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| Wednesday, January 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Vajpayee's message Cheating consumers Ranchi violence |
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Dealing with Pakistan Future options and challenges by G. Parthasarthy The attack on the Red Fort in Delhi by the Lashkar-e-Toiba is an “internal affair” of India, said Gen Parvez Musharraf. One wonders if the good General would voice the same views if strikes were launched against the headquarters of the Lashkar at Murdhike near Lahore. The extension of the Ramzan ceasefire has been widely welcomed both in India and by the international community. Malkani way of losing friends Towards a thaw in Sri Lanka?
The sanctum
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| Vajpayee's message Parliamentary decorum ordains that the Prime Minister has the last word. Even outside Parliament, this should be the norm not because of the exhalted position of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee but because of the combustible nature of the Ayodhya-Babri mosque controversy. The opposition should gracefully accept his revised stand and keep him committed to the strong secular sentiments expressed in the two articles he has written. There are several interesting new formulations which will please all the angry historians who denounced the concept of cultural nationalism at one time. One, Mr Vajpayee is very clear that past wrongs cannot be corrected by modern wrongs. He is very candid that the demolition was illegal and unfortunate and robbed Indian society of its supple and all inclusive assimilative talent. He is also clear that the temple-mosque configuration at both Kashi and Mathura should not be disturbed. Any attempt to build a Rama temple at Ayodhya without the sanction of either the court or a mutual agreement will be put down with a heavy hand. It is as though he has not only returned to the liberal stand but also gone a few steps ahead. In this respect, he is a hardened softliner. He must be aware that he is provoking an open doctrinal battle with the VHP, the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. This is bound to start a churning up process in the extended Hindutva family. The opposition parties sworn to secularism have much to gain by supporting the Prime Minister's new formulations. There is an unmistakable clue why he changed his stand in the second article published today. Almost casually, he mentions that it is a matter of pride that Indians have preserved two ideals "that are most precious to all of us; one, the unity of India; two, our democratic system." Later, he expresses his concern at the rising tide of intolerance in Indian society. When read with his remark in the first article that India has abandoned its assimilative culture, it is clear that he is alarmed at the mindless and violent action of those in the Sangh Parivar or close to it. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed this precisely when she said Indian society was a mosaic and not a melting pot. Here new ingredients sit harmoniously and happily with the old ones to change the contours of culture. It is so in music, architecture, script, dress, food and language. Not any more these days. As though coincidently, Mr Vajpayee's hard stand on Ayodhya encouraged several hardline sentiments. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackray demanded the stripping of the Muslims of their citizenship rights. In Ahmedabad, students imposed a ban on girl students wearing anything other than sari. Kanpur threatened to wreck all New Year celebrations. Mr K. R. Malkani, a very senior leader of the BJP, lamented that India did not annexe Nepal when King Tribhuvan offered it in the fifties. In view of the ongoing debate on the status of Kashmir, his remark equated the valley with Nepal and naturally set off alarm bells in Kathmandu. But the most curious was the unconvincing bomb theory expounded by Mr K. Sudarshan. Obviously, the Prime Minister, as Head of the Government—not as a senior BJP leader— wants to douse down these fires and take the country back to the more moderate, secular, sane and sober path. This will help find a solution to the Kashmir problem more than the Ramzan ceasefire! |
| Cheating consumers The issues raised in the Comptroller and Auditor General's latest report on food and consumer affairs will interest those who for some inexplicable reason continue to have faith in the system. At no point of time in free India have consumers been given a fair deal by the dispensers of goods and services. Though the CAG has taken a "serious" note of the flagrant violation of the norms for operating the public distribution system by various states, it is not going to end the exploitation of the consumers by various government and private agencies. The fact that the consumers ended up paying Rs 435.71 crore in excess of the amount charged from them for drawing their quota of foodgrains at subsidised rates shows the extreme callousness of the agencies involved in the management of the PDS. According to the report, Tamil Nadu alone was found guilty of making the consumers pay an additional amount of Rs 251.44 crore by passing on the retail margins to them for foodgrains and kerosene, though the charges were to be borne by the state government. As per the accepted norms the central issue price of most commodities should be uniform throughout the country. Union Consumer Affair and Public Distribution Minister Shanta Kumar has a lot to explain for the violation of the norms for the distribution of commodities at subsidised