 |
|
Tehelka-II Assam-Bihar clashes |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bobby makes a point
The misgoverned state
Onions Dear
Rejected at home, accepted abroad
DELHI
DURBAR
|
Tehelka-II PRIME Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has done well to quickly accept the resignation of Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Dilip Sing Judeo. Any delay could have further damaged the image of the party and the government following the broadcasting of the telltale footage in which he is shown accepting money from a man fronting on behalf of an Australian mining company looking for lease in Chhattisgarh and Orissa. His position in the ministry had become absolutely untenable. If there is a sense of disbelief about the Dilip Singh Judeo bribe expose, it is not because anyone thinks that ministers are beyond the lure of lucre. That myth has been shattered time and again. It is just that it is impossible to imagine that anyone could be stupid enough to take money and be caught on live tape, that too after the Tehelka sting operation. There is no reason to disbelieve the authenticity of the footage. It is pointless to argue over the identity of persons or group which masterminded the sting mission. This is the election time and whoever made the recording might have done so with political motive. As it happened in the Tehelka case, journalists involved in publishing or telecasting the Judeo tape report have been targeted by BJP cadres. That compounds the crime. Such activities unwittingly give the impression that the party does not mind backing the man caught in such a compromising position, caught on the camera with someone else’s money in hand. The scion of the former ruling family of Jaspur has not only blamed Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi for the “forgery” and threatened him but has also accused Christian missionaries of involvement. That is an extremely unfortunate development. Mr Judeo has been actively involved in bringing back to the Hindu fold the tribal converts to Christianity. His allegation is an unfortunate attempt to give a communal angle to the controversy which will cause bad blood. Corruption and greed do not have a religion. |
|
Assam-Bihar clashes THE
manner in which some misguided elements in Bihar and Assam have been whipping up tension and indulging in violence for the past few days needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Preventing candidates of an outside state from taking a direct staff recruitment test of the Indian Railways smacks of fanatacism and parochialism. The “sons of the soil” theory being propagated by these elements is repugnant to the citizen’s constitutional right to seek employment anywhere in the country. It is good that the Railway authorities have decided to conduct a re-examination for those who were prevented from taking it at Maligaon in Assam. If the Maligaon incident is condemnable, equally reprehensible is the attack on the passengers coming from Assam and other states at various stations in Bihar. Bihar is notorious for its record of lawlessness and the recruitment issue has given a fresh opportunity to parochial elements to arouse passion and exacerbate tension in the state. Deplorably, the Munger district administration had failed to prevent the assault on Assamese passengers by local goons. Munger’s District Collector and the Superintendent of Police have been transferred but a lot more needs to be done to restore normalcy. Reports of violence spreading to other states in the North-East are cause for serious concern. Whenever issues such as recruitment come to the fore, it is always the parochial and lumpen elements who seize the opportunity and try to disturb peace. The authorities in both states should view such threats seriously and take every possible measure to check violence. Parochial tendencies should be nipped in the beginning with a firm hand. |
|
Bobby makes a point MR Piyush "Bobby" Jindal would have been the first person of Indian origin to become Governor of a state in America. It was not an impossible dream considering the high rate of success in politics that persons of India origin have had in other countries. Mr Mahendra Chaudhary, a former Prime Minister of Fiji, has Haryanvi blood and Mr Ujjal Singh Dosanjh, who was Prime Minister of British Columbia in Canada, traces his roots to Punjab. Bobby Jindal's relatives in Malerkotla had planned to celebrate his victory on a grand scale .Had they analysed the verdict objectively, they would have gone ahead with the celebrations. His clean campaign has changed the political landscape forever, for people of Indian origin in particular. Opinion polls showed Mr Jindal winning the race against his Democratic rival, Ms Kathleen Blanco, by huge margins .It was a difficult election considering that Louisiana lies in the heart of the "reluctant South" that had resisted the abolition of slavery and apartheid. The South is still very conservative. Had Ms Blanco been challenged by a white Republican male, it