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Take-home packets Power to the people |
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Curbs on sledging Politicians too can take a hint The International Cricket Council has asked captains of all teams to check sledging. One Captain – Amarinder Singh — and Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, may protest that they have received no such note from the ICC and, therefore, they cannot stop the sledging match underway between them.
Protests in Tibet
Officers and
orderlies
Engaging Africa Under-prepared
Karnataka worries about ‘techie terror’ New challenges in
tackling tuberculosis
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Power to the people Bhutan
had a momentous tryst with destiny on Monday when it voted to elect the country’s first democratic government. That brings to an end the 101 years of absolute monarchy in the Land of the Thunder Dragon. Interestingly, the elections had been ordained by a far-sighted King himself. That is a sea change from the situation prevailing in the neighbouring Nepal. Not quite surprisingly, the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party) led by former Prime Minister Jigme Thinley has swept the polls claiming 44 of the 47 parliamentary seats. The other party in the fray, the People’s Democratic Party led by an uncle of the King, has managed to win only three seats. In fact, the uncle, Sangay Ngedup, even lost his own constituency, to a school teacher. That shows that while the King is well-loved, the public is not too keen to humour his relatives. The party that is now set to come to power is the more royalist of the two. The King himself, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, enjoys tremendous goodwill in Bhutan, and is expected to be the fulcrum of stability and experience in the country, which talks of increasing its Gross National Happiness instead of Gross National Product. One just hopes that the people steeped in tradition will have reason to feel happier now than before. But Bhutan is no longer the shangrila that it is made out to be. Unemployment, crime and drug addiction are on the rise. A quarter of the population still lives below the poverty line. There is muted criticism that people who sit in government offices have become apathetic to the condition of the public. They are not too honest or humble either. It is traditional in the Himalayan kingdom not to be too critical of Lyonpos (ministers), but the tradition may be gradually changing as the public savours democracy, a little haltingly perhaps, to begin with. The people have now the right to choose their government, but have not given up their
allegiance to the monarch, who unlike in name commands their respect. |
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Curbs on sledging The
International Cricket Council has asked captains of all teams to check sledging. One Captain – Amarinder Singh — and Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, may protest that they have received no such note from the ICC and, therefore, they cannot stop the sledging match underway between them. Only the other day, these columns took note of the cricket match between MLAs of the Akali Dal and the Congress party, and commented on how the politicians played the game in true sporting spirit. The legislators gave such a creditable account of themselves that quite a few felt if only they conducted themselves as well on the floor in the Punjab Assembly, the people would be better served. Did they flatter to deceive? It would appear so. Not long after that eventful cricket contest, the politicians are slugging it out. Of course, the slugfest is not between the Akali Dal and the Congress, but between Congressmen. More accurately, between a Congressman, former chief minister Amarinder Singh, and a Congresswoman, Punjab Pradesh Congress president Mrs Bhattal. If the Akali Dal is not openly pitted against the Congress in this war of words, it is because Amarinder Singh has accused Mrs Bhattal of “hobnobbing” with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The two have been going at each other with a ferocity that bodes ill for the Congress party, with Mrs Bhattal herself pulling no punches. She did not deny Amarinder Singh’s charge of being soft on the Akali Dal and BJP. Instead, she asked how could a person full of flaws speak about those with lesser ills, or something to that effect. As in sledging, the exact words do not matter. What matters is that the two are out to get each other. If the Congress leadership is unable to restrain this sledging, it may consider replicating the ICC code to put its house in order. |
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Special
Editorial THE political
uncertainty and strife that kept Pakistan on edge for more than a year
are now luckily over. This may perhaps be the best time to resume the
stalled dialogue between India and Pakistan.
An elected government led by Yousaf Gillani of the PPP has assumed
office in Islamabad. The two major political parties that have formed
the coalition, the PPP and the PML (N), have thrown up enough signals
during the last few weeks that they would love to walk along the peace
tack.
PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari in an interview even favoured putting
the Kashmir issue aside to give a push to the peace process. This may
have been for the record for the Indian interviewer in the first flush
of victory; and Zardari may be singing by now a different tune for the
home audience. But there is realisation in both the PPP and the PML
(N) that peace with India is a better proposition than recurring wars.
President Pervez Musharraf is committed to the peace process; so is
his successor in the Army, General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani. Whatever the
relations that ultimately might emerge between the democratically
elected government and the President, it is unlikely the latter will
throw in a spanner if India and the new Pakistan government resume the
composite dialogue, which has been lying in a state of suspended
animation for over a year.
Following the mandate from Dr Manmohan Singh and President
Musharraf, the two Foreign Secretaries have met in the past to discuss
steps to improve relations between the two countries. And as a part of
back-channel diplomacy, S K Lamba and Tariq Aziz have also met
secretly several times in Dubai and elsewhere to thrash out
differences between the two countries on Kashmir. Messrs Lamba and
Aziz have been maintaining their contacts to keep their exercise
afloat even if Pakistan remained caught in tumultuous events for a
year.
Even if the composite dialogue has not made any headway because of
the changing situation in Pakistan, the labours of Lamba and Aziz, as
also of the foreign secretaries and other officials, should not be
allowed to go waste.
The interlocutors of the two nations have travelled a considerable
distance even on Kashmir. They can pick up the thread where Lamba and
Aziz left it last year without much strain on proclaimed positions.
Officially, neither government has acknowledged the areas of
convergence on Jammu and Kashmir but a few points where the
interlocutors have come to a sort of understanding are already known
in the public domain. They are:
It is unbelievable that these points of convergence have been
short-listed without a nod from the top echelons of the two
governments. None of these points compromise the rival claims of
sovereignty over Kashmir, or the existing territorial positions. The
unspelt idea seems to be aimed at avoiding the contentious argument
like plebiscite, which Pakistan has already given up and the Simla
Agreement, which is no longer a reference point for the Indo-Pakistan
dialogue.
For the newly elected rulers of Pakistan, going ahead with the
peace process can win them more public support. Wars are no longer a
selling item in Pakistan.
Also, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif need not fear that the Army
would scuttle the peace process. Even if there are elements in the
Pakistan Army who think they will go out of business in case of peace
with India, the two leaders should be bold enough to jump onto the
peace wagon. They might discover the people following them in numbers.
Also, Dr Manmohan Singh, who has invested a lot of time and energy
on the peace process, can make another bid for peace on the
sub-continent without hazarding a risk.
It will be an error to think that peace with Pakistan might cost
the Congress party votes. Peace with Pakistan can be projected as an
act of statesmanship and courage, which can get the Congress more
votes than the rhetoric of the rabble-rousers.
There could be a few people in the opposition BJP who might make
noises against peace with Pakistan, but they can be silenced by
reminding them that Dr Manmohan Singh is following the same track as
the one chosen by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Pakistan has held elections; India is going to hold one. The time
has come for both countries to look beyond the electoral politics and
discuss peace in wider interest of the future of the one-fifth of
humanity living in the sub-continent.
Sixty years after Independence, the people on both sides of the
divide deserve to see an end of a history of hatred and wars and to
live in peace and harmony. Their voice should be heeded. |
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It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt |
Protests in Tibet Some
60 years ago, India’s first envoy to China, K.M. Panikkar, suggested to the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to make efforts to establish Tibet as an independent country. China was then in the midst of civil war. When Nehru made the suggestion, China lost no time in taking over Tibet militarily. Still Nehru felt that India, while recognising China’s suzerainty over Tibet, had the right to express the interest in the maintenance of Tibetan autonomy. But he wrote to his Finance Minister John Matthai at that time: “The result of all this is that we may have the Chinese or Tibetan Communists right up on our Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim border.” How prophetic he has turned out to be! I wish Nehru had pursued the matter at that time, at least to ensure autonomy to Tibet. But he was pacified when China said that it would solve the problem “by peaceful and friendly means.” In the official reply, New Delhi used by mistake words such as “Chinese sovereignty” instead of “suzerainty.” India realised its mistake and asked its ambassador