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Sunday, February 24, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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GUEST COLUMN A VIEWPOINT Civic poll results make Cong, NCP jittery |
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Contempt for law: Mumbai’s elite leads the way Of PM’s utterances
Harihar Swarup
PM’s men still have a say in Union Budget
Humra Quraishi
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GUEST COLUMN A
few months back, a young man, crying with pain, came to my office. At first, it appeared as if he was begging. But later it turned out that he was neither a patient nor a beggar. Someone had removed his kidney after completing the legal formalities. In the process, he was duped and reduced to a crippled person. All this was done right under the nose of the guardians of the law! For some inexplicable reasons, the Human Rights Commission did not come forward to help him. He had come from Bihar to Punjab in search of a job, and had landed in Amritsar, which is well known for its holy temples, free lunches and subsidised dharmashalas. Some businessmen came forward to help him. He was made to understand that he could get Rs one lakh by parting with one of his two kidneys and was assured that there would be no charges for his treatment. He agreed and the kidney was removed. However, he got only Rs 37,000, and that too did not remain with him. Some musclemen of the kidney traders thrashed him and snatched away the money. No post-operation treatment was given to him. He was threatened with dire consequences if he revealed this to anyone. This is the story of a man who in the prime of his youth was transformed into an old, maimed person, thanks to the greedy kidney traders and surgeons. What surprised me much more was his apprehension that he could be arrested. I failed to understand at that time why should he be afraid of the police at all? Then I realised that he could be charged with the crime of selling human organs or with attempting suicide and put behind the bars with none to arrange for a bail, a lawyer or to fight his case. I now realise why the victim was afraid of the guardians of the law! In the British system, the goddess of justice has been portrayed with a set of scales in her hand and a black band over her eyes. It symbolises fairness of justice in which the judgement is given to the victims in an even-handed manner after balancing truth and falsehood in a scale and without succumbing to any pressure or temptation. From my experience in India, I am convinced that as long as a black band covers the eyes of the goddess of justice, no victim can get justice. With her eyes closed, the goddess of justice will never be able to see how certain people are often present in the court as “hired” or professional” witnesses. The black band suggests that justice should be imparted fairly. But two separate items on both sides of the scales cannot be valued only according to their weight. Gold will have to be valued differently from iron even if they are of identical weight. Speedy justice is a mirage today. For instance, seven youth in Amritsar jail remained in custody for 17 months. Thereafter, they have been serving the jail terms towards the punishment awarded to them. The court took 17 months to decide their cases and then punished them for two years. In addition, they were fined Rs 10,000 each. Since none of them is capable of paying the fine, they will have to undergo an additional jail term for six months. The people who have no money to engage lawyers, buy or hire witnesses and arrange for bail, those who are poor and insecure, should be allowed to remain in jail before their cases are decided, or after their jail terms are over. If such a law could be enacted for the hapless lot, they can stay in the jail and have food, clothes, shelter, free medical facilities and some wages too for their hard work in the jail. Reverting to the issue in question, the person who sold his kidney apparently belongs to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. Otherwise, having come all the way from his home town, he would not have dispensed with his kidney. The rich buyer of the kidney did not even bother to ascertain whether the cost of the kidney reached the seller so that the latter could get proper treatment. The Amritsar police deserves credit for having exposed the kidney scandal. The news instantly hit the newspaper headlines. However, when they were hauling the criminals, the big fish escaped and the small and weak ones were caught. Seven such helpless people are now in jail. These criminals are really the kidney-losers with cut-up bellies who can neither afford treatment nor go to the court because they are below the poverty line. I would like to appeal to legal luminaries, intellectuals, the Medical Council of India and others to investigate how many kidneys have been transplanted in the last 18 months after removing them from the poor donors, whether the kidney-donors were paid the cost of their kidneys and how many