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Farmers in debt They need institutional support IF 89 per cent of the farmer households in Punjab are under debt, as a recent PAU study points out, this in itself need not cause any worry. There is nothing wrong in taking loans. Americans are the world’s largest loan takers and spenders.
Troop reduction in
J and K
A matching coach!
Tortured reality Where paedophiles
and politicians go hand in hand Chatterati
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Judge in minority THANKFULLY, a two-member Bench of the Allahabad High Court has undone what amounted to a grave injustice when a single-member Bench of the same court ruled the previous day that Muslims in UP should not be treated as a minority. The timing of the verdict — on the eve of the first phase of the polling in the state — was such that it could have polarised the voters on communal lines. It was a patently wrong judgement in that the judge had bitten off more than he could chew. He used the ruse of a petition to revisit a judgement, which had been given by an 11-member Bench of the Supreme Court. The apex court had clearly ruled that to determine the minority status of a community, a whole state should be considered as one unit. Thus Hindus are a minority in Jammu and Kashmir and Muslims a minority in all other states. This being the settled issue, Mr Justice S.N. Srivastava had unnecessarily collated data to arrive at his warped conclusion that Muslims are no longer a minority. They may be a majority in some districts, as he pointed out, but that does not alter their status in the state. Using the same logic, Hindus are a majority community in some districts of J&K. Does that mean that they are not a minority in J&K? Similarly, Muslims would be in majority in some villages in all the states of the country. It is strange that such simple logic escaped the notice of the learned judge. Fortunately, the High Court did not take long to undo Justice Srivastava’s order. There are settled laws in the country. High courts are empowered to examine such laws if the situation demands but they should exercise caution. In the instant case, a larger Bench of the High Court was examining a similar issue and it would have been proper if the judge concerned had referred the petition to that Bench. Besides, he should also have gone through the relevant pronouncements of the Supreme Court before giving his startling verdict. By causing an embarrassment to the High Court, he has done a great disservice to the profession. The episode should serve as a lesson to all high court judges to restrain themselves from pronouncing verdicts on subjects which are clearly in the domain of the Supreme Court. |
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Farmers in debt IF 89 per cent of the farmer households in Punjab are under debt, as a recent PAU study points out, this in itself need not cause any worry. There is nothing wrong in taking loans. Americans are the world’s largest loan takers and spenders. But the farmers in Punjab, unlike Americans, do not have any social security and regular incomes to support the kind of lifestyles they lead. Crops can fail due to a drought, untimely rain or floods and there is no insurance against natural calamities. Besides, the cost of a loan is very high. Bank loans are expensive and managers unfriendly. Farmers turn to arhtiyas who overcharge. Taking a high-interest loan with an uncertain and declining income is a sure invitation to trouble. A farmer’s fate depends as much on government policies as on the rain gods. If farm prices rise beyond a limit, the government comes out with policies to suppress them. It can keep private traders out of the market and force farmers to sell their produce to its agencies only. According to the 2001 task force on agriculture, the farmers lost Rs 300,000 crore on account of the government depressing agricultural prices. If inflation is to be kept low so that the poor can buy their dal-roti, it is actually the farmer who pays the price. The PAU study also dispels the widely believed notion that most farmers divert loans to fund ostentatious social ceremonies. The majority uses loans productively. If farmers’ distress is to be tackled, the need is to make available cheap institutional credit, invest in rural infrastructure, link farm prices to the price index, ensure access to quality inputs and services and promote allied activities like horticulture, dairy, bee-keeping, fisheries etc to supplement farmers’ income. Loan waivers do not serve any long-term purpose. Suicides have continued in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region despite the Prime Minister’s relief package. |
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The more arguments you win, the less friends you will have. — American proverb
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Troop reduction in J and K The demand by the PDP for scaling down the deployment of troops in Jammu and Kashmir is mere posturing to gain some additional political space in the competitive politics of the state. Moderates in the Hurriyat and the National Conference do not oppose the demand, but question the motives behind it. It is interesting to note that when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the Chief Minister as a result of the arrangement between the PDP and the Congress, he did not raise any such demand. Fearing that the Centre might concede the PDP's demand for troop reduction and that the party would steal a march over others, the Hurriyat now wants complete withdrawal of the armed forces. So, it is a mere political one-upmanship There is also a clamour for doing away with the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Such demands overlook the basic fact that the Army is deployed for counter- terrorism operations, because the situation is well beyond the control of the civil administration and the police (including