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Manali musings Welcome expansion |
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Feel Good
The cause of AIDS prevention
Shape of Laloo trains to come
Not merely an oil shock Delhi Durbar
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Manali musings FORMER Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's admission in Manali that the BJP had to pay a heavy price for the Gujarat riots and it was a mistake to retain Chief Minister Narendra Modi has not come a day too soon. It is sad that it took a defeat in the elections for him to realise that Moditva was a liability for the party. All discerning citizens knew that the killings went against the grain of the people. Yet, some leaders tried to brazen it out in the belief that it would pay the party dividends in the elections. To be fair to Mr Vajpayee, he was greatly distressed by the happenings in Gujarat but he was so overwhelmed by the majority opinion in the party that he could do nothing against Mr Modi, who continued to call the shots in the state. Had Mr Vajpayee taken decisive action against the Chief Minister at that time, not only the minority community but all right-thinking people would have lapped up his decision. Alas, he missed the opportunity and thereby the BJP lost its hold on power. However, Moditva should not be judged merely on electoral grounds. The killings in Gujarat were reprehensible and 'Rajdharma' dictated that the Chief Minister take the severest action against the killers. Responsibility also devolved on the Centre to take appropriate action against the State if it failed in its constitutional duty to provide protection to its citizens. These are ethical questions which should not be judged on the basis of electoral gains or losses. From this point of view, Mr Modi's continuance would have been untenable even if the BJP had won the elections. Unfortunately, sections in the Sangh Parivar are yet to recognise the reality as is underscored by their statements that Mr Modi was not a factor in the defeat of the BJP. It is certain that they will come to his rescue at the BJP's National Executive which will meet in Mumbai later this month. If the party succumbs to their pressure, it would miss yet another chance to come clean on Gujarat. Responsible leaders in the party should take their cue from Mr Vajpayee and ask Mr Modi to step down in the larger interests of the party and the nation. That is the only way in which the blot on them can be removed. Equally important, stern action should be taken against all those who took the law into their own hands and killed innocents. |
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Welcome expansion THE Shiromani Akali Dal's decision to give due representation to minorities, including Hindus and Muslims, is a step in the right direction. It will not only widen the base of the party but will also refurbish its secular character. The Shiromani Akali Dal is not a religious body of Sikhs but a political party. To be acceptable to all sections of society, it has to take its appeal beyond a particular community. Only then can it hope to be garner the electoral strength that is required in a democracy. The Akali Dal is not the only party which has learnt this lesson. Many others too are opening their doors wider. Take the Bahujan Samaj Party for instance. It tried out an insular path to begin with, excluding all except those belonging to the backward castes. But it made amends soon enough, enrolling even those whom it has declared class enemies only recently. The Akali Dal has been far more egalitarian in its approach all along. It has had people other than Sikhs in its ranks in the past. All that it has decided now is to increase their number adequately. Equally laudatory is party's the decision to induct women in the organisational setup. Their limited presence has been noticeable and has hampered the party's growth. The liberal inclusion of women will help the party in enhancing its appeal and also making it socially more relevant. Forward looking that the decisions are, care must be taken that these do not remain just symbolic. Examples abound where certain parties include people from minorities only as showpieces. Their sole role is to give a veneer of respectability to the essentially communal policies of the organisation. At times they are even given high posts but that does not mislead anyone. The real test of the gesture will be whether the members belonging to the minorities are actually allowed to have a say in the decision-making process. |
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Feel Good THE presence of mind shown by the train supervisor of the Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi on Sunday in responding to a medical emergency is what makes the average Indian "Feel Good" and proud of the country and its people. India Shining was a politically insensitive campaign. It is people like Mr M. L. Kashyap, the train supervisor, Dr Promila Chari, Dr Sumit Badhwar and Dr Anita Sabharwal who keep the faith of ordinary people in the usually insensitive system alive. The general image of public servants is that they are insensitive in performing their duties. Mr Kashyap could have been rude when Mrs Malhotra's son approached him for help after his mother suddenly took ill en route to their planned vacation in Himachal Pradesh. He could have told him and his family to get down at Ambala and find their way to medical aid. Instead, Mr Kashyap had one ambulance waiting at