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Thursday,
March 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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A sensible rollback Anti-graft drive Harming the Dalits |
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Reassessing the Pakistani threat
Centred living transforms our lives
A doctor with a mission
Winter sun can harm eyes
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A sensible rollback What has forced the Union Finance Minister to roll back
the fertiliser price hike? The widespread condemnation of the hike
both inside and outside Parliament is one factor. The coming elections
is another. Having lost Himachal, the BJP can ill afford to displease
its political allies and electorate. The assembly elections are due in
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chhattisgarh in November, while
the general election is expected in about a year’s time. So, Mr
Jaswant Singh had to bow to the electoral calculations of the Prime
Minister and his party chief. What is surprising is that the Finance
Minister was not convinced about the merit of the anti-fertiliser
price hike argument. With declining returns from agriculture, diesel
prices rising, drought pushing down production and escalating costs,
how could the Finance Minister think of putting an additional burden
on the farming community while the government has already put a freeze
on the minimum support prices? Mr Jaswant Singh’s worry is about the
ballooning fertiliser subsidy, which is understandable. The fertiliser
subsidy, which will increase from Rs 11,009 crore to Rs 12,720 crore
following the price hike rollback, is passed on to the fertiliser
manufacturing units, which, being inefficient, produce high-cost urea.
The 13 gas-based units can make urea at a cost of Rs 6,000 per tonne
against the Rs 8,000 a tonne landed cost of the imported urea. But it
is the urea units based on naphtha and fuel oil which have a high
production cost of Rs 12,000 a tonne that require heavy subsidy. “It
is no good to subsidise the inefficiency of the industry,” agrees
the Finance Minister, but seems helpless to get out of the mess
created over the years. On their part, farmers should make a judicious
use of fertilisers on expert advice. The more enterprising ones can
try to cash in on the latest urban craze for organic foods. Of the
other announcements that Mr Jaswant Singh made on Tuesday, lowering
the interest on agriculture credit by 2 to 3 per cent deserves notice.
It is common knowledge that despite the massive spread of banking in
the country, farmers in the rural areas still turn to private
money-lenders to meet their credit needs and eventually fall in their
trap. Banks have limited branches in villages which benefit
comparatively well-off, educated farmers. Small, illiterate farmers
are scared of their complicated procedures and bank officials’
unfriendly behaviour. The government is toying with the idea of making
agriculture credit available through the post offices which are
familiar with cash-handling and have a wider reach. If agriculture is
to survive the onslaught of competition from the developed world and
contribute to national growth, massive investments need to be made,
especially in the irrigation sector to reduce the farmers’
dependence on the monsoon. There is no national or regional leadership
at present to guide and inspire farmers to work for a second Green
Revolution. |
Anti-graft drive The Governor’s customary Address to a newly elected
Vidhan Sabha is the blueprint of what the government plans to do in
the days ahead. From what Dr Suraj Bhan said in Shimla on Tuesday, it
is obvious that the main focus of the Virbhadra Singh government will
be on curbing corruption. In fact, he has already made a quick
beginning with the action against the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate
Services Selection Board (HPSSB). The Governor’s speech only
reiterates the fact that such firmness will be the order of the day.
