EDITORIAL
Managing shrines
The Government's decision
to set up the Shri Shiv Khori Shrine Board (SSKSB) is to
be welcomed. The Legislative Assembly has echoed the
public mood by adopting a bill to this effect. The holy
cave temple in Reasi district has gained a lot of public
attention in recent years. Quite a few pilgrims who pay
obeisance to Vaishno Devi have included Shiv Khori in
their itinerary. As the Government has stated in the
House it has emerged as a centre of pilgrim tourism in
its own right. Hotels and markets have come up in its
vicinity. More than 2.50 lakh devotees have visited it in
2006 and their number is constantly on the rise. The
income from it has gone up from Rs 31 lakhs in 2004 to Rs
53 lakhs in 2006. Given its location Shiv Khori eminently
fits into the pious environment that surrounds the
Trikuta hills. Ever since the stupendous success of the
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) there is a
clamour in the State for constituting similar bodies for
almost all major places of worship. Purmandal, Mata
Sukrala and Bala Sundri among other revered spots figure
in this list. Of course, there is already a board in
place to look after the management of Amarnath shrine.
One tends to see the proposed legislation to establish an
umbrella organisation for overseeing Kashmiri Pandit
shrines in the Valley in the same light. Few will
disagree with the objective behind this measure:
"Most of the Kashmiri Pandit religious places are
centres of heritage, having come up from time immemorial,
as a continuous process. Their number is large being
located in almost every nook and corner of the Valley.
Traditionally, a large number of organisations or
committees were controlling and managing affairs of these
places but (following) mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits
from the Valley due to militancy, these religious places
by and large were rendered unmanaged and vulnerable to
vandalism. Some of them were even torched by miscreants.
Various sections of Kashmiri Pandit community had
consistently been raising the issue in the State as well
as at the national level for protection of religious
places and properties. The matter has been agitated
before the apex court …it was need of the hour that
religious places of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley are
given a holistic, unified and purposeful management.
Extensive discussions on the subject in various forums
have revealed that it is necessary to create a legal
authority with the involvement of the community itself
for management of these religious places and the
properties attached thereto in a transparent and
responsible manner."
For this purpose it is
proposed to constitute a board called the Kashmiri Hindu
Shrine Board (KHSB). This body is expected to function on
the lines of Auqaf and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee (SGPC). One must say that it is a wise move to
have the KHSB as an elected outfit after the initial
one-year term when it will be nominated. Elections should
ensure the maximum possible participation of Kashmiri
Pandits in an important field of activity. Uprooted from
its original land the community is presently scattered in
different corners of the country. On the other hand, the
other Hindu shrines will have nominated boards. It is
only appropriate that the Governor heads separate boards
already in existence for globally worshipped Vaishno Devi
and Amarnath. Shiv Khori will have divisional
commissioner at the helm. The Government's participation
in the running of shrines is not seen as interference in
religious affairs. Looked from one angle such
dispensation may appear to be a contradiction in terms. A
dispassionate assessment, however, will show that the
arrangement has not only worked satisfactorily but also
won wide acclaim. It is to be noted that none of the
shrines administered by an Act of the legislature
including those in other states have attracted any
controversy. Instead, they have encouraged the progress
and prosperity of their environment apart from providing
a major boost to pilgrim tourism. For their part the
people feel gratified that their humble offerings are put
to the use of welfare of humanity as a whole.
We are well aware that the
SMVDSB has fruitfully channelised contributions for the
benefit of ordinary masses. Its achievements hardly bear
any reiteration. It is considered the second richest
temple in the country after Sri Venkateswara Temple at
Tirupati which is governed by the Andhra Pradesh Hindu
Religion and Charitable Institution Act. In fact, it is
the decidedly successful Tirupati model that is being
followed everywhere. It has been pioneer in generating
activities like educational institutions, leprosy homes,
orphanages, free medical treatment and rehabilitation of
the disabled. The Trikuta hills perpetually demand money
for upkeep of facilities like roads, sanitation and
electricity on a long trek. The SMVDSB performs this task
with clinical efficiency. It has moreover saved money
enough to build a university and is now looking forward
to score another hit by building a cancer hospital. There
is no doubt that sooner rather than later the Shiv Khori
Board will also follow in the same footsteps. It may lend
Midas touch to its area making it a perfect adjunct to
Katra.
