The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Passing the Maoist buck
New Delhi and states must work in unison

ChHattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility of the Maoists having ‘links’ with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. Not much credence, however, need be given to the sensational disclosure. The Chief Minister was apparently replying to a specific question put by the media and must have given what he thought to be a safe and diplomatic answer. ‘ Intelligence agencies do not rule out the possibility’ is what he said, not really saying anything in the affirmative. Nevertheless, it has been known for a long time that Maoists have ‘international links’ and not only with the radical Left in the Phillipines and Brazil but also nearer home with the LTTE. It is equally well known that Maoists have received training from our own people in the Army and the security forces. Army manuals on how to prepare and use a grenade, for example, were recovered years ago from abandoned Maoist bunkers in Jharkhand and Orissa. It is partly because of such fraternal relations that the Maoists have been able to sustain their websites.

Therefore, while the government’s failure to cut off the Maoists’ international links and access to finance, weapons and technology remains a matter of great concern, the Chhattisgarh CM in reality was making the expected but still significant admission that the state police is no match to the Maoists. While pleading for the Centre to shoulder the responsibility of dealing with the Maoists, Raman Singh put forward two grounds to justify the demand. The sophisticated landmines being used by the Maoists and the professional manner in which they are executing their operations indicated a high degree of training imparted by experts, he said. He also added for good measure that the Maoists seem to have changed their ‘tactics’ from guerrilla warfare to ‘mobile action’. While it is not quite clear how the Chief Minister differentiates between the two, it is primarily an acknowledgment that the Maoists are not a bunch of misguided and trigger-happy youth.

Both the Centre and the states seem to be passing the responsibility to the other. But there is unfortunately no room for a blame game. Both the Centre and the states must get their act together and fight the menace. Policing does not ordinarily involve dealing with landmines, grenades and missiles and states are right in seeking support from the Centre. But that hardly means that the states can abdicate their own responsibility.

Suicide or murder?
Unravel the mystery behind Rizwanur’s death

The Calcutta High Court order for a fresh CBI inquiry into the killing of Rizwanur Rehman, a computer graphics artist, has given a new twist to the three-year-old case. A Division Bench consisting of Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice Prosenjit Mondal has given the CBI four months to complete the probe and press charges. The order follows a complaint by Rukbanur, Rizwanur’s brother and a Trinamool Congress candidate in the municipal elections, that Rizwanur was “murdered” and that he didn’t commit “suicide”. In his complaint, he said that Ashok Todi, hosiery magnate and his father-in-law, was responsible for his death. Rizwanur’s body was found on the railway track in Kolkata’s Dum Dum area on September 21, 2007, barely a month after marrying Priyanka Todi against her family’s wishes. The Bench cited technical lacunae in the CBI’s interpretation of the role assigned to it by the trial court as the reason for delay in probing Rizwanur’s “unnatural death”.

The High Court order has expectedly evoked sharp reactions in legal circles. When the CBI has already said that it is a case of “suicide” and not “murder” and the trial has started on the basis of the findings, the High Court cannot order fresh investigation, it is said. The seven accused — Ashok Todi, his brother Pradip Todi, their relative Anil Saraogi, police officers Ajay Kumar, Sukanti Chakraborti and Krishnendu Das and Pappu, a family friend of Rehmans — had moved the Division Bench against the order of the trial court Judge Dipankar Dutta. During a hearing on August 14, 2008, Judge Dutta had asked the CBI to initiate criminal proceedings against the seven accused based on the evidence of abetting suicide.

As several big fish are believed to be involved in Rizwanur’s mysterious death, the ends of justice will be met only if the CBI makes a foolproof investigation. The culprits, however high or powerful they may be, must be brought to book expeditiously. The conduct of former Calcutta Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, too, must be probed. Unfortunately, the conduct of the Calcutta Police in this case was suspect and the investigation of Rizwanur’s death was vitiated by money power, muscle power and communal considerations. The indecisiveness and reluctance of the state police prompted a CBI probe. Yet, it is all back to square one again.

Thought for the Day

Swimming for his life, a man does not see much of the country through which the river winds. — W. E. Gladstone

ARTICLE

How to ensure jobs for all
Major challenge for the government
by Jayshree Sengupta

Everywhere in the world people who are jobless become depressed and desperate and in countries where the government does not give them doles; they can be inducted into anti-social activities. Many young people vent their anger by joining insurgencies and taking to violence. This is a big problem in the poorest states in India today.

