E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Agni N-deterrent
INDIA’s nuclear deterrence policy has unfolded by another instalment. For the present it will rest purely on Agni-II surface-to-surface missile. It has a range of 2500 km and can deliver a nuclear weapon weighing a tonne. A great advantage is that it is highly mobile since its platform will be on rails.

Message from Manipur
THERE appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel in Manipur. Each passing day has only added to the political confusion and uncertainty caused by the defeat of the three-month-old Radhabinod Koijam government last month. The options before Governor Ved Marwah appear to be limited.

ONGC wrests the lead
OIL exploration worldwide has taken a back seat for the simple reason that returns are uncertain, inadequate and quite often delayed compared to investment and efforts put in. Most companies, both Indian and foreign, therefore opt for the softer route to profit by setting up refineries linked to already operational oil fields.

OPINION

Faulty food management system
Perils of “procurement and storage”
M. G. Devasahayam
IN the recently held Chief Ministers’ Conference on “Agriculture Strategies and Food Management” Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is stated to have said: “The present system of procurement through the FCI is functioning quite smoothly and is a major factor responsible for leading the country out of the dark periods of acute food scarcity.” On the face of it these are uncharitable remarks for the toiling farming community who have been the backbone of India’s green revolution.

MIDDLE

One-upmanship in bureaucracy
Shriniwas Joshi
IN one of the refresher courses meant for bureaucrats, a member of the visiting faculty told us that you are not in the Service to confer happiness, but to give men opportunity to work out happiness for themselves. Arre Bhai, that is, actually, what the members of my fraternity and I have been doing. Giving ample opportunity to others to work so that they find happiness for themselves.

ANALYSIS

Tale of an ex-doctor of PGI
IT took a prestigious Australian college seven bitter years to finally accept renowned heart surgeon Inderjit Singh Virdi’s right to treat patients — and be treated as an equal.

• Tea, coffee, cola can cause headache

ON THE SPOT

Jessica case: trial by media again
Tavleen Singh
HAVE you been following the Jessica Lal murder trial? If you have, you may have noticed a peculiar feature of the way it is being reported in the Press and especially in Delhi newspapers. Instead of targeting the alleged killer, or worrying about the possibility of him going now that all the main eyewitnesses claim to have seen nothing, most of our crime reporters are pointing the needle of suspicion at Bina Ramani and her daughter Malini.

LIFELINE

Stay slim — cut the fat, not sugar 
Peter Blackburn
OVERWEIGHT people, worried about cancer, heart disease and diabetes, don’t need to drop sugar but should focus instead on eating less fatty food, nutritionists say. Obesity has risen dramatically over the past 30 years because of unhealthy diets and lack of exercise and it threatens to become a global epidemic, according to the World Health Organisation.

• Spiralling health costs
• Focus on fat intake
• Sugar spin

75 YEARS AGO

Alleged defamation

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Agni N-deterrent

INDIA’s nuclear deterrence policy has unfolded by another instalment. For the present it will rest purely on Agni-II surface-to-surface missile. It has a range of 2500 km and can deliver a nuclear weapon weighing a tonne. A great advantage is that it is highly mobile since its platform will be on rails. That is about the land-based version and the air-based and sea-based ones wait to be designed to the last detail. Production of Agni-II is on and it will join the regular arsenal anytime this year. This is important since similar medium range missiles of Pakistan, Ghauri I and II and Shaheen II (1500 km to 2500 km), are already operational, meaning they have been deployed. While Agni-II will take care of threats from Pakistan, it will not be effective against China which enjoys a huge superiority both in terms of number and range. Its Dong-Feng 4 and Dong-Feng 5 can reach any Indian city and it also has submarine-fitted nuclear-tipped missiles in the Indian Ocean and perhaps even the Bay of Bengal. That explains the urgency of the development of Agni-III with a range of 5000 km and capable of hitting any Chinese city. This incessant bracketing of China with Pakistan is a throwback to the 1962 hangover and will dismay peaceniks among theoretical purists. They will cite the ongoing normalisation process with the red giant and would want to emphasise on friendly noises without recourse to nuclear or missile jingoism. But the realists refer to former Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng who bluntly admitted that there was no military or political trust between his country and India.

