O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Looters, not protectors
Alarming rise in crimes on trains
PERHAPS, the Government Railway Police personnel who looted some passengers of the Delhi-Patna Jansadharan Express near the Allahabad junction on Friday morning had planned it that way. They struck a few hours before Railway Minister Nitish Kumar came to Parliament with sops for train users, promising a safe journey with anti-collision devices in five years.

Killer disease
Bird flu is more dangerous than understood
THE scare among chicken lovers is understandable as reports of avian influenza come in from more and more countries. There has not been a single case of bird flu reported from anywhere in India.

Elusive Veerappan
Benefits by benign neglect
THE Supreme Court's award of the death penalty to four men of forest brigand Veerappan's gang should serve to highlight once again how the notorious sandalwood smuggler has evaded the long arm of the law. 

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

Premature polls are questionable
People’s interests must be the guiding factor
by Subhash C. Kashyap
THE euphoria in NDA camps following the results of the five Assembly elections was understandable even if it was a little overdone. What is now difficult to appreciate is the somersault by some of the top leaders who were till very recently asserting repeatedly and categorically that Lok Sabha elections would be held on time and that the NDA government would complete its full term.

MIDDLE

From this pocket into that
by V.N. Kakar
BUNTY was a great man, everybody’s darling. Grandson of one of the great sons of India from his mother’s side, his uncle was a minister in the Central Government. He could do anything he liked. Rather, he could do nothing. 

OPED

Wetlands cover only 0.5 pc area in Punjab
The hyacinth menace at Harike and Kanjli
by Vishal Gulati
WETLANDS play an important role in the protection and improvement of the environment of an area. The world’s major rivers have their origin in mountain wetlands and over two-third of the world’s fish harvest is linked to the health of wetlands. Wetlands occupy about 6 per cent of the total landmass of the globe.

CONSUMER RIGHTS
Railways must ensure safety
by Pushpa Girimaji
Finally, the Railways has taken the responsibility for law and order on trains. In his interim Budget for 2004-2005, Mr Nitish Kumar has said that from July 1 this year the Railway Protection Force will provide security to passengers.

REFLECTIONS

EDITORIALS

Looters, not protectors
Alarming rise in crimes on trains

PERHAPS, the Government Railway Police personnel who looted some passengers of the Delhi-Patna Jansadharan Express near the Allahabad junction on Friday morning had planned it that way. They struck a few hours before Railway Minister Nitish Kumar came to Parliament with sops for train users, promising a safe journey with anti-collision devices in five years. The minister must have got the message that installing the anti-collision devices and repairing or reconstructing some railway bridges alone cannot make train travel risk-free. The task is quite complicated when those supposed to protect the lives and property of the travelling public seem to have forgotten their primary responsibility. Now the question is not merely to ensure the safety of train users from professional robbers. There is need to take corrective measures to make the GRP men do the duty they are paid for.

The robbery in the Patna-bound train is not a solitary incident. It was just a week ago that a young man lost his life when he challenged some eve-teasers in a train. The criminals were suspected to be GRP men. That the victim happened to be a grandnephew of the Prime Minister is not the point to be stressed here. No one should meet such a fate. There is no end to the involvement of GRP personnel in incidents of crime in trains. This month itself GRP personnel robbed a poor passenger from Bihar at Ambala railway station and gang-raped a woman passenger near Ludhiana.

It seems the fear of the law has disappeared even from those who are supposed to enforce it. This is a very serious matter and requires urgent attention of the powers that be. Something is seriously wrong somewhere. The offenders must be given the severest punishment possible and that too without any delay. Railway passengers do not pay for getting looted in the course of their journey.

Killer disease
Bird flu is more dangerous than understood

THE scare among chicken lovers is understandable as reports of avian influenza come in from more and more countries. There has not been a single case of bird flu reported from anywhere in India. On its part, the government has imposed a ban on the import of poultry products with a view to preventing the spread of the disease. Punjab, which is one of the largest producers of poultry products in the country, has begun experiencing the pinch with a sudden drop in the demand for poultry products. Consequently, there has been a drastic fall in the price of chicken and eggs. These are, of course, temporary setbacks but they are nothing compared to what many other Asian countries have experienced. The rapidly spreading virus has already killed tens of millions of chickens across at least nine countries without showing any sign of a slowdown.

