for example, the Maharaja of Jodhpur who was being wooed by Jinnah could have signed up with Pakistan — and the shape and size of India could have looked very different.
There is a blithe assumption in India that national construction will happen on its own. That is simply not true. The states and the Union government need ever closer cooperation and coordination in a host of issues ranging from dismantling internal trade barriers and creating a single value added tax, to effective intelligence sharing to take on the challenge of jihadi terrorism and Maoism. Sadly, what we are confronted by are leaders who are busy shoring up their vote banks, a sure recipe for a crisis somewhere down the line.
Of course, foreign and security policy or any other policy must take into account the federal nature of our polity. For too long, states have been ignored by the Union government on issues that have a vital bearing on their fortunes.
This process needs to be institutionalised through something more than the usual all-party or national development / integration Council meetings. But, equally, states need to realise that we must not allow our foreign interlocutors to get the impression that there are multiple centres of power in India when it comes to federal policy. Such a course would only open us up for manipulation and maneuvering by external factors, to the detriment of all.
Mid Day November 12, 2013

Small steps rather than a Great Leap

The outcome of the Third Plenary meeting of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which ended on Wednesday in Beijing is like a typical iceberg - you see some of it above the water, but most of it is below.
But there should be no doubt, going by the work report couched in typical Party-speak by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the end of the meeting, that the implementation of the decisions will fundamentally transform China.
This transformation will be evolutionary. People who expected big bang reforms will be disappointed. But the Chinese communists are essentially conservative people. They have run one of the most successful programmes of economic growth in history, and they are not about to blow it by undertaking large-scale reforms which could destabilise the economy and along with it the polity, which is the jealous preserve of the Communist Party.

Outcome

China's President Xi Jinping wants to transform China - but through evolution, not revolution

The decisions of the Plenum have a resonance in India. Because many of the issues the Chinese are aiming to tackle also affect us, whether it is the idea of "big bang" reforms, or those of the financial sector, corruption, or of taxation and a government system which delivers.
But to go by the past, you can be sure that at the end of ten years, most of the decisions taken will have been implemented in China, while in India, it could be here or there.
Among the key decisions of the Plenum were those to: 1. Establish a State Security Committee, something like a National Security Council, with a view to "improving systems and strategies to ensure national security."
2. Allow the market to play a "decisive" role in allocating resources within the country.
3. Set up a high powered group of ministers and party bosses for "comprehensively deepening reform."
4. Create a modern financial system.
5. Transform governance style "to establish a law based and service oriented government."
6. Develop and modernise an army that "obeys the Party's command, is capable of winning battles and has a sound work style."
There are other aspects of reforms in the political, social and ecological and institutional fields which will become clearer over time.
It needs to be noted that the report outlines the general party decisions, couched in Party language.
The details of many of the decisions will be fleshed out in the coming days. It is something like the legislation that is passed in our Parliament which is really fleshed out when the ministries concerned notify its rules.
The official aim of the Plenary session was "to improve and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and push on with modernisation of the country's governing system and capabilities".
But shorn of the rhetoric, the aim was to put Xi Jinping's stamp on the Communist Party, to show that his new leadership is firmly in command and that it does not lack the energy or appetite for change.

Crisis

Equally importantly, the goal of the Plenum was to undertake urgently needed measures to correct the imbalances and structural weaknesses in the Chinese economy before they reach a point where they could trigger a larger crisis which could have significant political consequences.
The Chinese economy has been growing at a frenetic pace for the past thirty years, averaging 10 per cent per annum. It is now two thirds the size of the US economy, but is growing five times as fast. This growth has been led by the Chinese government and local authorities who have played the role of decision makers, investors, franchisers, regulator and supervisors all in one.

Simultaneously, the country is facing increased social conflict due to a widening wealth gap, corruption and arbitrary actions of the state. Separatism persists in the form of protest immolations by the Tibetans and acts of terrorism on the part of the Uighur minority of Xinjiang.
There is also a threat from non-ideological militancy, such as the incident of November 6 when one person was killed and eight injured when homemade bombs were set off near a party office in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province.

