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It’s not right,
Hema Wages of
negligence |
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Advantage Krishna
More money for
defence?
Valentine musings
In the service of
leprosy patients LEGAL NOTES
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It’s not right, Hema THE Constitution had made provisions for nomination to the Rajya Sabha to ensure that artistes, writers, sportsmen and social workers too get representation in the House. After all, such people are not expected to contest elections, let alone win them. Thus when a couple of months ago film star Hema Malini and wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh were nominated to the Rajya Sabha in the biennial elections, nobody found anything amiss in the government decision. Both of them had established a name for themselves in their fields of choice. As such, people were willing to overlook the fact that Hema Malini had campaigned extensively for the BJP in the previous elections. They hoped that once she became a nominated MP, she would rise above party politics and use the forum of the House to further the causes dear to her. But the people had a shock when after being sworn in as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the actress drove straight to the BJP office and aligned herself with the ruling party. Of course, in doing so, she did not breach any law but certainly propriety and conventions. Hema Malini has now compounded her impropriety by formally joining the BJP and thereby surrendering her independence. What’s worse, reports have appeared about the BJP’s plans to field her and Dara Singh in the coming Lok Sabha elections from Punjab in its bid not to lose any winnable seat. If it is so, they should first give up their seats as nominated members of the Rajya Sabha. Whether they eventually get the tickets or not, it is unfortunate that the party considered them as potential candidates. If they do not quit the Rajya Sabha, people will get the impression that the BJP government had misused the power of nomination. To be fair to the BJP, it had only taken a leaf from the Congress book. In the past, there were some instances of the Congress government nominating to the Rajya Sabha partymen who lost elections or those whom its leaders wanted to oblige for some reason. Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao even nominated a member who had acquired an unsavoury reputation in the coalmines of Bihar. But this is no justification for the BJP to continue the practice when it claims to represent a break from the past. A party with a difference – so goes its brag — is expected to behave differently. |
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Wages of negligence Thursday’s blast in Amritsar in which more than 30 persons were injured was an accident waiting to happen. It occurred when certain waste material stored in the police ‘maalkhana’ nearby was being disposed of through burning. Those who lit the fire were as negligent about the consequences as those who had been storing huge quantities of grenades, explosives, including RDX, and hundreds of live cartridges, there unscientifically. It is providential that the blast took place in the late afternoon. The toll would have been much higher had it occurred in the morning when the District Courts complex is full of people. Still, the damage was substantial enough. The condition of many of those injured is serious while many buildings in the vicinity have suffered extensive damage. What rankled all the more is the fact that the explosion was totally avoidable, if only the items had been stored in a suitable manner. While ideally, the government should wake up before a tragedy takes place, the least it can do is to end its slumber now. Amritsar is not the only place where a “maalkhana” has been converted into a ticking bomb. The situation is not different in the rest of the state. Rather, the same story of callousness is repeated all over the country. It is necessary to apply correctives immediately. The Amritsar blast should also stir a debate on the current practice of keeping sundry items as case property in police custody. Just as arms and ammunition are dumped there, narcotics, cars, cycles and scooters etc are also left to rot there for years. This not only creates difficulties for their owners but also causes a lot of corruption. It is high time courts revised this archaic system. |
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Advantage Krishna By all accounts, Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna took sweet revenge against state BJP president and former Union Minister Ananth Kumar by inducting into the Congress 16 members, including 11 of the All-India Progressive Janata Dal, an outfit of the late Ramakrishna Hegde. Just when the Assembly is all set for dissolution on Monday, Mr Krishna could manage to stage a coup in the Opposition. Needless to say, ever since Hegde’s death, the state BJP and the splinter groups of the Janata Dal have been trying to wean his group away for possible electoral benefits. Apparently, Hegde’s men wanted to play safe by joining the ruling Congress, rather than trying their luck with a fragmented Opposition or even the BJP which is yet to broaden its presence in the state. It would be premature for one to draw any inference on the likely impact of the latest development in the state. However, according to preliminary reports, six of the 11 MLAs of the Hegde group belong to the Lingayat community, which had backed the BJP in the last elections. They could play a significant role for the Congress in North Karnataka. Similarly, four others are from the Vokkalinga community, which lends strength to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in South Karnataka. If the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre is optimistic of a victory in the Lok Sabha elections because of the leadership and stature of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the “feel-good” factor, the Karnataka Congress too is hopeful of retaining power in the Assembly elections on the basis of the Krishna government’s performance in rural development, information technology and e-governance. It is a moot point whether the splinter groups in the Opposition would join together to throw a formidable challenge to the Congress in the elections. No doubt, the state BJP has been trying to dislodge the Krishna government for quite some time, but one is yet to see the kind of early lead it had taken not long ago through a fiery campaign in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. |
