 |
|
Use President’s rule Two worlds |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Where have tigers gone?
The lost letter
Among villagers
Human Rights
Diary Sex queries in Pak school survey spark protests Boeing fires CEO for affair with staffer
|
Use President’s rule THE imposition of President’s rule on Bihar should not be seen as an unmitigated disaster, though the voters had no such desire when they took part in the February elections. There is little doubt that the electoral verdict was against the Rashtriya Janata Dal regime. Few will, therefore, shed tears for Rabri Devi and her husband LalooYadav, who have been left to sulk on the sidelines. They will do well to remember that they have only themselves to blame for the defeat of the RJD. The voters were angry with them as they failed to fulfil their responsibilities when they exercised full control of the levers of power in the state uninterruptedly for 15 years. They were no longer ready to accept empty rhetoric on social equity as a substitute for socio-economic development. As the Governor takes control of the administration, he will realise that a lot needs to be done to remove the cobwebs in the State Secretariat and the district collectorates. Over the years, the Laloo-Rabri team has kept the bureaucrats and the police in such thrall that they have lost all sense of propriety. Neither the husband nor the wife was interested in providing the state an impartial and efficient government. Thus, the first and foremost task of the Governor is to revive the somnolent administration and enable it to take decisions based on sound principles of administration and accountability and implement them in both letter and spirit. Busy as Mr LalooYadav has been in politicking, he had neither the time nor the inclination to implement even Centrally-funded programmes and projects in the state. Hundreds of crores of rupees are wasted while the people cry for jobs, power, roads and even food. Not even a fraction of the state’s potential for growth has been tapped. All this poses a challenge to the Governor, who should take it up in right earnest. Fears that Mr Yadav will try to poke his nose into the state administration will have to be proved wrong. This is not an easy task given the control he exercises on the Centre by virtue of his position in the ruling coalition. In the end, if Governor Buta Singh can overcome such problems, the people will realise that President’s rule can be put to greater use than just providing an interim arrangement valid until the revival of the Assembly. |
|
Two worlds THERE is a sharp divide between men and women. And women are not only segregated from the male species but are also further subdivided into two worlds of their own. Women of one world rise to important positions in society and can match their male counterparts in all walks of life. Those living in the other world continue to be raped, tortured and humiliated, if they survive female foeticide and infanticide, dowry and much else. In India especially, these two diametrically opposite universes exist side by side. It was thought that with the passage of a few International Women’s Days, the population of the first world will go up, and that of the second will consequently shrink. But the expected is proving to be a mirage. For every shining example of female emancipation, there are 10 of abject subjugation, which make one lose hope. To be fair, there is some improvement in some areas, but the pace is so excruciatingly slow that it is almost unperceivable. What consolation is it for a woman struggling for breath under 10 ft of water that the level has gradually come down to nine and will be a little lower by the next International Women’s Day? In the essentially male-dominated society, everyone talks of ameliorating the lot of women but does pretty little about it. The promise is vague and not seriously meant. Whether it is reservation or the issue of giving tickets to more women in elections, or in any field which men guard as their domain women find barriers too strong to break. But successful women themselves have at times become indifferent to gender reforms. We are not talking about the stereotyped mothers-in-law alone. Women in responsible positions have been found to have even killed their daughters, because they dared to marry out of caste. Obviously, it is not only the men who put a glass ceiling over the aspirations of women; women themselves have no qualms about putting their sisters and daughters in a glass cage. Even educated women are known to have chosen to end the life of the unborn daughter without any prick of conscience. Both fathers and mothers are denying the unborn daughters the right to live. It is a pity. |
|
Where have tigers gone? THE tiger population in India has declined to an extent that these big cats are no longer to be sighted in some sanctuaries. Now that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, and turned the spotlight on the vanishing tigers, there is hope that some steps might be taken to save the tigers from the death row. India has 27 tiger reserves and in five of these, the number of tigers has gone down significantly. The reasons for such a pathetic state are well known: poaching, encroachment, lack of watch and ward staff, who are in any case poorly equipped, etc. The basic issue is apathy, which has led to the neglect of our forests and wildlife. India is perhaps the only nation where there is no active green party. Politically, ecology has just not been a matter of concern. Some politicians have cared for the environment, especially Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi, but overall, there has been apathy and even when the government has intervened, it has been in the form of knee-jerk reactions. Wildlife tourism has created havoc in the hitherto protected environs. Illegal logging and poaching continues because of complicity at the local level, and the natural habitats are being encroached upon for fodder, mining and human habitation. Not only are there far less tigers today than they were in the 1990s, they are also living on unsafe and insecure existence, to an extent that more big cats are turning into man-eaters than earlier. The Indian Forest Service has some bright people on its rolls, but it is a top-heavy organisation with the ill-trained and ill-equipped ground staff being the weakest link. There are 4,000 vacancies of forest guard. The Prime Minister has taken the initiative, but much more needs to be done to protect the tiger and other wild animals. |
|
Youth is vivid rather than happy, but memory always remembers the happy things.
