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Wednesday,
February 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Shedding
extra flab A
dangerous obsession |
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| Unjustified
auto, taxi strike THOSE travelling between Delhi and Chandigarh on Monday must have cursed themselves for not anticipating the consequences of the unjustified one-day strike by taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers. To get the anger out of their system the inconvenienced section of travellers should have taken the trouble of lodging complaints against unwilling public transport operators. India's real "public sector" must have an abnormally high threshold of tolerance in the world. The members of the public are pushed around from one counter to another by the army of over-paid under-worked touts in most government offices.
India’s interests
in West Asia
Indra Col to Indira
Point
Building a drug-free
society
Dead lovers reunited
at Taoist wedding-funeral
1993, Peace: MANDELA & DE KLERK
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Shedding extra flab IT is now official. The central government is ready to pay for a leaner staff strength. It has devised a plan to virtually bribe the employees to leave by a mixture of generous retirement benefits, offer of retraining, permission to join the private sector on day one and, if the response is not favourable, threaten to retrench them. This is seemingly an action to implement a key recommendation of the Geetakrishnan-led Expenditure Reforms Commission. It has suggested that a priority job for the government to balance its accounts is to sharply reduce the non-Plan expenditure and the first account to strike against is salaries. There are two factors behind this. One, the Fifth Pay Commission has steeply increased the emoluments by a near 20 per cent to the salary bill. Two, computerisation and economic liberalisation have rendered several departments redundant and easily disposable. The Expenditure Reforms Commission has concentrated on these two areas. Nearly 30 per cent of the central revenue is diverted to paying the salary and other allowances of the employees and they are nearly 30 million. If a sharp cut can be introduced, the savings will be considerable. True, in the first year the expenses will shoot up but in the subsequent years the benefits will show. The Finance Ministry has not so far calculated the loss and benefit and the Geetakrishnan Commission has been equally lax. In the days to come the official assessment will become public and it should support the voluntary retirement scheme. A revolutionary new element is to allow class A officers to join the private sector a day after they retire with all benefits and a big cash bag. This idea was floated two years back but was shot down on a moral ground. It was felt that senior bureaucrats will spend the last years in office to tilt government policies in favour of the private sector they are in charge of. So the old provision curbing them from becoming a private sector employee for at least two years was retained and thus the potential linkage between bureaucrats and the private sector was snapped. Now the BJP-led NDA government finds itself under pressure and also vulnerable. This will open a pandora’s box and upset the bureaucratic
impartiality believed to be a truism at the Centre and the states. This is too high a price to pay for making the bureaucratic structure leaner, if not meaner. |
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A dangerous obsession PRESIDENT
Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan remains the hardliner he has always been on the issue of Kashmir. The latest proof is available in the "Kashmir Solidarity Day" speech he made on Tuesday as also in his message on the eve of the annual ritual. This is, however, not surprising in view of his Kashmir obsession. What is surprising is that he wants to hold talks with India but without creating the necessary atmosphere. While his so-called campaign against terrorism is yet to show the expected results at the ground level, he has chosen the occasion to level wild allegations against India and in a language generally not normally employed by a Head of State. When he has so much venom against this country, how does he think that he will be able to hold negotiations across the table? There is no reason why India should believe that Pakistan is seriously interested in de-escalation along the border, as it claims, by initiating a dialogue. This is evident from General Musharraf's ill thought-out statement: "No self-respecting people can be expected to remain unmoved while their families and friends are being killed, tortured and gang-raped; their houses burnt down... and humiliation of the worst kind heaped upon them through the instrument of state terrorism." He has exposed his utter insincerity and non-seriousness in full view of the world community. His irresponsible conduct shows that he is the greatest threat to not only stability in the South Asian region but also to his own country. So long as he is there in the present position, talks seem to be impossible. When the armed forces of the two countries are in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, there is no time for