Although it was underlined that the government would not indulge in
any political vendetta, those belonging to the previous government are
not likely to be convinced. Mr Virbhadra Singh was personally targeted
quite ruthlessly when he was out of power and they suspect that he
might repay them in the same currency. Corruption in the hill state
may not have become as rampant as in the neighbouring Punjab, but it
indeed requires to be rooted out with an iron hand. As long as the new
Chief Minister does not use it as a tool for getting even with his
adversaries, the public is bound to support his clean-up drive. Mr
Virbhadra Singh is a seasoned politician and knows that putting
excessive pressure on his rivals would only further their cause and
allow them to bounce back. As such, he is likely to do the needful in
a clinical fashion. The other priorities set by the government for itself suitably address the acute problems facing the state. These include improving the precarious financial health by reducing unproductive expenditure and enforcing fiscal discipline and providing a clean, efficient administration. The financial situation is critical indeed with the debt burden going up to the Rs 15,000-crore mark. As long as this handicap remains, the state cannot hope to undertake various development projects effectively. What is left unsaid is that the major head causing this problem is establishment costs. And to cut the administrative expenditure, it will be necessary to make the government servants tighten their belts. That is easy to advocate but difficult to implement. Many previous governments have tried to enforce discipline only to regret their decision. It will be interesting to watch how Mr Virbhadra Singh tackles this problem. If he does succeed, all other schemes like development projects, employment generation, agricultural growth, housing, education and tourism promotion will automatically start yielding results. |
Harming the Dalits IF Ms Mayawati was not the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and an important pillar of the Bahujan Samaj Party, her utterances would have best been ignored. She thinks she is being clever when she reverts to using casteist language for defending her acts of political and personal
misdemeanour. In the long run it is the Dalit cause that will suffer more than her political image if she is not stopped in her tracks. She was roundly criticised, and rightly so, for the lavish scale on which her birthday was celebrated in January. The amount that was spent on celebrating her birthday as
"Swabhimaan Divas" (dignity day) came from the cash-strapped coffers of the state. On Tuesday she stooped to using the language she had abandoned for reaching out a larger constituency by describing her critics as
"Manuwadi". The Chief Minister had the audacity to justify an amount of Rs 76 lakh being diverted from the contingency fund for celebrating what was called the mother of all bashes. She referred to the celebration of Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday as Children's Day, S. Radhakrishnan's as Teachers' Day and Charan Singh's as Kisan Divas. Fair enough. Had anyone of these leaders ever abused the state machinery or made the state pick up the bill or presided over a birthday celebration of a scale that Ms Mayawati ordered for herself in Lucknow? It was not Dalit pride that was given a shot in the arm by making the state exchequer pay for it. It was an act of corruption sanctioned by the Chief Minister herself for pampering her bloated ego. Ms Mayawati's birthday bash or the Ambedkar Park project are both examples of cheating the tax-payers by spending their money not on putting food in hungry Dalit mouths or providing them improved medical care or basic education, but on anointing herself as the queen of bahujan
samaj. She has not helped the Dalits get out of the web of ignorance and social inequity by spending crores of rupees on the construction of the park in Lucknow named after the man whose vision of Dalit emancipation was based on economic empowerment of the vast Indian underclass through education. Neither has she done them a good turn by publicly emulating the lifestyle of the filthy rich. Civil society has not yet accepted the vulgar display of wealth at the marriage celebrations or social dos of the nouveau riche. Ms Mayawati must be stopped before it is too late. She has already sown the seeds of caste conflicts, that result in periodic blood-letting in Bihar, and trivialised the principles of parliamentary democracy. She should have been made to step down after the video tapes showed her directing the MLAs to give to the party a part of their share of the commission from the constituency development fund. It is time for all political parties who believe in safeguarding democratic values and political integrity to isolate Ms Mayawati by distancing themselves from her self-confessed acts of "commission". Will the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders take the initiative and direct their UP unit to quit the corrupt and unprincipled coalition government they had helped her form last year? |
Reassessing the Pakistani threat While the writings and sayings of American and other
western scholars about our relations with Pakistan get widespread and
prominent coverage in our media, we sadly seem to neglect the views of
our own scholars on such subjects. I was saddened when the comments
made by one of our most distinguished scholars on international
relations, Prof Satish Kumar, on “Reassessing Pakistan as a
long-term strategic threat” on March 3 to a distinguished gathering
in New Delhi was largely ignored by the media. In a brilliantly
researched and crafted paper Professor Kumar gave a realistic
appraisal, free from any polemics, of the long-term challenge that our
western neighbour, dominated and ruled by a rogue military
establishment, poses not only to India, but to our entire
neighbourhood. In his analysis, Professor Kumar dwells on how the
army dominates virtually every section of national life in Pakistan,
ranging from toppling democratically elected governments to
controlling real estate, dominating investments in the stock exchange,
producing electrical power, taking over civil service jobs and getting
a controlling stake in sectors of industrial production like cement
and sugar. He refers to the growing trends of Islamisation within the
army and concludes with an assessment of American scholar Stephen
Cohen: “The present arrangement of a military-led or influenced
government will prevail indefinitely, but not transform Pakistan.
