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Terror in Jammu Zardari’s
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Blessed
twice over Save girl child, save environment In one of its noblest moves ever, the SGPC has started distributing neem and fruit saplings, sprinkled with water of the holy Golden Temple sarovar, among newly wed couples and girls as “parsad” at the Golden Temple.
Economic slowdown
Be prepared for
life ahead
Oil price shock Health Delhi
Durbar
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Terror in Jammu
The
deep penetration of Jammu by terrorists —who took hostages and were eventually killed after the prolonged Army operation — underscores the greater dangers creeping in because of the current unrest in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The militants, who had held seven persons captive, reportedly sneaked into the country apparently with the aid of Pakistani border forces. This is dramatic evidence that infiltration is not only increasing but also calculated to overawe vulnerable population like women and children, foment communal violence and divert the attention of Indian security forces from their immediate sensitive tasks in the state. The fact that the periodic imposition of curfew did not hinder the movement of these terrorists is, indeed, alarming. This shows beyond a shadow of doubt that cross-border terrorism is out to exploit the situation not only in the Kashmir valley but also further down in places such as Jammu. Even the meanest intelligence can grasp the intent of these sordid attempts – to create hostilities between the people of Jammu and the valley. In the prevalent situation, those who have taken to the streets in Kashmir are at odds with the protest movement led by the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) in Jammu. As of now, the dispute is confined to the issue of land for the shrine, though regional grievances and separatist impulses, too, have added fuel to the conflict. It is a formidable challenge to negotiate a resolution that would be acceptable to both sides. Yet the fact that talks between the SASS and the government are taking place and are moving smoothly on the track is cause for optimism. These have somewhat lowered the pitch of confrontation. But now that the climate is being vitiated by terrorist infiltration, overriding concerns of national security demand that the SASS, which has only put off its protests, call it off altogether. The agitation in Jammu must be suspended in the national interest so that anti-national forces are thwarted from taking advantage of the situation. This will add to the urgency of the talks coming to a successful end and, at the same time, free our security forces from dealing with civil unrest when the threat of terrorist infiltration looms larger than it has in recent years.
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Zardari’s judges
The
PPP-led coalition government in Islamabad has started reinstatement of the deposed judges in a piecemeal and selective manner. On Wednesday, eight of the 15 sacked judges of the Sindh High Court were “reappointed” with all the benefits, including seniority, due to them since they lost their job on November 3 last year. The next beneficiaries are likely to be the sacked seven judges of the Lahore High Court. Reports say that gradually all such judges, victimised by the Musharraf regime because of being uncooperative, may be brought back to their courts. There are, however, doubts about deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, despite Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani describing him as the “imam” (the pious leader) of the judges. This shows that the government is being guided by the “minus one” formula while going ahead, hoping that it will resolve the contentious issue. The judicial crisis facing Pakistan is unlikely to end this way. Selective reinstatement of the deposed judges has exposed the government’s real intentions. It may restore the position of those judges who are not expected to be inconvenient to the ruling coalition but not those who stand for the independence of the judiciary. This is bound to be opposed by the legal fraternity and the others supporting the lawyers’ movement. “Re-employment” of the sacked judges is being interpreted as indirect acceptance of the emergency regime and the infamous Provisional Constitutional Order of President Pervez Musharraf. This cannot be acceptable to all those who made the lawyers’ movement a great success, leading ultimately to Mr Musharraf’s exit. The ideal course for defusing the judicial crisis would have been the reinstatement of all the sacked judges, including Chief Justice Chaudhry, in one go. This is, in fact, what PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari and PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif had agreed to do. But Mr Zardari later changed his plan, which he is implementing with Mr Nawaz Sharif having parted company with him. They are, however, not using harsh language against each other and this has made many people believe that there may be rapprochement between the two even at this stage. This is unlikely to be easy as Mr Sharif is now bound to be seen on the side of the agitating lawyers, who feel cheated by the coalition government. |
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Blessed twice over
In
one of its noblest moves ever, the SGPC has started distributing neem and fruit saplings, sprinkled with water of the holy Golden Temple sarovar, among newly wed couples and girls as “parsad” at the Golden Temple. The Nanhi Chhaan initiative launched in cooperation with Ranbaxy can greatly help in not only rejuvenating the environment but will also wake up the people to the social evil of killing the daughter before she is born. The unborn daughters have to be protected against this inhumanity and all means should be used, including religious intervention. The weight of the drive begun at Amritsar will make people realise that the menace of female foeticide and infanticide is not only a crime against society but also militates against all religious tenets. The Rehatnamas of the Sikh religion have already given a message to snap all relations with a person who indulges in the killing of daughters. Indeed, it is a matter of shame that Fatehgarh district, where Baba Banda Bahadur had established first Sikh rule, has the lowest girl population in the state. The importance of the girl child will perhaps be now better understood by the Sikh masses. At the same time,
