Excelsior... Nation

Power Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu

SPECIAL REPORT
Govt. for major reforms
Losses worth over Rs 20,000 crores in power distribution

From B L Kak
NEW DELHI, Feb. 18: The Union Ministry of Power has been thrown into confusion following the deep displeasure by the Prime Minister......more

Congress condemns
‘unwarranted’
bombing of Iraq

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Congress today condemned the "unwarranted" bombing of Iraq by the United States....more

CBI registers case
against Indian
diplomat in Tanzania

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: CBI has registered a case against a senior diplomat posted at the Indian High......more

CBI seeks co-ordination
to tackle drug menace

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: The CBI has asked other agencies to ensure effective co-ordination to...more

Hrithik Roshan

Film ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’
bags 9 filmfare awards

Flattery has its origin
in behaviour of
chimpanzee: Book

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Flattery pays, according to social scientists. .....more

Environmentalist
to get award

DEHRA DUN, Feb 18: Noted environmentalist Jagat Singh ‘Jangli’ will receive this year’s Vriksh Manav Award from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on February 27 for his work towards ...more

Indian students take
pictures of mars

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: An international team of nine school students, including three from India, made planetary exploration history this week when they directed a camera aboard ...more

SPECIAL REPORT
Govt. for major reforms
Losses worth over Rs 20,000 crores in power distribution

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Feb. 18: The Union Ministry of Power has been thrown into confusion following the deep displeasure by the Prime Minister himself over the massive losses as a result of far-from-satisfactory transmission and distribution system across the country.

Indeed, it has been proposed that the massive transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, worth more than Rs 20,000 crores per annum due only to theft and not taking into account leakage due to technical reasons, be reduced. Late Mr PR Kumaramangalam laboured on it routinely during his tenure as the Power Minister.

Now, the present Power Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu, has started talking about major reforms for the power distribution sector. His exposition on the subject before the Union Cabinet gives a fillip to the effort. But it remains to be seen whether, at the end of the day, anything concrete will result.

Pessimism, in this regard, is not without a basis. In fact, it stems from the experience of the earlier policy that tried to develop the power sector by providing incentives to private companies, both domestic and foreign, to set up power generating stations.

Despite massive investments, the policy has generated more controversies than electricity. Mr Suresh Prabhu himself has acknowledged to the Cabinet that "sufficient private investments in generation will flow after reforms succeed, and, till such time, public sector investments will need to lead the way".

Union Power Minister is not alone in holding this view. Things have evidently reached such a pass that even the Prime Minister himself has not hesitated to call a spade a spade. Recently, he told a Lucknow audience: "We have failed to achieve the power generation target and prevent power thefts and have not made enough effort to deal with the crisis. As a result, the present power situation in the country has become a matter of concern for all of us, and serious steps are required to improve the same".

It is against this background that the latest thrust to develop the transmission and distribution segments needs to be seen, the central point being whether it will be attended by any more success especially as cooperation from the States is sine qua non. The Centre is aware of this. This has been suggested by the carrot-in the form of fiscal incentives and special funds-it has dangled before the States cooperating effectively.

Will such attractions pay the desired dividends? According to experts, there is little certainty that the ‘new’ reform package will be properly implemented by the States because of the extant systemic obstacles. No wonder, one of the integral elements of the scheme is the privatisation of distribution "wherever possible". This suggestion has already been frowned upon by States such as Kerala and West Bengal.

Emphasis has been laid on strengthening the revenue stream of State Electricity Boards (SEBs). The 1998-99 losses of the SEBs soared to Rs 14,460 crores against Rs 3,100 crores in 1991-92. Can their revenue stream be strengthened? It is perhaps quite an impossibility not merely on administrative ground but also because of political reasons.

Will Mr Suresh Prabhu succeed where others before him have failed? Indications are that nothing has changed in the recent past to justify this optimism. Mr Prabhu is for energy audit at all levels, a time-bound programme of 100 per cent metering of all consumers by December 2001, elimination of power theft within a specified time-frame, and strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution systems.

