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Wednesday,
November 7, 2001,
Chandigarh, India   |
Limited options for USA Laloo back in jail For want of oxygen! |
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Haryana’s alarming crime graph
A tale of New City
When in US plane, don’t ask questions From marital rape to ‘honour killing’ Sindhis opposed to women dancing
1905:
ROBERT KOCH
(A German bacteriologist): Physiology or Medicine
Romeos, beware of the karate kick
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Limited options for USA US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made all the right noises but the implication was not very pleasant for New Delhi ears. He promised that his country’s fight against global terrorism is really global and it reserved the right to knock out terrorist groups from anywhere. For the present it will concentrate on Afghanistan, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda, and has no time or energy to engage any other violent outfits. Once its present self-appointed mission to destroy the Taliban is accomplished, it will turn on other trouble spots. There is a rub and it is that the Afghan operations may take months, if not years, to neutralise the Taliban and smoke out Bin Laden. Until then India has to fend for itself in tackling the terrorist menace in Jammu and Kashmir. No matter the scale of infiltration, attacks on security forces and killings have sharply gone up during the past week. It is safe to assume that the Pakistan-based terrorists are entering the Indian state because of the pressure of bombing on Afghanistan or to express their anger outside Pakistan. Indian agony will linger on until the USA finishes its present job. Meanwhile Assembly election is due in J&K in November next year. Twelve months is a very long time in politics and fighting terrorism. Mr Rumsfeld has in fact told India that its national interest reigns supreme at the moment and India’s very serious problem will come on the radar screen later. In the meantime this country should be satisfied with military cooperation and the continued denial of “duel use technology”, which means any technology that has both civilian and military application. It is under this stipulation that super computer was denied to India even though it was required to forecast long-term weather conditions. Some military-to-military relations will be rebuilt and Defence Minister George Fernandes will be a guest of the US Defence Department early next year. The USA also recognises that India has a stake in the post-Taliban set-up in Afghanistan. This poses a dilemma. Pakistan, the closest and a frontline ally of the USA in its current campaign, wants the remnants of the Taliban in the new government. India is opposed to the presence. It will like the Northern Alliance to dominate the emerging regime with tribal leaders supporting it. This is an implausible plan. Neither the Northern Alliance nor the tribal leaders can form a government since they are essentially armed terror outfits running a feudal system. What Afghanistan needs is a modern political system which will drag the country to the 21st century from a mindset frozen in medieval times. The US bombing is not the right instrument to bring this about. |
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Laloo back in jail IT
may be premature to write about the amazing rise and abrupt fall of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav as the most controversial politician of Bihar. The Supreme Court has merely asked him to surrender before a special court in Ranchi in Jharkhand on November 26 in connection with the fodder scam cases pending against him. Of course, his countless number of political detractors are happy. However, it is doubtful whether another spell in jail as the main suspect in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam will result in the political downfall of the wily Yadav leader from Bihar. No one can play the game of political survival better than the one and only Mr Laloo Yadav. His rivals have been writing his political obituary ever since the fodder scam rocked Bihar more than half a decade ago. His role in the siphoning off of fodder funds came to light at the fag end of his first term as Chief Minister. His friends deserted him and he had to relaunch his political career by floating the Rashtriya Janata Dal. He appointed his politically untutored wife Ms Rabri Devi as Chief Minister, hoping that the cases against him would not take long in being decided. Old newspaper clippings show that the decks for prosecuting him had been cleared somewhere in December, 1996. Within a matter of months the CBI headed by the voluble Mr U. N. Biswas claimed to have collected enough evidence for sending Mr Laloo Yadav to jail as a convict and not as a suspect. The RJD leader has already spent nearly seven months in jail without any headway being made in the case pending before the special court. According to one report, the amount involved was close to Rs 1,000 crore. An interim chargesheet was filed by the CBI against Mr Laloo Yadav and his Cabinet colleagues, Mr Bhola Ram Toofani and Mr Vidya Sagar Nishad on June 23, 1997. Another former Chief Minister of Bihar, Mr Jagannath Misra, and some senior bureaucrats too were chargesheeted by the CBI. In the normal course the most controversial case, involving senior politicians and bureaucrats, should have ended during the last leg of the previoust century. However, for reasons that the CBI is unable to explain the fodder scam is far from becoming a closed chapter. The creation of Jharkhand cannot be offered as an excuse for the delay in trying Mr Laloo Yadav and others. The creation of a new state has merely given a new twist to the entire sordid episode with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the cases being shifted to Ranchi where the alleged crime had been committed. |
