O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Pouring cheer
Monsoon bodes well for economy
THE advance arrival of the monsoon has spread cheer all around. People have got a respite from heat and irritating power cuts. Weather experts say it is a record of sorts.

Karzai’s cry
Taliban must be dealt with for peace to prevail
Whatever Islamabad might think about it, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s threat to attack the Taliban bases inside Pakistan deserves to be taken seriousnessly. Despite the military assistance from the multinational forces stationed there, Afghanistan has not been able to effectively handle the Taliban mainly because the extremist outfit has been receiving overt and covert support from Pakistan.

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

Media monitoring
It should evolve own mechanism 
by S. Nihal Singh 
IT is as if some Indian television channels are egging on the government to regulate them. The manner in which the Aarushi murder case has been covered by the media, regrettably including print, was nothing short of scandalous. Why a voluble police force publicly floated diverse theories of who could have committed the murder and his motives is for the authorities to investigate.

MIDDLE

Mental arithmetic
by A.N. Suryanarayanan 
Someone recently asked me as to how do South Indians calculate fast, mumbling in their mother tongue. He appeared concerned as his convent-going children use their ‘head’ (physically, I mean) and fingers in both hands to count in English, even basic numbers! You ask “What is seven plus six?” The child will first touch the head and say: “Seven in head” and then open out the little fingers, counting from seven onwards with one finger at a time, till it reaches the sixth, all the time counting loud and say: “Thirteen!” I told him the secret and will share with you too!

OPED

Index of happiness
Let’s learn lessons from Bhutan
by Arun Kumar
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has recently returned from Bhutan, a unique country that believes in a happiness index and not per capita income as a measure of the people’s wellbeing. He must have observed an unhurried life, progressing at a slow pace and learnt the value of patience. He advised fellow Indians to patiently wait for the rising tide of inflation to ebb in due course.

Truces with militants
unnerve Western allies
by Laura King
PESHAWAR: The “jirgas,” or traditional tribal gatherings, continue late into the night. And every few weeks, from some remote corner of Pakistan’s untamed frontier region, word filters out: Another truce has been struck between the government and a local warlord who commands a band of pro-Taliban fighters.

Delhi Durbar

• Gujjar agitation: Godmen rush to BJP’s aid

• Arjun fails to turn up

• Secretary takes on the press

• Corrections and clarifications

EDITORIALS

Pouring cheer
Monsoon bodes well for economy

THE advance arrival of the monsoon has spread cheer all around. People have got a respite from heat and irritating power cuts. Weather experts say it is a record of sorts. It was in 1908, a hundred years ago, that the monsoon came so early in the region - on June 16, to be specific. Though they could not forecast the early onset, they hold out the hope that the monsoon will stay till September. This spells good news for the country, which is faced with the spectre of rising prices of food and fuel. Though the ruling politicians like to take credit for the upsurge in economic growth, the fact is India’s economy and the wellbeing of a large section of the population are heavily dependent on rain.

The Punjab government’s commendable efforts this year in dissuading farmers from the early sowing of paddy have shown results. The paddy sowing coinciding with the monsoon has significantly reduced the use of ground water, which has sunk to precarious levels in many parts of the state. This has also helped farmers save on precious diesel. The most relieved will be the Punjab State Electricity Board, which had practically no money to buy power to meet the peak season demand. The closure of the Nathpa Jhakri hydel unit and sinking levels of water in the reservoirs at Bhakra, Ranjit Sagar and Pong had threatened to further cripple power availability.

Excess rain, however, remains unmanageable. The Ravi and Beas waters are fast rising. Floods in the past have repeatedly exposed administrative apathy and lack of preparedness. Most cities and towns are without an effective sewerage to drain out rainwater, causing much avoidable inconvenience to the public. Despite serious concerns frequently expressed at the sinking water table, much of the rainwater goes waste and conservation remains only at the talking level. It is still not mandatory for new buildings to instal water-harvesting structures. The NDA project of inter-linking rivers has been dumped. Water management does not get the priority it deserves.

