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Pay more
for loans Criminals
as MPs Clinch the
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Anti-India
propaganda in J&K
Daughter’s
cry
Indira’s Emergency Earth can use human engineering A crisis in food quality, too
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Criminals as MPs The
award of life imprisonment to Surajbhan Singh, MP (Lok Janshakti Party) from Bihar, by a trial court in the Rami Singh murder case once again underlines the increasing criminalisation of politics and its consequent threat to the system and the polity. Alarmingly, the number of MPs convicted for life imprisonment or death is on the rise. In Bihar alone, RJD MPs Pappu Yadav (Purnea) and Mohammed Shahabuddin (Siwan) and former MP Anand Mohan Singh (Sheohar) have all been convicted for murder. Shibu Soren, MP and former Union Minister from neighbouring Jharkhand, was convicted of murder, but later acquitted. In Uttar Pradesh, ministers Anand Sen Yadav and Jamuna Nishad have been charged with murder and jailed. A shady character for decades, Surajbhan started as a contract killer for Uttar Pradesh mafia dons. He was elected MLA from Mokama in 2000. Because of his powerful clout, he has been controlling most contracts in the railways and PSUs in Begusarai and elsewhere. Clearly, persons of Surajbhan’s ilk should not be allowed to sit in the Lok Sabha. The best place for them is jail and not Parliament. If such characters are elected to Parliament or state legislatures (some are even ministers at the Centre and in the states), they not only vitiate the august offices but also wreak havoc on the system and the quality of governance. Undoubtedly, the political parties are largely responsible for encouraging goons, gangsters and thugs to contest elections. The problem of criminalisation of politics can be easily resolved if all the political parties refuse to give tickets to criminals to contest elections. The voters, too, should boldly reject them at the hustings. Unfortunately, there has been no forward movement on the Election Commission’s recommendation to the Centre to ban criminals from contesting elections. The existing law passed in 2002 stipulates that anyone charged with two heinous crimes would be debarred from contesting elections. But then, this is not enough to stem the rot in the polity. It provides too many loopholes to criminal politicians to evade the process of law, while continuing in public life. The Centre would do well to implement the Election Commission’s proposals for strengthening Section (8) of the Representation of the People Act to bar criminals from contesting elections to Parliament or state legislatures. |
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Clinch the pipeline Even
as the yes-no-yes on the nuclear deal continues, with the government apparently losing courage each time on the brink of the final leap of faith, there is another important deal waiting to be clinched. Though much progress has been made on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline since talks first began, it too is being bogged down by security and political concerns of the parties involved, apart from wrangles over fees. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora’s indication of resumption of talks is thus welcome. Surely, this government would not want to go down with a string of jobs left undone. As the nation’s energy security is at stake, the missed opportunities will have long-term effects. India should actively seek to expedite the deal. Reports suggest that there are still issues regarding the price that remain to be sorted out with Iran. Teheran is apparently seeking periodic price reviews while India wants the price locked-in for the duration of the contract. Pakistan is also keen to charge a higher transit fee, besides pressing for more transportation costs. While Iran will lay a pipeline till the Pakistan border, Pakistan is responsible for the infrastructure up to the Indian border. India would naturally prefer a ‘handover’ at the Indian border, rather than at Pakistan’s border, as the transit risk is highest inside Pakistan territory. Pakistan obviously sees a shared benefit in the project, as it would otherwise have not signed the tripartite deal. However, it should get over the mindset of instituting roadblocks at every step when dealing with India. Indian negotiators too should operate with a sense of urgency and a flexible approach, aiming for a win-win situation for all the parties. India should go in for both the nuclear deal and the Iran pipeline, even if it involves dealing with the two countries with adversarial relationship. India simply needs more energy — from anywhere.
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Civilisations die from suicide, not by murder.
