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Sunday,
December 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Re-examining
the place of humanities in society Population
explosion: Numbers that numb |
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MIDSTREAM Doom
& gloom in store for us
Indian
scribes stranded in Kabul DAYS OF
TURBANS IMAGE
MANAGEMENT UNDER
ATTACK
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Re-examining the place of humanities in society ATTENDING conferences, for many academics, is like going on a pilgrimage, so inevitable that they would give anything to have the chance to participate. The spouse of an academic humorously teases that his wife would run panting to attend a seminar even if it was held by a village
halwai. Consider, for instance, conferences of ludicrous proportions held in different parts of the world. To visualise such whopping affairs is rather comical and even grotesque especially when all that academics theorise is on subjects ranging from Marxism to Michael Jackson, and from Baroque art to the semiotic study of Balti chicken, from Simone de Beauvoir to German philosophy and queer theory, and from anthropocentrism of critical interpretation to the dynamics of an animal’s point of view. A rather amusing paper was read a few years ago on Leon Rooke’s Shakespeare’s Dog with the thesis that the bard had attained most of his knowledge of human emotions from his dog called Mr. Hooker. The assertion of the dumb animal’s rightful place in literature was the main motive of one of the sessions. Attending conferences therefore has almost become a joke especially when you do it for no other reason but a feather in your CV. The traditional practice of the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge has almost come to an end. The agitation almost all over the world is that there are too few jobs for the thousands of Ph.Ds. Elaine Showalter, Professor of Humanities at Princeton University feels that research scholars must begin to look beyond the academia: “When people with skills have more than one option, they have more values in the marketplace”. For this reason, many conferences have been inviting Ph.D-turned media experts or lawyers or business entrepreneurs and movie producers. This will show the graduate students that there are innumerable opportunities beyond the university, but many are in disagreement with this move as they feel such a practice is meant to get them off the back of the English faculties and move them into other disciplines. Leaving academics, for them, is to be ‘deprogrammed’ which in the long run causes a castration complex whereby they begin to imagine that they have some deficiency and must go on working harder to be accepted. But if they do pick up jobs elsewhere, they must understand that it is probably the study of literature that makes them competent to take up such jobs as have equal
respectability and are not second rate. Literary critics have indeed mapped the deep structures and central directions of an entire culture more than any one else. It, therefore, must be realised that literary critics are most focused and intensely trained interpreters of texts. But they have retracted from the world of culture in which the text is located and thus there is a split of the text from the world. Literature and the study of theory have to emerge as a site for the negotiations of progressive political readings. The redeployment of theory in the context of politically invested arenas such as race, sexuality and gender equips the graduate to take up jobs of a sociologist with a concern for cultural and political analysis. The case that I am putting forward is to redirect literary studies towards active politics, justice, freedom and equality; in other words literature cannot be cordoned off from social sciences and social theory or the interstitial cultural spaces of globalisation. Literary scholars bring insightful forms of reading to bear upon social and political texts. They must overcome their ignorance of law, of political theory, of the shape and structure of social movements. Broadly, therefore, literary analysis is essential for social theorists as they are the most focused and intensely trained interpreters of texts. Undoubtedly, cuts in higher education have hit almost all universities with the result that hiring and job prospects have evaporated. The state budgets have suddenly swung from surplus into deficit. Cash strapped universities baulk at offering tenured jobs. A student passing out from a University of Columbia, labours on her research for over ten years and finally takes up the job of a screenwriter. Other such cases juggle poorly paid temporary lectureships with teaching in primary schools. In the USA, 1254 people got PhDs as against 780 job listings. While the tenured posts have plateaued, the supply of PhDs. has risen. One can question whether it has been ethical for universities to continue admitting the number of students for doctoral research when job