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Inspiring words Tackling hijackers |
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Tarnished image
The Iranian assertion
Mumbai deluge
Justice delayed and denied Scientists map genetic code of rice Delhi Durbar
From the pages of
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Inspiring words THERE is a measure of convergence in the speeches of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the occasion of Independence Day. Both have spoken about the urgency to meet the growing needs of power in the country. The President put it colourfully when he said India should achieve energy independence by 2030 while the Prime Minister went into the specifics to mention that during the next 10 years, a total of 190,000 MW of capacity would be added. Significantly, he mentioned his recent visit to the US, which has helped to reduce the constraints on India’s nuclear energy programme. The Prime Minister is aware that with a commendable growth rate of 7 per cent, the demand for energy is bound to increase exponentially. While praising the workers for this achievement, he also stressed the need for better industrial relations, perhaps, in view of what happened at Gurgaon recently. He also cautioned the nation that energy would not come cheap. In any case, the era of free power is almost over. Thankfully, he has scotched fears that the government is no longer serious about the Iran gas pipeline project. If last year, Dr Singh was not confident enough to make any promises, this year he has made bold to make some, including a scholarship scheme for the children of soldiers who have laid down their lives fighting insurgents in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. He was ready to praise where it was due as when he lauded Pakistan for putting “curbs on terrorists”. Obviously, he is satisfied with the progress in the normalisation of India-Pakistan relations, though he expects Pakistan to dismantle “the entire infrastructure of terrorism”. What is more significant, his language is conciliatory and he is hopeful that his quest for peace and harmony in the subcontinent will ultimately triumph. Lest the Prime Minister’s softness should be mistaken, he has also warned that the state would not be found wanting in crushing violence. To reassure other neighbours, particularly China, he has indicated that good neighbourliness has always been India’s time-tested policy. Aware that Naxalism cannot be curbed unless the state is prepared to tackle the socio-economic problems that alienate some sections of the people, he has committed himself to undertaking this onerous task. In other words, he stresses on a political solution to the problem. Needless to say, the two speeches are reassuring to the nation.
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Tackling hijackers If tough policies can prevent hijackings, there will be none in India once it adopts the stringent measures cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security. But that is not how things work in real life. What is actually needed is steely will and commitment to tackle the killers on the loose. That, sadly, was lacking whenever India had to tackle hijackers in the past. Enough laws have been available all along. It is just that the political leadership turned jelly-kneed when it was expected to be firm and upright. Anyway, it is good that the overall policy has been spelled out clearly. Its cornerstone is that there will be no negotiations with the hijackers. Talks, if any, would only be aimed at rescuing passengers and the aircraft. Second, if the hijacking took place on Indian soil, the aircraft would be immobilised and not allowed to take off, whatever the circumstances. And third, a hijacked plane will be shot down if it is suspected to be used as a missile to target vital installations. Who can order such shooting has rightly been laid down so that the reaction time can be cut down to less than two minutes. In such matters, every second is vital. The new guidelines - similar to those in force in the US, Germany and Israel — may appear tough on the air passengers but are actually lifesavers for them. Once a clear message goes to potential hijackers that India would not be succumbing to threats made after holding a few passengers hostages, the latter would stop being sitting ducks. They are targeted only because the killers feel that they can be used as bargaining chips. India has been let down by confusion and administrative paralysis that ensue after almost all such incidents. The hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu to Kandahar in 1999 was a typical case. There was intelligence failure in the Nepal capital. The plane was meekly allowed to get off from Amritsar. And worse, the country had the ignominy of watching Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh flying to Kandahar to personally hand over freed terrorists to their exultant hijackers on the tarmac of the airport where the hijacked plane was waiting to be rescued. There could not have been a more humiliating moment for the country. The freed terrorists were later involved in some of the most brazen attacks on India and its citizens. Only a faithful implementation of the new policy can prevent a repeat of the crying shame. The country will give all support to the government in doing so.
