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Congress in two
minds Tackling errant judges |
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Farce at Wagah India pipes down; Pak yet at it THE aggressive goose-stepping that the BSF and Pakistan Rangers indulged in during the Retreat ceremony at the Wagah border near Amritsar every evening was so farcical that it bordered on the comic. But given the animosity between the two countries, it was a big draw among the citizens of the two country who thronged the border and got goose-pimples in abundance.
Protect women at home
Photo finish
Farmers’ debt and suicides Change strategies on polio Inside Pakistan
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Congress in two minds THAT a section of the ruling Congress is tired of coalition politics and wants the party to go it alone is understandable. For most of the time it has ruled at the Centre, it enjoyed majority support on its own in Parliament. When in the wake of the split in the Congress, the late Indira Gandhi had to depend on the Left for the survival of her government, she felt so uncomfortable that she took the first available opportunity to order elections. It paid dividends and the party came back to power with two-thirds majority. Things are different now and Mrs Sonia Gandhi is no Indira Gandhi. The Pachmarhi resolution is what those who favour an independent course of action for the party hark back to. It would be instructive to recall that when it was passed, most people saw it as a sign of the party leadership’s arrogance. Subsequent elections proved the leadership wrong. Later, at a conclave in Shimla, the Congress concluded that there was no escape from coalition if it wanted to come back to power. There can be no disputing that the last elections denoted a defeat for the “Shining India” campaign of the NDA. The beneficiary of the defeat was the Congress which emerged as the single largest party with the ability to attract smaller parties to form a government. Even today after several byelections to the Lok Sabha, the Congress does not enjoy majority support. It is critically dependent on parties like the DMK and the RJD, which share power with the party, and the Left which supports the government from the outside. The Congress cannot even think of distancing itself from these parties if it wants to complete its present term. There are no indications that the fortunes of the party have improved in the two and a half years the UPA has been in power. The fluke victory it won in some towns in Uttar Pradesh in the recent civic elections cannot instill confidence in the average Congressmen, who realise that the party has a long way to go before it can reestablish its credentials in northern states like UP and Bihar which account for a large number of seats. Given this dismal scenario, the only option left for the party is to mollycoddle parties like the DMK and the Left so that they do not rock the UPA boat and the government can complete its full term of five years. Its worry is its inability and reluctance to meet all the demands that the UPA partners go on making about vital national policies the Congress wants to push through. That is why perhaps there is a sneaking desire to go it alone at the next election. But can it?
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Tackling errant judges THE
Union Cabinet’s clearance of an amendment to the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968 to set up the National Judicial Council (NJC) will be welcome to the judiciary as well as the public. The new bill will fix accountability on the judges for their actions and make them more responsible. The judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts are constitutional functionaries. As people hold them in high esteem, they are expected to be above board in the discharge of their duties. The need for suitable amendment to the present Act has become necessary following some cases of misconduct among the judges. With the Union Cabinet’s clearance, decks are now clear for the tabling of the bill in the winter session of Parliament. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice will also examine various provisions of the bill. The new bill is slightly different from the original draft. First, it now proposes a council of the CJI and four other Supreme Court or High Court judges. The original draft included MPs and senior advocates. Secondly, the bill does not permit the NJC to remove a judge found guilty; it could only order minor punishments where proven misbehaviour or incapacity of a judge does not warrant removal. These include issuance of advisories and warnings, request for retirement, barring judges from attending court for a limited time, and censor or admonition — public or private. And thirdly, the judiciary itself will decide about the NJC’s members. The earlier proposal said the President, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition would select the NJC. Despite these changes, the bill cannot be called a watered down version of the original draft. In its present form, it is still a significant piece of legislation to improve the accountability of the judiciary without sacrificing its independence and keeping it free from political interference. A judge can be removed from his post only through impeachment by Parliament, that too, if the charges against him are extremely serious. An impeachment motion is passed only by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in Parliament. It is a long-drawn procedure which generally fails to remove a judge who has faltered, as it happened in the case of Justice V. Ramaswamy of the Supreme Court (now retired). |