Kurukshetra and another at Ambala. Not only this, Dr Chari too did more than was required of her by ensuring for Mrs Malhotra the best possible medical care. On Sunday, India indeed was shining in all its magnificence on the Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi. However, four Good Samaritans do not make a system change. A medical emergency is still the most dreadful experience for most ordinary Indians. One can ignore the delay in availing of other civic services without having to countenance rude conduct of the babus or paying bribes. However, a medical emergency is a harrowing experience because delay in providing help can mean the difference between life and death for the patient. The India Shining campaign inadvertently drew attention to this aspect of the public services. The day India begins to shine regularly as it did on the Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi there would be no need for political parties to advertise the fact. |
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The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost. — Marcel Proust |
The cause of AIDS prevention CONTRARY to repeated efforts by women activists to persuade Mrs Sushma Swaraj to use her considerable political clout to counter the anti-women, anti-social and ultimately ineffective public health AIDS strategies and lead with sensitive, gender appropriate and comprehensive alternative approaches, she as Health Minister abandoned earlier convictions and ideology and played the field consummately, without as much as a hair turned! Her ministership saw stern instructions issued to supply and monitor the utilisation of condoms/STD drugs in brothels and elsewhere. While the AIDS research has built a library of directories of “commercial sex access points”, the politically powerful former Health Minister shrugged aside such issues as the rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of women in prostitution and the prosecution of pimps and perpetrators as outside the MOH/NACO sphere. The minimalist fig-leaf of the condom and STD treatment fix was duly endorsed. In the event, knocking off an ad or two from television, rescinding after initially clearing the campaign in London, was mere eyewash. Contrary to the DFID Evaluation’s recommendations, the most massive expansion of the controversial Targeted Interventions approach took place during the ministership of Mrs Swaraj’s manoeuvered outside the government supported system. There was no accountability with the acceptance of a $ 200 million donation from the Gates Foundation for NGOs, funds expeditiously cleared and announced by the Health Secretary as co-chairperson of the foundation in India. The money was earmarked for the Targeted Interventions of condom distribution and STD treatment for “sex workers,” their clients, particularly truckers, in selected districts of the four southern states, Andhra being the prime one. Such steps were taken despite no evidence acknowledged by the State AIDS Society of over one in five HIV-infected “sex workers” in Kolkata’s “red light” area — that is the prototype of the TI strategy — a staggering increase from the 0.3 per cent baseline, despite 13 years of a much internationally- acclaimed and lavishly-funded HIV/AIDS Targeted Interventions. The condom as a tool of personal and public health hygiene and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections has a due place. But such officially sponsored large-scale efforts must be part of a properly designed disease control and prevention effort and backed by larger social redressal programmes. To “lead from the top” simply to desensitise the public by extravagant media expenditure and flamboyant gimmicks that condone open promiscuity is to insult the people, most particularly the women of this country. Worse, it actually leads to disease and death together with loss of dignity and family cohesion for the many, while lining the pockets of a few. Mrs Lakshmi, now a Minister of State in the Centre’s Health Ministry, who hails from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, would know better than most why the DCWRA networks of women’s groups did not deliver their votes to Mr Naidu as anticipated. Remember, it was Nellore that was the fountainhead from where the women’s groups first sprang to spread like a raging river across Andhra forming a formidable grassroots women’s movement that fought tooth and nail, often only with chilly powder, to throw out the arrack/ liquor contractors from Andhra’s villages. A victory dearly won at the cost of months of wage losses and even loss of life and limb that Mr Naidu overturned when he came to power. Now, as women toiled with bits of micro-credit to rebuild their lives-building on their unity in the anti-arrack fight — they perceptively saw the disjoint between Cyberabad and their own lives. The minority vote certainly played a role in Andhra. But let us not discount the anger of the vast number of desperate, humiliated women who saw Mr Naidu standing in for and politically legitimising the hated alcohol-sex combination they had so bitterly fought against in their personal lives. It is the self- empowered but state-disempowered women of Andhra who have also spoken in no uncertain terms. Mr Naidu’s culpability in allowing the Andhra situation to develop the way it has is not less than that of Mr Narendra Modi in quite another context. The country needs to heed. The negativism of women-exploitative social trends is no less virulent than that of the communal ones. The ruling UPA’s Common Minimum Programme outlines stepping up the expenditure on health, eradication of communicable diseases and leadership to the AIDS programme as priorities. However, the government — and not just the Health Ministry — needs to urgently review and prepare a different roadmap for AIDS prevention than the one already drawn up or that advocated by the Economist’s rare word blitz on India, based on a Western product-fixation rather than any understanding of the Indian people’s psyche. AIDS prevention urgently needs an India- specific cohesive strategic plan capable of demonstrating to the world India’s capacity to provide leadership with its own unique workable solutions — pragmatic yet moral. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked earlier of the need for a 19th century-type social reform movement to stop the spread of HIV. Mrs Sonia Gandhi represented the country at the UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS. Her rise to her present heights has been through the demonstration of the values of renunciation and transcendence dear to the country’s psyche. In its aftermath, a rare mood of morality sheds a tiny glow of hope in Indian politics, albeit clouded by controversy and cynicism and preyed on by forces of corruption. Yet it offers an opportunity for national introspection — including on these matters of most intimate nature. Indira Gandhi’s biggest political mistake within the Emergency scenario was acquiescence to a forced, technical fix for family planning. Mrs Sonia Gandhi, her mother-in-law’s most devoted follower, must heed that lesson and turn to developing a people-rooted HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment movement that resurges the finest of India’s instincts, not panders to its basest. It is these strategies that work for the constructive development of character, for models that promote law, order and good governance and alternative lifestyles and provide livelihood to the needy, even as they bring compassion, relief and treatment to those that are afflicted — an approach with which she is in complete personal empathy — that lie sustainable and workable solutions for AIDS, the most political issue of our times. A new direction that rematerialises the spirit of the Indian women satyagrahis that the Mahatma brought forth in the millions as the most potent force in Indian society is the need of the hour — not condoning for the portrait of the young woman thumbing a client on the highway sassily adorning the Economist pages. India has alternatives. History will not forgive its new leaders for not seeking them. (Concluded) |
Shape of Laloo trains to come ENCOURAGED by the success of the kulhar experiment, Rail Mantri Laloo Prasad Yadav is believed to be toying with the idea of bringing about several other revolutionary changes. Senior railway officials have been told to explore the possibility of removing all engines and pulling trains with the help of bullocks instead. This will give employment to thousands of bulls and their keepers. Fodder for the animals will be provided by the Rail Mantri himself. To save precious foreign exchange, railway coaches will be made in Chapra with the help of mud and cowdung. There will be no berths. Everyone will sit or sleep on the floor. Instead of the present capacity of 74, each of the 21st century coaches will accommodate 740 passengers, plus 1,480 on the roof. These coaches will be lit by diyas and lanterns, thus helping the cottage industry. Since there will be no ACs or fans, windows and doors will be dispensed with and passengers will enjoy invigorating fresh air. First-class passengers will be provided manual ceiling pankhas with one end of the rope tied to their toes which they will operate themselves. Pantries are also likely to undergo a change. Food will be cooked on chulhas and angithis. Everyone will eat daal, bhaat and gur laid out on banana leaves while sitting on the floor. Those desirous of fast food can cook their own khichri. It is Rail Mantralaya’s endeavour to provide all services in-house. Besides mineral water, the department will also bottle mahuwa, taadi and bhang beverages. To tackle the menace of ticketless travel in Lalooji’s home state, all Biharis will be issued free lifetime railway passes. Ticket checkers thus relieved will do social service at 1 Anne Marg. The Railways will discontinue the publication of timetables. It is wasteful to spend so much money on them just because a handful of elite, educated people can calculate how much a train is running late. An exercise is also on to find whether railway stations can be dispensed with altogether. Passengers will be free to pull the chain wherever they have to get down or board a train, as is the custom in Bihar. This will fulfil Lalooji’s dream of bringing trains to “aam admi’s” doorstep. Superfluous rail zones made by previous Railway Ministers will be abolished. The entire country will be divided into just two zones. Both will have headquarters in Patna — one at the house of Laloo Yadav and the other at that of Sadhu Yadav. Another successful Bihar model is sought to be tried out all over the country. Since the state has eradicated metalled roads, experiments are being carried out to find out whether it is at all necessary to run trains on tracks. Efforts are simultaneously being made to identify persons to whom sleepers and girders thus freed can be sold as scrap. To make sure that the reforms are implemented promptly, the Rail Mantri will travel in trains incognito, disguised as Hema Malini.