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Tarnished image IT is an open secret that drug-taking is rampant in Indian athletics. Athletes, coaches, team doctors, and federation officials are all known to be part of a system that allows an athlete to experiment with performance-enhancing drugs. The pressure to show results has meant that as much time and energy is spent on the art of avoiding testing positive at mandatory drug tests as is spent on training on the field. At almost every international meet now, someone is getting caught out, there is some agonised soul-searching in public, and then everything goes back to “normal.” Will it be different following the Neelam J. Singh case? If Indian sport has to break free of the drug menace, some urgent steps need to be taken. Our national anti-doping initiatives have become a farce. The “us vs. them” argument can no longer be used to whitewash our athletes’ doings. If someone is guilty, even a life ban is not too much punishment. Sociological arguments are advanced about the backgrounds of our athletes to explain their vulnerability. Even if that is the case, there is no excuse for the connivance of those who should do better. Of course, care should be taken not to tar all athletes or coaches with the same brush. There are many examples of top-notch athletes for whom competing fairly and winning on their own merit is of primary importance. Drug-taking in sport is a world-wide menace, not confined to India. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s campaign for promoting “respect, dedication, character, solidarity and excellence” as the essential values of sport will come to nought unless there is a major disincentive against the use of drugs. In India, a commission of enquiry should immediately be constituted to look into doping in sport and recommend corrective steps. And the message should go out: never mind if a billion-strong nation fails to win a single medal. The bigger shame is in cheating. And we primarily owe honour in sport not to any international body but to our own souls.
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The best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman. — A proverb
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The Iranian assertion IRAN'S challenge to the West is simple and complex at the same time. At one level, it is asserting its right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. At another, it is highlighting the contradictions built into the NPT regime and has the United States and the European Union scurrying for cover on justifying the unjustifiable: how to interpret the NPT even more to the disadvantage of the nuclear have-nots. Iniquitous as it was, the NPT was supposedly a bargain between the nuclear have-nots and the haves on the supply of nuclear technology for the peaceful uses of energy and the recognised Nuclear Five moving towards the ultimate goal of abolition of nuclear weapons. Precious little has happened on the latter front while the nuclear nations’ help to the NPT adherents has been niggardly. Even the focus of the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has been changed to a policing agency, rather than an organisation that offers help. Now both the US and the European Union want to bar all countries from undertaking the enrichment of nuclear energy on the ground that it could lead to the making of nuclear weapons. In very different circumstances, the issue for the West in both Iran and North Korea boils down to preventing the two countries from conducting the uranium enrichment process. The argument of the West is that such activity would lead to the spread of nuclear weapons in sensitive regions of the world. In North Korea’s case, South Korea has recently taken a view opposed by the US, that Pyongyang can be permitted to conduct the uranium enrichment cycle under the watch of the IAEA. Perhaps the West’s dilemma is greater in Iran because the US is embroiled in Iraq, with the majority Shias on the verge of becoming the main ruling community next door to Shia-ruled Iran. Besides, a nuclear-armed Israel, America’s proxy in the region, is firmly opposed to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, and leaked reports suggest Israeli and American plans to attack Iranian nuclear installations. Iran asserts its programme is entirely for supplying energy and is willing for obtrusive IAEA inspections and safeguards. President George W. Bus, on his part, has declared that he would find a nuclear-armed Iran “intolerable”. Nine months ago, Foreign Ministers of three countries representing the European Union — Britain, France and Germany — took the responsibility of negotiating with the Iranians on resolving the nuclear issue, Tehran agreeing to suspend the enrichment activities in the meantime. The package recently offered to Iran — including making Iran the main route for the export of Central Asian oil and gas, supply of uranium for energy requirements and incentives in trade, —was contemptuously turned town by Tehran, which resumed enrichment activities under the supervision of the IAEA. The international watchdog was called into session and Tehran was rapped on the wrist, with the IAEA chief asked to report back in early September. Iran does have a black mark though because it hid its nuclear enrichment plans from the IAEA for 18 years, but after inspections the IAEA chief, Mr Mohamed ElBaradei, reported in November 2003 that there was “no evidence that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons”; the Americans were displeased. Initially, the US opposed his re-election bid but relented only because it could not find a suitable alternative candidate. In December 2003, Iran signed an additional protocol for more rigorous inspections. The American attempt has been