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Rise of Narendra
Modi Pakistan’s
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Poisoned soil
Changing cropping
pattern
In French soup
Death by firing
squad Burma’s girls
victims of China’s policy Chatterati
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Pakistan’s suicide bombers The
death of over 50 persons in a suicide bomb attack on a village mosque in the NWFP on Friday can be treated as the latest proof of a new kind of terrorism being on the ascendant in Pakistan. The killing of the people busy in offering Eid-ul-Azha prayers came after over 30 suicide bombings that occurred in 2007, mostly targeting military and paramilitary personnel in different parts of Pakistan. But the target of the suicide bomber at Sherpao village, near Peshawar, was a former Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, for his policies being followed in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Militant oufits feel that the military’s drive against their activists, claiming hundreds of civilian lives, is a part of the Musharraf regime’s strategy prepared with the help of leaders like Mr Sherpao. There is nothing surprising in the incident as President Musharraf’s intelligence agencies had already warned the authorities of suicide bombers blowing themselves up on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha and the coming elections. That is why a couple of days before Eid 16 districts, most of them in the NWFP, had been declared as highly sensitive places. Law-enforcement agencies had been put on high alert. Yet jihadi terrorists succeeded in implementing their destructive designs. They chose a village mosque as their target because of the presence of Mr Sherpao there. Luckily, he escaped unhurt. It is not easy to fight jihadi terrorism when the outfits like the Taliban have no dearth of supporters, particularly in the tribal areas. Actually, people in general in these areas hate Pakistan’s armed forces because of their operations in the tribal districts after 9/11 in which civilian population suffered heavily. This is more pronounced in the NWFP, the second major province after Punjab, which sends the maximum number of recruits to the army. The rising anti-army sentiment is helping the militant outfits to multiply their following in different parts of Pakistan. It is unfortunate that today no place in the country seems to be safe from suicide bombers. For its own sake Pakistan will have to step up its fight against the menace to prevent the extremist forces from causing destabilisation at a time when it is set to hold elections in two weeks. |
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Poisoned soil It is a pity that it has once more taken an interventionist court acting on Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to prod the Punjab government into taking action on a matter of vital interest of people. There have been numerous media reports, including in The Tribune, highlighting the extent to which the region’s soil and waterways have been poisoned by the indiscriminate actions of man. Rising cancer rates in certain areas are only the most visible manifestation of what can happen to vulnerable human bodies, forced to consume muck. There can be little doubt that it is wreaking untold havoc on the health of men, women and children. Pregnant women are showing ill effects that cannot be attributed to anything other than hazardous chemicals and metals in water and foodstuffs. When even day-to-day nutrition has become questionable and hazardous, it is clear that the state has failed. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now issued a notice to the Punjab government. The government’s response, hopefully, will not be to dismiss the dangers as exaggeration. For what is also needed is a general increase in awareness and a concerted plan of action. Agriculture is already in the doldrums, but the pressure to produce is as intense as ever. With higher than ever MSPs, the incentives are there as well. Such a situation is ripe for the continued misuse of pesticides and fertilisers, one of the many reasons why the environment is in such a bad shape. Still not enough is being done to educate farmers, and prevent them from overusing chemicals. And polluting industries of various kinds are continuing to get away with murder. Ultimately it is the people who will have to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to such pollution, and demand penal action against defaulters. The lives and future of Punjab’s children depend on it. |
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Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
— George Bernard Shaw |
Changing cropping pattern Triggered
by mounting stocks of foodgrains in the early eighties and because of that the Central Government not giving remunerative Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for rice and wheat and showing indifference on market clearance through procurement, the then government of Punjab wanted to find some long- term solution to the farm distress manifest in the markets of the state. The government set up a committee for suggesting remedies to the problems faced by the farmers in this respect. The report on diversification of agriculture in Punjab, submitted by this committee in 1986 was based on a 50-year vision, wherein the state was envisioned to be mostly of the part-time small farmers growing, to a considerable extent, high value crops replacing rice and wheat in at least 20 per cent of the cropped area. The rice crop at that time was identified as the problem crop. Thus, it was not a short-term measure but a long-term vision presented by the committee. However, from 1987 onwards, the country witnessed a cycle of severe droughts for five years and food stocks got depleted. Consequently, under pressure of the Central Government, the centrally ruled Punjab ignored the recommendations. But again, following the drought years, food stocks started building up from 1992 onwards under favourable