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Advani’s agenda Peace on the rails |
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Slim chance
Scourge of litigation
Power of poetry
Is pre-school coaching right for a child? Questions raised about NGO legitimacy Why Indian milk yield is so low
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Advani’s agenda THOSE who remember history are also condemned to repeat it. So it would appear from BJP President L.K. Advani's resounding call, at the party's national executive meeting in Ranchi, for an aggressive return to the Hindutva agenda. In his first address to the forum after taking over as party president, Mr Advani has struck a disturbing note with his exhortations to "preserve the Hindu ethos". He wants the Congress, the Communists and other political forces to be prevented from "erasing the Hindu ethos and obfuscating the Hindu identity of our culture and civilisation". In Mr Advani's view "India is secular principally because of its Hindu ethos" and "anti-Hindu forces" have shaken "Hindu society". Few right-thinking people would agree with his characterisation of republican India as a "Hindu society" because this is at variance with the prevalent cultural and political realities. In his emphasis on the "Hindu", Mr Advani ignores the larger, and greater, Indian ethos rooted in our civilisational values, particularly pluralism and tolerance. If the "Hindu ethos" is at all endangered it is because of its few self-appointed custodians who presume to speak for the majority. While Mr Advani's compulsions to win over the Hindutva hardcore within the Sangh parivar may explain his revival of this agenda, it is disappointing that the BJP should choose to go backwards, rather than forward. There are issues of governance that ought to have taken precedence in the priorities of a parliamentary force such as the BJP. Having led India's first successful coalition government for a full term, and more, as a responsible Opposition, the BJP should conceive and craft a more contemporary agenda, if only for the sake of its own political comeback. The Hindutva agenda is divisive and, as recent electoral results have shown, unlikely to enlarge or enhance the appeal of the BJP. On the contrary, a return to Hindutva would alienate more sections from the BJP and only multiply the problems for the party. In its own interest, the BJP should come up with a more inclusive agenda that is in tune with the world of today. |
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Peace on the rails REPORTS that India and Pakistan are to revive the rail link between Sindh and Rajasthan have come at a time when the relationship between the two countries is under renewed strain following the rigid stance of President Pervez Musharraf. External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh has indeed achieved a breakthrough and deserves to be complimented for that. Although there is no confirmation from the other side, there is optimism that the understanding between the Railway Ministers of the two countries would yield results by October 2 next year as planned. Technically, the railway link is very much feasible because the track already exists between Munabao and Khokhrapar and it has being lying unused since the 1965 war. All that needs to be done is to convert the metre gauge line in Pakistan to broad gauge. Once the political signal is given, this job can be easily completed within a few months. It is such people-to-people contacts which can prove to be the best goodwill measures. The rail link move can also revive hopes of cross-LoC bus services between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. In fact, the visiting Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Shoukat Aziz, during his recent two-day visit to India himself spoke animatedly about the need for additional bus links. Only when people cross over to the other country without hassles and see the situation with their own eyes can the old mindset change. The decision to set up banks in each other's country on a reciprocal basis can further this process. It is good that Pakistan is coming to realise that economic diplomacy is in its own interest also. But it cannot have it one-way. It wants a gas pipeline from Iran to reach India through Pakistan — because this can change the financial situation of the latter — but is reluctant to give the most favoured nation status to India. Such an approach goes against its own economic interest. As suggested by New Delhi, Islamabad can make progress on the fronts where there is scope for forward movement and keep aside contentious matters for which there is no immediate solution available. That is how India and China thawed their ties. There is no reason why India and Pakistan cannot do that. The only requisite is honest intentions on both sides. |
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Slim chance MANY are the virtues of sleep and many are the poets, writers and philosophers who can be quoted in praise of losing oneself in Sleepytown. As Friedrich Nietzsche said, "Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day." In our times, sleep, the muse of poets and artists, has been appropriated by science as well. Boffins at Columbia University have come up with the finding that people who slept for four hours or less per night were 73 per cent more likely to be obese, possibly because of effects on their appetite hormones. And, to think, that all along we believed that people who sleep less burn more calories. Since discoveries will never cease, we must wake up to what goes against not only conventional wisdom but also our intuition. It is a self-evident truth that sleep takes off the weight of many worries on our mind. Now, we are told that sleep takes the weight off our bodies too. This may be bad news for those in the weight-loss business but welcome as a cost-free technology for slimming down. Mark Twain appears to have known this long before the scientists at Columbia University. "I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting", wrote the celebrated humorist. This is not surprising, because sleep has always been accepted as being good both for our humour and humours. Twain may actually have been inspired to sleep as well as write by the axiom that "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." So while those who spend hours walking — to lose weight — need to be persuaded to hang up their boots and go to bed, there remains the dilemma of the sleepwalker. Is he sleeping or walking? |
