Smoking is Injurious to Health

By M H Ahssan

All of us are aware of the harmful effects of smoking on our health and the environment around us. Each and every part of our body gets affected by smoking. In very simple words we can say that smokers are pushing themselves to death. Tobacco is full of different carcinogenic chemicals. It contains Nicotine which is an addictive drug. These chemicals cause various life threatening conditions such as lung cancer, emphysema and cardio-vascular diseases.

There are a number of other diseases which are caused by cigarette smoking. Examples are stroke, mouth and throat cancer, ulcer, cancer of the larynx, pulmonary disease, bladder and cervical cancer. There is no way you will loose by giving up smoking and no way you will profit by continuing the habit.

It is not easy to leave smoking. It becomes a very addictive habit. The only thing is that you have to do is to be determined to quit. After that you can decide on what sort of help you need and what sort of treatment suits you the most.

You may not be successful the very first time that you decide to quit. Every time you try to quit and fail, you may come across both favorable and unfavorable circumstances.

First make-up your mind and change the environment around you. Throw away all cigarettes and ashtrays from your work place, car and home. Never allow any one to smoke around you, whether friends or family. Try to keep busy and take proper rest. Find an activity or a hobby to take up in your spare time

If you think it is necessary you can take advice from your health care provider. There are a number of r medication program which are available can help you to quit smoking.

If you quit smoking you will do yourself a world of good. Your stamina and energy will go up. Of course, the first few days are difficult because you will suffer from withdrawal symptoms. After that you will eat, breathe, work and sleep better. So what do you have to loose? Think about it today.

Do you have asthma? I can imagine that this would be a horrible affliction to deal with on a daily basis. I can still remember a fellow classmate back in the 8th grade who suffered from asthma. I would assume he had it pretty severe since he was puffing on his inhaler each day in gym class. One day when we arrived at school, a voice came over the intercom and everyone grew silent. We were all in shock at the announcement of the kid’s death. Apparently his younger brother had found him having and asthma attack, but could not call the paramedics in time. It was a tragedy to say the least. Yes indeed, asthma can be a very serious burden. This is the reason I can’t fathom why folks mix asthma and smoking. Smoking is ignorant already. But the fact that individuals with asthma do it is idiotic.

What do you know about asthma and smoking? Are you a smoker who battles asthma on a regular basis as well? What is your reason for smoking? You must know that it worsens your asthma condition, and leaves you more susceptible to an asthma attack. Therefore I can’t comprehend why you would choose to smoke. Sure, if it was forced on you, then it may make sense, but in reality everyone has the choice not to smoke. I wish asthma was the same. When I see people smoking, I basically assume they’re lacking crucial knowledge or are just altogether weak. I don’t buy into the garbage that people were curious and unfortunately got addicted at an early age. Boo hoo! I was a kid once too. I was offered cigarettes on a number of occasions by friends who smoked. Did I ever take one puff? Nope. I never tried smoking simply because nothing good comes from it. It’s an addiction with a whole lot of cons and no pros. Then there is asthma and smoking. The two plain and simply do not mix. Everyone knows these things by now. Heck, even my seven year old knows.

Are you putting yourself at risk by having asthma and smoking? This is a rather glib choice, folks. I think it’s high time you were educated properly. Get all the most current facts on asthma and smoking now. All you need to do so is your personal computer and online access. So get on the web and discover why asthma and smoking do not mix. This information could very well save your life.

“Prevent weight gain when quitting smoking” is what many people are interested in knowing about. This term is searched many times on internet and people are not satisfied with the results. Read out this article to get complete information on “prevent weight gain when quitting smoking”.

There are many people who are aware of ill effects of smoking cigarettes, but there is something that always stops them from quitting smoking. And that fear is the one of gaining weight. Just because of this fear, a person keeps on inhaling the smoke of these killer cigarettes.

Cigarette smoking helps to burn calories. A chain smoker will burn up to 200 calories in a day. This helps a person stay in shape. Other reason is that nicotine suppresses the appetite of the person. But, after smoking cessation, your appetite will increase and this will lead to weight gain.

To prevent weight gain when quitting smoking, it is advisable to do regular exercise and be careful about your diet. You should also avoid alcohol.

Make yourself think that weight gain can be controlled, but adverse effects of smoking can not be controlled. Use different ways to quit smoking. There are many treatments available like hypnotherapy and many other anti-smoking products and stop smoking aids that will surely help you in quitting smoking.

So, how long have you been smoking? Don’t know the exact answer? Don’t worry, just wanna ask you that how is your personal life going? Are you aware that while you smoke, you are actually screwing up your sexual life? Don’t panic, there is something that can be really very helpful to you. There are at least two theoretical reasons to believe that antidepressants might help in smoking cessation. Many people while surfing on the net look in for sexual behavior after antidepressant cessation, when they plan to quit smoking. But, they do not get the desired results on sexual behavior after antidepressant cessation. This then creates a dilemma of what to do or what not to do!

When you smoke, how confident you are to talk about your sexual behavior? So, if you want to have a good and a charming sexual life then you need to be determined for giving up smoking. If you find it hard to figure out how to quit smoking then you can take help of stop smoking programs that will provide you ways to quit smoking. A cessation program can also help you in anti tobacco race.

Once you quit smoking then you will notice the difference in your sexual life. Your partner will be more happy and supportive than before. You would be able to meet people with lot more confidence and your company would be enjoyable. The urge to have sex which had been missing when you were smoking will get renewed and your married life would be happier then ever before. Emotional closeness, meaningful communication, trust, and affection will also increase once you stop smoke inhaling!

“Side effects when you quit smoking” is what many people wanted to know about and they search for term on the internet. But, there is not much information about “side effects when you quit smoking” available on the internet.

After smoking cessation you are very likely to start facing some problems, which will make the relapse happen after you stop smoking. These symptoms could be headache, insomnia, irritation, drowsiness, cough and the biggest of all- weight gain. Other than weight gain, all the problems are temporary and will vanish after some time. Some of them are even good signs. As for weight gain, you must start exercising and be careful about your diet. This will help you get rid of this side effect also.

Some people are so scared of these minor side effects of stopping smoking that they decide never to quit just because of them. They are not aware that what actually there body is going through because of smoking. The ill effects of smoking are major and have effects on heart and lungs. So, how could you be scared of minor side effects of quitting smoking and not those of smoking cigarettes.

All of you must concentrate on side effects of smoking rather than those of giving up smoking. This will help you quit cigarette and experience benefits of quitting cigarette.

Weekend Special: Think before you bargain

By Sheena Shafia

“Guess how much?” My friend was holding up three cotton pyjamas with elasticised waists.

I took a closer look. The fabric was clean, good cotton, mercerised, not the kind that would wrinkle, run or shrink at the first wash.

“A 100 each,” I guessed. I knew women sold maxis and kaftans on the trains and also knew they came for a bit less than a 100 each if you bought more than one.
“150 for 3,” my friend chortled!

The bargain hunter in me perked up. Wow, I said, that’s a steal. These are never say die clothes, and will last you till you get sick of them. How could the woman afford it?
My friend pulled a face. “Actually, I bought them from someone who came to my office,” she said. “I was sitting with a friend having lunch and the man walked in carrying a bundle full of these.”

“He was offering them for 100 each, but my friend jumped in and told him that if he gave them cheaper, she could help him sell a dozen. He demurred and bargained, but she went off to get her colleagues, and soon he was lighter by exactly a dozen.”

“I think the thought that he had less to carry back made him come down dramatically in price, and we were smiling broadly when he tied up his cloth bundle again, hoisted it on his shoulder and turned to leave, the money safely folded away in an inside pocket.”
“But,” my friend added, “I later began to feel quite guilty.”

Why, I asked, wondering what her qualms were about.

“Well,” she answered. “I began to feel we had exploited him.”

That was a sobering thought. I pictured the man, walking door to door, being rudely rebuked at some, grudgingly allowed through others, before being allowed to open his bundle and display his goods. I thought of the hard bargaining that must precede every sale, and sometimes force him to turn down an offer that was really not worth his while.
I thought of the hot summer day outside and the hard, uneven sidewalks and I felt yes, my friend was right.

I thought too, perhaps, thanks to the many Hindi films I have seen, of a wife or a mother sitting coughing at her machine, through the nights, after a full day’s chores, as she cut and stitched the pyjamas that girls like my friend would spend the day lounging in as they watched television.

Or maybe he was an educated, jobless man, who worked at creating these clothes himself, while waiting for a break to find the job he really wanted to do. It is strange, I mused that we fight for every rupee with the bhaji walla, the fruit seller, and others selling things that will get a rupee or two of profit, but think nothing of paying four times for something that we consider an experience.

Restaurants, for example charge five times the cost of the food we eat if it was made at home, but we will spend on an evening the entire sum of our cook’s salary and tip the waiter and thank the doorman while never thinking of raising her wages or acknowledging her labour. Or bargaining over the bill.

The money we save by short changing someone who needs to sell does not make a difference in our lives. Bargaining is just a habit we have under our skin, and every rupee won makes us happy.

It would not if we thought of what the money might have meant for the one who lost to our bargain.

Why UPA-2 may bomb?

By M H Ahssan

One of our basic assumptions — that the Congress has emerged stronger after the recent elections — is already being put to the test. The idea that its allies have lost the ability to rock the boat is floundering.

The Congress may have left Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal sulking in their tents, but other allies are giving it a tough time. Among them: DMK’s M Karunanidhi and Trinamool’s Mamata Banerjee. With an assembly election due later this year, one shouldn’t discount Sharad Pawar’s ability to extract more juice out of the Congress either.

The reason for this is counterintuitive: strength and weakness are two sides of a coin and not exact opposites. People play strong and weak depending on who they perceive is their partner or adversary. Macho men may call the shots, but their “weaker” spouses pretty much get their way in most things.

The economies that grew strongest in the post-war years were not those of US allies, but recent enemies: Germany and Japan. Allies Britain and France grew progressively weaker. Both lost all their former colonies despite winning the war.

Take India and Pakistan, both metaphors for weak and strong. The Pakistani state depends on a strong army, but it has never won a war. On the other hand, we have always had fractious, incoherent governments. But we have never lost a war. The only time we did, we had a strong government (Nehru’s, during the China war). In fact, the stronger the governments we have had, the weaker our performance.

It took the country less than four years after the Bangladesh war to lose faith in Indira Gandhi, leading to the Emergency. Strong government led to the Hindu rate of growth. Weak governments gave us stronger results. Narasimha Rao’s in 1991 and Vajpayee’s in 1998-2004 gave us reforms and Pokharan II — the latter leading to global recognition of India’s growing stature and the Indo-US alliance.

The reasons for this paradox are entirely human. When we see a strong rival or partner, we automatically adjust our behaviour to reflect the new realities. Even a dog tugs lightly at the leash when granny is taking it for a walk. When we face a strong rival, we either behave like pussy cats (if we think we are weak), or roar like tigers (to fend them off). When the Congress was assumed to be weak — in the last Lok Sabha — its language automatically went soft. Look how Lalu and the Left serenaded Sonia after the 2004 victory, fending off the BJP’s attacks on her foreign origin. Now that Congress is perceived to be strong, they are trying another tack. They are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the Congress to trip before they play their hand.

The ones already in — DMK, Trinamool, NCP — are playing hardball in private while maintaining a non-belligerent public stance. This saves the Congress face, but the latter knows that these are the only allies left. It cannot bid goodbye to all of them. The Congress is strong in public perception, but weak in private reckoning.

The Manmohan-Sonia equation is a good one to analyse in this context. In 2004, they were both weak. Sonia didn’t have the mandate to call the shots politically. And Manmohan Singh was not the party’s choice for PM anyway.Sonia needed someone who wouldn’t be too independent. Manmohan was happy to play along since he didn’t have anything to lose from it anyway. A weak-weak combo makes for modest expectations — and hence better perceived performance.

This is why the first Manmohan ministry of 2004-09 is seen as having delivered, though its real achievement is spending wastefully on pork-barrel schemes. In five boom years, the government reduced itself to bankruptcy. It now makes ends meet by heavy borrowing and printing currency notes.

Will Manmohan Mark II be any better? Will the Congress’ strong face lead to better governance, economic performance, and reforms? The answer is probably no — though I would be happy to be proved wrong. Strength does not always translate into better performance. In 1984, Rajiv Gandhi got more than 400 parliament seats. He achieved nothing. Narasimha Rao came to power in 1991 with less than a majority and an economy close to bankruptcy. He and Manmohan Singh launched the most breathtaking reforms India had ever seen.

The UPA, which now has enormous expectations swirling around it in view of its perceived strength, is, therefore, more likely to disappoint than deliver. The first signal came when Sonia declined Manmohan Singh’s preferred choice of finance minister: Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The last time she foisted Chidambaram on him because she was weak and Singh agreed not to press the point. This time, Singh knows she is more self-assured and cannot but acquiesce in her choice of Pranab Mukherjee. If a “strong” PM can’t even get the FM he wants, how can he get his ministers to listen to him?

Al-Qaeda spreads all over

By M H Ahssan

Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network is seizing a greater role behind the scenes in Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort that could block the Barack Obama administration’s stated goal of denying the terror network sanctuary in South Asia.

A three-month investigation of al-Qaeda’s activities, from Nuristan in the north to Paktika in the southeast, suggests that bin Laden’s terror network – working through Afghan and Pakistani partners – is present in almost every Afghan and Pakistani province along the fluid border areas between the two countries.

Interviews with US military commanders and American radio intercepts of Arab and Chechen fighters as well as confirmed captures or kills of foreign fighters inside Afghanistan bolster the findings.

More alarming to Western terrorism analysts and US commanders, however, is the recognition that al-Qaeda has succeeded in goading its regional partners into accepting the idea of a “two-front-war” against US-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan and the government in Pakistan. That war in turn guarantees bin Laden’s network permanent safe havens along the porous border between the two nations, from which it can plan larger international terrorist attacks.

Unlike in Iraq, where al-Qaeda chose to participate directly in battles with its own frontline fighters and under its own brand name, bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network in South Asia is increasingly content to play a role behind the scenes, influencing key players in the struggle and furthering its political interests, said Western terrorism analysts and Afghans.

American terrorism experts say that al-Qaeda’s leadership has chosen the senior leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, Baitullah Mahsud, as their point man. Uzbek and Chechen “trigger men”, most of whom have been living opposite across the border in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas in Pakistan, have helped Mahsud, 34, consolidate his own authority up and down the border in the past year. In March, the US government offered a US$5 million reward for Mahsud, whom it says is a “key al-Qaeda facilitator”, or ally, responsible for multiple suicide attacks.

Pakistani officials in Afghanistan and Pakistan said this week that Mahsud was using al-Qaeda’s highly trained gunmen in the Pakistani Taliban’s ongoing guerrilla struggle in the Swat Valley. Mahsud bullied his way into a position of leadership across most of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas earlier this year when a new coalition of insurgent groups confirmed him as their “supreme commander” in February.

American counter-insurgency efforts in Afghanistan are focused on building a bulwark against al-Qaeda, which the Barack Obama administration deems an essential part of the puzzle for peace in South Asia. But Mahsud and several of his deputies, who operate on both sides of the border, have created a strong bridge linking the Pakistani Taliban with the Afghan Taliban in a two-front war with a border that has proven impossible for US and Pakistani forces to control.

“Al-Qaeda is operating parasitically on the successes of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban by providing them with critical services, including global media networks, resource mobilization and precious human capital,” said Vahid Brown, an al-Qaeda analyst with West Point’s prestigious Combating Terrorism Center (CTC).

An Afghan, working with Western forces in Afghanistan and who asked to remain anonymous, said he had monitored al-Qaeda radio traffic in a Paktika province district that is a stronghold of the Haqqani network, run by Sirajuddin Haqqani. “I set up a radio scanner two months ago and I picked up Chechens and Arabs talking regularly,” he said. “At one point, we heard an Arab talking to a Chechen say, ‘Hey, the money has come in, you can attack soon’.” The Afghan said that an Afghan al-Qaeda figure, Maulvi Twaha, who he said he had personally seen shoot dead five Afghan students in 2001, was operating openly in the province, assisting foreign agents and fighters to enter and leave the region.

An American, embedded as a trainer with the Afghan National Army, confirmed similar radio traffic. “It sounds from radio chatter like they have more recruits coming in, including Arabs, Uzbeks, Turkmen and Chechen fighters,” said US Army Major Cory Schultz, 37, from the San Francisco Bay Area.

A leading al-Qaeda propagandist and ideologue, Abu Yahya al-Libbi, an escapee from the US prison at Bagram in July 2005, claimed in a propaganda booklet released in mid-March that Pakistan’s army should be treated as an occupying infidel army waging an offensive war on an invaded Muslim population. He told Pakistanis that it was incumbent on them, as “good Muslims”, to fight their own government.

Al-Libbi has helped the Pakistani Taliban set up successful propaganda operations of their own with FM broadcast stations that operate through portable Chinese transmission boxes. “Abu Yahya al-Libbi translates the network’s ideas to a popular audience” on both sides of the border, said Brian Fishman, also at West Point’s CTC.

Al-Libbi maintains close ties to the “Tora Bora Front” in eastern Afghanistan, north of the White Mountains, and has been interviewed on the website of the front, which is the domain of Mujahid Khalis, the son of deceased mujahideen leader Younus Khalis, who welcomed bin Laden to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996.

Al-Qaeda’s proxy Mahsud has aligned his fighters closely with those of Mullah “Radio” Fazlullah, whose insurgents are fighting a protracted war with Pakistani forces well to the north of Waziristan and centered in the region of Swat in Pakistan.

In a 2007 interview with this correspondent, Fazlullah did not mince words in support of al-Qaeda’s goals in neighboring Afghanistan and around the globe: “When Muslims are under attack in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have a duty to fight back against the American crusaders and their allies,” he said.

Other leading insurgent groups led by Jalaluddin Haqqani’s son, Sirajuddin, as well as Mullah Nazir, who operate along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border out of Waziristan, have been forced to agree to the new al-Qaeda-backed strategy for the two-front war, said Western terrorism analysts.

Though bin Laden remains the head of al-Qaeda, operational control and support for wars in South Asia is largely believed to be the work of his right-hand man, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, who lives in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Other leading American terrorism experts said al-Qaeda had made significant adaptations meant to enhance its own power base, albeit usually well hidden behind the scenes. “Al-Qaeda is acting as a force multiplier by providing funding, assistance in propaganda efforts using its print and video outlets, strategic planning ability and aid on tactics,” said Seth Jones, an advisor to the US military and the author of the forthcoming book, Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires.

Terrorism analysts believe that bin Laden has likely taken refuge in North or South Waziristan, or a large city well inside Pakistan’s settled areas. They say his larger-than-life presence remains a thorn in the side of US efforts. “He is the head of the snake and he does matter,” said Fishman, adding that bin Laden still likely takes part in the network’s major decision-making.

West Point’s terrorism analysts believe that al-Qaeda stands to gain from continued fighting and chaos on both sides of the border. “There has already been a significant movement of Pakistani Taliban leaders in the al-Qaeda camp into the settled areas of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province and their front for operations planning is spreading,” said Brown. “Hundreds of thousands of additional internally displaced persons in Pakistan means lots of fresh blood for al-Qaeda’s ranks.”

Both US military and Afghan security officials confirmed a steady movement – by air from Dubai and other aerial hubs, by land across Iran and water from the Gulf – of international jihadis from the Middle East to South Asia. Many Arabs, Chechens and other foreign fighters recently completed tours of fighting in Iraq, where al-Qaeda suffered significant setbacks.

American military commanders say they are doing what they can to flush out known Taliban and al-Qaeda safe havens inside Afghanistan, but terrorism experts believe insurgents are planning fresh attacks in conjunction with an influx of 20,000 US and NATO forces this summer.

Colonel John Spiszer, 46, of Harker Heights, Texas, who commands US forces north of the White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, acknowledged that one, Abu Ikhlas al Masri, an Egyptian al-Qaeda member, was contributing to the intense fight against his forces in the province of Kunar, not far from the Pakistani regions of Swat and Bajaur.

“The guys [al-Qaeda and other financiers] giving the insurgents money right now are doing it to survive and get fighters,” he said. He added that his goal in pressing the fight along the border with Pakistan was to keep “facilitators and financiers” locked down in a battle near the border and keep them from further impacting the fight inside Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, the ties between al-Qaeda and leading insurgent groups go back to the days of bin Laden’s own involvement in the fight against the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, he fought in eastern Afghanistan himself near Khost in the remote town of Jaji in Paktia province. Many of al-Qaeda’s Arab operatives later took up residence inside Afghanistan as the Taliban rose to power in the late 1990s. Most of this crowd fled to Pakistan in the wake of the US invasion in 2001.

Leading Arabs and Uzbeks, in addition to plotting international terrorist actions, became successful in the cross-border trade of opium and heroin. Efforts of Pakistani and Afghan warlords to wrest more control of Pakistan’s share of the regional drug trade from these same groups have failed, said Western analysts and Afghans.

Across from Khost in Pakistan, over mountains traversable by bicycle, al-Qaeda’s own military trainers still work closely with strategic Taliban commanders at Haqqani command centers like the Manba Ulum Haqqania madrassa (seminary) in Northern Waziristan.

American unmanned Predator drones have repeatedly dropped bombs on or near the religious school, which is believed to maintain a number of secret bases across Waziristan. As a precaution against the US’s aerial raids, al-Qaeda members in Waziristan rarely have tea in groups of more than three, said Afghans who travel to the region.

In addition, Taliban fighters, often working with al-Qaeda military trainers, have started to train indoors as well as in small mud-walled compounds, where they attract only limited attention from US aerial overflights and drone bombing runs.

Most Afghanistan-Pakistan insurgent groups, led by Mahsud and Mullah Omar’s Afghan Taliban, have not officially adopted the “al-Qaeda” brand name, but they have essentially sworn their allegiance to bin Laden, say leading experts on the terror network.

They claim that al-Qaeda has learned from the mistake of going into business under its own name in Iraq and it prefers, instead, to remain behind the scenes, protected by local gunmen on the one hand, but capable of influencing the fight against US and foreign “infidels” in South Asia on the other hand.

Information & Communications Technologies (ICT): Telecentres Boon or Bane?

By M H Ahssan

Although telecentres have caught the imagination of government, their adoption is caught in a false pedagogy that treats entitlements as services and citizens as customers who pay service charges. The focus on putting a price on governance must be stemmed.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as the next big thing for socio-economic development. This hope is based on the fact that ICTs can accelerate decentralisation, transparency and citizen-centric participation, and through these revitalise and rejuvenate democracy. Certainly ICTs possess a transformatory power, but to understand the potential vis a vis development needs, a closer examination is needed.

In this article, I examine the ‘telecentre’, which – as an amalgam of many different technologies – appears to have caught the imagination of government, development practitioners, funding agencies and corporates alike. A telecentre is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies that enable people to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others while they develop essential 21st-century digital skills. While each telecentre is different, their common focus is on the use of digital technologies to support community, economic, educational, and social development-reducing isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic opportunities, and reaching out to youth for example. The above definition of a telecentre by Wikipedia quite aptly captures its essence.

There are literally thousands of telecentre initiatives that dot the country, most of which are a mix of government pilot projects, NGO-driven initiatives and private for-profit projects. Now the Government of India is getting into the picture in a much more structured manner and is rolling out 100,000 ‘Common Service Centres’ (CSCs) for 600,000 villages as part of its National E-Governance Programme (NeGP).

The potential of telecentres
A telecentre has the ability to forge together initiatives that weave disadvantaged communities into the mainstream, initiatives which bring together divergent needs of a community and create opportunities which lead to overall social and economic development. Typically, a telecentre would start out by providing a pool of development services, providing information related to best practices related to agriculture, health, education, livelihood opportunities & computer education. In addition to this, it would provide utility bill payment services.

By doing this the telecentre lays the groundwork for different sections of the community to come together and take part in government activities. While one might be inclined to dismiss these activities described above as trivial, it must be kept in mind that this is but the first step towards connecting citizens with government.

The next step involves the telecentre providing information regarding development schemes, social entitlements, and lists of project beneficiaries. In most cases, this information is available online i.e. most state governments digitise development information and put out the information on the Internet, which can be accessed in real time. This is an important change in India, where procuring any kind of information is almost always shrouded in secrecy and riddled with corruption, especially in rural areas. In this scenario, the telecentre then becomes that ’safe -haven’ where citizens come to access all this information.

There are also initiatives by the government to make e-governance a two-way process. For instance, the government has started putting together draft policy papers on the Internet and invites inputs as part of various consultation processes. Communities which are directly affected by government plans and policies have a real chance to provide input, when such solicitations are brought to their attention. Also, in many cases, individual telecentre initiatives run by government at the district level have well established online grievance redressal systems which allow citizens to make complaints against erring government officials/public servants; complaints which are directly looked into by authorities at the highest level.

Not to sit and admire these accomplishments at the risk of losing sight of the larger picture, but the possibilities described above would have been very difficult to imagine and enforce even a few years ago. The ability of ICTs (in this case, telecentres) to bypass traditional encumbrances thus goes a long way toward bringing about citizen participation in governance.

Making the offline connection
Of course, participating in governance is quite different from shaping governance (being involved in the policy planning process from scratch). So far we’ve looked at citizens being able to access information on development services and the ability to talk back to government. This is only the beginning; going further, the ability for citizens to create and shape policy and the role played by telecentres in this regard is an area whose potential is only now unfolding.

A major development in this regard is the concept of ‘community informatics’. While plenty of information can be made available at a telecentre, the validity of such information can vary greatly. How can this be tackled? Could citizens themselves validate – or even create – data using their local knowledge, so that its veracity is improved? The most likely answer to this question lies in community informatics (CI), which is a simple yet effective and participatory mechanism. CI refers to the process of information gathering being undertaken by communities in a bottom-up, participatory and collaborative manner so that this information directly complements and or authenticates institutional data, which then feeds into policy in that relevant domain.

CI also allows direct monitoring of government schemes by local communities. For instance, it is well known that the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families is often under-reported in government estimates, simply because governments are loath to be seen as presiding over great poverty. But under-counting doesn’t eradicate poverty, and the sufferings of the uncounted are very real. CI can help them overcome such neglect; an enumeration process undertaken by the community itself would be more definitive in identifying BPL families, allowing it to challenge the empiricism of institutional data.

What role does the telecentre play in this process? While the actual data gathering and collation takes place offline, the telecentre is the space where the community (through volunteers) gathers and uploads the information on to computers. Where there is Internet connectivity and linkages to the government backbone network (State Wide Area Network), such data can directly feed into that system too, and be more representative than institutional data. Even if there is only intermittent connectivity, a printout of the data can be physically delivered to the government office where it gets processed and feeds into policy (Such work-arounds are being resorted to by quite a few pilot projects initiated by governments).

As governments move to a culture of e-governance, more and more data gets digitised and the opportunities for communities to participate in the overall development process increase exponentially. Once there is a certain regularity and comfort with this process, the telecentre becomes this space where people come to acquire information, hold community meetings, to an extent where government officials recognise this as an important platform and use it to interact with the community.

Thus, the telecentre acquires a certain credibility and legitimacy, by which it has the power to shape and change power equations within the community itself. In the Indian context, one gets to see pilot projects that have worked exactly this. There are specific projects which work exclusively with women’s collectives, Dalits and other marginalised groups. By firmly keeping the ownership of telecentres with the constituencies they work with, many of the sponsor and volunteer organisations have managed to initiate a change in the power equations. And although there has been opposition from those sections of the community who are most likely to lose out, the changes are evident and sustainable.

A false pedagogy
At a very practical level, more development-domain departments (health, education) must be linked to telecentres in a way that citizens are in a position to benefit from entitlements that are met by these departments. This will go a long way in realising the potential of telecentres.

But there are shortcomings too. There is also an urgent need to challenge – and change – the ‘efficiency’ based pedagogy which is at play while describing the working of a telecentre. In the Indian context, telecentres (specifically those run by the government) have mainly been perceived as tools of e-governance. Some of the more famous initiatives are Akshaya (Kerala), Rural E-Seva (West Godavari- Andhra Pradesh) & Bangalore One (Bangalore). Telecentre functionaries describe these as ‘one stop shops’ where one accesses services like utility bill payment, procurement of digitized land ownership records and obtaining birth and death certificates (customers typically pay a service charge which is shared between the entrepreneur and the government department providing the service). Apart from the government functions, a telecentre may also run commercial functions like printing, photocopying etc.

