EDITORIAL
Aiding
AIDS
The computer king
Bill Gates has endeared himself to Indians with
his hefty 100 million dollar aid to fight AIDS
menace in the country. This aid is almost double
the total amount Gates foundation has given to
the African continent where AIDS is already a
near epidemic. Though, the largesse is not
without reason, the reason may not be what easily
comes to Indian minds these days viz. the
software markets. Sometime back Gates had
admitted his gratitude to Indians who constitute
the largest technical staff at the
Microsoft-Company. While announcing the grant in
Delhi he gave a perceptive reason. Though the
foundation is not yet active in China, Gates says
that by covering India and China the foundation
would be covering a major chunk- of the world
population. That thinking is as reasoned as the
machine and programmes he developed to turn
himself rich and make the world a lot better, a
lot easier place to live in. With his boundless
philanthropy, geared to eradicate AIDS, Gates has
also removed the insinuation of filthy from his
riches.
AIDS is a deadly
disease and the precipitate danger if the disease
assumes serious proportions in this country is
not easy to dismiss. That is haunting the minds
of the people who are associated with the
organizations and outfits trying to meet the AIDS
challenge. Given the Indian mass, movement and
mobility, the peculiar habits and a far less
cautious outlook, no epidemiologist would be
surprised if the infection turns vicious,
progresses in geometric proportion and engulfs
the whole country within a trice. That is what it
seems to have done in the sparsely populated
Africa where the mobility across the habitations
is definitely, much restricted. The legions of
truckers, the ubiquitous red-light areas all give
good ground to found more nasty, fears. Or, do
they? For almost a decade now those fearful
scenarios have been phantasmogoried at in the
up-market talk-places without any appreciable
increase in the ‘cases’. More and more
fashionable people have got concerned with
AIDS-in-India, floating NGOs, printing
Danger-pamphlets and organizing high faulting
meetings. Of course, confirmed cases are being
reported regularly and new areas added to the
AIDS-map. The figures, however, are nowhere near
the horrific numbers that have been conjured up.
Now that does not
mean that there is no danger of AIDS. The AIDS
bell is definitely tolling and it is tolling for
the whole billion of people. Care and caution,
awareness and information are all needed there.
But at the same time, one must point out that the
threat from the disease is not as horrendous as
the havoc the well-known and curable diseases are
causing in the country. TB and leprosy continue
to take a heavy toll; the yearly deaths from the
well-tamed diseases are many times the total
deaths caused so far by AIDS. They shall continue
to claim that heavy toll in the coming days
unless the nation gears up to tackle them. That
is where the AIDS-hype becomes worrisome. The
mere mention of AIDS is enough to make people run
helter-skelter. It throws the Government and
research too into a tizzy. The public and private
focus as well as funds converge on the
‘deadly disease’. Many people have even
been lead to believe that everything else is
controlled, cared and cured. But it is not so.
The programmes to combat these, conventional but
actually deadly, diseases suffer greatly for the
want of funds, manpower and attention. In an
obscene way the focus is shifting from these real
dangers to imaginary scenarios of AIDS-scare. And
that is not aiding the millions of people
suffering from ordinary, common place diseases in
the country. And dying, thereof
Fair
weather team
Indian cricket,
inspite of the star players, and cricket legends
both living and death lacing it, has been one
bumpy ride all along. The match that was left
incomplete the other day was poised for a famous
show by the great Indian cricketers. Once again,
the commentators gushed, the Indian team showed
its mettle. But, why have they to show that
mettle again and again? Why can’t they be
that always without exception? Why does this hard
polished mettle bend, so often, so unpredictably,
so irrationally? The Indian team may yet
‘get into form’ and clinch the
one-dayer series too but that still wouldn’t
make this team be a consistent player-an all
weather show, all through. After the decisive
show in the first two tests, the Kolkata test
turned out to be one in that old frame for which
India is so (in) famous. Of course, you cannot
expect a team to win all the matches, to
win always. But one can certainly expect a strong
team, as it appeared to be in the first two
tests, to be strong, to be sure, to be in
control.
Whatever control
the team had in Kolkata got shattered in the
first two one-dayers as the ‘great
team’ was soundly beaten. Of course, cricket
is ‘a chance’ and ‘those things
happen’. But they happen to the Indian team
rather habitually. Other teams too lose.
