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Messy games in Karnataka
Most unwanted lapse |
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Sharif views on India
India’s interests in Afghanistan
Death of innocence
OLD AGE FITNESS
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Messy games in Karnataka
The
theatrics shown by the BJP in Karnataka with Chief Minister Yeddyurappa parading his MLAs before the President in a show of strength after Governor H. R. Bharadwaj jumped the gun and without due consultations recommended President’s rule in the state shows the depths to which politics has plunged in what was once an exemplary state. The Yeddyurappa government has been hurtling from crisis to crisis and was rescued from a situation in which it was in a minority by a partisan Speaker who disqualified 11 BJP legislators and five independents who would have voted against the government to engineer its fall. With the Karnataka High Court upholding the disqualification, the Supreme Court overturning the High Court verdict and 10 of the 11 BJP legislators switching their loyalty back to Mr Yeddyurappa, time has come a full circle. Morally, the Yeddyurappa government had no feet to stand on after the apex court’s verdict but with Governor Bharadwaj bent upon forcing the government out and submitting a report to the Centre recommending the Yeddyurappa government’s sack, all attention has now shifted to the Governor’s action. Ironically, a corrupt and ineffective government has got a lease of life due to the blatant attempt by a governor to subvert the democratic process. Clever as the BJP is, it has exploited the Governor’s action to whip up sentiment against him and the Congress to which he belonged before he became Governor, conveniently side-stepping its own culpability in the wake of the Supreme Court setting aside the Speaker’s action in disqualifying rebel MLAs just before a crucial vote. It is sad indeed that money power rules the day in today’s Karnataka politics. While the Governor must accept that he has no discretion over which ruling party and chief minister he works with, it is equally incumbent upon the Speaker to either step aside or be replaced by a party that has always waxed eloquent about morality in politics. The BJP leadership at the Centre must do some soul-searching about the kind of moral standards it is setting in its southern bastion. Before pointing fingers at others, it must look at its mirror-image.
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Most unwanted lapse
For
years, India has been trying to convince the world that Pakistan is harbouring and supporting terrorists. Its efforts got a fillip after Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces right there in Abbottabad. It made public its list of 50 most wanted criminals which according to it were hiding in Pakistan. But a goof-up has compromised its position badly, because the media has exposed that one of the persons, Wazhul Kamar Khan, has been living in a suburb of Mumbai for years. Not only that, he was arrested last year for his alleged role in the 2003 Mumbai train blasts and was released on bail last year. Even if it is the only such error in the list, Pakistan can be depended on to latch upon to it and call to question the credibility of the entire list. Apparently, the lapse took place because an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) was issued against Wazhul Kamar Khan in 2004 on the request of the Maharashtra Police. The list of 50 fugitives which was to be handed over to Pakistan was prepared by the CBI, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau. The names of those with RCN were put on it. The CBI did not remove the name of Khan from the list because it was not informed by the Maharashtra Police about his arrest. Who committed the mistake is less important than the unfortunate consequences that will ensue. The entire attempt to get back men like Dawood Ibrahim will suffer a setback just because some babus did not do their homework. The CBI has now removed the name from the list, but the damage has been done. If such callousness can take place in a matter of such international significance, one can well imagine the plight of those unfortunate people who have to come in contact with the police on a routine basis. Even as the Union Home Minister officially plays down the entire ugly controversy, he must order a thorough enquiry into the rotten-ness prevailing in various departments. It’s high time the left hand of the government started knowing what the right was doing.
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Sharif views on India
Former
Pakistan Prime Minister and PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif is not alone in expressing the opinion that the time has come for Islamabad to stop treating New Delhi as its “biggest enemy” in its own larger interest. Ever since the US-led multinational action against Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 a section of people in Pakistan have been promoting the view that Pakistan should review its India policy and find ways to cultivate friendly relations with New Delhi. This section, which included some senior religio-political leaders, did not see any serious threat to Pakistan from India. In their opinion, it was the US from which Pakistan was faced with maximum threats to its interests. Actually, Pakistan will gain tremendously by mending fences with India. The people in Pakistan who think on these lines are part of the peace constituency, which is getting enlarged day by day. The constituency did suffer a setback after the Mumbai terrorist attack, but it seems to be regaining the strength it had lost. India and Pakistan together can change the face of South Asia considerably. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not been able to prove as powerful a vehicle for socio-economic change as it could be mainly because of lack of cooperation between India and Pakistan. The argument that SAARC can learn a lot from the European Union fails to have any impact on the thinking of the people who matter in South Asia because of the deep-rooted animosity between the two neighbours. The atmosphere that prevails suits the designs of terrorists and extremists. What Mr Sharif has said also does not fit in with the scheme of things of the Pakistan Army, which controls that country’s powerful intelligence network. The army continues to be considered the most significant institution in Pakistan mainly owing to the factor of India as the “most dreaded enemy”, though this has nothing to do with the reality. The Pakistan Army’s thinking goes against the larger and long-term interests of Islamabad. However, now it may be forced to change its views but only if Pakistan’s democracy continues to grow deeper roots and the peace constituency expands throughout the length and breadth of that country.
