A problem to a solution
THERE is something farcical about the so-called back channel diplomacy producing a solution to the Kashmir problem in a jiffy, so to speak. This is Pakistan’s claim and India has not wasted time in denouncing it.

How DDA fights corruption
MR K.J. Alphons became a minor celebrity in 1996 when as Commissioner [Lands], Delhi Development Authority, he ordered the demolition of a large number of unauthorised structures. The controversial bureaucrat is in the news again.

Explosive aftermath
WHILE an atomic explosion makes an area unhabitable for decades to come, even ordinary bombing plays havoc for quite a long time. The consequences of the saturation cordite rain can be felt well after the actual fighting is over.

SECURITY PARADIGM
Pitfalls of over-reaction
by Harwant Singh
MUCH has been written and said about India’s handling of the Kargil crisis. The dedication and valour of our brave jawans and young officers have created a new fervour and given a fresh direction to the national spirit amongst the masses.

New waves swirl Americans
by O.P. Sabherwal
THE United States, past the half way mark of the Clinton second term, moves on amidst boom and prosperity. There are new currents which swirl American lives, two of which stand out — a wave of scientific quests in the economy and even more pertinently in the universities and academic circles. And the second wave: a floodgate of charities amounting to billions of dollars, some for the first time directed towards the developing countries.

The other Gandhi on campaign trail
by Tavleen Singh
AN American journalist friend and I went looking for the other Mrs Gandhi, last week. The other Mrs Gandhi has been almost ignored in this election, my friend said, so it would be interesting to see how she was doing.

A maiden filming of a mighty river
by Amita Malik
THE NORTH-EAST is in some ways the most neglected and the least known part of India. How many Indians know of the great Ahom general, Lochit Barphukan, who defeated the Mughals?

The tinkling bells
by D.K. Mukerjee
MUSIC when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory. I hear many a sound like the distant bells of school releasing me from the tiresome lectures, the bells of temples reminding me to bow before the Almighty and seek His blessing or the latest musical doorbells announcing the arrivals of dear ones and the much awaited postman.

75 Years Ago

September 18, 1924
Checking importation of inferior tea
A PRESS communique issued by the Government of Madras in the Local Self-government (Public Health) department says that it has been brought to the notice of the Government that an appreciable quantity of tea imported into India is of a very inferior quality, that much of it is really unfit for human consumption, and that suitable measures should be taken to check and control the importation of such tea as in the United States, Canada and Australia.

A problem to a solution

THERE is something farcical about the so-called back channel diplomacy producing a solution to the Kashmir problem in a jiffy, so to speak. This is Pakistan’s claim and India has not wasted time in denouncing it. In the post-Kargil mood of sulk and suppressed anger, the unexpected disclosure from across the border can be dismissed as enemy talk but for two compelling factors. One, the author of the story is a reputed former diplomat with no political or other axe to grind. Mr Niaz A Naik appeared briefly at the start of the Kargil affair to activate a non-official and low-profile channel of communication and disappeared promptly when the news leaked out and the whole effort collapsed. He had an Indian counterpart, a senior journalist, who has refused to open his mouth or mind on his role in this private peace-making mission. The second factor is that much of what is being said now fits in with several extraordinary statements made at the height of the Kargil operation. It even adds meaning to the stoic silence External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh maintained during the fighting.

What does Mr Naik say now? One, the two Prime Ministers had worked out a package to put aside the Kashmir dispute. Loosely, the Line of Control was to be treated as the international border with both sides scrupulously respecting it. Alternately, the LoC would be erased and the two parts of Kashmir treated by the two countries as one region and its future status to be decided later, much later. This is the substance of the cryptic statement of Mr Jaswant Singh that the days of map-making are over in Kashmir. It is the broad outline of the solution and it was to be signed and delivered by October this year. All this is mindboggling, to quote Mr Natwar Singh, but Mr Naik’s brief newspaper interview does not throw light on related key elements. This dramatic idea could not have taken shape during the bus ride to Lahore or an airdash to Delhi (by Mr Naik). A long-standing dispute necessarily involves long rounds of talks both to soften the rival and the domestic opposition. The BJP-led government is right when it says that it cannot conduct the when it says negotiations in Vijay Chowk, but negotiate it should. There has been no indication of a serious bout of talks on Kashmir.

