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Captain’s faux
pas Mega deal in Orissa |
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The chip master
AIDS challenge to
India
With a pinch of
salt
Left, Congress
drift apart Jinnah : a victim
of hatred? Delhi
Durbar
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Mega deal in Orissa Orissa
is to have the country’s largest steel plant that will cost Rs 52,000 crore, provide direct employment to 13,000 and indirect employment to 35,000, pay Rs 25,000 crore in taxes to the state government and Rs 89,000 crore to the Centre in some 30 years. To be set up by Posco of South Korea at Paradeep, the 12 million-tonne capacity plant will become fully operational by 2016. This is the biggest ever foreign direct investment in the country and in a relatively poor, state like Orissa has been chosen purely for the availability of iron ore. This is the Patnaik government’s 37th MoU to set up steel plants in the state. Any state getting such massive foreign investment, that too in the core sector, with such huge economic benefits would have rolled out the red carpet for the investors. But the Orissa Secretariat, where the MoU was signed on Wednesday, was turned into a fortress to guard the visiting Korean delegation from political protesters. Such is still the prevailing mindset in a political section which resorted to protests without even knowing details of the pact signed. The state government, which agreed to make available 600 million tonnes of iron ore for captive use in the plant, has allowed the Korean company to import iron ore of low alumina content and export an equivalent quantity of value-added ore. There is, therefore, no net outgo of iron ore from the state. Despite globalisation, reforms and opening up of the economy, there remains a section that views every foreign firm with suspicion. The Enron fiasco has only strengthened such thinking, which the Left nurtures out of its own political compulsions. It is widely accepted that foreign investment is the key to development, more so in India where neither the Centre nor the state governments have the requisite investible surpluses to fund big projects. Steel demand is rising worldwide and high global prices have changed the fortunes of even once-loss making steel giants. The deal with Posco is mutually beneficial and, therefore, welcome, protests notwithstanding. |
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The chip master JACK Kilby was a giant. He became a giant because he managed to shrink electronics to a remarkable degree. Kilby, who died at 81, was also a gentleman, known for being soft-spoken. He shot into the limelight in the late 1950s when he developed the integrated circuit (IC) wherein multiple transistors, resistors, and capacitors could be placed together on a single piece of silicon, something that had traditionally been used for placing only one of these elements. He found support in his company, Texas Instruments (TI), and applied for a patent for his invention in 1959, which was granted. Lightning is not known to strike at the same place twice, but more than one person can get a brilliant idea at the same time. Robert Noyce was working on a similar track at Fairchild Semiconductor, of which he was the co-founder. Noyce came up with a more workable solution, and went on to become one of the founders of Intel Corp. He, too, was granted a patent. Both concepts had similarities, but their execution different, and all this made millions of dollars for lawyers till both companies cross-licensed their patents. Thus came about an industry worth over a trillion dollars now, and ICs became ubiquitous. A decade later, the US Supreme Court settled the matter in the favour of Noyce, but by then it didn't matter. What did Kilby do after he had invented the IC? He got more than 60 patents in his name. Kilby also taught, worked on developing hand-held calculators and thermal printers for TI, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 2000. Kilby will always be remembered for his big role in miniaturising electronics. |
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History gets thicker as it approaches recent
times. — A.J.P. Taylor |
AIDS challenge to India When
the rumour mill was at its peak about the disappearance from public life of Subroto Roy, the head of the Sahara Empire, because he was “seriously ill,” he was compelled to go public and deny that he had AIDS. Though the word “AIDS” was that never mentioned in the lead story of a popular news-magazine, clearly the speculation was that he was HIV-positive. The economic implications of the speculation could have ruined the Sahara business. So, the denial with the assurance that he had undergone the AIDS test appeared as the lead story in a national daily and subsequently all news channels carried the report. The kingpin in the stamp paper scam, Abdul Karim Telgi, used his HIV-positive status — that most people go out of their way to hide because of the fear, stigma and discrimination that goes with the infection — to get a reprieve from the long hand of justice and avail himself of better medical facilities. Time magazine’s recent cover story too was on the AIDS epidemic in India with a big question mark on the government’s claim that the number of new infections in 2004 was just 