 |
|
Fogged out Misuse of POTA |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Good
flagoff
Arjun tank nowhere
in sight
“Jassa jaise sare
hain!”
No concern for
Rajasthan’s tribals CONSUMER RIGHTS
|
Fogged out IT is the same story year after year. Come winter and air travel in the country becomes a near impossibility due to fog. All along, the tantalising hope of the harassed travellers was that once state-of-the-art instrument landing system was installed, their trouble would be greatly reduced. Utilising this system, flights could land and take off even if runway visibility fell as low as 200 metres. But these expectations have been all but belied. Of the 20 airports in the country which are affected by the fog, only Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi has got the Category-IIIA Instrument Landing System (which is not really the latest) from abroad. What is unfortunate is that this has been installed at only one of the four approach ways, with the result that there is a lot of congestion at the airport with disruption lasting several hours. Pilots of international airways rightly resent this man-made problem. To make matters worse, the majority of the aircraft with domestic airlines are not compatible with the landing system. That is why almost none of them has been able to use the equipment which was installed two years ago. Indian Airlines, which should have taken the lead in the matter, is in dire straits itself. It does have suitable planes but not enough trained pilots. Of its 330 pilots, only 35 are eligible for being trained on the CAT-IIIA system. Only 21 of them are reported to have been trained while 14 have finished classroom and simulator training. That makes it less than 11 per cent of the total strength. All these are technicalities which give no respite to the harassed travellers. They expect that since the air fares in India are not in any way lower than those prevailing in advanced countries, they should get the same quality of service. The prohibitive cost of the landing system is sometimes quoted as an excuse for not installing it. That does not take into account the incalculable loss suffered in the absence of the equipment by way of loss of manhour and aviation fuel wasted while remaining airborne waiting for the fog to lift. |
|
Misuse of POTA CLOSE on the heels of its verdict upholding the constitutional validity of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) on December 16, the Supreme Court has pronounced two more significant judgements before it adjourned for the weekend. While it restrained the Uttar Pradesh government from peremptorily withdrawing cases against Raja Bhaiya without the Centre’s explicit concurrence, it has also directed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa not to go too far on the issue of releasing the Tamil nationalist leader Nedumaran. A close look at the three rulings suggests that the apex court is firm on putting an end to the brazen misuse of POTA as a political tool by chief ministers. Furthermore, it has restored the primacy of the Centre vis-a-vis the states (since POTA is a Central legislation) and reiterated that POTA will have to be used only for the purpose it was enacted — tackling terrorism. There is a perceptible difference between the rulings delivered on December 16 and 18. MDMK leader Vaiko can get relief from the directive that Section 21 of POTA cannot be invoked against anyone unless there is evidence to show criminal intent behind the speech. But the ruling relating to Raja Bhaiya has different implications because he is dubbed a terrorist. The then Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, had booked Raja Bhaiya and two others in May, 2002. But her successor, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, had ordered withdrawal of cases against them in great hurry without obtaining the Centre’s concurrence. More important, under Section 321 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, a public prosecutor could seek withdrawal of the case relating to a Central legislation like POTA only with the consent of the Centre. Obviously, the Supreme Court has declined to act upon in Raja Bhaiya’s case as the consent of the state government had no sanction in law. On the whole, the three apex court rulings reinforce the fact that the state governments, while recognising the supremacy of the Centre, have to enforce POTA carefully and judiciously with due respect to the intent of law and the significance of the legislation in question. The Supreme Court in effect is trying to prevent the misuse of POTA by the governments of the day for political ends. |
|
Good flagoff VIGYAN Rail, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is a good initiative to showcase the nation’s achievements in science and technology. Both the President and the Prime Minister can take justifiable pride in the scientific and technological achievements of the nation. These achievements, coupled with international recognition on the information technology front, have helped change the image of India as a land of snake-charmers. The quest for scientific temper has its roots in the pre-Independence resolutions of the Congress, which were influenced by Jawaharlal Nehru. As the first Prime Minister too, he played a significant role in building the infrastructure for scientists and it was in 1958 that Nehru piloted through Parliament what is known as the Science Policy Resolution, pledging the country to foster, promote and sustain the cultivation of science and scientific research by “all appropriate means”. He made it a point to be present during the national science congresses and lifted Indian science from small beginnings to a national effort. Now it is the science that is expected to pioneer the nation’s technological revolution. India has impressive scientific achievements to showcase, including scientific heritage, environment, space, communication, IT, scientific and industrial research, ocean development, water resources, defence, agriculture, non-conventional energy sources, health and medicine, and atomic energy. It is rightly expected that the travelling exhibition, which will go to 56 cities, would inspire young people towards scientific research. Mr Vajpayee has rightly described Vigyan Rail a “carrier of message of the country’s progress in science and technology”. There is no doubt that scientific temper is needed for the country to progress, and spreading awareness and inculcating pride in the scientists’ achievements is indeed a first step. More needs to be done, like the incubation of science centres in various districts, something that was envisaged more than 50 years ago. |
|
|
Thought for the day So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.