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If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. — Mark Twain
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Scourge of litigation PARADOXICALLY, the government has emerged as the biggest litigant in the administration of justice. Judges and lawyers are generally blamed for clogged up courts — from the Supreme Court to the subordinate courts. However, it is the government that is largely responsible for prolonging litigation and slowing down the pace of justice. Punjab is a classic example of how insensitive and inhuman a state government can be in using litigation as a weapon to harass its staff and scuttle justice. With 107 law officers on its rolls, the Punjab government does not seem to realise that the law should be used as an instrument of redress rather than an instrument of injustice. But for the consistent and firm attitude of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the government would have taken everyone for a ride. The court ruling in Vijay Kumar versus State of Punjab is an epoch-making judgement. It not only ordered the reinstatement of the dismissed employee but also awarded consequential benefits to the widow of the other dismissed employee who died while fighting against injustice. The court’s “strong recommendation” to the government for a comprehensive probe against all those involved in prolonging the litigation and to recover from the salaries of the officer(s) concerned any financial losses suffered by it is bound to act as a deterrent not only in Punjab but also in all other states. The judgement given by Justice A.S. Nijar and Justice J.S. Narang will surely act as a unique precedent in the conduct and role of the executive vis-à-vis the judiciary. The ruling was, in fact, a reiteration of what two other judges of the High Court — Justice N.K. Sodhi and Justice Ashutosh Mohunta — ruled on May 6, 2003, while directing the reinstatement of one of the two employees. What was amazing in the entire episode was the government’s single-minded pursuit to continue litigation on one flimsy ground or the other with a view to denying justice to the aggrieved. The two employees of the Animal Husbandry Department were appointed on June 6, 1997. They were peremptorily dismissed on July 23, 1999. They served a demand notice in the Labour Court under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Labour Court declared their dismissal as null and void and directed the government to reinstate them on May 21, 2002. However, the government appealed to the High Court for a review. It justified the dismissal on the ground that the Animal Husbandry Department was not an “industry”. After the High Court rejected the appeal and ordered reinstatement on May 6, 2003, the government refused to abide by it and sought review in another writ petition. To escape from the findings of the ruling, the government pleaded before the court that the petitioner was “illegally appointed” by one officiating Deputy Director of the department in 1997 who had since retired. This “illegal appointment” formed the “main crux” of this writ petition. The government refused to reinstate the employee. Suddenly, the prosecution discovered another ground to deny justice. This time it maintained that the employees could not be reinstated as the matter was “sub judice”! To bring to light the mental torture and agony caused to poor employees because of prolonged litigation by a heartless government, the High Court, in its ruling, cited two examples — Brahma Chandra Gupta versus Union of India (1984); and the Central Cooperative Store Limited through its General Manager versus the Labour Court at Shimla (1993). Both cases show how the Central government too is in no way different from the state governments on continuing litigation for litigation sake. The first case refers to Gupta, an upper division clerk, whose claim was just Rs 3,595.07. But even after 15 years, the government refused to accept his plea. The government went on prolonging the litigation even though there was no legal point or principle involved. The other case pertains to the unprecedented sacking of a sales girl after seven years of service. Despite explicit court ruling, she was neither reinstated nor paid back-wages. The poor girl was forced to knock at the doors of the government time and again. However, she was asked to approach the appellate authority, the revising authority, the High Court, the Labour Court, and the High Court again. Even as the government tried every stratagem to hoodwink justice, it had the audacity to blame the adjudicatory process for the inordinate delay in the case! The Supreme Court took serious note of the Central government’s callousness and passed severe strictures against it for the manner in which it harassed the sales girl. One reason for the official callousness is the plethora of laws enacted by the Centre and the states. Unlike