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Discordant voices It’s Kayani’s
Pakistan |
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Murali’s magic
India, China — a
new partnership
Reservations about
‘reservation’
Are genetically
modified foods safe? Punjab in favour of
BT maize
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It’s Kayani’s Pakistan
Very
few observers of the Pakistan scene were surprised when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced during his brief televised speech on Thursday a full-term (for three years) extension in service for Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Ashfaque Parvez Kayani. The significant decision, made public now, had been taken over a week ago with the consent of all top Generals. More than General Kayani, it was Gilani who wanted him to continue to head the most powerful institution in Pakistan beyond the date of his superannuation in November this year. The reason is that Gilani’s position will remain as secure as it has been in General Kayani’s Pakistan. Therefore, he employed a former Army Chief close to General Kayani to persuade him to agree to his proposal. President Asif Ali Zardari — who is surrounded by many controversies and has lost much of his powers, including that of appointing a new Army Chief and granting an extension to the incumbent COAS — had no choice but to accept what Gilani had proposed. There are clear indications that Gilani was not alone in supporting Kayani. Despite the denial by Washington DC, General Kayani’s continuance also suits the US interests in the Af-Pak region. The Americans were not sure if the General who would have replaced General Kayani would continue the operations against Al-Qaida and the Taliban as vigorously as is the case today. The man who cannot be happy with the development is Lt-Gen Khalid Shamim Wyne, next in line. How Lt-General Wyne plays his cards in the days to come will be interesting to watch. Significantly, the extension order for General Kayani comes after a similar decision was taken in favour of the ISI chief, Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and a few other top army officers. India has to get ready to deal with the man who played the key role in derailing the Foreign Minister-level talks between New Delhi and Islamabad on July 15. He is a shrewd operator as he believes in running the show with remote control. |
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Murali’s magic
An
English offspin bowler is credited with the lament that there was not much point in glaring at Viv Richards because then Richards would hit him even harder. Slow bowlers, he meant to say, could do little against the gods of cricket, the batsmen. Cricket, after all, is a spectator sport dominated increasingly by big hits, short boundaries and fast and furious pace. Muttiah Muralitharan, described variously as the god of spin and the world’s greatest bowler, is not known to have glared at batsmen. On the contrary the gentleman from Sri Lanka would generally greet them, after every delivery, with his toothy grin. And yet he turned the ball so much and tormented the batsmen so regularly with his ‘doosra’ that batsmen looked upon him as a smiling assassin. It would of course be a miracle if another bowler, slow or fast, ever manages to catch up with his haul of 800 wickets in Tests. It is remarkable that the second highest wicket-taker after him, Shane Warne, has as many as 92 fewer wickets credited to him while the kitty of the third highest, our very own Anil Kumble, is almost two hundred short of Murali’s tally. Cricket writer Peter Roebuck once described offspinners as ‘lightweights who are not to be taken lightly’. It requires tremendous control and concentration, focus and fitness besides cunning to succeed as a slow spin bowler. It also calls for nerves of steel and fighting spirit, both of which the Sri Lankan bowler displayed in abundance. Criticised for his bowling action and called for chucking, Murali fought back and forced the International Cricket Council to conduct tests on him and admit that his bowling action, aided by a supple shoulder and a flexible wrist, was legitimate. When he announced his retirement from Tests at Galle, he still required 8 more wickets to break the 800 barrier. Most other bowlers would have been tempted to play the entire series before hanging their boots. But the gentle Sri Lankan, who at the age of 38 looked as hungry for wickets and as dangerous as ever, picked up the required 8 wickets and gifted his country yet another victory. Murali has picked up 10 wickets in a Test 22 times, twelve more than Shane Warne. He took five-wicket hauls as many as 67 times—another staggering record unlikely to be broken. Before his debut Sri Lanka had won just two of the 38 Tests it had played. Since then Sri Lanka has won 54 Tests, aided in no small measure by Muralitharan’s bowling. Batsmen will not miss him but Cricket will. |
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Man is by nature a political animal. — Aristotle
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India, China — a new partnership Comparing