— Aldous Huxley |
Arjun tank nowhere in sight MAIN Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun, slated to be added to India’s armoured might at the turn of the century, appears to be having serious birth-pangs. The 57th report of the Public Accounts Committee (2003-2004) on the design and development of MBT, presented to the Lok Sabha on December 15, highlights its fifth report wherein it had “observed that there were considerable delays at various stages of development and production of the tank as against the envisaged targets”. The PAC had been pressing the Ministry of Defence on some of its observations and recommendations to the latter on many aspects of Arjun production, to include its early induction into the Army’s mechanised forces so that the aging fleet of the Vijayanta and other T series of tanks could be taken out of service in a timely and operationally acceptable manner, without in any manner compromising on the Army’s operational preparedness. In a telling observation, the PAC notes that whereas the committee was informed that “the first regiment was expected to be equipped with the Main Battle Tank from the year 2002 and two regiments were planned to be equipped by the year 2007, i.e. by the end of the 10th Plan”, it notes that at present “not a single tank has yet rolled out from (the) Heavy Vehicles
Factory (HVF)”. It is time to trace in some depth the inventory of the country’s Armoured Corps tank fleet obtaining today, and as to how and why aging tanks are phased out and in their place new Armoured Fighting Vehicles, to include an MBT, inducted into service. There is no denying the fact that a battle in the plains, even in a limited nuclear battlefield environment, if thrust upon us, will see the better tank or mechanised force ultimately delivering the war-winning blow. The bulk of the Indian tank fleet today consists of the T-72s, a few regiments each the T-55s and the
Vijayantas, and a few of the latest T-90s which are ultimately expected to be manufactured within the country at HVF, Avadi. The now aged war-horse, the T-55, introduced years back, has seen little product improvement except its upgunning. With Pakistan reportedly modernising its equivalent T-59 tank with a fire control system and a night-fighting capability, it would not be difficult to guess which country would have the edge in this equipment profile. As commonly believed, Pakistan, in addition to its T-59s, also possesses a wide range of T-69/T-85 and T-80 UD tanks, and is fast picking up on the production of its own MBT-2000, Al-Khalid, which is a very versatile tank by all accounts. The T-72, our mainstay, was introduced in service in early 1980s and over the years it is in need of major base overhauls, upgradation and modernisation, with the last improvement often not possible when due to aging there is no residual life left in the
equipment. It would also have to be seen whether the HVF at Avadi, after their experience with the production of the T-72 tank, possesses the wherewithal and capacity to also go in for a simultaneous production of the T-90 tank, and whether the production of the latter could not be moved to another facility experienced in tank manufacturing, so as to avoid any slippages and delays at a later stage. In this debate, readers would note that we have not heard anything about the Arjun
tank, which by now had been expected to be our real punch, and thereby hangs a tale. The Arjun, when conceptualised in 1974, must have taken into account the battlefield scenario likely to be prevalent in the coming few decades, as also the advances expected in tank technology and allied fields the world over and, more specifically, in the Pakistani and Chinese armed forces. As originally planned and mentioned in the PAC report, the Arjun was to be fully inducted into field service (after exhaustive user trials by the tank crews) during 1985-2000, and the existing T-55s, Vijayantas and many of the T-72s de-inducted . Quite obviously, the Arjun was also expected to reduce our dependence on foreign countries for AFVs, and also save on the much-needed foreign exchange. However, due to the inordinate delays in the actual production of the Arjun, now its complete equipping has been carried forward to 2007. The committee noted that “the foreign exchange content in the project estimate had increased phenomenally from Rs. 3.70 crore in the original estimates, sanctioned in May 1974, to Rs 97.85 crore in the total expenditure incurred till March 1995”. Currently, the production of the Arjun has started with orders having gone out for the manufacture of 124 tanks, but it is anyone’s guess whether the large number of Arjuns that were required to replace the bulk of the aged Indian tank fleet, running into hundreds, will be in the proper position with armoured formations in time. The Arjun combat weight of 58.5
