E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

SAARC minus bickering
FAR too many SAARC conferences have been overshadowed by the India-Pakistan rivalry. Since India happens to be a party - albeit the aggrieved party — to the tension, part of the blame comes to it willy-nilly. Earlier, frustration at this derailing of the real agenda of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was talked about by others in whispers.

Pak derails democracy move
THE scheduled October elections in Pakistan have become meaningless with Gen Pervez Musharraf having arrogated to himself the power to sack his National Assembly (parliament) as President on any pretext. He has also finalised a number of other constitutional amendments to turn people’s representatives into virtually the General’s minions.

Decline in research
SCIENTIFIC research in India is on the decline, at least quantity-wise. According to the Science Citation Index of the Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, India now ranks 15th as against the eighth position held in 1980. The number of scientific papers produced in the country has also gone down in the past 20 years: from a high of 15,000 to the present low of 12,000. This compares unfavourably with a country like China.

China and its economic “miracle”
Facts are liberally laced with fiction 
Amar Chandel
THE Chinese system of governance has always had legions of admirers in India, so what if Chairman Mao Zedong’s famine-inducing Great Leap Forward resulted in the death of millions of people. This fascination survived even the shattering of the “Hindi Chini bhai bhai” myth and is all the more intense today when the “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, which is nothing except capitalism in disguise, that it adopted in 1978 claims to be yielding spectacular results.

An anti-cold war visionary
Madan Mohan Puri
After lunch at University Mensa, the journey to Cologne central station took me about 20 minutes by tram. My train to Hannover en route for West Berlin for a seminar on re-unification of Germany was at 10.10 p.m. and I was well in time for it.

‘We are being held back’
Kiran Bedi
I have two very engrossing and revealing encounters to share here in this piece of writing. One about men police officers and the other about women. For a change I will talk about women first and then about men. In February, 2002, our country held its first National Conference of Women-in-Police.

SIGHT & SOUND

Women under attack
Amita Malik
Leaving aside politics, which was murky enough, the past week has been a horrific one for women. First the rape of a 12-year-old mentally affected girl in a Mumbai suburban train by a drunken labourer while five able-bodied fellow passengers, including a newspaperperson from the daily which claims to have the highest circulation in the world, looked on and then had the temerity to make a story out of it in his paper.

‘Cong not to ally with any party’
Prashant Sood
Having started his political career in 1973 as a Secretary of the Bhalesa Block Congress Committee in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, it did not take long for Ghulam Nabi Azad to take up responsibilities at the AICC. A minister in the governments of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao, Mr Azad (53) is known to have sound knowledge of organisational matters.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

SAARC minus bickering

FAR too many SAARC conferences have been overshadowed by the India-Pakistan rivalry. Since India happens to be a party - albeit the aggrieved party — to the tension, part of the blame comes to it willy-nilly. Earlier, frustration at this derailing of the real agenda of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was talked about by others in whispers. Now, leaders of many member-countries speak out their mind openly. Before the two-day meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers started in Kathmandu, the general consensus was that history would repeat itself. But that did not happen. Credit for it should go almost exclusively to India because it went out of its way to ensure that strain in the ties between New Delhi and Islamabad did not cloud the SAARC process. The issue was handled so deftly that even when some mischievous elements cast doubts whether Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would attend the next SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha put them down by saying that Mr Vajpayee had no problem in going there. That took wind out of the Pakistani balloon that India was not serious about furthering the SAARC agenda. Not only that, he forcefully stressed the point that one should be able to distinguish between SAARC and India-Pakistan issues. On its part, the meeting took care not to define what constitutes terrorism. This has been a sticking point between the two countries and might have again generated friction had it been taken up. As expected, Pakistan did parrot its set piece, but instead of engaging in a verbal duel, India gave a graceful rebuttal. Mr Sinha also pleaded with the Press corps to refrain from focusing too much on Indo-Pak issues.

