SAD ultimatum

THE inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar district in the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal has become an emotional issue in Punjab.

Time for vigil in Mumbai

THE rejection of the findings of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission about the 1992-93 communal riots and serial bomb blasts in Mumbai was anticipated.

Proxy war by Pakistan

by Kuldip Singh Bajwa
ONE of the election promises made by the BJP was to adopt a proactive policy to deal with the proxy war being conducted by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

50 years of farm research

by Y. P. Gupta
INDIA celebrated 50 years of its independence. During this period, the country made spectacular success on the food front in raising its food production from 51 million tonnes in 1947-48 to 199.3 million tonnes in 1996-97.

Solution lies in privatisation by Tavleen Singh LET me begin by saying to all of you who do not live in Delhi, and so have not had the misfortune of suffering the criminal incompetence of the local BJP Government, that you cannot begin to imagine what hell this summer has been. Good, bad and indifferent by Amita Malik AFTER watching the first episode of Dawn, the 50th anniversary offering of Bhupen Hazarika and Kalpana Lajmi on Star Plus, I really didn’t know where to look. Old versus young by Ranjiv Dalal THESE are the worst of times. These are the best of times. The whole world is at the feet of scientists and technologists.

75 Years Ago

Elevated Railway cars
crash into street

SAD ultimatum

THE inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar district in the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal has become an emotional issue in Punjab. And when emotions and politics blend together, reasoning and logic become a secondary matter. The Akalis want the revocation of the Union Cabinet's decision to exclude the fertile district from Uttar Pradesh. Besides the fear of losing land, the influential Sikhs apprehend that once Uttaranchal becomes a reality, their political clout would vanish. So, the threat of withdrawal of support to the BJP-led coalition government held out by the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has to be viewed in this light. Not that the SAD's ultimatum has a ring of hollowness about it, though certain contradictions in the postures adopted by it are obvious. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has admitted that there was some "communication gap" in Mr Surjit Singh Barnala's endorsement of the Union Cabinet's decision to include Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttaranchal. What is, however, important is that the SAD as a political organisation now stands united and Mr Badal has made it clear that his party would fight "tooth and nail" for the retention of the district in Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, the SAD leadership has taken the cue from AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha and adopted a tough posture in a matter which has, wittingly or unwittingly, become part of Punjab's competitive politics. The Punjab unit of the Congress under the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh has also sought retention of Udham Singh Nagar district in UP. So have small political outfits, including the one headed by Mr Simranjit Singh Mann. Indeed, in a complex polity like ours, we tend to fall back into the system in which politics of one type is, more often than not, challenged by politics of the same type.

The SAD message to the Vajpayee government is clear and categorical. But the fact that it has not recalled its two ministers — Mr Surjit Singh Barnala and Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal — shows that the party will allow the BJP-led coalition sufficient time to respond to its wishes. How will the Central Government come out of this messy situation is difficult to say at this juncture. As it is, the entire Uttaranchal issue has got complicated because of the agitation by certain interest groups in Hardwar and parts of Bijnor which, too, do not want to become part of the proposed hill state. The BJP leadership is on the horns of a dilemma. The denial of Udham Singh Nagar district to the proposed hill state would mean a possible erosion of its political base in the region; for this can be exploited by other political parties. And the inclusion of the district would invite the ire of the powerful Akalis who are not only BJP allies in Punjab and at the Centre, but to a large extent also help the BJP get Sikh votes in many states, including Delhi.

The BJP has been caught in a trap of its own making. Its ad hoc approach in several vital matters has already cost the party dearly. The BJP leadership apparently lacks maturity in the art of governance. Look at its track record of the past few months. The leadership is known to have succumbed to pressures from its partners in power. On the Udham Singh Nagar district issue, it cannot afford to alienate the Akalis if it wants to survive at the Centre. It is a pity that the Vajpayee government has failed to gauge the mood of the Akalis whose interests cannot be taken lightly. The question here is not of logic or reasoning but of trust and mutual adjustment. Udham Singh Nagar has become a symbol of Punjabi entrepreneurship that thinks big and acts big. Be that as it may, it should be possible for the BJP leadership to work out an amiable solution. And the one essential element for corrective action is to shake itself out of the congealed notions of the past. It is only the open mind that can help the BJP face the SAD challenge.

