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Thursday,
June 19, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Just say no Police terror The Taj Mall
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Indo-Pak get-together in Kathmandu
Serious world of khaki
Why let rainwater go waste? Harvest it
A tale of fear
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Just say no The NDA government has taken two immediate steps on the question of sending troops to Iraq following a US request. One, efforts are on for evolving a national consensus. Most Opposition parties, including the Congress, have disfavoured the idea of sending Indian troops to Iraq as a part of the “stabilising forces” functioning under the Security Council-designated Authority — read the US and the UK. Two, India has also begun consultations with Iraq’s neighbours like Iran, Jordan and Egypt. These countries have a history of friendly relations with India as is true about Iraq. India has found it morally and otherwise correct to ascertain their views on the highly sensitive issue. This was conveyed to the Pentagon team which met Indian government officials this week. India is within its rights to undertake such an exercise before taking a final decision, and the American side has not questioned the approach. The US, however, is against Indian forces playing their role independently. Washington has clarified that it wants Indians to administer Kurdish-dominated northern Iraq with their own national flag fluttering there, but under the US-led coalition forces’ command. This is not acceptable to India. A UN authorisation for a multinational force on the lines of the arrangement in Afghanistan and Kosovo suits New Delhi. Indians are known the world over as efficient peacekeepers. But America is interested in Indian soldiers for some other reason. It is looking for troops which may help control the tide of rising anti-Americanism in Iraq and elsewhere in that volatile region. Anti-US demonstrations and attacks on the “occupation forces” are becoming a regular feature. The logic, therefore, says that India should categorically and yet politely express its inability to oblige America. This is in India’s own national interest. The circumstantial difficulties cannot be ignored. Why should Indians be seen in the company of those who are seen as occupation forces? India can, however, help the Authority in Iraq in areas like health and infrastructure development. After all, there is also a human angle to the situation there. India has already announced a $ 20 million humanitarian relief fund. A portion of this money will be used for setting up a big hospital in collaboration with Jordan. New Delhi can contribute foodgrains too. Such steps will not only make India appear as a friend in need but also amount to this country assisting Washington in its efforts to make life easy for the Iraqis. The Americans, considering the intricacies involved, need to understand the Indian point of view. |
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Police terror A woman who recently went to the Kotwali police station of Patiala in Punjab to lodge a complaint was detained illegally, tortured and undressed. Her harassment at the hands of policemen would have continued had the Punjab State Human Rights Commission not come to her rescue. The commission has asked the Patiala SSP to provide security to the woman and her family members. Last Friday two policemen kept harassing girl students of the ITI in Patiala until they gathered courage and raised the alarm. The next day, that is June 14, the Patiala Kotwali police took into custody four members of a family, including an 82-year-old man and an 18-year-old girl, in a dowry case. The main accused had escaped. All this is happening in the Chief Minister’s hometown. What goes on elsewhere is equally shocking. A pregnant woman was allegedly manhandled by an Assistant District Transport Officer on the Kharar-Kurali road the other day and was admitted to hospital where her foetus was aborted. Incidents of police harassment and torture of ordinary citizens in general and women in particular are not uncommon in Punjab and elsewhere in this country. What is common is the public and official apathy towards such incidents of horror. The social environment is becoming increasingly hostile for women. The slow, tedious and prolonged legal proceedings often work to the advantage of the law-breaker, particularly if he happens to be a policeman. His colleagues tend to bail him out and that emboldens him to defy the law at will. The fact that policemen committed inhuman atrocities in Punjab in the name of fighting militancy and were rewarded, instead of being punished, has encouraged them to take the law into their own hands whenever convenient. A recent survey by Amnesty International confirmed that custodial violence in Punjab has been on the rise even after militancy was contained in the early nineties. The free hand given to the force during those days is a contributory factor. The detailed report on human rights violations and “disappearances” in Punjab entitled “Reduced to Ashes” should have shaken the powers-that-be into introspection and brought about the desired changes into the police functioning, but that has not happened yet. The police continues to treat ordinary citizens with contempt. Whenever a person wanted by the law escapes, the police drags all his near and dear ones to the nearest police station to ensure his surrender. The police attitude and style of functioning need a drastic overhaul. A responsive society alone can prevent human rights violations. |
