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Peace gains momentum Shameful loss |
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Tokenism won’t do Show that the government cares for the poor PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh has recently emphasised the need to restructure the country’s rural health care infrastructure. It came close on the heels of his launching the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in New Delhi. Delivering the convocation address at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, he said that though India has made significant strides in advanced medical research, the people in rural India don’t have access to even “simple health care”.
Pitiable state of
civil services-II
Chandigarh’s
valley of flowers
Agriculture:
what’s wrong? Delhi
Durbar
Parechu disaster
waiting to happen
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Shameful loss YOU win some, you lose some. That is the established way of life in the world of sports. But there are some defeats which are so humiliating and inexplicable that they shock even the most sporting fan and lover of the game. India has posted some of these during the recently concluded one-day cricket series against Pakistan. And the most inglorious of them all came during the “grand finale” in Delhi on Sunday. Pakistan did not play with India; it toyed with the hosts. Let’s admit it; we were outplayed in all departments of the game. The so-called best batting lineup of the world fell like a house of cards. If that was not painful enough, it happened at the hands of the visitors who were dismissed as perhaps the weakest team ever to represent Pakistan. Indeed, it was short on experience and other necessary wherewithal but what a walloping they handed out to the overconfident hosts! If the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, was presented with his coveted birth-certificate, the guest cricketers reciprocated by handing a virtual death certificate to their counterparts. What a comedown it was! Worse, the Test showing was hardly any better. If one or two players fail to come good on a given day, it can be understood. But the way the whole team caved in without a fight was the stuff ugly legends are made up of. This despite the fact that this was the farewell game for coach John Wright. To blame him for the four losses on the trot will be as misplaced as putting the responsibility at the door of the off-colour Sourav Ganguli, who was not there during the Delhi tie. It is high time the Indian think-tank thought outside the block to pinpoint the root cause of the malady. Why is that the Indians perform so far below their potential at times? Are there some distractions? Are they an overhyped bunch with feet of clay? Is it irresponsibility of the highest order? None of these possibilities should be dismissed out of hand. Whatever it was, it was as disgraceful as the behaviour of some of the spectators who were at their boorish worst when India was in the dumps. |
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Tokenism won’t do PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh has recently emphasised the need to restructure the country’s rural health care infrastructure. It came close on the heels of his launching the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in New Delhi. Delivering the convocation address at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, he said that though India has made significant strides in advanced medical research, the people in rural India don’t have access to even “simple health care”. Who is responsible for this? Certainly, the Centre and the states cannot be absolved of blame. The Centre launched primary health centres (PHCs) with great hope in the sixties but the experiment failed mainly because of governmental apathy and ineptitude. This has led to a proliferation of private nursing homes and hospitals which the rural poor cannot afford. The involvement of the private sector in rural health care, which the NRHM seeks to envisage, may seem laudable because of the government’s inherent drawbacks and its failure to deliver. But this initiative should not further skew the balance between public and private expenditure. In this context, the Prime Minister rightly cautioned that “excessive privatisation” of health services will create “two worlds” and, ultimately, the poor will be the worst sufferers. Thus, while continuing to play the leadership role in health care, the government will have to ensure that its primary role is not reduced from being a healthcare provider to a mere regulator. The health sector got Rs 1,860 crore in this year’s Union Budget. Will this be enough to put in place a comprehensive rural health infrastructure? After all, the allocation is only 0.9 per cent of GDP. If anything, it is an indication of the low priority the government attaches to health care. |
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To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education.
