P A G E
Thursday, November 5, 1998
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Thursday, November 5, 1998 |
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Ladies’
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POLITICO-ECONOMIC
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FIRST it was the “iron lady” from Chennai and now it is the “militant memsaheb” from Calcutta posing problems for the BJP. Ms Mamata Banerjee has in fact upstaged Ms Jayalalitha by criticising the Union Government of being a sleeping giant, and the Prime Minister of not being alert or effective in checking prices. All this when the party is struggling to contain the damage caused by monstrously costly onions and dearer pulses and vegetables. Also with crucial elections in four states. It is a kind of political third degree method to hurl accusations but remain firmly in the alliance thus denying the BJP a chance to retaliate. True, Ms Banerjee has her compulsions. Her worst enemy, the CPM, has stolen the issue of price rise from her, with a Calcutta Corporation member armtwisting traders to sell onion at a lower price and the state government launching a dehoarding drive. This rubbed salt on the wound of a public relations disaster in her police-assaulted-me drama. She had to act and she has acted by quitting the coordination committee. That is the unkindest cut as far as the BJP is concerned. It has been avoiding a meeting realising that the allies would raise the controversial price rise issue and spoil the pre-election mood. This was obvious from the way Mr George Fernandes, convener of the committee, was goaded to call off the meeting he proposed for November 7. It is one thing for the Congress and the Left to blame the BJP for the abnormal increase in the price of most essential commodities and quite another for the allies to berate it and in front of television cameras. No doubt, the BJP pointed to the busy pre-election days and suggested a meeting after November 25. It is almost certain that
Ms Banerjee will take back the resignation from the
coordination committee, though she has ruled it out. She
cannot go it alone in West Bengal and the state BJP is
her only option. She may delay her decision but cannot
forever remain outside the committee. She is too
blunt-speaking to surrender the chance of giving the
government a bit of her mind at these meetings. But the
BJP is not fully reassured and with some reason. She has
already agreed to attend a rally of the Lok Tantrik
Congress of UP and some of her close aides believe that
she may even join hands with the Congress if it were to
form a government. The expectation is that the BJP may do
rather badly in the Assembly elections and some of its
present allies may drift towards the Congress. As though
on cue, Ms Jayalalitha has disbanded the front in Tamil
Nadu, cutting off her party from MDMK, PMK and the
one-member mini faction led by Mr K.Ramamurthy and, of
course, from the BJP. She is also longingly looking at
the Congress, an old ally, to fight the next Assembly
elections. All this is for tomorrow and can wait. But the
angry resignation from the coordination committee is a
fact and it hurts the BJP and may even hurt its electoral
prospects. She is a lady of high decibels and high
energy, as her rival moan. Now she is directing this
unique combination at the BJP. |
Protest over ‘slow murder’ IN a move reminiscent of the birth and growth of the Green Party, residents of Delhi and non-government organisations have finally raised their voice against the ever-increasing pollution. Since politicians tend to be too busy to do anything about such matters and always pass the buck upwards — which never reaches anywhere — the residents this time have approached the Prime Minister himself. Hundreds of callers jammed the phone and fax lines of the PM’s house on Monday with calls highlighting their plight. Their desperation in involving the “chief executive of the Government of India” is understandable. Similar representations earlier to the then Chief Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, hardly evoked any response. Pollution has continued to grow unbridled, so much so that Delhi today ranks as the third most polluted city in the world. During peak traffic hours, the national Capital’s roads remind one of Nazi gas chambers. Nearly 10,000 people die due to the polluted air every year. One out of every 15 residents is likely to get cancer because industrial pollution has gone up four times and vehicular pollution eight times in the past 20 years. A book released by the Centre for Science and Environment two years ago had called it slow murder. The way the government has acquiesced in this crime, it would seem that it is hand in glove with the criminals. After all, how is that it has allowed diesel used in the Delhi vehicles to have 250 times more sulphur than the diesel sold in other countries? Things are no better
— if not worse — in the rest of the country.
