Daily Excelsior... Editorial

Sex education and
children
By: Prof K R Gupta

Indian society has reached such a level of moral decay that sex is being glorified and no one is doing anything constructive about it. Today, be it newspapers, magazines ......more

Root canal is better
than an extraction
By: Jyotshna Pandit

It begins with not following moth-er's orders to brush your teeth at night. It builds up to a cavity that rivals the world's deepest....more

Our unlimited capacity
to tolerate

By : Joginder Singh IPS (Retd.)

A former Prime Minister said that even God would find it difficult to deal with corruption in India. ......more

EDITORIAL

CORRECT APPRAISAL

Lord Eric Avebury, Vice Chairman of the UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group after his tour of all the three regions of J&K has come out with factual position as regards many posers pertaining to this State. His wide inter-action with virtually all shades of opinion makers in the State has strengthened India's position. All this has been possible because the State is now opened up to visitors from any part of the world. They can see for themselves not only the sea-change in situation but also have first hand feel of peoples pulse which definitely beats on peace, progress and security. His understanding of the Hurriyat stand in particular is quite comprehensive in that he has no hesitation in concluding that Hurriyat is quite off course as regards its policies, perceptions and goals. In fact, it is a house vertically and horizontally divided and the remedies they seek are based on wrong diagnosis of the disease. They want things to happen which are next to impossible to achieve. They want to redefine constitutional status of the State which cannot be re-written. They want to hold elections in both parts of Kashmir simultaneously. To sum up in Avebury's words he describes Hurriyat stand as 'totally fantastic.' Nothing could be more condemnatory.

Second aspect mentioned by Avebury is equally fine. He says that people of Jammu and Kashmir not only want peace and security but also good governance. This is definitely a point that needs to be considered in correct perspective. Bad governance invariably leads to disenchantment of the people and becomes the source for alienation. Good governance implies responsive and responsible Government free of corruption, nepotism and people-oriented policies that mitigate their hardships and not add to their woes. One expects popular Government to take note of this as also the massive verdict given by the people against bad governance that compounded peoples problems.

The third point raised by Lord Eric is to effect improvement in human rights and expansion of democratic process. It is worth noting that one time vocal and strong critic of India on human rights violations in J&K is now a humbled person who only wants situation to become more transparent which in turn implies that he is now satisfied with human rights observance in the State. One really does not know what he means by expansion of the democratic process. It is a popular Government duly elected by people with voting percentage that compares favourably with the national average both in Lok Sabha as also assembly elections. Expansion of democratic process could mean going for Panchayat elections which have been repeatedly deferred. It also implies involvement of the people and creation of forums that strengthen people-administration ties. It is here that National Conference party and its cadres have to play pivotal role in bridging the credibility gap between people and the Government.

Lastly Lord Eric has delved into ethnic cleansing aspects and feels that the environs for return of the KPs to Kashmir are not yet conducive due largely to the threat posed by foreign mercenaries. He is quite emphatic that indigenous content of militancy is now negligible and these are the foreign mercenaries who continue to disturb peace and tranquility of the people with frequent massacres of the hapless citizens. At this stage it is only an implied criticism of Pakistan for sending foreign mercenaries to J&K to sustain proxy war although he fails to mention Pakistan by name. His advice however is very clear that both countries should remove the sources of recurring border firing that kills innocent people.

There is thus clean chit for this country as regards constitutional status of J&K, observance of human rights, existence of popular Government, condemnation of Hurriyat stand and presence of mercenaries thrust by Pakistan to cause chaos and mayhem in the border State. Transparency does pay good dividends and there is the imperative need of opening up further.

MATURE ELECTORATE

The electoral verdict in the recently held assembly elections in four State clearly indicate that voters cannot be taken for a ride by any Government in the State or at the Centre. The anger and anguish of voters for all the wrongs done by the incumbents does get reflected at the first opportunity of trial at the husting. While some setback were predicted for the BJP but massive debacle in the three States do indicate something substantially wrong with the pattern of governance. It would quite be safe to rule out incumbency factor. If that were so Congress would have lost Madhya Pradesh as per exit poll predictions. That has not happened. The margin of defeat in Delhi and Rajasthan is decisive. There is thus the need for critical analysis of the major factors that have sent the people back into Congress fold after fairly long wilderness.

