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In and about town
IT WAS the first time I had seen the new Banqueting Hall of the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Like the classically styled old one — now Rajaji Hall - behind Government House, this one too is to the rear of a Governor's mansion, in this case Raj Bhavan. Built in clean, simple lines, its exterior belies the interiors where white marble flooring, gleaming white walls and the faintest touch of the Classical in the embellishments enriching the ceiling combine to create a building in rare good taste for sarkari construction.
One day, I might find out more about it and bring readers up-to-date on who built it and when. But today, I mention it because of what took me there, an event that happily proved different from the run-of-the-mill. I'd gone expecting the conventional platitudes mouthed at the launch of a book. The book, Responding to Terrorism: Dilemmas of Democratic and Developing Societies, was an edited report of the proceedings of a national seminar organised by the Satyamurti Centre for Democratic Studies, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Madras Management Association. Its theme offered the chief participants the opportunity to offer rather more candid views that what are usually heard on such occasions - and they grabbed it. An editor strong on people's rights regretted the overwhelming emphasis on law and order views in the book and wished a bit more attention had been paid to those who speak for civil liberties. The Governor, a former Director-General of Police, picked up the gauntlet and regretted that "armchair journalists and those in the groves of academe don't know the reality of the situation in the field" and should get their "hands and feet dirty" before passing judgment or sensationalising news. And pouring `Yes, Minister' wisdom on the waters was a former civilian who felt the only antidote for terrorism was "good governance", which he described as SMART governance in Chandrababu Naidu terms: Sensitive, Moral, Accountable, Responsible and Transparent. The all-round candour ensured an interesting evening.
* * *
I was rather amused by the Sri Lankan High Commission in Delhi recently stating that the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries was "moving on to a higher level to further widen the partnership". It was a statement made at a time when several small importers of goods from Sri Lanka were facing a host of problems in what is probably the chief port of entry for Sri Lankan products, Madras. In the field of processed goods, many a Sri Lankan product is better than the Indian - and some of them are even targeted at those with problems like diabetes, something Indian manufacturers don't pay heed to. Not only are these products held up for long by the authorities, but in the case of one diabetes-friendly product, it was recently banned. After two months of haggling, it was released, but not before the importer had to pay the demurrage for the period. It would certainly seem local manufacturers have a role in all this, but of greater concern than commercial rivalry is that this is hardly the way to win the friendship of and influence neighbouring countries, which was the aim of the pact with Sri Lanka. It is no wonder India has few friends in the neighbourhood.
S. MUTHIAH
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