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EDITORIAL It is evident that ever since Vajpayee Government came to power after 12th Lok Sabha elections followed by the Lok Sabha there has been rapid change in our foreign policy. Since independence, successive rulers followed passive policy or the policies based on their make-believe-world. Such policies brought India to a level where even miniscule...more Even though TADA died its natural death in May 1996 due to electoral compulsions of Narasimha Rao Government, TADA Courts continue to function. Thousand of TADA detenues still remain. It may be pointed out that TADA and its spirit was upheld by the Apex Court even but it was basically the political expediency of the then ....more |
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NDA blueprint : Not much Guinea worm disease
eradicated Arjun vs-Alkhalid Hard facts about |
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EDITORIAL It is evident that ever since Vajpayee Government came to power after 12th Lok Sabha elections followed by the Lok Sabha there has been rapid change in our foreign policy. Since independence, successive rulers followed passive policy or the policies based on their make-believe-world. Such policies brought India to a level where even miniscule nations started treating it shabbily. There were many bad and ill-timed decisions that have cost the nation dearly. Some of these can be recalled. First, agreeing to ceasefire and taking the case of Kashmir to UNO when our forces needed just less than a week to recover all territory of J&K to what is now referred as PoK. The second blunder manifests itself abundantly when India agreed to plebiscite subject to Pakistan restoring status quo ante of the composite J&K State. The third faux pas occurred when Nehru and his Defence Minister Krishna Menon asked the army to throw the Chinese out from a couple of posts in NEFA which provoked the Chinese to launch full scale attack on this country in 1962. It was done when Indian armed forces were ill-equipped, ill-clothed with virtually no exposure to mountain warfare. Chinese invasion also spelt death knell of NAM spirit and much-hyped Panch-Sheel as empty slogans devoid of any pragmatism. The third blunder was return of 95,000 Pak prisoners of war without anything in return. As return of POWs was a very sensitive and emotive issue for every Pakistani (much more than Kashmir), the time was indeed opportune to make Pakistan bend and resolve Kashmir issue finally instead of giving birth to LoC and keeping the main issue hot enough to become powder keg at times. To be precise these are all foreign policy related issues which worked to gross disadvantage of India over the years. The most serious blunder manifested its ugliness in 1954-55, when India was offered permanent Security Council seat with veto rights on a platter. Nehru refused the offer outrightly by pleading the cause of China instead. He told world body that China is elder brother and unless China is accommodated first, India would not accept such membership of Security Council. It is there for everyone to see how foolish had been our foreign policy approach. Another serious lapse is noticeable in that our foreign missions have been working at cross purposes and invariably failed to project convincingly India's case and viewpoint because of bad feedback and passive foreign policy. But for Russia's repeated vetoes, India would have been cornered on many crucial issues, Kashmir included. The above have been quoted to draw comparison asto how much difference it makes when aggressive foreign policy is pursued. For one thing, Vajpayee Government integrated three ingredients so essential for the country to be well-recognised in the comity of nations worldwide. These three are strong economy, military might and aggressive foreign policy instead of defeatist mentality. Aggressive policy is impossible until the nation has strong economy and no dependence on others for survival. Same is true of military might. Vajpayee gave the orders for producing minimum nuclear deterrent which began with Pokhran-II nuclear tests. The economic sanctions imposed in its wake had almost nil impact on our economy. In fact, inflation touched all time low of less than 2% while Forex Reserves remained above the very comfortable level of 30 billion dollars. This naturally earned the country respectability. There are at least two visible instances of aggressive foreign policy which has yielded good dividends for the nation. First one manifested abundantly when India very successfully reflected Kargil issue worldwide which cornered Pakistan for the first time since independence. Entire media and foreign missions were activated to gather world opinion in its favour so much so that Pakistan stood totally isolated even from its traditional mentors and allies like America and Great Britain. Under such diplomatic pressure coupled with strong military response including very effective use of Indian Air Force compelled Pakistan to beat hasty retreat. The humiliation was so total that Pakistan was not in a position to claim even dead bodies of its soldiers buried at Kargil heights. Ever since there has been sea-change in American tilt towards India and it no more equates Pakistan with India as has been the consistent wont of Uncle Sam for almost five decades. In fact, India never had it so good worldwide. The second manifestation of aggressive foreign policy is visible at the CHOGM three day meet. India has succeeded in carrying the entire 54-member group with it as most of the proposals/demands put forth by it have been endorsed by this powerful body. CHOGM