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Monday,
December 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India   |
Petrol bomb! Hurdles on growth path |
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Benefits of interlinking rivers
Are poor relations a pest?
Taxing blues in Haryana
Trivial things often cause a marriage to collapse Heating chillies and cooling mints
Playboy models lose curves
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Petrol bomb! When the petrol pump allotment egg burst on the face of the government early this year, it was shell-shocked for a few days. Then the crisis managers recovered their wits and came out with a ridiculously simple counter-strategy: cancel all allotments and show that the government was all for probity and integrity in public life. It was an ingenious way indeed to throw the hounds off the government’s trail. But even at that time neutral observers, including The Tribune, had pointed out that the order might not stand judicial scrutiny. Well, the assessment has come true. The Supreme Court has not only quashed the Prime Minister’s order, but has also castigated it in exceptionally harsh words. It has been called “unjustified and arbitrary”. The apex court has also commented that the decision was a result of panic reaction taken “without application of mind” to any of the relevant considerations. Of late, the Vajpayee government has had to eat humble pie on many occasions, but this is a double dose of the unpalatable dish if ever there was one. The apex court has forcefully rooted for the “good apples”, which had suffered for the fault of the bad ones and the government. While lamenting that none in the government examined the impact that was likely to result due to the en masse cancellation, the court has spoken about many “Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, war widows and those whose near relations had died as a result of terrorist activities. The effect of none was considered.” Indeed, the order had punished many honest ones belonging to these and even other categories. As the court has pointed out, the en masse cancellation was a cure worse than the disease. It remains to be seen how far the remedy prescribed now by the Supreme Court itself can retrieve the situation. The two-member committee formed by it to examine cases of alleged political favouritism has a messy job at hand. Looking into 400-plus cases and proving that the allotments were indeed made on political considerations is going to be a time-consuming and complicated exercise. It is one thing to report such allegations and quite another to make them stick. The impact of the court ruling on other cases will be watched with interest. Whenever there is leakage of any paper in a board or university examination, it is quite common to cancel the entire examination even if most of the students have attempted it honestly. Why, even in the notorious PPSC case, those who got through without having anything to do with Ravi Sidhu have been shown the door. Will the petrol pump order provide them a ray of hope? |
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Hurdles on growth path There is a great difference between saying and getting something done. Thus, it looks fine when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee assures the nation that there is no room for scepticism so far as the targeted 8 per cent growth rate during the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-7) is concerned. He wants the country to believe that it is not impossible to reach from the present 5.5 per cent growth rate to the level envisaged in the Plan document, adopted at Saturday’s National Development Council meeting in New Delhi. Of course, the economy is capable of proving the Prime Minister right, but there are a number of difficult hurdles on the way. He himself hinted at some of these difficulties while addressing the NDC gathering. One, the US-led war on Iraq by the end of January appears imminent. That will mean a major economic jolt to the whole world and India cannot remain unaffected. India’s inflated oil import bill in that situation will make the entire development programme go haywire. Two, there is no consensus on many economic reforms-related issues between the Centre and the Opposition-ruled states; nor is there any hope of unanimity of views in the near future. This is more so because many states are scheduled to go to the polls next year and a general election is due in 2004. Every political party will try to concentrate on its vote banks, as we all know that in our country development issues are considered least significant for winning elections. Three, even the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government has not been consistent in its stand on different issues concerning the economic reforms, sending wrong signals to the business community within the country and abroad. The latest case is that of subsidies. Mr Vajpayee wants the government to address the ticklish problem of subsidies as soon as possible. That is all right. But, then, what was the need for Union Finance Secretary S. Narayan’s clarification after the mid-term review of the economy that there was no move against the subsidies? Economic health of the nation cannot improve if political considerations are given primacy over the development aspect. Four, the position over the issue of disinvestment in public sector undertakings is still not clear, though a decision has been taken on the oil PSUs. Dissenting voices are still heard over the sale of profit-making PSUs. Talking to the media on the sidelines of the NDC meeting, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh expressed his opposition to any move to hand over the control of the Bathinda HPCL refinery to the private sector because it was the only major profit-earning government-owned venture in the state. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, an NDA partner, also aired similar views on NALCO. Another NDA ally, the Shiv Sena, is greatly worked up over Mumbai’s Centaur Hotel resale controversy. Lack of transparency, it is pointed out, makes the whole disinvestment process questionable. The truth, however, is that the nation as a whole is yet to make up its mind that the government should leave business to those whose job it is. There are more such problems to be handled to make the economy move faster on the growth path. The economically laggard states like UP and Bihar are still not very serious about reforms. In fact, the reforms process in most states is either too slow or yet to begin earnestly. Even the loss-making state PSUs are not being quickly disposed of to private parties. The euphoria generated when Dr Manmohan Singh was the Union Finance Minister is missing. Therefore, it is not surprising if job avenues are getting fewer day by day. The Prime Minister will have to convince the different groups within his government and outside that there is no more time to lose on evolving a national consensus on the question of economic reforms. Dithering will be dangerous. |
Benefits of interlinking rivers The Supreme Court has ordered that the government should interlink all the major rivers by 2016. Environmentalists are up in arms on this issue. Their first objection is that cheaper alternatives of traditional water harvesting technologies are available; it will not be economical to lift the water from the Ganga to a height of 2860 metres for taking it to the Deccan; and that it will be nearly impossible to find the huge investment of Rs 5,60,000 crore for this project. Their second objection is that the ecological impact of such transfers are both uncertain and unknown; it may lead to killing of many species of fish, insects and birds; it will lead to over-irrigation, water-logging and salinity; and it will lead to huge displacement of human population. Their third objection is that the inter-state transfer of water faces insurmountable problems like those seen in the Sutlej-Yamuna canal and the Cauvery water dispute. We are unable to maintain our existing canal systems; it will lead to greater centralisation of water management and disempower local communities; and in the case of the Brahmaputra it faces a further problem of having to secure cooperation of Bangladesh. These objections have merit. But before we reach any conclusion let us take a look at what is the status across the world in such matters. Nearly 3,500 years ago the Chinese had built a grand canal starting from Beijing in the north and extending to Hangzhou in the south, linking the Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, Yangtze, and Qiantang rivers covering a distance of 1,794 km. Construction began in the 15th century BC, and two large-scale expansion projects were launched in the seventh century and the 13th century to link up many dredged and renovated rivers. It was the main artery of communication in China during the period from the seventh century to the 13th century. Excavation led to the discovery of eight sunken ships. One of the ships was 23.6 metres long. A stone wharf of the Song Dynasty was also discovered. Specialists believe that it was a freighter wharf. For nearly 2,800 years the huge canal was in operation, even if intermittently. Professor Baruch Kimor has studied the ecological impact of the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869 linking the Red Sea with the eastern Mediterranean. In the first 50 years, he says, only a moderate rate of migration took place between the two marine environments. This trend accelerated the rate in subsequent years, mainly in a northerly direction. Some of the fish species of Red Sea origin, which penetrated into the eastern Mediterranean, proliferated in the new environment and established stable populations. The goatfish and the lizardfish of Red Sea origin pushed aside the red mullet and the hake. The 4,248-km-long river Irtysh flows through China, Kazakhstan and Russia. It starts in Mongolia and the flows through Chinese territory for a distance of 618 km. The Chinese Government has recently started building an irrigation canal from the Irtysh to Karamay. It is planned to be more than 300 km long and 22 m wide. The canal will take 20 per cent of the river’s annual water flow. That would affect the flow of water into Kazakhstan. But China’s National Petroleum Corporation signed a deal worth $9 billion with Kazakhstan to build