E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Gujarat: pointless poll talk
WHAT is the pressing requirement in Gujarat today? The obvious answer is "peace". Any Gujarati will agree with this view provided he/she has nothing to do with any political camp. This, of course, goes against the BJP leaders' opinion expressed at their brain storming session at Goa the other day. The decision (its implementation remains stalled for the time being) was taken in the context of the demand from various quarters, including the Opposition, for the ouster of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Bankers have no choice
ON a call of the United Forum of Bank Unions, 10 lakh employees from 27 public sector banks went on strike on Tuesday. The strike call also received support from a number of trade unions like AITUC, CITU, BMS, HMS, etc, with a considerable presence in public sector units. Their protest is to focus on two issues. One, the Centre’s labour reforms which they call anti-employee. Two, the policy of disinvestment or privatisation, as they prefer to call it.

OPINION

Panchayat elections in Punjab
The process of rural planning & development
Rashpal Malhotra
THE Punjab Government has announced its decision to hold the impending election to the 140 panchayat samitis and 17 zila parishads. The elections have been due since September, 1999. The decision should be welcomed by the supporters of grassroot democracy and also other stakeholders. However, the decision of the state government to advance the elections to the gram panchayats due in June, 2003, may be difficult in view of the following provisions in the constitution amendment and also the State Government Act.

FOLLOW-UP

A marriage full of turmoil
Reeta Sharma
AFTER great jubilation of having armed brides with powerful laws, the committed activists today feel defeated as the ground reality for girls remains unchanged. Not only the greed and demands for dowry have increased, but also the physical and mental torture. A bride’s sense of insecurity, both for her life and future, has also witnessed a manifold rise. Here is a follow-up of a marriage, which lasted only a few months but remains full of turmoil and turbulence even after four years of it having ceased.

TRENDS & POINTERS

A 'black hole' in brain
AUSTRALIAN scientists have discovered a "black hole" in the brain that may cause the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Scientists from the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute found that an important group of nerve cells, previously thought to be merely inactive in people with Parkinson’s disease, are in fact entirely missing, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

• Chocolate makers target adults

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Gujarat: pointless poll talk

WHAT is the pressing requirement in Gujarat today? The obvious answer is "peace". Any Gujarati will agree with this view provided he/she has nothing to do with any political camp. This, of course, goes against the BJP leaders' opinion expressed at their brain storming session at Goa the other day. The decision (its implementation remains stalled for the time being) was taken in the context of the demand from various quarters, including the Opposition, for the ouster of Chief Minister Narendra Modi owing to his questionable handling of the large-scale communal riots that broke out in the state following the February 27 ghastly incident at Godhra. The BJP's poll idea was meant to prove that since the people of Gujarat favoured Mr Modi as the head of the government in Gandhinagar, no one had the right to show him the door. The BJP was right. It could make the point easily in a communally surcharged atmosphere. But would it be morally fair to force the state to undergo an avoidable exercise when people are traumatised with over one lakh of them in camps, living like refugees in their own country? Reports of riots continue to be received from here and there, including Ahmedabad. Most people still feel scared while coming out of their localities. Even school students appearing for their annual board examinations on Monday in Ahmedabad were not spared. In such an atmosphere very few voters can be expected to exercise their democratic right. The overwhelming majority will obviously prefer to remain indoors because of security compulsions. But the ruling NDA's clarification following a last minute understanding with the BJP that there will be no elections in Gujarat immediately has come not because of the reasons founded on morality or impracticability. The coalition was apprised of the change in the BJP's stand at its emergency meeting on Monday either to prevent an important ally — the Telugu Desam — from withdrawing support to the Vajpayee government or to ensure that any such development does not affect the life of the coalition ministry. Morality and politics do not go together these days. It is all realpolitik.

The NDA's clarification appears to be based on another factor — the thinking within the Election Commission. While the views of Chief Election Commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh are yet to be known, one of his colleagues, Mr B. B. Tandon, has given the impression that the commission cannot be forced by the ruling coalition to hold elections in Gujarat at this juncture. Undertaking such an exercise "is the prerogative of the Election Commission" and before that "all factors will be taken into consideration". If these are the feelings of an Election Commissioner nominated by the Vajpayee government, it is not difficult to make a guess about what is there in the minds of Mr Lyngdoh (appointed during the tenure of the National Front government) and his third colleague, Mr T. S. Krishnamurthy. It seems the realisation has dawned on the NDA, particularly the BJP, that it may have to face an embarrassing situation if the commission refuses to oblige it. This happened in Punjab in 1991. Mr Modi is, however, believed to be unrelenting on the election issue. His viewpoint on Gujarat was upheld at the BJP's Goa conclave. If he succeeds again the development may have far-reaching consequences. But, then, the poet in Mr Vajpayee will have to come out with a new poem to offset the impact of what he said during the elections held after the 1984 killings in Delhi and elsewhere.