— Arnold Toynbee |
Anti-India propaganda in J&K
Welcome to Paradise on Earth” reads the signboard as one crosses the Banihal Tunnel to enter the valley of Kashmir, as teams of the Border Roads Organisation and soldiers, forever on the lookout for mines and booby traps, maintain vigil. But there are signs of change, as one enters Srinagar, now teeming with tourists from across India. Security arrangements are less obtrusive, with businessmen and owners of shikaras (boats) plying across the Dal Lake doing thriving business, after 15 years of terrorism having rendered the “Paradise on Earth” a virtual “Hell on Earth”. Terrorists now appear to be selective about their targets, concentrating on military installations, governmental offices and, occasionally, politicians who have not made their peace with one or another terrorist outfit. Moreover, urban centres like Kupwara, Sopore and Baramulla in Northern Kashmir remain hubs of Pakistani terrorist groups. Despite substantive improvement in the security situation, anti-Indian separatist propaganda has been shrill. When around 80 acres of land was transferred to the Amarnath Shrine Board to construct shelters for pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine, a shrill propaganda barrage was mounted by people like the “moderate” Hurriyat leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, alleging that it was a devious move to change the demographic composition of the state. Similar sentiments were voiced when the government decided to build family accommodation for Army officers serving in J&K. All this at a time when it is known that the demographic composition of both the Northern Areas and the Pakistan occupied Kashmir has been drastically altered (without a word of protest from the Hurriyat or its many apologists), and over 100,000 persons from the families which fled into Jammu from neighbouring Sialkot in 1947 are denied citizenship and voting rights in the state. Despite loud claims of adherence to the syncretic values of “Kashmiriyat,” the valley- dominated politics of the state remains starkly communal. In Islamabad, a fragile coalition government has created a situation where the Army calls the shots on relations with India and Afghanistan, with the Taliban and jihadi groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba getting rejuvenated. On June 16, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani proclaimed Kashmir as the “cornerstone” of his country’s foreign policy, demanded the involvement of “genuine” representatives (read the Hurriyat Conference) of the Kashmiri people in the dialogue process and espoused a “just and durable settlement which would be acceptable to the people of Pakistan”. This rhetoric ignores the fact that for any dialogue to succeed it has to be acceptable not just to public opinion in Pakistan but also to India. A weak Prime Minister dominated by his Army Chief whom he has entrusted to safeguard the “ideological frontiers” of Pakistan is obviously playing to the domestic gallery and has disowned what his party chief Asif Ali Zardari had said earlier on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Between August 2, 2002, (when the State Assembly election schedule was announced) and October 8, 2002, when the electoral process was completed, an estimated 700 persons, including 99 political workers, died in election-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir. Even as Prime Minister Gilani was expounding his views on Jammu and Kashmir, his Army Chief General Kiyani was visiting the headquarters of 12 Infantry Division in Murree, during which he is reported to have discussed “operational, administrative and training” matters. The only “operational” role of 12 Infantry Division is backing infiltration across the LoC in the Jammu sector. Analysts recall that months before the Kargil intrusion the then Army Chief, General Musharraf, had paid a similar visit to the Force Commander, Northern Areas. This is not to suggest that a Kargil-type intrusion is on the cards, but to caution that Pakistan is preparing the ground to disrupt the assembly elections scheduled for October/November 2008 as it attempted in 2002. More ominously, there is a concerted Pakistani effort to unite Hurriyat factions under the tutelage of the hardline jamaat-e-Islami led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani. The recent meeting between Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq and the subsequent visit of Mirwaiz Farooq to Pakistan are pointers in this direction. The Manmohan Singh government will have to review its policies on Jammu and Kashmir. The pernicious anti-Indian propaganda in the Kashmir valley has to be countered. The constant refrain that one hears from the separatists and their mentors in Pakistan is that one lakh Kashmiris have been “martyred”. The reality is that the total civilian casualties in terrorist-related violence (predominantly by terrorists) till 2006 are 15,611, while 18,658 terrorists, many of them Pakistanis, have been gunned down in the same period, when 27,735 assault rifles, 1942 rocket launchers, 36,900 kgs of explosives and 7 million rounds of ammunition smuggled across the LoC were seized. Secondly, the Prime Minister has bent over backwards to appease separatist sentiments. A more realistic approach is required by making it clear that on issues like autonomy, there has to be a measure of symmetry in the extent of autonomy granted to the state and the level of autonomy enjoyed by people in the PoK and the Northern Areas. There has been a secret “back-channel” dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir in the past few years conducted by a highly accomplished Indian diplomat, Satinder Lambah and his Pakistani counterpart, Tariq Aziz. This dialogue was evidently based on the proposals from General Musharraf on “self-governance” and “demilitarisation” and an understanding that while there can be no change in borders, we could make borders “irrelevant” by promoting trade, travel, tourism and investment across the LoC and by establishing a mechanisms for cooperation in areas like health, education, the environment and water resources. Prime Minister Gilani has rejected these proposals, describing them as “half-baked”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh owes it to Parliament and the people of India to state precisely what transpired in discussions between his Special Envoy Satinder Lambah and Secretary of Pakistan’s National Security Council Tariq Aziz on an issue involving the unity and territorial integrity of India. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Makhdoom Mohammed Hussain Qureshi will be in Delhi shortly. He should be left in no doubt that his government cannot disown what has transpired thus far. Finally, while liberalising trade and travel across the Line of Control, New Delhi should stop acting like an apologist for Pakistani actions and adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards cross-border terrorism. The litmus test for whether the new Pakistan government has been given any flexibility by the military establishment in its conduct of relations with India can be the extent it is ready to remove trade barriers and fulfil its obligations under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement.n
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Daughter’s cry Gods
reside, they say, In the land where women are worshipped In such ‘sacred’ land do I breathe A land ‘empowered’ with high sounding laws and slogans This is the land where a mother guards her baby From the prowling eyes of hawks Since the day she opens her eyes Oh! how her cares fail Prey she falls to these hounds sooner or later Alas! nothing eats more into the vitals Than her honour being outraged Today me Sarita, tomorrow Neha or Rupa Bearing the pain and agony lie on the cross Hell it was when they pierced into me The damned gagged my mouth Oh! couldn’t even cry for help Every moment I lived with shame and guilt Those leering leeches The ghosts of the past Hounded me every moment How I longed for mother To envelope me in her bosom And take away all my pain What if history repeats? My daughters, too, would cry But none to wipe their tears My soul would not be at peace Fear lurking within for My innocent little daughters In fact, All the daughters of the land Will the sands of time erase The blood shed by me A’ the caravan go
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Indira’s Emergency One
complete generation has passed through the corridors of power but the memory of Indira Gandhi’s political desperation to retain power by imposing Emergency on June 26, 1975, remains a nightmare in many minds. One has to keep in view that Indira Gandhi was always gripped with a sense of insecurity because she was installed as the prime minister as the least unacceptable leader. She became acceptable only in preference to a more dominant claimant, Morarji Desai. “If nine men can make me the prime minister, they can also unmake me,” was the fear that she had confessed to in private, after the then Congress president K. Kamaraj conveyed to her that it would only be collective leadership thenceforth, as no single person could fill the vacuum left behind by Jawaharlal Nehru. It was a message to her that she was merely a figure head. Real power would rest with the four stalwarts of the party who had engineered her elevation to the post. She overcame them all through clever politics and by adopting a left-of-centre economic stance to marginalise the rightist leaders of the party. She emerged as a leader in her own right through the 1971 election with a massive mandate. She could not be defeated through politics nor through elections but she was sought to be ousted through a legal battle on June 12, 1975 when the Allahabad High Court unseated her by holding her election null and void due to several irregularities. Political ethics demanded that she must step down but intuition as a human being offered her two choices. One was to follow the ethical course but it was fraught with the surety of reaching dead end. She knew that the moment she vacated the office, it would be farewell forever to politics. Her departure would also end the legacy of the Nehru family in Indian politics as no one would allow her return. The coterie led by her younger son Sanjay Gandhi also advised her against stepping down as they felt confident of weathering the storm that would follow her refusal to step down from office. There was yet another reason for her to rationalise her feelings. For two years, India was going through political turmoil as the masses were disappointed by her inability to keep her election promise of delivering two meals a day to every one. Sarvodaya leader Jayprakash Narayan had led a massive rally on March 6, 1975, to demonstrate the intensity of public discontent against her rule. She had perhaps genuinely believed that the system would collapse with her departure under the prevailing circumstances. And she said so to justify the imposition of Emergency when she spoke to the nation on the June 26 morning on Akashvani. Her choice was made. She opted to