The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Hitting Maoists
Letting IAF loose has both pros and cons

The Indian Air Force has never used firepower against militants in Jammu & Kashmir or insurgents in the North-East. Its request, therefore, for permission to open fire against the Maoists is a grim reminder of the growing strength of the rebels and the seriousness of the crisis. The request made by the IAF to the Ministry of Defence, confirmed by Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, is evidently related to the impending offensive against the outlaws. Two IAF choppers came under attack in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra in November last year and in April this year, respectively, killing a Sergeant in the process and damaging the helicopters. The IAF, deployed usually for transporting troops and machinery, in search and rescue operations and as air-ambulance, clearly expects to play a far more active role in the offensive, which explains why the permission to fire back at the Maoists has been sought at this juncture.

The Maoists, who killed 16 people in Bihar, including five children, last Thursday night, have become a menace and need to be dealt with firmly. Maoist terror is unacceptable and the rebels must be defeated. But Air Chief Marshal Naik has rightly struck a note of caution and pointed out the very real possibility of collateral damage if the IAF uses its firepower even in self-defence. Killing innocent people on the ground will not only be unfortunate and counter-productive, it would also strengthen the rebels by spreading discontent among the people. It is a difficult choice because the rebels are almost certain to provoke the IAF and take their chances. Still, the permission cannot be granted lightly and one expects the IAF to use its firepower under the gravest of provocations.

Pilotless spy planes have already been in use to guide and direct ground troops during counter-insurgency operations as also in operations against the Maoists. But Air Marshal Naik ruled out the possibility of arming them for firing on the ground, like the Predator drones used by the US against suspected Taliban militants. The IAF chief held out a warning though that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ( UAVs) can be fitted with sensors to look through the foliage in forests. Public pronouncements in detail may have been a part of psychological warfare and designed to demoralise the enemy. One only hopes it will not rob the offensive of the suspense and the surprise element required for success in such operations.

IIT standoff
Institutions of excellence must be handled with care

Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal appears to have jumped the gun when he claimed on Friday that “all’s well with the government and the IITs”. The meeting with a delegation of the IIT Faculty Federation, the minister said, had helped in clearing the air. He had also underlined that the guidelines on recruitment and the salary structure issued by his ministry for the IITs were normative and that the IITs were free to deviate from them in exceptional cases. While representatives of the IIT teachers had also put on record their satisfaction over the minister’s clarification, the misgivings expressed by them the very next day are ominous. The federation on Saturday sought the Prime Minister’s intervention and an undertaking in writing, indicating its lack of trust in the minister’s ability to honour his word. The federation also sought more funds to be placed at the disposal of the HRD Ministry, responding to the HRD Minister’s statement that his budget is not enough for the needs of a knowledge society and to disburse “world class salaries”.

The IITs have been known for their high degree of excellence and are one of the very few Indian brands recognised internationally. The HRD Ministry has been accused of ignoring the growing needs of the IITs and their demands related to the upgradation of infrastructure as well as recruitment and retention of quality faculty. While the older IITs faced a debilitating funds and faculty crunch, the crisis was further accentuated by the setting up of several new IITs in different parts of the country. The ministry’s notification on the salary structure in Centrally funded technical institutes, issued first in August and revised twice since then, raised the hackles of the IIT faculty, which is clearly upset at the ministry’s patronising attitude to them.

The continuing standoff is detrimental to the interests of the nation and must be resolved at once. The IIT Council, which is scheduled to meet later this month, will hopefully be able to pull down the curtains on this sad chapter. If only the HRD Ministry had initiated the dialogue before issuing the contentious notifications, the spectacle of IIT teachers agitating and observing fast, etc, could have been avoided. That the ministry has had to issue the same notification thrice, with minor modifications, is proof enough that there was not sufficient application of the mind. If the IIT boards are indeed autonomous, as the minister has repeatedly claimed, then babus in the HRD Ministry should not be allowed to call the shots.

Thought for the Day

Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure;/ Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure. — Lord Byron

ARTICLE

India in turmoil
We have only ourselves to blame
by Amar Chandel

When V S Naipaul wrote “India, a Million Mutinies Now” in 1990, it led to a howl of protest over the “exaggeration”. Well, the number he had mentioned may have appeared padded up, but is not too far from reality today.