India with China has become commonplace in international circles because they are the two big rising economic powers of Asia today. In fact, they were the two great powers in the past also, and it is not surprising that they are rising again after a gap of a few hundred years. But the comparison is mainly in terms of the growth rate - both are growing faster than many other countries in terms of GDP. India’s growth rate in the next one year is supposed to be around 9 per cent (if this year’s monsoon is good) and China’s around 10 per cent. Both have come out of the global financial crisis relatively unscathed. The comparison should not be stretched too far because China is far ahead of India in many ways, and India is ahead of China in giving people personal freedom, the right to information and a democratic set-up. Many in India from the educated middle class value individual freedoms and want to be able to express themselves. Educated and well-placed Indians are often heard saying that they would never want to settle abroad and they have everything they want in India. It is the not-so-privileged who want to migrate and settle abroad. In China, most people prefer being in China than anywhere else and this is borne out by the fact that reverse brain drain is taking place today. To the “am admi” in India, however, it is hardly important whether he or she has individual freedom as long as there is enough to eat and children are properly educated and have access to good medical care when ill. China is ahead in this respect and grants its people the basic creature comforts, and the people seem quite satisfied with it. They are able to work and live in peace and earn a decent living, indulge in good food, have cars, ensure a good future for their children, etc. It is a much more uniform society than ours, and people do not have so many identities (caste, regional, religious and class) like we have. They speak the same language also and the task of the government becomes easier in giving primary education and skill training to all. If the general public is well fed and employed and poverty is only at 8 per cent of the total population compared to our 37 per cent, then we are not comparing two similar entities. India has to resolve many complex problems before it can enter the league of China and other middle income countries of the world where stark poverty has been eradicated. Many scholars point out that China has higher inequality of incomes than India but that is hardly important when the inequality of opportunity is so great in India. A poor man’s son has no chance of making it big unless helped by sheer luck or a miracle. No one is able to come out of the shackles of underprivileged childhood and schooling easily. It is a shameful fact that India still has over 60 million child and bonded labourers. It is equally shameful that we still have a huge amount of trafficking in women and children. There is rampant corruption in India and also in China, but the corrupt are punished by death in China. The authoritarian regime is intolerant of graft. China has economic power and military might and it plays its card well in the international fora. Just before the G-20 meeting in Toronto, it announced flexibility of its currency’s exchange rate, a problem that all countries were going to address. Its yuan may be allowed to float and not kept artificially low in order to facilitate its exports in the future. In fact, it may become an international reserve currency since it is already accepted in a large part of the ASEAN area. Its trade surplus is growing and it seems to be marching ahead in both manufacturing and services sectors. In its quest for becoming a super power, it has made all the Chinese people very proud and they are working together to make the dream a reality. That kind of national pride is missing in India. Despite promises, the government has also not been able to control runaway inflation or the spread of Maoist activities or the problems in Kashmir. China does not only have high economic growth but also public policies which are properly implemented though the number of protests has been growing in recent months. Wage protests are becoming more common and the Chinese labour force seems comfortable enough in their villages (thanks to the $585 billion stimulus package that gave subsidies to the rural population for buying appliances) and not wanting to move to factories in large numbers as before. China will experience a rise in wages in the future. But it does not mind that. It is interested in giving more purchasing power in the hands of the people. China has overtaken the US as being the world’s largest car market. With the global economic crisis far from being over and the EU experiencing huge sovereign debt problems and facing slack demand and falling prices or deflation as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said in Toronto, there is strong likelihood that China too may face receding exports. It is already preparing for such an eventuality and, being a big country, it is going to shift its focus from an export-led growth strategy to boosting domestic demand as an engine of growth. Already in tourism, China hardly relies on foreign tourists for revenue; the Chinese are avid consumers of their own beauty and historic spots. Anyone going to the Great Wall in Beijing will bear witness to the hordes of local tourists. They also are steeped deeply into their own culture, having never been colonised by the British. There are not many Anglophiles and pro-American scholars in China, and their model for growth and reforms is their own. Thus, China is quite a unique country which is all set to be a dominant player in the world arena. The same cannot be said about India. But both India and China will need each other’s markets and labour in the future. With rising wages, India can become an important outsourcing partner for China and more Indian finished goods can be sent to China in the future. India and China can have many complementarities which may emerge in the course of the next few years. It will be to our mutual advantage to explore these and in India’s case, it could mean faster poverty reduction if growth with equity is the chosen
path.
