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The grounded
chopper Talaq: what? |
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Scientific research
Who are the unions
serving?
The Kitty
Governance and
water crises in Delhi US lawyers seek
faster green card processing No. 1 resolution
for 2006: keep learning
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Talaq: what? The
nebulous entity called “community” is supposed to be the conscience keeper of a collective of persons and ensure that they adhere to certain basic decencies. But when the “community” itself behaves like a mob and converts it into thought police, it is the duty of the government to cut it down to size. Of late, such self-styled community leaders are becoming a law unto themselves, passing quixotic edicts. If in Haryana, they tell a Hindu couple to live like brother and sister, in Orissa, they are forcing a Muslim couple to be divorced on the facetious plea that the husband uttered talaq thrice when he was under the influence of liquor. Interestingly, the husband denies it and the couple is very much keen to live together. Yet, the “local community” will have none of it. If what this mob is doing is bizarre, the role of the Orissa government is even worse. Its police will just not intervene, saying that it is a religious matter. That is simple abdication of authority. Ironically, even the Orissa High Court did not give them any relief and they have had to approach the highest court of the land for seeking a direction to the police for taking immediate action against those villagers who are threatening and not permitting them to live together with their four minor children. The hounded couple even approached a mufti who issued a fatwa to the effect that the divorce was not effective as triple talaq was uttered under intoxication. But the mob approached another mufti and obtained a fatwa to the contrary. This is making a mockery of the provision of triple talaq and also the religious edicts. The couple is absolutely right when it says that even if it is a religious matter, it must bend in favour of fundamental rights. It is the responsibility of the government to stand by the harried couple. |
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Scientific research It
is commonly said that common sense is something that is not very common. Now if scientific rationalism was required to prove this, it has been done. Never mind that it is so much more good money gone down the drain, and only to establish what one is brought up to believe, and knew all along. There is no dearth of such quixotic research undertaken at great public expense, yet two recent “research findings” are among the most ridiculous. One relates to sleep and the other to the effects of alcohol. Children who don’t get enough sleep show it in their school performance, is what “new research” in an American university – where else – reveals. The study’s lead author, Dr Gahan Fallone, says, “Sleep is important. Parents need to take it seriously and get their kids to bed at a reasonable hour”. Surely, that doesn’t rank as a professorial discovery; nor does the finding that sleep-deprived children are less attentive in class the day after they have stayed up late at night. But, that’s research for you – what grandma, if not mum and dad, told kids even before universities came up in the world to conduct such studies. A recent experiment in the UK to study the effects of alcohol on teenagers is almost a bad joke – on those who were made to gulp down the intoxicants as well as the authorities that paid for it. Excessive alcohol intake, the research showed, had harmful effects on the students and their academic performance. The day after imbibing heavily, they were found to be less energetic; besides, alcohol impaired concentration, alertness, learning and memory. No doubt, the findings triggered protests – against waste of public funds to get young men drunk to “research” the most obvious. Clearly, there is a case for more sober research by scientists who don’t lose sleep over the absence of such experiments. |
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A dose of adversity is often as needful as a dose of medicine. — American proverb
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Who are the unions serving? During
a rare moment of lucidity, trade union leader Gurudas Dasgupta had acknowledged in a television programme that the Indian labour leaders hadn’t always paid much attention to telling workers about the value of productivity. The late Jatin Chakravarty, who was a minister in West Bengal’s Left Front government and also a trade unionist belonging to the RSP, told me once that the Leftists could not ask the workers to work since “we told them not to” when in the opposition. And why weren’t they supposed to work ? The explanation may seem silly now after the collapse of communism. But in the sixties the Leftists seriously believed that since the days of capitalism were numbered, there was no point in the working class labouring hard to keep the factories running for the benefit of the capitalists. Instead, the workers were to subvert them as a revolutionary tactic. These admissions explain why the trade union movement has earned a bad name, with the unions generally being blamed for the promotion of indiscipline and a lethargic work culture. The problem is probably at its worst in West Bengal because of the long years of Leftist rule, which ensured that the unions were constantly pampered. Among the most mollycoddled are the government employees, which has made Writers Building, the seat of the government in Kolkata, famous for its relaxed atmosphere. If the only fallout of such leisurely habits was that the