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Sunday,
June 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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BUSINESS OF FARMING MIDSTREAM |
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RANDOM THOUGHTS
Promoting honest thinking by institutionalising it
Pro-reform President of Iran
Focus shifts
on Devyani now
Dipendra
died
soon after massacre
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Agriculture: question of producing enough THERE
is no shortage of food in the world. With the total area under cultivation today, 20 billion people can be fed at the nutritional level of the USA. Malthus had predicted a famine in the 20th century. His argument: population increases geometrically and food production rises arithmetically, and therefore, food shortage or famine is inevitable. He has been proved wrong. The last 100 years have witnessed large areas brought under irrigation production of yield increasing chemical fertilizers, development of improved crop varieties, prevention of diseases, invention of tractors and all kinds of farm machinery. All this has brought about tremendous efficiency and economy in agri-production. Huge investments in the agricultural sector have led to food surpluses everywhere in the developed world. Recent advances in bio-technology promise unprecedented growth in agricultural production. It is predicted that with the successful application of genome research, there can be no hunger and malnutrition in the world. Food scarcity may become part of history. Yet billions of people today are under-nourished and hundreds of millions go hungry. It is due to the fact that the poor cannot afford to buy food at the prices it costs to the producer. This is true not only for cereals but also for vegetables, fruits, nuts, dairy and poultry products. With modern technology and adequate investment, large quantities of food can be produced from small areas. With more investment, agriculture can be made more efficient, which means food at a cheaper cost. But these foods have a cost. The poor cannot afford many foods (dairy, poultry products, etc), resulting in malnutrition. The very poor cannot afford to pay for basic foods unless they are heavily subsidised, which the government cannot afford. The result is that the very poor go hungry. So, the problem is not the shortage of food but the poverty of the people. The solution is to produce food at a cheaper cost. India generally produces very little per acre. It produces inefficiently, resulting in a high cost. Even when surpluses are created — as is the case of wheat and rice in Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, the cost of production is so high that the poor cannot afford even when farmers have made no or very little profit. It cannot be sold in international market as agri-efficient countries produce at a cheaper cost. We need to produce food in abundance at a cheaper cost. In fact, that is the aim of every developed country. These governments also make sure that farming remains profitable and the farmer enjoys the same affluence and lifestyle as his counterpart in industry or business. India has failed on all three accounts: abundance of food, availability at a lower cost, and keeping farmers and farming financially healthy. With our rapidly growing billion-plus population, unemployment, an inadequate industrial base, high illiteracy but the abundance of agricultural resources, land is often thought to be the solution to Indian poverty. In the past 50 years land has been indiscriminately parcelled out in very small units and given to landless labour through legislation under the cover of "land reform laws". This is nothing but the distribution of poverty, not the distribution of wealth. Small units of land are uneconomical which our poor and uneducated farmer can never afford. All these uneconomic units produce very little at an extremely high cost. These "land reform laws" became popular as politicians had their vote banks. Even when the poor owner could not survive on such small units, earning a fraction of the minimum wage fixed for the farm labourer, it was "real estate" for him and he could sell it. Everybody was happy except the farmer whose land was taken away from him and distributed in small units to many. But there was not enough food being produced. This brought no prosperity to the small farmer or to India. Only the pride of ownership to the landless and votes to politicians. With ridiculously low ceiling in land-holdings limited to 20 or 30 acres in the 1950s subsequently by amendment to reduce these to less than 18 acres per family in the early 1970s and normal inheritance laws, over 90 per cent land in India is now in small uneconomic units that cannot be cultivated efficiently. These so-called "land reform laws" have made the whole country suffer as Indian agriculture went backward to greater inefficiency. Intelligent people with resources, better education and entrepreneurial spirit left farming for other more lucrative professions. Indian farming is now left to the poor, uneducated and the ignorant with little ambitions or skills who have no option to shift to any other profession. Over the last 50 years knowledgeable persons in agriculture development have disappeared. Compounding this fact is the truth that not enough infrastructure was developed 50 years. Whatever was built was inadequate or needed supplementary infrastructure to be useful. Capital investment on agriculture from the private sector remains extremely low as farmers cannot afford to invest on their farms, and in the pubic sector government apathy has resulted in India producing too little at a very high cost. Even when temporary wheat and rice surpluses are created, as in Punjab and Haryana, the poor cannot afford to pay its cost price, and it is too expensive for export in the world markets. In agriculturally backward areas like Bihar, Orissa, and MP the production per unit of land is much lower and, therefore, the cost much higher than in Punjab and Haryana. Our post-harvest of all foods (cereals and perishable