The timing and also the content of the annual report of the Defence Ministry are very meaningful. General Pervez Musharraf is visiting in a few weeks to join a joint search for peace and normalisation and the report talks of pulverising his country if ever he re-enacted Kargil in nuclear terms. The Defence Ministry under Mr Jaswant Singh has obviously decided that there is a lot to be gained by being open-minded and much to be lost by prevaricating facts. This jumps out of his statement on Thursday that the serial production of Agni-II missiles and their induction into the Army will be completed this financial year. A related development, but coinciding the release of the Defence Ministry’s annual report, is the dramatic restructuring of the security setup around the Andaman and Nicobar islands. An Air Force unit is being attached to the existing Army and Navy detachments. Coast guards too will join the expanded force. The main concern is to prevent terrorists of various hues — from the LTTE of Sri Lanka to Arakan rebels of Myanmar and Islamic fundamentalists of Aceh region in Indonesia — from using the uninhabited islands. There are reports of a nuclear-weapons carrying US submarine on permanent prowl. This is not to talk of Chinese interest in partly dominating the strategic waterway. The Indian defence forces are bracing for very busy days. 

Message from Manipur

THERE appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel in Manipur. Each passing day has only added to the political confusion and uncertainty caused by the defeat of the three-month-old Radhabinod Koijam government last month. The options before Governor Ved Marwah appear to be limited. The political skullduggery witnessed in the state after the defeat of Mr Koijam would justify a spell of President's rule. No tears would be shed if the Governor were to recommend dissolution of the Manipur Assembly. But a spell of President's rule can only be treated as a holding operation. Fresh elections would have been welcome had the current stock of politicians desisted from playing the game of "aya Ram, gaya Ram" for grabbing power. Where is the guarantee that they will not play the same games all over again? Not only Manipur, but the entire North-East needs leaders of stature and vision for dealing with the problems created by self-seeking politicians. It must be understood that the north-eastern states are not like Bihar or Uttar Pradesh where even a prolonged spell of political instability does not become a threat to national security. But it does in Manipur and all the other insurgent-infested neighbouring states in the Khasi, Garo and Jantia hills. The entire belts needs a prolonged spell of politically stable governance for dealing with the mounting problems of insurgency, unemployment and drug-addiction.

The Centre could have been asked to intervene for protecting national security if nothing else. Unhappily two key constituents of the National Democratic Alliance, the Samata party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, are responsible for pushing Manipur away from the road to economic and political recovery. Although imposition of President's rule is never a desirable option, but for dealing with the political crisis in Manipur the TINA [there is no alternative] factor cannot be ignored. The only silver lining is that in Mr Marwah the state has an able administrator who is capable of performing the daunting task of effectively fighting insurgency, unemployment, drug-addiction and bankruptcy in the benighted state. But he should be given a free hand and the right to crack the whip if and when necessary without having to seek the permission of the political leadership which is primarily responsible for the present crisis.

ONGC wrests the lead

OIL exploration worldwide has taken a back seat for the simple reason that returns are uncertain, inadequate and quite often delayed compared to investment and efforts put in. Most companies, both Indian and foreign, therefore opt for the softer route to profit by setting up refineries linked to already operational oil fields. That may explain the award of smaller number of oil blocks to private sector companies. Sixteen of the 23 oil exploration blocks, awarded by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday, have gone to the Oil and Natural Gas Commission and its partners under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-II). Four of the remaining seven blocks have gone to a consortium of Reliance Industries Ltd and Hardy Exploration and Production India Ltd. Niko Resources Ltd of Canada and the consortium of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and Gas Authority of India Limited have secured one block each. Of the 23 blocks, eight are shallow water offshore blocks, seven onland blocks and eight deep water blocks.

