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Iodised again
Indifference to history
Kool Kakajis from Hot Malwa
Understanding Jinnah Women make
better scientists Delhi Durbar
From the pages of
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Monsoon worries THE ways of the monsoon are inscrutable. There can be rains and thunderstorm and yet no monsoon just as there can be monsoon without rains. Equally indecipherable are the forecasts poured out by the authorities at this time of the year. Inevitably, anxiety is gathering over whether rainfall would be adequate in quantity and spread, and at the appropriate time. Had the monsoon been normal and on time, it should have covered the whole of peninsular India, the North-East, the East including eastern Uttar Pradesh up to Varanasi, central India and parts of Gujarat by June 15. Instead, the first sign of the monsoon in the North-East came only on June 16, a fortnight after the normal date. Fears of a delayed and deficient monsoon were doused when the rains came to Kerala on June 5 – late by just five days. There was cause for cheer as the rainfall covered the entire state, coastal Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu within 48 hours before moving northwards to Goa on June 8. Thereafter, progress has been weak and disappointing. This has given rise to concern, prompting the Union Ministry of Agriculture to direct the rain-fed states to be prepared with an alternate strategy for kharif sowing. The Indian economy is still heavily dependent on a good monsoon. Although this dependence is declining, ever so gradually, no other single factor determines the health and output of the economy as the monsoon. Despite the concern caused by the delay and weakness of the southwest monsoon, there is no cause for alarm, yet. Such a delay is not unusual, and delay, the authorities say, does not necessarily mean that the rains will be deficient during the whole season. If the worry is more widespread than in the past, it is because there is much more interest in tracking the monsoon – including among corporates and in the stock market; and there are also multiple agencies involved in forecasting and, on that basis, making economic projections. Once the monsoon revives, many of these forecasts and projections would be revised. Or so one hopes. |
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Governors’ dharma President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have rightly advised Governors to rise above partisan politics while discharging their constitutional duties. Addressing the Governors’ Conference this week, both stressed the need to depoliticise the Raj Bhawans. Whatever they said was perfectly correct, but the plain truth is whether Governors are really fair and impartial today in the light of their questionable role in Goa, Jharkhand and Bihar. Unfortunately, though the Governor’s post has become increasingly contentious, successive governments at the Centre have failed to follow clear-cut guidelines on his powers. As a result, Governors have been brazenly abusing their powers, particularly when there is a fractured mandate and when the ruling party’s majority is in doubt. Bihar and Goa are more recent examples of how the Centre, in connivance with the Governors, could either dissolve a State Assembly or keep it under suspended animation if the numbers game did not favour the Congress (or its allies) to form the government. Under Article 164 (i) of the Constitution, the Governor does enjoy some discretion in appointing the Chief Minister, but such discretion has been flagrantly abused time and again to suit the Centre’s design, short-circuiting the established norms. Though the founding fathers of the Constitution had hopes that sound conventions would grow in course of time, these have turned out to be misplaced. The Centre has been misusing Article 356 with the Governors acting as its collaborators. The Congress has often used it; the NDA’s record has been no different. During the Jharkhand crisis, both President Kalam and the Supreme Court had to intervene to undo the fraud perpetrated by Governor Syed Sibtey Razi. However, presidential or judicial intervention should not be seen as a remedy to the crisis engineered by Governors at the behest of the Centre. It is the political process that needs to address this issue through forums like the Governors’ Conference and the Inter-State Council, and come out with widely acceptable rules and guidelines. Governors may enjoy discretion but this should not lead to committing a constitutional fraud. The Sarkaria Commission’s sound recommendation for apolitical and non-partisan Governors has been gathering dust for 22 years! Not many Governors, Union Home Ministers or Home Secretaries have even cared to read these suggestions. It is a pity! |
