"Shankar Acharya: Talking Turkey
A PIECE OF MY MIND
Shankar Acharya / New Delhi July 25, 2006
July has been the cruellest month. It started with another unseemly exercise of state power by the health minister against the director of the country’s leading, government medical institution (and an outstanding cardiac surgeon). Just as people were wondering what authority the Prime Minister wielded over his cabinet colleague, the answer came, indirectly, through the speedy and humiliating reversal of his Cabinet’s decision to disinvest modest holdings of Nalco and Neyveli Lignite in the face of opposition from DMK “allies”. Once again, the events demonstrated that real political power resides outside the PMO (this emperor is seriously underclad) and sparked editorials questioning the viability of such an “anointed” PM. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, a few cloudbursts again showed up the massive infrastructure deficit in India’s commercial capital. Much greater tragedy struck the “maximum city” on July 11, when eight bombs ripped through carriages of Mumbai’s suburban trains, killing almost 200 innocent travellers and injuring many hundreds more. Preliminary investigations suggested the importance of home-grown terror networks, thriving in an ecology of weak governance and a compromised apparatus of law enforcement and justice. As if these very serious domestic setbacks to social harmony and development were not enough, the international environment worsened sharply. Massive Israeli overreaction to relatively minor Palestinian and Hezbollah provocations plunged the Middle East (especially Lebanon) into turmoil, sent oil prices above $75 a barrel and cast a shadow on global growth. The Doha round of trade negotiations staggered towards a possibly final breakdown without earning many column inches of global attention."
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