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| Tuesday,
March 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Kisans in protest Curfew in
Kanpur Annan's quiet diplomacy |
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Tehelka in the defence set-up Reservations on reservation
Pleasures of a shared
heaven
P. Raman
Oscars move to new Hollywood
venue
Origin of man theory challenged
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Kisans in protest INDIA lives in its villages but Punjab villagers, at least 5000 of them, are “living” in Chandigarh for the past six days. It is not a courtesy call or a pleasure trip but a determined show of protest. They are angry that the governments in the state and at the Centre have not done much to insulate them from the expected hardships in the post-WTO era. Now that India has agreed to throw open its import doors, the developed West can dump agricultural, poultry and dairy products at a fiercely competitive price. This is so despite a higher import duty because the subsidy element in the home country neutralises the effect of higher customs duty. The WTO frowns on piercing the ceiling of what is called the aggregate measure of support (AMS) but the developed world has cunningly inserted a safety hatch: money spent on environmental protection will not come under the AMS. This is the so-called green box. What the USA and Europe do is to shovel extra expenses, which are actually subsidies, into the green box and keep the prices of grains and milk products at a very low level. The threat now is the huge price differential between local products and the imported ones. And the WTO regime will come into full force on April 1 and the noises against dumping of Chinese toys, dry cells, textiles, tyres, and bicycles will sound like meek murmurs when the rural area roars its protest against imported grains, milk (converted from milk powder) and chicken pieces, which will rob millions of their jobs. If the explosive mood of the kisan is understandable, the hands-off attitude of the Punjab government and political leaders is inexplicable. Cold realpolitick has taken over. The state unit of the Congress, particularly president Amarinder Singh, has emerged as a strong proponent of the WTO regimen and sees an easy route to prosperity through increased exports of wheat and other farm products. His own party men have protested and at least one of them earned suspension of his membership for going public in distancing himself and the party from a passionate pro-WTO posture. The ruling Akali Dal is chuckling and is wanting to clear the way for kisans to pit themselves against the Congress. So it has opted for a low profile. But there is a distinct chance that this could be interpreted as the SAD’s insensitivity to the problems of the farming community. Entrapment carries a price. |
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Curfew in Kanpur A common trait among politicians of all hues is to blame others for a crisis which their own inept handling of a problem creates. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh is no different. The incidents of violence in Kanpur, according to him, are part "of an international and political conspiracy. Once peace returns, I will reveal everything". The "international" angle of the "conspiracy" to turn Kanpur into a cauldron of high voltage communal tension will most certainly lead Mr Rajnath Singh to Saudi Arabia. It is an old script which successive Chief Ministers since the days of Mr V. P. Singh have followed to explain communal violence. Saudi Arabia is accused of using the madarsas for providing training to Muslim fundamentalists. They come via Nepal armed with instructions from the seemingly omnipresent ISI to cause communal mayhem in India. All this is old hat. What Mr Rajnath Singh ought to explain is the inability of the administration in keeping out the malcontent from Indian soil. The Students Islamic Movement of India is seen as a poor copy of the Taliban, yet no credible proof of their anti-national character has ever been offered. According to reports, the current round of violence in Kanpur has its roots in a rumour about pages of the Quran having been burnt in Delhi. Members of SIMI in Kanpur decided to show their displeasure and after the Friday prayers took out street demonstrations in the communally sensitive areas of the city. The vociferous act of protest took the form of provoked acts of violence only after the police tried to stop them from burning the effigies of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. Why? Heavens would not have fallen had the SIMI activists been allowed to let off steam by burning the effigies. However, thereafter the situation got out of hand. In spite of the curfew in the sensitive areas of Kanpur, the police was unable to restore peace. A senior police officer was shown on television stating that intelligence agencies had put the likely size of the crowd at 150. He seemed to be blaming SIMI for mobilising more people than mentioned in the intelligence report! Obviously, the police was caught napping. Had the administration shown alacrity for nipping the mischief in the bud, the Chief Minister would not have had to invent a conspiracy theory for the violence, which had until Sunday claimed nearly 20 lives. |
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Annan's quiet diplomacy HAD
