 |
|
Costlier foodgrains Wealth of talent Bismillah! |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Plight of Punjab’s farmers
The mole
German angst Elusive peace in Lebanon Delhi Durbar
|
Costlier foodgrains WHILE people are already having a tough time because of the unending rise in the petroleum and cooking gas prices, reports say that wheat, soya, pulses and palm oil are becoming dearer with every passing day. Wheat, which is selling between Rs 10 and Rs 16 a kg in different parts of the country, is set to become costlier in the coming months when the stocks with the government get depleted. The government has only 2 million tonnes of wheat in its store. There is little hope of adequate wheat imports as there is a decline in its production in countries like Australia, the US and Canada. Five years ago the government had a stock of 26 million tonnes during this period. The situation is quite alarming. The prices of pulses, too, are threatening to go sky high. The retail rate of chana dal, moong and urad is very high compared to the rate during the same period last year. The pulses are no longer the easily available source of protein for the poor. The government was banking on imports, but that is not so easy in view of a decline in its availability. Myanmar, from where India had been importing pulses to meet its demand, can come to our rescue only to a limited extent. It is under pressure from Pakistan and Bangladesh too to help them as the production in these countries has come down considerably. Hoarders have made the situation worse. The government may have to take resort to the Essential Commodities Act to force them to offload their stocks. It should also remove the 5 per cent import duty on foodgrains. This will obviously encourage mill owners and other traders to import sufficient quantities of wheat, pulses, etc, from wherever possible. This is, however, a short-term policy. As a long-term policy, there is need to give greater attention to agriculture so that the granaries of the country have enough stocks throughout the year. Farmers must be encouraged to go in for cultivation of pulses in a big way. Their problems will have to be taken up on a priority basis to ensure that India remains self-sufficient in foodgrains. |
|
Wealth of talent CAN you give a farewell party to someone like Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy? You can’t and it is no wonder that all Infosys managed was a “board lunch” after which an icon of the Indian IT industry packed his briefcase and walked away. In keeping with a vision of corporate best practices that he himself has contributed to in so many ways, Mr Murthy, on turning 60, has given up executive leadership of the two-billion dollar behemoth. He has done more than just make way for colleagues and co-founders who shared a dream and scripted its transformation into reality, starting 25 years ago. He reportedly told his board that he would “try to visit them as little as possible.” Though he would continue to be available, it is clear that he is also moving on. It is not possible to dream big, think big, and turn those visions into reality, without a willingness to constantly push at the limits. Such people are always looking for the next peak. In countless interviews and speeches, he has given us insights into his personality and values. Indian culture tends to exalt knowledge for its own sake, putting its commercial worth on a lower plane. That is wrong, he felt. Creating wealth from knowledge was a laudable, even mandatory, activity. And he didn’t want his people to be satisfied easily. A few hundred crores? That is not too much money, he would say. He was fascinated by serial entrepreneurs, who created a company, built big and then moved on to create again. For all that, he would advise balance as well. Money was terrific but it had its place. Society demanded and needed a lot more and he has not hesitated to contribute. Companies like TCS and Wipro can also claim a pioneering status in the Indian IT field. But there is no one quite like Mr Narayana Murthy. He not only put Bangalore and India on the world map, he transformed a generation’s vision of itself and what it is capable of achieving. |
|
Bismillah! VERY few people live up to be 90. Even fewer embellish the nine decades given to them with so much of talent and genius as Bismillah Khan, who died on Monday morning, did. No words can evaluate his contribution to music. Suffice it to say that for millions of his admirers, his name was synonymous with the shehnai. And why not? After all, it is he who lifted it from the ignominy of being an obscure wind instrument played at marriages to an ideal medium for soulful rendition of classical music, so much so that many music lovers averred that listening to him play Madhuvanti and Yaman Kalyan was the most enthralling experience that they had ever had. Small wonder that he played the shehnai at the historic Red Fort when India became independent in 1947. The master