Panikkar to rectify it. He never did, pro-China as he was. Even if India had not used the word “sovereignty,” the Chinese attitude would have been no different. China considered Tibet as an integral part of its territory and “resolved the problem with a military occupation”. That remains China’s policy even today. It neither wants any discussion on the subject, nor any rapprochement. Therefore, the manner in which Beijing has crushed the various uprisings should not come as a surprise. China knows of no other way. Any dissent is a challenge to its authority and it has to be suppressed with force. Not long ago, it shot hundreds of students dead at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. They were not questioning the regime but were trying to establish the right of dissent in a state which was cast in the authoritarian mould. The uprising at Lhasa and the protests at Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama lives are an evidence to show how the occupation of Tibet for more than five decades has not snuffed out the flame of liberty burning from within the heart of its people. It proves once again that Beijing with all its military strength has not been able to weaken the cultural and ethnic pull that the Tibetans have, while living in China or elsewhere. Military methods can suppress a nation for the time being but can never kill the urge to speak out. Freedom is the birthright of people all over the world. What Nehru said at the time of China’s takeover of Tibet still holds good: peaceful and friendly means. It is still not too late for China to make up with the Tibetans provided it is willing to recognise their entity. The Dalai Lama, criticised by Beijing for the recent protests, is the best friend of China because even now, when scores of people have been killed at Lhasa and in other parts of Tibet, he has not given a call for the boycott of the Olympic Games at Beijing this August. He has, in fact, denounced violence and has given an ultimatum to his followers to give it up if they want him to stay as their leader. The Dalai Lama has made it once again clear that the Tibetans do not want separation but autonomy. Beijing can continue to have control over foreign affairs and defence. New Delhi would probably give its right arm if the Kashmiris were to accept the formula the Dalai Lama had adumbrated for Tibet — that is autonomy within the country. But Beijing is different in its thinking. It believes in holding all the power and not sharing them with the provinces. How can it treat Tibet differently when it considers it an integral part of the country? The Dalai Lama has chided India correctly for being over cautious. Even during Nehru’s period when China occupied Indian territories, New Delhi was quiet or, at best, polite in protests. It was understandable then because India did not want to distract its attention from the nascent progress it was making after emerging from the 150 years of slavery. But what stops it now in at least venting its unhappiness? Words like “feeling distressed” do not mean much. Nor do they give comfort to the Tibetans who burn candles all night at Dharamsala and sit under the sky to protest against the brutal suppression of their brethren in Lhasa and elsewhere. Buddhism which the Tibetans follow is part of the rich culture that India possesses. The Nalanda University near Patna, once a centre Buddhism, is being revived to reestablish link with the religion that was born in India. Still New Delhi is too afraid to say anything which may even indirectly annoy China. Herding the protesters in police vans and removing them physically was not a palatable scene to watch on television. New Delhi may feel satisfied that Beijing has patted on its back for stopping the Tibetans from their long march to Lhasa. But the government has let down freedom-loving people. Lack of moral support to the Tibetans is not the only example of India faltering when it comes to speaking out. On the individual level, the government has behaved worse than a coward in the case of Taslima Nasreen. Here is a Bangladeshi writer who took refuge in India because she considered it a country where she would not be harassed for her creative writing, however critical. Although she withdrew from her book, Lajja, the passages which were considered objectionable and sought apologies, the government of India confined her to a room which had windows and doors, but no outside contact. Her poignant remark was: India was not the secular and democratic country she had cherished. She has decided to leave India. So did the Dalai Lama at one time because of New Delhi’s attitude. But he stayed back because India is the nearest to Tibet, the place to which he hopes to return one day. He and the Tibetans living in India and hoping to have a rapprochement with Beijing is a test for Indian values and the independent stand a country like ours should take. Let us not fail again and
again.
