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After victory, hard grind Party time |
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Outside the gate
Nuclearisation a dangerous policy
Manual for dummies
News analysis
Consumer rights
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After victory, hard grind ONCE the heady excitement of the victories tapers off, the new chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will have to settle down to realise the burden of the new responsibilities. It will be all too easy to mistake the triumph as a badge of personal merit. They should not fall into that trap and, instead, do a dispassionate analysis. What they must note is that the people’s verdict is more anti-Congress than pro-BJP. What goes in favour of Ms Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Ms Uma Bharati and Mr Raman Singh is that they start with a clean slate. The little administrative experience they have is mostly confined to the Centre. They have a lot of catching up to do on the intricacies of running the state administrations. Both Mr Digvijay Singh and Mr Ashok Gehlot happened to have a clean image. What led to their downfall was the lack of development. The new incumbents will have to ensure that there is no vindictiveness against their predecessors. A lot of charges and counter-charges were in the air during the electioneering. These should be quickly forgotten, so that the new governments can break new ground. Any witch-hunting will be counter-productive. Equally urgent is the need to keep religion and
politics apart. There are many misgivings about the style of
functioning of Ms Uma Bharati in particular. She will have to
establish that she is not the leader of any one community but of the
entire state. It is also necessary for her to tone down her abrasive
behaviour. The way she treated some journalists even before occupying
the chief ministerial chair is not going to make her very popular with
the media. Even while at the Centre her sulks were notorious. The
sooner she bids adieu to them, the better. If she has to live down her
saffron robe, Ms Scindia has to establish that she can be a mass
leader besides being a princess. Mr Raman Singh on his part has to
smoothen the friction that politics has brought about among tribals
and others in Chhattisgarh. That is a tall order indeed but has to be
fulfilled, lest the anti-incumbency bugbear gets active double quick. |
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Party time THE obvious implication of Finance Minister Jaswant Singh’s statement on Friday that “there will be a full Budget and not a vote-on account” is that the country will not have an early general election. It will be held in October next year, as scheduled. Although the Prime Minister and the Chief Election Commissioner had ruled out advancing the date of the general election, speculation had persisted in the wake of the spectacular performance of the BJP in the just-concluded assembly elections. A vote-on-account is sought when the government at the Centre does not hope to stay for long and leaves the regular Budget presentation to the next government. The statement is also part of Mr Singh’s efforts to “demystify the Budget” and bring about transparency in the financial affairs of the government. Generally, an election-year Budget tends to be soft and populist, with liberal giveaways for various sections of society. Secondly, all harsh measures are put on hold. In its last two years, the P.V. Narasimha Rao government lost all its enthusiasm for the reforms it had launched with much fanfare. The second-generation reforms were left for the next government. The Vajpayee government is not going to be different. The electoral compulsions are the same. Mr Jaswant Singh’s remark that the reforms would continue hardly means anything. What reforms, other than the disinvestment process, one
may ask, has the government undertaken which it hopes to continue? If
the Supreme Court, which is to reconsider its recent judgement on the
disinvestment of the oil PSUs, gives the green signal, only then the
government can move forward on disinvestment. A common election-year
tactic is to “market” the government’s achievements, whatever
these may be. That these are often exaggerated is well known. |
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Outside the gate PAKISTAN itself is to blame for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group’s refusal to revoke Islamabad’s expulsion from the 54-nation grouping. The expulsion followed the October, 1999, coup by Gen Pervez Musharraf, overthrowing the elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Since then there has been little change in the situation. Democracy remains throttled despite last October’s general election. The Zafarullah Khan Jamali government is there at the pleasure of the General, who installed himself as President of Pakistan through a controversial referendum, keeping the 1972 constitution aside. He brought about this sham democracy by introducing the Legal Framework Order, 2002, which is yet to get Pakistan parliament’s (National Assembly’s) approval. While General Musharraf has been trying to ensure that the LFO becomes a part of the constitution, the Opposition led by the most powerful religious alliance, the MMA, has been opposing it tooth and nail. As a result, parliament has been unable to function properly. This has led Prime Minister Jamali to accuse the Opposition of working towards keeping Pakistan suspended from the Commonwealth. The truth, however, is that both sides are to blame for the plight of their country. While the General’s guilt is well known, the MMA has been in the news for its efforts to strike a deal with the former — allowing him to function as President if he relinquishes the position of Army Chief. The world can accept the restoration of democracy only if the President of Pakistan is elected in accordance with the procedure laid down in the constitution, which was the original stand of the MMA. The Commonwealth should not budge
