Pak Press under attack
ONE cannot think of a democratic society without the freedom of expression. However, this realisation has yet to dawn on the ruling establishment in Pakistan.

China’s real fears
THERE is more to the nationwide and officially orchestrated angry protest against NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade than meets the eye.

Burning forests
FOREST fires have come to be regarded as such inevitable annual occurrences that they do not evoke the kind of preventive measures that they should.

LOOKING FOR BINDING FORCE
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
BOTH Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cat and mouse game with Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the manner in which Ms Jayalalitha stormed into Delhi with her entourage, did her worst and stormed out again to plan and plot for the future from her southern bastion, resembling nothing so much as the power play of provincial subedars under Mughal rule, highlighted the need for a new equation to provide political coherence and a sense of common purpose among the regions as well as between them and the Centre.

Waiting for second phase of reforms
by Dhurjati Mukherjee
FINANCIAL sector reforms, privatisation of banks and public sector units, and reform of labour laws have rightly been identified as the basis for the second phase of reforms by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Neo-rich youth inclined towards gun culture
by P. Raman
IT HAS been a fashion for us to ridicule Karl Marx for his failed prophecy. His rigid characterisation of class, based on the social and economic background of a person or group, may not fully fit into the 21st century paradigm. But a look at the nocturnal pleasure haunts of the Capital’s emerging class of rich and powerful will convince one of the aptness of the good old man’s exacting definition of class.

Poll panel goes hi-tech
PERHAPS keeping pace with the march of technology and the need to hold elections at frequent intervals, the Election Commission has also started to experiment with the advanced information technology.

The ABCD of Kinnaur!
by Gopal Kaith
THIS is my second posting in Kinnaur. The first one was about a decade ago, and lasted a little less than three years. The officials who exceed the tenure of three years get over-stay allowance. I call them OSAGs in short. Over-stay allowance getters.

75 Years Ago

Maulana Shaukat Ali’s Ceylon speeches
MAULANA Shaukat Ali, though confined to his bed on account of an attack of Typhoid fever, has lost no time in taking up the challenge thrown out to him by Colonel Yate in his question in the House of Commons regarding his Ceylon speeches.

Pak Press under attack

ONE cannot think of a democratic society without the freedom of expression. However, this realisation has yet to dawn on the ruling establishment in Pakistan. The Pakistan government does not hesitate to punish newspapers or their editors when they refuse to toe the official line. Some time ago it was the Jung group along with certain smaller publications which were terrorised by the government headed by Mr Nawaz Sharif on various pretexts as they had been exposing high-level corruption in Pakistan, believing that theirs was a democratic country and they had the constitutional right to criticise even the high and the mighty in the land. The Nawaz Sharif government made the newspapers realise that the freedom of expression in the real sense of the concept was not available to them, though Pakistan regards itself as a multi-party democracy. Perhaps, Mr Najam Sethi, Editor of The Friday Times, who has been humiliated and arrested for his controversial views on Pakistan as a nation-state, as officially explained, did not get the message from the Jung experience or he dismissed all that happened to the journalists and newspaper owners earlier as a crude expression of arrogance of a Prime Minister who enjoys a brute majority in the Pakistan National Assembly. He expected arrest and physical assault from Mr Nawaz Sharif's musclemen, as Mr Sethi has declared. But he could never have thought that he would be branded an agent of India's RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) as the Pakistan government has done. For a Pakistani there can be no greater charge than declaring him an agent of India. The charge can be easily used by the government to give the desired punishment to the accused. Thus Mr Sethi could not expect a different treatment from the ISI men who whisked him away on Saturday morning.

