The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDITORIALS

Strike against themselves

IT is rather late in the day for the bank employees to protest against the government’s economic policies. Wednesday’s nationwide strike, the second in recent days, is particularly targeted at the government’s declared policy to privatise public sector banks by reducing its stake to 33 per cent. The strike definitely inconvenienced the public, but more than the customers it hurt the bankers and their institutions. Today customers are very demanding and they have a choice too. If the nationalised bank employees keep disrupting work by frequently going on strike, many of the customers, because of whom they earn their bread and butter, may be forced to turn to private banks, which are already giving a tough competition to their public sector rivals. The bankers spend huge amounts on media publicity, claiming how efficient their services are, but irresponsible trade union activities of some of them undo the good work. They drive away customers and strengthen the popular belief that banking should best be left in private hands as far as possible. Whose cause do the striking employees serve then? They hurt their own interests, bleed their own institutions and turn away their distressed customers. The private banks alone stand to gain from their strike. This is not to dispute the merits of their demands. They may have some genuine grievances, which can be sorted out through dialogue. But there is no going back on the reforms, which have yielded positive results as is evident from the growing profitability of the public sector banks.

Wednesday’s strike also saw participation by many trade unions, particularly those affiliated to the leftist parties. Their grouse is against the proposed changes in the labour laws. The reforms have ushered in a new work culture which rewards the performer and leaves out the laggard. Competition is getting stiffer by the day from rivals within and without the country. For survival, domestic firms as also multinational companies making large investments in the country expect the power to hire and fire workers. If there is growth, companies hire more and more hands, and if recession sets in they lay them off. As a result, job security is on the decline. The contract system is gaining ground. The prevailing atmosphere of uncertainty is bound to agitate those used to life-long job security. But as every party knows it, the reforms are irreversible. The need is, in fact, for more reforms. The government has unleashed the market forces, but has not put in place any social security system to protect the vulnerable sections of society. Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister, had stressed the need for a safety net, but it is yet to be made operational. The countries that carry out the market-driven reforms are also expected to have social security high on their agenda.

On the wrong track

Reports of Railway Minister Nitish Kumar promoting construction of a 123-km rail line parallel to the existing one in Bihar, his home state, is yet another instance of his style of functioning. He seems to consider the Indian Railways as his fiefdom or jagir. The fact that a whopping Rs 255 crore is needed to complete the project does not bother him. But what is galling is that this project does not have the sanction of the Planning Commission. Whenever there is a genuine demand for a new line, new train or upgradation of a platform or a station, the authorities do not mince words in referring to the “fund shortage”. They also speak of examining the “economic viability” of a project before giving the necessary clearance. An explicit approval of New Delhi’s Yojana Bhavan is a must as otherwise its funding will be affected. But what about this new rail line? Will the Railway Minister or the Chairman of the Railway Board justify the funding and the economic viability of this project? Obviously, fanciful terms like “material modification” are being used for this project as it passes through the constituencies of Mr Kumar, Defence Minister George Fernandes and Small-Scale Industries Minister C.P. Thakur.

If the Railway Ministry is accused of bias and parochialism today, it is only because of the discriminatory attitude of successive railway ministers. Consequently, it would be unfair for one to single out Mr Kumar. Ms Mamata Bannerjee and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan are as guilty of bias during their tenure as the present incumbent. Nor can one forget the manner in which Kamalapati Tripathi, A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chaudhury, Raj Narain, Kedar Pande, C.K. Jaffer Sharief or Madhavrao Scindia were nursing their own constituencies at the cost of the neglected regions either in the form of opening new lines, introducing new trains or even issuing complimentary passes. Scindia was, of course, very popular for having introduced several innovative schemes like the all-India computerised reservation system. But he had a soft corner for Gwalior. Mr Kumar’s audacious statement that he, as a minister, has the power to expand and allot money to any project, shows the streak of authoritarianism in his style, a quality that is normally seen among jagirdars, though he has a plebeian background. Clearly, New Delhi’s Rail Bhavan has ceased to be an impartial agency for fair and equitable development of all regions. While politics rules the roost here, development of any particular region depends upon the whims and caprices of the Railway Minister. Not a healthy sign when the Indian Railways, now in its 151st year, is supposed to be the pride of the nation, symbolising the unity in diversity of the country.

