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The
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Deadly
waste
Strategy
to counter naxalism
Trapped
in mayajaal
Empowering
children Mayawati
feels heat from Congress Mumbai Diary
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Rupee on the rise
With
the rupee touching a 19-month high of 44.18 against the dollar on Monday, exporters’ worries are understandable. But the demand of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) to fix the exchange rate of 47.5 to a dollar is untenable. China has not allowed its currency, yuan, to appreciate against the dollar and that has lifted its exports. But it is under severe pressure from various countries, particularly the US, for the currency freeze. A stronger yuan could help China control inflation and the building of asset bubbles. The rupee has gained up to 11 per cent against the euro so far in 2010. This has particulalry impacted the export of IT and textile products to the European Union, which accounts for 20 per cent of India’s export earnings and 14 per cent of the import payments. Seventy per cent of India’s exports, however, are in dollars and the weakening of the dollar has a major bearing on exports. It is no relief that the dollar has depreciated against all major currencies. This is because there is a huge supply in the US currency, thanks to the trillion-dollar stimulus. The US currency, available at almost zero interest rate, is flooding the emerging markets, where the equity, commodity and real estate prices are hotting up. India has got $4.1 billion in three months. Inflation is rising everywhere at an alarming rates and the worried central banks have started tightening monetary policies. The strengthening of the rupee has its benefits too. It has insulated India from the heat of the rising oil prices. India’s dependence on imported oil is a massive 70 per cent. Besides, Indians going abroad for study or travel stand to gain. The rupee may harden further as the current bidding for the third-generation spectrum is expected to attract more dollars. The exporters, who have benefited from global recovery, can resort to hedging, cost-cutting and innovation to cope with the tough times. Given the government’s tight financial position, they are unlikely to get any sops.
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Deadly waste
That
hazardous waste has been finding its way into India has long been known and its consequences feared. Ships containing toxic materials have been coming into ports like Alang for decades. A lot of hue and cry is made but things continue as usual. However, this threat has acquired a far more sinister dimension with the discovery that even radioactive waste material has been coming into India. All indications are that cobalt-60, the radio isotope found at a scrap dealer’s shop in West Delhi a few days ago, was of foreign origin. That not only shows how blasé India is about this grave threat, but also highlights a serious lapse by customs authorities. As a result of this, five persons are battling for their lives. Since those handling such material hardly take any precautions, lives of many more may be at risk. Equally dangerous is the iron scrap which comes into the country from war-ravaged areas. There have been huge explosions in Kota and several other places while melting, processing or transporting such scrap. Many a time, cluster bombs and even depleted uranium weapons are found in the scrap coming from Iraq. Even ships being dismantled in Gujarat ports have asbestos posing a serious threat to health and lives of workers. There are many laws against such imports but the implementation is scandalously lax. Then we have hazardous waste of our own, coming from army firing ranges. The tragedy is that we also receive thousands of tonnes of toxic e-waste every month. Used computer parts, including the obsolete cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, with hazardous presence of lead, pour in from South Asia, Finland and West Asia. Developed countries, where there are stringent norms for handling hazardous waste, push these into India not only because labour is cheap here but also because enforcement of norms is virtually non-existent. At least the discovery of radioactive material should make the authorities sit up and take corrective measures.
