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Monday,
October
13, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
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Itching for confrontation Realism on Sikkim Nobel for Iranian woman |
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Naxalites’ audacious attack on
Naidu-II
Hot debate on cold topic...
Saying it with a bit of blood
Unsolicited email creates problems
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Itching for confrontation EFFORTS to whip up tension in Ayodhya are, to say the least, unfortunate. Those who think they are doing so to further the cause of the Ram temple are mistaken. The High Court has imposed certain restrictions on the assembly of people near the disputed site with a view to ensuring the sanctity of the place and to avert untoward incidents. It is the duty of all law-abiding citizens to abide by the court’s order. The Shiv Sena’s attempts to defy the ban on the assembly of people are deplorable. It should desist from any activity that leads to a confrontation with the authorities of law and order. It is unfortunate that its campaign has led to the arrest of thousands of its cadres. Given the potential for violence, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad should reconsider its decision to march to Ayodhya on October 17. Nobody questions the Parishad’s or, for that matter, any organisation’s right to hold rallies and marches in a democratic set-up like India’s, but that should not be at the cost of the nation’s, interest. The nation’s interest dictates that there should be peace in Ayodhya and that the status quo should prevail there. As regards the construction of a “magnificent” temple at Ayodhya, there is no opposition to the move from any quarters. The only objection is about the spot where the Ram temple should come up. Already the court is seized of the matter and there are also efforts to speed up the judicial process. Another alternative is to reach a settlement through direct talks between the two parties which contest each other’s claim. Though efforts in this direction have not been successful, this does not mean that no such attempts should be made in the future. Already a lot of groundwork has been done to sort out the differences so that a grand temple can be constructed without hurting the pride of any community. That is precisely why all right-thinking people have turned down the demand for a legislative solution to the problem. In any case, it is not a hopeless situation, as the court will eventually give its verdict on the rival claims. What is required is patience. The sudden enthusiasm and urgency shown by organisations like the VHP to build a temple at Ayodhya can be explained by the changed political situation in the state. The BJP has lost a say in the administration in Uttar Pradesh with the collapse of its alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Sangh Parivar seems to think that the return of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to power provides it a window of opportunity. A section of the BJP also thinks that a confrontation with the Samajwadi Party government on the temple issue is the surest recipe for electoral success in the coming elections. Conscious of the game, Mr Yadav has been extremely cautious in his attitude to the agitation. But with elections in five states approaching fast, there is an element of desperation in the Sangh Parivar ranks as underscored by the daily events in Ayodhya. Under these circumstances, caution should be the watchword. |
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Realism on Sikkim THE removal of Sikkim from the list of regional countries on Beijing’s official website is a positive development. The significance of the move can be gauged from the fact that the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Wen Jiabao, mentioned this at a meeting he had with Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Bali in Indonesia early this week. In a way, this clears the decks for Beijing’s formal recognition of Sikkim as a part of India. It is not difficult to link the development with Mr Vajpayee’s visit to China in June last when China had virtually conceded Sikkim’s status as a state of the Indian Union. Unfortunately, Indian diplomats jumped the gun in making it known that China had accepted India’s position on Sikkim evoking retaliatory comments from the Chinese side. This unnecessary spat was avoidable. The removal of Sikkim from the website should, therefore, be seen with some satisfaction by both India and China. However, as the Chinese clarification the next day that Sikkim was “an issue left over from history” suggests, discretion is the better part of diplomacy. As it is, Beijing, which strongly condemned Sikkim joining the Indian Union in 1975, has been signalling since the late 1990s that it is ready to acknowledge Indian sovereignty over Sikkim. What delayed an understanding on Sikkim were differences over semantics and other issues. Diplomatically speaking, Sikkim is the easiest to sort out among the many difficult questions that bedevil Sino-Indian relations. There is also a growing realisation in both countries that a settlement of the Sikkim issue is in the interest of furthering trade relations in the region, particularly for the opening