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Saturday,
November 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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This politics of starvation! Historic judgement Gas bonanza for Reliance |
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Privatisation of the public sector
Life and times of Shanidev
‘Till further orders’
‘BJP getting nervous in Gujarat’
Give credit where due
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This politics of starvation! Amidst the fireworks and glitter of Diwali, our hearts go out to the starving children, women and men of Baran, Dausa and Churu districts in Rajasthan who are struggling for their very survival while the surplus foodgrains rot in the nation's godowns. Who is playing politics and for what purpose? Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are playing their games of crude politics and shedding crocodile tears for the poverty-stricken people. Starvation is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of national shame. The ruling Congress party leaders in Jaipur and beyond are rolling out their readymade strategies to claim what they have done in lifting the paddy or sending the relief material to the affected people. The BJP leaders, both in Jaipur and Delhi, are more concerned about getting political mileage out of the tragedy with an eye on the next state Assembly election. They blame the state administration for its gross failure to provide timely assistance to the starving population. Nothing can be more tragic than this bizarre spectacle at a time when all political groups should have joined hands to rush relief. It is, indeed, regrettable that the political system and politicians in this country have virtually become insensitive to the sufferings of ordinary people while sitting pretty in the comforts of their offices. They have probably no idea of what the pangs of poverty and deprivation are like. This growing insensitivity in the system is a matter of grave concern. The state administration's failure is very much visible. No excuses are necessary on this count. What the nation expects of the Rajasthan Government is to mobilise relief on a war-footing. The people in this country are generous. They are always willing to provide a helping hand in every crisis situation. But the moot point is: has this been attempted at all? The answer is a simple "no". What is equally disturbing is that the men and women who have been engaged in the specified money-for-work ventures are even denied their legitimate wages. They are supposed to be getting Rs 60 per day for digging wells and other earthen work. But what they find is that after a week of toil under the scorching sun, they are handed over merely Rs 60 or Rs 75. Who is pocketing the rest of the money of these starving Indians? We, of course, know that even in a normal course, only 13 paise of a rupee earmarked for development work actually reach the villages. The remainder is swindled by the sharks of the system. The conscience of those in the establishment has ceased to prick them. Nothing can be more shameful than to see that even the poor and the starving are not spared by crooks, middlemen and the politico-bureaucratic system. We should all hang our heads in shame. Even in Orissa, the relief has not gone to the right quarters after the disastrous cyclone two years ago. All these are very disturbing pointers to the state of the nation. We would like to appeal to all the concerned citizens to raise their voices against all those who use starvation and poverty either for electoral gains or making a fast buck. Such elements ought to be debarred from active politics and public life. |
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Historic judgement Thursday’s Supreme Court judgement on the rights of minorities to establish and run educational institutions of their choice is balanced and historic. It is balanced because the apex court, while hearing 200 petitions involving the interpretation of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution, has redefined the minorities’ rights in a broader legal framework with due regard to the liberty and freedom of the minorities to run educational institutions as well as the secular character of the Constitution. It is historic because this is for the second time in 30 years that an 11-judge bench decided a constitutional issue of vital importance. The Bench deliberated, among other issues, the meaning of “minorities” and “minority educational institutions” (MEIs) and the criteria to determine whether an educational institution is an MEI. Accordingly, two significant points emerge from the court ruling. First, though minorities enjoy the constitutional right to establish MEIs of their choice, the right to administer them, particularly those aided by the state, is not unfettered or absolute. And secondly, the state could apply regulatory measures for educational excellence even when the MEIs are unaided. As the Supreme Court Bench has given primacy to the cardinal principles of merit and distinction aimed at achieving academic excellence in all the educational insitutions at various levels, there should be no reason for the minorities to question or raise doubts on the rationale behind the judgement. The same is the case with regard to the court’s emphasis on making the admission and recruitment systems in MEIs open and transparent. This is very significant in the backdrop of widespread complaints of unfair methods adopted by