 |
|
Grounded Jaguars Repoll in Chapra |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Chai garam
Honourable Members!
Drama-cracy!
Fighting the enemy against odds
Delhi Durbar
|
Grounded Jaguars For the common man, it matters little whether the Indian Air Force has “grounded” its Jaguar aircraft or “brought them to ground”. All that he is bothered about is the fact that the country’s prestigious planes, whether they are Jaguars or MiGs, have been falling out of the sky way too often, at times killing pilots and costing the nation a lot. The occurrence of such accidents is exceptionally high. Now that the IAF has detected a technical snag, here is hoping that it will go to the root of the problem and remove it totally because in airborne machines, the scope for error is almost nil. From available facts, it all boils down to nuts and bolts problems. A lowly split-pin, which prevents loose nuts from falling out, was found missing from the Jaguar which crashed near Ambala on May 7. This seemingly small defect may be a pointer to a far more serious malaise. Was it that split-pins were just not available or were the pre-flight checks conducted in a perfunctory manner? Either way, it is a highly unacceptable situation. Doubts have been raised all along that the maintenance of aircraft is not as thorough as it ought to be. This incident confirms the suspicion. The IAF has informed the nation that the Jaguars will take to the skies one by one after the experts clear them as fit for flying. But it is not just a matter of going over them with a fine toothcomb. What needs to be thoroughly investigated is whether maintenance work is being done properly for all the aircraft under the IAF’s command. Had only a particular plane been accident prone, or had such crashes taken place in other countries with an equally alarming frequency, perhaps the argument that there was some defect in the planes per se would have held water. But in the case of India, almost every plane has met with tragedy, although the MiG continues to be the most dreaded of them all. Something is wrong somewhere which needs to be set right. |
|
Repoll in Chapra If Monday’s repoll in the Chapra Lok Sabha constituency attracted nationwide attention, it was because of the serious doubts among the people about the efficacy of the electoral system in ensuring peaceful and orderly conduct of elections in a state like Bihar. Five persons were injured in stray incidents of clashes and explosions and over 70 were arrested during repolling. If the April 26 election was a blot on the electoral system, the series of untoward incidents on May 31 was a mockery of democracy. There was, of course, some improvement this time in the conduct of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal men because of several measures taken by the Commission. Railway Minister and RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav is pitted against the then Union Minister for Civil Aviation Rajiv Prasad Rudy of the Bharatiya Janata Party. It augurs well that the Election Commission had tried its best to tighten several loose ends this time. CRPF and RAF men were deployed at all the sensitive booths and Central Government employees from outside Chapra district were appointed as presiding officers. This was in sharp contrast to the April 26 polling when the poll personnel (state government employees) were accused of conniving with those involved in large-scale rigging, violence and booth capturing. This time there was a ban on the movement of ministers, MPs and MLAs of other places in the constituency. An RJD leader was arrested in Sonepur for having violated the ban. Undoubtedly, the Election Commission, because of its huge burden of conducting the poll in the entire country, had failed to make foolproof arrangements in Chapra last time. The Commission is also accused of opening its eyes only after the media revelations about rigging and bogus voting. The Commission should learn a lesson from this. It should be extra vigilant, without leaving anything to chance. The people of Chapra have to pay a heavy price for the shoddy conduct of the ruling RJD. In case Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav wins the election and choses to vacate the seat (he has won from Madhepura earlier), Chapra would see three elections in a span of three months! Not an encouraging sign for the world’s largest democracy. |
|
Chai garam The new Rail Mantri knows how to remain in the news. He must have been among the first who managed mouthfuls of sound bytes on various television channels. The decision to replace the plastic cups with the down-to-earth "kulhars" for serving tea on the world's biggest rail network is just the beginning of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav's brand new innings as a first-term Union Minister. The good old earthen cups may or may not be more eco-friendly than the plastic ones. However, Mr Laloo Yadav is a son of the rural soil. So is at least two-thirds of the country's population. If the murmurs of motivated protest over the decision do not stop, Mr Laloo Yadav may be provoked into delivering a sermon on how the introduction of "kulhars" is his idea of promoting social justice. Omar Khayyam of Persia has written great poetry on the creative genius of the