 |
|
Challenges from terrorism Belated action |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Developing cities
Benazir’s return with ‘big bang’
A veggie around Vegas
Sex education can save lives How disruption ‘works’ in Parliament Chatterati
|
Challenges from terrorism Last
week’s large-scale killings in Karachi in which PPP leader Benazir Bhutto escaped unhurt have provided fresh proof, if at all needed, that the terrorist problem remains deep-rooted in Pakistan. Extremists and their sympathisers, who hate Ms Bhutto for her liberal and pro-West (read the pro-US) leanings, have demonstrated their capacity to upset the plans of any leader who dares to talk of democracy, moderation and liberal values. They have given a clear message to the PPP chief that they will not allow her to live in peace. Like President Gen Pervez Musharraf she will be the target of the extremist forces, who represent the strong anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. Going by the circumstances, General Musharraf and Ms Bhutto may have to remain together in the fight against terrorism and extremism in their country, irrespective of what happens to their so-called political deal. However, the situation emerging in Pakistan is not as simple as it appears on the surface. Ms Bhutto first mentioned in her letter she wrote to General Musharraf from Dubai the names of three key people who might pose a threat to her life. Now she wants some “rogue elements” in Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, including the Director-General of its Intelligence Bureau, to be punished for Thursday’s attack on her convoy. But the problem is that these top people are the General’s known confidants. Can the General afford to show distrust in them and take action against them? These “rogue elements” could be having their sympathisers in the army, which will cease to be directly under General Musharraf in a few days as he has declared. But this will depend on the Supreme Court’s verdict on his election as President. If Ms Bhutto is allowed to have her way under the deal with the General, most of the leaders of the ruling PML (Q), also called the King’s Party, like its chief Chaudhary Shujaat Husain and his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervez Elahi will have no place in the new scheme of things. If she appears so demanding, the General may find a pretext in the fast developing situation to dash the hopes of those aspiring for real democracy in Pakistan. There is need to first concentrate on eliminating terrorism from Pakistan. A concerted drive is required to wipe out extremism from that country. There are no signs at the moment whether Pakistan as a country is capable of a massive crackdown on the malevolent elements threatening its stability.
|
|
Belated action West Bengal
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s decision to transfer Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, three other IPS officers and a sub-inspector of police linked to the Rizwanur Rahman case is welcome, but belated. Clearly, it gives no credit to the state government, which seriously faltered in taking prompt action against police officials and restoring the public confidence on the police. Similarly, the CBI’s decision to charge businessman Ashok Todi and others with Rizwanur’s murder comes after considerable delay and inaction. Undoubtedly, the two decisions were taken only after mounting pressure by civil society. The 23-year-old graphic designer was found dead near railway tracks on September 21. What prevented the government from taking prompt action against the top police brass and Todi? Unfortunately, though the credibility of the state CID is at its lowest ebb, the Chief Minister defended it. He handed over the case to the CBI only after the Kolkata High Court questioned the legality of the CID probe. Now that the CBI is investigating the case, every effort must be made to go into all the possible angles and bring the guilty, however high and powerful, to book. The investigation against Ashok Todi’s possible involvement in Rizwanur’s death should be done thoroughly and carefully. Todi, being rich and powerful, is capable of circumventing the law and hoodwinking justice because of his tremendous clout and close links with top politicians, bureaucrats and the police. He had been opposing her daughter Priyanka’s marriage with Rizwanur. Despite spending many hours at Rizwanur’s home with Priyanka on August 31 and being told that she willingly got married and was staying with him, Todi filed a missing complaint with the police. Worse, he filed another complaint, accusing Rizwanur of kidnapping Priyanka and taking away her jewellery! It was on the basis of this complaint that Ajoy Kumar, the then DCP (Detective), threatened to arrest Rizwanur unless he sent Priyanka back to her parents. Under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code, misleading the police by filing false complaints amounts to abusing the law and it attracts a two-year jail term. Rizwanur’s death is shrouded in mystery. As his death has evoked nationwide outrage, an all-out effort should be made to ferret out the truth behind his death and punish the guilty.
