 |
|
Abhinav makes history Terror in China |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Acid
attack
Advani at it again!
Athens
avenged
Education in Punjab Where models find it
tough to thrive Delhi Durbar
|
|
Terror in China DESPITE the crackdown on terrorist bases in China’s restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region continuing for a long time, Kuqa, a town in the region bustling with activity, was rocked by serial bomb blasts on Sunday. Though the blasts, caused by locally made explosives, led to the killing of most of the terrorists involved (seven of the eight who died were terrorists), what was feared had happened. The explosions occurred soon after extremists killed 16 policemen in Muslim-majority Xinjiang’s Kashgar town. A day before the Kuqa killings, an Ameircan tourist was stabbed to death and his wife seriously injured by a suspected terrorist in Beijing. The sudden spurt in violence is obviously aimed at preventing the smooth holding of the Olympics. The Chinese authorities have, however, assured the world that terrorists will never be allowed to have their way, come what may. Xinjiang has been a problem region for the Chinese rulers for a long time. The Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in western China, have a history of tense relations with the government in Beijing. Their allegations against the Han majority in China include forcing Uyghurs to become atheists and destroying their religious schools. They want an independent homeland with a view to ending their “persecution” at the hands of the Chinese. The separatists’ little known outfit, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, is suspected to be behind most of the incidents of terrorism. The Uyghur extremists are believed to have been trained in camps run by Al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas. Whatever the grievances of the Uyghurs, they cannot succeed in evoking the sympathies of the world community by using terrorism. Anyone indulging in terrorism is an enemy of peace and progress and must be dealt with as ruthlessly as possible. In fact, the happenings in China’s Xinjiang region provide fresh proof that terrorism is a global problem. The scourge is spreading its tentacles to different parts of the world despite the efforts to eliminate it. The time has come for the world community to launch a decisive joint drive against the menace before it becomes uncontrollable.
|
|
Acid attack THE Law Commission has recommended life sentence for those who throw acid on women. In a report submitted to the Supreme Court, which is presently dealing with issues relating to acid attack, the commission has suggested the imposition of a minimum of 10-year imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment for acid attack offences. The Centre should suitably amend the Indian Penal Code to implement the recommendation. While drafting the IPC, the lawmakers would not have visualised that a time would come when jilted lovers and the sexually perverted would get hold of acid as strong as sulphuric acid and throw it on the women who refuse their advances. The Law Commission wants the IPC to explicitly state that acid attack is a “specific offence”, with life imprisonment as the maximum punishment, by introducing a new section, 326 A. It is surprising that though acid attack is one of the most cruel offences and it has been in vogue for several decades, the statute has not yet been strengthened to deal with such cases. More important, as the Law Commission has said, the very definition of “grievous hurt” is not broad enough to cover various kinds of injuries which are inflicted during acid attacks. Further, while Section 326 IPC does not cover the act of administering acid attack, it gives wide discretion to the courts on the award of punishment. Yet, tragically, most culprits get away with lesser punishment. There is a more disturbing angle to this kind of crime. The perpetrator invariably plans to throw acid at the victim’s face to disfigure her for the rest of her life. Considering the disfigurement and immense suffering of the victims, the Law Commission has recommended curbs on the sale of acid which, it said, should be made a scheduled banned chemical. Its suggestion for a suitable legislation to provide monetary compensation to victims is also apt because the state has an onerous duty to protect its citizens.
