The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDITORIALS

Growing dissidence
Vidarbha and Telangana aren’t the issue

The exit of Maharashtra’s two leaders from the Congress party — Mr Vasant Sathe and Mr N.K.P. Salve — demanding statehood for Vidarbha is bound to accentuate the sharp divisions in the party. The two leaders were feeling neglected for quite some time. Having been pushed into the background, they were searching for an excuse to leave the party. The result: the floating of the Vidarbha Rajya Nirman Congress ostensibly to seek justice for Vidarbha, if not to bargain for a better position in the Congress. But the demand for statehood as such is nothing new. Over the years, political parties have been playing the Vidarbha card to suit their narrow and parochial interests. True, development has taken a backseat in this region, jobs are scarce and except in farming and trading, no significant investment has come in. Industrial activity too is notional. But will statehood be the ultimate solution to Vidarbha’s problems? Surely, the demand does not represent the concern of the two leaders; also at issue is the dissidence in the Congress party.

The malaise afflicting the Congress is much deeper. The developments in Maharashtra, close on the heels of a similar problem in Andhra Pradesh over the statehood demand for Telangana, are bound to worry the Congress leadership. Dissidence has been brewing in the Andhra unit and as many as eight MLAs have resigned from the party. More to the point, the rebels have taken exception to the peremptory replacement of the party president, Mr M. Satyanarayana Rao, with Mr D. Srinivas, a raw hand. Obviously to buy time, the high command is trying to convince the rebels in both Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra that their demands for Telangana and Vidarbha would be considered only after the elections to five states are over in November.

Clearly, the Congress is not as strong and cohesive as its leaders claim to be. There is dissidence in its rank and file almost in every state — Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Delhi. The situation in Maharashtra is no better. Growing dissidence had, in fact, forced the high command to replace Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh with Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde as the Chief Minister. The party is said to be ruling in 15 states today. But such is the extent of vulnerability that its support base even in the states where it has a substantial presence seems to be on the wane. This is not a good sign for the main Opposition party in the Lok Sabha which wants to come to power at the Centre. The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, may have emerged as the unifying factor in the party. Tackling factionalism in the party has become crucial for her, more so in an election year.

The Talhan accord
Embers of tension have to be doused

The spirit of accommodation shown by Jats and Dalits in Talhan will, hopefully, be long-lasting and mark an end to the avoidable eruption of inter-community tension. The controversy at Gurdwara Shahid Baba Nihal Singh had arisen because of the grouse of the Dalits that the Jats were not allowing them any say in the administration of the gurdwara. Now that Amarjit, one of the two Dalit nominees, has been unanimously elected vice-secretary of the Sahajdhari Committee, decks have been cleared for the restoration of peace and amity. Sikhism is one religion which makes no distinction between two persons on the basis of their caste or community. This glorious tradition has been sullied because of the narrow-minded approach of a few persons. It is very important to restore it immediately and wipe out the blot caused by the confrontation at Talhan and some neighbouring areas. Much will depend on how the Dalit nominees are treated by the other members of the management committee in future. Only if the peace agreement is followed in letter and spirit will the animosity fade away.

The situation in other districts may not be as explosive as it was at Talhan because of certain local factors, but it will be wrong to think that everything is normal between Jats and Dalits everywhere. There have been stray cases of conflict in several other areas of the state also. The sense of superiority at times displayed by the former leads to tension. Learning from the Talhan episode, social and religious leaders should come forward to avert the undercurrents of resentment among the Dalits. The construction of separate gurdwaras for different communities is certainly not conducive to the principles of brotherhood preached by the great Gurus. Responsible Sikhs ought to ponder over this vital issue.

The role of the government and its various agencies will be crucial in bringing about a rapprochement. They should be alive to the very first signs of developing tension and intervene before things go out of hand. There were widespread allegations that the police played a partisan role in the Talhan clashes. Even a hint of partiality shown by official agencies tends to aggravate the feeling of hurt. Policemen and others with whom the common man comes in regular contact have to be sensitised to the paramount need of evenhandedness and impartiality. Those who do not conform will have to be dealt with firmly.

