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Naxalite rampage Just reprimand |
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Cornered king
Contemporary governance
Smile, and pass it on
Why milk adulteration? Delhi Durbar Apple drop losses mount in Himachal
From the pages of
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Naxalite rampage THE false notion that the Naxalites, who are in the ascendant in Andhra Pradesh, have been contained in Bihar and Chhattisgarh has been shattered rudely with Saturday’s landmine attack near Bijapur in which 24 security personnel were killed. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has tried to put up a brave front, but nobody is fooled. The police is still trying to fight them from a position of weakness. This can be gauged from the fact that the security personnel lost their lives when they are riding an antiquated “anti-mine vehicle”. At least now it must be conceded that Naxalite violence is a national problem. Its tentacles are spread in about 10 states and a corridor runs all the way from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh. They are also developing links with other terror organisations. In fact, their tentacles also go to neighbouring countries. The challenge can be met only if there is a concerted national effort. A mere ban on all the Naxalite outfits will not serve any purpose. So far, the problem has been tackled in a piecemeal fashion. Various state governments have vacillated between banning the Maoists and trying to appease them. There are instances of extreme cruelty during the former and of giving them too much of leeway during the latter. Whenever a ceasefire is announced, they only utilise it to recoup and regroup themselves. Lack of inter-state coordination also hampers operations. The Centre will have to come forward to plug all such loopholes. At the same time, it is necessary to change the social conditions, which spawn such revolts. Extreme poverty is the root cause. Unresponsiveness of the administration and rampant corruption in government offices also spread disillusionment. Lack of roads and communication facilities make sure that the Naxalite gangs have a virtual free run. At the same time, the failure of the government to curb their activities also gives them a heroic image. Most can be brought around with tender care and understanding. The hardcore ones will have to be dealt with an iron hand.
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Just reprimand THE Election Commission has rightly reprimanded the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government in Haryana for violating the model code of conduct in the Rohtak parliamentary constituency where a byelection is due to be held on September 28. It is not in a hurry that it has passed strictures against the government. It first sought a report from the state chief secretary and the chief electoral officer on the charges levelled against the government. Since the explanation was not satisfactory, it sent a two-member team to Haryana on a fact-finding mission. The team found that the government violated the code on two counts — the August 25 advertisement regarding the Rajiv Gandhi scholarship scheme and appointment of consultants for setting up a Rajiv Gandhi educational city at Sonepat and the Press note regarding its plan to set up polytechnics at Rewari and Rohtak. The Chief Minister, who, relatively speaking, has a clean image, should have ensured that there was no violation of the code in the first place. This is particularly important because the byelection has been caused by his resignation from the Lok Sabha seat following his election as Chief Minister. If the government acted irresponsibly, the behaviour of the BJP and the Congress workers was not different, either. The latter have been taken to task for putting up hoardings in an objectionable manner. It is a pity that code violation by the state governments and political parties has become common these days. This deplorable trend needs to be arrested. The rationale behind the code of conduct is to ensure a level-playing field for all to contest the elections in a free and fair manner. Surely, elections will become meaningless and farcical if the ruling party or the state government tries to derive political advantage by violating the code. The Haryana government and all political parties would do well to follow the code of conduct in letter and spirit to maintain the sanctity of the electoral process and restore people’s confidence in elections.
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Cornered king ON Sunday King Gyanendra’s administration went berserk against peaceful demonstrators demanding revival of the democratic process that remains suspended. The policemen deployed to control the situation behaved ruthlessly even with former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who fainted when they indulged in a scuffle with him. This is bound to add to the woes of the King, who has been under tremendous pressure not only from Nepal’s political forces but also the international community to mend his ways for preventing Nepal from going deeper into the political morass in which it finds itself today. India, traditionally closer to Nepal than any other country, has been advising the King to see the writing on the wall and stop suppressing the democratic urges of the people, but in vain. The result is that the situation in the Himalayan Kingdom is getting worse with each passing day. The Maoists, who are not prepared to accept anything less than the end of the institution of monarchy, continue to maintain their supremacy in large parts of the country. Despite all that the Royal Nepal Army could think of doing against the Maoists, it has failed to dampen their spirits. As a part of their tactics to further strengthen their position, the Maoists announced a three-month unilateral ceasefire on Saturday. Before that they had expressed the view that they were not averse to entering into negotiations if the King so desired. They are also supporting the seven-party democratic alliance headed by Mr Koirala, but they want it to work for an end to the monarchy by forcing the King to agree to an election for a constituent assembly. The Maoists believe that the King may restore the suspended parliament after he is back from the UN session with a view to ensuring his survival. They have their own agenda for which they seem to be prepared to give any concession to the anti-King forces.
