P A G E
Monday, July 5, 1999
today's calendar
|
E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Monday, July 5, 1999 |
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
||
|
Cell(phone)
shocked
PAKISTANI
INTRUSION & AFTER |
 |
Dissolved
LS makes Sept poll a must
Artists,
poets salute the soldier
Of
horses and probationers
“Woman’s cause is
Man’s” |
||||||||
 |
|
Cell(phone) shocked TALKING in different voices is not confined to the Kargil-related issues. The Central Government is sending out conflicting signals on the changes it proposes in the telecom policy. A final decision should hopefully emerge at tomorrow’s (Tuesday) meeting of the Union Cabinet which is expected to approve the note prepared by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). But not without a fight, this time between the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) which looks after the DoT. The private cellular telephone operators, those who have the highest stake in the Cabinet decision, are smacking their lips. They have already won a major battle: getting rid of the adamant Minister, Mr Jagmohan. Further, they have managed a favourable opinion from the Attorney General. The lingering objections by the troublesome DoT can be tackled with a little help from the sympathetic PMO. The juiciest concession is regarding the “migration” from a fixed fee arrangement to a revenue sharing scheme. This will free the operators from the present obligation to pay crores of rupees as licence fees, far in excess of their revenue. The second is a straight waiver of dues. The DoT will shift the effective date of licence by six months, which will result in the operators saving the licence fee for a six-month cycle. The cellular phone licence-holders thus have the best of both the liberalised regime and regulated system, a sort of mixed economy tilted entirely in favour of the private sector. But everything is not smooth for the two other players, the DoT and the Finance Ministry. The licence fee due at
present works out to about Rs 4,000 crore. Of this nearly
Rs 1,500 crore will be written off due to the shifting of
the effective date. The DoT will lose another Rs 1,900
crore on account of the downward revision of telephone
tariff by TRAI. In other words, the DoT is facing a cash
crunch at a time when it needs thousands of crores for
new lines both in the urban and rural areas. Last year,
it switched on that number of lines which worked out to
3,000 times what the private operators did under the
basic telephony agreement. So it wants every paisa that
will accrue from the proposed one-time entry fee and the
government’s share of the revenue. Here is the rub.
The Finance Ministry too has cast a covetous eye on the
revenue. Even before Kargil, it had difficulty in
balancing the accounts. Now its troubles have multiplied.
In the current budget, it has already taken a credit of
nearly Rs 1,800 crore on account of cellular licence fee
collection. The PMO on its part faces an excruciating
dilemma. Pro-Jagmohan forces are gunning for it,
suspecting an unethical quid pro quo in easing out the
Minister and dangling succulent concessions to private
operators, all very big names in Indian business.
Anti-liberalisation groups denounce the implicit loss to
the public sector in the name of bailing out private
operators. Newspapers are silent but that will be only up
to Tuesday. Once the Cabinet decision is known, there
will be much moralising and theorising. This fight is not
in the same class as Kargil, but equally spirited. |
Using kids as crowd DR P. Pullarao of Andhra Pradesh has added a new dimension to the inconclusive debate on the forms of child labour and how to end the despicable practice. Responding to his petition, the National Human Rights Commission recently served a notice to the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development to explain why the practice of using school children as a crowd on certain occasions should not be officially discouraged. The petitioner should find wide support across the country to his contention that using school children for rustling up a crowd on special occasions or for impressing a visiting dignitary violates the child labour laws and other universally recognised rights of children. Dr Pullarao is not wrong when he says that in government schools (although private schools too are not above blame in exploiting children) children are treated as mere numbers and not as distinct individuals. And it is not uncommon for these children to be herded from place to place as unwilling part of a crowd or as “forced participants” in programmes and projects which are of little educational value to them. Without meaning to condone the exploitation of street children he has drawn the attention of the NHRC to the fact that school children do not even get paid for being used for furthering the interests of the school managements “who may have political or