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Army
against Maoists Making
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Taming
Tehran
The
verdict against Indira Gandhi
Say
Cheese
How To
Save Sukhna
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Making divorce easy
The
Union Cabinet’s approval of a new Bill that provides for irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a new ground for divorce is welcome. The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010, which will now go to Parliament, takes into account a situation in which a spouse refuses to live with the partner and is against any attempt at reconciliation. It seeks to amend two Acts governing marriages at present — the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriages Act, 1954. Examples are galore, though some couples decide to divorce on mutual consent, one party does not come to court or willfully avoids the court to keep the divorce proceedings inconclusive. The amended law will save the other party such unnecessary delays and harassment. The new clause — irretrievable breakdown of marriage — will be in addition to the existing grounds of divorce which include adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion to another religion, unsoundness of mind, virulent and incurable form of leprosy, venereal diseases, renouncement of the world and not heard as being alive for a period of seven years. Divorce by mutual consent is also a ground for presenting a petition for divorce in the court. The new clause, first introduced in New Zealand, is in line with the worldwide trend of dissolving marriages that are not working. The Law Commission (217th report) and the Supreme Court had also recommended it. In an important ruling in March 2006, the Supreme Court Bench consisting of Justice Ruma Pal and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan upheld a woman’s petition for divorce on the ground that her husband was mentally ill. The woman — a structural engineer from IIT, Delhi — had filed for divorce a few months after her marriage in 1993, but was turned down by both the family court and the Delhi High Court. In another ruling, the Bench consisting of Justice B.N. Agrawal, Justice A.K. Mathur and Justice Dalveer Bhandari permitted dissolution of a 30-year-old marriage that was never consummated. It said the Allahabad High Court was wrong in setting aside the trial court order and recommended the Centre to enact legislation making irretrievable breakdown of marriage a ground for divorce. Some women’s groups fear that the new clause may allow men to walk out of marriages abruptly and whimsically. Thus, the judiciary ought to judge each petition of divorce carefully and with utmost care.
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Taming Tehran
The
fourth round of sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council on Wednesday may provide satisfaction to the US and its Western allies —Britain, France and Germany —- for at least two reasons. One, Iran has been further punished with 40 more of its firms blacklisted by the UN for its failure to rollback its controversial nuclear programme even after the international gatherings Tehran organised recently to prove that it has no ambition to become a nuclear weapon power. The nuclear fuel swap deal it signed with Turkey, mediated by Brazil, during the G-15 summit could not prevent Iran from getting punished again. Two, interestingly, Russia and China have also voted for the latest sanctions along with the Western powers though earlier both Moscow and Beijing argued that any such punitive action would only complicate the Iranian nuclear crisis and should, therefore, be avoided. The Iran-Turkey deal — under which Tehran had to ship 1200 kg of its low-enriched uranium to Ankara to be later returned as nuclear fuel rods — had undeclared Russian approval, but Moscow later on changed its mind owing to some other considerations. Perhaps, both Russia and China agree with the US viewpoint that there is no guarantee about the use of the remaining part of the low-enriched uranium that Iran will have after dispatching over one tonne of its nuclear fuel to Turkey. Iran also failed to convince the International Atomic Energy Agency that the nuclear material in its possession was meant only for peaceful purposes. The situation is taking a turn for the worse with Iran remaining defiant. It is doubtful if it will succumb to international pressure so easily. The sanctions regime may harm the Iranian economy, but not to such an extent that it may ultimately abandon its nuclear ambitions. Diplomacy and dialogue can help even at this stage to make Iran see the writing on the wall. Efforts must be made to prevent more sanctions, or a recourse to military means because that will adversely affect the entire Gulf region and other parts of Asia.