in the US, India does not have a system to check litigation borne out of the ever-increasing number of laws enacted by Parliament and state legislatures. In the US, concerted efforts are made by the Supreme Court, the Federal Judiciary, the Congressional Budget Office, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Bar Association to check litigation. However, in India, Parliament or the state legislatures do not seem to bother about the huge workload a piece of legislation would impose on the judiciary. More important, India does not have separate courts for the trial of cases arising out of the Central Acts except for some special laws. As a result, every law enacted by Parliament or a State Assembly adds to the burden of the courts. Why can India not have judicial system impact statements, as in the US, covering the burden (in terms of costs or otherwise) that legislation would have on the workload of the courts? We do have constitutional safeguards in Clause (3) of Article 117 (Central Bill) and Clause (3) of Article 217 (State Bills). Under Article 117, every Bill tabled in Parliament should be accompanied by a financial memorandum giving particulars about the recurring and non-recurring expenditure likely to be incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India if a Bill is enacted into law. This is mainly intended to help the President know about the financial implications of the proposed legislation. However, a financial memorandum need not be enclosed to a Bill in case no expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India is envisaged. Even otherwise, ministries are least bothered about the expenditure and burden a new piece of legislation would entail on the judiciary. Litigation is baneful for the government as well as the people. The government — the political leadership and the officials — should realise the fact that in a welfare state, it should act as the custodian of public weal and not try to pull the wool over the people’s eyes. It will be a betrayal of people’s trust if it treats the administration as an instrument of vindictiveness. Gandhiji’s concept of trusteeship is very relevant in this context. He said that the relationship between the rulers and the ruled ought to be one of parents and children and that the government should be run solely in the interest of the people. The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling reinforces the people’s trust, faith and confidence in the judiciary. As the sentinel of the Constitution, it has always checked the arbitrary exercise of power and highhandedness of the executive and safeguarded the people’s rights and liberties. If there is infraction of justice, the judiciary has not failed in its duty to rise to the occasion and uphold the rule of law. This indeed is a signal contribution of the judiciary to the evolution and growth of the Indian
Constitution. |
Power of poetry ONE of the most astonishing and intriguing phenomena in all cultures and civilisations is the manner in which the song in various forms preceded the pondered prose. This mystery, in fact, somewhere connects with the sybilline and gnomic nature of poetry, and that wonder abides even when critics in modern times have sought to explore the deeper depths of the song through all manner of theories and formulations. And these include, among others, theological Freudian, Marxian linguistic and anthropological explanations. In sum, poetry’s appeal or power remains a universal force, and no theory can wholly cope with its dialectic, its inner nature. How, then, may one define poetry? There are in existence a whole body of definitions in the English language alone, and from Shakespeare to Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats and later poets, we have had many such statements which, true in their own way, yet remain somewhat incomplete. To quote a couple of these, for Wordsworth poetry was a powerful overflow of spontaneous feelings — and “emotions recollected in tranquillity”. For Shelley, poets were “the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” In other words, the poets were as much concerned with personal problems as with the affairs of the world. For Keats, the truth of poetry is truth of imagination. “What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth”. But the subtler theories came from the 20th century critics, and I refer to one, in particular, the theory advanced by the American critic, Harold Bloom in his “Anxiety of Influence”, which is related to Freudian views. Bloom thinks that a good, or really great, poet has first to dissipate the influence of strong, puissant poets who remain a presence to upset the imagination. The later poet has to slay the pater poet to be able to create his own song, his own signature, his own space. Thus, what is known as “Oedipus complex” in the Freudian idiom seems to be at work in the composition of all great poetry. Does it also have, the Aristotelian cathartic effect? Difficult to say, though there’s no doubt about the sublime, healing effect of great verse. I can vouch for it from my personal experience. When I fell critically ill in 1993, I had just published one volume of verse earlier — in 1987, but when disabled and in pain, I started writing poems in English and Urdu as a gift of the imagination. Verses came to me sometimes as rose petals blown by soft breezes, and sometimes as a storm and sharp showers. No wonder, I’ve in these years of agony produced three volumes of poetry in English and one in Urdu. For I feel poems, particularly of some desertions, violated love and disenchantment are really a wedge driven into man’s personal
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Is pre-school coaching right for a child?
