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EDITORIAL Baba Amarnath pilgrimage commences from July 15 and culminates on August 15. This means there is spanning of one month. Based on the average of last two years, the number of pilgrims allowed to go beyond Pehalgam or Sonamarg, the two base camps, would be between 3000 to 5000 daily. If both routes are open simultaneously, this number is quite manageable. It may be recalled that spanning was resorted to in the wake of mass tragedy that caused hundreds of deaths due to snow storms and highly inclement weather while the path was narrow. Even..more It is all fine as long as cricket remains a game of bat and ball, the bowlers and the batsmen (add wicket keeper if you so please because Nain Mongia's name also figures). One also has to live with the Umpire who becomes the decider of the game by allowing as many as nine leg before wickets (lbws). And those captains, coaches and managers. And why not the functionaries of the ..more |
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SPOTLIGHT From B L Kak Educating villagers By Radha Rastogi Division is half the
solution!....... Govt expenditure
continues to soar over more |
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EDITORIAL Baba Amarnath pilgrimage commences from July 15 and culminates on August 15. This means there is spanning of one month. Based on the average of last two years, the number of pilgrims allowed to go beyond Pehalgam or Sonamarg, the two base camps, would be between 3000 to 5000 daily. If both routes are open simultaneously, this number is quite manageable. It may be recalled that spanning was resorted to in the wake of mass tragedy that caused hundreds of deaths due to snow storms and highly inclement weather while the path was narrow. Even Baltal route was opened only after the tragedy occured. Since then Government not only went in for spanning the pilgrimage to run for full month but also an elaborate registration exercise was put in operation to restrict the number each day to manageable limits. It was also announced with much fanfare that Baba Amarnath Trust on pattern similar to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board would be created. It is strange that the Trust yet remains elusive. It crosses the minds only when yatra season begins and then onwards it is closed or forgotten chapter. One really does not know what prevents the State Government to establish the Trust so that this particular pilgrimage can be given massive thrust that would improve economy of the people living in and around the yatra route as also the State as a whole. The qualitative and quantitative progress made in the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage amply proves the dire necessity of having similar trust for Amarnath Shrine as well. As the yatra commences within less than 30 days from now, it is time to remind the powers that be about several aspects that are crucial to the success of this annual pilgrimage. First, there is the imperative need of introducing Chopper service from Base Camp to sanctum sanctorum and/or from the twin capitals. The pilgrimage is one of the most arduous needing 3 days tracking on Pehalgam route either way and 2 day tracking on the Baltal route. This means only those 100% physically fit can take the arduous journey. Introduction of Copter service to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine from Katra/Jammu has proved to be quite a success. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation who hails from the State should facilitate introduction of copter service which would be boon for the devouts who cannot make it otherwise. Second, security aspect needs further boost up. The entire route as also the sanctum sanctorum must be sanitised right from today to ward off any insurgency related incident. Lately, South Kashmir is in news for several massacres and landmine blasts which indicate presence of mercenaries in the area. As pilgrims come from every nook and corner of India quite unmindful of hostile environs, it is the duty of the State to ensure fool-proof security right from the time they reach Jammu and upto the Shrine. Last year it was good exercise and this year does need extra caution due to recent spurt in militancy related incidents and presence of ‘Fidayeen’ squads in Valley. Third, it is essential that both routes remain open to pilgrimage during the month. Choking of one could lead to overcrowding of the other. One expects that necessary repair/spadework has been done and special teams constituted to keep both the tracks fully serviceable. While it would have been appreciated if the tracks were widened and made more secure during the interregnun, the fact remains Government has no time to address to this aspect constructively. That is why establishment of Baba Amarnath Trust needs to be expedited. Fourth, advance weather warning should be available at the base camps at Pehalgam and Sonamarg on hourly basis to avoid any mass tragedy. Likewise rescue teams should be positioned and pivotal points to render immediate succour wherever needed. Such tragic episodes can recur either due to militancy or wrath of the nature. Either way, there is imperative need of immediate response to any given situation. Fifth, pilgrims