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Iodised again THE reimposition of the ban on the sale of non-iodised salt in the country corrects a major mistake made by the NDA government in the year 2000 when it had allowed the sale of unfortified salt, presumably under pressure from the small manufacturers from Gujarat. Sale and consumption of iodised salt had plummeted during these four years, leading to a major health scare. As many as 254 of the 312 districts were found to be iodine-deficient by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry recently. A person may need only about a teaspoon of iodine in his entire lifetime but the failure to get it can lead to serious physical as well as intellectual debilities. This natural element is an essential nutrient for the normal growth, development and functioning of both the brain and the body. Since many people in the interior are not aware of the importance of this element, they were willing to opt for ordinary salt just because it happened to be a few paise cheaper. That amounted to condemning them to a life of goitre, speech and hearing defects and other serious diseases. The argument that making salt iodised increased its price is faulty because it costs only about 10 paise per person per year to iodise salt. Small traders have been opposed to this process mainly because it forces them to use moisture-proof packing to prevent the loss of iodine. They should not play with the lives of millions of people just because they want to earn a little more. One positive spinoff of the latest government initiative is that it has now been decided to make double-fortification of common salt with iodine as well as iron compulsory. Iron-deficiency is also very much prevalent in the country, especially among women and children. Fortified salt is perhaps the best way to combat the problem. |
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Silence is deep as Eternity; speech in shallow as Time. — Thomas Carlyle |
Indifference to history
LET a diminished Mr L. K. Advani run the shaken BJP as best he can after taking back his resignation as the party president even though the so-called compromise resolution of the BJP Parliamentary Board had categorically rubbished those of his remarks about Pakistan’s founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, that — according to his earlier assertion — required neither “retraction” nor “review”. Also let those who have suddenly discovered Jinnah go on discussing his various personae at different times and different places and come to conflicting conclusions until the cows come home. How does it matter today what he had said in the Constituent Assembly speech three days before the birth of his country? That speech was quickly erased from the Assembly’s records and even from the institutional memory of Pakistan. Indeed, the Establishment had played it down even on the day it was delivered and Jinnah was unquestionably the new country’s supreme leader. To those Pakistanis who still remember this oration, it has become an embarrassment. Maybe, those who continue to rave about this speech also need to be reminded that Jinnah was never a practising Muslim. He loved his Scotch and soda and preferred ham to chicken in his sandwiches. Namaz was alien to him. The slogan “Islam in Danger” and the two-nation theory came in handy to him to achieve his objective of getting a sovereign country — “truncated and moth-eaten”, in his own words — that he could rule. Fate willed, however, that he should do so for three days less than 13 months only. Whatever legacy he might have wanted to leave behind his successors interred with his bones. No less important is another fact of history that few in this country bother about. Until 1934, Jinnah was in self-exile in London. From 1937 onwards he started blaming the Congress for following a “majoritarian” agenda and being inimical to the Muslim minority. He never travelled across the Muslim villages to spread his message. After 1942 Jinnah had the field entirely to himself, if only because, despite dissent by C. Rajagopalachari and even Jawaharlal Nehru, the Mahatma had embarked on the Quit India movement. Consequently, the entire Congress leadership was in jail until the end of World War-II in 1945. During this long period Jinnah had supported the British wholeheartedly and the Raj had backed him to the hilt. Therein lies a clue to the remarkable fact that the Pakistan resolution, passed only in 1940, could be translated into reality in seven years flat. There is no need for speculation because Britain has declassified secret documents of that period that prove that the British government had made up its mind to partition India as early as February 1946 when Wavell was the Viceroy and Mountbatten was still serving in the Royal Navy. It is a different and ironical matter, however, that Pakistan, when it came into being, consisted of the areas where Muslims were in a majority anyhow. The Muslims of UP and Bihar who had championed the cause of Pakistan most stridently were left behind in the Indian Union. If Jinnah lost any sleep on account of this, no one has heard of it. One would have liked to avoid saying some of these things but in the current cacophony it is necessary to bring them into the open in order to focus attention on arguably the most important and most painful lesson of the Advani episode that has enabled his party’s critics to nickname it “Bharatiya Jinnah Party”. That lesson, cruelly driven home this time around, is that we Indians have no interest in history and therefore no use for it. Indeed, we are an ahistorical people and would have endeared ourselves to Henry Ford who believed passionately that all history was “bunk”. Just look at the starting point of what has hit Mr Advani and the BJP with the force of a tsunami, and our regrettable national flaw becomes clear. On his own admission the former Deputy Prime Minister had never heard of Jinnah’s August 11, 1947, speech until shortly before his visit to Pakistan. The head of the Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Rangananda, who died only the other day, had drawn the BJP president’s attention to it. Mr Advani read it on the eve