EDITORIALS

Emergency in Sri Lanka
Nation heads for political uncertainty

TO those who have watched the uneasy relations between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over a period of time, Tuesday’s developments in Sri Lanka have not come as much surprise. Mrs Kumaratunga has placed the country under emergency, suspended parliament, herself taken over the key portfolios of Defence, Interior and Information, and deployed the Army. The President struck when the Prime Minister was away in Washington for talks. Whatever the nature of future developments, Sri Lanka is headed for political uncertainty and possible instability with no one knowing how to pull it out of the messy situation.

Since the beginning when Mr Wickremesinghe won the parliamentary elections and formed his government, his relations with Mrs Kumaratunga have not been as they should be between the President and the Prime Minister of a strife-torn country. The peace process the Prime Minister chose to start with the separatist LTTE widened the gulf between the two. Mrs Kumaratunga has been of the view that the Prime Minister was yielding more ground to the LTTE than he ought to have. Apparently, she believes that whatever the label, the new status the LTTE was seeking for its north-eastern stronghold was in effect a step towards an Eelam and a possible division of the country. She has struck in the name of national unity, implying that Mr Wickremesinghe was placing it under jeopardy. How the Prime Minister reacts from abroad or his party reacts to the Emergency and all that it entails remains to be seen.

Mrs Kumaratunga’s move, which apparently enjoys the support of most of the Army, has, if nothing else, scuttled the peace process that had been launched with the Norwegian help to pull the beleaguered nation out of its trouble. In an atmosphere of uncertainty in Colombo, no one can say who — and at what time — will pick up the thread of negotiations with the LTTE.

Cracking the whip
Lyngdoh is doing his duty

CHIEF Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh’s firmness in enforcing the model code of conduct in Chhattisgarh in the wake of flagrant misuse of office by Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in the run-up to the assembly elections is necessary and welcome. His apprehension that “holding a free and fair poll may be more difficult in Chhattisgarh than was in Mr Narendra Modi’s Gujarat” sums up the extent of which Mr Jogi has tried to short-circuit the official machinery to serve the interests of the ruling Congress in the elections. Mr Lyngdoh has done well in sticking to the Election Commission’s stand on transferring the District Collectors of Bastar and Jashpur. He has also hinted at action against Bilaspur’s District Collector and Superintendent of Police for their “closed-door meeting” with Mr Jogi. Having visited the state and satisfied himself about the misuse of office by Mr Jogi, Mr Lyngdoh has prevented the elections from becoming a farce in Chhattisgarh.

As things stand today, there is absolutely no level-playing field in the state due to the blatantly partisan attitude of officials towards the Chief Minister and the Congress candidates. Distribution of school bags with Mr Jogi’s picture embossed on them by government officers is only one issue. Far more serious are the charges of the continued misuse of the government helicopter and cars for election-related activities by the ruling party, disbursement of cooperative loans, sanction of new schemes and development projects, and ministers getting their own staff deployed on poll duties. The Chief Minister’s protestations to the contrary do not stand scrutiny because he has so far failed to convince the Election Commission of the government’s sincerity in ensuring a free and fair election.

It is disgrace if the ruling party is bent on misusing the official machinery and deriving undue advantage in the hustings. While Mr Lyngdoh has been forced to crack the whip at the right time, it enjoins a heavy responsibility on the Election Commission to ensure that Mr Jogi and his cohorts fall in line and stop misusing the official machinery to further the interests of their party.

Fixed, not flexitime
Our babus are a different breed

THE original babu has been free to walk in and out of office, or even treat the working days as extension of the weekly sabbath. A babu at work? Not in India always. That breed of honest and dedicated civil servants began disappearing long ago. Can they be found "outside of work"? More likely. At his residence "sahib" is invariably in the bathroom and in the office the poor diction of the staff makes him rush from one "important meeting" to another.

The political leadership deliberately looks the other way - as it does when unauthorised jhuggis come up or the well connected grab a piece of precious real estate and turn it into a privileged address like Sainik Farm in Delhi - rather than make the babus mend their ways. Mr S. M. Krishna has gone to the other extreme. He has decided to reward irresponsible conduct of civil servants by deregulating the working schedule of the IAS and IPS officers. He has given them the freedom not to worry about keeping office hours. Karnataka, a fast growing state, may now become a popular destination for shirkers. He evidently found out that flexitime is the latest mantra for improving staff efficiency in the global village. Karnataka's political CEO concluded that what works for the world's work force would work equally well in his state.

