The Rajya Sabha is known as the Council of States and its federal character can be protected only if a member is a resident of a State, unlike his counterpart in the Lok Sabha who is not bound by any domiciliary clause. The residential requirement was invariably flouted by political parties to bring in their chosen ones, through the backdoor, because of their inability to get elected to the Lok Sabha. Thus a former Prime Minister who never lived in Bihar got elected from that state while a former finance minister who never stayed in Assam became a member of the Rajya Sabha from that northeastern state. There are many ministers like Mr Arun Shourie, Mr O. Rajagopal and Mr Arun Jaitley who were elected from states where they are not ordinarily resident. Little surprise, most political parties found the domiciliary clause inconvenient and joined hands to do away with it.

Yet, this is not the whole truth. Immediately after the General captured power in a bloodless military coup he had sought financial aid from international institutions on the condition that he would not increase his country’s defence budget beyond a certain limit. The troop reduction, however, appears to be aimed at not only satisfying the financial institutions but also seeking parity with India in terms of conventional weapons. Renewed efforts may be made to acquire the F-16 fighter planes from the US denied to Pakistan so far. There has been much uneasiness in Pakistan after India purchased the Falcons from Israel and the Sukhoi-32 warplanes from Russia.

This is one scheme which needs to be extended to other games. In fact, the cricketers are the least in need of such a dole. The condition of those playing other games is far worse. They don't earn much even when they are representing the country. The nation conveniently forgets them once they hang their boots. Punjab has many such former stars living a life of penury. Their plight puts off many youngsters eager to take sports as a career.

For many decades, Mr Sukh Ram had loyally served the party he has come back to. The Congress too had rewarded him handsomely for his loyalty. He had served as Union Minister for Civil Supplies in Rajiv Gandhi’s government and then became the powerful Minister for Telecommunications in the P. V. Narasimha Rao government. As Civil Supplies Minister, he had been accused of favouring particular importers of sugar who had failed to adhere to their commitments. This had resulted in a shortfall in domestic supplies leading to the sugar prices suddenly flaring up before the 1989 elections.

At his office at Krishi Bhavan, I remember asking him what he would do if his government lost the elections and he was blamed for not having been able to check the sugar prices. “I will retire from politics,” Mr Sukh Ram said without batting an eyelid. As is common knowledge, Rajiv Gandhi’s government was voted out of power. But Mr Sukh Ram was hardly the sort who would take sanyas from political life.

In 1995, as Communications Minister, he initiated a contentious scheme of auctioning licences to private companies who were to operate telephone services to compete with the public sector. His move to auction licences to the highest bidder had the entire Opposition at that time, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, up in arms. For two weeks, the proceedings of the Lok Sabha were completely stalled on this issue. Few could have imagined then what would transpire just over two years later, that leaders of the BJP would be bending over backwards to express their gratitude to him.

In August 1996, during the United Front government, the Central Bureau of Investigation raided various residences of Mr Sukh Ram and came across a veritable treasure trove. The then CBI Director Joginder Singh gloated before the media that bundles of cash worth more than Rs 3.6 crore had been found in the bedrooms and the puja room of his official ministerial residence (which he was still occupying at that time) - that is how he made it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mr Sukh Ram’s fancy bungalow at Kaushambi near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border was also raided. Soon thereafter, properties owned by him and his family members — that included jewellery worth over Rs 10 lakh, bank deposits exceeding Rs 7 lakh, a house at Mandi and a farmhouse at Panarasa valued at Rs 50 lakh each, the Hotel Mayfair at Mandi and an apple orchard spread over nearly 12 acres — were attached by the CBI.

Soon after the raid, he went to the UK where he was reportedly “ill” for many weeks before returning home to ignominy. Meanwhile, the Congress high command (then headed by Sitaram Kesri) decided to expel him. Subsequently, Panditji went on to form his own political outfit, the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC). His popularity among his constituents had clearly not diminished. To many people in Himachal Pradesh, he was the person who had ensured that a telephone was installed in every remote village or the other. It hardly mattered to them that others perceived him as being corrupt to the core.

In February 1998, assembly elections were conducted in Himachal Pradesh together with general election all over the country. In the 68-member state assembly, the Congress won 33 seats, the BJP 29, the Himachal Vikas Congress headed by Mr Sukh Ram four seats and one seat went to an independent candidate; elections did not take place in one assembly constituency.