The Kelley death probe
Hoon may be Blair’s scapegoat

The inquiry into the apparent suicide by British Defence Ministry weapons expert David Kelley is taking an interesting turn. Reports suggest that Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon may become the sacrificial lamb for the Blair government, which is in trouble over the issue. Mr Hoon’s fault is that he overruled the most senior official in his department to allow a sensitive top-ranking scientist to be questioned in full view of media cameras for Kelley being the source of a BBC expose of how 10 Downing Street misled the British nation over Saddam Hussein’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction. Two days after his appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee the greatly nervous weapons expert disappeared from his house, giving a severe jolt to the Blair government.

When Lord Hutton concludes his inquiry Mr Hoon’s may not be the only head to roll. But the matter is unlikely to end there. Those closely following the probe believe that the Hutton report may also shed light on the most significant question whether Mr Blair’s office exaggerated the threat from Iraq’s WMDs, yet to be found despite a thorough search, and thus told a lie to the British public. Though this aspect is not included in the terms of reference of the Hutton committee, the matter cannot be ignored keeping in view the fact that the question of WMDs was the ultimate cause leading to the scientist’s suicide. That will mean trouble for Mr Blair for his astonishing claim that the Saddam regime was capable of unleashing war with its WMDs within 45 minutes. Thus, what Mr Blair had prevented from being public by his refusal to institute an inquiry into his justification for the Iraq war may be brought to light by the Hutton report.

No. 10 Downing Street has already been mentioned in the course of the ongoing Hutton probe in connection with the plan to question Kelley for a second time after he had been thoroughly grilled at the first disciplinary hearing. The Defence Ministry publicly named Kelley as the source for the BBC report only after Mr Blair had intervened seeking further questioning of the scientist. Kelley, being a sensitive person, took the extreme step as he could not bear the harsh treatment meted out to him. Mr Hoon’s likely departure from the government is unlikely to end the controversy.

Thought for the day

There is no gambling like politics.

— Disraeli

OPINION

MPs’ peace mission
Musharraf has missed an opportunity
by S. Nihal Singh

Must India and Pakistan make the crossing at Wagah such an ordeal? It is as if computers had not been invented as innumerable sets of officials on either side of the border still live in the 19th century world of ledgers, copying and recopying passport details. Separate sets of porters hover around, with an eye on making money, rather than carrying your baggage.

It was a hot and muggy day and we perspired profusely under a merciless sun, our clothes drenched wet. There was a studied air about groups of Pakistanis welcoming Indian delegates. There were peace visors and posters extolling peace.

There were garlands and rose petals and small crowds waving welcome to the Indian delegates, some 32 MPs from the two Houses across the political spectrum and a dozen or so media persons and experts. The trip was organised by the South Asian Free Media Association, whose dynamic secretary-general Imtiaz Alam had trotted out the highest in the land to meet the MPs. The piece de resistance was the meeting with President Pervez Musharraf.

As the two-day conference got under way, the themes were repetitive. War was not an option for nuclear neighbours. The accent inevitably was on Kashmir and Indian MPs were pat with the theme of cross-border terrorism. There was no leader of the Indian delegation, but right from the time the train pulled out of New Delhi station for Amritsar, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav had made his mark by releasing doves of peace on the platform.

In Pakistan, Laloo was a great hit, capturing Pakistani hearts with his folksy ways. But his theatrical performances began to pall on his colleagues. It was often them versus Laloo, the latter in perennial demand for television interviews.

It was no coincidence that the Pakistan People’s Party extolled the great initiatives for peace taken by Ms Benazir Bhutto during her prime ministership. The Congress party similarly said how assiduous it had been in pursuing peace with Pakistan while in power. That these endeavours did not go far enough or lead to lasting peace was self-evident.