28,000 as against 6 lakhs the previous year. Had a miracle happened in India or was the government, embarrassed by the rapid spread of the virus, fudging the figures? During the same week or period of 10 days, the Sunday section of The Hindu as well as the Saturday section of The Tribune had cover stories on AIDS. While one reflected on the spate of suicides by the AIDS affected, both publications also carried heart-warming stories about HIV-positive women facing their status with amazing courage. They have come out of their shell and are speaking out and networking to fight for their rights and give hope to the new-comers to their fraternity. India has the largest number of people in the world, after South Africa, living with HIV/AIDS - a whopping 5.1 million cases - and international donors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Trust Fund and the Clinton Foundation, have been pumping billions of dollars into India for the prevention and control of the infection. Eager as the government and NGOs working on the issue are to get this bonanza of assistance, the government seems reluctant to admit that it has become a major health problem in this country. Its tentacles extend from the high-risk groups like the commercial sex workers, injecting drug users and male homosexuals to the general population and, more importantly, the rural or small town woman, the pativrata woman, who has only had only one sexual partner all her life, her husband. For all its surveillance, the government health machinery is unable to keep track of the infections. About 50 per cent of the infected and affected are women and the mother to child transmission is as high as 30 per cent. Equally alarming is the fact that of the total AIDS cases in India, 35 per cent are 15 to 29 years of age. Eightynine per cent of the reported AIDS cases are occurring in the economically productive age group of 15 to 44 years. The good news is that HIV/AIDS is acquiring a public face in India. No longer is it a problem to be brushed under the carpet. So a Subroto Roy or a Telgi actually speak about it whether to disclaim that they are infected or to admit that they have the virus and want proper medical treatment and the rest and care that are a part of their rights. The media too by and large is speaking in a more enlightened voice. Instead of spreading panic and a scare about HIV/AIDS, there are some wonderful stories on how we are moving ahead in these turbulent days when 10 per cent of the world’s total population living with HIV/AIDS is in India. So, in Surat there is a marriage bureau for HIV-positive people. These days with proper care and medical facilities, the affected people can lead normal lives for 15 to 20 years after getting the infection. Or even more so why not enjoy the companionship and joys of marriage? In Pune, on the other hand, people wanting to tie the knot are demanding a medical certificate that the proposed partner is not HIV-positive. The biggest challenge for the government is to ensure that those infected have access to the latest drugs. It is estimated that only 7 per cent of the people who need antiretroviral therapy (ART) in developing countries have access to it. The medicines are expensive (costs varying from Rs 3000 to Rs 8000 a month) and out of the reach of the common man. The medical programmes must also be sustainable to prevent the development of drug-resistant strains of the virus. There are no figures on the HIV/AIDS orphans in India but it could be a big number. When both parents succumb to the virus it becomes a double whammy for the child. Grandparents may or may not be in a position to support the child. While the bigger social problem is whether there is anyone to take care of these children, the other is getting the medicines in palatable, liquid form. Some NGOs running Care and Support Homes are actually buying the liquid medicine from the market. Others have to go through the arduous process of powdering the tablets and mixing it with water, etc, before shoving it into the mouths of children. There are valiant efforts by NGOs working in the area of HIV/AIDS not just to boost the morale of the AIDS widows — many of them positive themselves — but also to stand them on their own and make them bread-winners. In Shahadara I saw several HIV-positive women, who had never stepped out of their homes, acquiring tailoring skills and doing fabrication work. There have to be several Good Samaritans helping them acquire skills and confidence as they struggle along. The Lawyers Collective as well as other lawyers have been joining hands with NGOs and working for the rights of HIV/AIDS-infected and affected. Pro bono they have helped them fight for their jobs, their property or even the right to inheritance. There is the moving story of the young Muslim widow of a DESU employee who was thrown out of her in-laws’ house after the death of her husband who had contracted HIV/AIDS. They sealed their son’s cupboards and wanted to keep her two children. Without even observing her mandatory mourning for a fixed period, the woman with the help of an NGO approached Lawyer’s Collective and got the money her husband was insured for, the plot of land in his name and the custody of her children. The woman then approached DESU and got a job in place of her husband. After settling all her personal problems she formally mourned the death of her husband. Another young HIV-positive woman, whose husband also had died of the infection, got her share of the family property with the help of Lawyer’s Collective. The woman is on ART but fortunately her two sons have not contracted the infection. India has come a long way from the first case documented in 1986. There was a time when parents were squeamish about sex education being taught in schools. Now they are seeking, it and schools are realising that it is the need of the
