Friday,
August 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India
|
Return of
Mulayam Terror
unabated Avoidable
tragedy |
|
Thought
for the day
Mumbai
is bleeding and scarred
Desktop
humour
The new
Master Plan for Delhi
Naidu
doesn’t want Modi
|
Terror unabated ON the surface, it may appear incongruous that just when the Prime Minister visiting Srinagar was appealing to the militants to lay down arms, two of them had engaged the security forces in a fierce encounter at a hotel nearby and violent incidents were taking place at several other areas of the state. But that does not mean that his impassioned pleas have fallen on deaf ears. The terrorists who tried to target the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited building by hailing grenades at a CRPF picket belonged to a shady outfit of Lashkar-e-Toiba, which runs purely on Pakistani orders. It is futile to expect these mercenaries to give up violence. But there appears to be a change in the mindset of the Kashmiri militants. There has been a perceptible decline in the feeling of alienation. Too much should not be read into the bandh organised in the Valley to greet the Inter-State Council meeting either. These are the desperate attempts of frustrated foreign militants to demonstrate that they are still relevant. People of the state seem to have seen through the machinations and are ready to give peace another chance. Militants’ inhuman acts too have shocked the peace-loving Kashmiris. The holding of free and fair elections had set the ball rolling. It is imperative to build on that initiative. For doing that, sincerity of purpose is very important. Time has come to distinguish between those who are beyond the pale of reasonableness because of foreign affiliations and those who swear by the gun culture only because their genuine grievances have not been addressed. Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee has done well to reiterate his resolve to advance the dialogue process with those who rejected militancy and extreme positions. Once a clear message is conveyed to the disgruntled elements that the Centre is above playing petty politics, perhaps many more people will come to the negotiating table. By holding the chief ministers’ conference in Srinagar, Delhi has underlined the fact that more than a decade of mindless violence has not weakened its national resolve. The fear of the militants’ gun is stopping many people from speaking against them. So far, they have managed to eliminate almost every leader who showed his eagerness to settle various disputes through talks. The Centre and the state will have to act in tandem to reassure everyone that they can provide full protection to all votaries of peace and development. The security forces have a vital role to play in this. Rightly or wrongly, they have earned a brutish image. They need to win back the confidence of the people by eschewing all extra-constitutional methods. The only answer to a proxy war from across the border is a war for the people’s
heart. |
Avoidable
tragedy STAMPEDES of the kind that occurred at Nashik on Wednesday are not unexpected when a large number of people assemble at one spot for religious, political or cultural reasons. In fact, Kumbh melas have traditionally witnessed stampedes as they attract millions of the devout from all over the country. There is a heavy rush of people on certain days which are considered the most auspicious. Given this background, adequate steps should have been taken to avert the stampede reported from Nashik. Many reasons have been cited for the stampede that resulted in so many deaths. They range from the narrowness of the streets to the scramble to collect the silver coins thrown by some sadhus. Whatever be the case, the safety systems in place were inadequate to meet the situation. Needless to say, this shows the Nashik administration in a poor light. That it is not impossible to manage such large crowds was proved by the superb manner in which the last Kumbh mela at Allahabad was conducted. It witnessed the largest congregation of people anywhere in the world. It surpassed all the records established in the past in terms of the number of people who assembled at the confluence of the three rivers to take a holy dip. What to speak of stampede, there was not even an incident of jostling reported from anywhere in the vast swathe of the riverbank for a whole month. The police did an exemplary job in controlling the crowd. Similarly, every year, millions of devotees of Lord Ayyappa visit His abode at Sabarimala on the Western Ghats in Kerala. By and large, pilgrimages to Sabarimala have been free from such incidents. In sharp contrast, smaller crowds have caused larger stampedes in the past. Take the case of 22 Bahujan Samaj Party rallyists dying at the Lucknow railway station in September last year. It all happened when the station authorities suddenly changed the platform on which a train was to stop. In another macabre incident, many people were killed in a stampede that followed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s visit to a temple for a holy dip in the pond there. What these incidents suggest is that it is not so much the size of the crowd but the management of it that is responsible for stampedes. The incident once again highlights the lack of a crisis management system in the country. All accidents are avoidable if safety measures are strictly adhered to. If the present tragedy enthuses the authorities to put in place a foolproof system, it will go a long way in making Kumbh melas and other such congregations safer. |
Thought
for the day Government needs both shepherds and
butchers. — Voltaire |