There were brave words about changing the mindset and demolishing the “Berlin Wall” between India and Pakistan, or at any rate open a window on it. Everyone welcomed the Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiative for peace, but the dialogue seemed to have run out of steam even before it was being implemented.

In private, those for peace asked questions. How does one account for the rise of the Hindu Taliban? Is Prime Minister Vajpayee sincere? What is the mood of the civil society in India and of its politicians?

There were few surprises. Conscious of the weight of the parliamentary delegation, there was an inclination to please the visitors. There was, in addition, much emotion, angst and the burden of history. At the level of trade and economic relations, there was the realisation , not only among the Indian delegates, of the benefits open trade would bring the two countries. And there was the perennial chicken and egg argument, whether we should wait for a more conducive atmosphere for talks to begin talking.

In Lahore, they staged an allegorical play for the benefit of the delegates. It sought to bring out the foolishness and tragedy of the two sides sticking to their known rigid positions. But there was the alternative, and optimistic, view, that the peoples of India and Pakistan were forcing a change in the attitudes of the two countries’ leaderships.

The meeting General Pervez Musharraf had with the MPs and the media was a study in contrasts. He decided to dress in uniform to make a point, and simply charmed the MPs without giving anything away. There was a stampede among MPs to have their pictures taken with the President. The General obliged, with perhaps a trace of wry amusement. The stampede was reminiscent of the extraordinary scenes witnessed after President Clinton gave his address to the Indian Parliament.

As the MPs shoved and pushed each other, the irony was inescapable although hardly noticed by them. President Clinton was an elected leader, and while it is not India’s business to tell the Pakistanis how to rule themselves, the parliamentarians’ adulation for a military figure was somewhat surprising. Whether MPs should evolve a code of conduct on meeting foreign dignitaries is for them to think about.

At the end of President Musharraf’s performance, it was not clear how he had moved forward the cause of peace. Such proposals as a cease-fire along the Line of Control and in the Kashmir valley were hedged with so many caveats that India’s rejection was inevitable.

Before meeting the President we were taken to the National Assembly building. It was plush. A portrait of Jinnah hanging over the Speaker’s podium represented him in a suit and tie. Islamabad has an antiseptic air about it, with white buildings and wide avenues and little traffic. The capital is flanked by Margala Hills and the holiday resort of Murree.

There was a long wait on the Pakistan side of the Wagah border. We were treated to a farewell lunch by Asma Jehangir, the human rights activist. She is as committed to peace as she always was.

What did the SAFMA conference and the more informal interactions between the two delegations add up to? The optimists looked to the upsurge of hope after Prime Minister Vajpayee’s April Srinagar speech. Others sighed over the familiar clichés repeated by each side for the benefit of the other. By any realistic yardstick, genuine peace is still a long way away.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the exercise was President Musharraf’s failure to grasp a unique opportunity to make a bold move. An Indian parliamentary delegation representing almost all shades of opinion had come calling on him and he chose to treat them to a stale repast.

MIDDLE

Election “daru”
by Gopal Kaith

Circumstances forced me to spend the first two months of 2003 in a PWD rest house in a sub-divisional town. Making a virtue of necessity, I absorbed myself in reading, observing and musing on the sights and sounds around the place. Right in front of the rest house, quiet flowed the Beas river. However, the dust and din raised by an unending convoy of shaky, shrieky, teeming and teetering tractors transporting stones and sand from the riverbed perturbed its placidity and rattled my own cage. It was here that I came across two different groups of children.

One evening, about a dozen schoolboys bounded into the sprawling lawns like sportive and bleating lambs. They were followed by an equal number of chirpy girls. Their joie de vivre reminded me of my own children at Shimla and enhanced my homesickness.