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The weak are strong because they are reckless. The strong are weak because they have scruples. — Otto von Bismarck
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Strategy to counter naxalism
What
happened on April 6 at Dantewada was the most daring and the biggest single-strike massacre by naxalites during the past 50 years. In October 2006, Jaswinder Singh, DIG, Anti-Naxal Operations, Orissa, was killed in a blast caused by naxalites. Immediately the state government nominated a successor, who equally promptly reported sick. The next nominee too evaded the posting and so on. In fact, comfort-loving IPS officers routinely refuse postings to naxalite-infested areas. Hence, the leadership passes to support-cadre officers of the state armed police. On February 15 this year, naxalites hit an Eastern Frontier Rifle (EFR) camp at Silda, West Bengal, killed 24 of the 51 jawans there and decamped with all the weapons and ammunition. A senior EFR officer “explained” that the jawans were taken completely by surprise, being busy in the langar or “whiling away their time”. These incidents highlight the glaring deficiencies in the police leadership and professionalism. While the naxalites have demonstrated their ability to increase hit and run strikes and attack company-strength targets, the police has displayed inexplicable incapacity to learn from blood-soaked experience. Feeding on alienation caused by socio-economic deprivation and police atrocities, naxalism afflicts some 230 of our 610 districts. Despite Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram stating that “we do not make war on our own people”, the ground reality is vastly different with the police brutalising the hapless tribal people. Therefore, any successful counter-naxalite strategy needs to address the root cause of the problem. Naxalism was launched as a movement by Majumdar and Sanyal in Kolkata in 1967. Rejecting the communists’ embrace of parliamentary democracy, naxalism holds that communist goals can only be attained through a violent class struggle, as is believed by the adherents of classic Marxism-Leninism. After a brief success among radical Kolkata students, they were driven from the city into rural Naxalbari. However, soon the violent movement splintered into 30-odd groups. The Nagi-Reddy group established a strong base in the jungles of Andhra Pradesh and Satyanarayan Singh set up another powerful base in Bihar. As these groups jostled for dominance, the administrations of the affected states became somnolent. However, since the late 1990s the police intelligence network has been warning of impending unity among the naxalites, resulting in their gaining greater strength. These were taken seriously only when in 2000 they brazenly annihilated several police posts and seized large booties of arms and ammunition. By the time the governments of Bihar and MP woke up to the emerging ugly reality, the factions had already united. Then in 2001, these states were reorganised, leading to the formation of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The new states were the most naxal-afflicted areas whereas the parent states retained all the anti-naxal information. This took the anti-naxal drive back by a decade, leaving the insurgents firmly in control of a forest corridor, spanning North AP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and W. Bengal. Later, some areas were seized by them in Bihar and UP, connecting the red sickle with Maoist-dominated Nepal and linking it with Bangladesh. This ensured increased foreign support for the naxalites. What enabled the naxalites to achieve such success? The truth is ruthless exploitation of tribal populations by rapacious forest contractors and mining mafias, abetted by a corrupt politician-babu nexus. Inept, desk-bound district administrations and brutal police repression complete the picture. Helpless tribals, thus exploited by human hyenas, have no basic amenities. They are deprived of all that is required for leading a dignified life even by rural India’s extremely standards. The naxalite masterminds exploit the administration’s unhelpful attitude towards the tribal people to fan their anger and use them to launch attacks against what they call state-oppressors. They replace an indifferent administration with ruthless governance, savage justice and enforced compliance. The tribals, caught thus in a cleft stick, prefer to side with the naxalites as a lesser evil compared to the khaki-clad symbols of non-governance. Here is a five-fold strategy to successfully countering the naxalite menace: One, there is need for a comprehensive police reform, specially concerning the training and motivation of the state police personnel and the central paramilitary forces. This must include civilising the police dealings with hapless citizens instead of remaining the lathi-wielding henchmen of unscrupulous politicians. The Centre should provide incentives to the states to implement the September 2006 Supreme Court judgement on police reforms. The forces engaged in counter-naxalism operations must get the latest weapons, equipment and communication gadgets. Lateral induction of Army officers and JCOs at various command levels can bolster the morale of those assigned the task of fighting the naxalites. If air power is envisaged, we must ensure that the naxalites have no idea of it. Two, carve out and then defend the “island sanctuaries” comprising a cluster of villages and hamlets within the naxalite-held areas. Using these as bases, we should launch operations to disrupt their logistics and transit corridors. Operations should include penetrating “abuj marh”, the deep-jungle sanctuary where naxalites train and manufacture their weapons. A Chinese think-tank has advocated dismembering India by stoking internal fires. Thus, the naxalites may be getting material support from Chinese surrogates in Nepal and Bangladesh even as their tie-up with the LTTE has withered. Such linkages must be exposed, using covert means, if need be. Three, the secured “islands” must immediately become the focus of purposeful development to win back the populace. File-pushing, office-bound approaches cannot work. It is vital to have fearless administrators who will verify the facts and the progress made at the ground level, and provide people-centric administrations. In addition to basic health-care and education, tribals must be unshackled from exploitation, provided avenues to earn their livelihood, taught skills for value-addition of the traditional produce and, above all, have their dignity restored. Motivated NGOs may be coopted to boost the states’ efforts. Concurrently, establishing responsive justice mechanisms is vital. Subsequent phases should seek to expand these “islands” until a pro-administration wave of goodwill is generated, ending the naxalites’ influence in the affected districts. Four, creation of a joint intelligence set-up among the affected states is vital. This should aim at revamping HUMINT and facilitate operations to penetrate and decapitate naxalite organisations. Central intelligence agencies should supplement these efforts while also focusing on cutting off foreign support through overt and covert means. Additionally, intelligence agencies must anticipate the naxalites’ next escalation move in semi-urban and urban areas. Five, the naxalites can easily undo any success achieved by taking hostages, as they did in the case of IPS officer Attindranath Datta, who was exchanged for 22 arrested naxalites. We are an emotionally-charged people and our “leaders” are all too susceptible to media-driven emotional frenzy, which precipitates such swaps. Therefore, a stringent law is needed to prohibit capitulating to terrorists’ demands. Such actions should be declared anti-national, attracting heavy penalties, including disqualification from contesting elections. The naxalite menace be successfully defeated only when the nation is prepared to take tough
measures. The writer has served as General Officer Commanding in the area comprising Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Eastern UP.
