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Needed, clarity Grim harvest |
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Mayhem in the Middle East
Culinary skills as spice of life
Punjabis’ health needs a healing touch
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Needed, clarity Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley has clarified his government's position on a number of policy matters at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit in the Delhi, and what he says deserves attention. Reforms happen through a series of progressions and the Finance Minster has declared his position on issues that have been of concern. He has unequivocally stated that India is not opposed to the trade facilitation pact at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), although he wants provision made for food security, concern for which has been earlier expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaitley also announced that the idea of privatising loss-making state-owned companies could be explored, and his government's intention to open up railways. He promised to ease land acquisition, and basically asserted the government's intention to continue its reform agenda, including in such sectors as mining and insurance, where it has faced problems. For too long crony capitalism has had an unhealthy hold on the Indian economy. The country needs a transparent and conducive environment in which business can flourish. The Modi government has made some gains in the recent months, which can lay the groundwork for more reforms. The economy has benefited from some international conditions like the falling price of oil, and the government has helped to keep the market sentiment bullish by keeping the hope of reforms alive, and by taking some concrete steps. The Modi government is bound to have a tough time balancing between the demands of the market-oriented financial elite and international investors on the one hand, and the traditional labour-oriented thinking which is very much part of the Indian political DNA. The reforms need to be in sync with the political expectations, which are based on socialistic and inclusive thinking. The government needs economic growth, for which it must implement reforms. Jaitley has done well by tempering somewhat the expectations of those who want him to take dramatic steps. He is at the helm of a ship that is very large, and thus not too nimble, and no one knows this better than the Finance Minister.
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Grim harvest Friction
between alliance partners SAD and BJP in Punjab has been in the news for a while. Now it is beginning to show in words and deed. The crisis over delay in payment to farmers for their paddy procured by the state on behalf of the Central government is more than just an administrative issue, as Punjab would have us believe. Before the sought credit line for the procurement is extended by the Centre it wants the state to reconcile some of its earlier stocks to the payments received. There is obviously something amiss in Punjab's books, otherwise the Chief Minister would not seek the Prime Minister's intervention — for something that is beyond bureaucrats' powers. The moot point, however, is how much of this trouble is being caused for Punjab because of administrative compulsions and how much for political reasons. The books had not been balanced for the past many years, but Punjab kept receiving the money, something the BJP government at the Centre seems to be refusing to do, at least not readily. This, when seen with the public statement of BJP state in-charge Katheria that the party would not be averse to contesting the Assembly elections on its own, says a lot about the state of politics in the ruling alliance. Punjab has a lot to set right in its ways of governance. A significant part of its stifling debt is owing to its own profligacy — in populist measures as well as expenditure on the administrative machinery. The state is also refusing to relook at the agricultural model, which is heavily dependent on the support price. The reality is world agricultural commodity prices are dipping and the Centre's food grain stocks are brimming. It is thus naturally not inclined to spending on the MSP mechanism. An agriculturally mature state like Punjab has to move beyond cereal farming and identify crops that will be needed in urban as well as foreign markets. Horticulture is one option, but it needs a modern post-harvest handling and marketing infrastructure. If only the government had the time and resources for that.
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Thought for the Day
A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is one who hopes they are. —
Chauncey Depew
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DURING the six months from April to September 1914, the total quantity of wheat and flour exported from India amounted to 10,335,885 cwts as against 22 million cwts and 23 million cwts for the same period in the two previous years. Of the total exports of 101/3 million cwts from India, Punjab and Sind contributed over 9½ million cwts, Bengal and Bombay exports decreasing to one-twentieth and one-tenth of the previous year's exports. The Punjab exports were more than 50 per cent. of the last half year's. These figures show that a considerably large quantity of exportable wheat and flour is in the country and yet the price has not in the least fallen in any place. It is anticipated that with the next year's harvest prices will fall. Local self-government in UP
SIR James Meston's declaration on the subject of forthcoming legislation in the United Provinces on Local Self-Government will be read with considerable interest. His Honour said: "It is no secret that we hope within the next few months to put before the public a measure for extending the scope of local self-government as far as municipalities are concerned and for enabling the large municipalities to elect their own chairmen. The experiments which have been made have been so markedly successful that we all feel that the next step forward ought to be taken without much delay. In the measure which will be put before the Council shortly there will be certain safeguards for the general public which you may or may not agree with. They have been inserted in all good faith and they do not in any way detract from the broad principle that in municipal bodies the responsibility should rest with those who are chosen representatives of the people."