donors were cheated of the promised money. To check the exploitation of poor donors, kidney sale should be legalised so that the sellers or “donors” of kidneys are paid a fixed amount either before a court of law or a medical committee. This will ensure that kidney buyers meet the treatment cost of the donors. The person receiving the money should be sent to his village with police protection. The buyer should settle in advance the cost of treatment and other expenses of the donor. He could be paid money by a crossed DD payable at the bank near his residence. This is bound to minimise the hardship of the poor and eliminate middlemen who fleece both the buyer and the seller of the kidneys. It would be better if the Supreme Court or the National Human Rights Commission forms a special committee to find out how many real (fake?) affidavits were taken from the kidney donors. If a little further inquiry is done, it might be found out that in 90 per cent cases, the kidney receivers would not even know the names and addresses of the kidney donors, because the latter might have already left for their homes, or might have been thoroughly thrashed or sent to jail where they might be cursing their fate in having been deprived of everything — their kidneys, money, health and even the normal routine life. The writer is a member of Punjab Legislative Assembly. |
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A VIEWPOINT One fails to understand the noise about the introduction of astrology teaching in the Indian educational institutions. From time immemorial, astrology has wielded pervasive or peripheral influence in many civilisations, both ancient and modern. The scientists and intellectuals who dismiss astrology as a myth or superstition have not so far produced any tangible evidence to establish their claim. Nor have they examined the factual evidence for astrology collected over thousands of years — facts that defy rational explanation by the current scientific theories. As the story goes, the renowned Nobel Laureate Sir C.V. Raman was once performing religious rituals with offerings of food to his ancestors at Gaya. Someone said to him, “Sir, you are such a great scientist but how can you believe that this food would reach your ancestors”. Sir Raman smiled and replied, “I cannot prove that this will not reach them”. The pursuit of knowledge demands banishment of pre-conceived notions and prejudices. The universe is full of mysteries and the faith in supernatural teaches man that he knows much less than he thinks. We should have an open mind on all questions and also keep alive our spirit of inquiry. There is no doubt about the popularity of astrology all over the world. It is estimated that more than half the population either believes in it or interested enough to consult astrologers and read predictions published in the media. Since the beginning of 20th century there is a marked resurgence of interest in astrology in America and the number of practising astrologers could match that of psychiatrists. In India, the vedic period witnessed remarkable flowering of astrology. There is vast amount of Sanskrit literature on the subject explaining the complex system and techniques evolved over the centuries by the learned sages and philosophers. Astrology has always been recognised and respected as a noble profession. Hindu astrologers were consulted by the Mughal emperors and later by the British rulers. Through astrology, people explored the prospects of their health, wealth and happiness. Every venture, activity and even a journey was undertaken on the advice of astrologers who pronounced the auspiciousness of the day and time. No wonder, astrology was raised to the status of a science in India. We come across a fascinating account by James Forbes in his famous work ‘Oriental Memoirs’ (1813) about some startling predictions by a well-known Brahmin astrologer of Bombay which came true. One relates to the appointment of Mr Hodges as Governor of Bombay in 1767 which was prophesised by the astrologer many years before when he was a young official of the East India Company. The narrative makes a very interesting reading. In 1766, orders were issued appointing his junior Mr Spencer as Governor to succeed the current incumbent Mr Crommelin. Hodges lodged a strong protest complaining of injustice in the court of company directors whereupon he was suspended from service by the Governor and Council of Bombay and the matter reported to London. When Hodges informed the Brahmin astrologer about this, the latter stuck to his prediction and assured him that Spencer would never succeed. Anyhow, Hodges began preparing for his return voyage to England. Surprisingly, just on the eve of his departure, a letter was received from London cancelling Spencer’s appointment in the light of some serious charges against him while he was posted in Bengal and at the same time appointing Hodges as Governor as reward for his long admirable service record. Thereafter, Hodges developed such a deep faith and respect for his astrologer that throughout his career, he