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The Taj Mall ! There is an interesting tale about an American tourist wanting to buy the Taj Mahal. When he was told that the monument was not for sale he retorted, "What nonsense, everything has a price". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati came close to turning the story about the way most Americans look at the world into a real horror story. The decision to clear a hare-brained project for connecting other important places of historical significance in Agra with the famous monument was like trying to sell the Taj to a whole range of operators. That too for a song. Hopefully, the letter from Union Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan to Ms Mayawati would result in the the project being put on hold. The Centre and the UP government had sanctioned Rs 175 crore for constructing the Taj Heritage Corridor. A multi-floor state-of-the-art shopping plaza would have been the main attraction. The Yamuna river bed was to be filled up for creating this modern monstrosity for attracting more foreign tourists. The consequences of changing the course of the river would have been devastating. The haste with which the project was conceived and handed over to the National Projects Construction Corporation suggests that the basic purpose was not to provide hassle-free corridors for linking the Taj to the Agra Fort, Itmad-ud-Daullah's tomb and other monuments. It looked more like a get-rich-quick scheme Mr Jagmohan's intervention may have saved the Taj Mahal from being turned into one of the many luxury hotels bearing its name. But to set the record straight it must be acknowledged that the first alert was sounded by the Supreme Court. In May it directed the UP government to stop work for reclaiming the land from the bed of the Yamuna opposite the Taj and four other monuments for creating the multi-crore heritage corridor. The apex court asked the Central Water and Power Research Station in Kharagvasla to study the environmental impact of the project. Instead of creating a corridor that would have certainly destroyed the beauty of the Taj, the UP government should draw up a plan for acquiring the properties connecting the monuments by paying handsome compensation to the owners. It should thereafter seek the help of the best in the business of town planning for turning the acquired property into a virtual Mughal-era town, where visitors with imagination can see the eternal lovers, Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal, holding hands or taking a boat ride on moonlit nights. Such a project would also take care of the threat to the monuments' health from locally generated pollutants. |
Indo-Pak get-together in Kathmandu I was in Kathmandu last week attending a meeting with a group of eminent Pakistanis. We met to analyse the costs of the India-Pakistan confrontation last year and to discuss ways in which we could move ahead on the initiative announced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Srinagar. Apart from relaxing in the cool climate of Kathmandu, I also enjoyed meeting Pakistani friends whom I knew rather well earlier, like former Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, General Musharraf’s confidante and Interior Minister General Moinuddin Haider, former Minister of State Inam-ul-Haq and track-two specialist Niaz Naik. There were also others I knew personally like Brigadier Shaukat Qadir and young strategic analyst Ayesha Agha Siddiqui. Our exchanges in Kathmandu were interesting, cordial and remarkably candid. Even as we were exchanging views on how to normalise relations, Nepalese newspapers reported that General Musharraf had refused to rule out the possibility of yet another Kargil-style intrusion. We ignored what General Musharraf had said and continued with our exchanges to find common ground for normalising relations. I was not surprised by General Musharraf’s comments in which he justified the Kargil intrusion, threatened the possibility of it being repeated, rubbished Prime Minister Vajpayee’s Lahore bus diplomacy, declared the recent elections in Jammu and Kashmir as fraudulent and claimed that his “referendum” reflected overwhelming the endorsement of his rule by the people of Pakistan. We tend to forget that General Musharraf, who authored the Kargil misadventure, told a Karachi audience just a few weeks after Mr Vajpayee’s Lahore bus ride that the Lahore Declaration was nothing but “hot air” and that “low intensity conflict with India would continue even if the Kashmir issue is resolved”. General Musharraf contested the television