exponent was to later pick awards aplenty, including the Sangeet Natak Academi Award, the Tansen Award and the prestigious Padma Vibhushan. His quest for excellence culminated in the conferring of the Bharat Ratna on him in 2001. What embellished his legendary art all the more was his child-like simplicity and old-world charm. Audiences mesmerised by his unique style of performing would be surprised when they met the man in person, who would travel Janata class in trains and would mix up with total strangers as if they were long-lost friends. Next to the shehnai and his large family, comprising five sons, three daughters and a large number of grandchildren and great grandchildren, what he adored the most in life was his Varanasi. Even the Prime Minister’s advice to come to Delhi for specialised treatment was vetoed by him. There could not be a bigger icon for Hindu-Muslim unity either. The banks of the Ganga were his favourite haunt and he would play religiously at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Khan Saheb was a true Bharat Ratna in every sense of the word. |
|
What is this life if, full of care,/We have no time to stand and stare. — W.H. Davies
|
Plight of Punjab’s farmers
Punjab is one of the most deserving states for a package to distressed farmers. It has been brought out by the 55th round of the NSS that Punjab farmers are third at the all-India level in terms of percentage of farmers under debt. In Andhra Pradesh, 82 per cent farmers are under debt followed by 74.5 per cent in Tamil Nadu and 65.4 per cent in Punjab. In terms of per farmer debt, Punjab tops the all-India list. Average per farmer debt among the indebted farmers stood at Rs 41,576 in 2003 in Punjab compared to Rs 33,907 in Kerala (ranking number two) and Rs 12,585 at the all-India level. Per farmer debt of Punjab farmers is much higher compared to that in Andhra Pradesh (Rs 23,965), Maharashtra (Rs 16,973), Karnataka (Rs 18,135) and other states, which have been covered under the package announced by the Union Government. Not only are Punjab farmers highly indebted, a number of farmers have committed suicide in the state. Although no one has prepared a systematic record of the number of farmers who have been victims of this unfortunate phenomenon, several studies have brought out and established a link between economic distress and farmers committing suicides. Punjab farmers have been producing grains in abundance leading to India’s self-sufficiency in foodgrains. Most of the years since 1965, Punjab farmers have been supplying foodgrains at a prices less than that prevailing in the global market. Thus, they have been subsidising the consumers all over India. In their zeal to do so, they have over-used land leading to soil degradation and mined much more water than it is recharged every year. This has led to stagnation in per acre yield on the one hand and a fall in sub-soil water at an alarming rate. The water-table has been falling in some blocks at an alarming rate of 70 cm per year. Consequently, in most of the areas, the shallow tubewells are becoming ineffective in mining water and farmers are resorting to deepening of borewells operated through submersible motors requiring greater energy inputs. It is estimated that during the next few years the farmers would spend Rs 2000 crore to replace shallow tubewells by deep borewells and submersible motors to sustain the output without adding anything to productivity gains. In the face of visible growing economic distress borne out by productivity, stagnation and the rising cost of production and accompanied by high indebtedness, unlivable holdings and manifested in farmers suicides, the Punjab farmers has been completely ignored by the Union Government during the announcement of package. It is reported that as per communications from the state government, there are no farmer suicides in Punjab. This means that the bureaucracy has been continuously reporting to the Union Government denying economic and ecological distress of the farmers. This has been happening in spite of the fact that political leadership of all hue has been making announcements regarding the brewing economic distress and farmer’s suicides. During the last budget speech of the Akali-BJP government (2001), the then Finance Minister, Sardar Kanwaljit Singh, made an announcement and declared some relief measures for suicide victim-farmers’ families. Though these measures were never implemented, this announcement conceded to the existence of this phenomenon and the need for relief measures. The spokespersons of the present government in the state and especially the Chief Minister have made several announcements indicating the existence of this phenomenon and the need for a package for distressed farmers in the state. The various factions of the BKU have been continuously struggling and want debt relief. It is obvious that at the political level there is consensus on economic distress. But the ruling parties are unable to