The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDITORIALS

Triumph of justice
Verdict in Staines case removes a stain

THE conviction of Dara Singh and 12 others in the sensational Staines murder case will help re-establish the people's shaken confidence in the criminal justice system in the country. The verdict is in sharp contrast to the finding in the Best Bakery case where every one of the accused was declared not guilty. It is a tribute to the painstaking efforts made by the Central Bureau of Investigation to present a large number of witnesses and voluminous evidence before the judge. The conviction vindicates the decision to transfer the case to the CBI, particularly when the state police had initially botched up the investigation. The quantum of punishment the court finally awards after hearing both sides is not of much significance as the crucial finding about their culpability has already been arrived at. The 13 have been found guilty of a host of charges, including conspiracy, unlawful assembly, arson and murder.

Few incidents of murder have caused as much shock, shame and sensation as when the Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his teenage sons, Philip and Timothy, were burnt alive when they were fast asleep outside a church at Manoharpur in Keonjar district four years ago. That he had abandoned the comforts of his native land to work for the welfare of the leprosy patients in one of the most backward areas of Orissa had lent the murder an element of poignancy. And when his widow, Gladys Staines, pardoned her husband's killers while expressing her steely determination to continue the noble work Graham Staines had initiated, it pricked the conscience of the nation. For the people at large, the verdict is a reminder that justice, however delayed, will finally be done. It has come soon after the Supreme Court has set in motion a process that will, hopefully, undo the injustice done in the Best Bakery case.

The Staines case shows the depths to which human depravity can plummet. To all intents and purposes, Dara Singh had no personal animosity towards the missionary just as Nathuram Godse did not have any when he unloaded his revolver against Mahatma Gandhi. He is a victim of the climate of hate generated by political forces, which are out to capture power by exploiting the primordial passions of the people. He began his career by harassing Muslim businessmen and relished the sobriquet of Hindu Rakshak the communal forces bestowed on him. Emboldened, he began taking the law into his own hands till the law finally caught up with him. Those who defend him and his actions forget that they are doing a great disservice to humanity. No religion needs a defender like Dara Singh.

Terrorists on the rampage
There is a bigger gameplan, indeed

IN the ongoing battle with terrorists, the security forces have of late received several nasty knocks. After their success in eliminating Ghazi Baba, they have had to sacrifice several senior officers and other ranks in the stepped-up militant activities. What is going to rankle for a long time is the gunning down of Kuka Parray. His murder may affect the counter-insurgency movement greatly, considering that his group of about 500 counter-insurgents called Ikhwanis had succeeded in eliminating around 1,000 militants and their harbourers. Terrorists have openly said that Parray has been killed in retaliation for the gunning down of Ghazi Baba and have threatened to kill two more prominent persons. Worse, the murder may send out the message that the government cannot protect those who switch over to its side. Another counter-insurgent, Javed Shah, was killed in Srinagar on August 27. It is one thing for officials to say that the spurt in violence indicates that the terrorists are frustrated but quite another to explain this to the victims.

Security agencies cannot afford to rest on their oars. They have succeeded in gunning down many terrorists. If they deserve kudos for that, they also have to accept criticism over the way they allowed many Army camps to be targeted and the manner in which the Kathua encounter with militants was conducted. All this leads to an unfortunate conclusion that the security machinery is not quite as fighting fit as it should be. Militants have upped the ante not only in Jammu and Kashmir but all over the country, be it in Mumbai or in Delhi. Mr L.K. Advani is not disclosing anything new when he says that this violence is part of a bigger gameplan. The obvious aim is to foment communal trouble in the country.

By now, it is quite clear that the war against terrorism cannot be won only through pious slogans. Militants taking their cue from Pakistan are not going to listen to voices of reason and will consider all talk of healing touch as a sign of weakness. That Pakistan has no intention of closing training camps in occupied Kashmir is clear from the revelations made by two Kashmiri youths who ran away from one such camp. Their assertion that Kashmiris are being kidnapped to join such camps should - but most likely won’t - open the eyes of world leaders. India will have to depend on its own devices to curb the menace.