— Bernard Lovell |
The lost letter LET pundits and patriots gloat over India overtaking China’s growth rate, becoming a scientific superpower and challenging American technological achievements. What matters at the humdrum level of daily living is the debasement of values, vulgarisation of taste, deteriorating services and disintegration of institutions like the Post and Telegraph Department which is “celebrating” 150 years of existence. Its collapse is all the more depressing for the pinnacle that it once occupied. Perhaps things are worse in West Bengal than elsewhere. But the degradation is nationwide. India may forge ahead but Indians lag behind. Paeans of praise for the reopened Flury’s tea shop in Kolkata recall how Delhi’s Wengers has also fallen. In both, cheap showiness, shoddy service, indifferent fare and inflated prices pass unnoticed because people have forgotten quality and no longer expect it. That is also why we rave over the tacky glitter of shopping malls that compare poorly with the vanished elegance of Hall and Anderson’s or Whiteaway Laidlaw. It’s like the West Bengal government allowing Rawdon Square to decline into a dump and then saying that since it was no longer a park, it could be sold to one of the ruling party’s business partners in another bit of shady commerce. Such examples extend to every sphere of life. Money and position are the ultimate arbiters everywhere but those without either are not so totally ignored in any other society that claims the modern label. In a conversation with Rajiv Gandhi many years ago he suggested that a strong consumer movement could solve many problems. But the prescription is useless without an honest police force, law courts that briskly dispense impartial justice, active civil servants and caring politicians. In the absence of this follow-up, Renuka Ray’s brave demonstrations were quickly forgotten. This disregard of ordinary folk – which many readers of the English-language media might not credit – prompts hilarious exchanges whenever I have to telephone someone in authority. I ask to speak to a functionary and am asked my name in return, which is fair enough. To the inevitable next question, “Where are you speaking from?” I reply, “My home.” Baffled, they then grope around to discover where I work. I say I am unemployed. Why do I want to speak to the great man? I explain I have a complaint/problem/request. Unfailingly, he is busy/on the telephone/at a meeting. These are the hazards of ordinariness. Ironically, that same functionary and his minions were all gracious attention when I, too, boasted a corporate identity. This responsiveness only to money and position is a major reason for widespread avoidance of duty and a host of abuses, including growing corruption. A complaint on which Kolkata’s Banking Ombudsman has taken a commendably strong stand highlights how the small man – woman in this instance – is at the mercy of a system that encourages criminal exploitation. Last November, a man in London posted a cheque for Rs 4,77,000 drawn in favour of a female relative here on his NRO account at UTI Bank, Gol Park. Alarmed when the cheque did not reach her, the woman got in touch with the sender whose inquiries from London revealed that it had been cleared and deposited at the ICICI Bank, Vivekananda Road. Further inquiries disclosed that Rs 3,00,000 had already been withdrawn. How could this happen? Quite simply, apparently. First, the cheque was stolen from the postal system. Then the thief obtained a forged voter’s card in the payee’s name but using an address in Shibpur, whereas the woman herself lives in Ballygunge. (The Howrah police later confirmed that no such name or address figures in the voter’s list.) Then they took the card as proof of identity to the ICICI Bank, opened an account with no other verification and deposited the cheque for Rs 4,77,000 in it. The bank obligingly issued an Automatic Teller Machine card, replete with Personal Identification Number, on the spot. Three days later, the account holder merrily used the card to withdraw Rs 3,00,000. None of this would have been possible without the initial theft in an enterprise that evokes memories of the legendary Scinde Dawk, the magic of Rudyard Kipling’s Overland Mail and Salil Chowdhury’s stirring rhythm in Runner. No doubt, in recognition of this august past, the President received 150 postmen in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Republic Day. But India must be the only country in the world where sending a letter abroad is so complicated, as I rediscovered the other day. First, the long queue to have my envelope weighed by a surly clerk who flung it back at me, barking out the cost. Then another queue to buy stamps. The woman in charge — she seemed to have just woken up — needed considerable coaxing to produce stamps of the right denomination and change for my hundred-rupee note between yawns