may have given a different verdict. In a manner of speaking the voters were given two unacceptable candidates, one failing the gender test and the other the race test. The significance of Mr Jindal's campaign lies in making the voters of Louisiana shed their gender bias. Going by the narrow margin of defeat, the race barrier too is crumbling. Mr Jindal only has to bide his time. At 34 he has age on his side for changing the political profile of America. The Indian-Americans are at a crossroad. If they take the wrong road, it would delay the realisation of a dream that Mr Jindal has for them. If they follow their instinct, they would end up taking the right road to have their share of opportunities in American politics. By doing so they would rekindle the lamp that had been passed on to them by Dalip Singh Saund, the first Indian-American to be elected to Congress in the 1950s. Thought for the day If you want to succeed in politics, you must keep your conscience well under control. — David Lloyd George
|
The misgoverned state EVERY single social group that has attained power in Bihar has conspired to prevent its development. Initially, the upper castes were reluctant to initiate any change that might disrupt the existing social hierarchies they dominated. When the other backward castes did finally gain power, leaders like Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav were driven to maintain and consolidate their constituencies rather than help the state prosper. This made them extremely reluctant to encourage any dynamism that would alter social and economic relations between the existing groups; their aim was to displace upper castes, not encourage any activity that might reduce the dominance of caste as an axis of mobilisation. Second, the central focus of politics became the politics of representation and self-esteem, even more so than in the rest of India. The primary purpose of politics became the self-assertion of caste identity and revenge against rivals. This explains a paradoxical feature of Bihar politics: In no other state in India are political passions so intense, the competition for state power so important. But in no other state is governance seen as a relatively peripheral issue. Such politics is not a propitious ground for development. The gap between Bihar and other states on basic indicators like the per capita state domestic product, labour force participation, literacy and poverty has been widening during the nineties. We are now in a vicious cycle where the character of politics in Bihar will not produce development, and lack of development will only make its politics more vicious. The most telling statistics about Bihar: private projects constitute less than 3 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product compared to 57 per cent in states like Gujarat and an average of 20 per cent for the country as a whole. In short, Bihar has almost no private investment. This is an indicator of its dire economic condition and a measure of its misrule. But the less economic activity there is, the more intense its politics will be. It is fashionable to say that Bihar has been well endowed and bad governance has ruined it. But in retrospect it is clear that most of its problems stem from long-term causes. We now know that patterns of agrarian land holding have huge economic, political and social effects. Even modest land reform can blunt the violent intensity of the kind of rural politics that Bihar experiences. But more importantly, a slightly less inegalitarian rural structure allows for at least minimum forms of reciprocity among social groups that is necessary for governance to be effective. The absence of that reciprocity has made politics violent. Second, we also know that human resource endowments, especially education, have at least some impact on economic growth. Bihar, compared to the rest of India, has been a laggard in social investment. But both the intensity of caste relations and relative unimportance of education were exacerbated by one stunning fact: Bihar has never experienced major social reform movements. In the absence of state intervention is always less effective. During the nineties Bihar was doubly hit. First, private investment went to more attractive states. But, secondly, public investment, both by the Centre and the state in areas that were relevant to Bihar’s economic growth, agriculture and infrastructure, stagnated or declined. In fact, agricultural investment declined for the nation as a whole, but its ramifications are probably even more profound for Bihar, because the dependence of its population on this investment was even higher. Whatever little existed was made even less effective by misgovernance. What is the way out of this dilemma? It is unlikely that Bihar politics will undergo a radical transformation anytime; soon nor is there a social reform movement in the offing. Given the current political economy of Bihar, even a modest land reform is unlikely. The best hope is that there is at least something of a learning