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Back to Ram Jail for journalists |
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End of hyphen
Woes of small farmers
A name on a map
Vested interests hurting Aligarh university Stanford in uproar over fellowship for Rumsfeld Chatterati
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Back to Ram THE BJP declared during its national executive meeting in Bhopal that it would support the Rameshwaram Ram Sethu Raksha Manch movement for the “protection, preservation and declaration of the Sethu as a national heritage monument”. Perhaps, the party believes that the emotive issue is the most powerful weapon it has found to fight the next electoral battle. Mr L. K. Advani recalling how the Ramjanambhoomi issue influenced the course of the country’s politics, benefiting the BJP immensely, made it clear that his party would do everything possible to use the Ram Sethu controversy to capture power. The party hopes to get dividends first in the Gujarat Assembly elections. The BJP, unfortunately, does not appear to be bothered about the damage that may be caused to the country by the Sethu issue. A Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader’s offer, backed by a group of mahants, “to weigh in gold any person who brings Karunanidhi’s (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s) head to Ayodhya” and a DMK leader denouncing the “fatwa” issued by the VHP functionary, also a former BJP MP, show how explosive the issue can prove to be if brakes are not applied by all concerned. Incidents of violence reported from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu suggest that such fears are not unfounded. The BJP wants realignment of the Sethusamudram shipping canal project, but Union Shipping Minister T. R. Balu says this is not possible. Interestingly, the project, that will prove to be a boon for Tamil Nadu, was cleared by the BJP-led NDA government, though the BJP now says it favoured a land-based canal. Irrespective of the position of the government and the opposition on the Sethusamudram project, no attempt should be made to make political capital out of it. Emotive issues are better abandoned in the larger interest of the nation. The country has not yet forgotten the traumatic experience it had to undergo as a result of the Ayodhya controversy. The BJP gained from it, no doubt, but only for a short while. Ayodhya could not help the party improve its electoral performance in the recent UP elections, for instance. It will be better for the BJP to concentrate on issues like price rise, corruption and law and order on which it can put the UPA government in the dock. |
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Jail for journalists THE Delhi High Court verdict sentencing four senior journalists of Mid-Day to four months’ imprisonment for publishing reports against former Chief Justice of India Justice Y.K. Sabharwal brings to the fore questions about the usefulness and rationale of the power of contempt. In May this year, Mid-Day carried a series of articles alleging that the retired CJI’s sons, both partners in firms which build malls in the Capital, benefited from his orders on sealing. The High Court felt that these reports have tarnished the apex court’s image. Though the journalists have said that their actions were in public interest, the High Court has ruled that they have crossed the Lakshman Rekha. There can be no two opinions about the need to protect the judiciary’s image. The judges deserve to be shown all respect and courtesy by the citizens. At the same time, as India is a democracy and the people are supreme, they have every right to criticise judges constructively, without imputing motives. Consequently, while the people’s right to the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1) (a) is primary, the higher judiciary’s power of contempt under Articles 129 and 215 is subordinate. This implies that the judges should use their power of contempt sparingly and with utmost circumspection, that too, only when an action by an individual makes their functioning “impossible or extremely difficult”. There may be a difference of opinion as to whether a newspaper article falls under this category, but a judge should have the grace and equanimity to remain unperturbed in any situation. Moreover, it is not always realised that contempt jurisdiction is generally regarded as discretionary jurisdiction. A judge is not bound to take action for contempt even if contempt has been committed. Interestingly, after Parliament passed the Contempt of Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2006, truth has become a defence in the contempt of court proceedings, if it is in public interest and is bona fide. The journalists, now on bail, say they have used truth as their defence. Even as the Supreme Court will hear their case on September 28, the Chief Justice of India will do well to evolve an institutional mechanism to examine such cases. On his part, Justice Sabharwal can also willingly face an inquiry to prove that he has nothing to hide. |
