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Cricket crisis ends State of agriculture |
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VIP toppers
The ignored media issues
Power of music
Bhakra gains limited Living with short-term amnesia Close encounters with poverty
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Cricket crisis ends AFTER an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, unprecedented in cricket history, it is a matter of great relief for cricket lovers that the Chappell-Ganguly controversy has concluded in an amicable settlement. What is evident is that the BCCI has used the occasion to bring about better demarcation of the respective prerogatives and the areas of authority of the coach and the captain. They will now, hopefully, be able to pull along better with less friction. However, that fond hope is tempered with the equally real fear that the pragmatic truce may not be long-lasting. After all, the volatile issues raised by the two mercurial personalities have been left unresolved. These have been papered over at best and things can come to a boil again if the two high-profile persons do not show exceptional sagacity. All the contributing factors are bound to be discussed threadbare in the weeks ahead, but the central issue is the rebuilding of Team India for the 2007 World Cup. Reviving its form and fitness is going to be a tall order by any yardstick. That requires effort of an exceptional kind in which there is no scope for either politics or groupism. Indian cricket has come back from the very edge of the precipice and nothing should be done which can spoil the recovery. The board is expected to play a constructive role, unlike the ugly episode in which the e-mail from the coach was leaked to a section of the Press. As far as Sourav Ganguly’s continuation as the captain or a member of the team is concerned, that is something to be decided solely on the basis of his form and fitness; and that should be the criteria for every member of the team. The decision is best left to the selectors who are required to be studiously dispassionate and way above politicking. One expects equally high standards of propriety from the players and others connected with the game as well. They must have understood the extent of damage done to the game by the washing of dirty linen in public. Here is hoping that in future, they will resist the temptation to talk out of turn. What Sachin Tendulkar has said deserves repetition: certain things should never come out of the dressing room. |
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State of agriculture THAT agriculture is in crisis is widely recognised, but the strategy to take the “next leap forward” is yet to emerge. The UPA government is grappling with the farm crisis and the wider issue of rural development, as is clear from the 2005-06 budgetary focus on irrigation and rural credit, the renewed priorities of the Tenth Plan, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Bharat Nirman programme. But the multi-pronged approach to development is causing confusion as government schemes overlap. Chairing the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the Sharad Pawar committee on agriculture, set up by the National Development Council, to try pooling the resources locked under various heads to attack rural poverty. Agricultural growth has suffered due to its over-dependence on the monsoon and a decline in public investment in the past 15 years; and successive governments have starved agriculture of resources. The ruling parties in some states have frittered away the limited resources at their disposal by giving free power and water to farmers, waiving loans and electricity/water dues for short-term electoral gains and neglecting the cause of building rural infrastructure. As input costs soared and the minimum support prices failed to match the rise, agricultural productivity and profitability declined, resulting in general distress among farmers. There is a limit to what the Centre can do to save agriculture. It can draw up ambitious plans but cannot ensure their implementation at the state level. It may allocate funds, but chances of their not reaching the end beneficiaries in the system are immense. The Centre can only present a roadmap for growth, but cannot discipline those states where the leadership is unable to look beyond their immediate political goals. Efforts for agricultural rejuvenation would not succeed unless panchayats and state governments are involved in the development process through a scheme of incentives and disincentives. There is no dearth of ideas, plans and programmes. What is needed is determined efforts to implement them.
