P A G E
Thursday, July 30, 1998
today's calendar
|
E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Thursday, July 30, 1998 |
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
||
|
Whose
proactivity is this?
Condition
of |
 |
|
|
|
|||||
 |
Whose proactivity is this? NOTHING should be more shocking for this country’s Home Minister than the indiscriminate killing on Monday night of at least 18 persons in two mercenary attacks on villages in the Kishtwar area of Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr L.K. Advani has been hypercritical of “the lenient attitude” to the security problem in the region for years. What sounded like a policy statement of the Union Government, he announced ex-cathedra in May that the Government would replace the ineffective “reactive” response to Pakistan’s terrorism with a “proactive” approach. He said he had brought together a think tank to end the agony of the people of the northern state who were losing their life and limb as a result of terrorism. (The average citizen of the state knows that the terrorist chooses his time and place purposefully under the guidance of the ISI and strikes to kill.) The think tank included all conceivable powerful persons except Mr Advani himself: the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Minister, the Cabinet Secretary, the Chief of Army Staff and representatives of the intelligence agencies and the paramilitary forces. No one knows what deterrent thoughts have floated out of this strategic tank. But certain gloomy facts are clear: Monday’s massacre was the third one within the past five weeks. More than 25 persons were gunned down in Champnari on June 19. Four members of a family were shot dead at Machalla on July 25. There was sufficient reason to provide adequate security to the villagers of the area. Does the Government
remember that already 30 lakh Hindus have been forced to
go into self-exile in the recent past? Does it realise
that the latest targets have been men, women and children
from the minority community in the state where a secular
Chief Minister belonging to the majority community reigns
and rules with the full blessings of a Union Home
Minister for whom Hinduism is an article of faith and
political conviction? Doda is a soft target. Look at the
map of northern India and you will find its visual
proximity to Jammu and the Himachal border glaringly
clear. If the authorities are not able to protect Doda,
they would allow free play to the proxy war wagers in the
plains and the relatively peaceful hill state. Move your
eyes from Himachal to Punjab, a territory ravaged by
terrorism for more than a decade. And look at the
implications. The latest outrage is what Mr Advani has
called in a different context “a challenge as well
as an opportunity”. Are we going to see this
spectacle of planned ethnic cleansing in Jammu and
Kashmir helplessly while ASEAN and SAARC discuss or evade
the non-existent Kashmir question? Dr Farooq Abdullah
tells Mr Advani: “We are no longer weak.... Tell
Pakistan that while we want peaceful coexistence, it
cannot be on your (Pakistan’s) terms.” Mr
Advani talks of a “new will”. But violence is
escalating with greater virulence in Kashmir’s
plains. With the rise in the death-rate on the Indian
side of the Line of Control, the scenario does not look
like that of proxy war. Pakistan’s regular soldiers
are facing regular soldiers of India in several sectors.
Let us call a spade a spade and find a silencing answer
to the belligerent communal problem highlighted by
mercenaries in Doda and elsewhere. At the moment, we only
see fitful evidence of India’s reactivity. It is
Pakistan which is showing its decimating proactivity.
Enough is enough.
|
|||||
Congress battle call THE Sonia-led Congress took rebirth of sorts on Tuesday and announced this in a telling fashion. One, it has shifted the venue of its fight against the BJP-led ruling combine from Parliament to the streets. Traditional party men have always been uncomfortable with morchas, rallies and hunger strikes. They will not be any more. Two, it does not see mass politics as a new weapon to wrench power. Party president Sonia Gandhi is very clear that her party is not hankering after office right now. Three, it will concentrate on mobilising the people and win back their support through a sustained focus on the issues that touch their daily life. And she should thank the ruling coalition for gifting the opposition a plateful of problems, each with immense vote-winning potential. The implications of the Congress shifting gear are easy to see. It has issued a wake-up call to the ruling coalition obviously in the hope that a solution is beyond its capacity. That is why Mrs Sonia Gandhi wants to lead a popular movement to weaken the BJP. This is the Sonia Gandhi-Sharad Pawar line: allow the BJP-led alliance to rule as long as it can but position the Congress to take full advantage of a collapse of the government. And select those areas of discontent that would help it to project itself as a born-again pro-poor Indira Gandhi party. This approach will earn for it the image of a decent organisation, fighting the battle of the dispossessed and not its own to recapture power. And the speech of Mrs Sonia Gandhi proclaimed this strategy from the house top. Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her
party will pay close attention to the goings-on in the
states, particularly the four which will go to the polls
later this year. Are the revamped units there shedding
the image of being dominated by tired old men still
resenting their rejection by the people? The younger
leaders have been directed to organise protest action
like the one in Delhi on Tuesday. This is a double-edged
weapon. If the government fails to rein in prices, the
resultant discontent will find an outlet in the form of
support for one of the opposition parties. The Congress
as the first off the block should derive greater benefit.