|
|
The night has a thousand eyes,/ And the day but one;/ Yet the light of the bright world dies,/With the dying sun. — F. W. Bourdillon
|
|
Corrections and clarifications n
A line in the news-item “Sikhs resent Akali betrayal” (page 9, July 24) should have read: “Sikhs have resentment against Akali Dal leadership for voting against Dr Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha yesterday”. n The blocks and columns in the Quick Crossword in the July 22 issue had gone awry because of a computer problem. Our regrets. Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. We will carry corrections and clarifications, wherever necessary, every Tuesday. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Amar Chandel, Deputy Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the words “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is:
amarchandel@tribunemail.com . H.K. Dua
|
|||||
Advani at it again! A politician
campaigning for power is a very different creature from one who has attained office. But the shrillness in Mr L.K. Advani’s rhetoric on the Amarnath yatra issue or the Ram Sethu controversy has a tinge of desperation to it. It is as if he has come to the conclusion that even before the campaign for the next general election has truly begun, the prize of power is slipping out of his hand. Perhaps Mr Advani is as much a victim of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s psychology of celebrating victory before actually attaining it as he is of his own inability to strike a balance between rousing his troops and keeping the country’s larger interests in mind. The BJP could never recover from losing the 2004 election after convincing itself that it was a shoo-in. More recently, the BJP thought the Manmohan Singh government was on the mat, with the Left parties and Ms Mayawati having withdrawn support, and the numbers apparently in the party’s favour. Quite apart from the unsavoury incidents, the BJP realised the prize had again slipped out of its hand even before the formal vote by enacting the drama of three of its members waving currency notes allegedly used as an attempt to bribe them. In Karnataka, on the other hand, the party with a difference, as it likes to call itself, has been using all methods to convert its minority status into a majority in the state assembly. There was a time not long ago when Mr Advani was cultivating a statesmanlike air in launching himself as a worthy Prime Minister-in- waiting. His political memoir was launched in New Delhi at a mega event. And although an active politician can hardly be expected to be entirely candid, he emerged from its pages as an earnest, if self-righteous, leader who lived life by a set of tenets. Understand-ably, he blurred over his own contribution to the destruction of the Babri Masjid by painting his rath yatra in the most benign light and praised Mr Narendra Modi, despite the Gujarat pogrom. In spite of these blemishes in his record, Mr Advani gave indications that while he would vigorously bat for his party, he would have the country’s larger interests in mind. But apparently the outcome of the trust vote in the Lok Sabha has again induced the familiar psychosis with a twist. Whatever the future might hold, the political outcome has shaken Mr Advani’s belief that he as the leader of the only alternative national party to the Congress is the natural heir to power. Today there is at least the theoretical possibility that parties other than the Congress and the BJP could together gather more seats than the two put together. The Third Front in Indian politics is traditionally illusionary, but if a third force in the shape of Ms Mayawati and other motley leaders and parties supported by the Left do collect the votes, it could give a great headache to the BJP as much as it would disconcert the Congress. The BJP has always taken pride in contributing a two-party regime to Indian democracy, but with the proliferation of region-or-state-specific parties, some of them dominant powers in their bailiwicks, it is more a multi-coloured quilt than a neat division of two national parties. How far the BJP will go in using the Ram Sethu or the Amarnath yatra themes in its election propaganda remains to be seen, but the omens are disquieting, if one were to go by Mr Advani’s shrillness and tub-thumping. Anyone who has seen the clips of Mr Advani’s original rath yatra - delivered in cassette capsules in those days before the advent of robust private television channels — will be haunted by their inflammatory nature. And Mr Advani seems to be reverting to a similar rhetoric in conjuring up the Amarnath yatra. Perhaps Mr Advani has forgotten that his original yatra, which proved to be the magic key to power, was several years before his party achieved its objective in Delhi. In the meantime, the BJP has held power for six years at the Centre and he achieved the distinctness of becoming Deputy Prime Minister. It, therefore, comes as a shock that Mr Advani should so easily revert to his earlier rabble-rousing persona, seemingly unmindful of the country’s good. The old order in the BJP had the merit of Mr A.B. Vajpayee lending balance to Mr Advani’s hawkish reputation. One had the feeling that in the new circumstances of being the shadow Prime Minister, he was mindful of cultivating a different image. India is a diverse plural society and any person occupying the Prime Minister’s chair must be the leader of all Indians. Is one then to conclude that Mr Advani is losing the hope of achieving the biggest political prize of all? The BJP’s misfortune is that instead of Mr Vajpayee, Mr Advani is twinned with an even more hawkish party president, Mr Rajnath Singh, who sees his role as the chief rabble-rouser. The two leaders, it would seem, are competing in being the shrillest. In any event, both of them seem to believe that Ram Sethu and Amarnath will be worthy successors to Ayodhya, which served the BJP’s purposes so well, never mind the communal polarisation of the country it led to. India is proud of the resilience it has shown in overcoming communal and other contradictions to retain its basic democratic moorings. But the political use the BJP is making of the agitations in Jammu and Kashmir must cause misgivings in the public mind about the extent to which the secular fabric can withstand repeated abuse. True, the Manmohan Singh government has been inexcusably tardy in seeking national support to find a solution to the land problem in relation to the traditional Amarnath yatra. But it is the BJP’s obligation as a national party to help douse the flames, instead of adding fuel to the fire. As the prime leader of the BJP, it is Mr Advani’s responsibility to lend his weight to the government’s belated efforts to find a resolution of the Jammu agitation, with its inevitable echoes in the valley. Some issues are more important than who, or which party, wins an election or who becomes the Prime
Minister.
