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I. Day for Q Master of populism |
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Yazidis under attack
Suicides in the Army
Washerman-scribe
Uneven development troubles Haryana Collective amnesia: where is the cinema of Partition? Delhi Durbar
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I. Day for Q BOFORS accused Ottavio Quattrochi has walked free - incidentally on Independence Day following India’s failure to appeal against an Argentine court’s decision not to extradite him. Although he has accused the Central Bureau of Investigation of hounding him for political reasons, actually he has to thank this investigating agency for being so easy on him, whether deliberately or otherwise. Mind you, the Italian won his freedom after six months, not because the court was impressed by his plea that the motive for his arrest was political, but because of the “irregularities detected” in the handling of the case by the CBI. As the judge noted, his preventive arrest took place because there was an arrest warrant issued by a special judge in Delhi on May 25, 1997. Consequently, the request of extradition had to be based on that warrant and the relevant documentation should have been enclosed in compliance with the formalities provided for in the International Law of Cooperation. It defies logic that the CBI went in for a new arrest warrant which was issued after he was detained. But that is nothing new. The investigating agency has all along been proceeding in strange ways, and conveniently losing legal battles in Malaysia, Britain and now Argentina. In fact, the Malaysian High Court had passed severe strictures on the Indian authorities for their “failure” and “unwillingness” to lay formal charges against Quattrocchi for judging whether he had really committed extradition-grade offences. When he was taken into preventive custody in Argentina on February 6, the CBI kept the news under wraps -- despite having been informed on February 7 -- and announced it only on February 23, the day he was released from custody by the Argentine authorities. Small wonder that allegations of a cover-up are getting louder and louder. Quattrocchi is now virtually off the hook. His bank accounts have already been de-frozen. The Delhi High Court has quashed the corruption charges in the Bofors case and only a cheating case remains against him. Ironically, the CBI did not even challenge the verdict and the Supreme Court admitted a public interest suit against the ruling. |
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Master of populism IT was discomforting to see Punjab ministers hand over bags of wheat and dal to poor people on the 60th Independence Day. It might have given some satisfaction to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to see his electoral promise being implemented, but the state as well as the Shiromani Akali Dal will pay dearly for this largesse. There is an old saying that it is better to teach the needy how to fish, rather than help them by giving fish free of cost. Giving freebies at the state cost comes naturally to Mr Badal. Whether it is free power to farmers and weaker sections or free vehicles and fuel to his favourites, Mr Badal remains extravagant with state funds. For a state that has stopped provident fund withdrawals and payment of TA/DA bills to its employees to tide over the financial crisis, is it proper to spend Rs 250 crore on a scheme that is open to misuse? Even before the formal launch of the scheme, at least 315 quintals of wheat had reportedly gone missing from Markfed godowns. Punjab is also notorious for diverting subsidised wheat meant for the public distribution scheme for sale in the open market. Though the government has set up a cell to monitor the scheme, corruption is too rampant to make the leaky system foolproof. The money could have been better spent on creating employment for the poor by building rural infrastructure. When Mr Badal approached the Centre to seek money for the kanak-dal scheme, the Planning Commission rejected the demand, saying it was an “unproductive expenditure”. The Chief Minister believes in appeasement to win elections and to achieve that end he fritters the state’s limited resources instead of investing them in development works. See the contrast between the Prime Minister’s Independence-Day agenda for inclusive growth with a clear focus on education, health, agriculture and infrastructure and Mr Badal’s short-term goal of winning the next election. |
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Yazidis under attack SECTARIAN killings in Iraq have ceased to attract world attention because they have become a daily occurrence. But what happened in Sinjar district, near Mosul, on Tuesday, resulting in the death of over 200 persons, shows a new dimension. The sectarian problem is no longer confined to the Shias and Sunnis. The victims of the latest explosions, when suicide bombers blew up four explosive-packed lorries late on Tuesday evening, were a little-known minority group called Yazidis. Two of their villages have been destroyed. They are ethnic Kurds but are considered non-Muslims. The Yazidis practise a religion which is a mixture of Zoroastrian and Manichean beliefs. They respect the Biblical and Quranic prophets, but worship a peacock-angel. Al-Qaeda in Iraq might have been looking for an opportunity to attack the Yazidis in a big way after a girl belonging to this sect converted to Islam to marry a Sunni Muslim earlier this year. The incident led to sectarian tension, resulting in the killing of 23 Yazidi textile workers near Mosul. This was a reprisal attack on the sect as thousands of Yazidis had stoned the girl to death after she married her Muslim boyfriend. The Yazidis, a poverty-stricken community numbering over 3,50,000, mainly live in the areas surrounding Mosul. Surprisingly, there was no sufficient presence of Iraqi or US security forces in the Sinjar area, making it a soft target for Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda has been fishing in the troubled waters with insurgency and the sectarian problem remaining uncontrolled. The US and Iraqi forces could not take advantage of a recent revolt by the tribal leaders against Al-Qaeda. In fact, the US troops are under attack from both Shia and Sunni extremist groups. It is, therefore, not surprising that the US has been unable to find an exit route. Under the prevailing circumstances, the US cannot leave Iraq to the Iraqis. It does not trust the majority Shias because most of them are pro-Iran. The question of trusting the Sunnis does not arise as they nurse grievances against the US for depriving them of power and hence provide recruits to Al-Qaeda. |
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Delight hath a joy in it either permanent or present. Laughter has only a scornful tickling.