Time for vigil in Mumbai

THE rejection of the findings of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission about the 1992-93 communal riots and serial bomb blasts in Mumbai was anticipated. The commission appointed on January 25, 1993, was scrapped by the BJP-Shiv Sena government when it came to power in January, 1996. However, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee revived it in May that year. He acted in response to continuing demands from sensitive sections of society to the effect that the work of the commission, which had held hearings for 526 days, examined more than 500 witnesses and gone through at least 2,000 affidavits concerning unprecedented violence and communal eruptions, should not be rendered infructuous. We had stressed the necessity of bringing out verbatim the facts recorded by Justice Srikrishna about a week ago when Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had “disclosed” the salient features of the report, which was still to be tabled in the state Assembly. Mr Thackeray had given a graphic description of “the shape of things to come”. He was convinced that the report was going “to spark off violence”. He had accused the opposition parties of “whipping up communal frenzy in the state over the contentious issue of the report”. Having said that an ominous atmosphere had been “created” by those who differed ideologically with the Sena, he had stated inter alia: “From our side we can guarantee that we will not resort to any (kind of) untoward incident. But if my opponents on their own engineer riots, we will not sit quiet”. What the commission has found out or said about the 1992-93 riots was put by him under the futuristic threat of fresh riots. Now that Mr Thackeray and his Sena have been held responsible in a major way for whipping up communal frenzy through writings, pronouncements and directives, Mumbai needs to be kept under unrelenting vigil to provide safety of life and limb to the public belonging to all communities.

Justice Srikrishna has spared no party or group which acted improperly at the time of the catastrophe. For instance, he indicts the “effete political leadership” in the state (here is a clear reference to Mr Sudhakarrao Naik and the Congress) for political vacillation and conflicting orders issued to the Commissioner of Police. The report says in part: The rioting by the minority community was the spontaneous reaction of leaderless and incensed mobs of the minority community which commenced as a peaceful protest, but soon degenerated into riots. “The majority community must share a part of the blame in provoking the minority group by its celebrations, rallies, inciting slogans and rasta rokos which were organised mostly by Shiv Sainiks and, to a marginal extent, by BJP activists”. The police have got an adverse comment for their mindset and style of functioning. Since communities had been identified, references to Hindus and Muslims could not be avoided. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has called the report “anti-Hindu, pro-Muslim and biased.” He has proclaimed: “I have to protect Hindus.” Facts have been placed before the Assembly and now the law of the land must take its course in the correct spirit and deal with the observations and suggestions of the judge within a given time-frame. The Commission of Inquiry Act (1952) has been amended time and again. Remember the observations in the Thakkar-Natarajan Commission’s Fairfax report? “No self-respecting Judge of the Supreme Court or any High Court should accept to hold a Commission of Inquiry in future if the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, is not suitably modified to include the provisions of contempt of court”. The Srikrishna Commission had its limitations and there are mentions of perceptions which require textual and contextual re-examination. But the sanctity of the Commission of Inquiry Act must be preserved. Above everything, there is the need of communal harmony in Mumbai and elsewhere in the wake of the state government’s comments defending those who have been held responsible for misdeeds. The Union Government should activate its legal and vigilance cells. Mumbai is going through difficult times. The Shiv Sena-BJP leadership must speak and act with utmost caution.

Proxy war by Pakistan
How to be proactive in Kashmir
by Kuldip Singh Bajwa

ONE of the election promises made by the BJP was to adopt a proactive policy to deal with the proxy war being conducted by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. Soon after taking office as the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani reiterated this resolve and issued a strongly worded warning to Pakistan to desist from pushing in armed mercenaries and from aiding and abetting the Pak-trained militants operating in J and K. Similar views were strongly expressed by a number of other government leaders. In the absence of any indication of the scope and thrust of this policy, the expectations of most people for a firmly positive change in the operational situation in the state were raised high.

Unfortunately three rather gruesome massacres carried out by the militants after the warnings and a manifold increase in firing by Pak troops across the LOC/IB, have generated an unhappy counter-reaction.

The rather nebulous understanding of what a proactive policy really implies has further added to the adverse impact. The core theme of a proactive policy in any sphere of activity is a positive orientation to retain the initiative to act to achieve the chosen objectives irrespective of what the adversary does. Applied to Kashmir, it essentially means that we pre-empt Pak designs and deny it the capability to interfere in Kashmir in any manner.

