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Taking democracy for granted
Eternal vigilance must for the nation to stay free
Kuldip Nayar
Indira Gandhi extinguished the lights of liberty and drove the country to the darkness of authoritarianism |
Certain
happenings should never be forgotten. They must be recalled to remember the horror. One of them is the Emergency which was imposed 39 years ago on June 25-26. The lesson it has taught the country is that democracy should never be taken for granted. Eternal vigilance is the price the nation must pay
to stay free.The liberal Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, extinguished in India the lights of liberty and drove the country to the darkness of authoritarianism. She was then the country's Prime Minister. Instead of stepping aside after the Allahabad High Court, which disqualified her for six years for a poll offence, she took over the government and changed such laws. It was a civil coup. To concentrate all power in her own hands, she suspended the Constitution, gagged the press and forfeited an individual’s right to move the habeas corpus petition. The list of her demolition of institutions
is long. The young know little. History textbooks mention Mrs Gandhi's rule and that of her son, Sanjay Gandhi, an extra-constitutional authority. What happened during the Emergency, which lasted from June 1975 to January 1977, is a shameful story of a takeover by a democratically elected Prime Minister. She usurped power to save her skin. A leftist judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Krishna Iyer, gave her reprieve through a stay order on the high court's disqualification. Once she was off the hook, she showed her real self; she changed laws and destroyed the institutions, built patiently and methodically by her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, over
the years. First Mrs Gandhi detained more than one hundred thousand people without trial. They were her critics. Then she broke the steel frame of civil service so as to reduce it to a mere rubber stamp to endorse her illegal orders. She created so much fear in the minds of people that they obeyed her and stopped differentiating right from wrong, moral
from immoral. None talked about values, much less about fair methods. There were no limits to which Mrs Gandhi did not go to serve her ends. Still worse, she banished morality from politics. The nation was shaken, first shocked and resentful but then fell silent. So much so even the judiciary dared not pronounce a judgment which the government would not like. And the media became more loyal than the censors. The institutions never got back their original vigour or sanctity. The rulers coming after the Emergency generally copied her style of functioning and made the state their fief. They found it easy and convenient to deal with the timid Opposition. Since then, the hapless civil service and the battered police have begun to obey whoever comes to power, notwithstanding the service rules or the age-old traditions. Public servants fitted themselves in a new mould where the requirement was obedience, not integrity, conformity, not dissent. The lower judiciary has still not got out of the Emergency hangover when magistrates signed blank warrants of arrest. Even today most of their judgments appear to have been written under pressure. The new generation must understand that non-governance or mis-governance is the fallout of what Mrs Gandhi did by destroying the established order, a natural corollary. Scams from the Bofors guns to 2G spectrum are only a tip of the iceberg. Many more scandals have come out in the open since. People expect that the government will not drag its feet, as it has done before, when they become part of the public domain. In a democratic society, the nation expects the state to give the assurance that vital links of the government will not be subjected to strain. But the situation is
the opposite. It all started with a by-election in Orissa in 1972. Nandini Satpathy was elected to the state assembly after spending lakhs of rupees. Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan raised the matter of corruption with the Prime Minister. Her defence was that the Congress had no money even to run the party office. When he found no response, he took the issue to the nation. One thing led to another until JP gave the call that the battle was between the people who wanted the government accountable and the government which was not willing to come clean. The same problem has returned after 36 years. The entire debate before the country is on corruption. The government wants to do little to eliminate it. The public is determined to end corruption once and for all, particularly when one minister after another is found involved in either the 2G spectrum scandal or some other like the Krishna-Godavari basin gas scam. The Comptroller and Auditor General has indicted the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry for allowing “irregularities and bending rules” to “oblige” Reliance Industries Ltd, resulting in an “unquantifiable” loss to the exchequer. This shows how powerful politically the corporate sector has become. People want more and more transparency while the government sees to it that the avenues for public knowledge are lessened. Only a few days ago did it exclude the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the ambit of the Right to Information
(RTI) Act. To pay homage to Jayaprakash Narayan, who launched a movement to challenge the central government on issues relating to corruption, I went to Patna last year on June 5, the day when he gave the call to bring about “Sampurna Kranti” (total revolution). There were only a handful of people at the JP house, where he lived and died, to hark back on the memory of that day. The place wore a lonely look. Once it was a hub of political activities that resulted in the defeat of Mrs Gandhi at the polls in 1977. What disappointed me then was the absence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a product of JP's movement. There was not even a meeting called by the government to talk about “Sampurna Kranti” or fight for transparency.
