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Saving Parliament
MPs should rise to standards expected of them
by Kuldip Nayar
PARLIAMENT is a temple of democracy. Members are its “pujaris” (priests). Their purity affects the temple's purity. If members defile it, the reputation of the temple goes down in the eyes of the people. They begin to doubt the belief it projects. Something similar is happening in Indian Parliament, which has lost its lustre and does not evoke the confidence it once did. All types of ills are attributed to it. The same temple, citadel of faith, has become a laughing stock.Still the fact remains that power resides in Parliament. It is because the two Houses, the Lok Sabha elected directly by the people, and the Rajya Sabha indirectly, legislate for the country. Both have lessened in esteem due to the lowering of integrity of many MPs. A rough estimate is that 30 per cent of them are involved in one or the other court cases. The nation's happy experience is that the Supreme Court has intervened when the cases have got aggravated or when MPs have been found wanting. In recent days, the Supreme Court has once again come to the rescue of the nation to set things right. In a landmark judgment, the court has said that the representatives in Parliament and state legislatures will stand disqualified as soon as they are convicted by a trial court. One hopes this applies to heinous crimes only. The provision in the Representation of the People's Act has been declared ultra virus because it allowed a convicted member to stay till his final appeal is dealt with up to a period of three months. This has been misused and enabled a delinquent member to continue for years by approaching different courts. The fodder scandal case against former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad is at the trial court stage even after 17 years. Shibu Shoren has become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand even after having been convicted and sentenced in a murder case. Therefore, all that matters to a member of Parliament or the state legislature is to remain in the House regardless of his conviction in a court of law. Power in politics being such a driving force, morality and ethics do not matter. Likewise, the British Upper House of Parliament, the House of Lords, is thinking in terms of penalising convicted members by debarring them from the House. Among those affected is one NRI who falsely claimed 50,000 pounds in expenses and was punished with a three-month suspension. Even after the Indian Supreme Court's judgment, the conscience of the convicted MPs and MLAs has not irked them. Instead, all political parties have come together to undo the Supreme Court's verdict. A Constitution amendment is sought to be passed to lay down that a member cannot be disqualified until there is a court of appeal open to him. This attitude should have touched at least the thinking MPs, but they are quiet lest they should embarrass the party they belong to, or the convicted members with whom they sit. The protest against the proposed Constitution amendment is wide and strange. People are naturally appalled because Parliament goes down further in their eyes. Already, the daily adjournments and the squabbles have raised the question: Why Parliament? Each day costs Rs. 2.8 lakh. Urgent Bills are pending because they have become a point of political controversy. Parties do not seem to realise that the people's disillusionment in some neighbouring countries has killed democratic governance. One is not sure whether the Constitution amendment would be upheld by the Supreme Court. Article 14 guarantees equality before law. MPs cannot gang up to thwart the equality which the Supreme Court has enunciated. The Constitution debars any person from contesting elections if he has been convicted. How is a convicted MP or MLA different? It's but natural that they should also be disqualified. Article 14 also forms a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. It has already been accepted following a Supreme Court judgment that the basic structure cannot be changed by Parliament. If the proposed amendment is passed, it might be thrown out by the Supreme Court on the ground that Article 14 forms part of the basic structure. In reality, the judiciary and Parliament are on a war path. Fortunately, the government has deferred the Bill on the appointment of judges. The government wants to have a leeway. The court has gone through the phase when the judiciary and the government openly fought over the appointment of judges. Now a collegium system has come to be followed. The four senior judges of a High Court constitute the collegium and decide who will be elevated to the Bench. The same procedure is for the Supreme Court judges. This arrangement has never been to the liking of the government because it gives little room for any patronage which the executive has in mind. If the Bill, which the government contemplates is thrown out by the judiciary, then what happens? The Supreme Court may again intervene. The government is to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act to exempt political parties from transparency. The proposed Bill insulates political parties from an order by the Central Information Commission which declared them as public bodies and accountable for financial benefits. True, the elected representatives of the people are the final authority. But what is the remedy when every segment of the democratic apparatus has been politicised? Power politics has come to dictate the various steps. Because of this, Parliament ceases to be the temple of democracy in the real term. On paper, it will continue to remain so. Maybe, this fact will urge parliamentarians to rise to the standards expected from them. They are the ones who can retrieve democracy from the lack of confidence in which it is stuck. The convicted members should take the initiative and voluntarily resign the moment they are convicted by a trial court. It is their moral
responsibility. 
