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Beacon light Suddenly jobless |
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New stars, new hopes
The Bihar muddle
On finding a genuine mali
Fundamental challenge in Bangladesh Basmati rice to be DNA protected
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Beacon light THE Army and the Border Roads Organisation’s Project Beacon personnel have done a commendable job by throwing open the Uri-Kaman Post road near the Line of Control a month ahead of schedule. Several kilometres of this stretch, part of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad (JhelumValley) Road, was blocked by landslides unleashed by the October 8 earthquake. The landslides, besides accounting for a large number of casualties that included Army and BRO personnel, had made it extremely difficult for aid to reach far-flung villages in time, and in sufficient quantities. The newly built Uroosa helipad, in the last village before Kaman Post, helped in mitigating the situation. In fact, the IAF airlifted disassembled bulldozers to Uroosa, thus enabling a multi-pronged attack on the boulders blocking the road. The General Reserve Engineering Force under BRO is a unique civilian force, uniformed and trained in military style, and its personnel can take justifiable pride in a hazardous job well done. They are often the unsung heroes of our border defences, and their sacrifices compare with those made by the Army and paramilitary forces. The Army has indicated that it will still take three weeks before heavy vehicles can ply on the road. Yet, relief and rehabilitation will be further facilitated in distant villages like Goalta, which have now been adopted for relief by the IAF. The Kaman Bridge on the LoC – Aman Sethu – has also been damaged, and the facilities built near the bridge lie in ruins. The bus passengers, of course, used to cross it on foot. The road to peace in the valley, though, is no clearer than before. The resumption of the bus service depends on more than just an open road. Kaman Post is one of the five points identified for a limited opening of the LoC for people and relief material. But as the ups and downs of post-quake diplomacy between India and Pakistan have indicated, not to mention the continued terror attacks in J&K and the New Delhi bombings, the peace process continues to be under pressure. Winter is around the corner, and it is still a perilous road ahead. |
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Suddenly jobless IT is unfortunate that 1,500 workers have been rendered jobless by the closing down of two cycle parts manufacturing units in Ludhiana. The management may be true when it says that it went by the rulebook while taking this decision. But that is cold comfort for the workers who had a rude shock when they found the factory gates closed on Thursday morning. Certainly, the heavens would not have fallen if the management had been a little more communicative with the workers. After all, they have to look for alternative jobs to keep their hearths burning. It is not clear whether the management had exercised the option of giving them a “golden handshake” before throwing them out on the streets. What has happened in the cycle capital should not be seen in isolation. Economic reforms have affected the working class in different ways. While the reforms have thrown up new job opportunities in many sectors, they have also adversely affected workers in some other sectors. There has been a phenomenal growth in the service industry, whereas manufacturing has taken a beating. More or less the same seems to have happened in Ludhiana also. Neither the management nor the workers seem to have adapted themselves to the changed situation. It’s the management’s complaint that the workers were lethargic and production had been dipping. However, it does not seem to have taken any concrete steps to step up production, if necessary, by weeding out the deadwood. On their part, the workers behaved as if their job was for life and productivity and profitability of the companies did not matter to them. In other words, they relied excessively on “security” which, they did not know, was, to quote the Bard, “mortal’s chiefest enemy”. Had the two sides taken timely steps, perhaps, Thursday’s denouement could have been averted. To survive in the market field, both managements and workers will have to be on the cutting edge of competition. Alas, there was no realisation of this on either side. |
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New stars, new hopes IT may not be advisable to start singing paeans to our boys in shining cricket armour but their four victories in a row are certainly something to cheer. Not only is this a rare occurrence, it has been brought about in a convincing manner. Mind you, the victories have not been posted against minnows like Zimbabwe, but against Sri Lanka, considered the second best team in the world – at least they enjoyed that reputation before this series, but there will be a bit of rethinking on that count now. India won so convincingly that it may be deduced that the visitors are playing badly. Not really. They are reasonably good; it is just that the Indian team is playing much better than it has done in a long long time. Apparently, this is not because of any one factor. So, one can