Bankers have no choice

ON a call of the United Forum of Bank Unions, 10 lakh employees from 27 public sector banks went on strike on Tuesday. The strike call also received support from a number of trade unions like AITUC, CITU, BMS, HMS, etc, with a considerable presence in public sector units. Their protest is to focus on two issues. One, the Centre’s labour reforms which they call anti-employee. Two, the policy of disinvestment or privatisation, as they prefer to call it. It is desirable to understand the context in which these two policy initiatives have been taken. This is the age of globalisation. The economy has been opened up after almost four decades of planned efforts at self-sufficiency which resulted in what is derisively called the Hindu growth rate of 2 to 3 per cent a year. Public sector units, including banks, grew up to a point and generated employment. Powerful trade unions ensured an employee-friendly work environment and life-time job security. But vested interests, political interference and non-professional, bureaucratic managements with no stake in the success of PSUs turned many of them sick. The government takeover of private banks during Indira Gandhi’s regime was a monumental blunder. While the employees and managements benefited, the public in general suffered due to poor services rendered by inefficient, unfriendly PSUs and banks. For years, they bled the exchequer white until the P.V. Narasimha Rao- Manmohan Singh duo initiated the historic reforms in 1991 and turned the economy around within a few years. Almost all parties agree on the reforms.

The questions that need to be seriously pondered are: should PSUs be run for the benefit of the employees and the managements or for the public? Are they supposed to be efficient providers of services and competitive producers of goods or a drag on the exchequer? Competition ensures efficiency. Both policy decisions taken by the Centre are aimed at improving the work environment in the PSUs and government banks. The ruling wisdom now is: it is none of the government business to be in business. If the government functionaries cannot run a concern profitably, it must be handed over to the interested private party. If the public sector banks have to compete with technology-savvy private banks, they have to shed fat and become fighting fit with a customer-friendly approach. Or else, they would lose business and become a liability both for the employees and the public. Seen in this light, the bank employees have only harmed their own interests by going on strike. Their behaviour gives the customer another reason to move over to a private bank. Change is difficult, but it is inevitable. The message is clear: adapt or perish.

AIDS: shift in focus

THE Union Government’s new policy on AIDS is welcome. It is also timely because of the much-needed change in its focus from prevention and control to recognising the scourge as a developmental problem. The new policy is expected to create a healthy and conducive social environment for providing care and support to HIV-infected people by protecting their human rights, including the right to healthcare, education, employment and privacy. It seeks to prevent women, children and other socially vulnerable groups from getting infected and to improve health education, legal status and economic prospects. It also addresses issues relating to HIV testing, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, condom promotion and counselling besides highlighting the importance of international cooperation with the United Nations and other bilateral agencies for financial, technical and managerial support. The policy is expected to help facilitate the formulation of guidelines for the effective implementation of the programme by states, ministries and departments. There is every reason for NGOs and other activists to be happy with the new policy because the Centre has at last endorsed their view that AIDS is not a disease that spreads randomly but is transmitted as a consequence of a specific behavioural pattern, with strong socio-economic implications.

When the first case was noticed in Chennai as far back as 1986, the Centre had constituted a high-powered national committee to study the problem. In 1987, the national AIDS control programme was launched to create general awareness through mass communication programmes, blood screening for transfusion and so on. In 1992, the Centre formulated a multi-sectoral strategy for the prevention and control of AIDS. Five years later, when it was felt that awareness was up among the people, blood banks were regulated and modernised with component separation facilities. Compulsory testing of blood helped in checking the transmission of the HIV virus through blood transfusion. Intervention programmes were undertaken in high-risk groups, followed by social marketing of condoms. Considering the fact that there are over 3.86 million HIV-infected people in the country today, the Centre and the states will have to redouble their efforts to combat the menace on a war-footing. Reports that HIV and AIDS have moved beyond the high-risk groups in India is cause for serious concern. As the notorious disease has spread to the general population, there is need for an attitudinal change among the people. The Centre and the states should also examine the socio-economic causes for the spread of the disease such as migration of labour and employment travails and take suitable measures to check the menace. There is also the need to create awareness among the people against social ostracisation of AIDS patients. This would not only provide a healing touch to the patients but also help reduce their pain and suffering.