convince the bureaucracy under their control about the existence of farmers’ distress and farmers’ suicides. It appears that the bureaucracy is apathetic because the political leadership is resorting to rhetoric and in reality continues to ignore economic distress of farmers. Their agenda is to capture political power for self-promotion rather than the welfare of people and they are the least concerned about the farmers’ plight. Several years have passed and the sign board is still outside Harkishan Pura (Bathinda district) “Village for sale”. Since 2002 several newspaper articles have been written and electronic media has flashed news several times, yet the government is not moved. Except for a survey (2002) of the village, no relief measure has been taken for the last four years. The ruling political leadership of all hue has worked in connivance with the bureaucracy to ignore the distressed farmers. In fact, the economic distress of the farmers is an opportunity for the rich (politicians, the bureaucracy and corporate houses) to acquire land of the farmers in distress. Ironically, some factions of the BKU are also led by commission agents who are lending money to farmers at an exorbitant interest rate. They are doing this business illegally, violating the legislation got enacted by legendary Sir Chhotu Ram of the Unionist Party in the 1930s. The way the state budgets have been used to discriminate against agriculture during the last two and a half decade is a telling commentary on the working of the Punjab Government and the ruling parties leadership. During the decade of 1980s between 6 to 10 per cent of the state budget was spent on agriculture and allied activities. In the initial years of the 1980s (1980-81 to 1984-85) 10 per cent or more of the budget was spent on agriculture. In the second half of the 1980s it came down to around 6 per cent and has been falling continuously in the 1990s and after. At present only 3 per cent of the budget is spent on agriculture and allied activities which contribute 37 per cent to state domestic product and employs 39 per cent of the workforce. Like education and health, agriculture has been a soft target for budget cuts. Politicians have been resorting to rhetoric for rural people and their welfare, but have been never serious in their action. At the time when they have been crying very loudly about the deteriorating plight of the farmers, they have been busy withdrawing funds from rural and agricultural development. Now very low proportion of the budget (3 per cent) is being spent on agricultural and allied activities. In fact, the state government has not been releasing any funds for R & D for 25 years. It is time to realise the human and social cost of apathy of the ruling politicians and bureaucrats. This has led to the loss of more than 2,200 farmers who have reportedly committed suicide in the state, causing a lot of agony to families which remain deprived of any relief measures. The responsibility needs to be fixed on those who continue to write to the Union Government denying any distress among the farmers, and their design needs to be exposed. A proper case must be prepared and put forward to the Union Government for a package. But distortion in the state budget spending is much more serious which has to be rectified at the state level. For this, blame will fall on those who have been in power during last two
decades.n The writer is a professor of economics at Punjabi University, Patiala.
|
The mole
The way names of suspected moles were popping up and down and imaginations were running amok in the country, by now the actual mole in Mr Jaswant Singh’s book (if there ever was one) must have started experiencing the throes of identity crisis. I mean, “The Mole” must be having doubts about whether he imagined all that he did as part of his duty as a hardworking mole. So, I decided to do an under-cover operation on “The Mole”. For this I explored the Internet and the Oxford dictionary, and came up with this very sensational investigation on “The Mole”. The Oxford dictionary says a mole is a small, often slightly raised dark blemish on the skin caused by a high concentration of melanin. With a mole in the left cheek, the Internet declares Marilyn Monroe to be the most famous “mole-girl” while supermodel Cindy Crawford as having the most beauteous beauty-spot with a mole on the left corner of her mouth. Our very own diva, Rekha, appears to have one above her upper lip. Another mole is a very small burrowing insect-eating mammal of the family Talpidae with dark velvety fur and very small eyes. A mole is also a massive structure serving as a pier, breakwater or causeway or an artificial harbour. Chemistry has its own version of mole, i.e the SI unit of the amount of substance equal to the quantity containing as many elementary units as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon-12. Inside of a woman’s body can also have a mole in the form of an abnormal mass of tissue in