files moved slowly, the absence of discipline had its most deadly impact in the hospitals, where the Class IV staff became a byword for insolence. Regrettably, their victims were the helpless patients. The recent incident in a Kolkata hospital where ants ate the eyes of a patient in coma is an example. The hospital staff reportedly refused to remove the ants, saying that it wasn’t their job to do so. It is only now that a belated attempt is being made to rectify the situation by the Buddhadev Bhattacharjee government. But the roots of the problem lie in two aspects of the trade union movement. One is the baneful impact of the Leftist influence to the exclusion of nearly all other parties, and the other is the militancy encouraged by the communists as a part of their combative philosophy. The break-up of the Left parties was another unfortunate feature of the movement. For instance, the split in the undivided CPI in 1964 meant that all the frontal organisations of the party broke up, leading to the constitution of separate organisations of students, teachers and trade unions. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) came into existence as a result, breaking away from the CPI’s All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The AITUC, set up in 1920, was originally with the Congress, then the dominant political force in the country. But it split in 1929 when the communists broke away. Writing about the rupture,
M.N. Roy said “the C.P. (Communist Party) does not seem to know the difference between the political party of the proletariat and the trade union. Thanks to this deplorable ignorance, it split the
T.U. Congress.” In a way, this was the beginning of the politicisation of trade unions, with a communist pamphlet saying at the time: “Many declare like wise men: do not drag in politics into the labour movement. But only 2 per cent of the people belong to the capitalist class and yet to maintain their interests they have made various laws, sent representatives to the legislative councils and so on. Being a small minority of the nation, they can take and, as a matter of fact, are taking shelter under politics; but the vast masses who are the life of the nation will remain deprived of the right of participating in politics. This is a fine argument, indeed!” The communists returned to the AITUC in 1935. But the influence of politics over workers’ interests became palpable when the AITUC, under communist inspiration, endorsed the British war effort after the US and Britain became an ally of the Soviet Union in the battle against Nazi Germany. “The wheels of production must not stop but keep running”, the communists said, as this was the “logical conclusion from our people’s war policy. Though we stick to and defend the right of labour to strike, it is our settled policy now to minimise strikes and settle disputes through negotiations”. It is a pity that this “settled policy” is honoured nowadays more in the breach than in observance. Perhaps the reason is that after the British departed, the comrades said that India had fallen into the hands of the comprador bourgeoisie, who are agents of the imperialists. As such, the battle to “liberate” India has to continue and what better way to wage the struggle than by stopping the wheels of production. Not surprisingly, West Bengal was chosen as the base for conducting this operation since there was a friendly “pro-people” government in power. Just as the Naxalites launched their agrarian revolution in Naxalbari in 1967 for the same reason (without realising that the United Left Front-Bangla Congress government would send the police against them), the trade unions believed that the time had come to evict the capitalists. And evict them they did through the use of gherao, which, as Mr Bhattacharjee has conceded, is the contribution of the Left trade unions to the Oxford dictionary. The indiscipline which this new tactics fostered has been a feature of the movement since then. Another reason why the militancy associated with gheraos reached frightening proportions was the old malady of factionalism breeding competitive belligerence. So, if the AITUC chose to be coercive during one of its demonstrations, the CITU had per force to take its aggression a notch higher. The outcome was the flight of capital which made West Bengal an industrial wasteland. But even as Mr Bhattacharjee is now making desperate attempts to repair the state’s battered image and woo the investors back, the trade union bosses are at their old game again. Their new target is the IT sector, which has already been a victim of one of the periodic bandhs the comrades organise to keep the revolutionary fires burning. Notwithstanding the Chief Minister’s efforts to protect this sector, which has to work for 24 hours to service clients in the West, the trade unions are keen to ensure that their writ of obstruction prevails. If they succeed, it can lead to another flight of capital, confirming that the trade unions still constitute the biggest hurdle to India’s economic advancement. In the early decades of the last century, the trade unions may have contributed to making the public and the colonial government aware of the menace of rampant capitalism, paving the way for the enactment of laws to ensure safety and adequate wages. But since the sixties, the trade unions have become an impediment to development. What is more, since the organised sector among the workers is a mere 8 per cent of the total workforce, their anti-growth policies, reflected in their opposition to computers at one time and now to labour reforms, FDI in certain sectors, pension fund reforms, airport modernisation, etc, are harming the welfare of the large majority of
workers.
