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No politics, please End alienation |
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Tummy talk
CBI raids and all that jazz
The handicap
Delhi’s affluent indulge
in female foeticide Diabetes can cut life expectancy Delhi Durbar
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No politics, please
The Allahabad High Court order quashing the Aligarh Muslim University (Amendment) Act, 1981, which lent AMU its status as a minority institution, has stirred up a serious controversy. There is tension in the university as the students are deeply agitated over the verdict. Justice Arun Tandon’s ruling was in response to a petition challenging AMU’s recent decision to reserve 50 per cent of its seats in post-graduate medical courses for Muslims. The Judge based his ruling solely on the 1968 judgement of the Supreme Court which said that AMU was not a minority institution because it was set up by Parliament as a Central University and was being directly funded by the Government of India. From a legal angle, the judgement may seem logical, but the issue in question is such that one cannot strictly take a legalistic view of the matter. The point to ponder at this juncture is not whether religion or caste-based reservations in the educational institutions are good for the country, but the future of as many as 77 students admitted to various post-graduate medical courses of the university. Undoubtedly, they are the immediate victims of the High Court ruling. Keeping in view their future, there is a strong case for the Supreme Court to grant a stay of the High Court ruling and order the status quo ante, pending final judgement of the case. While a stay order would greatly help ease tension in AMU and provide the much-needed relief to the students, the Centre and the state should take all possible measures to keep the situation under control. Nothing should be done to arouse communal passions. The political parties should exercise utmost restraint in their conduct and try to help find a suitable solution to wriggle out of the problem caused by the High Court order. It is also time institutions like AMU, Banaras Hindu University, Jamia Millia Islamia and others came out of their denominational character themselves. They need to look beyond the parameters of reservation. Clearly, reforms must come from within these institutions of higher learning if India were to truly emerge as an egalitarian society. |
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End alienation
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) of 1958 is an anachronism in 21st century. Its continued enforcement in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland flies in the face of the Centre’s intentions to give the people of the North-East political, cultural and economic space in a federal polity. It gives even a non-commissioned officer sweeping powers to search, arrest and shoot to kill. Cries for its repeal have been ignored despite many a recorded abuse of the Act. The killing of Manipuri woman Thangjam Manorama following her arrest by the Assam Rifles in July last year had unleashed a storm of protests, including an anguished nude protest by elderly Manipuri women. The news that the Union Home Ministry has endorsed a recommendation by the Justice Jeevan Reddy review committee to repeal the Act will be welcomed by the beleaguered North-Eastern people and human rights organisations both within the country and abroad. The committee’s report is yet to be made public and it is not clear what its recommendations are. Its mandate included suggestion of amendments and even replacement “with a more humane law.” In any case, the Home Ministry appears to have suggested that suitable amendments should be made in the Unlawful Activities Act to cater to the requirements of tackling armed insurgency. The Centre has spoken of the need to balance the people’s “legitimate aspirations and national security concerns.” Even in a globalising world, a state is defined as an entity with a monopoly over the legitimate use of force. But when that monopoly is exercised in such a way that it becomes open to frequent abuse, then the very legitimacy of the state, intended to promote the welfare of the people under its care, is undermined. The matter gets more complex when questions of sub-state nationalism and self-determination come up, as is the case in the North-East. Integration into the mainstream is seen as desirable, but on whose terms has always been open to debate. But it is clear that the AFSPA has to go. |
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Tummy talk
It is really one too many to stomach in a short span. First, the Nobel for medicine zeroes in on two researchers who have shown that bacteria — and not lifestyle effects such as stress, drinking, smoking and junk food — cause peptic ulcer. Now, as if one below the belt is not enough, another boffin, Dr Gautam Chaudhry, has revealed an interesting theory to explain why Indians, and Asians, have potbellies. Like the finding about ulcer, this theory is comforting: the fault for the abdominal amplitude of Indians lies in their genes; again, not in eating habits. No doubt, such cheering news may well encourage many who had abstained from gastronomic indulgences — because they had not the stomach for it — to jettison their spartan habits. But, before they set forth on a binge, it may be noted that western scientists are still working on the theory of this gene, called the “starvation” or “selfish” gene. This gene, says Dr Chaudhry, rather than using up good food, stores it for times such as “famines”; the gene is a protective mechanism evolved by the human body that comes to the fore during periods of famine and starvation. While that explains the name of the gene, it does not enlighten as to why this should be found in Indians as a whole. There is a huge population below the poverty line that lives on the edge of starvation and has no belly, leave alone adipose tissue, to boast of. On the flip side, not many of the potbellied may have ever faced starvation or been haunted by fears of a famine. This gene is said to have become redundant in Europeans. One wonders whether this gene is found in Africa, especially among people in Ethiopia and Somalia, which faced devastating famines and mass starvation deaths. The tissue may not be the issue when it comes to flabu-lous misconceptions. |
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Riches are for spending.