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Farce at Wagah THE aggressive goose-stepping that the BSF and Pakistan Rangers indulged in during the Retreat ceremony at the Wagah border near Amritsar every evening was so farcical that it bordered on the comic. But given the animosity between the two countries, it was a big draw among the citizens of the two country who thronged the border and got goose-pimples in abundance. Even foreigners made a beeline because it was a ceremony not to be seen anywhere else in the world. Even Checkpoint Charlie between the divided Berlins never offered anything so riveting as a tourist attraction. But suddenly and inexplicably, India has played the spoilsport by instructing its jawans to pipe down the shoe-thumping ritual which used to culminate in a faux eyeball-to-eyeball “confrontation” for the shutterbugs. Perhaps it has something to do with the improvement in relations between the two countries. But Pakistan is not amused. Rather, it is perplexed. It has yet to reciprocate the gesture, may be out of the fear that this would make it appear like a copycat. The result is that the Rangers still follow the old routine, which in the absence of a matching show from this side looks all the more hilarious. The border show seems so vital for Islamabad that it does not want to abandon it till it has been discussed threadbare at the Foreign Secretary level. It will be wonderful to see them give a solo performance till then. Will hurt their soles, if not the souls, more. There is going to be a negative spinoff if better sense does dawn on Pakistanis as well. The show is a big draw. Such is the crowd on weekends that there is even a proposal to construct hotels nearby. Perhaps the two sides can now think of a joint dance programme at zero line to appease the disappointed crowds. Talk of people-to-people contacts! |
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The fundamental defect with fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them. — Bertrand Russell
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Protect women at home
NOW that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, has come into effect, women bruised and battered physically and emotionally by their husbands and in-laws will have a protective shield at their command. Their number may run into lakhs, if not crores. According to the National Crime Record Bureau, 2005, 40 per cent of Indian women are victims of domestic violence. A crime is committed against a woman in India every three minutes. The men who act so boorishly now face imprisonment up to one year or a fine of Rs 20,000 or both. So far, a woman could only use Section 398 A of the IPC to file a complaint against an abusive spouse. But the law was not comprehensive enough to enforce her right to stay on in her matrimonial home or to demand a maintenance if thrown out or seek protection from the abusive partner. That sense of helplessness is now set to change under the new Act. But the number of wronged women who will actually come forward to take recourse to this specific provision may remain limited, because a pre-requisite in any such law is the readiness of the victim to lodge a formal complaint. Since taking this “extreme step” will for all practical purposes mean the end of a marriage, only an exceptional few may cross the rubicon. Most others being the archetypal Pativrata Nari might continue to suffer in silence. As such, the law will make a substantial difference only if it is combined with a radical change in social mores and attitudes. Much will also depend on who are appointed protection officers (PO), counsellors and service providers by the state governments. Appointing such officers in each police station is going to be a Herculean task. Even tougher will be to train them to handle these sensitive issues as delicately as possible. It has been specified that anyone can complain for the aggrieved woman. That makes sense, but still it is she who will have to substantiate the allegations. That is easier said than done because only a few may like to burn all bridges with their in-laws. A husband-wife relationship is a highly-nuanced one, in which both sides have to make many adjustments, sacrifices and compromises. Many Indian women may not be willing to take the matter to the public domain. The new Act is suitably harsh and all-encompassing to make sure that the perpetrators of atrocities do not manage to wriggle out. Ironically, that may also prove to be its undoing because now even a slight point of disagreement can be blown out of proportion and branded as “domestic violence”. For instance, it is not only physical or sexual abuse which constitutes domestic violence but also “verbal and emotional abuse” that includes “insults, ridicule, humiliation, name calling and insults or ridicule, specially with regard to not having a child or a male child”. Indeed, such barbed comments have ruined the lives of many a woman, but at the same time there is need to be wary of the tendency of some to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. All this is not being said to underestimate the ordeal of the sufferers of domestic violence, but to ensure that there is no misuse of the law either. Just as the law should not be found wanting when it comes to protecting a wronged woman, it should also not load the dice hopelessly against the husband. That is not just a theoretical fear. A similar thing is happening in the Anti-Dowry Act also. A large number of fictitious complaints are being filed against in-laws only to settle scores with them. Again, let me underline that it is nobody’s case that women are not being harassed for dowry. It is just that a well-meaning provision designed to help such victims can and is being misused by spiteful brides. What is needed is a foolproof mechanism to keep out flippant or malicious complaints. Chapter V of the Domestic Violence Act specifically mentions that “upon the sole testimony of the aggrieved person, the court may conclude that an offence… has been committed by the accused”. This double-edged sword can be dangerous in the hands of pseudo-aggrieved persons out to teach their in-laws a lesson in a fit of rage. Since the Act begins with the premise that the husband is the