EDITORIALS

Snap poll
Many conventions also stand snapped

IT is very much Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee's prerogative to hold an election before the due date. Even in Britain, this power has been used by many a Prime Minister. But in doing so, Mr Vajpayee has been breaking far too many traditions and conventions. The Cabinet recommendation on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha on February 6 will mean that there will be no Presidential Address to Parliament. The Parliament session beginning on January 29 has been shown to be part of the winter session because the House has not been prorogued. Nor will there be a Budget presentation. The government will take recourse to a Vote-on-Account, which will enable it to meet the expenditure for four months from April to July. All this presupposes that the Opposition will not raise any other issue and, instead, join the government in the smooth passage of the Vote-on-Account. This has annoyed the opposition parties, which consider that the government has been taking them for granted. If they come together on the issue, they can cause a lot of embarrassment to the government.

All this does not exactly fall foul of the Constitution. Nor can it be said that the steps are unprecedented. For instance, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has retorted that Rajiv Gandhi himself had not prorogued the House for 75 days between the Budget and monsoon sessions of Parliament. The point is that her party is itself doing what it had then castigated the former Prime Minister for doing.

The whole idea of holding the elections early is politically motivated, a little too brazenly. It serves the purpose of only the ruling coalition. Add to that the fact that thousands of crores of rupees have been spent on providing sops to various sections and hundreds of crores have been blown up on "India Shining" advertisements, and one cannot help reaching the conclusion that the Vajpayee government is being true to the letter and not the spirit of the Constitution. The real tragedy is that this kind of wool-pulling exercise provides a convenient handle to lesser fries to go alibi hunting.

Bihar’s agony
No end to the cycle of violence

ON the face of it, Bihar Governor M. Rama Jois has committed an impropriety by criticising the state government for the alleged breakdown of law and order in the state. As the constitutional head, he should have risen above political considerations and followed the rules of the game while delivering his Republic Day address in Patna. Clearly, the Governor had exceeded his brief and, in the process, kicked off a controversy. This, however, does not absolve the Rabri Devi government of the responsibility for the worsening law and order situation. The recent killing of two young and dedicated social workers - Mahesh Kant and Sarita - in Shabdo village in Gaya district is yet another chilling reminder of the lawlessness in the benighted state. Television reports showing clippings of weeping villagers, including top civil and police officers, suggest the popularity the two activists enjoyed in the area.

In a cluster of about 140 villages, Mahesh and Sarita helped the people to revive a 45-km traditional water harvesting structure. Under this scheme, village tanks were connected to a perennial source of water through a network of canals. They also introduced the concept of "collective farming" which, among other things, improved the wheat output by 25 per cent and generated employment opportunities. An impartial probe is a must to know the circumstances leading to their killing and to bring the guilty to book. The government failed to protect the lives of the two activists, who had done so much for the common people.

In order to perpetuate their fiefdom, landlords maintain private senas which have become a law unto themselves. Owing to the political patronage these gangs enjoy, no one is able to challenge their ways. The struggle between the haves and the have-nots has degenerated into a ceaseless, internecine caste war. Mahesh and Sarita tried to bring the Rajputs and the Dalits of Shabdo to work and eat together. This was, by any standards, an unprecedented community action. But then, both had to pay a price for this. With their own lives!

Republic Day gifts
Elections make politicians benevolent

THE coming elections had cast their shadow on the celebrations of Republic Day this year. The Punjab and Haryana chief ministers announced several voter-friendly schemes. In addition, the Railway Minister was in Amritsar to inaugurate the Amritsar-Ludhiana rail track. Mr Nitish Kumar also announced an inter-city train connecting Amritsar and Chandigarh. Capt Amarinder Singh re-launched a scheme aimed to make cash offerings at the weddings of girls from poor families. It is now called "Aashirwad". Earlier christened "Shagun", the scheme was discontinued due to financial constraints. A similar scheme in Haryana, called "Kanyadan", was extended to all sections of society living below the poverty line.