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Not merely an oil shock
PERHAPS the least written about and certainly the least analysed portion of the new UPA Government’s common minimum programme (CMP) is the short paragraph on energy security. Since it is crucial to India’s future economic development, it bears repeating: “The UPA Government will immediately put in place policies to enhance the country’s energy security, particularly in the area of oil. Overseas investments in the hydrocarbon industry will be actively encouraged. An integrated energy policy linked with sustainable development will be put in place.” The present energy scenario in the country is abysmal. The average power shortage is 10 per cent and the peak power shortage is 15 per cent of the requirement. A high growth rate is accompanied by growth in the primary energy requirement of industry as well as in the consumption of electricity by increasingly affluent consumers. India’s growing population, still rising at about 1.5 per cent per annum, will also add to the energy requirement. It can be easily deduced that India cannot grow at the projected rate of 8 per cent of the GDP per annum on a sustained basis unless its energy output rises exponentially. The World Bank has estimated that the energy demand in India will grow at 5.3 per cent up to 2010 and at 10 per cent after that. Against this backdrop, both the present and the future energy supply scenarios raise doubts about the success of India’s energy security policies. India’s energy generation is heavily dependent on the import of oil and coal. Fossil fuels, that are limited in supply and hazardous to the environment, provide over 90 per cent of India’s present energy output. Indigenous coal, which is mostly inferior grade, accounts for 55 per cent of present energy generation. At over 20 MT, coal imports have are growing at almost 16 per cent every year. More than 70 per cent of India’s oil, that has a share of about 36 per cent in India’s energy pie, is now imported. As the requirement grows, import dependence is expected to grow to almost 90 per cent over the next few decades. Natural gas will soon emerge as an alternative fuel but here too over 70 per cent of the requirements will have to be met through imports. Alarmingly, most of these imports are on “foreign bottoms” or non-Indian owned ships. This should not matter in a rapidly globalising world but during conflict situations dependence of this nature can be a major liability, particularly so when strategic oil reserves are virtually non-existent. Given the challenges of the finite reserves of fossil fuels, heavy import-dependence for procuring them and their environmental hazards, the advantages of placing increasing reliance on nuclear energy are obvious. However, India’s experience with nuclear energy has not been a very happy one. Against the Department of Atomic Energy’s (DAE) projected target of 10,000 MW of nuclear power by the end of the year 2000, the actual installed capacity was limited to only 2,000 MW. It has not yet become possible for India to exploit its vast thorium reserves because the research and development (R&D) efforts put in towards nuclear power generation through fast breeder reactors and thorium-fuelled reactors have not yet borne fruit. The target of 20,000 MW now being projected to be achieved by the year 2020 shall also remain a pipe dream unless the ongoing R&D on Accelerator Driven Systems scores early gains. For enhancing the generation of nuclear energy too India will have to bank heavily on imports. India needs secure supplies of uranium raw material and state-of-the-art nuclear reactor technologies and many countries, more notably France and Russia, are willing to supply these to India. However, since it has not signed the NPT, India is subject to denial regimes and does not qualify to receive either of these under the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines. This is a diplomatic battle the new government must fight. India’s clean non-proliferation record should come in handy as a good bargaining counter at the forthcoming NSG meeting. Finally, the new government must initiate proactive measures to come to grips with the increasing demand-supply gap in the energy field if a high rate of growth is to be sustained over a secular period. It must secure future oil sources though contracts and investments, encourage Indian shipping companies to invest in oil tankers by giving them tax breaks and other financial incentives, negotiate hard with the NSG for new nuclear reactors, exploit the country’s hydel power resources to the optimal limit, move aggressively to enhance installed capacity in alternative energy sources like wind and solar power and purchase excess power from neighbouring countries like Pakistan to the extent possible. Above all else, the government must take urgent steps to create a viable strategic oil reserve to cater for unforeseen eventualities. Failing these measures, modern India may actually become an area of darkness. |