The description of ‘entitlements’ as ’services’, of ‘citizens’ as ‘customers’, and the notion of a ’service charge’ are pointers towards this pedagogy. The focus of putting a price on governance is rather unfortunate and must be stemmed at the earliest. Telecentres should be thought of the same way as health centres, education facilities and roads – as public infrastructure.

What is most appalling is that nearly universally, the only kind of sustainability that ever gets talked about is that of financial sustainability – that the telecentre has to be in a position to fund itself in a matter of a year or two, and in this melee, concepts of community ownership, participation and social sustainability are thrown out the window. The 100,000 Common Service Centres the government is promoting through ‘Public Private Partnership’ model also suffer from this. The telecentres will be auctioned out to highest bidders, who in addition to providing government services can offer commercial services and in this way recover their investments. Clearly, that is an invitation to focus on the latter, although the purported purpose of the government in establishing the CSCs is the former.

Lessons from good telecentres
While successful efforts are sadly rare, a few telecentre initiatives have done good work in bridging the digital divide and have positively impacted disadvantaged communities.

In an earlier paragraphs I wrote about the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in development domains. I had specifically looked at the role that telecentres play in this regard. This article looks at existing telecentre initiatives that have done good work in bridging the digital divide and have positively impacted disadvantaged communities.

The good news regarding these initiatives is that they have clearly demonstrated extensive links between development sectors and technology. These initiatives have ensured that there is a sustained focus on development without being overawed by the technology. These initiatives refuse to see access to development services as a revenue generation activity. A key factor in these projects is that they are either run by the state administration or by NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations). The telecentres have extensive links with the community and hence address the all important question of decentralisation and accountability.

Sadly, such initiatives are few and far between and are not often highlighted. The good work done by three of these initiatives is described below.

The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)
This project is amongst the oldest ICTD (ICT for Development) interventions in India. The MSSRF telecentre initiative was started in 1992 to provide technology impetus in development domains. Over the past decade or so, this initiative has extended beyond Pondicherry and Tamilnadu to other states such as Orissa and Maharashtra.

The foundation follows a ‘hub and spoke’ model for its telecentre initiative with a designated number of telecentres christened as Village Resource Centres – VRC (spokes). These spokes are linked to a centrally located Village Knowledge Centre – VKC (hub). A typical telecentre is run by knowledge workers who are usually drawn from the village itself. A knowledge centre provides information on government schemes, and broadcasts regular news bulletins.

Information about government schemes is available in the local language and in electronic form so people can get information for themselves. In case some piece of information is not available, the village knowledge workers try to procure that information from the village knowledge centre, where staff search for the information and relay it back to the resource centres. The centre also conducts computer training for villagers.

There is no formal setup between the information workers and the government regarding procurement of information regarding government schemes and services. Instead, an informal understanding between them allows the workers to get this information. Because the centre is a storehouse of information, it attracts people of the community, thus giving it legitimacy. The government also realises the importance of the centres and whenever the villagers need to be mobilised for any particular cause, the VRC becomes the space for doing so.

MSSRF is guided by several major principles, including:

Inclusion: Traditionally MSSRF sets up its telecentres in rural areas. They do this after consultations with different constituents of the community. One of the MSSRF’s key focus areas is inclusion; they do not open telecentres in spaces that are seen to be exclusionary. In many cases, the telecentre is intentionally opened in areas inhabited by disadvantaged sections, forcing residents from the ‘upper strata’ of society to come to these places. This does help change the power equations, albeit slowly.

There have been cases in the past where the opening up of telecentres in areas dominated by uppers castes have resulted in restricted or no access to Dalits. Those telecentres have hence had to be discontinued. However, this was the case when the MSSRF initiative first started. Things have now changed such that inclusion of disadvantaged communities is a pre-requisite for the opening of a telecentre in any area.

Social Sustainability v/s financial sustainability: The real contribution of MSSRF in the entire telecentre debate has been in the aspect of financing. It is perhaps the first institution to explicitly state that financial sustainability is not the underlying or over-riding principle of telecentre initiatives. MSSRF clearly believes that a telecentre exists to serve the citizens and a price cannot be put on access to knowledge. This key principle has guided and continues to guide the working of MSSRF.

People do recognise that a dole-out approach won’t work for long. When we ask people how the telecentres will survive if and when MSSRF withdraws, they chuckle and reply that they will get funding through the Panchayat, other village institutions or voluntary contributions if necessary. This will ensure funding for the knowledge workers and activities associated with the centre.

Community monitoring and ownership: The MSSRF initiative also addresses the all-important question of community monitoring and ownership. The monitoring and evaluation of the centre is undertaken by a joint committee comprising of MSSRF staff and people drawn from the village itself. This committee comes together every few months to discuss the current activities of the telecentre, areas that need to be strengthened and ways to strengthen them, and future activities.

With regard to ownership, MSSRF has been constantly training the information workers on the managerial aspects of running the telecentres. This gives them confidence so if and when MSSRF does withdraw, the trained workers can run the centres smoothly.

This initiative is one of those rare examples that successfully combines the issues of financing, community monitoring and ownership. This initiative thrives and will continue to do so because it caters to the information needs of the local people, gives them a sense of ownership of the initiative, and the chance to shape its running. This makes the centre indispensable to the lives of the community.

E-Gram – Gujarat
The E-Gram telecentre initiative is a relatively new one, having started in 2001 and piloted in one district of Gujarat. It has since then been extended to all districts of Gujarat. The project aims to digitise all the Panchayats in the state. An E-Gram centre is typically located in a public space, usually a Panchayat office. The centre has a computer with or without an internet connection, and a printer.

The centre is operated by a Village Computer Entrepreneur (VCE), typically a youth from the village who has technical knowledge. The centre offers services like printouts of land records, payment of electricity bills, issue of caste certificates, and information on government schemes. A certain amount is charged as user fees for availing these services, except for the provision of information on government schemes. The user fee is shared between the Panchayat and the VCE

While the aim of E-Gram was to digitise panchayats, it has achieved that and much more (which is why this initiative stands out and must be replicated):

Gram Mitras and E-Gram: As part of its mandate to bring in more decentralisation, the Gujarat government has also initiated a scheme which involves the appointment of ‘Gram Mitras’ (Friends of the village) in the areas of heath, education, agriculture, development & social justice. This scheme has close links with the E-Gram initiative. These Gram Mitras are not employees but are contracted, and their job is to go from house to house collecting details of a family’s health, finances and so on. This information is compiled in the form of a family data sheet called a ‘Kutumbh Patrak’.

Once this information is compiled, the Gram Mitras return to the E-Gram and in conjunction with the VCE, digitise this information. A printout is then taken and submitted to the taluk level office, which has a complete record of village level information. Through this data, families eligible for government entitlements are identified, and information regarding these entitlements is relayed back to them through the Gram Mitras.

While the current arrangement involves mostly offline links, there are plans to provide connectivity with the state wide area network. This will enable the VCE to enter the data on local computers, enabling the data to be automatically available to the administration at the taluk and the secretariat. Citizens on their part will be able to track their records and the entitlements available to them. Clearly, this aspect of the initiative is something that needs to be highlighted and replicated in other initiatives as well.

Outsourcing and E-Gram: Civil society groups contend that government must be held responsible for its actions and that outsourcing of any government work amounts to dereliction of duty. While this may be true, the E-gram case study presents a different side to this view, one which must be considered.

E-Gram operations are outsourced. A private technology company is responsible for the upkeep of the equipment and the supervision of the VLE. However, unlike the Common Service Centre Scheme (CSCs) where private companies own the telecentre and look upon it as a commercial venture, the example of E-Gram is refreshingly different.

The private company in charge of running the E-Gram only has the mandate of ensuring that the specified functions of the telecentre are being executed. The company has a representative at the taluk, district and secretariat level, and their performance is monitored by the district and state administration. The company is contracted for a certain time period and is paid accordingly; it is not expected to make money from citizens.

When we talk about PPP (Private Public Partnerships), this is the kind of partnerships that I would like to see, where the rein of control still lies in the hands of the government, and governance is not seen as a commercial venture. E-gram stands out in this respect. However, with the coming of CSCs with their accent on revenue generation, and the eventual merging of E-Gram into CSCs, one can only hope that the gains made by this initiative hold out against CSCs.

Akshaya – Kerala
The Akshaya telecentre project initiated by the Kerala administration has been much studied, and findings regarding this initiative have been varied. But two things regarding this project stand out:

This was probably the first project that brought together different government departments to provide a range of schemes/entitlements across a single counter.

The second and important point being that when the project was initially launched, there was a concerted effort to recruit those disadvantaged as telecentre entrepreneurs, including women and the youth.

A few years down the line, the results have been mixed with a few centres closing down, and some doing reasonably well. This result has not deterred the administration, which has reserved 33% of the centres for women during the expansion phase in the remaining districts.

Going forward …
These are the stories of the few ICTD telecentre initiatives that continue to inspire hope. They demonstrate that development projects when implemented in the right way with the right technologies can bring about a tremendous difference in the lives of communities. They also demonstrate that ultimately, it is only political will that decides which way a project will turn out.

Inflation: perception and reality

By M H Ahssan

There is an urgent need for reliable and transparent consumer price indices that covers the large majority of Indian families, from the poorest upwards.

The commercial media has been treating the release of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) numbers every Thursday as a special event for some time now. In recent weeks, the numbers have been interpreted as a signal that inflation – the general rise in the price of goods and services – has been moderating, and has even been halted.

Business and industry find this interpretation useful to further a specific agenda. It has become a weekly ritual for their representatives to follow the unveiling of the latest WPI numbers with a call to government for further steps to make credit available to industry on easier terms. The perception of the common man has however been quite the opposite – rising prices are still a major preoccupation and worry. So how does one understand this apparent contradiction?

The Wholesale Price Index
The WPI, published weekly by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, tracks the wholesale traded price of 435 items that include agricultural commodities (such as rice, tea, raw cotton, groundnut oil seed), industrial commodities (such as iron ore, bauxite, coking coal), intermediate products for industry (such as cotton yarn, polyester fiber, synthetic resins, iron & steel, sheet glass), products for consumers (atta, sugar, paper, electricity, ceiling fans) and energy items (petrol, kerosene, electricity for commercial use). The weight attached to each item in the index is meant to reflect the volume (by value) of wholesale trade in that item in the Indian market.

The effect of rising prices on the family budget – consumer price inflation – is however universally determined by relating a typical consumer to a ‘basket’ of goods and services that s/he buys and tracking the price of this basket. The WPI ‘basket’ is clearly far removed from any consumers ‘basket’ and meant only as an indicator of a change in the general level of prices in the economy.

But even as a general indicator of prices, the WPI data is far from accurate, according to a Government appointed committee that examined the WPI and submitted its report in May 2008. The items that are considered for the WPI and their respective weights were fixed back in 1999-2000 and have not been revised since then though there have been major changes in the economy over the last decade. Services such as rail and road transport, health care, postal, banking and insurance, for example, are not part of the WPI basket. Neither are the products of the unorganised sector that are estimated to constitute about 35 per cent of the total manufactured output of the country. The index thus falls well short of being a broad based indicator of the price level even in its construction.

The practices surrounding the gathering of data and generation of the index are even more disconcerting. The wholesale transactions that are to be used to determine the prices that go into the index are not precisely specified. Two-thirds of the price quotations are sourced from only four metros. Price reporting by manufacturers is voluntary and often not forthcoming. Scrutiny of data by the collection agency is lax.

These are only some of the shortcomings recorded by the committee. A random inspection of the index for the item labeled ‘antibiotics’ for example, throws up the following absurdity – prices are stated to be lower now compared to January 2005 and only 13 per cent higher than in 1994! The quality of the index is indeed suspect. The commercial media, however, has been content to lap up the WPI data, week after week, never raising inconvenient questions on the appropriateness of decision making based on such data.

Measuring the ‘cost of living’
If the WPI is not an indicator of consumer price inflation, does the Government in India have any other monitor of the cost of living for consumers? The answer is only a partial yes. The Ministry of Labour and Employment publishes a Consumer Price Index (CPI) separately for industrial workers (CPI-IW), for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) and for all rural labourers. Each CPI series is meant to reflect the cost of living for a homogenous group of consumers. The basket of goods and services for the CPI is derived from group-specific consumer expenditure surveys, and weights for each item in the basket are assigned proportionate to the typical expenditure on that item.

Even leaving aside deficiencies in design of the index and in data collection, these indexes do not provide a true and accurate picture of inflation because of the lack of care of the government to keep them up to date by reflecting changes in the consumer expenditure patterns. The CPI-AL weights are based on household expenditure surveys of agricultural workers conducted in 1983 – this means that the consumption patterns from over 25 years ago are being used for determining the impact of rising prices on agricultural labour today! Other more recent surveys indicate that the index is over-weighted in food.

The CPI-IW weights, though revised recently, statistically represent working class families confined to only select industries and urban locations. The whole process of publishing the indices betrays the government’s lack of focus and interest. CPI-IW is published only after a lag of two months; in contrast, the WPI is published with a time lag of only 2 weeks. Transparency is lacking with respect to pricing data and index computation. It is unlikely that the cost of services such as medical care and education are properly estimated.

The government appears to be a reluctant actor, publishing the CPI-IW only because of pressure from public sector industrial workers, whose dearness allowance (DA) – a compensation for inflation eating into their salaries – is linked to the index. The inflation as measured by the CPI-AL and CPI-IW is extremely important for another reason – it is used in arriving at the official poverty line (the new poverty line is determined by correcting the original poverty line established in 1979 for inflation). The poverty line identifies the families that will have access to government subsidies; underestimation of inflation denies access to families who should legitimately be covered.

The expenditure pattern of wage earners depends acutely on their income levels as on their location – village, small town, large metro – and possibility of access to subsidized services. Government employees for example get highly subsidized health services that are not available to most of the general public. Transport costs can be a significant burden on families in large metros.

Clearly, one size will not fit all and there is a need to monitor the cost of living for different sections of society to arrive at a true picture of consumer price inflation. The government however, has left out many sections of working people from the picture. The armies of self employed who constitute about 60 per cent of the rural and 40 per cent of the urban employed are not covered by any cost of living index. So are the unorganized urban workers.

Double digit inflation for the poor
The consumer price indices for industrial workers and agricultural labour, taken with all their weaknesses, show a picture of inflation entirely different from that shown by the WPI. Far from reaching zero or negative levels, the annual rate of inflation measured by the consumer price indices has been averaging just under 10 per cent for industrial workers and over 10 per cent for agricultural workers over the last 6 months of published data. The CPI indicates that even while the “overall economy” is considered stable from a price perspective, a large percentage of families may be experiencing economic destabilization due to increasing prices.

Escalating prices of food articles is the reason behind the continuing high inflation figures revealed by the consumer indices. It is a different issue that the CPI itself does not represent the cost of living accurately. The rate of increase in the wholesale prices for cereals, pulses and sugar – now around 12, 15 and 30 per cent respectively above prices a year back – is certainly an eye opener.

Inflation in food prices significantly affects a much wider section of the population than industrial workers and agricultural labourers. According to government statistics collected in 2005-06 (NSS, 62nd round), food accounts for 53 per cent of the average rural Indian’s and 40 per cent of the average urban Indian’s monthly expenditure. The poorer the family, the higher is the proportion of budget on food, and greater the impact. In this context, it is astonishing that the commercial media have maintained the constant refrain that inflation is zero or negative. Their obsession with WPI clearly shows a strong bias towards the interests of business to the virtual neglect of the interests of the common man.

Reliability and transparency in consumer inflation figures
In recent years, the focus of government policy has been entirely on achieving some sort of overall price stability in the economy, seen to be achieved by keeping the WPI inflation within certain limits. In the 5 years up to March 2008, the average annual inflation in the WPI more or less kept pace with the average annual inflation indicated by the consumer price indices. The situation over the last 6 months shows a divergent trend between WPI and the consumer indices.

Clearly, policies oriented towards stabilizing the WPI are not sufficient; consumer price inflation also needs to be kept in check and the vulnerable consumers protected. Such policies have been implemented in the western economies that the economists at the helm of our government so admire. In the US, for example, the consumer price index tracks the buying habits of 87 per cent of the population. Social security benefits are tied to the price index; so also retirement benefits for government employees and eligibility criteria for food stamp recipients.

In India, only government (and public sector) employees have some protection against inflation. Systems that could serve as a hedge against inflation for the ‘aam aadmi’, such as the public distribution system (PDS) for essential commodities, the public health care system and the public education system, have been allowed to decay; they need to be immediately revived.

But consumer price inflation can only be checked if its extent is known in the first place. There is an urgent need for reliable and transparent consumer price indices that covers the large majority of Indian families, from the poorest upwards. The absence of such data can only be interpreted as a lack of concern of the government for the living standards of the people. This is one “economic reform” that needs to be high on the agenda of the new government.

No Tobacco Day- Just another day

By Samiya Anwar

‘Tobacco is a dirty weed, taking lives of millions every year’ “Man I wish I smoke. It is something awesome”, said my friend, Neha when we were in High School .According to her it is chic to smoke at that time. . I hated the girl from that day and wished never to talk again. But recently when she came face-to-face in the market, she said, ‘I wish I never started’. And most of the people, whom I know, want to quit smoking because it is really bad and are having trouble, but cannot do. Once you start, you may not be able to stop.

‘No smoking’, ‘It is against the law to smoke in these premises’, ‘Thank you for observing our No Smoking policy’, etc are some of the sayings mentioned in all workplaces, public places, hotels and restaurants, offices, courts, banks, schools, colleges, libraries, cinemas, auditorium, restaurants, shopping malls, parks, monuments, railway stations, airports, bus stops, buses, taxis, etc. but who follows the rules, very few or say none.
The world has been deceived into believing the lie that smoking is socially acceptable. It is regarded as something ‘cool’ and ‘fashionable. To smoke is to be stylish according to many youngsters, sadly. It is a glamorous activity which brings popularity. Besides it smells horrible, it’s dirty, it makes hair and clothes reek, it makes teeth yellow and voice scratchy. A person who smoke or chew tobacco is smelly. They stink. They spit everywhere. They’re annoying, and they look just STUPID.

Moreover TOBACCO, a deadly killer takes the lives of 0.1m every year. It is the leading preventable cause of death. More than five million people die from the effects of tobacco each year more than from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Unfortunately, tobacco companies spend tens of millions of dollars every year turning new users into addicts. They do anything to keep up the current users from quitting.

The world’s biggest tobacco users are India and China, according to new research which highlights concerns about increasing death rates in developing countries .Studies also depict that poor men more likely than wealthy, and people of developing countries than those of developed countries, prefer to smoke. It is no odd that women smokers are on rise more than ever in last few years.

At least half of the world seems to enjoy the pleasures of tobacco thinking it as cool or addicted. The other half seems to be really up against it. They find it silly deed and senseless act. From anti smoking laws to slogans, from zero cigarette campaigns to awareness programmes the people are fighting against fumes. A serious step is taken to stop tobacco use by WHO.

Since May 1999, WHO has been co-coordinating an international political process inspired by the idea that every tobacco related death is preventable. World No Tobacco day is recognized and organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) every year, usually in May. This year, May 31, 2009 is observed as World No Tobacco Day. The theme is “Tobacco Health Warnings.” It challenges youth to quit smoking. But the question is will this day be the start of a new tobacco free life, hopefully.

Though Tobacco Health Warnings appear on packs of cigarettes and are among the strongest defenses against the global epidemic of tobacco. It remains too difficult to make healthy choices because no one starts smoking a pack a day right from the beginning, they always start with one here and there until eventually they are classifying themselves as actual smokers. At least one in five adults and kids use tobacco, two-thirds of adults are overweight and obese, and too few people get enough physical activity. It is troubling that adult smoking rates have not gone down in recent decades.

Smoking is hazardous to the health of both the smoker and the bystanders. Inhaling air exposed to `bidi’ or cigarette smoke is more risky to health than contracting a disease from garbage. Up to half of all smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease. Second-hand smoke harms everyone who is exposed to it. According to a recent report, Cigarette smoking will take away the life of 10 lakh people in India by 2010.

On May 30 at the Kidwai Institute of Oncology, Karnataka “World No Tobacco Day” will be celebrated. As part of the programme, students of Hombe Gowda Boys’ High School will take out a procession from the school premises in Wilson Garden to Kidwai Institute on Hosur Road. Magician S.P. Nagendra Prasad will present a special magic show with a message on ill effects of tobacco consumption.

In Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia on Friday said that tobacco health warnings will be strictly implemented in the state. “Packaging industries will also be warned to follow the guidelines of the government by May 31. We are committed to make Delhi a smoke-free by the end of 2009,” said Walia, while releasing a short film “Tobacco: Threat to Life & Development” on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, observed at the India Habitat Centre here.

Earlier also the government of India tried to control tobacco use through Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, and Distribution Bill, 2003, and Smoking in Public Places Rules 2008 by banning it sophisticatedly. But the fine of Rs. 200 didn’t stop the smokers to quit.

It is one of the social evil, never ending and increasing despite of knowing it health hazardous. Like dowry, alcoholism, use of tobacco in the country cannot be vanished completely unless the cigarettes are made, gutkas are in sale and bidis found in market, the tobacco users will not take initiative to quit the addiction.

The campaign for ‘No Tobacco Day’ in India, this year has to be more rigorous and the laws should be stricter like never before. But the day will come and go, just like another day, unhappily. And the ban on smoking will not see the light if the government doesn’t stop the production of tobacco and tobacco products in order to make the country tobacco-free.

PRIME MINISTER IN THE COALITION ERA: Changing equations

By M H Ahssan

In a parliamentary democracy the concept of collective responsibility can fructify only if the PM has free hand in selecting ministers.

The role of the regional parties is still crucial in the Union government, their reduced clout notwithstanding. No sooner were the results of the 15th Lok Sabha elections out than several political commentators jumped to the conclusion that regional parties had been effectively sidelined as the people wanted a stable government.

That writing of the obituaries of the regional parties was premature is evident from the haggling that began between the Congress leading the UPA and the DMK over the number of ministerial berths allotted to it. Legally speaking, there are no regional parties but only national, state and registered parties as recognised by the Election Commission.

State parties have been in existence since pre-independence days and they won 34 seats in the Lok Sabha in the first general election in 1952. In 2004, this number went up to 159 though in the just-concluded election, 22 state parties could win 146 seats. So, number- wise the loss is not much, and the gains made by the Congress are at the cost of the BJP and the Left primarily.

Technically speaking, there are sevennational parties — INC, BJP, CPI, CPM, BSP, NCP and RJD. But the NCP, the BSP and the RJD are national parties only notionally. Even the left parties are confined to certain pockets only and the CPI is in the danger of losing its national tag. These seven national parties jointly won 376 seats, but out of them 322 have been bagged by the Congress and the BJP. Thus only 54 seats have gone to the remaining five national parties.

In 2004, there were six national parties which won 364 seats. So, it is manifests that in terms of numbers, national parties have not grown jointly, but the Congress has gone up several notches pulverising the BJP to a considerable extent. Parties like the JD (U), the BJD and the Trinamool Congress have enhanced their tallies.

However, it is, indeed, true that the scintillating performance by the Congress has left less elbow room for its allies to manoeuvre much and hold the government to ransom. But even then the Congress is not immune to blackmail. This raises important constitutional questions about the prerogative of the PM and the principle of the collective responsibility of the government.

In India, the post of prime minister was created by statute unlike in Great Britain where it evolved out of convention. Article 74 if the Indian Constitution clearly lays down, “There shall be a Council of Ministers with the prime minister at the head to aid and advise the president…” Again, Article 75 reads, “The prime minister shall be appointed by the President and the other ministers shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.”

In a coalition government, this prerogative of the prime minister is badly dissipated as it is not the PM but the regional satraps who decide who will represent them in the cabinet and also which departments should they be allotted. Mamata had been eyeing the Railways for long and has got it. Similarly, Karunanidhi has also demanded not only a certain number of berths but specific portfolios.

These nominees of the regional parties act not as colleagues of the prime minister but as factotums of their party bosses diluting the doctrine of collective responsibility. It is internationally established that in a parliamentary democracy the concept of collective responsibility can fructify only if the prime minster has a free hand in selecting and dismissing members of his cabinet.

Elaborating on its need in the Constituent Assembly, B R Ambedkar said, “Supposing you have no prime minister, what would really happen? What would happen is that every minister will be subject to the control or influence of the president.

It would be perfectly possible for the president who is not ad idem with a particular cabinet, to deal with each minister separately, singly, influence them, and thereby cause disruption in the cabinet. Such a thing is not impossible to imagine…Therefore, the prime minister is really the keystone of the arch of the cabinet and unless and until we create that office and endow that office with statutory authority to nominate and dismiss ministers there can be no collective responsibility.”

Constructive role
Regional parties can play constructive role by highlighting the issue of regional imbalance, disparity and backwardness. But they do a great disservice by pressuring the prime minister and making him dysfunctional. Even regional parties can have national perspectives.

MIT scholar Adam Ziegfeld makes an apt distinction between regional and regionalist parties. Parties may be regional in the sense that their support base is confined to particular states or regions. But they need not be regionalist in the sense of merely catering for the regional aspirations. (The CPM is a classic example.) Ziegfeld estimates that out of 45 per cent vote share accounted for by the regional parties, the regionalist parties accounted for only 13 per cent.

Railways and rant ways

By Bachi Karkaria

Mamata Banerjee had already rolled out her bedding, and settled comfortably into her berth while many of her colleagues were still anxiously perusing the wait-list, or pushing their way into the cabinet. The DMK had briefly tried to dislodge her from her favored seat, but everyone, from corporate honchos to Marxist paunchos, knows that once Didi digs in her chappals, there is no question of flip-flops.

Mamata has the perennially crumpled look of someone who has spent the last 48 hours in three-tier non-AC compartment, but that is not the only reason why she should have been made railway minister. She is the perfect fit for a post which has usually been occupied by those who rant, rail, and happily derail. George Fernandes did the last-mentioned quite literally. Remember how, as railway union leader in the 1970s, he had lain down on the tracks during the locomen’s strike?

In this election, Lalu may been as unceremoniously smashed as the kullads he introduced on trains, but throughout his five-year journey, his antics remained the surefire object of amusement. Mamata is no slouch in this department, despite the fact that her humorless image is the exact opposite of her predecessor’s crafted buffoonery.

An unvarnished earthiness is just right for a ministry which symbolizes the great unwashed engine of the Indian nation. Madhavrao Scindia may have driven it ably enough from 1984 to 1989, but it was easier to associate him with his later portfolio of civil aviation. In much the same way, it’s impossible to picture the suave Praful Patel’s sharply cut ensemble getting sloshed with railway dal. Indeed, the only train he’d take is the Rajdhani.

Babu Jagjivan Ram came close to Lalu in terms of native shrewdness, but the earthiest of them all was Lal Bahadur Shastri. In 1956, he resigned as rail mantri, taking moral responsibility for the accident in Ariyalur which left 144 dead. Shastri had the bad habit of doing such things; he even immediately vacated his ministerial quarters despite not having a home of his own. Such absurd gestures were promptly dropped from the ministerial code.

Shastri won himself a lot of fans when he introduced these into the hellish third class compartment. Indeed, with one stroke of social engineering, he abolished the earlier First Class, which was swaddled in princely luxuries quite inimical to the ideals of a socialist India, and converted the prevailing Second Class into First. He also banished the ‘Inter’ which had interrupted the decline of the passenger from Second to Third.

Shastri was the organic man of the masses, not some politically sprouted ’son of the soil’. So it would be boorish to compare him with later leaders who presumed that garibi can be hataoed just by pressing a Delete slogan. Nor should Shastri’s ‘class action’ invite parallels with Gandhiji’s third-class travel, an operation with so much official baggage that it prompted Sarojini Naidu’s famous remark on how much it cost to keep the Mahatma in poverty.

Abul Barkat Ataul Ghani Khan Chowdhury, all one man, was as much of a ‘character’. He was dubbed the Malda Express during his tenure (1982-84) for doing what is the divine right of his ilk: promptly hitching their constituency to the literal gravy train. While even Mamata can’t turn Jadavpur into a central railway terminus, she has already announced fast-tracking the Howrah-Ludhiana freight corridor project. To be fair, she has also prioritized J& K connectivity.

And she did rush a special train to Jammu-Tavi to relieve passengers so surreally stranded there on account of the Sikh sectarian clash in, of all places, Vienna, which had then inflamed Punjab and paralyzed its railways. Even the histrionically inclined Mamata may not have wanted such a fiery ( plus cyclone-whipped) return to the ministry, but you cannot deny that it was an appropriate re-entry for our currently reigning drama queen.