take one’s pick from Greg Chappell’s coaching, Rahul Dravid’s captaincy and Sachin Tendulkar’s return. What actually matters is that the team is showing true team spirit and professionalism. Perhaps, India has indeed found its rhythm. While the senior players are showing their tested mettle, the most heartening sign is that many youngsters like M.S. Dhoni have emerged to claim their place in the sun. They are hugely talented, professional and willing to learn. If they live up to their potential, India can be pretty optimistic about the 2007 World Cup and the other future events. One contributory factor, which will not be very high on many ecstatic fans’ radar, is the fact that the affairs of the game are coming back into the hands of professionals. The BCCI is being more of a facilitator than a dictator. The boys have shown that they can achieve success if they are relieved of the tension of petty intrigues and groupism. Here is hoping that the winning streak that they have displayed will be long-lasting, nay permanent. If Australia can do it, why not India? |
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The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream. — Harry Kemp |
The Bihar muddle ON October 7, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court “as per majority opinion” ordered “the proclamation dated by 23.5.2005 dissolving the Legislative Assembly of the State of Bihar is unconstitutional”. Detailed reasons are yet to be disclosed — in all probability, the court will deliver detailed judgment after the last phase of the Bihar elections is completed, lest the pronouncement should affect the course of elections. With respect to the court, this is a fair approach. Speculation is naturally rife as to what could be the likely reasons that may have serious effect on the course of elections and for declaring the Presidential order as “unconstitutional”. Such a declaration may in a given case be made on account of some procedural irregularity or on account of substantial violation of the Constitution. In the former case no one need be embarrassed, while in case the finding is that there was wilful violation of the sacred book, the consequences will be serious. In the present case, the accusations are not of procedural transgressions. So, someone or more will necessarily be found guilty. The specific curiosity therefore is who will it be? The Governor? Or would they fault the Council of Ministers for advising the President to dissolve the Assembly (which in reality means the minister in charge, the Home Minister) or would they go to the extent of observing that the President did not exercise the discretion constitutionally conferred on him to ask the Cabinet to reconsider its advice, instead of signing it in slumber. Or will all the three be indicted? A brief reference to some of the constitutional provisions is necessary before hazarding any guess. Duration of a Legislative Assembly shall be five years from the date appointed for its first meeting — unless sooner dissolved. The date for such meeting is to be fixed by the Governor and before taking a seat in the House for the first time the members shall subscribe before the Governor or his nominee an oath of affirmation as prescribed by the Constitution. It is a glaring fact that in Bihar even though the election results were notified on March 4, members were not administered the oath nor the date for the first meeting was notified — thus, in reality the Assembly was not yet born. Instead of attending to the formalities needed to bring the Assembly into being, the Governor sent a report on March 6 recommending imposition of President’s rule. On the basis of the report the President imposed his rule in Bihar, ordered that the Assembly be kept in suspended animation and assumed to himself all the powers of the Governor of the State — all as advised by the Union Cabinet. Both the Houses of Parliament approved this proclamation. This proclamation was not under direct challenge before the Supreme Court. However, reference to these facts is only to remind that though the power to dissolve a state Legislative Assembly is that of the Governor under Article 174 of the Constitution of India, in this case the President exercised it in view of the situation noted above. During the weeks that followed, the MLAs, not yet eligible to sit in the House because of not subscribing to the oath, were apparently indulging in arithmetical and political exercises to cobble up a majority to deserve the Governor’s invitation to form a government. After about seven weeks of his failure to attempt to ascertain the views of MLAs on the floor of the House — the law is clear since Bommai case (1994) that the place to ascertain the views of MLAs was the floor of the House, not the lawns of Raj Bhavan — the Governor sent another report on April 27 and followed it with another on May 21 recommending dissolution on the ground among others that “horse trading” on a very large scale was imminent. On consideration of the Buta Singh reports — or the reports only signed by him but allegedly designed by the political power at the Centre — the Union Council of Ministers advised the President that the unborn Bihar Assembly be dissolved. It is an accepted position in constitutional law that the report of a Governor is not binding on the Council of Ministers — the Cabinet therefore, could have rejected the Governor’s reports. But under Article 74 of the Constitution, the President “shall in the exercise of his functions act in accordance with such advice” (by the Council of Ministers). The proviso to the Article gives power to the President to require the Council of Ministers to reconsider such advice “either generally or otherwise”. The reconsidered advice is wholly binding on the President. The fingers raised at the President are solely on the ground that he did not ask the Cabinet to reconsider their advice. In defence of the President it could be said that the demand for reconsideration would have been of no consequence — the reconsideration would have been a mere ritual in the absence of any specific ground of significance. The President could not have any specific ground for requiring reconsideration — considering the fact that he was woken up in Moscow in the middle of the night and asked to sign the order. No President can be faulted for not indulging in futile exercise. In 1994 Bommai succeeded in firmly establishing the court’s power to review actions like dissolution of a House besides getting a verdict that his government was wrongly dismissed. For the first time the court held that in an appropriate case it could order revival of the dissolved Assembly. Bommai was not re—instated because, between 1989 and 94, two elections had taken place to the Karnataka Assembly. In the Bihar case Bommai principles were cited, interpreted and relied upon by both the sides. The reasoning to be pronounced therefore will be consistent with Bommai ratio. However court’s verdict on the allegation that the Governor had acted mala—fide — may be that he permitted a tailored report to go in his name — will be of political significance while the exposition of the scope of judicial scrutiny of a Governor’s action or cabinet’s advice would be of Constitutional importance. The Council of Ministers had the means of verifying the correctness or otherwise of the Governor’s report but the President had no such power, nor the means. And in Bommai it is held that whenever an action of the President is challenged, in reality what is in question is the action of the Council of Ministers. Therefore, it is for the Cabinet or the minister in charge to defend the action taken in the name of the President. Thus in this case the Home Minister may be asked to say a few words. It is a settled position of law that the President has no discretion to reject the advice of the Cabinet. That — whether one likes it or not — is the position of the President of India under the Constitution, which he has pledged to
uphold.
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On finding a genuine mali
Gardening as anyone will tell you is not everyone’s cup of tea. You need to know your grasses from your weeds and your aphids from your mealy-bugs. And more significantly the right poison to treat each. The advantages of grafting versus air-layering are not for the uninitiated. Take a simple matter like pruning a rose bush of its vagrant post-monsoon sprouting. It requires both knowledge and skill: knowledge of the woody and green stems and skill to clip the green ones at the right slanted angle so that you do not damage them. Its no wonder then that only a few blessed ones can claim to possess the legendary green fingers. But this middle is not about gardening but about finding a gardener or a “mali”. You see most so-called malis in Chandigarh come from what they refer to as ‘dehat’ (UP and Bihar) and go through the process of daily-wager internship at Labour Chowk, do odd jobs painting houses, mending potholes in Chandi roads, weeding berms etc before they discover the upmarket status of malis in the spacious Northern sector homes. There of course, indulgent madams train them to clip hedges, mow lawns and even raise bonsai. A couple of entries in the annual Rose Festival later and they achieve iconic
status. Also this is probably the only job apart from the Chandigarh IT Technology Park, where they get paid by the hour. But coleuses rots and crotons wither, by the dozen, under these spurious malis. And naturally they can’t tell why, let alone resuscitate them. The real one, now, wouldn’t allow a plant to die unless it was hit by a missile. Even then he would, probably graft the fragments onto another and, save the genetic code. But after one such spurious worthy had laid some of my prized specimens to a premature rest, I decided to put my administrative capabilities to the test of finding the genuine article, a real mali. Now the real mali knows and can pronounce the botanical names of even the most exotic and esoteric specimens of the plant and insect kingdom but can’t read hence clearly I couldn’t reach him through the “Classifieds”. My strategy, therefore, involved driving around my sector scanning healthy looking gardens and then addressing my requests and enquiries to the home owners. The malis who responded to my fervent appeals, were put through my “Find a Genuine Mali Test” that went as follows: Can you paint? Can you repair roads? What are the winter flowers? How do you keep the lawns green through winter? etc ...Eleven interviews later, Eureka...! I do believe I might have found myself the genuine article. I am at peace now as indeed are my crotons, coleus and difenbechia.
