Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Americans, inveterate hopefuls that they are , like to slot things as good news and bad ones, either to cushion the shocks or to find some aspect of optimism about usually bleaker situations. Probably, they also do it to better understand the things given the fact that everything must be put in the neat digestible bits there. So the ‘good news’ is that the CCC-Coalition Coordination Committee met after all, even if the ‘fortnight’ dragged on to become long months. Keeping the good spirits up let one not ask who attended it-for it seems that Azad alone did that with the mandatory Mahbooba. The general impression is that the committee could not meet because of the engagement of the Congress president elsewhere. The fact is that there is wide disaffection, not only among the lesser factions, but even the main partners in the Government. In fact, there is good resentment within the major but silent partner congress. Bad, is that? Well, the bad news is that the CCC did nothing-absolutely nothing on the main issues dogging the coalition.

It sat for two days, devised new ways of asking for funds and split with a huge press statement that said nothing. Asking.....more

Countering terrorism :
Fix accountability

By Maj Gen V K Madhok (retired)

Uniform civil code - A necessity

By Omkar Dattatray

Agenda for industrial sericulture

By B.V. Ananthacharlu

India can achieve self-sufficiency in the production of international grade bivoltine cocoons and raw silk (untwisted pure silk yarn) 2a, 3a, if the Government of India (GOI) opened its ......more

EDITORIAL

CCC-new politicking

It sat for two days, devised new ways of asking for funds and split with a huge press statement that said nothing. Asking more funds and finding ways and means for that is the oldest gimmick in the J&K politicians’ book. Everybody since fifties has been doing it. And the center has been obliging them in a biggish way hoping that it would solve the problem. It creates more problems. Problems of distribution, rather absence of an equitable distribution-well, well ‘allocation’ is the right word-of funds, for one. And a hankering for more funds, more allocations and still more…Of course, this State needs funds. It would develop better, create jobs and do lots of things with money. CCC’s insistence that five percent of the central funds be ear-marked of the state is as good as that wish can get. It has an analogy too, the north-east. Northeast has become the touch stone for this state. Earlier it was with ‘talks’ ‘as in North East’. Now it is ‘funds as in North East’.

Incidentally, would the state, at its level, accord the same priority treatment to the underdeveloped areas, the neglected peoples etc. like the Ladakh , Ladakhis for example, as it demands from the national pool? Or, say, Paddar area and people living there? Indeed, that is the crux of the problem here. This State actually lives in a self dichotomy. It demands privileges from the Union government on the basis of the Paharis, tribals and the under-developed regions and ends up spending it on areas that are accessible, better developed, sometimes already flush with funds. Let this not be taken as something opposed to opportunity for more funds to the State. It is, indeed, seen as a disloyalty of sorts to hold that this state does not need more and more funds. Every place can develop better with more funds and allocations. And, no part of the State has become a Paris to refuse monies. Could one gently suggest that it is ‘investment’ not ‘funds’ that is believed to be the key to development all over? That the old fashioned hankering of funds is said to lead to lesser development? But asking funds is not the problem with CCC. One could even take it as something, this new formula of five percent.

The real problem is the allocation and spending. With the big hole called corruption getting only bigger, one can see little good in more funds and allocations. So long as the leak remains unplugged, the allocations would only cause more grievances, more side linings and more perversions. Only the other day Mahbooba raised the issue of an earlier allocation having been diverted away from the public and sought an inquiry on the whole episode. That related to the earlier regime and PDP naturally gets principle-conscious there. The same diversions are today waiting in the wings of this government to take the new allocations away. The more important question is the investment and sustainability. Using funds-even loans-for sustainable development is a good thing. But spending monies-though it all be aid-on populist and unsustainable ventures may not help anyone except the few who siphon the funds away and make kamaies on other heads. There is no indication that the government here has given much thought to this aspect. Making arrangements for it is a far cry.

It is the Bakshi mode that asks for funds, to turn the people away from this thing or that, this person or that. It didn’t work then and won’t work now. Unless the Government devises sound economic modules, gives up making development an emotional undertaking and addresses the problems of the people, the monies would not help. There are the issues of balancing the regions, reaching out to all people of the state and setting policies in keeping with the times. The CCC failed to take up any of these issues. Promise of fiscal balance is now nearly a year old without much headway being made. Wazir commission report was not talked about. The intra-state grouses were not addressed at all. Instead the attention is sought to be shifted to the National Capital and Government. One cannot discount the need for pressing the state’s case, but unless the machinery is corrected it would hardly help anybody. Unless the CCC addresses those problems, the funds would be of little use. They may even exacerbate the grouses. One may again add that the problem is not of funds but equitable distribution and percolation of the same to the people. Without ensuring that it becomes another diversionary gimmick. And, that is pretty bad news, for this State and people.