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MIDDLE |
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A picnic at high noon
Rajan Kashyap
 The
moment I entered home for lunch I was greeted by a chant, “We want a picnic!” It was the two children, A and Z, visiting me in their summer holidays. “Preposterous!” was my curt reaction. “It’s the hottest day of the year, 47 degrees Celsius in the shade. You’ll surely get heatstroke.” My reasoning proved ineffective against determined opposition, which was fortified by childish wailing. To humour my young guests I enquired of them where we could go at such short notice. “The leisure valley”, was the instant response. It was obviously a well-rehearsed conspiracy, in which other members of the family had cleverly colluded. The picnic spot selected by the majority adjoined my own home, where I had been living for decades. This was an attractive green point in the city, home to numerous trees and shrubs, meticulously maintained by the administration, but hardly a place for enjoyment in the searing heat. Dragging my reluctant feet, I led the adventurous little group across the fence from the house. “Here’s a chance to teach the youngsters,” I mused, as I picked up my book on flora and fauna. Any hopes that the youngsters would listen to my pedagogic discourse on birds and plants were quickly dispelled. I began to explain that the sun was at that moment directly overhead since it was the summer solstice. To my chagrin, my young listeners had vanished. I found that the cherubs had peeled off their cumbersome clothes, and were frolicking in the spray of the sprinkler system that irrigated the lawns. Along with them were like-minded children of the same age, cavorting in the water, oblivious of a notice that the liquid was unfit to drink. Bereft of my captive audience, I had perforce to observe the natural surroundings. All the wonderful trees and shrubs described in my book of nature were resplendent, the golden amaltas, the flaming gulmohar, and the multi-hued lagerstroeima, besides so many other species that I related on the ground to the photographs. As the children pranced about, enjoying their date with the environment, I was solemnly, perhaps ponderously, brushing up my bookish knowledge of nature and its bounty. To brace up to the tedium, as I perceived it, I played music on the transistor radio that I had thoughtfully brought along. The tunes, and the loud advertisements, seemed discordant in the serene mid-day atmosphere, and I hastily switched off the offending cacophony, to the relief, I think, of the several couples billing and cooing in the proximity. The lovers seemed as oblivious of the sweltering heat as the youngest children who imbibed the essence of nature so unobtrusively. Witnessing the uninhibited glee of the youngsters, I was reminded of the poet's lament of how “busy commonsense” was ruining his enjoyment of beautiful life (John Keats). I suddenly realised that the heat, dust and inconvenience was of no consequence whatever to the innocents. The food items served tasted more delicious than ever at home. But it is the memory of the picnic in the sun that will linger with the young and the old alike. And a lesson that true enjoyment could be found right across the road.
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OPED
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Undernourishment, a silent emergency
Usha Rai
Looking
at the growing obese population in urban India, it is difficult to believe that a staggering third of all adults in India have chronic protein energy malnutrition (PEM) as expressed in body mass indices. Children suffer a greater degree of under-nutrition and are stunted, wasted or underweight, making undernutrition India’s major public health challenge.
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| A National Shame: Close to 43 per cent children under five are found to be underweight in India. AFP photo |
Forty three per cent of children below five years are underweight, and in Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh one of every two is underweight. And, of course, there is more undernourishment in the rural areas, among the poor, the scheduled tribes and castes and among the illiterate population. Ironically, while children remain undernourished in these areas, rats have a feast in the badly maintained food godowns and absence of proper storage facilities. Though under-nutrition is less of an issue in urban areas, it is still an unforgivable 40 per cent.