|
Athens avenged A COUPLE of weeks after the Athens Olympics, a doctor came to meet me in office. He was holding a thick file and seemed to be agitated. He introduced himself as the personal physician of Abhinav Bindra. Until then I thought only doddering presidents and prime ministers employed personal doctors to check their blood pressure every time they met leaders like Prakash Karat and Mayawati. “No, I am not a doctor in that sense. I am a doctor specialising in sports medicine and I have a role in shaping the career of Abhinav Bindra,” he answered to my pointed query. What had brought him to the office was the way the media, “particularly The Tribune” reported Bindra’s feat. He said his “client” deserved better. Like most readers, I, too, knew that Bindra missed the bronze medal by a whisker at Athens. In her time, queen of track and field P.T. Usha had also missed the third position in the 400-metre hurdles by an astonishing 1/100th of a second. “Since losers do not make news anywhere, the media would not have gone into the details of how and why Bindra had lost the Bronze. So, what is wrong in that?” I asked in all earnestness. “There is a lot. Abhinav might have lost the medal but do you know that he broke the world record in the 10-metre air rifle event? Don’t you think it is a commendable achievement?” he asked a little agitatedly. “Did not the winners, too, break the record?” I counter-questioned. Until then, I had not read Fareed Zakaria’s Post-American World wherein he argues that it is not America’s fault that countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa are growing faster than the US as he had not written the book. Zakaria calls it the “rise of the rest”. It was not Bindra’s fault that others had done better. “Allowance must be made for the fact that he was the youngest of the lot that competed,” said the doctor who was not ready to lose ground. My retort that Emile Bronte was only 18 when she wrote the all-time classic Wuthering Heights did not really please him. The doctor showed me the original certificate the International Olympics body had given to Bindra. He also showed me the list of participants and their officially authenticated individual records. It was obvious that the Chandigarh boy had lost the Bronze by the narrowest margin possible. For the first time, I felt that the media could have been a little more graceful to him. The doctor told me how difficult rifle shooting was. Every time Bindra picked up his gun for a practice session, his father was poorer by a few thousands. Guns have to be replaced and cartridges have to be replenished and this costs lakhs. More important, he has to remain physically and mentally agile like Arjuna in the Mahabharata, who did not see the fish but only its eyes while targeting it. It is not a poor man’s sport. In any case, it was too late to make amends. As he stood up to depart, I told the doctor, “Bindra is young and I am sure he will bring a Gold from Beijing. That is the time when we will make up for all our lapses.” And that is precisely what Abhinav Bindra did in Beijing on Monday when he became the first Indian ever to win a gold medal since Norman Pritchard, an Anglo-Indian from Calcutta holidaying in France at that time, represented India at the Paris Olympics in
1900.
