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Stone age
re-visited Punjab Speaker in
the dock |
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India’s interests
in Iran
Fresh crisis in the
valley
A moment in the
rain
Fruit growers and sellers are experimenting and
evolving techniques for inducing ripening in unripe fruits. There are
serious concerns about the safety of some of them Chiranjit Parmar There are two kinds of fruits. One are those which ripen only on trees. So these are picked from the trees after they are ripe. If these are removed from the plants unripe or half ripe, they will stay like that only. Their quality cannot be improved once these are removed from the trees. Grape, litchi, pomegranate, citrus fruits etc. fall into this category. The doctors and the
Consumer Protection Act
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Punjab Speaker in the dock
With
the filing of the CBI chargesheet in a special court at Patiala, the much-delayed trial in the case against Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon and others is finally set to take off. How difficult it is to proceed against well-placed accused is clear from this high-profile case. The case registered in 2003 and the accused include some senior IAS officers. It has taken about seven years just to remove hurdles in the way of justice. It once again emphasises the need for a fast-track trial of those holding positions of power. The use (or misuse) of power to give permission for prosecuting the highly placed also needs a review. The case pertains to the selection of 909 panchayat secretaries, which was challenged in 2002 when Mr Kahlon was the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats. It would have done Mr Kahlon much good had he quit his post after the Punjab and Haryana High Court first found merit in the charge of irregularities in the selections. But such dignified conduct is no longer forthcoming from today’s politicians. They stick to office until conviction and know all the dilatory tactics available within the system. More than Mr Kahlon, it is the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who bears the blame for the present sordid situation. He had invited embarrassment for himself and his government — first by appointing a tainted party leader to the august office of Speaker and then by refusing sanction for his prosecution. Thankfully, the CBI’s efforts to bring the culprits to justice have not gone waste. A CBI official reportedly claims that permission for the prosecution of the Punjab Speaker is not required under the March 2008 judgement of the High Court. It is still not late for Mr Kahlon to resign and save the high office he holds from controversy. A Speaker’s conviction would be awkward even in the present much debased political situation. If he were found innocent, he would be free to return to power. It is not a very difficult decision to take. |
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India’s interests in Iran
The
six agreements signed between New Delhi and Tehran on Friday after a two-day meeting of the India-Iran Joint Commission can go a long way in enhancing cooperation between the two countries in different areas. India and Iran can gain a lot through their joint efforts on a number of issues over which they have no clash of interests. They have convergence of views to a considerable extent on Afghanistan. India has to find a way to accept the Iranian invitation to invest in Chahbahar port, as this will help in protecting India’s interests in Afghanistan. There is a plan to link up the strategically located port with Afghanistan’s Zaranj-Delaram highway, built with Indian assistance. There is also need to increase the volume of Indo-Iranian bilateral trade, which currently stands at $15 billion. Better trade relations between the two countries will hopefully enable them to strengthen their ties in various other areas. Of course, there is a major handicap owing to the economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council following Tehran’s refusal to cap its controversial nuclear programme. The fourth round of sanctions announced recently cover a significant Indo-Iranian joint venture, Iran-o-Hind, which has been used for crude oil imports by India from Iran. India, which gets 12 per cent of its crude oil requirement from Iran, will now have to look for an alternative shipping arrangement for the purpose. India has to honour its international obligations, but at the same time it has to ensure that its interests in Iran are safe. Despite the realisation that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline will help New Delhi considerably in meeting its fast growing energy demand, India has so far not been able to join the venture. It is not only the security factor that is coming in the way. The unending US-Iranian tussle is also there. It is really a tough time for Indian diplomacy. India’s interests lie in sticking to its old stand on the Iranian nuclear issue — as there is a humanitarian angle to it — that harsh sanctions will mean punishing the Iranian masses, who have nothing to do with the policies of the Ahmadinejad government. Only dialogue and diplomacy should be used for settling the nuclear crisis. |
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Football’s football; if that weren’t the case, it wouldn’t be the game it is.