They mingled and began to click individuals as well as groups with cameras. In different and stylish postures. Suddenly, a Devdas-like hat dropped off the head of the tallest boy. A lad picked it up and threw it high into the air to be caught by another “Oye, give my hat back. I have spent forty rupees,” pleaded its owner. Instead, the hat became a flying saucer. Within minutes the boys got bored with the game in the air. And allowed the hat to fall on the ground. One of them kicked it hard. And soon a soccer match was on. The girls cheered and created a Mexican wave. I had never seen and scaled such a summit of Bohemian and boundless bonhomie.

The following afternoon, I sat reading a book at the same place. A mix of six school-and-college-looking boys barged into the lawns. One of them carried a fashionable bag. They sat under a huge banyan tree. Soon they began to chat, chew and chuckle. One of them fetched a jug of water many times from the nearby tap. I thought they were in a picnic mood and enjoying a lavish lunch. The massive stem of the tree prevented me from scanning their exact activity.

As minutes passed, they became bolder and louder. Discarding the veil of the massive stem, they now exposed themselves to my view. One of them smashed a glass bottle against the tree. Its shards scattered around. Their guffaws galvanised my curiosity.

“Hey, what are you doing” I asked. “Uncle, we are on ED”, one of them replied. “What is that?” I questioned. “Can you guess?” the boy counter-questioned me teasingly.

“ED, among other things, may mean Education Department and Excise Department”, I beat about the bush. “Neither. But the latter may give you some clue to what we are doing here”, said one of them. They laughed at my confusion.

Their laughter was, however, drowned in an ear-splitting hullabaloo emanating from the adjacent invisible ground. “Do you know what this is noise about,” one of them asked me again “This is Election Campaign”, I replied. “There you have got it. ED is part of EC, that is Election Campaign. In short, we are on Election Duty”, the same boy clarified.

Now my confusion was worse confounded. And they laughed lustily. “Uncle, let us be frank with you. ED, in our case, stands for three things. One, ED means election duty which we are doing. Two, election daru (liquor) which we are drinking. Three, election devata (deity) who is pouring this election daru. And as the polling day draws near, the election devata will pour more. And yeh dil mange more”, explained the leader of the party in the midst of laughter and handshakes.

The innocent children waited for more bait from Bacchus. The gods of petty politics are too power-hungry to have pity on such sacrificial lambs!

IN FOCUS

STATE OF UNIVERSITIES — 4
Where academics propose and babus dispose
Volatile campus politics has spoiled Himachal university’s reputation
by Nirmal Sandhu

HPU students: highly political and conscious of their rights. — Photo by Anil Dayal

Despite being ranked the best in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal by the UGC’s National Accreditation and Assessment Committee (NAAC), Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, stinks of politics, more than any other university in the region.

Hardly any decision and appointment goes unchallenged. Protests are common. In December last 23 students were rusticated as the agitation against the alleged question paper scam turned violent. They were taken back in April. Amidst sloganeering, aggressive posturing and hurling of unsubstantiated allegations, truth and reason get sidelined. Here is an attempt to understand dispassionately what has gone wrong, and what, if anything, can be done to reverse the decline of the hill state’s premier institution.

The root cause of the present turbulent situation can be traced to the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor. When a politician-turned Chancellor, Mr Suraj Bhan, and a populist Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, proposed their own favourites for the post of Vice-Chancellor, instead of following the set procedure, seeds of future trouble were sown. Mr Suraj Bhan favoured a Dalit, but Mr Dhumal opposed this. Prof S.D. Sharma from the Governor’s home state, Haryana, was the compromise candidate. A Kurukshetra University don, Professor Sharma did not lobby for the post. But it is alleged that his name did not figure in the panel recommended by the search committee.

For HPU’s politically active and ambitious teachers, Professor Sharma, who took over on October 18, 2001, was, and is, an "outsider", seen as a Suraj Bhan man. The Vice-Chancellor, however, asserts that he is above politics. His interest in astrology has brought him closer to politicians and bureaucrats. But even his critics admit that Professor Sharma has got some prestigious projects for the university. The notable among these is the UGC-funded Institute of Integrated Himalayan Studies.

