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Potatoes in plenty
Showcasing heritage
Dictatorship ends in Yemen |
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India’s bid for UN Council seat
Window to world
The enemy within
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Potatoes in plenty FOR too long being in the grip of shortages the country still has not prepared itself to deal with problems of plenty, which are becoming worryingly frequent. The reported glut of potatoes in the Bathinda area of Punjab has forced growers to sell them at less than a rupee a kg. Unlike cereals, there is no assured procurement of fruit and vegetables by government agencies. As a result, the growers are left at the mercy of traders. Basmati growers have also faced the same problem. Excess production and poor exports due to depressing conditions in Europe have led to a crash in basmati prices. It is well known that middlemen — traders, arhtiyas, transporters etc — often join hands and do not lift farm produce at the time of harvest. Since farmers have no storage facilities and need money to repay loans and spend on social ceremonies, the middlemen take an unfair advantage of the situation while the government remains a mute spectator. A few years ago farmers had unloaded potatoes on roads in Jalandhar to express their anguish at low rates. Andhra farmers recently decided not to grow paddy for one season to protest against the below-cost prices offered to them. They have suffered heavy losses. In case of paddy and wheat though the procurement and a minimum support price are assured, these are still not good enough to meet the rising production costs, leave alone making 50 per cent profit as has been suggested by Dr M.S Swaminathan, an eminent expert . The government and agricultural universities can help farmers decide what to grow and caution them about gluts and shortages. The futures trading in agricultural products can forecast production and prices. Another way of avoiding a glut is to build more cold storages and food processing facilities. The private sector can be roped in in this crucial area. The latest Union Cabinet decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail will also help avert such distress sales.
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Showcasing heritage
Heritage
is both tangible and intangible. Any endeavour to showcase heritage needs both a deep understanding of the ethos and culture, as well as tangible objects that can be used as symbols of heritage. The inauguration of the Khalsa Heritage Complex at Anandpur Sahib has brought to the public domain a centre that showcases over 500 years of Sikh heritage. Modern means have been used to highlight the heritage and various advanced audio-visual techniques will attract many people to the venue. The execution of the Khalsa Heritage Complex was hardly smooth, and thus the completion of even a part of the project is a cause for celebration, justifying the colourful, star-studded opening. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal conceptualised this project and thus it is understandably a moment of pride for him to take part in its inauguration. So well recognised is his contribution that an uncommon honour of Panth Rattan, Fakhar-e-Qaum is to be bestowed on him by the Akal Takht jathedar. As the glitter settles down, the Khalsa Heritage Complex will continue to attract crowds. This should provide it with the impetus for further plans to finish the entire complex, which includes an auditorium. The complex should thus provide its visitors with an enriching experience, and for that it will need a continuous infusion of talent and funds. We have seen how well heritage can be showcased. Many a heritage monument needs preservation. It is up to the government to ensure that Virasat-e-Khalsa does not suffer the fate of monuments that fade soon after the glare of spotlight is shifted from them. Heritage can be showcased outside the Virasat-e-Khalsa complex too. The government needs to extend the expertise it has gathered in this project to various other museums and memorial complexes so that people can reconnect with the rich heritage of the region and its people.
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Dictatorship ends in Yemen
Another
Arab country, Yemen, is free from despotic rule. President Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled this poverty-stricken nation for over 33 years, has relinquished power after signing in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) an agreement brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to end the eight-month-long violent protests that caused a large number of deaths there. As a result of the Saudi-led initiative, Mr Saleh has handed over power to his Vice-President, Mr Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who emerged as the consensus candidate to run the interim administration. The national unity government under the leadership of Mr Hadi will have some opposition leaders too and is slated to hold elections within three months to ensure that a democratic set-up comes into being soon. The power-transfer accord, having the backing of the United Nations, the US and the European Union, gives immunity to Mr Saleh from prosecution, regardless of the charges levelled against him. The change of guard in Yemen is more significant than the similar developments in three other countries — Tunisia, Libya and Egypt — in the region. Three previous attempts for a peaceful changeover failed to make Mr Saleh resign and pave the way for the emergence of a democratically elected government. He would back out at the last minute on some pretext, boosting the morale of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Now only militant elements are upset with Abdullah Saleh rule having become history. Al-Qaida and the outfits associated with it had found a fertile ground to grow under the chaotic conditions that prevailed in Yemen for a long time. The GCC could not allow the situation in Yemen to lead to a civil war, which appeared to be a possibility, because of the country having become a stronghold of the Arabian wing of Al-Qaida. Saudi Arabia, being the next-door neighbour, was more worried because of the destabilising activities of the militant outfit. But the rest of the world, too, could not ignore the strong Al-Qaida factor in Yemen. When Yemen is finally on the way to becoming a democracy, the militant elements may change colour and try to capture power. The situation in Yemen, therefore, needs to be watched carefully.