If the government does succeed in this delicate task, the
mobilised people will move over to the BJP. Either way
the main opposition party in Parliament can claim credit
for fair play and adherence to the politics of the
people. If all this turns out to be voter-friendly, it is
a big bonus. More, a winnable image will attract other
centrist parties to the Congress to build a broadbased
coalition. So, the ruling combine has about four or five
months to attack the problems which have been helpfully
identified by the Congress. Even partial success would do
to ward off a serious setback. The Tuesday rally marks
the race for the genuine claimant
|
Shane Warn(e)s sportsmen CRICKET-LOVERS across the globe must have felt a lump in their throat after reading the news that Australia’s superstar spinner Shane Warne may never bowl again. One can only hope and pray that the medical assessment of the injury to his bowling shoulder is grossly incorrect, because it is bowlers of the calibre of Warne who have taken the game to sublime heights. He is without doubt the greatest leg spinner in contemporary cricket, and even if he stops playing because of the shoulder injury, his name will figure in the list of all-time greats the game has produced during its global journey from the village green in England to the makeshift stadium in Toronto. The fact that he has thus far captured 313 wickets in only 67 Tests — giving him an impressive strike rate of almost five wickets per Test — should provide a clue as to why even the best batsmen became nervous whenever the ball was tossed to him. Who can forget the battle between Sachin Tendulkar and Warne during Australia’s tour of India? Without meaning to devalue the total dominance of Tendulkar during the Tests and the one-day games over the Australian bowlers it can be said on the strength of current medical bulletin that Warne was still not totally fit for a gruelling series. If the talented leg spinner is indeed not able to bowl ever again, the International Cricket Council would have to answer the charge of “killing” a cricketer at the height of his career. The point needs to be emphasised over and over again that the international cricket calendar is becoming too crowded to allow players enough time to recoup their energy. It must be understood that
cricket is a different ball game. If it is a Test match,
the players have to be mentally and physically fit for
five days — if the match does not end early because
of a variety of factors. The one-day game is, perhaps,
more energy sapping for obvious reasons. Warne would not
be the first sportsperson to have become a victim of the
burn-out syndrome. Both the sponsors and the sport
administrators are equally responsible for putting
avoidable pressure on the players. The whisper about the
mysterious illness of Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldo
has not yet died downed. There are those who suspect that
he was included in the playing XI for the crucial final,
in spite of being unfit, because of pressure from the
sponsors. Any number of instances of players breaking
down in the middle of a series can be given to prove the
point that excess of any kind in any sport does not
necessarily translate into success either for the players
or the countries they represent. Glen McGrath, another
Australian — a talented fast bowler — could not
tour India because of a shoulder injury. Sri Lanka has
lost its reputation as the best team in one-day cricket
largely because of over-exposure and the fitness problem
of their star fast bowler Chaminda Vaas. Venkatesh Prasad
should know what it means to be left out of the Indian
team because of suspect fitness. Even Anil Kumble’s
brief decline as an effective leg spinner can be
attributed to too much cricket. Javagal Srinath has had a
long lay-off to work back his bowling arm to full fitness
and one can only hope that he does not become another
Warne on his return to the Indian side. The human body is
a complex machine which shut downs only once — and
that is final. The only way to get the most out of this
fascinating “ever-running machine” is to allow
it time to cool down before reviving up the
“engine” for another contest
|
RECENTLY, I witnessed a crowd of school teachers mobbing one MLA. On enquiry, I was told that each one of them wanted to get himself transferred to a particular station of his choice. For several years, I had been hearing of this phenomenon where teachers virtually begged for favours from politicians. However, it was the first time that I actually witnessed such a scene and I must confess that it filled me with revulsion. Nothing hurts me more than the spectacle of a teacher supplicating for things. A teacher by definition is a giver and cannot be a beggar. If he becomes a beggar, he ceases to have that aura of dignity which goes with his profession. Unhappy at this whole business as I was, I took the opportunity to talk to some of them and get their point of view. One of them gave me details of how he had been wanting to be posted at the same place where his wife was working in another department. In point of fact, he had been transferred as per his request. But somebody had intervened to upset the transfer order. I could not but sympathise with him. It was the other story which upset me somewhat. He wanted a transfer to a particular place because that would enable him to keep an eye on a small plot of land which he had inherited. Despite repeated attempts, the transfer had not come through. I probed him further and eventually it came out that he had got himself transferred once earlier also. Evidently, he was an old hand at this game. The system of transfer is one of the banes of the school system both in Punjab and Haryana. The situation in Himachal seems to be somewhat less dicey. Teacher absenteeism is virtually unknown in that state and the local community keeps an eye on what is happening. No wonder that Himachal has made striking progress in the spread of education. It is ahead of both Punjab and Haryana. In all-India terms, it is estimated that at this rate of progress Himachal will soon become the next highest literate state after Kerala. The basic question is why should teachers be transferred like other government servants. Till the mid-1950’s, the system throughout India was that lower-level schools were