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VIP toppers THE manner in which bureaucrats and their kin (including judicial officers) continue to top LL M and LL B examinations of Rajasthan University, Jaipur, since 2001 raises serious questions about the credibility of the entire examination process and the integrity of the toppers. The latest case is that of Mr Sunil Mehrotra, Jaipur’s Inspector-General of Police, who has topped the LL M-Part I examination this year. How could he achieve this distinction even though he has attended only one lecture during the entire academic session? According to this university’s rules, a candidate should have at least 75 per cent attendance to pass the examination. Mr Mehrotra’s “achievement” suggests that the university authorities may have deliberately short-circuited the rules to keep him in good humour. Mr P.K. Tiwari, Director-General, Anti-Corruption Bureau, who is probing the scandal, has said that he would go ahead with the investigation even though the Vice-Chancellor has not furnished him with any information despite repeated reminders. The rot in Rajasthan University is, however, only the tip of the iceberg, as most universities are afflicted with this malaise. The authorities refuse to see the incalculable damage it is causing to the system. There are instances of some vice-chancellors having gone out of the way to help VIPs. Last year, the Kurukshetra University authorities and the Board of Studies of the Public Administration Department flagrantly violated the university’s rules to register Mr Ajay Chautala as a Ph. D candidate. If universities stoop so low to curry favour with political masters (or bureaucrats), what value will these degrees carry? Eventually, the genuine students are the worst sufferers. Where will they go, especially the brighter ones, if the vice-chancellors choose to pamper VIPs regardless of the rules? Sacrificing the interests of the ordinary students to oblige the privileged is a disturbing trend that needs to be checked without delay to restore faith in the universities and the examination system. The fraud in Rajasthan University calls for a comprehensive probe, and those involved in it deserve to be dealt with under the law.
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Taste is the feminine of genius. — Edward Fitzgerald
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The ignored media issues
THE Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been active, off late, to catch up with the long-pending issues related to FM radio, DTH, FDI, etc. The minister should be complimented on taking the initiative of holding a series of consultations with the stakeholders on the contentious issues concerning the contents of the broadcast media. Using this approach credibly, he has even rescued the government from an embarrassing situation resulting from a unilateral decision of the Health Minister on showing cigarette smoking in the visual media. Nevertheless, the I and B Ministry continues to be more in a reactive mode without fixing its priorities keeping in view the larger goals and concerns of the nation. What are the most recent issues which the ministry had taken up and which are the ones it has not bothered as yet? Private FM radio is one the ministry has been most concerned about. FM radio has not come into being because of privatisation. It has been there for much longer as part of the AIR network but neglected. Privatisation, however, has given a boost to radio in general and FM radio in particular. But despite all that hype, private FM radio has neither added to the choice in its programmes nor expanded the overall reach of the media. What the government has done is to concede to most of the demands of private FM radio operators except allowing news. So what - most FM radio channels have already been giving headlines of news; in fact, some even re-broadcast the news bulletins as it is. Twenty per cent FDI is also allowed into FM radio. Thanks to this concern of the ministry, some cities will now have more than five FM radio stations (in addition to AIR channels), as if more is merrier. Unlike FM radio, community radio is a new approach to cater to the local and specialised groups of people in a non-commercial mode and outside the AIR network. But community radio has not taken off despite a two-year old policy and its potential to reach out those who are not yet touched by FM radio or even by other media. And yet, commercial radio is not as fortunate as private FM radio to get the attention of the ministry. Despite some 80 applicants for community radio, hardly one-fourth were heard positively as the process of licensing is too bureaucratic; and is, in fact, difficult for genuine communities or groups to make use of the scheme. It is, therefore, not surprising why there are hardly a couple of community radio networks actually in operation today. While both FM radio and community radio should receive the attention of the ministry, the latter should get priority, going by the UPA government’s claimed focus on “aam admi” and the potential for a more functional radio network. Many suggestions were offered to the ministry by several forums as correctives in this policy, formulated during the NDA regime. But there are no powerful lobbies or media barons to back up community radio. Nor is the ministry clear about its priorities. Without having an independent regulator for the broadcast sector, as suggested by the Supreme Court 10 years ago, the government has been privatising and opening up the sector for foreign investment without first formulating specific guidelines for protecting the concerns of all sections of the people. The apex court also said that airwaves belong to the public and should not be used for personal interests. Earlier, messing up with the CAS proposal, the NDA government had passed on the problem to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as an ad-hoc arrangement. As CAS continues to be in a coma, TRAI is busy promoting the interests of investors despite its not being equipped to deal with the issues of the media sector seriously and holistically. Consultations with a few in Delhi neither lend legitimacy to TRAI recommendations nor could be construed as being in the larger public interest. And most of its consultation papers are by foreign agencies. The ministry’s approach in this