No more Dodas
& Chambas!

Pakistani mercenaries have gunned down at least 35 persons and injured an unspecified number of labourers in a village in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.


Restless in border states

The recent goings-on in Gujarat, and to some extent in neighbouring Rajasthan, are cause for deep concern.

Power Projects in India

by G.K. Pandey
While the Ministry of Power’s latest decision to go in for fresh bids for the 300 MW Chamera Stage II hydro-power project in Himachal Pradesh is more than welcome, it is hoped that this time around at least something concrete will emerge from the exercise.

Will China be next
after Indonesia?

by S. P. Seth
Hong Kong was the jewel of China’s economy even before its return last year from British rule. Much of China’s foreign investment was either Hong Kong-sourced or routed. The territory was also a significant source of China’s foreign trade and its trade surplus.

Parmar — the farmer By P.K. Khosla Most of us know Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar as a visionary Himachal Pradesh politician. Will BJP fight Opposition onslaught? by P. Raman With the Parliament session coming to an end the political battlefield will soon shift to the states. President's absence upsets Cong schedule The Congress spared no effort in organising the first-ever agitational rally, under the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, last week in New Delhi. Gory stories? by K. Rajbir Deswal As a child, I was quite enamoured of my uncle who used to narrate episodes full of not only suspense but also romance and light-spiritedness.

75 Years Ago

The transfer of
a popular officer
Lala Tej Ram Gupta, MA, PCS, has been transferred to Montgomery after about four years’ stay in Multan during which period he acted as Magistrate, Income Tax Officer and Sub-Judge.

No more Dodas & Chambas!

PAKISTANI mercenaries have gunned down at least 35 persons and injured an unspecified number of labourers in a village in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Terrorist killings are always unexpected but in the present case the tragic happening close to the Himachal border with Jammu and Kashmir throws up a regrettable element of security lapse. For years Pakistan has tried to divert the attention of people from domestic problems and justified the two-nation theory through violence. It has consistently portrayed India as an enemy and manufactured causes for the purpose of propaganda at international forums. When Kashmir was first attacked, mature politicians in this country said that "Junagadh was seen to be supplemented with Kashmir". "It could be India's Munich," a historian said, and added: "But we have our Munichs behind us and we may thank God that Kashmir is an early warning. We must prepare or perish.... We do not want to perish and we do not want freedom to perish. Kashmir is a symbol of our dangers and hopes." India has not been fighting for the people of Kashmir or the tranquillity of Kashmir alone. From its first ordeal it has gone through Pakistani belligerence wisely, courageously and with moderation. It has moved on with shining armour and watched the perpetrators of war crimes, propagandists of lies and architects of fear who have gone their Nazi way to Nazi doom. History will not forgive either Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Gen Zia-ul-Haq for their role in keeping the subcontinent unstable and peaceless. In the present context, we wish to reproduce here what we said in these columns on July 30 while referring to the latest and indiscriminate killing of 18 persons in two Pakistani terrorist attacks in the Kishtwar area of Doda district. "Doda is a soft target. Look at the map of northern India and you will find its visual proximity to Jammu and the Himachal border glaringly clear. If the authorities are not able to protect Doda, they would allow free play to the proxy war wagers in the plains and the relatively peaceful hill state called Himachal Pradesh. Move your eyes from Himachal to Punjab, a territory ravaged by terrorism for more than a decade, and see the implications."

The Chamba killings could have been prevented had the Central and state governments paid due heed to the situation projected by us. It is not enough to mourn the dead of Doda or to state officially: "It is very difficult to foil the militants' plans as they are exploiting the religious sentiments of young people and provide financial support to their perpetrators". The Jammu region is spread over an area of 26,000 sq km. It has six districts—Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua, Udhampur and Doda. Doda district alone has an area of 11,600 sq km. It is easy for terrorists to sneak into Himachal Pradesh and unleash terror in places close to the border. The time to talk about crisis management is over. The proxy war is taking an extreme shape. Since Thursday, Pakistani guns have pounded several Indian positions across the Line of Control (LoC). About 40 civilians have been killed so far. The martyrs belonging to the security forces have been mentioned merely in casualty lists. In view of the magnitude of aggressiveness from the Pakistani side, the retaliatory or protective response from the Indian Army personnel has to be more telling. Pakistan has disowned the Shimla Agreement and shunned bilateralism. Its nuclear might is capable of destroying it from within because there is no genuine respite from military interference in the civilian rule in that country. The Manila and Colombo proceedings have shown the futility of Pakistani propaganda against India. Certain powers in the world may be opportunistic enough to support India's enemies; but if the subcontinent is not peaceful, the world in general cannot be tranquil. Pakistani guns must be silenced. We do not want to see the repetition of the Chamba episode. The defenders of our freedom are capable of taking on the attackers even in the Tangdhar, Uri, Poonch and Gurez sectors. The LoC is a reality and it cannot be lost in the smoke that comes after gunfire. It is freedom's battle in Kashmir. So it is in any other part of India where the ISI has spread its tentacles. Our calendar of evolution, like that of revolution, shows that no inimical force will be able to affect the high morale of our people or securitymen in sensitive areas. Our powder remains dry.

