BJP must explain
SOLDIERS do not shed their blood for promoting the cause of any political party. That is why those who get killed in the act of defending the country's frontiers are treated as heroes and given the status of martyrs.

Policing the police
COULD the Bihar Police have been seen as having gone on strike? No, because it does not do effective policing even when its officers and men are on duty.

Hurdles all the way
AT a time when even the most committed adherents of the hands-off policy are opening up to the world, India continues to swim against the current. In the name of the all-encompassing national interests, it tends to close all the windows on the outsiders. The veil of secrecy is wrapped around even the most routine matters.

KARGIL-RELATED ISSUES
Beyond G-8 declaration
by Hari Jaisingh
A NUMBER of crucial matters revolving around the Kargil conflict and beyond deserve special attention. By special attention, I wish to underline the need for viewing Kargil-related issues objectively and in national perspective and not in isolation or with partisan angularities.

Future of Indians in
S. Africa
by Hari Sharan Chhabra
WITH the second democratic elections in South Africa behind us, it is time to highlight and analyse the role, position and future of the 1.2 million people of Indian origin (generally termed as the Indian community).

A waste of tax-payers’ money
by Tavleen Singh
WHEN there is a national crisis of the kind we currently face in Kargil almost all other news pales before it in terms of significance. So, when the Business Standard announced, in an editorial recently, that the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) was losing Rs 3 crore a day hardly anyone would have paid it much attention.

Big screen films on small screen
by Amita Malik
BY one of those ironies of fate, India created the world record for just one achievement in the field of TV. It is perhaps the only country in the world where the cinema, instead of retreating before television, made Doordarshan its willing slave. Right from the start, Chitrahar and its siblings, Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan and the inevitable commercial films as often as possible, became Doordarshan’s staple diet.

Cricket and Kargil
by Khuswant Ahluwalia
TWENTYSEVEN years ago when I took birth my fate was sealed to become part of a practorian, insensitive and a baneful system. My future was, to remain glued to television as the other millions do and watch cricket.

75 Years Ago

Receiving stolen property
A Multan head constable convicted
MULTAN: Basharat Ali, Head Constable, Railway Police, has been sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment together with a fine of Rs 100 under Section 411, IPC.

BJP must explain

SOLDIERS do not shed their blood for promoting the cause of any political party. That is why those who get killed in the act of defending the country's frontiers are treated as heroes and given the status of martyrs. The entire nation salutes them as an expression of collective gratitude to them for sacrificing their todays for protecting our tomorrows. The accepted practice is not to trade the blood of the soldier for political gains. However, in the event of a military debacle only the ruling party takes the rap. This is the logic of armed conflict without any exception for proving the rule. As a necessary quid pro quo opposition parties are expected not to raise uncomfortable questions for the duration of the conflict to avoid the charge of politicising the issue. Are the rules of the war game being scrupulously followed by the political parties in India in the context of the joint air and ground action in Kargil for attaining the objective of "Operation Vijay"? The answer is an emphatic "no". The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been more vociferous than others in pleading that the Kargil conflict should not be politicised, appears to be streets ahead in the matter of encashing the blood of the jawans for political gains. Of the several instances of the violation of the unwritten code of political conduct in relation to the situation in Kargil two may suffice to prove the charge that the BJP appears to be in an inexplicable hurry to turn the conflict into an opportunity for consolidating the party's political base with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.

The first example of the BJP's revolting attempt to get political mileage out of the Kargil conflict was the two-page advertisement carried by most leading newspapers on June 23; observed as Kashmir Day by the ruling party [in power by default]. On the first page the BJP acknowledged that "more than a hundred of our soldiers have laid down their lives in the battle for Kargil". On the turn-page it made the odd claim that "the first one did so in 1953". The reference was to Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder President of what is now the BJP, who died of a heart attack in jail in Kashmir. It is for the people to decide whether it was appropriate for the BJP to parade Dr Mookerjee as the first of the countless soldiers who have died, and are continuing to get killed in the current conflict. The nation would not be surprised if the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh is given the posthumous title of Field Marshal for his "supreme sacrifice". The BJP indeed has a lot of explaining to do. Some of its actions instead of instilling the much-needed sense of confidence about the security of the country have begun to arouse suspicion.