rates through PDS outlets. It is an open secret that the PDS is one of the major sources of exploitation of the consumers by corrupt officials and traders. Several instances have come to light in the past about substandard foodgrain being sold to the consumers while the stocks released by the official agencies ended up in the godowns of the traders. It was for drawing the substandard commodities that the consumers were made to pay an excess amount of Rs 435.71 crore! Now Mr Shanta Kumar is in the middle of reviving a scheme which he had sought to implement as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. In theory the Antyodaya scheme is meant to address the problems of the poorest of the poor in the country. However, it must be remembered that he could not make the scheme work in a small territory as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He has promised that the Antyodaya scheme, which would offer food items to the poorest at nominal rates, would start working all over the country within two months. In these two months those involved in handling the project would have worked out ways and means for filling up registers to show the distribution of huge quantities of Antyodaya items to the poorest of the poor. Mr Shanta Kumar should understand that the tax payers would not mind even free distribution of foodgrains to not just one crore poor but the entire population living below the poverty line. However, if Antyodaya, like most government schemes, becomes another source of filling the coffers of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and traders, there is little the tax payers can do to prevent their hard earned money ending up in wrong pockets. The CAG's latest report on food distribution has highlighted the helplessness of consumers in protecting their rights. When it gets down to examining the working of the Antyodaya scheme, for which the tax payers will have to shell out a mind-boggling amount of Rs 2, 300 crore, it may have more bad news to convey to the nation. |
| Ranchi violence The Chief Minister of the newly formed Jharkhand, Mr Babulal Marandi, has had all too brief a honeymoon period. He has been jolted out of a celebratory mood by the bitter realities of governance. Capital Ranchi has been rocked by violence since Thursday, with curfew, firing and all the resultant tension. The conflagration has erupted because of the friction between the majority and the minority communities. Such hostility exists to some measure at almost all the places where the two communities co-exist, but it comes to a boil only at those places where politicians, religious bigots or foreign agents jump into the fray. The three catalysts appear to be active in Ranchi and clashes broke out on as innocuous a pretext as the death of a girl belonging to the minority community in a road accident. Fanatics provoked violence, resulting in a police firing in which three persons, again belonging to the minority community, were killed. That was exactly the kind of “provocation” that the mischief-makers were looking for and they have held the city to ransom ever since. The police is always blamed for such excesses, even when firing is necessitated by genuine reasons. The Chief Minister has ordered an enquiry and even made repeated pleas that the guilty policemen will be punished, but the violence has gathered so much momentum that his voice is just not being heard. What is all the more reprehensible is that communal colour has been given to the whole episode. Mr Marandi is new to his job and some of his actions betray administrative nervousness, but this shortcoming should not have been twisted to allege that he is targeting minority communities. The way violence has been engineered in Patna and Biharsharif also indicates that the protesters are working to a plan. In almost all these places, it is a handful of lumpen elements that are fomenting trouble. On Monday a police vehicle announcing the imposition of curfew in Ranchi was hijacked by a few youth who used it instead to make false announcements that the curfew had been lifted. The intention obviously was to ensure that people would come to the public places, provoking the police to take action against them, leading to more allegations of “excesses”. Even the Army and Rapid Action Force personnel were attacked. On the other hand, mourners also became violent following the death on Sunday of a Deputy Superintendent of Police who was injured in the mob violence. It is time for community leaders to speak up against such acts. There are sane people in both communities who can exert moral pressure on their brethren. The fledgling State can ill afford such dance of destruction. |
| Dealing with Pakistan The attack on the Red Fort in Delhi by the Lashkar-e-Toiba is an “internal affair” of India, said Gen Parvez Musharraf. One wonders if the good General would voice the same views if strikes were launched against the headquarters of the Lashkar at Murdhike near Lahore. The extension of the Ramzan ceasefire has been widely welcomed both in India and by the international community. But, as the ceasefire enters its second month there are a growing number of voices now being heard that it would be unwise to make the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir “sitting ducks” even as Jihadi groups, comprising mainly Pakistani nationals, regroup and prepare themselves for increased activity once the Himalayan snows melt. More importantly, the $ 64,000 question on whether General Musharraf will end support for his Jihadis remains unanswered. In seeking an answer to this question, it is important to