has unanimously suspended Pakistan from Commonwealth membership indefinitely. It has refused to recognise Gen Musharaff as the Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan and continues to treat Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister of Pakistan even as per Pak constitution. Third, it has condemned terrorism of all types and advocates coordinated approach to curb it unitedly with single minded-approach. Fourth, an 11 member group has been formed to recommend re-organisation of Commonwealth itself to make it more powerful group and India is amongst these 11 members. The foreign policy now being pursued incidentally is fully blended with simultaneous rapid economic strides and adding substantial punch to our military might. The result of such aggressive policies is that those prone to browbeat India are now appreciative and supportive of our concerns that tantamounts to according India due respect and recognition at all forums countrywise and otherwise. Even though TADA died its natural death in May 1996 due to electoral compulsions of Narasimha Rao Government, TADA Courts continue to function. Thousand of TADA detenues still remain. It may be pointed out that TADA and its spirit was upheld by the Apex Court even but it was basically the political expediency of the then ruling party which refused to extend it. Be it as it may. Now the question is why TADA Courts should remain when TADA itself is dead. Much more than that why TADA detenues remain lodged in jails for years without trial. TADA courts were created for speedy disposal of terrorist related criminals as normal laws were found to be inadequate to deal with foreign sponsored insurgents. The situation now is much worse. Tamil Nadu was quick to enact its own law which was more or less similar to TADA in the wake of Coimbatore chain blasts so that the alleged accused cannot have easy legal escape routes. In this state too the position is far from normal and TADA courts do exist. The question is why prosecution is slow and why day to day proceedings are not held to punish the guilty or acquit them. The need of the hour is to have special law enacted like Tamil Nadu has done so that terrorist related criminals are punished expeditiously. |
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NDA
blueprint : Not much to celebrate That the National Democratic Alliance Government of Atal Behari Vajpayee is in a tearing hurry goes without saying. The President's address to the joint session of Parliament reinforces the impression. Because the address is a document on which the Union Cabinet had worked painstakingly. Whether the blueprint for "accelerated progress" in socio-economic fields "to change the face of India" will find ready acceptance is a different matter. Also whether the blueprint is in any way new is a debatable point. One thing can be said at the very outset, though. The plan has as many grey areas as any such document is likely to have in an organisation peopled,not by politicians, but by rule-bound, desk-happy bureaucrats, who are always at home in speaking AXN language. In that limited sense, the plan does not stand a chance of reaching its goal, if left to the "steel-frame" with its penchant for progress reports and monthly returns and value judgements in percentage terms. There was one refreshing feature of the address - its focus on what we call the bread-and-butter issues, or what my friends term as the municipal issues, related to food, water, electricity, roads and infrastructure. All-round extension of the reforms process and frontal attack on fiscal deficit are issues that appeal to the intellectual, the economist and the lender. For the voters spread over the length and breadth of the country, neither fiscal deficit nor growth rate matters. Their concern is with the immediate - food, work and shelter, in that order. The verdict of recent elections once again demonstrated that local issues do matter in any election in the country. And performance is what people are interested in, not rhetoric, not populism, not gimmickry. Politicians of all hues are slowly realising the mood of the illiterate masters of this country. Where the government of the day succeeds in educating the masses, carries with it the popular mandate to press ahead with harsh decisions, there success awaits in ample measure. Judged against this backdrop, the President's address does not offer much scope for celebration, at least in areas related to socio-economic factors. For instance, the address promises a national health policy, a national water policy, better deal for rural infrastructure and a new deal to IT industry. In none of these areas, the action plan is timebound. Naturally, therefore, the plan refuses to inspire confidence that things would improve tomorrow. Admittedly, issues that have spilled over from the first plan cannot be expected to be attended to in a week or a month or a year. These will take time. But when the machinery for implementation is already in place and it has hands on experience, when the goals are clear, it should be possible to give the requisite political push to speed up matters. Two days before the President's address to Parliament, the Finance Minister had a long interaction with the captains of trade and industry at the FICCI presidential summit. Yashwant Sinha was forthright in what he told his interlocutors. Parliamentary majority alone is not enough to carry out the economic programme before the country. People should be prepared to face the task, he said. How he would go about the task he did not spell out, but left none in doubt that a detailed action plan would be outlined