The Nawaz Sharif government found an excellent opportunity to humiliate the crusading editor when Mr Sethi described his country as a "failed state" besides "condemning the creation of Pakistan" at a New Delhi seminar on April 30, organised by the Indo-Pak Friendship Society headed by former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. Even if Mr Sethi had employed a milder language to give vent to his feelings in what his countrymen regard as a hostile land (India), he could not have escaped the wrath of the Pakistan government, which has yet to learn to accept criticism in its stride — the hallmark of a democracy. Pakistani rulers behave like military dictators. The basic democratic spirit is missing in that society. And the tragedy is that no politician in power is bothered about helping the evolution of a healthy democracy, as we notice in India. When she was in power Ms Benazir Bhutto was hardly better than Mr Nawaz Sharif in handling the media, which tries to copy its counterpart in Pakistan's neighbourhood — India — where the level of Press freedom is comparable to anywhere in the world. Mr Nawaz Sharif has spared none who has shown the guts to criticise his wheelings-dealings. Besides, Mr Sethi, his policemen took in custody well-known columnist Hussain Haqqani on May 5 and have been harassing senior journalists M.A.K. Lodhi and Imtiaz Alam of The News and Rehmat Shah Afridi of The Frontier Post. These ill-advised actions of the government have, however, strengthened the movement for genuine freedom of expression that got its birth during the establishment's tussle with the Jung group. One hopes the Pakistani media people, who have come out in the street to register their protest at the government's attempts to silence its critics, will not rest till the movement reaches its logical conclusion.

China’s real fears

THERE is more to the nationwide and officially orchestrated angry protest against NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade than meets the eye. The furious denunciation is only partly against the air attack but more against a series of US actions, a new NATO stance and a reflex action stemming from its thinly concealed paranoia. At least in one respect, India and Russia share the communist giant’s perception. In fact, China feels it is being hemmed in and unless it raises hell and scares away the stalking enemies, it may be too late to defend itself. First look at the subtle changes in US policies and postures. It has been making unusually loud noises about human rights violations in China, has been increasing the decibel of its moral support to the Tibetan cause and has brought Taiwan under a security system. The last act is a direct hit at China’s internal prestige since it has been its long-held position that the island is part of the country and shall be its, not immediately but at some unspecified future date. The security arrangement has put paid to its claim which looks utterly untenable unless Beijing is prepared to take on the might of the USA. It has its ethnic problems to contend with. Tibet is one but a bigger and more violent protest is unfolding in the western province of Xinjiang. Any of these could be promoted into an eastern Kosovo with the inevitable ugly consequences. No, the USA will not jump into the fray, but use the NATO front to accomplish this task.

At its 50th birth anniversary celebrations in Washington recently, NATO shed its Euro-centric outlook and decided to make the entire world its area of concern and commitment. That is a cause for deep worry. With outside manipulation and incitement the Vygurs could be dressed up to look like the Kosovars and the NATO enthused to take over. The bombing does not hurt so much, and Beijing can live with it. But Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang are a different matter and any misstep there would trigger disintegration. In this respect, India and Russia too have similar problem spots. There are fundamentalist human rights champions in the West and they say they would not stop at anything to ensure full life to ethnic minorities, and they can go awfully wrong. Russia realises it and hence its initial opposition to the NATO bombing and its present efforts to hammer out a solution. China has often dropped hints that the three big Asian countries should come to a loose understanding and get ready to face any eventuality. The current wave of protest across China can be a starting signal of that arrangement.

Burning forests

FOREST fires have come to be regarded as such inevitable annual occurrences that they do not evoke the kind of preventive measures that they should. This year has been particularly severe. The exceptionally dry spell and early summer have combined to turn the forests into tinderboxes. Fires in Uttar Pradesh hills have been razing for nearly a month now and have already destroyed priceless pine, oak and deodar trees in an area measuring more than 80,000 hectares. Himachal Pradesh is in equally bad shape. More than 1,110 fires have already been reported engulfing an area of over 23,600 hectares. If weather gods do not relent soon enough, the situation may be as bad as in 1995 when 1,669 fires covering an area of 53,170 hectares of forest were reported. Low humidity and increased temperature cause resinous vapours in the pine zone which can burst into fire even from the spark from the exhaust of a vehicle. Despite such dangerous situation, the common man has not cared to take adequate precautions. People still throw lighted match, bidi and cigarette carelessly, compounding the problem. Then there are some who set ablaze grazing pastures in the hope that it would rejuvenate the growth of grass. Little do they know that such fires almost always go out of control causing untold destruction. But worst culprits are the forest mafias that set jungles on fire deliberately for a few bucks. The price that the country has to pay for such depredations is mind-boggling because a forest fire does not only mean loss of trees. It affects the environment in various ways leading to long-term debilitating effects.

