The flood havoc
METEOROLOGISTS are a happy lot. Their forecast of a normal rainfall for a record 11th year has come true.

Export shocks
DESPITE periodic props to boost India's exports, the situation refuses to become reassuring. In fact, it has been quite depressing for nearly two years.

Banning old taxis
THE public transport system in Delhi may once again be thrown out of gear from October 2 when the Supreme Court’s order for banning the plying of 15-year-old commercial vehicles comes into force.

Issue before the SGPC
by S. S. Dhanoa
THE issue that has been exercising the mind of the longest lasting President of the SGPC and other senior Akali leaders for quite some time is a problem created by the SGPC itself in a fit of populism.

Food for all — a challenging task
by Y. P. Gupta
THE World Food Summit at Rome had committed to providing world food security and the right of all people to have access to safe and nutritious food.

Politicians & their politics by Tavleen Singh ONE of the worst traditions of political journalism in India has been the fact that, for some mysterious reason, we have never considered the economy, and issues related to it, to be within the realm of politics. Responsible, lively coverage by Amita Malik WHAT a weekend it was. I doubt if anyone was watching anything other than the Clinton saga on TV on that ominous Friday. “The fatter, the fitter” by J. L. Gupta I HAVE a big mouth. A still bigger appetite. Yet, once upon a time, I was thin as a reed. Most of my bones could be seen and felt. I could have been hired to act as a moving skeleton in a horror movie. I could have made a reasonable living as a “scare crow”.

75 Years Ago

India’s day in the Commons
THE House of Commons got a fuller opportunity last week of considering the grievances of India but, I am afraid, we can derive no great comfort either from the debate itself or from the division which followed.

The flood havoc

METEOROLOGISTS are a happy lot. Their forecast of a normal rainfall for a record 11th year has come true. With less than two weeks to go before the formal withdrawal of the monsoon, four-fifths of the country’s meteorological districts — 28 to be precise — have received normal or above normal precipitation. The benevolent rain god inspired hope of a bumper harvest, and some officials talked of a sharp 3.5 per cent increase in output. Translated into figures, this would have meant a foodgrain production of nearly 200 million tonnes. That was during August, before the sky opened up along the Himalayas to drown northern districts of UP, Bihar and West Bengal in flood water. These are rich kharif areas and prolonged inundation has destroyed the standing crop, besides much else. The estimate of cereal yield has come down and the latest assessment is a very modest 1 per cent growth in harvest. Even this is not sure and Agriculture Minister Som Pal refuses to hazard a guess. He cannot be blamed. He represents a rich foodgrain producing area and naturally does not want to indulge in guesswork and go wrong later.

The dying days of monsoon have left a thin strip of central India flattened by heavy downpour and submerged by swollen rivers. Much of Surat in Gujarat and all of Hazira, the point from where natural gas is pumped through giant pipes, are under water. Gas supply has been switched off to consumer industries in north India, mostly fertiliser and electric generation plants. It looks like a few dark days for some pockets in this region. Surat’s trouble looks like a minor hiccup compared to what the three eastern states are going through. Gorakhpur, several northern Bihar towns and Malda are going through nightmarish days for the first time in living memory. Bangladesh, rather two-thirds of the country, has been under deep river waters since July, yes July. Lack of drinking water and food is the lot of the flood victims who exist either huddled in miserable tents pitched on a few square metres of dry highways or perched on rooftops. A medical man in Bihar predicts much loss of life once the water subsides and the erratic supply of drinking water and food stops. Water-borne diseases will take a huge toll, unless the authorities quickly move in with preventive steps. Their performance in handling relief does not inspire much confidence.

The only other country which faces a similar catastrophe is China with the Yangtse roaring through hundreds of villages, towns and at least two industrial cities on a wide stretch on its banks. That shifted the focus of search for the cause of this year’s unprecedented flood havoc to the monsoon pattern across the Himalayas. Weather experts say that the northern limit of the monsoon extended several kilometres into the lower reaches of the mountain range. This at once widened the catchment area and increased the rain water discharge into the dozens of rivers which originate there. The bigger rivers in the plains had therefore to carry a huge volume of discharge, which easily turned into killer floods. Flood is one visitation everyone knows everything about. Of helping the people, the hapless villagers in the first place, from its fury, nothing precious is being done. If the experience of a village north of Malda is anything to go by, nothing much will be done in future either. At the first sight of the gushing water, the tehsil administrative set-up disappeared and the marooned people had to make herculean efforts to inform the district administration that a major dyke had given way. It would be interesting to know how many officials, like the brave boy standing on the burning deck of “Casabianca”, stood amidst rising water and roughed it out with the people.