— Philip Sydney |
Suicides in the Army
Every
other day one comes across news about suicides and fratricides in the Army. These cases are stated to be far more in number than battle casualties and are causing widespread concern both within the services and outside. The reasons mentioned are a stressful work environment, prolonged engagement on internal security duties making it difficult for the jawans to attend to their urgent domestic responsibilities, abusive language and perceived humiliation by superiors, employing troops in demeaning household chores, handing out physical punishment, poor command and control, increased workload and issues concerning marital, financial, medical problems of the families and the issues relating to children’s education. Among the remedial measures are a host of suggestions. Officers should put hierarchy behind them and open clogged communication channels with his men, JCOs to be given special training on handling the men under their charge, state governments to be advised to instruct their district officers for giving prompt attention to problems of the families while jawans are on active duty elsewhere, liberal leave arrangements, et al. Also, psychological testing at the time of recruitment and counselling of troops in difficult areas. It is also argued that the jawans should be paid well, the present level of remuneration being inadequate and hence the frustration, which may be leading to depression and sometimes to extreme steps. Some of these problems are internal to the services, and have continued for a long time. Despite attention being drawn to these from time to time, the situation has not changed much. The Committee on Defence Expenditure (1990-91) had received numerous letters on these issues, also from the jawans. These were brought to the attention of the appropriate echelons for taking remedial measures. The grievance redress procedures in the armed forces call for urgent review, and any procrastination will be counter-productive. These steps will resolve some of the problems, but not all. To appreciate the whole gamut of issues involved, one has to go back in history. Until 1962, the strength of the Army, and also of the Navy and the Air Force, was very small. Then sudden expansion took place, and the increase in numbers was met in two ways. The intake was stepped up, but this had its limits due to the constraint of capacity at the training establishments. So, the length of colour service of jawans, which was seven years, was increased to nine years, then even more and more, and eventually to 17 years. Thus, while in earlier years a jawan served for seven years and then went home at the age of about 25 years, now he stays for 17 years until the age of about 37 years. This step has generated new and unforeseen problems. Earlier a jawan usually remained unmarried while in service, and there was no distraction for him on the family front. Today, he stays in service at least until the age of 37 years, has family, children and the usual problems. Over the years, the joint family has become diluted, even in the villages, and hence the problems relating to the stay of the family while the jawan serves on active duty. Besides, unlike the earlier days, the jawan is now a matriculate (except in a few cases) and, due also to his exposure to the wide world outside the village, he is not willing to keep his family in the village and deny his children the benefit of education, better health care, etc. So, now it is the nuclear family in a large number of cases and the support system of a joint family has disappeared. Even in cases where the family stays in the village, or elsewhere, with the relatives, problems are being faced, including the mistreatment and abuse (in many cases even sexual abuse, which is a major cause for stress). Moreover, now since the jawan is not illiterate, as in olden days, he also resents doing work like a domestic servant. The increase in the colour service, from seven years to 17 years, has also generated other issues. For one, it has created an adverse age profile in the armed forces. It does not need a debate to appreciate that only the young and healthy are fit for a fighting force. Whereas in earlier days the troops were in the 17 -25 age bracket, now they are in the 17-37 age bracket. It is also unrealistic to expect that the JCOs, in their forties and early fifties, would be able to match the vigour and stamina of much younger persons. In the 1960s a battalion commander was in his early thirties. Today he is in the mid-forties. So, we now face the geriatric problem. There is also the sociological aspect. At 37 we ask a jawan to go home on retirement when he is already married, has children and looks forward to educate the children and get them settled in life. He is not old enough to retire at this age and sit in his village home and relax. The thought of going home after 17 years in great uncertainty about his future is itself sufficient cause