tons (the T-90 is only 46.5 tons) reduces its manoeuvrability, and its tell-tale silhouette would enable any enemy gunner to pick it up
easily. The width of the tank also imposes difficulties in moving it on the available rolling stock within the country by train from one theatre of war to another. And quite definitely the technologies of the 1970s would be of lesser relevance today for an MBT of the new century. Yet should not someone in the Ministry of Defence and the DRDO be held responsible for the slippages in the planned production schedule, the escalating costs that have accrued because of the excessive delay in production and, more than anything, a drop in the operational efficacy of our tank force, which is even now being saddled with AFVs that should long ago have been sent to a tank museum. Also, configured as we are today mostly on the Russian armoured
equipment, the induction of the Arjun, made up of many new systems straight off the
shelf, is going to throw up fresh challenges in the training of the tank crews of our mechanised forces. Why has it taken the DRDO three decades to find out that the Arjun is not their cup of
tea, and why could the MoD not have taken a timely decision to scrap or downgrade the Arjun project, and divert our hard-earned foreign exchange to inducting in the T-90 tank, which belongs to the same family of equipment that the Indian tank “sowar” or Other Rank is used to. Conversely, why did it take us so long to get the T-90 tank when we should have known that at best the Arjun was never going to be our Main Battle Tank but just another tank along with the rest. Were there any fiscal hiccups in the regular funding of the Arjun project? If not, then who is to be held responsible for an operational deficiency in the Indian tank fleet which could have cost us a
war, equipped as we are with an aging fleet that needs immediate modernisation and upgradation? In the interest of national security, the issues raised in the PAC report need to be discussed by Parliament
urgently. |
“Jassa jaise sare hain!” HE is my friend Mr Jasminder Kalia. We call him Jassa out of love. He is handsome. Also street smart. Having dropped out of school, he was able to pick up his graduation degree as it is called via Bathinda or under the “Middle-fail, B.A. pass karein Scheme” Jassa has his Papa Ji as his role model who is an Accountant in a bank and continues in service despite half-a-dozen embezzlement cases. He has his ever-apprehensive mother in the house besides her grandmother who he calls her Bebe. Jassa works for a company called Gul Mehak of which the chairman is one Anjaan Puri. The latter is unaware of Jassa’s being hand in glove with his detractors and my friend cheats on his boss representing to him his assured bona fides. Jassa supplies all classified and unclassified information for money to Maryan who is also on the board of directors of the company and is Anjaan’s bete noire. Very recently Jassa made himself richer by about 30 lakh of rupees with a cut of 5 per cent in a deal with Ravanya — a fabric supplier company. Jassa counts on the strength of his comrades-in-arms in Jhulati, Manganda and Paree. Baddy, the numero uno fashion designer of Gul Mehak, is also on the pay role of Jassa for using the substandard quality of fabric supplied by Ravanya for Anjaan Puri’s company. Jassa hates Baaj who is Anjaan’s best friend and who tries and defeats him in his exploits, dating Paree oftener than not. For this reason only Jassa doesn’t trust Paree who is more inclined towards Baaj. Jassa is thus out and out to woo Nallika who is Anjaan’s fiancé and as in the footsteps of Gobinda, he plans to acquire ownership of Gul Mehak being clever by half. Anjaan Puri has no knowledge of the machinations of my friend Jassa and continues to place his trust on him. On knowing that Jassa has been spending sleepless nights for the past some weeks for some unknown reason, I rang him up to know his problem. A sullen and sulking Jassa buzzed on the line and evading a reply to my enquiry about his
well being, he counter-quizzed me: “How could one be so loyal to his boss as to antagonise the whole world for him? How could one be an apple of the parents’ eye not himself belonging to the male sex? How could one be so committed to ethical practices? And above all how could one kick off a kickback of 30 lakhs?” Jassa’s banter was in a single breath a la Shanker Mahadevan. But what is the context that you are talking about all this and why the hell should these things bother your head?” I asked him. In an obvious expression of pain and anguish he informed, “Yaar, I am in fact distressed at what is being aired these days regarding someone called Jassi who seems to be my feminine namesake and who is unlike others or in other words nobody is like her.” “Oh, so you are bothered about Jassi jaisee koi nahin…! But why?” I said. Jassa replied, “ And I had thought till some time back that “Jassa jaise sare
hain!”
