P A G E
Saturday, October 24, 1998
today's calendar
|
E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Saturday, October 24, 1998 |
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
||
|
Keep
politics out
ISLAMABAD
EXERCISE |
 |
Sanatan
Dharma Mahasabha |
||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
Keep politics out THE unseemly scenes witnessed at the Education Ministers' conference in New Delhi on its inaugural day were quite expected. The agenda circulated for the event with the consent and participation of the Human Resource Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, had gone through the process of conscious saffronisation. Those who called it a predominantly RSS document were not making a wild allegation. Ministers from non-BJP ruled states, besides those from Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, walked out of the morning session, accusing the BJP of using the official platform to promote the RSS ideology. Saraswati vandana is a beautiful metaphorical ritual. It is sung to set the tone of an occasion signifying illumination by knowledge of the benighted world. But if participants consider such initiation of a function as an act contrary to the pluralistic ethos of India, the item can be dropped without marring the sanctity or usefulness of the proceedings that are to follow. As we cautioned the Prime Minister on the opening day of the conference, he should, as a matter of principle, distance himself from mono-religious deliberations. Saraswati is not merely a goddess of a broad religion; she is, according to legend, lore and belief, a symbol of learning and a metaphor for the brilliance of knowledge-seeking intellect. Probably, most of those who walked out politicising Saraswati vandana had themselves sung the praises of the timeless symbol. However, Dr Joshi, owing to immaturity, had erred in planning the agenda in a partisan manner. Education is a national concern. We have not realised the dream of the Founding Fathers of the Constitution by ensuring universal primary education in this country even half a century after Independence. We had Union Education Ministers like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Humayun Kabir and M.C. Chagla. They did not belong to the Hindu faith, but they never opposed what was good for every intelligent student in ancient Indian literature, including the Vedas and the Upanishads. One hopes that the
conference would be extended by a day to make up for the
wasted time on Thursday. Education must not be
communalised; it should be rationalised and promoted in a
secular way. The Prime Minister has done well to decry
religious bigotry and intolerance in the matter of
education. The diversity of religion, language and
ethnicity must be kept in mind while promoting a subject
which is aimed at progress in any field of creative
activity. Dr Joshi, on his part, has acted correctly and
excluded the controversial portion of the agenda. His
iteration that there is no move to dilute and abridge the
rights of the minorities in any manner is also welcome.
Nothing should be done without arriving at a consensus at
this important meeting. As Prof Amartya Sen has pointed
out, much of our misery, including economic distress,
emanates from our neglect of primary education. If proper
education is imparted to every individual in his or her
childhood, the country will develop a holistic mindset in
which the barriers of region and religion will not
matter. One may like to believe Eddington who proclaimed
that our universe has begun to look more like a great
thought than like a great machine. The world stuff is
actually the mind stuff. All hindrances to the
achievement of the goal of education for all by the end
of this century should be discussed by the State
Education Ministers and their secretaries. A concrete
plan should be drawn up, keeping in mind the still
unforgotten slogan: "Each one, teach one." The
financial aspect of the vital matter is of great
importance. No time should be wasted on walk-outs and
mud-slinging. |
Poor rating of economy NOT many in the country are satisfied with the state of economic health. But when an outside agency jumps in to endorse this gloomy assessment with arguments and alphabetic signs the average reaction ranges from panic to outrage. “Is it really that bad?” ask the already nervous stock brokers. “It is certainly not that bad,” assert self-righteous politicians of the ruling party. Standard and Poor’s latest downgrading exercise has been no different. It has pegged the credit rating of government borrowings at BB, one level lower than in the past. In doing this, this agency has merely followed what another body, Moody’s, had done in June immediately after the Pokhran tests and the imposition of limited sanctions by the USA. It appears that S & P waited for a few months to avoid giving the impression of merely aping the