A few good Maha mantris

By Vikas Singh

My fellow bloggers have already commented on the selfless spirit that drives all our ministers, and Mamata Banerjee’s unique credentials to be railway minister. But I want to take this opportunity to rebut cynics who claim that Maharashtra has got nine ministerial posts because assembly elections will be taking place in that state soon. How can they ignore the fact that the state is blessed with so many politicians of great integrity and merit?

Take Sharad Pawar. OK, so some NGO types mutter about how he was agriculture minister when farmers were killing themselves in Vidarbha. But why blame poor Pawar? (I don’t mean ‘poor’ literally. Whatever Pawar’s problems, poverty isn’t exactly one of them).

As I was saying, how much time can Pawar be expected to spare from his main job, which is running cricket in India? And he does that so well that there was actually talk of him being the consensus candidate for prime minister if the elections threw up a hung House. Unfortunately, the voters didn’t cooperate, and gave the Congress a thumping mandate. Otherwise, who knows, we may well have had Lalit Modi as foreign minister, with the IPL hopping from country to country as part of India’s diplomatic overtures. And maybe Sunil Gavaskar as defence minister? After all, nothing ever got past his staunch defence!

Then there’s Praful Patel, who showed such exemplary alacrity in organising bailouts for private sector airlines even as the national carrier, which is the responsibility of his ministry, went from bad to worse. But then, don’t you know that public sector enterprises are dinosaurs who have no business to be in business?

And how can we forget Vilasrao Deshmukh, whose handling of the terror attacks on Mumbai deserves to be a worldwide case study in crisis management? In a bid to revive tourism in Mumbai, the then chief minister personally conducted the first guided tour of 26/11-hit sites, with his son, Bollywood mini-star Riteish, and director Ramgopal Verma in tow. Unfortunately, some short-sighted people failed to understand Deshmukh’s vision and he was unceremoniously turfed out. But you can’t keep a good man down for long. He’s back to serve the public, and he now has an even bigger platform to do so.

Actually, I do have one quibble. Why leave out the efficient and sagacious Shivraj Patil? It’s still not too late. As former home minister, he has experience in handling the police. And we all know that he has impeccable taste in clothes. So why not utilise his twin interests by creating a new post for him — minister of fashion police?

Al-Qaeda strikes back in Lahore

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

The Civil Lines area of the northeastern Pakistani city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province, is famed for its magnificent automobile display rooms and the city police headquarters. On Wednesday morning, though, al-Qaeda-linked militants set their sights on a little-known structure that houses the operations office of Pakistan’s premier secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is actively working to purge jihadi networks from Punjab.

However, guards at the ISI building became suspicious of the red van carrying the militants and opened fire. While returning the fire, the militants diverted to a police helpline office and set off a powerful bomb which killed at least 23 people and left hundreds injured.

A similar attack was planned on the ISI headquarters in the capital Islamabad, but the men were arrested on Wednesday before they could act.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani were quick to condemn the attack, the third this year in Lahore. The others were the March 3 incident in which gunmen killed six police guards in an ambush on the Sri Lanka cricket team and the March 30 attack on a police academy which killed eight people.

Punjab is the country’s largest province and with about 82 million people it accounts for approximately half of the total population. Due to its overwhelming representation in the armed forces, it is also known as the “sword arm” of the country.

Wednesday’s attack is widely seen as retaliation for the military’s operations in the Swat area of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), where for the past two weeks fierce fighting has raged against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. This is not the case.

HNN investigations reveal that in response to the Swat operation, Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud sent several men to various destinations, but they all failed to launch an attack.

The biggest group was sent to the southern port city of Karachi. It comprised Amjad Zameer Khattak alias Musarat alias Talha, the son of Sadiq Zameer and a resident of Swat; Mohammad Asim alias Tipu Sultan alias Babu, the son of Mohammad Hakeem Khan of Nowshehra in NWFP; Mohammad Safir alias Saifullah, Adnan and Abdul Hameed. They had belonged to the banned outfits the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Harkatul Mujahideen, but now they are allied with a nexus headed by Baitullah Mehsud.

They apparently arrived in Karachi last week and planned a suicide attack on the headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which is anti-Taliban and a coalition partner in the federal and provincial government. They dropped this plan when they found the building to be too heavily guarded.

They were in the process of identifying another target when their presence was leaked to the police and Khattak and Asim were arrested. The others escaped.

Wednesday’s Lahore attack is rooted in an agreement between Pakistan and the United States in the last days of the George W Bush administration. Washington relayed to the Pakistani envoy in the US that it was seriously displeased over Pakistan’s inactivity in trying to arrest big al-Qaeda names.

In the three of four years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Pakistan signing onto the “war on terror”, Pakistan had hunted down several big names. These included Abu Zobedah, Ramzi Binul Shib and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, wanted in connection with the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. Arrests such as these justified the large amounts of aid and money the US gave to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s efforts then tapered off, especially in the tribal areas, where it had lost much of its writ as the militants had ejected the para-military forces from the area. Islamabad also feared an escalation of suicide attacks.

After assuming office in January, President Barack Obama picked up on the Bush administration’s warning to the Pakistani envoy, and soon after a top al-Qaeda ideologue, Egyptian scholar Sheikh Essa al-Misri, was arrested.

Abu Amro Abdul Hakeem alias Sheikh Essa, in his 70s, had never been particularly popular with the al-Qaeda leadership, but given of his background he was respected in jihadi circles. He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s and close to slain Abdul Qadir Audah, a Muslim Brotherhood general who was executed by Gamal Abdul Nasser’s regime in Egypt in 1960.

Sheikh Essa, who had recovered from a form of paralysis, had settled in the North Waziristan tribal area in a very secure environment. However, while traveling to a meeting in Faisalabad in Punjab he was captured by security agents. This arrest caused considerable anger in militant circles, especially in the Arab camps.

However, the real trigger for the Lahore attack, planned by more than two Pakistani groups, was the recent clampdown on a major al-Qaeda sanctuary in Mohmand Agency.

Ten days ago, security agencies arrested four Saudi nationals. They were named only as Ahmed, Ali, Mohammad and Obaidullah and had arrived from Saudi Arabia recently. There was also an Abdullah from Libya, and all were experts in explosives and had spent some time in the Afghan province of Helmand.

Al-Qaeda also has sanctuaries in Bajaur Agency, which, like Mohmand, borders the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nooristan. Top al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and his deputy Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, have been seen in these regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The capture of the Saudis shows a real hostile gesture by Pakistan against al-Qaeda’s most high-profile sanctuary.

As a result, the Lahore operation was planned and financed by al-Qaeda. The Jundul Fida group led by veteran Kashmiri guerrilla commander Ilyas Kashmiri provided logistic support and militants linked with Baitullah Mehsud were used in the suicide mission.

A new perspective
There is a strong possibility of more terror incidents such as the latest one in Lahore. The Pakistani establishment is convinced that it can prevent this from happening by defeating the militants in Swat and the Malakand Agency, provided there is unanimous political support behind the military operations.

In the latest offensive in Swat, the army has stuck to its task, despite some acts of brutality by the militants – the headless bodies of two majors were recently found . Such barbarity is the work of the group of Qari Hussain of South Waziristan and his Uzbek accomplices.

The armed forces are convinced that if they lose this operation, Pakistan will fall into a spiral of instability, even leading to “Talibanization”.

The recent Supreme Court judgement lifting a ban against opposition leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif from contesting in elections provides a good opportunity to strengthen the political system.

Sharif is likely to contest a by-election in the near future and be elected to parliament. He could then replace Gilani as prime minister, which will solidify support for the military operations against militancy.

Mittal, Nhleko chase $61 billion dream

By Raja Murthy & M H Ahssan

The decision of Indian and South African cell-phone giants Bharti Airtel and MTN to revive their merger talks to creating a US$61 billion behemoth – the world’s third-largest telecom company – by no means indicates that India’s largest-ever transnational deal will survive the hurdles ahead.

These include raising as much as $4 billion in bridging finance and Indian regulators concerned at the level of foreign ownership involved. Investors are also worried at just how much can be gleaned from subscribers in territories that include war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Congo and Sudan. They are also only too aware of recent Indian involvement in other recent mega-deals that have soured badly .

Still, the rewards for a successful tieup between Bharti, already the largest cell-phone operator in India, and MTN, the largest in Africa, would be considerable. A combined outfit would have $20 billion in annual revenue, 200 million subscribers spanning 23 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to a statement Bharti Airtel released to the media on May 25.

The Bharti-MTN union, expected to involve a $23 billion swap of cash and shares, would be the world’s third-largest merger and acquisition deal this year, following the $64.5 billion Wyeth Pfizer and $46 billion Schering-Plough Merck link-ups involving pharmaceutical companies. The two telecom corporations have given themselves until July 31 to reach agreement.

Bharti, led by chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, and MTN are re-starting negotiations a year after their earlier merger attempt flopped amid disagreement over who got to sit in the driver’s seat. On May 26, 2008, Bharti, which claims for itself the title of “Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider”, hung out the flag of corporate and national pride when it accounted for the break-up of talks after it was expected to become an MTN subsidiary.

“Bharti’s vision of transforming itself from a home-grown Indian company to a true Indian multinational telecom giant, symbolizing the pride of India, would have been severely compromised and this was completely unacceptable to Bharti,” it said.

Since then, the telecoms industry in India has undergone a transformation as overseas companies have moved into the country to benefit from its still fast-growing market, intensifying competition for Bharti.

In the past year, arrivals include Japan’s top cell-phone service provider NTT DoCoMo, Norway’s Telenor ASA, Dubai-based Emirates Telecommunications Corp and Bahrain Telecommunications Company. England’s Vodafone is also present through its 10% stake in Bharti Airtel, besides being a competitor alongside Tata Indicom.

They are targeting the huge expected growth in subscribers, who are expected to more than double to 650 million-plus by 2012 from the existing 360 million. Bharti this month said it now had 100 million customers, and declared itself to be the world’s third-largest single-country mobile phone operator.

Africa also offers huge opportunity, with the number of mobile-phone subscribers, estimated at 360 million, forecast to grow 40% annually. MTN chief executive officer Phuthuma Freedom Nhleko this year signaled his intention to make a “significant acquisition”, according to Bloomberg.

Despite Bharti’s top executives expressed optimism that they can secure the necessary cash, the company may need a $4 billion bridge loan, raising concern among investors. Bharti Airtel shares wobbled erratically in the Bombay Stock Exchange after news of the re-opened talks, ending on Wednesday down 1.50 rupees on the day at 768.90. The stock dropped nearly 11% in the last three trading sessions, after swinging between a high of 829.80 rupees and a low of 751.00 rupees. Market analysts expect the Bharti wobbles to last until the MTN deal is fully baked.

The MTN deal could increase Bharti Airtel’s long-term debt to around $5 billion and boost the debt to equity ratio to over 1 from 0.2 at present. Local business media reported that Standard Chartered Bank could underwrite part of the deal.

Even so, Bharti and MTN have grown stronger in the past year, making them better placed to secure backing. The benefit to Bharti from the year-long delay is put at about $3 billion in the difference between the present and past market value of MTN stock.

“As in the case with any large acquisition, Bharti has to undergo some initial ‘pain’ through acquiring debt and equity dilution,” said Mumbai-based brokerage house Angel Broking in its seven-page detailed analysis of the deal.

While the financing jigsaw is put in place, some complicated equity juggling will be required to maneuver around an Indian government-imposed ceiling of 74% foreign investment in telecom companies.

Essentially, the proposed Bharti-MTN deal would involve:

- MTN paying $2.9 billion in cash to acquire approximately a 25% stake in Bharti.
- MTN handing over newly issued shares worth 25% of its current share capital.
- Bharti acquiring approximately 36% of the currently issued share capital of MTN from MTN shareholders.
- Bharti ending up with a 49% stake of MTN.

In return for this swapping shares and cash, Bharti would have “substantial participatory and governance rights in MTN,” according to a Bharti media statement.

Bharti has assured its other major stakeholders, such as Southeast Asian telecom giant Singapore Telecommunications, of continuing “to be a strategic partner and significant shareholder after the implementation of the potential transaction”.

Newly sworn-in Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee welcomed the proposed deal, but Commerce and Industry Ministry mandarins grumbled about current foreign investment ceilings being breached.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom companies is subject to vetting from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which the Finance Ministry runs with direct involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Since the FIPB is mandated to give its findings on FDI proposals within six weeks, so the regulatory fate of the Bharti-MTN deal could be known by early July. The decision will be awaited with keen interest, as the proposed merger will be among the first to test controversial new guidelines on foreign investment, announced in February, that allow FDI to break through the 74% ceiling (already raised in 2006 from 49%) through the creation of multi-layered investment patterns.

The Reserve Bank of India, among others, is not in favor of the new guidelines allowing the breach of the 74% ceiling in such a key infrastructure sector.

In the Bharti-MTN case, the new guidelines allow regulators to ignore the foreign holdings in parent company Bharti Telecom, which owns 45% of Bharti Airtel, by considering Bharti Telecom as entirely an Indian company since more than 50% of its shares are held by Indian investors.

The past record of the two men steering the deal through this minefield of finance and regulation – Bharti’s Mittal and MTN’s Nhleko – suggests they are well-qualified for the task and have the ambition to drive it through.

Mittal, 51, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, is one of India’s more successful industrialists, has vowed to turn Bharti into “India’s finest conglomerate by 2020″. Fortune magazine named him “Asia Businessman of Year” in 2007, and Frost & Sullivan declared him “Asia Pacific CEO of the Year” in 2006.

Mittal oversees a diverse technology and infrastructure-focused group with a dozen major companies covering telecoms, realty, retailing, satellite TV, insurance, educational and financial businesses. The group has a reputation for innovation, sustained as recently as May 22 when Bharti Airtel introduced low-cost personal computers at $168 each for its broadband customers in the New Delhi region.

Mittal’s prospective merger partner, Johannesburg-born Phuthuma Freedom Nhleko, studied in the US, was a civil engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation and lists politics and jazz among his interests. Turning MTN into Africa’s largest cell-phone service provider has made him one of the continent’s top business leaders.

That may not be enough to convince Indian investors recalling the outcome of the recent Tata Steel-Corus and Tata Motors-Jaguar deals.

In 2007, Tata Steel triumphantly spent $12 billion to buy the Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus. Two years later, Corus, Europe’s second-largest steelmaker, faces 3,500 job cuts and is looking for multi-billion dollar bailouts from European governments.

Tata Motors paid $2.3 billion in 2008 for the combined Jaguar Land Rover brands, thinking it could do better with them than previous owner Ford Motor, which accumulated $15 billion in losses in the two years before the sale.

On May 20, a harassed Tata Motors announced that it was raising $840 million in debentures to repay the Jaguar loan and said it was talking to bankers to find ways to repay the rest. A sadder but wiser Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has since confessed to badly timing his Corus and Jaguar deals.

Yet the timing of the Bharti-MTN deal could be in its favor, with the high growth expected in the Asia-Africa market a stark contrast to expectations in recession-hit Europe and America. Mittal also painted the deal as a pioneering one in more other ways.

“This opportunity … represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation,” he said.

More domestically, the Telecommunications Ministry portfolio – hugely attractive given the vast amounts of cash the sector develops – became a key bone of contention among coalition partners in the United Progressive Alliance as they squabbled for ministerial berths this week immediately after their parliamentary election victory. The prospect of Asia’s first $61 billion telecom company has made the ministry even juicier than previously.

Harit Shah, telecom and information technology analyst at Angel Broking, was confident Mittal and Nhleko would seal the Bharti-MTN marriage at this their second attempt.

“I am fairly certain about the deal being struck,” Shah told Asia Times Online. “The two companies are talking exclusively and there are no counter offers this time.” Bharti’s India rival Reliance Communications also tried to link with MTN last year.

Shah also rejected concern that the Bharti-MTN merger would end in tears along the lines of Tata-Corus and Tata-Jaguar.

“There cannot be comparison between the Bharti and Tata deals because the telecom market is not cyclic in demand as are steel and automobiles,” he said. “Tata bought Corus when share prices were too high and demand for steel later dived, whereas both MTN and Bharti are profit-making companies with a good cash flow.”

World Bank generous to a fault

By Bea Edwards

The International Development Association (IDA), the arm of the World Bank that makes grants and interest-free, long-term loans to poor countries around the world, lacks effective safeguards against corruption, according to a report by the bank’s own Independent Evaluation Group (IEG).

The damning report concluded that IDA, which lends and grants about US$10 billion annually to governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, doesn’t protect its funds adequately from theft and diversion.

This report couldn’t come at a more awkward time. The Group of 20 countries meeting in London in early April called on the World Bank to step up its lending to cope with the global economic crisis, and the acceleration has already begun. With such streamlining of loan and grant approval, there’s an even greater chance of corruption escaping detection.

The IEG report was released with little fanfare in mid-April, buried in the World Bank website. The crucial section about failure on anti-corruption measures was buried deeper still in Volume II, Annex D [1].

Material weakness
The document revealed that the lack of safeguards at IDA rises to the level of a “material weakness”, the most serious of financial accounting failings. The finding, reached by the IEG together with an international advisory panel that included independent auditors from Australia, Norway and India, was released to the public only after a pitched and protracted battle with the bank’s management, which fought mightily to avoid disclosure.

Still, the facts of the matter were clear: after 13 years of rhetoric deploring fraud and corruption, the World Bank’s management hasn’t even minimally equipped its staff to protect IDA funds. For example, according to the IEG review: the Country Assistance Strategy (the bank’s three-year business plan for each nation in which it sets priorities) and strategy papers on priorities for economic sectors “have not systematically and seriously addressed fraud and corruption risk at the country level”.

Moreover, most of the bank’s anti-corruption efforts have been confined to high-level speeches and analytical studies. James Wolfensohn, the World Bank’s president from 1995 to 2005, kicked off the campaign with his “Cancer of Corruption” speech in 1996. Paul Wolfowitz, the next president, followed suit, announcing a “three-pronged plan” to achieve five objectives in the fight against corruption.

To date, according to the IEG review, project designs don’t address the risk of fraud, nor do guidelines for project supervision, financial management or procurement. And although the bank’s lending to bridge the gaps in national budgets requires assessments of fraud and corruption, real safeguards are lacking. In other words, there’s a program on paper but very little in practice.

Vietnam and India
Since its establishment in 1960, IDA’s loans and grants have totaled over $193 billion, and indications are that the global financial crisis will provide a rationale for increasing annual lending. During the bank’s last fiscal year, Vietnam and India were the two top beneficiaries of IDA funds: Vietnam borrowed nearly $1.2 billion and India received over $800 million, although both countries had been previously assessed in separate reviews as running projects with a high probability of corruption.

The World Bank assessed India’s health care projects for corruption risk in 2006 and found that five of five projects were spectacularly vulnerable to fraud. In a “Detailed Implementation Review” (DIR) (a World Bank process for assessing fraud and corruption), the bank found:

- Procurement deficiencies, including collusion, bid rigging, bribery and manipulation of records;
- Implementation deficiencies, such as deficient work certified as complete, broken, damaged equipment certified as compliant, under-delivery of services;
- Oversight deficiencies, including inadequate financial, audit and internal controls both by GOI [Government of India] and [the] bank.

A similar review of two of Vietnam’s infrastructure projects found “a proliferation of indicators of collusion, fraud, misrepresentation and preferential treatment in the procurement and award of contracts. The DIR also found vulnerabilities to irregularities in the projects’ financial management activities and control environment. Lastly, a large number of the project sites visited by the DIR team showed design and construction irregularities in works.”

In the wake of these reports, India’s Ministry of Health, the counterpart of the projects identified with a high likelihood of corruption, received another $521 million credit, while the bank’s board of directors approved an additional $322 million for infrastructure and roads projects in Vietnam.

Typically, the bank’s management reacts to findings of shortcomings and ineffectiveness in ways designed to obscure the message. In this case, the communications team developed a hair-splitting explanation that conveys the wrong impression unless read carefully.

After it released the Vietnam corruption report, Martin Rama, the bank’s acting director in Hanoi, told a news conference: “The DIR found no evidence supporting allegations of fraud and corruption against the PMU (Project Management Unit) 18 officials.” In a strict sense, the statement is true, but the fact is that the DIR found no such evidence because it is not designed to look for any. As the bank’s website explains: “A DIR assesses the likelihood of fraud, corruption and mismanagement in bank-financed projects” while “An investigation determines whether an allegation is substantiated, unsubstantiated or unfounded.” In other words, the DIR only makes the allegations; in order to find evidence supporting them, the bank would have had to follow up with an investigation.

In the Indian case, both the government of India and bank management attacked those who carried out the DIR as well as their message, claiming, among other things, that one internationally recognized reviewer was incompetent and mistaken and that irregularities identified had already been addressed when they had not.

Aftermath
In short, the depth and breadth of the accountability weaknesses exposed at IDA are alarming.

Yet, the bank’s management claimed that the accountability flaws the report about IDA flagged are now being addressed on three fronts. First, the recommendations of the Volcker Panel [under former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker], which reviewed the performance of the bank’s investigative unit in 2007, have been implemented. Second, the bank’s board approved a whistleblower protection policy in June, 2008. Finally, implementation of the Governance and Anti-Corruption Strategy (GAC) began in January 2008 and has been progressively integrated into lending and projects.

None of these claims, however, withstands scrutiny. The Volcker Panel, for example, insisted that corruption be effectively addressed through a “fully coordinated approach across the entire World Bank Group, ending past ambivalence about the importance of combating corruption.” Yet the IEG report itself shows that this is precisely what management has not done:

- Basic project and lending documents don’t include a requirement to assess the risks of fraud and corruption;
- Safeguards against corruption don’t exist for budget support loans, perhaps the most vulnerable of IDA funds;
- Staff members haven’t been adequately trained to recognize signs of corruption in projects; performance appraisals include incentives to report corruption;
- Management routinely fails to take timely action to follow up on audit, investigatory, and evaluation findings of impropriety.

Nor is the whistleblower protection policy effective. Would-be whistleblowers informed IEG that they fear they are risking their careers at the bank if they report fraud. Further, staff members in the Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), the unit specifically responsible for investigating corruption, reported more than the staff of any other unit that: “[S]eeking out [fraud and corruption] issues in projects and reporting on observed improprieties may lead to reprisals from their managers, and managerial signals and behavior are not always consistent with these messages. Overall, mixed messages and ambivalence are still considered prevalent.”

Further, a close reading of the whistleblower policy shows that it incorporates coverage loopholes, unrealistic caps on compensation for vindicated whistleblowers, and unjustifiable reporting restrictions. As a result, nearly one year after the board approved the protection policy, there are virtually no whistleblower cases under investigation at the bank, despite reports of both widespread corruption and retaliation.

The third World Bank effort mentioned prominently in the IEG report as providing future protection for IDA funds is the Governance and Anti-Corruption Strategy (GAC). But the GAC’s own implementation report, released in December 2008, revealed that management lacked an institutional commitment to the strategy: “Senior Bank leadership should overcome current problems within the Bank of ad hoc responses and ambivalence about the GAC mission … with clear statements about institutional and individual responsibility and accountability.” The implementation report concluded that the GAC strategy was not integrated effectively into bank operations.

Who can you call?
Although the IEG didn’t signal it, an additional procedural weakness makes IDA funds, and in fact all bank funds, vulnerable to corruption. Criminal conduct, such as theft, bribery and fraud, isn’t prosecutable by the bank. INT investigates criminal allegations for the purpose of debarring corrupt firms or individuals from future bank work. The likelihood of recovering funds is extremely remote, and national authorities are dependent on information from the World Bank and from INT if they are to prosecute.

Recent allegations of criminal misconduct involving bank funds indicate that the bank has no uniform procedures for referring cases to national authorities. If such procedures do exist, bank management is unwilling to divulge them and the public has no right to information about them.

In effect, then, IDA funds are vulnerable to fraud and corruption from all directions. First, safeguards aren’t in place at either the country or the project level. IDA funds aren’t protected with preventive measures that systematically flag signs of improprieties.

Next, bank staff members working on vulnerable projects are intimidated and hesitant to allege fraud and corruption even when they suspect it. If project staff simply keep the disbursements moving, there are no questions asked. If they slow or suspend disbursements when suspicions of corruption arise, they must respond to an avalanche of paperwork and pressure.

Third, investigators, when alerted to possible wrongdoing, are reluctant to find it for fear of reprisal. Finally, the bank doesn’t appear to cooperate systematically with national law enforcement agencies.

The IEG has made it clear that the bank isn’t equipped to ensure that its billions in IDA aid don’t wind up in the wrong bank accounts. After more than a decade of posturing and preaching about the corrosive effect of corruption on development, bank management should focus on the practicalities of actually addressing it.

Moving forward
To begin, there are clear, low-cost and no-cost steps that management could take:

- Build anti-corruption safeguards into project design, supervision, and procurement;
- Train project staff to recognize signs of corruption in bank projects;
- Protect whistleblowers from reprisal when they come forward and discipline retaliators;

Ensure that investigators, particularly, are shielded from retaliation when they pursue allegations of fraud and that they are empowered to cooperate with their national counterparts when criminal investigations are warranted.

But the World Bank’s management doesn’t need outside advice on how to handle corruption. Managers there know much more about it than almost anyone else. And, in most cases, bid-rigging, collusion, and bribery aren’t that hard to spot.

The real problem at the bank is a failure of will at the top. The Government Accountability Project (where I work), for example, found that Wolfensohn, while flogging anti-corruption measures on the one hand, silenced staff members who tried to warn investors that an international criminal was hijacking a privatization scheme in Azerbaijan.

And Wolfowitz, while touring Africa preaching anti-corruption, was feathering his girlfriend’s nest and quietly suppressing an INT report that showed Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, allowing his girlfriend to feather hers with the World Bank’s money. Not incidentally, the funds she took were intended to finance airlifts to transfer Congolese children from war zones.

The bank has been very adept at promoting the impression that corruption is a problem now being addressed. This is, quite simply, not the case. Fundamentally, nothing has changed since the talk began. Bureaucratic layers of “review” have been added and the speeches continue. There are implementation strategies and disclosure consultations. But there isn’t any discipline, no real deterrent, and no penalty for criminal conduct. Even more notable, for the most part, the IEG report exposing this has gotten very little attention from those who could do something about it.

A new face of Tamil belligerence?

By Venkatesan Vembu

Back in the 1980s, residential rental advertisements in newspapers in New Delhi would frequently incorporate two words: “Madrasis preferred”. That tenant-filtering terminology of course reflected an inadequate appreciation of the diversity of regional cultural identities: anyone coming from south of the Vindhyas was pigeonholed as a “Madrasi”. But even so, it mirrored a widely shared cultural stereotyping of “Madrasis” as non-troublesome tenants who could be counted on to disappear quietly and without a fuss into the night whenever the landlord wanted his property back.

However, the political tantrums thrown by DMK leader M Karunanidhi last week may have served to eternally shatter that overly benign characterisation of ‘Madrasis’, particularly Tamils, as a docile, unfussy lot. His political grandstanding over the number of ministerial appointments he wanted for his family and friends ruined the inauguration of the UPA’s second innings. However, it’s the enduring image of an octogenarian politician in a wheelchair holding out threats to withdraw from the ruling coalition that will typify the “troublesome Tamil” for a while.

To be fair, it isn’t just Tamil politicians who are given to political brinkmanship. Nor is Karunanidhi the first politician from Tamil Nadu to hold central coalitions to ransom: that honour forever rests with AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, whose whimsical tantrums caused the Vajpayee-led coalition government in 1998-99 to miss several heartbeats.

There’s something about the way Tamil politics, including Tamil diasporic politics, is played out that shows up politicians from that state as being easily inflamed — literally, in some cases — and more than a little unreasonable.

The Tamil Nadu assembly, for instance, has several notorieties associated with it. It was the first assembly in India to witness a police lathi-charge inside the legislative chamber, after a failed vote of confidence. It was the first assembly — and perhaps the only one to date –where an MLA once lifted up his dhoti and (as a newspaper account of the day delicately put it) “displayed his wares” to make some particularly forceful political point. In that same august chamber, Jayalalithaa has alleged in the past, DMK MLAs attempted to disrobe her –after the then chief minister Karunanidhi was punched in the face and had his spectacles broken.

Jayalalithaa herself demonstrated years later her abilities. When Subramanian Swamy, briefly her political adversary, filed a case against Jayalalithaa, her party arranged for AIADMK women cadres to gather around Swamy in public and lift up their saris waist-high, ostensibly to subject him to some ritual humiliation.