The number of deaths in the country due to pollution
exceeds 52,000 per annum. Still, no one seems to be
bothered. While the mistakes made two or three decades
ago were unpardonable enough, these continue to be
committed even today. Public-spirited citizens have to
run to court to seek relief. But since there is not
enough political will, nothing changes much on the
ground. Even now there are reports that the DDA is trying
to change the zone plan of the area near Ring Road to
make it a “manufacturing” area. What it would
do to the already choked Delhi can be well imagined.
Exasperated citizens have now taken matters into their
own hands. About 200 residents have signed a
“People’s Charter on Clear Air” for
sending it to the Prime Minister demanding the right to
clean air. More effective than that would be the
ultimatum to all political parties that they would have
to put environment on their political agenda and
guarantee clean air if they want votes. Assembly
elections are round the corner and this is one weapon
which should make the numerous leaders see reason. Its
efficacy would be viewed with interest all over the
country. If the leaders continue to be insensitive to the
concerns of the public, there is no alternative except to
take recourse to ultimatums. |
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BY including the young Punjab off spinner Harbhajan Singh in the Board President’s XI for the opening tie against the visiting West Indies “A” team, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has given a new twist to the controversy about his bowling action. Last month the BCCI instructed the selectors not to include him in the team for the mini World Cup in Dhaka because the International Cricket Council had received complaints from two match referees about his action. The teen-aged cricketer who has yet to cement his place in the Indian team was understandably traumatised by the unexpected turn of events. During his brief exposure to international cricket he was not even informally told by the umpires or his colleagues that his bowling action was not clean. Is it to be presumed that the umpires who do duty in domestic cricket matches are incompetent because they failed to spot the “fatal flaw” in the off spinner’s bowling action? Do the match referees know more about the rules of the game than the two umpires in the middle? Perhaps, they have better eye-sight too to be able to spot illegal deliveries sitting in the pavilion. If the umpires were unhappy with his action, they were expected to inform the captain (if not the bowler himself) rather than submit a “confidential report” to the match referees, who informed the ICC about Harbhajan Singh’s “suspect” bowling action, which in turn asked the BCCI to send the bowler for “correctional therapy” before considering him for selection. The Harbhajan Singh controversy has exposed the unhealthy control of ICC President Jagmohan Dalmiya over the BCCI. Mr Raj Singh Dungurpur and
his minions on the Board have indeed much to answer to
lift the air of mystery over most of their actions. Why
did the Board send Madhya Pradesh spinner Rajesh Chauhan
to the Fred Titmus Academy when his action was already
cleared by Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar? Early this week
Harbhajan Singh was sent to England for correcting his
bowling action under the supervision of Titmus. He
returned home by the next flight and BCCI Secretary
Jayant Lele says that the flaw in his bowling action had
been corrected and that he can now be considered for
selection again. How is Titmus better qualified to teach
Indian cricketers the art of spin bowling than Bishen
Singh Bedi, S Venkatraghavan, E A S Prasanna and B
Chandrashekhar? Can anyone deny the fact that even
Rajinder Goel knows more about the art of spin bowling
than the former England player? The reason why Goel never
played for India was because Bedi, Prasanna,
Venkatraghavan and Chandrashekhar had already earned the
reputation of being the best spinners in the world. In
any case, sending Harbhajan Singh to England for
“correctional therapy” was a wrong decision
because to begin with there was nothing wrong with his
bowling action. The fact of the matter is that the BCCI
acted in haste and instead of owning up it had gone
through the clumsy exercise of sending the Punjab player
to England where a mild dose of “Titmus shot”
was enough to cure him of the flaw in his bowling action.
