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Hu’s advice Exclude by necessity Rapist cops, killer soldier |
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Dignity of the individual
The healer
Chhotu Ram still relevant A deeper look at mysteries of heart Delhi Durbar
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Hu’s advice CHINESE President Hu Jintao did not really have to tender an advice to the Indian Left to be pragmatic. The policies he and his government have been following are a clear testimony to their abiding faith in pragmatism. What, perhaps, prompted him to give the Left leaders a piece of sane advice is the doctrinaire approach they have been adopting vis-à-vis national and international issues. Since it has come from the head of the fatherland of Communism, it will, hopefully, have a beneficial impact on the Prakash Karats and the A.B. Bardhans of the Indian Left. The Chinese leadership has set the best example of how a political party with sound ideological rooting can adapt itself to the changing needs of time. And the results are there for all to see. Forget the double-digit economic growth China has been maintaining for quite some time, it is the most favourite destination of investors. While China believes that the colour of the cat does not matter so long as it catches mice, Indian communists see everything through their red-coloured glasses. They see red even where there is no red. Many of the economic liberalisation policies of the UPA government have been stuck because parties like the CPI and the CPM on whose support the government has been surviving are not ready to budge on their ideological positions. They continue to repose trust in the virtues of the public sector even when the common people are fed up with such undertakings, which are examples of sloth and inefficiency. On foreign policy, anything that has something to do with the US is anathema to them, though it is three decades since ping-pong diplomacy ushered in better US-China relations The Left is scared that if it changes its doctrinaire approach, its cadres would not approve of it. The victory the Left Front achieved in West Bengal, where Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has been trying to chart a different course for the government and the party, disproves those who hold ideological purity close to their chest. Even within the CPM, there are different strands of thought as exemplified by the reaction of its governments in Kerala and West Bengal to the Coca-Cola issue. While the V.S. Achuthanandan government was the first to ban the drink, it is still freely available in West Bengal. Small wonder that Mr Hu thought it necessary to give them a lesson in pragmatism.
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Exclude by necessity THE Central Government has clarified that there was no plan to extend the concept of creamy layer to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. In doing so, it has sought the opinion of Attorney-General Milon Banerjee. The exercise had become necessary in view of the controversy that had arisen over the issue, caused by a reference the Supreme Court made to it in one of its recent judgments. While upholding reservation in promotions in government service, it made an ambiguous comment on the creamy layer concept, which is basically a judicial creation. Many Dalit organisations and Left parties questioned the rationale of the move which they feared the court was bent upon enforcing. At a time when there are not enough candidates from the SC and the ST categories to fill all posts reserved for them, particularly those that require some specialisation, the exclusion of the “creamy layer” among them would have made a farce of reservation. Many leading lawyers have written articles to allay the fears that the apex court did not want the “creamy layer” among the SCs and the STs excluded from reservation. Yet, the misapprehension prevailed among the Dalits. The Supreme Court thought of the idea of creamy layer when it upheld the validity of reservation for the socially and educationally backward classes introduced by the V.P. Singh government in the early nineties. The court feared that if such a layer was not excluded, it would corner all the benefits of the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs. After all, unlike the SCs and the STs, there is a large section among the OBCs who wield considerable political and economic power by virtue of their landholding and numerical preponderance. Some of them are much better off than even the upper castes. They also have a sizeable presence in the administration and other social and economic sectors. There is stiff resistance to the exclusion of the creamy layer among the OBCs because those who belong to this category control most political parties. The Supreme Court has played a major role in defining the creamy layer using different socio-economic yardsticks. There can be no denying that, over the decades, a small creamy layer has emerged among the SCs and the STs also but it is too negligible to cause fears that it would gobble up all the benefits of reservation. The OBCs are a different ball game. |
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Rapist cops, killer soldier POLICEMEN not arresting criminals is bad enough. When they themselves turn into villains, the public is bound to lose all faith in the government. Two policeman of Amritsar have given an unbelievably beastly account of themselves. They not only raped a minor girl, they also forced her into a prostitution racket. Ironically, the sex shop to which she was sent was also being run by the girlfriend of one of the policemen. This worthy cop happened to be in the special investigation cell of the Majitha police. Even if the two are dismissed, the stain they have put on the name of the police is not going to be washed off. The 14-year-old girl was already being exploited by a self-styled astrologer. Instead of coming to her rescue, the two constables also pounced on her and later pushed her into prostitution. And then the police officers lament that the public does not cooperate with them! It is because of such wolves in police clothing that the men in khaki are feared and despised. Things do not stop with the police. The contagion seems to be spreading to the Army as well. Imagine a sapper taking Rs 7 lakh as “supari” for murdering a Head Constable. Had the wife of the Head Constable, who had hired him to carry out the murder near Dasuya, not broken down, the soldier would have gotten away with murder. Who knows, he might even have been encouraged to commit many more. The problem is that when such incidents come to light, the response of the seniors is typical. To save the honour of their department, they either try to keep a lid on the incidents or dismiss these as isolated cases. Their claim that the “suspect has been sent to the police lines” has become a standing joke. At least the Army has a no-nonsense attitude as has been proved in the Tehelka cases. If the police wants to re-establish its credibility, it must follow a zero-tolerance policy because the public comes in daily contact with only such abominable representatives and thinks that the whole lot is rotten.
