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Sunday,
September 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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On Record Power reforms in Punjab |
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Parents, husband and
will help Anju excel
A ‘First World’ in our Third World
Of envoys, exhibitions and Civil Society
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On Record
Excerpts of the interview: Q: How do you react to Israeli Deputy Prime Minister’s statement that Tel Aviv is keeping the option of eliminating Mr Yasser Arafat open? A: They can keep their options open for whatever they are worth. I don’t care for them or their options. The statement shows Israel’s ugly face of a criminal and an occupier. This option is the face of an occupier. Mr Arafat is guarded and his security comes from the Palestinian people. He has no tanks, no aeroplanes but he has his people to guard him. If Sharon were to touch Mr Arafat in future the Israeli people would suffer generations after generations. The Palestinian people would retaliate. The Israeli people would suffer because the Palestinian people would take the revenge for their President, for their leader. Israeli people would pay the price. It is a decision which affects the security in the region and especially for the Israeli people. Q: When you say that the Israelis would suffer "generations after generations" if they were to touch Mr Arafat, are you warning of a nuclear retaliation? Are you hinting that the Palestinians have a nuclear weapon? A: We don’t have nuclear weapons. We have our bare hands. We don’t even have tanks or anti-aircraft missiles or other weapons. Sharon can assassinate Arafat. They have the military capability. But our revenge will be from the Palestinian people. Q: What happens if Israel is indeed successful in expelling Mr Arafat from the Palestinian Authority or assassinating him? Will you approach the United Nations if such an eventuality were to arise? A: It will be a normal reaction from the Palestinian people. I don’t believe that the Palestinian will approach the UN. To condemn Israelis in the UN is a joke. Q: Do you think that the current tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians has the potential of deadlocking or stalemating the peace process? A: The peace process is going on by implementing the roadmap and it is the responsibility of the Quartet (Europe, USA, Russia and UN) to implement the roadmap to which we agreed promptly. The Israelis are not willing to implement the roadmap. We are asking this Quartet to pressure Israel because the roadmap is their proposal. It is not our proposal. We agree with this proposal. We are asking them to implement it. The Israelis do not agree with this roadmap because it will end their occupation and create the Palestinian state. Q: Do you feel that the Palestinians are after all going to achieve the goal of an independent Palestinian State by 2005? A: It may be earlier than 2005. Q: How do you say that? A: Because we are fighting the occupation and most of the world is supporting us. Why should it be year 2005? Why should it not be a month, three months or six months after. (US President) Mr George Bush has stated that the Palestinians have the right to have their own independent state beside the Israeli state? Q: Can you do business with Israel as long as Mr Ariel Sharon is the Prime Minister? A: We are not doing business with Israel. We are dealing with the roadmap which has come from the Quartet. We are dealing with the roadmap with an open heart in a peaceful way. The only point we want is that this roadmap should be implemented by the Quartet because we cannot implement it by ourselves. Q: How do you look at the role of the US in the Middle East crisis. Is Washington partisan? A: Washington takes the side of Israel. This was proved once again in the UN Security Council when the Americans vetoed against the resolution which condemned Israel. Americans always use their veto power to protect Israel. In many resolutions they have acted like that. This is not fair. But they are the only power that we have to deal with. Q: Are the international community and the United Nations doing enough towards setting up of an independent Palestinian State by 2005? A: I believe most of the countries are supporting the Palestinian people. India is biggest one of such supporters of the Palestinian cause. It is a historical Indian stand to walk beside the Palestinian people. Q: The Palestinian Authority currently seems to be embroiled in an in-house power struggle. You have a new Prime Minister as the old one had to quit because of differences with Mr Arafat. Can Mr Arafat keep his flock together and continue to lead the Palestinians till the crucial year of 2005? A: It does not matter who the Prime Minister is because the real leader is Mr Arafat. Even the present Prime Minister is a leader of the PLO. Q: Mr Sharon recently visited India. Did you watch this development with a certain amount of trepidation? A: India has the right to call anyone to visit India. It is up to the Indian government to invite anyone but we are sure that India stands besides the Palestinian people. Q: The Americans seem to be getting after Iran now, after Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their charge is that Iran is racing towards acquiring nukes if it does not possess them already. How do you look at this scenario? A: We
do not want to see any nuclear power in the region. But let me tell
you the Americans are still thinking only that Iran wants to have
nukes. It is not a real situation that Iran already has nuclear