foods) is primitive, inefficient, wasteful and expensive. We have all witnessed frequent gluts of potatoes, vegetables and now poultry products, etc. Subsidies cannot make miniscule size land-holdings viable or economical. Large-scale infrastructure is expensive. Our governments have repeatedly failed to invest and make commitments in budgets for long-gestation agri-infrastructure, the only solutions to our food problems. Yet subsidies have been considered a solution for the past 50 years and become fashionable with every government at the Centre and in the states. All kinds of subsidies exist in India. Subsidies breed corruption. However, I do not suggest that subsidies should be done away with. What I say most emphatically is that the agriculture sector should first get massive investments to improve productivity. Subsidies alone cannot help. Often it is said that governments of developed countries give huge subsidies to their farmers. And that Indian agriculture does not get much subsidy. Whatever it gets is a fraction of what European, American or Japanese governments give to their farmers. There are different kinds of subsidies. There are good subsidies and bad subsidies. Bad subsidies, after 10 years or more, keep the farmer dependent on the government and farming operations inefficient. Good subsidies are those that in due course make the farmer independent and efficient. Most subsidies given by the government of India as also by the Punjab and Haryana governments are bad ones. Electricity subsidies or free electricity is a glaring example, especially when the farmer is already charged at a lower rate than industry. A perpetual subsidy in the form of the support price for wheat and rice does not make the farmer self-sufficient or internationally competitive. A paradox has emerged when Rs 610 per quintal as the support price for wheat to the Punjab and Haryana farmers does not give a sufficient profit margin for their efforts, investments and risks yet it is too high a price for the poorest in India, and is too high a price for export markets. To complete this paradox, the government already has a record surplus of 50 million tonnes stored in godowns that cannot be sold. The government has invested tens of thousands of crores of rupees in buying these surpluses, and over hundreds of crores of rupees accrue bank interest every year that the government cannot afford to pay. The government has no money to buy more of wheat and rice and has now decided to export at half the price. The solution to this wheat-rice problem lies elsewhere. We have been 30 years late in recognising it. Even before 1980 it was quite clear to agricultural exports that India would have a surplus of cereals, and they should now concentrate on improving other crops, starting with pulses and oil crops. All pulses as also oil crops have extremely low yields. Scientific advances in plant breeding can be applied to the pulses and oil crops as also to vegetables, fruits, poultry, dairy, etc. Pulses and oil crops are very important in India. Pulses supply the bulk of protein in vegetarian food, and oil is essential to all. Currently, we import oil worth thousands of crores of rupees. If our agricultural scientists and agri-universities had concentrated in the past 30 years on finding high-yielding varieties for all crops, and not concentrated only on wheat and rice, Punjab and Haryana farmers would have had alternative crops more remunerative than wheat and rice. As it is even a high price of pulses and oil crops because of very low yields does not make profitable for farmers to grow. If wheat and rice prices are lowered to make pulses and oil crops competitive, it will be a total disaster for Indian agriculture. Punjab and Haryana farmers do not need subsidies on fertilisers, or free electricity or the support price on wheat and paddy, as all these are bad subsidies and counter-productive. What the farmers need is high-yielding varieties of expensive crops that will give them a gross return of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh per acre per year, Rs 10,000 and not Rs 20,000 per acre that they get now. There are dozens of such crops and agri-enterprises. Regrettably, no agri-university or agri-scientists in India has worked on any such crop consistently with the resources required because all governments have not felt the need for it. It exposes their ignorance in modern technology and research findings. Developed countries have high-yielding varieties for almost all cereals, oil crops, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and dairy, piggery and poultry products. Consequently, these countries, with a much higher density of population than in India, are self-sufficient or have surpluses. Their yields are substantially higher. India too can produce more than it does and at a lower cost. But the government will have to change its approach. (The writer is a former agriculture consultant at the UN and the World Bank.) |
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Orchestrated anti-India sentiment THERE seems an uncanny resemblance in the way that anti-Indian sentiment began coordinatedly to be expressed in Kathmandu after the massacre of King Birendra and his family members; and in the way that — a few days after — an evidently organized mob collected to shout slogans against the police and the Union and State Governments in Kashmir after the grenade blast at the shrine of Sheikh Noorudin Wali in Charar-e-Sharif last week. It was almost as if the public “protests” in the two places were orchestrated. These are two very recent instances. Externally inspired and orchestrated anti-India sentiment in J-K and Nepal — and also elsewhere in the sub-continent — is by no means new. Consider the two latest instances separately. At Charar-e-Sharif a rumour made the rounds almost immediately after the blast that a policeman in uniform had thrown the grenade, and that when the crowd chased him he had left behind his bullet-proof jacket. It is hardly likely that a policeman wearing his uniform would venture to throw a terrorist bomb! On the other