Sweet revenge
India's Test triumph at
Perth is more than a matter of mere statistics. Yes, it
does help our team to fight back in a series in which it
was 0-2 down. It also snaps Australia's five-year long
unbeaten run on the home turf. That is a matter of
immense satisfaction. Let's drive more pleasure, however,
from the realisation that our "boys" are among
the best even though they are disturbed by bad umpiring
decisions and unsportsmanlike acts of rivals both of
which were much in evidence during the second Test in
Sydney. The nation will agree with skipper Anil Kumble:
"After Sydney there were two options. One was to go
back home and the other was to show that we are capable
of winning. I am glad the team has got together to prove
that (beating Australia)." Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath
Chatterjee has also summed it up nicely. He has
congratulated the team for "displaying the highest
order of sportsmanship and bouncing back with the
spectacular victory." One is sure that our squad
will maintain the same form in the fourth and final Test
that is to be followed by one-day series. In every sport
a win or a loss does matter. What is equally significant
is whether a team is simultaneously able to claims hearts
of fans and connoisseurs alike. Kumble and his colleagues
have done well on every count so far.
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Pakistan:
Nuclear weapons with jehadis
By Sreedhar
One of the major
issues that is causing concern
among the international strategic
community is how far nuclear
weapons are safe from radical
Islamic groups in Pakistan. There
is a general consensus among many
Pakistani observers that in the
event of an election there is
every possibility that the
radical Islamic groups will come
to power. They are arguing that
the sympathy wave to Pakistan's
People Party is coming down,
mainly due to family feuds among
Bhutto family members and in the
process the radical may gain
upper hand in Pakistan.
In such a situation,
will the Pakistani army allow the
control of nuclear weapons by a
radical Islamic group Government?
At the moment in India, both
within the Government and among
Pakistani watchers, the sentiment
is that the Pakistani army, under
the close watch of the US, will
not allow anybody else to gain
access to nuclear arsenal. Many
others also feel reassured that
the US is keeping a close tab on
Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. They
mention they in the past, even
the elected Governments were kept
at an arms length about the
nuclear weapons by Pakistani
army.
In this context, one
has to take three factors have to
be taken into consideration.
First, now it is well known among
various nuclear weapon
proliferation watchdogs that
Pakistani nuclear establishment
has a large number of
sympathizers and supporters to
radical Islamic groups. There
were also reports that A.Q.Khan,
father of Pakistani nuclear
programme met Taliban leadership
like Mullah Umar and al-Qaida
Chief Osama Bin Laden in 2000 and
2001. In addition, a number of
Pakistani nuclear scientists have
joined organizations like
Lashkar-e-Toiba and
Jaish-e-Mohammad and have
attended their functions.
All these evidence
lead to the conclusion that the
radical Islamic groups have made
their inroads into Pakistani
nuclear establishment.
Second, most of the
clandestine nuclear proliferation
network was manned either by the
members of the drug syndicates
operating across
Pakistan-Afghanistan border or by
a section of the Pakistani Armed
Forces. The usage of PAF
helicopters by A.Q.Khan in June
2001 to visit Kandahar is one
example. The arrest of some of
the persons involved in nuclear
proliferation in countries like
Canada, Holland and Belgium
indicate that there are both
state actors and non state actors
in this whole exercise. The nexus
between these people and
Pakistani nuclear establishment
can not be ignored.
In the emerging
situation in Pakistan after
Benazir Bhutto's death, many
wonder how far sympathizers and
supporters will provided access
to radical Islamic groups to
nuclear weapons, this is a
question that needs to be
addressed to immediately.