Despite our assertions that Kashmir is an integral part of India, the status of the state in the general world view has come to be regarded as a territory disputed between India and Pakistan. It was our leadership under Nehru who blundered to create this dispute in the first place. Pakistan, which had committed a blatant aggression in Kashmir, lawfully a part of India as provided for in the British Act of Parliament, which created both the dominions, was invested with the legitimacy of a party to a Kashmir dispute where none should have existed. Nevertheless, over the years Kashmir was pushed onto the backburner of the global considerations. Most world leaders, some explicitly and some tacitly, came to subscribe to the view that Kashmir was an issue to be best resolved by India and Pakistan directly between themselves. Had this climate of opinion prevailed, any extra-territorial measures adopted by us to deal with the Pakistani aggression in Kashmir would have been highly unlikely to draw a strong condemnatory reaction. Unfortunately in the wake of our nuclear tests, the rather intemperate rhetoric indulged in by some of the leaders in power which tended to link our demonstrated nuclear capability with the solution to the Kashmir dispute, has raised this issue once again high up on the global agenda.

Pakistan has seized upon this opening to raise the bogey of an arms race which may lead to a nuclear face-off. The traditional patrons of Pakistan have added Kashmir to their regimes of economic sanctions to pressurise India. It has also significantly limited our proactive options against the training camps and mounting bases established by Pakistan across the LOC/IB which are vital for conducting the proxy war in J and K. While it would be operationally logical to destroy these bases, we face two major constraints when considering any operations across the LOC/IB. First both sides of the LOC/IB are heavily manned and any ground operations would be very costly. Second, now that Kashmir has been internationalised again, any armed action by us, whether by air or ground, is likely to draw strong global condemnation and even intervention. Moreover, Pakistan claims that militancy is a part of the Kashmiri freedom struggle. Parallels may well be drawn with Kosovo in Serbia. We are in a catch-22 situation, which needs to be addressed with very sophisticated diplomacy rather than jingoistic rhetoric.

The foundations of a secure state rest on its people. Unfortunately, in Kashmir there have been adverse developments which affected people’s emotions as well as expectations. The grave mistake of incorporating Article 370 in our Constitution tended to create an emotional barrier to a complete assimilation in the secular Indian identity. Over the years the Kashmiri, whom in the course of my long years of service defending the state, I had found to be free of communal inclinations and religious bigotry, became vulnerable to an assault of an Islamic identity unleashed by Pakistan. As a vital first step, the Indian people and the governments at the Centre and in the state need to apply themselves to help rebuild the secular philosophy of the people in Kashmir which was and still basically remains the foundation of their sufi beliefs. To make our efforts credible, we must eliminate all forms of divisive religious fascism from the Indian polity.

Political manipulations had deprived the people of Kashmir of a sense of participation in their own governance. Monumental corruption and mismanagement denied them the benefits of economic development. The democratic institutions in the state must be made effective by peoples’ participation in a governance of transparency. The state administrative apparatus, including the police, needs to be rebuilt so that problems of the people can be addressed speedily and effectively. As happened in Punjab, once the people decide their way of life is better served by elimination of interference, whether internal or abetted from abroad, they would act to restore peace. These undoubtedly are long-term measures but the hearts and minds of an alienated section of society can only be won over a period of time.

What are our immediate workable options to ensure that we are not left to react to the depredations of the mercenaries/militants. At present, every time an atrocity is committed against hapless civilians, we trot out the standard rigmarole of visits by leaders, search and cordon operations and sealing of the borders, all of which hardly carry any conviction. We have to so craft and build up our social and state institutions, the administrative infrastructure, the intelligence apparatus, the operational command and control and well integrated political, administrative and operational regimes, that we firmly retain the initiative at all times.

Sealing of a border is part of a hyperbole indulged in by our leaders. Leave aside the mountain terrain of Kashmir, even in the plains, infiltration from across the borders cannot be completely denied. Besides holding fixed defences, multi-tiered patrolling in between and in considerable depth does significantly limit the infiltration. Those mercenaries/militants who still manage to sneak through cannot survive and carry out their nefarious activities without concealment, shelter and local support. While much of the local support can be eliminated by the people motivated as considered above, there would always be elements who would act otherwise out of their vested convictions or out of a fear of the gun. Notwithstanding the large presence of the security forces, it is very necessary to build the ability and the confidence of the people to face the militants. At present, the village defence societies are poorly organised and equipped. The antiquated .303 rifle is no match for the sophisticated fire power of the militants. It is essential to rethink the whole concept and make it the foundation of an integrated internal defence. Besides better arms, highly motivated and defence trained advisers should be provided to train as well as stiffen up the village defence societies. A radio communication network must link these societies. Speedy response from security forces both with conventional as well as helicopter borne mobility should be in place. Once effectively equipped, organised and put in place, these measures would severely restrict the freedom of the mercenaries and militants to operate in the country side.