Countering terrorism : Fix accountability

By Maj Gen V K Madhok (retired)

Recently four issues have been raised in the media concerning terrorism. That the menace of terrorism is here to stay. That the Para Military Forces (PMF) need to be further expanded and strengthened, their recruitment and training improved on the Army lines including the State Police, to take on internal security (IS) and counter insurgency (CI) tasks. Thus relieving the Army to enable it to concentrate on its main task of countering external aggression. Finally, long term planning should be undertaken to counter this dangerous threat instead of undertaking short term contingencies and crisis management rather than treating it as a long term challenge.

No one will disagree that the challenge of terrorism is going to persist in India not only for a decade or two but for a long time. One would go a step further and wont hesitate to add, that India will never be able to tackle this menace unless we dare to disengage from the outdated concepts of centralisation, non involvement of the people, continued expansion of the PMF and only concentrating on fighting effects instead of removing the causes of discontent amongst the masses resulting from short term personality oriented national policies.

Therefore the first requirement is to make a major shift in the 'Counter Terrorism Doctrine.' Where the Government should start trusting the State Governments and then focus on decentralisation. Wherein each state will be made responsible for IS and CI within its boundry. For which the resources will be: Police and armed police battalions at the disposal of the CM. Who may raise additional units or reduce these as per requirement to maintain law and order. While Territorial Army (TA) battalions located in the State will be at the disposal of the State Governor. Who should be in a position to embody these for countering terrorist threats with a proviso that any of these TA units can be moved out by the Centre in an emergency without reference to the State as happens in the US for its National Guards. Currently, it is only the Centre which excercises control over TA units although the states provide manpower. By implementing this suggestion, the final accountability for maintaining law and order would rest with the Governor. Who at present is only performing ceremonial functions and is thus absolved of any major responsibility towards the security of the state he heads.

As regards involvement of the citizenary. It has been neglected for far too long. It is not realised that unless the people are with the Government and respond positively, terrorism can never be eliminated or fought successfully. The citizenary must be encouraged and involved in the TA. For which, sufficiently large number of TA battalions (Part Time Militia) should be raised. These units are organised on the Army lines, trained by regular and TA officers, regionally recruited and lightly equipped. TA's rules and regulations are futuristic and far ahead of their times. TA battalions have already proved their competence for undertaking various combat challenges. And they will be ideally suited for taking on counter terrorism threats within the State. But we have failed to exploit their potential and instead concentrated on expanding the PMF.

It needs to be noted that the number and strength of PMF that India has already, are the fourth largest in the world. That is; the BSF, RPF, CRP, CISF, ITBP, Assam Rifles, DSC, NSG, Rashtriya Rifles, Coast Gaurds, India Reserve battalions besides the Home Gaurds, SSB, TA, NCC and the regular Army. This is a situation which calls for rationalisation as it has already become a cause of friction between diverse forces. While what India needs is an internal security force (ISF) and a Border Security Force (BSF) under the Centre in addition to the TA and the NCC. The ISF (raised after merging various existing PMF) units will then be suitably located in various states and will be available to a State Governor, should he fail to maintain law and order while the Army will be only employed if the ISF too has failed.

As regards the Army : Note, that of the three services it is only the Army which is involved in IS because of its organisation and ground expertise. One of the concerns which has been agitating it is, its frequent involvement in IS duties. The units stationed in peace time locations and called out for IS have therefore no rest. Besides, the Army is already overstretched.

Besides, the military is the last tool which a muture state should use in enforcing a country's foreign policy when diplomacy has failed or to restore law and order when the civil machinery has broken down. Accordingly, during peace, the defence of our borders and restoration of law and order should nearly always be dealt with by the PMF and Police which is the purpose for raising these outfits. This is a principle which has been violated time and again and needs to be adhered to.