Tamil Nadu also tops the list of Indian states for the number of cases of self-immolation, a particularly incendiary form of political protest. Until earlier this year, there were several cases of self-immolation by combustible cadres to protest the Centre’s perceived inaction against the Sri Lankan military offensive against the LTTE. To this day, popular Tamil culture — as reflected in film song lyrics and TV shows — valorise regional chauvinism and pitch for linguistic ‘purity’, which are the springboards for Tamil identity politics and “cultural nationalism”.

What has all this got to do with Karunanidhi’s tantrums last week? Only that for all the consternation it gave rise to among the chattering class, Karunanidhi’s demand for more ministerial berths for his family is par for the course in the parallel universe in which Tamil politics operates. And compared with traditional Tamil ways of making political points, his threat to merely quit the ruling coalition seems positively mild. But I suspect that after last week, ‘Madrasis’ won’t qualify for preferential treatment with home-owners looking to lease.

Why BJP is Failing?

By Rajinder Puri

After the BJP lost the general election in 2004 this first person account of interaction with the BJP was published in a magazine now defunct to explain why the BJP lost. It predicted that in its present shape the BJP will never return to power. The article is reproduced without any change.

After six years in office the BJP launched the costliest election campaign in India ’s history and was badly trounced. The Congress, which itself had dwindled into irrelevance, succeeded in becoming the single largest party. The fractured election result did not signify a revival of the Congress. It signified the irrelevance of all existing parties.

The BJP itself lacks ideology, procedure and principle. It has an attitude. It is anti-Muslim and anti-Christian. These prejudices are its driving force. My views are derived from personal interaction with the BJP and its erstwhile avatar, the Jan Sangh. I present, by your leave, a first person account of that interaction, for whatever it is worth.

I was working, in 1970, for The Statesman, and was among the country’s best-paid journalists. My cartoons had been very critical of the Congress and of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In those days of one-party rule all opposition parties stood up for me. Indeed, during those days when Indira was splitting the Congress, opposition party leaders from all the leading parties held a function in Vithalbhai Patel House to air support for me. On behalf of all the leaders present, Atal Behari Vajpayee even garlanded me!

The Jan Sangh (the BJP of those days) decided to start a daily newspaper, Motherland. I was invited to be the editor. Having my own ideas of how to run a newspaper, and believing that in a city largely sympathetic to the Jan Sangh I could effectively challenge Delhi ’s premier newspaper, the Hindustan Times, I accepted the offer. I mire than halved my own salary and set the same salary ceiling for the top five members of the editorial team. I created a salary structure in which junior staff would have salaries equivalent to the highest paying competitors, the Times of India and The Statesman. The Sangh leaders watched me uneasily but said nothing.

The resident editor of the Indian Express, DR Mankekar, had just retired. I approached him to become Editor of News. Mankekar was very much my senior in years. He appeared to respond favorably. On this matter I consulted KR Malkani, editor of the Jan Sangh’s journal, Organiser. The next thing I knew, I was told by Madhav Rao Mule, number two in the RSS that Mankekar would be the managing editor. I was told that Hansraj Gupta had a hand in this decision.

Mule, Malkani and I held a meeting to discuss the issue. The only known managing editor till then had been Devdas Gandhi in HT. Devdas was the boss of the show. So I asked Mule, “What does a managing editor do?”

Mule looked uncomfortable. Malkani replied, “Rajinderji, here we function like a family, we work together.”

I bluntly told him: “I don’t think we can function like a family. If we want to become number one in the city we must function like an army. We must have a chain of command. If there is a difference of opinion, who prevails, Mankekar or I?”

Malkani mumbled, “Mankekar.”

“Have you discussed salary with him? How much will you pay him?”

“The same that he gets.” That was around Rs 3,500 per month. I had sacrificed a Rs 4,000 plus salary to voluntarily set for myself a salary of Rs 2,000 per month! I bid Motherland goodbye. I had a letter of appointment from the Motherland Board unambiguously appointing me as number one. “Don’t worry,” I told Malkani. “I won’t sue you for breach of trust.”

Later, Advani and Kedarnath Sahni approached me together and requested me to return. “I thought I was entering a mandir (temple),” I told them wryly. “But I found myself in a mandi (marketplace)!”

Sahni looked at me mournfully. “Puriji,” he said earnestly. “Believe me, we are not a marketplace!” That was the end of the Motherland chapter. The paper never took off. It was closed during the Emergency. After Emergency was lifted it did not revive. I think the Sangh leaders had learnt the hard way that they were out of their depth when it came to daily journalism.

After my brush with Motherland I had returned to The Statesman. Just before Emergency was imposed, I had stopped drawing cartoons for it because its editor, NJ Nanporia, didn’t publish my cartoons critical of Indira. Those days CR Irani had little say in editorial matters. Nevertheless, after Emergency was imposed, a warrant for my arrest was issued. I went underground. When arrest warrants against all journalists were withdrawn upon the advice of Chalapathi Rau, I surfaced to resume my unemployed existence.

After Emergency was lifted, having had close relations with all anti-Indira forces, I found myself in the Janata Party. I was the only non-party general secretary of the party. My appointment had to be approved by all the constituents of the original Janata Party, which did not include Jagjivan Ram at that stage. I was entrusted with looking after the campaign publicity.

After the Janata Party won the election despite initial private pessimism among most of its leaders, especially George Fernandes, aspirants from all factions got together and conspired to throw me out from my post. Explaining to reporters my removal from the post, Advani and Surendra Mohan, who, along with me, were original general secretaries, said that my appointment had been “temporary”. That was not true. The conspiracy had been so complete that I learnt of my removal only from the newspapers the next day! But that is another story.

I grew closer to Charan Singh and Raj Narain because of my previous personal rapport with Ram Manohar Lohia. I wrote columns for Blitz Weekly and the Illustrated Weekly of India. In Blitz I broke the story of the RSS having given a sworn affidavit to the authorities stating it was a political organization in order to evade a tax of Rs 1 crore. That laid the foundation of the dual membership controversy that provided the excuse for the party to split. Eventually, Raj Narain was unconstitutionally expelled from the national executive for what he allegedly said about Morarji Desai in Shimla. Years later, Shanta Kumar of Himachal Pradesh admitted in a book he wrote that he had falsely implicated Raj Narain at the behest of Nanaji Deshmukh. Anyway, Raj Narain and I formulated the strategy to topple the Desai government, which I had concluded was incorrigible. A fortnight before the Janata government fell, I wrote in my Blitz column precisely how and when it would fall.

In the 1979-80 election I contested against Vajpayee and CM Stephen from the New Delhi constituency. I was then, along with Madhu Limaye and Narendra Singh, general secretary of the Lok Dal. It was a foolhardy enterprise. Charan Singh had announced his intention to apply the Mandal formula in government service. All the central secretariat employees who were voters in my constituency were at my throat. Delhi ’s urban voters passionately hated the Chaudhry. Being general secretary of the party and residing in New Delhi, I thought it a matter of honor that I contest from my own turf instead of contesting from Meerut where, with the Chaudhry’s blessings, I might have easily won. Raj Narain allowed me to keep for use in my own election the Rs 50,000 that I had collected for the party. I didn’t receive a single extra rupee from the party. During most of the campaign I had to seek small donations from friends.

I won few votes but they were crucial. In the extremely close contest my votes cut into the Congress tally to allow a victory for Vajpayee. After its defeat, the Janata Party split again into Janata Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. Meanwhile, because Charan Singh and Raj Narain also parted company, I quit the Lok Dal, not joining any faction. It was then that Vajpayee and Advani personally approached me to join the BJP. Advani said: “Let us forget the past. Let there be no reservations on either side.” Okay, I said, and joined the BJP. I asked for no post or status but joined as an ordinary member. It was a foolish decision. As John F Kennedy once said: “If someone deceives you once, it is his fault. If he deceives you twice, it is your fault.” The BJP leaders had already deceived me twice.

In the BJP I quickly became Vajpayee’s presidential speechwriter and unofficial think-tank. At the same time I got together likeminded Delhi leaders, Arif Baig, Mewa Ram Arya and others, to start the Jan Ekta Manch to work among jhuggi settlements where the BJP was particularly weak. We made quick progress. By that time Indira had launched the bank loans scheme for the poor. The party decided to stop the scheme’s misuse in enabling only Congress sympathizers to get bank loans. The Jan Ekta Manch had become strong enough to overshadow the party in organizing demonstrations and getting hundreds, sometimes thousands, to court arrest. Vajpayee was delighted. The Delhi leaders were uneasy although the Jan Ekta Manch was located in the premises of the party office and no non-BJP member was made an office-bearer of the Manch.

While Delhi leaders became uneasy at one level, the national leaders became uneasy at another. To give substance to the BJP’s empty slogan of ushering in Gandhian Socialism, I tried giving it content by creating the Workers’ Sector concept. Inspired by Gandhi’s concept of trusteeship I prepared an approach paper outlining the Workers’ Sector concept in which workers would become owners, share in the profits and participate in the management of those companies where public financial institutions held a majority share. The body to propagate this concept was named Ekatrit Kamgar Tabdili Andolan, Ekta. I lobbied hard and created the Ekta committee with Vajpayee, Chandra Shekhar, George Fernandes, Karpoori Thakur, Madhu Dandavate, Devraj Urs, Advani and Bhai Mahavir as members while I was convener. For the formal approval of the approach paper and its release to the Press, I got all the leaders to Vajpayee’s house. The next day the Indian Express carried a banner headline with a photograph of all the leaders flanking Vajpayee. This created shock waves among the BJP leaders, minus Vajpayee.

It seemed that opposition unity was being recreated in a new guise. Advani quickly swung into action and derailed the specific significance of the move by summoning the same leaders for routine consideration of electoral reforms and other humdrum subjects. The Workers’ Sector concept died a quiet death.

After Indira’s assassination, when the nation stood on the threshold of a general election, I had realized that I didn’t fit in with the BJP. I told Vajpayee he was losing his own election because the RSS was backing Scindia in Gwalior and the Congress in the rest of the country. I wrote my resignation letter and requested him to release it only after the poll. Vajpayee read the letter and threw it aside. He said emotionally, “Rajinderji, if we quit we’ll quit together! Just wait till after the poll. Things will change!” He stuck out his hand for me to shake. We shook hands and my resignation was spiked. This is the unedited text of the letter I had written then:

December 10, 1984
Dear Atal Ji,

After our meeting last evening I have had an opportunity to reflect on my position and role in the party. I realize how busy you must be at this time while electioneering is in full swing. Therefore I shall start with the operative part of the letter which you may read now, followed by an explanation which you may read at leisure.

I hereby resign from the National Executive, the Delhi Pradesh Executive, and the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party effective from today. However, I would not like my resignation to be made public till the election is over on December 27th, and shall be grateful if the party does likewise, in order that nothing is said or done which may aid the Congress (I) in the poll.

There are several reasons which had led me to resign. First, I disagree with the strategy of the party. Secondly, I deplore the party’s style of functioning. Thirdly, I question the basic integrity of some leaders of the party who put personal advantage above the party’s interest, and have come to acquire collectively the character and outlook of a caucus. And lastly, there is the personal factor which emerged in our conversation yesterday.

First, the strategy. For more than two years the debate has continued whether the party should go it alone, merge with other parties to create a national alternative, or seek cooperation through seat adjustments with other parties. My own views on this fundamental question have been clear and consistent throughout this period, and were expressed vigorously and repeatedly during discussions in the National Executive. I had always maintained that seat adjustments for any ambitious and growing party could never be made into a declared policy unless the party intended to merge with its partners ultimately. Therefore, as far as I was concerned, the third option never existed, and if persisted with, was sure to cause confusion and demoralization with the party ranks and stunt its organizational growth. The continued effort for seat adjustments was a pathetic half-measure which betrayed the party’s lack of confidence and commitment.

The final straw fell in the most recent meeting of the National Executive on November 14th, after Mrs. Gandhi’s death, and after the elections had been announced. You may recall that I again argued strongly that the death of Mrs. Gandhi had brought about a fundamental change in the situation, which made the earlier resolution in favor of seat adjustments outlined in the Pune session irrelevant. I advocated that after the party’s frustrating experience during the past two years, it was time now for the party to go it alone. I urged that the party should put up 400 candidates, come to terms with Telugu Desam and DMK, and boldly put forward its claim of being able to form the next government. To achieve this, I advocated a crash effort of roping in strong independents and assimilating entire groups where feasible. My rationale was simple. During Mrs. Gandhi’s time the party’s requirement was mainly to consolidate a negative Congress (I) vote through seat adjustments with other parties. But after Mrs. Gandhi’s death the overwhelming feeling in the country was one of vacuum with no credible Congress (I) leader at the helm. I pointed out that above all the people sought a credible Prime Minister, and every single opinion poll in the country during the past year had put your name as a desired Prime Minister second only to Mrs. Gandhi’s, much above every other name, including that of Rajiv Gandhi. That was our main asset.

The other asset was that the BJP enjoyed the reputation of a disciplined party unlikely to break up after the poll. Therefore we required at least 400 candidates to be able to put up the claim with some conviction that we would be in a position to make you Prime Minister. The voters are going to vote for a prospective government, not for pious platitudes, which are all that a party putting up 225 candidates can offer. Our chance lay in creating a wave, and we failed to seize a historic opportunity due to the total lack of confidence in the leadership, I ended my remarks in the National Executive with the words: “If we persist with the futile bid for seat adjustments even at this hour, we will invite political suicide.”

A vast majority of those who spoke in the National Executive agreed with my views. Despite that the contrary policy was adopted because it seemed that those who mattered had already made up their minds. What happens now in the elections is irrelevant. The entire atmosphere in the crucial fortnight preceding the nominations was muddied by the arid attempt for seat adjustments, which totally blurred the BJP’s identity and the image of its leader. Ultimately, we are contesting 225 seats, more than 30 short of a simple majority, still confused in most constituencies about whether we have adjusted with other parties or not. With what conviction can we ask the voter to vote out the government when we cannot even provide him with an alternative government? We will not be in a position to do that because in the last analysis we were neither large-hearted enough to assimilate other parties, nor bold-hearted enough to go it alone. Victims of half-measures and confusion, we fell between two stools. Which brings me to our style of functioning.

The party’s style of functioning suggests a caucus, not a collective democratic leadership. The two fundamental principles of a healthy organization are lacking: we neither believe in clear demarcation of responsibility, nor in accountability of performance. As a result, there is no meritocracy prevalent in the party, sapping initiative among the workers. I had repeatedly demanded in the meetings of then National Executive in Jaipur, Patna and elsewhere that we must have clear demarcation of responsibility among the office-bearers, as well as accountability, instead of behaving like a joint family in which some are favored regardless of performance and others are treated like poor relatives. We have fifteen office-bearers of the party’s central secretariat. it is a mystery what each of them is supposed to look after. One office-bearer alone was supposed to look after Punjab, Himachal, Jammu, and Delhi, collect funds for the party, as well as look after the secretariat of the National Democratic Alliance while it lasted. How could one person discharge all these duties effectively? How often could this office-bearer visit the areas under his care during the past one year? I prepared a note suggesting how the central secretariat could be streamlines to function effectively. I put the note up twice, to you and the General Secretary of the party, Mr. LK Advani, for circulation among members of the National Executive. It was never circulated. It seemed that the National Executive was a mere showpiece, with little relevance to real policy-making, which was decided elsewhere. Let me further illustrate this point.

In the Bhubaneswar session of the National Executive it was resolved that the party would favor a Workers’ Sector of industry in which workers would obtain participation in ownership, profits and management of industry. This became a resolution of the party. It was also resolved that the party would set up an Ekta Labor Cell which would cater to the needs of the weaker sections and unorganized labor on behalf of the party. You thought it fit to appoint me all-India convener of the Ekta Labor Cell.

However, in practice both resolutions were ignored. After the Bombay Textile workers’ strike when the Government took over certain sick mills, we did not press for handing over the mills to the control of the workers themselves in light of the party’s declared policy resolution. Instead we supported the Government’s decision to hand over the mills to the public sector Textile Corporation of India that was already mismanaging a hundred textile mills running at a loss. The Ekta Labor Cell was also not allowed to operate because the Delhi Pradesh leadership sabotaged the plan and the central leadership acquiesced. Of what value, then, are decisions taken by the National Executive of the party?

Which brings me to the third point. This regards the lack of integrity of the BJP leadership. When individuals are appointed to an office they are expected to discharge their duties for the benefit of the entire organization, not concern themselves with personal advantage alone. But in the BJP it so happens that the organization continues to suffer while individual office bearers responsible for poor performance continue to thrive. For instance, the very individuals who sabotaged the Ekta Labor Cell were the ones who did not hesitate to seek the help of the Jan Ekta Manch, a similar organization privately set up by me and like minded colleagues of the BJP with our own resources, for work in their own individual constituencies. If such an organization could do useful work in one constituency, why could it not do useful work everywhere in the country for the whole party?

Most surprisingly, those leaders who took a hard line against seat adjustments in the Delhi Metropolitan poll, promptly somersaulted and sacrificed two parliamentary seats in Delhi in order to better their own chances in the parliamentary seats they were contesting. Now the East Delhi District workers of the party are in a quandary, thoroughly demoralized. If the leaders of the party betray such a selfish attitude, how can workers have any morale? Is this the kind of leadership which can hope to create a national alternative that will usher in a new society in India/ Our assertions ring hollow when matched against our actions.

Finally, there is the personal factor which emerged during our conversation yesterday. You will now deny, I trust, that I never shirked any responsibility given to me during the past four years when I worked for the party. I never approached you for any office. I never approached you for a parliamentary ticket. You broached the subject of a parliamentary ticket with me yourself. I indicated the possible choices. Eventually you could not give me a ticket. I neither complained, nor referred to the subject with anyone in the party. You yourself obviously felt embarrassed yesterday during the meeting which you had sought, and urged me to work harder during the campaign. I do not know how you got the impression that I was not doing what I was asked to do to the best of my ability. When the subject of ticket distribution arose, I did remark that surrendering two seats in Delhi appeared irrational and against the party interest. It was at this stage that you remarked, as you had earlier done in different contexts, that some people in the party had “reservations” about me and therefore I could not be given a ticket. How could those reservations be dispelled, I asked. You advised that time alone could improve matters.

I regret to say that I find this position unacceptable. Honestly, I do not mind not being given a ticket, which I never asked for in the first place. But I cannot countenance being refused a ticket for the reasons that you stated, particularly since you did not seem to question that my merit as a candidate in certain constituencies was not in doubt. I have committed no indiscipline in the party, and helped the party in every way to the best of my ability. I cannot help it if certain people have “reservations” about me and you are compelled to act by their advice. When you, and other senior colleagues in the party ask me to help in party work, which is not infrequent you will admit, are you not then inhibited by “reservations”?

When I was invited to join the party by Mr. LK Advani four years ago, he expressed the hope that there would be no reservations on either side. Let him reflect on my performance during the past four years and judge whether there were any reservations on my side. Let him also indicate whether I ever set any preconditions for joining the party or working for it, or whether I made a single personal demand for office or position in the party. I did advocate the creation of a labor cell in the party catering to unorganized labor, but I never sought to be its convener. That decision was yours. Despite this I continue to hear from time to time that certain people have “reservations” about me. This is a matter about which I can do nothing. It is obvious that a section of the party (which has never been named till now, and which has obviously no connections with the RSS lest there be any misunderstanding, because I have never had problems with either RSS or BMS, rather cooperation and encouragement) finds itself incompatible with me.

Personally I have no rancor against any individual in the party and hope to continue enjoying the best of relations with all members of the party. However, you will appreciate that I am left with no choice but to resign from the party, in the light of growing dissatisfaction with the party’s functioning, as well as of the “reservations’ about me that are entertained by unnamed colleagues in the party.

With best wishes,
Yours sincerely
Rajinder Puri

The election results were as bad as they could be. True, the vote percentage declined by just about 2.5 per cent, but the BJP won only two Lok Sabha seats. As I had warned Vajpayee, Scindia, with solid RSS support, defeated him. Despite the crushing defeat, nothing changed in the party’s functioning.

Advani had described the Anandpur Sahib Resolution of the Akalis as a “charter of national disintegration”. Despite that, Rajiv Gandhi described the BJP as an “anti-national party” because it had not distanced itself sufficiently from Prakash Singh Badal. The national executive of the party resolved to have no talks on Punjab with the PM unless he apologized for that remark. A few days after the resolution, Rajiv invited Advani, then secretary-general of the party, for a discussion on Punjab and Advani met him.

I issued a press statement criticizing Advani for breaking party discipline by ignoring the national executive resolution. Vajpayee wrote to me saying I should not have gone to the press. I said I would not do that as long as Advani did not flout national executive resolutions.

A short while later Advani flouted another national executive resolution. Ram Jethmalani had argued all day persuading the party to have no truck with the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. But almost immediately after that the Mumbai unit of the BJP, blessed by Advani, teamed up with the Shiv Sena to contest the Mayor’s election.

I again went to the press and criticized the party for flouting discipline. Thereupon, Vajpayee wrote a letter asking me to resign from the national executive for breaching discipline. I replied by resigning from the primary membership of the party. Ironically, later Jethmalani had no compunction in seeking Shiv Sena support for becoming an MP! Vajpayee’s letter and my reply are reproduced without editing. The correspondence is self-explanatory:

Atal Behari Vajpayee
President
Bharatiya Janata Party
May 12, 1985

Dear Shri Puri Ji,

I am sorry to see in this morning’s Statesman a statement of yours criticizing the Bombay BJP.

During the last two months this is the third time you have chosen the forum of the press to voice criticism of the party. On March 31, you wrote to me a letter taking exception to the meeting on Punjab, which I, along with Advani Ji, had with the Prime Minister. You certainly had a right to hold that opinion, but as I pointed out to you immediately thereafter, it was improper on part of a member of the National Executive to release such a letter to the press. You had assured me in your letter dated April 2 that you will in the future “take extra care’ about your utterances.

I am sorry to note that you have failed to act up to your utterances. Two days back you have publicly criticized Shri Advani for his meeting with the Prime Minister, And today there is this statement accusing the Bombay BJP of indiscipline.

Obviously, you are unable to abide by the discipline imposed by membership of the National Executive. I feel constrained, therefore, to ask you to resign from the Executive.
With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,
Atal Behari Vajpayee

I sent my reply to Vajpayee the next day:

May 13, 1995

Dear Shri Vajpayee Ji,

Thank you for your letter of May 12th.

I must say that I was surprised by your request that I resign from the National Executive for my “inability to abide by the discipline imposed by its membership”. You deem me undisciplined for informing the press that the General Secretary of the party, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, and the Bombay unit of the party, were undisciplined for brazenly violating the resolutions of the National Executive. You consider me undisciplined for exposing the indiscipline of others, but have no word of reprimand for those who oppose your own formal policy statements as well as resolutions of the National Executive. Discipline, let me remind you, enjoins a code of conduct on all members of the party, including its President and General Secretary.

If I was impelled to take matters to the press it was due to my repeated failure in obtaining redressal for the acts of indiscipline by the General Secretary pointed out by me to you privately. After my letter of April 2nd, you conceded that the General Secretary was wrong in not briefing the press after his meeting with the Prime Minister in order to allay misunderstanding about the party’s attitude on the Punjab issue. In my letter of April 2nd I had urged you to ensure that the party secretariat does not bungle in future and thereby project a false and distorted image of the party’s stand to the public. Orally, you had assured me that such a mistake would not be repeated. Subsequently, you made a formal policy statement in your own name declaring that the BJP would not participate in parleys with either the Government or the Akalis for achieving a solution in Punjab. Yet, twice after that, Shri Advani, in contemptuous disregard of your statement, conferred with the Prime Minister along with other opposition leaders in defiance of your declared policy.

Later, the Bombay unit of the party supported the Shiv Sena candidate for Mayor in total defiance of the central party. Privately you may deplore this fact, but what good is private anguish? The party’s image and credibility are totally tarnished by the wide divergence between its precept and practice, and by your pathetic inability to impose your will.

Upon receiving your letter my instinct was to refuse to resign and demand a full discussion on the matter in the National Executive. But on reflection I have decided otherwise. As per the party constitution all the members of the National Executive are nominated by you. You alone, as President, are elected by the National Council. The National Executive therefore is the reflection of the President’s will. As you know, we do not vote in the National Executive. We decide by consensus. But when even resolutions arrived at after consensus are violated and ignored at will by a handful of senior members of the party, it is clear that it is not even consensus which rules the party. The party is being ruled by a caucus, and you have become its creature. This is not a new development. May I remind you that I had resigned on December 10th 1984, when you had advised me that I was not trusted by the section of the party to which I refer as the caucus? I had of course decided not to make public the resignation in order not to embarrass the party during elections, even though the election results were a foregone conclusion to me. I withdrew the resignation upon receiving your solemn assurance that after the elections the party’s style of functioning would change.

Five months have passed since then, and nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, matters have become worse, with members of the caucus brazenly flouting policy resolutions of the party while you remain a helpless spectator. I can understand a stray violation, but not the kind of arbitrary conduct, involving no accountability, which has become the party’s style of functioning. I enclose my letter of December 10th to refresh your memory. For reasons contained in that letter, and for the added reasons of policy mentioned above, I am left with no choice but to resign from the primary membership of the party.

I resign with regret, and in spite of the warm personal relationship I have with you, Shri Advani, and others in the party. However political association should not be based only on personal relationship but also on fundamental factors like policy and style of functioning. It is my humble submission that you should adopt a similar approach while charting the BJP’s future. Given the political instincts of your most influential colleagues in the party, would it not be better for the BJP to dissolve its identity and merge with the Congress(I)? It would clear much confusion in the country. This is, of course, just a suggestion for your serious consideration.
With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,
Rajinder Puri

Enclosure: Letter of December 10th

It may be seen from the correspondence that the BJP is neither democratic nor disciplined. It seeks blind obedience in the name of discipline. Upon reflection, I am inclined to think the BJP leaders were never really against the goals I had set for the party to achieve. They were deeply disturbed only because I did not, at each step, take permission from some appropriate leader. With their RSS culture, BJP leaders are unused to individual initiative. Individual initiative frightens them. Inevitably, in these circumstances, the question arises: Does the party have a future? I don’t think so ~ unless it changes miraculously. If I am wrong and the party in its present shape and form does have a future, I would then be forced to conclude that India doesn’t.

I sent the correspondence I have reproduced to all members of the national executive. After my resignation party functionaries approached me to rejoin the party. “We will welcome you back with honor,” one of them said. I declined. I continue to have good personal relations with all of them. They are in most cases nice people. It is just that they belong to a different planet.

Tech savvy kids, Social Networking and security

By Samiya Anwar

Parenting is a challenge. It has never been an easy task. A difficult duty bound job especially for the tech savvy kids. The kids of today- Internet Generation, the name given to them is highly appropriate. They are definitely smart, intellectual, shrewd, trendy and stylish. Why not these kids are born and bought up surrounding the digital media. They aren’t like of bygone days.

Today’s kids have grown up in the age of online communication, networking, the internet, cell phones, digital music and digital cable, they have had different childhood experiences compared with other generations.

Earlier in 1970’s or before the discovery of computers, kids used to juggle for homework’s and assignments, but no more. There is no need to worry about the projects as well. Now there is a magic wand (Internet) in their hands. It is easy to seek information and good enough to mail the friends easily.

And interestingly for play, kids don’t go to play grounds any longer. There are number of games available online. It’s free to play the games. Only an access to internet, a whole playground is at home. The games are easy, funny and related to academics. What more. You can create a classroom and enter by just clicking a mouse.

Unanimously, Internet is surely becoming an integral part of children’s life. Visiting the websites of favorite cable networks including Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network are common among kids between 6-14 years old or more. The online games build skills in math, logic, memory, vocabulary, alphabet, spelling, geography, computer skills, color identification, shape identification and other various problem solving.

But the tech savvy kids look up online for purely entertainment purpose. They are interested mainly in music, video games, movies, MP3 players, and celebrities. This makes them more likely to react differently than their older counterparts. No longer, teachers and books are the only sources of knowledge. The Computer Generation kids gain high amount of knowledge online. By browsing research skills are gained sophistically. The encyclopedias, journals, and the option of number of search engines are available. A whole new library, a world of information is a click away.

The most current information is available. It creates high-impact on educational activities for the tech savvy kids of any age group. Teachers or educators also assist information from internet. It is rather an aid to education and good to be techno-cordial. But some parents and educators believe that Internet is a sly dog for kids.

The top reason is social networking sites. Kids are seen spending a larger amount of time being computer friendly. The real-life relationships are taking back seat and Screen relationships are doing wonders. After school hours kids don’t go out for play or watch television now-a-days. They switch on the computer, log in to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Orkut etc.

