Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Fishing in troubled UP waters
Men, Matters, Memories

By M L Kotru

Ominous signs for UPA
Government

By Kedar Nath Pandey

The Congress-led UPA government is in trouble as its allies are pulling in different directions. Whether it is the NCP in Maharashtra, or the DMK in Tamil Nadu, Indian Muslim League in Kerala, or the Janata Dal (S) in Karnataka, or the JMM (S) in Jharkhand, or the RJD in Bihar, the Samajwadi Party in UP the Congress finds itself in a constant state of conflict to .. .......more

Desertification in India

By G V Joshi

There are two deserts in India. The Thar Desert (also known as the Great Indian Desert) is a desert mainly located in the State of Rajasthan in northwest India. It continues into Pakistan as the Cholistan Desert. The Thar Desert is a tract of rolling sand hills, covering 200,000 sq km of territory. . .......more

EDITORIAL

Bereft of sincerity

If ever an award is instituted for making announcements without conviction it ought to go to the leadership of "Azad" Kashmir as the occupied territory is locally known. More than a year ago its "Prime Minister" Sikandar Hayat Khan had dropped a clear hint that nobody would be debarred from contesting the elections in the region. He had said that his government was contemplating removing a clause in the existing law that debarred those from contesting polls who did not swear by Jammu and Kashmir's integration with Pakistan. Apparently he had bitten more than he could chew. Nothing of the sort has happened. Although the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) headed by Mr Amanullah Khan has once again jumped into the fray and fielded candidates it would have all its nomination papers rejected. It believes in a united and independent J&K and does not submit to the legal provision seeking an oath of allegiance to Pakistan. Now comes another pious statement not only by another top "Azad" Kashmir leader but also a Constitutional functionary. A former "Prime Minister" Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has claimed at a Press conference in London that international media and observers have been invited to monitor the "Azad" Kashmir polls scheduled to be held on July 11. He has made the assertion while making a comparison with the polls in our part of the State which, according to him, are rigged. It is only too well-known that as a handpicked leader of the newly-formed People's Muslim League (PML) the Barrister is under tremendous pressure. He is hard put to explain his credentials as a genuine leader. Knowledgeable circles feel that he has willingly become a tool in the hands of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to toe his line in "Azad" Kashmir. Of course, one can brush aside the Barrister's remark about the electoral contests on this side of the LoC. Only if he had seen the last Assembly by-elections on both sides of the Pir Panjal he would have been eating his words.

What is significant, however, is that the Musharraf Government too is wary of adverse propaganda about its actual designs in the occupied area. That the PML is its creation is an open secret. It has been floated to cut Ms Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) down to size and trigger confusion in the ruling Muslim Conference. The Barrister had become the "Prime Minister" in the past on the PPP's mandate is presently the General's point man. This background should explain the genesis of pronouncement by "Azad" Kashmir Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Mohammad Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry that independent observers from across the world would be invited to watch the polling. Coming from him the declaration should carry some credibility. But those who have watched Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's election tend to keep their fingers crossed. It is a ruse for subverting democracy.

Who all will be invited to "Azad" Kashmir on the day of voting? Neither the CEC nor the Barrister has mentioned the names. The only categorical reference that the CEC has made is that India will not be there. Does it not confirm the worst fears? What else can one make out of this decision? How can those who vouch for democracy sideline its sole true practitioner in this part of the globe?

Kumble the leader

There is some consolation for India in the rain-hit drawn second Test against the West Indies at St Lucia. Old warhorse Anil Kumble has moved one step up in the ladder of maximum wicket-takers. He took three wickets in West Indies' first innings to cross West Indian Courtney Walsh (519 wickets) and emerge as the No 4 highest-wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket. By now Kumble has claimed 523 victims in 108 Tests. Australia's Shane Warne tops the list with 685 wickets in 140 Tests. It is generally believed that he faces a serious threat from Sri Lanka's ever-smiling master of guile Muttiah Muralitharan who is second with 635 victims in 106 Tests. Another Australian Glenn McGrath occupies the third position with a total haul of 542 from 119 matches. Apart from Kumble only one more Indian figures in the 20-bowler 300 plus club. Former skipper and all-rounder Kapil Dev had grabbed 434 wickets from 131 Tests during an illustrious career. That he remains No 6 even today speaks volumes of the effort he has put in. It was famous about him that he put heart into everything he did --- bowling, fielding or batting. Unlike Kumble who is an ace leg-spinner Kapil Dev was a pace man. Both are tall and elegant in their differing styles. In his mid-thirties Kumble has proved that he still has a lot of stamina left. Highly regarded as a team man he for his part is well aware of his status as an elder player of the national squad. That is why he is always keen to set an example. As he himself remarked once: "I am senior and a key member of the side having played for this long. The pressure is on everyone and more so on me. It's important for me to lead the way."

