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Friday, July 24, 1998
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Friday, July 24, 1998 |
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From strike to strike TO strike work is to strike at growth. Protest can be registered through the graceful expression of resentment. Unless an agency, which can effectively deal with the causative factors of an agitation, chooses to ignore the path of conciliation, a strike is undoubtedly an obstructionist move or method. Trade unionism has produced many leaders and workers who have gone gradually from sit-ins and dharnas to the exhibition of anger through total non-action. Work culture has its sound ethics, and the ways of making an anti-worker management sit up and listen are well-known. When one sees a succession of strikes in sectors related to the daily existence of the citizens, one does feel the necessity of evolving a code of conduct for the potential strikers. Workers take pride in movements. Those who shun work deliberately do not let themselves or others move. Among the many weapons in the trade unions' arsenal meaningful dialogue is unquestionably the best. The recent postal strike paralysed the network of communication for several days. It began with a loud whimper and ended with a louder one. The employees concerned have got nothing more than a futuristic appeal and wages for workless days. The nation has suffered huge financial losses. Nurses are nursing their grouse in many places. Health services have been badly hit in the Union Capital. One has to see seriously ill patients outside various emergency blocks losing their grip on life to believe what the absence of dialogue—or the dialogue of the deaf—can result into. More than 70,000 low-paid employees are on strike. The danger signals became visible soon after the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission were released. Union Health Minister Dalit Ezhilmalai received memoranda and threats at the beginning of June. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Prime Minister too have been approached by representatives of the agitating workers and people in distress. July 13 was said to be a possible day of conciliation. The employees say the government does not want to improve their situation materially. The karmacharis under the banner of the "Joint Council of Hospital Karmachari Union" are demanding an increase in the patient care allowance at the rate of 25 per cent of the basic pay and productivity-linked bonus. They are also asking for the withdrawal of certain recommendations made by the Fifth Pay Commission. These include the abolition of 30 per cent of the posts, reduction of casual leave from 12 days to eight and privatisation of certain areas. Here is one Dalit Minister who is refusing to "stoop" to conquer 70,000 Dalit workers. Why? As if this situation was not enough to make the government aware of the damage militant trade unionism could do, UP's power engineers went on strike earlier this week. Only the five KAVAL towns—Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra and Lucknow—get some energy and light. The rest of the state is helplessly cursing the growing gloom. The Minister concerned, Mr Naresh Agarwal, is busy seeking the Army's help and threatening the adamant engineers with the consequences that neither ESMA nor the NSA has ever produced! Power generation is coming to a halt. So, why talk of power distribution or supply? The "tu tu, main main" that has ensued finds the Minister calling the engineers "anti-national" and the technocrats describing the government as "anti-worker". Delhi is going to be affected badly by the UP strike. Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh too will have their share of woes. But who cares? If even health and power are not on the priority list of the Union and state governments, fathomless disillusionment seems to be the prospect. A people's movement is necessary to set things right amidst death and dying, and the deepening darkness.  |
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| Pioneering
step for justice WHENEVER there is a discussion on the justice system in India, of which the judiciary is the most significant component, the factors that come up for hammering normally are: avoidable delays in the disposal of cases, the rising cost of litigation and growing corruption at every level. These and many other factors are making access to justice almost impossible for the common man. In this respect the Lok Adalats could have played a laudable role, but they too have been plagued by two serious problems. Their role has been confined to handling the cases of trivial nature like motor accident claims and they do not have a permanent existence. The decision of Mr Justice N. K. Sodhi, Executive Chairman of the Chandigarh State Legal Services Authority, to allow the constitution of a permanent Lok Adalat for the Union Territory, therefore, appears to be well thought out. It is a pioneering measure and deserves