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Friday,
October
3, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
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Close shave for Naidu Living in Truth PGI in poor health |
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Embarrassing fee hike withdrawal
No way out of “sewa” for the underdog
SC ruling awaited in many cases
Badal to lead team to NHRC
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Close shave for Naidu THE
attempt on the life of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu made by the Naxalites belonging to the People’s War Group (PWG) near Tirumala on Wednesday needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. On the face of it, the incident does not come as a surprise as Mr Naidu tops the hitlist of the PWG. During the last three years, except for a brief period when the state government held talks with the PWG last year, the Naxalites have been targeting the ruling Telugu Desam Party leaders and police officials. Wednesday’s operation, luckily unsuccessful, is reminiscent of the ghastly killing of TDP stalwart and former Home and Panchayati Raj Minister Madhava Reddy in a bomb blast in 2001. Preliminary reports suggest that it was an intelligence failure. There were also too many gaping holes in the security being provided to Mr Naidu. Undoubtedly, the need to tighten security for the Chief Minister and other ministers has become greater now. At the same time, the government, while tightening its belts, should send a clear message to the PWG that it cannot behave as a law unto itself any more and challenge the legitimacy of a popularly-elected government at gun-point. In a democracy, there is no place for the guns or bombs and the PWG will have to return to the negotiating table for a peaceful resolution of its demands. Prospects of a rapprochement looked bright when both sides met last year. However, the talks failed mainly because of the tough posture adopted by the Naxalites. This, however, does not absolve the state government of blame as it cannot look at the issue from a law and order angle alone. Equally important are the socio-economic dimensions of the problem. For decades, the Telangana region has been neglected by successive governments. This backward region is yet to make headway in land reforms, agriculture, irrigation, power supply and education. There is also an acute drinking water crisis. If the Naxalite movement is strong in the four districts of Warangal, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar, the reasons are obvious. Ironically, even though Mr Naidu is hailed for his spectacular achievements in e-governance and information technology, he is yet to convince the people that most of the development that the state has seen in the past four years is not Hyderabad-centric and region-specific. The movement for separate statehood for Telangana is growing stronger day by day. Mr Naidu can effectively call the bluff of the Naxalites and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti by focussing attention on this underdeveloped region. |
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Living in Truth THE jury that selected former Czech President Vaclav Havel for this year's Gandhi Peace Prize can pat itself on the back for choosing him. With this, he joins the galaxy of the great like Dr Julius K. Nyrere, Dr Nelson Mandela, Mr John Hume and Baba Amte, who have received the Prize in the past. To see him as merely a former Czech President is not to know him at all. In the history of liberty, he already has an honoured place in the company of Dr Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Mr Lech Walesa of Poland and Mr Kim Dae Jung of South Korea. What is common about them is that they steered the successful transition in their countries. It is they who helped establish democracy when the autocratic regimes collapsed. A playwright and human rights activist, Mr Havel led what is called the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that peacefully transformed Communist Czechoslovakia into a democracy. Mr Havel became the nation's first President. From the Charles Bridge in the old city of Prague where he and other dissidents protested against the autocratic regime by playing aloud American rock music to the Presidential Quarters in the Prague Castle, the journey was not all that smooth for Mr Havel. He joined the ranks of Mahatma Gandhi and Mandela when he courted arrest for signing a human rights manifesto known as Charter 77, in the year in which India liberated itself from the clutches of a mother and son and the late H.V. Kamath named an indigenous soft drink, 77. When he was sentenced to hard labour for being a "subversive", he drew on his literary and intellectual ideas to sustain him. In the case of the Mahatma, it was his experiments with truth and abiding faith in the Omnipotent that sustained him throughout the trials and tribulations he underwent during the freedom struggle. Like Jawaharlal Nehru, Mr Havel used his days in gaol for reflection and creative expression. A collection of letters he wrote from prison to his late wife, Olga Havlova, Living in Truth, is now a classic of dissident literature. Easily the tallest political thinker of modern-day world, Mr Havel is one of the first to warn us about the dangers of globalisation. He argued that a mass culture in which everyone wore the same jeans, ate the same fast food and listened to the same music did not inevitably bring people closer. Rather, it could make them less secure about who they were and, as a result, lead to violence, terrorism and religious fundamentalism. In other words, globalisation exacerbated nationalities and ethnic rivalries. How prophetic he was could be gauged from the Babel at Cancun. By selecting Mr Vaclav Havel for this prestigious prize, the jury has honoured itself and added further lustre to the Gandhi Peace Prize. |
