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Thursday,
February 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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India’s fresh move Questions on bottled water
Mixed messages of an eventful day |
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The rich legacy of Sir Chhotu Ram Relevance of Basant Panchami
Two drinks a day may
cut stroke risk: study
Opportunity in turmoil & crisis
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India’s fresh move DURING his visit to Thailand and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani has brought in fresh focus the issue of State-sponsorship of terrorism. As part of India’s security diplomacy, he has stressed the need for “ostracising” the countries found in violation of the latest UN resolutions on the subject. This is going beyond the call for imposing economic sanctions on the guilty countries with the objective of eliminating the international scourge. The paradox, however, is that the epicentre of terrorism, Pakistan, is part of the US-led international coalition against the problem. America had its own calculations and compulsions when it forced the Pervez Musharraf regime in Pakistan to fall in line and cooperate with the super power in the military campaign against the Taliban and Al-Qaida terrorism emanating from Afghanistan. Not that the India-supplied documentary proof against Pakistan as the main terrorism-sponsoring country was ignored. The USA could not gloss over the geopolitical reality. It is, however, sad that when there is time to concentrate on the Pakistani leg, America —which means the international community for all practical purposes — is spending its energy solely on Iraq, declaring it as the “biggest threat to world peace”. It is because of this factor that Mr Advani’s renewed efforts to draw the world community’s attention to the global scourge assume special significance. As the Deputy Prime Minister has pointed out, India is capable of effectively handling Pakistan-sponsored terrorist activities in this country. But it is not only India which faces a grave challenge from the monster having infrastructural facilities throughout the land of jehadis —Pakistan. Terrorist outfits operating in East Asian countries also draw inspiration from Pakistan, though Mr Advani refused to emphasise this point, perhaps, owing to diplomatic reasons. The USA, which claims that it has taken upon itself the responsibility of eliminating international terrorism root and branch, needs to be reminded of two things. One, the way it has been handling the problem originating from Pakistan has exposed the super power as being untruthful in pursuing the noble cause. Two, with its well-entrenched terrorist culture, Pakistan is definitely a far greater threat to world peace than Iraq which the USA has failed to realise. America may have its own reasons for singling out Iraq with the Saddam Hussein regime as the most dangerous country on earth, but deflecting the attention from Pakistan at this stage will amount to encouraging the jehadi
terrorists strengthening their base in India’s neighbourhood. If they succeed in capturing power in Islamabad, which is known to be in possession of nuclear weapons, their activities may lead to an uncontrollable crisis. The world will then know that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism deserved priority over the “Iraqi threat”. But by that time it will be too late in the day. The terrorist monster cannot be silenced forever without destroying its sources of sustenance in India’s western
neighbourhood. |
Questions on bottled water REPORTS on the presence of pesticides in bottled water are not entirely unexpected. Apparently, people have been aware of this menace for quite some time. However, what is alarming this time is the scope and magnitude of the problem as revealed by the Centre for Science and Environment
(CSE) in its report released on Tuesday. The CSE, which enjoys considerable reputation for its pioneering work over the years, has said that samples of almost all water bottles available in Delhi — except one imported from France — contained 36.4 times more pesticides than the permissible levels stipulated by the European Economic Commission. The study, based on a survey of 17 brands of packaged drinking water sold in and around Delhi and 13 brands from the Mumbai region between July, 2002, and January, 2003, reinforces general apprehensions on the safety of bottled water. That even the best selling brand,
Bisleri, has pesticide concentration levels 79 times higher than the stipulated limit, is amazing and cause for major concern. Equally distressing is the fact that the samples of No.1 McDowell (this water is supplied free of cost to passengers in super fast trains) contain pesticides 370 times the permissible limit. Nearer home, in Punjab too, the bottled water available in the market is said to be unsafe. Not long ago, a report in The Tribune exposed how a bottled water manufacturing plant in Ludhiana was illegally running with the help of tap water connected to an industry. The CSE has now warned that consuming water of this kind will be deleterious to human life — it will not only affect the body’s immune system but also cause cancer, liver and kidney damage, disorders of the nervous system and birth defects. Keeping in view the harmful effects of consuming bottled water, the need for making the water testing standards more foolproof and stringent legislation to enforce the prescribed limits has become greater. The Bureau of Indian Standards
(BIS) is crystal clear about the distinction between mineral water and packaged water. While the former contains minerals and springs only from mountains, the latter is distilled water, which is believed to have been “purified” for safe consumption in bottles. The CSE study confirms the fact that the regulations framed by the BIS for packaged water are weak and vague. Clearly, this is the reason why manufacturers have been flouting the BIS standards with impunity. There is also the need to strengthen the monitoring mechanism. Official statements on the lack of adequate manpower — either in the BIS or in the Health department — to supervise the water testing standards in the respective manufacturing plants do not hold water as it is a question of human safety. Manufacturing bottled water has become a flourishing industry today. Worth over Rs 10,000 crore per annum, this business is said to be growing at a rate of 40 per cent every year. It has, therefore, become necessary for the authorities concerned to enforce the prescribed standards on bottled water scrupulously. NGOs like the CSE and research institutions should also continue exposing the loopholes in the water testing standards to act as a deterrent and spread general awareness on this critical problem. |
Mixed messages of an eventful day THERE are days when momentous developments take place in different parts of the world almost at the same hour. For instance, I still remember October 16, 1964, when China’s first nuclear bomb went up at Lop Nor, Nikita Khrushchev went down in Moscow and Harold Wilson scraped to power in London.