hand, if a terrorists intended that people should think it was the police that committed the crime, they would have the grenade-thrower dress up in police uniform. Terrorists not only in J-K but also elsewhere are known to have used such a disguise in order to mislead people. J-K police chief Ashok Suri has been quoted to say “militant groups employ motivators to instigate people against the security forces, in addition to preparing them for joining the ranks of the militants”. There is, he said, evidence frequently of an organised “disinformation campaign which the militants launch against the police”. And, of course, the central and state governments. It may be noted that the terrorists in J-K — mostly Pakistan-based — have, since the end of New Delhi’s “unilateral ceasefire”, been more definitely at the receiving end of the security forces’ counter-insurgency action than previously. At the same time they have tended to increase their own depredations. Not being Kashmiri themselves, they do not usually seem inhibited by any stake in the well-being of the people of J-K. Indeed, more and more, they have tended to aim their attacks on religious places. In May, militants entered a mosque at Shopian in Pulwama district of southern Kashmir — they were given safe passage because the security forces did not want to damage the mosque: why were they not starved out, with nothing and nobody allowed to come out or go into the mosque? After that came the cowardly throwing of the grenade among women praying at the shrine of Sheikh Noorudin Wali. Last Sunday militants entered a mosque at Kokernag in Anantnag district. It is not clear yet why the terrorists have chosen to enter religious places for their criminal activity. The reason usually offered is that the terrorists are foreign and Sunni; they have little sympathy for the Sufi tradition of worship in Jammu-Kashmir. That is why, it is said, they enter places of worship without hesitation even if they desecrate them in the eyes of the local inhabitants. This is of course possible, but other reasons, including political strategy, could be part of the terrorists’ brazen dismissal of local religious susceptibilities. Incidentally, the coincidence has not gone unnoticed of Vajpayee’s invitation to Pervez Musharraf following shortly after the visit to Islamabad of Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. During Zhu’s visit, China for the first time in about half a century, publicly appreciated and endorsed Pakistan’s stand on J-K. It is not clear if Zhu realized immediately the implication for Tibet of Pakistan’s constant refrain about self-determination in J-K “according to the UN Resolutions”. The implication was — and is — that Zhu, doubtless unintendedly, legitimised the possibility of a similar demand, by Tibetans and the international community, for self-determination in Tibet. In fact, the legitimacy for such a demand ought to flow in any case from the 1959 report by the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, on the status of Tibet. It seems inevitable that the implication for the Tibet issue in Zhuhu’s appreciation and endorsement of Pakistan’s stand on J-K should impinge also in some ways on Nepal. In the north Nepal borders on Tibet; and in the south it has an open border with India — making the question of security a nightmare for New Delhi. There may or may not be any connection, but the anti-Government and anti-police wave at Charar-e-Sharif was curiously similar, in the way it came, to the anti-India wave in Kathmandu. For no clear reason or link with the happenings in Kathmandu’s Narayanhiti Palace, a wave of anti-India sentiment swept through Nepal — through, mainly, the region round the capital and the close-by urban areas. It was in a sense repetition of the kind of rumour-based anti-India sentiment that burst suddenly when, some months ago, the actor Hrithik Roshan was widely quoted to have made anti-Nepal remarks, which in fact he never made. Then, too, there seemed to be an organized attempt to whip up anti-India feeling in the masses. Not that official India — and also to some extent non-official India — is not guilty of generally conducting relations with Nepal insensitively. A number of deplorable instances of this can be summoned. But the kind of obviously organized anti-India sentiment that has been experienced now is more than ordinarily puzzling. Last week, raging mobs burnt a number of national Indian dailies; some Indian journalists were manhandled; a couple of TV channels were blacked out; and crowds demonstrated in the streets of Kathmandu shouting anti-Indian slogans. Some commentators have placed the responsibility for the obviously organized anti-India sentiment on the only really organized party in that country, complete with a disciplined and “ideologically” motivated cadre — the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The name of the party is itself sufficient indication of where the partyy’s sympathies lie, and of its likely source of inspiration. Padmaratna Tuladhar, who has been from all accounts mediating between the Koirala government and the Maoists, is reported to have told Indian pressmen that after the massacre in the palace, there had been no contact between him and the CPN(M). Last Friday, the Maoists were reported to have held a public meeting in the suburbs of Kathmandu and to have distributed pamphlets damning India, among other things. The Maoists have not supported the enthronement of Gyanendra. They are ostensibly against Nepal’s monarchy — which became and had for some years been constitutional under the late Birendra — and against a multi-party system. Their reach is evident in the fact that they attacked Gyanendrara’s coming to kingship in an article, which was published by a prominent newspaper. The publication of the article landed the editor, Yuvraj Ghimre, in jail. The Maoists are said to have their base in Nepal’s mid-western districts and to be active primarily in about thirty of Nepal’s 75 districts. Their so-called “ideological” — difficult to distinguish from terrorist — activity has since 1996 caused the