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Ceasefire is fine Hollow
acquittal |
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Disgraced
VC Politics is the villain of the piece IT is hardly surprising that the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University has finally recommended removal of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr S.D. Sharma. The surprise, if any, is that it has taken the system so long to clear a visible hurdle in the smooth functioning of the university.
Empower women
Triumph of Buglee
and Hanif
LEGAL NOTES
Living
without food and water
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Ceasefire is fine INDIA has been positive in its response to Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s offer of ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. India has thereby shown that it is always ready to appreciate any meaningful move from the other side if it helps to create an atmosphere conducive to improving relations between the two neighbours. In fact, New Delhi has gone a step further by extending the ceasefire to the Actual Ground Position Line in Siachen, which has been happily reciprocated by Islamabad. Sunday’s dramatic announcement by Pakistan can be interpreted in two ways. One, Islamabad has, perhaps, launched an image-building exercise in view of the January meeting of the South-Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for ensuring Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s presence there. Two, the Musharraf regime has realised the significance of confidence-building measures for bringing the two countries closer to each other. This inference can also be drawn from Pakistan’s acceptance, though belated, of India’s proposals on having more visa offices, a ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai, and a bus service between Munabao in Rajasthan and Khokharapar in
Sindh, besides allowing people above 65 years to cross the Wagah border on foot. What is, however, unfortunate is that Pakistan has rejected India’s stand that the ceasefire will be durable only if terrorists’
infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border ends. Islamabad must realise the importance of the sensitive issue. It must also dismantle the 85 or more terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Occupied Kashmir and discontinue the communication and other facilities provided to militants in the interest of good neighbourly relations. Instead of taking these points seriously, the Musharraf regime has reportedly shifted some of these camps nearer to the LoC. This is not how a hand of friendship is extended. Banning a few terrorist outfits only on paper, as Pakistan has done for international (read the US) consumption, will not do. What is required is a change at the ground level. This is not possible unless there is the sincerity of purpose, sadly missing in Pakistan’s approach. |
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Hollow acquittal IF Ms J. Jayalalithaa stands acquitted of all charges in the two Tansi cases, it is only because the Supreme Court has held that the model code of conduct does not have a statutory force and is not enforceable in a court of law. The apex court has, at the same time, observed that there was a "conflict of interest" with regard to the sale of the Tansi properties and her conduct was "opposed to the spirit of the code of conduct, if not its letter". The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has not done things the "gentleman's way". In other words, she may not have broken the law, but her conduct was unbecoming of the high public office that she holds. For a person in her position, the court's observation that she must ponder over "whether she had done the right thing in breaching the spirit of the code of conduct and giving rise to suspicion that rules were bent to acquire public property for personal benefit" is as good as conviction. But such finer nuances are likely to be lost on her and her followers wildly celebrating her "exoneration". The court's anguish over the inability of the code of conduct to keep top leaders on the straight and narrow path is palpable. "Can there be one law for small officials of the government and another law for the Chief Minister? Is the code of conduct meant only to be kept as an ornamental relic in a museum?" the Bench has asked. The answer is in the negative but the reality happens to be exactly the opposite. The mighty Chief Minister has been throwing all conventions to the wind in her brazen pursuit of power. The court may not have convicted her but it has asked her to atone for her sins. She would have been happy doing so only by rushing to the Vadivudai Nayaki Amman temple along with her cracker-bursting followers, but the court has advised her to do so by returning the property unconditionally. That will be no big deal for her. What matters is whether she will desist from such misuse of authority in future. |
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Disgraced VC IT is hardly surprising that the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University has finally recommended removal of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr S.D. Sharma. The surprise, if any, is that it has taken the system so long to clear a visible hurdle in the smooth functioning of the university. For too long the academic atmosphere on the campus has remained vitiated. Politicisation of the university is the main reason for its decline. It was the BJP and its appointees — the previous Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor, among them — that ran the university, disregarding merit and disallowing dissent. After the Congress wrested power from the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, the state government and the new Chancellor ordered their separate inquiries into the alleged acts of omission and commission by the Vice-Chancellor and others. Both sets of inquiry have held Dr Sharma guilty. The Executive Council has gone beyond recommending removal of the VC; it has even suggested initiation of criminal action against all those, including Dr Sharma, responsible for the financial irregularities. All those associated with the university have to ensure that such a development does not recur. Unfortunately, the autonomy of the university stands eroded. The state government has amended the university Act to ensure that it can interfere in the running of the university. Ideally, politicians should be kept away from a university and it should be run by academics only. But universities depend on state governments for grants and that gives the ruling politicians and bureaucrats an excuse to interfere. Academics join them for petty gains and flout the rules to help their political patrons. It is in their own interest that the teachers and the students run their university like a well-knit family without depending on outsiders. |
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Thought for the day Religion is the
frozen thought of men out of which they build temples.
