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Bloody murders
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Dengue in Punjab
Great organ bazaar
Anatomy of a funeral
Dateline Washington
UK plans to ‘collect every email’
Chatterati
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Bloody murders
THE killing of two teenaged girls who eloped with their “boyfriends”, reported from Noida, is the worst such incident in recent times. The girls, aged 15 and 16, were at worst guilty of puppy love. They were traced and brought back, only to be shot by their own family members. They were given this “punishment” because they brought “dishonour” to the families concerned. It did not occur to their parents that they were equally to blame for the elopement as they were, in effect, running away from their homes. They owed a responsibility to provide their children a sense of belonging to their homes and sex education so that they did not run away with the first boys they befriended. Instead of accepting their failure and persuading the children to wait till they were of marriageable age to choose their spouses, they bumped them off. Honour killings are simply murders, however dressed up they are with a qualifier like “honour”. One out of every 10 murders in Haryana and Punjab is on account of “honour”. Unlike in films where couples from different backgrounds invariably marry and lead happy lives, the transgressing young lovers in real life find the story end differently. Public lynching or murder is what await them if the boy and the girl are from different castes or classes and their wedlock does not have the so-called society’s approval. It was not long ago that in Jhajjar in Haryana a couple in love were killed because they violated the illegal and inhuman social code dictated by the caste panchayat. In Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, increased communalisation has led to more intolerance and more violence in cases of Hindu-Muslim marriages. Often, the state apparatuses like the police and the lower judiciary support the enforcers of the illegal social codes, rather than the couples who choose their own life-partners. In one such case in Punjab, an upper caste jat police officer took the law into his own hands and butchered the young man who dared to marry his niece. It is forgotten that in a country blessed with all kinds of communities, intermarriage is not only a constitutional right of every adult citizen, it is, perhaps, the inevitable way to celebrate the bonds among them. It is better for the parents and different communities to accept the realities than kill the boys and girls who choose to go their own way. For the authorities and the courts, there is only one way: Punish the guilty.
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Tickets for sale
AICC general secretary Margaret Alva’s open expression of grievance against the party for her son’s failure to secure a Congress ticket for the upcoming Karnataka assembly election exposes the malaise afflicting not just the Congress, but also almost every political party. Doubtless, there would have been no outburst on the part of Mrs Alva if her son had managed to get the nomination. Yet, unwittingly, she might have rendered a service by laying bare the goings-on in her party. Her complaint brings two issues to the fore. One is the criterion for the selection of candidates. The natural inclination is for party leaders to choose their kin — son, daughter, nephew, niece, wife, sibling or near relation – regardless of the person’s credentials and winnability. The second issue she has highlighted is the role of money for getting the party ticket. Both these are unhealthy symptoms affecting parties across the spectrum. Instances of party leadership openly laying down “terms”, including financial, for aspiring candidates is no secret. However, this may not have become a norm in the bigger parties like the Congress or the BJP. The fact that Mrs Alva has spoken about the role of money is serious enough for the Congress leadership to take action immediately. This can only further debilitate a party that suffers from a number of other infirmities. On the issue of tickets for family members, except for the Left, all parties have accepted it as custom and practice. Inevitably, the dispute now is not over the suitability or otherwise of a candidate. The quarrels are over whose children succeeded and whose didn’t. Family members should neither be chosen nor excluded solely for the fact of being family members. Their political record should decide whether they merit party nominations. That Mr Rahul Gandhi himself should point at “family” and “money” being a pervasive political ailment underscores the need for all parties, particularly the Congress, to clean up their act.
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Dengue in Punjab
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than a fortnight ago, Punjab was reported to be in the grip of the dengue fever. But the state government did not bother to take precautionary steps and ignored the warning signals. An eight-member Central team, which visited Punjab recently, has indicted the state authorities for not taking timely action. According to the deputy director, National Vector- Borne Disease Control Programme, the state’s failure to check larvae formation at the initial stages has led to its widespread occurrence. Had the Punjab government responded promptly, the number of dengue cases, estimated to be over 3000, would have got considerably reduced and many precious lives saved? Dengue is not just an ordinary fever. Characterised by severe muscle and joint pain, the fever can prove fatal. In its most virulent form, it leads to internal bleeding. Already, it has claimed 17 lives, with Ludhiana district alone reporting 11 deaths. Over a period, Ludhiana has emerged as the hub of dengue fever. This year’s outbreak in the city has been termed by health experts as the worst in the last decade. Though the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has announced free treatment for the dengue patients at the government hospitals, a majority of the patients have been shelling out money from their own pockets. The suffering of the dengue patients, especially the poor, is compounded further by expensive medication. As it is, the government hospitals are ill- equipped to provide treatment. What to talk of specialised methods like transfusion of blood platelets, hospitals are short of beds and many even lack the capability of conducting confirmatory dengue tests. Luckily, the Central team has found that the outbreak in the state, though serious, has not become an epidemic. However, the Punjab Health Department must act fast to prevent further transmission. Fogging alone is not the answer. The disease management requires attacking the sources particularly where stagnant water is breeding aedes egypti mosquito which is the carrier of dengue virus. Plus, efforts must be made to create community awareness about preventive measures. The state cannot afford to take chances with the health of its people.
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Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can. —
Jane Austen
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Great organ bazaar
THE situation is paradoxical as well as critical. India has a comprehensive Transplantation of Human Organs Act passed in 1994 which is one of the most stringent and thorough pieces of legislation in the world. After all, it was drafted after studying similar laws prevailing in some 80 countries. And yet, illegal transplant of organs goes on, on the sly. Men like Amit Kumar Raut run rackets worth hundreds of crores of rupees as if there is no law in existence. There is a virtual organ bazaar out here. Recipients come from West Asia, Europe, North America and South Asia. This brand of “transplantation tourism” is illegal but is thriving because of the official apathy and loopholes galore. More important than increasing the quantum of punishment is ensuring that no wrong-doer goes scot-free. The dispensation of justice has to be swift too. Amit Raut was nabbed way back in 1993 in Maharashtra but got away lightly. Cases were also registered against him later at several places but he always proved one step ahead. In 14 years of the existence of the Human Organ Transplantation Act, not a single conviction has taken place, despite several rackets being unearthed. Under the law, only an Appropriate Authority set up in each state can file cases of alleged violation of the law. An individual has to give a 60-day notice to the Appropriate Authority before filing a case. In many states like Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, these authorities have not acted on any complaint, in spite of the fact that many major kidney rackets have been busted there. At best, they act as registering bodies for hospitals conducting transplants and revoke licences when hospitals violate rules. But they don’t play any proactive role in curbing the horrendous activity. When the police files cases, these do not stand scrutiny in a court of law, what with the defence lawyers taking the plea that the police is not competent to file cases under the law. There is neither any central registry of cases nor any up-to-date list of patients who are badly in need of surgery. In all the states, the Director-General of Health services is the head of the Authority. He has multifarious responsibilities and can barely find time to attend to his role as the Authority head. Whenever there is a furore, there are demands to set things right by a magical wand. The remedies suggested are mainly of two types. One section opines that the laws should be made even more stringent, as if it matters to such people making hundreds of millions of rupees whether they will go to jail for five years or seven. The other school subscribes to the extreme view that the sale of kidneys and other organs should be legalised. The second suggestion is well-meaning but simplistic. What is forgotten is that it can pave the way for the exploitation of the poorest of the poor. Legalising the sale of organs may come to mean reducing the have-nots to organ banks. As a renal transplantation surgeon put it succinctly, unrelated organ donation in our country has always been a one-way traffic – poor donating or selling to the rich. Incidentally, Iran is the only country in the world where it is lawful for a person to sell an organ to another for transplant. The situation is alarming indeed. There is requirement of about 1.8 lakh kidneys per year. Only 3,500 patients get them. Foreigners account for 30 to 40 per cent of the transplants – usually kidney or liver. Despite the exorbitant fee charged, it works out to be cheap for