the uterus. A site on the Internet says that the word mole comes from Aztec word “molli”, meaning a concoction, stew or sauce. For the unenligtened, a mole is a Mexican chocolate sauce, says one of the several hundred Mole pages on the Net. Then comes the mole the entire country has been on the lookout for. This mole is a spy established in a strategic position within the organisation who usually remains dormant for a long period while attaining a position of trust. A mole is also someone who is a betrayer of confidential information. Big-time moles apart, most offices have their own share of small-time entities without whom bosses just can’t do. After all, they are the ones who at the end of the day pass on the vital information on what happened and who said what. Here I must also add this very sms-able SMS, making round on cell phones on the current mole issue: Discovered a mole. Dug a hole. Scored a self-goal. Jaswant will lead us in the next poll. By the way, let me now reveal the genesis of this “investigation”. When several of my “stories” started gracing the proverbial “raddi-ki-tokri”, I was left with no other option but to crib to the boss about my pathetic state of affairs. I must admit that he gave a patient hearing to my ramblings on my problems, etc. At the end, his one pertinent statement was enough to take the fizz out of my “protesto-cola”. He said, “No one could stop a good story. If you write a good piece, it definitely will get published. Find out who Mr Jaswant Singh’s mole is.” To this, I could only mumble, “Mole to shayad Mr Jaswant Singh ko bhi nahin pata.” (Mr Jaswant Singh also doesn’t know who the mole is.) But now I very proudly can say, “Sir, I’ve
dunnit. |
German angst The revelation by Gunter Grass that he had served in Hitler’s elite Waffen SS during World War II has unleashed a storm rarely seen in recent times over a writer’s confession. The celebrated, and cerebral, Nobel Prize-winning German writer has stirred outrage — and sympathy — and not only in the world’s literary and political circles. Had Grass been a different man or writer he might have found comfort in his belated admission of serving the Fuehrer boosting the sales of his latest book Peeling Onions. Yet, even his worst critics would not hint at any such trick, for Grass has to now live down publicly the shame of a torment his conscience has agonised over for nearly 60 years. In this inglorious hour, the brickbats are deserved. Grass himself may have anticipated that his admission will destroy his iconic status; and chosen the purgatory over being damned to perdition. At 78, it is just as well that he got this life-long burden off his chest, rather than leaving it to be discovered after the inevitable when the good that he did would have been interred with his bones. He may feel liberated, but he’s not getting any flowers now, though a few friends, such as Salman Rushdie and John Irving, have rushed to root for him. Rushdie feels the outrage is “a little bit manufactured” while Irving asserts that Grass’ courage “is heightened, not lessened”, by his revelation. Both these contentions are highly debatable, and are certain to be debated for long, as Grass is demolished, revisited and reconstructed; not as a writer, but as a narrator of the profound but painful truths of our time which made him the moral conscience of Germany and its struggle to come to terms with its Nazi past. Grass’ confession would not have caused such an uproar were it not for what he did in the last 60 years. His complex novel, The Tin Drum (1959), which earned him international attention and acclaim, is a masterpiece on the oppressive and retarding effect of Nazism. In the decades since then he was a valiant crusader to de-Nazify Germany — the German mind, consciousness, politics and culture. He was a campaigner for demilitarisation, peace, social justice and East-West reconciliation. He did much to heal the relationship between the peoples of Germany and Poland, and his politics led him to make common cause with statesmen like Willy Brandt besides other progressive writers and artists. A Social Democrat, Grass exposed many German politicians, especially in the ranks of the Christian Democratic Party, for their association with Nazis. In the course of an angst-ridden life forever involved in the tumult of the times, Grass did not conceal altogether his past association with the Nazis. In his essays On Writing and Politics, published in the mid-1980s, there is a self-lacerating chapter ‘What Shall We Tell Our Children?’ wherein he admits “I was eleven years old and both a Hitler Youth and a practising Catholic”. With cathartic candour, Grass admits: “I was a Hitler Youth aged seventeen at the end of the War and called up with the last draft, too young to acquire guilt. I could not swear that, if I had been six or seven years older, I would not have participated in the great crime”. He did not deliver himself of the whole painful truth: That he had served in the infamous Waffen SS of Heinrich Himmler, which was exposed to be a criminal organisation at the Nuremberg Nazi trials after the War. The Waffen SS was not just an elite combat force but it also ran the concentration camps where millions perished. Grass was admittedly guilty, but not responsible at an age when he could not have known better. He did not fire a single shot nor commit any crime. Mistakes galore, yes, even during his activist years, such as the entirely unjustified campaign against Annemarie Schimmel, pre-eminent scholar on Islam and professor emeritus at Harvard. When she was awarded the so-called German Nobel Volkerverstandigung for promoting peace and understanding between peoples at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1995, Grass joined the protest against Schimmel’s choice for the prize. Doubtless, he was in the company of over 200 German intellectuals, including Juergen Habermas, but that was a low personal attack with undertones of the centuries-old conflict between Christendom and Islam. Legends, especially creative personalities — Grass, or other writers like John Steinbeck or Knut Hamsun — are a bundle of contradictions and split in their different personas. The man, the writer, the activist, is never one and the same person; perhaps, each is forever pitted against the other. This does not justify or explain their expressions and actions though it is essential for understanding that the intent of their action does not always square with the logic of its effect. The work of Gunter Grass has a special resonance in India where he has spent much time. Calcutta, and now Kolkata is a favourite of his for long sojourns though he has circles of friends, admirers and admiring critics amongst creative communities in other cities, too, to which he is no stranger. Grass as a writer is not diminished by his latest confession. Perhaps, he could not forgive himself for keeping secret a part of his past and chose to reconcile himself to the truth, regardless of the consequences that are now all too evident. Calls for the return of the Nobel Prize are absurd and irrelevant to the debate. To be noble is not a necessary condition for being conferred the Prize and the merit of the work for which he was awarded is in no way invalidated. Germans known for their angst also have, like the Japanese, a sense of honour. It is this sense of honour that may have driven Gunter Grass to commit this hara-kiri of sorts. There’s no need to vilify and pillory him when he has inflicted so much on himself. |
|
Elusive peace in Lebanon After a month of fighting in which more than 1000 people have lost their lives, resolution 1701, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council, offers the chance of peace to Lebanon. But will it stick? No single country or resolution can bring peace to Lebanon single-handed. And the pieces of the Lebanese jigsaw cannot be fitted together by force. But they must remain on the table, awaiting another round of diplomacy in the not too distant future. The resolution provides for a buffer zone between Israel’s border and Hizbullah’s frontier on the Litani river which will be free of Hizbullah guerrillas. Hizbullah fighters in the area will move into northern Lebanon. Arms sales to Hizbullah will be banned. Israel will return the territory in southern Lebanon that it has captured during the last month and its forces will make a phased withdrawal from the area as Lebanese and UN forces take control over the area. Lebanon will exercise its full sovereignty ‘so that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon’. The strength of the UN force in Lebanon, (UNFIL) currently standing at 2000, will be increased to 15,000. They are intended to give the Lebanese army the support it needs to contain Hizbullah. It is unclear whether UN troops can use force under Article 7 of the UN Charter, or only fire in self-defence under Article 6. The resolution authorises the UN peacekeeping force to ‘take all necessary action…to ensure that its area of operations is not utilised for hostile activities of any kind, to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council’. These provisions of the resolution are significant, not least because Condoleeza Rice, the American Secretary of State, has opined that Hizbullah faces a choice between war and peace. Is the onus for peace being put on Hizbullah? To the extent that Hizbullah, and its backers, Syria and Iran, are ready to work with the international community in building peace, the answer is yes. Hizbullah, Syria and Iran should accept Israel’s right to exist and stop calling for its destruction. It also implies the disarmament of Hizbullah. Israel and Lebanon have accepted the resolution. But it will take up to ten days to assemble an enlarged peacekeeping force, and Israeli forces with stay inside Lebanese territory until the arrival of the force. The resolution is the outcome of Franco-American diplomacy, and signifies France’s role as a major