Response from foreign companies has been below expectation. Only three foreign companies have been successful in winning the awards. Apart from Hardy Exploration and Production India, the other two are Joshi Technologies Inc of the USA and Niko Resources Ltd of Canada. This is despite the fact that the terms for the lease provide for full recovery of the costs of exploration, production and development. The companies engaged in exploration will be paid the international price for oil discovered, besides royalty payment. The selected companies will be free to sell oil and gas in the domestic market. The Cabinet committee decision is also a vote of confidence in the public sector. Its gem called ONGC alone has bagged six blocks. The ONGC partners for the other ten blocks include GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation, Gujarat. State Petroleum Corporation and Oil India Ltd. This shows that despite the sword of disinvestment hanging over them, these PSUs are not only doing business as usual but are also aggressively engaged in the risky and arduous job of oil exploration. A commendable aspect of the second round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy is that the awards have been finalised in about two months, which is an improvement over the NELP-I.

Faulty food management system
Perils of “procurement and storage”
M. G. Devasahayam

IN the recently held Chief Ministers’ Conference on “Agriculture Strategies and Food Management” Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is stated to have said: “The present system of procurement through the FCI is functioning quite smoothly and is a major factor responsible for leading the country out of the dark periods of acute food scarcity.” On the face of it these are uncharitable remarks for the toiling farming community who have been the backbone of India’s green revolution.

These strong statements by the executive head of India’s top food surplus state has effectively derailed the one sensible and pragmatic policy initiative of decentralising food procurement that the Central Government had piloted in recent times. This was despite an impassioned plea for decentralisation by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, ably supported by Union Agriculture, Food, Finance and Commerce Ministers. In the conference the Prime Minister had categorically advocated the need to change the present centralised procurement policy and look for better alternatives that would help the farmer, the consumer and the government. Pointing out that the country’s procurement policy, movement, and stocking of farm produce originated when India was still suffering from scarcities, Mr Vajpayee said since the country had moved into an era of plenty, the policies and procedures should change suitably. Mr Vajpayee went on to say that centralised procurement and restrictions on the movement and stocking of agricultural produce had prevented farmers from getting the best price.

Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution Mr Shanta Kumar was more forthright when he said decentralised procurement was the need of the hour especially when procurement of wheat and rice had touched new heights. Decentralisation of procurement had been adopted by three states and there the savings in economic cost was as much as Rs 140 crore. He estimated that decentralised procurement throughout the country would result in saving of around Rs 2000 crore in economic costs. He suggested that as a first step, the Food Corporation of India would be restructured and this year’s budget had unveiled a new system of decentralised, state-level procurement and distribution. Mr Shanta Kumar was frank on the pitfalls of the current food management programme and pointed out that the offtake by the states under the PDS was not satisfactory and was a matter of concern. Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar said that in order to build on the gains of the Green Revolution, it was imperative to review the prevailing procurement and distribution systems and practices and come up with sustainable options.

Despite these logical and rational arguments put forward by the Prime Minister, the Food Minister and the Agriculture Minister, Mr Badal vehemently opposed the proposition saying that the farm sector was already going through a phase of severe stress and was saved from a complete collapse only through the system of assured market and administered prices. The Punjab Chief Minister said any attempt to replace the time-tested formula of Minimum Support Price with what had been vaguely described as “economic prices” could only have disastrous implications for our economy. “If anything, the present practice needs to be further strengthened and fine-tuned so that the actual MSP is fixed accounting for factors like inflation,” he said. He also rejected the suggestion of handing over the responsibility for procurement operations to the states, saying that it was both impracticable and inadvisable to decentralise food procurement, as the state governments did not have enough financial resources to procure, store and handle huge quantities of foodgrains for a long period.