Sometimes bitterly. At Indian hands, too. But the
least one expects from a stalwart team in the
world is to show the winning edge always. Today,
after the test-series under its belt, the grand
performance at Rajkot, can one be sure that the
one-dayer series would be clinched by this,
arguably, the strongest team in the world? Had
Pakistan or, say, Sri Lankan teams been in half
as good a form as the Indian players are, would
there have been any doubts in that conclusion? Of
course, tables may have turned on those teams
too, but the assurance would have been there.
They could have lost but the people and the
team-members would have been sure of their win;
the Indians may win but neither the people nor
the team can be sure of it happening. That is the
thing that vouches the truly great teams, great
victors, the real mettle in the individual
players as well as the team.
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Kashmir
Scene
Mufti has a
burning job
By
Tushar Charan
Given
media's dark forecasts preceding the
formation of the coalition Government in
the militancy - infested Jammu and
Kashmir, the installation of the
Government led by the leader of the
People's Democratic Party (PDP), Mufti
Mohammed Sayeed, is certainly an
achievement. But standards of coalition
politics in the rest of India, members of
the Congress, PDP, Panthers' Party and
Independents in the State did not take
very long to sort out their problems in
coming together to form a Government.
But lest
we feel that Kashmiri politicians are
totally different from politicians in the
rest of the country, the group of 12
Independent MLAs in the State has already
thrown hints that if all of them were not
made Ministers, they could create
problems!
But the
problems of the new Government may not
come not so much from the Independents as
other sources, especially because of the
high hopes the coalition has raised among
the people of the State.
The
successful conclusion of elections in
Jammu and Kashmir had provided a big
relief to the Centre and, indeed, the
rest of the country after all the
Pakistan-inspired blood bath witnessed
during the polls. But militants from
across the border and those trained and
aided by Pakistan are not the ones to
give up easily: they served a grim
reminder about their insidious intentions
by lobbing grenades at the private
residence of the Mufti, a few hours
before he was sworn in by the State
Governor, G. C. Saxena; killing a
Congress leader and a head constable; and
an attack on a BSF camp. A typical day
for the militants who profess to love
"freedom"!
The
Mufti's party had found a deep echo in
the hearts of many in the Valley on his
promise to deal with all the major
problems people faced - militancy, Human
rights, unemployment, economic
regeneration, regional imbalance etc. He
had opposed laws like the POTA and
demanded releases of many militants as
part of his plan to apply a "healing
touch" to the people of the State.
He had also declared his opposition to a
large security presence in the State, and
asked for the SOG in the State to be
wound up.
But the
votaries of violence in the State, who
continue to look to Pakistan for
sustenance, as indeed Pakistan itself
were clearly not impressive by the steps
outlined by the PDP to bring peace and
order in the daily lives of the people of
the State. The violence unleashed by
militants on the day the new Government
was sworn in was a clear ploy to prevent
Mufti from attending to the important
task of giving the State a Government
radically different - and better - from
the previous Government headed by
National Conference.
The stamp
of Pakistan is all over this strategy of
militants. Acts of violence were always
stepped up in the past whenever any
announcement about trying to ease the
situation in the State was made by the
Government of India. The visit of
important foreign dignitaries --- from
the US in particular - to India was
specially marked by heinous crimes by the
Pakistanis and their henchmen in the
State. The purpose behind those
condemnable moves was to keep the world
thinking that Kashmir was a "flash
point" and also to discredit all
attempts made in India to restore
normalcy.
The
Pakistanis, smarting from the insult and
humiliation heaped internationally on
their farcical general election, cannot
stomach the fact that the elections in
Kashmir had attracted an enthusiastic and
fairly large turnout and were universally
acclaimed for the fair and transparent
manner in which they were conducted.
The
Pakistanis and their henchmen have an
even less reason to feel enthused by
Mufti's talk of introducing a
"healing touch" in Kashmir
because that can lead the people in
Kashmir only in one direction - away from
Pakistan. The last thing that Islamabad
wants is to allow Kashmiris to live in
peace and harmony and see their economy
regenerated because that would deal a
death blow to the large terror edifice
that the Pakistanis have built in
Kashmir.