Though not as stunning, the Wednesday of last week turned out to be an extremely eventful day in the new century. It began with President George W. Bush’s state of the union address to the United States Congress that really was the declaration of war on Iraq, regardless of what the UN weapon inspectors or the Security Council say or do. Around the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, the most hawkish of his country’s hawks, won a significant victory in the crucial elections. In this country that evening, immediately after the magnificent Beating Retreat ceremony, there was a Cabinet reshuffle. Though relatively minor, compared with the other two happenings, it merits, because of its possible long-term impact, as much attention as Mr Bush’s beating of war drums or Mr Sharon’s electoral triumph. Indeed, the determination of the US President and his cohorts to launch a war on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq — with the UN’s support, if possible, and otherwise, if necessary — has been analysed so thoroughly that very little needs to be added to what has already been said. Except, of course, to take note of some recent developments, most notably the European unity having been frayed to breaking point as a result of the Atlantic divide over Iraq. Evidently, to counter the strong opposition of France and Germany to Mr Bush’s war on Iraq - with the “regime change” as its avowed aim - the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has lined up eight European countries in support of America’s war plans. In fact, Mr Blair has been pushing America’s dubious cause so vigorously and unabashedly that his critics in his own country, including members of his own party, have nicknamed him “Bush’s poodle”. Some commentators, recalling the memorable phrase The Guardian had used for Mrs. Margaret Thatcher during the eighties, have denounced him for his penchant to “follow America, nose to bum”. But he is undeterred. And smaller countries of southern and eastern Europe apparently feel happy to obey the dictates of the world’s sole, if distant, superpower than bow to joint hegemony of France and Germany nearer home. Given the awesome mobilisation of troops on the ground and of naval task forces in the Gulf, to say nothing of special services and the CIA in the Kurdish areas of Iraq itself, it is no surprise that responsible US newspapers have started leaking out the invasion plans, emphasising that the invasion would begin with the “carpet-bombing of Saddam Hussein’s many palaces”. In recent days, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has urged maximum restraint on the sole superpower and appealed to it to avoid war. His Foreign Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, has criticised the American war plans even more sharply. But the latest trend in Indian policy is to tone down its criticism of the USA. As the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, has stated, this country would not join the US-led coalition against Iraq. But it would stay out of any chorus of condemnation of America as well. As for Israeli elections, Mr Sharon has won and worsted his principal rivals, of course. But the Israeli polity being even more fragmented than India’s, he is having difficulty in forming a new coalition, especially because the Labour Party that he joined hands with him the last time is totally disillusioned with him. However, there are several religious and other splinter groups that would be happy to enable him to form a government that could be even more aggressive than his previous one was. God alone can help the poor Palestinians, constantly occupied and oppressed by the Israelis. Unfortunately, Chairman Yasser Arafat is unable to restrain the Palestinian suicide bombers that kill Israeli civilians and give the merciless Israeli army the opportunity to take savage retaliatory action against the entire populations of Palestinian cities and towns. Sadly, the USA, the only power that can restrain the Israelis, has lost whatever interest it had during the Clinton years in a just solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in accordance with the Oslo peace accords. And this brings one to the Union Cabinet’s reshuffle, the Vajpayee team’s tenth. One of its positive messages, ignored because of preoccupation with the calculation of personal gains and losses of individual ministers, is that Atalji has served notice on the backwoodsmen of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and others of its ilk. The second generation of economic reforms, he has told them bluntly, are no longer negotiable. Unlike at the time of previous changes and chopping of the Council of Ministers, the leaders of the RSS, the nominal kartas of the parivar, were not even consulted. However, nothing that happens in New Delhi is ever unmixed. There is no knowing that the promise the Prime Minister has made so boldly would be implemented, notwithstanding the strength that the reshuffle has added to Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie’s elbow. On the other hand, as Mr P. Chidambaram, a very able former Finance Minister, has pointed out, ground realities are more important than rosy promises. He has shown that the fiscal deficit has deteriorated to the dangerous level of 5.5 per cent. At the same time, for want of gross budgetary support, the target of 8 per cent rate of growth during the current five-year plan is gravely imperilled. And yet such is the complexity of the Indian polity that