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Monsoon tidings Job quotas |
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Games people play
Shame of Kandhar and Advani
A dangerous place
New hope for Bhopal gas victims World growth surge should be used to end protectionism Delhi Durbar
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Monsoon tidings IN our politics and celebrity-obsessed country, one story which always manages to get everyone’s undivided attention is the one about the fate of the coming monsoon. How it will fare concerns everybody, given that the fate of the whole country is inexorably linked with it. Everything from crop production to electricity generation is dependent on the monsoon. That is why even general elections have been won or lost on the basis of the kind of monsoon the country had in the election year. Our dependability on the rains being so complete, the news that the country will have a normal to near-normal monsoon this year will justifiably bring cheer and hope to millions and millions of people. That should act as a catalyst to the rising Sensex as well as the country’s aspirations to emerge as a global power. Cheerful that this prediction is, there are far too many imponderables involved which can make even scientific crystal-grazing a hazardous occupation. Calculations have gone wrong many a time in the past, and if that happens this time too, the country will be in all sorts of trouble. In any case, it is not just the total volume of precipitation but also its proper distribution over a long period of time and geographical area which matters a lot. Even a little bit of excess or depleted rainfall can lead to serious consequences. The problem is that lately the national effort to lessen the total dependence on the monsoon has slackened. A few years of adequate rain have made us too smug about the dangers that lurk around the corner. Why, even the annual monsoon-preparedness measures are grossly inadequate and are mostly confined to official files. That is why there is no long-term perspective and planning worth the name. While the country exults in anticipation of a bountiful monsoon, it will be worthwhile to remember the conventional wisdom: hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. The second Green Revolution itself will require a sustained drive by the Centre and more so by the states across the country. The present level of buffer stocks cannot feed the growing population endlessly.
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Job quotas Reservation in jobs is again emerging as a major political issue in the country. And Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking industry for extending “affirmative action” to weaker sections in the private sector has expectedly evoked sharp reaction from the captains of industry. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji is not alone when he says that it would be difficult for his organisation to compromise merit as the only way to compete in the global market is by hiring the best brains from India and abroad. Dr Singh’s suggestion to enhancing the educational and employment opportunities for weaker sections is understandable. However, what is worrying industry is his emphasis on “affirmative action” even though there was no direct mention of a fixed quota in his CII address. Already, industry is cut up with Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh’s proposal for reservation for OBCs in the IIMs, the IITs and Central universities. It is not clear whether the Centre is planning for legislation on job quotas in the private sector. However, industry’s response to quotas is any indication, it may be difficult for the government to have a smooth sailing on the issue, whatever its compulsions are, political or otherwise. It is nobody’s case that the marginalised groups of society should not be given greater access to the jobs available in the private sector. However, the issue in question is whether reservation is the most honest, effective and reliable way to help them and on what principles it is justified. The Prime Minister is wholly justified in stressing the need for a better deal to the socially disadvantaged sections. What industry can do in this regard is to prepare a comprehensive plan on how to help the weaker sections through scholarships, coaching, training and upgradation of skills. More investment in education will create conditions for greater market access. The state itself can subsidise high-tech education for the disadvantaged. But reservations, far from helping the marginalised groups, can have adverse social consequences. The economic and educational disparities of the underprivileged can be removed not by quotas, but by providing them education in the trades to gain a competitive edge in the job market.
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Games people play ONE way to look at the current revival of the debate about cricket and cricketers suffering from too many matches and jampacked tours is to see an opportunity to promote other games. It has long been recognised that cricket garners a disproportionate amount of the resources available in terms of money, infrastructure and personnel. While much of that simply follows from the enormous interest the game generates across countries and regions, it is clear that we have been lax in ensuring a minimal level of support for other sports. Games like tennis, which has seen a boost following the rise of Sania Mirza, are seen as elitist pastime, while they need not be. Some states and cities have already made a beginning in making available courts and tennis racquets at less expensive prices. Basket ball is another game with mass appeal that will benefit from active encouragement and promotion. It is possible to envision high levels of interest in inter-state and international basket ball fixtures. And athletics, of course, has been crying out for incentives. As for the cricketers, though the “excessive cricket” debate has been happening for some time now, it has taken on an interesting momentum. Shahid Afridi has announced his intention of keeping away from Tests, overruling his coach Bob Woolmer’s protests. International Cricketers Association President Tim May has now charged the governing body, the ICC, with ignoring the real danger of player burnout and has even held out the chance of “a players strike.” Cricket fans need to support this initiative, as both the ICC and boards like our own BCCI are reckless in wanting to squeeze as many golden eggs out as possible. Players are in a helpless position, as they are dependent on boards for selection. Valuable talent and the game itself have already begun to suffer. It really is time to slow things down.