controlled by District Boards which had been set up in the last quarter of the 19th century. Salary scales and such other matters were determined by the Department of Education, but everything else came under their charge. If anyone had to be transferred, it was within the district. But then came the phase of schools being “provincialised”. Instead of the District Boards being in-charge of schools, especially at the lower level, it is the state governments which took over. More or less logically, teachers began to get transferred all over the place. Punjab and Haryana are small-sized states but there are states which are 10 times larger. In some of them, transfers are permissible but only within the district or the division and not all over the state. There are also states where such regulations do not exist, and teachers are liable to be transferred anywhere. Earlier, only college teachers were transferred. Now even school teachers came to be transferred. Why did it become necessary to “provincialise” all schools? Owing to a variety of reasons which cannot be gone into here, the performance of the District Boards began to degenerate. Instead of finding a remedy to this indefensible situation, teachers raised the demand that state governments should take over all schools. Even when some state governments resisted, the teachers persisted. Bihar was one of the last states to surrender to this pressure. Because of the rapid expansion of education after 1947, the number of teachers started growing. When they got unionised also, their pressure became overwhelming. That is how the state of Bihar surrendered; but what has it led to? When the 73rd Amendment was pushed through in Parliament, the All-India Federation of Primary School Teachers opposed it tooth and nail. Other vested interests too were perhaps vocal. But none opposed it as vehemently as this section of teachers did. Though all-India in name, this federation is not all that well organised. At the state level, however, these teachers are much better organised. In certain states they wield some kind of a political clout as well. Not only that, teachers are divided into various factions. Some of them are allied with one political party and some with another. Whichever party comes to power, it has a group of school teachers to support it. This linkage of school teachers and political parties is a fact of life and there is no point in denying it. But the question to ask is: are these teacher bodies working in the interest of their members or are they playing politics? Whatever may be happening in other states, both in Punjab and Haryana, it is the MLAs who rule the roost. It is they who can get the teachers transferred and actually do so. Some bureaucrats too throw their weight around. In brief, transfer of teachers, in season and out of season, has become an industry. More than that, it is a political game which is played both by teachers and politicians. At one level, it is a source of political exploitation. At another level, it is bureaucratic manipulation. At yet another level, it is an excuse for making extra money. Some three years ago, it was estimated that out of 1600 college lecturers in Haryana, almost 1000 were transferred every year. Some two decades ago, I visited a state Capital where I had occasion to meet the Secretary of Education who had taken over a few months earlier. He was bubbling with enthusiasm. Within the few months that he had been in office (incidentally the state was under Governor’s rule at that time), he had been able to get quite some grants released from the Centre and also from the state treasury. Several hundred new schools had been set up and various other initiatives taken. A year later, I met him at a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education and asked for the latest news about his state. He looked crest-fallen. For the preceding several months, all that he had done was to transfer teachers, indeed hundreds of them. By then, Governor’s rule had been revoked and the new agenda of work was to boss over the teachers. Clearly, a network of influence-peddling and money-making has got built up. Such a network exists in other sectors of activity too and education is not exempt from this virus. It seems to suit everybody — the school teachers as well as the politicians. Whatever be its other implications, it is the surest way of destroying education. That is precisely what is happening. While others too are to blame, the teachers are not blameless either. Who has gained in this changeover from the control of the District Boards to that of the state governments? Certainly not the teachers. Instead of the Chairman of the District Board or one of his officers, there are new bosses whose conduct is not above reproach. The choice was between village sarpanch and the local MLA. How has the new system meant a step forward? There is one undoubted advantage which the teachers have gained. Now they cannot be held accountable for not doing their job. The Department of Education is so distant and so unconcerned with what is happening that they cannot, even if they wish to, keep an eye on what is happening. The District Education Officers are, for one thing, swamped by work. And for another, their promotions and postings are determined by the same political set-up which revels in humiliating teachers. To put it bluntly, all those who stand for the existing mode of management of schools prefer to be kicked around by MLAs rather than the village sarpanches. According to the 73rd Amendment, the village schools were to be run by the Village Education Committees and not even by the District Board through the district organisation would certainly have some role to play. It is time to recognise that being the largest group of the employees of the state, school teachers have helped to strengthen — not create — a political system where they are treated as dirt and power is exercised over them crudely and clumsily by political bosses as well as bureaucrats, indeed even by their minions. One unique
thing about teaching is that it is expected to be a
self-governing profession. Through their conduct and
their self-serving approach to the present set-up, most
school teachers seem to prefer one political boss over
another. One may legitimately ask: what is the difference
