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Candidate Kalam Parental coercion |
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Hymns to Humanity
Presidential poll
Chemistry of love
Climate change will fuel global conflict Spurious computer parts can fool customers Armed fight over income tax!
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Candidate Kalam THE Presidential election has all the ingredients of a suspenseful drama. Exigencies, rather than well-thought-out policies, seem to guide political parties and leaders as they grapple with the issue. When the ruling Congress found that its original nominees did not inspire confidence among its allies in the UPA and the Left parties, it found virtue in fielding Mrs Pratibha
Patil. The entire selection process became comical when it was mentioned that she, too, was a Shekhawat as if that would make some difference to the high office she would be contesting for. When it appeared that there would be a direct contest between her and Vice-President Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat, the Third Front threw a spanner in the works by suggesting the need for consensus on giving President
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam a second term. With Mr Shekhawat supporting the Third Front idea, the
NDA, which had at one point indicated to Mr Kalam that there was no consensus on his candidature a second time, found a turnaround necessary. As for President
Kalam, who described Mrs Pratibha Patil’s nomination as “fantastic”, he, too, did a somersault. From his position that he would not contest if there was no political consensus on his candidature, President Kalam has come down a bit to say that if victory was assured, he was ready to contest. There is no trace of any principle in what he says as almost everybody would be ready to contest if he is certain of success. Whatever may be Mr Kalam’s final decision, he has not crowned himself with glory in changing his position, which shows that he too hankers after power. In other words, he has become a willing tool in the hands of some Opposition leaders. In all this, the political parties are only bothered about scoring a point over their rivals. They do not seem to have given any thought to the need to choose a candidate who has all the qualities expected of a person who will hold the highest office in the country. He or she should be able to inspire confidence among the people as a person who will ensure that all government decisions are within the bounds of the Constitution. It would have been doubly welcome if they had found a person on whose candidature the ruling combine and the Opposition could have reached a consensus. Instead, the nation is witness to petty politicking in the name of choosing a new President. |
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Parental
coercion THE report that a 15-year old boy in Tamil Nadu performed a Caesarian-section operation is shocking. He could not have done this but for the encouragement he got from his doctor parents. While medical ethics is central to this dangerously scandalous conduct, there are larger issues involved. Parents making their, often underage, offspring perform for the sake of public applause and achieving 'records' is assuming new and hazardous dimensions. In this case, the parents — Dr K
Murugesan, a general surgeon, and Dr M Gandhimathi, an obstetrician -- who run the Mathi Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Manaparai allowed their son, a Class X student, to carry out the operation. The fond parents recorded their son's performance on video for the sole purpose of seeing him hailed as the world's youngest surgeon. The blatant violation of medical norms occurred in April and the ‘event’, according to reports, was screened for the benefit of the local wing of the Indian Medical Association. The shocked reaction of the audience, followed by public outrage, has sent the parents scurrying for cover. It is needless to emphasise that this is a fit case for prompt investigation and extremely deterrent action. If they are found guilty they should be debarred from practice and the hospital taken out of their control. The trend of parents coercing underage children to perform feats — from driving cars and motorbikes to participating in athletic and sports events — is catching on at an unhealthy rate and spreading to practices that call for special qualifications and skills. The cruel exploitation of children as record-breaking trophies is objectionable for its inhumanity. However, unless the children are driven to commit an offence, the parents cannot be proceeded against under the law. The practice of making children drive motorised vehicles or perform surgical operations endangers more than the psyche of the child; the perversity of the parents becomes a public hazard. The doctors who let their teenaged son play at being a surgeon on a pregnant woman are as serious a threat to life and public health as parents who let their children drive cars. The offenders deserve exemplary punishment. |
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Hymns to
Humanity UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World’ register is an interesting exercise in identifying documentary heritage of world significance, and since 1997, it has added a total of 158 items. From India this year, 30 manuscripts of the Rig Veda dating from 1800 to 1500 BC, kept in the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune, have been added to the register, where it shares space with 19th century European texts and a 1939 Hollywood film, among other things. The relevant entry in the listing, adds, rather coyly, that “for Indians, the Vedas exist since the beginning of the world and are the source of revealed truth.” There is no doubt however, that these Sanskrit writings are thousands of years old, and may well be humanity’s earliest body of literature. They have attracted the attention of scholars worldwide ever since Max Mueller’s celebrated translations and writings on them, and their exact dates are still hotly debated. Many believe that they may well be of greater antiquity than even Mueller’s rather arbitrarily ascribed date of 1500 BC. Sanskrit’s shared linguistic heritage with European tongues is well documented, and the Vedas reflect the modes, manners and musings of a civilisation that resonates down the millennia and captures the imagination of all societies. India has welcomed the inclusion in the register, specifically noting that the Vedas’ value goes far beyond its status as scripture. Sanskrit and Vedic studies have not been helped by the fact that they carry strong political, religious and social associations. A concerted effort must be made to encourage free and unbiased research with the highest standards of scholarship, and with no axes to grind. The body of scholarship on Sanskrit texts falls short of what has been done on other classical literatures, though isolated work of quality is being pursued at many centres around the world and in India. Efforts must continue to facilitate more and better research, and bring together isolated attempts to create a coherent body of knowledge. |