CBI registers case against Indian diplomat in Tanzania

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: CBI has registered a case against a senior diplomat posted at the Indian High Commission in Tanzania on charges of cheating the Government of lakhs of rupees by misappropriating the fee received for issuance of visa between June 1998 and July 2000.

The FIR, registered by the Special Investigation Unit(IX) of the agency has named Rajeshwar Singal, first Secretary and head of the Consular and Visa Wing of the High Commission of India in the Tanzanian Capital Dar-Es-Salaam, as accused.

On November 22 last, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Joint Secretary and Chief Vigilance Officer Jayant Prasad had written a confidential letter to CBI Director R K Raghavan about the alleged financial irregularities committed by singal in the consular and visa wing of the High Commission.

Prasad had requested Raghavan to register a case in this regard and conduct "thorough investigation so that the guilty are punished and the loss to the Government recovered."

The Letter No.Q/VIG./843/11/2000, a copy of which was also sent to the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, was issued to CBI Director after a preliminary investigation carried out by the MEA.

CBI registered the case against the diplomat on February eight. (PTI)

CBI seeks co-ordination to tackle drug menace

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: The CBI has asked other agencies to ensure effective co-ordination to tackle the growing drug menace which was having dangerous ramifications for the youth of the country, agency sources said here today.

The sources said co-ordination should include sharing of information and carrying out joint operations to fight the drug dealers, who have formed syndicates.

CBI Director R K Raghavan recently conveyed this to other agencies including Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Customs, Narcotics Control Bureau and senior officers of the state police forces.

The sources said CBI had asked for co-ordination and sharing of gadgets as otherwise the syndicates and cartels could have a damaging effect on the country’s security.

Raghavan has also said that the agencies should work in tandem with each other to ensure better prospects of nipping the evil in the bud.

S Ramalingam, expert consultant on drugs to Interpol, feels that co-ordination should not be limited to individual countries and efforts should be made to share the information at international levels. Ramalingam, the former Additional Director General of Sri Lankan Police, says co-ordination was more necessary as "synthetic drugs" were now being made a part of the drug culture by syndicates.

The drug expert feels that India needs to be cautioned by the new growing menace because of Myanmar, the largest supplier of synthetic drugs to the world market.

However, as per the statistics of the national drug enforcement, only a few cases of synthetic drugs have been reported from North East.

According to the statistics over 94,000 kg of Ganja was seized during last year which is more than double the seizure in 1999.

The seizure of hashish (4923 kg), heroin (1198 kg), opium (2524 kg), morphine (37 kg) and methaqualone (1095 kg) also saw an increase over the last year. The drug enforcement agencies seized 426 kg of ephedrine for the first time.

As many as 13862 people were booked under various acts of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act which included 90 foreigners. (PTI)

Film ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ bags 9 filmfare awards

MUMBAI, Feb 18: Hindi cinema’s biggest box office success last year ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ bagged nine filmfare awards including for its producer-director Rakesh Roshan and star sensation Hrithik Roshan here last night at a glittering show, dedicated to the survivors of January 26 earthquake of Gujarat.

For the father-son duo of Rakesh and Hrithik, it was a double success with the former bagging award for best director and the latter for best debut and best acting at the 46th Annual Filmfare Awards function.

The film also bagged awards for best music direction (Rajesh Roshan), best screenplay award (Ravi Kapoor and Honey Irani), best editing (Ravi Verma), best choreography (Farha Khan) and best male playback singer (Lucky Ali).

The highlight of the awards function was the unvieling of Amitabh Bachchan’s wax model, flown in here from Madame Tussaud’s in London, by the icon of Indian cinema himself. An overwhelmed Amitabh said it was an honour for the film industry as for the first time an Indian film actor had been displayed at the 200-year-old potrait gallery.

Amitabh was conferred the best actor in supporting role award for his role in ‘Mohabbatein’. His wife Jaya Bachchan received the best actress in supporting role award for her performance in ‘Fiza’.