business axe to grind”. It is indeed true that school children are often made to spend up to 10 hours on rehearsals for school programmes without any attention being paid to their need for some rest and refreshment. Even the ultra-nationalists may find it difficult to reject his plea for a “better deal for school children” because like them he too is in favour of their participation in programmes associated with the country’s heritage, history, culture and freedom movement. However, while doing so the vital distinction between voluntary participation and forced compliance should not be obliterated. (Interestingly, unlike the USA which learnt from its mistake, India rejected outright the suggestion for compulsory military service for the youth.) In Dr Pullarao’s
words “children should participate in national
functions so that a spirit of patriotism and national
pride is stimulated. There are no two opinions about
that. But while involving children in such activities as
rehearsals and Republic Day marches, we should protect
them by making sound guidelines for their well-being and
self-respect.” Dr Pullarao is against driving school
children as dumb cattle from one fair to the next for the
pleasure of the spectators. However, the reforms which he
seeks in the school system cannot be introduced by a mere
directive from the Union Human Resource Development
Ministry. Exploitation of school children for performing
chores other than those which help them in personality
development and in acquiring knowledge is part of the
flaws in the overall system of education. A school system
which does not recognise that children are the most
valuable human resource placed in its care is essentially
responsible for producing “bad students”. It
goes without saying that schools should logically attract
the best manpower for performing the duty of turning
every child into a responsible, and even outstanding,
citizen of tomorrow. Unfortunately, the school system
gets the”left-overs” for performing the
difficult assignment of imparting value-added education
to the future citizens of India. These “failed
individuals” working as teachers, mostly in
government schools, (private schools still try to recruit
the best available talent because they have their
reputation to protect) take out their frustration by
inflicting all manners of abuse on the helpless children.
(There have been instances of children being beaten to
death by subject masters, class teachers and even the
principals.) It may, therefore, not be wrong to say that
the exploitation of school children for performing
“non-educational duties” is part of the
built-in fault in the current system of school education
in India. |
PAKISTANI INTRUSION & AFTER HOW long it will take one cannot at present say but it should be clear by now that Pakistan’s invasion across the Line of Control will ultimately end in Indian victory. This will be done by India’s military force, the unity of our stand and the overwhelming opposition of the international community. But while working for victory, India must not relax. Pakistan is not going to leave it at that. If its military adventure is beaten off, it will return to the tactics with which it is better acquainted, war by proxy, in other words, militancy. India must in the months ahead be wary of increased militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, the border areas of Himachal and the North-East. To overlook this danger will be more dangerous than being caught as we were unawares of the intrusion in Kargil. In Pakistan’s book of military tactics, militancy in the areas in and around Kashmir has prime importance. While the LoC was being broken open and intruded into to capture Indian territory, Pakistan also wanted to create chaos by militancy. There is already a view that after the Kargil war began, acts of militancy, catching at soft targets, using minefields, disrupting the movement of forces on the move, targeting civilians and shooting down pro-India politicians have increased. While fighting in Kargil and Dras forms one front, Pakistan wants to snipe at the underbelly of the logistics by creating civilian scare. It wants to create civil uncertainty and lead to fear among the civilian population so that orderly governance is not possible. This too is part of warfare. The best way to gain the upper hand is to create civilian disturbance. Unfortunately, the Kashmiri separatists under the banner of Hurriyat have tried to give a hand in this. It may not have succeeded to the extent it wanted but it is doing its best. It has tried to organise hartals and demonstrations against the Indian action in the Kargil area. This in a way means supporting Pakistani intruders. During the peak days of militancy the complaint among the secessionists was that Pakistan was not fulfilling its part by causing an invasion in one of the border areas so that India’s capacity to fight them could be blunted. Many of