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Everyone speaks well of the bridge which carries him over. — A proverb
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Dignity of the individual
FEW realise that the word “dignity” is a constitutional term that occurs in the Preamble, which sets out the nation’s guiding philosophy. The constitutional edifice rests on the four pillars of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, “assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation”. Thus, a most onerous role is cast on the concept of Fraternity to invest the individual with dignity. And dignity, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means “a state or quality of being worthy of honour”. Reports of atrocities against Dalits — a Scheduled Caste woman sarpanch being auctioned by superior caste members in a Tamil Nadu village — a meeting of the Indian Social Forum in Delhi to discuss the inequities heaped on the disadvantaged in our society, and submission of the Sachar Report on the sorry Muslim condition in India have been prominent in this November’s calendar of events. Each speaks of indignities against vast numbers of citizens and constitutes a mockery of Fraternity. That sacred constitutional promise is being savaged daily and with impunity before our eyes. How long shall we turn away from this daily shame even if most of us do not actually participate in denying our fellow-beings their basic right to dignity, livelihood, justice, caring and sharing and all that goes into making Fraternity or togetherness? The Prime Minister spoke with anguish on this very topic while addressing a recent Leadership Summit in Delhi. He warned against building a “better future” with dreams of becoming an economic super power. Instead, he emphasised peace and dignity by ensuring education and health for all, a safe environment and a just world order, an inclusive social order. He warned against widening disparities and urged participatory governance. On the Sachar Report too he invoked the principle of not just quantitative growth but qualitative development that is equitable and inclusive, in keeping with India’s great plural tradition. The country cannot long endure as a dual society “Bharat” and “India”, “we” and “they”. The Sachar Report is not the first of its kind, only the latest. From 1857, when Mughal power was finally and formally extinguished, the Muslim elite felt disempowered and experienced symptoms of withdrawal that men like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan sought to dispel through modern education. But the community turned inward and thereby lost its competitive edge. The result was reflected in Sir William Hunter’s 1870 Report on “Our Indian Musalmans”. This revealed the marginalisation of the Muslim Indian in the civil services and professions. Partition dealt the community another blow, with a continuing competitive disability aggravated by positive discrimination. The Gopal Singh Commission on the status of minorities set out the dimensions of the Muslim handicap in the economic and social life of the nation in the 1980s. Little has changed since then, sporadic efforts to correct lags and biases being neutralised by the growth of the Hindu right and the stereotyping of Muslims as covert Pakistanis and terrorists in the context of Kashmir and international developments. Rath-Ayodhya politics, cynically played and climaxing in the Gujarat carnage, as much as vote-bank politics on the other side combined with jehadi outrages have further vitiated the atmosphere. None of this, however, detracts from the need to make good the “rights” and “dignity” deficit against Dalits, tribals, Muslims and other disadvantaged segments of the population, including women. The Sachar Report must not only be debated but also acted upon earnestly and urgently to correct a whole array of economic and social indicators. This is a national imperative as much as addressing the deplorable condition of Dalit and tribal India. The Sachar Committee has at least reported. But the Reports of the Scheduled Castes Commission are not up to date and have not been presented to Parliament in time on the plea that the government is preparing corresponding action-taken reports. These are long overdue in gross infringement of constitutional deadlines. Strangely, neither the media nor parliamentarians have questioned this persistent dereliction. Nor have Governors been assiduous in overseeing the Fifth Schedule (tribal) areas in their charge and reporting on them as constitutionally enjoined. None has questioned this callous neglect. These are serious gaps in national governance and it is a pity that instrumentalities like the National Integration Council and Inter-State Council have not been more purposefully used to goad and monitor action. If today the nation bewails what has come to be called Left wing extremism and is paying a heavy price in blood and treasure in combating it, it is because of years of wilful neglect despite warnings. Both State and society have also been tardy or even inimical towards social reform. Political and economic reforms have at least been brought forward and pushed, howsoever desultorily, from time to time and some results have been achieved. This is not the case with social reform where the record is abysmal, with the State backtracking for fear of a populist backlash when not pandering to feudal and obscurantist elements. The writing is on the wall. Tens of thousands are on the march — demanding dignity. The gun cannot be a default
option.