OPINION

Panchayat elections in Punjab
The process of rural planning & development
Rashpal Malhotra

THE Punjab Government has announced its decision to hold the impending election to the 140 panchayat samitis and 17 zila parishads. The elections have been due since September, 1999. The decision should be welcomed by the supporters of grassroot democracy and also other stakeholders. However, the decision of the state government to advance the elections to the gram panchayats due in June, 2003, may be difficult in view of the following provisions in the constitution amendment and also the State Government Act. The 73rd Constitution Amendment, Article 243E (1), states: “Every panchayat, unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in force, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer”.

This provision, when read with the Punjab Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, Article 29 Dissolution of Gram Panchayat, says: If in the opinion of the state government, a gram panchayat abuses its powers or is not competent to perform or makes persistent default in the performance of its duties under this Act or wilfully disregards any instructions given or directions issued by the panchayat samiti or the zila parishad or any instructions issued by the state government arising out of the audit of accounts of the gram panchayat or inspection of work, the state government may, after giving the gram panchayat an opportunity to render explanation, by an order published, along with the reasons thereof in the Official Gazette, dissolve such gram panchayats.”

In any case, the decision of the Punjab Government to hold elections to the panchayat samitis and zila parishads directly should take care of the apprehension which the present party government might have thought of. In the event of holding the elections through the process of indirect electorate, as has been the rule pertaining to the panchayat samiti, there is no change in the case of the zila parishads, which are elected directly by voters.

Notwithstanding this, the vital issue is to devolve the powers, funds and functions to the functionaries of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) of Punjab, which has not so far been attempted since the enactment of 73rd Constitution Amendment. It is important to bring on record that the then Chief Minister, Beant Singh, who had begun his career as a sarpanch, was in favour of devolving the powers, funds and functions to the elected representatives but he did not have the support of many of his Cabinet colleagues and members of the Legislative Assembly as well as of Parliament. The same situation prevailed with the coming to power of the party government headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Although it has been mentioned by many knowledgeable persons that the former Chief Minister was perhaps in favour of devolution of powers, funds and functions to the elected representatives of PRIs, many of his Cabinet colleagues and also those from among the administration were not in favour of it. Surely, former Finance and Planning Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh was strongly in favour of devolution, but he was a lone voice and politically lightweight in his party. Some experts also attribute the indifference to the devolution of powers to the operational mechanism of regional parties who could visibly loosen their hold on account of the emergence of grassroot institutions.

In other words, the devolution is meant to strengthen the PRIs. Constitutionally elected PRIs thereby weaken the hold of the elite and the informal system of patronage.

The present government in its election manifesto has time and again emphasised the point of speeding up the process of devolution for two reasons. One, the 73rd Constitution Amendment is a gift of the late Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister which was subsequently executed by his successor, Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao, in having the Bill passed by the Rajya Sabha which was earlier returned for reconsideration by the Lok Sabha. Two, the most important issue is that the Congress, being a national party, does not have that kind of apprehension which the regional party could have in the matter of extending their hold on the PRIs. Surprisingly, the Union Government under the leadership of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has come out openly in support of strengthening the PRIs and devolution of powers.

In a resolution unanimously passed for the second generation PRIs at the All-India Panchayat Adhyaksha Sammelan, held in New Delhi on April 5 and 6, built a consensus on the measures needed to revitalise the system. Some of the important provisions of the resolution are:

• All state governments shall take action to devolve funds, functions and functionaries to the PRIs before December 31, 2002. In doing so, they will be guided by the recommendations of the Task Force on the Devolution of Powers and Functions upon Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• There is a major mismatch between the responsibilities and the resources of the PRIs. The state governments will do everything required to ensure by December 31, 2002, that these institutions have the requisite financial resources and powers. In particular, they will implement the recommendations of the State Finance Commission and enable the PRIs to raise the resources they need.
• In addition, the Union Government is urged to devise an appropriate mechanism to provide significant non-budgetary resources in the form of loans with long maturities to PRIs, specifically to be used for such developmental projects as are planned and executed by the PRIs themselves.
• The states will ensure that the PRIs are empowered to work as functional institutions duly enjoying the requisite ability to plan and execute most developmental works. The executive should use the powers of superseding the panchayats sparingly and only after complaints in this regard are looked into by a designated ombudsman (to be headed by a retired judge), to be appointed by December 31, 2002.
• The gram sabhas shall meet at least four times a year, preferably on January 26, May 1, August 15 and October 2. Their meetings will be attended by the government functionaries concerned for which the state authorities will issue and ensure compliance of appropriate instructions.

The writer is Director, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh.