|
Education in Punjab Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has chosen to focus on education. What are the issues involved? And what can be done to take care of it? The real problem is not how much is spent but how it is spent and the order of priorities. The salaries of schoolteachers in Punjab are higher than most states despite teacher absenteeism. According to a survey by Harvard scholars, Punjab is next to Haryana in respect of teacher absenteeism. The situation is more complex than is generally visualised because of excessive politicisation of public affairs including education in Punjab and Haryana. Whatever else may be said for or against politicisation, there is a lot of factional activity almost all the time. About 200 teachers in each state are constantly at work in this respect. They are more interested in politics than education. But quite a number of them find themselves working in schools. In their daily working, therefore, they prefer to do what interests them. These politically active teachers have political connections and are almost all the time politically active. Perhaps some of them have missed their vocation in life. This leads them to take undue interest in working for teachers who seek transfers from one place to another. Each transfer means political activity on the part of some one or the other. Each transfer becomes a significant landmark in itself and, in the ultimate outcome, encourages some teachers to be absent from duty. Can one put an end to this undoubted act of high-grade politicisation? Very marginally, if one may venture to say so. Indeed, only one decisive thing can be done and that is to discontinue the whole system of transfers. I lived in London for almost three years and was excited to find that even though funding for everyone came from the same source, i.e., the government, every teacher was recruited for a particular school, on the lines of what happens in a private school. The British introduced the school system in India on the pattern of their model. How did the system of transfers get introduced then? Till a couple of decades after 1947, teachers could be transferred only within a district as the schools were controlled by the District Boards. The numbers involved were limited and there were hardly many transfers. With prices escalating, the Boards could not afford to keep pace with the changing price level. The solution found thereupon was that all teachers should be made the employees of the state. Transferring teachers became almost logical in consequence. No one, however, questioned why schools should be different from other government organisations. To treat teachers as if they were like other government employees has done more harm than good in this case. Almost 90 per cent of the teachers will be happy to stay wherever they are posted. A system to work out a scheme where a teacher is appointed at one place and new recruits are not given any choice in the matter will be in order. One witnessed the unsettling impact of the new system when four decades ago, about 20,000 teachers were transferred at one go. Eventually, things were sorted out but what had happened then was devastating enough. An alternative system of selections and appointments will have to be worked out. Such a system will require some form of self-management. Management by panchayats could be given serious thought. In Punjab and Haryana, almost 40 per cent of the population is already urbanised. It will become 50 per cent in a few years hence. Thus, a system of self-local management should not be impossible. The problems of management in towns and villages are somewhat different in character and can be tackled accordingly. How these are solved will require an understanding both of teacher problems and civic management. The only effective way to combat teacher absenteeism is to evolve a system involving the students’ parents who will be generally concerned about the teachers’ daily presence in the school. How to involve the parents in the management of schools is the basic issue. There are many other important issues like the situation in the secondary schools. It would be comparatively easy to handle them mainly because the number of government-run schools is fairly large and the role of School Education Boards is helpful. In their case, only the government needs to be involved. The private schools are already working according to a system which almost conforms to what is required. While it is not possible to change the political character of management easily, certain moves in this direction can be made. Two other moves are equally important. One is to re-assess the system of teacher training, especially at the lower level. Hardly much attention is being paid to this, it is having a negative impact on the quality of education at that level. The second reform is to improve the public library system. As in Kerala, Bengal, Maharashtra and some other states where the habit of book reading is widespread, Punjab needs to do something in this direction. We already have a library system but it is not working in the manner in which public libraries should function. The state of school libraries is disgraceful. Moreover, as in all other states, Punjab has been coping with the pressure of numbers. But the system of administration remains what it was before 1947. This needs to be changed. Dignity and self-respect for teachers is a vital input. What is working against the teachers is the way a small number of politically inclined teachers are working against the system. It would be too much to expect the Punjab Chief Minister to change the character of political life radically. However, some marginal changes can be made. Discontinuing the transfer system and replacing it with a pragmatic system of work would mark the beginning of a change.
|
|
Where models find it tough to thrive As