Elections also bring to the fore hitherto forgotten issues. Capt Amarinder Singh has decided to take up with renewed vigour, accompanied by his characteristic threat of staging a dharna in Delhi, the issue of sugar stocks worth about Rs 560 crore lying with Punjab sugar mills. According to the Punjab Chief Minister, while sugar stocks have been lifted from BJP-ruled states, others like Punjab were given a step-motherly treatment. Union Agriculture Minister Raj Nath Singh's recent bonanza for sugarcane growers, it seems, has left out Punjab farmers, who have been denied sugarcane payments for quite some years now. The BJP-Akali leadership will have a tough time explaining this injustice to the rural voters in Punjab.

A significant announcement that Mr Om Prakash Chautala made at his Republic Day function in Sirsa was the reduction of stamp duty in Haryana. Property buyers in the state had often complained about the high rate of stamp duty compared to that in the neighbouring states. The reduction may not lead to much revenue loss as the decision will discourage the tendency of under-valuation of property at the time of registration. This will also boost real estate prices and business in the state. As the general election draws closer, the voters can expect more favourable decisions. After all, politicians take their demands seriously only at the election time.

Thought for the day

Every hero becomes a bore at last.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

ARTICLE

Dialogue with Pakistan
‘Feel good’ factor in foreign policy too
by G. Parthasarathy

IT is inevitable that in any democracy headed for the polls, the ruling dispensation spares no effort to ensure that the electorate “feels good” as it prepares to cast its vote. Politicians of all hues suddenly cultivate the average voter, who perhaps never got to see his Member of Parliament since he last voted for him! He is showered with economic lollipops and told how much has been done for him and the country since he last voted. This is precisely the phenomenon we are now witnessing. Mr Jaswant Singh has effected sharp reductions in customs duties, the rural population has been promised a whopping Rs 50,000 crore for the development of rural infrastructure, the elderly are being given attractive pension schemes and the middle class is to find it much easier to deal with its income tax returns. Since we already have an unduly high budget deficit, there is little doubt that the first two years of the new government will be spent in raising new taxes, once we have all cast our votes, if all these “feel good” promises are to be fulfilled!

While tax and spending sops are inevitable, it is now obvious that the government also intends to cash in on a “feel good” factor on foreign policy also. There is perhaps good reason for the government and even Indians in general to be satisfied on this score. Leading the list of “achievements” in foreign policy is undoubtedly going to be Mr Vajpayee’s visit to the SAARC Summit in Islamabad and the assurance he received from General Musharraf that Pakistan would not allow any territory under its control to be used for terrorism. But apart from this, there is much that the Vajpayee government can be pleased with. The country today is respected abroad more than ever before, primarily because India is no longer an economic basket case dependent on foreign aid. The Indian economy is among the fastest growing in the world today. India’s military strength, backed by a nuclear deterrent, is growing. Even as the nonaligned movement is becoming increasingly irrelevant, India has been able to devise new partnerships in forums like the WTO, while building a closer relationship with the United States. Finally, India is now actively involved in negotiations that will integrate its economy much closer with the economies of ASEAN and SAARC, laying the basis for it to become a key player in an emerging Asian Economic Union. Even when he was Foreign Minister in 1977-1979, Mr Vajpayee never feared to acknowledge respect for a Nehruvian world-view.

While these are factors that the country can be proud of, it would be premature to claim that we have achieved any “breakthrough” in the war against terrorism. Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist Jim Hoagland perceptively noted that the agreement to recommence the dialogue process with Pakistan was one between a “shrewd” Indian leadership and a “desperate” Pakistan, that is facing international condemnation as a source of jihadi terrorism worldwide and for irresponsibly transferring nuclear weapons technology to countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia and North Korea. The entire agreement with General Musharraf is premised on Pakistan ending its use of terrorism as an instrument of State policy and dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism built by the ISI. General Musharraf’s assurances on ending support for terrorism are nothing new. He had given such assurances to Mr Colin Powell and Mr Richard Armitage in 2002. India’s Army Chief General N.C. Vij has revealed that there are still around 80 terrorist camps functioning on Pakistani soil and in POK.