Deaths in detention
Expression of judicial displeasure is not enough

THE Supreme Court last week expressed anguish over the increase in the number of cases of custodial violence, torture and lock-up deaths in the country. The court was not wrong in blaming the “devilish devices adopted by those at the helm of affairs who proclaim from the rooftops to be defenders of democracy and protectors of peoples’ rights”. Without mentioning names it castigated them for letting loose “their men in uniform to settle personal scores, feigning ignorance of what happens and pretending to be peace-loving puritans”. No purpose would have been served by identifying the people or a group of people who have subverted the instruments of democracy for serving their own nefarious constituency. They have created personal fiefdoms at state expense by patronising human vermins. Without breaking the diabolical hold of the politician-police-criminal nexus over most levers of legal power, the threat to the life, liberty and dignity of ordinary citizens cannot be addressed. Last week’s observations were made by a Bench while awarding a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to a family that lost its breadwinner due to torture in police custody.

The detention of suspects for long periods of time without trial is a less gruesome aspect of the same malaise. The Supreme Court had some years ago issued guidelines for the release of prisoners who had spent more time in jail than they would have had they been tried and convicted. A visit to any jail in the country would reveal the scale of indifference of the jail authorities to following the highest court’s directive. The same attitude is reflected in the mounting figures for custodial deaths. In January 2001, the apex court had sent notices to the Centre and the states asking them to show cause why the court should not issue directions for adopting preventive measures.

The show-cause notices were issued after the National Human Rights Commission and other organisations produced evidence of at least 1000 custodial deaths in the previous year. Nearly three deaths a day were caused by police brutality alone in 2000! The situation is alarming now. Equally, or perhaps a shade more, disturbing is the silence of civil society in demanding exemplary punishment for the lawless cops. Drastic measures need to be taken for stemming the rot. Initiatives like authorising human rights volunteers to accompany senior officers for conducting surprise checks at police stations and introducing a provision for an automatic judicial inquiry into cases of custodial deaths could prove effective in weakening the hold of the “devilish elements” on the law-enforcement apparatus.

Thought for the day

What I say is that “just” or “right” means nothing but what is in the interest of the stronger party.

—Plato

OPINION

Over-enthusiasm for ties with Israel
Abandoning Palestinians not in India’s interest
by S. Nihal Singh

IT was always going to be a difficult diplomatic exercise, but the failure of the Indian government in balancing its new-found enthusiasm to embrace Israel with keeping relations with the Arab world in good repair is a matter of regret. Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came on his path-breaking journey to India and left after achieving a symbolic and substantive victory.

Perhaps the biggest loss on India’s part has been in bartering the undoubted benefits the relationship with Israel brings in the field of military supplies and trade for compromising the country’s fight against terrorism in Kashmir. There is a world of difference between a people fighting for independence against an occupying power, as Palestinians are against Israel, and Pakistan’s attempt to exploit local resentments in Kashmir to fund and infiltrate militants to bleed India. This vital difference has now been eroded, to the great benefit of Pakistan’s propaganda machine.

Building strong Indo-Israeli relations has been a Bharatiya Janata Party belief for a long time. And the aggressive streak in the Sangh Parivar (in the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh as in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad) favours the Israeli method of disproportionate retribution for those harming the Jewish state without quibbling over legality. This empathy with Israel has been reinforced by the desire and opportunity to build bridges to the United States and the undoubted clout Israelis enjoy with American power structures.

In May this year Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s National Security Adviser, Mr Brajesh Mishra, had told an American Jewish gathering, “The US, India and Israel have been prime targets of terrorism. They have to jointly face the same ugly face of modern day terrorism.” The joint statement on the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit said: “Together with the international community and as victims of terrorism, Israel and India are partners in the battle against this scourge.”

