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Friday,
January 31, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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A poll-centric exercise “State of war” address
Is our democracy losing direction? |
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The really “Saral” income tax form
Kalpana Chawla: Karnal’s flying daughter
How much love is too much love?
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A poll-centric exercise Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's ninth Cabinet reshuffle is clearly aimed at improving the BJP's prospects in the Assembly elections in nine states this year and the Lok Sabha poll in 2004. His is a well-crafted, well-calculated and well-coordinated exercise. It will be futile to view the changes in terms of Mr Vajpayee versus Mr L. K. Advani. Whatever might be the differences of opinion between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, they are definitely not novices in the art of political management and adjustment to mutual advantage. They understand their obligations to keep the party and the government in a state of harmony at this critical stage. So, the changes have been done after closely examining the various options to help the BJP project a better image for itself in the public. In this context, the induction of Mr Arun Jaitley as Cabinet Minister for Law and Commerce and Industry will surely give a boost to the government's image at the Centre. Known for dynamism, his performance in the crucial portfolios allotted to him will be watched with considerable interest. Mr Arun Shourie also emerges as a substantial gainer with his new portfolios of IT and Communications besides Disinvestment. Poor Jana Krishnamurthy! He was reportedly reluctant to give up the Law portfolio and accept an alternative slot. But then the Prime Minister cannot please everyone, especially when he heads a coalition government. Not that the present jumbo-sized ministry inspires sufficient confidence in the government's ability to move things speedily and in the right direction. There are several grey areas both in talent and performance. Much will, however, depend on how the Prime Minister sets the tone for the economy's faster growth. True, Mr Vajpayee allows his senior ministers considerable initiatives to deliver the goods. If they fail to perform, the Prime Minister is left with no choice but either to dump them or shift them to other areas. This is what he has done in the case of Mr Shatrughan Sinha. The film star-turned-politician was a miserable failure as Health Minister. He overlooked the fact that a minister's role is not like that of a film actor. The ministerial responsibility demands serious application of mind, proper study of policies and right action. Mrs Sushma Swaraj's new assignment of Health, Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs acquires an added importance since she will have to undo some of the wrong moves of her predecessor. Of course, her admirers would miss her in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. But then her successor, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, with independent charge of the I&B Ministry, has already acquired some reputation as a forward-looking person. The return of Mr C. P. Thakur with the charge of Northeastern Affairs and Small-Scale Industries has apparently been prompted by political compulsions to placate the Bhoomihar lobby in Bihar. All the same, he has a big challenge ahead. The induction of a number of young persons as Ministers of State shows the Prime Minister's keenness to strengthen the second rung of leadership in running the government. He has been equally alive to the task of strengthening the party. The new job for Mr Pramod Mahajan, who enjoys reputation as a resource person and the BJP's trouble-shooter, is a step in that direction. As for Ms Uma Bharati, she is being groomed to take on the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. Similar is the case with Mrs Vasundhararaje Scindia, who has been drafted for party work with an eye on Rajasthan. In totality, Mr Vajpayee has done his part of the job in exercising his discretion in reshuffling his ministers. But his real test will begin now. He has to realise that mere window-dressing and rhetoric cannot solve the country's problems. What is needed is action on the ground and quality governance at all levels. It needs to be realised that the people are shrewd and sharp observers. They cannot be taken for a ride in the crucial battles of the ballot ahead. |