India’s proposal that the regional grouping should organise a ministerial meeting on terrorism was agreed upon. The endeavour is to bring the SAARC Convention of Suppression of Terrorism in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373. The ministers studied the issue of terrorism in-depth. There was unanimity on the need to redouble the efforts collectively and individually to prevent and suppress terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Another issue which agitated the minds of the participants was the delay in the implementation of the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) and agreeing upon the draft text of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). In fact, these should form the core of the SAARC plan. India called for a speedy agreement on both these issues. The ministers resolved to adopt a common position at multinational for a like the WTO and vowed to alleviate poverty and accelerate regional cooperation. The experience so far is that implementation of decisions arrived at conferences is tardy. A constructive proposal in this regard came from Nepal, which is the current chair of SAARC, that a meeting of senior officials should be held immediately after a summit meeting in order to draw up an action plan on the decisions taken at the summit.

Pak derails democracy move

THE scheduled October elections in Pakistan have become meaningless with Gen Pervez Musharraf having arrogated to himself the power to sack his National Assembly (parliament) as President on any pretext. He has also finalised a number of other constitutional amendments to turn people’s representatives into virtually the General’s minions. Yet he has the temerity to call it essential “to make democracy sustainable”. He describes it as “a transition from a democratic dictatorship ... to an elected ... democracy”, though as Head of State he will continue to preside over the Army as Chief of Staff. But that is not enough. He has empowered his National Security Council----having four nominees from the armed forces and eight elected representatives of the people---- with the authority to oversee the functioning of the government. This means institutionalising the role of the armed forces in running the country’s administration. He justifies the arrangement by saying that this is a safeguard against any future takeover of the government by the Army as “we have taken in (on the council) those who can make rash decisions”! People of Pakistan must be sadly remembering the day they danced in the streets to welcome the overthrow of an elected, though corrupt, Nawaz Sharif government by their Army Chief who promised to restore democracy soon. The country’s Supreme Court asked the General to hold elections by October, 2002, and he agreed to honour the judicial directive. However, both the people of Pakistan and the judiciary must be feeling greatly disappointed today.

It is an unwelcome development for India too for two basic reasons. One, we in India, known as great lovers of democracy, always wish to see a democratically elected system prosper in our immediate neighbourhood. Two, India has enough experience to realise that it is easier to deal with a democratically elected regime in Islamabad than with a military dictatorship. Military rulers have their own vested interests to serve. India feels that no military dictator in Pakistan wants to normalise its relations with this country with a view to ensuring an undisturbed dominance of the armed forces over the affairs of the state. That this is contrary to what a vast majority of the Pakistanis want is not the military’s concern. People on the other side of the Indo-Pak divide realise the significance of friendly relations with India as that will mean considerable economic, cultural, social and other benefits for them. But, perhaps, they are unable to come out of the stranglehold created by the military. What is happening in Pakistan is also a sad commentary on its patrons in the democratic West, particularly the USA. The ruling General could not have dared to perpetuate his dictatorship if the USA had expressed its displeasure over his nasty idea. The Americans, however, never think on these lines. Their strategic interests are dearer to them than any other consideration. The USA’s closeness to Pakistan’s past military dictators is enough to justify the argument.

Decline in research

SCIENTIFIC research in India is on the decline, at least quantity-wise. According to the Science Citation Index of the Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, India now ranks 15th as against the eighth position held in 1980. The number of scientific papers produced in the country has also gone down in the past 20 years: from a high of 15,000 to the present low of 12,000. This compares unfavourably with a country like China. In 1980 there were only 924 scientific papers produced in China, whereas by 2000 the number rose to a significant 22,061. This is just one way of measuring and comparing the quantity of research. Even if one recognises the fact that it is the quality, rather than the quantity that matters, the pointers to the growing unpopularity of science subjects among students and discontent among researchers are alarming. A serious effort needs to be made to identify the causes of poor research, both in terms of quantity and quality, and what corrective measures can be undertaken to reverse the trend. Some of the reasons are obvious: lower financial returns compared to the labour put in, poorer chances of jobs and career advancement and lack of facilities in research institutes and universities. Barring a few select fields like information technology, nuclear and space research in which Indians have earned an international reputation for excellence and a number of patents, most other fields remain neglected.