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For want of oxygen! REPORTS
that 11 infants died in King George's Medical College of Lucknow during the past three days because of alleged shortage of oxygen in the neo-natal ward are shocking beyond words. The way hospital authorities have tried to make light of the whole episode by saying that such deaths are common all over the world only makes the tragedy worse. As it normally happens in such cases, the chief of the hospital has totally denied that there was any shortage of oxygen at all in the hospital. It is another matter that resident doctors on duty and family members of the victims have confirmed that the deaths indeed took place because there was an acute shortage of oxygen cylinders since Saturday. The father of one newborn baby undergoing treatment has revealed that the doctors told him around 1 am on Sunday that they had run out of oxygen and were unable to arrange it. This particular person managed to save the life of his child and also that of three others just because he happened to know the personal secretary of the Health Minister whom he rang up to arrange for a cylinder. Others were not so lucky and faced the trauma of seeing their newborn babies on life support system dying. The official version denies all this. That strengthens the apprehension that the enquiry that has been ordered will be no more than a whitewash job. After all, its three members are from the same hospital. Will they really go against the statement already made by their head? That is highly unlikely. Although an oxygen shortage has been denied, the hospital administration does admit that there was overcrowding of the worst order. That is nothing new. The ward has the sanctioned strength of 16. But at any time there are more than 35 to 40 children admitted there. Obviously, a catastrophe was bound to take place sooner or later. Such is the state of affairs in a premier institution. Things are far worse in ordinary organisations. The government is in the know of things but the notorious chalta hai attitude prevails. Since the persons responsible for improving the situation are never held accountable for their errors of commission and omission, the rot continues to deepen. The death of these 11 infants who could would also become a forgotten chapter unless someone shouts that enough is enough. The government is not going to do that for sure. Only the public can! |
Haryana’s alarming crime graph CRIME scene in Haryana is assuming frightening proportions. This is breeding a deep sense of insecurity among its citizens. People sleeping in the open in summer was a common sight in Haryana towns a few years back. Now everyone shuts oneself inside at night in gruelling heat in summer and the erratic power supply adds to the woe. Numerous devices are being used to fortify the defence of one’s house. Road passing through Haryana is no longer safe. The incidents of car-snatching at gun-point are common. Crimes like murder, rape, dacoity, kidnapping, looting, ransom and the like are everyday phenomenon in the state. In fact, the state as a unit is fast becoming a breeding ground for criminals. (A top gangster of Mumbai is said to have recruited several youths from Haryana in his gang). Earlier the crime was largely confined to the two towns of the state — Faridabad and Gurgaon. These towns are virtually suburbs of Delhi and the crime there was a spillover from the metropolis. Now no town in the state is safe. No woman can venture out with a purse in hand or a gold chain around her neck. The snatchers are on the prowl. Ransom was unheard of in the interior of the state. Now it is a common device of extortion all over the state. Some time back a hotelier was gunned down in Rohtak as he failed to pay a ransom of Rs 10 lakhs demanded by a gang and the killers shouted at the top of their voice that the man had to pay the price for not obeying their dictates. This was a signal to other affluent persons in the town. It is a common talk that a sum of more than a crore of rupees has changed hands by way of ransom. Several moneyed people have paid quietly to buy peace. Those who are involved in crime have a defence to offer. Everybody is looting — the politicians, government functionaries, and the police, those who dispense justice and the like, barring a handful of exceptional cases that proves the rule. The only difference is that they function within the cloak of legitimacy and have the protection of the state structure. Wouldn’t most of them be behind the bars if there is a fair enquiry with regard to the assets they have accumulated? We, the criminals, are outside the pale of