regard has been passive. The latest example is TRAI’s exercise for privatising terrestrial television. The basic premise being that having more options is better for the viewer. Theoretically, it is true but the experience has shown otherwise — both in the case of satellite TV and private FM radio. That people are hungry to receive more and more channels is a myth. For, studies have brought out that even those who have access to any number of television channels end up watching not even 10 channels. The ministry should take a view whether it wants TRAI to be the regulator for broadcasting also or would like to set up a regulatory authority for broadcasting. If it is in favour of the first option it need to impress upon TRAI to equip itself with appropriate capabilities. The ministry has been trying to plug the loopholes over the last one year in allowing facsimile editions of foreign newspapers as a way out of the tangle involving the International Herald Tribune. In this process it has now cleared the way for other international newspapers, of course, subject to certain conditions. Simultaneously, the cap for foreign syndication in the newspapers has also been raised from 7.5 to 20 per cent of the total editorial content. The impact of that decision on the mainline dailies is already evident. The ministry should also have done something to boost India’s coverage abroad. It has already raised the foreign investment limit for non-news publications from 74 per cent to 100 per cent. But now institutional investors as well as non-resident Indians can also invest in Indian newspapers, of course within the limit of 26 per cent of the equity, which the government allowed earlier. But the demand to increase this limit to 49 per cent is already ground in New Delhi. The Central Board of Film Censorship (CBFC), another organ of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, is crying for a revamp in its operations to make it more credible. The guidelines being used by the CBFC requires a relook. Its procedure and methodology of certification itself requires to be made more relevant, keeping in view the proliferation of music channels and such programmes by other channels. Sensing increasing public resentment about obscene contents and adult fare in some channels, the ministry has now taken some initiative. It, however, needs to understand the forces and factors behind such a trend. Unless the ministry goes by an independent monitoring of the channels’ contents, it can never expect to be effective, no matter what legal provisions it comes up with. We need liberal laws but with stringent enforcement. A one-time registration fee of Rs 5 lakh and an annual fee of Rs 1 lakh for the uplinking for foreign channels, that too after a few years of allowing it, as is being proposed by the ministry, is too inconsequential. How this measure will remove the shortcomings with regard to the content and carriage need to be seen. Simultaneously, the ministry should encourage independent social audit by civil society groups. The ministry also needs to understand what is happening in the name of children’s television. Almost six foreign channels with foreign contents targeting children have come up, as if they have no obligation to Indian children. Also music and remix channels have left a deleterious effect on children. So many research studies have indicated what all this means to the educational attainment of children, their predispositions and upbringing. This issue is of great significance to the nation and should not be left the whims and fancies of broadcasters. The writer is Chairman, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi.
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Power of music
“Tell me the name of the man who invented the human heart. Then show me quickly, the place where he was hanged.” — Lawrence Durrell - Clea.
THEY say Tansen could light lamps and make rain fall through the power of his music. On a prosaic level, I have read that cows in Holland yield more milk if they are listening to music. Music has a great power on our feelings and emotions too. Moods of depression are lifted, effervescent joy is induced, and equanimity is restored at times of anger and stress by listening to appropriate music. Music can also produce sharp, intense emotional pain. The driver switched on the music and Asha Bhonsle sang: “Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo.” The words were simple and moving, the melody was poignantly haunting and Asha’s mellifluous voice wove its legendary magic. I was carried away by the beauty of the performance and requested a replay. But the second time round I was not moved, merely amused by the romantic conceit of the words. Can one possibly die because one’s lover has to finally leave from a tryst? No one in the real world could make such a statement, no one in the real world could believe such a statement. Then, with a start, I remembered a time when I too had made this statement, had believed when it was made to me. It was 38 years ago. The world had, each day, looked fresh and clean and was bathed perpetually in a rose coloured light. The joy in my heart had left no room for any negativity: anger, bitterness, hostility, frustration, despair were all dwarfed into insignificance. All men and women were my friends and every human being was a wonderful human being. It was too good to last. It didn’t. Three short years later it was all over. I steeled my heart and resolutely shut out memories of that magical time and learnt to forget it completely till it was as if it had never been. But it was there now and the emptiness and loneliness of the long, silent, in-between years came upon me and twisted into my heart with so sharp a pain that only the presence of the driver kept me from crying out. Late that night, I picked up the phone and began to dial her number. I stopped after two digits — surely after 38 years the number would no longer be the same. Even if it hadn’t changed and I somehow got through — what could I say? That I was calling after a 38 years’ silence because I had listened to Asha’s song? I smiled to myself, a small sad smile, and shook my head. It was too late, far, far too late. Early the next morning I retrieved the CD from the car and gave it away. This was one aspect of the power of music that I most definitely did not want to experience again.
