The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Procurement rot
Punjab buying bad wheat

The damage to thousands of tonnes of wheat procured by the FCI due to improper storage is scandalous enough. But the rot seems to run far deeper than that. Punjab has been procuring highly substandard and damaged wheat with the help of its agencies like PUNSUP, MARKFED and the PSWC for the FCI. While many bags of grains procured by the state have been found to contain “mud slabs”, some bags have 49 per cent to 55.2 per cent inorganic material. That shows the extent of corruption and mismanagement in procurement. Worse, this has been happening year after year, causing a huge national loss. The sufferer is the consumer.

Even otherwise, the preservation of stocks is highly unscientific. The state agencies are reported to have no trained staff to undertake the task and depend on laymen. Most of them do now know the proper use of ammonium phosphate and how to make wheat stocks airtight so that these are safe from pests and moisture. All these shortcomings, coupled with the fact that the agencies keep stocks on open plinths, ensure that the crop grown by the hardy Punjab farmers goes waste.

It is a crying shame that while millions of people do not get to have three square meals a day, 48,315 metric tones of wheat which had piled up over the past three years has become completely unfit for human consumption and can only be used as cattle feed. Still, an attempt is being made to pass the buck. What nobody seems to realise is that the whole idea of procuring wheat is to ensure that it moves smoothly from the farm to the plate of the common man. Unfortunately, the whole exercise has deteriorated into a money-making racket for a select few. They are enemies of the nation and must be punished like that.

Zardari playing with fire
His UK visit has angered many

Despite opposition from the Pakistan establishment, President Asif Ali Zardari has gone ahead with his visit to various European countries, including the UK. He has been under much pressure to cancel his visit to Britain in protest against UK Prime Minister David Cameroon’s recent statement in India that Pakistan should stop “promoting the export of terror”. The comment has caused considerable resentment in Pakistan, leading to ISI chief Shuja Pasha calling off his scheduled trip to London. The ISI chief’s decision clearly shows that the Pakistan Army, too, is in favour of President Zardari abandoning his UK tour.

Various political parties like the PML (Nawaz) and the MQM, a partner in the PPP-led government in Islamabad, have approved of the ISI chief’s decision and want Zardari also to listen to the call from various quarters in Pakistan not to visit the UK at this time to express Islamabad’s displeasure over Cameroon’s remarks. But Zardari has refused to alter his tour plans, which include steps to strengthen his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s position in the PPP. Even the death of more than 1000 persons in the floods in Pakistan’s tribal areas has not had any impact on his current schedule.

Zardari, it seems, is not bothered about his critics within the establishment and outside it as his party, the PPP, continues to be solidly behind him. He has acquired the image of being the most corrupt Head of State in recent years in Pakistan, but he dismisses this as the creation of a section of the media. The judiciary is also after his blood, but he is fighting it without caring for the consequences that may follow. A few days back he reversed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s decision to remove his adviser on information technology, resulting in the cold war between the two coming into the open. Perhaps, Zardari believes that no one in the establishment can dare disturb his applecart because that may mean end of the present political dispensation. And the gainer may be former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who does not fit into the scheme of things of the Pakistan Army.

Thought for the Day

Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a coloued pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling. — G.K. Chesterton

ARTICLE

Fighting a ‘limited war’
It is a flawed concept
by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

IT is not clear as to when the idea or the concept of a “limited war” was first evolved and articulated. Maybe it was the fallout from the procrastination, dithering and timidity in our response and an alibi for the missed opportunity of a suitable riposte to a major mischief by Pakistan at Kargil. Such response would have put an end to the slow-bleeding of India by Pakistan. Or was it the result of the fiasco of “Operation Parakaram” (mobilisation of Indian defence forces consequent to the attack on Indian Parliament) where we thought we could go in for a limited war and then backtracked on conjuring up the prospects of a larger conflagration?

It takes a minimum of two contestants to make war. Therefore, both must subscribe to the idea of a limited war. It cannot work when one of the contestants does and the other does not fall for it. Then there is the issue of both scale and duration of the conflict. Here again there is the problem of the two adopting the same concept and course of action. There is also the hazardous undertaking of forecasting and then chartering the future course of a war and preparing for just that one contingency.