As a result of what looks like a hare-brained decision the top babus of the civil administration and the police force need not even offer an excuse (not that they needed to) for reporting late or leaving early. Had Mr Krishna done his home work he would have realised that flexitime is a scheme that lets the employees choose when they want to start and finish work within certain limits set by the employers. The operative part is the willingness of the employees to finish certain specified jobs within the time limit set by them, but at their own pace and convenience. It works best where there is an established and efficient work culture. Can it work in India? Or in Karnataka? Mr Krishna has perhaps forgotten that flexitime is already in practice in India. His decision to prescribe it is no favour to the babus.

Thought for the day

Who overcomes

By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

—John Milton

ARTICLE

Terrorism: the US dilemma
India must continue its diplomatic drive
by G. Parthasarathy

UNLIKE in India, the Government in the United States often facilitates and invariably takes note of studies by prestigious institutions on crucial national security and foreign policy issues. New Delhi would be well advised to study a recent report entitled “New Priorities in South Asia” by a “Task Force” co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society in New York. The Task Force describes India as a country with “political stability” which has “a decade of steady economic advance and the potential for long-term political and strategic partnership and substantially expanded trade and economic relations with the United States”. It observes that as Indian and American interests “broadly coincide”, the US should treat India as a “friendly country” and lift its current restrictions on sensitive “dual use” technologies that have both civilian and military applications. While this report will reinforce the arguments of those within the Bush Administration who favour a long-term strategic partnership with New Delhi, it would be unwise to expect that such policy changes will inevitably occur. The non-proliferation warriors within and outside the State Department will resist and stall moves that seek change.

The Task Force has found that “Pakistan presents one of the most complex and difficult challenges facing US diplomacy anywhere in the world today. Its political instability, entrenched Islamist extremism, economic and social weaknesses, and dangerous confrontation with India have cast dark shadows over the nuclear-armed nation. Even though Pakistan offers valuable help in rooting out Al-Qaeda remnants, it has failed to prevent Islamist terrorists from using its territory as a base for armed attacks on Kashmir and Afghanistan”. The report recommends that Pakistan should be provided economic and security assistance as US interests require “a stable Pakistan at peace with its neighbours”. It suggests that aid to Pakistan should be carefully calibrated so that above a certain level ($ 300 million annually), it should be disbursed only if Pakistan acts to implement political and economic reforms, ends support for insurgencies against its neighbours and fulfils its non-proliferation responsibilities. This is the first instance when an influential body in the United States has not only acknowledged that Pakistan is supporting insurgencies in neighbouring countries, but also recommended a policy of “carrot and stick” in dealing with Pakistan, unlike the “all carrot and no stick” approach of Mr Colin Powell and his State Department mandarins.

It would be difficult to take exception to the spirit behind the recommendations of the Joint Council for Foreign Relations/ Asia Society Task Force that included distinguished and knowledgeable persons like Ambassadors Frank Wisner and Denis Kux. The report is, however, remarkably silent on whether the military establishment in Pakistan that has dominated both domestic politics and foreign policy and national security thinking in that country, can be persuaded to give up its cherished beliefs like “strategic depth” in Afghanistan, or “bleeding India with a thousand cuts” in Kashmir, merely by reducing aid by a few hundred million dollars annually. While the United States may have its own compulsions for changing its assessments about General Musharraf who was regarded as a “hardliner” on India by the Clinton White House, this is not a luxury that India can afford till General Musharraf demonstrates that Pakistan is irrevocably moving away from its use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Thus, while one can have no quarrels with the motivations behind the Task Force recommendations, the time has perhaps come for India to engage the United States more intensely on the pernicious role, both domestically and internationally, of the military establishment in Pakistan.

It is obviously going to take time for the realities of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan to sink into the minds of the mandarins in the State Department. There are reports from eminent Pakistani writers like Ahmed Rashid about how Quetta has become the Mecca of the Taliban leadership and its cadres. More ominously, observers from within Pakistan have noted how both the Bush Administration and the Musharraf dispensation speak only of their cooperation in dealing with Al-Qaeda, with hardly any reference to collaboration to seek out and eliminate Taliban leaders. After all, not a single senior Taliban leader has been arrested or killed by American or Pakistani forces in the past year, despite assertions by President Karzai and members of his government about the assistance being provided to the Taliban on Pakistani soil. The former Taliban military leader Jalaluddin Haqqani is known to have been in regular touch with the ISI, evidently to broker a deal between the Americans and so-called “moderate” elements in the Taliban.