Moody’s and also to study the impact of the budget proposals on the economy. The waiting period has helped it to marshall convincing economic arguments and once massed together, the report reads like a veritable charge-sheet against successive Finance Ministers. Here is the list of the sins of mostly omission, rather than commission over the past few years, leading to the present sorry state of affairs. The fiscal deficit is spinning out of control; at present it stands at a very high 8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) once the figures of the states are added to that of the Centre. This gap in the budget is being filled by borrowing money from the RBI or the market and in the next few years the combined debt of the Central and the state governments will soar to an awesome 70 per cent of the GDP. Interest has to be paid on this huge loan, and that would take away fully one half of the total revenue. This huge debt does two bad things; it sucks in money which would otherwise go to the industry for investment and it also pushes up the interest rates. This in turn balloons the government’s obligation year after year. As it is, the unchecked profligacy of the government diverts nearly 40 per cent of national savings as public loans, which is one of the several reasons for the present sluggish growth of the economy. A low level of growth and lower customs and excise duty have further shrunk revenue collection, adding to the cycle of a bigger fiscal deficit and bigger debts and bigger interest payments. Stagnant exports and
increased imports (thanks to reduced tariff) have widened
the current account deficit and have forced the country
to seek more foreign debt. Very soon, the total foreign
debt, now standing at around $92 billion, will equal 180
per cent of annual export earnings. That will be the
highest figure for any country. Thus the downgrading is
related to three creaky points in the Indian economy: a
large fiscal deficit, a low rate of economic growth and
increasing current account deficit and mounting foreign
debt. Of course, the country will not sink, but
investments here may. It is particularly so at a time
when the stock and currency market slide in Thailand and
a few other countries seems to have bottomed out and the
economy is looking up. A country re-emerging from a
wringing crisis is a promising place for investment. As
it is, there have been reports that foreign players are
deserting India in droves, frustrated at the prolonged
stranglehold of bears in the market. The report of
Standard and Poor’s will merely accentuate this
mood. |
Boxing with beards SHOULD boxing as a sport be banned? Mike Tyson would say “no”, although the last time he entered the ring he bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear instead of knocking him down to earn a clean victory. The votaries of non-violence would favour a ban because a number of boxers have succumbed to injuries sustained in the ring. Had the issue been discussed from the religious angle, the Buddhists might have opposed the sport of boxing on the ground that it violates the basic principle of their faith. However, to expect the trigger-happy Taliban to be seen on the side of the Buddhists is almost inconceivable. Of course, the Taliban have not issued the dreaded fatwa against the gory sport. But the fact that three Afghan boxers have been barred from an international contest opening in Karachi on Tuesday has something to do with the Taliban interpretation of Islam. In their book it is mandatory for Muslims to sport beards. How they deal with men who are Muslims but cannot grow a beard for biological reasons is not known. Perhaps they pack off all such men to the “zenana” to lead a life of seclusion. However, normal Afghan men cannot be allowed to enter the ring, not because the Taliban do not believe in violence but because international rules do not allow bearded boxers to contest. The three Afghan boxers have understandably refused to comply with the un-Islamic rule of the game. If they shed their beards, the Taliban-led government would not let them re-enter Kabul. The thought that the USA
is the land of most conscientious objectors has not
crossed their minds. In the past most of those who used
to disappear from the Soviet Union were invariably
spotted in the land of opportunities. It is a different
matter that even the USA does not allow the freedom of
conscience to its own citizens as it does to those from
other lands. Had it not been so, Casius Clay would not
have thrown his Olympic boxing gold medal in the river
after being penalised for refusing to be drafted in the
US army for fighting in Vietnam. On hindsight, it can be
said that Clay may have been a good man, even a good
Christian, for refusing to fight in the Vietnam war and
an excellent boxer. But as Mohammad Ali he failed the
test of being a good Muslim as prescribed by the Taliban.