Rebuilding weakened institutions is pointless if the central operating
principles of the Pakistani establishment remain hatred and distrust
of India and intolerance of diversity at home.” It is, however,
in his analysis of the impact on Islamic extremism that Professor
Kumar reveals certain pertinent facts. He draws a parallel between the
ideologies of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden on the one hand and the
ISI-supported Maulana Masood Azhar on the other. He points out that
the “jihadi infrastructure” in Pakistan now includes forty to
fifty thousand madarsas, with an estimated two million students. There
are today two hundred thousand armed jihadis in Pakistan, backed by
over one million young people, jihad-oriented but not yet armed. A
recent poll in Pakistan showed 88 per cent people believe that the
Quran and the Sunnah should be the source of all laws in Pakistan. And
64 per cent of those polled agree that Pakistan’s security interests
were served by supporting jihadi outfits in “Occupied Jammu and
Kashmir”. Kashmir is no longer the cause of Indo-Pak conflict, but a
pretext to paper over internal contradictions in Pakistan. While
well-informed Pakistanis recognise that regularisation of the Line of
Control is the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue, the army needs
the Kashmir issue for its own survival. What is it that makes the
Pakistan military believe that despite India’s vastly superior
conventional military and economic strength, they can continue to
bleed India in Kashmir and elsewhere? According to Prof Satish Kumar,
the Pakistan establishment believes (not without reason) that from
1987 onwards, India has been deterred from responding militarily to
its provocations because of fear of nuclear escalation. Secondly, the
Pakistan army is convinced that it has the support of the USA not only
in ruling the country but also in receiving American economic and
military assistance, despite the provocations it indulges in against
India. Professor Kumar concludes: “Pakistan cannot be blamed for
getting away with the impression that it defeated “the enemy without
fighting a war” following the December 13 attack on Parliament, as
Gen Pervez Musharraf said on December 13 last. He asserts: “There
are few examples of a country deploying its troops on a massive scale
along the international border for a period of 10 months and achieving
nothing. Indian public opinion in general and expert opinion in
particular has refused to be hoodwinked by the government’s claim
that the purpose of the deployment was achieved with the successful
completion of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The so-called
coercive diplomacy has wasted its ultimate weapon without any gain. In
strategic terms, after full mobilisation hardly any option is left”.
He states that Pakistan poses a long-term security threat to India,
which is inherent in the nature of the Pakistani state, its ideology,
its power structure, and the imperatives that determine the behaviour
of its ruling establishment. “These factors are not likely to change
in the next 20 to 30 years. India has to cope with this kind of
adversary. Its strategic capabilities and thinking, its national will
and character must respond to the situation accordingly.” A number
of questions naturally arise out of Professor Kumar’s observations.
Is there any justification for Pakistan’s belief that its nuclear
strategy has deterred and “defeated” India without firing a single
bullet? The manner in which Indian soldiers were suddenly withdrawn
from the borders just after innocent members of their families had
been massacred in Kaluchak would certainly encourage such a belief. Is
it true that after a pointless “full mobilisation” last year we
hardly have any military option left to deal with Pakistani
provocations? Former Army Chief Gen V.P. Mallik had asserted that
there was substantial “strategic space” between a low intensity
conflict and a nuclear war and that such “strategic space” could
be used by India, to respond militarily to Pakistan’s efforts to
bleed us in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere. The full-scale
mobilisation obviously failed to achieve this objective. Have military
planners in India readied options to strike back at Pakistan should
there be further escalation in low-intensity conflict, or incidents
like the attack on Parliament? There is very little to be optimistic
on this score, given our past record. Further, do we have any
long-term vision to deal with a rogue army that undermines democracy
at home and promotes jihad abroad? Given Pakistan’s belief (not
without justification) that the USA will not really do anything
meaningful to embarrass it on cross-border terrorism, should we not be
looking at options other than appearing as perennial supplicants
before the Americans? The Bush Administration last year demanded that
Pakistan should end all cross-border terrorism. President Bush now
merely seeks assurances from General Musharraf that terrorism “does
not go up when the snow melts”. By constantly speaking of the
dangers of nuclear conflict, the USA, in effect, reinforces Pakistan’s
resort to nuclear blackmail. Should not New Delhi point this out to
friends in Washington? While we have acted with foresight in
Afghanistan, should we not aggressively work to further isolate
Pakistan in our neighbourhood? Have we developed a strategy to
influence public and political opinion within Pakistan about the
hazards of their present policies? As Pakistan is going to pose a
long-term security challenge, should we not build a national political
consensus on how to deal with this challenge that seeks to undermine
our secular and pluralistic values? The issues raised by
distinguished academics like Prof Satish Kumar cannot be wished away.