The situation on the ground on Afghanistan’s borders with Pakistan is steadily deteriorating. Attacks on Afghan government military establishments have been increasing. The Taliban and Pakistanis also know that after their experiences in battles in Tora Bora and Shahikot and in Iraq, American forces in Afghanistan have no stomach for operations that could involve casualties on their side. The Taliban is now firmly ensconced in the four border districts of Paktika, Paktia, Kunar and Nangarhar provinces and is preparing to strike at urban centres like Kandahar, Khost and Jalalabad. A recent report indicates that even as Pakistani troops were said to be engaged in tackling the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, a former Minister in the Taliban government, Mullah Jalil, was merrily travelling all around Pakistan including Karachi, collecting funds for the jihad against foreign troops in Afghanistan. General Musharraf evidently feels that by next summer he can create conditions in Afghanistan for General Powell to start talking about including “Moderate Taliban” in the Karzai government and marginalising the Northern Alliance. And given the praise that Mr Colin Powell and Ms Christina Rocca heap on him, General Musharraf can also step up infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir once the winter snows melt in May 2004, with little worry about any adverse consequences. These are challenges that we should even now prepare to face. They call for closer consultations with like-minded countries like Russia and Iran.

Speaking recently to armed forces commanders in New Delhi, Prime Minister Vajpayee acknowledged that his efforts for peace and reconciliation with Pakistan can at best influence those elements in Pakistan that recognise the follies of following policies of compulsive hostility towards India. Mercifully, wishful thinking that led to us inviting General Musharraf to Agra is now a thing of the past. The American National Security Adviser recently expressed her admiration for the confidence-building measures proposed by India, indicating that the process to normalise relations with Pakistan is going to be a long and difficult one. The Task Force recommendations are also realistic and speak of efforts to “manage,” rather than “resolve,” differences between India and Pakistan. General Musharraf, however, constantly harps on a “result-oriented” and “meaningful” dialogue, suggesting that there can be no progress in building confidence or otherwise normalising relations with India till such time as the Kashmir issue is resolved to his satisfaction. New Delhi will, therefore, have to devise imaginative ways to proceed with a process of engagement with Pakistan that enhances people-to-people contacts, promotes confidence and increases trade and economic cooperation bilaterally and regionally. At the same time, relentless military and diplomatic pressure will have to be mounted on the Musharraf dispensation to raise the costs it must pay for its present policies.

MIDDLE

To dear departed!
by Komal Vijay Singh

TWO days after Divali I heard the familiar thud of the newspaper bundle falling bang at the doorstep of my second floor flat. Sitting miles away from Chandigarh I opened the newspaper to page three to get a flavour of my hometown. A rude shock awaited me as my eyes alighted on Dr Des Raj Gulati’s benign face. The headline on top of his photograph said, “Dr Des Raj Gulati dead.” That one announcement in cold print brought forth a rush of memories.

I was perhaps 13 years old when I was hit by a cricket ball on the head. A year later when I had two seizures our family doctor advised us to go to Dr Gulati. A CT scan revealed a slight depression in the brain. Long bouts with EEGs revealed abnormal brain activity.

As Dr Gulati summoned me and my father to his study I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “So, who was the first President of the United States?” he asked me. Taken aback, I muttered out the answer. What was he up to, I wondered. “Young lady, do you know you have just joined the league of great thinkers, writers and artists”, he shot back at me. As I looked askance at him, he said, “You have a slight problem. It is called migraine. Let me tell you this — many intelligent people down the ages have suffered from migraine.” He went on to tell me frankly I would be under medication for a number of years. Then, hopefully my erratic brain waves would be under control.

Bolstered by this pep talk, I decided to get on with living life “intelligently”. This meant no driving for years, minimal TV watching, no going out in the sun.

Years went by. Every year I had a meeting with Dr Gulati after an EEG test. The headaches were becoming a distant memory but the dratted brain waves were still abnormal. I kept him abreast of the milestones reached in my life’s journey.

The day I turned 24 I told my father I wanted freedom from taking the tablets.

We went to Dr Gulati’s residence. The EEGs had been getting better with each passing year but there were still some abnormal brain waves, he cautioned me. Going by his advice, I decreased the tablet intake gradually and one fine day gulped down the last of them.

