 |
|
Conscription – an
awful idea TN doublespeak |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Saving
the daughter
Cult of violence in
Kenya
Colourful
teacher
China
“responsive” on India’s concerns about Pakistan Back to school –
from abusive marriages Delhi Durbar
|
Conscription – an awful idea This
country by law and the Constitution adheres to the principal of free choice. However, by floating the idea of conscription as a possible solution to the manpower crisis facing the Indian Armed forces, a worried Chief of Army Staff Deepak Kapoor has not really served the cause. He was careful, of course, to say that it had not yet come to that, and the government might have to “look at it” in the long run. But the fact is that conscription is an abhorrent idea and cannot be pushed by any government at the Centre. The Army Chief need not have wasted a moment on the thought. By mentioning it at all, General Kapoor has attempted to deflect attention away from where the focus should actually be – on the total failure of the government and the armed forces in correcting the officer shortage that has dogged the forces for more than a decade. There have been fancy advertising campaigns, camps of all kinds, tinkering efforts with promotion schemes, some juggling of pay packets and perks. The net result has essentially been zilch. Year on year, the hard numbers stare us in the face. As per figures presented in Parliament, the Army is short by 11,238 officers, the Navy by 1399 officers and the Air Force by 1528 officers. The numbers have come down only marginally over the earlier years. In 2006, 811 officers applied for premature retirement, with 464 making it out, along with 87 of their Air Force colleagues. In fact, the conscription idea is all the more foolish, considering that it is officers we are looking for. Year on year, the feeder institutions like the IMA, Dehra Dun, the NDA, Pune, and the OTA, Chennai, only manage to fill the gap, without making much of an impact. The IMA last year boasted about a “highest ever” graduation of 625 cadets, but reports coming in of falling intake are already of great concern. Hopefully, perhaps, General Kapoor was only throwing in the conscription idea to further spur the Sixth Pay Commission to favourably look upon the demands for large pay hikes for service officers and ranks. There is no doubt a strong case for this, considering the salaries that qualified youngsters are wooed with even as they step out of the portals of their educational institutions. Slow promotions are an issue, but not as much as unfair methods of assessment, and corruption. There is also need for greater sensitivity towards concerns about family and education of children, but the “tough life” per se is no stumbling block. If anything, it has an appeal of its own to the young. But the armed forces need to get their act together.
|
|
TN doublespeak YOU can’t hunt with the hound and run with the hare. The Tamil Nadu government would have realised the meaning of these sane words when it argued against the blanket ban imposed by the Supreme Court on jallikettu, the traditional bullfights organised in many villages in the state on the occasion of Pongal. The ban did not go well with the traditionalists, who even threatened to defy the ban if it was enforced. Caught between the bulls of tradition and the court order of modernity, the DMK government tried to wriggle out of the situation by seeking a modified ban. It succeeded when the court allowed the traditional bullfights subject to some conditions — the bulls should not be intoxicated and the district administration should certify that there was no cruelty towards the animals. To buttress its stand that a total ban was neither feasible nor desirable, the state government argued that it would be difficult to trample upon the religious practices and beliefs of the common people. Obviously, it did not realise that such an argument flew in the face of its own stand on the Sethusamudram project. The government had argued in the court that the project should be given clearance irrespective of the belief by a section of the people that Adam’s bridge or Ram Sethu was built by the Vanar Sena during the Ramayana period. It was left to the Supreme Court to point out the dichotomy in the positions the TN government has taken on both jallikettu and Sethusamudram. The government’s embarrassment on this count is reflective of the dangers of mixing religion with politics. Three months have passed since the Central government was granted time to file a fresh affidavit after its previous affidavit which contained a mischievous statement that Ram was not a historical figure and, therefore, he never existed, was withdrawn. Now it has been granted a fortnight to submit the affidavit. Thanks to the mischief-makers in the government and outside, the Sethusamudram project has already become so divisive that the government is in a dilemma on drafting an affidavit. What all this implies is that it is easy to mount the religious tiger but difficult to dismount it. Yet, political parties and leaders are never wary of mounting it.