MEIs in some states in both admission of students and recruitment of teachers. There is a general impression that in the absence of any regulatory authority or mechanism, some of these EMIs behave like states within states and function according to their whims and fancies. The apex court’s stress on openness and transparency should goad them to conduct in a fair and responsible manner. The judgement is crystal-clear on the status of aided and unaided MEIs and there is no reason for confusion or ambiguity in this context. For instance, on aided MEIs, the court has made it clear that an MEI does not cease to be a minority institution, the moment it receives grants-in-aid from the state. An aided MEI would be entitled to have the right of admission of students belonging to the minority group. At the same time, it would be required to admit a reasonable extent of non-minority students (the percentage to be decided by the respective state governments), so that the rights under Article 30 (1) are not impaired and citizens’ rights under Article 29 (2) are not infringed. The Bench has also sought to allay apprehensions among some majority communities’ exercise of similar rights. It has held that though all citizens have a right to establish and run educational institutions under Articles 19 (1) (g) and 26, this right is subject to the provisions of Article 19 (6), i.e. reasonable restrictions and 26 (a), i.e. to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes. |
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Gas bonanza for Reliance The huge gas find that Reliance Industries has stumbled upon in the Krishna-Godavari basin comes at a time when the company was facing a tough time. First, it had lost its founder-CMD Dhirubhai Ambani and the investors had their fingure crossed about the new leadership. Second, the fluctuating prices of petroleum products had put a question mark on maintaining the profitability of the company. Third, the large investments in the software and telecom ventures had not yet started bearing fruits. All this was reflected in the company’s sliding share price, which had touched a new 52-week low a few days ago. The official announcement of the gas reserves, estimated at 198 billion cubic metres, at the RIL AGM on Thursday, will surely catapult the company into the glogal big league. Only recently Reliance had become the country’s first private sector company to join the prestigious Fortune 500 club. The latest results, indicating a 25 per cent rise in the net profit crossing the Rs 1,000 crore figure despite a general slowdown in the economy, also remove doubts, if any, about the leadership provided by the two sons of Ambani. It seems the spirit of Dhirubhai is guiding them from above. To be named after Dhirubhai, the gas find, made in collaboration with a Canadian company, Niko Resources, is described as India’s biggest discovery in three decades and one of the largest in the world this year. When fully operational in three-four years, the Reliance consortium will be able to supply gas to residents in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Although the full potential of the gas reserves is still being assessed, it is sure to change dramatically the energy map of India. The country spends a whopping Rs 80,000 crore annually on importing petroleum products. The Reliance discovery will help the country save the outgo of precious foreign exchange. This also underlines the need for involving the private sector in exploring and tapping the country’s petro and mineral wealth, specially when the public sector lacks resources. |
Privatisation of the public sector “The mystique of disinvestment” by Hari Jaisingh (October 25) is a well thought-out critique of the Union Government’s mindless, one-sided approach to public sector undertakings of critical importance. When India decided to reorganise its economy in 1991, investment in the public sector was “about half the total industrial investment”. The “basic rationale” for building the public sector was the planners’ belief that it will play “an essential role as an engine of growth”. It was expected to capture, in the course of time, commanding heights of the economy. The strategy adopted in the successive five year plans was to ensure its growth, both absolutely and relatively. The two Industrial Policy Resolutions of 1948 and 1956 indicated the scope and direction of the public sector. Since India was starting from a low industrial base when it initiated planning, its need for infrastructure and utility services was both urgent and great and could not be met by the private sector. The private sector had neither capital resources to make large investments nor proclivity to invest in undertakings requiring long gestation periods and offering low returns. Apart from imparting growth impulses to the system, the public sector was also expected to generate enough resources to sustain the momentum of development and do away with the need for additional taxation. Four decades later, the public sector looked like a structure that resembled a sagging ship drifting towards nowhere. It was also carrying with it, to its impending doom, such sectors of the economy as banking and insurance which were nationalised to play a complementary role. It was supplying vital inputs like water, power, fertiliser, and credit at highly subsidised rates to feudal and capitalist elements. It gave birth to a license-permit raj in which corruption came to be routinely described as part of the “global phenomenon”. It