India and France: Enduring, reliable partners

My article India and France: Enduring, reliable partners appeared in The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle.

Here is the link...

India undoubtedly needs all its energies, resources and friends to fight on these two separate fronts.

L’Affaire Rafale had been in news in the national press for months thanks to the then leader of Opposition, who alleged hanky-panky in the intergovernmental deal signed between India and France for acquiring 36 off-the-shelf Rafale multi-role fighter planes.
Of course, l’Affaire was just an electoral plank, with no connection with the reality of the deal itself. As a result, since May, nothing further was heard about the French jet; now the flagship of Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales is back in the media; this time for the good reason.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the Chief of the Air Staff, BS Dhanoa will receive the first plane on September 20 at Dassault’s factory in France. The first four planes will however arrive in India only in May 2020. The other jets will then follow in quick succession.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has already started training 24 pilots in three different batches to fly the Indian custom-made combat aircrafts, which will be deployed (one squadron each) at Ambala airbase in Haryana and Hashimara in Bengal.
The news was released as Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for a State visit to France (and to attend the G7 meet in Biarritz in South France, where he was Macron’s special invitee).
It came at a time when India faced a difficult time on the international scene, with two of her neighbours, clubbing their forces to internationalize the Kashmir issue. China distastefully decided to support Pakistan ojcetions to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which has surprised many.
India undoubtedly needs all her energies, resources and friends to face these two separate fronts.
Let us not forget that during a recent press conference at the United Nations, Zhang Jun, China’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said, without any legal basis, that India had changed the status quo in Kashmir, causing tensions in the region; Zhang argued that India had challenged China's sovereignty interests: “such [action] by India is not valid in relation to China, and will not change China's exercise of sovereignty and effective administrative jurisdiction over the relevant territory." He obviously meant that Beijing claims some sovereign rights over Ladakh.
In these circumstances, India needs all her trusted partners and France has traditionally been one of them.
France was the first country to torpedo the Chinese initiative to get a statement on the abrogation of Article 370 from the Security Council; further on August 21, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs phoned his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi and told him that for France, Kashmir was a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan. Le Drian pleaded for restraint, de-escalation and easing the situation: “It is essential to abstain from any measure likely to aggravate tensions.”
The message was clear.
In a statement before his departure for France, the Indian Prime Minister had observed: “My visit to France reflects the strong strategic partnership, which our two countries deeply value, and share.”
France has a long relation with India particularly in the domain of defence.
In the early 1950s’ India had purchased 71 Ouragans (known in India as Toofanis) from the same Dassault company; HS Malik, India's Ambassador to France wrote to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in October 1953: “All of us in the Embassy who have been working on the implantation of the contract with the Defence Ministry here for the supply of Ouragan aircraft were greatly relieved and delighted when we got the news that our four pilots with the four Ouragans had reached Palam safely.” He continued: “I venture to bring to your notice the wonderful cooperation that we have received both from the French officers of the Ministry of Defence, from the Cabinet Minister downwards, and from the French industry.”
Ultimately, India has very few reliable stable friends. After the meeting Modi-Macron, the joint statement noted that the “traditional relationship is enduring, trustworthy, like-minded, and all-encompassing. India- France relations are marked by mutual trust between two strategic partners who have always stood by each other.”
These characteristics do not apply to the all countries; after China tried to bring the Kashmir issue to the UN, US President tweeted: “Spoke to my two good friends, Prime Minister Modi of India, and Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan, regarding Trade, Strategic Partnerships and, most importantly, for India and Pakistan to work towards reducing tensions in Kashmir. A tough situation, but good conversations!” The US President still wanted to ‘mediate’ (he finally dropped his project after meeting Modi in Biarritz).
Symptomatic of the close relations, India and France finalized a closer cooperation in digital and cyber security domain: “the two leaders have adopted a cybersecurity and digital technology road map aimed at expanding Indo-French bilateral cooperation, particularly in the strategic sectors of high performance computing and Artificial Intelligence, with the target of bringing our start-up ecosystems closer to each other,” said the joint statement.
Both nations have been left far behind China and it is high time that India collaborates with friendly countries in this domain, which will determine the superpowers of tomorrow.
Modi's visit further strengthened the strategic ties in crucial sectors such as defence, nuclear energy and maritime security, and deepen the bilateral cooperation to check flow of funds for terror activities. The collaboration with France in the Indian Ocean is particularly important.
Several articles of the joint statement were consecrated to terrorism and groups operating in Pakistan, such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen or Lashkar-e-Tayabba were named.
Apart from defence and new fields in IT, the talks touched upon key areas such as nuclear energy, space International Solar Alliance, and joint development projects.
France, like India needs a reliable partners; Paris has also been at the receiving end of the US President’s tweets. Upset by the fact that France had decided to tax the multinationals operating from its territory, Trump shot off one of his famous messages: “France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies. We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron’s foolishness shortly. I’ve always said American wine is better than French wine!” Though Trump seemed in a conciliatory mood at the G7 Meet in Biarritz, the moody president can hardly been categorized as a dependable partner.
The follow-up of the Modi-Macron discussions by Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor and Emmanuel Bonne, his French counterpart was crucial. The two officials have picked up the issues from where they had been left by their leaders, to give the strategic partnership a concrete shape.
According to The Financial Times, they focused on future military acquisition and manufacturing of defence equipment under the ‘Make in India’ transfer of technology. Paris has apparently offered two more squadrons (36) of Rafale aircrafts for the IAF as well as more `Scorpene’ submarine under Project 75 for the Indian Navy. This could give a boost to India’s defence preparedness and send a message across the border(s).
In a world in turmoil, France has been and indeed is an enduring partner for India.

A French 'Tiger' in India

George Clemenceau was French PM (and War Minister) during WWI
Bodhisattvas in his table

French President Emmanuel Macron recently stated that the commemoration of the 100th year of the end of World War I between the Allies and Germany was an occasion to promote a ‘recast multilateralism’. The presence in Paris on November 11 of the representatives of all those who participated in the War, including Germany, demonstrates this choice.
France has not forgotten India’s participation; Paris recently offered India a piece of land to construct the ‘Indian Military Memorial’ for Indian troops at Villers Guislain, in Northern France. The memorial comprises a bronze Asoka emblem and a plaque, honouring the Indian soldiers who died in the War.
But there is more to the relations between India and the War; read the story below and you understand the meaning of multilateralism between France and India.

A Tiger among Politicians
Whenever one thinks of the Great War, a name comes to mind, Georges Clemenceau.
Born in 1841 in Vendée, the hotbed of the monarchists during the French Revolution, Clemenceau came from a lineage of physicians. His father never really practiced, but he was attracted by political activism, following the ‘Radicals’, a Party not enamoured of Catholicism.
Though a lifelong atheist, Georges had an interest in religious matters from the early age. He joined politics as an anti-clerical, often fighting the French Catholic Church, strongly believing that that the Church and the State should strictly be kept separate.
From November 1917 to January 1920, he was the Prime Minister of France and he played the central role in the victory of the allies; he then became known as ‘Père la Victoire’ (‘Father Victory’) or ‘Le Tigre’ (‘The Tiger’), as he always favoured a total victory over the German Empire and militated for the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine to France. In 1919, he became the main architect of the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference.

Clemenceau at Guimet Museum (behind the central pillar), c. 1890

Clemenceau the philosopher
There is another aspect to George Clemenceau; he was a great humanist, thinker, traveler and lover of India and its philosophies.
Mao once said: “The philosophers have so far only interpreted the world, the point is to change it." Clemenceau first changed the world by giving Victory to the allies, while being a philosopher at the same time.
This reminds me of Sir Francis Younghusband, the British ‘imperial adventurer’. During his stay in Lhasa in 1904, he had become fond of the Ganden Tripa, the senior-most Tibetan Lama. In spite of the political difficulties and their personal backgrounds, they often sat together to discuss religion and philosophy. They developed a very close rapport. On his return to England, he became a great adherent of the philosophy of Ahimsa.
But in the case of Clemenceau, it was not a ‘sudden conversion’ as for Younghusband, he had spiritual inclinations from his early years in politics.
Already in July 1885, he gave a speech in the French Parliament: “Inferior race the Hindus? With this great refined civilization that is lost in the mists of time!” He also spoke of the Buddhist religion which later migrated from India to China, but left “this great efflorescence of art of which we still witness today the magnificent remains.”
He would always remain fond of Buddhism.

