E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

With a bamboo sword
INDIA is trying to form an economic non-aligned movement by mobilising the developing countries against the harsh WTO conditions on agriculture. This is evident from the “initial” response to the mandated consultations on the Uruguay Round-related farm proposals. 

Keeping Ayodhya alive
THE Sangh Parivar spin doctors deserve praise for the deftness with which they have revived the Ayodhya issue without bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party in the picture. Only a keen political observer would be able to see the BJP, as a faint blur, in the background.

Sane advice
THE recent visit of the Premier of British Columbia, Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, gave ever Punjabi reason to feel good and proud. It was the homecoming of a "Punjab da puttar" who had made it big in the land across the seven seas. 

OPINION

PROBLEM OF GROWING NUMBERS
Strategy to confront the crisis
by J.L. Gupta
WHERE does this nation of a billion stand at the end of the year 2000 of the Christian era? What is our position in the comity of nations? What is the worst crisis that confronts the country today? What do we need to do?

Water is not for wasting
by Rohin Dharmakumar
PROVIDING water for human use is not an easy job because water is unevenly spread. Topographical, hydrological and other constraints make it difficult for any authority to take it to the places where it is scarce. When it comes to the management of water, even nature is not kind enough. Around three fourths of the year’s rainfall comes during three months of the monsoon.

ANALYSES

In a caste of its own
by Abu Abraham
MR K.S. Sudarshan, the RSS chief, has been complaining recently that Christian communities, with the exception, perhaps, of the Syrian Christians of Kerala, are not sufficiently indigenous. What research he has done to come to this vague conclusion, I do not know.

AIDS patients being denied basic rights
by V. Radhika
ALL he asked for was a modicum of dignity in death. But soon Anjaiah realised, like thousands of others before him, that dignity was a luxury patients like him could not hope for. Anjaiah, his wife and six children were thrown out of their village in Cudappah district of Andhra Pradesh when he was diagnosed as being HIV positive and government hospitals refused to admit him.

TRENDS AND POINTERS

Confronting reality in Kalahandi
KALAHANDI district in western Orissa has repeatedly been in the news during the last two or three decades as extreme forms of poverty and deprivation have been reported from here, including starvation deaths and sale of children. This led to a lot of administrative activity on the part of the government, including creation of a new Nuapada district to increase the administration’s accessibility to people.

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With a bamboo sword

INDIA is trying to form an economic non-aligned movement by mobilising the developing countries against the harsh WTO conditions on agriculture. This is evident from the “initial” response to the mandated consultations on the Uruguay Round-related farm proposals. India wants to insert a “food security box” in the agreement which will also extend to every developing country’s concerns for the livelihood of its kisan. The original idea came from Dr M.S. Swaminathan only a few days back and the government promptly incorporated it in its policy statement. This is the key to the developing stand on global negotiations. India, and hopefully several poor countries, will press for exemptions from several clauses they have agreed to earlier in their eagerness to join the WTO. The most important is the right to protect farmers by skirting the agreed terms of the WTO draft. For instance, the Indian suggestion says that imports of agricultural products should be liable to a tariff much higher than the bound (agreed) duty if they threaten to throw farmers out of business. On the face of it, this sounds both reasonable and politically imperative. But it packs several curbs on the developed world and the farm policy it follows. One, there is a huge overt and covert subsidy on production and an extra handout on exports. So, no developing country can compete with what is derisively dubbed “rich grains” (exports of foodgrains from the developed USA, European Union and Australia) in terms of price. This jumps out of the statement of an Australian Minister who boasted that wheat exports from his country to India would still be profitable if this country hikes the customs duty from the present 60 per cent to 75 per cent. Farmers in these countries enjoy several built-in advantages. The cropped area is vast, sometimes thousands of acres, the process is wholly mechanised and the fuel cost is low, operations and harvesting is very scientific, the post-harvest process is both modern and waste-reducing, loans are cheap and the government is extraordinarily generous in offering concessions. No doubt the grains are cheaper!

