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Saturday,
January 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India   
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Decline in farm income Urban disaster recipe Time for labour reforms |
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The sudden collapse of Taliban
Proof of Pak hand, finally
1968, Physiology or Medicine: HARGOBIND KHORANA, HOLLEY and NIRENBERG
Gene clue to success of HIV treatment
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Decline in farm income Agricultural output is increasing and boosting the growth statistics but the farmers do not benefit. This is brought out in a report as authentic as an official one. This is basically because all kisans are not protected by the minimum support price (MSP) nor by guaranteed procurement by the FCI. It is a paradox of the central policy. Only two states – Punjab and Haryana – enjoy the
privilege of 100 per cent procurement at the MSP. Andhra Pradesh, which sends 29 members to Lok Sabha to lend critical support to the BJP-led alliance government, enjoys a scaled down version. Rice mills in the state buy paddy, shell it and sell a levy part to the FCI. Last year the FCI ran out of cash to buy levy rice and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu pressurised the Centre to advance a loan of Rs 1000 crore to mop up the levy rice. In all other states both MSP and procurement are not in force; even in western UP, a region of green revolution, paddy and wheat are purchased by state agencies on the guidance of the MSP. In states like Bihar, Assam and Orissa the growers get often 20 per cent less than the MSP. What this means is that even an increase in output does not lead to an increase in farm income. Simply put, increased production adds muscle to economic growth statistics but leaves the would-beneficiaries high and dry. This analysis has two implications. One, increased farm output is not a guarantee to reduce rural poverty affecting about 70 per cent of the population. The country has to find an alternate measure to help those who are hopelessly poor. Right now, there is no sign of innovative thinking. All poverty alleviation programmes, named after past and present leaders, have failed to deliver goods. Two, with a lethargic bureaucracy and the absence of rural development structure, there is no hope in the immediate future. The present MSP and procurement structure leaves untouched vast tracks of backward states. Unless the FCI and state agencies step in vigorously to shield kisans from the rapacious middlemen, the growers will surrender their due to the traders without benefiting the consumers. The experience of Punjab paddy and cotton farmers proves this amply. Union Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar’s fanciful ideas of withdrawing the FCI from procurement and filling the gap with an “income support scheme” will extend the Bihar misery to the rest of the country. It is tiresome to repeat that the Centre is clinging to a policy designed to fight food scarcity even though the country has a huge food surplus which it does not know how to overcome. |
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Urban disaster recipe Here is an imaginary scenario. A couple buys a plot of land, builds a spacious house with wide open spaces on all sides and raises a family. Their children have children and they all continue to live in the same house. Their grandchildren also have children who too do not move out because there is a law that prohibits them from expanding beyond the "periphery" of their dwelling unit. Instead they are given permission to add more rooms to the existing unit to cope with the increase in the size of the family. In due course, the wide open spaces disappear and what was once a picture of a happy home begins to resemble an over-crowded urban slum. This imaginary scenario may become a reality for the residents of Chandigarh the moment the powerful builders' lobby moves in with dirty money for taking advantage of the provisions of the recently promulgated Chandigarh Apartment Rules 2001. As it is, Chandigarh no longer qualifies to be called "City Beautiful". The reckless growth that the new rules would start cannot be considered good news for the city. They have been modeled on the building bylaws of Mumbai and Delhi. And look what has become of Delhi after the builders-bureaucrats-politician nexus decided to relax the rules. In the 60s it was among the best cities in India with Connaught Place offering enjoyable experience to shoppers and tourist. The permission to construct multi-storied buildings in the heart of Delhi contributed in substantial measure in turning the national capital into one of the most