Restless in border states

THE recent goings-on in Gujarat, and to some extent in neighbouring Rajasthan, are cause for deep concern. In several towns and villages members of the minority communities have bitterly complained of attacks, including the physical variety, by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. These two organisations, not everyone’s idea of the traditional and tolerant face of Hinduism, have airily admitted to three hurtful acts against the Christians. In Rajkot, a copy of the Bible was burnt in a school and the students were publicly warned against getting converted to Christianity. In a sleepy village in south Gujarat a school run by a Christian missionary was razed to the ground. In yet another village a grave was dug up and the body removed on the pretext that the piece of land was disputed. The apex body of Christian organisations has protested against these acts of vandalism and have sought government protection, but without success. The Minorities Commission is sending a fact-finding mission and on its return to Delhi, there is bound to be much play of this in national dailies and an echo in the world press. The Gujarat incidents fall in a national pattern and that makes it deeply worrisome.

Harassment of the Muslims has an added dimension. In a village in tribal-dominated Panchmahal district, all Muslim families were driven out after two young men eloped with two Hindu girls. The VHP and Bajrang Dal were the force behind the cleansing operation. They accuse Muslim youths of kidnapping girls from other communities and converting them to Islam. In the past two years 5000 girls had to face this condition, while only three Hindu boys have married across the communal divide, the VHP state general secretary charges. Both the VHP and the women’s wing, Durga Vahini, have launched a statewide campaign against inter-community marriages and religious conversions. Some hotheads have mounted an economic offensive against the minority community. In Bulsar the majority community is being asked to boycott the services of Muslims. Hindu rickshaw pullers have been distributed bright “Om” stickers to set them apart. So far there has been no case of violence against those who extend patronage on a non-religious basis. In Rajasthan too tension has been injected by a drive to reconvert the Rajputs-turned-Muslims. Younger members of the minority community have reacted by setting up a fundamentalist outfit and a war of words rages below the surface. Both Gujarat and Rajasthan have common borders with Pakistan and the ISI is active. Restlessness born out of a real or imagined sense of harassment suits the ISI, rather than the long-term interest of secular India. What adds great significance to the avoidable tension is that these two states are ruled by the BJP which also enjoys a large share of power at the Centre. There was a time when the BJP-ruled states were marked for communal amity; it is time to revive the reputation.

Power Projects in India
Factors behind the dismal scenario
by G.K. Pandey

WHILE the Ministry of Power’s latest decision to go in for fresh bids for the 300 MW Chamera Stage II hydro-power project in Himachal Pradesh is more than welcome, it is hoped that this time around at least something concrete will emerge from the exercise. Twice in the past, once in 1994 and then in 1997, there was a flurry of activity with several proposals doing the rounds, but nothing concrete emerged. Chamera II continued to remain a dream, always around the corner, but never getting finalised. Worse, for the citizens of the region, the same fate appears to have befallen several other hydro-power projects such as the 800 MW Kol Dam power project on the Sutlej, and the three-phased 2,500 MW Parwati plant, with huge delays dogging each one of them.

Meanwhile, costs continue to increase dramatically for each project, and in the case of Chamera (Stage I) equipment worth over Rs 100 crore continues to rot because of the lack of use. The public sector National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), which is the agency in charge of the project, has, in fact, written several letters to the heads of around 72 companies, including those in the public sector, offering to sell them equipment lying with it since the time Chamera I was completed over four years ago.