— Francis Bacon |
CBI raids and all that jazz
AS was only to be expected, the sensation caused by the countrywide CBI raids on a hundred premises in 54 cities — leading to the institution of 70 cases against officials who had allegedly accumulated wealth out of all proportion to their ostensible incomes — has already died down. All concerned — ranging from the premier investigative agency to the high and mighty always oblivious of wrongdoing, their own or that of their subordinates — are back to business as usual. To be sure, three officials of middling seniority, including a Commissioner of Income Tax in Mumbai, have been arrested. But may one ask, to what end? These worthies will almost certainly be out on bail in a matter of days and, after a brief period of suspension, the arrested ones would probably be back at their desks to resume their lucrative pastime. In fact, the CBI and its political and bureaucratic bosses must come clean about what has happened to the Central Excise Commissioner, arrested six months ago also in Mumbai. His hoard of cash and jewellery, valued at “more than Rs 5 crore”, is five times that recovered from the Income Tax Commissioner now. More shocking is the mystery about the former Chairman of the Board of Excise and Customs, arrested red-handed more than three years ago. He has since disappeared into limbo. Other such cases would fill not a modest-sized book but a tome. The crowning irony about the well-choreographed charade is that the CBI’s elaborate plan of action was duly “leaked” to appropriate quarters. The big fish swam away and the CBI started crowing about the small minnows in its net. One intriguing feature of the list of those “caught” merits attention. It stands to reason that even junior functionaries of the departments like revenue, excise, customs and the police have ample opportunities to mint money, which also explains the burgeoning popularity of the Indian Revenue Service among the competitors for all-India services, in preference to the IAS and the IFS. However, it is surprising that someone in charge of promoting Urdu or homeopathy, to say nothing of an assistant sanitary inspector of the Delhi Municipal Corporation, should also be able to amass huge wealth. And even this is only the proverbial tip not of an iceberg but of a glacier infinitely larger than Siachen. Let us face it that corruption has been an integral part of India’s life since times immemorial. More than 2,500 years ago the great sage Kautilya had listed 40 different ways in which the king’s minions were “bound to cheat him of his revenues”. Since then things have steadily worsened. Anyone who thinks that there was no graft or corruption during the British Raj is living in a world of his or her own making. Sadly, however, this evil was then much less extensive than it is today, earning the country the dubious distinction of being near the top of Trans-parency International’s annual list of “most corrupt” nations. Secondly, there is an essential difference between two kinds of corruption afflicting the country. One is the world of suitcases chockfull of currency, exchanged between politicians in power and their bureaucratic henchmen on the one hand and big business and crooked middlemen in quest of humongous contracts on the other. Mind-boggling commissions on arms deals with foreign firms, whether received at home or deposited in numbered accounts in tax havens abroad, fall in the same category. Of this brand of bribery it can be said, in Shakespeare’s words, that it is “twice bless’d; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes”. It is the other kind of corruption that has made life hell for the vast majority of a billion plus Indians. This is so because no citizen can get anything done in any government office — get a ration card, secure pension or refund that is long overdue or any other essential authorisation — without the use of cash or clout. Few have the clout; all the rest must pay. According to the Centre for Media Studies, such bribes add up to a whopping $ 4 billion a year. The havoc that the nexus between the execrable land mafia and its high-level collaborators in governments, state and Central, has wrought in Mumbai, Delhi, and even in smaller places should not be a surprise under these circumstances. There is substance in the argument of those who say that much of the corruption would disappear if the government gets out of activities that ought to be none of its business. But has the privatisation of electric supply in the nation’s capital helped? More importantly, no one should underestimate the greed and dishonesty of the private sector and its propensity to make common cause with those in the government and the public sector