unlivable cities in the country. Had Delhi opted for a horizontal rather than vertical expansion it may have had a pleasant story to tell. Why must Chandigarh make the same mistakes that have turned Delhi into an urban hell? Once apartments start coming up under the new rules the plight of Chandigarh would be worse than that of Delhi. Why? Because it would not be able to get the funds for building flyovers for meeting the projected increase in the number of vehicles. The better option would have been to urge the Centre to review the Periphery Act that is grossly out of tune with the changed demographic requirements of the region. As it is, Punjab and Haryana have already violated the provisions of the Periphery Act by constructing Panchkula and Mohali within the prohibited limit. It is about time city planners made a futuristic plan for offering a long-term solution to the problem of urban growth. They should examine the feasibility of including the area touching Chandigarh with Ambala, Patiala, Ropar and Kalka for drawing up a comprehensive master plan capable of withstanding the pressure of population increase at least for the next 100 years. Allowing the construction of apartments within the municipal limits of Chandigarh is a sure recipe for yet another urban disaster. |
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Time for labour reforms At last the government is set to take up a more difficult part of the economic reforms which began in 1991. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on labour reforms has finalised its recommendations and will put these for approval before the Union Cabinet shortly, fulfilling a promise made by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the 2001-02 Budget. If cleared, the proposals would have a far-reaching impact. Companies employing less than 1,000 employees, it has been suggested, can close shop and lay off workers without prior government approval. This will require an amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act, which has set a 100-worker limit. The move will cover almost 95 per cent of the Indian companies. Industry has for long made this demand. It is part of MNC work culture to hire staff when the going is good and lay off when business slows down or fails. To survive competition, companies need to be lean, mean and fighting fit. They cannot afford to carry flab. Over-staffed PSUs are sinking because of excess baggage, low productivity and inefficient, non-professional management. Organised labour, political and bureaucratic interference have bled white many state enterprises. Keeping sick companies alive with subsidies is something the depleted state exchequer cannot bear for ever. Unviable firms have to be allowed to die a natural death. Enron is a recent case. Despite being close to the US President, its boss could not save the company from bankruptcy. Many lost money and jobs. Corporate India cannot afford, and cannot be allowed, to be so ruthless. Widespread poverty, unemployment and illiteracy are big handicaps. Indian labour, therefore, have to be helped to learn skills in demand or upgrade their existing skills. The country needs to put in place an effective rehabilitation programme for retrenched workers and a workable social security network for children, widows and the aged, who often are hit the hardest in a market economy. The Group of Ministers has enhanced the severance package. The laid-off staff will be paid 45 days pay for each year of work, up from the previously suggested 15-day salary. The wage ceiling has been proposed to be increased from the present Rs 1,600 a month to Rs 6,000. The GoM has not yet completed its suggestions on contract labour, although it has given Maharashtra a green signal to hire labour on contract. Currently, contract labour is prohibited in operations which are permanent in nature. Times are changing and so are the ways of doing business. Life-time employment is a luxury available to a limited number and in limited countries, mostly poor. There is no option. |
The sudden collapse of Taliban The Afghan war has come to an early end, though somewhat unexpectedly, because the initial assessment was that this conflict could be a long-drawn affair. While we are too close to the event to be able to conduct a detailed, detached examination and objective assessment, a somewhat tentative evaluation of this unequal and unusual war, and its conduct, would be fruitful at this stage. The sudden collapse of the Taliban and fall of Kabul and later Kandhar came as a surprise to most and perplexed many a defence analyst. The Taliban, who had fought the USSR for many years and finally drove them out of the country, were not expected to collapse so suddenly and that too in the absence of a serious ground offensive. This caught the coalition forces and the UN unprepared for such rapid developments. Consequently, when the Taliban unexpectedly vacated Kabul, no arrangement to gain control of the capital city was in place. It was unrealistic to expect the Northern Alliance (NA) troops to abide by the embargo, insisted upon by Pakistan, and placed on them by the Americans on entering the city of Kabul. Most of the observers of the Afghan scene failed to realise that both the NA troops and the Taliban were unlike a regular army. They were a loosely knit ragtag group, more in the form of ‘Lashkars’ who had little concept of battle, defensive or offensive, owing allegiance to their own warlords; ever ready to change sides, each jostling for a