of his departure for Islamabad and, with the help of a ghostwriter and spin-doctor, made a song and dance about it that led to a virtual civil war within the Sangh Parivar. Witness the sniping at the BJP chief by RSS leaders that persists even after the “compromise”. The top man, Mr K. S. Sudershan, has been quite uncouth in drawing a parallel between Mr Advani’s change of stance and the change of dress and make-up by a harlot. Mr Advani need not be singled out for blame on this score. An utterly casual approach to history — even contemporary history that one has been witness to — is typical of most Indians regardless of their position or political affiliation. Leaders like Nehru, who both made history and wrote it, are rare exceptions to the rule. The consequences of this state of affairs cannot but be baneful. It is no mere accident that our ancient history is almost entirely oral. Written history of this country — with its immense riches in culture, arts, architecture, diversity and plurality — begins only with the advent of foreign chroniclers such as Megasthenes, Hsuan Tsang and Alberuni. One of the wise maxims across the globe is that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. But how on earth can a country learn anything from history if it considers a study of this overwhelmingly important subject a waste of time? Of the various consequences of this country’s undying disinterest in history, let me mention only two. The first is that successive governments have been emboldened permanently to refuse to declassify documents that would be of immense help to historians. The world’s largest democracy is the only nation of consequence that flouts the 30-year-rule flagrantly and unabashedly. The powers that be get away with this outrage because the public does not mind. The second consequence is as bizarre as it is disgraceful. To the extent history must be taught in schools and colleges, all concerned vie with one another in introducing partisan bias into history textbooks. The previous government spent six years “saffronising” books on history. The present one is busy “detoxifying” them. What the next one would do God alone
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Kool Kakajis from Hot Malwa LIKE the “Yuppies” and the “Puppies” the “Kakajis” are a very typical genre of the Malwa region of Punjab. You can spot them a mile off, tall, bearded and clad in snowwhite “Pathanis” paired with Nike or Adidas open-toed sandals. They sport bling-bling gold “Karas” and the very latest in toys for boys; iPods, Handhelds and Mobiles. The colour of their turbans is usually indicative of their political affilitiation but that’s only until they don golf caps to tee off at the Golf Club. Sartorial preferences apart, they have a very distinct lifestyle too. They are raised on vast farms in the Malwa heartland, in large joint families, by surrogate Mothers-cum-Nannies who, usually survive several generations and call both the Grandfather and the Grandson by the same euphemistic epithet: “Kakaji”. Raised in large joint families, Kakajis are the quintessential boys who never grow up. Responsibility is dispersed; hence its not a sought after trait. Life is simple and easy as only inherited wealth and largesse can make it. Schooling is typically in the hill boardings, Sanawar and Doon being particular favourites. It could be followed by the occasional degree in Commerce or Law, usually in the royal division. Education is not a priority, but a certain savoire faire and some old school ties and networking skills are desirable. After all, someone has to manage all those “killas” (acres) back in Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktasar et al. Kakajis are usually into a lot of male bonding rituals such as “Shikar”, cockfights and “kabutar” (pigeon) flights etc. While they may not actually get down and dirty, they are responsible for introducing some of the most enlightened and modern agricultural practices in the country. They also display a natural flair for affairs of the State and that’s where the colour of their turbans and their old school-tie affiliations come in rather handy and make politics the next logical progression. They typically have three homes, one back on the Farm, one in Chandigarh, where the wives take turns to attend to the children’s education or even just catch up with the city life and, of course, the mandatory summer cottage in the hills, to escape the vile Malwa “loo”. Their cars now truly reflect both their preferences and bank balances. MUVs for the farm and the long dusty commutes from the Malwa heartland, and spiffier cars for city driving. They switch with facility between “thet” (colloquial) Malwai,Punjabi peppered with the choicest expletives to the Queen’s English, each language spoken with the perfect accent. But the same proficiency cannot necessarily be attributed to their written word in either language. This is the season when the Kakajis flock to Chandigarh. You can see them in their signature “Whites” on the Sukhna Lake, in multiplexes, and in the clubs, accompanied by their little Kakajis who are back home for the summer vacation and enroute to the Cottage in the hills or for the Sanawar/ Doon Founder’s Week. They are gentlemen of leisure who have travelled the world, but their food of choice is still “Kukkad”, whether its served up as butter chicken with “Nans” or on pizza a la Pizza Hut. So when you hear them call out to each other as “Baiji”, you’ll know it’s the Kakajis at work @
killa.network.