FOLLOW-UP

A marriage full of turmoil
Reeta Sharma

AFTER great jubilation of having armed brides with powerful laws, the committed activists today feel defeated as the ground reality for girls remains unchanged. Not only the greed and demands for dowry have increased, but also the physical and mental torture. A bride’s sense of insecurity, both for her life and future, has also witnessed a manifold rise. Here is a follow-up of a marriage, which lasted only a few months but remains full of turmoil and turbulence even after four years of it having ceased.

Jaswinder Kaur, a petite and extremely polite girl, is blessed with a velvety voice. Despite harsh financial constraints in her parental home, she worked hard to be a pharmacist. In today’s corrupt world around us, luck smiled on her and she even got a secure job in Government Medical College, Sector 32.

It was this job, which readily fetched her even a bridegroom, also a pharmacist, in Butala village near Majitha. Obviously, life appeared a bed of roses and full of dreams to Jaswinder as she got married to Ranjit Singh on September 2, 1998.

In December, when her two month leave got sanctioned, like a typical Indian bride, she found herself on cloud nine. “But my dreams began cracking within two, three days. My husband lived in a joint family, where in his ‘chacha’ appeared to be the head of the family, instead of my father-in-law. He asked me strange questions like the account of my salary earned before marriage. Soon my husband, who appeared to be instigated by his ‘Chacha’, also demanded that I should send my full salary to his ‘Chacha’ even when I was living in Chandigarh. Within 10 days of my marriage, they began beating me over this issue. The two months spent there did not bring any moment of happiness. Taunting, humiliating, physical battering were indulged in and I became too numb to even think properly”, relates Jaswinder, crying inconsolably.

When she next visited her in-laws’ home in May, physical battering, dowry demands and humiliation again began. On May 10, 1999, she returned to Chandigarh, pregnant and with a hairline fracture in her knee due to a severe beating. Within 10 days of her departure, on May 21, her husband filed a case for divorce in Amritsar. Oblivious of any such case, Jaswinder continued to plead with her husband about building of their married life with the bliss of a child. Ironically, her husband never disclosed to her that he had already filed for a divorce. It was only after 45 days when the shocking notice arrived at her door that in a distraught state of mind she went to the Crime Against Women Cell (CAW) of the Chandigarh Police.

CAW’s efforts bore fruit when after three, four meetings, finally her husband entered into an agreement on September 11, 1999. Under this agreement, he was to live with Jaswinder away from the influence of his family. On September 28, when Jaswinder gave birth to a son, a sense of elation and hope had returned to her. She sent her father to convey the good news to her husband on the telephone. “On the telephone itself my husband said that he had no intention of honouring the agreement and that he had entered into it only to wriggle out of the pressures of CAW. I wonder, what is he getting from his ‘Chacha’ by deserting his wife and child”?

On December 15, 1999, the District Court of Amritsar ordered the registering of an FIR under Section 498-A and 406 of the IPC against Jaswinder Kaur’s husband, mother-in-law, ‘Chacha’ and brother-in-law. While others were immediately arrested, her husband applied for anticipatory bail, which was dismissed on February 11, 2000. “Apparently, my in-laws were provoked by this dismissal for they filed a case against me, my brother, my brother-in-law and my two nephews alleging that on the night of February 13 and 14, 2000 we forced our entry into their house, physically assaulted all of them and stole many articles. It was also alleged in the case that my brother-in-law inflicted a head injury on my mother-in-law. I was shocked to know that such a case has been filed against all of us.

The Primary Health Centre, Baba Bakala, gave a false report that my mother-in-law has suffered a head injury. It is the same centre, where my mother-in-law, ‘Chacha’ and his wife, Jagdish Kaur work as Class IV employees and my husband as a pharmacist. So, obviously, the whole case was manipulated. But we had no option but to go through the rigour of inquiries and court hearings”.

Jaswinder Kaur had approached the Punjab Istri Sabha (a dedicated NGO for over 50 years) about her case from the beginning itself. Mrs Raj Verma, President of the Amritsar Wing of the Sabha, who had been handling this case, says, “This is a peculiar case, where in, not only dowry demand and physical battering of the girls are involved but also an unacceptable interference and influence of the boy’s ‘Chacha’ has come to the fore. Our several visits to the village have made it very clear that the boy’s family has been very cruel to the girl.

You see, the girl was all praise for her two sisters-in-law and her father-in-law and that is why there is no accusation against them. The boy has been repeatedly abusing the alternatives and solutions offered to him by various agencies.