the legitimacy but we have made deep inroads into the state structures and that is the source of our strength. What is the difference between one who loots on the street and the one who does so while sitting in an exalted chair? The logic is impeccable and leaves one speechless. However, there is an element of perversity in it. Undoubtedly, looters within the system and outside it are substantially the same, and both are a threat to civilised existence. Nevertheless, one does justify the other. Both must be countered if society has to regain health. The state government’s response to the rising crime graph is to increase the police force mindlessly. The number of Directors-General, Police, and other top officers in Haryana in 1966 was only three, the number in 2000 was 30 — a neat 10-fold increase. The number of constables in 1966 was 5,715 while the corresponding figure in the year 2000 was 25,195. The number of police stations has jumped from 120 to 517 during the same period — almost a five-fold increase in both cases. Murder cases have increased from 183 to 825; the cases of dacoity from 6 to 111 and those of kidnapping from 134 to 541 during the same period. There seems to be such a frightening rise in the number of rape cases that the Statistical Abstract of the Haryana Government has stopped reporting it. The column dealing with rape has just disappeared. As per the information furnished by the National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Union Home Affairs, the number of reported cases of rape in Haryana in 1998 was 368. There is a direct relationship between the rise in the crime graph in Haryana and the proliferation in its police force. The greater the police force, the higher the crime graph. The steep rise in the crime in Haryana is often attributed to the crisis in the agrarian economy and the growing unemployment among the youth. The Green Revolution has reached its plateau and most of the landholdings are too small to be economical. The land cannot absorb the youth and there has been no concerted plan to industrialise the state. In Haryana there is not one industrial unit that employs 5000 or more workers. The five largest public sector companies in Bangalore alone in Karnataka employed 81,000 workers in 1991. There has been no attempt to set up some big industrial units in the state that could generate large-scale employment. Rather, Haryana politicians treat the industries as milch cows to generate cash for them and as such no big industrialist is interested in this state though it has a lot of potential to attract industries. Nor is there any attempt to make small-scale farming viable. The number of unemployed persons on the live registers in Haryana increased from 36,522 in 1966, to 8,11,359 in 1999. The majority of the unemployed youth comes from the dominant agrarian communities. Any kind of lowly work is considered below their dignity. Moreover, they have become aware of better lifestyle, thanks to TV and the proximity to Delhi. There is a rare possibility of matrimonial alliance for rural unemployed youth. The sexual frustration coupled with unemployment make them a fit material for crime. All this is true. However, this does not explain the thing fully. This kind of analysis underplays the role of culture. Haryana has been historically deficient in matter of reform movements. The Arya Samaj is the only reform movement seen by the state. However, the backward-looking tradition of gurukuls became more prominent here than its progressive tradition of DAV institutions that played a significant role in the spread of modern education in the Punjab region. The Indian cultural renaissance, however, half-baked it was, hardly ever touched Haryana. The lack of statehood in this region, the absence of flowering of a language, the failure of metropolitan centres to emerge in the state and such like factors further inhibited the cultural growth in the state. Haryana grew in the shadow of Delhi and hence its stunted growth. The kind of crisis we notice today in the state was in-built in its structure. The only thing that kept its social fabric intact was its traditional panchayat system where “khap” played an important role. This was responsible for the sense of brotherhood among its people. Now under the impact of the growing socio-cultural and economic crisis, the traditional social structure of Haryana society, which was tenuous at its best, has now snapped and there is free for all. The cultural deformity and cretinism in Haryana has thrown up rulers who treat the state as a family fief. They are conceptually incapable of infusing health into its sick politics. Rather, they contribute to the malaise by their act of omission and commission. With the complete paralysis of will to counter the growing lawlessness in the state as displayed by different sections of society, Haryana has finally entered the dark domain of brutality, barbarism and savagery. Everybody is interested in saving his or her own skin but in the process, anybody’s turn may come anytime. There is lack of will in any organised political party or group to educate, organise and involve the people to apply a brake on the slide of society into a deep abyss. All are waiting for next elections. There shall be negative voting and those in the opposition would control the levers of power. Therefore, there is no need to undertake any hazardous work of political mobilisation. True. However, the change would be only notional. When the negative trends in society are allowed to operate unchallenged for a long time, they get strongly embedded into the social fabric and it becomes virtually impossible to uproot them. Haryana is passing through a similar phase. Electoral change in such a situation is largely illusory. Societal change with the active involvement of the people is the only answer. The writer, a retired Reader in English, Delhi University, specialises in Haryana affairs. |