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PGI in poor health ALTHOUGH the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late, this great institution is the pride of not only Chandigarh but also the entire northern region. That is why the country cannot allow it to go to seed. Somehow, it has strayed from the chosen path and neither research nor patient care is of the calibre expected from it. It is unfortunate that it has been reduced to the status of just another hospital. This decline was inevitable since the PGI suffered from the twin maladies of corruption and excessive politicisation. The inevitable consequence is that the faculty is divided into lobbies and engaged in getting even with the rival groups, instead of taking care of the assigned work. Ego clashes have marred the administrative atmosphere. Strikes are not unknown in any field of life but when such stoppage takes place in a premier hospital, it leads to the death of patients. That has not stopped the PGI workers from going on strike repeatedly. The already weakened roots of this huge tree became even weaker when its Director, Dr S.K. Sharma, had to go following allegations of nepotism. It was feared that his departure will fuel the succession war but the Institute Body has done quick firefighting by handing over charge to Dr Nirmal K. Ganguly, whose administrative acumen is matched by his reputation for impartiality. He knows the PGI very well, having worked there for 35 years. But he also happens to be the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, a taxing job if ever there is one. It remains to be seen how he will do justice to both responsibilities simultaneously. The PGI Directorship is a full-time job but he will have to shuttle between Delhi and Chandigarh and cannot be expected to spare more than three days in a week to the PGI. His task would have been a lot easier if there was no dispute in the seniority list. Still, he has begun well by promising to decentralise the functioning. If everyone chips in, the administrative functioning can be smoothened greatly. The same holds true of research work too. Ironically, a large section feels that this will lead to certain functionaries assuming “unprecedented importance”. But that possibility should not be over-stretched. What matters is the organisation, not persons. The healthy sign is that there is near consensus on the fact that the PGI can be brought back to the rails without much ado. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the PGI. Thought for the day Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. — William Shakespeare |
Embarrassing fee hike withdrawal THAT the Punjab government is feeling embarrassed about having had to withdraw the enhancement in fees is something so obvious that one need not comment on it. The question is: what next? Two things went wrong last time. One was the ambivalent role played by college teachers. The state government took the position that, owing to the lack of funds, it would not be able to meet 95 per cent of the deficit as it had done during the last couple of decades. Indeed, the state authorities went to the extent of saying that they would bring it down by 10 per cent every year for the next few years. Not unexpectedly, the teachers became panicky. If the basis of government support was to undergo such a drastic change, if would not affect the government-run colleges, but it would certainly affect the privately aided colleges. And the latter outnumber those run by the government unlike in Haryana where the situation is its exact opposite. In sheer self-protection, therefore, the teachers let it be understood that were the fees to be raised, they would remain silent. This was not exactly ethical. Fees deserve to be raised in any case and there was no necessary connection between what the government did and what the teachers thought about it. Perhaps, Punjab is the first state in the country where the teacher leadership entered into this kind of a private deal with the government. Given the green signal, the government decided to go hammer and tongs. In certain cases, the fees were raised several times over. While taking the decision, no one was consulted nor was any attempt made to understand what would be the response of the parents. By implication, it was believed if the teachers were neutral, no one else mattered. What should have been done step by step was sought to be done at one ago. The consequences are there for everyone to see. The teachers, of course, remain eloquently silent. They were unhappy about what was happening but they dared not open their mouth. The question still remains: what next? Three things need to be understood and discussed in this connection. One, it is important to draw a distinction between professional education and general education. Fees have been raised in the case of professional colleges on a number of occasions without anyone getting worked up about it. Even though quite some people got left out in the cold, there was not much of a protest. This is for the simple reason that someone who opts for a course in professional education expects to land a well-paid job at the end of the course. Therefore, even if it is difficult to raise the requisite amount to start with, parents looked upon it as a form of an investment. This, however, is not true of general education. Who opts for general education? By and large, those who are in a position to maintain themselves at college. This happens even when some of them were not all that capable of profiting from the kind of training that is given in colleges. The percentage of this category of students