Even after converting to Islam he continued to “fly
like a butterfly and sting like a bee” to be
acknowledged as the greatest boxer in the history of the
game. Had he followed the Taliban brand of Islam (even
before the Taliban were born) and grown a beard, he would
have had to hang his gloves much before becoming a living
legend. How about a fatwa today for his past
“sins”? |
ISLAMABAD EXERCISE A STRAIGHT line is the shortest distance between any two points. That is the path most international diplomatic negotiations studiously avoid. The preferred path is a circuitous one with lots of detours and longcuts. As far as India-Pakistan dialogues are concerned, these take a perfectly circular route with the whole exercise going from one point and returning back to the same point. The recently concluded Foreign Secretary-level talks in Islamabad were no exception. Three days of discussions did not move much beyond what Pakistan variously calls the “core” issue and the most dangerous flash point in the world: Kashmir. For form’s sake, Pakistan has agreed to composite talks, of which Jammu and Kashmir is only a part. But that is neither here nor there. India can project that as some kind of a vindication of its diplomatic effort, given that earlier Pakistan was not willing to tango at all unless this issue was first amicably settled. But the phrase can equally easily be utilised by Pakistan to say that since the talks are composite and there has been no progress on Kashmir, there can be no agreement on other issues. That will again find the two sides back to square one. While wide-ranging talks did take place at Punjab House, these were not reflected in the joint press statement issued on the last day (October 18). One must read the six-paragraph document in entirety to appreciate how careful both sides have been not to commit themselves on any issue at all. Here is the complete text: “Mr Shamshad Ahmad, Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, and Mr K. Raghunath, Foreign Secretary of India, met in Islamabad on 15-18 October, 1998. They held separate meetings on Agenda item (a) Peace and Security including Confidence-building measures, and (b) Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of the 23rd June, 1997, Agreement. The talks were held in a cordial and frank atmosphere within the framework of the composite and integrated dialogue process. “2. The deliberations between the Foreign Secretaries were guided by the shared belief of their Prime Ministers as expressed in their Joint Statement of 23 September, 1998, that an environment of durable peace and security was in the supreme interest of both countries and the region as a whole, and that the peaceful settlement of all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, was essential for this purpose. “3. The Foreign Secretary of India called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and conveyed to him a message of goodwill from Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee. The Prime Minister of Pakistan warmly reciprocated the Indian Prime Minister’s good wishes. The Indian Foreign Secretary also called on Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz. “4. The meeting on 16 October, 1998, discussed issues of Peace and Security, including CBMs. Both sides underscored their commitment to reduce the risk of a conflict by building mutual confidence in the nuclear and conventional fields. “5. The meeting on 17 October discussed Jammu and Kashmir. The two sides reiterated their respective positions. “6. The two Foreign Secretaries agreed that the next round of talks on the issues of Peace and Security and CBMs and Jammu and Kashmir respectively and a review of the round would be held in the first half of February 1999 in New Delhi.” One can easily read the
statement and also between the lines to decide for
himself what the two sides have achieved! That is not to
criticise the poor diplomats but only to highlight the
extent of suspicion that exists between the two sides.
Since I was staying in the same hotel in which the Indian
Foreign Secretary and his team were staying during the
talks, I know for sure that they mulled almost the whole
night over the text of the document but their efforts
came to naught on the final day. The statement was to be
issued at 10.30 a.m. The two teams reached the venue much
later than that. It was released to the Press only at
12.30 p.m. in a badly pared, bones-only shape given
above. Journalists were left with barely 45 minutes in
which to make sense of it, file their reports and then
catch their flight back home. They almost missed it. That would have been a fate similar to that of India and Pakistan who have missed the bus so very often, figuratively speaking. Like it or not, they are caught in the same dilemma at the moment. It is frustrating indeed for the participants in the talks, and for those placing high bets on them, when all the energy expended comes to naught because of the rigid attitude of one side. Still, talking to each other is any day better than talking at each other. China and the USA had to have more than 100 rounds of discussion before any kind of convergence of views could emerge. Israeli and Jordanian delegates had to sit through bickerings on such “vital” issues as the tendency of crows to eat the crop in one country and sully the area of the other with their droppings. Ultimately, a solution crystallised through such talks. It has been noticed that while India and Pakistan have bored nearly every visiting dignitary from a third country no end by giving