in President Narayanan's address to Parliament. Along with the address copy, the official agencies distributed a document entitled action plan... with material culled from the speech. The address was silent on specifics. For instance, it says that Government will examine the new mechanism to test the confidence in it on the floor of Parliament. Instead of introducing a no-confidence motion and then facing the political upheaval as was the case this April, why not go in for the practice in Germany under which the mover of the no-confidence motion would outline the plans and planks for putting in place an alternative government in case the anti-trust vote is carried out. L K Advani has been talking about this innovation for a long while. Shiv Raj Patil, who studied the German model, is all praise for it. May be Presidential address was not the proper forum to dilate on the issue and, therefore, it had necessarily to be a one-liner reference. Even then, given the fact that the birth of the third Vajpayee Government was on account of no-trust vote politics, it was absolutely incumbent on its part to be a little more forthcoming. So far as proposals for a constitutional reforms commission or an expenditure commission or for that matter railway reforms commission is concerned, there is no ambiguity. And hence no grouse whatsoever for the mention in brief. There are some areas where some are bound to be disappointed. Friends from the Northeast have been expecting the BJP leadership to honour its commitment to repeal the Illegal Immigrants Determination of Tribunal Act. The speech was silent on the promise. True, there is the promise to fence the remaining area along the India-Bangladesh border. There is the assurance about revamping the Northeastern Council, minus a time-frame. These are only minor issues for the northeasterners. Unless, there is an across-the-board consensus, the Government will find itself confronting a wall at each and every turn of parliamentary work in the days ahead. In fact, the ruling alliance will have to strive for as much consensus within as with outside parties. Sometimes it may be easy for the BJP to deal with the Congress on issues related to second generation reforms than with the Dal Parivar. Interestingly enough, Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav are presiding over two key infrastructure ministries - Communications and Aviation, while another Parivarite, Nitish Kumar, is charting the destiny of the Transport Ministry. Will the three keep their Lohiaite moorings far removed from their seat of office ? Time will tell us. The coup in Pakistan and the continued instability in Afghanistan are matters of concern to the Foreign Policy establishment. The President's address refers to these concerns and spells out the Indian mood in unequivocal terms. The response to the olive branch extended by Musharraf is very calibrated : "Stop cross-border terrorism and put an end to hate India campaign". The Pak CEO is the mastermined of Kargil. He is as much involved in the ISI operations as any of his colleagues in uniform. So, the message to the Pak ruler is bound to end in the long wish list addressed to home audience. - CNF |
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Arjun vs-Alkhalid In the haze of well-being that has enveloped us after the Kargil war, not many people seem to have grasped the significance of Pakistan's announcement that it is beginning the production of its indigenously developed main battle tank, the Al Khalid. Even those who noticed may be inclined to dismiss its significance: hasn't Pakistan just learned the hard way that the world will simply not tolerate a nuclear power entering into a conventional war with another nuclear power? So who is it is going to use the Al Khalid against anyway? In any case, it is just a Chinese tank dressed up in Pakistani rags. Neither the complacency nor the condescension are warranted. For the issue is not whether India can place an order for and deploy a tank that will neutralise the Al Khalid. It is that Pakistan's minuscule defence research establishment is far more able to meet the country's genuine defence needs than are the 36,000 scientists of the DRDO and its high profile chief, Dr. Abdul Kalam. Let me begin with the Al Khalid. Even a cursory look at its capabilities shows that except on one parameter, where no information was given in the news report, it is an armoured corps commander's dream. In its offensive capabilities, and speed on level firm ground, it meets every requirement that the Indian army's most up-to-date GSQR for India's MBT project more than a decade ago. More important, it has a fire control system that enables it to acquire and shoot at targets while moving at high speeds over rough terrain. This is something that India's mainstay, the T-72, cannot do (some are being upgraded to have this capability). The fact that all this capability has been packed in a tank with only a 1200 HP engine, means that it has an overall weight of 40 tonnes or thereabouts against the Arjun's 55 tonnes. This will give it a lower profile than the typical MBT and make it harder to hit. China's technological help has undoubtedly played a very important part in the its development. It is even possible that most of the parts and systems are Chinese. But it would be a mistake to belittle the specific Pakistani input. For China's tanks have been designed, like European tanks, to work in relatively cool climates. An Indian or Pakistani tank must be capable of operating in Sindh in summer. This means up and down sand dunes in an ambient temperature of 50 degrees Celsius. Other than the American Abrams