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The Kitty BEING the mother of two animal-loving children, who on and off keep making demands (albeit without much success) for a pet of their own, I am quite used to stray dogs being fed with carefully smuggled-out biscuits and milk from my home. In fact, all this “food smuggling business” has now led to a rather O.K-looking black female dog (which the kids have named Bozie because Bozo is the name they have decided for their dog, as and when they manage to get one) having adopted us. Bozie too has decided to pay us back in her own way and has now taken it upon herself to guard our already well-guarded home inside the Airforce Station Palam in New Delhi. But this is not Bozie’s story. This is Kitty’s story. One day my 10-year-old daughter implored me that could I “please please” allow her to get “Kitty” home for just a “teenie-weenie short while”. Kitty, I was told, was a small kitten who lived inside the provision store of the shopping complex in the campus, and was looked after quite well by its owner, a pleasant young man. Since the next day was her much-dreaded history test, I allowed my daughter to bring Kitty home, but only for 30 minutes. The black-haired frolicky little Kitty, hardly four-inch high, was the centre of attention for the next half an hour. She was given milk in an empty rasogullah container. After playing with her for some time, my daughter carried the fluffy animal back to the provision store, with a promise that I would allow her to bring Kitty again, after the test. After getting over the history test the next day, my daughter skipped over to the shopping complex, only to return back empty-handed. “Mummy the shop-wallah bhaiya says Kitty is dead,” she told me, to which my most natural query was: “How, what happened?” “He says after I left Kitty at the shop yesterday, he went out for lunch. And while he was away, a stray dog took away Kitty,” she said, fighting back her tears. Considering it an appropriate opportunity for teaching my 10-year-old a lesson or two about the ways of life, I decided to tell her a few home truths. “Life is like that. You are feeling bad for Kitty because you met her. Countless animals get killed everyday by bigger animals and human beings alike. It is all about the survival of the fittest. Cry if you want to, it will make you feel better. But remember, people and friends who are there with you today may not be there with you tomorrow. Situations change, people also change so enjoy your today. etc. etc.” “Something like the Shahrukh Khan movie where he said be happy today ‘cause kal ho na ho,” she asked. “Exactly,” was my response, happy that my little girl was perceptive about intricacies of life. But before she sat down to prepare for her next test, she told me something that I forgot to tell her: “Mummy, isn’t it good that before Kitty died we were able to meet her for a short while, when she gave us so much happiness.” What my little girl wanted to say was that it is not important how long you live, what is more important is how much joy and happiness you are able to give others in your life, however short or long it may
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Governance and water crises in Delhi Delhi’s
continuing water crisis stems from the absence of accountability between its governing authorities, and between them and consumers. Its water shortage is man-made. Delhi has between 150 and 250 litres per capita daily, as much as in many cities in the world, including London and Paris. But Delhi’s water consumers do not get piped drinking water round the clock. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) aims to supply 24/7 drinking water but no part of Delhi gets this, although better-off areas get more piped water than poor ones. The DJB makes policy and also delivers the service. This implies that there is no separation of powers. Delhi’s water problems reflect a broader crisis of governance caused by the
multiplicity of its governing authorities. They include the Centre, which has control over Delhi’s administration. The President of India nominates the Lt. Governor of Delhi. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Urban Development also influence the planning and administration of the city through the appointment of a Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The Municipal Commissioner discharges his duties under the general supervision of the Centre, not of the elected Municipal Council. Linkages between Delhi’s governing and planning authorities are opaque and conflicts arising from their lack of jurisdictional clarity are frequent. The general development of Delhi is under the jurisdiction of the town planning department of the MCD, but the DJB is responsible for the production and distribution of drinkable water and also the treatment and disposal of wastewater. There are no clear guidelines for coordination of policy or accountability mechanisms between Delhi’s different governing authorities. For instance, the DDA decides what land is to be developed and draws up the city’s Master Plan. The Plan is implemented by the MCD. But there is no review or sanction by the DJB when the DDA clears a building plan so that adequate water supply is ensured even to an authorised development. The MCD gives permission for houses to be built in accordance with its byelaws. Provision for electricity and water is made after the house has been built. The DJB, therefore, comes into the picture at a very late stage. Delhi’s authorities cannot even agree on how much water the city needs. The DDA’s Master Plan