indulging in rhetoric like "Kashmir runs in our blood". Statements like "I take this opportunity to once again urge the Indian leadership to sit with us at the negotiating table" will not do. If the General really wants peace, he should change his mindset and also launch a campaign for a transformation on these lines among the Pakistanis in general. Pakistan's Kashmir obsession must end to make way for establishing peace in the region. It is like opium used by Pakistani rulers to gain popularity among the people. But opium is a destructive property also. This must have been clear to the General by now . Already it has made the Pakistan economy nearly bankrupt. President Musharraf's hawkish posture can be linked to his recent meeting with his army commanders. Perhaps, he now fears that any of his commanders may deprive him of the power he has grabbed by overthrowing an elected government. To overcome his fears, he might have devised a strategy to increase his following — till now aimed at to educated classes minus the products of the religious schools — among the masses. Whatever his compulsions, a Kashmir-based strategy may prove counter-productive at a time when the world community's urgent interest lies in de-escalation the border tension. The General should understand this before it is too late. |
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Unjustified auto, taxi strike THOSE travelling between Delhi and Chandigarh on Monday must have cursed themselves for not anticipating the consequences of the unjustified one-day strike by taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers. To get the anger out of their system the inconvenienced section of travellers should have taken the trouble of lodging complaints against unwilling public transport operators. India's real "public sector" must have an abnormally high threshold of tolerance in the world. The members of the public are pushed around from one counter to another by the army of over-paid under-worked touts in most government offices. The only pocket of public resistance against being shabbily treated by servants of the public is, perhaps, located in West Bengal in general and Kolkata in particular. The issues on which the taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers went on strike on Monday, in any case, would find little support even among informed sections of the public. In Chandigarh the auto-rickshaw drivers are unhappy with the decision of the administration to phase out vehicles that have been on the road for 15 years or more. It has been scientifically established that the average life span of a public transport, as opposed to private vehicles, is usually 15 years. Thereafter they become a major source of pollution. Studies have also established that the chances of old and ill-maintained vehicles being involved in serious accidents are higher compared to the new and better-maintained ones. And pray who has given the auto-rickshaw operators, as also taxi owners, the right to switch over to using the more polluting diesel as fuel in place of petrol without seeking the mandatory permission from the designated authority? They also do not want to instal fare meters in Chandigarh and the more accurate electronic fare metres in Delhi. They expect the authorities concerned to accept their unreasonable stand and allow them to harass and loot helpless commuters. Those who wish to plead their case need to be informed about the distinction between a driver and an owner of a public passenger transport vehicle. In Chandigarh most auto-rickshaws are owned by policemen. That explains the low rate of challan for violating law. It also explains the resistance against falling in line with the commuter-friendly guidelines. The drivers, perhaps, deserve some sympathy as far as the issue of phasing out 15-year-old auto-rickshaws in Chandigarh is concerned. They would be penalised for the cussedness of the owners of the auto-rickshaws who are usually not touched because they are part of what is called the government machinery. For this reason alone the administration should be more flexible in implementing the decision for removing old and polluting auto-rickshaws from the road. |
India’s interests in West Asia IT is a truism, repeated times without number, that a country does not have permanent friends, only permanent interests. It is then all the more amazing how often this piece of conventional wisdom is disregarded. Independent India’s history is replete with instances of our forgetfulness in respecting the old adage, the Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai phase being only the most glaring example. Indeed, we as a nation and people suffer from an excess of emotionalism in our relations with the outside world. India’s web of relations with China, Bangladesh and Nepal would have followed a steadier course had we been less emotional. And in seeking to tackle the riddle of Pakistan, our emotionalism has stood in the way of understanding the limits of mutuality of interests. Are we then about to commit ourselves to another assault on our national interests by displaying our brand of emotionalism in relation to Israel? The danger signals are all there. There is a new warming of relations with Israel and our television presenters blithely announce that