|
|
Developing cities THE Punjab Chief Minister on Friday promised Rs 250 crore for the development of Amritsar. Of this, Rs 100 will be made available within a week and the remaining Rs 150 crore will take a year to materialise. The pre-Divali gift is in addition to the Central grant of Rs 1,350 crore for Amritsar under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Amritsar, like other cities of Punjab, has expanded haphazardly and the civic amenities have not kept pace. Chaotic traffic, frequent power disruptions, irregular water supply and insanitation have made life hell for the residents. The infusion of funds, if judiciously spent, can restore order to the holy city. Like Amritsar, other cities of Punjab also need urgent development plans. Commendably, the Punjab government has prepared master plans for 40 towns and cities, including Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Bathinda, and constituted an urban planning and development authority. An international consultancy is being engaged for guidance. The aim is remove infrastructure bottlenecks and ensure adequate supply of power and drinking water. After Amritsar, Mohali is to have an international airport and the spadework has started. The focus on planned development of towns, even if belated, is welcome. However, lack of funds can pose a problem. That Punjab’s finances are in bad shape is well known. The state’s debt is also pretty high at Rs 52,700 crore. Mr Parkash Singh Badal has turned down his Finance Minister’s suggestions to roll back populist policies and restrict subsidies to the needy. The state cannot get low-interest loans from agencies like the World Bank due to the free supply of power and irrigation water to farmers. The ruling Akali Dal’s ally, the BJP, is opposed to any tax hikes on the urban residents. Mr Badal, however, has declared that as Chief Minister it is his responsibility to arrange funds. One can only wish him well.
|
|
What we’re saying today is that you’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem. — Eldridge Cleaver
|
Benazir’s return with ‘big bang’
AFTER eight long years of self-exile, Ms Benazir Bhutto landed in Pakistan with a “big bang”, politically and literally. Interestingly, both the rapturous welcome given to her by the party faithful and the bomb blasts that spoiled her welcome party were not unexpected. If anything, the scale of both the reception and the blasts was well planned and designed for maximum impact. While the massive turnout of PPP supporters was a clear show of strength aimed at sending a message to Benazir’s political opponents and detractors that her ascent to power was now unstoppable, the bomb blasts were aimed at nullifying whatever political gains her party activists hoped to achieve in welcoming her back to Pakistan. From the reports that have come in, it appears that the bomb blasts that targeted Benazir’s welcome party were not aimed so much at killing her. Instead, these were aimed at scaring her and her supporters. Had the bombers wanted to kill Benazir, these explosions would have taken place when she was standing on the roof of the truck waving out to her supporters. She was totally exposed to an attack at that time. But the attack took place as soon as she was safe inside the modified truck. What is more, if the bombers wanted to kill Benazir, then they would have waited and watched her and struck at a time when she would have no chance of escaping. This means that they would have struck some days and weeks ahead when the election campaign was in full swing and security cover around Benazir would have a lot of holes. This is not to deny the possibility that the attack was carried out by radical Islamic groups or jihadis. It is entirely possible that these groups did carry out the attack. The fact that only the jihadis have trained suicide bombers in their ranks means that it was most probably a couple of these trained, motivated, brainwashed suicide bombers who carried out the attacks. But more than those involved in the attacks, the real question is who directed these incidents of violence. Was it the jihadis (Baitullah Mehsud’s Pakistani Taliban activists) fighting against the Pakistan army in the Pashtun tribal belt who are engaged in fighting the NATO forces in Afghanistan? But on the very day she returned these jihadis denied issuing any threat against Benazir. Was it renegade elements within the Pakistani security services apparatus (ISI and other intelligence agencies) who directed these attacks? Benazir had already expressed her apprehension of being attacked by retired and serving officials who are opposed to her return to Pakistan’s political centre-stage. For these elements, having close links with radical Islamic groups, it is not difficult to mount such attacks. There is also the real possibility of political elements within the current regime who could have planned these attacks. Benazir’s deal with General Musharraf has rattled General Musharraf’s current political allies, especially the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and its leadership. The Chaudhry brothers - Shujaat Hussein, President of the PML (Q) and Pervaiz Elahi, Chief Minister of Punjab — are seeing their political demise on the horizon because of the Benazir-Musharraf deal. They know that if Benazir is allowed to campaign openly then their chances of even getting enough seats to hold the balance of power in the next parliament will be doubtful. Surely, anything that forces Benazir to restrict her movements and prevents her from carrying out a high-octane election campaign