|
|
Saving the daughter All
praise for Punjab’s singers’ initiative to fight against the consumption of intoxicants and the killing of daughters before birth. These popular bards can succeed where the government has failed in moving the ignorant who have the stone in the heart to kill their daughter. The fetish for a male heir has cost the life of countless girls. If even a small percentage of those who gathered to listen to Sarbjit Cheema, Babbu Mann, Jazzy B, Jasbir Jassy, Inderjit Nikku and Debi Maqsoospuri’s popular songs and also their exhortation against female foeticide and drug addiction at Sarbjit’s ancestral village Cheema Kalan on Wednesday take a vow to shed these abominable practices, Punjab can considerably wipe out the stigma that has come to stick to its name. On the one hand, so many villages have earned the epithet of “kudi-maar” (daughter killers), on the other a whole generation of Punjabis is being lost to alcohol, opium and drugs. There is need to hold similar programmes in every nook and corner of the state, so that the inhumanity of these practices can be drummed into the ears of the people. Both problems are so rampant that they have almost received social acceptability in most of the state and in neighbouring Haryana. The ugly mould has to be broken somehow. Such singers enjoy tremendous popularity and can play an instrumental role in changing the public mind. In fact, it has to become a mass movement with the help of opinion makers in other fields as well. Dramatists, doctors, writers, teachers, et al, have to come forward to fight the evils with a missionary zeal. The same holds true of religious groups too. Law has been ineffective in saving the life of the unborn daughter. It is societal pressure which has to act as a deterrent.
|
|
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. — Jerome K. Jerome
|
Cult of violence in Kenya Violence, political or otherwise, is part of life in Kenya. The irony is that Kenya is also one of the mature democracies in Africa. Multi-party elections are held regularly and even though politics is based on tribal divisions, the judiciary, Parliament and the vibrant Press apply correctives on the executive. With tolerance of corruption and violence as part of society, Kenya has found its own brand of democracy. The current tribal warfare on account of alleged rigging of elections had begun long before the polls were held. Even the meetings held for determining party candidates were marred by bloodshed. Having had to fight incessantly with wild animals for survival, physical battle for political survival is a natural extension of Kenyan life. Human life is heavily discounted there. Political calculations, rather than fear of further loss of human life, will bring about a compromise in the end. As the High Commissioner of India to Kenya, I happened to be with the Kenyan Foreign Minister in his office on the morning after the severe beating of a handicapped opposition leader. The newspapers that morning had carried graphic pictures of the incident. I could not but mention the incident to the minister. I thought that he would describe the incident as an unfortunate one, which was being exaggerated by the Press. He shocked me when he said: “He will be killed one of these days!” He added in good measure that violence is part of politics in Kenya and that people joined politics with full knowledge of the attendant risks. He offered no apology, not even regret. Kenyan elections of 1995 left me with broken limbs and ribs as the opposition to President Moi thought that the Indians in Kenya should be given a message that they were not safe without the patronage of the opposition. I had ignored messages that Indians should make financial contributions to the opposition parties also, not just to those in power. The best way to demonstrate this was to hit the Indian High Commissioner himself. After three assailants broke into our home and attacked my wife and myself, President Moi said publicly that the Indian High Commissioner was the victim of political violence in the country. The opposition said promptly that Moi had done it to discredit the opposition! To avoid an explosive situation arising out of a sense of extreme insecurity, I made it out as though the whole incident was nothing but an act of burglary, though the intruders had stolen nothing from the house. I said that I had vowed to do everything possible for India- Kenya friendship and the shedding of some blood turned out to be a part of the process. Nothing could be better for the politicians to settle scores than an atmosphere of violence taken to be the norm. There are stories of Presidents disposing of inconvenient ministers and others by eliminating them. How do the Presidents control violence in the country if they themselves are not averse to resorting to violence to settle scores? In India, we accept communalism in politics as a necessary evil, but in Kenya, tribalism is the very essence of politics. The revered Jomo Kenyatta was the leader of the largest tribe, the Kikuyu, and his successor should also have been from the same tribe, but the wily Moi, a Kalenjin, struck up an alliance with the Kikuyu and grabbed power. The election of Kibaki marked the return of the Kikuyu to power, but Moi escaped retribution by quickly reaching an understanding with Kibaki. Kibaki’s challenger, Odinga, is a Luo, the second largest tribe in the country. Smaller tribes can share power only if they seek alliances with the larger ones. Before or after the elections, they have to seek viable alliances to grab a piece of the pie. Uncertainty and instability are essential ingredients of such a political mix. In the latest round of violence and tribal warfare, reports appeared to the effect that Indians in Kenya were being targeted. This may not be true in the context of the Kibaki vs Odinga situation as the Indians are not particularly close to either. Indians have been constant targets of violence not because of any particular anti-Indian feeling, but because they are the richer of the species. They have bigger homes and more wealth for the looters and the thieves. Kenyans, who serve in these homes, are witnesses to conspicuous consumption by Indians. Many homes resemble Hindi movie sets the Kenyans watch with envy every day. Many Indians are honest businessmen, who have made money by the sweat of their brow. But envy and greed on the part of the Africans make them ready targets of violence. Kenyan Indians have so many interests in the country that they consider a few robberies and deaths acceptable risks. They send the younger generation away to the West, but they themselves stay on to enjoy the fruits of their labour over the years. It must be mentioned, however, that there have been cases of deception, exploitation and sheer thuggery on the part of some Kenyan Indians. As unprincipled partners of wealthy Africans, they have looted the country and fled to greener pastures. They spoil the name of India and Indians in Kenya and escape nemesis in other countries. Much is being made of the Indian government’s lack of initiative to save the Indians in Kenya and to resolve the present conflict. Any foreign country can assist its citizens only by evacuating them in extreme emergencies. Kenya will not accept any plea for special treatment for Indians when the whole country is ablaze. Foreigners necessarily face such risks in any country and law should be the same for all citizens and residents. If there is no racial discrimination or racial hatred against the Indians as in the old Souh Africa and Rabuka’s Fiji, India can only offer advice to its citizens and people of Indian origin, not demand any special protection. A national government of reconciliation and unity, with proportional representation for all parties seems to be the only way forward. It appears that Archbishop Tutu, the master tactician and diplomat, appears to be heading in that direction. But tribalism and violence will not disappear and Kenyan Indians have to continue to live with the risks
involved.