position of advantage and gains. Military operations have to have an intimate link with political and diplomatic efforts and the three need close integration. Similarly air and naval operations have to be synergised with the operations on the ground. This appeared lacking in the initial stages of the Afghan war. These arose essentially from the differing perceptions between the State Department and the Pentagon. During the first four weeks, the American bombing had very little to show, consequently there were serious misgivings on the early and successful conclusion of the war. The employment of the air power against the absence of ground fire (surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns) and an opposing air force can lead to a whole range of incorrect lessons. There were a number of reasons for this delay in the progress of operations. First, there was little concinnity and concatenation between the bombing during this period and the ability of the NA forces to push Southwards. At the same time, war strategy and the attempts at evolving a political setup for post-Taliban Afghanistan were out of step. These developments were expected to move simultaneously and on parallel lines. Added to that was Pakistan’s dubious gameplan. One, at misleading the coalition forces, in the field of human intelligence (HUMINT). Two covert help with arms and ammunition to the Taliban and passing of information pertaining to specific commando operations. Three, undercutting the American attempts at working out a political setup for Afghanistan. There has also been excessive dependence on technology for intelligence gathering. The operational aspect of the air campaign suffered for want of detailed ground intelligence and clarity of
aim. Targeting Osama bin Laden, Mullah Mohammed Omar and the Al-Qaida leadership, as pointed out in these columns before the operations commenced, was bound to be akin to fighting a phantom, or chasing a crooked shadow. It was pointed out the most of the Taliban fighters and Al-Qaida cadres could find their way into Pakistan and PoK. Excessive collateral damage in such a course of action was also noted in these columns as also that the operations of NA will not be able to make progress unless the Taliban forces opposing them are effectively engaged by the American air force. Undoubtedly, the initial bombing had been highly selective and aimed at destroying the infrastructure, weapon systems, command and control setup and logistic installations of the Taliban. But none of these existed on the ground at a scale to offer worthwhile targets. Target acquisition through satellite imagery, Joint STARS (Surveillance, Target, Attack, Radar Systems) UAVs and thermal imaging techniques etc have not been able to provide all the information these systems claim to acquire, nor have the smart and laser guided bombs been that “smart” and accurate. consequently, civilian targets were often hit, resulting in death and injuries to women and children. While the commando operations at Kandahar to capture Mullah Omar had apparently been leaked out to the Taliban by Pakistan, the other commando missions to guide air attack missions etc were also less fruitful. Osama, Omar and the Al-Qaida leadership have been rather illusive and appear unscathed. Air operations were also severely handicapped due to want of air bases within Afghanistan. The bulk of air operations had to be carried out from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea, which had some inherent disadvantages. While long-range bombers were hitting at the frontline troops, some of the more potent support by ground attack aircraft and helicopter gunships was missing. This was due to problems of long range to Northern Afghanistan from the floating platforms, and equally due to the suspected availability of nearly 70 to 80 shoulder fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles with the Taliban. There was no way the heavy bombers, driven as they were to great heights due to the fear of stringer missiles, could provide the sort of support required by the ground troops. It may be recalled that a similar situation prevailed at Kargil. Since ground attack aircrafts and gunships could not be employed, Americans made use of Daisy Cutter bombs, which employ “fuel air-explosive” technique and are meant to explode a mine-field for advancing troops to pass. The explosion creates intense atmospheric pressure over a wide area, thus activating the mines. No human being can survive under such high atmospheric pressure conditions. It burns up the oxygen in the area leaving the survivors, if any, to asphyxiate. If this selective bombing of Taliban command setup and the destruction of infrastructure existing in that country alone was expected to lead to the collapse of command and control of troops, resulting in large scale desertions and breakdown of administration and consequently, the Taliban hold on the country, then such expectations were unrealistic. To that extent the initial bombing was a waste, Taliban had been able to instill fear against desertions and realignments through summary execution of