the two countries face similar problems of terrorism and we seek Israeli advice on how to counter it. There is no reason why we should not have close and beneficial relations with Israel. We can share their agricultural expertise, import their high-tech weapons systems and indulge in profitable trade in other areas. By any yardstick, Israelis are a remarkable people and, together with Palestinians, represent the brightest men and women in West Asia. At the same time, India has to consider its national interests in relation to the Arab world. There are some three million Indians in the Gulf states, with about a million in the United Arab Emirates alone. Their remittances home are a useful source of foreign exchange and their earnings abroad have helped to lift countless numbers of people into the middle class on their return home. Dynamic and modern as it is, Israel is a small territory in an Arab sea. Most disturbingly, it is locked in a bloody battle with the Palestinians. It is sitting on occupied land, is loath to give it up and has distorted the Oslo peace process by repudiating agreed deadlines while building and expanding Jewish settlements. Israel’s ability to dictate terms to the Palestinians is a direct result of the bountiful American support it enjoys in military and economic assistance and in Washington’s guarantee of its security. Thanks to the clout of the American Jewish lobby, Israel exercises much influence on US West Asia policy. American efforts to mediate reached a climax towards the end of the Clinton presidency when a proposal for the return of some 95 per cent of occupied land on the West Bank and 100 per cent in the Gaza Strip to Palestinians was mooted. The Palestinians would have some kind of sovereignty over holy Muslim sites in Jerusalem. The right of the refugees to return home was left unresolved. The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was under virtual siege, or felt he was, and did not obtain the assurances he sought. What Mr Bill Clinton and Israeli spokesmen now describe as Mr Arafat throwing away the best settlement he could have had is plainly untrue. He could not have walked away without satisfying in a measure two cardinal Palestinian demands: the right of refugees’ return and unqualified Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Television presenters in India who facilely draw an analogy between troubled Kashmir and what is happening in the occupied territories controlled by Israel do the country grievous harm. In Kashmir, India is fighting terrorists trained, armed and financed abroad for the express purpose of fuelling an insurgency. In the Israeli-controlled territories, Palestinians are fighting a colonial ruler to seek independence. To overlook or erase this vital difference is asking for trouble. Both Israel and India might be fighting militant Muslims, but India cannot base its policy on this coincidence. The whole basis of the Oslo process was the recognition by the Palestinian Authority of the existence of Israel, and India’s role should be to use its good relations with Tel Aviv to encourage a reconciliation predicated upon fair play and justice. Washington is zealous about its exclusive role as a mediator and has rebuffed United Nations and European Union mediation, except on the margins and in extending economic assistance to Palestinians. The new levels of violence and Palestinian suffering stem from the assumption of office of Mr Ariel Sharon, Washington’s tolerance of harsh Israeli reprisals and the activities of Palestinian factions indulging in terrorist acts. India can be a mere sympathetic spectator in the present impasse until the situation improves. The hardliner that Mr Sharon is, he has won support from the Bush administration whose initial hands-off policy gave the Likud leader all the room he needed for pursuing aggressive policies. The moral of the story is that India must curb its emotionalism to pursue good relations with Israel without forgetting the wider national interests it must promote in the Arab world. These are difficult times for the Arabs because the context in which their relations with the principal West Asian power, the USA, are taking shape is changing. For one thing, terrorism has assumed forms detrimental to the Arabs themselves. It refuses to be bottled up in one country, as the multinational terrorist network reveals. Second, the social and political pressures on the Arab regimes have become more pressing. Once Israelis see their way to giving Palestinians their birthright, a viable and free state, they will be integrated into their neighbourhood, to everyone’s benefit. First, Mr Sharon will have to make way for a more pragmatic leader. It cannot be in American’s interest to have permanent strife in an area which provides the world with much of its oil. But the Bush administration’s policies will have to change as well. India’s role, meanwhile, must be to look after its own interests while seeking the friendship of Israel and the Arab world. |