player in the crisis, precisely because it has proposed alternatives to a barren American military strategy. France remains the only bridge between all parties and may be able to persuade the Arab League to support resolution 1701. The inference would be that Hizbullah could, or should, be contained by Arab countries, not by Israeli force. Israel contended that Lebanese troops would not be strong enough to take on Hizbullah. Given the adulation that Hizbullah’s campaign against Israel has won among Arabs the idea is worth trying. Hizbullah, and its friend, Iran, must accept Israel’s right to exist, even as Israel realises that it cannot bludgeon Lebanon on the pretext of insecurity. ‘Islamic’ extremism might best be kept at bay by moderate Muslims rather than a belligerent Israel, riding piggy-back on a discredited Anglo-American imperialism. |
|
Delhi Durbar Although Gursharan Kaur has no airs of being the wife of the Prime Minister, the Special Protection Group (SPG) around her wants to ensure that she is not put to any kind of inconvenience. As soon as a press reporter handed over her business card to Mrs Kaur at the annual day celebrations of Global Cancer Concern India last week, an SPG man surprised her by freeing her from the trouble of holding the feather-weight card. Her simplicity and modesty was reflected in her free and easy interaction with guests. Fission in the House The discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Indo-US nuclear deal lasted nearly eight hours. The monotony of the long speeches was broken by eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who in his inimitable style made points which had the house in splits, while also agitating the Opposition. Farooq Abdullah favoured a sense of the House resolution on the Indo-US agreement. He caused some embarrassment to the Congress benches by saying that Natwar Singh should have been allowed to speak on the nuclear deal as the agreement was made when he was in the government. Natwar Singh, who was sitting in the front row, raised his arm in acknowledgement when Abdullah said the former external affairs minister will remain in the Congress.
Inferiority complex Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani may have been contemporaries of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in politics right from Jan Sangh days, but that did not hold them back from admitting to their “inferiority complex” when it came to addressing huge public meetings. At a function organised to release a book on selected speeches by Vajpayee recently, Advani was the first to air his apprehension about his ability to emerge as a natural orator. “I kept telling myself that at best you may impress a select gathering but you can never keep a gathering of 50,000 spell-bound like Vajpayee,” Advani observed after the release of the book Rajneeti ke us paar. On his part Shekhawat recalled how people dreaded to speak ahead of Vajpayee or after his address. “People came in huge numbers to hear him speak and we never dared to speak before or after him because once Atalji spoke people even forgot the names of those who addressed the rallies,” he remarked.
Healthy precedents Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who has completed four years as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has created several healthy precedents. Held in high esteem by members cutting across party lines for his ability to gently steer the House through rancour, Mr Shekhawat has made the Question Hour more effective. He has facilitated discussion on issues of national concern and problems faced by the rural masses and the poor in cities. Compassionate but firm, Shekhawat’s innate sense of humour has helped members regain their poise in a surcharged atmosphere. He has been sending birthday greetings to the members regularly and he once surprised Pranab Mukherjee who had forgotten his own birthday. Shekhawat has been urging the members to be role models for elected representatives in assemblies, zilla parishads and other such institutions. —
|
|
From the pages of The 44th Amendment The 44th Constitution Amendment Bill, the most comprehensive to date, seeks to introduce several far-reaching changes in the country’s basic framework. Since most of the amendments were recommended by the Swaran Singh Committee, the Bill is on expected lines. The basic changes now sought have already been accepted in principle and are fully in tune with the times... Many of the other changes, including those seeking re-affirmation of the supremacy of Parliament and restricting the powers of the High Courts in respect of Constitutional and other Central laws fit well into the accepted pattern. It is but right that in all matters the people’s duly chosen representatives should have sovereign rights. This arrangement would facilitate the implementation of progressive measures and prevent obstructionists from resorting to delaying tactics.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