The decision of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to visit the forward areas even while the jawans are engaged in a do-or die battle to clear the entire belt, near the LoC, of Pakistan-trained infiltrators too was questionable. No Indian Prime Minister before him visited the forward areas before the cessation of hostilities because it would have been a distraction for the troops fighting the enemy besides being a huge security risk. Of course, in 1971 Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw [he was then a General] returned to Defence Headquarters after a final inspection of troops in the eastern and western wings and there was, therefore, no question of letting Indira Gandhi visit the forward areas during the Bangladesh liberation war . Much was made of the explosion two kilometres away from where Mr Vajpayee addressed the jawans in Kashmir. Was the enemy expected to hold back fire for the duration of the Indian Prime Minister's visit?

Policing the police

COULD the Bihar Police have been seen as having gone on strike? No, because it does not do effective policing even when its officers and men are on duty. In the fourth bout of their conspicuous show of strength, about 18,000 cops decided to go on four-day mass casual leave from June 25. This was the date of the arrival of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Patna. Besides his own personal security staff, the Prime Minister had to be shown a spectacular police bandobust. This involved a matter of prestige for Chief Minister Rabri Devi. But the Policemen's Association exhibited its muscle power and absolutely transparent irresponsibility. An announcement made about the strike had said that the personnel going on strike would be up to the level of the Inspector. The constables would surrender their arms and ammunition. Senior persons would leave government gazettes and records behind. The vigilance staff would not bother about public safety and security. The fire brigades would let their vehicles and equipment take full rest. The mounted police would dismount and the dog squads would have almost a week of "No Dogs Day".

Earlier, three phases of the police agitation failed to get any assurance from the government on the issue of the redress of the demands. Now the association says that the special pay and allowance of its members should not be less than Rs 300 per month (at present it is Rs 150 ). The compensation in the case of death on duty should be at least Rs 5 lakh per person. Promotion should be time-bound. The strength of the force should be doubled and, finally, a large building should be constructed to house the association. There was no way in which Mrs Rabri Devi could have fulfilled the demands. The Prime Minister was greeted by smart Deputy Superintendents of Police and other officials. It is worth remembering that the Director-General of Police had cancelled "all kinds of leave" for policemen from June 23.

The Chief Minister did not appear to be able to persuade the association leaders to reverse their decision. But the people have no sympathy for policemen of any rank or position. The private senas and Naxalite groups decide the issue of security, or the lack of it, at will. The Police Department is a source of corruption and harassment in the eyes of the common man. The present condition does not matter much for the average Bihari. The Prime Minister may take note of this anarchical situation and promise a fair consideration of the grievances of the agitated police force in Delhi. Nobody seems to be obeying Director- General K. A. Jacob. The DGP's position stands degraded. The former occupant of the high post, Mr S. K. Saxena, crossed all limits of decency by appointing 200 constables discriminately during his tenure, using his "personal authority". He had no such authority. Mrs Rabri Devi was apparently a party to these appointments; 70 of the constables came from Gopalganj district alone from where hail Mrs Rabri Devi and Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav — and several other political beings with tainted reputation. The Bihar Police organisation is in a mess. Mr Vajpayee's counselling will do no good either to the Chief Minister or to the police personnel. Ruthless treatment has to be meted out to the lax men in the force, who should be forced to look after their fire-engines, horses and dogs, if not human beings in their jurisdiction.