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Mayhem in the Middle East NEW developments in Kobane, the Syrian town on the Turkish border, which became the symbol of the turmoil and carnage in the Middle East, brings out the hopelessness and complexity of the United States and the West fighting their foe, variously described as Isis, Isil or the Islamic State (IS). After much badgering by Washington, Turkey permitted Iraqi Kurdish peshmergas to transit its territory to join their fellow Syrian cousins with men and heavy equipment to stop and defeat Isis.
The irony is that even if pershmergas succeed here, Isis is grabbing more land in Syria and Iraq, the latest being in the loss suffered at the hands of the Nusra fighters allied to Al-Qaida. In Syria's Idlib province, Kurdish fighters are locked in contest in Rabiya in Iraq and Baghdad has again been subjected to brutal bomb attacks causing many deaths. If Turkey and its leader, Recep Tayyib Erdogan, are searching for a way out, being in a sense at the heart of the crisis, so are the US, other Western powers, the main Sunni regional powers and the domestic players in Syria and Iraq. And the complexity of the problem is brought out by one stark fact alone. The Turkish Kurds, whose leader has been talking to the authorities, remains in prison and his supporters have been subjected to air attacks by the state's warplanes. On the other hand, Iraqi Kurds, who run an autonomous region in Iraq, have dealings with Ankara and are now helping Syrian Kurds. As Western strategists sift through the leads to the unique phenomenon of the Islamic State, also called the Islamic Caliphate, they have come to the conclusion that its leadership is not merely brutal, but good strategists who use the support of disillusioned Sunni generals of Saddam Hussein's army and run a slick propaganda campaign. Each day US President Barack Obama's promise of degrading and destroying Isis seems more distant. The Islamic State run a substantial area in Syria and Iraq with an administrative machinery they have cobbled and, thanks to US arms they have looted and captured oil wells, are not short of money. On the other hand, European states are becoming increasingly concerned with the blowback of Iraq and Syria on their soil as battle-hardened nationals return home. They are also worried about the effect on Muslim migrants, many of them born there, lured by the slick internet campaigns of the Islamic State presented as an ideal Islamic society to live in. Many of those who take the bait are disillusioned but are trapped. At the strategic level, the choices for the US and its Arab allies are hard. The intensity of air strikes by US and allied warplanes has certainly helped, but everyone recognises that air power alone cannot win the war. So the question boils down to, whose boots? The US has sent some 1,500 troops as advisers but President Obama has vowed not to have American boots on the ground. President Erdogan's riposte to Washington has been why it should fill the breach where America fears to tread. President Erdogan for his part has several balls in the air. His country has a long border with the troubled states and he has been seeking to postpone taking a decision one way or the other by asking for a no-fly zone in Syria (where the more than 1.5 million refugees he hosts can be settled). Besides, his main enemy is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who he wants to unseat, equating his removal with defeating Isis. Thus far the Islamic State has largely succeeded in nullifying the Iraq-Syria border, designated as such by the British-French accord in 1916, in line with old colonial powers dividing much of the region in accordance with their own convenience in what was once the Ottoman Empire. What future shape these and other states will take is anyone's guess. In a sense, Iraq is already divided into three: the Shia area in the South, the Sunni heartland in the North and West and the Kurdish autonomous region, now nurturing dreams of independence. In Syria, the Alewi (Shia) area largely hugs the sea coast while Sunnis constitute the majority, with other minorities in peril. The oil-rich Sunni monarchies, on the other hand, have their own concerns about the extremists coming home. Indeed, the only bright light among all the Arab states convulsed by the lamented Arab Spring is Tunisia, which has just held elections under a new constitution giving most seats to a secular party. The Obama administration has begun to realise that it will be a long battle. It is training the so-called moderate opponents of the Assad regime and the Arab monarchies are sifting the Sunni fighters in Syria, while funding and arming them. Critics of the American strategy — many doubt that it has a coherent long-term plan — say that what the administration is doing is too little, too late. For instance, it will be at least six months to a year before the newly-armed and trained anti-Assad moderates are ready to take on the Assad regime. Second, the harm the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, did in his long innings by marginalising Sunnis lives on although his successor is trying to be more inclusive under American prodding. Above all, Iran symbolises the irony of ironies. It is a state Arab monarchies led by Saudi Arabia love to hate for its alleged evangelism in spreading the Shia faith. Besides, it has been supporting President Assad, possesses a franchise in Lebanon in the form of the Hezbollah movement and generally demonstrates its muscle power. At the same time, Tehran is fiercely opposed to the Islamic State (IS). As if the cupful of misery and mayhem in the region were not enough, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lit a match to the fire by blocking Muslims from worshipping at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to provoke the mild-mannered and generally supine president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to call it an act of war. The prohibition has now been withdrawn.
