E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Twin mascots
BHARATIYA Janata Party leadership knows that a typical Indian voter tends to be person-specific. Even if he does not want to hero-worship, he finds it easier to identify with a person than with a party.

Cross-border dialogue
IN June 2002 clouds of war were hovering over the subcontinent. The political weather in June 2003 has certainly become more pleasant. Tension has given place to hope. Last year at around this time US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had dashed to Islamabad for reducing tension in the region.

Shame of ’84
FOR so often have some of the riot widows held out the threat of self-immolation that few believed that they would carry it out or the administration would allow them to do so. No religion, let alone Sikhism, permits self-killing, no matter how genuine the cause. The Jathedar of Akal Takht too had advised them against taking the extreme step.

OPINION

A study of Punjab Electricity Bill
Urgency of reforms in power sector
Surinder Singla
THE Electricity Bill, 2003, passed by Parliament articulates the critical need for introducing power reforms in India. India’s power reforms began after Parliament permitted electricity generation in the private sector in the early 1990s. This brought many fast-track power projects to the country. But only a few succeeded. Enron predicted that the partial privatisation approach would fail as almost all electricity boards in India are financially bankrupt.

MIDDLE

Missing mongrels
D.R. Sharma
WHEN I leisurely recall some of my early passions, two of those distinctly stand out: my hunger for milk and my love for mongrels. While the first one now is over like youth, the second one still persists, reminding me often of my pastoral childhood. Whenever I left home to inspect some field work, or just moved along the village canal, some six or seven dogs would run ahead of me to herald the arrival of the little master.

IIAS: a silent victim of legal battle
Rakesh Lohumi
THE landmark judgement of the Supreme Court directing the government to hand over the sprawling Viceregal Lodge Complex to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will go a long way in ensuring proper preservation of the heritage property. However, in the process the axe has fallen on the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), the dream institute of our philosopher President, Dr S. Radhakrishnan, housed in the national monument at present.

A jinxed national monument
Gobind Thukral
IN August 2002 when the Union Cabinet finally resolved that the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) could continue to have its abode in the old Viceregal Lodge in Shimla, it was trying to end a controversy that had plagued it for nearly three decades. The Cabinet, despite a dissenting note from the Culture Ministry, strongly felt, “continuation of the IIAS will be in the interest of conservation of the structure as the buildings, which are lightly used, are easier to maintain than the vacant structures.”

Sportsmen as MPs Prabhjot Singh AN exercise will start soon to fill the vacancies to be caused by the retirement of seven Rajya Sabha members in September this year. Those completing their six-year tenure this August are Ms Shabana Azmi, Dr (Ms) P. Selvie Das, Kartar Singh Duggal, Kuldip Nayar, Dr Raja Ramanna, Dr C. Narayana Reddy and Mr Mrinal Sen. They all were nominated in August, 1997.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Twin mascots

BHARATIYA Janata Party leadership knows that a typical Indian voter tends to be person-specific. Even if he does not want to hero-worship, he finds it easier to identify with a person than with a party. That is why the BJP had splashed Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee all over the country in 1999. This "tried, tested, proven" man found ready acceptance. Four years down the line, the party is planning to have not just one, but two mascots: Mr Vajpayee and Mr L.K. Advani. While the former is going to be projected as the "Vikas Purush", the man who spurred development in the country during his five years as Prime Minister, the latter is to be showcased as the “Loha Purush”, the iron man who represents the party's tough line on terrorism and internal security. Now that he is Deputy Prime Minister, the party might even give equal weightage to them, although the official line is going to be that they complement each other. The “Loha Purush” stands firm behind the “Vikas Purush”. Not only that, it will thus officially identify Mr Advani as the successor to Mr Vajpayee. Indeed, the two may combine their strengths, but the policy planners know that they have their uses in their individual capacity also.

Mr Vajpayee happens to be the moderate face of the BJP who, ironically, has more admirers outside the party than within it. It is another matter that some consider him only a "mask". Mr Advani, on the other hand, is seen as a no-nonsense administrator who is the darling of the hardliners in the Sangh Parivar. The party will make a judicious use of their respective images as per need. The strategy is deceptively simple: if you cannot have a man for all seasons, have two for different seasons. While Mr Vajpayee will be the talisman in the forefront if the Lok Sabha heads towards a coalition yet again, Mr Advani will occupy the centrestage if the BJP is able to gather enough steam on its own. The party has thus covered both flanks. Since the two old friends have refused to head rival centres of power despite repeated attempts made by their followers, they can be useful in tandem as well as solo. The massive "Jan Sampark Abhiyan" that the party is going to launch soon will see party cadres "touching every voter, every home and every village". Whether or not the BJP is able to sell its idea of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and civic bodies, Mr Vajpayee's development poem will be recited to the tune of Mr Advani's steadfastness.

