Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Our ailing leaders
Men, Matters, Memories

By M L Kotru

It costs the nation a fortune to keep him in poverty. These, or words to this effect were very fondly spoken by Sarojini Naidu, the late freedom fighter and ‘‘nightiangle’’ of India to describe the cost of ‘‘maintaining’’ Gandhi and his very, very simple life style. Sarojini Naidu who had worked and known Gandhiji for years, she was once the President of the Indian National ....more

China's border management

By Srikanth Kondapalli

Modernisation of
education set up

By Isher Singh Jasrotia

EDITORIAL

Undo this migration

Whatever the reason it can only be a matter of acute discomfort that 64 persons from Doda district have crossed over to Chamba in the adjoining Himachal Pradesh. According to a news agency report from the neighbouring State all the people belonging to Sawara village have trekked for three days in search of a safe place. They include 30 children and 14 women. Local authorities in HP have described them as a "traumatised lot" and made arrangements for their board and lodging in a secured environment. The villagers have stated that they were virtually held captive in their own houses by the militants. They and their families could not move out at will. They have indicated more migration to Chamba on the one hand and the plains of this region on the other. On the other hand, the State authorities have linked their action to the fear born out of arrest in an alleged murder case. Evidently, however, they have moved in the matter after getting the disturbing report from Chamba. This is not the first time that there has been such movement of people. In fact, there was a furore in the mid-1990s when quite a few Hindu families had left an isolated pocket of Doda district to settle down in the State next door. On that occasion too different versions were circulated to camouflage the real cause of their exodus. Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad who was a Union minister at that time and Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh had persuaded the villagers to return to their homes. It had indeed been a brave effort on their part. The latter had personally accompanied the people on their comeback trail. Mr Azad had then flown all the way from New Delhi to visit the affected area in the midst of thick forests and reassured the frightened people. Now that he is the Chief Minister he is being called upon to do a repeat. The earlier experience should stand him in a good stead. Any such flight of the population is undesirable and has to be effectively checked and completely reversed.

The incident highlights the unease prevailing among the people living in secluded parts of remote hills. It is not for nothing that one leaves one's house along with children. It can't be denied that the militants find soft targets in rural folks and barge into their houses to dictate terms. They have killed and maimed those not following their instructions. Whenever they are desperate they carry out massacres such as in Kulhand and Basantgarh. Security forces and Village defence committees (VDCs) have helped control the menace by a long way. There are no conflicting opinions about this. The uniformed men in particular have boosted the confidence of local inhabitants. However, they can't be present in all places all the time. The militants tend to hit whenever they find that they are away. What comes in handy for them is the fact that the population in mountainous region is very much scattered. In the given undulating terrain they are thus able to spell disaster at times. Presently the measures being taken to stop them in their tracks are in the right direction but need to be strengthened.

In any event the militancy or the "fear" of any kind can't be allowed to displace well-settled people. It will be futile to shut one's eyes to the reality as it exists. It is natural for people to seek protected sanctuaries whenever they are in dread of something. That they stay put and live a dignified life is important for the State as a whole.

Logical reaction

Many will share the dismay expressed by Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, National Conference Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, over the Government's decision to put on ice the proposed one-month Assembly session in Srinagar. CPI-M leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami who is supporting the ruling coalition too is thoroughly disappointed. He finds the move contrary to the accepted Parliamentary practices. According to him, "this should not have happened." As a report in this newspaper has pointed out the Government had made a commitment on the floor of the legislature during the last session (addressed by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) to meet for a longer duration in September or October. September has come and gone. The reason that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Hamid Karra has given for not holding the session in October is "to avoid inconvenience to all those concerned with holding the session in the month of Ramzan." Lest the feeling gained ground that the Government was running away he has indicated that the session may be held in this city after the durbar move. He has gone on record saying that the Chief Minister "will call a meeting of coalition partners and the opposition to take a decision" about the next session. Such an argument has not convinced the main opposition party. Mr Rather has been quick to refer to "huge business" pending before the House. Quoting statistics he has mentioned as many as 60 bills and about 600 questions that are already awaiting disposal apart from other business. Of course, he has got a stick with which to beat the Government because of its "failure to hold the session despite making a commitment on the floor of the House." He has raised the issue of breach of "privilege" of the Assembly charging the Government with a "non-serious approach" and having "no respect" for the House. Mr Tarigami has been equally critical: "The Government has eroded sanctity of the Assembly by not calling the session even after making a statement in the House. This has set a wrong precedent."