In view of this, India demands a reversal of this policy of excessive subsidy cunningly concealed under the rubric of “aggregate measure of support” which the WTO has slavishly endorsed. India, and in the days to come other threatened countries, will demand a review of this. They want a sharp scaling down of open and hidden subsidies and also a big reduction in the high import tariff these rich countries impose on farm items from developing countries. In other words, the idea is to seek dismantling of incentives to their own kisans and also the disincentives to the kisans of the poor countries. Another bold proposal is to allow poor countries to reimpose quantitative restrictions on imports of all items if they threaten the livelihood of villagers. This is a major formulation and is intended to protect all growers. One study shows that coarse grains grown in the comparatively less fertile Midwest in the USA costs one fifth the price in India. Importing them will enable the poor kisan to eat better. But the problem is he will have no purchasing power since he will be jobless since he is the producer and consumer of coarse grains like juar. In India 70 per cent of the population lives in villages and depends on agriculture for a living. Globalisation and liberalisation may not solve their problems but they should not add to the already intolerable burden of theirs. India’s initial response is hesitant and needs a stiff backbone.

Keeping Ayodhya alive

THE Sangh Parivar spin doctors deserve praise for the deftness with which they have revived the Ayodhya issue without bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party in the picture. Only a keen political observer would be able to see the BJP, as a faint blur, in the background. The current controversy about a negotiated settlement of the dispute through dialogue between Mr Vinod Katiyar, BJP MP from Faizabad, and Mr Mohammad Hashim, the original litigant in the Babri Masjid case, is part of the strategy to keep the issue in the news, at least until the crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Every move that has been made since Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s famous statement linking the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya with the sentiments of the nation has been well thought out to the last detail. Mr Vajpayee is the most respected face in the Sangh Parivar and the National Democratic Alliance. His services were requisitioned for only flagging off the Ayodhya issue. Thereafter minor players have taken over the refrain, and have even “criticised” Mr Vajpayee for modifying the original statement. The Kumbh Mela has come in handy for reviving the issue. The entire Opposition, led by an inept Congress, fell into the trap, as was evidently anticipated by the Sangh Parivar spin doctors. The more the Opposition leaders screamed against the Prime Minister, the more they helped keep the Ram temple issue in the news. Mr Somnath Chatterjee, the veteran Left leader, was quoted as having said that no one was against the construction of the Ram temple! The objection was to the Prime Minister equating it with the sentiments of the nation. Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi was more clumsy in attacking Mr Vajpayee because she too did not want to be seen against the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The BJP MPs had a ball of a time reminding everyone who needed to be reminded about Rajiv Gandhi starting his election campaign in 1989 from Ayodhya by promising Ram rajya in the country.

The Prime Minister has since then put back the mask of moderate leader through his musings from Kumarakom. But the controversy refuses to die down. Why? Because the same brain trust which had masterminded the original campaign in the late 80s, forcing every secular leader to take a stand against the BJP without questioning the Ram Janamabhoomi project, seems to have prepared the script for the current round. Experts are convinced that even the demolition of the Babri Masjid was not the result of the frenzy of kar sevaks gone out of control. It was a professionally executed job, because frenzy usually results in stampede and stampede results in deaths. Not one frenzied kar sevak even reported a minor bruise while demolishing the structure in Ayodhya. Be that as it may, a question which needs to be answered is why the reported personal initiative of Mr Katiyar and Mr Hashim was given the trappings of a “Hindu-Muslim” dialogue for resolving the controversy. Yes, the issue may finally be settled through direct talks between the leaders of the two communities. However, there is a serious flaw in this approach. Unlike the Catholic Church which accepts the authority of the Pope, neither the Hindus nor the Muslims accept a single priest as their unquestioned representative. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Babri Masjid Action Committee are not democratically created forums for resolving the Ayodhya controversy. Mr Katiyar and Mr Hashim are two individuals who represent only themselves. Likewise even the VHP and BMAC cannot legitimately claim to represent the Hindus and the Muslims of India. If they want to have a role in the settlement of the Ayodhya dispute, they should first show proof of having received the mandate of the Hindus and Muslims of India to speak on their behalf. As of today, it is presumptuous on the part of Mr Ashok Singhal and Mr Salahuddin Owaisi to claim to represent Hindu and Muslim sentiments. Only after the two organisations are recast on democratic principles will their collective decision on the status of the disputed site in Ayodhya represent the national sentiment.