the separatists were greatly disappointed that Pakistan did not intervene militarily at the time. Their attempts to cause demonstrations now is done to give moral support to Pakistani invasion and make it out that the people favour Pakistan. India should guard against disruption by separatists through acts of militancy. Militancy is Pakistan’s second front after the Kargil war. Militancy can affect many areas. There can, for instance, be more acts of militancy in Jammu. This will be a way of creating disruption in Kashmir’s lifelink because Jammu falls on the road to the valley. Disruption in Jammu and Udhampur will make it easy to disrupt the land lifelink over Banihal which connects Jammu and therefore the rest of India with the valley of Kashmir and beyond to Baramulla, Dras, Kargil and beyond. Every militant act will help Pakistan, be it landmines, catching the soft targets on the roadside and making life difficult for civilians in villages and cities. In this the civilians have very little protection. The task of protecting them will be left to the civilian police, but how much can they do? Just as cutting the lifelink of the Srinagar-Leh road was the objective of invading Kargil, the militants would also like to cut off the Jammu-Srinagar road through individual militancy. In a war situation this will be of great importance. This can be done more so nearer winter so that the supply lines which are meant to keep the Valley supplied with necessities are disrupted. When the snow is heavy in winter, the Banihal road gets blocked. The militants would like to get it disrupted well before winter so that supplies do not build up in the valley. The Indian authorities will have to see that this does not happen. The Kargil war has already disrupted tourist traffic, which had been booming for the past many months. This had kept a large proportion of the population engaged in fruitful activities. Tourism has now dried up, creating unemployment in a large section of the population. This can also swell the numbers of the unemployed and may increase the recruits the separatists need, for they have nothing to do and fall prey to the call of the secessionists to go over to Pakistan, get trained in guerrilla warfare and come back across the Line of Control. ISI men could even go across to create trouble in Himachal bordering Jammu and Kashmir. This must have been written in the ISI book of militancy. The ISI has even been trying to create disruption in the other troubled spot — the North-East. If the Kargil war was to internationalise Kashmir, militancy within the state and outside would do as well. When the Kargil war peters out, the ISI would put all its strength into renewed militancy. This is more fruitful for Pakistan because while Kargil has meant invasion, militancy in the state creates a picture of internal subversion. Pakistan has been able to create disruption in Kashmir for over 10 years. It will want to continue with its militancy in a more vicious form. Wherever it can, it will want to create communal hatred to weaken India. So while militarily Pakistan may be subdued around the peaks of Kargil and Dras, the threat of militancy will continue. It may even increase. This is Pakistan’s best weapon and Islamabad will not let it go. It does not expose Pakistan’s intentions. And it puts militancy to acts by what Mr Nawaz Sharif conveniently calls “Kashmiri freedom fighters”. It also gives Pakistan an opportunity to send out its appeal to the local population, with tales of supposed harsh methods used by the armed forces, complaints against the police and use of the religious card. The Indian government must be wary of all this. Trains going to Kashmir, buses plying in the state, disruption of communal peace and stories of attacks on women find a ready means to beat the government and provide propaganda material to Pakistan. This also must be guarded against. Like the rest of the country Jammu and Kashmir is also going to take part in the elections. At that time the people will once again be out in the streets, with the parties vying with one another to capture parliamentary power. This is as it should be, but Pakistan would like to have this too disrupted. Even if the war over the
Kargil peaks cools down with the elimination of the
Pakistani regulars and irregulars, the threat of
militancy will not go away. If Pakistan feels beaten up
militarily, its only hope for internationalising Kashmir
will be to increase militancy. If, on the other hand, the
Kargil war does not end as soon as it is expected,
Pakistan’s attempt will be to take recourse to
full-fledged militancy as in the nineties. India will
have to fight both. This is a challenge to Indian tactics
and planning. |