One will find that Kumble and Muralitharan are the only spinners from the sub-continent who have taken more than 300 Test wickets. The others are all fast bowlers. Following Kapil Dev in that order are Pakistan's Wasim Akram (414 wickets, 104 Tests), Waqar Younis (373 and 87) and Imran Khan (362 and 88) and Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas (306 and 93). There are thus two Indians, three Pakistanis and two Sri Lankans in the elite club of 20. Muralitharan, Kumble, Kapil and Wasim figure among the first ten. Chaminda Vaas is placed at the end. Interestingly, one can almost get a prize for remembering his full name which is one of the longest in cricket: Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas. Put together the performance of these players shows the new facet of what is known as a gentleman's game. Currently the cricket is evenly balanced between the traditional playing nations and those who have learnt it rather the hard way. Does it need any elaboration? In fact, within the sub-continent too the sport has changed hands from the members of affluent classes to those who have picked it up initially in streets. Kumble is the leader among the bowlers in the country. He has earned his place by dint of hard work and determination. Equally remarkable is the fact that he has kept his cool and composure. How soon will another star emulate him?

Fishing in troubled UP waters
Men, Matters, Memories

By M L Kotru

Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a former Prime Minister and father of Mandalisation of upcountry politics, is back at it. With actor-turned politician, the Samajwadi rebel-MP, Raj Babbar in tow, he has resumed his pastime of fishing in troubled UP waters, hoping to chip away at Mulayam Singh's casteist-Muslim vote-bank and probably make a dent into Mayawati Behnji's base. Behnji though may turnout to be a tougher nut to crack. The political pragmatist that she obviously is Mayawati has been busy wooing the upper-castes including Brahmins and Rajputs for nearly two years while continuing to retain her Dalit constituency.

The VP-Babbar duo hopes to be able to get Muslims on its side, given the Raja of Manda's firm belief that Muslims continue to love him and besides he could always full back on Mandal. It was he who pulled out the Mandal report after it was nearly lost for over a decade. Add to it Raj Babbar's Muslim connexion; he is married to the daughter of the late Communist leader from UP, Sajjad Zaheer. The Raja of Manda may have resurrected Mandal during his otherwise forgettable Prime Ministership but his thunder has been stolen by yet another Raja Sahab, Arjun Singh, the Union HRD Minister. The Raja from Madhya Pradesh has given a new dimension to Mandal by hitching his wagon to the OBCs. Arjun Singh is nothing if not a tactician, a poor man's Chanakya. He took cover behind an amendment passed by Parliament granting 27 percent reservation to OBCs in all major educational institutions. His own Prime Minister may have been embarrassed by his announcement but that was one of his purposes. The launching of the Arjun missile took me back in time to the 80s when the Supreme Court had dithered over the issue of reservation for the socially and educationally backward classes and the Central Government had simply passed the buck on to the State Governments.

As early as 1953, the Centre appointed the first Backward Classes Commission under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution headed by Kaka Kalelkar. The Commission submitted its report in March 1955. It identified as many as 2399 communities as socially and educationally backward. The Government noticed that out of these communities 930 alone totalled 115 (1951 census) and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes accounted for 70 million; if the entire community were to be regarded as backward, the really needy would be swamped by the multitude and hardly receive any special attention or assistance.

The Government had a point in holding that the Kalelkar Commission report was hardly unanimous in devising the yardsticks of backwardness. The Chairman himself diluted the importance of the report by observing in his forwarding letter that, although initially he was inclined to the view that special help should be given only to the Backward Classes and even the poor and the deserving among the upper classes may safely be kept out, he was already having second thoughts about caste being the measure of backwardness.