potter. So has our own Kabir. The introduction of "kulhars" on the rail network is Mr Laloo Yadav's matter-of-fact contribution to the country's potters. Those who know Mr Laloo Yadav are willing to vouchsafe that the introduction of the "kulhars" is just the beginning of an exasperating and amusing rail journey across the country. Fortunately, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav is not computer savvy. He would jump out of skin if he were to know that Govinda was the first choice of the netizens as the country's Rail Mantri. Those in favour of the actor-politician said that he would provide "first class entertainment" on trains. They have it all wrong. The new Rail Mantri has the highest entertainment quotient among the present stock of politicians. The only leader from the same socialist stable was Raj Narain who never went above the ground level in setting new administrative and political norms. As the Janata Party's Health Minister, he tried to popularise "bhuna chana" and "tel maalish" as essential elements for the nourishment of body and soul. A kulhar of Mr Laloo Yadav’s “chai” could also be so. |
|
Where is the Life we have lost in living? — T.S. Eliot |
Honourable Members! Over the years standards of various institutions, including Parliament, have seriously declined causing considerable concern among the people about their health and ability to handle national affairs. The Fourteenth Lok Sabha is assembling on Wednesday with the people across the land hoping that it will bring some order into polity and make parliamentary democracy a better system of governance. The country is feeling somewhat reassured that with all its ills the political system and the parliamentary elections could elect someone like Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister to the high office. One of the highest educated people in India who enjoys a rare reputation of honesty and integrity, he has raised hopes among the people that adherence to values and a righteous path can take you to the top. Although he is not a member of the new House, people in different parts of the country are hoping that he will be able to carry Parliament with him in following policies that a nation of one billion people desperately needs. Despite the complexion of the new Lok Sabha as well as the alliance that has come to power in Delhi, there is no choice for him and the new Lok Sabha but to prove that they can place the nation on a track which can lead only towards a better future for the people. Tremendous responsibility has been placed on the Prime Minister’s shoulders, but the people these days are impatient for results. And despite the difficulties of leading a government of an assortment of parties, Dr Manmohan Singh cannot escape earning praise for success or blame for failure. While there is groundswell of public goodwill with Dr Manmohan Singh, it must be remembered that in most democracies — and more so in India – the people can be rather fickle in their affection and change their view of a government or a leader. Even the personal popularity and qualities of leadership did not help Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee to save his government when time came for it to fall. Dr Manmohan Singh’s tasks are perhaps more difficult than Mr Vajpayee’s. It is not only Dr Manmohan Singh and the alliance government he is leading will be on test. The performance of all members of the new Lok Sabha is also going to be watched with a critical eye by the voters who have reposed their faith in them. This is plain from how the voters have thrown a majority of the members of the previous Lok Sabha into the dustbin without much remorse. While in parliamentary democracy members of Parliament have to enforce accountability of the government, the people will make those elected accountable if they misbehave. As their predecessors have discovered at the hustings, the voters can be cruel when approached again for a vote. It is not only the fear of a subsequent punishment at the hands of voters alone that ought to guide MPs’ conduct in the House and outside but also a sense of duty to serve the nation which has sent them to Parliament. The country cannot afford to have a non-performing Parliament doing its job desultorily and without much concern for the country and the people. A special duty devolves on the new MPs — and many of them are highly educated and full of ideas — to ensure they will do a better job than their predecessors. The first thing a new MP is to remember is that he has been elected by the voters not only for taking care of their constituency’s interests, but to take their voice to distant Delhi and the rest of the country. No MP can afford to or should neglect his own constituency, but the new MP cannot forget that the entire country is his constituency which transcends other considerations — local, regional or those relating to caste, religion, etc. The new MPs will soon get acquainted with the rules of procedure which guide the proceedings of the House, but what is of importance is the values that should guide the MPs’ conduct, what they say on matters of public policy and issues on which they raise their hands to say “Ayes”. Of crucial importance is how they try to ensure that the executive does not get away with false promises