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End of hyphen LIKE all things, good and bad, the hyphen, too, had to come to an end. And, so it has. The latest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has deleted the hyphen out of 16,000 words. The reason given is that this punctuation mark has been rendered redundant with email and text messaging becoming so pervasive. Now, this is hardly ‘reason’, which along with convenience -- as evolved through custom and usage - are often cited for changes in a dictionary. The hyphen has been convenient, even expedient, for slipping in between two words when there is uncertainty of whether they should be separated or written as one word. Take away the hyphen and the world is bereft of this convenience. Reason is certainly wounded when the dictionary, instead of refining the compositions, which pass for words and sentences in email and SMS, actually dumbs itself down to this level. Doing away with the hyphen would have made sense if it followed that all hyphenated words would henceforth be written as one word. Far from doing that, the dictionary, for whatever arbitrary reason, has decided that some like ‘fig-leaf’ and ‘pot-belly’ will be spaced out while others such as ‘leap-frog’ and ‘pigeon-hole’ will be written as one word. The logic of this illogicality is baffling as, in the absence of a uniform rule, one will be compelled to refer to the dictionary to check what the disappearance of the hyphen has done. Perhaps, that is the objective - to make everyone writing in English to buy the dictionary! The English language has always been weak on logic, particularly when it comes to phonetics. Even the word phonetic, illogically enough, begins with ‘ph’ and not ‘f’. Now this illogicality extends to the hyphen, too. Dash it, could well be the response of those using computers. Who needs a dictionary when there is spell-check? |
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Obedience is in a way the mother of all virtues.
— St Augustine |
Woes of small farmers
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a vast majority of farmers, the answer to the question whether the diversification of crops will improve their condition is ‘NO’ unless small-farmer-specific programmes are designed and implemented on a large scale. Before analysing this question let us have a look at some basic issues. One, about 12 per cent farmers in Punjab cultivate land less than 1 hectare, and another 18 per cent cultivate between 1 and 2 hectares only. About 33 per cent operate between 2 and 4 hectares. Two, of the total land cultivated, 63 per cent farmers cultivate only 30 per cent land. Three, ground water is the life-line for sustainable/profitable agriculture as it is a source for irrigation for about 75 per cent of the cropped area. Four, farmers would select crops for cultivation which are high yielding, tolerant to pests and diseases, and which find easy market on remunerative prices. Five, because of food shortage, the government provided assured market for wheat and rice. The new varieties of wheat and paddy presented an excellent fit for double cropping. the result was heavy investment in ground water development in sweet water aquifer areas, mostly in the central districts. Six, as a result, cropping intensity was increased; wheat followed rice in the same fields during the two-crop seasons. Seven, the area of wheat and paddy crops which was 15.5 lakh hectares and 2.9 lakh hectares, respectively, during 1965-66 rose to 34.7 lakh hectares and 26.4 lakh hectares during 2005-06. Eight, Punjab Agriculture University studies indicate that the amount of annual ground water recharge is adequate for growing 1.6 to 1.8 million hectares of paddy and that too if paddy is transplanted after June 10. Obviously, to irrigate 2.6 million hectares of paddy, excess ground water is extracted. This has caused an alarming situation. Unless steps are taken to convert at least 1 million hectares from paddy to other kharif crops, which are less water requiring, the situation will worsen. The state will lose its “economic security” which is largely based on agriculture in the rural areas. The government, the PAU, the Agriculture Department and even the farmers are aware of this problem. Yet the farmers are not adopting the cultivation of new crops or transplanting of paddy after June 10. On the other hand, a large number of farmers have started taking a second short-duration (sathi) crop. It appears as if the farmers en masse have decided to commit hydrological suicide. It is the duty of the government to enact some legislation to ensure that no farmer transplants paddy before June 10. Keeping the above situation in view, let us examine the steps necessary to