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AIDS bomb United Europe |
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Remote learning Will help IITs, IIMs spread excellence WHILE there is no denying the advantages of regular classrooms, a campus and the physical presence of teachers and peers, distance education and remote learning enable a greater number of people to augment their knowledge and skills and obtain necessary qualifications.
The
weakening Centre
Indians
all
Cricket
is not for part-timers Legal
notes
Burma’s
secret new capital city
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United Europe WHEN leaders of six European countries signed the Treaty of Rome 50 years ago, they could not have imagined that their effort would change the course of history in the continent. After all, they had fought two world wars. What began as a trading bloc — European Economic Community — has grown into a major political organisation, perhaps, the best model of cooperative co-existence. It has served the original objectives — maintaining peace and promoting prosperity — but that is not all. What is now known as the European Union (EU) has demonstrated a deeper commitment to the much larger causes of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is also involved in fighting such global problems as terrorism, climate change and the spread of AIDS. The EU has been playing a crucial role in resolving the Iranian nuclear crisis, though without success so far. With its current 27-nation membership, the EU is the world’s largest trading bloc today. This has come about by adhering to the basic principle of shared growth. People belonging to the member-countries do not require a passport to travel anywhere in the EU area. The freedom to shop anywhere and with one currency (the euro) has given the European consumers the kind of power not possible elsewhere in the world. There is, however, a seamier side too. The EU has failed to adopt the draft constitution signed in 2004 because of unending suspicions among the members. It is criticised for doing all it can to ensure that it remains an exclusively Judaeo-Christian club. Even the Berlin Declaration it adopted on Sunday says little about the Turkish claim to the EU membership. The EU leadership is afraid of granting membership to a country that has a Muslim majority. Yet the EU experiment is worth emulating in South Asia with a view to removing poverty and ensuring peace in the region. Fortunately, there is an organisation — South-Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or SAARC for short — that can be allowed to grow into another EU. Are the region’s leaders listening? |
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Remote learning WHILE there is no denying the advantages of regular classrooms, a campus and the physical presence of teachers and peers, distance education and remote learning enable a greater number of people to augment their knowledge and skills and obtain necessary qualifications. And with the Internet emerging as a powerful enabling tool, online courses and virtual classrooms can simulate an interactive session that matches or even betters one held in concrete rooms. The Distance Education Council (DEC) has reportedly allowed all premier institutes in the country to offer online courses, with the initiative coming from the institutes themselves. The hurdle hitherto has been a jurisdictional restriction clause that has prevented an IIM or an IIT from reaching out beyond its immediate areas. IITs and IIMs can now offer their courses online or in traditional distance education mode, and they should go all out in designing viable course modules. The campus is not sacred and there is no reason why a talented young executive, say, who does not have the time or money to devote two years to a regular MBA, cannot obtain the same remotely. Standards need not be diluted. Even if a CAT score is deemed mandatory, those not in the upper rung would be able to pursue their dream even with a lower CAT score. Specialist and advanced courses offered online is another avenue, and premier institutes abroad are known to market these enthusiastically. Care should be taken, however, to ensure that they are not mere money-spinning ploys designed to tempt those who are willing to pay a premium for the tag of having done a course at a prestigious institute. Many brilliant professionals are self-taught. Many a talented youngster, for various reasons, is unable to participate in a regular university/college environment. Distance education is a powerful tool to tap such talent and human resource that would have otherwise gone unutilised. That it also helps democratise advanced and specialised education goes without saying. |
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It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
— Dolores Ibarruri |
The weakening Centre
My