curve in Bihar politics that reorients politics towards solving practical problems. Second, there is no doubt that Bihar will require massive public investment, especially in the social sector and infrastructure. We know that other BIMARU states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been transformed by even modest increases in attention to these sectors. We know that under the present dispensation, any such investment is unlikely to be put to efficient use in Bihar, comparatively speaking. The question is: can the Centre devise new institutional ways of channelling these funds directly to projects? One of the paradoxes of the Bihar government is that while it routinely siphons off non-plan expenditure, it is actually quite poor at spending money earmarked for development projects. Both the Centre and the state will have to think creatively about effective delivery mechanisms for public investment. Fiscal discipline will require a delicate handling. For instance, the state’s employees will have to be compensated enough for any restructuring of the government so that they do not block reform. Third, the state will need a political leadership that wakes up to the need for attracting private investment. Indian federalism is now competitive federalism, with states competing to make themselves attractive to business. This is a simple fact no state can ignore. It is true that enhanced public investment will not automatically or immediately transform Bihar’s prospects, but it can lessen the pressure on agrarian competition and spread education that allows new forms of politics to emerge. Infrastructure projects can not only help stimulate investment, they can also alter the political economy of entire regions. Finally, Bihar has been slightly unlucky during the nineties. The kind of effort suggested above requires massive Centre-state coordination. So long as the ruling parties in the state are different, or the party in power in Bihar is only a marginal player in a Central coalition, it will be difficult for the state to leverage the Centre in the way say Mr Chandrababu Naidu has. The most difficult challenge facing Bihar will be to devise ways to make its administration, the civil service and the police less complicit in partisan politics within the state. We will be fooling ourselves if we assume that the solution to any of the challenges that Bihar faces is going to be easy. Short of a radical transformation, the only thing policy intervention can do is to look for the points where the vicious circle Bihar finds itself in can be broken. Altering its political economy, even modestly, is one way to start. And that will be impossible without public investment. The writer is Professor of Philosophy and of Law and Governance, JNU, New Delhi. |
Onions Dear I used to shed copious tears while peeling and slicing them. Now tears wilt down my cheeks since I can’t help but pine for them. I think myself fortunate to have their “durlabh darshan” in the vegetable market. All nuances of pink and earthy reds are crushing virtually. And so tempting are their luscious layers of peel after peel. I feel like caressing them as the “sabzi wala” goes into rhapsody singing high praises perhaps to tease me. Says they will be a luxury soon. Good heavens! Being service class I can’t afford any luxury. Budget tilts away meeting the basic necessities. Hence poor me can only dream of luxuries. Now that they have been labelled as “luxuries” better I turn my gaze away from them. Let the glistening “Nasiks” be hot favourites of people with fat purses, not for ones with lean purses. Onions have gained such a VIP status that they have turned out to be hot topic of discussion in public places. Good God! they have swept gossip circles like a whirlwind. Even sparkling diamonds have paled into insignificance before them in kitty parties. Instead of “What is the latest score of today’s match?” one hears “In which market are onions cheaper?” at social gatherings. Poor me! Always getting nostalgic about the days when onions ruled supreme in my kitchen. Now hardly any aroma is left in my kitchen. In fact bereft of them it presents a dismal scene. No joy left in cooking, “Bengan ka Bhartha”, rogan josh, murg musallam, shahi paneer! Ah! now onwards we shall relish only in dreams. Children leave the dining table just at the very sight of dishes sans onions. They prefer to survive on the damned junk food, which I never allowed them to take. And my darling hubby! Frowns at the “dal” without onion seasoning, though professes he to be on diet!” Tomorrow we will get onion ginger paste bottle!” So announces he. Small screen has gone on an advertising spree. Isn’t this onion scarcity in connivance with the big industrialists? I am afraid onions will soon be a thing of the past. Perforce grannies will narrate to their grandchildren tales of the times when the monarch of Indian gourmet was available for the asking like dry fruit being sold for paisas in good old days. Stories about onions may be as popular as the ones about Harry