or lack of performance or decisions that do not turn out to be in public interest. All governments have exhibited the tendency to hide and sometimes mislead Parliament and as such the people. The reasons given to the House for a decision often are not genuine. Helped by smart bureaucrats, ministers often get away with generalities and succeed in hiding what may be a piece of inconvenient truth for the government. A vigilant member of Parliament, who has put in some home work on a subject, can sift grain from the chaff being thrown around by a minister with the inclination to be glib. It is the hyperbolic claims of the windbags the MPs need to be cautious about. This would require a questioning spirit which can find full play not only during question hour, but also during a call attention motion and in the full-fledged debates on various issues and pieces of legislation. Question hour, which perhaps is the most vital in the day’s proceedings, can be put to effective use by a vigilant and hard-working member to keep a hardened minister on toes. A sharp supplementary, properly phrased, can make a reluctant minister cough up information the government did not want to share with Parliament for some reason. An important power which Parliament enjoys under the Constitution and which enables it to acquire a sort of supremacy over the executive, is the power to sanction money to the government to enable it to meet its expenses. The government cannot spend a rupee from the national exchequer without the sanction of Parliament, particularly of the Lok Sabha. This also means that Parliament has the right to know whether the money given to the government has been spent for the purpose it was sanctioned. Over the years, Parliament has unfortunately passed the Budget and the demands for grants without detailed scrutiny. Grants of only a few ministries are examined in the House and those of the remaining ministries become a victim of what for peculiar reasons is called “guillotine” — a word carrying abhorrent connotation for a democracy. To allow for some parliamentary control over the nation’s money – which can often be misused – a system of committees has been evolved. These standing committees are useful in a way but they do not enjoy the powers which the members have on the floor of the House and as such often become ineffective. Also, the scrutiny of the budgetary demands in the standing committees takes place away from the glare of the media and as such of the people. It is a pity during the last few years Parliament has lost its way and forgotten many a proud tradition on which the Constitution was based or the high standards of debate and conduct which the members set during the fifties and the sixties. Lately, members and political parties have relied more on walkouts, boycotts, and excessive use of vocal cords and much else. The new members would need to remember that it is such practices that have made Parliament lose some of the public esteem which could be its due. Parliament is not even a talking shop as has been loosely described at times. A reasoned debate on vital issues of public policy, a questioning spirit and fierce defence of public interest can enable the Fourteenth Lok Sabha play its due role in leading the country. The new members can set an example and strive to restore Parliament its lost
glory. |
Drama-cracy! Special effects: Mixed sounds and visuals of heads being tonsured, wrists waiting to be slashed, screams, breast-beating etc. Then, a brief mysterious creaking sound blows across the hall …. A leader jumps to the stage screaming hysterically, rolling on the ground, wailing:” Ma, Ma, you are our only ma.. If you refuse the top post , even lamp-posts will laugh at us, ma. We will be orphaned, ma. Other countries will have to open orphanages and feed us, ma “. “No, no!”, shouting flowed from the tonsured section,” no foreign orphanages will be allowed. Only desi ones please. Of course, funds we may take after performing havans for purification. Add a condition making those foreign funding agencies buy in bulk copies of the Gita and the Ramayana. That’s important “. “God sent you into a particular family, madam, specially to guide this great country. He foresaw, 25 years ago, that 100 crore people would become rudderless without you as their beacon light! There is not a single fellow amongst us worthy of the high task . God …” “Of which religion ?”, shouted a lady, her voice quaking with anger, “specify now, it’s fundamental to us. Otherwise, I will renounce power as the minister by submitting my resignation to the doodhwala.” Noisy scenes ensued — but then again came that slow, creaking sound to the rescue. From the left side rose an interrupting voice:” Think again, madam, and run the secular government supported by us. Unfortunately, our ideology doesn’t permit us to share power formally —- because that will make it difficult for us to pull the plug later. But don’t worry at this stage…” A chorus began:” Mommy, mommy, we need you mommy “. “Can you promise three-day weekends and double the number of national holidays and cricket matches ?”, demanded a veteran voter,” and to punish starving mothers selling their children for small amounts?” The leaders of all hues and shades nodded. “Then, our democracy is safe”, declared a majority of voters, nodding sagely,” our duties as citizens begin and end with casting votes. Provide us more opportunities to vote.” The mystery of the creaking sound was now ended by a loud and clear feminine voice:” Friends, that was the sound of my conscience waking up, after a long time , and loosening up its jammed limbs. My decision to sit aside is final…”