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The healer
HE had tried everything for his knees, massages, acupressure, acupuncture, physiotherapy, and homeopathy, nothing worked. Then he heard of the healer in Chail. Much against my judgment I took him there. We reached in the late afternoon. “I see patients only on Sunday morning.” “My friend has come from England.” “Did he come by sea or air?” It was obvious that he still lived in the early days of aviation. “By Air” . Babaji was impressed and agreed to see Norman. After the examination he daubed Norman’s knees with an evil smelling paste, and while he worked he mumbled: “Jal tu Jalal tu, aayi balla ko tal tu. Jai Maa Kali, Kalkatewali.” I was convinced that he was a charlatan. But there was no going back now. The paste had seemed harmless enough but soon Norman’s breath became laboured, his head fell back and his eyes rolled over. Panic seized me. I didn’t know his children’s addresses or e-mail IDs. If this proved to be a crisis, I would not be able to inform them. “Give him water, plenty of water.” So we propped Norman up and poured glass after glass down his throat. But there was no improvement in his condition. The knot in my stomach tightened, the Baba remained unperturbed. After an hour of unbearable anxiety Norman’s breath came easier — so did mine! We carried him out into fresh air and removed his jacket and tie and all the time we poured more and more water down his throat. After a seeming eternity he brought up all the water and regained an incoherent consciousness and the Baba said we could take him home. While he made up the herbal concoction for Norman’s treatment, he looked at me, his eyes bright with merriment. “If Ramji had not been with us today and your friend had gone, what answer would you have given to his next-of-kin?” “I would have given no answer Baba. I would have brought them here and let you do all the answering.” He chuckled at this. “If after three weeks the pain remains, come back. Though very few return.” On the drive back, Raju our guide, told us how his uncle had not been as lucky as Norman and had died a few minutes after the application of the paste and they had had a difficult time carrying the body up to the road. “You could have told us this before we came and saved us the trauma of this trip,” I chided him. In the following weeks I realised why few people returned to the Baba. The skin on Norman’s knees broke into painful, suppurating wounds which took months and months to heal. Six months later my daughter came on a visit. “Norman is not constantly popping painkillers the way he was doing on my last visit,” she observed after meeting Norman. This was true. Norman’s knees did seem better — perhaps the Baba’s treatment had increased Norman’s threshold of
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Chhotu Ram still relevant On the one hand, he has been projected as a great nationalist and a champion of the poor who worked for the emancipation of the peasantry, on the other hand he has been portrayed as a stooge of British imperialism, a representative of the landlord class and a sectarian leader who not only worked against the interests of urban traders and moneylenders but also against those of the rural poor. The objective behind this write-up is to make an objective assessment of the social, economic and political ideas of this important but controversial regional leader. The social ideas of Chhotu Ram were influenced by his social and economic background and the objective situation that prevailed in his times in the rural Panjab in general and rural Haryana in particular. His educational, professional and political experiences also shaped his social ideas. But there seems to be a sort of paradox in his social ideas. Chhotu Ram stood for improving the lot of the peasantry in general and the Jats in particular. He, however, seems to have overlooked the differentiation in the rural society as well as in the peasantry. He was a nationalist but also favoured collaboration with the British for promoting and protecting the interests of the peasantry in general and the Jats in particular. This paradox is, however, understandable because he gave priority to the interests of the peasantry over the national interests. Besides this, he had evolved multiple social identities. He was a Jat, a peasant, a ruralite, an Arya Samajist, a Haryanavi, a Punjabi and an Indian at the same time. The economic ideas of Chhotu Ram had two dimensions — the theoretical and operational. He not only explored and analysed causes of the dismal condition of the peasantry in Punjab, but also made strenuous efforts to emancipate this class from the exploitation by traders and moneylenders. Chhotu Ram advocated that there must be economy in administration and a just and proportionate distribution of development expenditure. He proposed plans for rural development and for upliftment of the backward classes, particularly the peasantry. His ideas on the need of education for the rural people are very important and relevant even today. The legislative enactments of Chhotu Ram and his party brought about a significant change in the rural areas of Punjab, though his stand regarding the Punjab Land Alienation Act created some controversy. The Acts enacted by him for providing relief to the peasantry saved this class from the clutches of moneylenders. The Mandi Act was also a boon to the peasantry and remains to date the basis of trade in the produce sold by it. Undoubtedly, these measures had far-reaching consequences. Parkash Tandon, a highly perceptive scholar on Punjab, appropriately traces the roots of the recent “Green Revolution” in Punjab and Haryana to the work and policies of Chhotu Ram.’ There is no doubt about the fact that he created infrastructure for the development of agriculture, which helped in bringing about a breakthrough in agriculture in Punjab which included Haryana at that time. His emphasis on industrial development, particularly cottage industries brought all-round development in the province. He was a casteist and a communalist in his early political career but subsequently became a champion of peasantry on the one hand and of the communal harmony in Punjab on the other. He gave primacy to the political development of Punjab as the first step for the independence of India. However, instead of using the word independence, Chhotu Ram used the word political salvation because he realised the importance of the cooperation with the colonial administration for achieving his political goals. Instead of practising destructive politics, Chhotu Ram believed in constructive politics. In other words, he believed in the politics of development and not in politics of destruction. But at the same time he believed in the politics of power. He wanted the development of Punjab as a whole. However, he gave priority to the interests of his caste (the Jats) his class (the peasantry), and his society (rural society). He believed in secularism and stood for politics of accommodation instead of confrontation. But he was not scared of confrontation with those who were opposed to his caste and class interests. The social, economic and political ideas of Chhotu Ram formulated during the colonial period continue to have relevance even in the present times because of the crisis in agriculture on the one hand and the growth of communalism on the other. That is why, we can find traces of the influences of the ideas of Chhotu Ram on the politics of Punjab, Haryana and UP. The emergence of farmers’ movements in various parts of India also indicates the continuing relevance of his ideas. |
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A deeper look at mysteries of heart For a long time, heart disease was not considered a major problem among women. As recently as 1995, more than one-third of physicians surveyed did not know it was the leading cause of death among women, killing half a million each year. Even today many doctors may not understand the risks, because women often have different symptoms than men. Women suffering chest pain often go to a cardiologist only to find there are no obstructions in their large arteries, reported cardiology specialist Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff of the University of Florida College of Medicine in research presented recently at a Chicago meeting of the American Heart
Association. Although frequently diagnosed with heartburn and told they have nothing to worry about, she said, women with chest pain are four times as likely to die from heart disease as women without pain. Her study was among those presented at the annual meeting of heart specialists and researchers. Other studies included fresh evidence that blows to the chest can be fatal for young athletes despite the use of protective equipment, and that stents can and perhaps should be avoided in some obstructed arteries. Cooper-DeHoff and her colleagues studied 564 women with chest pain whose angiographies showed no blockages of the coronary arteries, and they compared them with 1,000 women with no documented heart disease. They found that, within five years, nearly 12 percent of the women with chest pain had been hospitalized for heart failure, had suffered a heart attack or stroke, or had died, compared with just under 3 percent of the women in the control group. She speculated that smaller arteries in the affected women had become glazed with plaque, triggering symptoms. The plaque is not detectable using standard angiography. “The message here is that you do not want to tell a woman who comes to you and says `I have chest pain' not to worry,'' she said. Other researchers found that women with heart failure — an inability of the heart to pump enough blood to the body's tissues — tend to live longer than men with heart failure and have a less severe form of the disease. For that report, Dr. Camille Frazier of Duke University and her colleagues studied the two most common forms of heart failure, ischemic and non-ischemic. In the ischemic form, heart muscle is damaged over a long period of time as blood flow to the heart is blocked by