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LPG relief Meals
for students |
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Freedom
for Zardari
New Kashmir idea
“Rebibal” of
Haryana connexion
News
Analysis Delhi
Durbar
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LPG relief Consumers in general and housewives in particular are bound to heave a sigh of relief, now that the government has decided to roll back its decision to increase the price of domestic cooking gas by Rs 5 per cylinder each month. This monthly increase was to go on for some 26 months till the entire subsidy was wiped out. Interestingly, the government has given no explanation for the reversal, although the reason is all too obvious. The Left and opposition parties have been protesting against the hike all along and it is their vociferous protest which has made the UPA government roll back the increase. This is in keeping with the established practice of going two steps forward and at least one step backward when faced with backlash from the public or the coalition partners. LPG has become such a common item of use that even the smallest price increase raises the hackles of users. Indeed, petroleum prices have a tremendous bearing on the overall cost of living. To that extent, even the one-time increase of Rs 20 per cylinder which has not been withdrawn by the government, has not gone down too well with the consumers. While the government has bowed to popular sentiment, economists must be gnashing their teeth at the “retrograde” step, considering that the larger issue of huge subsidy has been pushed under the carpet. The amount is enormous and sooner or later the government has to address itself to the consequences of the recurring burden. It is hoped that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Bill, which seeks to set up a Petroleum Regulatory Board for petroleum and petroleum products, including natural gas, would handle various pulls and pressures better. Consumers too have to come to terms with the reality that the subsidy cannot last forever. For the time being the government’s top priority should be to ensure that the domestic gas is not misused by commercial establishments. Now that the difference between the two prices has widened considerably, the urge to break the law would be even stronger. |
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Meals for students The Supreme Court’s directive to all the states and Union Territories on Wednesday to provide cooked mid-day meal to school children up to Class V by January 2005 is timely. So far the Centre has been providing free foodgrain to the states, along with the funds for transportation from the Food Corporation of India depots to granaries in the state capitals. But most states were short of funds to convert the grain into a cooked meal (known as conversion cost). Now that the Centre has come forward to provide an additional one rupee per child to meet the conversion cost, there should be no problem for the states to implement the scheme effectively. Over the years, several studies have revealed that mid-day meal helps to improve school enrolment, retention and learning levels. In Rajasthan, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, the dropout rate of girls has come down by 50 per cent following the successful implementation of the scheme. Needless to say, mid-day meal has helped southern states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in achieving higher literacy level. Tamil Nadu has benefited immensely by the scheme. First introduced, in the early 1960s, by the late K. Kamaraj, the idea was revived and implemented on a much larger scale by MGR in the late seventies. If it has succeeded there, how can it fail in other states? Karnataka is another success story. In addition to its own efforts, the state government has roped in the private sector and organisations like ISKCON to widen the reach of the scheme. Sadly, the lackadaisical attitude of some states has badly affected the scheme. The Tribune’s special report on fungus-affected soyabean nuggets in some Haryana schools proves the extent of governmental apathy and callousness. Despite repeated exhortations by the Supreme Court, there has been no effective monitoring of the scheme. It is time the states took note of this vital aspect. On August 15, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised to extend the mid-day meal scheme up to Class X. This makes the states all the more responsible to implement the scheme with greater resolve and efficiency. |
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Freedom for Zardari The
release of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari from eight-year-long detention has fuelled speculation about a change in the political scenario in Pakistan. Though Mr Zardari has got freedom following the acceptance of his bail application by the Pakistan Supreme Court, it is believed that this is the result of “instructions” from the Pervez Musharraf regime, which is not uncommon in Pakistan. Despite the denial by Ms Bhutto, a deal between her and the General cannot be ruled out. The suspicion gets strengthened by Mr Zardari’s own remarks that he would like to work as a political “bridge” to bring Pakistan to the “right path”. There is also an assurance from the Establishment that no new case would be filed against Mr Zardari. Combining these with General Musharraf’s telephonic conversation with exiled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, though to offer condolences on the death of the PML leader’s father, the picture that emerges is replete with interesting pointers. The ruling dispensation, it seems, is working on a plan for accommodation with the two principal political parties — Ms Bhutto’s PPP and Mr Sharif’s PML — with regard to some crucial policy objectives. Another game plan may be to sow the seeds of confusion in the Opposition ranks before they go ahead with their agitation plan led by the alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), over the issue of General Musharraf shedding his uniform. The General has, perhaps, come to realise that a measure of understanding with the PPP and the PML (Nawaz) is necessary for preventing the MMA from fomenting instability after the December deadline ends for General Musharraf to give up the Army chief’s post. There is another problem: the MMA constituents are supporting certain terrorist groups, whereas the General is under international pressure to eliminate such elements. In any case, he has to do something to weaken the MMA’s position before it is too late, and hence the overtures to the PPP and the
PML. |
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A well-written Life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.