Export shocks

DESPITE periodic props to boost India's exports, the situation refuses to become reassuring. In fact, it has been quite depressing for nearly two years. When the BJP-led coalition government was formed in March after the Lok Sabha elections, it promised to reverse the trend and set a 20 per cent growth target for 1998-99. But the figures available for the first four months show that there is a wide gap between the target and performance. The target has proved to be unrealistic. During this period (April-July) there has been a decline of 3.77 per cent in the country's exports, a shocking development, indeed. Under the circumstances, it appears impossible to reach anywhere near the goal. Even the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Ramakrishna Hegde, admitted at the annual Economic Editors Conference in New Delhi on Wednesday that all was not well with the country's exports, so essential for propelling the economy at a desired speed. But the remedy he has prescribed is unlikely to normalise the health of the patient. The trouble seems to be partly with the diagnosis. This is so because he has been interacting mainly with big business houses to achieve success on the export front, whereas the major contributors to India's export basket are small and medium-scale enterprises. The suggestions made by those whose stake in export business is very limited cannot be fully effective to bring cheerful news. Encouraging the producers of microelectronics items, specially those in the information technology area, deserves appreciation since India is fast emerging as a major software-exporter. The extension of the last date for fulfilling the export obligation by six months—beyond September 30—will provide the exporters, including the small-scale industrial units, the much-needed breathing time to give better results. But their real problems remain unaddressed to.

Some time ago the government had formed the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Trade. What has it done to end the country's export woes? The state of infrastructure remains pitiable, though everybody knows that this is the key factor after the product quality to successfully compete in the highly demanding international market. If the explanation is that it will take considerable time to bring India's roads, ports and other infrastructural facilities to international standards, the task needs to be given top priority to speed up the process. Besides this, something must be done quickly to end bureaucratic harassment and deep-rooted corruption at various stages. Even the monetary lubricant sometimes fails to move official wheels and exporters have to suffer a heavy loss because of the avoidable delay. Goods, specially of the microelectronics variety, are damaged in the process. Thus merely improving the product quality, as stressed by Mr Hegde, will not do. The handling facility at the ports requires to be improved as early as possible not only to prevent any damage to the goods being exported but also to speed up the delivery process. No doubt, external factors—which include the economic crisis in South-East Asia—have made India's task very formidable in the area of exports. Yet well-calculated initiatives at the level of the government as also the exporters can work wonders. Frequent exchange of views between the government and the exporters' organisations is essential to identify the key problem areas demanding immediate attention.

Banning old taxis

THE public transport system in Delhi may once again be thrown out of gear from October 2 when the Supreme Court’s order for banning the plying of 15-year-old commercial vehicles comes into force. The court on Thursday turned down the request of the Delhi Government for extending the deadline for the implementation of the order to March 31, 1999. If a public opinion poll were to be conducted today, it may go against the “unbending stand” of the apex court. The reason why public opinion may go against the court’s stand was explained by amicus curiae Harish Salve who opposed the request of the Delhi Government because it “lacked the political will” to implement the court order. He rightly pointed out that the administration was using the likely inconvenience to the public as an excuse because only 10 per cent of the commercial vehicles needed to be phased out by October 2. But who will explain the simple facts of the case to the travelling public which was recently put to avoidable inconvenience because of the arbitrary ban on the plying of blueline buses? Even a 10 per cent drop in the availability of auto-rickshaws, taxis and buses is likely to put a tremendous strain on the already over-burdened public transport system. However, the impact of the order should not be seen in isolation. The ban on the plying of 15-year-old commercial vehicles in the National Capital Region from October 2 may result in short-term inconvenience to the public. But the long-term gain for everyone would be the improvement in the quality of air in the NCR. Studies have shown that the over-age vehicles cause 69 per cent of air pollution in Delhi. The apex court itself gave a valid reason for not extending the deadline by pointing out that it had ordered the closure of industries which were responsible for 12 per cent air pollution. Indeed without drastic measures the quality of air in the NCR is not going to improve.