faith in opinion polls is as strong as in astrology. And I have no faith in astrology. Pollsters, like the breed of political commentators, turn out to be right when the trend of public opinion is obvious to the naked eye. Pollsters dole out their predictions wrapped in elaborate statistics; political pundits give the commonplace wisdom packaged in alleged profundity. The CNN-IBN-Indian Express poll telecast last night and published in the Indian Express on Wednesday, however, makes sense to most observers of the political scene, although it seems simple in conclusions and based on a small sample of voters of a state of the size of Europe, as Rajdeep Sardesai said more than once. Also it is too early for the waverers and floating voters to make up their mind. The poll must have cheered up Ms Mayawati and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav for being ahead of the race of the two national parties – the Congress and the BJP. It has brought little comfort for the Congress, which has already lost Punjab and Uttarakhand and has now to reconcile itself to trailing far behind the other three parties and remain in an abject fourth position. For the BJP, the poll must have come as a dampener as at best it can tilt the balance in favour of either Ms Mayawati or Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. A hung assembly, which the poll tended to forecast, will deprive the combatants of the fruits of a victory, but leave scope of horse-trading Lucknow is used to. The UP elections in May will not only decide the question who is to govern the nation’s most populous state, but will also influence the course of events, alignments and attitudes of political parties for Presidential elections to be held after the retirement of Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and perhaps the parliamentary elections due in just two years. After the UP polls, as well as the Presidential election, the nation will also have to face the vital question: Who is to rule India after the UPA government’s tenure comes to an end in early 2009. For quite some time, the country has been running under a weak Centre and there is a danger that the UP election may lead to a flux in national politics which could further weaken it, leaving it once again at the vagaries of unstable coalitions. The argument is not that a coalition government necessarily throws up fragile governments at the Centre, but the absence of a dominant national party in a coalition government at the Centre does not lend it stability and a potential to give a policy direction to the country of India’s size. The way politics is taking shape may lead to unstable coalitions at the Centre after parliamentary elections, preventing the evolution of much-needed coherent national policies. The NDA government under Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to roll back many a policy decision to accommodate the regional parties in his coalition. Often the NDA found itself powerless to push its policy through the Cabinet. The NDA chose to prefer the survival of the government to the agenda in hand. Dr Manmohan Singh’s government has also not been able to do many things it has been wanting to, mainly because of the compulsions of coalition politics, requiring serious adjustments in policies, and at times the rolling back of Cabinet decisions. The UPA government has often succumbed to the wishes of its allies within the government and supporters like the Left Front led by the CPM. Invariably, survival of the coalition became the aim, not accomplishing the essential tasks. Economic reforms have often been thwarted or delayed by the Left Front. The Union Cabinet had to pull back on its decision to go in for even disinvestment in the Nyveli Lignite Corporation, after the DMK threatened to withdraw from the UPA government on the ground it was causing it some embarrassment with the plant’s unions in Tamil Nadu. Neither the NDA, nor the UPA government, has been able to come out with a workable policy on Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue. Both have been afraid of annoying political parties in Tamil Nadu. The UPA government, like many earlier governments, is not finding it easy to sort out water disputes between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and even between Punjab and Haryana, which
were both ruled by the Congress party. It is unfortunate to see that the Centre’s influence over the States is fast diminishing and thanks to the growth of regional parties its writ to mediate on the inter-state disputes does not appear to carry weight any longer. The Centre cannot enforce the awards of various tribunals or even the Supreme Court’s judgements. New Delhi’s advice goes unattended to by the States on many other issues also. The nation’s journey into the 21st century and the goal to emerge as a major power requires a greater focus and evolving a consensus on some major national issues. Most political parties are busy in petty pursuits even at the cost of wider national interests. Those in power in most States would like to cling to power. Those out of power will do anything to pull down the incumbent from the saddle. In the no-holds-barred power rush, acrimony, bitterness and personal and party interests have taken over from the need for a dialogue on the evolution of a national consensus and policies. Serious issues concerning Kashmir, foreign policy, economic reforms, secularism and plural society, criminalisation of politics and electoral reforms are crying for a national consensus. No one in the government or in the Opposition is thinking of taking any initiative to evolve one. Even responsible leaders find the prevailing atmosphere not congenial to it. It is sad for a nation aspiring to play a major role in the 21st century.