Before departing India, Israeli officials had made it plain that it was all very well for New Delhi to gain benefits from the relationship with Tel Aviv but they expected “reciprocity” in India’s future conduct. As if to make an immediate down payment, official Indian spokesmen reacted to the dangerous Israeli decision to expel or eliminate Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with pusillanimity, expressing “disapproval”. Judging from the strong worldwide reaction to what could be a disastrous move, the External Affairs Ministry was constrained to issue a statement a day later to say that Mr Arafat was an elected leader and a symbol of Palestinian cause and his removal would have serious negative consequences.

The BJP-led government at the Centre is in the habit of justifying its actions by invoking the credo of national interest. In the post-Cold War and post-Nine Eleven world, it is in India’s national interest to explore relationships with a great variety of countries because old alignments are in a state of flux and one country is seeking to rule the world as the hegemon. Thus it is entirely in order to build bridges with such countries as Iran and Turkey, the former a child of the Islamic revolution and the latter a traditional American military ally.

By the same token, it makes sense to deal with Israel on a new basis because there are obvious areas of convergence in the military field as in trade and technology. But it does not serve the country’s interest to antagonise the Arab and Muslim worlds and to create new resentments among India’s considerable Muslim population. During his visit to New Delhi preceding Mr Ariel Sharon’s, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath made the tart comment that India did not need Israel to open doors for it in Washington. The impact of the Sharon visit on the Arab world has been negative. On its part, Iran has protested to New Delhi over Israeli remarks calling Teheran as the epicentre of terrorism — diplomatically, an unacceptable practice.

Indeed, one would hope that India’s enthusiasm for Israel does not become a burden in the pursuit of national interest. There are many admirable qualities Israelis have — their undoubted talent, industriousness and tenacity. But a people persecuted in Europe and having been gifted a homeland in West Asia by Britain, the former colonial power, Israelis want to dispossess native Palestinians of their hearths and homes by using the modern implements of war against a poorly armed people. Israelis justify their audacious claims by going back a few thousand years. Imagine what the map of the world would look like if ancient historical claims were to be settled.

Even on the basis of realpolitik, it does not serve India’s interest to abandon the Palestinians although New Delhi’s traditional support has been vocal, rather than material. India does not suffer from the disabilities Palestinians’ Arab neighbours do and the Arab world is important for the country’s energy needs and in providing employment to some three million Indians in the Gulf, resulting in handsome home remittances. Besides, it would not be far-fetched to suggest that in addition to the shock of the Gujarat pogrom absorbed by the large Muslim minority, a repudiation of Palestinians’ just demands would sit ill with the promotion of India’s pluralism.

While promoting good relations with Israel is to India’s benefit, the Sharon visit has highlighted the dangers of going overboard. In essence, the BJP should distinguish between its own preference for taking the authoritarian route in resolving problems and the country’s interest. BJP leaders forget that a better Indo-Israeli equation is of mutual benefit. While India needs sophisticated military equipment, Israel requires acceptable markets for selling them. The considerate trade in diamonds is again a two-way street. In Tel Aviv’s famous diamond exchange, I saw a significant Gujarati presence doing business long before India decided to exchange ambassadors. While India can benefit from Israeli expertise in areas such as drip farming and solar energy, Tel Aviv has interest in swapping research in information technology.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be solved tomorrow. The American election cycle makes it unlikely that President George W. Bush would want to displease his right-wing constituency or the influential American Jewish lobbies to impose a just solution. And the Israeli appetite for dispossessing Palestinians of almost all their land grows with each passing day. Some of them can hardly believe their luck: the end of the Soviet Union as a countervailing power and the rise of the neocons in the George W. Bush’s presidency exploiting Nine Eleven to remake West Asia to Israeli benefit.

Does India want to be part of this scheme of things as it moves closer to Israel?

MIDDLE

India through Pakistani eyes
by Noel Lobo

“IF the Chandigarh Tribune be available in Lahore early morning at three rupees (sold in Amritsar at two rupees), a number of our readers of English newspapers might consider switching their newspaper allegiance”, (M.P. Bhandara in Dawn).