Mr Chidambaram’s grim warning is practically irrelevant to the dynamics of the present Indian political scene. The carefully calibrated reshuffle of the Cabinet - jointly decided upon by Mr Vajpayee and the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, which underscores the steadily rising authority of the DPM — is part of the BJP’s strategy, devised after its heady victory in Gujarat. A combination of the Hindutva ideology and Atalji’s personal popularity is the saffron party’s new mantra for the Assembly elections in eight states during the next 11 months and the parliamentary poll next year. The efficacy of this mixture should not be underestimated, however, deleterious this may be to the country’s secular, pluralist and tolerant ethos. Indeed, as the India Today-Org-Marg opinion poll shows, should there be a snap poll for the Lok Sabha today, the BJP and its allies could win 320 of the 540 seats. No one should dismiss this finding as tendentious or partisan. The conductors of the poll are those who alone had predicted the “Modi sweep” in the Gujarat election. Apparently, the “Modituva” is spreading though the top BJP leaders would have to take care to see to it that the Hindutva hotheads do not carry this agenda to ridiculous extreme. Already the wild leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) are showing signs of going berserk over the Ayodhya temple issue. It is in this context that Mr Arun Jaitley’s return to the Cabinet after only seven months of work as party general secretary fits in. As Law Minister he is expected to work out some kind of compromise over the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya Mr Pramod Mahajan’s exclusion from the Cabinet and appointment as the BJP’s general secretary in Mr Jaitley’s place is clearly the result of his having become too big for his boots and also having incurred Mr Advani’s displeasure. But, dialectically, this media savvy man with great organisational skill can use his new position as a stepping stone to bigger things, especially in the run up to fresh elections. Of the several other implications of the Cabinet changes, two are noteworthy. The first is the mess made over the control of the premier investigative agency, the CBI. It was first transferred to Mr Advani as part of the Personnel Department. Within 24 hours it was wrested back from him by the PMO and placed in the Cabinet Secretariat. This shows that the governing system in Delhi has run down to the point of being dysfunctional. Secondly, the two Aruns, Jaitley and Shourie, have emerged as the new generation’s most prominent representatives in the BJP power structure. Rajiv Gandhi, too, had relied for a long enough time on Arun Nehru and Arun Singh. The joke in the Capital is that hopefully Atalji would have “better luck with his two Aruns than Rajiv had had with his”.  |
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The rich legacy of Sir Chhotu Ram The grateful people of the region, both in India and Pakistan — in Punjab and Haryana — celebrate his birthday which falls on Basant Panchami every year with great enthusiasm. Today is this auspicious day. It is being observed by the Haryana Government as Chhotu Ram Jayanti. Sir Chhotu Ram was fondly addressed by the people of Punjab by the titles of Rahbar-e-Azam (the great leader) and Deen Bandhu (the friend of the poor). He understood the problems of the rural people and worked out practical solutions. Dr C. Rajagopalachari said, “Sir Chhotu Ram not only had great aims but also knew how to achieve them.” Very few people know that Sir Chhotu Ram was among the firsts to propose the idea of Bhakra Dam. The dam augmented the irrigation and electricity facilities in the area and made the region agriculturally one of the most progressive parts of the subcontinent. He wanted rural youth to be highly educated so as to claim an adequate share in public employment. He also emphasised on the spread of technical education. He met the education expenses of a number of poor students from his own pocket. A third of his salary as a Minister was set aside as scholarships and stipends to bright poor students irrespective of their caste and community. He also helped them to secure jobs. Sir Chhotu Ram regulated business hours through the Shops and Commercial Establishment Act and the Trade Employees Act, which suited and benefited both traders and their workers. He was a gift-giver par excellence. He stood for the unity and integrity of the Indian subcontinent. He was against the partition of India. As long as he was alive, he did not allow Mohammad Ali Jinnah to have any effective say in Punjab politics. He kept Jinnah at bay. He organised the peasants of Punjab — Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs — into a formidable political force in the shape of the Nationalist Unionist Party which he co-founded with Sir Fazl-i-Hussain. This was a secular party which brought the peasants of Punjab belonging to all religious groups and castes under one flag and platform, which dominated Punjab politics from 1924 to 1946. Its secular agenda was the development of Punjab peasantry. Sir Chhotu Ram was the greatest leader that Haryana has produced in recent times. Sir Chhotu Ram used to say that irrespective of our different religions, the same ancient blood is flowing through our veins and we are all brothers and sisters, and religion cannot separate us and we have the same secular interests. His secular thoughts, words and deeds are worth emulating. Sir Chhotu Ram has left behind a valuable legacy of thought, words and deeds, which had crystallised in the form of selfless public service. Are there any takers of Sir Chhotu Ram’s legacy? In the present context it seems difficult to find a person or even a group of persons who can inherent this legacy and carry his work forward. His work and ideology can be carried on by setting up of a Sir Chhotu Ram Rural Research and Development Institute. The research scholars of this institute may use the village as their laboratory to study and identify the problems of the rural areas and its people and help find solutions leading to their socio-economic upliftment. The writer is a former IAS officer of Haryana.
