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Wednesday,
March 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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This is also Maya? Budgeting for defence
Impact of bread and butter issues |
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How women suffer more than men in war
Yours confidentially
Why older men attract younger women
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This is also Maya? POLITICS in Uttar Pradesh was seldom clean. It is going to get murkier now that the Samajwadi Party has made public the excerpts of a video tape showing Chief Minister Mayawati directing her party MLAs to provide at least Rs 2 lakh each from their share of the Rs 75-lakh constituency development fund. A print of the controversial tape and a compact disc were handed over to Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri by a delegation of Samajwadi Party legislators. They demanded the dismissal of her government and filing of criminal cases against her on the basis of taped “evidence”. Expectedly the issue was raised in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday. Equally expectedly the Opposition demanded a CBI probe while the Bharatiya Janata Party defended the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party-BJP coalition government in UP. Ms Mayawati, true to her style of functioning, hit back promptly. What she said at the Press conference yesterday should leave no one in doubt that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav would receive the same treatment that was meted out to Raja Bhaiya for daring to defy her. But Raja Bhaiya is an individual who was a terror in his den. The Samajwadi Party's track record suggests that its stormtrooper would give back as good as they get from a vindictive Chief Minister and her henchmen. Remember when Ms Priyanka Gandhi visited Amethi and involved local Congress workers in reconstructing the dwelling unit of a Dalit in her mother's constituency the BSP leader responded promptly by organising a Dalit rally in the village and renaming Amethi after a Dalit leader from Maharashtra. Raja Bhaiya could do no wrong so long as he was with her. The day Mr Amar Singh used his Thakur charm to start the process of destabilising her, she hit back the way only she can. Raja Bhaiya and his father have been booked under the provisions of POTA and the lake that the former rulers of Bhadri ( it is part of the Kunda Assembly constituency) used for feeding their enemies to crocodiles was turned into a bird sanctuary. Seven Congress MLAs were lured away by her through constitutionally questionable means and made ministers to break the back of the Samajwadi Party-led campaign for her ouster. And don't forget her birthday that was celebrated at state expense on a scale that would have made the Queen of England look like a pauper. But Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has done what Tehelka CEO Tarun Tejpal had done for exposing the scale of corruption in defence
deals. But there is a difference. His motives are suspect while in the case of Mr Tejpal they were made to look suspect. Mr Tejpal’s portal has sunk without a trace and he and his team of investigators are being hounded for having dared to have taken on the ruling coalition at the Centre. Be that is it may, if Ms Mayawati lives up to her promise of finishing her Samajwadi rival, UP may erupt into caste (and even communal) violence on a scale that would make Bihar look like a decent place to be in. Who has the moral courage to cleanse the parliamentary form of democracy off the muck of corruption and political vendetta? The least that the political class can do now is to save public money being wasted on an investigation whose outcome even the village idiot knows. And yes, politicians should join hands for scrapping the law that allows them the opportunity to line their pockets from commissions they receive from the constituency development fund. If they refuse to give up this unjustified perk, the tax payers should join hands to show the politicians that they do not like their money falling into wrong hands. |
Budgeting for defence ON the face of it, the 2003-04 budget allocation for the defence sector seems fairly high — 16.6 per cent more than the previous year’s figure, Rs 65,000 crore. If the 2000-01 budget is kept aside, which showed a 30 per cent higher allocation owing to the India-Pakistan Kargil war, this year’s funds are more than those earmarked during the past many years, remaining somewhere near the level of 2.5 per cent of the GDP. As against this, the latest figure of Rs 65,300 crore accounts for 3.1 per cent of the country’s GDP. This is so despite the fact that the pre-budget reports had it that the allocation might be on the lower side in Mr Jaswant Singh’s budget. But if we study the figure closely in view of the emerging geopolitical realities at the regional and global levels, the pressing requirements of the defence forces and the expected decline in the rupee value, there is little to feel comfortable. First let us have a