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The photographer is like the cod which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity. — George Bernard Shaw
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Shame of Kandhar and Advani
NO one can blame Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee for reacting sharply to his long-time comrade-in-arms L. K. Advani’s far from honourable attempt to convey to the country that, as Deputy Prime Minister, he had opposed the Kandhar tradeoff between the passengers of the hijacked Indian aircraft and three of the worst Pakistani terrorists in this country’s prisons on the last day of the last millennium. The appropriateness of the decision to exchange the hostages for the prisoners — a painfully delicate matter, in the circumstances — is not the issue. What understandably infuriated Atalji was that never having done what he tried to hint at in a self-seeking exercise, Mr Advani was implicitly putting all the blame for the shame of Kandhar on the former Prime Minister. So much so that he invented the story that the then External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, went to Kandhar, along with the three released jehadis, “in pursuance of the Cabinet decision”. This is absolutely false, and too many people know this. Of Mr. Jaswant Singh’s attempted bonhomie, in full glare of TV cameras, with the thugs running the Taliban regime, the less said the better. As for his own role in the mess too terrible to recall, Mr. Advani used his lacklustre rathyatra to spread the word that he was “opposed to the decision and gave my opinion within the government”. But he did not wish to discuss the matter further with the media because “it is an old issue”. This is as good or bad an example of trying to eat one’s cake and have it too as we are likely to witness. This kind of erratic and errant behaviour dates back to Mr. Advani’s sudden discovery that Mohammed Ali Jinnah was a paragon of secularism, which led to his subsequent ouster from the BJP’s presidency. Since then he has been striving for a second coming and thinks that the only road to it lies through the “Hindutva high ground”. So what’s a little disinformation in a good cause? However, after Mr. Vajpayee’s reprimand, he has had to run for cover and to try to limit the damage. But it is measure of how badly shaken he is that Mr. Advani has fallen back on the hoary and pathetic ploy of blaming the media of “distorting” his remarks. This has taken in no one. On the contrary, the former Deputy Prime Minister and current Leader of the Opposition has created for himself a credibility gap, not merely with the public at large but also within the ranks of the BJP. Nor is it merely coincidental that in the midst of the controversy, the BJP general secretary, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, blandly announced that nearly “99 per cent of the BJP workers were opposed to Advaniji’s remarks on Jinnah”. Yet, one must have some sympathy with Mr. Advani. Since his original Ayodhya rathyatra in 1990 that gave the BJP a tremendous boost, he has understandably been coveting the office of Prime Minister but to no avail. Shortly before the 2004 Lok Sabha election, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, an Advani acolyte, floated the idea of the party going to the polls under the “joint leadership” of the “Vikas Purush (Development Man) Atalji and the Loh Purush (Iron Man) Advaniji”, only to be slapped down by Mr. Vajpayee. The Congress that leads the present ruling coalition is by no means in the pink of health. But the plight of the faction-ridden BJP is a lot worse. However, Mr. Advani’s anxiety is to ensure that he is his party’s candidate for the office of Prime Minister whenever the next elections are held. How the BJP and Mr. Advani cope with the problems that seem to be engulfing them is entirely their own business. Others can only wait and watch. But Mr. Advani’s strange and errant performance over the Kandhar affair raises serious and significant questions about the very functioning of the Indian political system. This country is a federal parliamentary democracy. Among the basic tenets that underpin it is the principle of the collective responsibility of the Cabinet. Of course, as far back as 1951, Ivor Jernnings, arguably the greatest expert on the Cabinet system, had acknowledged that the doctrine of primus inter pares (the Prime Minister being the “first among equals”) had gone by the board. A Prime Minister could easily become an “Imperial or dictatorial Prime Minister”, provided he or she could continue to command the support of a majority of the House of Commons. In the recent British history, Winston Churchill, Harold Wilson and Lady Margaret Thatcher are examples of what Jennings was talking about. In this country, Jawaharlal Nehru could have emulated their example, but chose not to. Indira Gandhi did so, of course, indeed with a vengeance. But then, except during her 33 months in the wilderness, she had two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, consisting of Congressmen who fell over each other in proclaiming undying loyalty to her. This should also explain why P. V. Narasimha Rao’s occasional attempt to issue a diktat —- such as his 1996 order to the Tamil Nadu unit of the party to stick to the alliance with Ms Jayalalithaa —- did not succeed. In this age of coalitions, a dictatorial Prime Minister would be a contradiction in terms. Against this backdrop it is regrettable, to say the least, that Mr. Advani, for reasons of his own, should have dealt a blow to the fundamental principle of the Cabinet’s collective responsibility, his subsequent retraction of sorts notwithstanding. If he was appalled by the proposed exchange at Kandhar, why did he not resign and come out in the open? Whatever his internal feelings remained within him. After it became clear on that traumatic night that the public reaction to what had happened at Kabul was very hostile, Mr. Advani’s spin-doctors briefed journalists to the effect that the Deputy Prime Minister was “opposed” to the deal and had even “hinted” at resignation. Some of this stuff did find its way into print. But Mr. Vajpayee had got wind of what was afoot —as he was bound to, unless the Intelligence Bureau and other agencies were sleeping —- and he chastised his colleague in no uncertain terms. If, in spite of all this, Mr. Advani has found it expedient to revert to making false claims, one can only sympathise with the BJP, which once used to boast of being a party with a
difference!