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I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. — Helen Keller |
More money for defence? IN the defence budget (vote on account) for the year 2004-05 the government has committed Rs 25,000 crore for a non-lapsable defence modernisation fund to cater to the procurement needs of the three armed forces. Paucity of funds will not come in the way of the defence establishments, modernisation and weapons acquisition plans. Besides, the country’s defence outlay has been hiked by Rs 6300 crore. The move is expected to facilitate the purchase of Scorpene submarines and the Phalcon Early Warning Air Control System (EWACS) radar. This is apart from the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, advance jet trainer (AJT) Hawk 115Y, Embraer executive jets, thermal imagers and electronic warfare system which have already been given the government’s nod. “The process of defence procurement often extends to over three years. Adequate and committed availability of funds, over such a period, for defence modernisation and weapons systems acquisition needs a satisfactory resolution. The fund will be made available to the Ministry of Defence from the new financial year,” the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said in his interim Budget speech on February 4. The move is to ensure that adequate funds are available to pay the instalments for the purchase of the AJT for the Indian Air Force and aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov for the Navy. Both these deals were signed in the current fiscal, after years of delay. While the refurbished Gorshkov, along with its complement of two squadrons of MiG -29K fighter aircraft and Kamov choppers, is likely to cost upwards of Rs 7,200 crore, the 66 AJTs, to be purchased from British Aerospace, would come for about Rs 8,000 crore. The idea behind the fund is that it will not lapse annually but would be a permanent source that can be tapped by the Defence Ministry as and when the need arises. The Defence Ministry is often unable to utilise its entire allocation. It had to surrender substantial funds under the “Capital Expenditure” head. Even in the current financial year, the revised estimate for capital expenditure by the Defence Ministry has shown a decline of about 20 per cent. While the Budget estimates had projected a capital account spending of Rs 20,952.76 crore, the ministry is set to spend just Rs 16,906.32 crore. The expenditure for the year 2004-05 has been projected at Rs 66,000 crore, which includes Rs 22,482.85 crore as capital expenditure. As a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), the country’s projected defence expenditure is about 2.1 per cent. Citing the situation as the outcome of the government’s indifference to the requirements of the Armed Forces, the opposition parties slammed the Vajpayee regime for coming in the way of the country’s defence preparedness. The 19th report of the standing committee attached to the Defence Ministry expressed its serious concern over this development. The marginal hike in defence budget, say experts, might not be adequate for the military’s plans to refurbish its arsenal. The total allocation comes to about 2.4 per cent of the GDP, whereas Pakistan spends 4.5 per cent and China 5.6 per cent of the GDP on its defence. India should also allocate about 3 per cent of the GDP on defence considering the hostile neighbours and continuous counterinsurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. The real issue in the defence budget is not how much it is enhanced but how the funds are spent. Indeed, it must be remembered that a substantial portion of last year’s defence allocations remain unutilised, in part because of the elephantine pace of procurement process itself, which is not only slow but ponderous as well. It is also due to what has come to be known as the “Bofors Syndrome”, wherein the people involved in the procurement process have become wary of taking decisions for fear of being accused of corruption. Fear of “Tehelka” expose also does not allow the decision makers to take prompt decisions resulting in non-expenditure of allocated funds. For some years, actual spending has lagged behind the budget amount. This has, in turn, affected the preparedness of the defence forces. Currently, not only the Tenth Defence Plan (2002-07) has not been finalised, but also a rough indication of the financial commitment too is pending, despite the fact that the first two years of the Plan are already over. The report blames the state of affairs on “slippage, slow progress of the work and non-finalisation of the deals and contractual commitments”, though part of it is also due to the “Bofors Syndrome” and the more recent Tehelka expose, where fear of the stigma of corruption paralysed the procurement process. Seen in this light, the committee’s recommendations of a multi-year (at least for five years) defence budgeting plan