undertook no important step without consulting him. The other case refers to a young English lady in Bombay who was on her way to join her husband at Surat. On the eve of her departure, the same Brahmin astrologer happened to visit her host family in Bombay. The host jokingly asked him to tell the destiny of the young lady. To the surprise of everybody, the Brahmin gave her a penetrating and compassionate look and said in the native language understood by the host that “her cup of felicity is full — and a bitter poison awaits her for which she must prepare”. How prophetic were his words since on her arrival in Surat, she found her husband critically ill and he expired in her arms. Forbes after citing these cases pays tribute to the ancient wisdom of Hindustan where arts and science, learning and philosophy, and the sublimest poetry were encouraged by the native sovereigns at a time when Greece and Rome were involved in darkness, and Egypt herself was probably in a state of comparative barbarism”. He adds that despite the ravages of history, there still remain those who adore God in his unity, and cherish the sublime ideas inculcated by the old seers and sages. It is not easy to determine the limits of their researches, or the gifts and talents they possessed. As regards my personal experience, I must admit that predictions by astrologers have indeed come true on many occasions. Almost every Hindu, irrespective of his belief in astrology gets the new born child’s horoscope drawn. Those with absolute faith would even approach the astrologer to determine the influence of the child’s planetary combination on the well-being and prosperity of the near and dear ones. The horoscope serves as a reference document to determine the auspicious timing for functions, new ventures and pursuits in life in order to ensure success. In matrimonial alliances, the astrologers are usually asked to examine the horoscopes of the prospective groom and bride in order to establish their compatibility. I am reminded of an interesting incident at the golden wedding anniversary celebrations of a lively couple known to me. Someone asked the man what did he see in the woman whom he married half a century ago. The man smiled and answered, “I never saw her before marriage, the whole thing was arranged by my parents after due deliberations with the family astrologer and I think they were right”. |
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Civic poll results make Cong, NCP jittery After having gifted away the Mumbai Municipal Corporation(MMC) to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra is at pains to assure the people that there is no threat to the government's stability. But there is no guarantee that the sniping against each other will not continue. All through the election campaign Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had publicly abused the leaders of each others' parties. Now they claim that they had come together under the banner of the Democratic Front to form the government to “keep the communal forces” out. They failed to apply the same principle to the elections to the corporation or panchayats and zila parishads. Three men in the Congress must share the blame for the ascendancy of the Sena-BJP in the MMC—Sunil Dutt, MP, Gurudas Kamat, former MP, and Govindrao Adik, President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. Mr Bhujbal had suggested an alliance between the two Congress parties before the elections to ensure that the secular votes were not split. Mumbai Pradesh Congress president Murli Deora and Mr Deshmukh, were not averse to the idea. It was Mr Adik, Mr Dutt and Mr Kamat who scuttled the chances of an understanding. Mr Adik was perhaps anxious to prove to his party president that the MPCC under him could defeat the Sena-BJP in the MMC. Mr Kamat had an old animosity towards NCP president Sharad Pawar and declared that he could never agree to work with him, so long as he went on abusing Mrs Sonia Gandhi and question her “nationality”. Mr Dutt agreed with him and, one suspects, acted as the Trojan horse within the Congress. Mr Dutt has, by his action, done a good deed to the Sena, in gratitude for that party having bailed out his son Sanjay Dutt when he was involved in the serial bomb blast case in Mumbai in March 1993. Even Congress sympathisers openly allege that they had never seen a more corrupt government run by their party in the past. Supporters of the minister, some widely known and recognised as “fixers”, brazenly occupy the minister's secretaries' chairs and make lavish use of the telephone, fax machines and other communication modes to push through their own deals. Some of these operators have a dubious reputation inside or outside ministry and their presence in the minister's chamber or the extent of their operations cannot be without the minister's
