Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Periscope on Pakisan
Farce called democracy

By Dr S K Gupta

Epilepsy is a family of more than 40 neurological condi-tions that share common symptoms—seizures. The incidence of epilepsy is 0. 5 to 1.75 per cent in the general population and can result from head injury, infection, fever, brain tumors, or other trauma that damages the brain in addition to the unknown cause in majority of the cases.......more

Darkness at noon

By Vishiesh Verma

EDITORIAL

NC’s Jammu rally

By holding a massive rally in Jammu city last week, the National Conference has demonstrated its strength on the ground. There can't be two opinions that the State's premier political outfit continues to have considerable influence. It is, of course, the single largest party in the State Assembly, a fact that should be enough to keep alive its hopes of returning to power. The party patron, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has close associates in all three regions of the State. There are many people who love him. There is no dearth of those who hate him. But there is nobody who can ignore him. It should be a matter of satisfaction for him that his heir and young NC president Omar Abdullah is also trying to reach all sections of society. No party president has reasons to learn fast than the youngest Abdullah. He is the only one in the Sheikh dynasty to have been defeated in the family stronghold of Gandarbal. His exposure to the political world ought to have already convinced him that in the power game, leaders are not vanquished for ever. Instead, they have a chance to rally. They have to reassure the electorate that they mean well by them. Viewed in this context, he should be content with the response to the rally in Jammu. In such cases, however, the party leaders should take care to make a distinction between the mobilisation for the rally and spontaneity of participation in it. Only then can they carefully work out their electoral prospects. Nevertheless, it needs to be said that only on a few occasions in the past one has seen a rally in the city of temples with the people crowding the entire route from the Parade Ground to the Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan which houses the NC's headquarters in Jammu.

Having noted that, it must be mentioned that the NC's hope to come back to power lies in keep organising such shows of strength. Rhetoric these days is considered an accepted part of such get-togethers. Unfortunately, no more a political gathering is considered a big success if the leaders don't indulge in theatricals. It is only in this context that one can judge the young Abdullah's assertions to open his 'fist' at an opportune time to topple the present Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Government in the State. To compare Dr Abdullah's frequent trips to London 'by meeting his own expenses' with the one that has just been concluded by the Chief Minister is also part of populist utterances. There are few who would grudge Dr Abdullah his London sojourns to meet his family. All the more so when such trips are made in an entirely personal capacity. But, how does one explain Dr Abdullah as the Chief Minister taking off from the State at the height of, for instance, the unprecedented Hindu-Sikh riots in Jammu. There is a difference in using State helicopters for flying to Delhi on way to London or elsewhere and employing them for flights to Leh, Pulwama and Rajouri. By the same standards, if the Mufti has undertaken his visit to London to buy a house in the British Capital, as has been alleged at the rally, and not to achieve the intended target of publicising the State's tourism potential, the full facts should have been brought to the notice of the people instead of merely planting suspicion in the unsuspecting minds. If it is proved that the Chief Minister has misused the trip, he should not be entitled to stay in the office for a day more. How does ridiculing the tourists as 'mad', as again has been done at the rally, help the overall cause of the State? The toppling threat, handed out on this occasion, would not revive the credibility of the NC. It should be clearly understood that if the Mufti Government is in power today, it is not on the strength of its numbers. It has made the grade at the expense of the NC itself which has been rejected at the hustings in the 2002 Assembly polls. By subverting the popular verdict in any manner, the NC runs the risk of further eroding its sympathy and support at the ground level.

Therefore, the NC leadership would do well to be extremely cautious. It will do much better to achieve its desire of making a comeback with the approval of the people. Its misplaced angry outbursts could complicate its position. It is not an ordinary phenomenon that despite the electoral setback, the party retains the reach, capacity and capability on the ground, apart from a historic background which nobody can take away from it. Except for in Leh, where it has lost heavily because of its own misdoing, the NC retains close links with the other parts of the State. In Kashmir, its cadre has been the worst victim of terrorism and it owes to them to stand again on its feet. In the Jammu region, it has over the years lost the support and goodwill of intelligentsia who had always given the party's political thinking a wise, mature and secular tinge. The rally in this city should reassure the party leadership that it does not have to worry so far as its future is concerned. All that it must do now is go about its task in a systematic manner on a popular plane. It may then realise its wish to regain its pride of place in the State's polity.