them their own side of the story regarding Kashmir, India has been too polite to present its case forthrightly in bilateral talks. Its decent demeanour has somehow been taken as a sign of weakness or one of its being on the defensive. It is now shedding its inhibitions and is not shy of calling a spade a spade. Ironically, that is the kind of language Pakistan understands better. Pakistan’s hidden agenda all along has been to bleed India white. Indeed, it has succeeded in its mission to a considerable extent. But revenge is a double-edged sword and for every two cuts it has managed to inflict on the body-politic of India, Pakistan has itself received at least one. Its proxy war has forced India to spend crores of rupees in Kashmir and Punjab, but the ISI operations have diverted similar amounts to a non-productive use. The loss was not felt when the USA was pumping in money liberally but it is now pinching painfully. Its economy is a shambles and its capacity to sustain the operation is being drained fast. For the present generation, Jammu and Kashmir is an emotional issue, well worth practising the “hum to doobe hain sanam tum ko bhi le doobenge” tenet. But despite deep indoctrination, the younger generation has a mind of its own. While the less educated lot may be carried away by the fundamentalist propaganda, the thinking lot are not that easily swayed. The younger diplomats one got to talk to seemed to have been impervious to religious fulminations on Kashmir. This generation has started asking whether the fratricidal war their country is engaged in is really worth it. The law of diminishing returns stares them in the eye. The advent of these “young turks” can turn the tide although not immediately. The political leadership in Pakistan has exploited the Kashmir card for its narrow gains. It is also a smoke screen to hide the internal troubles. But, although the influence of the mullahs looks all-pervasive from the outside, it is not quite that overpowering. Similarly, realisation seems to be dawning on everyone that Kashmiri leaders from PoK are taking everyone for a ride to protect their own narrow interests. The sum total of all these subtle ground realities is slowly tilting the scale to the credit side as far as India is concerned. For the young well-heeled generation, going to Europe and other western countries is now as routine as flying to, say, Karachi. In this feudal society, levers of power are gradually coming into the hands of these people. Wide travel exposes them to the worldview of the situation as obtaining in South Asia. Their standing in international eyes is mud. The image of Pakistan — and of India — is that of juvenile delinquents who are armed with sharp razors with which they can not only slit each other’s throats but can also harm the bystanders. One can protest to one’s heart’s content against this bias but cannot really ignore it. The continuation of talks makes the countries that matter confident that India and Pakistan are not quite as hot-headed as they appear to be and at least know table manners. This is not in any way tantamount to succumbing to international pressure but only to presenting the right image globally. Let it be realised that
normalisation of relationship with Pakistan is not going
to emerge tomorrow. It may rather take years or decades.
But the sweater the expected child would sport needs to
be knit right today. The talks being held are but a ball
of wool for that purpose. |
Western bias among research
scholars A SCHOLAR writing in international journal Science recently complained that Indian scientists trained in the West have had to face various kinds of discrimination while dealing with scholars from the West. It is a common grievance, voiced by this writer also, that research papers submitted for publication in international journals from India are reviewed with a bias. Furthermore, Indian scholars are generally of the view that even if they manage to get their contributions published in reputed journals abroad, they are scarcely quoted or allowed to make its academic impact unless the scholar has connections with the innermost scholarly circle from the West. Discriminations even among invitees to international conferences/seminars have sometimes been experienced by Indian participants. Those from India get an impression that they are there to represent a developing country rather than by their own merit on the basis of their contributions. This grievance of discriminations — perceived and felt — not only among physical scientists but also among social scientists takes different forms. Strangely, the bias in favour of western social scientists is found among Indian scholars as well, looking to western contributions and ignoring valuable Indian contributions on the same themes. One form of this discrimination is manifested in the tendency among Indian sociologists, political scientists, economists and psychologists to quote from the works of western researchers. Thus, Indian students take lessons from US sociologists on Indian village studies; accept American forecast of political developments in this country rather than Indian; employ western tools to examine Indian psychological problems. Thus, the survey techniques of the West have come into use even in areas where they are not suitable. That pre-election surveys and exit polls conducted during the last general elections did not yield an accurate picture of the situation is a pointer to the limits of western tools to analyse Indian problems. It is only in recent years that a movement against this tendency has started in right earnest, led mostly by top-layer social scientists struggling to establish their supremacy as equal to that of western scholars. They also have to do it by establishing and maintaining close links with western institutions and organisations. From the days of Max Mueller to Asian Drama, the western eyes are seen as more penetrating, their understanding clearer and expression powerful so much so that the Indian scholars have failed to be impressed by their own creations. The bias has pervaded the academic institutions for long. No doubt, Indian