While swearing by slogans of “Swadeshi” and “Self-Reliance”,
we sadly seem to be more influenced by the thoughts of second rate
foreign academics, rather than the writings of our own academics. The
study of Kautilya’s Arthashastra is more important for our students
of diplomacy and military-strategic issues than the works of
Clausewitz and Metternich. Nations lose their independence,
self-confidence and self-respect not by importing foreign technology,
goods and services, but by mortgaging their minds to foreign doctrines
and concepts. |
Centred living transforms our lives If we want to find the centre in which all things
converge, if we want to move from self-consciousness to God
consciousness, if we want to leave behind our self-centredness and
grow in an effective consciousness that God is our centre, the centre
of all that is, it will result in a transformation of our
consciousness, says Basil Pennington. While the suffix “tion”
implies a certain permanence in the state described, the word “trans”
implies a going over, a change of position. So “transformation”
means changing the form of consciousness, or coming into a new state
of consciousness, when we begin to perceive things differently. In
his book “Centred living: the way of centring prayer”, Basil
Pennington says the change we want is to come to see things as they
really are. At our natural birth, our perception makes us the centre
of the universe and our first consciousness is of the things we need.
As our consciousness begins to expand, we become aware of those
persons who supply our needs and in time largely under the tutelage of
these significant persons such as our family, we come to see what we
do as being significant. As we grow, we tend largely because of the way others mirror us back to ourselves, to identify ourselves with what we have, what others think of us and what we can do. We tend to construct a false self made up of these elements: what we have, what we do and what others think of us. The
consequences of such a false self-identification are in the words of
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk: “Without the living God (without a
centre) men become little helpless gods, imprisoned within the four
walls of their own weakness and fear. They are so conscious of their
weakness that they think they can only subsist by snatching from
others the little they have, a little love, a little knowledge, a
little power”. Because of such a false construct of self, there is
a great deal of defensiveness in our behaviour. We have to protect who
we are and we are limited by what others think of us. We also become
competitive and try to get ahead of others to our detriment by
stepping on other people’s heads. If we have a religious upbringing
then God tends to show up in this also. God becomes the person out
there whom we most need to think well of us. It is from God that we
hope to get the real goodies, the ones that last forever. In doing
this we reduce God to our level — a real idol and not the true God. What
then do we do, asks Pennington? We need to realise and even to know by
experience he says, that God is not out there somewhere as the great
rewarder or punisher. This God has been depicted as the great seeing
eye in the middle of the stained glass window. But while God does
indeed keep an eye on us, God sees everything with the eye of love.