the visit of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan come at any other time, it would have generated lead stories all over the country. But since it took place when the Tehelka cacophony was at its peak, he could barely get in a few paragraphs sideways. That only shows the shock value of "armygate". As far as the importance of his engagements here and in Pakistan was concerned, it was unalloyed banner headline stuff indeed. The outcome of his visit too has been tremendous, particularly from the Indian point of view. He set the tone in Pakistan itself when he shut out the UN option on the Kashmir issue. This is one card which Islamabad had been playing for long and Mr Annan's categorical statement in this regard must have come as music to India's ears. The Secretary-General made it clear that though the UN resolutions on Kashmir were significant, these were not self-enforcing. India and Pakistan have to find a solution to the Kashmir problem themselves. He is also believed to have impressed upon the Pakistani leadership the need for not only coming to the negotiating table quickly, but also doing so with a reasonable and constructive frame of mind. He advised the two countries to utilise the Lahore declaration for resolving the disputes. That has been the line taken by Delhi all along. He stuck to the same hands-off approach during his stay here as well. As if to reassert the fact that he was not here to play a mediatory role, he even declined to meet Hurriyat Conference representative Abdul Gani Lone. This gesture sent out another message: that he was keen to avoid any sort of controversy. The dispute between the two neighbours comprised only one part of the UN chief's agenda. He also put his weight behind India's quest for permanent membership of the Security Council by describing it as a "potential member". This one endorsement will be worth many that India obtains from many visiting Heads of State or Government. India on its part expressed its readiness to earmark one brigade as a standby force for UN peacekeeping operations. There was concurrence on more issues. Mr Annan hit out against industrialised nations for aggressively advocating globalisation without opening their markets to developing countries. His capacity to speak out his mind candidly without fear or favour has made him one of the most outstanding Secretaries-General that the UN has had. The frequent flier has been to nearly all trouble spots and has played a key role in dousing the bushfires. That is what quiet diplomacy is all about. |
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Tehelka in the defence set-up THE revelations by the tehelka team came upon the nation like a thunderbolt and caught everyone by surprise. More than surprise, shock and incredible disbelief. Now that the Ides of March have brought about the resignation of Defence Minister George Fernandes, among others, the nation awaits quick and decisive action against many others. A careful study of all the revelations by the tehelka team shows that practically every defence deal is reeking with scandal and riddled with kickbacks and commissions brazenly shared by political bosses, army officers, bureaucrats and middlemen. This country is spending a colossal sum of Rs 70,000 crore on India’s defence, and after the Kargil war a 2 per cent surcharge on income tax was levied. All this was in the name of strengthening India’s defence by buying latest weapons, planes and armaments. But if a minimum of 10 to 15 per cent is the kickback in every deal it only means that this nation and the people of this country are being systematically swindled with impunity. A leading national daily has listed out major defence deals being processed: Sukhoi-30 fighters (180 aircraft); MI-17 helicopters (40), T-90 tanks (310); Mirage-2000H (10 aircraft); MiG fighters (18 aircraft); Kilo-class submarines (2); Krivak-class frigate (3) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (6). These deals involve a few thousand crores of rupees and most of them are to be negotiated with the Russians. Suspicions have already been raised in respect of Airborne Early Warning (AEW) Kamov-31 helicopters from Russia and this deal would cost Rs 900 crore. Doubts have also been raised regarding the Israeli Barak anti-missile defence system whose cost was put at Rs 700 crore. This deal figures in the tehelka operation as the Samata Party’s treasurer Mr R.K. Jain, went on record as having played a role by passing a sum of Rs 1 crore to the Defence Minister for backing the Barak deal. The Defence Ministry and Army Headquarters in particular seem to have any number of officers who are prepared to do the bidding of anyone posing as an arms dealer so long as they are paid a part of the commission proceeds. Such a large hierarchy — from the rank of Major-General down to Major and even further to section officer — as exposed could not be indulging in blatant corruption without the political and administrative heads of the ministry being aware of it. Clearly, the moral responsibility of the Defence Minister for all the terrible things exposed by the tehelka operation cannot be evaded, and at the very minimum there is something like moral responsibility for the presiding Minister of such an important ministry as Defence. Mr Fernandes was, therefore, rightly asked to resign. The largest deals are with the Russian military establishment. The middlemen repeatedly mentioned to the tehelka team that 10 to 15 per cent commission was involved in every deal, and that the Russians usually took away 50 per cent for themselves. This Russian technique is a