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Relevance of Basant Panchami THE people of the Punjab are very close to nature. The variegated moods and effects of the climate — the scorching heat of the summer or the chilly and foggy days of the winter — have all been absorbed in their spine. After the rigours of the winter, when the koel (cuckoo) calls in the mango grove, with her notes full of joy, people know that as a messenger of vernal season, she is the harbinger of the pleasant change. They get ready for the spring festivities to be held on the fifth day of the bright half of Magh. It is the season when the decayed hibernation and through the rebirth, there grow; lotuses among the reeds, the flaming smilings pinks, pushed up in the quagmire by the vital spark, which keeps things alive. In fruits, flowers, foliages among the birds, beasts and humans, the same glorious urge prospers. And that is the cycle of creation. The Basant is a popular folk festival of India and it has undergone numerous changes over the years. In Punjab (both in India and Pakistan), it is the festival of joy, non-sectarian in character, impregnated with the spirit of goodwill towards all. The origin of the springtime youthful vernal festivities can be traced from the ancient past. The Rig Veda (10.10.6) mentions only three seasons of summer, winter and the spring (Vasant). In its deified personification as the companion of Kamdeva, the god of love, it was the day on which women used to worship the god residing in the bodies of their husbands. The Kamdeva came to be recognised as the wearer of the five arrows — the soft verdant mango leaves, the white lotus, the jasmine, the Ashoka and the blue lotus — signifying tenderness, purity, fragrance, freedom from grief and beauty. Obviously, during the season, these flowers are in full bloom. Maybe, the fifth day of Magh was fixed for the celebrations in view of the five arrows of the god which have been transcended by our thinkers... Our old festivals adopted various forms with religious overtones. The Basant came out of the palaces to the market place, to the open fields and to the banks of the rivers and the rivulets. Enamoured by yellow sarson fields and the blossoming trees, the whole Punjab gets gay and enjoys the celebrations of the creativity. Clad in the yellow dupatta adorned damsels experience the taste of the changing pattern of nature. The Punjab lives on agriculture. For the brave and the adventurous denizens with their deep association with ecology, the Basant has become the symbols of Punjabi consciousness. In Punjab, Basant is also the festival of challenges, bravery and brotherhood. Basant Panchami became the festival of the brave and the martyrs. Maharaja Ranjit Singh held a special durbar on this particular day when the soldiers attended the parade in yellow uniforms. The founder of the patriotic Namdhari sect Baba Ram Singh was born on this day and he was exiled to Burma (Myanmar) in 1873 on Basant Panchmi. Shahid Bhagat Singh adopted the impelling song of Ram Parshad Bismal in the tradition of Rajput soldiers who left their homes to have tryst with death: Mera Rang de Basanti Chola, Maai mera rang de basanti chola (Give yellow hue to my dress, O Mother mine). Even now the brave nihang singhs, clad in the yellow robes emerge from the gurdwaras to display the warlike sports of Gataka and spear wielding. Along with the traditional melas, the fair is marked by the kite-flying competitions. The kites of the different colours flying as the little stars in the clear sky match the butterflies and bubble-bees among the bushes. The Basant is the symbol of creation, of love and bliss; of sweet human relationship, of fraternity and commonness. It is the journey from cold to the warmth, from separation to communion. Verily it is the festival of hope pregnant with expectations. |
Two drinks a day may cut stroke risk: study TWO alcoholic drinks a day may reduce the risk of the most common kind of stroke by nearly 30 per cent but downing five drinks or more daily raises the risk by about 70 per cent, according to a study. The findings from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans were based on an analysis of 35 previously published studies which appeared between 1966 and 2002. “Our study strongly suggests that reducing alcohol consumption in heavy drinkers should be an important approach to prevention of stroke in the general population,’’ said the report published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. “(It) also suggests that moderate alcohol consumption reduces risk of ischemic stroke. However, the implications of these findings should be examined cautiously,’’ it added. “Any advice regarding the consumption of alcohol should be tailored to the individual patient’s risks and potential benefits.’’
Reuters |
Opportunity in turmoil & crisis “HOPE awakes courage. He who can implant courage in the human soul is the best physician”, remarked Karl Von Kuebel. Fear is an internal eczema. It is the most paralysing of all human emotions. Fear undermines the body tone and leaves it open to the encroachments of disease. Mental setbacks are harder to cope than physical setbacks, because they make people ineffective. They operate from ‘I can’t’ rather than ‘I can’. They operate from scarcity, rather than abundance. The mental attitude we take towards anything determines to a great extent its effects on us. Timid and weak people live their lives in intensive care units. Mind, body and emotional system are closely aligned. We are spinning our own fate, good or evil, never to be undone. Pain and suffering, privation and uncertainty, hardship and struggle are an integral part of human existence. A man is not so much the slave of his fellowmen as he of his consciousness, of his own inferiority.” We have no destinies other than we forge ourselves. Sartre observed, “Man can achieve nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself.” It is the confident and the courageous that produce quality results. Prayers are also answered if they are backed by courageous action. God gives every bird his worm, but doesn’t throw it in to its nest. Fear paralyses all efforts to succeed and attracts the very things you fear. Subliminally humans display a fear of the unknown, unconventional and different. In turmoil and crisis there is opportunity. Intense challenge can inspire or overwhelm. Napoleon talked of 4’o clock courage in the morning. He said, “Only the strong man is good. The weakling is evil. A man must live in the present. He who has courage despises the future.” The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. They live in the twilight zone of life, which knows neither happiness nor contentment. You have the ability for successful living. You have the tools. The power you use is the courage, and the tools are your thoughts and ideas. You have to live and play with the genetic cards dealt to us. All these choices are up to you. What you make up of your destiny is up to you. “The courage we desire and prize is not to die decently but to live manfully”, remarked Carlyle Mencius enumerated the three virtues of his great men as “courage, wisdom, and compassion”. Churchill while talking about the courage of his ancestor Tudor described him as, “An iron peg hammered in to the frozen ground — immovable”. Courage is the tonic against helplessness. The Indian ethos promotes denial, passivity and living defensively. Ordinary human body has almost unlimited powers and wonderful potential. The overwhelming majority of humans do not realise what they possess and hence the power lies dormant. The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going. Look fear in the face. And it will cease to trouble you. Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid. Boldness means a deliberate decision to aim high, to bite more than you were sure you could chew. Mighty forces are the latent powers that we all possess — energy, skill, sound judgement and creative ideas. We have even physical strength and endurance in far greater measure than most of us realise. |
I bow to Sri Hari, the embodiment of the Supreme Soul, the sincere singing of whose holy name destroys all sins and prostration to whom removes all sufferings. —Bhagavata, XII.13.23 *** In truth, there is no other means of attaining salvation in Kaliyuga except by meditation on and singing the holy name of Hari. —Narada Purana 38.127 |
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“WE cannot all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the pavement and clap as they go by”, so go the prophetic lines of Will Rogers. Sir Chhotu Ram (1881-1945) is the hero of the minds and hearts of the people of Punjab, especially the peasants, the poor, the backward and the downtrodden residing in the rural areas. He still continues to be one, even after 58 years of his demise. He was a benefactor par excellence.