Hurdles all the way

AT a time when even the most committed adherents of the hands-off policy are opening up to the world, India continues to swim against the current. In the name of the all-encompassing national interests, it tends to close all the windows on the outsiders. The veil of secrecy is wrapped around even the most routine matters. Under such circumstances, it is no surprise that the defence forces put the Kargil zone out of bounds for the journalists. All this was done in the name of safety of the journalists but hardly anyone was taken in. The unexpected result was that the international media started giving reports from the Pakistani side and, naturally, much of the propaganda of that country also got highlighted. This policy was reversed soon enough and the Army is now letting in journalists but the civilian authorities continues to remain clammed shut like never before. The secrecy has gone beyond limits in a recent order of the Home Ministry. It has made it mandatory for all foreign nationals intending to participate in workshops or seminars organised by voluntary organisations in India to take clearance from the ministry. The axe has even fallen on three international participants in the 11th annual John Hopkins International Philanthropy Fellows Conference on Building Civil Society which is to be held by a Bangalore-based organisation from July 3 to 9. They were told by the Indian High Commission in London that before getting the visa, they should get clearance from the Home Ministry. In future, even the voluntary organisations organising such workshops and seminars in which there will be foreign participation will have to take permission from the Ministry of External Affairs. The remarkable thing is that there is no written rule or guideline. And yet, the government has set this precedent.

Quite expectedly, this has evoked a strong reaction from all concerned. When the matter was brought to the notice of the Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), it expressed shock that while thousands of foreign tourists are coming to India without much problem and NRIs are getting permanent visas after paying certain amounts of money, the government has curtailed those desirous of taking part in workshops and seminars in such a strange manner. So far the officials of the Home Ministry have not given any explanation for the move but it is apparent that they will say something about national interests. Keeping in view the speed at which files move in the ministry, many of those desirous of coming here will be denied a visa. The ultimate loser will be India who will be deprived of their expertise. Much more than that, it will be taken as an affront by many who will refuse to touch the country even by a long pole. Already some organisations are calling it a violation of human rights. One hopes that the government will revise the decision before the consequences start flowing in.

KARGIL-RELATED ISSUES
Beyond G-8 declaration
by Hari Jaisingh

A NUMBER of crucial matters revolving around the Kargil conflict and beyond deserve special attention. By special attention, I wish to underline the need for viewing Kargil-related issues objectively and in national perspective and not in isolation or with partisan angularities.

First, it needs to be borne in mind that the jawans are shedding blood for the integrity and honour of the nation as a whole and not for the saffron party or a combination of parties. We ought not to politicise and factionalise the nation's resolve to give a fitting reply to the aggressor in Jammu and Kashmir.

Second, no efforts should be spared to provide full backup to the armed forces operating in difficult conditions and against severe odds. It is no secret that some of the proposals for the modernisation of the Army and the Air Force have got entangled in the clutches of the mighty bureaucracy. Perhaps the babudom has not fully grasped and appreciated the requirements of the armed forces over a period of time. Even otherwise, our decision-making machinery is either shockingly slow or non-responsive.

As a nation, we seem to believe in red-tapism and every individual in a seat of power demonstrates his importance by stalling or delaying even vital proposals having a bearing on the future of the nation. I do not know how this attitude can be changed. After 51 years of Independence we have failed to bring about even elementary reforms in the style and functioning of the country's decision-makers. Most of them are arrogant and overbearing.

Defence Minister George Fernandes, for a while, did bring about some freshness when he pulled up some Ministry of Defence officials for sitting over certain vital proposals to overcome operational deficiencies of our officers and jawans posted in the inhospitable terrain of Siachen. Nothing much happened thereafter. Mere rhetoric cannot improve the system. The malaise is deep rooted and it requires a thorough overhauling of the system as well as the persons behind it. Unfortunately, our colonial legacy continues. Voluminous studies and reports have not helped since they remain unattended to. In this context I wonder if we have seriously followed up the 1962 debacle report.

Speed is essential for efficient functioning of the system and the decision-making mechanism. Of course, experience so far has been that only those proposals which have the back-up of "speed money" get expedited. The rest of the crucial matters suffer because they have no takers in North Block and South Block. Not that those at the helm do not understand. Many of them do. But their servile mentality does not allow them to look beyond their political masters and their own monetary interest. We must come out of this vicious circle. However, the moot point is: who will bell the cat?