Had the Delhi Government come up with a proposal for phasing out the over-used commercial vehicles the apex court may have shown more interest in its cases. The Supreme Court order was issued on July 28 and the State Government had sufficient time for offering a scheme for withdrawing the vehicles in a phased manner. Why did not the Delhi Government inform the court about a proposal it had received from a private firm, which has technology-sharing arrangements with partners in Canada and the Netherlands, for tackling the problem of pollution caused by vehicle emissions? The firm offered propane conversion kits for three-wheelers and taxis on easy terms. It claimed that tests conducted by the Indian Institute of Petroleum showed that propane emissions were less polluting than that of conventional fuel. The price of the conversion kit for three-wheelers is Rs 10,000 and for taxis Rs 20,000. If the claims of the firm are based on sound studies, installing a conversion kit is indeed less expensive than replacing an old vehicle with a new one. To ensure regular supply of the “eco-friendly fuel” the firm has already set up three propane dispensing outlets in Delhi. It is not that the Supreme Court is not aware of the difficulties its order is likely to create for the average commuter in the NRC. That is why it has given the Delhi Chief Secretary time till Tuesday to file its reply giving details of any scheme for phasing out (not total ban) of vehicles of various ages and categories. The other reason why the Chief Secretary has been asked to provide details of scheme or schemes the Government has prepared for phasing out the old vehicles is that “someone can be made accountable”. The language of the Supreme Court’s directive makes it abundantly clear that it means business. Once the scheme is successfully implemented in the NCR the next logical step should be to enforce the ban on old commercial vehicles throughout the country.

ISSUE BEFORE THE SGPC
Need to evolve consensus
by S. S. Dhanoa

THE issue that has been exercising the mind of the longest lasting President of the SGPC and other senior Akali leaders for quite some time is a problem created by the SGPC itself in a fit of populism. Sometime during the eighties, the SGPC decided to declare certain granthis and head granthis as Jathedars. The Gurdwara Act under which the SGPC functions describes them as “ministers” and “head ministers”, and perhaps that has made the Jathedars hog the limelight like politician-ministers.

As is well known, Sikhism is a whole-life religion. The values that guide a Sikh in his private personal life must inform the public institutions and temporal affairs of Sikhs. Akal Takht and four other Sikh Takhts symbolise that unity. The Guru in person had the authority to guide the Sikhs in their private and public life. After Guru Gobind Singh, from 1708 AD onwards, this authority came to be vested in the Khalsa. The question was to identify the person in whom such a mandate was vested. Guru Gobind Singh had left no instructions as to how the Khalsa should identify its leader.

The Khalsa was a brotherhood of equals among whom it was a blasphemy to project oneself as a leader.

The Mughals, when they wanted to make peace with the Khalsa, took recourse to sending a robe of honour through a Sikh official to Amritsar at a get-together of the Khalsa and requested the congregation to accept the robe of honour. The robe of honour was kicked around, as no one was prepared to come forward to accept that he was the leader of the Khalsa. The stalemate was broken only when a young man was directed by the congregation to accept the robe of honour. He came to be known as Nawab Kapur Singh who passed it on to Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. When Jassa Singh died around 1783 AD, the leadership of the Khalsa ceased to be identifiable.

The earlier leaders of the Khalsa had become chieftains in the areas under their sway, and they exercised authority in the name of the Khalsa jio right up to Maharaja Ranjit Singh but none of them could invoke authority of Akal Takht nor could any of them be accepted as one fit enough to baptise a Singh. It was in this vacuum that the order of Nihangs came to control Akal Takht.