anchor’s assertion that by denying that he had supported the Taliban and engineered the Kargil intrusion he was getting into a “denial” mode. Being in a denial mode is not something new for General Musharraf. He did, after all, refuse to accept back the bodies of the Northern Light Infantry during the Kargil conflict, merely because accepting the bodies would have exposed his “denial” about his soldiers being involved in the intrusion as a lie. Even as General Musharraf was launching his diatribe against India, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani remarked in Chicago during the course of a high profile visit to the United States: “There can be a compromise on Jammu and Kashmir. We have to see what kind of compromises are possible even now”. While Mr Advani’s comments will be welcomed internationally, we should ponder over what they would convey to a hard-boiled and pathologically anti-Indian ruler like General Musharraf, who regards all talk of compromise as manifestation of Indian weakness. The discussions in Kathmandu gave some interesting insights into Pakistani thinking. There is a growing feeling across the border that India attempted to coerce Pakistan by its troop deployment and failed. Sober elements in Pakistan realise that their country had to pay a heavy price and bow to international pressures to end support for cross-border terrorism. There are others, especially in the military establishment, who feel that India lacks both the military capability and the political will to carry out threats that it all too frequently holds out. By issuing such threats we are unfortunately sounding like the boy who cried wolf all too often. There is also an almost unanimous belief in Pakistani minds that the nuclear weapons they have possessed since 1984 have effectively immobilised India from executing any military responses to their efforts to “bleed India with a thousand cuts”. Even within India there is growing belief that much more needs to be done to enhance our strike and covert capabilities to respond effectively to Pakistani efforts to “bleed” us through low intensity conflict. Our leaders should also understand that statements that both India and Pakistan are mired in poverty because of bilateral tensions are not only factually incorrect but also lead Pakistani hawks like General Musharraf to conclude that we are showing signs of exhaustion in meeting the challenges they pose. Despite Pakistan’s involvement in low intensity conflict in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir for nearly two decades, our economy has registered higher rates of growth in these years than ever before. Our economic progress is not going to depend on what Pakistan does or does not do, but on our ability to manage our economy better. There has been some movement in normalising relations with Pakistan after Prime Minister Vajpayee’s Srinagar address. Mr Shiv Shankar Menon, who has been named as our High Commissioner to Pakistan and his counterpart Aziz Ahmed Khan are both capable and sophisticated diplomats. The Lahore-Delhi bus service would soon recommence. This should naturally be followed by the resumption of air services and over-flights. India should shed its present inhibitions in promoting people-to-people contacts. We claim that the hawkish views of General Musharraf are at variance with the prevailing public opinion in Pakistan. We should accordingly strive to enhance communication links and undertake measures to promote group tourism and ties between parliamentarians, journalists, lawyers, business organisations and even students. Pakistan seems to be in no mood to grant us reciprocal MFN trading rights. Progress on the Iranian pipeline project should be linked to the establishment of normal trade, investment and business ties. We should make it clear that if Pakistan persists in blocking moves for a South Asian Free Trade Area, it would jeopardise the future of SAARC. My Pakistani friends agreed that that there should be an end to hostile propaganda, especially on television and radio. While we can certainly attempt to do this, it is unlikely that Pakistan will end its hostile propaganda against us. This would not suit the ambitions of its military establishment. It seems unlikely that General Musharraf will end support for cross-border terrorism unless he is subjected to intense pressure. The United States may privately rap him on the knuckles, but appears unwilling to really squeeze him on this issue. Thus, even as we initiate a process of increasing engagement, if not formal dialogue with Pakistan, there should be no dilution in our insistence that Pakistan should dismantle its infrastructure of terrorism. Pakistan, for example, can quietly ask those involved in the Bombay bomb blasts and in terrorism in Punjab to proceed to a third country like the United Arab Emirates. This would signal its readiness to end the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. We could also suggest that rather than seeking international monitors to check cross-border terrorism, Pakistan should agree to our positioning teams from our