The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Welcome, 4G
Roll out service across country

Mobile telephony the world over is more about data than voice these days and, therefore, mobile service providers are focusing on providing better service to bandwidth-hungry customers. Airtel is the first to provide 4G services in Kolkata, the very city from which the first mobile phone call was made in 1995. Right now, the service will be available in West Bengal’s capital alone, but more companies are gearing up to do the same in many other cities, including Chandigarh, which will soon get Airtel’s service. The term 4G is used as shorthand for fourth generation of mobile communication. There are two competing standards for that, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and Time-Division Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE). No matter which is chosen, the aim is to enhance a user’s experience by giving faster wireless broadband services while on the move. India, like many other nations, including the world’s largest mobile phone user China, has chosen to take the TD-LTE route.

It might seem a bit odd that 4G service is being rolled out in India even though the 3G service itself has not seen much success. However, it is widely acknowledged that broadband speed in India seldom is what it ought to be. In spite of promises of more, often it hovers around the TRAI minimum of 256kbit/s. Naturally, hi-end consumers are a demanding lot and are quick to show displeasure when the service falls short of expectations.

We must remember that basic mobile phones have enabled many people to make significant improvement to their lives by providing them with a means of instantaneous communication, anytime, anywhere. Data-enabled phones, or smart phones can enable a person to do much more, for business as well as pleasure. In today’s world, it is not desirable to be cut off from developments on a real-time basis. 4G technology will be empowering, provided the mobile service providers can deliver all that they promise.

Uncherished girl child
Society must change its mindset

AS if the dismal sex ratio was not proof enough that daughters in son-crazed India remain unwanted, here is yet another chilling reminder that in the 21st century Indian girls continue to get a raw deal. That in Bangalore, Afreen, a three-month-old baby girl was allegedly beaten and bitten by none other than her own father speaks volumes about the medieval mindset that refuses to change. The obsession for sons often acquires psychotic dimensions and has been borne out by similar hideous incidents in the past too.

In Sangrur district of Punjab a father had snuffed out the life of a four-day-old daughter. More recently the case of baby Falak and her horrible death too proved that as a society we have developed a thick skin, especially with regard to child abuse. Indeed, violence against children often cuts across the gender divide and boys too have to bear the brunt. Yet when it comes to daughters the neglect assumes freighting dimensions shorn off all empathy and compassion. How violence against the fair sex becomes a vicious cycle is exemplified by the Falak incident in which the abuser was as much a victim who had received an abusive treatment at the hands of her father.

Since time and again various studies have proved that often it’s the saviours who turn perpetrators of abuse, the law can only undo the damage to a limited extent. It is nobody’s case that deterrent punishment should not be meted out to the abusers. However, it will require a societal movement to transform the prejudiced mindset that continues to value sons over daughters. The recent data predicts a turnaround in attitudes towards girls in middle class India. For the sake of battered Afreen and millions of daughters who go missing in India, this change can snowball into a momentum, provided society, NGOs, the media and the government work in tandem. ‘Cherish the girl child’ should not be an occasional refrain provoked by abominable crimes but a unanimous chorus that must resound in all homes.

Thought for the Day

If you are not leaning, no one will ever let you down.— Robert Anthony

ARTICLE

Miscalculations in Afghanistan
Pakistan underestimates US support
by G Parthasarathy

Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan’s military strategists and ISI justified their efforts to install a radical Islamic government in Kabul on the ground that a client Islamist government in Afghanistan provided “strategic depth” against India. While the concept of “strategic depth” was initially said to mean that Pakistan’s armed forces would have additional territory available to them in the event of an Indian attack, the reality turned out to be different once the ISI, with the acquiescence of the Clinton Administration, installed its protégé, one-eyed “Ghilzai” Pashtun leader Mullah Omar in Kandahar, with a so-called Taliban “President” Mullah Rabbani in Kabul. Mullah Omar, incidentally, does not belong to the traditional Pashtun leadership from the Durrani clan. Kandahar, in the eyes of Pashtuns, has historically been their spiritual capital since 1747.

With the ISI backing and American acquiescence in these developments, Afghanistan became the hub of global terrorism once Mullah Omar was installed in Kandahar. Osama bin Laden was welcomed as an honoured guest by the Taliban with Al Qaeda and militant groups ranging from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Chechens to the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, establishing their presence there.

The ISI-backed anti-Indian militant groups like Harkat ul Mujahideen trained their cadres for “Jihad” against India in Jammu and Kashmir, in towns like Khost. The collusion between the Taliban and their ISI handlers was blatant during the hijacking of IC 814 to Kandahar. Lashkar-e-Taiba joined these groups with the slogan “Hindus, Jews and Christians are enemies of Islam” and that its aim was to “unfurl the green flag of Islam in Washington, Tel Aviv and New Delhi”. Given that the Taliban was made up exclusively of Pashtuns, who constitute just around 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s population, the ISI had to provide massive military backing for the Taliban to take over the entire north of the country, where non-Pashtuns reside.