that she did not even bother to hide. Back to the weighing man who was by then brandishing a bottle of water. “There” he said, indicating with a slight lift of one eyebrow a small pile on the counter. To my timid “Won’t you cancel it?” he snapped, “When I am free.” Afraid to point out that he looked free enough, I hesitantly suggested that cancellation wouldn’t take more than a few seconds. It would be nicer if done while I was there. “Why?” he demanded. “Don’t you trust me?” This being the crux of the matter, I explained that if the post ran on trust, I should be able to drop my letter in the pillar-box outside, as in most civilized countries. Here, letters must be cancelled before our eyes to prevent postal employees peeling off the stamps. Reluctantly, the man heaved himself forward and picked up the seal. Villagers working in town hanging about long distance bus stops to entrust their remittances to acquaintances rather than send money orders similarly indict the system. Airmail stickers have disappeared. So has Express delivery, presumably because the surcharge made no difference. My Time magazine is stolen week after week, and Ballygunge post office refuses even to acknowledge a complaint. It returns my letters saying “Addressee unknown” though this has been my address since 1946. Letters that are delivered are sometimes in tatters. Some are left in neighbouring houses. Other people’s letters – often about money matters — are dumped in mine. I took a bunch to the post office where a terrified assistant postmaster pleaded with me to have a word with the delivery peon. He did not dare to investigate. When I collared the postmaster himself with a sheaf of torn and crumpled envelopes I had received, he stared surprised before murmuring, “We don’t deliver letters like this” almost as if I had done the damage. Told that his reception had refused to accept a complaint, he was even more incredulous. “Why shouldn’t they?” he asked. Why indeed. No wonder, private courier services are doing roaring business. Not that the system is always callous. In the dim past, an investigating inspector from the Postmaster General’s office kept permanent watch on my mail so that the Observer colour magazines I received from London were not stolen. I could call an ex-directory number if an issue was missing. Those were the days when the telephone exchange also called religiously every morning to check that my line was operational. Such service should be everyone’s right. Like John Kenneth Galbraith’s “post office socialism,” post office collapse is also symptomatic of something deeper. As I contemplate that even the imperfect worlds of Britain, Singapore and the US, other countries of which I have direct experience, are far less mindful of wealth and rank, it occurs to me that the opportunity to air grievance is also a privilege. Its use is sanctioned only by the hope that those who don’t have privilege might also benefit if someone in authority notes the steady disintegration of every system we inherited. |
Among villagers WHAT was once the biggest house of the village was no longer there. Only the plot of land could be seen. But the villagers remembered those who lived in that corner. The younger generation too was aware of the former residents. That is why when we reached the village in UP’s Azamgarh district the other day the news spread like wildfire: “They have come. They are back to the place of their forefathers. It is not so easy to dissociate oneself from one’s ancestral place. Even celebrated poet Kaifi Azmi, who had settled in Mumbai, could not snap his links with his village.” This is how people in groups could be seen discussing the development. But we were upset. An anonymous caller from the village had informed us that a new resident had begun a process of occupying the land where our ancestral house existed. Most villagers too were not happy, but could do nothing in the absence of the owners. Nobody, not even the lady pradhan, could gather courage to ask the settler not to indulge in this unlawful activity. They try to maintain a distance from him because of his shady past. We were in the village after a long gap. My brother who had accompanied me could hardly recognise the place as he was back to the village after two decades. Yet everybody we met —- elders, youngsters and others —- was elated. This was not because now the settler could not succeed in achieving his unholy objective. They thought that we had a plan to construct a house to live in their midst. The elders gave long lectures on the advantages of village life: “The people in the rural areas still care for one another. The air is clean. There is no water problem. All the facilities that one needs for leading a reasonably decent life are available.” We had no choice but to patiently listen to what they said. The elders gave us instances of many people who had preferred village life after spending decades in cities. Among them were some who had come back to the village after attaining the age of superannuation. In fact, given a choice, I too may decide to live among the villagers again. Theirs is an entirely different world. Whatever their weaknesses, the villagers are still more dependable than those in the cities. They remain better human beings. “Live and let live” has been their motto. They continue to have impeccable secular credentials despite the efforts to dilute these by divisive forces. Those who wish to see India in its true colours must visit its