deserves serious considerations along with a streamlining of the budgeting process. A look at some effective models existing in other countries would be of great help. Equally important is the case for an assured allocation of funds albeit after assessing the need for equipment requirement/ upgradation, so as to ensure the full utilisation of the same. Taking the cue from recommendations made by the high-level Group of Ministers on reforming the national security system, the office of the Integrated Defence Staff in the Ministry of Defence is required to improve the planning process. The growth of the Indian Army, in the past, has been haphazard and as a reaction to contemporary crises. Declining budgetary support and archaic financial management procedures further aggravate the situation. Current financial allocations for defence are in the region of 2.1 per cent of the GDP. Most military organisations are sustained with a budget that varies between 3 and 4 per cent of the GDP. It has been analysed that a defence budget of over 4 per cent will have an adverse effect on the overall growth of the nation. On the other hand sustained modernisation of the military is not possible with a defence budget of less than 3 per cent of the GDP. The present non-lapsable fund of Rs 25,000 crore is only eyewash. What is required is a 15-year perspective planning and not adhocism as is the case projected in the budget. The writer is a defence analyst and commentator |
Valentine musings IF Indian chickens were suffering from the bird flu scare, then our very own Indian chicks and chicknas too were in the grip of another type of flu called the love flu last week. This ‘epidemic’ has become an annual ‘‘affair’’ for the last few years and has the whole country in its grip in the month of February. The origin of this flu has been tracked to Saint Valentine. It has different effects on different people. While a macho muscle man can go mushy, a coy gal can become daring. A burly cop may become overly suspicious and start wielding his baton, those with teenaged kids may see red at the sight of a red or even pink dress and think of sending detectives after their wards. Where the bird flu scare crashed the prices of chicken making many a diehard Punjabi “kukkad” lover to explore other “meaty” options, the other epidemic — love flu — jacked up the prices of flowers, cards, perfumes and a host of other trivia making many a hunk and petite dame seek the merger of their DA (dear’s allowance) into their basic pocket money. With more than 54 crore “young” persons in the country the excitement quotient rose tremendously during the Valentine’s Day mania in the different nook and corners. The conservative Indian palates might have found it difficult to digest the open show of affection and be bitter about the exchange of sweet chocolates but the association of a saint with the whole thing added a certain legitimacy to the various “unsaintly” intentions and emotions. As the bold and the beautiful armed with the “licence to love” come out in full force the going got tough for the burly and the brash cops. Reflections of the political tussle between videshi bahu Sonia vs desi babu Atal were also witnessed during the Valentine Day celebrations as torchbearers of “desi love” rubbished the firang angle. ‘‘Why don’t we have anything to celebrate the Laila Majnu, Heer Ranjha or Shirin Farhad days when we have our own ‘heroic’ lovers?’’, they contended. But on February 14 these Indian love icons lost to Saint Valentine as desi colas do to the videshi Pepsi. You may like it and be a part of the frenzy or hate it and call it cultural erosion or much ado about nothing but one thing is for sure that it is difficult to ignore Valentine’s
Day.
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In the service of leprosy patients On the outskirts of Amravati, 153 km from the orange city of Nagpur, stands Tapovan. In Tapovan, looms the larger-than-life persona of Bhagwant Singh Dalawari. He is Papaji, a father-figure to the leprosy patients he takes care of, to the children on the campus and Papaji to his satsangis and colleagues. His morning starts with donning a white surgical gown over his stark white khadi kurta pyjama. He bandages the wounds of the leprosy patients gently with gloved hands and joking with them all the while. His gentle treatment of their wounds and their hurt spirits bring tears to their eyes and smiles on their faces. Papaji tells this writer: “I am not dressing their wounds, I am dressing my own sores, treating my sins”. And he laughs heartily. He doesn’t need to flash the gold medal which he received after finishing his formal training from the
Vellore Christian Medical College. The love he showers on them, the bhajans he sings with them were not a part of his training. But all this comes naturally to him. “It is my Guru, Guru Granth Sahib, who makes me love all humans and treat them as equals, irrespective of their state of body, caste and religion,” he says. Bhagwant Singh Dalawari believes that he enjoyed worldly life to the hilt from 1956-1976 while moving from one diplomatic posting to another. He enjoyed being a father and a husband. He loved his work which took him to Egypt, China, Belgium, Guinea and France. But at the back of his mind was restlessness which gripped him and took him to various Cheshire homes in Delhi and to villages outside it. The quest for a deeper meaning to life led him to disquiet introspection, which lasted a couple of years ending only in 1979 when he arrived on Oct 5, 1979 at Tapovan. Dr Patwardhan, the founder of this tiny hamlet of leprosy patients, a contemporary of Subhash Chandra Bose, was subconsciously looking for someone who could help him in his work of looking after leprosy patients with love. His search ended in