EDITORIALS

Bullets braved
A vote against the militants

THE 21 per cent polling recorded in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir will do the Election Commission proud. The polling was by and large peaceful and orderly. The voting figures show an increase of 9 per cent over the corresponding figures of the 1999 election. The percentage would have been higher if the turnout of voters at the polling booths in the Srinagar city areas was better. The voting trends show a clear pattern. The boycott call given by the terrorist organisations had greater effect on the urban voters than on the rural voters, though the latter are the worst victims of atrocities by the militants. Yet, it is the rural voter who has braved the bullets to cast his franchise. This is borne out by the fact that while Charar-e-Sharief in Budgam district recorded 59 per cent voting, Habbakadal in Srinagar district registered the lowest 1 per cent polling.

The pattern was more or less the same in the 2002 Assembly elections when also the Srinagar segments recorded a very low polling. What is significant is that a large number of rural voters showed greater courage in exercising their democratic rights than their urban counterparts, who have better access to civic amenities and better security. They are the ones who preferred to remain indoors fearing a reprisal from the terrorists and their benefactors if they voted. Equally significant is the fact that no extra effort was made by the government or the security agencies to inflate the voting figures. In the past, there were exaggerated allegations that security agencies had exerted pressure on the voters to take part in the polling.

In the Assembly elections too, the voters did not experience any coercion from the security agencies to go to the polling booths. But the terrorist organisations spared no effort to scare the voters. Dozens of people lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on political leaders organised with a view to creating terror in the minds of the people. Yet, the voters came out in large numbers to take part in the polling as a measure of their abiding faith in the democratic system.

Saving whistle-blowers
Dubey’s fate should not befall others

AS expected, the government has empowered the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to be the designated agency to receive complaints from government servants or members of the public on any allegation of corruption or misuse of office by any employee of the government or public sector organisation. The CVC would conduct preliminary investigation into the alleged charge and if it was of the opinion that either the complainant or the witnesses needed protection, it would issue directions to the government. The Supreme Court had sought such a mechanism recently. Given the lawlessness prevailing in some parts of the country, it is not certain how effective the step will be in reassuring the potential whistle-blowers. After the murder of National Highway Authority of India’s Satyendra Dubey, there are many misgivings in the minds of those railing against corruption. After all, he had requested none other than the Prime Minister’s Office to protect his identity but this was not done. It will take a lot of cajoling to make those willing to expose corruption to accept that the CVC’s office would not be found to be similarly wanting.

Because of such fears, many persons may not be willing to stick their neck out and disclose instances of corruption. They may like to do so without revealing their names. But there is a hitch. The CVC is not to act on anonymous complaints. This precaution has been taken to avoid the possibility of fake complaints but may deter many people from coming out with facts. Cannot some arrangement be made to have at least a cursory glance at the complaints which do not mention the senders’ names for obvious reasons? There may be a grain of truth in them demanding a full enquiry.

The corruption challenge is so daunting that the CVC may not be able to tackle it fully. Ultimately, the government just has to go in for the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, popularly known as the Whistle Blowers’ Bill if it wants to ensure probity and transparency in the administration.

US failures in Iraq
Unending bloodshed scares even the UN

THERE is no end to the setbacks for President George W. Bush from West Asia. While the situation in Iraq is getting more and more complicated, the Israeli belligerence vis-à-vis the Palestinians remains a source of embarrassment for the Bush administration. The continuing plight of the Iraqis and the Palestinians, and the US approval of Israel’s controversial policy of targeted killings have strengthened the anti-American sentiments in the Arab world. A vast majority of the US civil society is worried at the emerging scenario and this is bound to affect President Bush’s election prospects.

At the moment, Iraq is the top priority for the US and hence the Bush administration’s efforts to quickly normalise the situation there. But how to achieve this objective is a million dollar question. There is an attempt to bring in the UN to play its due role, but UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says “the circumstances have to allow us to do that”. He wants the Security Council to give its mandate for an international security force after the Iraqi self-rule begins on July 1. But he is scared of the unending bloodshed in view of the bitter experience in post-Saddam Iraq. Anyway, it all depends on what suits the US interests.