death of about 2,500 people. It is said Nepal’s Maoists have established close links with the Maoist People’s War Group, active in a number of Indian states. A good deal of apprehension has been caused in India’s security circles by the possibility that Nepal’s Maoists are closely linked with Pakistani intelligence, which in turn is said to be more than commonly beholden to the Chinese security establishment. It may be recalled that China’s connection with and influence over Afghanistan’s Taliban and Taliban-connected fundamentalist “Islamists” has been widely confirmed. The reported establishment therefore of some private madrassas along the Indo-Nepal border, from West Champaran to Kishenganj district in Bihar, have caused a good deal of concern. The madrassas are said to be funded by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — but this could be conjecture, though it is fairly certain that the funds come from outside India. Students who are taught in the madrassas could be coached eventually to become “religious” fanatics, functioning on external “Islamist” direction. To add to the concern perceptible in security circles, some parts of the stretch where these madrassas have been established are said to be “centres of undesirable activities — such as Choradaon in East Champaran, Khairwa and Ghorasaon”. It is of course entirely possible that last week’s uncanny resemblance in organized anti-India sentiment at Charar-e-Sharif and at Kathmandu was accidental. Such coincidences are not unknown in history. For all that, the coincidence does lead to serious reflection.
(Asia Features) |
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Individual liberty vs IT SHOULD individual liberty be superceded by state or corporate edicts, backed by political or money power? On several occasions the Delhi telephone system tapes messages, usually between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., advertising polio or AIDS drug therapy and transmitting good wishes on social or religious festivals. Obviously, the corporate agency controlling the telephone system is paid for these intrusions, depriving telephone users of sub-exchanges or main exchanges from paid calls, some of important or not-so-important significance. Information Technology (IT) is a utility service and transmission of messages to every one is an onslaught on individual liberty and must be stopped forthwith. Human values, freedom for the individual if it does not limit freedom of others, are precious gifts of the 21st century and must not be nullified. For instance, on Mahavir Jayanti on April 6, good wishes were repeated on telephones in Delhi. Who paid for the tape message? By all means, greetings should be directed by those who wish to do so to their friends, but why on a mandatory basis, paralysing the telephones of the people for one or two beliefs and values? Postal system and ‘junk’ mail In developed countries of Europe and North America, commercial mail is not accepted automatically by the postal system and if an individual asks the commercial agency or postal system not to dump “junk mail” he or she may insist on compensation for removal of paper “garbage” dumped in personal post boxes in homes in the areas where “garbage collection” has to be paid for as part of civic levies or as other state receipts. Already, hoardings which hamper flow of traffic, obliterate natural beauty or are otherwise unsightly, are prohibited because they negate individual liberty. Similarly, it is imperative that utility services should not temporarily suspend their beneficial roles for gains at the expense of those who pay for them. Further, in our composite culture, linguistic diversity and multiplicity of faiths and religious persuasions, it is now essential to refrain from inflicting unwelcome messages. Educational edicts Recently, it is reported that in Northern States, Sanskrit should be a compulsory subject in 10 and 12 grades. By all means this is excellent edict if only because Sanskrit a classical language and has literary treasures unrivalled elsewhere. But why could individual students not be offered a choice? Greeks, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Malayalam, Tamil and Pali-Praknit — to name a few classical languages — have their own attractive corpus of knowledge. If the educational authorities have the resources to provide facilities for teaching other classical languages, students should be invited to select what they need, not only for utilisation purposes but also for broadening their intellectual vision and horizon. Good citizens do not necessarily live by bread alone: they must also be fed on spiritual, intellectual fare. Languages are bridges for harmony Do languages, classical or modern, divide people and nations? Ideally, they should serve as bridges of understanding and for harmony. If resources are available, we should provide for education of other languages, leaving the choice to students at middle levels or in higher echelons of educational system. State edicts are unpopular in the temples of learning and we must guard ourselves against them, if only to protect our national polity and image. In early 19th century, David Henry Thureau — a contemporary of R.W. Emerson, a poet whose poems were imbued with religious or metaphysical dicta — had insisted that classical languages should be taught at his alma mater, Harvard University, in the USA. Thureau, author of the tract on Civil Disobedience, which inspired Mahatma Gandhi and provided him with the weapon of non-violence, had refused to accept his graduation degree, for which he was eligible, not only as a student but also a scholar, at the convocation ceremony because, he said, as he put it, the Harvard University “taught all the branches (of knowledge) but none of the roots of learning!” Thureau was right in asserting that classical languages should be taught wherever possible but state edicts should not besmirch the purity and beauty of classics. Doubtless, Sanskrit has classics of priceless value but it is also known that Sanskrit teachers are a “dour, motley” group. It is also desirable that