E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

The Arafat factor
MR Yasser Arafat is not only the head of the Palestinian Authority. He is also the tallest living leader of a community wronged by history. He, of course, began his career as a guerrilla fighter, but has graduated into the most acceptable moderate face of the Palestinian leadership.

Second phase suspense
AFTER the success of the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir the eyes of the global community are now fixed on the second round that begins today. The focus will be on Srinagar because it represents the heart of the valley.

Kidneys for sale
YET another gang selling kidneys has been exposed with the arrest of some persons in Amritsar. Coming as it does in the wake of the international attention focused on the Doaba region following the British scandal in which two doctors of Indian origin were allegedly involved, it again highlights how the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, which disallows the sale of any organ, are being flouted.

OPINION

State of Punjab’s small-scale industry
An uphill trek in new economic milieu
Chandra Mohan
PUNJAB was the fountain head of small-scale industry in India. Ludhiana used to proudly proclaim that there was nothing in engineering that it could not produce. Jalandhar was the acknowledged home for sports goods. Gobindgarh's fame as a steel-town spread far and wide.

REALPOLITIK

BJP’s revival plans: body sans soul
P. Raman
THE BJP has embarked on a massive countrywide mobilisation for what is officially described as preparing the ruling party for the next general election sometime in 2004. Drawn up under the able supervision of L.K. Advani, over a lakh workers will be pressed into service for nine weeks from September 26 to visit over five lakh villages. The operation will conclude with a public rally in Delhi on December 2.

Affluent kids: pressured and ignored
Lou Marano
PRESSURES to achieve and isolation from parents are associated with depression among middle school students from affluent backgrounds, says a study by Suniya S. Luthar, a Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia’s Teacher’s College. Feelings of emotional closeness derive from things as simple as sufficient downtime to relax with families.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Singapore women’s new passion
WOMEN in supposedly straight-laced Singapore have latched on to a new fashion trend — they are having themselves painted in the nude. Tossing the city-state’s conservative reputation aside, they are paying up to 30,000 Singapore dollars (17,000 US) to bare all for an artist, Stephane Le Pelletier, manager of the Opera Gallery, told The Sunday Times.

• Herbal therapy for smokers

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

The Arafat factor

MR Yasser Arafat is not only the head of the Palestinian Authority. He is also the tallest living leader of a community wronged by history. He, of course, began his career as a guerrilla fighter, but has graduated into the most acceptable moderate face of the Palestinian leadership. Today his life is under serious threat. Israel, it seems, has decided to get rid of him. That is why it has been targeting his headquarters in Ramallah for some time. Not long ago most of the buildings around his office complex were destroyed. He had been confined to a room with no transport facilities for his movement. Even the airstrip used by his helicopters was damaged beyond recognition. Mr Arafat is again under siege in his office compound with most of the buildings there reduced to rubble. Fearing his physical elimination, he has sent SOS messages to various world leaders to force the USA to ask Israel to see reason and desist from this destructive path. Power and water supply and the landline telephone connection to his office complex have been disrupted, perhaps, either to compel him to leave the area or to take any extreme step, though unthinkable at this stage. The Ariel Sharon regime of Israel has accused him of sheltering people responsible for the recent suicide bombings. It wants these men to be handed over to the Israeli authorities. Mr Arafat has refuted the charge, saying that the demand is not based on the truth. His stand is that he will prefer martyrdom to accepting an unsubstantiated claim by those refusing to entertain any dialogue offer. He has also declared that the Palestinians taking recourse to suicide bombing to express their viewpoint are enemies of the cause of Palestine. They, he says, have provided a pretext to the Israeli forces to demolish Palestinian homes and kill innocent and unarmed people.

Mr Arafat’s approach, though quite appreciable, is contrary to the thinking in the Ariel Sharon government, the George Bush Administration of the USA, and the two well-known Palestinian extremist groups — Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. While Israel holds Mr Arafat primarily responsible for the unending suicide attacks in that country, the USA is of the view that he is not doing enough to end the Israeli retaliatory strikes. The USA seems to be unwilling to force Israel to stop destroying Palestinian property and the killing of innocent civilians as it, perhaps, believes that this is how Palestinian terrorism can be tamed. One can draw this inference from the American response to the emerging situation-— that the Israeli action is justifiable if directed towards defending itself against terrorist attacks. The Palestinian extremists know no other method than the one they have been employing to tell the Israelis that “we are the real owners of this land and we would never give it up”. They disagree with Mr Arafat’s conciliatory approach and hold him squarely responsible for much of their suffering. Even then he commands the maximum following among the Palestinians. The USA should realise the significance of the Arafat factor and immediately play its restraining role. The alternative to this factor is chaos, which may engulf the entire region. Is the super power prepared for it?