Evolutionary

Indeed, as much was admitted by a Xinhua commentary on the eve of the Plenum.
"The faltering economy, intertwined with a widening wealth gap, rampant corruption and rising social conflicts, put the world's most populous nation and the second largest economy at a crossroads… China no longer has the luxury to delay much-needed reform. If the CPC wants to retain its power and win the hearts of the people, it is time to do something significant," it said.
But it also added: "The Chinese leadership is aware of this."
The decision on the security committee reveals the concerns of the Communist Party relating to security, especially internal security.
It is not surprising therefore that the Plenum communique had a section which addressed the need of the party to clear the obstacles before the People's Liberation Army, which will be encouraged to modernise in terms of equipment and doctrine, but which "obeys the Party's command, is capable of winning battles and has a sound work style."
The bottom line assessment is that the Plenum outcome keeps Chinese economic and political developments on an evolutionary path. In other words, it has sought to tweak policies, rather than offer up a radical menu.
The latter may have to wait for the 19th Party Congress which is expected in 2017, roughly half-way in Xi's tenure.
The Communist Party leadership is aware that the omnipotent role that it has played in the government and economy of the country has become an drag on the political stability and economic efficiency.
While there is no question of the CPC giving up its monopoly of power voluntarily, the leadership knows well that if crucial reforms of the financial sector and of creating a legal governance regime, are delayed, the Chinese economic miracle could well turn into a nightmare.
Mail Today November 13, 2013

Vulnerabilities in armed conflict

Earlier this month, I had to attend the 14th Bruges Colloquium organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the College of Europe. The theme of the discussion was a selection of issues relating to vulnerabilities in armed conflicts, an area which the Red Cross has made its focus. The colloquium examined aspects of the protection of particularly vulnerable persons in armed conflicts.
The programme included discussions on protections guaranteed under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to persons in detention and medical personnel. It also addressed the issue of sexual violence and the recruitment and association of children with armed forces or armed groups and cross-border humanitarian aid. Last year’s colloquium dealt with the scope and application of the International Humanitarian Law as such, and the year before the theme was legal framework relating to international peacekeeping operations.
Speaker after speaker spoke knowledgeably about this and that aspect of the Geneva Conventions and its various protocols, and the other international conventions that collectively constitute what specialists call the IHL aimed at protecting people who are not participating in hostilities and regulating the means and methods of warfare.
There were dozens of professors, bureaucrats, lawyers, and other specialists who are professionally involved in the study or practice of international humanitarian law. This contrasts sharply with the situation in this part of the world. While there are some NGOs and individuals concerned about human rights issues, there is hardly any body of knowledge and specialisation that relates to international humanitarian law.
What was striking for me was the extent to which the subject had developed depth in Europe. While Europe has certainly known terrible wars, it was the erstwhile Yugoslavia’s civil wars that once again focused on the European interest in this area. This led to the creation of a UN sanctioned International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which has tried and sentenced several people for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, laws and customs of war, genocide and crimes against humanity. This has also given impetus to the creation of the International Criminal Court which India and China have declined to join and which does not have UN sanction.
In essence, the IHL comprises of the Geneva Conventions which comprise of four treaties and three additional protocols that seek to ‘humanise’ war, a seeming oxymoron, but an important one. The first three treaties of 1864, 1906, 1929 were given a realistic touch after the worst war the world has known, World War II. The fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 defined the war time rights of prisoners, both civilian and military, created protocols for the protection of the wounded, and defined ways in which non-combatants could be protected in a war zone. These conventions have been accepted by almost all the countries of the world, though several countries like India have avoided signing the additional protocols that relate, for example, to non international armed conflicts, or the small insurgencies that have afflicted us.
Grave breaches of the IHL-which can range from willful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, hostage taking, deportation, destruction of property unjustified by military necessity-are what constitute war crimes. Over the years, these have gained greater currency through the creation of the international tribunal in The Hague which has sentenced a number of people for war crimes in the Bosnian war, and more recently for some of Africa’s vicious conflicts.
At the colloquium, discussions also focused on another feature of conflict-sexual violence — which is not covered by conventional international laws.
Sexual violence was seen as a collateral damage of war and there was no perceived need to address it as an issue if IHL. But the kind of violence that women have endured in various vicious conflicts in Bosnia, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and Syria have convinced people of the need to develop the law in regard to sexual violence as well. Associated with this is the issue of the right of women who have been impregnated by rape to abortion.
There was a discussion as to what happens when armed conflict takes place between non-international actors. By and large, the Geneva Conventions apply to inter-state conflict and issues like treatment of POWs, or civilians are taken up through this. But when, say, the Sri Lankan armed forces fight the LTTE or India fights one or the other insurgent group in the North East or the Maoists, there is no real body of law dealing with the issue.
Ironically, instead of promoting laws which outline the rights and protections of people caught up in conflict involving the state and non-state actors, the Indian debate has been about a law, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) which provides protection to the armed forces personnel involved in such conflicts.
Now, there is no doubt that the armed forces personnel need some form of indemnification for killing or injuring non-combatants who get caught in the crossfire when the armed forces are acting in good faith in a counter-insurgency campaign. But equally, there is need for the state to outline a law that protects the ordinary people from excesses that may be committed by errant members of the same armed forces or non-state actors involved in the conflict.
Mid Day October 29, 2013

Beijing outpaces New Delhi

There has been a sour touch in some of the commentary on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's October 21-23 visit to China, suggesting that little or nothing was achieved by it.
But what did you expect? The circumstances of the visit ensured that its achievements were, at best, incremental, but not unimportant.
This is because it was very obviously the last visit of an outgoing Indian prime minister and it would have been unusual for the Chinese to have concluded any substantive agreement with him.