Time-tested ties

In December 1955, Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin had visited the Valley and declared in Srinagar that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had already decided to be part of India. Actually, according to a version, they had told the State's leaders that whenever they were in trouble, they would have just to shout for their help from the Lal Chowk. This was to underline the proximity of India and the erstwhile Soviet Union both at the ideological and geographical level. Since then there has been no doubt that the two countries have stood by each other in every crisis. The Soviet Union's role has been truly unforgettable in helping India overcome the mischief and machinations of the Anglo-American block in the sixties and the seventies in particular. It is heartening that the break-up of the Soviet Union has not strained the ties between India and its former constituents. In fact, they remain as warm and cordial as they were with the united republic. It is significant that the friendship between India and Russia, notably, is as strong as ever. This fact has been driven home further by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's recent visit to Russia. In a declaration signed by him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two countries have clearly shown that they retain similar perceptions on problems affecting the globe, including the one in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Indeed, there has been appreciation for India's efforts in improving relations with Pakistan. A key accord between the two countries has been in space research which includes Russian assistance to an Indian lunar mission. Remarkably, in the meanwhile, the relations between India and the United States have also shown tremendous improvement. This has provoked Pakistan to describe India as the US's 'latest blue-eyed boy'. The truth is that India is slowly but surely moving to occupy a reckonable position in the international community. Even while exploring new horizons, it is keen to preserve its time-tested friendships. The joint declaration with Russia bears testimony to this thorough and healthy approach.

Periscope on Pakisan
Farce called democracy

The meeting of the Corps com-manders of the Pakistan Army where it was decided that General-President Pervez Musharraf would not doff his military uniform can best be described as a "conclave of the supra-constitutional authority". In one stroke it demonstrated that the fulmination of the opposition parties in Parliament over the Legal Framework Order is in no way an exercise of democratic rights. They had just been told to accept it or be damned.

A.R. Siddiqi in an article in DAWN maintains: "The question for us to decide now is whether a duly elected democratic and stable Government or an Army chief, approved by his corps commanders to stay on, would be better suited to face up to a given contingency.

"The coverage of a recent meeting of the corps commanders Presided over by Gen Musharraf needs critical examination. It is an event with wide-ranging implications of a fundamental nature likely to have an impact on the conduct of national affairs if carried to the logical conclusion.

A.R. Siddiqi in his DAWN article added: "The two major issues reported to have come up for debate (and ultimate consensus) at the meeting pertained to the role and status of the Army chief as head of State (and, in effect, of government) in a dual capacity, with his general's uniform as an essential component. The unanimous opinion emerging from the meeting was that ‘no dictation should be accepted to shed the military uniform’."

"The Federal cabinet was informed of 'some' of the decisions of the crucial commanders' meeting. In the routine language of official files, whatever was conveyed to the cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Jamali would have been 'For Info (information) Only'. That would, in practical terms, preclude any further action at the cabinet level contrary to the military commanders decision."

Khaled Ahmad, in an article in FRIDAY TIMES analyses the nature and complexion of the Pakistan Army thus: "The final and supreme exponent of power (in Pakistan) is the Army. Its support to jihad empowered the clergy and put it far beyond the 'intimidation potential' of the political leaders. Pakistan had got used to this almost super-human power combination. It could not be challenged from within Pakistan in the foreseeable future.

"In societies aspiring to pure ideals, constitutions can be changed with impunity to empower a Government beyond the democratic norm. In fact in such societies democracy itself may be looked upon as an obstacle. Sometimes, it may be put forward that democracy works in advanced societies but for Pakistan one might need tough laws for the sake of deterrence. This is not true always.