tackle these two problems — maintenance of the ground water balance and an improvement in the income of small farmers. Generally, the cultivation of high-value crops — fruits and vegetables — and the adoption of dairy, poultry, etc, are recommended. Are these options available to small farmers owning land up to 4 hectares? Citrus is the main fruit crop successfully grown in Punjab. Of citrus, kinnow has established its acceptability. Its market within the country and outside is expanding. It is more profitable than other competing fruit crops like mango, pear, peach and guava. The area under kinnow should be increased and care should be taken to ensure quality material. Apparently, small farmers do not have the capacity to adopt fruit cultivation because of high investment with a long gestation period. It can be safely concluded small farmers cannot adopt fruit farming and it would not help maintain ground water balance. For the reduction of the paddy area by 1 million hectare, it is necessary to introduce other less water-requiring crops during the kharif season. These crops are mainly maize, oilseeds, pulses, vegetables and fodder. It may be possible to increase the area under vegetables by about 50 per cent, or it may be doubled during the next 10 years provided marketing is ensured. This would mean a reduction in the paddy area by a maximum of 1 lakh hectare. Obviously, large areas have to be diverted to other crops. At the cost of repetition, it may be stated that farmers will not adopt new crops for the replacement of paddy unless they are assured of marketing of their produce. For this purpose the state government may announce special incentives to the industry to set up maize-processing plants to produce corn oil, cattle and poultry feed and ethanol. This industry may be given the same facilities as available to it in the hilly areas. This would increase the demand for maize, and farmers would gladly adopt the cultivation of hybrid maize during the kharif season. This year (2007) the area under hybrid maize in the state is expected to be more than 1.75 lakh hectares. During the kharif season in 2008 the same would be raised to 2.5 lakh hectares. What should be done to increase the income of a majority of the farmers who are small? Before finding an answer, the following facts may be kept in view: one, over-time contribution of agricultural income to the GDP has come down from 65 per cent in 1965-66 to 35 per cent during 2005-06. However, the population engaged in agriculture is almost the same, resulting in the widening income disparity between the rural and urban sectors. Two, farms up to four hectares are uneconomical. PAU studies of 1998 indicate that to equate the farmers’ income to the average per capita income of the state, the farmer must have more than five hectares of land and be able to grow two high-yielding secure crops in one year. Three, because of the continuing division of land the size of holdings decreases with every generation. This increases the population pressure on land. It is, therefore, necessary that at least 40 per cent of the population engaged in agriculture should be provided off-farm employment. To achieve this objective, the rural youth should be given training in vocations required by industry. This here should be given priority by the state government. The training may be organised in collaboration with the industry and the cost met by the government. To get into middle and higher-level jobs, the future openings which will be largely in the IT sector and biotechnology, it is important that graduates from the rural areas are trained to make them acceptable for jobs in these sectors. This will, however, take time. In the meantime, it is necessary to take up a programme which would help improve the small farmers’ economic condition. A large number of extensive demonstrations have shown that if a farmer is helped to establish two units of low-cost net house of 1 kanal (1/8th acre) each to grow vegetables, his income would improve. He would need training and in-field guidance for the cultivation of off-season vegetables to ensure an income of Rs 80,000 per year. If this programme is taken up on a long-term basis and about one lakh farmers are covered, it will add only 10,000 hectares under vegetables. This will not lead to any serious marketing problem. Scientific dairy farming and poultry farming should also be introduced to a large number of small farmers in compact blocks with at least 8 to 10 farmers in each village. Unfortunately, the share of bank lending to small farmers is very low, almost negligible. Banks should take up some of the programmes mentioned here and create a special staff and special branches, if necessary, to achieve the above objectives. In fact, it is necessary to create a dedicated development staff to implement small farmer-related
programme. The writer is Chairman, Punjab State Farmers Commission.