Cross-border dialogue

IN June 2002 clouds of war were hovering over the subcontinent. The political weather in June 2003 has certainly become more pleasant. Tension has given place to hope. Last year at around this time US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had dashed to Islamabad for reducing tension in the region. It was followed by a visit by Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Russian President Vladmir Putin too had thrown his weight behind the international effort for making India and Pakistan give up the path of confrontation. So had the rest of the international community. That is all in the past. There is optimism in the air. The stifling political climate of June 2002 should be remembered for understanding the true import of the latest moves. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's three-nation tour seems to have won India the support of the international community on the issue of Pakistan's role in promoting cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. However, it would be a grave error to presume that the road to peace is going to be without obstacles because the international community is willing to play the role of a facilitator. The screaming media headlines at the start of Mr Vajpayee's tour that US President George W. Bush had promised to tell Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, during the latter's visit to America later this month, to stop supporting cross-border terrorism gave a larger role than was diplomatically correct to the American initiative for restoring peace in the subcontinent. If today President Bush invites General Musharraf to Camp David for discussing Indo-Pak ties, what will be India's response when a similar invitation is extended to Mr Vajpayee? What will become of India's stand that direct dialogue and not third party intervention is necessary for mending the fractured ties between the two countries?

Prime Minister Vajpayee has a sharp political mind. That is the reason why his reply to a question at a Press conference at the end of a fruitful tour to Germany, France and Russia, on the scheduled Bush-Musharraf meeting was low-key and appropriate. What was left unsaid was more important. The relations between the two countries can improve only through direct cross-border dialogue at various levels. But cross-border dialogue cannot be effective in healing the wounds of half a century of bitterness without stopping cross-border terrorism. In spite of a bit of posturing by both sides, the process that was started in Srinagar last month should not be allowed to get derailed. The international community's sustained interest, not interference, in making the two countries talk their way out of all the disputes that have accumulated in the past 55 years is all that is needed for giving peace a real chance to succeed in the subcontinent.

Shame of ’84

FOR so often have some of the riot widows held out the threat of self-immolation that few believed that they would carry it out or the administration would allow them to do so. No religion, let alone Sikhism, permits self-killing, no matter how genuine the cause. The Jathedar of Akal Takht too had advised them against taking the extreme step. None of the SGPC members or officials was present when they arrived at the Golden Temple on Monday to pay their obeisance before embarking on their mission. Ignoring the sane advice from various quarters, the Danga Peerit Welfare Society and its “Sikh Shaheedi Jatha” comprising five Sikh women offered “ardas” at Akal Takht before leaving for Chandigarh to implement the self-immolation threat in front of the Punjab Chief Minister’s residence in Chandigarh on Tuesday. The abortive attempt at self-immolation brought into focus the plight of 1984 widows and orphans. That India’s investigating agencies and judicial system have failed to fix official responsibility and bring to book none of the culprits responsible for the massacre of some 3,000 Sikhs is a matter of shame and the sense of shame is shared by every Indian who believes in the rule of law. Almost two decades after the politically inspired mobs went on slaughtering innocent Sikhs, the system is still “probing” the incident. The Justice Nanavati Commission announced recently that it would submit its report on the 1984 riots by the year-end.

What the ’84 widows are demanding is not punishment for the killers — they seem to have reconciled to the situation — but a roof over head and official help to settle down. The previous Akali Dal-BJP government had promised to allot them flats, shops, booths and ration depots in Ludhiana, Mohali and elsewhere apart from providing compensation and employment opportunities. Some 12,000 riot-hit families are settled in a colony at Ludhiana’s Dugri and they want, among other things, the opening of a plus-two level government school there. Such demands are not unreasonable and not hard to meet. There is obviously the need to identify the genuine sufferers and extend to them maximum help. In this context it is pertinent to recall what the Delhi High Court has noted in a riot case: “The state cannot escape the liability to pay adequate compensation to the family of the person killed during riots as his or her life has been extinguished in clear violation of Article 21 of the Constitution which mandates that life cannot be taken away except according to the procedure established by the law”. It is unfortunate that riot victims have to resort to protest quite often to get what should come to them automatically.