The ISI infrastructure for promoting terrorism in India is not restricted to Jammu and Kashmir. Nor is it based only on Pakistani soil. It is no secret that even today there are a few score residual “Khalistani” terrorists still resident in Pakistan, including figures like Wadhawa Singh, who leads a banned terrorist outfit, the “Babbar Khalsa International”. An elaborate infrastructure to incite and fan separatism amongst Sikh pilgrims visiting their holy shrines like Nankana Sahib, under the leadership of the virulently anti-Indian former ISI Chief General Javed Nasir remains active. Pakistani diplomatic missions in Western countries augment these efforts by inciting misguided Indian expatriates. It would be no surprise if the three terrorists accused of assassinating Chief Minister Beant Singh, who escaped from jail recently in Chandigarh, find safe havens in Pakistan. The ISI is also actively involved in fomenting separatist violence in our northeastern states. Leaders and cadres of outfits like the NSCN and ULFA have visited and received training in Pakistan. The ISI finds the Khaleda Zia government in Bangladesh a willing ally in such activities. There is a growing tendency in recent years for the ISI to incite misguided Indian Muslims resident in countries like Saudi Arabia through cadres of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, to resort to terrorism. Further, even while its links with the notorious “ D Company” continue, the ISI uses our open borders with Nepal to smuggle in terrorists and counterfeit Indian currency.

In keeping with the understanding reached between Mr Vajpayee and General Musharraf, the composite dialogue process is scheduled to commence shortly. It will give an impression of being chary of a dialogue on Kashmir if it hesitates or prevaricates on this issue. But our negotiators would be well advised to make it clear to their Pakistani counterparts that our concerns regarding Pakistani sponsorship of terrorism are not confined to Jammu and Kashmir alone. Sadly, misinformed and over-enthusiastic sections of our media have given the impression that India seeks a Kashmir settlement based on converting the Line of Control into an international border. This has led General Musharraf to proclaim: “The LOC can’t be a solution. We have fought wars on it. How can a dispute be made a solution?”

The unanimous Indian parliamentary resolution of 1994 declares the whole State of Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India. This has to be the starting point of any talks on J&K, as we attempt to meet Pakistani ambitions “halfway”. More importantly, we have to achieve substantial forward movement on enhanced people-to-people contacts and in normalising trade and economic relations, if we are to create a political climate in which complex issues like Jammu and Kashmir can be realistically addressed. Thus, while we can certainly “feel good” at the better atmospherics that now prevail in our relations with Pakistan, it would be unwise and premature to count our chickens before they are hatched on dealing with terrorism.

MIDDLE

Tunnel vision
by Amar Chandel

To

The CEO,

Delhi Metro,

New Delhi

Dear sir,

We understand that your organisation is in need of trained tunnel digging experts and hereby offer our services for the said posts.

We are the foremost authorities on tunnel digging technology. A few Press clippings about our recent success stories are enclosed.

You will appreciate that we have developed purely indigenous ways of tunneling without taking any foreign help. Our work celebrates the freedom spirit of India all the way.

Not only that, we do most of our pioneering work manually without the help of sophisticated machinery. As such, we can do the digging for the Delhi metro railway at a fraction of the present cost.

We have set very exacting standards for ourselves and even without the help of costly equipment, our tunnels are always in perfect alignment. So, you can be certain of international quality at Indian prices.

In a thickly populated city like Delhi, it is very important that the construction work should not cause any disruption. We will be carrying out most of our operations only in the dead of night, that too while utilising soundless hand-held tools, to make sure that no inconvenience is caused to any citizen. It is second nature with us to work in near-total silence, so much so that we can guarantee that the residents of the Capital won't even know that digging work is going on right under their feet.

Another major problem involved with tunnel digging is the disposal of soil. We are proud to inform you of our success in developing a technology (patent pending) through which we can make most of the loose earth vanish into sewerage pipes. Using this technique, the hassles involved in garbage disposal will be greatly reduced, if not eliminated altogether.