a pipeline to fields in western Kazakhstan and bring oil to China. The pipeline will bring oil to Xinjiang. The two sides have made a kind of deal. China will divert waters of the Irtysh as a condition of buying Kazakh oil. The Panama Canal receives its water from a river basin in the centre of the Isthmus. Locks on both sides enable the passing of ships. This system depends on the availability of water coming from this basin. Since the output of this watershed during the dry period is not enough to enable the passing of ships throughout the year, an artificial lake has been created. This lake serves as a buffer to overcome the dry periods. Deforestation and unsustainable agricultural activities are, however, threatening the proper functioning of the lake. Uncontrolled surface runoff causes erosion and sedimentation of soil material in the lake, which reduces its storage capacity. This is threatening the viability of the Panama Canal. We can examine the objections to the Indian plan of interlinking rivers in the above backdrop. Quite clearly, there have been important ecological costs of the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam. But their “value” has not been ascertained. Every act of human beings is an infringement on nature. Even the planting of forests is interference with the design of nature. It is to be seen whether these changes help or hurt the evolution of living beings. That the goatfish displaced red mullet is non-speaking. It has to be seen whether such a displacement was “good” or “bad”. The interlinking of rivers will certainly have a similar ecological impact. But those changes have to be evaluated. The Chinese maintained their 1,800-km-long canal for nearly 3,000 years. The remains of huge boats have been found in its bed, indicating that it served as a navigation route and was economically beneficial. If such a canal could have been beneficial at that time, there is more likelihood of its being more profitable today. The cost of lifting water to 2860 metres should be assessed and compared with the gains that may accrue. It is also incorrect to counter-pose water-harvesting structures with big dams and canals. Actually, they are complementary. Small tanks retain water themselves and also recharge groundwater, which later flows into the big dams. They increase the total amount of water that the country can retain. Thus, we should look at the combination of the two rather than one or the other. The Chinese and Kazakh governments appear to have negotiated give-and-take with respect to oil and water. There is no reason that a similar give-and-take cannot take place between Bihar and Assam on the one hand and Maharashtra and Karnataka on the other; or between Bangladesh and India. The Panama Canal was built about 90 years ago, but mismanagement is now threatening its existence. That does not mean that the canal in itself is unviable. The solution is proper management. There is need to dispassionately examine the economic, social and ecological costs and benefits of the interlinking proposal. But it would be unwise to reach a conclusion that it is necessarily bad. The author, a well-known columnist, was earlier associated with the
IIM, Kolkata. |
Are poor relations a pest? I
have lately been dipping into the essays of Charles Lamb once again after a lapse of 40 years or so. And though his quaint humour and drolleries are still fairly fetching. I do not somehow warm up to several of the sallies which at one time had such a fascination for me. Perhaps the winter of my woes has something to do with it, or perhaps my imagination which has meanwhile changed gears to stay in business. However, “Dream Children: A Reverie” has all that fay charm, and all that poetry one finds in such little classics. And yet one essay, “Poor Relations”, too has stayed in my memory for its opening paragraph — a whole avalanche of striking metaphors of inconvenience, discomfort, offence, obstruction, embarrassment, etc. And it’s to this essay that I return as a launching pad for this piece. “Poor-relations”, Lamb holds, are quite a pox, and they materialise in a wealthy home on one pretext or another to claim consanguinity or blood relationship, and thus disconcert or shame the host. And he goes on to call them, “a rent in your garment”, “a frog in your chamber”, “a mote in your eye”, etc. Musing over the metaphors, thus, I could not but think of the other side of the case, a side that has its own muted pathos and pertinence, and its own anxieties and authenticity. A poor person in a rich relation’s drawing room is an eyesore only when the perceiving eye cannot see beyond the forlorn, wind-blown looks, or the faded patchwork of clothes that seem importunately to claim attention, and perhaps a measure of respect. That’s to say when your moral horizons end on your own threshold — a threshold of small commonalities, of class interests and positions — quite clearly you, in your own turn, become a “poor relation” in the courtyards of life: You’ve, in short, impoverished yourself in “the goods of the spirit,” to recall a phrase from Aldous Huxley. And if the offending intruder (Lamb’s “loin in the path”, “a death’s head at your banquet”, has in his misery