weapons. The Americans claim that the Iranians will make nuclear
weapons. The Americans are fighting Iran because of their thinking
what the Iranians will do. It is better for us to concentrate on
Israel which already has huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. This is
known to the entire world. Why the Americans never talk about Israel
and the fact that Israel has nuclear weapons. |
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Power reforms in Punjab POWER
reforms have been on the anvil since 1991 when the power sector was thrown open to private investment in this country. As a part of the reform process, a number of states like Orissa, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, U.P. etc enacted their own Power Reforms Act under which the state electricity boards were unbundled on functional lines and separate companies formed to look after the functions of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the state. Electricity Regulatory Commissions were also set up in these states for rationalisation of tariff structure with a view to improving the financial viability of the power sector in the respective states. Only Orissa and Delhi have privatised the distribution systems in the state. Despite these measures, the performance of the power sector in these states has not improved. The enactment of the new Electricity Act, 2003, has generated allround expectations of a possible breakthrough in improving the overall performance of the power sector. The new act frees generating companies (except for hydel generation) from any licensing requirements and they are allowed to sell power to any licensee and even to consumers. The act also provides that the state electricity boards, which were set up under the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 (since repealed), and are still operating in the states (like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, etc) would have to cease to exist after one year. The boards would then have to be unbundled and corporatised, as per the transfer scheme to be prepared by the state government for this purpose. No specific model of unbundling has been suggested in the act and the manner or model of unbundling of the board has been left at the discretion of the state governments. There are two areas of concern in the recommendations of the group that need to be considered with caution. One relates to their recommendation that the transmission company should only be a wire company for wheeling power over its network and should not undertake any activities of procurement of power from either Central Government generating companies or from other sources for supply of the same to the distribution companies. Procurement and supply of power to the distribution companies has been proposed to be handled by the holding company. This would entail handling of operational activities by the holding company. It would not be desirable for the holding company to undertake such operational activities. Specific PPAs with the CPSUs which have been entered into by the State Government with the respective CPSU’s cannot also be transferred or vested in the distribution companies as has been suggested by the group. It is felt that the transmission company (which would be a government company) should be entrusted with the task of procurement of power under the PPAs signed by the government and supply power to the distribution companies as per their requirements. Moreover, the transmission company would be in a better position to coordinate power requirements of the distribution companies, keeping in view the power available from CPSU, State’s own generation companies and could also negotiate purchase of power from other resources to meet the power requirements in the state in a reliable manner. The other area of concern relates to the group’s recommendation not to take up any new generation project in the state sector and depend for the states’ power requirements only on new central generating stations and private generating companies. This suggestion is likely to put the state power scenario in great distress in case the expected new generating capacity does not fructify in time or gets delayed. It is essential that the state must undertake new generation projects, through its generation companies, to meet a major part of the expected additional power requirements through in-house generating companies to ensure adequate availability of power within the state itself. Taking into account the above observations, the following model of unbundling is suggested for consideration of the government - (i) Holding company (a successor company of the PSEB relating to the board’s assets and liabilities) as an apex company for overall coordination of the work of all subsidiary companies being set up for generation, transmission and distribution of power in the state and for interaction with the centre and state government on all policy matters; (ii) (a) A thermal generation company to look after the operations of the existing thermal generating stations and to undertake construction of new thermal stations; (b) A hydro generation company to look after the operation of the existing hydro generating stations and to undertake construction of Shahpurkandi and other hydel stations. (iii) A transmission company which would be responsible for maintaining a reliable transmission network in the state, undertake procurement of power from all the available sources and supply power to the distribution companies as per their requirements from time to time; (iv) Three of four distribution companies, based on zonal operational basis, for distribution of power in the urban and rural