"The fact is that leadership in Pakistan continues to rely on an idea of power that is quite primitive. Power in this sense the power to harm or intimidate. Why should a leader aspire to possess the ability to harm? The objective is obedience. The leader wants to be obeyed and his panoply of power is in fact his device of persuasion to obey. Great leaders have popular following, but they also have this other, factor working in their favour -- they can harm you if you don't obey. The 'disobedient' are punished in two ways: they are isolated from the majority tha is happy in obedience, and they come to suffer losses of one kind or another.

"The religious parties could not win the electoral wars as were there late arriving at the locus of power. The credit for inventing the 'student wing' as a source of power goes to them. The religious leaders developed the option of using the power of the 'student wings' when they did not have the power to use the state machinery. In the earlier stages of Pakistan's statehood they too were made 'obedient' through the use of power to harm by the leaders in power. But with the invention of the 'student wing', they came into possession of a countervailing force that the state learned to respect."

Khalid Ahmed says: "The final and supreme exponent of power is the Army. All nations create armies but keep them insulated against the political system because of their potential to exercise the power to intimidate. They are at all times subordinated to civilian institutions. They are created to use the power to promise to harm on other States. When the Army started using it on Pakistan, the effect was more or less the same as in the case of the feudals and the clergy: instant charisma and widespread obedience."

Little wonder, then, that the portly figure of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali should already be on the verge of extinction. Stresses Ayaz Amir in an article in DAWN: "Zafarullah Jamali is the latest in a long line of Prime Ministers who should soon be looking for burial space in the capital. Around Islamabad's campfires as this new ad (a new Prime Minister is needed) is circulated, two thing are being forgotten: The problems of 'real' democracy are less managerial than political. Jamali represented only himself, not even Balochistan …. Military strongmen like Prime Ministers at once ultra-obedient and super-efficient; a tough prescription to follow.

"The knives are out for him and his sins, real or alleged, are being recounted with a zeal that sounds a bit funny considering that Jamali was not elected Prime Minister by anyone but selected for the job by the President and his men. If he is now proving to be unsuitable, who is to blame? His friends will swear to his loyalty and easy-going nature. They'll be hard put to swear to his competence. So who deserves quartering? Jamali or his selectors?"

Ayaz Amir makes a saucy comparison to underscore his point: "Anyone with doubts on this score can consult the track record of Pakistan's cricket czar, serving Lt Gen Tauqir Zia. The cricket team can march from one disaster to another. Players can be axed, captains changed but no finger dare be pointed at Zia. Men in uniform can do no wrong. Which makes it a silly question to ask why Gen Pervez Musharraf is not keen to take off his uniform. Sooner ask a king why he is not keen to take off his crown."

But, still, there are straws in the wind like the "landmark judgment" the Sindh High Court's (SHC) verdict that a civilian cannot be tried by a military court under the Pakistan Army Act, 1951, for violation of the Official Secrets Act, DAILY TIMES says editorially: "We hope that the SHC decision will go a long way in eradicating the practice by the Army of violating civilians’ rights by arresting and trying them under the Army Act.

"The other determination by the SHC, both implicit in its hearing of a petition challenging a military court's trial of a civilian under the Army Act as well as explicitly stated in its judgement, is that a civilian court can hear such a case and override the decision of a military court.

"This is a landmark judgment. In many earlier cases, the higher courts have taken a different route, refusing to touch cases involving the Army versus a civilian citizen of Pakistan," the DAILY TIMES said hopefully.

(ADNI Bureau)

Epilepsy: Causes and Cure

By Dr S K Gupta

Normally, brain cells communicate with each other through electrical impulses that work together to control the body’s movements and keep the body’s organs functioning properly. When thousands to millions of electrical impulses occur at the same time producing abnormal electrical activity, it determines the type of seizure.

There are over thirty types of seizures, some severe than others. stare off into space, giving the appearance that the person is simply day dreaming. Others may experience a more dramatic seizure (Tonic-clonic seizure) where the persons loses consciousness and the entire body stiffens and then twitches or jerks uncontrollably.

People of all ages, races and in all walks of life can develop epilepsy. It is not contagious, and it is not mental illness. Most forms of epilepsy are not inherited, but it may run in some families.