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Fresh crisis in the valley
Kashmir
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has called for an all-party meeting to take stock of the volatile situation in the valley where the Army had to be called in as a deterrent in support of the curfew-enforcing state police force and paramilitary forces. One Opposition leader has called for the intervention of the Prime Minister and another for the imposition of Governor’s rule. There is a lot of talk of anger of the Kashmiris and the need to address the basic political problem. Though there are vague mentions that the basic Kashmir problem, going back to 1947, is related to autonomy, there has not been a fully set-out framework of that autonomy, especially in respect of finances and security. There is no analysis in our media or among the politicians, including those in Kashmiri, whether the volatile situation could be related to the forthcoming meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan and the developing situation in the Af-Pak area. There is increasing US pressure on Pakistan to initiate action on the Afghan Taliban in North Waziristan and to crack down on the Lashkar-e-Toiyaba (LET) on the basis of disclosures made by David Coleman Headley. What would suit Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quereshi better than to focus on the volatile situation in Kashmir and “innocent, nonviolent organised stone throwers” being shot by the police in Kashmir. Fortunately for Quereshi and the ISI of Pakistan, the Indian politicians are of the view, as they argued on the day of the bandh, that stone throwing and bus-burning are nonviolent activities. Supporters of stone-throwing and bus-burning in Kashmir cite the arguments of the Indian politicians to uphold their stand. It is difficult to legislate against stone throwing in Jammu and Kashmir without accepting that such activity should be made a criminal act in India as well. This issue is not raised and discussed by our political leaders who are otherwise eloquent on the developments in Kashmir. According to media reports, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) say there are as many as four major stone-pelters organisations active in the valley, proving to be a nightmare for the security forces. “The Jammu and Kashmir Stone-Pelters’ Association, the Stone-Pelters’ Association of Kashmir Valley, I Am A Stone-Pelter and the Stone Throwers are the four organisations active in the valley for the past couple of years,” they said. These organisations allegedly recruit young men and pay them at the rate of about Rs 150 to Rs 300 per day for throwing stones at the security forces and disturbing normal life in the valley. So far, 1,875 CRPF personnel have been injured, with 211 of them becoming victims since the latest spate of stone-pelting started on June 11. Sources said the local police had even intercepted communications of the LeT on the ways in which to build up the agitation through stone-pelting. Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have found that the stone pelters were funded from across the border through money-transfer agencies like Western Union via Dubai. “It is not easy to track them, as they dispatch money through small amounts. As the transactions are below Rs10 lakh, it is not easy to keep a watch always. The money is transferred to agents in small lots. It is an open secret that stone-pelters are hired for Rs 300 per day by these local agents. The ISI is taking advantage of the vulnerability in the Indian system where politicians and businessmen use hawala channels extensively to get funds from abroad. This again is an all-India problem and not an exclusive Kashmir problem. The Prime Minister should call an all-party conference to discuss how far the mores and value systems of Indian political parties contribute to the security problem in Kashmir and make India vulnerable to the ISI Jammu and Kashmir is a highly fractional polity. The real problem in arriving at a political solution is that the Kashmiri parties will not sit down together to discuss a constructive solution to what they consider to be their grievance. It is also a highly personality-oriented politics. Even among the separatists there are different categories. External money flow and consequent influence are crucial determinants in crisis generation in the state from time to time. To obfuscate these factors, many of the parties, especially those with very limited popular support, blame Delhi for not solving the basic political issue. As it happens in many other conflict zones where a certain equilibrium has been reached, the conflict and threat of escalating it become effective instrumentalities to extract greater financial concessions from Delhi. It will be a useful exercise to carry out a cost-benefit analysis in the utilisation of grants from the Centre. A turbulent situation is an excellent shield for gross