The US intends to increase its military presence in Iraq despite the fact that this will further inflame the passions there and the rest of the Arab world. This shows that the US is not prepared to loosen its control over Iraq, come what may. The Americans have also not given up the idea of exploiting the Shia-Sunni divide to strengthen their position despite its limited effectiveness so far. The US has decided to take back the generals of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards into the new army with a view to placating the Sunnis. It is a different matter that this change in the US policy is seen in the non-Sunni circles as a sign of America accepting defeat at the hands of the resistance forces. It is really a war of nerves for the US in the Iraqi theatre.

Thought for the day

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.

 — Margaret Thatcher

EDITOR'S COLUMN

Like it or not, it's a coalition
Ground realities are asserting at the polls
by H.K. Dua

POLLSTERS, armed with statistics, graphs and projections, may be only slightly better in forecasting than astrologers, but the unanimity they seem to be converging on in Monday's exit polls should have been disappointing for the BJP's leaders.

Even the pollsters who till the other day were sanguine about the prospect of the NDA securing a clear mandate are now tending to believe that it will have to struggle to get a majority.

But more than the exist polls - which can go wrong, as often they have in the past - the reports from the field from different parts of the country are hardly indicative of an NDA majority in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

More than the pollsters' forecasts and the field reports in the media, it is the tone and substance of some of the Prime Minister's recent interviews that suggest that it is not all that hunky-dory for the BJP and its allies.

Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee perhaps can still form a government under the hubris of the National Democratic Alliance, but in his interviews he seemed to be scaling down the high expectations with which the BJP began its campaign.

It could be that he was trying to give a realistic picture to his interviewers or ensuring that his own credibility with the media does not suffer. It is also possible that he had more assessments available to him from different sources which did not point a cakewalk for the NDA. What he saw and felt in the intensive travels across the country may have persuaded him to lower his estimates from those of the BJP's ambitious backroom boys.

Actually, Mr Vajpayee, who has longer experience than others in his party, always wanted to complete his tenure until October and was never keen to go in for an early poll this summer. The BJP leaders who got carried away with the party's success in last November's Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh prevailed upon him to dissolve the Lok Sabha and go in for elections in April and May.

Mr Lal Krishan Advani was among those BJP leaders who were keen to go for the kill in an early poll. He too must have discovered during his countrywide rath yatra that displays of saffron flags and loud chants of slogans can turn out to be deceptive. Somewhere down the line the India Shining campaign and the Feel Good factor had already peaked and were becoming self-serving.

That both Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani at different stages expressed irritation with coalition politics during the campaign indicated how distant the BJP was from its goal of forming a government at the Centre on its own. The inevitability of a coalition was perhaps bothering them.

Specifically, Mr Advani was critical of regional parties, having forgotten that they had contributed to the survival of the NDA government led by Mr Vajpayee. The Prime Minister surprisingly spoke of coalition fatigue, despite the fact that he skilfully managed one for six years.

Their later-day statements, however, are more approving of coalition politics. They are willy-nilly again coming to believe that only a coalition of several parties will have to form the government next month. Whether the BJP likes it or not, the ground realities are re-asserting over the secret dreams of the BJP which would not like to share power with others.

The BJP leaders might be pondering why their campaign has not clicked so far. Although polling has yet to take place in the BJP strongholds of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the NDA can still achieve the highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha on the basis of which it could stake a claim to form government at the Centre.

The question is what will be the shape of the new coalition it may have to lead. It could turn out to be a somewhat different combination from the one Mr Vajpayee has successfully led so far. New permutations and combinations might emerge depending on the election results.

The BJP as well as the Congress - both national parties - may have to swallow their pride and might be more welcoming to regional parties to form new alliances after the election. Both should be wiser after the polls.

On Monday, even before the second-round exit polls burst out from TV screens, Mr Advani was heard saying at Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh: "There are many leaders and parties who are eagerly waiting to join us after the parliamentary elections — because they are convinced about the BJP-led alliance's capability to run a stable government." He did not name these leaders and parties who were preparing to join a post-election NDA.

On current reckoning, Mr Mulayam Singh is a favourite in the politicians' conversation as a leader who could tilt the balance in favour of the NDA in a post-poll alliance — or otherwise.

What Mr Mulayam Singh actually does will depend on how many seats he himself wins in the elections. Surprises apart, the BJP is inclined to count on him more than on any other political leader for help to form a government in case of need.

No less than Mr Vajpayee's senior colleague, Defence Minister George Fernandes has lately been having meetings with Mr Mulayam Singh who, like Mr Fernandes, is an old Lohiaite.