Clemenceau sitting with Agvan Dorjiev
the 13th Dalai Lama's emissary in Europe, in 1898

The Guimet Museum
Clemenceau was involved in the creation of the Guimet Museum in Paris. He was close to Emile Guimet, a rich industrialist from Lyon and a passionate about oriental religions. He traveled all over Asia and once back in France, he decided to create "a didactic place dedicated to Buddhism, and, in general, to religions around the world.” Guimet Museum was inaugurated in Paris in 1889; later Clemenceau even attended Buddhist ceremonies organized by the museum.
On February 21, 1891, when a puja in honor of the founder of the Shinshu sect was performed by two Japanese monks, Clemenceau sat in the front row; a journalist asked the future Prime Minister: “Now, you can’t stop us going to the Mass?” Clemenceau quipped: “What to do, I am a Buddhist!”
For him, Gautam Buddha was at the top of the thinkers’ hierarchy; he is indeed "the greatest preacher of peace and fraternity that has appeared in the world". Clemenceau called him the ‘sublime monk’, who preached the love of his neighbor and this without proclaiming the existence of an almighty God. He greatly preferred Buddha to Jesus, probably due to the omnipresent Church in Catholicism at that time in France.
The Tiger also liked the fact that Buddhists did not proselytize. In 1905, he told L'Aurore, a French newspaper: “With what impatience do I wait for the day when we will see Buddhist and Shinto missionaries coming to Marseilles who will come and try to convert us!”
From 1917 to 1920, when he served as Prime Minister and War Minister, he kept several statuettes of bodhisattvas placed prominently on his desk.

Clemenceau in Ellora, a few months after retiring as French PM (1920-21)

Clemenceau the Traveler
But Clemenceau knew that it was not enough to read books about philosophy, he decided to immerse himself into the cultures he was studying.
Months after his retirement, at the age of 80, he embarked on a long journey to Egypt, Sudan, Ceylon, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma and finally India.
As soon as he arrived in Calcutta on December 5, 1920, he fell extremely sick; worried doctors advised his immediate repatriation to France.
The Tiger was not going to listen to the orders of the doctors: “Whether I die in Calcutta or in Paris, on a Wednesday or a Saturday, it does not matter, but you would not want me to come to India’s door and then return to France without having visited India. Either I will die or I will visit India!”
He recovered and went on a long journey in India starting by Benares.
He often wrote to his friend, the great impressionist Claude Monet: "I have come to Benares to take the most prodigious bath of light ... A large clear blue river, with an imposing curve of white palaces, which fades in the powder of dawn.” He tried to attract his friend to India: “if my name was Claude Monet, I would not like to die without having seen Benares.” He wrote about “a humanity crazy with expressive colors” which animates India: “I do not want to go to heaven if Benares is not there,” he asserted, adding that even: “the incomprehensible cult of these sacred cows, coming in the morning to eat the flower malas with which I was garlanded,” finds an explanation.
Clemenceau was very fond of Asoka, the King who renounced violence, he wrote: “The reign of the great Asoka is one of the purest human glories,” an antithesis of what Father Victory had been known for during the Great War.

Clemenceau in Elora (1920-21)

'Le Soir de la Pensée' (The Evening of the Thought)
On his return from India, Clemenceau worked on his philosophical testament Le Soir de la Pensée, which shows not only his great erudition, but also his deep understanding of India’s philosophical thought.
Several chapters mention India; one is entirely consecrated to The Philosophies of India. Clemenceau admitted having experienced a ‘delicious joy’ in discovering the Ramayana, the Vedas and the Buddhist scriptures.
He acknowledged that he had grasped only the superficial aspects of the Indian Thought: "I do not know by what excess of daring I try to summarize aspects and developments of the Hindu thought in a few lines. [But] this subject holds me and leads me.”
Elsewhere he says: “By her Vedic hymns and her great poems, we find unexpected resemblances to Greece. …The genial feature is that it does not formally reject any affirmation which could bring some doubt to the proclaimed belief.” He continued: “The cosmogonies of India cannot be counted. All contradictions accumulate, without ever losing confidence, always ready to assimilate everything.”
Hundred years after the Armistice, this aspect of Father Victory should be remembered, though his philosophical views never interfered in his political decisions as one of the main actors of the Great War.

(I am grateful to my colleague Christine Devin for her numerous inputs in this story)

The End of the Saga: from Toofanis to Rafale

Ouragans/Toofanis

According to PTI, Jean Yves Le Drian, French Defence Minister will land in Delhi on September 22.
He will be accompanied by the CEOs of Dassault Aviation, Thales and MBDA (and Safran?) to seal the 7.87 billion Euros deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets.
PTI says: “Defence sources said if all goes well, the Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) will be signed on September 23.”
Apparently the cost, offsets and service details have been finalised and work is progressing on the IGA. A ‘working team’ from France is in Delhi "with their own translators are going through the contract, running into several thousand pages, with their Indian counterparts."
It is the end of a long saga which started in 2001. (Read my Rafale Saga on this blog).
On this occasion on the conclusion of The Deal, I published below a cable sent by H.S. Malik, the Indian Ambassador to France on October 26, 1953.
The cable is addressed to the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and relates to the sales of Ouragans (Toofanis in India) aircrafts to India.
The planes were sold to India …by Dassault.

One should mention that at the time, the relations were then very tense between France and India over the French Settlements of Pondicherry, Yanaon, Mahe and Karikal.

Incidentally, Paris issued yesterday a statement on the terrorist attack in Uri: "France most firmly condemns the terrible terrorist attack perpetrated on 18 September against an Indian army camp in the region of Kashmir. It conveys its condolences to the families of the 17 Indian soldiers killed in this attack.
France remains at India’s side in the combat against terrorism. It calls on every State to fight effectively against terrorist groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries."

Here is Ambassador Malik’s message.

My dear Panditji,
All of us in the Embassy who have been working on the implantation of the contract with the Defence Ministry here for the supply of Ouragan aircraft were greatly relieved and delighted when we got the news that our four pilots with the four Ouragans had reached Palam safely. This flight from France to India has involved a great deal of organizational work for which much credit is due to the team of the Indian Air Force Officers working here under Wing Commander Akut.
In this connection, I venture to being to your notice the wonderful cooperation that we have received both from the French officers of the Ministry of Defence, from the Cabinet Minister downwards, and from the French industry. We signed the contract only last June. Already four planes have reached India; another 35 are being sent on October the 30th on the aircraft carrier DIXMUDE, and the remainder, 32 aircraft, will be dispatched in January 1954. I think you will agree that this is indeed prompt execution of the agreement as embodied in the contract between us and the French. This agreement is being carried out both in the spirit and in the letter and there has been no instance of any attempt to delay or obstruct. Our pilots who came here to learn to fly this type of aircraft, which was new to them, won the admiration and respect of the French Air Force and, generally speaking, the other members of the Indian Air Force who have come to France for the requisite training to enable them to carry out the servicing of this aircraft in India have, in spite of the language handicap, applied themselves with energy and devotion to their task and have made friends and won the respect of the people among whom they have lived. I am personally very proud and full of admiration for the way in which Wing Commander Akut and his team of technical officers have done their job here and of the way in which our pilots and the other Indian Air Force personnel have done their job in France.
I have been thinking for some time whether it would not be possible to use the opportunity provided us by this cooperation and collaboration by the French to relive somewhat the existing unfortunate state of relations between India and France on account of the position which we naturally have had to take up vis-à-vis the stupidity and lack of imagination of the French over the question of the French Settlements in India as also over the question of the French North African Possessions. Yesterday, when I was lunching with the President at Rambouillet, an idea came to me after my conversation with Mme Paul Auriol, daughter-in-law of the President, who as you probably know is a most distinguished and famous Aviatrix, being one of the two women who have crossed the sound-barrier. Mme Paul was present at the luncheon and during our conversation which was over the subject of the supply by France, of the Ouragon aircraft to India, she said laughingly: “Wouldn’t be nice if we could all be at Bombay to be present on the arrival of the DIXMUDE with the 35 French Aircraft purchased by India, on board?” Incidentally, the President was most friendly at luncheon and, among other things, drank a toast to India coupling your name with it, and hoping that France and India would go ahead working together in the cause of peace.
Mme Paul Auriol’s remark revived in my mind what had already been simmering there on the subject of some gesture by us to show the French how much we appreciate their cooperation in this matter. I feel that it would be a nice gesture on our part if we could fly out by Air India and back, the French Air Minister and his wife, the principal officer of the Air Ministry with whom we have been dealing (Commdt. Serralta), the Head of OFFEMA who have been the intermediaries between us and the Defence Ministry, and the Head of the firm Marcel Dassault who assemble the aircraft. I would also include in the party, Mme Paul Auriol because of her extremely distinguished flying record which is the pride of France. Her inclusion would have a very good effect on French public opinion.
From our side, there would be myself and my wife (since the Air Minister's wife would be going, I think it would be proper if my wife also was in the party), our Military Attache Brig. Chopra who has been in general charge of the execution of the contract, and Wing Commander Akut who has been personally responsible for most of the work. My idea would be that the entire party should reach Bombay in time to be present when the DIXMUDE reaches Bombay (say, about the 20th November). They could then participate in any official ceremony that might be arranged for this occasion. They would then be flown to Delhi where the French members of the party would be the guests of the Government of India for 4 or 5 days during the course of which some sight-seeing and some social functions might be arranged for them. I believe that a gesture of this kind would help a lot in taking away some of the bitter taste that is at present attached to French Indian relations.
I realise that this proposal involves a good deal of expenditure on our part, but I believe it would be money well spent. In this connection it would perhaps be pertinent for me to tell you of an incident in connection with this contract which I believe is significant and representative of the spirit in which the French are implementing the contract. Although the contract did not provide for it, in the informal talks the subordinate French representatives had told our people that they would provide an aircraft carrier for the transport of these planes to India. Subsequently, it transpired that this particular aircraft carrier was not available as it had gone to sea for certain manoeuvres. The French then told our people that the aircraft would have to be shipped to India by ordinary merchant ships. Since under the contract we have to bear the expenses on the transport of the planes to India, this would have involved not only considerable delay but very heavy Charges both on account of freight and on account of dismantling, packing etc., of the aircraft before shipment. When I heard all this, I immediately got into touch with M. Pleven, the Defence Minister, and told him of this development and asked for his intercession. He assured me straightaway that he would look into the matter personally and see to it that we got satisfaction. Thereafter, another aircraft carrier was placed at our disposal as a result of the personal intercession of the Defence Minister himself. This has saved us not only great inconvenience and delay but something like Rs 5,50,000/-. The point is of course that the French were not bound to do this under the terms of the contract and did it as a gesture of goodwill towards us. I feel strongly that it would be well worthwhile to reciprocate this goodwill by the plan that I have ventured to put forward to you in this letter.
I have of course not mentioned this idea to any of the French officials, and will do so only if you approve. I have no doubt that a visit to India by the above party as the guests of the Government of India would be greatly welcomed by the French.