Sanskrit should be “made easy”, perhaps by producing teaching aids, appropriate for different age groups. Usually, as the present writer recalls, the ‘pundits’ insist on memorising the declinations of the three genders (male, female and neuter) and about seven grammatical forms, even for proper names! In the maze of Sanskrit grammar the beauty of Sanskrit classics, treatises is overshadowed and students are initially repelled rather than attracted by profound thoughts embedded in them. ‘Madarsa’ ‘Gurukul’ to be ‘centres’ for instruction. As a perceptive educationist recently stated Urdu — and also Arabic and Persian — should step out of the madarsas, tinged with religious motifs; so should Sanskrit and Hindi step out of gurukuls and religious precincts? Education should broaden the mind, not chain it with linguistic shackles. (The write is a retired senior diplomat and former Chief Editor of Indian & Foreign Review, New Delhi.) |
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Promoting
honest thinking by institutionalising it ALL talk about honesty is withering away. However, there still are people who cherish honesty. Honesty and corruption are hostile words. Whosoever talks about honesty feels that he is talking about something impossible. Corruption has become an inseparable part of our life. If it is not reined in, it has the potential of creating chaos and social anarchy. Various governments have made institutional arrangements for rooting out corruption such as the establishment of vigilance departments but little effort appears to have been made to consciously promote honest thinking in an institutional manner. The result is that corruption is increasing day by day and it has now assumed alarming proportions. Honesty and honest people have taken the back seat. It is urgent that there should be some institutional arrangement for promoting honest thinking. For this purpose, any of the existing establishments such as the Department of Vigilance or the Department of Reforms can be restructured to create a permanent set-up within the department to create, develop, monitor and enforce honest thinking. This department can be under the ultimate control of a committee consisting of public-spirited representatives of the Judiciary, the Executive, the Legislature and the Press besides the NGOs involved in this cause. It can be called the Ethics Committee. Below this department there should be institutional arrangements in the offices of the heads of departments and field offices with an appropriate officer assisted by a section of officials to coordinate and implement measures to bring about honest thinking. These departmental and field level agencies can also serve as nodal points for implementing other welfare measures. In every office or institution, there should be a welcome centre at the entrance which should serve as an information provider as well as grievance-redressal point. Every official of the office should man this centre in turn for a few hours every day so that it is ensured that every official gets acquainted with the instructions, practices and procedures concerning that office without harming his normal work. In big institutions, more than one welcome centres can be set up. Wherever possible, arrangements should be made to satisfy the grievance maker on the telephone for the convenience the handicapped, senior citizens and widows. Employees are an important part of the government machinery. It is necessary that the employees should feel satisfied as far as their needs are concerned. One of the basic needs of every one is to have an appropriate dwelling unit. The Government should devise a scheme under which every employee when he reaches the age of 50 or 55 should be assured of a dwelling unit. A compulsory housing fund can be created for this purpose. Different governments have established separate departments of administrative reforms. However, all such measures ultimately are reduced to sermons that remain only on paper. There is almost a complete lack of enforcement machinery. The most important constituent of administrative reforms are the conduct rules for the employees. These conduct rules need to be updated keeping in view the relevant judicial pronouncements. These rules also need to be simplified and made transparent. Enforcing these rules should be the first priority of the Government. Their violation should invite suitable disciplinary action. The civil service rules are not up-dated when new policy instructions are introduced. Contradictory decisions are made leading to un-necessary litigation. These rules should be up-dated periodically. Rules governing the conditions of service of the employees should also be updated, keeping in view the latest judicial decisions, so as to bring about transparency and to ensure that every employee gets his due in time. The ways, methods and techniques adopted by corrupt persons should be scanned, identified and dealt with under the Punishment and Appeal Rules which also need to be streamlined and given more teeth. Every department should prepare its up-to-date manual consisting of its history, aims and objectives and its basic rules and regulations which should serve as information-carrier of that department and it should be within the reach of the beneficiaries. Inventories of permanent and temporary acquisitions of each department should be prepared and these should be put to interdepartmental use subject to reasonable restrictions so that all assets are properly utilised. Indiscipline breeds arbitrariness and corruption. The basic duties of different categories of government employees should be identified and formulated keeping in view the conduct rules and fundamental duties. Powers to punish should be decentralised. It should be the endeavour of the government to ensure that postings and transfers are made in such a way that the potentialities of the employees are put to the optimum use. Social Justice has an important place in democracy. And grievance redressal machinery is an integral part of social justice delivery system. There is an urgent need to revamp the grievance