It looks as if Mr Badal has missed the woods for the tree and his arguments are flawed though he cannot be faulted for this. In the absence of a comprehensive Food Management System [FMS] in the country Chief Minister of a food surplus but cash strapped state like Punjab hardly has any options if he is to politically survive. What is called for is not ad hoc or patchwork solutions but an integrated FMS. Such a system would look beyond mere procurement and handle the matter in a holistic manner with food security as the pivot. It would then consider more than just a single issue of MSP on which Mr Badal is laying stress. These are:

*Food Management in India with the participation of farmers who are the producers and the market mechanism that influences consumption instead of leaving it exclusively to a monolithic and impersonal FCI;

*Protecting farmers and the consumers against the vagaries of production and the market forces in order to enhance agricultural productivity and ensure fair prices;

*Reducing the cost of foodgrain procurement, storage, transportation and distribution;

*Efficiency of the delivery system under which those in genuine need of subsidies and support are properly targeted and given sufficient access to foodgrains; and

*Facilitating and interventionary role of the government in times of need to protect the interests of producers or consumers as the case may be,

Once a consensus is arrived on these issues the government could implement an FMS with the following components:

*Decontrol of movement, processing, marketing and export of farm products.

*“Parity prices” for foodgrains, which fully compensate the farmers for rise in cost of inputs and their other necessities of life, with reference to an agreed base year, and also setting the limits between which the foodgrain trade will have to operate.

*Establishing and managing a chain of rural and peri-urban godowns with warehousing/foodgrain banking facilities, one godown being located in a cluster of 10 to 12 villages or around small towns. The farmers may, at any time, sell their produce to the warehouses at the “support” price, in which case, the stock will go in government account. The farmers will have the option to deposit the same in their own accounts and take bank loans against their pledged stock.

*State intervention and procurement as soon as the price of foodgrains in the open market rises above the intervention price [already fixed] on payment of “parity” price plus storage charges. If the price would fall below the “support” price, the farmers would have the right to sell their stocks to the government at the support price already fixed, plus the storage charges.

Mr Badal’s main objection is on the vagueness of the “economic price”, which was to replace MSP. This is a genuine concern. Under the suggested FMS, pricing of foodgrains would go beyond MSP or economic price and would seek to achieve the twin principal objectives of maintaining purchasing power parity for the producer and ensuring fair price for the consumer. The principle of “parity” aims at maintaining the purchasing power of agriculturists, in terms of those commodities, which they have to buy for their use on a day-to-day basis. This would mean that the “parity” price of foodgrains should be determined based on changes in the composite index of prices paid by farmers for consumer goods and agricultural inputs.

The fundamental rationale of State procurement and “support price” is not to commercially underwrite or guarantee sale of farm products of any quality at any price, but to intervene in times of possible distress and hold the hands of the farmers. The “support” price, therefore, should be at a level less than the “parity price” at around 85 to 90 per cent. Similarly foodgrain prices should not be subject to runaway inflation due to imperfect market conditions. This is necessary to safeguard the consumers, both rural and urban. Hence the need for “intervention” price. This “intervention” price should be at a level reasonably higher, say 115 per cent of the “parity” price, as determined above. In case the market price of foodgrains falls below support price, it would be obligatory on the part of the State to purchase all stocks offered to it at this price. Similarly in the event of market price exceeding the intervention price, the State shall have the right to acquire all stocks wherever located and to whomsoever these may belong at “parity” price leaving with the stockist, grains required for his private consumption and agricultural needs, if he is a farmer.

Under this policy for foodgrains trade, farmers will be assured of MSP and consumers of supplies at reasonable and relatively stable prices. Traders — private as well as cooperatives — will also know the limits within which they can operate. Small farmers will be saved from going in for distress sales, and the government will have the facility to quickly locate and acquire foodgrains stocks in times of need. This policy will result in considerably reducing the huge subsidies being paid out to the FCI to enable it to sell foodgrains at less than their “economic cost”, which is production growth but also in providing additional employment in rural areas will be considerably facilitated by this policy.

The currently practiced foodgrains “procurement & storage” system has led to a bizarre situation wherein while the godowns are overflowing with stocks, some of which is rotting, millions of people at various parts of the country are starving. Things have come to such a pass as to provoke the Supreme Court of India to issue notices to five State Governments to explain as to the circumstances under which starvation deaths are taking place while food godowns are bursting in their seams. This is a clear case of failure of the Public Distribution System as admitted by the Union Food Minister. Even otherwise PDS, which is the principal rationale for the perpetuation of the FCI oriented food policy, has not succeeded in providing the food security for which it is being implemented a huge cost to the exchequer.

