EDITORIAL
Another deadlock
It is an irony that the
people after having given a historic vote should be
subjected to the vagaries of the most capricious of human
proclivities, the personal ends and interests. One is at
a loss to understand what the two parties, apparently
echoing the most shared sentiments and approaches are
telling the people in all this. Unless, of course, it is
to tell them that they should not vote openly, should not
go for radical decisions, but that they should fall-back
on the traditional remedies and options. Politics has
been called the art of possible, and here we have astute
politicians doing everything to make the formation of the
........more
Religion
for tolerance
Vivekananda, returning
from that famous World Conference Of Religions in Chicago
in the century previous to the last, had declared in
London that religion was ‘the most cohesive impulse
ever brought into play amongst human units’ that it
was not only the most ........more
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Indians-learning
democracy, still !
By Dr R L Bhat
Abhi kainaat natammam
hai shayad/aa rahi hai sadai kun felkun
(Creation is, probably,
yet incomplete/echoes of 'be' and became' are still
a-coming) .........more
Polls
for peace, not politics
By Tahir Khurshid Raina
Recently the entire world
witnessed the democratic exercise in the trouble torn
State of Jammu and Kashmir. The exercise at its
announcement was taken by opinion makers as a hasty .....more
Smart
strategy needed
to fight AIDS epidemic
By Radhakrishna Rao
With around four million
Indians living with HIV/AIDS infection, in terms of
absolute numbers,.......more
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EDITORIAL
Another
deadlock
It is an irony
that the people after having given a historic
vote should be subjected to the vagaries of the
most capricious of human proclivities, the
personal ends and interests. One is at a loss to
understand what the two parties, apparently
echoing the most shared sentiments and approaches
are telling the people in all this. Unless, of
course, it is to tell them that they should not
vote openly, should not go for radical decisions,
but that they should fall-back on the traditional
remedies and options. Politics has been called
the art of possible, and here we have astute
politicians doing everything to make the
formation of the Government an impossibility. On
the one hand there is a Governor who does not
want to appoint advisors in the hope that a
popular Government would take over soon, and on
the other there are people trying tactics upon
each other to see who tires out early. And
meanwhile, a State and people who all the parties
concerned accept need immediately attention go
without Government, with little hope of seeing
one in near future.
Sometimes it even
appears a case of mud’aee sust aur gawah
chust as independents and small parties, not
only show their readiness to extend to the main
contenders the necessary support but are even
making active efforts to persuade them to see the
light of reason. But the contenders would not
budge from their positions. And have instead
added other hoaxes and excuses to plain and
simple one upmanship. Pernicious issues of sect
against sect, region against region have been
raised to justify and rationalize what is a mere
tussle for power, for more say and sway in the
Government. A mandate that is a simple plea for
better governance and possibly a freedom from
unnecessary agendas being imposed upon the people
is being translated into a phony ideological
clash. And, the tale-spinners are filling the air
with far-fetched theories, because you cannot
tell the plain truth in public. But they can
certainly be true to themselves. And practical
politicians that they are, they cannot be
unmindful of the realities they face, the signals
they are sending out and the interpretations the
electors would give to their dithering.
For the
electorate, is a knowing being. A tricky one at
that. The first impressions stay long and the
clear impression of the past fortnight has been
that the pragmatism the people had expected of
this band of leaders has not been much in
evidence. Indeed, the only people who have
conducted themselves with maturity and
responsibility are the small parties and the
independents. But the duty of giving this State a
brand new Government in decades does not rest
upon them. It rests on the leaders who have shown
the least realization of that responsibility. And
that does not hold out much hope for the new
Government. People who have seen them bickering
over small things, would feign expect them to
show high statesmanship in dealing with the
challenging problems of this State. Would they
make sacrifices there, would they show maturity
and leadership when the real issues would
surface? All that has come under a cloud. To this
date, they enjoy the benefit of doubt, but the
reckoning would soon begin.
Religion
for tolerance
Vivekananda,
returning from that famous World Conference Of
Religions in Chicago in the century previous to
the last, had declared in London that religion
was ‘the most cohesive impulse ever brought
into play amongst human units’ that it was
not only the most potent force ‘working to
mould the destinies of human race’ but also
the ‘strongest of bonds’ binding people
together. Over the next century that insight on
religion alternately informed the human mind and
then threatened to plunge it into the abyss. The
latest Congress of religions called at
Johannesburg, Africa has again highlighted that
cementing value of religion to keep the
‘human race’ and
‘units’-Vivekananda’s choice of
words was not only apt but remarkable-in
civilizational and humane bonds, to keep them
from degenerating into intelligent animals
fornicating on footpaths and calling it
advancement. The basic task before the people
concerned about civilization today is that man
must stay human, and live to be humane. The
Congress has underscored that need by its
emphasis on tolerance.