A tale of New City BESIDES astrology and Nostradamus’ prophecies, there is another system of knowing the future called hypnosis. Everyone has a karmic cycle. Hypnosis is used to regress into past life or progress into future. Dr Bruce Goldberg has been practising this mechanism of the karmic cycle. The technique of hypnosis was recognised by the American Medical Council in 1958. Dr Bruce Goldberg in his book Past Lives Future Lives has included 26 live cases of hypnosis wherein he transcended his patients to 400 years back and 300 years forward. One Dr Aggarwal of Calcutta also has been practising this format of knowing the future and past successfully by making a human body an apparatus who surfs in future as forward as 100 years. In this referred book, in its seventeenth chapter, there is an interesting case which is relevant to the New York episode of September 11, 2001. New York also experienced a mild tremor in the end of October, 2001. Dr Bruce experimented with a lady named Nancy (34 years old, waitress in a small Baltimore restaurant) for her past life regression. The conversation in her trance revealed that she was a cleaning woman in a Madrid hotel in the 19th century. Another past regression revealed that she was a beggar in Italy during the 14th century. The doctor arranged to progress her into the future in the next sitting. Nancy had no background of parapsychology. She never read any book on such a subject. Further, she had little formal education. On an afternoon she began her trip into the 23rd century. She entered into hypnotic trance quickly and went deep. Within a short time she was ready to respond to questions put by the doctor. Nancy first described that she was taken as Minister in the Ministry of Peace and the year was 2206. She told the doctor that her future name was Marsha. She described an ultramodern city. The footpaths moved on a conveyor belt. Buildings were white and tall. Streets were marble-like. Monorails were the mode of transport. Average span of life, she said was 110 years. She was in Brazil near the Amazon river. It was some Western Federation comprising North America, Western Europe, Africa and Middle East. She also said that there were SDs in the town warming the atmosphere of the town. As it was a new term for the doctor, he asked. What these are: Marsha informed him that they are solar discs of large structures rotating in wide arcs that keep the town warm with the help of solar energy. She also used a term OR (omni regulator) that prepares all forms of consumables to programmed specification. She also used her view phone. “Marsha” said that there had not been any war in over 100 years. She was then “progressed” to the year 2221. She said there were many problems with Eastern Alliance. The ministry received a request from India to act as an arbitrator in a local border dispute. A team was sent to India. Dr Bruce Goldberg asks Marsha: “Why would not India have gone to Eastern Alliance first?” Nancy (Marsha): India is not happy with the Alliance and has been trying to join the Federation for years. Dr Bruce after a few questions enquires Nancy (Marsha) about her interest in theatre. Dr: Do you ever go to the theatre? Nancy: Yes, but not often. Dr: What plays are currently running in New York? Nancy: New York? I do not understand. Where is New York? Dr: Is not there a city called New York that is known for theatre? (Presently there are 55 theatres in New York and five were closed in October, 2001, after the attack on September 11) Nancy: Oh, you must be referring to New City. There was such a place called New York, but that city was destroyed by the great earthquake (!) over 150 years ago. (The year (2220-150) comes to be around 2170) The city was completely destroyed and it took many years to rebuild it. It was renamed New City. I have not heard the name of New York mentioned since I was in school many years ago studying history. Dr: Were there other cities that were destroyed by great earthquakes? Nancy: Yes, a number of smaller cities were also destroyed. San Francisco and Los Angeles were levelled just before New York collapsed. It seemed funny to me that San Francisco and Los Angeles retained their names when they were rebuilt but New York was named as New City. When Marsha spoke of the earthquake, she showed complete emotional detachment. The destruction apparently had little meaning to her. |