Under the suggested FMS, food security would go hand in hand with fair price for the farmers. Food security does not mean overflowing FCI godowns with foodgrains procured and stored at high costs with some of them sub-standard and rotting. Food security actually means access to foodgrains to all sections of society at all times at affordable prices. In fact the question is whether the government or its agencies like the FCI or Warehousing Corporations should take over physical possession of huge stocks, or would it suffice to keep the foodgrains trade within well-specified parameters of social discipline. Governments in many countries have chosen the latter path with considerable success.

In India also it is prudent to heed the compulsions and realities on the ground and adopt a food management system that is in sync with the times. For a nation as vast as ours with a huge population such a policy should have a broad pan-Indian approach instead of a narrow regional one. Despite protestations from the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana, the Government of India should not abandon the bold initiative for a new FMS. Instead, GoI should engage these states with constructive dialogue, dispel their doubts and inhibitions and have the new policy implemented as expeditiously as possible. 

One-upmanship in bureaucracy
Shriniwas Joshi

IN one of the refresher courses meant for bureaucrats, a member of the visiting faculty told us that you are not in the Service to confer happiness, but to give men opportunity to work out happiness for themselves. Arre Bhai, that is, actually, what the members of my fraternity and I have been doing. Giving ample opportunity to others to work so that they find happiness for themselves. We taste the fruit of their labour and finally sell or do not sell it to the political masters depending upon our fancy to name it bitter gourd or sweet papaya. During our service tenure, we develop the ability of convincing even those who consider themselves as “can never go wrong” that they, at last, start believing that they are not more than “occasionally right” category of people. This one-upmanship in the bureaucrats is their bread and butter.

In “Zanjeer” Amitabh counts several physical assets that he possesses and asks Shashi Kapoor, his brother, to name even one that he has. Shashi goes one-up by saying, “Mere pass Maan hai.” (I have mother with me). I recollect a sort of parallel incident at Raj Bhavan in Shimla where the Governor had thrown a tea party on a Republic Day. Police officers were in uniform. An officer had a row of decorations on his chest. His IAS friend came to him and said: “A galaxy of medals.” “Yes, but you have none,” replied the police officer. The administrator was one-up in replying,” An IAS doesn’t need medals. He recommended for police officers.”

One-upmanship is so much in our official blood that we quickly change the subject without changing the mind. A bureaucrat was once asked to measure the height of a flagpole. He ordered his assistant to bring a ladder, rest it against the pole, climb on it and throw the measuring tape from the top to the bottom and that would be the height of the pole. The procedure designed by the boss was blindly followed. Because the assistant knew that “the relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows.” The assistant tried and tried. Every time the ladder would slip aside and, after a point of time, the measurement of the pole looked impossible. Meanwhile, an assistant engineer came to the site. He removed the flagpole from the ground. Let it fall flat there and measured it. Everybody heaved a sigh of satisfaction. The boss looked at the fellowmen and to show them that he was one-up remarked: “Silly. We wanted to know the height of the flagpole and that engineer has measured its length.”

Tale of an ex-doctor of PGI

IT took a prestigious Australian college seven bitter years to finally accept renowned heart surgeon Inderjit Singh Virdi’s right to treat patients — and be treated as an equal.

Evidently, homecoming has not been sweet for the doctor. Says he: “Life is like that — there are good patches and bad patches. The struggle goes on.” IANS

Tea, coffee, cola can cause headache

Painkillers are now frighteningly overused, especially for headaches, yet if you suffer from them you would do well to rule out dietary triggers before rushing to pop a pill.

Several of my patients complain about cluster headaches, which are more common in men than women and are usually characterised by sporadic bouts of extreme pain on one side of the head, often striking during the night and lasting for several hours before disappearing and then reappearing to resume their torture.

