“I rate the UPA government’s second tenure only a five on ten.”

Sudarshan Mazumdar, Former Director of Brand and Communications, Fortis and Escorts Group, speaks to Steven Philip Warner on why he considers the UPA II regime a half-success...

B&E: How would you rate the first and second tenure of the UPA government?
SM: Considering the overall performance since 2004, I rate the UPA government’s first tenure a 6.5 on 10 and its second tenure only a 5 on 10. The second season for UPA has been marred with failures. Be it the Budgets or the failed implementation (so far) of an issue like GST.

B&E: But aren’t you satisfied with UPA II’s foreign policies?
SM: We have tried to improve our relationships with China, Russia and others. But how beneficial it has been for India? Even today, we have not been able to strike any agreement with China, which still supports the nuclear programme in Pakistan. I think the biggest failure of the UPA has been that even after the Mumbai attacks of 2008, it did not succeed in creating a cohesive pressure on our neighbours to stop them from shipping terrorists. That is blatant. There has to be a coherent policy. You cannot have external parties representing you, which is precisely what has been happening. This has given Pakistan an undue advantage during inter-border talks. All this represents a failure of UPA II.

B&E: And what are your thoughts on inflation in basic food commodities?
SM: Even today, we still have to count on the weather gods to forecast how our economic growth will be. Currently, our agricultural growth is below expectations. Food grain production actually dropped this year by 12%. Then, there is poor food preservation. The lack of government supported logistics creates great wastage. Inflation is just the end result.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Catch 22 for the US; A game of chess for Pakistan

The exchange of strong words between the two countries and then a failed visit to Islamabad by the US Secretary of State has turned the US-Pakistan relationship sour than ever. And that’s not good news for global diplomacy.

Relations between the United States of America and Pakistan have not been on a high lately. For quite sometime now, Washington has been fuming over Pakistan for providing safe haven and aiding extremist groups like the Haqqani militant network and the Afghan Taliban. However, the latest visit of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Pakistan gives the impression that America now wants to mend its faltering relations with a vital and mercurial ally in the fight against militants, who are still wreaking havoc in Afghanistan, where the US has begun a drawdown of its forces.

The trouble is that the US also wants to pursue its strong stand against Pakistan on the issue of aiding militants. At least, it seemed so when Clinton, who stopped in Kabul on her way to Islamabad, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by her side, warned that Pakistan could not let the current situation continue without paying a “big price”. She made it clear that the US will target all terrorists in their safe havens, including those taking refuge in Pakistan. And Pakistan must decide whether it wants to help or hinder the war on terror.

For that matter Clinton continued in the same vein in her joint press conference with Pakistan’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani. There she bluntly said that for too long terrorists have been able to operate from Pakistan’s soil and that “you (Pakistan) cannot keep snakes in your backyard which bite your neighbours”. While she could not have been more forthright publicly, Clinton was reportedly even more sharp in the closed door meetings with her Pakistani interlocutors. Her visit, say experts, was meant to douse the fire that had been ignited after harsh comments from both sides. But her words and actions indicated the US was in no mood to humour Pakistan.

Earlier, some strong words from the US Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and the reaction of Pakistan Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, especially with respect to the US issuing directives to Pakistan on handling the Haqqani network, had created an uncomfortable strain in the ties between the two countries. Washington’s accusation of how the ISI patronises and funds the Haqqani network, legitimises its anti-American and terrorist activities and how the Haqqani network is being used for patronising Al-Qaida’s presence on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border did not go down well with Pakistan. Interestingly, it is the same Haqqani network that India has been accusing of enjoying patronage from Pakistan. But the US was in a constant state of denial about the nexus till the blasts in London, Holland, Madrid and in the US embassies in Kabul, Iraq et al. US research operations after these incidents proved the clandestine activities of the ISI and its nexus with the Haqqani network. But faced with hard evidence, the US could no longer condone this unholy nexus.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri 
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles. 

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Pakistan Allows CIA to raid Bin Laden's Home

The Unites States' premier intelligence agency, the CIA has been granted permission by Pakistan to examine the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed. The CIA will now be able to examine the complex up close as opposed to using satellites, stealth drones and spies operating from a nearby safe house that was shuttered when bin Laden was killed.

US officials said the CIA team will scour the site for information and objects that may have been overlooked by American commandos during the raid or Pakistani security forces who secured the facility in the aftermath. "The assault team was there for only 40 minutes," a US official said.
CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell negotiated access to the Abbottabad site during a trip to Islamabad last week, when he met with the head of Pakistan's main intelligence service, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, officials said.

The agreement is being viewed as a return to normalcy of relations between the CIA and ISI, strained since the American operation to kill bin Laden, and a series of recent ruptures between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart.

Pakistan has also agreed to allow the CIA to examine materials that Pakistan's security forces have recovered from the compound, officials said. The agency has also asked Pakistan's spy agency, known as the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, for assistance in analyzing some of the records that were seized in the raid and brought to a CIA document exploitation facility in Northern Virginia.

In particular, US officials said that the CIA is seeking help in deciphering references to names of individuals and places. The intelligence gathered from the bin Laden compound is being billed as the the largest stash ever recovered relating to al Qaeda or any other terrorist network.

The data includes dozens of computer storage devices as well as huge piles of notes. Even so, US officials said they want to be sure that other material has not been overlooked. The CIA plans involve the use of infrared cameras and other devices capable of identifying materials embedded behind walls, inside safes or underground.

One reason why Pakistan may have allowed the CIA access is because of lack of such high grade equipmen. The agency also has equipment that could be used to recover information that has been burned or otherwise damaged.
The CIA has already been given access to three of bin Laden's wives who were taken into custody by Pakistan after the raid. But officials said none of them has been cooperative with US interrogators or provided meaningful intelligence.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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