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A name on a map
I
had not been back for 45 years and Srinagar was now only a name on a map. When we stopped there while returning from Leh I felt no nostalgic yearning in my heart. But the others wanted to see my college and as we sat on top of the long wide stone steps that run all the way down the front of the building and up to the first floor, I looked across the sprawling campus with its stately chinars all the way to the gate. I remembered other times when I had sat on these steps and watched Anil Raina walk from the gate with his long loping strides. Anil with his vivacious charm and exuberance, his enthusiasm for everything that we did, his unfailing compassion and concern for others, Anil who would tease me that the only way to hold me in the valley was to get me married to a Kashmiri girl. I felt no sadness at what might have been, I did not wonder where he was now. I only felt my heart glow with a full warm gratitude at having known such a wonderful person. I did not wish to meet him again — I wished only that at least one of his grandchildren had inherited the sparkle of his mind and the softness of his heart. In the evening we found ourselves in a first-floor shop called “Suffering Moses”. While the others wandered around choosing exquisite pieces of woodwork and paper mache, I felt a strange unease in my mind. I remembered another “Suffering Moses” in a charming houseboat, framed by trailing willows, its woodwork always a sparkling white. Mr Moiuddin, who ran the shop, had been an authority on Kashmiri embroidery and Kashmiri design. I had once taken a leaf from a flaming chinar and challenged him to capture all the glorious colours. Three months later on a set of exquisitely embroidered cushion covers, he had, indeed, captured those colours. But perhaps my memory was playing tricks, perhaps it was another name. “Do you have any needlepoint cushion covers?” I asked. The youngster smiled. “The embroidery is all in the little cottage next door, ‘Sadiq’s Handicrafts’. My father looks after it”. Mr Sadiq was polite and courteous and showed us a wide range of cushion covers. But my unease would not be stilled. “Was ‘Suffering Moses’ ever in a houseboat?” I asked at last. He looked at me in surprise. “God ! That was years ago.” I spoke of Mr Moiuddin. “That was my father. He died last year.” He gave us tea and toasted bread and when I left, clutching more needlepoint cushion covers than I would ever need, he said: “And don’t wait for another 45 years to come back again!” As I walked away, I knew at last that a place you have once lived in, no matter how briefly, can never again become a mere name on a
map. |
Vested interests hurting Aligarh university
What
do former President of India Dr Zakir Hussain, present vice-president of the country Hamid Ansari, first Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan, eminent writer Dr Rahi Masoom Raza, legendary hockey player Dhyan Chand, former Indian cricket captian Lala Amarnath ,poets Kaifi Azmi and Javed Akhtar or actor Naseeruddin Shah have in common? They all call Aligarh Muslim University their alma mater. Reams can be filled tracing the glorious history and contribution of this university to the sub-continent’s socio-economic development. Late on the night of September 16 the university was closed indefinitely after angry students went on a rampage attacking the Vice-Chancellor’s residence, ransacking the AMU staff club and the proctor's office. They were protesting against the murder of a 21-year old B.Sc undergraduate student Mazhar Naem, who was killed by miscreants who have not been unidentified so far, near his hostel while he was returning from prayers. From all accounts there was no provocation for the murder as Naem was a brilliant student of a school teacher father who kept to his studies and did not have any enemies. Around a week ago another incident had occurred in the girls’ hostel. There were rumors of a Class IX girl being raped by some non-teaching employees on 9-10 September. Responding quickly, the Vice-Chancellor had instituted a 7-member enquiry committee, changed the Provost, suspended one of the employees and terminated two others whose names were being taken. Still, next day on 12 September, girl students broke out of the hostel and staged a demonstration before the VC's office. Strangely, no rape victim has come forward and therefore an FIR had to be lodged not under section 376 of the IPC but under section 354 in which the victim of molestation is unidentified while the culprits are named, revealed SSP Aligarh, Raghuvir Lal. In April 2007, at the fag end of the outgoing Vice-Chancellor Naseem Ahmad’s 5-year tenure, one B.Tech student from Bihar and another undergraduate student from Uttar Pradesh were killed in separate incidents. These students apparently became victims of crossfire between two rival student groups. Dean, Faculty of Management, Prof Javed Akhtar, conducted an enquiry that spoke of “criminal activities of students along with outsiders and old students lodged in the hostel”. There were also whispers inside the campus that the murders were triggered by a group of students and teachers with vested interests, to create turmoil on the campus. They wanted to mobilise public opinion to empanel a civil