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Finally, elections in Delhi Retreating into hatred |
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Going after black money
Showing the way in life
Punjab needs to build rural leadership How advancing the summer clock can save power
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Finally, elections in Delhi The
dissolution of the Delhi assembly will end an inglorious chapter in democratic India's history. A hung House is a possibility in elections but it requires political skill and maturity in governance to deal with it effectively. First, the Congress propped up a minority AAP government, which displayed unusual haste to quit after a short tenure of 49 days. Then the UPA government dithered. The Congress did not want to go back to the people of Delhi so soon after a disastrous performance in the elections. When the Modi government took charge at the Centre, an invigorated BJP found a new determination to engineer defections to form a government. One of its leaders was caught on camera trying to buy an AAP MLA. Both the Congress and the BJP had their own political reasons to keep the assembly in suspended animation. Lieut-Governor Najeeb Jung did not play a neutral role and do what was expected of him. All attempts were made to form a BJP government. Three by-elections were ordered when the existing House was non-functional. The motivated indecision attracted a sharp rap from the Supreme Court. On an AAP petition for the dissolution of the House, the court pointed out that MLAs were sitting idle, drawing salaries and doing no work. It gave the Centre time till November 11 to decide one way or the other. Failing to get the numbers, the BJP was left with no alternative but to face the electorate. The Haryana and Maharashtra results bolstered its confidence. Now once again the party will test the Modi magic in elections, expected early next year. The Congress is losing election after election and does not seem to know what to do with itself. AAP is ready but it has frittered away much of its public goodwill. To their credit, the AAP MLAs did not succumb to BJP temptations. With democratic governance on hold for about a year, the voter will decide which party to trust now. In their own interest political parties should make elections less expensive so that a fractured verdict does not make them bankrupt.
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Retreating into hatred A day after the blast Pakistan border guards returned to the Retreat ceremony with renewed aggression and their Indian counterparts felt cheated in being convinced into not allowing Indian audiences to watch the ceremony, and therefore a sense of loss in the cross-border shouting match. The irony of it - both sides wanted to respond to a terror attack with vengeance, show of resilience, and a dare to the perpetrators. And what do they do? Direct their helplessness at each other, stomping the ground harder, making their scowls fiercer, and shouting their commands louder. This, at the only point of real and material cooperation between the two countries! The conspirators of the attack, meanwhile, entertain themselves with finding newer reasons to give for why they killed more than 60 innocent people. This paper has earlier advocated in these columns toning down of the aggressive Retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border, as it does nothing more than pander to the sense of hatred between people of the two countries. In a state of war it is easy to hate the entire humanity on the other side of the line. But the attack at dusk on Sunday should wake both India and Pakistan up to the fact how closely bound they are as victims of terror. Such were the circumstances that even as those killed were Pakistan citizens on their homeland, yet it felt as if the attack had happened in India - which explains the massive attention in Indian media, which otherwise is by now immune to blasts across the border. The post is the only point of contact that has remained open through most ups and downs. It needs to be turned into a symbol of cooperation. Not all diplomacy has to happen through governments. People can do the talking too. Let the forces only be a security and ceremonial presence, and human interaction take centre stage. Pakistan has to also realise using terror as a strategic tool is self-destructive. A quick glance to its west would be instructive.
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Thought for the Day
Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. —Khalil Gibran
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THE committee of the London Chamber of Commerce has been supplying newspapers and magazines to the Fleet. It has now undertaken to provide similar supplies to the Royal naval hospital, Royal naval sick quarters and hospital ships. In addition to these we are pleased to learn it has also undertaken to supply a large number of new gramophones and records to all the above mentioned centres of national heroes. A similar arrangement for the benefit of Indian troops at the front would be greatly appreciated both by the soldiers themselves and by their countrymen here. By this means our soldiers could be kept informed of home news. Their zeal and enthusiasm could be further stimulated for the cause to uphold which they have gone to shed their blood. It is not likely to be a very onerous tasks for the Army Officers here to make a judicious selection of the papers which will give them home news and the appointment of a large number of interpreters also simples the task. Temperance work in Ferozepore District
PRESIDING at the anniversary of the Moga Temperance Society, Mr. Bosworth Smith, Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepore District, who held a Durbar in connection with Imperial Relief Fund the same days referred to the condition of his district as standing in need of reform and said he was doing the needful in the matter. The number of shops for liquor had fallen from 131 to 61 and a further reduction in their number was expected. Special licenses for fairs would also be stopped. He said the people too had a duty in the matter, which they should not ignore. They must take care of themselves, otherwise they would be ruining not only themselves but their future generations as well.