The other point Mr Naik makes is about the Pakistan army launching the Kargil operation to subvert the peace deal. Several Indian leaders have tried in the past to absolve Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of any blame, partly in the hope that the interrupted peace process can continue once the Kargil affair cools down. While Pakistan newspapers are angry at Mr Naik, the government is curiously ambivalent. It is particularly astonishing that on so sensitive an issue as the Kashmir dispute the government has allowed a bombshell of a revelation to go unchallenged. If there is a grain of truth in what the former diplomat says, Pakistan was about to renege on its five-decade-old stand on the status of the valley. Two, it was about to abandon the militants whom it has raised and armed all these years. It was about to tell the people that it was not serious all these years when it bravely talked of eating grass but getting ready to secure justice on the battleground. If the action of the Pakistan government is close to being unbelievable, so is public reaction. A highly volatile people who go berserk on any minor provocation are unperturbed at the prospect of abdicating their perceived right over Kashmir. Delhi has not helped in understanding the conundrum; it has flatly denied the whole report. There is a third party which might know the full truth but it would not talk either. It is the USA in its new role as a super peace-maker.

How DDA fights corruption

MR K.J. Alphons became a minor celebrity in 1996 when as Commissioner [Lands], Delhi Development Authority, he ordered the demolition of a large number of unauthorised structures. The controversial bureaucrat is in the news again. This time he seems to have performed the miracle of shaking the foundation of the DDA without using even a pickaxe. The reason for the localised tremors in the multi-storey Vikas Sadan has something to do with the latest World Bank report. The report quotes Mr Alphons as having said that the DDA was “the most corrupt institution in the country”. The report has accepted Mr Alphons’ version to come to the conclusion that “those who corrupt the DDA help illegal builders grab the authority’s land and then build houses and shops that are sold to unwitting buyers”.There is also a reference to the role of “political complicity” in converting the DDA into the most corrupt institution in the country. According to the civil servant, quoted extensively in the report, nothing gets built — legal or illegal — without a bribe. Not unexpectedly every wing of the DDA is reported to be up in arms against the temerity of the World Bank to describe the authority as the most corrupt organisation in the country. They seem to have found a simple solution for combating corruption and protecting their snow-white image as public servants from being sullied. Insist on a blanket ban on the use of “c” by individuals and organisations while assessing the role of the DDA in meeting the housing and other related needs of the residents of the megapolis.

The DDA Officers’ Association, the Engineers’ Association and other in-house forums have reportedly closed ranks for seeking legal action, if necessary, against the World Bank for trying to defame the organisation “without attempting an in-depth study of the matter”. The global funding agency has been asked to withdraw the offensive remarks against the DDA or face the consequences “of relying on the version of one individual for painting the entire institution black”. The officers, engineers and employees of the authority have also tried to remove the mask of “crusader against corruption” from the face of Mr Alphons. If the DDA is to be believed, the controversial civil servant grabbed 1,000 square yard of prime land near Pragati Maidan during his tenure as Commissioner (Lands), DDA. He was also accused of having carried out selective demolition of illegal structures “to protect the interests of those close to him”. The counter attack is not surprising. Mrs Kiran Bedi, Mr Arun Bhatia and other upright civil servants too have been called names by those whose misdeeds they tried to expose. Mr Alphons, for the time being, is in good company. It is a pity that instead of trying to set its own house in order the DDA has decided to take on the World Bank for mentioning in its report the views of Mr Alphons about the authority. He has merely given expression to the popular view on the functioning of the authority.

Explosive aftermath

WHILE an atomic explosion makes an area unhabitable for decades to come, even ordinary bombing plays havoc for quite a long time. The consequences of the saturation cordite rain can be felt well after the actual fighting is over. The landmines and unexploded shells keep on claiming civilian lives, so much so that even today stories of people getting injured by mines of World War II vintage appear in the media off and on. Hundreds of thousands of landmines lie buried in countries like Vietnam and Laos, which maim and kill those who happen to step on them by accident. In the last two decades, over a million people have been killed or injured by mines and as many as 600,000 of them are civilians. A similar — though less serious — situation has developed in Kargil after the Pakistani intrusion. Many unexploded shells are strewn around Batalik, Kaksar, Dras, Mushkoh valley and Tololing. These include the shells from the ammunition dump damaged by Pakistani shelling in early May. The shells blow up whenever someone happens to fiddle with them. The Army is engaged in defusing them. But since these are spread over a large area where civilians take their cattle for grazing, the attempt of the security forces to warn the public about the hazard has met with only limited success. In one such incident two civilians died while fiddling with an unexploded shell in Lamochan village in the Dras subsector on September 5. This is a menace which can be tackled only by expeditiously defusing the shells and making the public more aware of the dangers.

