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Second Green
Revolution Yogi or charlatan? |
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India is not for
dumping France must keep its asbestos to itself Developing countries have long been the victims of the “not in my backyard” syndrome, and nowhere is this more clear that in the ship-decommissioning business. The French courts have ruled that the French Navy’s aircraft carrier Georges Clemenceau can be sent to the Alang yards of Gujarat for breaking-up as scrap, and the ship has already set sail.
Representing the
people
Living anachronisms
Indo-Russian ties Russia in trouble
over gas dispute Now Sikh history
with pictures
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Yogi or charlatan? Rajya
Sabha member Brinda Karat of the CPM has levelled extremely serious allegations against yoga exponent Swami Ramdev. She claims that she has received a letter from the Health and Family Welfare Ministry confirming the presence of animal products and human skulls in the ayurvedic preparations of Divya Yoga Pharmacy owned by the swami. The latter has promptly countered that this is nothing but a conspiracy by multinationals to defame him because he has been campaigning against cola companies and other such organisations. Whatever the facts are, these have to be investigated thoroughly. Swami Ramdev should not be targeted just because he is rich and famous, thanks to the religious channels. At the same time, he should not get away lightly for the same reasons. If he is guilty, he should be punished like any culprit irrespective of the celebrity status he has come to enjoy. To make matters’ difficult for him, some of the persons who have worked at his pharmacy before being sacked have corroborated the allegations. If what they say is true, that will be a big shock for the consumers of his medicines, many of whom happen to be strict vegetarians. Others too may find it repulsive even to think about taking animal parts or human bones. Quackery has been widespread in the country in the garb of Indian systems of medicine. Only recently, a famous clinic in Uttaranchal Pradesh was found to be selling spurious and even banned drugs to gullible persons for treating epilepsy. Then there are streetcorner self-styled experts who claim to cure everything from cancer to AIDS. There has to be a concerted campaign against them because they are ruining the name of genuine Indian medicine, including of Ayurveda. While lifestyle changes and exercises recommended by yoga and other experts are welcome, common people should accept their tall claims only after these have been substantiated by independent research. Serious yoga practitioners are aghast at some of the yarns that the fly-by-night operators peddle. Unfortunately, the tremendous reach of TV channels comes in handy to such people. Providing emotional and spiritual solace is one thing, but painting a rosy picture in life and death matters is downright dangerous and criminal. |
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India is not for dumping Developing
countries have long been the victims of the “not in my backyard” syndrome, and nowhere is this more clear that in the ship-decommissioning business. The French courts have ruled that the French Navy’s aircraft carrier
Georges Clemenceau can be sent to the Alang yards of Gujarat for breaking-up as scrap, and the ship has already set sail. There is wide consensus that all the hazardous asbestos on the ship has not been removed. International NGOs have been agitating to prevent the Clemenceu from leaving Europe, with thousands turning up for the “save the Kakinada beaches” campaign. The ship has already been turned away from other countries. Asbestos is added to materials for heat insulation and fire resistance. During break-up, released particles can settle on the lungs, damaging them and causing breathing problems. That the ship-breaking industry in India and other Asian countries is a lucrative one is well known. The Clemenceau itself will yield 26,000 tonnes of scrap steel valued at eight million euros. But the industry as run today may well be paying too high a human cost. It is clear that regulation is required to ensure that companies do not routinely expose their workers to a range of toxic substances and hazardous work conditions. Even the existing laws can be used to enforce the required levels of protection and minimise environmental damage. Even if standards are raised, there are other issues to consider. There is no profit in becoming the world’s backyard by storing waste generated elsewhere. Internationally, the Clemenceau controversy also revolves around the 1989 Basel Convention. The convention, to which OECD countries are signatories, prohibits the trans-national movement of hazardous waste. The shipping lobby wants to keep “end of life” ships out of Basel’s purview, arguing that a ship that can still sail is not waste. This is blatantly untenable, and there is severe pressure for a change of stance. Greenpeace has argued that a proposed new treaty is unsatisfactory, as it carries a five-year-time-frame (enough to de-commission a lot more ships) and puts the onus on developing countries. India would do well to become more diplomatically active to ensure that it is not treated as a dumping yard of others’ waste. |
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Making noise is an effective means of
opposition. — Joseph Goebbels |
Representing the people
THE quality of democracy gets reflected in the character and calibre of the elected representatives of the people. Parliament has recently expelled 11 of its members belonging to different political parties for accepting bribes in the cash-for-query scam. Another sting operation has brought to light that some members of Parliament have been taking kickbacks for clearing projects under the MPs’ Local Area Development Scheme. The general perception is that, barring a few, members of Parliament, state legislatures and local bodies, by and large, are not averse to corruption. India enjoys the dubious distinction of being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Many scams have been exposed in recent years. Contrary to the scheme of the Constitution and the laws, elections continue to be influenced by money and muscle power and community and caste considerations. The prevailing system of elections permits a candidate to get elected without securing a majority of the votes polled in his constituency, with the result that most of the returned candidates represent their constituency in law and not in fact. Several experts have addressed themselves to the problem and noticed degeneration of democracy. They include members of the Dinesh