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Culinary skills as spice of life Right
since my student days, I was not only a foodie but would constantly work on acquiring new skills to cook delicious cuisines. Once I would eat a delicious cuisine, its flavour would go to my head and then I'd start analysing how that flavour could be achieved, know about the ingredients; talk to my mother, sisters, and the chefs and would settle only when I had achieved that very flavour. During one of these visits, my mother-in-law commented to impress the other guests, “Neelu is very lucky to have a life partner who is a fabulous cook”. “Oh, shit! Down with my engineering degree, a four-figure salary, a job in a top company if it is my cooking skill that has got me the girl.” Crestfallen, I thought to myself and for a moment felt like telling her that she should have looked for some cook but then romance had already taken deep roots and I'd have lumped it even if she had shot something unflattering. Almost a year after my marriage, I took up a new job in the South. It was my wife's first visit to her parents. I'd get invites for dinner from colleagues in the colony. Soon, I felt that I should repay by holding a dinner party. I arranged it in the Company's club. I got the food prepared under my guidance. As the guests started eating, I could see them jostling to have more and more. I was swarmed with compliments: “Wow, awesome, fabulous, and delicious, no words to describe the magical bites”, and many more. In the days to follow, I was the cynosure of all females. Exchange of smiles, glances expressing admiration became a regular feature. I was invited to give a demo in the Ladies Club too. Telephone calls became more frequent as women liked to get tips on cooking from me. For me the world had changed but alas that was shortlived as my wife was back, not alone, but with her mother. I started confronting their suspicious and disdainful glares. “What is this?” my wife asked prickly. I told her everything. She was convinced that there was nothing fishy but her mother had her own perception of the matter. “Neelu enough is enough. Now don't allow him to come to the kitchen. Either you or the maid will prepare the food,” she gave strict instructions and assumed the role of a watchdog. At last a good day dawned when God heard my silent prayers and my father-in-law asked her to return. But, then they say: Jab miyan biwi raazi to kya karega kaazi. The next day I was back in the kitchen experimenting with my culinary skills. After all, it was these that had won me many friends, admirers and, not to forget, my better half too.
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Punjabis’ health needs a healing touch Punjab, forgotten as the land of five rivers, is now better known for the dirty waters of Buddha Nallah, the artery of diseases in central Punjab. Many a times, harmful quantities of uranium have been found in its groundwater known to cause cancer and a host of diseases and disorders to the women and children. The Malwa region, earlier famous for its rich cotton fields, has now been nick-named as the “cancer belt of Punjab”.
The recent studies by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has brought out sensational revelations for the food bowl state. The report states that of pregnant women, 58 per cent are found to be anaemic and 4.9 per cent of these have severe anaemia. Among the children of 6-59 months, 43.4 per cent suffered from malnutrition. Not only this, 9.4 per cent children in this age group were found to be suffering from severe anaemia. The survey jointly conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai and the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh has unfolded that hypertension, a lifestyle disease, is tightening its noose in Punjab. Around 34.8 per cent population of the state is already suffering from it. Of the affected population, 11.3 per cent have moderately high and 4.3 per cent very high hypertension. It may not be surprising as another study reported that 35.7 per cent in rural and 33.4 per cent in urban areas are liquor takers. Not only this, an increasing number of people in Punjab are tobacco users. The population of smokers in the cities has climbed to 14.2 per cent while it is 10.5 per cent in the rural areas. Besides 10.2 per cent men are reported to use other forms of tobacco to get a kick. This puts about four million Punjabis at the risk of developing tobacco-related diseases and of these, about one million are at the risk of dying prematurely because of tobacco use. The statistics are appalling. Health indicators The government may be complacent about the fact that the health indicators in Punjab are better than many other states, but a closer look will tell otherwise. The infant mortality rate places it at fifth rank in India. During 1981-2008, the infant mortality rate has dropped significantly from 81 to 41 per thousand live births but afterwards it has stagnated at about 30 per 1,000 live births, as against 23.8 in Kerala and 14.6 in Mizoram. Even the child mortality of 15.0 is not better than Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Jammu & Kashmir. Whereas 93.0 per cent deliveries in Kerala, 79.3 per cent in Tamil Nadu and 90.9 per cent in Goa are institutionalised, in Punjab it is only 38.4 per cent. On the other hand, only 52 per cent children under the age of five years with diarrhoea receive oral rehydration therapy and only 13 per cent of under-five children with acute respiratory infections receive antibiotics. In Kerala, a person at birth is expected to live for 75 years, while in Punjab, the average life expectancy is about 71.4 years. The death rate which has declined from 9.4 to 7.2 during 1981-2004, has risen after 2005, inspite of advanced medical facilities. This is a cause of serious concern. There are numerous studies that point to high incidence of cancer, skin diseases and abnormalities during new births. The first state survey of cancer victims in Punjab in 2013, revealed a high incidence of disease in the Malwa belt. The survey reported average cancer prevalence of 216 cases per lakh population and suspected cancer cases of 319 per lakh population. As many as 33,318 cancer deaths have been reported to occur in the last five years, yet another 84,453 persons had cancer like symptoms. Whereas Mansa district had the highest prevalence of 290 cases per lakh, Moga had the highest suspects of 565 per lakh of population. A series of studies conducted by PGIMER, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and other reputed institutions have indicated that drinking water being supplied, particularly in the Malwa belt, was a cancer cocktail as it was a combination of pesticides, heavy metals, fluorides and nitrates. The area has emerged as the epicentre of diseases. Unhealthy markers Skewed sex ratio Still another blow to Punjab is the preponderance of males over females. The sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) is a social indicator denoting the empowerment and equality of women in society. It is 893 against the national average of 940. The child sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years though improved a bit from 798 in 2001 to 846 in 2011, but it is way behind the national average. This demographic imbalance has many ill-effects on the society. In fact, Punjab is finding it difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The public health sector share out of the total budgetary expenditure has plummeted from around 9.0 per cent during 1980-81 to 6.97 per cent during 1989-90, 5.46 per cent during 1992-93, and further falling to 4.35 during 2004-05. The position is so pathetic that when Punjab spending on public health was only 5.5 per cent, states like Kerala and Rajasthan were spending 19.8 and 21.6 per cent, respectively between 2004-10. Therefore, spending on public health in Punjab is far from satisfactory. As a result of poor spending, the share of medical education, research and training has consistently gone down leading to deterioration in tertiary, secondary and primary healthcare. The situation can be gauged from the fact that population served per bed has increased from 817, during the early 1980s to 1555 during the last decade. In a developing society, level of health should increase, if not proportionately, with the economic prosperity. By virtue of the robust economic growth and abundant granary, one might have expected Punjab to do better in other dimensions of utmost significance for human life as well. However, unfortunately it has not happened so far. There is no major increase in the number of government- aided health institutions in Punjab since 1990s. The grim picture of public health institutions can be estimated from the large number of sanctioned posts of doctors and paramedical staff which are lying vacant since the past several years. The major factors inhibiting the growth of health sector in Punjab are the existence of a large number of small public health institutions, deficient in basic facilities and regular specialists, medical and paramedical workers, therefore making them hardly of any use to the public. Thus, despite having 5,601 public health institutions, including allopathic and ayurvedic dispensaries, primary health centres and