With violent fires burning in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast and 40 per cent of the country’s geographical area and over 30 per cent of its population in the grip of Left-wing terrorism, India can indeed be called a country in turmoil, as Mr Ved Prakash Marwah, former Governor of Manipur, Mizoram and Jharkhand, has done in his book.*

He has presented a ring-side view of these bushfires, besides explaining their genesis and the reasons that led to the deterioration in the situation. Normally, whenever there is trouble in a border state, the standard government response is that it is due to meddling by inimical foreign powers.

Mr Marwah differs and holds that Pakistan or any other unfriendly nation could not have succeeded in their nefarious designs if we had put our own house in order. He elaborates in graphic detail how narrow politics and avoidable administrative failures have contributed to the escalation and complexity of the many security problems.

It is an insider’s account, considering that before being appointed Governor, Mr Marwah, an IPS Officer, held assignments in different states, including Commissioner of Police, Delhi; Director-General of the National Security Guard; and Adviser to the Governors in Jammu & Kashmir and Bihar.

He blames the political class for many avoidable blunders. The negative role of inexperienced and not very competent police and administrative leadership also comes in for caustic comments.

Mr Marwah laments that while more than half the country is in turmoil, the government is in a self-congratulatory mood. He alleges that many of violent conflicts enjoy the tacit, if not open, support of the ruling parties.

He is most concerned about Left extremism. After all, the states affected by it are more than four times in area and eight times in terms of population than Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and Punjab put together.

Yet, the government was not even acknowledging till recently that things are so bad. Shrewd bureaucrats played around with data to hide the fact that more than one-third of the country had been affected by Left-wing violence. Instead of looking at the data district-wise, they cleverly reorganised it police station-wise.

Despite that, peace initiatives have been short-sighted and vacillation and ad hocism have been the hallmark of the government’s counter-terrorism policies. The state police has been generally ill equipped, ill trained and poorly led.

In his view the spread of the extremist ideology is primarily a consequence of bad governance and ruthless exploitation of the poor and the marginalised.

He cites Punjab’s fight against terrorism as one success story but mentions that things would not have come to such a pass if the government had not treated it as a law and order problem initially.

Mr Marwah was the first officer to enquire into the 1984 riots. All the available oral and documentary evidence did not show the Delhi Police in very good light. The Delhi Police officers, whose role was suspect, first filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to stall the enquiry. When that did not work, they used their political clout to “derail my enquiry when it was drawing to a close”.

While the guilty officers have so far not been punished even after 25 years, Mr Marwah reveals that “they have succeeded in causing me unending harassment”. They have been filing one case after another against him on flimsy grounds. “I have been summoned time and again by one court or the other. I received a court summon even when I was serving as Governor of Manipur”.

His constant argument is that terrorism could not have raised its ugly head but for New Delhi’s short-sighted policies.

Another grouse of his is that sitting in Delhi, it is easy to blame police officers functioning in a harsh and hostile environment of using excessive force. The sacrifice of police and armed forces personnel does not find a place in national consciousness. Separatists exploit this weakness to the hilt.

More than his reiteration of the history of extremism and the remedies that should be applied, it is his personal experiences which make the book a remarkable work.

Talking of rampant corruption, he recounts that a serving Chief Minister in Jharkhand floated a company in his wife’s name, which managed to get contracts worth crores of rupees from a large corporate house having a major interest in his state.

As the Governor of Jharkhand, he could not communicate with officers in charge on the phone or wireless, because the communication system at most police stations was obsolete.

Mr Marwah recalls that many of the policemen in the Northeast do the bidding of the insurgents rather than that of the government. He found during President’s rule in 2001 in Manipur that in not a single case in the last 10 years had the police filed a charge-sheet against the arrested insurgents.

He also witnessed the spectacle of the Samata Party coming to power when it did not have even a single elected member in the Manipur assembly. Another amusing story he narrates is of an eminent political leader who changed his affiliation thrice in 24 hours to come to power.

How seriously New Delhi takes the Northeast can be gauged from the fact that during his tenure as a governor of two Northeastern states, on more than one occasion, he was referred to as the Governor of Nagaland by one of the high-ups. When he tried to inform him that he was the Governor of Manipur and Mizoram and not Nagaland, his immediate remark was: They are all the same any way, what difference does it make?

Poverty in the Northeastern region, he opines, is more due to the misappropriation of funds by corrupt politicians and civil servants and less due to the paucity of funds. The collusive arrangement between different militant factions and the various political parties and civil servants are more the norm than the exception.

For all practical purposes, these financially non-viable states are more like UTs. In spite of huge grants, these states cannot even regularly pay the salaries to their employees. Even the governor’s salary is delayed for months, Mr Marwah reveals.

All that makes dark, depressing reading. But, as they say, facts are stranger than fiction.

* India in Turmoil: Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and Left Extremism, by Ved Marwah, Pp 352; Rs 395, Rupa and Co.

MIDDLE

An admired teacher
by Ehsan Fazili

Prof Meenakshi Mukherjee, who died in Hyderabad on September 16, was one of the very few teachers admired by students and colleagues. She had her admirers and well-wishers abroad, too, as she had been a visiting professor at Chicago, California and Texas. Her death came between India’s national Teachers’ Day on September 5 and World Teachers’ Day on October 5. The aim of World Teachers’ Day, being observed since 1994, is to mobilise support for the teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.

As a student, I had the opportunity to listen to one of Prof Meenakshi Mukherjee’s extension lectures at the Post-Graduate Department of English, University of Kashmir, in the summer of 1982. She impressed the teachers and the students during her polite discourse on Indian writing in English. After the lectures were over in one of the two classrooms of the Faculty of Arts, she would be looking at the enchanting scene outside. The lush green sprawling lawns in front of the faculty building, separated by the waters of the Dal Lake from the foothills of Zabarwan, have been giving solace to the onlookers’ eyes, nature lovers and men of letters.

Four years after that first opportunity, I happened to be one among over 15 students she taught at the School of Languages of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Though I was there for less than a year, the greater and closer interaction could not be possible. However, all the students and my classmates then maintained an equal and respectable equation, as every word she spoke had an indelible mark on our minds. Each student (of MA, Linguistics) had compulsorily to submit an assignment in each paper and have a one-on-one discussion with the teacher concerned. Thus, while submitting my detailed assignment, I got an opportunity to individually get her observations and comments on areas which I had failed to cover. I got valuable pieces of guidance.

She could easily find out where I had tried to be smart. But her comments, instead of discouraging me, helped me develop a keener and more honest way of working. It was an honour to have an individual interaction with the great teacher, who could more easily also find out from my write-up that I had already post-graduated from the University of Kashmir. That relationship created in me a greater sense of responsibility. Aptly, World Teachers’ Day aims at ensuring that the “needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers”.

OPED

The tiger crisis and remedial measures
by Lt Gen (retd) Baljit Singh

“Once all the beasts are gone, Man will surely die from the loneliness of the spirit.”

That was the concluding sentence of a lengthy, very well argued letter to the US President Franklin Pierce in the 1850s, when the Red Indian Chief Seattle realised how close the “White Man” was to destroying American Wildlife heritage through excessive hunting and associated commerce.

Today, we Indians are faced with the same stark reality. For if the tiger, the master-predator, becomes extinct, the majority of India’s animal world in the wild will perish because (a) their numbers will explode beyond the carrying-capacity of our national parks and allied forests, (b) large-scale deaths will follow from epidemics and starvation and (c) the survivors will en-mass descend upon agricultural crops where farmers will understandably impose the ultimate coup-de-grace.

In essence, we are close to witnessing the horrors arising from the dismantling of the natural prey-predator food chain, triggered by filthy lucre.

One of our most knowledgeable tiger-biologists, Valmik Thapar, had made valiant efforts in the 1980s to sensitise the Ministry of Forests and Environment on the magnitude of tiger-poaching in India. Unfortunately, the State chose to deny rather than listen and act. The Secretary MOEF told him emphatically that just ONE tiger had been poached in the whole of that year and that Valmik Thapar must desist pro-offering unasked for advice.

Now some 15 years later, the government admits to the country-wide tiger count at a mere 1,145 and that 50 to 70 tigers died to-date in 2009 alone. Even more worrisome is the government’s attempt at naive damage-control by assigning, among other factors, 20 to 35 deaths due to old age and a few even due to drowning in the rivers.

Let us remember that after the tiger’s birth about 1.2 million years ago, its southward journey on the Asian mainland ended with the arc, Kanyakumari, Java and Bali islands. The Sunda trench, which separates Java and Bali islands, is one among the deepest in the ocean. Yet, the tiger swam across to inhabit and thrive on Bali island till poached to extinction in the 1930s. So, please let us not lie about tigers dying due to drowning in the Indian rivers. They are poached for money. Period.