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Understanding Jinnah THE controversy created by BJP President L.K. Advani’s comments on Jinnah has brought into focus the role of different political personalities during freedom struggle. Most leaders of freedom struggle had contradictions in their personality, whether it was Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Bose or Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Political leaders of free India are no less free from contradictions, including L.K. Advani, who, at one time, to create communal tension, takes on rath yatra, expresses joy at the demolition of Babri Mosque and at another time describes December 6, 1992, as “the saddest day of my life”. Facts have rightly been brought to light about Jinnah’s personal conduct, which was never of a fundamentalist Muslim or Mullah. Coming from an upper middle class family, as a successful barrister, Jinnah was sufficiently liberal in thought and gentle in behaviour. He was never committed to “Namaz”, took “drinks”, was sensitive to literature and culture. That is why poetess Sarojini Naidu called him an “apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity”. Birender Kumar Barnwal in his recently published book in Hindi “Jinnah: a Relook” has narrated in detail, Jinnah’s love for Parsi girl Rattan Bai, who left her family to marry Jinnah and who was truly devoted to him. In fact her death in 1929 and Savarkar’s Hindutva turn made Jinnah a broken and bitter man and in the later thirties he took to Muslim separatist politics. One should be aware of interesting facets of Jinnah’s personality prior to this turn. Jinnah was close to the Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak brand of politics before his turn-around. On 12th and 14th September, 1929, in the Central Assembly, Jinnah made a long speech in the context of Bhagat Singh and his comrades’ hunger strike and the British imperialist design to hang these patriots with the sham of a trial “in the absence of the accused”. It was the time, when even many Congressmen in the assembly had condemned Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt for throwing bombs in the assembly on 8th April, 1929, for which they were “transported for life”, within one month in May, 1929. When they went on hunger strike in jail in protest against the misbehaviour with them by the jail staff and to demand the status of political prisoner, the British amended the Criminal Procedure Code to waive the condition of presence of the accused or their pleader in the court, thus by a sham trial convicting them in a hurried manner. The Tribune’s special correspondent for Shimla reported that while participating in the debate in the central assembly on British bill, on 12th Sept., 1929, Jinnah said, “The man who goes on hunger strike has a soul. He is moved by the soul and he believes in the justice of his cause”. The Tribune report mentioned, “Mr Jinnah created a profound impression by the excellent form in which he argued the case. xxx Mr Jinnah was proceeding in this strain winning applause after applause from the spellbound House”. (quoted by A.G. Noorani in his book “The Trial of Bhagat Singh”). The Tribune on 14th July, 1929, published the full statement of Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt as read out by Diwan Chaman Lall in the House. Jinnah questioned the British Government, while discussing the amendment proposed by Home member James Crerar, “Do you wish to prosecute them or persecute them?” Crerar not only damned Bhagat Singh and Dutt, he condemned the 1915-17 first Lahore conspiracy case and the 1925 Kakori case prisoners as well. Jinnah challenged the law member of the assembly to starve himself a little to know the impact of hunger strike on human body by saying: “it is not everybody who can go on starving himself to death. Try it for a little while and you will see”. To Mr Crerar, he gave the example of Mr Cosgrave, Prime Minister of Ireland, who was under sentence of death, a fortnight prior to getting invitation to form the government. Jinnah said in so many countries, not only youth, but even grey-bearded persons have committed serious offences, moved by patriotic impulses. Jinnah asked the British Government that after all what these youths were demanding from the government by going on hunger strike. “Do they want spring mattresses? Do they want dressing tables? Do they want a set of toilet requisites? No, sir, they asked for bare necessities and a little better treatment. I ask you in all decency, why cannot you concede this small thing?” Jinnah’s speech began on 12th Sept. and was concluded on 14th Sept. He put the British Government on the mat by his brilliant exposure of British Design: “Don’t you think that, instead of trying to proceed with an iron hand and pursue a policy of repression against your own subjects, it would be better if you realised the root cause of the resentment and of the struggle, that the people are carrying on?” Jinnah even warned the government in this context: “Money of the tax-payer will (must) not be wasted in prosecuting men, nay citizens, who are fighting and struggling for the freedom of their country.” According to A.G. Noorani, Jinnah had a high esteem for Bhagat Singh and his comrades. Jinnah also said that if this amendment was passed then the trial would be just “a travesty of justice”. Jinnah was supported by Moti Lal Nehru, Jaykar, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai etc. Amendment was carried through by 55 votes against 47. Jinnah had voted against. Even in the February 1929 speech in the assembly, Jinnah had condoled the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, with whom he had cordial relations. Also he pleaded for the release of Sikh leaders gaoled in connection with the Sikh Gurdwara Act and opposed the detention of many nationalists like Vallabh Bhai Patel, Anne Besant, Ali Brothers, Hasrat Mohani etc. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were tried under the amended Act and, after a sham trial, were hanged on March 23, 1931. The writer is a Professor at J.N.U., New Delhi, and editor of “Bhagat Singh’s Complete Documents” in Hindi. |
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Whoever said women and science don’t go together! A new study claims that women make better scientists than men and recommends more representation for them in the field. “Women in formal and informal science,” a research paper authored by Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director General R.A. Mashelkar, rebukes prejudiced views of the male-dominated world of scientific research. In the process, they indirectly challenge Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers’ controversial remarks that women are less suited to science, which sparked a worldwide debate earlier this year. “Intuition is to science what the soul is to the body. If intuition is a feminine attribute, then feminine science is expected to be more intuitive and accommodative of many other ways of inquiry, which might appear ‘unscientific’ to begin with,” noted Gupta and Mashelkar in their paper. “There is a strong case for increasing women’s share in scientific institutions and professions. This case might, at first sight, appear to rest on grounds of fairness and equal opportunity. But that is not all. “The contention in this paper is that the quality of discourse and institutional environment in which scientific inquiries are pursued might get significantly changed if more women participated in scientific pursuits.” Does the paper refute Summers’ statements? “Yes, I do feel (and hope that my co-author also feels) that women can indeed look at ethical issues in science perhaps much better, they also do well in biotechnology, nursing, even in engineering and medicine,” Gupta told IANS. “In fact, we have argued that even male scientists need to have that aspect of feminine attribute of intuition if they wish to do deeper and into more empathetic science. “In other words, feelings may justifiably have precedence over observed facts, so long as these lead to looking behind facts and generate a desire for pluralism,” he said. Gupta said there was a need to “accept that facts are after all defined in an institutional and cultural context”. With a change in context, a different set of facts might appear “reasonable”. “Women can perhaps handle this complexity better,” he noted. “Further, the insights of frugality and more responsible science might also be a consequence. But we do not imply that merely being women will lead to several of these advantages. “Male scientists with these attributes might as well achieve similar results. But female scientists may have an advantage.” The duo based their arguments, among other things, on a study of women above 100 years of age conducted by the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions, an agency run by Gupta. “Perhaps, the informal sector carved out for women was the most challenging one and also most deprived in terms of resources. Yet, women had to deliver health, food and nutrition. At least informal woman-scientists seem to evolve more caring recipes for health, food and nutrition, for example,” Gupta said. — Indo-Asian News Service |
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Talk of Cabinet expansion Speculation is rife about a Cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle after Sonia Gandhi’s return from Moscow. Earlier, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was away on a tour of Russia, Switzerland, Iceland and Ukraine. While there are many ministerial aspirants anxiously waiting in the wings, representation to states missing in the present Council of Ministers is likely. Tamil Nadu enjoys the lion’s share of ministerial berths in the UPA government with a dozen ministers. Kerala, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are not represented. The Prime Minister can easily induct 16 more ministers even though the anticipated expansion is expected to be far below this number. He may have to accommodate certain whimsical allies of the Congress-led UPA government.
