O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

No mercy for the rapist
Capital’s case should serve as a warning
THE life sentence awarded to the ward boy for rape of a nurse in Delhi’s Shanti Mukand Hospital would be welcomed, and not only by the victim and women’s activists but every citizen of the nation.

Canadian failure
Kanishka killers remain unpunished
THE Canadian criminal justice system has presented itself in an exceptionally unflattering light the way it has handled the 1985 Air-India bombings which claimed 331 lives.

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

Vietnam 30 years later
Sea change in relations with America
by Inder Malhotra
ON Sunday, it was heart-warming to see a front-page photograph of Vietnam’s legendary military hero, Gen Vo Nguyen Giap, taking part in the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of his country’s victory over the mighty US and the concomitant reunification of North and South Vietnam. General Giap, nicknamed “Red Napoleon”, is 93 and frail, but has lost none of his old spirit and elan.

MIDDLE

Hi-tech “popi”
by Raj Kadyan
I BELONG to a generation that looks at a computer with scepticism. I took to it with reluctance but gradually the gizmo has grown on me. I now keep all my data stored electronically. I possess an old model that is temperamental and keeps taking (assumedly) fatigue breaks.

OPED

New planes, new skies
by Sridhar K. Chari
Runway 32L at Toulouse airport in France is well known to aviation enthusiasts. This is after all, the `Concorde runway,’ the strip of concrete that saw the first flight in 1969 of the world’s only supersonic passenger airliner, now retired.

How Punjab Act favours Haryana
by G. S. Dhillon
When Punjab passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, it sent shock waves all over, forcing the Central Government to make a presidential reference to the apex court, which is yet to start proceedings on the reference.

Delhi Durbar
A new library for MPs
The establishment of a separate research and referral library in Parliament House has made accessing Parliament-related information easy for members of Parliament. Also available are several thousand books.

• UPA’s one year in office

• PCB invites Jaitley’s PA

• Chandigarh girl makes waves

From the pages of

REFLECTIONS

EDITORIALS

No mercy for the rapist
Capital’s case should serve as a warning

THE life sentence awarded to the ward boy for rape of a nurse in Delhi’s Shanti Mukand Hospital would be welcomed, and not only by the victim and women’s activists but every citizen of the nation. Rape is the most heinous of crimes and calls for the most deterrent punishment. In this case, wardboy Bhura, had not only sexually violated the nurse but also blinded her in one eye and injured the other. Therefore, not the least lenience was either called for or deserved, and it is only fitting that the judge refused to be moved by any plea for less than the severest sentence. However, the Additional Sessions Judge has seriously faulted even by entertaining the rapist’s offer to marry the nurse and, thereafter, asking the victim to respond. Bhura, the rapist, had simply to be punished, not given a wee bit of a chance either to make the so-called offer for marrying the victim or the comfort of a married life. He deserved to be sent to only one place — prison — for the rest of his life. The court did exactly that, later.

Now that a clear signal has gone out from the court that the judiciary would be hard on rapists as individual offenders, there is a case for institutional responsibility as well as adequate compensation to the victim. The offender being dealt his penal due is merely in conformity with the law and meets the ends of justice in so far as the accused is concerned. By the same yardstick, the victim needs to be compensated for the violence, trauma and indignity inflicted upon her while in the service of Shanti Mukand Hospital. It must be asked to do what it should have done on its own.

Since individuals may not always be in a position to make such amends, the employer, too, has to bear both the responsibility and liability. The salutary effect of the case would be diluted if the hospital is let off without paying in any way for a crime perpetrated on its premises where the nurse was on duty. When employers are required to enforce provisions against sexual harassment, it is surprising if they are not made answerable for a much more serious offence.