There is urgent need for a nationwide strategy and action plan but those unfortunately remain a pipedream. The unhindered burning of jungles in Uttar Pradesh presents the forest department in a poor light. Only now is the State waking up to the need of having a forest fire police. The help of civilians was taken in the Mussoorie region with positive results but these can at best be a holding operation. The forest departments of all States have to galvanise themselves. The government has been rather stingy in sanctioning funds for combating the menace. Most of the fires take place in areas which are too difficult to reach by vehicles or on foot. These emergencies can be handled better if the help of airborne firefighters is forthcoming. But that is a concept rarely attempted. Money is of course a major constraint. But considering the overall cost of the destruction, that is not an expenditure but an investment. The Tata Energy Research Institute had recently reported that the country has already suffered a loss of approximately Rs 23,200 crore due to the cumulative effects of deforestation, erosion, water-logging, salinity and nutrient depletion. If the share of forest fires in this wanton destruction is only 10 per cent, even that makes a staggering sum, which India can ill afford to lose.

LOOKING FOR BINDING FORCE
Economic commitment as answer
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

BOTH Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cat and mouse game with Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the manner in which Ms Jayalalitha stormed into Delhi with her entourage, did her worst and stormed out again to plan and plot for the future from her southern bastion, resembling nothing so much as the power play of provincial subedars under Mughal rule, highlighted the need for a new equation to provide political coherence and a sense of common purpose among the regions as well as between them and the Centre. A strong economic commitment that is safe from party polemics can best provide that national cement.

Public life needs a mantra to convey a noble purpose for even the most opportunistic player. It used to be swaraj, then socialism, now it is secularism. But secularism today is too much slogan and too little substance to be the effective substitute for swaraj or socialism. In spite of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s little-girl wistfulness before the cameras and microphones, no one believes for a moment that unforeseen personal lusts suddenly overwhelmed the forces of secular righteousness and prevented them from vanquishing the communal demon.

Yet, the use, misuse and abuse of the term “secular” by operators seeking to abort the course of justice or angling for money or preferment is not all casuistry. Even the slanging match between Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav revealed some glimmering of the need to rise above blatant self-aggrandisement. It is a saving grace that they realise that private agenda must be justified by citing a public cause because voter still expect politics to have a purpose. But this make-believe battle between the supposed forces of good and evil must not distract attention from the very substantial shift that has taken place in Indian politics with small and scattered constituencies coming into their triumphant own to play havoc with parliamentary stability.

Far from being a nation of many states, India is retreating, more and more into a state of many nations. Some of the latter, like the Telugu Desam’s Andhra Pradesh, are geographical entities. Others like the Yadava communities in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh are localised vote banks. The Marxists are little more than a state of mind, the Bahujan Samaj Party is mind plus diffused body, the Muslims an even more amorphous state within the state like international Jewry, their overall unity similarly conditioned by language and place of abode. The Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham personifies evasion of justice. As the polity fragments into ever-smaller components, even individuals seeking to be king or kingmaker assume the importance of a constituency.

The ingredients have always been with us. Without them there would be none of the diversity that gives Indian politics its richness of texture. They achieved some sort of equilibrium within the Congress consensus when the accommodation of a Govind Ballabh Pant or the rejection of a Jivaraj Mehta could be presented in terms of personal equations. Jawaharlal Nehru , who tried to create a modern state in his own liberated image, invited the criticism of Gandhian socialists like Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan for whom it was almost a neo-colonial construct. As the prestige that Nehru bequeathed to his party faded, a new vision of what India should be began to take shape in the thinking of Sangh Parivar ideologues.

If democracy is majority rule — the tyranny of the majority as it has been called — then we cannot fault this concept of an India that reflects the faith of overwhelming number of Indians. What can be faulted is the way the Congress under Indira Gandhi both derided the Bharatiya Janata Party’s vision and yet pandered to its lowest common denominator. With the Congress consensus in ruins, she and later Rajiv Gandhi wooed sectarian constituencies whose blinkered chieftains did not even pretend to an all-India vision, made promises violating the secular ethic that was the imprint of the Congress’s English-educated elite leadership, and tore into shreds the seamless nationalism that was also the party’s inheritance. Mr Narasimha Rao’s decentralisation took the process further, not to restore the Constitution’s threadbare federalism but because he thought it politic to let states take unpopular and painful decisions following economic liberalisation.