Finally, our problem is that we are ready to go in for new organisations but are afraid to scrap obsolete systems or to restructure them. If we can fix accountability, reorganise the PMF as proposed, India will create three instruments at distinct levels to deal with terrorism. That is: the Police at the district level with the TA to be mobilised at the Governor's orders, the ISF units to be made available from the Centre when required. And as a last report, the Army to deal with various threats.

Uniform civil code - A necessity

By Omkar Dattatray

It is the irony of Indian society and politics that even after the lapse of more than half of century of freedom, the directive principles of State policy enshrined in the constitution have not been translated into practice. These directions have merely remained pious wishes on the paper due to selfish political interests of the successive rulers and political parties. No sincere efforts were ever made to enact a common civil code for all Indians thanks to political expediency and sham secularism. Then if any political party favours or advocates for uniform code, it is labelled as communal and fascist by the secular bosses and some self styled leaders of the minority community. Thus unnecessary hue and cry is created every time a court pronouncement comes in favour of uniform code for all citizens. It is absurd and paradoxical that all important issues are politicised at the altar of the power politics. Same holds good with this important issue of the society's far reaching importance.

Article 44 of the Indian constitution provides that the State shall endeavour to secure for citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. But inspite of such a clear cut direction the ruling elite to whatever party it belonged never allowed a legislation to incorporate uniform code. Same patriotic progressive and nationalist forces have long been advocating enactment of such a law. Every time the Apex Court asks the executive to make efforts in this direction, politicians belonging to so called secular brigade emotionalise the issue and do not work towards making UCC a reality in India. Thus our political, social, economic and the legal system does not reflect the intents and purposes of the founding fathers of the constitution. We have failed to fulfill the dream of the architects of the constitution. The issue of common code should not be associated with majority or the minority community. It is necessary that the political outfits and those championing the cause of UCC should not project it as a favour or a victory for the majority community or a defeat for the minorities. The fact remains that UCC will benefit all sections of the society and the women belonging to all faiths and sects some Muslims Organisations and their women leaders also favour such a law to effect a uniform code. There is no rational, logic and reasoning in criticising the enactment of UCC throughout the length and breadth of India. Few days back a three judge bench of the Supreme Court of India headed by Justice Khare has categorically expressed its favour for having a uniform code. It has suggested GOI to make efforts to give effect to article 44 of the constitution of India. It was done while admitting and disposing a writ petition concerning the donations by Christians to the church. It removed bar on such donations and held article 118 in so far as it relates to the restriction on the donations by Christians, as discriminatory. In the same judgement Chief Justice Khare expressed his favour for having a UCC and asked the executive to strive for it. This Judgement is of far reaching significance when even the BJP has kept this controversial issue out of its agenda. Chief Justice has observed that the architects of the constitution had laid down article 44 as it relates to UCC on the premise that there is no relationship between religion and civil life in a civilized and secular democracy. In all progressive, modern and liberal countries including the Muslim countries of the West Asia, the same civil laws apply to all. The Muslim subjects of these countries had not objected to such civil laws there. But in India unnecessary noises are created which only divide people further. Earlier it was in the year 1985 when the than Chief Justice of India Mr Y V Chandrachud while delivering his judgement in the famous Mohammad Ahmed Shah Bano case emphasised the significance of having a law on the basis of article 44 of the constitution in this behalf. The former Chief Justice was of the opinion that such a common law will help in national integration. That verdict went in favour of the Muslim widow Shah Bano for her maintenance. However, it had generated much heat, debate and controversy among political parties, Government circles and more so among the stalwarts of the Muslim community. It was taken by the Muslim by and large as an attack on their faith which it was not. Unfortunately the then Prime Minister of India late Mr Rajiv Gandhi buckled under pressure from Sham secularists and some Muslim organisations and modified the verdict by the Constitutional amendment. This created hurdles in the implementation of common code. Justice Chinnapa Reddy had also once favoured UCC while deciding another case. It was done perhaps for the cause of development of the spirit of oneness among all Indians. In the year 1995 a division bench of the Apex Court had also asked Government to ensure enactment of UCC.

Thus Supreme Court verdicts and the opinions of the learned Judges had always created controversies on this vital issue. So without going further into this controversy, it is necessary that awareness campaign is launched in the society that people understand the merits of a common civil code. In a multi religious society no law can function if it does not have the support of the people. Nor can a law be imposed without consulting all parties and communities. So the minority community should understands the merits of UCC and co-operate in this behalf. UCC will help the Muslim women in their fight for equality with other women of majority community. Common civil law will protect the interests and freedoms of the Muslim women and will help fight discrimination with women in the Muslim community.