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Officers and orderlies In
the military, a soldier is assigned to an officer to attend to his small personal requirements such as prepare his dress, serve bed tea, keep his room in good order,
etc. This sets the officer free to deal with more important issues demanding his attention. A few years ago, someone thought that the term “orderly” was not in keeping with the democratic norms and decided to rename him as “Sahayak” though his range of duties and commitments remain the same. Over time a strong relationship builds between the officer and his orderly (sorry Sahayak). The latter would go to any extent to make his officer comfortable. Thus an orderly of a Polish officer during World War II would bring hot meals from the enemy kitchen for his officer. He continued with this enterprise for quite some time till one day he was found out and taken prisoner. When General Musservy came to India to attend the centenary celebrations of his regiment so did his long time Sahayak. The two went into a long hug with tears flowing down their wrinkled cheeks. Sahayaks not only attend to the basic needs, but often proffer advice to the officer. While I was working as a staff officer, my Sahayak finding that I was not regular with the morning physical training would often lecture me on the need for an officer to remain physically fit. He continued lecturing me till the annual test of a five-mile run where I beat him by a wide margin. After that he never brought up the subject of physical fitness. During training camps, the officers are accommodated in tents of various sizes, depending on rank. Camp equipment is an essential requirement, such as camp cot, a hurricane lamp, an odd stool or table and in the bath tent, the necessary items like foot board, bucket, mug, stool and a commode, better known as “thunderbox”, etc. We were on one such camp when a young officer, straight from the academy, arrived late in the evening. He was assigned a tent and a Sahayak. On discovering that the officer had just his bedding and a small box with none of the camp essentials listed above, Sahayak was in a quandary. The young officer after leaving his baggage with his Sahayak went to the officer’s mess. After dinner everyone moved to their respective tents and so did this officer. On opening the flap of his tent he found that his bedding was neatly laid out on a camp cot, there was a hurricane lamp, stool, a hanger or two for his clothes and the bathroom was fully equipped with a bucket full of water, “thunderbox”, etc. He felt happy at having come to a regiment where they took such good care of their officers! He was immersed in these pleasant thoughts when someone shouted that his camp cot was missing and soon more protests were heard regarding other items. A search commenced and item by item were traced to this newly arrived officer’s tent. One by one these items were taken away with this officer helplessly watching the proceedings. Soon his bedding was on the floor and nothing else left with him. Throughout these unseemly proceedings the officer’s Sahayak remained in the shadows and when every item was taken away, he was overheard telling another Sahayak, “Mein ta sub kuch ekatha kar detha se, par saab kolon sambhalya hi nahin gaya.” (I had collected everything, but the sahib could not consolidate his hold on
these!) |
Engaging Africa The
three-day conclave of African nations held in New Delhi this month, was a major diplomatic initiative by India to engage Africa. The three-day conclave drew about one thousand delegates, including 606 from Africa. India’s engagement with Africa precedes even the Independence of the country and is closely intertwined with our sustained freedom struggle which itself was a clarion call against colonialism and imperialism. It is a different matter that with the emergence of the unipolar world, there has been a paradigm shift in the thrust and focus of India’s foreign policy, which have tilted perceptively in favour of the West, particularly the USA and East Asia, with Africa getting less of attention and importance. It augurs well that a course correction is taking place at a very appropriate time with India having renewed its focus and interest in Africa, which is indeed a reflection of India’s independent foreign policy. Ever since Independence, the fight against colonialism and solidarity with Afro-Asian nations has been a major plank of India’s foreign policy postulates. India has articulated the aspirations of Afro-Asian nations at all multilateral fora like the United Nations, the Commonwealth, and the dyfunct NAM. Starting from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and to the present regime, New Delhi has always extended moral and material support to the countries of Africa who liberated themselves from yoke of colonialism and embarked on national reconstruction. Political solidarity between India and Africa has been resounding and there has been over the years excellent chemistry between the leadership of two countries. If Indian leaders are revered in Africa, so also are African leaders starting from the iconic Nelson Mandela to charismatic Kwane Nkrumah of Ghana and Jalius Nyerere of Tanzania. Besides, India’s historical and political ties with Africa, the imperatives of energy security and economic interest have impelled India to give adequate attention to Africa. India’s energy requirement is the most compelling reason to engage India with Africa, which offers ample opportunity to diversity India’s energy basket. As rightly put by Pranab Mukherjee, India’s foreign minister and face of the country’s global diplomacy, Africa will account for 12 per cent of global oil supplies in the next few years. Making