Research is seldom the first priority of the talented. The best and the brightest are guided by materialistic considerations. They take up medical and engineering courses where career prospects are better. Qualified doctors and engineers then try their luck in the civil services examination or go abroad. It is some of the second raters who slog on and end up with research projects -- more out of compulsion than conviction. To be fair to them, a research-oriented environment is missing in our campuses. The segregation of academic science from research in science is another discouraging factor. There is considerable resource wastage due to the under-utilisation of laboratories and duplication of facilities. The advancements in IT have significantly eased the work of the researcher, but the full benefit of the Internet is still not realised. Limited resources are wasted on promoting research on subjects that have little relevance to a growing society. Making Ph. D. compulsory for a promotion or an increment leads to the mushrooming of Ph.D. holders, but there is little quality and return to society. Aptitude for research and relevance of the subject chosen should be the two main criteria for awarding a research project. Research in such important areas as agriculture and biotechnology, medicine and weather needs to get encouragement to realise their potential and reach the global standards. A congenial academic environment, satisfying work culture and social respect for the researcher alone can prevent the menace of brain-drain and boost research.

OPINION

China and its economic “miracle”
Facts are liberally laced with fiction 
Amar Chandel

THE Chinese system of governance has always had legions of admirers in India, so what if Chairman Mao Zedong’s famine-inducing Great Leap Forward resulted in the death of millions of people. This fascination survived even the shattering of the “Hindi Chini bhai bhai” myth and is all the more intense today when the “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, which is nothing except capitalism in disguise, that it adopted in 1978 claims to be yielding spectacular results.

Chinese economy is supposed to be one of the fastest growing in the world with a phenomenal 7.3 per cent rate of growth in 2001. The foreign direct investment of $ 47 billion that it attracted last year is enough to give India a heart attack, considering that it managed to get only about one-tenth of that. China is also the world’s biggest exporter of goods like toys, footwear and textiles today.

As long as the Chinese success story is considered an inspiring model, a goal to be achieved, it is fine, but if it is seen as a sign of our failure, then it is time to read between the lines. For, the world has now come to grudging conclusion that the Chinese figures are not worth the paper on which these are written. The old Chinese art of exaggeration comes into full play while publicising its achievements. Since no voice of dissent is allowed to be raised within the country, the real situation rarely becomes known to the world.

But ever since China joined the WTO, the spotlight is firmly on it and the warts and moles that are now visible are quite ungratifying. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China’s official statistics agency, itself has cast doubts over the credibility of most of its economic data.

An internal report by the NBS has uncovered endemic falsification of data, with as many as 62,000 breaches of Chinese statistics law between May and October last year. These forced NBS head Zhu Zhixin to admit that “some regions intentionally make false reports”.

The discrepancies arise because when pressured to meet impossible targets, officials submit exaggerated or even fabricated reports to statisticians. Poor areas over-report to meet government targets or earn subsidies. This tendency among officials to lie in order to boost their political fortunes is a fairly old Chinese legacy which repeated warnings by Prime Minister Zhu Rongji that “deceiving the nation and tricking the people can lead to untold disasters” has failed to curb. Similar puffery takes place when sample surveys are done.

The issue is politically sensitive and few Chinese dispute official figures. Rare exceptions like Song Guoqing, a senior economist at an independent think-tank, the Stock Exchange Executive Council, opine that last year’s growth rate could have been only 5 per cent or 6 per cent.

Outsiders are more forthright. Thomas G. Rawski of the University of Pittsburgh has been quoted in The Economist as saying that growth in 2001 might have only been between 3 per cent and 4 per cent. That puts China behind India, which had a figure of 5 per cent.

There are many clues that large-scale fuzzing is on. For instance, whenever there is rapid economic growth in other Asian countries, there is also increased energy use, high employment and rise in consumer prices. This has been true in the case of China also 10 years ago. But between 1997 and 2000, when China’s the GDP officially grew by 24.7 per cent, energy consumption dropped by 12.8 per cent. Employment hardly grew at all; prices registered a fall of over 2 per cent.

Rawski is of the view that while Beijing reported 7.8 per cent growth in 1998 and 7.3 per cent in 1999, China’s economy might actually have contracted 2 per cent and 2.3 per cent in those years. The economy has been growing at 3 per cent to 4 per cent since then.

Rawski has noted that the souring of China’s economy coincided with Zhu Rongji’s succession as premier. He quotes a political scientist colleague of his as saying: “Here you had a new administration, the economy was already facing difficulties and then came the Asian financial crisis. The exaggerated economic reporting was done to preserve the legitimacy and reputation of the new government”.

International investors are also stunned by the revelation that China’s public debt could be up to six times higher than the official government figure. A report by the Hong Kong arm of investment bank Credit Lyonnais puts the debt at almost 140 per cent of the GDP compared with a government figure of only 23 per cent. All that is in keeping with the age-old Chinese tradition of adding a fair amount of shui fin, or water, to the data.