Karzai’s cry
Taliban must be dealt with for peace to prevail

Whatever Islamabad might think about it, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s threat to attack the Taliban bases inside Pakistan deserves to be taken seriousnessly. Despite the military assistance from the multinational forces stationed there, Afghanistan has not been able to effectively handle the Taliban mainly because the extremist outfit has been receiving overt and covert support from Pakistan. Till the formation of the new government in Islamabad the Taliban had been finding it difficult to keep intact its support base in Pakistan’s tribal areas because of the anti-extremist operations launched by the Pakistan Army. But the situation has changed today with the PPP-PML (N)-ANP coalition government being more interested in entering into “peace” deals with the militants than dealing with them by using force. This has helped the Taliban to regroup itself to carry out major attacks inside Afghanistan. Friday’s storming of a major jail in Kandahar by the Taliban, freeing over 1000 prisoners, should be seen against this backdrop.

Afghanistan itself does not have the military strength to accomplish what Mr Karzai wants to do. But Mr Karzai’s cry provides a fresh opportunity to give a serious thought to the threat to peace and stability posed by the Taliban. It is possible Mr Karzai was speaking on behalf of the NATO forces, which are greatly concerned about the raids the Taliban and its friends organise from the border areas inside Pakistan. Could President Karzai be hinting at cross-border attacks by American and NATO troops on these areas? Whatever the explanation, the border areas from where much trouble is spewing out are certain to be in the news of the wrong kind in the near future.

Actually, Islamabad itself should launch a serious drive against the Taliban and Al-Qaida elements operating from Pakistani territory. This appears to be the best course to handle the menace. Baitullah Mehsud and the other tribal warlords associated with the Taliban must get a clear message that their destructive activities can no longer be tolerated. They should either be forced to surrender or be dealt with by using force. The policy of striking “peace” deals with the militants will not do. Islamabad must read the writing on the wall before it is too late. 

Tax luxury
Reward fuel efficiency 

THE Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 hike in excise duty on high-end cars, multi-utility vehicles (MUV) and sports utility vehicles (SUV) by the government to curb the rising demand for fuel is a step in the right direction. All cars with engine capacities between 1500cc and 2000cc will face an additional duty of Rs 15,000 per vehicle. For cars whose engines are over 2000cc it would be Rs 20,000. Only about 25 per cent of the cars will be affected by the new duty and most of the popular models will not face this levy. As the world seeks to find ways of bringing down the energy costs, various means are being adopted by different governments. The move to tax big cars will, no doubt, be a popular choice, the objections from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers notwithstanding.

The hike in the excise duty is, however, symbolic as the revenues that are likely to accrue from this levy will not be much. However, using just the engine capacity as a parameter is flawed, though easier to implement. The issue is not how big the engine is, but how fuel efficient it is. Indeed, fuel guzzlers should be taxed heavily as is being done in some Western countries. Fuel efficiency should be the main focus of any such green tax. At the same time, vehicles using alternative sources of energy should be given incentives.

In the long run, the objective should be to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road. The government will be failing in its duty if it does not provide efficient means of public transportation to wean away the public from using individual vehicles. The fuel shock is providing the right impetus to rethink old paradigms and evolve holistic plans to face a world where energy is increasingly expensive. The government should seize the initiative and look for long-term solutions. 

Thought for the day

Unkempt about those hedges blowsAn English unofficial rose. — Rupert Brooke

ARTICLE

Media monitoring
It should evolve own mechanism 
by S. Nihal Singh 

IT is as if some Indian television channels are egging on the government to regulate them. The manner in which the Aarushi murder case has been covered by the media, regrettably including print, was nothing short of scandalous. Why a voluble police force publicly floated diverse theories of who could have committed the murder and his motives is for the authorities to investigate. But for the media, particularly the TV channels, to throw the basic tenets of journalism out of the window and revel in salacious details without even using the word “alleged” is a national shame.

The reputations of Dr Talwar the father and his woman colleague, his murdered daughter Aarushi, and a host of others were impugned without giving a thought to the basic tenet of jurisprudence: a person is innocent unless proved guilty. For the Fourth Estate, the responsibilities are greater. Justice and fairness are the cardinal principles of a free media. And the breathless, almost panting, coverage of the murder continues on TV channels, the Hindi channels adding their own flavour.

With the government hot on the television channels’ trail with a view to regulating and controlling them, Indian broadcasters are asking for trouble. Irresponsible and salacious reporting of one murder can only convince viewers that broadcast and television channels need regulation and control, despite the viewer ratings these channels might be banking on.

In historical terms, the government tolerated a free Press even while radio broadcasts and later television remained in the hands of the authorities. The advent of private television channels is a relatively recent phenomenon and the mushrooming of channels particularly so. Given their reach via cable operators and direct-to-home services, New Delhi is conscious of their influence on ever wider sections of the citizenry. The government, it seems, is not psychologically comfortable with freewheeling channels.

