The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, September 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I L B A G

Towards a new world order for peace & security

The concept of morality lies in being good, thinking good and doing good; this “good” means good for all, that is, good for self and others.

What one should do and what one should not do distinctly clarify the line of demarcation between morality and immorality; morality stands for doing “what one should do” and immorality stands for doing “what one should not do”.

It is universally true that it is morality which develops love, respect, justice, sincerity, trust, fellow-felling, humanity, honesty, responsibility, disciplinability, dutifulness and righteousness in a person for differentiating him from an animal. So, any evil and improper doings can never be expected from a person possessing morality. Hence, it is obvious that morality is the pre-requisite to obey and safeguard human rights.

There is no denying that morality is the ultimate solution not only to protect human rights but also to curb and combat today's serious problems like terrorism, poverty, corruption, bribery, environment pollution, rape, AIDS/HIV, killings, ethnic conflicts, oppression on women and children, drug abuse, smoking, etc. which are the genuine and direct products of moral degradation all over the world. People have started realising that no piecemeal attempt to solve any of the above mentioned human problems isolatedly can be successful without considering a global moral development programme as a package deal approach to fight all these problems together.

Under these , an international organisation called the Foundation for Moral Development Approach (FMDA) from Bangladesh has initiated a global moral development mission. It has already floated a detail proposal to the United Nations in this regard.

The FMDA appeals to all the international fora and world population (irrespective of religion, colour and nationality) to launch a vigorous political and social movement everywhere in the world to protect the making from its dark and uncertain future because of immoral human behaviour and activities. We believe that the FMDA mission is a new dimension to create a new world order for ensuring sustainable peace, security and prosperity of the mankind.

Prof. Dr. ABU OBAIDUL HUQUE, Founder President, FMDA, GPO, Box 809, Dhaka, Bangladesh

India must teach Pakistan a lesson
This has reference to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's speeches in response to Gen. Musharraf’s utterances. Mr Vajpayee has no doubt done a very good job. We do hope that something concrete will come out.
No doubt America is trying to put some pressure on Gen. Musharraf but at the same time President Bush cannot afford to take a firm stand. He is trying to please both India and Pakistan. However, he does not have a concrete, workable and acceptable solution of Kashmir problem to offer. I don't think the post-election situation will resolve the Kashmir problem.
We have already missed very good opportunities, particularly after the Bangladesh war. While signing the Shimla agreement, we should have taken a firm stand on Kashmir and cleared it once and for all.
Look at the daily massacre of innocent civilians, our jawans and officers. Why should we fall prey to the atrocities of the ISI agents? Why cannot we teach a lesson to the Pakistani administration? How shall we follow the path of tolerance and how long will we remain silent spectators?
I think some concrete action is the need of the hour. India must show the world that it can handle the situation and reply in a most befitting manner. India should not allow Pakistan to take us for a ride.
K. C. TANDON, Bathinda

Exporting basmati

The editorial “Exporting basmati” (September 17) rightly calls for a viability study for the export of Basmati by the Punjab Government together with the correct price of water to be utilised by the crop. In the area proposed to be covered by the scheme, only water pumped from ground is made use of. In the past, farmers have been supplied free electricity for working the pumps. Even water charges for canal water supplied are not recovered from the farmers.

Among the advertised benefits, it has been stated that the farmers can expect remunerative returns on a sustained basis and they may expect increased yield. There will be no minimum support price (MSP) or purchase by the Central and state agencies. A state-of-art DNA-based laboratory is proposed. It is not yet clear when and where it will come up.

At a time when the Punjab government is trying hard to break the nexus between paddy and wheat crop rotation, will not the above promises go towards cementing the bond between wheat and paddy. Will somebody throw light on this?

DR G. S. DHILLON, Chandigarh

Welcome proposal

I fully agree with the views of Punjab Revenue Minister Amarjit Singh Samra that instead of discontinuing free power to farmers, a cess should be levied on the sale of produce. This will help government earn Rs 30 crore approximately and the scheme should be credited to the Punjab State electricity Board (PSEB) for meeting the losses. It will also serve lot of time and energy on reassessing the old and new tubewell connections.

M. P. S. RANDHAWA, Kapurthala