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Greening of the Nobel Message from Sinai |
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Death for daughters
Increasing interest in gas pipeline
The onset of age
DTH: cheaper and better Dairy an option for rural youth ChatteratI
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Greening of the Nobel THE meek may not inherit the earth, but they have inherited the headlines, and now the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Norwegian Nobel Committee's choice of Kenya's Wangari Maathai for this year's Peace Prize is a ringing affirmation of the inextricable bond between the meek and the earth. The pioneering ecological activist, ever since she started the Greenbelt movement in 1977, has been leading a stupendous campaign for planting millions of trees to fight deforestation and desertification. Ms Maathai has dared to be different in a world where the poor are not only neglected but also held in contempt, for desertification is a scourge that threatens the survival of over a billion of the world's poorest in more than 100 countries, mostly in Africa. Desertification — or degradation of land resulting in loss of soil fertility and desert-like conditions in once fertile agricultural dry land regions — is a low priority for the rich countries; and it has little appeal in terms of the glamour associated with trendy “eco-politics”. In breaking away from the traditional perception of “Peace” for purposes of the Prize, the Nobel Committee has broken new ground — literally, metaphorically and politically. While the Committee's departure to widen the scope of the Prize beyond conventional notions to include the environment, among other areas, may be debatable, few would question the choice made this year. Ms Maathai's work is among the poorest of the world's poor and is about sustaining the ravaged environment for them. The importance of her work cannot be overemphasised, especially in the African context with implications for the rest of the globe. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, climate change, urban expansion, migration, famine, food scarcity and loss of livelihood and lives are all causes and consequences of the vicious cycle of desertification. Although the UN Convention to Combat Desertification came into force 10 years ago, it is a poor cousin of the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change that emerged from the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. Perhaps, the Nobel for Ms Maathai would make an indifferent world take a closer look at the need to combat desertification with greater urgency and more resources. |
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Message from Sinai THE killing of over 30 innocent persons, most of them Israelis in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Friday, shows that terrorists can strike anywhere in West Asia. Their activities are no longer confined to Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It is immaterial whether those who pulled down the 10-storeyed Hilton Hotel and carried out simultaneous bomb blasts elsewhere in that beautiful area bordering Israel were Palestinian extremists or Al-Qaida activists. Anti-American and anti-Jewish sentiments are getting stronger with each passing day. This makes it easier for the terrorists of any kind to get the help of the local population for implementing their dirty designs. The despicable act in Sinai could not have been carried out without local connivance. Now compare the situation in the Arab world with that in Israel, which is, at least geographically, a part of that region. Despite the strict security measures in Israel, people are not sure when and where they will be hit by suicide bombers. Warnings are issued every now and then, but life goes on undisturbed. The Israelis have learnt to live with constant threats to their lives and limbs. That is why they did not bother about the security alert that was issued a few days before the Sinai blasts. Yet innocent lives should not be allowed to be lost in this manner. It is time to give a fresh thought to the lingering Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the mother of most of the conflicts in that region. The Palestinian extremists —- those associated with the Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other such outfits —- should realise that terrorism will take them nowhere. Terrorism cannot be justified, whatever the pretext. They must shun it and opt for the path of negotiations. The Israelis too should be aware by now that killing innocent Palestinians in the name of fighting terrorism is not a wise policy. Violence begets violence, and the cycle goes on. |
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Death for daughters Recently, a father in Kauli village near Patiala shot dead his one-month-old second daughter and buried her body in the nearby fields. The killing of daughters, both born and unborn, is all too common in Punjab, a state that has the lowest adverse male to female sex ratio in India. As compared to the 1991 census, the sex ratio 10 years later has gone down from 875 to 798. Fatehgarh Sahib district is the worst offender with the abysmally low ratio of 766 females to 1,000 males. That the practice is also prevalent in neighbouring states of Haryana and Rajasthan makes the situation even more alarming. It is sad that no public outcry has erupted over the unfortunate situation as revealed by the latest census figures. Other than routine noises, the government machinery has failed to seize the moment and take steps to prevent female foeticide. Recently, of 114 legislators, only four attended a workshop on female foeticide that was especially held for members of the Punjab Assembly. Technology has been harnessed to reinforce a barbaric tradition of identifying and killing daughters. The census figures would not reflect any impact