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I make myself laugh at everything, for fear of having to weep at it. — Pierre-Augustin Caro de Beaumarchais
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The verdict against Indira Gandhi June
12 should never be forgotten because a judgment on that day some 35 years ago rewrote India’s history and debarred the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, from holding any executive post for six years. Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court was the person who pronounced the verdict on the petition which Raj Narain, a socialist leader, had filed against Mrs Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha in 1971. Justice Sinha held her guilty on two counts. The first was that she had used Yashpal Kapoor, Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister’s Office to “further her election prospects.” As a government servant, he should not have been put to such use. Although Kapoor had tendered his resignation on January 13, he had continued in government service until January 25. Mrs Gandhi, according to the judge, had “held herself out as candidate” on December 29, 1970, the day she addressed a news conference in New Delhi and announced her decision to stand for election. The second impropriety was that Mrs Gandhi had obtained the assistance of UP officials to build rostrums from which she addressed election rallies. The officials had also arranged for loudspeakers and electricity to feed them. This amounted to the misuse of government machinery. Justice Sinha’s judgment might have looked like a hammer employed to kill a fly. But the electoral laws are very strict in India and he had no option. There was such a benumbing effect on the Congress representatives at the court that nobody from among them filed a petition for appeal in the Supreme Court. A relatively unknown lawyer, V. Khare, who rose to be India’s Chief Justice, on his own initiative submitted an application seeking permission to appeal against the judgment. Justice Sinha gave Mrs Gandhi a fortnight to file an appeal against the judgment in the Supreme Court. The court in recess had Justice Krishna Iyer as vocation judge. He allowed her to continue as Prime Minister till the disposal of her appeal but forfeited her right to vote in the House. After the judgment Mrs Gandhi thought of resigning. My feeling is if she had done so and gone back to the people for a verdict, she should have probably been re-elected. However, her adviser, her son Sanjay Gandhi, ruled out resignation. Siddharth Shankar Ray, then West Bengal Chief Minister, advised her to impose the Internal Emergency. India was already under External Emergency following the Bangladesh war. A dropout from Doon School and an apprentice motor mechanic with Rolls Royce in England, Sanjay Gandhi had come a long way in “establishing” himself in politics. What fascinated him was money and power, and he was beginning to have both. Sanjay was Mrs Gandhi’s refuge. She was confident that he would be able to help her in her hour of need. In fact, Sanjay Gandhi was credited with having given her the election-winning slogan in the 1971 polls. “They say Indira hatao (oust Indira), but I say Gharibi hatao (oust poverty).” Now he had to do more than coin a slogan. He knew his mother was not the one to give up easily, but at that time she was on the verge of doing just that. And that must not be. Sanjay organised public support, not only to convince her that the country needed her but also to keep her enemies at bay. Yashpal Kapoor was adept in tactics like rent-a-crowd. He rang up the chief ministers of the neighbouring states to send truckloads of men and women. They did so without a whimper. At the government-managed June 20 solidarity rally in New Delhi, Mrs Gandhi said she would continue to serve the people in whatever capacity she could till her last breath. Service had been her family tradition, she said. For the first time she mentioned her family at a public meeting. The family was indeed present on the rostrum-Sanjay, Rajiv and Sonia. Mrs Gandhi said that “big forces” had been working not only to oust her from office, but also to liquidate her physically. To achieve their designs, they had spread a wide net, she alleged. Dev Kant Barooah, then Congress president, was at his old job building up the Indira cult. He recited an improvised Urdu couplet: Indira - Tere subah ki jai, tere sham ki jai, tere kaam ki jai, tere naam ki jai (Indira - Victory to your morning, victory to your evening, victory to your action and victory to your name.) The rally was a success. “It was the biggest in the world,” as Mrs Gandhi put it. But it had not been televised, merely because it was a party rally, not a government rally. And that cost I.K. Gujral, then Information and Broadcasting Minister, his portfolio. Sanjay had a brush with Gujral, who had to tell him that he was his mother’s minister, not his. From the public meeting, as many as 13 chief ministers trooped into Rashtrapati Bhavan to reiterate their confidence in Mrs Gandhi and to submit a one-page memorandum which said that her resignation would lead to instability, not only at the national level “but also in various states.” Some of those chief ministers were present in the Supreme Court on June 23, when Justice Krishna Iyer heard Mrs Gandhi’s appeal. Her application had sought “absolute and unconditional” stay “in view of the position held by Mrs Gandhi.” It was argued that it was eminently in the national interest that the status quo should not be disturbed while the appeal was still pending. Justice Iyer heard the arguments of both sides for two days and came to the conclusion that Mrs Gandhi had not been convicted of “any of the grave electoral vices.” The stay given was conditional. But there was no bar on her participation in discussions in Parliament. Justice Iyer’s judgment upset several people’s plans-and ambitions. Meanwhile, the party’s parliamentary board also met to warn the nation that “some groups and elements might continue their efforts to mislead the people and exploit the situation for their partisan ends.” Among those who did not share the enthusiasm of other party men were the Young Turks-Chandra Shekhar, Mohan Dharia, Ram Dhan and Krishna Kant — and a few others. They held a separate meeting to assess their strength. It was not much, as they could count their supports on the tips of their fingers. What happened in the inner circles of the Young Turks did not concern Sanjay and his group who were now putting into operation the mechanics of their plan. Ray had spelt it out for them. The time set for action was midnight, June 25. The rest, as they
say, is part of history.