It is easy to start a war but difficult to conclude it on own terms. The German army, after nearly two decades of study, planning and preparation and detailed knowledge of every inch of the ground over which operations were to be conducted, prepared the Schlieffen Plan and catered for no other contingency. With over 350 army divisions, it undertook to over-run France in 40 days during World War I. The war lasted four years with disastrous consequences for Germany. The American war in Afghanistan is a case in point.

The second issue relates to a conflict between two nuclear-armed contestants. The parameters and compulsions for either side to transcend from a conventional war to a nuclear war are not that simple or easy to overcome. A whole range of considerations and possible consequences come into play, especially if the opponent has the wherewithal, the will and the capacity to completely devastate and lay waste the whole country. Consequently, in such a setting, the conflict will remain within the bounds of conventional warfare. Then there is the inevitable issue of reaching a stage (also sometimes called “threshold”) where the very survival, nay the existence, of the nation comes into play when a fatal decision to go in for the nuclear option can be considered. Sooner than later, world pressure is likely to prevail in ending the conflict.

Coming to the specifics of the Indo-Pak setting, neither side is willing to concede territory. This has led to extensive obstacles being created by both sides close to the border and these are effectively held. Consequently, major battles will be conducted within a few kilometres on either side of the border. Such was the case in 1965 and 1971 on the western sector. That has been and will remain the dominant reality of a conflict between these two neighbours. It is here along the plains of J and K and Punjab where the centre of gravity of the two countries lie, more so of Pakistan, and it is here that decisive battles, if and when they occur, will be fought.

The second and more important issue relates to meshing together the military and political aims of a war. These two cannot work in isolation or exclusion of one from the other. Clausewitz records that “war is continuation of policy”, but there has to be a “policy” to carry forward to war. Sometimes there can be a conflict or variance between the policy and the war aim. In such situations, it is the bounden duty of the military commander to lay bare before those who formulate national policy the full implications of pursuing a war which is at variance with military aim.

If in the opinion of the military commander, he is compelled to adopt a course other than what is in the national interest and the interest of his army, he should quietly make way for someone else. Had the then Army Chief in 1962 told some home-truths about the state of his Army and military infrastructure and offered to quit, the political leadership would have seen the reality and India could have been spared that humiliation and the Army the ignominy of a rout.

There are indeed innumerable instances where military commanders were able to carry their point and they proved eminently correct. The Russian army was required to defend Moscow against Napoleon’s advance. The Czar and his entourage insisted that the city must be defended. But, purely from the strategic military angle, Marshal Kutozov thought otherwise. Withstanding enormous pressure from the Czar and others, Kutozov did not defend Moscow and in the process saved Russia, its army and eventually brought about complete destruction of Napoleon’s army. During the invasion of Europe in World War II (Operation Overlord), as a political decision, the governments of the United States and Britain decided to keep “Strategic Air Command” outside the command of Eisenhower; the Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord. Eisenhower told them that in which case he would have to find someone else for command purposes.

As at Kargil, Pakistan had a distinct tactical advantage in its offensive at Chamb during 1965. Consequently, the Army Chief impressed upon the then Prime Minister the imperatives of wresting the initiative and opening another front against Pakistan across the international border and obtained his clearance for the same, though politically no one wanted a full-scale war. This was at a time when Pakistan enjoyed marked superiority in armour (qualitatively and quantitatively), and our edge in infantry and artillery was only marginal. In a span of just two weeks India was able to bring about the destruction of Pakistan’s armour and much else.

In 197,1 the political compulsions and the policy demand was to march into East Pakistan in May-June to relieve the unbearable pressure of influx of millions of refugees. The strategic military compulsions were quite different. The Army Chief had become the subject of a malicious whispering campaign. When the then Prime Minister told him that she was under great pressure from her Cabinet to march the Army into East Pakistan, Manekshaw told her that he could resign if that would help her. She had to then orchestrate diplomatic moves to gain international support, etc.

Weigh this against the meeting on May 18, 1999, where the Service Chiefs meekly accepted the orders from the PS to the Prime Minister (not the Prime Minister) without a whimper, detailing the defence forces not to use air power and permitting “hot-pursuit” of the enemy, only in the area of the ingress! Thus driving troops into suicidal frontal attacks up those impossible heights and slopes over a terrain where fire support was so much less effective.

It was left to a Pakistani brigadier to spell out through a newspaper article the course the Indian Army should have adopted rather than bash its head against the Kargil heights and suffer avoidable heavy casualties, thus discrediting generalship. In times of war the top military leader bears an enormous responsibility both to the nation and his army. He must fearlessly and forcefully advice the government on strategic military compulsions, and where he fails to carry his point he must act according to his own light and conscience.