them. According to the Voluntary Health Association of India, about 2,000 Indians sell a kidney every year. While close relations are allowed to donate kidneys to their relatives, others can do so only on account of “love and affection” provided these feelings are approved by an authorisation committee. This condition is prone to misutilisation to a great extent. The experience is that such “love” wells up only in the heart of the poor for the rich patients. It does not take a very sharp nose to know that there is something extremely fishy there. Donation after a person’s “brain death” has just not caught on in India. In brain-dead bodies, heart and lungs are active as distinguished from “cardiac death”. Once a person is dead, no organ except the eyes can be harvested. But from a brain-dead body, as many as 37 organs, bones and tissue can be harvested. According to a rough estimate, there are at least a dozen brain-death cases in every big city every day. The patient has to be declared brain- dead by a committee of four doctors on a standard set of parameters for organ donation to be allowed. Very few hospitals in India have this committee in place. Very few doctors have the knowledge or the training to certify a person as “brain-dead”. Even the curriculum at several medical colleges does not cover the subject adequately. The end result is unfortunate to the extreme. The first cadaver kidney transplant took place in KEM Hospital in 1967. Despite the passage of 41 years, hardly 500 such transplants have taken place in the entire country. There are age-old prejudices saying that a body has to be cremated as a “whole”. These inhibit relatives from donating body parts of their deceased family members. There is need for a sustained nationwide awareness campaign of the kind started for administering polio drops with the help of stars like Amiabh Bachchan. It is also necessary to provide incentives to living family members such as insurance, concessions at hospitals and pubic honour. But that does not mean there are no people out there who are willing to donate. It is just that the regulations concerning such donations are so cumbersome that most people are put off. When parents of 14-year-old Aman Jain decided to donate his organs, the angelic gesture gave life to 11 persons. Such notable examples have to multiply. There are many cases where “near-relatives” are willing to donate kidneys but are incompatible. There is need to allow “swap” operations is such cases so that they can donate their organs in exchange without any commercial interest. The real problem does not lie in the scarcity of kidneys. The sticking point is that the government is yet to pick up courage to bring about a law under which all patients are treated as potential organ donors after death, except those who bar such organ donation in writing. This is called “presumed consent” and is prevalent in countries like Spain, Belgium and Austria. Such a law can largely reduce the gap between demand and supply. But in India we have to “opt in”. No wonder, India has the lowest rate of cadaver organ transplantation. Racketeers like Amit Raut step in to fill the vacuum.
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Anatomy of a funeral WITH so many of my peers now falling along the way, it is inevitable that my thoughts should turn more and more often to the sombre subjects of death and funerals. There was a recent death of someone I had known well, for a brief period, almost 40 years ago. We had gone our separate ways, lost touch and become strangers to each other. Yet, when I heard of the death, I felt I owed it to our former relationship to attend the funeral. Two of the pall bearers had their mobiles glued to their ears. From the animated conversation they were carrying on, it was obvious that their thoughts were definitely not with the person they were carrying on their shoulders. I was told later that one of these was the son of the deceased. The priest’s prayers were interrupted by the ringing of his mobile and for the next minute or so his left hand waved around in the air as he carried on an excited, if whispered, conversation with his caller. If anything further was required to destroy the sobriety and dignity of the occasion it was the arrival of three other bodies in quick succession. The simultaneous cremation of four bodies gave an assembly line ambience to the proceedings. At the prayer ceremony, the following week, most people came in closer to the end of the ceremony, than to the beginning. Many of them glanced surreptously and frequently at their watches, obviously impatient to get back to the world of the living. Others glanced around to see who had come: for them it was merely a “to see and be seen” occasion. At the lunch the conversation was about everything else other than the deceased. I wondered what purpose these prayers and these rituals served. Were they a mark of respect for the departed? I hadn’t seen much of that either at the funeral or at the prayer ceremony. Were they meant as a catharsis to help the survivors come to terms with their grief? There hadn’t been much evidence of this grief either. Seeing the futility of these exercises I wondered why we didn’t dispense with them all together. I know one person who did. In deference to his wishes his body was cremated quietly in the backyard of his farm house. Five close associates carried his ashes into the hills on a misty, monsoon morning and buried them amongst the gnarled, knotted roots of an ancient pine tree. Ten days later a large circle of friends and relatives gathered at his house and partook of the huge stock of liquor he had left behind for the occasion. There was laughter and happiness as the guests shared memories of their association with the deceased and affectionately recounted his many kinks and foibles. It was a celebration of a life well lived, with no shade of hypocritical grief. I know which of the two kinds of funeral I would want for myself. I wonder which one you would
choose.