The equipment includes costly items such as “dumper trucks” of Canadian-make as well as various drilling and concreting equipment. The NHPC, however, has managed to sell only four or five dumper trucks to the Jaiprakash group which has bought them for use in another one of its project sites Unfortunately, since the NHPC with its 3,000-odd skilled manpower doesn’t have any other significant job on hand, it cannot utilise this equipment either.

Chamera’s sad story, of course, began way back in 1992 when the Canadians who financed Stage I of the project offered to build Stage II on a turnkey basis. Apart from using the equipment left over from Chamera I, there was also some unutilised Canadian aid from Stage I, and this was proposed to be used for Stage II. The government, however, chose to sit on the proposal for over two years. By this time the mood in the country had changed, away from negotiated bids, in favour of inviting competitive bids for all projects — interestingly, since not too many power (or any other for that mater) projects have come up through the competitive bid route, the government is now not so opposed to negotiated bid projects.

Anyway, in 1994, bids were invited for Chamera II. Among the front-runners were a Swedish consortium as well as an Indo-Canadian one lead by the Jaiprakash group. While it is still not too clear as to what happened behind the scenes, the evaluation process was fraught with controversy. The Canadian Prime Minister, in fact, even alleged that the evaluation process had been doctored to make it seem as though the Indo-Canadian venture was the runner-up, when, in fact, its bid was the best. Following this, both parties were called in for further negotiations, and, eventually, the Indo-Canadian venture was said to have the better bid. All this took place three years ago, but the bid was never awarded.

Last year the NHPC put in a bid for completing the project on a departmental basis, but this was turned down. While the NHPC was confident of winning the bid since it had quoted several hundred crores less than the Indo-Canadian consortium, the NHPC’s bid was still higher than that cleared by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) at the time when it had done a techno-economic feasibility study of the project. The CEA had cleared the project for what most power experts feel was a totally unrealistic Rs 1,500 crore. The Power Ministry, however, never managed to get the CEA to review this figure. As a result, the project failed to take off even last year.

The story of the Kol Dam is equally tragic. The project, which was initially supposed to have been set up with assistance from the USSR in 1982, was revived around five years ago when the Vardhman group of Ludhiana signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government. Initial discussions took place between the two parties, but nothing materialised finally.

And while the CEA has given clearance to Stage II of the Parwati project, no environment clearance has been got for this 550 MW project so far. The original MoU for the complete 2,500 MW project had been signed when Mr Shanta Kumar was the Chief Minister of Himachal. Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat had then agreed to share the costs as well as power with the Himachal government. Once Mr Shanta Kumar lost power, however, the project was given a burial. Once again, in this case, attempts are now being made to revive the project. Power Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam has indicated that the government may undertake this as a central project.

The problem, however, is that while the Power Ministry and the minister are now quite confident that they will be able to get these projects started — the minister indicated as much when he met the Press in Chandigarh some time ago — few others share their confidence. For one, the track record of work on these projects is hardly inspiring.

The Power Minister’s near-complete inability to get speedy clearances for its projects, of course, was best exposed by former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram last year when he sanctioned an additional Rs 900 crore to the ministry to complete three projects — Nathpa-Jhakri in Himachal Pradesh, the Tehri project in Uttar Pradesh and the Dulhasti scheme in Jammu and Kashmir. Till then the Power Ministry’s constant refrain was that it could set up a lot more power projects, but the Finance Ministry never made funds available to it.

What happened after that? Well, precisely a year later, on March 31 this year, the Power Ministry handed back exactly half this amount back to the Finance Ministry since it was unable to make much progress in the construction schedule of any of the projects! The 1,500 Nathpa-Jhakri project, incidentally, was to have been completed this year at a cost of Rs 4,337 crore. The latest cost estimates, yet to be cleared by the Cabinet, are now around Rs 8,000 crore, but only Rs 3,000 crore has been spent on the project so far — it is now scheduled to come up by the year 2003. Even this could get further delayed, with the dam’s height still not resolved — for over four years, the matter has been tossed between the Centre and the Himachal government, but no decision has been taken so far.

The Power Ministry, understandably, is the biggest culprit when it comes to cost and time overruns for projects. According to the latest reports sent to the Prime Minister. While the country has lost over Rs 45,000 crore due to such delays in project completion, over 40 per cent of this is on account of the power sector. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the country’s power situation is as dismal as it is today. And while the Prime Minister has promised that the PMO will personally monitor all projects above the size of Rs 100 crore, this is unlikely to have much effect unless officers actually lose their jobs for non-performance. We all know, of course, that is completely out of the question.

