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Curb the violence Ensuring
free elections |
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Racist
British Bobby
Karzai’s
headaches
When a babu floored
Shiv Batalvi
Unscripted life on
American television DELHI
DURBAR
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Curb the violence THE incidents of mob violence in Assam and Maharashtra must be curbed firmly, but it needs to be pointed out that the growing unemployment in the country, unless tackled, can lead to more unrest. With the economic reforms requiring a smaller role for the government and giving a boost to the private sector, there are fewer jobs to come by. So whenever even a limited number of jobs are announced in any part of the country, be it Maharashtra or Assam, unemployed youth make a beeline for these. Local youth obviously do not like “outsiders” snatching away jobs, which they think are meant for them. This has led to protests and violence in the two states. Lack of development and poor governance have forced many Biharis to look for employment elsewhere. The mob anger in both states was directed at Biharis. The killing of 29 of them in Assam was a reaction to an equally misguided attack on Assamese train passengers in Bihar. The Army has been deployed in Assam’s vulnerable areas. Maintaining the peace should obviously be the first priority of the governments in the two states. When local newspapers in Maharashtra carried reports about some six lakh youth from Bihar and other northern states camping at Mumbai central railway station to try their luck for very low-level jobs in the Western Railway, Shiv Sena activists attacked the Chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board and ransacked the railway offices in Mumbai. The Railways is one of the top employers in the country catering to people from all regions and religions without any discrimination and is the pride of the nation. To expect it to offer jobs state-wise will not only hurt its national character, but could also harm its efficiency. It is not clear why it had to summon all the applicants at the same time at one place. The narrow-mindedness displayed by a section of the youth in Assam and Maharashtra, though not unusual, is not in keeping with the role the country is to play in the emerging economic scenario. Any violence and display of short-sightedness will deprive the violence-prone areas of the benefits of economic progress the country is embarked upon. The first thing that businesses and industries require for growth is a peaceful work environment. Violence will scare them away, causing greater unemployment. |
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Ensuring free elections REPORTS of bomb blasts and kidnapping of three candidates on Wednesday, a day before the commencement of the first round of polling in the Mizoram Assembly elections, are cause for concern. The civil and police authorities cannot be absolved of the blame as the incidents reveal serious shortcomings in the security arrangements. No doubt, militants have released the three candidates contesting the elections, but this enjoins a special responsibility on the authorities to tighten security measures and ensure a free and fair poll. Steps also need to be taken to ensure peaceful elections in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan which will go for elections on December 1. Electioneering by various political parties is expected to reach the peak by next week. All sensitive polling stations need to be guarded well. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, there is the problem of Naxalites. In Chhattisgarh, the People’s War Group has given a call to voters to boycott the elections. The Election Commission should ensure that voters are not prevented from exercising their franchise without fear. The model code of conduct should also be enforced scrupulously in the light of complaints of its violation by the local governments. Mr Ajit Jogi and Mr Digvijay Singh seem to be competing with each other in misusing government machinery for partisan ends in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Election Commission’s request to the Chhattisgarh Governor to transfer the District Collectors of Bastar and Jashpur has not yet been carried out. The Commission had to take this step because of the Chief Secretary’s reluctance to carry out the orders, apparently under pressure from the Chief Minister. Elections will look farcical if the District Collectors, who are Returning Officers, act as agents of the ruling party and disobey the Election Commission. |
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Racist British Bobby LAST month five British police officers were forced to resign after a BBC documentary exposed the racist face of the usually friendly Bobby. The documentary showed an officer dressed in a Ku Klux Klan-type hood making racist remarks and another professing support for Hitler because "he had the right ideas". The good news is that the BBC was not targeted for the expose, as it was when it produced evidence of the government having "sexed up" the WMD dossier on Iraq. This time the official response was mature and constructive. The British Home Secretary suggested improved screening of recruits taking into account the evolving multi-racial profile of the country.. As a result of the soul searching at the highest level Britain's Metropolitan Police has