There are a whole host of impediments in the way of conducting effective security operations. Effective and timely intelligence is the bedrock upon which anti-militant operations are based. At present, a whole host of intelligence agencies are engaged in a game of one-upmanship. A similar scenario obtains in the conduct of operations. Besides the Army, there is a whole heterogeneous mix of paramilitary and police forces with some private armies also thrown in. With our traditions of every entity zealously guarding its turf, a dynamic and winning operational focus is very hard to forge and maintain. Even where a modicum of unified command has been put together, in actual practice disparate pulls are often frustrating. A well-defined unified command under the Army with an integrated joint intelligence centre as a part of this structure must be established. Suitable mechanism needs to be evolved whereby the state government can be fully involved into the planning and conduct of anti-militant operations without in any way diluting its constitutional functions. As the militants are eliminated and the capability of the people and the state organisations is built up, the role of the security forces will decline.

In the past we have not done enough to expose the role of Pakistan in stoking terrorism and militancy in Kashmir. There is a need to conduct many more exposures like the one recently held in the Parliament House at New Delhi. Teams should also be sent abroad to conduct similar exposures. We must also extensively focus our visual media and other means of exposure to inform and educate the cross-sections of often misinformed society from which the ISI gathers its mercenaries. It may well dissuade many of them from throwing in their lot into a cause, which besides being unjust, is hopeless.

It will take quite some time to completely restore a durable peace in J and K. To achieve it, we will need to cut across many of the lines of vested turf and forge a truly integrated national purpose and endeavour. Only then will emerge a purposeful proactive policy in Kashmir.
(The writer is a retired Major-General.)

50 years of farm research
by Y. P. Gupta

INDIA celebrated 50 years of its independence. During this period, the country made spectacular success on the food front in raising its food production from 51 million tonnes in 1947-48 to 199.3 million tonnes in 1996-97. At the same time, population has risen from 340 million in 1947-48 to over 950 million in 1996-97, and may cross 1300 million by 2020 AD. Therefore, the population rise has nullified the benefits of higher production, and has been posing a threat to the food security. Also, our total cropped area under foodgrains has increased from 99.3 million hectares in 1949-50 to nearly 142.4 million hectares in 1996-97. Of the total cultivated areas, 64 per cent (91.1 million hectares) is rainfed accounting for 42 per cent of total food produce, and 36 per cent (51.3 million hectares) is under irrigation.

Success on the food front made our food stock position in the central pool comfortable and satisfactory for food security purpose in recent past. It was at the highest level on July 1, 1995, as 35.6 million tonnes (16.4 million tonnes rice and 19.2 million tonnes wheat). But it declined to 24.6 million tonnes (11.5 million tonnes rice and 13.1 million tonnes wheat) on January 1, 1996. These stocks have depleted to 19.9 million tonnes on September 1, 1996 and to 15.3 million tonnes on September 1, 1997.

Farm mechanisation has gained importance and has helped to ensure timely performance of agricultural operations. It included tractors, power-tillers, sprayers, threshers, pumpsets and harvesters. The number of tractors has increased from 9000 in 1950-51 to over 10 lakh. The number of diesel and electric pumps have considerably increased during the same period.

Different bodies like the ICAR (an apex body on farm research) and its institutes, state agricultural universities, state agricultural departments, agricultural scientists and farmers have greatly contributed to the impressive success on the food front. ICAR was established in 1929 for aiding, promoting and coordinating farm research in the country. After transfer of central agricultural research institutes to its control in 1966, it has grown as the biggest agricultural research organisation in Asia with 45 research institutes in the areas of crops, horticulture, soils, engineering, animal sciences, fisheries and the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management. It has 10 project directorates in different disciplines, four national bureaux to collect and conserve basic resources of agriculture, 21 national research centres to concentrate on certain crops & commodities, and more than 70 all India coordinated projects on specific crops for carrying out both multidisciplinary and multi-location research for developing new technologies and varieties.