knowledge. But the misuse of the governmental machinery can be checked at the secretarial, clerical or staff levels. That this is not being done shows laxity, inefficiency or complicity. The NCP can today claim that it has its own mayor in at least one municipal corporation — Ulhasnagar. It owes this success to Pappu Kalani, who had been under detention for a long period on charges of extortion, kidnapping and other serious charges. In his absence his wife Jyoti Kalani floated a new party and on the eve of the elections, merged it with the NCP. The final results prompted the main organiser of the NCP campaign, Mr Narendra Verma, Youth Congress leader, to publicly comment that it proved that “corruption was no longer an issue with the electorate”. He is one of the trusted lieutenants of Mr Pawar and had contested the last Assembly elections. Now that it has captured the corporation, the Sena-BJP can be expected to carry out their own private agenda without any hindrance. The Sena-BJP victory is all the more remarkable in that it had throughout the campaign been marred by acute rivalry between Bal Thackeray's son Uddhav and his nephew Raj. Uddhav has emerged as the architect of the safforn front victory and establishing his claim to be his father's successor. The differences between the two cousins had triggered the emergence of several dissidents, who had left the Sena to contest against the official candidates. Five of them won the elections and may, in all probability, be pardoned and taken into the Sena fold. All those who have been smarting under the NCP attacks on their party president have ostensibly no qualms of conscience over allowing the Congress-NCP government to continue. |
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Contempt for law: Mumbai’s elite leads the way Murli Deora’s name was mentioned because it was he who was instrumental in filing a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court which resulted in a recent ruling banning smoking in public places. The Rang Bhavan was an open arena, but it was a public place because it was packed with people. The stylishly-dressed woman who was seated next to me, lighted one cigarette after the other and by the time the three-hour show was over, had smoked nearly 15 cigarettes. I coughed, tried to blow away the smoke by constantly waving my handkerchief. But the woman would not care. Her attitude indicated I go to another seat if I wished to avoid the cigarette smoke. In the front row itself, some seats away from where Sunil Dutt, patron of the Spastics Society and chief guest of the evening was seated, some of the singers were smoking away like mad. The scene would have hurt Murli Deora because the legislation which he had helped to bring about was being so shamelessly flouted by members of his own elitist groups. The men and women who were present at the Rang Bhavan that evening were from the highest rungs of society. I presume they knew to read and write, and followed current affairs fairly closely. The Supreme Court ruling banning smoking in public places had been widely reported in the media and also elicited editorial comment. Yet, if Mumbai’s elite chose to ignore the ruling, it was only due to their utter contempt and disregard for the country’s laws. It was the same crowd which, in their posh clubs and parties, complained against politicians, governments and law enforcement agencies about the general state of the nation. “Everyone is corrupt”, they grumbled, “where is law and order in this country?” Yet, they themselves did not hesitate a bit before lighting up a cigarette and breaking the rules laid down by the Supreme Court. The clouds of cigarette smoke also indicated a particular degree of heartlessness among the audience. The show was to raise funds for the Spastics Society including those children who suffered from cerebral palsy. There are clear indications in the field of medicine that the children of women who smoked during their pregnancies were more prone to such diseases. Besides being one of the major causes for lung, throat and mouth cancers, the use of tobacco also led to several dangerous diseases among pregnant women and their unborn children. Those who did not smoke were also affected adversely by the passive smoke. The day prior to the musical evening, the singers confirmed that the show would be wound up at 10 pm, following yet another Supreme Court ruling which forbid the use of loudspeakers in public places after 10 pm. The Rang Bhavan show did go beyond this time limit though by a narrow margin. Despite increasing awareness about the hazards of noise pollution, sections of the Mumbai elite are now determined to carry on with their activities. This lobby is led by the well known exponent of Hindustani classical music, Pandit Jasraj who has a large fan following. Pandit Jasraj has been making a public issue of the Supreme Court ruling, which, he felt interfered with artistes’ freedom and the spirit of music concerts. He said that it was impossible to put a time limit on the concerts which began only around 10 pm, and warmed up, only during the early hours of the next morning. Following the classical tradition, certain ‘ragas’ could be sung only during the early mornings. How could musicians handle such ragas if the court decreed that