 |
Wednesday,
October
15, 2003,
Chandigarh, India
|
Worms in chocolate Turmoil in Nepal A moment of pride |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Beatification of Mother Teresa
Modern vs
barber(ic) media
Nathpa Jhakri project takes off, finally
DELHI DURBAR
|
|||||||||||||||
Worms in chocolate Corporate wars are becoming nasty. But it is inconceivable that a business rival managed to introduce worms in several bars of Cadbury chocolate, the most popular brand in India. The worms were detected in the stocks of Dairy Milk at retail outlets in Maharashtra. When the first incident was reported, the Indian subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes blamed the stockists for what looked like a case of poor quality control at their plants at Thane and Talegaon. Cadbury India spokesmen said that chocolate is a perishable item of food that needs special storage facilities. Indeed most ready-to-eat food items need refrigeration for improving their shelf life. What the spokesmen did not say was that it is now a routine practice for major food and beverages manufacturers to provide the storage facilities at retail outlets. A fortnight after the Maharashtra incident a similar worm alarm was raised in Uttaranchal. The clumsy attempt to shift the blame by Cadbury India did not stop the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration from examining the complaints of insect infestation in several stocks of Dairy Milk, the flagship brand of the company. Test reports of sealed samples confirmed the presence of worms and the MFDA decided to prosecute the company under several provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. There were reports of the multinational having tried to put political pressure on the MFDA to hush up the "worm scam". However, on Monday a retail outlet in Mumbai handed over 10 more infested Cadbury chocolate bars to the MFDA. They were sent to the Dadar laboratory for testing. Three days before the latest stock of infested chocolate was turned in for examination the state government had expressed satisfaction over the "hygienic conditions" at the manufacturing units of the multinational! Why are most multinationals tempted to follow lax quality control measures in India? Though soft drinks and chocolates do not fall in the health food category, their increasing popularity should logically make the manufacturers more quality conscious. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Cadbury, that has a 65 per cent market share in India, must come clean and if necessary even close down its plants instead of endangering public health by "influencing" its way out of trouble. Mineral water plants and soft drink manufacturers, including Pepsi and Coca Cola, too should be told to literally clean up their act or shut down their facilities. As it is, consumers are being forced to consume deadly chemicals that are used for improving the size and look of fruits, vegetables and even livestock. Why add to their woes by selling them contaminated bottled water, pesticide-laced soft drinks and worm-infested chocolate bars? |
|
Turmoil in Nepal THE
killing of 63 persons — 50 Maoists and 13 police personnel — in a gun-battle near a police training centre in Dang district of Nepal on Sunday night is the latest proof of the unending unrest in the Himalayan kingdom. On Friday 38 lives were lost when Maoists stormed a paramilitary base at the end of a unilateral truce declared in connection with the Dashain festival. Which side is suffering more casualties is not the point here. The cycle of violence is unlikely to stop unless both sides sit across the table with an open mind to find a solution to a crisis which is threatening to give way to anarchy in this backward country. More than 700 people have lost their lives after the rebels broke the seven-month-old ceasefire in August when the government refused to accept their demand for a new constitution. The Maoists’ case seems to have the support of the majority of the people as their writ runs in over 70 per cent of the country. They are clear about what they want. They have been pressing for electing a new assembly for drafting a new constitution with the monarchy’s role redefined in tune with the times. This is not acceptable to the present dispensation, though it favours fresh elections for a new parliament. The government is reluctant to change the status quo — a multi-party democratic set-up with the constitutional monarchy having wideranging powers. The rulers in Nepal must realise that the kind of monarchy the country has cannot be sustained today. They should settle for a symbolic system in accordance with the British model, allowing the elected representatives of the people to run the government without any interference from the palace. This is the best way to make the Maoists forget about a totalitarian republic which is what they are actually striving for. Both sides will have to review their stance to find a mutually acceptable solution to the crisis. They should do so in the interest of the poor people of Nepal, who are suffering for no fault of theirs. |
|