|
Colourful teacher There
was a merry twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his face. We all called him “LP sir” but his full name was Laxman Parshad. He was our English teacher while I was in high school. His relations with students had a peculiar combination of love and discipline which is an unknown quantity these days. As soon as the bell struck for the assemblage of his class, I would rush to the room and scramble for the front seat. His lectures were always studded with puns, humour and were absorbing. He had evolved special techniques for the forgetful students and would give “Memory Pills” to such students by making a round circle against the name of the defaulting student in the attendance register. Three such pills would automatically lead to imposition of a fine. The tendency had soon disappeared. He had evolved his own recipe to force into students’ head the correct spellings of words. I recollect the story of two fast friends “Full and Fill” who while parting gifted to each other the letter “L” as a token of Love and remembrance. That is why, according to him, only one “L” was used while writing “Fulfil”. Similarly, he would say that if we put two “ass” over a nation we would get the word “assassination”. He would mingle with the students and also cut jokes. One day we came to know that he had been blessed with a baby. We wrote FEAST on the black board and anxiously waited for his arrival. As soon as he entered the classroom he could see smile on all the faces of the students and their eyes focused on the board. He turned his head, took the duster in his hand, rubbed the letter “E” to make it read as “Fast” and humorously explained that he had been blessed with the second baby girl. Once a month he would teach us general knowledge as he was a man of versatile interests. He would touch various day-to-day topics and will be completely engrossed explaining these to us. One day he was explaining importance of water and its composition. This is what he had said and I quote him from memory: “I take oxygen in one hand and hydrogen in other and make water before all of you”. I had quietly uttered: “Please sir, not in the classroom” and all my classmates had burst into laughter and so did he. This was a burning topic of the entire school for a long
time.
|
China “responsive” on India’s concerns about Pakistan
China
coming forward to share openly India’s concern over Pakistan and terrorism in the region during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s three-day visit is a notable first. Although it finds no place in the Vision document, unlike in the past, the Chinese leadership was willing to talk about Pakistan and “what is happening in our neighbourhood”. Highly placed sources in the Prime Minister’s delegation told The Tribune that during this visit the Chinese leadership has gone the farthest in responding New Delhi’s position vis-a-vis Pakistan. The Chinese leadership showed an appreciation of the danger of anti-India terrorism emanating from Pakistan that had hitherto not been forthcoming. Both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were most responsive to Dr Singh’s assessment of the situation in Pakistan. They endorsed his view including that of a strong, stable and moderate Pakistan being in the interest of India as well as Asia. The two sides agreeing to consult each other more frequently on the evolving situation in Pakistan in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination opens up the possibility for New Delhi to articulate its concerns more effectively, and emphatically, than was the case earlier. Pakistan, for long regarded as China’s all-weather ally, figured directly, and recurrently, during Dr Singh’s talks with the Chinese leaders and indirectly in his address at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) as well as his statements. “On regional issues there was similarity of views. We had a very good discussion... on Pakistan, Iran and Myanmar and we both agreed that terrorism and fudnamentalism constitute a threat”, he told journalists on board the Prime Minister’s special aircraft. “President Hu endorsed what we said. I did get a feeling that the Chinese leadership is also concerned about the situation. He recognised the problems in Pakistan and felt it was necessary for both countries to consult each other more frequently on this issue”. The signs of growing engagement with the Chinese leadership on Pakistan as an issue of concern and not only for India went beyond the general stress on “the need for a peaceful periphery” given out by Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon. While the omission of a reference to Pakistan and the concerns it represents for New Delhi is conspicuous in the joint Vision document, Dr Singh drives home the point with unmistakable emphasis – and more than once – in his speech at CASS. He did not mention Pakistan by name. But he left China’s leading think tank in no doubt as to which country he was speaking about when he said “the establishment of peaceful and cooperative relationships in our neighbourhood is an intrinsic element of our foreign policy. We realise that our destinies are linked by geography and history. Both India and China seek tranquility and stability in our immediate neighbourhood and extended region”. He prefaced it by saying that India’s domestic and foreign policy priorities are closely linked. The primary task of our foreign policy is to create an external environment that is conducive for our rapid development… and give us strategic