Indeed, if one
were to speak- of one single most important task
as well as achievement of religions, it would be
tolerance. Tolerance, among the humans, within
the human units and all over the human race.
Religion is not religion-neither a force, nor an
impulse, nor a bond-if it ignores the essential
oneness of all humans, and their basic equality
in all endeavors, and potentials. The greatest
contribution of religion has been teaching man to
be patient, to be tolerant, to be understanding.
All religions do it. But unfortunately some of
the dispensations limit these good things only to
their own bands, holding that the uniform flock
alone deserves all fraternal impulses, that it to
be good and pious only within itself, that the
divine justice and blessings are not universally
given to all humans. That exclusivism is the
greatest intolerance around. For, no religion
teaches intolerance towards its own tribe and
fellow followers. But what is tolerance limited
to itself? It is the others who matter, where
tolerance is needed. Tolerance becomes meaningful
only when it operates towards the others. That is
the hallmark of a proper religion, a perfect
creed. That is what the recent World Congress
impressed upon all religions to ensure in their
practices. The Lord created all and stands for
all-equally, without discrimination, without
qualification. So must the religion.
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Indians-learning
democracy, still !
By Dr R
L Bhat
Abhi
kainaat natammam hai shayad/aa rahi hai
sadai kun felkun
(Creation
is, probably, yet incomplete/echoes of
'be' and became' are still a-coming)
Iqbal, of
course, was not speaking of India- and
the world, his care were concentrated at,
is still cutting and carving itself- but
the yet in-the-making thing applies
almost directly to Indian polity. While
the sounds of hewing and honing from the
other world would continue coming, there
are inferences for the practice of
democracy in India that may not be very
flattering for the billion people who
consider that their democracy and polity
has been soundly laid. Indeed, the trends
all over the country show that it is only
now that Indians are beginning to
understand democracy. And are misusing
it. The aberrations of politics, issues
and approaches that we see around us are
only the well-known beginners' mistakes
on the path of democratic living. Now
there is nothing mean about it. It would,
indeed, have been a lot more
disconcerting if the nation did not begin
to learn of the creed and refused to
change its perceptions. Contrary to the
impressions, the democratic creed did not
sweep over America with the Declaration
of Independence or the victory over the
British. It took America more than a
century to learn the nuts and bolts of
democracy. The initial idealism of
Washington and Jefferson had to pass
through a maze of mistakes. And so must
Nehru's scheme.
The
Americans had to pass through
parochialisms, competing prejudices as
well as stark betrayals before they came
to realize the virtues and limitations of
the democratic practice. That was how
they learned of their integrity and
nationalism- the challenges that baffle
the newly independent countries grappling
with sabotage and betrayal at each step.
The first century of American democracy
is not very different from the naked
politicking, thinly veiled selfishnesses
and narrow visions that we see overtaking
India today. They indeed passed through
more vicious fractures, and outright
divisions over some of the basic
perceptions. And, thus it was that a
century after independence the Americans
had to fight a full-scale war with
themselves which proved to be more fierce
than the one over British imperialism and
claimed one its fine presidents. The
strife ended only gradually as the tenets
promised in the Declaration seeped in and
the world woke upto the principles that
they implied. British progress to popular
rule came later, over the half century
following the America's war with itself
and that too more as a fluke than any
founding of principles.
But
together the two did found some sound
principles for the polities all over the
world. India, in a way was born to those
principles. Though the spirit of
democracy was not alien to the Indian
way, it was not this way that India
favored. Indian way, though democratic in
essence was of an entirely different
orientation. It was based in trust and
care, not in a basic confrontation. That
was how Gandhi, though as true a democrat
as they come, was not completely at home
with the western scheme. To take just one
instance, he spoke of a 'big brotherly'
attitude in a most caring and positive
way while the same 'big-brother' thing is
a curse in the western sceme, as Orwell
told us a few years later. Indians
accepted the tenet of democracy but took
it to be same as their tradition. They
believed that love and respect were one
with equality. But in the western scheme
they carried open connotations of
inequality, if not exploitation. Somehow
that basic conflict was either not seen
or was ignored as the founders of free
India (mis) took the Parliament, with its
noisy party system, to be a glorified
Panchayat. And, transplanted the whole
tree of parliamentary democracy in the
Indian soil without as much as a token
pruning or preparation of soil.