| “State of war” address GENERALS of yore used to give a stirring speech to their troops on the eve of a war. Today, it seems such a pep talk comes through a “State of the Union” Address, at least in America. Almost the entire speech of President George W. Bush was devoted to justifying the action he is contemplating against Iraq and convincing his countrymen that it was only for the sake of protecting global peace and order that he was ready to make such a great sacrifice. The die has been cast and you can almost hear the battle drums. For form’s sake, the USA has requested the United Nations for a meeting on February 5 where the Secretary of State, Gen Colin Powell, will present the alleged information and intelligence about Iraq’s illegal weapons programme. If the UN rubber-stamps the US action, well and good! But if it does not, the lone ranger is all set to go on the offensive on its own. “We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: if Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him,” President Bush thundered. The thunderous applause that followed was a clear-cut indicator that the protests of dissenting countries, including allies like France and Germany, are set to be ignored. There is opposition to the war rhetoric within the USA as well but that is proving to be a cry in the wilderness. President Bush is adequately armed with the backing of some 88 per cent Americans in his intended war on terrorism. The fact that the evidence that he has cited against Iraq is flimsier than a muslin cloth is conveniently glossed over. The conventional wisdom has been that if there is no God, we will have to invent one. Americans have manipulated the phrase to read that if there is no evil, we have the right to invent one. It is really amazing how President Bush has managed to shift the focus away from Osama bin Laden and has converted President Saddam Hussein into the numero uno villain. Now it is the latter who is the evil force even behind
Al-Qaeda. Ironically, a lot of sophistry is at play to soften the edges of outright aggression. “If war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the US military and we will prevail,” said the true son of a great father. Clapping, anyone? Oh, by the way, he also touched upon Iran, North Korea, medicare and hydrogen-powered cars. |
Is our democracy losing direction? “What has our democracy given us?” A friend who has a fixation for the presidential form of government said to me. “Jayalalitha and her tantrums, Mayawati and her transfer mania, Narendra Modi and his divisive politics, and caste, corruption, profligacy and maladministration of a type we have never seen before?” In our country it is easy to work up hatred. Jinnah showed how easy it is to do it, now the BJP in Gujarat has found a way of holding an election based on it, which may be followed in all the states going to the polls this year unless things take a different turn. “Let us watch what happens in Maharashtra and the other states. The idea of having a democracy in which everybody is equal is obviously unworkable in a country in which there is no equality at all, in any form or shape, social, economic or political. In fact, disparities are increasing. “Even respect for the Constitution is fading out, and we have not believed in firm law enforcement ever since the civil disobedience days, and violence, it appears, is a better vote-catcher than non-violence.” I was surprised at his outburst but he is a very perceptive observer. So, I wanted to understand what he meant. “I am not sure that you are right. Democracy has kept us together. We have a good Constitution, the rule of law prevails in the land, and we can say that we live happily most of the time.” “Yes, yes”, he said, “there are many husbands and wives who hate each other, yet stay together, and they also call it happiness. That does not mean that it is a good marriage.” “The sure test of a democracy is the regularity and successful holding of elections,” I said. “Would you not say that elections have been held in time, are successful in J&K despite pressures of all types? Punjab came out of terrorism with an election that gave victory to those who wanted an end to violence. Democracy gives a chance to all to show what they want. The voice of the people is the voice of God.” “No, my dear sir”, he said. “The voice of the people is no longer the voice of God. It is the voice of a mob, led by known hoodlums who kill and loot those whom the state has selected for punishment. Besides, it provokes retaliation — bomb blasts, as in Bombay, or attacks of a dastardly type on the Ahmedabad temple. It is the surest way to damage democracy.” I said, “You are only bringing up minus points. Are there no plus points?” “Of course, there are plus points”, he said. The mood of the nation is totally against Pakistan; unity at least in one respect. Our rulers want to show what we can do. Everything else can be shoved under the carpet. All propaganda is designed for election results. Pakistan too has built up a nice group of hatevendors. The truth is that we will go on intimidating each other. We have begun by harassing our diplomats, like boys in a gully-cricket war, besides improving our missiles, cheering every extra mile that we get, buying big boats for what? To help the starving in the streets? It will go on till one day somebody loses his head, or an accident happens, and we are both consumed by mistakes. Would you not say that the entire mood of the nation has changed. It is down, very down. Every factor seems against a positive outlook, increasing prices, insecurity, malnutrition. Hopelessness. Why do the young want to get out of the country? Poor people freezing to death in the cold. Those pictures of them on TV screens, sitting by a sticks-and-leaves fire has made every Indian feel ashamed. About a thousand have died, too frail