EDITORIAL
Hope for 2008
As we enter the New Year
we hope that our State is totally free from the twin
evils of corruption and terrorism. There is, in addition,
more tolerance and compassion than that we have witnessed
in the recent times. Our wish list can actually be long
if we include environment and industrialisation as well.
We have to learn that cleanliness is next to godliness.
Let us together resolve to work in the positive
direction. Let us take the pledge to make our State a
better place to live and prosper for coming generations.
We should resist the temptation of indulging in a blame
game. If the Transparency International has said
something about us we ought to admit that it has just
held the mirror against our face. The ordinary masses
have to part with their hard-earned money to get even the
routine jobs done. The prevailing dishonesty has been
described as the bigger enemy that even the terrorism.
This underlines the malady afflicting us but is not
wholly true. The bitter reality is that the terrorism has
damaged us extensively. One is not talking only in terms
of the toll it has taken of development. That harmful
effect is visible all over. What is equally distressing
is that it has resulted in degeneration of our value
system. One of its serious casualties has been the
centuries' old harmony in the Kashmir region. There is
proliferation of weapons which in turn has spawned a
culture of violence. A series of incidents have taken
place in which illegal arms have been used to settle
scores by close relatives. Mere sight of human blood will
scare aware the people not very long ago. It was
especially true of the paradisiacal Valley. No more does
this happen. The scenario has changed for the worse since
the days Mahatma Gandhi saw the only ray of hope in
Kashmir in the turbulent 1947 in the sub-continent. In
sharp contrast the Jammu region has behaved itself
extremely well after mid-1988 when the militants had
carried out their first strike. It will not be an
exaggeration to say that it has redeemed the image
sullied by bloodshed at the time of Partition. It has
maintained perfect brotherhood in the face of extreme
provocations. The people belonging to all religions have
rallied behind each other whenever nefarious attempts
have been made to divide them by throwing bombs on their
religious congregations and places of worship.
Nevertheless two acts of sacrilege of late point to the
presence of mischief-makers among us. We have to be on
guard against them. The evil minds are at work everywhere
including in Leh district across the Himalayas. They have
to be stopped with all the strength at our command. Why
should we not zealously preserve our extremely precious
treasure of unity in diversity --- cultural, linguistic,
ethnic and religious?
There are other lessons
also for us to learn. Let us do in 2008 all that we have
thought about but not executed in the wake of the October
8, 2005 earthquake. By now we should have surveyed our
old localities and made them tremor-resistant. How can we
forget that horrible day? It was a sheer coincidence that
the epicentre was at some distance. We can't stop the
nature from unleashing its fury again. We can, however,
minimise its adverse impact. We should do the needful the
soonest possible. We may not be so lucky a second time.
Ask the people of affected regions on this side of the
Line of Control like in Uri and Poonch about what it
means to go through a disturbance like this. We simply
had our houses shaken; they have seen them collapse. It
is not possible to manage a disaster without
strengthening the existing infrastructure. We are
required to improve our surroundings. It is a pity that
we are virtually struggling to rescue such precious
jewels as the Dal Lake. In fact, our development profile
has to be refurbished. It is poor at this juncture. There
is some industrial activity as a result of liberal
Central concessions but it is not enough. The following
excerpt (made famous in this country by its discovery at
Jawaharlal Nehru's writing table after his death) of
Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by woods on a snowy
evening" should remind us of our
responsibilities: "The woods are lovely, dark and
deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before
I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." Who
can deny that it aptly depicts our State which is rich
with green gold? Tourism has been our biggest asset so
far. It is in a mess these days. The only silver lining
is an overwhelming turnout of pilgrims to the holy shrine
of Vaishno Devi and the emergence of Leh as a top
destination for domestic and foreign sight-seers. We must
get rid of gun-totting militants who have spoiled the
show for us in the Valley. Once the Kashmir region
regains its picturesque glory in full measure we will be
in a much stronger position. One must admire the efforts
being made by the concerned administrative machinery and
private tourist operations in this regard.
We face challenge on every
front. We have to accelerate the pace of progress. One
major cause of cheer for us is that we have a trained
young force of professionals. Many of them are doing
proud to big companies elsewhere. They may stay back once
they have opportunities at home. This entails that we
encourage private entrepreneurs. This can enable us to
build powerful inter-regional bridges. Our natural wealth
is by and large unexploited. We can do wonders with our
resources of garlic, honey, apple and seabuckthorn along
with other such bounties that we possess in plenty. What
should prevent us from making extensive use of them for
collective good? Let us jointly set the ball rolling.