The people
made the same assumption without
suspecting a thing. They accordingly,
took to the Parliament to be the
Panchayat of nation's elders. It is
doubtful if many people for the first two
or three elections realised that they
could even get the rulers out with their
votes. But gradually they learned the
tricks. Unfortunately, by then, the
clever ones had learned all the tricks of
working the parliamentary thing to their
own benefit. By the third decade the
decadence had begun. While the gap
between the promises and the performance
was getting too wide the promises were
not getting any smaller. The politician
had learned that they could not be held
accountable for their pledges. They also
learned that they could rouse heckles,
drum differences and point to imaginary
grouses to get their pound of the popular
flesh. Of course, the people, of whom all
this flesh and meat was being extracted,
did not realize it at all. They are still
far from realizing it. Instead, they have
begun to demand a pound for themselves
too. A pound of one's own flesh for
oneself may seem the ultimate of
illusions but that is what all the people
in the country are demanding right now.
They are getting promised that it would
be delivered to them. Worst, they believe
in the promise.
Thus it is
that Badal defeated the Congress, and
then headed by Bhattal, with a
scroll-full of concessions and free
lunches. In a political coup of sorts.
Bhattal stole the whole brochure and even
conceded some of the points, but the
people had the image of her immediate
rule warning them. They believed in Badal
and brought him in. Over the next five
years, Badal blew most of those promises,
he stuck to a few which in the end ruined
the economy of the most prosperous state
of the union and turned one of the most
honest workers of this nation into
dole-seekers. The same Badal is making
the same promises today- and is likely to
win the people back after the recent
withdrawal of free power to farmers. He
has five long years to wait. But what is
five years? Vajpayee waited his whole
life to head this nation with a bagful of
promises on his shoulders. Now in his
third year at the helm, he is quietly
emptying that bag, not through
fulfillment but through denial of each of
those assertions. And the curious irony
is that the Congress, which the BJP
defeated with those crafty creations, is
picking each one up and filling its own
bag to dangle it before the people.
Chances are that it would win a victory
with it, while Vajpayee may lose all
through his failure in having lived up to
them.
It is not
a failure but a frustration, there. The
promises in themselves are
unimplementable, unrealizable. Remember,
providing the people a pound of their own
flesh. It can't be done! But there are so
many vendors vending out those very
pounds that none can do without promising
them. And of course, none can deliver
them. So they would all fail in their
turn. And then the earlier failed
promises would rise again. In a regular
sessaw. We, indeed, have it already on in
two of the most educated and politically
conscious states of the nation--Kerala
and Tamil Nadu. The alternatives--DMK and
Anna-DMK-delude the people alternatively.
And the people get deluded alternately in
a regular, almost habitual fashion. Those
scenarios are being repeated all over the
nation in different variations. Regional
aspirations, local cares and concerns,
wild pledges to make a particular part a
heaven, impractical promises to deliver
all the goodies in the heaven to this
particular people or region or sect etc
are being made without a thought as to
how that is to be achieved, how to be
funded, how to be sustained. Nobody is
asking that, not is anyone answering.
Meanwhile political fortunes are being
made and unmade solely on the basis of
promises and pledges, assertions and
assurance.
It is not
only Lalooji and Mulayam, Jaya and Maya,
Congress and BJP, the leftists and the
rightists who are making them but even
the two versions of Congress in coalition
in Maharashtra, seem to be separately
making them and hoping to get the better
of the other with it. Recently, RSS and
BJP tried it to outdo one another in
Jammu! The only silver lining in this
dark cloud is that it is a step to the
fuller realization of democracy and
nationalism. Previously democracy was
presumed now it is passing through trial
and error. Other countries, other peoples
have been there, have erred in this way.
And erring they learned to respect
aspirations of others before pressing
their own, found that progress lies in
tolerance not fractious clashes, realised
that the nation has to live if they want
to have a life and live it, that they are
neither special nor exclusive, that they
are as much exploitative as others, that
they have to get even, have to act level,
have to accept the others before
expecting the others' acceptance. The
hope for India lies not in the fractions
and attritions that are galore right now,
but in the chance that Indians would
learn how a democratic life is to be
lived and realised.