prospects are so slender. But keeping in view the broad social and cultural training given to English graduates sufficiently equips them to step beyond the confines of their narrow disciplinary professionalism and move to other areas of social relevance and interest. I thus stand against the gloomy picture that has been drawn of the academia, especially the humanities. There is widespread cynicism, combined with the decline in the job market and feelings of regret, envy, and frustration. But we need to be worried about the future of liberal arts at the start of the new millennium, for on its survival depends the future of any civilisation. The death of literature accompanied by decadence and cultural decline draws ones attention to Richard E. Miller’s book As Though Learning Mattered in which he argues; ‘There is the lament that we are in the twilight of the profession as we have known it, as may be seen in the steady decline of tenure-track positions and the simultaneous expansion of a large, migratory teaching force, together with the increased demand for accountability and the oversight at every stage of the credentialing. In short, everybody seems to agree that the academy is undergoing a radical reformation, but to what end and in response to what forces remains unclear. This grim picture of the humanities is now gradually being overtaken by an optimism for the humanities, which becomes an essential counterblast to the yuppie bourgeoisie culture that the world is overwhelmed by. Research in the humanities will certainly prepare the next generation in bringing about a renaissance of liberal arts that will go a long way in introducing an era of renewal and revision. Louis Meand is right in pointing out that the ‘non-academic world would be enriched if more people in it had exposure to academic research and teaching’. So as to usher in meaningful change, we need to emphasise the problem of graduate education and employment and to define what we teach along with its relevance to contemporary times. As Showalter reiterates, ‘we need to look inward, to attend to the spiritual malaise in the academic workplace, and take practical steps to improve the ways we work together.’ The workplace, she argues, needs to be free of ’incivility and aggression’, a malaise that causes deep alienation if not professional vanity. This re-examining of the place of humanities in our society and the relevance of graduate education thus calls upon us to ask ourselves if we should rein in on the research programmers and funding or instead develop new alterations that make such an education extensively appropriate and prepare students for diverse jobs such as the government, media and business. More research professors are not the only requirement; we must, on the other hand, provide the necessary tools to each student to meet the intellectual needs of a meaningful life. Education should go into a premeditated expansion so that it is available to more people. Public deliberations on these matters is a key step in resolving what constitutes excellence, integrity and developing ‘the talents of the academic leaders who will model the human values and practices of the workplace’ that are deeply alert to the concerns of students and the local community. The graduate student is the forerunner of tomorrow. It is essential to structure a system whereby students who epitomise the future of our profession never experience isolation, but stay confident in the feeling that their seniors are earnestly concerned about their location in the social structure. |
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Population
explosion: Numbers that numb AASTHA Arora. This name has been over-run by several million more names. Aastha was hand-picked in the Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, on May 11, 2000, symbolising India crossing the one-billion population mark. The choice fell on her as a joint ‘venture’ of the government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF). Since 1950s, as many number of vacuous words have been written and spoken on population explosion. Surfing the Net, I came across several articles and the urgent need to “do something”. Most of the “literature” appeared perfunctory. The Sites also showed the efforts made at creating awareness among the people. But have the people been made aware and targeted? Nevertheless, among many informative inputs and insights the Websites yielded, I also came across “The Humour” of Melvin Durai. It said, “Remember the good old days when India’s population was only one billion”? And went on to say, “India’s population is growing at a staggering rate. About 1,800 Indian children are born every hour, 17 million every year. You don’t have to be a biologist to realise that Indians could teach rabbits a thing or two. India’s population has more than quadrupled since 1901, when it was a healthy 238 million. Every sixth person in the world is Indian. And every sixth Indian in the world is pregnant”. It is time the word ‘population’ began exploding in the minds of the younger generation. If not entirely for its own good, at least, for posterity. And why not for its own good too? India is host to a large youth population — 240 million plus in the age bracket of 10 years to 24 years. The 14