Amen. |
Fundamental challenge in Bangladesh
THE
Jamaat, the Islami Oikya Jote and other fundamentalist Islamist organisations in Bangladesh are using their participation in the government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to push their Islamist agenda and capture power. They have, by every indication, launched a two-pronged process. The first element of their strategy is the creation of a wave of Islamist fanaticism on whose crest they can ride to power, swamping all their opponents. In the process, they are further strengthening their organisation and increasing their resources to prepare themselves for the final takeover. The second element is installing their own men in strategic positions in the government — thereby creating a state within a state — and taking over institutions like universities, colleges and schools to propagate their brand of reductionist Islam. The creation of a climate of fanaticism is very important from their standpoint because that alone can fetch them the mass support they now so woefully lack. Central to the creation of such a climate is the designation of a person or a group-religious, ethnic or political-as the enemy and giving a strident call for its suppression, if not annihilation. In most such cases a group already exists as a demon in the minds of those whipping up fanaticism. Even otherwise, generation of hatred for opponents is inherent in the glorification of one’s own religion or nationality. Islamist fundamentalists have been targeting minorities —Hindus, Buddhists and Christians — and identifying them, in deed if not in words, as enemies. Even the Ahmadiyya sect of Muslims has not been spared. The result has been predictable. According to Rosaline Costa, Director, Hotline Bangladesh, a human rights organisation, non-Muslims, who constituted 33 per cent of Bangladesh’s population at the time of its liberation from Pakistani rule in 1971, now constitute 9.9 per cent. In this the fundamentalists are hand-in-glove with a section of the ruling BNP which is pathologically anti-Hindu and anti-India, and with criminal elements. The primary target of the Islamists has been the Hindus, their bete noir since even before the creation of East Pakistan and its post-liberation emergence as Bangladesh. There have been several riots following the one in Khulna in 1950. There was widespread attacks on Hindus in 1964 following the theft of the Prophet’s hair from the Hazratbal Mosque in Kashmir, and in 1992 (when the BNP was in power) following the demolition of the Babri Mosque in India. Needless to say, the rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India and the hate campaign conducted against Muslims by organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal have greatly helped Bangladesh’s Islamic fundamentalists and their allies. Things have taken a turn for the worse since the ascent of the present BNP-led four-party coalition to power. Rioting against Hindus, who are generally regarded as supporters of the Awami League, broke out even before the results of the elections on October 1, 2001, which the BNP-led alliance swept, were announced. According to a statement by the then Home Minister of Bangladesh in the country’s National Parliament, 266 persons were killed and 213 women raped over a period of 25 days. While the figures are bad enough, the actual numbers killed and raped are clearly much higher. Though large-scale rioting has not occurred since the one that began on October 1, 2001, Hindus continue to be prosecuted and have to leave their homes and flee to India. According to a news report in the Daily Star of May 11, 2002, a gang of about 40 criminals, riding motorbikes and allegedly supporters of the BNP, drove into Basantpur village in Natore on the May 8 night, firing guns and exploding crackers and attacked 13 Hindu families. They beat up the men, harassed and threatened to rape the women if the villagers disclosed their identities to newsmen. The attackers, who ransacked the houses, looted a huge amount of cash and moveable property like gold ornaments, returned the next day and warned the villagers of dire consequences unless they were paid more money. The report said the gang had on May 4 asked the families to pay them sums ranging from Tk 20,000 to 50,000, and the this was the fourth attack on the Hindus of Basantpur village. It further started that the police had arrested four BNP cadres and had set up a temporary camp near the village to avoid a repetition of such incidents. Police action, however, has always been tardy and half-hearted, with the result that many of those arrested after various incidents have subsequently been acquitted or enlarged on bail. Not surprisingly, Hindus have no respite in Bangladesh. A report in the Prothom Alo of March 27, 2005, showed how local criminals were trying to force six Hindu families in Belghoriahat in Bagmari Upazila of Rajashri district to leave their homes and go away. They were threatening to lock the families