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EDITORIAL How so dovish one may be, it is difficult to fault Farooq Abdullah's logic of mounting a war on Pakistan. As the Chief Minister of the State that has been the primary focus of Pakistan's cruel calculations, he has a good reason too. Pakistan has been sponsoring terrorism in the State for the last more than a decade. The international world may or may not find it in its strategic interest to accept this truth, but this State and nation has been experiencing that truth at the first hand, they have been instigating the youth of this State, have been luring them across the border and sending them back armed to the teeth and sworn to wage war on this State and nation. When those youth, or some of the outfits to which they had been aligned, expressed the slightest doubts, their support in arms and finances was cut down and new groups faithful to the Pak agenda were fashioned. We need no international court or CIA leaks to tell us that; we know it all for a fact. The details of men, arms and monies that were sent, or subsequently curtailed or diverted, can be enquired on any street in Srinagar... ...more Not only is this nation seen as a cake to be parceled and gulped down, but that notion is being sought to be enforced as a matter of right! The latest instance is the criticism that has been mounted upon the Union Government's....more |
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A View
Point Is POTA an answer to terrorism? By Thakur Baldev Singh POTO i.e. Prevention of Terror-ism Ordinance of 24th Oct, 2001, became POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) after is was passed by the joint session of the two houses of Parliament. The way it was passed shows how divided the country was on the issue.....more Nuclear
radiation: By Dr. K.S. Parthasarathy The words 'radiation' and 'radioactivity' excite many. In nuclear and radiation-related matters such as radioactive waste management, imaginary and real effects of radiation, impact of nuclear accidents and status of nuclear power, and myths cloud the reality....more By Malladi Rama Rao In the Indian context, ten years is too short a period to make any assess-ment of any scheme that has a wide reach. More so, in these days of weak centre and strong states. Unlike in the good old past, Delhi, today cannot dare threaten the states with punitive action for failure to follow its diktats. It can only fret and fume whether it is a State like Andhra Pradesh.........more |
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EDITORIAL How so dovish one may be, it is difficult to fault Farooq Abdullah's logic of mounting a war on Pakistan. As the Chief Minister of the State that has been the primary focus of Pakistan's cruel calculations, he has a good reason too. Pakistan has been sponsoring terrorism in the State for the last more than a decade. The international world may or may not find it in its strategic interest to accept this truth, but this State and nation has been experiencing that truth at the first hand, they have been instigating the youth of this State, have been luring them across the border and sending them back armed to the teeth and sworn to wage war on this State and nation. When those youth, or some of the outfits to which they had been aligned, expressed the slightest doubts, their support in arms and finances was cut down and new groups faithful to the Pak agenda were fashioned. We need no international court or CIA leaks to tell us that; we know it all for a fact. The details of men, arms and monies that were sent, or subsequently curtailed or diverted, can be enquired on any street in Srinagar. Thousands of messages intercepted by the army and police of this State tell of how the terrorists 'in the field' are being asked to carry out their subversive, disruptive and divisive agendas to undermine this State and the nation. From the burning of Charar shrine to the attack on the Raghunath temple, is one interminable list of desecrating the places of worship and reverence in this State, to consign this State to a communal conflagration. So far more than thirty thousand people of this State and nation have been killed because of these terrorists trained, aided and goaded by the Pak agencies, authorities and people. Lakhs of Indians today are living as refugees in their own State and nation because of these Pakistani ravages. Is any of that excusable or forgettable? In fact, each one of these acts is a complete reason, a full justification, for declaring a full-scale war on Pakistan, smoking out the terrorists hiding there and ensuring that we live in peace without interference by any body on any pretext. That indeed is the first privilege of every sovereign State; it is the first duty of every Government, every nation to ensure that nobody dares to mess with its unity, integrity or sovereignty. Even a slight hint that anybody, any nation is planning so is enough reason for war. But here is a nation that is not only sleeping over outrages on its sovereignty and people, but apparently is trying to barter desecration of the symbols of its nationhood. India is convinced that it was Pakistani agencies-official authorized agencies of Pakistan -- that were abetting the people despoiling it. It is trying to convince other countries. Not many of them are skeptical about its claims, either. Yet she would not take the action these activities call for. Here Farooq's allusion to Israeli reaction is both apt and opportune. How so valid the Palestinian cause may be, it does not allow them to become terrorists and kill innocent civilians. Pakistan has no cause, no grievance. She has only an agenda of hate and has been wrecking it upon India. Can that justify a silence how so golden silence may be? Can it justify a pacifist attitude especially when restraint over the last thirteen years has only made Pakistan more belligerent? What is the huge build up on the border for, if it is not to ensure that the enemy mends its ways? If she, doesn't there are few other options. And Pakistan has not mended her ways, not even padded its rhetoric. If army and war are not correct this intransigence, what are they for. And how do nations protect their beings and honour? It is not Farooq's war, but India's war that Farooq is asking for. Not only is this nation seen as a cake to be parceled and gulped down, but that notion is being sought to be enforced as a matter of right! The latest instance is the criticism that has been mounted upon the Union Government's decision to extend the purchase preference policy for PSUs for another two years. The policy only stipulates that Government would give preference to the public sector units in purchases it has to make. Thus in case of open bids if the bid by the public sector undertaking exceeds that entered by a private agency by 10%, the PSU would be given the opportunity to equal the highest private bid and take the contract at the rate the highest private bidder has offered. PSUs are not like other concerns. They, for one, are Government's own enterprises. They deserve a preference of treatment at the hands of the Government. The Government has invested money, public money, in those concerns and it has a right to see that those concerns succeed. Handing the contract to the Government agency at lower bids may be seen as unequal, but it is only just if Government asks the PSU to do it at the lowest/highest rates offered. Would a private concern entertain an outsider, another private concern for example, to take the contract, if it has a subsidiary or a sister concern willing to do the work at the same rate offered by the outsider party. In most of the cases, the private concern would just not call tenders, would not invite outside operatives. Why should the Government not encourage the units in which it has invested, where it has a stake? Then, the PSUs are not mere concerns. They have a strong social component. They employ large numbers of people, most of the times disproportionate to the workload. They have been engaged with a social aim, not the profit motive. There is a national, a people's interest in seeing the public sector undertaking prosper and remaining viable. Privatization is meant to be an entrepreneurial incentive not an invitation to partition away the public cake. |
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