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Shrinking sessions Slums
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The
club of 500
It’s not cricket,
General
Women on men
Dateline
London From
Pakistan
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Shrinking sessions The severe dressing-down that the Punjab Government received at the hands of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker over the extremely brief duration of the Budget session on Tuesday was well-deserved. This was not the first time that the
state was witnessing the reduction of the session to a constitutional formality. In September last also, the Vidhan Sabha had met for only two days and the Chief Minister had himself called it “an exercise in futility”. Marks for candour, yes. But the farce was repeated yet again, provoking the Speaker, Dr Kewal Krishan, to remark that “I regret that this is not democracy”. His deputy, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, was even more forthright: “Democracy is being stifled. The very existence of the Vidhan Sabha has come under a question mark”. All the more galling was the fact that some of the ruling party MLAs also took the Amarinder Singh government to task on the issue. The feeble explanation that this happened because no Budget was to be presented this time does not really wash. There are other vital issues that the Vidhan Sabha could have discussed. The Opposition clamoured for at least one day’s extension but the government seemed keen only to escape criticism somehow. Ironically, things are equally bad in the neighbouring Haryana, where although the Budget session lasted seven days, very little serious business was discharged because most MLAs were more concerned about the election campaign than the business at hand. Its previous monsoon session was over in two days. With the first day spent on obituary references, the effective duration was only one day. This is a serious state of affairs for which the public should take its representatives to task. They are not sent to the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabhas to collect their TA/DA but to conduct matters of State diligently, ask piercing questions and to ensure accountability. In practice, the understanding seems to be to hold a session for form’s sake and be done with it. This can only be condemned. |
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Slums mock the claims The findings of a nationwide survey of the slums in urban India, carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation from July to September, 2002, are
startling. However these are likely to be lost in the election noise. As many as 8 million families live in about 52,000 slums, constituting 14 per cent of the total urban population in the country. These are the government’s own figures, which reflect a dark reality sharply different from what the “Shining India” campaign tries to present. The worst-affected states are Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, which together account for 63 per cent of the slum population. Others like Punjab are not far too behind. The slums have been growing over the years because of the neglect of rural India by the successive governments. The declining returns from agriculture, fragmentation of land-holdings, failure to make a productive use of traditional rural skills, limited avenues for earning a livelihood in the rural areas push villagers into cities. The urban-centric policies have led to an imbalanced development. Many in villages are attracted by the trappings of city life. The hordes of migrants struggle to make both ends meet, build shelters wherever they find vacant lands leading to encroachments and unplanned growth of cities. Soon politicians extend them patronage in exchange for votes. There is no well-thought-out policy in place to deal with this explosive issue. Alarmed by the rising demands on Mumbai’s civic amenities, the Shiv Sena-RSS brigade suggested forcible eviction of those who came to the metropolis after a particular cut-off date, apart from stopping fresh arrivals. Unimaginative and impractical solutions can generate social tensions. There is a limit up to which each city can absorb migrants. The survey indicates that 50 per cent of the non-notified slum-dwellers had no access to public toilets. Town planners and policymakers will have to sit together to deal with this serious problem. The politicians who use slum-dwellers as vote banks should also shrug off their callous indifference to the daily suffering living in slums involves. |
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The club of 500 Cricket statisticians should demand a raise. It is now a 24x7 job which requires superhuman effort to keep track of the records. For instance, India and Pakistan created history when both teams scored over 300 runs each in two consecutive one-day games. Over 1300 hundred runs off 200 overs! In Sri Lanka Shane Warne and Muttaih Muralitharan joined Courtney Walsh in the 500 Test-Wicket club. The West Indian with 519 scalps was the first to cross the 400-wicket barrier. He is now in the company of exceptionally talented cricketers of contrasting styles. A point that the overworked statisticians would like to highlight is that Warne and Murali crossed the milestone in the same series currently being played in Sri Lanka. Of the two, the Australian is a poor role model. And that is pity. His name, along with that of Mark Waugh, was linked with the infamous match-fixing controversy. He also served a 12-month exile for using drugs. Murali's vicious off spins promise to take him beyond the 500 mark. His is the fastest 500-wicket haul. There are still those who question his action in spite of the clean chit given to him by the International Cricket Council. While applauding the achievements of the 500 Test-wicket club members, cricket buffs may recall with a tinge of nostalgia the golden era when Fred Truman of England became the first pace bowler to take 300 wickets. Lance Gibbs of the West Indies was the spinner who kept him company for several decades. But the sheer volume of cricket that is being played today, and improved fitness levels, have made even the most difficult record beatable. Richard Hadlee led the bowlers, including Kapil Dev, into the 400-wicket league. Now 500 is the new bench mark of excellence in Test cricket. But Wasim Akram with 500-plus wickets in
one-day cricket may have to wait a long time for company. |
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Thought for the day They make a wilderness and call it
peace.