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Reservations about ‘reservation’ A
new law in which females are going to get reservation in the Legislative Body of animal kingdom is in the offing, and this means a complete upheaval,” twittered the sparrow, acutely aware of its responsibility as a little bird as a harbinger of news. “Twittering gets one in trouble,” said the jungle babbler. “Oh yeah!”, and “what does babbling do?” “O.K.! No sparring,” said the babbler, and then getting serious, said: “Let us assess the impact of the new law on the jungle-mates.” Both flew towards the deep forest and came upon wolves, wild dogs and hyenas. “Have you heard of the latest law?” the sparrow quizzed the wolves. “Yes”, he snarled, but it makes no difference to us. We follow the “Law of Packs”. The hyenas nodded in unison, laughing hysterically, while dogs wagged their tales meekly. The birds then confronted the elephants, who were mirthfully spreading water on each other. They replied that they had no time to be concerned about such affairs. The rabbits said that their female folks were too busy producing litters to consider such issues. The horses and antelopes did not acknowledge their chirpy question, as they were too busy necking. The zebras said: “Why should we be bothered. We have complete gender equality and wear unisex striped clothes”. They then met the hippopotamus and crocodiles sunning themselves with their mouths ajar and they simply yawned away the question. “But this law is certainly going to affect us all. Maybe these animals we talked to are ignorant. Let us meet the king”, chirped the birds. They then flew in search of the lion and found him basking in the sun. Noticing the birds, the king stretched himself, half opened his eyes and gruffly asked: “Yes?” “Oh King! we ask you, what will happen to the kingdom, when reservation for females is introduced?” “Who is making this law?” asked the king. “The Law Makers”, replied the birds. “Who are the Law Makers?” asked the king. “Er! We do not know exactly, but it has to be My Lord”, replied the birds. “You are wrong,” replied the lion half dejectedly, “the writ of the lioness runs,” he said winking naughtily at the birds, “I only sign the decrees.” “But, let me tell you, I have no reservations about reservation”. “Oh king, this law promises gender revolution and yet, no one is concerned? Isn’t it awful?” “It is much ado about nothing”, replied the king, “but I know some people who will be affected since I know the kingdom, like the back of my paw.” “Please tell us”, chirped the birds. It is going to affect the simians and their likes and some animals in “Swine land”. “Swine land?” asked the birds. “Yes”, replied the king, “because that is where all male chauvinists come from.” Saying this, he went back to his siesta, leaving the birds
bewildered.
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Are genetically modified foods safe?
There is a substantial body of scientific data that demonstrates that the process of genetic engineering itself can cause changes in the cell that can lead to new and unpredictable changes in it. Adverse health effects from GM food can result from the over-expression of an existing protein or activation of a dormant toxic substance, resulting in cell products that could be dangerous to human and animal health. Cancer fears Dr Stanley Ewen, a consultant histopathologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, says that a cauliflower virus used in developing GM crops could increase the risk of stomach and colon cancers. The cauliflower mosaic virus is used as a 'promoter' in transgenic crops. It functions like a catalyst, driving the foreign genes that are inserted, to express themselves in the new host, often leading to over expression of the genes. Transfer of allergy genes:
The Brazil Nut Case As with peanuts, allergy to Brazil nuts can cause anaphylaxis, leading to death even when the nut is eaten in small amounts. While breeding a new variety of soybean, a Brazil nut gene for a particular protein was engineered into soybean to increase its nutritional value. Initial evaluation of the Brazil nut protein gene in experimental mice showed no allergenic property but when tested in humans, it was found that the major Brazil nut allergen had been transferred to the soybean. This transgenic soy had become hazardous. It was fortunately detected in time and was withheld from the market. In addition to this, the genetic engineering of plants may result in the expression of totally new substances, which are not found in the natural plant species or, genes brought in from plants having known allergy provoking properties would bring the allergenic property along with them into the new transgenic plant. The mere act of inserting alien genes into the chromosome of the host plant can create unintended effects and the formation of new and unknown toxic or allergy provoking compounds which are almost impossible to analyse and detect. This can be a special problem in the case of plants like brinjal, which belong to the Solanacea family. This plant family to which nightshade, dhatura and tobacco (all highly poisonous) also belong has several natural toxins. The chance of natural toxins being recreated through genetic engineering is high and therefore the genetic engineering of plants of this kind is more risky and more likely to produce foods that could be a threat to human health. Our regulatory system for GM crops have no provisions to conduct specific safety tests of this kind. Such tests, for instance, were not done for Bt brinjal. It is known that allergenic proteins can be transferred by genetic engineering from one organism to another. The potential for development of toxic or allergic reactions to GM foods is likely to increase with advances in the scope and range of genetic modifications, increasingly radical transgenic combinations and the introduction of a greater variety of GM foods into the market, the last resulting in an increased exposure among people to foods carrying novel proteins. With the widespread penetration of GM food in the market, food-allergic people will have to contend with new sources of allergens. The danger will be compounded by the difficulties of implementing labeling in India and making such labels intelligible to a large section of Indian people, particularly in rural areas. Allergic consumers will not even know what to avoid, resulting in a great risk to their health. Children will be particularly vulnerable because their young immune systems will be less able to fight the allergen and also because their exposure to such novel proteins will be of longer duration, increasing their risk. The use of GM food products as food additives and processed foods, including baby foods, will lead to earlier exposure, especially for infants either directly or via breast milk. Maternal dietary food proteins are regularly detected in breast milk, and cow milk. A particularly controversial area in the application of GM technology has been the use of marker genes which are introduced along with the gene for the desired trait as part of the gene construct that is inserted. The marker gene is just that, a marker to identify if the gene transfer has been successful. Historically, the most common marker genes have been those that code for resistance to antibiotics. The concern is that these genes could find their way into pathogenic microbes, potentially compromising the clinical efficacy of antibiotics used in human medicine or livestock production. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics in human medicine is a large enough risk for giving rise to antibiotic resistant bacteria. Testing can be done when the protein created by the foreign gene is known but problems arise when the toxicological hazard results from newly formed proteins which can not be predicted. It is not possible to test for what you do not know and the hazardous proteins can remain undetected. The problem is made worse by the fact that induction of food allergies by increasing dietary exposure may be difficult to detect because of low frequency in the population to start with and because years of ingestion may be required to provoke an allergic response. This has special implications in the case of proteins where allergies are likely to show up years later. There is plenty of evidence about the health dangers of GM foods, from animal tests. Studies done at the Russian Academy of sciences, on rats fed with GM soya showed high rates of mortality, severe stunting of pups and high levels of sterility in the surviving litter. The startling results showed that 36% of the litter born to emales fed GE soya were stunted at the age of two weeks, by the third week over 55% had died. The mortality was six to eight times higher than in the control group which had been fed non GE soya. Data on the health damage caused by eating GM foods comes from Monsanto's own labs. Results from a secret study conducted on their GM maize Mon 863 which were accidentally leaked, showed that rats fed on Mon 863 developed organ abnormalities, changes in the blood profile and collapse of the immune system. Earlier studies on rats have also shown that rodents appear to be averse to GM foods and reject them in laboratory tests. When the first genetically altered tomato "Flavr Savr" was fed to rodents in the labs in 1994, data revealed that many of the rats developed lesions in the stomach. Seven of the forty rats that were fed with GM tomatoes died within two weeks. There have been numerous other reports of stomach lesions in rats, false pregnancies in cows, excessive cell growth and damage to animal immune systems, following feeding studies conducted with GM foods. Adequate testing procedures for allergenicity are not available in India. At present food toxicity is tested merely by the chemical analysis of nutrients and known toxins. This may fail to uncover several categories of toxins and allergens. This means that animals and humans could be exposed to allergens which are not being detected. Before any further commercialization is allowed, testing procedures of sufficiently stringent standards should be put in place.
Dr Suman Sahai, trained in genetics, is the chairperson of the Gene Campaign, She has served on the faculty of the Universities of Chicago and Heidelberg. She can be contacted at
mail@genecampaign.org
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Punjab in favour of BT maize IF BT seed manufacturers are in need of a success story in India, they need not look further than Punjab. BT cotton has succeeded in replacing the entire traditional cotton varieties in the State and is now grown in around 99 per cent of the available area in four districts of the State. In fact, policy-makers in Punjab are looking at genetically modified (GM) seeds to usher in another agriculture revolution in the State. Production levels from existing seeds have peaked and it is in this context that Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has asked the Centre to consider allowing Punjab to introduce BT maize.
Punjab wants to divert area under paddy cultivation due to the crops’ effect on the water table. BT maize, which is being cultivated worldwide, is being touted as a replacement that will offer the same profit levels as derived from paddy without problems of water depletion. None of the present alternatives, including hybrid maize being grown in a small area in Punjab, can compete with paddy in terms of profitability. Punjab State Farmers Commission Chairman Dr G S Kalkat says hybrid maize is at present yielding three tonnes per hectare and this can be increased to seven to eight tonnes per hectare with introduction of BT maize. While this is a decision that has to be taken by the Union Government, BT maize oil is already being sold in India. Dr Kalkat said BT cotton had already proved to be a success in the State within three years of introduction. Whatever problems had occurred earlier were because some farmers had been bringing in uncertified seed from Gujarat. Farmers were now reaping one and half times more than what they got from
traditional varieties. Mainstream farmer unions, including the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), are also in favour of BT seeds. Rajewal says farmers in Punjab are happy with BT cotton. “They have completely ignored those who have been running a sustained campaign against the introduction of GM seeds”, he says, adding farmers are willing to try
out BT maize also in case the Centre approved it. There are a few farmers’ bodies, including the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), that are against BT cotton and also introduction of BT maize. The organisation feels that though farmers may have benefited initially, they will be at a loss in the end. Punjab Kheti Virasat Mission head Umendra Dutt, who has earlier led a campaign against BT brinjal in the State, says it is strange that the Punjab government is adopting a pro active approach on BT maize when there was no demand for its introduction in the State. After the initial hype, productivity of GM seeds, including BT cotton, is coming down. He claimed that there were also instances in Muktsar and Ferozepur districts where the American Bollworm pest had become resistant to the BT gene. The KVM says issues of productivity increase as well as pest control should be addressed but it was not necessary to give control to the corporate sector for doing so.
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GM crops are promoted as the answer to global hunger, to combat climate change, to produce renewable energy; it appears that if there is a problem anywhere, GM crops have the answer. Apart from this hyperbole, a fundamental question remains: does GM technology produce safe foods or should we be apprehensive about negative health impacts? 