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By exempting petrol and diesel from value added tax (VAT), the empowered committee of state finance ministers, which met in Delhi on Tuesday, has spared the diesel-users, particularly farmers and truckers, from an additional burden. Before Tuesday’s meeting there were reports that the VAT-implementing states had agreed to a uniform 20 per cent sales tax on diesel. Lalu’s bluff called |
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Better future with
biotech Nanotechnology can also help The draft of the National Biotechnology Development Strategy currently placed in the public domain for debate among all stakeholders addresses the key issues facing the next sunrise industry. The attention paid to the possibilities of nano-biotechnology and IT-enabled biotechnology is welcome.
Science not getting
its due
Save our
sanctuaries
Divided over
Telengana From
Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr Atta-ur-Rehman said on Tuesday the government was embarking upon the Medium-Term Development Framework (2005-10) to enhance the capacity of the existing higher education institutions.
‘Lost tribe of
Israel’ in Manipur, Mizoram
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Lalu’s bluff called Close
on the heels of Railway Minister Lalu
Prasad Yadav being charge-sheeted in the Rs 950-crore fodder scam case and
the National Democratic Alliance’s decision to boycott Parliament session
this week in support of its demand for his resignation, the Supreme Court’s
intervention in the Income-Tax case has come as a bolt from the blue for Mr
Yadav and the UPA government. The court has rightly questioned the hurried
manner in which the Patna Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal disposed of 25 cases
(during 1986-96) against him and his wife, Mrs Rabri Devi, and gave them a
clean chit. The three-member Bench consisting of Justice S.N. Variava,
Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Justice S.H. Kapadia has called the bluff by
questioning the turn of events soon after Mr Yadav’s appointment as a
Minister. The court wondered how the Tribunal exonerated the couple of all
Income-Tax violations and gave them the benefit of tax reduction within 10
days of the formation of the UPA government at the Centre. It also questioned
the wisdom of the government’s decision not to file any appeal in the High
Court against the Tribunal order. Undoubtedly, the Income-Tax authorities
have been under tremendous pressure by the powers that be to exonerate Mr
Yadav and his wife. Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati may have refuted
allegations of political pressure to bail out the noted couple. But the
manner in which the judges and the public prosecutors associated with the
case have been changed seem to indicate attempts to derail the investigation
and scuttle justice. The Supreme Court’s string of directives to the Patna
High Court, the Solicitor-General, the Director-General of Income-Tax
(Investigations) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes suggest that it meant
business and that it would not allow anyone to scuttle justice. On May 10, it
will examine the whole case and the verdict that let Mr Yadav and his wife
off the hook. It has also directed the Patna High Court to take a decision on
the appeal seeking sanction to prosecute Mr Yadav within a month. The law
seems to be catching up with Mr Yadav. At last! |
|
Better future with biotech
The
draft of the National Biotechnology
Development Strategy currently placed in the public domain for debate
among all stakeholders addresses the key issues facing the next
sunrise industry. The attention paid to the possibilities of
nano-biotechnology and IT-enabled biotechnology is welcome. What may
be expected further is an explicit reference to and an enabling
framework for the coming convergence of information technology,
nanotechnology and bio-technology, which would shape the way human
societies evolve beyond the next decade. The draft focuses on issues
like creating a talented human resource base, the facilitating of
innovation, infrastructure development, public communication,
regulation, patenting, safety and accessibility. It also suggests
incentives for greater venture capital lending currently being put off
by the long gestation periods and uncertainties of the bio-industry.