MIDDLE

Men and manners
by Jupinderjit Singh

Guys usually check reservation charts before boarding a train to see if they are lucky to get berth next to a girl.

As I boarded Rajdhani Express for Ludhiana from Jammu and placed my rucksack on the lower side berth, disappointment in the eyes of my co-passengers — all males — was too evident.

One of them, a Punjabi, could not hide his frustration. “I thought you would be a girl. Only your first name appeared on the reservation list. And, you can rarely make out the gender from some Sikh names,” he chuckled.

But there was quite a commotion in other sections with people, mostly men, fighting over berths and luggage space.

Women were busy calming down their children, mostly toddlers. Such scenes are normal in trains in Jammu, where, families are returning from Mata Vaishno Devi shrine after a ‘thanksgiving’ trip for being blessed with a child.

And you will find groups of young men, all bachelors, who are always bragging on how fast they tracked to the temple. They are always smelly and dressed shabbily. Unfortunately, sections on either side of ours had such groups. They were quarrelling with others for berth and luggage space.

My Punjabi co-passenger had his large suitcase stuck in the aisle towards the neighbouring section. He was trying to adjust it but none of the unruly youths was helping him. The youths were equally hostile to an old couple, which claimed the lower berths were theirs.

Suddenly, there was silence in the neighbourhood as the fragrance of a feminine perfume hit me. It was a beautiful Kashmiri girl who had walked in carrying three bags. As all heads turned towards her, I knew all prayed she sat next to them.

The unruly youth suddenly became sober as the girl walking with great difficulty stopped next to them. They sprang to their feet helping her with the luggage.

She had the middle berth but asked for the lower berth. The youths had no problem. They adjusted her luggage under the seat and some on the upper berth. The girl took the seat which the youths had taken from the old couple, who were waiting for the TT, to restore justice.

One of the boys ran to bring water for the girl as she had forgotten to bring it with her. “Lucky b******s,” said my Punjabi co-passenger, who had almost turned green.

Suddenly, the girl speaking Hindi with a Kashmiri accent, raised the alarm as the train moved. “Why is it moving?” she asked. “Obviously, because it is the departure time,” answered a youth, who was already getting protective about her.

“Why? The departure time is 9 pm. Half an hour is still left.” she argued. “See, my ticket says Shalimar express departure 9 pm.” She shrieked when told this was Rajdhani.

The girl panicked and shouted for the train to be stopped. Someone pulled the chain and she asked the youths to help her with the luggage.

There was complete silence for several minutes after she left. Then, my dear Punjabi co-passenger broke it with a classic punch, “Hey, guys, please help me in shifting my luggage to the upper berth,” he said mimicking the accent of the girl — mocking at the poor souls — whose sheepish look said it all.

OPED HEALTH

Caring for drug addicts
Chitleen K Sethi

It is a beginning well made. Punjab is probably the only state in the country which has decided to rein in the uncontrolled mushrooming of drug deaddiction centres, regulate their functioning and ensure that they maintain minimum standards of treatment and care given to the patients.

More significant, however, is the fact that the Punjab government has shown no uncertainty in accepting that the problem of substance abuse and addiction is primarily a "health" issue and not merely a "social" one. The move to register every centre and allow it to admit addicts for treatment only after they procure a licence is largely the result of the efforts of the state's health department.

This is something that the government of India needs to learn from, and quickly. The problem of drug addiction or substance abuse in India is being dealt with by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The main thing that the ministry does in this regard is to fund private NGO-run drug deaddiction centres in India. Hundreds of such centres have, as a result, mushroomed across the country. But despite being the funding agency, the ministry has virtually no control over the running of these centres.

Almost anyone, without any medical background or the necessary training can open a centre and admit patients. Other than a flimsy system of self-appraisal reports, the ministry has not been able to have a regulatory mechanism in place to keep a check on the activities of these centres. Moreover, there is no standard method of drug deaddiction suggested by the ministry. Most of the centres follow their own known and unknown systems of treating patients. While some use substitution therapy to wean the addicts, majority do not subscribe to any specific treatment method. Internationally accepted treatment protocols laid down by WHO and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in this regard have been consistently ignored by the ministry.