Together we shall overcome all hurdles all the way. We
can on this first day of 2008 draw inspiration from Sri
Chinmoy's inspiring song: "Hope abides; therefore
I abide. Countless frustrations have not cowed me. I am
still alive, vibrant with life. The black cloud will
disappear; The morning sun will appear once again in all
its supernal glory."
HP victory-
A double delight for BJP
By
Kalyani Shankar
It is a double
delight for the BJP on the eve of
the New Year. The party's
confidence had received a big
boost with the Gujarat victory.
Now, with Himachal Pradesh, too
in its kitty, the BJP is riding
the roller-coaster of electoral
success. Needless to say, the
BJP's sweeping victory in
Himachal Pradesh has further
demoralised Congress workers.
The BJP's victory is
not a surprise; it was expected
that this time it is the BJP's
turn to win. Himachal is a small
state and there are only two
parties - the Congress and the
BJP which have taken turns to
rule the state. Attempts to form
a third alternative have not
succeeded.
What does the defeat
in Himachal Pradesh mean to the
Congress? The year 2007 has not
been good for the party as it
lost the states it was ruling
like Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
The Congress now rules in only
about half a dozen states. On the
other hand, the BJP and its
allies in the NDA have done well
winning Punjab, Gujarat and
Himachal Pradesh during the year.
Soon after the
Gujarat defeat, the Congress was
in shock. The party strategists
had raised hopes that this time
the Congress was in a position to
wrest Gujarat. But it did not
happen. In the case of Himachal,
there was no such build-up as
many in the Congress had already
given up hope. Apart from
Congress president Sonia Gandhi,
there were no big campaigners for
the party. In fact, most of the
attention was given to Gujarat
while Himachal was accorded
step-motherly treatment.
In the wake of the
Himachal loss, murmurs have begun
in the party about the style of
functioning of the Congress
leaders and even Sonia Gandhi.
While senior leaders are not very
vocal, middle-level leaders have
started talking about what went
wrong and how the party should
heed this wake-up call. While the
anti-incumbency factor is
attributed as the main cause of
the defeat, there are other
things which the party has to
take note of. The infighting
within the Congress is one of
them. Of course, issues like
price rise and local issues
dominated the election campaign.
. The important thing is that the
people did not have much choice
as the Congress had projected the
same faces again and again.
The Congress
leadership has to sit up and
think about its future if it
wants to be relevant in the next
Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
Next year will see elections in
at least eight states: Tripura,
Nagaland, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In
most of these states the fight is
between the Congress and the BJP.
So unless the Congress sharpens
its focus and evolves a winning
strategy, the demoralisation in
the Congress will deepen. Many in
the Congress say that the
organisational structure has to
be strengthened; besides, workers
will have to be involved more in
building the party.
A section in the
Congress is also talking about a
Kamaraj Plan to energise the
party. They think that this has
to be done urgently as there is
not much time left. The other
criticism is that nobody is held
responsible for defeats and that
those in charge of the elections
should be punished. Yet another
criticism is about the coterie
around Sonia Gandhi. Many
junior-level leaders feel that
Sonia Gandhi is not getting
proper feedback from the party as
the coterie is not allowing
others to meet her. They expect
her to take note of this and
rectify it.
Congress strategists
have also to make sure that party
workers do not leave for greener
pastures.
It is also pointed
out that after each defeat, the
Congress never does any
introspection in an effort to
draw appropriate lessons and
correct electoral mistakes. Some
blame it all on lack of focus on
Congress ideology.
As for the BJP, the
tide seems to have turned in its
favour during 2007, mostly
because of the anti-incumbency
factor. The party, which was
leaderless until recently, is now
in a highly optimistic mode in
the wake of the Gujarat and
Himachal electoral victories.
Secondly, now that Advani has
been made the Prime Ministerial
candidate, the leadership
question is settled and Vajpayee
has more or less retired. Nothing
succeeds like success, and now,
the BJP is right on top. In
Tripura, the BJP does not have a
stake. But if the party manages
to do well in Karnataka, it will
add a feather to its cap.
