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Diminished Sharif Scared at school |
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Modi lays down a marker
According sanctity to a relationship
Wanted: Conservation of our biodiversity
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Diminished Sharif The crowds have thinned out in Islamabad, the threat of violence is receding, and there are indications of a compromise between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the two protest leaders — Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek's Tahirul Qadri. It was a time for confrontation. Pakistani parliamentarians stood firm in face of the threat by the two protesting camps, even as Khan and Qadri refused to budge from their positions. The row has weakened Sharif in spite of his solid majority in parliament. The civilian government has been corralled by the protesters and by its own army, which did not stop the mobs from entering government buildings, even though the demonstrators had shown that they would respect its commands. It ‘advised’ the government to use peaceful means, rather than carry out the government's order to protect various installations. Sharif has made major concessions to the army by giving the generals oversight over the country's security and strategic foreign policy. It is unlikely that the army wants to further escalate the situation by assuming direct control and risking the billions of dollars of American aid. Sharif will not only have to face the perception of diminished authority, he is also expected to handle the fundamental issues that Pakistan faces — a faltering economy that has been hurt by the recent disruptions, a major energy crisis and the continuing battles with militants. The Islamabad protests are by no means over. The government has yet to come up with a proposal that will meet the protesters' approval. On their part, the protesters themselves have different objectives: Khan wants the Prime Minister to resign, Qadri envisions the overthrowing of the entire system. To arrive at any solution, the leaders will have to find a compromise that they can live with by accommodating each other's viewpoints. From the way they have been behaving, it seems that they have forgotten that this is what politics is all about.
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Scared at school The age for loss of innocence is coming down steadily among children. And that is evident in not just the few who indulge in criminal activities but also in the daily lives of nearly all children and youth, exposed as they are to the darker side of life earlier. ‘Ragging’, which should ideally be a harmless rite of passage in which seniors ease in a fresh student at an institute, had turned into criminal harassment long ago, and was also declared illegal under rules framed by the UGC in 2009. The tragedy is it has also been prevalent in schools for years now. The recent incidents in a Gwalior residential school only underscore the menace. The country was shocked earlier in 2007, when a Class 8 student in Gurgaon was shot by two classmates, who alleged he used to harass them. A committee headed by the CBSE Chairman has submitted a report on the issue of ragging in schools, which it says has assumed serious proportions. The panel has recommended the framing of rules on the lines of the
UGC. This should be taken up with urgency, and state governments and school boards should be involved besides the Union HRD Ministry. In certain cases, action such as expulsion against students repeatedly indulging in ragging or other indiscipline is not taken on the plea that the right to education is now ensured under the law till Class 8. But it has to be borne in mind that no right can be absolute. If a child is proving a hindrance to the education or safety of fellow students, he naturally has to be dealt with. Checks can be built in by involving committees formed for the purpose to ensure no child suffers injustice, and his education is also ensured through alternatives such as transfer to another school. Schools too have to be made liable, because discipline depends a lot on how the day is structured in a school. The harassment of girls, especially in senior classes, is another serious issue. Safety is as important as the right to education.
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“I am so glad I can go home at 2.30 to relax…” — said no teacher ever
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The volunteer movement in India WITH reference to the offers made by Indians to raise a Volunteer Corps to assist Government in the present crisis the Calcutta Englishman pointed out that untrained men were of no use and could not be sent abroad. The military correspondent of the Times expresses the same opinion as regards the usefulness of volunteers in England. He states emphatically that masses of untrained volunteers in the ranks of the Territorial Force will be rather an encumbrance than an aid. But at the same time he lays stress on the necessity of subjecting these volunteers to continuous training and bringing fresh candidates for enlistment. This is entirely different from what the Calcutta Englishman and others who share its views have been telling us. What we in India pray for is a beginning to train and equip Indian Volunteers for internal emergencies as Government may from time to time require.