After ensuring that all citizens have food, the government has to ensure that all should be able to get jobs or other sources of livelihood. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, it was the government’s NREGA that saved many people from starvation, especially in the rural areas. It was extended to cover many more districts and gave jobs for 100 days to 44.7 million people in 2008-09.

But India’s population is rising at 1.2 per cent while jobs are growing at a slower rate. While it is true that India’s population will exceed China’s by 2045, and Indians will be younger as compared to China’s ageing population, the task ahead is to make sure that the young people entering the labour force are employed. The main point to worry about is that the “population dividend” that we have could actually turn out to be a problem instead, if the youth of tomorrow are not properly educated or trained. How to give employment to 12.8 million young people who are entering the labour force every year remains a challenge, specially when a majority of the workforce is going to comprise of dropouts from schools.

Around 200 million enter primary schools but only 20 million finish class 12. These youths are not employable as they have neither education nor skills. To make them employable, there would have to be vocational training but we do not have adequate facilities to train so many people. Only 5 per cent of the young people between 20 and 24 years old are given vocational training as compared to 60 to 80 per cent in developed countries. There are only 2.5 to 3 million seats for vocational education.

If there were jobs in tribal areas and other depressed rural areas, a lot of problems that India is facing today in terms of insurgencies would disappear. Yet it is not going to be an easy task to create jobs in villages apart from the NREGA scheme because it would need more private investment. More village enterprises are needed to generate jobs, and to encourage investment, better infrastructure is needed.

Job creation at the village level can be facilitated by encouraging investment in food processing industries and handicrafts. The existing skills can be used to train people to make beautiful crafted products for home use and export.

It is important to have jobs in the villages to stem the flow of migration into cities, but there is bound to be greater urbanisation in the future with around 500 million people living in 70 big cities. How to prevent the growth of slums under these circumstances will be a challenge and the way out is to give people decent jobs that do not force them to live in the slums.

Investment in cheap but good housing is also essential for preventing people from living in slums. There has been a 400 per cent increase in the 2010 Budget for slum development which would hopefully give slums more amenities. There should be enterprise development within the slums for people to find work and, with better incomes, improve their surroundings.

To be employable, the education system has to improve. The compulsory education of children between the ages of 6 and 14 years that has been made into a law would have to be implemented in a manner in which children enrolling at the primary level go through at least 8 to 10 years of schooling.

To enable students to finish secondary education is not going to be easy for the government because children drop out due to various reasons. In many cases, it is poor health that prevents children from attending schools. To retain children in schools, not only the school system has to be refurbished and revamped but also the health facilities at the village level have to improve greatly.

For job growth, there would also have to be fast growth in the GDP where there is demand for labour in manufacturing and services. The manufacturing sector is the biggest employer of semi-skilled and skilled labour. Today the manufacturing sector is growing at 15 to 16 per cent. It should be able to absorb more labour in the future, but in the past few years there has been jobless growth. More industries are going in for capital-intensive production. There are many reasons for this but perhaps the main reason is that companies want to remain flexible and have the option of winding up business or downsising easily. With more labour on board, there is always the cost of training and severance pay.

The organised or factory sector jobs have, however, not been growing and are more or less stagnant in the past few years, and there is over 8 per cent unemployment or are 41 million registered job seekers. There could be many more jobless who are not registered and are disguisedly unemployed.

It is the informal sector or the unorganised small and medium-scale enterprises that have been absorbing 92 per cent of the labour force. Yet they are the ones which are most vulnerable to getting hit by any global crisis, and workers get fired without any notice or compensation.

Perhaps, there will be a faster growth of small and medium enterprises in the future also rather than big manufacturing units, and SMEs would be absorbing more job seekers. The government has already taken notice of unorganised sector workers and has established a fund for their welfare, but more needs to be done in terms of giving them protection against health, accident and unemployment hazards.

Job creation in services will require training and knowledge of English. Many jobs should be available in the IT sector, entertainment, aviation, hotel and hospitality sectors. Job seekers can be made aware of employment opportunities electronically.

More vocational training and job-oriented school curricula are the requisites for making India gain in the future vis-à-vis China. If India has a young, healthy, trained and disciplined labour force in the future, it will be the biggest asset for achieving a high rate of growth. India can become a dominant power in Asia and a reverse brain-drain may take place with NRIs investing in job-creating enterprises, helping the youth find better jobs.