researchers for long failed to build scientific
methodologies, but it cannot also be denied that Indian
generosity accepts even mediocre western contributions
— be it music, dance or social science research
— while Indian performers and researchers (of course
those without godfathers) have to attain excellence for
getting recognition from those who matter. The bias is said to be a reason for late recognition of Indian talents and discoveries for international awards. There prevailed a grievance among Indian scholars that the work of some Indian economists in building Third World economy is worthy of Nobel Prize. It has now been recognised. This is not an attempt to stimulate swadeshi a jagaran in an area most unsuitable for such awakening. But, it cannot be ignored that discriminations and non-recognition are at the roots of violations of intellectual property rights. India has already been facing ridiculous situations like learning the medicinal properties of haldi or neem from western scientists. The other side of the picture mentioned earlier that Indians are slow and reluctant to acknowledge and honour local merit also lead to absurd situations. The case of Satyajit Ray and Sivaji Ganesan in performing arts and Mother Teresa for social service are monumental examples of Indian lethargy in identifying and acknowledging the greatest among the great. The practice of appointing all foreign examiners to evaluate doctoral dissertations even in the field of social sciences prevailed in some Indian universities for long. This has sometimes resulted in misjudgement. It is on the same line of thinking that applications for academic posts call for information regarding foreign visits of the applicants — a yardstick to measure research/teaching/administrative competence. As a result, scholars who have never stayed in an Indian village even for a single day and have only secondary or book knowledge of rural life in India can become project chiefs and institution heads on the basis of their foreign visits to conduct research on rural development and village life. — INFA
|
HSRTC
on the fast track! HARYANA State Road Transport Corporation (HSRTC) plans to approach the World Bank for a massive loan to undertake a major expansion and modernisation programme to meet the state’s transport needs in the 21st century. A high-level delegation of senior HSRTC officials is in Washington for talks with the World Bank President, Mr James Wolfensohn. Let’s sit in on their discussions and see how they go. “Mr Wolfensohn, our services are in a hole and we urgently need a loan of Rs 500 crore. How about it?” “You plan a fleet of new, eco-friendly and fuel-efficient double-decker buses?” “No, no, not buses.
We’ve plenty of 50-year-old condemned buses merrily
plying our roads and highways and mowing down people
without distinction of caste or creed. We need the money,
among other things, to expand and modernise our printing
press.” “Your printing press? What are you running anyway, a bus company or a newspaper?” “You see, Mr Wolfensohn, in a determined bid to shore up our performance and turn in a profit of sorts, we’ve put up our fares five times during the past one week and our existing tickets show the old fares and that confuses our poor conductors so. We want to modernise our press to print tickets showing the latest denomination and this will cost about Rs 50 crore.” “I see. Why else do you need the money?” “We want about Rs 100 crore to provide improved amenities to the lakhs of passengers travelling by our buses daily.” “What improved amenities?” “We want to rip out the foam rubber out of all the seats, remove the window panes and protective iron bars and railings used to get into and out of our buses. Providing these and other amenities will cost about Rs 100 crore.” “I see.” “HSRTC is also eager to catch up with the rest of the world in urban mass transit technology and we want to construct dummy bus shelters.” “Dummy bus shelters! for heaven’s sake, what are they?” “You see, Mr Wolfensohn, our running crews have standing instructions not to stop their buses at the scheduled halts, but come to a rest at least a kilometre beyond and it tickles our ribs so to see aged and infirm people, women and young school-going children desperately taking after them, tripping on gaping pavement stones and breaking their precious necks and we want to construct sham bus shelters at these non-existent halts.” “I see. Anything else?” “Yes, Mr Wolfensohn, our corporation is aeons behind the advanced countries in chassis construction technology. The boarding platforms of our buses are so low that people find it a cinch to get aboard our buses in their very first attempt and that upsets us so. We want to construct new bus bodies with boarding platforms at least five feet above the road level so that only champion pole vaulters can get into our buses.” “Okay, I’ll talk with my Board of Directors about your loan request and get back to you at a later date.” “Mr Wolfensohn, can you urgently give us your personal cheque for 4,000 dollars?” “Whatever for?” “To buy our air