tank, and possibly an Israeli MBT, none of the tanks developed elsewhere has passed this test. The design of the Al Khalid would not have been sealed if it did not meet this requirement to an extent sufficient to satisfy the Pakistan Armoured Corps. The problem that DRDO failed to resolve, but Pakistan obviously has, is that diesel engines generate heat. The bigger they are, the more heat they generate and therefore the larger the proportion of the power that has to be diverted for air conditioning. The Arjun has a 1500 HP engine, but 300 HP gets used up in air-conditioning. As a result at 50 degrees Celsius the tank is able to travel only at a snail's pace and is a sitting duck. Attempts to solve this problem within the basic parameters of an engine that was developed in the early fifties have forced other compromises that gravely impair the Arjun's offensive capability and increase its vulnerability. Nor surprisingly, the Indian army has flatly refused to induct the Arjun into the armoured corps in more than token numbers and is insisting on the purchase of T-90 from Russia. In short, after 16 years of 'research' the DRDO has produced a lemon. How could such a monumental waste of energy, time and money have come about? Pakistan's success with Al Khalid makes it essential that we answer this question now, before the afterglow of Kargil fades. The key difference is that in Pakistan, the army decides what it wants to buy, the army owns the defence production factories, and the army manages the defence research institutes. In India the armed forces have only a distant, passive say in the acquisition of weapons. Each service decides what kind of weapons it needs and with what capabilities. This is compiled into a QR _ quality requirement _ and handed over to the Defence Ministry. After that its role is to attend the supplier or the DRDO's trials, and at the final stage of selection just prior to induction, carry out field trials. Only if the MoD has selected more tan one system, does it get to indicate its preference. That almost never happens. Even then, there is no certainty that this preference will be respected. This procedure breaks one of the cardinal rules of good management, which was discovered in a landmark study of relationship between Technology, Organisation and Business success by a team of researchers headed by the late Joan Woodward of the Imperial College of Technology in 1955-58. This is the necessity, in special order batch production for a constant and close interaction between the product user and manufacturer. The primacy of the army in Pakistan has, accidentally, ensured that this rule is respected in its defence research and development. The ascendancy of the Defence Ministry has made sure that it is not in India. What this has meant is that the armed forces no longer necessarily get what they want, but also when they need it. Examples abound. A 155 mm howitzer was indented for in 1978. The Bofors was finally acquired in 1986. The eight-year delay meant that while Pakistan got its 155mm howitzers in the early eighties for $850,000 a piece, India paid $ 3 million for each gun. As if that were not bad enough, following the outcry over kickbacks, Bofors was black-listed from 1987 till after the Kargil war began in 1999. All that while the army was left with 400 of these guns instead of the 1200 it had wanted, and was starved of sheels and spares to the point where it was compelled to cannibalise some of the guns in order to keep the others functioning. Its entreaties that the blacklist be lifted were ignored. India first failed to spot, and later took six weeks to ascertain the number of invaders in Kargil because among other reasons, its satellite did not have a sufficiently high resolution. At that precise time the government had signed an agreement with Russia for pictures from a satellite with a six times higher resolution, but they had not begun to arrive because the MoD had not paid the contract price! The problem has been complicated by the sudden rise of DRDO as a competing weapons provider. For now the army has to contend not only with the delays that are imposed upon it by ministry officials who feel no sense of urgency about doing their job, but also by the delay that arises when the DRDO chief insists that there is no need to import a weapon because he can design and produce it at home. The Arjun lemon is by no means the worst example of the cost this can impose on the army. In 1987 the American defence department finally and reluctantly cleared the sale of a WLR _ a gun locating radar that tracks shells feeds the coordinates into one's own guns and directs the return fire automatically to destroy the enemy gun from which the shell came _ to India. The army was ecstatic because Pakistan had an American WLR since the eighties and the one the US were offering India was superior. The deal was finalised and the purchase was about to be made when, on the urging of Dr. Kalam, the then defence secretary cancelled it and decided to let DRDO develop a WLR instead! Two years later, the army still had no WLRs. As a result many young men who died in Kargil, fell victim to Pak artillery fire which the Indian guns could not suppress because they did not have WLRs. The all-pervasive fear in the armed forces is that with the return of peace, the MoD and DRDO will have neither learned nor forgotten anything. If Mr. Vajpayee has a lasting contribution to make it is to shift the boot from the MoD's foot to that of the Army. So far the army has proposed and the MoD has disposed. Now the MoD and DRDO may propose but the armed forces must dispose. INAV |