loudspeakers should be wound up at 10 pm? Jasraj and his group of elite musicians had directly appealed to Prime Minister Vajpayee. According to their lobby, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was certain to lend them support. But it is difficult to see how senior politicians could come out openly against the rulings of the Supreme Court. The ruling against the noise pollution after several years of controversy had not yet percolated to the public minds. While there was considerable improvement in the situation in Kolkata, the Mumbai police are yet to wake up to the seriousness of the situation and take action against noise makers mainly because the culprits were VVIPs including politicians, industrialists and singers. Whether it is smoking or noise pollution, the Supreme Court had delivered its judgements after a long, serious consideration of the issues concerned. These cannot be challenged. Yet , such is our lack of concern for law that we accept any challenges to these without any complaints. Our police force had neither the time nor the inclination to arrest and punish those who broke these court directives. At the Rang Bhavan, there were security personnel only to check the tickets of the entrants. Once people were in, they could do what they wanted, booze on the sly or smoke like chimneys. |
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Of PM’s utterances The twists and turns of Prime Minister Vajpayee’s utterances are hard to keep up with. Whether they reflect the confusion of his mind or its flexibility, I find some of his recent remarks distasteful. One day he praises Sonia Gandhi for her nationalism and patriotism, the next he denigrates her for being a foreigner and a woman. Isn’t it disgraceful for the Prime Minister of India to insult the women of this country (and elsewhere) by implying that they are inferior in some way? I thought the Congress Party general secretary’s statement demanding an apology was unnecessarily mild. I had imagined Ambika Soni to be made of sterner stuff. She merely admonished the Prime Minister for slighting the entire womanhood, and insulting the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Vajpayee’s defence that his remarks were not personal but only political made matters worse — it showed his insensitivity. Vajpayee was playing to the gallery. Faced with a largely male audience in Punjab, he thought he might try a little male chauvinism and pseudo-patriotism in typically RSS style. Isn’t he afraid of losing the women’s vote in Punjab — and the rest of India as well? Take Vajpayee’s attitude to the Ayodhya problem. Can anyone believe that he has thought out a clear policy? Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds is his policy on almost everything. In the end, he is likely to give in to the Sants. For the present this weird lot appear to be in a mood to let the government carry on for a while. Everybody swears by secularism, but few practice it. The Ram temple agitation may seem to be dormant at times, but beneath the surface a fire is burning that may one day erupt like a volcano. Meanwhile, Murli Manohar Joshi carries on without hindrance in bringing about ancient India’s greatness. The minister is on the rampage, attacking anyone who criticises his agenda. Such critics are clubbed together as Macaulay, Marxist and Madrasa. Historians like Romila Thapar come under the label of ‘intellectual terrorists’. By the way, reading about the education in the schools run by the RSS, under the institution of Vidya Bharati, they seem to be infinitely worse than madrasas. The madrasas after all are concerned basically with teaching the Koran, whereas Vidya Bharati schools teach a whole range of mumbo-jumbo, including astrology and mythology. According to their textbooks, Sri Ram is believed to have lived 886,000 years ago. There are 19,741 Vidya Bharati schools around the country. Their aim is set out to be to turn out ‘selfless citizens suffused with the spirit of Hindutva.’ O.P. Sharma, the principal of one of the schools, boasts that they have a library of 10,000 books, including many by P.N. Oak, which will tell the students that the Taj Mahal is not a mausoleum built by Shah Jahan, but a Hindu temple. We are watching day by day how, slowly, the whole edifice of a secular state that Nehru so painstakingly built is being corroded and destroyed. We can imagine how, in the aftermath of Partition, secularist ideas could have been swamped by communalist feelings. Nehru resisted such tendencies. Even in the Congress Party, there were prominent leaders, like Purshottamdas Tandon, Rajendra Prasad, then President of India, and K.M. Munshi who were staunch Hindutva champions. Tandon believed, for instance, that Muslims in India should adopt ‘Hindu culture’. Tandon was elected President of the Congress against Nehru’s wishes. Nehru forced Tandon’s resignation and committed a reluctant Congress to a secular policy (S. Gopal). Nehru’s understanding of India’s heritage was different from that of the modern-day Hindutva votaries. He was always aware that