redressal machinery making it simple and effective. This machinery should encompass two wings — redress of grievances of the public and the redress of the grievances of the employees. The state government should ensure that public grievances are redressed at the welcome centre of every office or institution. Arrangements should be made for receiving grievances on the telephone, especially from disadvantaged sections such as the handicapped, widows, old persons etc. The grievances of the employees should be redressed in their departments after giving them a hearing. In every administrative department a jury-like system should be devised for redressing the grievances of the employees and the representationist should always be heard. All orders passed under this system should be well-reasoned. Family welfare associations should be organised in every village and town. The main functions of these associations should be to help the affected families to resolve their disputes in an informal way. Besides, these associations can also be entrusted with the task of overseeing the performance of government functionaries. Government representatives can be included in such associations. Further the Government of India would do a yeoman's service if it introduces a regular feature on the national network on the theme of honest thinking wherein various practices, norms of behaviour and rules, regulations and instructions of the government concerned with the general public, can be discussed and revised. (The writer is a retired government
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Pro-reform President
of Iran UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, after completing a visit to Iran in December, 1997, observed: “The message I am taking away with me is that there is a government in Iran with a President (Mohammad Khatami) who is a man of his times, who is determined to improve the lot of his people..”. As if to confirm the impression of Kofi Annan, President Khatami declared in May, 1998, what he called, without mincing words, his belief. And the people of Iran have endorsed decisively this conviction in last week’s election. Elected more convincingly for a second successive term, President Sayyed Mohammad Khatami had very aptly echoed his belief : “The destiny of religion’s social prestige today and tomorrow will depend on our interpretation of the religion in a manner which would not contradict freedom. Whenever in history a religion has confronted freedom, it has been the religion which has sustained damage. When we speak of freedom we mean the freedom of dissent. It is no freedom if only the people, who agree with those in power and with their ways and means, are considered free.” During his first term President Khatami refused to have his portrait displayed in public buildings but people displayed his pictures in their homes. It was not only the hearts of women he captured by liberating them, if not wholly but partially, but also won the minds of women and men alike, particularly the young. The popularity was reflected in the elections in which Khatami routed the conservatives who had always accused him of undermining the Islamic regime by allowing unprecedented freedoms. His efforts to bring about social and political reforms were blocked by his powerful conservative rivals. In the early years of his first term hardline-led courts closed as many as 40 pro-reform newspapers, jailed prominent allies and arrested dozens of liberal Islamist dissidents in a pre-election crackdown. The massive mandate given by the Iranian people to President Khatami may enable him to overcome hardline opposition and forge ahead with his liberal reforms. He received 21.7 million of the total 28.2 million votes. Thousands of youthful supporters ignored a heavy show of force by the hardline-led police to celebrate Khatami’s victory on streets across Teheran, reported foreign agencies. Soon after his re-election, President Khatami declared that his first priority would be to foster democracy but “principles should be coupled with patience, moderation and prudence”. His landslide victory notwithstanding, he has a long way to go. The old guard entrenched in key power positions still has the guns and ideologically motivated security forces and prisons. The fact, however, remains that Iran needs internet, satellite television, mobile phones and, more importantly, links to the world economy. Educated youth is on side of President Khatami and his reforms programme. Behind a wall in the small, dusty village of Ardakan in central Iran is a spacious mud-coloured house with a stone terrace where Mohammad Khatami was born in the year 1943. His mother, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, was only 15 when she married his father, a learned Ayatollah Ruhollah Khatami. President Khatami’s 77-year old mother, Sakineh Ziai, often repeats a story about her husband : Years before the revolution, the security police summoned Ayotollah Khatami for questioning. But as he entered all the people bowed to him and kissed his hands. The authorities told him to go home. As a child Mohammad Khatami talked about becoming a doctor but his father wanted him to become a cleric. Bowing to the wishes of his father, he went to Qom when he was a teenager to study religion but he wanted to study philosophy as well. His father did not object and sent the son to the best university in the subject in Isfahan. It was here that Mohammad Khatami was exposed to western ideas of freedom and civic responsibility and the notion that they could be incorporated into Islam. He also completed a two-year mandatory military service as a junior lieutenant in the Shah’s army. President Khatami subsequently was involved in political activities and anti-Shah campaign. He began his political activities at the Association of Muslim Students of Isfahan university and worked closely with Ayatollah Khomeini’s late son and martyr Mohammad Montazeri. After the revolution in 1979, he replaced Ayatollah Dr Beheshti as head of Hamburg Islamic Centre in Germany. He represented Ardakan and Melbod constituencies in the first term of the ‘Majlis” in 1980 and in 1982 was appointed the Minister for Culture and Islamic Guidance. During the 1980-88 war with Iraq, he served in several posts, including deputy and head of joint command of the armed forces and as chairman of the war propaganda headquarters. He was elected the fifth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in May, 1997, by securing 70 per cent of the votes cast. He speaks English, German and Arabic in addition to Persian. |