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Going after black money In
the midst of debate on the illegal foreign account holders, the names of those who were given amnesty a few days before the debate have been forgotten. Apparently, they are from both the main political parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Otherwise, the shouting would not have stopped in such a short time. One other noticeable point is that there has not been even a cursory mention of how the account holders came to accumulate so much money and what steps have been taken to stop the practice. The fact remains that the political parties, which spend crores of rupees during elections, have foreign countries as safe havens for accumulating illicit money. In this way, they not only escape public attention but also the amount of large sums which they would have otherwise paid in the shape of taxes. The people in India should, however, thank Germany which put the names in the public domain. One German bank got hold of the list of names unwittingly and handed it over to the Government of India. No intelligence agency in the country can take credit for the list. Why Germany gave the names is not understandable. If it was a pressure of sorts on New Delhi it has worked. The public was understandably up in arms when it came to know that 800-odd people have money abroad. There must be many other names which have not come out. The amount of money stacked abroad is said to be six lakh crore of rupees. I recall that when I was India's High Commissioner in London, the stringency of money had made New Delhi to write to its envoys to raise money from Indians settled abroad. I also made a fervent appeal to the people of Indian origin. But I was surprised when the German Ambassador told me that Indians had so much money deposited in the Swiss banks that they could easily finance many five-year plans. In any case, the government has now names of foreign account holders. They were reportedly received many months ago when the Congress government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh was at the helm of affairs. Because of political considerations, it took no action against anyone. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who promised to book the guilty in one hundred days of his regime, has begun action only after several months of coming to power. The Manmohan Singh government sat over the names which were received during its regime. Why no action was taken has not been explained by the Congress spokespersons. The uncomfortable questions are never answered. The disclosure of names is in the same category. The Modi government too has sacred cows. It has preferred to name some companies in the corporate sector to others. The three names announced from the corporate sector are probably of those companies which the Modi government has not been able to mulct. Also, the concentration on the corporate sector is meant to divert the people's attention from the political world. The effort is to convince society that the illicit money is the doing of the corporate sector. This may be true because the money spent on elections, running into thousands of crore comes from the corporate sector. But this is black money, earned through illicit means. The politicians, whether in or out of power, have to bear the guilt. They look the other side when corrupt means are used to accumulate money. That Modi would fight against the vested interests who have polluted politics was expected, particularly when he talked about cleanliness from every public platform. But unfortunately he has not kept his promise. He has made businessmen and bureaucrats careful in going about their corrupt practices. But corruption has in no way lessened. Even now it is not too late to retrieve his reputation if Modi puts all the names on the net. Who among them can be prosecuted depends on evidence gathered. The disclosure of names will at least absolve him from the responsibility of hiding corruption from the people. This may not be an instance of corruption but it is quiet appalling. Some 3,000 crore rupees are estimated to have been spent on fire crackers during Diwali. The money, again in crores, during Dasehra is separate from this amount. A country where one-third of the population goes to bed without food is a sad spectacle of insensitivity to the conditions the common man faces. I have not found activists coming once on to the streets protesting. Society is indifferent because those who lead the voice and mould public opinion are part of the problem. They can hardly offer a solution.
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Showing the way in life Before starting the programme, we proceeded to the office of Principal J.S. Jayara, who was not there. As we looked to the long corridor connecting the office we saw a smartly dressed, middle-aged person of medium height and stocky build coming towards the office by touching walls of the corridor with his left hand, probably to get signals of familiarity. As he sat in his chair he sensed our presence and welcomed us with generous words of praise for the initiative taken by the NCS to expose young minds to some of nature's beautiful creations. While speaking, he was all the time reading the brail script lying on his table. He later asked us to follow him to the venue of the function. His alacrity and fast pace of walking, unmindful of the down steps, at a number of places amazed us. His formal speech of welcome was clear in content and diction. He informed us that his students underwent mobility training by using long and folding canes, took part in races with the help of runners, practised shot put, javelin throw, long jump and weight lifting, besides learning the Braille script and SRS Java computer. All of them have a good memory and are interested in their studies. One of the ex-students of the school was teaching sociology in Punjabi University, Patiala. These revelations from the Principal reminded me of the words of Winfrey Oprah, a T.V. host and author, from her book what I know for sure, "The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free". Divided into four teams, most of the students responded to sounds relayed to them enthusiastically with faces wreathed all over with a winsome smile. Three winning teams were awarded trophies. One student surprised us all by correctly identifying pileated woodpecker's amazing calls for which he was given a special prize. All the participants were given one box of sweets as a token of our love to them. While watching these kids smiling and clapping, there were moments when emotions rushed to knock our eye ducts for a teardrop or two. Actor Naseerudin Shah, who played the leading role of a sightless man in the movie “Sparsh”, writes in his autobiography “And Then One Day” that “the script of the film ‘Sparsh’ was a startling depiction of the fact of their being deprived of one sense, necessarily means being compensated thoroughly by nature in others, including in the sense of ego. Their gentle unhurried approach to life, their willing to enjoy life, the pride they take in their achievements, their acceptance and willingness to cope with the Permanent Darkness, was inspiring in the way few things are”. Our being with the blind students was a deeply humbling experience, compelling us to ponder that in a manner of thinking they also showed us the way in life.
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Punjab needs to build rural leadership Mahatma
Gandhi remarked in the beginning of the 20th century, “The soul of India lives in its villages.” The 2011 census revealed that about 69 per cent of India’s population (>830 million) lives in more than 640 thousand villages, of population sizes varying from 500 to more than 10,000. Thus, India is mainly rural in character and rural development should receive greater emphasis than it has received before.
To find a suitable solution to any problem, it is necessary to know the causes of the problem. In Punjab, rural areas have two major problems: the lack of quality education and infrastructure. Many village schools lack teaching staff. Several schools do not even have a headmaster or principal. Government school buildings, in rural areas or urban, in most cases, are a shambles. I recently visited a government senior secondary school for boys in a suburban area that caters to both rural and city students. That school had about a dozen vacant posts, which had not been filled for a long time. The school buildings, which were brand new in 1963, were in a state of disrepair. It is not just suburban government schools that are in such a deplorable state, the state of affairs is worse in rural government schools. Villages mostly have government schools. Private schools are coming up in some villages, but they are not affordable for all. In Punjab, the difference in quality of education between rural and urban schools can be ascertained from the fact that according to a survey conducted by Punjabi University about a decade ago, Punjab Agricultural University’s student population was about 95 per cent from urban schools and only about 5 per cent from rural schools; while in the 1960s, it was just the reverse. The main reason for the 95 urban to 5 rural student ratio was that Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) had started giving an entrance examination to 10+2 candidates for admission to the B.Sc. (Agri) and B.Sc. (Home Science) programmes. In the test, candidates who had completed their 10+2 education from urban schools would disproportionately outperform those who had received their 10+2 education from rural schools. This was a clear indication of the poor education imparted in rural schools. Thus, PAU was filled with urban students, whether or not they were truly interested in agriculture. As a professor in the USA, I encountered many postgraduate students with B.Sc. (Agri) degrees from Indian agricultural universities, who, after getting admission in M.Sc. programmes in the USA, deceptively began taking courses in computer science or electrical engineering because they were not interested in agriculture to begin with, and had to face grave consequences for their actions. This scenario calls for serious reforms in education in rural schools. While the PAU has started admitting students after the 10th grade to increase the number of rural students, it does not solve the problem of poor educational standards of rural schools. Like Nobel Laureate John Boyd Orr has said: “You cannot build peace on empty stomachs”; similarly, we can say “you cannot build rural leadership on poor education”. Quality education should be on top of the list for building leadership, as philanthropist Shiv Nadar has aptly opined, “My aim is to develop and build leaders for India. And that is only possible through good education.” In my opinion, all rural schools should have agriculture as a subject. Throughout India, another problem with education, in general, is the law that allows students to be promoted without examinations until the 8th grade. A corollary of this system is that teachers have also lost interest in teaching. Basically, activities that enable rural leadership development need to be promoted for holistic rural development. These would include encouraging and empowering youth and women in accepting leadership roles. Farmers should form cooperative societies whereby they can pool their resources for purchasing expensive farm machinery, building infrastructure for protected cultivation of high-value crops (e.g., vegetables), planting and harvesting crops, storing foodgrains, and marketing. I know of several farmer groups who are successfully doing this and strengthening their financial condition. Women must be involved in various activities through gender-sensitive approaches. For example, drudgery reduction (creating safe drinking water sources closer to their homes, improved stoves/ solar devices, etc.) , involvement in decision making, capacity building in technical skills, information technology, and leadership development, facilitating self-help groups (dairying, food processing, micro-financing, etc.), creating economic independence, and ensuring as well as encouraging women participation in Panchayati Raj Institutions. Rural men and women must be made aware of grants that they can avail themselves of. For example, Ministry of Rural Development (Government of India) has earmarked large amounts of funds for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Ajeevka-National Rural Livelihood Mission, Rural Housing, Prime Minister’s Gram Road Scheme, etc. The National School of Leadership exists with the objective of making leadership education available to the common man and woman. This School has started the “Lead India” campaign under which educational camps are organised in rural areas. Both teachers and students can participate in bringing to the rural masses leadership skills. This can enhance the chances of rural youth of finding suitable jobs. The noted agricultural scientist, Prof. M.S.Swaminathan, has proposed to establish knowledge and resource centers in all villages. Through information and communication technology (ICT), rural areas can make much progress. Government of India has included knowledge connectivity in Program for India’s Progress and approved funds for 10,0000 Service Centers to serve rural India. Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy, established in 2003, has more than 1200 grassroots educationists to pave the way for rural knowledge revolution. — The writer is former Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
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How advancing the summer clock can save power Power
shortage is a major crisis across the globe. About 70 countries advance their clocks by one hour during six summer months (April-September) to save power. This practice is commonly termed Daylight Saving Time (DST) or Summer Time Advancement of the Summer Clock, which was conceived by Benjamin Franklin for saving candles as early as 1783. It was however only implemented by Germany in 1916 to save fuel in World War I. The UK and USA followed soon. But this practice was abandoned soon after the war. It was only after World War II that it gradually became a common practice. Most areas of North America and Europe, all North of the Tropic of Cancer, observe DST. South of the Tropic of Capricorn, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern parts of Brazil in South America and New Zealand and parts of southern Australia observe DST, while most other areas do not. A few countries even stretch this practice to seven months through to October 31. To facilitate adjustment and minimise inconvenience to the public, change is usually shifted to the nearest Sunday. The present Indian Standard Time (IST) is five hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Meantime GMT, the global standard. The IST is based on Longitude 82.5°E which passes through Chennai/ Nagpur/ Allahabad and bisects the country. The table shows the sunrise and sun-set times on our current clock (IST) in the eastern and western most regions of India at the beginning of summer, on April 1 and at its end, on September 30. In the intervening summer months days are longer. If the Indian clock is advanced by 1 hour as proposed, sunrise and sunset times in Meghalaya on the New Clock would respectively read 6.00 hrs and 19.30/19.00 hrs. Corresponding times in Gujarat would read 7.30 and 20.00/19.30 hrs. And, that the summer sky in India are bright enough to read at least for one hour before sunrise and, after sunset. Advancement in clock will only mean that you commence work earlier and also end work early and go to sleep earlier. It will, in fact, save you from travelling to work when the sun is way up in the sky and temperatures near the peak. Since the impact of advancement of summer clock in the country is universal and impacts every activity, it will also not create any public inconvenience or dislocation. All it will entail is adjustment of human biological clocks, which takes a few days. But, by making more effective use of daylight by advancing the clock by one hour during six summer months would easily result in power savings of 5-7 per cent, or perhaps more. And, the greatest advantage of this introduction is that it will require no capital investment. It is the cheapest and easiest way of harnessing solar energy, hence its called Daylight Saving Time (DST). It also benefits every citizen and needs no maintenance. The added benefits are that power is saved when: This slippage necessitated import of 135 million tonnes of coal (20 per cent of requirements) in 2013-14, up 17 per cent from the previous year. Cost of $6 billion imports will rise sharply as many UMPP’s (ultra mega power projects) based on imported coal under construction at portheads become operational. Such large-scale imports when India sits on the largest coal deposits in the world is indeed a sad story. Recent Supreme Court judgments on cancellation of nearly all coal-mining licenses granted in the last two decades will only aggravate the shortage. Sunrise and sunset times on October 31 are shown in the table above. These point to the possibility of extension of summer time up to October 31, that is from six months to seven. of our critical power-situation such extension merits deeper study. — The writer is former MD & Vice Chairman of Punjab Tractors Ltd., and Swaraj Mazda Limited.
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Stacking money abroad is a crime. Therefore, all those who have hidden money in foreign countries are guilty. The government’s hesitation in making their names public is now understandable. Obviously, both the Congress and the BJP are guilty and they do not want their image to be damaged if and when the names are out. Both parties have a lot to hide.
The