Indra Col to Indira Point THE extent of our country on the north-south axis is popularly expressed as “Kashmir to Kanyakumari”. It has a distinctive ring to it, but is factually incorrect. The extent is, in fact, much longer. It extends from Indra Col in the Siachen Glacier to Indira Point in the southernmost island of our country in the Bay of Bengal, a distance of approximately 3600 km as the crow flies. I had the good fortune of visiting both, a couple of years back. Although their names are very similar, the two places could not be more different. Indra Col, the abode of Gods, has been aptly named after Lord Indra, the king of Gods. It lies perched atop the Himalayas at the northern tip of the Siachen Glacier. Intrepid mountaineers have climbed its slopes wearing full mountain climbing gear, but I was lucky to view it from the rear seat of a Cheetah helicopter. Having taken off from Leh, the headquarters of Ladakh district, from an altitude of approximately 11000 feet above sea level, we had crossed the mighty Ladakh Range at Khardung La (la stands for pass in the local language), which at 17854 feet is one of the highest passes in the world. Crossing the Khardung La, even in a helicopter, brings a sense of accomplishment and joy, as a new vista opens up on the other side of the pass i.e. towards the beautiful valleys of the Nubra and Shyok Rivers. I recalled crossing it in waist-deep snow about 30 years back, on foot, while on an operational patrol, but that is another story. We landed at base camp, located just below the snout of the Siachen Glacier and after a brief halt we took off again and flew further north, now over the glacier. We flew over small encampments of our troops, little clusters when seen from the air, of arctic tents and dugouts in the snow, where our officers and jawans stand constant vigil, to defend the frontiers of our nation. We flew further north till the glacier started becoming narrower. Suddenly, Indra Col, at 19000 feet, stood out in front of us in all its magnificence. It lay nestled in the snow, surveying as it were the white landscape; the towering snow-covered peaks and the massive Siachen Glacier sprawled at its feet — an awesome sight indeed. It was nature at its commanding best. I felt puny and somewhat naked in this snowy wilderness, despite the layers of clothing I was wearing and the marvellous machine I was flying in at these formidable heights. A couple of months later, I was flying south from the Car Nicobar Island of the Andaman and Nicobar chain, again in a helicopter. This time it was a huge Mi-17 of the Air force — spacious, steady and noisy! As we flew over the placid waters of the Bay of Bengal, a number of islands of the chain kept popping into view. Some were small, like jewels studded on an azure background, while others were somewhat larger, but all were covered with a thick growth of trees and boasted one, if not more, sandy beaches on their shores. We landed literally at the southernmost tip of our country, for the helipad has been constructed as close to the southern seashore as possible. A short walk brought us to a lighthouse, with a cluster of huts for company. Indira Point’s original name was Pygmalion Point, but was changed to the present one for reasons not hard to guess. Only a small area at the southern tip of the island was cleared for the lighthouse, the huts and the helipad. The rest of the island continues to be covered with thick mangrove jungles, which are full of birds, and I was told some animals too. As I fastened my seatbelt for our return flight, I could not help comparing the two extremities of our country, both having nearly similar names — one covered perpetually in snow and the other covered by the balmy breeze coming in from the Bay of Bengal. Their common links were the sentinels of our frontiers, manning both with courage and fortitude, in their splendid isolation. |
Building a drug-free society
MUCH before partition, the consumption of alcohol, opium, tobacco and ganja has been a way of life in a couple of belts of Punjab. While many in the Majha and Malwa belts are known for the consumption of opium and other home-grown drugs like dode and bhuki, the Doaba belt is very visibly associated with alcohol consumption. Post-partition, the consumption of alcohol has witnessed a consistent hike all over the state. This is a direct outcome of the state policy of collecting revenue through the auction of liquor vends. Quite evidently, the bureaucracy has failed the nation by not having devised any other better means of collecting revenue than opening liquor vends. Punjab too, like any other state, has been a victim of this policy, which has resulted in an alarming increase in the number of alcoholics. But a Follow-Up on the consumption of alcohol and other drugs simply leaves you numb. In addition, the present Punjab poll scenario has opened the ugliest chapter ever. In Punjab land-owners used to induce their labourers to consume opium to ensure uncommon output of labour in a state of intoxication. This, over the years, has resulted in turning a large number of people as opium-addicts, especially in the Malwa and Majha belts. The Doaba belt, on the other hand, is faced with the irony of unearned money. As per records, a member from every third house has migrated abroad for greener pastures. The hard-earned money by these migrants abroad is remitted to their families as per social customs and cultural up-bringing. But unfortunately, the unemployed and unemployable back home have fallen prey to this unearned money in their hands. The