In short, while the
2008 begins with a new hope for
the BJP, the Congress needs to
pull up its socks and put its
house in order. The new year is
going to be a challenging one for
both the parties. The time has
come for the Congress to rework
its electoral strategy and devise
ways of tackling emotive issues
being raised by the BJP. (IPA)
|
|
 Scientific
achievements in 2007
By
G V Joshi
Indian
scientists and engineers
achieved some remarkable
successes in the fields
of space technology,
medicine and agriculture.
To
start with the Space
Capsule launched by Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle
from Satish Dhawan Space
Centre Sriharikota of
Indian Space Research
Organisation on January
10, 007 was successfully
recovered on January 22,
2007 after being
maneuvered to re-enter
the earth's atmosphere
and descend in the Bay of
Bengal about 140 km East
of Sriharikota.
It
is the first stepping
stone towards India's
plans to send an Indian
into space and bring him
back safely to the earth.
This
success has enabled India
to join a select group of
five countries in the
world with this know how.
India's indigenously
developed cryogenic
engine (CE) confirmed her
position as the sixth
country to possess this
highly complex
technology.
The
successful ground test of
the indigenous CE for has
proved the soundness of
design and performance
adequacy for its use in
launching satellites like
INSAT in years to come.
As of today only five
other developed countries
possess this frontier
technology.
Within
three years after the
country was caught
napping by the killer
Tsunami that wreaked
havoc along the Tamil
Nadu coast, Indian
scientists have developed
its own Tsunami Warning
System (TWS) and put it
in operation.
The
system was inaugurated on
October 15, 2007 at the
Indian National Centre
for Ocean Information
Services in Hyderabad.
The Indian system has the
capability to issue
Tsunami alerts within 30
minutes of an earthquake
which caused it.
As
a proof the scientists
could confirm that the
September 12, 2007
earthquake off Southern
Sumatra did not create
any Tsunami.
In
an innovation that could
have implications in the
fields of defence, space
research and electronics,
Dr Sulabha Kulkarni, a
professor from the
University of Pune's
(UoP) Department of
Physics has developed an
ultra lightweight aerogel
material that can support
nearly five lakh times
its own weight. The
material uses carbon nano
tubes (CNTs) and silica.
The
invention could set a
world record, as it is
stronger than the
material prepared by a
researcher at the
University of
Pennsylvania in February
2007, which could support
only 8,000 times its body
weight. The invention is
a ‘quantum
leap’ in the field
of aerogels.
Prof
O N Srivastava and his
team at the BHU
synthesised the CNT,
while the aerogel using
the CNT was developed by
Pune University
scientists.
An
aerogel also called
frozen smoke is a
low-density solid-state
material derived from gel
in which the liquid
component of the gel has
been replaced with gas.
On
the medical front,
millions of diabetes
patients would breath a
sigh of relief, relief
when oral insulin pills
developed by Bangalore
based India's premier
Biotechnology Company-
Biocon Limited appear in
the market soon. Oral
insulin is an effective
and cheap alternative to
painful and expensive
insulin injections.
The
development is
significant for India,
which has the largest
number of more than 41
million diabetes patients
in the world.
Scientists
like Dr D Srinivas
working at the National
Chemical Laboratory
(NCL), Pune have
discovered a novel, solid
double metal composition
(DMC) catalyst which is
highly active (96-98%)
for conversion of a range
of oils including
jatropha, karanja and
unrefined rubber oil and
used oils into bio-diesel
and bio-lubricants.
The
catalysts developed at
NCL are reusable and
active even when
significant quantities of
water are present.
Most
importantly, in the
process developed, the
by-product glycerol
obtained during the
bio-diesel and
bio-lubricants
manufacturing is also
converted into a high
octane diesel additive,
which thereby increase
the yield and improves
the fuel burning
characteristics of
bio-diesel.
The
use of this catalyst
would now make
manufacture of bio-diesel
economically and
environmentally
attractive.
The
cost of producing
bio-diesel would fall
substantially by using
the new catalyst. A pilot
plant using the new
catalysts will start
production in India by
2008.