Rationality, humanity and justice are the hallmarks of a civilised society and then why to oppose UCC. All the subjects of India are equal before law and there is no distinction between citizens in various matters on the basis of religion, faith, sex, sect, region at all. Then whey are not all of us governed by the same uniform civil code in matters of inheritance, marriage, adoption, donations and the like. The result is that our society has failed to develop the feeling of national integration and emotional oneness though geographically we stand united. But in other democracies of the world people belonging to different faiths are governed by the common civil laws. If non-discrimination is to be ensured and practised, it is mandatory to promulgate and execute common civil laws. When every citizen has equal rights and privileges guaranteed under the Constitution, there is absolutely no harm or wrong in the governance of all communities under the same civil law. The UCC will not jeopardise article 25 and 26 of the Constitution which deal with right to freedom of worship. Therefore, UCC will not amount to infringment of any fundamental right nor will it lead to discrimination with any community. Whatever heat is generated by the decision of the important cases, one has undoubtedly to accept that same civil law will help the cause of national awakening, national reconstruction, emotional oneness and Indianness among the masses. Majority community and the small minorities such as Sikhs, Bodhs, Jains etc. have surrendered their personal laws in favour of the common civil code leaving along the Muslim community. The significance of one nation and one citizenship is becoming shallaw when various socio economic, religious groups are governed by their personal laws.

Agenda for industrial sericulture

By B.V. Ananthacharlu

India can achieve self-sufficiency in the production of international grade bivoltine cocoons and raw silk (untwisted pure silk yarn) 2a, 3a, if the Government of India (GOI) opened its mind to the concept of "industrial sericulture" as a development model to usher in the ‘bivoltine era’, in Indian sericulture.

The ideological approach to sericulture development so assiduously followed by the Central Silk Board (CSB) for the past four decades has resulted in reducing the number one foreign exchange earning agro-industry to the level of an unviable, inefficient decentralised set-up spoon-fed by the CSB. Take the example of India’s one and only modern filature in the private sector in Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh. The plant has been custom built to take only the superior bivoltine cocoons because of the fact that the managers of the World Bank aid phase I (the Karnataka sericulture project) categorically assured the hard working young entrepreneurs that by the end of the phase I there would be more than sufficient quantity of bivoltine cocoons to feed not only the Penukonda plant but also the Karnataka Government-owned T. Narsipura unit. Incidentally, both the plants use more or less the same Korean machines. As a result of the colossal failure of the World Bank aid phase I, both the units are compelled to use the inferior multibis. For no fault of theirs, these two units today struggle for survival.

Another fallout of this ideological approach is the glaring inequitable distribution of income, which will discourage any major private initiative. The income from the sale of a metre of pure silk fabric with a weight of sixty grams per metre is distributed as follows: (I) Rearer farmer 57 per cent, (II) Reeler 7 per cent, (III) Twister 7 per cent, (IV) Weaver 11 per cent, (V) Trader 18 per cent. The result?

Stagnation has set in. every sector of the Indian silk industry reels under its impact. The exports (quantity) have already started showing a declining trend. The quality of raw silk produced in the county, even the best, has been found to be far inferior to the gradeless imported from China. Nearly two thousand tonnes of raw silk come into the country from China and other countries with the knowledge of the government and an equal quantity without its permission.

Despite the narrowing down of the price between the imported and indigenous raw silk smuggling goes on unabated due to the stupendous demand in the domestic markets. The market mechanism has become so corrupt that cartels control the price and most of the transactions are without bills. The price fluctuations have reached a crescendo that no genuine exporter is in a position to make out a stable offer to the overseas importers.

Viewed against this background, one shudders to think that the NSP seriously expects the traditional states to contribute substantially to the production of bivoltines. This exposes the weakness of the NSP in grossly under-estimating the potential of the non-sericultural states in producing the bivoltines. Without the required quantity of bivoltine raw silk, how will the NSP achieve the projected exports of Rs. 1,200 crore by 2005?

Contrary to popular belief, the handloom sector uses the bivoltine raw silk for its warp needs. It will be in dire straits if the required bivoltine raw silk is not made available to them. Therefore, it becomes imperative that the NSP look towards the non-traditional sericulture for achieving the targeted bivoltine production.