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Focus shifts on Devyani now GOSSIP was never considered class in Indian journalism till a few years back. The explosion of information age and free availability of reports from abroad have changed all that. It was Diana’s death that first spurred Indian newspapers to report exhaustively on her private life, lurid details of her affairs and other personal matters. Former US President Bill Clinton only strengthened the interest with papers realising that his escapade with Monica was of more than ordinary interest for the Indian citizen. The Nepal episode has confirmed that with readers looking forward to every juicy detail of late King Dipendra and his consort Devyani. Scribes in the capital have been quick to dig up details of Dipendra’s affair with Devyani. Her school days have been revisited, her behaviour commented upon and her family’s Indian connections established. With the official probe confirming the close relations between Dipendra and Devyani, the focus has now shifted on the charming lady. The fact that she was the last to speak to Dipendra before the carnage in the Kingdom took
place, has made her much sought after. Sources who claim to know Devyani say she was whisked away from the Kingdom barely 15 minutes after the killings took place in the Palace. She has been described as a charming lady with her head firmly on her shoulders. A graduate from Lady Shriram College in Delhi, she pursued a course on water management in the Kingdom. She likes all the good things in life and has no qualms in being seen in public doing so. She and Dipendra were regularly spotted in Kathmandu’s discos, restaurants and other places. According to one version there was a point of time when Devyani had taken a dislike for the crown prince. However, her ambitious parents, who wanted to see her as queen, encouraged her to be friendly with Dipendra. All these bits of information are, however, unsubstantiated and only a meeting with Devyani herself can clear much of the doubts. Devyani’s friends believe that she will come out with her version of the story and she would be able to get over all this and lead a life of her own. Grapevine has it that she may be staying in a villa in a plush South Delhi colony. In the days to come it appears Kathmandu will give way to Delhi. Mulayam lost The finalisation of the Sukhoi deal with Russia was a moment to cheer for the Indo-Russian ties, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So it was only in order that the Russian Ambassador threw a party at his residence to celebrate the continuing bilateral relations between the two countries. The talk at the party centred around the Sukhoi deal and other areas of cooperation. It was at this juncture that former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav walked in. The Samajwadi Party leader was lost in the crowd and there were not many who seemed to recognise him. Perhaps not many knew that it was Mulayam Singh Yadav who had taken the initiative in striking the Sukhoi aircraft deal. Unfazed by the lack of attention, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister went up to the scribes and started chatting with them. He was finally spotted by a protocol officer and taken promptly to meet the Ambassador. Domicile bonds What to do when your request is turned down by the in-laws? Seek help from your parents. Mrs Chandresh Kumari, MP, who heads the All India Mahila Congress, had to do something similar when her request for space for hosting a press-conference-cum-lunch was turned down by the authorities at Himachal Bhavan in the Capital. The Press conference was regarding National Council meeting of the Mahila Congress in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi was to be the main speaker. Mrs Kumari, who hails from a royal family in Rajasthan and is married in Himachal Pradesh, then turned to authorities in the Rajasthan Bhavan who obliged by agreeing to provide their facilities for hosting the lunch. That there is a Congress government in Rajasthan did help make matters easy. Battle for UP That the battle for Uttar Pradesh will be the toughest and the most crucial electoral contest for the Congress in recent times is well known to the party. But will its belated thrust to reinvent itself in the state work? Not many Congressmen are optimistic. The problem, a senior party leader pointed out, is that there were no “UP leaders” in the Uttar Pradesh Congress but only “national leaders.” Compared to Ms Mayawati or Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav who have grass-root contacts in all Uttar Pradesh villages, there is no Congress leader with such wide contacts and deep understanding of local issues. On the contrary, state Congress leaders were not sure of even the members of their executive and, in the list of office-bearers announced recently, named some MLAs who had joined the BJP. Lack of mass leaders is hitting the Congress deep and it has decided to summon the services of party Chief Ministers who are likely to be made incharge of specific areas in electoral contest for the huge state. For the party leaders hope that even if the Congress crosses the mark of 50 in the over-400-member Assembly, it will not be a mean achievement. It could, in the process, help thwart BJP’s bid to retain power. Editorial churning A major editorial churning seems to be in the offing in the major national dailies in the capital. According to grapevine, the Editor of the largest selling daily in the capital, Vir Sanghvi, is to move over to electronic media as head of one of the news channels. Prabhu Chawla, it is said, will be moving over from India Today to Hindustan Times in place of Sanghvi. Dilip Padgaonkar of The Times of India is tipped to move to the Prime Minister’s Office in place of H.K. Dua, who has taken up an ambassadorial assignment. Amidst all the proposed changes, there are some Editors who are very unhappy. Tarun Vijay of Panchjanya and Seshadri Chari of Organiser, both mouthpiece of the RSS, who were hoping for an assignment at the PMO are ruing over being left high and dry. (Contributed by Satish Misra, T.V.Lakshminarayan and Prashant Sood) |