For instance, CAW, Chandigarh’s efforts of making him reach an agreement turned futile because he just refused to honour it. Similarly, he has also defeated all our efforts, all under the influence of his ‘Chacha’ and mother. This is a clear case of abusing the systems evolved by society. Incidentally, the police, which is often accused of indulging in corrupt practices, has been very fair to Jaswinder Kaur”.

The Majitha police directed the Superintendent of Police, Detective, Balbir Singh Khera, to conduct an enquiry into the alleged attack by Jaswinder Kaur and her family. In February 2001, in his enquiry report he submitted that the alleged attack was a concocted story and suggested the cancellation of the FIR.

This report was submitted in the court. The judge observed that it was impossible to indulge in self-infliction of a head injury. He ordered reinvestigation about the alleged attack. On the directions of the court, the S.P Detective, Harish Kumar, held a second enquiry all over again. He too reiterated that no such incident ever took place. That it is a false case and hence the FIR should be cancelled. The second enquiry report has been resubmitted with the court in Amritsar.

Meanwhile, Jaswinder Kaur and other accused had obtained anticipatory bails for themselves but her brother-in-law was declared a proclaimed offender, as he was accused of inflicting the head injury.

Mr Satyapal Dang, a renowned social activist, got another independent enquiry conducted about the alleged attack. He says, “Our enquiry has also revealed that the in-laws of Jaswinder Kaur do not enjoy the reputation of being good citizens and they have fabricated this case.

The court is absolutely justified, when it says that nobody can indulge in self-infliction of head injury. Here the real culprit is the doctor, who has issued a false certificate to the accusers. According to their own version, they were attacked on the night of February 13 and 14. But they approached the doctor only after 8 in the morning, when the dispensary opened.

If it was a head injury, how could they wait for so long to get medical aid? The doctor should be exposed. In this particular case, two SPs have reached similar conclusions, besides our enquiry and Punjab Istri Sabha’s investigations. Primarily, the boy does not want to be responsible about his marriage and child, besides the undue interference of his ‘Chacha’ and mother”.

Efforts to contact Jaswinder Kaur’s husband through the Punjab Istri Sabha did not succeed.

TRENDS & POINTERS

A 'black hole' in brain

AUSTRALIAN scientists have discovered a "black hole" in the brain that may cause the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Scientists from the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute found that an important group of nerve cells, previously thought to be merely inactive in people with Parkinson’s disease, are in fact entirely missing, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The missing cells are responsible for fine motor actions such as writing or playing a musical instrument.

Glenda Halliday, senior researcher at the Medical Research Institute, said the discovery that the cells are missing may reveal the cause of Parkinson’s disease.

Current drug treatments do not take into account that these brain cells are dying and the discovery could lead to the development of new treatments for the disease, Halliday said. DPA

Chocolate makers target adults

It may not come in a plain brown paper bag, but the latest adult entertainment for Japanese men promises a pleasurable rush and a guilty little thrill.

Chocolate, long considered the vice of children and women, is gaining an unlikely new following in Japan as confectionery makers target supermarket-shy businessmen.

The secret? Bring it straight to the office.

"We just couldn’t get through to them with conventional sales methods," said a spokesman for Ezaki Glico Co Ltd, Japan’s third-largest chocolate maker.

Faced with fierce competition and a declining birth rate that has eroded chocolate sales among Japanese children, the company changed tack, stocking company staff rooms all over Tokyo with special "refreshment boxes".

The boxes operate on an honour system. Put 100 yen in a piggy bank, open a drawer and take the sweet of your choice. Reuters

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Whatever you receive

from God’s love in its fullness,

that fullness remains

forever full.

In His giving

there is no holding back.

In His caring there is no apathy.

In His loving,

there is no measure.

In His embrace,

there is no expectation.

In His unending song,

there is the gift of life.

As you go about your daily duties,

learn to perceive everything that happens

as a message from God’s house.

Then every activity, every moment of your life,

will scintillate with love.

To experience God’s love in its fullness

you need a subtle eye:

the subtle eye you receive through grace.

God’s attributes are your attributes.

God’s virtues are your virtues.

God’s love is your love.

What is the final outcome of

experiencing God’s love in its fullness?

He makes you like Himself;

He gives Himself totally to you.

You have the profound experience,

“I am That”.

— Swami Chidvilasananda, Gems from the Magic of the Heart

***

To what purpose should I carry my eyes and other senses when my very life is futile. Alas! how shameless are all those to me! I feel they are like stones and dry fuel, if without a vision of Lord Krishna they survive.

— Sri Krishna Chaitanya Charitamrita

***

The eyes indict the antiquity of the soul.

— Ralph W. Emerson, The Conduct of Life