— Tacitus |
It’s not cricket, General AFTER the weekend spat over the peace process in the subcontinent no one should blame me for asking, “haven’t we been here before?” Right from Tashkent (1966) to Shimla (1972) to Lahore (1999) to Agra (2001), high hopes of a breakthrough in India-Pakistan relations have been followed by deep disappointments. Are we destined to witness a repeat of this dismal history yet again after the promising start encapsulated in the January 6 joint statement by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf? Ironically, for his verbal assault on the progress towards peace, the General chose the day on which the process had reached a high point in the shape of the historic cricket match in Karachi during which Sourav’s boys had done this country proud. To be sure, he began his discourse with a cross-section of the Indian elite via satellite by congratulating India and the Indian cricket team. But soon thereafter the interaction became conspicuously sharp and, alas, negative. Rather relentlessly, General Musharraf went on hammering home his point that the joint statement issued in Islamabad had “recognised” that Kashmir was the “core issue” and therefore without worthwhile progress towards its settlement, the subcontinent would be “back to square one”. Neither confidence-building measures (CBMs) nor economic cooperation, he added, could survive. When a former Foreign Secretary of this country, Mr Kanwal Sibal, asked him whether he was threatening to “revert to cross-border terrorism”, General Musharraf brusquely dismissed the idea. He also rejected Mr Sibal’s suggestion that India and Pakistan should do what India and China are doing. These two countries, despite the persistence of their boundary dispute, have increased their trade and economic cooperation phenomenally. No matter what the question, the Pakistani President immediately linked it with Kashmir. So much so that when the Editor of the Indian Express, Mr Shekhar Gupta, asked whether — and if so, when — democracy in Pakistan would be restored fully, the General’s reaction was combative. “You are,” he retorted, “interfering in the internal affairs of my country. How would you like if I speak about your country’s internal affairs such as the denial of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir, the events in Gujarat and the demolition of the Babri Masjid and treatment of Muslims?” Repeatedly, he described terrorism in Kashmir as a “freedom fight”. Against this backdrop it is no surprise that New Delhi reacted to General Musharraf’s provocative posturing over Kashmir equally strongly. The External Affairs Ministry’s statement was politely worded but its meaning was loud and clear. It corrected the General’s false claim that the January 6 joint statement had acknowledged Kashmir as a “central” or “core” issue in the India-Pakistan dialogue. The statement also reminded the Pakistani President that his “unilateral interpretation” of an unambiguous document and the kind of rhetoric he had indulged in were “not conducive to building trust or taking the peace process further”, besides being contrary to the understanding reached at Islamabad. Makers of Pakistan policy here recognise that General Musharraf finds it necessary to placate his Islamist partners in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the jihadis. Even so his vehemence over Kashmir did come as an unpleasant surprise. And yet the Vajpayee government, with the country’s manifest support, remains committed to the peace process. At the same time it wishes to convey to Islamabad in no uncertain terms that peace-making cannot be a one-way street. One good omen, however, is that public opinion in both countries is swinging in favour of peace partly because more and more Pakistanis realise that the policy of jihad has done them no good. New Delhi has made this point forcefully in its statement. It has also underscored the unacceptability of terrorism being equated with the so-called freedom-fight. That is where an intriguing coincidence comes in. General Musharraf decided to be unduly vehement on the eve of the visit to the subcontinent of the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell. It is possible, indeed probable, that, besides addressing his critics at home the General was directing his message also to Mr Powell. In the excitement caused by the Pakistani President’s outburst, it has gone practically unnoticed that in a message to the conclave, organised by India Today, Mr Powell, too, had said things that cannot be welcome to this country. For, he gave both India and Pakistan equal credit for starting the dialogue and added that both must strive equally