Edible
oil sector : All is not well
By Amlan
Home Chowdhury
It might
sound paradoxical that the production of
oil seeds had constantly been rising in
India over the last six years, yet the
country's import-curve of edible oil
moved upwards during the period without a
break.
For all
practical purposes, the edible oil
industry now is passing through a crisis.
Very surprisingly, the demand of edible
oil had been outstripping the indigenous
supply since the fiscal 1994-95. Between
1994-95 and 1999-2000, India imported
edible oil to fill the gap.
After
1995, the import of all edible oils
(except coconut oil) was liberalised. The
taxation too was decreased to 15 per cent
from 65 per cent. Till 1994, the edible
oil import remained canalised through the
State Trading Corporation.
If the
trend is monitored in its real
perspective, we find that the edible oil
sector always been ignored by the Centre.
The industry was never given the
opportunity to grow independently. Even
the Centre did not take any steps to
promote Research and development in this
sector.
Recently,
the Standing Committee of Parliament on
Food, Civil Supplies and Public
Distribution discovered that the country
spends only Rs 25 lakh on R&D. On
being pressurised, the Union Finance
Ministry now has increased this amount to
Rs 105 lakhs. The Committee not only
criticised the Centre for being totally
negligent towards the promotion of this
particular industry, but also stressed
the need to streamline edible oil sector
at the earliest.
This,
however, is only the tip of the iceberg
as far as the problems of Indian edible
oil tier is concerned. Edible oil is a
mass consumption item and its annual
average demand-supply gap varied by about
30 percent over the last three years.
The
current pitiable condition of the
industry can be fathomed from the fact
that in tea garden pockets of West Bengal
(Dooars and Terai), North Bihar, Sikkim,
Assam and North Uttar Pradesh, huge
quantities of Nepal-made edible oils are
being freely sold in the market.
As a
result, the Centre and states of UP,
Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Sikkim
suffer an annual tax-loss of over Rs 200
cr. The Nepalese vanaspati and edible
oils are cheaper by about 25 percent
(when compared to Indian ones),
subsequently, the people in these states,
lying near Nepal, are not buying Indian
edible oil due to cost factor.
For all
practical purposes, the Indian edible oil
industry now has fallen into the vortex
of a vicious cycle. The virus of import
has become so strong that it just cannot
be killed. Should this sector resign to
its fate.
Despite
the fact that palmolein, sunflower, bran
and soya oils have now got mass
acceptance in India by the consumers,
neither the Union Agricultural Ministry
nor Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs
and Public Distribution never took steps
to extend the acerage-cover of sunflower
or soyabean. No steps have been taken to
develop orchards of palm trees, either.
Though
palm trees are grown almost in all parts
of India, no state financial corporation
or lending institutions seriously tried
to set up palm oil extraction plants by
inviting the entrepreneurs. In the case
of mustard oil industry, we find the
presence of a large number of
entrepreneurs all over the country. But
in the case of other edible oil industry,
we find only the presence of major
corporate houses.
Incidentally,
a tiny country like Malaysia produced
nearly 1000 lakh tonnes of palm oil in
1998-99. Within a short span of 24-years,
Malaysia emerged as a global palm oil
major. In 1975, that country produced
only 16 lakh tonnes of palm oil. However,
the farsighted Malysian government could
visualise maximum growth potential in it.
Hence, a major thrust was given to it:
and the result was a miracle. The palm
oil tier now has become a major
contributor to the Gross National Product
(GNP) of Malaysia.
What the
Indian edible oil sector needs now are
need-based future projections, shedding
of apathy on the part of the Centre and
formulation of a pragmatic edible oil
policy.
There was
no buffer stock of edible oils in the
government silos in 1990. Since the
traders resorted to hoarding to earn
windfall profits, prices skyrocketted and
panic buying began. To tide over the
problem, the V P Singh Ministry took
refuge to imports and normality in market
could return only after about 45-days.
Only after
eight years, another crisis took place in
India when a cooperative sector oil-giant
announced that ''by mistake, some of its
packets contained spurious elements''.