Of course, tigers must perish of old age too in the natural way. But how many and over how long? A tiger’s average life span is 12 to 15 years. There is little plausibility of 35 old-age deaths in nine months out of 1, 145 tigers of varying age-mix. Perhaps the Prime Minister’s scientific advisor could organise a computer-simulated model-check to arrive at the truth.

The common man cares not whether the tiger survives or perishes. But nor does the common man care for the global warming phenomena or for the diminishing green gene-pool and bio-diversity, as the principle tools for human survival. No, these are those vitals of survival strategies of homo sapiene race at large which the elected governments are mandated to deliver upon.

One person who had foreseen this apathy of the common man and therefore of the politicians in India towards our wildlife has been summed up in the personal Journal of Field Marshal Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India in an entry for December, 1946: “His (Jim Corbett) talk on tigers and jungle life is of extraordinary interest and wish I could have had more of it. He has rather pessimistic views on the future of tigers ... and that in many parts of India tigers will become extinct in the next 10 to 15 years; his chief reason is that Indian politicians are no sportsmen and tigers have no votes, while the right to gun licence will go with a vote.” What a damning but true crystal gazing of our society.

Having said all that do I have a “doable” plan for the tiger’s assured survival? Yes I have, though politically draconian, but it alone will save the tiger and is as follows:

Place the existing National Tiger Conservation Authority directly under the PMO. Place all the tiger reserves and contiguous sanctuaries and protected/notified forests in the country under it for a period of ten years, together with all their current administrative assets and liabilities. Offset the loss of revenue to the states arising from this ordinance for the period of its operation, through special budgetary allocations.

Hold an annual tiger revival audit by an independent body of three to five experts from within and outside the country. Induct 30 per cent new members to the audit team each year and retire an equal number from the previous team.

The Prime Minister must take the annual audit findings as mandatory fresh in-puts for implementation and for keeping Parliament informed.

Place a moratoriam on denotifications and or alteration of boundaries of existing national parks, tiger reserves, sanctuaries and notified forests both by Parliament and by state legislatures through the same ordinance.

Provide legal safe-guards/immunity in the event of encounter-deaths of poachers at the hand of forest staff inside the declared boundaries. This is what broke the back of the ivory poaching syndicates in Kenya in the 1960/70s.

Assuming that there are about 300 tigresses in the cub-productive age (among the 1,145 surviving tigers) and allowing for the average survival of one cub per litter to adulthood and also factoring-in 20 old-age deaths each year, there is every chance our tiger population will reach the 2,000 to 2,500 mark ten years hence. Most tiger-biologists would agree that in fact 2,500 to 3,500 tigers is the optimum figure to look for given the size of our protected areas network and the tiger prey-base availability.

Emperor Ashoka had chosen the Asiatic Lion as the symbol of Indian nationhood. Twenty-two centuries later, we the Democratic Republic of India placed the Royal Bengal tiger on a similar pedestal. Let us arise and save them both.

Jane Goodall was asked by an interviewer in September, 2009, whether she believed there was “Hope for Animals and Their World” to which she responded:

“At one time (1980s) there were just 12 Californian Condors in the wild and one in captivity. Now there are 300. This bird would have gone but for a small group of people who would not give up. As long as we have people like that, there’s hope for the future”.

Would Minister Jairam Ramesh consider without prejudice the remedial strategy, please?

Mobile phones vs human contact
by Carola Long

“iPHONES are killing the conversation on the front row,” asserted one fashion editor after the recent Milan shows. And guess what? Her comment loud, to me, in conversation. Anyone remember that? The people-watching afforded by the front row is as fertile as conversation fodder comes, but this season the idle but fascinating chat that used to be struck up between two people who didn’t know each other, thrown together on a tiny bench packed tighter than Anna Wintour’s suitcase for Paris Fashion Week, had dwindled. Old friends still chatted but that casual conversation between strangers had all but vanished. Instead of gossiping to their neighbour that, say, someone in the crowd’s outfit cost more than a family car, many of the audience were furiously tapping away on their iPhones.

Some were tweeting; some may have been answering genuinely pressing emails; some may have been playing with that bubble wrap-popping app but others were using their phones as instruments of isolation that say “don’t even think about talking to me” better than the sourest of pouts.

When the lights went down at the Dolce & Gabbana show there should have been a thrilling moment of silence and darkness before the catwalk bursts into light and sound. Instead, glowing in the gloom, like the lighters held aloft at a concert, were the bright screens of several hundred phones.