from the noble stand it has taken against the subjugation of
democracy. This is necessary to send across the message that the
Commonwealth — a forum of the former British colonies — will never
tolerate any development against the people’s right to have a
government of their choice, or the dilution of democracy on any
pretext. |
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Thought for the day Food comes first, then morals. — Bertolt Brecht |
Nuclearisation a dangerous policy DEFENCE Minister George Fernandes had recently disclosed that a nuclear command chain, including alternative “nerve centres”, had been established, giving India an effective retaliatory capability. “We have established more than one (nuclear control) nerve centre,” said the minister. Since New Delhi adheres to the “no first use” doctrine, in the case of a nuclear strike by the enemy, about a dozen shelters, constructed 2-300 metres inside the earth, are expected to keep our nuclear weapons intact and to be ready for secondary retaliatory nuclear strike. The secret Nuclear Command Council will be equipped with the necessary electronic communications systems capable of ordering a retaliatory nuclear strike. India after the Bangladesh war (1971) had followed the nuclear route to its defence planning. Undisclosed millions were diverted to atomic energy “for peaceful purposes” and we established our nuclear capability with Pokhran-1 and Pokhran-2. The Central Government recently approved the construction of a Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) of 500 mw capacity. But the PFBR aims to demonstrate the feasibility of breeder technology. It is not meant to supply electricity to the national grid, according to the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Kakodkar. The life of a breeder reactor is about 25 years. But the cost of its decommissioning is four times the cost of construction spread over 60-100 years. The entire nuclear route leaves behind hazardous waste for future generations. The decommissioning and decontamination of sites, buildings and the structures where the reactors are located and nuclear weapons are produced and stored, require open-ended funds and long-term technoscientific research and planning. In 1992, there were about 1700 such facilities in the US alone, which were to be decontaminated. But their long-term safe-keeping within the next 30 years was estimated to cost $ 54 billion. Meanwhile, another 10,000 nuclear facilities, weapons grade plutonium stocks, and decommissioned warheads have come up for long-term safe-keeping. No one knows how and at what cost. Admittedly, nuclear energy has been attractive for its “dual-purpose” advantages, but having stockpiled thousands of nuclear warheads and about 1000 tonnes of weapons grade plutonium, advanced countries are now in a fix over these non-usable stocks. It is costing billions of dollars on just safe-keeping. No amount of money can return all the land and waters to their original purity of safe usage that have been contaminated by radioactive waste. Concerned scientists in the mid-eighties published their findings in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Chicago). They introduced two powerful terms into the lexicon: Nuclear Nights and Nuclear Winter. By 1985 nuclear weapons had become stockpiled instruments of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). East and West, Washington and Moscow both had been in the MAD race together: they stockpiled 50,000 nuclear warheads fitted on missiles. However, the problem they faced was: what to do with the tens of thousands of nuclear warheads whose efficacy was becoming doubtful with the passage of time? And yet they were and are still dangerous, not to the enemy but to their own masters. Disarming, decommissioning, and destruction of the thousands of useless but life-threatening nuclear weapons have posed the most complex and costly problems for scientists and engineers. In sanctioning funds for the PFBR and in approving the construction of deep, underground nuclear command nerve centres, we are repeating the folly of the Cold War nuclear pundits. Nuclear weapons, in the early decades of the Cold War, were considered the currency of power. But global environmental consequences of “nuclear winter nights” turned them into the means of absolute insecurity and self-destruction. Scientists have estimated that after a nuclear detonation the heat flare within 20-30 kilometres of the hypocentre, within two-three seconds will develop an intensity of thousands of times of the sun. But these two seconds would set ablaze everything around - paper, clothes, shades, fuel, furniture, entire steel structures, etc. The conventional fighting during World War-II and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were at best primitive in comparison to the present level of destructive forces. Besides, today practically every town has huge storage facilities for highly inflammable industrial chemicals and transport fuel supply. In a nuclear war these storage tanks will explode, causing secondary