The mustard oil of other brands virtually
vanished overnight and the prices shot up
to Rs 85 per kg from Rs 35 per kg. in the
country.
Just like
the V P Singh ministry, the BJP
government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee
also resorted to imports to tide over the
problem. It is very clear that even after
the fiasco of 1990, the Centre did not
pay any attention to the creation of a
buffer stock of edible oils.
The
production of oil seeds and oil-yielding
materials in India rose from 186 lakh
tonnes in 1990-91 to 252 lakh tonnes in
1998-99. But the gap between demand and
supply continued to get widened. The
current annual demand has been pegged at
102 lakh tonnes.
In
1996-97, India spent a hefty Rs 2929
crore (in foreign exchange) on the
import-bill of edible oils. It is
expected to jump to Rs 3600 crore in
2000-01 fiscal year. Thus, the oil import
is heavily draining India's foreign
exchange reserve.
Though the
production of oil seeds and other
source-materials like palm fruit,
soyabean coconut and sunflower are
rising, the shortfall continues to make
the country heavily dependent on imports.
Its main reason are diversion of oil
seeds and source-material (except
sunflower) to other domestic as well as
industrial purposes, population growth
and enhancement in standard of living of
low income group.
In India,
mustard, soyabean, coconut, palm fruit
and sesam, only about 31 percent and 28
percent respectively is used to extract
oils. Similarly, only about 29 percent of
soyabean produced in the country, is sent
oil crushing.
Hence, the
single-use sources like rice bran and sun
flower holds the key to the solution of
edible oil crisis in India. Since the
oil-demand is constantly rising, these
alternative sources must be tapped let
oil famines group the country.
PTI Feature
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Who
are ‘real’ representatives of
Kashmir?
TALES OF TRAVESTY
By: Dr
Jitendra Singh
Now is the
time to stand up and claim to be the real
representatives of the people of Kashmir
or, indeed, the people of Jammu and
Kashmir! For, whoever succeeds in staking
such a claim effectively would
automatically entitle himself to contend
for the seat of power in Srinagar.
With the
State Assembly elections not very far and
with the Centre too not averse to
patronising Chief Ministerial aspirants
other than Farooq Abdullah, there is
virtually a tacit race among Srinagar
based politicians and leaders of
different hues --- both separatists as
well as non-separatists and nationalists
as well as anti-nationalists. Each one of
them is keen to appear more loyal to the
Kashmiri people than all his other rivals
put together. Each one of them nurses a
secret ambition to replace Farooq
Abdullah as the Chief Minister and thus
even those of them who are harping on the
separatist theme are infact in pursuit of
the same ambition.
As new
developments appear on the Kashmir scene,
there is a visible impatience in the
various political camps. There is an
increasing realisation that nothing much
is left to expect from Islamabad under
Gen Musharraf. Meanwhile, time is fast
running out for several of the ageing
Kashmiri leaders who have spent a
lifetime waiting in the wings as future
Chief Ministers. Only the other day, Mr
Abdul Gani Lone, who was tipped to be a
potential Chief Minister even when he was
a part of the Mir Qasim Ministry 30 years
ago, left the Hurriyat executive meeting
in a huff over a reported difference of
opinion. The problem with the Hurriyat is
that although outwardly its leaders claim
to be united, inwardly each one of them
is engaged in a bitter race to gain
supremacy over the rest of his colleagues
and this race for supremacy is deeply
motivated by the design to stake
individual claim for the seat of power on
the day of reckoning.
There is a
strong section of opinion in the Valley
which believes that if the Hurriyat
leaders were to participate in a free,
fair election, it is likely that most of
them would have to face defeat. Perhaps,
these veterans are well aware of people's
disenchantment with them and therefore
prefer to claim to be representatives of
Kashmir without contesting an election.
Breaking
away from the Hurriyat, Shabir Shah has
been shrewd enough to tread a different
path. He has already got busy organising
public meetings in different parts of the
State as a tacit run-up to elections. In
the months to come, however, Shabir would
have to demonstrate a very high degree of
astuteness in balancing certain
contradictions as he makes a serious bid
to emerge as the real
representative-claimant to seize the
reigns of power.