inefficiency and seepage of funds. Conflict zone conditions also permit various kinds of extortions. In spite of the prolonged conflict, Jammu and Kashmir is among the relatively faster growing states. In recent months it looked as though the state will enter a trajectory of faster growth and job-creation because there was greater harmony and understanding between the young Chief Minister and the Central Government That widespread perception itself should have sent a warning to the security establishment that those who benefited out of conflict and conditions of tension would try to sabotage the young Chief Minister. Any success of Omar Abdullah would have been looked upon not only as a threat to the interests of various vested political interests in Kashmir but also to Pakistan’s future plans. Heightened tension in Kashmir will provide Pakistan an excuse vis-a-vis the Americans both in respect of action against the LeT and the Haqqani faction of the Taliban in North Waziristan. It will give the Pakistan Foreign Minister some counter-arguments in his discussions with our External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna. It boosts the morale of anti-Omar Abdullah elements in Kashmir. It attempts to create a wedge between Delhi and Srinagar. That explains the demands for the Prime Minister’s direct intervention. Involving Delhi increasingly in Kashmir at this stage will suit the interests of the Pakistani Army, the ISI and the elements under the influence of the ISI as also those who have a vested interest in perpetuating the status quo conflict situation in Kashmir. There have been analyses to establish that in terms of casualties the present situation is not worse than what obtained under the previous three Chief Ministers. And there are hints that the present may be a case of over-reaction. That will not be a correct perception if we factor in the Pakistani compulsions. The present action appears to be fully justified, but Delhi should be extremely cautious in involving itself. That will be playing into the hands of Pakistan. This is also an opportunity for Omar Abdullah to assert his
leadership. The writer is a Delhi-based strategic affairs expert.
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A moment in the rain The
pitter patter of raindrops broke the languid pace of Sabbath Sunday as I sat in my porch. There in front of my eyes was a tiny figure, shorn of all inhibitions that age piles on us to stop us from having unadulterated fun. In her I could see the reflection of the little girl in me whose urge to step out in the showers is immense. There is a certain irresistible attraction in the silver raindrops falling from the sky, an attraction that always pulls me out to get soaked and to keep my umbrella unopened. Even though one often oscillates between elation and a surge of wistful memories, the cold trail of shiny drops never fails to lift spirits. Looking through the haze of falling raindrops life rarely seems unclear. These soothe the hurts and wash off the desperation making the soul soak up the zest for life like a sponge. The little girl frolicking among the falling raindrops was an embodiment of happiness — a happiness that seemed to go much beyond the boundaries of smiles and laughter. A happiness that we all yearn for and pursue relentlessly and she had found it effortlessly. How and why, I ask myself? She foxes my intelligence as I try to fathom where her happiness springs from? One minute the tiny frame of my muse seems to be elated over challenging the mighty force of Nature to dare to douse her enthusiasm, while the very next minute she appears to be deriving happiness by surrendering to the might of Nature. By letting the showers drench her to the bone she became someone who had relinquished her entire being without putting up a fight as she took no shelter under a roof or an umbrella. What was she in fact, I wondered, as I joined her to let the little girl in me soak up the manna of life. It took the tingling raindrops just a few minutes to wash away the bitterness, regrets and tiredness of fighting the tide of destiny, and soon I was enveloped in the sound and feel of the falling raindrops and became unbridled like my muse. The moment became the essence of life and I realized the happiness of the little girl sprang neither from her challenging the mighty Nature, nor because she surrendered to the “powerful hand” but because she lived in that one moment. It was for those sitting on the fence to find a suitable label and reason for the joy, for us out there under the open sky it didn’t matter because it was a moment, a moment well lived. And from somewhere I remembered the lines penned long back: “Kuch lamhe hi umar bhar ka haasil honge Yeh jante to saaman umar bhar ka banana na
tha”
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Fruit growers and sellers are experimenting and evolving techniques for inducing ripening in unripe fruits.