Whatever the reason, the effect was to reinvigorate regional politics. There is little point in discussing whether this is good or bad for the genie cannot easily be imprisoned again in the bottle of Nehru’s unitary state. It is the reality with which Indians will have to live. An exclusively national party would now be as meaningless as the Cheshire Cat’s disembodied grin, a plethora of unlinked local parties would mean a weak and fragmented polity with the potential of intensified conflict. Speculation about how Uttar Pradesh might vote in the coming election confirms that even a pan-Indian Congress would have to operate through local units that alone inspire voters’ confidence. Hence the importance of identifying a shared sense of purpose and a common idiom.

If neither Mrs Sonia Gandhi nor any other politician has spoken of the need for such cooperation (apart from ritual incantation of the secular ideal), it is because, absorbed in the who-did-what-to-whom of personalised politicking, they ignore a systemic challenge that is embedded in the country’s infinite variety, its culture of mass mobilisation and strident protest, the deeply-held conviction that political militancy can solve all problems and the erosion of faith in the Congress. It follows that constitutional tinkering will achieve nothing. An executive presidency would also have to reconcile with a host of disparate forces. The change has to be of emphasis and operation within the system, not just recognising vital differences but drawing inspiration from them so that regional satraps can see for themselves that national stability will best serve their sectarian interests.

India’s robust democracy is in little danger for the conflict here is still for supremacy within the parliamentary framework, whereas in Pakistan or Bangladesh the Westminster system has been struggling for survival against rival centres of power. Nor is India threatened with physical disintegration. But the multiple foci of interest can be balanced only with a national agenda that leaves each player free to operate as he or she wills at the grassroots. Otherwise, eroded political cohesion will take savage toll of the central authority, of all the indices of economic growth, of administrative continuity and the image that is projected abroad. On this last depends essential foreign investment, including remittances by non-resident Indians. Hence the importance of reviving the reform programme that Mr Rao and Mr Manmohan Singh devised but lacked the courage to push through, which inspired the Congress party’s election manifesto, and which remains the only plank on which all political groups can be united today.

The struggle against British rule provided the cement of national unity in the forties, and Chinese and Pakistani aggression in the sixties. Only the still shamefully neglected quest for some semblance of a uniformally decent living standard can save our democracy from our democrats by providing the binding force for the millennium.

Waiting for second phase of reforms
by Dhurjati Mukherjee

FINANCIAL sector reforms, privatisation of banks and public sector units, and reform of labour laws have rightly been identified as the basis for the second phase of reforms by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). In its report on “Economic reforms: the second phase”, the CII has pointed out that despite impressive gains of the last seven-eight years, the country has basically remained in the first phase of reforms. Micro-economic, sectoral and structural reforms form part of the second phase and to generate a sustained annual growth of around seven per cent, India must invest in the second phase of reforms with immediate effect.

Even the latest Economic Survey has called for a comprehensive second phase of reforms to arrest a possible fiscal and external sector crisis in the medium term. Obviously, the financial sector reforms have been in the limelight which include a sharp reduction in fiscal deficit and further cuts in interest rates and also all-round efforts to attract foreign capital. Another area which the survey has identified is the liberalisation of trade in agricultural products so that agri-products can be freed from the existing controls.

In the area of financial sector reforms, the CII has suggested that as far as government securities are concerned, it will be more appropriate to consider a flexible sovereign risk rate opposed to the Narasimhan Committee’s recommendation that government securities should be marked to market and carry a 5 per cent market risk.

The other CII recommendations include raising the capital adequacy ratio from 8 to 12 per cent in four years, adoption by the Reserve Bank of India of a general provision of 1 per cent on standard assets by March, 2001, and the introduction of greater disclosure norms in the annual reports of public sector banks.

The report has strongly recommended bank privatisation, and identified the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda and a few other candidates for the purpose. Though government ownership may not be necessary for efficient functioning of these banks, effective supervision of the RBI is no doubt necessary. Also a point against privatisation is that social welfare activities and priority sector lending of these banks may get affected in the process of clamouring for more profits.

However, it is significant that the report has suggested a four-step approach for rejuvenating weak banks. Branches that have the greatest operational inefficiencies should be selected, their deposits transferred to better off branches of the same bank or any other local bank and the non-performing assets of these branches sold at the prevailing market price. After all these measures have been carried out, the weak branches should be closed down for good. In fact, the weak banks should have started the process of closing down the weak branches and amalgamating these branches with the stronger ones. But very little in this direction has been accomplished till date.

