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Gujarat remains sensitive A town without a soul Goodbye, Dr M |
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Hindu-Sikh relations - II
The King Clerk
Industrial pollution in Ropar
district - I
Blessings for
old boys?
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Gujarat remains sensitive THE latest outbreak of communal violence in Gujarat shows how sensitive the situation there continues to be. As innocuous a spark as a dispute over a cricket ball landing at a temple was enough to set Virangam town on fire on Sunday leading to several deaths and the torching of dozens of shops. Leaders are supposed to promote communal harmony but here the crisis was precipitated by a former municipal councilor, who allegedly opened fire at the people who had gone to the temple to retrieve the ball. Since the deceased belonged to the minority community, this firing was bound to blow up into a communal conflagration which enveloped the city in no time. Nobody bothered that Gujarat had only recently buried more than a thousand persons after the post-Godhra riots and was in an anguished state, which made it prone to over-reaction. The person who should be most worried about the turn of events is Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Ironically, he has only himself to blame for this surcharged atmosphere. The grossly partisan role that his administration played during last year’s riots has singed the state forever and it can burst into flames at the first opportunity. Today, the public does not have much faith in the impartiality or capability of his government and is ever ready to take the law into its own hands. Perhaps the Chief Minister can still persuade himself to ponder over the cost-benefit ratio of his policy. Yes, his style of functioning has made him a front-ranking party leader, being sought as a vote-catcher for the forthcoming elections in some states, next in popularity only to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. But this “fame” has come at the cost of the fair name of the high office that he holds. His brand of raj-dharma is dreaded by everyone outside his charmed circle of rabid rabble-rousers. The home state of Mahatma Gandhi does not deserve to remain in such a trigger-happy state. Since the government will not perform its duty, it devolves on the social organisations to lower the communal heat. The old tradition of mohalla, village and city committees taking it upon themselves to ensure amity in their respective areas can be still effective. All that the administration has to do is to lend a helping hand. Even making sure that such peace-loving citizens are not harassed will suffice. That is not a very tall order. Or is it, Mr Modi? |
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A town without a soul THE entire population of Bikram, near Patna, will have to share the blame for the death of a 14-year-old mentally challenged girl. For 25 days the police, the civil administration and ordinary citizens ignored her plight. Her general appearance would have made anyone with an iota of conscience realise that Kusum needed help. She needed medical, physical, emotional and social help. Bikram turned out to be a city without a soul. The callousness of the people and the police is a disturbing comment on the state of their mental health, and not that of the victim, who was declared as a mental case to explain their inaction in providing her succour. She died on the road covered in filth. No one knows where Kusum came from. She was dumped outside the town by a passing truck. It is clear that the trucker was not an angel of mercy who had picked up the mentally challenged girl with the intention of getting her treated. She was evidently abused by the trucker and, perhaps, his friends, before being thrown out to haunt the conscience of civil society. Yes, there were witnesses to the act of the semi-clad mentally challenged Kusum being dumped. But neither an individual, nor the police, nor any social organisation provided her help. According to newspaper accounts, the mentally challenged girl was refused treatment at the local hospital because doctors found her "too filthy" to be touched. Police patrols should be asked to explain why they did not shift her to a government shelter for destitute persons in spite of seeing her loitering on the streets looking dazed and helpless. Mr P. N. Singh, the officer in charge of Bikram police station, was quoted as having said that "she was a mad girl brought here by some truckers. Our only mistake is that we did not put her in another truck leaving the town". That the media was able to piece together the horrid tale suggests that her movements were being watched by "interested folks". They heard her mutter Kusum. But no one bothered to find out how and from where she had landed in the friendless town. She surfaced in Bikram on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti and died on the road on October 24. She shared her living days with mongrels. At night she was ravished by local ruffians. Her body was cremated with a post-mortem. The shocking incident should attract the attention of human rights organisations and the higher judiciary. It is a fit case for exemplary action against the local administration. But how do you punish a people without any feeling for a human being in distress? |
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Goodbye, Dr M LAST week when Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad handed over the job manual, a symbolic binder of documents, to his successor and deputy, Mr Abdullah Badawi, it brought the curtain down on the political career of one of the most charismatic leaders of Southeast Asia. The ceremony dispelled speculations that his announcement in June 2002 of his intention to leave office was a clever ploy to consolidate his leadership. In the end, he kept his promise and walked away with the satisfaction of providing purposive leadership to his countrymen for as long as 22 years. His tenure was marked by prosperity, civil order and economic growth. When he took over in 1981, Malaysia bore scars from violent race riots and faced a threat from the Communists. Under his leadership, the Gross Domestic Product grew from $12 billion to $210 billion. The per capita income also grew to $3,540, which is the highest in Southeast Asia after Brunei and Singapore. The 77-year-old leader, who was nicknamed “Dr M” ruled with an authoritarian hand. He did not tolerate dissidence. Nor did he allow a rival centre of power to emerge. The way charges of sodomy and corruption were flung at Mr Anwar Ibrahim, who had the potential to upset his applecart, showed how ruthless he was in dealing with opposition. He showed the same determination in dealing with terrorism and those who espoused the cause of violence. He had the unusual knack of mouthing Islamist language while coming down heavily on the fundamentalist lobby. He recently created a political ruckus when he attacked the all-powerful Jewish lobby for the present-day problems of Muslims. But few recognised the fact that he also used the same forum –— Organisation of Islamic Conference — to argue that Muslim redemption lay in educational and economic progress. If Dr Mahathir was responsible for encouraging the concept of Bhumiputras whereby the ethnic Malay Muslims enjoyed advantages that were denied to other communities, he also had the wisdom to gradually do away with such discrimination. Today it is no longer necessary for foreign direct investors to find local partners to set up industries in most sectors. He is also entitled to the satisfaction that he had found a worthy successor in Dr Badawi, who will have to prove his leadership mettle in the election due early next year. The economy continues to be robust but the high wage rates have deprived Malaysia of its advantage vis-à-vis China and Vietnam. Unfortunately, corruption continues to guide political and economic decisions. Notwithstanding such failures, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has every reason to look back on his career with a great sense of satisfaction. Nobody in Malaysia will grudge him the satisfaction. There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat. — James Russell Lowell |
Hindu-Sikh relations - II THE
man most responsible for widening the gulf between the Hindus and the Sikhs was Bhindranwale. Starting as a preacher, exhorting the Sikhs to return to the spartan traditions of Guru Gobind Singh, he chose that an easier way to stop Sikhs lapsing into Hindu fold was to create a gulf between them. He used abusive language for the Hindus describing them as dhotian topian wale — wearers of dhotis and caps. His goons threw heads of cows in the Durgiana Temple. Hindu goons retaliated by throwing cigarette butts in the Golden Temple, smashing up a portrait of Guru Ramdas, founder of the city, on Amritsar railway station. Then it came to killing Hindus. Buses were hijacked, Hindu passengers off-loaded and shot. Punjabi Hindus set up their own Shiv Sena, armed its members with trishuls (three-pronged spears). If Sikhs could carry kirpans, they had every right to carry trishuls, they argued. They claimed a membership of over 80,000. Bhindranwale had to be silenced. This was no easy task since he was a creation of the government as well as the Akali leaders. He was arrested on charges of involvement in the murder of Lala Jagat Narain of the Hind Samachar group. Giani Zail Singh, then Home Minister, who had a negative knee-jerk reaction to whatever Chief Minister Darbara Singh did had him let out on his own terms. Sant Longowal described him as a danda (stave) to beat the government. G.S. Tohra, President of the SGPC, let him find sanctuary in the Golden Temple and convert Akal Takht into a fortress. Indira Gandhi, misled by her advisers, chose the crudest way of getting rid of him: she ordered the Army to storm the temple complex. What could have been handled by the police (as proved later by Operation Black Thunder) was a botched-up “operation Blue Star”. It was a horrendous blunder entailing a heavy loss of life and damage to sacred property. Though Bhindranwale was killed, he became a martyr in the eyes of the Sikh masses. Since the Hindus did not share the anguish caused to the Sikhs, most of them who had never supported Bindranwale, the gulf between the two communities widened. Worse was to follow. The widespread massacre of innocent Sikhs following the assassination of Indira Gandhi embittered the Sikhs against the government as well as the Hindus who they felt had not done enough to save their lives and property. The demand for an independent Sikh State gathered momentum. The first open declaration in support of Khalistan was made on April 13, 1986 at a convention of the Sarbat Khalsa in Amritsar. The June 1986 issue of Sant Sipahi, edited by Dr Rajinder Kaur, daughter of Master Tara Singh, published the details. “The Khalsa Panth will have its own home where the writ of the Khalsa will run supreme.” It demanded recognition by foreign nations and recognition by the United Nations. It asked the Sikhs living outside Punjab to migrate to their “homeland”. Their anger against the government and disenchantment with their Hindu brethren were justified. But the solution proposed was totally unviable. So far not one protagonist of Khalistan has drawn a map outlining its boundaries nor given the communal ratios of other communities, including Hindus, Christians and Muslims. At the very best it would be a land-locked state, almost entirely dependent on agriculture. Its only buyers would be India or Pakistan. If the state envisaged is the present-day Punjab what will happen to the 20 per cent or more prosperous section of the community living outside Punjab — in the Terai area, Sriganganager district of Rajasthan and the rest of India? It should be evident to every Sikh that Khalistan would be the doom of the Khalsa Panth. Fortunately, most Sikhs have come to realise that their future lies in remaining an integral part of India. The realisation came after 10 years of bloodshed and lawlessness. There were nearly a dozen gangs with fancy names like the Babbar Khalsa International, the Khalsa Commando Force, the Bhindranwale Tigers Force, and the Khalsa Liberation Front, composed of between 10-50 men armed with weapons like AK-47 rifles, grenades, etc, made available by Pakistan’s ISI, which also set up training camps for them. Terrorist gangs ruled the state by might — the policemen were too scared to come out of their police stations. By day the police took its revenge by looting villagers whose homes had been visited by terrorists. Terrorists collected levies daswandh (one-tenth in the way of protection tax). They extorted money, molested women and shot anyone who resisted them. Their word was law; no lights at night, village dogs had to be silenced by poison or bullets. Hindus began to migrate from villages to towns and cities where they felt safe. The governments, both Central and state, were at their wits’ end. They held meetings, changed Governors, imposed President’s rule, talked of elections, made Mr S.S. Barnala Chief Minister for a while without a clear policy for the state. By sheer chance the government’s gamble to hold elections paid off. It was boycotted by all Akali parties and the BJP. Because of the absence of any Opposition the Congress recorded a sweeping victory and Beant Singh was elected Chief Minister. His top priority was to eradicate terrorists. He had the full support of Governor Surendra Nath, a retired police officer with plenty of money at his disposal. The task was entrusted to K.P.S. Gill, then DIG, Police. By then Punjab was sick and tired of terrorist depredations. Mr Gill carried forward his predecessor Julio Ribeiro’s policy of a bullet for a bullet by infiltrating into the ranks of terrorists and bribing informers. He had the support of the Army which successfully blocked contacts with Pakistan. Within a few months Mr Gill had terrorists on the run. Many were killed, many more laid down their arms and surrendered to the police. They were too scared to come out of jails on bail lest they be killed by their own erstwhile colleagues. Mr Gill had good reasons to pat himself on the back. But somewhat prematurely. On August 31, 1995, a human bomb exploded outside the Punjab Secretariat building killing Chief Minister Beant Singh and nine others. Khalistan is dead as dodo. But separatist elements still find takers among the Sikhs. The latest example was the acceptance of the Nanak Shahi Calendar prepared by Piara Singh of Canada by the SGPC. Hitherto the Sikhs had followed the Bikrami Calendar to celebrate their religious festivals. Some anomalies were certainly there — some years ago Guru Gobind Singh’s birth anniversary was celebrated twice but no one bothered. But the logic behind the rejection of the calendar is insidious: all communities have calendars of their own, why not the Sikhs? In addition, while it mentions Bhindranwale as a martyr, it ignores the martyrdom of Sant Longowal. Law and order has been restored in Punjab. Its peasants grow bumper crops of wheat and rice year after year. Its industrial city, Ludhiana, is booming with its hosiery, bicycles, sewing machines and ancillary motor parts. Its products find markets in India and abroad. Punjab could even do better provided its two principal communities worked hand in hand. At the moment they live together but separately. This is not good enough. For the spirit of Panjabiyat it is necessary to restore the old relationship of naunh tay maas da rishta. It can be done provided leaders of the two communities stop criticising each other and show the way to a united brotherhood of Hindus and Sikhs. (Concluded) |
The King Clerk I went to an office to get a petty work done. The dealing hand (a clerk) told me that the prescribed forms were out of stock. I managed to get a form from another office and handed it over to him. He said that he would take a few days to fill it up as he was busy elsewhere. I asked him to give a specific date to me so that I could come on that day. He was absent on the date. The next day when I went to the office, I was told that he had proceeded on three days’ casual leave. I could have gone to the officer-in-charge of the branch concerned but I had read Malcolm Forbes: “Pundits often poke fun at President Johnson’s tendency to grab the phone and personally issue an order or a request to someone 25 layers below the top. Mr Johnson’s long years of experience in government taught him where the inaction begins to set in,” I was acting Johnson. I lost my cool when on my umpteenth visit to the office I found him still dilly-dallying. He used the Queen’s English, “Sir, no loud words. Remember, two are dangerous — the King Cobra and the King Clerk (Clerk Baadshah). One bite and the other fellow does not ask for water”. Immediately IT czar NR Narayan Murthy came to my mind and I thought when he was made to face the obduracy of the King Clerk Clan, I stood in no land. Akbar Allahabadi’s known words struck me, “Kar clerki, khaa double roti aur masti se phool ja.” I recollected the days when I was “somebody”. My steno was on leave. I had asked a fresh appointee whether he knew shorthand. The King had said, “I have two qualities, sir. My left hand is my right hand. (He was a lefty.) And I write shorthand in longhand.” I had really admired his qualities when my words, “Vibes appear to be favourable but we must adopt wait and see policy and count the chickens only when they are actually hatched.” were “longhanded” as, “Wives appear to be favourable but we must adopt wait and see policy and court the chicks only when they are actually latched.” That reminded me of Sayed Mohammed Jafri who wrote, “Khalique ne jab azal mein banaya clerk ko,/Loh-o-qualam ka jalwa dikhaya clerk ko.” Recently, when I was reading a few ghazals and poems by Nazar Burney, I found one on the King, “Kyon mein ghaate mein rahoon, sood faramosh rahoon,/Mauqa mil jaae tau daftar mein hi madhosh rahoon”. Are Urdu poets bitterly bitten by the King?