would be more than welcome for the PML (Q) politicians. Some Pakistani observers are speculating that it was probably the MQM that carried out this attack. But the MQM really has no direct conflict with the PPP because the MQM’s constituency is urban Sindh while the PPP’s constituency is rural Sindh. The MQM also is not averse to an alliance with the PPP on the issue of combating the radical Islamists. No doubt, the MQM and the PPP will find it difficult to successfully run a coalition in Sindh but this is hardly any reason for them to target Benazir. Most of all, the MQM leadership, which is based in London, would be very chary of doing something that targets someone who is the favourite of the British and the Americans. Then there is General Musharraf. Despite being forced into a deal with Benazir, General Musharraf has no love lost for her. He would certainly not shed too many tears if Benazir is forced out from the scene. Nor, for that matter, would he be averse to seeing Benazir to go into a shell and refrain from mounting a political campaign that can shake up his political game-plan. Some people believe that just as General Musharraf used the MQM to bring Karachi to a standstill when the then suspended Chief Justice visited the city, he could have once again used some rogue elements to scare Benazir and her supporters. Adding to the suspicion about General Musharraf is the fact that he was advising Benazir to postpone her return to Pakistan until the uncertain political and security situation cleared up. Cynics also say that with the security situation in Pakistan going from bad to worse, General Musharraf will find justification for postponing the elections, imposing an emergency and even declaring martial law. In spite of all these factors, it is highly unlikely that General Musharraf was behind such a heinous attack. If the situation in Pakistan spirals out of control, the person who has most to lose is General Musharraf and his deal with Benazir is actually something that he thinks will create more space for him and get him greater support from within the country and without. So, while the jury is still out on who was behind these attacks, the coming days and weeks will reveal how Benazir reacts to the killings. Will she and her party be cowed down by this attack or will she carry on regardless? Despite the high-profile welcome she received, it need not necessarily translate into a sweeping victory in the general elections. She knows that had the Pakistani establishment wanted, it could have easily prevented her supporters from giving her the high-profile welcome she got. She also knows that her party has a hardcore support base, much of which was present in Karachi last Thursday. But will this core support base be enough to win in the elections? Of course, to the extent the rousing reception she received has created the impression of the PPP being the government-in-waiting, and it will tilt politics in her favour. Many of the voters who are sitting on the fence will want to jump on the PPP bandwagon. Some of those disillusioned by her deal with the military regime would also be willing to side with her for a “higher national cause”. The fact that her party has more or less stuck together despite her deal will also add to her strength. A lot will, however, depend on the position that Ms Bhutto takes on important national issues like Pakistan’s role in the war on terror, the Islamist insurgency sweeping through the Pashtun belt, whether or not the jihadis will continue to be the instruments of state policy on India (including in Jammu and Kashmir) and Afghanistan, tackling the Baloch insurgency and the future role of the army in Pakistan's politics. This will determine the public support she receives in Punjab, Balochistan and the NWFP. After all, making policy statements from Washington or London is very different from toeing the same line inside
Pakistan.
|
A veggie around Vegas THE US is one country where the grass eaters like me have enough to eat to maintain the pressure of wind in stomach and the prestige of self-righteousness. On my short tour to California and Nevada recently, my first halt was San Francisco and the tick-marked vegetarian restaurant started in 1979 was Greens in Fort Mason Harbour. Its chef Anne Somerville has authored Fields of Green containing recipes of several vegetarian dishes. Prepared with vegetables from organic farms, my a la carte of Mesquite Grilled Brochettes had two skewers. A skewer had a piece each of grilled bell-pepper, potato, red onion, fennel, cherry tomato, marinated tofu, mushroom, green cob served with pumpkin seed brown rice and cabbage slaw. It was a hearty and tasty meal followed by my sweet-tooth fill of chocolate margiuis with raspberry sauce. The drive on the shore of Pacific from San Francisco to Los Angeles through the California Big Sur segment of Highway is breathtaking. Here a family owned restaurant since 1949 called Nepenthe meaning ‘the one that chases sorrow away’ has a verandah resembling prow of a ship from where the view of the Ocean and Santa Lucia Mountain Range is picture postcard. I had Portobello Mushroom Sandwich with basil, alfalfa sprouts and sliced onions amidst melodious flute rendering of “vaishanav jan to tanne re kahiye” playing there. Basil leaves (tulsi) in vegetarian dishes is commonly used in the US. I discovered different vegetarian eateries in Los Angeles. Most of the eating joints in Farmers’ Market established in 1939 sell non-vegetarian food. I liked falafel (pakora made of kabuli chana), stuffed grape leaves (cooked