— Thomas Carlyle |
New Kashmir idea As
an author of the revised Naya Kashmir document, I was pleasantly surprised over the reference to it by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a public meeting in Srinagar on his maiden visit to the state on November 17. It was a forgotten slogan which had reverberated the valley during the freedom movement in the forties. How many people will respond to the idea’s emotive appeal after decades of silence even by the party that had presented it as its vision of freedom? After Sheikh Abdullah’s accord with Indira Gandhi and his return to power in the state in 1975, when he dissolved the Plebiscite Front and revived the National Conference, I was assigned the task of reviving the party manifesto, updating it and deleting the outdated and anachronistic parts of it. Thus revised, it was adopted by the National Conference at its first conference, after its rebirth, at Jammu. A study of both versions would give an insight into the political thinking of the premier political party of the state during the two periods. The original New Kashmir memorandum was prepared by the National Conference for the Inquiry Commission appointed by Maharaja Hari Singh on July 12, 1943, to propose reforms in the political, economic and administrative system. It included two members of the National Conference. The party was encouraged to cooperate with the commission, as explained by Sheikh Abdullah in his preface to the New Kashmir document, by the statement of Maharaja on the proposal of the Cripps Mission in which he had called upon the princes of India to prove their patriotism. He had added, “Freedom should be our aim. Freedom from restrictions on suppression and repression.” While still confirming its trust in the good intentions of His Highness, the National Conference was not satisfied with the working of the commission. Therefore, it directed its two members—GM Sadiq and Afzal Beg—to withdraw from the commission and decided to send the memorandum to the Maharaja directly. It was formally adopted at the annual conference of the party at Sopore in 1944 under the presidentship of Mahatma Budh Singh, the only person other than Sheikh Abdullah who held this august office. The New Kashmir memorandum was supposed to have been drafted by communist ideologues and had clear Marxist imprint. In its preface, Sheikh Abdullah refers to the model of the Soviet Union “which had not only in theory but in daily life and development has practically proved that real freedom is born out of economic freedom.” It proposed a constitution for the state that would ensure “Liberation of the people and their children from the darkness of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and superstition to the light of freedom, peace and prosperity, and fulfil the historic role of their country, Kashmir, by joining the working classes of the world.” The entire document was intended to be a blueprint for a socialist republic. To make it relevant to the changed situation in 1975, references to the nation, nationality, and national assembly were replaced by the state, citizenship and state assembly, respectively, wherever they occurred. It also added the right to individual freedom and the right to form organizations in addition to the right to work for eight hours, minimum wages, recreational centres for workers, insurance against sickness and old age, free primary education, equal rights for men and women, etc. But the obligation on every individual to get training in arms and to join military service was deleted. The original document had a provision to dispossess any person of his movable and immovable property who did not fulfil the conditions prescribed in the economic plans, and to grant amnesty to the foreigners who had been convicted for participation in the freedom movement or intellectual activities. Both provisions were deleted. For, the first was considered too harsh a measure against personal freedom and the second was beyond the jurisdiction of the state in 1975. All references to Maharaja Bahadur were deleted as the institution of monarchy had been abolished under the Delhi Agreement in 1952. Article 48 of the original had recognised Kashmiri, Dogri, Dardi, Baltistani, Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu as the national languages of the state; now Gojri and Pahari have been added to the list. The original document prescribed the precise standards of per capita food, clothing, housing, water and the number of eating shops per 1000 population. These were replaced in the revised draft in view of the needs according to the climate and environment of various places. References to land to the tiller, abolition of absentee landlordism and middle men were considered unnecessary after the radical land reforms of the early fifties in the state, while references to set up defence industries , production of ammunition and other requirements of defence forces had to be deleted because it was beyond the jurisdiction of the state. The rest of the document dealing with the charters of demands for peasants, workers and women were retained as per the progressive and socialist commitments of the National Conference. Significantly, however, it incorporated a commitment for the devolution of power to the regions and the lower tiers of the administration. Though the broad ideological commitments of the National Conference remained the same before Independence and after (except for diluting its authoritarian content), it is clear that in the forties the party represented sentiments of Kashmiri nationalism and aspired for a status of socialist republic on the pattern of the Soviet Union. As the Muslim-league leadership had no respect for secular Kashmiri nationalism and socialist ideology, it had all along opposed the freedom movement in Kashmir, and when it came to power in the new dominion of Pakistan, it sponsored a tribal raid to annex Kashmir through force. The Kashmiri leadership then realised that it could not defend its independent identity without armed support from and accession to India. Kashmiri identity had been seeking expression through independence or autonomy. But the failure to come to terms with a similar urge for autonomous regional identities of Jammu and Ladakh during the Kashmiri leadership’s first tenure in power (1947 to 1953) and later tenures after 1975, in spite of having committed itself to the concept of regional autonomy, complicated the issue of the status of the state. The state can revive the élan of New Kashmir with a more specific commitment to a federal, decentralised and democratic set-up, learning lessons from the past experiences. |