A moment of pride POWER projects these days often get caught in controversies. Environmentalists see them as a threat to the fragile ecology of the area and social crusaders take up the cause of displaced families. Fortunately, the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri Power Project, the first 250 MW unit of which was commissioned on Tuesday, cannot be faulted on both counts. As a large part of the project is underground, the impact on the environment, if any, is said to be minimal. Besides, the 58 families unsettled by the project have been rehabilitated and there have been no complaints. But this project has its own quota of problems. The most serious is the cost overrun: the project has been completed at almost twice the original cost. It has got delayed by six years because of natural calamities creating hurdles, differences between the Himachal Pradesh Government and the Centre over its execution and squabbling among different categories of employees. Planning could have been done better with the MoU making all aspects unambiguous. Nevertheless, when completed in July, 2004, the Nathpa-Jhakri project will be the country’s biggest. All those who have contributed to its construction have done a great national service. As Jawaharlal Nehru used to say, such projects are temples of a modern India. The prestigious hydroelectric project of Himachal is expected to produce enough power for this region, including Delhi, to overcome irritating power cuts — unless the transmission and distribution system lets down the consumers. Shortage of power is a great source of nuisance for the ordinary citizen. It also slows down industrial and agricultural growth. Price is another factor. Power generated by tapping water resources is much cheaper than that generated by thermal plants. Hence hydroelectric projects are preferred. There is a vast hydel power potential lying untapped in the country in general and Himachal Pradesh in particular. This is because the governments do not have sufficient resources to take up costly power projects. Global agencies too are also not enthusiastic about investing in this sector. The private sector is being involved in the generation of power, but the pace has been terribly slow as the governments are still hesitant and unsure of returns, particularly after the Enron fiasco. The building of dams has to be carefully planned and closely monitored so that the environment is not adversely affected.
Life is an incurable disease. — Abraham Cowley |
Beatification of Mother Teresa ON
the eve of Mother Teresa's Beatification at the Vatican on October 19 my mind takes me back to my first meeting with the nun whose name has become synonymous with compassion. I met her first in 1975 when I accompanied the then Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, Krishan Chand, to one of her institutions in Delhi for the elderly destitute. As she took the Lt-Governor round the dormitories and the rehabilitation centre, I observed that although looking after the elderly and abandoned people around us required deep and continuous commitment, she and her Missionary of Charity Sisters went about their work cheerfully. I also noticed, however, that her back, even then, was bent and her hands and feet were misshapen, a testimony to the arduous life she had led. A fortnight later, I had the opportunity to observe her more closely. She had come to request the Lt-Governor for land to set up a treatment-cum-rehabilitation centre for the leprosy-affected so that they would not have to beg on Delhi's streets. She refused the customary offer of tea — I was to discover that she and her Missionaries of Charity do not accept any food or even water either from the rich or the poor — and spoke of the plight of those doomed to a life of stigma if they were unfortunate enough not to have received treatment in time. As she spoke, I noticed that her sari was clean and shining, but was neatly darned at several places. I later learned that their vows of poverty permitted them to possess only three saris; one to wear, one to wash and one for special occasions. She told the Governor about the problems afflicting the leprosy-affected, to the extent that even slum-dwellers were unwilling to have them live in their midst. In the half hour that she was there, she effectively reduced the grand chamber in which we sat with her own brand of humility and ordinariness. For a woman who had not been to university and was not particularly erudite, she had determination, a sharp sense of focus, charisma and humour. But what came across most strongly was the magic that lay in her being so close to her God. By the time she had left the room, she had not only procured the land that she needed but also left the Lt- Governor close to tears. When she began her work on the pavements and streets in Kolkata in 1948, she was alone. She had no helper, no companion and no money. Her faith alone kept her going. For a nun who had albeit enjoyed no luxuries but did have the security of the Loreto Convent for 19 years, she now had to learn to face the hardships and humiliations of the street. She taught herself to beg for food and medicines, not for herself, but for the poor. By the time she died in 1997, her Order had a presence in over 123 countries, taking care of the abandoned, the destitute, the homeless and the terminally ill. In the process, her Order fed hundreds of thousands of poor people each day in all six continents. From a soup kitchen in the Vatican itself to food for London's poor under Waterloo Bridge, from old age shelters in Madrid to Aids' hospices in Los Angeles, with 150 institutions in India and three times that number elsewhere in the world, the Missionaries of Charity Sisters and Brothers scoured the pavements to do their essential work, which was metaphorically picking up those who had fallen by the wayside. When I was researching my biography on her and trying to assemble statistics, she would sometimes tell me not to get lost in numbers. Her philosophy was that if she was able to help even one person, then the ocean was less by that one drop. That one person was important for her, not the numbers she had helped or the awards