between them? In any case, the entire system demeans and
humiliates the teachers to such an extent that for
someone who is proud to be a teacher, it is painful to
live with this. It is time to rethink this issue, if one
may say so in conclusion.
|
Link earnings to productivity FIVE years ago, after the presentation of the Narasimhan Committee’s first report on financial sector reforms, the Finance Ministry had asked the nationalised banks to consider the possibility of delinking wage negotiations from the Indian Banks Association and consider the possibility of individual banks negotiating their own wage package with their unions taking into consideration their profitability and productivity aspects. Along with this the banks were also to be allowed to devise their own recruitment policy, so that the best talent moves to the top. Had these and other related measures been implemented then, the banking scene would have been vastly different today. The idea was to bring them on a par with the international banks, but nothing has changed in the past five years. The contemplated measures which are still relevant have two important far-reaching implications, which would become obvious once they take a firm root in the banking industry. It is common knowledge that compared to the banks in other countries, the nationalised banks in India still provide a ghastly sight as far as their functioning or management is concerned. Even the way the individual branches have been designed and housed provide a repulsive picture. One of the unintended consequences of the nationalisation of the banks has been the rupture of the linkage between the earnings of the employees and their productivity. The bank unions through their federation have become so powerful that under the threat of paralysing the functioning of the banks they have been able to impose their view on them. Whether a particular bank can bear the burden of increased salaries or not, has never bothered them. The difference between a hard-working and an intelligent employee and a work shirker had been virtually eliminated; they had been put on the same pedestal. This explains why some of the nationalised banks are in bad shape. They are running into losses but the staff get the same pay as is paid to the staff of the profitable banks. The second unintended consequence of the nationalisation of the banks has been that the employees’ unions have opposed tooth and nail any attempt to modernise the functioning of the banks on flimsy grounds like the loss of jobs due to the computerisation of bank work and so on. Even though a package was worked out some time back on the computerisation of banking operations, very few bank branches have gone for full computerisation. The branches are rarely linked to each other or to the main office or to the RBI through computers. If one were to compare the working of the nationalised banks in India and those in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, one would find that Indian banks are still 50 years behind in technology and 60 years behind in designing individual bank branches. The individual branches of Indian banks look more like a second class waiting room at a railway station or the OPD section of a government hospital. The customers are treated with contempt. In this monolithic work culture of nationalised banks neither the clients nor the hard-working and intelligent employees have much to choose from. The client feels harried while the intelligent and efficient employee feels dejected and does not get job satisfaction. The efficient employee is unable to move to another bank as work culture is the same everywhere. However, this particular work culture which has developed over the years since nationalisation is not conducive to the economic progress of the country. The banks with their present work culture are the weakest link in our globalisation effort; they hinder rather than push our economic relations with other countries. It is in this context that the linking of earning and productivity as new measures which were contemplated by the Finance Ministry five years ago becomes very important. The Finance Ministry must pursue this idea vigorously. The Indian private sector banks which have come up in the last five years because of the liberal economic policies are following this policy with salutory effect on their profitability and job satisfaction among the staff. If some banks because of their good customer services and efficient functioning are able to realise more profits than other banks, there is no reason why the employees of these profitable banks should not get higher remuneration than the employees of the banks which are less efficient and their customer services are not good. This is not to say that
the banks should be made totally free. What is important
is that the parameters within which they are to function
as individual banks must be clearly defined. And within
those parameters they must be free to determine the
remuneration packet as well as the productivity norms of
the employees and so on. — INFA |
CALCUTTA: Today Sir Surendranath Banerjee laid the foundation stone of a District Board Charitable Dispensary at Chanditala, 10 miles away from Howrah. Replying to the address, the Minister for Local Self-Government referring to costliness of the administration and salaries of Ministers said that it was a mere dream to imagine that if Ministers drew less salaries, gigantic schemes of benevolence and philanthropy could be erected. Those who talked of cuts in salaries, it seemed to him, spoke without any adequate sense of proportion and without any adequate knowledge and requirements of the administration. The Government had vast schemes before it which had to be very carefully thought out. In talking of retrenchment and defects of the Government, they should bear in mind that the Government was responsible, a fact of which members of the outside world had an inadequate conception. Referring to the request about imposition of cess on railways in rural parts of the country, the Minister said that the Bengal Government had failed twice to persuade the Government of India to consent to imposition of such cess. They then asked various
provincial governments to join them in approaching the
Government of India but local governments refused to join
them in this matter.