inside their houses and set them on fire, stoning the houses every night, throwing human excreta inside the rooms and making obscene remarks at their women whenever they ventured out of their homes. According to the families, a local criminal, Akbar, and his associates were doing all this to capture their property. They also said that the District Magistrate of Rajashri, to whom they had appealed for protection on March 20, had asked the police personnel at Bagmara police station to inquire into the matter and take stern measures. The report observed that the police had not visited the village until March 26. The worst act of savagery, however, occurred on November 19, 2003, in a remote village in Banshkhali Upazila, 30 km from Chittagong city. A gang of 20 persons set a two-storey earthen house on fire, burning to death 11 members of a family, including a four-day-old baby. While many felt that the ghastly crime was no more than the work of robbers angry because they could not break into the first floor, other held that this was a part of minority cleansing strategy. Sheikh Hasina was clearly one of them. According to her, the killings marked an attempt to implement a blueprint, drawn up by the BNP-led government immediately after assuming office, to persecute the minority communities. Hindus are not the only victims. Religious persecution of the Buddhists is an integral part of a wider scheme to change the CHT’s demographic and religious character by colonising the homeland of the indigenous people, collectively called Jumma people, by Bengali Muslims. The process began when Bangladesh was East Pakistan. The CHT was deprived of its “Excluded Area” status in 1963 and thrown wide open to colonisation by Bengali Muslims from Noakhali, Chittagong, Sylhet and Comilla. If anything, the situation became worse after the liberation of East Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujib and other Awami League leaders had become hostile to the indigenous people because the Chakma king, Tridib Roy, and a section of the Jummas had supported Pakistan during the liberation war. Sheikh Mujib’s assassination on August 15, 1975, however, brought further misery to the CHT. The creation of the CHT Development Board by Ziaur Rahman in 1976 led to accelerated influx by Bengali Mulisms and suffering for the Jumma people. Driven to desperation, Jummas, organised under the Parbatya Chattargram Jana Sanhati Samiti (PCJSS), formed an armed wing, the Shanti Bahini in 1973, and resorted to armed action in 1976. The military action that followed drove a large number of Jummas to seek refuge in India where they were housed in camps. As President, Ziaur Rahman, however, tried to arrive at a political settlement and open a channel of communication with the Shanti Bahini. His assassination on May 30, 1981, put an end to the process. Mr H. M. Ershad, who became President through a military coup, declared two amnesties in 1983 and 1985, respectively and established a Parbatya Jila Sthaniya Sarkar Parishad or Hill District Local Government Council. It did not work because it did not have enough power. It was only after Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister in 1996 that a real attempt to find a solution led to the peace agreement of December 2, 1997, between the PCJSS and the Bangladesh government. Despite bitter attacks and threats of a nationwide agitation by the BNP, Sheikh Hasina’s government had the Chittagong Hill Autonomous Regional Council Act passed by Bangladesh’s National Parliament in May 1998, which formed an autonomous council. A vicious campaign launched by the BNP and the Jamaat and its affiliates, however, hindered a full-fledged implementation of the accord, particularly in respect of the return of the refugees and their rehabilitation. Tension continued. The situation has deteriorated further since the formation of the BNP-led coalition government, which has combined ethnic cleansing of the Jummas with a massive drive to Islamise the CHT. Even Buddhist monks are not spared. Islamic fundamentalists beheaded the highly respected monk Bhikkhu Gyanojyoti Mahasthobir in Raozan in Chittagong district on April 21, 2002. Later in the same year, the Venerable Bhikkhu Khela Chong was beaten up and hanged by the Bangladeshi Army at Kaokhali in Rangamati district. Kumar Sivasish Roy of the Jumma People’s Network UK stated in a paper presented at a conference in June 2005 that Al-Rabita (Rabita Al- Alam al-Islami), a Saudi government funded NGO, is the main Islamic missionary organisation in the region. Supported by the military, it is entrusted with the task of the Islamisation of the CHT’. According to him, the Jamaat worked actively with the military in the region. Meanwhile, 82,000 Jumma families which have been listed as internally displaced still await government assistance, and refugees, who have returned from India, have not been properly rehabilitated. Even Christians, who had faced no problems until recently, and who as “people of the book” are entitled to religious freedom under Islam, are now under attack. The most heinous case occurred on June 3, 2001, when a bomb attack on a church in Beniarchar in Gopalganj District left 10 persons dead and 24 wounded. A top-ranking leader of HUJIB, also Vice-President of the Shiddhirganj Madarinagar Quomi Madrasa, and three of his accomplices were arrested from Kakrail, Dhaka, on June 8 in connection with the blast. There have been several attacks on Christians since the BNP-led government came to power, and Islamic fundamentalists have killed at least five Christian functionaries since 2003. The article has been excerpted from the author’s forthcoming book, “Bangladesh: The next Afghanistan,” brought out by Sage Publications, New Delhi, Pages 311. Price 320. |
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Basmati rice to be DNA protected Indian scientists are mapping the DNA of one of the country’s basic food products: basmati rice. Concerned that Western corporations may try to take out patents on the food, their aim is not to produce genetically modified rice but to protect one of India’s most treasured natural products from a foreign takeover. Basmati may be beloved of students because it is easy to cook, but to connoisseurs, its long grains and natural scent make it one of the world’s most desired varieties of rice. It is one of the Indian agriculture sector’s prime exports. Already the country has fought off an attempt by an American company to copyright the name basmati for its own product, a crossing of American rice and Indian basmati. True basmati rice, by contrast, is a natural product still grown by highly traditional methods. The project to prove that basmati rice is quintessentially Indian is a sign of how GM methods are transforming the agricultural industry. Today, traditional farmers are trying to fight off what is being called “gene piracy”. Everybody knows basmati rice comes from India, but lawyers are warning that there is no way of proving it in a court of law. That is where scientists come in. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is hoping to genetically “fingerprint” 72 different varieties of basmati rice that are grown in different regions of India. K.S. Money, chairman of India’s Agriculture and Allied Products Export Authority, says: “It’s always better to have records of our biodiversity and germplasm so that if someone uses our variety and claims intellectual property rights, we should be able to contest it.” J.L. Karihaloo, director of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Research, adds: “We develop a kind of barcode unique to the variety. In forensics, DNA fingerprinting is used to identify criminals. The same application has been developed for plants.” Countries have, in the past, fought off attempts by foreign companies to copyright the names of their traditional products. France has been successful in protecting the names of its cheeses and wine-growing regions. The Czech Republic has had a harder time fighting off the American Anheuser-Busch brewery’s attempt to copyright Budweiser beer, named after the Czech town of Budweis. But the Indian DNA mapping is an attempt to patent not the name but the produce itself. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research hopes to complete mapping DNA of basmati rice within two years. It has already fingerprinted 42 varieties of chillies, 243 varieties of bananas, and 30 varieties of mangoes, including India’s much sought-after sweet Alphonso mangoes. It is planning to start work on spices. The
Independent, London |
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From the pages of Turkey must live Mr Bepin Chandra Pal made a speech in Bengali on Saturday evening at an open air meeting at College Square, held to express sympathy with Turkey. There was a fair attendance of Hindus with a sprinkling of Mahomedans. Mr Pal said his sympathy went forth to Turkey, for he thought that Europe and, for the matter of that, the civilised world could not suffer Turkey to be effaced from the map of Europe. There was a special necessity of her existence; therefore she had an important mission to fulfil. In his opinion, the so-called democracy in Europe, existed only in name. Caste in India, however bad and much maligned it might be, was a thousand times better than the invidious distinction observed between the rich and the poor…. It was for the good of Europe, nay, of the civilised world at large, the Turkey should live.
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The true ablution consists in the constant adoration of God. —Guru Nanak If we call him the father of all, then why do we not realise our brotherhood? —The Upanishads Begin your work when the hour is calm and bright, when the stars are holy and auspicious. Let all men bear witness to the preparations you make lest they believe that someone else did it for you. —The Mahabharata |
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