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A diplomat ...is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the
trip. — Caskie Stinnett |
Presidential poll
THE Presidential poll has been notified. The race is on — with a late twist in the tale — but the process has sadly been sullied, not so much by the candidates but by party managers, aided by sections of the media, which displays a tendency to reduce everything to a tamasha. The first thing that needs to be said is that the two principal contenders, Ms Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan, and the Vice-President, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, have conducted themselves with dignity. Both are eminently suitable and whosoever wins, the country will not However, it defies understanding why the Congress is noisily insistent on a consensus in favour of Ms Patil and why the BJP has been so ungracious about her nomination. A presidential contest is a normal, healthy, democratic procedure and not something to be denounced or aborted. Why should not candidates be pitted against one another, outline their views and stand the test of public scrutiny before being called upon to assume high office. What is demeaning about it? Rather, it is the wholly undemocratic Congress culture, nurtured over decades, that has sought to avoid democratic contest and “manage” an authoritarian and oftentimes imposed party “consensus” to the detriment of values, processes and outcomes that is to be deplored. What has then been hailed as a “victory” has time and again been a product of pressure and petulance, leaving behind a trail of bitterness, humiliation and hypocrisy that has done the party no good and set wrong standards. To offload this “Congress culture” on the nation is a gross imposition and morally repugnant. The very idea of a constitutionally-ordained election under due process implies a contest and not a charade. Why run away? And the plea that “we backed your candidate the last time and so you must return the favour” is puerile. A consensus, if it comes, must come naturally. To argue that the nomination of a woman candidate demands consensus is equally fatuous. Gender is a qualification and certainly has high symbolic value. But it is only one qualification and the BJP’s retort that “you did not support our woman candidate on a previous occasion” is an illogical answer to a false proposition. The BJP has been equally churlish in decrying Ms Patil as not “the first or natural choice” of the UPA but merely a default candidate. Her name only came up publicly after the UPA partners failed to agree on any of the earlier nominees. This is true but does not detract from Ms Patil’s suitability. She is well educated, an experienced legislator and has been a minister in her state and at the Centre, was a presiding officer in the Rajya Sabha, is now a Governor and has been a long time social worker. That is no mean record; and to be unassuming and have a reputation for integrity is no disqualification. Mr Shekhawat, too, has a fine reputation as a person with vast political experience. He, too, is eminently qualified for the job. The problem lies in the fact that the Congress/UPA bandied about their possible choices prematurely. The media went to town with these, running all manner of polls and commentaries, some of which were not in good taste, trivialising the Presidential poll as a popularity contest. The suggestion that Ms Patil’s main virtue is “loyalty” to the Congress President and is, therefore, a “safe” rubber-stamp who can be trusted to bail the Congress or the UPA out in any difficult situation in the future, is uncharitable and unfortunate. Why should loyalty to one’s party of origin be a disqualification? Mr Shekhawat has risen above the BJP as Vice-President. Ms Patil must be relied upon to do the same should she be elected President and there is no reason to presume otherwise. High office very often makes the incumbent obedient to a higher loyalty — the Constitution. Certainly some have failed this test in the past. But to damn either of today’s leading Presidential candidates for the real or alleged failure of others would be to deny virtue forever in every sphere. This is cynicism and nihilism gone wild. The pre-selection process has certainly shown up certain weaknesses that call for debate and review. The notion that only politicians or administrators are suited to be Heads of State is fallacious. It is this narrowing of choice that has resulted in so many mediocrities and misfits being appointed Governors over the years. Regrettably, the criterion has been to induct hatchet men or fixers to do the Centre’s bidding or to put a failed politician out to pasture. The Governor has a constitutional role and is more than a figurehead. It also ill behoves Governors, chameleon-like, to tailor principles to the prevailing winds as we have witnessed very recently when the Governor of UP read an Address inaugurating the new Assembly accusing the previous government of being “unconstitutional” and of promoting “goonda and mafia raj”. How then did he preside over such criminality? Independent professionals, academics and achievers can also fill high offices with grace and distinction. President Kalam is an obvious example. Regrettably, his name was bruited about unauthorisedly for ulterior motives. He has, however, surprised all by indicating willingness given “certainty”. His late entry adds suspense but little clarity to what has become a murky comedy of
errors.