The
scientists working at the
National Institute of
Ocean Technology (NIOT),
based at Chennai, Tamil
Nadu have developed a
floating desalination
plant, based on a
technology that uses the
temperature difference
between the water in the
upper and lower levels of
the ocean. The plant has
been installed on a barge
40 km off Chennai. The
desalination plant has a
capacity to produce one
million litres of water
per day. It can produce
water at 5-6 paise per
litre. NIOT scientists
are now working on a
project having 10-
million litre per day
capacity at a production
cost of 3 paise per
litre.
The
prcess would be cheaper
than the currently used
reverse osmosis
technology for
desalination of water.
Hotriculturists
at Nagpur in, Maharashtra
have developed a
‘seedless’
variety of the mandarin
variety of oranges known
as
‘‘Santra’’.
It would be, released in
the coming season.
According
to horticulturists
ordinary oranges have 12
or more seeds in a single
fruit. However, the new
variety is not completely
seedless. It contains
less seeds about three
seeds. Therefore there
would be no seed in most
of the segments (10-12).
The seeds would be there
in hardly in one or two
segments. The taste,
however, will still be
the original one.
Scientists
working at different
Agriculture Universities
in India have developed
simple low tech machines
for Indian farmers. One
of them is a three-in-one
mini groundnut seed
remover, sunflower
thresher and maize
sheller. The second
machine can process
common Indian black
pepper into much value
added white pepper, while
the third machine can
help coconut to climb
coconut trees safely.
Scientists
at the Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT) Delhi
have developed a liquid,
which keeps fruits and
vegetables from rotting.
The solution has been
tested in nine different
laboratories in the
country.
Finally
Mr Rishin Behl, a
17-year-old, student of
Central School, Mankhurd,
and Mumbai has written
his name in the sky. A
minor object-asteroid- in
the solar system has been
named after him.
A
project presented by him
at Intel International
Science and Engineering
Fair (Intel ISEF) 2007,
an Engineering Fair
organised by Intel, a
well-known name in the
world of computer chips
and microprocessors, has
earned him this honour, a
number of prizes and a
scholarship to study
electrical engineering in
the US. (PTI)
|
|
|
|
|
Lft's
complicity
By
Arup De
The
West Bengal chief
minister, Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee, visited
the strife-torn Nandigram
to pacify people after
the CPM cadre had created
mayhem in which hundreds
of people were killed and
thousands of houses were
either burnt or partly
destroyed. The political
duplicity of comrades
does not need any
elucidation as they are
good at confusing the
issues in political
jargons.
Long
on pretence, but short on
performance, the Marxists
never tire of patting
themselves on the back
for their supposed
scientific socio-economic
outlook and commitment to
the have-nots. They
glibly proclaim that they
are
"progressive"
and shorn of
superstition, bigotry and
prejudice of any kind.
Never mind, if in the
30-year of the
egalitarian Marxist rule
in West Bengal, dowry,
lynching women as
witches, marrying
daughters to dogs and
hiring sorcerers' service
to tackle malaria, and
refusal to eat food
cooked by Muslims and
lower caste Hindus are
rampant and thriving in
the state.
Recently,
the atheist CPI-M top
brass displayed how
fragile is their
adherence to rationality.
An editorial in the party
weekly People's Democracy
(December 2), reminiscent
of the rantings of the
saffron brigade, linked
natural disaster to sin,
alleging that the tsunami
is the "culmination
of a legacy of hate and
destruction that we the
people of India overcame
in the political sphere
in 2004." Asked for
comment on this
convoluted logic by the
press, the embarrassed
party general secretary,
Mr. Prakash Karat, in New
Delhi was evasive,
pleading that he had no
time to read the party
journal yet.
Whether
religion is opium or not,
Marxist rhetoric and
Marxist rule in West
Bengal have failed to
turn its people Godless
and irreligious. Party
stalwarts follow a
selective approach to
practising secularism.
Ministers boycott
Saraswati bandana at
public functions and
excise Ganesh bandana
from the Chhou dance
sequence, but do not mind
sitting through Kuran
telawat at official
functions. Party
activists, including many
senior office-bearers,
actively participate in
pujas and openly and, at
times, demonstrably say
namaz. There can be no
quarrel with that one's
faith is a personal
matter that must not
interfere with one's
political conviction.
What is insufferable,
however, is the Marxists'
use of religion with an
eye on securing political
advantage.