religious bigotry had little role to play in India’s composite culture. In the early thirties, he pointed out to his daughter that Mahmud Ghazni, who destroyed the Somnath temple, was hardly a religious man and was no more than a successful soldier. More representative was Akbar who, according to Nehru, might be considered the father of Indian nationalism for at a time when there was little idea of nationhood in the country and religion was a dividing factor, Akbar had deliberately placed the ideal of a common Indian nationhood above the claims of separate religions. “Akbar was a product of his times”, Nehru wrote in “Glimpses of World History”. “The spirit of synthesis was abroad, and Akbar responded to it and became, in fact its chief exponent”. Is this Marx or Macaulay, I wonder! |
Life term at last for this
‘champion’ of Fijians Speight made world headlines when in a coup, he deposed the Fijian Government led by Chaudhary in May, 2000 and held 43 MPs as hostages in Suva’s (capital of Fiji) Parliament building. It took two months for Speight to free the MPs and the Prime Minister of the island nation’s first ethnic-Indian led government. He had reportedly subjected some of them to third degree treatment. He was condemned by world leaders as terrorist and ultimately met the fate that befall all extremists. He was taken prisoner and, ironically, held captive on Nukulau island which was used by British Colonial Government as a holding port for indentured labourers arriving from India. Britain, which ruled Fiji as a colony, brought ethnic Indians to the country in the late1800s to cut sugarcane. Ethnic Indians now make up 44 per cent of the country’s eight lakh population. Speight’s abortive coup devastated the island nation and in the assessment of “Time” magazine, the “damage done by him was more than the cyclones which periodically sweep the South Pacific”. The coup left in its aftermath a wrecked economy and a crippled multiracial democracy. It also destroyed the region’s peaceable reputation. Riots, looting and gun battles that followed the coup, left Fiji’s hotels almost empty and forced the world tourist agencies to drop their advertisement depicting the islands as tranquil, unchanging paradise. According to reports, Speight was not originally supposed to lead the coup as someone else was coming to take the charge but he did not turn up at the last moment. Who that person was? That would, perhaps, be never known since Speight has owned the responsibility. Eagerly substituting “someone else”, Speight , while holding Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhary and his fellow ethnic Indians as hostages, condemned them as exploiters and projected him as a saint and saviour of the nation. “I am repository of the will of the Fijian people”, he reportedly bragged. Son of an opposition MP, Sam Speight, who was a senior member in the government of 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka, 45-year-old George Speight has been a failure in life. He failed as businessman, proved incompetent in Government jobs and other avocations. He was also a key player in an American company which lost a bid to harvest Fiji’s mahogany forests. The US firm Trans Resource Management alleged foulplay when the concession was awarded to a rival. Speight was also sacked as managing director of insurance broker Heath (Fiji) Ltd over alleged misuse of funds. His business interests suffered particularly following the 1999 election in which Mahendra Chaudhary’s party romped home with a landslide victory. Soon after assuming Prime Minister’s office, Chaudhary sacked Speight as chairman of two Fijian firms involved in the country’s lucrative timber trade. He had been appointed to both posts by the previous government. Those who have dealt with him say he can switch rapidly from charm to anger when confronted with suggestions that are not to his liking. And any criticism of himself is brushed aside as implicit support for the continued oppression of Fijians. Speight, who is of mixed Fijian and European descent, has no military background. He is a graduate in commerce from an Australian university and was sponsored by his father’s SVT party to do postgraduate studies in the USA. Speight sees himself as the champion of ethnic Fijians. |
PM’s men still have a say in Union Budget After the transfer of N.K.Singh from PMO to the Planning Commission, there was a general feeling that Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha would breathe easy. Mr Sinha has not designated any of his officials as Finance Secretary; he himself is coordinating with the three Secretaries — Economic Affairs, Revenue and Expenditure — in the department. However, all the Prime Minister’s men are still active and they would have a major contribution in the budget proposals that Sinha spells out on February 28 in the Lok Sabha. N.K.Singh, with directions from the PMO, has been working on several policy statements which would find a mention in the Budget. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C.Pant has also been doing the rounds of North Block giving indications that there is active coordination between Yojana Bhawan and the Finance Ministry. The PMO may not be directly in picture now but it seems to be calling the shots. Rajnath's speeches Even as the poll process was on, UP PR staff was busy despatching copies of the book on Chief Minister Rajnath Singh’s speeches to information offices of different states in Delhi. Eyebrows were raised not only over the book but also over the timing of its distribution. Was it that the Rajnath Singh government was preparing for relinquishing office? Why else should the PR staff compile speeches of a Chief Minister by departing from the standard practice? A similar step was taken by the Punjab government which