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Polls
for peace, not politics
By Tahir
Khurshid Raina
Recently
the entire world witnessed the democratic
exercise in the trouble torn State of
Jammu and Kashmir. The exercise at its
announcement was taken by opinion makers
as a hasty decision of the election
commission. One for the reason that
efforts were afoot to persuade Hurriyat
Conference and other outfit political
organizations to participate in the
election so as to give credibility to the
process. Second as not being the viable
solution of the Kashmir imbroglio.
However, the election process commenced
under the shadow of cleavage of opinions
and the visible grave threats of bullet
of militants who rang alarming bells for
the people in the State to abstain from
elections.
The
various political parties and
independents candidates active in the
State politics mustered courage and
cameup on the political scene with
different slogans and manifestos to woo
the people. However, much funfare and
turnout can't be seen for various reasons
and threat of militants was the most
obvious one.
It is fact
that militancy got ascendancy during the
election process and took the lives of
hundreds of people including the
prominent people of the State. Ultimately
this exercise at the altar of hundred of
lives took place in the State. How much
it will yield in solving the real
problems being faced by the State is a
million dollar question whose answer lies
in the events followed thereafter.
However, the present election proved very
unique in different contexts. First the
Election Commission took extraordinary
measures to ensure free and fair
elections in the State.
And almost
all the political parties are in
consensus that as compared to earlier
ones the present one was fair though not
free and for it the election commission
deserve accolades.
Second,
the debacle of the most acclaimed popular
political party of the State 'National
Conference' in the election which has
gone down from land slide victory with
two third of majority in 1996 elections
to just twenty-eight far less than even
minimum majority required to form a Govt.
Third the emergence of recently floated
political party namely People Democratic
Party (PDP) in the Valley which claims to
be the alternative of National Conference
and in fact the election results have
been meaning to this claim of PDP. Fourth
the rise and fall of Congress and BJP in
Jammu Division. And, last out not the
least is the victory of majority of
independent candidates.
These
whole unique developments were however
full of opportunities for the major
political parties to avail to gain
credibility and an impact over the
people. For the National Conference it
was an occasion to make a review of its
policies and decussations which have not
obviously appealed to the people and
resulted in its debacle in the election.
Sincere review is a principle as well as
a policy from which on should never
deviate and its true adherence always
prove a boon. If this principle has been
invoked by NC, their debacle can prove
blessings in disguise. Moreover, their
decision to sit in opposition is more
proper than to resort to any unwholesome
practice for the formation of Govt. They
must openly accept the verdict of the
people who are desperate for a change.
For the
Congress and PDP who have comeup as the
two major political parties next to NC in
the election have enough to avail so as
to give fillip and constancy to them in
future. It's however very unfortunate
that these two parties which are enjoying
the majority verdict of the people failed
to join hands to form Govt: so as to
salute the mandate of the people and give
a healing touch to the bleeding State.
Congress as the major national party must
have shown a generous response in the
formation of Govt which may pave way for
the restoration of peace and ensure good
governance, but instead it started
projecting Mr G N Azad as the chief
ministerial candidate and thereafter
resorted to regional and number politics
contrary to coalition norms. If one peeps
in the past, the last fifty years
political developments of the State
speaks volume about the misgivings of
Congress which are to a great extent
responsible for the present turmoil in
the State and this was the chance when
they can console and compensate the
people. Ironically their unhealthy
politics at the moment is again adding
fuel to the fire and thus missing the
great opportunity.
PDP infact
has emerged as the alternative of the NC
in the Valley and it is here the
epicenter of the problems prevails.
Though not
very necessarily but may prove
advantagous at this time if a party from
this particular region and that too whom
the people in general have given verdict
should head the coalition Govt. However
PDP by showing adamancy on the CM post
has also not given good signals which may
create obstructions in its way to get the
representative character of the entire
State. They must know that as per the
rules it is not simply CM but State
cabinet as a whole is the supreme
decision making authority of the State.
By
agreeing to get other important
portfolios in the State Cabinet they can
deliver goods to the people and fulfill
the promises on the very basis of which
they have gained popularity and strength
in the Valley. Their adamancy has given
strength to the feeble voice of the
Statehood and has also exposed the power
hungry face of the Kashmiris who are not
ready to accept a man from Jammu to head
the State even after fifty four years of
independence.
However,
in this political stalemate the real
sufferer and how has got betrayed at the
hands of politicians particularly of
Congress and PDP are the people of the
State. They reposed faith in these
parties and aspired for a change which
will bring good governance coupled with
peace and development. Unfortunately, the
entire scene seems to have gone topsy
turvey.