— John Buchan |
Pitiable state of civil services-II
India’s
civil services, which have been modelled on the British pattern, are based on the principle that they should remain politically neutral and carry out their duty of providing advisory inputs for policy making and of implementing the policy decisions taken at the political level efficiently, irrespective of the political party in power. Political neutrality of the civil services is, in fact, a prerequisite for the smooth functioning of a multi-party democracy. If civil services become politically aligned, they are liable to create difficulties for governments of different political complexion which may come into office through the democratic process. Indeed, if they fail to discharge their duties of rendering independent and impartial advice regarding various policy alternatives and carrying out the decisions that are taken by the empowered political executive, they expose themselves to legitimate censure and reprimand, if not stronger punitive action, including discharge from service. If the politically aligned conduct on the part of the so-called permanent civil services were to become commonplace, the permanency of the civil services would itself fall into jeopardy. When special safeguards were provided for the civil services in the Constitution by the founding fathers of the republic, the underlying intention was that members of the civil services should be insulated from the possibility of victimisation by their administrative or political superiors, for discharging their duties with fearlessness and impartiality. The leaders who ruled this country for nearly two decades in the post-Independence period recognised the value of having an independent and politically neutral civil service and encouraged civil servants to tender this impartial advice on various issues, without waiting for cues from their political superiors. Our post-Independence administrative history has borne witness to the dilution of the principle of political neutrality of the civil services at the hands of the second generation of political leadership, both in the states and at the Centre. Their expectation of the civil services in many cases changed from being efficient and politically neutral service providers to that of becoming convenient tolls for strengthening their political position at the expense of rival or competing political parties, even to the extent of foisting cases on political rivals and embroiling them in civil and criminal disputes so as to harass them and force them to tone down their political opposition to the ruling party. The civil servants who became willing collaborators in such improper actions were regarded as more “committed” and more amenable to working in cooperation with their political masters. They were rewarded with choice postings and undeserved promotions. Civil servants who refused to go along with such improper suggestions were classified as uncooperative and wooden and were sidelined. Quite recently, a Director-General of Police who was asked to help the Chief Minister’s son in a Parliament election and who refused to go along with the request because it went beyond his call of professional duty, was removed from his office within days of the defeat of the Chief Minister’s son in the election. Looking at the arbitrariness in postings and transfers, our civil services undoubtedly need to be insulated from extraneous pressures and political manipulation by putting in place independent institutional arrangements for deciding their transfers, postings and promotions through empowered civil service boards consisting of senior officers of impeccable integrity and track record. Adequate security of tenure should be provided for civil service officials. Arbitrary and frequent transfers can only lead to their professional ineffectiveness and avoidable personal and family inconvenience. Recognising that there has to be a high degree of accountability of the civil service towards the people whom they are meant to serve, the question arises as to how this accountability can be better institutionalised and what should be the consequence of public officials and civil servants failing to meet the test of accountability for their actions. In the post-Independence period there has been a general decline in the accountability of civil servants and even persons who have breached the code of integrity have been allowed to continue in service till their normal age of retirement. Organisational superiors refrain from entering adverse remarks in the confidential rolls of corrupt officials in order to avoid resentment and hostility from their subordinates against whom such remarks may have been recorded. The voice of the people who have to suffer the consequences of dishonesty of the officials is never heard or taken materially into consideration. While the continuity of the civil service personnel has its obvious merits, there is also a need to weed out the dead wood from time to time, and the civil servants who have demonstrated their lack of integrity or incompetence or both on repeated occasions should not be allowed to continue in service in order to preserve its credibility and calibre. It may, therefore, be worthwhile to institute a system of a full-fledged assessment of an official’s performance at the end of every five years and his retention in service should be made contingent on his satisfactory record of service from the stand point of integrity and efficiency. By a system of “exit polls” regarding the official’s behaviour, etc, through credible and independent agencies, inputs should be received from the people who have had dealings with the officer, and if the user “exit polls” reveal that the official’s conduct has been largely unsatisfactory, he or she should be liable to be removed from service. The inability of the present civil service system to weed out the dead wood has led to a situation in which younger officers having high ideals are at times forced to work under the superiors who are both dishonest in the pecuniary sense and show intellectual dishonesty by agreeing to accommodate improper suggestions of their political masters, etc, in order to make themselves more acceptable to them. Such officers, instead of encouraging upright conduct and propriety in the exercise of vested authority by their juniors, try to pressurise their younger colleagues to toe the line of the political bosses in an unethical manner and against their better judgement. If the younger officers do not yield, their Annual Assessment Reports can be spoiled and future opportunities of career advancement can be jeopardised. Therefore, in order to improve the level of honesty and commitment to public service within the civil services as a whole, officers of dubious integrity and poor public-service-orientation need to be systematically weeded out. The pattern of differential retirement age for different ranks — such as Colonel, Brigadier, Major-General, etc, in the Army and other defence services — could be considered for adoption in the higher civil services as well. Taken together, these measures can go a long way in raising the overall quality of performance of the civil services in our