OPINION

A study of Punjab Electricity Bill
Urgency of reforms in power sector
Surinder Singla

THE Electricity Bill, 2003, passed by Parliament articulates the critical need for introducing power reforms in India. India’s power reforms began after Parliament permitted electricity generation in the private sector in the early 1990s. This brought many fast-track power projects to the country. But only a few succeeded. Enron predicted that the partial privatisation approach would fail as almost all electricity boards in India are financially bankrupt. These boards owe huge debts to the state governments and public sector units such as the National Thermal Power Corporation, Coal India, etc. These handicaps prove that a company generating electricity cannot risk selling to an electricity board as a single buyer. A classic example of the limited experience of failure is Orissa where power was sold to the Orissa Electricity Board as a single buyer. That then forced policy planners to come up with the above mentioned legislation in 2003.

The law passed by Parliament does have a few lacunae. The ruling alliance and the Congress in the Opposition have held negotiations following the Congress moving further amendments to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The Union Government has promised that it will bring new amendments in the next session. It is heartening to mention that the Punjab Electricity Bill, 2003, has influenced the national leadership of the Congress in moving amendments in the Rajya Sabha.

The focus in this article is on the salient features of the Punjab Electricity Bill, 2003. It has two major objectives. One, power or energy, the most crucial need in public life after food and water, should be freely available on demand since for an all-round development and better quality of life, the most strategic input is power. The second is that this critical and strategic input energy cost should be affordable to the consumer.

Punjab is the country’s pioneer state where electricity supply was provided to every village in 1977 when the Congress was in power. It does not mean that power was given to every household and to every enterprise, including farming and manufacturing activity. It is indeed unfortunate that the farmers who registered their demand for tubewell connections and deposited the required money have been waiting since as far back as 1989. People still have to wait for years in order to get a connection. Even the eight lakh tubewell connections which have been given so far in reality get only four to six hours of supply. It was only last year that these tubewell owners began to enjoy eight hours of uninterrupted supply. Similarly, there are power cuts at peak hours, which in turn causes huge industrial production losses despite industries paying high tariffs. This woeful situation has been in existence for years. In the context of the availability of power, it is difficult to depend on the existing arrangement which may not be helpful in ending our power shortages. Therefore, the state does require to add additional power capacity.

Given the present situation, neither the state nor the PSEB has the resources to add capacity generation. Such is the state’s precarious financial position, though there has been a decline in revenue deficit this year, that its capacity to raise resources on its own or borrow from the market remains a big zero. This is despite the fact that the state did mobilise new resources to the extent of Rs 1,000 crore last year. The PSEB’s situation is much worse. It is suffering from a debt of Rs 12,000 crore with a substantial interest burden that continues to rise year after year.

A possible wayout could be for private investors to undertake additional capacity. But then various governments could not persuade private investors as the latter feared that their power supplied to the PSEB would remain unpaid due to the financial bankruptcy of the electricity board.

A third option is for the PSEB to buy power from companies outside the state such as the NTPC. This is a tempting choice keeping in view the fact that the rate of buying power is lower and the per unit cost works out in the range of Rs 1.80 and Rs 1.85 with a minimum technical loss of only 5 per cent in contrast to the PSEB’s supply cost of Rs 3.85 per unit for 2003-04.

Even if the PSEB buys cheaper power from outside, the losses will still keep adding up. For example, if it buys 100 megawatts of electricity at a low cost from a company like the NTPC or some other source the PSEB will still add a loss of Rs 70 crore. Therefore, in this case it will buy cheaper power and yet keep on adding to losses by multiplying Rs 70 crore by every 100 megawatts. With the demand for power only rising in the state and the PSEB sans any resources to put up generating capacity, the state then has to depend on the private sector to establish a generating capacity which does not have the freedom to sell directly to bulk consumers, a transmission company or a distribution company. It is also not possible to add a new generating capacity in the state.

With the present rate of growth of the economy, the power requirements in the next four years are bound to increase to nearly 2,000 megawatts. This requirement would naturally cost up to Rs 10,000 crore or more. This can only be made available with investments from the private sector provided, of course, the Punjab Electricity Bill is passed in the next session. The choice is obvious — either reform the power sector, or be willing to face dark days in the state.