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Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. —
Alex Hamilton
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Contemporary governance
WE have got used to the dubious honour conferred by Transparency International (TI) of being one of the world’s most corrupt nations. What we did not know until its 2005 report is that the education is the most corrupt sector in India. In a survey of over 14,000 families 48 per cent parents claimed that government schools are corrupt — this varies from 79 per cent in Bihar to 10 per cent in Kerala. TI estimates that 1.5 crore households paid Rs 4017 crore in bribes to government schools over the last 12 months. The corruption consisted of “unusual and illegal” fees during the school year, payments for school leaving certificates, for admissions, etc. Not included in this calculation is the cost of tuitions that teachers force on their own students, corrupt payments for getting a job as a teacher in a government school, and bribes that private schools or colleges have to pay to get licences or accreditation. The Indian citizen faces governance failure in all walks of life. What matters to the rickshaw-puller is that the cops do not take away a sixth of his daily earnings. The farmer wants a clear title to his land without having to bribe the patwari. The sick villager wants the doctor to be there when she visits the primary health centre (for the absence rate for doctors in government primary health centres is 40 per cent according to another World Bank-funded study). The student doesn’t want the house to go dark when he is doing his homework. The bottom line is that whenever government seems to touch our lives, we get failure. Why don’t the employees of our state and local governments do their jobs? Do our labour laws protect them to the point that they no longer feel accountable? Recent shocking data from a national study conducted by Harvard University and the World Bank shows that one out of four teachers in our government primary schools is absent and one out of two teachers, who are present, is not teaching. Thus, roughly two out of three teachers are not doing their job. India’s aggregate teacher absence rate of 25 per cent is among the worst in the world — Bangladesh (16 per cent), Indonesia (19 per cent), Zambia 17 per cent and Peru (11 per cent). Only Uganda (27 per cent) is below us in an eight-country comparison. So, where have we failed? Is this an institutional or a moral failure? Both, I believe. Institutional reform can help bring teachers to school but will it get her to teach? More frequent inspections, better monitoring by principals and parents could make a difference. Even better would be a focus on outcomes-i.e. reward schools and teachers on how well students perform. Reforms in the U.S. is currently focused on this. Although some critics complain that this forces teachers to teach to the exam (rather than inculcating a love for the subject), such a reform would be a huge step forward in our government schools. But at endless meetings on education reform, convened by state governments, I only hear endless talk about the need for more resources, literacy targets, and no one talks about teachers — good, bad, and ugly teachers. At the end of these frustrating meetings I wail in desperation, “Don’t worry if the roof is leaking or if there is no blackboard, let’s only fret about teachers.” Institutional reforms can get teachers back to school; it can fix leaking roofs and broken blackboards. But it is unlikely to create inspiring teachers. I think, this is a moral challenge — it is a matter of an individual recognising her dharma. We normally think of governance failures in the context of institutions, and rightly look to reforming them. However, governance failures also have a moral dimension and that is why I have turned to the Mahabharata, whose characters and stories teach us that behaviour based on dharma leads to harmony and happiness in society. Its moral ideas are as relevant to Wall Street as Dalal Street. Religion doesn’t create ethics but it captures moral ideas in a symbolic way that engages our imagination. Unhappily, religions have too often sanctioned bad moral ideas-the Hindu caste system, women’s inferiority among Muslims, or Catholic opposition to birth control. Thus, it is best to keep religious and moral spaces separate. In the past six months, the saga of the Ambani brothers has engaged us. Indeed, Dhirubhai Ambani’s own story is an Indian morality play. At one level, it is a classic rag-to-riches story, about the ascent of a village boy who creates against all odds a world-class, globally competitive enterprise to become the most powerful magnate of modern India. At another level, it is a tale of deceit and manipulation of a decaying and corrupt “Licence Raj”. Which is the true story? A utilitarian, like Vidura or Bentham, might argue that this outstanding, self-sustaining enterprise has done so much good for society. So, what is the harm if a few politicians and bureaucrats were corrupted and laws manipulated on the way? Yudhishthira would disagree. To him, ends can never justify the means. A more universal question is the place of ethical behaviour in an uncertain business world, which is full of danger and surprise. Some think that a certain amount of deception is necessary for business success. Dhirubhai’s story suggests that a vertically integrated world-class enterprise — with global capacities and rapid response to customer needs — could never have been created under the laws that prevailed in India between 1965 and 1991. Dhirubhai could only have succeeded in the way he did — by manipulating the system. We must all be concerned with our failures in education. Given the guru’s place in our tradition, it makes the teacher’s fall in contemporary India an even greater tragedy. The quickest way to increase the supply of good schools is to reform some of our government schools. Why don’t more good private schools come up? The simple answer is that it is not easy to start a school. The bureaucracy puts huge obstacles in the way. According to the Centre for Civil Society, it takes 14 licences and permits to open a school in Delhi, and each approval comes with a price. This naturally discourages honest, idealistic, and philanthropic persons. Hence, the only way to raise the standards is do away with this dualism between private and government schools. For grades one to five the state should get out of classroom teaching and NGOs, edupreneurs, and teachers should run schools and charge fees. The money saved by the government should be given to parents as vouchers, which they can cash at the school of their choice. This will give choice to parents and create competition among schools. If the neighbourhood school is bad, a parent would move her child to a competing school in the next community or the next village. As schools compete for students, they will be forced to provide better education. Because of competition, teachers would not only have to show up but they would also have to
teach.