transgrassed the limits of propriety ordained by your class, why, then, you’re a snob and a cad who has done dirt upon the generosities and magnanimities of life: A poor relation acts under compulsions and bludgeonings of fate, whilst you act out of will and vanities. That’s the ultimate equation. Who wins and who loses? I know, of course, that poor Lamb, a suffering bachelor, was not really being sat upon by a parcel of “poor relations” — on the wife’s side, at least —, and that the essay in question is but “a loose sally of the mind” where the imagination in labour, once set, goes on to construct its own facts and phantoms. And, in any case, that “superannuated” India House clerk couldn’t have taken on airs of affluence and station and pedigree, what with his sense of life’s largesses as seen in “The Essays of Elia.” And if I seem to trip him here, it’s simply to aver that the muses are apt to make fools of us all when we pursue an idea to distraction. Which brings me back to some of those “poor relations”, in my own orbit of experience. I can recall, for instance, a decrepit old uncle of my mother’s who used to establish his distant relationship with her through a complicated algebra of hints and surmises, or an ancient aunt, thrice removed, who claimed to have spanked and fondled me when I was but a toddler, or an ubiquitous cousin who had the habit of descending upon our house whenever there was a party in progress, or some other festivity on hand. And at that time in my childhood we used to “shoo” them away from the door whenever possible. We thought them a “plague” of sorts, I guess. As we grow up, however, we begin to understand that life is not to be measured with “coffee-spoons”, or carved out with silver knives” “Poor relations” too are entitled to a place in the sun beside us. As John Donne put it in a memorable manner. “No man is an island entire of itself”. |
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Taxing blues in Haryana Equity in law is the essence of good governance in a democratic set-up. But when law and equity are put asunder, then the law becomes the worst torture. This is true of Haryana, the land of strange possibilities. Take, for example, the laws governing the assessment and payment of house tax. The Haryana Government has put two different and discriminatory laws — one for all the Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees in the state and the other for the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad — on the statute book. The Government of Haryana issued a notification in December, 2001, exempting certain categories of persons, institutions, vacant plots, vacant lands from the payment of house tax. While the said notification is applicable to and governs the tax regime of all the Municipal Councils and committees in the state, it is not applicable to the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad, which continues to follow an outdated and obsolete notification of July, 1975, issued about 20 years before the only corporation of Haryana came into existence in 1994. A comparison of the two notifications makes an interesting revelation. While the 2001 notification stipulates that all the councils and committees in Haryana “shall impose a tax at the rate of two-and-a-half per cent” of the annual value on the residential buildings, the July 1975 notification fixes the rate of house tax at 10 per cent of the annual value for the rate-payers of Faridabad. Further, the 1975 notification envisages that the exemption available on land and buildings to the tax payer in Faridabad would only be up to the annual value of Rs 300 per year. But in the December, 2001 notification, the exemption limit has been raised to Rs 5,000 for the Municipal Councils and to Rs 3,000 for the Municipal Committees in Haryana. In the case of widows and minors, the exemption is granted at the rateable value of only Rs 1,200 per annum in Faridabad, while it is fixed at Rs 8000 in councils and Rs 5000 in committees in the state under the 2001 notification. The Faridabad 1975 notification does not show any pity on the handicapped with 100 per disability, as no exemption is granted to them. But the 2001 notification provides for exemption up to the annual value of Rs 8,000 in the councils, and Rs 5,000 in the committees in the state. Only those ex-servicemen qualify for exemption whose pension does not exceed Rs 100 per month in Faridabad. But in the case of councils and committees, those drawing pension upto Rs 1,275 have been exempted from the payment of house tax. In the 2001 notification, the vacant lands attached with the industrial and institutional units/buildings have been exempted from the payment of house tax. But no such exemption is available on the vacant portions of the plots in Faridabad under the 1975 notification. If the house is partly self-occupied and partly let out, the house “shall be assessed as a whole,” according to the 1975 notification. So much so that even the self-occupied houses of the senior citizens have not been given any exemption by the Faridabad corporation. Obviously, the July 1975 notification is no longer relevant, as it was issued when there was Faridabad Complex Administration (FCA), an amalgamated body of the three municipalities of Old Faridabad, Ballabgarh and NIT, Faridabad. Since the Faridabad Corporation came into being after the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act was passed in 1994, the July 1975notification stands superseded, redundant and out of tune with the times. The denizens of Faridabad, by a natural corollary, feel discriminated against because of the discriminatory laws. Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” A civilised society has to pay taxes. But there should be uniformity and equity in the tax structure for all the tax-payers in a welfare state. Collecting more taxes than is necessary is legalised robbery. It is high time for the law-makers to right the wrong and make amends to bring uniformity and equity in tax laws. |
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Trivial things often cause a marriage to collapse When a relationship is in crisis, we think we need to make a big effort to get big results. We listen to our partner’s complaints and moan: `But you want me to be a totally different person.’ Often, we vow to try harder and be more thoughtful, more open, more supportive. For the first few days, everybody’s behaviour is perfect, but ultimately, it doesn’t last. The result is more bitterness and even depression. According to the new business bible The Tipping Point, we don’t need to redouble our efforts to change in a corporate context. Author Malcolm Gladwell’s premise is this: ‘We have an instinctive disdain for simple solutions. There is something in all of us that feels true answers have to be comprehensive.’ He goes on to praise the Band-Aid-Solution — tightly focused and targeted interventions: ‘Critics use it as a term of disparagement. But Band-Aids have allowed millions to keep on working or playing when they would otherwise have had to stop.’ I believe the same principle might be applied to relationships. When relationships are not satisfactory, the answer is not to try harder, but to think smarter. The first step is to understand the laws of change. Gladwell examines how ideas catch on - and describes the moment when something crosses over from specialist to mainstream as the ‘tipping point’. For example, in the second half of 1996, an email address went from being a nerd accessory to something nearly everybody relied upon. Gladwell claims that, ‘One imaginative person applying a well-placed lever can change the world.’ As a psychologist who counsels couples in crisis, I thought the theory of The Tipping Point might also help explain how relationships can slip almost overnight from OK to poisonous. In past intake interviews, I always asked couples when their difficulties started, mainly to identify the classic life changes that put relationships at risk: childbirth, bereavement, moving house, redundancy. However, on analysing the responses, these rarely came up. In fact, most couples did not even agree on the timing of their negative tipping point — the point at which the relationship went from satisfactory to unhappy. Yet if I asked why previous major relationships had failed, the majority did refer to these substantial life changes. Could it be that we retrospectively attach big issues to a relationship breakdown because it makes sense of the big changes in our lives? After all, who would admit to getting divorced because their partner insisted on dunking their toast in their morning coffee? The Tipping Point theory, however, would suggest that a build-up of what my clients call ‘stupid things’ are the real causes of marital breakdown. The key idea is that little things can make a big difference. If your partnership has turned sour, it’s worrying when you find yourself unable to put your finger on the exact cause. But you are not alone. Most couples reach the same place through a build-up of toxic small things. But tipping the relationship back into the positive might be easier than you think. — The Guardian |
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Heating chillies and cooling mints Have you ever thought why chillies give a burning sensation and mints a cooling effect? The ancient mystery was solved by researchers in 2002. They found that existence of cells that respond to both taste and temperature were responsible for this difference, according to a report in Sydney Morning Herald. The finding has been chosen as one of the top 10 discoveries of the year by the international journal Science. Birds can eat hot chillies with no ill effects, a fact that led researchers to find an unusual heat receptor protein on the surface of nerve cells in people and other mammals. The protein responds to high temperatures, but it was also found to bind to capsaicin, the pungent chemical in chillies. Both events activate the nerve cells on the tongue in the same way so the brain experiences the sensation of heat. Our bodies detect cold using similar receptors. An understanding of how these hot and cold receptors work could lead to new types of painkillers for conditions including arthritis. The most important find of the year was that molecules, previously dismissed as mere mindless workers, were really stars, controlling much of what goes in cells.