of the historic silk road between Sikkim and Tibet. It is logical to presume that China will not hesitate to formally withdraw its claim on Sikkim. There has not been much progress in resolving the border dispute although the two countries have designated senior-level officials to hold talks. That it is not easy to solve the border dispute cannot be overemphasised. After all, the border passes through virtually inaccessible areas and demarcations are not yet complete. All this offsets the possibility of an early settlement of the dispute. However, the better understanding that now exists between India and China is mainly due to the rapidly expanding bilateral trade, which has touched $5 billion, and the changed international and regional environment. This creates the base for a more positive approach towards bilateral relations as well as border dispute settlement. In no case should trade and diplomatic relations become a victim of border differences. Fortunately, this realisation seems to have dawned on both Beijing and New Delhi. |
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Nobel for Iranian woman IRANIAN human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, who has won the coveted Nobel Prize for Peace for 2003, has done the women of her country, nay the whole world, proud once again. She has been a distinguished lawyer, judge, writer, intellectual and human rights activist. If she is the first Muslim woman to be accorded the extraordinary honour, she was the first woman Iranian to become a judge before the 1979 Islamic Revolution in her country. She is not a product of any prestigious western educational institution. She received her law degree from the University of Teheran. Her fight for the rights of women and children began immediately after the Ayatullah Khomeini-led government was formed in Iran. She was asked to step down as a judge by the new rulers, who said that she could not hold that position when the country was governed by the Islamic shariah. She, however, did not take it lying down. She was convinced that the narrow-minded rulers were misinterpreting Islam to deny her the right to function as a judge. Throughout her career as a human rights activist she has avoided getting drawn into partisan politics. She has fought against the system with the force of her knowledge of Islam because this is how she could succeed under the adverse circumstances. She must have been conscious of not allowing the people to mistake her for an anti-religious activist in a society under the spell of Islam. She has been citing the latest and liberal interpretations of the Islamic laws in support of her argument that there is no basis in the religion for discriminatory treatment to women and children born out of wedlock. She has continued her drive through her Centre for the Defenders of Human Rights with great success. The honour bestowed on the 56-year-old woman activist may, however, raise a controversy because the defenders of the present dispensation in Iran have not been in the good books of the West, particularly the US. The Nobel Committee’s decision may be interpreted as a move designed to expose the poor human rights record of the rulers to embarrass them at a time when they are under tremendous pressure on the nuclear
non-proliferation issue. Thought for the day Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Naxalites’ audacious attack on
Naidu-II
THE
politician’s lust for power is a significant factor that has allowed the People’s War Group (PWG) Naxalites to grow and gain in strength. Routinely, several political leaders at various levels have sought the rebels’ support to win elections. In April 2003, a local legislator in Warangal district went to pay “homage” to a PWG leader killed in a police encounter, Polam Sudarshan Reddy “Ramakrishna”, an accused in 1042 criminal offences and the then member of the North Telengana Special Zone Committee (NTSZC)—the PWG’s flagship guerrilla zone. In another incident a few days ago, on September 18, the police arrested a local-level people’s representative, Nanam Raja Reddy, for helping the Naxalites. There were other similar cases in the past, too. In late 2001, some local-level leaders in the same district were held for helping in a Naxalite plot to blow up a “model” extremist police station in Kataram, designed specially to withstand an armed attack. Testifying before the Advocate’s Committee on Naxalite Terrorism in Andhra Pradesh, many political leaders admitted that there exists an “active” politician-Naxalite nexus. A lack of political will and expediency has led to successive governments being lenient towards the PWG. In the meantime, the rebels had their sight firmly fixed on their goals even as they struck alliances of convenience or have diluted their ideological and organisational rigour. They seem to be following the classic dictum Mao Zedong had laid in his “On Contradictions” — of co-opting, working with and abandoning the various classes of society in the interest of the revolution. The PWG’s highest leadership is moulded in strong ideological commitment and is clear-minded while the lower rung is no better than any riff-raff. Being a bottom-down organisation, the PWG has thus been able to survive despite the numerous losses it had incurred over the past several years. The most prominent