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A dangerous place
I
had heard from my parents any number of anecdotes about Jakhar village where they lived before Partition. Recently when I got a visa for Pakistan and told my father that I would like to visit my ancestral village, he forbade me to do so. “That is a very dangerous place... it was one of the worst hit by communal riots in 1947,” he cautioned. However, as soon as I crossed the border, I could think of nothing but Jakhar. How could my visit to Pakistan be complete without a pilgrimage to the place about which I had heard so-o-o-o much since childhood, I thought. So I hired a taxi from Lahore and reached the village, a part of Lyallpur district before Partition but now of Toba Tek Singh, in about five hours. A few enquiries later I was with Mamun, a childhood friend of my father who took me to “our” house. Though a new structure had been built on some parts of the haveli-like building, a major portion was still intact. Our shop too was still intact, now being run by some locals. The Muslim family now living in “our” house stunned me when they showed me images of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna painted on the upper storey of the house during the time my parents lived there. I was also overwhelmed to see the word “Om” painted in Urdu on top of our shop. A number of elders remembered with a sense of nostalgia the days they had spent with my grandparents, parents, uncles, cousins... Even people of the next generation knew about my elders. They had “heard” all that from their parents, they said! Some youngsters requested me to read for them an inscription in Hindi on an old house which had been puzzling them for years. I was surprised to see that it was actually in Gurmukhi. Imagine, no person knowing Hindi or Gurmukhi had visited that place during the past 58 years! When I read out the inscription (the names of the house owners and the month and year of construction), the youngsters carefully noted it down word for word. A few youth requested me to write their names in Hindi in their notebooks and diaries. Several people took my addresses and phone number. A student even took my autograph. If I have ever felt like a VVIP in all my life, it was here. Incidentally, when I reached Amritsar, I got a call on my cell phone from Pakistan. “Sir, I am Ghulam Hussain, I have come to know that you visited Jakhar three days back. Look, how unlucky I am, I had to be out of station on that very day. Sir, please come again some time...” Are you listening,
Dad?