to get the IAEA to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council with a view to imposing sanctions. In the end, the US gave tepid support to the EU-3’s efforts, with the European Union now feeling the heat. For the US, the picture has darkened further with the election of a hardline Iranian President, Mr Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, who has declared that for his country the decision on enriching uranium is “irreversible”. President Bush responded that the use of force is an option on the table in dealing with Iran, inviting the retort from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, again on an election campaign, that the use of force was no solution to the problem. The new crisis in America’s relations with Iran could not have come at a worse time. President Bush’s popularity ratings at home are dipping because of the growing list of American fatalities in Iraq amidst a clamour for the early withdrawal of troops. Iran has influence over the Iraqi Shiites for the first time in Iraq’s modern history, and the rupture America’s invasion of Iraq caused in its relations with the major European powers has not entirely healed. The world knows that the Bush administration is no respecter of treaties and international commitments, but the difficulties of taking on another, far more populous, Muslim country at this juncture are obvious. Even a resort to an Israeli option of destroying Iranian facilities is fraught with risks. The Iranians have not closed the door to further negotiations, knowing as they do that it will not be simple for the US to get the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran, given the Russian veto. The crux of the problem is how to reconcile Iran’s justified right to undertake enrichment processes for the peaceful use of nuclear energy with the demand of the US, now also espoused by the EU, that Tehran give up this right. The larger question this raises is how useful the NPT remains in enforcing a non-proliferation regime. It was not so long ago that the NPT was extended indefinitely, with the West indulging in arm-twisting. Yet in addition to the declared nuclear weapons powers, Israel, India and Pakistan are informally recognised as being in the same league, with the recent Indo-US agreement on American cooperation in the civilian nuclear regime placing India a notch higher on the nuclear ladder. Israel, of course, was directly helped by the United States and France to become a nuclear power while the compulsions of India and, to a lesser extent, Pakistan were understood, though discouraged. There is also the additional Western argument that with the fight against terrorism taking centre-stage, nuclear proliferation poses the danger of falling into wrong hands. How Washington chose to treat the self-confessed nuclear proliferation activities of Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan is an object lesson in exposing that the treatment of the nuclear regime is determined by America’s perception of its national interest. America went to war in Iraq on the ostensible basis of Baghdad possessing weapons of mass destruction. It would be an even greater folly were the US to go to war in Iran to deny it the possible route to nuclear weapons. For the present, the European Union is left holding the baby.
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Mumbai deluge MY nephew Gagan and his family, including a tiny three-month-old baby, were caught in disaster that struck Greater Mumbai following very heavy downpour on July 26. Gagan stayed at Coloba South. The small family had motored up to Karla in outskirts of Lonavala early morning of July 25 in reasonably pleasant weather. Khandala section of western ghats was most fascinating part of the outward journey. New mall in Lonavala sold more crisp chikkis than ever before. At the end of day four almond pista chikki boxes were purchased for return trip. Early morning on that fateful Tuesday the family started to drive down the ghats at 5 am. Within an hour of pleasant driving skyline turned dark with winds lashing from the Khapoli side. It was difficult to drive against wind force. Visibility and level of water flowing on highway were within limits till they reached Byculla. There was already 18 inches of water on highway with dozens of vehicles stranded everywhere on road. It rained cats and dogs. Anxiety was to seek safe cover for the infant who was feeling highly uncomfortable by now. As water level on road was now about four feet the engine conked out and fell silent. It was 9 am. Then all hell was let loose. It was a massive cloud burst rare in history of Greater Mumbai. The couple had to abandon the car through waist-high water near Byculla Church. The basket containing almond pista chikkis was vacated and the crying baby was put inside the basket, which was placed on Gagan’s head and ferried to rising stairs leading to a Hanuman temple opposite. It took 30 minutes to cover a mere five metres. Two shopkeepers busy in retrieving their wares to higher places helped in ensuring that the basket with the baby reached the dry stairs of the temple. Temple priest Raghu and his wife brought a glassful of warm milk so badly needed by the crying baby. Since the entire family was soaked wet first priority was to change into dry clothes. Since all the items of personal clothing were still floating in the abandoned car, Raghu’s family offered them their own clothes. The baby was wrapped in a large dry towel. Gagan managed with a loose and large shirt and pants of Raghu while Preeti got a Marathi saree which the priest’s wife wrapped on here. Fatefully, they could not taste even a piece of almond pista chikki which was floating in muddy waters inside their car. The family returned home after three days of stay in the
temple.