who would seize every opportunity to line their pockets. This brings me to the only redeeming feature of the latest act of the CBI’s long running drama. For the first time, the agency has raided, in addition to government functionaries, public sector executives, private sector consultants and agents colluding with corrupt officials, and even private companies. One of these companies had managed, not long ago, to get a loan of Rs 82 crore written off. The question no one is prepared to answer is whether the Reserve Bank approved of this munificence or was it sitting pretty with eyes widely shut. Finally, a blunt word must be said about the CBI itself. After full allowance has been made for all the political and judicial directives binding it and the peculiar committee system that runs it, there can be no denying that its own performance has been dismal and sometimes disgraceful. Its incompetence or worse enabled Chandraswami — that remarkable combination of self-styled “godman” and widely perceived “godfather” — to go scot-free in the most sordid St. Kitts case. The agency also meekly acquiesced in the withdrawal of no fewer than 15 cases against Mr Satish Sharma, the former Petroleum Minister, who reportedly still has his eye on that job. In the cases against both Mr L.K. Advani and Ms Mayawati, at different stages, the premier agency has shamelessly trimmed its sails according to the prevailing political wind. Of the CBI’s contortions in relation to the infamous Mr Sukh Ram, the less said the better. To expect such a compromised outfit as the CBI to combat corruption is like believing that a single bucket riddled with holes can fight a raging forest
fire.
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The handicap
A phone call to a five-star or seven-star hotel is always a pleasure, because a sweet voice always says: “May I help you.” But the next response is disappointing: “Sorry, sir, there is no room vacant.” It makes me wonder in a country where just 2 per cent of people pay income tax how do hotels have full occupancy. By nature Indians do not have the heart to spend so much money for a one-night stay. Being an Indian I also feel the same. When I enter a starry hotel, my spirits are lifted. But depression sets in while paying the bill, till my children cheer me up. One fine day at a party, I told my friend that I would any day prefer staying in a five-star or seven-star hotel whenever I go out, but the expenses are beyond my reach. My friend laughed and said: “Next time you go out let me know. I will get you 40 per cent discount and a free breakfast.” Two days later I got a telephone call that my family would be back in India after a foreign sojourn on Saturday. The 40 per cent offer dangled like the carrot before a rabbit. I availed of the offer and booked a room in a seven-star hotel. After picking up my family from the airport we headed for the seven-star hotel. The ambience of the hotel was fabulous. My daughter said: “It is fantastic. It is beautiful. Dad, this is far better than the hotel we were putting up in America.” I went up to the reception and enquired about my booking. The receptionist looked at the computer and said: “Sir, your room will be ready in 15 minutes.” I was a bit surprised. It was almost midnight and the room was not ready! After 15 minutes I told them to hasten the process as my family was very tired. “Sir, I am extremely sorry for the delay, your room will be ready soon,” said the receptionist. I could hear them whispering. I smelt something fishy. It had never been like this before. After 15 minutes I again walked up to the receptionist. “Now, can I help you,” I said, and added: “I am not a hotelier. But a hospital is also like a hotel. Moreover, the government charges income tax from nursing homes as they do from hotels.” The receptionist said: “Sorry, sir, somebody has occupied your room and we are arranging a new room.” I laughed and said: “Arrey bhai, presidential suite hee de dow.” He replied: “Agar khali hota tow mein aap ko zaroor deta.” It was now 2 a.m. and my children were sleeping on the sofa. My wife was staring at me. The receptionist tried to find a way out: “Sir, I could give you a room, but that is reserved for the handicapped.” “Arrey bhai hamein sone ke liye zameen chaiye, aap kahin bhee de do,” I quipped. We were ushered into the room. Tired, we were fast asleep in no time. In the morning I went out into the balcony. All the rooms were vacant and were being cleaned. “Doctor sahib, good morning,” said a waiter, who had served me on the previous two visits to the hotel. The familiar smiling face promised to shift me to a better room soon. I casually asked him:” Why are all the rooms vacant early in the morning.” He smiled and said: Sir, it generally happens like this on weekends. The rooms are occupied at night and vacated early in the morning. “Why were we given a room reserved for the handicapped,” I enquired. He laughed and asked:”Aap ke saath kaun aya hai?” I said: “My wife.” He laughed loudly and said: “Don’t you think you are also a handicapped