very old one, belonging to the days of tobacco and rice purchases from India dating back to the 1970s. The Russians were suspected to be giving those amounts to sympathetic parties and front organisations. In the wake of the disintegration of the USSR, corruption in Russia has reached unbelievable levels. The Americans openly claimed to have financed President Yeltsin’s re-election, with one of his daughters as a conduit. After coming to power President Putin has tried to get control over the system but corruption persists. The crucial question, however, is the reliability of the Russian weapons which India buys. Doubts have been raised regarding Kamov choppers. Middle men have claimed that there were commissions in the Sukhoi-30 aircraft and T-90 tank deals. These raise grave doubts regarding the reliability and dependability of the weapons systems being bought by India from Russia. The Russian government should reassure the Indian public in the matter. Simultaneously with the tehelka revelations came the stock exchange scandals.The Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE) in particular has been known to be the hunting ground for inside trading, with the Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Finance turning a Nelson’s eye. Harshad Mehta, who shook the BSE with his manipulations, is yet to go to jail. Now comes Ketan Parekh. The SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) seems to be impotent and inactive in dealing with all these irregularities. Thousands of crores of rupees have been lost by investors, including those of the small category. If past experience is any indication there is hardly any hope of any quick remedial action, much less punitive action, taken by the Ministry of Finance. India is probably the only country which has not sent any top politician to jail for blatant corruption. Former Cabinet Minister Sukh Ram, from whose official residence Rs 3.66 crore was recovered by the CBI, is going strong. Ms Jayalalitha has been convicted in a couple of cases in Tamil Nadu but she will appeal to the High Court and the Supreme Court which will take many long years during which time she may even become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu once again. The scams listed out by a leading financial daily in September, 1996 were: securities scam of 1992 — Rs 5,000 crore; sugar scam of 1994 — Rs 650 crore; fodder scam (Bihar) of 1995 — Rs 600 crore; housing scam of 1995 — Rs 17.4 crore; hawala case of 1995 — Rs 65 crore; JMM bribery case of 1995 — Rs 3 crore; urea scam 1996 — Rs 133 crore; medical equipment scam of 1996 — Rs 1000 crore; and telecom scam of 1996 — Rs 1200 crore. None of them has seen the light of the day except the hawala case which has come to an inglorious end with every one going scot-free. Countries like South Korea and Japan have punished people of the highest rank like President Chun Doo Hwan. In Japan, Prime Minister Tanaka was prosecuted, and but for his premature death he would have gone to jail. In Italy, Prime Minister Benito Craxy was convicted of corruption and sent to jail. Belgium Defence Minister Willy Claes was sent to jail for getting kickbacks in a helicopter deal. Even in Bangladesh, former President Ershad was sent to jail on corruption. But India has the genius to put in place a judicial system whereby the corrupt never go to jail. Noted jurist Nani Palkhiwala said, “If I were a criminal I would have loved to operate in India than in any other country because I know that in India nothing would happen to me. At this rate, we will convert our country into a den of thieves.” Mr Palkhiwala said this is an interview in April, 1995. Has anything changed since? India figures very low in the honesty index compiled by Transparency International, a global anti-corruption organisation. In 1999 India ranked 73rd among 99 countries. The UN Development Programme which brings out its Human Development Report every year, cautioned in 1999 that corruption in South Asia was widespread and far more dangerous than in any other region because it occurred at the top and the guilty were rarely punished. It affected millions of people struggling to survive. Specifically, the report said that corruption occurred at the top and not at the bottom, that corrupt money had wings and was smuggled abroad to safe havens, that corruption often led to promotion and not prison. The Deputy Chief of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi revealed in February, 1997, that Indian politicians and businessmen reportedly had cash deposits worth more than $80 billion in secret accounts in Swiss banks. This amount would have, no doubt, increased much more during the past four years. How do we rectify this terrible system? Or should we all join Mr Palkhiwala in merely hoping that we would not be reborn in this country unless some of us want to be criminals? Meanwhile, let us thank the gutsy tehelka team headed by Mr Tarun Tejpal for the signal service it has rendered to the Indian polity. The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim. |