Goswami Committee, the Inderjit Gupta Committee, the Election Commission, the Law Commission and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution. There is no dearth of clean, able and public-spirited citizens in the country. Political parties routinely promise electoral reforms in their manifestoes but do not redeem the promise after getting elected. Coalition governments with their inner conflicts and daily compromises cannot embark upon far-reaching reforms. The parties in the opposition also do not extend support to electoral reforms. As a result, “we the people of India”, in whose name and for whose benefit the Constitution was framed with great care, have to suffer governments which lack credibility and competence. Political parties have their student-wings to which they extend all support for success in union elections. In the process, most of the malpractices indulged in by politicians during elections to Parliament and state legislatures are practised in the elections to students’ unions, polluting democracy at the earliest stage. Universities are required to impart value-based education in a free and liberal atmosphere, insulating their students from corrupt influences. Elections conducted on party lines vitiate the academic atmosphere. As the University Education Commission chaired by Dr S. Radhakrishnan had pointed out, “training for leadership in the professions and in public life is one of the central aims of university education”, ability to muster votes by hook or crook does not make a person a leader. Educational institutions have to train young men and women of character and ability for sound leadership. The question is: how to secure such student leaders and how to ensure free and fair elections? Merely laying down a code of conduct or prohibiting corrupt practices in elections will not do. The Representation of the People Act, 1951, has done this, but it has not prevented corrupt practices in elections to Parliament and state legislatures. Therefore, in addition to laying down a set of Do’s and Don’ts, regulation of the right to contest elections becomes imperative. In this context, the initiative taken by the Supreme Court recently in an appeal preferred by Kerala University is significant. The Kerala High Court held that colleges affiliated to universities in the state were free to follow a system of elections that was better for administration and maintenance of discipline on the campus. Kerala University has challenged this verdict. During the pendency of the appeal, the Supreme Court has directed the Union Government to set up a committee headed by a former Chief Election Commissioner, Mr J.M. Lyngdoh, for framing guidelines for the conduct of students’ union elections in universities and affiliated colleges across the country. The committee includes eminent educationists and a financial analyst. It has to suggest measures for preventing criminalisation in union elections, ways and means to ensure financial transparency and limits of expenditure and criteria for being eligible to contest elections. It should also consider how indiscipline and divisions on the basis of political beliefs do not vitiate the academic atmosphere and recommend a forum for resolving election disputes. The order gives an opportunity to all interested persons to put forward their suggestions before the J.M. Lyngdoh Committee. The Constitution, having adopted adult suffrage as the basis of elections and conferred the difficult-to-deny right to vote to any student of a college or university. However, the right to contest in an election stands on a different footing. The right needs to be given only to the deserving few who have the potential to grow as good leaders. The more difficult question is: what should be the criteria for making a student eligible to contest union elections? Not all students possess qualities of leadership. The students who have the potential to provide leadership, being ahead of others and who can inspire others, need to be identified. Consistent with the aims and objects of higher education, academic excellence of a student is undoubtedly relevant. Excellence in sports, debating skills and other extra-curricular activities are equally relevant. Good conduct, clean record, amiable disposition towards all fellow students, irrespective of caste or community, and respect for teachers would also be relevant. Rational criteria for eligibility to contest have to be laid down clearly well in advance. Applying the criteria, a list of eligible candidates could be prepared and announced by the institution concerned, giving sufficient time for filing nominations, their scrutiny, etc. The elections held on this basis are likely to produce student leaders of quality. Students’ unions have a limited role in the administration of a college or university. Their importance lies in providing a forum for the growth of the right kind of leadership. They can serve as nurseries of democratic leadership. By making all-round merit the basis of the right to contest, educational institutions will be able to promote leadership linked with excellence. The size of the list of eligible candidates to contest should neither be too long (as it dilutes merit) nor too short to provide a meaningful choice of candidates to the electorate. The size of the list could be three times the number of posts to be filled. It will provide enough margin for some of the eligible candidates who may not be interested in contesting to opt out. The students who have no recognised merit but are keen to contest will have to improve their ratings so as to deserve a position in the list of candidates declared eligible to contest. Regarding the manner of elections, the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote would be better than the “first-past-the-post” system prevailing now. The Lyngdoh Committee will no doubt make sound recommendations after considering these and other suggestions. The ultimate order that may be passed by the highest court, in all probability, will be a trend-setter paving the way for revitalising democracy not only in the students’ unions but also in all other areas such as Bar Associations, Bar Councils, the Medical Council, the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Press Council. All these organisations are unable to throw up leadership of eminence and bodies. Parliamentary democracy stands recognised as part of the basic structure of the Constitution. The judiciary is the ultimate protector of the basic structure of the Constitution. At a time when the executive and the legislature are unable to effectuate the long-awaited reforms to save democracy, who else can go to its
rescue? The writer is a senior advocate, Supreme Court of India.