— Jiddu Krishnamurti |
Empower women THERE is urgent need for bridging the growing technological divide not only between and within nations, but also between men and women. Such a gender divide in access to technologies is particularly serious in the area of food and water security. Because of traditionally assigned gender roles in day-to-day life, women bear the responsibility for fetching water and for several key operations, including planting, weeding, harvesting, threshing and storage in agriculture. It is well known that our global leadership in milk production is due to the hard work of over 50 million women. It is also known that women suffer from a multiple burden on their time due to home keeping, childcare and economic activities. Most rural women work for over 18 hours a day. They age faster and, contrary to global trends, tend to die earlier than men in our country. The sex ratios, particularly under-6 sex ratios, are becoming more adverse in the case of women. Though the Census data show an overall increase in the sex ratio (females per 1000 males) of the population, 933 in 2001 compared to 927 in 1991 or an increase by six points during the last decade, the decline in the child sex ratio is the most shocking aspect. The incidence of children with a birth weight below 2.2 kg is an index of the state of maternal and foetal nutrition. Almost every fourth child born in our country is characterised by low birth weight
(LBW). Such LBW children suffer from many handicaps in later life, including impaired brain development. In the present knowledge age, denying a baby at birth opportunities for a healthy mental and physical development is the
cruelest form of inequity. Sex ratios and the birth of LBW children are both indicators of discrimination against women in terms of social esteem and nutrition. This is why a Committee on Population Policy which I chaired in its report submitted in 1994 recommended a mandatory gender audit by elected panchayats and
nagarpalikas. There are now unique opportunities for launching a Food for Sustainable Development Initiative, in the form of a “grain for green” movement. Such a programme could accord priority to the following activities (these are illustrative of what needs to be done): (1) Restoration of hydrological and biodiversity “hot spots”, particularly in mountain ecosystem; (2) sea water farming (planting of salicornia, mangroves, casuarina, palms, etc, along with coastal agriculture and aquaculture); (3) water harvesting, watershed development, wasteland reclamation, and anti-desertification measures; (4) recycling of solid and liquid wastes and composting; (5) agro-forestry and other sustainable land use systems in the fields of resource poor farmers. The Food Initiative could be managed at the local level by Community Food Banks (CFB) operated by women’s self-help groups. Such CFBs can be designed in a manner that they can address concurrently issues relating to chronic, hidden and transient hunger. The merit of CFBs will be low transaction cost and transparency. They can also help to widen the food security basket, thereby saving what could become “lost crops”. Wherever animal husbandry, including poultry farming, is important to provide additional income and nutrition to families living in poverty, CFBs can also operate Feed and Fodder Banks. Conferring the right to food and thereby an opportunity for a productive and healthy life on those who go to bed undernourished now is the fundamental duty of the state as well as of the well-to-do sections of the population. Thanks to both the spread of democratic systems of governance at the grassroots level and technological advances, we now have a unique opportunity to foster a Community-Centred and Controlled Nutrition Security System. Such decentralised community management will help to improve the delivery of entitlements, reduce transaction and transport costs, eliminate corruption and cater to the twin needs of introducing a life-cycle approach to nutrition security, and meeting the challenge of seasonal fluctuations in nutritional status. If such CFBs are operated by women, this will help to bridge the gender divide in the area of nutrition. Although women are actively involved in agriculture and food security at the household level, they are excluded from credit, extension services and other inputs. So, the question to be asked is why the situation has not changed? And is it enough now to simply say that 50 per cent of the extension services should go to women? Without making the necessary institutional changes, whether it be in terms of female extension staff or de-linking credit from land titles, there will be little progress in enabling rural women to get access to credit. I would like to offer the following suggestions in relation to the implementation of the National Policy for Empowerment of Women.