look at the juggling of statistics. Of the allocation for last year, Rs 65,000 crore, an amount of Rs 9,000 crore remained unutilised owing to various factors and was, therefore, returned to the Finance Ministry. Rs 1,000 crore could be used at the last stage. So, actually, there is an increase of Rs 300 crore plus the unspent money which has been returned. Is this sufficient to sustain one of the largest defence forces of the world? The US-led war on Iraq, which remains as imminent as it ever was, may shake almost every economy of the world, including that of India. Nobody is going to buy the government’s argument that if the conflict is over in a short period, it will have little impact on India as it has enough buffer stock of petroleum products to sustain itself. It is not just a question of war. No one can correctly visualise what will happen in the wake of the destabilisation that may follow. An increase in crude prices will push up the general price level in India. In the process, the budgeted funds for the defence forces will have lost their value in real terms considerably. According to one calculation, defending the country’s western borders under the changed circumstances will require more money. The reason is that the Iraq war, if it really comes about, may destabilise the Pervez Musharraf regime in the wake of a rising tide of anti-Americanism in Pakistan. The ruling General in that situation may promote terrorist
infiltration in a big way into this side of the border to make life easy for him. One can visualise the predicament of India’s defence forces with not enough funds to manage their affairs comfortably. Defence analysts say that the Army has been dealt with quite unfairly. It has got nearly Rs 65 crore more than what it was allocated last year — Rs 34,509.32 crore — despite the fact that it requires over 15 per cent more than the earlier budget just to keep itself fighting fit with the existing equipment. Of course, the modernisation requirements of the Navy and the Air Force have been taken care of to some extent. But, going by the opinion of many former defence officers, what the armed forces have got is not enough. If we cannot maintain the parity with China (with its defence expenditure standing at 5.5 per cent of the GDP), at least we should be spending as much as Pakistan does — 4.6 per cent of the GDP. Most of the funding problems of the defence forces can be tackled easily if the Defence Ministry’s suggestion to have a three-year revolving budget is okayed. The government should take a positive decision on the matter as quickly as possible. |
Impact of bread and butter issues ONE swallow does not make a summer but the emphatic Congress win in Himachal Pradesh has a resonance far beyond party fortunes in the charming hill state. Psychologically, it is a much-needed boost to the Congress, licking its wounds as it has been over the manner it lost the Gujarat election. More importantly, it provides some reassurance to the Indian body politic that the Hindutva brush as applied in the western state is not a countrywide mantra for success. As in every election, a multitude of factors went into the scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat. There was much infighting and the Hindutva message retailed by the party's leaders from the Prime Minister down did not strike a responsive chord. Instead, the Congress plank of corruption and such bread and butter issues as unemployment did win friends and influence people. This brings us to the central point fastened upon by the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and is the focus of attention in every party forum. Is Hindutva a spent force, efficacious only in the specific environment of a Gujarat? It would be foolish to dismiss the appeal of religiosity applied in the narrow sense in all parts of the country. But Himachal does give pointers to the efficacy or otherwise of beating the Hindutva drum. It is clear that in a state with a 98 per cent Hindu population, there was no “other” to demonise nor was there much scope in implicitly connecting the actions and rhetoric of the Pakistani authorities with Indian Muslims. Gujarat’s Narendra Modi was pressed into election duty in the Himachal campaign. Indeed, he was no stranger to the state, having been in charge of it during his tenure as a BJP general secretary. Yet the fervour of his appeal in the Gujarat campaign, in which he wrapped up Hindutva in the pride of Gujaratis the Congress was allegedly impinging upon, was missing in the Himachal campaign. Henceforth the BJP will probably decide that the Modi weapon should be used only selectively. One conclusion that can be safely drawn from the Himachal result is that the mix of the religious minorities and their proportion are material factors in the appeal of Hindutva and such rabble-rousing themes as the Ayodhya temple-building movement. And Gujarat classically illustrated that communal tension is an environment in which the religious card is most effective. A second lesson, particularly for the Congress, is that raising competitive slogans on the religious