The FICCI paper on reforms has given more stress on cutting government spending and PSU disinvestment. It has urged the need to give a strong thrust on divesting equity in public sector units and utilising part of the proceeds to retire public debt, and not channelling the funds to finance current expenditure. It has also suggested time-bound cuts in government expenditure and immediate disinvestment in non-core, non-strategic PSUs. A fixed plan has to be evolved to cut non-merit water supply and sanitation, non-merit irrigation subsidies, non-merit subsidies on higher education, sports and culture.

Another vital suggestion is the pruning of staff strength in government offices to the tune of 30 per cent in this timeframe. Though reduction of 30 per cent staff may not be possible in the short term, it should not be difficult to curtail staff strength by 10 per cent within a year or so. Steadily with the use of computers in key areas, specially accounts and records preservation, the reduction of 30 per cent would in fact become imperative. With a handsome VRS and 50 per cent pension (for those completing full service), many may opt for it once introduced in government offices.

Meanwhile, even as forex reserves pick up and touch the $ 30 billion mark, most developing countries have to rely on foreign direct investment, but that has not been the case in India as yet. In 1998 FDI inflows were around Rs 13,269 crore against Rs 12,989 in 1997. While in rupee terms a pick-up appears to have occurred, in dollar terms the case is different. In 1998, the inflows have been far less than $ 3.2 billion whereas the inflows in 1997 were $ 3.2 billion. Analysts are of the view that less than $ 400 million (about Rs 1600 crore) has flowed in during January-February this year which clearly points out that foreign investors continue to view India with scepticism. — INFA

The ABCD of Kinnaur!
by Gopal Kaith

THIS is my second posting in Kinnaur. The first one was about a decade ago, and lasted a little less than three years. The officials who exceed the tenure of three years get over-stay allowance. I call them OSAGs in short. Over-stay allowance getters.

At the end of my first year, the OSAGs offended me with a strange question: “Do you know the ABCD of Kinnaur?” As a civil servant I had studied and understood the beauties, intricacies and peculiarities of tribal culture. I began to wax eloquent. The OSAGs shook their heads in disagreement. Not one to give in easily, I changed course and resorted to the faculty of fancy. A for adversity and adventure, B for boldness; C for cuteness; and D for duties and demons, I expatiated with elan!

My explanation was not without logic. The ever-crumbling hills and the shooting stones provide endless avenues of adventure. To duck these dangers with dexterity, you require boldness. The sprawling Sangla valley and the enchanting celestial “Shivlingam” atop Kinnaur Kailash changing colour every second are only two examples of cuteness. The indomitable duties and the domineering demons are omnipresent in Kinnaur. To harass and heckle the inhabitants seems to be the raison d’etre of these demons. And to save them from the devilish designs of demons is the job of the deities.

“Philosophical interpretation”! explained the OSAGs. “When do the VIPs flock to Kinnaur?” They seemed to change the topic. “In late summer”, I said. “Right. But why?” Because the weather is fine at that time of the year,” I said. They tittered and said. “No. They come when the ABCD are available plenty!”

And then they taught me the real ABCD of Kinnaur. The lure of the ABCD of Kinnaur sends thousands of VIP tongues lolling and many more lips smacking. The VIPs include government officials and the politicians in power. Such is the general feeling of the local people also, claim the OSAGs. Fine weather only makes the VIP tours easy and pleasant. The mouth-watering ABCD are at the top of VIP shopping (or cropping!) list.

A stands for apple, apricot and almond. B stands for beans, Rajma in local parlance. C stands for chilgoja and caps. And D stands for “daru”.

I shall devote a few lines to “daru”. “Daru” means locally distilled liquor. The Kinnauris are licensed to distil liquor for their own consumption. This liquid gift of God is available in every season. And there are two famous brands. NKB and PKA. Nesang Ki Brandy and Riba Ki Anguri respectively. As a result, many government officials turn worshippers as soon as they step into this land of liquor. Worshippers of Bacchus!

The officials posted here are given “ABCD treatment” whenever they visit the tribals’ houses. It will be unfair to grudge them this occasional indulgence. After all, they are paying a price for this. The price of living in adversity. Who does not know that many government officials avoid a tribal posting like the plague. And sweet are the fruits of adversity, to steal and distort a Shakespearean phrase. All this makes me think of Kinnaur as Himachal’s Forest of Arden.