Mufti,
therefore, has a doubly difficult job at
hand which will not become easier by his
somewhat lacklustre style for governance
that was in evidence when he was the
Union Home Minister in the Janta Dal
rule. He has to live upto his promise of
winning the hearts of the people of the
State in all its three regions - Jammu,
Kashmir and Ladakh. He has to drive out
the cult of the violence in the State
that has been so deeply implanted by
Pakistan. And he has to do all that under
most trying conditions as the General
across the border is bound to step up the
heat on Kashmir to keep the
fundamentalists he has propped up in his
country amused.
An
immediate task before the Chief Minister
will be to ensure that the security
measures in Kashmir are not made to look
the like being weakened. If he thinks
that the State police is sufficiently
equipped to deal with militants in the
State, he has to show some proof of it.
Disbanding the SOG is fine, but what
happens to the crucial job of providing
intelligence inputs that it used to
perform?
Mufti and
his PDP may like to take lenient view of
"local" militants operating in
the State, but then fresh ways will have
to be found to deal with the continued
acts of violence. Pakistani-sponsored
outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayyeba have been
constantly killing Kashmiris, including
important leaders. Lately, these
Pakistani outfits have been periodically
changing their name to hoodwink the
Americans and the West.
The
responsibility for the attack on Mufti's
house and other acts of violence on
Mufti's swearing in day was taken by
hitherto unknown militant outfits which
keep functioning under new names given by
the Lashkar. But significantly, the
militants also announced
"rewards" for killing Mufti
Mohammed Sayeed (Rs. 50 lakh) and Rs. 40
lakh for his party's vice president,
Muzzafar Hussein Beg (Rs. 40 lakh).
Obviously, there is to be no let up in
killings by militants, no matter what the
elected Kashmiri politicians plan to do
to apply the "healing touch."
The new
Chief Minister has also to remember that
the people in the Jammu region have a
different view from his about the means
for beefing up security measures in the
State. Though the just concluded
elections do not support it, the fact
remains that many people in Jammu and
Ladakh regions of the State want its
division into the three regions.
In some
ways, the Chief Minister could be
considered to have support this view by
insisting that the Chief Ministership
cannot be shifted from the Kashmir
(Valley) region. The trifurcation demand
may seem political but it has to do with
the feeling that the previous Governments
have not paid adequate attention to the
development of the Jammu and Ladakh
regions which would have brought about a
"balanced" growth in the State.
The nearly
forgotten problem of the Kashmiri
Pandits, thrown out of their ancestral
homes in the Valley by Pakistan - backed
militants, will also demand a quick
solution because the longer these
Kashmiris are forced to stay away from
their homes they more difficult it will
become for them to return home. Infact,
it would have been a good thing if --
maybe as a symbolic gesture -- a
representative of the Kashmiri Pandits
had been included in the Ministry that
was sworn in on November 2. Anyhow, that
is expected to be done when the Ministry
is expanded later in the month.
The
Hurriyat leadership in the State may also
pose some problems for the new Government
in the State. The talks it had with the
Kashmir committee headed by the former
Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, have
yielded virtually nothing. The optimism
of Jethmalani does not seem to reflect
realism because the Hurriyat has shown
little signs of flexibility, even though
some of its members may be breaking off
from its shackles.
If its
pro-Pakistan bias keeps inducing the
Hurriyat leadership to turn to Islamabad
for "guidance" it will achieve
little beyond keeping the Kashmiri pot
boiling. Is that its intention? Maybe
yes, maybe not!
But a
continuously "boiling" Kashmir
will not allow any Government to tend to
more urgent problems of governing the
State and giving its people an
opportunity to go about their life in
peaceful conditions. But with the US and
the West ever eager to buy all the
fiction on Kashmir dished out by
Pakistan, it may not be easy to shift the
"boiling point" in Kashmir from
the ordinary people to their
executioners, the heavily armed
"guests" from across the border
and the Pak-trained and aided militants -
both claiming to "liberate" the
Kashmiris -- or at least send them to the
"paradise" above. And it was
till not every long ago that it used to
be said that the "paradise" was
right here on earth - in Kashmir.
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Birthday
Tribute
Nehru's
socialism
By
Vazeeruddin
With
Jawaharlal Nehru's birth anniversary
round the corner, it is doubtful if one
particular aspect of the vision of
India's first Prime Minister will receive
attention. Of course, 'socialism' has
become a forgotten word not only in the
former citadel of socialism, Russia, but
also in India. Yet there is need to
examine afresh Nehru's vision of
socialism. And what better starting point
for such a scrutiny can there be than the
strange remarks of a Russian Indologist
about 'Nehru's socialism'?