villages.
|
Human Rights
Diary Both commissions have a long way to go by Kuldip Nayar Our report is two years late because the Home Ministry has not yet found time to place the latest one before Parliament. The NHRC complains that the ministry takes its own time to make the report public. In fact, all such reports accumulate dust in the ministry. But it hardly matters since the recommendations are seldom implemented. Coming to the two reports, ours lacks punch and pugnaciousness. It is too officialese, too wordy. Theirs is bold, articulate and does not mince words. The plus point we have is that the government is obliged to consider the findings since a retired Chief Justice of India presides over the NHRC. In Pakistan, the military junata cares a fig for the report, although the public has a lot of respect for it. We avoid anything verging on politics, they delve straight into political affairs. Take for example, an excerpt from the Pakistan report is daunting: “Several key events, including a new law on the National Security Council (NSC), the election of Shaukat Aziz as MNA and Prime Minister, after the arbitrary ouster of former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and the passage through Parliament of a Bill permitting President Pervez Musharraf to continue as Chief of Army Staff (COAS), even after December 31, 2004, indicated the nature of political developments during the year.The open contempt for anything but a cosmetic display of democracy meant too that most political decisions were made not by representatives of the people, but by President Musharraf, and the military, which continued to expand its role within the country”. The extent to which our commission goes is indicated by its comment on the Gujarat carnage: “On 30 June 2003, however, the Commission noted in its proceedings that all of the accused in the Best Bakery case had been acquitted. It will be recalled that this was one of the five cases in respect of which the Commission had recommended investigation by the CBI, 14 persons having been killed on the premises of the Best Bakery after it was set on fire during the communal violence that engulfed the State. Upon learning of the acquittals, the Commission immediately requested the Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat, to forward to the Commission, within one week, a copy of the judgement of the Trial Court. The Commission additionally asked the Chief Secretary to inform it of what steps, if any, the Government of Gujarat was proposing to take against the order of acquittal”. There is no comment, no criticism. The Pakistan report gives an example of religious intolerance: “Samuel Masih was arrested in Lahore on the basis of a complaint that he had insulted the Islamic religion. As he was suffering from tuberculosis he was taken out of the Kot Lakhpat jail for transfer to a hospital for TB patients. He was attached at the hospital by a police constable who was a member of the escort party, and died three days later. The incident once again underlined the extremely vulnerable situation of anyone accused, rightly or wrongly, of blasphemy”. I wish the NHRC could have also given instances of religious intolerance which are in plenty. My inference is that wrongful confinement of Ikramuddin, a resident of Baghpat, UP could be because of religious bias. The commission is silent about it although there was a departmental inquiry against the arraigned police officials. What the inquiry had to say was relevant. Both reports are rightfully unsparing in their criticism on prisoners. The NHRC says: “The total prison population of the country was 3,00,811. This indicated an overcrowding of 32.33% against the authorised capacity of 2,27,313. Twelve states/Union Territories, namely Delhi, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, UP, MP, Bihar, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Orissa, Gujarat and Tripura experienced overcrowding ranging from 39% to 189%. Delhi with an overcrowding of 189% had the dubious distinction of heading the list. It was followed by Jharkhand (183%), Haryana (158%), Chhattisgarh (114%) and Uttar Pradesh (90%)”. According to the Pakistan report, while the country’s 89 jails had a capacity for only 35,000 prisoners, they housed a number closer to 86,000. The 30 prisons in Punjab, with a