|
No concern for Rajasthan’s tribals
Leelamanda Alwar: Parbati has nothing to offer to her hungry children. Her jhuggi, built of sand, stones and plastic sheets has been turned to ashes. A sack of foodgrains and a few clothes in the jhuggi have also
been gutted. On the evening of August 24, a few villagers caught hold of Parbati and her husband Ramsahay and set their jhuggi on fire. Wiping her eyes with her burnt hands, she says, “It is our caste which is at the root cause of our hardship.”
Parbati lodged a complaint in Naryanpura police station but knows nothing is likely to happen because the police is known for not taking any action in similar incidents in the past. She belongs to a nomadic community of “Bawarias” and lives on a piece of barren land away from the main locality at village Leelamanda in Alwar district. She has six children and an ageing mother-in-law. The family makes a living by selling grass collected from a nearby forest or by grazing the cattle. A few kilometers from Leelamanda village, lives 30-year-old Guddi, in Dwarkapur. Since there is no source of water supply in the area, Guddi and her fellow community members dug up a pit and filled it with water. This was used to fulfill the needs of half a dozen families living nearby. She had to walk miles to get water. But it just took a few minutes to some miscreants to fill the pit with dirt. An angry Guddi says, “don’t we have the right to live?” Six-year-old Laada, who has seen school and toys only in dreams, had a small wish. Inspired by the greenery around him, he planted a mango tree and watered it daily. But as the sapling started growing, someone uprooted it. He threatened Laada not to plant another sapling. Lada’s eyes still reflect the pain he suffered due to uprooting of the sapling. In the foothills of Aravalli range in Rajasthan, a number of families belonging to nomadic communities have taken shelter under an open sky in make-shift tents made with small plastic sheets. The communities traditionally considered nomads include Bawaria, Banjara, Nut, Bhopa, Gadia Lohar etc. The section of society does not enjoy any basic human rights and continues to exist much below the poverty line. These marginalised groups have been struggling for their rights. But suppression by upper castes has hampered these efforts. Around 200 such communities are living nomadic life in India. As they are not fully covered by the Census, their exact number is not known. But according to an estimate, they comprise 4.2 per cent of the population. But they have neither been able to get the right to vote nor are they beneficiaries of welfare schemes targeted at people living below poverty line. Their absence from the voters’ list has further marginalised them. In the 18th century, various communities of this nomadic society used to fulfill the needs of the population living permanently in villages. Bawarias used to hunt wild animals. The weapon used by them for killing the animal was known as “Bawar” or noose. Thus, they came to be known as Bawarias. The Banjara community used to make livelihood through transportation with the help of animals. In construction of roads and bridges, the Banjaras used to play a major role as they used to carry construction material on animals. Bhopas were supported to fulfill the literary gap. They used to tell stories on the basis of ancient paintings. The jugglers (Nut) and snake charmers (Sapera) entertained people. The nature of their work, forces them to travel from one place to another. But with increasing modernisation, they have been left with no role to play in society. In 1972, a ban was imposed on killing of wild animals. This made the traditional vocation of Bawarias illegal and they started earning their livelihood by either working as chowkidars or security guards protecting the crops from the wild animals or by certain jobs. But they could not settle down because of the social stigma. They were included in Criminal Castes Suppression Act enacted in 1871. Bawarias were hopeful that they would get justice after Independence. But the Indian government while scrapping this Act in 1952, enacted and implemented the Habitual Offenders Act. The condition of Bawarias further deteriorated. They are being victimised by the civil society as well police and other law enforcement agencies. The members of this caste are mainly found in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the Alwar and Dauasa districts alone, around 10,000 Bawarias are being forced to live in inhuman conditions. Members of the Banjara community are working as labourers either at construction sites or in agricultural fields. Octogenarian Gujri of Surjanpur village has spent most of her life selling salt or (a special kind of clay) “Multani Mitti” in various towns and cities. Now her daughter-in-law Kela occasionally goes to the fair in villages and sells the same. Gujri at Surjunpur village says, “We are the poorest of the poor, then why doesn’t the government give us the old age pension?” — Grassroots Feature Network |