BJP President L.K. Advani’s remarks on Jinnah while in Karachi had generated so much controversy that the party mouthpiece “BJP Today,” understandably, thought it fit to gloss over the matter rather than provide another stick to the Sangh Parivar to mount a fresh attack against the BJP President.
Uma Bharti gets active Uma Bharti, who made a come back to the party affairs being in hibernation for six months following her tiff with the leadership, is slowly building up her momentum on the political front. Ms Bharti, who has been made co-in charge of the fresh assembly elections in Bihar along with party General Secretary Arun Jaitley, had recently campaigned for the party in the municipal elections in West Bengal and subsequently addressed party workers in Patna.
Advani on Jinnah L.K. Advani’s remarks on the secular credentials of Mohammad Ali Jinnah left the Congress leaders wondering about the real reasons about his sudden burst of enthusiasm for the man widely regarded as the proponent of the two-nation theory. The controversy prompted some AICC leaders to delve into history books to refresh their memory about Jinnah’s role, formation of the RSS and the two-nation theory.
Director of
Nehru Centre The Director of the prestigious Nehru Centre in London, Pavan Verma, is likely to return to the headquarters at the MEA. Those eyeing the prestigious assignment include cine star and activist Shabana Azmi and diplomat Atul Khare. A well-known author, Verma is the first career diplomat to have headed the Nehru Centre, which had political appointees in the past. Contributed by Satish Misra, S. Satyanarayanan, Prashant Sood and Gaurav Choudhury |
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From the pages of Age of consent
WE are glad to see that “The Times” is writing a series of articles, exhaustive, we are told, on the Indian child-marriage question with a view to procuring a moderate unsensational reform of the laws affecting the same. What ‘unsensational reform’ means we confess we cannot even imagine. No Indian, not even Mr Malabari, who is considered to be most enthusiastic on the matter…. ever proposed any sensational reform. But even his proposal is moderation itself. What we and our reformers want is that the age of consent should be raised to 12 from 10, the present age of consent. We would have the age of consent raised to 14, for a girl of 12 has no more power of judging what is good for her or what is bad for her than an infant a year old. It would be a most cruel piece of legislation if a brutal husband could sue for the restitution of conjugal rights on a girl of 12.
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Man attains to the sublime state of bliss through the name of God. — Guru Nanak Happy are they that have found deliverance. Longing for peace of mind, I shall seek the bliss of Nirvana. — The Buddha Good conduct comprises imbibing of non-violence, love, benevolence, gentleness etc. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati If false beliefs are not exposed, many pernicious things find currency in the world. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati Men, at some time, are masters of their fate. — William Shakespeare To dally much with subjects mean and low, proves that the mind is weak or makes it so. — Cowper Without God’s name, our deeds are of no avail. — Guru Nanak God’s name is the real place of pilgrimage (i.e. the source of purification). — Guru Nanak  |
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