for anxiety and mental stress. At this stage of life he must also seek ways not only to augment his pension income but also to keep himself busy. So, to compensate him the system has devised ingenious ways — give him more money, on one count or another. We have a system of weightage in service for the purpose of higher pension, better commutation value for pension, etc, and, of course, enlargement of the Department of Rehabilitation to find jobs for the retiring jawans. To my mind, all these are palliatives for the simple reason that these ignore the basic issues —adverse age profile and retirement at an unrealistic age level. There is also the question of appropriate remuneration. The established relativities in the government pay system are not easy to be overlooked. Moreover, in the government (including the armed forces), salaries are uniformly given to all irrespective of the nature of job or individual performance. Neither is any difference made in the salary level on account of differing hardships, importance or the stress level involved in different jobs. It is also often argued that the troops should not be employed on internal security. There are, of course, para-military organisations for such duties and additional support from the armed forces is also required. It would be a weak argument to suggest that the armed forces should only be called out when there is an external threat. In any case, there is covert external threat all the time in the guise of terrorism supported from outside. Other countries also deploy their armed forces on such duties. Several countries have sent their troops abroad to counter the threat from terrorists and are engaged in providing internal security beyond the borders of their own countries. However, the problems facing the forces are real and not easy to resolve. Yet these cannot be addressed by mere palliatives that would only give a false sense of well-being in the short run. What is really needed is a look at the entire gamut of issues involved in the manpower policy for the forces and explore solutions that would be less stressful. Are we ready for it? Can we put it off, really?n The writer is a former Secretary (Finance), Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
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Washerman-scribe
WE credit an Englishman, James Angustus Hicky, for bringing out the first newspaper in our country. His newspaper won him more brickbats than bouquets because he started prying into the private life of the white elite. His peephole journalism brought him deportation. He bounced back. When Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975 and censorship in its trail, at least one newspaper from Jullundur tried bringing out its edition using a tractor, as its power supply had been cut off. “Indian Press”, now deceased, carried a picture of it. I recall these instances to prove my point that journalism, “literature in a hurry”, has always found ardent lovers willing to go to any length to focus attention on public issues. I call it a commitment to values. Now comes the report of a washerman, Gaurishankar Razak of Dumka, in Jharkhand, bringing out a newspaper (call it newssheet). The revolutionary aspect of it is that it is not printed, it is handwritten. Another astounding aspect of it is that the editor-printer-publisher has been doing it for nearly two decades. His longhand-produced Deen Dalit is in Hindi. It is not priced. He writes one copy in his own hand, gets about 50 photocopies made, and without any hawkers or vendors, pastes them at prominent places. Every passerby can look or read it and think about the vital “public issues” he highlights in a particular edition. This journalist earns his bread (no butter) washing clothes but that does not prevent him for writing his daily newspaper. A scribe of this stature is brushed off as a freak and seldom gets serious note or pat from society. Our washerman is unapplauded because he does not wash dirty linen! His focus is on important “public issues”, corruption and civic problems. His DD is registered with RNI, Registrar of Newspapers in India, New Delhi, according to the newspaper which broke the story. Understandably, he is not a trained journalist, which means he has no degree under his belt. Does it prove anything? Journalism schools may produce degree holders, not enterprising journalists. Reader’s Digest which sells 28 million copies a month, not a newspaper though, was started by a husband and wife team in a garage. History writes itself on walls, and in motor
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Uneven development troubles Haryana The