———

The author is a senior journalist and well-known economic commentator.

Will China be next after Indonesia?
by S. P. Seth

HONG KONG was the jewel of China’s economy even before its return last year from British rule. Much of China’s foreign investment was either Hong Kong-sourced or routed. The territory was also a significant source of China’s foreign trade and its trade surplus. With the “one country, two systems” formula governing Hong Kong’s return, China hoped not only to continue reaping old economic benefits but also to use its massive resources to restructure the mainland’s archaic economy, such as the reform of its loss-making state enterprises.

But Asia’s economic crisis hasn’t spared Hong Kong. The news is of deepening economic malaise. Its economy is contracting, with soaring interest rates, a 50 per cent decline in property values, a stock market plunge, flagging retail sales, tourism nose-diving, and rising unemployment. According to Tung Chee-hwa, the territory’s chief executive, the economy is “slowing down very substantially.”

What it means is that Hong Kong is in deep trouble, with its inevitable effect on China’s economy. For instance, Hong Kong’s misfortunes will affect its role as economic facilitator for the mainland; with adverse effects on China’s foreign trade and investments. Besides, because Hong Kong is now a part of China, its problems become China’s problems. The economic contagion, therefore, cannot be quarantined. And that, at a time, when China itself is having serious economic difficulties.

Though China has so far escaped lightly (on the surface) from Asia’s economic crisis, the prognosis for the future is not good. Its growth has slowed, unemployment is rising fast, compounded by the closure/merger of loss-making state enterprises, foreign investments are no longer robust, exports are affected, the banking sector is ailing, and the real estate market is in crisis. Sure, China’s controlled economy has enabled it to ward off speculative raids on its currency (being not fully convertible). But the sharp devaluation of the regional currencies is bound to affect China’s international competitiveness resulting in reduced exports.

Beijing has committed itself not to devalue its currency; but how long it will be able to maintain that commitment (when its exports start falling, to hurt its economy) is anybody’s guess. During his recent European tour, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji sought to use the argument of China’s economic responsibility (by not devaluing its currency) as deserving of reward by way of increased foreign investments in his country. The implication being that without a corresponding economic advantage elsewhere (foreign investments to bolster up China’s domestic economy, for instance), Beijing might not be able to deliver on its currency stability. China is sending the message that if its economic circumstances force Beijing into devaluing its currency (thus setting a chain of competitive devaluations), it will be disastrous for the region and, possibly, for the world. Therefore, the world has a stake in its economic stability and growth, and a consequent obligation to help China. There is no evidence so far, though, that the world (meaning the rich industrialised countries) is listening.

With Hong Kong on a sharp downward slide and mainland China facing massive unemployment, the situation is pretty dismal. The overthrow of the seemingly impregnable Suharto regime in Indonesia has shown that social and economic turmoil is no respecter of “strong” political orders/systems. It should send a serious message to the rulers in Beijing about their own political mortality. China’s political elite is regarded with similar disdain by its people as was the Suharto government. The “princelings” of the Chinese Communist Party (children of top government and party functionaries) are as hated in China as were the Suharto children. China might not be facing an imminent economic collapse like the one in Indonesia. But with the unemployment of over 200 million (from natural accretion, and from the closure of state enterprises), the potential situation in China is not unlike in Indonesia. When people have no jobs and no social safety net, the tendency is towards mob violence and systemic breakdown. The Chinese leadership, therefore, has no reason to be coy about the country’s situation.

The developments in Indonesia demonstrate that economic and political reforms must go hand in hand. And the lesson for China is that as its economic situation becomes perilous (from burgeoning unemployment and likely social turmoil), it can no longer afford the luxury of delaying political reforms. Otherwise, the two will feed on each other, threatening to produce an explosive situation in the not-too-distant future.

75 YEARS AGO
The transfer of a popular officer
From Our Own Correspondent

LALA Tej Ram Gupta, MA, PCS, has been transferred to Montgomery after about four years’ stay in Multan during which period he acted as Magistrate, Income Tax Officer and Sub-Judge.