First and the foremost factor pertain to secularism. The zealots of Hindutva have misread and mistimed their projections and the disastrous impact it had on the electoral fortunes of BJP as also its partners to some extent. Muslim minorities had rejected Congress wholesale despite various apologies and accolades offered by it. The Hindutva sloganeering and some unfortunate overzealousy displayed during run upto the elections which created fear psychosis amongst Muslims forced them back into Congress fold. That appears to be one reason for massive gains. Likewise, Christian minorities too became scared about BJP after certain happenings in Gujarat and that nuns rape case etc. All this did create problems within the coalition partners as well besides giving them on a platter to the Congress at a time when minorities needed reassurance about secular credentials of the BJP-led Government at the Centre and in the States.

Second factor that has proved suicidal relates to abnormal rise in prices of many essential commodities. BJP continued to blunder and did not respond in time to retrieve the situation on price front. While onion production this year has been short only by 15%, the price escalation has been anything upto 600%. This clearly shows mismanagement. Same is true of edible oils. And when the BJP Government did not make any effort to raid hoarders and blackmarketeers it convinced the voters that BJP is a party of the traders and not the people.

Third aspect relates to two agendas stemming from obvious differences in RSS and moderate BJP stalwarts. Varying voices continued to emanate from within which got reflected in factionalism that caused divide even amongst the committed cadres of the party. The able Prime Minister in A B Vajpayee thus became the twin victim of zealots and introverts from within. Voters did take note of such infighting and inconsistencies.

Fourth, while Congress aggressively convinced the people of total non-governance by the BJP led Government with stress on items that affect them most, the BJP continued to harp on old themes of scams, scandals, corruption and failed to touch the most crucial aspect of controlling prices and reassuring minorities.

The Congress for all its faults and past blunders thus gets the massive mandate. In the process, regional parties get the drubbing with near total rejection. This is a healthy sign of two-party system emerging. While Sonia's position is strengthened in Congress, Vajpayee's moderate line has to be accepted by overzealous people around if BJP wishes to regain lost ground.

Sex education and children

By: Prof K R Gupta

Indian society has reached such a level of moral decay that sex is being glorified and no one is doing anything constructive about it. Today, be it newspapers, magazines, television, cinema, internet, hoardings or posters, all of them are advertising sex. Promiscuity is being advised, extramarital affairs are being presented as fashion, adultery and wife swapping being discussed via them. Even the awareness programme started by National AIDS Control Organisation tells less about abstaining from sex outside marriage but emphasizes more on usage of condoms. Thus ironically in a Scenario where AIDS has openly challenged humans all over the world children are being falsely made to believe that life is nothing but sex.

According to a recent survey one out of every 100 Indians between ages 18 and 45 is suffering from HIV positive. AIDS in adolescents is steadily increasing so much so that in every college classroom one or probably more students is HIV positive. Crime against women in the form of rape, molestation or sexual abuse is being committed by boys in their teens. As indicated by the survey most of the college boys, especially of metropolitan cities are losing their virginity in brothels. One in four within 16-20 years age limit is becoming involved with housewives including their friends. Childhood pregnancies are becoming common and abortions are accepted facts. Actors, actresses, models and beauty queens have become role models to both boys and girls who have converted roads into ramps and are bent upon making myth a reality for wrong as right. But most shockingly starting from age group 9 children have been caught kissing, pecking, necking the opposite sex not only in lonely areas and parties but also within the premises of schools. Many amongst them have either started visiting counsellors or asking them about questions related to orgasm, premature ejaculation, sexual arousal, masturbation, correct usage of condoms etc.

Interestingly psychologists, psychiatrists, psycho analyist and counsellors who have suddenly acquired a very important place in society instead of advising parents, teachers and citizens to get together to fight against the harmful exposure are stressing the need to provide more sex education. Even when too much information about sex and sexual activities before time has made the western world obsessed with it and their children sick due to it, many amongst them are prescribing elaborate psychological and biological aspects of sex to children as a plausible solution to the problem. Although they dwell into the problems of mind, they are answering obscene and perverted questions asked through various columns in newspaper, magazines, talk show, completely ignoring impressionable minds who out of curiosity only might full pray to such information. But in a conservative society of India should elaborate sex education be provided to children in schools through counsellors? Can it provide solution to the ever growing problems like AIDS in children? Are the parents happy with the present scenario and do they want their children to be provided detailed sex education?