How Harbhajan Singh will now cope with the avoidable
tension he was subjected to, remains to be seen. |
POLITICO-ECONOMIC SCENE INDIA’s mixed economy, a legacy of the prolonged, post-Independence planning process, has often been described, with justification, as a “mixed-up economy”. Ironically, this state of affairs remains unchanged a good seven years after a 180-degree change in economic policy and the ushering in of the brave, new era of reform, liberalisation and globalisation. Indeed, things are worse today than a year ago, and could deteriorate even further if we don’t watch out. Understandably, in fact inevitably, popular attention is focussed on the enormous hardship caused by the horrendous increase in the prices of onions, vegetables, pulses, oilseeds and other necessaries. The official explanation that the production of these commodities has fallen sharply because of unseasonal rain and floods is surely valid. But then countries like China have suffered far more on account of devastating deluge and yet nothing like the skyrocketing of prices of onions and potatoes has taken place there. Moreover, there is the curious case of common salt. No one in his senses can say that it is in short supply. But this has not prevented the trading community, cocky because it is the bedrock of the ruling BJP’s support base, from making a killing by pushing up the price of salt tenfold in the course of a single day. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s angry claim that the phenomenal price rise is due only to “Asmani” (natural) causes and that there is no nexus between the government and the super-greedy traders might have sounded credible had any action been taken against the monsters responsible for the recent dropsy epidemic due to the outrageous adulteration of mustard oil on a massive scale. The BJP leaders have a cause to worry. Salt has played a uniquely powerful role in this country’s history. The Mahatma’s Salt Satyagrah and the Dandi March had spelled the beginning of the end of the British Raj. In February, 1947, Liaquat Ali Khan, as Finance Minister in British India’s Interim Government, abolished salt tax but combined it with such other measures as were aimed at hastening Partition. Today Mr Vajpayee and his colleagues and well-wishers must pause and introspect because most people who had welcomed Atalji’s rise to power less than seven months ago are dismayed. They are saying that the salt has begun to lose its savour. Seasonal price increases
of items such as fresh vegetables do usually get
corrected over a relatively short period. The policy to
ban the export of scarce commodities and allow their free
import should help. It appears that arrangements are
being made to import pulses from Myanmar, the only
country said to be surplus in them. However, even if
vegetable and cooking oil prices are brought within
check, the problem of overall inflation will remain
acute. This is a prospect which cannot be viewed with
equanimity, especially when looked at in the perspective
of overall Indian situation in the context of the
economic meltdown in South-East and East Asian countries
once deservedly called the Asian Tigers. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has conceded that India has done well to avoid the fate of yesteryear’s Tigers by its prudence in not carrying out reforms at too fast a pace. The IMF also believes that the Indian rate of growth in the current year could be in the neighbourhood of 6 per cent — rather lower than the government’s estimate but higher than the calculation of the critics who say that the economy will grow only by 5 per cent, as against the target of 7 to 8 per cent. So far, so good. But the orgy of self-congratulation has been carried a bit too far. So busy are ministers of governments and their bureaucratic spokesmen in extolling the virtues of our economic policies and painting a rosy picture that even the most glaring realities are being overlooked. Never mind Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s repeated embarrassment on having to extend by a month or two his every deadline for a fall in prices and for an upturn in demand and production. An upbeat mood, especially in comparison to the South-East Asian neighbours, is being kept up also by the Prime Minister. It may not be possible to maintain this make-believe for long. An expert analysis in a national daily has punctured the comfortable notion that India’s prospects are much better than those of the countries badly battered by the “financial hurricane” that blew across the region. One of the two major conclusions of the analysis is that stock markets in most of the crisis-hit countries of Asia are “faring much better” than in this country. Whether it is right to interpret this as a sign of the foreign investor’s greater confidence in the crisis-ridden economies may be debatable. In any case, stock exchanges can be highly volatile, even in developed countries of the West. Some, though not many, leading institutions such as Morgan Stanley have described India, in the long run, as a “better bet for investment than the rest of Asia put together”. Even so, the other side of the coin is that an army of small Indian investors have been ruined, and that the current inflow of foreign investment here remains a trickle compared with the torrent that continues to go into, say, China. The second conclusion of the analysis is the really important one. It is that the rate of inflation in India is the highest in the entire Asian region, with the solitary exception of Indonesia. At a time when world prices of both commodities and manufactures are undergoing a slump this is a dangerous sign. It certainly does not bespeak of sound economic management. It is altogether typical that officially the inflation rate in the country is no more than 8 per cent. This figure is fraudulent. For, it is based on wholesale prices, while the retail prices are what impacts the lives of the nearly a billion people. In terms of retail prices, the inflation rate is 15 per cent, as against 7 per cent in Thailand, the country where the meltdown began. This is the Achilles’ heel of the Indian economy and looks like remaining so. On the credit side, one must note that after a prolonged period of indecision — caused, quite clearly, by the tussle between the votaries of swadeshi and the advocates of reforms within the Sangh Parivar — the Vajpayee government has taken some much-needed and long-overdue decisions. Particularly welcome are a series of decisions that may at long last hasten the execution of major power projects, long in the doldrums even though dubbed the “fast track projects”. The import duty on power plants is being abolished, and the builders of plants above the capacity of 1,000 mw will have a tax holiday for 10 years rather than five and so on. The decision to disinvest in eight white elephants in the public sector has not come a day too soon. The move to break the monopoly of VSNL over the provision of Internet services and the Prime Minister’s promise that licences to private parties will be issued within a week merit at least two cheers. The third cheer will be in
order only after whatever has been announced is actually
implemented. The wait is necessary because past
experience in relation to official words and deeds has
been dismal and depressing. |
How to cope with the
recessionary trend GLOBAL recession has arrived. Many countries have already come in its grip. Russia and Japan are the hardest hit. East Asian countries too have suffered a lot. The epidemic has spread to South-American countries as well. India and China, constituting 40 per cent of world population, have undergone the incubation period and symptoms of the disease are being noticed. The economy of the African continent (excepting South Africa) has never been near the buoyant level and, therefore, the recessionary trend will not cause any noticeable dent on its existing state of debility. East European countries too do not enjoy a healthy situation. Arab countries are at the most advantageous position because they have their fixed buyers of oil across the globe. The turn of the USA and West European nations will come a little later when domino effect becomes more pandemic. People, therefore, are genuinely worried that the recessionary process, once it sets in, may stay on for a longer period like the great depression of 1929. But the chances are less because of three main reasons. One, owing to the information technology explosion distances among countries have become irrelevant. Two, golobalisation has made the world economy more interdependent, and because of international approval and Dunkell proposals, protectionism prevails in a subdued form. Three, swings in the economy are in small cycles. Recession in one business area leads to boom in another. The boom in the information technology industry is unprecedented in spite of the global recession. The world economy today has a greater tendency to come to the equilibrium stage than what it was earlier because of greater liquidity in currencies and strong banking institutions. Economies of only those countries are greatly unstable where budget deficits are increasingly resulting in the printing of more money. Today recession or boom in the economy of a nation mainly depends upon the state of its exports and imports. The Russian economy has collapsed primarily because of a steady deterioration in its exports over the years. The other reason was the inefficiency of its PSUs. There was a time when most of the countries constituting the Russian bloc used to buy everything made in Russia. Russia had a field day in selling its arms during the days of the Arab-Israeli conflict. There was a time when Russia used to buy wheat from the USA and sell the same to Arab countries and earn huge profits. The Americans saw through this game and started a veiled economic warfare with the zeal of a thorough professional, and pushed Russia to the wall. The rest is history. Take the case of Japan. In the mid-seventies and the eighties, Japan had virtually captured the European market and built deep inroads in the US market. It, however, made the same mistake which it committed during World War II — it went too far. European countries put their heads together and formed one bloc in 1993 and decided to demolish national barriers and introduce a common currency by the year 2002. During the process, they started buying and consuming everything European. The Japanese had no alternative but to flee back to their motherland. South Korea too has suffered the same backlash effect. The economies of other Asian countries (excepting China) remain crippled largely due to the heavy import of oil from the Arab world. India imports 3.2 million tonnes of oil worth Rs 22,000 crore every year. Another cause is the heavy dependence of the agricultural economy of these nations on vagaries of weather. You have never heard of a loss in the output of foodgrains in the USA due to floods or droughts. In India, however, it has become a big problem. See how the cotton crop was damaged by the untimely rain in September. In India, industrial recession has started growing its roots in all parts of the country. Hosiery units were in a comfortable position upto last year. Russia was the main buyer. Due to the economic chaos there Russia reduced its imports. Whatever was left South Korea took it away by selling its products at more competitive rates. The main factors for the recessionary trend in India are two. One, the power tariffs are high. Two, because of the Fifth Pay Commission report the buying power of the government for sustaining its developmental activities has gone down. The steel industry is facing recession because of this fact. The only way to solve this problem, therefore, lies in reducing the imports of oil and luxury items, and generating more hydro-electric power. At the continent level, Asian countries must form one economic bloc, and their citizens should buy or consume only that which is Asian. The writer is a senior
executive of the Haryana State Industrial Development
Corporation. |
Corn-cob
images SOME friends dropped in my office unannounced. It was the month of August. Before I could ask their preference for a drink, they demanded corn soup from the nearby fast food joint. The word “corn” flashed a series of images in my mind. Come August, and suddenly our brethren from UP (popularly called “Bhaiyas”) descend with their families out of nowhere and perch themselves in nooks and corners of busy markets selling corn-cob, and instantly one knows that the “bhutta” season is on. You don’t need a big budgetary allocation and a VIP to inaugurate it like winter rose festival in the City Beautiful. In Hindi, corn-cob is known as “bhutta”, and in Punjabi it’s fondly called “challi”, a far more romantic name than the blunt, hard-pronounced “bhutta”. “Hey! Why don’t you try fresh bhutta”, I said. “Come off your rural, rustic, mental frame,” taunted one of them. “It’s a fast food age,” asserted another. “Hold on ! listen to me,” I pleaded. “A bhaiyan family has already positioned itself outside our office complex. We’ll get it faster than the fast food home delivery service. In the monsoon months, nothing is more tantalising to the palate than the deliciously hot and fresh “challi” leisurely roasted on the gentle heat of embers of soft-coke that stealthily add a whiff of its own flavour. Rub salt and fresh lemon and the flavour is out of the world. Hold it by the ear and dig your teeth into it. It tastes, superb, and teeth having become soggy by endless encounters with all shades of ice-creams feel refreshed and energetic. Where will you have such style and quality stuff at so low a price ? Can you trust Indian businessmen after the mustard oil mess-up ? With vegetable prices going through the roof, who knows what new ingredients are boiled in the soup to keep the profits intact. Their eyes sparkled, and all of them agreed to my proposal. It was as a kid that I came in contact with “challi” in a beautiful way that blossomed into a life-long love-relation. My father was allotted a government house that had a fairly big open space all-around. Being an agro-scientist, he always encouraged us to learn about plants and crops, and admire the marvels of nature in this unique way. He asked my brother and I to develop a small area as a kitchen-garden. We excitedly worked hard with kassi and khurpas (types of spades) and dug the earth many times over to make it soft and ready for sowing. “What should we grow in it” we asked him. “Grow maize and you’ll fall in love with the plant,” he said while handing us a fistful of seeds. Within a few days the seeds sprouted and the plants started growing like jack’s magic beanstalk. We would inspect our little field many times a day. We would spend hours during the day observing the plants grow, and feel elated. Those were good times. The teachers taught in schools then. We didn’t have to run for tuitions. One morning we were struck by the sight of baby-corns growing out of the buds in the sturdy stalks. It was nothing short of a miracle, for we often wondered as to how corn-cobs would hang on the plants. As the days passed, the baby corn-cobs grew in size which developed silken whiskers that turned brown after a few days. We were impatiently waiting to pluck the first “challi” when the super-smart squirrels invaded the corn-cobs. Instantly, we were up in arms against them and stood guard with dandas, taking turns. It was an exhilarating experience. The maize plant grows tall
and the roots grip the soil firmly. With its flag
fluttering at the top, it sways and swings in the breeze
with grace and elan akin to that of a village belle
walking statusquely and effortlessly carrying several