Clearly not only the opposition parties but all those who revel taking part in legislative debates feel let down. Mr Rather and Mr Tarigami both come in this category. It is absolutely essential that the Legislature remains a vibrant forum. It is meant to mirror hopes and aspirations of ordinary citizens through close scrutiny of schemes meant for their welfare. It should rise to their expectations. This is possible only if it has smooth and elaborate functioning. It hardly bears any reiteration that legislatures are one of the pillars of democracy. Knowledgeable persons have said a lot in this behalf from time to time. Any repetition at this stage may well sound a cliché. It will suffice to quote Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in our context: "Without functioning legislative institutions, our system of parliamentary democracy will lose the faith and respect of the people, ultimately, giving rise to cynicism and tension, which cannot but weaken the entire constitutional edifice."

Our ailing leaders
Men, Matters, Memories

By M L Kotru

But in post-independence India we have been face to face with the problem of keeping our ‘‘leaders’’, in various stages of physical decay, alive at astronomical cost to the nation, a Nation where one third of the population still finds it difficult to get two square meals a day or have little or no access to medical attention.

I know many would find it distasteful if I were to name the men and women for whose physical survival we the people are expected to pay regularly, ungrudgingly.We have to send them to foreign lands to get the kind of treatment which perhaps may not be available within the country. This, at a time when we are also told of many Indian institutions becoming health destinations for the sick from foreign lands.

Our ailing leaders, those long past their prime or long retired from active political life, routinely find their way to hospitals, clinics, rehab centres in the West or wherever. Funds are never a problem. The Government has ways of addressing the needs of all such Ex-es.One such Ex-who comes to mind is Mr V Singh, the Raja of Manda, who also served as Prime Minister for a while. Mind you, I wish him well and would certainly not accuse him of getting the State to spend crores annually on keeping him among us, which it has anyway been doing for a number of years now.

The thing with V P Singh is that even with his grave illness he manages to keep himself in the public eye. He may one day turn up in a cluster of jhuggies threatened with demolition by the civic authorities. He may join a bunch of protesters in Mumbai or even routinely address public meetings between his unending sessions of dialysis. The man is at least trying to actively, even in declining health, identify himself with issues considered worthy of his support.

His logic has been simple. To be a leader of men you don't need any special skills. Like, he told a small group of us at lunch, when he was the PM : ‘‘Do you know how one becomes a leader. Take the village well. It serves, say, some 200 households and everyone wants to be the first to draw water before its level falls. They jostle one another ; they start fights. Then along comes a man or woman who decides to do something about it. He or she asks all to stand in a queue and await their turn to get one or two bucketfuls of water. Everyone seems satisfied having got his need of water-water for every household.

The man who made them stand in a queue is the leader’’. End of the story.

If the same leader uses the Bofors scandal to unsettle Rajiv Gandhi's Government and then promises answers to the Bofors riddle within 15 days of his becoming the Prime Minister, without ever delivering on it, that is another story. It is much bigger than the crowd at the well.

But there is no denying V P Singh. Trust him to find causes and the latest one which he has found and which is bound to earn him a lot of public support in UP is the Mulayam Singh's Government's allotment at a throwaway price of 2500 acres of fertile farmland, at Dadri on the outskirts of Delhi in Uttar Pradesh to Anil Ambani. V P Singh, the doughty survivor has chosen Raj Babbar, the disenchanted Samajwadi Party MP to spearhead his movement against Mulayam Singh. Babbar already in a tangle with the SP is now against the iniquitous deal struck by Mulayam Singh and his mascot, Amar Singh with Amar's ‘‘younger brother’’, Anil Ambani. Anil incidentally resigned his Rajya Sabha membership, a seat won by him courtesy Amar Singh.

The problem, as V P Singh, Raj Babbar and their newly floated Jana Morcha see it is that 2,500 acres of fertile land worth Rs 15,000 crores has been given to Anil Ambani for setting up a 3,600 MW gas-based power plant whose gas supplies are still in doubt. Gas based power plants it is pointed out, are not land intensive. The National Therman Power Corporation operates a 440 MW plant in Faridabad and is set to increase its generating capacity to 900 MW. It occupies an area of just 50 acres. The Anil Ambani project would at the very best have needed some 200 acres for a plant the gas supply to which is not assured at all.

The question that V P Singh asks is why did the Mulayam Singh Government choose to allot 2500 acres of fertile land abutting Delhi to Anil Ambani when much less valuable non-agricultural land is available at many places within Uttar Pradesh. And the price tag attached to it by Mulayam and Amar makes the deal a virtual steal.

At about Rs 120 a square yard against the market rate of Rs 15,000 per square yard, Anil Ambani can make his gas-based plant virtually at no cost to the company. Genuine valuation of the land alone should set cash flow in motion for Anil Ambani to get his plant rolling, that is if he has assured gas supply to fall back on.