one of their brand goddesses, she perhaps believes there is no point in scratching the hands that gild her. Paid millions, it must seem fair enough to be turned into a fair enough mock-up of her real self. The multi-national cosmetic company vehemently denies the accusation. They would, wouldn't they? Not again, you think, same old, same old stuff. For those who make and break images, decide who is gorgeous and who is not, light skin and hair and eyes easily please the eye, affirm superior human status. Racism is a given, an understanding infused through the business. Top model agencies will tell you that eager Asian, Arab and black models may look exquisite and flawless, but find it almost impossible to enter, survive or let alone thrive in that hostile habitat. I have written about this abhorrent exclusivity for more than 20 years and to do so again feels like failure. The beauty and fashion industries still maintain a closed shop when it comes to the selection and promotion of models. In women’s magazines, on catwalks, even shop dummies, dark skin is rarely seen. They say it is because customers are put off by such unexpected, outlandish images of loveliness even though a recent special issue of Italian Vogue featured only black models and was sold out worldwide. Exceptionally, Naomi Campbell and Iman are permitted to strut with their white peers. Let’s pray no bus ever runs them over. But this stubborn, institutionally prejudiced gate-keeping is only a part of the never-ending story. Dark skins are considered a blight within black and Asian families, communities and countries, have been for centuries. I came back from holidays with a tan (yes, Asians do tan) because I didn’t stay completely out of the sun. At least my mum is no longer around to nag me about what she thought was extreme foolishness. Blessed, she said I was, my kids too, to have lighter brown skin. That we allowed the stain of darkness upon it wilfully drove her to distraction. When I was growing up, all spinsters in the mosque seemed to be dark and sad. Some tried to cover their shame with dustings of pink face powder and very light pink lipstick. One child in our extended family was darker than her brother and so she tried to rub off the “dirt” with a metal scourer. And now, with 21st-century globalisation, the ugly rejection of darkness is getting even worse. European definitions of attractiveness from thin body shape to light colouring are sweeping the non-western world, making most populations feel envious and sometimes desperate. Ten years ago, beauty lightening creams had all but vanished from these places as native pride grew and health risks were better understood. Today these products are shifting like never before. A trader in Acton has just been convicted for selling banned, toxic, whitening creams which can cause burns and rashes. Even in South Africa, still emerging from the ultimate evil based on physical types and hierarchies, fair skin is now coveted by blacks. Lorrie, an acquaintance from Cape Town says this is terrific. “We have gone beyond race. The world is opening up and we all want the same things. Why is whiting up any worse than liposuction, plumping up lips, straightening or curling hair? Seems like when black women choose beauty tricks we are self-loathers, but white women are free to re-make themselves. In the US, savvy and smart politicians of colour Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark; Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts; Adrian Fenty, Mayor of Washington DC; and most prominently, Barack Obama have found success by stepping away from their defining racial characteristics and historical black grievances. In his momentous speech on race, Obama said he didn’t want the old stories and memories of civil rights struggles and injustice “to overcome and undermine us, to trap us in our history”. In some ways these are wise words, and visionary. Group victimisation becomes a habit on both sides and is the hardest thing to let go. Evidently, the life chances of millions of dark skinned folk in the US and the UK are today vastly better than were but a decade ago, and globalisation is creating non-white elites like never before. Although new cracks have appeared, old colour lines are dissolving and the future promises better still. In his momentous speech on race, Obama said he didn’t want the old stories and memories of civil rights struggles and injustice “to overcome and undermine us, to trap us in our history”. In some ways these are wise words, and visionary. Group victimisation becomes a habit on both sides and is the hardest thing to let go. It is possible to believe that one day our common humanity will prevail. But race, though a drag and a bore, still matters, even though it is increasingly unacceptable to say so if you want to go places. By arrangement with
The Independent
|
|
Delhi Durbar Unlike his first visit to India, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s recent stay in the country turned out to be a low-profile affair. He had a hectic schedule and met with all those who matter, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, though these meetings went virtually unreported. Murdoch also hosted a “power dinner” at a five-star hotel where the guests included Union ministers P. Chidambaram, Murli Deora, Ambika Soni and Prithviraj Chavan and a few senior editors. But guess who chaperoned Murdoch during his visit here: it was none other than Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Murdoch is reported to have invested in a soon-to-be-launched regional television news channel, owned by the Pawar family. With Pawar doubling up as the chief of the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI), the combination of cricket and television makes for a heady and highly lucrative combination. And influential as well.
On the fast track Indian officials may not be willing to part with any information on various aspects of the Indo-US nuclear deal but US Ambassador David Mulford is more than forthcoming on the issue. He was so excited when the Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote on June 22 that he conducted a telephonic conversation with Indian journalists from Cleveland to announce that the deal would now be put on the fast track. Mulford held yet another press conference from the US earlier this week, prompting journalists to wonder whether he has been asked to remain in his home country until the deal is voted by the US Congress. “'Is he the US Ambassador to India or the Indian Ambassador to the US,” a journalist remarked jocularly.
Surjeet’s skills The most striking characteristic of former CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet was the ease and felicity with which he could reach across and strike a rapport with anyone, irrespective of their political affiliation. It was quite a tribute to his accommodative style of politics that even after the Left parties withdrew support to the ruling coalition, the UPA allies, the NDA allies and even BSP chief Mayawati made it a point to pay homage to Surjeet. But at another level, this also sent a subtle signal of what could be expected in the run-up to the next general elections. Irrespective of where they stand today, parties like the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal (U) and even the Biju Janata Dal do not want to foreclose their option of doing business with the Left in the post-poll scenario. The only notable absentees were the BJP and the Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK which do not foresee any possibility of aligning with the CPM in the near future. Contributed by Anita Katyal, Ashok Tuteja and Faraz Ahmad
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