those showing any inclination towards such acts. The capture and hanging of Abdul Haq and his associates (believed to have been betrayed by Pakistan ISI) was part of this strategy. The command and control structure of Taliban army was so loose and scattered amongst tribal warlords that only a major setback, consequent to large-scale ground action accompanied by intense aerial attacks on frontline Taliban troops, could result in their collapse. Taliban did not appear to believe in field fortifications and, therefore, were easy targets to aerial bombing. The other possibility was the dramatic shifts in loyalties and realignments as a result of bribery, treachery and desertions. Such a situation could fructify only on perception gaining currency that the fall of Taliban was imminent, as it happened after the fall of Kabul. The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif took time due to the stiff resistance put up by Arab and Pakistani troops. Also, there appeared to have been some understanding between the USA and Pakistan for evacuation of Pakistani troops, more so senior officers, and prevent their falling into the hands of NA troops, as also exposing more glaringly Pakistan’s serious involvement with the Taliban. The capture of senior Pakistan army officers by the Alliance troops and their possible summary execution would have caused unrest in the Pakistan army. The bombing of prisoners in Qala-I-Jangi was one of the most cruel acts of this war. Elsewhere thousands of Taliban prisoners (mostly Arabs and Pakistanis) were simply killed or burned to death. The full story of the barbarity of this war will never be known. While an interim political solution has been worked out, the ultimate dispensation must overwhelmingly serve Afghan interests. The western, and more so the American, interests in tapping the enormous oil and gas resources of the Central Asian Republics through Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea, will also bear on America’s continued presence in Afghanistan. Even when a representative government is finally in place in Kabul, consequent to the “Loya Jirga” deliberations, the coalition and/or UN troop presence will be required. This may be so to assist in the building a National Police Force and a Unified Army for the country. Taliban and Al-Qaida elements have merely dispersed and could start a guerrilla warfare at a later stage and therefore, will need to be liquidated. Enormous help is required from the international community for the reconstruction of that country in which India will have to play a leading role. As we focus on the operational aspect of the war in Afghanistan, there is a tendency to pay less attention to the human tragedy of gigantic proportions enacted in that blighted land. Three years of drought, two decades of strife, a multitude of orphans, widows and the maimed, a few million refugees, the onset of winter with scarce clothing, lack of shelter and little food, make up a ghastly scene. As the bombing of frontline troops commenced, another tragedy of equal magnitude unfolded. Taliban military structure has no arrangements for evacuation of casualties, nor any medical setup worth the name. Consequently, thousands of casualties from all kinds of wounds, burns, infections, sickness and injuries amongst their fighters from American bombing, simply suffered a slow death through bleeding and the cold for want of evacuation and medical aid. We hope the Americans, Alliance and the UN are fully seized of the enormity of the tragedy inflicted on the Afghan people. The writer is a retired Lieut-General. |
Proof of Pak hand, finally Last week John Burns reported in The New York Times a development of enormous importance. He said: “Although Pakistani officials questioned the evidence India had against the two groups (Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed), they acknowledged that the groups were responsible for about 70 per cent of all attacks in Indian-ruled Kashmir in the last three years.” “The officials who outlined General Musharraf’s plans said the Pakistani leader had ordered the shutdown of the wing of the military intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, or I.S.I., that deals exclusively with the armed groups that Pakistan backs in Kashmir. The officials said that in the future, Pakistan would limit its backing for the ‘Kashmir freedom struggle’ to groups with roots in Kashmir, and rely on Kashmiris to conduct military operations’.” This development was reported in cursory fashion in some of our newspapers but its significance appears to have escaped the attention of not just most journalists but even most of our political leaders. It means two things in the context of Kashmir. First, it is virtually the only time that Pakistan has admitted, albeit obliquely, that it is responsible for “70 per cent of all attacks” in Kashmir. If it acknowledges that Lashkar and Jaish are the two groups responsible for these and then adds that it will now only support “groups with roots in Kashmir” then it amounts to admitting that these two groups were not Kashmiri. Indian officials have been