When the Americans moved into Afghanistan in October 2001, it was the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance, backed by India, Russia and Iran which routed the Taliban, who fled across the Durand Line into Pakistan and were welcomed there by the ISI. Even though the new government in Kabul was headed by a blue-blooded Durrani Pashtun Hamid Karzai, Pakistan calculated that its best bet was to act as the champion of Pashtun rights in Afghanistan.

A sustained effort has been made by Pakistan to persuade the Pashtuns in Afghanistan that Pakistan alone is their well-wisher. Dislike bordering on animosity towards Pakistan is, however, a widespread feature of thinking of Afghans across the political spectrum, transcending ethnic considerations. But a significant, though diminishing section of the Taliban, realises that they are regarded as international pariahs and have no choice but to seek power through the barrel of the gun, with Pakistani support.

Pakistan’s assertions of being the genuine supporter of Pashtun rights are, however, not altruistic. A Pashtun-dominated, but internationally ostracised regime in Afghanistan suits Pakistan because such a regime would be so weak politically and economically that it would be in no position to resurrect sentiments of Pashtun nationalism. No Pashtun worth his salt has ever recognised the Durand Line, imposed by the British in 1893, as the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The legendary Khan Abdul Ghaffar Kahn symbolised Pashtun disdain for the Durand Line by insisting he should be buried in Jalalabad. Most Pashtuns believe that their traditional homeland extends from Kandahar to the town of Attock on the banks of the Indus river in Pakistan. Using religious extremism as a tool to subsume Pashtun nationalism is the centre-piece of Pakistan’s strategies in Afghanistan

In her book “Taliban and anti-Taliban,” Oslo-based Pakistani writer Farhat Taj details how the Pakistan army used the Taliban in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as a tool to influence events in Afghanistan. She also outlines the heroic resistance of tribal Pashtun leaders to defend their traditional, consensual tribal structures, against Taliban depredations. This was a struggle in which hundreds of tribal Pashtuns in FATA laid down their lives, resisting ISI machinations to promote the alien culture of the Taliban.

In her recent writings Farhat Taj notes: “The Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan are mere proxies of the Pakistan State to wipe out forces of ethno-nationalism among the Pashtun cultural identity, on both sides of the Durand Line, in the pursuit of foreign and domestic objectives set and controlled by the military establishment of Pakistan”. Recalling how efforts were made by Mughal emperors like Babur and Aurangzeb to crush Pashtun nationalism, she alludes to a statement of a Pashtun leader who suffered Aurangzeb’s depredations: “Aurangzeb derives pleasure from the massacre of Pashtuns. Such is Aurangzeb’s Islam”. Aurangzeb is the role model of Pakistan’s historians and military because he was the first Mughal emperor to levy jazia on non-Muslims!

As the Americans commence their drawdown of forces in Afghanistan, they are tying themselves in knots on their negotiations with the Taliban. Pakistan is demanding a high price for restoring transit facilities for American supplies to Afghanistan. These include an end to nuclear sanctions, a public apology for the action in which 26 Pakistani soldiers were killed and an end to drone strikes.

In the meantime, the Taliban are showing no inclination to meet American conditions for talks and are even talking about discontinuing dialogue with the Americans. Both the Pakistan military and their Taliban allies now appear to believe that with the Americans set to end combat operations by mid 2013, they would be able to seize control of southern Afghanistan soon.

Relief has come for the Americans from an unexpected source. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov not only agreed to make the Ulyanovsk airbase available for American logistical supplies, but also stated that “it was premature to set deadlines for withdrawal from Afghanistan, even before Afghan security forces were ready to take over responsibilities”.

Pakistan could well be miscalculating on its perceived opportunities in Afghanistan as the drawdown of American forces commences. It seems to be overlooking the probability that even after they end combat operations in Afghanistan, the Americans could still be around to provide air and logistical support and even mount cross-border attacks on terrorist targets in Pakistan.

But the international community and President Karzai will have to devise political strategies to expose Pakistan’s pro-Pashtun pretensions, if they are to politically counter moves for a Taliban takeover of southern Afghanistan, bearing in mind that the self-respecting Pashtuns have never recognised the Durand Line as an international border, cutting across what they regard as their homeland.

MIDDLE

Unsinkable heroine of the Titanic
by Rajbir Deswal

First things first. It completes a full cycle of 100 years, of hope set to be drowned this day of the ‘cruelest month’. Secondly, there is news to cheer about — ‘The Titanic’ to float freely with 3-D effects on the screen now.

Margaret Tobin Brown, the real heroine of ‘The Titanic’ with her Hollywood calling — Molly — was made up in a plucky mould, as is reflected in the elements combined and put together in her persona. Fortitude obtained all through her life, before even she survived the sinking of the Titanic.

In the later part of her life the way she exploited for good her lately acquired ‘unsinkable’ stature, promoting causes of women suffrage, juveniles, labour, maritime laws and human rights, particularly during the last 20 years, till her death in 1932, is remarkable.

The amount of marketing the new Hollywood avatar of Molly did in once again living the legend of the ‘unsinkable’ was noteworthy, whether the field was best-selling fiction, movies or thrillers. Margaret had married a miner, J.J. Brown, at the age of 19, when the man she took by her side was 32. She bore him six children. JJ’s sudden switch over, and exploits in the mining trade, made him rich over-night, and the couple bought a house in 1894, which is now Molly Brown Museum in Denver.

That she did not sink with the Titanic is a fact. That Jack Dowson, who met her on the ill-fated liner, is fiction. But the stories that go with Margaret Tobin Brown that she ran for the Senate when women did not have voting rights and that having rolled into millions, she died penniless are pure flesh — enough meat. This is the real side of Molly Brown, the legendary actress, philanthropist and crusader.

During a tour of Europe, Margaret had to board the Titanic at Cherbourg, France, compelled by the circumstance of hearing about her grandchild’s suffering in New York. Her daughter Helen’s decision to stay back in London, and not boarding the Titanic, on that fateful day of April 1912, made her afford a chance to live till the age of 97. She died in Greenwich in 1993.

It is a big irony of ‘impressions and perceptions’ that when the Titanic sank in the Atlantic, the master of ‘Boat Number Six’, Robert Hichens, deserted the boat, fearing the women in it might not be able to row as fast, to steer out of the suction effect of the ship. It was here that Margret took up the cudgels, and goaded her women compatriots to fight till the finish. She shared her blanket, offered her stockings to other women and put her stoll around the neck of a raft-mate at the same time, speaking words of encouragement like war cry and, trust me, even singing.

They rowed for two hours continuously in the dark after Molly, who just a little while before was reading a book smugly in Dock B, when the Titanic crashed into the iceberg seconds after the seaman Frederick Fleet rang a bell thrice from the Crow’s Nest of the ship and shrieked “Iceberg right ahead!” They were all lapped up by the waiting ship, Carpathia, after the ordeal of near-drowning. All thereafter is history.

Margret’s great sense of humour later made her recollect and exclaim "After being brined, salted, and pickled in mid-ocean I am now high and dry...!” And that “Water was fine and swimming good..!” She died in New York in 1932 of brain tumour. You made us remember you even after a century got sunk in the time-capsule, Molly! Long live your legend.

OPED-HEALTH

Sunset years
Geriatrics, which focuses on healthcare of elderly people, is still at a nascent stage in India. However, our ageing population, which faces a host of medical, social, and economic problems, needs immediate government intervention to enable it to live a life of dignity
Dr N. S. Neki and Radha Saini

A sharp decrease in mortality and fertility rates due to the availability of better healthcare services has changed India’s demographic ratio with a rapid increase in the population of the elderly. So much so that it has acquired the label of “an ageing nation”, with at least 7.7 per cent of its population being more than 60 years old. These rising numbers of the elderly in India have brought along various associated medical, social, and economic problems.

Urbanisation, lifestyle changes and immigration are gradually loosening the family bonding leading to the neglect of elderly. The aged are being gradually forced to live on their own, thus enhancing their loneliness and resulting in physical and psychological aberrations.

Currently, India’s aging population has reached a whopping 80 million. By next year, it will reach 100 million. It will almost double up to 198 million by 2030. A majority of the elderly, almost 72 per cent, dwell in rural areas. About 48.2 per cent of the elderly persons are women, out of whom 55 per cent are widows and a majority of them have no support. In India, nearly 90 per cent octogenarians belong to the unorganised sector with no regular income. Only 10 per cent have access to pension and healthcare benefits, and hence belong to the organised sector. As many as 30 per cent live below the poverty line and a whopping 90 per cent (whose children are alive) live with their children.

Ageing and health

This year the theme of World Health Day 2012 was “Ageing and Health”. Ageing is a slow process that refers to the impact of passage of time on structure and function of different systems of body. It is an irreversible phenomenon, which is progressive in nature, beginning immediately after conception and halting only with the cessation of the heartbeat.

Genetic predisposition, quality of lifestyle and effects of all illnesses suffered by a person during one’s life period make ageing and health synchronous. Ageing has a great influence on all physiological or somatic functions of the body. In other words, brain is the actual engine of the body. Body reverberates physically and psychologically at the command of brain and the actual nutrition of brain is its inborn desire of true love and happiness. The values of love and empathy have been found to slow down the ageing process while negative emotions like hatred, anger, violence, ego, false pride, hasten it. The secret of keeping our cells healthy, blossoming and young is live-and-let-live attitude as a sound mind resides in a sound body and vice versa.

Common risk factors

Physical risk factors leading to early morbidity and mortality in old persons include physical inactivity, obesity, deleterious habits like smoking, excessive alcohol intake, tobacco consumption. These factors are apart from the prevalence of chronic disease conditions like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, rheumatism, cardio-vascular diseases, visual impairment, hearing loss, and accidents, including falls and trauma.

Psychosocial risk factors pose greater risk than physical risk factors. These include the breakdown of the existing family-support systems, position of the elderly in the home i.e., the role availability, husband-wife relations, satisfactory mental health, shortage of money, fear of neglect by family members, especially the daughter-in-law, death of the spouse and fear of one’s own death.

More recently, there has been a spurt in the cases of domestic violence against the elderly. Many of them are subjected to physical and verbal assaults and 80 per cent of perpetuators are family members.

India lacks in adequate social, recreational and rehabilitation facilities for the senior citizens. This makes them prone to feelings of loneliness and isolation which lead to various physical, psychological and psychosomatic illnesses, apart from triggering their pre-existent disease conditions. By and large, research studies have found that non-institutionalised older people are better adjusted than institutionalised old people, as family support is the fountainhead of happiness. In more practical terms, happiness in old age depends significantly on having a busy life, good health, access to funds, family support, having a spouse and social contacts.

Psycho-physical problems

Old people’s vulnerability to diseases is multifold as a result of impaired immunity which makes them prone to communicable diseases and reactivation of latent infections in the body.

Common psychological problems manifesting in the elderly are — delirium, dementia, depressive disorders, loneliness, short-term memory loss, poor intellectual functioning, schizophrenia and delusional, anxiety, sleep and personality disorders and common confusions.

Physical problems are characterised by depletion in cardiac reserve, gradual development of senile emphysema, diminishing respiratory functions, thickening of arteries, involution of the endocrine system, compromised immunity, slowing of reflexes, diminishing eyesight and power of hearing and reduced stamina. At times, the degenerative physiology of renal system, nervous system and joints progresses to pathological processes. Cardiovascular problems, Alzheimer’s disease and the associated dementia in the elderly, too, are taking a toll on the health economics of our country.

Ageing is associated with multi-system degenerative diseases resulting in impaired mobility leading to the aggravation of loneliness, feelings of despair and agony. Furthermore, impaired mobility directly leads to non-access to healthcare facilities and resources by the elderly.

Need of the hour

The government needs to undertake massive, propulsive, compulsive and sustained efforts to rehabilitate the elderly from the point of view of health and finances. And to achieve this, the outlook of the government needs to undergo a radical change. The need of the hour is to take a proactive approach. All categories of health workers working at the grassroots level in the community should be trained in undertaking mass disease screening camps, preventive health campaigns, palliative care programmes in rural community as well as providing timely geriatric guidance and counselling services to vulnerable families of the community.

The Central Government should construct more old age homes and rehabilitate the elderly population with compulsory pension benefits like those in European and American countries. Most old age homes in India are not well planned and need to be inspected and assessed for safety measures. These measures include provision of ramps, special furniture, railings, grab bars and hygienic toilet facilities. Social networking facilities e.g. common prayer rooms, reading rooms with library facility, recreational and indoor games facilities etc, too should be provided in these homes under the strict guidance of health inspectors.

Schoolchildren and youth must be roped in to act as promoters of geriatric health in our country and for this purpose schools could introduce an “adopt-a-grandparent” scheme to uplift those old people who are fragile, immovable, ill and bed-ridden. Given a well-developed, comprehensive social and healthcare programme their contribution could be substantial by utilising their vast knowledge and rich experiences.

The Medical Council of India (MCI), New Delhi, too, should do its bit and start a postgraduate course in geriatrics. Even the Indian Nursing Council (INC) can also start a speciality of nursing, M. Sc in geriatric health nursing, to cater to the needs of the elderly.

A timely initiative in this direction by policy-makers is urgently required. There is a need to highlight the medical and socio-economic problems that are being faced by the elderly in India, and immediate strategies are needed for bringing about an improvement in their quality of life.

Dr Neki is Professor of Medicine, Goverment Medical College, Amritsar.

Ms Saini is Associate Professor and HoD, Department of Community Health Nursing, Rayat-Bahra College of Nursing, Mohali