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Trapped in mayajaal I
largely
lost contact with Sachin years ago. After having spent a considerable time together during our school and college days, life decided to put us on different paths. Like most youngsters of today’s era, my friend was infatuated by the glitz and glamour of the rich world. He began his pursuit for fame and money-power after acquiring a professional degree in business administration. Sachin went to Mumbai, the country’s fashion capital, where he initially dabbled in modelling. I don’t know what went wrong (as I never asked), but after some time, he chucked the profession and joined some multinational company. Though Sachin and I lived in different cities, we remained in touch (though sparingly) as we belonged to the same town and our parents were family friends. At times, he told me that he had been reading my write-ups. When I heard that Sachin had undergone angioplasty (a medical procedure to cure blocked blood-vessels of the heart), I was shocked. True, such lifestyle-related disorders have become quite common these days. But then, Sachin happens to be in his early 30s and till the last time I saw him a couple of years ago, he used to be a cheerful, lanky guy with an athletic build. I talked to his mother, who told me that lately, he had been under tremendous pressure of work. He was also sent to the US by his company in the recent past. As it turned out to be, it was a typical case of a youth being lured by the attractive pay packets and perks of MNCs and ending up paying with his health. This reminded me of Shankar, another money-oriented friend of mine. It so happened that Naveen, another classmate of ours, who is now an Assistant Professor, recently invited me for a guest lecture at his institution. While we were having lunch after the lecture, Naveen mentioned that Shankar was also posted in the same city. We called him up and a get-together of old friends was instantly fixed. It turned out to be a memorable evening for all of us. We had a whale of a time together and chatted till late in the night. Next day, I felt like meeting Shankar before leaving the city. So, Naveen took me to Shankar’s posh office, where he was in a commanding position. He appeared before us, but looked altogether different from the person who was with us the previous evening. Visibly under work-pressure, Shankar came out of the office to see us off. During our brief chat in front of his office, I couldn’t help remarking: “You have changed a lot, brother. Remember the university days, when we talked and laughed endlessly. It’s good to see the progress you have made in your career, but you’ve become so serious…” So astonishing was his reply that I have not been able to forget it to this day. “Aisi koi baat nahi, yaar…abhi kal hansey to thhey…” muttered my one-time friend, whom life had turned into a money-making
machine.