Neglected parents

The angry outburst of the 82-year-old mother of Haryana IPS officer R.K. Sharma, who is the prime accused in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, that her son's family is ill-treating her underscores the widespread problem of inhuman neglect of aged parents by their children. Society respectfully calls these men and women past their prime "senior citizens", but in reality they are treated as an unwanted liability. If they happen to be well to do, they are systematically deprived of their possessions through coercion or emotional blackmail. And if they are down at the heels, they are simply abandoned like a sucked out mango. As the joint family system makes way for nuclear families, few spare a thought for the venerable older generation. They are physically and emotionally at their weakest and need all the care and affection, and yet, this is the time when everybody starts abandoning them. In the west, at least the government provides an adequate social security net. Here even that option is not available. Punjab and many other states are now witnessing the unusual sight of old-age homes being built but these are just too few. In any case, the socio-psychological profile of India is such that going to an old-age home is considered a stigma. For the sake of family honour, many such neglected parents bear the humility of living in their children's houses — which in many cases happen to be built out of their own income — as an unwelcome liability.

The problem has acquired alarming proportions. One has only to visit the streets of Vrindaban or Varanasi to see the widows and the infirm eking out a sub-human living. Engage them in a conversation and one is horrified to learn that quite a few come from fairly well-off families who were thrown out by their selfish relatives. Himachal Pradesh has taken a lead in this regard by enacting the Maintenance of Parents and Dependants Act, 2001, under which cases can be registered against the wards who are not taking care of their parents. But it is doubtful if this problem can be solved with the help of law alone. Children may turn into blood-sucking fiends but the milk of human kindness continues to flow in the veins of the parents and most of them are averse to going to court against their own flesh and blood. Perhaps that is why no complaint has been received in Himachal Pradesh so far. The wayward children have to themselves realise that a decade or two later, they are going to be in the same boat in which they are casting off their parents today. And those who do not take heed have to be shamed by social organisations into doing so.

OPINION

US Central Command and Pakistan
How India can promote its own agenda
G. Parthasarathy

Alarm bells started ringing in the Carter White House in December 1979 when Soviet forces entered Afghanistan. These concerns were not because of any great love for the people of Afghanistan, but because of fears that the Soviet military action was a prelude to efforts to challenge American power and influence in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. On January 23,1980, President Jimmy Carter declared: “ Any attempt by an outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the US, and such an assault will be repelled by all means necessary, including military force”. The establishment of a formidable “Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force” (RDJTF) immediately followed this enunciation of the “Carter Doctrine”. When Mr Carter relinquished office in 1981, the RDJTF had become a force of 200.000, with over 100,000 from the army, 50,000 from the marines and the rest comprising elements of the air force and the navy.

The RDJTF grew in size and firepower with the passage of time and became a full-fledged military command designated as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in January 1983. Successive American Presidents obtained bases and military facilities from which American forces could operate in countries ranging from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt and Kenya to Singapore and Australia. These bases and facilities supplemented the Diego Garcia base to enable the US to intervene expeditiously and effectively whenever it desired. The CENTCOM today has an area of responsibility covering 25 countries in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea and in Central and South Asia. Pakistan is today the eastern tier of the CENTCOM theatre of operations. It is largely because of access to bases and facilities in these regions that the United States had been able to intervene decisively during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in 1991 and more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.

CENTCOM recently highlighted the wide-ranging cooperation and support that it receives from the government of Gen Pervez Musharraf. Describing the support from Pakistan in the aftermath of the terrorist strikes of 9/11 as “prompt” and “unequivocal”, CENTCOM outlines the actual support that it has received in Pakistan between October 2001 and October 2002. Pakistan has provided five bases on its territory from which CENTCOM forces operate in Afghanistan. It has also agreed that in an emergency situation American aircraft can operate out of and land in any air base in the country. More importantly, Pakistan leased out two-thirds of its entire air space for American military operations in Afghanistan. This space was then not available for use either by Pakistani military or civilian aircraft. A total of 57800 sorties have been undertaken by American aircraft from bases in Pakistan with an average fuel consumption of 400,000 litres per day. Pakistan has provided landing facilities for US ships in Pasni, where 8000 marines, 330 vehicles and 1350 tonnes of supplies were offloaded and transported to Kandahar. Pakistan curtailed naval exercises and operations to permit US/coalition naval forces to operate in the Arabian Sea.