This is a larger issue which needs to be addressed to by the next government that will come to power in Delhi. This can be done only if our citizens are better informed, take more interest in the goings-on in the country, both within the government and outside of it, and begin to be assertive and demanding for the larger good of the nation. This is not a tall order.

People of the world's largest democracy have to reorient themselves to accept larger responsibilities and objectives so that we are able to improve the quality of decision-making as well as the quality of democracy as a whole. This will be possible once we lay due stress on population control, the spread of literacy and the eradication of poverty.

Ignorance of people is the bliss for our politicians. They exploit them because of their poverty, illiteracy, taboos and old prejudices as part of their vote bank politics. I am raising this issue in the context of today's grim situation of Kargil so as to arouse the conscience of the the educated middle class. They are supposed to be the keepers of the nation's conscience. This nation cannot move forward unless the middle-class citizenry gives up its indifference and callousness with regard to the basic problems facing the country.

There are certainly some healthy signs. The Kargil flare-up has successfully generated some national awareness about the inbuilt limitations of the system operating in our country. One saving grace is the first-rate professionalism of the armed forces. They represent the best tradition in the world. The Chief of the Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, and other top-ranking officers belonging to the Army, the Air Force and the Navy have, by and large, given a good account of themselves. They have shown guts and determination to achieve their goals without grumbling about operational limitations. They are a disciplined lot without any political ambition.

Nothing can be more reassuring than this fact. Left to himself General Malik would surely like to have more operational manoeuvrability in the Kargil sector. But he was very guarded when he declared at his press conference in Delhi on Wednesday: "If necessary, we can cross the LoC in the supreme national interest, but the decision lies with the Cabinet." This shows how the Indian Army values the political authority, notwithstanding the fact that it is suffering very heavy casualties because of topographical disadvantages.

In any case, the question whether the Army and the Air Force should cross the LoC has to be viewed objectively and in totality keeping in mind the ground realities and global compulsions. Unlike Pakistan, India does not believe in misadventures. Nor are we aggressive by temperament. We are tolerant as a nation and believe in living in peace and harmony with our neighbours and the rest of the world.

However, we cannot have neighbours made to order. We have to live with them. At the same time, there should be no hesitation in showing an aggressor his place. Pakistan has crossed all limits of decency and propriety.

Going by its conduct, the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, is not very much off the mark in describing Pakistan as "a rogue state". This is a very serious statement to make but it cannot be ignored, going by Pakistan’s track record during the past 51 years of more-of-hate-than-love ties with India.

Perhaps, the US government is fully aware of the nefarious activities of the Pakistani establishment. Privately, a number of American officers acknowledge that Pakistan has not only encouraged Islamic fundamentalism but has also been giving material support to terrorist groups. For Islamabad, Afghanistan was a testing ground for its larger operation on the side of the Indian border. It has been sheltering Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden and his terrorist outfits.

However, the problem with the western world, especially the USA, is that it is still suffering from the Cold War hangover. That is the reason why it has not been able to put its South Asian policy in the right frame. The sooner it does, the better will it be for peace and stability of this region. Otherwise, even American interests will suffer substantially in Central Asia and this part of the world.

True, the Americans have made some tactical corrections but they fall far short of the need of the hour. It is for Washington to redesign its policies and postures towards South Asia. But if it persists with its half-hearted steps, the USA will have reasons to regret sooner rather than later. I hope President Clinton will be more forthcoming and categorical and call a spade a spade.

It will ill-serve the US administration if it continues to be goody-goody in its approach to Islamabad. The right message from Washington can make all the difference in the attitude of the Pakistani establishment. After all, Pakistan has long been America's client state.