hour. |
With a pinch of salt
WHEN one is considering some of the age-old sayings of wisdom, it is advisable to have near at hand quite a lot of salt: a number of these sayings need to be taken with more than a pinch of salt. The sages who devised them liked to hedge their bets. So each of the adages has with it another, which modifies or even contradicts the first one. As a result there is hardly any situation for which an adage is not available for drawing support for whatever line of thinking one has in mind. Take for instance the venerable “Honesty is the best policy”. Now if we were living in an ideal world and everyone acted on that principle, it would be smooth sailing all round. But the world being riddled as it is with cynicism and lack of scruples, one has to exercise very great caution. That actually was intended by the saying which went to absolutely the other extreme: “never, never, trust anybody” illustrated by a rather painful story. A person belonging to a community known — to put it politely — for its financial acumen, saw his seven-year-old son standing at the top of the stairs. He said to him “Jump down, son, and I will catch you”. When, however, the boy did so, the father made no attempt to catch him and the youngster had a very hard landing. He was furious and turned to his father angrily: “Why on earth did you say you would help me but did not do anything at all”? The reply was: “That was to confirm what I have always tried to teach you — ‘Never trust anybody’.” The same message figures in a milder form in at least two languages, far removed from each other in real life: “Caveat emptor” of Latin and “Mushtari hoshiar baash” of Persian, both meaning “Let the buyer beware”. There is, however, one section of our society for whom any warning in any number of languages means nothing. They have money enough to burn and find the urge to possess brand-name goods irresistible whatever their price. Western companies arrange to have these, articles made in developing countries at a nominal cost and all they do is to attach brand-name labels to them. Then they proceed to fix the sale price with a mark-up of thousands of percentage points! So thanks to the compulsive buyers with long purses (and stacks of credit cards), the companies go to the bank unable to contain their
laughter.
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Left, Congress drift apart The period since the United Progressive Alliance has been in office has witnessed unremitting rhetoric from the National Democratic Alliance that prevented it from playing the role of Opposition that takes a critical look at policy and legislative initiatives of the
government. The failure of the NDA in playing this role resulted in the emergence of the Left parties as the real watchdogs of the government and for the past year it has played a new role — that of Opposition from within. This has set up an intriguing script for the next year because while the UPA is dependent on the Left parties for survival, the two are also principal adversaries in West Bengal and Kerala that are to witness Vidhan Sabha elections by April-May next year. Already there are indications that the Left parties are no longer willing to carry the onus of the government’s survival and the coming months would presage what is to come during the rest of the UPA’s tenure. When the Left parties decided to extend outside support to the UPA last year, it was not the first dalliance of the block with power at the Centre. But unlike in 1996, the four parties and their supporters in the intelligentsia were united in their stand of not joining the government. The other vital difference was that while in 1996, neither the H.D. Deve Gowda government nor the one headed by I.K. Gujral had participation of the Congress. The UPA is very much a Congress-led show. This set up a peculiar scenario because the cornerstone of the Left Front politics had been its anti-Congress thrust. The development was also a recognition of the fact that the Left parties were admitting to their tactical blunder of 1989 when they lent respectability to the BJP by propping up the V.P. Singh government that was also supported by the BJP. The decision to extend support to the UPA was also indicative of the assessment of the Left parties that the Congress-led UPA was the lesser of the two evils when compared with the BJP-led NDA. The basic dilemma that the Left parties have faced over the past year was whether to be more protective of its electoral constituency in the three states where it is in a dominant position or to be more protective towards its projected pan-Indian image of responsible parties that would continue its battle against communalism even at the cost of its electoral fortunes. One of the bitter ironies in the aftermath of last year’s Lok Sabha poll was that much of the extrabite that the Left parties got because of their unprecedented performance was the result of the complete decimation of the Congress in Kerala. In West Bengal while the Left Front allies had held their ground, the resurgence of the Congress was at the expense of the BJP-Trinamool Congress combine — a fact that suggested that the Congress had returned as the principal adversary of the Left in the state. With elections due in the two states, it was probably expedient for the state units of the Left parties to continue their anti-Congress programmes with renewed vigour, but political compulsions at the Centre saw support being accorded to the UPA to form the government. But while the past year has seen criticism on the back seat and support on the front seat, indications that have surfaced in the past few weeks suggest that the positions would get reversed from now onwards. The sign that this was coming was first visible when in the run-up to the UPA’s first anniversary bash, when the Left parties made it clear they would not join the celebrations because ‘’it is not our government, we are only supporting it from outside’’. The growing disenchantment of the Left parties with the UPA has now become more pronounced after the recent meetings of the CPI(M) and the CPI that saw strident opposition to the twin proposals to hike prices of petroleum products and disinvest in BHEL. But by arguing that no hike was warranted if oil companies reoriented their spending priorities (read spend less on advertisements) and if the government changed the excise duty structure and that the government had begun making unacceptable deviations from the National Common Minimum Programme, the Left parties are trying to give a veneer of rationality to a hard self-assessment: continued unqualified support for the UPA henceforth would be only or the cost of its electoral fortunes in West Bengal and Kerala. The road to staging a political comeback in Kerala is fraught with political dangers for the Left parties. Part of the problem stems from the fact that there is discordance between the two main parties — the CPI(M) and the CPI — over the strategy to be followed in the assembly poll in Bihar. That this gets coupled with the new-found buoyancy in the NDA only aggravates the problems for the Left parties. What makes matters worse is the fact that the CPI(M) has already threatened to start its road shows against the government’s economic policies after the monsoon is over — the time when the campaign in Bihar is expected to get seriously off the ground. It is clear that according to the latest assessment of the Left parties, the time has come for it to be less “responsible” in its role as the outside supporter of the Centre and that the burden of the coalition has to be borne more “responsibly” by the Congress. The message that the Left p arties are sending is that from now onward, the Congress would not be able to take their support for granted and that adherence to the NCMP would be the sole criteria for continuing their support. |
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Jinnah : a victim of hatred? How long shall we continue dubbing Mohammad Ali Jinnah a villain of the story of struggle for freedom with the contempt he doesn’t deserve? We Indians and Pakistanis are very poor students of history. In almost a similar way, Gandhi and Nehru both are looked down upon in Pakistan. Undoubtedly, Jinnah is credited with the creation of a country. Actually, political events moved in such a way that Pakistan came into being as an unbelievable stroke of luck and history. Pakistan was nowhere in sight up to June 10, 1946, just 14 months before its actual creation. Even Jinnah had never perceived that the Congress would ever agree to the partition of the country nor did he believe that Pakistan would come into being in spite of the passing of the resolution by the Muslim League in 1940. The Cabinet Mission had categorically stated that it would not recommend partition of the country. Pakistan happened to be created by the follies of the Congress emanating from the arrogance, conceited approach and bigger-than-though attitude of self-righteous persons at the helm of affairs. Jinnah was absolutely a non-conformist. A nationalist and secular in character. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and enjoyed the support of moderates in the party. His only demand was that he wanted guaranteed safeguards for the Muslims in the future Constitution of India. Jinnah indulged in political activities as the leader of the Muslim League without ever having any vision for a separate state or country. July 10, 1946 was a black day in the history of India. Nehru could not control his nerves at a press conference where he stated that the “Congress would enter the Constituent Assembly completely unfettered by agreements” and would “modify the Cabinet Mission Plan as it thought best.” This was certainly a wrong statement. Perhaps Nehru had impulsively said so what he had actually believed in. Jinnah, who had accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan, reacted to Nehru’s statement and rejected the plan. The partition plan was prepared and debated in the Congress working committee. To Gandhi, it was an abject surrender and it was a total denial of all that the Congress had stood for since its inception. On voting, 29 voted for it and 15 against it. It was accepted by the Congress. The crux of the matter is that Jinnah was not a villain as has been portrayed by most Indians. He was, in fact, quite brilliant, stubborn and courageous like Gandhi. When such qualities are shared by two persons, who do not see an eye to eye each other, how could they co-exist within the same frame? The leaders of both political parties had developed an apathy towards each other. In such circumstances the element of ego and arrogance must reign supreme. The struggle for Independence is the story of clash of arrogance and ego, a clash between the Titans — Nehru and Patel on one side and Jinnah on the other. Gandhi had retired, hurt. Who is the hero and who is the villain? Indians and Pakistanis should mutually decide. Who would allow his hero to be hated? |
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Delhi Durbar President A P J Abdul Kalam, who recently met maulvis from Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, told them that his late father was the Imam at the Rameshwaram Masjid and as a boy used to tell him a beautiful Hadith of the Prophet. The Hadith, which Dr Kalam remembers to this day, is as follows: “My Cherisher has ordered me nine things. 1 To reverence him externally and internally; 2 Speak the truth in prosperity and adversity; 3 Moderation in affluence and property; 4 Benefit those kith and kin who do not benefit me; 5 To give alms to him who abjures me; 6 To forgive him who injures me; 7 That my silence should be in gaining knowledge of God; 8 Whenever I speak, to mention about God, I should forget not; 9 It should be an example for others when I look on creatures of God.
No barriers for media India will shortly enter into a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with Singapore. After the Cabinet approved the agreement, Commerce and
Industry Minister Kamal Nath said that this would enable cross-border movement of professionals and started listing a few of these professions. When a scribe asked whether the agreement would benefit government journalists, the minister said that journalists do not need agreements between sovereign governments to cross territorial frontiers.
Now Jaswant on Jinnah After BJP President L K Advani’s remarks on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, it seems to be Jaswant Singh’s turn. Of course, Jaswant Singh has no plans to portray Jinnah as secular but is keen on bringing out the whole personality of Jinnah. Just the other day the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha admitted that he is penning a book on Jinnah and that he expects it to hit the stands soon. When asked how soon, the senior BJP leader said: “The subject (Jinnah) needs considerable research and I hope the book would be ready soon.”
The Lok Sabha secretariat provides interesting information on work transacted during the Budget session of Parliament from February 25 to May 13 this year. It held 38 sittings, totalling 212 hours and 33 minutes. It introduced 26 Bills and
discussed and passed all of them. There were 19 Bills pending at the end of that session. No fewer than 422 notices were received for discussions under Rule 197 of which only five were admitted and discussions were held on four and one was only partly discussed. Interestingly, the statement remains silent on the valuable time lost due to pandemonium necessitating adjournments. Contributed by Gaurav Choudhury, S Satyanarayanan and Prashant Sood |
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From the pages of Fuel and Forest policy
The
Government of India, after a careful consideration of the reports received from the Local Governments, have laid down the broad principle that no impediment should be offered to the extension of the permanent cultivation whether the welfare of the village communities demand it. The soundness of this principle will be readily acknowledged by all sensible and right-thinking persons. The supreme Government has directed the Local Governments to consider to what extent pastures, fodder reserves and forests are required in each locality in order to meet public wants…. The Government of India consider it advisable for convenience of administration that all lands set apart for special treatment as pastures, fodder reserves, or forests proper should be placed under the Forest Law as “Reserved Forest,” but care has been taken to explain that it is not necessary that, because an area is constituted a Reserved Forest, it must be placed under the control of the officers of the Forest Department. |
God it is who created for you all that is on earth, then turned to the heights and fashioned them into seven heavens; and God is completely aware of all things. — Book of quotations on Islam Be convinced of one thing, that there is only one Supreme Being who rules over the destinies of all beings. We should never forget Him. — Guru Nanak The wise man is balanced and calm. He meditates over all aspects of a question before speaking. His words are the words of rationality. —The Buddha People call a lotus by many names. Yet the flower remains the same. So is God called differently by different people. Yet He is the One, the same. —
Book of quotations of Hinduism  |
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