accommodation, medicare, supply of blankets, food and other essentials should be so arranged asto make the pilgrimage a beautiful experience for the devouts. This includes smooth and timely functioning of voluntary langars established by philanthropists from many parts of India. Nothing should be done that comes in the way of their smooth functioning. These NGOs/philanthropists play pivotal role for successful yatra. Particular attention should be paid to the pricing aspects. Under no circumstances any pilgrim should feel that he has been fleeced or cheated in any manner whatsoever. Prompt remedial action is called for whenever any complaint is received or otherwise unfair practices noticed. Lastly, it is once again highlighted that cumbersome procedures should be minimised. After all Baba Amarnath pilgrimage takes place in our country and not in China or Pakistan or any other country. All last minute devouts who reach Jammu even without compliance of procedural formats should be accommodated. One really does not know why pilgrims to Amarnath shrine are subjected to such formalities when no other annual ritual, not even the Kumbh or the Ardh-Kumb, is exposed to such preliminaries as if devouts are going to foreign land. This aspect needs to be addressed and things made to look totally Indian. It is all fine as long as cricket remains a game of bat and ball, the bowlers and the batsmen (add wicket keeper if you so please because Nain Mongia's name also figures). One also has to live with the Umpire who becomes the decider of the game by allowing as many as nine leg before wickets (lbws). And those captains, coaches and managers. And why not the functionaries of the cricket boards as well. After all it is a game adored by largest ever number of fans. But it now transpires that this game is no more the privilege of the players and the fans. There are those nasty characters called match-fixers where in extras are involved - extras like bookies. Going by the evidence given by former South African captain Hansie Cronje during revelations made by him before a fullfledged Commission of Enquiry, he conveys the message that long-time Indian captain Azhar-ud-Din is instrumental in introducing him to the ‘bookies’. So he was tempted to become match-fixer and in the process convinced many of the team members under him to make fast buck. These are confessions before a Commission that grants him immunity from prosecution. Earlier to this IT Department functionary had disclosed that the same captain deposited Rs 16 crore under VDIS! The latest is that Kapil Dev paid 87 lakhs to a builder which now turns out to be a bookie. And those large currency notes found in the locker of Sunil Gavaskar in Gymkhana Club in Mumbai. Yet most of them continue in the team as players, as coaches, as managers. This is not cricket. At stake is not only the name of the game but also the crores of fans. Above all it is the reputation of the country. The least Cricket Control Board can do is to remove all those players from the team whose names figure in one or the other enquiry as match-fixers. CBI should also hasten its enquiry and not allow it to get tampered with frivolities and other considerations. |
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SPOTLIGHT From B L Kak Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has no plans to prevent the United States from pursuing its efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability in the Indian sub-continent. He is closely watching Washington’s every move in relation to India. Mr Vajpayee is aware of Washington’s secret diplomacy to accomplish two "crucial" targets-building bridges of friendship between India and Pakistan and hammering out a solution to the Kashmir imbroglio. Significantly, the Government of India, which is opposed to third-party mediation on Kashmir, has, to an extent, encouraged Washington’s intensive secret diplomacy. Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, and Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary, Mr Brajesh Mishra, are aware of the US role. In fact, highly-places sources have come across evidence, clearly suggesting that Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr Brajesh Mishra have already started monitoring, albeit secretly, certain events vis-à-vis Washington’s role and perception in connection with Indo-Pak relations and Kashmir imbroglio. According to these sources, the Prime Minister, the External Affairs Minister and the all-important Principal Secretary of Mr Vajpayee are not ignorant about the selection by the US President, Mr Bill Clinton, of an American-Kashmiri, currently based in the United States, for assisting the White House and State Department in bringing India, Pakistan and Kashmiri militant and separatist leaders to the negotiating table. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, too, is aware of such a development. Significantly, however, Mr Bill Clinton’s secret envoy has so far kept himself away from the Home Minister, Mr LK Advani, and the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes. Sources divulged that certain inputs about the modus operandi of Mr Clinton’s envoy were quietly provided to Mr Advani by Dr Farooq after his (envoy’s) recent visit to Srinagar. Secret forays into New Delhi, Pakistan and Kashmir by Mr Clinton’s envoy in recent months have been highlighted by Jane’s Intelligence Digest, a leading defence publication. Jane’s Intelligence Digest, which is a sister publication of the most prestigious Jane’s Defence Weekly, has divulged that White House is using the services of an American-Kashmiri who "is constantly shuttling between Delhi and Islamabad and Washington" as part of America’s secret diplomatic initiative. The report of the publication, it is pointed out, has been based on sources both in Washington and Delhi. Yet another interesting revelation made by the publication: US President is considering nominating a personal secret representative to monitor and assist all parties involved in the negotiations. If the report of Jane’s Intelligence Digest is to be believed, "constant pressure" from the White House eventually necessitated the Indian Government to release the top leaders of Kashmir’s All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and to favour talks with them. The report has pointed out that while the US administration has instructed Pakistan not to block the possible talks or any "putative peace deal between Delhi and the Hurriyat leaders", New Delhi has shifted from its policy of rejecting outside involvement in Kashmir because of "the emergence of a unipolar world and the internationalisation of Islamic terrorism". The report said: "Sensing flexibility on the part of India, the US intensified its secret diplomacy soon after President Clinton’s visit to South Asia". According to Jane’s Intelligence Digest, the Indian Government has accepted the "American-orchestrated back-channel mediation" as it hoped to "face less international pressure to cap its nuclear programme if tensions with Pakistan are reduced". And if the report is any guide, New Delhi is also using what has been termed as American "mediation over Kashmir as a bargaining c hip for securing American backing for a permanent Indian seat on an expanded UN Security Council". |
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Division is half the
solution!....... Jammu and Kashmir State in the map projections of India comes through as a graceful head of an elegant body. In truth, ever since that elegant body has come into being, that ‘head’ has remained shorn of its appealing appendages leaving at best a glorified mole there. That is how it actually is; that is how it would have been had not the State and its statesmen clung to an imaginary unrealistic vision. That imagination talks of 222 thousand square kilometers, while India holds less than half -- just 101 thousand sq kms -- of that territory. Every document lists 222 and every map holds those dainty ears up, misleading a billion people into a falsity. Of course, the state that acceded to India did have those ‘ears’ jutting out. Historically, legally, constitutionally, those areas are rightfully India's to claim and hold. But India that was constituted then, never held those lands. That is the status as it obtains. And, the world we are living in has come to have a profound respect for the status quo: those lines are simply not to be crossed. The once blue-eyed boy of US, Saddam Hussain discovered that truth in Kuwait, as did the other US protege Pakistan find it out in Kargil. A billion assertions over the past fifty years, and the ‘LoC’ of Simla agreement to boost, it is impossible seeing India cross the line to reclaim those territories. So where is the loss in sanctioning a permanency to it? That is the one possible solution of the ‘Kashmir dispute’. It will seal a reality as truth and lift the veils of fiction that have come to envelope Kashmir. That will also stabilize the psychological wobble in Kashmir. Much as it may amuse you seeing the ‘democratic crusaders’ in Kashmir not only calling upon illegitimate autocrats in Pakistan to aid in their aspirations, but also pressing in their ‘rights’ therein, yet that is a reality of Kashmir situation Even as the safeguard of the integrity is a nation's duty, settlement of minor disputes does not detract from the national interest, nor honour. As it is, the dispute is only helping the disruptive forces, settled, it would solve quite a bit of the tangle. But only a bit! The other part relates to the people within. Even as India is one large conglomeration of diversities, the State of Jammu and Kashmir represents this diversity sharpened into cut-edge discordances. It can be argued that the state living abnormally over past the half a century, with the political as well as developmental emphasis focused on a part of the state and populace alone has been largely instrumental in precipitating this fracas. Now the regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh represent not only geographical fault-lines but virtually opposing aspirations, social, cultural as well as political. Probably, with a soothing touch of understanding, by the in-power majority, the differences could have been ironed out and a working unity established. Probably, the ruling majority never thought it had obligations vis-a-vis the ruled minority and the remaining regions. In any case, it was overly pre-occupied with its own grouses, its own privileges, its own pre-emption. And, the already existing differences accentuated into hot diffidence. Today, the linguistic identities, regional aspirations, economic and developmental disparities have become shrill discords. But, probably, the discordance is shrillest in the political sphere. Thus while the state cites statue, law and ‘promise’ to demand greater powers from center, it in its turn refuses to develove the same further down, leaving each region acrying. Besides, while Kashmir is crying for autonomy, to restrict the intercourse with the nation to the minimum, Jammu would be happier with an abrogation of 370, probably, the state subject law too, and Ladakh would be the happiest as a union territory. Probably, the last is true only of the Ladakh proper, while Kargil may opt for a closer connection with Kashmir. But, what of Zanskar? And, there you are: ignoring the religious angle and fathering a dozen illegitimacies! The greatest illegitimacy of them all is the eviction of ethnic Hindus from Kashmir, about which one party blames the other, but all gang up to keep them out. As Farooq Abdullah aptly asked the Hurriyat, the other day: where do the Hindus figure in your scheme? Don't these aborigines of Kashmir deserve a place in Kashmir, a say in its affairs, a consideration in the schemes that are cooked up there? Yes, how can the people who swear by ‘rights’ and ‘identities’ trample underfoot the rights and identities of others? And, these Kashmiris do not support the jehadi freedom, nor autonomy, nor insurgency, nor many other things that Kashmir stands for. Part of the Kashmir problem lies in borders. A part also lies in the discordances -- cultural, linguistic, political -- that are clubbed in it. Similar anomalies in states from erstwhile Madras to Punjab were resolved through the states reorganization of fifties, but that solution left the ‘special’ J&K untouched. That specialty is now a suppurating sore, needing a sharp scalpel. That may also bring the state a much needed reality check. And, with the aspirations properly identified, may even bring a solution to the Kashmir tangle. Yes, division would solve half the problem. |
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Govt expenditure
continues to soar over more The way squandermania has afflicted the India ruling class it's quite possible that the great Indian ‘kamadhenu’ may in the not so distant future run out of it supposedly unending reserves of milk. There was this process of massive give-aways started by the United Front Government when the Prime Minister of the day appointed two Cabinet Ministers, with known trade union links, to negotiate with Government employees on the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, which, in the event, meant the Government committing almost double of what the employees had initially insisted upon. And as bonus the Government did not even insist on downsizing of the babudom as envisaged by the Pay Commission. The result was massive pay hikes, from the lowest to the highest in the bloated babudom. Worse was still to come when penurious States like Bihar, for instance, simply did not have the money to pay revised salaries to its employees. Or, like in the case of Andhra where 94 percent of the State's revenue goes into paying the salaries of its employees. A few years on, the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha started making those ritualistic references to the NDA Government's commitment to downsizing the Government. Even Prime Minister Vajpayee joined the downsizing bandwagon. And with Arun Shourie, as the implementer and trumpeter, we were promised a leaner bureaucracy. Nothing of the sort has happened. Government expenditure continues to soar ever more. And a cash-strapped Government, one is told is as a consequence finding it irresistible to divert monies likely to be recovered through the privatisation route to keep the bureaucratic wheels well oiled. And why not ? After all someone has to pay for the rough and ready methods the ruling class has invented to elevate populism to an art form. We won't go back in time to when Ministers and their acolytes were content with what would in retrospect seem modest freebies. We will not mention the silly ruses Ministers and bureaucrats adopt to manipulate free foreign jaunts, particularly during the hot summer months or how various parliamentary committees manage to plan their inter-session sittings in cooler climes of favoured hills stations. We don't want to earn the wrath of our parliamentarians and State level legislators who, apart from giving themselves extra perks with each passing year, have also learnt to have their constituency allocations raised to millions of rupees annually. It's another matter that while some of them are unable to utilise the funds for constituency development fully, quite a few do manage to squander these. Or, how can we forget Mr Jaffer Sharief and A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhary, both Railway Ministers under the Congress dispensation, who made their Ministry their own fief, using its massive resources to float hare-brained schemes. Mamta Banerjee's is just a flee-bite compared to her two predecessors in the Ministry. And that brings me to another former Railway Minister and the present Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. He has turned out to be the grand daddy of populism. And it's not something new with him. When he became Railway Minister in 1996 he with one stroke of his generous pen regularised the jobs of three lakh temporary workers in a Ministry already overburdened by a surfeit of manpower. He doled out free passes to all and sundry and announced a flood of projects which left even some of the fawning Railway Board members aghast. He didn't think much of manipulating a departmental report of give his Bihar constituency, Hajipur the status of a Railway Zonal Office. True to form, the zonal office in Hajipur does exist, only it's not functional even after crores of rupees have been sunk into it. It's in his current avatar as the Communications Minister that Paswan has come out with the shocker - for reasons unknown accepted by Vajpayee in the teeth of opposition from Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha - sanctioning free telephone connections to some 3.5 lakhs class III and IV employees of Department of Telecom Services at a cost (loss) of Rs. 520 crores each year. The freebies include 250 free calls a month and a waiver of the Rs. 150 monthly rental. That's not all, he also sanctioned a bonus of Rs. 70 crores a year for the employees (excluding officers). Never the one to be daunted by criticism he says that he is giving the Government a profit of 7,500 crores unlike the airlines which are running at a loss and yet allowing free passage to its employees. It doesn't make any sense to him that airlines employees are covered by international agreements to which India is a signatory. Besides, no telecom provider in the world is known to give free connections at home to its non-executive staff. One would perhaps have overlooked Paswan's oversized largesse had he cared to explain its relevance in terms of policy. Unfortunately, the Minister's move doesn't quite fit in with the announced policies of the Government. With private and public telecom companies already in place and a regulatory authority monitoring their work, the Department of Telecommunications would soon be considered redundant. Ram Vilas Paswan appears to have taken the view that DOT in there to stay, if only to look after itself and its employees. It need not be efficient and cost-effective, contrary to the Government's declared policy concerning services such as telecom. Paswan has once again shown that he stands committed to nothing else except his personal advancement; he hopes to do so by extending patronage to railwaymen, as he did in 1996-97, by sanctioning phone booths and internet connections to people who even today stand deprived of basic necessities of life such as drinking water and two square meals. Hence the rash of foundation stones, backed up by massive advertising at DOT's expense, with Paswan as the centrepiece. If he had converted Rail Bhawan into an extension of his Dalit Sena he has not lagged behind in his present avatar as Communication Minister. The Sena is very much a part of his news establishment. In the process he may have been accused of instigating employees unions against his critics but Paswan, the populist, will claim that he is only working in the interests of his so-called Dalit constituency. If it makes things difficult for other Ministers or State Government he couldn't care less. He is a man with a mission : to promote himself, preferably, at the cost of the tax-payer. The Paswan virus, regrettably is surfacing, even in the most unlikely of places, in the Petroleum Ministry, headed by one of the more erudite Ministers, BJP's Ram Naik. His promise that the public sector oil companies will give an additional one crore LPG connections this year is simply astounding. Its cost would be a staggering Rs. 2200 crores. Someone who has done his homework on the implications of the proposal works it out thus : subsidy on each gas cylinder is Rs. 80; fresh one crore connections (forget that each household keep two cylinders, one as a standby) adds up to additional subsidy of Rs. 800 crores; add to it the cost of each cylinder at Rs. 900 apiece and you find the public sector oil companies buying at least 1.5 crores cylinders (including standbys) costing Rs 1350 crores. All this would be added to the oil pool deficit currently standing at Rs. 7500 crores. But look at all the dealerships, including the pending ones for petrol, that would go with Naik's vision. What an opportunity it would be for him or the Government to extend its patronage to that many people. And all the returns from these fresh dealership allotments ! But who cares. The politicians must go for a killing while the going is good. Does it really matter if the PSUs find themselves overwhelmed in the process by competition ? Or, that these very PSUs which are set to be privatised, at least in part, find themselves sold for a song, as a consequence of a Ministerial whim. So, while Paswan's is a case by itself, made all the more ununderstandable by the Prime Ministerial nod he got, there are others willing to give him a run for his money. That's why I say we are reaching a stage when we may well be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Or, if you don't like that analogy, the other one about why I believe that the great Indian Kamadhenu might soon go dry. |
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