Interestingly,
the current Kashmir scene is made
hilarious by the comic sight of retired
war-horses like former Chief Minister
Ghulam Mohd Shah and former Union Home
Minister Mufti Mohd Sayed who are also
feeling tempted to revive themselves and
join the race to emerge as
representatives of Kashmir quite
unmindful of the fact that even in their
heyday these worthies had lost most of
the elections that they contested from
the Kashmir Valley.
In the
ensuing confusion, however, it is quite
possible that the National Conference
chief Dr Farooq Abdullah and son Omar may
continue to fill the vacuum as
"real" or "unreal"
representatives cum rulers of Kashmir.
Meanwhile,
the "prominent" citizens of
Jammu are keenly watching which way the
wind blows. They have already hosted a
reception in the honour of Mr Shabir
Shah.
They
would be too happy to hold similar
receptions for Mr Abdul Gani Lone, Mr
Geelani and others as well. They are
holding regular receptions for Mr Omar
Abdullah. In other words, quite in
keeping with their reputation, the
"prominent" citizens of Jammu
have already begun courting all such
claimants who seek to project themselves
as the "real" representatives
of Kashmir Valley even before the people
of Kashmir Valley have accepted these
claimants as their representatives.
Be that as
it may --- Is all this jugglery not an
insult to the common sense and
intelligence of the common man? The
question is: Is it possible to fool the
common man so easily? The bard retorts on
behalf of Umapathy "Chehre
Mein Hai Aaina Ya Aaine Mein Hai Chehra,
Maloom Nahin Kaun Kise Dekh Raha
Hai?"
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Time
to resolve Kashmir issue
By Alok Mukhopadhyay
Shamsul was killed
by the militants last night in front of his
family, including the small children. Assassins
fired 10 rounds extra from their guns to
celebrate. His crime was that he worked for the
National Conference in the elections.
Same night, Omar
was picked-up by the security forces from his
Mohalla near Dal Gate of Srinagar and is missing
since then, leaving his widowed mother
devastated.
Twelve years old
Sumedha of Kaul family, who was the brightest
girl of her school in Srinagar had to drop out of
School, now support her family's income making
paper folders from the refugees camp for Hindu
Kashmiris in Jammu.
This cycle of
violence has become a routine like the Sunrise
and Sunset. Does this need to carry on? Does it
any way promote the cause of Kashmir? Do we need
to shatter the lives of millions of people
through this festival of bullets?
The problems over
Kashmir is now recognised globally by all
concerned, India, Pakistan, various group of
Kashmiri organisations as well as the Super
Powers and larger global communities. Pant
Mission, Vajpayee - Musharraf dialogue,
Government of India's overture to Hurriyat are
all clear indications of this fact. Within this
over all context, does the current militancy
followed by counter insurgency any way strengthen
the cause of Kashmir? Particularly, when one
looks at all-pervasive toll it take on lives of
common ordinary citizens.
It is time to
boycott violence in Kashmir. It is time to use
latent creative energy of intellectuals,
journalists, Hurriyat's, National Conference's,
underground groups, NGOs' of Jammu & Kashmir
to come out with their creative ideas to resolove
the unfortunate and long pending issues. It is
also time for security forces to go back to their
barracks and cantonments vacating civilians
spaces that they have occupied, so that
atmosphere of normalcy can be gradually restored.
They also need to ensure that civil rights of
people of Jammu & Kashmir are respected as
diligently as in rest of India. The zero sum game
of bullet and bedlam has little place in today's
world. Dalai Lama has pursued and globalised the
Tibetan cause steadfastly through dialogue,
discussion and meditation even against the odds
of much stronger and strident opposition from
People's Republic of China. In today's world, the
question of nationality, sub-nationality and
cultural identity need to be looked at with lot
more openness. There need to be a broader vision
of Kashmir so that it does not become a
stereotype pawn in the game of big powers and
geo-political pressures and pulls.
If the present
atmosphere of gore and violence continue for much
longer, what kind of Kashmir we will leave for
the future generations? The little baby who is
just born in a Kashmiri home today needs
nutrition, vaccination and education. His/her
brain is being formed now. He/she can't wait for
tomorrow. The violence free atmosphere will
facilitate that the basic facilities of life are
there for every citizen. It will ensure that
future generations of Kashmiris are not deprived
of growing in an atmosphere of calm. Continuation
of silent approval of the senseless violence will
lead to permanent destruction of this age old and
magnificient society. How can we ever let it
happen?
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India:
Keeping the Faith
By Usha Raman
We walked around
the carved marble and granite walls of the inner
sanctum of the temple and stopped to watch the
arati (an invocation) for Lord Ganesha. As the
priest chanted the slokas (hymns) and other
visitors bowed their heads in prayer, my
seven-year-old daughter asked in a loud whisper:
"Is this a sort of Indian church?"
I stifled a laugh
as I replied, "Shh...yes...this is a
temple." But her question got me thinking.
As a natural corollary to my own discomfort with
ritualistic religion, my children had not
received much exposure to the external practice
of Hinduism. The chiming aratis and community
bhajans (religious songs), the
saffron-and-turmeric-hued, camphor-scented pujas
(worship), had not been a major part of their
growing up, not in the way they had been an
intrinsic part of my own. While religion itself
was not absent from our household, these forms of
religious expression certainly had taken a
backseat in recent times.
But the question
that stared me in the face was: Were my children
losing something because of this loss of ritual?
Is some ritual essential to the practice of
religion? And how comfortable am I with
externalising religious practice in a pluralistic
society -- a pluralism that I myself celebrate?
In most societies,
women are seen as the 'keepers of the faith' and
'guardians of the value system'. A woman is
primarily responsible for transmitting cultural
and religious values to her children.
She provides a
large part of the input that goes into building
their cultural identities. So just how important
is religion (in its external practice) to this
cultural identity? In our busy, urban,
multi-faceted lives, where do we fit in religion?
Do we feel the need to fit it in at all?
Many of us may
have rejected ritualistic religion, but we had
that choice to make. In our effort to make our
homes places of tolerance and secularism, our
children may not even know the possibility of
that choice.
"Religion is
a very personal thing," says Gayathri, a
pathologist and mother of a 10-year-old. "I
try very hard to make sure we do not label people
by religion -- and insist that my daughter
doesn't, either." Gayathri feels that
children "by default" inherit some
religious values from their parents, but she
would like her daughter to "evolve her own
religion".
However, she feels
strongly about passing on culture. "The
dilemma is, I do not know how to pass on culture
without religion because the two are so closely
interwoven."
In many homes, the
ritualistic form of religion has been replaced by
an emphasis on spiritualism. This helps keep the
focus on the essentials of faith rather than on
the rituals surrounding it. Sheela Ramakrishnan,
a teacher trainer, believes that there are
basically three levels of religious belief:
religious faith, which is a firm faith in one's
own gods and religion; ritualistic faith, or a
firm belief that rituals are a necessary
expression of that faith; and spiritual faith
which is belief in goodness of values as a basis
for living.
In spiritual
faith, one's religion becomes simply one of many
ways to understand spiritualism. Adds Gayathri,
"With my mother's generation, all the
paraphernalia of religion -- cooking specific
foods for festivals or organising the puja in a
certain way -- were essential to her practise of
religion. For me, there is no meaning in those
rituals." She, however, believes that
religion can be an immense source of internal
support, so it is important that it finds some
place in one's life.
Adds Gurveen Kaur,
an educationist, "I've always believed that
it is spirituality and not religion that is
important, but now I have come to accept that
religion also does come in. I feel like we owe
something to our family so we owe something to
our religion. It would be a pity to let the
message, the symbols of the stories in our
religion, not guide our lives."
While those who
practise Hinduism --the majority religion in
India -- can assume to some extent that their
children have access to religion-based culture in
the general environment, many who practise a
minority faith feel they must play a more active
role in passing on that culture to their
children.
"I feel I
must share my belief with my daughter. I am
careful not to force but let her see what I see
or feel about the teachings and symbols. The
rituals are not so important to me," says
Kaur, who was born into a Sikh family.
It is important to
many women that they come to an understanding of
their own stand on religion before they can
comfortably act as transmitters of religious
values. Sneha, who was brought up as a Muslim but
adopted Hinduism when she married a Hindu, feels
strongly that it is important to "teach our
children" religion.
Like Kaur, she too
feels that it is entirely possible to practise
and teach the symbols and the essence of a faith
without becoming dogmatic. As a result, her
children actively participate in both Islamic and
Hindu festivals, they take Arabic lessons and
attend satsang (prayer meetings). "I feel
that many families lose out when they totally
abandon the external practice of religion,"
she says. "It is important not to force it
on our children, but to make it a part of our
lives so that it becomes a natural part of
theirs. They do learn from just watching what
their parents do."
So what will my
answers be when my children ask about God, about
temples and churches, about the differences
between what they see on different altars?
Whether like Gayathri, I believe that religion is
an important anchor in one's life, or like Sneha,
that religious practice introduces a necessary
discipline into a child's life, what I say and do
will to a large extent, determine the way my
children see religion.
In the face of a
rising wave of religious fundamentalism, it's
important that homes become places where
tolerance and acceptance are practices rather
than abstractions. No matter how ritualistic and
dogmatic the larger family or societal culture,
it remains that children do take their
fundamental cues, their values about life, from
their mothers. WFS
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Defence
nuclear confidence-building and risk reduction
By Gurmeet Kanwal
Since it is now
clearly recognised that nuclear wars cannot be
won and therefore ought not to be fought, each
nuclear-armed adversary must develop confidence
in the sincerity of the other to ensure that the
unthinkable will not be attempted or allowed to
occur due to laxity in safety and security
measures and procedures. Nuclear weapons states
(NWS) must clearly spell out their nuclear
doctrine and strategy, inspire confidence in
their adversaries that they will abide by their
declared stance and should give credible evidence
that adequate checks and balances have been built
into their nuclear decision-making process and
nuclear weapons handling procedures. It is also
necessary to convince the adversary that nuclear
weapons are firmly under civilian control and
that such control will not be delegated to
military authorities except under the most
extreme circumstances.
The aim of
instituting confidence-building measures (CBMs)
is to avoid tensions arising out of mistrust,
misperception, accidents and military
brinkmanship. Neither India and Pakistan nor
India and China are likely to have such high
stakes in a future conventional conflict that
they would be prepared to risk nuclear exchanges.
Once this realisation dawns, it will be but a
short step forward to working out a mutually
acceptable "no first use" treaty- the
ultimate nuclear CBM. However, it will be a long
way before China and Pakistan singly or jointly
agree to sign a no-first-use treaty with India.
Unfortunately, China still refuses to accept
India as an NWS and loses no opportunity to chant
the "cap, reduce, eliminate" mantra.
There is an
inescapable necessity for India, China and
Pakistan to mutually develop nuclear CBMs and
institute verifiable nuclear risk reduction
measures (NRRMs). A number of bilateral and
multilateral measures could be considered for
implementation by the Southern Asian NWS in a
graduated manner.
The first of these
could be an agreement on storing nuclear weapons
in a disassembled form, i.e., keeping the atomic
core and the conventional high explosive (HE)
bomb casing, including the trigger mechanism,
separate during peacetime storage. Another viable
measure would be to enter into an agreement on
the non-use of short-range ballistic missiles
(SRBMs) for nuclear deterrence. SRBMs like
India's Prithivi (range 150-250 km) and
Pakistan's Hatf (derivative of China's M-11,
range less than 300 km), are extremely
destabilising due to their greater mobility,
ability to be deployed quickly and the short time
of flight that gives virtually no reaction time
before the missile impacts. India, China and
Pakistan would do well to exclude this class of
missile completely from their nuclear arsenals.
China must withdraw the large number of SRBMs
that it has stationed in Tibet.
Agreement could
also be reached on the non-deployment of
intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM)
regiments and their logistics support elements
during peacetime. As India, China and Pakistan to
not have the satellite surveillance capability to
continuously track each suspected ballistic
missile storage site and the numerous highways
and railway lines on which the missiles can be
moved, the development of missile regiments would
be inherently de-stabilising. The prior
notification of flight tests of ballistic
missiles to all nuclear-armed neighbours and to
the UN Secretary General should be a measure that
is easy to agree on. In due course, it should be
possible to agree to make a distinction between
missiles inducted but not deployed. Such an
arrangement would be a precursor to a
de-targeting agreement.
Subsequently, when
the basic warhead and delivery system technology
has been mastered to a satisfactory level of
assurance, the respective deterrents are credible
enough to achieve deterrence stability, and the
world draws progressively closer to total nuclear
disarmament, nuclear CBMs and NRRMs could be
upgraded to include measures that might appear
fanciful today: a regional and global missile
flight test ban; verifiable deployment
restrictions and limitations; missile-free
geographical zones and restrictions on the total
number of missiles that each of the NWS may have
in its arsenal. As mutual trust gradually builds,
efforts to upgrade and strengthen existing
nuclear risk reduction measures could include
improved hotlines, shared early warning
arrangements and intrusive onsite inspections.
Some analysts have
even recommended that unilateral measures should
be adopted where agreement is not easy to reach.
These could include advance notification of
impending missile flight tests, prior information
about the movement of nuclearcapable air force
squadrons from one base to another and
indentification and notification of training
areas for nuclear forces units to distinguish
them from deployment areas. Such measures
undoubtedly have several disadvantages and impact
negatively on operational flexibility. However,
since the issue at stake is one that is critical
for national security, the negative aspects could
be overcome with concerted efforts. The
de-alerted status that India maintains should go
a long way towards reassuring its nuclear-armed
neighbours of India's lack of hostile intentions.
India's "no first use" doctrine should
also inspire confidence while simultaneously
reducing the risks of accidental or inadvertent
launch of nuclear weapons. However, India's
nuclear-armed neighbours must also respond
positively to take the process forward.
Nuclear CBMs and
NRRMs would require credible verification regimes
to be effective. Verification could involve
intrusive techniques such as over-flights up to
an agreed depth inside each other's territory. In
the initial stages of mutual confidence-building
it would be advisable to desist from insisting on
foolproof verification regimes. Gradually, as
confidence levels increase and the political and
diplomatic climate improves, stringent
verification regimes can progressively
incorporated. The first short step forward for
India, China and Pakistan is to accept the need
for nuclear CBMs and NRRMs as an inescapable
national security responsibility. It is
imperative that the governments concerned view
this responsibility not only as a short-term
necessity but as their bequest to posterity. In
defence analyst K Subrahmanyam's view, "The
most constructive way of building confidence...
is to follow the example of the US-Soviet
dialogue at Helsinki in which both sides spoke
frankly about their respective capabilities. That
led to a whole series of arms control
negotiations. If knowledgeable teams from India
and Pakistan meet and have a free and
intellectually honest discussion, they will find
many points of convergence... It is easier to
build confidence on the basis of unverfiably
declarations. Between the two superpowers and in
Europe, arms reductions and detente began only
when both sides came to a common understanding on
the State of mutual deterrence..." These
suggestions are quite obviously unexceptionable.
As long as nuclear weapons are in the possession
of some nations and their national security
strategy is underpinned by nuclear deterrence,
their governments and military establishments
must treat nuclear CBMs and NRRMs as a primary
responsibility. At the same time no effort should
be spared to pursue the goal of total nuclear
disarmament because the most supreme NRRM would
be the complete elimination of nuclear weapons
PTI Features
Unforgettable
principal Pushp
Academic Pulse
By Prof. S. K. Bhalla
Since the contents
of this weekly column have been veering round
education (past, present and future scenario)
with teacher in the centerstage, this time I am
proceeding on a different note. At a time when
the imparting of education at various levels has
all the ingredients of brisk salesmanship opposed
to the great tradition of education, it is apt to
write purposely on legendary Prof. Pushp inspired
by a publication 'Glimpses of Kashmir, Jammu and
Ladakh' dedicated to Prof P N Pushp from Gyan
Sagar Publications, New Delhi.
The memorial
volume is a symphony of beautiful write-ups
dedicated to the loving and cherished impressions
of Late Prof Pushp who had taught several
generations of students of J&K State unlike
most of us. After the unfortunate turmoil which
overtook this community in 1990, the great Prof
had to migrate to Delhi to lead the life of
refugee there till he breathed his last on Sept.
19, 1996. Publication of the volume in the fond
memory of a teacher speaks volumes about his
stature.
Hailing from a
region of Anantnag district Prof. Pushp not only
distinguished himself as a teacher - scholar par
- excellence but also as the Principal with
principles and the Director, Research and
Publications (J&K) as also Director
Libraries, Museums and Archives (J&K). He
earned the reputation of an archaeologist, a
great conversationalist, a lexicographer, a
prolific writer and a farsighted educationist.
Prithvi Nath Pushp wrote in five major languages.
Kashmir, Hindi, Urdu, English and Sanskrit. It
would require one complete independent write-up
to enlist his works, research papers, studies and
monographs primarily on Kashmiri language and
literature.
During 1965
Indo-Pak war Prof. Pushp guided the students and
teachers of Govt. Degree College, Poonch as he
alongwith staff and students made it a point to
visit the border, undertake the repairs of roads
and assist the Army in numerous ways. In the
words of his close colleague there Prof. K L
Bhalla "Many persons were uprooted because
of shelling and they were rehabilitated and
served. He was a source of encouragement to all
of us." I am told that he was the moving
spirit behind the inaugural issue of Poonch
College magazine "Aaeena' in which he wrote
an article entitled "Kashmir through the
Eyes of Hieuen Tsang." Regretfully the
magazine of said college is not published at
regular intervals like the house magazines of
other Degree Colleges of our State.
In the words of
Prof A N Dhar "Prof. Pushp taught 'crowds'
of students, spoke untiringly and established
rapport with his class.... A great colossus in
the realm of letters he not only impressed with
the knowledge but also with his loving concern
for the well-being and professional success of
this students."
The majority of
present-day teachers of J&K lost in the mad
race for more perks and facilities can draw in
some measure inspiration from Prof Pushp's
life-style and scholarship. These days it has
become fashionable to write in glowing terms
about the teachers only on Teachers' Day and
forgetting them during the rest of the year. It
would be profitable if we write frequently about
genuine role-models to be emulated by younger
generation lost in the trivialities of life
thanks to electronic media. We must give a more
to teachers by choice and not by compulsion
instead of kow-towing to those whose acts have
brought misery and destruction to our land.
Unfortunately, Prof Pushp passed away before this
volume could see the light of the day. But it
goes to the credit of editors - S. L. Pandit, P.
Kachroo and S N Dhar as also co-cordinator B L
Kaul Chaman that ultimately they succeeded in
their sincere efforts to release 'Pushp Memorial'
volume. Fortunately, I have also spent some
moments of childhood in the loving memory of
revered Prof Pushp as he was a frequent visitor
to my ancestral home.
India:
Getting the Numbers Wrong
By Radha Rastogi
It began in the
1950s as one of that largest public health
initiatives in the world. And yet, four decades
later, the population policy of the most populous
state in India -- Uttar Pradesh -- is a typical
case of the sort of schizoid functioning that has
hamstrung the entire country's population effort.
Despite being
couched in politically correct jargon - pro-poor,
pro-choice, pro-women - a look at the
implementation of the Uttar Pradesh population
policy, launched in July 2000, shows that the
ground realities are quite different.
The stated aim of
the state's population policy is to stabilise
population and reduce the fertility rate from 4.5
to 2.1 by 2016. The strategies to achieve this
are compulsory education, financial and
empowerment schemes for women so that they can be
enabled to make informed choices, community
motivated sterilisation camps with the help of
the Panchayats (local self governing bodies),
awareness generation about reproduction and child
services and eliminating discrimination against
women in the field of family welfare. But all it
takes is a reading of the fine print of the
policy to realise that in reality it is as
women-unfriendly as it can get. For starters, in
a desperate bid to stabilise the population, the
state's population policy actually reverts to the
often-discredited target approach. Moreover, this
is in complete contrast to the 'Target Free
Approach' adopted by the Indian Government in
1996, the Reproductive Child Health programme in
1997 and the Community Needs Approach in 1998.