Agriculturists and money lenders THE Bombay Government has published the draft of a new Bill to regulate the relationship between agriculturists and money lenders. This is the result of the failure of the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act passed 35 years ago and recently applied to the whole of the Presidency. We have pointed out how the investigation made by two officers of the working of the old Act showed that it had not only failed but also did injury to the agriculturists. It is doubtful whether the proposed regulation will do anything better because it also seeks to introduce some of those artificial restraints which appear good on paper but work out harmfully in practice. The ideal aimed is to create a class of money lenders who are also agriculturists. Then, it is believed, there will be no usury and the millennium will have been reached.
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Modi lays down a marker The atmospherics of the visit, including the bear hug between the two Prime Ministers, were symbolic of the affinities of the men, both nationalists leaning to the Right endeavouring to give a new thrust to their respective countries. Beyond that are the new synergies between India and Japan and, as has been officially recognised, the trouble-free nature of the relationship. The economic content of the relationship was on wide display during the visit, in terms of Japan pledging $35 billion of public-private investment in the next five years and the great array of projects in progress and on the anvil that speak of a burgeoning relationship. The geostrategic nature of the relationship was clear for all to see, both in terms of taking Indian defence and space agencies off the forbidden list and the promise of intense cooperation in the export of Japanese defence equipment and technology. An indication of Japanese sensitivities to tying up the nuclear agreement as the only country to be nuclear-bombed in the world, was the two leaders' inability to sign on the dotted line. The Indo-US formula failed to pass muster in Tokyo while the liabilities of supplier countries under Indian law remain a deterrent. Besides, an agreement on the supplies and transfer of technology of the US 2 amphibious aircraft remain to be finalised. Both these issues involve further assurances, but given the size and scope of the relationship reinforced by the Modi visit, they should not be beyond the scope of realisation. Of particular interest is how far Mr Modi has gone in supporting Japan in its key foreign policy issues. India' support for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and endorsement of the six-party talks in an endorsement of Tokyo's approach to North Korea. Although Mr Modi's veiled reference to China's expansionist moves in the sea and on land does not form part of the joint declaration, its meaning in his public speech is undeniable and was discreetly lauded by Mr Shinzo Abe, his Japanese host. That Mr Modi's inordinately long official visit was well spent is clear from the detailed joint declaration and the accompanying official fact sheet enumerating the nature and scope of a relationship reaching out to a bewildering variety of fields. They range from rare earths to developing and inter-connecting India's North-East, from scientific research to exchanges, from culture to cell research. Many of these projects need to be fleshed out and Mr Modi held out to his hosts in the government and the business community the promise of speedy implementation. Indications are that the Japanese are taking the Indian Prime Minister at his word, given his record in Gujarat. As the world has watched with interest and some fascination Mr Modi's travels in Kyoto and Tokyo, the geopolitical ramifications are at the centre of their interest. Several questions arise. Is India signalling a new international configuration in which the primacy of the Indo-Soviet relationship is being redefined in view of the break-up of the Soviet state? Second, the complementarity of India and Japan is indisputable, given the promise and vastness of India and the technological prowess and achievement of Japan, buttressed by the ancient link of Buddhism, which reached Japan from India through China. It is no secret that the United States welcomes a Japan-India entente for the simple reason that Tokyo is its military ally and the coming closer of two Asian democracies would naturally balance a rising China. In fact, there is a specific mention in the Joint Declaration of the trilateral dialogue among India, Japan and the US. Although largely unspoken in public, China looms large on Indian and Japanese consciousness, with Beijing’s claim to the Japanese-administered uninhabited islands and its expansionist view of its primacy in the South and East China seas. A strengthening of Indo-Japanese relations will bring comfort to both. In any event, Mr Modi has laid down a marker in enunciating his concept of India's role in the world. He has two other important interactions with other world leaders. China’s President Xi Jinping is coming visiting later this month while he takes off for Washington shortly thereafter to keep his date with President Barack Obama in Washington. If the juxtaposition of these high-level meetings is Mr Modi’s baptism by fire, it provides him with a quick learning course in the high reaches of world diplomacy. The relationship with the United States is a key one for him as well as for Mr Shinzo Abe. Despite the old American move to deny him a visa, both Washington and Mr Modi are keen to forget it while looking to the future. With China, New Delhi’s relationship is complex bedevilled as it is in the disputed nature of its long Himalayan border and Beijing's assertiveness in promoting its foreign policy interests. Yet a burgeoning trade relationship with India is another side of the story as also its lop-sided development. Mr Modi is very conscious of the nature and size of China’s economic and military power in relation to India. It was this recognition that led India to let the new BRICS banking institution, originally a Chinese idea, be headquartered in Shanghai. At the same time, Mr Modi will make it clear that he will not be a walkover in protecting his country’s interests. It promises to be an interesting battle of wits.
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According sanctity to a relationship A muddy tea-shop at a stone’s throw from the main gate of the ITI was owned by a widow named Pano. She also had no descendants. She was famously known for her ‘kadak’ (strong) tea and most of her clients were from the campus as we didn't have a canteen facility. She had the requisite skill for offering other eatable items at a price much lower than that in the market. ‘Mian’ (positive side of fifties) had a live-in relationship with the woman, popularly known as ‘Miani’ (negative side of forties). She was very keen on marriage but 'Mian' was diametrically opposed to the proposal. Her motherly affection with staff (average age twenty-five) and trainees compelled us to intervene. After constant hammering for about six months we were able to take his consent for marriage. Now the question was how to accord marriage a practical and legal shape. After deliberations, it was resolved that it would be solemnised by way of ‘Sanatana Dharma’ on the campus and all the expenditure incurred would be borne by the staff and trainees. We set in motion our home work. The wedding date was luckily on a Sunday. On the much-awaited day, the campus was divided into two halves — one for the bridegroom and the other for the bride. The staff and trainees were also shared equally. Two Pandits were engaged. When one side was witnessing ‘Sehra bandi’, the other with ‘kaleras’ (coconut garland wearing in the forearms). The baraat, the bridegroom on the horse ‘Moti’ and the traditional band reached the wedding venue. After ‘milni’, all of us witnessed ‘jaimala’. Tea and snacks were served. The ‘wedding mandap’ was decorated by using ‘kalashas’ (pots filled with water), garlands of mango leaves, coconuts, banana leaves, etc., and ‘saat phere’ were completed. Before ‘bedai’; all of us enjoyed ‘Chambyali daam’. It was a whole-day exercise. When the wedding was in progress, the passers-by thought it to be a shooting for some regional film. But when the actual information was given by the staff and trainees, it became the talk of the town. Our efforts were recognised and estimated rightly. After some days, the marriage had a legal status. The entry in the service record of ‘Mian’ was also incorporated. Simultaneously, I received my fresh posting orders nearer my home.
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Wanted: Conservation of our biodiversity
Less than a year prior to Narendra Modi being sworn in as India’s Prime Minister, the Supreme Court had handed down a historic judgment (Center for Environmental Law WWF – I v. Union of India and Others) which was applauded for its far-sighted, symbiotic wisdom, committing India and Indians to preserve in essence all of the country’s wilderness spaces (which altogether add up to less than 5 per cent of our terrestrial area) together with all the faunal and floral life forms that inhabit therein. Admittedly, this judicial pronouncement is not a jot different to what already lies enshrined within the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), read in conjunction with the Forest Rights Act (2006). But coming as a judicial intervention by the highest court of law, its decree was expected to be read diligently and complied with by the Executive, implicitly. Diluting the spirit of the judgment However, even before the “ink dried” over that judgment, the Union Government has issued a Gazette Notification which, not merely, diminishes the spirit of that judgment but also significantly dilutes certain principal elements from the existing mechanism of checks-and-balances from the construct of the apex ecology “watch-dog”, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL); namely, as against five NGOs and 10 “expert” members mandated by the Wildlife Protection Act, the successor NBWL will have just three “non-official” members. Period. The Gazette then goes on to nominate these three worthies, admittedly with excellent credentials in nature conservation fields but when two of the three are retired government servants from Gujarat (the PM’s turf), the fair play element at once becomes suspect. Rich ecology It is un-flattering but true that by and large India has been and remains unmindful, in fact, ignorant, of the country’s rich ecological heritage and its attributes in keeping the country’s food-basket brimming all the time, providing natural Carbon-Sinks and absorbing noise pollution at zero cost and impacting positively upon the country’s micro climate. Perhaps it were these scientific revelations which, in 1882, had prompted Sir Charles Darwin and Sir Joseph Hooker to write a memorandum to the Secretary of State for India at Whitehall, for the need to document India's rich bio-diversity. The recommendation was accepted and a series of publications were planned. By 1889, the first results of the undertaking became public when EW Oates and WT Blanford produced Fauna of British India: Birds in four volumes. This was perhaps the beginning of the development of a politico administrative ideology to preserve India's myriad biodiversity niches and wildlife forms inhabiting these wilderness-habitats. Curzon’s contribution In the long pantheon of Governor-Generals and Viceroys of India post that appeal, the one who truly had the love and understanding of India's wildernesses and provided lead by personal example, was Lord Curzon. It had become an annual ritual for the Viceroy of India to indulge in field-sport (hunting/shikar) during the Christmas week and India's princes vied with each other to host the Viceroy’s hunt in their state. So it was that the Nawab of Junagadh made overtures to the Viceroy to hunt the Asiatic lion in his principality in the Christmas week of 1903. That was also the time, when the only pride of the Asiatic lions surviving in the world was in Junagadh. But the lions numbered less than 20 animals in all and a lesser man would have jumped at the chance of acquiring such a priceless trophy at that “momentous” time but not Lord Curzon. Politely declining the invitation, the Viceroy instead invited the Nawab to start a movement for the preservation of the Asiatic lion for posterity. This was perhaps the first unambiguous policy directive to conserve nature in the country from the man who was the head of both the Executive and the Legislature in India. Nehruvian model The next proponent of India’s ecological security was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first Prime Minister. He was an outspoken and demonstrative champion of the nature conservation paradigm in totality and its implementation in the country. Presumably, the fact of extinction of the cheetah in India (November 1947) within months of the country becoming a sovereign nation was not lost on Nehru. A thought which may well have stared him in the face was that could he prevent the Asiatic lion from extinction? Well, he did lead by personal example, visiting the Gir Forests twice in the 1950s-1960s, exhorting all those involved in the setting up and management of what was to become the world famous Asiatic Lion Gir Sanctuary. The rest is history. The world owes a debt of gratitude to the Viceroy Curzon-Prime Minister Nehru duo that the Asiatic lion, in reasonably respectable numbers, did enter the 21st century. In 1954, Pandit Nehru went on to give the nation "The Indian Board for Wildlife". It was a non-statutory body to be chaired ex-officio by the Prime Minister and membered by eminent naturalists, conservationists and environmentalists; men of impeccable stature such as M Krishnan, E. P. Gee, Salim Ali and so on. They were charged to evolve strategies for the preservation and development of forests and wildlife and to suggest implementation methodologies. Perhaps the finest strategy that emerged, the idea possibly sowed by Pandit Nehru himself, was to involve the people of India in the propagation of forests (niches of biodiversity and homes to wildlife) by launching vana mahotsava as an annual attempt to commit Indians to keep India green for ever. Rituals vs ground reality No one could fault the political direction but unfortunately no mechanism was put in place to audit the administrative commitment towards its implementation. So the vana mahotsava soon degenerated into a mere annual ritual. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also provided decisive political direction through two measures with the potential of long term relief to India's beleaguered wildlife and protection to vast tracts of our prime forests. The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, passed unanimously by the Parliament and adopted by all States and UTs of the Union became the country's first legislation in this field. In hindsight if there is any one action which provided for biodiversity niches and a new lease of life to India's wildlife and their habitat, it was this singular legislation. It went on to become a role model for a few newly emerged Nations in Africa and South East Asia as well. Project Tiger In the 1960s, there was the global anxiety that the tiger may not survive the 20th century. At that point in time, India had the largest surviving population of tigers in the world. It was therefore natural that the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international NGO, raised $ 1 million to launch the tiger initiative. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the chief guest at the launch in New Delhi. Guy Mountford, CEO of WWF-International, while presenting the cheque to Mrs Gandhi for the launch of Project Tiger is said to have stated in passing that he hoped “India would respond to the challenge adequately”? Mrs Gandhi accepted the cheque graciously but probably stung by Guy Mountford's barb, she summoned her matchless poise and announced there and then, double the amount of cash into the Project Tiger seed-fund. Again, it was the administrative mechanisms which failed in the implementation of a clear political direction, in the long run. The closing 20 years of the 20th century were to witness the steady erosion of India's resolve to protect its wildlife and forests so painstakingly enforced in the preceding forty years. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did create the National Wastelands Development Board, did launch the River Ganga cleaning initiative and also restructured the Forest Ministry as MOEF but there was no Sam Pitroda to audit the implementation. It was natural that in such a politico-administrative vacuum, threats to biodiversity and survival of wildlife and its habitats multiplied by the day. Passive bystanders The MOEF, who were provided the casting vote on environment impact assessments of all development projects, chose to remain passive by-standers. Prime Minister Narasimha Rao created a record of sorts by not holding a single meeting of the Indian Board for Wildlife in his seven-year tenure! When the elder Mr Patnaik was urged by conservationists the world over, to help protect the annual egg laying by the Olive Ridgley turtles on Orissa’s beeches, his terse response was “tell the turtles to go elsewhere”. Period. Based on the experience of the past 30 years, The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 was comprehensively modified and reenacted unanimously by Parliament in 2002. As a result, an apex statutory body, the National Board for Wildlife was created but for want of direction from its ex officio Chairman, Prime Minister Vajpayee, it remained dormant till jolted by a Supreme Court direction following a PIL. Besides ministers and bureaucrats, the Board was to have 10 members from eminent conservationists and environmentalists etc. Believe it or not, the eight members nominated were from retired IAS and IFS officers, with or without exposure or expertise in biodiversity or wildlife! Of the five NGOs to be nominated, four had had mediocre or no credible track record in this field. Mr Vajpayee made an impressive inaugural speech yet in the meeting that followed, he also approved the sale to the IOC of some two acres land in the heart of the core-zone of the National Desert Park, Jaisalmer, for oil exploration in total violation of laws governing the core-zone of a National Park, leave alone environmental norms! The Prime Minister expected kudos for having earned about Rs 4 crore in revenue (one time) for the MOEF. In a manner of speaking this decision marked the death of whatever may have been the politico-administrative ideology for the conservation of nature and wildlife in the country. Betrayed by politicians & administrators If the first 40 years of Independence witnessed firm political direction though indifferent administrative commitment, but in the succeeding 20 years, India's wildlife and forests were betrayed totally both by the politician and the administrators. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh aroused by the criminal killings of all tigers in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, at last galvanised to declare emphatically that his government will ensure revival of tigers in Sariska as also the survival of the Tiger in the country. And Indians goaded and supported him whole heartedly because they realised that if the tiger survives, there is every hope that most of India's biodiversity and wildlife and their wilderness refuges will also enter the 22nd century. And in so doing, the country will have hopefully committed itself to the ideology of treating its ecological biodiversity, wildlife and forests as a vital resource for attaining the overall regional, mega-power status. Is the Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi listening? Would he revisit the flaws riddled, subject Gazette Notification, please. — The writer is a former trustee,
WWF-India and member, advisory committee, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai Wild-goose chase
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