autonomy in the world”. Dr Singh underscoring the mutual obligation “to put behind us disputes and problems that have troubled our relations in the past” is also read as a clear hint that Pakistan should not be allowed to vitiate the rapidly developing Sino-Indian relationship. “It is only in an environment of peace that prosperity in Asia can be sustained. India and China have an important role to play in building peace, security and stability in the region.” The reference was barely veiled in the closing part of his address. “Recent developments in our neighbourhood have brought home to us again the imperative need to collectively fight terrorism and extremism in all its forms”. Dr Singh told his audience that the greatest danger to our development was from extremism of all types “whether in the garb of religion or on the pretext of righting historical wrongs”. The creation of a climate for some plain speaking on Pakistan and the Chinese leadership’s readiness to respond, albeit in small measure as a first step, is “no mean achievement” as a member of the Prime Minister’s delegation put it.
|
|
Back to school – from abusive marriages The
MV Foundation’s work in pulling children out of the work force and into schools in Andhra Pradesh is impressive. Since 1991, it has withdrawn 400,000 children from the work force and mainstreamed them into schools. With the help of the gram panchayats and the local community 1500 villages have been freed of child labourers. However, what is not that well known is the number of little girls that they have saved from being pushed into marriage. They have also helped young girls of 12 to 15 years, who ran away from abusive husbands and in-laws to rebuild their lives by getting back into school. At the Alur Bridge Camp, Rangareddy District, where girls and boys who have been rescued from child labour are put through a bridge course to upgrade their reading and writing skills before being mainstreamed into regular school, we met a few of these young married girls. Most of these girls are below the legal age of marriage but have been pushed into it because of the convenience of parents. They feel their responsibility is over once the daughter is married even if she is just 12 or 13 years. Four years ago one of the girls, who was 14, ran away from her husband’s home and found her way to the Alur bridge camp. The camp in charge informed the sarpanch of the village and the girl’s parents. The parents were worried they would be harassed by their daughter’s in-laws but the girl was determined not to go back. Finally with the help of the sarpanch, the case was resolved and the young girl was allowed to stay on. “We have supporters as well as those who oppose our programme of rescuing child labourers and putting them back into education. The opposition in case of married girls is more vehement,” says Raju of MV Foundation. Quiet, simple child marriages were taking place in Shahbad mandal, Vikarabad, Paragi, Tandu and Kulkachala blocks of Ranga Reddy district. Now the girls who do not wish to get married know they can turn to the MV Foundation for support. Lakshmi, 15, married to widower of 45, ran away within a month of her marriage because her mother-in-law and others were beating her. She has spent 10 months at the Alur camp doing the bridge course. She hopes to get into class 7 in a government school. In her village, Bandeliki Charla, she was working in the cotton fields. “I have suffered too much in my husband’s house. I want to study and become a lawyer. I will never go back to my in-laws house. Even if I marry, it will be to someone else,” she says. Since the marriage was not registered and she was a minor, there is hope that it will be annulled. Each girl, seeking shelter, has a horrendous story to tell of physical and mental abuse. Shahnaz, 14, is from Dachapalli village of Guntur district and has worked in chillie and cotton farms. When she was 12, she was married to a 45-year-old man. Her mother had died and her father married again. Her step mother did not like her since she had two of her own children. Though the nikha was done when she was 12, she had to move into the husband’s house when she was 14 in January last year. Her husband was a silversmith earning Rs 60 to Rs 100 a day. He would leave the house at 4 a.m. and return at 7 p.m. Shahnaz first completed all the housework in her own home, then went to her in-laws house and do all the housework there. There was neither joy nor understanding in the marriage. She had become a slave and was often beaten. In desperation she drank kerosene and tried to kill herself. After a period of hospitalization she went back and found in addition to her other travails, she was now being accused to infidelity. With the Rs 800 she had saved from her days as a cotton field worker, she went to the railway station and bought a ticket to Secundrabad. She was sitting hear the door of the compartment, crying her heart out when two policemen saw her and tried to help. A college student in the compartment offered to help get her to a place where she could study. She put her in a bus that took her to Chevellam and from there she took an auto rickshaw to the bridge school. The bridge school sent a message to her parents but they had migrated and the information was passed on to her husband. He called her up at the school and threatened her of dire consequences if she did not return. MV Foundation with the support of the community is trying to solve the case. Susheela Chenugapalli, forced into marriage when 12, won the bravery