guilty party per se, no punishment has been specified for a woman who lodges a false complaint. The provision that anyone can complain for the aggrieved person is also fraught with danger and open to misuse. It is possible that some may do so for a lark to poke their nose into others’ affairs. Others may be good-intentioned but may end up spoiling the marital ties of others. Another notable feature of the Act is that under it, an “aggrieved person” is not only the wife, but any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent. “Domestic relationship” has been further defined as “a relationship between the two persons who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are related by consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a joint family”. The intention of law-makers here apparently is to ensure that the guilty husband is not able to escape responsibility by merely denying that the complainant is his wife. It also aims to help women lured into a live-in relationship with a promise of marriage. The intent is laudable, but it is essential to be very particular as to what the nature and duration of a so-called live-in relationship is. When relationships sour, all too often, they have an unfortunate effect of bringing out the worst in both parties. The harshness of the Act too can become a handy tool in the hands of a crafty woman hell-bent on blackmailing a male friend. Domestic violence and abuse of women is a problem that should not be seen merely through a gender-oriented prism. It is much more complex. Just as the endeavour of a good doctor zapping cancerous cells is also to ensure that the healthy ones are not damaged, the Domestic Violence Act should be geared to punish only the guilty. Swinging the pendulum to the other extreme will be a travesty. In medieval times, it was customary to amputate a criminal’s arm even for a simple theft. Then it was realised that it was not the intensity of the punishment but its certainty which deterred criminals. Unfortunately, India is not benefiting from this accumulated wisdom. Just because far too many people escape punishment because of the infirmities in the criminal justice delivery mechanism, there is a tendency to demand more and more severe provisions. Such laws, in the absence of impartial police and immaculate investigation, are counter-productive and an exercise in
futility.
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Photo finish
MORPHING is a new phenomenon but doctoring photographs is as old as photography. Politicians are tempted by the technique to show themselves in a better light, though they end up with egg all over their face. The latest victim of morphing is Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, whose oversmart media managers did not believe in the dictum, a photograph never lies. If reports are to be believed, former Vice-Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah will have to do a lot of explaining to the CBI for a photograph she got morphed. Captain Amarinder Singh will have to do the same to the people of Punjab in the run-up to the polls due early next year. His detractors in the Shiromani Akali Dal have already gone to town exposing the tricks employed by his aides to make his Vikas Yatra appear a “massive” success. Often, photographers become willing tools in the hands of politicians, though it is not certain whether in the instant case the morphing was done in Photoshop or some such software by a lensman or an IT professional. In the story I am going to narrate, the villain of the piece was a freelance photographer with whom The Searchlight, the paper I used to work for, had a regular arrangement. Those days the paper had a Rotary press and photographs had to be converted into lead blocks before they could be printed. That day Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had visited South Bihar, or Jharkhand as it is called now, to inaugurate a factory. The resourceful photographer managed to return to Patna the same evening in the Chief Minister’s aircraft. On arrival, he called the night editor to tell him that he had already given the photograph for block-making and the block would reach the desk before the first edition was put to bed. The night editor, in fact, thanked the photographer for all the trouble he took in scoring over the rival newspapers. Next morning when the hawker delivered The Searchlight at home I found something very odd in the photograph on the front page. Industries Minister Ramashray Prasad Singh, who stood next to Rajiv Gandhi, did not jell with the surroundings. His head in the picture was not symmetrical. Nor did it fit his shoulder. My probe led to the finding that the Industries Minister, who nursed ambitions of becoming Chief Minister as he was the tallest Bhumihar leader those days, could not attend the Prime Minister’s function as his car was held up on the way. He abandoned the trip when he realised that he could not have caught up with the PM who had come by a special aircraft. But the Industries Minister did not want to miss the opportunity to be beside the Prime Minister when he inaugurated the factory, which was after all his brainchild. The photographer was only too happy to oblige him. What he did was to paste the head of Mr Ramashray Prasad Singh on to the shoulder of another person who stood close to the Prime Minister. Had he shown the photograph to the night editor, his bluff would have been called. That is why it was given directly to the block-maker. We immediately got the impugned photograph from the block-maker and confronted the photographer with the evidence of his perfidy. Editor R.K. Mukker was so furious that he ordered that The Searchlight should thereafter have nothing to do with the photographer. Except for Mr Mukker, who has retired from active journalism, all the others who figure in the story continue to ply their trade. It is possible that just like the Bihar minister, the Captain too would shrug off the
morphing.