Legacy

But for Singh this was a legacy visit. However, as legacies go, the PM's record on China is mixed. Unlike the Vajpayee period, which saw the Chinese move on Sikkim and shift gears on border negotiations, the Manmohan era has known no significant breakthroughs.
Indeed, the UPA government's singular achievement has been to maintain Sino-Indian relations on an even keel through turbulent wake created by China's rapid rise in the last decade.
Actually, Singh played his own role in rocking the Sino-Indian boat when he signed the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Unlike many of his domestic critics, the Chinese understood the strategic statement of the deal and were understandably spooked. It presaged an Indo-US strategic partnership which would have the effect of constraining Beijing.
The end of the Bush presidency, and, more importantly, the economic crisis of 2008-2009 derailed that project. But the Chinese reacted sharply, putting the Special Representatives talks in a limbo and adopting a tougher posture on the Sino-Indian border issue which they signaled by beginning to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as "South Tibet."

So, Singh's big achievement has indeed been to restore some calm in a relationship which was otherwise deteriorating. By that measure, the agreements and the speeches in Beijing indicate an improvement in relations, albeit, as we said, incremental.

The Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) is, as its text itself reveals, a successor to a series of similar agreements beginning with the 1993 agreement for the maintenance of peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The Chinese signatory to this agreement was a Lieutenant General of the People's Liberation Army Sun Jianguo, who is the PLA's Deputy Chief of Staff. Therein lies its real importance, in that it brings a powerful player on border issues into the confidence-building measures regime.
We should be clear that notwithstanding the new BDCA, there will be future episodes of "incursions" and possibly incidents like the one that took place on Depsang Plains earlier this year.
Another significant development was MoU to strengthen cooperation on Trans-Border rivers. Key Indian rivers such as the Sutlej, Indus and the Brahmaputra originate in the Tibet region of China. What happens there, natural events like landslides and floods or the construction of dams and diversion of waters have consequences downstream. The international law on this is weak and so far we have no agreement with China on the river waters.
In the past, the Chinese committed to provide hydrological information which could assist Indian flood control and power generation efforts. But now they have recognised in the MoU that transborder rivers are assets of value "to the socioeconomic development of all riparian countries." This is a tiny step, but could form the basis of a future negotiations and a possible water sharing agreement which could address India's concerns as a lower riparian.

Partnership

China's Premier Li Keqiang (left) visits the Forbidden City with Manmohan Singh

Among Singh's outreach efforts, perhaps the most important was his address to the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China. The school in Beijing trains party officials, has been headed by party luminaries in the past - Xi Jinping was president between 2007- 2013 - and its current head is Liu Yunshan, fellow politburo standing committee member. But it provided Singh the chance to directly address those who matter in the Chinese system - the senior Communist Party leadership.
The PM repeated what he has long believed - that India and China were not destined to clash and that they had enough room to grow together. This was an oblique comment on fears in China that India could join a US-led containment of China, and similar fears in India that China was creating a "string of pearls".
He was at pains to point out that India's strategic partnerships were defined by our own interests and were "not directed against China or anyone else." At the same time India expected "a similar approach from China."

Growth

Singh was right to emphasise what India can gain from China - investment and expertise to transform its infrastructure, expertise in agriculture and manufacturing sectors, cooperation in energy security and mitigating climate change, and political cooperation in ensuring that our neighbourhood remains stable and peaceful.
In all these areas it is in our interests to cooperate with the Chinese, whose economic and military power significantly outpaces ours. The Chinese are hard-headed and pragmatic people. What works best with them are facts on the ground. What will affect their behavior towards us is the pace of our economic growth and the nature of our military modernisation and border defence construction, not slogans, agreements and MoUs.
Unfortunately for India, the timing of the visit is not propitious. It was conducted by the leader of a government which is on its way out, without any clear indication as to who will form the next government. The economy remains in the doldrums and is in urgent need of reform which, in turn, is linked to the outcome of the next general election, still six months away.
On the other hand, in China, the new leadership that took office earlier this year has consolidated itself and is displaying uncommon vigour in the conduct of its domestic and foreign policies. One could say they are running rings around India, but that would be unfair. At this stage India is not even competing.
Mail Today October 29, 2013