|
Power of
"sorry" THAT an impulsive brain and clever manipulation can get you out of many a tricky situation has always been an established fact. But the actual realisation of this norm dawned on me only the other day when I discovered from a small encounter the vast powers of that solitary famous word of English dictionary — SORRY — to resolve an aggravating strife in almost no time. To counter the blistering afternoon heat, I had gone to Chandigarh’s Sector 17 with my neighbour to have an ice-cream. On reaching the spot, I found Sorab, a close friend of mine, engaged in a quarrel with some stranger. “What’s the matter, Sorab?” I quipped, as I showed my inclination to enter into their heated debate. “Nothing, yaar”, shaking his head in annoyance, he began. “I was taking out my bike from the shed when this guy banged his scooter into me. And now, instead of apologising, he is quarreling with me. “No, sir, it’s entirely his fault and still he has no qualms about it”, the man joined in. “Look, the front chassis of my scooter is damaged. I was unlocking my scooter when all of a sudden he rammed in his bike from the front, jolting the scooter and me as well”, he shrugged. The argument went on and matters were only worsening. “Okay, let’s close the chapter as nobody is at fault,” I quickly intervened, obviously little baffled by the situation. Seemingly dissatisfied with my verdict, the gentleman walked away. I took Sorab to a nearby ice-cream parlour to catch up with some gossip. The incident had totally been forgotten. But while making our way back home, we were surprised to see the same person halting our march, and this time accompanied by three well-built men. Approaching Sorab with renewed vigour, he said: “It was clearly your fault and don’t be under the impression that you can get away without offering due apologies.” But my stubborn friend was not ready to kneel down as he strongly denied the allegations. This haughtiness on the part of Sorab further infuriated the man, with the result of which another argument followed. As things started drifting apart, I took stock of the situation and called Sorab aside. “We are certainly outnumbered.” I cautioned him. “So better do as they say.” “But, yaar...” “....Would you prefer a bashing to uttering a single word?” Cutting him short, I almost yelled at Sorab. Fortunately, he caught my
point and whooped out a big, rugged “Sorry” in
front of them. That was enough to elate the other party.