It does one good to read a fulsome article on India, and that too by someone living in a traditionally hostile country (even though the tradition goes back only 50 odd years). It is all the more satisfying because there is so little to give us good cheer in our own country. Even those who produce the leaf which provides the cup that cheers have some grouse or other; as for the other cup favoured in the southern states, some coffee growers have gone bankrupt because of incredibly low prices. (But do you think that Nestle will reduce the price of their instant coffee? I hope that the protesters in the vicinity of their world HQ at Vevey gave it a thought in their recent rioting.)

So what’s the good news? MP Bhandara gave us full marks for our bookshops; the low prices of our medicines (thanks to our government, not to the MNCs who seem to be withdrawing from India to some extent to reap fat profits elsewhere); and our rate of growth, almost double that of Pakistan. He also gave a bouquet to Jyoti Basu, “said to be ninety”, and to IK Gujral, “84 year old, but looking more like 70” who had the Pakistan parliamentary delegation to dinner.

It is a jolly good thing that he did not meet some of us who are not of that disdainful breed calling themselves our lawmakers.

Had he asked a rickshaw puller, a vegetable seller or a passenger in a bus he would have learnt the depth of cynicism of the man in the street. When I asked an old shipmate why there wasn’t an uproar at Shri Advani taking his family with him on his jaunt, he replied that we expected it of him and others of his ilk. When an old college friend of mine from my Cambridge days, John St Lawrence, then world head of Reckitt & Colman, came to India on a holiday the Indian head instructed that all his tabs would be picked up by his office. But John would have nothing of it. He said that it was a private holiday. On a par with this was the obsequious manner of the Calcutta manager towards his Indian MD on a visit to that city. I was present to witness it.

More shabashes from MP Bhandara: the sight of women riding cycles, mopeds and mobikes; the higher per capita income compared to Pakistan in spite of our billion bulge. But I disagree with him when he says that “one of the nicest things to observe in India is that the ruling classes are far less ostentatious and pretentious than here. Simplicity is a way of life”. While I am in no position to comment on the first part of his statement, not having visited Pakistan, I am astounded at the comment on our simplicity of life as led by the upper class. One has only to look at the pages of our national broadsheets to glimpse the cavortings of our (horrid phrase) party animals.

Two more bouquets from the journalist: one for Ram Jethmalani (warm, avuncular and a defender of public interest”); and another for our Supreme Court (for forcing all public transport in Delhi to switch to CNG). But what may I ask were our lawmakers doing that the courts have to rule on this? Looting the country is what a shopkeeper told me when I asked.

IN FOCUS

STATE OF UNIVERSITIES — 11
Academic environment chokes teachers, many quit
GJU in reverse gear; assistants, deputies and ad hoc staff dominate
by Nirmal Sandhu

The 372-acre GJU campus is a picture of neglect

WHAT distinguishes Guru Jambeshwar University, Hisar, from others is that it has made the least contribution to unemployment. By keeping off mainstream arts subjects and stressing on job-oriented courses in engineering, science and management, GJU has done tremendous social good. Permanent teachers are, by and large, young, bright and apolitical. Appointments are not caste-based, and that is a landmark in Haryana. Students are respectful and academically inclined. Admissions are transparent and results are on time. Another feat: girls face no sexual harassment. There are no unions and elections.

There is much on the negative side, however. There are allegations of financial bungling and indiscriminate promotions of the supporting staff. In Haryana bureaucratic interference is an accepted fact of academic life and VCs do not protest at the dilution of university autonomy due to the state government aid; it is Rs 4 crore for GJU. There is an outflow of talented teachers. The reason: choking work environment.

Instead of evolving their own rules and regulations to suit the requirements and develop efficient management practices to cut delays, this young university’s administrators look up to MDU and KU, hardly models of excellence, for guidance. The management blundered by importing middle-level non-teaching staff from other universities. They know how to scuttle or delay unfavourable decisions and arm-twist teachers into submission.

GJU’s apparent academic peace can be shattered any time, as it did on September 10 when students went on strike to demand supplementary examinations of compartment candidates in October. The teachers’ association opposes supplementary examinations. But the Vice-Chancellor, Dr A.R.Chauhan, who relinquished office on September 11, did not want to displease the students on the eve of his retirement. The students had their way.

The university’s response system is resented. Take the strike. The university authorities got the agitating students video-filmed and photographed, obviously for reprisals, if need be, and, worse, called in the police. A patient hearing and firm action in the best interest of the university could have averted the strike. But the situation was allowed to be on the boil and a solution was found only after the students walked out of their classrooms. If tomorrow the university becomes a hotbed of student or teacher politics, blame it on bad management.

Set up in 1995 by the then Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, the university is named after Guru Jambeshwar, a widely respected 15th century environmentalist saint of the Bishnois. The next Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, tried to stunt its growth due to political rivalry. He cut short state funding. The UGC affiliation and the Chautala government’s bailout, however, have kept the university going.

Under Dr Chauhan, GJU earned A grade from NAAC, added courses like computer science, electronics, biomedical sciences, physiotherapy and M. Pharma apart from having an institute of engineering and technology. Three departments — management, environment and mass communication — have got a Rs 1.5 crore UGC grant each under its special assistance programme (SAP).

The UGC and Ministry of Human Resource Development guidelines say that to set up a university, at least Rs 20 crore should be made available annually for 10 years. GJU has got only Rs 29 crore in eight years. Ch Devi Lal University, on the other hand, says Dr Narsi Ram, President of the GJU Teachers Association, has been given Rs 45 crore. We do not mind that, but a similar grant should also be given to GJU.”

Lack of funds, and some misutilisation, have affected the university functioning. A teachers’ union leader said the university had a Rs 20-crore fixed deposit to provide it financial stability, but the principal amount is being spent now. The VC expressed ignorance of this. When the university authorities bought computers worth about Rs 55 lakh, 10 of these got burnt in two days. Substandard stuff was purchased on commission, alleged teachers. An Assistant Registrar was accused of trying to sell computer parts through his favourite supplier. He tore an official document in the presence of two teachers to remove proof of his involvement. Yet he was promoted.

The VC’s hurried decision, a day before his retirement, to relieve the Director of Distance Education has taken the university staff by surprise and lent weight to the allegation of financial bungling in the department. The Director, a VC appointee and favourite, had still one year’s service left. His financial dealings were not through the usual channel, but cleared direct by the VC, and therefore questioned by many.

For distance education there are 125 study centres in the country but many are run in one or two rooms and lack qualified teachers and infrastructure. The centre owners mint money, disgracing the name of GJU. The university is not in a position to control such centres as the VC had stopped taking the Rs 1 lakh security deposit from each centre. The university used to earn a hefty interest on the amount thus collected. Dr Chauhan, however, claims that the university income has actually gone up as he had increased the charges from the study centres, apart from taking a Rs 1 lakh bank guarantee from each centre.

Another questionable decision is the waving of the Rs 5-lakh penalty imposed on a building contractor. Dr Chauhan said the penalty was on account of delay in the completion of a university building, not due to poor construction work. The file to waive the penalty was moved before he took over but it got cleared during his term.

The 372-acre campus is a picture of neglect with a wild growth of “kikar”, “aak” and congress grass. But fund or staff shortage cannot be blamed for the insanitary conditions of departments and haphazard parking of vehicles. Hostels suffer from water shortage. Barring the department heads, teachers do not have even an inter-departmental telephone facility, leave alone an Internet connectivity. Two or three teachers are herded in one room.

In total the university today has 2,200 students, 353 non-teachers and 91 teachers. There are 146 sanctioned posts of regular teacher. The VC had a fondness for retired hands. A large battalion of temporary teachers is deployed on the campus. Some are simply postgraduates and have not cleared even the NET or SET.