Today’s treatment options can control most of the seizures. In fact, many people with epilepsy lead normal lives and have no symptoms between seizures. The aim of treatment is to stop the seizures.

Symptoms ?

The frequency and type of seizure varies from person to person. Some people have more than one type. Commonly epileptic seizures are classified into two major categories partial and generalised. The form a seizure depends on the part of the brain in which it occurs and on how widely it spreads out from its point of origin.

If the abnormal electrical activity involves one area of the brain, the seizure is partial. The person may not lose consciousness, but can experience a range of symptoms: sudden jerky movements of one part of the body, such as an arm or leg, sudden fear, facial movements, disturbances or hallucinations of vision, hearing of smell, nausea, vomiting or stomach discomfort.

Types

Some type of partial seizure (called complex partial seizures) may cause the person to have a change of consciousness. They may be dazed and confused, unaware of where they are or what they are doing. They may exhibit chewing or repetitive arm and hand movements. Moreover, people with this type of seizure will not remember what they have experienced.

When the entire brain is involved, the seizure is generalised. Like partial seizure, there are many different symptoms, body movements, and activities. Some people stare off into space, while others may have a full conviction with the complete loss of consciousness and jerking movements of limbs (tonic-clonic seizure).

Just before having seizures, some people experience an aura, which is a sensation of warning of a coming seizure. Some people feel a sense of tension or anxiety, may hear a musical sound, sense an odor or taste, or experience some other change in sensation. Often this aura gives the person, time to get to a safe place to avoid injury.

Dealing with Problem

Because there is no test to diagnose epilepsy, we must rely on interpreting patient’s medical and family history. When the patient describes what he or she experienced, and some one who witnessed the seizures describe what he saw, one can often determine what kind of seizure the patient experienced and treat it.

One must ask about the patient’s past medical history, the mother’s pregnancy, and the family’s medical history. The doctor will do general physical and neurological examination to look for the underlying cause of the seizure.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) test is a painless recording of the patient’s brain waves. The EEG, however, may appear normal even if the patient has epilepsy. Another painless test- a magnetic resonance imaging Study or MRI— may reveal scar tissue or a structural abnormally within the brain, helping the doctor to make a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Main Causes

The main causes of epilepsy are: injury to brain, during or after birth, infections that damage the brain, toxics substance that affect the brain, lack of oxygen to the brain, disturbance in blood circulation to brain, metabolism or nutrition imbalance, hereditary disease affecting the brain, high fever, tumour of the brain or other generative diseases.

Most major epileptic seizure last only a minute or two. All that is necessary is to let the seizure run its course and to ensure that the person is in no physical danger and can breathe. However, a person who experiences repeated seizures and does not recover consciousness between attacks should get immediate medical attention. This type of repeated seizure is called status epilepticus. This is life threatening and could also cause brain damage.

First Aid

Keep clam, help the person to the floor and loosen clothing around the neck, remove sharp or hot objects that could injure, turn the person on one side, so saliva could flow out of the mouth, place a cushion under the head, Do no put anything in person’s mouth, after the seizure allow the person to rest or sleep, if necessary, some people will be confused or feel weak after a seizure and may need help getting home.

Treatment Must

The most common treatment of epilepsy is daily use of anticonvulsant drugs, which allow many people with epilepsy to enjoy a healthy life and continue normal activities.The drugs, prescribed alone or in combination are adjusted over time until the best combination is found for each person. Many people with epilepsy must take medicine for three or four years to prevent further seizures. Neurologist may advise a slow withdrawal of the drug if a person has had no seizure for 3-4 years.Those for whon anti-convulsant drugs fail to control the seizures, surgery to remove injured brain tissue may be possible. A thorough evaluation including the recording of a seizure with EEG, video and neuro psychological testing is performed to determine surgical candidacy.

Epilepsy is the second most common neurological disorder and its incidence is 0.5 to 1.7 per cent in the general population. The terms seizure and fit are synonymous. Anyone can suffer from Epilepsy and it can occur at any age as also it has been observed that fits may take place anytime of the day or night, during sleep or awake stage. Fit may occur daily or at intervals of days, weeks, months or even years.