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Chemistry of love
I
have always had my doubts about this business of falling in love at first sight. I was intrigued, therefore, to read an article in a foreign magazine from which I quote: “According to a Los Angeles neurochemist, Dr Eugene Roberts, love at first sight is not strictly a human act but the electrical response to command neurons. It is, in fact, little better than a programmed release of glandular chemicals.” I am not denying that such electrical responses to the release of glandular chemicals frequently affected my system in the days of my youth. The first time this happened to me was at a Christmas party nearly 80 years ago. I was in short pants, and the object of my adoration, in pigtails. The fact that my face was spotted with acne and that she had rather prominent front teeth didn’t matter. We just fell for each other, “hook, line and sinker.” For about three months I wooed the lass with packets of chewing gum and 4-anna comics. Then came a rival, with more pocket money than I had, who cut me out with slabs of imported chocolets, glass bangles and other gew-gaws. My little world collapsed, but built itself up again in a surprisingly short space of time. My next excursion in the field of romance took place when I had changed from short pants to the baggy trousers that were popular with under-graduates in the ’30s. A rather attractive girl in my class used to borrow my notes and, in due course, stole my heart. Without taking the elementary precaution of finding out whether her electrical responses towards me were similar to those that I experienced whenever I saw her, I dashed off a poem and put it between the pages of a library book that she had asked me to obtain for her. The poem wasn’t, I regret to say, an original effort. All I had done was to copy out one of Byron’s odes, substituting the girl’s name for that of a lady of the poet’s mercurial fancy. I don’t think the girl was familiar with the poetical works of Lord Byron so the substitution didn’t matter, but the rather impassioned language did. It “upset” her so much that she gave my handwritten note to her father who promptly took it round the Principal of my college. After an extremely unpleasant interview with the Principal and my tutor, I was rusticated from the college for a fortnight. I think my scepticism and my aversion to poetry both began about this time and have clung to me ever
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Climate change will fuel global conflict NAIROBI — Climate change has become a major security issue that could lead to “a world going up in flames”, the United Nation’s most senior environment official has warned. From rising sea levels in the Indian Ocean to increasing desertification in the African Sahel region, global warming will cause new wars across the world, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). “People are being pushed into other people’s terrain by the changing climate and it is leading to conflict,” he said. “Societies are not prepared for the scale and the speed with which they will have to decide what they will do with people.” The world is already experiencing its first war partly caused by climate change, he said. Dramatic changes to the environment in the Darfur region of Sudan helped lay the groundwork for today’s conflict which has displaced more than 2.5 million people and seen at least 200,000 killed. A new UNEP report will make a direct link between climate change and the Darfur conflict. “It will be one of the most significant documents in terms of linking environment change and conflict,” Mr Steiner said. “It draws a line in the sand. It will say that climate change is now a key dimension that must be considered in conflict issues in the future.” The roots of the four-year conflict can be found in the devastating drought that swept through Sudan and the Horn of Africa in the 1980s, the report will say. Since then rainfall in Sudan has dropped by 40 per cent, a result, claim scientists, of global warming. Nomadic herders and farmers, who had previously shared their land relatively peacefully, suddenly found far less fertile soil to go around. Farmers began to fence off land they had once allowed nomads to pass through. Clashes over shrinking resources between nomads, who tend to be Arab, and the mainly African farmers became more widespread. The current crisis was sparked by a rebellion launched by three Darfuri tribes, and a ferocious counter-insurgency unleashed by Khartoum, but the dramatic changes to Darfur’s ecology appear to have been a contributing factor. “What we see in Darfur is an environmental change phenomenon unfolding that puts pressure on local communities,” he said. “Combine that with potential tensions that are either of an ethnic or a religious nature and you very quickly get a potent mix within which increased pressure can result in conflict. People have to look for an alternative or they have to displace others. The situation that emerged in Darfur will emerge in other parts of the world.” He warned of a “world going up in flames” if countries did not “wake up”. “It is a major security issue that