The Nihangs formed a Kamikaze-like order and they shunned all worldly possessions. Their leader, Akali Phoola Singh, is still revered as the true Khalsa. The state and temporal authority remained vested in Maharaja Ranjit Singh and other Sikh chieftains ruling in the name of the Khalsa jio. They had to show obeisance, maybe only as lip service, to the authority of Akal Takht which compelled even Maharaja Ranjit Singh to obey the summons from Akali Phoola Singh to appear at Akal Takht to explain his moral lapse in having a Muslim concubine. The Khalsa as the successor to Guru Gobind Singh could not have a leader for temporal affairs, and another for spiritual affairs. However, the dichotomy continued to prevail among the Khalsa even after the SGPC, elected by all the Sikhs, came into being in 1925.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh solved his problem by setting Akali Phoola Singh against the Pathans and thereafter having the control of Harmandar Sahib and Akal Takht under granthis, poojaris and Nihangs, who would not question his discretion again. The British only continued this practice except that they could not trust the Nihangs at Akal Takht, as there, too, they had to have more amenable granthis and poojaris. The SGPC, after it came into being, could not work out a dispensation where the temporal and spiritual swords could be wielded by any one person. In a way, the British dispensation has continued to prevail. One has to see how the SGPC President, considered to be the shrewdest of all Akali leaders, tackles a problem which is his own creation.

One only fears that instead of resolving the real issue, some short-term expedient could be resorted to through which the Khalsa could be taken for a ride once again. The false history and traditions projected by politically inspired scholars have resulted, of late, in the Khalsa being turned into more and more like the fundamentalist Islam. Islamic fundamentalism mainly arises from a narrow interpretation of sunnah or the examples of the Prophet and his companions.

Sikhism is now recognised as a world religion. In their teachings the Gurus had taken care to ensure that the Sikhs remained broad-minded and tolerant in the true Indian tradition and at the same time they could be welcome among all the races, religions and creeds. The Sikhs were enjoined to have shabad or the word of Gurbani as their guide, and they were cautioned against being misled by the tales of forefathers or even the deeds of the Gurus. The Sikhs were enjoined to accept only that much as was in accordance with the teachings of the Guru. Here it is worth a thought as to why none of the Gurus went in for writing an autobiography or biographies of their Gurus for whom they had immense reverence.

Guru Gobind Singh took particular care to ensure that not even a word got changed in Gurbani, but he did not leave an authenticated copy of the code of conduct prescribed for the Khalsa. It is difficult to say if the attempt of the SGPC at codifying the Sikh “Rahitnama” or code of conduct as late as in 1945 AD was an act in accordance with the Sikh traditions, or it was something more like what happened in Islam. The venerable high priests who go on issuing “fatwas” termed as “hukumnamas” on various Sikh practices and tenets are doing a disservice to the Sikhs because they neither have the legitimacy to do what they are doing nor even a perspective. The author had been to Vancouver and Abbotsford gurdwaras in Canada last year. The Sunday congregations in the gurdwaras abroad have become more a social get-together of the Punjabis than a pure religious gathering.

Punjabis, particularly on Sundays, congregate in the gurdwaras with their families. In Abbotsford Gurdwara, langar was served like a buffet lunch. Most of the participants partook langar sitting on chairs, but they had arrangements on one side of the langar hall for those who wanted to have their meals while sitting on the ground. The edict issued in the name of Akal Takht has only emboldened the fundamentalists for whom certain forms are more important than the content of their religion.

The SGPC must do away with the practice of calling the granthis and poojaris as Jathedars. There should be a panel of Sikh scholars known for piety and knowledge of Sikh tenets, history and traditions. Constitutionally and legitimately, the SGPC President is the Jathedar of the Sikh Panth. He should constitute a panel of scholars to advise him on the issues that get referred to Akal Takht. He must, however, remember that the Sikh tradition is for openness and flexibility and not for the regulation and control of personal or social life, beyond what is contained in Gurbani. It is only a new set-up constituted after a wide-ranging consultation and consensus among the Sikhs that may work for a solution to the ever-increasing problems and issues that the Khalsa will have to face in the 21st century, and not any patchwork by the granthis.

The author, a retired bureaucrat, is a well-known commentator on Sikh affairs.

Food for all — a challenging task
by Y. P. Gupta

THE World Food Summit at Rome had committed to providing world food security and the right of all people to have access to safe and nutritious food. The summit had called for eradicating hunger in all the countries to achieve food security for all, and to reduce the number of undernourished to half by the year 2015. This is a challenging task.