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Say Cheese Over
the course of the past year, while working on the school magazine, I have discovered the convenience of the digital camera. I must admit that I for one have been in awe of the speed at which things get done. Thanks to my students, I have now become accustomed to this speed and technology. Take a look around you at any function and you will find that at least nine out of ten people will be hidden behind their cameras. In fact,sometimes one is left waiting to meet them because they seem to be so absorbed in capturing a particular moment. Whether it’s weddings, informal get togethers, award functions etc everyone seems busy in trying to capture everyone else onto the camera. It is not uncommon now to have the photographers directing the “Anand Karaj” instead of leaving that to the powers that be. How does it matter if the “gyaniji” is upset or not? This doesn’t stop there. After the wedding, it’s time for the reception; the result is that you have a plethora of snaps of people in the midst of gastronomic ecstasy, while the lack of table manners recorded in the process leave a lot to be desired. So if you get “caught in the act”, you can spend the rest of your life telling everyone that you were working on the “before” snap for the weight loss clinic you just joined. I have come to the conclusion that the best seats in the house now hold no meaning because the minute a performance gets underway, 90 per cent of the audience is out of their seats, taking snaps. Objecting is out of the question as you will be looked down upon with disdain. I mean what are you doing just sitting there? How disinterested can you be if you’re not clicking away? Whatever happened to sitting back and watching a performance, enjoying every bit of it so the memories are embedded in your heart for all time? During school socials, most of the students are busy taking photographs. I often wonder how many of them actually take the time to file these snaps away and look at them later. With the constant posing and fake smiles, how many of them actually remember anything about the special evening? As a teacher of English, I have a recurring nightmare: I am in class teaching ‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth, my favourite poet. A student recites: “For oft when on my couch I lie, As I try and explain the essence of these lines, a hand goes up and one of my students looks at me incredulously, as if he can’t understand what the fuss is all about and says, “Maam, what’s the big deal? Why can’t he just capture that on his
cam?”
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How To Save Sukhna
The response of our readers to the ‘Saving Sukhna’ campaign has been overwhelming. While paucity of space prevents us from carrying all the articles and letters received in response to our appeal, The Tribune gratefully acknowledges each one of them. Excerpts from some of the responses are being published on this page.