theme is a road to ruin. After all, the Congress can never compete with members of the Sangh Parivar in extolling the virtues of Hindutva. Although the term can be flexible, ranging from the vulgarity of Mr Narendra Modi to the more sophisticated interpretation of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, its connotations cannot square up with the philosophy of the party of Indian independence. The more the Congress tries to imitate the Parivar in this respect, the greater is the loss to the party’s standing. Indeed, one hopes that the panic reaction of such Congress stalwarts as the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, will now be curbed. A great tragedy of the Gujarat election campaign was the desperate Congress effort to wear a paler version of the Sangh Parivar’s saffron clothes. And to the extent the Congress party had anything to do with the recent beef-eating poster in Madhya Pradesh implicating Mr Vajpayee, it should hang its head in shame. In a country such as India in which an ordinary citizen’s life is constantly governed by his brush with corrupt functionaries at the municipal and higher levels, corruption is an evocative issue. It is no secret how effectively the then Opposition parties used the Bofors scandal in damning Rajiv Gandhi in the election he lost. In the case of the Himachal Chief Minister, Mr P.K.Dhumal, Congress barbs aimed at him seem to have struck their target. But the corruption theme can only be used against an incumbent party and is a tool in opposition hands. Bread and butter issues are always important in swaying votes but their efficacy depends upon how they are presented. One wonders how effective self-praise from state governments through lavish newspaper advertisements, suitably embellished with photographs, is in convincing the people of governments’ record. It is better to let party workers and volunteers explain to the people in lay terms the benefits he has received. Obviously, the best method of influencing voters is through their own personal experiences. Which assumes that the government concerned has actually performed. Other factors are also involved in winning elections. At one time, the Congress was the most effective election machine in the world, involved as it was in a chain stretching from the grassroot workers to the highest party functionary. This is no longer so because Indira Gandhi starved the party’s roots in favour of wheeler-dealers and the new mechanism was perfected by Sanjay Gandhi and the company he kept. Ironically, the BJP today has the benefit of an army of grassroot workers through the Sangh Parivar although they have their own, sometimes conflicting, agenda, in addition to helping the BJP. With two major states slated for elections reasonably soon, in addition to Delhi, the Congress party has little time in starting to rebuild the blocks. Rather, it can help the three party-ruled states by giving strict guidelines on the themes to emphasise, forswearing the Hindutva card. This is important because, judging by Mr Digvijay Singh’s recent exercises, the Congress can err by repeating the Gujarat exercise. And chanting the mantra of secularism without translating it into working terms affecting people’s lives will lead nowhere. There is little indication that the BJP will abandon the Hindutva card in future elections. Nor will it give up employing the Ayodhya movement to win votes where it can. Mr L.K. Advani in particular cannot forget that his blood-curdling rhetoric of the rath yatra in 1990, which influenced the demolition of the Babri Masjid, ultimately catapulted the party to power at the Centre. The arrow of Hindutva will therefore always remain in the BJP’s quiver (after Gujarat) to be employed in propitious circumstances. It is up to the Congress and other parties to formulate effective counter-measures to the abuse of Hindutva. Such an exercise should not be restricted to caste arithmetic but rather in planning cogent election strategies that address the real concerns of the people in countering the emotional appeal of a narrow Hindutva card in a given situation and state. Himachal has proved to be such a shot in the arm for the Congress because it demonstrates that its battle in holding aloft a truly secular banner has not been lost. |
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How women suffer more than men in war THE tragedies and atrocities committed against women during war have been documented and confined to the pages of history, but the lessons continue to be ignored even today. From ancient histories to modern warfare, atrocities committed against women are not a new phenomenon. War has always been about a nation's politics, economy, power and men. It never focuses on the consequences and suffering war imposes on those left behind, especially women. War inevitably creates economic hardship, which is further burdened by displacement, lack of food, water and healthcare facilities. Many women find themselves vulnerable, struggling not only to protect and feed themselves but also their children and loved ones. Protection