War: ground-air cooperation THE decision to induct the Air Force offensively into the Kargil sector is not a routine requirement but an urgent military necessity. After some initial reports in the media about the decision-making authorities feeling that such an induction of the IAF’s fighters may escalate the conflict, the decision has been hailed as most welcome and timely. Not only did the military use of an aircraft revolutionise modern warfare but also its proper application became a sure ingredient for success, and its absence an inevitable defeat. This was amply proven to the world prior to World War II. Both the Army and the Navy started depending totally on the aircraft as a weapon system to achieve success in battle, and whenever this important aspect was ignored, the defeat was instant. As the aeroplane became the extension of the ground organic fire power, its use with devastating effect became evident to military tacticians. This has been demonstrated right from the days of World War II to the Korean, Vietnam, Indo-Pak, Arab-Israeli and Gulf wars. In 1962, India witnessed the failure of the political leadership when it interfered with the military decision-making, by removing the IAF fighter sqns from the Sino-Indian conflict and letting the Indian Army slide into the jaws of a crushing defeat. The Army was in dire need of a close air support. Military strategists state that not only would have the IAF fighters pinned the Chinese down but also they would have effectively blocked the retreat of the intruders, forcing a very large number of them to surrender, giving India a victory out of defeat. As the battle in the Kargil sector progresses, it is observed that close Army-IAF cooperation has proved to be a real advantage to the advancing troops. The Army has arrived at many points very close to the LoC. This calls for the Air Force to review its tactics for a variety of reasons. The closeness to the LoC brings about certain restrictions upon the fast moving jets, which now have to operate with extreme caution, in spite of their high speed, to avoid violating the same. This would require greater caution for the pilots in attack, and the friendly army on the ground, along with the forward air controller guiding the attacking aircraft. Besides the use of flares and other counter-measures by the attacking fighters and helicopters to neutralise the enemy surface-to-air missiles, weapon delivery could be carried out from a higher level. This stepping up of the weapon delivery height would require the use of armament of precision-guided munitions category. As the higher reaches in the Kargil theatre are coming more and more under the control of the Indian forces, the FACs can now be placed at better locations tactically from where they can direct the friendly fighters in attack more efficiently. Similarly, the artillery can be brought to fire more accurately onto the enemy anti-aircraft elements located along the LoC with the help of better visibility available to our fighting forces due to these heights. The main disadvantage in stepping up the weapon delivery heights is that the enemy radar located deep within the enemy side of the LoC would be able to track down our aircraft and get them under the surface-to-air missile attack, or the enemy fighter can be guided to launch an air-to-air missile onto our fighters from within their side of the LoC. With extreme closeness to the LoC now, the fighters carrying out the attacks within very limited space have to be extremely cautious as not to violate the boundary due to their large radius of turns. Fighters like the MiG 21, MiG 27s and Jaguars will face this problem. This problem would not have been there in case of deployment of aircraft like those of the Hawk or Hunter class, which, though having the same weapon delivery speeds, have a far lesser radius of turn due to their transonic design features. (The Hawk is an advanced jet trainer (AJT) and has been shortlisted for purchase by India for the last 14 years). The Hunter due to the lack of spares and its technology being old, had to be phased out. The job is being carried out by the swing-wing MiG 27s, which has a large radius of turn and presents to the enemy gunners a fairly large target. The IAF may resort to the stand-off delivery of weapons from the air, which would enable the pilot to launch the weapon from a distance, thus dispensing with the requirement for the pilot to overfly the target, and getting exposed to heavy ground fire. Moreover, this technique would reduce the risk of a fighter aircraft entering a heavy fire zone in a confined space from getting hit by even friendly gunners. Conversely, the attacking aircraft may hit friendly ground forces if the belligerents are placed too close to each other as is the case at present. The Air Force has to
keep on reviewing and modifying its fighting techniques,
because a successful air effort is the primary
requirement for victory on the ground. |
Of