People walk on a patch that once used to be part of Sukhna Lake
— Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari
Get silt-free water
We are grateful to The Tribune for transforming the status of the Sukhna from a local concern fit to be published in the city pullout to a national concern and published on the front page of the newspaper. It will hopefully catch the attention of the Prime Minister. In the silt-management measures adopted at present, the water, after leaving the check-dams in silt-free state, picks up silt again and to the same level as the upstream of the check dams. Channel-management, therefore, needs to be extended to the entire catchment area along with proper water management. Dr G.S. Dhillon, Former Chief Engineer, Research-cum-Director Irrigation and Power, Amritsar
Monitor expenditure
I have visited almost all north-west Himalayan
wetlands several times and have been a member of wetland committee in
2008 as deputed by Director, Zoological Survey of India. The Ministry
of Environment and Forests has been spending huge amounts for the
conservation of these wetlands and their biodiversity and yet we
regularly read in newspapers that fish are dying in some of the
important wetlands like Mansar (J&K), Renuka (HP) and even in
Sukhna. Huge amounts are being spent on construction of fencings and
check dams without taking into account the ecological factors. What is
the point of constructing more than 100 check dams within a length of
10-12 kms when silt cannot be removed from them? We have created
storage tanks, ultimately reducing the flow of water into the lake.
Are we not contributing towards the death of the lake? There is an
urgent need of eco-monitoring before infrastructures are planned. Dr
HS Mehta, Ex-Regional Director Zoological Survey of India, Solan
There is no mystery weed
There are some factual inaccuracies of a
technical nature in the front-page report (June 5) and the misleading
impression needs to be dispelled. Potamogeton crispus (not cripus) is
a subcosmopolitan weed distributed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia,
Africa and North America (C.D.K. Cook, Aquatic and Wetland Plants of
India, p.333, 1996) . Its occurrence in India is recorded since 1893
and quite possibly existed even earlier. Presently it is found
throughout India. During my investigations (1963-64), I gathered the
specimen from Manimajra , which is preserved in the Panjab University
herbarium. I also reported its occurrence in Chandigarh in 1968. It
was therefore painful to read about officials who claim to have sent
the "mystery weed" to the Panjab University's Botany
department for identification …"but to no avail". Dr M
Sharma, Professor-cum-Dean ( retd), Department of Botany, Punjabi
University, Patiala Desilting Sukhna will be a blunder
Sukhna
is suffering from an acute shortage of water. But it is being treated
for excess of silt. The current desilting exercise at a cost of over
Rs 50 crores is not going to yield a single drop of water. The
water-shortage is man-made because a huge quantity of the water is
being permanently stored in the 190 check-dams. This should have been
released after the lake was relieved of its silt. This exercise should
be done by the 15th of October every year. Also, the silt heaps on
the bed of the lake may be an eyesore but they are a boon for boating
and fishing at the time of low-water from April to June. The shape and
size of these time-tested heaps need to be preserved by neither
removing any silt from the lake nor allowing any more to enter
it. Finally, the present capacity of the so-called silted-up lake,
when filled up to R.L. 1163, is quite ample for all its requirements.
Even this capacity remained unutilised for several years at a stretch
for want of water. Why should we then increase it by desilting the
lake ? The scare created by Sukhna's silt needs to be removed. Its
only problem is the shortage of water and not excess of silt. S.P.
Malhotra, Former Engineer-in-Chief, Haryana and Irrigation Consultant
to The World Bank Two lakes needed
The only solution is to have two lakes divided by earthen median of suitable width to enable visitors to walk. The median should have wide, water-gates under the bridges so that water of the lake flows from one part to another and maintains a uniform level of water and also allow free passage of boats. One end of the median should be near the entry-point of the Sukhna Choe so that water from the Choe can be diverted to any part of the lake. Ramesh
Varma, Sector 8, Panchkula
Give a decent burial
Building of check dams and dredging of the silt have made no difference in the past, primarily because Le Corbusier erred in properly assessing the 'dry hard, wet soft' nature of the soil upstream of the rivulets. The upper layer of the barren hills is unable to withstand the torrential rain. It instantly dissolves into gushing waters of the rivulets and ends up settling at the bottom of the lake. How long will the fight against nature continue at the cost of the public exchequer? Sukhna is a patient in a coma. Sentiments apart, the situation demands that Sukhna be allowed a peaceful burial and replaced by a terrace garden. As observed by Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina, " Why not put out the candle when there is nothing more to see?" S.S.