pitchers brimming with water on her head. The maize
fields are a feast to the eyes and its delicious
“challi” a treat to the pure pleasures of
palate. What a benevolent gift of nature !! |
Address social issues in framing
cyber law THE speed of technological developments in communications is so fast that social scientists and researchers all over the world are finding it difficult to assess, assimilate, understand and interpret their impact on different societies. The new communication technologies are developing by such leaps and bounds that their pace has created utter confusion in communication research. The VCR during the 70s, the cable during the 80s, the satellite and the computer during the 90s, as the media of communication, have brought unprecedented changes in the global communication scenario. In the span of a few decades, some societies have been converted into tele-societies and space into cyber-space. The diffusion of new information technologies (basically, post-television, computer-based technologies) is making such inroads into the Indian society that its multiple applications are giving birth to more and more cynicism. It is being strongly felt in academic circles that this technology will have much stronger effects on society than any other technology. Many apprehensions have been expressed and predictions made. “Technology is not static: it moves in spurts and sometimes waves of discovery and innovation. Like a tornado, its course is often unpredictable and dangerous. Like shattering glass, it can break off in a thousand directions, spawning a huge network of sub-innovations and spinoffs, each with its own unique shape, form and application”, remark Woodal and others in their book “Total Quality in Information Systems and Technology”.Information superhighway, Internet, multimedia, CD Roms and many more such words have become the buzzwords in the contemporary communication vocabulary. Within a period of four to five years all these have started dominating fields of human existence and activity. The new information technology has ravaged many old inventions, systems and traditions. It has laid the foundations of an information-society and has greatly influenced the way people think, work, perform, communicate and interact. But, in the absence of many controlling means and measures, including social and ethical guidance, these technologies enjoy unregulated growth. Will the developing societies try at policing the network or try to make quick local adjustments, is yet to be seen. But it is quite clear that Internet is a free-flowing medium and it will not be possible to restrict its wider access. The access of Internet so far is limited to the urban elite but with the implementation of the new policy on information technology, the computer-based communication will quickly become the medium of communication for the middle class. It is certainly going to affect the ethos as well as the value-system of the middle class. The impact of the new information technologies will be different from that of the television. As compared to certain developed countries, television came late to India to stay as a social and a family medium. Even now, in more than 95 per cent of houses, TV is watched in family atmosphere and the viewing is guided by the wisdom of the most experienced generation. Communication experts know that the meaning of the message, in most cases, does not lie in the words, texts or the pictures, but lies in the situations and conditions prevailing in the end atmosphere. The computer as a medium of communication is a personal medium and the reception of very similar messages will have an impact different from that of television. As a result of very fast developments in the technological field, a neo-independent-technological regime is being established on a global scale. But, the unequal pace of development of these technologies in different continents, countries, regions and areas has widened the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor, the urban and the rural. In a society like India, which is already afflicted with huge economic and social gaps, the new information technology is immensely serves the interests of the urban elite, the industrialist, the businessman and the middleman. The common man has been further marginalised and pushed to the dangerous zone of “nothingness”. The communication revolution that the new information technologies have ushered in has abolished physical barriers. The opening up of the skies and the uninterrupted flow of unlimited information has also led to the unprecedented transformation of societies. The quick developments in these technologies have left little scope for social adjustments. The demolition of boundaries of time and space have interconnected societies on a mass scale but extremely personalised at the individual level. With the proliferation of new technologies, the life-span of various products, including ideas, philosophies and ideologies has drastically declined. Society has been put into a fast-forward situation, controlled by invisible remote-controls. The convergence of production, distribution and reception technologies has blurred the distinction between the visual and sound, publication and intimation on the one hand; and the interactive and telecommunication, on the other. The convergence of television, telephone and computer has opened a new chapter in the history of communication. This is definitely going to change the ways we live, develop relationships and interact with ourselves as well as others. Indian society for