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Reservations on reservation IN his article, “Reservations: an undiscovered aspect,” Mr Sagarpreet Hooda (The Tribune, February 20) sums up the wide-ranging debate on reservations, going to the core of the issues involved. He comes up with the recommendations which, if implemented, can serve the purpose for which the policy of reservations was adopted in the first place. These recommendations also have the potential to prepare the ground for a harmonious acceptance of the policy by the castes, classes and communities affected by it in one way or the other. I would like to extend the discussion to cover a couple of issues which do not belong to the very heart of the debate on reservations but find their ground in its periphery. In my view, these are among the issues, despite their peripheral nature, not letting the debate to take a direction which leads to a resolution. These issues concern a certain new “class” or “community” — whatever one may prefer to call it — which has emerged in the wake of the debate. This class feeds on the debate for its survival and has, therefore, developed an interest in its continuation in a manner that does not allow it to conclude. It is the class of the political leadership of the backward communities which operates at both regional and national levels. One of the many observations that one can make about this class is that its members are not only the direct beneficiaries of the policy of reservations but are also, more importantly its indirect beneficiaries, and in that their leadership depends on and revolves around the unending issue. This issue has prepared the ground for their emergence and keeps them in business as leaders of the backward communities. Thus, what has been regarded — from a radical perspective — as probably the most important event on the Indian political scene in the past one and a half decades — namely, the emergence of backward caste politics — owes its existence to this issue. My problem, however, is less with this event itself and more with the manner in which it has emerged, the kind of political leadership it has thrown up, and the direction it has been able to import to the radical politics in the country. Let me make it clear that the issue of reservations, given the way it has been debated, is hardly an ideological one. But it has remained a social and political issue, which has very little to do with ideology as it is strictly — and radically — defined. Therefore, it has given birth to a kind of politics which is devoid of ideology, and has thrown up a leadership which in its political ambitions — and personal morality — is no different from the common leadership of other groups, communities and political parties. This leadership, while it has links with the communities it purports to represent, is a part of the class which forms the wider political leadership of the country. This wider political leadership is a class in itself; it has interests which are the interests of its class. And to the extent the leadership of the backward communities is part of this class, it fails to become part of those communities in the real sense and can hardly claim to represent them. One can see that there is a hiatus between these communities and their leadership, a hiatus which is covered up by the latter by maintaining a facade of representation. A tearing away of this facade, would mark the beginning, for these communities, of a kind of politics which is ideological in nature — and, therefore, truly radical — and not merely social and political. What would be the nature of this new, different politics? While it is for these communities and their future, alternative leadership to work this out, one can leave here a couple of markers. The present leadership of these communities only marginally shares their world-view: its own world-view has more in common with that of the class to which it belongs, the political class. Therefore, this leadership is only parasitical in nature and has an interest in maintaining the overall condition of these communities in such a way that it can continue to champion their politics. The politics of reservations — and the way it has been conducted so far — is a de-ideologised politics in this sense: it has little interest in eliminating the sharp distinctions between the backward communities and those other forward classes and communities. This is a trait which this politics shares with the general politics that prevails in the country. The very fact that the politics of reservations has set itself up as part of the general, non-ideological politics in the country should make one suspicious of it — not to entirely give it up by way of an alternative politics of the backward communities but to incorporate it in the latter in a carefully ideologised form. In other words, ideologisation of the politics of reservations may be an important point on the agenda of the alternative politics of these communities, if it ever happens. However, the possibility of the emergence of this kind of politics around reservations appears very dim in these days when all forms of ideological politics are being de-emphasised. The dominant characteristics of the prevalent form of politics are: compromise and exchange. And these characteristics can be seen all over the political spectrum. Elements which find it problematic, ethically and morally, to embrace this politics meet either of two consequences: (1) They are brought around by means which can hardly be called political. (2) Or they are pushed to the margins. The alternative politics around reservations which has been hinted at can emerge only from these margins and will inevitably have to stay there for quite some time. |
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Pleasures of a shared
heaven “Half the pleasure of solitude comes from having with us some friend to whom we can say how sweet solitude