selected gurdwaras will distribute saplings among Sikh sangats as parsad. Saplings would be planted in all Sikh shrines and on both sides of the roads leading to gurdwaras. This laudable use of religious influence for promoting a social cause — rather two causes — is worth emulation by other religions and religious organisations. It is a pity that they have lost track of their role and duties in society and many of them are engaged in petty rivalries and hatred in the name of religion. In ancient India, the teachings focussed more on a person’s responsibilities. Anybody who kills what has been created — whether it is an infant or a tree — cannot call himself religious, because religion teaches putting service before self. Instead of spreading hatred against each other, religions should be spreading and planting saplings of universal love of other human beings and the nature which sustains them. The message from Amritsar is ennobling. |
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I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs. — William Shakespeare
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Economic slowdown The
Indian economy is slowing down — this has been confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. Is it because of globalization or is it because there are other major unresolved domestic problems obstructing productivity growth? Perhaps both forces are at play. Giant economies like the US, Europe and Japan are indeed slowing down with recession creeping in. This has already impacted India’s export growth even though exports have not been doing badly in recent months - mainly due to a rise in the exports of petroleum products. The slowdown in industrial countries has had its impact on the Indian stock market also, and foreign institutional inflows (FIIs) have declined significantly due to the downturn in the US. In many other ways, the foreign demand for goods and services is going to be affected and, according to the Economic Advisory Council, not only the industrial sector but even the service sector will grow slower than before. They have also sounded the alarm bell on the agricultural production front. So, what is waiting to happen for us? Though there is frenetic activity everywhere in big cities, Indian infrastructure is at its worst, currently. Delhi has metro construction all round and traffic jams galore; other cities have problems like garbage collection and solid waste disposal, water and power. But shopping malls are mushrooming in all cities and big towns and other signs of affluence can be seen in the number of cars relentlessly plying the streets (despite the petrol price hike) and the shoppers coming out with bags full of merchandise (despite inflation). But is shining India going to last? Talking of domestic factors recently, a well-known American agency, Strategic Forecasting Inc, has portrayed India rather negatively, sighting the example of the recent Bangalore blasts as a serious threat to a peaceful business environment in big IT cities. It is trying to suggest that India is unsafe for foreign investment. This kind of prediction may or may not be taken seriously, but many foreign investors, who have already heard from other sources about the problems of infrastructure and bureaucratic delays, may not want to go for investment in the Indian market. After all, very few investors themselves make personal trips to India to check out the business environment, and for them hearsay and strategic forecasting by trusted agencies is important. So, it is going to come together in all probability — slowdown of economic growth and more law and order problems. It is a deadly cocktail and they feed into each other. Many people would argue that even 7 or 8 per cent GDP growth is not very low, but any economic slowdown is going to cause problems when translated into the numbers employed in the organised sector. If the youth are not provided with jobs, they will be sucked into organisations which spawn firebrand politics. Meanwhile, the continuous price rise (inflation reaching almost 13 per cent) and low real incomes will plague the village economy. The fact remains that India is far behind China 61 years after Independence as far as infrastructural development and sharp poverty reduction are concerned. Many people in India are still living in most primitive and inhuman conditions in the villages and in big cities or towns; people in slums are living without human dignity. They are earning a pittance and in inflationary times, they often cannot have two square meals a day, leave alone additional expenditure on private schools and medicines for their children. Their teenage children are also ready for recruitment by terrorist organisations and criminal gangs. The American strategic forecasting report on India also talks about rampant and endemic corruption in all layers of society. No one can deny that a lot of money meant for the poor does not trickle down. In contrast, there are a large number of people flaunting luxurious lifestyles obviously emanating from bribes and other sources of black money. The poor, however, have to rely on their own means for financing their needs, which drives them into the clutches of moneylenders. Global forces are only partly to be blamed for all the genuine grievances of the workers and artisans in the villages. But global forces have played a part in stoking inflation in the country. It is the high oil prices which should be blamed first. Then the stock market