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North-East
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On Record
Caught between HIV and TB Profile Diversities — Delhi Letter
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North-East revisited The northern borders of India are in the news again with negotiations starting all over. In fact they should be seen not only as problems but also as opportunities. This is true both of the Northwest and the Northeast. A few kilometers away from Kohima on the Hill road to Mukokchung is Merema. After the rains the hills have an ethereal quality to them. Nagaland, like the other sisters of the Northeast is, of course, very beautiful. The idea of a plains man going to a Naga village is not exactly encouraged by the Sahebs, but I would recommend it. Apart from the beauty, the Nagas are very deeply rooted in their culture and civilised. In the early Eighties, I had gone to an Ao village with my friend Mirachiba. This time it was further up and it was an Angami village. It has around 150 households. It has given 200 acres for the Kohima campus of the Nagaland University. These ‘acres’ are actually a hill. In the setting sun, which is early in the North-East, for some unknown reason, we still have not shifted to time zones in our large country, the hill is breathtakingly lovely. We should level as little land as possible. Let the landscapers use the natural contours and cut as few trees as possible. Let the architecture represent Naga style as in the master plan of the Lumami campus and we would build one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. I said so and the Morung Post (Dimapur) quoted me as talking of the prettiest campus in the world. The Northeast food is fascinating. They grow spices and vegetables. They make the broths in Arunachal, Nagaland and elsewhere which are spicy, boiled and tasty. They eat the Japonica rice and different kinds of meats and fish boiled with lots of greens, vegetables and spices. I bring them back to rural Ahmedabad; the house hasn’t smelt the same since. The beauty and the vigour of its people and culture will sustain a great hospitality industry. Chinese authorities now permit the practice of religions like Christianity and Buddhism. This opens up vast possibilities of tourism. The spices, meats and green vegetables in local foods should not be hidden behind butter chicken masala, but brought up front. Kunming is only around 45 minutes by plane from Arunachal Pradesh and the demand for red chillies in Western Chinese food is rocketing. The area is very rich. Nature gives its gifts in plenty. The king spice is to be touched and tasted to get a sense of its power. In Merema, we talk of exotic vegetables and spices. They tell me they grow a gourd which is like an eggplant. I am puzzled and Neiffii-O, vice-chairperson of the Women’s Khel brings in a vegetable which looks like an eggplant and is a gourd in taste. We live and learn, but it suddenly hits me. This is aplenty in Thai red curry. In the decades to come, this region will be the strong arm of the subcontinent as it looks East. We are rapidly developing links with China, Myanmar and the ASEAN and we have to think of the North-Eastern states as the potential strong arm of this spread. The attitude developed in colonial times of Inner Lines and closed systems has to give way to the visualisation of concentric circles of contact and influence. India is growing fast and its trade, technology services and surpluses with these areas are expanding. We have to approach these issues with the confidence of a mature democracy with great strength and the cultural reserves of an open multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity. The metaphor is not just the Ganga to the Mekong, but the Brahmaputra to the Mekong. The Brahmaputra and its tributaries were historically communication systems and we have to capture with modern technology and communication systems, that élan again. Communication will be the key. India built the road from Tamo to Kaley in Myanmaar, but a lot more needs to be done. We have to imbibe the art of competition and collaboration. The functioning of our institutions underlines that society’s reserves are strong enough to encourage alternative discourses. But as in Pranayam, the mind has to open first. Even in the West, Hindi is loved. In Mongolia, our Ambassador, a Ladakhi Lama for many decades, was a living God to the Buddhist population. However, the communication problems look more complex. Meeting the CEO of a big OECD company in energy, I was told that West and Central Asia hold the key. It is only in India that its energy and water problems are not looked at with a degree of hysteria. Every serious energy model and water projection shows the country as the hotspot in the years to come. Regional water and energy co-operation projects need greater attention. Recognition that water and energy is scarce and its long range marginal costs will have to be met, will add an initial degree of realism to the existing attempts at developing inter-country projects. The surplus countries will find export of water or energy more profitable and the deficit countries, particularly India, will learn the opportunity cost of the