spawned mafia culture in which the levers of power were usurped by unscrupulous elements whom the law of the land could not reach. It gave rise to organised labour and staff unions which frequently followed predatory policies and forced successive governments in the country to accept excessive wage settlements and increased public spending on unproductive employment. The practice of uneconomic user charges for public utility services to appease the interest groups became an accepted feature of the price tariff and substantially contributed to unsustainable deficit in several states, rendering them incapable of playing an active role in the country’s development. India’s decision to promote development through the agency of the state was a rational and not an ideological decision. It was based on the assumption that “the economic system can be moved in a desired direction by means of intentionally planned and rationally coordinated state policies”. What then went wrong with this approach? Was the strategy not sound or were the policies to make it operative not properly conceived? Or was it the commitment that was lacking? It is clear by now that it was mainly the injudicious mixing of economic and welfare principles and the absence of monitoring procedures which could have led to timely corrections before the system went haywire. To begin with, all the public utilities such as power, transport and communications were treated as social services and mandated to so design their pricing policies as to make a significant contribution to the well-being of the community. This absolved them of economic and commercial obligations to the exchequer. The rate of return on capital ceased for them to be a factor in measuring efficiency. The power to judge whether public sector enterprises were discharging the assigned non-commercial obligations of the state in the best possible manner was vested in the bureaucrats and politicians who, in the course of time, added more partners and extended their hold over all types of undertakings and establishments — both commercial and non-commercial. They were also given the sole power to grant or refuse a licence or a permit covering various aspects of business regardless of the fact whether they were capable or not to take informed decisions. As a result, the functioning of the entire public enterprise system depended on the discretionary power residing in a few individuals rather than being rule-based, thus opening up vast opportunities for corruption and scams. Since funds for investment came largely from the government, which also carried losses, if any, there was no incentive for any enterprise to cut down costs and improve profitability. The captive markets ensured that enterprises could go on producing without any regard for costs or quality. The concept of social obligations imposed on public sector enterprises also extended inwards. There is an interesting observation by P.L. Tandon recorded by P.N. Dhar in his book, “Indira Gandhi, the ‘Emergency’, and Indian Democracy”, which tells it all. It reads: “...when the management of a steel-making enterprise has to run large housing colonies, clubs, schools, polytechnics, hospitals, temples, colleges, waterworks, lighting roads, sanitation, bus services, shops and cooperatives, it will inevitably have less time to concentrate on its main function, to make steel.” The observation was made when both P.L. Tandon and P.N. Dhar were on the Board of Directors of Hindustan Steel, the largest public sector undertaking in the country. India’s public sector was the legitimate child of the god that failed. The two main causes of its failure appear to me to be the heavy weight of non-commercial obligations of the state it was required to carry and untrammeled discretionary power with the government that eroded its autonomy. It is not fair to compare its performance with the private sector on the basis of economic indicators alone. For example, when there was a spurt in prices, many enterprises, particularly public utilities, were advised to keep their prices low to check inflation which not only affected yields on their investments but also “artificially stimulated” demand for their outputs. Another example would be the method of computing depreciation which affects the profitability of an enterprise. Depreciation can mean depreciation as a historic cost or depreciation as a replacement cost. It is not certain whether the enterprises in the two sectors were following any uniform practice. In an environment in which technology is changing fast, reserves against technological obsolescence can also be a large amount. In the current global context, any thinking economist arguing for the public sector strategy to accelerate development will be advised to see a psychiatrist. My purpose in presenting this short critique of the working of the public sector in India is to show that it was mainly the governing philosophy that we adopted and the policies that we formulated to use it as an agent of growth that were amiss. We have to be a little more circumspect than we have been in privatising it. It is not easy to draw a line between the private and public sectors. But as we proceed with implementing the unfinished agenda, we should take a broader view of our interests and take all factors into consideration, in particular the effect of privatisation of the public sector on socially disadvantaged sections which so far has been quite negative. This will be evident from the chaos that has already descended