Central police organisations ( CPOs ), and the region is declared as a disturbed area. So, the AFSPA gets related to this classification of the region. If the concerned committee comes to the conclusion that J and K or the valley is no more a disturbed area, then the Army has no business to be there, other than along the LoC. Outside the AFSPA, the Army has no powers, not even police powers, to deal with the situation prevalent in insurgency-infested areas. The Army's deployment without conferring on it special powers is to push it in a counter-insurgency environment with its hands tied behind its back and blindfolded. Even a diluted AFSPA will not work and will merely embroil it in endless litigation in trumped up human rights violation cases. Army camps had to be established at the available and suitable locations all over the effected areas. Due to very limited availability of vacant land, these camps perforce had to be set up in orchards, on agricultural and private land. The amount towards fair compensation is determined by the civil administration. Thus, the contention that adequate compensation for such land use is not being paid is baseless. Due to the paucity of vacant land some camps have been perforce located on the periphery of villages; seriously compromising the safety and security of such camps. In the past, some of these camps came under attack by insurgents. These camps lack basic amenities and proper accommodation, and living is hard for the troops. Given half a chance, they would prefer to vacate these and move back to the barracks. Therefore, the demand for removing Army camps from orchards, agricultural and government land as also from other government buildings is politically motivated and not because of any substantial improvement in the situation or because of inadequate compensation, or even the availability of alternate locations. The other proposal being projected is to relocate the troops from the areas comparatively peaceful to the places where insurgents are more active. Insurgents are not tethered to one place, and surely it would be logical for them to shift their areas of operation back to from where troops are shifted or thinned out. It takes considerable effort and time for military units to establish an intelligence grid, know the area and people, etc. Equally, without intelligence anti-insurgency operations can be frustrating. Lack of intelligence or faulty intelligence inputs often lead to harassment of the innocent and other such aberrations. So, the proposal for the relocation of troops is best left to the military authorities controlling anti-insurgency operations. The Army has been involved in anti-insurgency operations in J and K for nearly 17 years without let-up. Such operations are extremely taxing and stressful and the least preferred option for troops. As such, the Army needs help and understanding, and not constant needling. It may be recalled that the release of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's kidnapped daughter in exchange for some jailed terrorists was what gave the most visible boost to insurgency in the valley. The proposal now being fielded — to withdraw or substantially reduce the deployment of the Army in J and K — will once again deliver a fresh boost to the morale and activities of anti-national elements, in and outside the political framework. India's inapt policy and handling of the J and K issue has resulted in the eviction of the non-Muslim population from the valley. While the Hindus were being systematically driven out of the valley, the administration remained a helpless onlooker. When the first batch of Kashmiri Pandits arrived in Jammu, I met the then Governor of J and K (the state was under Governor's rule) and impressed upon him that refugee camps for them be established in the valley itself and not in Jammu. It was also pointed out that security must be provided to those who are still living in the valley. Nothing to that end was done and the trickle became a torrent. Now the same game is being played out in Kishtwar, Doda, Poonch and Rajouri areas to drive out the Hindus, and the Central government is not only a helpless onlooker but also working towards reducing military deployment in the state. There are no legitimate grounds for the alienation of the people of J and K. Consider this: those below the poverty line are 3.48 per cent in the state as against 7.63 per cent in Himachal Pradesh (1999-2000 figures -- India Book of the Year 2004). Similarly, on other scales of development, J and K compares favourably with other states. It gets more Central aid than most other states. It has seen more construction activity of the most opulent variety than most other states. Those who pay taxes can be counted on one's fingertips. The Army's presence in such large numbers contributes to the economy of the state. Continuation of insurgency and uncertainty suits the political class in the valley with the bureaucracy equally content with it; both in the state and in Delhi. Article 370 of the Constitution of India continues to be in place, in spite of the fact that it has singularly come in the way of assimilating the people of J and K into the national mainstream. The state has had its own governments through free and fair elections with least interference from the Centre, except for a few very special circumstances. So, the issue of continuing with Article 370 needs to be debated. It is nobody's case that the J and K problem should linger on endlessly. As a first step, the systematic killing of Hindus to force them out of the state must be brought to an end with a firm hand. Effective steps should be taken to rehabilitate Pandits, which otherwise, and not surprisingly, no political party in the valley or even the Government of India seems to be interested in. The four-point proposal by General Musharraf appears unworkable and if put into practice, in its present form, it will work solely against India’s
interests.