**** The article is based on the Tara Ali Baig Memorial Lecture delivered by the writer at the India International Centre, New Delhi, on August 8
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Smile, and pass it on IT takes 64 muscles to frown and only 13 to smile. So, why overwork yourself by frowning. So said a report by some US psychiatrists; and that set me on my nerve-racking mission of spotting smiling faces among the sea of humanity. I had not noticed till then how acute is our national need to smile a real cheerful smile, dispelling all gloom. There were faces at the post-office counter I visited first of all — faces, all glum and taciturn. In my efforts to find a breezy countenance I scanned the arena frantically enough to arouse suspicion. “Yes?” growled the man crouched behind the barred counter. Suddenly, the ferocious voice jolted me back to reality. Surely, was I standing in front of a caged animal in a zoo? Caught unawares, I simpered, but the man frowned one of his darkest scowls that routed my smile bag and baggage. After all, “simper” is also a smile, a little silly, though. Psychiatrists have found that there are five categories of smiles. First an upper lipped smile — you greet a friend with a glint in eyes, lips curved; and without uttering a word. It says, “How do you do, dear?” Then, the second type is the “lip-in-smile”, which one gives to his or her boss i.e. a subordinate greeting a superior. The third is the “non-social” one indicating that the smiler is happy within, for some unknown reason. An “oblong” smile is what we should beware of. It is pretence, a mask that may hide a wolf within. The “broad” smile is the real thing we all wish to see, feel and enjoy. Dale Carnegie extolled a broad smile as unaffected, sincere and warm. It speaks louder than words. It radiates happiness. But Shakespeare appears to be more practical, though given to a little cynicism when he observed, “One may smile and smile and yet be a villain.” He did not believe in the power of this missile. To some extent, he may be right. Dr Ewan Grant of the Department of Psychiatry, Birmingham University, has studied the different ways by which man communicates without words. Of the one hundred different signals that he records smile is perhaps the most expressive. Our face is a mirror of our emotions. Slight changes here and there can speak eloquently for us. I am sure, the longest word in English language is “smiles”, distance between the first and the last “S” being a “mile”. Imagine a world where everyone smiled and every work is accomplished by the flash of white teeth than by the flash of gunpowder. “Smile”, exhorts a writer, “Smile, the sunshine is good for your teeth.” Those who bring sunshine to other cannot keep it away from
themselves.