When treating them, the first thing I do is to ask them to keep a diary of everything they eat and drink, as well as how they feel, for a couple of weeks.

This simple exercise often reveals clear links between nutrition and headaches, one of the strongest that I’ve identified being the consumption of foods that are rich in tyramine, including herring, offal, mature cheeses, peanuts and peanut butter, chocolate (which also contains another headache-causing compound, phenylethylamine), cured sausages, sauerkraut and alcohol.

Reducing the amount of tyramine-containing foods that you eat can drastically lessen the incidence of headaches, as can monitoring your intake of foods containing monosodium glutamate (MSG, or E 621), a flavour-enhancer found in many Chinese and processed foods.

Drinking coffee, tea, cola and hot chocolate can trigger the most horrendous headaches, too, especially if you’re already feeling stressed, so try to steer clear of such caffeine-containing drinks and instead drink either a glass of water served at room temperature or a mug of warm herbal tea (ice-cold or piping-hot drinks often prompt a headache to develop).

.Concentrate on eating high-fibre foods, such as wholemeal bread, fresh vegetables and fruits (but note that oranges can trigger headaches in some people), and try to eat small meals often.

One of the worst things that a headache sufferer can do is to eat very sweet foods on an empty stomach because the presence of rapidly absorbed sugars within the body can instigate headache-inducing blood-sugar changes.

And finally, because dehydration can be one of the commonest causes of headaches, don’t forget to drink plenty of water. The Observer

Jessica case: trial by media again
Tavleen Singh

HAVE you been following the Jessica Lal murder trial? If you have, you may have noticed a peculiar feature of the way it is being reported in the Press and especially in Delhi newspapers. Instead of targeting the alleged killer, or worrying about the possibility of him going now that all the main eyewitnesses claim to have seen nothing, most of our crime reporters are pointing the needle of suspicion at Bina Ramani and her daughter Malini. Some newspapers have gone so far as to demand that the Ramanis be arrested. The demand is both bizarre and interesting because, just as when the murder took place on April 29, 1999, the Press seems to be playing an active role in trying to get Jessica’s alleged killer off the hook.

At the time of the murder, please remember, most Delhi newspapers seemed to give their gossip columnists the task of investigating the case. This was apparently because Bina and Malini were celebrated socialites familiar on the gossip columnist circuit. Alas, once a gossip columnist always a gossip columnist so instead of crime stories we got details of Bina’s glamorous parties and famous friends and Malini’s seductive clothing. We learned almost nothing about the ugly, little world of Manu Sharma nor did we hear anything about why the police work in the case was so shoddy as to amount to criminal negligence.

So illogical was the manner in which Jessica’s tragic, needless murder was reported that if you were a casual reader you may have ended up concluding from the stories that serving liquor without a licence — which Bina did in the Tamarind Cafe — was a bigger crime than murder. Something similar is beginning to happen again and this time round it will almost certainly work towards getting Manu Sharma out of jail and off the hook.

Let us examine what has happened since the trial began a few weeks ago. The most important aspect of it is that four key eyewitnesses have stood up in court and said that they did not see Manu Sharma actually pull the trigger. That at least some of them are lying should be obvious to even the most callow of crime reporters and we should have had at least one story that attempted to investigate why they were suddenly afraid to stand by their earlier statements.

But, nobody seems interested in this at all. Manu’s father is a powerful Punjab politician who for many years was one of the pillars of the Congress. It does not need much investigation to know that in our fair and wondrous land politicians have many ways of influencing the police to go easy when it comes to getting their delinquent sons off the hook. Ever since Jessica was murdered Delhi has buzzed with rumours of influence being used to change of the case but for mysterious reasons crime reporters seem either oblivious of these rumours or too scared to investigate them.

So instead of the Sharmas being targeted, it is the Ramanis they are going after. Most stories have hinted that the police has been protecting them by not charging them with “destruction of evidence”. No story that I have read so far has even attempted vaguely to point out that the “evidence” would be irrelevant any way if the police cannot find anyone who admits to seeing Manu pull the trigger.