A farewell party was given in his honour on the evening of the 11th instant in the Harichand Hall.

The elite of the town attended, prominent among them being Mukhdum Murid Hussain, R.B. Seth, Prabhu Dayal, MBE, S.S. Tej Singh, K.S. Ghulam, Qadir Khan, Lala Kanwar Bhan, S.S. Sardar Gur Pratap Singh, Revenue Officer, and Baba Parduman Singh. The function was a complete success.

The leaders at Multan

Maulana Azad, Pandit Nehru and Mrs Sarojini Naidu left yesterday after striving vainly for three days to effect reconciliation between the two communities. On the question of change of the route of Tazias the Muhammadan representative proved adamant.

Hopes raised by the arrival of the leaders for the sole purpose of peace-making have been dashed to the ground.

The news from Amritsar is not calculated to pour oil on the troubled waters. The leaders should have approached the masses directly by means of a number of public meetings. It is no use trying to convince big men of the boons of unity when, according to their lights, the lack of it is the sine qua non of their power and prestige.

Gory stories?
by K. Rajbir Deswal

AS a child, I was quite enamoured of my uncle who used to narrate episodes full of not only suspense but also romance and light-spiritedness. The combination of these two attributes always left a haunting stimulation in me coupled with the inspiration of sorts. Yes, inspiration to be more inquisitive about weird and supernatural things.

The dramatis personae (?) in my uncle’s stories were none other than ghosts and witches, and he claimed their appearance to him a number of times. He was busy the whole day, and although with awe and apprehension we used to look forward to his company only in the evenings or with the nightfall, with a lurking sensation in our impressionable minds.

I always wondered if uncle was endowed with the art of story telling, or else from where he picked up daily those dreadful anecdotes to relate to his anxious audience, the children in our household. “Does he really encounter spirits and reach home safe? Do the ghosts spare him daily for he had a freshness of its own kind not only in his narration but in his disposition as well? These queries sprang up in our minds at that time.

And most of the times when uncle shared with us his stories, I in particular had a queer sensation in me at the thought whether uncle himself wasn’t a ghost! I would try and look deep in his eyes but only for a few seconds and thereafter, compulsively, I had to turn my gaze to be fixed down below the charpoy. Then, suddenly, I would pull up my legs and cover myself with something to have some sense of security.

It is not that uncle’s stories always frightened us. Many times he would reveal the suspense also. Yet the entire ordeal of being through the narration of the episodes was no less frightful in itself. Never did we go to sleep until the story was complete. We had no questions to raise more out of the fear that uncle might come out with something more dreadful.

Uncle never talked of blood, daggers, swords, spears, etc, or the tearing of the skin and gaping wounds. Never had uncle depended on tools like the noose tightening around someone’s neck or long teeth being nailed in flesh or jaws chewing up and gulping the mortal stuff of human beings. His stories, though earthy in relevance and ephemeral in nature, still had an ambience of an eerie atmosphere embalmed with enigmatic enamel. Rather, uncle’s style was not the least violent but very simple.

Owing to pressure on space, I will relate only one instance to give a taste of uncle’s “treat” to us.

Once while returning from his place of work uncle was waiting for some conveyance to be transported home. It was a dark winter evening. He looked around and spotted a groundnut seller. When uncle approached him to purchase some groundnuts, he saw that the “man” lifted the scales, and with what he caught the scales were not human hands but animal hoofs!

Eeesshh...! As if this was not sufficient for us to have a hair-raising sensation, what uncle told us further was even more blood-chilling and bone-melting.

Having had an encounter with the hoofed groundnut seller, he ran only to climb a passing tonga. Frightened as uncle was, he told the tongawala, who too had a spooky countenance, about the “man” he had just seen, with no hands but hoofs. And the tongawala spurred on the horse, pulled and loosened the reins, only to show to my uncle his “hands”, saying “Did the groundnut seller have hoofs like these!”

Uncle says he didn’t know what happened thereafter, and how he reached home. Well, as I said, uncle never talked about blood, daggers, torn skin and gaping wounds.

Will BJP fight Opposition onslaught?
by P. Raman

WITH the Parliament session coming to an end the political battlefield will soon shift to the states. After electing the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, members go back to their constituencies wondering about the shape of things in store for them in the winter session. The political situation is so flux that anything can happen in the intervening period. Even Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana talks of the “day’s achievement.” The allies, during the day-to-day floor contacts, have become so elusive and recalcitrant.