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Justice delayed and denied IT seems that the Indian state/government has acquired a high degree of specialisation in procrastination. It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied, but here are both! After 21 long years of agony and trauma, the victims are still waiting for justice and the guilty are enjoying high positions and a luxurious life. The inquiry into the recent Gujarat “riots” may also meet a similar fate. It seems that the state has conveniently forgotten its constitutional duty and responsibility to secure and safeguard the life, liberty and property of its citizens from mob violence. True, one cannot justify the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, by her security guards. At the same time the great Indian nation cannot justify the massacre of thousands of innocent Sikhs simply because of the reason that the security guards were Sikhs. In both cases, it was a failure of the state/government. It is also an open secret that without political patronisation the Bhindranwale phenomenon might not have grown the way it did. The militant violence in Punjab, Operation Bluestar and the assassination of Indira Gandhi were the manifestations of that phenomenon. Both the Congress and the Akali Dal wanted to use this phenomenon to beat each other. In the process, thousands of innocent people became victims of the violence and repression at the hands of the militants and the police. Then starts an era of commissions/committees one after the other. There is a long list (10 in number, so far) - Marwah Commission (1984), Dhillon Committee (1985), Mishra Commission (1985), Kapoor-Mittal Committee (1987), Jain-Banerjee Committee (1987), Ahuja Committee (1987), Poti-Rosha Committee (1990), Jain-Aggarwal Committee (1990), Narula Committee (1993) and the Nanavati Commission. The way things have been moving, the process of establishing one commission after the other may never come to an end. And one fine morning the whole episode may be given a quiet burial. All these committees/commissions were given specific terms of reference. The Marwah Commission was asked to enquire into the role of the Police. The Mishra Commission was constituted to find out whether the violence was organised. It submitted its report in August, 1986, recommending the institution of three committees: Kapur-Mittal Committee to inquire into the role of the police; Jain Banerjee Committee to recommend registration of cases; Ahuja Committee to ascertain the total number of killings in Delhi. The Jain-Banerjee and Poti-Rosha committees recommended registration of cases against Sajjan Kumar way back in 1990. The Jain Aggarwal Committee, in December 1990, recommended registration of cases against Sajjan Kumar, H.K.L. Bhagat, Dharam Das Shastri and Jagdish Tytler. The committee was wound up in August ,1993, but the recommended cases have never been registered. It testifies the time-tested phrase ‘might is right’ and persons in power and enjoying high positions and political patronage are always above the law. It puts a challenge to the Indian Constitution which states that all Indian citizens are equal in the eyes of the law. Undoubtedly, it speaks volumes about the lack of political will, dishonesty and anti-human character of the powers that be. The Ahuja Committee submitted its report in August, 1987, and gave a figure of 2,733 as the number of Sikhs killed in Delhi riots alone. One fails to understand: was it a massacre/genocide or a riot? The events have proved that it was a one-sided genocide. The work done by all the ten commissions/committees/panels was perhaps done in a much systematic manner right in 1984 by the two independent reports: “Who Are Guilty?” (jointly brought out by PUDR and PUCL) and “Delhi-31 December to 4 November 1984” (by Citizens Commission, Delhi). Both reports found that the nature of attacks on Sikhs in all areas/localities in Delhi was similar, the administration, the police and political leaders (mainly of the Congress) were either instigating/organising the mob or at the most were silent spectators. From the similar nature and strategy, it seemed beyond doubt, that the ‘riots’ were organised. The first report clearly documented the names/political affiliation of the political leaders. It mentioned that H.K.L. Bhagat, Jagdish Tytlor, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri and 12 other local leaders were identified, by the people who survived, for either instigating the mob and/or for protecting the culprits. The report identified, along with their names 13 police officers of Delhi Police (one ACP, nine SHOs and three other officials) who, instead of performing their official duty, instigated/assisted the mobs. The Nanavati Commission Report also termed the 1984 Delhi riots as an “organised attacks on Sikhs”. The report indicts Jagdish Tytler, H.K.L. Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Dharam Das Shastri. The report alleges police failure and the failure of the authorities to call in the army immediately to control the situation. It is significant to note that the report says “but for the backing and help of the influential and resourceful persons, the killing of Sikhs so swiftly and in large number could not have happened.” The act of not taking action against the guilty puts a serious question mark on the mind, capability and will of the Indian state/government and political parties. It strengthens the view that Indian politics has been criminalised. One sometimes fails to see the difference between the Hindutva of Sangh Parivar and secular nationalism of the Congress.
**** The writer is a Professor of Economics at Punjabi University, Patiala
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Scientists map genetic code of rice SCIENTISTS reported on Wednesday that they have completed a genetic map of the rice plant, a scientific milestone that they hope will accelerate efforts to feed the hungry by improving the world’s most important food. Rice is the first crop plant whose complete genetic sequence, or genome, has been decoded and placed in computer data banks around the world. It will be a key tool for researchers working on improved strains of rice as they struggle to stay ahead of human population growth. A major paper describing the genome is to be published Thursday in the journal Nature. “You could equate this to being as important as the Human Genome Project,’’ which recently compiled a human genetic map, said Rod Wing, a scientist at the University of Arizona who was a key participant in the rice project. ``This is really a project that can lead to important discoveries and findings that can help the condition of the poor. The poorest of the poor are the ones that depend on rice the most.’’ The number of people in the world is expected to jump 50 percent, to 9 billion, by the middle of this century, with much of that growth coming in Asian countries where rice is the dietary staple. The new map will make it possible, in theory, to perform sophisticated genetic manipulations of the rice plant, including introducing genes from other species to create desirable traits. But that kind of work has been controversial, and how many countries will embrace it remains to be seen. More importantly in the short term, completion of the rice genome is expected to speed conventional breeding programs, allowing researchers to produce rice strains that resist drought and disease and that grow in colder climates and at higher elevations. These are critical needs as Asia’s rapid urbanization reduces the land available for rice cultivation. Indeed, cheaper, more abundant rice is seen as one of the keys to reducing deprivation. Rice is the human food, serving as the principal source of calories for about half the world’s population. Although a minor component of most diets in the developed world, it supplies a large majority of daily calories for people in the vast swaths of Asia that remain mired in poverty. It is critically important to poor people in Latin America, and its importance is growing rapidly in urban Africa, where it is being embraced as easier to prepare than many traditional African foods. The International Rice Genome Sequencing Project began in 1998. It was led by scientists in Japan but involved teams from the United States, China, France, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Korea, Brazil and the United Kingdom. A lot of the work was done in Rockville at the Institute for Genomic Research, an independent genetics laboratory founded by J. Craig Venter. The Rockefeller Foundation of New York, which has funded research aimed at feeding the world for decades, helped get the project off the ground. Publicly funded researchers spent more than $100 million on the project. Two Western agricultural companies, the Monsanto Co. of St. Louis and Syngenta AG of Basel, Switzerland, contributed genetic information that cost them tens of millions of dollars, speeding completion of the project by at least a year or two, scientists said.
