The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

ISI role in terror
The writing is clearly on the wall

The complicity of the Pakistan establishment in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 has come into sharp focus yet again with US federal prosecutors in a Chicago court naming four more Pakistani conspirators in the attack. Significantly, one of the conspirators named is ‘Major Iqbal’, a Pakistani army officer who worked for the ISI when the attack took place. This corroborates the Indian version in a dossier submitted to the Pakistan government last year in which he had been identified as one of the masterminds of the attack. The three others named by US investigators — Sajid Mir, Mazhar Iqbal and Abu Qahafa — have been identified as Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives. That Major Iqbal’s name cropped up in the FBI interrogation of David Coleman Headley shows that the Americans are well tuned into what were the forces at work in the ghastly Mumbai terror attacks.

The naming of four Pakistani conspirators has come close on the heels of Wikileaks disclosures that some classified US documents of 2007 had listed ISI as a ‘terrorist’ organization. Last week, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, had said that the ISI had continued links to the powerful network of an Afghan warlord that has bases in a northwestern tribal region of Pakistan. Evidently, the Americans are acutely conscious of ISI’s role in fuelling terror especially against India but choose to look the other way as part of their own self-seeking strategy.

As India moves towards a renewed composite dialogue with Pakistan, it is imperative that the Pakistan government be told that it cannot evade responsibility for the actions of its own intelligence outfit. Lip-service apart, the government in Islamabad has done nothing to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 to book. Apparently, the ISI, being an adjunct of the Pakistani army evokes awe in that country’s establishment. But that is for the Pakistan government to sort out. It is also wrong for the American administration to deal with Pakistan with kid gloves when a wing of that country’s establishment is stoking terror and insurgency in India.

Govt soft on khaps
It’s tradition vs democracy in Haryana

The Haryana government told the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday that it had no intention of declaring the activities of khap panchayats as ‘unlawful’ under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Haryana home department filed an affidavit with the high court in response to the directions passed by the court in January this year, wherein the court had asked the state government to place on record any policy it had adopted to curb rising incidents of violence arising out of diktats issued by the khaps. Clearly, the soft attitude towards khaps by the government shows that it does not wish to rub a solid vote bank on the wrong side.

The government’s take is more shocking in the wake of the sharp criticism that came from the apex court on April 20, when the court said that there was nothing honourable about “honour killings” and held the administration accountable for all these acts of barbarism. Predictably, Khaps, in most parts of India defiantly declared their refusal to accept that the Supreme Court could stop their activities, which they termed as their tradition coming down through generations.

If khaps are tradition, then, one wonders why do these communities sit on railway tracks and highways, demanding reservation in government jobs. By doing so, inadvertently they admit that they are at the mercy of the government. Then, how can kangaroo courts pass diktats on people’s lives as though they were the government! The plea taken by the state government that these panchayats have existed since time immemorial and that they have been framing laws for the ‘benefit and protection’ of the community is a denial of facts which points at khaps acting as a law unto themselves — ordering harsh beatings, social ostracism and even murders. Khaps may have been doing good work when they were constituted, in the recent past they have been indulging in ‘barbaric and shameful’ deeds in the name of tradition. Therefore, it is surprising that a state government has looked the other way on the governing powers of a community, as against laws laid down by its own body.

Thought for the Day

A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty. — David Hume

ARTICLE

CWG, 2-G and other scams
Some action, more needed
by Inder Malhotra

IN the welcome — if also belated and still in need of greater impetus — drive against the galloping cancer of corruption in this country, Monday, April 25, was a landmark. In the forenoon of that day, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested at long last Suresh Kalmadi, the man who had presided over the conversion of the Commonwealth Games, 2010, into uncommonly filthy games that stank of venality to high heavens. In the afternoon, it filed a second charge sheet in the 2-G Spectrum scam, arraigning eight more persons, including M. K. Kanimozhi, a DMK member of the Rajya Sabha and, more importantly, a daughter of M. Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the DMK patriarch.

To the best of my knowledge and belief, nothing comparable has happened ever before during the nearly 64 years since Independence. But then it must be remembered never before until the last few years had corruption raged in India on so staggering a scale as at present. In all fairness, therefore, the action taken merits applause, but it would be equally futile to deny that what has been done is not enough and leaves a lot to be desired.

For instance, Ms. Kanimozhi has been made an accused and a “co-conspirator” in the acceptance of bribes amounting to Rs. 200 crore to a TV company owned by the family and named “Kalaignar”, her father’s “honorific”. But surprisingly Mr. Karunanidhi’s wife, Dayalu Ammal, has been left out even though she owns 60 per cent of the company’s equity as against 20 per cent held by Ms. Kanimozhi.