understand the implications of some recent developments in Pakistan on its domestic and foreign policies. The exile of Nawaz Sharif and the treatment he is receiving from his Saudi hosts have created new problems for the military regime. Sharif has been given all the honours due to a visiting Head of Government by the Saudi royalty. Not only do provincial governors receive him personally when visiting places like Medina, but he has also been very warmly received both by King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah. Muslim League functionaries in Saudi Arabia are in regular touch with him. In these circumstances, Musharraf has been compelled to postpone a scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia and has to settle for being able to visit Oman, Jordan and Lebanon. Apart from the personal interest that President Bill Clinton has taken in Sharif’s welfare, the Saudi monarchy still holds him in high esteem. The Saudi leadership cannot easily forget that Nawaz Sharif did after all arrange for the visit of the Crown Prince to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons facilities in Kahuta- making him the first leader of an Islamic country to visit the facilities producing what some Pakistanis, including Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, have described as Pakistan’s “Islamic Bomb”. All this cannot but be noticed by people in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi. And there is precious little that Musharraf could do about Saudi Arabian policies and priorities, given the fact that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been supplying petroleum products on easy, deferred payment terms to Pakistan ever since the nuclear tests of May, 1998. The sudden release of Nawaz Sharif has seriously eroded Musharraf’s credibility in the eyes of Islamic groupings that are generally natural allies of the military- intelligence establishment. The Jamat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed has called on the armed forces establishment to remove Musharraf and threatened a countrywide agitation. Groupings like the Tanzeem-ul-Ikhwan led by Maulana Mohammad Akram Awan have threatened to march on Islamabad demanding the immediate introduction of the Shariat. Showing a measure of panic, Musharraf sent his Minister for Religious Affairs Dr. Mahmood Ghazi and the Home Secretary and Inspector General of Police in Punjab to plead with Maulana Akram to call off the proposed march. Pakistan’s Interior Minister is planning to meet leaders of religious groupings shortly in an effort to buy peace. Having entered into an adversarial relationship with mainstream political parties like the Muslim League, the People’s Party, the Awami National Party and the MQM, Musharraf is in no position to challenge the writ and influence of the religious parties that are committed to Jihad in Kashmir, Chechnya, Palestine and elsewhere. More important, Musharraf is known to be close to hardline retired army officials like former ISI chiefs Hamid Gul and Javed Nasir, who strongly believe that Pakistan’s strategic objectives can be best achieved by “bleeding” India in Kashmir and elsewhere. Musharraf himself also appears to believe that the resort to Jihad and military pressure on India is a desirable policy option. It was, after all, only a few days ago that he claimed that the Kargil intrusion had been a great success and that the Indian army was getting tired and worn out by having to tackle the continuing insurgency in Kashmir. Thus, while Pakistan has made noises about exercising “restraint” along the Line of Control it has not taken any steps to reduce support for the activities of Jihadi groups. The level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir remains unacceptably high, with the security forces taking higher casualties during the first month of the ceasefire than they had taken earlier. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Musharraf is going to show any inclination to cool his passion for Jihad in Kashmir. With the Clinton Administration now in a lameduck state, Musharraf will obviously play for time to see if as a fellow soldier, General Colin Powell will show greater regard for him than the Clinton Administration was prepared to manifest. Thus, while Musharraf will make moves that he will claim are conciliatory, it is doubtful that he will be either prepared to meaningfully reduce the level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir or talk to India in realistic terms in the next few months. In view of these developments, it would be highly counterproductive for India to rush into a dialogue with Pakistan even as violence continues. But, at the same time, New Delhi has to take measures to respond to the yearning for peace amongst people in Kashmir. The proposed visit of the Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan will be meaningful and make the Hurriyat a credible grouping, only if they make it clear to Musharraf and others that for any peace process to be meaningful, violence would have to end and Pakistani Jihadi groups would have to withdraw their militants from the valley. In the meantime, preparations need to be initiated to strike at the foreign militants in their hideouts should violence and crossborder support for terrorism continue. New Delhi should not tolerate incidents like those on December 22 when armed militants entered the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar and acted provocatively, with the security forces looking on. The carrying of weapons in public should be regarded as a violation of the ceasefire and dealt with