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Sex and sensibility
by Nonika Singh More than a decade and a half ago there we were sitting in a cinema hall with my three-year-old daughter in my lap. Now which Hollywood movie we saw my memory fails me except that it starred handsome hunk Brad Pitt. As we, the tribe of Hollywood aficionados, know only too well Hollywood movies have a customary love-making scene. So there in the middle of the film just as the onscreen chemistry between the lead couple flared up, my little one quizzed: "Mama, why is she unbuttoning his shirt?" Needless to say, all those within the hearing distance were mighty amused, while our embarrassment at her innocent yet churlish query knew no bounds. While I can't fully recall whether the promise that we made to ourselves not to ever take her to an English film was honoured, but yes since then much has changed. For one my baby is now a young woman grown up enough to watch adult content without making me flinch. More pertinently, since then sex is no longer a preserve of Hollywood alone. Slowly but surely, it is coming out of the closet in Hindi cinema too. Recently as I watched a thought-provoking film on a male sex worker with bold almost explicit scenes, I was intrigued by what one of India's leading film critic had to say: 'Indian sex cinema graduates'. Indeed, the film with somewhat graphic representations has come a long, long way from the usual fare where invariably the camera would pan on two flowers coming together to suggest consummation. This one was bold by all standards. But I found myself asking: Have we, the tribe of viewers, come of age? To be honest, prior to watching the film, I was duly warned by a concerned colleague not to watch this adult film alone. Forewarned, as they say, is forearmed, but I had little choice. My job as a reviewer demands and commands a first-day, first-show viewing with or without company. Inside the auditorium of course I had company for sure. Only as I found a stranger (you bet male of the species) sitting right next to me, I quickly lunged for a new seat in a deep corner far, far away from human presence. Cleary, I alone do not inhabit this uncomfortable zone. In this land of Kamasutra, mention the three letter word and be it a public meeting or a drawing-room conversation, most of us simply freeze. Many of course even find it impossible to utter the word without turning beetroot red. A well-educated friend of mine even found it hard to pronounce the title of the film "Love Sex and Dhoka" and sought refuge in its abbreviated form while furtively pushing money under the counter before buying tickets. And watching the primal desire being frozen on the big screen makes most of us doubly fidgety. No wonder, the most enthusiastic viewer's response to sex scenes is guffaws, catcalls, whistles and more of the same. In short, however modern we may appear to be, sex and Indian sensibility continue to remain out of sync. While in recent times the censor board might have decided to give a break to its scissors, we won't let our mental ones rust ever. Citizens of a country where temples were once dedicated to the art of love-making, today we have graduated to being a bunch of closeted beings, who simply fail to see beauty in the bold and beautiful. Sex for most of us, despite our constant preoccupation with it in our private lives, will remain a dirty word. For the record, the aam admi (VVIPs of course can watch it in Parliament too) will continue to maintain: See no sex, hear no word about it and say nothing about it! Good Lord, have I broken one rule, at
least? 
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Punjab must study climate change effect
The changes in climate are perceptible in Punjab, as is their effect on agriculture. The only way around it is to spread awareness among farmers about adaptive strategies and develop resilient technologies to overcome the
challenges
SS Kukal and Prabhjyot Kaur
Warm
days have become warmer and cold days colder. The average temperature of earth has risen by 0.5°C over the past century. The rains have also become erratic. The seasons have started overlapping, warm weather during winter and cold conditions during spring or summer. The seasonal climatic variations have been converted into daily variations. These weather conditions strongly affect the health of plants and animals. The changing climatic conditions have baffled meteorologists as well, for whom it has become really difficult to predict the seasonal or daily weather conditions.Punjab, agriculturally the most important state of the country, has also witnessed climatic changes like in other parts of the country. Considering the importance of agriculture in Punjab in national food security and livelihood security of about 16 million people dependent on agriculture and its vulnerability to climate change, it is important that efforts be made to carry out extensive research on developing adoption technologies in relation to climate change. The agro-meteorologists at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have reported that during the last four decades, there has been an increase in the minimum temperature by about 1°C at most l°cations in Punjab; increase in relative humidity; decrease in evaporation rates and the number of rainy days; apart from a perceptible increase in extreme weather events such as erratic rainfall, heat wave, cold wave, etc.
How it happened Scientists argue that these climatic changes are the outcome of the increasing levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic activities. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there has been an increase in the concentration of the GHGs in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has increased by 29 per cent, methane by 150 per cent and nitrogen oxide by 15 per cent during the last 100 years at the global level. This has resulted in increase of the mean surface temperature by 0.4-0.8°C during this period. The global increase in carbon dioxide concentrations are primarily due to the use of fossil fuel coupled with land-use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to intensive agriculture. According to the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) report, the agriculture sector emitted 17.6 per cent of carbon dioxide in 2007. These emissions from the agriculture sector arise from enteric fermentation in livestock (63.4 per cent), rice paddy cultivation (20.9 per cent), manure management (0.7 per cent), agricultural soils (13.0 per cent), and on-field burning of crop residue (2 per cent). At present, the total rice straw utilisation in Punjab for different purposes constitutes less than 2 per cent of the 22 million tonnes produced annually, whereas 72 per cent is burnt in the fields itself, leading to the production of enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, apart from suspended carbon particles, into the atmosphere. In the 2010 report of the IPCC, it is predicted that the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration will reach approximately 605-755 parts per million (PPM) by 2070. It is estimated that agricultural productivity will have to double to be able to feed the world population by 2050. The industrial and agricultural activities are primarily responsible for the rise in the concentration of the GHGs in the atmosphere. The increasing levels of carbon dioxide are mostly because of the combustion of fossil fuel.
Consequences of changeCarbon dioxide is referred to as "polluting gas" which is true only if it is present in higher quantity in the atmosphere. In reality, it is also a life saviour. Nature has provided us with a miraculously balanced energy cycle in which the gas plays an important role by acting as a sink for trapping the energy from the sun, and ultimately to be trapped in the form of plant biomass. But when present in higher quantities, it can lead to increase in air temperature due to its green house effect, commonly referred to as global warming. A World Bank estimate indicates that warming of about 1.25°C is expected to occur in India over the next three decades, which can reduce average land productivity across districts by 17 per cent. The resultant increase in temperature can reduce crop duration, increase crop respiration rates, affect the survival and distribution of pest populations, and may hasten nutrient mineralisation in soils, decrease fertiliser use efficiency and increase evapo-transpiration. This could be a shock to the agricultural sector accounting for around 70 per cent of rural employment. Extreme weather events like droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, heat and cold waves are known to negatively impact agricultural production. Further, the changes will affect crops, soils, livestock and biotic stresses. The studies at the PAU have shown that a significant decrease in sunshine hours — both during kharif and rabi seasons — could lead to decreased agricultural production. Since, the crops require an optimum amount of sunshine for growth it is a serious reason of concern for the future.
Mitigating the effectsThe climate change situation in the state points towards immediate climate resilient strategies to overcome the challenges that have surfaced. These strategies need to be framed on a three-tier system, involving industrialists, agriculturists, policy makers and the common man. Many resource conservation technologies are being developed by the scientists of the PAU. These technologies are based on the principle of lesser use of resources for similar production level and the recycling of crop and other biomass as per the principles of nature. These include conservation irrigation (laser land levelling, drip, sprinkler and furrow irrigation which consume lower amounts of water); conservation tillage to conserve the soil organic carbon in the aggregates for a longer time period; harvesting rain-runoff water, especially in hilly regions, to take care of water problems; site-specific application of fertiliser nutrients to improve nutrient use efficiency; integrated nutrient and pest management to reduce the use of toxic poisons to kill agricultural pests; and crop diversification. All the stakeholders have to come together to work towards mitigating the impacts of climate change to some extent and devise strategies for easy adaptation to the changing conditions. Not only do we have to produce at the existing level, but also roughly double the agricultural productivity level to feed the billions in future. This will not be an easy task.

Conservation irrigation like drip and sprinkler consume lower amounts of
water
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Indications in the state
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Snowfall in Pathankot on January 6, 2011.
- 400 mm rainfall in 24 hours in Ludhiana on August 12, 2011.
- Extreme low temperature of -0.4°C in Bathinda on February 9, 2012.
- No rain in Ludhiana in June 2012.
- Below normal minimum temperature in February as compared to January in 2012.
- Prolonged winters in 2012.
- Higher rainfall in Bathinda as compared to Ludhiana in June, July 2012.

Enteric fermentation in livestock accounts for large carbon dioxide
emissions
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Adaptation strategies
- Create awareness among farmers about climate change on agricultural production.
- Weather-based agromet-advisory at district level.
- Contingency plans for temperature, rainfall related risks.
- Educate farmers about soil health cards for appropriate fertiliser management, crop weather insurance schemes, etc.
- Implement ban on burning of straw and other organic wastes.
- Check emission of polluted air, water from factories.
- Produce clean energy like solar and wind to replace energy from coal-based thermal plants.
- Take biodiversity conservation to a larger scale to take care of endangered flora and fauna.
- Follow conservation irrigation like drip and sprinkler.
Future research needs
- Assess crop productivity, water resources of Punjab.
- Study incidence of extreme weather events and their impact on crop production.
- Develop new cultivars of crops tolerant to abiotic stresses.
- Assess emission of green house gases under different mitigation strategies involving resource conservation technologies.
- Evaluate existing and future agricultural production technologies for field, vegetable and horticultural crops.
- Study impact of elevated/low temperature and elevated carbon dioxide conditions on growth and yield of major crop germplasm under field and controlled conditions.
- Evaluate socio-economic impact of alternative strategies to combat climate change impacts on agriculture and industry.
What an individual can do
- Decrease dependence on energy, including electricity, domestic fuel, and petroleum products by simple practices.
- Harvest roof-top rainwater to recharge ground water or use for non-domestic activities.
- Curtail the use of polythene for better environmental health.
- Reduce dependence on wood and wood products in order to save trees.
- Grow trees on wastelands.
- Recycle organic waste to prevent air and soil pollution.
- Follow the 4Rs — rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle.
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The writers are Director and agro-meteorologist in School of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, PAU, Ludhiana. 
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