MIDDLE

When Gorbachev got stuck in a lift
by V.K. Kapoor

Security at the airport was foolproof. Even the air appeared to have been filtered. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi broke the protocol to receive President Gorbachev at the airport instead of the customary reception at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. I had been deputed for President Gorbachev’s duty. I was at Rashtrapati Bhavan during his stay and walked with the President during the ceremonial inspection of the guard of honour.

The day was extremely hectic with a number of dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, calling on the President. In the evening, there was inauguration of a Russian festival, which was attended by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. After the President retired, I went to my room. I remembered many interesting chic parties which I had enjoyed as a young ADC to Governor, Haryana, in the company of Presidential ADCs at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

On the second night, our President hosted a dinner for President Gorbachev. The Prime Minister was there along with other dignitaries. As the dinner was in progress, I sat along with his security team. The team was headed by a General, who had an intelligence background. He belied his age. There was an air of crisp professionalism about him. He had a cat burglar’s suaveness, entering without breaking.

He was satisfied with the arrangement and was comparatively in a relaxed mood. He narrated how he was in the party which entered Hitler’s bunker after the fall of Berlin. It was fascinating. I asked him if he saw the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun, whom he married before committing suicide. He evaded the question, and described how well-equipped and sophisticated the bunker was. I asked him about Beria, the dreaded intelligence chief of Stalin. On Beria’s mention, I saw the chill of Siberia in the opaque eyes of the General, and he muttered, “They were hard men”.

After the dinner, the President walked to the lift to proceed to his chambers. As the lift started, it suddenly stalled. There was complete darkness. I expected the worst, and the thoughts of various assassinations flashed through my mind. There was complete stillness in the darkness of the lift. It seemed like eternity.

Suddenly, the lift started and reached the floor, where the President was staying. I could see the look of alarm and dismay on the faces of the security team members. I came to my room and informed my boss. He said ominously that the heads will roll.

After that all functions passed off smoothly. We were worried about the lift incident. The media termed the visit as highly successful, and praised Rajiv Gandhi for the improvement in the relations between the two countries.

After the ceremonial see-off, the President cavalcade proceeded to the airport. There were large crowds on the way. The President stopped at one or two places and shook hand with some people. At the airport, he was seen off by the Prime Minister and his colleagues. The Prime Minister and Gorbachev appeared to be very happy.

The matter of the lift getting stalled was brought to the notice of the President. He listened patiently and then remarked, “How human, even Gorbachev can get stuck in a lift”. After that the matter rested there, and no heads rolled.

OPED

Conserve biodiversity
It is nature’s insurance against disasters
by Harender Raj Gautam

The United Nations designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity to raise public awareness about the threat to biodiversity from mankind and its impending consequences not only to human survival but also to the survival of all the other species on earth. The UN also proclaimed May 22 as the International Day for Biological Biodiversity to increase understanding and awareness of the biodiversity issues.

Biodiversity has been under threat for the last century due to bulldozing development initiatives of mankind. There are almost three million to 100 million species inhabiting the earth and out of these hardly 1,435,662 have been identified. The species at present available are products of a long evolutionary process managing to survive ecological adaptations in the ever-changing environmental conditions over time and space.

The evolution and extinction of biodiversity is a natural phenomenon. The earlier mass extinction of species was attributed to their inability to adapt to a changing environment but the recent species losses are a direct result of changes resulting from human growth that have managed to disrupt and damage vital links in the sustainability of species.

It is estimated that due to direct and indirect human actions, approximately 27,000 species become extinct every year .If this trend of biodiversity depletion continues, one-fourth of the world’s species will be gone by the year 2050. Scientists have estimated that human activities are likely to eliminate approximately 10 million species by the middle of this century.

While the evolution of a new species or a new variety can take tens of thousands, even millions of years, extinction can happen in a decade. The current extinction rates is running anywhere from 100 to 1,000 times the natural rate. Since 2000, six million hectares of primary forests have been lost each year.

All over the world, about 60, 000 species of plants and 200 species of animals are on the verge of extinction. The disappearance of species also means the reduction of genes from the gene pool. This reduction in the genetic resources of the earth is known as genetic erosion.

In this era of biotechnology, the genetic pool is a great resource and genetic erosion is a great loss. The twentieth century has witnessed a loss of 75 per cent of the genetic diversity of crop plants. In the existing biodiversity, only 15 food crops provide 90 per cent of the world’s food energy intake. In the vast pool of biodiversity, only three crops -- rice, wheat and maize -- are the staple food of four billion people. The destructive potential of mankind is ravaging and alarming.