consumption of alcohol has increased manifold in the past one decade alone. Oblivious of 1,200 NGOs at present working against the consumption of intoxicants, almost all political parties are being accused of distributing alcohol and drugs with impunity while campaigning. "We have authentic information that candidates have specific budgets for the distribution of alcohol and drugs among voters. That is why we approached individual candidates to sign a pledge to build a “drug-free society”. So far 20 candidates of the SAD-BJP, 12 of the Congress, four of the BSP, five of the Panthic Morcha, four of the Lok Bhalai Party and 15 Independents have signed this pledge out of the total 917 candidates in the fray", revealed Principal Ram Singh Kullar, chief organiser of the socio-religious, cultural NGO of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle. Aas Kiran De-addiction Centre and Anubhav Feature Service conducted a survey of the voters of Punjab. Interestingly, 94 per cent declared that they would not vote for drug-promoters. Of the 2,000 people taken for the sample survey, 62 per cent threatened that if all the candidates in their constituencies were found distributing alcohol and drugs they would not vote for any one of them. However, 38 per cent said that they would have to vote for someone even if all were found to be promoting drugs and alcohol. Disclosing the survey highlights, Prof. Sarabjeet Singh, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, said: "55 per cent and 61 per cent voters blame politicians and the police, respectively, for the increasing drug menace, while 34 per cent blame parents, teachers and 25 per cent government officials. About one-third respondents (35 per cent), also blamed other factors such as unemployment, foreign TV channels, lack of religious education, social environment, increasing population, ignorance, migrant labourers, chemist shops, hypocrite saints etc. Similarly, 8 per cent believe that the use of drugs in polls endangers society, democracy as well as national security. The survey was conducted in all 17 districts of the state". Dr Jagdeep Pal Singh Bhatia, who works at the Red Cross de-addiction centre in Amritsar, gave shocking details regarding this menace. He said: "In the past 20 days we are receiving cases wherein the addicts have come to us in very critical conditions. They have consumed excessive dozes of various drugs like smack and opium because the campaigning candidates made these available to them free of cost and readily. The condition of most of these people is very, very critical". Dr Bhatia has been an activist for nearly a decade, presenting papers and holding exhibitions and dramas to make people aware about drug and alcohol addiction. He revealed: "There has been a steep rise in drug addiction cases. While, the number of alcoholics is more or less the same, the number of drug addicts has witnessed an alarming rise. From 2 per cent smack addicts in 1995, the percentage went up to 51 per cent in 2000 and 66 per cent by January 2002. Most of these cases are from the Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Patti, Gurdaspur, Malout and Abohar areas". Sources at Amritsar Neuro Sciences Charitable Hospital said that for many long years Amritsar was only a transit point for Afghanistani smack, which was being routed to other parts of the world or metropolitan cities of our country. But unfortunately, in the past four to five years, Amritsar is no more the transit point alone. The Afghanistani smack (crude opium added with various chemicals) is getting sold in Amritsar itself and youth have taken to this drug in an unprecedented manner. Dr Bhatia said in the past two years, both the death rate and HIV positive rate have increased by 60 per cent. Besides, drug addiction has a chain reaction. One person, on an average, multiplies seven people into drug addiction. That is why, from 8 per cent alcoholics, smack addicts have witnessed a steep rise of 65 per cent drug addicts in just two years in Amritsar alone. Yet another NGO, De-addiction Society, Punjab, has highlighted the fate of one particular locality of Amritsar, Maqboolpura. "It is a locality of widows and their children, where at least 50 drug-addicts have died in the past four-five years alone. Ironically, Maqboolpura falls in the constituency of the Health Minister, Dr Baldev Raj Chawla. Along with these hapless widows and their children and the Citizens' Forum, we have been appealing to the people not to vote for candidates who are distributing drugs and liquor in lieu of votes", said Master Ajit Singh, convener of the Society. That drug addiction is spreading its dragnet all over the state can be gauged from the fact that within past 10 years, 1,200 NGOs have come into action in all districts of the state. The Gurmat Sagar Trust of Anandpur Sahib, headed by Prof. Manjit Singh, was also was compelled to open "Baba Bhag Singh Nasha Mukti Centre". Baba Bhag Singh had donated all his land to the Trust with the condition that a de-addiction centre should be opened there as Punjab youth were getting rapidly afflicted with drug addiction. "Within six months, 74 chronic cases of drug addiction came to our Centre from