Notable Persons

An interesting feature is that many notable persons have had epilepsy and these include: Alexander the Great, Isaac Newton, a renowned mathmatician and scientist; Pythagoras Alfred Nobel (physicist) Jonty Rhodes (South African criketer) Leo Tolstoy (writer), Napolean Bonaparte, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ram Krishana Paramhans and Gautam Budhha suffered fron the epilepsy. It is not curse of God.

A social awareness has to be created to control this second most common neurological ailment. Such affected person proper support of the family and the society. Epilepsy is neither infectious nor contagious. Proceedures like making patients smell a shoe or hitting him with the broom have no role in control of fits. They can marry and women can produce children. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder and can be controlled with drug-therapy over a period of time.

Darkness at noon

By Vishiesh Verma

The most striking part of Indian history of education is the progress made by Indian girls during the last 126 years. It was in 1877 that Calcutta University opened its doors for the girls to appear in matriculation examination. Madras and Bombay Universities followed the lead in 1881 and 1883 respectively and allowed girls to appear in the said examination. In 1882, at college level there were 35 girls in the total student body of 10538. In 1888 Bombay University conferred Bachelor of Arts degree on first Indian girl. In 1915, first time in India a girl was admitted in Medical college in Bombay. Smt. C B Mathamma was the first Indian woman to clear civil service exam. in 1949.

At present there are five universities and 1100 colleges exclusively for women. There are 11 women Vice Chancellors, 3 Registrars, 66 Deans and 13 Directors. The women are holding many prestigious positions in various departments. More than 50 thousand of them are engineers. The ratio of women working at higher education is:-

There is one women for every ten male teachers, in Research the ratio is 1:9, in professional colleges, it is 1:6 in general education it is 1:4. The women lecturers in affiliated colleges are 21 percent. In University departments they are 11.6 percent. There are two women for every hundred men who are University professors.

Education has helped women to get their seats increased in Parliament from 4 percent in 1952 to 8.9 percent in 1999 not very significant, but at the village and district levels, nearby one million women are heads and members of local self Government institutions.

Life expectancy of women which was 40.6 years in 1961-71 rose to 58.1 years during 1990-91 and has reached 62 years in 2001.

Women at senior positions

Women’s share in paid employment in industry and services stands to 15 percent. In decision making capacities (IAS, IFS, IPS) the number of women though increased from 311 in 1985 to 501 in 1996 still it needs to be improved. Available figures indicate that only 5.7 percent women are in various administrative services.

The Women and Five Year Plans

Right from the first five year plan, the issue of providing equal status to women has been sharply focussed in our development process. While the first four five year plans focussed on organising various welfare activities and giving high priority to women’s education, the fifth and sixth plans witnessed a shift in approach from welfare to overall development of women with a three pronged thrust on health, education and employment of women. The seventh plan came up with a significant dent with efforts to identify and promote beneficiary-oriented programme with the intention of extending direct benefits to women. The eighth plan (1992-97) made a further significant shift from development to women’s empowerment. It recommended 30 percent reservation for women at all levels of Government. It also envisaged that benefits of development from different sectors do not bypass women. The strategy of 30 percent of benefits or funds flow to women from all ministries and departments.

The Education of Girls

During the last more than five decades the participation of girls has increased in primary, middle, secondary/higher secondary and higher education from 28.1 percent to 43.7 percent from 16.1 percent to 40.9 percent from 13.30 percent to 38.6 percent and from 10.0 percent to 36.89 percent respectively.

However, the participation of girls is still below fifty percent at all stages of education.