Singing sensation Asha Bhosale and actor-producer Feroz Khan were conferred life time achievement awards.

Altogether Rs 1.26 crore were collected by way of sale of tickets for relief of Gujarat quake victims.

Karisma Kapoor won the best actress award for her role in ‘Fiza’ while her sister Kareena Kapoor bagged best female newcomer award for film ‘Refugee’.

The best performance in a comic role went to Paresh Rawal for ‘Hera Pheri’ while actor Sunil Shetty won award for best performance in a villianous role for ‘Dhadkan’.

The filmfare special jury award went to Anu Malik while Javed Akhtar received the best lyrics award for the number ‘Panchee Nadiyan’ from ‘Refugee’.

Lucky Ali bagged the best male playback singer award for ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ in ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ while Alka Yagnik won the best female playback singer award for ‘Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se’ song in film ‘Dhadkan’.

The Managing Director of Times of India group Vineet Jain presented a cheque of Rs 25 lakh to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal for rehabilitation of quake survivors.

Deshmukh told the gathering the State Government wanted to raise a corpus of Rs 70 crore and then adopt different Talukas in Gujarat.

The head of Manikchand group, which had sponsored the show, said his organisation had donated Rs two crore for the relief works in Gujarat.

Actresses Aishwarya Rai, Mahima Choudhary and Preeti Zinta gave performances on the occasion. (PTI)

Flattery has its origin in behaviour of chimpanzee: Book

NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Flattery pays, according to social scientists.

It may not be considered good but social scientists believe that it has played an important role in the growth of society and dates back to primitive times.

Editor of ‘Time’ Richard Stengel in his recently published book - "A brief history of flattery" - says it had perhaps had its origin in the behaviour of chimpanzee, which is good at imitation, considered by some as best form of flattery, and backscratching.

Stengel says whether good or bad, lood.

Three Indian scholars — Archaeologist Munish Chandra Joshi, well known author Khushwant Singh and politician Vasant Sathe — more or less agree with this view of stengel.

They say flattery was never considered good but it had always played a significant role in the society.

Stengel says flattery acts like a lubricant to reduce friction in social machinery.

The book says it would be self deception to think that flattery does not pay. It is an instrument which can be both good and bad.

Stengel considers flattery as a "victimless crime", which pleases both the flatterer and the flattered. He, however, says that flattery is a social epidemic, which has claimed as its biggest victim selfless praise.

He says flattery came into disrepute by the middle ages and Latin Poet Dante considered it bad enough for condemnation to hell.

Stengel says flattery has assumed new dimensions in the modern time because the market mechanism is based on enticing people, which is another form of flattery.

He maintains that even saying "thank you" is a form of flattery as it makes a person thanked feel great.

Stengel says flattery has transcended the limits imposed by time, space and religion.

He regards most scriptures and rituals as a form of flattery and says these are full of praise to god which in a way is a form of flattery.

Vasant Sathe also believes that flattery began with the concept of god with people singing hymns to god for worldly gains.

Terming imitation as the best form of flattery, sathe says chimpanzees are good at imitating and thus the advent of flattery could be traced to them.

Khushwant Singh says flattery has held its own from the times of kings and queens to the present day democracy with even Prime Ministers surrounded by sycophants.

Joshi says flattery was, however, institutionalised during the times of monarchy.

Many inscriptions have reference to it and one such inscription found in Mathura describes flatterers as backscratchers, he says.

Although a social illness, Joshi says flattery has played a role in social growth and quotes a Sanskrit saying "Maha Jan Yen Gata Sah Pantha (follow the great in the society)". Joshi says a campaign was launched against this social evil in the medieval times.

In the 12th century, it was condemned in works like ‘Mrichh Katikam’ and ‘Latak Melkam’. It was also criticised in ‘Panchtantra’.

Stengel also says that flattery was looked down upon in the middle ages but now it is not considered to be so bad.

It has received a new recognition in the global village and is an integral part of marketing strategy. (PTI)