I appreciate that iPhones are useful and, for many work situations, essential. I am even considering confronting my chronic Luddite tendencies by being one of the last people on earth to join Facebook and Twitter, although I quite enjoy the instant camaraderie of meeting someone else in this beleaguered band. I get that the iPhone represents progress. However, just as President Sarkozy suggested that a country’s prosperity shouldn’t just be measured in GDP, but also in a joie de vivre index, it doesn’t matter how many useful apps you can download, or how quick and wide reaching your internet connection is, if this little ergonomic tyrant is running your life and ruining your personal relationships.

To paraphrase Princess Diana — there are three of us in my relationship: me, my boyfriend, and the new love of his life with curves to die for, the iPhone. It sits next to us on the sofa, the restaurant table, beside the bed, on the beach. Maybe he doesn’t really like me, or it’s a dog substitute. Either way, it’s there flashing constantly like some sort of needy spaceship, fuelling his addiction.

The advent of the BlackBerry meant that people’s jobs spilled over into their personal lives, but now the fun factor of the iPhone means that many more are now leading double lives, real and virtual. Whatever happened to living in the moment? On a recent visit to Edinburgh, my boyfriend and I were trying to find our way to the hotel, but instead of meandering through the streets discovering the city’s unexpected treasures we had to consult some hi-tech map device, then proceed 500m forward, 300 to the left, etc.

Then there was finding a restaurant. Forget spontaneity: the local eateries for miles around were duly Googled and assessed in the street. Perhaps we missed some kind of virtual tasting app that we could have downloaded to experience our future meal for us. While we were staying in Edinburgh I sent my friend a real, live postcard.

How retro, given that there is actually an iPhone postcard app. What was less retro was the feeling several hours later that I should have had a reply. We’ve all become so used to instant messaging that the idea of sending a postcard and not getting an instant reaction was frustrating.

These appealing, addictive devices inveigle their way into your consciousness and distort your perception of time and distance. They make people impatient, and rob experiences of their spontaneity. They are anti-joie de vivre. The thing is, I really want one, and that’s the saddest bit.

— By arrangement with The Independent

Chatterati
Chidambaram’s family planning initiative
by Devi Cherian

With an over-efficient Home Minister, even minor changes in offices say a lot. P. Chidambaram has proved to be number one in the Union Cabinet today. He has delivered, been open and is a workaholic. Thank God, he makes sure his officials are as efficient as he is.

As if biometric attendance systems were not enough to amuse and maybe annoy Home Ministry officials at North Block, two condom vending machines installed in the washrooms left many of them amused.

The initiative is a part of a safe-sex awareness drive for North Block staff, who can buy two Josh condoms of Rs 5. Some curious Home Ministry officials were seen studying the instructions for using the machines minutely. Family planning, they were heard joking, no longer starts from home, but from the Home Ministry office. Great job!

Political players

After belting his opponents in the political arena, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has padded up for a new innings. Right after his victory in by-elections, ending the Congress’ 16-year domination of the Gujarat Cricket Association, Modi is now in the company of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar who is ICC chairman-designate, while Arun Jaitely is the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Shukla is the vice-president of the BCCI, while Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was only recently elected vice-president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association. Another political heavyweight, Union Non-Conventional Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah heads the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. RJD chief and former Union Minister Lalu Prasad too turned into cricket buff, but his efforts to control the Bihar Cricket Association have ended in a legal tangle.

Cricket and politicians are not new. Former Union Ministers Madhavrao Scindia and N.K.P. Salve too took to cricket administration, and have headed the BCCI during their heydays. So, it’s not surprising that Modi was tempted to head the cricketing body. The ground work had been going on for over a year. As usual, all minute details were studied well. GCA had till now be controlled by the Narhari Amin group. Modi’s man Amit Shah has been engaged in a tussle with the Amin group for the last one-and-a-half years for controlling the affairs of the cash-rich cricket body.

Modi says he will soon come out with a blueprint on how to develop the game in the state. He wants to give it a professional touch by harnessing technology and how to develop the game through an integrated approach. The popularity of the game of cricket can be used to attract the youth to other sporting activity as well is Modi’s logic.

So, now Modi obviously will be headed soon to becoming the BCCI chief. He surely is not going to rest till then.

Height of punishment

Gujaratis are really an original lot. A village in Gujarat has taken lead in effectively implementing liquor prohibition laws. Kanesara village of Patan Taluka in north Gujarat has not only prescribed financial penalties for consuming liquor, but the person ‘caught’ drinking is required to spend 24 hours on a tree.