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Thursday,
March 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Return of Virbhadra Budget’s blow to agriculture IT has reason to smile |
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Himachal poll and Hindutva
The man behind Indian tyre giant
The process of social change
Family splits give children headaches
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Return of Virbhadra MR Virbhadra Singh has bounced back to power with two major advantages: rich experience and overwhelming support. Not only the previous four terms that he has had will help him get in his stride without any fuss, the large support base that he has garnered will make sure that he has a hiccup-free innings as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. It is common knowledge that his competitor, Ms Vidya Stokes, had a better rapport with the party high command, but the way Mr Virbhadra Singh facilitated the victory of his party is a testimonial to his political skills. The high command too has done well to present a picture of unity by getting Ms Stokes to propose his name after he had won over the support of 34 of the 40 party MLAs. One hopes that the shaking of hands will not be for the benefit of cameras alone. The Congress has a comfortable majority, but it still cannot afford the luxury of having squabbles in the party. The example of what happened to the BJP is right before it. A party is harmed more by its own rebels than outsiders. Mr Virbhadra Singh has an enviable record of taking everyone along, and that should hold him in good stead. He also seems to have doubled his efforts to improve his relations with the party high command. He has come to power at a time when the state faces an acute financial crisis. However, he has been a popular Chief Minister who knows how to control the bureaucracy, and as such there need not be any apprehensions about the administrative well-being of the state. It will be interesting to observe how generous and fair the Centre is towards a dispensation which has grabbed the reins of the state after thrashing a BJP-led coalition. The immediate focus will be on ministry formation. The former Raja of Bushahr will not only have to satisfy a large number of his supporters but also strike a balance between various regions of the state. The buzz in BJP circles is because of a different reason. The hounding of Mr Virbhadra Singh during the Dhumal regime is a grim reality and if he decides to repay them in the same coin, quite a few big names will be in deep trouble. Mr Virbhadra Singh has a long memory, although most admit that he is too much of a gentleman to launch a political witch-hunt. At the same time, it is also true that there have been many murky scandals which need to be probed thoroughly. On a larger canvas, the functioning of the latest state that the Congress has bagged will have a considerable bearing on the party's fortunes in the general election.
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| Budget’s blow to agriculture THE Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, raised expectations when in the course of his Budget speech he said: “Agriculture, the life-blood of our economy, after giving the country adequate food security, is now again at the crossroads, as it prepares to diversify and move up the value chain.” But then instead of providing fund support to the beleaguered farm sector, he made a
volte-face and proceeded to announce a fertiliser price hike — Rs 12 for urea and Rs 10 for DAP per 50 kg bag, not sparing complex fertilisers either. The subsidy on fertilisers is actually not meant for farmers, but is a price the government pays for the inefficiency of the fertiliser industry. The unexpected blow stunned the farming community, particularly the small farmer, already reeling under a debilitating drought and frequent diesel price hikes. The Finance Minister rubbed salt into their wounds by announcing excise cuts for cars and airconditioners and cigarettes to strengthen its urban middle class vote-bank. A budget coming after a severe drought was expected to boost the country’s irrigation network, whose inadequacy was so amply demonstrated during the critical period, so as to reduce the farmers’ dependence on the mood of the monsoon. But nothing of the sort happened. Mr Jaswant Singh merely referred to the Task Force appointed by the Prime Minister to suggest modalities for interlinking rivers and left the topic with a promise of adequate outlay. River interlinking is a long-term project, whose viability is being questioned by experts and which may get bogged down in controversy as the squabbling states may not reach a consensus. The Finance Minister’s speech reflects a dim appreciation and understanding of the emerging grim agricultural scenario in the country, especially in the
post-WTO regime with cheaper farm imports entering the Indian market and competition from highly protected farmers of developed countries becoming stiffer, unfair and unbearable. By freezing the minimum support prices for wheat and paddy, and raising the farm input costs, the government is bent on ruining agriculture and making farmers’ survival more difficult. The government seems to have no clear roadmap for guiding agriculture out of its present crisis. Take, for example, Mr Jaswant Singh’s diversification proposal. He advises farmers to turn to horticulture and floriculture. In the absence of fruit processing industries and exports, if farmers take to horticulture in a big way, fruit prices would tumble and most horticulturists would be driven out of business. In floriculture, there is huge demand abroad, but where is the infrastructure to facilitate quicker exports of the perishable commodity called flower? Finance Ministry mandarins would do well to spare time to read the Johl committee report and take a decision. A poor performance of agriculture has already brought down the overall growth rate to 4.45 per cent this year and the Prime Minister has conceded that the targeted 8 per cent growth is getting unachievable. And yet agriculture is not given the importance it deserves. |
IT has reason to smile THE information technology sector has reason to smile despite the global slump and various international uncertainties. This is because the Union Budget is IT-friendly and has continued the concessions that were given to IT companies. No wonder, the industry’s reaction has been positive.