fires, making it practically impossible for any life form to survive. Yet the proponents of nuclear power in India and Pakistan are still planning to survive nuclear fires and the nuclear winter by constructing mutual assured destruction systems. They are ignoring that the nuclear winter would destroy hydrological systems and lead to synergitic effects — that is the combined, concurrent and mutually enhancing destructive effect. Thus, the colossal amount of heat energy, carbon dioxide and aerosol emitted in a very short span of time would upset the entire eco-system and the dynamic equilibrium that sustains life on this planet. Underground shelters were designed for traditional warfare. In the 21st century’s advanced warfare systems, there is no sanctuary as the very aim of a nuclear strike is not to conquer territories but to obliterate the entire civil population. The Nuclear War Council, inside the bunkers, will be the sitting ducks for the enemy. For, advanced “bunker-buster earth penetrator” weapon systems have been developed which are stationed above, beyond our reach. Moreover, the commanders and the civic authority officials, even if they survive a few hours or a few days inside the shelters, without the supply of fresh air and water, would not be able to open the bunkers. Because following a nuclear strike the entire hydrological system would become non-operational. Whom would they command? And what would they defend? All around there will be radioactive dust and debris, without sunlight, with total darkness of the nuclear night. The entire eco-system will have frozen. Admittedly, there is asymmetry between New Delhi and Islamabad. But due to close proximity, in terms of destructive effect, we have achieved strategic nuclear capability comparable to the Cold War decades of mutual assured destruction. For us, therefore, the question is not of “national security” but the security of the entire life-supporting eco-system in the subcontinent. The nuclear night and nuclear winter that would follow a nuclear conflict would lead to an irreversible calamity for the entire SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region, a clear possibility of total obliteration of the great civilization. All the rivers will become floating flames. Nuclear weapons of mass destruction do not recognise national boundaries, nor do they make a distinction between friends and foes. The purpose of research and development of scientific weapons is to provide safety and security for a sustainable civic order. Nuclearisation of defence is an obsolete concept in the 21st century. However, if we have to keep up with ever advancing military science, we must plan for space age security. Our defense policy is lacking a futuristic vision. The war science paradigm has shifted to security problems from outer space. It is prudent, therefore, to support space exploration programmes that have dual-use advantages. Instead of constructing underground defence shelters and adding to our nuclear stockpile, we should divert our limited resources to space research. — The writer is Director, Centre for Science Policy
Research, Dehradun. |
Manual for dummies I love modern gizmos, but for a slight hiccup. I never figure out how to use them. It’s usually the children of the house, who instinctively take to “techy things” that I turn to for help. Or even better; I just admire them from a distance and marvel at the sophisticated technology, which has made a dummy out of what was generally considered a sound mind. Take for instance our new state-of-the-art music system; a hi-tech combination of audio-video-CD-Mp3 player. The “demo” at the music shop was so easy to follow; that I was totally stuck deaf and dumb; when the beaming salesman raised the pitch to 3100 watts for the day’s killing! But back home it doesn’t work. Try using the “user-friendly” manual for help. Read, “Getting Started... hooking up the System.” Now try connecting a “yellow lead to the red socket... with the symbol $#@” that looks more like a heliographic from a lost civilisation than a 21st century device. When you manage to wire up the system, don’t be struck mute; if it looks more like the cockpit of a grounded Concorde — than an instrument for soul-stirring music. Now PRESS the SELECT button and it will blink, what kind of CD you want to play? Rock, Soul, Oriental, Pop... Select one or else go back to the DISPLAY button. If you still have the perseverance, than choose between ‘Normal Play, Random Shuffle or Customised Play...’ Well, so much for the music buff in me. I would much rather crank up grandpa’s antique His Master’s Voice and listen to a disc that would obey; than command me. But my nightmares, with new-age technology haunt me every day. Try having a bath with the new “telephone shower” that my wife has got installed for her “Cleopatra Bath”. I can never get the right mix of hot and cold water with all those shiny chrome and brass knobs and levers. Either, I am caught running out of the loo scalded by boiling hot water (with or without a towel) ... or turn into a fossil with icy cold water pouring on me! God, give me back the good ol’ bucket bath any day. As I get into the car and slide into reverse gear, the safety contraption starts screaming like a mad dog, gone madder! And if you forget to pull out the key before banging the door close; then stay out, as the big brother “Auto Cop” is guarding your car; and you can’t even touch it! And one thought new technology was all
about making life simpler. May- be, it will; when I write a manual for
dummies.
