Trends And Developments

Tata Motors set up plant in Pakistan

Even as uncertainties continue to dog the controversial Tata small car project in Singur, in the eastern Indian State of West Bengal, the Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile firm, has set up shop in Karachi, Pakistan, by setting up a truck and bus assembly unit, The new venture is being handled by the company’s South Korean affiliate Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Corporation (TDCVC).

The company has entered into a technical assistance pact with Afzal Motors (Pvt) Ltd of Pakistan to assemble trucks and buses. The plant has a capacity to produce 3,000 vehicles a year and would assemble heavy-duty trucks and buses.

TDCVC, which is a 100% subsidiary of Tata Motors, is the second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in South Korea, with a modern manufacturing facility at Gunsan. It is also the largest exporter of heavy-duty trucks from South Korea, accounting for about two-thirds of the export of such vehicles from the country. In 2005-06, TDCV posted a turnover of Rs.1584 crores, a growth of 34.5%, and a profit of Rs.58 crores, a growth of 160 per cent.

Cash-flush J&K still a backward State

Despite so much Central funding over the decades, Jammu and Kashmir lags far behind the India ‘s national average in terms of all economic development indicators. The first ever economic survey of the state has revealed that the state was facing a huge infrastructure deficit.

The survey stated that against an annual economic growth of seven per cent at the national level during the first four years of the 10th Plan, Jammu and Kashmir has remained content with just 5.5 per cent. The Gross State Domestic Product (GDP) was estimated to be Rs 250.50 billion for the year 2006-07. The per capita income of the state was Rs.17, 174 per annum. This was much below the Indian national average of Rs.25, 907 per annum.

Surprisingly, however, the population living below the poverty line in rural and urban areas, as per the estimates of the Indian Planning Commission was reported at 3.97 and 1.98 per cent respectively. The corresponding figures in rest of India were 27.09 per cent and 23.02 per cent.

Explaining this surprising trend, the state’s Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Qarra admits that absolute poverty had declined in Jammu and Kashmir. He however, stated that relative inequality seems to have increased in the same period.

He contended that while the lot of poor has improved, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened further. The Finance Minister said the lower level of income and adverse distribution as shown by the per capita income and the percentage of population below poverty line is directly a function of poor infrastructural availability.

Road length per 100 sq km area in the state was 35.71 km as against 104.64 km in the country. On an average, one post office in the state served an area of 60 sq km as against 20 sq km in rest of India.

The survey report is silent on the kind of high central allocations made to Jammu and Kashmir in view of its special status in the Indian Constitution and hence the question remains as to where all the money meant for infrastructural development has vanished.

The number of phones per 100 of population in the state - was 7.76 in 2005-06, as against 13.57 for the country. On the social infrastructure front, on an average one medical institution had to serve 3,127 people. ”We have only 111 hospital beds and 48 doctors/vaids/hakims available per 100,000 of population,” said the finance minister while presenting the survey report in the state assembly in Jammu.

Even in literacy, the state lagged behind as the literacy rate as per the 2001 census was 55.52 per cent as against 64.84 per cent at the all-India level. The female literacy rate was recorded at 43.0 per cent for the state compared to 53.67 per cent for the country.

The unemployment rate in the state, estimated by the National Sample Survey Organisation, stood at 4.21 per cent. According to the survey, the unemployment rate in urban areas was 7.33 per cent. This was much higher than the rural figure of 3.54 per cent. Compared to this, the all India unemployment rates were lower at 3.09 per cent - 2.31 per cent in rural areas and 5.37 per cent in urban areas.

The state government got the survey conducted to set out a broad contextual framework for a long-term development strategy for the state, taking into account its peculiar development problems.

Hopes soar of early Siachen thaw

The 23-year old dispute between India and Pakistan over the highest battle field atop the Siachen glaciers in the Himalayas appears heading for settlement with New Delhi signaling "favourable" consideration of Islamabad’s latest proposal for pullout of troops by both and turning the icy mountain area into no man's land.

Dr Manmohan Singh-led United Progress Alliance (UPA) government is engaged in examining inputs gathered from different agencies, including the Indian Army, and a final decision is expected very soon, top sources here said on Wednesday. This will pave way for his first trip to Islamabad as the Indian Prime Minister to break further ice with President Pervez Musharraf in resolving various disputes between the two nuclear neighbours, including the vexed Kashmir issue.

A set of suggestions were handed over to India by Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riyaz Mohommad Khan here last November during the Foreign Secretary-level talks . Since then, they were sent to different agencies, including the Army, for the comments that are "favourable" for the pullout, the sources said.

The two neighbours had reached the understanding on the troop pullout not once but twice in 1989 and 1992 but the actual withdrawal of troops from the glacier did not materialise as Pakistan refused to accept India's demand for "authentication" of ground positions. Refusing to authenticate the Indian control beyond the map position NJ9842, Pakistan kept insisting that the Indian troops should return to 1983 positions as per the 1973 Shimla Agreement that contemplates that the Line of Control (LoC) can be altered only through the bilateral negotiations.

A via-media, therefore, from the visiting foreign secretary in November surprised the Indian negotiators when he put the official suggestion on the negotiation table, offering to "acknowledge" the Indian military positions at the glacier even while not "authenticating" them as such. In its proposal, Pakistan has said that "authentication" would amount to tacit acceptance of India's claim on the glacier, which was against the spirit of Shimla Agreement. It has, however, suggested that its alternative proposal of "acknowledging" positions would meet the Indian Army's apprehensions. "But, if there is intention to seek endorsement of certain claims, it will be difficult," says the Pakistani proposal.

Sources here said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was eager to declare the area as "mountain of peace". Te Indian Cabinet is slated to discuss the pros and cons of Pakistani suggestion and inputs from various agencies within the next two to three days. Realising the political implications of the issue, Prime Minister is also likely to discuss it with Congress high command, including party president Sonia Gandhi. It is, however, still not clear whether Dr Manmohan Singh will broach the issue with the Opposition parties in India as well to remove any apprehensions they hold about negating the achievements with forward movements that the Indian Army had made in 1983 to recapture the positions on the glacier from the Pakistani forces.

The Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi believes that a decision on Siachen would have a salutary effect on the peace process between India and Pakistan, which has tended to stagnate with little tangible progress on the ground almost throughout 2006. The Union Cabinet is also likely to discuss the possibility of the Prime Minister's maiden visit to Pakistan while debating the Siachen pullout.

The Defence Secretaries and officials of India and Pakistan have met 10 times since the two countries decided to work out a mechanism to address the final objective of demilitarisation in 1987 when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his counterpart Benazir Bhutto were at the helm of affairs.

The two armies are operationally deployed there for the past 23 years and the Indian defence establishment does not want to be taken offguard in case Pakistan reoccupies the heights. At present, the Indian army has the strategic advantage of commanding all the major high points of the glacier, thereby providing it access to the mountain passes that can come under fire from the other side if Pakistan occupies them. However, Pakistan is seemingly in a better position as it has to maintain less arduous logistical support to its army due to favourable gradual descent on its side of the glacier. Pakistan, moreover, has better access to the glacier as the road heads are closer to the less steep heights. India, on the other hand, has to maintain all its logistical support through air due to extremely rugged and harsh terrain where temperatures hover between minus 30 to minus 50.