she had received or the unrestricted entry that she had into the halls of power. Part of the reason for the success of the Order she founded in 1950 lay in a vow special to them. While they shared with other Orders common vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, their special fourth vow was that they could serve only the poorest of the poor, and not the rich or the middle class. In her last meeting with me, she remarked, "After almost 50 years, we are, I believe, still the only organization that has this unique fourth vow". And when I asked her whether her organization had overextended herself and would it outlive its charismatic founder, she replied simply, "As long as we remain faithful to our special vow, we will be alright." Six years after her passing away, the Missionaries of Charity continue to grow, with even more cheerful young women applying for a life of almost absurd hardship. What made her difficult work possible was that she wholeheartedly believed that in tending to the individual she was, in fact, tending the body of Jesus Christ. For her and her Sisters, the abandoned infant on their doorstep or in a dustbin was in fact the abandoned Christ. When they cleaned the wounds of a leprosy patient, he was not just a patient, it was Christ's body that they cleaned. She once explained this to me by saying, "You can look after a few loved ones at the most, parents or children or brothers and sisters, may be a friend. Many people who see us clean the wounds of a leprosy patient say, 'Mother, we cannot do this for all the money in the world.’ What makes our work possible is that unless we don't wholeheartedly believe that we are working for Him and on Him, it would not be possible even for us." As I prepare to travel this week for the Beatification ceremony at the Vatican, I am happy for Mother Teresa and her Order, beatification being the half-way mark to sainthood. However, in my eyes and in the eyes of millions around the world, irrespective of nationality or religion, Mother Teresa had been anointed a saint in her lifetime. As her biographer, I would even say that she transcended religion by reaching out to care for people irrespective of their status, their faith or their human behaviour, and in the process gave the word "compassion" a new meaning. Yet she never deviated from her chosen path, and throughout her life performed her every action in the name of her God. She never passed a day without the Mass that sustained her and walked her every step with the rosary in her hand, the Christ on which was indistinguishable from each individual whom she stopped to
tend. The writer, Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, is Mother Teresa's biographer. |
Modern vs barber(ic) media FOR well over two decades now, I have often fancied that I could count the number of hair on my top as easily I could count the number of fingers in my hands. In fact, I had many a time suspected that my barber, presumably a strong believer in the Biblical adage — “Seek and Thou Shall Find”, had been charging me more for organising a search for the elusive bristles on my top than for mowing them down, all these years. Careful analysis of the technique employed by my barber had led me to conclude that he took about 20 minutes to “dispose me of” at each sitting. Out of this barely two minutes were spent actually plying the scissors while the rest of the time was spent on professional research accompanied with a running commentary on the latest in news from the town’s gossip circuit. This had been going on month after month. However, this 20-minute ordeal by the tongue and shears could be extended to any length of time during the days of cricket internationals and I studiously avoided visiting him on those days. But unfortunately, I was not as lucky on a recent Saturday when I walked into his saloon, little realising that he would be interested in watching “non-events” like the recently concluded Pakistan-Bangladesh Test matches, too. My cricketing master, clad in proper white overalls, but holding a pair of scissors and a comb in his hands instead of the bat or the ball, almost jumped on seeing me enter. “Look sir, look at these Pakistani cheats. Inzamam was yards out of crease when the ball hit the stumps and yet the umpire signalled not out.” “Wasn’t the third umpire consulted?” I blurted out unwittingly even as I had always known that entering into a dialogue with him over cricketing matters could be equivalent to knowingly courting disaster. But then the die had been cast. “What use it would have been? He too must have been a Paki and a thug like the whole lot of them,” said he in a tone that hardly concealed his amazement at my utter simplicity. “The third umpire was a Pakistani?” I committed yet another involuntary indiscretion. Oh, come sir. You do know these...” This was followed by a sickening diatribe on the master’s perception of the national characteristics of our neighbours — the sum total of which, to put it mildly, was that they, as a nation, could only be a pack of rogues who routinely practised chicanery and deceipt. And that their religion had a lot to do with what “they were all made of”. It mattered little if majority of Bangladeshis also professed the same faith. The worst part of it was that the other customers present at the saloon at that time, without any exception, appeared to be in total agreement with the barber’s assessment of our neighbours. Some of them flashing, beaming smiles seemed to be more than pleased at the eloquence of the orator. I felt depressed as I left the saloon. The barbers and the like functioned as “word by mouth” media in the days of yore. I suspect that they still wielded a considerable following and influence. While they continued to function as effectively as ever, the so called modern media, with unprecedented (from a historical point of view) resources at its command had only been making sporadic, in any case feeble, attempts at helping promote rationality in the thinking of the common compatriot vis a vis Pakistan. Wasn’t it time serious, meaningful attempts were made to bring about, Bangalore sutured Pakistani hearts notwithstanding, a real change in the hearts of common folk on both sides of the border? Must we be perpetually condemned to witnessing mini repeats of the Partition holocaust in the form of a Best Bakery or Akshardham every now and then? |