“Rebibal” of Haryana connexion “Axe-kyooj
me Bhai Shaab, are you note Raaz-Beer!” He held me by the shoulder at the World Trade and made me turn a full hundred and eighty degrees. “Yes I am but…sorry I couldn’t place you, sir,” I said, meekly protesting against the whack. A white-skinned woman in her late forties with bobbed hair accompanying him pronounced his calling to me smiling, “Mr R. P. Singh!” My school time memory came to my rescue and having recognised my friend, I exclaimed, “Arrey, Ram Phall?” “Thanx Goad, you riko-gnized me. But you sad you kud note place me! Hab you re-ully phor-goatten awer nay-tieu place Roih-Tak where we stud-deed?” He reminded me. Ram Phall was a wrestler and his tongue was as abrasive in pronouncing certain phonetic sounds as his might was in knocking down his opponents in a
bout. He didn’t make any difference between S and Sh; F and Ph; J and Z; G and Gh; B and V, etc. To make matters worse these sounds were conveniently similar for him. He also found certain vowels and diphthongs equally interchangeable e.g. got was goat for him; caught was cot; bomb was bumb; might was mat and sight was sat. He pronounced the silent consonants with accentuated effort e.g. coal-men for column and soul-men for solemn. Also g-nat for gnat and k-no-lidge for knowledge. His mayyar, pluyyar, truyyar and okayyan were tersely tolerable for measure, pleasure , treasure and occasion, respectively. The best thing about his original style was that he cared two hoots in seeking to mend his wayward ways with spoken English. Ram Phall got married at the age of 17 while he was still struggling through his higher secondary phase. His being madly in love with his early-found soulmate who bore him two sons in succession, made him flunk a couple of years. I then lost track of the man. “Sori, I phor-goat to introduce my baif Show-Phia. See ij phrom Middle-Sex… (pause)…(longer pause)…!” A grin and a wink. He probably read my thoughts and hastened to inform, “Oh your Bhabi Sharlaa? See ij in the billage and looks aphter the landz with her phor sunz.” He further told me that he had gone to the UK a couple of years back as a wrestling coach where, “Thish sosull-shantisht phloored me when I waj out of the ring,” he grinned from ear to ear when Sophia smiled gently. “Show-Phia’s grand-phaather was a soljer in the Britis Army and had stayed in Roih-Tak for a long time. See haj come with me hair for a re-bibal of the Haryana connexion,” Ram Phall said when I quipped with my tongue firmly in cheek, “Yes for me as well, in meeting you Mr R.P. Singh.” “Bhat a releeph!” Did you say that? |
News Analysis
The
Human Development Report, 2004, bearing the insignia of the Government of Punjab, mirrors the state in its true colours. Rather it reflects a blurred image of the state's diffused colours. Despite its outdated data, the report shows the mirror to the government, where Punjab is placed in the comity of states. Is Punjab shinning or is the shine only a mirage? This report, released by Capt. Amarinder Singh on November 16, was prepared by a Sanket team led by Sandeep Dikshit. The report cannot be viewed in isolation. Comparison is but obvious with at least two other reports — the Punjab Development Report, 2004, by the World Bank and the Punjab Development Report, 2002, by the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. These three reports have a common thread — the same set of babus and bureaucrats, provided same “inputs” to the agencies concerned and cover almost the same subjects and issues. Only the treatment of the subject matter is different. Their conclusions are almost identical and so are their recommendations. A major difference, of course, is in the “quality” of the products. This is evident from how well the latest data, census figures and other inputs were put to use to succinctly pinpoint what went wrong and how to correct the glaring distortions, discrepancies and disparities in the three regions, Malwa, Doaba and Majha. Another common feature of the reports is the comment on lack of political will, indifference of bureaucracy, absence of accountability and transparency, non-implementation of reforms and non-involvement of people in governance. The Human Development Report, 2004, is a poor copy of the other two reports. The CRRID report, released in December, 2002, has more updated data and information. The World Bank report, on the other hand, is packed with punch, sends warning signals and cautions the state of visible and invisible knots and traps in which Punjab is caught. All due to the
government's myopic vision, flawed policies and “soft” options that have harmed governance and delivery of social and economic services. Though the Human Development Report, 2004, focuses primarily on health, education, women and children, Dalits, migrant labour, agriculture and economy, and also gives a brief profile of Punjab, it seemingly just skims the surface, while there is far more updated details, data, information and insight in the Punjab Development Report, 2002. The World Bank report puts the entire gamut in a proper perspective. It stresses just as reforms are inescapable, so is the need to dovetail political compulsions with political economy. The Sanket report is the outcome of a political conflict and compromise involving the Akali Dal and the Congress. The project to prepare a state development report was part of the strategies drawn up by the Planning Commission with the UNDP stepping in. There were three claimants for the project. Political machination, however, favoured Sanket. In fact, the same set of babus and bureaucrats and the political executive of the two political parties interacted first with CRRID and later with the Sanket team to prepare the report. Once Sanket took up the project, CRRID got an assignment from the Planning Commission. Its report was vetted by Dr Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission member K Venkatasubramaniam. The report was ready in 2002 and obviously available to Sanket. In fact, the final draft of the Human Development Report, 2004, was ready in January, 2001. Ironically, it took more than three years for the Sanket team to finalise the report and release it — that too without caring to update data. As such this “research-cum-policy document”, to quote the report, may not fully satiate the hunger of research scholars, academicians and policy-makers, as it is an inadequate document, given the stale data. Nevertheless, it tries to make up this shortcoming with cushioned comments on what is needed to be done. Were the political executive and the bureaucrats to take these reports together, Punjab can be turned around and reconstructed. Will it happen? |
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Delhi Durbar A
section in the BJP feels that the party, known for its discipline, is giving in to rabble-rousers. It maintains that former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti’s remorse and diatribe against the BJP leadership should not be condoned. This section insists that Uma Bharti should be sent packing from the BJP, irrespective of her being a protege of party President L K Advani. They are wondering if that would happen, considering the pressures from the Sangh Parivar. Her return to the party after repeated attacks on the leadership would send wrong signals to the disciplined BJP cadres. The elections to the Bihar assembly are round the corner and the BJP cannot afford to dither on the Uma Bharti affair. Education
loans
Top bankers of the country came across a tough taskmaster in President A P J Abdul Kalam the other day. During the recent Bankers’ Conference, Kalam said that even though the government had announced raising the ceiling of collateral for education loans, he continued to get emails from students listing difficulties in securing loans for higher education. Naturally, this was not music to the ears of the bankers who thrive on oneupmanship in image management and figure projections. Vaghela at it again
An interaction between mediapersons and Textile Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela invariably turns to the BJP and he leaves no
opportunity in having a dig at his old party colleague Lal Krishna Advani. During a meeting with scribes the other day, Vaghela predicted that the BJP had no chance to revive itself for a decade. “Advani does not have the qualities of a leader, but is only good as a second-in-command”, he insisted. Lalu’s fame spreads
Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav seems to be gaining fame internationally if his visits to Pakistan and Cairo recently to attend the funeral of PLO chief Yasser Arafat are any indication. While in Pakistan, Lalu was mobbed wherever he went and even had a ghostwriter pen a book about his sojourn to the neighbouring country. Now in Cairo last week as part of the official delegation, the eyes of South Asians were focussed on Lalu from the moment he arrived in Cairo. Members of the South Asian community in the Egyptian capital sought Lalu’s autograph on newspapers, magazines, cigarette packets and what have you. Notwithstanding the sombre and grim occasion connected with Arafat’s funeral, the irrepressible Lalu gave his autograph with aplomb, according to a member of the delegation. Renuka and religion
Are UPA ministers, especially those from the Congress, studiously restraining themselves from talking about religion? At a recent meeting with journalists, Union Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury refused to use the term “religious tourism.” Each time this question was posed to her, she was careful in responding with “pilgrim tourism.” And this aspect does not seem to be a priority item with her ministry compared to health tourism, eco tourism and so on. Contributed by Satish Misra, Gaurav Choudhury, S Satyanarayanan and Prashant
Sood. |
A man may have sinned again and again in the past. But once the Truth is revealed to him, his soul is washed clean. All his sins are pulversized. But he has to strive long and dedicatedly to arrive at this place in life. —The Bhagavadgita Self control is the best way to calm the thought-disturbed mind. It brings serenity and allows us to look on the world dispassionately. —The Mahabharata Even as a tree has single trunk but many branches and leaves, there is one religion-human religion-but any number of faiths. —
Mahatma Gandhi Guru Nanak in his ten forms appeared on the earth as personal God and, armed with the sword of the spirit, fought the forces of evil and released mankind. — The Sikhism The Ones who concentrate steadfastly on the goal are winners. Those who lose are the ones distracted by the happenings on the wayside. Just so, the earnest race past the thoughtless in life as the awake among sleepers. — The Buddhism |
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