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Hard facts about common
cold Nothing is more frustrating and irritating than a common cold. While it is not taken as a serious disease by many, it can give a let of trouble if neglected for long. After years of research, doctors finally agree that the common cold has no cure. In Britain a researcher spent seven valuable years and loads of money to arrive at this outcome. In many household today a patient suffering from a cold is treated with hot drinks, herbal potions and even tablets. None are effective in most cases. For cold is self remitting. It will go on its own. One just has to bear it. Clinically cold can be defined as a viral disease which is self remitting. Cold is a simple term for a condition where there is watery discharge from the nose and eyes, sneezing, headache and cough. But the reasons as to why you develop a cold cannot be pinpointed to any one particular cause as this viral infection can be caused by change of season as also due to sudden change in body temperature, emotional or physical stress or allergy to dust, house mites and pollen. In people who develop colds every time they are emotionally upset, it is due to the fact that the body's immune system does not function properly during mental distress. Colds can be of several types. Cold which develops in the nose it is called rhinisitus, the one which develops around the sinus is called sinusitis in tonsils tonsillitis, in pharynx it is referred to as pharyncitus. Normally a cold should automatically cure itself within a period of three to seven days but if it lasts longer it can be presumed that the underlying reasons may not be just a viral infection. A bacterial infection is the ailment to watch out for when a cold fails to go away within this time period. According to Dr. Ajay Gambhir, well known physician. "This is due to the fact that bacteria which is already present in the throat gets activated after the body becomes weak on account of the viral infection. The mucous membrane is broken by the virus." It is not surprising then that it is unable to stand the onslaught of the bacteria. The bacteria enters the membrane and stays there for long resulting in a severe infection. As a result what started out as a viral infection turns into a bacterial one. According to Dr. R. C. Deka ENT at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, "When the viral infection turns into a bacterial one there is a yellowish discharge from the nose. This in case of the sinus is referred to as bacterial sinusitis." One fact is accepted by all doctors that there is no remedy for cold. Instead of medicines most doctors prescribe gargles and steaming. Lozenges which can be sucked during a case of especially sore throat are also recommended to provide relief to the throat. Doctors nowadays also prescribe large doses of Vitamin C to get over a cold. Dr. Gambhir, says, "Only if there is a bacterial infection should one take antibiotics as the body becomes immune to them after sometime. In case of allergy-anti allergics are prescribed. In case of cold accompanied by progressively rising fever anti histaminic accompanied by anti allergic can be given. It is only in case of some infection that antibiotics are given." As far as nasal allergies are concerned new developments have been observed. Increasing pollution has led to sharp increase in allergies. Dr. R. C. Deka, says, "There has been an increase in allergic disease like allergic fungal sinusitis." This is a non invadic disease in which there is stiffiness, inflammation of nose and polyps. Mucin gets collected in the blocked sinus which results in a headache. Breathing is naturally difficult in such a case. It can prove especially difficult in cases where the mass collected in the sinus starts pushing the eye or breaks the skull. This can be diagnosed by a CT scan. Surgical treatment is resorted to, to remove the collected material which is black or green in colour and like peanut butter. The sinus is cleared and to ensure that it remains clear cartico steroid topical sprays are used. The second type is invadic which occurs in people with weak immune system. It consists of a solid granular mass which gets embedded in the bones and can affect the skin and the bones. It can be partially removed surgically. Anybody who is affected by the invasive fungal disease has to either take intravenous injections or tablets even after an operation has been performed on him or her. Dr. Deka points out that, "The cases of allergic fungal non invasive are more common. If we get one case of invasive then we have at least 25 of non invasive." People who have persistent cold are often advised surgery of the nose. This is merely a corrective surgery called septoplasti in which the nose is straightened. However, this surgery should only be performed in case where be performed in case where the due to the deviation of the nose, the mucous obstructs the passage of the air. In any other instance, the surgery might not help. Even though 75 per cent of the population has a deviation in the nose, 95 per cent of them do not need any kind of corrective surgery. If such blockades are not the reason of persistent colds, surgery does not help a person. The surgery, if essential, has become especially easy now for incision, is no longer essential. They can be performed by merely putting in a camera and the instruments via the nose, just like angioplasti. After struggling for years with this complex phenomenon doctors are now confident in prescribing "no drug treatment" for common cold. Humanity will have to learn to live with it. INAV |
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