This country has witnessed food riots and water riots. It may soon be facing electricity riots. Consumer protests against power cuts are loudly expressed which, in a way, is tantamount to riots. In fact, energy is more crucial than food and water because higher levels of food production and harnessing of water are dependent on the high levels of energy supply. It is widely believed that one of the aims behind the American invasion of Iraq was for capturing more energy resources, which is otherwise cheaper and more abundantly available despite US per capita consumption of energy being the highest as well as the cheapest in the world. This only reinforces the criticality of making available energy resources at reasonable prices to the people in the state as well as in the country. It can be realistically concluded that as per the existing arrangement, the present system of the PSEB will never be in a position to cater to the power needs of Punjab.

Now, moving away from the issue of availability of power, the price of electricity is of a very vital concern. As we have observed, the supply cost has been increasing and the PSEB has put the average cost per unit at Rs 3.85 for 2003-04 to the Electricity Regulatory Commission. If one looks at the break-up of various suppliers of power which have cheaper rates than the PSEB, one would be struck by notorious inefficiencies, corruption, theft and a heavy cost of administration which is a bane of the monopoly and monolithic character of the PSEB.

Anyway, the core issue is that the Bill enables the entry of new investors in generation, transmission and distribution. It will help in not only reducing the cost of generation and controlling the distribution losses to the minimum, but also decreasing distribution thefts.

The writer is Chairman, Punjab’s Fiscal Reform Committee

MIDDLE

Missing mongrels
D.R. Sharma

WHEN I leisurely recall some of my early passions, two of those distinctly stand out: my hunger for milk and my love for mongrels. While the first one now is over like youth, the second one still persists, reminding me often of my pastoral childhood. Whenever I left home to inspect some field work, or just moved along the village canal, some six or seven dogs would run ahead of me to herald the arrival of the little master. Indeed, 60 years ago I could call myself the master of all that I saw and surveyed — our sprawling family fields, our numerous mango trees and the vast tracts of shrubbery that we sold to the migrant milkmen from the high mountains.

Even now when I live far away from the primitive hamlet in Pathanti, the cultural belt around Pathankot, my doggy passion hasn’t abated. As I stand in the balcony I see at least two or three mangy mongrels sleeping at the gate. They have no settled home or diet but somehow they do know that a temporary shelter is no problem. Whenever a pedigreed cousin passes by, they just lift their nozzles and realise that even among dogs there are haves and have nots.

Recently we came across some haves in Singapore. We saw them always leashed even in early mornings when they were out for a little contact with nature. A couple of Chinese ladies I always found carrying polythene bags and brushes while walking their dogs. I noticed how meticulously they cleaned up the mess and blessed their pets. We saw plenty of poms and labs — and dozens of house cats — but no lean and hungry street dog. Even in Kuala Lumpur we saw no stray quadrupeds. It was in Bangkok that we found one brownie merrily resting outside a department store. Looked like home.

Those five weeks that we spent combing the malls didn’t remind us of home as did the sight of that brown fellow. They were five silent weeks during which we heard neither a harsh canine snarl nor a throaty protest. No wild bark ever ruptured our sleep or made us curious about the usual doggy brawl at night.

And that is precisely what happened that night in Vasant Kunj, at our niece’s home in Delhi. After the Singapore summer we were yearning to enjoy the wintry comfort at night when suddenly at midnight a dog in the neighbourhood announced his presence. A moment later a few of his rivals in the area heard the message and assured him of company. In between we heard some human voices trying to quell the uproar through threats as well as persuasion. This nocturnal interaction between men and beasts lasted for a while, assuring us that we were certainly back home. We felt further assured that with such voluntary and vigilant watchmen at night our homes and streets would be ever secure. The ones with pampered pets often lament that when it is time for their sentinels to be alert, they are invariably asleep. It is the homeless, street dogs — the have nots — that sleep during the day for a constant vigil at night.

IIAS: a silent victim of legal battle
Rakesh Lohumi

THE landmark judgement of the Supreme Court directing the government to hand over the sprawling Viceregal Lodge Complex to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will go a long way in ensuring proper preservation of the heritage property. However, in the process the axe has fallen on the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), the dream institute of our philosopher President, Dr S. Radhakrishnan, housed in the national monument at present.

The prestigious institute has, indeed, become a silent victim of the legal battle waged by conservationists to prevent the valuable heritage property from degenerating into a five-star hotel.

The objective of the public interest litigation was to thwart the ill-conceived move and not at all intended to eject the institute from the hallowed premises.