Food and drinking water are the first among the hierarchical needs of humankind. Women play a pivotal role in both food and water security. They are particularly affected by environmental degradation. Involvement of women at every stage in the design and implementation of food and water security systems is the first step in our quest for an India where every citizen, man or woman, has space for making contributions to human security and happiness. The writer is a noted agricultural scientist. The article is based on the Ninth Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture he delivered in Delhi recently |
Triumph of Buglee and Hanif HINDU-MUSLIM relations in pre-Independence India did have a streak of estrangement but largely both sides tolerated each other and adapted themselves to certain practices. Before Partition, some jobs that were exclusively performed by Muslims in north India included plying transport and selling bangles. Of course, embroidered kurtas tailored by Musalman darjees are remembered till date for their sartorial finesse. Since vending bangles and making the women wear them with a touch of hands were two different things; and because the vendors were Muslims, some orthodox Hindu families of the Jorian Kuan Mohulla of Karnal in those days, brought a Hindu couple trading in bangles from Bijnore in U.P. The couple was given a small house to live in and the Hindus took good care of them. The woman-vendor’s name was
Buglee. She became equally famous with parda-nasheen women in the Muslim households. Transcending all biases and prejudices, she found her clientele inside the zenanas — women’s chambers — in Muslim houses. It seems the problem was not that some Muslim or Hindu touched the women while making them wear bangles, on both sides of the social spectrum but that, a male hand should best be kept at a distance. World War II there was an acute shortage of petroleum products. Petrol and diesel consuming engines were replaced with those run on gas. The adapted system was fixed to the rear of a vehicle with an oven for which coal was used. Old-timers recall the Muslim drivers and conductors’ names such as
Hanif, Abdulla, Mushtaq or Saleem. A driver could be heard calling out to the conductor (cleaner in those days) saying, “Abey
Hanif, zara sariya to maar” which meant that the latter shook the ash-laden coal in the oven by an iron-rod for providing an increased amount of gas, enabling faster speed. The fare from Karnal to Delhi was eight annas. Public transport, particularly the buses, had three rows of berths not the way they have it these days. It was a T-shaped arrangement. People sat face to face with each other, which caused embarrassment in case of women who largely, came from traditional backgrounds. Here again the exchange of glances needed to be strictly taken care of. Also if you had to look out of the window for a long time, it would cause discomfort. To take care of the “class”-travellers, there were four to five seats available just behind that of the driver. The charges were, of course, a bit more. Those who could afford these seats for their women, got them. If the driver knew your plans of travel, he would take care to pick you up even if you were located slightly off-route. But there were occasions when people cursed the transporters if a trip was cancelled due to there being insufficient number of passengers for a bus. Badmouthing of the Muslim transporters in abusive terms was a routine affair. Adaptation is the rule. After all, fuel engines replaced with those run on gas worked well for Muslims ferrying all and sundry to and from their destinations despite being despised, as Buglee imported by Hindus was able to find her relevance even for Muslim households. Whatever was there in the minds of men who inhabited this country before Partition and whatever were the reasons of the minds being plagued by vested interests, the Buglees and Hanifs are still remembered by those who were their contemporaries. And quite fondly! |
LEGAL NOTES
THERE are inter-state disputes which linger on for decades due to politicisation of the matter and are hard to resolve even when brought before the court. The Himachal Pradesh Government’s claim of its share in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) power projects is one such case, which has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1996. The Himachal Government, which was given a 7.19 per cent power share in the BBMB projects under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, paving the way for creation of Haryana and transfer of Punjab’s hill areas to Himachal, had filed a suit in the apex court for the recovery of nearly Rs 2,200 crore in 1996 as its accumulated claim till that date, which also included 12 per cent free power from the central projects located in the state. It had taken almost 7 years for the completion of procedural formalities as the respondent states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and the Centre had to file voluminous documents. The court, is likely to commence a hearing of the case soon. Himachal Pradesh has said while it was not being given the 12 per cent free share of power from the Central projects executed before 1996, it was only being provided 2.5 per cent of the 7.19 per cent due share in the BBMB projects. Single-point directive The controversy over the Centre’s “single-point” directive preventing the CBI from probing corruption cases against top bureaucrats without prior sanction of the government seems to have completed a full circle since the Supreme Court had struck it down in the Jain-Hawala case judgement even as it recently sought a reply from the government how the provision is incorporated in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice V.N. Khare has issued notice to the Union Government for filing an affidavit explaining the reason for retaining the “single-point” directive in the CVC Act when it had been struck down by the court earlier. The incorporation of the directive in the CVC Act passed by Parliament during the Budget session this year had earlier formed part of the 1996 “Executive Resolution” for setting up the CVC to check corruption in high places before it was struck down by the court. This time its constitutional validity has been challenged in an application by senior advocate Anil Dewan, appointed as amicus curiae by the court to assist it in adjudicating a pending public interest litigation (PIL) by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on the issue. Under the “single-point” directive the CBI cannot proceed against an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary and above without prior sanction of the government and the agency could not even register a preliminary inquiry against them. The opposition parties had also raised a hue and cry over the incorporation of the provision in the CVC Act. Concern at fall of sex ratio Concerned over the 6 point fall in the sex-ratio in the