A new boss for Tibet: Wu Yingjie

Wu Yingjie presents a thanka of Tara to a European politician in 2013

Between two swims at the beach resort of Beidaihe, the top Communist leadership undertook a first round of reshuffles in the provinces.
Tibet has now a new boss, Wu Yingjie, 59.
Wu is the longest serving Chinese officer on the Roof of the World. He has been around for more than 40 years. Till yesterday's he was deputy party secretary (a post that he has been occupying since 2011).
The interesting aspect of the reshufle is that Wu supersedes two Tibetans (Pema Choeling, Chairman of the Regional Congress and Lobsang Gyaltsen, the head of the Tibetan Autonomous Region’s government).
But let us remember that the Communist Party follows a very strict rule, no Tibetan for the top slot.
By appointed Wu, the leadership in Beihaide has obviously played it safe, as he is not a controversial figure and has a long experience in Tibet (mainly in education).
Wu’s predecessor, Chen Quanguo, 61, is expected to become Xinjiang’s party secretary replacing Zhang Chunxian, who according to The South China Morning Post "will be reassigned to a semi-retired role similar to that of his predecessor in Xinjiang, Wang Lequan."
The Hong Kong paper says that China’s leadership reshuffle “in line with Xi’s plan to promote reformists.”

Other changes
Hunan party chief Xu Shousheng, 63, has been replaced by his deputy and governor, Du Jiahao, 61. Vice-minister of industry Xu Dazhe was named as Hunan deputy party chief.
Yunnan governor Chen Hao, 62, was promoted to replace the province’s party chief, Li Jiheng, 59.
Another change, Li Xiaopeng, son of former Premier Li Peng, will succeed Yang Chuantang as the transport minister.
Li Xiaopeng was Shanxi provincial governor.
As mentioned earlier on this blog, Yang Chuantang, a member of the Central Committee is an old Tibet hand. A native of Yucheng, Shandong province, he started working in June 1972 and he joined the CPC in June 1976. In 1993, Yang was transferred to Tibet, where he held the position of administrative vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government. He was elected vice-governor of Qinghai province in 2003. In 2004, he became party secretary. Two years later, he was transferred to Beijing where from 2006 to 2011, he served as Vice-Chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.
No new posting (or ‘demoting’) has been announced for Yang so far.
After the next round of swim?

Passing the red baton: Chen (left) to Wu (right)

Wu Yingjie
Wu Yingjie (Chinese: 吴英杰) is born in December 1956 in Changyi County, Shandong province.
He arrived in Nyingchi, Tibet, in October 1974 at the end of the Cultural Revolution.
In 1977 he began working for a power generation station in the western suburbs of Lhasa.
In August 1983 he joined the TAR's department of education where he worked for the next two decades.
In 1987 he began overseeing elementary and secondary education.
In 1990, he was put in charge of accepting donations of educational resources from other parts of the country.
In 1994 he joined the Autonomous Region Education Commission, rising to deputy secretary in May 1998.
In March 2000 he was named deputy head of the education department, then promoted to head in 2000.
In January 2003, Wu was named Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region;
In June 2005 he took on the regional propaganda portfolio, and joined the regional party standing committee next month.
In November 2006 he became Executive Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
In November 2011 he was named deputy regional party chief.
In April 2013 he was named executive deputy party chief.
In August 2016, he became the Communist Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

I repost here an old piece on Wu

The Most Amazing Photo of the Year
As 2013 ends, it is time to distribute awards for the past year.

The Award for the Most Amazing Photo (which was went unnoticed by the French and Western press) is a picture of the senior Chinese Han cadre, Wu Yingjie offering a Tibetan katha (ceremonial scarf) and a thanka (scrolled painting) of Goddess Dolma (Green Tara) to a gullible Member of the French Parliament.
Wu Yingjie was heading a 'Tibetan' Han delegation from China's National People's Congress to Spain and France.
Wu is also Vice Executive Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and has become famous for spending months (without any tangligle results) in the restive Nagchu Prefecture of the TAR.
The French parliamentarian, Alain Rodet is the deputy (and mayor) of Limoges from the Socialist Party. Rodet is also Vice-president of France-China Friendship Group in the French National Assembly.
The duo met in Paris on December 17.
China Tibet Online reported: "After briefing French friends [about] the religious policies and conservation status of Tibetan culture, Wu detailed them the great changes in Tibet since its peaceful liberation carried out and the life of local residents who have the biggest voice on the real Tibet.
Wu also wished more French friends could pay a visit to Tibet."
Mr. Wu just forgot to speak the situation in Nagchu. I often wrote about Mr. Wu's activities in Nagchu Prefecture on this blog.
I can bet that Monsieur Rodet has never heard of Nagchu and Driru.
But the good deputy will probably soon rewarded a free jaunt to the Middle Kingdom where he will be lavishly received. Having received Wu in the National Assembly should be reciprocated and not asking embarrassing questions to a foreign host too.
A hard core Han Communist cadre distributing a thanka of Tara, considered by all the Tibetans as the Mother of the Tibetan Nation, is a novelty.
This justifies the Award of the Most Amazing Photo of the Year.

Second Prize
A Second Prize to Le Louvre Museum for their knowledge of Tibetan painting.
The Chinese media announced that Han Shuli, 'a famous Tibetan artist' has earned rave reviews and won silver award in the 2013 Louvre International Art Exhibition with his work 'Foresight'.
Han Shuli, is the president of the Tibet Art Association.
The 2013 Louvre International Art Exhibition was held in the Louvre Museum in Paris between December 11 and 15.
Some 500 artists from over 10 countries participated in the contest.
The 'Tibetan' Han Shuli explained that his 'Foresight portrait' depicts "a goshawk perched high on the Marnyi stone".
One can presume that this 'Marnyi stone' is a sinization of 'Mani stone' on which the six-syllabled Tibetan mantra ' of Avalokiteshvara (Om mani padme hum) is engraved.
Han said that his black ink and wash painting has benefited from the Tibetan black thangka and the wall painting in the temples of Tibet, while 'integrating some representative elements of the central plain [Chinese] culture'.
For Han, his masterpiece 'Foresight' expresses blessing and rosy prospect for Tibet and the whole country.
Where is Tibet in Mr. Han's piece is not clear.
Anyway, Mr. Han is said to have brought fame to 'Tibet'.

A French paradox of the economic kind

La République Square in Paris

My article A French paradox of the economic kind appeared in the Edit Page of The Pioneer.

Here is the link...

