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Don’t hang Saddam Question of identity Dealing with adultery |
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India can’t pull out troops
The real star
DOCUMENT Africa’s magic cash crop
Not so friendly: hydropower adding to climate change
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Don’t hang Saddam AN Iraqi panel of judges confirming the death sentence awarded to former ruler Saddam Hussein, though not unexpected, is a setback for the cause of reconciliation and peace in that war-torn country. If he is hanged within 30 days, as required by the court, it may lead to a situation worse than what has been experienced after the regime change brought about by the US-led multinational forces there. The crisis has been defying all the solutions thought of since the Iraqi High Tribunal’s verdict pronounced on November 5 for Saddam’s role in the execution of 148 Shias, who were alleged to have made an assassination attempt on the deposed President in Dujail in 1982. Bomb blasts, kidnappings and other such incidents involving sectarian militias, resulting in large-scale death and destruction almost everyday, have become a routine. India’s stand opposing Saddam’s hanging deserves serious consideration. If India wants that “no steps are taken which can obstruct the course of reconciliation” it is because “life and death decisions require a credible process of law”, unfortunately missing in Iraq today. The judgement of the tribunal that tried the former Iraqi President is like the victor’s justice. Any verdict of this nature must be “acceptable to the Iraqi people and the international community”, whatever Saddam’s crimes, as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee pointed out in November. The reaction in Iraq shows that the controversial judgement has further sharpened the Shia-Sunni divide there. While the Shia Iraqis are celebrating the upholding of the death penalty awarded to Saddam, the Sunnis have expressed their resentment against it. Saddam has already become the rallying point for Sunni insurgents. His execution under the circumstances may turn him into a martyr. A dead Saddam is bound to infuse a new life into Sunni insurgency. The situation that may evolve may have a bearing on the entire region, so vital for oil supplies to the world. The US must act quickly to prevent the Iraqi crisis from taking a turn for the worse. It should not pile up one blunder over another in Iraq and West Asia. |
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Question of identity THE Centre’s proposal to introduce multipurpose photo-identity cards to all electors is welcome. What has added urgency to this is the ensuing assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Manipur early next year and the Lok Sabha polls three years later. Also, most states have failed to achieve the target of providing photo-identity cards to voters despite pressure from the Election Commission. The Centre has been making a substantial allocation of funds for the purpose every year, but the states have not measured up to the task. In this context, the performance of Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Delhi and other Union Territories has not been satisfactory. Only five states - Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana, West Bengal and Manipur - have achieved over 80 per cent of the target. The Law Commission is of the view that as the states would take a long time to achieve the target, it would be better to make the photo-identity card a multipurpose document instead of limiting its use to elections. The multipurpose identity card will facilitate an effective interaction between the citizen and the government agencies. It can be useful in a variety of applications such as immunisation, maintaining landed property records and running the public distribution system. It can also be helpful in having the education record. Besides this, the photo-identity card can double up as a health card, credit card or debit card and driving licence. The citizen would find it easier to get ration and different civic services using this card for entry. It will particularly help poor people who often find it difficult to prove their identity. Significantly, Tuesday’s decision addresses the concern of some north-east states on the increasing problem of infiltration. How to identify the infiltrators and how to get them admit to the crime has been a major problem for the law enforcement agencies. Identity cards will surely help government nab infiltrators. The Centre has now come up with the idea of giving a “tracking number” to the multipurpose cards of all migrant voters. As the card will provide a credible individual identification system with simultaneous use of multifarious socio-economic benefits and transactions, the machinery to check the data and create a national database must be foolproof in all respects. |
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Dealing with adultery THE National Commission for Women (NCW) has a point in rejecting the proposal to punish women for adultery. In its response to the Union Government’s query in this regard, it has shot down the idea of amending Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which provides expressly that a married woman cannot be punished even as an abettor, based on the reasoning that she, if involved in an illicit relationship with another man, is a victim and not the author of the crime. The NCW’s response should be viewed in the light of the fact that in most cases it is the man who is mainly responsible for adultery and not the woman. This is particularly true in the case of the rich and the powerful. Moreover, in the present-day male-dominated society and the women’s relatively socially unempowered position, a woman cannot normally be expected to commit adultery for which the maximum punishment is five years in jail and fine or both for the man. However, in the interest of gender equality, fairness and justice, it would be prudent for the government to look into the possibility of punishing the woman too for adultery. Both genders should be covered under the adultery law as both are equally responsible for getting entangled into any relationship that challenges the laws and rules of society. There is no denying of the fact that one person alone cannot be held responsible for any act that requires the willingness of both genders. Significantly, the Malimath Committee Report has recommended making adultery punishable for both men and women. It would be in the fitness of things if the Centre seeks the Law Commission’s opinion on the matter before organising a national debate so that a consensus can be evolved on the adultery law. The NCW has also recommended that adultery should be treated as a breach of trust and a civil wrong, and not as a criminal offence. In suggesting this, it is perhaps guided by the fact that there may be instances in which the woman wants to save marriage and sees the adulterous relationship as an aberration. In any case, the Centre would do well to go ahead with any amendment only after evolving a consensus. |
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Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.