accordingly. Given the mentality of the Punjabi dominated military establishment in Pakistan, it would be unrealistic to expect any meaningful changes in policy unless the strategic costs of continuing its present policies exceed any expected benefits. New Delhi should not relent in its diplomatic and other efforts to raise the national strategic costs for Pakistan as long as it persists in its present policies. We should reach out to sections of opinion in both PoK and the Northern Areas to address the need for portions of Jammu and Kashmir across the Line of Control being provided a measure of autonomy akin to that provided to J &K under the Indian Constitution, before other issues are considered. Further, under no circumstances should the Hurriyat be allowed to create an impression internationally that they alone can speak for the Kashmiri people. As former Foreign Secretary M.K. Rasgotra recently noted, many so called “leaders” of the Hurriyat enjoy a following at best at “Mohalla” level. The main utility of the Hurriyat leaders, like that of Jerry Adams and the Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, is that they serve as a conduit for conveying the yearning and imperatives for peace to terrorists who carry guns and their mentors. India is going to face a number of diplomatic and internal security challenges in the coming weeks and months, as it strives to respond to the yearning for peace in Kashmir, even as Pakistani-backed Jihadis seek to undermine the peace process. But, New Delhi should never forget that while the outside world may commend our “restraint” and “statesmanship”, both our adversaries and our friends often regard nations that fail to act decisively in the face of continuous provocation as weak and soft . ——— The writer is India’s former High Commissioner to Pakistan. |
| Malkani way of losing friends MR K.R. Malkani’s statement has established beyond doubt the Sangh Parivar’s gift for “Losing Friends and Infuriating People”. He might as well be chosen as the best author of the overdue antithesis of Dale Carnegie’s “Winning Friends and Influencing People”. With commendable restraint, Mr Malkani has stopped short of describing Nepal’s absorption into India as “the expression of the collective wish of the Indian people”. Even a novice in statecraft and diplomacy would have been able to see that the anti-India anger on the streets of Nepal did not start with a rumoured statement attributed to Hrithik any more than the assassination of the Serbian Prince started off World War 1. If these events can be described as causes, at best they can be treated as “proximate” causes. Indo-Nepal relations represent a delicate and complex set of factors and the anti-India sentiment, where it is not beyond the powers of the government and the people of India, must be overcome by showing sensitivity and understanding of a psychology that has evolved over the years since Independence. First and foremost, the big power syndrome compounded by the fact that an imperial power was our predecessor must not be lost sight of. As national consciousness grows, it becomes a powerful weapon in internal politics, in contests between political parties among themselves as also the monarchy and forces representing democracy in Nepal. It was this nationalism which was used by King Mahendra successfully for reestablishing his substantive rule. Nehru showed great statesmanship in not trying to impose this deeply democratic and anti-monarchic convictions on Nepalese polity. He was conscious of the fact that a democratic movement can come only from among the people and not from foreign inspiration. There are other equally important factors to be kept in view. As much as India, Nepal has a poverty problem that is getting aggravated by population growth, environmental degradation and in the midst of a stagnant economy the problem of increased educated unemployment. No wonder the anti-Hrithik demonstrations were led by leftist student unions. Apart, therefore, from a deep seated psychology of their political sovereignty being under threat, the economic malaise could be placed at the door of India by interested elements. If the ISI of Pakistan exploits such sentiments, the right course is first not to give cause for such fears and then combat with the cooperation of the Nepal Government any campaign of disinformation. Unfortunately, ever since Rajiv Gandhi’s time when an economic blockade of Nepal was imposed by the Government of India, Indian attitude towards trade, aid and related economic matters has been construed in Nepal in a way that has not helped the narrowing of the psychological chasm. The other day in a panel discussion I watched over the Pakistan Television, a very senior retired diplomat quoted without naming a Nepalese Minister that India was insisting on binding Nepal in the late nineties to the same price for a unit of power from a project that was under negotiation in 1982. He added for good measure that with this sort of exploitation of Nepal’s weak bargaining position, it will never earn more resources and be perpetually at the mercy of India. He was of course speaking from a conscious anti-India stance and may, for all we know, be part of this disinformation, but the essential point is that irresponsible utterance like those of Mr Malkani only reinforce such disinformation and intensify alienation. He also mentioned interference by India in the development of Nepal-Bangladesh trade, in Nepal’s sovereign relations with China, the obstacles to the development of Nepal’s vast tourist potential, the “takeover” of the Kathmandu Airport by the Indian Security in the