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When in US plane, don’t ask questions Curiosity killed the cat. Well almost, as an Indian in the US discovered after asking an innocuous question that sent law enforcement agencies — edgy after the terror attacks — into a spin. The Indian techie was interrogated on a long flight by the FBI, handcuffed and detained by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) and charged with travelling without proper papers. All because, out of sheer curiosity, he had asked a flight attendant how an emergency door operated, said his lawyer Sheela Murthy. The man — whose name and other details have been withheld — got a taste of how edgy the US law enforcement agencies have been since the September 11 terror attacks after the innocuous query. It all started when the software professional was waiting in line to use the restroom while on a long flight. He noticed the emergency exit door and, either out of curiosity or boredom, idly asked the flight attendant how it worked. Within a few minutes an FBI agent interrogated him. Questioned why he wanted to know about the exit door, he stated he was just curious. However, the inquiry did not end there. The FBI agent then wanted to know about his immigration status. It so happened that he was on an H1-B temporary work visa but had lost his job a few months ago. He had a new job offer, but the new company had not yet filed the H1-B petition for him. He was, therefore not on a current H1-B status. His immigration status problem then led to the FBI’s contacting INS at the destination airport. An INS agent took the Indian into custody. He was taken into custody for failure to maintain his immigration status and had a bond hearing. In the meantime his wife rushed to a lawyer’s office and went through legal proceedings to get him released. But he will still have to face deportation proceedings because he was out of status as his visa had expired and he was awaiting a new one. His lawyer’s office has filed a petition and, if all goes smoothly and he obtains voluntary departure, he could go back to India and await the approval for the new company’s H1-B petition so he can be readmitted on a valid visa status. Saying this was a frightening experience to the professional and his family the lawyer’s office has now issued notices to all non-immigrants to carry passports and relevant documents when travelling within the USA. It has also issued a list of dos and don’ts and added the following word of caution: do not ask questions about airline equipment and procedures. The prudent thing is to avoid curiosity and keep one’s questions to oneself.
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From marital rape to ‘honour killing’ American actor-playwright-poet Sarah Jones says she hears live people, their angst, pain and suffering — which she then amalgamates to write brilliant mono-act plays. In India for 12 performances of her latest production “Women Can’t Wait,” Jones enthralled audiences in Delhi on Sunday with her playing eight women from different countries imploring a UN gathering to force respective nations to change laws that discriminate against women. The play was born from her collaboration with Equality Now, almost a decade-old women’s organisation based in New York. The group was monitoring whether governments were keeping the promises they made at the U.N.’s Fourth World Conference on Women at Beijing in 1995. So Jones becomes the meek Parveen from India, daring to speak up against 29 years of continuous marital rape. Shouting out against the law that refuses to punish the man, saying that sex, forced or not, is his right. A flick of the slender, tapering scarf and she is
Emeraude, a vibrant Frenchwoman snubbing a law against women working at night. Then she is Tomoko from Japan, protesting prejudiced divorce laws; and Hala from Jordan, covering her head with the scarf like an Arabian veil, crying out against “honour killing” of women. In certain Islamic countries, men or women accused of committing adultery are reportedly sentenced to death. Packed with subtle sarcasm, wit, humour and a constant thread of pathos, the play engrosses and captivates.
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Sindhis opposed to women dancing In a move that has unnerved women of Bhopal, leaders of the Sindhi community recently passed strictures against the custom of dancing by women in weddings. According to Maadhu Chandnani, General Secretary of Poojya Sindhi Panchayat, the panchayat thought that it was not only against Indian traditions but also against female gender in general as it brings bad name to them. These views are shared by Girdhari Lalkundani, Secretary of the Panchayat, who says that women might face harassment at the hands of men, who might take undue advantage of the situation. But it seems that women are angry and opposed to such strictures, which they say degrades their status in society and is no less than a punishment. According to them, it is a male conspiracy to push women back as the latter have emerged winners in almost every sphere of competition. Ironically, majority of men have not taken the proposal to their liking and call it no less than taking away a woman’s freedom. This is not the first time the community has made news for all the wrong reasons. About three years ago, the community came into the limelight when it asked a ban on co-education across Madhya Pradesh. While the community finds the decision in favour of women, the society thinks otherwise.
