 |
|
Courting death Retire them at 60 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Shoaib derailed
Mess in Bangladesh
The world his classroom
America’s “pay to play” democracy New Windows is a security hazard Delhi
Durbar
|
Courting death India
rightly boasts of a disciplined, professional army. However, its sterling image has lately taken a beating following a spate of suicides and killing of fellow armymen by soldiers. Some of them have turned their guns on colleagues; some have gone as far as shooting their superiors; some have ended their own lives. In the latest such incident, a jawan shot dead a Lieutenant-Colonel at Dara near Srinagar on Tuesday. The soldier was reportedly worked up because the commanding officer had refused to grant him leave. Even one such incident is one too many. Unfortunately, this was the fifth such happening in Jammu and Kashmir alone during the past 10 days. Naturally, Army Chief J.J. Singh is perturbed and has sent personal instructions to the commanders on the subject and told them to assess each incident. One just hopes that the inquiries will go to the root cause of the problem and eliminate it fully, because if soldiers are under so much of strain, they can turn from an asset to a liability. Most of such incidents have taken place in insurgency-affected states like Jammu and Kashmir. That puts a question mark on the advisability of the training of the Army for such a role. The soldiers are trained to court death but doing policing work, that too for an extended period, may be causing all sorts of psychological problems. Soldiers, on conditions of anonymity, have spoken of the ill-effects of the pressure to deliver “results”. One should not forget that even senior officers had got involved in staging fake encounters to win honours for their units. There is need to take a close look at the structure of various units. Counselling is of utmost importance. Rest and recuperation centres, opportunities and more liberal leave rules can act as safety valves. Attempts have been made in this direction in the past as well, but these have been half-hearted at best. As it is, the Army is no longer a popular career option among the youth, leading to a serious shortfall in the number of officers. The latest tragic incidents may make even other potential soldiers and officers to shun the army. It should worry the top brass and all those of the Army’s morale. |
|
Retire them at 60 WHILE Indians live longer than before, the Punjab Government has reportedly dropped the move to raise the age of retirement of its employees from 58 to 60. With the assembly elections fast approaching, the ruling party does not want to do anything that may be misinterpreted. Pleasing the employees could have sent a wrong signal to unemployed youth eyeing government jobs. For most part of its tenure, the Amarinder Singh government had banned fresh recruitment purportedly to streamline and downsize the administration. That it remains top heavy is another matter. While there is need to make the administration lean and smart by shedding the flab, there is a strong case for raising the retirement age of employees, particularly of medical teachers and other specialists. There has been growing discontent among employees in states like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh after the Central Government raised the retirement age of its employees from 58 to 60 way back in 1999. Rajasthan followed suit in 2003 and Uttar Pradesh went a step further when it decided to retire teachers at the age of 62. Recently, the Human Resource Development Ministry has proposed that the teachers of the Central Universities can be re-employed up to the age of 65. All this has led the left-out employees to demand parity with the Central Government staff. Uniform policy on this vital issue can avoid unnecessary bitterness and sense of discrimination. Besides, with growing awareness about health and better medical facilities available, the average life span of an Indian has gone up. The government can use the services of its experienced employees to bring in efficiency and revitalise its fiscal health during the two-year break from paying the retiring employees’ dues. As for the jobless youth, government jobs are shrinking and the need is to train them for self-employment and avenues available in the private sector and not invite them to waste their time in government offices. |
|
Shoaib derailed THE 100-mile-per-hour Rawalpindi Express has derailed. The two-year ban on the charismatic Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar is a serious blow not only to his own career but to Pakistan cricket, particularly with the World Cup just around the corner. Ever since he tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug nandralone, a common anabolic steroid, such a ban was on the cards. A two- year ban is mandated under the World Anti-Doping Agency protocol, to which the International Cricket Council and various cricket boards are signatories. The ICC instituted random testing during the on-going Champions Trophy, and many players, including some Indians, have been tested. The Pakistan board, in fact, in a pre-emptive action under the persuasion of team coach Bob Woolmer, had undertaken its own tests on the eve of the Champions Trophy, in which both Akhtar and fellow paceman Mohammad Asif had tested positive. Asif has copped a one-year ban. The blow to Asif’s career is less serious, for as a young and talented fast bowler, his comeback chances are good. While Akhtar need not be written off, he will definitely find it much more difficult to get back on track, in full form, after a two-year lay-off. But both players need to reflect on the needless experimentation that has now stained their game and career. Considering that cricket is a game of varied skills, and played over a period of at least one day, if not three or more days, performance-enhancing drugs are not really much of a temptation. While most of these drugs increase muscle mass and “explosive power” for throwing, running and such activities, they do little for endurance or skill. Fast bowlers, however, have been drawn to them, for obvious reasons, though many attest to the fact that they do not really help. The Pakistan Cricket Board needs to be commended for its prompt action against the erring players. |