resource. The Indian experience in working the “availability” tariff, for inter-regional transfer within the country and the National Grid, provides the basis for such an approach. The process should be reform driven and not with “old style diplomatic negotiations”. The efforts made to link our friends in Central Asia, Kazhakastan, Kirghistan, with us through the rail link with Bandar Abbas should have been high on our agenda of support, but for some reason never was. The flip sides here are technology and the irreversible path of economic liberalisation in a global setting, pointing at strategic regional initiatives as a part of the reform process. We can be good at both. Reform is making many old mindsets irrelevant as the regional cooperation agenda emerges from and is a part of the reform process in South and West Asia. Old mindsets which work in terms of Bismarckian diplomacy structures, rather than modern rules of functioning of techno-economic systems hinder progress. The development of reform and economic rules will have to be in a strategic policy framework which accounts for the different sizes, initial conditions and resource endowments of the countries. Such frameworks can be developed and in a rudimentary form are already there. A stepwise process of progress is in order. This is an optimal strategy for India in a security sense. Unfortunately, in some variants of the privatisation debate, the need for strategic policies and public policy initiated reform is heavily discounted. Punjab, Kashmir and the Northwest have to champion this reform for their future is linked with it. As the plane flies, Almatty is not that far away from Amritsar and Srinagar. Also the Sukhna might well be the place to contemplate a future out of the box.
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Empowering women in
Haryana Women have been playing an important role in Haryana’s development. One cannot ignore their contribution in the production process of rural Haryana. Their role in the urban sector, especially in the unorganised sector, is immense. Still, they earn hardly Rs 10 or 12 after putting in 12 to 13 hours of hard work! Women play a vital role in social change. The girls secure top positions in schools and colleges despite a hostile environment including sexual exploitation. Women have been denied property rights. The purdah pratha, female foeticide, wife beating, second marriage to fulfil the desire for a son, honour killing are all deeply rooted in Haryana society. These are the main hurdles in the path of women’s empowerment. Haryana women played an important role in all productive and social spheres despite adverse circumstances and traditions. They participated actively in the Panchayati Raj system after getting one-third representation. Initially, the Sarpanch Patis were dominating the panchayat meetings. However, gradually, women’s role increased. Their participation in various literacy campaigns proves that if they take the initiative, they will do it effectively. The literacy campaigns succeeded only because the structures and leadership of the campaign at different levels have underlined women’s issues and recognised their initiatives. This created a belief among the women activists and stimulated their participation. In this context, there are many success stories. The experience of women in Bhali village is one. It is documented in a study entitled “Empowerment of women through literacy” by the State Resource Centre Haryana. In this study, economist Dr Navsharan Singh analyses that the Bhali’s women participated in the literacy campaign as a process of perception change beyond the three Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic). The self-confidence and the desire of group formation acquired from the literacy classes involved women in a process of mobilisation on different issues. It analyses in the same perspective the cooperative store and the anti-liquor movement in which they participated cutting across caste and class barriers. Literacy has helped women to think on wider issues; it has given them a new insight to see and evaluate themselves and the social environment. On the basis of that insight, they get social, economic and political identity. Three women literacy activists of Bhali village are people’s representatives in the panchayats. While Mrs Samundari Devi is the Chairperson of Rohtak Zilla Parishad, Mrs Krishna Devi is a Block Samiti member. Breaking from tradition was not easy, admit women. However, the steps taken in the public space opened up a new world for them. Their consistent struggle and the significant results can be called the decisive indicators of transformation and empowerment. n The
writer is Senior Fellow (Research), State Resource Centre, Rohtak,
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On Record