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Delhi Durbar THE BJP is trying its best to remain in the spotlight by throwing up certain ideas. One of them mooted at the first meeting of the new office-bearers on Friday was that the BJP would go in for a shadow Cabinet to ensure that the parliamentary party had a pool of experts on various subjects of importance. Expectedly, former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha became the obvious choice for the foreign affairs portfolio but the big question is: who is the shadow Prime Minister? When confronted with this question, the party spokesman had no answer as the issue apparently had not even been discussed at the NDA forum. Even within the BJP, the party cannot declare either former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani as the shadow Prime Minister as it would create fissures within the party. BMW for PM, no
to Ambassador Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his marked preference for travelling by the Ambassador car but the elite Special Protection Group has shot it down. Dr Singh was apparently feeling a trifle uncomfortable zipping around the Capital in the bullet-proof BMW forming part of the Prime Minister’s cavalcade. The SPG put its foot down that it was mandatory for the Prime Minister to travel in his special, made-to-order bullet-proof BMWs. While the PM’s austere habits are well known, the Congress government in Delhi is plugging for foreign cars as they believe that the Ambassador is heavy on maintenance and lets the occupants down at crucial moments by grinding to a halt. Sonia’s grip on
party matters After renunciating the office of Prime Minister, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is surely becoming hands on in dealing with the party’s organisational matters. A case in point is that of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. After her son and MP from the family bastion of Amethi sought to impress upon his constituents that the only way that things on the electricity, law and order and other fronts could improve was by bringing the Congress back to power in the state, Ms Gandhi expressed similar sentiments in Rae Bareli. This has made things hot for the ruling Samajwadi Party in Lucknow whose leaders have dared the Congress to take the extreme step of withdrawing support to them. Even though senior Congressmen insist that there is no question of disturbing the balance in UP, others in the know are not ruling out a snap assembly poll in the state in September-October. Of course, it has a caveat that the CPM’s Harkishen Singh Surjeet will first have to be softened on withdrawing support to the SP and advancing the assembly elections in UP. Antony to
stay put Congress leaders deputed to Kerala have found that, barring half a dozen disgruntled leaders, nobody demanded a change in leadership. This despite the worst electoral performance of the Congress in the recent general election when they lost all the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Congress strategists are of the view that the KPCC requires corrective measures and radical changes in the party’s organisation set-up. Chief Minister Antony has emerged stronger from fractious intra-party politics, thanks also to the son and daughter of his arch rival K Karunakaran biting the dust at the hustings. Contributed by Satish Misra, S. Sathyanarayanan, Prashant Sood and Gaurav Choudhury. |
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? — Jesus Christ God’s servants are they who adopt the way of submission in order to behold Him. — Guru Nanak The nights that pass will never return. They bear no fruit for him who does not abide by Dharma. — Lord Mahavir Self is an error, an illusion, a dream. Open your eyes and awake. See things as they are and you will be comforted. — The Buddha Pardon is the virtue of victory. — Mazzini |
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