The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Putin’s macho image
And honesty of divorce, at last

Presidents are known to maintain the politically correct stance to appease people. But President Putin of Russia is known to be different. Putin, who shares his first name with Lenin, has been known for brandishing Kalashnikovs, exhibiting his six-pack abs, riding a Harley Davidson, wild horses, or flying with cranes in Siberia to maintain his macho image. So, when he announced rather clinically that he and his wife of 30 years, Lyudmila, have decided to officially end their marriage, it amused not only 143 million Russians but also people across the world.

Putin joins Italy's infamous Silvio Berlusconi and France's Nicolas Sarkozy, both of whom also divorced while holding the top office. Divorce is not uncommon in Russia, but Putin and his wife have been officially known to be supporters of the Orthodox Church, which is not kind to the unchristian way of ending a marriage. Russia has seen a steep rise in the divorce rate; nearly 700,000 pairs dissolved their marriages in 2009. So far, the divorce of the Russian President is viewed with sympathy; Lyudmila is known for her dislike and fatigue for public life and Putin has shown to be understanding. But if the marriage is dissolved for a trophy wife, as was rumoured in the Russian media, Putin may lose following for that macho image, built on the efforts of digital photography for the 60-year-old President.

Across the globe, leaders are expected to show honesty in their personal lives as in their public offices. This is a far cry from what we witness in our country. Corrupt and dishonest men caught in criminal acts like Gopal Kanda, Amarmani Tripathi (convicted for the murder of Madhumita Shukla) and twice accused of sexual harassment CEO of iGATE Phaneesh Murthy found their wives to be their best cheer-leaders. Losing a powerful husband means losing many comforts in life. Lyudmila, more than Putin, has shown more courage and honesty by opting for a divorce.

Be pragmatic
Don’t segregate women for security

Since the Delhi gang rape case of December 16, ministries have been vying with one another to offer novel ways of providing more and more security to women, to the extent of segregating and ghettoising them. Since 2014 happens to be the election year, it becomes all the more important that Indian women perceive the seriousness of the government in handling all such issues. It’s a different matter that Preeti Rathi succumbed to her injuries caused by an acid attack at Bandra terminus in Mumbai on May 2. And the Railway Police continues to be clueless about the culprits even after a month.

Now the Finance Ministry has come up with some outdated solutions under a new plan to help women find a strong footing. To begin with, the ministry offers to set up six branches of all women banks across the country. And how do the banks, manned by women ‘mostly’ help other women? By offering loans. The same loans have been offered for decades under various schemes such as Stree Shakti (State Bank of India), Priyadarshini (Bank of India), Can Mahila (Canara Bank), Viklang Mahila Vikas Yojna (Union Bank of India), Nari Shakti ( UCO Bank), Cent Kalyani (Central Bank of India), Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), The National Credit Fund for Women (NCFW) and TREAD (Trade-Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development Scheme for Women), to name just a few.

For all these years the problems of female credit seekers have remained unchanged - lack of collateral as very few women own property in their sole name and scepticism about their capabilities. After an all-women bank, the ministry might plan all-women distributors, all-women markets, etc. In the 21st century segregating women is not a pragmatic solution to gender-related issues. Since so many schemes aimed at “helping” women failed to bring them to an equal pedestal, the planners should question the old approach presented under a new garb.

Thought for the Day

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

— Charles Caleb Colton

ARTICLE

Change of govt in Pakistan
Will Islamabad behave differently now?
by T V Rajeswar

Nawaz Sharif has assumed office as the Prime Minister of Pakistan after a historic election, with the army sitting back and watching the electoral process go ahead. Soon after the election results were out, showing his party, the PML (N), winning a majority in the National Assembly Nawaz Sharif said that he looked forward to visiting India even if he was not invited. Dr Manmohan Singh promptly responded with an invitation to the Pakistani leader to visit Delhi. Dr Singh went a step ahead and despatched veteran diplomat Satinder K Lambah as a special envoy to meet Nawaz Sharif and work out the visit. Lambah is popularly known as a veteran diplomat on Indo-Pak matters for over a decade. He was involved in the back channel discussions with so many Pakistan leaders, including General Musharraf.