Potter. Media by nature is always in search of some hot news. Which other news is hotter than onion scarcity leading to skyrocketing prices? Media has pampered dear onions to be a “government shaker”. So mighty have they proved themselves to be. Capable of forming vote banks! The very future of leaders depends on them. No denying the fact that their absence works like a magic wand turning all food tasteless and insipid. Hence the consequent tiffs in marital relations as well as among the progeny. We move ahead. There are a protest marches and dharnas by political leaders on the streets. Next target is obviously the state assemblies and Parliament. Heated debates and walkouts! Not long back they brought down a government at the Centre. What a nasty fall! The tearjerker brought tears and caused an upheaval in political circles. Once again it is election time. Onions seem determined to play unheard-off pranks. |
Rejected at home, accepted abroad
SHORTLY before partition, a boy from a very poor family went to Khalsa College, Amritsar, for admission. He had reasonably good marks. He had lost his father when he was five. His mother had to struggle hard to bring up her five sons and two daughters. But she understood the value of education and sent her son to the best possible institution around. “Khalsa College refused me admission because I had only five rupees with me. I went to Government College, Lahore, which accepted me, gave me clothing and books, and a place to stay,” recalls Jagir Singh Randhawa. A few years later he returned to Khalsa College, now to teach physics. Then he took up government lecturership and was posted, first at Ropar, then at Rohtak. Born on November 1, 1922, at Vahila Teja in Gurdaspur district, Jagir’s family moved to a village called 186-9L (that is how the British named it), now in Pakistan. He was schooled at Harappa and graduated in 1946. Partition saw his family trudge back to its native village and settle at Kala Afgana. Actually, Jagir Singh Randhawa wanted to become a pilot in the Indian Air Force. His room-mate got selected, but he was rejected. He wanted to study chemistry, but a well-wisher advised him to take up physics, instead. These were years of ambition and disillusionment. He wanted to do something, but the circumstances and the system restrained him and tied him to an unsatisfying routine. The youngman who was turned away by the IAF was taken in, years later, by the US army as a research physicist. He had quit as a lecturer when he got a scholarship from the University of Colorado at Boulder to do the masters in physics in 1957, which was followed by a Ph.D. from New Mexico State University at Las Cruses. That was the time when India offered limited facilities and opportunities for talented technocrats, who headed for a red-carpet welcome in the US. Dr Randhawa’s thesis on ozone attracted the attention of the authorities at the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory at White Sands. They did not want to lose this bright scholar. Since Dr Randhawa was on a student visa, he could not pursue the job which required a green card, which he was given immediately, and US citizenship. That would come only after five years of stay in the country. But they got the rules changed. A Bill was passed in the Congress to grant Dr Randhawa full rights as a US citizen. Staying away from his family, the solitary scholar enjoyed his freedom and research-oriented environment. He managed to develop an instrument by which physicists could measure the effect on the ozone layer of the nitrous oxide released during supersonic flights. He got a patent for the device, which led the US government under Jimmy Carter to reconsider its plans on supersonic planes. In the world of science, his achievement is considered remarkable. It was only after regular employment and citizenship that Dr Randhawa could help his wife, Narinder Kaur, and two daughters, aged seven and eight then, join him in the US in 1963. Later, other relatives were also taken there. So he did not miss anybody back home. His daughters made good of their US education — one became a doctor and married a physician and the other got into management and married a veterinary doctor. Living up to the American tradition of sharing, Dr Randhawa has liberally distributed fruits of his success. When his wife died, he donated $30,000 to sponsor a Narinder K. Randhawa scholarship at California State University, Fresno. The only condition attached was the recipient must be familiar with Sikh culture. Recently, he gave Guru Nanak Dev University Rs 25 lakh to set up a Baba Budhaji chair. That Baba Budha was a Randhawa was also a consideration in encouraging research on this relatively less known personality in the Sikh religion. For 30 years, Dr Randhawa worked in the US, uncomplainingly, forgetting past disappointments to enjoy the present. He travelled all over the world, presenting papers in international conferences and seminars, and carrying out rigorous research work. Did he ever feel discriminated