|
Fighting the enemy against odds For troops guarding the forward posts of the country, nature sometimes proves to be a more formidable challenger than the enemy force. Unsympathetic and unpredictable to the hilt, it often uses deadly weapons like avalanches, snow blizzards, frost and biting chill to corner them from all fronts. The soldiers standing guard at unimaginably high altitude posts in Siachen, Drass and Batalik also constantly run the risk of contacting Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) factors. Of these, loss of appetite and memory, High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPO) and High Altitude Cerebral Oedema (HACO) are the most common and the most lethal too. Anyone traveling over 10,000 feet above sea level is susceptible to AMS. The vagaries of weather multiply as the altitude increases, and at a height of 14,000 to 21,000 feet between which most army posts in the Ladakh region are situated, life naturally stands at the mercy of weather. While the troops battle the enemy intentions of intrusion, they fight against snow hazards, which often leave their limbs amputated. Numerous jawans in these posts have been victims of chill blains and frost bites which leave body tissues dead. Since the temperature in high altitude zones is as low as -20 to -25 degree Celsius, the elements pose a great challenge. So much so that every jawan is directed to possess at least 12 pairs of socks every day. Reason: sweat, if allowed to accumulate, will turn into ice, eating into the tissues of the feet. Once frost bite sets in, the only way to save a jawan is through amputation. He must therefore change socks every hour to ensure dryness. To prevent exposure of extremities, he is supposed to wear specially designed Balaklava caps which cover the face, apart from goggles and gloves. Not just that, he must also tread with great caution in the post. Surrounded as it is with minefields, movement is extremely limited. In the event of a mishap, it would take 20 hours to transport the jawan to the hospital at Leh. Very often medical care cannot be extended due to terrain problems, and the jawan may have to lose his life. An interesting feature at these posts is the Chilamchi parade, supervised by the Battle Field Nursing Assistant (BFNA), who substitutes for a doctor. His foremost duty is to diffuse the effect of shock every time a jawan is hit by an enemy shell, each weighing 40 kg. Trained in first aid, he also ensures that every soldier goes through the Chilamchi parade after returning from patrol. The act involves dipping of cold hands and feet in the Chilamchi containing hot water. The ritual works as a life saver by maintaining body temperature of soldiers at terrifying heights. Despite caution, health problems remain an integral part of the life of soldiers in high altitude areas. They are also under immense stress. No wonder infantry battalions are intimate units, with the jawans depending on each other for solace. They keep busy playing carom board, cards or reading “Punjab Kesri”. Further, Army officers ensure personalised relationship with jawans, by following the dictum “Identify with the man”. The officer in charge of every unit knows his jawan inside out. Everyone works together to combat the consequences of depression. During an interaction with troops of one such post in the Batalik Sector, one realised the quantum of difficulty in which jawans survive. Their test begins the moment they start their journey to the post. Any jawan must walk at least nine hours from the base camp to reach the post located in this sector. Siachen is even more challenging, with posts as high as 21,000 feet. The journey must be undertaken in three phases at 3,000, 12,000 and 15,000 feet each. A break of two days at each of these levels is a must for a soldier to acclimatise to the weather which awaits him at the post. Army officials, however, inform all jawans cannot wait for such long spells to acclimatise, especially when the enemy attack is on. They end up confronting problems on reaching the post, where oxygen levels are pathetically low. These problems manifest as loss of memory and loss of appetite. Because fresh vegetables cannot be easily transported to such great heights, jawans have to mostly rely on special ration. This kind of ration is authorised for any post located above 12,000 feet. It comprises high-calorie foods like juices to combat dehydration, chocolates to offer instant energy during patrolling, cashew nuts, spicy pickles and other palatable items. A Commanding Officer says, “The idea is to make them eat at any cost. Appetite loss is a big problem here. We literally force soldiers to eat. Juices are a must to compensate for water loss. Due to intense cold, jawans don’t feel like drinking water.” Water transportation to these posts is another challenge. The Army depends heavily on porters who ferry vegetables and water for their troops. However, every jawan has to manage with about four litres of water a day because its transportation is very difficult. During enemy shelling, porters stay away for days together. One can imagine how jawans survive and fight in those conditions. To avoid such scenarios the Army stocks posts from May to April, when the weather is a little favourable. Stocking is done for 212 days so that the troops don’t fall short of basic necessities in the event of a Kargil-like situation. |