weather conditions. By late nineties, the excessive stocks started causing discomfort to the central government once again and by the year 2001, the food stocks build up to the level of over 58 million tons. Punjab, the major contributor to the procurement of foodgrain, again landed in the same situation as of early eighties. In 2002, the state government again constituted a committee, which gave its report in May, 2002. Although triggered by the same reasons as was the case in 1984-85, the committee again presented its long-term vision. The committee kept in view, (i) food security of the country, (ii) over exploitation of natural resources, specially the water resources of the state, (iii) degrading soil conditions, (iii) excessively increasing soil, water and air pollution, (iv) declining total factor productivity of rice-wheat rotation and (v) progressive squeeze on farm incomes, leading to mounting indebtedness of the farmers, which in some cases resulted in farmers’ suicides. Major concern was the depleting underground water recourses adversely affecting the sustainability of the production pattern based on rice-wheat mono-type crop rotation. In spite of the repeated warnings of Punjab Agricultural University for a period of over one decade in this respect, the state government and the farmers had not paid any heed to the impending disaster. Rather, the government acted insensitive to the problem and for short-term political gains, with misplaced expectations on electoral front, made the supply of electricity free to the farm sector, which lead to further over-exploitation of groundwater resources. The Central Groundwater Board struck alarm at the dangerously worsening ground water situation based on a survey in many blocks of the state. The board stated that the quantity of water pumped out as per cent of recharge was 205 in Moga Block-I; 187 in Moga-II; 169 in Sangrur; 180 in Ahmedgarh and 119 in Mahal Kalan. Jalandhar district was worse at 350 per cent in Jalandhar-East block and 274 per cent in Jalandhar-West. Nakodar was parching at 317 per cent. Situation on water front has not improved since then that should favour or justify the continuation of cultivation of rice crop at the same level. In fact, the water situation in the state is worsening day by day. Of course, wheat is not that much of a problem crop as yet, but under the global warming effect and water table receding by over 70 cm per year and the farmers resorting to submersible pumps, it is putting question mark on economics of wheat cultivation also, which is leading to a progressive squeeze on farm incomes. Degradation of soils, that are becoming virtual test-tube cultures for growing of crops, leading to declining factor productivity, water and air pollution through excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides leading to growing incidences of cancer in several areas of the state and burning of rice and wheat stubbles that contributes to an increasing level of breathing problems in October-November and April- May are some of the negative development that are a common knowledge. All these factors overly justify that Punjab agriculture must get diversified replacing at least one million hectare from under rice, because the irrigation water resources, both of canals and under ground water, cannot sustain more than 1.5 million hectare under this crop without disturbing the water balance of the area. On national food security, the report suggests that the Central Government should divert attention to the gangetic plain, where more than 20 million hectare of land is floating over sweet water and there is a potential for increasing the productivity levels for wheat and rice in these areas to the level of Punjab through land consolidation and application of available improved production technology. Instead of whipping the tired horse of Punjab, it is better to shift attention to comparatively virgin and potentially better responding areas of the country to the use of inputs and improved technology and let Punjab diversify its production pattern consistent with its resource endowment on a sustainable basis. Here the central assistance was considered necessary for initial years to wean the farmers from non-sustainable mono-crop rotation of wheat and rice at least on one million hectare. After all, what is this small area of 10 lakh hectare under rice, the report talks of, out of total of over 430 lakh hectare of cropped area under rice in the country? If such a big country depends so heavily on only about 2.3 per cent of the cropped area under paddy, it depicts a high degree fragility of the national food security! The country needs to apply seriously to this vulnerability. The answer lies in improving the productivity on 200 lakh hectare in gangetic plains rather than keep sucking up the small land area of Punjab and thereby putting a serious question mark on the sustainability of national food security. Another very important aspect of food security is that there is no shortage of rice in the country. The country is quite comfortable on rice stocks. Therefore, 2.3 per cent of the area under rice in the country (in Punjab) can be easily reduced, as suggested in the report, without any adverse effect on food security. Even on wheat, it is the mismanagement of food stocks, which is the culprit. Production decreased, if at all, only marginally in 2005-06. There was no need to panic. The Government of India had exported 35 million tons of foodgrain from 2001 to 2005, of which 23 million tons was rice and 12 million tons wheat. Most of these grains were exported at lower than BPL prices at huge loss to the exchequer. If these foodgrains had been recycled with faster turnover from the stores rather than disposing of these stocks in the name of so called structural adjustments, the country would have certainly not been crying shortages now. The situation demands that opponents of crop diversification in Punjab must see reason and come to grips with the ground realities in the agriculture sector of the
state.