to carry the process forward. In short, the American proclivity to equate India and Pakistan, irrespective of the merits of the case, remains undiminished. What is more, this irksome tendency is not going to disappear anytime soon. Those in this country, including high-ups in the ruling establishment, that have mesmerised themselves into believing that everything is hunky-dory in Indo-US relations must learn to be realistic about both the US and Pakistan. To say this is not to deny the qualitative change that has taken place in Indo-US relations, especially since Mr George W. Bush moved into the White House. Doubtless, President Bush respects India’s democracy and its enormous economic potential. He also sees it as a rising major power and has a vision of “strategic partnership” with it. Unfortunately, the US President’s vision does not percolate to the operational levels of his administration where the old mindset prevails regardless of whether the issue is nuclear nonproliferation or the situation in the subcontinent. America has no illusions about the responsibility of Pakistan, particularly of General Musharraf, either for terrorism in Kashmir or for the spread of nuclear technology or even the duplicity in Afghanistan where Pakistan is withholding cooperation in relation to the Taliban. And yet, Washington constantly bends backwards to cover up all Pakistani misdeeds. Why? For the simple reason that the US considers Pakistan as an “irreplaceable” partner in the pursuit of the war against Afghanistan’s Taliban and in arresting, during an American election year, Osama bin Laden. For this purpose, it considers General Musharraf its best bet in a volatile country. Any replacement of him, it believes, would be worse. It was no accident that a day after the State Department report on human rights damned Pakistan, Mr Powell went personally to Capitol Hill to plead that Congress must not impede the grant of $ 700 million to Pakistan, the highest allocation to any country in a $ 5. 7 billion budget for the fight against
terrorism!
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Women on men Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses, possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of Man at twice its natural size, wrote Virginia Woolf. Whatever inflated image a man may have of himself, women are at their devastating best in brainy battle, or just plain wordy duel — if you will, ye porcine chauvinists. Novelist Rebecca West described a certain man as ‘every other inch a gentleman’. Writer Ann Bayer spoke out about marriage. “It may be tolerable at first,” she said, “but how can one eat 10,000 breakfasts with the same man?” When Zsa Zsa Gabor was asked how many husbands she had had, she replied, “What, apart from my own?” She later said, “I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.” One actress saw her beau dining out with another woman. When she went up to him, he cold-shouldered her. She quipped: “Darling, don’t you recognise me with my clothes on?” Mae West advised: “Save a boyfriend for a rainy day — and another in case it doesn’t.” And again: “When I am caught between two evils, I take the one I’ve never tried.” Novelist Edna Ferber said: “Being an old maid is like death by drowning — delightful once you cease to struggle.” But women shouldn’t be too hard on men, said French novelist Francoise Sagan. She wrote: “I feel sorry for them — they have more problems. In the first place, they have to compete with men.” One woman said about a man who had become ‘de trop’: “He’s the kind of bore who’s here today and here tomorrow.” Closer home, a couple of years ago, a woman’s body in Mumbai even started the Duryodhana award to be bestowed on those business houses, print media, film producers and ad agencies which lowered the dignity of women by depicting them as sex symbols. The award was named after the Mahabharata “khalnayak”. It’s quite another thing that had Gandhari, Duryodhana’s mother, reprimanded the man at the right time, her dressing-down would have proved an eye-opener for him. But it was not to be. On the other hand, Draupadi’s ‘andha kana’ words instead of sobering up man, aroused the Old Adam in Kaurava so much so that he settled scores by trying to disrobe her. However, the woman’s tongue has had a sobering effect on many a man by and large. Tulsidas, Surdas and their ilk became great thanks to the verbal fire of their better halves. Then who can forget Xantippe, Socrates’ wife. She made her ‘worse half’ a profound philosopher thanks to her ‘thunderous’ remarks. Man! Proud man! Mind your P’s and Q’s. Remember what the French aristocrat said: “The more I see of men the better I like
dogs.”