is anybody’s guess. My own guess is that out of 100 students who join an arts/science/commerce college, 20-30 belong to this category. Several of them have potential which, as of now, remains undeveloped. The rest join in because they have nothing else to do and the fees are low. As long as the parents can afford to maintain their children at college, they have no second thoughts in the matter. The problem, therefore, is as much sociological as academic. Can the state afford an alternative mode of activity for the young? The obvious answer is in the negative. These students have little else to do. Some of them, therefore, feel that there is no harm in joining a college and whiling away their time. Both the syllabus laid down and the quantum of work done by the teachers are tailored to meet the requirement of this category of students. In my estimation, they are around 30-50 per cent of the total. These very students are the ones who are not interested in study but look upon college as a kind of youth club. It is possible for the state to present a different kind of programme, both academic and non-academic, but there is one prior condition for that: the teachers must cooperate. When, a few months ago, they offered their cooperation to the government, that was because they were worried about their salary. Therefore, they volunteered to remain silent if the fees were raised by the state. Can this form of silent cooperation be given a more positive direction also? It can be, provided the teacher leadership is willing to learn from its experience and read the writing on the wall. In the years to come, the state is bound to minimise its financial commitment to colleges. It went about it in a hamhanded way this time and came a cropper. But, as already stated, it was and is possible to do something positive about the overall situation. The most obvious lead in the matter was given by the UGC about a decade ago. It worked out about 35-odd vocational courses out of which students could take one or two in addition to what was prescribed by the university. Each one of these courses may not have been up to the mark but, on the whole, they were pragmatic in character and coverage. Having done them, the students would have become more skilled, more productive and more employable. The scheme met with some degree of success in several parts of India. As far as Punjab was concerned, the experiment was by and large ignored. Coming to the second point, what needs to be realised is that fees have to be raised in any case, for these were fixed about half a century ago. Since then prices have risen 20-30 times and there has been no change in the tuition fees being charged. A change is, therefore, called for. But then what the state has to do is to take a somewhat long-term view. In the minimum, the government in power should plan for the next three-four years. Also, it does not have to be the same fee for every course. Fees for different courses have to be different. What the government should do is to lay down the fees for the next three-four years. There should be a moderate rise of Rs 10 every year for the next few years. This should be known beforehand and there should be nothing vague or uncertain about it. Thirdly, and this is the most important of them all out of the 100 students who join college, something like 70-80 have been accounted for. The remaining 20-30 belong to the category which it is difficult to define. Most of them have some academic potential and can profit from college education but would not be able to join were the fees to be hiked. They need to be helped, it goes without saying. By raising the fees without proper planning, as was done a few months ago, the interest and welfare of these students was entirely ignored. The argument advanced here is that a certain proportion of them have academic potential. Going further, even out of the 40-50 per cent who, speaking broadly, choose to while away their time, about one-third of them have some potential. But what is lacking is the right kind of teaching and an atmosphere of earnest and systematic work. This situation has to change. It can be changed in two ways. One is that the state should assist the students in different ways. One is by offering them loans, though not many of them in the general stream would be inclined to take this option. The other would be that a liberal system of full-fee and half-fee concessions should be introduced as a part of the new deal. Something like one- third of the students should be covered by it. In addition, there can be other forms of supplementary help also. Voluntary efforts can also play an important part. If a student applies for fee concession and is given one, it confers an obligation on him to work sincerely. When he finds that it is the teachers rather than he who is playing the truant, the situation would undergo a marked change. The teacher leadership has to have the right sense of priorities. It should see to it that the kind of situation which arose this time does not arise again. Whatever faculty the student belongs to, the college must function for seven-eight hours
daily. The writer, a noted educationist, is a former Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala. |