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In French soup India
International Centre proposed to serve Potage Solferino in a continental dinner during the IIC Experience festival in October. Actually produced was a peaceably off-white thick leek and potato soup. Tomato, the colour-link with the copious flow of gore in the battle of Solferino was kept out for some unknown reason. A curiosity was kindled. Charles de Gaulle had wondered how a country with 264 kinds of cheese could be governed. I discovered that the flat fish sole could be cooked by French chefs in as many ways as de Gaulle’s count of cheeses. In the years after de Gaulle the score for the known varieties of cheese in France has climbed to 400 plus. All cheeses and sole dishes have their respective distinct names. The unbounded French culinary inventiveness and the urge to differentiate each new dish from its genus leads to a limitless search for names. Hence the celebration of the fames of people, places, events, with the creation of an endless procession of new and newer dishes. French chefs created Eggs Maupassant, Sole Jules Verne, Lobster Cardinal [Richlieu], Consomme Colbert, Sole Simon Bolivar, Consomme Garibaldi, Sauce Mozart, in honour of their writers, statesmen, heroes of other lands and a musical great. A chicken dish was named after Marie Lousie, Napoleon’s second wife, and a fish preparation after his mistress Walewska. Through French cooking of a chicken dish and a soup were celebrated Napoleon’s victories against the Austrians at Marengo and against a Russian general, Borodino. The French Revolution is represented in the national cuisine by Lobster Thermidor. Antoine Parmentier has been immortalised in cooked potato. He brought the first sack of potato from South America to France. French cooking has not been able to do without Parmentier since. Consomme Medicis is France’s expression of gratitude to an Italian-born queen who laid the foundation of France’s grande cuisine. Christendom’s relief at the beating back of the Ottoman Turks outside Vienna took the form of the croissant (crescent) in France. These are only a few from France’s infinite culinary variety. Do the French mark their disappointments and anti-heroes also with new dishes? Perhaps. Otherwise, why Venison Villeneuve, recalling the admiral who lost even his flagship at Trafalgar to England’s Nelson? And why Pheasant Souvaroff, a Russian general notorious for his inhumanity? Some Frenchmen want to believe that Potage Solferino celebrates only the end to Austria’s meddling with Italian unification. A better defence is Sole Dunant, placed on French menus after the Swiss humanist was moved by the enormous casualty roll of the battle of Solferino to create the International Red Cross and win the first Nobel Prize for Peace. Find a chef now to serve you some of those dishes with memorable names. Bon
appetit. |
Death by firing squad Thus did the Afghan government, after keeping its firing squad idle for 3 1/2 years, revive capital punishment. Officials say more executions are to come. The resumption of the death penalty here has sparked concern among many of the nations that provide Afghanistan with military and financial aid. Beyond moral qualms, critics and human-rights activists are worried about the ultimate punishment being meted out by a justice system widely regarded as corrupt and incompetent. Some of those reservations led President Hamid Karzai to declare a moratorium on executions in 2004, after his government carried out the country’s first death sentence since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. In that case, a man was put to death even though his trial had been criticized by the United Nations. Today, Karzai faces daunting new political realities. His approval ratings have tumbled amid an upswing in insurgent attacks and violent crimes such as kidnapping and robbery. Insecurity has climbed to the top of the list of problems that Afghans say have beset Implementing the death penalty was instantly popular, allowing Karzai to look tough on public safety and shore up support for his government. Observers note that the mass execution Oct. 7 came barely a week after one of the worst suicide attacks in the capital, Kabul, with 30 people killed aboard an army bus. Karzai’s spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, acknowledged that public opinion played a role in the decision to end the moratorium. “Implementing the law is the duty of the government,” Hamidzada said. “And secondly, public pressure – the people wanted this. “President Karzai himself is against executions. He doesn’t like executions. That’s why he took so long to make sure every case was investigated thoroughly.” Karzai’s personal opposition to the death penalty places him in a minority among his countrymen. During the Taliban’s rule, public executions were carried out in stadiums before thousands of spectators, and the overwhelming majority of Afghans still favor the death penalty, and not just for murderers. “If the