now launched an inquiry into the charge of having allowed a racist culture to grow in the force. The chances of the inquiry being an "eye wash" are remote because it is being conducted by Mr Tarique Ghaffur, Britain's senior-most Asian officer. The BBC documentary showed white officers spitting venom against the burgeoning Asian and black population. However, the Metropolitan Police's basic concern is the contempt among a section of white constables for their coloured colleagues within the force. Racism among the British police force is not a new development. The Macpherson report in 1999, following the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, in 1993, branded the Metropolitan Police as being institutionally racist. Hopefully the latest expose will result in not just the police force but other institutions of public dealing being periodically sanitised. Britain cannot turn the clock back. It is a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious country. A shrinking job market will test the mettle of the government in protecting the ethnic minorities from being blamed by the unemployed white population and even targeted for "taking our jobs". It is not an easy assignment, going by the situation in other liberal democracies. |
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Thought for the day Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. |
Karzai’s headaches AFGHANISTAN
has taken the first step towards the installation of a democratically elected government. It has drafted its constitution. The Hamid Karzai government will present the historic document to the Loya Jirga (the grand assembly of elders), to be convened in December, for its seal of approval. Chances are that it will be ratified by the elders without much difficulty. Their religious sentiments — the Afghans’ well-known weakness — have been taken care of. The country will be called the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, though the obnoxious laws imposed by the Taliban will not be there. Islam will be the religion of the state, but the followers of other religions will be “free to perform their religious ceremonies within the limits of the provisions of the law”. The stress on religion, it seems, is aimed at ensuring quick acceptance of the draft constitution by the Loya Jirga. Despite this, the English translation of the document, made available to journalists, shows that it will lead to the formation of a liberal and forward-looking administration. There will be no room for discrimination against any citizen on the basis of a person’s gender, faith, ethnicity, etc, as the constitution says that “all Afghans have equal rights and duties before the law”. That means women will not be discriminated against. The doors of educational institutions will be open to them and they will have the freedom to pursue a career of their choice. But women’s rights activists have their doubts. They want it to be explicitly mentioned that “women and men are equal” before the law. The Pashtuns are bound to be the happiest lot. The national anthem will be sung in their language, Pashtu. A candidate belonging to the majority Pashtun tribe will have a greater chance of capturing the post of President, the country’s chief executive, because the constitution envisages direct elections. Since there will be no prime minister, one can believe that Afghanistan will follow the American system of government. But the question is: will it be a smooth going for President Karzai, who enjoys the sympathies of the US and most other countries? Are the people happy with his performance as head of the interim government? Whatever the Afghans may think about him, apparently, they have no choice. He is better placed to continue undisturbed the reconstruction process in the country. This, however, does not mean that Mr Karzai will be elected unopposed. His Defence Minister, Mr Mohammad Fahim, is coming out into the open against Mr Karzai. Mr Fahim, an ethnic Tajik warlord, seems to have made up his mind to exploit the suspicion the minority tribes nurse against the Pashtun President. Pashtuns too are not very happy with Mr Karzai’s performance because of the slow pace of the reconstruction programme. Mr Fahim has been functioning almost independently ever since the Karzai government was installed on December 22, 2001. He is one of those who represent the Northern Alliance, the biggest partner in the interim set-up. He and his other Alliance colleagues discussed the other day the idea of quitting the government before the 2004 elections. This will harm the cause of peace and development, which is quite understandable in the race for power. The Alliance warlords had never accepted the superiority of President Karzai. For some time they have been attacking him in a subtle manner. This can be understood clearly by going through the columns of Armon Mali, a government-owned newspaper in Dari, financed by the Defence Ministry being run by Mr Fahim. A furious President Karzai ordered closure of the paper, as it had been carrying articles and reports highly critical of the government. The paper’s Chief Editor, a Fahim loyalist, however, had this explanation to offer: “People tell us that they are not happy with Karzai because he is not doing a good job, and this is what we write.” The truth is that the newspaper was used by Mr Fahim to undermine Mr Karzai’s position. Mr Karzai is in deep trouble because of an inadequate