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Lucky escape Directionless at Dehradun |
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Chickened out Nothing fishy about fowl story FOR those who rue being in the world now and not in the age of Marie Antoinette — who asked the bread-less to eat cakes — there’s cheering news: chicken is cheaper than dal and roti. The prices of pulses have soared beyond the reach of not only the proverbial common man; even the middle classes are cribbing about urad dal being too pricey for daily use.
Lessons from Lebanon
A man I knew
NAM still relevant S.K. Dey centenary DEFENCE NOTES
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Lucky escape IT has been an extremely lucky escape for Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his two ministers, Pratap Singh Bajwa and Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, and other staff members. Not only did their seven-seater Pawan Hans helicopter came crashing down to the ground soon after it took off from the outskirts of Rajowa village near Gurdaspur on Tuesday, it met with the accident after coming in contact with a live electricity wire. It is providential that they did not get electrocuted. Since the area had been cordoned off, the snapped high tension wire and the crashing helicopter did not do any harm on the ground either. According to preliminary reports, the helicopter after touching the 11-KV overhead electricity wire at a height of about 25 feet crashed to the ground and came to a halt after rolling over for a little distance. The passengers led by the Chief Minister were able to disembark safely. The accident reportedly happened because of the heavy dust haze which engulfed the area when the helicopter rotors gathered speed to take off. Apparently, the area around the makeshift helipad had not been properly watered to ensure that the dust haze was not excessive. That is a serious lapse and persons responsible require a dressing-down. Correctives must also be applied immediately everywhere. Only a thorough enquiry will reveal whether it was right on the part of the pilot to agree to fly under the circumstances. In any case, there is a long history of pilots manning VIP flights being made to ignore safety norms at the bidding of their formidable passengers. Several leaders have lost their lives in the past because of such seemingly trivial lapses. There is need for prominent leaders to be more circumspect in these matters because ignoring norms can be suicidal. A mishap does not distinguish between an ordinary person and a VIP. In fact, the latter should set an example for the former. During the election time, the use of planes and helicopters will increase. The narrow escape that Capt Amarinder Singh has had should be a warning to everybody. At no time should safety be compromised.
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Directionless at Dehradun THE meeting of the national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party ended in Dehradun as tamely as it began. The party had chosen the venue with high hopes as Uttaranchal is slated to go to the polls in February under a government whose chief minister makes news only for his periodic announcements about his retirement from politics. As ill-luck would have it, the defection of four legislators in Jharkhand threatening the stability of the BJP-led government in the new state cast a shadow over its deliberations. It dented its claims of mastering the coalition dharma that allowed it to complete a full term at the Centre. For those cadres who sought a new direction, a new kind of leadership and a new set of policies, Dehradun was a great disappointment. The deliberations at Dehradun were indicative of the general state of drift in the party. For much of the period the Manmohan Singh government has been holding the reins of power, the BJP has been finding excuses to create ruckus in Parliament. As a result, its credibility is at an all-time low. The very party which took the initiative to smoothen India’s relations with the US turned around and started attacking the forward-looking nuclear deal with the US. At a time when people were groaning under rising prices, it created the phantom of a US mole and expended its energy on it. The BJP’s warped sense of priorities was apparent in the way in which the forum of the national executive was used to expound the virtues of compulsorily singing Vande Mataram. While the presence of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr L.K. Advani at Dehradun must have been reassuring for the partymen, the leadership question has been far from resolved. The good certificate that Mr Rajnath Singh got from Mr Vajpayee does not mean that it will be under his leadership that the party will be contesting the next parliamentary elections. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s larger-than-life presence and his “statesman-like” statements raise doubts whether the leadership will eventually fall on him. It is a prospect the party’s well-wishers will and should dread because of what he did in Gujarat in the wake of Godhra. Post-Dehradun, the BJP is as directionless as it was before. It reflects on the preeminent Opposition party.