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New hope for Bhopal gas victims THERE is a new hope for Bhopal gas tragedy victims following the Prime Minister’s acceptance of some of their important demands. A group of 39 gas tragedy victims and activists working with them walked all the way from Bhopal to Delhi, a distance of about 800 kms. Actually as many as 80 victims (and a few activists) left Bhopal for Delhi but due to their poor health nearly half of them had to return mid-way. The 39 who made it to Delhi sat on a dharna to draw the attention of the government to their six-point charter of demands. Six of them were on a hunger strike for seven days. On April 17 the Prime Minister accepted some of their key demands and the hunger strike was called off. These victims say that their health has been badly shattered by the gas tragedy as well as the later contamination of water supply caused by the dangerous wastes left behind by the Carbide plant. “I am like a living corpse”, says Amina Bi. “My vision is very weak, there is inflammation in my chest and I feel extremely weak all the time.” Amina Bi says she was four months pregnant at the time of the gas tragedy, and lost her child. Nafisa complains of similar symptoms. She lost her nephew — a small child — in the gas tragedy. “He passed green-blue stool and then died.” Hira Bai says her kidneys and ribs are damaged. Sometimes she just can’t stop coughing and then the pain is unbearable. Amanti Bi is a victim of the water contamination caused by Carbide wastes. “As a result of dirty water our health has been ruined. I developed sores in my mouth which hurt badly, I’ve lost my son and my daughter cannot speak.” Leela Bai said that she made the mistake of running towards the Carbide plant on the day of the gas leak. Later someone corrected her and then she changed her direction to reach a hospital. She still suffers from stomach pain, frequent vomiting and irritation in eyes. Rachna Dhingra, an activist with Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) says, “Out of the nearly 500,000 people who were exposed to gas, nearly 150,000 people continue to face long-term serious health problems.” BGIA and other groups had prepared a charter of six demands:— 1. A National Commission on Bhopal with the necessary authority and funds to provide facilities for healthcare, medical research, social support and economic rehabilitation of the people poisoned by Union Carbide/Dow Chemical (the current owners) and their children for at least the next 30 years. 2. Delivery of piped Kolar reservoir water to affected communities. 3. A Special Prosecution Cell in the Central Investigation Bureau for speedy prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation, Warren Anderson and others accused in the criminal case of the December ’84 disaster. 4. Payment for clean up of toxic contamination and compensation for the health and environment damage due to reckless dumping of chemical wastes. 5. Stopping of government purchase of Dursban and other Dow products and halt any expansion of Dow’s business in India. 6. Declaration of December 3rd as a National day of Mourning. Satinath Sarangi, a senior activist of BGIA, said: “Apart from the fact that very inadequate compensation has reached most gas victims, a lot of it actually found its way to moneylenders who charge as much as 300 per cent interest from people in distress”. Upto 20000 people still consume contaminated drinking water. No monitoring is being undertaken of the alarming and rising incidence of cancers and other diseases caused by contaminated water. There are no treatment protocols specific to diseases related to gas exposure. Research is inadequate and poorly linked to treatment. There is now significant evidence of damage to the second generation — growth retardation among boys and hormonal problem among girls — as found by a study (year 2003) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. These children are not even recognised to be affected by the Carbide gas leak. Expenditure of nearly Rs eight crores provided gainful employment to just about 240 persons. An estimated 50,000 population is in need of alternative employment. A survey of compensation among residents of Jaiprakash Nagar showed that 91 per cent of the people in the community immediately opposite the factory received only the minimum compensation amount of Rs 25000. Survivors complain that the system of compensation payment required excessive paperwork and complicated procedures and this opened the floodgates for middlemen and opportunists. To get a compensation of Rs 10000 for her husband’s death Nanni Bai had to pay Rs 60000 to a lawyer and broker. Clearly, justice has continued to elude the victims of the biggest industrial disaster even 21 years after the gas tragedy. But now there is new hope for them following the Prime Minister’s acceptance of some of their important demands. The Bhopal gas victims, on the seventh day of their indefinite hunger strike, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who assured the victims in a half-hour-long meeting that demands relating to clean water, clean-up of toxic wastes and the setting up of a national commission for medical and economic rehabilitation will be met. “We have decided to call off our hunger strike today as the Prime Minister has promised to meet four of the six demands,” spokesman for the protesters Nityanand Jayaraman said after the meeting of a delegation with Dr Manmohan Singh.