|
IN the last three years since the government introduced the system of hallmarking or authentication of the quality of gold jewellery, 650 jewellers in the country (out of an estimated 6 lakh ) have taken the licence from the BIS to sell hallmarked jewellery. However, many of these jewellers, it is found, have not gone in for hallmarking of all their jewellery and some have just a few pieces of hallmarked ornaments. In fact, since April 2000 when hallmarking was introduced in the country, only about 21 lakh pieces of jewellery have been hallmarked at the 14 assaying or testing centers run in the country. Since consumers are still not educated about identifying a hallmarked piece, some jewellers have been found to pass off non-hallmarked pieces as hallmarked. In a bid to prevent such malpractice, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs has directed the BIS to strictly monitor the performance of its licencees and take proactive steps to protect the interests of consumers. Accordingly, the BIS is now asking all jewellers who sell hallmarked and non-hallmarked jewellery to display hallmarked goods in a separate counter, until such time when their entire stock is hallmarked. This is meant to ensure that there is no confusion in the minds of consumers as to which are the hallmarked goods. Similarly, the jewellers have to put up a board in a prominent place, specifying their BIS licence number, besides indicating the various hallmark components such as the BIS mark, the fineness number (representing the purity of gold), hallmarking centre's mark, jewellers' mark and the year of marking and the relationship of fineness or purity with caratage. The board must also mention the availability of magnifying glass for viewing the hallmark on jewellery. In addition, the licencees have been asked to convert their entire stock to hallmarked jewellery within six months of obtaining the BIS licence. India is the largest consumer of gold and to most Indians, gold is an investment. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs is taking several steps to ensure that consumers are not cheated on the purity of gold that they buy. A steep rise in the gold prices has introduced urgency to the move. The Ministry, for example, has written to the Finance Minister for additional funds to upgrade the six national test houses in the country to ensure that they provide testing facilities to consumers who want to check the caratage of their jewellery. These are expected to become operational in the next few months. Similarly, the Ministry has asked for duty cuts on certain testing equipment required to be imported by gold assaying centres, so as to encourage more such centres to be set up. Following consumer complaints on the purity of gold sold by jewellers, the government introduced hallmarking, an authentic method used worldwide for testing and certifying the quality of gold. Shocking results of a survey conducted by the BIS two years ago got the government re-thinking on its decision to make hallmarking voluntary. The sample survey, conducted in eight cities showed that 88 per cent of the jewellers surveyed (15 in each city) cheated on purity. This led to the government constituting an expert committee under the chairmanship of Mr Navin Chawla, Secretary, Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The Committee has said that the government has to first create the basic infrastructure necessary for making hallmarking mandatory. Meanwhile, the Ministry has taken up, through the BIS, the task of making consumers, discerning buyers of gold. After all, consumer demand for hallmarked products is the key to a successful quality control programme. |
All history is incomprehensible without Christ. — Renan It is not that when a man becomes free, he will stop and become a dead lump; but he will be more active than any other being, because every other being acts only under compulsion, he alone through freedom. — Swami Vivekananda He who thinks that he is a Jiva, verily remains as a Jiva; but he who considers himself to be God, verily becomes a God. As one thinks, so does one become. — Shri Ramakrishna The chief characteristic of the Master’s sadhana was his
renunciation. Has anyone ever seen such natural renunciation? Renunciation is his great ornament. — Sarada Devi One cannot find the right way without the grace and guidance of the True Guru. — Guru Nanak |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