loss has been that of the killing of three of its central committee members in a controversial encounter in 1999. The rebels promise to free society of all forms of exploitation. Therefore, they are able to connect with the people in their pockets of influence. They had eliminated in cold-blood local feudal landlords like Maddunur Rajeswara Rao and Rejpalli Venkata Reddy. Since then their executions have evoked fear and deference. The Naxalites behave like modern-day Robin Hoods and are viewed as selfless fighters, committed to a cause and volunteering to face a harsh underground life and willing to die at the hands of the “enemy” — the police. The misdemeanours of the Naxalites are either brushed aside as negligible aberrations or are suppressed. The rebels ill-treat women cadres and exploit them. One arrested Naxalite told this author in 2002 that his colleague was asked to apologise for misbehaving with a young female relative of their hostess. Another women cadre was bold enough to question the immoral deeds of her district committee secretary and was, therefore, made to quit the PWG. She was attracted towards the PWG by an inspiring song a visiting guerrilla squad sang in her village. Not only this, the rebels field child combatants in their ranks, both boys and girls. In fact, the PWG’s chief military strategist, Nambala Kesava Rao, said in December 2002 that the rebels hoped to recruit 3000 fresh cadres by May 2003. There is, however, no information on the extent of the success of the plan. While the rebels have been gaining in strength, the government vacillates between intense security force operations in some parts of the state and laxity in some others, even as it encourages surrenders and rehabilitation, or holding talks —like the failed “talks about talks” earlier in 2002. Furthermore, the surrender and rehabilitation policy has been grossly misused by some of those who had surrendered. After surrendering each person is given a handsome amount — Rs 5 lakh — for rehabilitation, besides a “modest” sum of Rs 5,000 at the time of the surrender to cover immediate expenses. Some of the surrendered Naxalites have turned into a gang of criminals leading the land mafia and extortion rackets, especially in Hyderabad. Kattula Sammaih was a forerunner to such persons before he died mysteriously in Colombo in a freak fire accident. Thereafter, there emerged on the scene notorious persons like Naeemuddin, Eedanna, Jadala Nagarju and Sammi Reddy. They had linked up with powerful real estate dealers in Hyderabad, earned vast amounts, struck and broke deals, abducted and killed one another and had maintained illicit relationships. They cleverly flaunted their “utility” to the police and, meanwhile, indulged in criminal activities. The “unlucky” ones had to wait for months at end to “receive” the cash that has been promised because of bureaucratic red-tape. Meanwhile, a few of them returned to the Naxalite fold. In order that the Naxalite menace is successfully tackled, a well-defined, coordinated and coherent policy, and not expedient political alliances, is necessary. In its absence the Naxalites will march ahead emboldened by their “successful and spectacular” acts of terror to occupy power in Hyderabad by 2020 and in Delhi by 2050, as they
claim.
Concluded |
Hot debate on cold topic... ONE
fine morning as I picked up the newspaper, a screaming headline caught my eye. Yes it had happened. The kings of multinational companies had been challenged. Doubts had been raised about their integrity. It was difficult to digest. But then nobody could ignore the findings of a hi fi Indian laboratory, which had dared to challenge the mighty. At a party that evening the topic was Pepsi and Coke. I could not imagine a discussion on cold drinks boiling so hot. I spotted a friend. He was visibly disturbed. What could be the reason? His confession stunned me: "The Cola was the best camouflage for my rum". I had a hearty laugh. He said: “Doctor, this is a temporary phase. We are Hindustanis. Our memory is very short Within a month you will see these cold drinks will bounce back." In another corner a group of doctors were analysing the findings of the laboratory. A couple of them could be seen sipping the cold drink. It is true that doctors rarely practise what they preach. They were surprised to know that insecticides and pesticides like Lindane, DDT and Malathion in very high quantity were detected. The intake of the drinks could have caused cancer, birth defects, impotence and low sperm counts ! One of the doctors raised his voice and said: "These multinationals do not value Indian human life. How can they have different standards of purity for Europeans and us". Sensing the tense atmosphere, Dr Rajiv remarked: “Arei bhai, no Mortein, no coil, no spray; only one Coketin every day and keep mosquito and dengue away.” In an animated discussion were about 10 intellectuals. What I learnt from their debate was that Coke was 113 years old. Originally this cola was green, but later it acquired the black colour. To start with, just six bottles were sold every day and the total return was 50 dollars as against an expenditure of 74 dollars. What a contrast when compared to the 830 million bottles of these soft drinks being guzzled every day at present. Because of the ongoing controversy top stars