Second phase suspense

AFTER the success of the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir the eyes of the global community are now fixed on the second round that begins today. The focus will be on Srinagar because it represents the heart of the valley. If the heart is made to bleed by the Pakistan-trained militants, a negative message will go out to the rest of the body. It is going to be a huge challenge for the security forces to help the voters express their faith in the democratic process without fear. The success of the first round has rattled Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and his agents in Jammu and Kashmir. Word has gone round to pull all stops by stepping up the scale of violence until the last round of polling in early October. The Pakistani dictator is worried because shortly after the completion of the poll process in Jammu and Kashmir Pakistan will be conducting sham elections for the restoration of democracy under the rules framed by General Musharraf! In the age of globalisation he cannot hide behind the excuse of the holding of elections in Pakistan being an internal affair in which outsiders have no right to poke their nose. This will not work. The presence of a large contingent of diplomats and foreign journalists during the first phase of polling in Jammu and Kashmir was what made the world sit up and take note of the people’s faith in democracy. The impressive turnout in the first phase exposed Pakistan’s claim over Kashmir as bogus. The people want peace and they want to give the democratic process a chance for achieving this objective.

In this context the bandh call by the Hurriyat Conference today against the elections has exposed their anti-national and anti-Kashmir leaning. The people should defy the Hurriyat call and the threat of violence by the militants and turn up in as large a number as they had done in the first phase. The first phase voters have paved the way for them by ignoring the threats of the Hurriyat and the militants. All they did was to conquer the fear of being harmed. The failure of the democratic process is not going to make the Hurriyat, the militants and President Musharraf let them live in peace. The ballot must defeat the bullet. The best bet for the restoration of peace in Jammu and Kashmir is to give democracy a chance. Ten years ago the people of Punjab had defeated terrorism by expressing their faith in democracy. Intelligence reports suggest that Pakistan is going to step up the scale of violence. It is reportedly willing to pay as much as Rs 10 lakh for the head of a candidate and Rs 1 lakh for that of a supporter. Last week the Army repulsed an attempt by Pakistan to smuggle in militants at Dothian in the Baramula sector. It was seventh infiltration bid in the past 20 days. The Army is doing its duty by guarding the Line of Control. The people must do their duty as also express their gratitude to the security forces by keeping the spirit of the first phase of polling alive.

Kidneys for sale

YET another gang selling kidneys has been exposed with the arrest of some persons in Amritsar. Coming as it does in the wake of the international attention focused on the Doaba region following the British scandal in which two doctors of Indian origin were allegedly involved, it again highlights how the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, which disallows the sale of any organ, are being flouted. The victims in this case are the poor persons who agreed to sell their kidneys. They are often malnourished. Most of them are also professional blood donors, which just highlights their pathetic state of existence. The reprehensible trade in human organs stems from a basic desire for longevity and the reality of a shortage of such parts in the world. Practically the world over, organs are not allowed to be sold, and are generally taken from either close relatives of the recipient or from cadavers. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act states that a donor should be a close relative of the patient and not below 18. While legally the situation is clear, the ground reality is murky and India has unfortunately become a major destination for the booming international trade of human organs. Doctors reveal that most of the time close relatives are also coerced into donating organs for the recipients. It is a sad reflection on our times that more often than not, a male patient’s wife is expected to donate her kidney while the reverse is rather rare. Article 9(3) of the Act permits unrelated individuals to donate their body parts “out of love or emotional attachment to the recipient,” with the prior approval of the government-appointed authorisation committee. This clause is often misused and there have been calls from the medical profession for scraping it.

There has been for some time a debate on legislating organs trade which, according to its votaries, would eliminate the black market and allow for proper care of the donors. The example of Iran is cited where it is said that the waiting list for kidneys had virtually been eliminated after legalisation that allowed the sales of organs. This argument is specious. According to a survey done on Iranian donors, many lost their jobs, earning and suffered from low self-esteem and health problems after they sold off their kidneys. However, there is no doubt that a genuine need for such organs exists. The Act had cleared the legal decks to enable a cadaver-based human organ donation programme to be put in place. Implementation of this has been a total failure. Public awareness has to be increased so that donating eyes, kidneys and other body parts after the death of a person becomes the norm rather than a rarity.