flow of funds from international sources, the activities of warlords in different provinces and the re-emergence of the Taliban in some of their erstwhile strongholds. Though the US has not abandoned Afghanistan from the military angle, this poor country does not figure in the American scheme of things as prominently as it did before the regime-change in Iraq. Only a small portion of the $87 billion package recently approved by the US Senate for military and reconstruction purposes in Iraq and Afghanistan has been set aside for the Karzai government. There is much disenchantment among the public because of little improvement in the law and order situation. Most of the roads and bridges destroyed during the US-led military operations against the Taliban are yet to be repaired. This has made life more difficult. People have reverted to poppy cultivation and drug-trafficking as part of their survival strategy. Thus, it is not surprising if they are not as enthusiastic about getting an elected government as the world outside wants them to be. Their main concern is law and order and revival of business activity. The prolonged civil strife and the war against the Taliban have impoverished the country. Mr Karzai’s main difficulty is that his government’s writ hardly runs beyond Kabul and the surrounding areas owing to the growing influence of the warlords. In northern Afghanistan, for instance, there have been intermittent clashes between the forces of two prominent local chieftains, Abdur Rashid Dostum and Mohammad Atta, for the control of Mazar-e-Sharif for a long time with the government remaining a helpless spectator. This has prevented any reconstruction activity in the area. As if this is not enough, there is re-emergence of the Taliban in the eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. The Taliban and the forces of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Prime Minister, have been giving sleepless nights to Mr Karzai for a few months. It is obvious that they get all kinds of help from Pakistan, which is always on the lookout for opportunities to embarrass the Karzai regime. This is besides the advantage of the Pashtun population they have on both sides of the Afghan-Pak divide. The terrorised people cannot be expected to go against the wishes of the anti-Kabul elements during the elections. These forces may not allow the poll to be peaceful. There is urgent need to disarm the local chieftains. The UN Security Council discussed the matter some time ago following a US-led initiative. The American effort was the result of a persistent demand made by Mr Karzai and certain other influential Afghans. The Council mandated a multinational peacekeeping force to immobilise the warlords, but very little has happened on the ground. Only Germany has offered 450 troops for the purpose, that too for deployment in the least disturbed areas. It seems no country is prepared to risk the lives of its soldiers in Afghanistan. However, in view of the past experience, peace in Afghanistan is in the interest of the entire world. This calls for increased global attention to set things right in a country prone to the growth of terrorism. |
When a babu floored
Shiv Batalvi Undoubtedly, Shiv Batalvi, who died young, is a most revered romantic Punjabi poet till date. He set new milestones in the romantic Punjabi poetry, gave a new meaning, status and direction to it. Imaginative and subtle like Keats and rebellious like Shelley, Shiv enriched the Punjabi language by artistic use of words in his poetic verses. Those who had have been lucky to go through his classic epic — Lunna — will certainly testify that Shiv was a master craftsman of words to create an imagery of events while describing a particular scenario. Once, he faced a bizarre situation. A babu in the office of the Punjab State University Text Book Board literally floored him. The babu not only questioned his competency with regard to Punjabi but also refused to make the payment to him in lieu of the translation work done by him from English to Punjabi. Shiv made several rounds to get the payment, but in vain. The Punjab State University Text Book Board allotted the famed book — The Indian Heritage — authored by Humayun Kabir to Shiv for translation in Punjabi. Obviously, the board had assigned the work to him after duly examining his skill and intellectual capacity to handle it. Earlier, he had translated a Russian book in English to Punjabi and that book had become immensely popular. And before that he had won the Sahitya Akademy Award in 1965. He was the youngest poet to win such a prestigious literary award. His books had become part of syllabi in various universities and many scholars were doing Ph.D on his literary accomplishments. After completing the task, Shiv deposited the script with the board. He asked for the money for the work done. However, the dealing clerk raised an objection on the file that Shiv is not qualified to translate the book. Shiv visited the board office several times but the dealing official refused to budge. And senior officers also showed their inability to help Shiv. In the meantime, Shiv fell sick. And he died in May, 1973. His wife Aruna Batalavi was aware of the shabby treatment meted out to Shiv by the board. She approached, Prof Bhushan, another eminent Punjabi writer and satirist. Prof Bhushan, who recently retired from Government College Ropar, was a close friend of Shiv, prepared a representation