EDITORIAL
Challenge for all
The situation in Doda
district poses a serious challenge for all of us in the
State. It is nearly like what the overwhelming section of
population had faced in Gujarat not very long ago. They
had risen like one not only in the western State but also
elsewhere in the country to stand up to lunatics. It is a
matter of record that the conduct of the Bharatiya Janata
Party-led National Democratic Alliance Government at the
Centre at that time was remarkably in sharp contrast to
the purely BJP ruling dispensation in Gujarat that had
failed to rise to the occasion. In fairness to him Mr
Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was the Prime Minister then had
repeatedy reminded the State Government of its duties in
terms of governance. Yet another targetted grenade attack
in Doda on Wednesday leaves no doubt that the militants
are desperate to sharpen the communal cleavage in the
vast undulating terrain. This is the third serious
incident in the district in less than a month directed
against the minorities. By no yardstick can it be
dismissed as one more routine happening in a region
infested with the merchants of mischief. Clearly there is
an increasingly determined effort on the part of
terrorists to force the migration of the minority
segment. They have to be stopped in their tracks. Doda
district has been a true example of composite culture.
Its population is mixed consists as it does of two
dominating religions. Almost all its inhabitants speak
Dogri and Kashmiri with the same fluency as they do
several local dialects. Despite geographical handicaps
most of them are well educated and politically alert
which speaks of their inherent strengths. It will be a
pity were Doda to face the same fate as the Kashmir
region had met in terms of communal scenario at the hands
of the militants in the early 1990s.
It is not for nothing that
the militants have been focussing on Doda right from the
day one. as we have said in these columns earlier also
their obvious strategy has been to attain their wicked
aim of dividing the ordinary masses on religious lines.
They have carried out one massacre after the other with
this ulterior motive in mind. Like in the Valley they
have not indulged in killings of top leaders. This is to
be admitted. But it is possibly because their
wire-pullers have so far thought that they can do without
it. There is a reason that may have influenced this
perception. The Valley has comparatively high density of
population. It can feel the impact of just one symbolic
act of terror. On the other hand, Doda has widely
scattered populace. It can only be terrorised by mass
murders. The militants must have carefully calculated
this.
Of course, the Government,
security forces and vigilance defence committees (VDCs)
will do their job. But there is something more that is
required in this instance. There is need for the people
to forcefully convey their disapproval. The majority
community should reach to the victims and their families.
It has to tell the militants that they are misusing the
name of their religion. One man who does so is going to
make a difference in the State. Let there be no two
opinions about it.
Kushok Bakula
There are few leaders
whose personal appeal and charisma cut across their place
of birth and goes beyond all geographical barriers.
Kushok Bakula belonged to this rarest of rare category of
human beings. The most celebrated son of Leh he had made
an indelible impression in all spheres of life ----
spiritual, politics and diplomacy especially. Therefore,
it should be hardly surprising that as in his lifetime
after his death too his legend is growing. The best of
experts in international relations had their eyes wide
open in disbelief when Kushok Bakula had hastened the
demise of Communism in Mongolia. This was during his
stint as India's ambassador in the land-locked nation
between China and Russia. On the sheer strength of
Buddhism he had facilitated the conversion of an entire
population to democracy. It was hardly surprising,
therefore, that an official delegation from Mongolia was
present to bid adieu to him when he passed away in the
national capital on November 3, 2003. Of course, his
friends and admirers had flown in from several other
countries at that time. They still keep coming to pay
tributes to him. Kushok Bakula was a saint-politician. He
was a legislator, a minister in the State, Member of
Parliament and member of Minorities Commission. To cap it
all his ten-year stint as envoy had won him wide respect
and admiration. There was State mourning when he had left
his mortal remains behind. Since then the efforts are on
to perpetuate his memory so that the coming generations
could draw lessons from his exemplary existence. The
airport in Leh which has grown into a top tourist
destination has been appropriately named after him. A stupa
containing his ashes and relics has been installed at his
Spituk monastery that --- it is a coincidence ----
happens to overlook the airport. Moves are afoot to raise
a suitable memorial at the place where his last rites
were performed in Leh. The Ladakh Autonomous Hill
Development Council (Leh) has already built a road to the
spot. The Kushok Bakula Foundation has enlisted the
services of a few top architects who were close to the
late leader to design a proper structure. There is a
pending demand for naming the prestigious Central
Institute of Buddhist Studies in Choglamasar after him.
Kushok Bakula was the founder of this centre of higher
learning. Nothing that can be done should be spared to
honour the man who has given a distinct identity to
Ladakh.
Today as Ladakh observes
his 89th birth anniversary we join the local people in
fondly remembering him. Actually the people of Jammu and
Kashmir regions should also be actively involved in
functions associated with him. It is very important that
people in all three parts of the State know and respect
each other's heroes. Particularly all those deserve our
sincere gratitude who like Kushok Bakula have while
living up to local aspirations valiantly tried to build
harmonious human relations. They are attached with their
surroundings and yet separated from them because they
have no personal axe to grind. It is for the great men
like him that holy books have said: "from craving
springs grief, from craving springs fear, for him who is
wholly free from craving there is no grief, hence where
is fear?"
.
EU film festival
in India
By Santosh Mehta
The Eleventh
European Union (EU) film festival
just concluded in New Delhi. It
will now go to Kolkata, Chennai
and Thiruvananthapuram.
In Delhi, the
festival began with the screening
of ‘‘My
Russia’’, a
scintillating film by noted
Austrian film-maker Barbara
Graftner. She was present
alongwith Andrea Nurnberger, who
played the central role in the
film. It bagged the Max Ophuls
prize for Best film in 2002.
By presenting a
selection of modern European
cinema to the Indian public
through festivals once every two
years, organizers of the EU film
festival aim at projecting the
excellence of the European film
art, contributing to the
understanding and appreciation of
film cultures and to the
promotion of mutual
understanding, friendship and
cooperation among Indian and
European citizens. Says Austrian
Ambassador to India Dr (Mrs)
Jutta Stefan-Bastu
‘‘Bollywood films
reflect the colours and vibrancy
of life in India. Compared to
Indian films, European films are
somewhat sober and serious
!’’
Dr Alexander Spachis
of the Delegation of the European
Commission in India points out
that some of the films being
screened this year have been made
by young film directors, and most
of them have bagged awards and
are being appreciated by cinema
lovers and film critics in India
as well as in Europe. He
acknowledges that EU film
festivals are a huge success in
India thanks to the exposure they
receive in the media.
Filmmaker Barbara
Graftner studied biology before
she started studying medicine and
became a doctor in 1995. In 1966,
she began studying film
direction, and writing
screenplays. Six years later, she
founded her own film company
called Bonusfilm, of which she is
director. She wrote the script of
the film. ‘‘I made it
with very little money because I
simply had no money,’’
Barbara aid after the screening
of her film on the opening day.
‘‘My
Russia’’ is about a
manipulative mother, Margit, who
is a domineering, 40-year-old
divorcee with two grown up
children, living in Vienna with
her nice-guy boyfriend. She is
disappointed due to his son's
marriage to an Ukrainian woman,
Anna. But marriage gets off to a
rocky start when Hans ignores his
new wife's pleas to get higher
education. Chaos rapidly ensues
and long-simmering family
tensions reach a breaking point.
Andrea, who plays
the lead role, is a stage actress
and a mother of two grown up
children. She has acted in a
number of stage shows and films
in Berlin. She is familiar with
the technicalities of film-making
but, in Australia, she says you
cannot earn much money working in
films. She worked in
‘‘My Russia’’
for free.
The EU film festival
is composed of a bouquet of films
that provide vivid reflections of
the cultural streams of Europe
and the European life in a
certain socio-economic and
cultural environment. Most of the
films screened this time had won
prestigious awards in recent
years, such as Platinum Award
(for ‘‘The
Kiss,’’ 2004): Oscar
for best foreign language film
(Kolya, 1996), the CICAE award at
the Venice Film Festival
(‘‘Gille's
Wife,’’ 2004) and best
movie and best actress award at
the festival of Malga
(‘‘Hector’’
2004).
Other award-winning
films being screened this year in
the four Indian cities include:
‘‘Under The
Stars’’ ‘‘Dog
Nail Clipper’’,
‘‘Viper in the
Fist’’,
‘‘Kebab
Connection,’’
‘‘The
Cistern,’’
‘‘Guarded
Secrets’’,
‘‘Mystics’’
‘‘The Soul’s
Haven’’,
‘‘Zus And
Zo’’,
‘‘Squint Your
Eyes’’, ‘‘The
Murmuring Coast,’’
‘‘Escape to
Budin,’’ and
‘‘Cheese and
Jam’’.