intelligence agencies like RAW, duly equipped with monitoring and transportation facilities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, while we grant them reciprocal facilities. If General Musharraf claims he cannot check all infiltration across the LoC, our teams positioned across the LoC in PoK can verify such claims. The presence of Pakistani teams on our side of the LoC will enable us to give them evidence of Pakistani nationals having crossed the LoC for participating in General Musharraf’s self-proclaimed jihad. We have just begun a long and difficult journey towards commencing a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan. It would be advisable to move with circumspection and caution on this bumpy road, without blowing the horn loudly or too often. The road to India-Pakistan normalisation has historically been an accident-prone one. The writer is a former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan |
Serious world of khaki I am back in Dharamsala, the place I trained as a young police officer — A place very special to me because this is where I cut my teeth in khaki. A year in the Police Academy taught us discipline and a general impression that this is a serious world and we — the men in khaki — are ordained to do our serious jobs very seriously. So with this very serious mindset I set forth to discover the khaki world. The first official agenda is calling on superiors. Fresh out of the academy, you know that “calling on” is serious business. I put on my tunic and gave an extra shine to my shoes and crossbelt. After seeking an appointment with an esteemed superior, I walked into his office. I saluted. He offered me a seat and after some serious deliberations he asked me, “What is this ‘S’ in your name?” My reply was, “Sir! This means I am a Syed.” The next question was, “Is that your first name?” I answered, “No sir! This indicates that I am a direct descendant of the Holy Prophet.” He looked at me very seriously and remarked with unadulterated seriousness, “Take off that Peak Cap. I can’t see your Halo!!” I discovered that day that thankfully the world of khaki is not completely humourless after all. I also discovered that the deity in most temples associated with men in kahki is Lord Hanuman. Let me finish and then perhaps we will know. A week later I received an invitation to attend a friend’s marriage. Now the best gift that one could possibly think of, sitting in Dharamsala, was a Kangra miniature painting. I had no notion where I could possibly get a good piece. So I did what most policemen do — call up the police station. I told the SHO that I needed a reasonably priced Kangra painting. All that I heard from the other end was, “Ho jaiga janab”!! That evening while browsing through the magazine section of a famous English daily, I discovered an article according to which Kangra painting was a dying art form and the last true artist of Kangra school was this old gentleman — a resident of Dharamsala town. The article went on to describe his virtues and also carried his interview and a colour photograph of him posing with some of his works. With the intention of helping my SHO to locate what I wanted, I called him up again and told him that it was difficult to find a good Kangra painting and the name of the famous artist. His reply was the now familiar “Ho jaiga janab”!! A day later I was sitting in office when the SHO appeared. He greeted me with a smart salute and delightful grin and then pulled in a visibly petrified old man whose face looked familiar. The SHO gleefully presented him and said, “Janaab! Your artist ji!!!” It was indeed, the famous man!! Getting back to Hanumanji, we all remember how he reacted when Lakshmanji was wounded. The Vaid attending to him was in dire need of Sanjeevani Booti. The favourite God of the men in khaki flew straight to the source — the Sanjeevani Parvat and instead of dealing with petty matters like searching for a measly plant he decided to carry the mountain along and leave minor matter to lesser mortals. I discovered that day that policemen, like Lord Hanuman, believe literally in getting to the root of the issue. It had been eight years since I learnt this lesson. I got a beautiful painting and my friend appreciated the gift. He is still happily married. The artist is still famous as ever. His works sell like hot cakes and his prices are up but he continues to keep in touch with men in khaki. As for me, I have never, even for a microsecond, in all these years, regretted that I chose to wear a khaki uniform!! |