The BJP realised that the only way it could form a government in the state was by aligning itself with the HVC. Fortuitously for the BJP, the HVC split down the middle with two of its MLAs joining the BJP in what was curiously described by Mr Sukh Ram as his “master stroke”. Everybody was surprised that a political leader was actually welcoming a split in his own party? But there was a good reason for his unusual reaction.

Given the provisions of the anti-defection law at that juncture, it might not have been that difficult for the Congress to split the four-member HVC and form the state government. This was on account of the fact that if at least one-third of a legislative party’s members had left the party, it would have qualified as a split and not a defection. Thus, by making two former HVC MLAs join the BJP, Mr Sukh Ram ensured that they would not defect — thereby getting themselves disqualified from the legislature - since they would now be part of a larger political formation in the assembly, in this case, the BJP. The BJP had to pay a “small price” for its partnership with the HVC: Mr Sukh Ram became the number two in the Dhumal Cabinet with power and PWD portfolios while his son was sent to the Rajya Sabha. It is a separate matter altogether that five years later the Congress returned to power in the Himachal Pradesh assembly.

Nearly five years after his residential premises were raided by the CBI, in July 2001 a special CBI court in New Delhi framed charges against the former minister for possessing assets worth more than Rs 6 crore that were considered “disproportionate” to his known sources of income. Special Judge R. L. Chugh told Mr Sukh Ram in his order: “You have committed an offence punishable under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1998, and within the cognizance of this court for possessing total assets — movable, immovable and cash — worth Rs 6,00,90,365 at Delhi, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and other places as on August 16, 1996.” During the period between June 20, 1991, and August 16, 1996, Mr Sukh Ram’s legally declared assets were worth only Rs 26.13 lakh and his total income a little under Rs 85 lakh.

A year later, in July 2002, he was convicted and sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment by another court for allegedly favouring a Hyderabad-based firm, Advanced Radio Masts, while serving as Union Communications Minister. A former official of the Department of Telecommunications was also indicted in this case together with the owner of the private firm. Mr Sukh Ram has appealed against this sentence. And not surprisingly, he has described all the criminal cases pending against him as “politically motivated”.

In good old days it was the Bicholaas, who were matchmakers. Clad in dhoti-kurta with a bag containing detailed biodata of eligible partners on their shoulders, they would paddle their way on cycles to the houses of the clients. Their selections were respected, seriously considered and the entire process would be a guarded secret. Though marriages are made in heaven yet it was these Bicholaas who would fix a match.

There were also a few colourful fairs in some remote areas for finding a soul mate. Even strict parents of girls would allow their daughters to dress in their finest finery and look around for eyes that will look after them for ever. Many matrimonial alliances were struck amidst the burst of colour. These were exciting and had old rustic charms as the hopes were young. All these are perhaps history for the new generation.

The memory of an attractive young lady of marriageable age, who was not only fond of dresses but was also out shining in intellectual competence, is still fresh. She would acclaim that we should not be surprised if told that a housewife next door had become the Executive Director of a company or she had launched a magazine.

She could describe each of her dresses with interesting and colourful presentations. She would explain that the cool cotton shirt had passed her comfort test with full marks and the mother of pearl button had been added for distinction and so on. Each of her embroidered silken saree had hidden history. Men would gravitate towards her and propose but these would be politely turned down.

The reason: local production had become unviable in the face of cheap imports in the light engineering and other white good sectors, thanks to reduced tariffs
following the imposition of the WTO regime.

Soaring imports of colour TV sets and other white good products from Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, have edged out several Indian brands including BPL, Videocon and Onida (Mirc Electronics). One by one, 700 industrial units belonging to such prestigious Mumbai companies as Crompton Greaves, Glaxo Pharma and Voltas, employing 1.5 lakh skilled workers, have closed shop.

CITU President MK Pandhe concurred, “Post-liberalisation has seen workers lose jobs on a daily basis in the textiles, coal, manufacturing and steel industry. No safety nets have been put in place, and there is a sense of desperation and fear in the homes of all the workers we visit today. There was no regular salaried jobs available in these sectors anymore.”