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Indians all On
the way to my cousin’s place in Vancouver during my recent visit to Canada, my sister said, “his name is Ted Olak”. “I never knew Maasiji married an Englishman,” I said. She laughed and continued her drive on the road meandering along piles of snow this winter. I had never met my cousin and had met my aunt only when I was a toddler. A handsome lad opened the door when we rang the bell. “Meet Ted,” my sister said. Looking at me she laughed again and said: “He is Tejinder Aulakh. During his school days there were very few Indians. Maasiji changed his name because classmates made funny sounds with his name”. Just as we were to take our seats in the drawing room, Ted’s grandmother said: “Phaj, get the Kha out of the driveway because Ragh has to pull his Kha out of the garage”. Noticing freckles on my face, my cousin said: “My grandmother has not learnt English, except for a few words. Kha is a car and Phaj is my dad Harbhajan. She is talking about my brother Raghvir who has to go to the shopping mall”. My aunt said: “At least, the official records of our children in the city have their names in original. Look at your sister. Her son’s name is Gavin. Her brother-in-law son’s name is Jason.” A few days later, I also attended a wedding of my cousin, Poonam. Just before the new pair came, my niece said “look at the gate and don’t be surprised”. The marriage was carried out according to Sikh rituals at a gurdwara but she appeared for her reception dressed in Christian bridal attire with a flowing white gown. I also met families trying to keep their children as close to their ethnic identity as possible. During my visit to Seattle and Chicago in the US, I met my teenaged nephews with the hair tied neatly on their uncovered heads. Their names including Gursewak, Naunihal and Fateh are only small impression of the strength of the faith of their families. It was also an impressive sight to witness tiny tots and teenaged youngsters managing affairs of the proceedings in a gurdwara at Dayton on Sundays. They rendered the “shabads” mellifluously with dexterous handling of the beat on the “tabla” and tunes on harmonium. A big screen showed the renderings from Guru Granth Sahib accompanied with translations in English. When I went to the museum in Dayton, I met one Mr Doman whom I discovered later was Dhuman. In the evening we went to an Indian restaurant. A dark complexioned manager first shook hands with my cousin and then extended it towards me: “I am Cigar”. Giggling loudly, my cousin patted him and said: “Sunny, he is
Sagar.”
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Cricket is not for part-timers Every
body gives advice – the question is, who do you take it from”. These words of Rahul Dravid in one of his TV commercials are now familiar. But events have proved that the Dolly character from these advertisements is no worse than Guru Greg as far as this team is concerned. If you recall most of the “pitch reports” and the expert opinions, they were like the predictions of a roadside astrologer – some times right, some times wrong. So, no apology is needed for commenting on cricket, particularly when the issue involved is ‘big business’, which is once again on the prowl to take over the game in India. The moral of the World Cup fiasco is that application and dedication – and not just talent – is the key to success. An old Sanskrit saying is that a moving ant goes miles but a stationary supersonic bird remains where it is. Zeros or single digit scores from Tendulkar or Dhoni or Sehwag are of no special significance. Can you recall when in recent times did Tendulkar score in a crunch situation leading India to a win? If only our cricketing rich and famous like Tendulkar, Dhoni and Sehwag scored 20 runs a piece against Bangladesh, India need not have suffered the humiliation that it is currently experiencing. In the crunch match against Sri Lanka, Tendulkar scored a third ball duck. Yuvraj scored 7 and ran himself out and Dhoni bettered Tendulkar – he was out first ball. Every one of them knew that more than ever before, at that juncture, scores from them were needed. The sole reason for this inability is the comfort of big money they get on account of the game of cricket that they betrayed. When a mind is dreaming about another big endorsement the eyes can hardly sight the ball. Cricket – the modern day competitive cricket – is not for part-timers. This applies to all the talented non -performers in our team and we have them in plenty. In May this year India is scheduled to tour Bangladesh – forget what happened in the World Cup, our ‘A team’ can easily beat the hosts. This is the time to reconstruct the Indian team – not for providing another chance for Tendulkar to improve his record of centuries. The starting point of reconstruction, therefore, should be chopping the deadwood. Tendulkar should be requested to retire from the first class game, in the interest of Indian Cricket. If he is around, the business world behind him will buy him a place. He has nothing more to give to the game or the country and every time he goes out, he has a bit of his reputation to lose. Alas, the moneybags are at it again – they have already started naming him as our next captain! Why not Sunil Gavaskar or Kapil Dev? Only the advertising business will hugely benefit if their icon gets a captain’s tag. Dravid has shown that he could keep his head cool in crises situations. Still, if some one wants his head, take it. But, no one from the present team should be named as Captain of India – surely not Tendulkar. He should have no place in the Indian team. It is time to realise that there is life after him. Why not VVS Laxman who has captained Hyderabad and South Zone many a time? He can be named India’s skipper for the next year or so to enable matters to settle down. From a long-term point of view, why not Dinesh Mongia be appointed vice-captain? And Dhoni is too irresponsible to be asked to represent our country - keep him in the shelf for two years and see if he comes down to earth. Harbhajan is like a bottle of wine opened a year or more ago. Kumble, though not in the disgraced list, may soon find it time to quit. Piyush Chawla is ready to take on the mantle. The danger is that if he is still selected in Bangladesh, Dhoni – like Tendulkar- may come up with an inconsequential century and ruin the chances of genuine players like Dinesh Karthik. We should not muck another chance to save Indian cricket from the big business people who are ruthless in matters of money. The more important step is to immunize the talented players from the deadly disease called HAV – “High Advertisement Value”. Money from commercial endorsements is an impermissible distraction in the case of a game where talent has got to be combined with concentration and dedication. The BCCI should devise a contract to be executed by the cricketers who are “India probables”, containing an un-alterable condition that any one who features in any commercial promotion venture will not be eligible to play for the country. The Board should be generous in rewarding the players. A minimum of about Rs.50 lakhs a year, with assured retirement benefits, should be guaranteed to about 25 players – the list to be revised periodically. There should be provision for recognising good performances, and applying of negative points for sloppy fielding and dropping catches. Many other aspects can be covered under the contract once the principle is accepted. With a clear-cut provision for not tolerating frequent failures, rewarding good performances and keeping the distracting businesses at bay, our cricket – not just a few cricketers – can be assured of a better future. Chasing foreign coaches is a futile exercise. Good players do not necessarily make good coaches. We have enough former players with excellent cricketing brains.
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Legal notes The
controversy regarding the criminal conspiracy charge in the Babri Masjid demolition case has been cleared by the Supreme Court in its latest judgement, noting that neither of the two FIRs in the case contained a charge of criminal conspiracy. The judgement explains how the two cases being tried at Rae Barelli and Lucknow courts are different from each other. The case before the Rae Barelli court against eight top Sangh Parivar leaders, including L K Advani, had turned into a major controversy during the NDA regime with Congress-led opposition alleging that the charge of criminal conspiracy under Section 120-B of the IPC was deleted under his influence. The March 22 judgement of the apex court makes it clear that two cases – FIR No 197 and FIR No 198 – were registered by the UP Police initially. The first FIR was lodged on December 6, 1992 itself when the mosque was demolished, against 47 persons, mostly ‘kar sevaks’, while the second was registered later against the eight leaders, including Advani. The Court recorded that neither of the two FIRs contained the charge under 120-B. The first FIR had charges under Sections 395, 397, 332, 337, 238, 295, 297, 153A of IPC, which deal with dacoity, robbery, hurting public servants, outraging religious feelings, trespassing into burial place, and promoting enmity among religious groups; the second FIR only contained charges under Sections 153A, 153B, 505, 147 and 149 IPC dealing with promoting enmity among people of different religion, casting imputation on national integration, making statements aimed at creating mischief, rioting and unlawful assembly. The cases were handed over to the CBI on December 13, 1992 and August 26, 1993 respectively, the Court clarified.
Brave cops do need incentives Several Punjab police officers who were given out of turn promotions for leading from the front in the State’s fight against militancy, but now face cases for being given out of turn promotion, can draw comfort from the recent judgement of the apex court in the case of Andhra Pradesh (AP) policemen fighting
naxalites. In an important ruling the apex court upheld the grant of out of turn promotion and extra incentives to the police officers by the AP Government, by laying down special rules for this purpose. The 2001 rules laid down by the AP Government provided for “accelerated promotion” for police officers doing outstanding work in anti-extremist operations. But some of their colleagues had challenged the rule on the ground that it was discriminatory. The AP High Court had struck down the rules, saying that they were ultra vires as they did not satisfy the test of reasonableness and created a class within a class in the police force. But the apex court, taking into consideration the peculiar circumstances arising out of the naxal problem in the state, set aside the High Court order. The apex court accepted the plea of the AP Government that to tackle the menace of terrorism, incentives of special promotions have to be given so that more and more officers could come forward to fight it. The Court also accepted the stand of the state government that providing such incentives to police officers engaged in daring operations against naxalites could not be described as arbitrary and discriminatory to others.