Extremely in summer, the network really helps. The two months holidays are a long time for children to be away with friends. So the social networking sites are like a godsend, boon for those who want to get in touch with friends and stay up-to-date. What is going on with friends is important to them. Just by opening a website, you can communicate with friends no matter where you’re.

The social networking sites are detractors. Many teachers complain that the kids are attracted to the social networking sites only because it gives them a page of their own. The colors, themes, buzzing sounds, images, and avatars pull them towards these sites. There are no spelling and grammar rules and attention span of kids turns poorer. Furthermore it is said that these sites make kids prone to sensationalism and create emotional problems in later life.

But an Oxford University study argues that social networking has bad effects on the kids’ intelligence – and the damage could be long-term and irrevocable. On the other hand, defenders are quick to point out that kids on social networking are increasing their social interaction while wiring their brains to adapt to new technology.

It is a denied reality, not known to many people that today’s tech savvy kids have redefined their position in the family and are, more and more, acting as cyber-assistant to parents – they’re shopping and placing online orders for the family and themselves, according to a new study. And I agreed upon parents who sometimes feel outpaced by their technologically savvy kids.

Parents need to teach and help kids to stay safer as they socialize online. Talking to the kids is the foremost step any parent can take.

- Tell the child what information is personal and public.
- Display of any picture of their own in the profile or sharing of phone numbers or address could be harmful. Explain them.
- Talking with strangers especially the sex talk should be avoided. Warn them
- Discuss about the cyber bullying in their presence.
- Set the privacy settings to restrict.

In addition to what I said, Symantec has announced the launch of a new family safety service; ‘OnlineFamily.Norton’ and a new online tool, ‘Norton 360 Cyber Safety Index’, to help parents better manage their kids online. It is a cool idea. The parents can make use of this tool to protect their kids from online predators.

The Norton 360 CSI, available at www.norton360csi.com, is an online survey that helps parents to gain a better understanding of their families’ online risks profile and assess their protection levels and threat savviness. Upon completion of the online questionnaire, parents will be provided with a report that identifies their cyber safety index rating, as well as relevant safety tips and advice tailored to their risk profile. They can eye their child by viewing reports which shows thumbnails of the Web sites their children visit. It is easy and convenient. They can also choose to receive e-mail reports about select activities.

Being a parent, it is good if you restrict the child. But stopping them to use internet just because some XYZ had been a victim is wrong. It can cause more harm than good. Talk and explain ‘what is good and what is bad’. Leave the rest in their hands. The internet savvy kids are more updated than the others. Let the children utilize the opportunities of being born in a digital age, as the future life is gonna be more technical. So better, the parents bridge the bridge the cyberspeak generation gap and walk together with the children of today.

JobThread Debuts New Website with Enhanced Features for Targeting Qualified Job Candidates

Press Release

JobThread’s Increased Functionality gives Employers and Recruiters Greater Ability to Target Active and Passive Job Seekers, Shortening Hiring Times and Maximizing Budgets

JobThread, a targeted ad network for jobs, announced today the debut of its enhanced Website which includes features that enable employers and recruiters to efficiently target qualified candidates. JobThread targets passive and active job seekers based on their behavior, skills, interests and location, delivering ads alongside contextually relevant content. Employers and recruiters pay only for qualified views of their job postings; candidates that do not fit their profile criteria do not count against the recruiter’s budget.

“Simply put, JobThread saves recruiters time and money,” said Jason Wies, CEO of JobThread. “By giving them tools to precisely target candidates, recruiters receive resumes from highly qualified candidates, thus eliminating resume spam, and allowing them more time to focus on interviewing and filling positions. Additionally, JobThread charges only 49 cents for each qualified view of a job ad, so recruiters can manage budgets specific for each posting. This is a huge savings over the ‘post and pray’ job boards.”

JobThread’s targeted approach is a departure from mass-market job boards that are visited by active job seekers. JobThread taps into the passive job market by aligning ads with content on niche Web sites that are frequented by employed people who are pursuing their professional interests. These sites include Wired, IDG’s technology-focused online publications, paidContent, TreeHugger.com, Dot.Org Jobs, Silicon Alley Insider and more than 50 others.

JobThread delivers ads alongside relevant topical content; thereby creating an association between the visitor, the content and the job ad. When delivering the ad, JobThread’s system combines visitor profile information with data about the contextual environment to insure that the visitor meets the candidate criteria specified by the recruiter. This multi-tier targeting constitutes a qualified view for the job posting. This approach virtually eliminates resume spam, which is a major time sink for recruiters. According to CareerBuilder.com nearly 80% of human resources managers report that at least half of the resumes they receive are from unqualified candidates.

JobThread’s online ad management system gives recruiters immediate access to budgets that they specify for each job posting, thereby allowing them to pay for only the number of views needed to fill a position. When posting a job ad, recruiters set a budget and then actualize against it when a sufficient number of resumes have been collected. Recruiters can increase or decrease their budgets in real-time, managing the number of qualified views and resulting resume flow.

JobThread features include:
Candidate Profile that targets candidates based on online behavior, skills, interests and location, culled from user profiles and thousands of interactions with Web sites in the JobThread Network.

JobThread Network consists of more than 50 targeted Web sites that deliver high quality content and create a contextual environment in which to present job ads. The JobThread Network includes: paidContent, Silicon Alley Insider, Marketing Pilgrim, Wired, IDG’s online publications, Ajaxian, and GreenBiz.

My Site allows recruiters to create and maintain a job board on their company Web site that appears with a customized design, including specific fonts, colors and company logo. Recruiters can post jobs directly to their own Web Sites while posting to the JobThread network.

My Contacts enables recruiters to notify their own contacts when they post a job ad. This enables them to distribute a job posting within their own network as well as through the JobThread network.

Referral Management lets recruiters assign referral rewards to job ads when they are submitted and monitor them through the hiring process.
Ad Management Dashboard gives recruiters the ability to view all active job ads, the activity for each ad (the number of allocated views and the actual number of views received) and resume flow.

About JobThread
Based in New York, JobThread helps employers and recruiters reach highly qualified candidates – both active and passive job seekers – by delivering targeted job ads alongside appropriate content on its network of more than 50 Web sites. The JobThread Network generates 46 million monthly impressions and reaches 9.8 million unique monthly visitors. Recruiters select the desired applicant profile and set their budget for each job; JobThread then displays the ads to network visitors whose behavior, skills, interests and location match the profile. JobThread’s network includes: Wired, paidContent, Silicon Alley Insider, IDG’s online publications and TreeHugger.com. More information about JobThread may be found at www.jobthread.com

Indian Real Estate Industry Post Elections

By Rahul Singh

If you are related to real estate sector, this election might bring good news for you! Realtors have faced a severe cash crunch over the last nine months as the global financial crisis squeezed liquidity and high prices kept buyers of homes, offices and shops away. New projects have since been put on the backburner while many of those under construction are delayed, especially commercial. This new election results might bring cheers to all of you who were waiting for realty sector revival.

Unexpected Election Results
Congress-led coalition defied predictions of a tight race and was only 10 seats short of an outright majority, sending shares up for its biggest one day gain in almost two decades on the first trading day post election results. BSE Sensex gained 2110 points in the single trading session on Monday May 18, 2009. Stock markets reached the upper circuit breaks for the first time in the history. Thus, market gave its thumbs up to the new UPA government.

So why did the market react this time so differently? The biggest dissimilarity between this UPA coalition and that in 2004 is the absence of Left Brigade. Known for its extreme opposition to reforms, FDI and divestment Left stalled a number of projects between 2004 and 2009. Now with Left’s abysmal performance in the election and absence from the UPA, the new government will be serious and have the luxury to push all these impending reforms. The industry can expect the broad reform agenda would continue under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the realty sector to benefit.

With a stable government in place, foreign investment will flow in. Also, we can expect less interference and arm twisting by regional parties and thus, the government would be more focused on creating employment, reforming policies and interacting with industries bodies for favorable policies.

Maintaining that the real estate sector is poised for a revival, one of the leading developers’ executive said: “It will grow steadily and undoubtedly. Affordable housing will get attention. In brief, formation of a stable government will certainly bring back confidence among investors and end-users and help in reviving the market sentiments.” Most of the analysts and industry bodies supported his arguments.

Real estate companies may expect industry status for real estate sector from the new government. However, this won’t happen unless and until developers and industry bodies lobby hard for this. Government may negotiate for an industry regulator for real estate sector if it has to grant an industry status to it.

Shock on Stock Market
This election saw total reversal of UPA’s fortune as well as Indian Stock exchanges. If UPA’s win in 2004 election caused “Black Monday” where BSE Sensex lost around 750 points in a single trading session, UPA’s win this time sent shares up for its biggest one day gain in almost two decades on the first trading day post election results. BSE Sensex gained 2110 points in the first session itself; prompting authorities to halt the trading. Stock markets reached the upper circuit breaks for the first time in the history.

So why does elections affect stock exchanges? Going by data for the last eight elections from 1980 onwards, stock markets tend to dance in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections with the Sensex showing an average 4% gain in the three months preceding elections. Expectations of a reform-minded government seem to enthuse investors as much as gains in sectors that benefit from poll-related expenditure.
A clear mandate for the United Progressive Alliance and the continuity of the current government’s policies are likely to keep the markets buoyant for a while. Congress manifesto lists economic revival and restoring high growth as its immediate priority. Market experts believe that foreign institutional investors and domestic institutions, which were not participating aggressively in the markets thus far, are likely to invest for the long term, given the stable government at the Centre. Some experts are wondering whether the benchmark index break another record set in 1991, when it soared by 35% in three months after the announcement of results.

Opening up of the economy, allowing foreign direct investment and easier interest rates should improve liquidity and are expected to help sectors such as infrastructure, banking, real estate, telecom, power, education and retail.

With the Left brigade that crippled decision-making now out of the way, the new government is likely to speed up the divestment of its stake in various PSUs. While experts believe that the markets could touch the 18,000 mark, stiff valuations and the burgeoning fiscal deficit could cap the upsides. Foreign investors are now wary of sudden high valuations as fundamentally nothing much has changed much in the overall economy. However, they may not sell and exit because that would give them idle cash to sit on.

FMCG and Pharmaceutical sectors, which are considered defensive, are likely to underperform as the market chases growth. IT services, which is another defensive sector, is unlikely to participate in the rally given that the rupee is expected to gain in the short term. We can expect infrastructure, banking, real estate and retail sector to lead the growth in the coming months.

Let us analyze the real estate sector for the moment. A year back real estate sector was the darling of Indian as well as foreign investors. It attracted highest FDI due to massive boom in the market. However things went horribly wrong with the sub-prime crisis in the US and most of real estate sector stocks lost significant value. But things have started looking little better for the real estate now.

Thus, we can see that BSE Realty Index has increased by 50% in 1 month alone while it gained almost 43% in a week’s time. Investors have become more confident about the industry and their faith is returning in these companies.

What realty sector can expect going forward
India’s realtors, one of the worst-hit by the slowdown, believe the sector will get more attention under the new government given its professed thrust on infrastructure. Liquidity-starved sectors such as infrastructure and realty could be the biggest beneficiaries of the vote of confidence for the UPA. The new government should mean quicker policy implementation and less excuses on execution, needed to help bring back funding for the country’s crippling infrastructure projects and slowing housing sector, say builders.

People, developers and investors are all positive and excited about this new government. We may expect some reforms in the banking sector like up the banking sector to foreign players and consolidate PSU banks. For example, SBI has already merged one of its associate with itself and the government might consolidate other SBI associates with the parent. Such reforms with any doubt will accelerate economic growth.

With the falling interest rates and improving economic situation, banks are willing to lend to companies to take advantage of locking debt at higher interest rates. This is going to help realty industry as developers were reeling under severe pressure due to cash crunch and lending. Improvement in the liquidity situation could be the biggest positive for this sector. Now with the increase in flow of credit in the market, developers will be able to restructure their existing debt or start new projects in segments which are still having demand. Realty majors will now be able to raise funds through Qualified Institutional Placements or debt or through further equity issues. India’s largest realty companies–DLF and Unitech–have already raised over a billion dollars in the recent past and chances are that others might follow. Last week, DLF, India’s largest listed developer, raised $783 million through a share sale. In April, developer Unitech raised $325 million through a share placement.

One of key segments in realty industry is Affordable Housing, which is “seriously undersupplied” in India. According to a Goldman Sachs report, more than 30 million units are needed in India because of growing urbanisation. With the growing valuations on the stock exchange, developers will be able to issue equity to fund new housing projects.

With infrastructure as the key focus, the need of realty industry cannot be ignored. Analysts now believe that since the UPA can form the government without the support of the Left parties who were opposed to the idea of foreign direct investment, special economic zone projects, which were stalled, could get a fresh lease of life.

However, not all are so optimistic. Purvanakara Projects is adopting wait and watch mode. One of the executives said “Just because things have improved today, we won’t go and look for more office space tomorrow. We’ll wait and watch.” The corporate spending is still some while away as companies are not looking for new office spaces.

What we believe is that though the political scenario has changed, the economic scenario has not changed much. It would be a while (read 6-12 months) before any real improvements will be visible in the industry.

After the Elections: What’s Next on India’s Economic Agenda?

By M H Ahssan

Only the bookies, who offered even money on the return of Manmohan Singh as prime minister, seem to have gotten it right. The results of India’s general elections confounded psephologists, pundits and political parties alike. A fractured mandate was expected. In the end, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won hands-down.

According to the final tally, the UPA has close to 260 seats, with Congress itself tallying up more than 200, its highest score in 18 years. The midway mark in Parliament is 272 seats. With some UPA partners and independents ready to add their numbers, a workable simple majority is assured. Most important, the Left, which had been the former government’s ball and chain, has been reduced to half its strength, and a much smaller fraction of its importance. The stalled reform process can go full-speed ahead.

A management professor Jitendra Singh says “the most positive aspect” of the election results is that “there will be no need to get in bed with ‘partners’ like the Left, whose behavior has been consistently obstructionist [and] negative overall.” He sees “a good opportunity” for the prime minister to usher in “long-awaited reforms” in sectors like insurance and labor laws, allow foreign investment in universities, and step up infrastructure investments to catch up with China. “India really needs to put infrastructure on the front burner,” says Singh, who is just back from a China trip and was struck by “the superb quality of the airports and highways leading from the airports to the cities.”

Saikat Chaudhuri, also a management professor, agrees that with the Left parties now contained, the government will find it “much easier” to introduce reforms. However, he points to what he calls a “paradox,” where the Left was “a very big obstacle to development” at the central level, but was “very proactive and pro-private investment” at the state level. Overall, however, he expects increased government stability, “which bodes well for … privatization of state enterprises and labor and pension reforms.”

Ravi Aron, a senior fellow at Mack Center for Technological Innovation, agrees with Singh about the need for reforming labor laws. He believes the Singh administration should “allow firms the flexibility to lay off blue-collar workers (manufacturing labor). That provision exists for the white-collar labor force. Without this, there will be no rapid growth in manufacturing employment in India. Firms will simply not scale up their manufacturing labor force without this flexibility.”

Manmohan Singh has already swung into action. Says the morning daily Indian Express: “As the (Congress) party made it clear that allies will not be allowed to arm-twist the government, an assertive PM called a meeting of his officials and directed them to prepare a blueprint for ‘quick action’ in the first 100 days of the new government. The PM’s message, conveyed to officials by principal secretary T.K.A. Nair, was clear: ‘Hit the ground running’ in the second term. Priorities will include a comprehensive 100-day plan for internal security, countering global recession with focus on job creation, (and) infrastructure investment, besides expansion of social sector programs.”

“The first 100 days are going to be crucial for the new government,” says Sunil Bhandare, economic and government policy adviser to Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG). “To begin with, in the first 30 days itself, the government must prepare a white paper on the impact of the global economic crisis on the Indian economy. The white paper needs to clearly communicate the current status. Following this, the (Union) budget needs to have a very powerful stance and direction on what the government proposes to do.”

‘US$700 Billion Worth of Investments’
The elections’ outcome “will usher a new wave of confidence globally in the Indian economy, with more than US$700 billion worth of investments to be channeled into India’s infrastructure, power, telecom and pharma sectors over the next five years,” says Bundeep Singh Rangar, chairman of IndusView Advisors, an India-focused cross-border advisory firm. “This will provide the country a strong foundation to achieve the aspirational growth of 10%.”

With such widespread ambitions, much needs to be done on the economic front. The prime minister knows this well — and the worldwide economic crisis is adding to the pressure to set the government’s business agenda.

In an email poll conducted prior to the close of the elections, India Knowledge@Wharton readers listed education, infrastructure development, health care reform and energy security as the top areas that need action. Other suggestions ran the gamut and included foreign policy, agricultural reforms, corruption and economic inequities. On employment generation, one reader called for incentives for companies to create jobs “where skills/capabilities reside … to train and employ local talent … and discourage migration to overcrowded urban centers.” Another said, “No more ‘We will do whatever the U.S. says’ attitude,” while yet another noted that the government should consider disinvesting in public sector companies a top business priority.

Grappling with the slowdown is obviously foremost on most citizens’ minds. But opinion is divided on whether the country needs another economic stimulus. There have been three already — on December 7, 2008, and January 2, 2009, plus an across-the-board cut in excise duties and service tax announced on February 24. “The packages were too mild to provide a significant boost to the sagging economy,” says Chennai-based daily The Hindu. Others say it is too early to expect results. “The immediate need for further fiscal stimulus does not appear to be that acute,” says Rajesh Chakrabarti, assistant professor of finance at the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB).

By some parameters, the situation remains grim. The index of industrial production fell 2.3% in March compared with March 2008. That was the most in 16 years. India’s exports in April were down by a third from April 2008, and imports dropped by 35%. All this can make for dismal reading. Yet on the day these data were announced, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) spurted 475 points, or 4.07%.

The government already had acted to stimulate the economy. But once the country went into election mode it was unable to take fresh steps, as that would have violated the Election Commission’s code of ethics. With the government out of action, it was left for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates by a quarter point at the end of April. This was meant to spur growth; bankers say room exists for further cuts.

But the elections, even if they hobbled the government for a time, have provided their own impetus. The Delhi-based Center for Media Studies estimates that election spending totaled more than US$2 billion. Another study, by Kotak Institutional Equities, the secondary market broking operations of the Kotak group, puts spending at US$3.38 billion, bringing in a stimulus of US$5 billion, or 0.5% of GDP. Of course, all political parties have made lavish promises to win votes. If these are implemented, the ratio of gross fiscal deficit to GDP could increase by 1 to 2.4 percentage points, Kotak says. That could be a disaster in waiting.

‘Signs Point toward Recovery’
Yet the picture is looking better than it has for months. According to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey, the Indian economy shows “nascent signs of recovery.” The CII business confidence index improved by 2.4 points to 58.7 for the first half (April-September 2009) of the current fiscal year. The ABN AMRO Bank purchasing managers’ index, based on a survey of 500 companies, stood at 53.3 in April. It had been 49.5 in March. An index level above 50 signals expansion. Meanwhile, the Sensex has recovered nearly 80% from its low of 8,047 on March 6, reaching 13,736 as of May 21.

“Right now, the signs point toward recovery,” says Chakrabarti, of ISB. “It is still not clear whether this recovery is sustainable, but the immediate need of further fiscal stimulus does not appear to be that acute. Such broad-based stimuli pose medium- and long-term fiscal management issues, so a stimulus is probably necessary only if the situation reverses toward further deterioration. Sector-specific steps like relief for textiles or (small and midsize enterprises) may be more useful.”

There are no free lunches, of course. Spend on a stimulus package and you add to the fiscal deficit. “Fiscal discipline has gone haywire with reckless deficit spending over the past two years on burgeoning subsidies, farm-loan waivers, and huge increases in the salaries and pensions of government employees following the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations,” The Hindu says. “To meet the unprecedented growth in expenditure, the government has resorted to huge borrowings.”

India’s fiscal deficit is estimated to be among the highest in the world at more than 10% of GDP in the last fiscal year and around 12% in this one. It is not likely to come down over the next few years, owing to the expected increase in spending. Says Rangar of IndusView: “India’s fiscal deficit during April-December last year jumped to US$44.5 billion as the government stepped up spending to stimulate the slowing economy. The government’s borrowing program will also rise to a budget estimate of US$65 billion in 2009-10 from US$28 billion in 2008-09, and will likely remain at elevated levels.”

“The fiscal deficit will be the primary concern in the medium term,” says Chakrabarti of ISB. “The difficulty of the task will hinge upon the actual growth rate and tax collections. It is likely that the government will try to get out of a tight corner here by using the funds from disinvestment.”

Ashvin Parekh, national leader, financial services, for Ernst & Young (E&Y), however, says the deficit need not be a top priority. “Even the developed economies are going to report substantial fiscal deficits,” he says. “So India will draw solace from that. With inflation at the sub-1% level, there will be no immediate pressure on the new government to focus on the fiscal deficit.”

The Role of Disinvestment
One way to bridge the gap — disinvestment of public-sector undertakings (PSUs) — has to move to center stage. According to the Congress manifesto, “Indian people have every right to own part of the shares of public-sector companies while the government retains the majority shareholding.” The last government had to go slow because of objections from the Left. In fact, the Union Ministry of Disinvestments was converted into a Finance Ministry department and sidelined. The wheel could turn full circle now.

“PSU disinvestment may make much-needed funds available to government to get the fisc back in order,” says Chakrabarti of ISB. “The sooner it begins, the better. However, the mood of the markets itself would be a factor in determining the exact timing. On the other hand, disinvestment may help cheer markets as well.”

“The disinvestment program must be brought back,” adds Bhandare of TSMG. “It provides some extra physical space by way of mobilizing revenues. It creates a favorable impact on the equity market, and the infusion of shareholders’ money introduces a higher degree of accountability. On all these counts — both economic reasoning and ideological considerations –disinvestment of PSUs is absolutely essential.” Parekh of Ernst & Young says a disinvestment program should not be a return to the earlier approach. “The performance of the PSUs has changed dramatically since the time the last disinvestment policy was drawn up,” he says. “There is need for a completely fresh look at PSU disinvestments. The earlier policy is completely outdated.”

PSU disinvestment is a key component of financial sector reforms. And this sector will garner considerable attention. But, given the environment, don’t expect sea change overnight. “Our approach to financial sector reforms has been gradual, consistent and constant. … You cannot take risks in a low-income country,” says RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan, who has just resigned to take an assignment at Stanford University. In banking, in particular, there is no crying need for action. True, the center is recapitalizing some public-sector banks. But this isn’t driven by the crisis. It’s a conservative approach to maintaining the banks’ capital adequacy above international and RBI norms. Foreign banks, meanwhile, are keeping silent about reforms. They want to get their house in order first.

In some areas, however, things are happening. A new pension scheme was launched May 1. It essentially extends to the private sector and the self-employed an earlier scheme that applied to government employees. “The new pension system is easily the most important pension reform in the world today,” says The Economic Times. “It targets a pension coverage gap that is larger than the populations of most countries.”

But this is just a beginning. In insurance, much was expected of the UPA government after it threw off the yoke of Left support in the wake of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal. The Union cabinet had approved a bill, which allowed foreign companies to raise their holdings in Indian insurance joint ventures from 26% to 49%. But the bill was never passed in Parliament. The insurance industry in India is around US$30 billion today, according to estimates by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and will rise to US$60 billion by 2012. This will require a considerable infusion of funds, and the Indian partners of joint ventures are finding it difficult to pony up their share. The sector will receive a boost if insurers are allowed to sell off another chunk of their stakes to their foreign partners. Almost all the global insurance majors already have a presence in India.

A reconsideration of foreign direct investment norms may be imminent, and not just in the financial sector. Some changes were ushered in early this year, but they lacked clarity. Now, one could see higher foreign stakes being allowed in areas such as retail and telecom — and, of course, insurance. Wharton’s Singh notes that India has become a more attractive destination than it was earlier for foreign direct investments, although China will continue to be ahead in this area.

“In the financial sector we need two sets of reforms,” says Parekh of Ernst & Young. “One is around instruments in the marketplace. We need to really expand the base. In banking, I expect reforms to see a setback. The pressure from the global banking system to make India open up its banking system will reduce. In insurance, the government needs to give the regulators far more enabling powers.”

No Quick Fix for Exports
One area crying for help is exports, where job losses have begun to pinch. India’s exports declined for the seventh consecutive month in April, to US$10.7 billion compared with US$16.07 billion in April 2008. Imports fell from US$24.82 billion to US$16 billion. An original export target for 2008-09 of US$200 billion was scaled down to US$175 billion. That, too, is unlikely to be achieved.

The Indian export sector directly and indirectly employs 150 million people. According to the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, the slump will result in a loss of 10 million jobs. Exports are expected to pick up only in September.

But quick-fix solutions are difficult to find. “There will doubtless be a clamor for more support for exports,” says Chakrabarti of ISB. “But, given the world situation, the government’s ability to affect exports materially may be limited.” Bhandare of TSMG offers a medium-term perspective: “The new government needs to strengthen the SEZ (special economic zone) framework and support the serious players in the SEZs, especially in the multi-product SEZs. There is also a great need for reduction of procedural complexities.”

Aron notes that companies that “export services from India — BPO and ITO firms — have to make up for the failure of the state in providing the physical infrastructure and business infrastructure” — ranging from power shortages, through deficiencies in urban infrastructure and transportation to labor laws and inflexible rules and regulations associated with doing business, which can raise the cost of operations by between 5.2% to 11.9%. “Many of these companies provide everything from door-to-door transportation to medical facilities for their employees in order to keep their operations running smoothly.”

Relaxation of labor laws is another consideration. “It’s a real hornet’s nest that the government has not gotten to as yet,” Wharton’s Singh says. Owners of unprofitable companies must have the opportunity to shutter them with more ease than they have now, and the flexibility to lay off employees in such situations. “Let the government take charge of retraining and redeploy [laid-off workers] in other areas,” he advises.

Addressing the labor issue “is absolutely essential for sustained long-term growth and employment,” says Chakrabarti of ISB. “However, we have to understand that this is also arguably the most complex part of the reform process, with too many vested interests. Things are unlikely to flow very smoothly on this front.” Anticipate change, therefore, but don’t hold your breath.

Another area that will demand attention, if only for public consumption, is agriculture and rural development. Rural India has done well the last few years, boosted by five successful monsoons. While industry has slumped, agriculture has helped GDP maintain its 5%-plus growth, which is the most pessimistic estimate for 2008-09.

“Agriculture and the rural economy need to be given the right kind of projections and preference,” says Bhandare of TSMG. “India has not been so adversely impacted by the current global crisis because the rural economy has been able to sustain some degree of momentum. This needs to be sustained. The government must prepare a clear crop-wise production program in consultation with the state governments. All the rural programs like the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) must be further strengthened and enlarged to every single district. Rural infrastructure needs to be a strong focus area.”

It’s not just rural infrastructure that demands attention. The government needs to find the money — no easy job in this environment — to spend on infrastructure across the country. “The government needs to implement the 11th [five-year] plan targets, which now look remote because of the crisis and the paucity of investment funds,” says Chakrabarti of ISB. “The 11th plan envisaged a strong public-private component. The government may be fund-starved to do too much on its own unless private funds are forthcoming.” Adds Bhandare of TSMG: “The new government must also ensure that the public-private participation framework is strengthened by creating the institutional framework for center-state coordination, financial closure, and viability gap funding. Simultaneously, the government also needs to strengthen the bond markets for long-term financing.” He says some homework has been done. “The focus needs to be on the implementation strategy in the infrastructure sector. The policies, the basic framework in most sectors are in place. What is required is the implementation methodology.”

Not everyone agrees, however, on what must come first. Parekh of Ernst & Young summarizes the debate by suggesting that everything needs to be looked at with a fresh eye. “With new protectionist moves and new trade measures coming from the developed economies, the definition of right and wrong is getting challenged,” he says. The environment has changed. The government has changed. So, too, could the economic agenda.

Power generation should be another key priority, according to Aron. “India faces huge power shortages. In 2007, at peak demand the shortfall was nearly 15%…. India plans to increase its power output by 90,000 MW annually. Compare this with China — it added 100,000 MW in 2007. In 2007, India added 7,000 MW. Private investors could be tapped — but they fear that SEBs (State Electricity Boards) would give the power away to farmers for free or permit it to be stolen. To attract private funding, it is necessary to separate generation, transmission and distribution. But several states resist this since this will limit their ability to give power away for free to farmers.”

Energized as it is with the big election wins, the new government should steer clear of falling into a sense of complacency, warns Singh. “Most careful watchers of the global economy are bullish on the Indian economy in the long term, but we must keep reminding ourselves that growth projections are not economic reality,” he says. “Just because the recent revisions by Goldman Sachs of the growth rates of the BRIC economies [Brazil, Russia, India and China] now suggest that China and India will gain their predicted ascendancy a decade earlier than predicted does not mean that this will happen.”