|
Delhi Durbar There was consternation in the Congress camp that the DMK chose to go public with the agreement reached on the portfolios to be given to their ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Council of Ministers. The problem arose late at night on May 23 when Rashtrapati Bhawan issued the communique listing the portfolios of ministers. T.R. Baalu called up DMK chief M. Karunanidhi to complain that he was not given the Shipping ministry as promised. It was well past midnight when Karunanidhi instructed his MPs not to assume charge of their office in the government till the stand off on portfolios was rectified. It was done subsequently but Congress leaders involved in the discussions with the DMK felt the Dravidian party was needlessly greedy even after bagging some key portfolios. What irked Congressmen was that the DMK should have recognised that it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to allocate portfolios and should not have made it such a prestige issue. The Congress had reached a similar understanding with its other pre-poll allies and despite some heartburn, the other leaders acknowledged that it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to allocate portfolios. TRS chief
on a high The Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao is on a high that the UPA’s common minimum programme has brought in its ambit the creation of Telangana state which has remained a backward region of Andhra Pradesh. Rao has, no doubt, ruffled the feathers of the Left parties opposed to the creation of smaller states in a tearing hurry. He was happy to give up the Shipping portfolio to accommodate the DMK and returned to Hyderabad satisfied. As a Union Minister without portfolio in Dr Singh’s Cabinet, Rao is expected to return by June 2 to attend the first session of the 14th Lok Sabha. He will resume discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the UPA government for evolving a time-frame for meeting the demand for Telangana state. Modi in the
dock Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been under fire since the
announcement of Lok Sabha results. Over 60 MLAs of the BJP legislature party are in a rebellious mood and one of them, Purshottam Solanki, went to the extent of comparing Modi with Hitler. Having realised that Modi is deep in trouble, his friends, including former Law Minister Arun Jaitley, prepared a counter-strategy for his rescue. They argued with former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani that Modi was not responsible for the party’s poor performance. Jaitley produced “evidence” that all those, who lost the Lok Sabha election in Gujarat were opposed by the Chief Minister at the time of allocation of party tickets. The argument was that only three out of 12 party candidates, whom he had opposed, managed to win.
Moreover, the rebel MLAs were not interested in removing the Chief Minister, but were keen to grab positions of power. Convinced with Jaitely’s defence, the party high command agreed to launch a “Keep Modi” operation. Some rebels would be forced into submission, some would be lured and others would be deterred by exemplary punishment. HP Tourism
luxury buses The Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation has recently started three super deluxe buses from New Delhi to Shimla, Dharamsala and Manali. The elegant buses with several customised features for passengers are getting popular with the tourists visiting the hill state. State’s Transport Minister G.S. Bali promises many more tourist-friendly services. Party that wasn’t It was a party that could not take place. Or shall we say the party was nuked? Pakistan High Commission had planned a reception-cum-dinner on May 26 in honour of the Pakistani delegation that was due to arrive here on May 24 for the first-ever Indo-Pak talks on the nuclear Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). The High Commission had even booked Taj Mansingh hotel for the reception. But at the last minute, the were deferred on India’s request. R. Suryamurthy, S. Satynarayanan, Satish Misra, Prashant Sood, Rajeev Sharma |
Never boast of your wealth, friends and youth. Time may steal away all these in the twinkling of an eye. Giving up attachment to this world which is full of illusion, try to realise Brahman soon and merge in it. — Sri Adi Sankaracharya If you feel proud, let it be in the thought that you are the servant of God, the son of God. — Sri Ramakrishna Losing faith in one’s self means losing faith in God. Do uoy belive in that Infinite, good providence working in and through you? — Swami Vivekananda If it pleases God, He bestows glory; if He wills the other way, He awards punishment. — Guru Nanak Life is a long lesson in humility. — James M. Barrie |
| 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 | |