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A matching coach! I
smiled satisfactorily at the bunch of boys. I was to coach them for a cricket match. “Remember, the whole country has eyes only for you. Brush your teeth thoroughly, wear clean clothes. Don’t take even your undergarments lightly — TV people love to do round-the- clock exclusives on them.” So we proceeded to the nets. “Sir”, said a lad, “Can I be excused? I have to shoot for an ad film promoting condoms”. I was pleased. Here is a lad with social service at heart. I patted him warmly. “Will return definitely tomorrow evening. After the all-night shoot, I shall need some rest”, he touched my feet reverently and disappeared. We began a bit of bending and stretching. “Hi honey”, cooed a senior boy into his mobile “we are doing aerobics and stuff like that. You know, our sir is a very strict guy. He wants cent per cent physical fitness”. Others too chatted away to mums, dads, wives and girlfriends— doing the exercises doggedly all the while. “Great “, I told them, “imagine that the mobile is the ball. That’s how you should hang on to it even while in motion”. “Sir ji”, said a boy with a sugary smile, “ I develop palpitations when the ball comes towards me. The tongue goes dry, hands tremble, and oh god — the legs!” Everybody smiled and nodded affectionately. Most of them, I realised, were victims of similar agonies. I showed them a few great Indian fielding techniques. How to dive fiercely, after the ball has left you, how to fall and lay motionless after dropping a simple catch, how to make a straight catch look difficult, and how to limp off the field (hurt badly in the terrific attempt!) after dropping a catch, etc. I also suggested hiring region-minded crowds for cheering loudly each time you made a contact with the ball — as a fielder, or as a batsman. Senior boys persuaded me to allow music in the nets — for better rhythm, balance and relaxation while batting and bowling. Thanda thanda, cool cool! “Sir”, said a VIP kid, “bouncers scare most of us. Is there a rule against wearing a dress similar to a fireman’s suit?” I gathered them in a corner and taught them a bhajan, Hanuman Chalisa etc. They were satisfied. We also identified astrologers who could advise which shots would be lucky for different players on different days. We also made a list of priests whose services would be useful. Finally I assured the bunch. “Don’t worry about the result. Our patriotic Indians are very forgiving. All they want is for coaches to resign. A few write- ups in the Press about how bad you are all feeling would be adequate. Like, say, “Bittoo the batter is a lonely man today. “. Sentiments will flow in your favour. Then manage a couple of solid victories in the roadside matches. The masses will start worshipping you again”. A stylish boy wondered which products they should not endorse. “Avoid tomatoes, eggs and effigy-making firms”, I counselled, “ and practice waking briskly through airports with heads covered fully up to the
shoulders”. |
Tortured reality Laila
al-Arian was wearing her headscarf at her desk at Nation Books, one of my New York publishers. No, she told me, it would be difficult to telephone her father. At the medical facility of his North Carolina prison, he can only make a few calls – monitored, of course – and he was growing steadily weaker. Sami al-Arian is 49 but he stayed on hunger strike for 60 days to protest the government outrage committed against him, a burlesque of justice which has, of course, largely failed to rouse the sleeping dogs of American journalism in New York, Washington and Los Angeles. All praise, then, to the journalist John Sugg from Tampa, Florida, who has been cataloguing al-Arian’s little Golgotha for months, along with Alexander Cockburn of Counter Punch. The story so far: Sami al-Arian, a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian, was a respected computer professor at the University of South Florida who tried, however vainly, to communicate the real tragedy of Palestinian Arabs to the US government. But, according to Sugg, Israel’s lobbyists were enraged by his lessons – al-Arian’s family was driven from Palestine in 1948 – and in 2003, at the instigation of Attorney General Ashcroft, he was arrested and charged with conspiring “to murder and maim” outside the United States and with raising money for Islamic Jihad in “Palestine”. He was held for two and a half years in solitary confinement, hobbling half a mile, his hands and feet shackled, merely to talk to his lawyers. Al-Arian’s $50-million Tampa trial lasted six months; the government called 80 witnesses (21 from Israel) and used 400 intercepted phone calls along with evidence of a conversation that a co-defendant had with al-Arian in – wait for it – a dream. The local judge, a certain James Moody, vetoed any remarks about Israeli military occupation or about UN Security Council Resolution 242, on the grounds that they would endanger the impartiality of the jurors. In December, 2005, al-Arian was acquitted on the most serious charges and on those remaining; the jurors voted 10 to two for acquittal. Because the FBI wanted to make further charges, al-Arian’s lawyers told him to make a plea that would end any further prosecution. Arriving for his