centuries has depended upon traditional means of
communication, inter-personal communication processes and
word of mouth. Human relationships in a close Indian
society is habituated to develop in a natural, healthy
and productive social environment. But, in the early
nineties satellite and cable TV created a new hype and
skepticism (so for, mainly in the urban areas) by
bombarding our households with alien messages. Surfing on computers has attracted a large number of people towards a new type of new electronic communication which lacks the soft and delicate touch of personal contacts and warmth of human relationships. Home offices, tele-shopping or tele-conferences may enhance the business interests of big multinationals, but these will certainly take the people away from the natural communication environment. On the one hand, these technologies have replaced the linear mass communication process involving the vertical flow of messages from different mass media and on the other hand it has resulted in the demassification of the audiences and the instant diffusion of multifaceted information. This phenomenon is creating many problems by making human communication a non-personal one. A recent study done by Robert Kraut, a social sociology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, has revealed that the high users of Internet feel more depressed, stressed, isolated and lonely. The use of computer as a medium of communication has negatively affected friendships and other relationships. The new information technology is creating a pseudo environment, in which the users tend to believe that by acquiring it, they have acquired everything, including wisdom, thought and logic. Most of the receivers of electronic signals or messages fail to understand what they get are information packages, consciously or unconsciously designed for creating an atmosphere of artificial intelligence. The receivers also develop the tendency to absorb the information which is easy to understand. In a report submitted to the French Minister of Research and Industry, it was stated: “In a culture that worships novelty, computers cast a magic spell that disarms our critical faculties”. A study done by a Punjabi University Journalism and Mass Communication Department student in 1996, on the desk-men of the two Chandigarh-based English dailies revealed that the use of computer by one had led to less interaction among themselves. Television was blamed for taking conversation out of the family and in a very near future the computer would be declared guilty to talking human relationships away from society. It will be a mistake to perceive technology as a revolution in itself. Basically it is the economy and control over the system that determines the relationship between the communicator and the receiver. As most of the information flow is created and controlled by a few powerful countries or power-centres, there is a danger that one view of the world will obliterate the other. The new information
technology has definitely created new needs in society.
How the centralisation and metropolitinisation of
information and knowledge will fulfil these needs and
what will be the role of traditional opinion leaders and
gatekeepers, is yet to be seen. The issue of social
implications of new information technology demands a
careful and greater scrutiny on the part of academicians
and scholars, as the sovereignty and cultural identity of
Indian society vastly depends upon the diffusion of this
technology in the early part of the 21st century. While
designing any policy on information technology or making
any “cyber law”, social issues must be
addressed; that too very seriously. |
Putting pigs on industrial map AFTER poultry, turkey and ostrich, it is now the turn of lowly pigs. With the USA witnessing a dramatic switchover in food palate, ushering in an unprecedented explosion in the demand for pigmeat, it is a matter of time before “pig factories” emerge as a major agri-business enterprise in India. Such is the rapid growth of the pig industry that international banks and financial institutes are vying with one another to increase funding for a sector which was never considered to be creditworthy. Realising that the US pigmeat industry is poised to expand in search for international markets, pig farming is turning into a specialised activity. But with the strict environmental regulations slowing down the development of the pig industry, already shifting the production base to relatively less populated areas in south-west America, the dirty and unhygienic enterprise is sure to be translocated to India. And like the boom in floriculture, “pig factories” will also bring in a highly environment-unfriendly production activity to India, in return for hard currency. In North America, the outlook is for a continued increase in pig production till the year 2001. Much of it coming after strong price increases for slaughtered pigs following