India has also to play a vital role in this gigantic task with a huge diversity pool and human population. India is among the 17 mega-diverse countries that are custodians of 70 per cent of the world’s biodiversity. It is home to the three of the 34 ‘global biodiversity hotspots’, biologically rich areas facing severe conservation threats.

India’s biodiversity is of immense economic, ecological, social and cultural value and its potential future value is far greater. The eco-system services from the forested watersheds of two major mountain chains — the Himalayas and the Western Ghats — indirectly support several million people and non-timber forest products alone have been estimated to be worth $ 200 million a year.

The conservation of biodiversity is the planning and management of biological resources in a way so as to secure their wide use and continuous supply, maintaining their quality, value and diversity. In this International Year of Biodiversity we have to focus on the preservation of species that are endangered.

There is a need for the prevention of extinction through sound planning and management. Our concerted focus should be on preservation of varieties of food crops, forage plants, timber trees, livestock, animals and their wild hosts. In addition, habitats of wild relatives where species feed, breed, nurse their young ones and rest should be identified, safeguarded and protected. International trade in wild plants and animals should also be regulated.

The focus of the year should also be to encourage individuals, organisations and governments to take immediate steps to halt biodiversity loss. Globally, dialogue should be started between stakeholders for the steps to be taken in the post-2010 period.

There is an urgent need to step up efforts to mitigate the losses in biodiversity and implement long-term measures to preserve this rich treasure. The public expenditure on biodiversity conservation in the developing countries has stagnated at $2 billion per annum whereas the global expenditure on biodiversity conservation is anywhere between $8 billion and $10 billion.

These efforts are minimal. We have resources but there is need to change our mindset and our priorities. This can be gauged from the appalling fact that the projected military world expenditure of the year 2010 is close to $1.4 trillion. There is need to think about our future investments, whether we want to invest in future of mankind or its destruction.

Biodiversity conservation cannot be brought about by the enforcement of laws only. It must come from within because we love the earth and all living beings thereof. The slogan for the International Year of Biodiversity is “Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is our life.” We have to keep in mind that biodiversity is nature’s insurance policy against disasters.

The writer is a scientist in Dr Y.S.Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan

Life on retreat in Dantewada
by Asha Shukla

A CRPF jawan guards the remains of the bus blown up by the Naxals near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh on May 17 — PTI

The shock and outrage at the massacre of men of the CRPF and civilians near Dantewada rankles deep. The senseless violence and the tragedy of human lives being snuffed out in a jiffy, how can one get inured to that? Travelling down the road towards the area, one notices abandoned farms and dilapidated villages along on both sides of the road. Forests are a little way off, surrounding these villages or erstwhile villages. For a state where electricity is produced in abundant quantities, it was strange to note that after Jagargunda, Dantewara district, there was no electricity in and around Chintalnar. As evening progresses, darkness engulfs the entire region.

Yet this region, lying close to the Andhra Pradesh border, has seen better days of peace and quietude as the tribal way of life meandered along its course. Today there is another kind of quietude, a disturbing one. In the early nineties life was altogether different here. Amidst one of the finest teak forests in the region, there would be ‘Haats’ or rural bazaars at Chintalnar and Jagargunda, both immensely popular locations drawing people from across 40-50 villages. This includes Basguda and Bijapur, just 12 and 81 km away, respectively, from these ‘Haats’ .

This region produces the best quality of tendu leaves. Every year around April when the minor forest produce like tendu is gathered and sold, the scene changes dramatically. From the local, it becomes regional, even beyond that. Traders from within and outside the state make a beeline for this valuable produce and nature of trade is transformed. The roads from Chintalnar to Jagargunda are filled with trucks laden with the bounty from the forests, the place is abuzz with activity and business is brisk. They source Tamarind, Char, Tendu leaves, Salbeej, Teekhur, Dhoop from the villagers, items which find ready markets and fetch handsome returns .Many a tradesman has made a fortune in the markets of Raipur and cities outside.

During the 90s, this flurry of activity happened amidst an air of normalcy. Buses would ply between Kanker and Jagargunda. Transport links in the area were good linking all villages in Jagargunda. After the 90s, the situation began to deteriorate. What is ironical however is that this prosperity does not light up the lives of the adivasis, who over the last few decades have been living under a shadow of Naxal presence. Even while going about their normal activities like forest gathering, selling their produce, they know they can be questioned any time. The control over their own lives, earnings, movements are all compromised. It is not only an implicit tension or uncertainty that they live with but an explicit form of aggression which they have witnessed like the damage of the existing infrastructure like roads by Naxal forces.