Given his sharp political instincts and Raj Babbar's robust attacking skills the twosome have chosen a line of attack against the discredited Mulayam - Amar Singh regime in Uttar Pradesh which can only add to its embarassment in an election year. Babbar who has run an unrelenting campaign against Amar Singh for several months, after the actor was suspended from the Samajwadi Party, is bound to highlight the Anil-Amar-Mulayam nexus in the allotment of Dadri land causing serious financial loss to the cash-strapped State Government apart from the severe loss suffered by the farmers whose lands were acquired.

And the other question that will figure high on his and VP Singh's agenda is why was Dadri chosen as the place to be given away to Anil Ambani. There is talk around that given its proximity to Delhi the Anil Ambani group may use a substantial area of the land ‘‘purchased’’ by it for constructing glitzy malls, multiplexes et al on the periphery of Delhi. Ambani is already into the multiplex business elsewhere. May be with his latest acquisition of land on Delhi's outskirts he may be wanting to provide competition to the malls and multiplexes of Gurgaon or who knows even in Noida or may be in Delhi itself.

Mulayam may be coincidence have provided VP Singh a chance to hone his known political skills. With a younger man, Raj Babbar, the MP from Agra, beside him he may even figure in the electoral equations in the upcoming elections to the State Assembly. You cannot deny the Raja of Manda his share of political sunshine however much you may disapprove of the man's sanctimonious posturing.

China's border management

By Srikanth Kondapalli

In recent times, China's border management efforts have been intensified. Due to changes in the domestic and external scenario, China has been able to pay relatively more attention to this aspect in the recent period. Bordering with 14 land neighbours and maritime borders with several countries such as Koreas, Japan, Southeast Asian countries, China has an obvious interest in managing its borders properly. More than two decades of economic development - with part of the attention drawn on enhancing trade, specifically border trade - have added to this renewed interest. Smuggling of goods, illegal migration, financial flows and other related crimes in the recent period have placed additional burdens on China.

China has stated that it has more than 20,000 kilometres of land borders and that it is keen on improving its management over these territories. Not only are the borders of the provinces demarcated over a period of time, China has also made efforts to demarcate its external boundaries. Indeed, a major theme in the recent literature in China about the above aspects is resolution of border disputes, with 12 of the 14 land bordering countries having resolved territorial disputes with China. The exceptions are India and Bhutan. This article traces the Chinese border management efforts on the India-China border areas with reference to the western and middle sectors. It highlights the Chinese efforts in border dispute resolution, border consolidation through infrastructure development and related issues of border trade, transgressions and domination efforts.

One of the foremost reasons for the renewed interest of China on border management is related to economic development. While most of the economic development of the country is focused on the southeast coastal areas, western borders have not yet witnessed such growth rates. Indeed many of the western areas are under developed and a hotbed for what the Chinese Government calls as "extremism, separatism and splittism." To overcome these problems, China has launched a development programme with the military and paramilitary forces backing. With the launching of Western Development Campaign, China intended to shift economic focus from east to west in gigantic projects like East-West oil pipeline, railways and others, China has reportedly utilised 97 percent of its $650 billion foreign direct investments in the booming coastal regions so far and hence plan to shift investments to its economically backward western regions.

India-China borders

As a part of these focus on western borders, the border dispute with India have also been highlighted, although both went to a war in 1962 and subsequently launched talks from 1981 to resolve the dispute. The Indian side argues that the western sector boundary spans about 1,680 kilometers and that China occupies about 38,000 square kilometers of its territory in this sector, not including the areas ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963. The traditional and historical contours of the border in this region were shaped according to the treaties between the kingdoms of Ladakh and Tibet in 1684 and with Kashmir in 1842. Several natural features separate this region. Nevertheless, according to an Indian discovery, Chinese built a highway connecting Xinjiang with Tibet through this region by 1956-57 and consolidated its control over this region.

Though the December 10-12, 1962 Colombo proposals, in the immediate aftermath of the India-China clashes on the border, called for Chinese military withdrawals by twenty kilometers from their existing positions and that India should keep their existing positions, and that the demilitarized zone vacated by the Chinese troops should be converted into a peace area this was not acceptable to China.

According to the Chinese view, this sector commences from Karakoram Pass in the north down to the area in the south of Ari district of Tibet, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. The Aksai Chin and other contiguous areas cover about 30,000 sq. km. According to the Chinese contention, the very word Aksai China means in Uighur language "China's desert of white stones" and that with the exception of Parigas controlled by India from 1956, all other areas were under the Chinese jurisdiction and control. Discussions between the India and Chinese officials on this sector were inconclusive partly due to the Chinese intransigence and partly due to the third player - Pakistan (related to Sakshgam valley).

However, both reportedly exchanged maps on the middle or central sector. Indeed, this sector, spanning about 545 kilometers, is the least disputed of the three sectors, though Chinese say that India has occupied portions of this section gradually after 1954. It refers to the section bordering on the Nagari prefecture of Tibet and Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The disputed area in this section, however, covers about 2,000 square kilometers. During the 1954 agreement with India, a Chinese draft stated that the Chinese Government has agreed to open six mountain passes for trading purposes. The Indian side objected to the wording of this draft and maintained that these passes were common passes on the main watershed.