of a hukamnama against female foeticide issued by Akal Takht on April 13, 2001, but social workers point out that even this religious edict has not had the desired impact. Cultural prejudices against the female child are so strong that even religion-driven reforms have failed to make a dent against this inhuman practice. The problem needs to be addressed in various ways. The administration should be booking far more than the 54 against whom FIRs have been registered under the Pre-Natal Diagnostics Technique, Regulation and Prevention of Misuse (PNDT) Act. Much more effective intervention by the state administration is necessary, and this should include the stick of the PNDT Act and carrots in the form of incentives for those who have a girl child. At a social level, all religious and social organisations must mobilise their collective energy for educating the public. Anyone involved in the killing of a girl child should be ostracised by society for this crime against humanity. |
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The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes. — Staley Kubrick |
Increasing interest in gas pipeline Distressingly, though not surprisingly, the importance of an oil and gas pipeline, connecting Iran to India through the territory of Pakistan has received marginal attention in the discussions on the normalisation of India-Pakistan relations. Only in the first meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf in New York on September 24 did the pipeline issue come to the forefront along with Kashmir. In Mr Vajpayee’s pioneering initiative to close the divide between the two congenitally hostile neighbours, there was hardly any significant mention of the pipeline issue. Interestingly, Pakistan has been a greater advocate of the pipeline project than India even though General Musharraf has been insisting that the core issue between the two countries is Kashmir. In India, the security and strategic community had remained caged in the security box whenever the pipeline issue came up for discussion. Happily, no more. A great deal of credit for the opening of the Indian mind to the importance of the pipeline goes to the Minister for Petroleum, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, who has taken up the matter with considerable success with the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister. Mr Aiyar, who was a popular and widely admired Indian Consulate-General in Karachi in the early 1980s, has remained steadfast to his conviction that a détente between Pakistan and India is not only most desirable but also eminently possible. Given, of course, the required will in both countries to resolve issues on the basis of give and take, a diplomatic and conflict resolution mantra espoused both by Kautilya and Machiavelli as well as generations of diplomats throughout history. Now that the joint Lahore declaration by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Musharraf committed the two countries to resolve Kashmir and other India-Pakistan issues to the “mutual satisfaction” of both countries, minds are turning to the pipeline with as much seriousness as to Kashmir. It is pertinent in this connection to recall the agreement that was reached between the Soviet Union and the European Union in the 1970s for the supply of nearly 10 per cent of the former’s energy requirement by the latter through a pipeline running from Siberia to Azerbaijan from where Iranian energy would be piped to Europe on behalf of the USSR. I remember a meeting with one of the ranking British experts on the Soviet Union at the Royal Institute of International Relations in London when the Soviet supply of energy to the European Union came up. The British expert said with a sardonic laugh, “If Europe gets 10 per cent of its energy requirements from the Soviet Union, where is the Cold War between the continent and the USSR?” At their New York meeting, General Musharraf gave up his nothing-until-Kashmir-is-settled position and Dr Manmohan Singh reciprocated by resiling from no-talk-until-all-infiltration-from-Pakistan-into-Kashmir-stopped. The area of interaction is now much wider than during the NDA years. How much wider is indicated by the recent disclosure by External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh that as many as 12 meetings had taken place since the installation of the UPA coalition in May. India’s great leap forward to the status of a major economic power depends on two interlinked achievements: a modern infrastructure and removal of mass poverty. Power, specially petroleum and petroleum products and electricity, is the most important single factor in building a modern infrastructure. And here lies India’s biggest shortage. On a global scale, South Asia lags far behind East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa in per capita power consumption. According to the World Bank, only 40.8 per cent of the population of South Asia had electric power in 2003 compared to 87.3 per cent in East Asia, 86.6 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean and 90.4 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa. In South Asia, 52.9 per cent of the people of Pakistan had electricity compared to 43 per cent in India. Since neither India nor Pakistan has much more proven reserves of petroleum and gas, it is imperative that both go beyond their frontiers to bring energy for their own people. The pipeline from Iran to India has been discussed for about a decade. It is much cheaper to build the pipeline through the territory of Pakistan than to build an undersea pipeline from Bandar Abbas to Gujarat. General Musharraf has promised to provide adequate security to the pipeline but the Indian security community has so far been rather dubious. Now the doubts appear to be melting. Damage done to a gas pipeline can be repaired easily and without much expense. This is being done in Iraq