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Empowering children
Punjab
has made no effort to rekindle the present in an effort to ensure a better future for its children. A look at the syllabi of the state education board, a review of the standard of education, the content and the method of teaching can be revealing. The state government is now making the right noises and encouraging private companies to lend a hand, but a generation has already been lost. In the border areas, where drug addiction is rampant, youth have not been enabled by the education system and are frustrated when they leave the confines of their home to look for jobs. One can state with conviction that 90 per cent of the products of our present education system are not fluent in the English language, lack adequate computing skills and do not have the confidence to stand for a professional job interview. In fact, a similar majority is not even enabled to write a proper resume. And yet the educators and the managements of institutions pat their own backs and boast their achievements, which are measured in terms of degrees distributed and students getting pass marks (regardless of the methodology or the ultimate end). The pressure to pass an examination has set in motion an incredible malaise of connection and corruption. Scores of schools have set up systems of orchestrated moves wherein brighter students are set aside with teachers for reference and help. Cheating is rampant in examination centres, refresher books are provided and short-cuts are used to ensure so-called success. Cracking the exam is a business today. Passing the test means familial effort to scout for favourable examiners, paper checkers and paper replacement clerks in case all the above fail to deliver. Tacit assistance is provided by overzealous teachers and institutions whose trumped-up reputations are at stake. But are we doing service to our progeny? What are we nurturing and churning out? This is not to say that there are no oases of enlightenment. Some institutions make it their business to go beyond the curriculum and focus on personality development. But these are exceptions to the rule. Step out in rural Punjab, and the state of education is worse than that in cities. Schools exist only in name. While the nation rues that only 12 out of 100 school kids go to college, here 48 per cent drop out from the school itself. Kids do not want to study in the given environment, and teachers do not teach. Many even employ proxies to teach in their place at half the wages. The woeful infrastructure and quality of educators do not inspire learning. Kids head to cities instead, into the world beyond for more exposure, much too soon. Some survive and cope, most just subsist and survive. It is indeed shocking that an agrarian state like Punjab has hardly a couple of institutions that dwell in research in agriculture and dairy farming. A state that has ushered in the green and white revolutions and contributes in large measure to the national food security does little to showcase model farming techniques and new technology. We should be dictating latest farming practices to the world. Instead we compete, at best, only with our neighbour. Practical education to the progressive farming youth and the community at large is woeful, to say the least. The world is indeed a global village. Manpower is a global resource. India has the largest pool of youth available to the aging western world. With 75 per cent of our population poised to be under 25 years of age, we will be the youngest nation and can be at the prime of performance. But the benefits will accrue to the educated and/or the enabled. It is time that we realise that all are not equal. Some will be able to study up to junior school, some till senior school, and a few will graduate. Fewer still will specialise further. It is for us to enable all. It is for us to test for aptitude, counsel parents and their wards, rather than let peer pressure or parental influence lead into unsuited fields and levels of study. Recognising potential and embracing failure will help in correcting direction. Training those who cannot study further in vocations that complement their aptitudes is needed. The DNA for farming is a real asset that must be explored and trained further. Being an electrician and a plumber can be as noble a profession as an IT data processor or an accountant. The sea change has got to be made. The starting point perhaps is to change the mindset. Educating the educators. Forsaking rote for personality development. To impart social skills, enhance mental prowess and embrace the arts and crafts as well. In the Right to Education Act, a huge step has been taken. In the visionary and go-getting Minister of Education, Kapil Sibal, one finds rays of hope. The need is to take on this agenda as a mission in Punjab, and instill the urge to excel in educators, the education system and the taught. It is easier said than done. But beginnings need to be made now rather than never. We owe it to our children. Punjab’s GenNext especially needs our attention right now.
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Mayawati feels heat from Congress On May 13 this year Ms Maywati will complete three years in office as the Chief Minister and from all available accounts, she may complete the full term if she decides to do so. She has the absolute majority which she won on the plank of 'Sarvjan'. But there are serious doubts on her journey to Delhi. Though the elections for the Assembly are due in May, 2012, Ms Mayawati, for tactical reasons, may like to test the BSP's acceptability among the electorate in UP and also with the objective of springing a surprise on her political rivals like the Congress. While the BSP got an absolute majority and subsequently went on to win the majority of the Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections, its performance in the 2009 general elections left much to desire. Since its inception in 1984, the BSP had been gaining strength and it was often speculated as when the BSP would capture political power in Delhi. After the setback in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the BSP supremo was initially trying to figure out what went wrong. Since then she has been busy recasting her strategy and has revised much of the 2007 Assembly approach and political path. She realised that her core Dalit constituency was drifting away from