like Amir Khan, Vivek and Aishwarya could be the losers involving crores of rupees. "It is a sabotage against the multinational companies", shouted a man in yet another group. He went on to say: "It is a well-planned strategy. A country which can’t provide milk and pure water to its citizens is finding fault with others.” I moved closer. They were politicians. I joined in the discussion with the words: “This is the first time the politicians are not talking of a foreign hand.” There was silence for a moment. My intrusion was obviously not liked. But soon they were back at their shouting game. I gathered more details. Coke was introduced in India a long time back. Then came the ban for 16 years before it was reintroduced along with Pepsi in 1993. These multinational drinks overshadowed the Indian cola counterparts. But today the name has become a plague. Imagine just a few months back even a new-born longed for this multinational drink, as if God had whispered in the small ear: “My child when you go to earth taste the Pepsi or Coke. They are far better than our somras.” Whether lassi, numbupani or sharbat gain ground and rise to the top, only time will tell. But for the present it is:"Jisei samjhe Lehar Pepsi woh nikli Zehar Pepsi, jise samjha Coca Cola woh nikla Dhokha Cola. Is liye aaj ke baad no soft drinks, only ...!” |
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Saying it with a bit of blood YOU
will not glance a second time at Suresh Kamdar, 70, if you see him in a bus or on the mean streets of the Capital. With his receding hairline, his modest build and mundane pant and shirt outfit, he looks just another gracefully aging Indian. But Suresh is different. He is the doyen of voluntary blood donors. In a span of 38 years from October 1962 to November 2000 he has donated the most precious gift a human being can give, blood, 151 times. It is a record, he maintains. Finally, at 67 years of age he has stopped his life’s mission not because he could not or would not give the sap of life-but the blood banks felt it was no longer medically ethical to accept blood from such a senior citizen. Now he is busy roping in young donors to the cause of humanity. Kamdar has donated his eyes and his body for research after his death. I first met Suresh Kamdar in 1989 when he was donating blood for the 100th time at the LNJP Hospital in Delhi. There was applause all around as he climbed off the table to have a steaming cup of coffee and the eight chappaties that would see him through the day till he reached home in the evening. Not even the AIDS scarce diminished his enthusiasm for donating blood. He would commute by bus visiting clients and trying to get business for his printing press. Once in three months he would stop by a hospital and donate blood. There is hardly any recognised hospital or blood bank that has not been enriched by his blood. If he has been feted as a hero, it is only by the blood banks, the Lions Club of Delhi, the West Bengal government, the Delhi government and the Indian Red Cross Society that gave him membership for life. He has also been awarded gold and silver medals and has figured once in the Limca Book of Records. But the bigger recognition like an Ashoka Chakra or a Padma Shree has eluded him. Though there is a terrible shortage of blood all over the country and the AIDS scare has further aggravated the scarcity, no man or woman, who voluntarily gives blood at regular intervals, has been considered for the highest civilian honours. There was no special motivation for Suresh Kamdar’s blood donation obsession. It started in 1962 when he was just 29. He was accompanying a Gujarati lady undergoing treatment at Calcutta Medical College, when he saw an elderly Bengali lady desperately in need of blood. The four relatives who accompanied the old lady were reluctant to give blood. Something triggered off in young Kamdar’s mind. The old lady reminded him of his mother and to the surprise of everyone he offered his blood. After giving blood he felt so good that he decided to make it a habit. The blood bank doctor, M N Manmatha Roy, encouraged him and advised him to stay vegetarian, avoid liquor and food that may have been cooked in an unsanitary manner. Suresh has abided by those golden rules and remains healthy to this day. Just 5’.2” tall, Suresh’s weight has been constant at 62 kg. He has never felt weak or giddy. Suresh has been pursuing his mission so quietly and diligently that even his wife and family did not know about it till he gave blood for the 20th time. The family was not too happy about his obsession but they did not stop him or, more likely, could not stop him. In 1989 when Suresh was being bled for the hundredth time, his ambition was to surpass a record of 150 donations set in Mumbai. Suresh cannot recall the name of the donor, but he read about his record in the Gujarati media. While he was still a junior in the voluntary blood donation scene, he met in Mumbai’s St George’s hospital Dilip Udeshi, a cloth merchant, who had donated blood over 100 times. It was wonderful meeting, Suresh recalls. When Udeshi gave blood for the 100th time, the hospital presented him with a diamond ring. Udeshi would sit in the hospital from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. encouraging people to give blood and discouraging others from going