against? “No, never. America is perhaps the only country left in the world where there is no discrimination. If you work hard, you are rewarded”, he said, relaxing at a relative’s house at Mohali on Monday. He visits India once in a decade or so. Now busy with grapes cultivation at his farmhouse in California, he looks back at the years gone by with contentment. “If the IAF rejected me, it was good for me. Otherwise, I would have retired long ago, leading a dull life. I would not have been able to see the world.” He remembers how difficult it had been to travel in buses in Punjab. “Slowly, things are getting better, but still there is pollution, insanitation, too much population. The expansion of cities has not been planned”. Asked about his future plans, he was silent for a moment and then responded: “I don’t plan to come back too many times. It is hard to travel. I am 81. My daughter insists that I must walk two miles every day. I take a peg or two when in a company. I am not very particular about food.” |
|
DELHI
DURBAR A
plethora of surveys about the possible outcome of the December 1 assembly elections are causing avoidable rush of temper in the BJP and Congress camps. If it does not suit either of the two parties, they rubbish the surveys. A case in point is especially that of Delhi and Rajasthan. Most surveys in Delhi have shown that the Shiela Dikshit government is not in the grip of an anti-incumbency factor. When the affable Dikshit and company reel of statistics about the power, water, transportation and other
infrastructure facilities in the national Capital, the BJP’s caustic and angry refrain is that these programmes were initiated during their rule and was being implemented by the Congress. The BJP invariably sidetracks developmental issues and accuses the Dikshit government of corruption. Unfortunately for them, this strategy of targeting Dikshit is not cutting much ice with the masses.
Forgetful Congress
Congress General Secretary Ambika Soni loudly declared last week that her party would launch a nationwide agitation against the BJP-led government if Vajpayee did not name by
November 14 the six ministers who had allegedly sought undue favours from some public sector undertakings. However, the party’s chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy had no inkling of such an agitational threat when he came to address the media the next time. He merely said that the Congress was engaged in a “media dialogue” with the Prime Minister on the issue. “I will check,” he said, when reminded of the agitational threat.
A rare CM
Pondicherry Chief Minister N Rangaswamy belongs to a rare breed. Minus the paraphernalia of a Chief Minister’s office, Rangaswamy is described as a hands-on person overseeing development work of the small Union Territory. Clad in a spotless white dhoti, a starched white shirt and Singapore chappals, the Chief Minister is often astride his motor cycle without the wailing police cars or the busybody civil servants in toe in various parts of Pondicherry. Rangaswamy maintains that education and health are priority for his Congress government. In the last two years, the Rangaswamyy government has also done much to rake in moolah through tourism.
Delhi in for chaos
Delhi-ites apprehend a nightmare, come November 27 which happens to be a Thursday. The reason — no fewer than 12,000 marriages are to be performed coupled with the high profile India International Trade Fair also ringing down the curtain on that day. Even though the Delhi police has announced rescheduling of traffic for the duration of the IITF, marriage parties, which often turn boisterous and wild, are bound to throw things completely out of gear. Incidentally, November 27 is the last auspicious day for solemnising marriages this year and the next window for such celebrations becomes available only in February next year.
M.F. Husain
Celebrated artist M F Husain with his flowing beard is planning a comedy film with the oomph star Urmila Matondkar. The shooting is expected to commence in March next year. Husain appears to have given a respite to his favourite star Madhuri Dixit. The octogenarian Husain held an exhibition of his paintings recently to celebrate his 88th birthday. His latest movie “Meenakshi: A Tale of Three Cities” is expected to be released next month. Contributed by T.R. Ramachandran, Satish Misra and Prashant
Sood. |
Let the rich satisfy the powerless poor who are in need of means which rolls like a wheel from one to another. — Rigveda (X-117-5) The Upanishads advocate the worship of God as one’s own higher or real Self and declare that he who thinks of the worshipped as different from oneself does not know the Truth. — Shri Shankaracharya God’s Command directs the path. — Guru Nanak If God spoke to a man in the deserts of Arabia two thousand years ago, He can also speak to me today, else how can I know that He has not died? Come to God any way you can; only come. But in coming do not push anyone down. — Swami Vivekananda |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