Avian influenza is not a new disease as there have been several instances of it decimating the birds in continent after continent. What has caused panic is the finding that the disease can be transmitted to human beings. So far at least eight people are believed to have been killed by the disease. Human fatality has been low mainly because the strain that can infect human beings has been found to be active only in a few countries. But this in itself does not provide any consolation. It is often overlooked that for all its familiarity and apparent harmlessness, influenza has always been a major killer. In a normal year, complications arising out of influenza kill thousands of people even in advanced countries like the US. This suggests how dangerous it is to ignore the threat avian influenza poses.

India cannot remain complacent, particularly with neighbouring Pakistan reporting bird flu cases. Unfortunately, there is very little awareness about the epidemic, particularly its prevention. Poultry farmers and public health officials need to be given training so that an outbreak of the disease can be prevented. The government should be as responsive as it was when SARS cases were reported from the same Asian region. After all, as Robin Marantz Henig, who wrote a book on the emerging viruses, has powerfully argued, the next "plague" would be influenza. Now is the time to prevent it.

Elusive Veerappan
Benefits by benign neglect

THE Supreme Court's award of the death penalty to four men of forest brigand Veerappan's gang should serve to highlight once again how the notorious sandalwood smuggler has evaded the long arm of the law. The four sentenced to death had in April 1993 blown up a bus killing 22 personnel of a special task force set up by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to capture Veerappan. A TADA court in Mysore had sentenced them to life, which was sought, by the Karnataka government, to be enhanced to capital punishment. If the death penalty is intended for the rarest of rare cases, then this is one of those cases where the extreme punishment is justified. These cold-blooded criminals are a menace to society and a threat to the people in the Satyamangalam forest where Veerappan's writ runs unchallenged.

These are but four of the many Veerappan has under his command and a reminder that the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have failed to nab the bandit. He is wanted for over a hundred killings, including that of policemen and forest officials. These are but a few of the crimes of the dreaded dacoit and elephant poacher who has struck with impunity, be it to kill an inconvenient politician or kidnap the matinee idol Rajkumar. Instead of joining forces to bring him to book, the two neighbouring states are preoccupied with blaming each other for Veerappan's predatory activities. Every time he strikes, there is a flurry of activity and the two states make brave assertions of how he would be brought to book. But little is done to pursue him.

It is high time that not only the two states but the Centre also acted with firm resolve to capture this terrorist-brigand who seems to be the beneficiary of benign neglect and, therefore, free to run his lawless state with an awesome armoury and strike power. It is paradoxical that while the state has set itself uncompromisingly against terrorism of all shades, both internal and external, Veerappan and his gang should be able to get away with the most heinous crimes.

Thought for the day

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

— Mario Cuomo

ARTICLE

Premature polls are questionable
People’s interests must be the guiding factor
by Subhash C. Kashyap

THE euphoria in NDA camps following the results of the five Assembly elections was understandable even if it was a little overdone. What is now difficult to appreciate is the somersault by some of the top leaders who were till very recently asserting repeatedly and categorically that Lok Sabha elections would be held on time and that the NDA government would complete its full term. In fact, they were also pleading for having a fixed term for the legislative houses. Public memory is proverbially said to be short, but it is not so short that the people would forget all this.

One has come to associate a certain segacity and equanimity with the personality of the present Prime Minister. In some of the most delicate and difficult situations he has withstood all the pressures from the party and the bureaucracy and held his own. His latest statement on the conclusion of the meeting of the national executive of the BJP is, therefore, woefully ill-advised. It is most unfortunate that for once he has acted not as a statesman but as a politician. He has allowed himself to be led by the flurry of the loud sounds in the party.

Earlier, the NDA partners had authorised the Prime Minister to take a decision in regard to preponing the fourteenth general election to the Lok Sabha. After the BJP executive resolved in favour of early elections, the Prime Minister promptly announced his agreement and expressed the hope that the entire process of polls would be completed and the new government headed by him put in place by April. Instructions have since been issued to the Ministers of Parliamentary Affairs and Finance for arranging an early Vote-on-Account by Parliament.

The Prime Minister is quoted to have said that the party has recommended that “we should seek a fresh mandate at the earliest to complete the unaccomplished part of our mission” and to “march even more confidently towards our goal of making India a developed nation by 2020”.

Whom are we fooling? Does the Prime Minister need a fresh mandate to do any of these things. The NDA government was elected on the basis of a national agenda for good governance. Before going to the people again, it should pause and introspect: has it provided good governance, and what has been the fate of the report of the Constitution Commission or of the Lokpal Bill?