Mumbai is bleeding and scarred ON Tuesday morning, the day after Mumbai city was rocked by two powerful bomb blasts killing nearly 50 people, the suburban trains were as usual packed, carrying millions of commuters to their places of work. We saw the usual long queues at bus stops. Autorickshaws hurried around carrying groups of children to school. At least on the surface, life was normal. Except in the homes of the victims of the bomb blasts. Yet, there was an element of uncertainty and fatalism. Parents admitted they did not want to send their children to school while housewives wondered if their husbands would be back home safe and sound. “We can’t keep people at home,” admitted a housewife. “There is no knowing when the terrorists will strike again.” Yes, Mumbai is bleeding and is deeply scarred. The pride of India, the heart of the economy, the city had been rocked by 31 bomb blasts since January, 1993, killing 322 people. Monday’s were the sixth bomb blasts during the past nine months which had killed 60 people. And the culprits had not been caught. There must be methods and motives behind the madness but they are still shrouded in mystery. According to Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who has a lot of explaining to do, the people behind the blasts could not bear to watch the state prosper and the city come up. He pointed out that Mumbai was well on the way to an economic recovery, The five star hotels were full, tourists were returning in large numbers, the World Bank chief was expected to arrive to discuss new areas of investment and the Volkswagan motor company had decided to invest in the state. Declared Shinde, “The blasts are part of a conspiracy to destabilise the government and derail the state’s economy.” There is truth in such a conclusion. Though links between terrorism and economic boom may appear to be tenuous, no one can deny that Mumbai is the crown jewel of India. Any attacks on the city were sure to attract worldwide attention and send the message that the terrorists were capable of taking on any targets, including the financial capital of the country. It was for the same reasons that New York was targeted by the Al-Qaida on September 9, 2000. As theories flew around, it was pointed out that the last four bomb blasts were at Ghatkopar, Vile Parle, Mulund and now Zaveri Bazar, all predominantly Gujarati areas. Was this a planned retaliation for what happened in Gujarat after the Godhra incident which led to terrible communal riots in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and other cities? But if groups of people wanted blood for blood for what happened in Gujarat, why target Mumbai and not Gujarat where Chief Minister Narendra Modi continued to strut around? Of course, there had been rumours that groups of disgruntled Muslim youths had gone to Pakistan and were trained to hit soft targets in India, including Mumbai. Pakistan’s condemnation of the latest Mumbai blasts had been quick and unequivocal. This had been welcomed by India. It is hard to link the Pakistan government with such happenings particularly at a time when a thaw was clearly visible in Indo-Pak relations which had initiated the bus diplomacy and medical treatment of Pakistani children in India. Nearer home, what was more worrying was the fact that the state government had failed to bring to book those who were behind the earlier attacks. Whatever happened to the Mumbai police which once had the reputation of being the second best in the world, after Scotland Yard? Are they finding the going too tough? Of late there had been instances of stressed policemen shooting their superiors or even killing themselves because they found the stress intolerable. It is clear that the authorities needed to look into this problem urgently and provide some kind of relief. Mumbai cannot afford to have a police force which was not fit and lacked motivation. The coming days, with the popular Ganpati festival only days away, will be hard grind for the local policemen. The blasts were a national calamity, a fact which had escaped the attention of the Opposition parties in the state. They were as usual, reacting in a typically political manner. The Sena and the BJP had asked for the resignation of the Shinde government and the imposition of President’s rule. Sena chief Bal Thackeray had issued the chilling statement that his “boys” were ready to protect the people and warned the government of taking action against them. While it is true that no government can manage 100 per cent security to the people in a city like Mumbai, the Shinde government and its predecessor led by Vilasrao Deshmukh, had not covered themselves with glory. Six blasts in nine months and still no clue to the culprits behind them! There is something seriously wrong with the functioning of the police force and the total failure of the intelligence agencies. The Shinde government must now crack the whip on these agencies and demand results. But as former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, who later successfully fought terrorism in Punjab, pointed out the government, the armed forces and the police by themselves will be hard put to check the growth of terrorism. Explained Ribeiro, “It is also the responsibility of the community, part of which was found to give hidden , unspoken support to the terrorists.” He pointed out that the tide turned against terrorists in Punjab when local support dried up. It was the duty of the authorities, including the police, to restore confidence among all sections of the people, so that they would not support terrorists in any way. Like other police forces in the country, the Mumbai police was also highly politicised and as mentioned in the Sri Krishna Commission report, communalised. In the wake of such blasts, it had become the habit to round up, after midnight knocks on doors, and brutally question members of a particular community who were as innocent as anyone else and just wanted to lead normal , peaceful lives. This was done when the big fish who had planned