Satinder Lambah was born in Peshawar and he is thereby a continental expert on Indo-Pak affairs as well as Afghanistan issues. His return to Delhi from Islamabad after a discussion with Nawaz Sharif was eagerly awaited.

What are the issues which Pakistan has to face while discussing with India? Stephen P Cohen, the veteran American political analyst and an authority on Pakistan and South Asian affairs, has said that Pakistan’s well-known problems continued and there was a race between growing incompetence and problems. The challenges facing Pakistan are serious internal insurgency, sectarianism, a struggling economy and an uncertain civil-military relationship.

Cohen went on to say that the whole world now wanted to see a Pakistan that is stable and willing to further normalise relations with its neighbours. India and Pakistan should take the lead in promoting regional cooperation which will include trade, energy and environmental issues, let alone an understanding of how to manage their nuclear weapons programmes.

Cohen also said that India needs a stable and forward-looking government in Pakistan, one that has the confidence of the Pakistan army and can move forward. New Delhi should provide assurances and inducements to Pakistan, and this should become the agenda of their shared future and not another 65 years of hostility.

While on a visit to Saudi Arabia, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was asked whether there was a possibility of Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Pakistan, now that Sharif had planned to visit to India. Khurshid said that it was too early to say if the Indian Prime Minister would visit Pakistan but Dr Manmohan Singh had an open mind on the subject. Obviously, everything would depend on the outcome of the visit of the Pakistan Prime Minister to India during this year.

During the electioneering campaign in Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif had said that insurgency had no role in Indo-Pak affairs and all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, would be resolved peacefully. There was a report from Pakistan that Sharif was reviewing the progress made in prosecuting those involved in the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. If true this was a good sign. Hopefully, it will be taken to its logical conclusion.

Speaking to media persons after elections were over, Sharif said that the Pakistan constitution made it clear that the army was under the control of the civilian government and he would ensure that it would remain that way. It will, therefore, also imply that the ISI would be effectively monitored by the government and that it would not be at liberty to conduct any rogue operations in India.

At another level, Sharif would be judged on what he does to rein in the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa and their chief Hafiz Saeed as well as the training centre of Lashkar-e-Taiba at Muridke.

A report from Islamabad in April said that some of Pakistan's best educated men were being dispatched to die in the unending conflict with India over Kashmir with Punjab providing the bulk of cannon fodder. Based on historical precedents, the study on “The Fighters of LeT Recruitment Training, Deployment and Death’ warns that the reduction of the US footprint in Afghanistan could bring them back to Kashmir.

It may be noted that this study was conducted with the support of the Combating Terrorism Centre at the US Military Academy, West Point. According to the study, the expansive and overt presence of LeT throughout the country and its ability to recruit from schools, mosques and madrasas besides circulate its publications continued.

If Nawaz Sharif really believes that Islamic insurgency has no role to play in Indo-Pakistan relations henceforth, he should enforce immediate control and effectively neutralise LeT and its parallel organisation, the Jamat-ud-Dawa.

Professor V.S. Subramanian, Head of the Computer Studies in the University of Maryland, has made an extensive computer study of the activities of various Islamic insurgency groups, including LeT. Addressing the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi recently, Professor Subramanian gave an exposition of the activities of the various insurgent groups in several hotspots in West Asia and the Indian subcontinent. When asked specifically whether LeT was likely to resort to insurgency activities in India in the foreseeable future, he replied that LeT was likely to carry out attacks in small towns in India. He could not be more specific in the sense where these attacks are likely to take place. Even though this information was of limited use, it is enough to show that LeT has still not given up its hostility towards India and that it will continue to carry out attacks sooner or later. When asked whether the return of Nawaz Sharif to power in Pakistan and his positive approach to India would make any difference to his forecast, Dr Subramanian said that it would make no difference since Sharif did not effectively check the activities of LeT during his first term. Be that as it may, one hopes the emerging situation would lead to amicable relations between the two countries and insurgent groups like LeT would be held on a tight leash.