horses and probationers UNTIL the early 1980s horse riding was compulsory for all IAS probationers incarcerated in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie. The raison d’etre for imposing such a vigorous activity on people whose greatest physical exertion in later years would comprise nothing more than brushing files under the carpet, was aptly summed up by Mrs Indira Gandhi when some stout probationers represented to her that the sport should be made optional. She is reported to have said: “An officer who cannot control a horse cannot control a crowd.” And so, since no one, not even a pedigreed mule, argued with Mrs Gandhi, generations of probationers were condemned to two years of throbbing posteriors, a bow-legged walk which would have gladdened any Shakespearean buff [“Yonder cometh a man in parenthesis”], and a healthy respect for all quadrupeds [that is, those that are outside the political mainstream]. Riding became the second biggest obsession in the Academy [the first, by a long shot, was identifying potential spouses from those states where one wanted an allotment but had not succeeded]. In the process it threw up a whole collage of personalities, incidents and tales that we can now look back on with amusement, confident in the knowledge that our days of crowd and horse control are now behind us. There was, for instance, Hazari Singh, a retired Army Havildar, half dragon and half rat trap, and our riding instructor. His avowed mission in life was to demonstrate that IAS probationers were the lowest form of invertebrates, and that it was a pure biological aberration that such genetic mutants should be riding on an animal as splendid as a horse. Possessed by his own peculiar Darwinian theory, he lost no opportunity to constantly reaffirm this to us. If someone handled a horse roughly Hazari Singh would remind him in a voice that could be heard in Dehra Dun: “Aaram se, saar, that is an expensive animal, not some cheap trash selected by the UPSC!” For the smart alecs amongst us he had a trick up his sleeve: a 14-year-old midnight black mare whose very memory, even today, induces incontinence amongst hardboiled Collectors and deep fried Secretaries. If Hazari Singh perceived any one of us as a bigger streptococcus than normal, that lost soul was ordered to mount Jaya. Thereafter the poor blister was as clay, and Jaya the potter: she could do anything with him, for she had a mind that was strong even by the standards of the female of the species. Madhavan mounted Jaya one day-and disappeared for two whole days: even today he becomes incoherent when asked where Jaya had taken him. Varun Maira attempted a three foot jump on her-at the last possible moment, when Varun, like a lumbering 747, had committed himself to take-off, Jaya stopped. Varun continued over the jump in a perfect parabola, sans Jaya, and landed on his head. Any apprehensions of a possible head injury were dispelled by a smirking Hazari Singh. “No problem saab, there is nothing inside that head that can be damaged!” I must admit, however, that Varun Maira’s subsequent career has proved Hazari Singh right- he has done remarkably well! And finally, of course,
there was George Mehra. He was straight out of a Zane
Grey western, always with a cigar stuck in his mouth, and
when he walked past you, you could distinctly hear the
testosterone sloshing around inside him. George loved
riding and therefore wanted to join the police service,
but when he heard that the police had switched to jeeps
he walked into the IAS with the aplomb of a cowboy
walking into the sunset. He spent 18 hours a day in the
saddle, and received the supreme compliment when Hazari
Singh announced that he was a mis-fit in the IAS! George
had a gift with horses. Mrs Gandhi would have approved of
him-and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha could certainly pick
up a few tips from him! |
Dissolved LS makes Sept poll a must
“I HAVE only two or three sentences to add,” Winston Churchill told the House of Commons on May 8, 1945, after having formally read out the statement announcing the surrender of Germany. “They will convey,” he said, “my deep gratitude to this House of Commons, which has proved itself the strongest foundation for waging war that has ever been seen in the whole of our long history.” Parliament as the strongest foundation for waging war. This was a handsome tribute, indeed, to the vitality of parliamentary democracy during a crisis of unparalleled magnitude — a world war. “We have all of us made our mistakes,” Churchill continued, “but the strength of the Parliamentary institution has been shown to enable it at the same moment to preserve all the title-deeds of democracy while waging war in the most stern and protracted form. I wish to give my hearty thanks to men of all parties, to everyone in every part of the House where they sit, for the way in which the liveliness of Parliamentary institutions has been maintained under the fire of the enemy....” And here we are, in India, still undecided and debating whether the Rajya Sabha should be convened to discuss the