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Dateline London
The March 11 bombing in four trains in the Spanish capital, Madrid, killing 200 and injuring hundreds others, is expected to have far-reaching repercussions. It has already claimed the defeat of Spain's ruling Popular Party, which only a few days earlier, was expected to win. The Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, supported the Bush-Blair led coalition, which invaded Iraq, even though 90-95 per cent of the country's population was against the war. The people were also angered by the manner in which the government rushed to blame the Basque party for the bombing even though it had got sufficient clues that it was Al-Qaeda which was responsible for the carnage. Millions marched the streets of main Spanish cities on March 12 to condemn the bombing and the carnage it caused. The crowds demonstrated their resolve to meet the challenge posed by Basque terrorists. Subsequent revelations pointing finger of suspicion for the bombing on Al-Qaeda, enabled the opposition Socialists to oust the ruling party. The Spanish ruling party has became the first casualty of anti-Iraq war sentiments which had been sweeping some European countries, since the revelations that the Bush-led conservative forces misled the world on the imminent dangers of weapons of mass destruction supposedly held by the Saddam regime. The events in Spain will have both security and political implications for other European countries. Emergency security meetings have since been held in Europe to co-ordinate measures to meet the challenge of expected terrorism attacks against soft targets, especially commuter trains, which are the lifeline of cities across Europe. Western governments, whether or not they were allies of the US over the Iraq war, have been warning people against possible violence since the attacks in New York, Washington, Indonesia and Morocco. Most people asked for reaction by the electronic and print media to the carnage in Spain, displayed fear, helplessness and frustration. The ruling British Labour party, which held its spring conference in Manchester over the week-end, has every reason to worry over the ‘real' spectre of terrorist attacks and its political ramifications at the June local and European parliament elections. The party has been split over the Iraq war and some of its senior Cabinet ministers resigned and subsequently charged the government with misleading the party and the country over tainted or doctored intelligence reports on the imminent danger from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The rebellious members of the party have shown their resentment by voting against some of the government's flagship legislation on top- up fees, judicial reforms and stricter immigration and asylum policies. The government's attempts to focus on its achievements in social sectors, such as health and education and reduction of poverty so far have met with little success. The ouster of the Spanish government has enthused some of the anti-war supporters. If the Spaniards could do it, the Americans might be able to oust the Bush ultra conservatives in November and Tony Blair may be the next casualty. The dilemma facing the Labour left as well as the electorate in general in Britain is the prospect of the Conservatives’ victory, whose stance on War on Iraq or other issues such as immigration and asylum or war on Iraq, would have been no different than that of the Labour party. There are some who are now talking of sweet revenge against Blair by voting against the party at the June local and European elections. It might engineer a change of leadership and Blair standing down in favour of his Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. Most party leaders consider him a possible successor of Blair. A similar move by the Spanish ruling party, which fought the elections not under Aznar but his nominated successor, did not help. Seasoned political observers believe that the events in Spain made the political leadership in some of the Western countries more prone to change because they are perceived to have unnecessarily made the country more prone to Islamic terrorists' attacks. Many of the Western European countries have large Muslim populations, especially from sub-Sahara countries and the Middle East. The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and policies followed by the US since the September 11 attack on US targets, have made the US allies in Europe more vulnerable to electoral pressures from disenchanted voters. Most of them were disillusioned by the belligerent American attitudes and the right wing Bush Administration’s determination to capture Iraq for political, strategic, economic, and ideological reasons. They were further frustrated when the Americans and its allies decided to go to war even though it was not sanctioned by the UN Security Council In the UK, a Guardian newspaper/ICM poll, conducted before the March 11 bombings in Madrid, revealed that