rice, onion, mushrooms and peas, in bite-sized pieces; wrapped with grape leaf) and taftoon (wholemeal flat bread) in an Iranian café. The best sweet dish here is a pack of mixed fruit in yogurt available with the fruit sellers. The dinner was in an Ethiopian restaurant where they sell Injera reminding me of Himachali patanda. The bread is made of teff, a highland Ethiopian grain. Injera is not only a food but also the plate on which daal, tomato juliennes, a cooked vegetable and chutney is served. No chinaware, glassware or cutlery. Ethiopians use hands to feed the mouth. Indonesian restaurant Ramayani in Westwood area here served me bhaat and tofu and green vegetable in lunch the next day. The Indians chop the greens really fine. Most other nations cook the greens almost as grown by Mother Nature. I feel that we are ahead of others in vegetarian cooking at least. A visitor to Las Vegas must attend a buffet there. I was at buffet dinner in Planet Hollywood Hotel. There was plenty to choose from the vegetarian cuisine and plenty to eat. My problem was to adjust the square meal in the small round Indian belly. How I wished that it matched with the one possessed by my American friend! But when I thought loud that the USA had enough to spend 100 billion dollars per annum to fight the ills of obesity alone, my friend said, “Consuming too many calories is not the only cause for obesity as Boston Tea Party is not the only reason for American Revolution.” I forgot the count of his immediate visit to the serving
stations.
|
Sex education can save lives THE Indian adolescent is no different from young people in other countries in his sexual curiosity and half-baked knowledge about sex and its dos and don’ts. Today, more than ever before, young people are seduced by sex. It is all pervasive – on TV channels that hawk entertainment, fashion and the most salacious music videos. Magazines, journals and even newspapers thrive on sex. A picture of a seductive woman invariably gets special position. Macho men and the metro-sexual look has them scurrying to beauty parlours to get fair and beautiful. Yet some right wing politicians and fundamentalists believe that Indian youth are different – they will indulge in sexual relationships only after marriage. So eight states – Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerala, Chattisgarh and Goa have banned sex education, while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are considering a ban. In Jharkhand a youth policy is being finalised. A morality debate has begun between educators who maintain that sexuality education will reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections and critics who fear it will corrupt young minds. Both UNICEF and NACO have been blamed for their “overzealous push” for sex education and for the content of the school manuals brought out by them. Concerned about the set back to the years of efforts to educate youth about sex, sexuality and reproductive health, a group of NGOs who have years of experience in youth health education have got together under the National Alliance for Young People Towards a Healthy Future to salvage the situation. In fact, at the fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health at Hyderabad later in October, there will be a whole session on the issue with several countries of south Asia like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia participating. Adolescence sexual education is in fact not new in the country. It has been part of the school curriculum for several years but under different names. In 1980, ‘Population Education’ which dealt with issues related to increase in population, started in schools with UN support. It was implemented as part of the National Population Education Project of the NCERT. In 1993 it changed to ‘Adolescence Education’ to address reproductive and sexual health issues along with HIV and AIDS as well as substance abuse. This again was launched as a country wide programme of the NCERT. In 2001 it became a wholly government programme termed, ‘Population and Development Education Programmes’. Finally in the Tenth Plan it was accepted as ‘Adolescence education for life skills development’. Presently two UN-supported programmes are going on simultaneously - one a UNICEF/NACO programme earlier under the Health Ministry and the other a UNFPA/CBSE-NCERT programme. Some governments, like Delhi, have collaborated with NACO and UNICEF to develop their own modules. The NACO/UNICEF module that seeks to impart sexual education in an upfront, direct manner rather than subtly is what has triggered off the current controversy. Yet, the National Family Health Surveys II and III reveals that young people who form 30 per cent of the population, are sexually active at 12 and 13 years. NFHS II shows that fifty per cent of young women are estimated to be sexually active by 18 years; 57 per cent of the girls are married before they are 18 and 52 per cent have their first pregnancy between 15 and 19 years. Significantly, 35 per cent of all reported HIV infections are among those in the 15 to 24 age group. This clearly shows that education on sex and sexuality is extremely important. The Population Council’s 2004-2005 in-depth survey of intimate interactions between unmarried young women and men in the 15 to 24 age group in Pune district of Maharashtra also shows that one in five men and a little less than one in 20 women have premarital sex. Urban youngsters are more sexually active than those in rural areas. The study breaks the myth of sex taking place largely within marriage in conservative Indian