during war is almost unheard of and non-existent. Women and men face an endless list of atrocities — shot, beaten, tortured, bayoneted and burned. However, unlike men, women and children are often victims of sexual assault One of the most common forms of gender-based violence that women experience in a war continues to be 'rape'. But for women in war, gender-based violence goes beyond just “rape” to include other forms of sexual assault such as forced abortion, sexual enslavement, forced pregnancy so on and so forth. Horror stories are not uncommon in war. A group of eight soldiers gang rape a woman in front of her five-month-old daughter and six-year-old sister. The name of the woman remains unknown, yet her trauma and agony is a common story shared by many women during a war. In another documented case, 100 villagers were forced to witness the rape of an elderly woman; with her every scream came the loss of dignity, respect and honour. It did not matter if she was young or old, married or single, mother or wife, the perpetrators showed little mercy and regard for her life. An elderly woman cries bitterly as she waits with hundreds of others to identify the remains of her husband and her son. Her tears are lost in the ocean of mourners. A young girl waits at the border to cross into the neighboring state for safety. Her father is presumed dead, fighting on the frontline, her mother shot in front of her eyes. She is fortunate to live where many have perished. She has seen it all at an age when most young girls play with dolls. The stories are endless. How do you describe the desperation of a woman trying to save her honour, what value does a woman's tears have for her family and how does one justify the loss of a child's innocence? The price of war is terrible and yet it continues to be an inevitable part of our modern political history. So, has much changed for women in war today? The mass rapes and sufferings in conflicts as it happened in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Somalia in the early 1990' s have demonstrated otherwise. But to say that no progress has been made at all might not be an accurate assessment. The international community has finally started to address gender-based violence against women as a serious crime against humanity through more constructive laws in recent years. The Ordinances of War, introduced by King Richard in 1385 and King Henry V in 1419, made war crimes such as rape punishable by death. This was among the first initiatives to address the plight of women in war. By the 19th and 20th centuries more laws were being formulated under the Hague and Geneva Conventions. The 1993 UN Conference on Human Rights, the consequent Vienna Declaration, and the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing conference) in 1995 finally recognised war crimes such as rape to be an “act of genocide and crime against humanity.” These laws were non-binding, but finally addressed the distress of women in war. The conviction of three Bosnian Serbs, Radomir
Kovac, Dragoljbul Kunarac and Zoran Vukovic almost two years ago by the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) for crimes against humanity was an encouraging sign for it was the first conviction of its kind. However, those convictions are yet to set a precedent for similar convictions. Laws will remain mere words if there is no guarantee of its fair and firm implementation. The important argument we often overlook is that war creates a situation in which gender-based discrimination is even more aggravated. Obviously, gender inequity means women are easy targets for sexual violence. Refugee camps guarantee very little relief for women for they may face food shortage and further exploitation when men take advantage of their helplessness. Pregnant women, new mothers and children have specific nutritional needs. Food aid is rarely able to appropriately address this problem. Thus, malnutrition is a common occurrence. Lack of adequate healthcare facilities and confines of cultural appropriateness make it difficult for women to get much-needed medical attention. While men draw
battlelines, women endure the burden. Caught in the crossfire, women mourn the loss of loved ones, suffer unexpressed misfortune and often become victims of a war they did not choose to fight. The story of women in war is not only one of tragedy and fear but also one of immense courage. But their voices are yet to be fully heard and the suffering endured yet to be seriously addressed. |