areas within their respective areas in the state. Before concluding, it may be mentioned that there was nothing wrong in the basic integrated structural framework of the state electricity boards, as envisaged under the erstwhile Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948. The financial problems faced by the boards were not because of its integrated structural framework but because of prevailing rampant theft of power and irrational tariff structure without due compensation by the state governments for supply of subsidised power to the agricultural and some categories of domestic consumers. These maladies continue to thrive even after dismantling of the boards into functional companies. However, the government in its wisdom opted for mandatory unbundling of the boards under the new act. Mere unbundling of the boards is not likely to improve the performance of the power sector unless the basic maladies of rampant theft of power, irrational tariff structure for agricultural consumers and high distribution losses are tackled with due expedition and priority.n The writer is former Member, Central Electricity Authority, Government of India. |
Parents, husband and
will help Anju excel Long jump star Anju, having achieved the distinction of becoming the first Indian to win a bronze medal in the World Athletics Championship in Paris, was felicitated last week in Delhi by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India and it turned out to be a gala occasion. She had won gold at the Busan Asian Games last year but the magnitude of recent achievement-World Championship bronze-was huge. Her eyes are now set on next year’s Athens Olympics and her target is gold. To prepare for the Olympics, Anju, along with her husband, proposes to go to Europe three months before the event begins. She clearly makes a distinction between winning a medal at the World Championship and hoping to bag one at the Olympics. “I thing the World championship is just a pure athletics; Olympics is a gala event and I will be happy to win a medal there”. Anju and her husband would never forget the traumatic experience they had in Paris. She went there ahead of the World finals for some training. The couple were robbed of their passports and credit card just before the event was to begin. She, however, managed to block the credit cards and was ultimately helped out by the staff of the Indian Embassy. Anju’s own colossal talent was helped by the exceptionally meritorious family in which she was married. Her husband, Bobby, was the youngest of eight brothers moulded by their father into a volleyball team. The George brothers would play on the volleyball court of their Kerala home and Jimmy was the star. He played for India and on the European circuit before being killed in a car accident. Jimmy’s popularity was such in Italy that Italians, World Cup winners, constructed an indoor stadium and named it after Jimmy. Anju benefits from the computerised log the family maintains of her performance, recording every detail of her progress. Anju’s rise has been meteoric indeed. As early as 2001, she ranked 61st in the world; she ranks sixth now. Her success story revolved round detailed, intensive training. Bobby gave up his career as a champion triple-jumper to coach her in 1998. (They got married only in April 2000). Within a year she was national champion in both long and triple jumps and qualified for the Sydney Games. An injury prevented her from making to the Olympics but in June 2001, she set the national record with a jump of 6.74 metres. Having tied the nuptial knot, the couple realised the importance of international exposure and began working towards the next goal. Anju and Bobby, by a sheer stroke of luck, met world record holder Mike Powell and firmed up a training scheduled for her. The coach was excellent and best training facilities were available enabling Anju’s talent proliferate. Anju’s parents, Gracy and
K.T. Markose, belonging to Kottayam district, too were, incidentally, sport lovers. They initially spotted the talent in her and encouraged her to take to athletics at a tender age; she was school going at that time. Anju’s mother was often quoted as saying “my daughter has always fascination for sports and we always supported her to pursue the career she wanted”. Gracy often went to the Church and prayed for the success of Anju and the prayers have been finally rewarded. The proud mother is now hoping that the bronze for her daughter would considerably boost her chances to win a medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics. |
A ‘First World’ in our Third World SURFING our TV is to come up with landfills of untidy jetsam. But watching disconsolately I get a surge of pleasure seeing the public ad about children running to school, swishing through snow; girls with heads covered floating to school in a shikara boning up from books as they sail by, small hands waving from camel carts; the incomparable smile of small children from the mountains. Often this alone makes my day, even though I know that school education in India is a carriage with two wheels off. Amartya Sen puts that pretty bluntly in the report his Pratichi Trust has prepared mainly on West Bengal. What happens, I wonder, to the children in song-cum-general knowledge quiz programmes who are as sharp and new pins. Do they get to fulfil their dreams of being a great doctor or studying aeronautics? Do their hopes eventually morph into frustrated violence? It probably does. And what of other children that some mothers were talking about at dinner the other night. The Patels of the United States are as conservative as they come. They look down their noses at all but the children of the original “Patels of 5 villages” with whom alone their children are to mix and not with “Patels of 10 villages”. No way. The children are from families dripping wealth. There is no talk among these parents of returning to India and Uganda, Kenya and Zambia have closed their doors. They are part of the rock-walled outposts of Indian conservatism in the United States and are steady contributors to the VHP and the RSS. The pull of migration is powerful. Some 150 million migrants live outside their countries of birth. Some years ago I went to the well-known public school at Sanawar and the Headmaster sent me to chat with some of the senior boys, (somehow I seem to remember they were all boys) highly intelligent exquisitely courteous and deferential. They were almost at the end of school years and I asked them about their plans for the future. Every one, but every one, said he would like to settle abroad. Looking at them I felt that their parents could afford it too. In our Third World country we have created a First World of our own and our own First Worlders hardly glance at our Third, or their eyes glaze over without registering. It was like the other night at about 11 p.m. I was being dropped home after dinner with friends and the headlights focussed upon three young boys crossing the road together with heavy canvas bags bulging across their shoulders. Obviously they had been out to salvage whatever was recyclable from garbage dumps. In the bright corona of the headlights their eyes shone with laughter — they had not yet sunk into cynical anger. And so we go on planning how to raft or swim to foreign shores and settle there. So much so that I recently heard a doctor from the Philippines say that quite a number of doctors there were training to be nurses because the chances of finding a berth abroad were then so much brighter and the nurses pay was better than what they could earn at home as doctors. There’s a flipside as well. A person settled in Toronto has just written a long letter to a high-quality Bengali fortnightly joining a discussion about those who have settled abroad. “You could say that I have run away and escaped”, he writes. “It’s true that not all Indians in the US are in plush jobs. There are many who scurry about doing low-grade jobs and there’s always the fear of being fired if the company’s profits flag. Buit we don’t have to battle with law and order challenges; we have enough to eat at affordable prices; we don’t have to bribe to get even the smallest things done. At election time my neighbourhood candidate is absurdly grateful if I allow a poster with his photo to be set up on my lawn; I don’t have to come in touch with contesting history-sheeters and Dadas managing them. Our Prime Minister’s (or was it the Chief Minister of his State did he mean?) son got three years for a date-rape. Mind you the girl was in the boy’s apartment till 2 a.m and had had dinner there so she might have been asking for it. Anyway, the Prime (or Chief) Minister and his wife sat in the front row of the courtroom every day during the trial till the judge complained angrily that it seemed like an effort to influence him. Anyway these migrants all feel that even if there is some discrimination, they get a reasonable dollop of equality before the law and its guardians — the police. They are not happy migrants, such people confess. They still have a lump in their throat when they hear Bengali songs, they still long for the days when their sisters will invite them over for dinner again. “We’re unhappy migrants”, he says, “but we’re migrants”. I wonder if there’s a big difference between those self-confessed cry babies and those who are delighted to bring up their children so that they know little of their parent’s country of birth. I have friends whose children, even in India, don’t speak a word of their parent’s mother tongue, be it Tudu or Kannada, Tamil, Marathi or Bengali. I told one such mother, “there will come a day when your children will never forgive you for having blocked their pathway to their roots and then it will be too late! My statement didn’t count any ice with the ‘mater’. For our home grown First Wolders there’s not much room for nationalism, only for globalism, liberalised and
dollarised. |
Of envoys, exhibitions and Civil Society LAST weekend as I went to the India International Centre to hear the monthly lecture on human emotions (arranged by the Jain Vishwa Bharti Institute , this one was on jealousy and the negatives it produces the minute you turn all green!), I was in for a surprise: in the adjoining hall was one of the offbeat exhibitions — the Great Arc. And if you were to raise your eyebrows to what’s that, here it goes: “The Great Indian Arc of the Indian Meridian started in 1802 in Madras, was the longest measurement of the earth’s surface ever attempted. The survey lasted till 1843 and covered the area between Cape Comorin and Dehradun — a distance of almost 1,600 miles. The Great Arc was the basis of modern mapping of India and made possible the conception that we today have of modern India. By producing new values for the earth’s curvature, the Great Arc also added tremendously to our understanding of the earth’s surface. And you are transported into another bygone era as you gape at the instruments and documents that have been painstakingly put to along with this exhibition. And the documentaries that traced the Indian surveyors who mapped a large part of Tibet way back in 1865-85. In one of those moods of flitting from one place to anothe, the next stop was the India Habitat Centre. In fact, I must add here that I visited the Habitat Centre gallery after