Hence this policy
only confirms what specialists have feared all
along: That in their population policies, the
states are only paying lip service to the new
approaches while in actuality disregarding them
completely.
The most glaring
example of this is the return to the target-based
approach. The new policy directs health and
medical staff to aim at sterilising one million
couples and register three million spacing method
users each year by the year 2005.
It ignores the
fact that 95.5 per cent of the sterilisations are
tubectomies and not vasectomies. Which means that
in practice, it is the women who will continue to
be targeted for sterilisation drives,
notwithstanding the hue and cry that is being
made about male involvement in reproductive
health.
Experts believe
that this will, in turn, have a disastrous impact
on maternal health. Besides, studies show that
tubectomy failure in the state is as high as five
per cent, as against the world figure of one per
cent. The policy glosses over the fact that
tubectomy is also potentially life threatening
for women, especially in a scenario where even
basic amenities like antiseptics and anaesthesia
are lacking - while vasectomy is not life
threatening for men.
At another level,
a return to numbers will set off the vicious
cycle of forcing poor families to negotiate
development benefits as sterilisation rewards. It
will also pressurise the staff to fulfil targets
by any means available, including coercion. The
policy further proposes to reduce maternal and
infant mortality by a comprehensive mother and
child health care package, which is in accordance
with both the Cairo Declaration (1994) and the
National Population Policy (2000). Both these
clearly state the commitment to informed choice
and consent based on the target- free approach.
But once again,
the ground realities present a different picture.
It is practically impossible for a village-based
Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (AN ), who is the cutting
edge functionary, to be equally concerned with
both numbers and quality care. The two are
mutually incompatible, particularly in a state
like Uttar Pradesh where Primary Health Centres
not only lack basics like iron and folic acid
tablets but also trained staff and surgical
equipment.
There is also much
hype about the expanded role of Panchayats in
organising sterilisation camps with
community-based participation. The reality,
however, is that those Panchayats which are not
meeting this target, are being told that they
will lose out on financial disbursements.
Consequently, the only way in which they can meet
the targets is by coercion. And case studies
abound of young widows being forcibly sterilised
due to property claims and young girls having
hysterectomies after botched abortions.
In the most recent
scandal presently rocking the medical
establishment in the state, an injection meant
for veterinary use was inadvertently used on
pregnant women. It was an ignorant blunder
because the drug oxytocin is used for both humans
and animals, with differing properties. But cases
are already on record showing its disastrous
consequence: ruptured uteruses, heavy bleeding
and in some cases, even death.
Moreover,
experience with the large-scale, camp approach
has shown lack of quality care, hygiene and poor
post-operative follow up. Doctors at these camps
say that their job is to conduct 10 to 15
operations in an hour. Most doctors also admit
that there is no budget for post-operative care.
Which means once again that the only priorities
are the numbers.
How effective then
can such mass camps be, albeit with community
consent, if the government myopically refuses to
take continuing responsibility?
The policy is also
strangely silent on the contentious issue of safe
abortions. Uttar Pradesh has the highest abortion
rate in the country at 67.92 per 1,000 women in
the 15 to 44 years age group. It also has the
highest maternal mortality rate in the country,
the main cause of which is unsafe abortions. And
everybody knows that abortions are resorted to as
spacing devices for contraception. Co-opting the
language of rights, the policy aims to introduce
controversial long-acting injectables into the
system in the name of a wider basket of
contraceptive choices. Again, these target women
and not men. These may be justifiable in an
affluent scenario where there are facilities for
regular follow-up checks. But in a state like
Uttar Pradesh with its dismal state of poor
access and follow up, the fate of women being
used as guinea pigs needs no detailing. Besides,
the high rate of anaemia and debilitated state of
most poor woman contraindicates use of such
sophisticated devices.
The bottom line
then remains that there is a distinct tonal
difference between international, national and
state population policies. The problem is severe
in practically every state of India; but Uttar
Pradesh, by virtue of being not only the largest
but also the most populous state, causes the most
concern. WFS
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