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EDITORIAL The so-called gentleman's game indeed has many crooks. That stands established by the CBI report on match-fixing handed over to Minister for Sports in which many eulogised Indian cricketers have been found guilty of selling their conscience as also the reputation of the country. The only consolation is that side by side with India, leading ......more While reserving its judgement on the PILs filed against the release of 56 TADA and NSA detenues, the Apex Court has slammed both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Government for its acts of omission and commission. The Hon'ble Judges mince no words in holding both the State Governments responsible for not doing anything to ....more |
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World Food Day : A millennium free from hunger By Som Dutt Partial education Sensitivity and children |
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EDITORIAL The so-called gentleman's game indeed has many crooks. That stands established by the CBI report on match-fixing handed over to Minister for Sports in which many eulogised Indian cricketers have been found guilty of selling their conscience as also the reputation of the country. The only consolation is that side by side with India, leading cricketers including captains of other countries have also done dis-service to the game and injustice to the millions of fans world over. It is not the question of winning the game or losing. Whoever plays better obviously deserves victory. The fans have been robbed of those thrills when match-fixers decide to under-play with a design and for that extra-buck. True, money is the root cause of all evils. It fuels avarice and at times becomes irresistible. Our polity is corruption-ridden and the malaise is too deep rooted to be removed. When political clan is corrupt and there is that vicious nexus between criminals, politicians and cops it is bound to affect even sacrosanct domain of sports. When mafia flourishes with reckless abandon and there is total failure of the law enforcing agencies to get at the evil forces, they are encouraged to enter unconventional and least suspected areas. In the same vein betting has been associated mostly with mafia. Cricket is not the only field that stands exposed to bookies. In fact, bookies have been in the game even before independence and their tentacles are indeed worldwide. There is betting on single digit lottery numbers, on horses, on share values, on electoral fortunes. In fact, the malaise is quite deep-rooted. But all this does not justify what has happened to cricket for the very simple reason that it has been traditionally gentleman's game. It is all the more heinous because crores of fans have been cheated which also includes viewers worldwide on the small-screen. Now that long-awaited report is out, one begins to wonder what next. As things stand CBI has not filed any FIR against any of the accused players. It is so because CBI has largely relied on circumstantial evidence which probably cannot withstand legal scrutiny. It is in fact akin to the hawala racket wherein all the alleged recipients of money were let off by the Courts one after another due to lack of credible evidence. CBI for a change is not prepared to face that prospect once again. In hawala case, CBI depended on the notes made in Jain brothers diary where recipients were shown in abbreviated form. In the case of match-fixers it is largely the cellular phone conversations and numbers of some bookies frequently dialled. None of the accused admits the guilt openly other than indulging in frivolities like who introduced whom. How much money was exchanged and where that mony went is not established. CBI thus adopts the safer course of leaving it to Minister for Sports to do what he likes. The Minister in turn would like to take the legal opinion. Another pertinent reason for not filing FIR is that these match fixers cannot be booked under Prevention of Corruption Act because all of them are not public servants. There is however a case under this act against Azharuddin who is employee of State Bank of India and Ajay Sharma who serves Warehousing Corporation of India. In that sense they are public servants and can indeed be hauled up under Prevention of Corruption Act. As regards others, namely Mongia, jadeja, Prabhakar, Ali Irani and Piloo Reporter there is very little one can do under the Indian laws. Same is true of any action against bookies. It sets the ball rolling to Cricket Control Board. Even the Board can best bar these fixers from playing matches arranged by it. They are however free to play in other countries unless International Cricket Control Board makes amendments to its rules. To that extent it is as good as these fixers remaining unpunished which is no deterrent for future fixers ( there could be many worldwide). But there is at least one grey area which can probably hook these fixers and that is under the Income Tax Laws. The money thus accumulated by them in crores is somewhere. Some of it is traced. The remaining needs to be traced. All such unaccounted money must not remain with the fixers. Besides heavy penalties under the IT laws for not declaring assets and income in full, these match-fixers should be exposed to total social and political boycott by deleting their names from the game of the gentleman. It is also a fit case for amending laws suitably wherein some sort of deterrent punishment is called for the fixers, bookies and those backing them up. In the same vein Cricket Control Board should make stringent rules for the players to make it much more risky and difficult for the avaricious to make fast buck. It would be equally worthwhile to increase incentives for the cricketers