Over the years there have been tangible signs of this deterioration in this area. The life of the people, mostly adivasis, has been an endless saga of deprivation, of decline in all those areas crucial for their development. Till the 80s schools used to function. There was one school for girls, one was a residential one where teachers used to reside. Gradually, all the schools were destroyed, the studies of students disrupted, signalling another kind of decline, not in terms of physical structures but young lives becoming directionless and their development going awry. In essence, the destruction of schools and its ripple effect has snatched away from these young minds, the chance to create a future for themselves, a future which could be wholly different from the environment that they have grown up in.

The region, which has a large population of Gond adivasis, has faced to different degrees, the brunt of an unresponsive and uncaring administrative machinery. Whether it was the police or the forest department personnel, revenue officials, forest guard or the patwaris, the developmental needs on the ground have been ignored or sidelined. The machinery instead was made to suit the needs of the officials who were in charge

Amidst these lacunae, the Naxal forces bred and took root which today we see as a brazen force. Over time there have been unseen casualties, lost opportunities. The people here have lived compromised lives, their health, education, livelihoods and even movement being affected by both an insensitive administration and in a more overt form by the presence of Naxal forces which have been embedded in the region.

A moot question is endemic to this entire region. For the adivasis living here, the answers they seek lie beyond the conflict. The answers would lie in first raising fundamental questions on how they can make the journey from the margins of society to its mainstream. — Charkha Features

Mumbai Diary
Too many hangmen for Kasab
Shiv Kumar

Till a few days ago, the Maharashtra government was worried that it did not have the right man to hang Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, the lone terrorist to survive the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26, 2008.

The only hangman who did duty at the gallows retired several years ago and with the government dragging its feet on capital punishment it seemed that Kasab might just escape the noose. But within days of the Central government promising to fast-track Kasab's execution, a whole lot of applicants are queuing up to pull the lever on the terrorist's life.

Arjun Jadhav, the only hangman from Maharashtra with 101 scalps to his credit, is willing to come out of retirement to execute Kasab. The 73-year-old who hanged terrorists like Harijindar Singh alias Jinda and Sukhvindar Singh alias Sukha, killers of General Arun Kumar Vaidya, requested the government to make use of his expertise.

A number of amateurs who claimed to have learnt the art of hanging from various experts have written to state governments across the country offering their services.

The final call will be taken by the Maharashtra government after all legal procedures to spare the life of Kasab are exhausted. The hangman will first meet the man on the death row and then spend months

preparing the noose before the moment of reckoning.

More followers for Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar

Proof, if ever one was needed, about the new interactive media challenging the old fallacies like newspapers and television comes from none other than Sachin Tendulkar. The master blaster, who opened an account on Twitter and began tweeting just a few days ago, soon garnered tens of thousands of followers. The number of those logging in to get a feel of Tendulkar's thoughts is zooming to the one lakh mark, something which any self-respecting newspaper would aspire for.

So it did not really come as a surprise when a short message from Sachin to raise funds for children afflicted by cancer brought in a deluge of funds. In just two days, Sachin's Crusade Against Cancer in Children netted Rs 67 lakh with a couple of crore rupees expected in the next few days.

Gifts for high-value donors include signed mementoes with those shelling out between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh bagging a night out for dinner with the maestro.

All this without a single newspaper ad!

Hrithik goes global

Hrithik Roshan

Hritik Roshan, who shines the most in home productions helmed by father Rakesh with music under the baton of Rajesh, is looking Westwards. According to reports, his latest outing, Kites, has drawn interest from foreign film-makers. The international version of the movie being released abroad has received a lot of attention, particularly for the scorching performance by Hrithik and co-star Barbara Mori.

So the light-eyed star is looking at meaty roles from Hollywood. Will he bite the bait and front for some big marquee names from across the seas?

Corrections and clarifications

n Instead of the headline “Indonesia bares 26\11-style plot” (May 15, p19), “26\11-style plot unearthed in Indonesia” would have been appropriate.

n In the third para of the lead story “Will it be England finally” (May 16, p22) the word “versatility” has been misspelt.

n The word “maintains” should have been used in the headline “Negi maintain sole lead in the Briefly column (May 16, p22).

n The headline “Bikramjit challenges conviction in high court” (May 18, p5) is not appropriate in the sense that a conviction is challenged in a court only — be it high court or some other court. “Bikramjit challenges conviction in assets case” would have been appropriate.

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, Editor-in-Chief