In states, the bitter battles will be fought at three levels, all closely inter-linked and having direct fallout on the BJP government at the Centre. The first is a concerted move by all major Opposition groups to launch mass campaigns to arouse public opinion against the government’s lack of direction in curbing the steep rise in prices of essential commodities and the worsening law and order situation. Apart from the programmes being planned by the Left, the Mulayam- Laloo combine is organising a series of rallies and action plans in their strongholds. After the Patna show, the next will be in Lucknow.

The Congress has launched its road show in Delhi with a massive display of weaker section image by Sonia Gandhi. The AICC’s order book is filled with requests from almost all states for such anti-government rallies to be attended by Sonia Gandhi. However, it is not yet certain whether the drawing room-bound Congress politicians can really take to agitational politics. At this stage, what is fairly likely is that the party would concentrate on a few states, especially Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where assembly elections are scheduled for November.

To give the right message, some Congress strategists would like to exempt states ruled by friendly parties from the agitation. Such separate campaigns will produce more effect on the public than joint actions, which per se have a tinge of conspiracy attached to them. Apparently, public disillusionment with the new government’s failures is already in evidence. Normally, frustration with the performance of a new government in India begins to set in only after about six months. This time it came unusually early. This seems to have encouraged the Congress to cash in on public resentment.

The second level of political battle comprises the election campaigns in three states, including Delhi. Incidentally, the Congress is the main BJP adversary in all three states. While the Congress is better placed in Rajasthan, the fight is going to be really tough in Madhya Pradesh, where the anti-incumbency factor and the perennial faction war may upset its calculations. The question in Delhi is how best the Congress can channelise public anger over the BJP Government’s inability to provide basic amenities and improve law and order situation.

The significance of the assembly elections is that it would greatly influence the course of political events during the winter session. If the BJP performance proves unsatisfactory, Opposition efforts for its ouster would gather sudden momentum. More than anything, a fall in the BJP’s stock as reflected in the elections would greatly influence the decision of some of its BJP allies. The normal tendency on the part of allies in such situations is to get insulated from the ill-effects of a coalition. In the past few weeks, some of the allies have been feeling perturbed over the government’s increasing unpopularity.

Already, a series of incidents in BJP-ruled states perpetuated by pariwar enthusiasts have disturbed its non-Shiv Sena allies. No political party with a secular support base can appear to be supporting such actions as its electoral impact would be disastrous. For instance, Mamata Banerjee would find followers deserting her en masse if she fails to come out against the deportation of the West Bengal Muslims to Bangladesh. So far, the term minority has been a synonym for Muslims. By mounting protracted attacks on the Christians and linguistic minorities, the Hindu supremacists have given the word a wider meaning.

When Taliban-like hordes with trishuls burn the Bible, dig up Christian graves, attack nuns and churches are sought to be denotified as places of worship, parties with pluralist base will be forced to resent it. Few among the present BJP allies can continue to be seen in their company unless they disown all such acts, including the glorification of the Gandhi assassin and hounding out thousands of Muslims from their villages in Gujarat. The Congress is heavily counting on such factors while planning to wean away the present BJP allies by intensified campaigns in states.

At the third level, both the Congress and the BJP are aware that their struggle for survival would have to be waged in state capitals. Mamata can be weaned away only if the local Congressmen are persuaded to patch up with her. It can also take advantage of the BJD split in Orissa. If the Tamil Maanila Congress plays its card well, Jayalalitha’s desertion from the BJP alliance would not automatically mean DMK’s switch to the latter. For the DMK, the BJP cannot electorally compensate for the loss of the TMC support in the event of a realignment. The TMC in any case, cannot join the Jayalalitha bandwagon.

The main Opposition party has now crossed the major hurdle in its endeavour for power by successfully invoking the virtual support of the Left. Without this, the Congress might not have been able to even bargain with others. As has been indicated earlier in these columns, the CPM’s draft political document, just released, is loud and clear on this score. The party will extend issue-based support to the Congress from outside without entering into any kind of formal alliance with it. Simultaneously, the LF will continue its fight with the Congress on various political and economic issues as it did under the UF.