The answer given to all the above questions is 'No.' India can never become America because of its completely different cultural, social and economical background. While in West, children might be provided with elaborate knowledge due to prevalent concept of free sex, in India matters concerning sex should be handled very tactfully and explained initially by parents as and when need be, and in case of problem only a counsellor be consulted. Although no one can undo the harm already done by the information explosion to today's generations yet curbs and conditions should be imposed by the Government so that the atmosphere becomes Saner. Innocence is bliss holds true in matters of providing sex education to children. The later the child comes to know about sexual activities, beauty fashion etc the better it is for its all round development as an individual.

Kids Crave to Know:-

"Children today, as never before, get conflicting signals on sex and sexual ethics. And they start depending on myths'' says Radhika Chandiramani, who runs a helpline called TARSHI. Teenagers are naturally inquisitive-about their own bodies and about the world around them. Today as their bodies mature faster-scientific studies prove the age of starting menstruation has come down to age nine or 10-they also find information on sex is widely available. Talk shows on adultery, seductive soaps like. 'The Bold and the Beautiful, titillating pictures on the Net. Even Indian TV serials are spiced with sexual metaphors. Says Asha Das Secretary, Women and Child Development in the HRD Ministry: "I've seen TV even in the West. But ours is much more suggestive with far more innuendoes.'' A 15 month study conducted on 100 adolescents found they took most of their pointers on sex from cinema. Admits Deepak, a 12 year old boy who thinks about girls all the time: "It's all there on TV-that's where I learnt how to patao (hook) girls.''

If television gives you the inclination, friends fill you in with details. In a study carried out by the department of community medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in seven Delhi schools, one question was : Whom would you ask if you wanted to know something about sex? "Friends,'' replied the majority. Many school counsellors believe that peer group leads to intense pressure for a young boy to "score.'' Says Dr Achal Bhagat, a psychiatrist at Apollo Hospitals; "Sex becomes an important way of being with the group.'' He adds that more than any other generation in this century, children today experiment with sex, drugs, alcohol, "the good things in life,'' at a much earlier age. And parents just seem to add to the problem.

New Age parenting is about dumping conservative values and wearing a more liberal, uninhibited face. In urban areas, girls are allowed out more easily, dating isn't altogether taboo and there is much less adult supervision. Says Sushma Sharma, child therapist: "This too has contributed to sexual permissiveness,'' Look at how a modern father deals with his son, "Don't tell me you still have the same girl friend? What signals could be picking up? "Probably that it's okay to have a new girl friend every week,'' says Sharma. Recently in an elite Delhi School, a teacher caught a seventh grade boy kissing and petting a classmate. When his parents were summoned, the mother, described as a "high society'' woman teased the school for being old fashioned.

Root canal is better than an extraction

By: Jyotshna Pandit

It begins with not following moth-er's orders to brush your teeth at night. It builds up to a cavity that rivals the world's deepest craters. And culminates in a toothache that hits you in the middle of the night, as you wake up with a throbbing head, a swollen jaw and an overall miserable feeling.

Next step- you go rushing to the nearest dentist in the morning and beg him to yank that offending thing out, right?

Wrong, if the dentists of today are to be believed. While extractions were and are the norm of the day, especially in rural areas, the trend is slowly shifting to root canal therapy.

While the concept of root canal therapy is quite old, extractions was often considered the easier option, especially in India, where even now, there is a paucity of trained dentists.

Even so, this old school of thought that believes a dead tooth in the mouth is better than a dead tooth in the tray is fast becoming the new wave in the cities.

Explained in the simplest of terms, root canal therapy believes in getting to the heart of the matter (if one may use the term).

It happens like this--every tooth has a pulp tissue inside it; a nerve and blood vessel centre that forms the innermost core of the tooth after the enamel and the dentine.

When you do not take care of your pearly whites, a cavity has this way of going straight past the dentine and the enamel and reaching the pulp-at which point, the pain is capable of curling your eyelashes. Besides, it means that your tooth is now exposed to all manner of oral bacteria.

At this point, a filling is not the answer, as the problem now extends beyond a simple plugging of the cavity.