Neo-rich youth inclined towards
gun culture

by P. Raman

IT HAS been a fashion for us to ridicule Karl Marx for his failed prophecy. His rigid characterisation of class, based on the social and economic background of a person or group, may not fully fit into the 21st century paradigm. But a look at the nocturnal pleasure haunts of the Capital’s emerging class of rich and powerful will convince one of the aptness of the good old man’s exacting definition of class.

Their lifestyle, show of wealth and power that go with it, and the utter unconcern for the rest — all this constitutes a statement of the typical class. Even in this modern crowd of the rich, the social climbers from the middle class with all their lack of self-confidence, stand out. Watch the pathetic adjustment problems of a lowly model just into the circuit or an ambitious management trainee eager to join the club. A semi-literate prosperous property dealer can move in BMWs and easily buy as many 100-rupee coupons as others from Malini Ramani. But his rough background will make him a misfit in socialite Bina Ramani’s Tamarind Court of Kutub Colonnade at Mehrauli. That explains the class — in spite of the contemporary trend of rapid upward mobility.

Suddenly, ex-model Jessica Lal’s midnight murder in full view of a couple of hundred celebrities as bared the ugly side of the partying sets watering hole. Scribes covering ‘celebs’ — they have their own slangs — in Delhi say the latter have specific day for each haunt. Djinns for Wednesday Bina’s Colonnade for Thursday and Hyatt Gym and Rave Parties for other days. They have to move with quickly changing tastes to maintain their “celebhood”. Theme parties, we are told, is the new craze of the supercrat. When they attend a Bollywood party they have to dress up as film stars; in “hair party,” women come in attractive locks; and there is a red, amber and green party.” Everything has to be exclusive, and the wretched class should not pollute the club. That is the emerging philosophy of the new socialite.

Old clubs and five-star hotels have become stale for India’s upcoming rich and neorich. The sudden mushrooming of the sprawling private farms, “courts” of different tastes, “exits” and five-star discos is indicative of the preferences of the”party animals”. The new tribe is dangerously aggressive as compared to their relatively dignified older generation. After all, they have to catch up with globalisation. Of late, there have been several cases of rowdy behaviour, brawls, scuffles, stabbing and shootouts involving the new genre. Some go unreported as the glitterati could easily suppress the incidents as otherwise a bad name would force their closure. Some time back, a waiter was found drowned in a swimming pool of a haunt. It was abruptly shut down.

In another case, the husband of a well-known designer was stabbed. There was another stabbing in a five-star disco. An artist was dragged off the dancing floor and stabbed. Thus, the shooting of Jessica Lal was a manifestation of the new trend of partying-cum-gun culture. The fun-loving rich youth who are so conscious of the protection their birth could provide them, hardly bother about the consequences. It is a fast life, and youth have to act fast to make the mark. The arrogance of wealth makes them blind. Availability of easy money and guns, parental protection and absence of character building — tall claims of those residential schools where these guys get their education apart — provide an ideal ground for the grooming of the neo-rich youth.

Most of them are raised on “guilt money” amassed by the prosperous. For those have grown up feeding on video games like “kills and scores,” firing and murder seem part of the normal impulses. In such games, the more you kill on the screen, the more you score. The trigger could be pulled just for the fun of it or on the slightest provocation. It can be refusal to pour more liquor or an argument. Just this week, a 13-year-old Ranchi boy took out his father’s gun from his schoolbag and shot another boy in the class — like their video games. A similar incident was reported from down below south. Delhi has 60,000 licensed guns, i.e. one for every 200. Webley Scots or Colts have become a fashion with today’s neo-rich.

An impression seems to have been created that politicians and bureaucrats are the main villains of the piece. They may have a fair share. But it is travesty of truth to depict Delhi’s midnight model murder as the misdemeanour of a politician’s son alone. Even in this particular case, two senior executives of a multinational cold drinks’ cartel have been arrested despite the initial moves to save corporate honour. It simply reflects a new twist in which a whole lot of players merrily indulge in business mixed with pleasure. Among them are bigwigs from business, wheeler-dealers, plain fixers and media imposters. Contacts are established, business negotiated and deals struck.