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Living anachronisms I am often struck by the spectacle of a new species of humankind — the living anachronisms. They are a visual falsity, an optic illusion whatever you may choose to call them. You would encounter them often foppishly attired on all social occasions, including marriages and funerals. They would come with a fresh coat of paint on the beard or head darker than the hue of brethren half their age, a necktie or turban (if that is the case) matching to perfection. The choice of colour would be a shocking pink, a turquoise or parrot green. Their loose fitting apparel will show huge gaps between the body the fabric. The idea is to convey an image of athletic fitness and vivacity. The wrinkles on the face will be attributed to a rigorous regime of exercise that they are taking. While shaking your hand they would make it a point to squeeze it as hard as possible and would drop a comment on your greying beard (if you do not dye) and a post middle-age midriff as signs of your having given up the ghost. “I am seventyfive and fit as a fiddle. What is happening to you?” would be the kind of refrain in their conversation, the sarcasm barely concealed. A friend from such a species collapsed which doing the hundredth pushup and another one after an additional game of tennis. The reason — they were trying to give a lie to their age. I am not trying to worry this class of optimists but would advise them greater caution while beating themselves at this game of looking young. The posterity expects them to live longer even if they do not hide the years behind
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Indo-Russian ties Till
the closing years of the 20th century, neither strategic thinkers nor astrologers of power had any inkling about the rise of Asia, “Chindia” in particular, as a global economic powerhouse. Though there were books entitled “The End of the American Century”, “Beyond American Hegemony” and “America as an Ordinary Power”, the overwhelming view among American scholars, including Paul Kennedy, was that like the 20th century, the 21st century too would be an American century. Few had predicted that the centre of the world would move East and that the early years of the 21st century would see Asia emerge as voracious guzzlers of oil and gas. Asia has emerged not only as the single largest supplier of oil and gas, but also as the fastest growing consumer of hydrocarbons in the world. This has impacted on the behaviour of oil and gas producing countries towards the largest consumers — Japan, South Korea, China and India. India has held two Asian oil summits this year. The first meeting in January saw oil ministers from the powerful OPEC countries of the Gulf coming to India. The success of the first get-together prompted New Delhi to host the second roundtable of North and Central Asian oil producers and principal Asian consumers in November. The meeting was co-hosted by Russia. The Trans-Caucasus is witnessing a renewed “Great Game” similar to the “Great Game” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which pitted British interests against those of the Tsarist Empire and the German Reich. Today’s scramble is as much for black gold as for geopolitics. The US, therefore, sees the roundtable as a smart move on the part of India and Russia to checkmate its “Great Game” in Central Asia. It is against this backdrop that the new transformation in Indo-Russian ties needs to be viewed and analysed. If economic reforms are driving Indo-US relations towards new directions, geopolitics and geo-economics are dictating a new course in Indo-Russian relations. During the Cold War days, Indian and Russian interests converged primarily in terms of containing American and Chinese influence in Asia. And yet Indo-Russian ties were not “long on rhetoric and short on substance” as some analysts suggest but fairly substantive. While the history of Indo-US ties has been one of technological denial, sanctions and arm twisting, Russia has stood by India in moments of crisis. This is not to suggest that India should remain anchored in the past. New Delhi has moved closer to the US for all the right reasons. But to expect that America will make India a great power, as sections of ill-informed people believe, would be downright foolish. It would be equally unrealistic to expect Russia to behave like the Soviet Union. India is changing the course of its foreign policy. So is Russia. If India is courting the US and mending fences with China, so is Russia. It is energy which is creating a new synergy in Indo-Russian ties. Given the new geopolitical and geo-economic realities, Russia is going to be even more relevant to the Indian scheme of things than it has ever been. India and Russia will become even more central to each other’s interests than in the past. Presently, India imports 70 per cent of its crude oil requirements. In 2025, this would rise to 85 per cent. Hence, India needs a long-term oil policy and also to secure a stable oil market. India’s oil diplomacy has placed a special emphasis on Russia and the neighbouring region as thrust areas for acquiring oil equity abroad. India is aware of the vast potential of Russia in the energy sector. It is significantly expanding investment in the Russian energy sector. In formulating its oil strategy, India has kept two factors in mind - its historic ties with Moscow and Russia’s energy strength. Russia is a principal source of global energy and it has played a pioneering role in setting up India’s oil and gas infrastructure over the past 50 years. India has already committed $2.14 billion in investments by ONGC Videsh in the oil-rich Sakhalin-1 offshore field, where production of oil and gas has now begun. India is now ready to go beyond Sakhalin. It is seriously looking to invest a further $1.5 billion in the Sakhalin-3 field, which is estimated to hold 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 770 billion cubic metres of gas, and another $1.5 billion in the joint Russian-Kazakh Kurmangazy oilfield, both in the Caspian Sea. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rightly characterised India’s equity participation in the Sakhalin project as a “very successful beginning” while President Putin described India as “a long-term partner” in the energy sector. India is also very keen on joint exploration and distribution of natural gas in the Caspian Basin, for building underground gas storage facilities in India as well as technology transfer from Russia. ONGC Videsh is also exploring the possibility of winning exploration bids in the Russian continental shelf. The huge potential in the energy sector will compensate for the poor performance in bilateral trade. If energy security is the key to India becoming a great power, Russia’s ambition of reclaiming its superpower status too will be achieved, thanks to its abundant oil and gas reserves. Collaboration in the defence sector has not been insignificant either. There is a tendency to take Indo-Russian defence collaboration somewhat for granted. Today Indo-Russian defence ties have moved much beyond a buyer-seller relationship. The focus of current defence ties is on cooperation in cutting-edge technologies, joint research and investment in R&D and joint production of fifth-generation arms. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit has paved the way for large-scale transfers of military technologies. The Brahmos cruise missile is the showpiece of Indo-Russian collaboration. Several countries are showing interest in buying Brahmos. India’s ambition of acquiring a blue Navy and nuclear submarine also rests with Moscow. |
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Russia in trouble over gas dispute When
Russia officially became head of the leading group of industrialized nations on Jan. 1, it said energy security would be at the top of the group’s agenda; in fact, the issue already was on the minds of Europe and the United States — but not in the way Russia had intended. The decision by Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, to halt gas shipments to Ukraine also interrupted supplies bound for other parts of Europe and left Russia in an awkward spot at an awkward time, analysts say. What was a price dispute between two former allies became a kind of international spectacle that has simultaneously reopened questions about Russia’s place among its fellow members of the Group of Eight and raised new questions about the country’s reliability as a energy supplier. “It’s very awkward. It puts Russia’s membership under a cloud,” Margo Light, an international relations expert at the London School of Economics, said of the cutoff of natural gas to Ukraine and Russia’s status in the G8. “I think it’s going to make European countries think again whether they really want this dependency” on Russian gas. A spokesman for Gazprom, the natural gas supplier, said that Russian and Ukrainian officials agreed Tuesday to resume talks to resolve their dispute, though it was not known what compromises either side might offer. Natural gas supplies from Russia to countries elsewhere in Europe, meanwhile, were said to have returned to near-normal levels. The gas issue provides a glimpse of how business is done in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, where the leadership is sometimes caught between its need to allow commercial interests to operate according to transparent, free-market principles and its desire to maintain tight control over economic and political life. Some critics say Russia has succeeded only at the latter. Andrei Illarionov, a frequent Kremlin critic who resigned his post as Putin’s economic adviser last week in part over the natural gas issue, accused Russia of becoming a “corporatist” state, looking out not for the interests of Russian citizens but for a few powerful companies — including Gazprom, Russia’s largest. “When I took the job, we spoke about conducting a liberal economic policy,” Illarionov said the day he stepped down. “Now, the state has evolved in quite the opposite direction.” In an interview last week with Ekho Moskvy radio, Illarionov said Russia’s disagreement with Ukraine over the price of natural gas has nothing to do with economics, though Gazprom would gain at least $3 billion if Ukraine accepted the quadrupling of rates that the company seeks. He accused Russia of using natural resources as an “energy weapon,” the way Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries did in 1973 in imposing an oil embargo on the United States and other supporters of Israel. The prevailing view in Ukraine is much the same. Government officials there say Russia is engaging in blackmail aimed at destabilizing the country’s economy and, ultimately, returning to power a regime sympathetic to the Kremlin. Energy exports — in the era of sky-high oil prices — have been the engine of Russia’s economic growth and account for nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product, according to the World Bank. Gazprom controls about a third of the world’s natural gas supplies.