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Bhakra gains limited THE piece by M.S. Menon
“Why belittle Bhakra?” (Sept. 9) borders on an invective. It is clearly attempted as a criticism of our recently released report “Unravelling Bhakra”, a study of the contribution and impacts of the Bhakra Nangal project focussed on the food production and food security aspects. Here is a sample of the words used by Menon — “pseudo environmentalists”, “their crusades are aimed to ensure their own sustained development and to remain in the limelight”, “self-appointed experts masquerading as environmental activists”, “bunch of arm-chair theorists” — allegations, insinuations, questioning of motives, all against unnamed people, for else he could be called on to prove them. In fact, Menon’s piece is an example of the wishful thinking that adjectives and name-calling can substitute for facts and analysis. Consider how he presents one of our findings. He says “Since much of the Bhakra command was already irrigated, according to these cynics, irrigation from the Bhakra canals played a limited role in these areas as tubewell irrigation has been the overwhelming major source.” The word cynic is apparently used to imply that this conclusion of ours was wrong. But then why rely on adjectives? Why not give figures to show that tubewells were not the overwhelming major source, and that Bhakra canals played more than a limited role. The only figures he provides are that Bhakra created a new irrigation of 2.6 m ha and improved irrigation in 0.9 m ha. But these figures do not tell the whole story. This is only the potential created. What is the actual irrigation? What is the irrigation from other sources? What is the relative contribution of all the sources? Our report has gone into a detailed analysis of this. But Menon chooses to ignore it. We have identified that water required for agriculture in Punjab and Haryana comes from several sources — rainfall, canals (we call this canal direct), groundwater recharged by rain and rivers (groundwater direct), groundwater recharged by the canals (canal indirect) and groundwater extracted over and above recharge (mined groundwater). The real issue is: how much is the contribution of each of these? We have tried to estimate this in our study. We note that Punjab and Haryana already had, decades before Bhakra, several extensively developed irrigation systems based on diversions from the major rivers. These included the UBDC (started 1859), the Western Jamuna system (irrigation since time of Akbar, but modernised in 1879), the Sirhind canal system (started 1882), to name the major ones, along with large areas of well irrigation. Bhakra added to this, but was only one of the several sources. Moreover, around the late sixties began an explosive growth in tubewell irrigation that continues to date. So much is the growth in extraction that much of the groundwater pumped up is over and above the recharge, in other words, mined. We do agree that groundwater recharge from canals is significant — we use an estimate that 60 per cent of the groundwater recharge is from canals. However, it should be noted that Bhakra is not the only canal system that is involved. There are a host of other canal systems in the two states. Even with all this, we find that around 43 per cent of Punjab’s production is based on mined groundwater, while Bhakra contributes 11 per cent. Note that the water which seeps into the ground from the Bhakra canals and is then used by tubewells is attributed to Bhakra by us and is included in the 11 per cent. Menon has not commented on these figures, has not said whether these estimates are incorrect, nor has provided any figures of his own for the relative contributions of the different sources. In fact, our endeavour, unlike what Menon would like to believe, has not been to “belittle” Bhakra or to show that it has been a “disaster”. What we have tried to do is to evaluate the actual contribution of the project — to food production and food security, as also its impact. We found this important and necessary to do as the project has become an icon in the developmental history of the country. Popular perception sees it as a project that, on one hand, single-handedly made Punjab prosperous and was largely responsible for foodgrain self-sufficiency of the country and, on the other, a project that had little negative impact. Based on this, it has been used to justify many other large dam projects. Our study found that the contribution of the project was rather limited, especially compared to the popular perception, and it had a serious negative impact. Indeed, as our report states, “our study found the Bhakra dam and project to be a most ordinary project, an ordinary dam much like any other large dam - with all its flaws and blemishes.” Such