was flooded by FIIs and the Reserve Bank of India had to intervene to control the rise in the value of the rupee against the dollar. A strong rupee was adversely affecting exports. The RBI bought dollars in the market and the resultant excess liquidity stoked inflation. In recent times, the RBI has hiked interest rates twice to mop up excess liquidity in the market. It has also raised the cash reserve ratios of banks. All efforts have been aimed at bringing down inflation, and most financial pundits are predicting single-digit inflation in six months’ time. But mismanagement of the food economy has also contributed to inflation and high world food prices did affect our capacity to import food on time. Meanwhile, the impact of a high interest rate regime will be felt on industrial growth, which was lower in June 2008 at 5.4 per cent than a year ago. In addition, if agricultural growth is going to be halved at 2 per cent in 2009, there is a lot to be worried about regarding food security. The lower GDP growth will marginalise more people who will not be able to achieve their lifetime’s goal of attaining a decent standard of life. The next government will thus have to concentrate urgently on inclusive growth because it is rather shameful that when India is boasting of so many billionaires, super rich lifestyles and a galaxy of malls and luxury products, people living adjacent to them in slums should suffer so much deprivation. It would also have to emphasise on social sector reforms and give jobs to the underprivileged and under-qualified youth (via training) in order to control terrorist activity in the country. Otherwise, India’s image as a prime investment destination will be badly tarnished. More law and order problems will permanently disrupt growth, but unless economic conditions improve, village after village will succumb to the Naxalite movement and Islamist terrorist groups. In any case, without a drastic reduction in corruption, no economic agenda can be fulfilled and a higher growth will not be
inclusive.
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Be prepared for life ahead After
teeing off for the first hole the other day, I suddenly happened to ask my golfing partner how did he manage time at hand after his wife’s demise recently. “I stay away from home” was his prompt reply. I made no further query, for his answer was quite implicit. It is hard being alone at home. Whereas when you step out, you seem to gel easily with the happening world outside, leaving the depressing gloom behind. How one chooses to respond to an adversity of this magnitude depends entirely upon one’s mental makeup and attitude towards life. However, it’s worth remembering that at some point in life, sooner or later, you will come face to face with this moment, because it’s not a matter of IF but WHEN. And when it strikes, you may find yourself totally shattered. Keeping its inevitability at the back of your mind may, however, help diminish the adverse impact. Solitary existence towards the latter part of one’s life is almost certain. The social security that resulted from the family bonds which at one time was Oriental’s strength and West’s envy has somehow begun to decline. Children’s own expectations and aspirations from life have led them to go for better pastures, even if they have to leave their parents and the elders behind to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, this number is gradually multiplying. Like the west, the responsibility will finally shift on to the government as the family system disintegrates further with time. As per the 2001 census, India has 77 million elders, a figure that would understandably grow with time, as the average age keeps increasing. A large number of these elders have to live alone as the family wards keep leaving homes in search of better lives for themselves. Some of these people are at a crucial stage of their lives. They are without the mutually reassuring company of their consorts. Old age is the time when consort’s company is most needed. It is estimated that in another decade or two, 40 per cent of those above 75 years are likely to be living alone. But all of them may not be lonely. I say this from my personal experience. I decided to stay put here in Chandigarh only where I had spent last 14 of my life with my wife, after the retirement from the service. I resisted children’s endearing entreaties to move across to them but I preferred to stay put. Here, I may be alone but I am certainly not lonely. I find a sense of security in the familiar environment in which I have been living for nearly a decade and half. Continued association with close friends and acquaintances, involvement with social and demi official work and pursuit of religious activities without interruption has helped lessen the pangs of her final separation. Continuing with lifestyle as hitherto without disturbance keeps one mentally and physically occupied. Moving out will only make resettlement more difficult in unfamiliar environment. Loneliness I feel lies in the mind which has a proclivity to wander unless kept under harness. The only way to control and prevent it from regressing into the regime of grief and despondency is to keep it occupied in cerebral activities. Physical activities too help divert mind from its obsession of wandering where you do not want it to go. The salvation lies in realising that there is no option but to bow to destiny and get in harmony with the circumstances. Brooding and agonising will only make life more unbearable. Earlier one comes out of the shell, and tries to restore the status quo ante, once the trauma of the partner’s ultimate separation becomes somewhat bearable, the better would the life ahead be. Otherwise social bonding will decline and the impact of bereavement and loneliness will only become more debilitating. Human beings need to communicate, tell and listen to each other’s woes to lighten their hearts. The mind and the body must not be allowed to rust. That would be the worst tragedy if it
happens.