Besides, there are 29 state agricultural universities set up on the American pattern of Land Grant College of Education, based on internal grade evaluation system to impart education at the under-graduate and post-graduate levels in the field of agricultural and allied subjects. In addition, four of the ICAR institutes have the status of deemed universities.

There is no doubt that the annual budget of the ICAR has gradually risen but paucity of funds has affected farm research activity. The budget estimate was Rs 495.6 crore for 1994-95 and Rs 548.9 crore for 1995-96. It has risen to over Rs 600 crore in 1996-97.

Like other scientific institutions, the ICAR has also been suffering from certain shortcomings. An appropriate personnel policy has been lacking. The working scientists are dissatisfied over their working conditions. There is an element of frustration and the scientific community is a demoralised one. There is too much bureaucratisation, and there is no accountability. Mediocrity has crept in, and sycophancy has been flourishing. Some scientists have been driven to suicide out of desperation.

Despite this, the ICAR has played an important role in its efforts to meet the challenge on the food front. Alleviating hunger and malnutrition would, however, depend on doubling our food production in the next 15 years, which requires an annual growth rate of 4.7 per cent. Therefore, the ICAR and its institutions will have to raise their performance far above their past record to meet the food needs of the growing population to achieve the goal of food for all as declared at the Rome Summit.

75 YEARS AGO
Elevated Railway cars crash into street

NEW YORK: A terrible accident occurred today on an elevated railway on one of the busiest sections of Brooklyn through two cars of a train toppling over and crashing down into a street.

It is at present estimated that six people were killed and 40 others injured. The first car fell on a couple of motor cars in the street below, dragging the second car along with it.

Witnesses say that one of the axles of the forward car appeared to break, causing the first car to slip over, partly demolishing the elevated structure in its fall. The only previous time a train has fallen in a New York Street was 15 years ago in Manhattan.

Two cars, which partially telescoped and broke an electric wire, caused a fire; but the flames were quickly extinguished.

The casualties in the elevated railway crash were eight killed and 83 injured. The dead included seven women and girls.

The lost Travessa

The captain of the steamer Barabool, which has been searching for the Travessa, has arrived here and reported that only one boat has been found. He expresses the opinion that the Travessa’s cargo, which was pig iron and steel plates, caused her to flounder.

Old versus young
by Ranjiv Dalal

THESE are the worst of times. These are the best of times. The whole world is at the feet of scientists and technologists. While the bureaucrats and economists are still grappling with problems of poverty and housing, the scientists have heralded a revolution with mind-boggling consequences. In our part of the world, the atomic explosions have changed half a century old power equations between two nations in one moment. On the other hand, Viagra explosion is threatening to bombard time-tested relationships.

What was fiction till yesterday is a reality today. Incidentally, one of the jokes that was often told by the compere, to provide comic relief during entertainment programmes when I was in college went like this: A wise man suddenly descended in a town from nowhere and soon the town was rife with rumours that the sage could restore the youth back. An old couple rushed to him. He gave them a few tablets with the direction that each tablet would reduce their age by 15 years. The man was impatient. Without sharing the tablets with his old companion, he gulped all of them. When the couple came back home, the children were astonished to see the granny carrying a toddler in her arms. “Who’s this child”? they asked in wonder. “It’s your grandfather”, replied the woman, unable to hide her embarrassment.

If the scientists continue to produce pills at the current pace, soon the world will witness changes of a most bizarre kind.

The next century belongs to the old. The old are already celebrating the promise of an unending youth. The poet now dare say that old age is “aching, shaking, crazy, cold.” Coming events cast their shadows before. The old got together and conspired to jack retirement age by two years. Who knows! in the next round it’ll be hiked up by 10 years. Even our noble judiciary finds nothing wrong in it. The youth is sulking. The school life is extended from 10 to 10+2. All types of entrance tests and degrees are added and made pre-requisite to be eligible for responsible jobs. The young are toiling to finish M.Phils, Ph.Ds and desperately trying to obtain super-postgraduation degrees to gain foothold in society. Isn’t it part of the clever designs of the old to keep the young struggling till they are past their nature-gifted spring of youth?

The old Punjabi saying, “Jawani wo jo jaa kei na aaey; Budhapa wo jo aa kei wapas na jaey,” holds true no longer as the big companies race against time to postpone the onset of old age forever. The youth is left high and dry. “I possess all that you have and plus more i.e. experience”, the old tease the young. The virility, the agility, the naughtiness may no longer be the sole preserve of the youth. Fully armed with wonder drugs, the old refuse to fade out.