Chaudhuri also advises against complacency, and calls for continued efforts to contain the influence of political forces that obstruct development. He points to the resurgence of the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, the party that built up local resistance to force the Tata Group to last year abandon plans to locate its Nano manufacturing plant in that state. Chaudhuri recalls that the Trinamool Congress had been reduced to one seat in Parliament in the 2004 elections, “was decimated” in the state assembly elections two years later, but has now rebounded, capturing 19 of the state’s 42 seats in the latest elections. “Flawed policies in land acquisitions gave an opening to the opposition” in the case of the Nano controversy, he says.

Wharton’s Singh says the Congress Party would do well to learn from the lost opportunities after its landslide win in 1984 following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The party, led by Rajiv Gandhi at the time, had won 80% of the seats (401 out of 508 contested seats). “That would have been a good time to decide whether India should move to a presidential system from the Westminster-style of parliamentary democracy,” he says, describing the current system as “a recipe for inaction, where we get hung Parliaments.”

Opportunities to introduce bold reforms across the economy are rare, he says. “This is a time to push forward in a major way, not to lose momentum, and make the most of the proverbial ‘political sunshine.’”

Aron offers another perspective. “Which of these reforms can we see enacted in the next five years?” he asks. “Labor reforms are least likely since this is a political hot potato. We may see some half-hearted divestment in public-sector enterprises. There may be modest increases in power generation and at best the addition of a few colleges and universities. The SEBs in many states will continue to give power away for free to politically well-organized groups and thereby deter private investors as well as create shortages.”

Aron argues that in India, “there is no consensus on economic reforms. Ironically, the resistance to these reforms comes most from those who stand to benefit most from [them] — the poor and lower middle classes. India will continue to amble along the reforms road. In spite of India being the home of companies like Wipro, Tatas, Reliance and Infosys, the World Bank rates India as the world’s 122 best place in which to do business. Indian companies — the ones that achieve excellence — are locked in a struggle to overcome the frailties of the state. Their excellence is not made in India but made in spite of India.”

Khadi – The Fabric of Freedom and Fashion

By M H Ahssan

Khadi has always been a fabric with attitude. If in the past its claim to fame was its status as a symbol of resistance against British rule, it has now become a fashion statement. Its journey from its eventful birth as the fabric favoured by revolutionaries, to designer boutiques and elite consciousness has been an exciting one.

At one time coarse and dull, khadi’s latest avatar is brightly coloured and gossamer fine. While designers sing hosannas to the versatility of the fabric, wearers swear by its practicality and comfort. It is not only the perfect answer to India’s hot and humid summers but also provides adequate protection against winter chill. Leading designers like Rohit Bal, Jatin Kochchar, Malini Ramani, and Bhavna Thareja and upmarket clothes brands like Fabindia and Anokhi have given to the traditional handspun fabric a modern and contemporary look. With its stylish cuts and innovative colours, khadi has come to define the trendy ethnic look. Its easy adaptability to a range of designs makes it amenable to both formal and informal look, as well as Indian and western styles. Stores stack a range of dresses in khadi – jackets, skirts, kurtas, dupattas, sarees, cropped tops, capris, trousers, wrap-arounds, spaghetti tops, trousers, you name it. Little wonder that khadi is a hot favourite with not only the make-a-fashion-statement college crowd but also the with-it and cool not-so-young.

From the coarse, plain kapda that was eons ago a statement of patriotism and later a must- have for netas, khadi as a designer’s raw material for runway apparels is a bellwether of its changing status. The government, having done its bit by roping in designers to give the plain old Khadi Gram Udhyog a makeover, has attracted the attention of even the elite.

While designers agree that khadi can lend itself to almost any look and cut, they rue the fact that it has been unable to find popular acceptance. “The biggest problem is that of mindset. For some inexplicable reason, people find it difficult to accept khadi as a formal outfit. This is actually not true. Almost all formal outfits can be made out of khadi – including western tops, shirts, pants sarees, lehengas and blouses”, says Bhavana Thareja, a fashion designer involved in designing clothes for KVIC.

It is very unfortunate, Thareja says, that people, especially the youth, would prefer to buy a Levis or any other denim brand for Rs 700 to Rs 800 but would consider the same price as expensive if the outfit happened to be made out of khadi.

“The rigidity of the mindset has to change and something should be quickly done to bring about awareness, both domestically and internationally”, she says.

Designers also lament that khadi is yet to evoke the kind of response in the domestic markets that is has generated abroad. “It is unfortunate that we are able to sell more khadi abroad than within the country. Here it is still considered an inexpensive, rough cloth, which the hoity toity is yet to accept,” says designer Ashish Soni, who makes it a point to include a few khadi pieces in each of his collections.

Fashion designers are however, confident that khadi has a huge potential. “Internationally, people are fond of linen. And khadi is the purest form of linen”, says Thareja. And with more khadi dresses going off the shelf in markets overseas, it has persuaded the domestic market to give the textile more than a second glance. “It is a slow process, khadi will have more takers in the domestic market and like in the West, it will be cherished for what it is. Buying khadi can easily become a habit,” says designer Vijay Lakshmi Dogra.

She adds, “It can replace linen in the international markets. It is so versatile, you can get amazing colours and textures and weaves if you combine khadi with cotton, muslin or silk. Even plain khadi by itself is a great material to work with, both for the winter and summer collections.”

For designer Anju Modi, known for her work using the fabric, which she claims has a “unique textured look”, khadi is “weather friendly and its appeal can be enhanced by using more prints on it”.

Modi says, “The fabric is perfect for printing, especially the vegetable dye block prints that we have in India. Printing is in fact much better than embroidering it as it is easier to maintain and with prints being in fashion in the international markets, it will become more chic.”

According to Dogra, the popularity of khadi has increased in recent times, “The ever-increasing penchant for khadi has some reasons. There are two kinds of buyers. The first kind of people buy khadi for a reason. A look at the past reveals the way khadi was promoted by Gandhiji. This was to promote village economy, to stop the exodus from villages to cities. Khadi was promoted extensively to make them economically more self-sufficient. One reason why some people wear khadi is the feeling that by designing clothes in khadi and by wearing khadi they are supporting the 80 per cent of the population that lives in villages,” says Dogra.

The second kind of people, according to her, wear it because of the inherent nature of khadi since “It is one of the best and comfortable fabrics for both winter and summer: cool in summer and warm in winter. Moreover the availability of variants of khadi like muslin khadi, matka khadi and hand-woven khadi provides the freedom of experimentation to the designers and makes it a really suitable buy for all kinds of occasions. Matka khadi is one of my favourite fabrics and one can see its widespread use in my collection,” she says.

She says that the marketability of khadi will only increase “once people start wearing khadi because then they become addicted to it. From masses to the elite, khadi is making a place for itself in wardrobes. The cost that ranges from Rs 30 a metre to Rs. 1000 a metre makes it really accessible and one of the most comfortable, convenient as well as stylish fabrics,” Dogra says.

Its appeal to fashion sensibilities apart, designers feel that khadi’s role in helping impoverished farmers should also be highlighted, “It is important to underline how khadi helps in sustaining villages and the lives of poor farmers who grow cotton. Buyers, especially in foreign markets, would acknowledge such details. Like it happened when the market reacted strongly to the fact that the carpet industry was using child labour, it had such an adverse impact on business. In the case of khadi, it might actually augment the product’s appeal,” points out Dogra.

Apart from being the king of the wardrobe, khadi is also a lifestyle product. It is used to make durries, gaddas, upholstery, cushions, bags, mats, bed-sheets, and curtains. Its inherent toughness ensures that it doesn’t wear down easily.

The first true Indian designer was Mahatma Gandhi when he urged the people of India to wear khadi garments. It was not only a call to create self reliance but a call to create self reliance but a call to wear something that could prove the unity of India. Khadi was given a more important status by Gandhi after his return from South Africa. While in search of the charkha Gandhi felt that for a nation to turn self-reliant, it had to return to indigenous manufactured goods.

Gandhi wrote. Swaraj (self-rule) without swadeshi (country made goods) is a lifeless corpse and if Swadeshi is the soul of Swaraj, khadi is the essence of swedeshi. Therefore khadi became not only a symbol of revolution and resistance but part of an Indian identity.

Gandhi confessed though, When I first discovered the spinning wheel it was purely through intuition. It was not backed by knowledge so much so that I confused charkha with kargha (handloom).

The term khādī or khaddar means cotton. khādī is Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth. The raw materials may be cotton, silk, or wool, which are spun into threads on a spinning wheel called a charkha. It is a versatile fabric, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. However, being a cruder form of material, it wrinkles much faster than other preparations of cotton. In order to improve the look, khādī is often starched to have a stiffer shape. It is widely accepted in fashion circles.

Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khādī for rural self-employment and self-reliance in 1920s India thus making khadi an integral part and icon of the Swadeshi movement. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khādī fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes. Thus it symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this day most politicians in India are seen only in khādī clothing. The flag of India is only allowed to be made from this material, although in practice many flag manufacturers, especially those outside of India, ignore this rule.
Khādī was used, and dyed random colors, in some of the costumes for the Star Wars prequels, such as Mace Windu’s (Samuel L. Jackson) attire.

Khadi commands a sentimental value for Indians. It is often associated with Mahatma Gandhi. Someone said, the first true Indian designer was Mahatma because of his appeal to Indians to wear khadi garments. That appeal was necessitated because of the need of creating self reliance and proving unity of India to English. Khadi also symbolized the need and importance of indigenous manufactured goods. Khadi represented India’s resistance and revolution. Khadi was also the face of Indian identity. Many people get confused between charkha with kargha (handloom). The basic difference between the two is while khadi is hand made; handloom yarn is processed at the mills.

The actual meaning of khadi is any cloth that is hand spun and hand woven (while it is now used to refer to any handmade item of mass consumption like handmade soap and paper). India has long history of textiles. In the Vedic period, Aryans used to produce their own cloth. Khadi had an important role in marriage functions. Khadi charakhas were presented to brides in their wedding trousseau to encourage spinning of the yarn.

The handspun cotton, known as Khadi is of special significance to Indians. Gandhi elevated the fragile thread of cotton to a symbol of strength and self-sufficiency, and to provide employment for the millions during India’s freedom struggle, and that symbolism of wearing cloth made by human hands has continued till this day.

These two forms of fabrics have always confused people. While khadi is hand made, handloom yarn is processed at the mills.

Many fashion conscious Indians will know that India’s rendezvour with textile dates back to ancient times when the Aryans in the Vedic period produced their own cloth. In fact, khadi (which means any cloth that is hand spun and hand woven) had a most religious role in marriages when brides in India were presented with a khada charkha in their wedding trousseau to encourage spinning of the yarn.

Roman gold, says history, paid for the import of Indian textiles, while Alexander the Great, when he invaded the country in 327 BC, was dazzled by the art of fabric making and printing as also was Marco Polo the Venetian traveler. It was in 1921 that Gandhi launched the movement of spin your own cloth and buy hand spun cloth which gained momentum making khadi the fabric of the freedom struggle.

Around that time Gandhi used khadi as the uniform for the first Non Cooperation movement and the Gandhi cap had strong symbolic overtones- that of the Indo-British battle over the looms of Manchester and a bid for a modern Indian identity. So deep rooted was the sentiment attached to this fabric that Pandit Nehru wove for his daughter Indira a wedding sari in salmon pink khadi while he was in jail. This sari is still worn by women of the Nehru-Gandhi family on their wedding day.

In 1953 when the Khadi and Village Industries Board was established it had only 156 registered institutions. Today every village however remote or small has it own khadi institutions. Initially the weaving of khadi was rather difficult as it was impossible tow eave a full length of cotton with the uneven khadi thread and at one time Gandhi is believed to have threatened to wear a sack if he was not provided with a khadi dhoti. Today the range of khadi products is unlimited from garments to household linen to furnishings, etc.

The weaving of khadi is preceded by the spinning of the thread on the charkha after which it goes to the bobbin winder, warper, sizer and finally the weaver. While spinning is organized by the khadi Board, weaving is done by the weaver at his home in an individual capacity. Spinning is mostly done by the girls and women in the villages, while weaving is dominated by men. Because of the work involved, the price of the khadi cloth when it reaches the shops is more than that of the mill or handloom cloth.

Khadi over the decades has moved from a freedom fighter’s identity fabric to a fashion garment. At one time it was scorned as fabric for the farmer and the rural wearer. Today there is such an increasing demand for khadi is such an increasing demand for khadi cloth that despite the million workers all over the country involved in spinning it they are unable to meet the demands of the market.

In 1989 the first high fashion khadi show was presented in Mumbai by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) where nearly 85 dazzling garments were created by Devika Bhojwani.

There was an exciting array of eastern and western attire. Devika had launched the Swadesi label in 1985 which was distributed through nearly 5000 Khadi Gramodyog Bhandars and Emporia.

In 1990 designer Ritu Kumar of Delhi presented her first Khadi collection at the Crafts Museum. Her Tree of Life show, an audio visual tableau spanning the history of textiles in India, showed the design lexicon of the country, the creators of textiles, those who have regenerated textile crafts and those who would wear the garments.

Eight collections were presented of which khadi was a very significant one. Since then the Tree of Life show has been presented several times for charity and caused a stir with its creations. Once again in 1997 Ritu Kumar presented the Tree of Life shown this time in London where the British were amazed with her khadi collections.

Once the sign of freedom, Khadi today holds it own on the fashion scene… it is a part of every wardrobe when it comes to selecting fabric with a discerning eye, informs Rity Kumar.

Today the younger generation may draw inspiration from the way film and MTV stars are dressing, but there was a time when fashion too was dictated by our political leaders More than the dresses it was what they signified and the fiery personalities behind them that caught the imagination of the masses and influenced them to unwaveringly follow the footsteps of their leaders, even in adapting the way they dressed, recalls Ritu Kumar.

Reveals Ritu, Actually, they were the first generation growing up after Independence and so the need to underline their identity was immense. There was also the need to emerge with something totally different and in opposition from the dress code foreign rulers had imposed.

Another person who ahs been working regularly with khadi is Kamal Wadkar, the well know promoter of traditional crafts. For decades khadi has been associated with rural wear. Although many would say it is just the right fabric for the Indian climate due to its loose weave and cool texture, khadi lacked that touch of style which other fabrics like rubia, linen or cotton had observes Kamal.

Kamal has been associated with the Gujarat Handicrafts Board (Gurjari) and the Mumbai Khadi Sangh. Her exhibitions in Mumbai for KVIC (Khadi Village Industries Commission) have netted nearly Rs.12.5 million. Kamal has presented nearly 4500 garments in 150 styles in different colours weaves and embellishment with prices ranging from Rs.460-750.

Her exhibition titled Elegance in Khadi and Khubsoorat Khadi with eight designer collections presented ethnic wear in varied forms besides western garments.

But since Khadi is woven by hand in villages it is often difficult to provide large quantities of the fabric at short notice. Yet it is this handmade quality of the fabric with its inherent defects that is the beauty of Khadi and that is what the buyer wants at times. Says Kamal it is not a poor man’s fabric although it provides employment to the poor man. It is a very up-market fabric emphasizes Kamal. Khadi dhotis are turned into printed Kurtas and dupattas.

There are times when the price and coarseness of the fabric deterred the fashion conscious from wearing it. But today khadi has many faces which are not just restricted to cotton. There is Khadi is quite competitive now and depending on the style of the garment it could range between Rs.400-2500.

There is a quaint story of how Gandhi while visiting a poor village spoke to an old woman huddled in her dark dingy hut asking if there was anything she needed. The woman said she had everything pointing to an old charkha in the corner.

The rediscovery of the charkha has brought in a new economic thinking for Indians. It has given new life to the individual made him more resourceful and self dependent. Making khadi a true start of democracy in the true sense. Khadi, however, can no longer be sold on an emotional level. A new approach has to be adopted for the new generation who are unaware of its original implications. It will be worthwhile for the young and trendy generations of the 90s to discover the beauty of khadi and support is as a fabric of our tradition.

Mass movement needed to check criminalisation of politics

By Rahul Kapoor

CRIMINALISATION of politics and corruption in public life has become the biggest threat to India, the world’s largest democracy.

The roots of corruption lie in the election expenses of the candidates. The statutory limit — Rs 15 lakh for a Lok Sabha seat (depending on the constituency and the number of voters), Rs 3 to 6 lakh for state legislatures (depending on the area), and Rs 75,000 for municipal corporators — is too less. In practice, the expenses incurred by the candidates are much more. As the candidates generally don’t have so much money to spend, the funds usually come on the basis of quid pro quo from the business world or the underworld. Once the candidate becomes an MP, MLA or a minister, he has to reciprocate to his donors in a big way. This is the root cause of corruption.

Corruption at higher levels of political leadership leads to corruption in the bureaucracy and other wings of the administration like the police or the Public Works Department. It spreads from top to bottom. It travels downwards into the entire bureaucratic apparatus and also amongst the civilians. Along with money power, muscle power has also polluted elections. Unfortunately, a large number of our MPs and legislators have criminal records against them. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar top the list.

Historic ruling: The Union Government, all political parties and several NGOs including our “Citizens for National Consensus” (CNC) have been advocating electoral reforms with a view to strengthening democracy at various levels. Sadly, despite promises, political parties have not brought about the required changes in the Representation of Peoples’ Act (RPA). On May 2, 2002, the Supreme Court gave a historic ruling following a public interest litigation by an NGO. It ruled that every candidate, contesting an election to Parliament, State Legislatures or Municipal Corporation, has to declare the following along with the application for his/her candidature:

A candidate’s criminal records (convictions, acquittals and charges etc).
The candidate’s financial records (assets & liabilities etc).
The candidate’s educational qualifications.
If the candidate fails to file any of the above three declarations, the Returning Officer will have the right to reject his nomination papers . The Supreme Court has ruled that all the three declarations will have to be truthful. The Election Commission had sent a notification on June 28, 2002, to all State Election Officers with a view to enforcing it.

The Supreme Court’s thrust has been that the people and the voters have the right to know about the candidate’s criminal record, assets and liabilities and educational qualifications. The Returning Officer has to publish these declarations for the voters’ knowledge and, surely, the people will get an opportunity to know about their candidate’s background.

As regards the financial aspect, if a candidate stated that he has assets worth Rs 500 crore or Rs 500, the Returning Officer could not disqualify him/her. If he furnished wrong details and were later detected by the Returning Officer, the latter could take a decision. If the opposing candidate brought out a convincing document to prove that the declaration of his opponent is false, then the Returning Officer was within his rights to reject the nomination. If a candidate is illiterate, it could not become a reason for rejection of his/her nomination papers.

Right to know: The right to information helps people know about their candidates and make an informed choice in the elections. The affidavit declaring the candidate’s criminal, financial and educational record is a right of the voters, so that based on such information, they can decide to vote. The Supreme Court has only enunciated the people’s right to know under Article 19 (1) of the Constitution. The Returning Officer has the right to reject the nomination papers of a candidate if he fails to provide such information by affidavit. Simply put, while furnishing criminal records, poor educational qualifications or vast wealth may not invite rejection, but refusing to provide details could. The idea behind the affidavit is that the candidate himself makes a voluntary disclosure.

The Supreme Court was quite clear in its May 2 judgement: “It is not possible for this court to give any directions for amending the act or statutory rules. It is for Parliament to amend the Act… However, it is equally settled that in case when the Act or rules are silent on a particular subject and the authority implementing the same has constitutional or statutory powers to implement it, the court can necessarily issue directions or orders on the said subject to fill the vacuum or void till the suitable law is enacted”.

SC intervention: Amazingly, political parties have not accepted the progressive intervention of the Supreme Court. All parliamentarians rejected the court directive. On August 16, 2002, the government brought about an Ordinance, having diluted the court directive. It says that disclosure of information about a candidate’s assets etc., can be made only after he gets elected. This deprives the people’s right to know about the candidate before the election. Secondly, the Ordinance says that after a candidate gets elected, the statement of assets and liabilities has to be given to the Presiding Officer of the two Houses and the State Legislatures. Any contravention will not come before the courts but will come before the Privileges Committee of the House. Consider how political parties are protecting the corrupt in their ranks. There is no mention about the candidate’s income either in the Supreme Court’s directive or in the Ordinance though this will help people know the candidate’s degree of corruption at the end of his five-year tenure.

Criminal record: The court’s directive on the disclosure of criminal record before the Returning Officer would have helped voters to know the antecedents of their candidates before making their choice. The Supreme Court wanted the following declaration by candidates:

Whether the candidate was convicted, acquitted or discharged in any criminal offence; if convicted, whether he/she has been sentenced, imprisoned or fined;
Whether the candidate was accused of any offence punishable with imprisonment for two years or more.
In the Ordinance, there is avoidable ambiguity about the extent of disclosure of criminal records. There must be clear-cut provisions to bar the entry of criminals in Parliament and State Legislatures.

Article 19 (1) (a) provides for freedom of speech and expression. The voter’s freedom of expression in case of election would include casting of votes i.e. the voter speaks out or expresses by casting vote. For this purpose, information about the candidate is a must. This right of information of the voter is denied by the introduction of a new Section 33 (b) in the Ordinance which says: “Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgement, decree or order of any court or any direction, order or any other instruction issued by the Election Commission, no candidate shall be liable to disclose or furnish any such information in respect of his election, which is not required to be disclosed or furnished under this Act, or the rule, made thereunder”.

Thus, the real purpose of the Ordinance was to substantially nullify the Supreme Court’s directive.

President’s querries: President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam raised certain points and sent back the Ordinance to the Union Government for reconsideration. However, the government returned it back to him the same day for his assent. The President had no choice, but to sign on the dotted line.

On August 28, 2002, the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the Union Government challenging the Representation of People (Amendment) Ordinance, 2002, promulgated by the President. Never before have the people reacted against an Ordinance. A large number of good leaders among the political parties must be sharing people’s concerns and apprehensions. As the citizens are united against the Ordinance, they are bound to succeed.

Collective experience: With the scuttling of the Supreme Court’s directive on electoral reforms, the political parties have only exposed themselves before the people. Apparently, they cannot do away with corruption and criminality in public life. Most political parties are not amendable to any appeals, protests or suggestions by citizens’ groups and NGOs. Our collective experience suggests that even appeals to voters “not to vote for the corrupt people and criminals” do not yield results, as there are hardly any honest and decent candidates in the elections. Both the options have failed to succeed.

Therefore, an independent mass movement has become necessary. The people should assert their powers. A united people’s movement has to make it clear to our political leaders that they cannot ignore the people anymore; that the people can punish the criminals and the corrupt in politics. Changes will have to come through peaceful, democratic and constitutional methods. Only an independent mass movement can assert the people’s power.

As a focussed effort, here is a possible success story of Mumbai city. Once Mumbai succeeds, the entire nation is bound to emulate the experiment. The mass movement for Mumbai has to aim at enlisting the support of a small ground force of about 20,000 mass workers. Mumbai elects six MPs, about 34 MLAs and about 227 municipal corporators. In a population of about 1 crore 20 lakh in Mumbai, there are about 80 lakh voters. The average voting percentage is 50 per cent, implying that there are about 40 lakh non-voters. Often voting in some areas is below 50 per cent. In Mumbai, a ground force of 20,000 can certainly influence 40 lakh non-voters to vote for good and decent candidates. Every member of this force will have to work among about 200 non-voters (40 lakh non-voters divided by 20,000 mass workers) i.e. about two or three buildings of Mumbai per individual mass worker.

The good and decent individuals will be motivated to stand for elections once they see this ground force behind them. Today, good people are reluctant to join politics. In the absence of ground support, they also face the danger of losing their security deposits. But a ground support force, which can work for their electoral success, will be able to motivate them to stand for elections. The demands of a success story are: creation of a ground force, motivating good people to stand for election, and then, making non-voters to vote. The collective mass movement can change the quality of our Parliament and state legislatures in a big way.

Independent movement: An independent mass movement will neither have big money nor big muscle power. Such a movement has to be cost effective and manageable. With determination and focussed effort, it is achievable. This is the most cost effective way to get decent people elected and eliminate corruption and criminalisation of politics.

It is possible to form a ground force of 20,000. There are well-meaning organisations among youth, students, women, senior citizens, professional organisations and NGOs. The collective strength of these organisations plus a new mass movement can organise more than 20,000 members. Unity of purpose and focus can be achieved amongst the existing organisations and new members enrolled through a mass movement.

Pressure groups: Concerned citizens of eminence and NGOs like AGNI, Citizens for National Consensus (CNC), Dignity Foundation, A Hundred Citizens, Lok Satta, Nagar, Citispace, PROUD and many such other organisations and NGOs can be involved in the mass movement. Pressure groups at the top can influence changes in the electoral laws, opinions in governance and in Parliament and state legislatures. Such protests will also embolden and motivate the masses. The next is to jointly organise a mass movement for cleaning up criminalisation and corruption in politics.

Mumbai has started many historic movements. It can once again be the torch-bearer of blazing another success story. Let us think of the enormous resources that would be released in a corruption-free India for growth and development of the entire country and for raising the quality of life to human levels for those co-citizens, who still live in sub-human conditions. Enormous resources, siphoned off in corruption, can be utilised for human resource development and for the growth and development of rural and urban India. There is need for a new beginning to make India corruption-free.

A Gandhian Institute Under Seige

By M H Ahssan

The manner in which the four-decades-old Gandhian Institute of Studies has been left in financial and administrative limbo for the past four years is a pointer to the increasing erosion of the autonomy of academic institutions under the present political dispensation.

THE autonomy of academic institutions has never been eroded to such an extent as it has today. Although the degree of autonomy enjoyed by institutions dependent on government grants varied from time to time, their overall sanctity has never been violated so badly. For more than four years now, the Varanasi-based Gandhian Institute of Studies (GIS) has been virtually under a financial siege, engaged as it is in a battle of attrition with the Human Resource Development Ministry. On June 27, when six eminent academicians, most of them sociologists, came out in support of the grant-starved GIS, a ray of hope seemed to have emerged for the troubled institute.

The 21-member Board of Management of the 40-year-old institute, founded by Jayaprakash Narayan, has been at loggerheads with the Ministry over the issue of control of the institute. For the Gandhians on the board, it has been a question of preventing the takeover of the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Apparently, the Ministry’s decision to take on the institute was sparked off by the suspension and subsequent termination of faculty member Kusum Lata Kedia.

In dealing with the GIS, the Ministry has ignored all democratic norms. Funds were stopped after 1999 following complaints of financial irregularities. The GIS did not receive the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) grant and was deprived of the matching grant from the Uttar Pradesh government. However, an inquiry instituted by the ICSSR was unable to point out any serious evidence of financial malfeasance. Although the renewal of the institute’s registration was challenged, it was stayed by the Allahabad High Court recently. All the audit objections that were made seem to have been cleared. But financial constraints have been affecting the payment of salaries, grant of retirement benefits and funding of research. Several faculty positions remain unfilled.

But the most peculiar aspect in the issue has been the role played by the ICSSR, which has been effectively used by the Ministry to starve the GIS of funds. Deeply perturbed by the state of affairs in the GIS and the arbitrary and partisan role enacted by the Ministry and the ICSSR, the six academicians issued a statement deploring the Council for trying to take over the institution. The signatories included Ashis Nandy, former Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Dhirubhai Sheth, eminent sociologist, T.N. Madan, former Member-Secretary of the ICSSR, Andre Beteille, a national fellow of ICSSR, A. Vaidyanathan, former Director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) and veteran political scientist Rajni Kothari.

Their statement was prompted by a missive sent by ICSSR Member-Secretary Bhaskar Chatterjee to D.S. Bagga, Chief Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh government, and Anil Sant, District Magistrate, Varanasi, in February 2003, claiming that the institute was located on government land and that all its assets, including the building, had been created from government grants. This claim, according to a Board member, was patently false as the land belonged to the Sarwa Seva Sangh, which had purchased it from the Railways and leased it out to the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in 1960. The Smarak Nidhi had spent money for the construction of the institute.

According to Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award winner and member of the GIS Board of Management, the institute had functioned from 1960 to 1977 without any government aid. Pandey has resolved to resist the takeover. He is fighting back by rallying Gandhians, young and old, in order to save the institute. The Uttar Pradesh unit of the National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) has extended its support to the struggle.