almost every week for more than a year. Confirmation comes also from our own experience in Assam. The Iran-India pipeline can be built only with a huge amount of international investment. The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other financial institutions have made known their willingness to invest in this project. When built, it will be an international pipeline and will enjoy international security. The India-Pakistan canal complex built in the late 1940s with World Bank assistance has been carefully left alone in the three wars fought between the two countries. Guerrillas, however, can still attack the pipeline built through Pakistan. But, as noted, damages can be repaired without much loss of time and funds. Indian diplomacy must also pursue a share of the enormous oil and gas reserves in Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. This has to wait till peace returns to Afghanistan and a friendly government in Kabul is willing to work with India on the oil and gas issue. The current American geo-political perception of South Asia includes Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Caucasus and extends even to a part of the Gulf region. The US invasion of Iraq was at least partly motivated by Washington’s need for assured access to the energy resources of the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. India cannot afford to be left out of this region. There are indications that China is inclined to open the Shanghai Six group to a wider membership eventually including India. At the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation at Tashkent on June 7, Mr Hu Jintao, now supreme leader of the Chinese government, welcomed Mr Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, as a new member of the Shanghai group and suggested that Mongolia too be invited to join as an associate member. Mr Hu declared significantly that China’s foreign policy aimed at “further development of the organisation.” Russia and at least two of the five Central Asian republics have already declared their desire to have India in the Shanghai group. In the current situation, it is not over-optimistic to visualise a time when India, Afghanistan as well as Pakistan would be able to join a larger Shanghai group to participate in the development of oil and gas resources in the larger Central Asian region. China has just completed a massive 4,000-km-long oil and gas pipeline running from its east coast to the west coast. Trial operations began on October 1. The pipeline will be formally opened on January 1. Built at a cost of $2 billion, one year ahead of schedule, the pipeline will bring natural gas from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to Shanghai and other regions of the Yangtze river delta. Xinjiang has 657.9 billion cubic metres of proven gas reserves which, the Chinese say, will ensure long-term stable supply of gas to energy-thirsty eastern China. India too has to think and act big. Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar is ready to go to Bangladesh and Myanmar to actively explore how the two countries can be persuaded to join India to build an oil and gas pipeline that will benefit each one of them, mostly Bangladesh and the eastern region of India. He is waiting for a green signal from the Foreign Office and the PMO which, hopefully, will be coming
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The onset of age IT came quite suddenly. I was chewing a pan when I felt a hard, irregular object in my mouth. I thought it was a piece of betel nut. But when I took the object out of my mouth and held it in the palm of my hand. I realised that it was part of a tooth. Over the next three weeks I felt tooth after tooth crumble in my mouth. I finally went to an old student who was a brilliant orthodontist. He worked on me for four months, then, with an air of heavy gloom, announced that eight of my teeth would have to go. I laughed at him. “Both my grandchildren have full sets of teeth now, Teja, its time for my teeth to go.” Next I felt a clouding of my eyes. I would keep wiping my glasses clean thinking it was dust that caused the clouding – but it made no difference. I went to another old student, a brilliant ophthalmologist. He put me through a battery of tests. It was a weakening of the retina muscles that sometimes occurs with old age. He prescribed certain exercises and a long course of medicine, which would hopefully, strengthen the muscles and help to clear my vision. They didn’t. Now I often go around without my glasses. This way, when I do not see things clearly, I can blame it on the absence of my glasses. Next to weaken was my hearing. At first I would say: “Why on earth are you mumbling? You used to speak so clearly.” Then when I began not to hear whole sentences on the phone I had to admit that it was my ears that were at fault and not the way in which people spoke. Now when I want to hear something I am honest and say: “I am hard of hearing – could you speak a little louder please.” But to tell the truth most of the time I do not want to hear what people are saying. So I nod my head and smile and say something inane like: “Is that so?” Last week a parent came to see me. He sat across the room from me. He was a happy, cheerful sort and was smiling all the time he spoke to me and I smiled right back and said: “That’s good – very good.” Then my daughter Priya, who was also in the room, came and sat next to me. She stroked my hand and looking into my eyes said “Papa, the gentleman is saying that his wife has fractured her leg.” “Good Lord,” I said “But you can’t blame me. He was smiling all the time – seemed quite happy about the whole thing.” So I went to an otologist, yes, it was another old student. He said, it was merely the onset of age and recommended a hearing aid, which was so expensive, that I am now looking for a finance company that finances the purchase of hearing
aids!.