state of Haryana, an old success story of economic development in the country, continues to be a relatively high per-capita-income state. Presently, its growth rate is the highest in the country. It ranks second behind Goa in terms of per capita income. The rate of growth in the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of Haryana has been above the all-India growth rate. The fruits of the green revolution in agriculture are evenly distributed in all parts of the state. This seems to be the explanation behind the relatively low poverty ratio here. The state has done equally well in industrial development. The rate of growth in industrial production in Haryana has throughout been above the all-India average. Presently, new investment is pouring in. The development activities in Gurgaon and surrounding areas have become the focus of attention not only in India but the world over. With the formal inauguration of work related to the petro-chemical hub at Panipat, the whole belt along the National Highway 1 (NH1) has received a new thrust towards faster development. The Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway is set to create an explosion of economic activities in the area adjoining Delhi. In simple terms, the state of Haryana is on the path to become one of the first developed enclaves within the country in the near future. However, Haryana is lagging behind in social factors. Different indicators related to socio-economic conditions show its relative backwardness. The gender ratio in Haryana is only 833, the lowest in the country. In case of literacy, 18 other states have a better performance than that of Haryana. Similarly, the rank of Haryana in infant mortality rate is 25th in the country. Modern, organised, economic activity, which is supposed to bring about a social transformation, is gravitating towards already developed pockets of the state. Obviously, a large section of the population of the state as well vast geographical areas remain somewhat insulated from this economic and social modernisation. Almost all the modern economic activities including services, industry, private efforts in higher education and similar development of commercial establishments have given a go by to the areas away from either the National Captial Region (NCR) or NH1. One area with the potential to become an epicentre of economic activities on a massive scale, pulling along with it the vast hinterland of the state, needs the attention of the government. That area is Hisar. It may be noted that the town of Hisar has already been identified as an independent growth centre and a counter magnet to Delhi by the government of India few years ago. The stated objective of the counter magnet town scheme was to identify and develop towns sufficiently away from Delhi, which have the potential to become a focal point for economic development with the help of requisite government support. The government of Haryana has also prepared a master plan to develop Hisar in a big way. Much more needs to be done than the mere preparation of a master plan. The development of Hisar will help in balanced regional growth of the state. The demonstration effect of modern economic activities will prompt local residents to imitate the same, thereby pulling them away from low productivity, primary and unorganised occupations successfully. Hisar, having close linkages with the economy of the area, will give a big boost the regional economic development in the radius of around 100 kms. Economic development will also help social development including improving the status of women in this part of the state, and the belt along NH10 and NH65 will be automatic gainers. The moot point is, in a market economy, where it is extremely difficult to attract capital even to already developed centers, how can a small town like Hisar plan to evolve into a booming urban conglomerate? However, if we take certain steps in a well-coordinated manner, this is not a difficult proposition. In fact, geographical remoteness is a function of time and cost. Other things being equal, the better the infrastructural facilities, the lower the remoteness and higher the probability of an area catching up with other developed economic hubs. The KMP expressway is based on this very assumption. In case of Hisar, the brimming reservoir of prosperity of Delhi can irrigate the catchment areas in Haryana through the canal of quality roads and train connectivity from Delhi to Hisar. To reap the economies of scale, sufficiently large investment is a necessary prerequisite. In other words, in order to escape the gravitational pull of the large mass of economic activity of Delhi, an area like Hisar needs to develop a certain minimum critical mass of economic activity. How much this minimum amount of investment is, in case of Hisar, needs to be assessed in a scientific manner. Once the quantitative estimates are prepared, further steps required in terms of change in policy regime, packaging of incentives, magnitude of public investment in infrastructure, financing arrangement thereof, can be worked out without much difficulty. The writer is with Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar |
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Collective amnesia: where is the cinema of Partition?