situation in Kargil! Having said that, let me turn to a Kargil-related subject that is strictly legal. Though academic (after last Friday’s decision of the Election Commission to hold the Lok Sabha elections on schedule). Can the elections be postponed in the event of war? In the event, that is, of Pakistan deciding not to heed international pressure and in a fit of desperation expanding the Kargil conflict into a regular, full-fledged war. The answer lies in the Constitution, in Article 83(2). The House of the People, says the Article, “unless sooner dissolved”, shall continue for a period of five years from the date of its first meeting “and no longer”, and the expiration of the said period of five years shall operate as a dissolution of the House. This, in normal times. Come an emergency (war, external aggression or armed rebellion) and the proviso or exception to the Article comes into play. While a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, says the proviso, the said period of five years may be “extended by Parliament by law for a period not exceeding one year at a time”, though not in any case beyond six months after the proclamation has ceased to operate. “It is obvious,” comments H.M. Seervai, that great doyen of constitutional lawyers now no longer with us, “that the exception has been made as a result of experience gained by the British Parliament during two world wars” during which the duration of Parliament was extended by law. The British Parliament elected in the year 1910, constitutional scholars SA de Smith and Rodney Brazier inform us, was prolonged by Annual Acts during World War I, and not dissolved till November, 1918. The Parliament elected in 1935 was similarly prolonged during World War II and finally dissolved in June, 1945. An attempt by a government, they write, to “procure the deferment of a General Election in any situation other than one of armed conflict would provoke a serious constitutional crisis.” But let us come back to India. The original proviso in the Draft Constitution (then Article 68, now Article 83) vested the power of extending the life of Parliament in the President of the Republic. This is “so much of an invasion of the ordinary constitutional provisions,” a protesting B.R. Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly on May 18, 1949. Such a power, he said, should really be vested in Parliament itself and not the President. And Parliament “should be required to make such a provision for extending the life of itself by law and not by any other measure such as a resolution or motion.” Accepting an amendment proposed by Ambedkar, the Assembly adopted Article 83 in its present form. While a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, says the proviso to Clause (2) of the Article, the period of five years (the normal duration of the Lok Sabha) may be “extended by Parliament by law....” But, and that is the Achilles’ heel in the present situation, the power of extension under the proviso can be invoked only so long as there is a Lok Sabha. A Lok Sabha in existence, that is. The proviso does not apply and the power cannot be invoked when the Lok Sabha already stands dissolved. This would be clear, absolutely clear, from the language of the main part of Clause (2). The House of the People (to quote and paraphrase the Clause yet again), “unless sooner dissolved”, shall continue for a period of five years from its first meeting subject to extension under the proviso. Unless sooner dissolved. Extending the duration of a dissolved Lok Sabha is thus constitutionally prohibited, apart from being a physical impossibility. A dissolved Lok Sabha, a
caretaker government and a war. For all their foresight,
the founding fathers did not envisage all the three
occurring together. |
Artists, poets salute the soldier
ON June 30 evening the Habitat Centre auditorium certainly couldn’t have contained more artists, dancers, poets, theatre people and personalities like Khushwant Singh, B.C. Sanyal, Gujral brothers — I.K. and Satish. They had come on a common platform to focus on our soldiers posted in the Kargil and Batalik sectors and to mobilise resources for the National Defence Fund. And whether it was dance movements by Sonal Mansingh, Raja-Radha and Kaushalya Reddy, Uma Sharma, Shovana Narayan, Pratibha Prahlad, Sharon Lowen or the flute melodies of G.S. Rajan, dhrupad renderings by Wasifuddin Dagar, Rabindrasangeet by Reba Som or else poetic recitations by Vinod Nagpal, Shanta Serbjeet Singh, Ashok Vajpeyi, Pawan Varma or even prose renditions by Suhel Seth, the focus remained unchanged. The men guarding our frontiers were remembered and saluted with Khushwant Singh coming up with a message for the people of Pakistan: “I want to tell the people of Pakistan that we bear them no ill will... but their government and army have betrayed them by sending infiltrators and intruders to Kargil and we will not rest till the impostors