In his letter to the District Magistrate, Bhaskar Chatterjee suggested that he contact “Acting Director” Kusum Lata Kedia as the ICSSR was receiving disturbing information that some of the moveable properties were being removed illegally from the premises, causing substantial loss to the Central and State governments. The mention of Kusum Lata Kedia as the Acting Director was strange, because the GIS Board had removed Kedia from service in August 2002. The usage was deemed improper as the ICSSR did not have the mandate to appoint directors of autonomous institutes, even if they happened to be funded by it.

Said Sheth: “The ICSSR has no business to do what it is doing. The Council gives a block grant, which is not for maintenance but for institutional purposes. The ICSSR cannot close the institution or change the Director. It is almost like the regime-change policy of George Bush.” The central issue, Sheth said, was the autonomy of self-managed institutions. Like most autonomous institutes, the GIS was accountable only to its Board and to the grant givers insofar as the terms and conditions of the grants.

The ICSSR has termed the concerns expressed by the academicians as “misplaced”. Responding to the concern raised by them, ICSSR Director Ranjit Sinha wrote that the grants to the Varanasi institute were discontinued on the grounds of serious irregularities, maladministration and financial impropriety. He added that the registration of the institute had been forfeited and unless the ICSSR was satisfied that the institution’s credibility had been restored and its registration renewed, it would not be able to disburse grants. The issue of registration was sub judice, he said, and until the Allahabad High Court gave a final verdict on the matter, it would be impossible to take further action. He denied that an ICSSR member-secretary had written to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary. But both the letters, one to the Chief Secretary, dated February 4, 2003, and the other to the District Magistrate, dated February 20, belie the claims of the ICSSR Director.

On the issue of the registration of the institute following the stay ordered by the High Court, Sandeep Pandey said: “As of now, it is a registered society and there is no outstanding charge of financial irregularity.” Pandey said that there was sufficient documentation regarding the ownership of the land, which only went to show that the GIS was not standing on Central government property.

However, there has been hardly any let-up in the harassment faced by the Board members. On April 15 and 16, the Board members were not allowed to enter the office; and they had to hold their meeting in a corridor. Pandey was abused verbally by the Varanasi Station House Officer when he and others sat in a peaceful dharna on the institute’s premises. Commenting on the state of affairs in the GIS, Anil Mishra, honorary deputy director of Rajendra Bhavan and a former member of the Board, said that it was unfortunate that a few persons were holding the entire institute to ransom.

A former member-secretary of the ICSSR told Frontline that the autonomy of the ICSSR had been diluted over the years. The Council’s constitution expressly states that a social scientist ought to be appointed as member-secretary, but of late the tendency had been to fill the post with a bureaucrat. “How will the autonomy of the ICSSR be protected vis-a-vis the government if its member-secretary is a bureaucrat and that too from the same Ministry?” asked the academician, who preferred not to disclose his identity. Although the ICSSR is funded by the Ministry, its administrative and financial control rests with itself. Its chief executive officer is the member-secretary and not the chairperson. Thus, the post of the ICSSR member-secretary entails great responsibility.

It was also learnt that the ICSSR had been increasing its representation on the boards of some of its funded institutes without their concurrence. According to informed sources, the ICSSR had written to the boards of two institutes – the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, and the MIDS, Chennai, – calling for increased representation from the Council. And even before the two institutes could respond, the ICSSR sent a letter stating that it was appointing a second representative. A funding agency, most academicians feel, cannot take over the role of administrator.

Bimal Prasad, former Indian Ambassador to Nepal and former president of the GIS, said that on more than one occasion he had written to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, requesting his intervention in the matter. Noted Sarvodaya leader Siddharaj Dhaddha had written to the then President, K.R. Narayanan.

Yogendra Yadav, a Fellow at the CSDS, said: “I do feel that it is an attempt to take over something which is now institutionally fragile but is of significant symbolic value. The value is that it is attached to Jayaprakash Narayan’s name.” He feels that the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to get associated with the Gandhian legacy. This, he said, had made the struggle for the GIS a politically important one.

HEALTH DRINK: From snow ball to coconut lassi

By M H Ahssan

This Kochi’s couple’s one-year-old enterprise is perhaps the only serious attempt to market snow ball tender coconut so far. And in their response to irregularity of supply, they introduced the coconut lassi.

Tender coconut is a natural health drink that has considerable nutrients. The white meat of fairly grown up tender coconut is a mini meal in itself. A glass of coconut lassi, a drink made by churning out the tender coconut juice and the white meat would easily keep the hunger away for 4 – 5 hours.

Thailand, a small country with only 6.73 per cent of world’s coconut production is in the forefront of tender coconut value addition today. It is providing livelihood for thousands of families. Though we in India produce 27.08 per cent of world’s coconuts, except for selling tender coconut as it is, we haven’t achieved value additions worth the name and scale.

Snow Ball Tender Coconut – SBTC — is a promising value addition of tender coconut. It is nothing but the soft white ball obtained after neatly removing the outer shell. Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) based at Kasaragod Kerala has developed a machine to help produce SBTC. A food cum drink, this product has good potential to attract tourists and visitors who have not experienced the taste of tender coconut.

How to eat, nay, drink snowball tender coconut? It is served in a cup or wrapped in a tissue paper. Customers drink the inner juice first by piercing a straw. Later, with the help of a fork and knife, the ball is made into small pieces to eat.

Biju Balakrishnan’s (31) one year old small enterprise, Kairali Snowball Tender Coconut at Kochi is perhaps the only serious attempt to market SBTC so far. Operating from his house, Biju has been supplying SBTC to a regular clientele he has built up including some city hospitals.

The SBTC cutting machine he has bought from Mangalore on CPCRI’s recommendation has cost Biju Rs.19,000. It has a half HP electricity motor and a circular blade. By carefully handling this machine, skilled workers can the coconut shell without damaging the inner meat portion.

Biju Balakrishnan and wife Deepa are graduates. Initially, to get twenty finished products, he had to use fifty raw tender coconuts. Now, he dehusks the nut and cuts the shell with the machine’s help. Wife Deepa does the rest. Peeling the ball out and removing the testa (brown outer layer) is her responsibility. “If you are experienced, starting from dehusking to snowball, it takes only five minutes.”

Practical issues
Soon Biju realised that there are many hurdles in his path. The first one was non-availability is the right kind of tender coconut. To make SBTC, seven month old tender coconut is just right. If it’s still tender, the ball can’t be removed intact. Even if this is achieved, it won’t stand transportation. Grown up ones won’t be tasty, the inner juice would be sourish.

The CRPCRI literature claims that snowball tender coconuts ‘can be used till 10-15 days if kept inside fridge.’ “But in reality, its taste changes”, points out Biju, “for the very next day.” Even with utmost care, certain amount of breakage of balls can’t be avoided.

To use the broken balls productively, Biju started a product – Tender coconut lassi – what he calls as Elaneer juice. Blended with a dash of cardamom, this was instantly accepted by his customers. He sells 200 ml hand-sealed packet of this drink for Rs.10. As production of SBTC turned irregular, he made Elaneer Juice his main product.

Whenever right type of raw tender coconuts is available, he makes SBTC. Neatly packed in plastic bags, it is sold to the canteens of three leading hospitals for Rs.17. The canteens sell it for Rs.25. “There are a few doctors who are regular customers of my snowball, but I’m sorry that I can’t keep up the supply regularly. As getting raw material is uncertain, I’m not in a position to accept advance orders. In fact, if regular supply can be maintained, good market can be developed for SBTC.”

After packing, Biju keeps the Elaneer juice in his freezer. Hours later it’s transferred into thermocol cooler box for transportation. After reaching the hospital canteens, the packets are transferred to their fridge. “If kept in fridge, it remains for three days”, he points out, “in fact, this product is better accepted than SBTC.”

Coconut Lassi
Everyday, this couple produces 50 to 100 Elaneer juice packets. As it is a home product, they haven’t put a brand name to it. “Neither can I afford media advertisements. Yet once in a while, we get orders for functions and marriages”, says Deepa proudly.

One such memorable occasion was when they were asked to serve this natural drink for the two day All India Physicians meet held at Kochi last year. Each day, they had to supply 750 packets. “It was a great occasion”, Biju recalls, “Good number of doctors drank two packets.” Marriage order means a market for 500 drinks at one stretch.

Ernakulam Lake show hospital, Ernakulam Medical Centre and Wellcare Hosiptal are the three big customers for Elaneer juice. Doctors, nurses and members of patients’ households who stay with them are its regular buyers. “The main virtue of our products”, according to Balakrishnan, “is that it’s natural; I think that’s why the customers like it.” One north Indian doctor was so impressed that he took a few snowball tender coconuts in a cool box in the plane to share with his family members.

Another big break was two small stints he got to sell his products in city’s water park Veegaland. He could sell 150 juices each day on average. Whenever raw material was there, 50-60 snowballs as well. “It is the north Indians who like the snowball more. Cardamom flavor of the juice as a special attraction for most of them”, says he.

Kerala’s agriculture department has given an incentive of Rs.20,000 to Biju to start this home industry. The biggest challenge to this business is rain. Kerala has 4-5 months of rain. As such to cling on to this profession in monsoon is not possible. “Practically, this is only half years business. I’m able to save something only because it’s a low investment enterprise. I’m raking up my brain to explore the possibilities of earning money from the same raw material in monsoon too. “

Tender coconut ice-cream is a product Balakrishna has set his mind to. But, again, it can’t be produced and sold in rainy season. “Carbonated tender coconut water is a possibility. This technology is there in the state. But major problem is that it requires huge investment”, he explains. Biju hopes that if good quality bottled tender coconut can be produced, there may be a market worth exploring in bars which will be less impacted during rainy days. Summer rains and unexpected rainy days – like this year’s – too cause him considerable loss.

This couple had very high hopes on marketing SBTC. “Even now as and when I get right raw material, we keep doing it. Say about 750 in a month in the season.” If only a regular supply network can be built up to send snowball to the nearby famous boat house centres of Aleppey and tourist centres like Kumarakam and Munnar, this product would click among the northern and offshore tourists.

Though the returns aren’t very attractive, the couple have not given up hope. “However, this income is not suffice us to make a living. As such, I deal a little bit with real estate and share business to make both ends meet”, says Biju.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of US has reportedly developed a technology by which tender coconut juice can be preserved and sold for three weeks in a specially built mobile can. Such technologies would help such home scale industries.

Kokkarni, saviour of paddy

By M H Ahssan

What do you for water when you are a paddy cultivator and a good portion of the hills around you are rocky outcrops, not ideal for catchment? Enter the kokkarni.

Paddy is the main crop of Padayetti hamlet in Erimayoor village of Palakkad district, Kerala. The hamlet comprises of 69 families and has about 100 acres under paddy. It was in August last year Kerala State Bio-diversity Board and Thanal, a Trivandrum based voluntary organisation has initiated a three-year project of agro-biodiversity restoration and organic village here.

These fields are situated in the valley sandwiched between hills. Houses are slightly far away from the fields, located a little above the paddy fields. The average rainfall is 1200 mm, and comes from the southwest monsoon. thula varsham, the northeast monsoon, unlike other parts of Kerala, is negligible here.

Regular drought
Under rain fed condition, these farmers are taking two crops. The second crop in considerable portion is always under the threat of drought. Canal water from Malampuzha dam passes by the side of the village. By the end of January, that also stops. Farmers of about 25 acres of paddy fields lying in lower level and closer to the canal somehow manage to give protective irrigation using the canal water.

But this water can’t be pumped for long distances. In the upper elevations, farmers losing crop as a result of 2-3 week’s moisture stress is common. For drinking water, the hamlet depends on open wells. There are some public and a few private wells. Open wells drying by February-March is a common phenomenon here. Bout ten houses have dug bore wells too.

A good portion of the hills are rocky outcrops. A careful study shows that wherever catchments of paddy fields don’t have good topsoil and only bare rocks, such fields get scorched. Interestingly, some farmers have small pond, locally called as kokkarni that provides water for one or two protective irrigations. Those who have kokkarnis in their fields somehow manage to hire a pump set, provide one or two irrigations and to save the crop.

Traditional water body
Kokkarni is nothing but a farm pond or percolation pond. Generally, it is smaller than an earthen tank – kulam and is bigger than an open well. In its function, it can be compared to thalakulam. Recalls elderly farmer Jabbar: “Our ancestors had dug more than a dozen such Kokkarnis at higher elevations. These were done by our predecessors’ decades ago, even before the Malampuzha dam was constructed.”

“They weren’t drying up even in summer. Once the second crop is harvested in Feb-March, the kokkarnis were used for bathing too. They helped in retaining the moisture in the paddy fields situated below.”

What then went wrong? “As the families went on partitioning, the lands were fragmented. There was more pressure on the lands. Cultivation of crops like tapioca spread to the catchments of kokkarnis as well. That spelled the death knell for the water bodies. The loosened soil started accumulating in them and now you won’t find out the traces of these water bodies out ancestors have so painstakingly dug out.”

About a decade ago, when the drought was severe, this farming community remembered their old kokkarnis. Using polklines, about a dozen farmers had had kokkarnis dug by the side of their individual fields. Jabbar himself had had dug two. It cost him around Rs.15,000 each. “Since the soil type here is lose, it goes on collapsing from year to year. If these ponds have serve us for a decade, we have to construct stone wall lining inside it. This is very expensive”, points out Jabbar. Three-four farmers at Padayetti have constructed such retaining walls. Planting rows of vetiver instead of stone walls just before monsoon, in the first season itself might be a cheaper and effective alternative.

Wherever Malampuzha dam water doesn’t reach, kokkarnis are still present and taken care of. In the same Erimayoor Panchayat to which Padayetti belongs, Kulisseri has many kokkarnis. So is Marudamthadam of Kuththanoor Panchayat.

Another advantage of kokkarni is that by way of slow percolation, it enhances the topsoil moisture and ground water levels. It is always more beneficial if such ponds can be dug at higher levels of respective catchment area. In Kodagu district of Karnataka, such structures were there above each family’s paddy field. Of late people have forgotten its contribution to paddy fields and to the ground water aquifers.

If the catchment is rocky, one has to dig the pond at the higher level of their plots so that the percolation benefit is passed on to the rest of the fields in the lower levels. If all the farmers dig a percolation pond like this, the cumulative effect would permit a legume crop like horse gram or black gram after the second harvest of paddy.

Low Model
PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), a Bihar NGO has popularised a similar structure there which is called as five percent model. Explains Dinabandhu Karmakar, PRADAN Programme Director “The idea was originally conceived to protect rain-fed paddy crops in Purulia district from September dry spells: commonly known as hathiyaa. The core idea of the 5% model of in-situ water harvesting is that every plot should have its own water-body, which should be able to hold rain water which otherwise flows out of the plot as run-off in rainy season during vegetative growth phase of the crop. The water held in the pits would irrigate the plots during water stress. The pit will also facilitate sub-surface flow of water to downstream plots and recharge moisture regime of the area as a whole.”

At Padayetti, they are growing the traditional long duration – 120 days – paddy even for the second crop. Switching over to short duration varieties and opting for SRI method will be two other possible solutions to drought proof the risk prone paddy fields. Already Thanal has successfully demonstrated the SRI method here in leased paddy fields where they are having the demonstration cultivation.

Now, after a few awareness workshops, farmers at Padayetti are showing more interest in digging new kokkarnis and towards other drought proofing practices. Already more than 50 percent of the area has been switched back to hundred percent organic farming, claims S Usha, of the Kerala-based environmental NGO Thanal. About a dozen of houses have started producing vegetables in homestead garden sans any chemical inputs.

Slowly, but steadily, Padayetti is crawling back to its second independence. Who knows, in the years to come, Padayetti might have a few lessons for the other drought prone paddy fields of Palakkad. Nevertheless, a good part of that might be the renewal of he lessons from the past.

New Markets: Making sense of the rural rush

By M H Ahssan

The list of new products that corporate India wants to attach the ‘rural’ tag to has grown quickly. What is at stake here is more than the survival of India’s ambitious, if creative, consumer goods manufacturers.

Dehaat India is being described as the saviour of the economy. A range of products and services, from motorcycles to insurance, has been designed for the rural consumer. For the companies behind these offerings, the motivation is healthy bottom-lines in tough times. But how real is the idea of ‘rural’ consumption, and what are its effects?

Corporate India has carefully timed the announcement of the discovery of the rural Indian market. For the last quarter of the financial year 2008-09, the country’s business and financial press has run a number of articles to explain how rural markets for consumer products are doing very well, how companies which have rural products for the hinterland have done their balance sheets much good, and how the economic slowdown can be successfully beaten by selling to the dehaat regions.

The enthusiastic tone to describe an apparently resurgent rural India was set late last year, when the UPA government released its Report to the People: 2004-2008, its self-congratulatory report card. In it, its programmes for rural India are broadly described thus: “The UPA Government has launched Bharat Nirman for comprehensive improvement of rural infrastructure to ensure inclusive growth by ensuring that all eligible villages / habitations have electricity, safe drinking water, all-weather roads, and telephones, and that rural housing and irrigation potential created are substantially augmented.”

A new rural economy
There are authoritative numbers from the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) to support the contention, made by the central government and by corporate India, that there has been a major shift in the structure of rural economy. The new vision of rural economies is that they have departed from being predominantly agricultural and that is not only a growing agricultural services sector, but that all other elements of the services sector are growing, apparently helped by friendly policy and responsive governance, which has also raised demand for consumer goods and durables.

The CSO’s data show that the number of establishments (small businesses, proprietorships, the self-employed) in rural India rose by 5.37 per cent between 1998 and 2005, compared with a rise of 4.69 per cent in urban areas. This growth in the number of businesses in rural areas has pushed up the figures of rural employment growth to 3.88 per cent between 1998 and 2005 from 2.2 per cent during 1990 and 1998.

There are three conclusions that government and industry are drawing from this change. One, that there has been a measurable and visible increase in non-farm job opportunities. Two, that this increase has helped control livelihood-driven migration to cities (most conspicuous during sowing seasons for major food crops). Three, that rural India’s share in the country’s gross domestic product has benefited, accounting for 51 per cent of GDP in 2005-06 from 46 per cent of GDP in 1993-94 – and it is that 5 per cent larger share which is being used as endorsement of policy and as justification for selling to the ‘rural market’.

Economics research firm Indicus Analytics points to the key differences in distribution of expenditure as being responsible for growing rural disposable income. The firm calculated the percentage of income spent on 26 different categories of household consumption, for rural and urban homes, to isolate a few categories in which the rural household spent significantly less that its urban counterpart. These are: rent (0.94 per cent compared with 9.19 per cent for urban households), consumer services excluding conveyance (6.48 per cent compared with 10.57 per cent), conveyance (6.63 per cent compared with 9.96 per cent) and entertainment (1.11 per cent compared with 3.11 per cent).

There is another comparison which stands out between rural and urban households. Urban households spend more than 5 per cent of their incomes on each of the following five categories of consumption: fuel and light, consumer services excluding conveyance, conveyance, rent, and cereals/cereal products and substitutes. These account for 51.27 per cent of urban household expenditure. For the same five categories, the rural household spends 43.89 per cent of its total expenditure. It is the potential in this difference that corporate India seeks to exploit.

It was very different 30 years ago, for in the 1970s farm income dominated with its 73 per cent share of rural income. This share has dropped to 50 per cent and is expected to come down further to 37 per cent by 2015. ‘Non-farm’ does not however mean ‘non-agricultural’; economists like Rajesh K Shukla of the National Council for Advanced Economic Research (NCAER) point out that rural income derived from non-farm activities is dependent on the agriculture within the rural area, as well as on rural-urban linkages. It is this connection that policymakers and industry are paying more attention to.

“Increased demand for goods and services from rural India will also strengthen the rural-urban linkage,” wrote V Shunmugam and Ritambhara Singh, chief economist and senior analyst of MCX (the Multi Commodity Exchange, Mumbai), in Mint, the business daily (April 6). “The government’s concentrated efforts have empowered rural India significantly by increasing its disposable incomes. It is time the private sector focused on rural market segments to tide over the downturn in both the urban and global markets.”

A new corporate focus
There is evidence enough of such focus from corporate India. Consider these examples:

The dominant white goods and consumer electronics manufacturers all have dedicated rural marketing campaigns in place, which have become crucial to their company bottom-lines. LG Electronics expects rural revenues to grow from Rs.4180 crores (35 per cent of total revenue) in 2008 to Rs.5490 crores (45 per cent) in 2009. Samsung expects rural markets to contribute 30 per cent to its consumer electronics turnover in 2009. Philips is using its home lighting distribution network (1.8 million outlets strong) to strengthen its rural footprint and the company will use this network to sell irons, mixer-grinders, DVD players and radios.

Similarly, Whirlpool expects 5-7 per cent growth in 2009 from small towns. Hindustan Unilever has recorded over 16 per cent growth in gross revenue in recent months, at least half of which comes through its extensive rural network. Goldplus is the Tata group’s mass-market jewellery brand, which hires unemployed youth as its rural ambassadors. The youth are trained; they then educate rural people by using educational films, flip charts and booklets. Goldplus expects 50 per cent growth this year to account for a tenth of the Tata group’s jewellery business revenues.

Automobile use in rural India is measured by the auto industry at 1-2 per thousand, compared with 10-11 per thousand in cities. By using panchayats, primary healthcare members and regional rural bank members to reach potential buyers, Maruti’s rural revenues increased from 3.5 per cent of total sales to 8.5 per cent. Maruti is reported to have sold more than 60,000 cars in rural markets between April 2008 and February 2009. The car company has even launched a campaign – “Ghar Ghar Mein Maruti (a Maruti in every household)” – specifically for these markets.

Hero Honda’s motorcycle sales grew 11 per cent in 2008-09 fiscal against an average sales growth of 1.9 per cent for the industry. For the two-wheeler company, the share of rural sales has gone up from 38 per cent in 2007-08 to 40 per cent in 2008-09. Hero Honda in late 2007 had launched a rural campaign called “Har Gaon, Har Aangan (every village, every home)”.

Bharti Airtel’s rural footprint has increased from 6 per cent in 2007-08 to 12.6 per cent until February 2009. Airtel’s average revenue per user (a telecom industry metric) in the rural regions has increased from Rs.100 to Rs.150 in the same period. The company sees this is indication of more cash available with the rural consumer, and has even attributed this increase to an increase in minimum support prices for wheat and rice over the last two years.

IFFCO Tokio General Insurance has tied up insurance with fertiliser. For its Sankat Haran Policy (non-crop insurance), the company offers farmers a free insurance cover worth Rs.4000 with every bag of fertiliser (the sale receipt is also the policy document).

The growth in such markets and the new opportunities being created by companies are being seen, by central policymakers, as the early gains from the increased investment in the farm sector for crop diversification and from alternate revenue channels such as horticulture, poultry and fisheries. Now, the anticipation of another good crop year and further government initiatives are expected to help rural areas remain vibrant even during the present economic slowdown. “To think there will be a further upsurge in farm growth is wrong, but Indian agriculture and the rural economy have been holding out against the slowdown,” said IRMA chairman Dr Yoginder K Alagh, as quoted by a business daily.

From the point of view of private sector India, there are two lessons to be drawn. One, that the fortunes of participants in the rural economy have not been significantly affected by the economic slowdown. The rationale is that public investment in rural employment and infrastructure will continue, so that entrepreneurs who continue to make products for rural India will weather the current slump in global and urban demand. Two, that the rural economy needs to be “de-risked and strengthened” (as an editorial in a business daily has put it) and provided a modern financial system that will bring down the cost of services and help spread the benefits.

There is good reason to do so, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), one of our biggest industry and business associations. This month, Assocham released a report titled The Rise of Rural India which has sought to explain why this market has become so important for companies, particularly consumer goods companies. “The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in rural areas is expected to grow by 40 per cent as against 25 per cent in urban areas,” said Assocham president Sajjan Jindal. The report says that rising rural incomes, healthy agriculture growth, swelling demand, rising consumerism across India, and wider distribution of FMCG products in the rural market are contributing to high growth and rapid expansion of the FMCG industry in rural India.

This expansion is seen in the market sizes calculated for India’s rural population by state [See Table 2]. Using data from Indicus Analytics, the five biggest rural markets are: Uttar Pradesh (Rs.146,528 crores), Andhra Pradesh (Rs.130,611 crores), Maharashtra (Rs.126,313 crores), West Bengal (Rs.122,703 crores) and Gujarat (Rs.86,451 crores). When filtered by states with rural populations of 10 million and more, and sorted by per capita ‘market size’, the states of Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh top the list of 17 such states, with figures ranging from Rs.35,500 to Rs.23,500 as the per capita market potential.

A more sober, wider reality
The question is: how real is this market potential? Despite the list of individual company successes and despite the ringing encomiums from industry associations for central government policies, the trend is seen as suspect in critical quarters. “It is a mirage of prosperity. Consumers are cutting down on necessities,” is the cautionary note provided by R S Deshpande, director of the Institute for Social and Economic Change. Krishan Bir Chaudhary of the Bharat Krishak Samaj has also attempted to place in perspective the idea that rural prosperity is widespread. His reminder is that such prosperity is restricted to a few places where high land real estate prices have concentrated money in the hands of a few.

Wherever new money has not been concentrated, or is not visible in consumption, is where conditions have changed little despite the rising rural sales graphs of companies. The evidence exists in another set of numbers: crop prices, input costs of cultivation, the consumer price index for agricultural labour and the wholesale price index. Whether in the rural markets of Jharkhand (market size Rs 37,721 crore, rural population 20.9 million) or Assam (market size Rs 36,880 crore, rural population 23.2 million) or Chhattisgarh (market size Rs 33,859 crore, rural population 16.6 million) when agricultural crop prices do not rise as much as input costs for cultivation – or as much as any other goods farmers have to buy – it affects the real incomes of farming households. It is just the same for non-agricultural small producers.

There is another factor, just as inexorably in motion upwards like agricultural input costs. The consumer price index for industrial workers increased steadily until October 2006, and thereafter the index for agricultural labourers has moved up more rapidly. The main reason is most likely the increase in the price of food, which reached alarming highs in 2008. They did so in the wake of a steady rise in consumer prices over a five-year period, from 1999-2000 to 2004-05, during which their rise was 40 per cent.

How likely is it that nominal wage incomes for most workers in rural areas have increased by that much in this same period? Is the larger number of establishments (small services, self-employed, proprietorships) an indicator of the need to supplement dwindling real incomes? Where then are the widespread disposable income surpluses that corporate India, the UPA and government-friendly economists want us to see?

It is this mismatch that partly explains the reaction to the news, on 19 March 2009, that the wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities had increased at the low rate of 0.44 per cent. The automatic reaction was one of admiring welcome – there was acclaim that this index now reflected the lifting of inflationary pressures which had borne down on our citizens only half a year earlier. “WPI inflation peaked at close to 13 per cent in August 2008,” stated the Economic Advisory Council, in its Review of Economy, January 2009. “Consumer price inflation (CPI) continued to rise to 11 per cent in October and November due to price increase in primary foodstuff. The Council expects that the WPI inflation rate for manufactured goods is likely to fall to 4 per cent in February and fall further by the end of March 2009, a trend that may continue for a few months into the next fiscal year. However, inflation in primary foods is likely to remain elevated at close to 8 per cent.”

This is a far more sober assessment than what corporate India is customarily used to. What are the real impacts? The prices for non-food primary products have barely moved. Oilseed prices have fallen by more than 5 per cent. This immediately affects all the producers of cash crops, who will be getting the same or less for their products although they are paying more for food. They are also paying more for fertiliser and pesticides, whose prices have increased by more than 5 per cent in the last two years. CPI inflation will also fall, said the Council, but the extent of the fall is unlikely to match that for WPI, “considering the expected higher rate of food inflation and its larger weight in the consumer price indices”. Where then will the surpluses continue to come from, especially since rural food inflation is usually 2 to 2.5 per cent higher than urban?

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has consistently questioned the UPA’s inflation equations. “Shamefully, the UPA government is now claiming great success in controlling inflation, at a time when the entire global economy is spiralling rapidly into recession,” stated a commentary in People’s Democracy, the weekly organ of the CPI-M, in March 2009. “Inflation in prices of food articles are 8 per cent and foodgrains are 11 per cent higher than a year ago, respectively. There was a cut down on food subsidies when a big increase was required. During the UPA regime (2004-2009) the average share for food security allocation on all programmes has stayed below 1 per cent of GDP (current prices), at a time when 16 countries increased their subsidies from near zero to up to 2.7 per cent of GDP as a response to higher food prices.”