Months rolled by and there was no sign of migraine. No seizure assailed me. I had to go back to Dr Gulati for a checkup but now I dreaded going to him. What if another EEG revealed the brain waves were still not normal.

Years went by. I got married, became the mother of two kids. I felt as normal as any person could. Yet, I also felt special. I had conquered migraine as one of Dr Gulati’s intelligent patient ought to have. Many times I wanted to meet him and thank him for being a great neurologist as also a super human being. But with two little kids demanding my undivided attention, Dr Gulati soon became a distant memory.

As I read the news of his passing away, I called out to my husband: “My Dr Gulati has died. I wish you could have met him. Do you know he told me migraine afflicts intelligent people?”

“Oh, so he was the one responsible for your mistaken notion about yourself!” said my husband dear with his characteristic humour. “Yes!” I nodded vigorously. As we both burst out laughing, I could feel Dr Gulati’s warmth in our midst. My doctor dear had the rare gift of making his patients feel special and snug, enveloped in his humane aura.

OPED

Apni Mandis in Punjab at crossroads
The gains of the other market
by Manoj Kumar

A view of the Apni Mandi in Sector 15, Chandigarh. — Tribune photo by Parvesh Chauhan

A brain child of former Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill, Punjab’s Apni Mandis — weekly markets to sell vegetables and fruits by farmers directly to consumers — are today passing through a critical phase. A noble concept which has helped thousands of farmers' families and millions of consumers in the region, it has developed various limitations with the passage of time.

The Punjab Mandi Board, which is the nodal agency to implement the scheme, is finding it hard to meet the emerging challenges in this alternative marketing channel. Experts in agricultural marketing say there are various success stories of cooperative marketing in India, like that of the Milk Producers (Amul), and egg producers. The apni mandis, if properly run through professional cooperative marketing, can do business of over Rs 1000 crore annually.

Punjab is a major vegetable and fruits producer among the states. But out of total 250 lakh quintals of vegetables produced in the state, merely 4.49 lakh quintals were sold in apni mandis during last year. About 5 lakh tonnes of fruits like kinnow, grapes and guava are also produced in the state. Though other states like Andhra Pradesh and Haryana have followed the scheme, Punjab farmers seem to be shifting away from it. At present over 3,000 farmers are registered with the Board, and are doing a business of just Rs 32 crore annually in about 30 towns of Punjab and Chandigarh.

“With the passage of time”, says Rajinder Singh, President, Farmers’ Association of Chandigarh Apni Mandi, “the status of these markets have declined, and they have become a den of corruption. The local vendors also enter in the markets and sell all sort of vegetables and products like chapals and spices. Despite low prices in these markets, a section of customers avoid to come here due to traffic congestion, uncleanliness, and low quality of products.”

Recent reports about the presence of insecticides and pesticides in vegetables and fruits produced in the state have also created apprehensions in the minds of consumers. Officials manning these markets admit that they often get complaints regarding overcharging, tampering with weights, misbehaviour with women customers and even drinking by a section of farmers. Further, a section of farmers operates as traders by selling produce to the vendors. Farmers allege that they have no say in the management of Apni Mandis and in fixing the price of vegetables.

Prof M.S. Sidhu, Senior Economist (Marketing), Department of Economics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, says “No doubt, the apni mandis have a potential to economically benefit small and marginal farmers and offer a chance to customers to get fresh vegetables at lower price than charged in the retail market. But if the business has to grow it would require change in their management, better infrastructure as in the foodgrain markets and participation of farmers in their management.”

In a number of European countries, he says, farmers’ societies in collaboration with local bodies hold weekly markets and sell their produce directly to the customer without middlemen. The local bodies also earn revenue worth millions of dollars for offering space and infrastructure. But the farmers’ organisations managing these weekly markets provide all sorts of facilities to attract consumers like parking space, trolleys to carry products, and above all, an assurance about the quality of the product.

Insiders admit that some of the vegetables and fruits produced by Himachal and Haryana farmers at lower rate, enter these markets through local vendors. In fact, admit farmers, due to high cost of production of vegetables and relatively poor quality, they face stiff competition from Himachal farmers in some mandis, whose produce enter in the market through vendors.