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Chickened out FOR those who rue being in the world now and not in the age of Marie Antoinette — who asked the bread-less to eat cakes — there’s cheering news: chicken is cheaper than dal and roti. The prices of pulses have soared beyond the reach of not only the proverbial common man; even the middle classes are cribbing about urad dal being too pricey for daily use. Amidst the encircling gloom of rising prices, if you are looking for a reason to distribute laddoos, then it is best to hand out chicken instead. At Rs 38 a kilo chicken is cheaper than laddoos at Rs 45 a kilo. In fact, chicken is cheaper than not just dals and laddoos but a whole lot of other items, too, that are needed for daily consumption. Of course, Punjab’s Captain for all his aristocratic attributes would never go so far as to ask people in his prosperous state to eat chicken if they have no money to buy dal. That is because he doesn’t really need to, for no price can be put on the Punjabi’s love of chicken — it is an unending gastronomic affair growing by that on which it feeds forever. More than the bird flu, it is the glut in production and the falling price that has, literally, laid the bird low, and no questions here about what comes first (at the table) — egg or chicken. Chicken wins both hands or, in this case, legs down. And, the term “chickened out” has acquired a whole new meaning — it simply means having gorged on chicken till you can stomach nothing else. There is a time in every economy when an idea takes birth, and chicken prices have the potential to radically alter the political economy of feeding the poor. If Ms Jayalalitha came up with the idea of eggs as part of the free meal menu in Tamil Nadu, surely the hour of the chicken is not far off.
Balle, balle.
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Mechanics, not microbes, are the menace to civilisation.
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Lessons from Lebanon
IS it a coincidence that Israeli operations Summer Rain in Gaza and Change of Direction in Lebanon were triggered off in June and July by the Sunni Hamas and the Shia Hezbollah through killing and abduction of Israeli soldiers? No one knows yet, but a Shia-Sunni rapprochement may be in the offing. You have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how the Hezbollah had continued to fire rockets into Israel till the ceasefire despite hell being let loose on them by the Israeli defence forces (IDF). The Hamas and the Hezbollah are synonymous with the deadly Kassam and Katyusha rockets they fire at Israeli cities. These abductions were not the first time that cross-border hostages had been taken. The one made famous happened on October 7, 2000, when the Hezbollah disguised as UN peacekeepers and using UN-marked vehicles captured three Israeli soldiers, apparently under the gaze of Indian peacekeepers who were made complicit by the Israeli media for not just colluding with but also video-filming the incident. But that is another story. Israel has not fought an all-out war since its last invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon 18 years ago. Given its size, shape and unstable geographic location, Israel has had to keep its frontiers sanitised by annexation of territories on borders with all its neighbours. Later, it signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but is still in occupation of the Golan Heights in Syria. A variety of UN peacekeepers and observers are deployed to monitor all the borders. The first military invasion called Operation Litani was launched in 1978 against the PLO in southern Lebanon which was called the Fatah land. The operation was designed to create a buffer upto the Litani river but it remained inconclusive. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was born out of this war. In 1982, Mr Ariel Sharon had led Operation Peace For Galilee. The PLO along with Yasser Arafat was ejected from southern Lebanon. The Israeli forces withdrew in 2000 under intense public pressure. In some ways, like cross-border terrorism in J&K, northern Israel has been subjected to periodic barrages of Katyusha rockets for many years, but for the first time many cities had to be evacuated this time. Operation Change Of Direction envisaged two plans: Plan A, to create a buffer zone from 20 to 30 km up to the Litani river. Plan B was meant to create a buffer zone from 3.5 km to 7 km. What was played out was Plan B. Three divisions of the Israeli defence forces comprising 15,000 soldiers and air and naval forces were involved. The aim was to destroy the Hezbollah infrastructure and eliminate direct firing, rockets and small arms into northern Israel. Once this was achieved, the area was to be covered by fire without deployment of ground troops. Israel undertook 10,000 air sorties and attacked 4000 targets in Lebanon. It fired 50,000 artillery shells against rocket-launcher sites. The Hezbollah is the pioneer of suicide bombings, and some of the most spectacular attacks against American targets in Lebanon have been attributed to it. The Hezbollah was raised in 1982 to oppose Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. It is regarded as a state within a state. Its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrullah, has become a cult figure following the spectacular resistance put up against the Israeli forces. A force of 5000 fighters is backed by 10000 reserves and a few hundred Iranian Revolutionary Guard members. It has a stock of 13,000 rockets of which 10,000 are short-range Katyushas made in