For those of you who do not remember what happened that night in the Tamarind Cafe let me remind you that when Manu tried to escape Bina’s husband George chased after him while she took Jessica to hospital. The police, for their part, took so long to arrive at the scene of the crime that Manu or one of his pals was able to return and drive his car away. The murder weapon also disappeared. Meanwhile, the small amount of blood that stained the spot where Jessica was shot was cleaned up - possibly in the routine course - by the restaurant’s staff.

Now, the interesting thing about the Press demanding that the Ramanis be arrested and charged is that this would ensure that Manu goes free because if they are treated as co-accused they cannot also be credible witnesses. So there would be nobody left to give any evidence at all. If nobody admits to have at least seen the alleged killer in the Tamarind Cafe that night then the case is closed before it starts and Manu goes free. As it is, he will probably find it quite easy now to get bail.

This has been the game the Sharmas have wanted played all along and it is truly disturbing that the Press should become a vital part of it. Even more disturbing if you consider that this is far from being the only case in which the media has allowed itself to be used in this fashion. Trial by the media has become so routine, these days, that the police uses it regularly to cover up for shoddy police work. In Mumbai last year newspapers played a willing and eager role in helping the police make its case against Chetan Anand’s sons in the Priya Rajvansh murder case. Neither of the two accused were physically present when she was killed but the police made a case against them on the alleged statement by a maid servant whom they had taken into custody.

The Press made no effort to investigate what had really happened and the result was that the two Anand boys were tried and condemned so completely in the media that it is hard to see how they can hope now for an unprejudiced trial. In every other country there is respect for the idea of a case being subjudice which means that when a matter is under judicial deliberation it cannot be commented on. The Indian Press appears to have forgotten that the idea exists.

The Indian justice system has become one of our most serious problem. It takes so long for justice to be done that even murder cases take between ten and twenty years to be decided. The result is a backlog in our courts that, according to conservative estimates, would take 324 years to clear. Justice so delayed can hardly be considered justice.

The problem is so grave that it will need a monumental effort on the part of the government and the judiciary to deal with it. But, meanwhile, it has to be the responsibility of the Press to ensure that we do not add to the problem by allowing crime reporters to become willing handmaidens of the police in organising trials by the media.

In the sad, totally unnecessary death of Jessica Lal it would amount to killing her again if the Press played an active role in distracting attention from the main story; a beautiful, young girl was killed for no reason at all allegedly by the spoilt, delinquent son of a powerful politician. Justice must be done. That is the only issue here.

Stay slim — cut the fat, not sugar 
Peter Blackburn

OVERWEIGHT people, worried about cancer, heart disease and diabetes, don’t need to drop sugar but should focus instead on eating less fatty food, nutritionists say.

Obesity has risen dramatically over the past 30 years because of unhealthy diets and lack of exercise and it threatens to become a global epidemic, according to the World Health Organisation.

But a recent European scientific study has provided ammunition for the international sugar industry to fire back and claim that sugar isn’t fattening.

“In contrast to the still popular prejudice, sugar can be used as a good tool to control body weight,” said the London-based International Sugar Organisation (ISO).

The ISO is an international forum to collect data and exchange views on the $8 billion a year world sugar market. Its 56 member countries represent 75 per cent of world sugar output and 55 per cent of consumption.

Sugar consumption has stagnated in rich countries, due to consumer health worries, while world production has risen steadily creating a substantial global surplus.

The ISO said sugar was given a scientific boost from the little known Carbohydrate Management in European National (CARMEN) diets study, conducted in the second half of 2000 in five European research centres.

“It shows that eating sugar is not just a vital part of an active lifestyle but also a way to control body weight and cure obesity,” the ISO said.

Spiralling health costs

The EU is concerned about the spiralling cost of treating obesity-linked diseases which now swallow up to seven per cent of health care expenditure in the 15 member countries.

The study examined the effects on overweight people of eating less fat and consuming more simple carbohydrates, such as sugar, or complex carbohydrates, such as starch, on body weight and cholesterol over six months.