Some of the appointments made before Mr Sharma took over, and some during his tenure, have been cited by his detractors to make the point that he has been soft towards the BJP and the RSS. There is no doubt that he has inherited a bad legacy. Top posts were filled by teachers with pro-BJP leanings. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar, the Dean of Studies, the Dean of Student Welfare and the Chief Warden all owed their posts to their loyalty to the then ruling BJP. The Pro-VC and the Registrar were among those who resigned after the Congress assumed power in Himachal. The vacant posts have been filled by those seen as pro-Congress. So the Congress continues the tradition of political meddling in university affairs. Apolitical teachers are naturally disenchanted.

How posts were filled at the behest of politicians during BJP rule can be gauged from this example: Thirtyseven candidates — 35 of them Ph.Ds — applied for two posts in the Physics Department. The two selected were non-Ph.Ds — one an ABVP leader and the other a nephew of the then Chief Minister. Former Health Minister Nadda’s wife was selected as a lecturer in the History Department. The VC’s wife holds a post in the distance education department.

Twentyseven posts filled allegedly on extraneous considerations have been challenged in court by the SFI and the NSUI. Teachers with lower qualifications have got the jobs, while the better qualified and talented ones have been left out. Dearth of talent has also contributed to unrest on the campus. Non-specialists have been appointed to fill posts meant for specialists. In the Mathematics and Statistics Department, for instance, there is not a single teacher for statistics.

Autonomy

"Protect autonomy", proclaims an SFI placard, hinting at the erosion of autonomy due to political interference. The Vice-Chancellor also takes shelter behind the shield of autonomy, to scuttle the Virbhadra Singh government’s attempts to pin him down. The VC is accused of financial irregularities and the state government has ordered a Vigilance inquiry. Mr Sharma has refused to answer the Vigilance questionnaire saying only the Chancellor can order an inquiry. The question paper scam too is under the Vigilance scrutiny as also the hiring of a building at Panchkula owned by a son of Mr Suraj Bhan.

Projecting himself as an academic, Professor Sharma denies any involvement in the alleged misuse of funds. Facts and figures are distorted, he says. Justice R.K. Nehru and Justice S.K. Jain, both retired judges, have inquired into the two incidents of errors in question papers. Both reports are with the Chancellor. There has been no question paper leakage at all, he stresses and adds: "The Chancellor sent a few queries to which I have replied." The Vice-Chancellor also justifies the hiring of the Panchkula building for Rs 27,000 a month. "Mr Suraj Bhan’s son made the lowest bid. The building is being put to good use", he says.

The changed political scenario has put all these issues under the scanner once again. In retaliation the Virbhadra government has refused to accept the university’s demand for an increase in the grant-in-aid from Rs 19.17 crore to Rs 28.47 crore. The government plea is: no more aid until fiscal discipline is enforced. This is bound to derail HPU’s growth plans.

Students’ woes

Distance education students from all over the country, numbering 50,000, are the worst sufferers of the malfunctioning of the administrative section, particularly the examination branch. They have to go all the way to Shimla as their queries are not answered. The Internet facility is unavailable. Computerisation of the examination branch is urgently required, but the move is resisted by a section of the employees who fear the loss of "overtime" payments running into lakhs of rupees every month. While the state school board results are made available on the Internet, the university results are not. The results are often delayed. Employees say they are overworked. The Director in charge of distance education, Prof O.P. Sarwat, says if the examination charge is given to his department and computerisation undertaken, inconvenience to students would ease.