severely curtailed the number of new-year diaries and telephone directories brought out this year. While Punjab government may not have taken the step foreseeing a change of guard, it certainly seemed to be in a mood to drop a few ministers. Astrology boom It is election time and politicians are busy invoking divine grace to influence the outcome of the polls. As a result reputed astrologers are having a busy time. For the past one month they have been asked to perform all kinds of pujas and havans so that the mood of the electorate swings in their favour. An astrologer in the capital confided that he has been having sleepless nights as most of the politicians from Uttar Pradesh call him up in the night, after a whole day of campaigning, and spend hours asking about the various aspects of their stars. They not only want to know what the stars hold for them but were also interested in knowing what was in store for the opponents. There was heavy demand for conducting rituals and prayers that could make the opponents weaker. The politicians who sought divine intervention included the several chief ministerial candidates in UP. One of them happened to be a person who till the last elections heaped abuses on those who wore ‘tilak’ in their forehead. They need all the help considering the fact that it is predicted to be a hung Assembly. Labour pains Labour pains and labour reforms are weighed on the same scale by the Centre. Scribes gathered in large number in the official press centre to attend the briefing in anticipation of the announcements of the politically contentious issue of labour reforms. As the briefing finally took place after a prolonged wait, the official spokesperson raised a stunner by commencing the proceedings by a detailed elaboration on the proposed amendments in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. For journalists, the wait seemed longer as the important announcement on labour reforms were to follow later. And somebody was quick to ask if the government was suffering from labour pains. Policewomen A recent survey ‘Equality of Opportunities for Women in Police’ has inferred that women in police are marginalised. The findings of the survey were quoted by Magsaysay award winner and first woman IPS officer, Dr Kiran Bedi while announcing the agenda of the first national conference for women in police recently. The survey was based on interviews with 506 policewomen from 24 States. It was aimed at assessing police women’s perception of their work environment. Women interviewed for the survey were in the 25 to 55 age-group. The survey carried out by Professor Jaya Indireasan, former Professor, Higher Education, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration pointed to deep-seated biases against policewomen in an otherwise male dominated police force. According to Bedi, women constitute a little less than three per cent of the total police force of 13 lakh in the country. In his findings, Professor Indiresan says 89 per cent women interviewed maintained that they were held back from exercising authority, 84 per cent overlooked for appointment to higher positions, 82 per cent had problems striking a balance between women and career. While 81 per cent said that their accomplishments were downgraded or trivialised, 80 per cent said they were interrupted from making a point. Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, Prashant Sood, Gaurav Choudhury and Tripti Nath. |
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Naipaul’s eyes look irritable, not really at ease The only person who added spark to the International Festival Of Indian Literature was writer Mahasweta Devi. She boycotted the event and took ICCR’s top brass to task for camouflaging her decision not to attend this meet . “It’s not true that I have been ill. I am right here in New Delhi and saw no purpose in attending the meet”. There was the usual hype at the inauguration (at Vigyan Bhavan on February 18) with security getting beefed up. But the proceedings were dull and even at the special session with the authors none really spoke from their heart except for writer Nabonita Dev Sen, Amartya Sen’s former wife. She seemed the only one who seemed to bare her innermost thoughts and kept emphasising that the reader always has this tendency to connect the writer’s personal life with whatever she or