has been the halo around the project that this finding of ours is being interpreted as portraying the dam as a disaster. Our study has been driven by the assumption that policy choices need to be informed choices. This means we need to know the real costs and contributions of past policies and projects. This reality is often hidden when a project is turned into an icon. We have tried to unhide this in the case of Bhakra. Of course, not everyone needs to agree with our conclusions and findings. In such a case, we expect that they would bring to the table their own figures, analysis and a debate can develop around the many issues raised by us. That precisely is the larger goal of our study. Unfortunately, Menon represents the response of the mainstream irrigation establishment and policy-makers who think that not only do they know the best, but that they are the only ones who know. And that when you can’t answer figures with figures, when you can’t pit analysis against analysis, disparagement will serve. The writer is the founder and coordinator of Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, a centre engaged in study of water and energy issues, and author and lead researcher of “Unravelling Bhakra”.
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Living with short-term amnesia WHEN Karina Chandler read the book A Child Called It, she couldn’t stop crying. It’s a moving book, but Chandler had another reason to feel emotional. This was the first book she had managed to read in 13 years because, she says, “I forget what they are saying about half way through”. For the last 15 years, she has battled with anterograde amnesia, a loss of short-term memory. The condition means she is trapped in the present, unable to recall her recent history. Her long-term memories are intact, so she can talk about her life prior to being ill, but she cannot remember what she has already told you. She also finds it hard to recall the time or her age. Chandler’s condition is the result of a devastating illness when she was a teenager. At 19, just as she was about to go to university to read clinical psychology, she contracted encephalitis, a viral infection of the brain, and her family was told she was unlikely to live. She pulled through, but spent five months in hospital and had to use a wheelchair for a further 18 months. Now 33, Chandler goes to college where she studies computer technology and drama, accompanied by her friend and supervisor, Julie Reynolds. They go shopping and out to lunch, and used to work together in a Cancer Research charity shop. She lives with her parents. In order to lead a normal life, Chandler must keep a meticulous diary to help jolt memories and remember forthcoming events. Her bedroom is scattered with notes: “Check diary”, “52 weeks, 365 days”. Often she repeats the notes over and over, forgetting that she has already tried to prompt herself to remember. Dr Andrew Worthington, consultant neuropsychologist at West Heath House in Birmingham, says that anterograde amnesia is a challenge to the sense of self. “While people remember most things up until the point of their illness or accident, they find it very hard to assimilate new experiences.” Dr Worthington teaches people to remember through procedural learning, which does not require reflection. Skills such as swimming and playing the piano can be learnt, but sufferers find it very hard to absorb knowledge that can be applied in different situations. He says that certain triggers can help the memory of an amnesia patient. “Smell is a powerful cue to memory, there is a direct link between the olfactory bulb and the memory part of the brain,” he says. * Anterograde amnesia is a selective memory deficit, the inability to remember events, resulting from brain injury or disease. * The individual finds it difficult to learn new information. Memories for events before the injury may be retained, but events since are lost. * Very short-term memory is spared, which means that the individual may be able to converse, but the memory of the discussion soon fades. * Anterograde amnesia may, however, spare memory for skills or habits. So someone with amnesia can be taught to play the piano. * Heart attacks, when the brain is starved of oxygen, can cause amnesia, as can encephalitis, when a variation of the herpes virus (most commonly associated with cold sores) attacks the brain. — The Independent