Some time
in 1986, Prof. Alexander I. Chicherov,
then head of the International Relations
Research Department of the Institute of
Oriental Studies of the then USSR Academy
of Sciences, said that while Nehru was
critical of capitalists and monopolists,
he simultaneously stressed the importance
of the private sector. "We
(therefore) see a lot of inner
contradictions in him. Towards the end of
his life, Mr Nehru realized that his
idealism had not borne fruit. Though he
favored socialism, he found that India
had a capitalist society as the growth of
monopoly interests showed that the
country was going away from the path of
socialism."
The
professor, who attended the Congress
centenary celebrations as a distinguished
guest, made these observations in his
book, "Jawaharlal Nehru and the
Indian National Congress" that
discussed the 'achievements and failures'
of India's first Prime Minister. What
about Nehru's grandson Rajiv Gandhi?
According
to Chicherov, the economic philosophy of
the grandson defied any simple
definition, "and it is difficult to
categorize him either as a capitalist or
as a socialist."
Rajiv
Gandhi, the professor conceded,
understood socialism and the need for it,
but it was hard to say what he would
achieve. "The mixed economy will
exist and private capital will grow.
(Rajiv) Gandhi's policies might, however,
not set a totally new trend by breaking
away from the past," the professor
added. While he was certainly prophetic
about what Rajiv Gandhi would, or would
not, achieve, was Chicherov right about
his analysis of Nehru's vision of
socialism?
While the
professor's right to doubt the wisdom of
India's economic policies, under Rajiv
Gandhi as much as under Nehru, could not
be denied, his tendency to view them in
an ideological frame of reference was
perhaps not a correct one.
While one
could readily understand the wish
implicit in the thesis that India should
jettison the mixed economy and switch
over to the system that obtained in the
former socialist countries, including
what was then the Soviet Union, it
betrayed an imperfect understanding of
the socio-economic realities of the
Indian situation, the realities that both
Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi understood, though
in different degrees.
Communists,
and in a more general way liberals and
progressives, reject the possibility of a
conflict between hopeful aspirations and
the course of history.
The
former, in particular, stand out by their
affirmation of the scientific nature of a
confidence in the harmony of human
interests and social facts, and by
postulating a catastrophic revolutionary
transition from the present to the
future, from hateful capitalism, free
economy (even a mixed one) and an open
society to harmonious socialism.
Not many
Indians, however, share this confidence,
for they do not know what the future will
be like. They can only hope that it will
reflect their hopes. They do not think it
will ever eliminate antagonisms or embody
their dreams. Those familiar with the
times of Hitler and Stalin know that the
worst is always possible.
They,
therefore, only hope it is not probably.
Indeed, keeping faith has come to mean
the belief that it is not always certain.
Solzhenitsyn said that Communist
"ideology was mistaken when it
forecast that the proletariat would be
endlessly oppressed and would never
achieve anything in a bourgeois
democracy."
Chicherov's
analysis of the Indian situation showed
that it indeed was. How else can one
account for the fact that the working
class has benefited from the economic
development of a 'bourgeois democracy',
such as India?
The only
way it can be explained is in terms of
Nehru's vision that, while encompassing
socialism, did not exclude private
enterprise.
Maybe
Solzhentysin was right in saying that
communism is "not only not accurate,
not only not a science, has not only
failed to predict a single event in terms
of figures, quantities, time-scales or
locations (something that computers today
do with ease in the course of social
forecasting, although never with the help
of communism!), it absolutely astounds
one by the economic and mechanistic
crudity of its attempts to explain that
most subtle of creatures, the human
being, and that even more complex
synthesis of millions of people: society.
Only the
cupidity of some, the blindness of others
and a craving for faith on the part of
still others can serve to explain the
grim humour of the 20th century, how such
a discredited and bankrupt doctrine can
still have so many followers."
So many
Indian leaders have talked of socialism
since independence that the word has come
to mean different things to different
people. But the Indian masses do not
measure the success of the Government's
performance in an ideological framework.
For them socialism means as little as
capitalism.
It is
their perception that if the mass of
concessions given to the business
community show a tilt towards capitalism,
the relentless raids to unearth black
money represent a genuine, however
tentative, step towards socialism, and
they are happy with this carrot-and-stick
policy.