On the one hand, rolling labour strikes and a poor business environment has made France less attractive to foreign investors. But on the other, key industries like ship-building, defence and tourism are growing strong

'C’est la lutte finale’ (This is the final struggle/the internationale unites the human race): These words are often heard in Paris these days. In France, May is traditionally the month of pleasant weather, but also the period when the French go on strike. I witnessed it again when I recently paid a visit to my family.
This year, the new wave of strikes is against a new labour Bill, known as the El Khomri law after the lady Minister who introduced it. For the General Confederation of Labour, the hardline trade union, like every spring, the ‘rolling strikes’ are a ‘make-or-break’ situation. Why? President François Hollande had dared to invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution, allowing the Government to bypass Parliament to get the new labour law through.
The Government used this rare procedure because part of the ruling Socialist Party was ready to vote against its own Government and like in India, whenever the Government proposes a reform, the Opposition does everything to block it just for the sake of opposing something they would have liked to propose themselves.
A ‘rolling strike’ is a French specialty: It is when truckers, rail workers, dockers, airport staff, teachers, etc, go on strike one after the other without prior notice. These ‘strikes’ have, however, serious consequences.
A recent study on attractiveness across Europe shows that while the old continent is generally improving, France is left behind. The report published by the respected firm EY (formerly Ernst and Young), does not agree with President Hollande’s statement that France is “doing better”. The report says that there are worrying signs for the French economy: Of the 15 countries included in the survey, France was the only one to see an overall drop in ‘attractiveness’ in 2015.
While some 600 new foreign investment projects were started in France in 2015, there was an overall drop of two per cent compared to 2014. At the same time, the UK and Germany saw a rise of 20 per cent and nine per cent respectively, with Hungary achieving a 104 per cent increase. Even if France did well in some sectors, this did not translate into actual investments and less than a quarter of investors were planning new projects in France for 2016.
During the present outbreak of strikes, President Hollande, whose popularity has rock-bottomed in recent months, has remained firm: “Too many Governments have given in, that’s why the country was in the state we found it in 2012. A compromise has been reached, a balance has been found, the pro-reform unions and the majority of Socialist supporters are behind this reform,” he said in an interview, though more than 1,000 protesters have already been arrested and 300 people have been hurt in clashes with the police.
There is, however, a French paradox: The country is doing better in several fields. The largest cruise ship in the world was built in the western port town of Saint-Nazaire. It took 32 months in the French shipyard to construct the 362 meters long, 16-deck the floating city which has some 2,500 rooms, 20 dining venues, 23 swimming pools and a park with more than 10,000 plants and trees. The one-billion-dollar Harmony of the Seas has 6,360 passenger capacity.
In April, MSC Cruises signed with STX of Saint-Nazaire, for four new cruisers. The 2,00,000 tonne ships, based on next generation technology, should be delivered in 2022. Australia has also selected DCNS, the French ship-building giant, to build 12 ship submarines. Many analysts were caught by surprise as the state-owned company — which is building six scorpène class submarines in India with the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited — was in competition with the Japanese as well as Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The contract is said to be for $38 billion.
And of course, there is the Rafale combat aircraft which has done rather well last year: Twenty-four planes were sold to Egypt and 24 to Qatar, and hopefully soon 36 pieces will be sold to India. Despite the long process (probably due to political considerations after the publicity around the Augusta-Westland scam), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has now announced that the deal should be signed this month.
Incidentally, companies like the Saint Nazaire dockyards, after near-death experiences a few years ago, have special agreements with their trade unions. This probably explains their performance.
Despite these examples, France, however, is hardly attractive for foreign, particularly Indian, investments. A few months ago, Business France, the national agency helping the international development of France’s economy, released its annual report for 2015. It analysed foreign investments in France and their contribution to the French economy.
Though over 120 Indian companies are operating in France, employing some 7,000 people, it is not much, despite companies like Aequs, a Belgaum-based company specialising in developing and producing engineering solutions for the aerospace, automotive and oil sectors, acquiring the Besançon site of the French company Sira which employs 320 people.
Besides the seasonal strikes, several factors are responsible for this low performance: A tough French visa policy, the difficulty of the language (compared to the UK for example) or the lack of knowledge about India in general. As a result the general investment climate is not rosy.
To aggravate this there is a severe brain drain. The daily Le Monde recently published a study showing that this is becoming an inescapable trend. Prepared by the Council of Economic Analysis, a report entitled “Préparer la France à la mobilité internationale croissante des qualifies” (Prepare France for qualified people’s mobility) speaks of the exodus of French brain power. According to the National Institute of Statistics, between 3.3 million and 3.5 million people, born in France and aged between 25 years and 55 years, live abroad.
The rate of expatriation has doubled between 1980 and 2010. Though emigration is less than in countries like Germany, and the emigration and immigration of qualified people more or less balance each other, the worrying aspect is that the incoming brains do not settle in France for long — they usually return to their country after a few weeks.
But douce (sweet) France is the world’s top tourist destination (with 84.7 million foreign tourists in 2013) — and tourism is a key sector of its economy, accounting for more than seven per cent of the gross domestic product and two million direct and indirect jobs.
There are indeed many great culinary goodies in France which we can’t advertise in these columns, and though the state of Emergency is still in force after the terrorist attacks of November 2015, the picturesque villages, the old manors, the quiet rivers and the inimitable capital, Paris, with its cafes, museums and shows, remain special.
Despite the seasonal strikes, and even if France if not always Innovative France, it is still Charming France — the best proof is in the large number of Chinese tourists clicking selfies around the Eiffel Tower.

The Fate of Planet Earth

As torrential rains forces the authorities to close Chennai Airport, as Beijing chokes under a thick, brown smog and air pollution reaches 20 times what the World Health Organization considers to be safe and as Delhi become the ‘Most Polluted City in the World’, leaders from 147 nations addressed the opening session of the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference held in Paris between November 30 to December 11.
One of the objectives of the COP21 (it is the 21st yearly session of the Conference of Parties), is to review the implementation of the 1992 Rio Convention. In Brazil, world leaders had agreed on a UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aimed at stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and avoiding ‘dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system’.
The UNFCCC has now 195 parties/members.
During the COP3 in Japan, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted; then the COP11 in Canada agreed to the Montreal Action Plan, while the COP15 in Copenhagen could only acknowledge that the Kyoto Protocol targets had not been achieved; this perhaps triggered the creation of a Green Climate Fund during the COP17 in Durban.
This time, the aim is to find an effective and equitable agreement to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.
Will it succeed?
Probably not: simply because the interests of the different players are too divergent. However one should look at the COP21 in another perspective.
Never in the history of mankind, have so many heads of State and Governments congregated in a single place. For months, the world’s chancelleries put tremendous efforts to enable a consensus during the Meet.
France, as the host of the COP21, says that “it is committed to the role of an impartial facilitator for forging an ambitious agreement.”
Laurent Fabius, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP21 Chairperson has been criss-crossing the world for months. After his visit to Delhi on November 20, he rushed to South Africa, Brazil and Canada to look for possible solutions and this, despite the disparate interests.
Each and every capital has done some homework. Take Beijing, it recently released its latest scientific assessment, a 900-page document called ‘Third National Climate Change Assessment Report’; some 550 scientists have participated to sum up the present knowledge and environmental consequences of rising greenhouse gas levels for China.
They found that average temperatures across the Middle Kingdom have been rising faster than the global average, and that te trend is likely to continue.
If you multiply these efforts by more than 100 nations who have taken the issue seriously, the COP21 is already a success.
The human race has realized that its fate is in the balance.
Of course, the West and Asia do not see eye to eye.
Steffen Böhm, a professor in Management and Sustainability at the University of Essex is one of the few Westerners who understand the less-developed nations’ point of view; he wrote: “Stop blaming India and China for the West’s 300 years of destroying the environment”
Böhm believes that the COP21 will be failure: “The basic reason is that the unequal distribution of carbon emissions is not even on its agenda. The historical responsibility of the West is not on the table, nor is a method of national carbon accounting that looks at how the emissions a country consumes rather than produces.”
The Indian Prime Minister, while addressing the opening session, expressed similar views: “Over the next few days, we will decide the fate of this planet. …the consequences of the industrial age powered by fossil fuel are evident, especially on the lives of the poor. The prosperous still have a strong carbon footprint. And, the world's billions at the bottom of the development ladder are seeking space to grow. So, the choices are not easy. But, we have awareness and technology.”
A western journalist wrote in La Libre Belgique: “India claims the right to pollute”. She represents the view of many in the West, but this type of attitude can lead nowhere.
President Obama was more diplomatic; he urged negotiators to deliver a meaningful deal, because the ‘next generation is watching’; he added: “Climate change could define the contours of this century more than any other challenge.”
The urgency of the situation is the only consensus right now.
There are however several positive initiatives.
Narendra Modi along with French President Francois Hollande launched the International Solar Alliance. It will be hosted in the premises of the National Institute of Solar Energy in Gurgaon and India will provide land and contribute about US$ 30 million to build the Secretariat: "This day is the sunrise of new hope –- not just for clean energy, but for villages and homes still in darkness; and for our mornings and evenings filled with a clear view of the glory of the sun," said Modi. Let us hope.
The world event in France will see the participation of the ‘civil society’, the green NGOs, ‘stakeholders’ of every hue and of course the climatosceptics, who do not believe in climate change, but only see it as a conspiracy of the rich nations.
Probably a crucial concept will be forgotten, that is Sustainable Consumption which means that humanity has to start consuming less, if it wants to survive. Humans need to realize that the resources of the planet are limited and need to be shared by all. But who should start acting first, the rich or the poor?