is”. — W. Jay I saw a lone child cracking a firecracker by the roadside and as I drove past. I found a gloomy, sad look on his face. Why was it so, I thought, he was doing something that a child loves to do. Then what was the reason for his sadness. As an answer, I came across a group of kids who were also doing the same thing. Their faces were cheerful and joyous and they were enjoying themselves. I understood instantly that the magic word was “sharing” that was the source of their undiluted happiness. There are certain acts which just lose their meaning if performed alone. This list is individual specific and you can add or delete any number. My morning walk around the forest path leads me to an anonymous, wild tree bearing large pink flowers spreading a heavenly fragrance. As I draw a deep breath and inhale the undefinable scent I am caught in the melancholy feeling of not being able to share this sensual joy with another person. I wish my father, a great
appreciator of all things natural, could be with me, could experience the pleasure. The fragrance does take me to the heaven but it is a lonely one and the joy of my discovery is halved. It is the same with cooking. Ask any person who is single who is ready to cook a full course meal and eat it all by him/herself. But you do go for elaborate arrangements if their is another person with you, maybe a friend, a child or even a stranger. When my sister returned from her trip to Australia and showed me her photographs, I said: “How lucky you are to see all these marvellous sights with your own eyes.” I found in her eyes a reflection of her thoughts that her joy would have multiplied many times if she could have made me share the experience. This craving to share is inherent in human being. Each of us wishes to share our precious moments with others and also wish that the others should have something to share with us. It could be a golden sunset, a wonderful book, a lovely ladybird, a soulful song, a hearty laugh or a juicy news; we want to point it out to others, show them, make them experience and in the process enhance our own joys in magnitude. |
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NDA: limits of rule by deals IT is rather ironical that the BJP coalition finds itself in its worst political crisis at a time when it is about to completes three years in office. Mr Vajpayee was sworn in on March 19, 1998. Though the NDA Government was soon forced to resign after losing majority in the Lok Sabha, it had gone ahead more vigorously on the premise that it never recognised its ‘‘caretaker’’ status. Thus Mr Vajpayee's has been a continuous three years in power. Normally, such a long survival of a non-Congress Government at the Centre should have been an occasion for celebration. But what we see today is a total collapse of an edifice marked by scams and kickbacks and the domination by a coterie of ‘‘yes Prime Minister.’’ All its lofty promises of a different political culture, responsive administration and clean image stand pathetically mauled. The Vajpayee Government may still drag on but the overall political, economic and moral crisis it has created will continue to haunt it. The tragedy of Mr Vajpayee has been that he had tried to impose Indira Gandhi's rusted authoritarian style of PMO-centred political management on a party of long democratic organisational traditions. He shut up proposals by Mr Kushabhau Thakre for a coordination panel of party and government and stonewalled all feedback and criticism from genuine party workers. Senior leaders like Mr L.K. Advani painfully concurred with all that the PMO wizkids did lest it would further hurt the party's image. The system of elaborate discussions at the party headquarters by those with grassroots contacts were replaced by curt impositions from the PMO. The concentration of powers at the PMO led to endless compromises, and rank opportunism replaced principled politics. Sycophancy became the password for success even at the lower levels. A new band of go-getters and fixers began taking over the organisation as the old-timers watched the scene in bewilderment. Thus once incorruptible men — including as high a functionary as Bangaru Lakshman — became pedlars of power and agents of arms dealers. This is something that could not have even been imagined before 1998. Mr Vajpayee also applied the same culture of personalised party management in dealing with the coalition partners. Unlike the UF and the National Front, he never allowed prior discussion of crucial issues at the coalition panel. Instead, his political managers were deputed to settle the controversies with the bosses of the allies in state capitals. The absence of frank discussions at the coalition fora created the likes of Jayas and Jains. Much before the Tehelka tapes came out, reports had appeared as to how business lobbies and interest groups control the government decisions through the PMO. The wheeler-dealers, contract fixers and PSU grabbers all worked on the PMO as they knew that the real work was done there. The Tehelka revelations also have implications far beyond defence contracts. In fact, more suitcase men are working to grab the large PSUs at throwaway prices. Balco, Modern Breads, the massive telecom scandal and tax exemptions for favoured FIIs are all some of the skeletons in the cupboard. They may burst out any time. Much of the NDA Government's failures can be traced to its absolute faith in quick results and gimmicks. It had blamed its predecessors for the ISI