Instances of addicts being abused inside such centres abound. At places the inmates are beaten up, starved, made to stand for hours, physically punished and made to live in sub- human conditions. Death of the inmate in such centres is also not uncommon. Over the past few years, following complaints, human rights activists have "raided" many such centres and "freed" the inmates in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The basic flaw is that even though such facilities are involved in "medically treating" the addict, they are out of the ambit of any quality control or monitoring by the health authorities.

In 2009, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment prepared a set of guidelines for the maintenance of minimum standards for the centres it funded. The ministry laid down certain regulations with regard to the infrastructure and employees but did not standardise the treatment protocol or regulate the cost of treatment. The whole effort, in any case was proved utterly useless as even though the booklet of guidelines were released by the ministry with much fanfare it has not been notified till date.

The current situation is that the government of India, through an unconcerned ministry, continues to give crores each year as grants to hundreds of private drug deaddiction centres without having the will or the wherewithal to monitor them.

To begin with government of India should recognise that substance abuse is a health issue and with the growing numbers of addicts it would soon be a community health concern. Government efforts, specially the ones directed towards providing treatment facilities, should be designed keeping in view the complex circumstances of an addict as a patient and should be then routed through health care providers.

A position paper for the World Summit for Social Development in 1995 prepared by the United Nations Drug Control Programme suggests that treatment provides a necessary foundation for rehabilitation and community reintegration. “The setting in which it occurs (community-based, clinic, workplace, prison or other) may be less important than the skills of persons involved, the processes used and the type of treatment. In planning to prevent relapse, many services are needed, including rehabilitation, community services and active follow-up,” states the study.

“Since resources for specialised assistance for persons with drug problems are often not available in many countries, existing primary health care settings and networks may have to be adapted to care for drug abusers. The majority of persons in rural areas have no easy access to specialised health care but primary health care networks can provide a contact point and a means of intervention,” it adds.

At the state level, following an interim order of Justice Rajive Bhalla of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Punjab Government has prepared a comprehensive plan to deal with the situation synergising the roles of the department of social security and the department of health.

The process of deaddiction is divided into two over lapping phases. "Detoxification" that lasts 1-4 weeks and focuses on physical treatment of withdrawal symptoms and physical and psychiatric co-morbidity and second, "long term rehabilitation" that lasts for many years and focuses on relapse prevention and psycho-social rehabilitation of the patient.

The state's heath and social security department would identify, register and license two types of drug deaddiction centres: Treatment centres with facilities for inpatient as well as outpatient treatment, including detoxification and counselling centres which will offer no in-patient detoxification or medical services but will be involved in awareness, counselling and rehabilitation on an outpatient basis. The “treatment centre” can be run only by an MD or MBBS doctor while “counselling centre” can be run by qualified non- medicos also. The two types of centres can be set up by a panchayat, zila parishad, municipality, state government, registered NGOs and trusts but not individuals. The centres would have to follow the minimum standards laid down by the committee of the High Court. In order to make use of its existing network of health facilities, the state government has also offered to open 10-bed treatment centres in all district hospitals.

How successful the state will be in implementing this plan remains to be seen. But for now, the Punjab government — pushed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court — has managed to bring about some order to the chaos.

The writer is Principal Correspondent, The Tribune, Chandigarh. The article is in part-fulfilment of her fellowship project instituted by the National Foundation for India, New Delhi

Amritsar is the worst affected
Varinder Walia

Widows and children of drug abuse victims Photo: Vishal Kumar

The Holy city of Amritsar, called "Sifti Da Ghar" (land of values) never goes to sleep. The evening enchantments that begin at the twilight extend late into the night. Shortly after one set of residents retires for the night, the other is out on the roads. It continues to flow with devotees all the time.

However, perturbing developments in and around the city are rather unholy. Reason: Amritsar has emerged as the worst affected city in Punjab due to alarming drug addiction.

Indeed it is the darker side of the ancient city that at least one junkie dies every month in Maqboolpura, infamous as a locality of 'widows', Chhehrta, once famous industrial hub, and other parts of the border city due to overdose of drugs.

Drugs are easily available in the region as law-enforcement agencies have failed to check the menace, which has lately assumed alarming proportions.

Dalit-dominated Maqboolpura, only three kilometres from the main bus stand, is a place where victims of the Partition settled down. It is today infamous as the locality of widows.

