The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Politics of violence in B’desh
Death sentence causes polarisation

The rising number of killings and the involvement of political activists in incidents of violence after the International War Crimes Tribunal handed the death sentence to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami vice-president Delawar Hossain Sayedee have led to a massive exodus of people into India in search of safety.

Law and order became the first casualty with the opposition camp seeing politics behind the trial and conviction of those accused of war crimes during the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh. People are not sure of safety as political violence has engulfed a large part of the country with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Begum Khaleda Zia having joined the Jamaat in accusing the Awami League government, headed by Sheikh Hasina, of influencing the Tribunal’s functioning.

Supporters of Sayedee, a religio-political leader, who has been found guilty of involvement in the 1971 atrocities against people along with the Pakistan army, have thrown up a serious challenge to the administrative machinery in Bangladesh. They are targeting the security forces wherever they can. However, they could not have succeeded in paralysing the administration as much as they have if they had no support from the BNP. Begum Zia’s party, however, could be expected to be on the side of the Jamaat as both were together in the government before the Awami League captured power from them. But how the BNP will be able to convince its supporters of its stand being justified remains to be seen. After all, the issue relates to the crimes committed against the people in collaboration with the Pakistan army.

Begum Zia has alleged that “no judge (of the Tribunal) can now independently try the accused after her (Hasina’s) call asking them to be sympathetic to the demands for death sentence to war criminals.” The Jamaat, too, has described the process of punishing war criminals as being aimed “more at settling scores than delivering justice”. The rightist leader is the third person to have been convicted of war crimes. Two leaders associated with the BNP are also being tried by the Tribunal. But looking at their crimes from a political angle will not be fair. Crime is crime. Politicisation of the judicial process will harm Bangladesh beyond repair.

Our English
We are like this only

Poor Professor Henry Higgins, the timeless creation of George Bernard Shaw in “Pygmalion”, would be definitely turning in his metaphorical grave if he chanced on the Classes IX and XI English examination question papers that students in Chandigarh had to take.

There it was, English quite unlike what the Queen would recognise. One wonders if any of the students had seen “My Fair Lady”. If they did, they might have muttered that the examiner was “nothing but exasperating, irritating, vacillating, calculating, agitating, maddening and infuriating...” No doubt, it was. Mistakes galore, missing articles, misplaced punctuation, the works. It is unpardonable to put school students in such a situation. The Queen’s English may or may not have left the Indian shores after the British left India, a mistake is a mistake. And there can be no defence for it. It is unpardonable to allow a question paper full of errors, grammatical as well as typographical, to be printed, leave alone reach the students.

Over a century ago, came the highly informative volume “Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive.” Some of the definitions still hold true, even as others bring a smile to the face of the reader. However, even as the English struggled with the documentation of words that had crept into English of the Raj during its heyday, they acknowledged, in the words of the famous Henry Higgins: “There even are places where English completely disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years!”

Yes, Indian English is a recognised form of the language, but proper grammar and punctuation are expected, no matter which regional touch the English language takes. Even the Americans know that; in fact, they are rather punctilious about it. It was Hollywood that turned Bernard Shaw’s century-old play “Pygmalion” into the magnificent movie it became. Even as examiners seek ideal students, they must ensure that their own standards are impeccable. Anything less than that is unacceptable.

Thought for the Day

No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed. —Harold MacMillan

ARTICLE

Troubled Pak province
Islamabad coming to terms with reality in Balochistan
by T.V. Rajeswar

THE problem province of Balochistan in Pakistan continues to simmer. It has always been a source of conflict and headache to the Government of Pakistan. The geographical parameters of the province are such that they are prone to generate conflicts. The western part of Balochistan borders Iran while the northern part borders Afghanistan. The Gulf of Oman marks its southern border. The Balochis trace their origin to the central Caspian region. They have had close affinities with this region.