If Kaka Kalelkar's forwarding letter was a bit curious, the Centre's reaction was the more so. It decided not to have any quota for the Backward classes in the Central services, but the Home Ministry told the States that they had to choose their own criteria for determining backwardness, though in the view of the Government of India, it would be better to apply economic tests rather than go by caste.

The result was a plethora of commissions in the States, each, generally, making caste as the test of backwardness. It was Rane Commission in Gujarat which departed from this line of thinking and suggested (economic) means as the substitute test.

The second Backward Classes Commission, headed by B P Mandal, considered the application of the economic tests in determining social and educational backwardness as misconceived. It felt that, in view of the permanent stratification of society in hierarchical caste order, members of the lower castes had always been discriminated against in all walks of life and this had resulted in their social, educational and economic backwardness. Thus, in this country, the low caste status of a person had a direct bearing on his social backwardness.

It argued that caste was an important factor in the identification of the other Backward Classes. It met the argument that the Constitution talks of ''socially and educationally backward class of citizens'' and not of any particular caste by suggesting that caste also comprised a class of citizens and if a caste as a whole was socially and educationally backward, reservation could be made in favour of such a class. It opposed the division of the Backward classes into ''backward'' and ''most backward''. It agreed that the reservation quota for the Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes should not exceed 50% the norm laid down by the Supreme Court in a case-but explained that further reservation could be made for women and other weaker sections of society.

The Mandal Commission submitted its report in 1980 but once again the Centre took no clear decision on it. One wonders, therefore, what Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi meant when he said that his Government had not been contemplating any change in the reservation policy. Since the Centre, as evidenced by its reactions to the report of the Kalelkar and Mandal Commissions, appeared to have had no policy on the subject, did continuance of the reservation policy imply continued dithering ?

Rather than leaving the States to fend for themselves, would it not have been better for the Center to spell out its views on reservation clearly ? This, however, would assume a clear conception of what the Centre's policy and goals are. Rajiv was determined that he wanted to take the country into the 21st Century. What were the costs involved ?

It is possible to take the view that, since India lives in many ages and the South and Northern Block complexes in New Delhi are hardly its true symbol, no single yardstick can apply and the need is to do the maximum good to the maximum number. But surely playing politics with the reservation issue is not the way to tackle the problem.

Ominous signs for UPA Government

By Kedar Nath Pandey

The Congress' relations with the Left and the Samajwadi Party are turning bitter by the day. The Left is not content with routine criticism of the Congress on matters of foreign policy and economic reform. Much to the dislike of Big Brother, it has started drawing uncomfortable comparison between the BJP and the Congress, dubbing both as facilitators of the MNC's takeover of India's economy.

The constant refrain is not to allow the Congress to project itself as the representative of India's working class, the low middle class, the rural populace, the "aam admi". By pitching the Congress and the BJP on one platform, the Left expects to expand its own base, an idea that forms the centre-point of the CPI (M)'s future plans for the Hindi heartland. But more than anything, the flag bearers of the Indian Left are growing very suspicious of the Congress' hidden agenda. They have openly criticised the manner in which the UPA Government in violation of the common minimum programme (CMP) is taking all economic and foreign policy decisions. The CPM-led demonstration against the hike of petroleum prices is the latest example how the differences are growing; it is an ominous sign for the stability of the Manmohan Singh Government. In private, most Left leaders have little doubt that the Congress wanted to use the UPA to regain its own glory days?

The UPA's problem is also one of responsibility and accountability of its leaderships. During the NDA's days, George Fernandes might have been the convenor of the NDA, but Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was the supreme leader of the alliance. Fernandes's role was limited to keeping the coalition politically functional. But in the UPA, its chairperson Sonia Gandhi is more powerful than Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

In a way, both political and executive powers are vested in Ms Gandhi. Never before has the PMO's supremacy in decision-making been compromised this much. Also, both Ms Gandhi and Dr. Singh have far less understanding of the complexities of Indian politics than Fernandes or Vajpayee. Ms Gandhi still has her coterie to feed her the pasta and pizza of desi rajniti but Dr. Singh - economist and essentially a realist - seems to have rightly sensed that to survive as Prime Minister, he could keep away from politics. Let that be the exclusive domain of 10-Janpath. With both UPA top leaders being political apprentices, the "coterie" has a big say in major decision making.