OPINION

State of Punjab’s small-scale industry
An uphill trek in new economic milieu
Chandra Mohan

PUNJAB was the fountain head of small-scale industry in India. Ludhiana used to proudly proclaim that there was nothing in engineering that it could not produce. Jalandhar was the acknowledged home for sports goods. Gobindgarh's fame as a steel-town spread far and wide.

Unfortunately, the new economic environment has turned all this into a wishful dream. A galloping cancer in spreading into the vitals of Punjab's small-scale industry. Gobindgarh is already half a ghost. Ludhiana's cycle and sewing machine industry is on a downhill slide. Mounting NPAs (non performing assets) of the PFC and banks substantiate this reality.

It is time to sit down and critically and honestly analyse the causes of the malaise and chart out a concentrated action plan to channelise Punjab's globally known spirit of enterprise to usher in a second spiral of prosperity which only industrialisation can provide.

India's socio-economic reality has undergone a revolutionary transformation in the last decade. Customer and profit are the new mantra. Radical changes for industry are:

• Days of low-cost (budget-subsidised) money are over. Returns and profit dictate the new financial world. Artificial low-rate term finance for industry is no longer available. Term finance is back to its natural risk-dictated level, higher than short-term working capital.
• With the NPAs to be avoided at every cost, banks have become supercautious in lending; no risks whatsoever. Priority is now shifted to zero-risk high-return consumer-durable loans to the salaried class. Whatever be lip-service, banking for societal causes is over.
• The day of the customer has arrived. Customers have discovered their power to dictate manufacturers. They demand performance. They demand choice. They demand looks. And all at zero price.
• The Indian customer has discovered global quality. Nothing short of 6-sigma is acceptable.
• Cut-throat competition in full style. No one is safe. Days of manufacturers are over. Marketing is the key to survival.

The writer, Chairman of Twenty-First Century Batteries, Mohali, was earlier Managing Director of Punjab Tractors Limited.

REALPOLITIK

BJP’s revival plans: body sans soul
P. Raman

THE BJP has embarked on a massive countrywide mobilisation for what is officially described as preparing the ruling party for the next general election sometime in 2004. Drawn up under the able supervision of L.K. Advani, over a lakh workers will be pressed into service for nine weeks from September 26 to visit over five lakh villages. The operation will conclude with a public rally in Delhi on December 2.

Make no mistake — it is not going to be like the all-India “weeks” of other parties which usually end up in token meetings. The man who had uplifted the two-MP BJP to the South Block has worked out meticulous details of the campaign to wrest a single-party majority in 2004. He presided over the meeting that finalised the details. Advani himself will join it at Chitrakut. About 100 senior BJP leaders will be drafted to supervise the “go-to-village” drive (something borrowed from Mao).

Zonal conferences of BJP functionaries addressed by party President Venkaiah Naidu are being held to finalise the local-level operations. Similar meetings will be held to identify issues and target villages and populations at the district and tehsil levels. The Maharashtra unit has decided to cover 35,000 villages. No political party has conducted expansion programmes in the recent past on such a gigantic scale with such precision and deadlines. Began soon after the young faces took over the party, inputs were given by the same old wiz kids (formal papers were also prepared) who had surrounded Advani in his expansion days.

Much of the bright ideas like a bold return to the Hindutva and calling elections on that issue when it captures popular imagination and rath yatras and pada yatras were all rejected. The present “no-risk” action plan keeps every option open even while keeping the cadre active. Advani even warns against the kind of cadre fatigue during Murli Manohar Joshi’s stewardship with so many agitations and “sieges” of Kashmir and the Boat Club (following this Rajesh Pilot’s Home Ministry had banned Boat Club rallies altogether). Even Venkaiah Naidu’s claim to win 300 Lok Sabha seats is being explained by the strategy planners as no more than a pious wish to inspire the “go-it-alone sections within the parivar.

For to win 300 seats the party should contest almost all 542 seats. The strategy planners, some of them parivar journalists, clarify that everything depended on the feedback from the nine-week campaign. If the response proves encouraging and the go-it alone campaign theme sells well, there would be no hesitation to dump the NDA. The campaign focus too will differ from state to state. In Opposition-ruled states where the BJP is the main party, it will be an all-out assault.