servant and not an academic as the next VC. The present Vice-Chancellor P. K. Abdul Aziz is an academic. This former vice-chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology is the first academic to head the university after 13 years of rule by civil servants. To understand the present psyche it is important to briefly go into the university’s recent history. AMU was one of the first purely residential educational institutions set up either by the Government or the public in India. In its early years it had given rise to a new educated class of Muslims who were active in the political system of the British Raj, and who would serve as a catalyst for change among not only the Muslim population of India, but of the entire subcontinent. It had a sub-continental character and catered to the old feudal Muslim class that till then had studied in Oxford or Cambridge. Begum Sultan Jehan, the ruler of Bhopal, sent her son Nawab Hamidullah Khan (Tiger Pataudi’s maternal uncle) to the university in the ‘30s. She got a spacious mansion, Shahjehan Manzil, built for the prince and a retinue of around 80 servants looked after him. This was not a stray case. Many feudal rulers sent their offspring to AMU which was known for its refined culture and environment. No wonder the university till date has the best riding club and skating ring and a host of sports facilities. However, with the passage of time, the character of the university underwent a complete change. Today almost 80 percent of the 33,000 students of the university belong to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, costing the university its all-India character. A vast number of them are first generation learners – children of artisans, farmers with small farms or petty traders from small towns. Almost simultaneously the character of the university-town also changed. The repeated communal violence of the early 80’s attracted a large number of insecure Muslim people from the rural hinterland to the university area. New residential colonies and business establishments mainly – eating joints, photostat or other businesses – catering to the students, dot the area around the hostels. They also provide shelter to criminal elements on the campus. However, what has not changed is the residential character of the university. Of the 33,000 students on the rolls a whopping 22,000 are residents living in the 70 hostels. The average monthly expenditure incurred by a hostel student of AMU including fee happens to be Rs 1000 making it the most affordable option for the new class of Muslims seeking modern education. Thousands of scholarships for deserving students by the government, social organisations and alumni students make education still more subsidized. However, the flip side of this residential character is that any incident immediately brings thousand of students on the roads making law and order an uphill task for the university administration. This is an uneasy fact that has repeatedly been misused by a section of students and teachers. Over the years a fiefdom has arisen amongst the teachers craving for administrative posts exuding power. Rather than seeking glory through research, teaching and academic pursuits, these powerbrokers have played dirty politics with amenable civil servant vice-chancellors to grab loaves and fishes of administrative offices. With the coming of a new vice-chancellor this year the race to corner the almost 200 administrative assignments handed out on the discretion of the VC started warming up. However, after a gap of 13 years, a hardcore academic from faraway Kerala had become the Vice-Chancellor who had set his own demanding criteria for such appointments. Keen to restore the university’s lost glory he was more interested to know the teachers’ contribution in terms of research, teaching and publications. His plan was to flush criminal elements out of the hostel. This caucus of vested interests amongst the teachers and students are now finding the going tough. And insiders believe that the recent trouble on the campus is their pressure tactics to make the Vice- Chancellor succumb to their designs and allow them to run the university as their personal fiefdom. |
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Stanford in uproar over fellowship for Rumsfeld Academics
and students at California’s prestigious Stanford University have launched a vigorous protest against the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a visiting fellow to a right-wing campus think-tank, saying the former defence secretary and architect of the Iraq war offends their ideals of truth and tolerance. Mr Rumsfeld’s appointment as a one-year visiting fellow to the Hoover Institution was announced two weeks ago. Since then, more than 2,300 people on campus have signed a petition calling for the appointment to be revoked n among them an eminent professor of psychology who specialises in the wellsprings of bestial human behaviour. The professor, Philip Zimbardo, lambasts Mr Rumsfeld in his most recent book, arguing that the defence secretary established the conditions that allowed low-ranking US military personnel to abuse Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Explaining his support for the petition, Professor Zimbardo told The New York Times: “It is unacceptable