The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDITORIALS

The unchanged MSP

THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Friday accepted the recommendation of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) to keep the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat for the coming season at last year’s level of Rs 620 a quintal. This will surely disappoint those expecting a raise, including the Punjab and Haryana Chief Ministers. The input costs have gone up this year because of the budgetary increase in the prices of fertilisers and pesticides. In Punjab the reintroduction of power and water charges for the agriculture sector has put an additional burden on farmers. The Cabinet Committee at a meeting presided over by the Prime Minister also agreed to the CACP’s suggestion for the payment of drought relief of Rs 10 a quintal along with the MSP for wheat. This meagre amount of relief is unlikely to satisfy the farmers who have spent heavily on running their tubewells round the clock to save their paddy crop from wilting during the drought period. The Centre’s decision to keep the MSP unchanged is partly because of the large wheat stocks, which need to be disposed of to make storage space available for fresh wheat arrivals. The FCI has mismanaged the lifting of wheat leading to a scarcity amid plenty and an increase in the prices in certain parts of the country. The government has given the signal that it wants to pull the FCI out of the procurement business and discourage wheat production through the price mechanism. Although the CACP had ruled out any significant increase in the prices of mustard and groundnut on the plea that the procuring agency, Nafed, was short of finances, the Cabinet committee raised the minimum support price for rapeseed and mustard as also of masur and gram. But the MSP for barley has been kept unchanged. If Nafed, the nodal agency for the procurement of pulses and oilseeds, suffers any losses, these would be reimbursed by the Union Government.

The wheat MSP has been announced after the farmers have sown the crop. This leaves them with no choice to try out other options, which though are limited. Since the wheat procurement will start only in April, the Union Cabinet should have kept in mind the likely budgetary impact on the prices of farm inputs. If the farm input costs are raised, the farmers should be compensated accordingly. The blow to the farming community dealt by keeping the MSP unchanged can be softened if the Central and state agencies ensure that the procurement process starts well in time and the payments are made without delay. The farmers’ exploitation in the mandis at the hands of arhtiyas, traders and procurement officials is all too well known and yet no corrective steps have been initiated to stop the loot. The problem of managing the burgeoning stocks of foodgrains faced year after year needs remedial action. The issue has hardly been given any serious thought. The small changes made in the prices of oilseeds and pulses are unlikely to encourage farmers to go in for diversification.

Deadly brew

THURSDAY’S hooch tragedy in Patiala is one of the worst in Punjab. What is a matter of great concern is that such deaths have been taking place all over the state with a sickening regularity. The government claims to start a tough campaign against the merchants of death after each such misfortune, but seems to conveniently forget all about it soon after. From published reports it is obvious that hooch is being sold at numerous places with criminal impunity. Spirit meant for industrial use is sold in pouches as well as bottles and even cans as an intoxicant. Since it is much cheaper than the standard liquor persons belonging to the weaker sections of society fall easy prey and pay with their lives. A death due to the drinking of hooch comes into news. There are many times more cases where the users have ruined their health because of the poisonous brew. Industrial spirit has copper sulphate to discourage its drinking but the unscrupulous agents know how to overcome this “difficulty”. They are said to mix chalk powder to absorb the chemical compound and then heat the mixture to reduce its potency. Insiders reveal that the hideous business has been going on for years without any effective check. Spirit licensees who sell it merrily make a pile.

Surely, this kind of freedom cannot be enjoyed by the traders unless they are hand in glove with persons in authority. The low rate of conviction of such people is proof enough of an unholy nexus. The enquiry that has been ordered into the Patiala tragedy must book the culprits promptly instead of getting bogged down in procedural wrangles. The experience so far is that what is common knowledge among the public is simply invisible to the government and its investigating agencies. As The Tribune has highlighted, not only certain spirit licensees are selling spirit meant for polishing furniture to youngsters looking for a kick, wine contractors have set up several sub-vends where adulterated country liquor is sold. Since one such bottle can be made for as little as Rs 10, this illegal trade is big business. Then there are many chemist shops which specialise in dispensing cough syrups and certain medicines as intoxicants. All this is happening right under the nose of the authorities. The officials who are overlooking such activities — for a consideration or otherwise — are equally guilty. Unless exemplary punishment is meted out to all those involved in the racket, “bhakra da pani”, as the hooch is known in local parlance, will continue to flood and destroy Punjab.