Ironically, the wiz kids foresee more scope for expansion in states ruled by the NDA allies — including Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — rather than the hard core Opposition pockets. This is due to the natural sustained resistance to the BJP from the traditional Congress, Left, Laloo and Mulayam support base. So the adherents of the DMK-AIADMK-PMK in Tamil Nadu, the crisis-ridden BJD in Orissa, the Shiv Sena, the TDP etc are going to be profitable poaching targets. During the campaign, the workers would emphasise the point that as a national party, the BJP, not the local outfits, could provide them more benefits. It will also tell the people about the misdeeds of such state governments led by the allies.

Such calculations apart, few really believe that the BJP can score any miracle in terms of expansion or wresting seats anywhere near the projected 300. Elections in state after state have exposed the party’s dwindling support among the people. The BJP places much hope in the incumbency ire in Opposition-ruled states. Even this may go heywire considering the resilience shown by those like the Left in West Bengal and Laloo and Digvijay Singh. Moreover, at least in principle the same factor can also work in the NDA-ruled states thus neutralising the effect.

With the BJP’s rule confined to three states with a total 32 Lok Sabha constituencies, few takes the claim for 300 seats seriously. Even in UP, the party has now slid to the third position. There is no evidence to show any improvement for the party in any state except Goa with just two Lok Sabha seats. Last time, two factors had contributed to the NDA’s victory — the Kargil war and Vajpayee’s still fresh, clean image as a symbol of the middle class hopes and aspirations. Neither is available this time. Opinion polls have revealed widespread anger and disappointment among the same middle class. As many as 69 per cent of them are found unhappy with the government

Latest opinion poll by a friendly weekly depicts a more grim picture for the BJP. It says that the party has further lost popular support after its previous survey. True, the Opposition remains disjointed. But it is also true that recent elections have not revealed any erosion of their influence in their strongholds. Political realism should force the BJP to forge some kind of alliance in states where it is not the main party.

The BJP’s bane has been its disdain for good governance as a USP for winning elections. Instead, the party tries to compensate for it by relying on negative votes, the BJP’s proven organisational abilities reinforced by rich resources and engineering emotional waves. All such factors are variable and might not be always available to a political party. As of now, four governments have got re-elected — the LF for five terms and TDP, Laloo and Digvijay Singh for two terms each. Sadly, the BJP does not figure in the list.

True, the term good governance is relative and never absolute. What matters is the people’s perception. The Left government in West Bengal may not have achieved any miracles but being free from daily violence and under an orderly rule itself has been a big achievement in Bengal. None of the BJP governments could do what Chandrababu Naidu did single-handed for Andhra Pradesh. The BJP began well at the Centre but it finally fell into the trap of non-governance. Allegations of corruption, scandals and economic mismanagement have led to the investers losing faith in the very system.

Unfortunately, the BJP has nothing much to show by way of achievement. Unlike the predecessors, no one in this government even talks of keeping a tab on the implementation of the NDA agenda.

Advani’s cadre mobilisation will certainly reactivate the disillusioned cadre. A well-oiled party machinery will greatly help enliven the poll campaign. But in the absence of an impressive report card and marketable programme, such campaigns will end up as a sturdy body without soul.

Advani’s ongoing mobilisation is both a cadre stimulation as well as a test balloon. It seems to rely on three postulates. Depending on the popular response and unfolding political atmosphere during the next year and half, including the poll outcome in 10 states early next year, he holds the option of retaining coalition line or a return to a hard Modi model Hindutva. Second, in case hopes soar, a tactical alliance with selected outfits like the BSP in UP, TDP and AIADMK for the next poll. Last, wait for or create a new emotional issue like Kargil. Organisational mobilisation is essential foundation for all such options.

Affluent kids: pressured and ignored
Lou Marano

PRESSURES to achieve and isolation from parents are associated with depression among middle school students from affluent backgrounds, says a study by Suniya S. Luthar, a Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia’s Teacher’s College.

Feelings of emotional closeness derive from things as simple as sufficient downtime to relax with families. “Upwardly mobile, affluent families place great emphasis on the achievements of children as well as parents, including multiple extracurricular activities. Between the children’s busy schedules and the parents’ busy professional schedules, very often what you find is that youngsters do not have enough time to sit down and have a calm and relaxing evening with their parents,” Luthar said.

Luthar’s findings, which will be published in the October issue of Child Development, note that suburban parents’ pressures on children to achieve can involve “maladaptive perfectionism,” which is not merely striving for high and realistic goals but an “excessive investment in accomplishment and need to avoid failure.” Also, “there is often a ubiquitous emphasis on ensuring that children secure admission to stellar colleges.”