The government’s energetic Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Priyaranjan Das Munshi, (why India should need such a ministry 60 years after gaining Independence is a subject for debate) has even proposed a broadcasting Bill involving a code of conduct policed by a government-appointed-and-influenced body and has proposed certain cross-ownership rules. It has, besides, set up a Media Monitoring Centre at Prasar Bharati to monitor over 100 channels simultaneously.

On the face of it, the Bill is a preposterous idea because it would give the government the power indirectly to control private channels. The blast it received from the four concerned organisations — Indian Broadcasting Association, News Broadcasting Association, Indian Media Group and Editors’ Guild — sent the minister scurrying for cover. The obvious point made by these groups is that the government should be “an enabler, not a regulator”, as TV Today’s Arun Purie put it. In short, the industry itself should frame the rules that should police them. In fact, the NBA has submitted a code of ethics and broadcasting standards.

Governments the world over try to use “national interest” and “right to privacy” to try to control the media. India is no exception. Professionals, however, know what is really in the national interest and must themselves police the right to privacy. But Indian broadcasters will carry little conviction if they display the kind of irresponsible reporting they have indulged in on Aarushi.

We have it on the authority of Mr Asutosh of CNB-TV 18 that “today channels are in a revolutionary mode and Hindi channels need to be understood not with a colonial mindset”. Vulgarity and dumbing down news is not the stamp of a post-colonial era. On the contrary, equating Hindi speakers with prurience and a low level of intelligence is tantamount to insulting them.

The larger question is how Indian media can evolve immediate mechanisms to discipline those who infringe the basic tenets of good journalism. Given the kind of coverage the Aarushi murder has spawned, broadcasters do not have the luxury of waiting for months to negotiate the issue with the government. The need of the moment is immediately to set up a representative mechanism of respected professionals and members of civil society under the aegis of the Editors Guild of India. Let it take the case of the Aarushi murder and frame a set of do’s and don’ts on murder stories.

The government, on its part, must rein in members of the police force in their interactions with the media. Senior officials must resist the temptation of being expansive in front of television cameras. Surely, any sets of theories they might have on a particular case must be kept under wraps until the investigation is complete. As it is, it is a pitiable sight to see policemen sift evidence on a crime scene with bare hands. Half of evidence is lost before forensic teams are brought into play. It is not the fault of the police because they are simply not trained in how to approach a crime scene.

Television news has enriched most viewers in their understanding of events far and near. It was not so long ago that the only television news available was through Doordarshan, replete with ribbon-cutting and ministerial speeches. English language TV channels have given us some imaginative features, often stressing how the less fortunate live and work. The sting operations become controversial on occasion, but the demarcating line surely must be that such investigation is in the public interest, not an excuse to indulge in prurience and vulgarity in the name of serving a higher cause.

Here again, the sooner a media peer group is up and running, the easier it will be to convince viewers that television channels in particular are conscious of their responsibilities. At the same time, the media will have the public support to ward off attempts by the government to invade their space.

Those who have lived through the Emergency of 1975-77 realise how easy it is for the majority to fall in line. Mercifully, the media have learnt a few lessons from those days and will probably not cave in as easily. But vigilance, they say, is the price of freedom and the coverage of the Aarushi murder reminds us how vigilant we need to be.

MIDDLE

Mental arithmetic
by A.N. Suryanarayanan 

Someone recently asked me as to how do South Indians calculate fast, mumbling in their mother tongue. He appeared concerned as his convent-going children use their ‘head’ (physically, I mean) and fingers in both hands to count in English, even basic numbers! You ask “What is seven plus six?” The child will first touch the head and say: “Seven in head” and then open out the little fingers, counting from seven onwards with one finger at a time, till it reaches the sixth, all the time counting loud and say: “Thirteen!” I told him the secret and will share with you too!

In our elementary school in Tamil Nadu (then Madras State), we had to cram up Tables down to 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32; and not just stop at ¼! At age 66, I can rattle them off even today! To test assimilation, we used to have Quick Mental Arithmetic tests every Saturday for an hour; let me describe the interesting scene.