th Census, since 1872, shows that India’s population was 1,07,015,247, on March 1, 2001. An addition of 181 million since 1991. This figure is equal to the population of Brazil. It is not the time to get lost and worked up in the maze of frightening statistics, facts, figures and scary numbers. These, undoubtedly, reflect various demographic patterns and parameters, show off densities per square km, reflect socio-economic growth or decline, rate of literacy or illiteracy, the divide between urban and rural, diminishing or distorting sex ratios, dwindling per capita incomes, migration trends, the house owners and houseless, availability or lack of minimum, basic essentials and civic amenities, limited resources, impediments in achieving sustainable development and growth et al. Now is the time to act knowing well that population is a ‘problem’. The immediate need is to do something is well accepted. There is a National Population Policy-2000, a National Population Fund and a National Commission on Population to help monitor the implementation of the aforesaid Policy. But this is no news. Remember the Report of the Commission of the National Development Council on Population prepared under the Chairmanship of Mr K. Karunakaran, released on November 14, 1992? Over the years, a spate of books have been written. The echo of cries of coercive methods used for vasectomy and tubectomy (Emergency days) or only women being targeted for population control still reverberates. Different state governments have also tried their hands on population control measures through incentives and disincentives. Despite UN efforts and sinking millions of rupees on population control programmes, nothing tangible has been achieved. The nation has been repeatedly reminded of the seriousness (how about sincerity?) of the government to control population and prevent it exploding to unmanageable limits. Calls to voluntary organisations have been made. A variety of suggestions branded how to go about. Examples of China, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia have been cited. There have been positive responses from several states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. But what about the states in the country’s hinterland, the Hindi-belt? These states are yet to respond. Therefore, despite the plethora of reports, commissions and some visible signs of genuine concern over population growth, “experts” do not expect India’s population to stabilise before 2045 at a level of 150 crore to 160 crore, as the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr K. C. Pant, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the National Population Commission, cautioned the nation the other day. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had told the National Commission on Population at its first meeting in New Delhi on July 22, 2000, that Punjab was “on target” in arresting the population growth asserting that “zero growth” would be achieved by the next decade. He had revealed that 2.7 per cent fertility rate in Punjab was much below the national average of 3.3 per cent. And in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha session in March 2000, an Akali MLA, Mr Manpreet Singh Badal, had presented a “Statement and Strategy on Population Policy” for Punjab. The attendance was thin and the resolution was also talked out. Mr Manpreet Singh had built his hypothesis around what Dr M S Swaminathan had said in his well documented report on population. “As long as children are perceived as a source of income or syndrome of son-fixation persists, desired goals will remain
elusive. If our population policy goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right”. It is no secret that if all the population policies and programmes have gone haywire in the past 50 years that India has been trying family planning, the fault lies as much with politicians as the religious leaders, the people and the communities. Thus, despite Acts and laws, family planning has failed. The reason why the family welfare programmes and policies flawed and failed is because they were “divorced from human and social concerns and de-linked from education and poverty alleviation programmes”. As Mr Ashok Gupta, a Punjab IAS officer, says in his recent book, “A Billion is Enough”, the success of family planning programme was limited because most of what was desired and demanded was, “neither practicable nor socially acceptable nor economically viable and, above all, politically not feasible” . He believes “state intervention” is a must. It has to be judicious and persuasive. Not coercive. Not to impinge on the fundamental rights. It has to be weaved into the system that is oriented towards the poor. For the success of any population