—LA Times -Washington Post
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Delhi Durbar WHEN Sonia Gandhi was appointing state unit presidents, chief ministers lobbied for the candidates of their choice. But their pleas were ignored as Mrs Gandhi picked known opponents of chief ministers. like Viplav Thakur in Himachal Pradesh, Shamsher Singh Dullo in Punjab and Harish Rawat in Uttaranchal. Unlike the party’s own chief ministers, its allies fared much better. They had no problems in persuading the Congress chief about the choice of its state unit presidents, all in the name of the UPA government’s stability. Which is why G.K. Vasan, who enjoys a good rapport with DMK chief M. Karunanidhi, was retained as president of the Tamil Nadu unit and Mr. Sadannad Singh, known for his proximity to RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav, replaced as the Bihar unit chief.
Nanavati report The Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots has made Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh concerned about its political impact. With the Assembly elections 18 months away, Capt. Amarinder Singh is keeping a keen eye on the political ramification of this report, hoping that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s apology and Jagdish Tytler’s resignation would help to counter the Akali criticism of the Congress failure to provide justice to the victims. The Nanavati report was hotly discussed in the Lok Sabha last week. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s dignified intervention was followed by Maneka Gandhi’s stinging and emotional outburst in which she minced no words in blaming the Congress for the 1984 riots. Grim faced Congress leaders were heard muttering about the poor floor management and that the Home Minister should have spoken immediately after the Prime Minister in order to retain the impact of his speech.
Sheila Dikshit gains Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has a reason to be happy. Both her political rivals — Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar — have been indicted in the Nanavati Commission report. The timing could not have been more perfect as Mrs Dikshit is currently under severe attack from her party rivals on the issue of power tariff hike. The two disgraced Congress MPs are privately blaming Mrs Dikshit for spearheading a campaign against them, with one of them charging that she manipulated the affidavits submitted to the probe panel.
Shivraj Patil’s proposal Home Minister Shivraj Patil has met leaders of political parties in the past few weeks to elicit their views on his new proposal on the women’s reservation Bill. He suggests that instead of providing quotas in the current legislatures, the number of seats in Parliament be increased by 33 per cent to accommodate women MPs. One question which has periodically cropped up at his meetings is: where is the space in the existing legislatures to accommodate additional members? As far as Parliament is concerned, Mr Patil has a solution move the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha chamber and the Lok Sabha to the Central Hall.
Contributed by Prashant Sood, J.T. Vishnu and Anita Katyal
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From the pages of The tata scheme
The successful creation of industries is the chief end kept in view by Professor Ramsay in his scheme for the proposed Tata Institute, and to carry this end into effect the Professor very rightly depends upon a proper selection of staff and arrangement of courses of studies. The men who can be induced to devote their time and labour to such an end as is proposed for the Institute are rare, says Professor Ramsay, and few will be inclined to dispute this opinion. But such men exist, though they cannot be secured by advertisement, and have to be found out by a careful process of selection. ….The Professor earnestly hopes that the Government of India would be induced to come forward to the aid of Mr Tata’s benefaction, and supplement its income of Rs 1,20,000 a year by an annual grant of about three-quarters of a lakh for some years, this being necessary before a start can be made on even the moderate scale sketched out. |
Happiness is the rational understanding of life and the world. — Book of quotations on Happiness There is only one who you may call your own and that is God. — Ramakrishna Wise is he, who is contented and easily satisfied. Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways. Peaceful and calm, and wise and skilful. Not proud and demanding in nature. — The Buddha There are many pathways to God’s house. One is paved with knowledge. Another with faith. But the loveliest one is made purely of love. It is also the easiest to follow. — Book of quotations on Hinduism
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