sentence, however, al-Arian – who assumed time served would be his punishment, followed by deportation – found Moody talking about “blood” on the defendant’s hands and ensured he would have to spend another 11 months in jail. Then prosecutor Gordon Kromberg insisted that the Palestinian prisoner should testify against an Islamic think tank. Al-Arian believed his plea bargain had been dishonoured and refused to testify. He was held in contempt. And continues to languish in prison. Not so, of course, most of America’s torturers in Iraq. One of them turns out to rejoice in the name of Ric Fair, a “contract interrogator”, who has bared his soul in the Washington Post – all praise, here, by the way to the Post – about his escapades in the Fallujah interrogation “facility” of the 82nd Airborne Division. Fair has been having nightmares about an Iraqi whom he deprived of sleep during questioning “by forcing him to stand in a corner and stripping him of his clothes”. Now it is Fair who is deprived of sleep. “A man with no face stares at me ... pleads for help, but I’m afraid to move. He begins to cry. It s a pitiful sound, and it sickens me. He screams, but as I awaken, I realise the screams are mine.” Thank God, Fair didn’t write a play about his experiences and offer it to Channel 4 whose executives got cold feet about The Mark of Cain, the drama about British army abuse in Basra. They quickly bought into the line that transmission of Tony Marchant’s play might affect the now happy outcome of the far less riveting Iranian prison production of the Famous 15 “Servicepersons” – by angering the Muslim world with tales of how our boys in Basra beat up on the local Iraqis. As the reporter who first revealed the death of hotel worker Baha Mousa in British custody in Basra – I suppose we must always refer to his demise as “death” now that the soldiers present at his savage beating have been acquitted of murder – I can attest that Arab Muslims know all too well how gentle and refined our boys are during interrogation. It is we, the British at home, who are not supposed to believe in torture. The Iraqis know all about it – and who knew all about Mousa’s fate long before I reported it for The Independent on Sunday. Because it’s really all about shutting the reality of the Middle East off from us. It’s to prevent the British and American people from questioning the immoral and cruel and internationally illegal occupation of Muslim lands. And in the Land of the Free, this systematic censorship of Middle East reality continues even in the country’s schools. Now the principal of a Connecticut high school has banned a play by pupils, based on the letters and words of US soldiers serving in Iraq. Entitled Voices in Conflict, Natalie Kropf, Seth Koproski, James Presson and their fellow pupils at Wilton High School compiled the reflections of soldiers and others – including a 19-year-old Wilton High graduate killed in Iraq – to create their own play. To no avail. The drama might hurt those “who had lost loved ones or who had individuals serving as we speak”, proclaimed Timothy Canty, Wilton High’s principal. And – my favourite line – Canty believed there was not enough rehearsal time to ensure the play would provide “a legitimate instructional experience for our students”. By arrangement with
The Independent |
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Where paedophiles and politicians go hand in hand CANCUN, Mexico – A crusade against paedophiles has made Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, recently honored by Amnesty International, one of Mexico’s most celebrated and imperiled journalists. She is a target in a country where at least 17 journalists have been killed in the past five years and that trailed only Iraq in media deaths during 2006. Do-gooders and victims want to meet her, want to share their stories. Bad guys – well, they want her in a coffin. In the spring of 2005, Cacho published a searing expose of the child abuse and pornography rings flourishing amid the $500-a-night resorts and sugar-white beaches of Cancun. Her book The Demons of Eden: The Power That Protects Child Pornography chronicles in cringe-inducing detail the alleged habits of wealthy men whose sexual tastes run to 4-year-old girls. Her book was just a middling seller, and her fight against child abusers was getting little attention until one afternoon in mid-December 2005 – the afternoon the cops showed up. On that day, Cacho says, police officers from the far-off state of Puebla shoved her into a van outside the women’s center she runs on a crumbling side street. They drove her 950 miles across Mexico, she says, jamming gun barrels into her face and taunting her for 20 hours with threats that she would be drowned, raped or murdered. The police have disputed her version of events, saying she was treated well. Cacho found herself in police custody because Mexico’s “Denim King,” textile magnate Kamel Nacif, had accused her of defamation, then a criminal offense. (Inspired by Cacho’s case, the Mexican Congress recently passed a law decriminalising defamation.) Cacho had written that Nacif used his influence to protect a suspected child molester, Cancun hotel owner Jean Succar Kuri, and that one of Succar’s alleged victims was certain Nacif also abused