Sane advice

THE recent visit of the Premier of British Columbia, Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, gave ever Punjabi reason to feel good and proud. It was the homecoming of a "Punjab da puttar" who had made it big in the land across the seven seas. His success story was understandably seen as a victory of the legendary Punjabi grit and determination. Such rags-to-riches stories inspire thousands of people to excel themselves. Even more praiseworthy was the humility and warmth displayed by the Premier, which was in sharp contrast with the stuffiness of some Indian leaders. In fact, he went to the extent of saying that "you people pamper your leaders a lot". Truer words were never spoken. Certain leaders suffer from the head-in-the-air disease which is made worse by the adulation of unsuspecting followers. That is how the term "public servant" has been made to stand on its head. However, if one were to choose the most significant contribution that Mr Dosanjh made to Punjab, it came in the shape of an advice he gave to fellow Punjabis. He told them in no uncertain terms that if they did not want Punjabis to be discriminated against in the West, they should start treating migrant labour from other states at par with themselves in Punjab. There is a dichotomy in what treatment we expect from foreigners and what we give to our own brethren from other states. The son-of-the-soil theory is propagated so strongly that some of the Punjabis have even demanded abolition of voting rights for migrant labourers. Mr Dosanjh hit the nail on the head when he said that such a demand was against the very principles of the Indians' struggle in the West to demand a society based on equality.

What should be borne in mind is that the main grouse of those who go abroad, especially to the West, is that they are treated as second-class citizens. Mind you, this is not done as a state policy, but through minor gestures of some parochial people. If voting rights had been denied to Indians living abroad, as some have advocated for those who come to Punjab from other states, men like Mr Dosanjh would have never risen to the top. When we remain ever eager to enjoy the fruits of globalisation, we should also be ready to treat “outsiders” as fellow villagers. It is all the more necessary to welcome those who are not foreigners but only from another part of the own country. To be fair, the hate campaign against people from other states is not run by everyone. There is only a lunatic fringe that wants to blame the "outsiders" for the woes of Punjab. Plainspeaking by men like the visiting Premier will, hopefully, make them see reason and revise their worldview accordingly. 

PROBLEM OF GROWING NUMBERS
Strategy to confront the crisis
by J.L. Gupta

WHERE does this nation of a billion stand at the end of the year 2000 of the Christian era? What is our position in the comity of nations? What is the worst crisis that confronts the country today? What do we need to do?

Black money? Corruption? Inefficiency? Red-tapism? Yes! All these evils exist. But there is more. The worst of all. It is the crisis of numbers. Of human beings. The number of men, women and children. The number of Indian people. The crowds everywhere. At the airports. On roads. At the bus stops. The railway stations. In the streets. In schools. Hospitals. And even in courts. Of the people who need shelter. The mouths that need to be fed. The number of bodies that need to be covered. The sick and suffering who need help and hospital beds. We are one too many in every place. With no sign of respite in the foreseeable future.

Ironically, the billion pairs of hands that could be a national resource are the most serious threat to the progress of this nation today. A potential asset poses a precarious problem.

And all this despite the programmes that the successive governments have periodically launched. At regular intervals. With all the fanfare. At considerable cost. With incentives. For the motivator. For the doctor. Also the individual. In the name of family planning. For the family welfare. Millions have been spent. On popularising the invasive and non-invasive methods. The surgeries. The other means to prevent procreation and proliferation of masses. To check the unchecked growth in numbers. We hear of a large number of tubectomies as well as vasectomies having been performed. Yet the results are there for everyone to see.