A big challenge lies ahead of Indian diplomats and political leaders. It will be premature to gloat over the limited success achieved at the G-8 summit. In today's complex world of diplomacy nothing should be taken for granted. Indeed, South Block should begin to look beyond the G-8 declaration and see how vigorously it can pursue the nation's interest without compromising the basic issues on which India's very foundation rests.

Future of Indians in S. Africa
by Hari Sharan Chhabra

WITH the second democratic elections in South Africa behind us, it is time to highlight and analyse the role, position and future of the 1.2 million people of Indian origin (generally termed as the Indian community).

To begin with, it is pertinent to point out two important facets about them. First, the Indians are to be found in every country on the globe, but the largest concentration of Indians is in South Africa, where they form three per cent of the population. Secondly, the people of Indian origin in South Africa have come a long way since the impoverished days of indentured labour. Through sheer hard work and tenacity and having made good use of available educational facilities, they have done well in their country of adoption. Thus the role played by this racial group in the development of South Africa, many of whom are prominent in politics, business, industry and in professions (lawyers, doctors, accountants etc), is much larger than their numbers would suggest.

But politically speaking, it appears that the apartheid system has caused serious damage to the mind-set of many in the Indian community. Even as the ruling African National Congress had awarded them with 35 seats in the 400-member National Assembly and five Cabinet posts as also Speakership in the outgoing government, the Indian community by and large did not vote for the ANC.

Even in the present elections the Indian votes in Durban, where 80 per cent South African Indians live, and Lenasia near Johannesburg were captured by the White-dominated Democratic Party. In 1994 another White-dominated National Party, then led by F.W. de Klerk, grabbed most of the Indian votes. It appears that the ANC has not been able to assure the Indian community that the latter’s cultural values would be protected. There is also a perception among the Indian middle class that the Affirmative Action Programme of the ANC-led government worked against the community. The recent controversy over the case of Ms Privani Reddy, who failed to gain admission into Natal Medical School despite her high grades, angered the Indian community a great deal.

A leader of the ANC told this correspondent that the White-dominated parties are attempting to convince the Indian population that it is a marginalised minority and are fuelling insecurity within a community already fearful of crime, affirmative action and Africanism. It was rather mischievous on the part of the Democratic Party to take out full page advertisements in newspapers targeting the Indian community, insisting that Privani was refused admission simply because she is an Indian.

The ANC is the only party that has tried to win Indian vote without instilling fear. Citing Indian contribution to the struggle against apartheid, the ANC has been reminding the Indian electorate of Indian anti-apartheid stalwarts. In addition, both President Mandela and his Deputy Mbeki met the Indian community leaders many times before the elections.

Mandela urged the Indian community to form itself as a part of the majority and not to regard themselves as a marginalised group. Mandela addressed a meeting in Lenasia, a suburb of Johannesburg, predominantly inhabited South African Indians and said that they should be proud of their representation in the government and urged the Indian community to vote in the June elections to “secure their representation”.

Before the elections Mr Mbeki had also been exhorting them to view themselves as a part of the majority. He assured them that affirmative action was meant to be applicable to all the communities that were disadvantaged under apartheid, not merely Africans. Mbeki also urged the Indian community to become a part of the mainstream instead of withdrawing into a “ghetto”.

Despite these assurances from the highest South African leadership, the Indian community, especially in Durban, did not vote for the ANC but voted for Democratic Party. According to reliable reports, the Democratic Party secured around 40 per cent in most Indian constituencies. Even the Inkatha Freedom Party failed to capture the Indian mind.

Amichand Rajbansi is a political maverick in South Africa, a beneficiary of the apartheid regime. But as an astute politician, he is a survivor or a turncoat, who seems to subscribe to the belief that no publicity is bad publicity. His Minority Front has turned pro-ANC, which is urging Indians to become a part of the majority.

Rajbansi’s Minority Front could win only one seat in Parliament. After the election results were out, Rajbansi hit newspaper headlines when his Minority Front and the ANC announced the formation of an alliance. One extra seat to the ANC gave it the coveted two-thirds majority.