support from wherever it is possible. It is heartening to note that Chandigarh’s permanent Lok Adalat will have a wide spectrum, and the maintenance of its records will be totally computerised. The use of high technology is bound to help in the quick disposal of cases. This is a proven fact. The Supreme Court of India has been able to reduce the number of pending cases there considerably mainly because of its Registry being fully computerised. Even then there are chances that the Lok Adalat may start piling up cases as is happening with the consumer courts. There should be plans ready to have more Benches of the Lok Adalat. The Chandigarh experiment will be watched with interest by the entire country. Its popularity and its success to reduce the rising burden on the regular courts may lead to the raising of demands for setting up Lok Adalats of a permanent nature in more areas. Mr Justice Adarsh Sein Anand, Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority, whose suggestion has caused the birth of the unique move at Chandigarh, has expressed his desire that there should be permanent Lok Adalats in all the districts in the country. That will be all-right, but the whole concept may get devalued if proper infrastructural backing is not provided to these new institutions. India hardly spends .73 per cent of its total revenue on the dispensing of justice, which is too meagre an amount when compared with the funds available in countries like the USA, the UK and Japan (between 12 and 15 per cent of the total revenue). Thus it will not be too much to demand that every permanent Lok Adalat must have its functioning computerised. Gradually, the entire judicial system should have high technology backing if the country really wants to reduce the delay in the handling of court cases. |
| The will to win NO words of praise are enough to describe the personal achievement of P.T. Usha at the 12th Asian Athletic Championships at Fukuoka, Japan. It is true that the “Payoli Express” has lost much of the steam which gave India the rare honour of being noticed in the track and field events at the international level during the 1984 Olympic Games in the USA. The improved technology for clocking the timings deprived her of the opportunity to become the first Indian woman athlete to share the Olympic bronze in the 100 metres sprint. But the fact that she is still the best athlete — male or female — that the country has produced 14 years after she came close to reaching the proverbial Olympian height of her career speaks volumes about her love for the track and the determination to succeed. However, for years she was the undisputed “Sprint Queen” of Asia — and in the Indian context she may even qualify for the title of “Sprint King”. Hers is the story of a village girl whose indefatigable will to win in spite of unfavourable family circumstances is the stuff legends are made of. At 33, when most athletes hang their boots, she may have lost much of the speed which saw her pick “Asian gold” with the ease of a gazelle, the simple village girl still has a lot of fight (flight?) left in her. If she says that she is going to improve on her Fukuoka timings during the Asian Games later this year, it merely reflects her determination to beat both age and time.  At least in India she must be the only athlete to come out of retirement and dominate the track and field events as she had done during her years of unquestioned glory. But the flip side of the story is not as cheerful. Usha means the mellow morning light; and it is only fair to expect at least a handful of Indian athletes, inspired by her dedication and total dedication to her “first love”, would have tried to take the country close to the high noon of sporting glory. But the overall Fukuoka tale, as far as India is concerned, has a dash silver and a chance gold — in the 100 metres relay after China was disqualified for lane cutting. The main reason for Usha’s amazing success is that she realised early in her career that those who have the will to win triumph in spite of the system; while the losers blame it for their poor performance. It is not only P. T. Usha who has successfully beaten the system to win the ultimate race — both literally and figuratively. Any number of instances of athletes from strife-torn countries in Africa are recorded to prove the point. Years ago an Ethiopian caused a major upset at the Olympic Games by running bare-footed to win the marathon gold. Even a nation of the size of Burundi — where tribal war is a way of life — has picked an Olympic gold medal in the track and field events. A number of long distance world records are currently held by athletes from Algeria, Morocco and other African countries. Of course, it does not mean that the Indian Amateur Athletics Federation and the Indian Olympics Association should be pardoned for not doing enough for producing sportspersons who can compete with the best at the international level. But those who have the will to succeed do not wait for the system to improve. For them beating the system too is part of the game. |