Nasscom, the apex industry association of software and IT service companies, has welcomed the fact that the budget has retained full tax exemption under Section 10A/10B to the IT sector. It has also commended the government for amending the clause in Section 10A/10B of the Income Tax Act, which was said to be holding back mergers and acquisitions. IT companies have had to go through major restructuring because of the viscidities of international trade, the benching of IT professionals worldwide and the generally sluggish economy. This has, in a way, managed to separate the men from the boys and while many companies have gone bust, those with strong fundamentals have not only survived but also done better than many of their international competitors. Infosys and Wipro have set new standards of management and accountability, displaying surprising niftiness in adapting to new situations. The industry is expected to respond by exporting more software. On the whole, the sector has done well in making use of various sops available to it, including full exemption of taxes on export profits. This is likely to continue and the removal of duties on software will have an impact on the common man as computers are likely to become more affordable, with a price drop of at least Rs 500 being predicted. This would, no doubt, fuel demand, and growth of the hardware sector. The removal of tax on software bundled with hardware is a welcome step, as it reduces ambiguity. PC owners have a lot to look forward to, whether they are buying another computer or new software. The industry must respond to the initiative of the government by making software affordable. This may also help curb the menace of piracy, which has bedevilled the industry for so long. The government has also reduced the overall duty on the import of telecom equipment, which has been welcomed by the industry as it will help in boosting
teledensity. Is there any dark cloud to mar this sunshine? Yes. Various cyber cafés will now have to pay a service tax of 10 per cent. This sector gives Internet access to those who cannot afford to have computers at home, and the tax will hit it hard, even as it is still bedevilled by high supply and low demand. But, then, you can’t please all even with a please-all budget. |
Himachal poll and Hindutva AFTER its resounding defeat in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP has put all the blame for the dismal result on infighting within the party in the hill-state. No one has emphasised this more strongly than the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who says that he had discerned the oncoming disaster during his election campaign. Doubtless, there is something in this claim, as also in the explanation that the “anti-incumbency factor” was also at work in the Shimla hills. But all this is, at best, a half-truth, not the whole truth. The stark reality is that the people of Himachal Pradesh - a state that had elected the saffron party more than once in the past - have rejected the BJP’s Hindutva agenda. The simple hill folk have spurned the party’s dubious design to repeat Gujarat in Himachal and other states due to elect new assemblies this year by adopting a dangerously divisive and communally surcharged electoral strategy. No amount of tear-shedding over the disunity and discord in a party that was once held up as a shining example of unity and cohesion can obscure what has actually happened. Dissimulation, like opportunism, is the lifeblood of Indian politics, however. Hence the patently absurd attempt of the BJP’s apologists and spin-doctors to pretend that it hadn’t played the Hindutva card in Himachal Pradesh at all. If so, why did the party choose the Gujarat Chief Minister and the saffron camp’s new icon, Mr Narendra Modi, as one of the principal campaigners in the state, forming a trinity of sorts with Mr. Vajpayee and the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani? Obviously, its expectation was that Mr. Modi would be weave once again the “magical web” he had woven in Gujarat after Godhra and the gory carnage that had followed. The apostle of “Moditva” did the best he could. Other party leaders joined him in raising the communal temperature. Mr. Advani, as is his wont, used the undoubted but long-standing problem of illegal immigration from Bangladesh for this purpose. Some others promised a new law to ban conversions. This was meant, from all accounts, to add generally to a communally polarised atmosphere and to target specifically Ms Vidya Stokes, a senior Congress leader. The BJP did not have to introduce the emotive cow slaughter issue into the electoral fray; the normally sensible Congress Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Digvijay Singh, had unwisely done this job for it. On the vexed question of the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya, the party again pulled out all stops. Sadly, even Atalji’s ambivalent speeches on the subject were aimed at comforting the extremists. His government’s actions spoke even more loudly than his disheartening words. Just when the Hindutva hotheads, represented by the likes of Mr Praveen Togadia, were clamouring for the start of the temple’s construction immediately and regardless of the court’s verdict, the Vajpayee government petitioned the court to allow religious activity, at present banned under the court’s directive, on the “undisputed” part of the land acquired by the government not far from the disputed site where stood the demolished Babri Masjid. Such a petition could have been filed months earlier or weeks