That does not mean multinationals will be scared off. There is growth, whatever the percentage may be. After all, China’s middle class with growing purchasing power is now 100 million strong. The real danger is that the corruption, poverty and massive unemployment being generated by China’s market reforms might lead to a social revolution. There have been tens of thousands of demonstrations in China over the past few years as the government tried to shut down, streamline or sell off inefficient state factories, laying off millions of workers in the process.

Finding jobs for at least 150 million rural Chinese for whom there is little to do on the plots of land allotted to them is going to be an impossible task.

The fresh appraisal of the hollowness of the Chinese “miracle” has forced the West to see India in a new light. Even the venerable Wall Street Journal has concluded that “China seems to have raced rabbit like out of the blocks while India has plodded far behind. In this extended version of the old fable, however, the tortoise (India) will win not only because it moved at a more sustainable pace, but because it took a better path”.

The system that China has may be even worse than that of India. Frustrated insiders contemptuously refer to it as “a deformed child born after the rape of capitalism by socialism”. It has an unmanageably large state sector, corporate boards that are unable to fire managers, party committees even in private enterprises, no market for corporate control and massive changes in economic policy dictated without consultation. Chinese entrepreneurship could have fuelled long-term economic growth, but China has reserved all privileges for foreigners.

Unfortunately, disaffected Indian intellectuals always find fault with their own system, even advocating that we should follow the Chinese model. Perhaps it is the familiarity which is breeding contempt. They should take a closer look at the comparative progress. One of the most reliable indicators is the Human Development Index formulated by the United Nations Development Programme, which takes into account not only income but also health, education, poverty and life expectancy. They will be surprised to learn that while the rating for China rose to 0.718 (out of a possible 1.0) in 1999 from 0.553 in 1980, an increase of 30 per cent, India posted a higher 32 per cent rise over the same period (from 0.433 to 0.571). China’s budget deficit is pushing a record $ 37 billion, a 19 per cent bigger shortfall than last year’s. What must also not be lost sight of is the fact that while China began market reforms in the early 1980’s, India did so only a decade later.

As recently as 20 years ago, China had virtually no income gap — everyone was poor. Now the gap between the rich and the poor is worse than in almost all the western countries that Chinese leaders once denounced. The richest households have incomes nearly 13 times greater than the poorest ones. Even Prime Minister Zhu admits it is close to what he called the “international danger level”. India’s income distribution is far less skewed.

But isn’t it a fact, some may carp, that China attracted $47 billion in FDI last year, while India could rake in less than $5 billion. True enough, but what must be remembered is that India is a democracy where officials do not crack down on union activity and herd farmers from their fields to work in factories, as is the case in China.

If India’s record in poverty alleviation is dismal, China has unmanageable unemployment. Worse, it has deprived its citizens of many rights and freedoms. In India, a farmer’s wife is not forced to abort an unborn child, nor is the follower of a meditation sect jailed. India does not ban the entry of migrant rural labour into its cities either. That is the dark secret of slum-free cities like Shanghai.

There are also allegations that nearly half of what is claimed to be FDI attracted by China is nothing but black money returning home. Chinese businessmen under-invoice exports and over-invoice imports to take capital out of the country. Sending it back as FDI gets them preferential tax treatment, while the government gets to pat its own back.

In stark contrast, India does not even include reinvested earnings, overseas corporate borrowings and subordinated debt while calculating its FDI, despite the fact that the practice is approved by the IMF. If all these factors are taken into account, India’s net FDI inflows rise to $8 billion, while those of China come down to about $ 20 billion.

Even the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, says that according to an internal survey conducted by it, business environment in India is better than China.

In its view, difference in FDI as a percentage of the GDP between the two countries is a mere 0.3 per cent. While FDI accounts for 2 per cent of China’s the GDP, it comprises 1.7 per cent in the case of India.

The Economic Freedom Index 2002 says that China scores better than India in macro-management and low taxes while India fares better than China in the degree of government intervention, treatment of foreign investments and respect for property rights.

To think that India is marching in step with China would be a delusion. We are way behind, indeed. But the gap is not quite so wide that we should give up the chase for the top spot. What matters is that we are catching up. What we need is self-belief, not dejection caused by lop-sided comparisons that make the grass on the other side of the fence look greener.