walk the path that many a desperate dictator had in the past taken. She imposed Emergency and also went alone with the designs of the coterie to incarcerate the entire opposition or at least those leaders who had held a joint meeting only three days earlier. Many preferred the path she had given them. There was not a single voice of protest within her party. The administration submitted to her wishes without a semblance of protest. The middle class bought her argument that trains would now run on time and employees would be found on their seats in government offices. The system would function effectively under the whiplash held by her through the Emergency powers. But the feel good factor lasted only six months. Then it became an oppressive system as it happens in every dictatorial regime. The coterie set out to perpetuate the Gandhi regime through a new Constitution. Even the senior leaders found it impossible to access Indira Gandhi past her son Sanjay Gandhi who had become a law unto himself and believed that wisdom was reposed only in him and in none else. While the Swaran Singh Committee was preparing the draft constitution that would perpetuate the Gandhi family rule in India, Sanjay Gandhi was busy at work to get three assemblies – Bengal, Punjab and Haryana – to adopt the unanimous resolutions opting for a new Constitution for the country. Even though Indira Gandhi extended the term of the Lok Sabha by yet one more year to last till March 1978, through a resolution in December 1976, her conscience had begun to eat her soul out as she also realised that the international comity would not approve of her regime. Her new economic programme had failed to enthuse the masses. Her Principal Secretary P.N. Dhar wrote in his book that Indira Gandhi had become restless since October 1976 and was not attending to her work seriously. There were long brooding sessions even when she attended the conferences in her office. Her mind was elsewhere. She was not even responding to the name Indira in those moods of brooding. In January 1977, at the end of conference of chief ministers on land reforms, she declared her intention to go to polls in March 1977 a year ahead of the time she had gained by extending the term of the Lok Sabha. In fact, she had replied in a terse single line to Bansi Lal, then defence minister, who acted as an envoy of the coterie, seeking her decision on whether the new Constitution should be adopted by the fifth Lok Sabha or should a new constituent assembly be summoned? Without turning her face to Bansi Lal who was leaning through the car window, she asked “What is wrong with the old Constitution?” And she drove away without waiting for a reply. The coterie did not know what had struck it. The most intriguing questions left behind were, why did she call for elections an year earlier and why did she not halt the elections midway when defeat stared her in her face? Was her decision a bad gamble or was she intent on establishing herself again with elections and sticking to the last even when defeat was apparent? When I asked her in April 1977 why she went to polls a year ahead instead of consolidating her position, she said with a smile in her eyes, “Do you think I am any less a democrat only because you had to go through a bad experience of Emergency?” Indira Gandhi was brought back to power by the Indian electorate thirty months later in January 1980. |
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Earth can use human engineering Two
facts about climate change have become increasingly clear: New efforts to constrain global greenhouse gas emissions are likely within the next few years – and their effect on the climate will be modest at best. Rapidly rising emissions in the developing world will swamp whatever reductions the United States, Europe and Japan may make. Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will continue to rise for decades to come, and warming will continue well into the next century. What will happen? We may hope that the effects will be modest, but there is real risk that they will be very serious, at least for the most vulnerable nations. Some scientists warn of the possibility of abrupt climate change, with unpredictable but conceivably catastrophic consequences. Most troubling, by the time there are unmistakable signs of disaster, even a crash course of emissions reductions will be too late. Policymakers have only considered two responses to climate change: cutting emissions and adaptation – that is, learning to live with a warmer planet. There is, however, a third possible strategy, one that could be fast, effective and affordable -- but that is being ignored. This idea is commonly known as “geo-engineering.” The Earth is warmed by two forces: solar radiation, which enters the atmosphere, and the greenhouse gases that trap it there. There are two ways to cool the planet: reduce greenhouse gases or reduce the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface. Or both. If we cannot do enough of the first, we must consider whether the second option – geo-engineering – is feasible. In fact, geo-engineering could be surprisingly simple. Scientists noted that the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines cooled the planet for two to three years by roughly half a degree Celsius. There are various ways of artificially reproducing this effect. A small amount of ultra-fine sulfur particles injected into the upper atmosphere could deflect 1 percent or 2 percent of incoming sunlight – almost unnoticeable, but enough to cancel out the warming expected to occur