programme, a balance between population and resources for sustainable and healthy growth is imperative. Attempts in the past to bridge this by increasing resources led to improved economic growth. But being inequitable, failed to trickle down and tackle poverty. Family planning also failed because of absence of linkages at macro-level with over all socio-economic programmes. Therefore nothing would succeed unless birth rate was brought down to match the low death rate. The opposite would have catastrophic results. Mr Gupta’s hypothesis is simple. He emphasises on targeting couples living below the poverty-line offering them the following four incentives, provided either partner underwent terminal method of family planning after the first or second child: 1.Life long pension ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 400 per month, determined on the basis whether the couple adopted family planning method after one girl child, one male child or two children. Monthly pension would be disbursed in the name of the wife regardless of the fact who adopts the family planning measure. 2. Educational incentive at Rs 50 per child from the age of 5 years to 16 years to the child/children born to the couple who have undergone tubectomy or vasectomy. 3. Health insurance cover to the child/children up to the age of 16 years to such couples. 4. Free entitlement for 1-3 lottery tickets, determined on the basis of category valid for 10 years with 710,000 prizes worth Rs 4,000 crore, every year. Mr Gupta has calculated that by suggested incentives 28.40 crore births would be averted among the poorer sections alone, covering nearly 7.47 crore families, in the next 15 years. If averted births of other categories were also added, the population will stabilise around 2015. The averting of births would be achieved without infringing on the rights and dignity of the people. Rather self-birth control would take roots among the poor. The small family concept will mean reduced labour supply resulting in upward revision in wages, improving the financial condition of the poor and enhancing their buying capacity. That would mean more skilled labour. Such incentives will work as a catalyst for faster economic growth. At present, 33 crore people living below the poverty line have a high propensity to consume. But in the absence of purchasing power at their command, the economic growth is affected adversely. And given a stockpile of 60 million tonnes of food grains and poor unable to buy, we have more Orissas in the making given the starvation deaths there. Are Mr Gupta’s calculations economically viable? He says the savings that will accrue on account of averted births will be far more than expenditure on various incentives. Beginning 2001-02 till 2015-16, against an expenditure of Rs 258,492 crore, the savings will be Rs 572,110 crore. Thereafter, while savings will keep growing, expenditure will come down. The expenditure will remain within justifiable limits of 0.287 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2001-02 to 0.852 per cent of the GDP in 2015-16. Is the hypothesis politically feasible? Yes, says Mr Gupta. Resentment is building up in the rich (upper and middle) classes against the poor, who are perceived to be multiplying at a faster rate. The facile assumption is that as in the Darwin Theory of survival of the fittest, it is also perceived that these fast multiplying poor will endanger the natural resources and shred the socio-economic fabric. The ever expanding poor masses, on the other hand, look with fear and contempt at the richer (upper and middle) classes, who have usurped all the productive resources and opportunities. As of now, all talk of development, conservation and preservation of natural resources, bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots, additional infrastructure in the social sector encompassing (healthcare and education particularly of the girl child), providing basic civic amenities, more public transport, more houses, more food etc will come to a naught if the numbers that numb were left uncontrolled. This would lead to social tensions, job squeeze, and law and order problems. India can ill-afford to ignore consequences of the growing population. More than competitive politics and politics of the ballot, the politicians, religious leaders and the people can procrastinate population programmes only at the peril of the nation. |