Born in a princely family of Andhra Pradesh, Vyricherla Kishore Chandra Suryanarayana Deo, entered the Sixth Lok Sabha in 1977. He made a mark as Union Minister of State for Steel and Mines. He got elected to the Seventh and Eighth Lok Sabha and remained in the Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2000. Entering the 14th Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket, Deo has been observing the Indian polity from close quarters not only as an insider but also as a student of political science, after being Chairman of the Committee to look into the misconduct of MPs misusing MPLAD funds. Mr Deo was asked to head the Committee following the resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal on his appointment as Union Minister of State for Finance in the Manmohan Singh government. The report was submitted in record time. The report suggests constructive ways to address the problem that threatens the prestige of the world’s largest democracy. As a member of the Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms, Deo studied the electoral process closely and made suggestions for improving the system. Convinced that huge spending in the elections is the root cause of the malady, he has been stressing that issuance of multi-purpose citizen identity cards will address many issues simultaneously. “It will strengthen democracy and check corruption in public life”, he says in an interview to The Sunday Tribune. Excerpts: Q: People are increasingly losing faith in the electoral politics. How does the use of money manifest itself in actual politics? A: The excessive and indiscriminate use of money during elections has been growing in geometric progression for the last many decades. This phenomenon has created an impression that posts in the representative institutions can be managed by those who can afford to spend huge sums of money. Money has become the central and deciding factor in any election. This is not confined to parliamentary elections alone. This is true in the case of elections at all levels of the government. It is now an open secret that money thus used is not accounted for. It is obtained from smugglers, hoarders, tax-evaders and corrupt power brokers. Money is used to influence voters during the election campaign, especially on the eve of the polling day. This is done by doling out cash to some sections in exchange for votes and by “presenting” the voters with various articles. This was seen in the just-concluded elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Q: Is it only the voters or others too are lured away? A: Many pliable presiding officers at the polling booths were lured to use fraudulent methods. They often misused their position to increase the number of votes of the candidate who paid them maximum amount of money. But things are changing today as more and more electronic voting machines are being put to use along with digital cameras. Q: Apart from money power, what about the role of muscle power? A: Rigging and booth capturing to win an election have threatened our electoral process. However, thanks to an alert Election Commission, this menace is being checked and brought down. Rigging has become an art by itself. Interestingly, there are many kinds of rigging — classical rigging, orthodox rigging and scientific rigging. These methods have been perfected by criminals of an area and politicians and political parties have started patronising them. But their role is being reduced because of the tough measures taken by the Election Commission. Unfortunately, rigging has not been totally eliminated as they continue to hold sway in their areas. Even scientific rigging continues in an improvised form. Q: What is the way out? A: Oh, there are many solutions. One is the state funding of elections and the other is the multi-purpose election cards. The state should fund elections. The UPA government is already looking into it. But the idea of multi-purpose identity cards has still to catch the imagination of the policy makers and the executive. Today, the kind of software expertise that we have and the technology that is available, it would be possible to get every citizen a multi-purpose card which will help him in not only exercising his franchise but also help the card holder in getting loans, birth certificates or other necessary documents. The card holder can technically cast his or her vote from anywhere in the country by swiping the card at the censor. His entire details would be stored on the card. This would eliminate most malpractices that have corrupted the Indian electoral system. The election would be fair and people’s faith in the system would be restored. I wonder why no attention has been paid to this. The electoral identity cards, which have been issued by the Election Commission, serve only one purpose. In my opinion, it is a criminal waste of resources. In the 21st century, we must move with time and empower our citizens by getting them multi-purpose electoral cards. |
Caught between HIV and TB