| FRANKLY SPEAKING The Colombo summit Opportunity for Sharif and Vajpayee by Hari Jaisingh THE post-Pokhran scenario continues to be tough and complex. The stalemate remains on different fronts. The lifting of sanctions, a fact of life now, depends on the outcome of the negotiations going on between India and the USA, the countries that matter in today's geopolitics. The US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Strobe Talbott, and the Prime Minister's special envoy, Mr Jaswant Singh, are seasoned negotiators. They do not exhibit flamboyance and are addressing themselves to the sensitive issues bedevilling the relations between the two countries with seriousness and maturity. Mr Jaswant Singh has remained urbane and unflappable, explaining India's position with irrefutable logic. I am sure the dialogue will yield results sooner or later for the simple reason that there seems to be greater appreciation in Washington of Indian viewpoint now than ever before. There is also a touch of sobriety in American thinking today. Perhaps there is a realisation, howsoever limited, in the Clinton Administration about the folly of underplaying India vis-a-vis China and Pakistan. Of course, Washington's strategic consideration in promoting Pakistan and China is not going to change overnight. However, a rational view of South Asian, nay Asian, problems within a balanced framework can go a long way in correcting the tilt which often surfaces in America's relations with Islamabad and Beijing. Interestingly, the issues of CTBT and NPT can no longer be viewed within a narrow framework. Nuclear technology is changing fast. A new generation of nuclear weapons technology will soon make the NPT-CTBT umbrella irrelevant. The new area of nuclear fusion research could even undermine the present global nuclear order which controls the spread of nuclear weapons by limiting access to materials such as enriched uranium and plutonium. Already, research in these areas is in an advanced stage. So, both the USA and India will have to think on new lines and avoid making a fuss about matters which will not be so important in tomorrow's world. Viewed in this light, a more flexible approach on the CTBT will probably help New Delhi. I expect Washington to be more responsive to Indian sensitivities and accept India as a nuclear weapons power with equal benefits in every respect. The USA should also agree to share its nuclear technology so that nuclear explosions can be avoided. It has already been generous with regard to China and has provided it with simulation technology. In fact, Washington can help the process of peace and stability in South Asia if it delinks India's strategic interests from its Pakistan-related calculations. India needs to be viewed differently and if the USA has to make a comparison, it has to be vis-a-vis China and not Pakistan. Most of the Indo-American problems will get resolved if Washington ceases to bracket India with Pakistan. This is not a tall demand. All that is required is a small correction in its foreign policy approach. Even the Kashmir issue will be seen differently once Washington views it in the larger context of the Indian nation and its secular and democratic traditions. It will certainly not be in the interest of the USA to allow Hindu fundamentalists to decide the turn of events in India and beyond. In any case, anything which aids and abets the forces of Islamic fundamentalism will harm America's long-term strategic interests not only in South Asia but also beyond Central Asia. Of course, the basic issues spoiling the ties between India and Pakistan have to be discussed and tackled bilaterally when the two Prime Ministers meet in Colombo on July 29 during the SAARC summit. Here again, both Indian and Pakistani leaders need to address the problems with an open mind. We do not expect Pakistan to change overnight. All the same, Islamabad has to realise that the policies and postures pursued by it for the past 50 years have only brought untold misery to the subcontinent. It has also to understand that it cannot grab Kashmir through an armed conflict or proxy war or even by internationalising the issue. Pakistani leaders might feel psychologically more secure with the acquisition of bombs, but basically it does not give them what they wish to grab by hook or by crook. In the circumstances, a meaningful dialogue is the only solution to end the deadlock between the two countries. New Delhi has made it clear that it is willing to discuss Kashmir. So, rather than dig up old and irrelevant issues like plebiscite, Islamabad should think in practical terms and try to work out a solution that should also satisfy New Delhi. Islamabad can rewrite history. It can also create an atmosphere of war hysteria back there. It can lead and mislead its own people in the name of Islam. It can also seek shelter under the Chinese-supported nuclear umbrella. It can even smuggle arms, money and mercenaries and launch a jehad against the people of Kashmir