Industrial sericulture should be understood in terms of industrial scaling of the conventional sericultural practices. In the conventional system, the farmers discharge dual functions namely mending the mulberry plantation and rearing silk worms. The industrial scaling of these activities will delink the risk prone job of rearing silk worms to enable farmers to concentrate fully on growing the mulberry plantation so that they can sell the leaves to the industrial silk farm at a remunerative price. The job of rearing silk worms will be done in a fully mechanised circular type rearing bed under controlled environment. The silk farms will be built strictly in accordance with the sericulture hygiene standards. The cocoons thus produced will be used for captive consumption for the automatic reeling machine of the silk farm.

It is this model based on a viable technology perception that will lure massive private investment in sericulture. Firstly, the scale is big–ranging from a plant that can produce 500 tonnes of cocoons to a big plant capable of achieving a production of 1500 tonnes. Two such plants can produce 200 tonnes of international grade 2a, 3a raw silk. The fact that such a feat can be accomplished in the next two years time will speak volumes about the efficacy of the model that even a conservative investor will also be keen to consider investment in industrial sericulture.

This model will work very well in the non-traditional sericulture states like Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh because of the fact that the idea of selling leaves at a remunerative price will catch up very fast and will ensure the farmers a higher floor level income than any other crop.

The idea is capital intensive and most of the machines are to be imported, as presently no one makes them in the country. But the cost of production especially the direct cost is very low and this makes it ideally suited for big investment in sericulture. The task of optimising the indirect costs was also accomplished with a totally innovative approach to building, air conditioning and humidification system. The fact that these were achieved as per the exacting needs of sericulture hygiene (its importance can easily be judged from the fact that the plant will have to deal with a silk worm population of 42 lakh worms per rearing and there will be 15 rearings in 10 months on the basis of a 20-day cycle) –would speak for the efforts that have gone into in making the concept work. Still, there were links connected with the government policies and financing patterns that remained to be tightened to firm up the concept for implementation.

Till such time the imported plant and machinery are replicated indigenously, the import component will be around 55 per cent of the total project cost. Once three or four plants become operational, it will take no time for the Indian engineers to come out with a modified version of an indigenous model of the imported plant and machinery. Till then the government will have to review the duties applicable to such machineries. The fact that it has taken cognisance of the importance of such imports is evident from the fact that it has allowed a 35 per cent levy to the silk worm rearing machines and equipments. This was given to a bivoltine seed egg producing Indo-Japanese venture coming up in Madanapally in Andhra Pradesh. But more needs to be done.

Once these steps are taken, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will have a decisive role to play. The massive private initiative and investment required for this can be lured only by NABARD’s willingness to directly finance industrial sericulture projects at a concessional rate of 9 per cent interest with a debt-equity ratio of 3:1. Industrial sericulture offers greater opportunities by all counts, whether it is the number of beneficiaries or the replicability of the model or for that matter the scope of ensuring an impressive floor level net higher income, to prompt NABARD to take up the challenge of transforming Indian sericulture qualitatively. Will NABARD come forward to take the required initiative? INAV

The dirty porno business

By Siddharth Bhatt

The man assuredly breezes into the dimly lit video library in Capital’s South Extension, winks at the attendant behind the counter and waves one finger. This sign language is to get the message across to the attendant, one finger for an X-rated film, two for a double-X and three for triple-X.

He grabs the cassette and walks out of the library with a naughty smile adorning his face. Pornography is thriving. From small towns in Kerala–with 100 per cent literacy–to upmarket locales in the metros. Sleaze sells, as never before.

Lined up on the sidewalks of Colaba in Mumbai are displays of pornographic literature, the covers showing copulating couples, with titles ranging from First Night to what you should do Tonight. More than glossy pictures, the contents of these books attract, or rather, excite anyone and everyone, from a semi-literate villager to an upwardly mobile yuppie.

The stories range from tips how to hook the woman-next-door to adultery and provide the latest "sexually update." The literature, being cheaper, is in greater demand than videocassettes, which also need a video player and television for viewing. A book can be read sitting anywhere.

Of late, Indian women too have begun to get a feel of the "aesthetics" of pornography. They are not ashamed, as pornography is no longer associated with a sexually perverted mind.