— Gore Vidal |
India can’t pull out troops SPEAKING
in Amritsar on December 20, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated his March 24, 2006, offer for a “Treaty of Peace, Security and Friendship” to Islamabad as “the basis for enduring peace and prosperity”. Welcoming General Musharraf’s “new ideas” on Jammu and Kashmir during his recent interview to NDTV as contributing to the “ongoing thought process,” Dr. Manmohan Singh spoke of the improvements in the India-Pakistan relations over the past two years. Interestingly, even as the Prime Minister avoided any reference to the challenges posed by Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a NewYork judge found a Pakistani national, Khalid Awan, guilty of providing financial assistance amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars to Paramjit Sigh Panwar, head of a banned terrorist outfit, Khalistan Commando Force. Awan faces 34 years in jail for his actions. Barely a day later came the revelation that the UPA Chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, faced an assassination threat from the Muzzafarabad-based and ISI-sponsored United Jihad Council (UJC). Not surprisingly, Pakistan has proclaimed its innocence, and demands that such allegations should be investigated by the much-touted “Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism”. Intelligence inputs indicate that the members of the UJC plotting to assassinate Mrs. Sonia Gandhi have links with Al-Qaida. Many UJC members like those of the Lashkar -e-Toiyaba have close ties with both the Taliban and Al-Qaida. Earlier this month, Osama bin Laden’s Deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri called on Palestinians to help their fellow Muslims in Chechnya, China’s East Turkistan province, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq in their jihad against what he described as infidels. We are also now witnessing the phenomenon wherein a military ruler, General Musharraf, is zealously propagating “demilitarisation” in every area where groups linked to Al-Qaida, the Taliban and the ISI are active. After initially fooling the Americans into believing that his proposals to “demilitarise” the tribal areas of the Northwest Frontier Province would lead to pro-Taliban elements laying down their arms, General Musharraf conned the British forces in Afghanistan into believing that they should “demilitarise” specified areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border as a pre-requisite for a matching action by the Taliban. What has happened instead is that North and South Waziristan and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions have become launching pads for Taliban forays against NATO troops in Afghanistan. It is in this context that one has to view General Musharraf’s so-called “new ideas” which really are proposals he has put forward on October 25, 2004, April 18, 2005, October 21, 2005, and in meetings with delegates to the Pugwash Conference in Islamabad in March 2006 and while addressing a conference at the European Parliament on September 12, 2006. A major theme of General Musharraf’s proposals is predictably ”demilitarisation” of Jammu and Kashmir, starting with demilitarisation of Kupwara, Baramulla and Srinagar — all centres of ISI-sponsored jihadi terrorism. His aim is to repeat what he hopes to achieve in Afghanistan, wherein ISI-supported jihadis occupy the areas vacated by national armies. India cannot obviously accept this none-too-subtle proposal of General Musharraf. No sovereign State ever agrees to renounce its right to deploy its armed forces wherever it chooses on its territory. Secondly, J&K is vital to India’s lines of communication to its armed forces deployed on the northern borders with China. Finally, with the ISI-backed jihadi groups being historically a tool of Pakistani policy, “demilitarisation” of any part of Jammu and Kashmir is just not on the cards. India could, however, agree to troop redeployment and reduction if Pakistan fully dismantles its infrastructure of terrorism.. General Musharraf’s other proposals include what he calls as “self-governance” (a term he has never clearly defined) and division of J&K into seven regions, evidently on religious-sectarian lines. He has also spoken of “joint management” or “joint supervision” of governance in Jammu and Kashmir by India and Pakistan. General Musharraf has agreed with Dr Manmohan Singh’s proposal of March 24, 2006, made in Amritsar that any solution in J&K should make borders “irrelevant”. Dr Manmohan Singh had then suggested a framework in which borders would not be redrawn but made irrelevant --- “just lines on a map”. He had also advocated that people on both sides of the LoC in J&K should be allowed to move freely and trade with one another. Finally, he had envisaged a situation wherein India and Pakistan can work out “cooperative and consultative mechanisms” to address issues like economic and social development in the region. While such cooperative mechanisms can be useful and practical, any talk of “joint management” is a non-starter. Several queries remain on how any meeting ground can be found between the proposals of General Musharraf and Dr Manmohan Singh without compromising the Indian Parliament’s resolution of 1994, asserting that the whole of J&K is an integral part of India. Secondly, by discussing issues of “self-governance” in J&K, are we not giving Pakistan an unwarranted say in how J&K is governed? Finally, would our security not be compromised by allowing Pakistani nationals free access into Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India? These are legitimate concerns. It should be understood that what is being discussed at present is a framework for the resolution of the J&K issue in terms of the Shimla Agreement of July 1972. Only when such a framework is agreed upon for finally resolving the Kashmir question, can one consider suitably amending Parliament’s resolution of 1994. In seeking a solution as proposed by Dr Manmohan Singh, borders can be made “irrelevant” for trade and economic cooperation if Pakistan agrees to implement the proposals of the “SAARC Eminent Persons Group” that suggested a road-map for making South Asia an economic union by 2020. All SAARC members, including India, and Pakistan endorsed these recommendations at the Kathmandu Summit in 2002. Despite the existing misgivings, India should not hesitate to seek common ground with Pakistan for a framework to resolve the issue of J&K. Given the fact that both POK and the Northern Areas are ruled by “Councils” presided over by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, with the local representatives being mere puppets of the Federal Government, we should have no hesitation in seeking a measure of “self-governance” in POK and the Northern Areas that conforms to the “self-governance” that people in J&K presently enjoy. But free movement of people across the borders will remain unattainable till Pakistan irrevocably ends the use of terrorism as an instrument of State policy. Finally, has General Musharraf indeed discarded Pakistan’s traditional positions? On December 17, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri proclaimed: “Islamabad will never compromise on Kashmir as an integral part of Pakistan. Any decision against the wishes of the Kashmiri people will not be
taken”.
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The real star
IT was an ideal morning for a Sports Meet — sunny and languorous. I was among the eager parents who had arrived much before the scheduled time. After some thought, I decided to occupy a chair in the first row. I felt I deserved one. After all, my son was among the boys who were to be honoured for their sporting skills at the Meet. Though he was to be awarded a silver medal, my face gleamed like gold. Gradually, all seats under the canopy were occupied. The special guest declared open the meet and excitement commenced. The young athletes exhibited tremendous potential. Some were outstanding, winning more than three medals in different events. A particular boy outdid all -- six medals and a trophy for the best athlete. I heard a hum at the back row. Some parents had spotted the young achiever’s proud father and were congratulating him, describing the boy as a prodigy. I wondered whether I was witnessing the rise of a star. Who could tell if one of these young athletes would turn out to be our future Olympian? Seized with this thought, I saw myself taking a keener interest in the events of the Meet. I began to pick boys for cheering and did so till they reached the finish line. I rejoiced in their triumphs and sympathised with them in their failing. From an uninvolved onlooker, I became an active participant. Then came the announcement that children from the Horizon, comprising children with learning disabilities, some severe, some not so severe, would compete with one another in a race. My heart sank. I was not sure if this was a good idea. My mind turned towards their parents who, I was sure, were among the spectators. But the referee’s whistle banished all doubt as I saw enthusiastic faces making towards the finish line, amidst loud cheering. The announcement to award all five participants got a deafening applause. The proud champions were helped to climb the winner’s steps. They basked in glory. It was their hour of honour and triumph. The gold medalist joyously waved his hand at the crowd and made a bow, then another and another…. Reluctant to dismount, he was lovingly nudged away by the caregiver. He had not only won a medal, but several hearts too. As I walked towards my son’s classroom to pick him up after the meet, I began to think -- who really was the winner. Was it the gifted boy who won the sports trophy or was it the boy who defeated his disabilities, even if temporarily, or was it the caregiver/mother who vanquished despair and decided to place the child on the racetrack. At that point I learnt that life cannot be purged of its
paradoxes. |
DOCUMENT IT
has been suggested that the first question the Indian Prime Minister should ask his ministers is not “how is the economy growing?”, but rather “how are children growing?”. The ministers, however, would probably rather answer the former, for the state of Indian children is nothing short of a humanitarian emergency. Few countries, in fact, have worse indicators of child development. Progress in this field has also been very slow, with countries like Bangladesh “overtaking” India during the last few years. This crisis casts a deep shadow on India’s progress in other fields. The average Indian child gets a rather poor start in life. Even before birth, he or she is heading for disaster due to poor ante-natal care and maternal undernutrition. About one third of expectant mothers in India are deprived of tetanus vaccination, an important defence against infection at birth. Similarly, about one fourth of pregnant women do not have a single ante-natal check-up, and a majority of deliveries take place without the assistance of any health professional. Worse, the average Indian mother is frail and anaemic. This is likely to result in low birth-weight, a major cause of child under nutrition. After birth, life continues to be precarious. About one third of all newborn babies in India weigh less than the acceptable minimum of 2.5 kilograms. Under nutrition levels keep increasing during the first two years of life, largely due to poor breastfeeding and faulty weaning. About half of all children below three years of age are undernourished, more than half are deprived of full immunization, and a large majority suffer from anaemia. Illness is also widespread, with a fifth of all children suffering from diarrhoea and almost a third suffering from fever. A substantial proportion of Indian children (about one tenth) never reach the age of five. As children grow up, poor nutrition and ill health affects their learning abilities and preparedness for schooling. In 1998-99, almost one third of all children in the 15-19 age group had failed to complete Class 5, and one half had not completed Class 8. So much for the “fundamental right to education”. By the time Indian children are supposed to complete upper- primary school, many of them have actually been pushed into the labour force and are further ruining their health by working long hours in harsh conditions. In short, millions of Indian children are condemned to stumble right from the start. During the first six years of life, and especially the first two, they sink in a dreadful trap of undernutrition, ill health and poor learning abilities. This burden is very difficult to overcome in later years. Another disturbing aspect of the situation of children in India is that the rate of improvement over time is very slow. Extreme forms of hunger and undernutrition, such as marasmus and kwashiorkor, have sharply declined over the years. But the general progress of nutrition indicators (such as the heights and weights of Indian children) is sluggish. The findings of the third National Family Health Survey (“NFHS-3”), released just a few days before the completion of this abridged report, are quite alarming in this regard. For instance, the proportion of undernourished children, based on standard weight-for-age criteria, was virtually the same in 2005-06 as in 1998-99: in both years, nearly half of all Indian children were underweight. Even the decline of stunting in that period, from 45 per cent to 38 per cent, is far from impressive — about one percentage point per year. If the incidence of stunting continues to decline at this rate, it will take another twenty-five years or so to reach levels similar to those of China today. Health-related indicators from the third National Family Health Survey are no less disturbing. For instance, they suggest that child immunization rates were much the same in 2005-06 as in 1998-99. The incidence of anaemia among children was also similar in both years; in fact, it was a little higher in 2005-06, according to the available NFHS-3 data. While some other indicators have improved, the general pace of change is excruciatingly slow — much slower, for instance, than in neighbouring Bangladesh (see below). Similar concerns arise if we look at mortality indicators. In India as in most other countries, the infant mortality rate has steadily declined during the last fifty years or so: from about 150 per 1,000 live births in the late 1950s to 60 per 1,000 or so today. However, the decline of infant mortality slowed down significantly in the nineties, compared with earlier decades. The rate of decline seems to have picked up again during the last few years, but nevertheless, the overall progress made since 1990 is quite limited in comparison with many other countries. This slow progress in the field of child health and nutrition is all the more striking as the Indian economy is one of the fastest-growing in the world. Yet the progress of child development indicators has been much slower in India than in many countries with comparable or even much lower rates of economic growth, including many neighbouring countries. The state of Indian children ultimately reflects a deep lack of political commitment to children’s rights. The value of a rights approach to social development has been well demonstrated in recent years. Against this background, there is an urgent need to reexamine what India is doing for the survival, well-being and rights of children under the age of six years. Broadly speaking, two types of intervention are needed. There is, first, a need to address the structural roots of child deprivation, including mass poverty, social discrimination, lack of education, and gender inequality. Second, there is a need for immediate protection of children under six, by integrating them in an effective system of child development services that leaves no child
behind. The above is excerpted from the report ‘Focus on Children Under Six’ by the Citizens’ Initiative for the Rights of Children Under Six. |
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MARIENTAL, Namibia — When fully grown, the plant resembles something from science-fiction: a squat, succulent plant with thick, spiky arms, purple fleshy petals and seedpods like rhino horns. Hoodia gordonii is no beauty, but this humble plant is Africa’s latest cash crop, priced almost like a narcotic at $40 an ounce. The plant, which grows wild in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, was once used by indigenous tribes to suppress hunger and thirst when hunting. Now it’s such a darling of the international dieting industry that googling the word calls up around 14 million responses. The resulting demand is so hot, wild supplies have been severely compromised, smuggling is rife, and farmers in southern Africa are trying to get in on the game. With international giant Unilever licensed to commercialize hoodia and international demand far outstripping supply, there’s a mad race on to get plants to the market. Bassingthwaighte, 65, who is farming hoodia with his son, Kirk, has 130,000 seedlings being planted out from his nursery, where they begin as tiny green sprouts, to his fields. In about two years, when he plans to harvest them, each is likely to weigh about four pounds. He hopes to have a million plants next year. But the explosion of interest has not only put enormous pressure on the rare plant — listed as an endangered species by international treaty — it also puts intense pressure on an embryonic market that could be a boon for Africans if it could grow at a natural and sustainable pace. Sadly, the craze for hoodia brings out the worst in people. Tiny as it is, the industry is rife with fierce competitive secrecy, quack products and illegal harvesting. Next, authorities in crime-ridden South Africa fear, comes the inevitable interest of organized gangsters. Whether hoodia works as a diet aid has not been scientifically proven. Pills and capsules claiming to contain hoodia are widely available in the United States online and at stores which sell herbal supplements. Such products are largely exempt from U.S. government regulations which require drugs to be tested for safety and effectiveness before being sold. But Bassingthwaighte says he has no doubt. “I grew up with it. I actually ate it as a kid. I know the stuff works,” he said. As a farm boy he often walked or rode in the heat to other farms. “And people said ‘Eat this. It will take away your hunger and thirst.’ And it did.” “We do see it as a very real opportunity to give a source of income to some of the poorest people in Namibia,” said Steve Carr, coordinator of a succulent cultivation project being carried out by Namibia’s National Botanical Research Institute, which is part of a working group helping indigenous people farm hoodia. “It’s an irony. It could be a way for people who feel they are overweight to help people who face a daily struggle to put something in their stomachs.”