Lastly, with all
access to nuclear weapons to the
radical Islamic groups it is
being said that even if they gain
access to nuclear weapons they
may not be able to operate
nuclear weapons! But nobody is
debating what havoc these radical
elements can create if they gain
access to nuclear waste-radio
active material-to create a
"dirty bomb". According
to some reports in June-July 2001
some of the activists of the
radical Islamic groups tried to
gain access to nuclear waste to
deter anybody attacking them from
outside. There would not have
been any hesitation on the part
of Al-Qaeda to use 'dirty bombs'
on invading US forces in October
2001. In fact, there were some
reports that 'dirty bombs' were
about to be smuggled into US and
they would be used against the
Americans to gain certain amount
of psychological advantage over
the US. Luckily such things did
not happen at that time. All
these factors lead one to
conclude that it is not unlikely
that radical Islamic groups in
Pakistan will not gain access to
nuclear weapons. If they come
into power they will not only
threaten to use them wherever
they may find it necessary but
will also talk about it publicly
for a long time to come.
Therefore, half a million
professional army of Pakistan
guarding the nuclear weapons may
not be valid under all
circumstances.
One school of
thought presently persists that
Pakistani Armed Forces are the
best bet to protect the Pakistani
nuclear weapons. This means that
the international community is
assuming that the Armed Forces
continues to be a disciplined lot
and will not do anything wrong as
far as the nuclear weapons are
concerned. This would also mean
people like Pervez Musharaf's
will not behave irresponsibly
with regards to nuclear weapons.
Here we forget the fact that
under Pervez Musharraf
leadership, incidentally (when he
was the Chief of the Army Staff),
people like A.Q. Khan established
and cemented their relationship
with radical Islamic groups. When
this news came into public
knowledge in 2003, everybody
realized that nuclear weapons and
its technology are not safe in
Pakistan. In addition, it was
Pervez Musharraf who advised his
army to move out nuclear weapons
from its hide out at the time of
Kargil war in June 1999. No
doubt, today the US took
considerable amount of interest
in the safety of nuclear weapons
in Pakistan by providing the
needed safety technology. This
was marginally reassuring to the
rest of the international
community.
However there were
unconfirmed reports in 2005 about
the involvement of drug mafia in
the clandestine nuclear
proliferation business and
interestingly this business was
still flourishing.
This started an
intense debate about the
Pakistani Armed Forces capability
to control nuclear weapons. As
things stand today the safety and
security of nuclear weapons in
Pakistan has been totally left to
the Armed Forces. But no one is
able to confirm that the Armed
Forces have no sympathy with the
radical Islamic groups. In such a
situation the international
community can not keep all its
eggs in one basket about nuclear
weapons. In the fast changing
situation in Pakistan the
political equations are also
changing. The non proliferation
lobbies are asking whether this
approach in a field or failing
state like Pakistan is correct.
From the Indian
perspective Pakistani nuclear
weapons have always been a point
of anxiety all these years. The
condescending attitude of the US
during the entire 1980s and 1990s
when the clandestine nuclear
proliferation was in full swing
by A.Q.Khan and company, it
worried everyone in India. Even
though New Delhi tried to
sensitize the US law makers,
there was a lukewarm response
from Washington D.C. All these
things underwent a change after
9/11. Though there is
considerable amount of faith on
the US capabilities, the Indian
anxiety appears to be, what will
happen if radical Islamic groups
come to power through an
electoral process, or if there is
civil war in Pakistan? There are
no immediate answers to such an
eventuality among policy makers
in New Delhi. The mandarins in
South Block are pondering over
various options in the worst case
scenario. They feel India cannot
leave every thing to the US.
(PTI)
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Tax
the wonderful Nano
Dr
Bharat Jhunjhunwala
The
automobile has come to
represent economic
progress as seen in the
saying "What is good
for General Motors is
good for America."
Global auto majors have
been trying to build a
cheap car. The Tatas have
beaten them in the race
in unveiling the Rs one
lac car Nano. Challenge
before us is to make this
happy experience
sustainable. One reason
for the collapse of our
Indus Valley Civilization
was the excessive forest
felling. They needed fuel
in large quantities to
bake the bricks from
which they made wonderful
houses. But this led to
deforestation, floods and
to the decline of that
greatest civilization of
its time. Mankind has
made many a goods that
have been beneficial for
the businessmen but
harmful for the society.
These include the atom
bomb, opium and
pornography. We may meet
a similar fate if we do
not deal with the
wonderful Nano
judiciously.
Nano
will make it possible for
middle class families to
travel in a car instead
of a two-wheeler. While
dedicating the car to the
nation, Ratan Tata
explained he was
motivated to make this
car seeing a family ride
a scooter on a rainy day.
One child was standing in
the front, another
squeezed between the
parents and third in the
lap of mother.
Unquestionably such
families will get much
relief from Nano. But the
nature has imposed limits
to such comforts. The
earth has not enough land
or oil to make it
possible for the six
billion people to travel
in a car. India's
situation is especially
precarious. A comfortable
30.9 square kilometer
land is available per
1000 population in the
United States and 7.4
square kilometer is
available in China but
only 2.6 square kilometer
in India. Scarcity of
urban land is already
leading to overcrowding.
According to World Bank
77 percent urban people
in India live more than
two persons per room.
This is highest among the
50-odd countries for
which data is available.
For comparison, Iran has
33 percent people living
more than two persons per
room, Argentina 19
percent, Russia 7 percent
and New Zealand 1
percent. Our cities are
becoming like worker's
barracks of the Indus
Valley Civilization. We
simply do not have land
to make roads and parking
spaces for a large number
of cars.
Presently
about 7 lac two-wheelers
and 1 lac cars are sold
every year in the
country. Tatas plan to
make 2.5 lac Nano every
year increasing it to 3.5
lac later. We will have
to make huge areas
available for roads and
parking if our people buy
3.5 lac cars every year
in addition to the 1 lac
they are buying
presently. Then three or
four persons will have to
live in a room, instead
of two. The gains in
welfare of the people
from riding in the car
will be cancelled by the
loss to them from
housing, parks and fresh
air.
The
consumption of oil will
increase much. We, like
America, have already
become dependent upon oil
imports to the extent of
about 75 percent of our
requirements. America's
obsession with the car is
leading to the collapse
of that economy. The same
may happen to us.
Two-wheelers carry the
passengers 50-80 km per
liter against 20 km by
Nano. This will lead to
huge increase in
consumption of oil. The
impact on global warming
will also be huge.
Addressing the
Confederation of Indian
Industry, R.K. Pachauri,
who received the Nobel
Peace prize this week as
chief of the UN
Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, said
the small car will be a
major threat to
environment: "With
the coming in of Rs.1 lac
car, I am having
nightmares, I don't know
what will happen
then," he said.
People of the Indus
Valley slept well in
pucca houses. But that
comfort led to their
death. The same can
happen with the Nano.
Tata's
Chartered Accountant Amit
Khandelia has replied to
these objections in blog.
He pointed out that
scarcity of land,
consumption of oil and
contribution to global
warming take place as
much from a Mercedes as
from Nano. It is not
correct, therefore, to
promote Mercedes and
denigrate Nano. The point
is valid. Why should the
rich be allowed to create
import-dependence on oil
and not the middle class?
The Planning Commission
should, therefore,
undertake a holistic
study of the car economy.
We should determine the
optimum number of cars
that should ply on our
roads taking into account
availability of land for
highways and parking
space, dependence on
imported oil,
contribution to global
warming, etc. Then the
Government should raise
taxes on cars such that
the demand is restricted
to this level. Within
these numbers, we should
promote Nano, which is
Swadeshi and consumes
less oil, rather than the
Mercedes. In other words
Nano-the cheap car-is
welcome but Nano-the mass
produced car-is not. And
here lies the
contradiction. The low
price of Nano is
dependent on large
volumes. There is no
cheap car if it cannot be
produced in large
numbers. Few Mercedes can
be produced. Thus the
case for Nano is not
upheld.