Canadian failure
Kanishka killers remain unpunished

THE Canadian criminal justice system has presented itself in an exceptionally unflattering light the way it has handled the 1985 Air-India bombings which claimed 331 lives. After the court found Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty on March 16, the family members of the victims were hoping that the Crown would go in appeal and get a conviction. But even those hopes have collapsed with the prosecution deciding not to do so. Its plea is that it would be difficult to overturn the decision. That in effect means that the killers will remain unpunished and the bereaved families’ hopes that stringent punishment would put the fear of the law into the hearts of any potential killers would remain unfulfilled. On the contrary, many other terrorists might now be encouraged to go on a similar killing spree, since they know that the long hand of the law is hopelessly twisted and cannot reach them. After all, it was no ordinary crime. It was the world’s worst terrorist act in the air before 9/11. If the killers could escape the gallows after hatching such a diabolical conspiracy, can the law really claim that it has functioning limbs?

Two critical witnesses to whom the accused had reportedly confessed were murdered during trial. Vital evidence was lost during the long pendency of the cases. Apparently, the police and Canada’s spy agency bungled the investigation badly. It is not enough to say that this was the most exhaustive and expensive trial in Canadian history. What matters is the end result.

What is incontrovertible is that the plane did not explode on its own. Someone planted a bomb on it. If the prosecution could not prove it was Malik and Bagri, it was somebody else. Isn’t it the duty of Canada to identify them and bring them to book? Not doing so has been rightly described by the hapless relatives of the victims as the “second tragedy”. They do not deserve this double blow. Nor can perhaps the people anywhere who have to see this slur on the Canadian criminal justice with a great deal of unease.

More jobless
Exchanges show the reality — partly

The figures released by the government about the number of unemployed youth registered with the employment exchanges in the country reveal that the problem is worsening. There are currently three crore youth registered as unemployed. That all of them may not be actually jobless is as much true as the fact that all those without work do not get themselves registered. So the figures give only an indication of how grim the situation is. Another category that calls for attention comprises the under-employed. Trained engineers are forced to work at call centres, which can make do with plus two students with a fluency in spoken English.

Unemployment among the educated is growing because the governments, whether in the states or the one at the Centre, are already over-staffed and are forced by the precarious state of their finances to shed flab. Many of them have imposed a ban on fresh recruitment. The economic reforms currently under way are also responsible for what is often called “jobless growth”. Jobs are available mostly in the private sector, which is expanding, and private companies do not go to the employment exchanges to hire workers. Many in the private sector rather complain of shortage of employable manpower. The scarcity of skilled workers is particularly felt in the fast-growing sectors of insurance, civil aviation, IT and BPO.

This calls for updating the education system to meet the needs of industry — domestic as well as global. While many traditional jobs are disappearing, new ones are emerging. Western companies are turning to India for outsourcing to take advantage of cheap manpower available here. Only the educational institutions have to keep pace with the fast-emerging economic scenario.

Thought for the day

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.
— Arnold Schwarzenegger

ARTICLE

Vietnam 30 years later
Sea change in relations with America
by Inder Malhotra

ON Sunday, it was heart-warming to see a front-page photograph of Vietnam’s legendary military hero, Gen Vo Nguyen Giap, taking part in the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of his country’s victory over the mighty US and the concomitant reunification of North and South Vietnam. General Giap, nicknamed “Red Napoleon”, is 93 and frail, but has lost none of his old spirit and elan. I wonder how many people remember that under his brilliant leadership, the brave soldiers of the poor and backward Vietnam had inflicted military defeat on three major powers, all three of them permanent members of the UN Security Council: France (in the celebrated Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954); the U S (in 1975 when some panicky Americans fled, clinging to the skids of helicopters); and China (in 1979 when, instead of being able to “teach” the Vietnamese “a lesson”, the Chinese learnt one).

All the jubilation and pageantry on the occasion, centred on the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is entirely understandable. Nearly three million Vietnamese perished in the prolonged war against half a million American troops and a much larger South Vietnamese force, equipped with the most modern and sophisticated conventional weaponry. Neither this disparity nor the constant U.S. bombing that was more intense than during World War II broke the Vietnamese will to fight. It was the American will that caved in, at least partly because of great and growing domestic protest against the brutality of the Vietnam war. Though insignificant compared with the losses suffered by the Vietnamese, the American casualties — 58,000 dead and 150, 000 wounded, with many more missing — were traumatising by U S standards.

Incidentally, the Americans also looked foolish because the Vietnamese disproved their assiduous theory that the “loss” of Vietnam would lead to the “fall” of other South-East Asian “dominos”.

America’s shock hasn’t yet subsided fully. During the festivities in Ho Chi Minh City the U S lionised its own Vietnam veterans, and several American commentators - pointing to the controversy over Senator John Kerry’s record of service during the Vietnam war —argued that the Vietnam syndrome remained part of American consciousness.

From the American standpoint a major lesson was that the U S should never again get involved in a ground war in a far-away land. And yet the sole superpower did launch, unilaterally and with a “coalition of the willing” (some of whom have since started wailing), the second Gulf war against Iraq. Why? The two obvious answers are 9/11 and the abolition of conscription in the U S that was the rule during the war in Vietnam, putting to grave risk all families, high or low in social hierarchy. The opprobrium heaped on the head of President Bill Clinton underscores the disdain for the draft-dodgers. Even President George Bush is mocked for having spent the Vietnam war years in the safety of some air defence outfit in Austin, Texas. In today’s situation the American servicemen dying for their country in Iraq - daily killings continue there two years after the U.S. victory - belong to underprivileged class.

It is also worth noting that a profound consequence of the Vietnam war within the U S was the defiant publication of The Pentagon Papers by The New York Times and later the Washington Post that had until then cooperated with the establishment to maintain secrecy over national security issues.

All through America’s war on Vietnam, India had lent the Vietnamese people and their leaders full support. Both Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi remained steadfast in deploring the relentless bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong despite irascible President Lyndon Johnson’s retaliatory action of putting food supplies to India on a very tight leash.

A CIA-sponsored coup in Cambodia against Prince Sihanouk had led to a series of developments that eventually brought to power the execrable regime of the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. It converted the Cambodian landscape into killing fields and decimated nearly a third of the country’s population. Eventually, Vietnam decided militarily to intervene in Cambodia, overthrow the Pol Pot tyranny and install the government of Mr. Heng Samrin.

India fully endorsed the Vietnamese action. But the U S — now an ardent champion of the spread of democracy across the globe — and its allies, by then China among them, were bitterly opposed. Year after year at the UN these countries went on voting in favour of Pol Pot as Cambodia’s “rightful and legitimate ruler”!

So much for the past; what about the present and the future? The answer to this question underlines how fast things change. No country has suffered so heavily at the hands of another as Vietnam has from those of the Americans’. But today the two are reasonably good friends and are trying to improve their relations further because, putting aside Communist orthodoxy some years after April 30,1975, Vietnam embraced the policy of economic reform. There is something in the claim of The Economist of London that in Vietnam “America lost, but capitalism won”.

It is to the credit of the Vietnamese that 10 years ago, on the 20th anniversary of their victory over the U S, they showed magnanimity and remembered also the “American dead”. Soon thereafter the erstwhile enemies established diplomatic relations.

Over the last decade, Vietnamese economy has been growing at the rate of 7 per cent a year. The U S is Vietnam’s largest export market, and U S investments in Vietnam are on the increase. Careful observers have noticed that there is hardly any trace of hostility towards America in Vietnam, while deep suspicion of China, the powerful northern neighbour, persists.

For nearly a year, America’s United Airlines has been flying to Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam Airlines’ inaugural flight to America, on one of the 10 Boeings, scheduled for this summer, will be captained by a pilot who was much decorated during the war for bombing the presidential palace in Saigon. The moral of this ought to be clear: No one is anyone’s friend or enemy immutably; only circumstances make them so. When circumstances change, so do relationships.

As in the past, so in the future, India’s stakes in Vietnam — an important member of ASEAN and a rising power in the region — are bound to be high. In fact, this was reportedly agreed when Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh met his Vietnamese counterpart at Jakarta on the fringes of the silver jubilee of the Bandung conference. The time has come to translate these words into deeds.

MIDDLE

Hi-tech “popi”
by Raj Kadyan

I BELONG to a generation that looks at a computer with scepticism. I took to it with reluctance but gradually the gizmo has grown on me. I now keep all my data stored electronically. I possess an old model that is temperamental and keeps taking (assumedly) fatigue breaks.

It packed up last Friday. When switched on, the screen only displayed its maker’s logo and a vertical cursor that kept flashing teasingly in the right top corner. I punched all possible keys but nothing worked. I was blocked out and felt crippled.

I called up a computer firm. The manager promised to send someone over on Monday. I was apprehensive, and not without reason. When I had engaged a repairman a year ago, he kept the machine for a whole week and brought it back with a hefty bill. Besides, the speakers have not spoken since.

The son is computer savvy. I telephoned him in London and explained my predicament. “Hmmm…” I heard him think. Before he could speak, the daughter-in-law interjected from the parallel: “Don’t worry Dad, we will gift you a laptop that would be delivered within 48 hours.” Not getting an immediate response, she value-added: “You can then work sitting in the lawn.” It was indeed thoughtful of her but she was overlooking my emotional attachment with my old horse.

I called up my two nephews in the US, both technically spruce. The MD diagnosed it as a possible case of crashing of the operating system and recommended washing of the hard disc. The Harvard graduate suggested that I feed in the “install” CD that would be in the software package. It was and I did. But the computer refused to eat anything.

The daughter lives in Mumbai. Being a senior executive producer in a media company she keeps busy hours. The only time we get to talk to her is between 10:30 pm and 11:30 pm when she is being driven home from work. She is generally tired and makes brief conversations, without wasting words. Her computer knowhow is entirely self-acquired.

She responded to my call with the usual “Hi Pa”.

“I was writing a ‘middle’ on the Word today,” I said introductorily.

“Cool,” she said.

“My computer suddenly packed up.”

“Cool,” she said again.

“The screen is now blank except the logo.”

“Cool.”

“Can you suggest how I can work it?” I was on the verge of losing my own cool.

“Try popi”.

I was tempted to assume that she said “copy” but knowing her punctiliousness she is seldom unclear or ambiguous.

“Popi?” I asked

“Plug out, plug in”.

I tried her remedy immediately and called her back in less than five minutes.

“It worked?” she asked.

“Sure, and heaps of thanks.”

“Cool,” she said, and went off.

OPED

New planes, new skies
by Sridhar K. Chari

Runway 32L at Toulouse airport in France is well known to aviation enthusiasts. This is after all, the `Concorde runway,’ the strip of concrete that saw the first flight in 1969 of the world’s only supersonic passenger airliner, now retired. The French-British Concorde, along with the American military reconnaissance aircraft the SR-71 Blackbird, is considered among the greatest airplanes ever built.

1969, incidentally, was also the year when Boeing first flew its jumbo jet, the 747, which has since sold well over 1,000 aircraft. For 45 years, the 747 reigned as the largest passenger airliner in the world.

That throne is now set to be usurped, as on April 27, Airbus’s A-380, wider, taller, longer and some 120 tonnes heavier than the 747, made a four-hour first flight, taking off from the Concorde runway to the cheers of some 50,000 spectators. Airbus has already won 154 orders for the plane, estimated to cost about US $ 285 million each. There is still uncertainty about the ultimate economic viability of such an aircraft, with Airbus itself pegging the break-even point at 250 planes.

The A-380 has been designed to carry about 555 passengers, though it can take up to 800 in its most dense configuration. It is actually, though, only the second biggest airplane ever built. The honour of being the biggest goes to the Russian Antonov An-225, designed to carry space shuttles, of which only two were built.