government executes thieves and kidnappers, that’s a good thing,” said Faizuddin, a 27-year-old Kabul resident who, like many Afghans, goes by only one name. “It serves as an example to others.” At the same time, however, the justice system, while improving, remains a shaky institution. Due process and judicial impartiality are often phantoms in a country with a history of tribal and vigilante justice and of warlords who bend police, courts and local officials to their will. “Still we’re receiving lots of complaints about the judicial system – about the incompetence of judges, about bribery and corruption in various levels of courts,” said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. “It would be difficult to think that there are opportunities for everyone to go through a fair and free trial.” Besides trial and sentencing, the executions themselves can be botched. Sixteen prisoners were on the list for the Oct. 7 execution, a mix of criminals and Taliban militants who Karzai determined to have committed the most heinous deeds and to have had a fair trial. But moments before the execution, a murderer named Timor Shah, possibly the most infamous of the lot, managed to escape. How he did so is still unclear. But three guards reportedly were arrested on suspicion of helping him. According to a source with knowledge of what happened that evening, Shah somehow was able to jump over a low wall and run off, shouting, “God is great!” while everyone else was lined up to be shot. The source asked not to be identified for fear of official reprisal. After Shah broke from the crowd and fled, others tried to escape as well. Panicked, the firing squad unleashed a hail of bullets. Some of the dead were disfigured and unidentifiable. Hamidzada, the presidential spokesman, would not confirm or deny details, saying some accounts were exaggerated. However, he conceded that “not all procedures were followed. ...The government is not happy.” Neither were inmates in Kabul’s Pul-i-Charki prison, who staged a brief hunger strike to protest the botched execution. Also alarmed are foreign governments, many of which, as members of NATO, have troops deployed Britain and the Netherlands, among the countries with the largest military contingents here, condemned the executions and called for the abolition of the death penalty – one of the European Union’s top human-rights priorities worldwide. The Canadian government also sought assurances from Kabul that none of the 15 people executed were prisoners caught by Canadian soldiers. Foreign forces routinely turn over militants they have captured to Afghan authorities. But the revival of capital punishment could complicate the process if troops from countries that outlaw the practice fear prisoners would be in danger of execution. The international criticism has been met in Afghanistan with a shrug. “They can’t tell us not to carry out executions,” said Hussein Alemi Balkhi, a member of parliament. “Our law allows executions, and if we don’t carry them out, that will encourage other people to commit wrongdoing.” Officials assert that violent crime has dropped since the October executions. But data are difficult to come by. Karzai is considering which death row inmates will make up the next batch of prisoners to be executed. The “priority” list is believed to have dozens of names. By arrangement with |
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Burma’s girls victims of China’s policy Faced with the prospect of having only one child many Chinese families have insisted on a son. A boy was more useful on the farm, they reckoned. A son was better able to provide for parents when they grew old; daughters in China tended to become part of their husband’s family and were traditionally unable to inherit. Cases of abandonment of girl babies and selective abortion followed. There are now 30 million more men than women in China. Those near the Burmese border have begun to buy girls as young as 10 to become the brides of men old enough to be their fathers or even grandfathers. “There are millions of men with no chance of marrying,” says Andrew Kirkwood, the Burma programme director for Save the Children n one of the three charities supported by the Independent Christmas Appeal. “Brothers sell sisters, fathers sell daughters, across the border. It’s hard to determine how much they know about what the fate of the girls will be.” Anti-child trafficking work is a major plank in the agency’s programme. Together with support for schools, clinics and work to control the spread of HIV/Aids, it constitutes one of the biggest programmes of work Save the Children undertakes anywhere in the world. It is also working with the Chinese government to address the issues raised in China by trafficking. “We employ 484 local people in programmes that help 750,000,” says Mr Kirkwood. But little is ever heard of the work because it operates quietly behind the scenes of one of the world’s most ruthless and authoritarian governments. “People assume our operating context is next