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Close encounters with poverty AT lunchtime, office workers and tourists picnic on the manicured lawns of New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, a celestial observatory built in 1724 by Maharajah Jai Singh II. Its benches, flowerbeds and a huge pink sundial make it a welcome oasis in India’s crowded, dusty, jangling capital. But if you walk by at night, as I did a few years ago during a visit to New Delhi, the Jantar Mantar is a shockingly different place. It’s home to hundreds of pavement dwellers, who camp in crude tents and cook dinner — if they can get it — over open fires around the monument. Mothers nurse babies; men smoke; children play in the dirt. All the ordinary activities of family life are carried out on the sidewalk, with no toilets, running water or electricity. I had to pick my way through the dense encampment, stumbling over makeshift kitchens and bedchambers and through trash. Half-naked children encircled me, asking for change. I clutched my money belt and walked fast. I was sweaty and scared by the time I reached my hotel, where I sat on the terrace and had a gin and tonic, hating myself for behaving like an ugly American. Although I since have had many close encounters with poverty in India, that memory is still as vivid and important to me as my first view of the Himalayas. An inveterate budget traveler at the time, I had chosen to visit the subcontinent as much for its low prices as for its extraordinary sights. India isn’t just a cheap destination but a place where millions of people exist with few of the necessities and none of the conveniences of life as I know it. I had to search my soul to understand the visceral horror I had felt walking among pavement dwellers. “Travel to the developing world is a challenge for many people,’’ Jeff Greenwald, author and executive director of the Ethical Traveler Web site, told me in a telephone interview. ``They are often afraid of seeing the poor. They are afraid that something will be asked of them they can’t provide, that their compassion will be tested and found wanting.’’ Many people are less altruistic about travel, going abroad chiefly for personal enrichment and pleasure. Some who can’t bear to miss the Taj Mahal or Chichen Itza visit India or Mexico in an insulated bubble, spending little on luxury accommodations and taxis. Other compassionate, intelligent, widely traveled people fend off heartbreak by avoiding the Third World, which is understandable. If I’m brutally frank, I have to ask what good reason there could be for exposing myself to poverty and squalor when the rest of the rich, pristine world beckons. If I contemplate going to Mexico or Thailand, where travelers live well at rock-bottom prices, I have to consider whether I’m an opportunist, taking advantage of hard-pressed economies to get a suntan on a cheap beach. Faced with such moral issues, I turn to other travelers for practical, convincing answers. “Some people travel to escape. There’s nothing wrong with that,’’ Greenwald said. ``But those who want to challenge themselves, to immerse themselves in the variety of talent and lifestyles available on this planet, must open themselves up.’’ “What do you leave behind? Money is impersonal. Your interactions with the people are remembered long after the money you spend is gone.`` “Despite a lack of the material wealth we so value in the West, many people in developing countries have fulfilling lives,`` Greenwald said. ‘’So maybe we’ve missed the boat. Maybe happiness is not about affluence.” —
LA Times-Washington Post
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From the pages of A GOSPEL OF HOPE THE Statesman, which has been a consistent and warm supporter of the Congress movement since its birth and has generally proved to be a veritable friend of India is not disconcerted by the turn the events have taken at Surat! It is perfectly optimistic in its tone and thinks that the vista before the Congress is still bright and hopeful. It does not think that the attack and the secession of the Extremists will prove fatal to the Congress or that the results will prove altogether mischievous. Says our contemporary: “While hot-headed and indiscreet partisanship had a place in the councils of the national movement, that movement was continually exposed to the risk of some ill-advised step. It was always possible for such opinions and over-eager advocacy of misguided action to place the Congress in a false position, and from such an issue graver mischief would have arisen than any which has so far been wrought by Mr Tilak and his ill-counselled followers....“
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A blind man’s sight has left him, yet he lives. A deaf man’s hearing has left him, yet he lives. A dumb man’s voice has left him, yet he lives. But when the Spirit leaves him, he dies. — Book of quotations on Hinduism Buddhism is for those who have come to see that what has been created is impermanent; and that whatever is impermanent is inherently ILL. No permanent bliss or happiness is to be found in what is impermanent, only pain and peril. — The Buddha |
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