The shortage of teachers is acutely felt. There should be at least 20 regular lecturers in the Printing and Technology Department according to the UGC requirements. However, there are only two teachers. The rest are on contract. The engineering college on the campus is run by those on contract. The financial crunch, the state government ban and ad hoc arrangements have barred the university from raising a team of dedicated, research-oriented teachers.

Quite a few teachers feel the university has been put into the “reverse gear”. Till last session, GJU offered applied mathematics, industrial chemistry and advanced physics to produce scientists and technologists. This year the university has “simplified” these courses. The students from these departments will not now go beyond teaching, defeating the purpose of technical education.

Almost 80 per cent of the teachers have projects and they appreciate Dr Chauhan’s help. That there is no provision for enough space and timely supply of equipment for projects is another matter. The Food Technology Department head, Dr B.S.Khatkar, alone has two projects worth Rs1 crore. Prof C.P. Kaushik, Chairperson of the Environmental Science and Engineering Department, has carried out a detailed study on the presence of pesticides in milk in Haryana.

There are two cases of Ph.D. which have become controversial, casting a shadow on the research practices in the university. In one case a former VC’s niece was given an extension after the expiry of the five-year period though she had not fulfilled the preliminary requirements under the rules. No one knows who her guide is. An applied psychology student was allowed to do Ph.D. even though she had 51 per cent marks in her MA. Her marks in M.Ed were counted despite objections from some quarters. She was given a new guide without the consent of the previous guide, who dubbed it a “criminal act in academics”.

In a letter to the VC the previous guide, Dr Anu Singh Lather, wrote: “I am surprised to know that the same Ph.D. research under the same title by the same candidate is being supervised by another supervisor, a man of commerce who has no locus standi to guide a Ph.D. in the area of criminal psychology...it is disgusting and insulting for me as a teacher and as a supervisor to see such an unethical behaviour of another teacher who is a senior faculty (member) of this university.” The VC, defending both cases as being under the rules, blamed teachers’ rivalry for the controversy.

Students come from a conservative background, but boys and girls soon shed inhibitions and work together in a healthy way. No one complains of sexual harassment. Their English and personality need improvement. This is what M.Sc (Physics) students, wrote in a poster on September 5: “People says God is one/We will say Gods are two/One is in heaven/While on earth is you”. Since they are being prepared to work in a competitive national/international corporate culture, the university has made arrangements for polishing them off.

“The students and teachers are the two key areas of a university, not the supporting staff”, says Mr Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary of the teachers association. A number of teachers, requesting anonymity, complained about the unhealthy dominance of DRs and ARs (Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars) on the university functioning resulting in the denial of timely promotions to teachers and delay in the purchase of equipment for research projects.

Nowhere else teachers wanting to attend international conferences and workshops are forced to sign a bond before going abroad. “We are discouraged from attending such conferences on the ground that teaching work would suffer. Doesn’t the teaching work suffer when we are sent on exam duty for distance education?” asks one teacher. “The ARs and DRs have got two promotions in eight years, but a lecturer is promoted reader after eight years”, adds another. They are all “kalakaars” who have imposed a “ghuggi culture” (multilateral signing of documents), remarks a long-time observer of the university affairs.

The outcome of the activities of the “academic mafia” is that quite a number of talented teachers have quit the university. In the mathematics department, for instance, six of the eight teachers have left. Though the university had appointed 103 lecturers, 17 of them have resigned. The university advertised for nine posts of lecturer in the computer science department three times but has not found suitable applicants.

However, the Registrar, Mr D.K.Kasnia, claims the university functions according to the Act and the rules in practice everywhere. None of the teachers’ promotion is pending. He, as also the VC, defends the prevalent work system.

Now as the search committee is meeting on September 18 to finalise a panel for the next VC of GJU, it is hoped the Chancellor/state government will select a VC who can provide visionary leadership to bring GJU back on the growth track, usher in a healthy work and study culture and save it from the clutches of vested interests.