For
example, on December 21
at Bakrid ceremony, a
former state minister and
presently an MP led the
namaz on the Red Road in
the full TV glare. While
there was nothing
objectionable to that,
during the parliamentary
election campaign in 2004
in his wall writings he
had prefixed
"Comrade" to
his name in the
Hindu-majority areas, but
dropped it from the
writings in the
Muslim-dominated areas
and used his convenient
first name
"Mohammed"
instead! Though no
illegal, it certainly
reeked of duplicity and,
yes, bourgeois hypocrisy.
Morality and communism
have always been
contradictions in terms,
opportunism being the
overriding element in
Marxist ethos. For the
sake of captive minority
votes, which account for
22 per cent of the state
electorate, the
Left-Front regime has
been routinely turning a
blind eye to many illegal
and criminal activities
of lumpen CPM cadres and
supporters in the
minority community.
Infiltration from
Bangladesh has acquired
the proportions of a
veritable demographic
invasion and has entirely
changed the communal
complexion of the border
districts. Criminal and
subversive activities of
many infiltrators have
heightened the insecurity
of the original
inhabitants of the border
belt, forcing them to
leave the affected area
in droves, selling their
houses and land for a
song to Muslim migrants.
As
a result, in the outlying
peripheral areas of Nadia
district Hindu
inhabitants had owned 60
per cent of the
cultivable land till five
years back, but presently
their share has now come
down to less than 40 per
cent. Keeping mum over
this disastrous process
for years, chief minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
has been lately decrying
illegal immigration, but
has not taken any
effective measures to
stem the flow of
migrants, let alone
deport them.
In
line with the scale of
infiltration, mosques and
madrassas have been
mushrooming on public
land, violating
government rules. A
feeble attempt by the
chief minister to mildly
deprecate the
unrestrained growth of
these institutions earned
him a severe reprimand
from the state party
headquarters, forcing him
to eat his own words. The
state government spends
more than Rs. 15 crore
annually on madrassa
education, focused on
teaching the Kuran and
hadis, which is not
exactly conducive to
instilling the
much-needed secular ethos
in our younger
generations to promote
inter-community harmony.
In contrast, the Left
front government has
virtually stopped
supporting the
traditional Sanskrit
seminaries (tols). The
reason for such
"step-motherly
treatment", in the
words of a former head of
the department of
Sanskrit of the Calcutta
University, known for his
proximity to the regime,
is the fear that teaching
of Sanskrit would
increase the influence of
the RSS!
Unchecked
radicalisation of Islam
in the post-Mujib era has
led to the growth of
Jamaat-supported Talibani
terrorist outfits in
Bangladesh, which, while
wreaking havoc in the
country, also pose a
serious threat to the
security and stability of
the region. Predictably,
the unsavoury
developments across the
border have been
adversely impacting on
sections of the Muslim
community in the state,
notably in the border
districts. Fundamentalist
Muslim clerics in
Murshidabad district have
issued fatwas proclaiming
social and economic
boycott of twenty-odd
Muslim bauls for singing
their traditional songs
urging peace, unity and
harmony among all human
beings. In Bangladesh,
the country's High Court
has banned fatwa, but the
preudo-secular Marxist
regime of West Bengal has
preferred to remain a
silent spectator of these
atrocities.
And
all that is for the 22
per cent crucial block
Muslim votes needed to
retain the Left Front's
hold on power. Thirty
years of one-party
misrule has turned West
Bengal into a torpid and
apathetic state that has
given its people the
rudest and most
humiliating treatment.
Driven by duplicity and
deception, the tyrannical
regime successfully
maintains a fraudulent
facade of democracy and
freedom of the media, but
its primary concern is to
maintain the submission
of its ubiquitous army of
henchmen spread within
its party ranks, the
bureaucracy and the
opposition parties. In
this darkening situation,
the intellectuals could
have made a difference,
but wary of losing the
crumbs of Government
largesse, they are
"strangers to that
vigour of mind, and all
the virtues, grafted on
those passions which
animate our more active
spirits." The
corrupting and corroding
influence of the
incumbent regime has
heightened the deadening
effect of Bengali
indolence on them.
Honourable exceptions
apart, there is little
enterprise and less
generous sentiments among
our intellectuals and,
therefore, no significant
social commitment to
spearhead any serious
movement towards pulling
the hapless state out of
the morass of ruinous
Marxist misrule. INAV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