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Why let rainwater go waste? Harvest it IF we think air and water are free gifts of nature, we must learn to honour the gifts and the gift-giver. Although water forms an essential ingredient of life, yet it is carelessly (mis)used and consumed. An increase in human population, developmental activities and changes in lifestyle have put tremendous pressure on water resources. We cannot afford to be content with the idea that these commodities will remain freely available to mankind forever. We are on the threshold of a water crisis. Ask those womenfolk of the desert-affected remote villages of Rajasthan and Haryana, who fetch water in pitchers on their heads daily as a routine from as far as 8 km distance, the value of water. The situation in the urban areas is also not so happy. Come summer and there is low water pressure in the water supply pipes or no supply at all. There is a hue and cry everywhere. There is need for conserving even a single drop of water by one and all. Let us analyse why. The ocean water, which is saline and unfit for human consumption in its native form, constitutes 97 per cent of the total water available on the earth. About 2 per cent is frozen and trapped in icecaps and glaciers. It is only less than 1 per cent of the total water, which consists of surface and groundwater, is fit for human consumption. Because of an easy access to the groundwater, people have been exploiting the hidden treasure of groundwater indiscriminately. This has resulted into the depletion of groundwater reserves which is reflected by the fall in the water levels by a few metres in the recent past in the areas of good quality groundwater. This is adding to the cost of extraction of groundwater. We can maintain the water levels of the groundwater by recharging artificially the groundwater bodies through rainwater harvesting. There is a large variation in the precipitation in the country spatially and temporally. Eighty per cent of the precipitation occurs during the monsoon period restricted to only about three or four months. The period of the monsoon is also not similar everywhere in the country. But generally it is from June to October. Spatially, the amount of rainfall varies from about 10 cm in Rajasthan to about 1,000 cm, in the North-eastern states of Meghalaya and Tripura. The average annual rainfall of the country is 110 cm. As much as 70 per cent of the precipitation goes waste as runoff and ultimately reaches oceans depending upon the amount and intensity of rainfall, soil characteristics, topographical gradient and subsurface lithology etc. It is the need of the hour that we tap this runoff having a large scope. The eco-friendly Supreme Court of India has always acted as a saviour of the environment. Several significant judgements have been pronounced by it which have gone a long way in protecting the environment. One such very significant judgement in the year 2001 relates to the rooftop rainwater harvesting. As per the judgement, it has been made mandatory for the plot owners of 8 marla (200 sq yards) or more to make a provision for rooftop rainwater harvesting structures in their premises. Haryana, being a pioneer state in the field of water management in general and groundwater management in particular, has taken a lead in implementing these eco-friendly orders of the Supreme Court. Now the architects are incorporating the necessary requirements of such structures in the layouts of the buildings. This development can surely be taken as an increase in the awareness level of residents and society as a whole. But this will be established only if such structures are constructed in the residential premises in letter and spirit. The mandatory provision of rooftoop rainwater harvesting structures is required to be extended to the old buildings, whether in residential or industrial areas. The industries should come forward and adopt the structures. Before carrying out the construction of such structures, it is essential to have information of a few parameters. The factors which are required to be taken into account are hydrogeology, soil cover, topographical gradient, aquifer system, depth-to-water, amount and pattern of rainfall and runoff co-efficient etc besides the catchment i.e. area of the roof from where the amount of rainwater is to be collected. This information can only be analysed and interpreted appropriately by an expert hydrogeologist. The lithology of an area is just like an ultra scan of the human body. It provides information about the characteristics of the subsurface formations/rocks such as succession, thickness, depth, composition, texture and grain size of sediments etc. In fact, the Indus-Ganga basin to which most parts of Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh belong, is regarded as the best repository of groundwater in the world. The lithology in general in these parts comprises alluvium with alternate layers of clay, silt, sand and gravel. It varies from place to place. The rainwater so harvested can be stored on surface or subsurface. The big tanks can be used for storing the water on surface of the ground. The subsurface reservoir provides the most hygienic environment for storage of water which can be pumped out for use during the period of its requirement. There are several types of structures which can be constructed for rooftop rainwater harvesting depending upon the field conditions. The structures are a recharge pit, a recharge trench, a vertical shaft, a lateral shaft with injection wells etc. The old structures like a dug well, a hand-pump, a tubewell and pits etc can be used as rainwater harvesting structures. If the