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World growth surge should be used to end protectionism THE prospect of a surge in global economic growth this year has given world leaders a final chance to tackle the massive imbalances that threaten the world economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. The financial watchdog raised its forecast for global growth this year to 4.9 per cent, the second highest in three decades, from its September outlook of 4.3 per cent. But hopes of a benign outcome had been severely dented by the “real danger” of rising protectionism in countries across the world, said the IMF’s chief economist, Raghuram Rajan. In comments that will be seen as a warning of a return to the nationalism that led up to the Second World War, Mr Rajan said: “Some governments see their role as pandering to vociferous interest groups by obstructing change. People tend to dismiss these as minor frictions — sand in the gears of the globalisation juggernaut. History, however, suggests the distance from economic patriotism to unbridled nationalism is a short one.” Two-thirds of the extra growth came from China, India and Russia, with Chinese growth revised up 1.3 percentage points — more than the entire growth of the Italian economy — to 9.5 per cent. But the IMF warned four years of growth above 4 per cent had allowed politicians to avoid dealing with a whole range of risks to the global economic outlook. “It would be fair to say to the world ‘you’ve never had it so good’,” Rajan said. “But serious policy reform has gone into remission. This period of strong growth is the perfect time to address the medium-term problems of adjusting to a more competitive integrated world. “Unfortunately far too little is being done in far too many places ...and from an economic viewpoint there is unlikely to be a favourable environment in which to tackle it.” The IMF said the huge imbalance between record financial deficits in the US, and surpluses in China and other Asian superpowers, was not sustainable. But he said the US’s continued ability to fund its shortfall had allowed the optimists to “gain ground” over the pessimists. But he added: “The optimists have to be right every day while the pessimists need to be right only once.” He urged the major economic powers to set up a new multilateral policy framework to oversee a managed adjustment, possibly as part of proposals for reform of the IMF. The comments, which hint at a repeat of the 1985 Plaza Accord that helped devalue the dollar, came as President Hu Jintao of China began a week-long visit to the US. Mr Rajan urged the Chinese to take further steps to liberalise their financial system before a further revaluation of its currency, the yuan, but it should be accompanied by a decline in the dollar. “It is in China’s interest to allow the currency to appreciate,” he said. “It is a win-win situation. It would help if depreciation in the dollar were to take place.” By arrangement with
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Delhi Durbar WHEN Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader Karan Singh was appointed chairman of the AICC’s foreign affairs department, it immediately led to speculation that he could well become the next external affairs minister, the post vacated by K. Natwar Singh. This speculation has surfaced once again now that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has chosen to send him to Nepal as his special envoy. With the external affairs ministry facing serious personnel problems, there is a buzz in political circles that it had become imperative to appoint a full-fledged minister as the PM has too much on his plate to devote much time to this crucial ministry. Besides Karan Singh, science and technology ministerKapil Sibal has also emerged as a strong contender for this prestigious post, particularly after he was appointed minister-in-waiting to both the visiting French and American Presidents.
A moment with the media The newly-appointed petroleum minister Murli Deora is known for his proximity to Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani. Recently, when the Reliance Group hosted a press conference at a five-star hotel to launch the initial public offer (IPO) of Reliance Petrochemicals, Mr. Deora was coincidentally in the same hotel, where he had a luncheon meeting with the US Speaker of House of Representatives. Presspersons were surprised when Mr Deora strolled across to the Reliance programme and spent at least fifteen minutes there. His excuse was that he was trying to convince presspersons to cover his “important meeting” with the US Speaker.
No deal! When the Scorpene submarine deal controversy hit the headlines, former BJP president L.K. Advani had gone on record to implicate Abhisekh Verma, son of former Congress MP, in this transaction. Verma promptly hit back by filing a defamation case against the BJP leader. It now transpires that Advani has sent an emissary to defence minister Pranab Mukherjee suggesting that this case be dropped and the matter settled out of court. While Mukherjee is said to be favourably inclined to this proposal, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has apparently decreed otherwise. The contention is that neither the party nor the government could intervene in this matter as both have gone on record to distance themselves from Abhishek Verma. The bottom line was that the law should be allowed to take its own course.
Damned if I do, damned if I don’t Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, wields immense clout in the UPA dispensation; but he is careful to keep a low-profile, and does not like to get dragged into any controversy. However, a ticklish situation confronted him recently when the Narmada Bachao Andolan charged him with supporting the stand that the dam height should be raised. They were convinced that it was at Patel’s behest that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in to refute water resources minister Saifuddin Soz’s statement that the work on the dam was being suspended. Patel, on the other hand, had little choice but to go along with the Gujarat stand, since he hails from the state where this is a highly emotive issue. The Congress is struggling to improve its electoral prospects in Gujarat and going against the strong public sentiment on the dam issue could well have harmed the party’s prospects. Contributed by Prashant Sood, Manoj Kumar and Anita Katyal
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From the pages of Ban on newspapers THE Central Government, has prohibited the printing or publishing by any printer, publisher or editor of any factual news (which expression shall be deemed to include reports of speeches or statements made by members of the public) relating to the mass movement sanctioned by the All-India Congress Committee or to the measures taken by the Government against that movement, except news derived from (a) official sources or the recognised news agencies.
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Where death without resistance or death after resistance is the only way, neither party should think of resorting to law-courts or help from government. — Mahatma Gandhi As is the nature of one’s consciousness, so is the nature of one’s consciousness, so is the way of one’s living. — Guru Nanak They who bless and consecrate are mortal, as are the blessed and the consecrated ones. How can the mortals bless and consecrate their fellow-travellers? — Guru Nanak
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