At first thoughts, Mr Mulayam Singh's coming to the help of the NDA to form a government is logical, considering what is more-than-tacit understanding that has been visible ever since Mr Mulayam Singh came to power in Uttar Pradesh last year, apparently with the consent of the BJP.

Significantly, Mr Mulayam Singh has never been overtly critical of the BJP leaders ever since he assumed office. On their part, the BJP leaders no longer call him "Maulana Mulayam", as they used to earlier.

These are only indicators. The post-election alliances will depend on post-election arithmetic of the Lok Sabha. And if Parliament is hung as Monday's exit polls are predicting, the bargaining power of smaller parties vis-à-vis national parties is bound to swell.

The BJP, which is likely to suffer a setback with Mr Chandrababu Naidu not doing well at the hustings in Andhra Pradesh, would look forward to avid support from Mr Mulayam Singh in return for a free run for the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

But if the post-election arithmetic in the Lok Sabha dictates another plan for Mr Mulayam Singh, wouldn't the BJP be keen to woo Ms Mayawati for help to form a government at the Centre? Why the BJP has not been pursuing the Taj Corridor scandal against Ms Mayawati in a way indicates that hard-boiled politicians have the natural tendency to keep all options open. Just in case.

Mr Mulayam Singh, if he wins a sizeable number of seats in UP, is also likely to be wooed by the Congress party, which is backing his government in Uttar Pradesh. The CPM - a part of the Congress Plus front - has never written off Mr Mulayam Singh, believing that ideology prevails and that his politics will ultimately never gel with that of the BJP, whatever may be the other considerations.

There are others in the political arena who may also like to be taken more seriously than they have been in the recent past. Mr Sharad Pawar, of the Nationalist Congress Party, might emerge as an important factor in the Congress party's post-election calculations. It too is keen to strike a bargain with Ms Mayawati.

Nobody can really predict the behaviour of the smaller parties — who are mostly regional — in the Lok Sabha where neither the BJP, nor the Congress is likely to win a majority.

In the name of stability or in the national interest — as perceived by the politicians — no possibility can theoretically be ruled out. Ultimately, expediency will clinch match-making.

Next two rounds of polling will decide who is to come to power in Delhi. And if Mr Vajpayee is able to form a government — which will certainly be a coalition - he will have to strain his ability to carry others along and balance the conflicting demands of the Sangh Parivar and his allies in a future NDA. He cannot have a relaxed time.

MIDDLE

Bird song
by Amreeta Sen

PIGEONS are the stupidest birds. I know because birds come in large numbers to the terrace to feed on the grains and bread bits I leave for them. They have large, mud bowl of water to drink out of and splash about — they love that because the hot, grimy season is almost upon us.

As I was saying the pigeons are the stupidest of the lot. One flew inside the house the other day and refused to leave. I left it along, hoping it would come to its senses and not be cut into bits by the fan. The dull bird refused to move and blinked at all of us out of red eyes. Exasperated the next day I climbed up to the loft (at great risk to life and limb), grabbed it and rushed it to the terrace, where I left it amid the grains and shocking pink bougainvillea.

It coyly hopped behind the pink curtain of bright flowers and resumed its imitation of a statue. I gave up in despair and left it to its own devices, the whole household disturbed and worried by a bird that refused to eat. “It’s got avian flu muttered my daughter, on one of her periodic journeys to the terrace. I crossed my fingers, and scattered some more grain. It condescended to eat the next day. We all whooped in relief and joy!

When the early morning casts its first fingers of light onto the terrace, we can see raucous black crows, clamouring for breadcrumbs. If we are late, they will sit on the railing and chorus their disgust and loathing of incompetent humans, late with their breakfast. As soon as they get the breadcrumbs, they will fall upon them in delight, giving us dirty looks out of their black, beady eyes.

Crows are clever. They will flap at other birds with formidable black wings to startle them away from the food bowl. Sparrows may be cleverer though. These wisps of the feathered world, scatter when crows try their tactics, but hop determinedly back to the food as soon as possible. Their merry chirps scatter into the air and they wake up the morning.