China, Iran and Syria. The short-range rockets have a range of 20 to 40 km while the long-range ones have 50 to 80 km. They fired an average of 120 rockets daily for 34 days and used 4000 rockets of which half were long range. What is to be noted is that the Hezbollah targeted Israeli cities. For the first time since 1948, Haifa, the third largest city, came under rocket attacks. More than a million people had to be evacuated. This has never happened before in Israel. The Hezbollah’s aim in capturing Israeli soldiers was to trade them for two of its own prisoners, Samir Kuntar and Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeidi. Without Iran and Syria’s moral and material assistance, the Hezbollah could never stand up to Israel. For three decades, southern Lebanon had been used as a base for proxy war. Both sides miscalculated the reaction of the other. That is why Hassan Nasrullah said that had he known it would lead to war, he would not have ordered the abductions. The Israelis have instituted a national commission to enquire into their failures in prosecuting the war. Mr Ariel Sharon, still clinically alive, would never have walked into the Hezbollah trap. The losses inflicted on the Israeli forces in men and material are unprecedented. Used to decisive victories in less than 10 days, Israel struggled for 34 days without achieving its strategic objective of defanging the Hezbollah and freeing Israeli soldiers. For once, Israel has met its match in the Hezbollah. Within the first 25 years of its existence, Israel fought and won three wars, all on more than one front. In the next 35 years, it fought several skirmishes in Lebanon till it finally withdrew in 2000 without ending cross-border Katyusha attacks. The Israeli youth and veterans of its defence forces are no longer conditioned for war, not the least asymmetric war. Israel had painfully discovered the limits to its military power during Intifada I and II. The stark lesson from yet another shock and awe strategy in asymmetric war is that you have to fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla. The Hezbollah has exposed the constraints of air power. The Israeli defence forces have lost their cutting edge. A reconfigured but meekly mandated UNIFIL is no guarantee for peace and stability. From skirmishing with the Hamas in Gaza, Operation Change of Direction was meant to be a 180-degree turn to the north against the Hezbollah and regarded a cake-walk. On its path, the Hezbollah has altered the strategic contours of the region. Shia-Sunni cooperation in the region against a common enemy is not
unlikely.
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A man I knew THEIR father was a kulin Brahmin, born in 1847. At the age of 17 he decided to become a Christian while studying at the Scottish Mission College in Calcutta. As a result, he was disowned by his family and shunned by members of his community. He, however, retained his Bengali Brahmin surname and, all his life, never ate beef. In 1872 he got married to another Christian convert. At the time, he was teaching at a mission school in Behrampore where, in 1888, his first son was born to him. By that time he had decided to quit Bengal for good. And so, the small family of three packed its few belongings and made its way to Punjab where he found a teaching job in Majitha, now in Pakistan. It was here, and in Amritsar, that their two younger sons were born. The three brothers did their schooling in Punjab and their higher education in Delhi. All three were determined to follow their father’s vocation of teaching; the eldest in Delhi, the other two in UP and Punjab, respectively. The eldest, after doing his MA in English literature, secured a job as the headmaster of a local school. At the age of 22 he got married to a girl he had met in Amritsar. His school salary being insufficient to raise a family, he turned his prowess in English to good account by writing for the leading newspapers. These were The Statesman, The Hindustan Times, The Pioneer, The Tribune, the Civil and Military Gazette. Also an army journal called the Fauji Akhbar. He served the city of his adoption as a member of the Delhi Municipal Committee for 12 years. In 1926 he was nominated to the Central Legislative Assembly to represent the Indian Christian community. He was present in the House when Bhagat Singh threw his bomb. He was a member of the First Pay Commission but his most notable contribution as a legislator was the drafting of the Child Marriage Bill piloted in the Assembly by Harbilas Sarda. He had to resign from the Assembly in 1930 on being offered a 10-year contract in a newly created post, that of the Supdt. of Education, Delhi, Ajmere-Mewara and Central India (office of profit!) On the expiry of his contract he resumed his activities in the educational sphere. He served two terms as Vice-Chancellor of Agra University, then an honorary appointment and was elected Chairman of the Rajputana Board of Secondary Education. The touring involved in the two jobs took their toll. In 1946 he suffered a mild stroke which affected his speech. He might have recovered fully from this had he listened to the advice of his doctor and the entreaties of his family to whom he often quoted an old Scottish proverb: “It is better to wear out than to rust”. And that’s just what he did - wear out. At the age of 65, in 1953, he succumbed to a massive stroke. To my lasting sorrow, I was abroad at the time and was unable to attend his funeral. I had known him since the day I was born and respected him more than any other man I’ve met. He was my
father.