Ancient Indian philosophy stands negated. The division of life into various ashramas such as brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyasa will be irrelevant. How wise were the sages who evolved these divisions to cut out competitions between generations and ensure social harmony!

With the arrival of new wonder drugs, we’re in for ludicrous as well as serious generation conflicts with many generations vying for similar kinds of favours at the same time. What a scenario!

Solution lies in privatisation
by Tavleen Singh

LET me begin by saying to all of you who do not live in Delhi, and so have not had the misfortune of suffering the criminal incompetence of the local BJP Government, that you cannot begin to imagine what hell this summer has been. It has been so bad, in fact, that it is hard to meet a single resident of this city who does not have a personal complaint about water or electricity, or both. The complaints come from everywhere in the city, with the exception of the tree-lined island of privilege known as Lutyens Delhi where our rulers live. In this area, inhabited almost entirely by Ministers, bureaucrats and members of Parliament the lights almost never go off and water is usually available in plenty. This is probably why the Prime Minister has not yet discovered just how bad things are in the rest of the city and how vital it is for them to get better if the BJP is to ever rule this city again.

In fact, many of those who voted for Mr Vajpayee, last time round, are now openly saying that they will never vote for the BJP again because of what they have suffered at the hands of Delhi’s BJP Government. First, let me give you an idea of just how bad things are. In the South Delhi colony of Green Park the lights went off every night for eight hours for more than 10 days, recently, so some irate residents of N-Block went off and sat in dharna outside the local electricity board office. A senior official then pacified them by turning the power back on but this had the opposite effect because it made the area’s suffering residents realise that there had been no “breakdown” as they had been told but only a series of deliberate power cuts.

You may have read that in many parts of South Delhi angry residents have taken to the streets on several occasions because of the hot, stifling, sleepless nights they have suffered on account of the Delhi Vidyut Board. Things have got so bad that among the city’s more politically aware residents conspiracy theories now abound.

The Delhi Vidyut Board, you see, is headed by the man that they now call the Prince of Darkness, Naveen Chawla. This gentleman’s wife is so close to Sonia Gandhi that theirs is one of the few homes in Delhi that our future Italian Prime Minister graces with her presence. People who are aware of this deep friendship have taken to pointing out, in conspiratorial whispers (everyone still fears the Gandhi family) that perhaps Chawla is deliberately sabotaging the electricity supply so that the BJP gets a bad name. Deliberate or not, he has certainly succeeded in confirming the impression that the BJP is incapable of governance.

In fairness to him, though, it must be pointed out here that his main fault lies in his inability to improve on the disastrous electricity board he inherited. It is estimated to lose more than 40 per cent of its power on account of poor maintenance and God only knows how much more on account of theft. The result is that genuine consumers who pay their bills regularly, and who submit to the constantly increasing charges, get nowhere near the services that they should.

Now, the reason why the BJP is directly to blame for this state of affairs is that the solution to the DVB’s problems is privatisation. This has been considered since the days when Madan Lal Khurana was Chief Minister of Delhi but, for some reason, nothing has been done about this yet.

Problems with water are almost as serious as they are with electricity. In areas as upmarket as West End days go by without any water being available from the municipality at all. Technically, the shortage is supposed to be made up by tankers who are supposed to supply it at a reasonable rate. In fact, when the tankers arrive you end up paying black rates which can be as much as Rs 700 for a couple of days supply.

Again, the solution is probably privatisation. If the Delhi Government is unable to produce sufficient supplies of water for consumers all it needs to do is call in the services of some private company, like for instance Enron, who would undoubtedly be able to give them as much water as they need. But, these are major decisions, they require governmental ability, imagination and political will. We have not caught a glimpse of any of these traits in the Delhi Government.

Quite the opposite, in fact. What we have seen is stupidity on quite an astounding scale. So, we have some short-sighted Minister decide one day that churches will no longer be considered places of worship because wine is part of the sacrament. Barely has the uproar over this stupidity died down then some other Minister decides that Delhi’s schoolgirls will not be allowed to wear skirts. Both decisions were later overturned by the Central Government but the impression remains of a government that is not just incompetent but dangerously stupid as well.