award for revolting against child marriage in 2005. Susheela says no one should suffer like she did for two years. With the support of MV Foundation, the marriage was finally annulled. She recalls that one day she came from school to be told by her parents that her marriage had been fixed with Narsimhulu and she would have to live with his family in a village, 30 miles from her maternal home in Alur. Susheela begged her parents not to marry her. She knew it would be the end of her freedom, her education. But her parents who were extremely poor pointed out that the dowry was not too much because she was young. As she got older they would have to pay a bigger dowry. They were also worried about her security since she had reached puberty and any physical attack or molestation would bring dishonour to the family. Her young married friends who had been abused by husbands 20 and 30 years older than they were, asked her to resist the marriage but they could do nothing to help her. So she was pressured into marriage. Her only consolation was the husband was 22 and not 40 or 45 years. She had to do the field work as well as all the work at home like a slave with no one to even talk to. Within a few weeks of the marriage, Narsimhulu began abusing her. He would come home drunk and scream at her demanding more dowry. Then he would beat her. When this happened a couple of times she ran away to her parents but they sent her back. One evening Narasimhulu punched her because he did not like the dinner she had cooked for him. She decided she could not take any more violence. Having heard of MV Foundation she contacted them and they assured her support in leaving Narasimhulu. Her parents were horrified. How would they face their community but Susheela was adamant not to live with Narasimhulu. MV Foundation helped her to get the marriage annulled and she is back in school and in control of her life. The atmosphere at the bridge camp at Alur was joyous. There were 120 students and 12 teachers who not only taught them how to read, write and prepare for regular school but motivated them to education so that they do not drop out even when they join the government schools. In fact, the Foundation follows up with them in government schools and even helps them get into college and the work force. Some of the kids rescued from child labour and groomed at the Foundation’s bridge course camps are today doctors, engineers and even in the police force as constables.
|
|
Delhi Durbar While the Congress is facing the dilemma of whether or not to project chief ministerial candidates in the electoral battles ahead for various assemblies, it also has to take the call on the issue for the general elections. Will the party continue with the present set up of party president Sonia Gandhi not occupying the post of Prime Minister or will there be a shift? The party’s strategy will be watched with interest, especially as Congressmen would demand that the party president lead the government as well. It may not be easy for Sonia to lead the party in the polls and say no a second time to the Prime Minister’s post if the Congress is in a position of forming the government. The BJP has already thrown down the gauntlet by naming its Prime Ministerial candidate
Twin celebrations With her national ambitions soaring, UP Chief Minister Mayawati decided to cut her birthday cake both in Lucknow and New Delhi. She was particular about having an event in the rajdhani as she was keen to catch the eye of the national and international media. The state information set up in the union capital went on overdrive and invited every single media person to her press conference, resulting in overcrowding. Her statement to the media in Lucknow and New Delhi remaining the same, the only difference was in the persons present on the stage vying with each other to offer cake and getting photographed with the BSP supremo. Her colleague S C Mishra, who is widely credited to have brought the upper caste brahmin to the BSP fold, was a common factor at both venues. In Lucknow, he was the first one to offer cake to her and in Delhi Mayawati’s father offered her the first piece.
Peoples’ court Victory for the third time running in the assembly elections in Gujarat has emboldened Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The other day, when he was in the national capital for the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, a Gujarati NRI dared to ask Modi whether the Gujarat riot affected families will get justice. Though the NRI was diplomatic in asking the question, Modi’s annoyance and arrogance was all too evident. He pointedly told the NRI “you are also talking like the media. People have forgotten everything and re-elected me... the media it seems will take some more time to forget. The judicial court is different from the peoples’ court,” Modi thundered.
History’s choices Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is upfront about the state education department dropping references to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in textbooks, saying that those who were still in the race to realise their political ambitions should leave it to posterity to judge their role and contribution to society. The Chief Minister said it was not his idea to replace references to Lalu Prasad with those to leaders like Karpuri Thakur, but that of the state’s Education Department, and he agreed with their decision. Contributed by Prashant Sood, Satish Misra, and S. Satyanarayanan
|
| 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 | |