Married women watch blue films, some without a choice, others with a willing suspension of disbelief. Jancy James, 28, an accountant said: "Sometimes I watch it when my husband is seeing the film. It’s fun." Does it provide any helpful tips? "Oh no, not a bit," she replied coyly.

Pornography today has assumed alarming proportions. There are two types; the choice depends on individual tastes. There is soft and hard porn, similar to the advertiser’s jargon of soft sells and hard sells. The standard of titillation differs from person to person.

Rapid strides in technology have made porno films an intensely private affair. With a videocassette recorder one can watch blue films in total privacy at home. The advantages of a remote control device need less explanation.

In these days of contoured condoms (scented and coloured ones, they say, are in vogue), a liberalised economy needn’t be apologetic even if a few women admit their addiction to these films.

They often watch blue films with friends. The excitement of procuring the cassette from the nearby video library often exceeds what the film gives in return. The desi stuff is less expensive and not hard to get. What comes from the West has a heavy dose of oral sex; a little tiresome and long drawn for Indians for who delayed titillation is not exactly a national sport.

Reading soft porn literature is not just a game for adolescents. The elderly too like reading lewd books and comic strips, but in private.

Talking about the harmful effect of watching blue films, a sexologist debunked the idea that it damaged the psyche. Instead, it acted as an alternative outlet, he claimed.

Anita Bhatia, presently working as an advertising professional and who was expelled from her college for watching blue films in the hostel, said: "They threw me out in the middle of my university course for watching blue film because of which I lost a year. Anyway, how did my teachers know I was seeing the film? They must have peeped in. I haven’t got my cassette back. They must be enjoying it."

Asked whether they watched blue films, most women initially refused to talk. Neelam Sharma, who did her schooling abroad, said she had seen her first film at the age of 11. "It was a great fun. I got to know what the big mystery’ was all about. Watching the films for the heck of it lasted for about a year or two. Then I got fed up," she said with a chuckle.

Neelam candidly admitted that watching blue films did not give her any sexual or emotional release. "It was pure fun," she said. Probably, she was too young when she was initiated into viewing them and too satiated when she reached adulthood. A case of too much too soon in life, it seems.

Sharmila Jain, a 30-year-old, gave a practical explanation. "It helped me educate my sister who was getting married, regarding the bees and the birds. I rented a cassette and showed it to her a few weeks before her marriage. Anyway, I don’t watch them. They disgust me."

Feminists have the last word. They oppose porno films, considering them dangerous to women. Many, like Catherine Mackinnon, oppose pornography in any form, tooth and nail. They feel women are subject to mental and physical torture in such films. But what about couples that watch blue films together?

A senior police officer, a porno film addict, confided: "There are many new techniques the white man can teach." In a country famous for the Kamasutra, what more could the white man still teach? That’s like opening another chapter.

With phone-in sex in vogue these days at Rs. 25 a second, these are frightfully expensive. But what about that sweet, seductive voice at the other end? A frequent phone addict confided. "A sensuous and husky voice at the other end can enliven your spirits, especially after a hard day’s work."

Computer buffs have access to porno films in floppies. However, most of them are of western origin. Binu, a computer professional, said: "They are similar to the one’s we see on video." Asked about its effects, he admitted: "The arousal levels are the same.

He said there is great demand for the floppies and many of his friends ask him to get a copy. It’s easier to procure software for this and keep it safe from the clutches of family member who could, by mistake, screen a videocassette left carelessly at home.

The tribe of women writers churning out porno literature is increasing. India too has the desi versions of Anais Nins and Erica Jong’s, who write at length of sexual tastes and behaviour in the most lucid, titillating manner.

Pulp literature, in magazine form, especially vernacular, sometimes, has a tinge of porno, leaving the reader in suspended animation, as the stories end with "to be continued in the next issue." "They take you uphill but the plunge is fast," said a reader.

The roaring success of magazine like Fantasy is a case in point when we talk of pornography in the Indian context. It has a wider reach than the trendsetter Debonair, although both claim to be displaying sex in an artistic manner. The contents have a different tale to tell. "The saucier the pictures, the better the sales," pronounced an addict, adding "Who has the time to read all the printed words?"

But not everyone agrees. Sanjayita Sharma, a freelance fashion designer, said: "The stories are fun. To write such stuff you need talent."

Regarding pornography, the psyche of an upwardly mobile Indian male and that a villager is similar. Sex differentiates Indian less than caste or religion. If only pornography could break the barriers in the minds of fanatics.