so that they do not easily fall for 'sumptuous offers'. Public opinion is already very strong against the match-fixers. It would like the Government and the Cricket Board to address to the deep-rooted malaise meaningfully and in business like manner. While reserving its judgement on the PILs filed against the release of 56 TADA and NSA detenues, the Apex Court has slammed both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Government for its acts of omission and commission. The Hon'ble Judges mince no words in holding both the State Governments responsible for not doing anything to nab the forest brigand during the last ten years. If anything, both the States have taken recourse to frivolities rather than any effort to take on Veerappan who continues to hold the State Governments as also its law abiding citizens to ransom. There are some substantial aspects which have perturbed the Court. First, failure of State Governments to take any visible action against the rank criminal Veerappan has provided him enough of incentive to become part of the secessionists. His close links with LTTE and Tamil Nadu Liberation Army stands duly established. In fact, amongst the emissaries sent to Veerappan to negotiate release of Raj Kumar some secessionists are also there. At one stage Court was hard put to ascribe entire fiasco as stage managed with the sole objective of getting Veerappan's close associates released from jails (51 in Karnataka and 5 in Tamil Nadu). The States went out of the way to effect release these detenues booked under TADA and NSA without ascribing sufficient reasons or following the law scrupulously. Second aspect relates to helplessness of the States expressed before the Court. At one stage the learned Judges had gone to the extent of asking these Governments to quit if they cannot maintain law and order in their respective States. The third aspect is the visible inaction displayed by both the State Governments in making any effort even after Court's strictures to nab the criminal/terrorist accused of nearly 150 murders and looting hundreds of crores. The Court has put specific question asto why Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Government acceded to only one demand of Veerappan pertaining to release of his 56 comrades-in-arm but other demands given the short shrift. The implied inference is some sort of acquiescence at the political level. By far the greatest concern shown by the Court relates to virtual creation of 'independent State' within the two States where criminals, secessionists, terrorists rule the roost and Indian laws are out-of-bounds. Even Central Government is mute spectator to this de facto existence of 'independent State' because law and order falls within the domain of State Governments. |
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World Food Day : A millennium free from hunger By Som Dutt Celebrated every year on October 16, the anniversary of the founding of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945, World Food Day is observed in more than 150 countries with a particular theme. This year's theme is, 'A millennium free from hunger'. Its objective is to heighten public awareness of the problem of world hunger and to focus attention on agriculture and food production. 'A Millennium Free From Hunger', underlines the global community's vital duty and shared responsibility to eradicate hunger in a world that fails to provide 800 million people with adequate food. Considerable progress is being made in the fight against hunger, but the number of chronically undernourished people remains stubbornly high in some regions. In addition, the factors that contribute to hunger--poverty, civil strife, weak governance, natural disasters, lack of infrastructure-- are complex, requiring continued and sustained attention. Governments, international bodies and rural communities must join forces to combat the multiple causes of food insecurity and restore to the world's citizens a basic human right, the right to be free from hunger, says Dr Jacques Diouf, Director-General, FAO, Rome. The celebrations of the World Food Day very from country to country. They range from exhibitions and essay contests to agricultural fairs and on farm demonstrations. But they share a core of common objectives. They are to make people more aware of the causes and extent of world hunger and its solution; to spur Governments, donors and NGSs to make greater efforts in food production and improved agricultural practices; to assist and encourage the transfer of appropriate and vital food technologies to the developing world; to high-light success stories in struggle against hunger to promote and develop global solidarity; to encourage rural dwellers for sustainable rural development; and to promote technical cooperation and sharing of knowledge and skills between developing countries. Freeing humanity from hunger and malnutrition is not a choice, but a moral obligation. We now have the means to produce adequate quantities of food for world's population. It is primarily a lack of collective will that prevents us from ending hunger. This political intertia violates the basic human right to food. It is up to Governments and to entire global community to work together to resolve this unacceptable reality. It is time to go beyond setting targets of reducing the number of undernourished to a certain figure by a certain year. Such goals may sound impressive in terms of absolute numbers, but they mean little to the 800 million people who are still denied their right to food. Speaking in future terms also soothe governments into thinking that they have plenty of time. Now all governments whether of low-income food deficit countries or high-income, well-fed ones-- must immediately put into practice the actions needed to fulfil the promises made at the World Food Summit. They must create an environment conducive to sustainable world food security that in our lifetimes we can achieve '' a millennium free from hunger.'' What is food security and how it can be attained? It is attained when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to be healthy and active. This involves adequacy of food supply or availability; stability of supply, without fluctuations or shortages from season-to-season or from year-to-year; accessibility to food for affordability; and quality and safety of food. The world already produces enough food to feed everyone. The problem is ensuring its availability on a continuous basis. This is not to say that eliminating hunger is simply a matter of improved distribution. While it is true that not all people have equal access to food, a major cause of food insecurity is the failure to develop and increase local food production. Poor communities require appropriate resources so they can produce food or earn enough to purchase food. Starvation is not an inevitable fact of life. Today's knowledge and technologies should enable us to feed all people at all times. The crucial step is to ensure that the poor and under-nourished have access to this aggregate world potential as well as to the techniques and expertise needed to exploit it, according to a release from the FAO. Agriculture is the engine of growth in many developing countries economies. In some of the poorest countries, it generates as much as 30-50 per cent of the labour force, contributing 40-70 per cent of the export earnings. Investment in agriculture and technical innovations are therefore key factors in improving the plight of developing countries. More equitable access to land, water and capital will reduce tensions. Poverty-alleviation programmes, targeted to the rural poor, will bring the most destitute into the main stream economy. To improve nutrition, increase food production and boost family incomes, rural women must be empowered since 60 per cent of the world's farm workers are women. Therefore, women 's access to land, technology, inputs and credit are essential. Local people and productivity of land and water are greatest potential resources available to address the problems of hunger and malnutrition in poor, food-insecure countries. For sustainable improvements, both these require investment. Investment on people will need in the form of education, clean water and sanitation, health and social services, and when needed, direct food and nutrition support. The support to rural communities also brings an indirect benefit. A community that has proper roads, is served by a dependable water-and-electricity supply, and is populated by educated people with access to health care. The majority of the world's hungry are in developing countries with large rural population. These countries generally have neither the resources to produce enough food for their people nor the foreign exchange to finance food imports. Many are heavily in debt and chronically dependent on food aid. The aid staves off starvation, but it does not address causes of food insecurity. The FAO's special programme for Food Security for Low-Income. Food-Deficit countries is one example of how Government can help rural populations to find more longer solutions to food insecurity by improving small-scale agricultural production. The special programme aims at improving self-reliance and food security within the economic and developmental context of the recipient country. The main thrusts of the programme are to boost local food production, reduce year-to-year availability in production to achieve stabilize food supplies and increase rural employment and incomes so that people have better access to food. The special Programme is now operational in 60 of the World's 80 low-income, food-deficit countries as a part of their national food security and development policies. If we shift our planning mode from the global/national to a local dimension, it may be achieved by the year 2020 a world without hunger. For this, concurrent attention has to be paid to food availability, access and absorption. To eliminate hunger individually, a 7-point action plan is viable solution, predicts Dr M S Swaminathan, a world renowned agriculturist. The action plan consists of : * Identifying ultra-poor and those going to bed hungry by local women and men themselves. * Taking to the families suffering from chronic under-and-malnutrition, the benefits of all available Government and NGO programmes and designing a ''Household Entitlement Card'', for the access to such programmes. * Developing with the community a strategy for the elimination of poverty induced protein calorie undernutrition. * Eliminating hidden or silent hunger caused by deficiency of iron and vitamin A. * Making provision of clean drinking water and environment hygiene to promote an effective biological absorption of food in the body. * Promoting market-driven micro-enterprise supported by micro-credit and a producer-oriented marketing system operated by self-help groups. * Giving special attention to women and children with particular reference to reproductive health and maternal, and fatal under-and malnutrition resulting in low birth weight (less than 2.5 kg at birth). The action of the 7-point plan can be taken by local communities based on local resources and opportunities. One female and one male member of the local bodies can be trained to serve as members of a ''Community Food Security Corps''. About 840 million people, more than the combined population of North America and Western Europe, are chronically under-nourished, unable to grow or obtain enough food to lead healthy and active lives in the world. Of the 840 millions, 200 million are children below the age of 5 years who go to their bed hungry every night. Thus they lack essential calories and protein, required for their proper growth and development. The hunger not only cut short the life of individual but it also damages the peace and prosperity of the nation, say experts. As the human development itself gets impaired, the country face a staggering loss in terms of productivity, disease and disability. As an off-shoot of chronic hunger, the nation faces enhanced conflicts and social unrest, often accompanied by blatant misuse of fragile natural resources. Thus food insecurity is the greatest challenge of the millennium, says- Dr Ghosh. In fact, the world now produces enough food to feed every person. But this does not solve the problem of hunger. It is not a question of production but to know the underlying factors causing hunger. The issue is further compounded by regional disparties, individual family or intra-household food situation being most important one. Even within a household, women face the brunt of chronic malnutrition as they are affected by age-old gender discrimination. For example in India, a staggering 320 million people live below the poverty line. Nearly 50 per cent of children below 5 years of age are malnourished. Since many mothers are malnourished, one -third of the new born children are underweight. Though India has kept famine and starvation at bay, the food situation, however, is erratic. To ensure a sustainable food security experts suggested some action points. They are : * To create ideal conditions for the eradication of poverty and durable peace based on full and equal participation of women and men, which is most conducive for achieving sustainable food security for all. * To implement policies aimed at eradicating poverty and inequality at a faster rate, and improving physical and economic access by all. * To pursue participatory and sustainable food production practices in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development with pragmatic policies which are essential to adequate and reliable food supplies at the household, national, regional and global levels. * To put in a mechanism in place that ensures that food agricultural trade and overall trade regime conducive to fostering food security for all through-a-fair and market-oriental world trade system. * To promote optimal allocation and use of public and private investments to faster human resource, sustainable food, agricultural and rural development, in high and low potential areas. The horticulture sector is a rich reserve of food and nutritional security. Fruits, vegetables, roots and tubers, medicinal and aromatic plants, plantation crops and species are well-known for their value in food and nutritional security. Cassave, sweet potato, yams, taro and potato are already well-established food crops globally. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the global demand for root and tuber crops would be increased up to 37 per cent by the year 2020. As non-cereal staple root and tuber crops and plantains play a very highly significant role in lives of poors in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the South Pacific. They are likely to assume greater significance in years to come. Potato provides more food, more carbohydrates, fibres etc. per unit area and time. Potato is good source of high quality protein with high biological value. Fruits and vegetables are rich in nutritive value; spices add value to the diets; and plantation crops and medicinal plants influence the quality of human race. The role of horticultural crops has been duly acknowledge in prevention of malnutrition of the Indian people in the National Policy, says Dr S P Ghosh, Deputy Director-General, ICAR Headquarters, New Delhi. To make India free from hunger in the millennium should not only be a thought but needs concrete, sincere efforts of all the people, including Government, NGOs, private firms, NRIs etc. We all should make efforts to satisfy the fundamental rights of all people to have sustainable food all the days with nutritional back-up at all physiological performance groups of the mankind, says Dr P B Mathur, the FAO expert at the ICAR Headquarters. With an estimated
population of 1.38 billion by 2025 AD, India has a
difficult time ahead for ensuring food security. In
India, agriculture is not only the source of food supply
but also an important means of livelihood for the rural
population. Presently, over 70 per cent of the Indians
live in rural areas and over 90 per cent of these depend
on farming activities for their employment and
livelihood. In the absence of any viable plan for rural
industrial expansion, agricultural development is the
only hope for alleviation of rural poverty in India, says
Dr N G Hegde. |
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Sensitivity and children News of violence, crime, indecency, atrocities against women and poor are served to us every morning by our print and electronic media. List of youth taking to such heinous cime is increasing with every passing minute. In such a materialistic world where everyone is so self-centered and busy in minting money, where our ethos is losing its lustre, a great responsibility lies on the shoulders of teachers and parents to sensitize our children. The sensitivity we are talking here is not the self-centered type which causes children to get their feelings hurt easily and prompting us to say, 'Don't be so sensitive.' Here the terms sensitivity speaks of the extracenteredness that teaches children to notice and understand the feelings, moods and needs of others. It is the sensitivity that develops the ability to think about others rather than about the self only. It is a sad state that kids today are indifferent to each other. What the country needs today is not the ill equipped youth lacking the basic qualities of human beings but people who have the requisite qualities that would make them decent, disciplined members of society with full consideration for others and embodied with the qualities of tolerance, empathy, mercy and compassion. Sensitising these moldable children is a great challenge. Education must instruct youth to serve their fellowmen instead of becoming self-seeking and pleasure loving. What is needed today is full and continuous development of human personality of which 'sensitivity is an inevitable part. It cannot be taught in a day or two. It has to be a continuous process right from home to school to college and even beyond. The first lesson in sensitivity starts from home where the qualities like sharing, caring for younger ones, taking up small responsible jobs etc can be inculcated among the children. In the early years of their schooling and home care, children do develop a sense of respect for authority and the values of following commonly accepted rules of the sociey. But as they grow, they develop value conflicts in themselves when they find that the elders who have taught them certain rules of behaviour do not themselves follow them. A child's friend comes to ask for his science notes; child wants to share but the child's mother doesn't want him to help his friend. It is very unfortunate that what we should be encouraging is actually being discouraged by the elders. There are some constructive ways of teaching sensitivity to children. The foremost step is to realize that it starts with us. Of course it is the most difficult part of this teaching process but it is a fact and the sooner we accept it the better for us. Often our biggest problem with children is our inability to see the world through their eyes. If we could do so, we would probably see us as teachers who are sometimes intolerant and insensitive, anxious and angry, nagging and nasty. Teachers and the parents of the children need to tune themselves to the needs and circumstances of children. We must not forcibly impose our decisions on the children just because we are elders. We will have to learn to lovingly communicate to them what we see, what we feel and why we feel the way we do. "Every piece of marble has a statue in it, waiting to be carved out by some one with sufficient skill to chip away the unwanted parts. You cannot create a statue by smashing the marble with a hammer and you cannot by force release the spirit or the soul of a man. Parents and teachers by viewing their children as beautiful and perfect persons (instead of always finding fault in them) can find the patience and love necessary to chip away the unwanted parts and thus helping them in being sensitive human beings. The problems of elementary school goers have been termed wrongly as obnoxiousness, laziness, selfishness, dishonesty etc. All these are manifestations of preoccupation with self and absence of sensitivity. Most of the problems they face and most of the unhappiness they experience results from their natural tendency to 'look into minors'. Mirrors have no depth. They tend to see all situations, all people and all circumstances in terms of how these things will affect them. They look at other persons but what they see is the mirror of their own feelings and fear. We'll have to convert these mirrors into see through glasses, if we want them to be more aware of others and of their needs. One way to achieve this is to arrange periodical family meetings giving due weightage to the children's participation and treating them as VIPs. The agenda for such meetings can be children's problems, or family discusison on issues like planning for a get together or reaction of members towards a particular decision taken by the head of the family and so on. Free atmosphere should be provided where even deepest feelings can be expressed. When we change the way in which someone thinks, we can change the way he or she acts. This exercise can prove very beneficial to the children, as this will help them to realize and understand how much their parents care for them. In turn they'll also develop this caring attitude towards their parents, teachers and peers. They'll attempt to know others by grasping and empathizing with their feelings. Sensitivity can best be taught through the living examples of parents and teachers rather than through textbooks. A variety of activities can be carried out at home and school. For example: * Children should be encouraged and helped to read and dramatize the stories of great personalities. * Visits to the old age homes, orphanage, and slums can be organized where children get chance to practically see and understand the problems faced by these people. * Good Deed Day can be celebrated where children can donate their old toys, clothes to the poor people. Trip to village can be organized during summer/winter break to bring awareness among the illiterate villagers on various issues of national interests like education, small family, cleanliness etc. By organizing such groups projects we teach our children to help and to love and it is kind of love that frees and them from the unhappy boundary of self-centeredness. In the ultimate analysis
the contrast between healthy and unhealthy bringing up of
children is the contrast between the hostile and friendly
youth, between the helpful and unhelpful citizens who
distrust and hurt others and finally between the self
centred and extracentered human beings. By practicising
sensitivity ourselves and thereby helping our students to
imbibe this quality we can make others happy and this
world a better place to live. |
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