Are Tibetan terrorists? Yes, says China

General Fan Changlong calls on Prime Minister Modi

A 26-member delegation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) headed by General Fan Changlong, Vice-Chairman of China's powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) visited in New Delhi this week.
After the delegation met Manohar Parrikar, the Indian Defence Minister, Rear Admiral Guan Youfei, Director General, Foreign Affairs Office in China's Ministry of National Defence gave a surprising piece of news to the Indian Press: “Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism. In the past few years, Pakistan has been fighting terrorism with a lot of casualties,” he affirmed.
Let us not forget that General Fan’s delegation had earlier visited Pakistan.
Rear Admiral Guan also asserted that Pakistan has in the recent “past started a military operation to fight terrorism with positive achievements.”
Was the Admiral speaking seriously?
When asked how China’s 'all-weather friend' can be a ‘victim’ when it harbours and uses terrorists, Guan answered, "China will continue to support Pakistan's efforts in fighting terrorism, especially in fighting the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement."
Why to mention only this nebulous Uyghur group which, according to Beijing, has been involved in terrorist acts in Xinjiang?
“There should not be any double standards,” said the Admiral.
This is China’s position on terrorism.
He was probably referring to the United States, which, according to Beijing has been ‘interfering’ in the South China Sea region: "The South China Sea in essence is a dispute caused by different understanding and perception on the islands and reefs in the South China Sea," he said.
He added that when there is a dispute, “China always stands for negotiations directly between states in the South China Sea region. China does not agree with the interference of countries outside the region in this issue."
Guan also asserted that as China opposes terrorism in any form, his country will work towards deepening counterterrorism cooperation with India.

At the time of Paris' terrorist attack
The words of Admiral Guan sound weird a few days after Paris witnessed the worst terror attack in France's history: some 129 people were killed and more than 350 injured.
How can China give a certificate of good conduct to Pakistan, the terrorist state par excellence?
To understand Beijing’s mindset, one should read an article which appeared in the China Tibet Online.
It is entitled: “Ugliness of western politicians in contrast to Xi Jinping’s message of condolence”.
The article explains: “The terrorist attacks in multiple locations in Paris killed 153 [132 in fact] people. Chinese people express strong indignation and condemnation towards terrorist acts. Chinese President Xi Jinping immediately sent a message of condolence to French President Hollande saying, ‘We strongly condemn such barbaric acts’.”
The author however continues: “In contrast to Xi Jinping’s message of condolence, western politicians reacted differently to the violent terrorist incidents taking place in China.”

Demonstration in Tibet in 2008

It then refers to the unrest in Tibet in 2008 and assimilates the events in Paris with what happened in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet in the Spring of 2008. The article asserts: “The March 14 Lhasa riots: French politicians were the most heartless!”
After giving its own version of the incidents which occurred on the plateau, the website explains: “After the incident, the United States, Britain, Germany, France and other countries, didn’t have the slightest sympathy for the victims [read the Han population in Tibet], nor express the slightest condemnation against the terrorists.”
The article quotes the then US presidential candidate Barak Obama: “We express concern and condemnation towards the Chinese government’s repression and arresting of demonstrating monks. We urge the Chinese government to respect basic human rights in Tibet and to account for the whereabouts of the detained monks.”
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was recently in Tibet, committed the worse crime for China: shortly after the unrest had taken place, she visited the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala and expressed “her support for a non-violent stance and calling for the establishment of an international independent investigation into finding out the truth.”
The article also cites British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Milliband who “called upon both sides to exercise restraint and continue dialogue.”
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is supposed to have said: “We are very concerned about developments in Tibet,” while the German Foreign Ministry called “for no further escalation of the violence and for a peaceful solution.”
China Tibet Online said that French President Sarkozy called “for China to exercise restraint and to solve the problem through dialogue. He said France is willing to resume talks with the Dalai for Beijing, but would not rule out boycotting the Olympics opening ceremony.”
The article also mentions the reaction of Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema and the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt who condemned repression and urged the Chinese authorities to "fully respect human rights in Tibet".
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Parliament of New Zealand are also quoted. The latter passed a resolution saying: “We strongly support Tibetan people’s rights to peaceful demonstration and urge the Chinese government to react cautiously and carry out meaningful dialogue with Tibetan representatives.”
And the most heartless for Beijing was President Sarkozy who dared speaking about the boycott of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

What to conclude?
It is clear that the definition of ‘terrorism’ is not the same in Paris and in Beijing.
It was so in 2008, it remains so today.
The article on the official China Tibet Online concludes: “The message of condolence highlights China’s position and generosity.”
It says: “Opposing all forms of terrorism has been China’s position all along. In line with France and the international community, strengthening security cooperation, combating terrorism together and safeguarding the security of the people – these are the resolutions and desires expressed in Xi Jinping’s message of condolence.”
Beijing just forgets that Tibet was a peaceful independent country when the PLA walked into Eastern Tibet in October 1950.
Their objective was to ‘liberate’ the Tibetans, when they did not agree to be 'liberated', force was used by Beijing.
They have become ‘terrorists’ for resisting their own 'liberation'.
Speaking of 'terrorism' in the case of the Tibetans, will not solve the issue.
It however shows that there is long long way to go to find a common ground to define 'terrorism' amongst nations, especially with authoritarian states such as China.

Col Santosh Mahadik

In the meantime, Colonel Santosh Mahadik was killed in a gun battle with militants in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The 38-year-old Mahadik is the second Commanding Officer (CO) to die in a terrorist encounter this year.
Col Mahadik, who belonged to the 41 Rashtriya Rifles was chasing heavily-armed terrorists, who had infiltrated across the LoC.
Can China say that Pakistan is the victim?

Douce France

"Douce France, doux pays de mon enfance…” (Sweet France, Sweet Country of my childhood). My parents’ generation adored these lyrics of the famous French crooner Charles Trenet; indeed, the country of France must have been sweet in the early 1950s.
Today things are different; very different.
On Saturday night, Paris witnessed the worst terror attack in France's history: some 129 people were killed and more than 350 injured.
In his televised intervention, President Hollande said, "Terrorist attacks of an unprecedented level are underway across the Paris region. It's a horror."
He was referring to the attack in the Bataclan, a popular concert hall in Paris. It was packed with 1,000 people for a concert by the US band Eagles of Death Metal. One hour into the concert, some Black-clad gunmen walked from the back of the hall and started calmly, methodically firing at hundreds of screaming concert-goers. A radio presenter who was present first thought it was part of the show, “but we quickly understood. They were just firing into the crowd." It soon turned into ‘a bloodbath’, another witness later said. One attacker told the crowd, "It's the fault of Hollande, it's the fault of your president; he should not have intervened in Syria."
It was the first time that France experienced suicide-bombers: 7 of the 8 terrorists identified so far died after activating their suicide-vests.
The temporary tally is horrific: 1 casualties near the Stade de France, 5 dead rue de la Fontaine au Roi; 12 dead rue Bichat ; one terrorist killed on boulevard Voltaire; 19 persons died rue de Charonne and more than 90 in Bataclan.
Already 11 months ago, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi entered the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with assault rifles, they killed 11 people and injured 11 others. They identified themselves as members of the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda. While leaving, they shot dead a Police officer posted outside the building. Later in the day, other attacks took place in the Île-de-France region, five more were killed and 11 wounded.
The public in France thought that it would not happen again, but it did.
The difference this time was that the attacks did not occur in any symbolic place, but in ‘normal’ popular areas such as restaurants, concert hall …and the Stade de France, which for many symbolizes of the multiracial character of French sport.
Why did this happen in France?
A personal experience immediately came to my mind. It was 5 years ago.
I was a bit spaced out after the long journey from Chennai as I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. A man approached me (like outside most airports in India) and asked: “Can I help you, my taxi is just there; I will drop you wherever you want”.
Though in India, I only deal with ‘prepaid’ taxis, there in my country of birth, I was fooled. The man then called ‘his brother-driver’, and when I explained that my relatives’ resided near the Stade de France, he said “no problem, in 10 minutes you will be there”. He braggingly added: “I know how to avoid the ‘bouchons’ (‘cork’ meaning traffic jams’)”.
As soon as I was in the taxi, I had a strange feeling: was it really a good idea?
I soon discovered that my ‘pal’ had no knowledge whatsoever of Paris and its suburbs; he missed the correct turn off the freeway. “No problem, I will take the next one out”, he confidently said. For more than one and half hours, we visited different banlieues (suburbs). I was getting more and more nervous to have jumped into this so-called ‘cheap and friendly taxi’.
To cut a very long and meandering story short, I forced the driver to leave me “at any Gare-RER” (Metro-station).
As I waited for my relatives to pick me up, two vans of CRS (the well-equipped riot police who deal with difficult suburbs) arrived. I was going to have a most enriching ‘journalistic’ experience.
Immediately, a CRS advised me not to go far on my own; it was a ‘difficult’ area, he said. While on the pavement with the CRS, youngsters kept passing by, passing comments on the police, who remained ‘cool’ and refused the provocation.
The CRS requested me again me to stay with them, it was better not to wander around with my big suitcase; for a long time, I watched them handling all sorts of youths, often aggressive or drugged. My general feeling was that the youngsters were completely lost and out to provoke.
The fact remains that if even one out 1 lakh is ‘converted’ to jihad, it becomes a huge problem for the State. Molenbeek, Brussels’ banlieue where at least 3 of the terrorists, who died in Paris, lived, probably faces a similar situation.
In 2006, President Sarkozy had triggered a hot debate: how can France tighten its security? He had proposed that anti-social elements who had recently acquired French nationality be stripped of their citizenship, if they committed crimes against police personnel.
Many asked how a nation which invented the mantra of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” and was the first of speak of the equality of all citizens in front of the law, could speak of a double-tier law (one for ‘true’ French, one for new ones). Obviously, the solution could not be so simplistic.
Since my 2010 experience, the situation has further deteriorated, not only in France, but in nearby Belgium where some of Saturday’s attackers lived and also elsewhere in Europe. Issues are further aggravated by the fact that Douce France is not doing too well economically.
Three days before the latest Paris events, Bernard Cazeneuve, the French Home Minister had announced that a terrorist attack had been thwarted in Toulon, the naval base in Southern France, where the aircraft-carrier Charles de Gaulle is based.
On October 29, Hakim, a 25-year old resident of the city, had been arrested for preparing a terrorist attack targeting some French naval personnel.
Hakim’s whereabouts were being monitored since some time by the Direction General for Internal Security (DGSI), the branch of the French intelligence responsible for anti-terrorism. Hakim had recently come into contact with 21 year-old Mustapha Mokeddem, one of the IS recruiters also living in Toulon.
A usual scenario followed: Hakim met Mustapha, who convinced him to join the jihad, but Hakim failed to leave for Syria in October and December 2014. Two months later, Hakim was banned to leave French territory and his passport confiscated. Then, encouraged by Mustapha Mokeddem, he decided to ‘act in France’.
When he received two parcels containing some assault weapons and hoods, the police arrested him. He told the French police that since a few months, the IS propaganda had ordered the new recruits that if they were unable to join the ‘Caliphate’, they should prepare attacks in France. In one video, a IS cadre exhorts his ‘brothers’ to become ‘solitary wolves’ and to fight the ‘infidels’: “Kill them with knives, spit in their face as much as you can” were his injunctions.
For the French intelligence, the difficulty is that many ‘normal’ youth can one day come across a recruiter or a preacher who ‘converts’ them to jihad.
There is no easy solution to stop this. And more worrying is the large amount of arms and ammunition used by the terrorists on Saturday.
All this raises critical questions, including the French foreign policy, the question of migrants and the inadequacy of the intelligence sharing within Europe.
Will the France and European leadership be able to take adequate decisions? Only the future will tell us, but certain aspects of today’s France definitely lack ‘sweetness’.