CENTCOM has also revealed the extent of cooperation received in operations against terrorists within Pakistan. The US made 2160 “requests” to Pakistan for different types of assistance. Pakistan took “action” on 2008 such requests. The two sides conducted 99 raids during which 332 of the 420 foreign nationals arrested were handed over to the US for interrogation and incarceration in Guantanamo Bay. Pakistan has also concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the US providing naval and air base facilities in Karachi for the International Stabilisation Force, now operating in Afghanistan under the NATO Command.

The CENTCOM document claims that Pakistan initially deployed two corps and 55000 paramilitary personnel to support its operations in Afghanistan. Following the tensions with India, this force was reduced to three brigades and around 45000 paramilitary forces. Anyone reading the CENTCOM report will notice that portions regarding the Pakistani contribution of forces and its relations with India have been written by a Pakistani and not an American military official. CENTCOM has been careless and naive in using statements given to it by the Pakistan military, rather than depending on its own independent analysis. New Delhi will no doubt draw the attention of the Pentagon to this.

The recent CENTCOM data provides an insight into the reasons why the US regards General Musharraf as almost indispensable for its war on terrorism. Unlike military leaders such as General Aslam Beg and Lt-Gen Hamid Gul, General Musharraf has gone a long way in accommodating American military requirements for operations in Afghanistan. He has also provided facilities for the FBI and the CIA to operate in Pakistan that no self-respecting democratic government would agree to. This also explains why Mr Colin Powell looks the other way or obfuscates when Pakistan supplies nuclear enrichment facilities to North Korea, or the ISI provides haven to Taliban leaders and support to its favourite jihadis in Jammu and Kashmir. It is now obvious that the Bush Administration will happily support the authoritarian dispensation of General Musharraf as long as he is able to periodically arrest a few Al-Qaeda leaders. General Musharraf knows that the primary interest of the Bush Administration is in eliminating the Al-Qaeda, because it is this group alone that has the global reach to attack the United States itself. The arrest of a few Al-Qaeda leaders every now and then enables General Musharraf to get continuing American political, diplomatic and economic support.

The timing of the information provided by CENTCOM is interesting. CENTCOM holds that as a result of supporting the American war on terrorism Pakistan has incurred a cost of $ 10 billion. This is obviously based on data supplied by the GHQ in Rawalpindi. Interestingly, reports from Pakistan suggest that it is precisely a sum of $ 10 billion that General Musharraf will demand from the Americans as economic assistance for the services rendered when he meets President Bush in Camp David. Thus, what General Musharraf will seek in Washington is continuing military and economic assistance over the next five years. Obtaining such a commitment from Washington will serve him well in continuing as President, even as he dons the uniform of a four star General. And in the likes of Mr Colin Powell, Mr Tommy Franks and Mr Anthony Zinni he will find no dearth of American four star Generals to espouse his cause.

New Delhi should take note of but not get too excited about these developments. We should have our own agenda for cooperation with the United States and privately spell out to the Americans what our bottom line is on their favourite Pakistani General. The time has also come to end the excessive focus of attention on Pakistan. There is no need to publicly respond to every statement or move that Islamabad makes. It would be ideal if our government and media could publicly adopt a policy of benign neglect towards Pakistan, even as we privately engage Islamabad with the pro-active agenda that Mr. Yashwant Sinha has spoken of and remain prepared to respond appropriately to likely contingencies. The international community is sick and tired of hearing Pakistan speak of its “core issue” and of India endlessly repeating our mantra about ending “cross-border terrorism”.

MIDDLE

Music to the ears
Madhurima Atulvir Arora

Saturday morning. After managing to finish the household chores on time I settled down blissfully in a sun-filled corner of my room with a cup of tea. There was a stack of papers spread on the table before me. My pen ready and the hand itching to articulates sweet thoughts, I sat there basking in the golden sunlight, glowing in happy anticipation. “Nothing, absolutely nothing can disturb my heaven”, I thought, “Not even the shrill cries of the parrot on the guava tree.” I looked defiantly through the window at the parrot who was eyeing me balefully through the leaves.

The pen poised on the blank paper, I almost trembled with the excitement of having at last zeroed in on the moment, when my idyll was rudely shattered with an air splitting noise, making me drop the pen in sheer surprise! It was as if I was amidst a horrifying earthquake. I could not hear a thing but could actually see the walls of my room go thump, thump, thumping and the window glass rising and falling to a dangerously crashing intensity, matching the intimidating sound. While I sat there trying to fathom what had hit me!