person?” |
Delhi’s affluent indulge
in female foeticide
WHAT is happening to the state of Delhi? It may boast a higher standard of living in comparison to the rest of India and yet when it comes to female foeticide, it is the rich, upmarket families which are far less tolerant of the girl child than their counterparts anywhere in India, including Punjab and Haryana. A recent survey by certain leading hospitals in the Capital, including Jaipur Golden, Safdarjung Hospital, AIIMS and LNGP, have shown that Delhi’s affluent indulge in much larger numbers of sex selective abortions than do the less well-off. A confidential study titled “Analysis of Trends of Sex Ratio at Birth in Delhi Hospitals” looked at the entire phenomenon of declining sex ratio in the Capital between 1993 and 2003. Undertaken by the Christian Medical Association of India (which has 350 mission hospitals under its ambit), the study found that Delhi’s private hospitals had much higher figures of female foeticide than those prevailing in government hospitals. Dr Joe Verghese of the CMA said: “Our study revealed that if the first child is a girl, then 50 per cent of female foeticide takes place when the mother is pregnant for the second time. This goes up to 70 per cent, when the woman is expecting her third child. Our study has shown that in such cases, only 219 girls are being born to 1000 boys.” Dr Verghese believes that a woman who is a mere housewife has no control over her pregnancies. It is only when a mother is working and enjoys a high occupational status that she begins to have some degree of control over herself. Since most of the sex selection is done outside the hospitals in private clinics, it is not correct to only blame the hospitals for these disturbing trends, he maintains. Dr Puneet Bedi, a Delhi-based gynaecologist, who has been tracking Delhi’s “missing girls” for the last one decade, goes a step further. “If we go by the census trends, the girl-boy ratio in the Capital is now down to 817 girls to 1,000 boys. This means that 24,000 girls go missing in Delhi every year.” Dr Bedi is not willing to give a clean chit to medical practitioners. He feels, “There has been a complete criminalisation of the medical profession. If doctors can run sex-detection clinics, then they can go to any length to do other underhand operations as well. The situation can only change if the government comes down on the medical profession with a heavy hand.” What the parents indulging in this practice fail to understand is that demography is soon going to turn against men. Dr Bedi warns that “if we continue with this trend, India will soon reach a stage where 23 million boys will not be able to find partners for themselves”. The result on the ground is there for everyone to see. The girl-boy ratios in the last eight-10 years have slid so strongly in favour of the boy that this imbalance is now visible in pre-school nurseries and in junior schools. Most nurseries have boys outnumbering girls. Ms Ramni Chopra, Principal of Step-by-Step, a nursery in Panchsheel Park, which caters to children of the glitterati and the political elite, points out, “During the last five years, the numbers of girl students has steadily declined. Families have a strong male preference even though experience shows us that women are not lagging behind in taking on family responsibilities. In fact, they are outperforming boys in most fields.” Some parts of Delhi are, however, worse than others. East Delhi’s Preet Vihar has the worst sex ratio: it is now down to 750 girls to 1000 boys. The next is Punjabi Bagh, which has a ratio of 820 girls per 1,000 boys. Upmarket colonies like Defence Colony and Patel Nagar do not fare any better. Defence Colony has 850 females per 1,000 boys while Patel Nagar has the same ratio. Statisticians monitoring these declining figures at the Office of the Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths (ORBD) in the Old Secretariat complex in the Capital believe that the situation has worsened after the census 2001. As a senior doctor here revealed on the condition of anonymity, “the census 2001 showed that there were 868 females per 1,000 males. The Capital had the dubious distinction of ranking third among the states with low sex ratios after Punjab and Haryana. Unfortunately, trends in the last three years indicate that the disparity between the girl/boy ratio is on