on some vital sectors of the economy like education, health and small-scale industrial enterprises which contribute about half of the total industrial output and two-thirds of the industrial workforce that is employed. The world had learnt an important lesson from the Great Depression of the 1930s, that the market economy can never lead to a sustained level of full employment. Keynes seized on this simple fact and developed his “General Theory of Employment” which led to fresh thinking on economic policy and paved the way for the interventionist approach. There is nothing like a theory of the optimal mix of the private and public sectors. It all depends on the particular stage of historical development of an economy and varies as the economy changes. But as the saying goes, there must be a method in one’s madness. To ensure a smooth changeover, we must introduce in the framework of the new economic policy a social dimension which takes into account the concerns of the ordinary people. The writer is former Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala. |
Life and times of Shanidev Where does Shanidev live? I don’t know for sure. But if I must believe what I saw, Shanidev lives near the Clark Hotel on The Mall in Shimla. Last June, I happened to be there and I witnessed the immense power of Shanidev, almost at par with that of any known political bigwig. It happened like this. Half a dozen devoted disciples of Shanidev were sitting comfortably near the Clark. They had in hand brass soup-plate-like utensils containing sparkling mustard oil. And they were chanting Shanidev-Shanidev and goading people to have a darshan of Shanidev through the mustard oil in their plates. God-fearing, as all Himachalis seem to be, many were drawn to those plates. Whether they saw Shanidev through the mustard oil or not, I can’t say. But whosoever came to have his darshan put a one-rupee coin in the mustard oil. Countless such coins were visible at the bottom of the plates. Of course, it was a Saturday. For Shanidev, this much I know, dominates the Shimla scene on Saturday alone. That is the day he smiles on the people there. That is the day when he grants them all their wishes. And that is the day when his principal disciples, the gentlemen with plates, are the happiest fellows on earth. Casual enquiries tell me that when Shanidev is in the right mood, he grants all your wishes. But if you annoy him, he himself gets drowned (sitara doob gaya) and you are doomed. You are doomed not just during your stay in Shimla, but also, in all probability, for the rest of your life. If you are a bachelor and you want to get married, Shanidev will come in your way. If you are already married, Shanidev will see to it that either you or your spouse loses life. So, to keep Shanidev happy, you have to pour coins in the plates of his principal disciples generously. There are no fixed timings for the ritual. But mornings, and evenings are more auspicious. That is the time when people go to their offices. And that is the time when people return home. At both the places, they maturally want to live under the benevolent shadow (saya) of Shanidev. One Saturday, as the morning crowd melted away, I saw Shanidev’s principal disciples ordering for tea from the tea-stall opposite to where they were sitting. I also saw them taking out their bidis and smoking them. As they were doing so, someone from amongst them suddenly shrieked, “Bhago, bhago, asli Shanidev aa gaya (run, run, real Shanidev has come).” They all quickly extinguished their bidis, picked up their plates and ran away. Who was that real Shanidev that had scared them so terribly? I looked at the bloke and discovered that it was a policeman. I did not put any question to him, but it was obvious to me that he had come to demand his own pound of flesh from the Shanidev-Shanidev chanting principle disciples of Shanidev, living, God knows where. |
‘Till further orders’ Two visits which enabled a vertical interaction with police colleagues by way of passing out parade of police officers in Uttar Pradesh and the other for a sports event in Madhya Pradesh, proved beyond any doubt the compelling need for an urgent implementation of one of the most important recommendations of the National Police Commission (NPC) — which is, to insulate the police from negative political interference (made nearly 23 years ago and continues to be a crying need). Before I elaborate on the specifics of the recommendation, here is what I gathered on the sidelines. Scene-I (Uttar Pradesh): Most of the UP officers are on a roller coaster ride. None of them know for how many days or months will they be in their present assignments. There are innumerable instances when officers have been posted and transferred, more than once in one single day, forget about months and years. I found officers reconciled to letting their families be run by their spouses, mostly wives. In fact police families today are single-parent homes, in view of the prevailing insecurity of postings. Scene -II (Madhya Pradesh): Each Cabinet Minister of the state is also a “prabhari” i.e. administrator of a district. He is the Chairman of the district committee on personnel matters to decide transfers and postings of police officers, besides others. The Secretary of the committee is the Collector. The Superintendent of Police of the district is a mere member. On my query on how the system works, it was learnt that when proposals of transfers etc are placed before the committee, the Chairman again consults