‘‘The
Kiss’’ is made by
Belgian woman film director Hilde
Van Mieghem, who began as an
actress and appeared in over 20
films and as many TV dramas in
Belgium, Holland and Germany. She
became a writer and director in
1958. The overwhelming success of
her short film ‘‘De
Suikerpot’’ (75
festival selections and 16
awards) was a short cut to her
debut as a feature film director.
‘‘The Kiss’’
was shot in her home town,
Antwerp, and stars household
names, such as Jan Decleir and
Fedja van Huet. The film got her
the Platinum Award in 2004 and
best director award the same year
at the Zimbabwe International
Film Festival.
The film
‘‘Kolya’’ is
made by Czech Republic's film
director Jan Sverak.
As a student at the
department of documentary films,
Film and Television Academy of
Prague (1983-1988), he had
attracted attention of film fans
with his school production
‘‘Space Odyssey
II’’ and
‘‘Oilgobblers’’.
‘‘Oilgobblers’’
got the American Academy Award
‘‘Student
Oscar’’ in 1988. His
film ‘‘Accumulator
1’’ won the Media prize
at Venice and Granti Pix at the
IFF Yubari, Japan, in 1994.
‘‘Kolya’’
also got an Oscar in 1996 for
best foreign language film, and
established his fame as one of
the most successful young film
directors in Europe.
‘‘Kolya’’
is a bittersweet comedy set in
Prague about an aging bachelor
saddled with a small boy from
Russia. The story is set in the
late 1980s.
Jan Louka, a
musician, works hard but most of
his income goes to repairing his
mother's small house. A friend
comes up with a solution: at that
time many Soviet women were
willing to pay for a fake
marriage. So, he agrees but his
wife leaves behind his
five-year-old son, Kolya. At
first he considers the situation
a nightmare but his feelings
change when slowly: a warm
relationship develops between the
man and the boy. When the
‘‘Valvet
Revolution’’ allows the
mother to return for her son, Jan
realizes that what had been such
a life-changing inconvenience was
probably the most beautiful
period of his life.
The festival's
closing film comes from Britain:
‘‘Topsy
Turvy’’ is made by Mike
Leigh, an award-winning director
who has made a number of films
usually choosing down to earth
subjects and subject matter. His
films are usually set in London.
Most notably, he won the Palme
D'or at the Cannes film festival
in 2003. It also got an award at
the Venice international film
festival in 2004. His film making
process is very distinctive: he
starts with no script: but only
with actors. He creates
characters with the actors and
they improvise together.
On the whole, this
is one bunch of wonderful films
from Europe, lovers of cinema
should try and watch for pleasure
as well as entertainment.
PTI Feature
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Assembly
elections in five states
By Pallab
Bhattacharya
There
is something positive for
all the UPA constituents
which had contested the
recent assembly polls. If
the Left parties chalked
up landslide wins in
their traditional
bastions West Bengal and
Kerala, Congress managed
to overcome
anti-incumbency factor
and retained power in
Assam and Pondicherry,
albeit through alliance
as did DMK in Tamil Nadu.
It could not have been a
better party time for the
UPA nearly two years
after the 2004 Lok Sabha
elections.
In
fact, the critical
dependence of Congress
and DMK on allies to form
Government in Assam and
Tamil Nadu may lead to
more give and take which
in turn could be a
stabilizing factor in
UPA.
The
results are likely to
have the effect of
galvanizing the ties
among the UPA allies,
particularly between
Congress, heading the
coalition, and its
crucial backer the Left
parties despite the
latter's serious
reservations against the
former's economic and
foreign policies,
analysis said.
On
the face of it, the Left
parties' victory in West
Bengal and Kerala states
signaled that they would
mount pressure on the
Government of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh
over economic reforms and
burgeoning ties with the
United States.
Immediatly
after the poll results,
Left leaders, including
CPI (M) General Secretary
Prakash Karat and CPI
leader Gurudas Dasgupta
said the elections have
given the Left a greater
role in national politics
and there would be more
intervention from them in
policy matters of the
Government. This could
restrict the policy
reflexes of the Manmohan
Singh Government.
‘‘We
have been fighting for
the implementation of the
Common Minimum Programme
of the United Progressive
Alliance and will
continue to do
so,’’ Karat
told the media soon after
the results were out.
The
Left, analysts said, is
certain to step up
pressure on the
Government on issues like
Foreign Direct Investment
in insurance and retail
sectors, strategic
partnership between India
and the US, India's stand
on Iran's nuclear issue,
proposed hike in prices
of kerosene, petrol,
diesel and cooking gas,
airport modernization and
pension reforms. But
divergences on these
issues, agree analysts as
well as sources in Left
parties and Congress, is
unlikely to rock of the
boat of the UPA.
In
fact, a hint of this was
given by Finance Minister
Palaniappan Chidamabaram,
a senior Congress leader,
when he said that there
was no reason to assume
that the Left parties
would be unreasonable in
its electoral victory and
Congress will be
unnecessarily timid.
Analysts said the basic
chemistry between the
Left parties and Congress
would be strengthened
following the election
results.
Ever
since Left parties
extended support from
outside to a Congress-led
Government after the 2004
general elections, a view
often aired in certain
circles is that the Left
would withdraw support to
Congress at the time of
assembly elections in
West Bengal and Kerala as
it would be difficult to
sell to voters in the two
states about the apparent
dichotomy between backing
the Congress at the
national level and
fighting that party in
the states.
But
the Left's victory in
West Bengal and Kerala
has conclusive proved
that the existing
equation at the national
and state levels brought
no damage at least to the
Left parties, analysts
point out. In view of
this, the Left would not
do anything to threaten
the stability of the
Congress-led Government.
This would also
strengthen those in the
Left who favour some sort
of understand with
Congress to fight BJP,
they added.
Although
Congress lost to the Left
Front in Kerala and West
Bengal, the Left could
not be unmindful of the
fact that Congress has
not fared that badly in
Kerala, retained power in
Assam and Pondicherry
overcoming
anti-incumbency factors
and done reasonably well
in Tamil Nadu by securing
30-odd assembly seats
which has made the
party's support critical
to a minority Government
of DMK.
The
Left's triumph in West
Bengal clearly showed
that 62-year-old Chief
Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee has finally
come out of the shadow of
his predecessor Jyoti
Basu and carved a brand
image of his own that saw
the Left improving its
tally of seats this time
to 234, up from 199 five
years ago.
Prompted
by economic realities not
only in West Bengal and
other parts of India and
the world, Bhattacharjee
has somehow come to be
seen as a leader ready to
talk of economic reforms
and foreign investment,
in sharp contrast to
hardliners in the CPI (M)
and the buzz word is no
longer socialist
revolution but
development. That is but
natural when the Left has
been in party for seven
consecutive terms in
capitalist set up and
wants to go on and on.
On
the other hand, Mamata
Banerjee and Trinamool
Congress look at a
difficult road ahead with
their strength in the
294- member state
legislature declining
from 60 in 2001 elections
to just 29 this time.
Mamata was at sea to
explain the debacle of
her party in an election
that by her own admission
was much fairer and freer
than in the past when she
had alleged
‘‘scientific
rigging’’.
The
elections in the five
states, except Assam,
brought more bad news for
main opposition BJP.
Although the party is
only a marginal player in
all these states, except
Assam, its hopes of
getting the first seat in
the legislatures in West
Bengal, Kerala and Tamil
Nadu were dashed. In
Assam, BJP's tally of
seats increased only
marginally to 11 this
time from eight in 2001
and did little to alter
the overall power
scenario in the state.
If
the election results
further push BJP-led NDA
into a corner, it also
appears to dim the
chances of a Third Front
fondly cherished by
Samajwadi Party and
Telugu Desam Party on the
plank of equal distance
from Congress and BJP.
Given the fresh strength
acquired by the Left in
the assembly polls, there
could be no Third Front
without the Left which
has so far been cool to
overtures from SP and
TDP.
PTI
Feature
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Economics
of nuclear power
By T.K. Krishnamurthy
There
are many critics of Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Their argument is that no country has tried to
build energy security by importing reactors of a
type it has no intent to manufacture indigenously
and whose fuel requirements will keep it
perpetually dependent on foreign suppliers. Yet
this is the bizarre path that India wishes to
embark upon.
India
wants imported reactors dependent on imported
fuel and spare parts to be part of what its prime
minister calls "a broad-based energy
policy" to build long-term security. Such
ingenuousness led prime minister Manmohan Singh
to enter into a nuclear deal with the US that
imposes one-sided obligations on India. In return
for being allowed to import high-priced power
reactors, New Delhi has agreed to put into
practice what China refuses to do -
civil-military segregation of its nuclear
programme - even before India has succeeded in
building a minimal deterrent capability against
Beijing. The deal will only escalate the costs
and technological challenges of India's deterrent
push.
The
global share of electricity generated by nuclear
reactors has remained constant at roughly 16 per
cent for a decade. Despite being free of carbon
and green-house gases (GHG), commercial nuclear
power faces the continuing global challenge to
become commercially competitive with thermal
power. The price of nuclear-generated electricity
remains higher, even when the costs of
anti-pollution technology are included to control
the GHG discharge from coal and natural gas
combustion.
According
to an MIT study by John Deutch and Ernest Moniz,
who set up a model to compare the costs of
producing electricity from new nuclear, coal and
natural-gas plants, the baseline cost of new
nuclear power is 6.7 cents per kilowatt hour
(KWH), compared to 4.2 cents for coal and natural
gas. In India, study after study has shown that
nuclear-generated electricity is costlier than
coal-generated electricity, even when the
coal-based station is located 800 km or more from
a coal mine. Moreover, the price of
nuclear-generated electricity in no nation
includes the potential costs of spent-fuel
disposal - a technological challenge by itself.
Still,
indigenous nuclear power reactors make sense to
any nation seeking energy security. There are
several countries with large domestic nuclear
power industries. To them, nuclear power is part
of their push for fuel diversity, so as to help
spread out potential risks. In India, the nuclear
power's share of the total electricity stands at
just 2.9 per cent. India's indigenous reactors,
in terms of power cost per KWH, compare
favourably with domestic reactors elsewhere. Yet,
electricity even from the controversy-plagued,
LNG-fuelled Dabhol plant has been set at 10 per
cent less than the average price of power from
indigenous reactors.
The
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd is unable
to supply power at the same rates as the NTPC.
The price differential will become appreciably
higher when electricity is produced from imported
reactors.
The
nuclear deal with the US faces an uncertain
future, given Washington's reluctance so far to
take any tangible step to implement its part of
the bargain and its current negotiating effort to
enlarge India's already-onerous obligations. Yet,
for the US, billions of dollars are at stake. If
the deal takes effect, major Indian contracts
would help revive the moribund US nuclear power
industry, which has received no new plant order
since 1978. In fact, more than 100 planned
reactors have been cancelled in the US, including
all ordered after 1973. Even with new US reactor
designs, as a Congressional Research Service
study stated, "total generating costs would
still exceed currently projected costs for new
coal-and gas-fired plants".
The
only type of plant India will be able to import
is the proliferation-resistant light-water
reactor (LWR), fuelled with low enriched uranium
(LEU). LWRs neither fit with India's three-phase
nuclear power programme, nor is there a plan to
master LWR engineering. Farcically, the
government wishes to build energy 'security'
through the uneconomical, short-sighted route of
LWRs, whose requirements for fuel and replacement
parts will keep India dependent on foreign
suppliers and thus open to external pressures. It
heeds no lesson from India's bitter experiences
over America's abandonment a quarter-century ago
of its legally binding commitments to supply fuel
and parts to the first Indian nuclear plant, the
GE-built Tarapur.
Imported
reactors can make strategic sense only if they
are part of a country's planned transition to
autonomous capability. A good example is China,
which is aggressively working to become
self-sufficient in reactors and fuel despite
entering the nuclear-power field two decades
after India. Imported LWRs are no answer to
India's need to expand its generating capacity by
accelerating the transition from reliance on
natural uranium to recycled fuel and thorium via
fast-breeder technology.
India
should not do in energy what it is doing on
armaments.
Now
the world's largest arms importer, India spends
billions of dollars every year on arms imports,
some of questionable value, while it neglects to
build its own armament-production base and under
funds its nuclear-weapons and missile programmes.
It is discreditable that a poor India should now
think of spending billions of additional dollars
to import overly expensive reactors rather than
invest that money to expand its own
nuclear-energy base, modernise and deregulate its
decrepit coal industry, and boost hydropower.
India's
economist PM, who as finance minister starved the
domestic nuclear power industry of necessary
funds for expansion, has sheltered his new-found
love for imported reactors behind politics. India
urgently needs a unified energy policy and
strategy. INAV
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