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NAM still relevant IS the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) relevant today? We can perhaps expect an answer to this haunting question from the 14th Summit of the 192 nations that belong to this political club founded 50 years ago, that is taking place in Havana. The phrase ‘non-aligned’ suggests a political space of neutrality, – a definition by negation – between two powerful blocs, East and West; socialist and capitalist to put it starkly. But the club’s purpose, domain and actions were far greater than the literal interpretation. The key word was “movement”. The club became a movement for claiming sovereignty for the newly liberated nations from super powers, as also the independence to design their future from their own history, culture and economic landscapes. Sovereignty and liberation were the key words. The key issues that make for its relevance today are that the multilateral spaces – even the UN as well as related agencies such as the WTO, and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) set up as level playing fields to negotiate “fair play” – have once again become aggressive and the East-West confrontation has reluctantly became a North-South one. The breakdown of the Doha Round is the most recent illustration. But this is only the most visible. Other methods of domination include military invasion and other forms of intervention without abiding by any international covenants. In the last 15 years, as countries of the South such as India, China, South Africa and Brazil among others, have shown the vitality of their economies in their growth rates and the value of their trade., there is greater counter offensive initiatives now from the North, or greater anxiety in the North and therefore stronger pressures on the countries of the South. NAM can provide the political umbrella now, at this juncture in our history, for us to forge that solidarity in the economic arena, and outside of the currently unequal international systems. But for NAM in the 21st Century, while the nuts and bolts would be trade, and the goal economic strength, this is not a sufficient match to light the fire of solidarity in a club of such disparate members. Disparate not only in the level of their economic condition, but also in their political stances, and internal situations. The agenda has to be shifted from what is au-courant in the world just now, that is, engaging with the WTO, pushing market frontiers at all costs, inducing foreign capital, and investment, into identifying the reasons for the enormous crisis that continents are facing, in terms of shortages – food , energy, fuel, justice, peace – and thinking afresh on what kind of economics would deal with these crises, rather than postulating an economics and asking the ground to fit it self in. So NAM is indeed relevant, in fact crucial, if we want to show even a minimal respect for the condition of our peoples right now, and not play ad-hoc cards into a stop- go game. But it has to go back, not forward, to bring in the idealism of the past, the struggle-driven leadership and
language. Otherwise, a mere agenda of one more set of commitments on trade and terror, which would seem not the same to all the members and groups, will not bind it into what it can, and needs, to become. The end in sight – people’s liberation from hunger, deprivation, the cruelty of local wars, the ground realities in which our countries less privileged live – needs to be talked about more. Here Gandhi’s notion of the second freedom gives us a clue. He said in 1947 “The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social and moral freedom.” What made it happen, in the past, was the spirit of the leadership and the push of groundswell movements. The language of the leaders stressed identity with what could be called their peoples. However blemished the leaders, the liberation language – evoking removal of oppression, inclusive of the oppression of poverty and exclusion – covered up those blemishes. Today our leaders and our countries have got factored into or trapped into one or a single-minded macro purpose, driven by global power. The words, “of the people” do not appear, nor does the word equity. In fact, these terms are mocked as rhetoric. The only reality that is accepted as smart and realistic, is growth, and that too export-led. Locked into this quest, NAM has lost its identity – and let me clarify that the identity I talk about is not civilisational, nor cultural, but a movement-oriented identity, the anti-domination identity. The summit being held in Cuba is propitious, as the place resonates with this kind of talk. But while it may be rhetorical, it provides the aura for big ideas and big leadership. India can reclaim her place only if she puts her self out, imagines a Nehru and a Sukarno, and even a Gandhi , and argues that political solidarity to affirm collective economic bargaining power, through regional and other trade arrangements, are for the masses to win their second freedom, bread, water and salt as Nelson Mandela asked for in his inaugural speech, in 1994, expressing the yearning of his people after being liberated from the apartheid regime. The writer is a former member, South Commission and Member of the special committee set up by the Ministry of External Affairs in August 2006 to prepare some notes and documents for the NAM Summi in Havanat.