traditional Labour voters among Muslims in the UK have abandoned the Labour party. British Muslims, as indeed other South Asians, had mostly favoured Labour over the Conservative party in the past. Its support varied between 75 and 80 per cent in the past few elections. In the last elections, 75 per cent of the Muslim voters favoured Labour. According to the March 15 Survey, the Labour support among Muslims slumped to 38 per cent. They are particularly hostile to Tony Blair personally. The disenchanted Muslim Labour supporters have switched to the Liberal Democrats and Conservative parties. Most observers believe that there would be a similar slump in support to Labour among other South Asian communities. Why the Blacks and Brown voters from Afro Caribbean and South Asian countries, in the past, overwhelmingly voted for Labour, have remained a puzzle for most South Asian political observers. The Labour trade unions have been racists and the Labour party has been often inclined to adopt an anti-immigrant stance during elections. This has been well documented in immigration and race relation literature. The present government is no exception. Its Home Secretary, David Blunket, is considered anti immigrant and illiberal on most social issues. |
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From Pakistan PESHAWAR: Life was paralysed in parts of the city on Monday on account of the unprecedented security measures adopted by the Army and law-enforcing agencies during President General Pervez Musharraf’s visit. Traffic was diverted from some of the busy roads in the Peshawar Saddar area. It led to traffic jams and made the commuters suffer. People were seen expressing anger over the blockade of the roads and exchanging hot words with the traffic police. Many wondered as to why the President was visiting Peshawar when those in charge of his security knew he faced so many risks. Secrecy also marked the President’s visit to the city. The invitation cards sent out for the tribal
Jirga at the Governor’s House didn’t carry the name of the chief guest. Most people knew by Monday that the President would be the chief guest at the grand
Jirga. The Jirga, attended by hundreds of turbaned tribal elders, also got delayed.
— The News International
Embarrassing conduct ISLAMABAD: The ruling party on Monday faced embarrassment in the National Assembly when a Cabinet member described district governments responsible for supervising plans like water schemes without realising that the question he was answering pertained to Islamabad, where no local government existed. During the question-hour session of the National Assembly, the Minister of State for Environment and Local Government, Mr Tahir Iqbal, was asked about a water scheme in Alipur village of Islamabad. Instead of giving a direct answer, he said the water schemes were no more a federal subject. "Such schemes now come under the purview of the district governments after the implementation of the devolution plan," the minister added. — Dawn
No more free oil
from S. Arabia ISLAMABAD: The government has informed the National Assembly that Saudi Arabia has stopped the supply of free of cost oil to Pakistan as the country is fulfilling 85 per cent of its petroleum requirements through import. “There is no cost-free imports of petroleum products from any country, including Saudi Arabia,” said Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Nauraiz Shakoor during question hour . He was responding to a supplementary question by MNA Hafiz Hussain Ahmad who contended that Pakistan was getting 50,000 barrels free of cost oil daily from Saudi Arabia.
— The Nation
Stable atta prices promised KARACHI: Sindh Food Minister Arif Ali Khan Jatoi has assured the public that flour prices will stabilise by the first week of April. "We have to face difficulty for the next seven or 10 days, when the wheat procurement from Sindh will start, thus, improving the overall stock position," the minister told a Press conference. However, he made it clear that the flour would be available in the market at Rs12.50 per kilogram as the wheat support price had been enhanced by the federal government. Mr Arif Jatoi said if the Australian wheat had not been rejected, the ongoing crisis could have been averted. Some 20,000 tonnes of wheat was available in the present stock.
— Dawn |
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you. — Saint Matthew If it is God that creates and destroys, then God is responsible for virtue and vice. But if He ordains according to the actions of the past lives, then, He is faultless. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati All reality is consciousness, but the measure of reality of anything is determined by the nature of consciousness that is revealed in it. — Sri Aurobindo Hatred is not appeased by those who think: “He has reviled me, he has wronged me, he has injured me.” Hatred is appeased by non-hatred. This is an eternal law. — The Buddha |
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