activities and vowed to eliminate it. Now we find that the spy network has reached new heights. No one any more talks about the much promised white paper. Those who had vowed instant results in Kashmir through firm actions now find themselves caught in a total stalemate after a series of misadventures. They hoped to win the hearts of the middles classes through the Pokhran blast, but soon began buckling under US pressures. Three years of the NDA Government has left us in economic distress. The new Budget has turned out to be ‘‘feel-good’’ only for the corporates. There is very little for the general public to cheer about. As against its promise of generating one million jobs a year, it ends up in more unemployment each year. Public sector investment has halted. The private sector has been hesitant. Foreign direct investment has shown a downward trend. The GDP has come down from 6.4 per cent to 6 per cent. The index of industrial production fell to 5.7 per cent from 6.5 per cent. The neglect of the farm sector has led to a (-) 4 per cent fall in agricultural production from 2.7 per cent. Imports continue to haunt the domestic producers. For the first time in recent years, inflation threatens to reach the dreaded two-digit level. It has climbed the 8.29 per cent mark as compared to 4 per cent last year during the same period. To provide cheaper credit for the industrialists, millions of those who depend on small investments have been thrown to desperation. The interest cut has left those who depend on meagre deposits in banks and post offices in the lurch. Small investors find it risky to go to the speculator-dominated stock markets. The saddest aspect of the present politico-moral crisis has been the transformation of a once-disciplined and ideologically (whether one agrees with it or not) committed party into a band of blind power brokers. The party had survived worst setbacks in the past. In 1984 it had only two Lok Sabha members. Yet it could bounce back. This has been entirely due to the commitment and integrity of its rank and file who had, by and large, enjoyed a clean image. This had given them high credibility at a time when both the Congress and the third front parties had failed to give a viable alternative. However, in a short span of three years, all this remain shattered. In 1998, Mr Vajpayee had boldly asked Mr Buta Singh to quit the ministry on grounds of moral turpitude. Mr Madal Lal Khurana also faced a similar fate. Now watch the way the Prime Minister dithered on the issue of removing the scam-tainted colleagues. The BJP, when it comes to, can go back to the old communal cocoon. But, after having got used to the new culture, it can never regain its lost cadre culture and spirit of devotion. That is the real tragedy of the BJP. Now the R.K. Guptas tell us that the RSS too has been afflicted by the same malaise. The NDA Government has its real strength on the triple foundations of Mr Vajpayee's unquestionable acceptability, the favourable dynamics of provincial-level political antagonism and the non-NDA opposition's innate inability to provide a viable alternative. While the first, by its very nature, is variable, the political dynamics at the local levels is going to persist for a long time. The NDA's provincial allies have no other option but to keep on opposing the Congress or the other main political rivals like the CPM in West Bengal and the RJD in Bihar for their own survival. This is what ensures the numbers for the BJP in the Lok Sabha. The Opposition's inability to provide an alternative government will remain as a contributory factor in prolonging the present arrangement. |
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Oscars move to new Hollywood venue THIS year’s Academy Awards will be the Oscars’ last dance at the famed Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, before the awards move to a new stage in Hollywood, the birthplace of the movie industry. While movie buffs around the world are on tenterhooks waiting to know the victor of the combat between this year’s favourites “Gladiator” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” a small army of workers is hustling to complete the new Kodak Theatre. “The work is going along quickly,” said Beth Harris, spokeswoman for the Canadian construction company, TrizecHahn. The theatre, designed by architect David Rockwell, harkens back to the modernist style of Hollywood’s golden age. It is expected to be finished in November, in time for the 2002 Oscars, but one year behind the schedule announced when work started in 1998. The new Kodak Theatre is the principal attraction in an ambitious entertainment centre of 646,000 sq ft costing $ 567 million, paid for by a public-private partnership. “It’s more important to Hollywood than to us to have the awards back in what is considered the birthplace of the movie industry,” said Academy spokesman John Pavlik. The Academy is not participating directly in the project’s financing. The brand-new, 3,300-seat auditorium has been designed to facilitate the broadcast of the ceremony seen around the planet by hundreds of millions. Hollywood and Highland will also include an open-air shopping centre with cinemas, shops and restaurants, all across the street from Hotel Roosevelt, where the first Oscars were awarded at a small dinner ceremony in 1929. Since then the Oscars — have changed venues a number of times, alternating last decade between the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Shrine Auditorium.