MIDDLE

An anti-cold war visionary
Madan Mohan Puri

After lunch at University Mensa, the journey to Cologne central station took me about 20 minutes by tram. My train to Hannover en route for West Berlin for a seminar on re-unification of Germany was at 10.10 p.m. and I was well in time for it.

I lugged my suitcase to the platform and looked around. A few yards away someone was fondly feeding chicken to a cuddly pup. My gaze was arrested by the sight. The person became conscious and leaning close to the pup whispered loudly enough: “We are being watched!” Embarrassed, I blurted out: “But it is such a lovely pup”. The man smilingly acknowledged my apology. I walked over to him. He extended his hand: “Where are you from?” “India”, I responded. He was effusive and overwhelming.

His grip tightened and beaming he pumped my hand. “Where are you going?” “Hannover”, I said, “for the flight to Berlin”.

In those days — it was June, 1959, — the intervening strip of East Germany had to be traversed by air or by sealed cargo carriers on the heavily militarised link autobahn. “I am going up to Gutersloh”, he said, and as the train approached he shouted for a porter. He had a small satchel for baggage. Assigning it to the porter he pointed to my suitcase also for being carried and headed for 1st Class, the pup in his arms. I stopped him in his tracks. “But I have a 2nd class reservation made by my sponsors for students that I am”. “Never mind”, he said, and pushed me into the coach.

The porter got us an unoccupied compartment, and earned himself DM 20, instead of the prevailing 5, from Helmut Schwan, my companion. Settling in his seat opposite me Helmut emptied his pockets of coinage in a heap on the table between us. On my declining the heap he rose to throw it out of the window. I quickly changed my mind and gathered the heap of 30-odd marks.

The train sped along as did his unceasing barrage of excited comment about “great” India, Nehru, Gandhi. The TC entered the compartment and at once objected to the pup on the full seat beside Helmut; it must go to the animal cage on the train. “Heidi (the pup) is not going anywhere. Please make out a full ticket for it and upgrade my friend’s”, said Helmut holding out his own ticket along with a DM 100 bill. He then reached in his satchel, brought out a bottle of red wine, the vintage Macon 53, with two glasses and poured. Heidi’s ticket and mine came to 70-odd marks. Helmut took out another bottle from the satchel — which seemed to carry little else, except perhaps money — and dismissed the TC with the bottle and the balance from the 100 he had given him for the tickets.

In ordinary shirtsleeves, Helmut looked to be in his late 40s. I learnt, he had been incarcerated in the Nazi as well as Soviet concentration camps, had no family left, lived in Canada where he owned vast forest and farm lands, had just been awarded DM 44 million as some sort of compensation by the German courts, and was on his way to his lawyers in Gutersloh. “Money is power”, he said, “and I have enough of this power to change the world. The Cold War is taking us all to a thorough annihilation. India and its policy are the only moral force left. We form a secret society of young educated like you (I had just turned 28 and perhaps showed it) meet here, in Canada, India, anywhere. Get Ike, Macmillan, Khrushchev, Mao, de Gaulle shut in a room, fed through dog holes and allowed out only after committing to actually ensuring permanent peace without ifs and buts. Not easy. Of course not. But we have power, we must devise means in our meetings. India can help and save us all”. Helmut had ideas and the man’s intense animation was contagious. Perhaps Macon 53 made me concur.

Gutersloh was approaching. Helmut was insistent I get down with him to refine the scheme. I couldn’t, and extended my hand to him on platform in auf Wiedersehen. He grasped it and wouldn’t release till the train was in motion. When he did I found a DM 100 bill in my palm!

We corresponded till about my return home in April, 1962, then lost contact. Would Helmut find the post-Cold War world any congenial, to his liking? I wonder.

REFLECTIONS

‘We are being held back’
Kiran Bedi

I have two very engrossing and revealing encounters to share here in this piece of writing. One about men police officers and the other about women. For a change I will talk about women first and then about men. In February, 2002, our country held its first National Conference of Women-in-Police. It brought together over 555 women officers regionally and nationally together to discuss national and state issues. The conference delegates were of all ranks, constable to IPS women. And in that conference a research questionnaire was circulated to empirically understand some basic issues. The results of this study conducted by Jaya Inderson, a renowned social scientist, sponsored by the British Council, are stating and establishing the obvious.