Anandpur Sahib, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Jammu. Our research also reveals that during the election days the free distribution of drugs and alcohol adds misery both to the drug addicts and their families. Another survey revealed that in schools almost all male children have tasted drugs. Unfortunately, when we brought this to the notice of their parents, they refused to believe. But it is a hard reality and we ought to face it", revealed Dr Jaswinder, who is voluntarily working for Baba Bhag Singh Nasha Mukti Centre at Anandpur Sahib. |
Dead lovers reunited at Taoist wedding-funeral A Malaysian teenaged couple who died together in a road accident were united in the afterlife in a combined Taoist wedding-funeral ceremony. Wong Chuan Meng (17), a mechanic and Teng Sook Sheun (16), a pub singer, were killed when a car crashed into their motorcycle in Penang. The two had been dating for about two years, and Teng would have turned 17 on February 13. In the wedding ceremony before the funeral on Monday, three Taoist priests married the couple, represented as a pair of effigies clad in a modern wedding garb. The priests later handed out red packets, or ang pows, to unmarried relatives of the deceased, purportedly on their behalf. In a traditional Chinese wedding, the newly weds give away ang pows when the ceremony is over. The remains of the couple were interned next to each other at a columbarium in Kuala Lumpur. The 22-year-old student who drove the car that hit the couple’s motorbike visited their parents and tried to beg for forgiveness. During the funeral ceremony, the student — in police custody and unidentified - crawled for five metres and knelt before Wong and Teng’s parents. But the grief-stricken parents paid little heed. “You think you can be forgiven by kneeling in front of us? You have robbed us of our only son,” said Wong’s mother. DPA Studies show health dangers of overfeeding infants Babies who gain weight too fast in the first years of life can become obese and develop high blood pressure later in life, putting them at risk of early heart disease, researchers have said. The study, published in February 5 issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation, is one of three issued this week that said it is important to make sure infants and young children do not put on weight too quickly. “Pediatricians often encourage catch-up growth for babies with low birth weight, but we didn’t know if this might lead to higher blood pressure in these people when they are adults,” Dr Catherine Law of the University of Southampton in Britain, said in a statement. Studies found that babies weighing less than 2.5 kg grew up to have a range of heart problems. Researchers wondered whether the practice of fattening up babies after birth, which doctors often encourage mothers to do, might inadvertently lead to higher blood pressure and a higher risk of heart disease in those children.
Reuters |
Case under Railway Act
Cawnpore: Capt. Sir George Rowley of the Essex Regiment, Cawnpore, appeared before the City Magistrate this morning to reply to the alleged charge under Section 12, Railway Act. The prosecution case was that Sir George left his car standing in the portico of the Cawnpore City railway station, although Sir George was asked by the police constable not to leave his car there. Sir George pleaded not guilty and stated that he left his car in the porch, but it was right out of everybody’s way and he went straight into the station to meet a friend. The constable made no remark to him, and he did not see any notice there that cars were not to stand in the porch. He asked the constable to keep an eye on his car. The Magistrate adjourned the case for the 26th instant to hear the prosecution and defence witnesses. |
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A hundred and one are the channels of the heart, one of them leads to the crown of the head. By this channel, proceeding upward, one goes to immortality. — Katha Upanishad, VI, 16 *** To autumn, winter, spring and summer we now entrust you. May the Rainy season which makes the plant grow console you. — The Atharvaveda, VIII, 2:22 *** If you wish worldly opulence with provisions of the other world — Provide with the necessities of life to the poor and the destitute mendicants — One from whom nobody gets any comfort is dead, though he may be alive — one who had met the want of others, though dead is alive. — Amir
Khusaru, Rasail-Ul-Ejaz *** Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions, and none will be imposed. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us. The Lord is the only Giver, all the world are only shopkeepers. Get His cheque, and it must be honoured everywhere. — The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. VII. Inspired Talks, June 19, 1895 *** Service is the best form of worship. Be good; Be serviceable; Be useful; Be kind and Be God-fearing. Service is the ship by which one can cross the ocean of life. Serving those who do service to us is but a natural reaction; Serving those who harm us is the greatest virtue. Service with love is more fruitful than japa, dhyana and yajana usually recommended for spiritual aspirants, for it serves two purposes — the extinction of ego and the attainment of bliss. — From the discourses of Sathya Sai Baba |
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