We have invitations from many foreign countries to give live demonstration of our seminal work, but we feel that our homeland has the first right on our expertise. So confident are we of the superiority of our work that we are willing to undertake a pilot project free of cost. You can make the payment after you are fully satisfied with our performance. All that we seek in return for this gesture of goodwill is police protection. By that we mean that you should provide us protection from the police.

Waiting for a favourable reply.

Yours faithfully

Jagtar Singh Hawara, Jagtar Singh Tara

and Paramjit Singh Bheora,

Formerly residents of Burail Jail, Chandigarh.

OPED

Johl owes everything to his guru
Says students act like robots, not humans
by P.P.S. Gill

Padma Bhushan sits lightly on Dr S.S. Johl

THIS is the story of a village boy who was fond of catching butterflies and was fascinated by insects he saw in the fields. When he grew up, he wanted to be an entomologist, but could not, given the economic condition of his family. He also wanted to join the Army, but was overage by the time he tried his luck, and got rooted to agriculture instead.

Decades later, this village boy was to carve a niche for himself as an agricultural economist. And as destiny had willed, he was to motivate farmers to adopt agriculture as a business enterprise.

This village boy is none else but Prof Sardara Singh Johl, who has been honoured with Padma Bhushan. Today he is looked up to with respect when it comes to agricultural policy-planning or problems that beset farmers across the country.

Despite his contribution to agricultural economics and advice on agricultural policies, both at home and abroad, he prefers to be acknowledged as a “teacher”. In the mid-60s, for the first time, Dr Johl had opted to teach economics to undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He was then Professor and Head of the Department of Economics and Sociology.

Perhaps it was 1978 when I met him during one of his visits to India. He had driven in his own car to Ludhiana from Tehran, where he was an adviser to the Iran government under a FAO plan. As he narrated anecdotes of his sojourn in several countries, I asked him what would he like to do after retirement? “Go back to my village school and teach. If nursery is neglected, grown-up plants will never be healthy in mind and body”.

Thereafter, he went places on World Bank assignments in Ethopia, Somalia, West Asia, China and Russia. In between, he served as Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, and Member, Economic Advisory Council of four Prime Ministers. He has been bestowed with several awards and honours, including Doctorate of Literature (Honoris Causa) by Punjabi University. “This is one honour, I value the most”.

Last week when I called up to congratulated him, I also reminded him of his promise to go back to the village school. He said, “I have gone back, not to school, but to college”. He was referring to Amardeep Memorial College at Mukandpur in Nawanshehar district, which he has built from a scratch in paddy fields. Today with an investment of Rs 14 crore from NRIs, the college stands tall, with 1,400 students on the rolls.

On his not being able to teach in his village school, he was nostalgic. “In Failslabad district in Pakistan, there is a school in Paoliani Bunglaw. Since I could not return there, I had floated an annual scholarship by raising a corpus fund I had contributed to the school. From this fund a scholarship is awarded to a student who tops in class VIII. The scholarship is named after my teacher, Sufi Mohammad Din. He is my ‘guru’, who had inspired me to attend school after I had failed in Class VII. It was because of him that I topped in Class VIII. What I am today, I owe it to him”.

Dr Johl believes that a teacher can play a vital role in character-building, act as a catalyst of societal change and strengthen the fabric of the nation’s unity and development. “Unfortunately, this is not happening. Children today are burdened. They have lost their childhood. Their life is not worry-free. The more I see today’s children, the more I feel depressed and am reminded of my ‘bachpan”’.

He went on, “The teacher-student relationship has become mechanical. Education is set on a wrong path. Students act like robots, not humans. They have forgotten the fine arts like music. Now only marks and percentage worry them and their parents. This laxity society has permitted to permeate education and teachers is dangerous. It is a teacher who chisels out scientists and politicians, administrators and innovators out of children”.