aftermath of the hijack of Indian Airlines plane to mention only a few. He then illustrated India’s “hegemonistic” and almost imperial attitude in relation to Bhutan and Maldives where a coup was “stage managed to justify the stationing of Indian troops” there. That such an attitude can be shown by one Hindu country to another Hindu country only shows the jingoistic expansionism of the protagonists of Hindutva, as he put it. Much as we may dislike such a projection of India, we might sit up for a quick internal review of Indo-Nepal relations so that we do not play into the hands of those who want to fish in troubled waters. Great care is necessary even in the smallest of matters. We should not forget that when the Jain Commission of inquiry into Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination attached to its report as annexure an unverified source report of RAW that the Queen of Nepal was plotting assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, we were causing a gash into the psyche of Nepal that would get stored into its memory, our apologies not withstanding. So therefore in a superior manner when we tell Pakistan that Bangladesh can secede from Pakistan in spite of Islam, we should not forget that the emotional bonds between two Hindu countries can also be strained beyond repair. If not for anything worthwhile, at least to fill his ample leisure, Malkani might recall Hitler’s anchluss of Austria on the principle of pan-Germanism. It did not take longer than three months for the delirious welcome that Hitler got to yield place to a sullen silence of despair and suppressed hatred of the Nazis. Something more than a mere “distancing” of the Government of India from Malkani’s statement is called for. Jaswant Singh is too mature a Foreign Minister to overlook the need for urgent and substantive steps for a durable repair of the damage done by his party cousin and therein lies some hope. ——— The writer is a former Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab. |
| Towards a thaw in Sri Lanka? COLOMBO: Leopards don’t change their spots. Guerrillas never willingly lay down their arms. And governments rarely cede control over “sovereign” territory. Going by conventional wisdom, moves in Sri Lanka to bring about a negotiated settlement of the ethnic conflict must be viewed with the utmost scepticism, if not foreboding. Going by past experience, the LTTE may be playing a wicked diplomatic game by making a unilateral ceasefire offer — only because it is under severe military pressure, having lost over 2,000 cadres in a year. Similarly, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government is promising talks only because it wants to ward off international opprobrium; it is not serious, or else it would have reciprocated the Tigers’ latest ceasefire offer. Many plausible arguments can be constructed to cast doubts upon the significance of Sri Lankan developments since the well-publicised November 1 meeting between Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim and LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran in the Vanni jungles. Similarly, 1987 and 1994-95 can be cited to contend that no basic change has come about either in Eelam or Sinhala-chauvinist mindsets, or in ground realities. If a militarily powerful and diplomatically insuperable India could not bend the LTTE to reason in 1987, how can tiny, distant Norway succeed today? And yet, a plausible scenario, although not an open-and-shut case, can be constructed for an optimistic view, one that is based not on ignorant or naive hope, but on some hard realities coupled with hope. This column, written after discussions in Colombo with government supporters, non-LTTE Tamils, scholars, peace activists and diplomats, outlines just such a scenario. It aims not to present cut-and-dried solutions to one of the world’s least tractable and most violent crises, but to stimulate thinking on alternatives. This is the first time since 1987 that Colombo and the LTTE have come so close to third-party mediation, technically still called “facilitation”. Earlier efforts, most importantly the Liam Fox initiative, compare poorly with the present case. The Norwegians have received serious assurances from both sides on holding talks. They have even laid down the parameters: a solution must be found within a one-state Sri Lanka; and that there must be generous autonomy for the Tamil North and East. There is also clarity that the mediatory effort will not extend to the contentious issue of a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities. Both Colombo and the LTTE have explicitly or implicitly accepted these parameters, although they differ on short-term issues. Ms Kumaratunga has gone farther than any other Sri Lankan high functionary in promising radical devolution to the Tamils. By saying recently that “the real cause of the ethnic crisis” is that the “minority communities have not had a fair or reasonable opportunity to share in the.... power structure”, she has acknowledged the need for power-sharing. The Solheim visit is the first occasion when Prabhakaran was photographed in public on his own home terrain with a foreign dignitary. This was not a mere public relations exercise. In his important Heroes’ Day speech of November 27, he called for “unconditional talks” which could lead to “a negotiated settlement that would be fair, just, and equitable and ... satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people.” He also insisted on the “creation of a cordial atmosphere and conditions or normalcy conducive for peace negotiations” through “de-escalation of war.” But