the area MLAs, who in turn have their own lists. Hence, at times transfers are inordinately delayed, besides bringing in all aspects of patronage, nepotism and indiscipline. The above scenario is at the district level. Now at the state level, the Chairman is the Chief Minister himself with the Secretary Home as a member-Secretary and the Director-General of Police as a member. This committee looks into transfers and postings of senior ranks. If all that I learnt from the sidelines is true, then this is unhealthy for a professional organisation as well as the state where such a situation prevails. All of this is against all tenets of accepted norms of professional management, command, control and leadership. Policing is a hierarchical institution, which requires a command structure based on the use of appropriate responsibility, accountability, sensitivity, discretion, discipline and order. Dilution of command and control means having Bahadur Shah Jaffars or at times titular heads at the helm... and that is not what a nation, which is fighting terrorism requires. Nor is it the spirit of our Constitution. These are our own practices, by way of executive “order” in the garb of “guidelines”(sic) based on a British-made Police Act of 1861, which is still on the statute book. If challenged in a court of law, these guidelines may well be declared null and void and seen contrary to the notified police rules. In other countries, the Police Acts focus on responsibilities of the minister or governments and lay down in clear terms how that responsibility has to be discharged. For instance, the main function of the Secretary of State in the United Kingdom is to exercise his powers “in such manner and to such extent as appears to him to be best calculated to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the police”. The English model of police system provides for a tripartite structure consisting of the Secretary of State representing the political executive, the local Chief Constable equivalent to our Director-General Police representing the police department and the Police Authority representing the community. The Act requires the Secretary of the State to determine objectives for policing of different areas and this has to be done by him in consultation with the other two i.e. the police department as well as the Police Authority. A statutory instrument containing the objectives determined under this provision of law has to be laid before Parliament. Therefore, the Chief Constable’s powers are not infringed, instead he is facilitated to perform to the best of his capability. I have personally read an appointment order of a police chief, which says ”appointed as police ...... of ...... till further orders”. Why further orders? Why could not the order say specify the period? Just because the Act of 1861 gives the power of superintendence and control to the political executive doesn’t mean that this is not required. By such orders, discretion is retained to transfer the chief at any time for any reason without a right to appeal. We shout from the rooftops that we are the largest democracy in the world but in practice we (in positions of power) may be quite the opposite. So what are we asking for? A stable, professional, non-partisan, accountable police chief. And this can be enabled only when the core recommendation, to this effect made by the National Police Commission, is accepted in letter and in spirit. Through the statutory appointment of a State Security Commission, the appointment of the police leadership will be neutral and accountability higher. This core recommendation is the key to the beginning of all police reform. The necessity for this could not be higher in view of the prevailing hiatus between expectation and performance. |
‘BJP getting nervous in Gujarat’ As general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, Mr Kamal Nath has worked on a three-tier system of selecting party candidates. He feels that the BJP has already taken its election pitch to a level from where it can only come down while the Congress campaign is gradually gaining momentum and would reach its peak close to the December 12 assembly poll. Excerpts of the interview. Q: How is the Congress preparing for the assembly elections in Gujarat? We have been preparing for the polls for the past few months and now we are fully prepared. There are Congress governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra which border Gujarat. The Chief Ministers have been told to focus on seats in the border areas. The party has just concluded its mass contact programme in Gujarat. Congress President Sonia Gandhi would address rallies in the state. Ever since elections were announced, the BJP is losing confidence. There is a lot of nervousness in the BJP. Q: What will be the main issues for the Congress in the polls? We will bring to the fore the failed governance of the BJP in the last five years. The desire of the BJP is now to divert attention of the people from the real issues of poverty, progress and development to a commual divide. The issues are growth and peace. As long as the BJP governs Gujarat, there cannot be peace. Wherever people have posed trust in the BJP, it has faded out very fast. That is reflected in the recent results in Jammu. Q: How many seats are you hoping to win? Of the 66 seats the party won in the last polls, it got just five in Saurashtra which has 58 seats. In Surashtra itself, we are confident of winning at least 35 seats. If we make no mistakes then we hope to get over 105 seats. Q: What will be your criteria for selecting candidates? Winnability and ability to serve the people. In each of the 28 districts of Gujarat, carefully chosen ministers from neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were sent to get information about the candidates. These coordinators have given their independent assessment of candidates in all the constituencies, including information about the rivals. The PCC received about 2000 applications from prospective candidates of whom 700 have been short-listed for the screening committee meeting scheduled for November 6 in New Delhi. I sent 100 Congress workers from Madhya Pradesh to 100 constituencies in Gujarat to get the response of the man on street. All these inputs would go into deciding the candidates. The Central Election Committee of the party is meeting on November 10 and 11 to decide the candidates. Q: Do you see a possibility of the polarisation of voters? Polaristion would affect only eight to ten constituencies. The elections would be fought on local issues as the people want to know what the government has delivered in the past five years. The BJP’s rule in Gujarat has been marked by scams and 55 lakh people have been affected by the cooperative scam alone. The BJP has already taken its election campaign to a high pitch with its Gaurav Yatra and it cannot go higher. They have fired every shot. Our momentum will pick up after Divali. Every section of the people in Gujarat has been hit by the riots. There has always been 10-12 per cent BJP vote and they may be more visible now because they have become telegenic. However, the BJP is capable of creating some stunt to create a communal divide. Q: How do you perceive the response to Narendra Modi’s Gaurav Yatra? It was a government-sponsored yatra. The caretaker Chief Minister put up his hoadrings all over the state. There was massive abuse of government machinery and the yatra fizzled out later. People have seen through all this. Dramatics don’t win you elections. Q: You have talked of fighting the polls with other parties. How many seats are you
willing to leave for your partners? We have been holding talks with other parties and it is not a question of seats. The objective is to defeat the BJP and to achieve this we have to see the ground realities like the party structure and apparatus in every constituency. Adjustment has to be made keeping in view the local factors. Discussions are being held at the state level with other parties and these would reach a conclusion in a few days. Q: Who would be your Chief Ministerial candidate? There is no question of projecting anyone as Chief Minister. The issue will be decided after the elections by the legislature party and the Congress President. Q: The Congress has appointed Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, a former RSS man as, PCC chief. There is a perception that it may not help in getting the votes of minorities. We don’t have a card to play. We don’t look at elections in terms of vote banks. We are looking at what is good for the state and what is good for the country. Q: There was criticism of Mr Veghela’s recent trip to the USA. What is there to criticise him. There were some charges about his statements which are not correct. If he was telling the Gujarati community abroad that the donations they give to the VHP and others were misused for political purposes for destruction of Gujarat and they should not do it — that Mr Vaghela and many more should do. Q: Do you see an electoral impact of the terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple? People feel that the BJP has brought down its level of security. They say that the BJP leaders talk of a decisive battle (against terrorism) but do nothing. Q: Mr Modi and VHP leaders have been raking up the issue of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin, directly or indirectly. Do you think it will affect the party’s prospects? That’s been a non-issue in every election so far. The Congress has been winning elections. Whenever they raise it, they have been thrown out by the people. Q: Is the Congress now satisfied with the electoral rolls in Gujarat? The electoral rolls are not without flaws but since it is not a very close election, we don’t think it will have an impact. |
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Give credit where due I actually sat up recently when I noticed that in Barkha Dutt’s programme Reality Bytes there was a list of credits, including cameraperson Ajmal Jani. I sat up because most channels do not even give the name of the producer, let alone the camerapersons, without whom there would be no TV. I have done programmes with Ajmal and been delighted by his exceptional talent as cameraperson. And every day on TV, on different channels, like Zee and Aaj Tak, I feel sad when I notice that a news item or a programme which would not have been so good without exceptional camerapersons, leaves them out when it comes to the credits. And that third-rate and pushy news and programme anchors and even giggling weathergirls get their names splashed all the time. Ironically, in this respect, Doordarshan stands alone. For years it has been giving the names of the producer, the editor and one more person by name for its news bulletins. Since DD’s news bulletins still tilt heavily towards the sarkar, the credits seem a bit redundant. But luckily some other channels are now slowly giving credits at least for longish news-based programmes. This is not only overdue but