underage girls. Cacho had triggered her car alarm as she was being taken into custody, a predetermined signal to alert her staff to trouble. Friends suspected the men in uniform were only posing as police. E-mails and phone calls zinged from Cancun to Mexico City, and from there to international human rights groups. While Cacho, who was recovering from pneumonia, tried unsuccessfully to persuade her captors to stop for medicine, her friends were panicking and demanding answers. “There was so much fear,” recalled Lucero Saldana, then a Mexican senator. “We were thinking there might have been an attempt on her life, that she might have been kidnapped.” Saldana, taking no chances, was waiting when Lydia Cacho arrived at the jail in Puebla, a picturesque city east of Mexico City. She scrambled to arrange bail. But even a fired-up Mexican senator could not save Cacho from a humiliating strip search while a clutch of male officers loitered on the other side of a thin plastic curtain. After nearly half a day in jail, Cacho was free on bond, though rattled. She was soon to find out how highly placed her enemies were. Two months later, tapes started airing on Mexican radio stations, crude male voices spewing obscenities. It was clear the men were talking about Lydia Cacho. “My precious governor,” Nacif can be heard saying. “My hero,” another voice says. That second voice was unmistakable. It was Puebla Gov. Mario Marin, a stalwart of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which dominated Mexico for seven decades before losing its grip on the presidency in 2000. “Well, yesterday, I gave a (expletive) whack on the head to that old bitch,” Marin tells Nacif. Nacif thanks his “precious governor” for ordering Cacho’s arrest and says he will send Marin “a beautiful bottle of cognac.” Marin acknowledged to the press that the voice was his, but he said the recordings were taken out of context. His rebuttal had almost no impact. In the court of public opinion, the verdict was clear: Cacho was the victim of influence peddling and a political vendetta. Cacho has since persuaded Mexico’s Supreme Court to hear a human rights complaint – the first such case involving a journalist for a court that previously looked into human rights cases only from the distant past. But in Mexico, where corruption and violence against women are rampant, there have been no repercussions for the central players. By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post |
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Chatterati The
luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife, Gursharan Kaur, for the spouses of SAARC leaders, began with lip-smacking appetisers like papri chaat and sev puri, famous for their tantalising tastes. Malabar fish curry with lamb pepper fry and cauliflower milagu made up the main course. For the vegetarians, there was Malabar vegetable curry with paneer pepper fry and cauliflower spiced with pepper, which was accompanied by a spicy cottage cheese preparation. To pamper the ladies’ taste buds, all the main courses were served with plain steamed rice, pachdi raita, puri and the ever-famous Amritsari kulcha. The spouses of the leaders merrily sank their forks and spoons into the dishes and also feasted on a fashion show, while their better halves were busy deliberating issues on the concluding day of the 14th SAARC summit last Wednesday. The fashion show, by one of India’s leading fashion designers, Ritu Kumar, was magnificent. Many visiting SAARC delegates and their families did not miss the opportunity provided by the summit to do some sightseeing or shopping. They didn’t even attend the inauguration ceremony, in order to make it to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. Delhi’s Metro rail also seemed to be a big hit with the delegates. Tamasha in
Uttar Pradesh Keeping an eye on the UP election campaign is actually fun, with apologies to the common man. Whereas the Congress has Rahul Gandhi calling out hopelessly to the youth, the BJP is happy with the Ghar Wapasi of Sanyasin Uma Bharti and the Hindutva card. Mulayam Singh Yadav is all geared up with his bandwagon of film stars like Jayaprada, Jaya Bachchan, Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya. The BJP, after having used Shatrugan Sinha, Hema Malini and Smriti Irani effectively in the Delhi MCD elections, has shifted them to UP. Mayawati is star enough not to need any bollywood stars. The opinion poll pundits have put the Congress at the very last, even though Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka will be campaigning. Mayawati, they feel, may make it as ticket distribution has been well thought through – upper caste Brahmins, Shastriyas and Rajputs all are part and parcel of the BSP now. But the sad part is that the aam aadmi in UP is still demoralised and feeling left out as the central brigade of non-performers seem to have taken over the campaign. The Congress party might have come to power at the centre with the slogan “Congress ka haath, aam-admi ke saath” (Congress’ hand is with the common man) but it wants to get mileage out of the pictures of the khas admi in the state, which has been sharply divided on caste lines and chamchagiri, as usual. |
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