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Of malnourished, underproductive menStudies on malnutrition have largely focussed on children, adolescent girls and women. The present study also looks at undernutrition in men and the impact on their productivity. In many states, men are as undernourished as women and in some cases more than women. According to the World Health Organisation an adult with a BMI (Body Mass Index) below 18.5 is classified as chronic energy deficient while those with BMI of 25 are classified as overweight. Some 202 million adults of working age have limited capacity because they are underweight. There are even anaemic men. It is only in 2005-2006 that the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) collected data on underweight men. The World Health Survey of 2002/2003 found that half a dozen countries of South Asia including Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan have a high percentage of undernourished men. However, like in India the debilitation of males is overlooked at the national and international level in terms of policy interventions. Global evidence places the economic loss to the undernourished worker between 7.5 and 18.6 per cent of lifetime income.
Closing the gender nutrition gapThough gender disparities still exist with reference to nutrition as well as other development indicators, two positive changes have been observed. One, that gender disparities in nutrition are not all against the female sex, and two, that gender disparities overall are reducing. Though there are still pockets where gender disparities remain sharp, the country as a whole has witnessed a reduction in inequity between sexes. While adult women still tend to have lower nutrition outcomes in terms of BMIs as compared to their male counterparts, there are as many as 11 states out of 29 where a reverse trend prevails.
Paradox of plenty With the largest population of hungry in the world, India ranks 66 among 105 countries in the 2012 Global Hunger Index.
More than 45 years after the Green Revolution began; India provides a unique spectre of overflowing godowns and rotting grains on the one hand while millions go to bed hungry.
To get rid of the huge stocks, India has aggressively resorted to food exports. As food production creates new milestones with each passing year, and Madhya Pradesh joining as another fast-emerging food bowl, stocking surplus grains remains a nightmare for the government.
Close to half of all children under the age of three are underweight, 30 per cent of newborns with low birth weight, and 52 per cent of women and 74 per cent of children are
anaemic.
Productivity losses to individuals are estimated at more than 10 percent of lifetime earnings, and gross domestic product (GDP) loss to undernutrition and malnutrition runs as high as 3 to 4 per cent.
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Though famines have receded and there is a marked shift in gender discrimination in accessing food, which has reduced, hunger and undernutrition still loom like black clouds on the Indian horizon. Persisting Undernutrition in India—causes, consequences and possible solutions, a book recently published, written by Dr Nira Ramachandran, based on two years of research as a senior fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research gives fresh insights into the complex issue of
undernutrition. In a developing economy like India, this is a constant source of mortification. It is not that the urgency of the issue remains unnoticed. Successive governments have put in place diverse policies and innovative programmes and schemes to address the problems, but the progress has been excruciatingly slow. Impressive economic development in India has not led to parallel improvements in food security and nutrition outcomes. Reduction in hunger and undernutrition levels is not in direct proportion to economic growth. The legacy of hunger Not only are the nutritionally deprived denied the right to normal physical and mental development and a disability free life, but this basic deprivation has manifold repercussions in terms of poorer employment opportunities, lower wages and, what is most portentous, the passing on of this legacy of hunger and deprivation to coming generations. Few can break out of the downward spiral of
poverty/undernutrition unaided. The study reveals that of the 28 states, for which comparable data is available, the top five states in terms of better family nutrition are Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Manipur — all from the North-East and Punjab. The five worst states are the cluster of the underdeveloped states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh along with West Bengal. For decades, the government has been trying to combat and arrest undernutrition through specific interventions like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), mid-day meals and the public distribution system (PDS). Under ICDS children below six years as well as pregnant and nursing women come to anganwadi centres to receive nutritious food supplements as well as pre-school education for