and hungry to stand the cold, in the Capital. “Chain se kabhi aapne jeene na diya.” I can understand Pakistan. If the army wants to stay in power, it must build up hostility towards India, and Kashmir serves as an excuse. I cannot understand why India should try the same game. Why should we have an obsession with Pakistan? Is it only to win elections? In that case it is a very expensive and dangerous way to win elections. Our forests have declined from 33 per cent to 17 per cent. Is that the positive side? Wild animals are fading out; we too will follow them owing to pollution. Nobody talks about the need to separate politics from policing. And all disasters stem from this main cause. Millions of cases are pending in courts. They talk in terms of hundreds of years to clear them. Is this the way we want to ensure deterrence and security? To crown it all, Gandhiji is at a discount, Nehru’s thinking is referred to as Nehruvian, and the new hero of the land is Narendra Modi. “What more positive points do you need?” “Okay”, I said, “I concede that certain things have gone wrong. How do we correct them? That is the real question before us.” He said, “How can we correct it when the people who make laws, and are implementing them, break those laws? Our laws and Constitution, even our traditions are correct. We now find that breaking them, and gaining by it is easy. Nothing can be done unless a new authority overriding all politicians is created.” “No, you are wrong”, I said. “Democracy will correct it.” (Deep inside I wondered if I am right). |
The really “Saral” income tax form There was a time when filling an income tax form was only slightly less complicated than solving a crossword. Over the years many attempts have been made to simplify the form and also to shorten it. But the task has proved to be beyond the capability of income tax experts. The form is still beyond the comprehension of an average taxpayer. As a patriotic salaried person, I have spent several years studying the intricacies of tax collection and have finally succeeded in preparing a genuinely simple form which will take tears out of tax payment. More important, it will not disturb the existing tax structure in any way; only streamline it. The objective-type, one-page form will be colour-coded. In other words, there will be a red form for the salaried persons and a green one for the business class. The red form will ask the employees some simple questions and the tax liability will be calculated on the basis of the answers. Question No. 1.: How many meals do you take every day? Response A. Eat at charitable organisations. (Congratulations. You don’t have to pay any tax.) B. Once a day. (Deposit 10 per cent of your carry-home salary with the income tax office.) C. Twice a day. (Tax will be 20 per cent). D. Thrice a day. (Thirty per cent. Also explain in writing how you have been maintaining such a lavish life-style.) E. Whenever hungry. (Credit your entire salary directly to the IT account.) Question No. 2.: How many times do you dine out? A. Once a year. (10 per cent surcharge on your overall tax liability). B. Once a month. (20 per cent surcharge). C. Once a week. (Mortgage all your belongings and report to the income tax office with the proceeds.) The green form for the business men will be equally uncomplicated. The tax will be calculated on the basis of the one-out-of-four formula. If you have a telephone, you will have to deposit Rs 1 lakh every year. If you have a phone and a car, you will have to pay Rs 50,000 a year. The tax amount will fall to Rs 25,000 per annum if you have a phone, a car and a credit card. It will be down to Rs 1,000 if you have all of these and have also travelled abroad during the previous year. There will be several exemptions also for this class through which they can reduce their tax liability to zero. These are: A. Ability to hire a top-notch tax lawyer. B. Donation of more than Rs 1 lakh to the ruling party. (As proof of payment, submit a detailed map of the office of the party president and also the items that you noticed under his table.) C. Blood relationship with any VVIP. (A phone from the person concerned will be necessary). D. Acquaintance with any mafia don. (Just the mention of the name will be enough). E. Willingness to pay half of the tax liability to the ITO directly. (If E. is applicable, don’t bother about filling this form. Just ring up and the person concerned will be at your doorstep within half an hour). Note: Those applying for exemption under any of these clauses will also qualify for “Tax Ratna” awards. |