So far, the only excuse for this selectivity, trotted out by or on behalf of the CBI, is that Mrs. Ammal speaks only Tamil, signs no books or papers and is merely a “sleeping partner” in Kalaignar TV. This is both fatuous and disingenuous. Under the law, the majority shareholder cannot be absolved of his or her responsibility for the company’s criminal activity. No wonder, the widespread impression, rightly or wrongly, is that the CBI too may have been influenced by the “compulsions of coalition politics”.

After all, on Sunday the country was resounding with reports from Chennai that the six DMK members of the Union Council of Ministers were “standing by” to resign in case Mrs. Ammal’s name was included in the charge sheet. Now the talk is that the relatively relieved party leadership might not take any hasty step but wait until May 13 when the results of the state assembly elections would be known, the voting having been completed on April 13.

The problem with this line of reasoning is that the CBI honchos are no fools. They know that the Supreme Court is monitoring their investigations into the 2-G mega scam. They cannot, therefore, afford to behave — in this particular case, at least — as they usually do, as virtual handmaidens of the government of the day, regardless of whichever party or coalition is in power. Is there a clue here why the investigative agency calls its 48-page second dossier “the first Supplementary Charge Sheet”? This can surely serve as an escape hatch. It also remains to be seen what the special CBI court would say on May 6 when the next hearing is scheduled.

As for the gargantuan mess called the Commonwealth Games, there is striking unanimity among observers that Mr. Kalmadi’s arrest has come too late. The charge is valid. For, an outcry for stringent action against the former chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Games and his cohorts had begun in July last year when the stench of corruption and wrong-doing had first fouled Delhi’s air. The Manmohan Singh government’s understandable reply then was that the need to hold the Games on time and successfully was paramount, but as soon these were over strict and immediate action would be taken against all those who had brought the country bad name. Since then no fewer than nine months have elapsed. Moreover, some of Mr. Kalmadi’s collaborators, including Lalit Bhanot and S. K. Varma, arrested well before him, are out on bail because of the CBI’s failure to file the charge sheet against them within the mandatory 60-day period, Could this precedent be repeated this time around as well?

Add to this the fusillade of statements by spokespersons of almost all Opposition parties and many others alleging that even Mr. Kalmadi is a “small fish” and that “high-profile politicians and bureaucrats” have also been beneficiaries of the “CWG loot”. The Shunglu Committee’s report has either named them or pointed the needle of suspicion towards them. They have, of course, denied the allegations, as Mr. Kalmadi had done at one time.

Under the circumstances, it is vital that the public’s faith in the adequacy and fairness of governmental action to combat corruption, still fragile, is not damaged, wittingly or unwittingly. It is perhaps heartless to shove additional burden on the already overworked Their Lordships of the apex court. But the crusade against corruption would be reinforced greater and wider interests of the country better served if the Supreme Court supervises also the CBI investigations into the CWG scandal. About the implication of this suggestion for not only the present ruling coalition but also for all political parties that have been in power at some time or the other the less said the better.

Whatever ugly turn the aftermath of Anna Hazare’s triumphal fast on the issue of corruption may have taken —and both sides are equally to blame for this — the fact remains that the Jantar Mantar episode has demonstrated beyond doubt that the people are fed up with all-embracing corruption and the issue can no longer be dodged or diffused with mere palliatives. On the Civil Services Day, the Prime Minister displayed a healthy awareness of this. That being the case, it is high time that the higher judiciary and the highest leadership of the executive, with full backing by the legislature, should cope with a fatal problem.

Thanks to a manifest lack of political will, deliberate and often diabolical perversion of investigations, and lamentable judicial delays at every rung of the ladder, no politician, even if convicted by a lower court, gets his or her just deserts because a series of appeals take years to be disposed of at each stage. Without eliminating this area of darkness the fight against corruption could well be futile.

MIDDLE

Ageless forever !
by Raji P. Shrivastava

A 60-something celebrity was often asked by strangers, “How do you stay so well-preserved?” She routinely offered the acidic reply, “In vinegar !”

A recent film about reaching 30 has got us talking about age milestones in animated drawing room discussions. In a world that unabashedly celebrates youth, turning 40 or 50 must seem like a terrible disaster. One to be avoided at all costs, I presume! It is inevitable that one will reach 60 or progress to 70 with the relentless march of time. But the finer point is that it is unacceptable to LOOK that age!