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The worth of a thing is what it will bring. — A proverb
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India’s bid for UN Council seat
Addressing
the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly which concluded recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated India’s stance for a stronger and effective UN system and emphasised the need for pursuing with renewed vigour an early reform of the Security Council. He raised the issue again at the fifth India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit at Pretoria. It may be mentioned in this context that besides other factors, the support of the permanent five members of the Security Council (the P-5) is essential for India’s bid to be a member of the Council. Four of the P-5 — the US, Russia, the United Kingdom and France — have already extended their support to India in various ways. Although success for India will be a long-drawn process, the role of China, which has categorically not extended its support for India’s cause as yet, is crucial. The Chinese stand has been that it attaches great importance to India’s position as a major developing country in international affairs and that it supports India’s aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations, including in the Security Council. Beijing in various bilateral and multilateral communiqués has reiterated its position from time to time but without a firm commitment. Recently, however, there were indications that China might consider India’s candidature for a seat at the UN high table. For example, when CPM leader Sitaram Yechury met Chinese leader and state councillor Dai Bingguo on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, he reportedly said that China had no objection to India becoming a permanent member of the Security Council, but not as a part of G-4 which comprises Japan, Germany and Brazil besides India. While such favourable articulation by China about India’s bid for the Council’s membership is reassuring for New Delhi, some of the leading Chinese scholars have also been voicing their support for India’s aspirations. In an article in the Sunday supplement of a leading English daily, Shen Dingli, a distinguished Chinese scholar from Fudan University, wrote that India deserved a seat commensurate with its rise, and that its attempt “merits China’s consideration”. He further wrote that “India gaining that seat should enhance the representation of the developing countries in the world system, which has long been a tenant of Chinese foreign policy.” Shen Dingli, who is also the Vice-President of the Chinese Association of South-Asian Studies, has been a strong advocate of Sino-Indian reconciliation. In this context, it is worthwhile to recall India’s advocacy of China for a membership of the UN at a very critical time in its history when China had not risen to its present international stature and didn’t have enough friends to espouse its cause. India was one of the first Asian countries which supported a resolution for the admission of the People’s Republic of China to the UN. The resolution was moved by the then Soviet Union in the Security Council to unseat the erstwhile KMT regime of Taiwan. The government’s advocacy for China’s entry into the UN system was supported by various political parties, cutting across party lines. However, the issue of China’s bid to become a member of the UN got entangled with the unfolding of the Korean crisis in 1950. The Korean war broke out in June 1950, and a crisis also erupted in Tibet. This in turn led to some rethinking in India with regard to its China policy. India, however, voted for the UN resolution criticising North Korea’s aggression against South Korea and urged for the withdrawal of the Korean forces. However, India was of the opinion that no settlement of the East Asian imbroglio would be durable and permanent without China’s acquiescence. Articulating India’s position on the Korean crisis in the Lok Sabha, Nehru unambiguously said on August 3, 1950, that China’s entry into the UN might well have prevented the emergence of the Korean problem. Nehru also took up the issue of China’s admission to the UN system with Stalin and US Secretary of State Dean Acheson. In spite of differences of opinion among the members of Parliament in their understanding and approach to the Korean problem, they largely supported the government’s advocacy of China’s entry into the UN system to normalise the situation in the Korean peninsula. Piloting a debate on international affairs on December 6, 1950, Nehru affirmed the government’s policy on China’s claim to the UN membership. Defending the government’s decision for opposing the UN resolution on endorsing the crossing of the 38th Parallel, he argued that China viewed this as a grave danger to its own security and that it was fraught with the danger of precipitating the situation. He said, “We had perhaps rather special responsibility in regard to China, because we were one of the very few countries represented there, and we were the only country, apart from the countries of the Soviet group, which could find out through its ambassador what the reactions of the Chinese Government were to the developing events.” When the Korean crisis deteriorated after the UN forces transgressed the 38th Parallel and China militarily intervened in the conflict, this impelled India to find a diplomatic solution to the impasse. These developments found their echo in Parliament as well. Members cutting across party lines expressed grave concerns. In pursuance of the policy envisaged by Nehru, India opposed the UN resolution branding the People’s Republic of China as an aggressor because of its involvement in the Korean war. Speaking in Parliament on February 12, 1951, he described the resolution as unwise and proposed a negotiated settlement of the impasse. Thus, India from the very beginning has been adopting a nuanced approach in the case of China, extending its steadfast support to Beijing at a very critical juncture in its history. It is time Beijing returned these gestures in equal measure, particularly at a time when India’s stature has gone up considerably. Now with India joining China in seeking Pakistan’s entry into the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member, both China and Pakistan should jointly support India’s bid for a permanent seat at the Council. The mismatch in the UN system should be corrected by bringing India to the high table. This will also help in realising the dream of the 21st century as an Asian
century. The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and
Analyses, New Delhi.