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Why milk adulteration? Accordingly, along with a symptomatic treatment of the disease, there is a need to highlight the causes responsible for this deadly activity. In Punjab buffaloes were regarded as the milch animals and cows were mostly kept for raising bullocks. Due to mechanisation of major farming operations, bullocks are no longer in demand. Majority of the enlightened farmers have lost interest in milch animals as they find growing wheat and rice more paying and less laborious than keeping buffaloes for milk. As a result, milk production has gradually passed into the hands of landless and marginal farmers. This class is the poorest of the rural poor without any resources of their own. They usually keep one or two buffaloes of low genetic potential and maintain these on crop residues under unhygienic and semi-starved conditions. Last year, they sold to Milkfed on an average 2.2 litres of milk per family per day, worth Rs. 550 per month, as gross income and not net income. These producers, in spite of losses, sell their milk under distress because of economic pressure and no other sources of income. They are in the clutches of village money-lenders from whom they keep on borrowing to offset their old debts. More than 85 per cent of the milk being marketed for sale is from buffaloes. Almost 80 per cent of these calve between July and October. With the onset of summer these buffaloes are in late lactation, and either dry up or their milk yield decreases considerably. On the other hand, the demand for milk increases manifold, causing a gap between milk production and its demand. Milk is produced and sold in droplets. The time taken for its collection in villages becomes very long. Due to heat and humidity there is rapid bacterial growth which curdles milk. Therefore, all sorts of preservatives are being added at all levels extensively to increase its shelf life. Hardly any milk reaches the consumers, free from injurious preservatives. There is cut-throat competition during summer among cooperative and private sector milk plants, majority of which are incurring heavy losses, while “dhojis”, starve for milk, struggling for their survival and existence. It is during this period that a parallel economy of adulterated milk and spurious milk products flourishes. With the onset of winter, milk production increases and intensity of the malady subsides to reappear again in the next summer in an acute form. The solution lies in decreasing the number of buffaloes from 340 to 200 per village and increasing the number of high productivity cross-bred cows to 200 from 100, and instead of freezing these milk producers in these wretched conditions to exploit their grinding poverty as a vote-bank, lift them by providing better avenues for a fuller and richer life. There is no organisation legally obliged to provide help in enhancing milk production. There are no regulatory measures for its purchase and sale. These are some of the factors responsible for the prevailing anarchy. To meet the challenges thrown by the Green Revolution in Punjab it was decided in 1997 to develop scientific dairy farming to compete with cash and commercial crops. It was further decided to induct the packages of innovative Israeli dairy farming technologies and systems in Punjab’s dairy sector because Israel has even harsher summer than Punjab, besides severe land and water constraints. Three departments hold the keys for increasing milk production, which dilutes their responsibility and creates inter-departmental jealousies. Therefore, the Punjab Dairy Board was set up with the Chief Minister as its Chairman for taking expeditious decisions and their implementation as an autonomous institution under an act of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in October, 2000. Unfortunately, it was diluted and distorted at every stage and ultimately, by an executive order, illegally downgraded to become a mere appendage attached to the administrative secretary. Immediately after receiving the Israeli recommendations two multifarm units were started on panchayat lands at Kaljharani and Padhri Kalan villages. Surprisingly, without involving Israeli experts these were abandoned halfway after incurring a huge expenditure of over Rs 8 crore by the previous government itself. There is a need to complete at least these two units by implementing the Israeli package of technologies for practical demonstration and education for all those interested in scientific dairy farming. The dairy industry in the state is in a deplorable situation, and demands urgent attention of the planners. This is necessary not only to ensure adequate supply of milk, but also for decent employment to the rural youth. Any programme in this regard must include setting of economic units with 20 or more high-yielding, cross-bred cows, kept under a favourable production environment in terms of proper housing and arrangements for countering heat stress, ensuring nutritious feeding and scientific management. Continuous upgradation of animals through insemination with high quality semen should be an essential part of the programme. The two pilot projects referred above were intended to provide a model for the rest of the villages. It is still not too late to revive these projects which will yield valuable experience and lessons for large-scale adoption. Abandoning them after spending Rs 8 crore would only demonstrate thoughtlessness and a flagrant lack of concern for the dairy industry and poor Punjab farmers.
**** The writer is a former Milk Commissioner of Punjab
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Delhi Durbar BIHAR Governor Buta Singh asked his adviser, Arun Pathak, to attend the National Integration Council (NIC) as Bihar’s representative. The Governor did not want to face inconvenient questions at the NIC and decided to draw his own programme of visiting flood and drought affected regions in Bihar on that very day. When last time he was in Delhi, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi kept a studied distance from him and he met only Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil. This time he did not want to face that situation. Interestingly, the areas that Mr Buta Singh visited on August 31 to stay away from the NIC meeting were not affected by floods or drought.
Post-retirement mission Former Lok Sabha Secretary General G C Malhotra is on a fully paid tour to a dozen African nations to lobby support for India’s candidature for the Chairmanship of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Murmurs heard in Parliament were that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who is spearheading the campaign in favour of West Bengal Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, personally entrusted the task to Malhotra to garner support from the African nations for this post. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar is the only Indian to have held the post. With 200 of the 277 members expressing support for India, the election will be a cakewalk for Halim. Till then happy touring for Malhotra.
Rumours of reshuffle The news of a Cabinet reshuffle-cum-expansion has led many hopefuls stay put in the Capital expecting a call from the Prime Minister’s Office. Media speculation suggests that Dr Manmohan Singh may go in for a Cabinet reshuffle a day before he leaves on his tour of France and the UN on September 11. Ex-MPs like former Governor Bhishm Narayan Singh are also camping in the Capital in the hope of being assigned a gubernatorial assignment.