her. Dalits, particularly those not belonging to her own caste, were moving towards the Congress, whose young leader Rahul Gandhi is wooing them with mission and determination. In her wisdom, Ms Mayawati has apparently decided that she should retain her core constituency hoping that everything else would fall in place. Now, she is working towards it. The BSP celebrated its 25 years with a massive rally on March 15 in Lucknow where its leader Ms Mayawati was felicitated with a garland made of currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination. It created a controversy and she remained in media focus for some time. She also declared that her one-time trouble shooter, architect of the Brahmin-Dalit alliance and often projected as number two in the party hierarchy, Satish Chandra Mishra, does not enjoy her confidence as in the past. The so-called demotion of Mishra is essentially meant for the consumption of her core Dalit constituency. He continues to enjoy her confidence as he continues to act her confidante and consultant on money matters. Now the big issue is whether her strategy of concentrating on her core constituency is enough to re-emerge as the principal player, rather the most important political player in the biggest state. Will she be able to retain absolute power in the next Assembly elections in 2012 or whenever she decides to hold them? This is the crucial question confronting the discerning analysts and experts. Undoubtedly, in coming months and years Ms Mayawati will try to convince the electorate that she means business and try to deliver on the governance front, but popular perceptions have their own dynamics. She has embarked upon the confrontationist course which paid her rich dividends in the past. On April 14 Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is flagging off 14 simultaneous yatras which will cover the entire state and carry the message of the Congress and the UPA's achievement and mark the 20 years which the state of Uttar Pradesh has existed without Congress rule. These yatras will conclude in Allahabad on November 15 on Pandit Nehru's birthday and are aimed at mobilising the party machinery. On the same day, she has asked her party workers and leaders to hold protest rallies against women reservation in Parliament and state legislatures. From her behaviour, statements and pronouncements, it is evident that Mayawati is treating the Congress as her main political adversary and she is leaving nothing to chance to counter the GOP's political advances. The coming months will decide the contours of the battle and who wins the people's confidence will be determined by Ms Mayawati's acts of commission and omission. The writer is a senior fellow at the
Observer Research Foundation
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Mumbai Diary Old-timers couldn't but help recall earlier attempts at rapprochement by Fatima's aunt (and bitter foe) Benazir and then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The 'My Mother and Your Father' moment that falsely promised new beginnings. Benazir's infamous rabble-rousing Jag-Jag-Mo-Mo-Han-Han diatribe calling for dismemberment of the former J&K Governor made famous by the old Newstrack videos that marked the worst phase of militancy. So the question put to young Fatima was not totally unexpected. Has she met Rahul Gandhi? "No," was the response. "It is not like we have a club where we all hang out on Tuesdays," Bhutto remarked before moving on. Mum is the word For once, Mumbai's publicity-hungry policemen went on silent mode and stayed that way for three long months. The thankless job they had on hand was to dispose of the remains of the nine terrorists from Pakistan who ran amok in the city on November 26, 2008. The bodies stayed in the morgue of the J.J. Hospital for nearly two years with Muslim organisations in the city refusing to let the terrorists be buried in the community's cemetery. Maharashtra's Home Minister R.R. Patil admitted that international norms governing the disposal of the remains of dead terrorists were given the go-by. So were the bodies of the terrorists simply dumped in unmarked graves or were their remains cremated in the electric crematoria which form part of the disposal facilities? Not even Patil is telling. Thackerays' Nightingale Shiv Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray, who is locked in a bitter battle with cousin Raj and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, can still count on the A-listers of Maharashtrian society many of whom are reluctant to switch over to the start-up. The latest to reiterate support for the Shiv Sena is Lata Mangeshkar, who has never bothered to hide her support to party supremo Bal Thackeray. A regular at Shiv Sena functions before going into semi-retirement, Mangeshkar will be putting up an appearance at the Maharashtra Day function being organised by the party at the famous Shivaji Park grounds. Mangeshkar will sing a song composed to honour the 105 martyrs who lost their lives demanding that Mumbai be part of Maharashtra when Gujarat was carved out of the then undivided Bombay State. Last year, Mangeshkar kept quiet when Bal Thackeray attacked Sachin Tendulkar for claiming to be an Indian first. Even Asha Bhosale, the younger of the Mangeshkar sisters, chided the Thackerays by attributing her success to hard work rather than to her Marathi lineage. But Lata maintained a stony silence. |
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Corrections and clarifications n The headline “Gadkari dares PM for debate on price rise” (Page 2, April 12) should have been “dares PM to debate”. n
The headline “Pak women relish fresh challenges” (Page 4, April 12) does not convey the sense of the story which is about Pak women entering diverse professions, use of the word “relish” is inappropriate.. n
In the headline “Wheat on 24 acre gutted” (Page 4, April 11, Chandigarh Tribune), “24 acre” should have been “24 acres”. n
The headline “Residents heave a sigh of relief”-‘were issued passes for venturing out” (Page 1, April 10, Chandigarh Tribune) with the IPL logo is awkward. The headline should have said the relief is after the IPL. Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. This column appears twice a week — every Tuesday and Friday. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is kanwar@tribunemail.com. Raj Chengappa
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