tickets back to Chandigarh.” |
Sordid, ugly tale of intrigue
THE story of Delhi’s ex-Chief Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, is a sordid, ugly tale of intrigue, incompetence and the worst kind of political manipulation but if you read your newspapers last week you would not know it. You would have read of how his replacement by Sushma Swaraj, ten days ago, was turning into “a clash of Titans”. You would have read about how Delhi’s so-called Jat vote was going to turn against the BJP and if you were reading an anti-BJP newspaper you would then have read that “Sahib Singh spurns Cabinet, snubs BJP”. It is almost an outrage that none of Delhi’s political pundits have tried to explain to those who live outside the Capital that Sahib Singh Verma was removed for criminal incompetence and that the real scandal is that he should have been offered a berth in the Union Cabinet at all. Why should a man who has nearly destroyed the administration of Delhi be promoted to being a Cabinet Minister in the Central Government is the question we should all be raising. And, why did the BJP wait so long to remove him is the other one. The truth is that Sahib Singh Verma is no Titan. Before he became Chief Minister he was so completely unknown even in Delhi that most people asked themselves who he was when he got the job. The other ‘Titan’, his archrival Madan Lal Khurana, is no Titan either but, at least, about him it can be said that he is relatively well known and did a reasonably competent job of being Delhi’s Chief Minister until the hawala scandal forced him out. Khurana, in his time, managed to make a few visible improvements like cleaner streets, a couple of decent fountains and gardens and, most importantly, he began to discuss the possibilities of privatising Delhi’s power distribution system. It did not happen because the usual political pressures came into play (would a private company reserve jobs for Dalits?) and Khurana was too weak and politically naive a man to fight them. Then along came Sahib Singh and, as in every other area, he did nothing whatsoever. Any citizen of Delhi, whether poor, middle class or rich, will tell you that his tenure as Chief Minister was one of the worst ever. This last summer was, in fact, so bad that even such basic amenities as water and electricity became unavailable. When Mr Verma’s government tried to provide even emergency supplies it was handled so badly that the tankers bringing ‘emergency’ water were only available at a hefty price. At the height of the summer when whole areas of the Capital went to bed with not the faintest whirr of a fan available to them. Mr Verma was the man most remembered in everyone’s curses after the head of the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (DESU), Naveen Chawla, who came to be known as the Prince of Darkness. Through those long, hot
months, Mr Verma has come across as the picture of
incompetence. Meanwhile, law and order began to
deteriorate so seriously that in Patna the Chief
Minister’s Secretary recently gave me figures,
collated by the Central Government, which indicate that
Delhi has the highest crime rate in the country.
Technically, law and order does not come under
Delhi’s Chief Minister but, for completely
mysterious reasons, under its Lt-Governor. The Bharatiya
Janata Party has been in the forefront of demanding that
Delhi become a state without realising ever that the real
problem with governing Delhi is the multiplicity of
authorities in charge of the job. If there is to be a
Chief Minister then it should all come under him but, in
the case of Sahib Singh Verma, we need to thank our lucky
stars that this has not yet happened. It would have made it even harder for the BJP to win the coming Assembly elections if Verma had been in complete control of Delhi. But, now that we have Sushma Swaraj she would do well to examine why it is so hard to govern the city. She may discover that the reason is that it is still not clear who is supposed to be doing what. If there is a Chief Minister there should really be no need at all for a Lt-Governor but he continues to exist and nobody in the BJP has so far asked why? Surely, law and order and virtually everything else should be the responsibility of the city’s elected representatives and not that of someone appointed by the Home Ministry. The Home Ministry is among the multiplicity of authorities that pokes its nose constantly into the governing of Delhi. It is, for instance, under this ministry that the New Delhi Municipal Committee has been conveniently placed. I use the word ‘conveniently’ because it is in the NDMC area that the Prime Minister the President and most of the government lives. So while the rest of the city suffered without power and water the NDMC area remained almost completely unaffected. This is a ridiculous way to run a city but, again, because the BJP has not understood fully the meaning of governance they have made no effort to change these glaring reasons why Delhi is becoming the ultimate urban nightmare. To return, though, to Sahib Singh. If he had not been removed it is almost certain that the BJP would have had no chance at all of winning the coming elections. Early polls indicate this quite clearly so his removal was a final, desperate measure which makes it even more outrageous that he should have suddenly discovered that he was ruler of the Jat vote. If Jats took offence at his removal they should be ashamed of themselves. And, if the Prime Minister decided to include him in the Cabinet only because of the Jat vote then he should be even more ashamed. It seems hardly credible that we are one year away from the 21st century and we still have people in positions of power who are there only because of their caste. Even more incredible that in a city like Delhi, which has one of the highest literacy rate in the country, we should be expected to put up with an incompetent, useless Chief Minister merely because his caste brethren will be upset. It is a good thing that