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Farmers’ debt and suicides IN its latest credit policy review, the RBI has suggested one-time settlement of farmers’ loans. This is welcome provided the really needy get the benefit. Systemic corruption does not let such concessions percolate easily. The one-time settlement has proved a boon to the enterprising industrialist, who first lets his unit bleed to sickness and then gets away by paying part of the loan. Government bank managers are very helpful and understanding in such matters and even guide the ignorant. One Punjab minister-cum-sugar baron too has used the system to his advantage and when found out in the annual audit, none dared take action. Big farmers and bank managers may also bend the rules for mutual benefit. A marginal, illiterate farmer hardly musters enough courage to enter as forbidding a place as a bank. He is scared of the babus. It is the better-off go-getter who benefits from government schemes. Poverty alone does not drive a farmer to suicide. Quite often it may be the sense of failure, hurt pride or domestic tension that pushes him to the extreme. Much worse farmers in Bihar and UP and even in Punjab do not take the easy way out. Sociologists and psychologists may like to dig deep into the issue. Besides, suicide reasons are seldom scientifically analysed. The media, particularly the young cute thing on TV, often rushes to the conclusion that if the victim is a farmer, the suicide has to be debt-related. With a deadline straining his/her nerves, a reporter hardly has the time and patience to contact experts or talent enough to study a suicide before giving it a label. An analysis of the suicide records of the past 10 years shows that the number of suicides in rural India has not exceeded 16 per cent of the total in any given year, says Union Agricultre Secretary Radha Singh. Indebtedness is only one of the reasons that push farmers to suicide. Why do farmers take loans? In Punjab it is usually to buy a tractor that the small land-holding hardly justifies, to send a son abroad in connivance with a glib travel agent, to solemnise a lavish marriage or organise a bhog ceremony in style at a marriage palace. The Punjabi farmer is a victim of competitive spending on undesirables and social compulsions drive him to be one up on his neighbour or relative. Liquor or drug addiction makes life miserable - his own as well as of those dependent on him. Consumerism has heightened social tensions. People buy under social pressure things they can do without. An urban Indian is as much stressed as an ambitious ruralite. Material success extracts a price. Living beyond one’s means is bound to invite trouble. Growth has not touched the life of the remote, unconnected Indian. He is still without life’s basics: clean water, education and medicare. The landless and the unskilled have no avenues and there is no support system to bail them out when in crisis. If globalisation and liberalisation have benefited mostly the urban Indian, rising property prices have multiplied the income of the farmer on the outskirts of a city. The farmer has land worth lakhs and is still desperate. Once again he has to be on the move. Land in Madhya Pradesh is ten times cheaper and his two acres can make him the owner of at least 20 acres. Agriculture is now a business and has to be run so. It cannot be profitable for a small farmer who cannot cut his costs, can’t afford the latest seed and farm machinery and cannot keep track of farm prices. Form cooperatives, enter into contract farming, take up any agri-business, make value additions. Learn to manage and don’t expect government bailouts. The government is usually better at explaining a crisis than tackling it. This is how Union minister Shard Pawar explains the one in agriculture: it is due to low investment, low productivity, shrinking landholdings, drought, crop failure, inadequate irrigation, the burdon of loan on farmers, defaulting farmers turning to private money-lenders who charged high interest rates, unremunerative prices for produce, lack of market access and lack of supplementary incomes for farmers. Actually, the government does not know how to help the farmer. On the one hand, the government raises prices of farm produce, on the other it does not want to face the flak on price rise. If one wing of the government wants to export sugar to stop the glut from sinking the prices, then another worries about inflation. Farmers expect remunerative prices, but public pressure and the government’s own efforts to show rosy financial figures force it to depress the prices. Despite the majority, farmers get a raw deal. Subsidies, meant for them, are given to fertiliser/pesticide manufacturers and suppliers. Manual, inefficient handling, transportation and storage of foodgrains raise their prices for the consumer. To keep them within reach, the government pays a heavy food subsidy. Middlemen benefit. The government needs to sort out conflicts and plan for direct, maybe cashless, subsidies. Food stamps are often suggested. Brazil gives the poor cash subsidy provided they send their children to school and get them vaccinated. Finances may be reworked to provide for social security to the disadvantaged and training to all those keen on acquiring skills for survival and growth. The education system needs to be geared up to face the challenge of change at every level. Train and set Indians free from chains that bind them. Reduce the cost of governance. Tax expenditure, not income. Empower the farmer with knowledge. He can rise to the challenge.