It’s a horror!

My article It’s a horror! appeared in The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle today.

Here is the link...

Can Old Europe continue with the present policy towards migrants? What is the future of the Schengen Agreement? Will we see a return to a Europe with borders?

"Terrorist Massacre in Paris”, “The Horror”, “Carnage in Paris”, “The War in the Centre of Paris” — On Saturday morning I woke up to these headlines in the French press when all I wanted to know was the result of the football match played in the Stade de France in Paris between France and Germany. Usually, this match resembles a Test match between Pakistan and India, the brother-enemies thrashing out their differences on the field. This time, however, it was more than a “friendly” match — during the first half of the game, many in the stadium heard three loud explosions.
It was only when the match was over that the spectators got a fuller picture and realised that four people had died in the proximity of the stadium, three out four casualties were suicide bombers themselves.
French President Francois Hollande, present in the stadium, had to be immediately escorted away to attend an emergency Council of Ministers meeting and to address the nation. While the spectators in the stadium were still dispersing in a relatively calm atmosphere, Mr Hollande announced a state of emergency over the entire territory of France.
During the following two hours, at least five more venues, in different areas of Paris, were struck. Everyone still carried in their mind the morning of January when two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, entered the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
Armed with assault rifles, they killed 12 people and injured 11 others. They identified themselves as members of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. While leaving, they shot a police officer posted outside the building. A while later, several other attacks took place in the Île-de-France region. Five more were killed and 11 wounded.
Two days later, the brothers were shot dead by police commandos outside a factory in Dammartin-en-Goële in Paris’ suburbs.
This triggered a tremendous popular reaction in France and, on January 11, about two million people, including more than 40 world leaders, marched down the streets of Paris
This was hardly 11 months ago.This time some 130 people have been killed and more than 200 injured — the worst terror attack in France’s history.
In his televised intervention, Mr Hollande said, “Terrorist attacks of an unprecedented level are underway across the Paris region. It’s a horror.”
He was referring to the attack in the Bataclan, a popular concert hall in Paris. It was packed with 1,500 people for a concert by the US band Eagles of Death Metal. One hour into the concert, four gunmen in all black walked onto the stage and calmly and methodically started firing at the concertgoers. A radio presenter who was present first thought it was part of the show, “but we quickly understood. They were just firing into the crowd.” It soon turned into “a bloodbath”, another witness later said.
One attacker told the crowd, “It’s the fault of Hollande, it’s the fault of your President, he should not have intervened in Syria.”
According to the latest reports, the four assailants were later killed when the riots police stormed the Bataclan, “three by activating their suicide vests and a fourth shot dead”.
The tally is horrific: Four casualties near the Stade de France, five dead at rue de la Fontaine au Roi; 12 dead at rue Bichat; one terrorist killed on boulevard Voltaire; 19 persons died at rue de Charonne and more than 80 in Bataclan.
To understand what happened, it is important to look at an event that occurred three days earlier. Bernard Cazeneuve, the French home minister, announced that a terrorist attack had been thwarted in Toulon, the naval base in southern France.
Toulon hosts important naval installations and is also where the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is based.On October 29, Hakim, a 25-year-old resident of the city, was arrested and charge-sheeted for planning a terrorist attack on some French naval personnel.
Since the summer of 2014, Hakim was being monitored by the Directorate-General for Internal Security (DGSI), the branch of the French police responsible for anti-terrorist fight. They had got wind of Hakim’s plan to leave for Syria to fight on the side of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
A few months earlier, he had been noticed by the DGSI sleuths after he had posted violent jihadist messages on Facebook.
Hakim was at that time in contact with 21-year-old Mustapha Mokeddem, an ISIS recruiters living in Toulon who had been arrested in September 2012, after he sent threats to Charlie
Hebdo for publishing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. A usual scenario followed: Hakim met Mokeddem who convinced him to join the “jihad”, but Hakim failed to leave for Syria in October and December 2014. Two months later, Hakim was banned from leaving the French territory and his passport confiscated. Then, encouraged by Mokeddem, he decided to “act in France”.
When he received two parcels containing some assault weapons and hoods, the police arrested him. Apparently, his target was some of the 12,000 personnel working for the French arsenal in Toulon. He told the French police that since a few months the ISIS had been telling new recruits that if they are unable to join the “Caliphate”, they should prepare attacks in France. In one video, Salim Benghalem, an ISIS member, was seen exhorting his “brothers” to become “solitary wolves” and to fight the “infidels”. “Kill them with knives, spit in their face as much as you can,” were his injunctions.
The attacks in Paris seem to have been coordinated with a new level of sophistication, without the DGSI and other intelligence agencies getting wind of it. What is particularly worrying is the large amount of arms and ammunition used by the terrorists.
This raises serious questions for Old Europe: Can it continue with the present policy towards migrants? What is the future of the Schengen Agreement, which provides free circulation for people and goods within the area? Will we see a return to a Europe with borders?
That would be very sad indeed.Even when the state of emergency is lifted, these questions will probably have not found answers.
In India, a lot has been said recently about “intolerance”, but on November 13, France experienced “intolerance” with its blood (like India did in 2006). Year 2015 will indeed remain a dark year for France.

Modi’s visit to France and ‘The Make in India’ project

Narendra Modi will dine on a péniche on the river Seine

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking on a 9-day tour abroad during which he will visit France, Germany and Canada. His first stop will be in Paris (April 9-12).
A few comments on his visit to France:

The good news first
On April 6, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ‘undocked’ the first of the six Scorpene submarines to be built in collaboration with France under Project 75, at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL).
The ceremony for ‘floating out' the first Scorpene submarine was an occasion for Mr. Parrikar to review the progress of the Project 75, in collaboration with DCNS of France.
After the ‘undocking’, for the first time the submarine entered into waters (with the help of a pontoon).
An Indian Navy official told the media: “While the launch would be a more significant event, the floating out of Scorpene will commence its sea trials and more importantly, clear the dry dock that it presently occupies for the construction of the next one.”
It is a promising progress for the ‘Make in India’ scheme. It is also shows that despite the difficulties and the delays, it is possible.