The study, compiled by the University of London, showed that those who spent three years or more in nursery education were 10 to 12 months ahead on average, compared with youngsters kept at home by parents until they started compulsory schooling at five. It also showed that the longer the time spent in nursery education the better the performance at school — so children who started nursery education at three were likely to be only four to six months ahead instead of 10 to 12. The only drawback to an early start was that youngsters sent to day nurseries before the age of two were more likely to show signs of anti-social behaviour towards their teacher — 7.1 per cent of the cohort compared with 6.8 per cent of those who stayed at home. However, they were more sociable with their classmates. The findings, the first time research has been conducted on the impact of pre-school education in the UK, also show those who have had pre-school education do better in reading, writing and maths tests for seven-year-olds. Again, those who have been at pre-school the longest — the two-year-olds — are further ahead, the research found. In reading, children of unskilled or semi-skilled workers — on average — were likely to fail to reach the level expected of a seven-year-old. They reached a level of 1.9 compared with the benchmark of two. If they had been at nursery school, they scored 2.2 on average. Kathy Silva from Oxford University, a member of the research team, said the report showed early education was “not just turning youngsters into skill and drill monsters. They really are more sociable and helpful.” The research, on 2,800 children in pre-school environments and 300 who stayed at home, concluded it was the quality rather than the quantity of pre-school education that mattered. Nurseries with qualified teachers did better than those who relied on care staff. In addition, children who spent five half-days a week at nursery did just as well as those who went full time. “An early start at pre-school (between two and three years) was linked with better intellectual attainment and being more sociable with other children,” the report added. “There was no evidence, though, that full-day attendance led to better development than half-day attendance.” The research comes on the eve of a government strategy document for the early years which will call for schools to offer round-the-clock child-care from 8 am until 6 pm for the children of working parents. It warned it was still important for parents to spend time teaching children to read, write and add up, revealing that parents who taught their children nursery rhymes were likely to have the brightest youngsters. “The quality of the home learning environment is more important for intellectual and social development than parental occupation, education or income,” the report concluded. “What parents do is more important than who parents are.” It also showed that parents were likely to spend more time singing and playing with girls than boys. Researchers claimed this could be because they were more receptive and that boys had less of a concentration span. Eighty per cent of children with antisocial habits were boys. Children were also more likely to misbehave if left with child-minders for long periods.