A quiet shift took place a few years ago in the impact of global infectious diseases: The human immuno deficiency virus (HIV) or AIDS epidemic surpassed that of age-old tuberculosis (TB). In the past five years, annual spending on HIVprogrammes increased 16-fold — from US$ 500 million to around US$ 8 billion per year. The same period saw a paltry 70 per cent increase in funding for anti-TB efforts. The cost to humanity? HIV kills around three million people every year. TB kills two million. The point, however, is not to tally up marks for a macabre competition. It is precisely the opposite. We need to stop thinking of the two diseases in separate bodies, because a third of the 40 million people living with HIV today are also co-infected with TB. In 2006 and for at least the next decade, HIV’s biggest challenge is TB. One in every three people harbours the TB bacteria in their body. That’s two billion people. TB stays inactive, but transforms into active TB disease in about nine million of us every year. Sadly, the ease with which the two diseases intensify one another is not mirrored by the groups of people and institutions working to fight them. Despite years of knowing how TB and HIV interact with one another, and how programmes to address them should also work together, this is how they continue to think about HIV and TB: Separately. It is astounding to find that the heads of three of the main actors responsible for controlling the two diseases — the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the international Stop-TB Partnership — do little more than nominally reflect each other’s experience and advice. All the more surprising when you consider that the offices of the three men are no more than a kilometre apart in Geneva. Each programme continues to eye the others from across the car park and in the process, lose vital lessons in political strategy, resource mobilisation and clearing of service delivery bottlenecks. The solution is simple: Break down the walls of established thought between the two diseases and you hold out the biggest promise for saving million of lives. There is much that the relatively new HIV world has to learn from the old guard. TB has been around for centuries and is one of the areas of public health where we know the most. It is a curable disease with available medicines, and a long demonstrated track record of success. The doctors, the detection and treatment centres, the drugs — much is already in place. TB is not only curable, it is preventable. The failure to effectively deliver TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention to people with HIV means that many are dying needlessly. The most frequently used method for detecting active and infectious TB is a microscopic analysis of a patient’s sputum. The test is antiquated and unreliable in people with HIV. The test result may be negative even though a person has active TB, making reliable TB diagnosis impossible. Commonly-used TB drug treatments are also outdated, with patients often required to take large numbers of tablets every day for up to eight months. These technical obstacles are far from new; they have been written about and discussed for years now. Less often highlighted are some of the divisions between TB and HIV/AIDS established thinking that prevent synergy. The TB world can learn from some of the accepted tactics of the movement against HIV. These include obvious lessons on how to raise more money as well as a loyalty to community and rights-based approaches. For example, the mainstay of the WHO gold standard policy and treatment package for TB control — known as Directly Observed Treatment, Shortcourse (or DOTS) — is a standard drug treatment for all confirmed cases. This originally meant health workers literally watched patients take their drugs (hence ‘directly-observed’) to ensure the drugs were, in fact, ingested. The HIV/AIDS sector sees clinical care as necessary but not sufficient for the best results. People have to make changes in their lifestyles, develop new skills, and must learn to interact with health care providers to successfully manage their conditions. Similarly, people with TB can no longer be viewed, nor see themselves, as passive recipients of health care services. These issues are dealt with in a newly published TB ‘Patient’s Charter’, which aims to empower people with TB and their communities by highlighting their rights and responsibilities, and need to be put into practice widely and immediately. Connecting with the expertise of community groups has been embraced to extreme degrees by responses to TB and HIV. TB services rarely integrate community resources into the care of patients to the same degree as HIV/AIDS services, leaving a broad array of consumer groups, patient advocates, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) virtually untapped. On the other hand, HIV/AIDS NGOs fill many service gaps to greatly enhance the care of people living with HIV and help to meet goals for service coverage and treatment outcomes. A new global plan to address TB head-on over the next decade was recently launched by the Stop TB Partnership. “Actions for Life – Towards a World Free of Tuberculosis” proposes some bold shifts towards empowerment of TB patients and communities, and asks governments and foundations to foot the bill. They should, despite the ten-year, US$ 56 billion price tag. Some demonstrated behaviour change will probably be required to convince donors. NGOs, community leaders can sensitise the public about TB and HIV, and reduce the stigma associated with them. Foremost though, is the need for greater cooperation and coherence at the level of international institutions and agencies that help governments to set policies, priorities and good practices in dealing with HIV and TB. In 2000, at the launch of the Stop-TB Partnership, Peter Piot, still the head of UNAIDS today, may have foreseen today’s organisational stalemate quite clearly: “We are not in competition. We are as intimately allied as are the human immuno deficiency virus and the TB bacillus,” he explained. “We must work together. If we are serious about our missions to stop TB and stop HIV, finding new realistic pathways to the future is imperative.” Six years on, we have waited too long to see their coherent joint actions on TB and HIV. The first step is simple: Someone get Drs Piot, Raviglione and Espinal to match their schedules and talk. The writer is Director, Health and Development Networks, and Advisor to the AIDS Care Watch (ACW) Campaign, Chiang Mai, Thailand |