later. But it was evidently timed to coincide with electioneering in Himachal and with the ominous agitation by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the streets of Ayodhya and New Delhi. Not content with this the Union Government sent the Solicitor-General to the apex court to demand that it should start hearing the petition for the vacation of its stay on the religious use of undisputed land before the voting day in Himachal Pradesh. The Supreme Court, as was only to be expected of it, rejected this plea after making it clear that it would “not act under pressure”. It fixed March 6 as the date for the hearing of the case so that judicial proceedings could not be exploited by any side for electoral purposes. Does one have to say more to prove that the BJP did play the Hindutva card with all the vigour at its command? That this shabby strategy backfired and indeed boomeranged is to the credit of the hill-state’s supposedly unsophisticated people. Until he was shifted from the government to the party organisation and made president of the BJP, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu used to talk sound sense. Evidently, the shock in Himachal has unhinged him somewhat. There can be no other explanation for his curious logic - implicit in his retort to the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi - that if the BJP’s defeat in Himachal was a rejection of Hindutva then the Congress defeat in Nagaland must mean Hindutva’s triumph. Someone should inform Mr. Naidu that though Nagaland and other north-eastern states are strategically vital and are integral parts of India, their politics and ethos are very different from those of the states of the Hindi heartland, sometimes called the “cow belt”. Not only is the concept of Hindutva alien to the North-East but also people of the region are totally opposed to such Hindutva plans as a ban on cow slaughter. In fact, in May, 1996, when Mr. Vajpayee’s first government had turned out to be a 13-day wonder, Mr. Purno Sangma, whose Nationalist Congress Party has done rather well in Meghalaya, had tried to drive home the point during the confidence debate in Parliament. Addressing Atalji directly, he had pointed out that the inclusion of a ban on cow slaughter in the BJP’s agenda was bound to annoy the people of the North-East. This, Mr. Sangma had added, had “nothing to do with religion”; beef was the staple food of the people in that region. Sadly, it seems impossible to make Hindutva’s votaries understand even the simplest facts of national life. India is a land of such bewildering diversities and such stunning complexities that an attempt to impose on it any kind of uniformity, on religious or any other grounds, cannot but be a recipe for disaster. The BJP should first realise this and then try to educate the wilder men infesting its sister organisations such as the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Jagran Manch all of which form part of the Sangh parivar. If the BJP is in dire need of introspection, so is the Congress that has every right to be happy on its impressive victory in Himachal Pradesh but would be foolish to believe that it can rest on its oars. It would be even more misguided if it assumes that the wind, despite the catastrophe in Gujarat, has once again started blowing in its direction. Ms Sonia Gandhi has been prey to such notions in not too distant a past, only to be reminded by Mr Vajpayee not to count her chickens before they were hatched. Even the joy of triumph in Himachal is not unadulterated. It is mixed with worry about infighting and dissidence within the state party. The tussle for the top job between the former Chief Minister, Mr. Virbhadra Singh, and the PCC chief, Ms. Stokes, was no less virulent (the race has ended in favour of Mr Virbhadra Singh,) than the rivalry between the defeated Chief Minister, Mr P. K. Dhumal, and the Union Cabinet Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar. It could turn equally destructive. More importantly, there is no guarantee that the Himachal pattern would be repeated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi where the anti-incumbency factor would work against the Congress. In any case, these elections are more than seven months away and even seven days are too long a period in Indian politics. The worst danger signal for the Congress is the outcome of the two assembly byelections in UP where the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) have won one seat each. The byelection at Gauriganj that forms part of Ms Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency is clearly the more shattering for the Congress. Especially, because Ms Gandhi’s daughter, Mrs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, considered by many party men as their “best hope” for the future, had tried to win over the Dalit population of the area. But the key state’s feisty Dalit Chief Minister, Mayawati’s “upper caste” nominee has prevailed there, embarrassing not only the Congress and the SP but also the BJP that has been reduced to playing a second fiddle to the
BSP. |
