|
|
EDITORIAL Gujarat tragedy has united the country as much as it was in the wake of Kargil war. Enough of funds came through voluntary donations to give all time record relief to the martyrs families and help the disabled soldiers to live rest of the life without financial constraints. In fact, soldiers or their families never had it so good so much so that even those who suffered in earlier wars were remembered and it was recognised that deal given to them .....more J&K Government continues to sit over payment of 3% Dearness Allowance instalment that is due to the employees since July 1 last year. It has also failed to redeem its commitment for paying instalment of arrears. This happens despite the fact that inflation has...more |
|
SPOTLIGHT From B L Kak By
Sanchet Barua Trends and prospects By Avinash Shirodkar |
 |
||
EDITORIAL Gujarat tragedy has united the country as much as it was in the wake of Kargil war. Enough of funds came through voluntary donations to give all time record relief to the martyrs families and help the disabled soldiers to live rest of the life without financial constraints. In fact, soldiers or their families never had it so good so much so that even those who suffered in earlier wars were remembered and it was recognised that deal given to them was paltry and inadequate. This equation has become essential in that earthquake tragedy is unprecedented both in terms of numbers as also loss of property. One really cannot estimate at this stage how much it would cost to provide adequate relief and subsequent rehabilitation effort. It could be in not thousands but lakhs of crores. As on now even total number of deaths are not quantified. Various estimates put it above thirty thousands but Defence Minister George Fernandes has genuine apprehensions that it could touch one hundred thousand. This is an awe-inspiring scenario with unlimited orphans and widows adding up by the day. Loss of employment vistas since their usual channels of sustaining life stand destroyed pose another problem. Many of those who had come from other States for jobs in heavily industrialised and prosperous Gujarat are on way back to their homes because they don't want to withstand the shocks of any further jerks. Job or no job they go. There are thousands of those seriously injured. More than 3000 have been operated upon in make-shift army hospital established there. Such of the life-time disabled have to be provided for in any welfare State. There has been total destruction of dwelling units, be it single storey or multi-storey ones, hired or own premises, commercial premises, destruction of schools, hospitals and even civil set-up in many places. It will be quite a gigantic task to rebuild the towns from scrap. Some experts have suggested special-design houses. But no house is safe when the ground itself caves in. And one never knows which State or area would be next earthquake victim. None can predict earthquakes. It happens in Lattur. It happens in Assam. It happens in Gujarat. It could happen anywhere. So life must go on. Calamity is calamity. Disaster is a disaster. It can be floods where least expected. It can be cyclone. It can be drought and famine. It can be war. It can be even plague that spreads like wildfire. The answer is 'National Disaster Cell'. By now it is certain that our country stands up united only in the hour of crisis situation. There are unlimited volunteers, NGOs ready to offer anything, philanthropists coming up in a big way, industrialists hating to lag behind. Above all it is the common man, every Indian citizens, that identifies with the tragedy ready to assist in any way he or she can possibly can do it. In our State, though coffers are empty it has announced one crore contribution. Every employee donates one day salary while ministers and legislators offer one month salary. Soon there would be door to door collections of all that can constitute as a relief item and these would be despatched to the affected areas like it happened during the cyclone disaster in Orissa. School children would donate from their pocket money. They are always in the forefront of any relief effort. The international effort is equally massive. Many countries have rushed their teams carrying experts or supplies badly needed for relief. Never before Ahmedabad airport was so busy. Plane after plane is landing by the minute. These countries do it on humanitarian consideration as much as for displaying their friendship in the hour of need. Help from Pakistan deserves special mention as it has rushed several plane-loads of tents and blankets. Even if it be a public relation exercise for showing to the world its humanitarian angle, the fact remains Pak is our neighbour howsoever hostile. Once it comes to relief in any disaster situation it identifies itself with the tragedy that has afflicted India. There are other countries whcih may not have been friendly but have rushed all possible help. It is a situation when Hindu blood is going into Muslim veins and vice versa. Even separatists blood is offered. Entire international community is thus also united in treating the mass tragedy as humanitarian cause. Much more flow from all sources is in the pipeline. It is nice of Prime Minister to visit the most impacted areas and break protocal/security by interacting with the victims. Despite advice that more tremors could be felt, Prime Minister scoffed at such apprehensions and made it not only by air but also on the road to see the magnitude of tragedy and sufferings by personal feel of the pulse. He gives blank cheque. Rs 500 crore as instant relief besides 30 crore from PM's reflief fund. In fact he is determined to see all the devastated towns and cities regain their pristine glory with massive reconstruction effort. By far the largest compliments go to the 30,000 strong Army, Navy and Air Force personnel who have succeeded in establishing the nucleaus of prompt relief to those who need it most. They are always peforming excellently be it war or peace. J&K Government continues to sit over payment of 3% Dearness Allowance instalment that is due to the employees since July 1 last year. It has also failed to redeem its commitment for paying instalment of arrears. This happens despite the fact that inflation has further increased from 3 to above 8% which entails another DA instalment from January this year. Very often non-payment results in accumulation when the Government becomes helpless. If these instalments are paid as and when falling due there is no accumulation and financial burden is easily absorbed. Prompt release and payment also creates good camaraderie between the employees and the Government. There ought not to be any occasion when employees are forced to resort to agitational means as has been happening all these years. Here the prime victim is of course the hapless people who are exposed to unlimited humiliations attributed to strikes. Their only fault is that they happen to be the unfortunate citizens of this wretched State. There are many other problems of the employees whose solution remain elusive. It mostly relates to power workers and public health engineering departments. There is stagnation, non-payment of salary and this non-regularisation. Departmental Committees on promotion have also not done their job properly which has resulted in many heart-burns. It is a pity that departmental norms and SROs are given short-shrift. It is bad for any Government because if it cannot keep the employees on its right side by solving their problems, it definitely cannot solve any problem of the citizens. It is so because citizens problems are perforce employee-related, they being the sole conduit between Government and citizens. It will be in the fitness of things to give the employees their rightful due and there should not be any occasion when employees are forced to resort to agitation. |
||
|
||
SPOTLIGHT
From B L Kak The stage is being set for a bigger offensive against the "builders" of the Ram temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, following the quick revitalisation of the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), a strong warning has been administered: "There will be bloodshed if the temple is raised on the disputed site". The warning has come from the BMAC’s convenor, Mr Zafaryab Jilani. He has reiterated in the past some days that Muslims would go to Ayodhya and physically stop the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) from constructing the temple. Significance, however, is attached to the division in the Muslim community, with one section continuing to be suspicious of the role of all parties which did not do anything to protect the Babri Masjid in 1992. No wonder, a pointed question from the allegedly pro-Vajpayee Muslim leader, Mr Mohammed Hashim Ansari: "On what basis is he saying there will be bloodshed?" Whatever the attitude adopted by various Muslim leaders towards the BMAC’s convenor, there is no doubt Mr Zafaryab Jilani has virtually led the authorities to actively consider preparing contingency plans. Mr Jilani has already announced: "I don’t claim 2 lakh people will reach there, maybe 200 or 2,000, but we will definitely reach Ayodhya to stop the VHP physically". Mr Jilani has rejected the idea favouring talks with the VHP. On the other hand, Mr Javid Habib, who has chosen to be friendlier with the Prime Minister, is preparing to organise a convention under his new outfit, known as the Babri Masjid Action Committee (International), on February 1, in a b id to constitute a 15-member team for talks with concerned parties like the VHP, the RSS, the Muslim Personal Law Board and secular parties. Mr Habib seems defiant, despite the fact that his stand is being seen as a total sell-out. Mr Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, a firebrand leader from Hyderabad, who is the chief of the Babri Masjid Action Committee has rejected Mr javid Habib’s stand. True, the question of holding talks with the VHP has triggered differences of opinion among different Muslim groups and leaders. But there is no denying that the basic problem is that the Muslims have not forgotten that the Babri Masjid wad demolished even as talks then on with the VHP remained inconclusive. Now, they give little credence to Mr Vajpayee’s suggestion that dialogue between the two can solve anything. The Prime Minister has been found, in recent week, uttering the Ram-word quite frequently. On finding increased pressure from the NDA allies against his unnecessary emphasis on the R-word, Mr Vajpayee came out with his ‘musings from Kumarakom’. It was a clear attempt to regain his liberal image and to ensure the survival of his Government. Significantly, even as the word went out to interpret that Mr Vajpayee’s ‘musings’ indicate his attempt to distance himself from the movement of the Ram temple, former chief of the Bajrang Dal, Mr Vinay Katiyar, insisted in a media interview: "Read the articles carefully and you will see he has not gone back on his statement about a national movement. And we agree with him that consultation is one way to build a Ram temple. If the Muslim nawabs of Faizabad could build the Hanumangarhi temple at Ayodhya, why can’t today’s Muslims agree to a Ram temple at Ramjananbhoomi?" In fact, both the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal are interpreting Mr Vajpayee’s recent statement in a manner that best suits their agenda. VHP’s Ayodhya pranth president, Bhagwan Jaiswal has said: "When Atalji says that the present status quo should not be disturbed, he means that Ram Lalla should continue to reside in Janambhoomi and nowhere else. So we are only moving ahead to provide apt shelter to our God". The entire Sangh Parivar gains from having a BJP Government at the Centre. Insiders say that the Ram card will be enacted along expected lines in the next few months. The VHP will announce some sort of schedule for the temple, while the Prime Minister will advise restraint and make statements about the law taking its own course. Both, insiders say, will act according to a set script. It is generally expected that the Sangh Parivar will, over the next few months, test the Ram card in Uttar Pradesh where elections are due in a year’s time. At the same time, the UP Chief Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, is not fully sure about the efficacy of the Ayodhya card. He would like his political tribe to play the Thakur card. But the RSS would like to play every card in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Vajpayee has just played one card-that is, after he made those statements in support of the Ram mandir, the allies of his Government threw a few tantrums but they all came around in the end. All these allies have their own problems. Only the Telugu Dedam Party (TDP) can bring down the Vajpayee Government. But the TDP supremo and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, is happy extracting the maximum in terms of aid for his State. According to one calculations, if there is another general election, there is no guarantee that the TDP will again get 29 MPs. |
||
|
|
Trends and prospects of non-lethal weapons By Avinash Shirodkar More than 2,000 years ago, Sun Tzu said in 'The Art of War' that armed force should be applied to gain victory in battle in the shortest possible time, at the least possible cost in terms of lives and effort, and by inflicting the fewest possible casualties on the enemy. However, enormous bloodshed in the two World Wars, the immense damage caused by weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and wanton terrorism have made the 20th century the bloodiest in history. It is only in the last decade, mainly since the end of the Cold War, that a paradigm shift in the concepts of fighting is spurring new efforts to evolve non-lethal weapons (NLWs). The prospect of new 'wonder' weapons which minimise death and injuries, strikes a sympathetic chord in people who have grown increasingly reluctant to countenance deaths and serious casualties through military action, particularly in peacekeeping and peace-support operations. NLWs are specially designed to enable personnel or material to gain military objective while minimising fatalities and undesired damage to property and the environment. The intention is to non-lethally overwhelm an enemy's lethal force, by destroying the aggressive capability of his weapons and temporarily neutralizing his soldiers. Though most analysts consider NLWs as an adjunct to conventional force, there is speculation that non-lethal defence has applicability across the entire continuum of conflict, up to, and including, strategic paralysis of the adversary. NLWs are being called by various names. Some of these are : 'reduced lethality weapons,' 'limited lethality weapons', 'less than lethal weapons' and 'low lethality weapons'. Some analysts have questioned their being called weapons at all. NLWs are being defined as: "Weapons that do not give rise to long-term after-effects and are not fatal for 99 per cent of combatants and civilians under normal physical conditions." Another widely accepted definition is, "Weapons that disrupt, destroy or otherwise degrade functioning of threat material or personnel without crossing the death barrier." Also prevalent are: "Instruments used in combat which are designed to achieve the same tactical and strategic ends as lethal weapons but which are not intended to kill personnel or inflict catastrophic damage to equipment" and "discriminate weapons that are explicitly designed and employed so as to incapacitate personnel or material, while minimising fatalities and undesired damage to property and the environment." >From the well-known stun grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons at the lower end of the spectrum, NLWs range through various 'slickums' and 'stickums' to impede vehicular and foot traffic, movement-inhibiting foams and nets to ensnare combatants and vehicles; highly obnoxious sounds and smells that result in flight from the scene or temporary digestive distress; non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to 'fry' electronic circuits of communication equipments, computers and power grids, to sophisticated information warfare and electronic warfare techniques for the surveillance, jamming and manipulation of communications, radio and television broadcasts at the upper end. Other NLW technologies include low energy Lasers designed to disable an adversary with temporary blindness; mind control through the use of subliminal audio and visual stimuli for