After the elections in Pakistan, when Sharif was making initial conciliatory statements about India, Hafiz Saeed warned him to go slow in his friendly approach to India. All these factors are enough to show that LeT has not at all given up its hostility towards India.

On the economic front however, Nawaz has to take positive steps to finalise the decision to accord the "most-favoured nation" trading status to India, and thereby encourage an improvement in economic ties, consistent with his policy during his previous tenure as Prime Minister. It is also of significance that he has announced a dialogue with India on Kashmir. India can pick up the threads of the back-channel dialogue conducted during General Musharraf’s time.

MIDDLE

Kings, queens & concubines
by Rajbir Deswal

Standing on the ramparts of the famous and almost impregnable Golkonda Fort, near Hyderabad, the guide pointed to a structure below, more excited than us, telling about the love of one of the Qutub Shahi kings for a nauch-girl for whom he got "that" structure made and that he used to frequent her "despite rain or hell"! Nearer home at Hisar, they have a Gujri Mahal which again claims its coming into being there to the king's love for a local Gujri tribal girl.

Such stories are so common as to baffle a reasonable mind if the kings had no other occupation than to be so adventurous and dotting on their concubines, although nothing would have stopped them from having their flames in their "closer, intimate and safe chambers" -otherwise also very well-lit. I hope you got the point. I remember Nigar Sultana telling Madhubala in Mughal-e-Azam, “Mehlon ke kissay kahaniyan tum kya jano!" (How would you know about the palace intrigues?) Well, they all had the king, the queen and the concubines mostly in the plot that always remained thickening and many times got bloody too.

Coming back to the Raja-Rani commitments and near-obeisance, it’s not blasphemous to generally not ascribe royalty to the superiority quotient of ambitious men and women, but giving it an altogether different dimension of the amorous inclination among the differently gendered homo-sapiens. Kings and queens have existed for one another ever since they swore by their mutual love. And for this very (read emoto-carnal!) reason, even a pauper calls his love ‘Rani’ and, mutually sustaining, gets addressed as ‘Raja’!

Historically speaking, while kings might have had a large number of queens and concubines in their harem, it generally had never been that a queen might have more than one king — obviously. If you cite the example of Yudhishthir in the Mahabharata, where Draupadi had four husbands besides him, then remember that it was only he who was called Raja — Raja Yudhishthir — and none else among the foursome Pandavas.

History, tales, gossip and anecdotes in the Indian context confirm queens of various kinds, mostly as per the kings' accreditation and acceptance of them. Well, the senior-most could be a Maharani while the most loved one was Patrani; the latter also shared some home-truths with the king. The youngest of them all (the blue-eyed one — sic!) seemed to have everyone’s love and affection besides that of the king, who did have a blind spot for her capriciousness. The one who did not bear children was the Kaag-Udani - the one who had to scare away the crows on the palace-parapets. The one who took liberty with the king must have been a silly-blabber-mouth rubbished as the 'Munh-Lagi' — Urdu has a beautiful phrase, 'Manzoor-e-nazar', for the likes of her. Then there were the dancers and informers generally called ‘Baandi’ or ‘Daasi’

To end it all, a legend from a classic. A king was gifted the ‘Fruit of Immortality’ by a sage. The king thought he had grown old enough and that his queen might need it more than him. He gifted it to her. She was in love with the ‘senapati’ — commander of the king’s forces — thinking that he needed it more than anyone else. She gifted the fruit to him. Now he thought it was best deserved by his ‘keep’ who also was in the harem of the king. As if the fruit was an object to be handed over to the next runner in a relay-race, the fruit landed with the ‘keep’. She thought of her poor predicament and, seeking more proximity to the king in the hope of becoming his favorite queen, passed it on to the king. Now please don’t ask me what the king thought of it all but of the kings, queens and concubines.