Meanwhile, curiosity about the battlefield, which was so much in the news just a few months ago, has proved to be a blessing in disguise for the people of the Kargil area. It was wallowing in utter backwardness all this while but the media interest has turned it into a tourist spot. Everyone who goes to Kashmir now wants to add Kargil to his itinerary. Cashing in on the craze, the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation has even started a “Kargil package” of three days. Many tourists from Bengal and other states have been utilising it in a big way. The Jammu and Kashmir Government also organised a three-day “Kargil-Festival-99”, which concluded on Monday. It is to be hoped that the influx of tourists will not only pump in money into the local economy but also highlight the poverty of the people and their various problems. It is one of the most backward areas of the state and the constant shelling has destroyed the hopes of any reasonably good crop this year. The influx of tourists might be the only silver lining in the grim scenario.

SECURITY PARADIGM
Pitfalls of over-reaction
by Harwant Singh

MUCH has been written and said about India’s handling of the Kargil crisis. The dedication and valour of our brave jawans and young officers have created a new fervour and given a fresh direction to the national spirit amongst the masses. Defence forces have once more established that they are an efficient and dependable instrument of state policy. The politician, however, continues to busy himself in drawing much mileage and advantage out of this victory. Our restrained approach and refrain in not crossing the Line of Control (LoC) had earned us the approbation and support of the world community. We have come to be considered a responsible nation, which acted in self defence, with a sense of responsibility and prevented the conflict from escalating. We have conveyed to the world that we want to live in peace and harmony with our neighbours. All in all considerable gains appear to have been made, although in the process the military allowed itself to be hustled into speeding up the pace of operations resulting in much avoidable loss of life. We also threw up a whole range of wrong signals to Pakistan as to the policy for the defence of J and K and our mode of likely reactions to future misadventures by it.

However, our intelligence setup has come under much criticism and has plenty to explain and there is a pressing need for the complete revamping of it. The ground troops too cannot be absolved of all blame, which must travel upwards and rest at the level where action was lacking. The conflict managers at the highest level will find it difficult to explain the delay in the deployment of the IAF when it related merely to own territory and where our heaviest artillery was already relentlessly pounding the intruders, nay the enemy. This inordinate delay has generated serious misgivings about the command structure, its viability and functional capacity in modern fast moving conflict scenarios, carrying overtones of nuclear dimension which of necessity, demand immediate responses to developing situations.

Pakistan has lost face, its attempts, crude as they were, to fudge facts misrepresent ground realities and deny the obvious, have resulted in diminishing credibility at home and abroad. Humiliations have been heaped on the military and the political leadership. There are portents of internal civil strife in the country and resurgence of inherent contradictions of modern democratic polity and religious fundamentalism. The struggle for power within the state between various contestants has sharpened. Instability (economic and political) and internal turmoil stares the nation in the face.

That is how most in India read the situation in the aftermath of the Kargil misadventure. Since the dust and din of the Kargil conflict has subsided, it is perhaps the time to take stock and view the situation in its correct and larger perspective and give a fresh look to the picture and see as to how rosy it is for India and whether it is really all that grim for Pakistan? Has Pakistan gained anything from this conflict in the short term or in the long term? Do India’s deductions and reactions fall short of long-term security concerns and would they prove counter-productive in the end? Has India paid too heavy a price just to earn the applause of the world community, more so of the USA? Are we reacting correctly in the aftermath of the Kargil misadventure to prevent repetitions of similar incursions? These are some of the pressing issues that we need to address ourselves to, draw rational conclusions and work out viable solutions.

First of all the Kargil episode has turned upside down the very basic concept of Indian policy on defence of J and K. Second it has placed a heavy financial burden on India in the short term and much heavier in the long term without in any way improving its security paradigm in J and K and overall in the India-Pakistan context. It has shifted the focus to a low-priority area (where protection of the Srinagar-Leh road is the only issue of concern) from relatively more urgent and consequential parameters of fight against the burgeoning mischief by Pakistan in J and K or in the context of a larger conflict there. This shift would also result in lowering the overall deterrence potential of India’s conventional forces. Partly, the blame rests with us for over-magnifying the dimensions of the Kargil conflict, over-playing the determinants of its resolution and allowing ourselves to be carried away by the windfall of subsequent political gains, which at best are transitory.

The National Security Council and its organs appear to transgress from areas of broad policy parameters to day-to-day conduct and control of events. This body, obsessed as it is with the potential dangers of nuclear dimension in an Indo-Pak conflict, appeared to constrict the response to even normal tactical situations. So wrong has been the principal expert on nuclear conflict and the better known spokesperson of this august body, that speaking at a TV interview he propounded the theory that there can be no occupation of each others’ territory or in other words aggression (in the Indo-Pak context) because both sides have nuclear weapons and this was when Pakistan, unknown to us, had already moved across the LoC into the Dras-Kargil-Batalic sector. What needs to be taken note of is that where both sides have nuclear capability and the deterrence spans retaliatory capability to devastate the opponent after absorbing the initial first strike, threat of a nuclear conflict is inoperative or, at best, recessed or is only in being.

The Kargil conflict appears to have led to a set of kneejerk reactions. First of these is the raising of a new corps for Kargil-Leh sector as reported in the national press and the occupation of defences along the LoC in the Mushkoh valley-Dras-Kargil-Batalic-Chorbatla sector in strength. Maintaining an army corps North of Zojila is two to three times costlier than maintaining it in the plains or, say , in the Jammu sector. Maintaining troops on the high mountain ranges in the Kargil sector, year round, is an extremely costly proposition and heavy on air maintenance and helicopter support. It amounts to extending the Siachen defence line all the way to the Mushkoh valley, a least cost-effective tactical deployment. If, in the brief Kargil conflict, we lost close to 500 men and officers and another 1000 wounded then in the next 10 years we would lose to weather and heights anything from 5 to 7 thousands in dead and injured. Besides, we will allow ourselves to be more and more bogged down in a reactive syndrome in the worst possible terrain with no tactical or strategic advantage. After getting Indian troops thus committed, the Pakistan army will simply thin out in this sector, similar to its holding pattern elsewhere in J and K and be in a position to create another Kargil or multiply its mischief in the valley/ Doda/Poonch-Rajouri.

In this rush of events and working under the shadow of threat of “many more Kargils” (which, even if taken seriously, could take a number of possible forms i.e the attack on military and police bases/posts being one) we could lose sight of our aims and objectives and turn topsy-turvy our priorities for acquisition of weapons and equipment worked out after much thought and deliberations in conformity with the requirement to build up long-term capabilities to maintain that essential and distinct edge in conventional forces and offensive potential. Working at high speed and under the stress of visions of imaginary future intrusions,we could end up acquiring, without customary extensive trials, a whole range of equipment of doubtful utility and performance for an area that need not be occupied in strength nor does it require deployment of large quantities of high tech equipment.

If the above noted fears of Indian reactions are to come true, then Pakistan would have achieved much and the Kargil intrusion may not be a misadventure but, in fact, a gainful exercise. Our responses at Kargil carry the danger of conveying the impression that we have moved away from the basic concept and policy for the defence of J and K. That policy, briefly stated, has been that any aggression in J and K will be taken as aggression on India and the Indian response will be immediate, massive and at a place of its choosing. That is what has ensured the security of J and K, albeit the terrifying offensive potential of our strike formations and certainly not just the deployments along the LoC, which really is to prevent local gains.

Over-reaction to the Kargil incident has many pitfalls and can lead to a whole range of incorrect moves. The intrusion needs to be viewed with a degree of realism and our responses from now on must be measured and minimal to meet future possibilities. Shift in basic and well thought out priorities for future equipping of forces should not be a casualty to kneejerk reactions and a surrender to misconceived possibilities. We have to give Pakistan clear and unambiguous notice of our threshold of tolerance and spell out the limits to its mischief in J and K. We have to, at the same time expose to the full glare of the world community the range, extent and dimensions of Pakistan’s involvement in the export of trans-border terrorism and insurgency in J and K, North-East and some other parts of India and that Pakistan is overtaxing Indian patience and restraint. We need to build up the essential international opinion for a possible strong Indian reaction to any future misadventure by Pakistan. As far as Kargil sector goes, one to two more battalions and some surveillance equipment with the local brigade should suffice.

Finally, if the speed of the bus to Lahore was too fast for Pakistan then let us cycle or simply walk to that town and continue with the process.

(The writer is a retired Lt-General).

New waves swirl Americans
by O.P. Sabherwal

THE United States, past the half way mark of the Clinton second term, moves on amidst boom and prosperity. There are new currents which swirl American lives, two of which stand out — a wave of scientific quests in the economy and even more pertinently in the universities and academic circles. And the second wave: a floodgate of charities amounting to billions of dollars, some for the first time directed towards the developing countries. Both these will be of absorbing interest to Indians.

The Microsoft phenomenon serves as a link between the two. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corporation, who helped usher in the software and infotech explosion, is currently the main focus of a massive wealth distribution on an unheard of scale. Even for America, which has a tradition for very large foundations, be it Rockefeller, Ford or Carnegie, playing a meaningful role in American lives, Bill Gates is establishing a new high watermark. Sharply criticised in recent years for holding on to his vast fortune, Gates and his wife Melinda — together worth an estimated 100 billion dollars — have been on a furious distribution spree, to what in American parlance is described as charities. In reality, these are money transfers to chosen institutional concerns within America as well as abroad, for wide-ranging public benefits.

Within America, Gates’ charities are focused largely on the West Coast. In June, Bill and Melinda Gates shifted five billion dollars worth of Microsoft stock to the family’s two foundations, which in turn came on the heels of an earlier 3.3 billion dollars stock gift in January. And how comes the announcement made by the Chronicle of Charities that Bill Gates has donated an additional 6 billion dollars to his major family foundation in the USA, the newly created Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, based in Seattle on the West Coast. Together these donations make the Gates’ foundation worth $ 17.1 billion the largest in the United States, outshining well-known institutions such as Rockefeller and Carnegie.

Specialists said these donations are a landmark: the beginning of an era in which West Coast technology billionaires have begun to dominate the arena of America’s benefactors, led for nearly a century by such East Coast stalwarts as Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie. Kirk O. Hanson, senior lecturer in business ethics at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, expects Gates’ gift to spur an expansion of charitable giving from other “new economy” tycoons. And hundreds and thousands of similar actions may come.

What is notable about Bill Gates’ money transfers is its scientific orientation and, for the first time in the history of American charities, large funding for developing charities, selectively chosen for achieving poverty and distress relieving ends. One expects Bill Gates to continue to develop this effort he is now launching on for developing countries.

An example of Bill Gates’ approach is the funding of medicinal research which will make vital drugs available for developing countries at a low cost.

At present, the drug multinationals which own patents of the most effective drugs push up prices high, so much that they are out of reach of the common man. Gates is also directing his charities towards libraries, using scientific knowledge and his software pool for uplifting their upkeep and usage. He is said to be on the lookout for vital areas in which his vast monies can be effective in developing countries for enlightenment and poverty relieving.

An accompanying event in American lives is the battle for science and scientific concepts at different levels. Scientists are no longer content to remain in their isolated shells; they are taking up cudgels with politicians in the matter of distributing federal and state funds’ allocations for genuine scientific needs, primarily well-directed research. What has been happening here on a big scale is the utilisation of state and federal funds for science by politicians to their own vote-bank guided projects — not research but such schemes as drainage, local development etc. The sort of thing with which Indians are familiar, as has been the pattern in the Centre’s allocation of a crore of rupees to every MP for projects in his constituency. In American conditions a similar thing is currently happening with funds allocated for scientific research and development.

A far bigger and meaningful event has been in the arena of education where the battle has opened up in right earnest of scientific concepts edging out what is called creationism — another name for religious dogmas and mystic approaches all too familiar in India. A New York Times report puts the focus on the Kansas Board of Education saying educators and scientists are beginning to find it shocking that politicians are still fighting over whether evolution should be taught in school, which means a tussle between scientific over religious explanations. When the Kansas Board of Education voted last week to discourage teaching of evolution and eliminate questions about the subject from student evaluation tests, the battle of scientific versus religious approaches began in right earnest. And it is spreading all over the USA.

It is in the economy that technology and scientific quests have gained commanding heights in decision-making. That applies to all areas of industry and creative development. This no doubt gives American economy strength to retain its global leadership. — (IPA)

The tinkling bells
by D.K. Mukerjee

MUSIC when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory. I hear many a sound like the distant bells of school releasing me from the tiresome lectures, the bells of temples reminding me to bow before the Almighty and seek His blessing or the latest musical doorbells announcing the arrivals of dear ones and the much awaited postman. Then is the strange case of my friend’s cycle bell which would start ringing automatically when placed adjacent to a lady’s cycle!

There are many a sound which used to hold out promise of romance and adventure hastening heartbeats but those soft footsteps and jingles heard about 30 years ago still vibrate in my memory overshadowing all others.

Those were the days when I was still picking up official work. Suddenly a special assignment to be completed in a specified period was assigned to me. I accepted this challenging job and was keen not only to accomplish it but also to prove my mettle. In an effort to make good by hard labour, what I lacked by way of good brain, I would come to the secretariat each day when the corridors used to be deserted and much earlier than the sweepers had begun their work, letting myself in with the help of a spare key of my office room and only leave late in the evening by locking it myself.

Every day, at precisely the same hour, both in the morning and in the evening, I would hear approaching footsteps in the corridor. These would stop for a while outside my door and then go on. Rhythmically, with each steps, there would come a jingling sound, much like the “Chhan Chhan” of some “paazeb”.

Immersed as I was in files, I made no effort to find our but grew surer each day that these were the tinkling anklet bells of a newly wedded bride. And this went on day after day. Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, I decided one day to push aside the papers and rush to the door on hearing the jingling approach of the familiar footsteps. Even as the steps lingered outside my door I opened it in own swift movement.

What I saw was not the fancied bride with tinkling ankle bells but the figure of the chowkidar with a bunch of keys hanging by his side and striking against his legs with each step taken by him. He was on his round, locking all doors after office hours, just as he had unlocked them in the morning. He would linger outside my room only to before make sure it was occupied before proceeding down the corridor with a rhythmic rattle of keys. My dream was shattered but the sweet sound still lingers in my memory.

The other Gandhi on campaign trail

by Tavleen Singh

AN American journalist friend and I went looking for the other Mrs Gandhi, last week. The other Mrs Gandhi has been almost ignored in this election, my friend said, so it would be interesting to see how she was doing. It would take us six hours from Delhi, we were told, so we left early in the morning in the hope of catching up with Maneka Gandhi by the afternoon. It should have taken us only six hours but once you leave Delhi the road rapidly deteriorates into an over-crowded mess as do the towns en route, but telling that story would take many words and merit another column altogether.

So, let’s begin with our arrival in Pilibhit, a shabby, featureless little town where we arrived over eight hours after leaving Delhi. We were directed to her campaign headquarters — the house of a local resident. Maneka had set up her office in a largish room on the ground floor which was abuzz with excitement because she had just been given her party symbol minutes before our arrival. “Scissors, scissors”, one of her workers exulted, “we couldn’t have asked for a better symbol since everyone recognises a pair of scissors”.

An important factor, we discovered, since the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency is not famous for its achievements in the field of mass literacy. The constituency, which has 11 lakh voters, has an overall literacy rate of 32 per cent with women’s literacy amounting to an abysmal 6 p.c. You can still find villages in Pilibhit where not a single woman is literate. Her party workers told us that this was why Mrs Gandhi’s emphasis, since 1989 when she first represented this constituency (she lost in 1991 by 4500 votes) has been on schools. Her target is to ensure that there is a primary school for every 400 children and according to her supporters she has almost achieved this.

Since this was now the middle of the afternoon, Mrs Gandhi was out in the field but they told us we could catch up with her in some villages about an hour away. So, back we got into our car after another short briefing from her workers.

She was going to win by a huge margin, they told us, larger than the 2,13,000 votes she won by last time, because in their view she did not have much competition from Bahujan Samaj Party or Congress candidates, who are taking her on this time.

One of her supporters accompanied us and he told us that Pilibhit had improved vastly since Mrs Gandhi had started representing it in Parliament. “Look over there” he said pointing to a long, narrow building “that’s a hotel, we never had a single hotel in this town before”. On our part we pointed out that Pilibhit still had open drains and not even a semblance of urban planning but he said things had improved compared to what we would have seen 10 years ago.

Within minutes we were out of the town and driving through small villages which looked even shabbier and dirtier. We stopped to gauge the mood. A crowd quickly gathered around and everyone was in agreement that Mrs Gandhi had done much for them and would win for sure. What had she done? She opened many schools, they said, and spent her own money on organising a camp for the handicapped. This had impressed them, they said, because their other MPs had rarely done anything at all.

We drove on, through emerald green sugarcane fields and lush jungles, to stop finally in a small village called Joshi Colony where Mrs Gandhi was expected at any moment. She arrived about a half hour later in a Tata Sumo filled with party workers. She had her head covered and greeted everyone with her hands folded and a weary smile. It would be better, she told us, for us to go back to her office and wait for her because she had only a couple of small, roadside meetings to address and then she would be returning by 7.30 p.m. at the latest. Upon our return we found that her son, Feroze, who has been campaigning in Pilibhit for his mother had already come back. He talked at length about his political views and ideas and made a huge impression on my American friend who was quickly convinced that if there was going to be a fifth generation of the Gandhi dynasty, then Feroze was clearly a front-runner. His mother, when she arrived, said she was much more interested at the moment in ensuring that he finished college. “If he does he will be the first Gandhi in 70 years to have finished college” she said “the last one was Jawaharlal Nehru”.

No sooner did Maneka arrive than she rushed off to take a quick shower. “Give me 15 minutes”, she said, “and I’ll take you to dinner to a place where this lady becomes a man every Thursday”. It seemed an intriguing occurrence and 15 minutes later we were back in the car, hers this time, driving off into the darkness towards a farmhouse in the jungle. An elderly Sikh gentleman was waiting for us when we got there and he said, “She is still there, she is still there”. So, without going into the house we drove off once more into the jungle to arrive at a dargah lit only by the light of a small diya. The lady was not there so we talked in the darkness about how Maneka planted thousands of trees and how strict she was about preserving what was left of the jungle in this constituency.

The problem, she said, was illiteracy and consequently the fact that the average woman in Pilibhit had eight children. Empowerment of women through reservations on the panchayats had not worked well at all because they now had a new political person who called himself pradhan pati (husband of the panchayat leader) and there was as much leakage of development money as ever. The solution, she said, was development through decentralisation of resources to the panchayats with the District Magistrate being only a supervisor, instead of the other way around.

In the midst of our conversation, interrupted constantly by mosquitoes as big as butterflies which attacked us furiously, an old lady arrived shuffling her way through the jungle muttering, “Allah, Bismillah, Allah Bismillah”. She prostrated herself on the dargah and the muttering became more distinct. “You will win”, she said, “don’t wear black. And, come back afterwards”. After these prophetic words as we were turning to leave she added, “Dinner is served. Please eat before you leave”.

The lady, possessed by the spirit of the holy man buried in the dargah, was our hostess for the evening. During dinner, she returned to being a genteel Punjabi housewife who spoke normally and came in bringing a specially made roti for Maneka. On our way back to Pilibhit, Maneka said that during every campaign she visited the dargah on at least one Thursday. “It may be a coincidence but the only time I didn’t, I lost”. Maneka may not be as famous as the other Mrs Gandhi but, as she herself pointed out, “whatever I have achieved I have done on my own without using the family name or going about telling people they should vote for me because I’m a widow”.

A maiden filming of a mighty river

by Amita Malik

THE NORTH-EAST is in some ways the most neglected and the least known part of India. How many Indians know of the great Ahom general, Lochit Barphukan, who defeated the Mughals? Or of the great Vaishnav saint Sankardeva, under whose inspiration were set up the architecturally perfect “namghars” around which cultural and community life revolves in an Assamese village? In scenic beauty, the variety of its people and its unique way of life, the North-East has few equals. Yet it is only mentioned when there is militancy, the blowing up of trains or some sensational political event. And even then, it is not covered as intensely as Kashmir, although it is as dangerously disturbed, if not more.