If you live and work in Indian cities, are 40 and have been called “Aunty” or “Uncle” for eight years now, there is no real need to panic. If you want to carry the war into the enemy’s camp, try retorting, “Mataji, don’t call me Aunty!” Impractical, but hugely liberating, if you can pull it off with panache!

An immensely talented and beautiful lady who is a regular jogger and golfer mentioned how she has progressed from ‘Aunty’ to ‘Maa-ji’ in forms of casual address by strangers. The reason: she has the most outstanding silver hair ever seen on a human being. Today, shelves are full of anti-ageing products and minds are filled with anti-ageing attitudes. ‘Sixty is the new fifty!’ or ‘Forty is the new 25!’ are the slogans of our times.

Anyone who is balding, graying, overweight or wrinkled has gone through these experiences. With courtesies melting away and good behaviour no longer an ideal, being ‘Uncle-ed’ or ‘Auntie-ed’ must surely rank as only the mildest of offensives that one encounters on the street. Using the age-neutral ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’ or the everything-neutral ‘Ji’ are some options that work in most situations but such sensitivity is rare. Judging a person by their appearance is the commonest of all prejudices known to man. A pity it is not defined anywhere in India.

Even in the 1990s, employers in the West had clear policies on equal opportunity. One of the prejudices mentioned in company mission statements was ‘lookism’ – in addition to racism and other more commonly encountered workplace biases based on gender, ethnicity, religion and disability. ‘Lookist’ behaviour involved judging a person’s capabilities or competence based on outward appearances and responding to co-workers in an unfair or unjust way owing to such flawed perceptions.

Too unreal or obscure? Not if you sample the discrimination that people tend to face: a young man was repeatedly denied promotions because he wore expensive clothes that made his superiors feel that he didn’t really need the job. Others involved an attractive lady who was seen as not being an ideal candidate for an elevation because the post involved ‘serious responsibility’.

If age is merely a number then youth has to be a state of mind. However, snide comments are inevitable and you cannot please the whole world. If you colour your salt and pepper hair overnight to a more flattering rich brown, be prepared for labels like ‘behenji-turned-mod’ or ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ !

OPED HEALTH

Need for cleansing the medical profession
Once considered noble, the medical profession is today plagued by increasing cut system, appointment of agents for procuring business and unnecessary billing
Ravi K Gupta

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has recently issued certain notices to the medical fraternity forbidding them from accepting gifts or favours from private pharmaceutical companies. We are all aware that this is already incorporated into the Indian Medical Council Act and the breach of this is likely to attract punitive action for the defaulters. The issuing of such notices is tantamount to an indirect evidence that probably such unethical practices are becoming rampant in the medical profession day by day. But is issuing of a notice to the highly educated group of professionals, who are otherwise well aware of the law, a solution to curb such practices?

As a child, I studied in a small school in a remote village, where it used to be written on the walls that “Sada Sach Bolo” (Always speak truth) “Safai Rab da roop hai” (Cleanliness is next to Godliness). I am sure that such slogans are an integral part of our schools even today, as are those evil habits a part of our personality. Both of them, the slogans as well as the evil habits, are very conveniently able to live together harmoniously. Similar is the situation in our noble profession where such circulars are unfortunately making the impact similar to the slogans written on the walls of the schools.

I remember a story of 1930s from the life of Gandhiji, wherein a mother walked for hours under scorching sun to request Gandhiji for advising her son to stop eating too much sugar that was affecting his health. Gandhiji listened to the woman calmly, thought for a while and asked her to come after two weeks. The woman left frustrated, thinking as to why Gandhiji could not plainly ask her child to stop eating sugar.

After two weeks, walking the same distance again, when she came, Gandhiji very plainly asked the child to stop eating sugar and the child nodded in affirmation. Puzzled with the plain advice, the mother asked Gandhiji the reason of postponing such a small advice during her last visit. Gandhiji smiled and said that during her last visit Gandhiji himself was in the habit of eating raw sugar and it took him two weeks to get rid of the habit himself before he could advise it to the child. The story being true, should not be brushed aside by us — the Indians — the sons of the great Bapu. In the present context, it must be emulated by the custodians of the medical ethics of our country.

THE WAY OUT
The people already in the medical profession need to be controlled by effective implementation of the legal aspect, which should start from the top level so that it automatically trickles to the grassroots level
It is necessary to inculcate some good moral values in our medical students
The new entrants should, however, undergo a personality assessment test that the incumbent entering the medical profession has certain basic level of ethical values in his personality
The government should be very cautious in allowing privatisation of the health sector, especially the medical education. A doctor who enters the medical profession in a private medical college by spending a huge sum of money is very likely to practice all kinds of means to reimburse the funds spent by his family

It is important that the MCI should first take into account the senior members of the medical institutions – both in private as well as the government — to expose the corrupt practices, if any, being prevalent with them. Once that is done, surely the clean top leaders are bound to ensure clean environment and work culture in their respective institutions. Of course, it is ultimately the individual responsibility that will ensure a lasting effect of the clean medical practices.