India
and Pakistan have celebrated another year of independence. Sixty years ago one of the greatest and most violent upheavals of the 20th century took place on the Indian subcontinent. “It was an event whose consequences were entirely unexpected and whose meaning was never fully spelled out or understood either by the politicians who took the decision or the millions of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs who were to become its victims,” writes Yasmin Khan, author of The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. The break-up of Britain’s Indian empire involved the movement of some 12 million people, uprooted, ordered out, or fleeing their homes seeking safety. More than a million men and women were killed, thousands of children disappeared and women were raped or abducted. The violence polarised communities on the subcontinent as never before. The pogroms and killings were organised by gangs, vigilantes and militias and were often backed by local leaders, politicians from Congress and the Muslim League, maharajas and princes, and helped by willing or frightened civil servants. It was an epic tragedy we call the Partition. Variously referred to as the Indian holocaust and ethnic cleansing, the cinema fraternity in India never fully explored this tragedy. As a child of Partition myself (my mother crossed the border by foot; my grandfather lived and died in East Pakistan, or modern-day Bangladesh, perennially hoping that India and Pakistan would one day unite), I grew up on stories of a thousand tragedies none of which I ever watched on screen. There have been a few valiant efforts over the years. In Ritwik Ghatak’s trilogy, Meghe Dhaka Tara, Komal Gandhar and Subarnarekha, protagonists were depicted as refugees suffering the separation from their home. M. S. Sathyu’s Garam Hawa portrayed the effects the Partition had on an ordinary Muslim family living in its aftermath in free India. More recently, Deepa Mehta’s Earth gave us a thoughtful examination of a circle of friends and acquaintances who, during Partition, used communal violence as an excuse for retaliation against romantic rivals. Pakistani director Sabina Sumar’s Khamosh Paani and Chandra Prakash Dwivedi’s Pinjar are two other cinematic efforts to portray Partition’s tragedy and loss. In Bollywood, Anil Sharma’s Gadar and Shubhas Ghai’s Kisna made tangential references to the Partition. While some of these films are truly exceptional (especially Ghatak’s stark depiction of the horror of refugee life in post-Partition Calcutta), it is sad that a nation with several film industries, boasting of producing 600 or so movies every year, has given audiences only a handful of films in the past six decades about such a momentous event. Compare it with the cinematic depiction of the holocaust in Europe which took place only a few years prior to India’s Partition. The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC boasts of more than 5,000 documentaries and films in its archives made about the European holocaust. Both Hollywood and European filmmakers, 62 years after the end of World War II, continue to make movies with the Holocaust as the central theme. In India, where there is not a single monument remembering those who lost their lives to the ill-conceived division of a vast nation, film industries partake in a collective national amnesia. |
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Delhi Durbar Rajya Sabha
Secretariat’s Director (Reporting)
R.C. Virwani has an extraordinary interest in astronomy and telescope making. He likes to encourage persons with interest in astronomy. Virwani developed his maiden telescope in the mid-eighties and has shared the technical knowledge of making low-cost telescopes with several persons interested in gazing at the moon’s craters, the planets, Saturn’s rings, nebulae, galaxies and star clusters. Although his duplex house in the Asiad Village complex affords him an opportunity to gaze at the stars from time to time, the atmospheric pollution comes in the way of clear visibility. He possesses a Newtonian telescope and a Dobsonian telescope. Both are very powerful and easy to make.
Veteran stays With the central leadership unable to take a decision on the Youth Congress chief in election-bound Himachal
Pradesh, incumbent Sukhwinder Sukhu is likely to continue at least till the assembly elections.
Sukhu, who had earlier volunteered to quit because of his age, has held the post for several years and has built a network of IYC cadre in the state. One reason for the central leadership not being able to take a decision on his replacement is the lack of unanimity among the Chief Minister and the PCC chief on the successor.
Only a trickle Though vast regions in several states have been affected by floods causing huge loss of life and property, attendance in the Rajya Sabha was thin when the subject was taken up on the eve of Independence Day on Tuesday. The Opposition
NDA, which also had a few members in the House, took a dig at the treasury benches just before the start of post-lunch
proccedings, as no cabinet minister was present. While dredging of rivers was suggested as a remedy, a member said the government should actively pursue the proposal of inter-linking rivers.
Our own land Is Nagaland a foreign country or a state of the Indian Union? The poser came from none other than Justice
H.K. Sema of the Supreme Court, himself belonging to the North Eastern region, when a senior advocate more than once mentioned the state as a beautiful country during his argument in a case last Friday. Not taking it kindly, Justice Sema said this is the main problem with the people of this part of the country. The advocate, who is a very senior member of the bar, expressed his apology for the goof up. Justice Sema seemed to be offended and caustically observed that “perhaps they need passports to go there.” The case being heard was a dispute between two IAS officers – one posted in Delhi and the other in
Kohima. Contributed by Tripti Nath, Prashant Sood and S.S. Negi |
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