The enrolment of girls in various courses at higher level is stated below:-

Table 1 - Enrolment of girls: 2002

There are negative indicators of women’s development and one of them is high rate of dropouts at all levels of education. According to an official estimate for 1995-96 only 43.2 percent girls attended primary schools, 39 percent were at middle schools and 35.3 percent at secondary school stage. The high dropout rate at school level has resulted in their mass scale illiteracy. There are only eight Indian states where the literacy rate of the women is fifty percent or above. There are extreme diversities in literacy rate ranging from 86.93 percent in Kerala to 7.68 percent in Barmour district of Rajasthan. The slow movement of literacy rate is given below -

Table 2 (Growth of Women literacy -

There is positive co-relation between illiteracy, population growth, superstition, disease, poverty etc. Time to time laws have been passed and taken the shape of Acts to improve the quality of life of women. These acts remained ineffective since women can’t read and interpret them and they continue to be the victims of exploitation. Problem of dowry and subsequent ill treatment to women emanate from the factor of illiteracy. The number of bride burning cases increased from 427 in 1983 to 6917 in 1998. It is the effect of illiteracy and ignorance that there is the shocking decline in the ratio of the girl child due to selective abortions and infauticide. Recently a booklet, "Missing Mapping the adverse child ratio in India" has been compiled by India’s Registrar - General and Census Commissioner, the Ministry of Health Family Welfare and UNFPA. The publication notes a national decline from 945 to 927 in the number of girls per thousand boys age 0.6 between 1991-2001. The grave situation has been observed in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat where the ratio has drastically declined to fewer than 800 girls for every 1000 boys.

Crime Against Women

Murder against women is now committed with impunity - no clues of criminals. Congress leaders Natwar Singh lost daughter and daughter-in-law, Ajit Jogi lost daughter, Mrs Bhattal of Punjab (SAD) too lost daughter. The brilliant Journalist Shivani Bhatnagar and Madhumita a poetess lost their lives. These cases are only tips of ice berg.

Values of Women Education

A recent World Bank Study comments "Educating a girl isn’t charity, it is a good economics and if developing countries are to abolish poverty, they will have to educate the girls. The report adds, the economic and social returns on investment in women education are substantial and on the whole greater than those of boys. Educating women yields high returns by cutting through the vicious circle of illiterate mothers and daughters. Women education also means delayed marriage. As a consequence of mass scale illiteracy in poor backward families 40 percent of Indian girls aged between 15 and 19 years are married. The educated women may have better knowledge of family planning. They also value smaller size of families. Since there is widespread illiteracy and poverty 8 percent of India’s 27 million annual births are to mothers below the age of 19 years.

Women’s work force

The percentage of women labour to total work force has declined from 28.98 percent in 1951 to 26.8 percent in 1996. This comprise 94 percent of the work force in un-organised sector. The analysis data available concludes that in urban areas teaching, medical and health, clerical, receptionist work, telephone operators are the favourite occupations having largest concentration of women workers. Recently the management cadre has attracted upper middle class women and their participation in this field has also been increasing.

Unfortunately, most of the developmental initiatives have by and large benefitted the urban educated women. The status of rural women remained almost unchanged.

Due to higher dropout rate only a small proportion of women could continue their education after class VIII. The existing education system pushes them away from scientific and technological subjects.

Besides, an overwhelming proportion of vocational, higher technical educational facilities are located in urban or semi urban areas. The benefit of increasing number of schools has gone to women of urban areas for which their participation in the tertiary sector of labour force has increased upto 12.25 percent. The proportion of rural women in technical and vocational education is very low, that is below 0.5 percent.

Employment and Technological inputs

The survey on technical and vocational education highlights that there are 42.25 units of technical and vocational training institutes, out of which only 770 (18.2 percent) are meant for women of which 242 exist in our 5 lakh villages, giving negligible percentage of coverage to rural women folk. At present out of 839 polytechnics only 121 (14 percent) are women polytechnics and these are very unevenly distributed. This shows how rural women have been simply bypassed from the whole process of industrialization.

Besides in the un-organised sector there are about 100 million women construction workers who are changing very face of India with their bare hands. The women domestic helpers are available every where. In agriculture the rural women share the work of transplanting, harvesting thrashing, drying, carrying the product at its destination etc. In this context a research study about the working condition of women in Himalayan region was conducted. Its results are; A pair of bullock works for 1064 hours a man works for 1202 hours and a woman works 3485 hours in a year on one Acre of land.