The crows have one habit, which irritates my son beyond measure. They insist on bathing in the bowl of drinking water and not in the large bowl of “splashing” water. They do this with great gusto and vim. “Mamma, tell them to bathe in the other bowl”, orders my five-year old. “They don’t know the difference”, I soothe. But I wonder. I try to shoo them out of the bowl, they hop sideways, but refuse to budge. I glare at them and they glare right back. There is something distinctly uncomfortable to be locked in a battle of wills with these birds. I look away and they resume splashing with caws of triumph. I leave them with their victory.

My stupid pigeons come in the afternoon, when the terrace, they think, is sure to be deserted. Cautiously the children and I peep at them from behind the windows, as they peck at grains, sing their gobbling song and keep an anxious eye perked for outsiders. They will be off at the hint of a shadow.

Sometimes a speckled grey and white dove struts importantly among them, picking and choosing at the food presented. And just before the dusty, golden day slowly melts away into twilight, there come a plump, purple bird, my daughter’s delight, up to the water bowl, to drink dainty sips of water. Only to drink — never to eat, not even to peck. And she comes without fail — every evening.

The skies darken over the terrace and the trees etch black shadows upon the sky. A lone crow gives a farewell call in the distance. And the night throws a diamond glow of stars over the terrace and all birdsong is dimmed till next morning....

OPED

Ad-hocism drives Gurgaon’s growth
It’s an experiment that can spin out of control
by Lalit Mohan

HARYANA'S wannabe "millennium city" has a problem. It has no clue about what it takes to be one.

A few glitzy malls and multiplexes, glass-fronted office facades dropping well-known MNC names in their foyers, high-rise condominiums revelling in their contrived isolation, private colonies hostage to a system which is deaf to their grievances, an infrastructure which reveals few traces of urban planning and an old city wallowing in accumulated sins of civic neglect do not a millennium city make.

At a recent conference on the city's development, former Foreign Secretary JN Dixit said, "Gurgaon has changed from a rural to an assertively, acceleratively urban society." And it has not managed the change too well. From timely anticipation of civic needs to the integration of the old town with the new, in the manner of a Hyderabad or a Bangalore, Gurgaon still awaits a holistic plan. "It is an experiment that could spin out of control," warned Subodh Bhargava, former President, CII, at the same meet.

Gurgaon started with one great idea: that private enterprise had to be roped in to develop a township south-west of the nation's Capital because the state did not have the required resources or the wherewithal.

The second, and probably the last, great idea to bless the city was to bring water from the Yamuna from near Sonepat through a canal to a purification plant close to Gurgaon, to take care, in a phased manner, of all future water needs. The onward distribution of the canal water has been, like several other schemes, totally messed up.

Administration and development of large cities, in countries which do a better job of it, follow an integrated plan. Prof MM Rana, Director, Sushant School of Architecture, Gurgaon and a patron of the Lutyens Trust, London, says that the builders of the original New Delhi did have that kind of vision. "Roads have been widened and service lanes built as much as four times in some cases. But never a tree had to be cut down. They had made allowance for future needs."

Rana's institute has been conducting studies comparing development in the National Capital Region with what has been happening in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The former had major industries even before the IT boom, and it developed further in a systematic manner. And the latter is doing a good job of blending its old heritage with new growth. Both elements are missing in Gurgaon, he says. He is also critical of the glass-fronted commercial complexes of Gurgaon. "Do they have any natural ventilation?" he asks. They trap heat inside and then guzzle energy to expel it!

Thirty years ago Gurgaon resident Sudhir Desai was involved in the building of 14 petrochemicals units in the IPCL complex in Baroda. He says, "We had to provide channels for four different levels of steam pressure, five kinds of water, four types of communication cables, a variety of effluents and so on —altogether over 30 different conduits for various services, spread over 2,000 acres. Corridors were provided for each at the planning stage and roads, once laid, were never dug again. Planning of residential colonies involves different elements. But the basic principles are the same.

"Today satellite-mapped Geographical Information Systems (GIG) provide data, covering every square foot, to civic planners in all major cities of the world. The days of surveyor's tripods are over. Even in old, historic cities like London each department has the complete infrastructure map in its computers and if any pipe or cable or sewer has to be laid it, they just follow the road map."

If anticipation is the name of the game, Gurgaon's planners are novices at it. Why did commuters have to spend over half a decade in sheer misery before the government could come up with a simple solution to the agonising traffic jams at the very beginning of the town, in Sikanderpur village?

Why did it not think of pressing for Gurgaon's inclusion in the Metro Rail network when the idea was first conceived, instead of pleading last year for some immediate action as if some Alladin's lamp would bring the rail screeching to Gurgaon?