CPM’s terms for FDI The new-found love for capital among the Marxists has evoked a debate with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself pointing out to the critics that the CPM leaders in Delhi should follow their party Chief Minister in West Bengal. Rallying behind the CM, the CPM says FDI is welcome if it augments technology, increases productivity and generates employment. Critics say the three criteria will be fulfilled by all foreign investments into the country.
**** Contributed by Prashant Sood, Satish Misra and R Suryamurthy
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Apple drop losses mount in Himachal THE large-scale dropping of apples from tall trees is causing huge losses and puzzling both farmers and experts in Himachal Pradesh. The over three-month-long apple harvest has entered its second phase and peak time. At over Rs.1,000 crore, the fruit accounts for the largest farm crop in the hill state. “But this year many farmers in the sprawling apple belt can only watch in vain as luscious apples in large quantities drop from trees to be damaged on the hard ground,” said Lekh Raj Chauhan, President of the Himachal Apple Growers’ Association. “A majority of the farmers are suffering this problem of unnatural shedding of the fruit, and the estimated loss could be huge,” Chauhan told IANS at Rohru, the apple heartland of the hill state. “The state has a horticulture university and a highly staffed department of horticulture but no one has found a solution to this strange phenomenon for the last two months,” he explained. Farmers say minor shedding of ripe fruit does take place each year but this year the extent is much higher. Even raw apples are falling. “If the fruit is picked direct from the tree it can remain fresh for several months as apple has a long shelf life. But if it drops to the ground, it gets bruised and damaged resulting in early rotting. Such fruit fetches a very low price in the market,” said another farmer. “The dropped fruit is so poor in quality that it has to be consumed immediately. While 20 kg of fresh and undamaged apple currently fetches Rs. 400-700 in Delhi, the bruised apple fetches less than a fifth of this price,” he said. Although experts have given no scientific explanation, farmers say this could be due to either a fungal disease that spread in early July when the state was lashed by heavy monsoon showers. Himachal Pradesh witnessed the wettest July in many years. But others have a different explanation. “I think fruit shedding is taking place due to a heavy use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides,” said Chauhan. “This is due to the advice given by the Horticulture Department and the horticulture university at Solan. Are farmers paying the price for being greedy?” Apple is grown in the mid hills of the state in Shimla, Kulu and Kinnaur and parts of Solan, Sirmaur, Mandi and Chamba and Lahaul Spiti districts. “The apple season is at its peak and each day around 800 to 900 trucks leave the state to markets across the country,” said Horticulture Minister Singhi Ram. “About 22,000 trucks have left the state since the harvest began in mid-July.” Along with neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh accounts for almost the entire apple production of India.
— Indo-Asian News Service
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From the pages of Universities’ Bill
THE Note of Dissent recorded by the Hon’ble Mr G.K. Gokhale voices in a vigorous manner the sentiments of all classes of our countrymen and in all parts of the country. Mr Gokhale is quite correct in his belief that the Indian Universities Bill, even as amended by the Select Committee, is a most retrograde piece of legislation, bound to prove detrimental to the highest interest of the country. It is very doubtful whether it will result in a decided improvement of University education, but there is no doubt that it will deprive the people of any little part that they are now permitted to take in the government of the Universities. It is equally clear that the legislation now under consideration is calculated to reverse the policy inaugurated as the result of the Indian Education Commission of 1882. The cardinal principle of that policy was that the education, both school and University, of the people should be largely an affair of the people themselves. Lord Ripon was convinced that no education system would prosper in India unless the people of the country had a really effective share in first formulating and then working it. But, to the misfortune of the country, Lord Curzon’s belief is quite contrary, for he holds that Government should have the upper hand in the entire business, and the people should be given as little power as possible in the determination of their educational requirements.
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Verily God does not oppress unjustly, in the slightest measure: for if there is any good, God redoubles it, giving a great reward from the divine presence. —Book of quotations
on Islam In the Vedas creation is likened to the spider’s web. The spider brings the web out of itself and then remains in it. God is the container of the universe and also what is contained in it. —Ramkrishna The man who can hold back his rising anger is indeed the driver of
his mind. —The Buddha People love God in different ways. Some love him if their prayers are answered. Some love him if he comes to their aid. But the best love is when, he is loved for his own sake and not for what
he can do. —Book of quotations on Hinduism |
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THE adulteration of milk in India has been going on for years, presumably in connivance with officials and politicians. Not much should be expected from the administration as those at the helm are insensitive to even such developments as affect the people’s lives.