Factors behind milk mafias

I READ your recent editorial “Dealing with milk mafia” and wish to highlight certain basic fallacies regarding milk production in India and suggest some remedial steps.

Mass media’s condemnation of milk mafias and judicial pronouncements such as the Allahabad High Court verdict notwithstanding, milk mafias and the mass-scale adulteration of milk in India cannot be eliminated unless the basic infrastructural imbalances are corrected. There is an overall shortage of milk due to the poor genetic potential of our semi-starved and starved cows and buffaloes and their dismal per capita yield. The burgeoning gap between milk production and its demand, the wide gap between summer and winter milk yields, the misplaced preference for and dependence on buffaloes, the absence of a rational milk pricing policy, consumers’ unawareness about the importance of cow milk, the absence of any organisation legally obliged to assist in enhancing milk production, and the non-existence of any regulatory measures for its purchase and sale are some of the basic factors responsible for the prevailing anarchy in the national dairy sector. It is a free for all.

The dairy scenario in the country needs a radical change. The NDDB needs to be reorganised for the overall promotion of the dairy industry. Two distinct action plans are needed: one for the arid areas with limited irrigation facilities, and the other having adopted high technology in the Green Revolution areas. These areas should take up an aggressive cow development programme comprehensively organised and efficiently implemented with advanced dairy farming technologies and systems for a revolutionary change in their pattern of distress milk production. This can bridge the gap between the winter and summer milk yields.

The availability of a plenty of quality milk in the market at affordable prices will help, to a great extent, eliminate milk mafias and malpractices in the milk trade.

G.B. SINGH KAHLON
Milk Commissioner,
Punjab (retd)
Mohali

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Hospital needs new building

This refers to the two reports by your staff correspondent about the conditions prevailing in Punjab Mental Hospital, Amritsar, published in The Tribune recently.

By highlighting the misery of the patients, your paper has done a great service to these people. These patients are thrice cursed, once for the disease, twice for the indifferent attitude of their friends, relatives and society at large, and thrice for the inhuman conditions prevailing in the hospital. It was expected that various medical and social organisations, religious sects or political leaders will come forward with their reactions and suggestions, but that was not to be. The only exception was a statement by Mr Brij Bedi, a social worker of Amritsar, who offered to start “kar sewa”. It appears something more ghastly is needed to stir the conscious of the people.

Punjab Mental Hospital is housed in a building which was once Central Jail, Amritsar (one road leading from the Race Course Road chowk to the Mental Hospital is still called Old Jail Road). That is why there are jail-like conditions and there is little scope for improvement in the building.

The hospital needs a new building for which the paucity of funds should not be an excuse. If crores can be spent on elections, rallies and centenary celebrations, only political will is required to allocate funds for the construction of a new building. The posts of doctors are transferable as they belong to the PCMS or PMES services, whereas the paramedical staff is stationed permanently as there is no other mental hospital in the state. This itself breeds indiscipline and other ills.

Dr A.L. ADLAKHA
Amritsar

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Measures to prevent mishaps

The write-up “Of roads and accidents” that appeared in The Tribune dated 2.8.99 was not based on facts. It is pertinent to mention here that the department concerned has been taking utmost care to prevent accidents by ensuring intensive checking. However, there are many other factors which are not in the control of the department. These factors are responsible for such accidents in the hilly terrain and inclement weather.

As far as the grant of permits to private operators is concerned, there is a statutory body which considers and grants permits on the merit by taking all aspects into consideration. Similarly, before allowing vehicles to ply on a particular road, their road-worthiness is certified by a committee headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The Himachal Road Transport Corporation has already issued instruction not to ply buses on roads which get damaged and can lead to mishaps. The state government, in its new transport policy, has laid down the priorities for the grant of permits in the private sector to ensure transparency.

The Transport Minister has been taking personal interest to ensure passengers’ safety by convening meetings with the Transport Department, the Public Works Department, the Police Department and the Himachal Road Transport Corporation. It has been decided to effectively curb over-loading by identifying/surveying additional potential routes, increasing frequency of vehicles and effective checking and improvement in road conditions. Strict instructions have been issued to motor vehicle inspectors for ensuring the mechanical fitness of the vehicles at the time of passing.

The Himachal Road Transport Corporation has also taken several steps to minimise accidents. These include the use of breath analysers for checking drunken driving, periodical eye check-up of drivers, the maintenance of buses, the proper selection and training of drivers and segregating the driver cabin from passengers. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of accidents from 0.18 per lakh kms in 1996-97 to 0.14 in 1998-99.

The Himachal Road Transport Corporation has adopted a foolproof system for the appointment of drivers by conducting driving tests by a committee headed by the Divisional Manager. Those who qualify the tests are imparted 30 days’ training in a training school at Taradevi, Shimla. These drivers are again subjected to rigorous tests before appointing them in the corporation. This speaks volumes about transparency in the selection and the competence of drivers so recruited.

SANJAY GUPTA
Director, Transport
Shimla

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Soldiers & voluntary bodies

People from all walks of life have come forward to help our soldiers not only morally but also financially. The government on its part has announced various welfare schemes for the Kargil martyrs’ kin and those injured while throwing out the Pakistani intruders from this side of the LoC. My point is that voluntary organisations must see to it that the martyrs’ families and the injured soldiers get their due as quickly as possible.

DEVINDER
Chandigarh

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Politicians & the public

I read with interest Mr M.G. Devasahayam’s article, “Politicians and their promises” — “real issues before the nation” (July 28) and fully agree with the view that as the nation goes to the polls to elect the last Parliament of this millennium (let us hope it should last till December 31, 1999), it is a good opportunity for the Indian voters to exercise their franchise judiciously, and not to allow their being treated like cattle by selfish, unscrupulous and corrupt politicians.

Let us not allow ourselves to become mere arithmetical numbers to be multiplied or subtracted, depending on the convenience of these political manipulators. They must be made to understand that “Yeh jo public hai, yeh sab janti hai, yeh public hai”.

Now I express my views in the form of a poem:

Never mind
They said
And have been saying
Ever since the Yoke was lifted
That “government is of the people
for the people
and by the people”.
For as ye know,
I have got the right to vote;
To elect my leader
Who woos me
With a bundle of promises;
And an assault of catchy slogans,
And is known to me
Only through his symbols.
His “Hand” slapped me
Not once
But many a time
His “Lotus” pricked me
And could not get rid of
The filth around it
His “Wheel”
That promised to take me
On to the road of progress
Crushed me
But never mind
The “government is of the people
For the people
And by the people”.
They talked of unity and integrity,
And made us fight and quarrel;
They talked of secularism
And communal harmony
And themselves fought
Over mosque and temple;
They talked of equal opportunity,
And awoke the Mandal...
But never mind,
That “government is of the people
For the people
And by the people”.
‘Roti kapada aur makaan’;
Gharibi hatao’;
A government that works
Nay, a government that stays — they promised
... and failed
Yes, they loot our trust
Exploit our faith
Rob us of our dreams
... But never mind,
That “government is of the people
For the people
And by the people”.

N.K. OBEROI
Deptt of English,
D A V College
Amritsar