Undoubtedly, we have failed. From about 300 million at the time of Independence we have more than tripled. We have already crossed the “billion” mark barrier. In about 50 years since Independence. With no really good reason for optimism in sight. In fact, the picture is dismal.

And this growth continues to eclipse our efforts to move forward. Pulls us back on our journey on the road to progress. The numerical growth of numbers neutralises the nation’s efforts to get rid of want and hunger. Inevitably, poverty continues to stalk this land.

What to do? Are we condemned to suffer the scourge of poverty for all times to come? Or can we do something?

Nothing is impossible. No one can stop a determined people. They can make anything look possible. There is no need to give up the fight. Or to raise the hands in despair. We can still salvage the situation. How? Who should bell the cat? Where to begin? What are the difficulties?

First of all, we need to realise that we cannot continue to depend on the government for everything. Let us not, as a civil servant says, “suck” the state. The primary functions of a government are to provide security of person and property to every citizen. Against internal and external threats. It has also to provide basic facilities for education and health-care. In any case, no government, efficient or inefficient, good or bad, can solve all the problems. It has its own inherent limitations. The compulsions and constraints. Even priorities. And, really speaking, no government, good or bad, should have any place in the bedrooms of its people. Nor it needs to.

Secondly, it cannot be forgotten that the task of controlling the numbers is not easy. It is a mammoth job. Even attempting to convince the illiterate people of the need to control numbers can be a frustrating experience. And the results cannot be achieved overnight. Nor by any individual. It has to be necessarily a combined effort at the national level. The people have to put their hands, heads and hearts together. And then to persevere patiently.

With these basics in mind, we must begin. Remembering that even a million mile long journey begins with the first step. What is the first step?

We must look within our homes. Especially, the more fortunate ones among us. All those who have the luxury of having domestic help. Educate the person. Tell all the facts. Demonstrate that those who have the means have reached a comfortable economic level and yet restricted the number of children. So that they can be properly educated. Properly brought up. Can make a decent living.

The illiterate have an uncanny sense. They see the logic. They should be told that if we do not restrict the size of the family, five acres of land may have to be shared by five children. It is better to have one child with five acres than five of them with an acre each. And all suffering the pangs of poverty. Thus, convince and persuade the individual to understand that there is no need or room for another child. He has to get himself operated upon.

Also convince the individual of your sincerity. Offer the necessary help. Both fiscal and physical. Monetary and manual. Give some money. Beforehand. Promise proper diet after the operation. Assure him of good results. Then take him to the hospital. Talk to the doctor. In his/her presence. Get the baseless fears out. Have a date on which the needful shall be done. And then have it done. Do not leave till the job is done.

Similarly, in every office. Each officer should prevail upon his co-workers. Some persuasion and some pressure. Depending upon the situation. Every man should talk to another. All should become selfless advocates. Plead, persuade and pursue. Starting from the peon to the highest level. Religiously spend half an hour on the topic. Everyday. Talk to everyone within the eligible age group. And continue till the purpose is achieved.

Also in schools, colleges and universities. The teachers must lead by personal example. And then a period should be devoted to a lecture on family welfare. Everyday. Attendance should be imperative for everyone.

In a nutshell, all of us must wage an unrelenting war against the increase in numbers. Of human beings. It should become a one-point programme. For the people. A national “mantra”. We must chant it in every place. At all times. To every young person. Every man capable of becoming a father and every woman within the childbearing age group should be the target.

And then let us remember that no movement succeeds without the help of the youth. Once the young people are convinced, there would be no looking back. Recent events that have occurred in our neighbourhood should convince us about the ability of our young men. The governments have been brought down. The corrupt rulers are being prosecuted. All because the young took to the streets.

Once the youth takes up the nation’s cause, the problem shall not take long to be solved. It is true that one generation may miss on children and grandchildren. Some may even be deprived of having the pleasure of playing with great grandchildren. But that should not really matter. This would be the contribution of each and everyone of us for the nation’s good. For the country’s progress. For the good of the poor people. To help those who live by the roadside. In the company of stray dogs and wild cats. For those who sleep under the stars. Often on an empty stomach.

Each individual must perform his duty. Contribute his share. So also the willing voluntary organisations. Let it become a project for the nation. For the Rotary Clubs all over the country. The Lions Clubs. For everyone. The whole nation. There may be no immediate results. Let us not look for magic. Surely not. Things would certainly take time before beginning to move. Yet we would have sown the seed. Laid the foundation. Created the necessary awareness. The results should follow. Before long. This is a national imperative. An absolute necessity. We can avoid it only at our own peril. We must act. Fast. Before it is too late. We shall succeed. Certainly.

Water is not for wasting
by Rohin Dharmakumar

PROVIDING water for human use is not an easy job because water is unevenly spread. Topographical, hydrological and other constraints make it difficult for any authority to take it to the places where it is scarce. When it comes to the management of water, even nature is not kind enough. Around three fourths of the year’s rainfall comes during three months of the monsoon. Too much comes and too soon. The rivers then run high, and most of the rainwater is drained to the sea. Then for the major part of the year, the rivers remain dry and do not reach the sea.

The per capita availability of water in the country at the time of Independence was over 5000 cubic metres. This has come down to 44% and what is projected for the year 2025 is just 30 per cent of what was available in 1947. The world scenario is also not very different. The amount of water that should be allotted to each person has declined steadily with time. It has dropped by 58% since 1950 when population remained at 2.5 billion. An additional 33% fall is projected within 50 years if the world’s population reaches 8.9 billion from the present 6 billion. According to the United Nations’ criteria, the availability of water less than 1000 cu mtr per capita is considered a scarcity condition.

India’s utilisable surface water is estimated to be 690 BCM. The annual replenishable water and ground water resources are 452 BCM. We will have a total of 1142 BCM utilisable water for the country. The present utilisation is to the extent of 606 BCM. Our projected water demand for the year 2025 is 1050 BCM for a projected population of 1330.3 million. An assured supply is there to meet our demand till 2025, provided we are in a position to utilise fully our utilisable water resources. So, India is not likely to face scarcity condition at least for another 25 years. That is the reason enough for complacency.

India receives some 3000 billion cu metres of rain annually. Evenly spread, this would be sufficient to submerge the entire land surface to a depth of about 1.28 m. But the rainfall varies. While the Thar Desert gets as little as 20 mm rainfall, Cherapunji receives as much as 11400 mm every year. The irony is that both Cherapunji village and the Thar Desert face drinking water scarcity. Only the intensity differs.

India is endowed with 2.42 per cent of the world’s land area to support more than 16 per cent of the world’s population. Nature is kind to give 4 per cent of the world’s fresh water supply for our need. In spite of this satisfactory availability, there are many areas in the country facing acute water scarcity. Parts of India this year experienced water shortage at a time that has never happened before. A severe shortage of drinking water in Sourashtra in January, 2000, triggered water riots for the first time in India. This portends danger of a magnitude unimaginable and can be ignored only at our peril. Let us not forget that when the question of sharing water comes up the states of India behave like different hostile countries, as if they are not part of India.

Why are we experiencing the water shortage now? We never experienced it before? Put it simply, when water is available, we hardly give it any thought and waste it mindlessly. When the availability is scarce people create riot-like situations. The authorities focus attention on water only when it is not available. Governments fail to act on forewarnings and close their eyes on unacceptable overuse and over-exploitation of underground water. The authorities will always have a dozen reasons for doing nothing or anything to improve water supply. In Punjab, Haryana and some other food producing regions, farmers are pumping out water from aquifers faster than nature can replenish it. Water-tables in these regions are dropping at an alarming rate. “I estimate that global ground-water over-pumping totals at least 160 billion cubic metres a year, an amount equal to the annual flow of two Nile rivers”, says Sandra Postal, Director, Global Water Policy Project, Massachusetts. Competition for water will intensify as this limited resource comes under severe pressure from burgeoning population. When water will become scarcer, tension on procuring it will increase. Greater the scarcity, greater will be the social turmoil. A study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (1988) concluded that in the near future water, not oil, will be the earth’s greatest liquid asset in this millennium. The conventional wisdom also indicates that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water. That sounds a distinct possibility.