he writes, especially when the writer happens to be a woman. She spoke about her broken marriage and its effect on her writing. “Earlier I used to write poetry but I gave that up after my marriage broke...” Vikram Seth and Amitav Ghosh spoke on ‘writing and belief’ but they couldn’t be termed innermost. Whilst Seth hinted at his agony about the manner in which Arundhati Roy was being harassed in the Narmada Bachao Andolan case, Ghosh spoke about how little we know about each other’s beliefs. They certainly didn’t let themselves go, but nevertheless didn’t come across as uptight as Naipaul. Naipaul spoke much more than he usually does, but it all seemed rather routine. At the Neemrana retreat where he’s said to have snubbed writer Nayantara Sehgal, few in this city have been wondering whether recluse writers like him should agree to attend such meets and hog the publicity that comes their way. A couple of days prior to this inaugural session when I met Naipaul and spouse Nadira at the do hosted in his honour by Khushwant Singh, he didn’t speak beyond a couple of sentences. As usual it was Nadira who seemed to make up for it and kept coming up with brisk sentences to compensate for the monosyllables uttered by her husband. To be honest, I was tempted to query him on certain issues but then wasn’t very confident of the way he’d react, for he can snub you not just with words but even by the look in his eyes — eyes that look irritable and not really at ease or at peace... As the din around the writers’ meet gets over, there’s coming up bureaucrat-poet Ashok Vajpeyi’s tribute to 80-year-old Paris-based artist Raza. The evening of February 28 stands booked at the Maurya Sheraton with
Vajpeyi’s verses being showered on him (I’m told his book on Raza is also in the pipeline). But what I found a rather disturbing feature (hopefully it shouldn’t mature into a trend of sorts) is that the very invite has details of the going rate of the portfolio of his works “...these exclusive collector’s portfolios are limited as indicated. To ensure your set, please indicate your preference and forward payment to...” No mean prices — ranging from Rs 7,500 to Rs 37,000. Don’t ask me how many of us would actually have the capacity to buy even one set unless they begin to chant some catchy slogan to the effect “ek ke do...” Congressman Jag Pravesh Chandra who passed away last week would be remembered as a decent honest politician— a rare breed indeed in the midst of a baying herd of the worst sort of tainted and corrupt politicians around. All through he lived in a two-room apartment atop New Delhi’s Khan Market, and moved around without security. He spoke without inhibitions. Often he would joke about his bachelorhood and his yeast diet to keep looking young. I still remember he even had some pages xeroxed for me to read about the qualities that yeast had to offer vis-a-vis harnessing the ageing process and increasing hair growth on the scalp. He spoke like a young man, but those looks couldn’t keep pace. Of
Rehras Translation can be a difficult task, but is so vital as it gets one closer to so many aspects. And though I have many Sikh friends, till recently I didn’t know the importance of ‘Rehras’ — the Sikh evening prayer recited by Sikhs around sunset. This weekend, the translated version of this prayer was launched. Translated by Khushwant Singh and Reema Anand and published by Penguin, the verses are soothing and touch you, “The pain of those in pain He shares/The beating of every heart He hears...” And those who spoke that evening did comment that the translation is of superb quality and stands out. |
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Mumbai City Congress president Murli Deora was absent at the fund raising concert for the Spastics Society of India, organised at the Rang Bhavan recently. As part of the stage gimmicks, the performing singers were often enveloped in a kind of smoke. Outside, where hundreds of Mumbai’s glamour brigade had assembled, there was another kind of smoke. Cigarette smoke. Men and women, dressed in their best, puffed away unconcernedly.
Burly and well-built, having a shaven head, George Speight looks every inch a goon. Compare his image of the rogue, who ousted Haryana-born Mahendra Chaudhary’s duly elected government 21 months back, to his icon last week; crying bitterly and begging for mercy. Speight was sentenced to death for the treason and, as per the High Court order, he was to be taken to a prison and then to the place of execution and be hanged. The distance between life and death was very short but, in a last minute mercy petition filed by Speight’s Australian lawyer, President of Fiji, Josefo Iloilo, reduced the death sentence to life imprisonment. Before seeking mercy, Speight accepted the charges against him and promised to close the island nation’s ethnic wounds inflicted by him. The coup leader’s pledge notwithstanding, the ethnic standoff continues with country’s present Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, refusing to take Chaudhary’s Labour party in his government.