Even when working on hard economic concepts or on problems in the farm sector or how to integrate rural development with agriculture, Dr Johl does not allow his life’s rhythm to miss his first love, music. When not writing policy-papers, he relaxes with his collection of “ghazals” and “thumri” or plays on “tabla”. His involvement in social service helps him to better analyse and find solutions to human problems, as he gets to see human bondage and suffering more closely.

Dr Johl prides himself as a practical farmer and identifies himself with the small farmer. This experience, he invariably weaves into policy-programmes he enunciates. These aim at ameliorating the economic lot of the small peasants, who are the backbone of Indian agriculture.

His autobiography “Ranga Di Gagar” in Punjabi in story-telling form is a literary piece and inspires youth, as he guides them through personal experiences. Occasionally, this village boy of yesteryear allows a peep into his perception of men and matters through his account of in-service years or world travels.

Though “happy” over the recognition of his contribution through agricultural economics, he would have felt “more happy” had his latest report been implemented. He sighs, “The report on diversification and opening up of the agriculture sector has not been understood in the right perspective. It has been accepted only mentally, not in policy implementation”.

Dr Johl has to his credit several commissioned reports, hundreds of scientific and research papers and over half-a-dozen books.

FROM PAKISTAN
Deadline fixed for Police Order

ISLAMABAD: The government has fixed August 14 as deadline to implement the Police Order 2002, said Chairman National Reconstruction Bureau Daniyal Aziz.

“The provinces have been given time till February 10 to present their reservations, suggestions, problems, difficulties and proposals for the implementation of the Public Safety Commission under the Police Order 2002,” he said while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.

The press conference was held following a high-level meeting chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf and attended by Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, chief ministers of the four provinces, provincial chiefs of police departments and other high officials. — The News International

Women police stations

QUETTA: Treasury and opposition benches in the Balochistan Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution, demanding of the federal government to enact legislation against the Karo-Kari killing and violence against women.

Samina Saeed of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) moved the joint resolution during the session, chaired by Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar. Other movers of the resolution were provincial minister Mir Muhammad Asghar Rind and Farah Azeem Shah of National Alliance (NA).

Samina Saeed demanded protection to the victims of violence against women and cases of Karo-Kari. She underlined the need for establishing women police stations, crisis centres, shelter homes and legal aid centres in all parts of the province in order to ensure protection to the womenfolk. “This will help discourage violence against women in the province,” she added. — The News International

Bird flu in Karachi

LAHORE: The country in general and Punjab in particular is safe from the bird flu and no case has been detected in the province, said Livestock and Dairy Development Minister Syed Haroon Ahmed Sultan on Tuesday.

Talking to Dawn, the minister claimed that some isolated cases were reported from Karachi last week and teams were sent there to investigate the situation. They found a few cases of avian influenza — H-7 and H-9 — in the layer breed of chicks.

(According to AFP, a Pakistan Agriculture Research Commission official said the virus remained confined to Karachi and had been contained) The chicks, he emphasized, were not infected by H-5 that had spread panic in the Far East and claimed many lives there. — Dawn

New exam system

LAHORE: The Punjab Education Department has introduced a new examination system for the 9th and the 10th classes dispensing with the previous split-in of the subjects and making both the classes independent with full subject courses.

Previously the subjects of Biology and Chemistry were taught in the 9th class and that of Mathematics and Physics in class 10. But now full subjects will be introduced in class 9 and subsequently in class 10 and the courses will be bifurcated into two parts by the Punjab Text Book Board. The same patron has been introduced for the General Science and Arts groups too. — The Nation

REFLECTIONS

Utter no words of condemnation. Close your lips, and let your hearts open. Work out the salvation of this land and of the whole world, each of you thinking that the entire burden is on your shoulders.

— Swami Vivekananda

When one passes out of life, all one’s false ties are snapped.

— Guru Nanak

Society must grow from within in an all-round harmonious way, and not merely certain titbits of reforms be superimposed on it, neglecting all other aspects.

— Shri Adi Shankaracharya

My purpose is to make man unconditionally free, for I maintain that the only spirituality is the incorruptibility of the Self which is eternal, is the harmony between reason and love.

— J. Krishnamurti