The man behind Indian tyre giant The owner of many rubber plantations in Kerala, Mappilai was among the first brand gurus and is credited by his friends and peers as being largely instrumental in developing Sachin Tendulkar as a brand by persuading the little master to endorse their product through his meaty bat. The MRF Pace Academy was established under his tutelage of this aficionado and is today the nursery of fast bowlers in the country. As an entrepreneur, his biggest achievement, perhaps, was to create such a large diversified conglomerate with an equity base of Rs 4 crore by limiting borrowing levels — a phenomenon rare even in global corporate history. A man of rare personal integrity, Mappilai was one of those business leaders who ploughed back the entire profits into the company. In pursuit of social causes, he channelised the massive advertisement budget by focusing on youth and sports. MRF is the 12th largest tyre manufacturing company in the world and has had its fair share of hiccups. Amid strong competition from MNCs like Bridgestone, Michelin and Good Year, there was a time when the company faced a severe takeover threat from Michelin. But Mappilai weathered the storm and MRF continues to roll out tyres. A former member of the Board of Trade and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Trade, Mappilai was awarded the Padma Shri in 1992 and the Ernst and Young Life Achievement award in 2002. He was also associated with Malayala Manorama newspaper and other publications. Engineering’s loss, literature’s gain Born in Ambala, Mandeep has a rare quality as he is able to handle both numbers and words with little difficulty. His third novel— “When the Vulture Descends” — is set in the Cold War era and its plot deals with a “Soviet takeover of India”. Mandeep uses the vulture as a metaphor to describe Russia’s aspirations regarding territorial expansion. His enduring affair with writing began early. As a student at Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, he earned recognition for his creative skills with the pen. So much so that the school principal had to intervene to prevent his essays from being copied verbatim by his school-mates and passed a strict warning that anybody copying his essays will score a zero. Securing admission in the IIT, Mumbai, he realised early that his interest lay elsewhere. Two years later he quit to pursue a course in creative writing much to the chagrin of his parents. In 1973, Mandeep wrote the Civil Services Examination and qualified for the Indian Revenue Service. Posted in Delhi as Director, Income Tax, Mandeep’s fictional plots have significant historical moorings. In his first novel, “In the Shadow of Pines,” Mandeep sews a storyline on Lord Dalhousie’s life in colonial India. In the second novel, “No Friends, No Enemies”, he attempts to portray the complexities and contradictions of the early sixties through interaction and confrontation with historical characters such as Eisenhower, Kennedy, Khruschev and Charles de Gaulle. The narrative, however, comes with a cautionary line from the author that a historical novel has to be read as historical fiction and not as fictional history. |
The process of social change TODAY'S genetic scientists claim that the attitude of man grows from within along with his life. I read an article in which the discussion was centred on the subject that the attitude of man is determined on the basis of his hormones and it is already predetermined. As a matter of fact, we have to retrospect and become aware, where our nature is actually being formed for true awakening. In case, we cannot retrospect, then there is absolutely no difference between sleeping and waking. Today we have a burning question — that is in spite of so many preachings and sermons from different religions the actual conduct is not changing at all. Man is the same, unchanged. Anuvrat revolution — a movement initiated by Acharya Tulsi in 1949 — explored its reasons and preached that human conduct is most important from the religious point of view, not the worship or performing of rituals. The foremost is conduct; worship and rituals are secondary. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that nowadays prayer, worship and rituals have become primary, and human conduct, behaviour and character have been rendered secondary or ignored altogether. Deliverance cannot be achieved by repeating any word in particular, it is achieved by directly experiencing the ultimate truth. Also there is no predetermined path. That is the reason that religious sermons appear ineffective, dull and impotent. Religion is not able to influence and transform the individual and society. The second important subject is to authorise only the pious in behaviour for conducting worship and performing rituals. People with good character feel uncomfortable in the company of bad characters. Will God not feel uncomfortable when worshipped by persons with polluted and perverse characters? In Jain tradition, there is a categorised list of sins. In that, 18 kinds of sins have been explained. If man can live avoiding them then he can automatically solve and check most of the problems in his life. I am just explaining four sins out of those 18 sins. These sins are quarrelling, blaming, backbiting and censuring. Yesterday somebody asked, “Is the definition of sin and sacredness eternal or impermanent?” Though the nature of sin and sacredness changes in the context of social values, it remains eternal in the context of attachment and hatred. Quarrelling is eternally sinful. A religious man should always avoid quarrels; this is his primary duty. He should never indulge in quarrels knowingly. The second doctrine of awakening is to be free from the act of blaming others falsely. Without proper and complete knowledge, we should never blame others. It is the greatest sin. It tantamounts to murdering the person, though death comes to all one day, whether naturally or unnaturally, timely or untimely. His chapter of life is closed after death. But assassination of