Boeing, which has been losing out to Airbus over the last few years both in terms of orders and aircraft deliveries, has a challenger in the wings - the 787 `Dreamliner.’ Boeing, however, has not gone with a big-is-better approach with the Dreamliner. The 787 is much smaller, and it is positioned as a fast, long-range aircraft with low operating costs.

Both aircraft are sub-sonic. While the A-380 is ideal for “hub and spoke” routing where a huge number of passengers are carried to a major airport, from which they again fly to their destinations, the 787 is for long distance, direct flights, eliminating the need for lay-overs.

Both companies stand by their choice of design, alternately berating the other for its market view, and over that eternal bug bear - government subsidies. While the A-380 is expected to enter service after 2006, the 787 is schedule for a first flight only in 2008.

What does this mean for India? India, it must be remembered, is not really a newcomer to the magic of aviation. Aircraft were flying in India as early as 1910, just seven years after the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in a heavier than air machine. The world’s very first airmail was carried in India in 1911. A Roger Sommer biplane, piloted by Henri Pecquet and carrying some 6000 envelopes and cards, flew from Allahabad to Naini on February 18th, 1911. India’s first qualified pilot, the pioneering J.R.D Tata, obtained his licence in 1929, and the very next year, undertook the world’s first solo flight in a light aircraft from India to England. Air India came from the house of Tatas, and Hindustan Aeronautics was set up way back in 1941. Since then, there have been more downs than ups. The public carriers have struggled. After the Marut fighter was abandoned, it was decades before the Light Combat Aircraft took off. Things have been even worse on the civil design front, with even NAL’s 17 seater Saras not being particularly promising.

Commercial aviation on the other hand is set to witness a particularly expansionist phase. An open skies agreement has been signed with the United States, enabling any number of airlines, flights and destinations to be put on the map. Agreements which don’t go the whole hog but are still much liberalised, have been signed with the UK, France and China. The Air India board has cleared the acquisition of 50 aircraft from Boeing, of which 27 are to be the new Dreamliner. The remaining will be the established 777s.

Indian Airlines is planning to acquire 43 Airbus aircraft. Private players like Jet and Sahara are expanding as well, while the low cost airline Air Deccan has just inked an agreement to obtain 30 new Airbus A 320s. Start-ups like Kingfisher are also getting off the line with 10 aircraft, again from Airbus.

Air India has also launched a subsidiary, Air India Express, for low cost flights to the Gulf. Policies regulating private airlines have been liberalised, but even more needs to be done.

The competition between Airbus and Boeing, has added a little extra drama, with Airbus even approaching the Central Vigilance Commission with a complaint that Air India changed requirements to suit Boeing.

The key issue now, however, will be airport infrastructure. India’s airports are in need of a massive revamp. The issue won’t just be whether we can take in the A-380, which is a question facing airports all over the world. Most will find it difficult to handle a 600-strong passenger offload from just one plane.

There is the question of apron space, suitable aerobridges and facilities for passenger checks and baggage handling. Both airport modernisation and the building of new airports will have to be put on fast track.

Available technologies have to be harnessed and deployed to ensure smooth operation and optimum safety, along with institutional mechanisms for creating a professional, highly trained pool of human resources.

Economics does dictate technological advance in many ways. Otherwise, the Concorde would not only still be around, but other airliners would have turned supersonic. One direction of NASA’s cutting-edge research is simply on reducing engine noise, a problem with all planes, not just the Concorde. It was widely noted that the A-380’s Rolls Royce engines were surprisingly quiet by normal standards.

The lesson in that for India is we can never abandon the effort to create a strong, domestic design and manufacturing base and keep ourselves abreast of developing technology. While this decade can only offer the A-380 and the 787, there are exciting developments possible with regard to new energy sources and faster and faster flights. We must not only be ready, but strive to get ahead.