This is where your dentist and root canal therapy step in; since the pulp tissue is infected, pouring in a filling won't help.

He treats the infected tooth to rid it of the infection, scoops out the pulp tissue and the nerve centre, effectively deadening the Centre inside the tooth the preparing it for the filling that will prevent it from getting infected all over again. And if you are thinking that it is much easier to sacrifice one of your teeth instead, think again.

Says Dr Hari Prakash, Professor and Heads of the Department of Dental Surgery at the capital's prestigious. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "Though the concept of saving a tooth is very much in practice worldwide, it has taken its time in India. However, the trend is gaining preference here as patients are more concerned about the issue of oral hygiene.'' Also, consider the consequences. Admittedly, an extraction is a much shorter, simpler and less expensive procedure.

A simple extraction costs anything between Rs. 200 and Rs. 300. Root canal therapy, on the other hand, can cost between Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 2,000 and can stretch over a few sittings.

All that aside, there is also the fear psychosis that exists regarding a visit to the dentist. However, the consequences as doctors point out, can spell potential doom for your teeth.

Says Dr J P Gupta one of the oldest practitioners in New Delhi, and head of Gupta Dental Centre in South Delhi, "Extraction is definitely an easier option. In fact when a patient is suffering from a toothache, his only thought is to get rid of the tooth. The problem with extracting a tooth, however, is that an artificial tooth can never replace the one that nature gives you. If the tooth is extracted and the space is not filled, then the adjoining teeth start tilting towards the space to fill it. Besides, the tooth on the opposite jaw also starts coming down as there is no antagonistic pressure from the other side. Four of five teeth get affected in the whole process.'' All that translates into a unaligned jaw and possible complications further down the line.

And while that makes a whole lot of common sense, there are other problems that are connected with the issue. To begin with, patients tend to lean towards symptomatic relief rather than a long, drawn-out procedure.

Moreover, many do not have the time or patience to go through the repeated sittings that root canal therapy requires. Then, there is also the cost factor, though practitioners are of the feeling that as patients become more educated and aware, they are more open to suggestions, and less concerned with the cost factor.

Adds Dr Prakash, "Besides everything else, root canal therapy also took its time simply because there were many limitations. To begin with, there was lack of trained personnel-there weren't enough endodontists in the field. Also, there was lack of dental material, machines etc. as they had to be imported.''

And besides these limitations, there is also the issue of education; oral hygiene in India is gaining ground only now. While oral care and dentists are big business in countries like the US and Europe, where both the incidence and the cost of dental caries are very high, teeth are considered no more than cosmetic affections in India. Oral hygiene is low on the list of priorities, a fact that is reiterated by the incidence of dental caries, that ranges between 60 to 80 percent.

Dr Prakash sums it up succinctly, "People are not concerned about their teeth. After all, when you have 32, sacrificing one does not seem like a big deal. In fact, this is what one observes in rural areas, through the situation is improving in urban areas, as people realise the importance of saving a tooth.''

A word of caution, though. Root canal therapy is not the answer to every cavity. In fact, it cannot be performed if the tooth is shaky or loose; or if there are other complications; for instance, the canal instrumentation can be impractical in cases of dental sclerosis or a vertical fracture of the tooth.

The important thing is to consult your doctor-after all, doctor sometimes really knows best. And then, what can be better than attacking the root of the matter? ((NAV)

Our unlimited capacity to tolerate

By : Joginder Singh IPS (Retd.)

A former Prime Minister said that even God would find it difficult to deal with corruption in India. God acts only through human beings. He is not going to come down and say do this and do that. The trouble arises because most of the time we have no inclination to spare time for a public cause. ''After me the deluge'' is the line that we take. The Delhi Municipal Corporation collects property tax of over Rs 600 crores a year. It could perhaps collect five times more, that is, Rs 3000 crores with some honest efforts, enough for solving all civic problems. The truth is that the unlimited opportunities for corruption.

A colleague got a notice for assessing his flat running into crores, whereas he had paid only a few lakhs for it. He ran from pillar to post to get the matter rectified. Even the senior officials were not willing to act till they got an appropriate report from the field formation. Another colleague got a fat electricity bill totally unrelated to his average consumption. He petitioned and was told first to pay before his complaint could be looked into. Having been a senior officer, he found this attitude and the treatment he received very annoying. In another case, a man who had applied 17 years ago to the Delhi Development Authority with the necessary deposit is still waiting. He is now 67 and nobody acknowledges his letters. One sweeper has not been paid his princely salary of Rs 242 since, March 1994. In another case, because the owner of the telephone refused to tip the lineman on Deepawali, his telephone was rendered non-functional to teach him a lesson.