Take, for example, a test conducted at random on three persons. Each was asked to select the best picture in a magazine as a test to elucidate his taste. Surprisingly, they were identical.

All three chose the picture of a rural woman bending to pour a potful of milk in a can. Her breasts were uncovered, she was skimpily clad and the light cotton transparent attire revealed a considerable amount of flesh. The expression on her face aroused their sexual curiosity, they admitted. The pose, lighting and colours too were major factors that were taken in account.

The British writer, Maureen Freely’s, Under the Vulcania was a trendsetter in porno literature. Bloomshurry published the book, which narrated the sexual activities of young, middle-class women in a health club. Not forgetting to mention Shobha De, who is always analysing the sexual escapades of Indian women living in metros.

On the subject of the changing Indian sexual milieu, it must be remembered that what is happening next door is not what the community is doing, especially in the case of women.

Many of them dislike porn. Preeti Singh, a housewife, said: "It’s disgusting. How can a woman be exploited like this?" A college student said: "Sometimes I can empathise with such women. Don’t they do this for a living?" Well, may be yes may be no. INAV

HERE & THERE
Are men doomed to extinction?

By B L Kak

Mind-boggling forecast or claim: Women will rule the planet. And men are doomed to extinction.

This prediction is from Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University. The prediction is contained in a book, which has envisaged what is called ‘Sapphic reproduction’ of women by genetic manipulation.

‘World without men is the logical consequence of the decaying human Y-chromosome’, Bryan Skyes contends, pointing out that Y-chromosome is the only piece of DNA that men possess and women do not.

A report from London quotes Skyes as saying that a "genetic ruin littered with molecular damage’, the Y-chromosome cannot repair itself nor arrest the steadily accumulating damage.

Skyes reports in Adam’s Curse: Like the face of the moon, still pitted by all the craters from all the meteors that have ever fallen onto its surface, Y-chromosomes cannot heal their own scars.

Skyes’ conclusion: It is a dying chromosome and one day it will become extinct.

The report from London points out that other scientists have chronicled the decline of the Y-chromosome, but what is new is Bryan Skyes’ description of the implications and the stark choices to be faced by the human race.

The report claims that Skyes is a leading authority on DNA and saying that he traced all humans through female genes to a few ancestral women living thousands of years ago.

And his study has led him to pronounce: Because the Y-chromosome’s main function is switching on male embryos in the womb, its demise spells an end for men.

Equally mind-boggling is another report from London: The cosmos is simply fading away. According to the report, astronomers find the lights are going out all over the universe.

If the report were to be believed, astronomers, in fact, have found that not enough bright young stars are emerging to take the place of the old stars burning out. So, in the "ultimate retirement crisis", the cosmos is simply fading away, is the astronomers’ refrain.

Professor Alan Heavens from Edinburgh University’s Institute for Astronomy, said to have helped to conduct the new study, has been quoted as saying: "The age of star formation is drawing to a close".

"It’s not suddenly going to get dark, but it’s been getting dimmer over the last few thousand million years and that will continue", is the message.

Prof. Tony Hewish says that the dimming effect would be made worse by those bright stars that did remain being spread further apart as the universe expanded. Prof. Hewish, it may be recalled, won the Nobel prize in 1974 for his work in discovering quasars at Cambridge University.

Now something of the sports stars. First about India’s popular figure, namely, Sachin Tendulkar. He has shown weakness for the number ‘9’. This number multiplied by any number results in the sum total of ‘9’. No wonder, Sachin is choosy about his car numbers.

Sachin Tendulkar has two Mercedes with RTO registration numbers 9999 in different series. He wants the same number for his much-talked-about Ferrari, too.

Selected numbers like 9999 are given to VIPs at Rs 10,000 (per plate) and if Sachin insists on the same, and if it is not allotted to anybody, the concerned authorities in Maharashtra will have to allot it to him.

Sachin’s Ferrari has triggered a sharp controversy. He may not be in trouble. But Pakistan’s former cricket captain, Imran Khan, seems to be in real trouble. Reason: his ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his 11-year-old daughter, Sita White, now in the US, has demanded that he help out with the child’s educational expenses.

Media reports from Washington say that after noticing disappointing response from Imran Khan, White had filed a petition on Tirian’s behalf in a California court . The court has set October 2 as the first date of hearing of the case.