The Washington-based Worldwatch Institute had, however, cautioned that the FAO has been “overstating food production and misleading political leaders....” It stated that the grain harvest per person had declined. It predicted a global shortage of food over the next 40 years. The average annual increase in food from 1950 to 1984 was 30 million tonnes, which dropped to 12 million tonnes during 1984 to 1992. It is predicted that it would drop to nine million tonnes between now and the year 2030, when the world population would rise to 8.9 billion.

The number of hungry people in the poor developing countries has been rising with increasing population. There are nearly 800 million (men, women and children) in the world’s poor countries , who go to bed hungry every day despite a substantial increase in food production in the last two decades; endemic poverty being the major contributing factor. And nearly one billion of the world population is too poor to procure food to sustain life. There were half a million starvation deaths in North Korea in 1997.

One-third of our population is also half-fed due to poverty, and the number of the hungry in our country is the largest, accounting for one-third of the world’s hungry, according to an International Hunger Project Organisation. It is estimated that 32.03 crore people in our country have been living below the poverty line. Earlier, Orissa faced a famine-like situation where a number of starvation deaths were reported. The food availability per capita per annum in India has been as low as 175 kg when it is at a level of 300 kg in some countries.

The problem of global hunger and malnutrition has thus become quite serious, causing ill-health among a large section of the world’s population. In 1976, the FAO placed the number of malnourished people in the developing world at 450 million. It has now predicted that the year 2000 will have a “horrifying increase in the number of seriously undernourished to 600-650 million”, and India too will face acute malnutrition.

Based on established nutrition norms, we need at least 270 million tonnes of foodgrains for the present estimated population of over 950 million. And our food requirement by the year 2000 would be over 350 million tonnes. At the end of the Eighth Plan (1996-97), we have achieved a production level of 1999 million tonnes when the target was 210 million tonnes, and it has come down to 194 million tonnes in 1997-98. The projection for 2000 is 235-240 million tonnes. Even to achieve this low target, the country will have to produce another 41-46 million tonnes of additional food within the next two years, which is a difficult task.

Thus, much remains to be done to improve productivity through the coverage of an additional area and increased inputs. There is little hope to expand the area under cultivation. It is aimed at bringing an additional area of 58 million hectares under cultivation in the new agriculture policy.

The other approach is to increase productivity through higher inputs: water, fertilisers, pesticides etc. Water is a major resource for increasing productivity, depending largely on a good monsoon every year. It is planned to raise the irrigated area to 113 million hectares by 2000 AD.

Despite various efforts, our crop productivity continues to be one of the lowest in the world as compared to that of many other countries. Rice and wheat production in1996-97 is placed at 81.3 and 69.3 million tonnes, respectively. Rice production in 1997 has risen but wheat yield has fallen due to delayed sowing and a continuously long cold spell. Also, there is not much scope to increase their productivity because the yields of the newly developed strains have almost reached a plateau under optimum conditions.

Punjab and Haryana have been facing soil health problems in respect of salinity and nutrient imbalance, and irrigation potential is exhausted in these states. Also, micro-nutrient deficiencies are causing great concern. However, there is a scope to fully tap the potential of the eastern region stretching from eastern U.P. to Assam for improving rice productivity. The yield per hectare in these regions is lower than the national average. The present national average of productivity (rice and wheat) is 18.8 and 26.7 quintals per hectare respectively.

( The writer is a retired Principal Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi )

“The fatter, the fitter”

by J. L. Gupta

I HAVE a big mouth. A still bigger appetite. Yet, once upon a time, I was thin as a reed. Most of my bones could be seen and felt. I could have been hired to act as a moving skeleton in a horror movie. I could have made a reasonable living as a “scare crow”.

And all this despite a voracious appetite. An insatiable greed for food. Normally, as the saying goes, “one should eat to live”. But I have really lived to eat. I have always believed that the innocent luxuries of a good table are meant to be enjoyed. A sumptuous dish has to be savoured. A hearty appetite is a part of human liberty. The human body has the capacity and the tenacity to bear all our indiscretions. The human metabolism can never change. Abuse the body to determine its optimum use.