saying this for years and Pakistan’s leader has denied that his government was responsible for terrorism in Kashmir as recently as at the Agra Summit. At his now famous breakfast meeting with Indian editors he repeated ad nauseum that the Kashmir problem was not about terrorism but about the rights of the people of Kashmir. It was a freedom struggle, he said, that was behind the violence and a freedom struggle was not terrorism. We need to be grateful that he has at last noticed that Lashkar and Jaish are in fact terrorist groups and that their recruits are not even Kashmiri. That he could so easily close them down (or pretend to close them down) should indicate to even the American State Department that the Pakistani army was as heavily involved in promoting terrorism in India as it was in promoting the Taliban. So should we in India be pleased that Pakistan’s military rulers are finally coming to their senses? Should we start hoping that there will be an end to violence in Kashmir now that General Musharraf has joined the international coalition against terrorism? The Americans would like us to believe this. President Bush had this to say last week about the General’s efforts. “He’s cracking down hard and I appreciate his efforts. Terror is terror and the fact that the Pakistani President is after the terrorists is a good sign”. Colin Powell expressed similar sentiments shortly after the December 13 attack on Parliament. He said that Lashkar and Jaish were terrorist outfits that had been responsible for acts of terrorism in India and Pakistan. In Delhi when this statement came Indian officials gasped in horror. Was the American Secretary of State a liar or simply ignorant? Did he not know that both these groups were Pakistani and could not be linked to a single act of terrorism in that country? Let us put it down to ignorance. Let us remember that only a year ago George W. Bush had no idea who the President of Pakistan was. Colin Powell is not famous for his knowledge of the sub-continent either and Condoleeza Rice, believed to be the cleverest member of Bush’s foreign policy team, is an expert on Russia, not South Asia. So, what would they know about Pakistan’s duplicitous ways and its deliberate fomentation of violence in Kashmir long after the ‘freedom struggle’ was brought under control. How could they possibly read between the lines when Pakistani officials, quoted in The New York Times, now admit that it will be groups like the Hizbul Mujahideen that will get ‘moral and political’ support. For us it is important to remember where the Hizbul came from. The violence in Kashmir began in December 1989 with the kidnapping of the daughter of the Home Minister, Mufti Mohammed Syed, by the JKLF (Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front). The JKLF has been around since the Kashmir problem began and its raison d’etre has been its demand for an independent Kashmir. The JKLF did not have much popular support as long as Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference was Kashmir’s favoured political party. Even when the Sheikh was jailed for 18 years in the fifties and sixties the JKLF never managed to muster enough support to become a major political force. In the mid-seventies when he returned to Kashmir as Chief Minister and the historical Kashmir problem died, the JKLF nearly faded out altogether. It was only in the eighties when the policies of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi appeared to grind Kashmir’s nose into the dirt that the JKLF began to re-emerge. It first made its presence felt with the kidnapping. It is also important to remember that the upsurge of anti-India sentiment that followed the kidnapping — those massive processions in the streets, the jubilation when JKLF militants were released in exchange for the Mufti’s daughter — were completely indigenous. Pakistan only got into the act after they realised that there was a virtual intifada going on in Kashmir. But, when they looked at what was going on they realised that the JKLF was completely unsuitable because of its insistence on independence for Kashmir. It was then that the ISI created the Hizbul Mujahideen and gave it so much ‘moral and political’ support that it became the best armed and most effective terrorist organisation in Kashmir. The JKLF could quite simply not compete and retired from the violent struggle. After the Hizbul came other Pakistani terrorist groups with names like Harkat-ul-Ansar and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Whenever they blotted their record and drew Western approbation as when foreign tourists were kidnapped in 1995, they would disappear and return under a new name. So what we are likely to see now is a disappearance of the Lashkar and the Jaish but this will not mean that terrorism in Kashmir will cease. Only the killers will now call themselves Hizbul Mujahideen. Using a handful of Kashmiri militants as a front is unlikely to fool anyone in India that behind them does not lie the Pakistani hand. There is no indication yet that General Musharraf has understood that one more major terrorist act would force Vajpayee to take military action or risk losing his job. The arrests he has made of Lashkar and Jaish leaders and his statements against terrorism may convince the American State Department, but in India what we need to see is a complete end to terrorism. |