When Pakistan and India became independent in 1947, the British gave the Baloch tribes the choice of joining either Pakistan or India. Baloch tribal leaders, however, were against joining either of these two countries and instead wanted to be an independent State of Balochistan. Lord Mountbattan thought that Balochistan would not be able to survive as an independent country and decided to declare it as a part of Pakistan.

Early in 2012, a group of US Congressmen suggested a novel solution to bring about peace in the Af-Pak region as well as in Afghanistan. It suggested recognising Balochistan an independent state and thereby ensuring peace. However, the idea was dropped later on as being impractical. One of the Balochi leaders, Suleiman Khan, said that they had no desire to be a part of Pakistan. But they were given no choice and were "sold down the river". However, the Balochi leaders tried to negotiate with Pakistan to secure at least autonomy for retaining the authority over land and natural resources. But Pakistan integrated Balochistan as one of its four provinces and more or less completely erased the Balochi identity. With a population only 7.5 million, Balochistan is the largest of the four provinces of Pakistan. But the people of Balochistan are behind the rest of the Pakistanis in terms of education and social development, and as much as its 63 per cent of its people are living below poverty line. The people even lack safe drinking water and electricity. All these have led to a state of continuous discontent and hatred towards Pakistani rulers. There have been periodic outbreaks of insurgency which had been put down ruthlessly by the Pakistan Army.

The Balochi tribes took up arms and have resorted to a continuous guerrilla warfare. They had their bases in the region of Marri and Bugti. The insurgents bombed railway tracks and ambushed the convoys. The Pakistan Army retaliated ruthlessly and put down the conflicts that erupted in the shape of Guerrilla warfare in 2004, 2006 and 2009. In August 2009 the Khan of Kalat, tribal leader as a ruler of Balochistan, formally announced a council for independent Balochistan.

It is of interest to recall that after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani met at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in July 2009. They considered the entire gamut of bilateral relations with a view to charting the way forward for India-Pakistan better relations. Both leaders agreed that terrorism was the main threat to both countries. They affirmed their resolve to fight terrorism and cooperate with each other to this end. Dr Manmohan Singh reiterated the need to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks on 26/11, 2008, to justice. Gilani assured that Pakistan would do everything in its power in this matter.

He added that he had requested Dr Manmohan Singh for additional information with regard to the Mumbai attacks and that he had been promised it by Dr Singh before concluding the joint statement. Gilani inserted a crucial sentence. It created a lot of controversy in India later. What Gilani said was that Pakistan had some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas. It was a very vague statement and how India was concerned about it was not said, but it was to be presumed that India was possibly behind it.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of supporting the Baluch rebels in order to destabilise the country. India and the US have denied the charge. America, also accused of supporting a prominent Baluchi leader, Jundallah, for engineering a continuous insurgency in Balochistan. Mohammed Daoud Khan, one of the prominent tribal leaders, had stated that he would accept aid from India in case it was extended. However, in the lawless area of Balochistan and the Baloch-Afghanistan region, India had scrupulously avoided getting involved. Former Pak-Af envoy Richard Holbrooke had declared that Pakistan had failed to provide any evidence to the United States that India was involved in separatist movements in Balochistan. The US did not consider Pakistan's accusation against India credible. Holbrooke also strongly rejected that allegation India was using consulates in Afghanistan as launching pads for extending arms aid.

There are reports of Pakistan having given China access to the naval base at Gwadar, a crucial spot in western Balochistan adjoining the Gulf of Oman. Selig S. Harrison of the Center for International Policy, a well-known think tank, wrote in February 2011 suggesting that America should support Balochi tribes for weakening the Islamabad-Beijing links.

It has been reported that the Pakistan Army had been ruthlessly suppressing the Balochi rebels. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in an interim order issued in October 2012 boldly held Pakistani agencies responsible for carrying out extra-judicial killings, abducting of common political kids and executing human rights activists. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the paramilitary forces and law enforcement agencies had committed serious violations of human rights in putting down Baluch insurgency. The US also expressed its concern over growing instability in Balochistan. There were as many as 2300 incidents of bomb blasts and rocket attacks and dumping of over 750 bodies which were the casualties in the ruthless suppression by the Pakistan Army while handing Balochi insurgency.