The
Finance Minister has
reduced the excise duty
on car from 24 percent to
16 percent in the last
budget. This has helped
increase the sales of
this machine and has put
greater strain on our
resources. The Finance
Minister must immediately
reverse this policy.
There is a need to raise
taxes on this to say, 40
percent, or even 100
percent, to account for
the costs imposed on
account of oil dependence
etc.
Car
culture is especially
harmful for the poorest
people. Philip Goff of
University of Oregon
argues that scarce public
space is converted into
roads and parking lots to
accommodate cars. Land,
on which the poor man
slept, sold his
vegetables and on which
poor children played is
handed over to the rich
for plying their cars.
Under-paths are made to
keep the poor pedestrians
away from the roads that
have been captured by the
rich. The subsidy being
given by the Government
to oil companies to
import oil and supply
cheap to car owners is
paid for, in part, by the
poor. Taxes are imposed
on match boxes, bicycle
tires and rubber chappals
to provide cheap oil to
the rich. Municipalities
are so overburdened with
the costs of making
flyovers and highways
that they have fewer
funds left for providing
pavements, street lights,
drinking water and
sanitation in the slums.
Police is heavily
involved in catching car
thieves and has less time
to attend to smaller
burglaries in the poor
areas. In various ways
cars transfer resources
from the poorest to the
rich. Nano does the same
from poorest to the
middle classes. Thus we
should welcome the Nano
insofar as it is a cheap
Indian car but we must
impose high taxes on all
cars to create a just and
equitable society.
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Explosive
situation in North East
By
Sanchet Barua
If
the statistics of the
Planning Commission are
to be believed the
Northeast region in terms
of per capita income is
the poorest, but in terms
of central grants and
other funds going to the
region for development it
is the highest compared
to the other parts of the
country. It is the duty
of the Planning
Commission and political
leadership both at the
central and state levels
to devise special plan
packages for the
development of the
region; otherwise, there
will be more violence and
economic disparities will
increase. There is also
an urgent need to monitor
how the central grants
are being utilized by the
state governments.
The
Nobel laureate Amartya
Sen in a lecture
delivered last year
compared the Northeast
with that of
"Lebanon in the
making" if the
government of India does
not come forward to
remove grievances of the
people, which are
legitimate. In the
context of development in
Assam Mahatma Gandhi had
declared "If the
people feel that the
present policy of the
government on settlement
and immigration is
oppressive and
anti-national, let them
fight it non-violently,
or violently, if
necessary." The
issue continues to
trouble many parts of the
Northeast, not just
Assam. It was not the
only time that the
Mahatma suggested a trend
to confrontation between
Assam and the Centre,
because he believed that
individuals, communities,
states and nations needed
to stand up fearlessly.
The
winter of 1946, as a
tragedy of epic
proportions-the Partition
of India-was rapidly
moving to its horrific
conclusion, two
emissaries of Gopinath
Bardoloi, the Congress
Premier of Assam, met the
Mahatma at his camp in
Noakhali, East Bengal.
The issue was simple:
opposition to the Cabinet
Mission's recommendation
that India be grouped
into three sections, A,
B, and C. These were to
include states as diverse
as Mumbai, the Northwest
Province, Bengal and
Assam, all of which had
mixed religious
populations. The Mission
clubbed Bengal, which was
a Muslim-majority
province, with Assam, a
Hindu-dominated state.
Since, under the
Mission's dispensation,
the Sections would frame
the constitutions of
these areas, a province
with a numerical
superiority like Bengal
could force its views
down Assam's throat.
Bardoloi's
plea against pushing
Assam into Bengal's arms
was dismissed by Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru (that
Assam's refusal could
'let loose the forces of
chaos and civil war');
Sardar Patel first backed
Bardoloi by writing to
Sir Stafford Cripps. The
President of the Board of
Trade, that "the
(British) interpretation
means that Bengali
Muslims would draw up the
Constitution of Assam. Do
you think such a
monstrous proposition
would be accepted by the
Hindus of Assam?"