All 40-45 students in a section are made to stand in a line by the teacher with a slate in the left hand and a pencil in the right. He will have his “tuft” nicely knotted up (a small jasmine would adorn most tufts!), and in a spotlessly white khadi-kurta and traditional dhoti, with relevant caste marks on the forehead: Iyengars thin white lines in the shape of an “U” or “Y” and a saffron line in the middle, all worn vertically on the forehead. (This Y and U by itself is a long story of a litigation going right up to Privy Council regarding which one: U or Y should adorn the forehead of the temple elephant at famous Srirangam! I shall reserve it for my next middle!). Iyers will have vibhuti (sacred ash) in three horizontal stripes across the forehead!

He will then shout out the question by walking to both ends of the veranda where you stand and say “GO”. You write down the answer and put the reversed slate down on to the ground, lest you allowed a peep by the weak neighbour.

He will go to each student, who will pick up the slate and hand over for an award of 1 mark, if correct. The difficulty increases for classes 3, 4 and 5. 20 such questions per hour! You got less than 19 out of 20, God save you!

I am reminded of an interesting episode that happened when I was in class 5 located on the first floor. The teacher shouted out the question, in Tamil, of course: “If an orange costs 1 and 1/8 anna, how much would a dozen cost?” He repeated it from the other end of the veranda! In the few seconds before the teacher could say “Go”, someone shouted from the basement cycle park: “13 1/2 annas!” The martinet teacher wouldn’t leave the culprit! He peeped out of the bamboo window and saw a class 8 student running past to hide. He knew the name and told him to come up, threatening to rusticate him. The fellow had wet his half-pants by then and started crying in front of all of us: juniors! We had fun for then, but had to pay heavily when we met outside the school!

OPED

Index of happiness
Let’s learn lessons from Bhutan
by Arun Kumar

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has recently returned from Bhutan, a unique country that believes in a happiness index and not per capita income as a measure of the people’s wellbeing. He must have observed an unhurried life, progressing at a slow pace and learnt the value of patience. He advised fellow Indians to patiently wait for the rising tide of inflation to ebb in due course.

The idea prevalent in modern society that time is money is alien to the Bhutanese. Perhaps for them after a day’s work, happiness comes from spending time with each other, in the community or contemplating at the local monastery. In the Happiness Index physical happiness is only one of the seven things – rather funny. Do the goodies that we accumulate give us happiness? Not necessarily, especially, if we are all the time dissatisfied because we do not have what our neighbour or friends have.

Clearly, happiness may be derived from factors other than wealth. In such a society, no high pressure advertising to make one feel inadequate and compensate for that by consuming more and more of banal things – more and more of the expensive things that require one to work harder to earn more. While simplicity preserves the environment and promotes happiness, the modern life does the opposite.

It may be argued that one can know one’s happiness but not that of others. So one should be satisfied with one’s own happiness and not worry about that of the collective – become an atomised individual.Further, it is difficult to say if one is happier today than one was yesterday so why worry about the past (or the future), just look at the present – become short termist. One can only say with certainty that if one gives to someone they would be happier and since one cannot give to all, give to friends to make them happier. So, rulers who have their constituencies need only benefit this group to increase its happiness and consequently their own.

The Prime Minister, on being quizzed by the usually ‘unhappy’ and ‘cynical’ crowd of ‘curious’ journalists about the roaring inflation and the unhappiness of aam admi got a chance to practice his newly acquired wisdom and advised the aam admi to be patient. After all, he had promised them hamara hath when he had started his term in 2004.

Perhaps, to people who are happy, time matters little. Would a few months here and there matter in Bhutan; so, the Prime Minister said, by September (four months later) prices may come down. That was not all, given the faith in God in Bhutan, something the aam admi seems to be losing in spite of frequent visits to godmen and devis, he suggested that his statement would turn out to be true if the rain gods were to oblige by showering their bounty on the country.

Further, because some ignorant individuals have been demanding tough steps against the businessmen and traders indulging in profiteering, he said that he would advise against any such measures. It would cause unhappiness to these people. Thus, by a master stroke, he found the mantra for keeping everyone happy – the aam admi, by exercising patience in spite of the troubles he faces and the business community, secure in the knowledge that no tough steps would be taken against it.

If there is any hint of a one-sided view of happiness then it is only an error on the part of those who think so. After all, can one be happy if one’s friends feel unhappy because of the tough steps taken against them? And, today, the government’s best friends are the businessmen. The country’s prosperity is measured by how happy they are; becoming billionaires, building 45 story mansions to live in, buying Rs 5 crore cars or how well the stock market is doing. Let us not forget, it is controlled by less than 0.1 per cent of the population (the business community).