Whether the election process can be completed in April or May is beside the point. The most pertinent question is that of the so-called prerogative of the Prime Minister to seek dissolution of the House and a fresh mandate through a general election at a time of his choosing.

It is true that in the UK it is believed to be the prerogative of the Prime Minister to advise dissolution of the House and go to the people for fresh elections. However, even there this power is not to be exercised arbitrarily. Exercise of discretion has also to be based on reasonable grounds and has to be in the interest of the people. Although the British do not have a written constitution to bind them, it is clearly understood that the Prime Minister can recommend dissolution of the House only if (i) he lacks or loses the confidence of the House; (ii) there exist serious differences on major national issues in the Cabinet and/or in the House; (iii) the electorate has not returned a clear mandate; or (iv) public verdict is considered necessary on some major policy issue.

Unlike the UK, in India the Prime Minister has no such prerogatives. If he loses the confidence of the House, he cannot seek its dissolution and go in appeal to the people. He must resign forthwith. Also, any recommendation for the dissolution of the House has to be made by the Council of Ministers and not by the Prime Minister alone. When once one of our Prime Ministers approached the President for dissolution of the House, the then President insisted that the matter should first be placed before the Council of Ministers as he was bound to consider only their collective advice. Even after the Council of Ministers met and made the recommendation, the President kept the matter with him and the notification subsequently issued used the words “The President on the advice of the Council of Ministers and after careful consideration…”

Thus, the President would be within his rights to keep the matter for his careful consideration for some reasonable length of time and even thereafter under the provisions of the Constitution, he would be at liberty to return it for reconsideration of the Council of Ministers.

After the dissolution of the House, the precise dates for the electoral process to be set in motion have to be decided by the Election Commission. Even if all goes well, it seems extremely unlikely to see the new government in place before May.

Be that as it may, the dissolution of the House and a fresh election cannot be a matter of the sweet will of the ruling party or parties. Also, these should never be used merely as means or tools in the game of power politics for party advantage. Elections have to be for serving the interests of the people at large and not to benefit any party.

The question of seeking a fresh mandate could arise only when the mandate was in doubt. The NDA government continues to enjoy majority in the Lok Sabha and it has very clearly a much larger nation-wide support of the people than what any other party or combine can boast of. Why then should it seek a fresh mandate instead of completing its already mandated full five-year term.

The only justification being advanced for holding elections prematurely is that of the “feel good factor” and a more favourable climate for the ruling coalition. This is ethically illegitimate and clearly in the area of constitutional and political impropriety. Of course, it is neither unprecedented nor unusual. Other parties in power have also tried to drive such advantages from feel good or sympathy wave factors not germane to electoral norms.

In fact, advancing the elections and having them at a time of feel good climate smacks of opportunism and reveals a lack of confidence in the good times for the ruling coalition continuing for long. The people are not so naive as not to understand that the early polls are an admission of the fact that the feel good factor is temporary and bound to be short-lived and that the leaders that be are acting in their narrow self-interest in the quest for power, to make hay while the sun shines.

The tragedy is that what is being attempted is not even in the best interest of the BJP or the NDA. It is, perhaps, too much to hope that even now someone will heed the voice of sanity, or the President would quietly advise the Prime Minister to reconsider his advice and not to be in such haste to seek a fresh mandate for another five-year term.

The writer was a member of the Constitution Commission and Chairman of its Drafting Committee.

MIDDLE

From this pocket into that
by V.N. Kakar

BUNTY was a great man, everybody’s darling. Grandson of one of the great sons of India from his mother’s side, his uncle was a minister in the Central Government. He could do anything he liked. Rather, he could do nothing. But he had to be accommodated somewhere. A job was created for him in the Information Department of the State to which he belonged. But, then, what work to assign to him? The State had 51 districts. For every district, USAID had provided to it a pick-up, equipped with a 16 mm projector, a generator and several audio-visual accessories. Documentary films were produced by the Films Division of the Government of India and supplied to all States. Why not give Bunty the designation of Deputy Director of Information in charge of Field Publicity? All agreed. And this was done.

Bunty did not know anything about field publicity. But coming from a rich family, as he did, he was fully conversant with how cars and pick-ups were run. The State had at its headquarters nearly a dozen staff cars as well. Bunty was given or he undertook the responsibility of looking after the maintenance of those cars, too. He hopped from district to district giving instructions to all concerned how best to maintain their vehicles and other equipment.

Cars and pick-ups cannot have immortal tyres. Their life is limited and this Bunty knew perfectly. The tyres of two staff cars at the headquarters allegedly completed their life-span. Bunty put up a proposal to the government to buy new tyres as replacements for the old ones. Who could dare question his judgement? The proposal was sanctioned. New tyres were purchased for the two cars.

Funny things happened thereafter. The tyres of Bunty’s own car had also sung their swan song. Out of the tyres purchased, Bunty grabbed two and got them fixed in his own car. The needy, deprived staff car was left high and dry. Its driver was close to the driver of the Chief Secretary. The latter was apprised of what had happened and he brought it to the notice of the Chief Secretary himself. No enquiry was held since before it could be held, someone intervened on behalf of Bunty and the matter was hushed up conveniently.

Nevertheless, the Chief Secretary called Bunty and his boss, the Director, himself a political appointee, to his office and gave Bunty a terrific dressing down. “Bunty,” he said to him, “if you are a gentleman, you will resign and go. But I know that you won’t do that. For you are not a gentleman.” Bunty apologised to him and assured him that he would return the government’s tyres to the government.

As he came out of the Chief Secretary’s room, Bunty’s Director said to him, “Bunty, aaj toh tumhari buri durgat hooi.” Bunty put his right hand first in the right pocket of his coat, then in the left, and remarked nonchalantly, “into one pocket it goes, out of the other it comes out. This is the dastur of zamana.”

That dastur, alas, has spread its wings far and wide. So many Buntys are around, particularly in politics and bureaucracy, that if you lose the tyres of your car, you won’t be able to say which Bunty has taken them away. And you won’t know to whom to go to lodge your complaint.

OPED

Wetlands cover only 0.5 pc area in Punjab
The hyacinth menace at Harike and Kanjli
by Vishal Gulati

The hyacinth, which impairs the quality of water, was removed a few years ago at Harike, but it has resurfaced. — Photo by Pankaj Sharma

WETLANDS play an important role in the protection and improvement of the environment of an area. The world’s major rivers have their origin in mountain wetlands and over two-third of the world’s fish harvest is linked to the health of wetlands. Wetlands occupy about 6 per cent of the total landmass of the globe.

However, in India they cover roughly 1.5 per cent of the area and in Punjab it is a dismal 0.5 per cent.

The importance of wetlands was first globally recognised as exclusive habitat for waterfowl at a convention held in Iran at Ramsar in 1971.

With increased understanding, it is now considered that wetlands have contributed considerably towards national economies by providing fish and wildlife habitats, water quality improvement, flood protection, natural products, hydrological control, recreation and aesthetics.

According to studies conducted by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, there were roughly 22,993 hectares under 32 natural wetlands during the early 1940s. Fourteen extinct wetlands have been recorded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. These included Bhupinder Sagar in Patiala district (3,161 acres); Chhangali Chhamb in Ferozepore district (2,470 acres); Gaunspur Chhamb in Hoshiarpur district; Rahon-de-Chhamb in Jalandhar district (741 acres); and Kahnuwan Chhamb (2,800 hectares) in Gurdaspur district.

However, after Independence, most of these wetlands were converted into farmlands.

Other freshwater natural and man-made wetlands which are under stress are Jasterwal Jheel (reduced from 617 acres to 135 acres) and Aliwal-Kotli Jheel (reduced to 25 acres), both in Amritsar district; Keshopur-Miani Jheel (reduced from 1,235 acres to 1,000 acres) and Chhawarian Bangar Chhamb (reduced from 6,916 acres to 315 acres), both in Gurdaspur district; Mand Bharthala (reduced from 494 acres to 150 acres), Narayangarh Terkiana Chhamb (reduced from 494 acres to 200 acres) and Dholbaha reservoir, all in Hoshiarpur district; Hussainiwala wetlands in Ferozepore district; and Nangal lake in Ropar district.

At present, India has 19 wetlands, including Harike, Kanjli and Ropar in Punjab, Pong Dam in Himachal Pradesh and Tso Morai and Wular in Jammu and Kashmir, in the Ramsar List.

