video

Part I

H Ramakrishnan: You were also a first- class cricketer. You represented Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy and you also led the Madras University team as well.
N Ram: Yes, I did. I played for the Madras University for four years and captained it in the final year, 1965..
Rama: What is your opinion on the present state of cricket?
Ram: A lot of interesting things are happening We have had a great deal of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and so on.
Rama: What about the latest, the IPL?
Ram: Yest, it is still young. But it has caught the imagination of the youngsters. It is a good thing. It has been brilliantly organised and it brought out some excellent performance. But as a form of cricket, it dilutes the finer points of the game. I think even the fifty-over cricket does it. Today, of course it is a compromise that they make, because people don't come to test matches.
SHANE WARNE
In IPL, the team which was least fancied had the best team work and the best leadership in Shane Warne. Everybody saw the genius of Shane Warne. I think this IPL is the most memorable because of the opportunity to celebrate the genius of Shane Warne, if you put it in one word. They didn't spend enough. In fact they maintained a low key during the auction, and in the end got penalized by the IPL organizing committee for failing to meet the minimum bidding criteria. But here comes a man, who then coaches the team, who is an idol. He was able to deliver. On this strength alone, he could go on for another five years at the highest level. But he didn't want to. Look at the inspirational value and the welding that took place. He created a team. During that short period of just forty days, Shane Warne showed what is to build from building blocks, literally from scratch. IPL's first edition will be remembered largely for that opportunity to celebrate the genius of Shane Warne and through it, all the best that he reresented. On the field, he was an exemplar, who cannot be surpassed.
The other thing about Shane Warne is that he retired. Everyone here must have been wondering why this best performer in the IPL Cricket chose to retire. He said, I was slowing down and that I cannot do as before. I no longer enjoy it. And secondly I have to provide opportunities for others.' Why did Gilchrist retire? He is still good for five years. Why did Justin Langer retire? Why did Steve Waugh retire? In India, they won't go.
Rama: The trends in Indian politics is one of your areas of special interest. Are you happy with the present trends?
Ram: Nobody can be totally happy. But, I think there are some good aspects to the trend. The opportunity given to the United Progressive Alliance was a good opportunity. But it didn't make full use of it. It did bring in some good measures like the Right To Information Act and the Employment Guarantee Scheme. But at the end of the day,
COMMUNALISM
I am quite disappointed with the UPA performance and looks like the pendulum is swinging somewhere else. We don't know know who is going to pick it up. What I don't like is communalism in politics. That has become a serious menace across the country. Whether it is the majority communalism or that of the minority, it is a dangerous trend.
India's growth performance is good. But the system has neglected 350 or 400 million people who are left out in the cold , in this era of high economic growth. Our Minister Mr Mani Sankar Iyer has cited the figure, 830 million Indians subsists on less than two dollars a day. Whatever be the actual number, whether it is 400 million or 800 million, it is a matter of detail. But it is totally unacceptable. The system has failed to provide any kind of social security for this large segment. On the other hand there are some brilliant performances and achievements in economy, in IT, even in the manufacturing sector.
M S Swaminathan
Agriculture has not done well. It has been neglected. Prof. M S Swaminathan, who is a top expert in the field, not only in agriculture, but in food policies and sustainable development has been calling attention to it in his own way in the last several years. He headed the National Farmers' Commission and has put forward several recommendations. But they have not acted on it. In fact, they have picked up the waver of indebtedness issue in the very last year of their five year term. And that's not enough. What happened during the previous four years? What happened after the report was given? These points were made even earlier. You shouldn't do it just because elections come. That is not good politics. It will be too late and the electorate won't buy that.
Same thing happened to the previous government. They gave the slogan of 'India shining'. You know what happened?
All the same, politics has some promising trends. There are some young MPs who are good. Some of them are idealistic. But, given the transactional corruption and political corruption, one has to feel very concerned. Rising India has to tackle these problems. And, I am not too worried about lack of majority for any party or formation. Let them struggle to come to power and stay in power, by setting themselves an agenda. It's hard work. You don't deserve an easy ride, given your performance. They get exactly what they deserve.
But one good thing in politics has been the sort of move in the federal direction. Since the Centre has not been overwhelming in its clout - though there has not been any dominant Centre, still there is some clout - states have given more space, more resources and more opportunities and this has been a good thing.
I have long believed that the centre-state relations have to be restructured, in favour of the states, of course not pushing them to a point where they can do any thing verging on separatism. No, that cannot be. But there has to be state autonomy, by whatever name it is called, in a meaningful sense. They are allowed to do their own experiments, do well and also to do their own mistakes. Eventually, they will be accountable to the electorate. Other countries realised it earlier, whether it is the United States , Canada, Germany, Switzerland or Australia. They have a federal system, where these things are well recognised. You can't dismiss a state government the way as it was done here. So, I think that is good trend that has taken place, though in an unplanned way.
Rama; I think you did play a crucial role in that...
Ram: It is something like the Indian pattern, allowing devolution of power to the North. But today, they are not even together, North and East, because of the Karuna revolt. The Sri lankan Supreme Court struck it down. So, nobody wants a merger now, other than Prabhakaran. People are not demanding it, because the Eastern Province is out of the LTTE hold. It is liberated from the LTTE.
DEVOLUTION
The elections in the Eastern Province have taken place fairly smoothly. Now they have got to work with the devolution experiment first in the Eastern Province. But they say that they are in a military operation to capture Prabhakaran. Let's wait and see if they do that. And I have zero sympathy for the LTTE. It is not only a banned organisation. It has lost all claims to speak for the Tamils. But the problem is it decimated everyone else among themselves and it is very very hard to find alternatives. There are a few like Ananda . Sankari, Douglas, in the eastern Province Pillay and group. Small alternatives. The LTTE is armed, but the others are largely unarmed. They cannot withstand any military operation by the LTTE. It's really terrorist operation. Therefore, that's the weakness in the Tamil camp in Sri lanka.

Part I