There are serious concerns about the safety of some of them Chiranjit Parmar
There
are two kinds of fruits. One are those which ripen only on trees. So these are picked from the trees after they are ripe. If these are removed from the plants unripe or half ripe, they will stay like that only. Their quality cannot be improved once these are removed from the trees. Grape, litchi, pomegranate, citrus fruits etc. fall into this category. Others are those which do not ripen on trees. These have to be picked unripe and then induced to ripen after their removal from the tree. Banana, mango, pear, apricot, chiku etc. belong to this group. The fruits are shipped unripe from the orchards to markets. Ripening is induced at the market end, mostly by the wholesalers at their warehouses. The fruits of this group are picked from the trees after they have attained their full size and are "physiologically mature". This maturity is determined by growers from certain physical characteristics like size, colour, firmness etc. The fruits which have been harvested at perfect maturity will develop the real taste. These will also have the highest nutrient content. If the fruits are harvested before maturity, there will be loss of fruit quality depending upon how early before maturity the fruits have been picked from tree. Inducing unripe fruits of this group to ripe by adopting various techniques is a perfect horticultural practice. It is going on for centuries. There is nothing wrong or unethical with this
practice.
A number of techniques are used for inducing ripening in unripe fruits. This is going on since the beginning of commercial fruit growing. The most common practice is just to keep the fruits in open or packed in containers for a few days and let them ripen. However, this does not work in case of all fruits or fruits harvested earlier. The ripening is not even and all the fruits may not ripen at the same time. So this method is feasible only for home use and not on commercial scale where all the fruits should be evenly ripe and the process should also not take too long. Fruit growers have been experimenting and evolving techniques for inducing ripening in unripe fruits. This process is going on since the beginning of commercial fruit growing. Now even horticultural research scientists all over the world have also started working on evolving more refined techniques not only to induce ripening but for the improvement of the quality as well as shelf life such fruits. A new area of research called "post-harvest horticulture" has now emerged during the past few decades. The most common methods adopted are as below:
Chemical treatments have also been now developed to induce ripening in fruits. Two of the most common chemicals used for this purpose are as under: Calcium carbide (CaC2): This is an industrial chemical used for the production of acetylene gas used in gas welding. When calcium carbide comes in contact with water, it generates acetylene which induces fruits to ripen. Calcium carbide is very widely used by fruit vendors for ripening mango. A small quantity of the chemical is put in paper packets. One or two of these packets are placed in the crate of mango fruits. The chemical comes in contact with water vapours contained in the air in crates and starts releasing acetylene gas at a very slow rate. This gas induces ripening in fruits and the unripe fruits in the crate turn ripe within 24 hours. This is very simple and cost effective technique. Nearly all the mangoes sold in the Indian market are ripened like this with calcium carbide. This chemical is used for ripening of many other fruits e.g. papaya, chiku, plums etc. Acetylene is a gas. It escapes from crates and there is no residue left in the fruit. The calcium carbide turns into calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) which is a harmless substance. So apparently there is no risk involved and there should be no harm in ripening mangoes and other fruits by using calcium carbide. Then what is wrong with the use of this chemical and why its use has been prohibited by law in India? All the calcium carbide used in India for ripening fruits is of industrial grade which may contain traces of arsenic and phosphorus which can be harmful for the human health. This is the reason why its use is being discouraged. But at the same time no systematic chemical analysis of mangoes and other fruits ripened with calcium chloride for arsenic and phosphorus residue content has yet been carried out in India. There is no data available. So the extent of health risk, if it at all exists, is not known. Under such circumstances is it logical to put a ban on the use of this chemical? Artificial ripening is a necessity of fruit industry under present circumstances. So what are the alternatives? This chemical, whose full name is 2-Chloroethyl phosphonic acid, is relatively a recent discovery. It is available in India under the brand name Ethrel containing 40% of the active ingredient. This chemical has a characteristic quality. In low dilutions, its molecule disintegrates producing ethylene gas. Ethylene is a plant hormone and known to trigger the process of fruit ripening. It is produced naturally in plants and is known to control fruit ripening and a few other important developments processes in plants. For ripening, the fruits are dipped for 1-2 minutes in ethephon solution containing 50-100 mg of the chemical in one litre of water. The chemical is absorbed by the fruits. Then it disintegrates in the fruit tissue releasing ethylene which induces ripening in the fruits. As ethylene