The findings are: (i) women-in-police suffer from a “role erosion”, meaning that they are not allowed to perform to their capability and capacity. They are posted or deployed on jobs which underutilise their potential. They are on jobs which are soft-gender based — invisible, non-impact making, not mainstream, sidelined, dispensable etc. In sum all women in the police “are being held back”, and deliberately, due to certain existing policies and structures.

The second finding is in inter-role stress. Women on joining the police add on to their existing roles without in any way receiving relief from the traditional roles. Hence, the police career adds to the stress levels. Further, married women, or divorced, and widowed with families, suffer from higher stress compared to single woman.

The third finding is that of the feeling among women of “personal inadequacy”. This means that women in the police suffer from inadequacy of skills. This implies poor professional skills given to them, inadequate basic training, absence of refresher courses for upgradation of knowledge, due to which women feel hesitant in their jobs and they tend to volunteer to stay invisible, lest their inadequacies become notable.

Now all these three findings clearly show how women in the police are sidelined and not allowed to give their best to the country which engages them to police and serve society. Admittedly, all these three points are correctable provided right policies are put in place by the leadership. For that the first basic need is that of a sensitive and responsive leadership. A leadership which knows and is close to ground realities. If that happens, society as a whole will stand to benefit and the country will get its return for all it invests in employing women in police.

Now on to the next: the encounter with the male police:

We were winding up the training of the trainers’ course and the group after taking a short mid-break. This is an integral part of their training course to travel together, to explore their team spirit, capacity for tolerance or for hardship, giving, sharing and how to overcome hierarchies. Since the trip includes a visit to a sacred site there is a spiritual under-pinning to it. What some of the men police officers had to say was surprising: For quite a few of them it was a first view of the hills. They had till that visit only imagined the hills, not physically seen them. Two officers in the batch of 20 stated that they shut their eyes on the hill curves and sharp bends. They would pray to be safe. For another the last trip to the hills was in 1988 and after seeing the Tehri Dam many said they got over the fear of heights. Imagine policemen saying so!

Their teacher, Col. Gupta of the NIS (Sparta Group), said these policemen stayed seven in a room and learnt to request, wait, say thank you, or even sorry. They became normal human beings once again which police uniform had almost made them forget. Some of them who had never learnt to give, started learning to give, and even share.

So much for the women and men police officers. One section of the force under deployed, under-utilised, under-trained, over-stressed and limited in its roles. On the other hand men who are afraid of the heights, never seen hills or done a hill journey and forgot to give. But changing with training and excited about their jobs ahead. So was it with women. Those who had done the Springboard training courses said to their male colleagues on return to duty: “why do you have to use foul language when you can equally use kind and clean words”. And they said the men on duty started changing.

Anything can change for the better. What is required is the determination to do so and the passion to give.

SIGHT & SOUND

Women under attack
Amita Malik

Leaving aside politics, which was murky enough, the past week has been a horrific one for women.

First the rape of a 12-year-old mentally affected girl in a Mumbai suburban train by a drunken labourer while five able-bodied fellow passengers, including a newspaperperson from the daily which claims to have the highest circulation in the world, looked on and then had the temerity to make a story out of it in his paper. Then, again in Mumbai, a married woman in a chawl being gang-raped by 10 goondas while a knife was held against her husband and small child. Worst of all, the neighbours refusing to let the woman come back, alleging there must have been something wrong with her. This lack of neighbourliness was apparently due to the fact that the woman and family had come from Kolkata and this was a signal that “outsiders” were not wanted. So much for Mumbai’s once enviable civic sense and respect for women.

It was therefore timely that Pankaj Pachauri, in “Hotline” had two sessions on the subject of violence in public and harassment of women while at work. The first session had two journalists, Usha Rai from the older generation and Jyoti Malhotra from the younger, to discuss the problems, if any, which women, particularly in newspapers, had to face. Fortunately, both gave a clean chit to their male colleagues and reported little harrassment in public while going about their jobs. although there was some gender bias in the way of women becoming editors, at least TV has given them a leg up and access to all fields of reporting and anchoring.

