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Thursday,
January 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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PM's voice of sanity Bt cotton clears trials New hope for Kenya |
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Pakistan’s rogue army
Non-activist environmental visionary
Centred living transforms our lives
Indo-Afghan relations vs US interests
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PM's voice of sanity Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's musings from Goa convey the right message of what Indian tradition is and what India stands for. The country has a rich legacy of secularism, tolerance and human values based on the time-tested concept of dharma which is all-encompassing with due stress on right conduct in public life. Mr Vajpayee's agony is understandable in the wake of visible distortions in thinking and action represented by certain sections within the Sangh Parivar, especially after the unfortunate developments in Gujarat. Apparently embarrassed, the Prime Minister has preferred to publicly distance himself from the type of Hindutva that promotes "obstructionism and injustice". Hindutva cannot be identified with "narrow, rigid and extremist" postures. It is a liberal concept which has unfortunately got stuck in a "groove of the past". The country has to come out of this negative mindset and work unitedly to knit communities together. The people must ungrudgingly endorse the sane voice of the Prime Minister which often gets lost in today's competitive politics as practised by fundamentalist forces of varied shades and hues. True, much of visible "obstructionism" and the narrow line taken on Hindutva is in response to Pakistan's dubious games on the communal divide and terrorism directed against this country. Pakistan has been playing the jehad card to create communal tensions in different parts of the country. However, a mature democratic polity like ours ought to see through Islamabad's gameplan and work out appropriate strategies to defeat the forces of destabilisation. Extremist rhetoric indulged in by the likes of Mr Pravin Togadia and Mr Ashok Singhal, wittingly or unwittingly, has only provided India-haters a handle to debunk this country at world fora. These elements need to realise that extreme postures on Hindutva cannot stand the test of time. In fact, these go against the basic tenets of all that Hindutva symbolises. It must be realised by politicians and political groups that India is a unique country that acknowledges equal opportunities to the followers of all faiths and pursuits. Herein lies India's real strength. What is required right now is allround coordinated efforts to strengthen the country's socio-economic base in critical areas of infrastructure, higher and faster growth, health, education and generation of jobs. In this onerous task, taking a comprehensive view of the inter-relationship between politics, economics, social structure, cultural patterns and value systems can go a long way towards creating the right atmosphere. In fact, the only way to defeat Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and strengthen the basic fabric of secularism and liberalism is to work towards making India a developed nation as well as a land of equal opportunities for all, irrespective of caste, colour, creed, region and religion. Mr Vajpayee deserves all praise and support for sharing his thoughts with the people. Instead of pursuing the politics of negativism, we have to think positive and think big for the good of one and all. In sum, the spirit of India must not be viewed through the peephole of communal politics or extremist postures. It is too potent a force to be frittered away in chasing petty goals of vote-bank politics. |
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Bt cotton clears trials The formal approval is still quite some distance away, but preliminary reports suggest that the Bt cotton seeds are set to make their formal entry into Punjab and possibly also Haryana. Some varieties of the genetically modified seed are reported to have been found satisfactory by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. It is expected to submit a report to the Punjab Government soon. That will be welcome news for the cotton farmers of the Malwa belt who had been reduced to penury because of the repeated attacks of American bollworm, so much so that some of them had to commit suicide. The GM seed is believed to be resistant to bollworm attack, the bane of Punjab farmers. Such seeds and crops have been in the eye of a storm all these years because of apprehensions that these would not only affect other varieties but would also prove harmful to the users and the environment in the long run. That is why trials have been going on for the past more than six years. Scientists have given them a clean chit but the debate rages on regardless, perhaps, because of the inherent fear of the unknown. While the Bt cotton has been grown in the USA, China and Argentina for the past several years, it has been recently introduced in Andhra Pradesh and several other states in India also. Ironically, field trials there have not been quite as successful as these were expected to be. While some Bt cotton varieties were found to be more susceptible to attack of leaf-curl virus as compared to non-Bt varieties, there were also allegations that the resistance to bollworm was not as strong as was claimed by the manufacturers. That is why many farmers of Andhra Pradesh have decided to shun it. They allege that it is fetching a far lower price (only Rs 1,300 per quintal instead of Rs 2,600) because of less lint, more seeds and inadequate staple length (full 10 mm less than that of the usual hybrid variety, Bunny). But the vital issue that has to be decided before allowing or disallowing the seed is whether it is environmentally safe. If it is above board on that count, then it has to compete with other seeds available in the market on its own merit. In a free economy, a weak product is going to be driven out automatically. But the choice has to be in the hand of the users. The role of the government has to be confined to ensuring that no harmful seed gets introduced in the country. Various pros and cons must be weighed carefully. Once experts have given their verdict, it should be duly respected. |
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New hope for Kenya THE democratic and peaceful change of political dispensation in Kenya has come as a welcome development in the beleaguered African continent. Opposition leader Mwai Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition, an alliance of various parties, swept the Kenyan general election on Friday, defeating President Daniel arap Moi’s African National Union that had ruled the country for nearly 40 years. Mr Moi has been considered one of the last “big” leaders of Africa, those who led their countries to independence. He was an aide of the first Kenyan President, Mr Jomo Kenyatta, and took over power after his death in 1978. Over the years, like other such regimes in Africa, the leadership that promised liberation from colonial rule became autocratic and power was wielded harshly, especially after an attempted military coup in 1982. Mr Moi built a personality cult around himself and no opposition of any kind was tolerated. Human rights violations, including torture and extra-judicial killings, were common and the regime was repressive. However, Mr Moi, President for the past 24 years, was credited with holding Kenya together even while other nations were torn apart by various kinds of conflict. This stability came at the cost of poverty for the masses and corruption at a colossal level. In 1978, the growth rate of the economy was 8 per cent per year; it has been stagnant during the last decade of his leadership. Mr Moi was at the end of his constitutional term and he had picked up Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the first Kenyan President, to lead the party. While Mr Kibaki is a veteran politician, Mr Moi’s Vice-President for a decade from 1978 and a leading Opposition figure, Mr Kenyatta is generally regarded as a political novice. Now that Mr Kibaki has won a decisive victory, the challenge for him is to live up to the expectations of the people, which could not be higher. The frenzy of joyous dancing that greeted his arrival at the inauguration ceremony on Monday is said to be comparable to the celebrations in 1963 when the nation got its independence. He has done well to announce at the inauguration ceremony that there would be no witch hunt against the party that had ruled the country for so long. At the same time, he did make a pointed reference to the previous regime when he said, “I am inheriting a country which has been badly ravaged by years of misrule and ineptitude….There has been a wide disconnect between the people and the government.” Mr Kibaki has promised sweeping reforms, including free primary education, better health care and a stronger economy. More than anything else, he has said that he will end corruption. This is a very tall order and good intentions will have to be buttressed by decisive action and transparent governance. For the huge crowds of revellers at the inauguration function Mr Kibaki’s swearing in was like a dream they thought would never come true. He has a historic chance to make sweeping changes and restore the image of his country. Surely, he would not want to miss it. |
Pakistan’s rogue army During the Kargil conflict a number of US and UK newspapers carried announcements labelling Pakistan’s Army as a “rogue army”. An enraged General Musharraf accused Pakistani diplomatic missions of not doing enough to defend the reputation of the institution he headed. But as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their Pakistani supporters regroup and consolidate in the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan and elsewhere in Pakistan, there are many who would agree that the description of Pakistan being ruled by a “rogue army” is well-merited. The Pakistan Army has killed more of its own citizens in the past three decades than any other armed force, except the Khmer Rouge led by the genocidal Pol Pot. Documented evidence of the numbers of Pakistani citizens killed following the carnage by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh (1971), Baluchistan (1972-1974), rural Sindh (1983 onwards) and the urban centres of Sindh against the MQM (in the 1990s) confirms this fact. Despite this record, the closest collaborator in establishing and sustaining military rule in Pakistan has been and remains the United States of America. Military dictators from Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan to Zia-ul-Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf have all been beneficiaries of American patronage. While it is true that following the partition of 1947 Pakistan did not have a political leadership with grassroots people’s support, the Army and America ensured that democracy was not given a chance to take roots and survive. Their natural partner was the feudal, landed gentry. But there is now an emerging difference between the Army and America on precisely whose political support they should seek within Pakistan. While the religious parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamaat-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) were used by both the CIA and the ISI against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, America is now seriously concerned about the support of these parties to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Despite the protestations of innocence by General Musharraf, the ISI still deals with these parties more or less as natural allies. This contradiction will inevitably come into sharper focus with the passage of time. Even after the demise of General Zia in 1988, the Army has continued to interfere in the domestic politics of Pakistan and destabilised elected governments. After ousting Ms Benazir Bhutto in 1991, the Army funded the opposition alliance that brought Mr Nawaz Sharif to power. Mr Sharif himself entered politics as a protege of General Zia. More recently, ISI Deputy Chief Maj-Gen Ehtesham Zamir played a significant role in not only enabling Prime Minister Jamali to secure support from PPP defectors, but also in forging political coalitions that suit the interests of the Army in Sindh and Baluchistan. The blatant interference of certain Corps Commanders and the ISI in the “referendum” seeking to give President Musharraf legitimacy and in the Parliamentary elections has been extensively documented. The role of the ISI in spreading terror misusing the name of Islam across the globe has come into sharper focus since the commencement of America’s war on terrorism. Despite denials, it is now established that the ISI sent senior officers, soldiers and ex-servicemen to sustain and fight alongside the Taliban regime. The ISI also actively connived with the Taliban in supporting terrorist groups ranging from the Chechens to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Central Asia and the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines. Former ISI chief Gen Javed Nasir has now revealed that the Americans had sought his ouster in 1993 because he secretly arranged for the airlift of anti-tank missiles and other weaponry to the Bosnian Muslims in violation of UN sanctions. General Nasir has also revealed how he forged an alliance of fundamentalist parties in Afghanistan to assume power under President Mujaddidi in 1992. It is no secret that it was General Nasir who organised the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993 and remains involved in promoting separatism and terrorist violence in Punjab. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme has been an almost exclusive preserve of its Army. During her first term as Prime Minister, Ms Benazir Bhutto was denied information about this programme. It is now also known that during periods of tension with India in 1987, 1990 and 1999, Prime Ministers Mohammad Khan Junejo, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were kept totally in the dark about the Army’s moves to ready the nuclear arsenal. In these circumstances, General Musharraf’s claims that he knew nothing about the transfers of designs and equipment for nuclear enrichment to the rogue regime of Kim Jong Il in North Korea is as truthful as his claim that he provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to his favourite jihadis in Jammu and Kashmir. It is also inconceivable that Dr A.Q. Khan would have offered nuclear knowhow to Iraq without the tacit endorsement of the Army establishment. One also wonders if the Pakistani nuclear experts who visited Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and met Osama bin Laden could have done so without a nod from the ISI. It is not surprising to see Mr Colin Powell accept protestations of innocence from his buddy General Musharraf on these issues. It is, however, astonishing that Japan and other American partners in the IAEA should assert that while the acquisition of enrichment capability by North Korea merits public condemnation, the country that transferred such capability should not be named, blamed, shamed or condemned. While the lure of political power has been a powerful factor in determining its self-appointed role in Pakistan, the Pakistan Army has also enriched itself and the officer cadre by the immense economic clout that it has acquired. The Army is the largest landowner in Pakistan. There is an Army garrison every 15 kilometres and each large town has a “Defence Housing Society” where urban land in prize locations is allotted at throwaway prices. Most retired Army officers are similarly allotted agricultural land. The Army also possesses the largest economic investment group, the largest construction network, the largest goods transport system and the largest education network in the country. It is the largest stockholder in stock exchanges, the largest health-marketing group and operates the largest political network in Pakistan through agencies like the ISI and MI. Given these corporate interests, the Army ensures that no taxation proposals or legislation can be passed that adversely affects these interests. It has a vested interest in seeing that no political party can challenge its hegemony within the country. It is in this background that one has to view how New Delhi should deal with the newly formed government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Mr Jamali knows that he survives on a thin majority acquired through the political engineering of General Musharraf and Major-General Zamir. He is totally dependent on them for political survival. To add to his woes, the Americans would not mind if General Musharraf dumps him. He also must know of the covert links between the Islamic parties (members of the MMA) and the ISI. He is hardly likely to be in the picture about ISI operations in J&K, Afghanistan and elsewhere, nuclear policies, or even of the links between the ISI on the one hand and the FBI and the CIA on the other. This has become evident from recent events. Thus, even though Mr Jamali and his articulate and well-meaning Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri are disappointed with New Delhi’s response to their appointment, they should understand that India cannot ignore the power realities that prevail in Pakistan. |
Non-activist environmental visionary A Ph.D. in Experimental Physics from Harvard, he dumped a plush job in the USA and came to India in the early 1970s to implement the ideas which went much beyond the hollow rhetoric of sustainable development and appropriate technologies. He believes that sustainable development cannot be achieved by the economic policies that only nurture big, centralised, transportation-intensive, energy guzzling, resource wasting production systems. It also needs local-level innovation. In 1983, Dr Khosla set up Development Alternatives, an NGO devoted to the cause of creating employment in rural India by striking the right ecological balance. As an environmental entrepreneur, he has no qualms in being clad in dapper suits — quite contrary to other contemporary activists in the country. And he does not regret that he stays in the upmarket Vasant Vihar locality of South Delhi — as he believes that much can be achieved even without voluntarily living in the slums. Among his first projects in India involved the manufacturing of a special roofing system for rural areas which was durable, ecologically balanced, was comprehensible by the village masons and, above all, generated employment. In the process, he developed an innovative roof tile, whose mini-production unit could be set up with minimal fuss by the masons by employing five additional hands. This apart, the laying of the tiles also provided additional employment. Since then he has been instrumental in spearheading more than 15 such innovative projects. Little wonder that the UNEP has called him a legend in the realm of sustainable development and an individual who personifies the hopes and dreams of billions trapped in the indignity of acute deprivation. New ITBP chief Mr Agarwal, who was Special Director-General with the Border Security Force (BSF), took over as the ITBP chief on December 31, 2002, succeeding Mr S C Chaube, who has been made the Director-General of the CRPF. Mr Agarwal, who holds a masters degree in Public Administration, has served in many capacities in the Uttar Pradesh Police and also in Central police organisations. In the UP Police, he has held several important positions, including that of Additional Director-General at Police Headquarters, Allahabad; Inspector-General of Police and Deputy Inspector-General. In the CRPF he served as Deputy Inspector-General and Inspector-General. He joined the BSF on December 22, 2001, where he was promoted to the rank of Special Director-General on June 15, 2002. Mr Agarwal has also served as Counsellor in the Indian High Commission in Nepal. He is a recipient of the Police Medal for Meritorious Services in 1986 and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 1993. |
Centred living transforms our lives If we want to find the centre where all things converge, if we want to move from self-consciousness to God consciousness, if we want to leave behind our self-centredness and grow in an effective consciousness that God is our centre, the centre of all that is, it will result in a transformation of our consciousness, says Basil Pennington in his book, Centred Living -the way of Centring Prayer. While the suffix “tion” implies certain permanence in the state described, the word “trans’ implies a going over, a change of position. So “transformation” means changing the form of consciousness, or coming into a new state of consciousness, when we begin to perceive things differently. Pennington says the change we want is to come to see things as they really are. At our natural birth, our perception makes us the centre of the universe and our first consciousness is of the things we need. As our consciousness begins to expand, we become aware of those persons who supply our needs, such as our family and in time largely under the tutelage of these significant persons we come to see what we do as being significant. As we grow, we tend largely because of the way others mirror us back to ourselves. We try to identify ourselves with what we have, what others think of us and what we can do. The consequences of such a false self-identification can be found in the words of Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk: “Without the living God (without a centre), men become little helpless gods, imprisoned within the four walls of their own weakness and fear. They are so conscious of their weakness that they think they can only subsist by snatching from others the little they have, a little love, a little knowledge, a little power” Because of such a false construct of self, there is a great deal of defensiveness in our behaviour .We have to protect who we are and we are limited by what others think of us. We also become competitive and try to get ahead of others to our detriment by stepping on their heads. If we have a religious upbringing then God tends to show up in this also. God becomes the person out there whom we expect the most to think well of us. It is from God that we hope to get the real goodies, the ones that last forever. Thus we reduce God to our level. According to Pennington, we need to realise and learn from our experiences that God is not out there somewhere as the Great Rewarder or Punisher. This God has been depicted as the great Seeing Eye in the middle of the stained glass window. However, God sees everything with the eye of love. And the favourite dwelling place of the Supreme Being is our selves: “The Kingdom of God is within”. The realisation that God is ever with us, affirming our beauty, goodness and significance by constantly sharing divine life with us, results in a transformation of consciousness that puts God experientially at the Centre where we are born to anew freedom. As Cardinal Law said in the interview he gave in the Vatican gardens, immediately after receiving the red biretta: “When God is seen at the Centre, the human person is given a dignity, a respect and a worth that no other system can give”. We cannot of ourselves bring about this transformation of consciousness. We can only seek it and use our freedom to open the space for God to operate in us. For the transformation to become a reality, the Lord must reveal self at the centre of our being. Through the activity of God’s spirit, we come to an experiential perception of reality. A practical way to seek this transformation and open a space for God is to Centre regularly, Pennington believes. Centring prayer begins in seeking, continues in experiencing and results in transformation. Once we are sensitive and perceptive of the presence of God as the Centre of our lives and the world, we will begin to live with anew consciousness. We will then have a God consciousness, a consciousness that begins to see things as God sees them and this will transform our lives. |
Indo-Afghan relations vs US interests INDIAN and Afghan children have read and enjoyed for generations Rabindranath Tagore’s masterpiece “Kabuliwala” in their own mother tongues. The plot of this story is woven around the ever-existing reality of economic, cultural, political and emotional relations between the peoples of India and Afghanistan. This story has always been a pointer to these relations. However, since the 1980s, there has been an attempt by Pakistan with the willing or unwilling approval of the USA to make India irrelevant to Afghanistan. The USA called the Afghan war in the 1980s the war of Muslims against Communist forces and accordingly launched a massive programme of militarising and indoctrinating Muslim youths, most of whom belonged to poor and rural families. The USA said Christians would help their Muslim brothers against un-Godly forces. In December 1979 when the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan in support of the Communist Government there, India was preparing for mid-term elections under a caretaker government led by Choudhary Charan Singh. It is reported that Mr Charan Singh did not approve of the Soviet action when he was informed of it by the Soviet Ambassador. When the Congress returned to power after the elections it wanted India to play a role to defuse the situation in Afghanistan and restore peace and normalcy. India, being a close friend of the Soviet Union, could have persuaded it to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. But more important than this was its desire to stem the emergence of narco-terrorism that was being encouraged in Pakistan. India feared that Islamic fundamentalism and militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan would have a direct bearing on its very secular democracy as the Muslims accounted for 12 per cent of the country’s population. India also feared that drug running, in which Pakistan’s top Generals were involved, even allegedly, Gen Zia-ul-Haq, and which was connived at by the US-led anti-Soviet forces, could have serious social consequences. India was also worried that the locust-like breeding of Islamic militants/terrorists would be a threat to world peace once the Afghan war was over. India wanted this war to end sooner than later. But both Pakistan and the USA wanted this war to go on. Gen Zia-ul-Haq who was ruling Pakistan illegally saw his own survival in this war. On the other hand, the USA saw in it a chance of breaking the back of Communism and its emergence as the sole super-power of the world. Thus both did not want a role for India in Afghanistan. Gen Zia-ul-Haq said it was an Islamic war in which India had no role. But had India been allowed to play its role, the international community would not have been fighting global terrorism today. The most devastating irony of this war has been that both Muslims and the USA have produced Frankensteins in each other. The Muslims helped the USA become the sole super-power by causing the break-up of the Soviet Union. The first target of the American Frankenstein was Iraq with the support of Muslim countries in 1991. But when the USA talked of a new world order, Muslims were alarmed. They feared America wanted to target them next to reduce them to nonentities. Pakistani newspapers, both English and Urdu, carried on a heated debate on this subject during 1991-92. This suspicion is responsible for the growing anti-America sentiments sweeping the Muslim world today. Now it was the turn of the Muslim Frankenstein to attack his own creator — the USA. Bombing of the US Embassies in East Africa in August, 1998, and then the 9/11 terror attack showed what the demon of religion-based terrorism can do. Americans live in mortal dread of their old friend Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida. Nobody knows whether he is dead or alive but they hear his voice and see his vision. They also fear Taliban whom their government produced with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. In the 1980s, Pakistan and the USA tried to keep India out of Afghanistan in the name of jehad or Islamic war, but now in its different role it wants India to stay out of Afghanistan for geographical reasons. In his speech after the 9/11 attack, Gen Pervez Musharraf very strongly said India had nothing to do with Afghanistan because the two countries did not have common borders — as if Pakistan has common borders with any SAARC countries except India or, for that matter, with the USA. India’s presence perhaps frustrates Pakistan’s strategy in Afghanistan. During the Afghan war in the 1980s, Pakistan’s military government was reportedly toying with two ideas via-a-vis post-war Afghanistan as reflected by debates carried out by the Urdu Press. (1) There should be a confederation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, or (2) the territory of Afghanistan should be used for strategic depth. But neither of these ideas has worked so far because in the first place no Afghan, even Taliban, has agreed to accept the Durand Line. Pakistan fears that the close and warm relations India enjoys with the Karzai Government and the people will prove a big impediment in the realisation of its Afghan policy. Gen Pervez Musharraf is, therefore, pleading with the USA to restrict India’s presence in Afghanistan. The American government considers Musharraf as most trusted friend for his support to the US-led operations against terrorism, but it cannot be said by any degree of accuracy how much it agrees with his concerns. But many experts and writers in the USA keep their fingers crossed about General Musharraf’s trustworthiness. There is no reason to believe his January 12, 2002 avowals not withstanding that General Musharraf has really tried to tame Islamic terrorists whom he assiduously cultivated to stage his October 1999 coup. Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba which were banned on that day were allowed to shift their anti-India activities from Rawalpindi to PoK and NWFP and Baluchistan were made safe heavens for Al-Qaida and Taliban by facilitating the victory of MMA. It is from these provinces that Taliban and Al-Qaida forces are trying to reorganise themselves in eastern Afghanistan including Kandahar and Jalalabad. This may also be one major reason why General Musharraf does not want Indian presence in this part of Afghanistan. |
When heated metal is poured into a mould, the wax of the mould melts and pours out; And only the metal remains, taking the form of the mould. Similarly beauty incarnates in the form of body, covered by a veil of skin. The beauty of the limbs looks like natural marble or the sprouting of seed jewels. As if the lovely hues of the evening sky were transferred to the body. Or as if an image were fashioned from the inner radiance of the spirit. This is how the yogi’s body appears when kundalini has drunk of the nectar. The God of death is even afraid to look at it. Old age vanishes, the knot of youth is loosened, and the lost bloom of childhood reappears. Like ever-new jewel buds opening on the boughs of a tree of gold, fine new fingernails grow. Over the whole body, tiny new hairs spring forth like small splinters of rubies. The palms of the hands and the soles of the feet are like red lotus flowers, and the eyes shine with an indescribable lustre. — Jnaneshwar’s Gita. Cited in The Sacred Power by Swami Kripananda
*** Do not let the wicked violent powers harm us, O earth, protect us from earthly distress, O Mid-Air, protect us from heavenly distress. — Rigveda, 7.104.23
*** O Lord! Ferry us across the turbulent river of adversities, as if on a boat. — Atharva Veda 4.33.7 *** O ye, who believe! If ye fear God, He will make for you a discrimination, and will cover your offences and will forgive you; for God is the Lord of mighty grace. — The Quran, Surah VIII. 28 Compiled by Satish K. Kapoor |
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For environmental visionary Dr Ashok Khosla, credited with the accomplishment of creating more than three lakh jobs in the rural hinterland of India, the honour of being selected for the 2002 UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize is as much a recognition of his approach to his work as it is for the work itself. With a distinct “non-activist” approach to critical ecological issues, Dr Khosla has himself gone on record saying that activism is, to a great extent, an ego trip. 