psychotropic messages and biological agents for degrading materials and components. The recent ban on the use of lethal anti-personnel landmines (APMs) has led to the development of APMs that dispense non-penetrating pellets instead of shrapnel. Over 1,000 technologies with the potential to be developed into NLWs have been identified so far and there are endless possibilities, limited only by the imagination of the scientists working in great secrecy in this new and challenging field. However, even as non-lethal technologies are mushrooming rapidly, adequate debate and discussions regarding the ethical and legal ramifications of the use of NLWs are lacking. In 1996, human rights organizations and NGOs led a widespread international campaign against the use of Laser-based dazzle devices. The use of biological agents may violate international treaties such as the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BWC). The use of chemical-based incapacitating agents is permitted for domestic law enforcement by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) but not for military purposes. While the operational utility of NLWs in conventional highintensity warfare is still to be satisfactorily established, there is no doubt that NLWs have immense potential and provide a range of options in peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace support operations. The applicability of NLWs in some recent and current conflicts highlights their potential. In Bosnia, the early use of NLWs could have rendered power grids, air traffic control facilities, bridges and roads and tanks and heavy artillery inoperable, offering obvious advantages to the peacekeepers. This lesson was learnt by NATO and thin carbon strips were dropped over power plants and stations in Yugoslavia to disrupt power supplies. Whether it was ethical to do so is altogether a different question. In Somalia, street and point control through the employment of sticky foams and obnoxious smells would have been preferable to the large number of civilian casualties caused by deadly fire from US helicopter gunships. In Rwanda, communications interdiction, to neutralize dangerous radio broadcasts urging revenge on opposing tribes, would have saved thousands of lives. The concept of NLWs is also found attractive by politicians and civilian law enforcement agencies seeking alternative and more humane methods to manage internal security problems such as crowd control and riots, terrorist attacks, communal stand-offs, the arrest of violent criminals and recalcitrant politicians, and the rescue of hostages. In fact, the use of NLWs may soon become mandatory in all internal security situations involving the employment of police forces, including state armed police. Only if the situation does not come under control with NLWs, lethal alternatives may be permitted and that too with the prior permission of the authorities concerned. However, should the situation warrant the employment of the Army to render aid to the civil authority, it needs to be considered whether such a precondition for graduated response from NLWs to lethal weapons should be imposed. The deterrence value and salutary effect of calling in the Army will definitely be eroded if the Army is forced to first use rubber bullets or sticky foams when the situation has already deteriorated considerably and is beyond the capacity of police forces to handle. The salient advantages of NLWs include the reinforcement of deterrence and credibility by providing commanders with options for a graduated response over a wider range of military activities. News reduce risk of rapid escalation by offering a progressive increase in lethality. These are publicly and politically attractive alternatives and can buy time at a low casualty rate for a diplomatic solution. NLWs have utility across the entire spectrum of conflict at all levels of command and can reduce the cost of rebuilding infrastructure and economy after a conflict is over. Quite obviously, NLWs also have some disadvantages. The foremost among these is that their ability to restrict damage makes the use of force more attractive. Use of NLWs could be seen as lacking decisive action and may be perceived as failing to punish the aggressor, as NLWs do not destroy the enemy. The use of NLWs may heighten the resolve of the enemy to respond with lethal force. Hence, NLWs must always be backed up with threat of lethal force. The advent of NEWs in a world sickened by the horrors of war is a welcome and attractive development. Though still at a nascent stage, the employment of NLWs is bound to find favour in peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations, as also in internal security situations and the maintenance of law and order. It is imperative that the development of doctrinal precepts for the use of NLWs and the resolution of various ethical and legal complications also take place simultaneously with the advances in NLW technologies. Lethal and non-lethal weapons are not mutually exclusive alternatives. Hence, the availability of NLWs in conventional military conflict will provide a new range of options to a commander in the field to achieve his tactical objectives with the minimum casualties and collateral damage. NLWs are unlikely to ever substitute lethal weapons completely, they will only serve to supplement lethal weapons. This distinction needs to be clearly understood. Otherwise, there will always be a danger of creating unrealistic expectations of bloodless battles. INAV |
|
|
|
|