Merits of case in
bail orders Dealing with the merit of a criminal case while deciding bail applications of accused persons by the trial court and the High Courts has come in for sharp criticism by the Supreme Court, saying that any comments on the merits of a case would have an adverse impact on its trial and even might prejudice the parties. A Bench, headed by Justice B P Singh, disapproved of the latest trend witnessed both in the Sessions Court as well as the High Court, which were virtually writing judgements on cases while disposing of bail applications of the accused persons. The apex court said such practices should be immediately stopped and discouraged. Though recording of reasons for grant or rejection of the bail was necessary, this should be done in a manner that there are no direct comments on the merit of the case. Reason recorded in the bail order have to be only indicative of the considerations that “may have weighed” with the court in accepting the bail plea or rejecting it, the apex court clarified. |
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Burma’s secret new capital city The
outside world yesterday got its first glimpse of the secret capital Burma (Myanmar) is building deep in the jungle. In 2005, the military junta that rules Burma abruptly announced that the capital was moving from the leafy colonial city of Rangoon by the coast, to an area of malaria-infested jungle 250 miles inland, that at the time was still served by steam trains. One of the world’s most secretive countries – arguably only North Korea is more closed off from the outside world – was moving its government to a closed city that was off-limits to outsiders. Even the reason for moving the capital has remained a mystery. But yesterday foreign journalists were finally allowed in to see the new city, Naypidyaw, for the first time, at the annual Armed Forces Day parade. And they also got a rare glimpse of the junta’s elusive chief, General Than Shwe, the man who rules the destiny of millions of Burmese. What they found was a planned city on a vast scale. The parade ground where Gen Than Shwe addressed the troops is huge, and overlooked by three 33-foot high statues of the country’s most famous kings. According to reports, the city is spread out so that buildings are divided by huge empty spaces. All the hotels are grouped together in a single area called the “Hotel Zone”. Across an expanse of empty land apartment blocks are being built for bureaucrats who are being forced to move to the new city, painted in incongruous pastel shades that evoke nothing so much as the sense of a Milton Keynes uprooted and transplanted to the jungle. In the “government zone”, ministries are several miles apart from each other. Most bizarre of all is the “military zone”, said by reporters who were in the city yesterday to be a fortress. The roads have been made extra wide so they can double as military runways. There are anti-aircraft guns and missile silos. It is in the midst of this security than Gen Than Shwe lives, cut off from the rest of the country he rules, let alone the outside world. “I urge you to exert efforts, hand in hand with the people, to build a peaceful, modern, developed and disciplined democratic nation,” the junta leader urged soldiers yesterday in his army day address, insisting that the country is following a “roadmap to democracy”, despite all appearances to the contrary. Nobody really knows why Gen Than Shwe decided to move the capital to Naypyidaw. The official version is that Rangoon had become too crowded and congested, but nobody believes that. Some in Burma say the move was prompted by the advice of the general’s favourite astrologer. But others have suggested it may have had more to do with a burst of rhetoric against the junta from the US at the time. With Condoleeza Rice sounding threatening, the junta may have looked west towards Iraq and decided to plan for the worst. Naypyidaw appears to be purpose-built to be easily defended – and is far harder to attack than coastal Rangoon. By arrangement with
The Independent |
I think the world today is upside down. It is suffering so much because there is so little love in the home and in family life. We have no time for our children. — Mother Teresa There is no other Giver but God who creates and sustains all. So, meditate always on His name, submerge yourself in it and gather thereby the fruit of its bliss. — Guru Nanak Do you know how a lover of God feels? His attitude is: 'Thou art my father and mother. Thou art the whole, and I am a part'. He doesn't like to say. 'I am Brahman'. —
Shri Ramakrishna |
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