affects the whole geopolitical dynamics that we have today.” Earlier this year Britain used its presidency of the UN Security Council to lead its first ever debate on climate change and conflict. “What makes wars start?” asked Britain’s foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett. “Fights over water. Changing patterns of rainfall. Fights over food production, land use. There are few greater potential threats... to peace and security itself.” The two major areas of potential conflict, Mr Steiner said, are the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa and east Asia. “In the next 35 years most of the glaciers in the Himalayas will melt. They will disappear. You are talking of 500 million people being affected by that directly and another 250 million people affected downstream.” Rising sea levels off the coast of Bangladesh are another potential area for conflict, he said. “India has already started building a wall to stop Bangladeshis coming across. The predicted half a metre sea level rise means 34 million people not being able to stay where they are now. Where will they go? They will break through the boundaries.” But Africa is likely to suffer most. The continent whose people own the least number of SUVs and take the smallest amount of international flights is going to experience the worst consequences of climate change. Rising sea levels could destroy up to 30 per cent of the continent’s coastline, while between 25 and 40 per cent of Africa’s natural habitats could be lost by 2085, according to the UN. “Africa is more prone to it right now,” said Mr Steiner. “It is the frontline of climate change and it is the least prepared for it. Examples like Darfur give people a sense of reality.” Conflicts caused by a scarcity of resources are already brewing across Africa. In Ghana clashes between farmers and Fulani herders have become more widespread in the past two years as resources have become increasingly scarce. In the Mount Elgon region of Kenya more than 40,000 people have been displaced as different tribes have fought over access to land. “It doesn’t take much imagination,” he said. “If the Zambezi (river) suddenly takes less water, or takes it at different times of year” it could cause provoke confrontations over scarce resources, he said. Climate change will not only lead to more wars, Mr Steiner said, it will also cause problems post-conflict. According to the UNEP report on Darfur the majority of those displaced by the conflict will be never able to return to their homes. “We have reached a tipping point,” he said. “In parts of Darfur the environment can no longer sustain its population. We have moved beyond a point of return.” By arrangement with
The Independent
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Spurious computer parts can fool customers You
have paid thousands of rupees for a Personal Computer (PC) but you may not have ended up with the genuine stuff. Your seller might have supplied you a counterfeited hard disk that does not take too long to crash, an outdated picture tube which gives you a tough time with the monitor, a processor that is much slower than what your bill document reads. and a power supply system that might well result in short circuits and higher power consumption. The real value of the product you got could actually be 30 to 50 per cent lesser than what you paid for. The business of counterfeiting computer hardware in India has recorded an alarming rise in recent times causing concern even among leading manufacturers. The price differential being the key reason, the incidences of non-genuine computer parts entering the market are constantly on the rise. And sufferers are not just individual buyers, who are easy targets. Cases where large institutions – banks, e-governance projects etc – have been supplied with parts that are not genuine have been detected. An estimated increase of 30 to 40 per cent within a year in the grey market for hardware proves this point. The long- term impact of the problem could actually be more serious. Apart from customers being fooled, it could put a significant dent on sales of genuine products. While an old product marked as a new one comes cheaper, encouraging more in the trade to adopt such practices, sources of such counterfeit items vary. “The stuff dumped by the US in China is refurbished and is sold off in the Indian market. A customer who pays for a genuine product gets a spurious item in return. And the problem is not only in the case of sales to individuals. Even large corporate houses, government establishments and banks have been befooled in this manner,” says Ajai