|
Nathpa Jhakri project takes off, finally
AT last the commissioning of the country’s largest hydro power venture, the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri project, has begun. The first 250 MW unit of the project, which has been on the trial run for the past three months, was dedicated to the people by Mr Anant G. Geete, Union Minister for Energy, on October 14. The five remaining units will be made operational in a phased manner and the project will be fully commissioned by July, 2004. While the engineers of the country have reasons to be elated over the successful completion of the mega project there are quite a few lessons for the political bosses, planners and engineers in the problems, both man-made and natural, encountered during the execution. The entire period of execution, extending to almost 14 years, was marred by a bitter tussle between the state and the Centre, the endless disputes between the direct recruits of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and the deputationists from the state power board and unrest among workers of the private companies assigned various works. The project had more than its share of natural calamities with landslides, cloudbursts and flash floods devastating the projects on three occasions. All these delayed the execution of the project by decades and increased its cost manifold. The project was conceived in the late 1960s when Mr K.L. Rao, the then Union Minister for Irrigation and Power, visited the site and found the project an attractive proposition. The project got going after the late Prime Minister, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, launched the construction work with the inaugural blast on April 13, 1989. A new public sector undertaking, the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (earlier called the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation), was set up for the execution. The new corporation, a joint venture of the Centre and the state, remained plagued with problems due to unending disputes over the service conditions of the employees who were taken from the state electricity board. There was a clash of interest between the direct recruits of the corporation and the “seconded” staff which created a lot of problems for the management. In fact, at times it also created bitterness between the Centre and the state. The shifting of the headquarters of the corporation office from Delhi to Shimla was one such issue. The offices were shifted almost after three years after Mr Virbhadra Singh made it clear that the project of such a magnitude could not be executed through remote control. In between some vigilance cases were registered against some top functionaries of the corporation in connection with serious financial irregularities but as usual no one knows what happened to the cases. Natural calamities kept striking the project with unfailing regularity and there were at least three occasions when the ongoing works were devastated. The blockade in the Satluj river caused by a landslide took months to clear in 1993. Thereafter, a cloudburst caused heavy damage in August, 1997, and finally unprecedented flash floods caused widespread destruction to the project when it was nearing completion in July, 2000. The heartening feature is that the engineers proved equal to the task and achieved a commendable technical feat by successfully executing a project. It posed a tough challenge as the topography was such that 95 per cent of the work had to be carried out underground. The river is virtually bankless right from Nathpa, the dam site, to Jhakri, where the power house has been set up. There was no option but to have all the major components like desilting chambers, penstocks and the power house underground. In the process the project earned the distinction of having the world’s largest underground desilting complex, Asia’s biggest underground power house and one of the longest power tunnels in the world. The geological surprises in the shape of hot water springs and which raised the temperature inside the head race tunnel upto 66 degree centigrade and highly unstable shear zones called for innovative techniques. As chemical tests revealed that hot water could be aggressive to normal concrete a special concrete mix design with pozzolana was used to counter the aggressiveness. Further ice slabs were placed at the head and ventilation was augmented to keep the temperature within tolerable limits for the workers, explains Mr Y.N. Apparao, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the corporation. Similarly, the new DRESS (drainage reinforcement excavation support solution) methodology was used for excavation in the shear zones for which an Italian make hydraulic crawler drill had to be deployed. Another remarkable feature of the project is that it is most eco-friendly. Being a run of the river project, only 58 families had been affected by