OPED — HEALTH

Pain of logging in
One-third of the computer work force is suffering from occupational hazards of computerisation. Long working hours on computers can cause problems related to eyes, the musculoskeletal system, weight, mental stress and even cardiovascular diseases
Dr Ravi Gupta

About 8-10 per cent of the computer workers suffer from repetitive strain injuries (RSI) due to repetitive motion of the fingers on the computers every year
Photos: Thinkstock

IN the last few years, computerisation has grown exponentially all over the world. In today’s life, all services, industries, offices and even homes are dependent on information technology and computers. Its use in the middle and high-class society is almost 100 per cent. Although it has proved to be a boon in terms of speed and accuracy of tasks, but it has also brought many occupational hazards with it. According to estimates, about one-third of the computer work force is suffering from occupational hazards of computerisation. The long working hours on the computers are known to result in problems related to eyes, musculoskeletal system, overweight/ obesity, mental stress and even cardiovascular diseases.

Magnitude of problem

According to studies from the developed world about 8-10 per cent of the computer workers suffer from repetitive strain injuries (RSI) due to repetitive motion of the fingers on the computers every year.

Since India has emerged as a global leader in the computer and the IT industry, the hazards of this occupation has also risen in India in a proportionate manner. One of the early studies from India has revealed that 40 per cent-50 per cent of computer workers suffer from fatigue while more than 40 per cent suffer from problems of hands, arms and neck. Recently, even the problems of low backache and high blood pressure have been revealed among these workers. The various problems related to the work on computers are as under:

Musculoskeletal disorders

Pain in forearm and wrist: The repeated movement of the fingers on the key board requires the same muscles of the hand and forearm to contract and relax at a fast speed resulting into a disease known as repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS): CTS has a high incidence in the western countries. Now it is being reported more and more from Indian IT professionals as well. This happens due to pressure on a nerve (median nerve) at the level of the wrist while it passes through a closed wall tunnel (carpal tunnel) which contains various muscles and tendons in addition to the median nerve. Due to repeated movements of the tendons and muscles of the hand, there occurs some oedema and inflammation around the tendons resulting into crowding of the space in the tunnel. Additionally, due to a continuous posture of dorsiflexion of the wrist (upward movement of hand over the forearm) in the computer workers, the space in the tunnel gets reduced. Both these factors cause increased pressure on the median nerve inside the tunnel. The symptoms of the CTS include numbness and pain in the first three fingers of the hand which if untreated results into the weakness of the grip strength of the hand.

Trigger finger: This is another problem reported in the computer workers in which the patient complains of jerky movement of one of the fingers (usually middle/ ring and little fingers) especially in the morning. This results due to inflammation and oedema around the tendon of the fingers which results into obstruction in the smooth movement of the tendon in its sheath.

De Quervain’s disease: This problem is caused by inflammation inside the tendon sheath of the thumb. The patient complains of pain at the base of the thumb. This has been reported to be more common in the computer professionals.

Strain of muscles of shoulder and upper neck: Working on the computer requires continuous maintenance of a static posture in front of the computer screen which involves continuous work of the muscles of the neck, shoulder and arm resulting into chronic strain. Sometimes, the cause of the pain in the neck is also related to the enhanced mental stress of the work.

Pain of cervical and lumbar spine: The human spine is not straight. It has a forward curvature in cervical spine (neck), a backward curvature in thoracic spine (back of chest), again a forward curvature in the lumbar spine (back of abdomen) and again a backward curvature in the sacral spine (centre of buttocks). Normally, there is a balance between all curvatures. Wrong postures of the computer professionals are responsible for neck pain. Forward head posture (FHP), which is observed in many IT professionals, to stare at the computer screen continuously has been observed to be responsible for developing painful straight spine syndrome.

Similarly, sitting for long hours disturbs the spinal mobility and increases the risk of FHP which places greater stress on the thoracic and the lumbo-sacral spine creating para-spinal muscular spasm and pain.