But I thought we were the ultimate beneficiaries as that
solitary all-powerful word bargained for all the damage
Sorab caused to the scooter. |
He ruled Germany with an iron hand OTTO VON BISMARCK, Prime Minister of Prussia for about 30 years, and the first Chancellor of the German empire, died on July 30, 1898, at his home, Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg. He was 83. The Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who had dismissed Bismarck in 1890, found the old statesman’s coffin in a bedroom covered with wreaths and flowers. He issued a statement honouring “the man in whom the Lord God created the instrument for realisation of the immortal idea of Germany’s unity and greatness”. It is probably a hyperbole to say that the three statesmen that European history has produced are Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), Talleyrand (1754-1838) and Bismarck (1815-1898). Statesmen are not theorists but master-builders who, by force of their practical sagacity, save their countries from critical situations and lead them on to the path of peace and progress. Bismarck firmly believed that foreign policy was determined not by sentiment or idealism but by an assessment of strength. According to him, the only healthy basis of policy for a great power was egoticism, not romanticism. To him politics was the art of the possible and science of the relative. That is why he enforced in his policy an empirical approach towards international politics. Diplomacy was to him all skills to be used with great care to meet current challenges, though backed by military strength. His mind was brimming with alternatives on crucial policy matters which eluded even the grasp of seasoned diplomats and politicians. Romanticism in foreign policy he repudiated. He warned his countrymen by his famous declaration: “The great problems of the world are not solved by pious resolutions or the vote of majorities — that was the mistake of 1848, but by blood and iron”. It was by stroke of his genius that Bismarck unified Germany which had been divided into 39 states. To bring about this unification, he waged three wars — with the Danish, the Austrians and the French. In the post 1891 period, he consolidated the gains that he had made to which he gave his utmost attention. Foreign policy was to him nothing but the preservation of national interests in a cool and detached manner. He built up a complex and elaborate system of alliances and alignments and thereby made Germany a powerful force in shipping the course of history. Berlin, the capital of Germany, became in Bismarck’s time, a centre of European politics where vital issues of international dimension were decided with Bismarck playing the role of an “honest broker” between the contending parties. By skillful manipulation and patience, Bismarck brought to the European a system the balance of power which meant safeguarding the independence of European powers. In other words, it meant simply allowing no country to gain ascendancy over another. It denoted a policy of checks and balances reflected in a series of treaties he forged — The European League, Dual Alliance, Triple Alliance, and Russo-German Entente. His alliance with Austria in 1878 is regarded as a master-stroke of dilomacy which checked Russia from extending its influence in the Balkans while his understanding with Russia was designed to checkmate the Franco-Russian and Anglo-Russian alliances. All these alliances left Germany in a position strong enough to influence European diplomacy. Generally speaking, Bismarck is regarded as the “Prince of Peace” because no major conflagration occurred in Europe during his rule as Chancellor, though some conflicts did occur in the Balkans, Africa and parts of Asia. With the help of General Moltke, Bismarck built up a first class army. German industry was making new types of weapons. Considerable advance was made in military science, which drew on the writings of Clausewitz and the study of Napoleonic battles. To some historians, Bismarck appears as a protagonist of modern warfare, and is held responsible for the rise of militarism which culminated in Hitlerism. I think this view is fallacious. It was Bismarck’s followers that bungled and botched the issues. Bismarck knew the limits of power: he sought compromises on crucial issues and retracted from his earlier stands in order to ensure peace. There was no question of indignity or humiliation when he did so. When the European powers were stubbornly keen on seizing some African countries for imperial gains, Bismarck showed no interest and said: “Your map of Africa is very beautiful, but my map of Africa is Europe. Here is Russia, here is France and we are in the middle. This is my map of Africa.” Bismarck has often been dubbed as an opportunist but who is not an opportunist in politics as anyone wishes to affect events may be on opportunist to some extent. There was a streak of opportunism in his politics. Dr Henry Kissinger, an admirer of Bismarck, who adopted some of his principles with fanatical devotion wrote that Bismarck sought his opportunities in the present and drew his inspiration from a vision of the future. Bismarck saw issues as a whole, not in isolation. He recognised that events were interconnected. He possessed a remarkable elasticity of mind to change his policies according to the needs of the times. While arriving at a decision, he would give utmost consideration to the opposite point of view. That is why he confessed: “It is a fault of my eye that it is more receptive to the weaknesses of others than to their strength.” Bismarck understood that power can be used only as an instrument of policy. A wild man in his drinking and womanising youth, he could be exquisitely charming and deferential. When his wife died he wept like a child. Like Marx his letter to his wife was a model of deep and abiding love. He loved nature and poetry; music moved him to tears. In his last days he wrote
his memoirs which were misleading like this Titan of a
man who occupied, to use Goethe’s expression,
“a large space in life”.
