German Diary: My Tryst with German Institutions

I have utmost respect for German systems and institutions. In my stay for over two years in Germany, I have come to admire many aspects of the German society – including its efficiency and functional systems. But there have been times when I have hit a stonewall in my efforts to manouever myself in the society, despite my fairly good command over German language.

My latest experience has come in the form of the Rundfunk Beitrag (roughly translates to Radio Tax). It seems I have been receiving this letter for nearly two years now. So basically I started receiving those letters in 'official German' when my German proficiency must have been worse than a two year old German kid. (Pardon my use of word German so many times, but this is hardly I can escape.) So as a normal foreigner student, who was never briefed about the tax and fees I needed to pay, I just threw the letter away thinking I do not own a TV or Radio and do not need to pay it. And over a period of time the tax kept adding up with fines and it reached nearly 300 Euros. But ignorance cannot be excuse and I also do not intend to use it as such. So when an official from the Vollstreckung Kasse (something like recovery agent) from Erfurt Rathaus knocked at my door, I along with my flatmates agreed to pay (the tax is for an apartment and not per person. That is another anomaly, so if my flatmates refuse to pay I will have to pay it alone And who receives the letter from the ARD Deutschland is like a draw of lot.)

My flatmate paid the tax and I gave my contribution to her and was happy that now I could concentrate on my thesis. But turns out this was not the way, as an angry official (Mr. Ebberman), called me up ranting in German that he has not received any confirmation from ARD Deutschland (the radio service provider I am assuming). I said that I have given you my reference number regarding the payment, have written to ARD and to Vollstreckung Kasse but have not got any response. Have been trying to call ARD up, but my lack of native fluency has not been of much help. I would reserve my comments about the stringent German regulations with regards to naturalisation requirements for people keen to become German citizens. But what about millions of foreign students and tourists who come to Germany temporarily, will it be a crime to accept a bit of courtesy at least from German institutions for them?

Really?

German Railway service provider DB Bahn had 11 strikes in the last nine months, leaving millions of commuters stranded. Last month when they had a strike I went for cancellation of my ticket and had difficulty in following the woman at reception who was speaking too fast. Despite my request, “Können Sie bitte langsam sprechen, ich kann Ihnen nicht verstehen?” (Could you speak a bit slowly, I cannot understand you), the woman retorted “Nein (No)!” and added up there were thousands of commuters like me. I was just thinking about a tourist in Germany stuck during the strike? I even wanted to be a bit pompous and tell the woman that it is because of the commuters like us that she has a job and is getting a salary; but I restrained. This was not my one off such experience with German system. In August 2014 as I came back from India, my train from Frankfurt to Erfurt got cancelled and the official at the ReiseZentrum (Travelling Centre) asked me to spend the night at the platform in biting cold even as he went on to give accommodation/ Taxi arrangements to other “white-looking people”. I don't know if all of them were German. But I had to fight with them, after a a family member checked online the terms and conditions; and informed me that DB Bahn is obliged to provide me an accommodation in case of a cancellation. The official eventually relented and gave me a hotel, but not before displaying his frustration.

Thereafter, I was traveling back from Turkey to Erfurt (supposedly an International airport with flights to Turkey and London). The Passport controller had a problem in finding visa details of my husband on his system. Mind you my husband was on a tourist visa.The controller did not speak a single word of English and refused to even try a bit to cooperate with him. I had to be the mediator between them. The official then had the audacity of asking me questions if I was carrying our marriage certificates (despite my marital status being obvious on my Passport) and as to why I do not have same surname as my husband. We were allowed to go an hour later when their system started working.

People have similar experiences in Foreigners Office, where people who are supposed to deal with foreigners refuse to speak English or do not know the language. During such time one is at mercy of one’s friends to accompany them to offices. But then why are institutions there?

I have been a fairly open-minded person and can even understand individual’s prejudices towards non-German  speakers. What is appalling is the inertia in German institutions regarding the changing times. I do not expect English to be official language of German but if I am paying for services, the least I can expect is a basic courtesy and delivery of services in a language I can comprehend fully. I admire Germans for their rationale, but officials speaking only German at Airports, Train Stations, Foreigners Office make no sense to me. The other solution German bureaucracy might have for the problem is to either stop giving visas to foreign students and tourists or give them advisory to know German with native fluency before setting foot in Germany.