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DTH: cheaper and better
Now it will be possible to see more programmes through DD Direct plus at home by paying no charges. It requires a one-time investment of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,500, depending upon the specification of the digital set top box (STB) and the city. The 60 cm diametre Ku Band Dish, Ku Band LNBF, the digital set top box and about 15 M RF cable (like RG -58) are the equipment required for receiving DD Direct+. The dish can be installed at any convenient location in a building like on the wall, in the balcony, on the rooftop or on the ground. Explaining DTH features during an interaction with this correspondent the other day, Mr. M. S. Duhan, Station Engineer, Doordarshan Kendra, Kasauli, said that in DTH the large number of channels would be digitally compressed, encrypted and beamed from a very high-powered satellite. The digital signals would be of higher resolution picture quality and better audio than traditional analog signals, Mr. Duhan explained. DD Direct+ would be far better from the already operational Zee’s Dish TV and TATA-STAR, which is likely to be commenced in March, 2005, as far as the cost, area operation and quality were concerned. DD Direct+ was expected to act as a gatekeeper for the DTH services in India just as B Sky B does in Europe. With roughly 40 millions cable and satellite homes in India, DTH has a bright future. Doordarshan planned to install, free of cost, about 10,000 DTH sets in the rural areas in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Karnataka and the north-eastern states to popularise the DTH services, said Mr. Duhan. The Satellite used for DTH in India is NSS 6 located at 95 0 East. Though the satellite can operate on UHF, S - Band, C - Band and Ku Band for broadcasting, Ku Band is used to carry the DTH signals because it requires a small size dish, said Mr. Duhan. Besides DD-National, DD-News DD-Sports and DD-India, DD Direct + will offer 13 private popular channels . The number of channels is likely to be increased shortly. The signals of DD Direct + can be received anywhere in India except Andaman & Nicobar, said Mr. Duhan. DD Direct + signals were also available in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Myanmar and Afghanistan. |
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Dairy an option for rural youth There is need to create such conditions as would attract rural youth to dairy farming as an independent professional activity, on their own land or panchayat land hired on a rental basis in their villages. For making it economically viable, one needs milch animals of known genetic potential, an infrastructure based on “loose housing system”, a scientifically designed and economically built cow shed, along with a milking parlour for machine milking free from the present-day drudgery, availability of professional services at his doorstep with accountability and a rational milk pricing policy that would ensure a decent income and lend pride to the occupation. Under Punjab conditions it is only the cross-bred cows with 3,000 litres and above lactational yield with an assurance to provide facilities to upgrade them to 7,500 litres and above in a three-year period that can suit him the most. To begin with his herd strength should not be less than 20, to be subsequently raised to 30. There are some misconceptions which do not allow such projects to take off. One is that cross-bred cows with more than 62.5 per cent exotic blood are a failure under Punjab conditions. Following the Anand pattern, which did not favour keeping high quality cows, it was considered better to take an escape route by declaring that cross-bred cows with more than 62.5 per cent exotic blood be discarded as not suitable. No efforts have been made to take advantage of research in the US to reduce the cost of milk production , which showed that heat stress can be managed more economically than cold stress. As a result, states with hot climate like California and Arizona have taken to dairy farming in a big way. Israel’s elite cows yield 15,000 to 19,000 litres in spite of Israel’s harsher summer than Punjab and severe land and water constraints. The most efficient and cheap way to reduce heat stress, developed in Israel, is based on skin wetting and intensive water evaporation by forced air using of fans. The wetting of the cows is done by pressure sprinklers, which provide large droplets. Among other problems the outstanding one is that government policies favour the buffalo and its milk and are anti-cow! Its legal milk standard even after 57 years of Independence remains the same as for desi cows, viz, 4 per cent fat, whereas cross-bred cows’ milk does not contain more than 3.7 per cent fat. Due to the non-recognition of the 2-minute “Hansa test” for maintaining-separate identity of buffalo and cow milk, buffalo milk, after adulteration with water, is sold as cow’s milk or mixed milk. Israeli experts made a detailed survey of Punjab’s dairy sector and made recommendations in their project report in November, 1997, for effecting improvements which could make Punjab dairy internationally competitive. Unfortunately the project was abandoned after incurring a huge expenditure. The writer is a former Milk Commissioner of Punjab |