Kalpana Chawla: Karnal’s flying daughter An alumni of the West Valley Flying Club, astronaut Kalpana, 42, was selected by NASA in December, 1994, and reported to the Johnson Space Centre in March 1995, as an astronaut candidate. Her assignments included work on the development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. In 1996, Kalpana was declared a mission specialist. In completing her first mission, Kalpana travelled 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in space. In 1998 she was assigned the lead role for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability Section and to STS-107. Kalpana’s love for the skies and flying began as a little girl while studying in Tagore School in Karnal. Though her businessman father encouraged her to join the Karnal flying club, he was opposed to his daughter choosing flying as a career. She is the first woman aeronautical engineer of Punjab Engineering College in 1982. She decided to pursue higher studies in the USA. She acquired a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1984 and a Doctorate of Philosophy in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988. She holds Certified Flight Instructor’s licence with airplane and glider ratings, commercial pilot’s licence for single and multi-engine land and seaplanes and instrument rating for airplanes. She enjoys flying aerobatics and tail wheel airplanes. Kalpana is married to French flying instructor and aviation writer Jean Pierre Harrison. She has not forgotten her exceptional teachers at Tagore School and worked out arrangements for a group of students to visit NASA every year. Punjab village boy
as leading cardiologist Born in Patto Hira Singh village in Moga district, Dr Lal attended the local village school up to the fifth standard after which he shifted for high school education to his maternal uncle at Shaina in Punjab. Son of a bicycle mechanic, Dr Lal literally completed his schooling under street lamps. In his own words, learning under the street lamp resulted in heightened power of concentration which helped him get a National Merit Scholarship of Rs 125 with which he not only paid his tuition fees but also partly shouldered the responsibility of his needy family back in his native village as his father had died. He got his MBBS from the Medical College at Amritsar in 1975 and proceeded to the USA next year for higher studies. “Since I received higher education literally at no cost, I always wanted to come back to treat Indian patients. My mission was to provide advanced heart care to the lower and middle classes. In 1989 I joined Apollo, I did the first drilling of the coronary artery, the procedure called Slow Rotational Angioplasty, on a 33-year-old general surgeon, who is alive and involved in medical practice in Punjab”. Having introduced several procedures in the country in the field of interventional cardiology as an alternative to open heart
surgery like atherectomy, supported angioplasty, non-surgical closure of PDA by non-Rashkind methods, stenting, valvuloplasty, Dr Lal decided to set up Metro Hospital and Heart Institute at Noida, Uttar Pradesh in 1997. To save many young individuals from massive heart attacks, to overcome the unavailability of any reliable non-invasive method of detecting coronary artery blocks in high risk patients and, above all, to ease the prevailing phobia of angiography, Dr Lal introduced a new concept of Metro Coronary Screening which is not only economical but is also discomfort-free and patient-friendly. |
How much love is too much love? Every Italian boy worships his mother, but does mamma sometime love too much? Well, apparently, yes. In a decision likely to strike fear into the hearts of doting mothers countrywide, Italy’s Supreme Court ruled last week that sometimes a mother’s love can go too far. Reviewing a case, Italy’s highest appeals court in Rome said a Florence court was right to have granted a divorced father custody of his young child because the mother was too tense and smothering to properly nurture the boy. “The woman’s excessive apprehension and hyperprotective behaviour have created problems for the son,” the court said. The same Supreme Court in Rome backed a decision by a court in Bari which had ruled that a divorced father could no longer have the custody of his children because he too often left them to be looked after by a baby-sitter or their grandmother. “The father has delegated to other parties — the grandmother and the baby sitter — important roles that only a mother can perform for children of that age,” they said. This time around the mother was ecstatic. “With me they’re where they should be — where there’s love,” she declared.
Reuters |
My tongue utters only your acquired Names, but your age-old Name is Sat or the Truth. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Maru M 5, page 1083
*** Repeat the Nectar of Nam, O tongue, For it makes the humble devotee its own. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Kabir, Gauri, page 331 |
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For Kalpana Chawla, the Karnal girl and now an American citizen, the chance to return to space earlier this month on January 16 was another first for this determined woman of Indian origin. Her first flight into space was in 1997 and the new mission — STS-107 — aboard space shuttle Columbia comprises specialists. 
Noted cardiologist of the National Capital Region, Dr Purshotam Lal, recipient of the nation’s third highest award Padma Bhushan this year, had kept the Indian flag flying high at international fora like the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Interventions in the United States of America. Dr Lal, who has established a pioneering heart care hospital, returned to India in 1989 after 15 years of stay in the USA where he studied and practised cardiology with great success.