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News analysis
THE raging debate after the spectacular victory of the
BJP in the Hindi-speaking Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh
in political circles is whether the BJP-led NDA is going to get
another term at the Centre. Another question being hotly debated is
whether the Congress and its President Sonia Gandhi have outlived
their utility as she cannot lead the party to victory in
elections. From all visible indications, the BJP appears to be
confident that the tide has now turned in its favour and it should
romp home in the next Lok Sabha elections too under the unchallenged
leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr Vajpayee has
undoubtedly emerged stronger after the Assembly elections as the BJP
has won the elections on the issue of good governance and development
along with a combination of caste factors. Anti-incumbency has also
played a key role in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The
outcome of the electoral battle has also proved that an election can
be won even without using the Hindutva card or the issue of Ram temple
at Ayodhya. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, one of the chief
ideological architects of the present BJP, said that the people want
“good governance which is conducted through political
prudence”. But the big issue is whether India is so simple and
victory or loss can be explained or comprehended in such easy terms.
A deeper analysis of the results does not point to a uniform pattern
in either the victory of the BJP in the three states or its defeat in
Delhi where the Congress won handsomely. In each of the states, where
the Assembly elections were held on December 1, different set of
factors were at play. India is slowly but surely moving from a feudal
cultural society-cum-polity to an industrial cultural
society-cum-polity. Age-old feudal norms and behavior are being
replaced by norms which are governed by merit, efficiency, good
governance and effective administration. But the pace of change and
the degree of replacement varies from one state to another, rather
from one place to another. In Madhya Pradesh, the credit for the BJP
victory goes to a number of factors which include tireless and
aggressive campaigning by saffron Sanyasin Uma Bharti, who combined
the caste factor with her appeal to the Hinduatva forces which have
been on the forefront of the Ram movement. While the selection of Uma
Bharti as the challenger to the Congress government of Chief Minister
Digvijay Singh paid rich dividends to the BJP, it was her backward
caste, woman appeal and being a prominent leader of the Ayodhya
movement which proved to be the main assets of the party at the
elections. In Rajasthan, the BJP managed to win as the feudal factor
is the strongest here. Jats and Rajputs rejected the Congress as its
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot came from a backward caste and his
challenger Vasundhara Raje represented royalty and nobility. The
anti-incumbency factor was exploited fully by BJP General Secretary
Pramod Mahajan, who managed the campaign well and handled the
dissidents and disgruntled elements of the party deftly. Moreover, the
selection of the candidates was rather an easy task for the BJP as it
was in a better position to field new faces in comparison to the
Congress, which had to repeat its sitting MLAs and ministers. New
faces offer hope to an electorate which is keen to improve their lot.