hospitals, around 90 per cent of non-hospital health care and 67 per cent of hospital health care cases are handled by private health care services. Inability of the state in providing quality health care, particularly at the tertiary stage, deprives the underprivileged from accessing medical services. If the state’s limited resources are consumed by the bigger private corporate hospitals promoted by the Government, the state's funding for the common cause of general public has to suffer. Rising cost of medical care An immediate concern of this policy is the rising cost of medical care in the state. Average expenditure for hospitalisation in Punjab, according to the Expert Group constituted by the state is as high as Rs 15,431 per hospitalisation, which is reported to be one of the highest in the country. Even in Government health institutions, charges are the highest at Rs 7,700 per hospitalisation. For cancer patients, the average cost of treatment is estimated to be Rs 2.75 lakh. Because of the high costs of treatment, cancer-affected families are forced to curtail their basic needs, including expenditure on food, child care and education, ultimately pushing them to poverty. During the past years, Punjab Government has introduced two reforms in health sector viz. opening of health care services to the private sector and setting up the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC). The latter was established under the World Bank-sponsored project in which more than 150 Government health care institutions were transferred to PHSC. But both these measures have failed to improve health services in the state. Health care in Punjab has not only become costlier, but also selective. Another attempt by the Government to engage doctors and paramedics through Zila Parishads on a “service contract” basis since 2006 has also proved to be ineffective. As a result of compartmentalisation of health services between four different departments, disparities have emerged between the rich and poor, urban and rural people. A state-specific health policy is the basic pre-requisite for changing the health scenario of the state. The health policy should take a holistic view of the state's health, identify requirements and priorities, set up objectives, and ensure optimal utilisation of allocated resources. The health policy should also give due care to curative aspects, alongwith preventive measures. Improving curative services include easy accessibility, service availability for longer duration, clean premises, provision of adequate medicines and diagnostic services under one roof. The policy must ensure regulation and monitoring of both public and private sector care systems. Health care should be integrated with the public amenities like safe drinking water, sanitation, availability of nutrient supplements, removal of drug addiction and other occupational hazards in the urban areas. Insurance cover which is abysmally low, particularly in the rural areas, needs to be targeted through government programmes. Low out-of-pocket spending can be enhanced through expansion of healthcare insurance schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Customer satisfaction The private sector can play a vital role in improving the healthcare infrastructure, but without proper accreditation, few private players, are likely to gain credibility, resulting in lower customer satisfaction. Complaints abound that longer stays in hospitals than necessary often cause overbilling to the patients. Acts like overcharging of medicines, not treating weaker sections at compensatory rates have to be curbed. Integration of health services in a more coordinated manner would help to reverse the low sex-ratio in the state which is based on gender discrimination on or after birth. It will also help in the process towards reduction of anaemia prevalence, better nutrition and provision of good healthcare and feeding practices. One of the factors working against good nutritional status is the fact that poor food preparation practices makes food deficient in nutrients. Loss of diversity in Punjabi platter is also responsible for loss of nutrition to a greater extent. Growing a variety of organic food comprising herbs, leafy vegetables, coarse grains, in as natural way as possible, and use of traditional uncultivated foods can overcome the problem. In this respect, literacy of women can play an important role to bring the desirable effects. Government must reverse its policies of realising maximum revenue through promoting the sale of liquor and cigarettes. The state must also not feel great about having seized increasing quantities of heroin or having arrested larger number of people involved in the drug trade. The government instead should focus on curbing the drug peddling by creating mass awareness and education. Most of the non-communicable diseases like cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are due to the changes in the lifestyle and poor environmental indicators. Rise of diarrhoea and cholera in the urban slums can only be prevented by providing clean water and sanitation. When 21.70 per cent families are without toilets in the state, more toilets have to be provided to eradicate sanitation-related diseases. Similarly, better ways of solid waste disposal, cleaning of rivers and providing safe drinking water to the public will take care of most of the problems in the state. The farmers must also exercise safe methods of cultivation without excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides that ultimately are affecting their own health directly or indirectly. —The writer, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, is the author of The Big Grain Drain
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It was my first job. My landlord soon got to know about my fondness for cooking as I would dish up all sorts of culinary delights often. Mesmerised by my culinary skills, he'd share the fact with his friends too. It so happened that one of them, a Punjabi government officer, became interested in me for his daughter and the relationship was finalised. Now I'd spend my weekends at my fiancée's home.