In supersession of the provisions announced His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to fix Tuesday, the 4th January, 1927, as the date for the holding of the election of President of the Punjab Legislative Council. Nominations for the election of the President should reach the Secretary, Punjab Legislative Council, by noon on Monday, the 3rd January, 1927. The Council will meet at 2 p.m on the 4th January for the purpose of holding the election. |
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Gene clue to success of HIV treatment Tiny differences in a gene that controls a key metabolising protein can cause enormous variations in the ability of HIV patients to respond to antiretroviral drugs, researchers report. The gene, known as MDRL, produces a protein called P-glycoprotein which plays a vital role in delivering drug molecules to different parts of the body. Previous studies have already pinpointed P-glycoprotein as a barrier that can prevent medication from being absorbed into the intestine, the brain, nerve system and uterus. A team led by Amalio Telenti of the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, looked at 123 patients, most of them white, who were taking drugs to suppress levels of HIV-1, the most prevalent strain of the human immunodeficiency virus. They looked in particular at three small variations, known as TT, CT and CC, that occur in part of the MDRI gene and measured the patients’ blood levels of the commonly prescribed anti-HIV drugs efavirenz and nelfina vir. Patients with the TT genotype enjoyed a much faster recovery in their immune system than the others. Six months after starting treatment, they had more than twice as many CD4 white cells than those with the CC variation. Telenti, whose research is reported in tommorow’s issue of the British medical weekly the Lancet, says the findings show that controlling P-glycoprotein could boost the rebound of the body’s immune defences after infection by the AIDS virus. It also raises the question of how to tailor drugs to meet the needs of differing populations.
AFP Protein that kills cancer also causes ageing A critical protein that protects animals and humans from cancer in their early years appears in later life to cause much of the deterioration associated with ageing, researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston have found. The protein — p53 — an essential ingredient in fighting cancer among many animals and humans, eventually shuts off the body’s ability to renew its organs and tissues, producing bone and muscle deterioration and other hallmarks of aging, they say. Researchers who made the discovery described as “shocking,” the possibility that aging may be a side effect of the natural safeguards that protect us from cancer. Arnold Levine, President of Rockefeller University and co-discoverer of p53, called the study “extraordinary.” Bert Vogelstein, a top cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University, called the results “fascinating” and said: “Like all good research, it raises a lot more questions than it answers.” Among the questions is whether any attempt to create an anti-ageing pill would raise cancer
rates. PTI |
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Burn attachment, grind it down into ink powder, Wash the mind into clean paper, Make love your pen, Let consciousness be the scribe, As the Guru and write down the Truth. Write the praise of God's name, write down, He has no end and he is beyond reach. *** Make mind the farmer This body the earth, Good deeds the seed, And irrigate it with the rain of devotion. Produce God in your heart and gain imperishable merit. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib,
Bri Rag M. I *** Remove I, I, My, My, from within Destroy duality, become one. This world is hard. The slave of the Raja of senses is a fool. Freedom is gained by slaying the slayer. By the recitation of the Word. *** Know the one God to be inside and outside, By the grace of the Guru the fire will die out. — Siddha Gosht *** What have you in these houses? And what is it you guard with fastened doors? Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power? Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind? Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain? Tell me have you these in your houses? Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then become a host and then a master? *** Though its hands are silken, the heart is of iron. It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed and jeer at the dignity of the flesh. It makes mock of your sound senses, and lays them in this letdown like fragile vessels. ‘erily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul and then wale grinning in the funeral. — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet |
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