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Plant a seed of friendship; reap a bouquet of happiness. — Lois L. Kaufman
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India’s interests in Afghanistan
As the strategic realities in South Asia got radically altered in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lost no time in reaching out to Afghanistan with his two-day visit to Kabul. Though initially he was to visit Kabul earlier this month, the US managed to persuade the Indian government to postpone the visit. The reasons for this request became clear only later but it presented New Delhi with a new opportunity to focus the attention of the international community on its own predicament in the region. New Delhi’s review of its regional foreign policy priorities couldn’t have come at a more urgent time. For long, the Congress-led UPA government has largely left the management of its neighbours to the United States. A case in point was India’s decision not to take any serious action against Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, which killed 166 people. Instead, New Delhi continued to put pressure on Islamabad via American leverage to bring the masterminds of those terror strikes to justice. For some time now, it has been clear that this strategy has not really been working. It was last year’s London conference that advocated talks with the Taliban that had jolted India, forcing a major rethink of its
Af-Pak policy as India viewed with alarm its rapidly shrinking strategic space for diplomatic
manoeuvring. The first step was to restart talks with Pakistan, including back channel negotiations with the Pakistani military. While these attempts may fail to produce anything concrete in the near future, the hope is that they will stave off pressure from the US to engage Islamabad. Therefore, even though negotiations with Pakistan remain hugely unpopular at home, the Indian government has decided to proceed. India hopes that by doing so it will be viewed as a more productive player in the West’s efforts at stabilising Afghanistan. Just as importantly, India is reconsidering the terms of its involvement in Afghanistan. Until now, India has relied on its “soft power” in wooing Kabul. It is one of the largest aid givers to Afghanistan and is delivering humanitarian assistance as well as helping in nation-building projects in myriad ways. India is building roads, providing medical facilities, helping with educational programmes in an effort to develop and enhance long-term local Afghan capabilities. Pakistan’s paranoia about Indian presence in Afghanistan has led the West to underplay India’s largely beneficial role in the country even as Pakistan’s every claim about Indian intentions is taken at face value. The Taliban militants who attacked the Indian Embassy in Kabul in 2008 and tried to do so again in 2009 have sent a strong signal that India is part of the evolving security dynamic in Afghanistan despite its reluctance to take on a more active role in military operations. After targeting the personnel involved in developmental projects and emboldened by India’s non-response, these terrorists have trained their guns directly at the Indian State. Moreover, as India’s isolation at the London conference on Afghanistan underlined, India’s role in Afghanistan has not even been fully appreciated by the West. When the External Affairs Minister, Mr S. M. Krishna, underscored the folly of making a distinction “between a good Taliban and a bad
Taliban” last year, he was completely out of sync with the larger mood at the conference. The West has made up its mind that it is not a question of if but when and how to exit from Afghanistan which, to the leaders in Washington and London, is rapidly becoming a quagmire. For some time now, much to New Delhi’s discomfiture, senior US military commanders have been suggesting that peace talks with the Taliban might be imminent and that they might even be invited to be a part of the government in Kabul. So, when it was decided in London that the time had come to woo the “moderate” section of the Taliban back to share power in Kabul, it was a signal to India that Pakistan seemed to have convinced the West that it could play the role of a mediator in negotiations with the
Taliban, thereby underlining its centrality in the unfolding strategic dynamic in the region. By pursuing a strategy that will give Pakistan the leading role in the state structures in Afghanistan, the West, however, is only sowing the seeds of future regional turmoil. It would be catastrophic for Indian security if the remnants of the Taliban were to come to power with the backing of the ISI and Pakistan’s military. To preserve its interests in such a strategic milieu, India is, therefore, stepping up the training of Afghan forces, coordinating with states like Russia and Iran, and reaching out to all sections of Afghan society. More problematic for the West, there are growing calls in India for taking a more militarily active role in Afghanistan, if only to support its developmental activities. The US has actively discouraged India from assuming a higher profile in Afghanistan for fear of offending Pakistan. At the same time, it has failed in getting Pakistan to take Indian concerns more seriously. This has led to rapid deterioration in the Indian security environment with New Delhi having little or no strategic space to
manoeuvre. Not surprisingly, therefore, that India is being forced to reassess its priorities vis-à-vis
Af-Pak. India will be forced to take a far more aggressive and leading role in foreign policy in its
neighbourhood, especially when it comes to Af-Pak. Instead of ignoring New Delhi, the West would be better served if it ceases to pander to Pakistan for short-term gains. Not supporting the only secular liberal democracy in the region will only embolden the radical Islamists in the long-term. And that’s no way to enhance regional security. The Indian Prime Minister’s latest visit to Kabul is a signal to the world that India remains a major player in the evolving ground realities in