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MIDSTREAM SANGHOL in Fatehgarh Sahib district has for long been called Uchcha Pind on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road. Uchcha Pind stands on a mound. Archaeological curiosity and speculation led to excavations in and around the mound. Subsequently, it was found that Sanghol was practically in the centre of the Indus Valley civilisation over 5,000 years ago. A large number of artifacts recovered are now housed in a small museum in Sanghol. Sanghol is known today for another reason. A successful, philanthropic, Belfast-based NRI, Diljit Rana, who was born in Sanghol, had nurtured a dream of developing Sanghol into a centre of human development. Under the aegis of the Shradhanjali Charitable Trust, he and others formed the Jawala Devi Trust. Dr Rana contributed Rs five crore to the Trust. Others like Dr L.M.Singhvi, Lord Navnit Dholakia of Britain and Swami Dayanand Saraswati have also chipped in. The project aims to provide better education, alleviate poverty, create job opportunities, improve environment and ensure self-reliance in basic amenities and healthcare. It would also start a college for women on the site donated by Sanghol Panchayat. The Union Rural Development Minister has promised moral and material support to the Trust. Incidentally, this unique project was initiated on November 17, 2001 — the death anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai. Dr Rana and his trustees feel that after Macaulay’s educational reforms in 1835, the system of education in the country under the British Raj was geared to producing only clerks under British officers. Any initiative among the ‘babus’ was frowned upon. The Macaulay system of education produced cultural distortion in the educated or partly-educated Indian mind. Some people strayed into western culture and started aping western modes and manners. This weakened the middle-class Indian’s cultural character and confidence. Of course, the fairly high degree of intelligence in the common Indian was not affected. In his introduction to The Indian Mind, Charles Moore refers to “the mind of India in its richness, its variety, its profundity, its depth and its heights in the broad area of philosophy, and with the powerful moulding force which the philosophies of the Indian tradition have exerted on the many-sided culture of the Indian people throughout the ages — with great difficulty during the dark era of foreign domination, to be sure, but even then”. This fact probably gives hope to Dr Rana and his co-drivers of the project that they can help revive a sense of cultural authenticity in the common Indian person, and a return to the essentials of heritage through a kind of education which integrates teaching and research in the latest developments in science and technology with appreciation and knowledge of tradition and values the Vedas and others impart. The word integration is significant in this context. A basic element in the Indian tradition and values from the very beginning has been pronounced individuality. The Indian sense of pronounced individuality — historian Tara Chand speaks of “the individuation of the infinite” — flows possibly from a metaphysical consideration and an emphatic affirmation of a person’s essential aloneness in coming and going through birth, life and death. It has also to do with the concept of karma and the birth-cycle, with “payment” and “re-payment” for the “doing” and “done-to” in birth after birth, life after life. The cyclic journey of the soul, as it were. To quote Tara Chand again on Indian traditional approach and values: “The spirit is in essence self-conscious, self-illuminating, the knowing subject, the organizer of experience, and therefore the principle of order. The body, on the other hand, becomes conscious by the light of the spirit; it is the object, the chaos of experience, which seeks to be organized and rendered meaningful. Spirit is knowledge (vidya); the body is nescience (avidya). One is the real, unchangeable, not bound by the categories of time, space, and causation — the unmoved mover. The other is relative, ever changing, ever becoming, ever moving, conditioned”. Tara Chand has expressed admirably the traditional approach of the Indian mind from ages past. The individuation is in great measure responsible for providing the Indian today with a remarkably positive access to the democratic system. Democracy seems to thrive where pronounced individuality prevails. An example from the recent past would not be amiss. Consider the Nazis in Germany. One reason why the Nazi dictatorship was successful in Germany was the Germany propensity for submerging individuality in disciplined association. Unlike the Germans, the Italians have a pronounced tendency to individuality — even to a fault, it is said. And compare the Nazi dictatorship’s example with the farce and failure of Mussolini’s Fascist dictatorship in Italy. Other examples, more recent and nearer, would not be difficult to summon. There is also this to note — that pronounced individuality without a driving will’s character and direction might too easily result in destructive self-indiscipline, selfishness, and the corrupt approach and practices that these might engender. So the new kind of traditional value-based education planned for Sanghol will, even while laying emphasis on ancient heritage, have to stress equally on neither putting the responsibility for corrupt or corruptive action on “fate” or “what the gods have decreed”, nor justify inaction, indecision, wrong action by holding that “it was so written by the gods”. While planning education for instilling traditional values in Indian students, one has to consider various other aspects such as rescuing young men and women from aping the west and from living second-hand lives. But it is imperative to consider also that rapid globalisation today in almost every sector of life and living brings the entire world in our midst culturally. This necessitates wisdom and sensible discernment in what is to be revived or rescued, and what is to be discarded. This has to be effected by persuasion, by convincing the individual of his or her ancient heritage. After all, traditional individuation of the Indian person has to be the central theme in any educational project that aims to recall for him or her India’s basic