society and argues for inclusion of unmarried young people in the country’s reproductive health programmes. “Counselling and contraceptive services must be offered in a non-judgemental and confidential manner to all young people,” says Shireen Jejeebhoy who has carried out the study with Rajib Acharya. Resentment against the sex education programme is being fanned by a few right wing organisations and individuals like former HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi asserting that sex education is a “foreign conspiracy by international NGOs to get money under the guise of AIDS control and education.” They argue that Indian youth do not require sex education. It is true that there are a few graphic pictures and some distasteful text in modules and the teacher’s work book that are in use, but we cannot afford to throw out the baby with the bath water. Efforts are on to rework the manuals and work books, making them culturally sensitive and acceptable to urban and rural middle class. In fact separate modules are needed keeping in mind the sensitivity of people in different states and regions. Teachers’ training in imparting adolescence education for life skills needs to be more thorough. Sixteen hours of co-curricular activities related to adolescence education in a school year is mandatory and teachers need to be prepared for it. They should also be compensated for it. In Gujarat and Jharkhand, under the guise of training, 60 to 70 teachers were packed in a large hall for a few hours and the material given to them with scarcely any explanation. For some it became a junket where the collected two days TA/DA for a few hours of training. Even the quality of training imparted by NACO to master trainers has been questioned. In contrast sex education is continuing in those states that have taken the trouble to improve the quality of their teacher training programmes. Grassroots experience shows that longer training period of three to five days are essential to change mindsets. Without it there could be a knee jerk reaction that this is pornographic material. In Jharkhand for instance, there was a complete turnabout in attitudes after the regular two-hour teacher-training programme was converted into a residential course with the help of an NGO. It is equally important that parents of school children should be taken into confidence about adolescence education for life skills. Teachers as well as parents have to understand that times are changing. In a world where sex and sexuality is all pervasive, you cannot have an ostrich-like attitude. It is better to prepare the young for the pleasures as well as dangers of intimate relationships. It is better to play safe than be sorry.
|
|
How disruption ‘works’ in Parliament Let us look at the schedule of work of a House of Parliament. Question Hour, the first hour of the day, is for answering starred questions. It would seem on the face of it that the Members giving notice (and perhaps those who get to ask supplementaries) are the only ones who ‘work’ But what about the unstarred questions asked and answered in writing? Almost all legislators get to ask unstarred questions. It does not get publicly noticed, but it is still ‘work’ done, whether the House is disrupted or not. Generally the post-lunch Session is devoted to legislation, discussion or votable Motions. The time limit for discussion on each item is fixed in advance in the Business Advisory Committee, and is then divided in ratio of Party strength. Parties field their speakers within the time allotted and so naturally they tend to field their best speakers. Many Members, in fact may not even get a chance to speak, unless they can persuade the Party whips to send in their names towards the end of the day when the competition to speak is a little less. In such a situation can it be said that those who do not get a chance to speak are not doing ‘work’ in the House ? Or per contra is their entitlement for the allowance based on their mere presence? It may be said that legislators are performing important functions of shaping legislation to better express public will, and that is their main ‘work’. As a matter of fact, most legislation originates in the Government, and the discussion in the House is actually on the principles of the Bill rather than its exact wording. For obvious reasons, voting on Bills is generally along party lines, and on all important Bills, political parties issue whips disregard of which invites disqualification from membership of the House. This is because through the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act 1985, the Tenth Schedule was added to the Constitution, paragraph 2(1)(b) of which states that a member of a House belonging to a political party is disqualified for being a member of the House if he votes or abstains from voting contrary to any direction issued by the political party. The speeches that Members make, therefore, are no longer made to convince their colleagues on the other side of the rightness of their views and thus do not determine the fate of Government Bills; the fate of the legislation is pre-determined by the combination of numbers i.e. by the alliance of Parties. In other words, a Member may have worked even when he has not spoken in the House. A Member who speaks on a Bill may not be influencing its fate and his effort, not being related to the output, may not constitute “work”! Reinforced by the Tenth Schedule the fact is, today, the Party rather than the Member is the basic unit for most purposes. It is mainly in Committee, where party whips do not