to professional donors. There are other voluntary blood donors like Suresh who have donated blood 50, 60 and 80 times. There was a doctor who came to J.P. Hospital regularly twice a year from Mt Abu to give blood on his parents’ birthdays. He felt there could not be a better way of honouring them. Inspired by Suresh Kamdar, in April 1991 Zaveri jewellers decided to celebrate their 21st year in the Capital by 150 employees donating blood along with family members. Even if he is no longer donating blood, Suresh Kamdar continues to motivate and inspire others to do so. For the Kargil war victims, Kamdar organised a camp and collected 400 units of blood. From donating blood, Suresh is now equally determined to get people to donate their eyes and other organs before death. He goes to grieving relatives outside the post-mortem units of hospitals gently persuading them to donate the dead relative’s eyes and other organs for medical research. He has himself donated his eyes after death so that someone else can see and his body for medical research. Wish there were more people like Suresh
Kamdar. |
Unsolicited email creates problems A study undertaken by the European Commission on the “spam” (unsolicited commercial email) phenomenon estimates that internet subscribers worldwide are unwittingly paying 10 billion Euro a year in connection costs just to receive junk e-mail. Yes, junk mail has become a great source of harassment to netizens the world over, including India. You open your mail box, and it is cluttered with mail that you are not interested in receiving or reading. And you end up spending considerable time and energy clearing the mail box of the junk mail. And as a result, pay more for that extra time on your internet connection and if you have a dial up connection, more on your telephone bills too. And that’s not all. If you are not careful, you could also end up with a deadly virus on your computer system. Worse, you could fall prey to the innumerable “spam scams” that urge you to gamble, buy magical cures for a wide range of diseases or invest in dubious schemes. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which takes up consumer complaints against internet spam, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud, says that consumers have lost thousands of dollars on some of these ‘spam scams’. A chain letter, for example, will never make you rich, but consumers have fallen for such gimmicks and lost money. The work-at-home schemes may sound fantastic on the mail, but not so in reality. Similarly, adult entertain sites that offer contents for free, will most likely disconnect your internet connection and reconnect you to a long distance phone number, whose rates may vary between $2 and $7 a minute. The FTC suggests that consumers send their complaints to FTC (uce@ftc.gov) on spam originating from the US. The FTC gives several suggestions to cut down on spam. Use an email filter. While choosing the internet service provider, check if they provide a tool to filter out potential spam or a way to channel spam into a bulk email folder. Before giving out your internet address to a website or a caller, check the privacy policy of the website or the company and make sure that they do not sell it. Do not submit your address to sites that do not protect it. It might be a good idea to use a disposable email address service that creates a separate email address that forwards mail to your permanent address. If one of the disposable addresses begin to receive spam, you can shut it off without affecting your permanent address. You could also lodge a complaint with your internet service provider and the ISP of the sender of the mail. Unsolicited messages crowd the cell phone mail box too, but what is even more irritating is the unsolicited ads and promotions that have started on the telephone too in the last one or two years. From insurance sellers, finance and credit card companies to those offering after-sales services of various kinds, telemarketing is becoming a big nuisance. You are in the midst of some work or reading and the telephone rings. You pick it up and there’s someone at the other end offering an insurance policy or a time-share holiday or a credit card or car finance. We have to put a stop to these unsolicited email and telemarketing calls through appropriate laws before they get out of hand. Several countries worldwide have enacted laws to put an end to spamming. In the US, for example, it’s unlawful to send unsolicited advertisements and the law allows individuals to sue the sender of such junk mail through small claims court. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) there also takes up consumer complaints against unsolicited advertisements or e-mails that fail to honour “remove me” request or has a removal link that does not work or where one is unable to unsubscribe from a list. It’s time India also came up with suitable laws to give consumers the much-needed privacy and protection against junk mail on the Internet and the cell phone, besides unsolicited telephone calls. |
Mere knowledge is not enough. Look within, go and find, search, try and experience, see how it works, think, practise what you are told. — Sree Narayana Guru God dispenses justice according to our deeds. — Guru Nanak |
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