are not removed from our land...” Conspicuous by their absence that evening were politicians (the only exception could be I.K. Gujral) and though there seemed focus on every aspect on this warfare, nobody seemed to touch upon the current state of back-door diplomacy during this war. Anyway, back to the programme. It was so well organised that I could go on and on with details of it but what touched me most was poet-bureaucrat Ashok Vajpayee’s poem where he stressed on the power of prayer — prayer for peace. Also touching was the dhrupad renderings, again straining along with a message for peace. In fact, if I’m not mistaken most of these artists had specially composed a dance item or written poetic lines for the occasion. Another strong point was that none of the artists were draped in rich, glamorous attire, rather simply wearing whites. White cottons if I am not mistaken. More special concerts And as I file this column there is news that on July 10 several Mumbai filmstars would be holding a fund-raising show here. The list of those expected to attend this show is long and impressive but I’d better hold on till the actual day of their arrival. And yesterday whilst dining at the Press Club one was told that on July 16, there would be a special Pankaj Udhas evening to raise funds for our soldiers. And this special concert will be held at the premises of the new building of the Press Club of India — 7, Raisina Road. I haven’t seen it, but I’m told it is sprawling and that there are plans to fit it with a state-of-the-art library. Amarnath Yatra Last week during a telephonic interview with Srinagar-based J&K’s Commissioner and Secretary Tourism Parvez Dewan, one was told that the Amarnath Yatra would commence on July 21, and would go on till July 30, with August 26 being the main day. And though the authorities aren’t expecting any substantial increase in the number of pilgrims, “last year we had 1.48 lakhs and though we were expecting more but because of the disturbance this year the number is not likely to go beyond 1.5 lakhs”, but the security arrangements are definitely getting tightened with the Army sanitising the entire route. So much so that till date they are not letting known which route would the yatra take — whether the Pahalgam route or the Baltal route which passes through Sonmarg. And when asked about the implimentation of the Nitesh Sengupta report that had suggested that the number of pilgrims should be restricted to 70,000 (coming up in the wake of the tragedies that occurred during the ’96 yatra) Dewan said that since the J&K High Court had said that there should be no restrictions on numbers “so we will obey the orders of the honourable High Court”. Another highlight of this yatra would be that there several NGOs have stepped in to provide tents, snow sheds, mineral drinking water etc. Red Cross working for DPs Though to the best of my
knowledge the International Committee of the Red Cross
till last week hadn’t received the required
permission from the GOI to evaluate humanitarian needs
along the LoC but the Joint Secretary of the Indian Red
Cross, Mr Subhash Gupta says volunteers from their Indian
Red Corss branches situated at Doda, Poonch, Baramullah,
Anantnag and Jammu are already working in the troubled
areas. “Our range of activities is wide and covers
disaster preparedness, first aid, home nursing,
mothercraft, blood donation... “But, concedes Gupta
that counselling doesn’t really come under the Red
Cross activities — “Counselling is a
specialised subject which doesn’t come under the Red
Cross activities...” |
U.P.
Social Conference THE keynote of the address of Mrs Jawala Parsad, President of the United Provinces Social Conference, today was contained in the words — “The woman’s cause is man’s. Both stand or fall together”. She said that the Indian women were hampered by a twofold handicap, physical and mental confinement in four corners of the zenana and the parda of ignorance, which kept their minds in the dark. Female education, early marriage, untouchability and Hindu-Moslem unity were all dealt within a practical manner by the President. Among those present at the conference were Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Mr C.Y. Chintamani, Mr A.P. Sen, Justice Lalgopal Mukerji and a number of ladies and delegates. Resolutions were passed
declaring that the aim of the movement, as represented by
the conference, was social reconstruction based on birth
or sex, demanding the removal of the disabilities of the
depressed classes, supporting the readmission to Hinduism
of converts to other faiths, urging the removal of caste
distinctions, condemning the system of premature
marriages, advocating the abolition of the pardah custom
and the removal of the disabilities of women socially,
politically and legally, condemning the system of
enforced widowhood and enjoining temperance. |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