No way out of “sewa” for the underdog TUESDAY was unusually busy. It usually gets busy whenever one has to take leave for the next few days. In the morning a delegation of farmers came in strength to complain about the functioning of Punjab Agro. Farmers in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts who had been given vegetable seed for transplantation in 500 acres of land last year were being offered seed for the present season for 280 acres only. This was a disappointment, with everyone wanting the government’s diversification plan to succeed and put a smile back on the face of the Punjab farmer. However, what was to come next was even more disappointing. Well-built men in the prime of their life entered the office to introduce themselves as Special Police Officers (SPOs). SPOs in Punjab stand for the miserable bunch of men who were recruited to fight militancy on the daily wage allowance and have been continuing to get the same allowance for the last 12 years. The men were fit physically but seemed to be all but defeated by the system. Their latest grouse, they said, was an order asking them to attend a “refresher course” at Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur which would continue for three months. They had nothing but contempt for the course. “The Punjab Police is asking us to attend a course nearly 12 years after recruiting us into the force,” said one man adding they expected to be used to haul bricks at the training centre. Another said the force was calling them for a course long after they had learnt weapon handling and other duties which are part of the daily life of a police personnel. Even more distressing was the manner in which the men talked about their homes. “All of us are married and have kids. What will we give them then they look at us with expectant eyes when we go for the course”, they said. The men said they had not got their salary for the last three months. “We are on a daily wage of Rs 90 per day and once we go for the course, we will be spending this money on our upkeep,” they said. There comes a time when men are not afraid of consequences. Complaining against the force may be anathema but these men wanted that their names should be printed in the media. “We have been promised regular grade for the past two years and 3,500 men have been selected for this purpose. However, 840 new candidates were recruited recently instead of regularising us,” they added. “Please publish the story on the front page,” said an SPO with open candour. When he was told that this decision was not taken by reporters, they came up with the customary inquiry as to when they could see the story in print. Before going, a few of them very respectfully gave the impression of dipping their hands in their pockets and asked for the “sewa” involved. When told there was no need for any “sewa” for their work or any other work one of them said: “All of us had come with Rs 20 each”. It was then that I realised that many of those seeking justice took me to be part of the system.n |
SC ruling awaited in many cases
While the judgement on POTA had been reserved by a Constitution Bench on a petition by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and some individuals, including MDMK leader Vaiko who is incarcerating in a Tamil Nadu jail for over an year, the appeal against the acquittal of Ms Jayalalithaa had been filed by a lawyer supporting the DMK and Janata Party President Subramanian
Swamy. There had been considerable delay in pronouncing the judgement in Ms Jayalalithaa’s case as the verdict had been reserved by a Bench a year ago. She was acquitted by the Madras High Court in the TANSI land scam case in December 2001, which enabled her to contest the last assembly election and capture power in the state. The outcome of the public interest litigations (PILs) on the Best Bakery case and other major Gujarat riot cases, the transfer of the Babri Masjid case from the Lucknow special court to the Rae Bareli court and Taj Heritage Corridor is also awaited eagerly as the apex court’s findings in these important matters would be of great significance. Reviving judicial activism of a sort, the Supreme Court this year had laid down the laws including the ban on strikes by the government employees by holding that they had no fundamental right to do so, upholding the bar on a person with more than two child ren from contesting panchayat election and banning capitation fee in medical and engineering colleges. ***
There seems to be no end in sight to the politically sensitive Bofors case as it had been taking rounds from the trial court to the High Court and the Supreme Court on various legal issues being raised by the three Europe-baded Hinduja brothers who are presently facing trial in the Rs 64-crore pay off case. While a round on the question of prior sanction from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) by the CBI for filing the chargesheet in corruption cases, had been completed with the Supreme Court’s decision that no such permission was required by the agency, the second round on the question whether a criminal case could be pursued or not after a long time, is going on in the Dehi High Court. The Hinduja brothers — Gopichand, Srichand and Prakashchand — had taken a stand that a chargesheet filed after a delay of about a decade against them should be quashed because it was against their right to have speedy trial in the case and was causing enormous harm to their business around the globe. They have also challenged the framing of the charges by the Special Court against them in the High Court in a separate revision petition, on which arguments are being heard currently. On the other hand, the CBI is found wanting in securing the presence in the court of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattarochhi, the man accused in the Bofors case despite a red corner alert issued against him by the Interpol. *** About the cases relating to business and commerce, the Supreme Court’s judgement on the validity of a government notification providing exemption to Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on tax on the capital gains in the country under the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAT) with Mauritius is awaited after the Delhi High Court had held the Centre’s order as illegal. The Government had challenged