and those of India. But it will be worthwhile if Mr Nawaz Sharif and other political leaders begin to see India in a different perspective. Pakistan has to accept the fact that India has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. This country has to take care of their interests and take them along in the march towards a better tomorrow. India is a secular democracy and Indian leaders are under obligation to nurse and strengthen its roots. Unfortunately, Pakistan has tried to foist the myth of the insecurity of Muslims in India and misinform its own people in this regard. India has definitely no design on Pakistan. It has accepted it as a sovereign nation. The rest are the problems created by politicians for their own survival. With a considerable loss to their own people, India has also suffered in the process. It has been forced to waste its precious resources on weaponry, whereas priority ought to be on the well-being of the people by lifting their standard of living. Mr Nawaz Sharif and Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee need to see subcontinental issues in a new socio-economic framework and conduct themselves like statesmen rather than as small-time warlords. They ought to realise the folly of conflicts and embrace the path of peace and development. The future of South Asia, in fact, depends on how its leaders are able to address themselves to the problems of development, deprivation, illiteracy and population growth. Looking beyond as we move on, New Delhi will have to shed a few obsessions with the neighbourhood, get over the China defeat syndrome and rediscover "a sober balance" between national development, national security and enlightened internationalism. As Jagat S. Mehta, former Foreign Secretary, once put it, India's lodestar in the 21st century must be the ability to keep up with the push and pace in social and economic achievements within the democratic system and winning respect as a consistently principled participant in the comity of nations. It is a fact that because of its size and location, India will always be strategically important. It will also be cultivated commercially as a market comprising a billion people, with the second biggest middle class in the world. But the weak point is that there are also nearly 500 million people in our midst who live at the poverty level with nearly 100 million more in the surrounding parameter. The rising expectations and growing frustration of this large slice of humanity are like a "gigantic volcano" which could burst and incinerate our manifold achievements. In exercising strategic and foreign policy options, Indian policy-makers must not lose sight of the harsh domestic realities. The harsh realities of poverty are equally, nay more, grim for Pakistan. But it is rather unfortunate that this simple message is lost in Islamabad's corridors of power because of the misplaced obsession and priorities of the rulers there. Beyond the euphoria of nuclear blasts, both India and Pakistan require a new thinking and a new perspective to create an atmosphere of peace and development. The need of the hour is galloping economic growth. Mr Nawaz Sharif and other Pakistani politicians need to clear the climate of self-destructive suspicion around India and take to the path of building stable equations of trust and confidence. In this setting, the South Asian region will be more secure against external manipulation and our bilateral ties with the big powers less prone to debilitating friction. A wholly new challenge lies ahead for Indian diplomacy. South Block must appreciate the fact that India's global standing in the coming years can only flow from economic surplus and technological surplus. Paul Kennedy's nonfiction best-seller "The Rise and Fall of Great Empires" argues that in the past empires fell when economic dynamism stagnated and military power was needlessly over-extended. The message is clear for India's policy-makers. We have to strike the right balance between an adequate arsenal of guns for defence and the availability of bread and butter for the millions of deprived and under-privileged Indians. It is a pity that our foreign policy strategy has not properly grasped the question of economic development, replacing ideology and dogmatic politics in international relations. The hard new world calls for hard new thinking. |
 75 YEARS AGO Aligarh law graduates High Court thanked A LARGELY attended meeting of the Mohammadans of Karnal took place today at Shamshad Gardens to thank the Hon’ble Chief Justice and the other judges of the High Court for their kindly exempting the law graduates of the Aligarh Muslim University from the test examination prescribed for the graduates of other universities. Nawabzada Irshad Ali Khan Sahib, MLC, Rais of Karnal, was voted to the chair. Aga Mohd Sultan Mirza, BA (Aligarh), LLB, proposed the following resolution: “The Mohammadans of Karnal deeply and sincerely appreciate the kindness of the Hon’ble Chief Justice, R.B. Sir Shadi Lal, and the other judges of the Lahore High Court in permitting the law graduates of the Aligarh Muslim University to practise law in the Punjab without having to pass the test examination prescribed for the graduates of other universities. This is a unique distinction and a useful privilege for which we humbly thank the Hon’ble Chief Justice and the other judges of the High Court.” The proposition was duly seconded by M. Abdullah Khan, BA (Aligarh), and was unanimously carried amid loud acclamations. After a vote of thanks to the chair, the meeting dispersed. |