A South African Black editor’s comments have drawn howls of protests from the Indian community. He is Amos Maphumulo, editor of a Zulu language biweekly ‘Illanga’ owned by Buthelezi. In his article Maphumulo blamed Indians for the problems being encountered by Africans and hoped that an Idi Amin would be born to deal with the Indians. Buthelezi was furious and he quickly dissociated himself from the remarks. Maphumulo was sacked from his job. — (IPA)

Cricket and Kargil
by Khuswant Ahluwalia

TWENTYSEVEN years ago when I took birth my fate was sealed to become part of a practorian, insensitive and a baneful system.

My future was, to remain glued to television as the other millions do and watch cricket. Losses notwithstanding. I became a constituent of an unpatriotic, selfish population where national pride had gone into a deep slumber after the momentous achievement of 1947, rising vocationally on the day of an India-Pakistan cricket match.

The politician-bureaucratic nexus had put into hiding the achievements of the great warriors who protected Indian boundaries in 1965 and 1971 wars and rendered the great defence services secondary. Due to their vinculum, joining the Indian Army became a second thought amongst youngsters. Some parent wanted to make his son Sunil Gavaskar, other Tendulkar. Rest wanted their wards to join civil services as it had the euphoria of being powerful and attracted huge dowry. Thanks to a fraction of gutsy citizens and jingoistic parents that we have brave and zealous soldiers to protect us from the onslaught of intruders.

Practice in chicanery, swindling and corruption over the years made us perfect in this art and today we head the charts in such actions. Sadly practice amongst Azza and his boys exhibited no results at the World Cup.

Today we are fighting a different bat and ball game, starting with a capital K at Kargil. The grounds are the skies and the thundering sixes land on either side of the border. The players involved in it are a hundred crore plus eleven as we have the Indian team joining us from London lest they want to take rest from international fixtures.

The Indian clan has remorse over our early exit from the tournament and knows exactly if we had won our match from minnows Zimbabwe we could have made it to the semi-finals but are oblivious of the fact that the nation today requires much more than watching cricket. Its demands add up to political unity, social integrity and a war cry reaching the peaks of Kargil telling our jawans that the whole nation is with them.

Cheap political foreplay has already come into play before the elections and the Captains can be seen taking advantage of the overcast conditions. Politicians can be met at various hospitals, cremation ground or wherever they can smell the commando. Till our lives remain under threat we shall be seen praising and motivating the Indian Army but once hundred overs are bowled we shall leave the arena waiting for the next match.

Now since we have our attention withdrawn from the World Cup let us all behave like true country men and contribute our bit, however, little it may be to pull the rug from under the Pakistani feet. Forget the damned cricket and let anybody win the Cup for it will not save us from the armed aggression.

Let us be proud of our Army and Air Force who have put the enemy on their backfoot which usually happens with us in cricket and become cheerleaders for them.

We must counter our neighbour’s threat with disdain as they have imposed on us an armada of assorted barbarians to capture Kashmir. Today I am witness to the second armed conflict with Pakistan, the first one being when I was two months old in the womb in 1971.

I feel proud of being part of a nation which has produced men of such valour, patriotism, and fidelity to defend our motherland, for posterity will ask them what they did when they had a chance to defend their country. Mournfully nobody would ask us this question for our reply would be, we supported India in the India-Pakistan super-six match. Jai Hind!

A waste of tax-payers’ money

by Tavleen Singh

WHEN there is a national crisis of the kind we currently face in Kargil almost all other news pales before it in terms of significance. So, when the Business Standard announced, in an editorial recently, that the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) was losing Rs 3 crore a day hardly anyone would have paid it much attention. We are used to public sector companies, even those as supposedly prestigious as SAIL, making losses rather than profits, so at the best of times the figure would have escaped public attention until you remind yourself that the war in Siachen, considered one of the Indian government’s most expensive endeavours, also costs us Rs 3 crore a day. The war in Siachen is necessary but what we need to ask ourselves is whether it is equally necessary for the government to be wasting taxpayers money on producing steel which could just as easily be produced by the private sector and probably at a profit rather than a loss. SAIL’s losses last year were Rs 1574 crore, more than what most big private sector companies in India are worth.