“The other thing that can be implicated is lack of adult after-school supervision,” Luthar told UPI. “We suspected that a number of these 12- and 13-year-olds were left alone after school hours on a regular basis. ... This is not just mother-absent but also nanny-absent.”

A fair number of seventh-graders come home to an empty house or hang out around with their friends or siblings, Luthar said. “Among these youth, it’s not a lack of financial resources that prevents child care. In a number of instances, the parents seem to feel that this promotes self-sufficiency. The other factor seems to be that they feel their neighbourhoods are so safe that there really isn’t a threat to their children. But there is no neighbourhood, however, pristine that is going to make up for the lack of adults being around to watch what children are doing.”

Boys were more likely than girls to be unsupervised after school, but girls who were unsupervised were more likely to exhibit behavioural problems.

The psychologist was asked if kids feel more stress when adults are not there to supervise them. “Yes,” she said, “and they have more opportunities to indulge in behaviours that adults would normally stop. Mom and dad’s drinks cabinet is accessible.

Seventh grade is a critical period, Luthar said. At 13, kids start formulating their value systems, their identities, and thinking about what they will pursue in life.

Girls, who are close to their mothers, are at a far lower risk for depression. Both girls and boys are helped more by closeness to mothers than closeness to fathers. Children close to their mothers are least likely to smoke or use drugs and alcohol or to show symptoms of distress. “It makes more of a difference for the overall well-being of girls than of boys,” Luthar said.

However, girls who indicated a close relationship with their fathers were more likely to have high academic grades. UPI

TRENDS & POINTERS

Singapore women’s new passion

WOMEN in supposedly straight-laced Singapore have latched on to a new fashion trend — they are having themselves painted in the nude.

Herbal therapy for smokers

Newtrition Remedies, a branch of Chennai-based Hebaa Cures which manufactures alternative medicines, has come out with a “Trans Alpha Herbal Therapy” to assist smokers to overcome physical and psychological addiction to tobacco, which begins with an attempt to make the “smoker smoke consciously”.

This is followed by the patient himself, finalising a Pilot Quitting Date, a 24-hour period when he will keep away from smoking. However, before this, the patient is asked to smoke in seclusion, “with his thoughts totally centred on smoking”, S. Ganeshan, Chief Executive, Newtrition Remedies, told PTI.

The mode of therapy involves intake of 2-3 herbal drops dissolved in a glass of water, three to four times a day for ten days along with Hypno-Therapy, which is done alongside for an hour daily by a qualified naturopathy and yoga doctor, for five days.

While herbal drops help in arresting “physical craving”, the hypno-therapy takes care of the “psychological craving”, Ganeshan said.

The patient during the course is also taught how to cope with situational cravings through muscle relaxation and abdominal breathing techniques.

By the end of the 15th day, the smoker not only becomes a non-smoker but also acquires a positive attitude towards health, he added. PTI

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

By remembering the Lord we obtain wealth, mystical powers, and the nine treasures; 
By remembering the Lord we obtain Divine knowledge, the gift of meditation, and true wisdom.

To remember God is the true essence Of every kind of devotion, penance and prostration.

All delusive awareness of that which seems other than the Lord

Is, on remembering the Lord, dispelled.

To remember the Lord is to bathe in the holy rivers; To remember the Lord is to be honoured in His presence; Who remembers the Lord, his acts are always righteous; Who remembers the Lord feels His will to be ever sweet

In remembering the Lord there is profit.

They remember the Lord whom the Lord hath inspired to remember Him: Nanak prayeth to be worthy to touch their feet.

***

... There is no fear of death while one remembers God;

In remembering God all wishes are fulfilled,

All uncleanliness washed away from the mind,

And His ambrosial Name fills the whole heart.

The Lord dwells on the tongue of His chosen ones;

Of such servants of God may Nanak be servant!

***

Many shastras, many smrities have I seen...

They are not equal, O Nanak, to the greatness

of contemplating the Lord’s priceless Name!

— The Sukhmani, pauri 3-4; Ashtapadi, 3, slok

***

The fruits of chanting and piety

of penance and austerity

can all through simran be gained;

Kabir, the true devotees know;

No other practice

can reach the heights of simran

Simran of the True Name

Is always fruitful,

whether done with fervor

or with frown;

The seed in the field sprouts

whether it falls with its face

upward or down.

— Kabir Sakhi Sangraha

***

Love thy work.

— The Talmud