The sectoral road-maps, policy changes and institutional bases appear
workable, provided the implementers are guided by the necessary vision
and flexibility such an industry calls for. Particularly useful would
be the suggested step of treating lending to biotech businesses as
priority sector lending, along with other tax and duty
incentives. The document rightly stresses that research to promote
innovation must be co-operative rather than competitive, and that it
requires free-flowing communication among science agencies, research
institutions, the academia and industry. Recommendations for a cluster
approach to operations and the establishment of collaborative
knowledge networks are welcome. Networking is indeed the key to making
sure that when convergence comes about, India is ready for it. Much
that is said today about nano-technology, engineering at the atomic
level, or the science of the small, may be hype. But there is no doubt
that developments are proceeding apace and convergence is coming. The
biotech policy is good to start with, though separate policy
initiatives would be required for it to take off. |
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Understand that the right to choose
your own path is a sacred privilege. - Oprah Winfrey |
Science not getting its due
The
post-modern life is now without
divine intervention. All human enterprises are now directly or
indirectly based on some scientific ideas. No more it is God’s will on
earth as it is in Heavens. And since our life is now determined by our
own actions — the judgments we make and decisions we take in a
democratic society should be based on facts, not on faith or
emotions. Science and technology should, therefore, be of great
public interest. Every aspect of life today offers an opportunity to
explore the world with scientific means of knowledge. Planning towns
and cities, roads, transport and bridges, water supply, electricity,
telecommunication, IT and e-governance, and maintaining public health
facilities, all these are based on technological systems. Yet there
are not many science communicators in our country, and less than 2 per
cent media space is given to reporting on science and technology.
Issues concerning the science and technology policy are seldom
highlighted in public debates. Science policy is seldom included in
manifesto of our political parties. And yet almost 70 per cent of the
research and development budget, amounting to over Rs 50,000 crore is
spent on the S&T departments without accountability. The official
agencies had been working without public scrutiny. Our Parliament
seldom discusses science policy, and no member of Parliament has ever
walked out protesting non-performance of a science and technology
department. Science was once believed to be esoteric, and not of
public interest. This is not the case now. In the advancement of life
sciences — we have many exciting discoveries, which offer interesting
stories, more attractive than sex, crime and politics. Research in
biosciences and social application of life engineering — health
services and food-chain researches — provide sensational material for
making science stories attractive and readable to the general
public. Science writing, thus, offers a vast range of exploration —
under the sea, the earth and mountains, use of remote sensing in
search of natural resources and for weather forecasting. Scientific
tools are now used to study ancient civilisations by fossils and
carbon dating. In science classics the exploits of gods and goddesses,
Natraj Shiva’s romance on the Himalayan heights, the cartoon of
Ganesh, along with the invention of Trishul (trident) as the conductor
of lightning, can also make good stories for magazine editors.
Description of the mighty oceans and the Himalayas in Puranic Sanskrit
literature provides good “science fiction” of the earlier times.
Consider the story of sending meals for cosmonauts and space
explorers who had been floating in the space for months and years. A
Russian cargo spaceship is sent up on a vital supply mission. It is
docked at an international station in space to deliver food for the
scientists. The spaceship takes off from the remote Russian cosmodrome
Baikonur in Kazakhstan and successfully delivers 2.5 tonnes of
equipment and supplies, including 200 kg of food for the Russian
cosmonauts and the US astronauts who are in third month of their
mission in the space station. It was due to popular science writers
in the English speaking world that we had social change. Admittedly,
scientific ideas were instrumental in bringing about socio-political
revolutions of the 20th century. Einstein, Bertrand Russell,
J. D. Bernal and Thomas S. Kunh were among the leading science
communicators who enriched the language with the metaphors pregnant
with scientific theories. Enthusiasm for learning and research
witnessed in the West was due to science expose among the general
public. Readership of science and technological publications increased
the circulation of magazines and newspapers. Demand for science
writers and journalists created job-openings for science graduates. In
turn new research areas developed and science reporting and reading
became a popular literary movement in the West. The life story of
disabled scientist Stephen Hawking is also a shining example what a
science writer can achieve with communication. Hawking, born in 1942,
was in his early twenties when he was diagnosed suffering from the
motor neuron disease and was not expected to live for more than a few
years. In 1989, however, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of
Science at Cambridge University, and was made a Companion of Honour.