capacity for 17,637 prisoners, had 50,213 prisoners in one month, June. The 11 jails in Sindh, with a capacity for 8,026 held around 18,397 prisoners. The NWFP’s 22 jails were holding 9,992 prisoners, against a capacity for 7,857 prisoners and 2,848 prisoners were held in 10 prisons of Balochistan, approximately 1,000 more than the capacity of 1,845. The Pakistan Interior Ministry stated 55,949 prisoners were under trial, while only 25,511 had been convicted. While the Pakistan report has said that a jail reforms committee was constituted by the Supreme Court in January in Islamabad to submit a report on prison affairs by May and the Committee had not done that so far, the NHRC reiterated that the Indian Prisons Act, 1894 needed to be rewritten. In this case also, there has been no response from the government. The biggest difference between the two reports is in their expectation. The NHRC believes that “a unity of minds” is required by the Commission and the governments at the Centre and in the states. Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission has no such hope and says that governance in Pakistan “marked by a near total lack of transparency”. Both commissions have a long way to go, particularly the NHRC, which is somewhat tagged with the government because it practically appoints the commission’s members. One thing which binds the two commissions is the same concern for justice and the same demand for accountability of those responsible for human rights violations. Individual accountability is essential for another reason: only when it is clear that no one is above the law, will those who may be inclined to commit serious crimes and human rights violations be deterred from doing so. |
|
Sex queries in Pak school survey spark protests A
“health survey” by a prominent private educational board in Pakistan, questioning students about sex and drinking habits, is being protested against and termed “un-Islamic”. Political parties and some groups of students and teachers have been holding demonstrations in major cities against the Aga Khan University Examination Board questionnaire that was circulated in September-October 2004. The Mutihadda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a hardline alliance of six parties running the government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), has accused the Board of spreading “un-Islamic” culture. Maulana Fazle Ali, NWFP Education Minister, said the Aga Khan board was trying to “secularise” the country’s education system and “deviate the youth from Islamic traditions, ethics and morale”. The MMA has circulated what it claims to be a copy of the health survey in parliament. Some of the questions read as: “Should a girl have sex before marriage? If yes, at what age?” “AIDS is transmitted through unsafe sex, prostitution and homosexuality. Do you ensure that you practise safe sex?” “Have you ever had sex? If yes, at what age?” “Should a boy and girl in love have sex before marriage?” “Do you drink? If yes, how much?” “Do you take drugs or other intoxicating things?” “You can conclude from these questions that it is a conspiracy to introduce immoral values in our Islamic society,” said Liaqat Baloch, deputy leader of MMA. “The Aga Khan board is working at the behest of the Jews, Hindus and Christians and its mission is to turn (change) our future generations,” he alleged. In 2002, the Pakistan government included the Aga Khan board into the national education system to improve standards in schools. The MMA opposed the move. Since then the board, owned by Ismaili spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan, has been under criticism from politicians, education authorities and others for its reformist ideas. Ali said the education ministry would find out why students were asked the questions that have created such a controversy. An Aga Khan board official did not deny the questions were part of the survey, but accused jehadi publications of attributing motives to the questionnaire. “The questions are being quoted out of context,” the official said without wanting to be named. The survey was not a part of any school syllabus and was done as an initiative of the board. It was circulated mostly in private schools. Now with a controversy raging, the board’s clarification hasn’t helped. While many students last week staged a protest outside parliament, Baloch vowed to block all attempts to “make the education system secular”. Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi, however, vouched for the credibility of the board. “The Aga Khan board was selected because of its outstanding performance in education,” Qazi said. He dispelled the impression that the board had been brought in to replace the existing education system. The government has already said that the Aga Khan board would follow the national curriculum and not hold exams from portions outside the syllabus.