The ‘refitted’ Mirages
Perhaps as an appetizer for the Rafales deal, the IAF got its first two upgraded Mirage-2000 with new avionics and weapons at the end of March.
An ‘acceptance’ ceremony for the IAF’s Mirage 2000 I/TI was held at Istres, in South France on March 25. Among those present were Arun K. Singh, ambassador of India to France, Eric Trappier, chairman and CEO, Dassault Aviation and Pierre Eric Pommellet, executive vice president of Thales. The contract for ‘refitting’ the IAF's Mirage 2000 was signed in July, 2011. The upgrade ‘kit’ provided by Thales comprised new radar, electronic warfare suite and mission computer.
An official told The Times of India: “The upgraded Mirages have been stripped down and virtually re-built with state-of-the-art avionics, radars, mission computers, glass cockpits, helmet-mounted displays, electronic warfare suites and long-range missiles.”
Of course, the appetizer can’t replace the main course (Rafales), but one has to remain patient.

The ‘Maitri’ project
An important decision was recently taken by the Defence Acquisition Council: it approved the ‘Maitri’ project for the co-development of a Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (SR-SAM) by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with MBDA of France.
The project has been ‘pending’ since 2007 and apparently, Delhi will now go for the marine version as the DRDO’s Akash missile system satisfies the Indian Army and the Air Force.
The ‘Maitri’ project, like the ‘Brahmos’ with Russia, could become a success story for the ‘Make in India’. The signature on the SR-SAM deal could be the ‘main dish’ of Modi’s present visit.

Coastal Surveillance Radar System
According to The Economic Times (ET), India and France are expected to discuss the sharing of radar data in the Indian Ocean as part of their strategic talks during Narendra Modi's visit to Paris.
India is setting up a grid of coastal surveillance radars in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) which should help monitoring the region. France has apparently expressed an interest in sharing data from its surveillance systems.
The ET says that “the modalities of sharing maritime domain awareness data from at least three French monitoring sites in the Indian Ocean is set to be on the agenda. French territories in the region include the Reunion Islands and Mayotte, besides military bases in UAE and Djibouti.”
Apparently, the Indian Navy is keen on the French proposal and would like it to be part of an ambitious plan to set up a 24-nation radar grid in the IOR to monitor all traffic, civilian and military. “As part of the plan, India could also lend financial aid to littoral nations for setting up radars. In the future, surveillance data from other military sites, including the American base at Diego Garcia, could be integrated,” says the ET.
It is however doubtful if France will agree to ‘counter’ China in the region.
On April 3, Chinese and French military officials reached a consensus in Beijing “on enhancing cooperation in exchange of ship visits, joint drilling and countering terrorism at sea.”
Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) met with Admiral Bernard Rogel, chief of staff of the French Navy in Beijing.
According to Xinhua, Admiral Bernard Rogel during his recent visit to China, declared that the rapid development of Chinese Navy's armaments and the excellent personnel quality left a deep impression on him: “He pledged to deepen mutual understanding and enhance cooperation with the Chinese side in the aspects of fleet visits, joint drilling and training as well as fighting against maritime terrorism.”

‘Varuna’ Joint Exercices with the Charles de Gaulle Carrier
The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which has recently been inducted against the Islamic State from the Persian Gulf, will participate in the Indo-French exercises ‘Varuna’ later this month.
Varuna will be held for 10 days in the Arabian Sea between the French and Indian Navies. It will also involve India's aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya as well as other Indian warships and a submarine.
During the exercises, the French Navy will use Rafales (M), the ‘navalised’ version of the Rafale currently under negotiations with Delhi.
The exercise will begin on April 23 and continue till May 3. The French will also bring two destroyers and a support ship.
The Indian media reported: “The navalised version of the aircraft is adapted to land and take off from carriers. The Indian Navy's main fighter jet is the Russian MiG29K. The fleet is being integrated with the Vikramaditya.”
The French side is keen to expose the Indian Navy to the Rafale (M), with the hope that a first-hand experience of the fighter jet, may convince the Indian Navy, if not the MoD, to add a few Rafales (M) in India’s wish list.

Visit to ToulouseOne highlight of the PM’s trip will be the visit to Airbus Industries headquarters in Toulouse. At stake in Toulouse, a $2-billion contract for eight Airbus A-330 MRTT mid-air refuelers, a deal pending for over two years. There is also a proposal for buying two Airbus A-330 aircraft for the IAF which is keen to acquire AWACS (Airborne warning and control system). India’s ‘eye in the sky’ could be mounted on Airbus A-330 with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-developed rotodome radar fitted on it.
The Prime Minister will probably be shocked when he discovers that the Chinese recently bought the Toulouse Blagnac airport.

What is the ‘Make in India’ scheme?
Mr. Modi’s ‘Make in India’ dream is something which should kept in mind while analyzing the significance of the Prime Minister to France (and Germany).
I witnessed the new craze during the recent Aero India 2015, organized at Yelahanka Airport in Bangalore (‘Make in India’ was the theme of the event).
Most of the foreign participants, even the Americans, were effusively enthusiastic about the scheme.
Foreign investors understood that the government was serious when, in August 2014 , Delhi notified an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 49 % in the defence sector. The move was aimed at boosting India’s domestic industry and creating confidence amongst eventual investors.

A Policy Change
In Bangalore, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to clarify that India is ready for a major change in direction: “I am confident that India will emerge as a major global centre for defence industry. We want to develop an industry that is dynamic.”
The Indian Prime Minister wanted to end India's status as the world's number one defence importer; India’s objective is to have 70 % (from the current 40 %) of hardware manufactured domestically by 2020.
Mr. Modi explained: “We have the reputation as the largest importer of defence equipment in the world, that may be music to the ears of some of you here. But this is one area where we would not like to be number one."
‘Make in India’ will undoubtedly be central to the Prime Minister’s visit to Europe.
But there is a long, long way to go.

A Civil Nuclear Deal?
Apart from French investments in India, space and civil nuclear cooperation, infrastructure investment, terrorism and other security issues, will also be on the table. Narendra Modi has redrawn his week-long tour of Europe-Canada tour to make Paris the first stop, before proceeding to Hannover.
In September 2008, India and France signed the first civilian nuclear agreement and consequently, a General Framework Agreement between Areva and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for the construction of 6 European pressurized reactors (EPR) at Jaitapur in Maharashtra was inked in December 2010 during President Sarkozy’s visit to India.
An Indian diplomat told The Hindustan Times: “The supply of EPRs will be on top of PM Modi’s agenda but much depends on the closure of commercial negotiations between the two companies.”
The finalization of the plans however depends on the economic and technical viability of these nuclear plants and as important, on an accord about ‘nuclear liabilities’.

The Indo-French Economic Cooperation
The French investments in India are progressing rather well with the total investment stock of French companies in India reaching nearly $19 billion.
French Embassy sources believe that in the next to 4 to 5 years, the stock of French investments in India will significantly increase with the consolidation and extension of existing investments, and the influx of new French companies in India. A Special Representative for Indo-French Economic Relations (Paul Hermelin, the CEO Capgemini) has been appointed by the French President for the purpose.
Today 950 French companies (350 companies and 400 subsidiaries, as well as 200 individual entrepreneurs) are said to be implanted in India; they employ some 3,00,000 skilled Indian workers.
French Embassy sources say that these French companies have brought their know-how and technology and many have begun opening research and development centres in India (already employing between 15,000 and 20,000 persons).

France and ‘Make in India’
Last September, more than 20 French companies attended the launch of the ‘Make in India’ campaign; to cite a few: Alstom, Dabon-Bongrain, Danone, Faurecia, Lafarge, Legrand, L’Oréal, Michelin, Renault, Roquette, Safran, Sanofi Pasteur India, Schneider Electric, SEB, SERAP, Saint-Gobain, Total, Valeo and Vicat.
Let us look at a few examples: Renault-Nissan has begun production in May 2010 on a 640-acre integrated plant in Chennai, with an investment of €700 million. It has now an annual capacity of 480,000 units with a workforce of more than 15,000 employees.
Michelin set up a 290-acre campus, 50 km north of Chennai; it already manufactures a wide range of radial truck/bus tyres.
Last October, Safran, a world leader in aerospace, defence and security, which provides the engine of the Rafale (through its subsidiary SNECMA) signed two agreements with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, to develop advanced pattern recognition algorithms for complex data and advanced computing platform for the next-generation avionics applications.
Another case is Saint-Gobain’s modern manufacturing facility in Rajasthan. A French press release says: “this state-of-the-art, fully automated float line covers a surface area of 27 acres and has a manufacturing capacity of close to 1000 tons of glass per day (3,00,000 metric tons per year). Once the plant is fully operational (by mid-2015), Saint-Gobain will have a total installed production capacity of 9,000 tons of glass per day.”