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S.K. Dey centenary S K
DEV (1905 – 1989) was a rare blend of a philosopher and practitioner who played an important role in the nation-building process for more than four decades after Independence. His pioneering contribution to the concept and implementation of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj merits special attention from social scientists, administrators, political leaders and other stakeholders in the project for rural development and decentralised rural governance. Born on September 13, 1905 at Laxmibassa village in present-day Bangladesh and trained as an electrical engineer at the prestigious American universities of Purdue and Michigan, Dey proved himself as an accomplished social engineer while working as the Honorary Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Rehabilitation in the Government of India in 1948-51. He was also recognized as an efficient administrator on account of his successful role as the Community Project Administrator, at the Ministry of Community Development, Cooperation and Panchayati Raj. Dey also deserves recognition as one of the pioneers in the field of development journalism for his role in launching Kurukshetra, now a monthly organ of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. S.K. Dey formulated the concept of an agro – industrial township for rural development in 1949 and institutionalised it in the shape of Nilokheri in 1950. Instead of focusing only on agricultural development at a juncture when the stress was on the ‘Grow More Food Programme’, he suggested the adoption of an agro – industrial economy for the development of rural areas. The agro-industrial township was to be supported by the hinterland of villages, each complementing the other. Dey perceived it as a welfare state in action. It was to be economically self-sufficient and was to operate on a cooperative basis. Nilokheri was “an ideal socialist island based actually on the public sector, yet built on complete freedom, the fear of administration being completely absent from it” (S.K. Dey, Nilokheri, 1962) S.K. Dey appears to have been influenced, on the one hand, by Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan experiment for Rural Development and, on the other, by the Gandhian idea of Rural Construction which laid stress on self-sufficiency and manual labour. It could also be perceived as a Model of Rural Development based on a synthesis of Liberalism, Marxism and Gandhi-ism. Its emphasis on individual liberty seems to have been imbibed from Liberalism, stress on right and duty to work from Marxism and that of small scale cottage and village industries from Gandhi-ism. Jawaharlal Nehru was so impressed by the success of S.K. Dey’s model of agro-industrial economy for rural development that he proclaimed, “I want ten thousand Nilokheris spread over the firmament of India”. It is unfortunate that his dreams remained unfulfilled. The second component in S.K. Dey’s model of rural development was the concept of Community Development. “It aimed at awakening the dormant forces of progress in rural society so that instead of looking towards the government as the Mai-Bap, people do things for themselves. The programme for its implementation placed emphasis on a multi-purpose approach, on area development, on coordinated administration, and on the development of the individual and the community” (S.K. Dey, Three Pillars of Democracy, 1963).
The writer is Consultant, Haryana Institute of Rural Development,
Nilokheri.
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DEFENCE NOTES A
STATE-of-the art satellite communication network for the Indian Army called Project Rohini has been put in place. It will provide connectivity for voice, data and video, overcoming limitations of terrain and distance. The network will be centrally managed and controlled by a powerful Network Management System. The fielding of this technology-intensive broadband satellite network, using indigenous satellites, will not only address communication requirements but enhance the robustness and reliability of the communication infrastructure which the Corps of Signals has established for the Indian Army. Project Rohini was implemented by the Corps of Signals along with HCL Comnet and ITI Ltd. Annan visits Indian battalion
The 4 Sikh Battalion deployed in Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which recently earned the UNIFIL Force Commanders Citation, also had the rare honour of a visit from the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan. The Indian battalion has been deployed in South Lebanon since December 2005, and held its ground particularly well during the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict, performing its duties par excellence. The unit earned the UNIFIL Force Commander’s citation along with individual citations to 21 officers, 8 JCOs and 44 personnel from other ranks. Reports suggested that the Secretary General decided to pay a visit in recognition of the performance of the 4 Sikh Battalion. He was accompanied by the Force Commander of UNIFIL Major General Alain Pellegrini. Mr Kofi Annan visited UN Positions 8-32 and 8-33 held by the Indian Battalion, which were severely affected during the Israel-Lebanon conflict. He complimented the brave soldiers of 4 SIKH deployed at the posts and congratulated them for their unflinching display of dedication and devotion to duty, and for keeping the UN flag flying high. Mr Kofi Annan was conducted through the UN positions of the Indian battalion by the Commanding Officer, Colonel Subhash Panwar. Better air space management
Several airfields in India are managed both by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and this has occasionally thrown up several difficulties. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and the Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju recently held a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, the IAF, the AAI, the office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, to study the problems. The meeting addressed some long pending issues, with the aim of bringing about synergy between the operations of the two most important constituents of air space management – the IAF and AAI. It was decided that an institutional framework would be evolved for tackling and resolving day-to-day issues in management and operations of the rapidly expanding aviation arena. Transfer of land held by either the Defence ministry or the Civil Aviation ministry would also be addressed by this mechanism. Requirements for better radar facilities and Air Traffic Control would be given urgent attention.
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From the pages of Nine Assemblies dissolved
NEW
DELHI, Feb 17 (P.T.I.) — The Centre tonight dismissed the non-Congress (I) Ministries in nine States — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Orissa and Gujarat. The President’s proclamation issued under Article 356 of the Constitution dissolving the Assemblies and placing the States concerned under President’s rule was signed late tonight after the Union Cabinet had decided the issue at an emergency meeting. The grounds on which the Cabinet recommended the dissolution of the State Assemblies were understood to be the same as those used by the Janata Party in 1977 to order a similar dissolution of an equal number of State Assemblies. It was contended that after the Lok Sabha elections the State Governments and Assemblies concerned no longer reflected the views or wishes of the electorate. |
There are Danish children who make sacrifices in order to be able to offer others a glass of milk every day. And German children do the same...these are concrete ways of teaching love. When these children grow up, they will know what it means to give.
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