|
Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men. — T.H. Huxley
|
Mess in Bangladesh
WHATEVER may be said of the grim political and constitutional crisis in Bangladesh, it can in no way be called a surprise. Constant conflict and vicious violence have been the luckless country’s hallmark since its blood-drenched birth in 1971. What has made matters worse is the implacable mutual hatred of the two women who dominate the nation’s political life and have alternated as Prime Minister since the end, in 1990, of the reign of the last military ruler, Gen H. M. Ershad. One is the outgoing Prime Minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Begum Khaleda Zia, the widow of the first military president, Gen Ziaur Rahman, and the other the leader of the Awami League as well as of the 14-party Opposition alliance, Sheikh Hasina, the inheritor of the legacy of Sheikh Mujib, as much the father of the nation as hers. No matter who of the two wins the election, the other embarks on a no-holds-barred street action to make the government dysfunctional. Obviously, both leaders are equally to blame for what has gone wrong with the country. But the primary responsibility for the current crisis of alarming proportions is Begum Zia’s. The discontent arising from her misrule led to a vertical split in her party only recently. But that is sideshow compared with her culpability for brazenly subverting the delicate mechanism to ensure free and fair election that Bangladesh painfully put into place after massive fights over manifestly rigged polls. Halfway during her tenure, she increased the retirement age of the Chief Justice by two years to ensure that her favourite judge, Mr. K.M. Hasan, one of the BNP’s founders and a one-time BNP parliamentary candidate, would head the mandatory “neutral” government preceding the 2006 election. No wonder then that at the time of the changeover all hell broke loose. The 14-party alliance protested vigorously. More than a dozen persons were killed and over 100 wounded in virulent street clashes. Mr. Hasan, to his credit, refused to accept the responsibility. After that all that needed to be done was scrupulously to follow the constitution and ask Mr. M. Ameen Chaudhury, Mr. Hasan’s predecessor generally acceptable to all parties, to take over. But the republic’s titular president, Mr. Iajuddin Ahmed, on his own or under instigation from Begum Zia, has appointed himself the head of the caretaker government despite strong and widespread objections, especially by the Awami League that boycotted the swearing-in ceremony at which the President became the Prime Minister also! The presidential action is clearly unconstitutional, even provocative. But mercifully, both Sheikh Hasina and he have shown commendable restraint. Consequently, at the time of writing, there is relative calm in the country but the controversial issues have by no means been resolved. In return for Sheikh Hasina’s offer to call off the indefinite, countrywide siege, President Ahmed has sacked a whole lot of pro-BNP officials, employed contractually, who were infesting the entire power structure. But nearly a dozen demands of the Hasina-led Opposition alliance are still pending. The most important is that for the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. M.A. Aziz, a blatantly pro-BNP former judge. The President’s decision is still awaited. But Mr. Aziz has taken it upon himself to announce that the President has asked him to “carry on”. It is thus a touch-and-go situation because to Sheikh Hasina Mr. Aziz’s continuance is totally unacceptable. Today’s uneasy calm could become the proverbial lull before tomorrow’s storm. One can only wait and watch. Also watching the tense situation are the Islamists — with their massive and malign power and influence greatly enhanced under Begum Zia’s patronage — and the Army that has not lost its appetite for power. Without elections that are not only free and fair but are also seen to be free and fair Bangladesh could descend into complete chaos. As both Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the official spokesman of the Foreign Office have stated, India has vital stakes in a “peaceful, democratic and stable” Bangladesh. But the tragedy is that all the three attributes have been undermined grievously by the dynamics of Bangladesh’s internal politics, and the outlook remains ominous. At the same time India, too, is remiss. Except in the case of Pakistan, New Delhi pays scant attention to neighbours except when they either face a crisis or defiantly act against Indian interests. At present there is deep turmoil in this country’s neighbourhood. However, though the conflicts in Nepal and Sri Lanka do spill over into India, these two countries do not pose a direct threat to this country’s security and supreme interests. Bangladesh certainly does. It is not merely a question of illegal immigration that has caused acute difficulties in the Northeast. Nor is the problem confined to the sanctuaries Dhaka has been providing to the northeastern, especially Assamese insurgent groups. Of late, Bangladesh has also become a major base for the anti-India operations of the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. As investigations into recent bomb blasts in Mumbai, Varanasi, Delhi and elsewhere have shown, ISI-supported jihadi terrorists have entered India through Bangladesh or fled back to that country. Begum Zia and her government had perfected to a fine art their policy of blandly denying the obvious. Meanwhile, the meandering