The days ahead will be one of challenge for the UPA. With the Congress and the Left heading for all-out war the gulf between the allies is only bound to widen. Now onwards, the UPA's conduct is going to come in for closer, critical scrutiny.

A distinction has to be made between politics and governance. It is in the political arena where the UPA is losing its sheen. Given the nature of relations between the Congress and its allies, the UPA is largely seen as a conglomerate of suspicious partners, whose own survival and growth depend on devouring each other. The political cost of such an impression could be overwhelming, if the UPA is to survive its full term in office.

The tug-of-war between the Congress and the Left has proceeded without decisively derailing the UPA government's foreign or economic policies, but the political cost of the uneasy alliance with the Left and the nature of Muslim voting should at some time invite serious scrutiny from Congress Party managers.

When the Left pounced on the Bush visit to mobilise Muslim opinion against the Congress, and the Congress leadership hit back by accusing the Marxists of communalising foreign policy, few though the controversy would snowball into such an important poll plank. The manner in which the Left Front extended the debate on the Bush visit to radicalise Muslim opinion in Kerala makes a mockery of the Left's secular averment. Kerala's Muslim Gulf link made its voters all the more sensitive to the issues of the US attack on Iraq and its muscle flexing against Iran. India's vote against Iran in the IAEA therefore also turned into a poll issue in a state where more than 1,500 farmers committed suicide during five years of UDF rule and where the crash in prices of coconut and spices affected the livelihoods of more than two thirds of the population whose lives were linked to the cash crops.

The Marxists drafted the perfect script to touch on the collective emotive chord of the Muslims. By projecting the Congress as a comrade-in-arms of the "imperialistic and anti-Islamic Bush", the communists ensured that the red and green were united in a common bond. The moderate Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) paid the price for being part of the Congress-led UDF, and lost half the seats it had won in 2001.

The Muslim voting pattern is a cause for worry because the nature of the appeal that has galvanised minority opinion is both jehadi and divisive. While Muslims continue to occupy the bottom ranks of development and education yardsticks, the success of the Left and AUDF in turning them into a vote bank shows that religion continues to dictate the course of political discourse in Islam. The AUDF's rise could also be a trendsetter for the formation of similar regional Muslim outfits. No one should be surprised if someone like Haji Yakub Qureshi, the UP minister who announced a Rs 51 crore award for the killing of the Danish cartoonist, takes his cue from Badruddin Azmal.

In fact, the shift of Muslim votes away from the Congress could well be a catalyst for the formation of a Third Front. If the BJP fails to stem its decline, then this anti-Congress formation could make a major dent in the Muslim vote bank. The idea that a Left-led Third Front makes a serious bid for power in the next general election cannot be ruled out.

In view of such a scenario regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party and the Asom Gana Parishad have joined hands with the Left in the hope to form the Third Front. The former chief minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa and the NCP leader Mr. Sharad Pawar will not be averse to ditch the Congress Party to join hands with Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chandra Babu Naidu, or Lalu Prasad Yadav, or Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes along with others to form a conglomerate leaving out the two national parties - the Congress and the BJP. Nothing is impossible in the kind of immoral politics practised in India. INAV

Desertification in India

By G V Joshi

The Thar Desert is a tract of rolling sand hills, covering 200,000 sq km of territory. It is bordered by the irrigated Indus plain to the West, the Aravalli Range to the southeast, the Rann of Kutch to the south, and the Punjab plain to the north and northeast. The name Thar is derived from 'thul', the general term for the region's sand ridges.

There is a legend about the origin of Thar Desert. In Ramayana, it is mentioned that when Lord Rama had to cross the ocean with his army to Lanka, he decided to use a fire-weapon (Agniastra) and dry up the ocean. All the living creatures of the ocean were much frightened for their lives and started pleading him not to do so.

However, as it was impossible to withdraw the weapon, Rama decided to point it to a distant sea and released it. That sea happened to be in the place, where Thar Desert now exists.

Though it is mythology, the more interesting part is that fossils have been excavated in this region that indicate the existence of marine life here once.