Jinxed Indian Army's Artillery Modernisation boosted with indigenous Howitzer trials

Marred by constant corruption charges and subsequent blacklisting of foreign vendors, the Indian Army’s artillery modernisation programme got a major boost as the “indigenously designed and manufactured” 155mm x 45mm calibre artillery gun, Dhanush (literally meaning Arrow) successfully completed its summer and winter trials. (The first time it was reported by me in 2012 that the Indian Army is going indigenous route to meet its artillery requirements.Read it here)

  

File Photo

The guns were first tested in 2012 in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The gun is being manufactured by Ordnance Factor Board and is based on the designed transferred along with Bofors guns in 1986. However, the corruption taint associated with the Swedish artillery manufacturer meant that the designs remained unused for decades. Even now, the ghost of Bofors means that the establishment is reluctant to have any association with the name. Also it is an upgraded version of earlier Bofors. (Timeline of the indigenous Artillery guns development). 

The repeated attempts of the Indian Army to acquire the guns have met a dead end with company after company got blacklisted owing to corruption charges and the defence tenders kept on being cancelled. At present four foreign vendors – Bofors (Swedish), Denel (South African), Rhienmetall (German) and Singapore Kinetics (Singaporean) firm are in the blacklist of the defence establishment. Also the last artillery gun that the Indian Army inducted was nearly three decades old.

The news of the successful completion of summer and winter trials of Dhanush was given by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to Members of Parliament of the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry.

Deutschland bleibt bunt (Germany remains colourful) - Amen!

Being a nationalizing state that India is, Germany has always been a part of a wider public discourse back home and often seen as an epitome of national might. India has the dubious distinction of being among the countries where ‘Mein Kampf’ remains one of the best-selling books of all times and the Right-wingers invoke the one Who-Is-Not-Named so freely in Germany, with impunity. But then there are things that we were not told in history books, the unease of the present

The card reads - "Hating Humans is a disease. Get well soon."

day Germany with its violent past and a general abhorrence of expressing overtly-nationalistic sentiments. As I arrived in Germany two years ago as a student of Conflict Studies, I was amazed the way the country with such a violent history has managed to make violence a socially unacceptable choice. Since the World War II, Germany had tried with all sincerity to put its past behind and build institutions that are the bulwark of its Democracy.

But as the excitement of living in a foreign country subsided, came the reality. Most of the Germans dissuade from venting their dislike for “Auslanders” or “Aliens” (as the foreigners are referred in German) explicitly in public, however, their coldness is a huge bumper for the integration of the foreigners in my host country. Racism is something that is generally associated only with the right wingers or neo-Nazis but it actually percolates deep down in the society and is manifested in small gestures. When me being the lone brown-shaded person among a bunch of white customers is asked to open my bag at a Supermarket to show if I have not stolen anything, or when a train get cancelled late in the night and the manager at the Bahnhof reception asks me to sit on the platform in freezing cold while all the white passengers were being given taxi fare or places to stay for the night, or when a non-native speaker is humiliated by the German teacher for forgetting to put Verb at position second; it is racism. For a thick-skinned person I am, the constant scrutiny, intrigue, suspicion in the eye of population is not that stifling, but not all the “Colourful people” (a phrase we have derived along with few of my German and ‘Auslander’ friends to instill a higher sense of esteem in the people of colour) are so immune to the latent apathy towards the foreigners.

But with PEGIDA upping its ante on the issue of immigration and specifically against Islam, the latent fear among a certain section of the German populace was given a strong voice, which has been good enough to spread a sense of panic among my fellow international students. A friend was being asked to go back home in the street and another just stayed put in his house when PEGIDA came calling to Erfurt. No doubts that the democracy in Germany is alive and kicking; for a PEGIDA’s anti-Islam demonstration there is an equally potent anti-PEGIDA demonstration. However, the immigrants or German citizens born to immigrants are conspicuous because of their absence from the whole discourse. With this in mind me and other international students decided to go out in open instead of hiding and what is better than the potent weapon of ‘Love and non-violence’ that Mahatma Gandhi gave. I always had love-hate relation with his principles but the prospect of how to confront neo-Nazis with these two weapons was challenging. So holding placard reading “Free Hugs/ Unarmung” and flowers; and with open arms we headed towards the Erfurt Hauptbahnhof. On our way we were amazed by the effervescence and warmth with which people responded to our offer, barring a few old ladies who told me point blank “Geh weg! Wir mochten unser Geld haben!” (Go away! We want to keep our Money!). With a smile on my face I offered them a flower and they just looked the other way.

Our final test was yet to come as we reached the Hauptbahnhof for what later turned out to be a confused demonstration. Our target were the neo-Nazis singing “Wir sind das Volk” ("We are the people". It has an eery similarity to "Dem Deutscher Volke" inscribed on top of the Bundestag – the German Parliament). Their hatred for the “Colourful people”, I have only heard about. Another international student with me tried to pull me back from going there as he wanted to analyse the risk factors first! Being a journalist I have been in much more aggressive and potentially violent situations; and with the number of police available I asked him to just follow. As the Nazis gesticulating towards us we offered them “Free Hugs” with a smile and a flower. There was a look of incredulity on their faces and they just could not look us in the eye anymore.