Almost every family unit here has a story to narrate. Peddlers can be seen selling drugs, including smack, openly. What is worse, injections are administered to many addicts using one needle, which could play havoc. It could be disastrous if injections are administered to other persons with a needle already used by an AIDS patient.

Even as the seizure of drugs by the enforcement agencies, including DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) and anti-narcotic cell of the Punjab police in the border belt that includes Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur is common, yet everybody was shocked when the DRI had arrested a son of the oldest publisher of Sikh literature following seizure of 4.8 kg heroin, concealed in packets of CDs and DVDs of Gurbani (devotional material).This consignment was booked through a private courier and the DRI seized it before it was shipped to Canada in September 2008.

Shockingly, Amritsar has become the nucleus transit point for the drugs coming from Taliban- infested Afghanistan via Pakistan. Proximity to the border also provides greater access to all kinds of narcotic substances that Pakistan has been surreptitiously exporting to India. The bumper crop of poppy husk in Afghanistan spells doom in Punjab, which is connected by land through Pakistan. Afghanistan, which has traditional trade with India, is number one supplier of opium or heroin in the world. The throwing of heroin packets by Pakistani smugglers into the Indian territory near the border fencing has been in the news for a long time. The Border Security Force made many seizures in the past near the zero line. A number of cases registered against the Indian smugglers living near the border belt could be an eye opener.

The seizures made by the DRI in the last couple of years have shown that the deadly drugs being smuggled from this transit point find their way to metropolitan cities of India, besides Western countries through air and sea routes. The magnitude of the problem could be gauged from the fact that an Akali leader was nabbed by the DRI with 23 kg of heroin a couple of years ago. This consignment was being sent to Canada from Rajasansi International Airport (Amritsar), which has become the chosen route for international smugglers.

Even as opium and poppy husk have been preferred drugs in Punjab yet consumption of heroin is a recent phenomenon that has wreaked havoc in the region, which is fast emerging as a drug haven. The addicts, more dead than alive, can be seen walking in Maqboolpura and other ramshackle areas of Amritsar and its adjoining areas. They inject drugs into their bodies while the police turn a blind eye to the open sale of drugs.

The police have failed to check the open sale of "controlled drugs". The easy availability of these drugs leads to their over-consumption. The increasing number of deaths in this colony has been giving sleepless nights to the residents as the 'widows' and orphans find it difficult to eke out a living after losing their breadwinners.

Though the highly addictive substance, starting from the border belt of Amritsar, has found its way into various parts of this holy city, not much headway seems to have been made to contain the menace as the drug peddlers have political patronage.

The overdose of deadly drugs results in fatal accidents. Addict Pappu Baba was crushed to death when he threw himself before a running train. There are instances when certain teenagers of Maqboolpura working as couriers for drug peddlers, had started taking drugs themselves. Many addicts who cannot afford to buy drugs indulge in thefts. One such addict, 'Khanda', was beaten to death when caught stealing in a house.

Though the government has failed to come to the rescue of the victims, certain non-government organisations have done yeomen's service to mitigate their problems. The Citizens Forum Vidya Mandir, headed by Brij Bedi, husband of "super cop" Kiran Bedi, and Master Ajit Singh , a government teacher, have opened a school in Maqboolpura which is providing free education and meal to about 800 children, including orphans of drug addicts.

Government claims notwithstanding, the 10-bedded, deaddiction centre at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital has failed to help. The hospital has been facing staff shortage as only one professor is currently running the department. The hospital doesn't have any psychotherapist and specialist to look after the patients. A counsellor is considered a vital part in the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. Besides, the centre requires a professor, an assistant professor, an associate professor and nursing and helping staff as per Medical Council of India guidelines. Due to lack of proper monitoring, about 60 per cent deaddicted patients complain about the same problem owing to the absence of monitoring and follow-ups by the centres.

A foreign-based NGO had undertaken a major project four years ago to set up a rehabilitation and deaddiction centre with a unique programme, which included meditation, yoga, spiritual healing and round the clock strict regime. But the lack of trained counsellors and continuous follow-up with the patients who had returned home after treatment, resulted in the winding up of the three-month-long project.

The conditions at Red Cross Society run deaddiction centre is no better. The state and central governments have been a total failure in disbursing the annual grant of Rs 5 lakh to the department for last four to five years. Deputy Commissioner K S Pannu said that they are barely managing to run the centre in spite of huge financial crunch but he complimented the philanthropic public of the city, which provides essential help.