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Change strategies on polio WE will do whatever it takes to eradicate polio,” vows Robert Scott. The retired physician is chairman of the International PolioPlus committee of Rotary International, which has donated $616 million to the World Health Organization and UNICEF for polio eradication. In 1988, the WHO set 2000 as the deadline for eradication. His faith is tonic for scientists working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO because the idea of eradication is under siege. In May, three prominent scientists – Isao Arita, Miyuki Nakane and Frank Fenner – deeply involved in the successful eradication of smallpox worldwide stated in an article in the journal Science that “we believe that global (polio) eradication is unlikely to be achieved.” Criticism of the polio campaign continues to mount, as the incidence of disease rises. According to the WHO, the number of global cases stood at 1,500 as of October, up from 1,414 during the same period last year. In Nigeria alone, the number of polio victims rose from 522 to 921 for the same period. The authors of the Science article think that the WHO should abandon its plans to completely stop the transmission of polio. Instead, they favor a strategy of “control” – regularly scheduled immunizations for children worldwide. Some longtime polio experts are rethinking the issue as well. Virologist and vaccinologist Stanley Plotkin, for instance, supports eradication, but he also says that “polio is not the biggest problem in tropical areas. . . . If we fail, we should settle for ‘control’ rather than eradication.” Linda Venczel, deputy branch chief of polio eradication at the CDC, believes that because the campaign has eradicated polio in the Americas and Europe, it is, to some extent, a victim of its own success. “People don’t see much paralytic polio anymore, so they forget how bad a disease this is,” she said. “In the flush of success from smallpox ... people wanted to eradicate another terrible disease — they can’t be faulted for that.” Indeed not. When the polio eradication campaign began in 1988, the disease killed or paralyzed 350,000 children every year. By now, about 5 million children would be crippled or dead without the campaign. But if attempts to eradicate the virus are abandoned, controlling it could be even more elusive. The recent spike in polio cases has occurred despite the eradication campaign, with its mass-immunizations, its thousands of volunteers, its “Days of Tranquillity” when fighters pause in warring nations so children can be vaccinated. What would happen if routine immunization programs, in which children in developing countries receive vaccinations when they visit clinics, became the main defense against the disease? Polio would quickly exceed 1988 levels, predicts Roland Sutter, coordinator for research and product development for polio eradication at the WHO. “When I hear ‘control,’ either people are being extremely naive, or very Machiavellian,” he said. “If you know what you’re talking about, you are willing to live with half a million cases of crippled children in a year. . . . The (polio) program takes longer and costs more money than smallpox eradication.” The problems that make polio so hard to eradicate make any meaningful attempt at controlling it almost impossible. For one thing, polio is a stealth virus. In a partly immunized population, it can circulate for years undetected, as it did in a Minnesota community in 2005. Furthermore, people with weak immune systems can sometimes shed the virus for decades. Finally, the oral polio vaccine, which consists of live, crippled polio virus, can occasionally produce paralytic disease in children with poor immunity. Even worse, the virulence and transmissibility of the live vaccine virus can increase as it spreads from person to person, causing outbreaks in areas where the naturally occurring polio virus has been eradicated. The oral vaccine presents other difficulties. In poor, crowded areas such as Uttar Pradesh in northern India, diarrheal infections and malnutrition require that children receive more doses, up to 10 or 12. Yet even after so many doses, some children never develop immunity and still may come down with crippling polio. This doesn’t do much for parents’ confidence in immunization. After a sudden surge in polio cases, local governments and religious leaders in northern Nigeria suspected that the vaccination was sinister: a Western plot to destroy their daughters’ fertility or kill children. Vaccination rates dropped 30 percent. Polio spread from Nigeria to 27 countries and as far away as Indonesia. Because of such setbacks, polio-eradication experts have been forced to acknowledge that the campaign may need some adjustments. The oral vaccine’s problems have led some to call for adding the safe and stable inactivated (or killed) polio virus (an enhanced version of Salk’s original vaccine that is injected) to the arsenal.