The inflow of goods from foreign markets and increasing competition have decimated local manufacturing units. Premier Automobiles alone had 400 ancillary units providing inputs for their cars. Now that foreign cars dominate the Indian market, all these units have closed down.

Mohan Gurnani, President of the Federation of 750 Maharashtra-based trade, transport and small-scale industries associations, pointed out some of the malpractices. “Land in and around Mumbai has become a prised commodity, he observed. “most of the industrialist groups have sold their units at whopping profits to land sharks. They pocket all that money without giving workers any compensation. They then borrow crores of rupees from institutional lending groups at concessional rates to set up alternative industries in places like Gujarat etc, where workers are being hired at Rs 2,000 per month. They are akin to slaves toiling in sweatshops. The government has just turned a blind eye to all these goings on.”

Gurnani also pointed out that, thanks to a combination of demographics and economics, unemployment was at its highest now in four decades. Leading economists agree. They include Kirit Debroy, Director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, and Bibek Debroy, Director Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies.

As India shifted gears to compete in the global economy, the need to benchmark competitiveness had reduced labour intensity and jobs. Very simply, business employed more capital and less labour to deliver goods. So even as population growth dipped, and the economy grew faster from 5.32 per cent to 6.7 per cent, job creation halved from 2.7 per cent per annum in 1983-94 to 1.07 per cent between 1994 and 2000.

In order to achieve high growth, industrialists point out, industry had to become increasingly capital-intensive. The private sector shed a million jobs every year. A large number of these jobs were in the organised sector that forms only 8 per cent of the work force.

Figures released by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reveal there was an increasing number of casual workers, and that the share of regular salaried employees in the number of workers had slumped to less than 40 per cent.

The 57th round of NSSO data paints a scary picture: only 43 per cent of the rural and 36 per cent of the urban people are gainfully employed. Predictably, the Planning Commission task force report warned that unless steps were taken urgently, unemployment in 2007 would cross the 40 million figure with severe socio-economic impact.

The warning bells were sounded in the first report on melting glaciers and their impact by Sagarmatha — the Snow and Glacier Aspects of Water Resources Management in the Himalaya — presented in Delhi on Tuesday.

Sagarmatha, commissioned by Britain's Department for International Development (DFID), gives a decade-by-decade analysis for Indian rivers over the next 100 years. The study warns that global warming will result in increased glacial waters in the next 40 years — and then the shortfall of the precious resource will begin.

It also urges timely water management activities.

Syed Iqbal Hasnain, Vice-Chancellor of Calicut University, told IANS: "In today's times, the rivers have shown 3 to 4 per cent surplus due to the 10 per cent increase in the melting of the glaciers of the western Himalayas, and the 30 per cent increase in the eastern Himalayan glaciers.

"But after 40 years, most of these glaciers will be wiped out and then we will have severe water problems.

"In order to lighten our fall, we should start taking water management steps, like water harvesting, water recharging."

According to the study, the upper Indus over the first few decades will have plus 14 per cent to plus 90 per cent increase, after which there will be a drastic fall to as low as 30-90 per cent below the baseline level by decade 10.

The Kaligandaki basin in the East, however, contrasts in behaviour. The decadal mean flow shows an increase throughout the next 100 years; the most extreme temperature scenario attaining a peak mean flow of between plus 30 per cent and plus 90 per cent.

For the Ganga, near its headwaters in Uttarkashi, the flow is predicted to peak at plus 25 to plus 33 per cent of baseline level within the first two decades and then recede to as low as minus 50 per cent of the baseline by the sixth decade.

Further downstream, de-glaciation impacts are barely noticeable. David Collins, Professor of Salford University, is quoted as saying: "I had been studying the effect of de-glaciation in Switzerland for the past 30 years. The rivers there today have double the expected water amount due to melted snow.

"But in another half century, these rivers will be reduced to half their expected quantity.

"In the subcontinent too, while the Indus basin spreading over Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan will be terribly affected by glacial activity, the Brahmaputra delta in West Bengal and Bangladesh will have increased water flow due to heavy rainfalls caused by the melting of glaciers.

"The level of sea water is expected to rise by 35 cm. Imagine the highest of tides and the biggest of floods to be taller by 35 cm. The issue is very serious.

"This could in fact submerge the whole of India's gradually sloping eastern coastal region."