Slowly the realisation dawned that it was the music our neighbour’s teenaged daughter had very obligingly decided to play on her very powerful music system, oblivious to its effect on the paper-thin walls of our government built houses. The few occasions I have met her I have not found her to be deaf. Yet!

With this act she was able to, as you say, kill two birds with one stone! On the one hand, she had displayed extremely good neighbourliness by giving us music, the food of love, and had also enlightened us “ignorants” about “this week’s top of the pop” variety of music.

On the other hand, she had with one stroke proved the superiority of their music system! The loud notes were also a bold proclamation of the fact that they were the only ones who mattered — being the absolute centre of the universe. I felt crestfallen!

The teenaged son of the two-doors-down left neighbourhood, had also begun displaying the power of his music system. I sat there caught and wounded in the crossfire of two warring states. The parrot, encouraged by all this started its cacophony again!

The tea had gone stone cold. I collected the sheaf of papers and my pen to put them away for another day as at that very moment a cloud walked over the sun!

Abandoned girl looks for her mother
Poonam Batth

For 21-year old Swedish national, Aarti Johanna Lindberg, The Tribune is perhaps the only hope to trace her mother from who she got separated on the cold winter night of December 3, 1981. It was her mother who had left her inside a temple in Sector 19 here. And 16 years later, when she returned with her foster Swedish parents, she met with no success.

Adopted by a Swedish couple, Carl Gerhard Lindberg and Carina Lindberg in 1982, Aarti has been in Sweden since then. Though well-settled in a small town, north of Sweden, Aarti, continues to yearn for her biological mother. It is her longing that made her visit India in 1997 and now seek the help of The Tribune to locate her whereabouts.

In a letter sent to The Tribune along with the clipping of the news story written by the then Staff Correspondent, Mr Prabhjot Singh, (“Month-old child found abandoned”) , Aarti has once again expressed her desire to find her mother. According to records available with the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare, she was born in Chandigarh in November 1981 and was abandoned by her mother in the Pracheen Shiv Mandir, Sector 19-A, when she was barely a month old. She spent the first year of her life in a children’s home `Bal Kunj’’ in Chhachharauli (Haryana), and when she was 13 months, she was adopted by the Swedish couple.

Today, Aarti is well-placed, has a good job in an insurance company, her own apartment and wonderful foster parents, who go all out to help her search for her mother. But still there is something amiss for she says `` I think a lot about my mother and why she left me like she did and I just can’t stop thinking. I want to find her.’’ Such are the bonds of love for her natural mother that she has not only asked The Tribune to give another write-up, which may help her unite with her birth parents but has also offered to send some money, if required, for advertising about the same.

During her 1997 visit, she not only visited the temple from where she was found by a “pujari”, but also the home where she spent the initial months of her life and the Haryana headquarters of the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW). She saw the files containing information about her childhood and obtained the news clipping and a few pictures from there.

As per the news report published in these columns on December 4, 1981, the then Pujari of the temple, Mahant Kedar Nath, who had picked up the girl lying in a corner neatly wrapped in woolen clothes with a feeding bottle, had tried hard to locate the woman, but was not able to do so. He, eventually lodged a complaint with the police, who were equally confused as to what to do with the baby at that late hour. Eventually, a woman, the wife of a labourer from UP, was persuaded to take care of the child that night. Unfortunately, the Pujari had left for his heavenly abode when Aarti came looking for her mother six years ago.

Four days after she was found in the temple, she was shifted to a children’s home Bal Kunj in Chhachhrauli (Yamuna Nagar district), which is run by the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare. For the next 13 months she stayed there, she found a mother in Teresa and Savita. The council, which is a recognised placement agency for in-country and inter-country adoptions, was instrumental in arranging her adoption by the Swedish couple after completing all necessary formalities with the Swedish Society for International Child Welfare.

Adoption officer of the council, Poonam Sood disclosed that "those days couples would not prefer to adopt a girl child. Hence, she was given to the Swedish couple. But the trend has changed now with more and more people preferring a girl child. ‘’

On the basis of the clipping of The Tribune and pictures, she, with the help of her foster parents not only found the temple, which has changed a lot since then and is now popularly known as the “Kali Mata Ka Mandir” , but had spent a whole day here. When TNS visited the temple a few days ago, Mahant Azad Nath, who is the caretaker now, narrated the way Aarti profusely cried sitting in one corner and took pictures of the temple and the pandits there. " My heart also wept seeing her outburst for her mother, whom she had never even seen her. ‘’ She donated a lot of money for the temple and kept asking if anyone had seen her mother then or if anyone ever came looking for her child later.