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Window to world Every
time I travel by air, quite like a child, I want the window seat. Since my wife too wants it, if we’re together, there could be a quarrel! From Chandigarh to Delhi, it’s predictably the hazy view of clusters of houses, shanties, villages, all huddled together in an embrace — surrounded by the vast expanse of fields that are green, golden or sometimes brownish. An endless ribbon of a road or a canal with tree belts meanders through the landscape. This time, however, as soon we are above the clouds, a profile of mountain peaks on the left hand side appears. A series of blue-azure, resplendent, snow-capped mountain peaks suddenly peep out of the clouds. They are crystal clear and one can even see the patterns of valleys, crevices, crescents and the shadows of the snow glaciers etched on them. The lofty, white and blue peaks floating above clouds and mists look like the mythical, celestial abodes of the gods or perhaps the surrealistic Himalayas painted by Nicholas Roerich. I learn later that the peaks sighted were perhaps of the famous Bundar Punch range, an important glacier of the Yamuna basin in Uttarkashi, towering at an elevation of 6, 000 metres. Another majestic grandstand view of snow-capped peaks is seen when the plane takes off from Zurich on a clear sunny day. You fly above an endless stretch of the snow-clad Alps. The view is so heavenly and white that you almost expect angels to be flying around and showing up anytime against the window! The window seat will never disappoint. It’s full of serendipity and surprises. Once while flying from Frankfurt to Chicago, I snoozed off, in spite of sunrise spreading its golden hues across the horizon. Just then the Captain’s voice came crackling, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are now flying over Greenland, and the clouds have parted below to show the glaciers in the sea! Please sit back and enjoy the view”. The earth looked so pure, white and snowy that one almost expected to spot Santa Claus with his reindeers on the sleigh. But it’s not always bright and shiny. Once flying through a pitch dark night above Afghanistan, while everyone else was asleep, I kept up my window vigil. An inky, black darkness shrouded the plane all around. Yet the faint glimmer of a solitary, twinkling light could be spotted below. In its haunting loneliness, it looked like a valiant, tiny star blinking through the night sky, when clouds are hiding everything else. One wondered who lived in that isolated house amidst the vast wilderness of the rugged mountains? Would he ever know that another lonely human being was acknowledging his presence. Perhaps not, but from 20,000 feet it’s a beautiful one
world.
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The enemy within At present, around 67 per cent of households of Punjab have, at least, one alcoholic member among them. It is a known fact that adolescents are aggressive due to their immense energy, which they are unable to utilise. Hence, they get easily frustrated and take extreme steps and even end their lives over small failures.
Self-injury Deliberate self-harm (DSH) syndrome, described first by Pattison and Kahn in 1983, occurs in late adolescence. Though the harm caused to the person by himself may be repetitive, usually it has a non-fatal outcome. There is an apparent intent to harm oneself under stressful conditions. This stress is generally defined as acute exacerbation of the underlying chronic stress. This intention may shift to self-harm behaviour in late adolescence and may lead to altered behavioural pattern in adulthood. There is a difference between self-injurious behaviour and suicidal behaviour. At one time the DSH syndrome was labelled as parasuicidal behaviour. Such individuals have an increased risk of attempting suicide, around nine times more than matched cohorts. This risk extends to adult life when overwhelming negative feelings pushes them into suicidal behavior. Self-injury is commonly associated with intentional carving or superficial cutting of skin, self-bruising, pulling skin or hair, burning sub-epidermal tissue scratching, swallowing toxic but not life-threatening substances and even breaking bones, leading to lasting disfigurement. Tattoos and piercing of ears or other body parts is not considered as DSH. Mostly the self-injury is caused on hands, wrists, stomach and thighs. Such injuries are usually multiple though they can be single.