Should it be allowed? For that matter should we be sitting back complacently and watching government after government waste our money on similarly useless enterprises? One of the few beneficial effects of the Kargil crisis could come if our political leaders woke up to the fact that we can no longer afford this kind of wasteful expenditure. SAIL is not the only example. There is Doordarshan which, according to the Information Minister himself, also loses us more than Rs 1000 crore a year. There are Indian Airlines and Air India which somehow always find themselves in the red. There is the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) which has always totted up huge losses which would be even higher if they did not manage to make ends meet by making some profits from duty-free shops at our international airports.

Compare these wasteful expenses with the fact that, according to most defence analysts, our troops have been forced into battle without the right equipment and often even without the right clothes for the icy, battlegrounds on which more than 200 men have lost their lives in the past month.

Delhi’s political pundits tend not to write about these things on the grounds that their articles would remain unread by ordinary readers who do not understand these issues. It, therefore, came as an unusually pleasant surprise for me when I visited Delhi’s international airport not long ago and found that ordinary policemen and officials I met there were more than aware of exactly what has gone wrong with government spending. Let me tell you the story from the beginning.

It was my first visit to the airport since the new arrivals lounge was built. I arrived at around 11 a.m. to find it littered with little heaps of garbage in strategic corners. International airports are widely recognised as windows to the country in which they exist so foreigners arriving in India for the first time would have, perhaps correctly, assumed that they were entering a country of uncollected garbage. Before I had time to digest the reason for these unexplained heaps of garbage I noticed that they were the result not of neglect but of typically Indian effort. It was uniformed cleaning women who were wandering languidly about the place sweeping up garbage and piling it in corners of the lounge. Even in India we have the means now to sweep and gather at the same time. A single plastic bucket could have served as a garbage collector but when I mentioned this to a police inspector on airport duty he laughed and said that surely I had noticed that everything at the airport worked in similar fashion.

“Look at this new arrivals lounge” he said “they built it without connecting it to the main arrivals lounge in which passengers arrive. If you think they did that by mistake, you are wrong, they did it on purpose so that now a fresh bunch of contracts can be issued to build a connecting bridge”.

In case I had missed his point he added that this was done so that contractors and politicians could make money twice on two sets of contracts. Will the Airports Authority of India be hauled up for this kind of senseless waste of time and money? No, because that is how things work and they work that way because we, you and I, have accepted that this is India so this is how things must work. My policeman friend, though, was a man who had managed to travel abroad once with one of our dignitaries and he told me that he had been shocked to see airports in small African countries that looked better than our best international airports. He had been shocked also, he said, to find abroad, clean roads and a sense of order everywhere. It was then his turn to ask the question. Why can India not be like that? Why can we not look better 50 years after Independence?

It is a subject close to my heart so I began my dissertation on wasteful government activity and expenditure only to be reminded by him that he knew all about this. “Its deliberate” he said “its not just the arrivals lounge that will finally collapse because it has been built so badly, even the new police station they have built at the airport already has a roof which leaks. They know what they are doing, they know that every time something new has to be built more money can be made all round”.

Others I talked to that morning, even those who had never been abroad, pointed out that other international airports there were many shops and restaurants so that these could make enough money to pay for other things. In Delhi airport’s new arrivals lounge there is one shop and one second-rate snack bar. Why? Because, thanks to years of socialist training, the average Indian politician thinks of restaurants and shops not as public utilities but as luxuries that a poor country cannot afford.

Then, how is it that we can afford to waste Rs 3 crore a day on a steel company that, had it been in private hands, would have closed a long time ago? Why is it we can waste a thousand crore a year on a television network that would probably be making vast profits in private hands? These are important questions even in time of peace but they become 10 times more important when you think of our soldiers fighting to defend our borders, on those barren heights, without the right equipment or the right clothes. There are lessons in Kargil that go well beyond our supposedly proxy war.