Things should be better, you would think, in the NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Committee) area because this is where our rulers live. The President, the Prime Minister, the entire Cabinet and our future Italian Prime Minister all live under the aegis of this most privileged of municipalities. It takes orders from the Home Ministry and since this is headed by a man, considered by many people, to be our most competent Minister you would think that the NDMC would have been made to pull up its socks. Well, let me tell you my story.

For 10 years now the NDMC has been trying to charge me house rent that applies to those who have rented their flats. I have submitted application after application pointing out that I live in my flat and have never rented it out. This should be something that could be checked out in five minutes but, no, it has taken court cases and 10 years to solve the problem.

Anybody, who has had dealings with the NDMC will have similar stories to tell. Nothing works without a bribe and corruption is of such staggering proportions in this municipality that fortunes are believed to have been made out of relaying the pavements of Lutyens Delhi.

If the BJP was capable of governance, and imagination, then instead of banging on about statehood for Delhi they should have been demanding that the city, and all other Indian cities, govern themselves through elected Mayors. Most of our cities have been destroyed by the fact that they are governed by a complex network of authorities all working on their own. Unless, this changes what is happening in Delhi today will happen in your city tomorrow but we should probably stop hoping that the BJP will be able to do something about this.

Good, bad and indifferent
by Amita Malik

AFTER watching the first episode of Dawn, the 50th anniversary offering of Bhupen Hazarika and Kalpana Lajmi on Star Plus, I really didn’t know where to look. Out of the lot of good, bad and indifferent programmes I have seen on the subject, this was the most embarrassing. Bhupen Hazarika is a valued friend and colleague, we went to the same college in Assam. He is a Dadasaheb Phalke award winner, although for music, and Kalpana Lajmi does not have to prove her credentials as a film-maker. Why, then, is the serial such an unmitigated disaster?

I should say because there is nothing particularly Assamese about it. Even if you search with a magnifying glass, you can hardly find an Assamese name in the credits. And Assam is not exactly lacking in good actors. Seema Biswas comes from there. So did Pramathesh Barua. No one looks or acts remotely Assamese and they do not speak like the Assamese. To throw in a Gamcha here and a baideo there, does not make the film authentic. To add to the mess, the film is in English, badly spoken.

If it had to be in English, Hazarika and Lajmi could have followed the shining example of Manju Singh. In her outstanding serial Ek Kahani, she selected short stories in different Indian languages and shot her episodes in the region concerned with local actors and actresses speaking Hindi with a local flavour. This greatly added to the authenticity of the episodes. In Dawn everyone speaks bad English in varying accents in a wooden manner and the distinct accent with which the Assamese speak English is absent.

In the event, Dawn has turned out to be a poor man’s Gatha, which was not exactly one of Ramesh Sippy’s masterpieces. One suspects it was made on the cheap. It certainly gives that impression and can only limp along, like Gatha now does under a different name. And a wonderful occasion for projecting Assam with dignity has been lost.

In fact, the great efforts of DD, and now Star, which have squandered crores on 50th anniversary serials by big names have become something of a joke. Except for Girish Karnad’s Swarajnama, which flashed brilliantly across the screen like a meteor and then vanished from sight, not one serial has really reached the professional and emotional heights they should have on such a great occasion. The fact that they have come so late in the year adds to one’s disappointment. I intend to discuss some of these serials in detail next week.

The question of DD’s ads is really getting out of hand. We have already had top international sports events mutilated by ads, and as for films, the less said the better. Those of us expatriates who live outside Bengal now have the choice of watching the Bengali Channel 7. I was eagerly looking forward to the telecast of Aparajita, the second in Ray’s famous Apu trilogy last Sunday. Then, horror of horrors the first few reels were interrupted every few minutes quite literally by ads about different brands of soap, even during the poignant Banaras sequences culminating in the death of Apu’s father. To add injury to insult, the climax came with Rajat Sharma loudly advertising Lifebuoy soap in dubbed Bengali.

Then one of the few adult serials I enjoy, Neena Gupta’s Saans, is now held up every few minutes with ads. Although serials subsist on ads. I am surprised a sensitive director and actress like Neena Gupta allows her sequences to be broken up so crudely. Is it not time that the channels themselves found a way out by which ads. do not ruin programmes in this way?

Tailpiece: I have at last got the National Geographic Channel and it is certainly technically brilliant. It is likely to offer a run for its money to Discovery. Apart from the language war, both channels face the criticism of doing subtle American propaganda.