he said the “de-escalation” is not a “precondition” for talks. Crucially, unlike in the past, the LTTE no longer demands its three well-known preconditions: ceasefire, ending of the economic embargo and removal of the army from the Northeast. It has repeatedly clarified that it does’nt demand the army’s withdrawal. Its December 21 ceasefire declaration came despite the government’s reluctance to make “further gestures of goodwill” until subsequent “negotiations proceed to the mutual satisfaction of both sides”. The government has every reason to be wary of the LTTE’s “goodwill gestures”. But it is making a trifle too much of the fact that the LTTE did not communicate the ceasefire offer to it through the Norwegians. As of now, both sides are jockeying for bargaining power. Neither has undergone a change of heart — not least the LTTE which remains one of the most, if not the most, brutal, militaristic and fascistic forces anywhere. Nevertheless, one must acknowledge a real change in their posture. They are both under enormous external pressure which is driving them, however tentatively and cautiously, towards the negotiating table. Even if there are only “talks about talks”, the process can build confidence. The pressure on the government comes from western donor agencies and international banks. Colombo desperately needs aid, not least to prosecute the war. On December 18-19, the Sri Lanka Development Forum read the Riot Act to Ms Kumaratunga. They rebuked her for her failure to meet standards of “good governance”. European Union criticised “shortcomings in government”, and asked for peace talks, and an improved “human rights record”. On the LTTE the greatest pressure comes, ironically, from its own military victories in early 2000 — most dramatically, at Elephant Pass. The Tigers found that world sympathy for a Tamil homeland vanishing just as they were knocking on the gates of Jaffna. The international community rallied behind President Kumaratunga. It is hard to say if Prabhakaran has concluded that Eelam cannot be pushed as an internationally endorsable goal. But he knows he has to show moderation. Another source of pressure on him is the British government’s threat to ban the LTTE whose international headquarters is in London. This has seriously rattled the Tigers. But the LTTE must be tested on the ground in a peace process that includes all currents of Tamil opinion. The present moment offers a unique chance. Will Chandrika seize it? That leaves us with one question: is there any role for India in this? The answer must be “no”. New Delhi is not acceptable as an honest broker or even facilitator, given its past involvement. Nor should it promote anything remotely resembling a two-state solution. New Delhi’s past partisan politicking with different Eelam groups, including the LTTE and the EPRLF, has tainted its image. However, for non-governmental organisations and scholars, Sri Lanka poses a challenge in generating ideas to resolve the ethnic conflict within a radical federal framework. An imaginative formula could have applications — and lessons — for us in Kashmir and the North-East too. | |
| A man’s bathroom, if he is fortunate enough to have one to himself, should be his castle. Here, in comparative peace, he can do much more than merely shave, shower and don his undergarments. He can, for instance, turn over in his mind the priorities he should attach to the unpaid bills gathering dust in a drawer in his desk. Some can continue to lie undisturbed while others, with a couple of polite reminders pinned to them, have to be paid before a third, not-so-polite one arrives in the post followed, perhaps, by a phone call. He can, sitting on the you-know-what, read the morning paper without someone having grabbed and crumpled it first. During my working years I was denied this luxury as anyone would living in a flat or bungalow with a wife and four children. The only time I had a bathroom for my exclusive use was in Ahmedabad where we spent four years in the early 50s. This came about because my company had rented a building in Shahibag which was constructed during the war to serve as residential quarters for the American Air Force officers attached to the air-strip outside the city. I had my office and flat downstairs while my two assistants lived on the first floor. There were 18 bedrooms in the building, each with its own bathroom. So I could pick and choose and change as I wished. Meeting people at parties I was often tempted to say: ‘‘Do drop in and have a bath sometime’’. Of course, I never did as they might have taken offence at the suggestion. I was lucky again in my retirement. The house in Old Delhi that I inherited from my father had three bathrooms bigger than many a bedroom I see today in modern flats. With only my wife and I at home, I requisitioned one of the three for my sole use. I provided it with a table fan and a bookshelf where I kept my latest paperbacks. The advantage of doing so was that as guests visiting us did not use my bathroom, they were unable to borrow books which borrowers seldom return. On a small table I kept a transistor radio, an ashtray, a pipe and a jar or tobacco. Nothing like making oneself really comfortable and self-sufficient while one is about it. The walls of my ‘‘den’’ I had decorated with an airlines calendar depicting scenes from places I am unlikely to visit, and a few prints of famous old paintings. I drew the line at surrealist art as looking at it causes a giddiness in my head which is dangerous while shaving. Alas, all good things come to an end. About 12 years ago I found that the upkeep of a large house, built in the good old days with half-a-dozen servants’ quarters and a vast compound was no longer within my means. So, I had to sell the property and buy a modest flat in South Delhi which has three bedrooms but only two bathrooms one of which I share with my wife, keeping the other for guests. What I miss most is a quiet smoke which, under medical advice, I am not allowed to do. |
| “Undeclared war” on world’s children THE last decade of this century has seen an “undeclared war” on a large chunk of the world’s children, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its “State of the World’s Children report. Poverty, conflict, chronic social instability and preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS have been responsible for sabotaging the development of children, the report contends. “Each of these obstacles is compounded for women and girls by the discrimination against them that infiltrates all sectors of society in every country,” the report maintains. “And where women’s right are at risk, children’s rights are too”. According to UNICEF, much of the blame for the sorry state of affairs of more than 600 million children lies with “failed leadership — a lack of vision, an absence of courage, a passive neglect”. Recounting the price of failure, the report says that every day that nations fail to meet their moral and legal obligations to realise the rights of children, 30,500 boys and girls under five die of mainly preventable causes, and even more children and young people succumb to illnesses, neglect, accidents and assaults that did not have to happen. (TWN) Year of climate change This year was marked by weather extremes — floods, drought, storms — and a global effort to understand what role humans are playing in causing climate change. But these warnings still did not manage to rally the world around the environment. These days people predicting global Armageddon don’t just stand on street corners carrying sandwich boards. They write in respected scientific journals like Nature. The ranks of today’s doomsayers include researchers such as the meteorologists from Britain’s Hadley Centre, who revealed in November that within 50 years our forests and soils that absorb the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide could start releasing it — dramatically accelerating global warming. After 2050, if carbon dioxide emissions still continue to spiral upwards, the Amazon rainforests will turn to desert and savannah and the planet’s average temperature will soar by another six degrees celsius. Such rapid temperature rises would take the earth into uncharted waters, making it warmer than at any time since the end of the dinosaurs millions of year ago. The North Polar ice sheet would be reduced to a couple of large floes and parts of the Antarctic could collapse, pushing up sea levels and inundating major cities like London and Bangkok. In 2000, such dire climate change predictions became commonplace, fuelled by drought, floods, storms, heat waves and other violent weather patterns that battered the world. (Gemini) Friendly bacteria Most people think of bacteria as tiny disease-causing organisms that burrow in sponges and lurk in food. But at least one bacterium appears to boost the function of immune system cells, study findings suggest. According to a report in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, found in some dairy products, boosted the activity of two types of immune system cells in healthy adults. “These results open up the possibility that B. lactis may be incorporated into a dairy-based food product with defined immunity-promoting properties, which can offer significant benefits to human health,’’ write B.L. Chiang, from National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues. Bacteria that benefit health are known as probiotics. These bacteria live in the human intestine and can also be found in fermented foods such as yogurt and cheese. Certain strains of lactic acid bacteria in fermented dairy products may aid digestion, reduce cholesterol, prevent intestinal infections and boost the immune system, the authors note. (Reuters) |
| Spiritual Nuggets Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on with all the wisdom that experienced can instill in us. — Hal Borland, ***** God is just behind us when we cry for help, We feel our payers might not reach Him. In our panic we seek the assurance of safety. In a moment the clouds of gloomy fears are swept away. My soul, bathed in celestial joy, The heavens laid bare their blue abyss. The choicest gifts are showered upon me from all directions, And I am lost in complete bliss. — Atharva Veda, 19.52.3 ***** O Saints, we achieve emancipation through the Lord and our ego leaves us. — Guru Arjan Dev, ***** In the realisation of spiritual bliss, The human soul is released from the bondage Of physical sphere and rises above celestial realm. — Rig Veda, 10.119.7 ***** One should eat not in order to please the palate but just to keep the body going. When each organ of sense subserves the body and through the body, the soul, its special relish disappears, and then alone does it begin to function in the way nature intended it to do. There is a great deal of Truth in the saying that man becomes what he eats. The grosser the food the grosser the body. — Mahatma Gandhi, ***** A man will remain healthy for ever if he takes salutary diet, possesses a good conduct, acts wisely has no addiction to sense-objects, is open-hearted truthful, impartial and merciful, and keeps company with noble and gentle people. — Charaka, |
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