The next day’s session was devoted to the problems women face not only in urban settings but also in the villages and how to cope with them. There were phone-ins from Aligarh, Meerut, Mumbai, Delhi, both cities claiming to be emancipated and tradition-bound smaller places. Very aptly in the chari wass Kiran Bedi to answer questions and give advice. This was given clearly and in practical terms and the main point that Ms Bedi made was that women must cultivate courage and confidence in themselves, that parents and teachers must encourage them to fight back instead of trying to protect them. And that women must become self-reliant instead of sheltering behind others. Also immediately dial 100 and give the names and numbers of policemen who stand and watch and do not come to the rescue.

However to document how different cities treat their women, Star News completed its trilogy by its women reporters roaming the streets of the Capital to prove what goes on. Hats off to Sarah Jacob and her colleagues (her camerapersons were equally adept) by trying out two baits. First two girls stood on the roadside. Immediately cars pulled up with smirking men at the wheel repeatedly asking the girls to “Get in. We are going to a hotel.” The polite refusals from the girls led to more sneering before they drove off in a huff. Then the girls sat at the wheel of their car which was immediately forced to the side by men drivers and had to pull up while men asked them for a lift. One man asked for a lift to Dhaula Kuan and when the girls explained that they were going to Khel Gaon Marg, which was in the opposite direction, they refused to take no for an answer until finally shooed off. If this happens in the cities, one can imagine what happens in small towns and villages.

This is not entirely in context but I must rap on the knuckles some of the newer general of women newscasters and anchors who are lowering the gender flag which once flew high not only in Star News but other channels. I find that while the newer generation of men, such as Amitabh Revi, Gautam Roy and others keep up professional standards in speed and enunciation with plenty of cool and confidence, the girls are offering strong competition to Schumacher in the matter of speed. The 100 metres dash is easily won by Jyostna Mohan who not only races on incoherently but also keeps on blinking at the same speed. I have tried to lip-read her but failed because she is tight-lipped and also swallows her consonants, with no change in her vocal inflections.

Close second in the 50 metres butterfly strokes are Sujata Padmanabhan in sports as contrasted to Priyanjana Datta, who is cool and collected. Manisha Natarajan of Business News is another speed merchant who leaves viewers far behind. Most weathercasters also race on in a dreary monotone until they are breathless “That’s-it-from-me” as if their life depends on it, Ambica Kapur being sing-song as well. They should take a leaf out of the book of Anuradha Srinivasan, who speaks at a reasonable speed, makes the weather report amusing at times and looks sexy as well.

TAIL-PIECE: I Watched Business Bizarre on Lijjat Papad on the BBC last week and stand by what I said earlier. It is boringly wordy, more like a radio feature, the narrator is colourless and too statistics laden, as in the Films Division, and it needs someone articulate and professional like Laila Tyabji to move the programme away from the endless wordy bahenjis talking endlessly about the same things.

ON RECORD

‘Cong not to ally with any party’
Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

Having started his political career in 1973 as a Secretary of the Bhalesa Block Congress Committee in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, it did not take long for Ghulam Nabi Azad to take up responsibilities at the AICC. A minister in the governments of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao, Mr Azad (53) is known to have sound knowledge of organisational matters. A post-graduate in zoology from Kashmir University, Mr Azad twice represented Washim in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha and is now a Rajya Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir. He was general secretary in charge of UP in the last assembly poll and was made J and K PCC chief by Congress president Sonia Gandhi ahead of the crucial assembly poll.

Excerpts from a wide-ranging interview:

We are preparing this time to form a government. It is not just like on some occasions earlier when we used to contest for the sake of contest. This time we have made up our mind that apart from Jammu and Ladakh, where we were always very strong except in 1996, we are going to make a dent in the valley as well. And should that happen according to our scheme of things, we would be able to form the next government.

As a matter of fact nobody is strong in the valley. The National Conference is equally weak. That’s why they always depend on rigging. If the elections are free and fair, I think our numbers will be more than that of the National Conference.

The Congress will not ally with any party. We will fight on our own across the state.

To the extent that we might have got two-third majority if there was Governor’s Rule. Now, naturally the margin and the number of seats will not be to that extent in the valley. The imposition of Governor’s rule will adversely affect the NC. But the demand for Governor’s rule is not being made just to improve the chances of the Congress. More than that, we feel that participation of the public would be far greater under Governor’s rule. If not the Hurriyat Conference as a whole, some parts of it and some splinter groups might participate. There would be greater participation of political parties and the public. I think the Centre has lost a great opportunity in involving the general people of Kashmir in the elections.