Some 300 British, Dutch, Danish, German and Spanish volunteers were divided into three groups and given nutritionally similar diets made up of local foods.

One group continued with their usual diet, containing nearly 40 per cent of energy in the form of fats, which include potato chips, fried chicken and butter. A second group were given a diet with 10 per cent less fatty energy, but compensated by starchy foods such as bread, potatoes and pasta.

The third group was put on a diet which was 10 per cent lower in fat, but with energy compensated by starchy food as well as sugar and sugar-rich foods, including sweets, yoghurt and cereals.

After six months, volunteers on a starchy diet lost 0.9 kg (1.984 lb) and those on a starch and sugary supplement shed 1.8 kg (3.968 lb) whereas those on a normal fat-rich diet put on 0.8 kg (1.764 lb).

“The volunteers lost weight significantly...without a reduction in overall energy intake,” the ISO said.

Focus on fat intake

Project leader, Wim Saris, Professor of Nutrition at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, was more cautious, saying the study provided advice on obesity and carbohydrate balance in the diets of fat people.

“It stresses reducing fat intake and focussing less on sugar,” Saris told Reuters.

He said that sugar is part of the balanced daily diet providing 15 per cent of total energy and as such doesn’t cause obesity so people should carry on eating it.

“But it’s absolute nonsense to say you should increase sugar intake to control body weight,” he stressed.

A leading British nutrition expert agreed that sugar doesn’t cause obesity.

“The real reason is that people are now less active and taking in more calories than they need,” said Professor Tom Sanders, Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at King’s College, London University.

Obesity is measured by the body mass index (BMI), calculated by dividing body weight in kg by height in metres squared. A BMI above 30 shows obesity.

Sugar spin

“There’s a culture of drinks and snacks in front of the TV,” Sanders added.

However Sanders said he suspected that the CARMEN study had been given a sugary spin by its financers.

“The weight loss on the sugary diet was not very great...only 300 grammes per month,” he noted. “If you give anyone (dietary) treatment, they will lose weight.”

Sanders said there were no grounds for taxing sugar on health or weight grounds and that television, computers and cars were better candidates.

Sugar is a carbohydrate and contains less than half the calories than fat and is a major source of energy. Reuters

75 YEARS AGO

Alleged defamation

SARDAR Mangal Singh, Editor of "Akali", has received a notice from the Administrator, Nabha, asking the former to contradict certain statements published in the issue of the paper dated the 10th December 1925, in an article entitled Sadr Jail Nabha men Nadir Gardi. Failing this contradiction and an expression of regret, the Administrator intends taking action against S. Mangal Singh under Section 499, I.P.C.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

These are the secrets of true husbandry:

The body is the field;

Let mind be the ploughman,

Good deeds thy ploughing,

Let thine honest strivings be the runnels

That irrigate the field.

Sow the seed of the Holy Name.

Make the clods of the field level with contentment;

Wear, as a farmer, the peasant garb of humility.

Then with the grace of God,

His love will blossom.

Blessed is the peasant who farms in this wise.

And thou great man,

thy worldly goods will not go with thee;

Maya, the veil of illusion hath misled the world

And few indeed know this to be so....

*****

Let devotion to God be thy service,

Let thy toil be faith in the Name.

Check thy mind from wandering after temptation;

Stand alert on guard against all evil,

So from all men thou shalt earn the praise,

And the Lord, thy kind, will delight in thee with a fourfold increase of His love.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Asa di Var, Rag Sorath, page 595

*****

Beware! say not ‘He is all-Beautiful,

And we are His lovers.’ Thou art but the glass,

And He the face confronting it, which casts

Its image on the mirror. He alone

Is manifest, and thou in truth art hid.

Pure Love like Beauty coming but from Him

Reveals itself in thee. If steadfastly

Thou cannot regard, thou wilt at length perceive

He is the mirror also — He alike

The treasure and the Casket. ‘I’ and ‘Thou’

— Jami, a Sufi poet

*****

We turn toward God only to obtain the impossible.

— Albert Camus, The Myth of Sysyphus