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MR Hari Jaisingh in his article “A fragmented polity: social conscience missing” (April 2) brought into sharp focus all that ails Bihar, once the cradle of India’s civilisation.

Bihar is one state where one sees the law of the jungle prevailing with a barely literate Chief Minister, whom her crafty husband has been able to install as the state’s de jure ruler. Is it that a man of Laloo’s wits, strength and courage has not been able to contain the Ranvir Sena which is out to demolish the hutments of the Dalits, which is out to molest — even rape — their womenfolk in which even the hands of the state’s men in khaki are also red? Or is it that Mr Laloo Yadav wants it all to show that he is Laloo?

As of today, Bihar is the home of lawlessness, terror, fear, hunger, mafia dons and corruption. Surprisingly, the bill of Mr Laloo Yadav’s two daughters studying in Rajasthan is Rs 2 lakh per annum while he shows Rs 1 lakh as his income in the income-tax return. Who then finances and feeds the Laloo clan? Anybody’s guess

LAW OF JUNGLE IN BIHAR: There is no security of people’s lives and limbs in Bihar. Law and order has totally collapsed. Private armies are killing the Dalits with impunity. Ultra-Left forces strike at will. It’s all the law of the jungle that prevails in Bihar.

Neighbouring UP is no better either. West Bengal’s is a story of death, disease, starvation, poverty and corruption, to quote Mr Binoy Chowdhury, who was till yesterday next only to Mr Jyoti Basu.

Punjab is standing at the doorstep of bankruptcy, thanks to the Badal-Tohra feud. Haryana presents a picture of a financial mess because of its populist policies. In Maharashtra, one sees a ding-dong battle between Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Bal Thackeray. In Kerala, it is a story of now Congress, then the Marxists. Tamil Nadu’s corruption queen, Ms Jayalalitha, has grown restive for power.

What are we heading for? From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Dwarka to Dibrugarh it’s all murder and mayhem, misery and moan, death, disease and starvation.

THE MISSING FUNDS: The charges against the Bihar government are that funds are not really made available to the poor of the poorest. Or that they have disappeared or have been eaten up en route to the implementing agency.

The Indian Penal Code does have provision for dealing with financial misappropriation, but legislatures’ rules of procedure do not specify how to penalise the members who misappropriate funds. Unquestionably, some of the funds have also gone to militant group of different areas through these very channels.

In this situation the role of the national media becomes crucial, it should ask pertinent questions on such funds.

The time has come to evolve a healthy relationship between the media and the judiciary. Any deliberate attempt to curb the powers of the Press will weaken the fight against exploitation and other ills in the polity.

CONG LOSES FACE: The Central government represents a bigger democracy than the state governments. If a smaller institution goes wrong, the bigger one steps in to help, and there is nothing undemocratic about it. This is exactly, the philosophy behind the provision of Article 356 of the Constitution.

The BJP-led government at the Centre had taken a very judicious step to enforce President’s rule in Bihar under this Article. The Congress would have enhanced its prestige as a responsible national party by supporting the Central government in the Rajya Sabha. Even the appeal made by the Prime Minister, however, did not touch the dead conscience of Congress leaders. The Congress has no moral right to ask the Rabri Devi government to resign.

Water availability

Water is the elixir of life. Its per capita availability in the world is becoming less and less, for the simple reason that the population of the world is increasing at a fast rate whereas the availability of water continues to remain constant. This is pushing up its economic value, which in turn is leading to severe conflicts between various countries. In his article “World’s river disputes (April 1) the author gives an overview of such conflicts, and how some of these can become the cause for future wars.

Among the several tools which can be used for getting some relief from such a crisis, by far the most effective one is developing such a technique as can help in conserving surplus water by recharging the underground reservoir by artificial means.

Such a technique has a special significance for the states like Punjab and Haryana where a large number of tubewells have been installed. The management of these tubewells is joint one; farmers are responsible for their installation and operation whereas the responsibility for maintaining the optimum level of ground-water by controlling the output and input of water is that of the state government. The level started falling some 20 years ago and has been continuing since then. This has made these tubewells uneconomical. A stage has now been reached when these, numbering over 14 lakh, are facing the threat of extinction. Nobody is sure of their fate after another 10 years. The only way to save these tubewells is to resort to recharging the underground reservoir by surplus water.

There is no dearth of such water. Both states have a network of drains which carry the unwanted water from the paddy fields, and the unabsorbed rain-water to the rivers. All that is required to be done is to set up a large number of recharging stations along these drains where water should be desilted and allowed to be injected into the ground by gravity. These drains will thus become instruments for recharging and hence for delaying the doomsday.

S.P. MALHOTRA
formerly Engineer-in-Chief,
Irrigation Deptt., Haryana
Panchkula

A four-year-old school-child Duwivijay, was crushed to death by a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus on March 24 near the main gate of Shimla’s Tara Hall Public School. The escort was also hurt. This is despite the various safety measures advocated by the media from time to time. A very sad state of affairs, indeed!

More than the Tara Hall School area, the stretch of Cart Road near St. Edward’s School is a dangerous spot. The gate of this school is located on a narrow and blind bend of the road. The approach thereto may have been all right when the school had just started. At that time the number of students might have been very less, and motor traffic also not so heavy. But with today’s intense traffic, and the enormous rise in the number of pupils, their safety is highly endangered.

Moreover, over-speeding indulged in by some careless motorists on the main road as well as in the bylanes leading to Himland and Shimla hotels imperils the children’s safety. The other day a woman standing near St. Edward’s gate and waiting for her child was almost knocked down by a Sumo driver coming from the Himland hotel side at break-neck speed.

Will the management of the school(s), the police, the PWD and the other authorities concerned, therefore, join hands to ensure fully safe entry and exit from school(s) for the pupils as well as their escorts?

	M A I L B A G	Friday, April 9, 1999
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