Since there is wide variation in the anthropometric measurements of the back amongst different individuals, so it is not possible to achieve universally sound ergonomics in workplace. Individuals of different heights use the same height of chairs resulting into bad ergonomics. The short-statured individuals (height less than 160 centimetres) need a footrest for the support of the feet in order to have proper posture. Additionally, backache in young subjects is frequently due to lack of back support.

Recently 11 per cent IT professionals, majority of whom had experience of more than seven years, were reported to be suffering from back pain emerging from sacroiliac joint.

Computer vision syndrome

Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is a combination of eye and vision problems related to near work which are experienced during computer use. CVS is characterised by visual symptoms which result from interaction with a computer display or its environment. It results from continuous demand from the eyes beyond the capacities of the individual. The problem is more common among video display terminal (VDT) workers.

Most studies indicate that visual symptoms occur in 50-90 per cent of VDT workers. A survey of optometrists indicated that 10 million primary eye care examinations are provided annually in USA primarily because of visual problems at VDTs – which is a huge public health issue. Vision problems also result in poor work performance.

There appears to be a misconception regarding the nature and extent of vision problems related to VDT use. There are unfounded reports of cataracts caused by VDTs, exaggerated manufacturer claims about the need for UV and other radiation protections, and misleading statements about the effects of specialty tinted and coated lenses (e.g., computer glasses).

Visual symptoms increase with working time on the systems in the majority of cases. In a large study of 4,000 schoolchildren, visual discomfort was noted if viewing time is more than 60 minutes a day. The continuous staring on the monitor requires convergence and accommodation of the vision causing visual discomfort. Eye-monitor ergonomics plays a greater role in preventing these symptoms. The other problem of the eye related to the use of the computers is the red eye syndrome which happens from drying of the eye due to reduced blinking and can be prevented by awareness.

Visual symptoms can be grouped as

Simple eye strain which recovers with little awareness and care.

Asthenopia (eye strain); severe visual fatigue resulting from ocular muscles and the neck posture.

Accommodation disturbances and with pre-existing myopia if present, can increase the risk of glaucoma.

Mental stress

Today’s era is full of competition. The computer professionals are over flooded with stress of deadlines. Working in bad posture, lack of concentration and other psychological problems which, clubbed together, decrease the work efficiency resulting into further stress and ultimately creating a vicious stress cycle. Stress and pressure of the work results into poor physical activity and bad eating habits (consumption of junk food) which ultimately cause early obesity and poor physical fitness.

Cardiovascular problems

Computer professionals have been reported to have early onset of hypertension at a younger age. A recent study has shown 16 per cent computer experts suffering from moderately raised diastolic blood pressure. Studies have reported that the lipid profile, which is one of the important risk factors for cardiac illness, was disturbed in significant number of computer workers. In a study, 48 per cent workers had high density lipoprotein (HDL) < 30 mg /dl, 26 per cent had total cholesterol >240 mg/dl, 80 per cent had Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) > 180mg/dl, about 26 per cent of them were overweight and 14 per cent had grade-I obesity with abnormal waist to hip ratios. Eighty percent did not exercise, 38 per cent skipped breakfast and 17 per cent consumed more than five cups of coffee/day. The combination of the above factors is a clear passport towards the cardiac illness.

The writer is a Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh

Recommendations

Regular physical exercise

Ergonomic & postural awareness

Stress coping skills

Frequent breaks during work

Compulsory vacations in order to improve the work performance.

Effective time management

After every one hour take off the eyes from the monitor for 5-10 minutes

If there is proneness to the symptoms, restrict the weekly usage of mouse devise and keyboard to less than 20–25 hours

Stretching of the body after every few hours of work on the computer

Report any pain or discomfort to the specialist as soon as it appears. Don’t just assume it will go away.

Physical risk factors

Substantial amount of working time at a computer (> 30 hours a week).

Lack of footrest.

Unsupported back

Incorrect chair

Wrongly arranged desktop heights with awkward posture

Working without breaks

Tight deadlines

Unclear job roles

Poor workplace social support