— By arrangement with The Independent |
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Questions raised about NGO legitimacy A challenge that we need to address is whether NGO consultation enhances the credibility of international public decisions. At the turn of the century 25,000 NGOs had consultative status with the UN. The 2002 UNDP Human Development Report indicates that nearly one-fifth of the world’s 37,000 NGOs were formed in the 90s. There are local and international NGOs that “act irresponsibly and undermine the credibility of civil society in general”. “Organisations must be as accountable as the governments they criticise”. The NGO movement needs to challenge this upfront. NGO legitimacy has also come into question from donors, especially when channels of funding are through individual donors, foundations, corporations, governments and the international donor community, including governments. Developing countries receiving funds have come under greater regulatory formalities and scrutiny, particularly where funds are involved which are channeled through governments and do not necessarily get the stamp of approval for NGOs whose principles and objectives sometimes get compromised. The ICPD Programme of Action, endorsed by 179 countries, initiated a process which facilitated an environment conducive to following a holistic approach in population and development. India witnessed a pronounced paradigm shift in its population policy of addressing the question of population stabilisation from coercive measures to those more holistic and human-centered. In 1996 we witnessed the implementation of a target-free approach, and even the National Population Policy introduced in 2000 reflected this welcome change. However, now proactive NGOs feeling good about the achievements at the ICPD, find themselves in India again facing a situation where strategies on population stabilisation, particularly in many of the states, are rolling back to coercive measures through incentives and disincentives in family planning. Demonstrated through strategies, projects and models NGOs have been catalytic to change on a wider canvas the world over. |
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Why
Indian milk yield is so low INDIA ranks first in the buffalo and cattle population, second in goats and third in the sheep population in the world. This huge livestock population is, however, unable to yield 250 gms milk per person per day. Our milch animals are emaciated and malnourished. An average family makes a daily sale of 1.1 litres of milk to earn Rs 265 per month. In total 93.14 lakh families were covered by Operation Flood, which was completed in 1996 after an investment of Rs 1,800 crore extending over 26 years. Majority of the milk plants set up in the cooperative sector under this programme have turned sick and are losing heavily. However, the alarm bells have failed to ring. The quantity and quality of meat produced is far below the requirements, as suitable meat breeds of animals have not been identified and developed. Animal farms as commercial ventures are yet to be established. Dairy farms with cross-bred cows, pig farming with improved exotic breeds, rabbit farming for meat with Russian chinchilla and New Zealander white breeds, especially for minced meat required for pizza, burger and hot dogs; goat farming with improved meat breeds on stall feeding system are no where to be seen. Some of the progressive farmers could have taken up turkey and ostrich farming as well. The hygienic conditions in slaughterhouses are appalling. Animal byproducts are wasted. At present 75 per cent of meat used is that of sheep and goats, 18 per cent of poultry and 7 per cent of pigs. Such a huge population of livestock, instead of being an asset, has become a liability for the nation because of poor productivity. Policies are not oriented towards improving productivity. The owners of the traditional livestock are rather assured that no displacement of any kind would be allowed in their traditional occupation. It is nobody’s responsibility at present that this ignorant and illiterate class should also earn economic surplus by maximising its potential and enable others find employment. This amounts to a systematic exploitation of the rural poor by perpetuating the socio-economic status-quo to safeguard the vested interests as these constitute their vote-bank. Majority of the owners of this stock, in most of the states, are leading a sub-human existence. The deep-rooted fear that mechanisation of agriculture would aggravate rural unemployment by displacing labour turned out to be false. On the contrary, Punjab has rather proved that farm mechanisation is not a luxury, but a necessity for intensive farming. Educated young men from the rural areas got attracted to farms because they found it convenient and efficient to work with tractors instead of bullocks. Mechanisation of agriculture removed its back-breaking drudgery. It also increased the productivity of the farm labour and reduced the cost of production. Paradoxically, it led to an acute labour shortage due to increased productivity. Moreover, many new jobs have been created. Similar apprehensions are being expressed now against the modernisation of the livestock sector. The livestock sector needs to be upgraded and restructured by providing infrastructure to improve its productivity, quality and marketing. It would thereby open up new vistas for Punjabis settled abroad and prompt them to donate high-quality germ plasm to their relatives and others to improve the productivity of milch and meat animals. It can contribute to the raising of the rural economy by generating employment for rural youth and also provide sound healthy nutrition for the population. |
Christ's love is always stronger than the evil in the world, so we need to love and be loved: it's as simple as that. — Mother Teresa Thinking about sensual objects creates in us a great desire to posses them. Any thwarting of these desires kindles the fire of anger in us. —The Bhagvad Gita Generally our ignorance clouds this glowing truth. We reconcile ourselves by blaming fate for our accidents The learned one knows that the cause of the accident was some deed in the past; not fate. He examines his past behaviour and makes amendments in the future. —The Mahabharata Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to cal their own. — Mother Teresa Faith is not like a delicate flower which would wither away. — Mahatma Gandhi |
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CHILDREN who start nursery school by the age of two are up to a year ahead in maths and English when they begin full-time schooling, a major research project shows.