Sadaphal, a gardener, who has been working in the temple for over 30 years, also corroborated her visit to the temple and her having a meal there with her parents. It was saddening to see her cry and one wondered how could a woman leave a child like this.

During a visit to the office of the ICCW here, TNS got a peep into the early childhood years of Aarti. Talking about her visit to the office in December 1997, Virender, an employee working there said "Tears were welling up in her eyes on seeing the files and other records of her early childhood, including the progress report of the first five years sent by her foster parents.” On December 27, 1997, Aarti and her parents even visited the home and stayed there for a night. Neelofar Singh, the Superintendent there, made her wear a `saree, and `bindi’ and applied some make-up on her. She even gifted her some glass bangles.She was thrilled. But here too, emotional memories brought back tears and she was unable to meet the women, who were mothers to her then for they had moved out.

During her trip, she realised that the Indian life is very different from the Swedish and her mother must have had no choice. The very fact that she left her in warm clothes and a feeding bottle only shows that she was a warm and caring person and she wanted her daughter to go on and live well. Her foster father mentioned this in a letter on his return from India. They had visited Delhi, Agra, Goa and Bombay and had really liked Goa.

In one of his letters to the council her father Carl Garhard wrote, " Aarti is a very strong person with self-confidence. She knows what she wants and often finds a way to get it.’’ The search has just begun and we hope that she finds her mother. It sure will be a dream come true for her!.

Month-old child abandoned in temple
By Prabhjot Singh

Chandigarh, Dec 3: It is 3.30 pm. A young woman carrying a child in her arms arrives at the Sector 19 Sita Ram temple. The child is neatly dressed.

This report was originally published in The Tribune on December 4, 1981

The woman goes round the temple. She chooses a dark corner and sits there with folded hands presumably to say her prayers. No one pays any attention to her.

At 10 pm when the pujari is about to close the temple, he hears the cries of the child. The woman is nowhere to be seen. The child is lying in a corner with a feeding bottle by its side.

The pujari tries hard to locate the woman but all invain. He informs members of the temple managing committee. They advise him to contact the police.

A police party appears on the scene. The child, a girl, barely a month old is healthy. The police are at a loss to know what to do with the child at this late hour. It is a cold night with no facility at the police post to keep the child.

The Sector 16 General Hospital accepts such children under the Duty Magistrate’s orders.

A police constable is sent out to look for a woman who can keep the child for the night. The wife of a labourer from UP is persuaded to do this.

A senior police officer points out to me that the incidents of abandonment of babies has lately been on the increase.

A couple of months ago, two babies, perhaps twin sisters had been abandoned near Mani Majra. After all efforts to trace their parents proved futile, the children were handed over to the Indian Council of Child Welfare ( ICCW) on the orders of the Executive Magistrate.

‘I just want to know who she is’
Prabhjot Singh

The Tribune was able to talk to Aarti Johanna Lindberg on the Internet on Tuesday. Excerpts:

How long did you stay in Chandigarh in 1997 ? Did you make any other effort to locate your mother ?

We stayed in Chandigarh for six days. In all we stayed in India for four weeks. Afterwards I made no efforts to find her. It is not easy to search for her. The Tribune is my only chance to find her.

Will you come to India again?

Yes, of course, provided my mother comes forward.

In case you are able to trace your mother, would you like to come and settle with her here or continue to stay in Sweden ?

I just want to know who she is and get to know her. I have a very good life here and I want to stay here. My Swedish parents are very nice. I meet them almost every day. I either call them over the telephone or join them for lunch.

When did you come to know about the Sector 19 temple ?

My adoptive parents heard about the temple when they brought me home in 1982. I spent full one day in the temple during my visit to Chandigarh in 1997.

Did you visit the ICCW Centre at Chhachhrauli ?

Yes, they took very good care of us. The were very friendly. It was a very emotional day for me to be at that children’s home where I spent my initial months as a newly born baby girl.

Do you know any Indian language ? Who gave you this Indian name Aarti ?

No, I do not know any Indian language. I have two friends who have also been adopted from India. Probably they are from Pune. It was Mr Pathania at the ICCW Centre in Chhachhrauli who gave me this name which, I understand, means prayer.

Do you know anyone in Chandigarh or India ?

We know a family in Chandigarh. We visited them during our stay there. They are nice people. They have four daughters. I am very glad that The Tribune is going to help me by publishing my story.