— LA Times-Washington Post |
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Now Sikh history with pictures Though
Khushwant Singh is an atheist, he has perhaps done much more for the community than any present-day Sikh. And though he is 91 years old, there’s no loosening of his grip on the pen. And the latest from him is the OUP published “The Illustrated History Of the Sikhs”, which will be formally released on January 12 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. And though this volume has been adapted from his “History of the Sikhs”, it’s the illustrations and photographs (over 150) which have added a very vital dimension. With that addition, it’s possibly the only volume of its kind on the community in terms of its being very comprehensive and is referred constantly as “a definite history of the community.” And though the narrative begins more than 500 years ago with the birth of Sikhism, it takes you through the various turns of history and the effect it had on the community and its people. Social, political and economic changes are also recorded. And if you were to ask Khushwant what struck him to be the most striking phase, he says: “It’s the transformation from the Bhindranwale period through Operation Bluestar, through the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi and the massacre of Sikhs, to the isolation of the Sikhs when they were made to feel they did not belong to the mainstream till the turnaround came. It came slowly but it did come ultimately. For the first time in the history of India there is a Sikh Prime Minister, a Sikh as the Chief of the Army and a Sikh heading the Planning Commission of India.” He adds: “The prophecy — “Raj Karega Khalsa” (the Khalsa shall rule) has come true, but the Khalsa is ruling today not through the sword but through the pen!” In writing this vast history and commenting on the turn of events, Khushwant himself went through some trying times — when he wrote against Bhindranwale’s and the very call for the formation of Khalistan. He was given death threats and for several long years, he was on the hit list of terrorists. When the earlier two volumes on the “History of the Sikhs” were to be published there was a major hindrance put forth by Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who took Khushwant to court. It was in the UK and as Khushwant puts across: “the court there decided that I had maligned him and I was ordered to pay one penny as the damage!” With that the publication went ahead. It was OUP chief Manzar Khan’s idea to add the illustrated dimension to it and he put editor Anil Chandy on the job. I would like to quote from this volume: “A balance sheet of the community’s achievements and failures over the last twenty-five years does not read too badly. According to the census report of 2001, Punjab’s population of 2.43 crore was increasing annually by 1.82 per cent. Of this over 60 per cent are Sikhs largely living in rural areas. Eighty per cent of Sikhs live in Punjab, around 19 per cent in other parts of India and 1 per cent have settled abroad. Though Punjab has slipped from its top position as the most prosperous state to the third after Delhi and Goa, its per capita income is Rs 15,255 (as given on page 47 of Economic Survey of Punjab) and Sikhs remain the most prosperous major community of the
country.. Sikhs are often mocked by their detractors that the only culture they know is agriculture. This is far from true as many have made their names as artists, dancers, musicians, filmmakers and pop singers.” Khushwant gives you details of what the Sikhs are doing in various fields — here and abroad. Khushwant has also focussed on the ever-lasting message of peace and oneness that the Sikh faith stands for. I quote these lines from the volume: “There is one God /He is the supreme truth. /He, the creator /is without fear and without hate /He, the omnipresent, /pervades the universe /He is not born. /Nor dies He die to be born again /By His grace shalt thou worship Him.” |
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From the pages of Punjab to go dry
What concerns us greatly is Mr Johnson’s statement that Mr Harkishen Lal, the Minister in charge of Excise in the Punjab, had told him that immediately, i.e., from April next, the Punjab would go dry. If Lala Harkishen really succeeds in bringing about this reform, he will fully justify the confidence reposed in him by the people before he was appointed a Minister. But we should like to know more of the process by which this result is to be achieved. At present all that we know is that a local option resolution was carried by the Council during its last session. A resolution, however, is not a bill and unless given effect to by the Executive Government is scarcely better than the expression of a pious opinion. |
That is, do not follow the desires of the rebellious, who do not judge by what God has revealed. — Islam While counting and fixing auspicious day, we forget that God is above and beyond such considerations. — Guru Nanak Wherein is the strength of a devotee? He is a child of God, and his devotional tears are his mightiest weapons. — Ramakrishna One need not fear anything if one has received God’s grace. — Ramakrishna |
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