Mr Jagtar Singh, DGM (Marketing), Apni Mandi, Punjab Mandi Board, says, “theoretically farmers from other states should take part in the apni mandis organised in Punjab and our farmers should be able to sell any of their produce including wheat, rice, lentils, honey, milk products in the apni mandis of other states. But it is not happening at present.”

He adds since Punjab’s farmers were unable to produce all types of vegetables and fruits demanded by consumers such as lemon, capsicum, apple, banana and others, specialised by Himachal farmers, there was a need to encourage their participation instead of vendors’ involvement.

Mr Gurdeep Singh, Deputy Director, Department of Horticulture, Punjab, says, “with the increase in urbanisation and income levels, the demand for quality vegetables and fruits is set to grow substantially. Punjab’s farmers have all the capacity and determination to face the challenge of marketing in the changing scenario.”

To explore the full potential of the Apni Mandis as conceptualised, officials say, there should be effective coordination among all the departments concerned. The need of hour is to give a direction to the farmers and ensure their involvement in the management of these mandis. The state government should take the initiative to facilitate the farmers to exploit their opportunity that has a great potential to boost the diversification of agriculture programme. Besides it will increase farm incomes and better vegetables and fruits to the consumers at reasonable price.

FROM PAKISTAN

Noisy protest in Assembly

ISLAMABAD: The Opposition on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration inside the National Assembly demanding an instant release of ARD President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and PPP-P leader Asif Ali Zardari. The protesting legislators, however, avoided an aggressive move to avert the possibility of an action on part of the Speaker.

Minutes before commencement of the session, the Opposition members also including from Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) gathered near the Speaker’s dice. They raised slogans and displayed banners asking the authorities to release ARD President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and PPP-P leader Asif Ali Zardari. — The Nation

ARD MPs quit committees

ISLAMABAD: Forty-seven ARD legislators, out of a total 78, resigned from all standing committees of the National Assembly on Tuesday. A copy of the joint resignation, submitted to the Speaker, showed the ARD members had resigned in “protest against gross under representation of the Opposition members on the committees.”

In the resignation, signed by 47 members, the ARD leaders stated that the choice of committees given by them had been ignored. “We, therefore, feel that we will be serving no useful purpose by sitting on the committees,” they said, adding “we are accordingly withdrawing all names”. — The Dawn

Amin to meet Benazir

KARACHI: Chief of the People’s Party Parliamentarians Makhdoom Amin Fahim left for Dubai on Tuesday night to consult party chairperson Benazir Bhutto on the evolving political situation in the country, especially since the arrest of ARD president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

“Sky is the limit,” said Mr Fahim when he was asked about the agenda of his meeting with Benazir Bhutto. He said he would meet Ms Bhutto and his son and would be back to attend the assembly session on Friday. He dispelled rumours that he was carrying any government proposal to the PPP chairperson. — The Dawn

Graft: Minister resigns

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Communication Ahmed Ali on Tuesday tendered his resignation from the cabinet of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali. “Ahmed Ali, a senator of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was forced to resign on evidence of his corruption of billions of rupees at the cost of national exchequer,” a highly placed source said.

President Musharraf handed over a detailed intelligence report of the corruption of the Muttahida minister. In two contracts of the National Highway Authority, Ahmed Ali made billions, it is learnt. — The News International

Phone rentals slashed

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday reduced PTCL telephone line rent by 33 per cent, brought down the installation charges for new connection and doubled the local call duration from five minutes to ten during off-peak hours.

Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari while unveiling the salient features of PTCL relief package here at a press conference, said the government, by taking these significant steps, would share Rs 6.5 billion to Rs 7 billion loss in the annual PTCL revenue with the subscribers. He said that these measures would become effective from December 1, 2003 following the formal approval by the PTCL Board.

Awais said the government understood the justification behind the demands for making local calls free but the same facility was not being offered even in major countries of the region like India and Sri Lanka. — The Nation

REFLECTIONS

Did We not spread the earth like a bed and raise the mountains like pillars? We created you in pairs and gave you rest in sleep. We made the night a mantle, and ordained the day for work. We built above you seven mighty heavens and placed in them a shining lamp. We sent down abundant water from the clouds, bringing forth grain and varied plants, and gardens thick with foliage.

— The Koran

Blessed is the love which maintains our honour with our Lord.

— Guru Nanak

Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.

— John Ruskin

Love gives itself; it is never bought.

— Longfellow

By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man — body, mind and spirit.

— Mahatma Gandhi