Earlier Japan was called Japan Inc but now India has become India Inc.
To get rich, one can resort to the black economy which generates about 50 per cent extra GDP. Indians apparently have huge amounts of black wealth hidden abroad in various tax havens, like, Liechtenstein. Can one forget that the current Punjab Chief Minister accused the former Chief Minister of spiriting money out of the country? And, just the other day, was it not the other way around – only a question of who is in power. Is it any different in Uttar Pradesh or Tamil Nadu? As someone sang, Mauja hi mauja.

It is no secret that when the Prime Minister was the Finance Minister, he overlooked the scams taking place all around him and in one case said in Parliament that he would not lose sleep (cause of unhappiness). Some of them were huge involving over a thousand crores when the previous biggest one was the Bofors, involving perhaps Rs 100 crore at best.

Trust is a prerequisite to happiness but today can one be sure that the vegetable one eats has not been injected with chemicals or sprayed with deadly pesticides? Indians wanting to be happy are following the individual route of instant happiness by cutting corners and making a quick buck – Bunty and Bubbly style selling the Taj Mahal. Public has to take all this in its stride and patiently wait so that the business community can be happy with 9 per cent growth.

The citizens’ well being comes from systems that are responsive but increasingly that is not so in India and as growth accelerates, the happiness index is sliding. The new mantra is that the aam admi has to be patient and grin and bear it rather than protest or take to the streets. So, this is the new optimality (meaning, all sections are happy) of the economist, namely, the businessmen make a lot more money and the rest patiently wait for their lot to improve in the future. Is this what we have learnt from our little neighbour, Bhutan (or from Washington)?

Truces with militants
unnerve Western allies
by Laura King

PESHAWAR: The “jirgas,” or traditional tribal gatherings, continue late into the night. And every few weeks, from some remote corner of Pakistan’s untamed frontier region, word filters out: Another truce has been struck between the government and a local warlord who commands a band of pro-Taliban fighters.

For nearly two months, Pakistan’s new government has been engaged in intensive negotiations with Islamic militants who use the rugged tribal areas along the Afghan border as both a sanctuary and a springboard for attacks.

NATO and US officials have voiced increasing concern over the nature and scope of such negotiations and the resulting agreements. Under them, militant factions have received significant concessions, including the release of dozens of prisoners and the granting of effective amnesties to fugitive commanders who previously topped the most-wanted lists.

The truces, analysts and officials say, reflect Pakistan’s determination to protect its own interests, even as it seeks to reassure the United States that it remains a committed ally in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Of paramount importance to the new Pakistani government is halting suicide bombings and other attacks inside its country. Far less urgency is accorded to stemming the flow of fighters and weapons into Afghanistan, as the West wants Pakistan to do. NATO says it has tracked a notable spike in cross-border attacks by insurgents inside Afghanistan since truce negotiations began.

The state of hair-trigger tension along the frontier was evident in a chaotic clash last week in which 11 Pakistani troops were killed, allegedly by American airstrikes. The US military, which did not acknowledge responsibility for the deaths, released footage suggesting the strikes were in response to insurgent fire directed at US-backed Afghan forces. The incident remains under investigation.

Despite steady activity, the new Pakistani policy of making deals with militants is still in its nascent stages.

No formal accord has been signed with the main umbrella group of the Pakistani Taliban, led by a notorious commander named Baitullah Mahsud, based in the South Waziristan tribal agency. Government forces, though, have been giving his fighters a wide berth under informal understandings reported to be in place.

“The army is never in his territory. When they claim they are, it is only public relations,” said retired Brig. Gen. Mahmood Shah, now a Peshawar-based analyst.

In a token of his wider influence, Mahsud personally has signed off on a handful of local pacts formalised elsewhere in the tribal areas and in Pakistan’s volatile northwest, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.

Mahsud, who is blamed by Pakistani authorities for attacks including the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, publicly has declared that his own fighters would not feel bound to refrain from attacking Western troops inside Afghanistan, even if they stop striking Pakistani targets. The previously reclusive Mahsud last month summoned Pakistani journalists to a news conference at his tribal redoubt, where he asserted that jihad against the Americans in Afghanistan remained a praiseworthy aim.