values. Asia Features |
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Doom & gloom in store for us THESE days I live with a faint sound of terror in the distance, waking up most days with a feeling of impending disaster. For three months now, the sight of bombers pounding Afghan landscapes has been filling the television screens while the search for Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar goes on. Meanwhile, as a sideshow, Ariel Sharon pretends to be fighting terrorism in Palestine while practising terrorism himself with tanks and helicopter gunships. The Americans and the Israelis seem to be working in tandem in a new kind of Operation Enduring Freedom. And now, as a Christmas gift, comes the attack on the Indian Parliament, on December 13. Can we call this Operation Martyrdom? It fills us with shock and anger. What might have happened if the Vice-President’s driver hadn’t had an altercation with the terrorists in the white Ambassador is beyond belief. How should India react to this outrage? There are too many people around who seem to think that we should do what President George Bush did with the Taliban, that is, take ‘decisive action’. This is an illusion. An attack on terrorist bases in Pakistan could lead to a full-scale war, and Pakistan is no Taliban. It is a highly armed adversary, complete with a nuclear armoury. Nuclear weapons have made India and Pakistan virtually equal in strength. But unlike the belligerent school children who appeared recently on a Star TV talk show demanding battle, as, no doubt, the comic books they feed on would exhort, our leaders (one hopes) will not be easily swayed by popular emotions. They will take their time to weigh the options, diplomatic and military, on how to deal with the terror operating from across the border. Diplomatic options are preferable to military ones. With President Bush in his current mood, there is a good chance of his being persuaded to put pressure on Gen Musharraf to stop his own Taliban raiding India from his territory. If working on Bush is our chosen option, then we had better go about it fast. Now that his Afghan war is nearly over, he is likely to look around for other engagements, such as tackling one of America’s perennial foes, Saddam Hussein, for instance. The same ‘public opinion’ that gave Bush whole-hearted for his attack on the Taliban regime, is now ready to goad him on to take military action against Saddam’s Iraq. Washington commentators are already insisting that Saddam Hussein must go. One columnist writes: ‘He is too evil to be allowed to menace us. He has not been linked to the anthrax deaths here, but that’s precisely the sort of thing he’s capable of doing and what, given enough time, he will do.’ Another columnist cautions against going for Saddam right now. He suggests that it’s better in the meantime to go after easier targets such as ‘the thugs running Sudan, Syria, Libya and Yemen…..and then on to Iraq’. So the choice is wide. The ‘global reach’ that Bush has been talking about is going to keep him busy. Meanwhile, we in India should hope that the patriotic cries following December 13 will not obliterate from the public mind and Parliament the rot that seems to have set in at the Ministry of Defence. Tehelka exposes were bad enough, but the CAG report presents a mind-boggling picture of impropriety and skulduggery. Substandard supplies, expired ammunition, ammunition available locally being imported and the coffin
scam and you have some idea of the enemy that lies within. As the New Year approaches, I see nothing but doom and gloom in store for us and for the world. |
Parliament’s two men of