Uncertainty has been dogging the institute ever since the proposal to commercially exploit the scenic grandeur of the picturesque complex was mooted about 25 years ago. It somehow continued in the complex as intellectuals and academicians opposed the move.

By fixing the deadline of December 31,2003 for shifting the institute from the complex the apex court has made its dislocation a certainty. Unless the government comes out with some legal or legislative remedy the institute cannot continue in the complex.

Even Mr Rajiv Mankotia, who filed the public interest litigation to prevent the government from converting it into a five-star hotel, has not pleaded for shifting the institute. Mr Mankotia still maintains that he had no objection to the institute continuing in the complex. His only concern was to ensure that the heritage property was well preserved and whether the institute be allowed to continue in the present location or shifted out was a matter between the government and the court. It will be rather unfortunate if the institute has to be finally moved out of the Rashtrapati Niwas as it was a gift to the country’s intellectuals from the philosopher President and should remain with them to fulfil the objectives for which it was set up.

The verdict has come as a shock to the fellows of the institute who consider the serene environment ideal for scholastic pursuits. An academic institution, they observe, grows as an organism absorbing in its personality the entire environment that include the location, the landscape and the buildings. The IIAS has struck roots and has been drawing its sustenance from the total ambience of its present habitat. Any plan to shift it will sever it from its very life-giving roots.

The shifting of the institute is neither feasible nor desirable as the inception has much to do with the premises. The largely unspoilt sylvan surroundings and well-preserved serenity were considered most propitious for scholarly contemplation by Dr Radhakrishnan, who conceived the idea of setting up a unique centre of higher learning. Besides, he felt that keeping the huge complex vacant for the President, who merely spent a fortnight in it, for the entire year was a colossal of waste.

Further, it is not feasible to shift the institute. The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has been scouting for possible locations for housing it either in or around Shimla or outside the state for the past several years without success. Finding suitable premises is not easy in view of the residential character of the institute. The existing complex is spread over 100 acres and the total built-up area was about 3.25 lakh square feet. Apart from the main building there are 45 other structures on the campus. The requirement of accommodation is obviously huge. Besides an administrative block, space is required for housing the library, one of the richest in the country. There are over two lakh books and 60,000 research journals in the library.

A modern auditorium, a seminar hall, a guest house and residential accommodation for 40 research fellows is required. The institute has also been publishing books and to date it has brought out about 450 titles. It requires proper space for books. At present it has a stock of over 75,000 worth about Rs 55 lakh. Building an alternative complex of this size will not only involve a very high cost but also require much time.

The verdict has also triggered off a debate whether it is essential to vacate a functional building for preservation. There are hundreds of such buildings in the country and it is certainly a better option to preserve the architectural heritage as a living monument.

Research fellows and academicians associated with the institute have sent representations to Mr Murali Manohar Joshi Union Minister for Human Resource Development, requesting him to take whatever measures, legal or legislative, were required to ensure its continuation in the complex. They have also brought to his notice the fact that the institute, being an autonomous body, has a legal identity of its own and it has been asked to vacate the premises without being given a hearing. It has been the aggrieved party but it was not associated with the case or made party at any stage.

A jinxed national monument
Gobind Thukral

IN August 2002 when the Union Cabinet finally resolved that the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) could continue to have its abode in the old Viceregal Lodge in Shimla, it was trying to end a controversy that had plagued it for nearly three decades. The Cabinet, despite a dissenting note from the Culture Ministry, strongly felt, “continuation of the IIAS will be in the interest of conservation of the structure as the buildings, which are lightly used, are easier to maintain than the vacant structures.”

But the entire efforts of the Human Resources Ministry, the governing body of the IIAS and Fellows, besides the employees came to a naught when the Supreme Court on April 21 rejected the Cabinet resolution and ordered that the IIAS be shifted from the present premises by December 31, 2003. It also found “absolutely no reason to review the judgement it had delivered in March 1997.”

The Viceregal Lodge was built by the British as office-cum-residence for their Viceroys.

The institute has a chequered history. The very first Director, Prof. Nihar Ranjan Ray, had desired to move closer to the power centre that is Delhi. But the worst followed when during the Janata government there was a strong move to hand it over to the Tourism Ministry to put up an international hotel. In April 1980 when Indira Gandhi returned to power, she appointed an expert committee, which recommended a restructuring of the institute. In place of the Education Minister being the Chairman, an academician was to be the chairman of the governing body. But it left the issue of housing the institute here open to debate.