Geopolitics in play

For a while there was some doubt as to whether the United States would have to exercise the so-called ‘zero option’ in Afghanistan, and pull out in 2014 without leaving any residual support forces there. Such a scenario would have been disastrous since it would have led to the pull-out of the NATO forces followed by the loss of billions of dollars of funding for the Afghan National Security Forces and the Afghan government. The poorly trained Afghan forces would have found the going difficult against the Taliban since they lack vital air assets, or heavy weaponry.

But now, after some hard-nosed bargaining, it seems that the US and the Afghans have a deal. On Saturday evening, after nearly 24 hours of intense negotiations, US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Hamid Karzai announced that they had reached an agreement on the key elements of the deal that would enable US forces to stay. However, the deal-breaking issue of providing immunity for prosecution under Afghan law for the US troops remains to be fully resolved. This was the issue which the US was unable to resolve in Iraq and led to the complete pull-out of US forces from Iraq in 2011. The fudge here is that according to Karzai, the ‘Afghan people’ will decide i.e. through a Loya Jirga or traditional popular assembly. It is unlikely that an assembly convened by the government will reject the bilateral pact that is being proposed by the government. Thereafter it would go to the Afghan parliament. It is important for Mr Karzai to show that he is an independent actor, and the Americans are playing along with him.
The American withdrawal of 2014 has set the proverbial cats among the pigeons. On one hand, we are witnessing a surge of Chinese interest in Central Asia, determined to establish a definitive Chinese presence, before the US consolidates itself in Afghanistan and resumes its push into Central Asia. Likewise, China appears to be revising its Pakistan relationship, trying to move the partnership away from its India fixation and orienting it towards the Persian Gulf and Central Asia.
Fresh from its success in Syria, Russia is, too, seeking to regain its momentum in Central Asia. But more than Afghanistan, it is the possible thaw in US-Iran relations which could upend geopolitical calculations in the region. Indeed, by adopting a minimalist posture in Afghanistan, the US could actually free up its resources to intervene more effectively in the Gulf and Central Asia.
As for India, it is dependent on the US/NATO security umbrella to operate within Afghanistan. As long as it focuses on development projects, there is little problem. Indeed, New Delhi is being asked to step up its assistance to the Afghans, but is somewhat chary as of now. Even now we do not know just what will be the contours of the US posture in the area. No matter how you look at it, it will require a great deal of Pakistani cooperation and so there will be lines that the US will not like to cross in relation to Islamabad.
In Central Asia, Chinese resources and diplomacy has outclassed New Delhi. In September, an Indian claim for a stake in the giant Kashagan oilfield was given to a Chinese company by the Kazakhstan government. There is so much you can do based on history, while India invests in millions, China does in billions. Today’s geopolitics require today’s commitments, and that is something New Delhi is loath to provide. Even so, India is not giving up the contest without a fight. Last year India launched its ‘Connect Central Asia’ policy which features a number of policy initiatives, including high level visits by Indian leaders, including Vice President Hamid Ansari and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. Besides oil and gas, India has interest in importing uranium from both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. And beyond natural resources, the effort is to focus on education, IT, pharmaceuticals and medical tourism.
We must be clear that we do not have the ability to be a principal player in Central Asia or Afghanistan. We should then cut our coat according to the cloth available and evolve a policy that will further our interests which, without doubt, are the opposite of what China and Pakistan will be seeking. In the past, Russia has been our strategic ally in the region. The Russians are making a bid to re-establish ties in the region, but they are also being outbid by China when it comes to natural resources. The Russians remain the main security providers and have taken over the use of the Ayni airbase from India in Turkmenistan. New Delhi retains use of the Farkhor base in Tajikstan courtesy the Tajiks and the Russians.
The US will remain a player through Afghanistan and, possibly, Uzbekistan, which has pulled-out of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation and is cosying up to Washington. To remain a player, New Delhi needs to put its money where its mouth is and develop the North South Transit Corridor (NSTC) linking the Iranian port of Chah Bahar with Afghan and Central Asian destinations. That will be the only way in which we can change things. That, of course, brings us to our relations with Iran. The US, Russia, Iran, are all friendly actors. Clearly, the possibilities are endless, but the big point is to do things, rather than talk about doing them.
Mid Day October 15, 2013

Learning the lessons of Phailin to prevent the next tragedy

India can be justly proud of the manner in which it handled Cyclone Phailin.
In a diverse and chaotic country like India, organising a mass-evacuation is not an easy process.
But it was done, and reports suggest that it was done with the minimum of fuss and saved scores of lives.