India-Bangladesh border remains dangerously porous and has become a happy hunting ground for the smugglers, to say nothing of the jihadis. Bangladesh has a legitimate complaint that it has a trade deficit of $ 1 billion with this country. This is doubtless true of the trade that is recorded. But, as everyone knows, there is also the vastly more voluminous “informal trade”, a charming euphemism for smuggling from India that meets nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh’s needs of essential goods, including Haryana cattle that usually cover the huge distance on foot! We can be legitimately proud of being the world’s largest and functioning democracy. But we ought to be honest enough to admit that our democracy, too, is not perfect or flawless. The problem in Bangladesh — and Pakistan — has been quite different since their inception. There the Army is tempted and able to take over from bungling politicians. Sadly, Bangladesh is reducing its constitution to a mere scrap of paper. But let us not be complacent, for we have not yet banished this danger. The 251 laws placed behind the protective ramparts of the Ninth Schedule should be warning
enough. |
The world his classroom THE man is remarkable. Clean-shaven for many years, his name carries no caste, community or place name beyond Singh. A Jat of sorts, he does not even remember if he is a Grewal, Sandhu, Gill, Burki, Brar, what not. A Sikh (a pupil-disciple), he has been a teacher for the better part of his life. In fact, a “disciple-teacher” if one may call him that. The man has been a guru-shishya (combined) of history, geography, the mountains, flowers, trees, birds, of Nature. A man who used to bring Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (The Pastorale) into his geography classes. A swimming coach par excellence, who even managed to keep one such as me (who suffers from hydrophobia) afloat to be able to pass his basic test in the school pool. The man was a back-stopping bulwark for the first Indian ascent of Everest in 1965. He could well have been a summiteer himself, but chose to do the dog’s work in the supporting camps below the peak. He was a classroom man, a games field man, a mountain man. A man who was offered, but refused headmasterships of Doon, Mayo and other schools. His refusals only confirmed his personality; his disdainfulness for embracing ambition at the expense of principle. For he believed that headships required sacrificing the classroom, playing fields, and forays into the wilderness for administrative and financial tasks, which he was not prepared to do. The man in this piece hung up his schoolmastering boots at the age of fiftyfive, having spent 35 years in the Doon School, Dehra Dun. He could have gone on for another five years. But having done his stints as housemaster and deputy headmaster, he thought it was time to bid farewell. It was, thus, farewell to his happy hunting grounds in Chand Bagh (the Doon School estate), but not a “farewell to arms”. The mountains continued to enchant, inspire and beckon him to explore their moods and mysteries. he also became a lecturer at large on mountain ecology and the history of Indian mountaineering. Today he is amongst the most knowledgeable in the country on Siachen. Also a relentless voice against the devastation of the glacier being caused by India’s and Pakistan’s armed forces. Recently, “my man” was my guest for two days and nights in Kasauli. A former teacher and colleague of mine, I learnt from him that his father, Hony. Capt Faujdar Singh, became in 1924 one amongst three of the first Indian executive officers of a cantonment. Our man has been settled in “retirement” in Chandigarh. He is no other than Gurdial Singh, known as he is by the abbreviation “Guru” to generations of “Doscos”. Now at 82, he is as personable, humane, impeccable, a character all his own as he always was. |
America’s “pay to play” democracy IF we believe the opinion polls, it is tempting for the watching world to chill out, cheer as the Democrats reclaim at least one branch of the American state, and assume that after Katrina, after Fallujah, sanity is being slowly restored. But remember, remember. In the 1990s, every single Democratic senator and congressman voted to reject the Kyoto protocols. On the Democrats’ watch in the 1990s, CO2 emissions soared, inequality in America rose to levels unseen since the Gilded Age of the 1920s, and the number of Americans limping along with no healthcare insurance actually rose. The glib anti-American explanation for the irrational right-wing policies pursued by both parties is to blame the American people. Listen to any lazy comedian and you’ll know the script. Americans are all stupid superstition-addled fools who care more about eating another super-sized Double Whopper (with extra cheese) than about the planet, blah blah. There’s only one problem with this: it’s not true. Let’s just look at two issues out of hundreds: healthcare and the unfolding disaster of global warming. Every single opinion poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly support universal healthcare. For example, the Pew Research Centre found that 67 per cent of Americans agree with the statement, “It’s a good idea to guarantee healthcare for all US citizens, as Canada and the UK do”, while only 27 per cent disagreed. And this disparity between public opinion and public policy extends into even more important policies. The impeccably impartial Council on Foreign Relations recently found that a majority even of George Bush’s own supporters believe signing the Kyoto protocol is “necessary”. So what gets between the democratic desires of the American people and the actions of their government? Easy - massive amounts of corporate cash. If you want to run for office in the US, as a Democrat or Republican, you need vast sums of money to buy advertising slots. There is only one source with enough hard cash - big corporations - and they are waiting with open wallets. The insurance companies will lather a fortune on you. Big Oil will drench you in petrol-money. A thousand lobbying interests will offer you a thousand payments. And in return, as the great Texan liberal columnist Molly Ivins puts it, using an old Southern saying: “You got to dance with them what brung you.” If the corporations take you to the Washington party, you have to tango to their tune. Universal healthcare threatens the profits of the insurance companies. Dealing with global warming threatens the profits of Big Oil. So say goodbye to universal healthcare and Kyoto. As another great American liberal, Bill Moyers, puts it: “If a player sidling into home plate reached into his pocket and handed the umpire $1,000 before he made the call, what would we call that? A bribe. And if a lawyer handed a judge $1,000 before he made a ruling, what would we call that? A bribe. But when a lobbyist or CEO sidles up to a member of Congress at a fundraiser and hands him a cheque for $1,000, what do we call that? A campaign contribution.” This is legalised bribery on a massive scale, and at times, it is astonishingly blatant. For example, it is routine for the same corporation to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to both rival candidates, to ensure they have an open door and a slavering tongue waiting for them on Capitol Hill whichever party wins. This malfunctioning of American politics is scarring and mis-shaping global politics. Earlier this week, the British government was desperately waving the Stern report at US politicians, hoping to convince them that global warming will cause hideous economic harm to America. But they were making a basic error. They were assuming the American state acts in the interests of the common good and can be appealed to on that basis, when in fact it has been hijacked by private interests. In a pay-to-play democracy, American politicians are so dependent on the money of big oil companies and other corporations that they prioritise their private interests over the interests of the population. Dealing seriously with global warming would be bad for their corporate paymasters – so it cannot happen. That’s why, increasingly, political debate in America is confined to the few issues where the extremely rich donor-class is divided. There are some fantastically wealthy people who back stem-cell research and gay marriage, and some who oppose it - so you can debate them as much as you like. And yet, and yet - I believe there is still enough democratic space and enough democratic will left in the US for the American people to reclaim their state from corporate interests. It happened before, with the great Populist rebellions of the 1890s, and it has already begun again - with startling results. Five years ago, both Maine and Arizona introduced clean state funding for political parties after ordinary Americans gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to force the proposal on to the ballot paper. Once their politicians were accountable to ordinary people rather than to corporations, politics in these states changed rapidly. Maine has now introduced healthcare for all its citizens (to the horror of the big insurance companies who used to funnel millions of dollars to prevent precisely this), and Arizona is on the way. Even more importantly, both states agreed to abide by the Kyoto protocol and reduce their CO2 emissions to 1990s levels urgently. Next week, buried in the news of a Democratic resurgence, there will be a result that might, in the long term, have greater consequences. The people of California will vote on Proposition 89, the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act. It proposes Californians buy their politicians back by increasing corporation tax from 8.84 per cent to 9.04 per cent, and using the cash to pay for political campaigns. If the biggest state of the union - and one of the most politically influential - goes clean, this soapy water may yet wash over America in replica-referenda. By arrangement with
|
|
New Windows is a security hazard THE new Windows Vista operating system to be unveiled by Microsoft early next year would allow engineers at the software major to have a peek at data on all the computers running this piece of software. According to preliminary information available from Microsoft, every computer on which the new operating system is installed would have to obtain a 'validation code' from the company's website to enable it to function properly. The measure, which is part of the company's efforts to combat software piracy, will ensure that pirated versions of the OS will shut down partially or stop functioning entirely if the `validation code' is not downloaded within a specific time-frame. Users who habitually buy new computers or upgrade their hard-disks too often would be at a disadvantage since they would have to buy a new Windows Vista OS after its second installation. However what has raised the hackles of security experts is the threat of Microsoft and other software manufacturers periodically checking computers connected to the Internet for pirated programs. Earlier versions of Microsoft OS like Windows XP have an Automatic Update feature which when enabled would permit installation of new software with little interference from the user. Attempts by MS to tackle pirated versions of Windows XP using this feature ran afoul when questions of users' privacy being violated cropped up. However with Windows Vista, users of the new software would have no option but to connect to Internet at periodical intervals to keep the OS working. By its very nature there is nothing to prevent engineers at MS from taking a peek at the data in a user's computer. This would have tremendous implications on sensitive government departments many of which have Windows OS running on their computers. At present Internet access is barred on many computers installed in sensitive departments though most of these run on various versions of Windows operating systems. Much as Microsoft protests its commitment to the privacy of its users, its links with the American security establishment cannot be underestimated. The recent scandal involving software engineers at the National Security Council Secretariat who leaked information to the American Central Intelligence Agency allegedly saw some of them swap secrets including information on India's nuclear doctrine for jobs with Microsoft. In fact it is not just sensitive government departments, but banks, financial institutions, technological and educational institutions like IIT, Research and Development labs, patent offices would all be vulnerable to electronic espionage. The advent of Windows Vista has made it imperative for the Indian government to push for alternatives like Linux. Being Open Source systems with their codes easily available, the Linux Operating Systems may be tweaked endlessly to suit our security requirements. The alternative system has evolved from a clunky bit of programming for techies and newer flavours like Linux Ubuntu Dapper Drake have been tailored specifically for Windows Users to switch over. What is more, being under the General Public Licence Linux OS can be installed in as many computers as possible without the fear of being sued for
piracy. |
|
Delhi
Durbar WHILE the Information Technology sector is seen as a major success story for India across the globe, Communists in West Bengal have a different take. They see this as an important area to unionise, in fear that the comrades’ undisputed status in Kolkata could otherwise be in trouble. Reports indicate that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had directed the CPM’s trade union wing CITU to unionise the IT workers or else the Congress backed INTUC would grab that space and deter investment in the state by resorting to strikes. Some provisional figures have been released by the Labour Bureau for industrial disputes resulting in strikes and lockouts in both central and state undertakings. West Bengal alone was responsible for the loss of 13.99 million man-days, constituting 60.15 per cent of the total man-days lost. Kerala was next, accounting for 3.06 million man-days lost accounting for 13.16 per cent of the total time lost. During 2005, the number of strikes and lockouts across the country witnessed a four per cent decline over the previous year.
Road to justice Buoyed by the public response to their campaign “Justice for Priyadarshini,” a group of students under the banner ‘United Students’ have sought the renaming of Chattra Marg inside Delhi University as Priyadarshini Mattoo marg. The students who started a campaign seeking punishment for Santosh Singh, Priyadarshini Mattoo’s killer, are overjoyed by the verdict of the High Court that sentenced him to death recently. As a tribute to Priyadarshini, who was a student of Law at the time of her brutal death, they want the University to consider the renaming of the Chhatra Marg in the North Campus. The students say the renaming of the road would be a gesture of cohesion and support to the family and friends of Priyadarshini, from the entire Delhi University, and more notably, would serve as a reminder to future generations that it was Delhi University students who came together to work “within the framework of the system to overcome flaws which finally led to the deliverance of justice.”
“Google Earth” had raked up a controversy for putting on public domain sensitive and strategic information like runways, nuclear power plants, the Rashtapati Bhawan, Parliament and the Prime Minister’s residence on its web services. But now the Indian government has come up with plans for a similar surveillance system. This one would not provide access to such sensitive establishments, maps and satellite images. The Indianised Google in its first phase would focus on the Old Delhi area, especially in and around Chandni Chowk. Upon its success it would be extended to other cities including Chandigarh. Live cameras will cover a 20 sq km area and the three-dimensional surveillance system – called Geographical Information System or GIS – will be used to trace all kinds of illegal activities: from civil lawlessness to traffic snarls and much more. However, the fear of privacy being intruded upon could prove a hiccup to the implementation of the project.
Chef Sibal at work The suave and media friendly Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal has another side to his multi-faceted personality. Apart from being an eminent jurist, Kapil had struck a rapport with French President Jacques Chirac and U S President George Bush as the minister in waiting. Only this time, scribes witnessed a different aspect to the affable minister’s personality. He readily agreed to scribes wanting to meet him, whom he then promptly invited to his residence. While talking to the mediapersons they were served “kheer” and during the interface he gave instructions to keep certain freshly ground masalas ready. When the scribes got curious, he observed matter of fact that he cooked often for his wife. Though the scribes were struck by his culinary talent, such forays into the kitchen must surely warm the cockles of one’s heart – in this case Kapil Sibal’s better half. Contributed by
|
God 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. —The Koran How can we forget him without whom we suffer profound pain? Pray do not forsake me, Lord! For, without you I am afflicted by pain and sorrow. —Guru Nanak Works of love are always works of peace. Whenever you share love with others, you’ll notice the peace that comes to you and to them. —Mother Teresa An individual is assigned to any one of the four classes according to his natural inclinations and abilities. His class is determined by his inherent ability. —The Bhagvad Gita |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