The stark reality is, that no amount of orders or instructions or laws or rules are enough or adequate to bring about improvement in the system. The above are only a few examples of the hardships faced by the ''godfather-less'' people.

It is for this reason that people like to cultivate officials or politicians. It is a kind of insurance to avoid being harrassed or insulted by petty and even slightly senior minions of the government. Despite having been independent for the last fifty years, the general population is still exposed to privation and hardship by those who have authority, power and are in a position to disburse the largesse. Basically, it boils down to the rulers not being effective.

In the Indian bureaucracy, there are at least one million civil servants and other officials who are delegated the power to take decisions. If even half of them took one decision each, at least fifteen million grievances would be redressed every month. It will come to whopping 180 million decisions in a year. It will wipe off all pending grievances of the people. The government can go with a 'clean' slate after its five-year term.

The only thing to be ensured is that the quality does not deteriorate. For instance, at one time the national carrier, Air India, was voted as the best airline of the world. The service by the cabin crew was rated as the most outstanding one, with slim, trim, polite, courteous, considerate and smartly dressed airhostesses. Today the impression give the airhostesses of being snooty, edgy, snobbish and unwilling workers who treat the passenges as a necessary evil. In this age of competition with other airlines, motherly and auntie lookalike hostesses would not make an attractive feature for the 'Maharaja'. As a former Civil Aviation Minister put rightly Indian as well as foreign passengers would like to see a Miss India rather than Mother Indian serving them in the aircraft. Anybody would hesitate in asking an elderly woman for whisky and soda.

Great responsibility vests on the people of the country also to see that normal life is not disrupted, For instance, a critical situation had developed on 13th of April, '98 on the occasion of Maha Kumbh Mela. There were claims and counter-claims between rival religious akharas as to who should lead the procession, take bath in the holy river and other matters. Only 10 akhara representatives out of 13 took part in the negotiations and the rest three boycotted. The result was that one crore people took holy bath. The situation could have been calamitious but for the intervention of the administration and police.

It is not a happy situation where government has to interfere in playing an arbitrator in sovling religious precedence. Perhaps in such a situation, there was no other alternative. At least the police in this case could not be accused of imposing their dictum on the religious groups. The ideal situation would be one where people themselves reached a compromise and not invite outside interference. At the macro level, it was the quarrels between Indian States, which led to the British acting as arbiters and later on taking over as the ruler of the country.

It is also time that either voluntarily or by law, we as a nation started working seriously. Practically all sections of society, be it the teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, bus operators, sanitation staff, electricity board employees, pilots, government employees have held the society to ransom. This is apart from nearly 183 days of holidays the government employees are officially sanctioned every year. The break-up works out to something like this. There are two weekly holidays, which account for 104 days, 15 days of casual leave, 30 days of full-pay earned leave, 20 days of half-pay leave, 12 government holidays to celebrate various festivals or some birthday or death anniversary, two restricted holidays to cater to regional or special needs.

The result is that a government job coupled with strikes is a perpetual holiday. No wonder, the speed of the government work can easily be outpaced by the speed of the snail. Even the principle- no work, no pay- is not strictly enforced in the spirit in which the Supereme Court intended it. Those who do not join the strikes are threatened with dire consequences. Result is that an atmosphere of 'no work' is created and it continues for weeks together after he strike is over. I know of a striking teacher who made a lot of money during a prolonged strike in a State by spending all his time on private coaching and tutions. He was sorry when the strike ended.

For a common man for whose benefit all the schemes are run and for whom the government claims to be working in a democratic set-up, life is hell getting a redressal of his grievances. They are not necessarily grievances against the government. Most of the grievances relate to day-to-day existence. A citizen complaining against a fellow citizen for cheating and bodily harm may have to wait for decades to see any final disposal of his grievance. The system is clogged both in the Executive and Judicial wings. It is essential to decongest it for moving forward. It can be done by the political masters by avoiding the beaten track and by showing a new path.- CNF