Meanwhile, what could have been the best route to the city has already been constructed upon because no one had anticipated this need and reserved a corridor for the rail tracks.

Why did it take the authorities over two years just to decide where to build a power-station to receive electricity, which was readily available all this while in Faridabad, even as the residents endured one power-less, scorching summer after another?

The Yamuna water reached here in the early 1990s, but then onward distribution was hampered because, first, there was a railway line to cross and permission to do so was not obtained in time. Second, the pipes that were required for the water to flow to large parts of the town were not ordered when they should have been. And, third, it took a long time to acquire all the land through which some of feeders were to be laid.

There are companies based in Gurgaon which provide the GIS software. Yet apart from an outdated Master Plan, no use of satellite imaging has been made to draw a comprehensive development blueprint for this city. In the not too distant future piped gas will come to Gurgaon's homes. Does anyone know the route its conduit will have to follow? Has any provision been made for it in the city's plan? Or, will roads have to be dug up again to lay the pipes?

The sewage systems of cities like London and Paris seem to have been laid for the eternity to come. Gurgaon still does not have proper sewage, but it has colorful dancing fountains. It has power scarcity, but there is nothing in building regulations that favour structures with natural ventilation. It is currently going through an epidemic of malls, but no one knows how this small market and the town's limited infrastructure will be able to sustain them. Town planning is an alien idea here; ad hocism is the engine that drives Gurgaon's growth.

HEALTH
Bypass beats angioplasty

SERIOUSLY ill heart disease patients do better if they get bypass operations than if they have their clogged arteries cleared out using angioplasty, according to a report published on Monday.

Patients who received the bypasses were half as likely to die within five years as those who got angioplasty, researchers report in the journal Circulation.

"The sicker the patient, the more bypass surgery helped," said Dr. Sorin Brener, an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio.

"The findings were somewhat surprising." Brener said even when the angioplasty patients got stents — little mesh tubes to hold their arteries open — and advanced medications called glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antiplatelet drugs, bypass surgery saved more lives.

The finding is surprising because bypass surgery is a major operation, involving cracking open the chest, stopping the heart, putting the patient on a heart-lung machine and then suturing in one or more new arteries to get blood in and out of the heart.

Angioplasty is much less invasive. But arteries that are reamed out often clog back up, even when drugs and stents are used to prevent it.

Predicting heart attack death

Heart attack patients whose bodies produce higher levels of a so-called stress protein called ST2 are more likely to die or develop the chronic condition known as heart failure, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Testing patients for the protein may offer a way to predict who is at highest risk of dying or getting heart failure in the weeks after a heart attack, the researchers said.

The ST2 protein is involved in immune system responses and inflammation. Earlier research showed that "stressed-out heart cells" produced ST2, said Dr. Richard Lee of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study.

Levels of ST2 increase in patients after a heart attack, peaking about 12 hours afterward. "First, the data suggest that this pathway of inflammation may occur in the early events of heart attack," Lee said.

"Second, ST2 levels provide a novel biomarker that can offer prognostic information on heart attack victims, independent of the usual clinical predictors."

Treatment for cancer

A new way of analysing a cancer patient's situation could give a personalised look ahead at survival and the chance the cancer will come back, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The team at Duke University in North Carolina combined genetic and clinical information for its new analysis, which it hopes could help doctors decide just how aggressively to treat someone's cancer.

"Currently, it is primarily traditional clinical information alone that aids in understanding a patient's risk profile," said Mike West, a professor of statistics and decision sciences at Duke who led the study.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, West and colleagues said they tested their method on 158 breast cancer patients in Taipei, Taiwan.

Clinical information for breast cancer patients includes whether a lymph node near the breast tumor contains cancer cells that have spread and whether the tumor cells respond to the hormone estrogen. — Reuters

REFLECTIONS

Sublime are the rishis. Our homage to them, to their eyes and the truth of their spirit.

— The Vedas

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

— Jesus Christ

Charity is a duty unto every Muslim. He who has not the means hitherto, let him do a good act or abstain from an evil one. That is his charity.

— Prophet Muhammad

The True Name washes away all impurities of the mind.

— Guru Nanak

Know it for certain that there is no greater Tirtha (holy spot) than the body of man. Nowhere else is the Atman so manifest as here.

— Swami Vivekananda