to have someone who represents the values that Rumsfeld has portrayed, in an academic setting.” The petition, drafted by a history professor, Pamela Lee, reads: “We view the appointment as fundamentally incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested enquiry, respect for national and international laws and care for the opinions, property and lives of others to which Stanford is inalienably committed.” The university has defended its choice, saying Rumsfeld’s experience at the very pinnacle of government makes him a desirable presence on campus regardless of people’s opinions of him. Assuming the appointment goes ahead, he is expected to visit Stanford no more than five times over the year-long lifetime of the fellowship. He may give lectures but he won’t do any classroom teaching. The furore is part of an old pattern at Stanford. The Hoover Institution is a well known haven for right-wing ideologues and former Republican politicians, among them Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, and George Shultz, Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state. That, in turn, pits the Institution against the more liberal leanings of Stanford. Condoleezza Rice, the present Secretary of State, was provost of Stanford before being called to Washington by President Bush and endured bitter criticisms from campus liberals during her stormy six-year tenure. She has indicated her intention to return to Stanford when the second Bush term ends in 2009, but some faculty members have said she will not be welcomed back. In the late 1980s, a campus protest successfully sabotaged a plan to house Ronald Reagan’s presidential library on the Stanford campus. More recently, campus protesters forced President Bush to cancel plans for a dinner with Mr Shultz at the university. Professor Zimbardo, most famous for conducting the so-called Stanford prison experiment in the 1970s, in which students asked to play the role of prison guards quickly became sadistic and students asked to play their prisoners became passive and depressed, has been particularly outspoken about Mr Rumsfeld’s role in prison abuse scandals. Mr Rumsfeld, he writes in his latest book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Become Evil, created the conditions for troops to commit war crimes and torture by sidelining and disparaging the Geneva Conventions. By arrangement with
The Independent |
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Chatterati The
not-so-glitzy 53rd National Film Awards function was conducted with tight security arrangements at the Vigyan Bhawan. There were many curious moments. Everyone noticed that the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi did not shake hands with Amitabh Bachchan, when the actor was on stage to receive his Best Actor Award for Black. Despite the obvious snub, Bachchan, accompanied by Amar Singh, turned up for the briefest while at the dinner hosted by the minister in a hotel's banquet hall. Surprisingly, Amar Singh did not throw a fit because Abhishek Bachchan and sister Shweta Nanda were seated in a far-off row in the large auditorium. Meanwhile, Jaya Bachchan and Amar Singh, both wearing dour expressions, sat in the middle of the auditorium in seats reserved for MPs. Usually, the Bachchan family expect to be seated in the first row of any award event they attend and Abhishek sitting far off from daddy was not expected. President Mrs Pratibha Patil was gracious and referred to Amitabh Bachchan in her speech but in the same breath as Mrs Kirron Kher who was there to collect her husband Anupam Kher's Special Jury Award. Naseeruddin Shah, Nagesh Kukunoor, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali did not show up to collect their awards. So, a lukewarm evening on the whole.
Ramzan feast Ramzan, the holy month that puts every Muslim's faith and spiritual discipline to test, is a time for sharing and bonding with the family. So much so that even the youngsters go back to their roots. There is a unique companionship when you observe Ramzan in a home away from home. In the absence of parental supervision, youngsters are more cautious. Some youngsters who live by themselves move in with their friends who live with families. The decade old market, Chitli Qabar, comes alive during the Ramzan month. Many small temporary food kiosks come up in the evening, selling gastronomic delights, from seekh kebabs, fried chicken and phirni to kulfi and pakoras. Even cloths and household articles find their way into the market. The night food bazaar is one of its kind to be found in the precincts of this Mughal-era walled city. Traders dealing in garments along with daily household articles on both sides of the road greet their esteemed customers. With each hour the crowd swells, the business is brisk at all the shops. There is food for every taste and to suit the pocket of all classes. The real fun and excitement of eating good food is during Id only. This is the time for which shopkeepers of the area wait for the whole year, when their sale is boosted up. But, they have to work hard and get lesser time to sleep. Shops are open for 18 hours in Ramzan. The last three-four days before Id are very hectic. But it is worth fasting the whole day for such feasts. |
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