young ones; the mid-day meals scheme was also started to improve the nutritional status of children in primary schools by providing 300 calories and 8 to 12 grams of proteins meals. Lack of coordination The meals also ensured retention of children in schools. Through the PDS subsidised rations like rice, wheat, sugar and kerosene are distributed to the poor. But have these interventions helped? A reality check was done in four villages of Gumla District of Jharkhand, one of the 100 focus districts of the country, identified by UNICEF for special action. The villages; Keyound Tala, Khatgaon, Lodhama and Tapkara, 6 to 14 km from block headquarter Palkot, have a primary school, an ICDS centre and a Fair Price Shop. In all the four villages, only two meals a day are eaten and that too not throughout the year. The mid-day meal in all the four villages was largely rice and rice gruel. Dal, vegetables and meat was at best served once a week. In Keyound Tala, a higher income village, add-ons were served twice a week. While at Keyound Tala, mid-day meal was served to 75 per cent of primary school children, at Khatgaon though there were only 39 children in school, only one-fourth got the meals. Reasons for the disparity could be high dropout rate or high absenteeism. There were no mid-day meals during vacation, depriving children of their single hot meal of the day. While the mid-day meal in schools was largely rice gruel, under the ICDS scheme anganwadis are supposed to serve rice, dal, soya beans and vegetables. However, only one of four anganwadis was providing the full range of the nutritious meal. Equally important, the mid-day meals in the same villages were not at par. While the schools had kitchens, only one of the four anganwadis had a kitchen. Why can’t the kitchens available be shared to provide nutritious meals to all children whether in schools or
anganwadis? Schemes need numbers In villages that have no school or there are no roads to commute to an adjoining village that has a school, children miss out on education as well as their nutritious mid-day meal. In Govinddhani, in the interior of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, the children of the only extended family were going to a primary school but when the number of schoolchildren dropped to below 40, the school had to shut down. Because of poor roads and the absence of an escort, the children could not go to the school at Selat village. Ironically, though Selat has a school, it has no anganwadi because there are not enough children to run one. In
Rudrapur, Dehradun District, hygiene, food security and the importance of nutritious food seem to have little relevance. The study shows that mothers who visited the anganwadis disliked the panjeeri, the mix of nutritious food, and either took it home to feed the cattle or made paranthas. Women who worked as wage labour and needed the nutrition did not have the time to visit the anganwadis or escort their children because the anganwadi timings coincided with their working hours. In fact, attendance at the anganwadis dropped from 2004 to 2006.  In the global context, 40 per cent of the world’s undernourished children and 35 per cent of the world’s low birth weight babies are in India. Of all child deaths in India, nearly 50 per cent can be attributed directly or indirectly to malnutrition.
Educate mothers The fact that there are more undernourished children than adults’ raises questions about the root causes of under-nutrition. Though lack of access to food is a major cause, other causes include lack of knowledge about proper diet, poor caring practices and sanitation and food supplements provided by anganwadis which do not suit the local tastes. Due to India’s faulty feeding practices there is a sharp increase in undernutrition among infants from 11.9 per cent at less than six months to over 58 per cent in the 12 to 23 months age group, a fact recognised in the 10th Five Year Plan. The importance of mother’s education in improving the nutritional status of the children is highlighted in the study. It has been found that mothers are unaware that their children are undernourished until it is almost too late to rectify their status. About two-thirds of the mothers interviewed in the worst districts were illiterate as against roughly the same proportion having completed schooling in the best districts. However, the good news is that the best performing districts of the worst states show a decrease in the proportion of illiterate mothers. Adequate nutritional status can only be achieved if children have a diversified diet of all major food groups. However, in India the poor are largely dependent on a cereal diet and lose out on the benefits of protein-based foods, fresh fruits and vegetables. High cost as well as lack of access to markets where fruits and protein rich foods are available is an important factor for child undernutrition. Nutritional outcomes are also influenced by the availability of potable drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities. The writer is an environment journalist.
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