the rise. All nine districts of Delhi are confirming this trend”. He added, “We have now gone in for complete computerisation. This means that hospitals are sending us data online on the number of girls and boys born there. While the 2003-4 data is being tabulated by a private agency, the 2004-5 data is being put together by the ORBD.” The Delhi Government has taken a step forward in comparison to the neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. It has set up a national surveillance cell involving NGOs. Gauri Chaudhary of Action India, an NGO, points out, “We are monitoring 30,000 forms. This surveillance is expected to be extended to other parts of the country.” Other NGOs question the efficacy of such a surveillance body. Delhi’s Punjabi Aggarwal community, which has infiltrated the entire medical profession, has built a powerful political base for itself. It can only be challenged at the highest level, one such group pointed out. Delhi’s women-to-men ratio started showing a sharp decline from the 1991 census figure of 827. The last two years have been the worst for the Capital with figures plunging even further. According to world standards, the healthy ratio is considered to be 952 females for every 1,000 males. But unless drastic steps are not taken soon, this is soon going to become a pipe dream for the whole of North India. |
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Diabetes can cut life expectancy
Doctors describe it as a catastrophe waiting to happen. The accelerating rise in the number of people with diabetes could lead to the first reduction in life expectancy for more than 200 years. Unlike other health threats, the death of tens of thousands of people is inevitable. The World Health Organisation warned in a report yesterday that the number of lives claimed by diabetes in the UK is set to grow by a quarter over the next decade, driven by rising obesity and inactivity. In the UK, about two million people have been diagnosed with the condition, which shortens lives by a decade, is the leading cause of blindness and increases by 15 times the risk of amputation of the legs. The numbers affected have grown by 500,000 in the past nine years - an increase of a third — and are set to rise to three million by 2010. Up to a further million people remain undiagnosed. Professor Sir George Alberti, the immediate past president of the International Diabetes Federation and Britain’s foremost expert on the disease, said: “The explosion of diabetes is with us and we will see a great increase in heart disease and strokes. It is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Much stronger government action is needed. “This is one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has seen. The financial and social burden of the disease will be intolerable if governments do not wake up and take notice now.” Diabetes affects 150 million people globally and causes five million deaths a year. The numbers affected have almost tripled in 50 years, from 55 million in 1955, and will rise to 300 million by 2025. The WHO predicted diabetes deaths in the UK would rise from 33,000 this year to 41,000 by 2015. More than 80 per cent of sufferers will die of heart attacks or strokes and more than 1,000 a year have kidney failure and have to start dialysis. Professor Alberti said: “The WHO may well be grossly underestimating the deaths associated with diabetes in the UK. If you take all the avoidable deaths from heart disease and stroke, their figure looks very conservative.” Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “What people do not recognise is that diabetes is a killer. The numbers are going up by 100,000 every year and the Department of Health’s own statistics show £4bn a year is spent treating diabetes. That is 5 per cent of the entire NHS budget. There is a danger it will overwhelm the NHS unless something is done to curb the growth in cases.” Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, a team of academics, led by Jay Olshansky from the University of Illinois, warned that the increase in diabetes and other chronic diseases as a result of growing obesity could lead to a fall in life expectancy. They calculated that life expectancy would already be up to a year longer if there was no obesity and that it could be reduced by five years or more over the coming decades if obesity continues to increase. The main cause of the rise in Type II diabetes, which now numbers 1.8 million cases, is the growth in overweight and obese people. The risk is 10 times higher in those with a body mass index over 30. In Type II diabetes, the body loses its capacity to make insulin, a hormone which helps glucose enter the cells, or becomes resistant to
insulin.