country as per the 2001 census, especially in the northern and western regions, the Supreme Court has directed all the states to strictly enforce its order banning pre-natal sex determination and use of ultra-sound machines for this purpose by private clinics. Seeking reports about the confiscation of ultra-sound machines by various states from private clinics which indulged in the illegal practice of female foeticide, the court had expressed serious concern over the 6 point drop in the female sex ratio per 1000 males in the 2001 census. The Health Secretaries of all states had been directed that the states should keep a strict vigil on the activities of private health clinics to ensure that they did not resort to any such illegality. SC gives time to Centre The Supreme Court has given six weeks time to the Centre to place an affidavit before it on behalf of Central Water Commission (CWC), giving details about the steps taken by it to ensure minimum flow of 60 cusec ft of water from the Narwana branch of the Bhakra canal to Delhi to meet the national Capital’s drinking water needs. The matter, brought before the court in a public interest litigation for enforcing the award of the Eradi Tribunal for maintaining the 60 cusec ft flow to the Nagloi reservoir on the outskirts of Delhi, had been pending for about a decade due to political wrangling between the states of Punjab and Haryana. Senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan, who was appointed amicus curiae by the court to assist it in deciding the case, had submitted that the Union Government and states of Punjab and Haryana had “failed” to comply with the tribunal’s order despite the apex court’s direction in May 2000 to implement it. The CWC in its earlier affidavit, filed in October 2000, had cited several factors for the non-implementation of the award, including non-cooperation by Haryana in properly maintaining the Narwana-Nagloi canal system, which had breached at several places and required a lot of repair work to be done. Under the award, Haryana was also required to ensure the flow of 350 cusec ft of water in the Yamuna after it enters Delhi’s territory. |
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Living without food and water DOCTORS here never stop gaping at 76-year-old Prahlad
Jani, who claims not to have taken a drop of water or a morsel of food for the past 65 years. His amazing lifestyle has transcended the boundaries of medial science and become the talk of the town in the principal city of Gujarat in western India. Doctors at Sterling Hospital here have kept Jani under observation for 10 days and found to their astonishment that he lives without consuming food or water. “Neither has he put a morsel of food in his mouth, nor has he demanded water. His body too does not perform vital functions like passing urine and stool,” said Urman Dhruv, secretary of the Association of Physicians of Ahmedabad. “On November 12 we put him in a special room and kept him under constant observation with the help of video cameras, but this man seems to have some superhuman strength to defy hunger and thirst.” The association, a body with over 400 members, in association with the New Delhi-based Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Science, is heading the research on Jani at Sterling Hospital. Doctors say Jani’s ability to live without food or water is superhuman, but he says his strength springs from the blessings of a goddess. “I was blessed by Goddess Amba while visiting her cave in Ambaji when I was eight years old,” he claims. Call it fantasy or faith, Jani claims to have seen goddess Amba in one of the caves at Ambaji, a Hindu pilgrimage site near Rajasthan border, 120 km north of here. Since his childhood, he made that particular cave his home. According to Dhruv, nearly 100 doctors of the association have examined Jani in the past 10 days. “A panel of doctors —including physicians, cardiologists, neurologists, a neurosurgeon, a gastroenterologist, an endocrinologist, a diabetologist, a nephrologist, an uro-surgeon, an ENT surgeon, a psychiatrist, an opthalmologist, a genetic counsellor, a radiologist, sonologists and many more - have examined him,” said Dhruv. “We have deputed a team of doctors and security personnel on round-the-clock duty around his room,” said V.N. Shah of Sterling Hospital. Jani agreed to avoid bathing during the examination period but was given 100 ml of water every day to wash his mouth that was collected and measured. According to doctors, Jani has not passed urine since his admission to the hospital and lived without food or water. “Jani has not passed urine since he was brought here on November 12. He has not taken anything by mouth or by any other route - not even water during this period,” said Dhruv. “All his body parameters are within the normal physiological range. Initially, the project was to continue for seven days but his health allowed us to extend it.” Tests have showed that Jani’s body has shown evidence of formation of urine, which seems to be reabsorbed from his bladder wall. “Through studying the various functions of his body, we are trying to understand a new dimension in medical science and help mankind,” said neurologist Sudhir Shah. The committee of doctors is yet to conclude their research. “We hope to come out with our findings into the causes of Jani’s resistance to hunger and thirst very soon,” said Dhruv.
— IANS |
Let the father love his son, let his wife love her husband, let the husband be calm, let the enlightened persons never go against the truth. — Ai.Bra. Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man. It is not in books, nor in theories, nor in dogmas, nor in talking, not even in reasoning. It is being and becoming. — Swami Vivekananda The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman itself (Brahma-veda Brahmaiva bhavati) and everywhere and everything is Brahman. — Shri Adi Shankaracharya If the mind is impure, the body and the tongue also become impure. — Guru Nanak Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds. — Mahatma Gandhi |
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