| The abode of a deity by Shriniwas Joshi ALMOST every village in the hills of India has its own presiding deity. This deity, in its human form, is believed to have lived as a common villager hundreds of years ago. Dhandhi was born about 500 years ago in Parhechi village, not far from Shimla town. Noble in deeds and pious in thoughts, he attained divinity on death. When he merged with the God, people built a shrine for him where he, in an embryonic form, is worshipped today. I was curious when I heard this story from Raju, a descendant of Dhandhi, and made up my mind to visit the abode. I started from the Scandal Point, on foot, towards the shrine. An hour’s walk took me away from the get-go life of the town to the countryside. Here treading on a lonely footpath winding amidst the tall Himalayan cedars, I reached a point in a valley from where the climb up the hill had started.The narrowness of the valley had made the ascent hard and sight depressing. It was a short but tough climb for 20 minutes. When I reached the flat top of the hill, I was delighted to see the wide openness. I looked around. A spur of a hill, at a distance, appeared dotted with Swiss-type cottages of Shimla town; the recent constructions of brick and mortar were simple eyesores — towards the east was a chalet built in 1914 by a German national, towards the west stood the pagoda-type abode of Dhandhi, a simple hut-like structure of beams and stones with its gable covered with black slates. It did not look different from any other local shrine, but I remained standing there and watching it in awe. I then went closer to it and was moved by the richness and variety of woodcarving embellishing it. Each piece of timber used there was carved with typically folkish but highly evocative design made by simple cuts. There were carved-out figures of the doormen protecting the deity, the horses, the elephants, the serpents, the birds, etc. I was, however, struck by the lotus symbolising enlightenment chiselled on the main door. It was done in a masterly manner. Dhandhi lay there as a tiny stone hump in a dark chamber. The priest of the shrine was all excited in telling me, “Sir, Dhandhi listens to the villagers, solves their problems, accepts the first few grains of each crop grown by them. Do you know how he does so? He enters into the bodies of a select few who go into trance as long as Dhandhi is within them. They deliver commandments which are obeyed as the words of Dhandhi. None dares to slip, sir. The wrath of Dhandhi is unbearable.” I stood bewildered for a moment in that dark chamber, folded my hands to the supernatural and came out into light. I felt it refreshing. |
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| Should USA sit in judgement? By M.S.N. Menon THESE are days of apologetics — of Clinton wanting to apologise for the slave trade, of Germany wanting to apologise for the Nazi holocaust, of Japan wanting to apologise for its atrocities in China. But leopards do not change their spots. Their predatory instincts cannot change. The pirates bought respectability at a price from the temporal authorities and reprieve for their sins from the Church — all with the gold they plundered from the Incas and Mayas. Does the West want to buy reprieve by a mere apology? Today nations want to look respectable because in the global market, the sellers must have a good reputation. But the leadership of the world? This is a different thing. Can we trust the destiny of man to the care of people who were most inhuman? America is the leader of the world not because it qualifies for the job, but because it is the most powerful nation in the world. It is said that America is a legatee of the Roman imperium. But what was it like this Roman world? It was a world of Mammon. It kept alive the brutal instincts of the people by organising bloody “games” at the amphitheatre, where gladiators fought each other to death and lions tore up men. Slaves and prisoners were in plenty for these “spectacles”. These “death sports” brutalised Roman society. The accumulation of wealth and power gave rise to a universal depravity,” says a historian of the Romans. The Roman aristocracy was demoniac and Rome was a hell. There was no wickedness that was not perpetrated. Even women were so depraved that men ceased to contract marriage with them. Marriage was replaced by concubinage. When Rome released its slaves, they became “false sons of Rome” and they were the first to be converted into Christianity. Pliny, Seneca and