Bina Ramani’s Colonnade where Jessica was shot dead, has been a typical case. Like other super-rich haunts of the national capital, it has violated every available rule. Serving liquor without licence has been a common feature causing huge revenue loss to the exchequer. The excise department has acted only after the press reported the kid-glove treatment of the glitterati. They violate the deadline rule for night parties, bar on women serving liquor (the very strength of these havens has been lissome celebs) and complaints of public nuisance by neighbours.

In her case, the Archaeological Survey of India had objected to her establishments in both places. A DDA official who had served notice on her for demolition,was suddenly shunted to the Andamans. The sub-inspector who had the temerity to remind her of certain violations found himself transferred to a faraway police station the very next day. She phoned the police chief in the SI’s presence. That is the blatant display of the power of money and influence. When senior police officers frequent the place, will their juniors dare to prosecute the owners?

Bina Ramani’s metamorphosis from a ramp girl to the nation’s socialite guru represents the growth of Delhi’s super-rich and the upwardly mobile upper middle class with all their bar girls, celebs, models, the bold and beautiful and the high and mighty of that genre. It marks at transformation from the rather timid club-going genteel of yesteryear to a generation of daring go-getters. The phenomenon of Romesh Sharma and the drunken bravado of the BMW boys have been manifestations of this kind of grand globalisation. Incidentally, Romesh Sharma himself is pretty close to Bina Ramani, who had a wedding at his farmhouse.

Change in lifestyle, fashions, behaviour and habits have a tendency to spread out at breakneck speed and intensity to the farthest corners. A few years back, the first priority for those who visit Delhi with kids was a visit to Appu Ghar. Now we have it everywhere in India. Porn videos are more popular in small-town parlours. Popularlity of a particular trend, say fashion — itself’s is its enemy. If every one begins to go in for a particular wear, it ceases to be a fashion and dies a natural death. By the time it percolates to lower levels, in a horizontal expansion, it also undergoes distortions, loses its original traits and becomes shoddy with all its consequences on physical and mental health.

Every fancy-priced cosmetic is available in the original brand name or deceptive imitations at weekly bazaars and corner shops of slums and lower class colonies. The slum girls’ aspiration to go in for the same cosmetic memsahebs use on TV is being taken full advantage by the local producers of shoddy goods. Such crude cosmetics made of cheap chemicals are harmful to health apart from causing irritation and skin troubles. A similar thing will happen when the “fash frat” and “haute couture” culture seeps small towns.

An aimless generations fast coming up, thanks to a conspiracy of excessive consumerism, misguiding media, misleading ad campaigns and infectious TV projections. It begins with the mindless globalisation based on ‘sell or perish’ philosophy. If there is no demand, you have to create or grab it. It knows no values or ethics. To sell you need more ads to reach the target. To penetrate minds, you need more appealing shows even if it tends to sicken your mind. More TV and glossies mean more ads and more sales. The whole campaign is based on the inherent human weakness for more accretion and being in an exclusive club of consumers. You can be a cute kid or charming girl if you use a particular brand.

The multi-billion cosmetic industry and the beauty business thrive on such cultivated fads. In the mid-90s, we found every girl wanting to be a Sushmita Sen or Aishwarya Rai. Beauty clinics sprung up in every street corner. Slimming fad — the carefully engineered concept of beauty — has its own massive global business. Out of this, emerged a new genre of celebrities and socialites. They have their own highly priced glossies which reveal their attributes to the laity. Newspapers now have their own colour pullouts to glorify the super-celebs — lifestyle, tastes, favoured dress and food. Curiously, assorted groups of middle class models, big-time dress designers, plain socialites are all put in the same paradigm.

This media portrayal of the privileged as new icons triggers off intense social strains due to its aspirational effect on the middle and lower classes. The growing criminalisation of the school dropouts and the illusory ambitions of the youth are its symptoms.

Poll panel goes hi-tech

PERHAPS keeping pace with the march of technology and the need to hold elections at frequent intervals, the Election Commission has also started to experiment with the advanced information technology.

The commission which moved into the electronic era during the last general election by using the electronic voting machines (EVMs) has this time decided to use e-mail for dissemination of information.

E-mail (electronic mail), which is now growing to be one of the most convenient ways to communicate, is now being put to good use by the commission.

According to the commission’s spokesman Rajesh Malhotra, a directory of some 200 odd e-mail addresses have been prepared and within minutes of the official communication being ready, the same is dispersed through the new delivery system.