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Dateline Washington
Washington: In the days after Barack Obama's historic election as the 44th President of the United States of America and its first black leader, there is anticipation of a seismic foreign policy shift and nations around the globe are wondering what an Obama presidency means for them. US-India relations, jump-started by the historic March 2000 visit to India by President Bill Clinton, and then carried to dizzying heights under President George W. Bush are unlikely to slow down. While Obama has not met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the two have exchanged warm correspondence in which the Democrat said “deepening and broadening the friendship between our two countries will be a first-order priority for me,” whereas Dr Manmohan Singh, in a congratulatory note this week, wrote, “Your extraordinary journey to the White House will inspire people not only in your country but also around the world.” A likely bone of contention in US-India ties could be Obama’s determination to have the US Senate ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a pact opposed by New Delhi, and then have other countries sign on to it as well. Walter Andersen, associate director of the South Asia studies programme at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington told The Tribune that while the Bush Administration did not push a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, an Obama Administration is likely to push both. He said both issues would require some delicate diplomacy. In a September 23 letter to the Prime Minister, Obama wrote that nonproliferation issues “will be one of my highest priorities as President... I will work with the U.S. Senate to secure ratification of the international treaty banning nuclear weapons testing at the earliest practical day, and then launch a major diplomatic initiative to ensure its entry into force.” He also sought to “pursue negotiations on a verifiable, multilateral treaty to end production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.” However, Sumit Ganguly of Indiana University said he did not think that the CTBT will be one of the principal items on Obama’s immediate agenda. “He will need to build a consensus in Congress, work with the Pentagon and the weapons labs and then tackle it. There are many other pressing concerns that he will need to address first,” Ganguly told The Tribune. He predicted a continuation of many of the Bush Administration’s policies toward India but probably with greater Congressional scrutiny. Karl Inderfurth, a former assistant secretary of state for South Asia in the Clinton administration and currently a top foreign policy advisor to Obama, said he did not anticipate the CTBT being a problem. “We have now recognized that we are tied together on these kinds of issues and have now surmounted a major obstacle that existed for over a quarter of a century and that was being on opposite sides of the nuclear cooperation issue,” Inderfurth said, referring to the US-India civilian nuclear cooperation agreement conceived and passed on Bush's watch. “We are now partners and it is going to open up a new area for us to deepen our relationship.” The question of outsourcing jobs could become another irritant in the relationship. “There is also the question of outsourcing, where some of his key constituencies have real concerns,” Andersen pointed out. India, a beneficiary of outsourced American jobs, could suffer if Obama's policies turn protectionist in a bid to keep jobs in America. Stephen Cohen of the Brookings Institution said he hoped the US and India can “work together on a strategy to stabilize Afghanistan, without alienating Pakistan.” But, he added, “I see India as receding from engagement, or perhaps only very slowly engaging others in the region, and even more concerned about its domestic politics than before.” Cohen predicted the Obama Administration will continue to follow a policy of dehyphenating Washington’s relations with India and Pakistan. “I don’t think that an Obama administration will ‘equate’ or see India and Pakistan in the same terms, but there are a range of issues where both are involved — environment, trade, energy, nuclear, containing terrorism, and so forth. With a new government in Islamabad I’m more optimistic that American interests can be served by India and Pakistan acting in their own interests, dialling us up when they both find it useful,” he told The Tribune. But, Cohen contended, “America will be stressed economically, and I am sure that a new crisis will emerge somewhere else in the world distracting the new administration.” By all accounts, the economy will be Obama’s No. 1 priority. A day after his historic election, Obama slipped out of sight and was ensconsed with his Vice-President-elect Joseph Biden and top advisors planning a transition and picking a Cabinet. He has offered Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel the role of White House chief of staff.