the High Court’s order in the Supreme Court. It was challenged in the High Court in a bunch of PILs alleging that the foreign companies were taking undue advantage of the DTAT with Mauritius as they had opened only “post box” type offices in that country to gain the tax benefits in India. It was alleged in the High Court that during 2000-2001 alone the Centre had suffered a loss of over Rs 3,000 crore on this score. The other important business case before the Supreme Court for adjudication relates to tax authorities claiming over Rs 800-crore sales tax from Indian Tobacco Company (ITC), which had challenged the claim. An important question of law whether sales tax would be charged on cellular service provided by the telecom companies to its subscribers or not has been referred to a Constitution Bench by the Supreme Court as the telecom companies had taken a stand that transfering of messages would not fall in the category of transfer of goods to be charged for sale tax.  |
Badal to lead team to NHRC SHIROMANI Akali Dal chief and former Punjab Chief Minister is scheduled to lead a high power delegation for a meeting with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on October 3 to focus on continuing human rights abuses in the border state. In the continuing oneupmanship between Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his arch rival Badal, the SAD chief is expected to apprise NHRC Chairman Justice A.S. Anand about what he describes as the unsavoury goings on with the Congress at the helm of affairs. After having knocked in vain at the doors of the BJP-led NDA government to intervene in Punjab, Badal is exploring other avenues to put the state government on the mat. Middle age! The Congress normally demands resignation of NDA ministers for their perceived lapses but in the case of Sanjay Paswan, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, the party demanded his elevation. The minister, who was making news through cobras and swords when his senior in the ministry was in the thick of a political turmoil, prompted the Congress to brand him as a worthy successor to Murli Manohar Joshi. Congress leaders feel that Paswan was several steps ahead of his senior in reminding the people of the middle age in which they were living under the NDA rule.
George vs
Cong The acrimony between Defence Minister George Fernandes and the Congress leadership is growing by the day. The party has been boycotting the minister in Parliament and has made “defence scams” an election issue. Fernandes, who has a penchant for controversies, provided the Congress with another missile to hit him by stating in Chandigarh recently that the LOC was not properly demarcated after the Shimla accord. The Congress challenged him to face the media in the national capital on various charges, saying that the Defence Minister briefly talked to journalists in various towns and cities. It is easy to speak in Parliament than face the media in the capital, a Congress spokesman contended. But does that not apply to Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well who has not had an interface with the media in the capital for years.
NCM chief National Commission for Minorities Chairman Tarlochan Singh has just returned after a five-day visit to Thailand where he had extended meetings with the prosperous Indian diaspora and the Punjabi Association. The Sikh community, dominant among the 100,000 NRIs there, is ever ready in undertaking philanthropic work. The third and fourth generation Thai NRIs regret that the NDA government is apathetic towards them. Tarlochan maintains that Thailand which is free of any violence should be a model for communal harmony. He has assured to speak to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who will
visit Thailand in November.
Sikh Federation Piqued that the interests of the Sikh community are being overlooked by political parties in Britain, they have floated a party called the Sikh Federation, UK. There are nearly 700,000 Sikhs in Britain and form the third largest faith in that country. Promoters of the new party insist that they could cause damage in constituencies where the Labour Party is strong as Sikhs constitute a sizeable minority. In certain areas, Sikhs are beginning to move away from Labour or the Conservative party and veering towards the Liberal Democrats. The Sikh Federation will set up branches in each major town and city having a sizeable Sikh population. Though it will not put up its own candidates for local, national and European elections, the Sikh Federation wants to back any party that represents its members best. Contributed by T.R.Ramachandran and Prashant Sood |
Conversely, Advaita philosophy becomes pointless unless it teaches men to treat their fellowmen as equals. — Sree Narayana Guru Blessed is he who even when he wars keeps God in his heart. — Guru Gobind Singh O Son of Pritha! Yield not to cowardice, it becomes thee not. Casting off this base weakness of heart, rise up, O destroyer of foes (Arjuna)! — The Bhagavad Gita Non-violence is goodwill towards all life. It is pure love. I read it in the Hindu Scriptures, in the Bible, in the Koran. — Mahatma Gandhi O Son of Man! Veiled in my immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of my essence, I knew my love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee mine image and revealed to thee my beauty. — Baha’u’llah |
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THE
Supreme Court, which had recently laid down new laws in its pronouncements of far-reaching consequences, is yet to deliver its verdict in some important cases, including the validity of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and the appeals against the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the TANSI land scam.