Cicero were soft men. Seneca laments that the Roman aristocracy was so brutalised, that even for small neglects on the part of the slaves “often we strike too hard and shatter a limb or break a tooth.” Slaves were kept in chains in underground cells and were branded with hot iron. The word “compassion” was unknown to this society! But brutality engenders brutality. The slaves revolted and ultimately destroyed Rome. Christianity, a religion of high spiritual and ethical ideas (not a Semitic legacy) did not fit in with the ethos of the Romans. So Christianity was brought down to their level. The Christian emperor Theodisius ordered the destruction of the most splendid library in the temple of Seraphis. The job was given to Archbishop Theophilus, a man as fanatical as the emperor. Europe entered the Dark Ages for a thousand years till the Muslims brought light back to Europe. But Europe paid back with evil. The Crusades mounted by European monarchies against Islam was a throwback to the age of the gladiators. They not only brought great harm to the Muslims but were principally responsible for the destruction of Byzentium and its rich Christians cathedrals, which were plundered by the Christian crusaders! But when Europe set out to discover the world, it brought calamity on mankind on a more extensive scale. They conquered, pillaged and devastated the entire American continents. The local people — the Red Indians — were almost wiped out. The greed for gold led the Spaniards, the most bigoted Christians, to commit the most appalling atrocities in the newly conquered territories. “By millions upon millions, whole races and nations were remorselessly cut off,” laments a historian. And another writes: “From Mexico to Peru, a civilisation that might have instructed Europe was crushed out.” And this was all done by Christians and in some cases in its name! For three centuries (16th to 18th), trade in slaves caused such devastation in Africa that there is nothing similar and inhuman in history. Did the Christian church of Europe feel outraged? Not at all. Perhaps it did not think of the Africans and Red Indians as human beings. And here was India which proclaimed the entire mankind as a joint family! “The Africans” writes a historian of the slave trade, “were piled up in the holds of ships, as many as it could contain, and they remained without air and light during the passage of several weeks. They died by the hundreds.” But how can the church react to these atrocities when it was itself engaged in perfecting the art of torture: The Inquisition showed how little influence Christianity had even among the educated Christians. In the short period of its existence, the Inquisition burnt 31,000 people and meted out horrible punishments to 29,000 others. Galileo escaped with a life term in prison. In a small state like Netherlands, 50,000 people were put to death under Charles V. The Inquisition had a major hand in perfecting tortures, which came handy in the colonies later. On this Lecky, the historian, writes: “What strikes us most in considering the medieval torture is not so much their diabolical barbarity.... as the extraordinary variety and what may be termed the artistic skills they displayed.” Mark the words “diabolical barbarity”. And this from the followers of Jesus Christ! He says: “In every prison the Crucifix and the rack stood side by side.” Although such barbarities were banned in Europe after the Age of Enlightenment, they continued in the colonies. As masters of vast empires, they not only plundered but put to slaughter vast masses of people. What is more, all the predatory instincts of the Western man came back to torment the natives. You may ask: What has all this ancient history got to do with present realities? A great deal. It was Germany, the most highly educated nation in Europe, which perpetrated the Jewish holocaust. It was a repeat of what the Spanish did in South America. And this happened just 50 years ago. And it followed the Age of Enlightenment! And the Americans thought it quite logical to shorten the war by wiping out two cities — Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Did it bring remorse to the Americans? Not at all, for during the Vietnam war, the Americans wanted to scorch out Vietnam with napalm bombs. The predatory instincts of the whiteman is by no means extinct. And however much he may want to apologise for the past mistakes, he carries in his genes a dangerous threat to order and civilisation. The American leadership is not acceptable to vast numbers of thinking men. And when these same Americans sit in judgement over India, a country which has nothing to be ashamed of in its history, it becomes laughable. The dominant Western view of life is still its belief in violence and hegemony. Christianity has not been able to redeem the Western world. The great example of Christ’s self-sacrifice remains repugnant to European ethos. Do you still accept the American leadership of the world? I don’t. |
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