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UK plans to ‘collect every email’ Internet “black boxes” will be used to collect every email and web visit in the UK under the Government’s plans for a giant “big brother” database. Home Office officials have told senior figures from the internet and telecommunications industries that the “black box” technology could automatically retain and store raw data from the web before transferring it to a giant central database controlled by the Government. Plans to create a database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit made in the UK have provoked a huge public outcry. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, described it as “step too far” and the Government’s own terrorism watchdog said that as a “raw idea” it was “awful”. Nevertheless, ministers have said they are committed to consulting on the new Communications Data Bill early in the new year. News that the Government is already preparing the ground by trying to allay the concerns of the internet industry is bound to raise suspicions about ministers’ true intentions. Further details of the database emerged on Monday at a meeting of internet service providers (ISPs) in London where representatives from BT, AOL Europe, O2 and BSkyB were given a PowerPoint presentation of the issues and the technology surrounding the Government’s Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP), the name given by the Home Office to the database proposal. Whitehall experts working on the IMP unit told the meeting the security and intelligence agencies wanted to use the stored data to help fight serious crime and terrorism, and said the technology would allow them to create greater “capacity” to monitor all communication traffic on the internet. The “black boxes” are an attractive option for the internet industry because they would be secure and not require any direct input from the ISPs. During the meeting Whitehall officials also tried to reassure the industry by suggesting that many smaller ISPs would be unaffected by the “black boxes” as these would be installed upstream on the network and hinted that all costs would be met by the Government. “It was clear the ‘back box’ is the technology the Government will use to hold all the data. But what isn’t clear is what the Home Secretary, GCHQ and the security services intend to do with all this information in the future,” said a source close to the meeting. He added: “They said they only wanted to return to a position they were in before the emergence of internet communication, when they were able to monitor all correspondence with a police suspect. The difference here is they will be in a much better position to spy on many more people on the basis of their internet behaviour. Also there’s a grey area between what is content and what is traffic. Is what is said in a chat room content or just traffic?” Ministers say plans for the database have not been confirmed, and that it is not their intention to introduce monitoring or storage equipment that will check or hold the content of emails or phonecalls on the traffic. A spokesman for the Home Office said that Monday’s meeting provided a “chance to engage with small communication service providers” ahead of the formal public consultation next year. He added: “We need to work closely with the internet service providers and the communication service providers. The meeting was to show the top-line challenges faced in the future. We are public about the IMP, but we are still working out the detail. There will a consultation on the Communications Data Bill early next year.” A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association said the organisation was pleased the Home Office had addressed its members and was keen to continue dialogue while awaiting a formal consultation. Database plans were first announced by the Prime Minister in February. It is not clear where the records will be held but GCHQ may eventually be the project’s home. — By arrangement with
The Independent |
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Chatterati Frustration, disappointment and tears are in evidence on the face of many ticket-seekers from different political parties. Whether it is the Congress or the BJP, many senior stalwarts have been ignored for light-weight newcomers to fight from different constituency in states. A number of disputed constituencies in Congress were delayed so that Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who had left with her family for the coronation of the new Bhutan king, could intervene. Many of those left out abandoned their parent parties to try and seek favours from the SP and the BSP. Workers too have followed their leaders. Sons, daughters and family members have got a large number of seats from both the BJP and Congress. Hence the worker who has waited for decades for recognition is upset once again. The town is abuzz about money changing hands and also favouring your friends in the opposing party by putting weak candidates opposite them. So, the talk of town is that the leaders are following the age-old custom of ‘you scratch my back and I scratch yours’. Wrong or right it’s left a bitter taste in the mouth of the hard working party worker. Party time for astrologers So what if Govinda gets a “murgi” into a scene of his new movie just because his astrologer told him to do so—our politicians are no less. Ask any astrologer in the city nowadays they have no time to breath—in return for huge “dakshinas” they are advising the wannabe candidates about when to file their nomination papers, when to start campaigning, what food to eat, what colour clothes to put on and multiple stones to be put on various fingers. It’s party time for Pandit jis — right from the face reader to the “totewala”. Some favour Mayawati After the results of the American election, where history has been made by Barack Obama being elected the first Black American President, the pundits are busy predicting India’s future. They say that planetary stars now show that times have changed. History will be made in India too. The stars show that the minorities are ready to take over. So, don’t be surprised if Mayawati does become the next PM. All kinds of nexus of astrological stars show in the Pandit ji’s prediction. Obama will be a force to reckon with keeping in mind he is the final decision-maker. It is said that Hanumanji has proved lucky for Obama who carried the small statue with himself throughout his campaign. Hence, our superstitious politicians are all busy finding out the exact proportions, height and weight, etc. of the statue in Obama’s pocket.
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