It is tragic that while the Congress has made a major breakthrough in its quest for regaining power, the BJP leadership has little time or mood even to think of countering the Opposition onslaught outside Parliament. It is too preoccupied with the daily troubles, many of them caused by parivar activists. The only redeemable aspect is that the BJP leadership is still effective in dealing with the individual bosses of the regional allies, so crucial for the government’s survival.

This alone has been the secret of the party’s rise to power and the survival in government so far. Now even that is becoming increasingly ineffective. In politics, this is a natural process. When issues overwhelm politics, even the individual bosses will lose their absolute control over the situation. Those who have watched the functioning of the BJP from close quarters can easily see something amiss at the top. The coordination even among top BJP stalwarts and ministers is for from what the party was hitherto known for.

At the organisational level, the BJP is badly ill-equipped to meet any kind of Opposition offensive. Suddenly, it finds itself orphaned by the large exodus of talent and authority from the organisation to the government. A lacklustre and mediocre Kushabhau Thakre finds it difficult to fill the vacuum left by a veteran like L.K. Advani. Unfortunately, the party’s effective leadership has little time to compensate for the inadequacy of the new arrangement by assigning a weighty team at 14 Ashoka Road. Absence of meaningful central supervision on delicate political issues is already taking its toll on some state units.

All this is going to have a bearing on BJP’s ability to counter the imminent Opposition onslaught. During the heady days of Pokhran euphoria, the BJP had planned massive celebrations to highlight India’s newly acquired honour as a nuclear power. However, as the victory rallies and processions began, there came the Pak blast with all its emotional shock. This setback apart, the failures of the government at the Centre are such that the ranks have begun asking questions. An influential section in the BJP also fears that any counter-campaign at the street level against the Opposition drive on issues like the price rise would only make it more counter-productive.

Parmar — the farmer
By P.K. Khosla

MOST of us know Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar as a visionary Himachal Pradesh politician. Many of us also know him as a visionary environmentalist — most of us have also written on these two aspects. Today on his 93rd birth anniversary, I would like to write some thing different about Parmar — Parmar the farmer.

His background in sociology gave him an edge to understand the miseries of hill farmers. Besides, traditional cereals, minor foods and forest resource also sustained their life. He was sorry that with the breaking of the tree-livestock-crop chain the hill people were no longer able to sustain themselves at the level of self-sufficiency due to increasing human and livestock population. He wanted to enrich the sustenance level of hill economy with sufficient cash flow for meeting outside demands so that bartering of these needs through human services as mundoes in the neighbouring plains was put to an end. Luckily today Himachal Pradesh is a labour deficit state.

He saw the ray of hope in fruit cultivation. The apple cultivation and intensive farming programme including livestock husbandry of Satyanand Stokes in Shimla district, a former Christian missionary, impressed him a lot. With the political strength coming to his hand he did not see behind and the area under fruit cultivation started swelling from 792 hectares in 1952 to 1,70,000 hectares in 1992. The same was true for his cross-breeding programme for improving the quality of livestock.

Parmar being a practical farmer developed an insight into the problems of hill farming arising on account of terrain, topography, varied agroclimatic conditions compounded by isolation, fragility and heterogeneity of mountains. At his own farm he successfully cultivated stone fruits especially peach, fodder trees, maize and other crops along with livestock rearing. For making hill farming risk-free he advocated integrated land use system with special emphasis on tree farming including fruit trees. He was heard oftenly saying that under rainfed conditions in hills horticulture and silviculture were important for ecological and economic conservation. He strongly believed in marketing infrastructure for disposing of the perishable produce of fruits and vegetables. Similarly he installed the canning units for value addition of peach and other products at block level.

The contribution of Parmar towards horticulture has been highlighted time and again but very few people know that he laid equal stress on cattle rearing.

Prior to 1949 the farmers in Himachal Pradesh had no knowledge about rearing livestock on scientific lines.

A major breakthrough in cattle improvement was brought about by Parmar when the New Zealand Government offered to collaborate with the State Department of Animal Husbandry, Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (HPKV) and ICAR to start the Indo-New Zealand Livestock Improvement Project (INLIP) at Palampur. Parmar inaugurated this project on April 23, 1975 — the plaque at the University Dairy is a testimony of his keen interest in the development of animal husbandry in the state.

— The author is the Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya.

President’s absence upsets Cong schedule

THE Congress spared no effort in organising the first-ever agitational rally, under the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, last week in New Delhi.