and perpetrated the violence had flown away to the safety of foreign lands. As for the local victims, when alienation crept in , they maintained sullen silence and did not report on suspicious activities. Following Monday’s blasts, hundreds of Muslims pitched in, helping the wounded and clearing the rubble. Mohalla committees were quickly formed for relief work and maintaining peace. It was an example of people coming together and facing a crisis which affected all of them. But it remains to be seen if the political parties will do the same. Only last week, Mumbai was a cheerful and bustling city, waiting to welcome Lord Ganesh and planning to raise Rs 6,000 crore through special funds to become a city like Shanghai. Given the will and strength of the people, this is still possible. But today, there is fear and uncertainty among the people. As suggested by Ribeiro, the government, the opposition and the people, must come together to tackle the terrorist
menace. |
Desktop humour WHILE tackling queries in journalism classes one often comes across questions like isn’t the copy editing work in a newspaper a dull and mundane routine? The field job has a halo of glamour around it and most of the budding journalists nurture dreams of experiencing the thrills and chills of reporting. It takes some effort to convince them that the copy editor’s job too has its challenges and thrills. Daily jostling with deadlines and late nightshifts have their own magic. But dealing with raw copy often brings comic relief in this stressful routine. This unique brand of desktop humour is savoured and often related, however, without any malicious intentions only. Dealing with the nuances of language can be a very exciting experience, especially when one is dealing with a foreign language. English by all means is not easy to master and is often (mis)used in copy (read news reports) received from stringers in remote areas and small towns. A new entrant on the desk usually finds it hard to digest something like ‘‘the festival was celebrated with great pump and show’’ but after getting initiated even super bloopers like “the deceased said I was shot dead” or ‘‘the death anniversary of the great leader was celebrated by his followers”, “protesters were beering black badges” or “Shivratri was celebrated in the memory of Lord Shiva” are accepted without a protest. Only the other day some colleagues were seen racking their brains trying to decipher “300 birds perched in the fire” (for 300 birds perished in the fire) and the “truck became turtle” (truck turned turtle). Most of the time instead of coming across Queen’s English, a copy editor has to grapple with Hinglish and Pinglish. These country cousins of English thrive on the writer’s ingenuity. Thus literal translations of vernacular idioms and phrases are a usual thing, giving birth to expressions like “greed is the house of corruption”, “residents complained that the loudspeakers were eating their heads”, “the minister said the allegations were headless and footless’’. When the man in the field is at absolute loss for words then the deskman gets knockouts like “A newly bedded man was shocked to find that his wife was neither a he nor a she but was of the middle sex” The desk too is not above mistakes as is evident from headlines like “Martyr dead” “Beware of malaria, it is preventable” When one such “culprit” was questioned about the type of language used he admitted humbly ‘‘Sir, I am sorry but English doesn’t come to me” (translating from Hindi “Mujhe English nahin
aati”)
|
The new Master Plan for Delhi THE Union Urban Development Ministry has virtually opened a Pandora’s box by coming up with a document that outlines new guidelines that should govern the National Capital’s growth pattern. Veteran town planner Sayeed Shafi has summed it up thus: “The so-called new Master Plan will kill the National Capital Region. Delhi will not survive either.” The new guidelines, apart from several other questionable aspects, have sounded the death-knell of the NCR idea itself. As originally conceived, the NCR rested on the basic premise that developing satellite townships will reduce the several forms of burden that Delhi has had to take in view of its magnetic pull for thousands of people seeking a better living. Planned growth will once again become a captive of market forces if the narrow perspective of the document is allowed to become a reality. There are several disturbing features in the guidelines. The new plan seems to be a concession to Delhi’s real estate lobbies. While the first and second Master Plans were informed by a sense of vision and a definite set of priorities, the latest smacks of short-term political expediency, coming as it does ahead of this year's Assembly elections. The new Master Plan could lead to more problems than they resolve. First, sections who want to convert their unauthorised colonies and establishments into regularised ones have in the new document, given the assurance that they will be incorporated into regularise ones. Secondly, deeply congested colonies, already victims of mindless commercialisation, have been promised no chance of being given an opportunity to undo the damage. Thirdly, when the tendency to convert green belts is already rampant, it is hypocritical to even talk of preserving the environmental/ ecological character of Delhi. Fourthly, the guidelines have ventured to pronounced intervention even in those areas which are sub judice at present. And finally, the Union Ministry of Urban Development did not take the Sheila Dikshit Government into confidence before going public. Intriguingly, even Prime Minister Vajpayee has chosen to obliquely suggest that the new guidelines will have a positive impact. Addressing a meeting of BJP leaders, he advocated the need for adopting a “humane approach” in developing Delhi as one of the best capitals in the world. But the question is why our town planners have not been realistic in their vision. Sadly, they did not follow the broad guidelines on Delhi’s planning and population projections as given in the two Master Plans. The haphazard growth of the metropolis has been in violation of the master plans and the guidelines from the Centre and the civic bodies. Encroachments, illegal construction and grabbing of public land have been going on with impunity. Both the Delhi Government and the Centre have failed to discharge their basic responsibilities. In a way, both are responsible in making Delhi one of the biggest slum cities in the country. While one would appreciate the Prime Minister’s observations, the government would do well to realise that the only answer for solving Delhi’s mushroom growth is the decompressing the capital and developing NCR. Otherwise, Delhi would become the world’s biggest slum. In its guidelines to the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021, the Urban Development Ministry has said that the thrust should be on redevelopment of old and degraded areas while taking care of the heritage buildings and “areas that have been developed unauthorisedly”. In a document tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently, it has been suggested that problems of the existing slums and JJ Clusters can be resolved through a judicious mix of relocation and in situ development. As regards the issue of additions to or reconstruction of DDA flats, it said permission was being given for some specific additions or alterations which did not impinge on structural safety. Also, the DDA colonies might be converted into self-managing residential communities. The guidelines said its major theme should be “re-development of old and degraded areas, and areas that have developed unauthorised”. The existing legal and procedural barriers to redevelopment, whether contained in the slum related legislation or in the municipal laws, need to be reviewed and positive incentives, such as higher floor area ratio (FAR) in the old city and the “special area” can be considered. The guidelines point out that a major issue has been segregated land use versus flexible land use. The current thinking is in favour of flexible land use which reaps the synergies between workplace, residence and transportation. Ideally, land use should be responsive to the dynamics of the market. Having realised the alarming population pressure on Delhi’s resources as also to mitigate the problems, Parliament, with the concurrence of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, constituted the NCR Planning Board. It seeks to prepare regional plan and functional plans, arrange preparation of sub-regional plans and project plans by the participating states, coordinate, enforce and ensure implementation through the participating states, evolve harmonised policies for land use control and infrastructure development, and finance selected development projects in NCR, through Central and State Plan funds, and other sources. The NCR Planning Board formulated a Regional Plan 2001 for NCR in 1989. This plan aimed at reducing the pressure of population on Delhi by deflecting 20 lakh population and attaining a balanced and harmonised development of NCR, in an inter-state region consisting of — NCT Delhi, six districts of Haryana (now seven), three districts of UP (now five) and part of Alwar district of Rajasthan covering an area of 30,242 sq km. The NCR Plan envisaged the development of six Delhi Metropolitan Area (DMA) towns — Ghaziabad-Loni, Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Bahadurgarh and Kundli and 11 priority towns of Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Khurja, Palwal, Rewari, Dharuhera, Rohtak, Panipat, Alwar and Bhiwadi for absorbing the potential Delhi-bound migrants. The Regional Plan, 2001 also showed development of five counter-magnet areas outside the region — Patiala (Punjab), Hisar (Haryana), Bareilly (UP), Gwalior (MP) and Kota (Rajasthan) with a view to acting as the future interceptors of migratory flows and regional growth centers for balanced urbanisation. According to planners, Delhi has to develop in a suitable manner over the next two decades up to 2021. Massive resources would be required to augment power, water, electricity and sewage systems. Critics of Master Plan 2021 guidelines strongly feel that the efforts should be to deflect the rush of people of Delhi by creating infrastructure elsewhere, rather than investing more in the city itself. This was how the land availability and infrastructure situation in Delhi stands today. The projections for 2021 are based on calculations made by the DDA. It is stated that in 2021, Delhi's population would go up to 22 million from the 12.8 million in 2001. According to an estimate, some two million people could be accommodated in sub-cities. This would still leave a balance population of 7.2 million. Likewise, these 7.2 million people would need roughly 440 sq km to live on. If all agricultural land and the total area under farmhouses in the NCR be developed over the next 20 years (which is a remote possibility), the total land available will not be more than 429 sq km — still short of the requirement. As regards water supply, Delhi's current availability of water is 660 million gallons per day (MGD). The projected requirement in 2021 is 1,840 MGD. The additional requirement, therefore, is 1,180 MGD. According to the last Census report, the population of Delhi has gone up to nearly 1.38 crore with Delhi having the highest density of population among all states and the Union Territories. With about 9,294 people living in a sq-km area, the population figure has reached at 13,782,976. The report of the Director of Census Operations said Delhi’s population has increased by 4.36 million since 1991 Census though the decennial growth rate of population for 1991-2001 has been recorded at 46.31 per cent as against 51.45 per cent in the previous decade, showing a declining trend of 5.14 per cent. The increased population, however, does not include people who visit Delhi for employment or trade activity. Water scarcity, power cuts, crowded city hospitals, increasing hardship of people to get their children admitted in municipal schools, traffic chaos, chocked sewerage system, undependable and inadequate public transport, deteriorating law and order and, above all, housing shortage have today become an integral part of Delhi life. It is time the Union Government appreciated Delhi's problems. Master Plans alone will not mitigate the hardship of people. To provide relief to Delhi-ites, the NCR Programme needs to be expedited. |