A few decades back medicine was a noble profession and the doctors were largely honest. But the trouble actually started with the introduction of big private corporate hospitals, diagnostic centres and uncontrolled growth of pharmaceutical houses that in a race to succeed over the other started luring the doctors with huge commissions in cash and/or kind. Uptill now, only pharmaceutical companies were luring the doctors for writing their drugs in prescriptions, but now corporate hospitals and diagnostic centres are likewise luring a doctor for referring a patient to their respective centers. In our country, today, in the corporate cities usually there is a tendency amongst the treating doctors for handing over a referral slip in the hand of the patient, who otherwise is very much able to be treated with simple drugs at the level of the local physician only resulting in the exchange of large sums of money between doctors and the corporate hospital. The “legitimate” way to impart this commission is to include the name of the referring doctor on the panel of the treating doctors of the hospital (only on paper) so that his commission is shown as a visiting fee given to the referring doctor.

The situation has gone so bad that some of medical men are prescribing even unethical expensive treatments to the patients just for the sake of monetary benefits, very well aware of the fact that the prescribed treatment is not required by the patient and is rather harmful in the long run. A couple of months back I came across a horrifying true story from Andhra Pradesh where some of the medical men were prescribing hysterectomy for everything from irregular periods to cramps, forcing a menopause on women as young as 20. The unfortunate victims are contributing endlessly to the enormous pool of the osteoporotic patients thus preparing themselves to suffer from another group of troubles arising because of osteoporosis.

An important factor that has triggered the downfall of the medical profession is the comparison in the minds of the medical men of the salary packages with their counterparts in the other nonmedical professions where the multinational culture is offering huge salary packages. The corrupt practices in the surrounding environment in other professions and in the society in general are also acting as an induction for the medical men to use all means, good or bad, for gathering faster.

While traveling in train, a few years back, in the general compartment, I happened to observe a hot and interesting discussion on the topic of “Corruption in Army” wherein one after the other participants were bubbling with knowledge of incidents of corrupt practices in the army resulting into the unsafe borders and concerns of security, till one gentleman who had been a silent spectator for almost two hours, disclosed his identity as an army officer. He cooled down the enthusiasm of all the participants by asking just one question from all of them that whether the people working in army came from the same society as of the participants or they come from some other universe! He asked all the participants to look into each one of them as to how honest they were. The professions like army, medicine and teaching are expected to be noble ones. Should the workers be imported? Can we stop malpractices by issuing just a few circulars or writing slogans on the wall?

But these are no arguments to accept the corrupt practices in the noble professions. The situation in such professions has gone from bad to worse with the increase of greed. We are witnessing a downward trend in the medical profession also with increasing cut system, appointment of agents for procuring business and unnecessary billing. The practices are not innovative but are being imported from abroad along with the import of technology and modernism.

The picture is very hazy and becoming darker day by day. The solution should be multipronged. Sending the circulars and enacting the laws are just small pieces of this big jigsaw puzzle. The people already in the medical profession need to be controlled by effective implementation of the legal aspect, which should start from the top level so that it automatically trickles to the grassroots level.

The new entrants should, however, undergo a personality assessment test that the incumbent entering the medical profession has certain basic level of ethical values in his personality. During his teaching years also, he should be taught some subjects that can inculcate moral values in his personality. Fortunately for us, we have such subjects already existing in our Indian System of medicine known as Ayurveda. As learned from my Ayurvedic doctor friends, there are subjects like Swasth Vrita and Aurveda ke Sidhant that contain inherent teaching of moral values. Thus an expert group of top leaders of Indian and Ayurvedic system should study the possibility of adding some of the subjects from Ayurvedic system or any other subjects that can inculcate some good moral values in our medical students.

Simultaneously, the government should be very cautious in allowing privatisation of the health sector, especially the medical education. A doctor who enters the medical profession in a private medical college by spending a huge sum of money is very likely to practice all kinds of means to reimburse the funds spent by his family. It is true that private hospitals are also important for catering to the needs of a particular segment of the society, but it is the duty of the government to establish and maintain the equivalent facilities, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in the public sector also so that there is a reasonable competition to the private player to break the monotony in the profession.

The writer is Associate Professor, Orthopaedics, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh