EDITORIAL
VRS for Government employees
Government service is one
of the Raj legacies that were designed to further the
functioning of the British Raj but has continued into
free India to confound many things here. The British
needed a subservient babu-system that could help collect
the allotted revenues to send them to the home country,
to control the people and to rule over the country. The
whole thing was geared to serve and service the empire.
Back home, the British did not have Government
employments as a social help or to boost development. All
the service there were private and independent. All the
amenities were provided by the services sector not the
Government. Though the Government there built the
railways it quickly sold them out. Here, after the
British had systematically disrupted the self-sufficient
economy of the country the Government service remained
the only source of assured livelihood. It became the
point of prestige, too the Government service became a
glory and people got hooked to it both as a succor and
economic assurance. Government service was one sure
passport to the 'progress’ and economic well being
in India of Raj era.
Post independence
provision of employment by the Government became the most
popular of political agendas. So the British scheme was
continued with modifications. But the British had
designed that module for the imperial interests and
activities. It was for revenue collection and keeping the
Indian masses reigned in; it was not meant for either
growth or development. It couldn't help there because it
was a inefficient system. The modifications that the
independent Indian Governments introduced made it even
more inefficient. Security of tenure that the trade
unionists demanded took away what little incentives there
and killed all accountability. Today the Government
service is one huge liability. It fosters neither
efficiency not hard work, neither sincerity nor honesty.
The work culture is just not possible there. Those who
are efficient or interested to work sincerely are
actually discouraged by the system. While the inefficient
mediocrity is promoted. With dead-end seniority and
assured perks; that mediocrity milks the system and the
Government through it for its own good. While the able
ones are frustrated in the system the incompetent ones
keep on swelling. In fact, the whole system has become
good only for gathering deadwood; those who are able
leave, those who can't find anything else rule it.
And, thereby burden the
whole system and governance to the lasting misfortune of
the nation. The corporations are inefficient, the huge
public sector enterprises are social security nets not
production centers. And the Government offices are
cluttered with employees neither whose presence nor
number is justified. That is the case with State as well
as Central Governments. Thus the Central Government has
37.7 lakh employees and a tiny, State like J&K has
near 4 lakh. While a hefty part of the central budget
goes into the salaries, the State Governments spend
almost all of their budgets on it. For the several past
years we have had the spectacle of the whole State
allocations going to payment of the salaries. Our State
is a prime example. But other States are not doing any
better. They can't till they awake to the unnecessary
burden they are carrying. Sometime back the nationalized
banks woke up to the problem. Now the Central Government
has realised that the heavy work forces it has installed
are not helping but are hampering the progress of the
country. It has sought to shed the hindering fat through
the Voluntary Retirement Scheme with the threat that the
employees who do not take the hint would have to face
retrenchment. Though the State may not get hard as to
actually throw away employees, it just cannot support the
burden any longer. Nor can the States, including the
State of Jammu and Kashmir. This State in fact is ripe
for a VRS, too. But would a State, where the sole
achievement of the ruling party over the past six years
is that it has employed a lakh of people, get so
enlightened as to think in terms of development and
efficiency? That is the big question.
Conquering the motor act
In a research of far
reaching importance, reported last week, the scientists
have been able to take the commands from the brain cells
and translate them into action without the intervention
of the intervening organ. Thus a monkey, who had been
taught to move a cursor on the computer screen, has been
able to move the cursor without moving a limb or claw,
simply by thinking of moving the cursor. The monkey just
thought of moving the cursor and it moved, not with the
monkey’s leg or paw but the wires that were inserted
into its brain. The wires inserted into the appropriate
part of its brain took up the 'thought' and moved the
cursor. Now all thoughts are electric impulses that need
be transmitted to the appropriate organ through the
appropriate nerves to cause the organ to ‘act'.
In every act there are two
‘arms’. One is the sensory arm, whereby the
person is able to see, or hear or feel something. Then
the person wishes to respond to that sensory input by
moving a finger, writing a letter, moving all from a
chair or table. That is the motor part. Normally the
brain receives the information and takes the decision as
to what is to be done. This command is taken to the
appropriate motor organ, finger, leg etc. by the nerves
called motor nerves and the action results. In the new
research the electrodes in the particular part of brain
took the 'thought of action' to the appropriate organ.
This may be no great deal in normal humans, but think of
'communicating' to a mechanical arm, or a Jaipur foot on
the amputated legs of an accident victim. It is not
possible to get the ‘arm’ or ‘foot’
to act because the ‘action thoughts’ could not
be taken to the mechanical thing. Not there is a
possibility of doing that and with a computer chip inside
the artificial organ it may even turn out to be better
than the natural thing in certain tasks.
|
The
military in cyberspace
By S Venkatesh
Between the Gulf
War yesterday and the Afghan War today the
securi-ty scenario has changed radically.
Military strategists have come to rely on a new
tool that has emerged on the scene making full
use of Information Technology (IT). The tool has
not made the conventional weaponary redundant,
not as yet, at least, but has made the continued
excessive dependence on them a dangerous
proposition.
Several aspects of
IT particularly those affecting the security of
nations, have been brought out in a paper,
prepared sometime ago for an Info-War Workshop in
Washington. That the author was an Indian , Prem
Chand, makes the new insights interesting from an
Indian perspective. A retired Commodore, Prem
Chand, was formerly Additional Director General
at the Weapons and Electronics Systems
Engineering Establishment (WESEE), Ministry of
Defence.
Prem Chand argues
that in the foreseeable future, a well equipped
and prepared military can make an adversary wake
up and pay attention by shutting down their
military or Industrial infrastructure as an
alternative to, or in combination with blockades
and embargoes.
Whether or not a
cyber assault on a foriegn country is an act of
war is immaterial at this stage of our
discussion. Anyhow, the issue will have to be
considered and debated at length at the
international level. The Global Information
Infrastructure may address this issue. We, on our
part in India, should address this question in
all seriousness and keep all options open while
forming a National Information Policy.
Cyber-war weapons
have considerable edge over hard-kill weapons
including a nuclear button; India must keep this
harsh reality in view and must have deterrence in
place to meet the challenge.
The emergence of
microelectronics has led to design of high
performance military systems. The performance
edge in terms of faster and accurate response
emanates from embedded intelligence in these
systems, which has proliferated in every facet of
system of military significance.
Therefore,
technologically advanced nations have produced
platforms, weapon systems, delivery systems,
command and control infrastructure, which can
provide them overwhelming superiority almost
instantaneously in terms of detection of targets,
location and targetting in any part of the globe,
underwater, on surface or in space.
A glimpse of this
wizardy has been shown to the world by US led
invasion of Iraq. A class of these weapons with
computer as their basic building blocks have been
termed as Information Warfare Weapons (IWW).
These are aimed at disabling or rendering enemy
systems ineffective virtually at the flick of
button in the space of few minutes if not
seconds.
The use of these
weapons would assume deterrence value hitherto
possible only with nuclear weapons. Today, the
less-developed nations have virtually no defence
against the IWWs. As the technology advances
further, the new 'North-South' gap is bound to
become wider.
Commodore Prem
Chand says that there is now such a fear
psychosis among the third world countries, who
politically or economically, do not share any
common interest with the US and its allies that a
day would come when the overwhelming superiority
in information weapons would be utilized by the
West, particularly the United States ton extract
concessions of Political or regional
significance.
Significantly, it
is pointed out that the war objectives of the
United States and its allies may not be emanating
into a world war type of destruction but it would
be a 'new cold war' on the strength of their
IWWs.
Who will be
vulnerable? A tough question but considering the
emerging geopolitical situation. India, China,
Malaysia and West Asia may end up as the targets
because of the very large economic potential of
this region.
The level and
potential of vulnerability of these nations to
IWWs may not be very apparent as of now because
'disabling' techniques are being evolved and have
not yet become disabling systems as part of any
warfare establishment.
Even if there is
any evidence of such a development, developing
nations are so pre-occupied with their day-to-day
socio-economic and political problems of bread
and butter that they are unable to recognize
their soft underbelly and their vulnerability to
the IWW threat.
Moreover, the
high-end of information technology applications
are not yet available in open literature,
naturally, therefore, the It community in the
developing nations is unable to comprehend the
type of danger. Even in India, which has emerged
as the software giant, for that matter.
Recent years have
seen proliferation of microelectronics. There has
been an exponential growth in the spread of
software too. Consequent result is the creation
processing, storage and dissemination of
information of interest to civil or military
users.
Commodore Prem
Chand says that it is yet premature to say
whether Information warfare will be a new but
subordiante arm of conventional warfare or
whether it will be so rapid and so profound so as
to change the very nature of war. One thing is
clear though. IWWs will be mostly invisible; the
enemy can be within a nation's boundries or
outside.
This means that IT
can be employed to strike at by manipulation of
our data systems, psychologically attack,
electronic warfare and finally the physical
destruction of our Information Infrastructure,
which has a direct or indirect bearing on our
survival in military, geographically, economic,
political and social terms.
In such a
background, our aim at the national level should
be to examine and identify ways and means to
apply IT in an innovative way for both offensive
and defensive role in one or more forms.
Some defence
planners opine that the typical Military
Technology Revolution will enable the armed
forces in the foreseeable future to engage
targets with high pecision weapons fired from
greater distances including from outer sapce. IT
would play only a secondary role in this effort.
The other school
of thought is that the information revolution may
drive conflict and warfare towards the
low-intensive end of the scale, giving rise to
new form of close in combat.
Consequently,
military analysts and strategists have started
identifying areas to be addressed and have
started the process of fresh thinking along these
lines.
As things stand
today, information revolution will cause major
changes both in regard to how nations would come
into conflict against each other and how their
armed forces would wage the war.
Cyber War,
Information Warfare and Netware are the terms now
being used interchangeably to stress upon the
reality that future conflicts will be fought by
networks and that who ever masters the network
will have the upper hand.
Where does India
figure in such a scenario ?
--Syndicate
Features
|
Tinkering
with history text books
By Atul Cowshish
The Vajpayee
Government’s anxiety to rid certain text
books of their so-called "Macaulay, Marxist,
Madrasa" contents may well see history as
taught in Indian schools becoming unrecognizable
from myth with only a thin line dividing it from
an affinity to propaganda.
The move to
"correct" history textbooks has been
taken up at a time when neighbour, brought up on
a diet of religious hatred and intolerance, is
tying to turn a new leaf by accepting that closed
minds - and religious extremism in any form
militates against a nation’s self-interest
and, indeed, threatens its stability.
A state that has
from the beginning projected itself as a
progressive, pluralistic and tolerant democracy
will be unwise to do anything that has an
inherent element of, first, discouraging young
minds from developing the faculty of critical
evaluation, and then, poisoning the
impressionable minds through propagation of
distorted and exaggerated notions of religious
grandeur and elite nationalism.
In its efforts to
"cleanse" the history text books, the
Vajpayee government, particularly the Swayamsevak
heading the HRD ministry, has been guilty of
assault on two counts: it has trampled upon the
autonomy of two bodies, the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National
Council for Educational Research and Training
(NCERT), and made history subservient to a
political cause—that of playing to the
religious constituency in the country and vote
banks.
The very first
step in the textbook controversy was ill-timed.
It was on October 25 that CBSE announced that
certain portions in senior higher secondary
history textbooks, allegedly offensive to the
sentiments of Sikhs, Jats, and Brahmans among
others would be excised and should not be even
discussed in class rooms!
As the premier
body for conducting senior school examinations in
the country, CBSE knew full well that October is
close to the end of an academic year. Since text
books are not changed in the middle or towards
the end of an academic year, the undesirable
portions could not have been taken out of
textbooks with an official fiat.
If these portions
had not already been taught in schools, it is
fair to assume that the order to ban them would
have led to such a surge of curiosity that nearly
every student who was supposed to shut his or her
eyes and mind to the unwanted portions would have
gone through them and possibly discussed them
too, in and out of class rooms.
After the new
textbooks are introduced, how will a student, for
instance, acquire a better perspective of the
reservation policy without first learning about
the Varna system?
Almost a month
after the CBSE ordered removal of selective
portions that were said to be offensive to
various caste and communities in India, Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared that he
wanted a national debate on the book censorship
issue.
His call may not
have come a day too soon for the present set of
rulers, specially since their extended family
(Parivar) has been frequently seeking a ban on a
lot of things which have varied from some
paintings by M.F.Hussain and a film by Deepa
Mehta to a book on beef-eating habit in ancient
India.
From time to time,
these rulers also issued diktats on a host of
other things like prescribing (Indian) dress code
for girls both in school and college, prescribed
celebration of Valentine Day, and stopped New
Year celebrations.
Though it may not
be in the shape the Prime Minister wanted, a
debate on textbook censorship has started in
which the opposite sides are broadly but
erroneously classified as Leftists and Rightists.
In fact, the word used to describe the combatants
is "terrorists’'-perhaps as a result of
the current obsession with terrorism in the
entire world.
In order to
justify their moves to edit history textbooks,
the present rulers offer a somewhat specious
argument. According to them, these textbooks were
written by "Marxists" and other
Left-leaning writers and scholars, and,
therefore, an effort is being made to correct the
imbalances that their prejudiced interpretation
had created.
The first flaw in
this Parivar premise is that it is not sure if
all the textbook writers have been dedicated
Marxists. But importantly, it has to be accepted
that most of their works that include
interpretation of certain events of the past have
been appreciated by a broad spectrum of
historians and, therefore, can he said to enjoy
some respectability and credibility.
It is
nobody’s case that all good historians and
scholars must necessarily be drawn from the ranks
of committed Marxist or Leftist who can have a
blinkered vision of the world, present and past.
It is also simply untrue to say that there are no
good historians without Left leanings.
It is also
accepted that there is no such thing as a cent
percent accurate account of history that needs no
revision ever. But where the advocates of
censoring textbooks can be faulted is their
fondness for lending credence to theories and
conclusions based on myths or even imagination
without a backing from research to lend them some
plausibility.
Those who dub the
writers of present history textbooks as Left
extremists forget that their replacements they
want as history writers are also equally
extremists in their views. Of course, it has to
be admitted that the names of the new set of
history writers for the government are being held
as a closely guarded secret. Is it because if
their names are announced in advance, many will
seek assurances about their objectivity and
question their scholarly credentials?
How many in India
and abroad are convinced, for instance, by those
"scholars" and "historians"
who claim that nearly every Muslim monument in
India was built upon Hindu temples and other
monuments. Participating in a TV debate the other
day, one of the prominent members of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad said that Lord Ram was born nearly
a million years ago. And what does the Sangh
Parivar say about the writings of those great
Indians who said that Indians were beef - eaters
in the past?
It has been said
that the re-writing of textbooks has been overdue
by over a decade. The dated and undesirable
portions in these books might have been noxious
but neither the previous governments did anything
to change or delete them nor does one remember
any major public outcry against the iinpugned
portions.
In 1977 when
Janata Party ruled India, the government had
refused to succumb to pressure from its Jana
Sangh (today’s BJP) constituent to change
textbooks. In the present context, it looks
somewhat strange that after an initial about of
strong condemnation, some of the major Opposition
parties have also agreed that certain parts in
history textbooks deserve to be deleted.
The double
standards adopted by political parties should
surprise no one. It shows that when an issue is
laced with electoral considerations, most
political parties of the right and even left of
the centre variety begin to look identical.
Things had
remained quite because the textbook re-writing
controversy was contained. Though the textbooks
might have taught certain "offensive"
things about man, his community and religion,
everyone read them without trying to take to
streets. Now, it is quite clear that the move to
alter textbooks has been influenced a great deal
by politics.
It is indeed a
matter of deep regret that history and school
textbooks are being made a part of election
politics, which is anything but clean and fair.
At the same time, the government wants to see
history merged with myths and half-truths and
accord credibility to the latter.
School children
should not he shielded from everything from the
past that may look embarrassing to a section of
the society today. It is easy to inculcate and
teach a narrow vision of the world around us to
school children. But does it serve them well in
future?
India has produced
a number of great reformists who had successfully
fought against many ills in our society braving
all odds. They cared little about hurting the
''religious sentiments'' of their own communities
in carrying out their mission.
But when a child
is taught that there has been nothing wrong with
us in the past, how will he or she react to the
contributions made by these great men and women?
It will be a bad day for India if the textbooks
in schools and "authoritative" works of
"history" resemble an encyclopedia of
propaganda.
--Syndicate
Features
|
Bleak
chances of Badal's comeback
By Dr Bhabani Dikshit
The ensuing
Assembly election in Punjab will be a real test
of the performance and popularity of the
government of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) —
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine. Though for
the first time a non-Congress government is
completing its tenure on record, its dismal
management of the affairs of state and the
growing public discontent present a grim picture
as the electoral battle hots up in Punjab. The
results will in any case indicate the mood of the
people and their judgement on the functioning of
a state government that they gave ample
opportunity to take care of their interest and
that of the state’s growing problems.
In politically
volatile circumstances, the SAD made alliance
with the BJP, striking a strange chord between
the identity of regionalism and centralism. Akali
Dal’s image of a regional party got washed
away with its alliance with a nationalist
Hindutva party like the BJP. On the other, the
BJP took advantage of this bond by usurping and
carving out an all-India’s image of a
Hindu-Sikh unity that brought forth a lot of
political mileage to it. Consequently, the Akali
Dal-BJP combine succeeded in forming a government
in the February 1997 election.
Out of 117
Assembly constituencies, the SAD contested 92
seats, out of which it won 75, fetching 36.49%
votes; the BJP contested 22, out of which it won
in 18, fetching 11.09% , votes. The Congress
contested in 105 seats, but its`candidates could
win only 14 seats, the percentage of votes being
25.75% much higher than BJP account.
Before the 1997
Assembly elections in Punjab, the Akali Dal led
by Prakash Singh Badal had electoral alliances
with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), as a result
of which SAD had impressive victory in the Lok
Sabha election in 1996. This success paved the
way for the party’s victory in the
subsequent Assembly election that followed soon.
Despite the
completion of a full-fledged five years term, the
SAD-led government faced tough challenges from
the Congress party due to the severe financial
crunch, even though Punjab is known for its
highest per capita income.
Besides remaining
unconcerned about the acute unemployment problem,
the State Government has stopped giving jobs on
compassionate grounds. Initially the SAD
Government asked its employeesto apply for VRS,
but when they opted for the scheme in large
numbers, it was scrapped altogether. By this
action the government invited unnecessary trouble
for itself. This was the feeling of a large
number of government servants this writer met in
Punjab.
Regarding power
supply, the Badal Government has given a lot of
concessions to big farmers, but strangely not to
poor farmers, said Smt. Balbir Kaur, a social
activist from Khanna district. While talking to
this writer, she said that the Akali Dal did not
do anything for poor farm labourers. No new
industries were stated and there was absolutely
no development in the field of education. The
number of colleges are the same. Due to the last
year’s High Court decision, the government
his stopped reservation in post-graduate courses
in medical colleges, she says, which has deprived
SCs/STs of higher professional opportunities. Mrs
Kaur believes that instead of continuing with
these benefits, the withdrawal and stoppage of
the existing ones are anti-people steps and as
suicide the government today has to face a
back-lash from SC voters.
The age-old public
sector sugar mill of Punjab in Budlada, Patiala
district, has been closed down, affecting more
than 3,000 workers. This resulted in three
reported suicide cases. The government has not
done anything to re-open the sugar factory.
Similarly, even after promising a fertilizer
plant for Bhatinda, it has remained an paper.
Till now no land acquisition has been made for
the plant. Promises to people unless implemented
may boomerang and these are the issues the
SAD-BJP alliance faces during the electioneering.
The main battle in
Punjab elections is being fought among political
coalitions like SAD-BJP alliance, the
Congress-CPI combine, the BSP and the Panthic
Morcha. The BJP has fielded candidates in 23
seats as a junior coalition partner of the Akali
Dal. The Congress has fielded candidates in 106
constituencies leaving 11 seats to CPI on the
basis of seat adjustment. The mission to revive a
patch-up between the former SGPC chief Gurcharan
Singh Tohra and die Akali Dal chief Prakash Singh
Badal initiated by Himachal Chief Minister Prem
Kumar Dhumal and Haryana Chief Minister Om
Prakash Chautala failed miserably, hence both
Badal and Tohra are logged in a bitter political
rivalry.
The Badal-Tohra
differences originated due to the issue of
Jathedar Ranjit Singh. The differences culminated
in the ouster of Tohra and replacement of Bibi
Jagir Kaur as the chief of the SGPC. Again, Jagir
Kaur had to quit the post due to the death of her
daughter under mysterious circumstances and in
her place Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi was
installed and then he was also replaced recently
by Jathedar Kripal Singh Badungar as the
president of SGPC. Not only Badal faced hostility
earlier in SGPC from Tohra group, the Panthic
Morcha, where Tohra is part of the dissidence
against Badal, is also witnessing biter
factionalism, due to the infighting between him
and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader
Simranjit Singh Mann. Interestingly, the BSP has
not fielded candidates in constituencies where
Tohra's supporters are contesting, but it has
pitted candidates against the nominees of
Simranjit Singh Mann.