If anything symbolises the greatness and the civilisation of the North-East, it is the mighty Brahmaputra, the aptly named son of Brahma.

I have seen the Nile, the Amazon, the Mississippi and, of course, the Ganga. But no river has moved and awed me as much as the Brahmaputra, perhaps because I grew up on its banks. And so did Sanjoy Hazarika, former correspondent of The New York Times, who, together with national award-winning Assamese director Gautam Bora, has made a six-part documentary, entitled “Brahmaputra”, which is currently being screened every Saturday night at 10.30 p.m. on DD 1, the National Channel.

I saw the first part last Saturday and it simply took my breath away. Gautam Bora must be one of the finest cinematographers in the country, and Sanjay, who is a native of the soil and an authority on the North-East, had brought all his years of reporting backed up by prolonged research to make “Brahmaputra” not only a class film, but a world class production which I hope will be snapped up by channels like National Geographic and Channel 4. It follows the life along the river and its banks by old-fashioned ferry to helicopter, from its beginnings as the Siang, which rises in Tibet, with dancing dolphins adding to the charm, right up to Arunachal in the first part. Not only has the Brahmaputra not been filmed like this before, but it opens up the history and culture, the scenic beauty and the peoples of a largely uncharted region which the world ought to get to know and, more importantly, understand.

It is to the credit of Doordarshan that it commissioned and exhibited the series and has thereby redeemed a little bit of the soul it has lost in recent years. To add to the projection of the North-East there is a revival of Manju Singh’s outstanding series “Ek Kahani”, in which stories from a particular region are acted in their own regional Hindi accents by the people from here, and ends with an interview with the author. So we got this touching tale from Manipur, where a little boy catches a “hilsa” (fish) which will be the highlight for the feast for his sister’s first encounter with a family bringing a marriage proposal. But there is no money to buy even oil and salt, so in the end, the impoverished family sells the fish to a greedy neighbour, leaving the little boy desolate. Again a simple tale but told with cinematic excellence and moving performances. Not surprisingly, the director is Assamese, the now nationally and internationally acclaimed Jahnu Barua.

These two soothing escapes from the fever and the fret and the overkill over the elections have a moral somewhere. Perhaps that there is enough talent of a serious kind in the country and serious viewers are not given enough of a chance in the commercial rat-race which DD has so foolishly entered.

To return to earth, Rajiv Shukla’s “Ru Ba Ru”, with Sonia Gandhi in Hindi, took off where Vir Sanghvi left it. More of her first meetings with Rajiv and Indira and her marriage. What came off best was Sonia’s painfully acquired Hindi, which certainly coped with the questions, quite a surprise.

Tail-Piece: A computer can do anything, it takes a Tata Sumo through dangerous rapids, it makes a Ceat tyre go to the very edge of a cliff to rescue a damsel in distress, but the World Car Zen (without the new grill) has a number-plate looking suspiciously like a Maharashtra one and the NRI driving it has such atrocious manners that he says to his secretary in chauvinistic tones “Call my wife. Tell her I am driving home”. They do normally say please and thank you in the USA.

75 YEARS AGO

September 18, 1924
Checking importation of inferior tea

A PRESS communique issued by the Government of Madras in the Local Self-government (Public Health) department says that it has been brought to the notice of the Government that an appreciable quantity of tea imported into India is of a very inferior quality, that much of it is really unfit for human consumption, and that suitable measures should be taken to check and control the importation of such tea as in the United States, Canada and Australia.

The Customs regulations prescribe a standard with which imported tea must comply. Teas are analysed before they leave the Customs and if they do not comply with the prescribed standard, they are not admitted. It has been suggested that following the example of the countries standards prescribing purity for tea should be fixed.

Customs officers should be empowered to require all imported tea to be analysed; and such teas as comply with the standard should be admitted freely.

Those which as analysed, fail to comply with the standard should be rejected.

In this connection the effect which such restrictions would produce on the price of the commodity would require consideration and the Government, before taking up the question, desire to ascertain the views of the consumers in the matter.