Af-Pak.n The writer teaches at King’s College, London
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Death of innocence EVERYDAY “the cock with his lively din scatters the darkness” and heralds the morn. On one such morning the slumbering village ‘Tijara’ was slowly waking to a life of diurnal activity. A dainty little chicken was strutting along with its flock towards the haystacks. An easy prey to dogs and cats, it strayed from the brood the mother hen was leading. In a sudden spurt of delight it started frolicking with abandon being absolutely unmindful of the dangers to his life lurking in the mud street of the village. Perhaps the chicken had come of age and the thought spurred him to be on his own. But his delight and his independence were suddenly cut short when Zahid’s tractor which he was driving to his fields crushed it to its bones. The accident rudely shattered the peace of sleepy hamlet
Tijara. For the inhabitants around the ‘place of occurrence’ the accident aroused their anger reminiscent of road rage of metro towns. In their fury they attacked Zahid to death and burnt his tractor. The
Meos, burly members of his community, attacked his killers with a vengeance. In their frenzy they also torched the huts of some innocent villagers. When communal passions rose high, human feelings touched their lowest. None cared for Zahid or his mother’s grief, much less for the bird or the pain of the hen. Both were innocent. Both were untouched by any communal virus. This eruption of communal violence could be controlled only when the police arrived with lathis and guns. More blood was shed and a large number of men from the two feuding communities were arrested. A peace committee,
ex-gratia grants to the victims – the usual standardised drill that follows all communal violence — were announced. Communal harmony returned in the guise of calm that was restored at a heavy cost. A post-event analysis – an inevitable exercise in getting wiser after the event concluded: if only the chicken could fly away or Zahid could apply brakes firmly, the tragedy could have been averted. The bird and the driver became victims of their own follies! “Manas ki jaat sabhe ake
pahachanvo” (all human beings are one) said the Guru. Is communal peace so unpredictable that — whenever it is disturbed — it is restored only with bullets? Village Tijara’s folks were so intolerant that they took the life of a tractor driver to avenge the death of a chicken and were so vengeful that they rendered many an innocent resident homeless. Who should be blamed? Not the hen. Not Zahid’s mother. What should we bemoan? Death of the chicken or death of Zahid or violation of human rights or breach of communal peace? All, but, above all, death of
innocence.
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OLD AGE FITNESS The
improvement of medical facilities in the last decade has ensured that there are lot more older adults in our society today than at any other time in our country’s history. A look at India’s demographic profile indicates that there will be an increase in the senior citizen population in the years to come. The increased longevity of our population will certainly drive the need for older adults to remain physically independent, which, in turn will allow them to extend their professional career and retain their financial independence. Parallel to this is the desire of seniors to maintain an active, high-quality lifestyle so that they can enjoy everything from recreational activities to necessary daily tasks. More and more senior members of our society are taking their fitness regime seriously and achieving alarming levels of personal fitness levels. Once, a senior person asked Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Am I too old to exercise?” He turned around and remarked: “ You are too old not too!”. How old is old? In 1900, people were considered old in their 40s; just 40 years ago people seemed old in their 60s, but today thanks to the miracle of modern preventive medicine, many people feel sprightly and youthful at 80. My father is 75 and he plays three rounds of golf every week with his friend who is 84! I like to tell my senior clients to ask themselves the question: ‘How old would you think you were if you did not know how old you were?’ In most cases, the disparity between the reality and the imagined age will give the answer about your fitness level. So, if you are only 50 and feel like you are 60, then you have work to do, old boy! On the other hand, I can give examples of many in my camp who can quite regularly out-run or out-row their children. Their fitness index is higher than their kids. What are the changes that accompany the ageing process? *
Loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia). * Deterioration of bone density (Osteopenia). *
Increase in basal metabolic rate (BMR) —the rate at which your body burns the calories that you consume in the form of food. The ageing process slows it down. *
Loss of flexibility or the ability to generate movement about a joint. *