B.S. Dalawari, who took over with remarkable ease. The inmates cannot think of Tapovan without Papaji. Dalawari rejuvenates his spirit by holding Satsangs in which people from all walks of life irrespective of their social and religious differences, join him early morning. The Satsangis have become his adopted children who belong to various castes and different parts of the country. He meditates with them on the Guru’s name and talks about their teachings. At the same time, he insists that, “reading and learning scriptures is not enough, one has to practise what one reads.” “Therefore I try to give love to the deprived and the socially unacceptable and try to return to them their humanity, which had been snatched from them because of the stigma of leprosy”. Asked why he chose working with leprosy patients, he refers to Gandhiji’s autobiography where he wrote: “To see God face to face, one has to love the meanest creation as oneself. It then dawned on me that these were God’s very own creatures who were emotionally starved and socially ostracised.” He has no regrets that he parted ways with his earlier life including his wife and daughter, who are in the US and started a new life. “All these inmates are members of my new family.” “Seva and Simran go hand in hand according to Sikhism”, he says and I am happy doing both. When he is not in Tapovan, he is in Delhi holding early morning and evening Satsang. This is tough on the inmates of Tapovan. They miss him and cry. But when he is in Tapovan, cries of “Anand karo Prabhu ke gun gao” resound in the Tapovan precincts with children clapping their hands in glee. It is dusk, literally and metaphorically for Bhagwant Singh Dalwari, but he stands a deeply satisfied man, admired greatly and revered too! |
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LEGAL
NOTES After the Basmati patent controversy, it is now the turn of Indian wheat, which the US agro produce major Monsanto is attempting to register under its patent name in Europe, where the wheat had once become so popular that it had won first prize for four consecutive years between 1916 and 1920. The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, an NGO, has moved the Supreme Court alleging that the Centre had failed to take the matter vigorously with the European Patent Office (EPO), and sought a direction to the government to take necessary action. The NGO has accused Monsanto of “blatant violation” of patent system while filing a claim before the EPO. It said the Indian wheat variety had originated in the Indian sub-continent as a result of over a thousand years of “indigenous” knowledge and practice by the farmers. Any intervention by an outside entity to claim patent of the produce, was violative of the World Trade Organisation norms. Incarnation challenged The incarnation of
Orgyen Trinlay Dorje as the 17th Karmapa of Buddhists has been
challenged in a civil suit in the Delhi High Court by Munger-based
Lama Shree Narayan who claims that Dalai Lama has no authority to
grant the recognition. Justice R.C. Chopra has sought replies from
the Union Government, Dalai Lama, the Karmapa who is living in
Dharamsala, the seat of Tibetan Government in exile in Himachal
Pradesh since he fled to India as a 14-year-old boy from China in 2002
and Situ Rinpoche, a high ranking Lama of Tibet. Since the pleadings
were not complete during the last hearing on January 21, the court has
directed the parties to file replies by May 20 to ensure commencement
of further proceedings in the case. Besides, seeking removal of Orgyen
Trinlay Dorje from the sacred seat of Karmapa, Narayan has also sought
a direction to the Centre to ask him to leave the country. He has
also named the Director of PGI, Chandigarh, as party to the suit,
alleging that the doctors in the hospital had wrongly certified the
age of the Karmapa at the time of his incarnation. The court has asked
the PGI Director to place before it the medical records of the Karmapa.
However, the counsel representing Dalai Lama has said that Narayan was
a habitual litigant raising such controversies. Decks cleared
for GAIL contract The Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has been
allowed by the Delhi High Court to go ahead with the awarding of a
fresh contract for laying the multi-crore Dahej-Vijaipur Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline after vacating the stay on the construction
work, granted on a petition by the RNGS, a consortium of Russian
companies engaged in the project. The RNGS had been awarded the
contract earlier to construct the 600-km long off-shore pipeline from
Gujarat to several states including the national capital to transport
the LNG imported from Qatar. Since the GAIL had sought cancellation of
the contract with the RNGS on the grounds that its work was not only
behind schedule but also of poor quality, the Russian consortium had
approached the court. |
God has no friends or foes. He is impartial. He does not damn any nor elect any by His capricious will. The only way to win His love is by faith and devotion and each must tread the path by himself. — Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
on The Bhagavadgita Rise before dawn and listen to religious music. For in the stillness of the ambrosial hours (amritvela), one is best able to commune with God. — Guru Nanak The ‘duty for duty’s sake’ conception releases man from all vital solicitations, and imports into spiritual life the effective
movement of will without any earthly attraction and satisfaction. — Shri Adi Shankaracharya
Ahimsa is the highest ideal. It is meant for the brave, never for the cowardly. — Mahatma Gandhi The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best of a good man’s life. — William
Wordsworth |
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