character is the biggest sin. An awakened person avoids it and never gets involved in it. The third doctrine of the awakened life is commitment towards the truth. Today, materialism is at its height and it is expected that in the 21st century, man will not have to do any work; the machine will do everything. That will be totally a machine era. Even after attaining the Machine era, if man still does not reform then people will prefer to have that old, less developed era and culture, because, in due course, the situation may worsen to the extent that it may not be reversible and repairable. That is why, it is essential that man should develop his commitment towards truth. Compassion is an important principle of social change. It is one of the most authentic expressions of spirituality. Compassion involves standing together with all. Man should not torture any creature. In spite of so many doctors, hospitals and an advanced system of medicines, we have many diseases. On critically analysing with profound insight, you will observe that there is extreme cruelty behind the modernisation and advancement of medical systems. In order to diagnose and find treatment for a disease, thousands of frogs and monkeys are killed in the wake of initial trials being done on them. The single, onerous purpose of the merciless killing of mice and monkeys is to keep man healthy. There is so much of cruelty at the background of health that obviously the number of diseases will increase. So the diseases are the outcome of the cruelties inflicted upon innocent frogs, monkeys and guinea pigs. Today the system of monarchy has collapsed in India. Formerly there were so many kings, now there are none. Their cruelty was responsible for their unforeseen death and removal. Kings had been relentlessly killing millions of birds just for the sake of their lustful desires. They indulged in the cruelest acts to excite and fulfil their lusty feelings. The tongues of lakhs of birds were used to make aphrodisiacs for them. This is the height of cruelty and madness. Till today, history has witnessed several instances that wherever cruelty reigned, society or individual had a downfall. A society which is devoid of cooperation and compassion will cease to exist. The awakened person is committed towards truth, compassion and mental peace. These are the doctrines of social change. For developing awareness, a calm, compassionate and truthful personality is imperative. A thoughtful person has to seriously and meticulously contemplate today about the process of social change. Society should change but before that the individual responsible for changing society must change. The process of Prekshadhyana is not to change society directly but first to change the individual constituting society. As long as the individual constituting society will not change, no radical change can be expected. |
Family splits give children headaches A growing number of children suffer from persistent headaches, leading to speculation in medical circles that they are caused by feelings of family insecurity. A study published in a medical journal this month suggests many of the children are extremely tense because of anxiety over their relationship with their parents. When Swedish researchers studying persistent headaches in a secondary school interviewed teenagers many of them blamed schoolwork. But it was found that in fact the children were worried about their parents, the break-up of their families and the prospects of moving home. Headaches are probably the most common of all symptoms of sickness and afflict most people from time to time. The pain comes from arteries in the scalp and membranes surrounding the brain. The most common type are tension headaches, caused by the body's automatic reaction to stress, which contract the muscles over a length of time. Migraines are caused by a temporary shutdown of the blood supply to part of the brain. Migraines run in families and can also be precipitated by stress, as well as some foods, or fatigue and anxiety.
The Observer |
Never talk about the faults of others, no matter how bad they may be. Nothing is ever gained by that. You never help one by talking about his fault; you do him an injury, and injure yourself as well.
*** Never quarrel about religion. All quarrels and disputations concerning religion simply show that spirituality is not present. Religious quarrels are always over the husks. When purity goes leaving the soul dry, quarrels begin and not before. —From Kalyana Kalpataru, June 1997 |
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THE
man behind master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s batting insignia is no more. K M Mammen Mappilai, who built the 20 billion rupee MRF group, passed away in Chennai after a brief illness. Born in 1922, Mappilai’s entrepreneurial journey began at the young age of 24 when he opened a small toy manufacturing unit in a shed at Tiruvottiyur in the suburbs of Chennai. The big leap came in 1952, when MRF ventured into the manufacture of tread rubber and within four years became the market leader cornering a 50 per cent market share in the country. The rise is all the more creditable as tread rubber was hitherto a monopoly of the multinational corporations. Manufacture of tyres was, therefore, only a logical progression.
He could well be the maverick in his tribe. For, generally, the Income Tax Department is known to strike a different kind of note with the masses. But not Mandeep Rai. This IIT dropout has chosen to establish a literary channel of communication with the people.