The scarcity of water will result in the riparian countries taking recourse to war rather than to law or bilateral diplomatic negotiations. Let us not forget what Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said after signing the historic peace accords with Israel in 1979. “Only water could make Egypt wage a war again”. He was obviously not referring to another conflict with Israel but to the possibility of one with Ethiopia over the Nile’s flow. Egypt is pursuing two large irrigation projects that have put it on a collision course with Ethiopia. Apart from the Nile, the Aral Sea region, the Ganges, the Jordan and the Tigris-Euphrates are water hot spots, and as the population of the nations in each basin increases, tension too will shoot up, eventually resulting in a conflict.

Israel had in 1995 resorted to military action for solving a dispute about its use of water originating in Arab States. Israel wanted to divert water for its own use, and for that purpose carried over the diversion unilaterally. The Arabs, in retaliation, planned to divert their rivers into other Arab States depriving Israel of some of its water. Israel then launched a pre-emptive strike on Syrian construction sites with its military aircraft.

Ways should be found to manage our finite water resources. Steps should also be taken to prevent them from getting polluted.

— The writer is studying at the IIM, Kolkata.

In a caste of its own
by Abu Abraham

MR K.S. Sudarshan, the RSS chief, has been complaining recently that Christian communities, with the exception, perhaps, of the Syrian Christians of Kerala, are not sufficiently indigenous. What research he has done to come to this vague conclusion, I do not know. There are many different denominations, different societies, even in Kerala, from the Roman Catholic fishermen of the coast to the ancient and upper ‘caste’ Christians who claim descent from Brahmins converted by missionaries from West Asia. It cannot be said that the fishermen are less indigenous just because they are Catholics. It all depends on history. There were established churches in Kerala at least from the second century, whether or not there is evidence that St Thomas the Apostle arrived on the coast and preached the gospel in 52 AD, as is traditionally believed.

The Syrian (or St Thomas) Christians were as Hinduised as the Hindus themselves. In fact they were regarded as almost part of the Hindu community. They belonged to the upper caste, indeed slightly more ‘upper’ than the Nayars. They practiced caste diligently, a fact that must have endeared them to Mr Sudershan and his Hindutva followers. Their social status was the same as that of the Brahmins. The kings themselves bowed to Brahmins, but not the Christians.

How and when they began to enjoy the great privilages that they did is obscure. Perhaps their skin colour had something to do with it. They were dark, but “certainly much higher than other peoples of Malabar” according to the book of history that I have been reading. Some amount of racial mixing with the Mediterranean and Arab people must have given them their fairer complexion.

They were not answerable to any governor but to the king and the Chief Minister. They alone could ride elephants, a privilege normally reserved for those with royal blood, and they alone could sit in the presence of the king, a privilege reserved for ambassadors. The Christians jealously defended these privileges and wouldn’t allow even the Nayars to acquire them. If a Christian received a physical injury from a Hindu, he had to expiate the offence by offering gold or silver to the church “failing which he could be put to death”.

Christians had the reputation of being the finest soldiers in the whole of Malabar. It was said that the greater number of Christians a prince had in his army, the more he was feared and respected by his neighbours. The princes loved them for their “prowess, loyalty and truthful nature”. They always went well armed, carrying swords and shields, muskets or lances. The majority carried a naked sword in the right hand and a shield in the left. Like the Nayars, they were initiated in the art of fencing at an early age and the training went on until they were 25.

Their chief occupation, however, was agriculture. The cultivation of pepper brought them large fortunes. A Jesuit priest writes that as traders, too, they did well “though they were not as astute as the banias”. The same Jesuit also praises their facility with languages. He found priests who could conduct services in Syriac and Latin and converse in Portuguese.

In food and clothes and most social customs, the Christians were no different from the rest of Kerala society. Their clothing consisted of a dhoti for men and a mundu, worn up to the chest, for women.

Much has changed in the past few centuries. A degree of westernisation has influenced their lives, on the whole, for the better, though they have preserved the dowry system, but without the dowry deaths.

Mr Sudarshan is patronisingly indulgent to the Syrian Christians of Kerala, saying that they have an indigenous culture. Their culture, in fact, is heavily influenced by America, to where many of them long to emigrate. Those who have are doing extremely well. Their love of money is second to none. Globalisation comes naturally to them. It may be, as Mr Sudarshan will learn some day, that globalisation is the key to national integration, not Manu Dharma.

AIDS patients being denied basic rights
by V. Radhika

ALL he asked for was a modicum of dignity in death. But soon Anjaiah realised, like thousands of others before him, that dignity was a luxury patients like him could not hope for.

Anjaiah, his wife and six children were thrown out of their village in Cudappah district of Andhra Pradesh when he was diagnosed as being HIV positive and government hospitals refused to admit him. The family was forced to take shelter under a tree. Anjaiah died a couple of days later.

On being refused admission in a government hospital for being HIV positive, Damayanti had to deliver her baby in the hospital corridor and cut the umbilical cord herself. This happened not in a remote corner of India but in its capital. When Narsaiyya tested positive for HIV, he was the last to know. The doctor chose to inform his villagers first, even though medical ethics demand that he inform the patient first. The result - social ostracism.

These are not isolated instances. They occur regularly and for every reported case of inhuman treatment meted out to a person infected with HIV, there are several others that go unreported.

Official estimates peg the number of HIV positive people in India at approximately 3.5 million, a tenth of the world prevalence. Being an infection that is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, through blood or from mother to child, the numbers, it is feared, will increase sharply.

Given the prejudice that exists in people’s minds about AIDS, HIV infected people are denied even their basic rights, activists and lawyers working on this issue said at the National Conference on Human Rights, Social Movements, Globalisation and the Law.

According to members of the HIV/AIDS unit of the Lawyers’ Collective, which provides legal and allied service for people affected by HIV/AIDS, the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to equal treatment and protection against discrimination. However, these protect the citizen only against discrimination by the state and not private individuals and organisations.

According to Project Director Anand Dewan, “a survey conducted by the National Council for Applied Economic Research has shown that 60 to 80 per cent respondents availed private healthcare. Given the sheer numbers of HIV positive persons in India, this healthcare system will play an important role and hence there is a need for legislation that prevents discrimination by the private sector as well.”

According to Lawyers’ Collective members, such legislation has already been enacted in the West. Also, in the United States, HIV/AIDS has been included in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which provides that there may be no refusal of treatment or employment to a person on the basis of his/her HIV status. The Persons with Disabilities Act in India does not envisage such protection to Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs).

But as activists and HIV positive persons are chalking out a strategy for trying to get such legislation enacted, they are simultaneously fighting a bigger battle to secure the rights they already have on paper.

Nagaraju, who is HIV infected, told the conference: “When we go to hospitals, the doctors do not touch us. We are asked to stand at an arm’s length and no examination is done whatsoever. In many cases the doctors inform the villagers about the person’s infection first, thereby leading to the person as well as his family’s ostracism.”

“The problem is that society wears moral glasses while viewing us and that seems to justify the snatching away of our basic rights as human beings,” he said.

HIV positive participants said that refusal to treat and perform surgical operations, denial of admission in hospitals, marking HIV positive on the beds occupied, refusal to touch objects used by positive patients, wrapping of dead bodies of positive patients in plastic, imposing additional charges for basic services are some of the common discriminatory practices they faced.

— India Abroad News Service

The situation is much the same when it comes to jobs. Nagaraju, for instance, lost his job immediately after his employer got to know that he had tested positive. Nagaraju, who heard of the disease only after he contracted it, now spends his time educating others about HIV/AIDS.