Poor sense of stability and balance. * The cardiovascular functions also slow down which means that the lungs and heart (extraction and delivery system) has to work harder and harder each year to pump blood and other nutrients to the muscles. The good news is that all these processes can be arrested and even reversed. Let me warm your senior hearts by giving alongside some of the timings of Master athletes for a 100 metre dash. Take care of the ticker The risk factors for coronary-artery disease increase as people get older but you can buck that trend by taking part in any cardiovascular exercise of your choice like cycling, walking, swimming or rowing for 30-45 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Just ensure that the pace of the activity is frenetic enough to bring about a mild breathlessness or elevated pulse rate. If you would like to rate running away from a grizzly as a (difficulty) level 10 activity, ensure that you are training at level 7, consistently. Keep the bone density- pick up the weight! Loss of bone density or osteopenia is a big curse of 21st century sedentary urban existence and this gets accentuated with old age. The best way to simulate the formation of bone tissue is to participate in resistance training. It is believed that one-tenth of the force that causes a fracture actually helps to develop bone density. Choose exercises that direct the force vectors through the hip and spine. The best exercises for developing bone density are squats, lunges and step-ups for the lower body and shoulder press or military press for the upper body. Choose weights that you can safely lift for 15 times without tiring and rest 1-2 minutes between sets. Stretch that muscle Muscles tend to get tight with age. This tightness affects our posture, which accounts for why some old people tend to exhibit poor postural forms. Vladimir Janda, a Czech rehabilitation specialist, describes a group of muscles in the body that universally show a tendency towards tightness with age. Some of these include the hamstrings, quadriceps, groin, calf and hips. Some typically common age-related symptoms of low back pain, neck pain and knee pain can easily be avoided with regular stretching and strengthening. Do muscles shrink with age? Yes, they do. For example, if one of your muscles consisted of 100 fibres when you were 30, the muscle would probably still contain 90-95 fibres 20 years later, but the fibre count would plummet to 50-55 when you become an octogenarian. So what can you do about it? Fortunately, there is a positive side to the story. People who participate in resistance training can arrest or even reverse the tendencies of their muscle fibres from shrinking. As an additional lolly, resistance training in older individuals seems to increase the number of small blood vessels around muscles by up to 15%, potentially increasing endurance capacity. Since the overall process of muscle loss picks up pace after the age of 50, strength training for people above the age of 50 is especially critical. Fortunately, it’s never too late. Research demonstrates that even individuals over the age of 80 can fortify their muscles by participating in regular strength training workouts. Prescription for senior fitness *
Stretch muscles 4-5 times a week. Yoga is a great stretching protocol. *
Participate in an aerobic intensive sport or alternately, aerobic activity three times a week. Swimming is the best from of exercise for the senior population. *
Train with resistance bands or weights 2-3 times a week. * Drink lots of water before, during and after exercise. *
Allow yourself lots of rest between sets while training with weights. *
Warm up and cool down thoroughly. Older muscles need a longer warm-up period. *
Give yourself 1-2 days of complete rest in a week to aid recovery.
Vitamin C: Is vital for the formation of collagen, which is a protein forming the basis for connective tissue, such as tendons and intervertebral discs. Omega- 3
Oils: Helps to inhibit the action of series 2 prostaglandins which cause joint and tissue inflammation and pain. Antioxidants: There are a number of antioxidant nutrients that afford protection from free radical damage in the body, but Vitamin E and Selenium appear to be especially important Zinc:
Activates numerous enzyme systems in the body that process amino acids and is also required for collagen formation. Glucosamine sulphate and Chondroitin
sulphate: Glucosamine sulphate appears to promote the formation and repair of cartilage, while Chondroitin seems to promote cartilage water retention and elasticity. DO THE YOUNG RESPOND MORE EFFECTIVELY TO
AEROBIC TRAINING?THAT’S JUST NOT TRUE! In a study carried out in the University Of Florida, 10 sedentary old (aged 67) males and females and 11 sedentary young (aged 30) males and females completed a 16- week exercise programme. All subjects worked out three times per week on a treadmill and/or stair-climbing machine for around 20 to 40 minutes at approximately 60-80% of maximal heart rate. At the end of 16 weeks, the young athletes had increased their maximal aerobic capacity by 12%. The oldies? Hold your breath: they enhanced their capacity by 14%.
WHAT THE SCIENTISTS SAY
Fitness protects the ageing brain……… The human brain gradually loses tissue from the third decade onwards leading to decline in cognitive (intellectual) performance. However, recent research has shown that aerobic fitness can arrest age-related deterioration in tissue densities in the brain. More importantly, the findings tend to indicate that the greatest benefits of aerobic conditioning accrue to the tissues that play a central role in causing clinical syndromes like Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. ……………and improves memory in mid-life. A recent study in Britain established quite conclusively that ‘uptake of physical exercise in young to middle adulthood benefits memory, an aspect of cognitive function likely to be important for conduct of activities of daily living during ageing and abandonment of this activity appears to result in its loss’- Social Science & Medicine 56(2003).
The writer, a Certified Strength and Conditional Specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association of America (CSCS), trained the Indian cricket team in 2003-4 and the Indian golf team in 2010
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Too old to exercise?
Recent research from scientific, medical and sports journals looks at the problems and prospects of senior fitness.