There are reports of an upsurge currently in Balochistan and the Pakistan Government has imposed Governor's rule effective from January 14, 2012, after dismissing the Balochi provincial government headed by Nawab Islam. The Supreme Court, presided over by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, found fault with Pakistani law enforcement agencies having imposed a regime of terror and suppressed human rights. Balochi students based in London have appealed to the United Nation for intervention to protect the human rights of the people of Balochistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had recently assured a Balochi delegation that the imposition of Governor's rule in Balochistan would be reconsidered and the provincial government might be restored soon. Pakistan Interim Minister Rehman Malik also said that the general elections in Balochistan would be held on time and in a democratic manner.

It is to be hoped that the Government of Pakistan would hold the elections in Balochistan as promised and would allow a popular government to assume power. Ushering in of a popular government may bring about peace and development in Balochistan.

MIDDLE

More an Indian than a Swiss
by S.S. Bhatti

THE world fame of Chandigarh, we fondly call the “City Beautiful”, has made Le Corbusier’s name household so much so that in the historic achievement of this unique creation in modern urbanism we tend to attribute many things to the master architect that he never even attempted.

According to my study, it has become clear that without the enormous contribution of his cousin Pierre Jeanneret (PJ), this city would not have become what is now recognised to be worldwide. If Le Corbusier gave it its skeleton (master plan), among other things, besides its ‘head’ (the Capitol Complex) and ‘heart’ (Sector 17 City Centre), PJ filled it with flesh and blood to impart it a distinct urbanscape and imageability — whose beauty is constantly celebrated in sun, space and verdure.

PJ’s design for the Architects’ Office in Sector 19 is a landmark of what has now come to be called environment-friendly, energy-efficient architecture. The Chandigarh Administration has set up Le Corbusier Centre in this building which I insist should be named Pierre Jeanneret Bhawan. Both PJ and Le Corbusier should be conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously, for it is they who had put India on the world-map of modern architecture and
town planning.

Pierre Jeanneret (March 2, 1896, Geneva — December 4, 1967) was a Swiss architect who had collaborated with Le Corbusier for about 20 years before the Chandigarh Capital Project reunited them in 1951. Their working relationship ended when Pierre joined the French Resistance and Le Corbusier did not. PJ worked on the city-site for 14 years in the capacity of chief architect and chief town planning adviser and designed a staggering variety of building-types, including housing and schools, and campuses such as Panjab University and Gandhi Bhawan as well as furniture.

PJ was summoned to Chandigarh in 1951 by Le Corbusier and stayed here until his retirement in December 1965. During this period his contribution to Le Corbusier’s oeuvre in Chandigarh is significant. He was the technological overseer who carried out on site the master architect’s designs prepared in Paris, translating them into actual buildings. Jeanneret was a great teacher, with a poetic way of imparting instruction, guiding his staff by an inviolable principle that “there was always time for worthwhile things”.

It is important that future generations of architects are made familiar with the spiritual climate of work created by PJ. After office hours he would regularly go to each drawing board to check the day’s work done by his assistants, to make corrections and offer suggestions for improvement. If he noticed anyone staying beyond 5 pm he would politely accost him thus: “No, no. You don’t have to impress me. Go home, your time is up!”

When the time came for Jeanneret to leave India, this man, who loved India with an intensity few Indians can boast of, bade a touching farewell to the land of his adoption saying, “I now leave my home, and go to a foreign country.” He gifted all his belongings, including his car, to his servant Bansi.

Pierre Jeanneret had willed that his ashes be immersed in Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake so that they become part of an environment he had so lovingly built, and so passionately loved. His niece Jacquiline Jeanneret came here on a special mission to perform the willed ritual.