Reining in VHP

WITH the threat of a global war gaining momentum it is a bit ironic that the shenanigans of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad over the Ayodhya issue continue to keep the attention of the Centre away from more pressing issues. For Instance Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should be seen preparing the country for coping with the domestic crises in the likely event of the attack on Iraq and the ripples it is likely to create in every part of the globe. But then the unpleasant noises that Mr Praveen Togadia and his colleagues in the VHP had begun to make over the construction of the temple in Ayodhya too could not be ignored for long because of their potential to create tension. Reports suggest that the situation in Ayodhya is far from normal. The VHP's strident stand on the legal aspect of allowing temple construction made the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance petition the Supreme Court for the vacation of its ban. The dharam sansad of sants is meeting on February 22 and the apex court has fixed February 21 for giving its ruling on the Central request. But what should cause eyebrows to be raised in the Sangh Parivar is the court's decision to admit the petition of Mohammad Aslam Bhure challenging the dropping of Ayodhya related cases against Mr L. K. Advani and other BJP leaders who were in Ayodhya on the day of the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the decision to shift the hearing of the case by a special court in Lucknow to Rae Bareli.

Be that is it may, the good news is the coming together of the RSS and the BJP for preventing the VHP from acting irresponsibily and against the popular mood of the people as also the harmony of the nation. Of course, the sceptics may still not be entirely convinced by the decision of the two important units of the Sangh Parivar to persuade the VHP not to express divergent views on crucial issues. It remains to be seen how Mr Togadia responds to the initiative. Before the landslide victory in the assembly elections in Gujarat he was the loudest of the loud mouths from the Sangh Parivar. After the emphatic victory he has become a loose cannon. Strident rhetoric as a political tool is not the same thing as what Mr Togadia issues with relentless ferocity from public forums. Hopefully the pow vow between the top leaders of the BJP and the RSS would make the VHP mend its ways. The RSS has reportedly accepted the BJP's request to use its considerable influence on all units of the Sangh Parivar for lowering the temperature on sensitive issues like the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The decision is significant in the context of the dharam sansad on February 22. The constructive exchange of views between the soul of the Sangh and its political body should set the tone of the agenda for next month's pratinidhi sabha of the RSS, to be held at Nagpur, where all units of the Parivar will assemble to review current policies and prepare a roadmap for the future.

OPINION

The Iraq that Bush will build
A three-stage plan is being prepared
Jason Burke, Gaby Hinsliff and Ed Vulliamy

IN the early evening the citizens of the southern Iraqi city of Basra like to walk along the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Tall palms sway in the breeze that comes off the muddy brown water. Children run between the statues of war heroes. This is one of the fabled cities of West Asia.

But only a few hundred yards from the waterside, the real face of Basra the Beautiful, as the fading postcards on display in the lobby of the city’s only hotel calls it, is revealed. In the back streets, mangy dogs forage in piles of rotting rubbish, effluent courses down gutters hacked in the muddy streets and families of 20 are crammed into three-room houses. In these homes, away from prying ears, two questions are being asked: what happens in the war? And what happens afterwards?

Most people know the answer to the first. Even Saddam Hussein admits the technological superiority of the forces ranged against him will make meaningful resistance hard. There is little incentive to fight for even the officers of the elite Republican Guard, let alone the conscripts who will face the Joint Direct Attack Munitions and the Apaches with weapons as old as Iraq’s tourist literature. But the answer to the second? Even those charged with orchestrating Iraq’s post-Saddam future have little idea.

Every Thursday morning for many weeks the inner circle of President George Bush’s administration — Condoleezza Rice, his National Security Adviser; Colin Powell, the Secretary of State; Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary; senior figures from the CIA — have gathered in the White House’s Oval Office for a progress meeting on the “war on terror”. There was one question an increasingly frustrated Bush asked every week: once the allies had got rid of Saddam, “what do we do with Iraq”?

He has been getting conflicting answers. Infighting within the administration continues. However, a scheme, finally, has been thrashed out.

The plan is in three stages: first, US-led military rule; second, a transitional phase with an American military governor ruling alongside a civilian leader appointed by (or at least acceptable to) the international community; and, finally, handover to a regime sympathetic to and nurtured by Washington.

Initially, the model for post-war Iraq was that of Japan’s reconstruction under General Douglas MacArthur. But State Department experts felt this would be too brazenly colonial and cause resentment throughout the Arab world. However, although the MacArthur-style scheme has been discarded, a key resource for the planners is the archives of the denazification of Germany.

As it was with post-war Germany, it will be unfeasible to purge Iraq of all members of the Baath Party, Saddam’s political vehicle. “Millions of people are complicit. If they were all rounded up, the administration of the country would collapse. These are people who will be needed in any post-war situation,” Daniel Neep, of the Royal United Services Institute in London, said.

The US military governor of Iraq is likely to be Tommy Franks, the General due to head the attack on Iraq. This is not entirely the promotion it seems: Rumsfeld is known to dislike Franks for his strategic conservatism.

The first phase, US-led military rule, would last between six and 18 months after the war. It would be policed by armies from the “coalition of the willing”, including a big British contingent.

The second phase is seen as being a kind of international civilian administration, backed by a diminished military presence. Here, the inspiration being worked on is the protectorate in Kosovo.

But if the Americans are hoping for a broad, UN-led international coalition to take on the task of running Iraq, the United Nations is dreading the role. Officials at UN headquarters speak about having to “clean up the mess” at the end of a war which may not have been sanctioned by the Security Council.

“In American logic, the UN seems to have an advisory role when it comes to making war, the easy part; but becomes essential when it comes to making peace, i.e. the difficult part,” said one official.

There is bitter argument over who should be the prospective civilian governor, or “High Representative”, to rule alongside an American during the second phase. The Americans want an American. The veteran peace-broker George Mitchell, with his experience in Ireland and West Asia, is a front-runner. But the Bush administration sees Mitchell, a Democrat, as too much of a dove. It favours Norman Schwarzkopf, who led coalition forces in the first Gulf war and is now, as a civilian, a vigorous campaigner for the Bush family.

But most Security Council members would prefer an appointment from a European Union country to counter American influence. The UN is determined, in the face of fierce US opposition, that Iraq’s top civilian “must” be a Muslim. Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran Algerian diplomat who brokered peace in Afghanistan, is a possibility.

The third phase of reconstruction is the most controversial and least planned: the establishment of a pro-American Iraqi government, ideally within two years, that eschews the nation’s recent past and, of course, weapons of mass destruction. The latter is more controversial than it sounds, as chemical weapons have been a corner- stone of Iraqi military strategy for two decades.

Reconciling Iraq’s powerful Sunni Muslim minority, its poor Shia majority and its semi-autonomous Kurds will be hard. So, too, will it be to convince Iraqis that the government is ruling in their best interests and is not a US puppet.

Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, and the Pentagon have long been pushing for a robust role for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), a motley collection of exiled leaders led by Ahmed Chalabi.

But the CIA and State Department distrust the INC, regarding it as self-serving and lacking credibility among Iraqis. They want to build a government from people now in Iraq once reconstruction is under way.

The State Department is hoping to reassure former Baath party figures by stressing that it wants to prosecute only a dozen or so leading figures in the Saddam regime, while setting up a truth and reconciliation commission along South African lines to deal with amnesty for the rest.

The key unknown for the third stage is the state of Iraq after the war. A document prepared for the State Department predicts “disruption of law and order, the food distribution systems and emergency healthcare”. Fear would be “widespread”, says the government report. So, experts say, would “score-settling”. A secret UN memo, leaked to the press, forecasts “devastation”. Injuries and trauma could, says the report, “devastate” the population, with up to 500,000 needing treatment. “The outbreak of disease, in epidemic if not pandemic proportions, is very likely”.

The last Gulf war triggered an exodus of 1.5 million refugees. Aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. The current strategy is to try to contain refugees within the region

So where does Britain fit into this? The UK government machine has identified several risks in a post-Saddam scenario in addition to the outbreak of bloody civil war along ethnic lines or, if the planned “smart bombing” campaign misses its targets, devastating damage to Iraq’s infrastructure. Planners fear retreating Iraqi soldiers will ignite oil wells as they did in Kuwait 12 years ago, and, if Saddam deploys chemical weapons, the poisoning of land and people on a massive scale. British planners are also concerned that Washington and London are committed to a lengthy, difficult and hugely expensive peacekeeping operation after the fighting.

Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the Chief of Defence Staff, is understood to have told Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon that it would be unreasonable to expect Britain to take the lead for much longer than a few months. “We simply do not have the people to provide long-term support,” said one defence source.

Downing Street appears to be listening: sources say that, while the commitment of troops will be “more than six weeks, probably more than six months”, there are no plans for an extended stay. In a signal that Washington understands the problem, Bush has begun in domestic speeches to warn that American troops will take longer than they expect to get home. But there are no other candidates for leading the peacekeeping operations. British planners talk privately about the Jordanians or the Turks taking the lead. Experts say that either idea is a non-starter.

One answer may be using carrot rather than stick. Last November the Ministry of Defence sent a group of defence intelligence officers to Washington. They recommended flooding the country with aid in the crucial first two months after the toppling of Saddam. An intensive outpouring of food, welfare assistance, healthcare, educational opportunities and help with agriculture might convince the Iraqis that life under a Western puppet regime was preferable to any alternative. Establishing “safe havens” within which NGOs can start work would be a priority for advancing troops.

The likely costs of aid for Iraq are still being calculated. The US Congressional Budget Offices estimate a peacekeeping force of 75,000 to 200,000 would cost between $ 17 billion and $ 46bn a year. Britain expects to contribute 5 per cent of the international bill. Given the parlous state of the oil infrastructure, it will be years before revenues from Iraq’s own resources will be able to defray any costs. Yale economist William Nordhaus says that, even if the oilfields are intact and Iraq can produce three million barrels a day — its previous maximum — swiftly, this would produce only “around $ 25 billion a year at prevailing oil prices”.

Much depends on Iraq’s neighbours. A steady flow of high-grade intelligence from Teheran proved unexpectedly helpful during the 2001 war in Afghanistan. But the Iranians’ reward was to be lumped in with North Korea and Iraq in Bush’s “axis of evil” speech. Britain has been trying to soothe injured Iranian feelings ever since. Last week Iran’s Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, slipped into Downing Street for an audience with the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. They assured him there would be no redrawing of Iraq’s borders to Iran’s disadvantage. But other regional powers, such as the Jordanians and the Saudis, are still uneasy.

Last week negotiations continued between US envoys, who want to use southern Turkey as a launchpad for 20,000 to 80,000 troops, and the Turks. Istanbul wants to pour its own troops into northern Iraq in the event of a US attack. The Kurds are horrified at the thought of a de facto occupation. And no one can predict what will happen in Israel.

All Washington’s calculations depend on a quick war and an easy victory. “There’s an assumption that the Americans will be greeted as liberators, and very little consideration of the deep anti-American sentiment as the result of 10 years of poverty due to the sanctions’, one UN official said.

“No decisive policy is without its risks,” retorted a senior US official.

By arrangement with The Guardian, London.

Naga problem: a good beginning
P.K. Vasudeva

LEADERS of the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah (NSCN I-M) seem to have concialory in their approach. One gathers this impression after they praised the wisdom and sincerity of the Indian Government following the recent peace talks aimed at ending the long-running ethnic conflict in Nagaland. The two rebel leaders said the government was trying to solve the conflict keeping in view the “history” of the Naga people.

One can well understand the focus of the Naga leaders who reached New Delhi from Amsterdam on January 10. The New Year’s card was designed by the two leaders with words “Happy New Year” superimposed on the blue flag of the “People’s Republic of Nagaland”. Apart from an exhortation to support the peace process, the card had three quotations. “The peace process is for us all and people must realise this truth”, said Mr Swu. “Give us suggestions so that we have time to correct ourselves” was stated by Mr Muivah. And “Nagas have every right to be independent” was a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi.

It is for the first time in 37 years that the council had agreed to talks on Indian soil. Till today thousands have died in the fight for a separate homeland for the Nagas in India’s Northeast.

Mr Swu said after the 40-minute meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee: “The Prime Minister and the Indian leadership are very sincere.” Mr Muivah added: “We praise the wisdom of the Government of India. There is a much better understanding on their part. “The talks centred on the possible creation of a “Greater Nagaland” by slicing off areas of the neighbouring states of Assam and Manipur.

However, these states strongly oppose the plan. ‘’There would be more turmoil than peace in the region if Delhi tries to appease the Council by agreeing to a Greater Nagaland,” said the Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr Okram Ibobi Singh.