Anand said drugs known as antiretrovirals (ARVs), that enable the immune system to fight infections and have been successful in helping PLWHAs lead productive and healthy lives, should be made available. But low purchasing power, the high cost of drugs and lack of medical insurance schemes have made this medication totally inaccessible to most PLWHAs in India. Anand said the situation would only worsen from 2005, when India will come under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime and drugs will become very expensive.

Ashok Pallay, a member of the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS, said one of the reasons for societal discrimination against AIDS is due to fear, which, in turn, is the result of the messages the government has put out on the disease in its publicity campaigns. “These messages, which are supposedly put out to create awareness, have only given rise to fear. For instance, most advertisements focus on having a single partner, but the main thrust should be on safe sex. Most importantly, the government should focus on testing facilities. Many people do not even know they are infected and may be passing it on to their partners,” he said.

Pallay also felt the Supreme Court judgment suspending the rights of HIV/AIDS patients to marry would not be effective in 95 per cent of HIV cases because those infected would not even know they are carrying the virus. “I want to get married to another HIV positive person but I cannot because I know I am carrying the virus and the judgment prevents me from getting married,” he lamented. 

Confronting reality in Kalahandi

KALAHANDI district in western Orissa has repeatedly been in the news during the last two or three decades as extreme forms of poverty and deprivation have been reported from here, including starvation deaths and sale of children. This led to a lot of administrative activity on the part of the government, including creation of a new Nuapada district to increase the administration’s accessibility to people. However, distorted priorities and vested interests are major obstacles.

Another myth is that hunger and deprivation have always been part of Kalahandi, related to the alleged general inertia and lethargy of the people to which the climate also contributes a part. But a careful look at the agricultural history of this region would indicate a different picture. The farmers of this region over the centuries have evolved a very rich diversity of crops and their varieties which are very suitable to the climate and topography of this region. Particularly in the case of rice, this area as well as its extension in neighbouring Chattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh has been an area of very rich diversity of rice varieties. In addition this region also created a unique system of traditional irrigation and water harvesting which was very suitable to the topography of the area. All this could be achieved only with a lot of hard work, initiative, skills and wisdom. (Grassroots)

Meal orders online

A Singapore school has made the mundane task of ordering lunch more exciting by wiring up the canteen for cashless payments, individual calorie counts and online ordering.

“Our interest in this is...to get students to know what are the kinds of food they’re eating as well as the technology involved,” Puvan Ariaratnam, principal of Canberra Secondary School, says.

All 550 students and staff at the year-old school were issued electronic debit cards to pay for their meals — and to track their attendance at school.

Ordering lunch is a matter of walking up to one of six touch screen terminals, flashing the debit card and selecting items from a picture menu.

Students then head to the cafeteria to find their orders waiting at one of the six stalls serving different dishes.

Obese kids, a ballooning problem in the prosperous city state, will see a skinnier menu with fatty foods such as chocolates conspicuously absent.

The system takes orders up to one year in advance and tallies up calorie intake over a period of time.

Parents will be able to control what younger tots eat by ordering meals via a website and paying online starting in March. — (Reuters). 

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

The moving Finger writes; and having writ,

Moves on: nor all your piety and wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.

For let philosopher and doctor preach

of what they will, and what they will not --

Each is but one link in an eternal chain

That none can slip, nor break nor over-reach.

— Edward Fitzgerald (translator), Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, LXXV, LXXVI.

***

What shall not be, will never be

What shall be, follows painlessly,

The thing your fingers grasps will flit

If fate has predetermined it.

***

Although at meal-time, fate provide

A richly loaded plate

No food will reach the mouth, unless The hand cooperate.

***

Whatever deed you have in mind

(especially when fate is kind),

Do quickly, if you wait a bit,

Then time will suck the juice of it.

— The Panchtantra, Book II & III

***

Whatever limits us, we call fate.

— Ralph W. Emerson, "Fate", The Conduct of LIfe

Fate has no reprieve.

— Euripides, Hecuba

Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.

— Seneca, Letters to Lucilius

Fate has terrible power.

— Sophocles, Antigone