OPED Agriculture

Achieving crop diversification in Punjab
After a period of prosperity, the Green Revolution today stands for stagnation and environmental degradation. To intensify and diversify agriculture is the answer, and that requires new policy, technology, and markets
Dr Manjit S Kang

Pulses (moong, above) and cereals like bajra and jowar require less water than the rice-wheat combination. Tribune file photos

Agricultural diversification is traditionally associated with subsistence farming and is an extremely important aspect of food security at the household level. It is generally agreed that agricultural diversification helps humans obtain food security and improved, healthful foods.

In addition, it helps create jobs in rural areas. It has favorable impact on soil fertility and enhances the capacity of land to produce more, besides controlling destructive crop pests. Agricultural diversification is an important mechanism for economic development, especially in rural areas.

After the advent of the Green Revolution in the late 1960s-early 1970s, crop diversification disappeared with the predominant adoption of rice-wheat monoculture in north-western India, especially in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP. In addition to losing crop diversification, many other problems, both environmental and agricultural, have surfaced (depletion of underground water, loss of soil health, and environmental pollution to name a few). There has been much discussion on crop diversification during the past couple of decades. Crop diversification basically means increasing area under various high-value crops and reducing area under the prevalent rice-wheat monoculture.

There is much wisdom in the saying that we should not put all our eggs in one basket. The adoption of the rice-wheat system is in total violation of this adage. We should neither grow a single crop variety in a locale nor should we adopt a single crop or a single cropping cycle. To know ‘monoculture’ or homogeneity can lead to disastrous consequences, we only need to revisit the 1970 maize catastrophe in the US, which was caused by a fungal disease called southern corn leaf blight.

At that time, maize hybrids were produced by use of a single source of cytoplasm (female), called Texas-type or T-cytoplasm. In 1970, about 80 per cent of the area under maize in the US was planted to hybrids produced by the use of T-cytoplasm. Wherever maize involving T-cytoplasm had been planted, a serious outbreak of southern corn leaf blight occurred, causing millions of dollars worth of crop loss. The lesson we should learn from that disaster is that we need diversification at all levels.

Green Revolution

In Punjab, 20 to 25 per cent of foodgrains (rice and wheat) stored in the open go waste. It makes sense to shift 10 to 20 per cent area under rice and wheat to other crops, like maize.

For the purpose of ensuring food security of India, the Green Revolution in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP — called the food bowl of India — adopted the rice-wheat cropping cycle, forsaking diversification. Thus, crop diversity disappeared from this highly productive agricultural area. Ironically, the adoption of this cropping pattern, which eventually caused environmental and agricultural problems of grave magnitude, coincided with the southern corn leaf blight disaster.

There were three main reasons for the Green Revolution in Punjab. First, scientists of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) developed new varieties of wheat after crossing the local wheats with some highly productive, short-statured Mexican wheats that were provided to them by Dr Norman Borlaug in the mid-1960s.

Second, industrious Punjab farmers were highly receptive to adopting novel technologies. Third, government policies were conducive to the development of agriculture and promotion of Green Revolution. For example, irrigation facilities and inputs (fertilisers) were made available to the farming community.

Benefits of the Green Revolution soon began to be realised as wheat production jumped, between 1965 and 1972, from 1.9 million tonnes to 5.6 million tonnes, further increasing to 15.8 million tonnes in 2007-08. Rice production increased from 1.03 million tonnes in 1970-71 to 15.7 million in 2007-08. India achieved self-sufficiency in wheat production in 1972 and in rice a couple of years later. One of the wheat varieties, WL711, was adopted across a wide area (even in Pakistan). Another variety, PBW 343, released in 1995, alone began to give annual returns of 200 million dollars (Rs 1,000 crore) to farmers. Thus, farmers’ incomes soared, and with government-assured marketing through the establishment of minimum support price, rice-wheat system took a firm hold in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP. This was the death knell for crop diversification.

Before the Green Revolution, Punjab farmers used to cultivate more than 200 different crops. However after it, the area under rice-wheat rotation began to increase and that under other crops such as maize, millets (bajra), jowar, sugarcane, groundnut, pulses, gram, barley, mustard, etc., began to decrease. The per capita annual consumption of pulses used to be 27 kg in 1958-59, but it declined to 13 kg in 2010 (a 53 per cent decrease). The reason for this was a decline in production of pulses and increase in prices. The National Food Security Mission did not place much emphasis on enhancing the production of pulses.

The way forward

Agricultural diversification can be brought about by the development of new technology, consumer demand, change in government policy, and trade arrangements. However, it can be impeded by market risk and prices, degradation of natural resources, and socio-economic requirements (example job creation). It can also be hampered by reliance on certain crops for food security or by need to acquire foreign exchange through crops and cattle. Many of these hindrances to crop diversification are prevalent in Punjab.

There is a dire need to accelerate research on those crops that were overlooked during the Green Revolution. The Central Government has made some efforts in this regard. Some of the pertinent schemes that promote non-food-security crops are: ISOPOM (Integrated Scheme of Oil, Pulses, Oil-palm, and Maize), implemented in 14 states; National Food Security Mission (for pulses); Rashtri Krishi Vikas Yojna, under which states could give a fillip to the cultivation of pulses; and Rs 300 crore were earmarked for establishing “pulses villages”. Under this scheme, special “arhar villages” are being set up.

What is needed most at this stage to bring about crop diversification is for the Central Government to assure the marketing of crops other than rice and wheat so that farmers can get out of the vicious cycle of rice-wheat monoculture. By promoting other crops, water can be saved because many of the pulses, bajra, jowar, etc. being adapted to arid environments, demand much less water than the rice-wheat combination.

According to Dr Alexander Mueller, ADG for Natural Resources with the FAO, only about 50 per cent of the food produced is actually consumed; the rest is lost in storage, distribution and at the level of end users. In my opinion, in Punjab, 20 to 25 per cent of the foodgrains (rice and wheat) stored in the open go waste. Instead of wasting these precious stocks, 10 to 20 per cent area under rice and wheat should be shifted to other crops in a phased manner. By doing so, we can save our precious natural resources, improve environment and enhance diversification. Pulses can improve soil health and fertility.

Cut area under rice

The 1986 report of a diversification committee appointed by the Punjab Government needs to be implemented. The committee had recommended that the area under rice should be reduced by 20 per cent.

The Chinese saying, “If you think one year ahead, grow rice; if you think 10 years ahead, grow trees; and if you think 100 years ahead, educate people” is most appropriate here. It shows the need for and importance of far-sighted visionary policies. The problems generated by the Green Revolution were the result of lack of such policies in India.

The Prime Minister has been emphasising the need for a second Green Revolution. The first Green Revolution helped farmers in irrigated areas. The second needs to help farmers in rainfed areas. If underground water continues to disappear in Punjab, the state will be rendered ‘rainfed’. New cropping patterns requiring less water are needed for the Indo-Gangetic plains.

According to noted agricultural scientist, Dr MS Swaminathan, without intensification and diversification of agriculture, India will face a serious social upheaval because agriculture (including crop and animal husbandry, forestry, agro-forestry, fisheries, and agro-industry) creates jobs for more than 70 per cent of the population. For poverty alleviation and rural development, intensification and diversification of agriculture and value-addition of produce are extremely necessary.

What to do

Shun single cropping cycle. ‘Monoculture’ or homogeneity can lead to disastrous consequences

Market risk and prices, degradation of natural resources, reliance on certain crops for food security can impede diversification

Accelerate research on crops that were overlooked during the Green Revolution; promote non-food-security crops

Assure trade arrangements of crops other than rice and wheat

10 to 20 per cent area under rice and wheat should be shifted to other crops

The writer is a former Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana