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EDITORIAL It is certain that crowds management is not perfected by those who are supposed to perform in such situation. It would be wrong to mention every such situation as riotous. It can best be termed as spontaneous response to a given situation stemming out of some provocative act. Once it is instantaneous and crowd is hell bent upon giving vent to its pent up feelings the situation calls for very tactful and adept handling. DG Police has already told that he wants people friendly police with an image that goes with the efficient and performing force. It is apt to mention that excessive force even under most provocative environs becomes a source of multiplying the evil rather than containing it. There ought not to be any occasion for adding fuel to fire. In fact, such situation calls for very delicate handling. The overlying motive ought to be to manage the situation such that it does not take ugly turn or becomes riotous or unmanageable or cause heart-burns or leave a trail of blood and the resultant consequences. These roles are part and parcel of any modern......more Ever since formation of NDA Government, there has been an element of stability and no major political challenge was posed by opposition parties. They only made noises within the House or paralysed its proceedings. But Government remained rock steady. Mamata Banerjee did cause some....more |
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Knowing more
about persistent organic pollutants By Dr B K Fotedar Everything about pollution in water, pollution near industries of various concerns, vehicular pollution, noise pollution has been heard of, but a common man is ignorant about persistant organic pollutants, which ......more Political
slogans - By Ajit Jamwal Digging deep into historical past, we find slogans coined by freedom fighters and authors of various revolutions finding massive popularity with the people. To be precise they have helped in changing the course......more By Kedar Nath Pandey If you can't beat them, join them, seems to be the resolution made by the Congress(I) President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Hence, perhaps, her visit to the Kumbh Mela for a semi-snan at the sangam of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.......more By Waqar Ahmed Will Indian women come out of her seclusion and the domestic chores and attain the qualities of self help and initiative? Or will she become a puppet in the hands of her men folk? The only thing that can........more |
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EDITORIAL It is certain that crowds management is not perfected by those who are supposed to perform in such situation. It would be wrong to mention every such situation as riotous. It can best be termed as spontaneous response to a given situation stemming out of some provocative act. Once it is instantaneous and crowd is hell bent upon giving vent to its pent up feelings the situation calls for very tactful and adept handling. DG Police has already told that he wants people friendly police with an image that goes with the efficient and performing force. It is apt to mention that excessive force even under most provocative environs becomes a source of multiplying the evil rather than containing it. There ought not to be any occasion for adding fuel to fire. In fact, such situation calls for very delicate handling. The overlying motive ought to be to manage the situation such that it does not take ugly turn or becomes riotous or unmanageable or cause heart-burns or leave a trail of blood and the resultant consequences. These roles are part and parcel of any modern police force. It is not a rapid action force meant for tooth for tooth and eye for eye. Nor it is counter-insurgent force. It is only a police force whose job is to maintain law and order, protect life and property of the citizens and help diffuse the situation rather than do anything to aggravate it. One really does not know but these essential ingredients are largely conspicuous by their absence. In a sensitive state like ours, it is a crowd on the drop of a hat. By now with so many odd situations surfacing by the day our force should have been well-experienced in the art of managing crowds. The fact is such crowds are manifesting abundantly all over the State. It could be caused by a rumour, planted reports of rape or abduction or murder. It could even stem from abrupt dismissal of so and so or some injustice done to an employee. It can as well be the result of prolonged shut down of power. It can also be the handiwork of trigger happy ultras who derive sadistic pleasure by performing some heinous act. It has happened in valley in almost all the districts. Rajouri is a regular victim of such riotous situation when crowds gather to register their protests and then turn violent. Jammu too has seen enough of it. There have been occasions when withdrawal of armed police was sought because of their rough-shod treatment of the people. True, in all situations target of the crowd is the belted man. His only fault is that he is assigned the duty of restoring peace and maintaining law and order besides protecting life and property. There is heavy stone pelting in which cops are injured. All these acts are bad and in a way provocative. But then it is our own police. Anyone of them can be a member of our family, your family. They are also human beings, have children, parents and women folks in their homes. Whenever your own kith and kins do something, at best he gets a slap or two or petty thrashing or just admonishment. It is fine. You can't play brute to your own people. Everyone in the State is part of the family, a unit that is bonded together with many common denominators. For police it is something much more than that. They are the protectors. That is why police stations and a large police force exists. Protectors cannot be killers, least of all targetting their own people and that too with a spirit of vengeance. Such reactive or pro-active role is best kept for counter insurgency operations. As far as unarmed civilians i.e. people are concerned, they never need excessive force, least of all bullets. Bullets must be preserved for those who wield guns. Then it is an equal match. If bullets were a rule then there was no need for lathis or tear gas. Lathi blows can also prove fatal at times but still it is termed only mild lathi-charge to disperse violent crowd. Acceptable. Use of tear gas is equally okay because it hurts eyes only and that too temporarily. But fireworks, simply not on. And that too on your people whom you are paid to protect. It brings bad name to the force as a whole, to the administration and to the Government. A question may be posed asto what is the alternative. Modern means of crowd dispersal and management are water being sprayed at the crowd with force. Yes, it is harmless in as much as it may cause minor cold to the delicate ones. But it hurts least. The second one in large use is the rubber bullet. Chief Minister has already suggested about its use and adoption as the best crowd manager in such a situation. It won't be fatal in any case. Yet another course is the preventive measure of not allowing the crowd to gather in large numbers to pre-empt riotous situation. Curfew was imposed with that objective only. But people defied it. In fact, they were allowed to defy in as much as they succeeded in grouping to form a formidable crowd assuming menacing proportions. At best they were stone-pelters and using their lung-power. This is not enough of provocation to resort to firing. This firing business must come to an end with standing orders. Anything less than that is okay. Much more than that cops should be exposed to reorientation to become people friendly. Law makers cannot be allowed to become law breakers whatever the provocation. It is time that police force and those amongst them who yet remain trigger happy should be returned to modern trends of crowd management. This State needs it much more than any other State. Ever since formation of NDA Government, there has been an element of stability and no major political challenge was posed by opposition parties. They only made noises within the House or paralysed its proceedings. But Government remained rock steady. Mamata Banerjee did cause some convulsions when she threatened withdrawal from the Government a couple of times but that is that. Now PMK, an extreme Dravidian party from Tamil Nadu having five MPs, say goodbye to the NDA. The two ministers have sent in their resignations and Prime Minister is left with no choice but to accept the same since its leader Ramodas has also announced withdrawal from the National Democratic Alliance. Sheer numbers do not pose an imminent threat to the NDA Government, It still commands about 300 MPs in a house of 545. The threat emanates from the fact that first fissure has occurred and strength of NDA goes down by 5 MPs a proposition in which opposition does find a silver lining for staging comeback. Now Mamata could become more aggressive and intolerant to impose the impossible. Other miniscules likewise are encouraged to call it a day. Already, PMK leader has fixed up meeting with AIADMK supremeo Jayalalitha who is in alliance with the Congress Party and hobnobbing with so called enthusiasts of third front. It is apparent that Tamil Nadu politics is at the root of it because PMK has been at daggers drawn with DMK, a major partner in NDA. With assembly elections around, PMK hopes to gain more in the assembly by joining hands with us opposition rather than be seen in the company of alliance in which DMK is a dominant partner. Jaya Lalitha could not have received a better gift in that PMK is reckonable entity in the power politics in Tamil Nadu. Incumbency factor goes against DMK. Vajpayee has to be quite watchful about his other allies to keep the number game in his favour in Lok Sabha. |
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Knowing more about persistent organic pollutants By Dr B K Fotedar Everything about pollution in water, pollution near industries of various concerns, vehicular pollution, noise pollution has been heard of, but a common man is ignorant about persistant organic pollutants, which presently have created a havoc globally. Persistant organic pollutants are toxic chemicals so known because they persist for long periods in the environment without breaking down. These are among the most dangerous pollutants, produced by human activity. Most of these pollutants have a source in pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), aldrin, and Toxaphene, while others, such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and hexachlorobenzine are industrial chemicals. Still there are others such as dioxins and furans which are spewed into the atmosphere by incinerators widely throughout the globe. These persistent pollutants do not restrict themselves in the atmosphere but can easily pass on through international borders. These so to say circulate freely and globally, transporting themselves through the atmosphere and water and regions far away from their original source. Once they settle on land and water bodies, they find their way into humans and wildlife leaving their mark in numerous ways, including the disruption of the endoctrine system, reproductive failures, learning and behaviour problems, weakening immune systems, neurological disorders such as convulsions and also visual defects in offspring. In the vocabulary of pollution, these persistent organic pollutants have been named as ''Dirty-Dozens'', because they are twelve in number. Besides, there are other POPS also, which unabatingly are poured into the atmosphere affecting a good chunk of population every year. The king of these toxins is dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane, shortly named as DDT. Small amounts of DDT are today used on crops. Presently DDT is used as the cheapest means of controlling malaria. It is banned in 34 countries because of toxicity to mammals, including humans. But still its maximum use persists in Mexico, India, the Philippines and Thailand. The total global production of this toxin has been estimated at 1.36 million tonnes. Debates over DDT's elimination have proven to be tricky in the past because of its use as a vector control in many tropical countries. Developing countries like India and South Africa argue that elimination is not feasible because of its important role in combating malaria. The WHO, which has come under criticism from environmental groups for using DDT to fight malaria, maintains that it is the cheapest and most reliable option available. The treaty, therefore, allows 25 countries to use DDT for vector control in accordance with the WHO guidelines, while the world attempts to find more viable and safer alternatives. Next comes the toxaphene, which in 1970, was thought to be more popular insecticide. It was mainly used in cotton growing. It is now banned in 37 countries including Mexico, India and Kenya. According to WWF report, it is still manufactured in China and Pakistan. The third deadly toxin is polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB). These are industrial products being chemically stable and heat resistant. These are widely used in manufacturing transformers and capacitors. These are toxic in high concentrations. They damage immune and reproductive systems and cause birth defects. Many negotiations between the world countries have been made, but still because of no other viable alternative, Russia makes use of PCB's frequently. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) granted Russia permission to produce PCB's till 2005. Still existing stocks have to be destroyed by 2020. Dioxins and furans included in the list of dirty dozens, are produced in high temperature incinerators used for burning organic materials including plastics. Hexachlorobenzene is spewed into the atmosphere as a by product during the manufacture of chlorine gas and some chlorinated pesticides. Also it abundantly pours into the environment during waste incineration. This is harmful to immune and reproductive systems. Chlordane: This is a pesticide widely used to control termites. It has been banned in so many countries, but its restricted use still persists in Mexico, China, U K Belgium, Canada and Cyprus. Dieldrin is an insecticide with probably the strongest carcinogenic effect amongst all organs chlorine Pesticides. Endrin is mainly used in field crops such as cotton and grains. Its main purpose is to keep away rodents and birds. Aldrin is another toxin used widely for termite control. Mirex is one of the POPs known to cause cancer. The last of the series is Heptachlor used as an insecticide for the protection of the seeds. These persistent organic pollutants evaporate from soils as far away as the tropics, go along the winds towards north and condense as toxic snow and rain in the cold air of the actic. Frank Wania of the University of Toronto in Canada has studied the phenomena in detail. In the cold trap of arctic, these chemcials fall from the sky and dissolve in water, disappear into sediments or accumulate in the fat of animals According to Wania, the distillation process is temperature specific. Many of these compounds-PCB's, HCH, Chlordane and Toxaphene readily evaporate in the warm air and condense as rain or snow at temperatures between freezing and - 50 degree Celsius. Some others such as DDT, appear in the arctic, but tend to condense as rain or snow or may condense at warmer temperature in mid latitudes. Other POPS are too volatile to condense anywhere, even at the poles, while some never evaporate in the first place. It has experimentally been seen that some of these contaminants reach the arctic within a few days of their release. Highly volatile chemicals can get from India to Arctic in five days. This is clear that persistent organic pollutants can travel to any corner of the globe and as such it is more or less a global problem. Compounds that reach the high arctic become concentrated partly because the region occupies only a small part of the earth's surface. The proportion of earth's surface between 70 degree and 90 degree north, the sink region, is only a small fraction of the proportion that is between the equator and 20 degree N, the main source region for these compounds. Though POPs travel fastest through air, ocean currents provide another pathway for these contaminants to the arctic. Rivers, streams and groundwater carry them to the ocean, where they are further distributed by ocean currents or by ice. Recently evidences of the extent of human contamination comes from a 1996 study. PCBS have been detected in blood of some women in northwest territories of Canada. Samples of blood taken from women and from the umbilical cords of their babies during child birth revealed that 39 percent exceeds the Canadian guideline health limit of 5 parts per million for PCB's. In north Quebec and Labrador, 75 percent of the women exceeded this limit. In Greenland the figure was 95 percent. Older people were worst affected. Men were worse off than young women, since lactation drains some of the poison from nurisng mothers with the result that children are fed on a diet of toxins. One more unfortunate problem of POPS is that there exists obsolete stockpiles of old chemicals abound in many countries, which do not have the means and capacity to destroy them safely. In many regions of the world, the legacy of chemical use is present in the form of numerous stockpiles of obsolete chemicals for which there is no proper and safe storage. An estimated 110,000 tonnes of obsolete or unwanted Pesticides are contained in stockpiles in developing countries, in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The presence of stock piles in Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal and Pakistan have been confirmed. Stocks of 5,000 metric tonnes or more of obsolete pesticides including persistent organic pollutants are stored in extremely hazardous conditions in more than a thousand sites in Pakistan and Nepal. The chemicals in obsolete stockpiles are often hard to identify, due to inadequate storage conditions, leakage and lack of labelling. Abandoned and ignored, they continue to pose hazards to the environment and human health. A portion of the stockpiles found in Pakistan and Nepal have reportedly entered the countries as part of aid packages from western countries. The label in the dieldrin pile in a 5 tonne stockpile in Nepal's Agricultural Research Council's office in Kathmandu valley reads : Donated by the US Consulate General in Calcutta for US Operation Mission to Nepal... The twelve POPS targeted by UNEP constitute only an unknown fraction of the stockpiles. Knowing now, the hazardous effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants, starting from 1985, various world environmental organisations are launching research programmes on the fate of POPS (UNEP, FAO, UNECE, CEF, EU etc.) In 1992, among the many recommendations in the Agenda-21 agreement was a signed at the Earth Summit at Rio-de-Janeiero. From 1992 to 1999, a dozen of meetings were conducted worldwide to curb/ or eliminate at elast 16 POPS in the countries of Europe and North America. Nations finally drafted a treaty to combat the use of toxic chemicals like DDT and PCB's which are known for their damning health effects in September, 2000 to be signed in Stockholm in May, 2001. An effective and cheaper alternative to DDT is bioenvironmental management, if governments of various countries with concerted efforts follow it and regarding other POPS, the research to find the alternative options, should come up at top priority, so that the hazardous effects of POPS could be controlled effectively to make the whole world safe. |
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By Kedar Nath Pandey If you can't beat them, join them, seems to be the resolution made by the Congress(I) President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Hence, perhaps, her visit to the Kumbh Mela for a semi-snan at the sangam of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Let it be made clear at the outset that nobody is objecting to her visit to the Kumbh Mela which, of course, was more a political than a religious statement. But as she herself said, seeking to justify her visit, she has done it in the past, with her mother-in-law and her children, so why all the fuss. The fuss, dear Soniaji, is not about your visit to the Kumbh Mela. If the Indian Express correspondent captured the details of her movement accurately, she sprinkled some gangajal on her head and was about to depart in a motor boat. But at the last moment, she "alighted from the wooden platform and entered the Ganga water." Standing for a while in the knee-deep water, she stopped short of taking a full dip in the holy waters and left the place. The exercise took all of 15 minutes. The entire episode has a strong political colour. Even though she has not converted to Hinduism, she does go through many of its rituals and is often seen at temples, particularly if there is a crowd around. A Roman Catholic and a foreigner, she has to make a special effort to show India and its people that she respects the religion of the majority. This country and its people have been witness to Ms. Gandhi being abused, most unfairly and in intemperate language, by the zealots of the Sangh Parivar because she is a Christian and a foreigner. While that is to be condemned strongly, her appearance at the Kumbh is bound to raise eyebrows. If, for a moment, one can accept the argument being advanced that the Kumbh Mela is more a sociological than a religious event, nobody can deny Ms. Gandhi her right to make an appearance at an event attended or watched by crores of Indians. She is only giving expression to her Indianness and this should not be construed as a religious statement. This line of argument could have been swallowed had she stopped with a semidip. But what did she do after this exercise? She changed from her maroon saree to a beige one - you have to hand it to her, she has excellent taste in clothes - and, in the next scene, was seen paying obeisance to the Sankaracharya of Dwarka, Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati. Either her advisers are downright stupid or just naive. What kind of a statement does the Congress President hope to make by such antics on the eve of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh? The very person who has been screeching from various platforms about the BJP using the politics of religion to spread the poison the Hindutva plank. But whatever she does, can Ms. Gandhi ever hope to emerge a greater believer in Hinduism than the BJP leader, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee? One thing is obvious. On the eve of elections in India's largest State, the Congress(I) leadership is desperate. According to available information, the BJP's vote-bank has indeed been eroded. But the bad news for the Congress(I) is that the BJP's loss is likely to be the gain of regional parties such as Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Janata Party and Ms. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. Neither the Hindus nor the Muslims of UP seem to be in a mood to endorse a party that has shown no evidence that it is pulling itself together after its nationwide dismal performance at the last Lok Sabha elections. That the smaller satraps within the Congress(I) are bankrupt in ideas can be seen in the gusto with which party leaders sought to justify Ms. Gandhi's pilgrimage to Kumbh. Participating in a discussion on Star News, the leader of the UP Congress Legislature Party, Mr. Pramod Tiwari, was all excitement as he justified, even glorified, Ms. Gandhi's visit to the Mela. Asked why she should have sought the blessings of the Sankaracharya at this moment in time, he said: "Why not? What is wrong in it? The only people who are objecting to it are those in the BJP." The words which followed are very significant and need to be scrutinised. "Unki to dukann hi bandh ho gayi... is liye dar rahey hei." (Now the BJP will have to close its shop and that is why it is afraid). Dukaan? Is getting the patronage of Indian voters akin to running a dukaan or a petty business? Sorry, not petty business but big business, because in this day and age of Indian politics, whether it be a panchayat chief, an MLA or an MP, getting a position of power, for most people, is a passport to enriching themselves first, their cronies next and their parties only later. In a moment of triumph, or a weak moment, when the guard is down, out comes the truth. So if Mr. Tiwari is to be taken seriously, and we are to believe that he was uttering the truth, one can conclude that the very purpose of Ms. Gandhi's visit to the Kumbh tamasha - what else does it mean to our politicians? - was to do the spade work for setting up the Congress dukaan of dealing with voters in Uttar Pradesh. Ms. Gandhi would be well aware that the 20-odd per cent Muslims of UP have not yet forgiven the Congress government of the day for failing to save the Babri Masjid in the December of 1992. After having played the minority vote card for decades, and noticing how miserably it was failing in conning Muslim voters in the last couple of elections, somebody or the other in the Gandhi coterie has, it seems, hit upon this brilliant idea of switching the con game from the Muslims to the Hindus. But if Ms. Gandhi's advisers or the socalled educated and self-styled elite of this country think it is easy to fool the masses, they will have to eat humble pie. The voter in a village might not be as educated or suave as the urbanites, but make no mistake, he/she is absolutely politically savvy. Their vote is the ultimate weapon these people have and, over the years, they have learnt to use this weapon effectively. If the Congress wants to regain its past glory, it will have to do much more than send its president to the Kumbh Mela. It will have to obliterate the shameful memory of the farce recently enacted in the name of presidential election within the party. Leader after leader outdid himself/herself in attacking Jitendra Prasada for daring to contest against the high and mighty Soniaji. A broken heart and a squashed ego must have certainly contributed to his early demise recently. Ms. Gandhi will also have to show once and for all whether she has the makings of a true leader. What ability has she shown till now to justify her filing the important and powerful post of Congress chief? If she aspires to adorn the chair of the Prime Minister of India, Ms. Gandhi will have to show the courage to deal with the terrorists in Kashmir, the compassion to wipe the tears of the destitudte, the shrewdness to show the door to the schemers and sycophants around her and, above all, the vision to take this nation and its people to the pinnacle of their real worth. INAV |
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By Waqar Ahmed Will Indian women come out of her seclusion and the domestic chores and attain the qualities of self help and initiative? Or will she become a puppet in the hands of her men folk? The only thing that can really pre-empt questions like these in the stripping away of all the fears and age old apprehensions by the women of the 21st century. They ought to make a resolution that in this world every man is for himself and the devil takes the hindmost. Now they must lift themselves up by their own foot straps and should not wait for the succour from the opposite sex because they have to paddle their own canoe in the sea of life. But till now they are not taking any active part in the decision making in the public domain. For true quality to become a reality for women, the sharing of power on equal terms with men should be the major strategy so that they can play an effective role in decision making processes especially in areas where various policies have direct bearing on their well being. One point on which all the menfok are unanimous is women's first hand acquaintance with the different problems of the society and their natural impulse to overcome them. In a recent study conducted in the US on the working women the study revealed that women are less susceptible to corruption and other malpractices that are taking place in different official places around the world because of the presence of men in the areas of work. And women being as equivalent in power as their men folks can do a great job in curbing such practices and thereby helping to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Now the question is how gulf between the rich and the poor can be shortened. And the answer is that the poor can neither grease the palms of the officials nor pull up any one to get the things done in their favour. So they are always behind in the race for equal opportunities and financial benefits. But the big problem in hand is that a large number of women in India are illiterate, ignorant and poorly informed about ongoing issues, debates and reforms concerning the society in general and women in particular. Therefore, the first strategy should aim at striking at ignorance by the dissemination of information and raising general as well as political awareness among the ever toiling and struggling women of India. They should be helped by the men folks to attain knowledge and awareness of their own self personal needs, legal rights and society at large. The realisation of their capabilities and potential and the role in society would strengthen their self image and would foster them with profuse confidence to take actions in life. While it is extremely important to bring women to the position of power for social transformation, its not possible to expect encouraging response from the men folk concerning women's rights and privileges especially in a male dominated society. If men do not treat women with respect and discount their presence in the active social scene then the very act of including women in the social strata will not have much meaning. Once the woman take up the cudgels against the injustice and other social evils which they are subjected to, the day won't be far off when men would realise their mistakes and come to terms with the realities of life. But, at last, thing is that women must cooperate with men folk in right decisions and put their foot down on their wrong doings. |
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