With the directive
of the Supreme Court to complete the construction
within its territory of the highly contentious
Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal to give effect to
the Eradi Commission award on sharing of river
waters, between the states, electoral temperature
has risen in Punjab among the political parties
and the people at large, bouncing back the issue
to occupy the centre stage in the Assembly
elections. The SYL controversy, which had been
virtually lying low in Punjab politics or so many
decades, has surfaced again as campaigning gains
momentum in a big way.
Everyone who
matters in Punjab politics is openly against the
construction of SYL canal in Punjab. Badal has
openly threatened to defy the Supreme Court order
on completing the canal's construction within a
year saying that the matter was fraught with
''dangerous implications for the social and
political stability and peace in the region''.
Badal's further contention that there was no
question of constructing the SYL canal in Punjab,
since the state has no water to spare for
neigbouring Haryana and Rajasthan, is a testimony
of his defiance of the Supreme Court and his eye
on the electoral politics of Punjab.
Opponents of Badal
are harping on some serious corruption charges
against him and ''family rule''. The Panthic
Morcha leader Tohra said recently in Amritsar
that in his five years of tenure Badal has not
done anything except promoting his own family.
Besides, Badal is also facing severe criticism
for shielding known terrorists and placating the
hardliners. The recent move by the State
Government to reinstate a sub-inspector and a
head constable involved in the assassination bid
on former Punjab DGP Reberio and the killing of a
SSP and three others, has exposed SAD's
soft-corner for hardliners. Even the BJP has been
wary of SAD's pro-active soft policies towards
the hardliners, as political observers have
pointed out.
The Congress party
has come out with a ten-page charge-sheet
detailing the failure of the SAD-BJP Government,
which says that it has failed to protect the
interests of the state, while corruption levels
have soared, the law and order situation has
worsened and the prosperous Punjab has been
brought to the brink of bankruptcy. The
charges-sheet damned the Akali Dal as a party
espousing communalism, separatism and
regionalism. Citing specific instances, the
Congress has alleged that ''government jobs and
contracts are being sold openly and that nothing
moves in the government without bribes''. The
Congress accused the ''Chief Minister's family of
being involved in corruption cases'' and cited
the example of a Rs 400 crore water-logging
project of Muktsar in which defaulting officers
were shedled by the Chief Minister.
The charge-sheet
also draws attention to cases of 800 acres of
prime land, including 52 houses, being handed
over to ''favourites and henchmen'' of the CM at
throwaway prices. It also alleges Badal's family
acquiring property in Australia and a hotel in
Delhi. The Congress has also accused the Badal
government of functioning on borrowings, as the
loan amount this year itself is over Rs 10,000
crore. Besides, Congress accusations of the State
Government doing nothing to ensure better
remunerative prices for agriculture produce and
the quiet acceptance of the Centre's decision to
increase the price of fertiliser and diesel by
the Akali Dal are also matters of serious public
concern.
The Congress
manifesto, on the other hand, contains promises
for all serious, but it targets the party's
traditional vote-bank of SCs (28.31 per cent) and
backward alluring them with additional sops worth
Rs 900-crore, besides continuing the Rs 300-crore
concession of 'free power to farmers'. The party
promises one job to each SC and BC family to
raise their reservation in government jobs to 27
per cent from the existing 4 per cent. It
promises to provide 150 units 'free power' per
month to SC, BC and below poverty line families,
five marla residential plots to SC and BC
families, special relief to farmers operating
diesel sets for irrigation, octroi abolition,
removal of sales tax barriers, reservation in bus
permits for unemployed SC, BC and ex-servicemen
and possibility of a review of all inflated
electricity bills received by people.
In the fast
emerging political scenario in Punjab, it remains
to be seen how the SAD-BJP combine faces the
Congress onslaught in the coming days. In any
case, before the battle reaches a climax, the
Congress is already having an edge over others,
according to observers. The Congress victory in
Punjab is quite visible, clear and sharp. The
Congress earlier has already performed wonders in
the 1999 Lok Sabha elections snatching 13 seats
to its credit. The euphoria of the Congressmen of
Punjab during electioneering has to be seen to be
believed. Even people of Punjab, as can be
observed in many areas, look forward to a change
of government-with the anti-incumbency factor
striking the final blow.- CNF
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