The NSCN (C-M) leaders were not expected to press demands for independence during their weeklong stay in Delhi. At least 200 Naga supporters, dressed in traditional headgear and wielding spears and machetes, welcomed the leaders at Delhi airport, singing the spiritual “We Shall Overcome”. The 1.6 million-strong Naga population is predominantly Christian.

Five years ago, a breakthrough was achieved when both sides agreed to a ceasefire, and since then talks have taken place outside India. In November last year the government lifted a long-standing ban on the separatist group. But the government has a difficult task in balancing the demands of the Nagas with the wishes of other tribal groups in the Northeast.

On January 15 the Prime Minister assured an all-party delegation from Manipur that the boundaries of the state would not be affected in the wake of the ongoing peace talks between the Centre and the Naga rebels. Delegation leader and Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh told reporters that he received this assurance when the team met Mr Vajpayee to discuss the impact of the talks on the state. Mr Singh said Manipur also wanted a constitutional amendment that will protect the territorial integrity of the state. “We welcome the peace talks but the parleys should not be at the cost of the territorial integrity of Manipur. The state will not give a single inch of land as part of the Centre’s agreement with Nagas,” he said.

The Constitution should be amended to the effect that the consent of the legislature of the state concerned is made mandatory “in the formation of a new state and alteration of areas, boundaries or the name of the existing states,” the Chief Minister said.

The Centre and the NSCN (I-M) finally agreed on January 23 to continue their talks aimed at finding a lasting settlement to the Naga problem. A joint communiqué signed by the two sides said that they had reaffirmed the need to maintain a “peaceful and violence-free environment.”

Government sources said that substantive issues were raised during the three rounds of talks, adding that the talks “proceeded in the right direction”. The sources were hopeful that the peace parleys seemed to be “reaching somewhere”. Indications are that the next round of talks will be held after the February 26 Assembly polls in Nagaland. The insurgent leaders of the NSCN (I-M) would like to have talks outside India, but the Centre would prefer to have it within the country.

A substantial ground has been covered in the peace process, though there are a large number of issues that remain to be sorted out to come to a lasting solution of the complex problem. The NSCN (I-M) has raised about 30 issues relating to the “devolution of power autonomy” and each one of them is linked to the other. “Concessions on one cannot be given till all the issues are resolved” The Nagas-territory need to be demarcated to include the Naga dominated areas and there is likely to be a serious reaction from the other northeastern states.

Chief Minister Jamir has been complaining that he has not been included in the “peace process”. Mr Muivah has described Mr Jamir as a “roadblock” in the way of peace.

These are some of the issues that will take time to sort out. However, a beginning has been made and it is hoped that a peaceful solution will emerge as the NSCN (I-M) seems to be in a conciliatory mood and prepared to leave some of its hard-line demands like the sovereignty of Nagaland aside. The Centre would do well if it sticks to its stand of finding a solution within the Constitution, but a lot of give and take will be involved. The Naga problem is difficult but not insurmountable.

The armed forces’ officers who have served in Nagaland can be a great help to the Centre in its peace process because they have dealt with the Nagas at the grassroots level.

The writer is a retired Colonel and defence analyst.

SIGHT & SOUND

No escaping cricket
Amita Malik

I am reasonably interested in cricket and know a little more about it than Ruby Bhatia and the other Masala Girls. But I refuse to be brain-washed by all the whipped up patriotism and commercialised media hype. So while I certainly watch when Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka are performing, I draw the line at Canada, Bangladesh, Holland (except when playing India) Kenya, Namibia and the rest. So I read books, listen to music and watch a beautiful sunset as usual. But since my column, like the show, must go on, I have to go on viewing (and sometimes listening) to collect data for it.

So I looked for some good alternatives when not watching cricket. But ironically, when I looked for the serials I watch steadily, like “Astitva”, I found Zee, with all its channels, was completely missing. Ditto ditto CNN where I keep up with Bush’s latest dramatic fulminations about Saddam Hussain destroying the USA. Bush reminds me of the Aesop’s fable where a wolf tells a lamb that it is spoiling the water.” But I am below you downstream, how can I do it?” asks the lamb. “Well, if it’s not you it’s your uncle,” says the wolf and devours the lamb. However, I digress. When I asked the cable operator what was happening, he said Spectranet was having a dispute with Zee, CNN being a partner, and it would take a few days for it to be sorted out. I miss Zee News, which does good off-beat stories and more non-political news — national and international — and does not need to boast defensively about its being first in everything to off-set “Aaj Tak” claiming it’s the nation’s best, when all other channels in East, West and South India in languages other than Hindi have not been assessed by the award-givers, some of the ETV channels in all Indian regional languages, including Bengali and South Indian channels, being as, if not more, media savy and with first-rate anchors.

