The Tsunami Test

WASHINGTON

A tragedy always tests one's mettle and the catastrophic tsunami is India’strial by fire. India is both victim and saviour, the dual role stretching itsresources and manpower thin. But by responding quickly to neighbours in needand, in fact, dispatching a ship the same day to Sri Lanka to help clear ports,India has emerged as a much-needed regional anchor. Around ten Indian navalships are in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia doing the hard work even asthe government deals with the devastation in Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar.The US and Indian navies are for the first time working together in the IndianOcean in another sign of their growing cooperation.

India’s ability to rise above its own massive difficulties and reach out ona large scale hasn’t gone unnoticed. The increasingly confident India iswilling to play a bigger role and be a partner of the west. Apart from theobvious good neighbourliness of the gesture, India is shedding its old diffidentskin. Projecting into the future, it is showing it has both the mettle and themuscle to do some heavy lifting. It is soft power supported by hard resources.Helping in times of need can win friends and influence countries. Sure, thereare geo-political calculations but why shouldn’t there be?

Geopolitics and proximity have merged to induce an appropriate Indianresponse. An Indian Coast Guard ship with search and rescue equipment and aDornier aircraft with a medical team reached Sri Lanka on Sunday, Dec. 26, theday the tsunami hit. The next day two other naval vessels, including ahydrographic ship to clear harbours, reached Sri Lanka while three other shipsarrived on Dec. 29. Most of them have helicopters on board. In addition, twoIndian warships INS Sarvekshak and INS Sutlej also sailed to Sri Lankatoday with the Indian army moving an entire field hospital just outside Gallewhich is working round the clock to treat patients.

Geography was India’s advantage and a quick, sure-footed response wasappreciated. The US aircraft carrier and medical ships will take some time toarrive simply because of the distances involved. Having learnt from the Gujaratearthquake, Indian officials sent supplies tailored to the disaster -- they knewthat Sri Lanka would need power generating equipment to store medicines andother temperature-sensitive equipment. Watching India’s swift response,Indonesia asked for a hydrographic ship as well and INS Nirupak arrived inBandar Aceh on Jan. 3 while INS Khukri carrying relief supplies left Chennai andreached Indonesia a day later. 

India’s new role will take some getting used to, specially by those whodismiss New Delhi as a vacillating and often uncertain voice in world affairs.No surprise then that some in the west have interpreted India’s refusal to askfor aid as a hangover of non-alignment simply because the current government hasa few old horses from that era. A western news agency report last weekspeculated on the very subject, sparking debate among Indians living abroad.Many Indian Americans, eager to help, saw New Delhi’s decision as misguided.Others saw it as arrogant. But the news report was plain wrong. 

Those who see a return to non-alignment by the current government insultthe dogged pragmatism of the recently departed J.N. Dixit, who as nationalsecurity adviser was busy forging alliances, crafting deals and securingIndia’s national interest no matter what the alignment.

It is neither non-alignment nor arrogance but a straightforward monetarycalculation. As a creditor nation and one sitting atop $110 billion in reserves,should India be taking a slice of international aid commitments and reduce theshare of others? India is open to multilateral aid but has declined bilateralaid. For the sake of perspective, it would be useful to remember the Gujaratearthquake, the Orissa super cyclone and the controversy over the Vajpayeegovernment refusing assistance from eighteen countries, most of them European,but also including Australia, New Zealand and Japan. 

Security and geo-political considerations apart, particularly in the Andamansand Nicobar, the overwhelming response from Indians and Indian organisations inthe country has been heartening, helping India take the stand it has. Thereis a larger issue as well -- the country has begun to believe in itself and actaccordingly. In order to cross firmly into the ranks of donors, Indians have tobelieve they can do it without outside help. Before the tsunami hit, MontekSingh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, had proposedspending $5 billion a year from India’s foreign exchange reserves oninfrastructure needs. The argument put forward was simple: Why accumulate moneyand subsidise the American economy since most of the money is invested inlow-yielding US treasury bonds? Why not spend it in big public sector projects?It may be time to act on his proposal.

There has also been carping about the "core group" allegedly underminingthe United Nations’ relief efforts. India was asked by the US to be a memberof the core group based on the prompt help and accurate assessments provided bythe military of the scale of the disaster. The core group has done everything tokeep the UN apprised and conducted teleconferences with UN Secretary GeneralKofi Annan to brief him on what is being done. For once, it would seem, the BushAdministration wasn’t trying to undermine the UN, but attempting to respondquickly because of fierce criticism at home of its slow and small response.European leaders who are complaining about the core group can be more productiveby becoming part of the chain of help.

Foreign secretary Shyam Saran has done well today to state the Indianposition that there isn't any "misunderstanding or misapprehension"about the presence of US marines in Sri Lanka. Rumours about Indian concerns haddone the rounds, but he was on the ball: "There is a disaster. There isrequirement for assistance and if the US believes it could contribute to thistask, it is more than welcome... The question is how efficient is the deliverysystem. We should not get into each other's way in carrying out this job."

Saran has also reiterated the Indian position on aid refusal: "It is notnot a dogmatic position. At any time we need the support of friendly countries,we will review it." That seems to be the most pragmatic way of handling thesituation. In view of the enormity of the loss of lives and damage suffered byother countries like the Maldives, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Indiarightly felt that international efforts were better directed at thosewho needed it more. 

External affairs minister K. Natwar Singh is already in Jakarta to representIndia at the special ASEAN Summit to discuss the aftermath of Asia's devastatingnatural disaster. India is expected to make a further pledge of money inaddition to the $26 million already committed to Sri Lanka, Maldives andThailand. This is apart from aid in kind and the use of military equipment,flights and ships. The mature Indian response reflects the new role Indiahas begun to play on the world stage.

While the core group played a useful role of initiating a quick response tothe disaster, the focus has now shifted to the operational level and the UN isbest placed to undertake this phase. There is enough to be done and all can beexpected to remain busy for months and then some.