ANI |
Playboy models lose curves “Playboy’’ models have become more boyish over the years as smaller breasts and hips replace their stereotypical hourglass figures, according to a new study. The classic Playmate look typified by the 1950s Playboy pin-up Marilyn Monroe has given way to a trend for slimmer models, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal today. ‘’Centrefold models’ shapely body characteristics have given way to more androgynous ones,’’ it said. ‘’These...trends are at odds with claims that centrefolds’ bodies are still more hourglass than stick insects.’’ Researchers from Austria and Canada selflessly analysed the bodies of centrefold models in 577 consecutive issues of Playboy, from the magazine’s launch in 1953 to December 2001. They found that models’ weight had remained steady, but their bust and hip measurements had decreased and their waists had thickened. The study offered no explanation for why Playmates are getting slimmer, but the trend appears to mirror the success of thinner models such as Kate Moss in the fashion world.
Reuters
Early discharge & newborn’s health Contrary to popular belief that early discharge from hospital is harmful for the health of newborns, a new US study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says otherwise. “The study tends to refute the premise that reduced maternity length of stay is harmful to infants,” said lead author Jeanne M Madden, a research fellow in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at the Harvard Medical School. Madden and colleagues at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention and Children’s Hospital Boston used seven and half years of data on 20,366 mother-infant pairs with normal vaginal deliveries to determine the effects of reductions in the postpartum length of stay on the newborn’s health. “Several studies have suggested that short stays are associated with an increased risk of death or readmission of the infant, whereas others have found no effect. In the setting we studied, we found neither policy appeared to affect the health outcomes of newborns,” said Madden.
ANI Yoga beneficial for heart patients Researchers at Peninsula Medical School in South-West England have found that yoga therapy can reduce risk of heart problems and improve the condition of those suffering from the disease. They claim that yoga exercises can help improve physical, psychological and spiritual health, reports Health and Age. They reviewed the best evidence they could find on the effects of yoga therapy in heart disease and found that six - out of 11 - trials that were good enough to draw useful conclusions. Yoga improves lipid profiles and helps with weight loss. It also reduces the number of angina episodes, increases exercise tolerance and decreases narrowing of the arteries (coronary stenosis), they added. Given that yoga is relatively cheap, and acceptable to many people as a therapy, it would be useful to have some bigger studies to confirm its effectiveness in relation to heart disease, the researchers conclude.
ANI Cancer risk lower among twins A new research has found that twins are 20 per cent less likely to develop childhood cancer than the rest of the population. Scientists in the UK however said that at this stage the results are preliminary, and they are to carry out an international study on a larger scale to try to confirm the findings. For this study, the researchers looked at 13,000 twins born in or around Oxfordshire between 1963 and 1989, and found just 15 cases of childhood cancer —four fewer than would be expected in an average population of this size.
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When no darkness (was), then (there was) not day nor night, nor being nor not-being, (but) the Blessed alone. — Shvetashvatara Upanishad, iv. 18
*** In the Imperishable Infinite Supreme Brahman, knowledge and ignorance are hidden. — Shvetashvatara Upanishad,
v.I
*** This atman is Brahman (‘The Supreme Being’) — Mandukya Upanishad. 2
*** All this verily (is) Brahman. — Chhandogya Upanishad, III. xiv. 1 *** This my Self within the heart, this (is) Brahman. — Chhandogya Upanishad, III, xiv. 4
*** Verily, O
Satyakama, this Omkara (is) the Supreme and the lower Brahman. — Prashna Upanishad, V.2
*** There are two states of Brahman, with form and without form, changing and unchanging, finite and Infinite, existent and beyond (existence). — Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, II, iii, I
*** We are all one in the eyes of the Great Father God. We divide ourselves and say Americans, Russians, Indians, etc. But that all is meaningless to our Great Father. We say black, we say white, etc. We say America, Asia, Europe, Africa, etc. But that is all nothing to Him. The whole universe is equally important to Him... I am not limited by nation or colour or any other division. The whole universe is where I am created to live, the whole creation is what is created to live with me. — From Dr Tyler Hendricks’ address at the Assembly of World Religions, 1985 (proceedings of 6th day)
*** He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. — Bible I John 4, 20-21
*** Better a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled and hatred therewith. — Bible, Proverbs 15.17 |
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