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Oil price shock
Globalisation
coupled with information technology developments heralded the arrival of the new age economy. But the arrival was also marked by a rise of problems related to an important issue of energy security. The new age economy increased the demand for energy needed to fuel new production capacities. It generated fears that stemmed from the perception of depleting natural resources, manipulated price levels through demand-driven production as well as the use of amply available hedge money in stock markets to artificially hike up prices of crude left a scary picture of the world. However, there is no need to fear the depleting stock of natural resources because new findings since the report of the Club of Rome in 1963 warning about the limits to growth due to the available stock of natural resources have left the report far behind. New findings assure us that there are enough stocks in the womb of the earth to last nearly 60 years. The recent study by British Petroleum draws for us a completely different picture. Its storage and exploitation ratio stood at 164 and 66.7 years. Despite a strong demand in the global market for crude and natural gas, there was little qualitative difference in terms of supply and demand with supply remaining slightly exceeding the demand. The International Energy Agency confirmed this pattern even in 2003 and 2004. In fact, there were improved conditions for the global spare oil production capacity. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) improved its production from 2 million barrels a day in 2005 to 2.92 million barrels now to meet the current demands. It was not confined to only Saudi Arabia and Iraq but even Nigeria, Iran, the United Arab Emirate and Venezuela also contributed to increased production. The former Soviet Union countries also increased production for exploiting the new high crude prices to engineer a higher economic growth rates in their countries. There are other risks and not fears of depletion of resources or even insufficient and irregular production as well as soaring prices for the cause of uncertainty that prevails now in the global market. One point that needs to be attended to is the geographical imbalance in the distribution of energy resources, especially oil and natural gas, as well as in its consumption pattern. The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development Countries holds merely 7 per cent of proven oil resources though they consume nearly 60 per cent of it for energy generation. China consumes little over 8 per cent while it has less than 2 per cent resources reserves. India does not get even a mention for holding proven resources or its consumption share in the world in this list. The main theme in the new energy security programmes by advanced countries is not only on an efficient use of the available resources but also on developing new technologies for the use of renewable resources of energy generation. The runaway prices of crude and gas have motivated them all to increase substantially allocations for research to find new avenues for energy generation without depleting the natural resources. The Cambridge firm has predicted upgrades in oil recovery from current 30 per cent to 60 per cent and also of turning non-conventional oils into usable commodity for energy requirements. Even the United Nations has recommended sustainable strategy for energy consumption. The runaway oil prices have motivated all countries to new commitments. While the world is moving fast in a positive direction, India is sitting pretty without a thought of exploiting its renewable energy resources — solar and wind. But it has the world’s biggest cattle wealth that remains untapped for energy generation. It remains grossly underutilised — merely for few days a year for agricultural related purposes. The government and even private institutions ought to have attended to the issue of utilising the wealth for energy generation to meet at least local energy requirements of five lakh villages in the country. If idle cattle could be used for the generation of power to meet the requirements of villages for domestic purposes and for irrigation, it would turn out to be the most efficient way of energy use and preservation for the local generation would obviate not only expenses on power transmission to villages but also save the cost of transmission loss and reduce the losses due to power theft. If women can generate sufficient power by use of their hands while operating the Ambar Charkha in villages of Rajasthan, the use of cattle by rotation can certainly produce enough power to meet the requirements of an entire village provided research can build such small but efficient generation mechanism. It will not only meet the energy requirement of villages and release its consumption for other purposes but also transform dynamics of the rural economy. A new way of using the cattle wealth for power generation can put Indian villages on the bandwagon of new age economy and propel India’s economic growth rate at a new and unheard of pace. India can limp out of the Hindu growth rate of economy by putting to use the Hindu symbol of reverence.
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