Chowdhry, founder of HCL and chairman and CEO of HCL Infosystems. Sources reveal that in a state government undertaking in Ahmedabad and in a public sector bank in Bangalore, it was found that instead of the mechanical keyboard for which the order was placed, the supplied ones only resembled mechanical keyboards. In another case, old, repaired hard disks were sold at the cost of genuine ones. Entry-level processors, it was found, were remarked as high end ones. Even the relatively cheaper monitors had old picture tubes supplied as new ones. In case of power supply, it was found that earthing and shielding were not proper due to poor quality material. Counterfeited parts being 30 per cent to 50 per cent cheaper, suppliers are able to sell computers at heavily discounted rates that act as a big allurement for this price sensitive market. Experts, with little efforts, are able to detect the flaws. For instance, a counterfeit monitor would have numerous magnetic strips in addition to a yoke coil, unlike a genuine one which uses only a yoke coil to focus the electronic beam. In case of hard disks, the refurbished ones would have a mark stating that it is ‘repaired’. For a layman, however, differentiating between genuine parts and counterfeit ones is quite tough. The simple reason is, one does not open the computer when one buys it and second, one is not aware of the technicalities. In a majority of cases, an individual never realises that he was supplied a refurbished or counterfeit part. He faces a problem – may be the hard disk crashes or the computer slows down or something else – and he has to struggle as he relies totally on the supplier. In case of large institutions also, where only samples were sent for checking, detection came only after it was found that the problem existed with several computers. Large users mostly blacklisted the suppliers. For an individual user, however, the situation is tougher. Alarmed over the scenario, large scale manufactures are taking it up seriously. Associations of manufacturers are also raising the issue collectively. HCL, a $ 4-billion IT enterprise, has launched a campaign against counterfeit hardware. The company has put forth the issue with the government and has written to government departments, leading banks and other users. “We would also be meeting each state government.” For computer users, awareness is a must if they are not to go through such harassment.
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Armed fight over income tax! WASHINGTON – Deep in the New Hampshire woods in America, a man and his wife are holed-up, armed to the teeth, threatening to fight US marshals to the death if they try to capture them and force them to pay income tax they owe. “Do not, under any circumstances, make any attempt on this land. We will not accept any tomfoolery by any criminal element, be it federal, state or local,” the tax rebel Ed Brown shouted from an upstairs window. “We either walk out of here free or we die.” Mr. Brown, has been convicted in absentia and owes nearly $2 million in income tax. He refuses to pay however, saying: “There is no law,’ says Mr. Brown. ‘We looked and looked.” His defense has some resonance across rural America where taxation is always unpopular, especially at a time when incomes are stagnant and living costs are always seem to be rising. The courts were not amused however and this week SWAT teams, military and explosives vehicles descended on the tiny town of Plainfield. Planes flying overhead have been ordered away and neighbours have been taken from their homes as the siege, which has been going on for months suddenly escalated. Dressed as if for war, in full camouflage, replete with branches and leaves, armed anti-terrorist officers have been seen and photographed crawling through the woods near the hilltop building on the 110 acre farm. “If they come in, we’re dead. That’s it,” Mr. Brown’s wife Elaine said. “We will not be arrested. We will not volunteer to go into their prison for a non-crime. We have committed no crime.” It is a return of one of the worst nightmares for federal authorities. Handled the wrong way the siege has all the ingredients for an explosion of violence and death. One which could trigger a revival of home-grown anti-government terrorism of the sort that brought about the Oklahoma bombing of 1995. On Monday the Browns were joined by Randy Weaver, an infamous figure and a hero of anti-government circles. It was his defiance of federal authorities which led to the infamous Ruby Ridge shootout with federal agents when his wife and son and a deputy US marshal were killed during in Idaho in 1992. “We said, ‘This is it, we’re not going to take it any more’ ... This is serious stuff. Bring it on,” Weaver said on the Browns’ front porch. “I ain’t afraid of dying no more. I’m curious about the afterlife. And I’m an atheist.” His arrival at the farm was a reminder of the botched federal raid which gave an enormous boot to the nationwide patriot militia movement. Those events lead ultimately to the Oklahoma bombing and the deaths of 160 with over 800 left badly wounded on 19 April 1005. Belatedly the authorities cut the phone, electricity and Internet service at the fortified compound yesterday. The Browns have solar and wind power generators however and their capacity to hold out for months may test the patience of the authorities to the limit. By arrangement with
The Independent |
I want you to go and find the poor in your own homes. Above all, your love has to start there. True suffering does not know itself and never calculates. They alone, who keep God ever in their hearts, enjoy his grace and become his
favourites. |
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