Considered the greatest scientific thinker after Newton and Einstein,
he holds Newton’s Chair as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge. Totally disabled, he cannot move nor speak, but with high
intelligence he has explored the universe. His book, “The Universe in
a Nutshell,” translated into a dozen languages is sold in millions.
Not sex, crime or politics but science has kept him alive, and science
writing has made him a millionaire. His contribution to philosophy and
science is unmatched in the intellectual history of humankind. The
most popular science book of our times is his “A Brief History of
Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.” Totally crippled in his
muscle movements Hawking thinks about the cosmic universe and
communicates through the electronic system. In India, our scientist
sage President Abdul Kalam had attracted vast readership to science
and technology. His “Wings of Fire” and “Ignited Minds” have captured
the imagination of our youth. Kalam’s writings have been the most
popular scientific publications of the last two decades.
Autobiographical approach notwithstanding, Dr Kalam has emphasised
integrated action strategy and that the scientists have a major role
to play in areas like education, healthcare, disaster prevention and
e-governance. His idea of “urban amenities in rural areas (PURA)
offers a unique strategy for futuristic development. He has also
rightly said that space exploitation could not be a preserve
(monopoly) for the advanced countries. Space technologies can
effectively be integrated with our earth technologies such as
biotechnology, informatics and nano-technology for addressing problems
of rapid depletion of earth energy sources. At present, scientific
affairs hardly get any chance of discussion in our political fora and
less than 2 per cent parliamentary question time is ever devoted to
the S&T ministries. To make our youth aspire for science in the coming
decades, people should be better informed about the potentials of
science and the benefits of technology. All political parties should
have a clear science policy in their agenda and have a Shadow Minister
of Science and Technology. Parliament should hold special sessions to
discuss the performance of the ministries concerned with science and
technology. If India is to become a developed nation by 2020, our
political parties and the media must come forward with affirmative
action towards the popularisation of science. The writer is
Director, Centre for Science Policy Research, Dehradun. |
Save our sanctuaries
Sir, That is an open-bill stork, pointed out our rickshaw
puller-cum-guide pulling up the rickshaw aside the road. It is so
called because it has an open gap in the bill believed to be handy
while relishing its favourite food, snails, he surmised. They start
breeding before the rest of the birds do and leave their dwellings by
October only to return with their folk year after year towards May,
June. How long it will last, I wondered aloud, going by the signs of
times and terrain. Home to over 375 species of birds which are on
its check list, Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur has developed
symptoms of terminal sickness. Touted as the only wintering site for
the Siberian crane in the Indian sub-continent, this Unesco declared
World Heritage site (1985) received just three Siberian cranes in 1997
after none came calling in 1992 and 1993. A perilous plummet from a
respectable count of 200 in 1967 - 68 ! Local villagers stung by
scanty rainfall and resultant drought-like conditions didn’t allow the
authorities to release water from the rain fed Ajan dam to replenish
the park’s water bodies, the only life line for its fauna and flora.
Remember, when disappearance of tigers at Sariska caught the country’s
attention, the blame game extended well up to Punjab for not releasing
sufficient supplies of water to Rajasthan. After all, birds and
animals don’t vote, remarked a passer-by. Prior to March 13, 1956,
when the Government of Rajasthan declared it a reserved bird sanctuary
and later in 1981 prohibited hunting, the Britishers along with the
princely state rulers made it famous for duck shooting in the hunting
history of India. Thousands of birds were shot here. A world record
was established on November 12, 1938, when 4273 birds were shot in a
day, including 2000 birds shot by Lord Linlithgo, the then Viceroy of
India. The bloody deeds of all those hunters have been chronicled in
stone near the Keoladeo (Lord Shiva) temple, beginning with the
inaugural shot fired by Lord Curzon on December 2, 1902. We enjoyed
watching Egrets, Cormorants, Indian Shag, Darter, White Ibises,
Herons, Spoon-bills, Painted storks, Jacanas and sundry others we
could not name, busy courting, mating and nest building. Some male
birds hatch the eggs while females go out courting other males like
Jacanas, confided a bashful bird-watcher. Yes, matriarchy marks some
species. Dearth of water forced many a bird to go as far as the
Sangam at Allahabad this winter. The floating flocks presented a
fascinating sight. Rue the day when some more national parks would
join the tiger park at Bandhavgarh (M.P.), in proclaiming to the
harried visitor: “Don’t get disappointed. If you could not sight a
tiger, the tiger has seen you.” |
Divided over Telengana
Telengana,
a backward region witnessing statehood demand, is the new battleground
that has turned political friends into foes in Andhra Pradesh. The
pre-poll allies and now partners in the coalition government — the
Congress and the Telengana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — are fighting it out
on an issue that has, ironically, evoked little interest from the
people of the region. The enigmatic silence of the “third umpire”
Sonia Gandhi on the statehood issue has further deepened the
drama. The demand for a separate state for Telengana has thrown up a
new paradigm in the political slugfest. Take the case of the
coalition government in the state. Not a day passes without the
Telengana Rashtra Samithi ministers indulging in Andhra (as the
coastal region of the state is referred to) bashing, reiterating their
commitment to split the state and asking every non-Telenganite to get
out of the state’s capital. On the other hand, a strong lobby in the
Congress, the senior partner in the government, led by no less than
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, swears by the integrated state
of Andhra Pradesh and brushes aside the talk of imminent formation of
Telengana, triggering another war of words and cascade of
protests. When recently Panchayat Raj Minister J.C. Diwakara Reddy,
hailing from the Rayalaseema region, said if Telengana were to be
formed “due to a stroke of ill-luck,” then Hyderabad would have to be
centrally administered like Chandigarh, he triggered a volley of
protests. Diwakar was attacked from all Telengana quarters, including
TRS ministers, a section of the Congress leaders, student and
employees’ organisations from the region. State Congress President K.
Kesava Rao, who hails from Telengana and is considered sympathetic to
the statehood cause, took strong exception to the minister’s remarks,
which he said offended the sentiments of the Telengana people. This is
only one of the several such recent spats between Rajasekhara Reddy
and KCR, between the TRS and the Congress and between Congress leaders
of Telengana and Andhra. The drama of this unending saga began last
year when the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the ruling United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) promised to consider the demand for the
formation of a Telengana state ”at an appropriate time after due
consultations and consensus.” There was a lot of wrangling over what
it really meant. While TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao was dead
certain it only meant Telengana within three months, the others had
their differences. Many in the state Congress interpreted the promise
as relating to the formation of a second states reorganisation
committee to look into the merits of carving out more states. The
opposition TDP, always averse to any talk of the division of the
state, said that the wording “after due consultations and consensus”
meant the new state would never see the light of the day. The CPI (M),
an ally of the ruling Congress, came out clearly opposing any move to
bifurcate the state. But Rao has a big mouth and was able to drown
all these dissenting noises with a nonchalant bravado. Asked last May
on how soon he thought Telengana would become a reality, this is what
he declared: “Telengana has crossed the stage of a movement and
entered the realm of reality. It is now just a matter of three or four
months. The draft Bill has to be prepared by the Union Home Ministry;
then it has be scrutinised and then sent to the Union Law Ministry.
From there, it will be put before the Union Cabinet for
approval.” The four months have passed three times since then, but
the draft Bill is nowhere in sight. While nothing moved at the Centre,
the TRS spared no efforts in keeping the issue alive in the state, by
regularly making politically explosive statements. Andhra Pradesh is
probably the only state where some ministers sworn to protect the
interests of the people of the state do not think twice before openly
asking people from other regions — the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema
— to get out of their own capital city, because it is located in the
Telengana region. One Minister actually called bureaucrats from Andhra
region as “thieves out to loot Telengana.” Chief Minister Rajasekhara
Reddy himself had to intervene during the recent budget session of the
Assembly to clear the air. He made a veiled attack on the TRS
ministers, without directly naming them. “Many people like me had come
to Hyderabad, because all of us were under the impression that it was
our capital. If Kurnool or some other city were to be the capital of
Andhra Pradesh, we probably wouldn’t have put our foot here,” the
Rayalaseema strongman said. If these disturbing events indicate that
ministers are a law unto themselves and share no collective
responsibility in governing the state as a whole as mandated by the
Constitution, the fault lies squarely with the Congress, which is
neither here nor there on Telengana. The party allowed its leaders
from Telengana to make capital out of their demand for a separate
state for its own electoral benefits. Once in power, the party had its
own compulsions at the Centre to accommodate the TRS in the
government, even though the Congress has a comfortable majority in the
Assembly on its own. The TRS extracted its pound of flesh, but the
sub-regional party had to continue to harp on its separatism, lest it
should lose its political sustenance. With the state Congress
vertically spilt on the issue of a separate Telengana, its government
had to let the principle of collective responsibility go haywire. The
Congress high command is as confused and as undecided about Telengana
as its state unit is. They have a Chief Minister who is strongly
opposed to splitting the state, so they balanced the equation
appointing a PCC president, who is sure that Telengana is on its
way. For the time being, the Telengana tamasha goes on in the state
with pro-and anti-lobbies continuing to hurl abuses at each other,
every episode ending with a reiteration that they would stand by
Sonia’s decision in this regard. But true to her image, she has
steadfastly refused to give any indication either way. Her enigmatic
silence is being interpreted by the coalition partners to suit their
known positions. Till such time as the Congress makes up its mind, the
state will continue being in animated suspension. |
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From Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr Atta-ur-Rehman said on Tuesday the government was embarking upon the Medium-Term Development Framework (2005-10) to enhance the capacity of the existing higher education institutions. “At present, only 2.9 per cent students aged between 18 and 23 years have access to higher education that needs serious consideration,” he said addressing the Pakistan Development Forum. He pointed out three major issues — access, quality and relevance to national needs — that needed to be addressed at the earliest. “The present quality of higher education is very low and not a single university of Pakistan is ranked among top 500 in the world,” he stated. The five-year plan for the higher education sector, Mr Atta said, aims at creating necessary foundation where excellence can flourish and Pakistan can embark on the road to developing a knowledge economy. He called for steps like faculty development and building an infrastructure to impart quality education and massive investment in real wealth, the youth. — The News
Call to
boycott US products RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Citizens
Peace Committee has called for total boycott of the US and British
products in protest against the two major powers imposing wars on weak
nations. It is a non-violent resistance to the aggressive policies of
the two countries, and people have been requested to voluntarily stop
consuming US and British products so as to hurt their corporate
interests, said a report of the committee. The committee believed
that corporate interests were important to the US and the UK, as these
determined their foreign policies. The US-led wars of aggression in
four continents during the 20th century, and the recent war on Iraq,
had been aimed at protecting and promoting these interests besides
creating a secure environment for Israel, the report said. “The
weaker nations, due to their specific constraints, have no option but
to surrender to the dictates of the rulers in Washington DC and
London. There is a long list of products ranging from soaps,
detergents, cosmetics, cigarettes, clothes, shoes and accessories
