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Indo-US relations: On its knees?

Menka Shivdasani

MR. TARUN DAS of the CII and Dr. Amit Mitra of Ficci are mighty optimistic about Indo-American trade relations. ``The next 10 years of Indo-American trade relations,'' Mr. Das predicted on STAR News, ``will make the last 10 years seem like a passenger tr ain.''

After all, in these last two years, we have gained the respect of the US, and engaged their attention. The two-way trade is now $12.5 billions -- and if that sounds like a pittance, it still is big news for India. The main driver of this -- ``the rainbow '' in Dr. Mitra's words -- is information technology; India has made a global mark and much more can be expected in the future.

This is all very cheering news and more power to India's elbow (not to mention the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's knees!). What would Dr. Mitra and Mr. Das have said, however, if they had heard US Presidential candidate, Mr. George Bush Jr., being asked by a BBC World correspondent who the Prime Minister of India was? Mr. Bush, who had just displayed his ignorance of other leaders, began confidently: ``The new prime minister of India is...'' Then he paused. ``I do not know,'' he finally admi tted.

Hopefully, the next President of the US will know the Indian Prime Minister's name. That is the least one can expect of him when we are all so optimistic about building up trade relations between the two.

The Prime Minister's knees, and how they can put the whole nation out of joint, have been the subject of much discussion these last few days. Mr. Karan Thapar's The Big Question (DD National, Tuesday nights) started off with this, and the Health Minister , Mr. C. P. Thakur, had a ready response. Why should it be such a problem, he asked, when even F. D. Roosevelt, who ``ruled America so nicely'', was wheel-chair bound.

Sceptics are pointing out that Mr. Vajpayee's programme has been arranged in such a way that it looks full even though the stress on him is minimal. Even Mr. Jairam Ramesh of the Congress(I)-- an acerbic critic at most times -- was pretty generous about the PM's health; he pointed out that Mr. Vajpayee was still going to be maintaining a very gruelling schedule in the US, though he had cancelled certain sections of his itinerary.

But Ms. Brinda Karat of the CPI(M) had a valid point to make: If the PM himself could not be everywhere, because of his poor health, could not someone else have filled in for him, wherever required? Is there not such a thing as a sharing of responsibilit y? Is there no one else qualified to go in his place?

Unfortunately, four ministers, including Mr. Yashwant Sinha and Mr. Murasoli Maran, took ill around the same time, apparently, prompting one young participant in the audience to ask: ``Is the health of the government fine?''

Speaking of medical problems, there was an interesting debate on Crossfire (DD Metro) this week, between consumer activist Prof. S. Khanna of VOICE and Dr. Prem Aggarwal, general secretary, Indian Medical Association. Prof. Khanna seemed to be getting th e better of the argument in the first half of the show, maintaining that there had to be stringent measures against incompetent doctors. Pointing out that the doctrine of self-regulation had failed, he asked: ``How many doctors have been delicensed by th e medical councils?''

Dr. Aggarwal just could not seem to cope with the accusations. Then suddenly, he sprang to life. ``While consumers have the right to appeal for justice,'' he declared, ``doctors should also have the right to punish the consumer if he is motivated.''

Dr. Aggarwal's contention was that some patients filed simply lawsuits because they did not like the state of the toilet, or the attitude of a nurse ``One crore -- 40 crores -- that is the kind of compensation they are asking from an ordinary GP!'' he e xclaimed. ``In the name of consumer activism, you are indulging in consumer extremism and harassment,'' he said. Dr. Aggarwal went so far as to say that these days, every patient is seen as a potential litigant; if this is true, then there is certainly s omething very sick about the situation. Whatever happened to the good old GP, the family doctor you trusted your life with?

Another interesting show this week was CNN's Q&A with Mr. Nipur Mehta, a 24-year-old in Silicon Valley who has quit a well-paying job to concentrate on charity.

Mr. Mehta, who calls his 500-volunteer Charityfocus an ``incubator of compassionate action'', is unperturbed by the fact that many people who come in, only see it as a stepping stone to the dotcom world, not as a means of doing any real social good. ``I am not too worried about that,'' he says, ``if some people get the benefit -- if you are helping others it does not matter.''

Mr. Mehta believes that with the newness of the money in Silicon Valley, it takes time for people to get a perspective on it. The attitude that most of them have to making money, he said, is that they do not want to stop filling the bucket. But what do y ou do if there is a hole at the bottom, and the bucket just does not seem to get full? You realise at some point, like Mr. Mehta, that you have got to let the benefits trickle somewhere where they will be of use to others, instead of letting them go down the drain. Very few people would think like him, unfortunately; as Mr. Riz Khan pointed out, most dotcom millionaires are still pretty low on charity.

Incidentally, it is good to see that there are many more questions coming in on the show than there were in the first few weeks of the Asian version of Q&A. Hopefully, it will get even more interactive with time.