Preparation

But don't forget we had more than 48 hours to prepare for the worst. What if the natural calamity had come in the form of an earthquake?
There would have been no warning, and the devastation, especially the loss of lives, would have been enormous and almost instantaneous.
In the Gujarat earthquake of 2001, some 20,000 people were killed and 400,000 houses destroyed.
Would we have had the administrative skills and the technical wherewithal to undertake large-scale rescue and relief?
So, even while patting ourselves on the back, there is need to ensure that we constantly maintain the required high-level capacities to cope with the worst of natural calamities.
As cyclones go, it is difficult to forget the Andhra cyclone of 1977 which took the lives of nearly 15,000 people, or the super-cyclone that hit Orissa in 1999 killing more than 10,000.
Since then, cyclone warning meteorological stations were established, as well as operating procedures to ensure swift and efficacious evacuation of people from the coastal regions.
Today, of course, the spread of TV and mobile phones have ensured that no one is unaware of an incoming storm.
But on the same day that news of Phailin hit the newspapers, on Sunday, there was a report of another tragedy which could have been averted by better management.
More than 100 people died in a stampede at a temple in Datia district in Madhya Pradesh where the crowds had gathered because of the Navratri festival.
It is impossible to say what caused the stampede, but the sad fact is that people are dead in a completely avoidable event.
In comparison, the recent Purna and Maha Kumbh melas where tens of millions - indeed, some estimate 100 million - converge in a small area for a short period of time, the management has been generally good, and often excellent.
In the 2001 Purna Kumbh, held once in 12 years, not a single person died by accident.

In 2013, sadly, a stampede at a railway station led to the deaths of 36 persons.
In some ways, our handling of such events are the very essence of today's India - areas of excellence existing within an appallingly larger area of ignorance, indifference and incompetence.
The hallmark of a developed society is when matters of crowd control, disaster management, epidemics and so on, are handled as a matter of routine with standard operating procedures which kick in regardless of the geographic location of the calamity, or its intensity.
So, it does not depend on a good chief minister, district collector or inspector general of police, it is hard-wired into the system.

Warning

Earthquakes that strike without warning, are particularly difficult to cope with.
They require specialist teams and equipment for search and rescue of victims who may be trapped in fallen buildings.
India has several areas which are prone to quakes and therefore there is need to take heart from our handling of cyclones and work out standard operating procedures in quakeprone zones.
There is no telling when the next one will come.
It could come the next minute, or fifteen years later, but when it does, its impact is devastating - buildings are destroyed, power systems and public transport systems disrupted, and thousands of people dead, injured or left without a roof over their heads.
India lost near 1500 people in the Kashmir earthquake of 2005, but in neighbouring Pakistan Occupied Kashmir the toll was nearly 80,000. In the Great Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami of 2004 nearly, 3 lakh people died, of which a reported 18,000 were in India.
In most cases death and destruction came suddenly without warning. 

This October 12, 2013 satellite image obtained from the US Naval Research Laboratory shows Tropical Cyclone Phailin over the Bay of Bengal

Self-esteem

Fortunately, India's handling of that Tsunami, too, was exemplary and showed another side of our capability of assisting not just ourselves, but our neighbours.
On the very day the Tsunami hit the subcontinent, the Indian Navy had deployed 19 ships, four aircraft, and 11 helicopters that fanned out to aid to Maldives, Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Subsequently, Indian naval ships were despatched to Sumatra, to aid the people who had been hit the worst by the tragedy.
At its peak, the Indian relief mission saw 32 naval ships deployed, along with 10 large transport aircraft and 20 helicopters. India has shown its abilities and willingness to aid neighbours in distress.
In 2008, when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, Indian naval ships and air force aircraft were the first to arrive with relief material.
Indeed, Indian diplomacy persuaded the then ruling military junta to open up to the outside world and began a train of events that have led to the restoration of democracy in the country.
Commentators may have been somewhat over the top in commending India's handling of Cyclone Phailin.
But the fact is that everyone feels good when something like this happens and it gives a boost to the national self- esteem.
This should then be the point of departure for the system to learn a few lessons and not just prepare for the next big one, but also figure out ways of dealing with the smaller and completely needless tragedies that occur across the country because crowds have not been properly managed at a festival, or buses and ferries have been allowed to carry far more passengers than was safe, or people allowed to live in unsafe buildings.
Mail Today October 18, 2013