Apart from a drastic reduction in delivery time, it also reduces the dependence on the traditional method of sending the press releases to media units all over the country.

This is in addition to the Election Commission’s own website (http://www.eci.gov.in) which was created ahead of the general election last year which can be accessed to know more about elections and the Election Commission.

Thanks to the new technology, information is now just a mouse-click away.

Nina at Cong HQ

Last week just before the Congress regular briefing at the AICC headquarters, the place was abuzz when a newcomer walked in minutes before the event.

Heads turned as word spread around that the newcomer in question was Nina Pillai, widow of former biscuit-king Rajan Pillai. Many wondered which news organisation she was representing with some guessing that it was a leading daily in which she writes a column.

The guessing game continued as Nina Pillai took interest in the day’s proceedings which was the entry of former Telugu Desam Party MP, Mrs Renuka Chowdhury, into the party. The denouement came when at the end of the press meet, Ms Pillai walked out with her friend, Ms Chowdhury.

Considering the fact that Ms Pillai had contested the 1996 parliamentary elections from Kollam as an Independent supported by the BJP, eyebrows were raised on what she was up to now. Will she follow her friend, Ms Chowdhury’s footsteps in joining the Congress?

Sonia looking to Chikmagalur?

It is not that the people of Uttarakhand or Jharkhand are demanding a separate state, there are many others. Deep down south, the issue of restoration of statehood to Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnakata is simmering.

Last year, the Kodagu Rajya Mukti Morcha held a rally in Delhi to demand a separate state for the area which they claim had an independent identity before being merged with Karnataka in 1956.

This year, the morcha decided to hold a mega rally at Madikeri on May 17. The hilly area is famous for its coffee plantations. Apart from it, Chikmagalur is part of the area and if the name sounds familiar you are right — it is a constituency that returned Indira Gandhi to Parliament in 1978. It has now been shortlisted as a constituency for Mrs Sonia Gandhi to contest the next general election.

Few takers for PM’s liberalism

The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is the BJP’s liberal face, is having a tough time maintaining his identity. His efforts to distance himself from hardliners’ plans to make Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin an election issue was an exercise in this direction. However, he finally had to yield to the party’s majority view and it has been decided that Mrs Gandhi’s origin would be a poll issue.

This was not all. Mr Vajpayee was again faced with a dilemma when he was required to address a rally in Mumbai on May 11, to mark the first anniversary of the Pokhran II nuclear test.

The Prime Minister, party insiders say, was reluctant to address the rally as it would have meant sharing the same platform with Shiv Sena supremo, Bal Thackeray. In fact, the party too announced the BJP General Secretary, Mr K.N. Govindacharya, would represent the central leadership.

The hawks in the party were not happy with this and they mounted pressure on Mr Vajpayee to go to Mumbai. An exasperated Mr Vajpayee after being pushed to the corner finally relented.

Another Pak singer goes pop

The latest folk singer-turned pop artiste, Sajjad Ali (30), from Karachi, has now been launched in India by a music company for the home audience.

Born in Lahore, Sajjad Ali belongs to the family of legendary Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Barkat Ali Khan.

In fact, the latest entrant to the growing Punjabi and Hindi pop market is not really new to Punjab having taken part at Harballabh Sammelan.

As the saying goes, music knows no barriers. Now over to Sajjad.

(Contributed by SB, Satish Misra, K.V. Prasad, Tripti Nath and P.N. Andley).

75 YEARS AGO

Maulana Shaukat Ali’s Ceylon speeches

MAULANA Shaukat Ali, though confined to his bed on account of an attack of Typhoid fever, has lost no time in taking up the challenge thrown out to him by Colonel Yate in his question in the House of Commons regarding his Ceylon speeches.

In a message to friends, which has already been published, the Maulana says that “if the prosecution comes off, Ceylon will hear much more about the Khilafat and India’s wrongs than it heard in last January and he will have the fun of his life.”

We can only hope that the Government will not be in a hurry to provide the Maulana with the fun of his life by taking a course which is bound to do incalculable harm.

The situation in India is confused enough already, without it being necessary for the Government to add to the complications by another political prosecution of the first importance and thus add to the existing bitterness by reviving the memory of one of the most regrettable chapters in India’s history under the Crown.