Big screen films on small screen

by Amita Malik

BY one of those ironies of fate, India created the world record for just one achievement in the field of TV. It is perhaps the only country in the world where the cinema, instead of retreating before television, made Doordarshan its willing slave. Right from the start, Chitrahar and its siblings, Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan and the inevitable commercial films as often as possible, became Doordarshan’s staple diet. With the result that while our neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh evolved a TV theatre of their own, India remained stuck with films. And certainly in Pakistan, without an adequate film industry, TV actors and actresses enjoyed a high status. PTV’s serials, dealing skilfully with middle-class values common to both countries soon had their following in India so easily were they received across the border. So while Pakistanis eagerly acquired video cassettes of Indian feature films, on a more modest scale, there used to be quite a rush for Pakistani serials on cassettes in India. And,of course, all the while our feature films captivated Pakistani viewers.

But after all this, a minor revolution is taking place as far as the status of feature films on TV is concerned. Thus while all the film-based programmes remain at the top of the pops, there is also some fierce competition going on amongst the satellite giants. Sony and Star Plus have competed with no holds barred and broken quite a few rules about no TV screenings of commercial films until a fixed interval after theatre release. They may have considerably annoyed distributors and exhibitors, but the show goes on. Even more significantly, they are now going to compete in the field of sponsoring Indian feature films and will undoubtedly build up little empires of their own since money seems to be no consideration. If this helps film-makers with better returns than Amit Khanna’s brave ventures, it might open up exciting new ventures which have been waiting for just such an opportunity. Apart from finance, release at least on the small screens is assured.

But over and above these developments, there is an almost silent revolution going on. While we do not have an Indian version of INI, some channels are now projecting off-beat films. One has seen Satya and Saransh and it was cheering to find a modest film like Hyderabad Blues recently finding its place on the small screen. This is an opportunity which used to be denied to small-budget films, so cruel had the rat-race become. Matters had even reached a stage when all-time and long-forgotten commercial flops were revived on TV, with mutual benefit to the producer, who at last got some financial returns, and TV channels which got films on the cheap.

Of course the biggest orphan of the lot is the documentary film, which has had a very bad deal on television. It has taken years for the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association to get one measly slot at long intervals on TV, and that too at an hour when those who would appreciate and benefit from these films, such as young people, are long since asleep. There was a Minister of Information and Broadcasting who made a grand announcement some years ago on the occasion of the national awards that all award-winning documentaries would compulsorily be screened on Doordarshan. This grand project ran into heavy weather in no time at all, because, with the enlightened juries who normally select documentary awards, most of the winners had themes which were inconvenient for the government, or so the over-zealous bureaucrats decided. Film-makers like Anand Patwardhan and Tapan Bose actually had to go to court before Doordarshan screened their films. And even now, Indian documentaries get their main chance at the Bombay Documentary Festival, where at least documentaries are treated with respect. Which is more than can be said of those screened at our international film festivals where they are treated like poor relations. This is where television, particularly DD which makes tall claims about spreading information, can step in and give short films the status they so richly deserve because they mostly deal with Indian problems and should have the widest reach.

75 YEARS AGO

Receiving stolen property
A Multan head constable convicted

MULTAN: Basharat Ali, Head Constable, Railway Police, has been sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment together with a fine of Rs 100 under Section 411, IPC. It is alleged that the railway consignments of various goods ordered by merchants fell short of the actual weights.

An enquiry was made and the house of the accused in the Jullundur Division was ordered to be searched. The accused, however, got an inkling of this matter and sent a wire to his relation asking him to remove the trunk, etc, to somewhere else.

The police, however, was successful in tracing the stolen property and the accused being challaned has been sentenced as above by Lala Harivansh Lal, Magistrate, Ist Class.