is released right in the plant tissue, so the ripening is faster and uniform. Ethylene escapes out of the fruits and there is no residue. The apple growers of low altitude areas like Rajgarh, Kotkhai etc. spray their fruits with ethephon a week before the normal harvesting date. This enhances the red colour of fruits and raises their market value. Normally, the apples from low areas do not get enough red colour. Ethephon sprays for colour enhancement were developed by the researchers of Solan Horticultural University after several years of research. Ethephon sprays form a part of official university recommendation for fruit growers. Ethephon can be used for ripening many other fruits. As this chemical is expensive, so its use is not always cost effective. Secondly, its solution is not stable and once prepared, has to be used within an hour of its preparation. As in other cases, these chemicals are also being misused. Fruits are picked from the trees much before maturity, induced to ripen with these chemicals and then sold in the market. As such fruits had not attained the full physiological maturity, so they lack the real taste, flavour and even the right nutrient content. The proper harvesting time of Dasheri mangoes in UP is middle of July. But unscrupulous growers/traders start picking them and selling them right from the first week of June. So the fruits you mostly find in the market are undersized and tasteless. In fact, the entire crop is harvested before the fruits are able to attain proper maturity. This is happening in case of many other fruits like plums, apricots, chiku etc. Though it is not a fair practice, but growers or traders cannot be solely blamed for this. The choice of fruit varieties is so limited with them (80 per cent mango trees in North India are Dasheri only) that all the fruits ripen in 8-15 days resulting in crash of prices. So these people are left with no other choice than to pick fruits much before the right
time.
The writer is a senior horticulture scientist based at Mandi (Himachal Pradesh)
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The doctors and the Consumer Protection Act
Indian
medical tourism is the recent concept, which is emerging very fast mainly because of the better medical facilities here. In India, the waiting period is very little, as compared to the western countries, where appointment system keeps the patient longing for the procedures and operations for months together. In the developed countries, this is mainly because of the ‘safe’ approach of the doctors, who do not want to take any ‘risk’. The patients there are denied medical and surgical intervention, even when badly needed, simply because of the fear of litigation. The use of steroids is so dreaded that the patients are kept devoid of their benefit, even when they are absolutely indicated in various life-threatening conditions. The things are changing fast in India too. Gone are the days when doctor used to be considered God here. The doctor-patient relationship got a U-turn, when the Consumer Protection Act was passed in 1986, and it included medical services and made doctors accountable for any act of medical negligence, thereby making them vulnerable to be sued for compensation. However, the doctors and hospitals who render services without any charges whatsoever, are exempted and cannot be sued for compensation under this act. The reasons why medical services had to be included under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) are – 1. Increasing knowledge of one’s rights as a patient. 2. Doctors and hospitals are no longer held in high esteem as they were held before. 3. No cost is involved if a complaint is filed in the District Forum or State/ National Commission under the CPA, since a patient can make out his case and argue it himself and 4. A complaint is decided within a short span of three to four months under the CPA, while it usually takes years in the civil and criminal courts. And now let us discuss many good reasons why medical services should be excluded from the CPA — 1. Doctors will be restrained from giving their best out of fear of mishaps, unwanted litigation, huge compensation, claims, etc. 2. Doctors will not rely on their own clinical diagnosis, to reduce the risk of litigation, but will put patients through different tests – radiology, pathology, etc, which will cost a fortune to the patients. 3. There are certain specialist doctors who work in high-risk areas such as neurosurgery, trauma surgery or heart surgery and there they regularly have so many fatalities. Now they will think twice before working in these high-risk areas. 4. The learned members of the District Forum, State Commission or National Commission are likely to commit errors in their orders while granting compensation or award in the cases of hospitals, nursing homes or doctors due to lack of medical knowledge in general and with regard to instant decisions which are frequently taken by doctors during emergency treatment and at the time of operation in particular. 5. The application of the CPA on medical personnel will do more harm than good if the doctors resort to what is called defensive medicine. The patient who comes in with a headache of one day’s duration may be advised three X-ray views of the head, to seek the opinion from an eye specialist, a CT scan and an MRI scan lest the doctor may miss a brain
tumour. The writer is the Chief Dermatologist, Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Treatment & Research
Foundation, Ludhiana.
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