professionally required. In most democratic countries the associations or unions which belong to different categories of programme or technical performers, keep a constant watch on their right to credits or proper fees. For instance, Equity in Britain looks after their interests, which are clearly defined and accepted by employers and organisations. I have no idea of the situation in AIR and Doordarshan now, but in the old days they had well-organised and recognised unions of technical personnel, such as engineers, and even the Class I non-technical staff had unions which spoke up for them. But while the engineering staff were united and fought for and won their rights, the programme staff, notably “officers” were timid, disunited and easily persecuted by their senior government bosses and the ministry if they asked for their legitimate professional rights. It was mostly disunity and infighting over promotions and postings amongst themselves, which robbed them of all power for bargaining. Which is why, the DD staff such as regular news staff, for instance, were pushed aside by the united and better organised Information Officers, who are deskmen and rightly belong to the PIB and the print media and have no training or aptitude for TV, who have taken over all foreign postings and plum administrative posts and ruined the organisation.The chaos over DD’s on-again, off-again news channel ended in the arbitrary sacking of outstanding newscasters such as Tejeshwar Singh, Sanjeev Upadhyay and Rini Khanna, all at the whim of a PIB-based officer with political godfathers who appointed her own daughter as a weathercaster. All proof of the fact that the government and the I and B Ministry itself has no respect or concern for the real professionals of TV, many of whom would make excellent foreign and defence or cultural correspondents, while they give a free run to the Information Services. The point I am making is that it is time that the professionals, whether camerapersons, editors or backroom boys and girls, and whether in government channels or private ones, got their credits on the screen and the respect and professional status that they deserve. Since horror seems to have taken over world news (remember only bad news is news) one watched with increasing concern and sympathy the takeover of a theatre in Moscow and the sad fate of the innocent victims who were gassed and not shot to death in the efforts to free them by the Russian commandos. It seems that innocent victims, whether in Kashmir, Moscow or Bali are already outnumbering those who are supposed to protect them. TAIL-PIECE: Since we are doomed to putting up with ads on TV, this week I would like to list some of the silliest ones. Now when that pretty girl who has to move off the tennis court to let a Scorpio car emerge from underneath, one would like to ask with whom is she playing
tennis? The ones for thermal underwear, each sillier than the last, but the one where the young boy wails ‘‘Mujhe garmi kyon lag rahi hai?” takes the cake. And one cannot help noticing a new trend in ads by which the older woman no longer hands down wisdom to her daughter-in-law or grandchildren. Increasingly we see smart young wives making idiots of poor old mother-in-law or grandchildren. Yet, these same young wives do not seem to have such a walk-over in the bahu-saas soaps. |
The worst of men are those who will not forgive. —Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia *** The good aim at goodness and the vile at vileness; nectar is praised for giving immortality, and poison for its deadly effect. *** Imagined sweets cannot satisfy one’s hunger. The words of one’s parents, guru and master must be obeyed as conducive to bliss without a moment’s thought. None is so grievous as an insult to one’s people. The acts of a saint are noble, like the career of the cotton plant, whose produce is dry, white and thread-like. It is the nature of the great to punish first and then show mercy. A diamond cannot be pierced with the pointed end of a Sirisa flower. Heroes perform valiant deeds on the field, but never indulge in self advertisement. Finding before them a foe in battle, it is a coward who brags of his own prowess. After all, whatever Rama has ordained must come to pass. —Shriramacharitamansa, Bala Kanda *** All believers are brothers. —The Quran, 49,10 *** Children are a bridge to heaven. —Persian proverb *** The dawn does not come twice to awaken a man. —Arabic proverb *** A hair’s breadth divides false from true. —Omar Khayyam *** He who knows himself knows his God. —Arabic proverb *** Courtesy is the Lord of all virtues. —Bahaullah |
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A school-mate of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Kamal Nath (55) has been in the limelight since he was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Chindwara, Madhya Pradesh, in 1980. An educationist, he is the President of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. He is among the few party leaders who have remained close to successive Congress presidents. A former Union Minister and six-time MP, Mr Kamal Nath is at present the only Congress general secretary from the Lok Sabha. He led the party to victory in the assembly poll in Assam as general secretary-in-charge, though in West Bengal the Congress could not make major gains. The recent sweep by the Congress in the municipal elections in Delhi has added another feather to his cap but the high-profile Gujarat poll would test his mettle the most.