up for lost opportunities and alarmed by China’s penetration in Africa’s oil sector, India is reorienting its focus from OPEC to African nations. It is pertinent to mention that state owned Chinese oil companies have expanded their operations, signing deals in Nigeria, Angola and Sudan. One-third of China’s crude oil is imported from Africa. A country like Angola has replaced Saudi Arabia as China’s largest oil supplier. Oil is essentially Sudan’s sole exports constituting 99 per cent of its export. Given India’s traditional ties and political affinity, ideally speaking, India should have made advances in the African subcontinent, but it seems China, India’s rival, has taken the lead in this regard. Africa occupies a priority area in China’s foreign policy goals. Much before India’s hosting of the India-Africa Project Partnership 2008 Beijing spread the red carpet to Africa in November 2006, when it organised the first China-Africa Summit. Heads of States of 48 African countries attended the conclave where President Hu Jintao made significant announcements such as doubling China’s 2006 assistance to Africa, providing $3 billion of preferential loans and $2 billion of preferential buyers credits to Africa, and the setting up of a China-Africa Development Fund that would reach $5 billion to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa and provide support to them. Hu also announced that he would cancel debt in the form of all interest free government loans matured at the end of 2005, owed by the heavily indebted countries and the least developed countries in Africa. The slew of offers also included opening up China’s market to Africa by increasing the number of export items to China and to train 15,000 African professionals, deputing 100 agricultural scientists to Africa etc. In continuation of China’s African aid policy, Beijing launched a $1 billion fund in June last year to finance trade and investment by Chinese companies in Africa as part of efforts to nurture commercial ties with the resource-rich continent. But China’s commercial presence in Africa has prompted complaints by some Africans, who say growing Chinese competition is taking away jobs in textiles and other industries. Human rights activists have criticised China for helping to shield Sudan, where it has large oil investments, from pressure over its handling of its Darfur region. Compared to China, India has a number of advantages in Africa. In the first place, India certainly enjoys better political credibility than China as a champion of Afro-Asian aspirations. Secondly, its aid policy does not have any strings attached to it. Thirdly, India’s technology has been tried and tested in Africa. In the fourth place, most countries in Africa being former British colonies, with English language and Anglo-Saxon legal traditions, find India much easier to deal with than China. In the fifth place India’s edge in IT is yet another plus point to woo the African nations, which are catching up fast with IT. The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation to which India is one of the major contributors also offers a good opportunity to New Delhi in helping the capacity building of member countries by providing relevant technical advice. The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme is yet another development assistance programme, which should be fine-tuned to assist India’s image-building, particularly at a time when China is vigorously wooing Africa.
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Under-prepared Karnataka worries about ‘techie terror’ The
“techie terrorist” may well be a term coined by the media or even represent only a single example of a Muslim youth gone astray, but its effect on the social fabric in the IT capital and Karnataka is already being felt. The term was coined after the arrest of Yahya Kammakutty, a graduate of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut and a former employee of Tata Infotech and GE in Bangalore last month. Yahya, a former SIMI activist, is the first IT professional to be arrested on terror charges. While the arrest understandably struck headlines because it emphasised that terror agencies were recruiting educated youth from the minority community, it is also redrawing the terror lines with youth from the minority community being looked on with suspicion. This is because the arrest of Yahya closely followed that of Asadullah Abubaker and Mohammad Asif, both doctors from the KEM Medical College in Hubli, who have been accused of planning terror strikes in Karnataka and Goa. The police have since questioned more youngsters from Hubli in connection with the case and to verify whether there is a terror module comprising of educated youth in the State. The high profile case of the Ahmed brothers of Bangalore has also not helped to feed this speculation. Kafeel Ahmed, a Chemical engineer, was found to be the person who rammed an explosive laden jeep into the Glasgow terminal in Britain. Kafeel’s brother Sabeel, also a doctor, is presently under arrest for allegedly withholding information about the terror plot. Bangalore’s unique position as head of a $ 22 billion information technology industry makes it a prime terror target. With over 1,500 technology industry firms doing business in the city, it provides an opportunity for terrorist organizations keen on striking at the country’s economy. It has already seen an attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in December, 2005, which for the first time brought terror up close to the people of the city. The State police had admitted in the aftermath of the IISc attack that sleeper cells of terrorist organisations did exist in the city and that it would revamp