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Profile Vendetta has been a curse in Tamil Nadu’s politics. Recall the midnight drama during Jayalalithaa’s rule when octogenarian Karunanidhi was woken up by the police, roughed up and arrested. Remember how Jayalalthaa was humiliated during the DMK rule with choicest abuses hurled on her. The grand old man of Tamil Nadu has indeed shown magnanimity in victory. Kalaignar, as Karunanidhi is popularly known in Tamil Nadu, had declared at the time of the 2001 Assembly elections that this would be his last election. However, buckling under pressure of his partymen and present allies that includes the Congress, he threw his hat in the electoral ring again. There was no question of defeat as he has always been invincible; never losing a battle at the hustings. Karnanidhi’s winning streak began in 1957. Since then, he had won every election, except in 1984 when he did not contest. He succeeded his mentor C.N. Annadurai as Chief Minister in 1969 and led the DMK to a thumping victory in 1972. After two dismissals, once during the Emergency, he completed a full term between 1996 and 2001. In 2001 elections, Jayalalithaa decimated the DMK. Luck smiled again on Karunanidhi and his party routed the AIADMK-BJP combine in 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Many facets of this remarkable Dravidian leader are little known in North India. His full name is Kalaignar Muthuvel Karunanidhi. He is one of the founder members of the DMK. He started his career as a script-writer in the Tamil film industry. However, his wit and oratorical skills made him a popular politician. He was famous for writing historical and mythological stories which propagated the ideals of the Dravidian movement to which he belongs. Karunanidhi has championed the cause of Tamil language and rallied people against what the DMK called “imposition of Hindi” on the Tamil-speaking people. He is often heard saying that “Hindi is like carrier food from the hotel” and “English is the food made by the cook according to one’s instruction”, but “Tamil language is like food cooked by mother who knows the family’s needs and preferences, and feeds them accordingly”. Kalaignar is accused of whipping up anti-Hindi feeling among Tamil people and, as a result, teaching of the language among Tamilians received a setback. Karurnanidhi is criticised by his adversaries for practicing polygamy. He has two wives — Dayalammal and Rajathi Ammal — and they live in separate houses in Chennai. Kalaignar stays in both houses by rotation. The day before counting of votes began, he was looking very tired and stayed with his second wife Rajathi. He was married for the first time at the age of 20 with Padmavathy Ammayyar when he was working as a script-writer with Jupiter Pictures. Padmavathy died young in tragic circumstances and her loss emotionally shook him. She was ailing, was virtually on death bed when Karunanidhi was drafted to deliver an important speech at a meeting. As soon as the meeting was over, he rushed back home but his car broke down on way due to engine trouble. He hitched a ride on a lorry, but by the time he reached home it was too late. Padmavathy had passed away. Since then, he had remarried twice. A few years ago, Karunanidhi began wrapping a yellow shawl around his shoulders as astrologers told him he was under the influence of Jupiter and yellow colour will help him in politics. Also, sticking to yellow all the time creates an identity for himself. This practice is very common among Tamil politicians. Black Shawl, for instance, has become the trade mark of Vaiko, another Tamil politician. When Dravida Kazhagam was being set up, Karunanidhi designed the party’s flag. A black flag with a red circle was decided tentatively. He drew the red circle with his blood, manifesting that he had shed blood to protect the honour of the party and Tamilian culture. Karunanidhi also takes exception to Ravana being referred by poets and writers as an evil force who represented adharma. According to him, Ravana was a Tamil King and signified the Aryan-Dravidian struggle for supremacy. “If you insult Ravana, you are insulting me”, he had reportedly said many times. Based on Tamil epic Thirukural, Karunanidhi wrote a book titled Kuralovium which took him over 30 years to complete. Thirukural is an universal scripture written by sage Thiruvaluvar, a century before the Christ. His most quotable quote is “Art without an ideal is like a house without roofing”. True to his words, Kalaignar has revolutionised the Tamil stage and electrified the political scene in Tamil
Nadu.
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Diversities — Delhi Letter Originally written in Hindi, it was so well received by readers and critics that Urvashi Butalia translated it in English and released here. Unfolding the story of a poor hapless woman who doesn’t give up though odds stand out. Baby Halder had been married at the age of 12 and became a mother when she was 14. She had no family or financial support. Her mother had deserted the family when Baby and her sister were very young. Baby’s husband was violent so much so that one day she’d decided to leave him; running away with her three little children. Finding work as a maid in a New Delhi home, she started writing her sorrowful life on paper. Perhaps, writing with much intensity and stark honesty. That’s why it has reached out.
Focus again on Amrita Shergil On May 15, there’s going to be yet another round of focus on Amrita Shergil, with the formal release of the book on her, Amrita Shergil (Penguin Books India). Writer Yashodhara Dalmia spent almost four years completing this book, which covers aspects to her life and times and much more. Satish Gujral will be the guest of honour at this do. I really don’t know how well Gujral knew her though in his autobiography there is some vague mentioning of her, but nothing really substantial or vivid. But, yes, Khushwant Singh had known her and met her. I wish I could have got some inputs from him, but since he is away at Kasauli so I’ll have to make do with what he has written about her in his autobiography, Truth, love, a little malice. As always he’s been candid and the best part is that he has not sung praises. On the contrary, he has been rather blunt. I quote from Khushwant Singh’s book, “I had no doubt it could only be. Amrita Shergil. And so it was. She came into the sitting room and introduced herself. I tried to size her up. I couldn’t look her in the face too long because she had that bold, brazen kind of look which makes timid men like me turn their gaze downwards. She was short and sallow complexioned (being half Sikh, half Hungarian). Her hair was parted in the middle and tightly bound at the back. She had a bulbous nose with black heads showing. She had thick lips with a faint shadow of a moustache… Politeness was not one of her virtues; she believed in speaking her mind, however rude or unkind it be.” Another important book hits the stand next week. Titled Development after globalisation: Theory and practice for the embattled south in a new imperial age by John S. Saul. This is the latest from Three Essays Collective, which is a lesser known publishing house, manned by a one-man enthusiast, Asad Zaidi. He has been so passionate about publishing that four years back he quit a frilly secure job to start his very own publishing house. And selective he has been, publishing few but select titles. Amongst others, he’s published Omar Khalidi’s book, Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India. Meanwhile, Air Supply’s Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock are undeterred by all the heat and grime and crime scenario to come here to perform at this peak summer time. Don’t know how their managers planned their trip for its few, really few, who dare to come this time of the year for the sake of
performance.
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Watch the man who gives himself to vanity pruning himself and giving himself to short pleasures. He is forgetting the real him of life. In time, he will envy him who has exerted himself in quiet thoughtful meditation. A preacher may not be a scholarly person, but don’t conclude that he lacks wisdom. The wisdom comes from God; it is inexhaustible. Anything which is a hindrance to the fight of the soul is a delusion and a snare, even like the body which often does hinder you in the path of salvation. The will of the one alone pervades all the worlds, as all creation is born of him.
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DMK Supremo M. Karunanidhi took his pen and began writing a poem as counting of votes began on Thursday morning and the first trend trickled in. Indications were loud and clear. The DMK was set on a victorious course in the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The 82-year-old leader, who has won election for a record eleventh time and will be Chief Minister for fifth term, composed the verse for the party organ Murasoli, meaning drum. Titled “Poll Victory”, the poem was addressed to the party cadres and contained an elderly advice — do not resort to politics of vengeance.
Last week saw the release of a special book. Baby Halder’s A Life Less Ordinary (Penguin Books India). It’s special because Baby Halder works as a domestic help in a New Delhi home. But then, her book has on the best sellers’ list.