AFP |
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Origin of man theory challenged AUSTRALIAN scientists are challenging the theory of how modern humans originated after an analysis of the oldest DNA ever recovered from human remains, Associated Press reports. The researchers recently extracted genetic material from a 60,000-year-old skeleton found near lake Mungo in New South Wales states in 1974. The material showed that Australia was home to a group of anatomically modern aboriginal people much earlier than thought. In a paper in the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, anthropologist Dr Alan Thorne of Australian National University said the DNA findings cast doubt on the so-called Out of Africa model of human evolution. “It’s remarkable — totally unpredicted,” anthropologist Alan Mann of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States was quoted as saying by the Australian newspaper about the DNA findings. “What it says is that the more we know (about human origins) the more confusing the picture becomes,” he said. The Out of Africa theory proposes that all living people are descended from a group of modern Homo sapiens who left their African Homeland 150,000 years to 100,000 years ago. The group and their descendants spread around the world, replacing existing populations of older peoples, including Neanderthals and Homo erectus. But Thorne, who helped author the alterative theory of Regional Continuity, said his findings suggest that modern humanity developed from the successive waves of people that moved out of Africa over the past 1.5 million years, nor just the single group that figures in the Out of Africa theory. The successive waves of migrants from Africa and their descendants in different parts of the world remained on the same evolutionary path and eventually evolved into present-day humans, Thorne suggests.
(PTI)
Aggressive bosses injurious to health Bosses who yell at their employees and insult them can be more harmful than was earlier imagined. According to a recent study by Dr Margarida Barreto, from the Catholic University of S. Paulo, Brazil, employees who are frequently humiliated by their bosses can develop serious diseases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) affirms that 10 per cent of the population of Europe and the USA suffers from grave mental disorders as a consequence of humiliation at their work place. Barreto interviewed 2,072 labourers from 97 companies between 1996 and 2000. 870 of them — 494 women and 376 men — were victims of “humiliation at work” defined as verbal aggression, violence and rudeness. To force employees to do work that won’t be used or that is not part of their duties is also considered as moral assault. The doctor listed the different profiles of aggressive bosses and has also suggested ways in which employees can deal with them. The number of women subjected to humiliation at work is higher. However, men under this kind of pressure are more likely to contemplate suicide. Barreto thinks that this is due to men’s difficulty in expressing their feelings. The study also points out that both men and women turn to drugs, including alcohol, to handle the situation. According to the Union of Chemical, Plastic and Pharmacy workers of S. Paulo 20 per cent of the employees of this sector are forced to quit because of work humiliation. “It’s the first study of its kind in Brazil. In Sweden there is already a specific legislation to punish the aggressor,” says Barreto. A councillor of S. Paulo is trying to approve a Municipal Bill to protect civil servants from moral assault.
(WFS)
Rabid bats of Mexico While farmers, governments and carnivores — not to mention cloven hoofed animals — around the world fret over the spread of foot and mouth disease, at least one Mexican town has a more pressing concern: rabid bats. Mexico has thus far been unaffected by the recent outbreak of the highly infectious disease that has sparked an international panic, and has also been immune from Europe’s mad cow crisis. But the official Notimex news agency has reported that the town of Xaltianguis in the western state of Guerrero was on alert following a rash of bat attacks on cattle there. “Producers in Xaltianguis reported that more than 12,000 head of cattle are in permanent danger from blood-sucking bats, which when they bite transmit rabies,” Notimex said. More than 30 head of cattle have been lost in the town this year due to the bats. Town commissary Rolando Martin Radilla called on the Agriculture Ministry to install a modern slaughter house in Xaltianguis to ensure that milk and meat produced there is disease free.
(Reuters) |
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75
YEARS AGO THE Police Magistrate, Alipore, has issued a warrant with bail of Rs 500 against Dr E.W. Bussell in connection with the death of Sergeant Day, who lost his life in consequence of injuries to his spleen in a boxing contest with a Bengalee athlete, D.D. Chaterjee. It is alleged on January 15 last, Sergeant Day was declared by Dr Bussell to be in a fair state of health to enter the boxing competition. |
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One person has God on his side; millions have Satan on theirs. Must therefore, one fear the millions? **** He who remembers God can afford to forget everything else. **** He who remembers everything else but forgets God, really remembers nothing. **** He who forgets God, forgets himself. **** If God resides in every heart, then who dare hate whom? **** Because of our physical limitations we cannot have a conception of the existence of God. **** "Money is God" — it is wrong to say so, and it has been proved to be wrong. **** Man cannot worship God and at the same time despise his fellow beings. The two are irreconcilable. **** Only he is worthy to mete out punishment whose judgement is infallible. Who but God can be such? **** He who thinks, speaks and acts with God as his witness, will never feel ashamed of doing the right thing. He who doubts the existence of God perishes. **** He who denies the existence of God denies his own. —Mahatma Gandhi, A thought for the Day, The collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol 81, 813. |
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