By arrangement with
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EXCEPT for a handful of fossil-fuel-funded lobbyists who deny the reality of global warming, we all agree that we urgently need to “green” our energy sources. Investors in electricity generation with low greenhouse-gas emissions stand to make a lot of money in the coming green economy. The big-hydropower industry — under fire for harm to river ecology and the eviction of communities in the way of its reservoirs — has seized the opportunity to reposition itself as climate-friendly. The problem is, big hydro is nowhere near as climate-friendly as the industry claims. Although few people are aware of it, the reservoirs behind the world’s dams are likely a major source of global-warming pollution. In the case of big reservoirs in the tropics — where most dams are proposed — hydropower can emit more greenhouse gases per kilowatt-hour than fossil fuels, including the dirtiest coal plants. Eminent climate-change scientist Philip Fearnside estimates that hydro projects in the Brazilian Amazon emit at least twice as much as coal plants. The worst example studied, Balbina dam, had a climate effect in 1990 equal to 54 natural gas plants generating the same amount of power.
When a big dam is built, its reservoir floods vegetation and soils that contain vast amounts of carbon. This organic matter rots underwater, creating carbon dioxide, methane and, in some cases, the extremely potent global warming gas nitrous oxide. While emissions are particularly high in the first few years after a reservoir is created, they can remain significant for many decades. This is because the river that feeds the reservoir, and the plants and plankton that grow in it, will continue to provide more organic matter to fuel greenhouse gas production. Some of the emissions bubble up from the reservoir surface. The rest occur at the dam: When methane-rich water jets out from turbines and spillways, it releases its methane, just like the fizz from an opened bottle of soda. Although the scientists working in the field agree that emissions are released from reservoir surfaces, there is a heated dispute between industry-backed and independent researchers on the amount of gases released at dams. Accounting for these “fizz” emissions greatly increases estimates of the global-warming impact of hydropower. (Research published in November by a team of French scientists indicates that conventional estimates of “fizz” emissions understate the problem.) Although reservoirs in all climate zones emit greenhouse gases, it is only in the tropics that these emissions are likely to often be worse than fossil-fuel pollution. No comprehensive studies have been done on this issue in the United States, but it is likely that the many thousands of U.S. reservoirs cumulatively emit significant greenhouse gases. Given the amounts of money at stake in carbon-trading schemes and other measures to address global warming, it is not surprising that the hydropower industry is alarmed that it would be considered another global-warming culprit. Canadian and Brazilian hydro interests dominate funding for reservoir emission science and have tried hard to control the interpretation of the results. In Canada, industry giant Hydro-Quebec has cut funding to scientists whose work was leading to conclusions the utility considered inconvenient. The company also tried, unsuccessfully, to pressure the scientific journal Lakes & Reservoirs: Research and Management into not publishing an article by these scientists, according to one of the authors. The industry-backed scientists accuse Fearnside, a rigorously independent researcher, of being seduced by the “lures” of the fossil fuel and nuclear lobbies. Fearnside’s findings, however, were supported in a recent editorial in the respected journal Climatic Change written by Danny Cullenward and David Victor from Stanford University. The authors criticised the hydro industry’s control of the research agenda and called for an independent analysis by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Officials from the panel agreed in November that they should look at the reservoir emissions issue after finishing work on their fourth major assessment of the state of climate science, which is being readied for release next year. McCully is executive director of the International Rivers
Network. By arrangement with
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God is attained only through God’s grace. All other boasted ways and means are vain and false. —Guru Nanak The attainment of freedom, whether for a man, a nation or the world, must be in exact proportion to the attainment of non-violence by each. —Mahatma Gandhi He who is graced by God, attains to Him by freeing himself from hope and fear and subuing his ego by means of the Word. — Guru Nanak |
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