Better is
that at the earliest possible time PDP
and Congress should come out of the
parochial politics and join hands in the
larger interest of the State.
They
instead of playing political games as the
professional politicians should act more
as the philnthropists at this critical
juncture of the State. They must
collectively and with the assistance of
the other political parties and
independent, political representatives
open an era of peace, progress and
prosperity for the bleeding, ravaged and
troubltorn State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(The
author is a High Court Advocate)
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Smart
strategy needed to fight AIDS epidemic
By
Radhakrishna Rao
With
around four million Indians living with
HIV/AIDS infection, in terms of absolute
numbers, India ranks next only to South
Africa saddled with a burden of five
million victims of this deadly pandemic.
However,
the cause for concern is the fact that
the epidemic is slowly spreading among
the general population from the confines
of high risk groups such as sex workers
and truck drivers. As pointed out, in a
report from UNAIDS the most disturbing
sign of the expanding frontiers of the
epidemics is the growing number of
pregnant women who test HIV positive.
In fact,
these young women have become a cruel
victims of their life mates' risky sexual
behaviour. As it is , a nationwide
behavioural surveillance study carried
out by NACO (National AIDS Control
Organisation) goes to highlight the fact
that nearly half the clients of
commercial sex workers were young married
men.
Against
this backdrop, the decision of the Union
Government to cover young HIV positive
pregnant women with anti-retrovial
therapy by the end of this year is a
welcome step towards fighting the menace
of HIV/AIDS. As it is, in 1996 Brazil
gave its citizens the right to access
anti-retroviral treatment free of cost.
Another
disturbing feature of the onward march of
HIV/AIDS, is that it is no more an urban
phenomenon. For in recent years, a large
segment of the rural population has
quitely been contracting the infection.
For instance, a number of villages in the
Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu
have become an inseparable part of the
AIDS map of India. Here again, truck
drivers who move around the country, have
been instrumental in the spread of the
epidemic in the rural belt of
Tiruchirapalli which boasts of a large
concentration of truck drivers and
cleaners.
According
to NACO, the infection among the truck
drivers in the rural belt of Tamil Nadu
has gone up from 2.7% to 5% in just two
years. Sources in the Tamil Nadu, Health
Department point out that many villages
in Tiruchirapalli district have three to
four full blown AIDS cass.
Clearly,
Tamil Nadu tops India's AIDS league with
9714 cases. Along with Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Manipur and Nagaland fall into the
''dangerous category'' in so far as the
spread of AIDS is concerned.
In Manipur
and Nagaland, which share border with
Mynamar, intravenous drug use has been a
major risk factor in the march of
HIV/AIDS. No wonder, Manipur with a
population of about one per cent accounts
for almost 8% of total HIV/AIDS cases in
India. Churachandpur district in Manipur
is called the AIDS capital of India since
almost every family has a drug addict.
Injecting drug users in Manipur went up
from zero is 1988 to 70% last year. As it
is many deaths in Manipur that have been
attributed to tuberculosis and malaria
are in fact traceable to AIDS.
Though HIV
prevalance rate in India is low at less
than one per cent of the adult
population, India's large population
translates this into frightening numbers.
In order to fight HIV/AIDS at workshops,
organisations like CII (Confederation of
Indian Industries) and Federation of
Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI) have launched awareness campaigns
by involving NGOs, corporate doctors and
medical professionals in a big way.
According
to Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh, Project
Director NACO ''We intend to focus on
identifying gaps in the existing
strategies with regard to the
geographical heterogenity of the spread
of epidemics. We are working towards
upgrading community level HIV
surveillance.''
In fact,
prevention strategy could yield best
results in fighting the menace of AIDS.
This has been proved beyond doubt by the
experience of Uganda which has been able
to substantially reduce the prevalance of
HIV among its adult population. This is
hailed as a remarkable achievement
considering the fact that in the rest of
Africa the virus is spreading rapidly.
Who says that about 25-million Africans
are infected with HIV.
A UN
report reveals that dramatic changes in
sexual and reproductive behaviour could
stem the tide of AIDS. HIV/AIDS campaigns
have raised awareness in urban centres
but do not appear to influence individual
risk perceptions and behaviour. Even in
countries where HIV prevalance is high,
most people feel that their risk of
contracting HIV is low. The report also
finds that women are generally less
knowledgeable than men about HIV/AIDS and
attributes this gap to the status of
women and inhibitions about discussing
sexual matters in many cultures.
PTI
Feature
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