No, I think it was known only to the Congress President and me. The other people were not knowing about this. The real high command knew it much better (smiles).

I think both are fooling the people of Kashmir. Neither the Centre is interested nor the NC government. Had the NC been really interested, it would not have taken them four years to push it through and recommend to the central government. They could have done it in the first year. The NC would have quit the NDA after the autonomy report was rejected by the Centre. Had the BJP-led government been serious on the issue, it would have appointed interlocutors there and then. Where was the need to appoint a person now so near the elections? It means both are hand-in-glove and the exercise is aimed at giving some advantage to Mr Farooq Abdullah in the assembly elections. It is all orchestrated and they know that nothing is going to come out of it.

To take up such an exercise when the elections have been announced again amounts to fooling the people. This exercise should have been done much before and taken up much more seriously. I think the government is doing all this for international consumption to give the impression that they are engaged in talks. But the Centre never seriously tried to make any effort to woo these people so that they could take part in the elections.

There is a lot of pressure on our workers in the valley and some parts of the Jammu region. If you compare, the leaders of the National Conference have far more security. Nearly 4,000 NC leaders have security against only about 50 of the Congress. This is how and where the unfair means start. The rigging is not only about voting, this is also a way of rigging elections. You do not provide a level-playing field to other political parties...you do not provide them security to enable them to campaign.

We have taken it up with the EC. We have taken it up with the Home Ministry. The Home Ministry’s letters (to the J and K government) have been put in the dustbin. The Deputy Prime Minister’s directive has simply been put in the dustbin. The Deputy Prime Minister might say anything in Parliament but in Kashmir I don’t think even an Inspector of Police is ready to listen to him.

It is an ongoing effort and I wish that this exercise had begun some years back. One reason why people are not believing in the exercise is that just before the elections Farooq Abdullah announced his successor also. That means they are not serious, they do not want anybody to get in. What did we do in 1975? We asked our government to step down and helped Sheikh Abdullah form the government. The credibility today is such that whoever is in power forms the government.

It has no meaning.

They should have put their heads together and come to some conclusion and then pursued that policy. They first said they will not talk to anybody unless violence is abjured, then they started talking. Later they started Ramzan ceasefire and extended it. After that they talked of hot pursuit. They sent their Home Secretary who talked to people with burqa. Then Mr K C Pant was appointed as an interlocutor. There’s something new everytime. They rejected the autonomy report but later appointed a leader to talk on it. Then they said that it is not autonomy but devolution of powers. I think it is just buying time. I congratulate the Home Minister for his admission that his knowledge about Kashmir was limited. I have been saying in each speech in Kashmir that the BJP does not know about Kashmir because all along it has built its base by abusing the Kashmiris. The BJP has abused Sheikh Abdullah, talked about misuse of funds in the state and Article 370. The party has been abusing them (Kashmiris) for 50 years and how, all of a sudden, it wants them to trust the party and allow it to be their arbitrator. They are fooling themselves and fooling the country.

We never project Chief Ministerial candidates. We seek votes for the party. We are not so articulate as the National Conference.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

He who did the entire world create

Also created gods, demons and yakshas;

He is the alpha and omega of time, the only incarnation

Understand that He is my only guru.

The throbbing of every heart he hears

Pain of the good and wicked he knows;

From the tiny ant to the mighty elephant

He casts a benign look on all and is content.

When the godly suffer, He too suffers

When they are happy, He too rejoices;

The pain of those in pain He shares

The beating of every heart He hears.

In expansive mood the Creator did the world create

His creatures different shapes and forms did take;

Whenever He withdraws in Himself in a whim

All of them will merge in Him.

The world comprises diverse forms and living things

Each praises you according to its understanding;

You yourself remain aloof from everything

Your mystery is known only to the wise and in books of learning.

Formless, immaculate, self-supporting

Primal, stainless, beyond time, self-born;

Only fools try to probe into His existence

Even sacred texts know not His essence.

To mislead people He sculpted a stone

To the great fool the secret remained unknown;

He calls it Mahadev, Shiva eternal

And remains ignorant of the formless one.

Depending on one’s capability

Everyone describes God differently;

Your vast expanse cannot on paper be inscribed

How and when you first made the world cannot be described.

Rehras, Guru Granth Sahib