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Romeos, beware of the karate kick There is a confident but understated swagger in Radhika Sharma’s walk, a complete change from the time not too long ago when she dreaded the idea of going to college for fear of harassment by Romeos. She is no longer afraid of “eve-teasers”, thanks to karate lessons that has done plenty of good to the confidence of a lot of women here in dealing with rowdies. There are others like policewoman Kiran Sethi who has rid entire neighbourhoods of stubborn “eve-teasers”, young men who are so called because they roam the streets and travel in buses teasing women in Delhi. Sethi of course had an advantage: she could haul the molester to jail after beating the daylights out of him with the least effort. It is not difficult to differentiate these two women from their countless silently suffering sisters. The seemingly huge difference is encapsulated in an intangible thing called self-confidence. And it is precisely this trait the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) wants to inculcate in college girls by training them to fight back molesters. “We need to prepare young women to face situations that are demeaning and degrading,” DCW chairperson Anjali Rai told IANS. “It is all the more important as male passengers often do not react even when they see women being teased.” Short-term self-defence courses would be later launched in various colleges here with the help of the Delhi University Students Union. DUSU President Neetu Verma is all for it. “The courses will be a great help. The time has come when women should fight back. Even if 100 women learn the art of self-defence it will be make a major difference.”
IANS
Tall people reach for new heights With the average height of Indians shooting up with each generation, tall people across the country have formed a forum to discuss their towering problems and jointly campaign for their rights. The Kerala-based Tall Men Association (TMA), 165 members, including people from Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra. The TMA’s tallest member is Durga Prasad, who stands seven feet two inches, said P. Sakharia Joseph, the six-foot-three head of the association. And the organisation also has a woman member, even though it is called the Tall Men Association. “None should think that we are gender biased,” Joseph said. So what are the problems tall people confront? Lack of legroom for the long-limbed in buses and cinema theatres seem to be the most common complaint. “The major problem we face is while travelling in buses. I strongly feel that like seats are reserved for the blind and the invalid, at least one seat should be reserved for anyone above six feet in each and every bus,” Thomas said. Another proposal is a census of all people above six feet because only when their numbers are known can advocates for tall people’s rights launch a credible campaign.
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Day after day death beats his drum Sleep no more, Wake up pleasure-beguiled mind! How long O fool, wilt thou revel in this world? Death stands grim by the bed-side. Believing that the body is the soul Thou hast made the body thy all in all, And rovest day by day like a maniac How long wilt thou lie senseless in delusion’s sleep? Thou hast obtained this body, desired of gods, As reward for strivings of a million lives. Alas! thy days have passed away in vain. Deep disgrace will await thee on thy last day. The days gone by will not return.. there is time; chant the Lord’s Name That carries the essence of immortality. — From C.
Varadarajan, The Divine Life of Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath *** O wise Lord, What is it that swallows all? What is it that disgorges all it swallows? Who is able to cross its path swiftly? Who crosses it by slowly crawling along? *** Free us O virtuous Lord, From each successive bond and tie; Loosen all biding cords that bind us all over. May Mother Eternity and Supreme Lord The resplendent be to us. May we be sinless Under their motherly kindness and love! — Atharvaveda, 7.83.3 *** In the realisation of spiritual bliss, The human soul is released from the bondage Of physical sphere and rises above celestial realm. — Rigveda, 10.119.7 *** O Light Divine, the mind preserves Thee to give light to the sense organs and vital systems, born out of the eternal law And endowed with Divine inspiration Thou art revered by the people. — Samaveda, 54 |
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