structures are not properly constructed in the premises, another set of groundwater problems can come up instead of water conservation. If the harvested water is allowed to be injected into the finer sediment zones like clay layer, waterlogging problem will occur in the area and cause damage to the foundation and whole of the building. It is of utmost importance to ensure that the harvested water is injected or infiltered under gravity into the sand or coarser sediments layer and below water table. It will therefore be advisable that the rainwater harvesting structures should be got constructed under the guidance of expert hydrogeologists. The structures discussed here are indigenous, eco-friendly, energy saver, technically feasible, economically viable and socially acceptable and are recommended to be adopted. There are a few companies which are offering the devices as alternative to the traditional structures on very high price. Also these products consume more energy than saving thus forfeiting the very purpose of energy and water conservation. The indigenous structures can cost a few hundred to several thousand rupees. The writer is a former Joint Director, Command Area |
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A tale of fear With the resignation recently of Howell Raines, the executive editor of The New York Times, and his deputy Gerald Boyd, the dust clouds of controversy that have been swirling about the paper’s newsroom may now begin to settle. But five weeks of internal dissent, triggered by the paper’s own expose of an errant staff journalist who fabricated quotes and datelines, have given rare insight into the political alignments and intrigues that fester within the citadel of America’s most prestigious organ of journalism. As the resignations highlighted, the battle at The Times was never really about Jayson Blair, the young black reporter with a cocaine addiction that sequestered him in his Brooklyn apartment when he was meant to be on assignments across America. Blair, who in recent weeks has celebrated his deceptions over his editors, was simply the fuse that, once lit, led to an explosion in the highest offices of the organisation. Within the Times establishment, Raines’s resignation is unprecedented. He served less than two years as executive editor, the second-shortest tenure in its 152-year history. While the paper’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, searches for a replacement, the reins are to be held by Joseph Lelyveld, who it is hoped will be able to staunch the bleeding. But what is also unprecedented about what is in essence managerial intrigue is that the Times’ code of omerta has been shattered. Whispers of goings-on at the paper rarely escape its high walls, but over the last month reporters have been eager to vent their fury at the paper’s management. Raines, by all accounts, imposed a rule of fear and favouritism, consolidating power and control within a coterie of confidants and pet reporters. While that it not unusual in an American media company, for the Times, with its Byzantine internal political structure, such tactics undermined the newsroom. As one reporter told The Observer last month, Raines was ‘infantilising’ his reporters. But it was only after the Blair scandal broke that Sulzberger came to realise the deep discontent that had infected the organisation. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, Sulzberger said he was taken by surprise. ‘I shouldn’t have been,’ he said. ‘It is in part my failure as a publisher.’ The New York media observers have taken much delight in the chaos, speculating about the fall of Raines and the tight autocracy he ran. They see an organisation in transformation, and in the scandal of Blair a mirror of the stresses that change has placed on the paper. ‘The New York Times is an organisation that’s in the process of transforming itself,’ says New York media critic Michael Wolff. ‘It’s going from an urban regional paper to a national suburban paper”. But the whole drama has given ammunition to naysayers who frequently accuse the Times of overt liberal bias. The unfortunate irony, says Vanity Fair’s James Wolcott, is that Raines’ and Boyd’s effort to recruit and promote non-white reporters ultimately undid them. For Times watchers, the next moves at the paper will be closely scrutinised. But ultimately, it may make little difference. As Wolff points out, the power has shifted from independent editors to the publisher himself. ‘People may think we’ve had a change of government. The old has fallen, so we start again. But that’s not true. Arthur is the real government and he’s determined to make this paper into something else and that’s what people are sensing and rebelling against.’
The Guardian
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Earth! Thou art not anyone’s wife nor art thou concubine of someone thou art a loving Magna Mater that provides abode to all. A stickler to divine duty that gives food, fruit to all yet raped as a concubine And plundered as a wife. — G.C. Mago, A lofty Muddle |
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