Warning signals Childhood sexual abuse by family members, which may lead to post- traumatic stress disorder, depression or personality disorders, may also lead to DSH. It is important that parents recognise the warning signs of DSH before it assumes catastrophic proportions. They must pay due attention to unexplained cuts, scars, cigarette burns on body, refusal to participate in school or home activities, insomnia, weight loss, odd dress of child and general symptoms of depression. The media too plays a contributory role in propagating the DSH behaviour. Many children with DSH have confessed that they got the idea from newspaper clippings, images and cartoons. A recent study from Norway and England has failed to see any appreciable correlation of the DSH with cannabis usage. Although a rare genetic disorder named Lesch Nyhan syndrome is characterised by self-harm and includes biting and head banging, the role of genetics contributing to DSH is still under evaluation. It is estimated that 30 per cent of individuals with autism pattern also engage in self-harm behaviour, like hand biting, skin picking and head banging and even eye-piercing. Recently, a new trend is emerging wherein deliberate self-harm is becoming a growing problem among children. This problem has started to appear in preteens even. Surprisingly, the risk factors are comparable to those precipitating such behavior in the adolescents. The stressors found by the researchers from Medical College, Calicut, Kerala, are related to parents, family, school, peers and teachers. Among the 30 children included in the study, 21 were boys and nine were girls. The children's age-group ranged from 11 to 13 years but the youngest was six years old. An overwhelming 76 per cent of the children gave a history of an acute stressful event while there was a history of chronic ongoing stress in 62 per cent of the cases.
Contributing stressors Among 62 per cent of children under the effect of stress from within the family, various reasons included death of a parent, conflict of thoughts with parents or siblings, prolonged illness or mental ailment of a family member, alcoholism of parents or estranged relations of parents. The school-related stressors were corporal punishment or negative comments by teachers, learning problems, failure in examinations and conflict with classmates. The study, aimed at raising awareness about this new syndrome, found that it has started to manifest in much younger generations. It is alarming since these children could have varied psychiatric disorders later in life. A similar study from Delhi reported a prevalence of 18 per cent of cases of deliberate self-harm. Some of them needed professional help. Dr Anjali Verma, Assistant Professor, University School of Medicine, USA, brought forward a new aspect of sexual abuse of girls in the family or outside, and this may account for underreporting of such cases.
Alcohol factor Although alcoholism in parents was not a significant contributor to the self-harm syndrome in children in the Kerala study, a recent study in Government Medical College, Patiala, Department of Paediatrics, showed that alcohol played a major role in precipitation of the syndrome. Out of 13 cases included in the study, in the age group of 10-13 years, there were eight boys and five girls. All of these children had alcoholic fathers who indulged in wife beating and disharmony prevailed in all houses. Due to the violent behaviour of the father towards the mother and the children, the affected children retaliated in a form of self-harm behaviour. The self-harming behaviour included head banging, holding hot griddle in hand, superficial cuts on wrist with suicidal intent, ingestion of alcohol and other medications lying at home. In Punjab, the overbearing number of alcoholics is leading to increasing debts. The silent spectators of the domestic violence perpetrated by these addicts are the children. These children have started to cause harm to themselves and have even attempted suicides.
Way forward Deliberate self-harm is slowly becoming a public health problem in the developing world. There is an increasing need to educate not only pediatricians but also parents and school children about this self-destructive behavior. Early signs of depression and anxiety in young children can be identified and suitably remedied. As routine biannual examination of children is not a norm in India, the responsibility lies mainly with parents and teachers. Early signs of underlying disorder in children are lack of interest, sad mood, sudden fits of anger and academic decline. Of all adolescents reporting history of self-injury, about one fourth practice it only once in their life time. Whitlock et al in 2006 in their study reported that even a single episode of self-injury can sometimes correlate with history of child abuse and tendency towards suicide and other psychiatric illnesses. Hence, they suggested that even a single episode of self-injury should be taken seriously. If there are recurrent episodes, or child is injuring him/herself regularly, then it must be reported to the doctor concerend or psychiatrist. Early identification and management is the best preventive measure along with limited access of the media and proper guidance clinics. It is imperative that child helplines be established 24/7 and special clinics be set up to deal with young children facing these problems so that they do not grow into adults with psychiatric illnesses. These studies are showing the tip of the iceberg only. The number of children who are silent sufferers may be much more as this type of harmful behaviour is oft-neglected by the parents and perceived as stubborn behaviour only. More studies in this field need to be conducted as well. Raising awareness as well as establishing protocols for referral is the need of the hour. The writer is deputy Medical Superintendent, Government Medical College and Rajindra
Hospital, Patiala
Group pressure Purington et al, in 2010 reported that in the middle and high school settings, some groups of youth injuring themselves together have been noticed. When interviewed the children in the group told that they got the idea from Internet. Some groups got the idea of self-injury through movies, books and news reports. Matthews in 1968, Rosen and Walsh in1989 and Taiminen in1998, also reported such behaviour in hospitals and detention centres
Facts and figures As most cases of self-harm are not reported to physicians and are treated at home it is difficult to know the exact figure. Some estimates can be made from hospital admissions or psychiatric OPD cases, including drug overdoses.
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