By arrangement with
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Inside Pakistan Schools for chickens in Sindh? Don’t get surprised if you are told that Pakistan’s Sindh province has government-run schools where there are chicken in the classrooms instead of children! The information was given to journalists by the Mayor of Hyderabad on Wednesday. The authorities came to know of this ugly reality during a recent inspection, according to a Dawn report. When an inspection team visited one such school near Hyderabad, it was told that the institution had been used as a poultry farm for nearly 12 years. It’s a different matter that the education department records show that the “ghost” school has 59 students and two teachers. Commenting on the Sindh Chief Minister’s assurance that “steps were being taken to reopen 1300 closed schools”, a Dawn editorial said: “But will reopening a little over a thousand ‘ghost’ schools —- when the school census identified 7,442 such institutions in the province —- upgrade the status of education? The government has earmarked Rs 41.7 billion for education in Sindh and it is a pity that it has not yet made an impact. “The problem is obviously that of corruption and bad management. Why are all the non-functioning schools not being opened when they exist on paper and are gobbling up funds? Actually, all ‘ghost’ schools should be revived unless, of course, it is felt that they are not needed in the area where they are located. It is also important that the services of the non-performing teachers, who draw handsome salaries from the exchequer to do nothing, are terminated at once.” But is this possible when corruption is the order of the day? Against Indus
water for Islamabad Here is the latest example of how strong the anti-Punjab sentiments is there in other provinces of Pakistan. Leaders across the political spectrum in the North-West Frontier Province have expressed their strong opposition to an Indus water supply project for Islamabad. They see in the project a conspiracy by Punjab against the Pakhtoons. According to The News, at a recent seminar organized at Peshawar by the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), speakers warned the Pervez Musharraf government that the attempt to deprive the Pakhtoons of their precious water would not be tolerated. The paper reported that the provincial president of the PMAP, Mr Mukhtar Yousufzai, described the project as “an issue of life and death for the Pakhtoon nation, saying that the rulers have diverted a huge quantity of water to Punjab in the shape of the Ghazi Barotha hydel project, which is against international laws, and now the remaining water of the Indus is being taken from it. He asked all political parties to come forward and raise their voice against such a project and get united for their rights.” The PPP representative at the seminar, Mr Rahimdad Khan, according to The News, said the Indus water supply scheme was no different from the Kalabagh Dam and Ghazi Barotha projects as they were all against the Pakhtoon interests. Lament over
the death of a lion Very few newspapers in Pakistan seem interested in highlighting the lack of awareness about animal rights. It is, therefore, heartening to find an editorial exposing the carelessness in the upkeep of zoos and safari parks. The occasion was provided by the death of the only male lion in the Loi Bhir safari park. The editorial, carried in The News of November 8, said: “The country has one safari park —- Loi Bhir —- where visitors can actually see lions roam around but that, too, seems to be in danger. According to a report, the sole male lion in the park, situated near Islamabad, has died. Now there are only two female lions left. News of the lion’s death comes on the heels of a report in this newspaper last week which said that some animals in the safari park were so malnourished and badly looked after that they seemed to be on the verge of death. “Of course, there will be some people who will say that it is futile or silly to talk of animal rights when even humans don’t have their rights in this country. That, however, entirely misses the point. For starters, safeguarding animal rights and looking after them, especially in zoos and safari parks, is not something that should necessarily come at the expense of human rights.” In fact, in Pakistan it should be easier to fight for animal rights that for human rights in the absence of a truly democratic polity. |
We who have taken shelter with God, are God’s own people, O friend! We are neither high-caste, nor low-caste, nor of the middling state. They alone are true friends who accompany us to the other world to stand as our pledge when the account of our deeds is asked for.
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The next target year was 2005. Now there is none. But the Rotarians have not faltered. “The Rotarian trustees have decided that our No. 1 goal for the year 2006-2007 is that polio eradication is realistic,” Scott declared.