The show was to be grand affair and arrangements were worked to the last minute. Newly-appointed state party chiefs mobilised party workers in large numbers to show their strength while senior party leaders held meetings to tie-up loose ends. Everything seemed to be in order.

Thousands of people assembled at Ram Lila grounds and marched through the heart of the Capital to reach the venue — Bhagwan Dass Road — to hear Mrs Sonia Gandhi lash out at the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre for its failure on several fronts.

Everything was in order and despite humid conditions people exhibited patience and the crowds melted in an orderly fashion after the mass rally while the Congress President left for Rashtrapati Bhavan to present a memorandum to the President outlining the party’s stand.

It is here that the schedule went away. President K.R. Narayanan, was not in Delhi and the Congress delegation had to return after handing over the memorandum at the President’s Secretariat.

On a day when the party drew up a concerted action plan first by staging a walkout from both Houses of Parliament, followed by the mass rally, the grand finale did not quite materialise as planned.

It appears that by the time the organisers realised that the President was not going to be in Delhi on July 28, it was too late to call off the rally. May be those responsible for making arrangements need to take cross-check before finalising plans.

Sompal outshines senior?

During question hour in the Lok Sabha last week, a majority of ministers were not available being busy elsewhere. It was the day of the External Affairs Ministry. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was away so was the Minister of State for External Affairs, Ms Vasundhara Raje, attending the SAARC summit at Colombo.

The responsibility to handle question hour on the external affairs, agriculture and other subjects came on the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Sompal Shastri.

For a full hour, he had to brave the Opposition’s grilling and at the end of question hour, several Opposition MPs praised Mr Sompal’s performance with the Samajwadi MP, Mr Mohan Singh, greeting him saying that “your’s was a command performance, which at times was a shade better than those in charge of the ministries”.

Smear drive in IAF

The level of politics prevailing in the Indian Air Force can be gauged from the fact that there are now letters doing the rounds of newspaper offices claiming that an inquiry had been initiated against the present chief, Air Chief Marshal S.K. Sareen.

One such letter was received in the newspaper offices last Saturday. In an effort to make it look official, the sender also went to the extent of printing Press Information Bureau and Shastri Bhavan, the hub of information for journalists, on top and at the bottom of the letter.

However what gave ‘it’ away as a fake was that the sender apparently had no idea that after the words PIB on top, the official press release also carried the label Government of India (Defence Wing). But what was unfortunate that the IAF officers were getting more and more involved in mudslinging rather than devoting themselves to the safety of the nation.

A rare souvenir

The rally gave a Himachal Pradesh MP, Mrs Chandresh Kumari, an unexpected souvenir: a sandal of Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

It happened when the Congress President started to walk down Tilak Marg-Rajpath on her way to Rashtrapati Bhavan to hand over memorandum to the President.

As photo-journalists and television networks jostled with security personnel to capture the moment, Mrs Chandresh Kumari’s left sandal was lost in the melee. On seeing that the MP was in distress since the road surface was hot, Mrs Sonia Gandhi offered the sandal she was wearing and the former gladly accepted it.

A little later Mrs Sonia Gandhi got herself a fresh pair of sandals from her car which was tailing the delegation.

The Himachal member later said she intended to keep the sandal, and as a wag remarked maybe she could wait for the ‘right’ time to slip into the Congress President’s shoes, nay sandal.

Record of mosquitoes

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is known for not accepting their responsibility in case there is a civic problem in a area.

It came as no surprise when the MCD chief, Mr V.K. Duggal, claimed that the first dengue patient reported in Delhi had been bitten by a aedes aegypti mosquito in the neighbouring area of NOIDA (Uttar Pradesh).

When a scribe asked how could he be certain, Mr Duggal explained that the Health Department team, which had gone to the patient’s house in Ganesh Nagar, did not find the type of mosquito there. As the patient works at NOIDA, so he must have been bitten there.

And one thought that the government carries census of human beings only. It appears the MCD Health Department maintains a record of even mosquitoes.

Anyway logic can be a handy way to brush issues away, but is it really too far fetched to believe that there is not a single aedes aegypti mosquito at Ganesh Nagar or NOIDA, where the man could have been bitten.

———

Contributed by Satish Misra, K.V. Prasad, Girja Shankar Kaura and Rahul Das.