And the favourite dwelling place of the supreme being is our selves:
“The Kingdom of God is within”. To realise that God is ever with us, affirming our beauty, goodness and significance by constantly sharing divine life with us, is to result in a transformation of consciousness that puts God experientially at the centre where we are born to a new freedom. As
Cardinal Law said in the interview he gave in the Vatican Gardens,
immediately after receiving the red biretta: “When God is seen at
the centre, the human person is given a dignity, a respect, and a
worth that no other system can give”. We cannot bring about this
transformation of consciousness on our own. We can only seek it and
use our freedom to open the space for God to operate in us. For the
transformation to become a reality, the Lord must reveal self at the
centre of our being. Through the activity of God’s spirit, we come
to an experiential perception of reality. Pennington believes a practical way to seek this transformation and open a space for God is to centre regularly. Centring prayer begins in seeking, continues in experiencing and results in transformation. Once we are sensitive and perceptive of the presence of God as the centre of our lives and the world, we will begin to live with a new consciousness. We will then have a God consciousness, a consciousness that begins to see things as God sees them and this will transform our lives. |
A doctor with a mission The
prestigious 2002 Dr B.C. Roy Eminent Medical Person Award has been
bagged by Dr S.P. Agarwal for his contribution to public health. Dr
Agarwal, who is Director-General of Health Services of the Union
Government, has been in the field of public health for over three
decades. Specialising in neuro-surgery, he has been an honorary
surgeon to two of the former Presidents. Known for his relentless
promotion of public health causes, he led the campaign for the
eradication of guinea-worm disease from the country. As Chairman of
the TB Association, one of the largest NGOs with branches all over the
country, he was able to cover more than half of country’s population
under the revised National Tuberculosis Programme with 82 per cent
cure rates. As Secretary-General, Indian Red Cross Society, Dr Agarwal
led the relief work for the Chamoli earthquake victims and the Orissa
cyclone-affected people. During the Gujarat earthquake, Dr Agarwal’s
prompt intervention ensured that no disease outbreak occurred in the
aftermath of the tragedy. Throughout his medical career he has been taking up issues which have sought to improve medical health and awareness as was evident in his four-year stint as Medical Superintendent of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the national Capital when he introduced changes which contributed to considerable upgradation of medical and nursing facilities at this institution. In recognition of his contribution to the advancement of medical science, Dr Agarwal was selected a Fellow of the International Medical Sciences Academy in 1991, a fellow of the International College of Surgeons in 1996, a fellow of the Indian Public Health Association in 2001 and a Fellow of the Indian Association of Epidemiologists in 2002. A pioneer in developing laser neurosurgery in the country, he went on to set up neurosurgery centres at Safdarjang Hospital and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. In Himachal Pradesh last year when pneumonic plague broke out, Dr Agarwal lost no time in coming to the rescue of the people, and his immediate intervention resulted in quick control of the disease. During the Gujarat riots last year he ensured day-to-day monitoring which prevented the outbreak of communicable diseases in relief camps. In the service of railways Former General Manager, Western Railway, Mumbai, Mr Agarwal is known for his expertise in developing user-friendly railway service and customer care. He is expected to succeed Mr Rana as the next Chairman of the Railway Board after the latter retires at the end of June this year. He has held dual charge as OSD, East Central Railway, headquartered at Hajipur and Additional Member (Commercial), Railway Board. Mr Agarwal brings with him comprehensive experience in operation and marketing of rail services. With him at the helm, the train services to the nation are expected to look up and face successfully the challenges of emerging globalisation and competition. Mr Agarwal has an ear for music, and likes reading books on economics and management. In his spare time, he likes socialising, meeting new people and making friends. He likes Indian and Western classical and folk music. He cares for media opinion and respects it in policy making. |
Winter sun can harm eyes Exposure to sun rays even during winter months can be damaging for eyes, thus proper precaution should be taken, according to experts. Though there are fewer hours of daylight in the winter months, eyes can be easily damaged when the sun's powerful ultraviolet (UV) rays reflect off ice or snow. Photokeratitis, a condition comparable to sunburn, is a particular danger for sun-exposed eyes. Photokeratitis occurs when the sensitive tissues of the eyeball receive too much ultraviolet light. Although the condition usually heals with few complications over time, photokeratitis can be painful and repeated bouts may have lasting effects on vision. Sunglasses that block 80 percent to 90 percent of visible light are recommended for use in all sunny weather conditions, but ski goggles that cover the eyes and the surrounding skin are also effective
ANI |
Give charity to the deserving. Observe the precepts of morality. Cultivate and develop good thoughts. Render serv ive and attend on others. Honour and nurse parents and elders. Give a share of your merits to others. Accept the merits that others give you. Hear the doctrine of righteousness. Preach the doctrine of righteousness. Rectify your faults. —Acts of Merit. From Thus Spake the Buddha. |
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Mr
Kamal Kishore Agarwal, Member (Traffic), Railway Board, witnessed a
flurry of activity during and after the presentation of the Railway
Budget last month. The Railway Board headed by Mr M.S. Rana has two
new faces — Member (Traffic) Kamal Kishore Agarwal and Member
(Electrical) Suresh Chandra Gupta.