However, my belief turned out to be an illusion. I was only living in “food’s paradise”. I was wrong. The wheel of change is always on the move. Nothing stays forever. Yesterday is not today. Age has the inevitable effect. The change was unavoidable. It came. Initially, it was slow. But perceptible. Soon, it began to show. It was visible. I was beginning to get filled up. Mostly, in the wrong places. Before long, I had a double chin. Despite a conscious desire and even attempt to resist the temptation to “indulge”, I could see the appearance of the “bulge”. The circumference was ever increasing. Before long, I looked like my big “pillow”.

When the middle begins to expand, the middle age sets in. I was not prepared to accept it. Something had to be done. Operation “girth control” was an immediate necessity.

I resolved. To “eschew” food. To be on a diet. To eat food as one takes medicine. By weight and measure. And I gave it a serious trial. For a month, I followed a strict regimen. I ate less. In moderation. Sometimes, I virtually starved myself of even the sight of a sumptuous meal.

The sacrifice aroused no visible sympathy in the mind of my wife. And the law only provides against cruelty to animals. Anyone who starves a cow can be in trouble. However, a wife who willingly allows her husband to starve is absolutely immune. She violates no law. Even when she teasingly eats everything that you relish. You helplessly watch her smother food in the hope that some day things will happen your way. But all in vain.

That day does not dawn. After a month, all that I had lost was my “temper”. The only thing that got thinner were my hair. The mirror disappointed me. The photographer did no justice. My photographs looked exactly like me. Too bad. I had almost lost my patience. I was about to give up and resume my fond friendship with food. I was persuaded to just see the doctor. I did. Went through the checks and pricks. At the end of three days, I was given three things. A diet chart, a lecture on the importance of exercise, and a fat bill on which the tests as well as the fees were fully listed.

Would the prescription make as big a dent in me as the bill had in my purse?

I am an incorrigible optimist. I do not let disappointment defeat me easily. I decided to go through another period of agony. Insipid soups. Salads without any sauce. No bread and butter. No prathas. No pullao. No pudding! And yet, no gain. What was I trying to achieve? Adding years to my life? What good are the years without any life in them? I asked myself. Reluctant to accept defeat, I still persisted. Took a little food and long walks. Still, the mirror did not flatter me. In fact, it appeared that my eyes and lips provided the only source of colour to my face. And yes, the dyeing of the hair (which are rare) could have added some colour to the dandruff.

Has an elephant ever died of a heart attack? Is not the fatter one, the merrier one? These questions crossed my mind. A hungry man is an angry man. The starved look sick. The fat man has such a presence. He can never get lost even in a crowd. He is the life of a party. Too heavy to run. Too fat to fight. Unable to bend, the fat man can never stoop too low. Honourable ladies will kindly excuse.

Thus, I convinced myself about the utter folly of my effort. The total futility of the entire exercise was so obvious. It had only left me poorer. Financially and physically.

And so the food and fat are back. I am feeling better. In fact, fatter and fitter. Why not? God’s graces have to be gracefully accepted and gratefully enjoyed. Including food. It is a sin to starve yourself.

So, let yourself go. Eat and enjoy. Do not worry about what you eat. Learn to avoid what is eating you. Be happy. Get fat and feel fit. The fatter you are, the fitter you will feel. Good luck. Good looks.

Politicians & their politics

by Tavleen Singh

ONE of the worst traditions of political journalism in India has been the fact that, for some mysterious reason, we have never considered the economy, and issues related to it, to be within the realm of politics. Whereas, in a country which, the UN’s latest Human Development Report, has just ranked 139 out of 174, the economy should be considered the major political issue. The 1998 Human Development Report provides us with the usual sad litany of statistics. Our real GDP per capita is $ 1422, compared with $ 2209 for Pakistan and $ 2935 for China. Our literacy rate at 52 per cent is one of the most shameful in the world, nearly half our population lives below the international poverty line of less than a dollar a day, most of them without access to clean drinking water, sanitation or healthcare. You only need to walk down an Indian street to know that what the report says is true and that it should be for all those who have ruled us in the past 50 years a matter of deep shame. It is they who are to blame, they and their policies.

If we had a tradition of including economic issues within the realm of political journalism we should have had an outpouring of reaction to the report, released a week ago. Instead, our major political commentators concentrated on making irrelevant analyses of the American President’s problems and did the usual weekly analysis of what was going on inside our various political parties. It is because political journalists stay so far away from economic issues that the slot has been filled by former bureaucrats and other government types. The irony of it!