But then he too changed
his position and took the
Nehru line.
Bereft
of support from the
national leadership and
worried by the Muslim
League's open declaration
that the Cabinet
Mission's Plan meant that
the "germ and
essence of Pakistan"
was there, Bardoloi
turned to his last
resort: the Congress
Party of Assam and the
Mahatma. The Congress
Party was popular in
Assam especially since
the state had been a keen
participant in the
independence movement.
And the Mahatma's support
would be crucial to turn
the tables against the
Mission Plan and give the
state Congress the
support it needed. We
must remember another
significant point here:
that Bardoloi and his
Congress Party came to
power in 1946 on the
plank of Assamese
nationalism and
anti-immigrant policies.
We
are familiar with the
events that followed the
student agitation: first
a series of strikes
leading to the boycott of
the 1980 elections and
gheraoing of candidates
that forced cancellation
of balloting in 8 of 14
Parliamentary
constituencies. Then
followed a sustained
campaign, despite
crackdowns by police and
paramilitary forces, that
crippled the state
administration and the
economy. Several rounds
of negotiations between
Indira Gandhi, who was
returned to power in the
1980 general elections,
and the agitators failed.
The Prime Minister called
for an election to force
the issue and settle the
political instability in
the state.
The
1983 February elections
to the state assembly and
to fill the vacant Lok
Sabha seats were an
unmitigated disaster. The
students launched not
just a boycott but active
resistance. Roads and
bridges were damaged;
telecommunications were
snapped; polling parties
were attacked and at
least one was killed. The
election brought a
Congress Party Government
to power under Hiteswar
Saikia, but is widely
regarded as one of the
most unfair elections to
be held in the history of
independent India. The
death toll has not been
matched by any election:
the figures vary between
3,000 and 5,000 dead.
The
anti-foreigner movement
turned slowly into an
anti-Saikia agitation, as
the agitation lost
momentum. But it retained
enough clout to enable
its leadership to sign an
agreement in August 1985
with the Central
Government when Rajiv
Gandhi, the new Prime
Minister, took the
initiative. Under the
terms of the accord,
Saikia demitted office,
the state legislature was
dissolved and new
elections were held that
brought the agitators to
power. The Centre pledged
to deport illegal
immigrants who had come
after 1971, promised to
set up a third oil
refinery, reopen a sick
paper mill, establish an
Indian Institute of
Technology and a Central
University in the State.
But
on the core issues of
identifying and deporting
aliens, the agitators
compromised: they sought
the disenfranchisement of
immigrants who had come
between 1961-1971 (large
number of them were
Bengali Hindus from East
Pakistan) but permitted
them to vote in the very
elections that brought
them to power in 1985. By
agreeing to 1971 as the
cut-off year, the
agitators accepted the
very formula that Mrs.
Gandhi, astute as always
on such issues, had
offered as far back as
1980 and which they had
spurned.
In
1985, the students came
to power under the banner
of a new regional party,
the Asom Gana Parishad.
But they failed to redeem
their pledges of
deportation and
detection. Only about 900
illegal migrants were
ousted during their
tenure and they lost
credibility. In the
process, an armed
insurrection grew in the
state under the
leadership of the United
Liberation Front of Asom.
Its activities were
curbed by two major army
operations that followed
the dismissal of the Asom
Gana Parishad Government
and new elections that
brought Congress and
Saikia back to power. But
in recent months, its
activities have been on
the upsurge, especially
in collaboration with two
other underground groups,
the powerful National
Socialist Council of
Nagaland and the Bodo
Security Force.
What
must be pointed out here
is that a series of
elections and
confrontations has not
resolved the crisis
before Assam. If there is
recognition of the
"anger" on the
issue in Assam, then what
has been done to assuage
it? INAV
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