I doubt that our campaign would have resulted in heart change of any hard core haters of immigrants. But nearly 90 percent of the people were really friendly. At one point of time people from both demonstration and counter-demonstration were hugging us. This gives great hope to people seeking to get assimilated into Germany – go out take part in the “Dance of Democracy” and reclaim your space in public, which at the moment is not happening.

So expect many such free hugging sessions in and around Erfurt from “Colourful people” with a hope that Deutschland bleibt Bunt (Germany remains Colourful). Come join us, only thing you need are “Open Arms”.

(The article was published at Global Public Policy Watch )

 

Choosing one’s defence teeth carefully

The second defence budget presented by the BJP-led government has not been very well received in the armed forces circle for the meager hike in allocation of funds for modernization that the three services of India, which they are in dire need of. The budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saw not so impressive 7.9 per cent rise in the defence allocation for the year 2015-16. In a developing country, where the proverbial debate of bullet versus bread is constantly on, it calls for a sharper military strategy and a modernization in commensuration of it.

In the recent years, India has emerged as one of the largest arms importer in the world causing a considerable burden on its foreign reserves as the indigenous production failed to showcase any decent weaponry since independence. According to the international database put together by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute the volume of Indian imports of major weapons rose by 111 per cent between 2004–08 and 2009–13, and its share of the volume of international arms imports increased from 7 to 14 per cent. In 2014 India’s arms imports became almost 3 times as high as those of the second and third largest arms importers—China and Pakistan. While there is no denying the fact that the modernization pace of the Indian armed forces has been sluggish leaving much room for improvement, there does not seem to be a coherent thought to shape the country’s military strategy. The armed forces are gearing up for fighting a two-and-a-half front war, but what will be its military objective in case it comes to an armed resolution of conflict with either Pakistan or China; or both the countries at one go and the asymmetric warfare of which India has long been a target.

Scenario one is when India chooses a military option against Pakistan. The question that needs to be answered is - in response to what provocation will Indian establishment be willing to use military force against its neighbor in the West? Even Parliament Attack and Mumbai Attack did not seem to be a good enough reason to opt for a military conflagration. And in case India goes for this option what will be its military objective – to capture Pakistani territory and how far can India go in its military retribution without provoking a nuclear strike from Islamabad. There will be very few military experts who will deny that the option of a full scare conventional war with Pakistan is no longer available.  

The second scenario can unfold in the eastern sector. The other major reason for consternation among the Indian defence mandarins has been growth of an assertive China in the east. Is India choosing for a number parity with China? This would be impossible considering the sheer size of both economies. India’s main aim would be to have a credible deterrence both in the conventional and nuclear sphere of warfare. Also, India needs to decide to what extent it will go to play a balancing against china in the region. Will the Indian armed forces need long distance nuclear-tipped missiles to develop this counter-weight against China or will that role be fulfilled by more fighter jets? Questions like these need to be answered before going for new acquisitions to be done with futuristic requirements.

Both the scenarios the main role that India is envisaging for its armed is one that of a defensive force instead of being an aggressor. The last extensive assessment of the capabilities and projected modernization was carried out post-1999 Kargil conflict and in 2002 by the Naresh Chandra committee. In the piles of recommendations given at both the times a concrete action plan for reforming the Indian armed forces and their expected role was lost in rhetoric.

The armed forces have always complained for not been given a space on the decision making table of the Indian security establishment, but they also need to put their own house in order as well. The inter-service rivalry has so far meant that the post of the permanent Chief of Defence Staff, a sort of Super-General who can act as one point advice source for the civil authorities on defence matter and to increase co-ordination among the three services, is still to fructify. The other hindrance to the establishment of a permanent CDS is the discomfort in the Government dispensation with so much power vested in one military person and the devaluing of the Cabinet Secretary. The result is overlapping demands from the three forces. The brazen case in point is the Indian Army’s demand to raise a mini-air force comprising of attack helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for its use, a demand that the Indian Air Force has strongly objected to. The other drawback of the lack of coordination is the failure to acknowledge the best practices followed by ‘sister’ services. The Indian Navy’s indigenization efforts executed in close cooperation with the public and private sector undertakings has by far proved to be the most efficient of the three forces as India embarked on ambitious projects to construct nuclear-attack submarines and aircraft carriers at much cheaper price and gaining more self-reliance. But the other two forces continue to be heavily dependent on imports for most items on their wish list.

The Indian defence budget earmarked for the fiscal year 2015-16 at $40.07 billion (only 40 percent of this will be available for acquisition purposes) indicates that not everything on the wish list of the armed forces will be given to them. So it calls for prioritization of requirements. Also the BJP government needs to not to be too complacent regarding its defence preparedness or a disaster like Kargil will be cause of much ignominy.