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Industrial pollution in Ropar
district - I
THE breach in the Stage-I dyke of the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar very recently raises serious questions of industrial safety and pollution. This is not the first time that the breach has occurred. On January 22, 2002, the Stage-II dyke of the plant breached. The latest incident proves that the authorities have done little to prevent its recurrence even though it has become a serious health and environmental hazard. The breach raises doubts on the construction, design and maintenance of the dykes. An examination of the two dykes at Ropar and those maintained by the National Fertiliser Limited at Nangal in the same district reveals that the thermal plant authorities use ash in the crust and clay on the top of the crust. In NFL, however, while clay and stones are used, ash is not used in the retaining walls of the dyke. This largely explains why there has been no breach in the dykes of NFL since its inception in 1960. Secondly, the Ropar dykes appear to be weak. Sources say the retaining walls of the dyke made of ash in the crust are neither seepage-proof nor breach-proof. And thirdly, the plant authorities seem to have failed to ensure regular and point-to-point maintenance of the plant and the dykes. The official callousness and abdication of responsibility at the thermal plant was more pronounced in the report prepared by Mr Daljit Singh, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ropar. In his inquiry report on the breach of the Stage-II dyke of the plant in January, 2002, he indicted the plant officials for the poor maintenance of the dyke. Ropar Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Seema Jain too does not absolve the plant officials of blame for apparent lapses in point-to-point maintenance. She, however, appreciates the damage-control exercise soon after the recent breach. The plant Chief Engineer, Mr P.S. Luthra, for instance, says that he and his colleagues took three steps to bring the situation under control. First, the ash slurry was diverted from going to the breached compartment. Secondly, the embankments were raised to stop the flow of ash slurry to the coal handling plant area. And thirdly, the flow of water into the coal handling plant was stopped within one and a half hours of the breach. Consequently, Mr Luthra says, there was no loss of power generation. The 1260-MW capacity plant has six units, of which five are operational at present. The damage-control exercise may be appreciable, but there is no sincerity and earnestness on the part of the officials to improve the quality of the dykes. Plant officials claim that funds are no constraint but there is little to show that the authorities have taken measures to improve their quality and maintenance. By their own admission, the authorities have no long-term plan to totally stop the flow of fly ash into the Sutlej river from the dykes. The plant has four wells to check the fly ash content, but it has no effluent treatment plant. Mrs Seema Jain says that it is for the Industries Department and the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to enforce norms regarding effluent treatment. She says, the district administration comes into the picture only when the effluents affect the quality of the Sutlej water. Mr Luthra says some specifications are being examined for installing a treatment plant on Drain Type IV in a few months. Unfortunately, there has been no attempt to cleanse the Sutlej river of the pollutants even though it is the lifeline of Punjab. The recent breach is only a tip of the iceberg. The condition of the dykes is such that through continuous small breaches and seepage, the ash flows into the Sutlej through the Ghanauli drain. Owing to poor maintenance, the dykes are constant sources of pollution in the Sutlej. Lakhs of people depend on the Sutlej for their drinking water needs. It is said that the effluents released by the plant contain traces of heavy metals which are carcinogenic. Because of the contamination of the Sutlej water by fly ash and effluents from the thermal plant, people suffer from liver, renal and gastro problems, besides skin diseases. They also suffer from gall bladder, jaundice and respiratory problems. Even the international wetland in Ropar that attracts birds from Siberia, Kashmir and Upper Himalayas is worst affected due to the pollution menace. The fish population has considerably dwindled as the Sutlej water has apparently turned acidic, notwithstanding the official denial. Not long ago, there used to be 35 varieties of fish in the wetland. And now, by a conservative estimate, only 17 varieties are found. Species like tortoise and crabs are no more found because hydrophites, their natural feed, are declining day by day due to ash deposition at the bottom of the river. The entire life cycle of this area is getting disturbed. According to an evaluation report of the effluents discharged by the plant, the difference of temparature between the intake and the outgoing effluents is more than 5 degrees C. This is said to be in conformity with the norms stipulated