months and it seemed to have come alive. The latest exhibition — Performative Textures curated by gallery director Alka Pande — had the best from the city. I think it goes to Alka ‘s credit to encourage talent from smaller towns. In fact, one of the most sought-after artists at this exhibition was Farhan Mujib, who teaches physics at AMU. Come evening and collage-making overtakes; on the very opening day of this exhibition each one of his collages got sold off. Another exhibition, which opened at the Triveni Kala Sangam on September 18, was titled: “Reclaiming The Lotus”. Alka Pande has her reasons for focussing on this sacred flower — “I have reclaimed it from the sacred and brought it to the level of the individual and personal; and it ought to be used as a vehicle for excellence and enlightenment….” And moving towards Ajeet Cour’s Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, the stress seems on elements — after presenting the element ‘wind’, this time artist Antje Weber comes with another element, ‘water’ The focus is on water through paintings and sculptures. Before this month ends the envoys of Lebanon, Bangladesh and Libya will be leaving India. Interestingly, these three diplomats — Jean Daniel, Tufail Haider, Dr Nuri Al Madani (Ambassadors of Lebanon, Bangladesh and Libya respectively) are heading for home postings back in their capital cities. I doubt whether the Libyan ambassador will host a farewell. For just last fortnight he had hosted an elaborate reception on his country’s national day: September 1. And here was a great farewell party for the outgoing Lebanese Ambassador at Mashrabiya — the Lebanese restaurant, in Hotel Ashoka.Who could resist the Lebanese cuisine and the belly-dancing session that followed. Not to overlook the fact that Daniel is one of those for whom you can’t help muttering this line “A very nice man to know and befriend…” At the book shop I frequent often or say when restlessness overtakes, I saw something new. The very title “Civil Society” caught my attention. I mused ‘what’s so civil about our society? .And in that mood picked up a copy of this monthly publication and I was in for a surprise — it is edited by former journalist Umesh Anand and he had his reasons to quit a comfortable job and instead focus on what is happening around and also focus on the people of this country who are bringing in changes in the very society as though trying their utmost to make it civil. I quote Anand: “The big media has its own role to play. It has its own priorities. We like to believe that much more biodiversity is required in the media. Skills and new technologies make it possible to create small businesses that serve information needs. Civil Society is one such endeavour….” And after going through the
contents, one felt amazed at people’s power — the ordinary apoliticals of this country doing their bit to reach out to ask for transparency in the system, to help raise issues and find solutions. |
Enlightened souls should utilise their energy for the common good of society. One can achieve this if one follows three ways emphasised in the Gita: Union through action (Karma Yoga); union through devotion (Bhakti Yoga); and union through knowledge (Jnana Yoga). — Sree Narayana Guru What we mean when we utter ‘Rama’? Is it the Rama (son of Dasrath) who is known all over, or the Divine Lord who works miracles and charms? — Kabir Our bond with God’s court is established only through the singing of His praises. — Guru Nanak Devotion is a wonderful aid to the spiritual life. Once we have it, instead of clutching at things outside, we now cling to the Lord inside, who will abide with us forever. — Ramana Maharshi |
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IT
is normal for the
Palestinians and the Israelis to become livid while talking of each
other. Mr Osama Musa, Palestinian Ambassador to India, is no exception
to such diplomatic dynamics. In this explosive interview, Mr Musa
warns Tel Aviv that the Israeli people would suffer "generations
after generations" if their leader Yasser Arafat is to be
assassinated. The envoy does not mince words when he says that Israel
did possess the military capability to carry out their threat of
assassinating Mr Arafat, but such a step would surely and inevitably
lead to a "revenge from the Palestinian people". Mr Musa
says that the US is partisan in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. In
the same breath, he also comments that the Palestinians had no option
but to look forward to the Quartet — US, Europe, Russia and United
Nations — to ensure that the West Asian roadmap for peace is
implemented.
INDIAN
sports has come of age and, surprisingly, women, and not men, have pitch-forked the country’s talent to the front rank. Also, coincidentally, Kerala’s remarkably talented women have brought glory to India in the playground and racing tracks. There is so much common between three shining sports star from Kerala — P.T. Usha, K.M. Beenamool and Anju Bobby George. Since their birth, their parents spotted the talent in their daughters, groomed them in the right direction and encouraged them to take to sports. In case of Usha and Anju, their respective husbands, sportsmen themselves, became their philosopher, guide and coach. There was time when early in the morning Usha’s husband, Sreenivasan, was seen keeping a close watch on his wife’s steps as she darted over tracks in practicing sessions. Usha became the “sprint queen”. Anju’s husband too has been her coach. Bobby George, is a former national triple jump champion and younger brother of legendary volleyball star Jimmy George, who died in a car accident in Europe in late 1980s.