Border Talks

Border talks between the two sides commenced in 1981 after no solution was arrived at in the 1960 meetings. India and China have conducted eight talks between 1981 and 1988 and then under the joint working group (JWG) framework from 1989 to the present. By the 2003 agreement these talks are elevated to the Special Representative level by which seven rounds of discussions were made. Due to the border talks and efforts on both sides, over a period of time the number of contentious areas on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) clarification has been reduced. The differences on the LAC are only in a few areas, viz., six in the eastern sector and eight areas in the western sector. While differences exist on the Bara Hoti area of the middle sector, respective maps have been exchanged on mutual positions on the LAC here. On the eastern sector, Namka Chu, Chenju, Tulang La, Asaphila, longju and Chedong and on the western sector, Trig Heights, areas near Karakoram Pass, Chushul, Kongka Pass, Panggong Tso and Demchok were identified as having different perspectives of both sides. After the maps on the middle sector were exchanged, progress on the other areas, despite the then Indian External Affairs Ministers Jaswant Singh's enthusiastic remarks at Beijing in March 2002 on the timetable for exchanging maps on other sectors as well, have been belied. CNF

Modernisation of education set up

By Isher Singh Jasrotia

It is pertinent question before all educationists and public in general as to what is to be future of modern generation so for as the changing scenario of the education is concerned. We are passing through a critical stage where there is all round development taking place in every walk of life i.e social, political, cultural as well as economical. All the developments originate from the education we are getting at primary as well as secondary level and then at the college level. Although there have been some changes in the modern education, but still there is need to be viewed in the perspective of innovations in the education to make it more liberal, generous, broad-minded, magnanimous, munificent, valuable, vocational, cultural, spiritual , disciplined and cooperative.

It is admitted fact that teacher is regarded as maker of the child and plays a pivotal role in making the citizen by inculcating various qualities in the children who are to become philosophers, engineers, doctors, scientists and professionals in any specialization. But it is very distressing that teachers are not given the emoluments/salary especially in the private institutions commensurate with their sincerity towards their teaching profession. Rather they are indulged and devoted towards to private tuitions which fetches them huge amount. It is also admitted fact that in the recent years, there is great rush of the children for admission in the private academies or institutions, as the parents want that their wards should get better education. This is due to the fact that children do not get the education as desired in the Government schools and especially the parents having economically poor backgrounds can not afford to get their children admitted in private institutions where the fees structure is comparatively high. As we are witnessing tremendous change in every walk of life i.e information and science technology, social change, we have to think sincerely over the modern education which can meet the requirements in terms of secularism, socialism, cultural and our traditions ethos and we can not sit silent spectators. Instead of merely bookish education in the class room, modern education needs to be changed as self reliant, job oriented, scientific, and sociable and as a whole to be managed in atmosphere of utmost intellectual, seriousness of purpose, essential for renovation and creativity and more over experimentation with the objective of achieving excellence in the various fields. Physical, social welfare and co-curricular activities can achieve these goals and objectives.

It is reiterated that teacher, after the parents, is the sole maker of a child's destiny. But education has been centered round in the private schools/institutions where the teaches are not compensated in commensurate with the education they are imparting to the children. But who is to be blamed for this ? Private schools/institutions cannot afford to pay handsome salary to the teachers as they are running the institutions from their own resources and as yet, there seems to be no provision of funding and giving financial assistance to the private academy/institutions. Attention of all concerned is drawn to think sincerely to make the education more valuable, self reliant, job oriented and scientific so that it could meet the requirement of the changing scenario of our developing nation. I think devising some of the following measures, taking into consideration the performance of the teachers as well as the institutions imparting education can do this.

* By increasing the status of teachers in terms of handsome salary in commensurate with their performance and professional responsibilities and talents.

* Provision of better facilities to academies/institutions imparting better quality education.

* Financial support to academies/institutions giving concession to children of weaker sections and economically poor backgrounds.

* By periodical appraisal of the performance of the teachers and academies/institutions in terms of education being imparted there.

* Provision of physical, social welfare and co-curricular activities in academeis/institutions and assistance to thsoe academies/institutions making such provisions.

* Provision of out-door tasks and tours on historical and religious places so as to create confidential building measures and to undertake social responsibilities by the children.

* To give more stress on a child's all round personality and characteristics traits as initiative, integrity, persistence, self confidence, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, enthusiasm, self control, and emotional control etc.

* For the implementation authorities of the above measures and provisions, sincere efforts by the concerned authorities is of utmost importance if the education is to be modernized in the changing scenario of science and technology. A developing nation like ours needs a deep thought towards modernising education.