for 2021 envisages that Delhi will need 1800 million gallons per day (MGD) for a projected population of 23 million. But the DJB’s capacity augmentation Master Plan envisages that its capacity will increase to a maximum of 919 MGD from all possible sources. No part of Delhi’s water network is leakage free and at least 40 per cent of the water that leaves the DJB is lost through leakages. In 2003-4 156 kilometres of old or leaking water mains had been replaced in different parts of Delhi, and 82 kilometres of new water lines laid. But it would take at least 10-15 years to replace all old pipes. There is no capacity to deliver water anywhere in Delhi without losing it. The DJB barely recovers 40 per cent of its operating costs because for long Delhi’s water rate has been among the lowest in the world — at 35 paise per litre. Higher tariffs are supposed to help to facilitate the delivery of 24/7 water. But in some areas consumers complain about monthly connection charges ranging from Rs 40 to Rs 120 per connection. This charge has to be paid even in the absence of improved water delivery. New meters do not work properly partly because of the salts that come in with a dirty and intermittent supply of water. So consumers have complained about inaccurate bills. And some take the view that the authorities are not motivated to deliver because delivery is not the norm. Consumer voice does not exist in the slum areas; it is extra-constitutional and powerless in better-off areas. The authorities are not obliged to listen to RWA representatives. Bhagidari does not ensure water delivery; indeed no mechanism in Delhi does. Reform requires a change in attitudes of government and people. The real issue is better management, whether by the DJB or by the private sector. Policy making, regulatory and service provision functions need to be kept in separate organisations and processes. Also, the definition of powers and responsibilities of the different tiers of government is essential to provide fiscal incentives for change. A “culture” of efficient and timely delivery needs to be created through the participation of providers and consumers through consultative legal and administrative mechanisms. Only then will the accountability of, and public confidence in, the DJB and Delhi’s governing authorities be enhanced. |
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US lawyers seek faster green card processing American
lawyers are seeking faster processing of Green Cards by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for thousands of immigrants, including several Indian Americans who have been approved as legal permanent residents. The lawyers had got a successful ruling from a California judge ordering that the DHS cough up the Green Card for immigrants who have been approved. But they are now planning to appeal the decision saying that the DHS should give the documentation in less than the 60 days time limit that the judge has given. A Green Card gives the holder official immigration status (Lawful Permanent Residency) in the US. In December last year, US District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the Northern District of California added teeth to her August 2005 summary judgment ruling in which she held that the DHS’ policy of withholding documentation (Green Card) from those already determined to be Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) by immigration courts was not right. She issued a permanent injunction ordering the DHS to issue Green Cards to LPRs within 30 days and 60 days depending on when the papers were applied for. In issuing a permanent injunction she in effect rejected the DHS’ national security contentions calling the arguments “illogical and unacceptably vague as a legal justification for withholding documentation”, lawyers contend. Attorney Javier N. Maldonado of the Texas Lawyers for Civil Rights, who led the fight against the DHS for some 6,000 immigrants that include several Indian Americans, indicated that judge Patel’s decision was a good one but not enough for the thousands who have been waiting so many months and even years. “I think in this environment where this administration uses national security for anything to defend their action, I think in a very concrete way, the court has said, ‘Look, in this context, national security won’t do. These people are legal residents. They are entitled to their documentation. You, the government, have had an opportunity to investigate them. Now you must issue them their documentation’,” Maldonado said while talking to IANS. “The matter is over at the district court (level) but either party can appeal. We have 60 days to file an appeal. We’re considering appealing that part of the injunction — that for people who were granted legal status before April 2005 and have not received proof of their lawful status, the DHS should issue documentation to them within 30 days as opposed to 60.” There are two classes involved in the case and judge Patel ordered the DHS to issue Green Cards within 30 days to those who were granted status after April 1, 2005, and 60 days to those granted status before April 1. “We want plaintiffs to get documentation in faster form,” Maldonado said. Asked how many of the class were of Indian origin, he said, “They could be of various nationalities. I cannot say how many of them are Indian.” Nevertheless, Maldonado said he was pleased with the judge’s decision. “Our clients will now have the opportunity to fully enjoy the important rights and privileges of being a lawful permanent resident in the US - that is to work, travel, attend school and pursue the American dream.” The plaintiffs are represented by Cooley Godward LLP, the Texas Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). — Indo-Asian News Service |