In a genre of writing that began with T.N. Seshan, who discovered that India had degenerated only after he left the civil service, we have had several former bureaucrats inflict upon us autobiographies and commentaries that detail for us why they think India is in such a mess.

Seshan, who also started the tradition of giving our formerly faceless bureaucrats faces, first told us why India had degenerated and then proceeded to tell us how it could be regenerated. Both books contained out just the most trite observations possible but also left you wondering why he had not been able to do more when he was sitting in the highest offices in the land.

One good thing about the book that Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and his colleague Y.S. Rajan have just written, “India 2020: a Vision for the New Millennium”, is that it does not fall into the above category. If anything, the book errs on the other side in that it praises the wondrous things that have been achieved before daring to write even a word of criticism. So we have fulsome praise for India’s alleged achievements throughout the book. For instance, “We are also proud and happy that the dreams of many Indians in the agricultural, scientific, artistic, cultural and social fields have also come true. However, the vision of a prosperous India without poverty, an India strong in many fields of science and technology, an India with innovative industry and with health and education for all, has remained just partially realised. In some areas, in fact, pessimism has taken deep roots”.

Dr Kalam has been much, much more than just another faceless bureaucrat in Delhi’s corridors of power. He has inspired awe bordering on reverence and, since the nuclear tests, has become something of a super-hero. In Delhi whenever I have been present at one of his press conferences, or some other event that he has graced with his presence, I have observed that most journalists have hung on every word he has said as if he were some kind of oracle. Nobody has ever dared ask cheeky questions or contradict anything he has said. Which is why I, at least, had expected more from his book.

It is not that he does not give us the right vision, it is just that the solutions he offers are, somehow, so banal. So, in the preface itself he tells us that India can be a developed country by 2020 if we can only inspire our young people. “A developed India, by 2020 or even earlier is not a dream. It need not even be a mere aspiration in the minds of many Indians. It is a mission we can all take up and accomplish.

“Ignited young minds, we feel are a powerful resource. This resource is mightier than any resource on the earth, in the sky and under the sea. We must all work together to transform our ‘developing India’ into a ‘developed India’, and the revolution required for this effort must start in our minds”.

Dr Kalam is either a romantic or has never bothered to step out of his ivory tower or he would have noticed just by wandering about Delhi’s corridors of power that the problem lies there. No matter how much we inspire our young people it is, in the end, in the hands of our rulers to do or not do what it requires to make India a developed country within the next 20 years.

For a start it is in their hands to decide whether they are prepared to give us the kind of policies that we need to make India fully literate. Dr Kalam does not think education is worthy of a chapter in his book but tells us that we should have 80 per cent literacy by 2020. How? Even the 52 per cent we currently claim is a highly inflated figure since anyone who can write their name is considered literate. No country in the world has achieved mass literacy without making primary education compulsory. Dr Kalam appears not to consider this necessary.

When it comes to solutions in healthcare and sanitation we have a chapter but only vague solutions. Television and film can be used to spread awareness about diseases and their prevention. We know that. It would have been far more useful if he had told us, as a government insider, why this does not already happen.

There is also a chapter on infrastructure but again it disappoints rather than enlightens. Dr Kalam gives us mainly generalities. We need to increase GDP to have more to invest in infrastructure but we cannot increase GDP without infrastructure so we need private investors. But, they seek profits so we have to ensure that national interest is not compromised. Again, it would have been far more worthwhile, as an insider, if he had told us why our infrastructure ministries have performed with such singular incompetence. It has often taken them 10 years to make a policy and we must be the only country left in the world where it is considered normal for a power plant to take 10 years to be built.

If you are looking just for statistics, though Dr Kalam’s book is full of these. Otherwise, what he gives us is mainly a government report, written in typical bureaucraticese. If there is a vision concealed in the dense prose you really have to do a lot of ploughing to find it.

Responsible, lively coverage

by Amita Malik

WHAT a weekend it was. I doubt if anyone was watching anything other than the Clinton saga on TV on that ominous Friday. Watching with fascination the live coverage of the debate in the House of Representatives. Everyone spoke with solemnity, with full knowledge of the American Constitution and American history. Never did the debate stoop to frivolity or a lack of responsibility, no one interrupted a speaker until he or she had had their full say.