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Participatory
irrigation management
By Dr V
S Charak
Irrigation
management may be defined as the optimum
utilization of available water for the
sustained production of food and fibre
without deteriorating the inherent
natural health of the soil. Proper
irrigation is the integrated and
participatory approach to moblies the
organizational set up, involving farmers'
participation in supplying water to the
fields. Productivity of Indian
agriculture is low when compared to other
countries. The reason for this low
productivity is lack of effective
participation of beneficiaries in
irrigation management wherever the
establishment of Water Users Associations
(WUAs) or similar groups has taken place,
it has substantially raised the area
under irrigation and production.
Productivity and income has also
increased considerably. Formation of such
societies (WUAs) has given an impetus to
self-reliance and joint action for all
operations at the right time. Some of the
States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka have already taken
lead in promoting participatory
management of irrigation system by
forming Water Management Associations
(WMAs) but not yet many are fully
functioning. The organizational and
management structure, membership profile,
decision making process, modes of
operation and its performance with
respect to its functional main
objectives, financial problems etc., are
cited as the factor/constraints leading
to the failure or non-formation of
effective User Association. Also
involvement of the Apex
Departments/Societies in irrigation
system management is still lacking,
partly due to communication gaps, poor
political will, lack of understanding of
proper planning and management.
The
farmers used to participate in irrigation
management during the medieval period,
the reign of 'Cholas' in the south. The
total domination by the Government in the
management of irrigation has affected the
efficiency and performance of the system.
Much of the potential has been lost due
to poor maintenance of conveyance system.
The water rates (Abiana) are low and
recovery is also poor. Poorer 'Abiana'
recovery leads to poorer maintenance and
thus this vicious circle of deterioration
starts in the irrigation system.
Irrigation
sector in this country and in many others
in the State of crisis. Maintenance is a
financial burden on Govt., and poor
service is a nightmare for the farmers.
There is un urgent need for solution to
these linked problems and PIM provides
the best hope. In the pre-project days,
the farmers used to look towards
Government. The farmers could use water
prudently and economically if the
management of the irrigation system was
handed over to them. The West Bengal
Govt., has involved the farmers in the
management of tube-well irrigation. The
lack of participation by the farmers has
resulted in poor maintenance of the
irrigation systems and aggravated tail -
tender problems. The net result in
non-utilization of full irrigation
potential. The farmers should be
encouraged to do voluntary service
("Halasheri") for maintenance
of the irrigation system at micro-level.
The farmers will be willing to accept the
responsibility for management if they
feel that they had a voice in decision
making. In role of Govt., agencies in the
management of irrigation system gradually
changes partly due to the financial
constraints to operate the irrigation
system and partly due to awareness among
the farmers to manage the system
efficiently themselves.
There is a
shift in agency management to farmer
management in Latin America, Morocco,
Egypt, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey
and Philipines. In Philipines only five
percent of the irrigated area has
actually been turned over to WUAs. The
Maxico, out of 80 Irrigation Districts
about 65 have been transferred and in
Turkey 1.6 million hectares has been
transferred to 407 legally registered
associations. In India only one percent
of the irrigated area has been
transferred to the registered WUAs,
mostly in Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Apart from
the support from the Central and State
Governments, the other components
necessary for successful PIM Programme,
is creating awareness among the farmers,
rehabilitation of irrigation system, and
level changes in the Irrigation Act. Role
of NGOs can be vehicle for organizing and
mobilizing the farmers. Trainings is a
key input for implementation of the idea
of programme of PIM. Training has to be
imparted to the officials of the
irrigation agency, farmers, functionaries
of WUAs and NGOs.
In Jammu
Command Area two such distributaries have
been taken up by two NGOs separately. The
progress on D-2 of Tawi Canal is good and
WUA has since been registered. The
estimates for rehabilitation of the D-2
by RTC Department has been prepared. The
progress of D-10 of Ravi Canal is very
slow and the NGO has not been able to
register the WUA there. However, RTC
Department has prepared the
rehabilitation estimate of that
Distributary. Now the MOU has been
submitted by the Chief Engineer, Ravi -
Tawi Irrigation Complex, Jammu to the
Govt and awaiting nod for its
implementation on trial basis. The State
Level awareness training programme was
organized during 1997 and now the second
awareness training programme is being
organized by WAPCOS/Min. of Water
Resources and Command Area Development
Jammu from 12th November, 2002.
(The
Author is retired Divisional Soil Survey
Officer, Jammu).
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