its construction. They have been decently rehabilitated and in all 51 persons have been given jobs and 69 developed plots have been offered to the affected shopkeepers. Since most of the project is underground, the adverse environmental impact is minimal in view of the magnitude of the project. Of course, disposal of the debris had been a major problem far which proper sites were developed of forest land. However, there is need to carry out proper scientific studies to assess the impact in view of the fact that half-a-dozen other projects are coming up in the area. While the 22.5 MW Ghanvi and 300 MW Baspa project are already operational, the 400 MW Rampur and 1000 MW Karcham-Wangtu are in the pipeline. The Kinnaur region has of late become prone to cloudbursts and flash floods and the local people attribute it to the construction of big projects. There are also reports of natural water sources drying up and villages sinking due to indiscriminate blasting of hills to bore tunnels. All these issues merit a serious consideration. On a 90 per cent dependable year the project will generate 6,758 million of units after being fully commissioned. The state will get 12 per cent free power as royalty. In the remaining 88 per cent the Centre will have a 75 per cent share and the state will get the remaining 25 per cent at generation cost. The project has been executed with the World Bank loan of $ 437 million. Its original cost in 1969 was a meager Rs 180 crore. It increased to Rs 1,600 crore in 1981, Rs 4,338 crore in 1990 and it will be finally completed at a cost of Rs 8,657 crore. In fact, the cost was revised thrice during the execution. The huge cost and time overruns could have been prevented to a large extent by proper planning and resolving all contentious issues before signing the agreement for execution of the project. |
|
DELHI DURBAR Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was at his usual best last week with repartees and anecdotes. At a function where he gave away an award to a Haryana-based Hindi author of children’s literature, Shekhawat remarked that whether children read Panchtantra tales or not, thse were must for politicians. That sent the audience into peels of laughter. And the next moment the Vice-President asked whether the organisers and authors had ever asked children about their choice of literature. The opinion of children should be sought, Shekhawat stressed and recommended a survey. If numerous pre-poll surveys are done and consumers asked about their preferences, then why not do the same for children, asked the Vice-President. Math optional? S.Y. Quraishi, who has just taken over as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Steel, is not paticularly fond of mathematics. He made his dislike for the tough discipline amply clear while delivering the keynote address during the release of the UNFPA World Population Report. Talking of the problems faced by adolescents, the high dropout rate and the burden of curriculum, Quraishi said that he would want the government to make mathematics optional as the subject puts enormous pressure on students and parents. A large part of the money earned by a parent is spent on mathematics tuitions for children. The ordeal is no less for the children who spenda lot of time on arithmetic. Recalling his own experience, Quraishi said that he barely managed to get a pass percentage in mathematics in Class VIII. “I’m not saying that you abolish the subject but make it optional. After all, I’m a successful man.” Quraishi has reason to say so. Until recently, he was the Director General of Doordarshan. He has also served as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Foreign postings Five officers of the Indian Information Service have been handpicked by a selection committee appointed by the government for newsgathering in world capitals. The stations of posting are Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai, Kathmandu and Kabul. Those in line for foreign postings are Muthukumar (Colombo), Sithanshu Kar (Dhaka), Jaideep Bhatnagar (Dubai), G.S. Randhawa (Kabul) and R.N. Mishra (Kathmandu). As special correspondents for Prasar Bharti, these IIS officers will have to report for All India Radio and Doordarshan. This is the first time that DD has posted a correspondent in Kabul. As the date for the proposed launch of the 24-hour news channel of DD draws closer, DD seems to be getting ambitious abouts its news coverage plans. Bachelors’ woes With the demographic pattern in Haryana having changed drastically in the last three to four decades, seniors in certain villages in the state don’t find anything wrong in buying girls from other states for their sons. Observed a village elder: “What are we to do as there are no girls.....should we allow our boys to remain bachelors.” Amazingly none of the village elders is ready to talk about the rampant practice of female infanticide. A social activist in the area, drawing attention to the widening male-female gap, insists it will be difficult to end the abhorrent practice as buying girls from poor families is cheaper than buying cows. Contributed by Satish Misra, Tripti Nath &
R. Suryamurthy.
|
Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes. — The Buddha If the mind becomes a stranger to God, it experiences estrangement from the whole world. — Guru Nanak If you go on
working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you. — Ramana Maharshi O Son of Being! My love is My Stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure, and he that turneth away shall surely stray and perish. — Baha’u’llah |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