I watched the coverage on both the BBC and CNN. And I must concede that with all its local advantages, CNN came off second best. The BBC put on its best newscasters who were able to cope with the fast-moving situation. They kept a fine balance between the debates in the House, the continuing instant reportage from their correspondents in Washington and elsewhere and expert comments from both American and European experts in the studio. It was a shining example of both responsible and lively coverage and one of the BBC’s best in recent times.

At the same time, there was the India-Pakistan match from Toronto and the finals of the US Open Tennis. Never have I surfed so adroitly, making the most of the gaps for advertisement to watch action on the other channel. Eventually, of course, I plumped for tennis, sitting up till the early hours. Yes, for once we had a choice, a difficult but exciting choice, those sudden moments when TV justifies its existence.

Needless to say, all three events were covered by the satellite channels, the sports events mercifully by ESPN and Star Sports and not Doordarshan. Star again scored with comments from Geoffery Boycott in Toronto and Leander and Mahesh at Flushing Meadows. Its two women sports correspondents are coming along fine but should avoid their self-conscious artificiality, with a wooden tilt of the head, when handing it back to Prannoy.

The BBC’s Made in India daily slot is at its weakest in Money Wise, which I watched for the first time last week. This is the BBC, a channel famous for its English and not Doordarshan. The anchor Suchitra Ghose, barely gets by, and that garish confused set certainly does not help, it is plain silly. It is in its strange choice of items as well as the poor, at times undecipherable. English speech of its reporters and those interviewed in connection with deja vu consumer items, that drag the programme down further. It is an amateurish production all round. And even worse than Style. I hope the BBC will exercise some production control over these Made in India items, some of which, like Wheels, lack real expertise and others, such as Money Wise, seem to lack point as well as professionalism. Is the BBC lowering its standards for the natives?

After the sad disasters which overtook Not a Nice Man to Know, it seems to have slumped on its own. As I watched the pedestrian views of Romola Bachchan, I wondered what she was doing in the programme except for some reflected star glory and very limited snob value. I could have understood Jaya Bachchan being there, but Romola was a dead loss. Knowing Zohra Segal as well as I do, I also feel Khushwant did not really get the most out of her, the questions were not focused or properly planned. Also, our cameramen have yet to learn how to shoot elderly people. The rugged beauty, the bone-structure of Zohra’s Pathan features were missed because of harsh lighting and poor camera angles. Sophisticated foreign networks take pains over showing older people at their best. Here everything is mechanical and anything goes.

Turning for once to radio, I was appalled to hear what has happened to Yuva Vani. In the heady days of producer Rita Mukherji, now, alas, lost to television, this is where youth, rebellious youth, could challenge politicians and members of the establishment. I still remember years ago, when Sunil Sethi, Komal G.B. Singh and others not yet out of college could cock a snook at experienced broadcasters like Dom Moraes. Not now. During a recent discussion, those participating in a panel discussion on NAM were warned in advance by the producer that they should only give the history of NAM and on no account bring in controversial subjects like Nelson Mandela on Kashmir. That, naturally, killed the discussion. So much for Prasar Bharati and autonomy. We are back to even less than square one.

75 YEARS AGO
India’s day in the Commons

THE House of Commons got a fuller opportunity last week of considering the grievances of India but, I am afraid, we can derive no great comfort either from the debate itself or from the division which followed.

Seven hours were devoted to the subject, and during that time nineteen speeches were made from all quarters of the House. Some were good, some were bad, and most were indifferent. Even the members who came nearest to an expression of the full Indian view seemed to have an imperfect realisation of the resentment which has been produced in India by the recent doings of the Government.

Experience has convinced them that strong language is of little avail in such an assembly as the House of Commons.

Perhaps, a few of them are beginning to realise that justice for India will never be obtained from a body the vast majority of whose members are either directly interested in maintaining the present system or that system in actual practice.

The ineffectiveness of last Thursday’s debate should convince every dispassionate observer that the rights of India will hardly be won on the floor of the House of Commons.

They will be united in a determination to achieve their national birthright. When it becomes dangerous to resist any longer, what we must hope will become a substantially unanimous demand. Even a reactionary Parliament may find it expedient to give way.