How Punjab Act favours Haryana
by G. S. Dhillon

When Punjab passed the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, it sent shock waves all over, forcing the Central Government to make a presidential reference to the apex court, which is yet to start proceedings on the reference.

In the Governor’s Address to the Punjab Assembly, the Haryana Government was asked to find an amicable solution to the water dispute. The move was welcomed by the print media, but the Chief Minister of Haryana told Punjab to first scrap the Termination Act, before asking Haryana to join the talk.

It is proposed here to bring out the benefits, intended or otherwise, that accrue to Haryana from the Termination Act.

Section 5 of the Act guarantees the availability of the 1-62MAF of the Ravi-Beas water to Haryana. The section reads as: “Protection of existing usage: Notwithstanding anything contained in Sections 3 and 4 of the Act, all existing and actual utilisation through the existing system, shall remain protected and unaffected.”

In the earlier part of the Bill, it has been said that at present Haryana is making use of 1-62 MAF of the Ravi-Beas waters, in addition to 4-33 MAF of the Sutlej water under the Bhakra-Nangal Agreement. This makes total of 5.95 MAF of the water from the Indus-Basin Rivers.

Contrary to the previous stand of Punjab in para 6 of the preamble of the Act, it is stated “whereas even according to the Irrigation Commission, only 9,939 square km of the area within Haryana fall within the Indus basin (not within the Ravi and Beas basin) as against 50,304 sq km area within Punjab.”

The Act admits that Haryana is an Indus basin state, as nearly 24 per cent of its area falls in the Indus basin. This fact may weaken Punjab’s stand on the riparian issue but strengthens Haryana’s claim.

So, one wonders why Haryana is not seizing the opportunity and starting talks while accepting the above bench mark. Surely such a good tide made not come Haryana’s way again.

Delhi Durbar
A new library for MPs

The establishment of a separate research and referral library in Parliament House has made accessing Parliament-related information easy for members of Parliament. Also available are several thousand books.

However, a Parliament insider reveals that the establishment of this exclusive facility, a short hop away from the main Parliament building, has resulted in a sharp fall in the number of MPs using the library.

Many MPs like to use the reading room in the main Parliament building rather than walk a few metres and take advantage of the state-of-the-art facility in the new library building.

UPA’s one year in office

These days babus in various ministries are working hard to dig out the “achievements” of their respective ministries with the UPA completing one year in office.

With many ministries not recording substantial progress in various schemes and projects, babus of these ministries are carrying out cosmetic changes in the “achievements reports” prepared ahead of the UPA government completing 365 days in office.

PCB invites Jaitley’s PA

Former minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently the boss of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, has an efficient and go-getting personal secretary who is from the RSS fold.

“Sharmaji” charmed President of the Pakistan Cricket Board Shahryar Khan and his wife during the final one-day international between the two neighbours that he is likely to visit Pakistan as a guest of the PCB.

Sharmaji was always around, ensuring that the Khans did not miss out on the shopping and mouth-watering dishes from the small but exotic eataries of Chandni Chowk.

Chandigarh girl makes waves

From the pages of

January 12, 1884

Babu Keshub Chander Sen

Another Mahatma has passed away from among us. It is only two months now that we mourned the death of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, and we are again called upon to announce with the most deep-felt sorrow and regret that Babu Keshub Chander Sen is no more. Babu Keshub Chander was suffering from some obstinate implicated diseases for some time past, and during his late sojourn in the hills had grown so positively worse that he could hardly leave his heel. But he was placed on his return to Calcutta under the best medical aid available and it was given out that he was improving day to day. It was even expected in some quarters that he would be able to deliver his customary Town Hall address on the occasion of next anniversary of the festival of the Brahmo Samaj which comes on in a few days. But man proposes, God disposes. The great spirit passed away, never to be visible to mortal eyes again.

REFLECTIONS

— Guru Nanak