Longtime observers of the conflict in the tribal areas cite a striking disconnect between US policy aims in Pakistan and the sentiments of ordinary Pakistanis, particularly in the northwest, where the militancy has sunk its deepest roots.

“Overall, the perception is that this is a war we should not be fighting,” said Rustum Shah Mohmand, a former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan. “Are we supposed to let our own territory burn because NATO would be unhappy if we make peace arrangements there?”

The pervasive sense of insecurity in Pakistani cities and towns eroded the flagging popularity of the US-backed President Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan’s armed campaign against Islamic militants, with its steady drumbeat of troop casualties and the occasional humiliating mass surrender of government forces, also sapped army morale.

Following parliamentary elections in February that brought the new ruling coalition to power, suicide bombings have trailed off but not halted. Earlier this month, a bomb exploded outside the Danish Embassy in the capital, Islamabad, killing six people. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility.

Pakistan’s new government insists that truce overtures are aimed at homegrown groups known as local Taliban, and that talks are taking place only with those who are willing to lay down their weapons.

By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

Delhi Durbar
Gujjar agitation: Godmen rush to BJP’s aid

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is truly God’s Own Party. Whenever it faces a crisis, godmen rush to its aid. It is well known that Asaramji Bapu and Murari Bapu have helped the BJP expand its appeal to a large cross-section of god-fearing populace.

Recently, when the BJP-government in Rajasthan failed to quell the Gujjar agitation and the protests continued without any solution in sight, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar hit upon the idea of persuading godmen to appeal to the striking Gujjars. BJP sources said when a Jain Muni’s attempts failed, someone came up with the idea of asking Sri Sri Ravishankar to speak to the Gujjars.

Sri Sri went there for a day and spoke to the protesters. They listened to him with rapt attention after initial heckling. The result: the Gujjars joined the talks with the state government and a solution is in sight, according to a BJP leader.

Arjun fails to turn up

It was the last thing the organisers had expected on a day so special. Everything was in order till the clock struck 11 a.m. – the time for the inauguration of the event to mark World Day against Child Labour. The right moment, however, kept getting delayed, thanks to Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh, who failed to turn up, courtesy the Cabinet meeting; and the Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Choudhury, who arrived an hour behind schedule.

UNICEF and ILO representatives were, however, well in time. While Renuka saved the day by turning up, someone in the gathering had a take on Arjun Singh: “He is perhaps passing the snub.” The previous day, Rahul Gandhi had failed to turn up at Arjun Singh’s house for a scheduled meeting. It was termed a “royal snub.”

Secretary takes on the press

While the UPA government boasts of the Right to Information Act as among its major achievements, its own bureaucracy is clearly not impressed. Take the case of Fertiliser Secretary J.S. Sarma who has threatened the fertiliser industry and fertiliser associations against speaking to the media. Apparently, he said that he will stop all payment of subsidies to the industry if anyone spoke of fertiliser shortages.

He has been claiming that there are adequate supplies of fertilisers, pointing to the data on his computer. However, industry sources dismiss his figures and charge that shortages are a ground reality as there has not been enough production. When last heard, the slugfest between the two was continuing.

Contributed by Faraz Ahmad, Aditi Tandon and Bhagyashree Pande

Corrections and clarifications

n In the news-item “Farmers want millet to be included in PDS” (page 2, June 10) para 3, line 6 should have been “stressing that millets had more nutritional value than rice and wheat” instead of “stressing that foodgrain had more nutritional value than rice and wheat…”

n The headline “Farmers perturbed over dry minors” (June 11) should have been “Farmers perturbed over dry minor canals”.

n In the report “Pranab rules out Gorkhaland”, all that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee says is that the “Centre is against the formation of a Gorkhaland or any separate state”. Constitutionally, it is the state concerned which has to take the initiative for the formation of a new state.

n In the photo caption “Punjab Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal protests against the hike in fuel prices by going to his office on a bicycle in Chandigarh on Tuesday” (June 13), it should have been mentioned that he was occupying the middle of the road obstructing the movement of motor vehicles.

n The headline “Rapist Haryana cops absconding” (June 11) should have been “Rape accused Haryana cops absconding” as the policemen have not yet been convicted.

Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them.

We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. We will carry corrections and clarifications, wherever necessary, every Tuesday.

Readers in such cases can write to Mr Amar Chandel, Deputy Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the words “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is: amarchandel@tribunemail.com.

H.K. Dua Editor-in-Chief