country. (Concluded)
The writer, a retired bureaucrat, is a former Lieut-Governor of Delhi
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Chandigarh’s valley of flowers Every time I’ve the blues I go to my valley of flowers. And you don’t have to travel to Uttranchal to see it. The symphony of spring in Chandigarh’s Leisure Valley is an unforgettable feast. The flowering trees sing the song of spring by donning blossoms of various colours with the change of seasons. The landscape of undulating meadows of grass — a languid stream meandering through the greens, clumps of flowering trees with their riot of colours, will enchant you. The harbingers of spring in the valley are the semul trees. Tall, strapping with branches jutting out from the stem, first shed off all leaves in the cold of January and then in early February adorn big bouquets of crimson coloured flowers. In fact, the flowering is so profuse that the ground beneath gets littered with them. Be careful while standing under it — for a huge flower may suddenly drop on your head! The next note in the symphony of blossoms are the Kachnar trees dotted along the Arcadian landscape. As one walks along the serpentine path in the valley — you notice a magnificent Kachnar laden with pink and mauve blossoms light up the adjoining brooding foliage. But the most spectacular display is by the tecoma trees. They first shed off their dusty small leaves and then metamorphose into radiant yellow bunches of flowers. As the rays of sun fall on their magical splendour, they are ablaze like yellow luminares. With some of trees drooping over the stone embanked, tiny rivulet — they cast kaleidoscopic reflections in its waters. In the valley, nature entices you with colourful plumage of myriad birds that frequent it. The most friendly are the lapwings – who do not fly away as you walk past; but rather stare at you with their beady eyes and pointed beaks. Along with lapwings you will also notice the colourful hoopoes, busy as ever pecking the grass for insects. As it turns mid-April — you see “gold” on the branches of silver oak trees. Tufts of golden flowers lend a striking contrast to the silver-hued feathery leaves swaying with the breeze. They are the favourite playgrounds of squirrels hopping from one branch to another like tomboys of the treetops. Also, one can spot grey hornbills, with their hooked beaks perched on the branches in meditative silence. On a lucky day you may also spot the colourful woodpecker. But to fully savour the ethereal joy of this valley, be “up with the lark” to visit it. The morning light as it falls on the radiant trees, distant blue mountains and the ‘winged-beauty’ of the birds makes for paradise. The Leisure Valley beckons
you.
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Agriculture: what’s wrong? Profit-hungry farmers, induced by modern science and technology, cannot rely either on rains or nature for a thriving crop. They sink tubewells and now submersible pumps deeper and deeper to reach the ground water, believing it to be an inexhaustible and easily renewable perennial resource of water for irrigation and domestic use (or abuse). The seriousness of concern for Punjab agriculture may be gauged from a series of articles in these very columns of The Tribune starting with Johl (February 11, 2005), Shergill (February 18), Aulakh (February 25) followed by Gill (March 18). All these economists are worried about Punjab, its agricultural economy and, last but not the least, the Punjabi farmer. Their deep concern is reflected on a number of issues, namely the problem of crop diversification, wheat-paddy duo, depleting watertable and ensuing environmental hazards, the role of the State and its political-administrative structure, the farmers' role as a political force and the emancipating role of science and technology. Punjab today is afflicted with suicides, indebtedness, poverty, marginalisation of lower and middle classes, Jat-Dalit conflict, drug addiction, unemployment, out-migration, shameless demands for dowry, a steep rise in the crime graph, rising costs of agricultural production, falling sex ratio, depleting watertable, ecological, environmental and health hazards following the abuse of pesticides and fertilisers etc. All these problems demand answers: what went wrong and where? What way are we heading? What are impending dangers ahead? Can we suggest alternative routes to prosperity and development? The four economists appear to be opposed to one another, but a careful reading of their texts dispels this notion. Johl and Aulakh are strong votaries of diversification of Punjab agriculture since "wheat-rice rotation is neither remunerative... nor sustainable" (Johl). For Aulakh it is urgent because of the "alarmingly fast rate of decline in the watertable.... 55 cm per year" and that "paddy has led to the deterioration of soil health, air pollution due to the burning of straw, use of agrochemicals and erosion of biodiversity". But Shergill is strongly opposed to diversification in the first instance, but finally relents on a condition that it may be done in a phased manner without causing any economic loss to farmers. Gill too believes that "Without making a grand plan for diversification and elaborate arrangements for implementation, this programme would not succeed even in a limited way". This shows that all of them welcome diversification provided it does not incur any economic loss to farmers. Thus diversification should not be seen in opposition to the farmers' well-being. The economists are divided vertically on the wheat-paddy issue. This crop pattern must be broken to get over stagnation in farmers' incomes. Paddy should be replaced with "animal husbandry enterprises, specially dairy enterprises that will demand an enhanced area under fodder/forage crops". To Aulakh, paddy is a great evil because its water requirement is "180 cm as compared to 45 cm of cotton, 40 cm of maize and 25 cm of groundnut". Thus "increased demand for energy in the form of electricity and diesel would reduce the profits from paddy". All the authors have a love/hate relation with the state currently dominating our society. Interestingly, Johl, who is an integral part of the Punjab Government, is relying on the State to provide subsidies and "compensating the farmers partially for a few years", besides lauding the present government "for effective market clearance", yet laments: "Above all, the effort at diversification suffered due to the total lack of coordination. Every department has been playing its own solitary tune and there is no orchestration effect." Gill highlights the impossibility of such subsidies "under the present socio-economic and political conditions" since direct subsidy of Rs 1250 crore is not acceptable to the new policy regime since 1991, also due to its spill-over effect on the neighbouring states. Yet he suggests that contract farming may only be introduced if there exists "a state regulatory mechanism to safeguard the interests of farmers.... PAFC has no technical and administrative capability to assume this role". He suggests that the Agriculture Department should work in coordination with PAU. I am sure neither the strong protagonists of diversification (Johl and Aulakh) are for such a change that may incur economic loss to the farmers nor its opponents (Shergill) so dead set against diversification that is beneficial to them. The problem lies only with the means and methods to achieve it. Johl seems to rely too much on the fund-starved State to compensate the farmers that, in fact, plays to the tune of politics of appeasement rather than Weberian rationality. Shergill’s conservatism is for farmers' economic security. He is right too in not disturbing the present pattern of farming stabilised over the last many decades. I think it "suits" the Punjab farmer because he not only gets a stable crop and income, but also ensures him ample free time that to him is a measure of enhanced social status, so very dear to the Punjabi psyche. Moreover, at this juncture the Punjab farmer is not only distressed but so depressed with the present state of the economy that he is forced to commit suicide. We all know that the peasantry, which is largely
conservative, cannot be asked to be susceptible to diversification at this juncture no matter what good it may have in store for him in future. Shergill must not underestimate the fast receding watertable simply to render support to his pro-paddy argument. Not only paddy, but all hybrid seeds are terribly water thirsty as compared to the indigenous varieties. If we cannot go back to them we should at least try only those varieties that are water-conservative and eco-friendly. I wish my fear may be ill-founded, but I have it that if the abuse of water continues, time is not far when we shall be fondly reminiscing the golden era of water abundance in the "land of five rivers". No doubt, science and technology have done wonders for agriculture but can we sustain it without nature. Biotechnology has only started showing symptoms of still greater marvels in this field, but how long we shall be able to play with the proposed restructuring of nature that is being done not primarily in the interest of the farmers and their welfare, but essentially for MNCs like Monsanto. These corporations are for maximising their capital only. Once again my fear that by the time scientists realise that such restructuring of nature is dangerous for humankind, as often happens with new researches, both farmers and nature would have been ruined beyond
repair. The writer is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Punjabi University, Patiala. |
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Delhi Durbar There is a deluge of post cards in Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s intervention. These post cards draw pointed attention to poverty, farmers’ suicides, availability of less food and the government being apathetic to ameliorating the lot of the poor. The post cards written in English, Hindi and regional languages wonder why 260 million people continue to remain below the poverty line and why the availability of foodgrains has dropped from an average of 174 kg for every individual in 1995 to 142 kg in 2003. This forms part of the campaign unleashed by the Global Week of Action, a coalition of international organisations, trade unions, farmers, human rights bodies and green activists seeking to highlight that the primary responsibility of protecting food sovereignty for the masses rests with the government. The movement is impressing on world leaders to change the rules governing international trade so that the poor countries have the freedom to help and support their vulnerable farmers and industries.
Congress and Telengana Union Labour Minister and Telengana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao has not taken kindly to the dilly-dallying of the Congress in carving out a separate state of Telengana in Andhra Pradesh. Rao is believed to have called up Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmad Patel and wanted to know when would the subcommittee on Telengana meet. The Telengana subcommittee of the UPA comprises Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
Politics of cricket Politicians want to have their hand in every pie even if they are clueless about it. A fight is brewing in Maharashtra between Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. This time the battle is for the presidentship of the cash-rich Mumbai Cricket Association. It is no secret that Deshmukh is hardly a cricket enthusiast but the party leadership wants him to displace Pawar in the MCA. The Maratha strongman had unsuccessfully contested for the post of BCCI President last year. The Congress believes it must have a toehold in some of these sports bodies which are plentiful in Maharashtra and does not want Pawar to monopolise them.
Comrades shun Hindi People in the Capital were somewhat bemused with the goings-on at the CPI (M) rally recently. The splash of Red notwithstanding, the listeners could not fathom if the leaders were speaking in Bengali with a Hindi intonation or vice versa. With the Marxists dominated by Bengalis and Malayalis wanting to spread their wings in the Hindi heartland, there are not too many Hindi speakers around. When it was suggested to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to speak in Hindi, the bhadralok side-stepped and spoke in English, which was translated into Hindi by a comrade. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar stuck to Bengali, which was translated by Rajya Sabha MP Nilotpal Basu whose Hindi has improved leaps and bounds, thanks to TV discussions and debates where he is pitted against BJP leaders.
Naidu keeps low profile Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam party supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu is keeping a low profile these days. He is not unduly worried about being in the opposition in his home state. That must also be the reason for going slow in bringing his son Lokesh into politics. Instead, Lokesh is off to the US to get some work experience at the World Bank. Everyone knows that considering the family’s political history, the job is just an interim option for Lokesh till Naidu’s political fortunes
brighten. Contributed by Tripti Nath, S. Satyanarayanan, and Prashant Sood. |
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Parechu disaster waiting to happen Better
understanding at all levels following Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent visit to India could result in a number of opportunities for mutual benefit to our two nations. All efforts to tame the rock debris blockade dammed lake over the Parechu river at Karak, about 30 km upstream of Sumdo (Kinnaur) in Tibetan territory, have so far yielded no results. I had attended an experts’ meeting called by the Home Ministry on December 16 last at the National Institute of Disaster Management. Our team of technical experts visited Tibet second time afterwards apparently in vain. Summer has begun and we are again ready to be on tenterhooks. Daily red alerts and flash flood threats would be the order of the day once snow melts and frozen lake thaws. The Karak lake in the Parechu valley is but an example of multiple geohazards which start in Chinese territory and end up devastating ours. In August, 2000, a flashflood had smashed all bridges and power houses in the Satluj valley in Himachal Pradesh in one night killing hundreds. A system of geoscientific co-operation with Chinese would have monitored that disaster. With no lessons learnt and no effective diplomatic initiatives taken, the crisis repeated itself and still hangs like the sword of Damocles over Himachal. Till recently the Chinese were giving some information and not giving the rest. Our experts were not permitted to reach the site. The Chinese so far have failed to carry out a controlled blasting of the temporary landslide dam precariously holding the lake water. Both our countries have finished systematic geological mapping on 1:50,000. We should now liberally share scientific information and allow scientific exchanges. The so-called security restrictions do not allow our scientists to publish their geological maps. The Chinese as well as the whole world possesses the base topographic maps meant to be kept secret. Hiding the universally known and killing scientific communications makes no sense. Till December neither our Home Ministry nor experts had a published geological map of Tibet required to understand geohazards emanating in the North beyond our borders. It may hurt our ego but the International Union of Geological Sciences now has a Chinese as its President and their mouthpiece journal EPISODES is published from China. India just does not matter! Can we really not afford travel by our geologists? We stand to gain in standards, safety, knowledge about geological resources, hazards and environmental management and attract lots of geotourism and international collaborations by strongly shaking hands with the Chinese and welcoming the international community in exploring our border regions collectively. Even the Pakistan Geological Survey has been more open and receptive to foreign scientists. Having refused entry to the UN chief, we did not allow even geologists to visit tsunami-affected coastal areas for research! Guests used to be gods in India! We have even started appointing non-geologists as Director-General of the Geological Survey of India. Has the Army ever promoted an army doctor to the position of Chief? A person not knowing geology would shun international geological meetings. Positive scientific diplomacy in the open modern world free of archaic and obsolete colonial restrictions on map publication is the call of the day. Good funding and collaborative freedom to scientists are the second pre-requisite to facing the Chinese and the rest of the world. Frogs in wells would never pick details of
oceans! The writer is a Professor in the Geology Department of Panjab University, Chandigarh.
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Keeping company with My devotees, always serving Me and My Bhaktas, fasting on Ekadesi, celebrating the festivals connected with Me, hearing, reading and expounding My glories, worshipping Me with continuous devotion, and singing of My excellences — if one follows these precepts daily, one gets pure devotion. — Rama The object and goal of life is that every human being should realise the divinity within himself. You should realise your unity with God. — Swami A. Parthasarathy Purity of speech and hospitality is Islam. — Prophet Muhammad Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. — Jesus Christ Intuition, intellect and consciousness are gained through God’s name. — Guru Nanak  |
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