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Dipendra died soon after massacre THE Nepal story ( no, can’t call it a plain and simple love story) is getting more and more complex. In fact, from day one, there were numerous apprehensions raised and not just for the heck of it. In fact the very first day I had spoken to a senior foreign diplomat who travels to Kathmandu on a regular basis, as he is the visiting envoy of his country to Nepal though his base is in New Delhi. And he told me that according to his Kathmandu-based sources crown prince Dipendra had died immediately after the shoot-out but the Koirala government had decided to announce it after a gap of two days. He added that according to his sources it was very clear that it wasn’t a ‘simple’ shoot-out, rather a shoot-out that signifies the end of monarchy. And that in turn means that though King Gyanendra would be allowed to function as a puppet king it could also herald the start of a Communist backed regime. Meanwhile, there is immense apprehension about Devyani Rana’s safety. As I had mentioned in last week’s column she is said to be here in India and not out of the country as reported in certain sections of the media. There is fear that there could be pressure on her parents to get her statement recorded or to get her back to Kathmandu so that another round of enquiry takes place, as the gaps in the first enquiry begin to show up. And here at the Nepalese Embassy it is impossible to get any feedback. In fact, today the Press Attache did come on the telephone line ( after a day’s efforts) but refused to give any definite answers to any of the queries. And though he didn’t quite confirm Devyani’s presence in the country, he didn’t deny it either. Another person who could have given his comments on the developments in Nepal is former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar — said to be close to leading Nepalese families — but he is away on tour and will be back only around the third week of this month. The other two prominent Indians with direct connections with Nepalese families are Dr Karan Singh and also Madhavrao Scindia but they have also been silent on the developments in that country. In fact Scindia is the maternal uncle of Devyani and this could be one reason why he has decided to be away from the media glare. President’s
gold(en) moments.... June 7 was President K.R. Narayanan’s 50th wedding anniversary. It was a dignified celebration of sorts — in the sense that the President and the First Lady Usha Narayanan invited members of the old students association of the London School of Economics (after all he is also an old LSE boy) and some close friends for a quiet dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Their’s was a fairytale
romance, with the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru not playing the spoilsport’s role, rather giving the goahead for the marriage. For don’t forget the fact that, at the time, Mr K.R. Narayanan was an Indian Foreign Service officer and Usha nee Ma Tin Tin was a Burmese national and according to rules no IFS officer could marry a foreigner without prior permission of the government. Once during an interview that she gave me she said “Pandit Nehru was very gracious about it and immediately gave the goahead, adding that Burma is a friendly country …” Latest from Suresh Kohli Though I had met Suresh Kohli a couple of times at Dr Mulk Raj Anand’s home but it was only later that I realised that he carried a loadful of filmi stories with him, when I read the series he did for a national daily on Bollywood people. That’s when I realised how passionately and emotionally involved he seemed about them (at least about some of them). Interestingly in spite of those distractions he managed to keep up with his literary activities. Space constraints come in the way but to get to the crux, Suresh Kohli is starting a comprehensive series on literary figures on the Indian scene for DD ( why DD ?) , and is also in the midst of completing his second novel. “It begins with a young girl getting molested on the night Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated …” What’s the connection between the two? “No, no connection except that there’s a certain historic backdrop to the novel …” says 52 year old Kohli who insists on not missing any opportunity to say how greatly fond he is of women! Yes indeed! That’s why his talented wife Chetna is always beside him with a cool, ‘in control’ smile! Very painful happenings There couldn’t have been a more painful and traumatic anniversary for the Palestinians ‘Alnakbah’ (Occupation of Palestine) — May 30....... “People in all the West Asia/Arab countries are seething in anger at the way Israelis are using force on unarmed civilians, the masses are out on the streets protesting against Israel ... People’s power is holding sway, bridging together political differences between the different Arab nations and the latest decision by the 56 OIC countries to boycott Israel is nothing but bowing of the governments to the demands of their people who are very , very angry at the way Palestinians are being subjected to the worse possible tortures in their own country …... imagine F16s are being used on an unarmed civilian population …....” says the New Delhi based Syrian journalist and political analyst Dr WSH Awwad . And two big questions come up — the role of the UN in this crisis and also the role being played by the Indian Government with its very obvious tilt towards Israel. |
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