apply, that individual Members come into their own. In addition to the traditional accountability-enforcing Committees such as the Public Accounts Committee, Committee on Govt. Assurances etc., since 1993, there are the Department- related Committees, comprised of Members of both Houses (in proportion to party strength) where the Members work, and I use the word ‘work’ here advisedly, without the glare of TV cameras, examining Govt. legislation and Govt. policy and proposing significant changes, generally by consensus. The proposed changes have ‘persuasive value’ and often lead to the Government amending policy or a Bill to accommodate the Committee viewpoint. The Committee Report itself often has substantial information which helps shape the debate in the House if or when it takes place. And the important thing is, even when the House is disrupted, the Committee work may well be going on in the Committee rooms. The public acrimony in the House has not a single echo in the Committee room. Perhaps instead of getting diverted by the spectacle of slogan shouting and disruptions in the House, it is time to focus on and strengthen the Committee system of Parliament. A Parliamentary Affairs Minister known for his organisational skills once said that since the fate of legislation in Parliament is pre-determined by the numbers, the main object of the speeches of Members is no longer to convince others to vote for their point of view as was the original purpose of Parliament; the speeches are now meant mainly to place the diverse views on various matters in the public domain. Unseemly though it may be, the slogan shouting and disruptive behaviour is clearly an extreme method of such communication based on calculation at a level higher than the ‘individual’. No doubt rational debate would be the right thing to do if all concerned were interested in facilitating it, but to apply ‘no work- no pay’ to the disruption misses the point entirely. As a matter of fact disruption of proceedings of the House by a person can well be held to constitute breach of privilege if any Member were to raise the issue, but the issue has perhaps never been raised as such. When disruptions are outcomes of political strategy rather than individual misbehaviour that is not surprising. It is time we realised the huge impact the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution has had in making the ‘Party’ rather than the individual the basic unit in that aspect of Parliament’s work which is in public view. Perhaps the solution lies in addressing the issue from this perspective. The writer was Joint Secretary, Rajya Sabha between 1998 and 2002
|
|
Chatterati I just love the way our senior citizens have evolved. Recently, at a cinema hall, I witnessed a group of elegant middle-class ladies watching ‘Chak De’. They were all dressed to kill. These sixty-and-above lot were happily munching on their popcorns and diet cokes. The laughed out loud and were clapping. This is not a rare thing now. They shop together. Wine, dine and dance too. Some of them are just learning now at 60 to swim and paint. Now that their kids are settled in their own family lives they are free. Ask about their husbands and they are busy playing golf or cards or are catching a nap at home. They have not allowed diabetes or hypertension to dampen their zest for life. They travel abroad together. Passionate, elegant and graceful. Oh! I was invited to one of their boisterous parties. They are impish and exude such liveliness. And guess what? They all go to the gym too. Some in their pants and some in their salwar kameez. They do yoga with their husbands at home. They hate being called aunties. Hey! They also match-make. Just in case there is a divorcee or a widower in sight. I just could not help salute these cheerful faces who did not let their lives be led by their children or family.
Maya’s designs Now that Mayawati has announced that she will contest all seats in Gujarat, political parties are left wondering what her game plan is. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh one hears she is being financed by BJP leaders, because they feel she will only cut into the Congress vote bank. And the grape vine insists that Advani has sent feelers to Behanji to say that if she gets fifty seats in Parliament, the BJP will back her as Prime Minister. So, the Congress may be thinking afresh too. As it is the Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh are tired of requesting their high command to take some action for reviving the party ranks. This is so much in contrast to Maya’s strict discipline.
The law-makers Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics... 29 have been accused of spousal abuse. Seven have been arrested for fraud. 19 have been accused of writing bad checks. 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses. 3 have done time for assault. 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit. 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges. 8 have been arrested for shoplifting. 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits. 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last few years. Can you guess which organisation this is? Give up? It’s the 535-member strong United States Congress. The same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
IT has often been suggested that legislators who obstruct the work of the House should be subject to the ‘no work-no pay’ principle. Rajinder Sachar, for example, makes the argument in an article in The Tribune (Sep 15, 2007). But what constitutes the ‘work’ of a legislator?