A team of researchers headed by Dr Martin Claussen of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has proposed that Thar Desert was created by changes in earth's orbit and the tilt of the earth's axis.

Some 9,000 years ago, the earth's tilt was 24.14 degrees, compared with the current 23.45 degrees, and the point in the earth's orbit that is closest to the sun occurred at the end of July, as compared with early January now. At that time, the Northern hemisphere received more summer sunlight, which amplified the Indian summer conditions.

It is possible that changes in earth's orbit and tilt created Thar Desert more or less at the same time as Sahara Desert, which lies in more or less the same latitude, between 23 degree N and 25 degree N. Both of them lie on the east side of large areas of water Atlantic in case of Sahara and Arabian Sea in the case of Thar.

The origin of the Thar Desert is a controversial subject. Some consider it to be 4000 to 10,000 years old, whereas other State that aridity started in this region much earlier. Another theory States that area turned to desert relatively recently: perhaps around 2000-1500 BC. Around this time the river Ghaggar ceased to be a major river and now terminates in the desert.

Most of the studies say that the old channels of the mythical river Sarasvati coincide with the bed of the present day Ghaggar and believe that the Satluj (Sutlej) along with the Yamuna once flowed into the present Ghaggar river. It is postulated that the Satluj is the main tributary of the Ghaggar and subsequent tectonic movements might have forced the Sutlej westwards, the Yamuna eastward the Ghaggar dried.

The second desert is known as Rann of Kutch. It covers an area of about 18,000 square km and lies almost entirely within Gujarat state along the border with Pakistan.

The little Rann of Kutch extends northeast from the Gulf of Kutch and occupies about 5,100 square km in Gujarat state. originally an extension of the Arabian Sea, the Rann of Kutch has been closed off by centuries of silting. During the time of Alexander, the Great it was a navigable lake, but it is now an extensive mudflat, inundated during monsoon season.

Deserts cover about a fifth of the earth's land area. The largest in the world is the Sahara in northern Africa. The Sahara occupies about 9 million square kilometers.

Sand overs about 10 to 20 per cent of most deserts. The rest of the land consists of gravel-covered plains, rocky hills and mountains, dry lake beds, and dry stream channels. Many desert soils are rich in salt, uranium, and other minerals.

In addition, large deposits of oil and natural gas lie under some deserts.

Most deserts in the world lie between the latitudes of 15 degree and 35 degree on each side of the earth's equateror.

Desertification is decline in the biological or economic productivity of the soil and arid and semiarid areas resulting from various factors, including human activities and variations in climate. Desertification refers to the formation and expansion of degraded soil. Desertification is found on every continent to some extent.

Desertification has now been recognized as a global problem. Desertification occurs in land under agriculture (both irrigated and non-irrigated), grassland as well as forests.

Loss of soil, deterioration of soil, and loss of natural vegetation all lead to desertification. Drought, a period of unusually dry weather, can cause loss of vegetation, which in turn leads to desertification. Poor land management and increasing population are factors that promote increased irrigation, improper cultivation or over cultivation, and increased numbers of livestock.

All these alter the land and the soil, diminish the resources, and increase the chances of desertification. Arid and semi-arid lands can be degraded even if there is no adjacent desert. Desertification can occur without drought, and drought can occur without resulting in desertification. Droughts are short-term and cyclical. By themselves, they do not degrade the land.

However, they intensify the pressures that lead to mismanagement of land, plant, and water resources ultimately leading to desertification.

Ironically, the availability of water for irrigation can cause desertification. Nearly all irrigation water contains some salt. If an irrigation system lacks a good drainage system, then the salt accumulates in the soil. Eventually, the salt reaches levels toxic to most plants leading to the desertification. Similar events have occurred in India and Pakistan.

Cultivation of the land, especially over - cultivation or the introduction of nonative plant species, can lead to the loss of topsoil and degradation of the soil.

In most cases of desertification, there is a reduction in total number of species, an increase in the proportion, of non-active plants, and a decline in overall biodiversity -the variety of life forms and the ecological roles they fill. Once desertification starts, it often causes changes that accelerate the process.

Desertification has become a large-scale global problem. It can also have impacts that extend beyond the immediate degraded area. PTI Feature