Two years later the Education Ministry placed the requirement of accommodation before the Urban and Housing Development Ministry. The tourist lobby was once again active. The same year the Prime Minister’s Officer sent a note asking for a new site for the IIAS as it was to be handed over to the Tourism Ministry. Then began a hot chase, committee after committee scanned the length and breadth of the country, from Pune to Ghaziabad to Rajasthan and finally to Palampur. But then the PMO in February 1984 agreed that the institute may remain there.

Strangely within six months the PMO reversed its decision and asked the Himachal Government to find an alternative accommodation. From Oct 1984 to June 1988 the search continued in Delhi, U.P., Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. Finding no suitable accommodation, the Education Secretary pleaded that the premises could be best used for academic work in an atmosphere of tranquillity and comfort, a kind of retreat for the academicians, for seminars and research. But still nothing stopped the move to give the architecture wonder built by Lord Dufferin (1884-1888) to the Ministry of Tourism. So another search began in June 1990. The result was ditto. A committee of secretaries in July 1991 suggested that the Tourism Ministry must give some place in Delhi in exchange for the Rashtrapati Nivas.

Meanwhile, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) recommended that the present usage of keeping of IIAS was the most ideal. The wooden structure will not take any running water. In December 1992 another decision was taken that the main Viceregal Lodge be preserved as a national monument by the Tourism Ministry and the IIAS be shifted to Palampur. But nothing happened.

Sportsmen as MPs
Prabhjot Singh

AN exercise will start soon to fill the vacancies to be caused by the retirement of seven Rajya Sabha members in September this year. Those completing their six-year tenure this August are Ms Shabana Azmi, Dr (Ms) P. Selvie Das, Kartar Singh Duggal, Kuldip Nayar, Dr Raja Ramanna, Dr C. Narayana Reddy and Mr Mrinal Sen. They all were nominated in August, 1997.

Interestingly for nomination to the Upper House, sportspersons are either not considered or their candidatures fall through in the preliminary elimination rounds for want of adequate political support.

There have been only a few instances when the names of eminent sportspersons were considered but they never made to the final list. For example, wrestler and film star Dara Singh and cricketer Sunil Manohar Gavaskar were in the contention when nominations were made in 1997 and again in 1999.

It is not that sportspersons are not represented in Parliament. They have been there, not as representatives of the sports fraternity of the country but as a representative of one political party or the other. Cricketer Chetan Chauhan and Olympian Aslam Sher Khan are the shining examples of this clan of sportsmen-politicians. They both are members of the Lok Sabha. Another example is of Dr Karni Singh (shooter) of Bikaner.

Others like Ajit Pal Singh (hockey), Kapil Dev Nikhanj (cricket), Navjot Singh Sidhu (cricket), Kirti Azad (cricket) and Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi (shooting) are among those sportsmen who formally joined one political party or the other. Both Mr Kirti Azad (BJP-Delhi) and Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi (Congress-Punjab) are sitting MLAs.

Then there is another, perhaps bigger, section of sportspersons who also did the country proud with their excellent performances in international sporting events but preferred to stay apolitical. It is this section which needs to be given a representation in the Upper House.

Some of the great Indian stars belonging to this unrepresented section iare Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, woman athlete PT Usha, tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan and hockey wizard Balbir Singh.

Nominations, made by the President, on the recommendation of the Union Council of Ministers, are generally from the field of art and culture covering a wider arena of poets, writers, authors, journalists, classical dancers, singers, and film personalities. Unfortunately, sportspersons have never figured in this category. A beginning has to be made.

If one looks at the lifetime accomplishments of these veteran sports stars, one feels that the greatest tribute to them will be a membership of the Upper House. Take the case of sprinter Milkha Singh, who not only set a new Olympic record in 400-metres flat run at Rome in 1960 but also won a Commonwealth Games gold in 200-metre sprint at Cardiff. In return for his Cardiff triumph, he wanted the then Prime Minister, Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, to declare a national holiday.

After Milkha Singh, the “golden queen of Indian athletics”, PT Usha, became the first Indian woman athlete to qualify for semi-finals in Olympic Games. Ramanathan Krishnan had the distinction of beating all top tennis players of his times and Balbir Singh Senior had a hat-trick of gold medals in Olympic Games.

They all have been legends and their sporting achievements were acknowledged not only in India but worldwide. The NDA government would do well by nominating one of them or any other eminent sportsperson of yesteryear to make a beginning.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Do no sinful act nor cause others to do one.

— Acharanga Sutra 1, 2, 6, 1