to impossible because of the political situation. But there is a lot we are able to do.” Certainly the Burmese government is not doing it. The military regime spends just 10 pence per person on health care n that’s just 0.4 per cent of the country’s GDP. The World Health Organisation says that it takes between (pounds sterling)20 and (pounds sterling)30 per head to provide a minimally functioning health service. The picture on education is not much better. “Health and education are chronically underfunded. By the government’s own statistics they are in the bottom five countries in the world,” Mr Kirkwood said. “A third of the population lives below the poverty level. Among the poorest rural people, where we work, 50 per cent are landless labourers. A family of five lives on less than (pounds sterling)200 a year. As much as 90 per cent of their income is spent on food. It leaves very little for school fees or for medicine if a child falls ill. Most illnesses go untreated.” Which is why one in 10 children die before their fifth birthday. One in three suffers from malnutrition. Fewer than half complete their primary education. The response of Save the Children is to spot and treat malnutrition and diarrhoea and combat diseases such as pneumonia and malaria. “Two pence worth of antibiotics and a teaspoon can buy a child enough time to get them to a clinic,” Mr Kirkwood said. The mood has changed in Burma since the pro-democracy protests by Buddhist monks three months ago, “though exactly how is hard to explain”, Mr Kirkwood says. “But one thing is certain: children living on the edge do not have time to wait for a political solution ... It is vital for us to be here.” By arrangement with
The Independent
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Chatterati The
beaming parents of Jaisal Singh, Mala and Tejbir, had full reason to be proud of their son, the ever polite Jaisal Singh. He is a favourite of all in Delhi. Polo has always been the game of the royals. There is no doubting that, after one witnessed the book release of Jaisal Singh’s picture book. Dr Karan Singh was in full form, even though there were no shlokas from him. Wit and humour was his mantra for the evening. Researching a subject like polo history and then stringing it together into a book that makes it accessible to all, clearly helps the sport. Polo is now seeing a popular revival. The city’s who’s who were present. From Shiela Dixit, Kapil Sibal, and Amibika Soni, to the Page 3s and enough well-regarded people. But it was a sight to watch when the three Gandhi’s/Vadhra’s walked in. How the butterflies of Delhi wanted to stand just behind the crown prince Rahul, so that they may just make it into the frame! But the stunning brother and sister duo, Rahul and Priyanka, with the ever gracious Robert, are so well-behaved and patient. It is amazing! Poor Rahul was stuck in one position as the Congress politicians just had to have their say, which went on for an hour at the minimum, as it is very rare to get the crown prince’s attention. One does feel a bit sorry for him at times. But while some may have been engrossed with the names and fames, the evening clearly belonged to Jaisal and Priya Kapoor, his co-author. Out of reach The younger generation is in everyone’s focus. A “Parliament for kids”! Yes, the country’s parliamentarians have finally woken up to the idea of having something for children too. Soon the Parliament Library will have a special “kid zone” where children can access books, DVDs, CDs and magazines. This was one of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s ideas. If reports are to be believed, only the Japanese Diet has a zone like the one conceived by him. A great proposal, but there is a slight hitch: How would children without enough “approach” and disadvantaged sections of society enter the Parliament Library, where strict security norms ban entry of all unauthorised persons? Well, at least the thought is there. So, may be in years to come, the dream may also come true. Stand out routines Gujarat’s Narendra Modi and Kashmir’s Ghulam Nabi Azad caught the eye at the National Development Council. Their points were different and unique and they looked at issues that went beyond the widespread support for inclusive growth, the theme of the new Plan. Azad worried about employment, probably the most persistent issue for his state, given the dangers of militancy and the anxieties of families in the valley. Modi stuck to his guns, now clearly trained at Manmohan, by criticising the special focus on minorities. But whatever their point, the two CMs certainly made their impact, in what often passes for a routine rubber-stamping exercise. |
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KABUL – On a cool October evening, at the foot of one of the mountains that ring this city, the crack of heavy gunfire ripped through the twilight. When the reverberations faded and all was still, 15 people lay dead in a bloody jumble.
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