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ChatteratI HOW free and humane our politicians seem once they are out of power. Look at former Prime Minister Vajpayee, he is breathing so easy nowadays. Kabhi kushi, kabhi concerned! But overall so relaxed. He still has his eyes shut while listening to his BJP supporters’ problems. This elderly, statesman is happy spending time with his foster family and grand-daughter. He is not at all amused when praise is showered on his tenure of six years. Former Deputy Prime Minister Advani spends his time indulging in his favourite things. A great Hindi film buff, he in fact went to a theatre lately to watch “Lakshya” with his daughter. Being a voracious reader, he is nowadays reading Samuel Huntington’s “Who are we?” about America’s identity, post 9/11. The best is the lady who is the idol of all middle class Indian women. Sindoor, bindi, silk sarees, bangles, the whole hog. She actually looks as if she is on permanent karva chauth. Sushma Swaraj nowadays spends time eating gol gappas and listening to chat patta gossip. She is fond of bhajans, loves movies, also now has time to indulge husband and daughter cooking delicacies like malpua and gulgule. Shah Nawaz Hussain is catching up with all his lost friends, watching TV and spending time with his family. Rajiv Pratap Rudy does not have many calls to answer any more. So he has more time to spend at home. Besides, the Bihar Assembly elections are coming fast, so he is working on a software aimed at micro management of the elections. Vijay Goel, famous for feeding an ex-P.M. garam samosas and jalebis from his constituency is busy once again putting together another book on Chandni Chowk. Jagmohan spends most of his time, as usual, at India International Centre. Arun Jaitely is a regular feature at the Lodhi Gardens every evening and then at the IIC with his permanent cronies sipping chai and garma garm gossip. Arun is busy in the morning either at the courts or press conferences. BJP chief Naidu is so very busy trying to save his seat and thinking about his next one liners. Film stars in politics No doubt film stars lend glamour to our elections and Parliament, but should they be in Parliament?Again, they are in vogue in the Maharashtra elections. They never attend Parliament when it is in session,but everyone seems to be waiting for Govinda aa la re. Due to a chunk of Bollywood migrating to Parliament, our entire dhoti-clad politicians thought it would be good idea to see these stars. Well, this virar ka chokra of meri pant bhi sexy fame , thought gracing the Lok Sabha for one day only was enough. The other faded star, Chandrababu Naidu’s Jaya Pradha, now in Mulayam’s camp, along with Amar Singh’s Bhabiji Jaya Bachchan, also makes a rare appearance. Amar Singh’s Bhaiji Anil Ambani seems to have taken his new role as MP very seriously. He is usually accompanied by his wife, ex-film star Tina. Hema Malini and Jat Dharmendra of many face lifts are also missing in action here. Vinod Khanna and “Shotgun” Sinha seem to have disappeared completely from the scene ever since the NDA lost. Dara Singh, no one has spotted him even once. Amazingly film stars also change colours like a chameleon as a government changes . Shah Rukh was one of the first ones to visit the Gandhis when the UPA government was formed. He was a favourite of the Vajpayee household at one time. |
Personal God comes nearer and nearer until He melts away and there is no more Personal God and no more “I”, all is merged in the Self. — Swami Vivekananda Those that have devotion towards Me will get knowledge and renunciation and they will attain to liberation from the round of births and deaths. — Lord Sri Rama Discard the evil-mind and earn merit. — Guru Nanak Cleanse your heart of malice and harbour no hatred, not even against your enemies. — Lord Mahavir Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience. — J.F. Clarke |
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high monthly subscription, repeated breakdowns and discrimination over airing popular channels will soon be a thing of the past for cable TV subscribers in the region as the latest mode of broadcasting, Direct-to-Home (DTH), will be launched nationwide through DD Direct + very soon.