Naidu doesn’t want Modi Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is keen to stall his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi’s visit to Hyderabad next month for the Ganesh festival. It is widely believed that Modi’s sojourn to Hyderabad can anger Muslims and whip up communal tension. That is what the intelligence agencies are telling Naidu who counts the minorities among the TDP’s supporters. He does not want to disturb the balance with general elections due in the later half of 2004. TDP leaders have already met a few BJP leaders from Andhra Pradesh and impressed upon them that they should prevail upon Modi to cancel his proposed trip to Hyderabad. If Modi does not get the message, then Naidu is expected to use his influence in speaking to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about this matter. Hyderabad has witnessed some of the worst communal flare up during the Ganesh festival which started two decades ago. Falling standards Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is believed to have been completely put off by the issues raised and the general standard of debate in the Congress-sponsored No Confidence motion in the Lok Sabha which was defeated by a wide margin. That was said to be the primary reason for Vajpayee’s lacklustre intervention before Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s reply. He was saddened that the cut and thrust of debates witnessed in the past in Parliament was sadly lacking coupled with attempts to attack individuals by resorting to below the belt tactics. The 22-hour debate spread over two days left most MPs bleary eyed who wanted to get it over with the outcome of a foregone conclusion. Missed chance Did the acrimony of the No Confidence Motion, developments in Arunachal Pradesh and the impending assembly polls have its impact on the Inter-State Council meeting which concluded in Srinagar on Thursday? Congress Chief Ministers of election-going states did not go to the Valley for the crucial meeting and assigned the
responsibility to their cabinet colleagues. Never missing an opportunity to visit Delhi despite their busy schedules, the Chief Ministers, however, could not find the time to go to Srinagar. The Congress recently held a “successful” meeting of its Chief Ministers in Srinagar. The party’s Chief Minister in Arunachal Pradesh has now been replaced by a new convert to the BJP. Discrimination by the Centre is one of the poll planks of the Congress and the party perhaps does not want all its Chief Ministers to be seen smiling and bowing to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Onion vs milk Onion crisis brought Congress to power in Delhi and the state unit of the BJP is hoping against hope that the milk crisis in the Capital would catapult them back to power. The thinking in the BJP is that what forced them out of power might pave the way for regaining power. And, what would the BJP promise the electorate — white revolution? It’s pure science In the midst of Ayodhya controversy, archaeology itself has come under question much more than evoking interest in this scientific discipline. The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board insists that archaeology is not an absolute science but based on probability and correlations. However, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh believes that it is pure science without scope for interpretation. And, professional historians and archaeologists debate on how to interpret the artefact. Will the interest in archaeology among students emerge a winner? Lalu or Laloo? There was much confusion about the correct spelling of RJD chief and Rajya Sabha MP Laloo Prasad Yadav’s first name among scribes covering the Supreme Court. The apex court had recorded both as “Lalu” and “Laloo” in its judgement rejecting his plea for clubbing five fodder scam cases in a single trial. To ensure that the name of the former Chief Minister is written correctly in their reports, legal journos consulted the political correspondents, who insisted “Laloo” is the correct spelling. To be doubly sure, the MPs’ telephone directory brought out by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat was also scanned. The name was found to be recorded as “Lalu” in it. Now it is for the RJD supremo himself to clarify how he spells his first name. Contributed by T.R. Ramachandran, Prashant Sood, R. Suryamurthy and S.S. Negi |
By seeking outside, one is ruined; for Reality is in the home itself. The self-willed, however, miss it through egoism; but the righteous receive it in their arms. — Guru Nanak A man of faith does not bargain or stipulate with God. — Mahatma Gandhi Be free; hope for nothing from any one. I am sure if you look back upon your lives, you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves. — Swami Vivekananda It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail. — New Testament The life whereby we are joined into the body is called the
soul. — St. Augustine |
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