|
Pesticides killed bollworms’
natural enemies CROP failure resulting from the resurgence of a dreaded crop pest, is certainly no provocation for the extreme step of committing suicide. And yet, hundreds of farmers have sacrificed their lives unable to reap the benefits accruing from increasing commercialisation of Indian farming. And behind the mounting death toll hangs the sordid tale of perhaps what could be classified as India’s biggest scam. Much of the crisis afflicting cotton is the result of the indiscriminate use and abuse of pesticides. Let us first understand what necessitates the excessive use of pesticides on cotton. What essentially began as a quest to control the spread of the American bollworm, which feeds on the crop often resulting in a total loss, has turned out to be an unsavoury battle between the chemical pesticides industry and the tiny insect. As a result, cotton alone consumes nearly 55 to 60 per cent of the total quantum of pesticides sprayed in the country. The insect devours crops worth an estimated Rs 1500 crore a year. From one crop to another, and from one cropping season to the other, it attacks more than 90 kinds of crops. And such is its wide spread that the polyphagus American bollworm is now a menace in 62 countries. The suicide epidemic is the outcome of a bigger malaise that continues to afflict Indian agriculture. It involves the pesticides trade, the state plant protection machinery and gullible farmers. For the pesticides industry, the American bollworm is a blessing in disguise. It has over the years sustained the profit margins of the pesticides manufacturers and traders irrespective of the extent of crop damage. More often than not the pesticides cocktail is spurious. It contains spurious and fake ingredients. In Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district, for instance, a series of raids have unearthed how serious the problem with fake pesticides is. Almost the entire quantity of pesticides being sprayed has been found to be bogus. In Punjab and Haryana too, the menace of fake pesticides is too serious to be overlooked. The insect, therefore, thrives happily. And ‘resists’ as many as 15 to 20 sprays. While the agricultural officials begun to chant the mantra of multiplying insect resistance, the trade gets ready with still more potent chemicals. Such is the deep-rooted nexus between the trade and plant protection officials in the state agriculture departments that if the CBI were to investigate, the political ramification may be much worse than that of the fodder scam. The spate of suicides that caught the nation’s attention in 1987-88 was the result of the American bollworm developing resistance to synthetic pyrethroids. Ten years later, the insect once again appeared in a devastating form. And in these years cotton farmers in Warangal district began spraying more than Rs 200 crores worth of pesticides every year. But before the American bollworm emerged on the crop, a hitherto secondary insect pest of cotton — spodoptera — had caused extensive damage to the cotton foliage. American bollworm did the rest. Caught in the vicious circle of poison, and the resulting indebtedness, farmers in Warangal district were left with no choice. And yet, the villain of the piece is not the American bollworm. There are 28 known natural enemies of bollworms in the cotton field. Nature has provided enough protection for cotton through the abundance of benign insects available in the field. But the tragedy is that it is the benign insects that first get killed when the pesticides are sprayed. Bereft of its natural enemies, the American bollworm appears stronger in the crop fields. And when the pesticides begun to disturb nature’s equilibrium, many of the little known pests of cotton, like the white fly, too emerge as major pests. And as if this is not enough, some multinational seed and chemical companies are ready with genetically-manipulated cotton that may instead lead to a biological treadmill thereby exacerbating the crisis on the farm front. The answer certainly is not in the introduction of transgenic cotton. Such genetically-altered cotton too has failed in the USA, leaving the cotton farmers with heavy financial losses. If that happens in India, the death toll would be too heavy. The alternate way is to emerge free from the circle of poison. And that would require political sagacity and futuristic vision to emulate the statesmanship of former Indonesian President Suharto. A year before Andhra Pradesh farmers first committed suicide in 1987-88, and faced with the devastated re-emergence of the brown plant hopper insects on rice, President Suharto banned the use of 57 pesticides. Despite the multinational chemical companies’ repeated warnings that President Suharto’s decision would leave a negative impact on the country food security, Indonesia imbarked upon a nationwide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy, a concept that utilises biological, cultural, agronomic and chemical control measures in a way that provides the maximum protection. Farmers were trained in the recognition and encouragement of natural pest predators, turning to chemicals only when it became absolutely necessary. Five years after the ban, pesticides use was drastically reduced by 60 per cent and the rice yields increased by 13 per cent. In the first two years alone, the Indonesian government saved $ 120 million on account of subsidies alone and more importantly the farmers escaped from the clutches of death. Banning the use of pesticides on cotton is the only viable solution. Since cotton is not a staple food, the country has nothing to fear from an immediate threat to food security. Taking a cue from the Indonesian example, the ban on pesticides has to be simultaneously followed with the launch of nationwide IPM strategy. Considering that such a crucial decision will dramatically have an impact on economics of the pesticides trade, the industry is sure to raise a deafening hue and cry. But then, if President Suharto could withstand the pressure from the MNCs, as well as the US Embassy, there is no reason why the political leadership in India for once cannot stand tall. After all, it is a question of the survival of the farming community. Concluded |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Business | Stocks | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