and asked Mrs Batalavi to approach, Mr Manmohan Singh, a senior IAS Officer, who was then Administrative Secretary of the board. Mr Manmohan Singh, was a man of immense literary taste and an abounding fan of Shiv. Mrs Batalvi reached the office and sent a slip to Mr Manmohan Singh. On glancing over the slip, Mr Manmohan Singh rushed out immediately even without wearing his shoes to greet Mrs Batalvi. With a lot of grace and respect, he took her inside his office and asked what help he could extend to her. She narrated the story. Mr Manmohan Singh picked up the phone and asked the then Director of the board to over-rule all objections and make the payment before the closure of the office on the same day. He offered her tea and asked to wait for the cheque. Well before end of the office hours, the cheque was handed over to her. But the great poet was not there to see it happen. He had left this world to be “a star” as he wrote himself in one of his most popular poems that-” joban rute Jo vi marda, ful bane jan tara (those who die in their prime either become flower or star)”. Shiv is a star, the glow of which will never fade out from amongst the Punjabi literature. And the babu “Badshahs” still reign supreme in offices. |
Unscripted life on American television
FEW would remember the plump, tanned and (digitally misted) but-naked Richard Hatch who in the summer of 2000 walked away with a million dollar through sheer guile, cunning and physical stamina, after spending 39 days with a group of 16 castaways in a South China Sea tropical island. Since the Survivor, a path-breaking reality television series whose last episode was watched by 50 million viewers, Americans have become fascinated with unscripted life on television, whether it is that of a celebrity, or Joe six-pack who wants to be a millionaire or wants to marry one. The Survivor episodic series showed that without being fictionalised ordinary unscripted lives could be turned into a theatre of guts and glory and adventure, enabling networks to hook millions of viewers for advertisers. Though television mostly thrives on the tried and tired formulas, it has a voracious appetite for the fresh and innovative. The Survivor’s success sent tremors throughout the TV land and networks spawned a thousand imitations ranging from Ozzy Osbourne’s not-so-dysfunctional family to a sleazy proposal for “Who wants to be a Pornstar.” “Who Wants to be a Millionaire to “Who wants to be a Pornstar, it is one nation indivisible. There has always been some reality TV. The police chase of celebrity sportsman OJ Simpson, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend in 1994, was showed live on television. The police had used a cell phone to trace his peripatetic movements. Nowadays a helicopter view of police car chases has become so commonplace in the US that we hardly take notice of it. Anything overdone becomes boring. There could not have been a more spectacular, albeit horrific, reality television than the 9/11 hijacked jets ramming through Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, people jumping out of windows and the towers collapsing. In Iraqi war we saw live unscripted reports from journalists “embedded with troops. “Embedded journalism” like muckraking and investigative reporting has become a staple of reality television. For decades Americans have been watching shows such as Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and America’s Funniest Home Videos, but these shows never rose to the level of the ordinary becoming extraordinary; or the vice versa, the extraordinary becoming ordinary as in the case of The Osbournes. It has puzzled me why viewers have been taking so much interest in the life of Ozzy Osbourne and his wife-manger Sharon and their two teenage children, Jack and Kelly, whose unscripted life on MTV is no different from that of their two dogs who go on peeing all over their house. The Osbournes bark vulgarities all the time (which are bleeped for the audience) and quarrel with their new neighbours in Beverley Hills where they bought a multimillion-dollar mansion. Probably the pleasure lies in the discovery that the de-glamorised life of an international rocker’s actually lived life does not excite or shock us as much as his music did once upon a time (Suicide Solution, The Blizzard Oz, Ozzmosis, for example). In one of the episodes Ozzy comes to know that his teenage daughter had an appointment with a gynaecologist. he is livid with fear that the teenager might be sexually active-a thought few parents can withstand without going nuts. His neighbours roil him with their midnight parties and loud music; and when they refuse to listen to him, he feels awfully frustrated. His wife throws ham and bagee over the fence and Ozzy rams a log through the window. The police come and go, unplugged and unamused. Just like your average neighbours, the Osbournes, only more stupid and more talented and rich. But consider this. How long would the audience be fascinated with Andy Roddick, the 21-year American tennis star who won the US Open two months ago and would soon be featured in a reality TV show, Tour, for ESPN, the sports network? From May to September cameras would follow him showing his unscripted daily life, including his romantic friendship with Mandy Moore, the actress-singer. Roddick is so cool that I find him totally dull, though I love his tennis. ESPN is planning another reality TV show, Dream