— IANS |
|
|
Boeing fires CEO for affair with staffer The company’s board demanded Stonecipher’s resignation after concluding that his relationship with the executive represented poor judgement on his part and
"would impair his ability to lead."’ Stonecipher, 68, has been married for 50 years and has two children and two grandchildren. No action was taken against the woman involved in the relationship, the company said. Few experts in workplace law expect Boeing’s move to unleash a rash of firings at other companies. Instead, they said, Stonecipher’s ouster likely will prompt boards to institute or redefine their rules for romantic relationships, possibly by requiring that executives disclose romances they’re having with subordinates. “If CEOs were knocked out for extramarital affairs, we’d have a major employment opportunity in the US,’’ said Ellen Bravo, who conducts sexual harassment training for Milwaukee-based 9to5, National Association of Working Women. ``There would be a lot of openings.’’ At Boeing, consensual affairs between co-workers aren’t banned. Stonecipher, a married 68-year-old, began seeing a female employee in January, the company said. She didn’t report directly to him and didn’t benefit professionally or financially from the affair, and it didn’t affect the company’s ``operational performance or financial condition,’’ said Chairman Lewis Platt. And Stonecipher admitted to the relationship when confronted by the board. “This is simply a relationship between two Boeing employees,’’ Platt said during a conference call with analysts and reporters. Yet the company’s board decided that the relationship reflected poorly upon Stonecipher’s judgment. If brought to light, Platt said, certain details of the affair could hurt the company’s reputation. Platt said Stonecipher violated a company rule that states ``Employees will not engage in conduct or activity that may raise questions as to the company’s honesty, impartiality, reputation or otherwise cause embarrassment to the company.’’ Many CEOs have carried on affairs with employees without reproach from directors. Oracle Corp. Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison was famous for his carousing, at one point juggling dates with three employees simultaneously. Former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay divorced his wife and married his secretary. Other CEOs have faced sexual harassment lawsuits and kept their jobs. Boeing’s swift response — Stonecipher lost his job 10 days after an anonymous tip from an employee prompted a company investigation — could signal that the personal lives of top executives are no longer off-limits when boards evaluate job performance. Russell Conn, a Boston-based lawyer specialising in workplace law, said that what Boeing did was just part of a trend that started with the impeachment of President Clinton.
— LA Times-Washington Post |
When a man gives up completely all the desires of the mind, and himself delights in his Atman alone, then he is said to be a man of steady wisdom. — Sri Krishna The only true duty is to be unattached and to work as free beings, to give up all work unto God. — Swami Vivekananda No violent extremes endure; a sober moderation stands secure. — Aleyn Establish the truth in your mind, for the truth is the image of the eternal; it portrays the immutable; it reveals the everlasting; the truth gives unto mortals the boon of immortality. — The Buddha If there were numberless mountains of gold and silver as big as mount Kailasha, they would not satisfy an avaricious man; for avarice is boundless like the sky. — Lord Mahavir
 |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
I
have received two annual reports on the state of human rights. One is by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on India and the other by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on its own country. The difference between the two is that ours has an official stamp in the sense that the funding comes from the exchequer. Pakistan’s is run by voluntary organisations. 
B