which are sought to be boycotted. — The Dawn
PML-N, MMA may
merge LAHORE: Jama’at-i-Islami Secretary-General Syed Munawar Hasan
has said the MMA would ponder over the inclusion of the PML-N and the
Tehreek-e-Insaf in its fold during the upcoming Supreme Council
meeting scheduled on April 30. He was speaking at a sitting of the
city-based journalists organised by Media Elites Forum Lahore on
Tuesday. Forum’s patron-in-chief Safdar Chaudhry, president and
secretary Farrukh Saeed Khawaja and Hamid Riaz Dogar were also
present. Munawar Hasan dealt at length with the issues confronting the
nation internally and externally and gave the alliance’s viewpoint on
them. Munawwar said foreign investment declined sharply following
Pakistan’s decision to join the US in its war on terror as a frontline
state, causing serious setback to the economy. He alleged General
Musharraf’s CBMs and peace initiatives with India, including bus
service, exchange of cultural troupes and sports ties, were no
solution to the Kashmir dispute. — The Nation |
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‘Lost tribe of Israel’ in Manipur,
Mizoram Last Saturday’s feast could have been a celebration of Passover anywhere in the Jewish world, but this is no ordinary celebration and these are no ordinary Jews. In India’s remote hill states of Mizoram and Manipur, thousands of people who believe they belong to one of the 10 “lost tribes” of Israel are celebrating what they hope is their last Passover here before ending a 2,700-year exodus. Three weeks ago, reports came from Israel that Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar had accepted the B’nei Menashe as one of the fabled lost tribes, and would send a team of rabbis to formally convert them and bring them back to Israel. “All our dreams have come true,” said Liyon Fanai, who embraced Judaism two years ago. Just as the Passover marks the Jews’ departure from Egypt for Israel, so he hopes this year will mark his departure for the Promised Land. It is hard to imagine a more unlikely story. A tribe exiled from Israel by the Assyrians about 720BC finds its way, via Afghanistan and China, to this thin slice of India sandwiched between Bangladesh and Burma. On the way, they forget their language, their history and most of their traditions. Their genes are so mixed up they look like their Mongol neighbours, their memories so faded they speak a Tibeto-Burmese language and eat pork. Almost all that remains is a name, Manasseh, Menasia or Manmase, an ancestor whose spirit they invoke to ward off evil. In 1950, a holy man from a remote village in Mizoram said the Holy Spirit had appeared to him in a vision, to explain that the “children of Manasseh” were in fact the children of Menashe, a son of Joseph, and it was time to come home. Gradually his ideas took hold among a population that had been converted to Christianity decades before. Today, there are 800 Menashe in Israel, most in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and 7,000 more in Mizoram and Manipur hoping for their chance to join them. The answer to an intriguing biblical mystery, or a case of mass delusion? — AP
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From the pages of ANGLO-INDIANS AT THEIR WORST Mr
Libert’s generous (Native
Jurisdiction) Bill has called into loud display the worst passions of
the Anglo-Indian community. It has shown the combustibility of their
nature and also proved that all their tall talk about good taste and
charity are grand empty sounds which signify nothing. They have hurled
all manner of abuse on the devoted head of Mr Ilbert because he moved
the Bill, of Lord Ripon because Mr Illbert is a member of his council,
and of Bengali Babus because Mr Gupta, without meaning any evil,
simply pointed out an anomaly which had been widely known and
discussed at least 10 years before. The explanation offered for all
this abuse is that it is an expression of the deep resentment which
they feel for the Bill having been proposed. We were all along under
the impression that a gentleman could resent without using abusive
language.
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A true Muslim is thankful to God in prosperity and is resigned to His Will in his adversity. — Prophet Muhammad Happiness consists in the attainment of our desires, and in our having only right desires. — Augustine I will pray for that concord among people at home by which Devas do not separate nor ever hate each other. — The Vedas Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. — Jesus Christ God is near; do not think He is far away. He ever cares for us and remembers us too. — Guru Nanak Knowledge of the self leads to instantaneous realisation here and now. The established proposition of all Upanishads is that final release results from knowledge. — Sri Adi Sankaracharya According to Karma Yoga, the action one has done cannot be destroyed, until it has borne its fruit; no power in nature can stop it from yielding its results. — Swami Vivekananda  |
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