— The Independent |
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Delhi
Durbar The Cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle is now expected to be undertaken before the winter session of Parliament. There is also an outside chance that it might happen just before Dasehra. So the nervous wait for the phone to ring and hoping it would be the Prime Minister’s Office calling with the “good news” has started. Interestingly, JMM leader Shibu Soren met Congress President Sonia Gandhi just the other day. That has led to speculation that Soren wants to regain his ministership at the Centre having miserably burnt his boats in Jharkhand.
Cultural diplomacy Having decided to sit at the ICCR rather than run it through remote control, the scholarly and amiable Dr Karan Singh insists he does not want to be President in absentia. Career diplomat and author Pavan K Varma is the new Director-General of the ICCR along with two fresh deputies. Cultural diplomacy is an important element of India’s global strategy. For a start, four new cultural centres are to be opened in Kathmandu, Kabul, Washington and Abu Dhabi which will enlarge the tally to 22. Dr Singh is also working on cultural CBMs to give an added push to the Indo-Pak peace process.
Futile wait for minister Various ministries and departments organised seminars and functions to mark the World Habitat Day this week in the Capital. Minister of State Selja was to attend a dinner hosted by Hudco. The guests included builders, architects, officials and mediapersons. Everyone was looking for the youthful minister, but she was nowhere to be seen. Top officials of Hudco were upset. Guests started leaving as Selja did not turn up. An official observed she is shy of public interface and that is why she is invariably late or does not turn up.
BJP, TDP part ways This had to happen. There was discontent in the TDP that the party’s dalliance with the BJP was costing it dearly in the form of minority votes. Consequently, the TDP and the BJP decided to contest the municipal elections in the southern state on their own. There were other issues as well which hastened the split. A case in point is the BJP raising the Telengana issue while being acutely aware that Chandrababu Naidu was against it.
Twins’ problems Sabah and Farah, the conjoined twins from Bihar, love to wear jewellery, watch television and listen to music. Doctors at the Apollo Hospital were
pleasantly surprised to find how they resolve problems peacefully. During their visit to the hospital, one of the twins expressed a desire to experience the rain. When the other refused, she forgot all about her simple desire.
Contributed by Satish Misra, Prashant Sood, S. Satyanarayanan and |
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March 3, 1909
What is described as the true story of the Chinese Emperor’s death is published in Paris to-day in the “Revue.” After the miserable existence he led after the betrayal by Yuan Shi-kai of his plot to intern the Dowager-Empress, a plot which led to his own captivity, came the illness of the Dowager-Empress, who formed a fixed resolve that her nephew should precede her to the tomb. She summoned Yuan Shi-kai, the Emperor’s most deadly foe, together with Prince Tsing, the head of the Imperial family, and the chief of the eunuchs of the palace. As a result of this sinister conclave, it was announced that Kuang-Su was dangerously ill from heart-disease. Next morning the Chief Eunuch entered the Palace where the Emperor was confined and declared that the Empress was dying and it was needful for him to predecease her. He deposited on a table pills of opium, a packet of gold leaf, and a yellow silk-plaited cord, promising to return in three hours’ time. If he found that neither the opium nor the gold leaf had been used, it would be his duty to call upon his two assistants to strangle him with the silken cord. Meanwhile the two executioners would watch the door of the room. When the Chief Eunuch returned, the opium had disappeared and Kuang-Su was stretched lifeless on the couch. |
Don’t keep moaning that there is no one to help you. You become a help to others. If there is no shade, plant a tree. If there is no road, build one. If there is no happiness, smile and make some. —Book of quotations
on Hinduism Success in highest and noblest form calls for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which comes only to the man who has found the work he likes best. —
Book of quotations
on Success The nature of God is circle of which the centre is everywhere and the
circumference is nowhere. — Book of quotations on Religion Inexpressible is the story of love, it cannot be revealed by mere words. Like the dumb who on eating sweet-meats can only smile but not speak of its sweetness. —
Kabir Speak the truth and nothing but the truth.
— The Upanishads |
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