the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) to deal with the problem. Two years down the line, nothing has been done to make the ATS more effective. In fact, the recent, alleged terror module in Hubli came to light after the arrest of two youth in a motor accident case. The ATS is still to get either the required manpower or equipment needed to deal with terrorists with the State Police Chief K.R. Srinivasan himself calling it the “Antique Terrorist Squad”. With so little being done to go after subversive elements, the recent arrests of youth from the minority community after the Hubli arrests are being openly criticised by human right organizations. It is being alleged that the State Police is targeting erstwhile SIMI activists to show progress in the fight against terror. Educated Muslims in Bangalore have been collecting together to voice their concerns on this issue. A M Shafi of the Popular Front says educated Muslims are being demonized and new terms like “techie terror” were being coined to ensure the young youth of the community did not rise above the level of mechanics. While that may or may not be the case, Muslim youth in the city do feel they may not be able to get the benefits of their BE and MBA degrees due to the acts of a minuscule number of youth from the community. If one is to go by a informal conversation with Bangalore’s Police Commissioner N. Achutananda Rao, terrorism in the State is neither growing nor has it acquired any menacing proportions. “I think Bangalore will remain safe”, he says adding “everybody looks at Bangalore as a safe haven for them”. He means the LTTE, ULFA, Kashmiri militants and naxals, all of whom have taken shelter in Bangalore from time to time. So then what about the activities of SIMI and other terrorist organisations in the State? Rao says these are mostly cases of borderline sympathy with transgressions limited to ‘jehadi’ literature. “The over exposure given to the incidents is partly responsible for the fears”, he says adding what had been a case of trying out of a .22 weapon was given the title of a terrorist training camp in the jungles bordering Dharwad in the State. There is a feeling that Karnataka is still unprepared for tackling the threat of terrorism. With no effective Anti Terrorism Squad, no effective intelligence gathering and no counter strategy to infiltrate into the terror cells, Karnataka is lucky it is only touched by terrorism. It still has time to get its house in order. |
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New challenges in tackling
tuberculosis March
24 each year is commemorated as World Tuberculosis Day across the globe. The theme this year is ‘I am stopping TB’. The campaign will be sustained for two consecutive years, i.e. 2008-2009, focusing on people everywhere who are doing their part to stop TB. World TB Day symbolises the date in 1882 when Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative bacterium of TB, at Berlin in Germany. At that time, it was considered a dreaded disease killing millions, as it was causing the death of one out of every seven people, not only in Europe but other continents as well. Even today, after 126 years since this discovery, TB remains one of leading causes of death of several million people, mostly in third world, poverty-stricken countries. In India, about 2 per cent of the population is infected, amounting to 20 million people. TB is an illness that usually affects the respiratory system. It spreads by close contact through coughing and sneezing and may also involve any other part of body. The ongoing pandemic of AIDS has compounded the situation as immuno-suppressed, HIV-infected persons are highly susceptible to this bacterium. If detected in time, it is a treatable and curable disease. The standard recommended length of drug therapy for most types of TB is 6-9 months. However, if there is delay in establishing diagnosis, irreparable damage takes place. Hence it may not be curable at an advanced stage, leading to fatal consequences. Sometimes, even if diagnosis is timely, the patient may not take the full course of treatment entailing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), where the first-line of drugs (isoniazid and rifampin) become ineffective. The situation is already so grim and there is now an emerging threat of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) since 2006, where patients do not respond to first-line as well as second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. Such cases are now being reported from India. The XDR-TB has really posed a big challenge before medical fraternity and the ailing community. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended in 2007 that countries with high co-infection rates develop TB/HIV collaborative activities through Integrated Counseling and Testing Centers (ICTC). In our country, the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), including the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) programme, is already being implemented to tackle this menace. Therefore, this year, World TB Day was basically about focusing all efforts on stopping tuberculosis by educating health care workers and volunteers who play a crucial role in identifying the symptoms of this disease. It is about the lives and the stories of the people affected by tuberculosis: women, men and children who have taken TB treatment; nurses; doctors; researchers; community workers – anyone who has contributed towards the global fight against this dreadful disease. WHO aims to cut TB prevalence rates and deaths by half by the year 2015. The writer is professor and head of microbiology, Government Medical College Hospital, Chandigarh |
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