the mad cow disease related demand shifts since 1996. An ample indication is available from the export projections. From 4,26,000 tonnes of carcass weight equivalent achieved in 1996, the USA will be able to double its exports to over 9,40,000 tonnes in 2001. With the consumption of meat products continuing to increase in Asia, the industry is targeting the two populated giants — China and India. And as it normally happens, India’s infant agri-business industry blindly looks up to and draws inspiration from such developments in the Western markets. In the bargain, the US food industry has effectively demonstrated that monetary profits outweigh all social and human rights considerations. At least, four multinational food giants have found cassava, the staple food of some 350 million Africans; to be a money-spinning commodity after it was discovered that it could be suitably modified as pig feed. The private initiative had so far refrained from investing in research on cassava to make it more productive for human consumption. In an era of food factories, even pigs take precedence over humans! Although “pig factories” is a development of the nineties, the US National Pork Council and related organisations spend millions of dollars a year to popularise pork consumption. Each year, the Pork Council sponsors an official “American Pork Queen” to enlighten schools and community groups about the joys of modern pork production. Such is the extent of corporatisation of “pig factories” that the modern pig farmers pride themselves to be called “pork production engineers”. For years now, animal breeders have been trying hard to develop fatter and fatter pigs. Genetic manipulations are now being tried to ‘improve’ the pig, to turn it into a more efficient piece of factory equipment. Unlike the inhabitants of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pig factories are huge industrial complexes, with over 1,00,000 pigs crammed in the pigpens. And like the poultry farms, pigs are cramped in stalls in such a way that it leaves no room for any manoeuvre. The most popular “bacon bin” system of housing pigs, provides for 500 individual cages, each measuring not more than seven square metres of living space. Every pig spends his entire life cramped into a space less than one-third of the size of a twin bed. “Pork engineers” feel that the “bacon bin” is advantageous as it ensures that pigs don’t burn any calories in ‘useless’ activities like walking and playing. And still worse, these pigs never get to see daylight. The high intake of hormones and pesticides results in environmental contamination. Already, high pesticides residues in pig droppings have contaminated the ground water supplies in the Netherlands to such an alarming extent that public protests is forcing the government to look for alternatives. Since the pig droppings cannot be dumped into the sea, Holland had unsuccessfully tried to ship it to India. With the World Bank seal of approval and with huge subsidies available from the European Union, Holland is now banking upon the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to pave the way for unhindered export of pig droppings and dung to developing countries. And yet, the Indian food
industry, backed by the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) which recently sponsored a study on food factory
potential of India, is sure to lap up the
‘virtues’ of pig farming. After all, if the USA
and other countries of the OECD find it to be a
profitable enterprise irrespective of the ethical,
religious and environmental considerations, the Indian
agri-business industry must faithfully follow.
Considering the dubious role of agricultural scientists
and planners in promoting the controversial bovine
somatotropin (BST) hormonal drug for cattle, coastal
aquaculture and floriculture at the cost of sustainable
farming practices, it will not be surprising to find the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and APEDA
preparing a research and development blueprint for
putting pigs on the industrial map. |
THE city fathers of Lahore met in an emergency meeting in the Town Hall on Saturday evening, Chaudhri Shahad-ud-Din MLA, presiding. Besides the Muslim members, Mr Warris, the only non-Muslim member who had withdrawn his resignation, also attended. The President, in the very beginning, read the letter of the Commissioner, Lahore Division, to the effect that His Excellency the Viceroy would be visiting Lahore in October next. The route by which he would be carried was to be decorated costing about Rs 5,600. The Commissioner further suggested that the committee should participate in these felicities by contributing a fixed sum, and the expenses of labour, to be incurred in connection with the decoration, etc. Though the item in itself was an important one, it was not mentioned in the agenda circulated to the members. The President took up this item as soon as the quorum was complete. Mr Warris proposed that
the committee should contribute a lump sum of Rs 2,000
together with the labour expenses in connection with
decorating the route. He further proposed that a welcome
address should be presented to His Excellency on his
visit to Lahore. |
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