accumulating plaque in the coronary arteries, often leading to a heart attack. In the non-ischemic form, there is no history of coronary artery disease and no heart attack. The researchers combined data on 11,642 patients in five large clinical trials; 24 percent of the patients were women. Frazier told attendees at the meeting that, during the follow-up period of nearly a year, 18.6 percent of the women with ischemic heart failure died, compared with 20.9 percent of the men with that form of heart failure. Among those with non-ischemic heart failure, 18.2 percent of the women died, compared with 21.9 percent of the men. The lower death rates occurred despite the fact that the women were, on average, older than the men and had higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure. Also at the meeting, Dr. Barry J. Maron of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation reported that commercial gear may not protect young athletes from sudden death caused by a blow to the chest. The condition is called commotio cordis — “commotion of the heart'' — and results from a blunt blow that triggers an irregular heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation. Maron established the National Commotio Cordis Registry at the institute in 1995 to track cases. Of the 182 cases recorded to date, 85 occurred during practice or competition for organized sports and 39 percent of those deaths occurred in athletes wearing chest protectors. Their average age was 15. The other 97 deaths occurred during recreational sporting activities. Among athletes, 14 were hockey players, 10 were football players, six were lacrosse players and three were baseball players. Experiments at the New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine have shown that ventricular fibrillation can be produced by a baseball moving as slow as 30 mph, but only if it hits the chest directly over the heart during a 20-millisecond interval when the lower heart chambers relax electrically.
By arrangement with
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Delhi Durbar Nepal's top Maoist leader Prachanda's visit to India for the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit last week was considered historic in many ways. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, made his overground sojourn to India after his party unleashed an armed revolt in 1996 which has claimed some 13,000 lives, crippled Nepal's economy and led to the ouster of King Birendra in April. That Prachanda was hosted by various political parties is no secret. The Nepal Jan Adhikar Suraksha Manch, one of the biggest groups of Nepalis in India, considers his visit highly significant. It could set the tone for future Indo-Nepal relations.
Unpunctual minister Commerce Minister Kamal Nath invariably makes mediapersons wait at press conferences by reaching the venue 15-30 minutes late. The other day when the minister arrived about 40 minutes late for a press conference, a mediaperson could not stop himself from making a swipe that "Kamal Nath follows the Indian Stretchable Time and not the Indian Standard Time."
Iranian minister When Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr arrived to meet Petroleum Minister Murli Deora to discuss the stalled LNG gas issue and the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline,
newspersons were eager to know Teheran's take on the global oil scenario as crude prices in the international market have considerably fallen in the past six months. "Kya haal hai, meeting ke badh baat karenge," came the voice in chaste Hindi. It was none other than Manochehr leaving the journalists completely zapped.
RSS opens up In a major turnaround, the RSS is not averse to forging close links with other political parties, including the Congress. Going by the observations of one of its leaders, the RSS is not averse to its cadres joining any political party. There is, however, some disquiet in the BJP, which believes that the signal from the RSS is that it should follow the RSS agenda or forget about is support.
Success in box It is interesting what Michael Eisner, the former head of Walt Disney, had to say at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in the national Capital. "The success is all in the box. The financial box coupled with micro-management is the key to the success of any enterprise," he stressed. Complimenting India on its success, Eisner observed that the glorious story of Walt Disney was drawn from the concept of "Inside Box."
Contributed by S Satyanarayanan, Satish Misra and R Suryamurthy
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BORN
on November 24, 1881, in an Ohlyan sub-caste (Gotra) Jat family having a small holding at Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district of Haryana (then in Punjab province), Chhotu Ram played an important role in the politics of Punjab during the pre-Independence period from 1923 to 1945 as a founder of the Unionist Party, a powerful minister in the Punjab Government, Chairman of the Punjab Legislative Council and as an ideologue.