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Yours confidentially IF a research scholar at an Indian university is asked to trace the origin of the Annual Confidential Report, popularly known in bureaucratic circles as ACR, he will naturally devote the first chapter of his thesis to Chitragupta, the mythological scribe in the abode of the dead. He is known as the scribe of the Yama, collecting virtues and vices of human beings. The scholar will logically prove that the modern ACR system has a divine origin. Any person who has had the opportunity of serving in a government organisation knows the importance of the ACR. The ACR can get him suspended, transferred, or, at the very least, give him sleepless nights. The same ACR can secure him a permanent station with no work, social status, a place of prominence in the city clubs. One just has to give a meek smile and say “yes, sir” even if the superior inadvertently pronounces a cloudy day as sunny, and a cloudy night as a starry one. I have seen many an ACR casualty. Years ago when the University Grants Commission very generously raised the grades of the college lecturers from Rs 180-440 to the magnificent level of Rs 200-500, it laid down a proviso that the incumbent must possess good moral character. My younger colleague, just out of a premier residential university, in a fit of intellectual inebriation, had the temerity to ask the Principal what exactly he meant by the phrase “moral character”. His ACR came into action. The management served him termination orders even before his probation period was over. Later, he learnt of its meaning and became the professor, chairman and dean of a discipline which he had neither studied nor taught anywhere. I know of another colleague who had lost his birth certificate (and in our system without a certificate one is not considered to be born), but he had the knack of getting his ACRs all in order by exploiting incongruous humour and the emotional anachorism of his boss. In addition, he could impress others with his name-dropping skill. During the breezy moments the boss filled up his ACR with enthusiasm, tracing his work history, initiative, maturity and sincerity and wrote against the item “Born” (date of birth) in bold letters “yes”. Thus, the permanent stigma was converted into a boon. Then there was a university wit who happened to write the ACR of his junior colleague. He is reported (remember Mark Twain’s fear of defamation) to have written discarding the conventional pigeon-hole system: “Mr X is always immaculately dressed, well-mannered, very sweet-tempered and cooperating unless he is asked to work”. And that sartorial personality, the incorrigible optimist, is still the envy of many a shirker. The ACR system has since undergone a salubrious change under the pressure of democratic modernisation but at the grim cost of romance which it provided in an otherwise dull routine. The universities, for instance, have done away with this annual ritual, providing freedom to the academic community, so that they engaged themselves more vigorously in social activities. Where the system prevails, the reports are written by the superiors by taking the juniors in confidence while relaxing in the evening, over drinks.
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Why older men attract younger women AN ageing male is far more likely to entice female mates than a younger man with a similar sports car. That is the surprising conclusion of zoologists who believe they have discovered the secret of one of society’s most baffling mysteries: the phenomenon by which older males attract young female mates. It is, says zoologist Stephen Proulx, a matter of genetic strength. ‘If males can display ostentatiously at that age then they really have to have something going for them,’ he told The Observer The theory therefore provides a new answer to the question: ‘What on earth does she see in him?' In the past, it was assumed wealth was the key. As the saying ran: ‘Girls like a man with a past but prefer one with a present.’ However, such interpretations do not explain why gold-diggers are nearly always female and why sugar parents are nearly always male. Why not the other way round? Scientists argued instead older men make ladies flush simply because their senior years display how strong are their genes. A man who made it to his sixties indicated he must have something very powerful going for him genetically, a trend that still produces biological effects. Similarly, the reverse process -younger males seeking older females - occurs far more rarely because a woman's fertility starts to decline in her mid-thirties, and terminates in the menopause, researchers added. However, the idea has been criticised because it does not explain why young women are not attracted to all older men. As a result, the new theory combines both the ideas of wealth and male longevity. It is the very fact that an older male can still display his munificence that really makes a female's head turn. A younger male may do so, but a potential mate does not know how long he is capable of maintaining that ostentation. It
could be all over too quickly. The Observer |
A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify: A never-dying soul to save, And fit it for the sky. —Charles Wesley, Christian Fidelity *** Do not attempt to run away from surroundings that are not to your liking. God has placed you there to make you grow quickly. If you get all your desired comforts in a place you will not grow strong. So never complain about unfavourable surroundings. Triumph over all difficulties. —Swami Shivananda, Peace Your Birthright. |
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