this century. Or a fleet of ships spraying seawater into the air might achieve the same general effect by increasing the density of (and thereby the reflectivity of) low-altitude marine clouds. Even painting the roofs of buildings white would be a low-tech way of reflecting a little sunlight. A growing number of leading scientists and environmental economists take the idea of geo-engineering very seriously. The National Academy of Sciences, NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy have concluded that geo-engineering could be, in the words of the National Academy, “feasible, economical and capable.” The question for policymakers is not whether to deploy a geo-engineering system immediately or to make it the primary focus of climate policy. Rather, it is whether to make a serious investment in the research and development needed to accurately evaluate its risks and rewards. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has declined to pursue such research, although it would cost only a small fraction of the $3 billion the federal government spends annually on developing new technologies to reduce emissions. Why the reluctance to study this idea? Fear. Fear that geo-engineering would not work, and fear that it would. There are two concerns about geo-engineering. One is the risk of unintended consequences. Scientists note that sulfur particles could cause stratospheric ozone depletion, although the evidence from Pinatubo suggests that this effect would be modest. Others fear possible disruption of regional climates, such as the Asian monsoon. Most scientists studying geo-engineering believe that these side effects are not likely to be nearly as dangerous as uncontrolled warming, but much more research is needed. Fear that geo-engineering might work, however, is the reason some people reject, or are reluctant to even openly discuss, this idea. Critics worry that geo-engineering could be used as an excuse to continue unchecked emissions forever. Within the last two years, three high-level conferences have explored geo-engineering; each was held behind closed doors. One premier university was too frightened to even do that. There have been calls for boycotts of the research or, failing that, strict international regulations. This concern is badly misplaced. Geo-engineering is a remarkable idea with tremendous potential, but it is neither a permanent nor a perfect solution to warming. There are risks to and, more important, limitations on what it can do. By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post |
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A crisis in food quality, too Although
the food crisis has been discussed mainly in terms of high prices and accentuating food shortages for the poor, there is another, less discussed, but nevertheless very serious aspect of the food crisis. This relates to the many-sided deterioration in the quality of food -- in terms of reduced nutrition content as well as increasing hazards implicit in the use of too many harmful chemicals used for growing, processing and preserving food. The 1986 report of the London Food Commission had said that at least 92 pesticides cleared for use in Britain have been linked with cancer, birth defects or genetic mutation in animal studies. The 1987 report of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, said that pesticides in the food of US citizens may cause more than one million additional cases of cancer in the US over their life-time. It is well-known that excessive use of chemical fertilisers causes a loss of flavour; what is less known is that is can also cause a loss of nutritive value and even create some serious health problems. According to prominent nutrition expert C. Gopalan, there are disturbing evidences of “micronutrient depletion of soils in some areas; these are likely to be eventually reflected in impaired nutritive value of food-grains grown in such soils.” In addition, we have to cope with the nutrition loss caused by unscientific processing of food which leads to massive loss of precious nutrients. In many rice mills and other cereal mills, the part of grain which is wasted is the one which is the most nutritious. According to an expert, L. Ramchandran, who has made detailed estimates of the loss suffered in the process of refining cereals in his book, Food Planning: “The quantitative loss in the case of cereals alone may amount to not less than eight million tons. The qualitative loss is even more staggering.” Another major source of loss of nutrients is the hydrogenation of oils. Hydrogenation changes most of the unsaturated fats into saturated fats. A new threat to food safety has appeared in several countries in the form of genetically modified crops. There is a widespread myth that food safety standards in western countries are so high that once something is approved there, people in developing countries can accept this unhesitatingly. The truth is that there is serious concern in several developed countries about deteriorating food quality and standards. Great caution and vigilance is needed to ensure that harmful food is not imported. It is equally important to emphasise food production and processing methods within our country which can provide good quality, healthy food. Healthy food provided by organic farming can make a big contribution to improving health and nutrition of people as well as farm animals, while also contributing to improving soil quality and farmland fertility and protection of environment and wildlife. |
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