Sahib Singh ended up in the trash can and very wrong that
the Prime Minister should be attempting to lift him out
of it. That is the real story of Sahib Singh Verma. |
Policewomen in designer clothes
IT seems it is now the ambition of the most unlikely women to play the role of a tough police officer on television. Even dear old Lajoji. First it was the turn of Ruby Bhatia, ex-Miss Canada-India, ex-Channel V and much else besides to play, of all roles, a Police Commissioner, complete with Canadian Hindi and designer clothes. Now, having become a hello-girl, which is much more in character, she has been succeeded by a dumb doll, also a Police Commissioner. I don’t even remember her name, her performance being equally forgettable. And now, to cap it all, comes Anita Kanwar of Lajoji fame. Conceding she cannot keep on being Lajoji all her life, she could surely have attempted a more vibrant and cerebral role for someone of her talent and intelligence. For one thing, as a police inspector she looks so underfed and malnourished that I doubt if she would pass the stringent fitness tests of any police force. Then, even if she is a plainclothes policewoman, must she go about in those wispy outfits which look unpressed and slither all over the place? And must she speak in those whispered tones with a semi-daft look on her face? No, Anita is no Miss Marple, she is far too young, for one thing. And whoever chose her for the role was as off the mark as she was brash in accepting it. Heaven help the police. The fact that both Star Plus and the BBC have down the years given us a succession of refined and elegant thrillers makes the Indian scene look even more muddled and amateurish. Well, other unlikely people have also played sleuths. Goldie Anand, for one who revelled in being Sam de Souza. But at least he was professional. But there is a limit to these things. Switch on any channel these days, and sure enough, there are policemen lolling all over the place speaking a strange language, even providing comic relief. The intelligence man in reporter was quite credible, but then, reporter itself was one of our better serials, not least of all because Shekhar Suman took his acting seriously for once and Pande, his highly experienced director kept things within control, quite often picking up real life crimes and presenting them in a much more subtle way than Zee’s India’s Most Wanted. In fact, I think the best police serial so far on Indian TV has been directed and acted by a woman. Kavita Choudhury’s Uddan, in scripting, acting, direction and, most important, credibility, remains a classic of its kind. Ms Choudhury’s sister being a police officer, she got her facts and atmosphere right and the romance with Shekhar Kapoor, handled with such delicacy, added to its attractions. It seems strange that both Star Plus and Sony, which are picking up the worst left-overs from Doordarshan, have not revived Uddan on the screen. The loss is theirs as much as the viewer’s. In all the euphoria over
Amartya Sen, the most euphoric and warm sequences were
from Calcutta and Santiniketan. And they were mostly from
Star News. The Principal of Presidency College, his
colleagues and students from Calcutta and Delhi, his old
associates from Santiniketan remembering him at the tea
shop and cycling round the campus. But best of all, his
87-year-old mother. With becoming detachment, she said
Amartya was nothing extraordinary as a boy and he was
never bookish, only very lively. But she had to sprinkle
cold water over his eyes to wake him up to go on with his
home-work. And that stubborn statement that she would not
believe the news unless she read it in the papers, even
when he laughed and assured her that he had been rung up
from Stockholm. “I won’t tell anybody”,
she promised. “No, no, you can tell people”, he
said, but she refused. A spirited mother mentioning in a
most endearing way that the telephone had not stopped
ringing. I repeat, the best over-all coverage from India
was by Star, which got these items, fastest through its
enterprising Calcutta correspondent, Indranil Choudhury,
who beat them all to it. Bravo, Indranil. |
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya wires from Benares: AT the request of several leading
representatives of Sanatan Dharma the Sanatan Dharma
Mahasabha will meet at the Central Hindu College, Benares
on the 27th instant at 2 p.m. to consider various
questions which are of vital interest to the followers of
Sanatan Dharma. I request revered acharyas to grace the
Mahasabha by their presence, and I request all Sanatan
Dharma Sabhas in the country to send their
representatives to take part in the deliberations of the
Mahasabha. I regret that the notice is a short one, but I
yet hope that the Mahasabha will be well attended. I
trust that every Sanatan Dharma Sabha will appoint
delegates to attend the Hindu Mahasabha, which is to meet
here and the same delegates can attend the Sanatan Dharma
Mahasabha also. |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