The French presence in South India
The French presence in South India, particularly in Chennai and Pondicherry is worth noting; more than 100 enterprises are implanted in the South.
Apart from Renault and Michelin already mentioned, large French groups such as Alstom, Saint-Gobain, Lactalis have set up factories in Chennai. Interestingly, the management of these large companies is progressively transferred to local cadres, while the French personnel continue to focus on quality control and over-all financial management.
The main focus is presently automobiles and transport (such as Alstom Transport which produces metro bogies) and energy like Sicame (electric material), Schneider, Cryolor (cryogenic tanks), Legrand and Socomec (UPS). Saint-Gobain also has a large factory in Chennai.
In Pondicherry, the focus is more on hospitality, tourism as well as Internet editions and web design.

Cooperation in the field of Education
During the visit of President Hollande in India in February 2014, some 15 Memoranda and Letters of Intent were signed in the field of education. An example: the MOU between the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris was inked aiming at cooperating ‘within any field of mutual interest related to science and technology’. This series of MoUs not only deepens the Indo-French academic relations, but will have long-term consequences for the over-all relations between the 2 countries.
More recently, an 'Advanced Masters Course in Air Navigation Service Provider Management' was launched at the CATC (Civil Aviation Training College) facilities in Hyderabad. It is a joint project of ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile), CATC and AAI (Airports Authority of India). The objective is to train a new generation of AAI Managers to ensure airport security and safe operations.
Hopefully, other such projects will see the light during Mr. Modi’s visit to France.

Indian companies in France
One usually forgets that some 100 Indian companies are today operating in France. In December 2012, according to the Banque de France, their investment-stock was $ 565 million.
The main investments in France are in textile, clothing and accessories (25%), software and IT services (13%), aerospace, naval and railway (13%), consulting, engineering and business services (13%), pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies (13%), metalworking (13%).
More than 50 % of these investments are located in 2 regions (Paris- Ile-de-France and Nord-Pas de Calais).
It is usually not known that 4% of all foreign R&D investment projects in France come from Indian companies.
Sintex Industries (chemicals, plastics), Tata Steel, Tata Sons (IT Services) and Deltronix and Motherson Sumi Systems (both automotive industry) are the largest Indian employers in France.

Brussels: the visit that never was
It is unfortunate that the visit of Prime Minister Modi was cancelled due to the callousness of the Brussels bureaucracy; they just forgot to answer the PMO about a date for the visit.
The EU had earlier hoped for a 'political push' to restart the stalled talks for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as well as “sticky issues relating to intellectual property rights (IPR), data security for IT services and tariff in the automobile sector,” said PTI.
The EU has been India's largest trading partner and the two-way commerce reached $ 101.5 billion in 2013-14.
A small positive step: the EU has recently lifted the ban imposed on the import of Indian mangoes. In April last year, the EU had temporarily banned import from India of Alphonso mangoes and four vegetables, taro, bitter gourd, snake gourd and eggplant, for which the ban has still not been lifted. More positive signs will have to come from Brussels to start meaningful talks.
India is active and keen to open new avenues. For example, in October 2014, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Indian Minister for Food Processing Industries, visited France and reiterated the need to strengthen Indo-French cooperation in the agro-processing sector. She inaugurated the Indian Pavilion at the SIAL 2014 (Salon International de l’Alimentation) Food Fair. It was for her an occasion to discuss further collaboration with Stephane Le Foll, her French counterpart.

Nuclear Fusion Collaboration
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the six-country scientific collaboration to generate nuclear fusion energy in France, will get its heart from Gujarat.
The Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar is responsible for the fabrication of the reactor's crucial parts — the cryostat and the vacuum vessel, at a L&T plant in Hazira near Surat.
IPR director Dhiraj Bora, speaking at the recently-held Gujarat Science Congress in Ahmedabad explained: “The cryostat and the vacuum vessel of the ITER Tokamak fusion reactor is the heaviest, the largest and the most central component. The reactor intends to produce 500 megawatts of power from 50 megawatts input. The plant would start first experiments by 2020.”
Bora added: “We have started fabricating it at L&T Hazira and it will be taken to ITER site in Cadarache (near Saint-Paul-lès-Durance in South France) where we have a workshop to integrate the components."
The first consignment is scheduled to be shipped out in December.
India has started participating in the project in 2005, joining the EU, China, Japan, S Korea, Russia and the United States in the mega-project.

Space Collaboration
The Indo-French cooperation in the domain of space is one of the oldest and most stable facets of the ‘strategic’ relationship, even if not the best-known. In May 1964, France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and India's Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) embarked upon a programme of continuing cooperation in space research of mutual interest for peaceful scientific purposes.
The DAE agreed to manufacture, under license in India, the Belier and Centaure types of sounding rockets developed by the French firm Sub-Aviation. CNES eventually supplied to DAE four Centaure rockets with payloads used for vapour cloud experiments. The programme started at the end of 1964. The main protagonists were the legendary Professor Jacques Blamont of the Aeronautic Laboratory of the Centre National de la Research Scientifique and Dr P.D. Bhavsar of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad.
Since then, the collaboration has continued flawlessly.
On February 25, 2013, ISRO launched, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, an Indo-French satellite called SARAL. The satellite was placed on a perfect orbit in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee and the Chairman of CNES.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C20 first dropped the Indo-French satellite before placing into orbit 6 other mini and micro satellites from different countries.
For the Indian launcher, PLSV with its 230 tons and 44.4 meters, it was its 23rd mission (and the 21st successful one)
Encouraged by the financial and technical performances of the Indian launcher, France asked ISRO to send a 717 kg-observation satellite, SPOT-7 into orbit. This was done by the PSLV-C23 on June 30, 2014 in presence of the recently-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the years to come, space will continue to play a prominent role in the strategic partnership between France and India.
Incidently, Narendra Modi will visit the headquarter of the CNES while in Toulouse and a MoU on Space between France and India will be signed.

Smart Cities
According to The Hindu, Mr. Modi will get “a first look at the future of his plan for ‘100 smart cities’ during his visit to France, when he travels to the city of Toulouse.”
Will the French President Francois Hollande and Mr Modi discuss some French investment for the Indian government’s pet project? We will know very soon.
Apparently, Puducherry and Chandigarh are top contenders for development as a smart city. French Ambassador Francois Richier told The Hindu, “I am happy that we would be able to put our energies together for a smart city project, which would allow us to bring together our understanding of urban development, preserving heritage and attracting tourism for such places.”
It is easier said than done. It is indeed difficult to see Pondicherry (where I have lived for 40 years) becoming smart.
And let us hope that the airport will not be sold to China like in Toulouse.

Addressing the French PIOs
On April 10, Prime Minister Modi will address the Indian Diaspora from Paris. Interestingly, many will listen to him via videoconference from overseas French territories (‘departements’) where the majority of the French PIOs live.
A senior government official told The Telegraph: “India's consulates and Diaspora organisations will broadcast Modi's Paris speech live in the Reunion and Mayotte islands in the southwest Indian Ocean and in Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana in Latin America.”
Via the video link, Modi will have an opportunity to see them; he could eventually answer questions of the PIOs watching the mini ‘Madison Square Show’ from their far-away ‘departements’.
France has five overseas territories and spread across two continents. Together they are home for over four lakh people of Indian origin, while about one lakh French PIOs live on the French mainland.
Modi had never the opportunity to visit a country where most of the Indian Diaspora community is based overseas.

The Rafale Deal
The Rafale deal could of course become the ‘mother’ of all ‘Make in India’ projects and herald many new win-win situations for India and her partners.
In the long-delayed $20-billion deal to supply to India 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircrafts (MMRCA), 108 planes will be manufactured in India; it is probably the largest transfer of technology of the decade.
In January 2012, Dassault Aviation of France had won the right ‘for exclusive negotiations’ with the Ministry of Defence for the supply of these combat aircrafts.
The complexity of the ‘Deal’ explains the 3 long years of negotiations. Can a ‘political’ decision be reached before the arrival of Mr. Modi in Paris? It is not certain.
Recently a major obstacle was crossed when Dassault Aviation and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) reached an agreement to share the responsibility of the 108 Indian-built aircrafts. Eric Trappier, the Chairman of Dassault stated in France: "This is the first time Dassault agrees to be a co-contractor. Dassault and HAL will both take responsibility for the part they will each build on the Rafale aircraft made in India." He asserted that this arrangement was in line with the Indian government’s initial tender (request for proposals or RFP).
The final cost of the ‘Deal’ still needs to be finalized.
In the meantime, President Francois Hollande said there will be no news on the sale of Rafale to India before the arrival of Narendra Modi in Paris: "There will be no announcement on the Rafale sales before the visit of Prime Minister Modi in France and I do not want the Indian premier's visit to be put in the context of a contract. We are working on it," said the French President.

Goût de France/Good France
And now the desert!
As a prelude to the Prime Minister’s visit to France, India participated in the French “Goût de France/Good France” project to celebrate French gastronomy worldwide under the Three Star Chef Alain Ducasse’s supervision. In India, 48 restaurants participated in the culinary feat.
One can hope that after Mr. Modi’s visit to France, a “Goût de l’Inde” festival will soon be held in France. French people are quite fond of Indian Tastes.
Bon appétit Mr. Modi!