extraordinary courage “RTL... RTL” (Ready to Leave) cracked the walkie-talkie of the security guards at gate number 12 of Parliament house. Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Krishan Kant, was about to leave as the house had adjourned soon after it assembled at 11 a.m. and his security men made the alert call; it was exactly 11.35 a.m. Meanwhile, some MPs barged in the Chairman’s chamber and his departure was delayed. Security Assistant of Parliament’s security staff, Jagdish Yadav, was posted at gate number 11, only a few feet away from the massive gate used by the Vice-President and, following the “RTL”, he was fully alert. He noticed a white Ambassador car without Parliament parking label speeding towards gate number 12. Yadav’s reflexes worked fast and he realised, in split a second, that something was wrong and ran after the Ambassador in a bid to stop it. His hunch was correct, the terrorists in the car lost no time in shooting him in the leg but Yadav did not give up and dragged himself near the gate 12, yelling on his wireless set: “Firing, Firing”. He was able to alert his colleague, Mahatbar Negi, posted at the gate meant for entry and exit of the Chairman. It was because of the alarm raised by Yadav that terrorists got confused and their vehicle hit Mr. Krishan Kant’s stationary car, snapping the wire, tied to the battery of terrorists’ Ambassador. The wire was to be connected to 15 kg of RDX which the terrorists carried and planned to explode. Had they succeeded, one portion of Parliament’s building might have been reduced to rubble. Yadav was riddled with bullets and died on the spot but he had done his duty. His colleague Negi too was made the target and collapsed but before dying he succeeded in closing the massive gate through which terrorists could have made entry directly into the Chairman’s chamber. Both were unarmed as security personnel inside Parliament house do not carry weapons. Both Yadav and Nagi saved Parliament and the temple of the world’s largest democracy. Both were men of extraordinary courage and they should be decorated with highest honour. A Dalit from Sikar district of Rajasthan, Yadav was barely 32. His widow, Prema Yadav, two years younger to him, had given birth to their second child only in July and there was celebration in the family. The second, a son, is only three years old. Living in a rented house in a lower middle class locality, far from Parliament house, Yadav had taken “ Paternity leave” when his wife gave birth to the second child, recall his colleagues who congratulated him. “He was well built, tough and dutiful, ever ready to carry out an order howsoever tough it might be”, says R.S.Deshpal, in charge of M.Ps’ security inside the bounds of Parliament house. That was the reason, Yadav was stationed at the sensitive point, near the gate of Vice-Pres -dent’s Chamber. The scene was poignant when Yadav’s body was brought to Parliament house the next day and put at the gate which he guarded with his life . His colleagues sobbed and the Deputy Speaker, P.M.Sayeed, came out of his chamber to lay a wreath on the body as M.Ps stood in hushed silence. Never before Parliament has witnessed such somber moments. But for his courage, God alone knew, what could have happened, said M.Ps who were trapped inside the central hall on that fateful day (December 13). M.Ps donated a day’s salary for the next of kith and kin of those who fell to terrorists’ bullets while defending the sanctum sanctorum of democracy. Senior Journalists, having access to the Central Hall, donated Rs.1000 each for the same purpose. Future is dark for the young widow of Yadav and his two infants—one barely four months old and the other three years of age. In terms of money Prema Yadav would be getting enough, in addition to the life-time salary drawn by her martyred husband. She has yet to decide whether to shift to her native village in the Sikar district or remain in Delhi. In the event of her deciding to stay on in the Capital, it is suggested , she may be alloted government accommodation. Whether she lives in Delhi or shifts to her native village, life will never be same for her. Soon the supreme sacrifice made by her husband will be forgotten and she be left alone to mend her way in life. This is the way of the world. |
Indian scribes stranded in Kabul COVERING
a war situation anywhere in the world requires special skills and a huge element of luck. A handful of Indian scribes specially transported to Kabul for covering the installation of the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai on December 22 in Afghanistan are stranded in Kabul. They are hard-strapped for cash to explore other avenues of flying home. These correspondents were expected to return with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh but because of the widespread confusion about the location from where the flight was departing for India, they were left high and dry. For inexplicable reasons, they had not taken the imponderables into account. In between making frantic calls home, they are waiting anxiously for the next aircraft from India carrying supplies for the beleaguered Afghan people to ferry them to New Delhi. Crammed in a room in the Indian mission in Kabul, these scribes are sleeping on the floor and appear ill-equipped for the Afghan winter. Desperate attempts by their respective offices to seek the good offices of the Ministry of External Affairs which had transported them to Kabul in the first instance has yielded a lukewarm response. This is primarily on account of the urgency in evacuating the staff of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Till such time that the messiah in the MEA wakes up, these correspondents have no option but to rough it out. DAYS OF TURBANS With reports of the Congress being in a strong position in Punjab, more than 1,000 aspirants are vying for tickets for the 117 assembly seats. At least some of them would have been in a position to return to their places had the state election committee, which was entrusted the task of selecting a panel of names for each seat, done its job. The committee left the job to Sonia Gandhi in her capacity as the numero uno of the Congress party. Though the committee said that it was not recommending names to avoid any bickering among the supporters of various candidates, the move left the aspirants guessing. Forced to extend their stay in Delhi, they were left with little scope to complain as the ball was now in the country of the Congress high-command. IMAGE MANAGEMENT UNDER ATTACK WAR CLOUDS IN A TIZZY Due to a technical oversight, listeners missed out on the views of India’s former High
Commissioner to Pakistan G Parthsarathi. To avoid a repeat of such a goof-up, the News Service Division of AIR is looking into the matter to fix responsibility. The AIR opts for double and triple recording of the speeches of VIPs to save double toil and trouble. Contributed by TRR, Prashant Sood, Gaurav Choudhary, Satish Mishra and Tripti Nath. |
Delhi-ites bring in cheer in a special way THE year is ending on a rather gloomy note with war hysteria being built up, but certain individuals of this capital city have tried to bring in cheer in their own special way...Akshara theatre couple Jalabala Vaidya and Gopal Sharman have lined up a series of three evenings — December 28, 29 and 30, where Delhi’s known faces have been reading out verses from the Quran, Bible and the Bhagwad Gita, “the principal spiritual reservoirs of humankind”. As always for the last ten years, eversince activist Safdar Hashmi was gunned down, SAHMAT is ushering in this new year by holding an afternoon stretching into the evening of poetry, music, dance, street plays and songs ....where one can listen to Shubha Mudgal, Madangopal Singh, Maya Rao, Vidya Shah and several of those who speak with one voice against the slanted policies of this Right Wing government and also against the very philosophy of war. Credit has to be given to Safdar Hashmi’s family for transforming his loss into a crusade against the politics of divide and rule (call it misrule). And then another of those Anekanta series stands arranged for January 4. This time the theme is ‘human relationships’- aparigraha and ahimsa -that is not-engulfing and not-violent. Strange are the patterns of relationships, how they begin or are thrust on you and then suddenly begin to suffocate when camouflages and facades become difficult to live with. Towards the end of the last Anekanta talk, (held last month at the IIC) writer
philosopher Badrinath Chaturvedi did stress that for a non-violent approach it is very important to see the other viewpoint. And as always I told Sudhamahi Regunathan (Vice-Chancellor of the Jain Vishva Bharati University which is hosting the ongoing lectures) that it is important to take these lectures to the troubled areas where our youth is getting affected. Maybe a single lecture and simple words can do what bullets haven’t been able to curb. Before I move on, I must stress that all the above mentioned programmes are not ticketed so it is important for the average man to come and start his or her new year on a peaceful, introspective note...with the war hysteria set afloat it is important to be in that mood. Then, my friend and writer Bulbul Sharma is hosting a cosy wine and cheese evening at her home to usher in the new year. I think I will go there, to start the new year with secular apoliticals — the only hope that’s left for us and for our land. In this context, I must also mention that I spent the Christmas evening at Sydney Rebeiro’s home, who is one of the prominent academicians of this city. Sydney’s home was flooded with people from all faiths and thankfully I couldn’t spot a single politician. Relaxed talks...far away from the political build ups of the day.
ON A LOW KEY The latest UN Newsletter has just arrived and it lists out those details. I quote: “Increased occurrence of psychological problems both in children and adults as well as possible early signs of malnutrition are but small indications that larger problems may await the Palestinian population if the crisis and closure continues”, says a summary of the studies which were conducted by the Norwegian Research Institute FAFO on behalf of the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East... I could go on quoting from the report but what can be alarming is the observation that the Centre here had asked the Israeli security agencies to train our people. Will it end up training them to unleash terror like it is doing in the Palestinian territories?... TAILPIECE |
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Harihar Swarup