Job, in which 10,000 amateur contestants are expected to compete for an anchor for the network’s Sports Centre. Based on CBS Survivor concept, Dream Job would air eight episodes in which contestants would handle various sports broadcasting assignments and would be eliminated one by one until the winner emerges. Of course, sports, whether it is cricket or soccer, is the most unscripted reality television show, full of intrigue, suspense and high expectations. But that’s real reality and you can’t have enough of it. Although The Osbourne Show is a kind of consensual expose, self-dramatisation of the celebrity with all the warts and farts, most of the reality TV shows have some form of extreme contest built into them. Whether it is Amazing Race, Fear Factor, The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire or the sleazy Search for Playboy Centerfold, it is in a sense the epitome of the American spirit: seek, search, kick and it shall open unto you. Americans love no-holds barred bare-knuckle contests where the winner takes all, and that’s entertainment, folks and high television ratings and multi-billion dollar business. The writer is a Professor of Communications at Norwich University, Vermont, USA |
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DELHI DURBAR With the election scene hotting up, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have found the Dilip Singh Judeo controversy handy in a fresh game of political oneupmanship. Even as Sonia Gandhi sought to highlight the scourge of corruption in high places, Vajpayee has questioned the morality of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi continuing in office even after a chargesheet has been filed against him. The fact remains that the alleged bribery scandal involving Judeo has indeed been a setback for the BJP coming as it did a fortnight before the December 1 Assembly elections. At the same time, the Congress also finds itself at the receiving end as far as the Election Commission is concerned. Though the Congress has stoutly denied violating the model code of conduct, it necessarily has to remain guarded.
In troubled waters The wily Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s gambit of having a snap poll in the state in February next has failed to evoke a matching response from the Election Commission. Much to his chagrin, Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh has expressed the Election Commission’s inability to go ahead with the democratic process in Andhra Pradesh in February. A bird tells us that Naidu decided on advancing the Assembly elections on the suggestion of a newspaper baron after the Peoples War attempt on the Chief Minister’s life on October 1. The baron had suggested the focus to be on “Naxalist violence seriously impeding development.” The resolution adopted by the AP Cabinet recommending dissolution of the Assembly harped on this aspect. The Election Commission noted that as the electoral rolls are updated by the end of December, it will not be possible to hold the elections in February. Finding his calculations going awry and without crossing swords with the Election Commission, Naidu observed that examinations can be postponed by a month to facilitate Assembly elections in March next year. The Election Commission has maintained a stoic silence in this regard.
New Foreign Secretary The PIB release on Tuesday evening, announcing the appointment of Shashank as Foreign Secretary in succession to Kanwal Sibal as cleared by the appointments committee of the Cabinet, caught scribes and wire services on the wrong foot. Despite the speculation that Sibal might be granted an extension, Shashank’s elevation was very much on the cards. The PIB slipped in the announcement in its late evening dak as it has never been the preserve of the JS (External Publicity) to brief about the appointment of Foreign Secretary.
Making news Barely a week after Doordarshan News channel started beaming news 24 hours a day from November 3, it has started making news. DD News Channel is billed as the country’s first and only terrestrial channel and also the only multilingual news channel. Consider these statistics. Within a week after its launch, the DD News Channel commanded a viewership of 50 per cent of homes all over India. And of the homes having cable and satellite connections, the DD News channel’s viewership was 21 per cent, second only to 29 per cent of Aaj Tak. No wonder then that the DD News Channel is raking in good money from advertisement bookings. Just a week after its launch, the channel got advertisement bookings worth over Rs 2 crore. Some turnaround this from the channel’s earlier failed avatar! Contributed by T.R. Ramachandran and Rajeev Sharma |
Let us see all are equal, either he may be noble or a labourer. — Atharva Veda Truth is the Lord, True to His Name. — Guru Nanak Upanishads explain all love is self love. God is residing or being imminent in the universe while he is also transcendent. — Shri Shankaracharya The only true duty is to be unattached and to work as free beings, to give up all work unto God. All our duties are His. —
Swami Vivekananda My respectful study of other religions has not abated my reverence for or my faith in the Hindu scriptures. — Mahatma Gandhi O Son of Man! Deny not My servant should he ask anything from thee, for his face is My face; be then abashed before Me. — Baha’u’llah |
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