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No. 1 resolution for 2006: keep learning Here
are the resolutions I wish we would all make for 2006: —Learn something new. Are you bored at work? Does your job feel like a grind? If it does, then you’re bringing everyone down. Including yourself. And it doesn’t have to be that way. Learn something new and take it back to the office. If it doesn’t apply to your job but you think you could find a job where these new skills will be excitedly put to use, then make a search for that new opportunity part of your resolution. There are so many classes, groups and organizations out there that can help us expand our brains and inspire us again. It’s time to figure out what we want to learn and go for it. Take Chuck Murphy, who started a new job in December: “My resolution is to take advantage of a generous tuition reimbursement program and become an invaluable asset to my employer,” he said. His organization offers a $3,500 reimbursement every year, even for non-work-related courses, he said. It awards bonuses for degree milestones and even offers interesting free courses that can be taken at work. It’s so easy to know your employer offers this, but not to actually use it. It’s free money, and a free education. We should always be learning new things, even if we already have our degree. —Communicate. Do you, as a manager, have a problem with an employee? Tell her. She needs to know. And the more she knows, the more she can fix her problem. Then the better off you, as a manager, are. Employees: Think something in your workplace needs to change? Figure out what that is and why it needs to change. Then talk to someone about it. There is no use sitting around whining if you are only going to ... whine. “In general, you have to be very specific,” said Heather Bradley, co-founder of the Flourishing Company, a workplace consulting firm. “If a goal is ‘I want to manage my career,’ that’s great, but what are the action steps you’re going to take? “Acknowledge first that you are miserable, then decide what you are going to do about it,” she said. “Recreational complaining: It has become a lifestyle. You can find lots of other people who take part in that activity. Or you can sit aside from that group and do something different this year.” Great advice. Which leads perfectly into this: —Stop dreaming. Just do it. These resolutions you make will sound exciting and maybe even inspiring. But without finally stepping up and following through on the resolve part of the resolution, it will all mean nothing. Again. One senior administrative assistant in a governmental relations office told me she will resolve to get to work on time. Her primary reason is to get a good reference because she’s also looking for a new job, and it’s hard to get a new job if you’ve left a bad impression with your current boss. So, baby steps, baby: Get to work on time. “I’m usually famously late,” she told me, because of traffic and a long commute, blah, blah, blah. Time to stop making excuses. If you’re 15 minutes late every day, start leaving 15 minutes earlier. How hard is that? Jan. 1 provides the perfect “opportunity to refocus and create a new habit,” Crom said. “If you keep that (resolution) going for the month of January ... that will be a new habit” that you can hold throughout the year. — LA Times-Washington Post |
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From the pages of Sikhs and kirpan question
It will be seen from a communiqué issued by the Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee that in the opinion of the Committee the religious situation affecting the Sikhs is as grave as ever. The grounds for this opinion are, first, that Pandit Dinanath has not been released; secondly, that the convictions of the Panth Sewaks in the keys affair still stand, and it has not been announced that no disabilities will attach to them in consequence of these convictions; thirdly that no measure for Gurdwara reforms acceptable to the Sikh Community has been presented by the Ministry; and, fourthly and lastly, that no circular freeing the Kirpan has been issued by Government. So far as the first, the second and the fourth of these grievances are concerned, it is not only in the highest degree necessary but quite easy for Government to remove them. The Kirpan question has been agitating the community for a long time, and we are convinced that the solution of this question is essential to the settlement of the Sikh problem. The convictions of the Gurdwara prisoners should be set aside on the same ground on which we have recently urged the setting aside of the convictions in the Lahore leaders’ case. |
The portions of men and women differ because a family man is obliged to support others, while a woman is not. — Islam The heart of the devotee is the abode of God. He dwells, no doubt, in all things, but he especially manifests himself in the heart of the devotee. —
Ramakrishna Whoever has come will have to go whether he is the king, a pauper or a fakir. But that doesn’t stop one from continuing sitting on a throne or keeping some one tied in chains. —
Kabir Some people neglect or give up their duty in life for the sake of a spiritual life while others excuse themselves from spiritual practices saying that they have not time. The
Lord’s message is to sanctify the entire living process itself.
— Bhagavadgita |
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