Harike wetlands, which came into being with the construction of a barrage in 1952 on the Sutlej, play an important role in maintaining the hydrological balance in the catchment of the Sutlej and the Beas systems. These support rare, vulnerable and endangered fauna species, including the testudine turtle and the smooth Indian otter, both of which are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of threatened animals.

The wetlands attract a large population of avifauna, particularly diving ducks. It is a vital source of water for the people of Punjab and Rajasthan. These support 68 species of freshwater fish, including 19 species of commercial value.

The reservoir at Ropar was formed with the construction of a head regulator in 1952. The wetlands play an important hydrological role in recharging the aquifers as the strata is sandy. These serve as an important breeding place for the smooth Indian otter, hog deer, sambhar and pangolin. Thirtyfive species of fish have been reported here.

The Kanjli wetlands are located on the Kali Bein near Kanjli village in Kapurthala district. The Kali Bein is one of the important tributaries of the Beas.

Pong Dam wetlands are located in Kangra district. These came into existence after the construction of a dam on the Beas in 1960. Twentyseven freshwater fish species, including carnivorous fish like catfish and mahseer, have been recorded in the reservoir.

Last year the wildlife wing of the Forest Department conducted a census and recorded nearly 24,276 bar-headed goose, which works out to be 40 per cent of the estimated world population.

As wetlands do not have a “self-cleaning” ability like rivers, therefore, they readily accumulate pollution.

Harike wetlands are a receptacle for domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes generated within its catchment. The Sutlej and the Beas receive 302 million litres per day of wastewater from catchment towns alone.

The Sutlej carries much toxicants. Its toxic level is high at Nangal, Kiratpur Sahib (due to human ashes), Ropar (due to effluents from paper mills), Ludhiana (due to the confluence of the Buddha Nullah) and Gidderpindi (due to the confluence of the East Bein).

The Beas is comparatively less polluted as only two industrial complexes, one at Mukerian and the other at Goindwal Sahib, are located.

Besides this, pesticides from the fields also enter the wetlands during the rainy season.

The water quality of the Sutlej, as monitored by the Punjab Pollution Control Board, falls under the category “C” or lower. Only a small stretch from Nangal to Ropar reported to be in the category of “B” or “A”. A decrease in the volume of water in the main river downstream of the Ropar head regulator is also responsible for the apparent increase in pollution.

Indiscriminate deforestation and grazing in the surrounding areas of the wetlands have resulted in loosening of the top soil, which is choking the mouth of almost all wetlands. Harike has already shrunk to 25 sq km from 41 sq km. Its storage capacity has decreased from 67,900 acres feet in 1952 to 14,740 acres feet in 1990.

The water hyacinth menace is again posing a threat to the Harike and Kanjli wetlands. The vast green carpet of the hyacinth is impairing the quality of water. At the Ropar wildlife sanctuary, lanatana and parthenium have grown abundantly.

Hemmed in by problems, the wetlands are desperately looking for a long-term action plan to arrest their inexorable march towards certain death.

CONSUMER RIGHTS
Railways must ensure safety
by Pushpa Girimaji

Finally, the Railways has taken the responsibility for law and order on trains. In his interim Budget for 2004-2005, Mr Nitish Kumar has said that from July 1 this year the Railway Protection Force (RPF) will provide security to passengers. If only this had been done years ago it could have saved the lives of those who became victims of lawlessness on trains. It might have saved many a woman humiliation and harassment at the hands of hooligans. It would have prevented theft of passengers' baggage on trains. Unfortunately, it took the tragic death of the Prime Minister's grand nephew for the Railways to finally see reason.

There is no point in just replacing the GRP with the RPF. In most cases of violence and rowdy behaviour on trains, the police may be outnumbered. So the police personnel will have to be specially trained to handle such situations. For example, they can be trained in martial arts like karate. Special training and communication equipment will enable even a small force to act effectively against crime on trains. What is required is a commitment to provide safe travel.

REFLECTIONS

Man is born with four debts:

By worship he discharges the debt of Gods.

By study he discharges the debt of Rishis

By giving birth he discharges the debt of his Parents

By practising hospitality he discharges the debts of Humanity.

— Shri Adi Shankaracharya

Life and life’s end are at the will of the Lord

To Him have I surrendered my soul.

— Guru Nanak

The sage awakes to light in the night of all creatures. That which the world calls day is the night of ignorance to the wise.

— Shri Krishna (Bhagavadgita)

To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.

— Saint Teresa of Avila