by the PPCB. But informed sources say, the effluents from the ash dykes percolate to the underground water table. This, in the process, has raised the water table and is causing waterlogging in the area. It is not clear why the thermal plant authorities need three years’ time to get a study done by the Microhydel Research Institute on waterlogging, the flow of underground water and the temparature difference between the incoming and outgoing water. The ambient monitoring of the villages and the plant violate the PPCB’s norms. The vegetation on Stage-I and II dykes varies from 40 to 70 per cent. During high wind, the dry ash is carried away to the surrounding villages, causing water and air pollution. PPCB Chairman K.P.S. Rana says that they are regularly monitoring the quality of water by sample method. By and large, the quality is okay, but the PPCB will legally examine whether the plant authorities could be prosecuted for the recent breach. It has directed the plant authorities to increase the vegetation on the ash dykes, to keep the upper layer wet, to introduce online monitors on the stacks, to use methods for dry ash collection, to reduce the waterlogging problem, and to install effluent treatment plants. These are, no doubt, comprehensive guidelines, but experience suggests that the plant authorities have done little to implement them. (To be concluded) |
Blessings for old boys? TOP bureaucrats in the country are a worried lot these days as a small group of IAS officers known to be close to the Prime Minister’s extended family seem to be cornering coveted posts and positions in the government. Recently the placement of an IAS officer as India’s Executive Director of the IMF in Washington along with the appointment of his spouse in the Indian Embassy in Washington has raised eyebrows but then who dares challenging it? The association of a majority of these boys with the family dates back to when they were Delhi University students.
Power for Pawar Those who have followed Maratha leader Sharad Pawar’s political graph would confirm that he has fashioned his views and ideology according to the prevailing political situation. Pawar’s recent reassertion on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin baffled some and amused others but his timing was perfect, observed one of his close confidants. This is the time for striking political bargains and he is in his true colours these days, commented a scribe. There were some mirthful grin among other colleagues when he said that there was a typographical error in his surname which should be spelt with an “o” rather with an “a”.
Ambition and competition Driven by ambition and competition in the age of information, Prasar Bharati Board chaired by veteran journalist M.V. Kamath has begun recruiting the most successful faces from the TV world. Among those who will anchor programmes for the 24-hour news channel of DD are Rajat Sharma, Nalini Singh and Deepak Chaurasia. But is it the young blood which DD has really pinned its hopes on? Prasar Bharati CEO K.S. Sarma referred to Deepak Chaurasia, till now, the most visible face of Aaj Tak, as the USP of the channel. Thirty year-old Deepak will perhaps never forget his pleasant exit from Aaj Tak as Political Editor and the overwhelming reception extended to him by his new employer. Conscious of the fact that the three-year contract with DD as Consulting Editor is a slippery arrangement, Deepak calls his challenging transition “the biggest gamble of my life”. Meanwhile, Prasar Bharti bosses are confident that they will be able to overtake private channels within six months with rich content in news bulletins and current affairs programmes. Sarma says he is sure that DD’s 24-hour news channel will throw everything into garbage, while referring to other channels. The channel will rely on newspaper editors and invite them every week for analysis for current affairs programmes.
Congress’ cosy
threesome
Just the other day, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh was seen huddled over a lunch at one of the hoi polloi’s favourite haunts in a five-star hotel. At hand with Capt Amarinder Singh were Congress general secretary Ambika Soni and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. Just like Capt Amarinder Singh who is facing some opposition from a section of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee despite averments to the contrary, Digvijay has not only to contend with the anti-incumbency factor in Madhya Pradesh but certain leaders from the state without much of a mass base gunning for him. Apparently, the exercise was aimed at having the eyes and ears of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi through Ambika Soni. Contributed by Satish Misra, Tripti Nath and Prashant Sood |
Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams! Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit forever. — The Bhagavad Gita Whom should I call the Second, when there is none other than God? He, the Immaculate one, He alone pervades all. — Guru Nanak It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail. — New Testament |
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