The computerisation plan is not the only one that has got bogged down in procedural wrangles, courtesy vested interests, even the VC’s orders are not carried out. The unfortunate impression one gets is that no one seems to be in charge here. The university’s toilets are poorly maintained and give a bad impression to visitors. The university has a guest house, but the water supply is so irregular that teachers feel ashamed of putting up guests there. Dignitaries visiting the university are made to stay in expensive hotels, causing unnecessary burden on the university’s limited resources. The water tank in the university was erected long ago, but is yet to be put in use.

The general practice on the campus is: the academic proposes, the babu disposes. Teachers allege that politics in the administrative block has kept merit away and the poorly qualified hold key posts. The most interesting case cited is that of a dhaba owner who first became a chowkidar in the university, then a clerk and rose to retire as Registrar. The previous Registrar, Mr Jagat Bhushan Nadda, was a brother of former Health Minister J.P. Nadda. The present Registrar, Mr R.D. Panwar, an HCS officer and a political appointee, does not hold the requisite qualification — an MA with at least 55 per cent marks.

To understand political pulls and pressures under which university officials work, consider this : the Registrar, who had sacked a daily wager for not doing a particular work, was being persuaded to reconsider his decision, in the presence of this writer, by a delegation with a recommendation from Himachal’s Education Minister. With no clue to what higher education is all about, the babus sit on vital academic projects and thwart the implementation of decisions.

Political alignments

The Congress as well as the BJP have their respective teachers’ cell on the campus. The university rules do not prohibit teachers from becoming members of such cells. A senior professor explains the political alignments on the campus: "Forty per cent of the university teachers are with the Congress, almost an equal number is with the BJP, although some pragmatic ones remain committed to the ruling party only. Ten per cent are leftists and 10 per cent apolitical". The neutral teachers stand marginalised.

The SFI leads in student politics, winning all elections to the Central Student Association since 1978 except in 2001 when the ABVP, backed by the then ruling BJP, captured the CSA. The NSUI, the student wing of the Congress, has a limited presence on the campus. An election costs about Rs 10,000 and political activists raise money from students, teachers and the general public.

Justifying students’ indulgence in politics, SFI state President Vijendra Mehra says: "Students here are really aware" and "conscious of their democratic rights". Elsewhere, scandals go unreported, here students keep a sharp eye on any misuse of funds and power.

However, volatile campus politics has caused an irreparable damage to the university’s reputation. Soko University of Japan has put on hold Rs 30-crore aid to set up a centre for Buddhist studies at HPU after negative reports appeared in the media. Few companies visit the campus for recruitment. MBA student Naresh Ranta, however, says the authorities do not take any initiative, adding that "there is no placement cell here". In the last couple of years hardly any HPU student has got into the IAS.

Ten to 15 per cent students keep hopping from one course to another, partly to equip themselves better for the job market and partly to postpone the prospect of facing unemployment. After laws, Nivriti Mohan is doing MA in sociology. Neither keen on practising law nor any job in sociology, she is preparing for the Civil Services Examination.

It is usually the "chronic" students who play politics and can be kept away if the admission procedure is changed, suggests a teacher, requesting anonymity. The VC too agrees. Such students join the departments where admissions are relatively easier like the departments of Sanskrit, Hindi, tribal studies, public administration and women studies.

Hostel accommodation is woefully inadequate for students and girls are particularly hit. That hostels are used for political activities is an open secret. Some of the studious students prefer to stay outside.

Teachers complain class attendance is poor. This is because the rule of 75 per cent compulsory attendance is not enforced, except in a few departments. The VC, who is accused by teachers of condoning the lecture shortage penalty under pressure from students, told this writer that this rule would now be strictly implemented.

Student leaders say teachers do not take any pains. Some are simply incompetent, having come through the back door. There are no seminars, workshops and other participative activities. The general lament is: Padhne waale padhna nahin chahte, padhaane waale padhaana nahin chahte. Stressing the need for serious introspection,Prof S.K. Sharma, Chairman of the Sociology Department, says: "The teachers should rise above issues of promotions and increments and evaluate what they get and what they pay back to society".