In desperation, I turned to V Channel and was pleasantly amused by a spoof programme called “Panga,” obviously an answer to MTV’s “Bakra”. Here a fun-loving and spunky student in Bangalore takes on the challenge to enter a restaurant with a many-tiered tiffin carrier filled with his own food, plonk it down an a table and proceed to eat it while ordering only a glass of water. Every conceivable member of the restaurant staff, from the junior waiter to the manager, tries to shoo him off, but he steadily holds his ground with incessant chatter based on different arguments and after more or less winning, he tells the infuriated staff that it is only a joke. They are, as usual, so thrilled to be on TV (perhaps with some publicity for the restaurant on the side) that all is forgiven amidst smiles all round. Good fun. I certainly enjoy all such unrehearsed programmes.

I tried Prasar DD for a change, wondering when they will stop surviving on canned stuff, some years old, however good. The only original programme I came across was the one by an anchor closely connected with the Habitat Centre who for months used to plug in only the programmes taking place at the centre and was a virtual PR programme. Last week, we had some performances at India International Centre. Someone must have noticed and complained. But the programme can certainly stretch to many other venues.

Of the foreign channels I found it best to keep on watching the BBC which has done splendid coverage on the EU-USA stand-off on Iraq. This is in contrast to the VOA channel (new to me) which is running on the old CNN slot now that CNN is off. It is remarkably akin to CNN which is becoming increasingly the voice of government, like DD, blacking out all the protests about the threatened war with Iraq, including those in the USA itself. But VOA is the American DD, CNN is not, so if it wants to be respected, it had better learn to be more detached...

DD’s coverage of sport is so dismal that it provoked a viewer friend to remark the other day: “If Sony Max is trivialising cricket, DD is ruining it.” We are all bracing ourselves for the usual interference by ads, the mysterious cutting off and all other hall-marks for DD’s coverage of sports. The first thing it can do is not to take on too many sports events when it only has one sports channel. It ruined the Davis Cup by suddenly switching over, when Leander Paes was about to win a match to the women’s tennis tournament in Hyderabad, without a word of apology or explanation, adding insult to injury by showing the last day’s match. Secondly, someone should tell DD’s sports experts that they cannot change a recognised term by calling the first innings the first inning nor a singles match a single match. With such poor coverage of sport, DD can hardly afford to change classic terms from sport.

Incidentally, in a DD Metro programme on cuisine, with the usual sweet young girl asking obvious questions of a chef from a five-star (do the hotels pay for publicity?) both chef and the girl kept on saying “Sweet and Sorr” for sweet and sour and Oh-neons for Onions. Terrible.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Rejection, narcissism can lead to violence

PEOPLE with narcissistic personalities who experience social rejection tend to become more aggressive than those who are not so self-absorbed. This, researchers say, explains why some teenagers resort to violence while others do not, according to a study conducted at San Diego State University and the University of Georgia.

“This research is especially compelling because we’re able to see behavioural patterns in children that lead to aggression and ultimately violence,” said Jean Twenge, a psychology professor.

“Isn’t It Fun to Get the Respect That We’re Going to Deserve? Narcissism, Social Rejection, and Aggression” is published in the February issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. The professors conducted four studies using undergraduate participants, most of whom were 18 or 19 years old.

Across all the studies, narcissists exhibited more anger and displayed more aggression after being rejected than non-narcissists did, according to reports in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “When we as educators make efforts to ensure that our students maintain positive self-images, we need to be careful that we don’t create an army of little narcissists,” said Campbell.

“One way to prevent violence is by reducing instances of social rejection,” said Twenge. “We can also prevent violence by reducing feelings of narcissism. For example, schools should carefully examine any programs that are intended to increase students’ self-esteem. Many of these programmes cross the line into encouraging narcissism and egoism. ANI