Thirty of the 39 ministers of the Gehlot government, including both
the Deputy Chief Ministers Kamla Beniwal and Banwari Lal Bairwa, lost
at the hustings. In Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s
confidence in his manipulative skills and dependence on the
administrative machinery along with the splitting of the Congress
votes by the Nationalist Congress Party led to his downfall. Mr Jogi,
who was already unpopular in the urban centres of the state, lost out
in the tribal areas as well. Former Minister of State for Environment
and Forest Dilip Singh Judeo was sought to be projected as corrupt
when he was shown as accepting money on a videotape. But in a strong
feudal atmosphere, the tribal and rural population refused to accept
that a person having a royal background, could do such an act. It was
impossible for them to believe that Raja of Jashpur would indulge in
corruption. The BJP aggressively defended Judeo projecting the
entire episode as an handiwork of Jogi and his son. It was popularly
perceived as a dirty trick of a politician against a traditional
ruler, who in tribal perception, could do no wrong. Delhi was an
altogether different story as feudal factors play a minimal role here
as industrial cultural norms have become part of the daily life in the
Union Capital much more than in the three states which went in for
elections. Good governance, development, a modern and
forward-looking leadership became the plus points of the Congress
while the BJP led by Mr Madan Lal Khurana failed to click in the
electorate perception as he proved to be no match to the woman Chief
Minister, who was accepted as a performer and a doer. The role played
by the parties like the NCP, th Samajwadi Party, the Indian National
Lok Dal, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Janata Dal (U) and others is
also a very significant factor. All these parties have contributed a
great deal to the victory of the BJP in the three states as it managed
to cut deep into the Congress votes. On the whole, the BJP has a
better organisational set-up which is backed by dedicated cadres of
the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh and it has a galaxy of second-rung
leaders which if pressed into action can perform “carpet bombing”
on its rivals. This is the secret of the success of the BJP as Mr
Advani told newspersons on Saturday evening at his residence. |
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Consumer rights IF you have seen advertisements promising “borer-free” wood and wondered what it was all about, then this is for you. Even otherwise, some basic knowledge of borers and the havoc that they cause can help you make an informed choice while buying furniture or wood. Like the moth larvae that feed on wool, leaving gaping holes in your sweater, the borer larvae feast on wood, turning it to powder. And unless tackled immediately, they can completely destroy the wood from inside. So if you see white or yellow powder falling from your book shelf or door or furniture, then it means that it is infested with borers. Is it possible to rid furniture or wardrobes or doors of borers? Experts say that spraying on the surface can only kill adults as they emerge out of the wood or newly hatched larvae as they attempt to bore into the wood. But not the larvae which are in a protected site inside the wood. Fumigation is the best method of controlling borers inside the wood, but that is expensive and not very practical while treating furniture. The best option is to identify the infected spots from the falling wood dust and inject insecticide into the wood at such spots using a syringe. It’s a laborious process and may need to be repeated to be effective. That’s why, whenever you buy wood or wooden board or furniture made of wood, make sure that it is really borer free. Examine it carefully for the presence of any ‘exit holes’ in the wood through which the adult would have flown out . This is an indication of borer infestation. However, with some borers, exit holes are not so easy to detect. Besides, if the larvae are inside and no full-grown insect has flown out, then there will be no exit holes either. So it is equally important to go for wood — particularly if you are buying boards — that is certified to be free of termites and bores. In case of furniture, get an assurance from the retailer that it is free of borer infestation. If in spite of all these precautions, you end up with a product that has wood dust falling from it, insist on a refund or a replacement. Do not agree if the retailer promises to have it treated because that may not work. If the retailer is not responsive, then you can always go to the consumer court constituted under the Consumer Protection Act for relief. Under the CP Act, such a piece of wood becomes a defective product. Having promised borer-free wood, the retailer or the manufacturer as the case may be, also becomes guilty of making a false representation about the quality of the product, which is an unfair trade practice. I would like to quote here the case Dr J.D.Patil.. His complaint before the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Mumbai, was that soon after installation of the plywood worth Rs 1.5 lakh in his newly set-up diagnostic centre, he noticed white powder falling from the wood. Despite his complaint, he was not given a replacement nor refund. While directing the manufacturer to
refund the cost of the plywood and also labour charges of Rs 40,000
incurred by the consumer for the installation work, the State
Commission said the manufacturer had claimed in his brochure that the
ply was resistant to termites, borer insects and other wood eating
organisms and was free from them. Yet the ply was found to be infested
with borers. Thus the manufacturer had made false claims and had
committed an unfair trade practice. Besides, he had also sold a
defective product to the consumer. The court also awarded Rs 1,000 as
litigation costs to the consumer (Dr Jaswantsingh D.Patel vs the
Managing Director, Kitply Industries, Calcutta, complaint no 160 of
1992).
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One is safe to live in the world, if one has Viveka (discrimination of the Real from the unreal), and Vairagya (dispassion), and along with these intense devotion to God. — Sri Ramakrishna Practise meditation, and your mind will be so calm and fixed that you will find it hard to keep away from meditation. — Sarada Devi Good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destroy the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes. — Swami Vivekananda Without the Guru all is darkness; without the Word we do not realise it. — Guru Nanak You are that infinite power, that supreme being which assumes the three forms of waker, dreamer and deep-sleeper who go through various experiences, modifications and changes. Atman remains changeless, constant. Something which never wakes up, dreams or sleeps. — Swami Parthasarathy |
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