Beniwal, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh
Learn from examples
The Tribune has reported on the revival of the Man Sagar Lake and the historic Jal Mahal (Saturday Extra, May 1, 2010) and how a PPP project restored the stinking dead lake to its pristine glory. The Rajasthan government did not allot any fund for the restoration. Jaipur-based Tourism infrastructure firm, Jal Mahal Resorts Pvt. Ltd. restored the lake, which has been full of water for the past two years though the city did not receive even the normal rainfall. The UT Administration should stop futile experiments and draining resources. It would be wiser to solicit help from the firm in Jaipur instead. Kartar Singh, via e-mail
Problems not unique
Weeds have been successfully removed in the US through aquatic plant harvesting in New Jersey. Similar problems affecting Lake Victoria in Kenya also appear to have been combated effectively with the help of a US company, Aquarious Systems, Wisconsin. Our own engineers need to think out of the box and find affordable solutions to the complex issue. Meanwhile, a thick canopy of forest along with thick, grass carpeting would reduce silting considerably. J.S. Kalra, Sector 34 C, Chandigarh
Initiate a mass movement
The Tribune investigation is an eye-opener. Lovers of environment are really upset. The Union Territory Chandigarh is under the Union Government and the Capital of Punjab and Haryana. The Union Government should immediately release funds for the Sukhna Lake and so should Punjab and Haryana governments. Punjab and Haryana governments should despatch draglines (heavy earth moving machine) with Punjab Irrigation Department and machinery can be hired from the Ranjit Sagar Dam to carry out the desilting of sand and cleaning of weeds. The species which eats these weeds should be protected. Social organisations should start an awareness drive and request the people to desilt the sand from the boundary of the lake as much they can. The government will be compelled to take immediate action if public voice is raised. The World Environment Day is celebrated with pomp and show throughout the country. Now is the appropriate time to initiate a mass movement to save the Sukhna Lake. Rajat Kumar Mohindru, via e-mail
Involve Baba Seechewal
The Sukhna lake, the lungs of Chandigarh, is dying due to lack of water, silt and unwanted weeds. There is no sense in singling out any state or the UT administration. Residents must show their concern and real love for the lake and help in removing the silt or the weeds that are threatening the lake's existence. There are men like Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal who, if approached, can provide guidance and inspiration. The lake is a perennial sanctuary for thousands of migratory birds that visit it annually. To restore its glory let all well-meaning people assist the administration. Let there be shramdan if there is paucity of funds. Gurmit Singh
Saini, Phase 10, Mohali
More check dams
The investigation carried out by The Tribune to revive Sukhna Lake will certainly act as an eye-opener for the Chandigarh Administration and the Haryana Government. Provisions of silt control devices and check dams are made in every water body to stop the entry of silt. But they require to be functional throughout the year. It seems that the guidelines mentioned in the maintenance manuals have not been followed strictly by the respective agencies, resulting in accumulation of huge quantity of silts and growth of weeds in the Sukhna Lake. Instead of blaming the Haryana Government for making the condition of the Sukhna Lake critical, the need of the hour is to take remedial measures for the de-silting process and removal of weeds after consulting experts in the respective fields. The de-silting of existing check dams in the Sukhna Catchment Area also needs special attention in order to stop the silt inflow into the Sukhna Lake. Additional checkdams are also required on the upstream side of Sukhna in order to minimise the entry of silt into the lake. Special funds must be provided immediately to the executing authorities/agencies in order to complete the job of cleaning up of the silt speedily. Niranjan Singh,
18-A, Chandigarh
Who needs check dams ?
Construction of check dams in the catchment area will gag Sukhna forever. The report submitted by the Society for Promotion and Conservation of Environment (SCACE) seems to be stage-managed and a captive study by the Forest Department. The report is apparently silent on the negative impact of check dams on the ecology of forest land. Perhaps this vital issue was not a part of the study and is likely to have been omitted intentionally from it. In fact the check dams have starved the lake of its only source of natural rainwater. The check dams are in no way a remedial measure to save Sukhna. Sewa Singh
Sewak, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi
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