Policymaking by numbers is always tricky, if not downright dangerous. The differences in rural household distribution of income that are seen to give hinterland homes the spending edge also point to serious problems. Using the same data set, rural households are severely under pressure by disproportionate spending on four important categories:

on cereals/cereal products and substitutes rural households spend 11.56 per cent of their total expenditure, compared with 5.68 per cent for urban households, a difference of 5.88 per cent;

on fuel and light (energy for cooking and energy for lighting) rural households spend 18.28 per cent of their total expenditure while urban households spend 15.87 per cent (this category takes up the biggest chunk of expenditure for both types of households);

on non-institutional medical care the rural household spends 5.92 per cent of total expenditure as compared with 4.21 per cent for the urban household; and

on vegetables the village household spends 4.14 per cent of total expenditure compared with the 2.79 per cent the city household spends. This last category demonstrates how counter-intuitive actual rural spending patterns can be, as a real reflection of the distortions the rural household economy survives in.

Mixer-grinders, 150 cc motorcycles, entry-level flat screen television sets, mini doses of insurance, cars that will be fuelled by CNG, refrigerators that need to voltage stabilisers, cosmetics and toiletries – the list of new products that corporate India wants to attach the ‘rural’ tag to has grown quickly. What is at stake here is not only the survival of India’s ambitious, if creative, consumer goods manufacturers. At a time when data from regional rural banks is revealing more about the size, shape and reasons for farmers’ indebtedness than ever before, at stake is also the financial security of the rural household.

Once upon a time, there was a Queen!

By M H Ahssan

While documenting the plight and pluck of women, the film captures the everyday lives of young girls and women whose lives could be trapped in a no-exit situation at any moment, without dramatizing this. “Difficult ethical questions are a part and parcel of documentary filmmaking,” says Kavitha Pai who, along with her friend and peer Hansa Thapliyal, were commissioned by Other Media, an NGO that functions in Delhi and Bangalore, to make a film on Women, War and Peace in general, and in particular on peace initiatives by women in conflict-ridden states. The outcome is a 105-minute incisive documentary called Yi As Akh Padshah Bai (There was a Queen) on peace initiatives by the women in Kashmir, in conflict-ridden areas not read much about in the media.

The beginning was uncertain. “We were uncomfortable with the entire premise of the film. We were not sure whether their gender predisposes women to non violence,” explains Pai. “At that point, we were not even sure what the word ‘peace’ meant vis-a-vis our film, the women we were going to research and the life-threatening situations they live and work in. When we first went for the field survey, above everything else, they wished to talk about injustice, the brazen violation of human rights, and their total lack of geographical, social and economic freedoms.”

After the first field survey, Pai and Thapliyal went to shoot with a technical crew composed enitrely of women. For all that, the film does not reveal any gender bias. So, alongside the women who come across with very powerful voices, we find the camera closing in on some men. One of them is a former militant; a second man had sent his son for training across the border with his blessings. The third man is a school master who lost his son in gun battle only to realize that he was a militant. The fourth is a schoolboy whose brother was killed in crossfire. And as they spoke to the men, they realised there is a difference in the narratives of men and women.

“While every story in Kashmir has the power to shock and move, and the stories of both men and women were compelling in their honesty, in their rage, in their grief, in their helplessness, in their contempt, in their fierce refusal to forget; the women’s stories are markedly different – in their determination to survive, to nurture,” Pai elaborates. It is through these women – proud, strong, with an undying zest for life – that they have tried to explore what peace means and how it can come about in Kashmir. There Was a Queen is a film of conflict and peace in Kashmir. It is about Kashmiri women who talk openly about terrorism, militarism, peace and their daily life. It is a record of political voices of women representing many sides in Kashmir.

While documenting the plight and pluck of women, the film demonstrates the uncertainty the everyday lives of young girls and women whose lives could be trapped in a no-exit situation at any moment, without dramatizing this constant risk. A young girl learning tailoring in the Zainab Skill Centre in Maisuma in the heart of Srinagar, is being teased by her friends for wearing lipstick. She says, “Who knows whether I will remain alive tomorrow? So, why not fulfill my desire and have some fun while I am alive today?”

The Zainab Skill Centre was established around 1991-92 to provide support to girls affected by conflict. The centre was founded by Agha Ashraf, father of the late Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali. It is run with donations from non-resident Kashmiris. Kavitha says that every girl here has lost a brother, father, husband, son or some male member. “Their smiling faces say that this is nothing extraordinary for them. They dot their stories belting out lines from popular Hindi film songs, sometimes lamenting when this onslaught would finally end,” Pai adds.

The crew reached Sopore two days after two young girls Shahnaza and Ulfat, both 17, studying in pre-university were killed. Kavitha Pai says that they did not wish to shoot the funeral of the two girls because it would be intruding into very private moments of grief. “But the family insisted that we do, because they wanted the rest of India to know what was happening in Kashmir. As one of the dead girls was being bathed by her wailing mother, I could not bear it anymore and Hansa took over. ‘Did you see the mehendi in her hands’ Hansa asked me afterwards. I hadn’t because I felt guilty in some way,” says Kavitha.

Hansa was stronger. “My predominant emotion was rage, which made me place the horror, the shame and the sorrow of it on record, for all to see,” says Hansa. “So I shot the mothers bathing their little girls, stroking their seemingly unscarred bodies, gently combing their hair and kissing their fingers,” she adds.

A year later on the editing table, they debated whether they should use the funeral footage at all because it was too sensational and too intrusive. “We finally decided to keep three shots to drive home the gravity of the crime – the murder of two innocent girls,” Pai points out. Some said they were killed in crossfire while others said it was the Indian army who were responsible. In the end they decided it did not matter who had ended the lives of these children; what mattered was that two innocent girls had been killed, just when their whole life was about to unfold ahead of them.

The documentary not only traces the plight of the women, but also shows the video footage of the movement of the convoys of security forces personnel in busy areas of Srinagar city. Parveena Ahamgar, whose son is missing, and Parvez Imroze, a lawyer who works in the area of human rights founded the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in 1994. The APDP is an important initiative by women towards bringing peace in Kashmir. Tasleema Bano, a resident of Malangam-Bandipora and a member of APDP says how her husband was picked up some years ago, and has never been seen or heard of again.

Women who have lost their near and dear ones are united in carrying forward a joint struggle, demanding the return of their missing husbands, sons, brothers and fathers. “If they are dead, give us their dead bodies so that we can give them a decent burial,” says one woman. These women are neither involved in the political issues that plague the state, nor are they part of militant groups. Their tragedy is that the male members of their families have been picked up either by militants to join the movement for Azaad Kashmir, or by the security personnel, or by the Indian Army.

Hajra has lost four sons. Yet, a ray of hope keeps this old, frail, but brave woman get on with the business of living. She says that conceiving a situation of peace is impossible in an environment where guns keep roaring and where women lose their dearest ones, taken away by the security forces, never to be seen again. The camera closes on the wrinkled face of Ghulam Rasool Paddar, father of Abdul Rehman Paddar, killed in an encounter (a ‘fake’ encounter, says the father) at Ganderbal.

While many voices are anguished, some are vengeful and harsh too, and the film does not overlook these. At one point in the film, we see a young girl who is ready to take up arms to avenge the killing of her sister by the security forces at Sopore. Her mother echoes this, proclaiming she would take up arms so as to “eliminate” the security forces personnel.

The film pans through extensive interviews, the nature of crackdowns carried out by the security forces and how the women cope with the situation once the security forces cordon a given area. Naseem Shifai, a famous Kashmiri poet, says that it is necessary to remove the stigma of every Kashmiri being labeled a militant by the rest of India. Hameeda Nayeem, reader in the English Department of the University of Kashmir claims that every Kashmiri should be given the right to self-determination, and asks why the militants would kill their own people.

Misra, one of the men interviewed, who lives in Malangam, said that more appalling than the indifference of the State was the tragedy of the Kashmir leadership abandoning the families of those they call martyrs. “Some of them seem to have seen the light after the Amaranth protests last year when there was a consolidated attempt by some parties to give compensation to the families of those who had died in the firing, to pay for medical aid and for the education of the children. But given the scale of devastation as a result of the 20-year-old conflict, much more needs to be done,” he said.

There was a Queen leaves us with strange feelings of shock and guilt – shock because of the meaningless death and disappearance of hundreds of people, and guilt because so many of us have done nothing to help these women who are trying to carve out pockets of peace in their disturbed lives. The conflict has created a large number of widows, ‘half-widows’ (those whose husbands have disappeared), mothers who have lost their sons, daughters who have been subjected to rape, women pushed out of employment and people suffering from acute stress and trauma. The sheer banality of such acute suffering is striking, throughout the film.

The film ends with the recent protest demonstration by the parents of disappeared persons at Jantar-Mantar in New Delhi. The scene is ordinary, by the standards of high emotion elsewhere in the documentary. But its ordinariness also captures the everyday nature of the pain that people live with, and the alternating realities of intense conflict and peaceful democratic protest.

Jackfruit sells, and how!

By Sandhya Hegde

The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree of the mulberry family (Moraceae) native to parts of South and Southeast Asia. It is well suited to tropical lowlands. Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world, seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. Even a relatively thin tree, around 10 cm (4 in) diameter, can bear large fruit. The fruits can reach 36 kg (80 lbs) in weight and up to 90 cm (36 in) long and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter. The jackfruit is something of an acquired taste, but it is very popular in many parts of the world. The sweet yellow sheaths around the seeds are about 3–5 mm thick and have a taste similar to that of pineapple, but milder and less juicy.

The jackfruit (not to be confused with the Durian fruit) is native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also possibly native to the Malay Peninsula, though it is more likely that it was introduced there by humans. It is commercially grown and sold in South, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. It is also grown in parts of Hawaii, Brazil, Suriname, Madagascar, and in islands of the West Indies such as Jamaica and Trinidad. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Indonesia. All jackfruit plants are frost sensitive. The jackfruit bears fruit three years after planting.

The jackfruit has played a significant role in the Indian agriculture (and culture) from time immemorial. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago. Findings also indicate that Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great (274–237 BC) encouraged arbori-horticulture of various fruits including jackfruit. Varahamihira, the Indian astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer wrote a chapter on the treatment of trees in his Brhat Samhita. His treatise includes a specific reference on grafting to be performed on trees such as jackfruit.

In Sri Lanka, particularly for rural poor families, a jackfruit tree is a fortune. The tree bears fruit for over six months, yielding many fruits over the course of the season. The fruit is a best substitute for rice, due to which the tree is commonly called “rice tree” by rural people.

Recently, the jackfruit has been considered as an invasive species in Brazil, specially in the Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca forest being mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-XIXth century, jackfruit trees have historically made part of its flora since the park’s founding. Recently, however, it was considered that the species had begun to expanded excessively due to the fact that its fruits, once they had naturally fallen to the ground and opened, where eagerly eaten by small mammals such as the common marmoset and the coati.

As both animals also prey opportunistically on bird’s eggs and nestlings, the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed them to expand their populations at the expense of avian life. Also, as the seeds themselves are also dispersed by the same animals, this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree-species; therefore the fact that, between 2002 and 2007, 55,662 jackfruit saplings have been destroyed in the Tijuca Forest area alone in a deliberate culling effort by the park’s management; at the same time, 1,921 young trees were felled and 881 mature ones were killed through girdling.

Jackfruit, the king of fruits, is tasty as well as nutritious. Come summer, and the fragrance of the fruit emanates from every home in the villages of Sirsi. The Malnad region is known for a variety of delicacies made out of jackfruit. But the fruit has hardly been tapped for its commercial potential.

Kadamba Marketing Cooperative at Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district has driven home the commercial importance of jackfruit. The Cooperative has taken up the marketing of jackfruit papad in a big way. Kadamba Marketing had, last year, supplied 70,000 jackfruit papads under the brand name of Mayura. This year the demand has been such that the cooperative is striving to supply 1.5 lakhs of papads.

Traditionally, jackfruit papads have been prepared in villages in the region, devoid of marketing strategies. The cooperative provided training to the members of self-help groups to prepare jackfruit papads.

Kadamba has purchased 35,000 papads from those who prepare them, paying them Rs 60-70 for every hundred. A single family in Jaddigadde village has provided as many as 12,000 papads. A self-help group of Achave village has supplied 10,000 papads to Kadamba marketing ever since the jackfruit season began, says manager Vishweshwar Bhat.

It is difficult to meet demands and Kadamba is ready to purchase any number of papads if the quality is maintained. Along with papads the cooperative sold three quintals of jackfruit chips, he added. Over the last two years, the cooperative has held a special mela for jackfruit and preparations made out of it.

S L Jagadish, assistant professor of Arabhavi Kittur Chennamma Horticulture College, points out that there are around 300 types of the fruit.

In the Western Ghats, the flesh of fruit are soft whereas in the plains, the flesh is harder. Jackfruit products are very profitable, he explains. An organised production and marketing system should be established to make the fruit commercially viable, he adds, pointing that the fruit would then beat other fruits like mangoes and bananas.

When Rahul Gandhi learnt boxing

By Kajol Singh

Rahul Gandhi may be having many commandos to defend him but the young politician believes in self-defence and learnt some boxing skills from India’s first Dronacharya awardee Om Prakash Bharadwaj.

The veteran coach said that Gandhi learnt techniques of boxing from him for two months last year with the objective of keeping himself physically and psychologically fit for a busy political life.

“It was a great opportunity for me to train Rahul Gandhi in boxing for two months last year,” said Bharadwaj.

“In the beginning I was also surprised why he wanted to learn boxing because I was sure that he was not going to box in the ring. But later I realised that he was keen to have some knowledge about the art of self defence,” he added.

The 70-year-old coach-cum-commentator said Rahul had great interest in sports and he was also a good shooter, swimmer and horse-rider.

“I observed that he likes sports. He is a good swimmer, shooter and horse rider. He is interested to have elementary knowledge in various activities and keep himself busy.

“He believes in making efforts and does not waste a single minute,” Bharadwaj said.

The former boxer rated 39-year-old Rahul as a great learner, who is physically very fit.

“You won’t believe but he was too good and had prior knowledge of a few boxing techniques. He would also discuss about the game’s various techniques.

“I found him physically quite fit. For instance, knowing his busy schedule I kept for him light training and for the warm-up would ask him to run one round of his residence ground. But he would ask me if the drill was enough and run two more rounds.

“During the strenuous work-outs on punching pad also I never saw him tired,” Bharadwaj said.

The caoch was all praise for Rahul’s humility and was completely bowled over by his manners and etiquettes.

“One day when I wanted some water to drink, instead of asking any attendant he himself rushed to the kitchen to fetch me water. On another occasion, when he was escorting me to their gate, Soniaji called him but he replied ‘let me see sir up to the gate and then I will come’. What better behaviour and etiquette I can expect from such a top youngster of the country?” he said.

Bharadwaj also recalled when Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra also tried her hand at boxing during one of their practice session.

“One day Priyankaji showed her interest in working on the punching pad, saying ‘main bhi boxing karungi’. I went to Soniaji, who was sitting nearby, and requested her to allow Priyankaji and told her Indian women were already world champions in boxing,” said Bharadwaj, heavily impressed by the top family of the country.

Spot the difference: India then & now

By Sheena Shafia

Reading Joseph Campbell’s Brahman and Baksheesh, an account of his travels across India in 1954-1955 seemed serendipitous as the election results unfolded. A new India is about to emerge, seems to be the general consensus. The people had spoken and we’re on our way. This new India, circa 2009, will be inclusive, non-sectarian, progressive, forward-looking and at the same time, socially conscious.

Campbell is of course the famous scholar and mythologist. His visit to India was long planned, and his friendships with Ananda Coomaswamy and Heinrich Zimmer, whose books he edited, and his reading of Indian texts and Hindu philosophy had fired his imagination and expectation.

He provides a perspective on a new nation — though an ancient civilisation –trying to make a mark on a new world order. First off, he is disappointed: “I came to India to hear of brahman and all I have heard so far is politics and patriotism. Zimmer’s formula appears to be correct: devotion to the Mother appears to have become a devotion to Mother India.”

The anti-American rhetoric he hears from everyone, especially prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, he finds offensive and hypocritical — after all, US money was flowing into India and being accepted everywhere. Then, on his travels through North India he sees squalor everywhere and yet every other Indian he meets is frightfully sanctimonious and superior about Indian spirituality versus Western materialism.

As Campbell moved from Delhi and North India to Bangalore, Calcutta and finally Bombay, he came to terms with his dislike and indeed liked India more and more. But some of his observations still stand and act as prophecies even.(Though as a mythologist Campbell certainly knew that the stories and history flow, round and round, the serpent eating its tail, without beginning or end). Has the devotion to the Mother lost completely to the love for Mother India?

Certainly, we have embraced American capitalism. If we are going towards Nehruvian socialism now, there are some roads on which we have travelled too far. We cannot go back. But we can and must lift those 500 million Indians out of the mess in which they still live. For this, Campbell saw a conflict between Vinoba Bhave’s and Nehru; or Gandhi versus Nehru.

It’s an argument we might well hear again in these times. What affected Campbell the most — apart from the lack of the Upanishadic thought in daily life which he came looking for and might have been amused to find it repackaged to us via the Americanised Deepak Chopras and Robin Sharmas — was the status of women and the lack of social interaction between the genders. Indian society would have to open those doors.

Here Campbell might have been pleasantly surprised. If women were invisible across North India in the 1950s, they’ve come a long way, baby. In Bombay he met society ladies called Pipsi and Popsy and they’re still here. In those days, they promoted art and culture, today it is largely themselves. But surely, across the nation, women are on the go.

His third observation about the lack of effort made by India’s businessmen to alleviate India’s problems, sadly, remains. He writes glowingly of the Sarabhais in Ahmedabad, a rare industrial family which gave to the arts and sciences. The names since have been few and far between, barring the Tatas, whose philanthropy predates the rest. Instant profit was the norm then and nothing much has changed.Someone explained to Campbell that Indian businessmen do not want to wait to make profits and therefore do not take risks. It shows.

India in the 1950s was eager to find a place in the polity of nations. In 2009, we’re well on our way there. It’s interesting to see that progress –women’s rights — has been made but so much has remained the same. As for our spiritual centre? Now that is another story.

Promoting Peace Through Tourism: Role of Cooperatives

By Sanjay Kumar Verma

India Marching Ahead
In the recent years India has emerged as a major global power. India’s economic reforms have made the Indian economy as vibrant as ever. A conducive climate for foreign investment has been created. Indian democracy despite its contradictions has given the nation political stability which has no doubt strengthened the country’s developmental plank. However, despite all this India has been straggling with peace as the problems of poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, social inequalities, insurgency, etc. continue to plague the nation. The strategies formulated to tackle these problems have not paid full dividends. Tourism as an effective strategy to promote peace has not been discussed or debated despite tourism sector remaining in prominence in the recent years.

Boost to Tourism
The economic liberalization in India has given a big push to Indian tourism. Tourism is today projected as an engine of economic growth and an instrument for eliminating poverty, curbing unemployment problems, opening up new fields of activity and the upliftment of downtrodden sections of society. New opportunities are being tapped to promote eco, adventure, rural, postage, wildlife and health and herbal including medical tourism. With the increasing number of foreign tourists coming to India every year and domestic tourism gaining popularity, public and private sector bodies are actively involved in promoting tourism in the country. The international and regional dimensions of tourism are also getting due recognition. For example, travel links leading to establishing people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan are given prime importance. As a result of this, tourism has been instrumental in softening the relations between India and Pakistan leading to peace.

Peace Through Tourism
At a time when tourism initiatives have gained momentum in India, the situation is ripe for popularizing the concept of “Peace Through Tourism” in a big way through strong advocacy and practical action. Tourism as a strategy to promote peace by solving the problems of poverty, unemployment, etc. can succeed if effective inter-linkages are established between “tourism initiatives” and “peace”, and appropriate action plans are devised accordingly. India has strong community and democratic ethos. Community-based initiatives based on people’s participation have been quite effective in India in solving the socio-economic problems of the people. They have also been successful in building up strong collaborations based on people’s efforts which have led to creation of a peaceful and cordial atmosphere. In fact, the peaceful under-currents of Indian democracy are evident in the working of community-based ventures. Limitations of the centralized form of planning have compelled the policy-makers to pin their faiths on such people-based ventures. The paper argues that if the tourism strategies are geared towards involving the community-based organizations, they can promote peace in a real way.

Cooperatives and Peace
Cooperation means living, thinking and working together. It is working together to learn to live in our society peacefully and harmoniously. A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common, economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

In an age of declining values, peace can remain elusive if the values are not well propagated and communicated to the society at large. No doubt, in this scenario the value-based organizations have an important role to play in peace-building. The cooperatives have a strategic advantage over other organizations in this respect. The principles and values of cooperatives are the best guidelines to create a sustainable and peaceful world. They are intended to safeguard the human rights and enable the members to practice democracy and enjoy freedom of action. Cooperatives are the organizations which have strong community roots. They are embedded within the communities in which they exist. They work for sustainable development of communities through emphasis on values which create a peaceful atmosphere within the community.

Cooperative Contribution to Peace : An Indian Perspective
760 million people around the world are members of cooperatives. In Kenya 20% of the population is a member of cooperative, while in Argentina it is over 29%, 33% in Norway, 40% in Canada and US. The contribution of cooperatives to poverty alleviation can be gauged from the fact that they provide 100 million jobs and in some countries and areas are among the largest employees as in Columbia where a national health cooperatives is the largest employer at national level.

Worldwide the cooperative movement has contributed to peace by helping eliminate poverty, sustain environment, provide employment, and enrich social standards of the people. The value-based orientation of the cooperative movement has played a crucial role in checking the capitalist tendencies in the society by creating an equalitarian society through which chances of conflict are minimized.

In India the cooperative concept has worked wonders. Starting in 1904, the cooperative movement has made rapid strides in all areas of socio-economic activities. Today, there are more than 5 lakh cooperative societies in the country with a membership of 23 crores and working capital of Rs. 198.542 million. IFFCO and KRIBHCO are two cooperative fertilizer giants which have matched global standards of performance. The cooperative credit institutions are disbursing 46.15% of agricultural credit and cooperatives are distributing 36.22% of total fertilizers in the country. Dairy cooperatives in India with their strong and extensive network have excelled in their areas of operations. They have ushered in milk revolution in the country. India is the largest producer of milk in the world. The housing cooperatives in India have not only reaped economic reforms, but have also contributed to peace through promoting social harmony and community living.

The cooperatives in India have played a pioneering role in saving the poor from clutches of moneylenders by providing them credit at reasonable rate of interest so that they may start economic activities through a long chain of credit cooperatives set up at various levels. Besides, the cooperatives have convinced the poor that they are the institutions for their welfare, not exploitation. In the recent years the Self Help Groups based on cooperative principles have mushroomed in large numbers which have mobilized the rural poor by providing them avenues of income generation.

In India the cooperatives have played an important role in employment generation. About 15.47 million individuals are employed in the cooperative sector and the number of persons who are self-employed in the cooperatives are more than 14.39 million. The cooperatives have shown their strength in social sector too. For example, the sugar cooperatives in Maharashtra have come up in the field of education and health. In the field of environment, the cooperatives have played an important role in environment preservation. IFFCO, has played a laudable role in protecting environment through pollution control measures through its plants and farm forestry cooperatives.

Cooperatives and Tourism
Considering the contribution of cooperatives to peace and the value-based peaceful orientation of cooperatives, it is natural that the cooperatives are well positioned to strengthen the agenda of tourism. Tourism spreads the message of peace. If tourism becomes a key agenda of all the nations, a peaceful world order is bound to emerge. The institutions like cooperatives can play an important role in peace building if they are involved in tourism. In India tourism policy shift towards promoting decentralized form of tourism in which there is participation of all sections of the society is clearly visible. Though instances of cooperatives involved in tourism are negligible, the Indian cooperatives have strong potentialities to emerge as a lead player in the field of tourism.

Cooptour, a cooperative organization of 55 members, is involved in mainly ticketing and outgoing tourism. Besides the business and support from cooperative organizations, its professional services has led to increasing business with non-cooperative organizations. Cooptour feels that it has tremendous opportunities of growth in the areas of international cooperative tour packages, transport, rural tourism, etc. if there is full support from national and international cooperative organization.

The government has identified Rural Tourism as one of the thrust areas. The strength of rural tourism lies in the villages, and the cooperatives field 100% of the villages. A large chunk of foreign tourists have a high level of involvement in whatever they do about rural tourism as they want to participate in cultural affairs, traditional lifestyle, etc. The cooperatives in the rural areas in India have strong cultural affiliations. The cooperatives can not only acquaint the foreign tourists with rich culture of the region, but they can also understand their urge to participate in and experience the local culture closely.

The cooperatives can play a big role in strengthening international bonds of cultural heritage by making the tourists feel that they are a part of cooperative culture which is built on peace. Formation of tourism cooperatives for guiding, escorting, maintain local handicrafts, etc., can generate jobs, and end their poverty. In India the primary agriculture cooperatives are the strength of the cooperative system in the rural areas. They can promote rural tourism directly. Their contribution in poverty alleviation along with their emphasis on rural tourism as a potential area of development can be important in promoting peace.

The Indian Government is already sensitized on the importance of rural tourism, and the need for involving community based organizations in this field. The UNDP-Ministry of Tourism Project which has been started in India talks about strong community-private and public sector partnership for giving a boost to rural tourism. The Government has decided to develop necessary infrastructure for promoting rural tourism and has identified 31 villages to be developed as tourist spots. UNDP is helping in areas of capacity building, involvement of NGOs, local communities and artisans, etc. There is a dominant view that cooperatives and NGOs are the best agencies to promote rural tourism. Uttaranchal is a top tourist state in India. The Government is involved in formulating effective tourism strategies to promote tourism in the state.

Uttaranchal Government has launched Community based. Tourism in which certain number of villages/clusters are developed for attracting foreign tourists. Development of environment friendly tourism development is a focal area of tourism policies in Uttaranchal in which cooperative societies of rag pickers are formed so that the environment is not affected. Similarly, tourism leading to self-employment ventures is also noticeable in Uttaranchal. Self employment scheme in which the focus of project is on setting up PCOs, small hotels, is being implemented. The large number of beneficiaries benefiting from the scheme is a symbol of its popularity.

Infrastructure is the biggest stumbling factor in development of tourism. The cooperatives which have stronghold over the rural areas in the recent years have taken initiatives to promote infrastructure development. For example, the dairy cooperatives in Gujarat have built up the roads, and have come up with schools. The areas in which cooperatives are strong in infrastructure can be developed for formulating effective tourism strategies. The Government is willing to support the cooperatives who desire to come up in the field of tourism by providing them assistance in infrastructural development.

Ethical Tourism
Cooperatives by practicing ethical tourism can promote peace and justice in a big way. In India insurgency has been an age-old problem. For example, Jammu and Kashmir has struggled with terrorism for a long time.

In this respect, an example of Manchester based workers cooperative practicing ethical tourism is worth mentioning. Olive Cooperative (www.olivecoop.com), a small workers cooperative in Manchester has been achieve on organizing ’solidarity’ tours to Israel and West Bank to meet Palestinians and Israelis working at the front-line for peace and justice, in their communities and with national and international organizations. This has useful pointers for India where workers’ cooperatives can be formed to promote ethical tourism. Even in the areas which are effected by natural disasters, ethical tourism, can be an effective instrument to promote peace.

For example, in the Tsunami hit areas in South India, need was feet for community based organizations to spread the message of peace. The cooperative in the India due to their effective community inter-linkages can promote ethical tourism in the conflict ridden zones. National Cooperative Union of India along with International Cooperative Alliance are already involved in rehabilitation work in the tsunami hit areas.

Cooperative Diversification and Tourism
A review of the cooperative trends in the recent times indicate that cooperatives are aware to diversity in new areas like tourism. The India tribal life is rich in cultural tradition. Tribal life and tribal products can emerge as focal areas in tourism. Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India is the national level organization of tribal cooperatives in the country.

It has already identified certain regions for promoting tourism. The organization stands for holistic development of the tribal sector in all aspects and in this regard tourism is considered an important component. TRIFED is planning to start Tribes shops in all the major international airports so that all the traditional and ethnic tribal products are showcased for foreign tourists.

The example of TRIFED clearly indicates that cooperative sector is aware of the need for marketing its products from a tourism point of view. UHP milk powder is already distributed in all the pilgrimage tourist sites. The cooperative products have developed strong brands which clearly indicate that cooperative principles and values can be used for effective business. For example “Amul”, brand of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is a household name in India signifying milk revolution. The cooperative products spread the message of peace.

Successful Model of Cooperative Diversification in Tourism
Eco tourism is a dominant plank of tourism strategies of any country. India is no exception. Tourism initiatives providing eco friendly clean environment with emphasis on sustainable development promote peace. A successful example of a cooperative in India venturing in tourism mentioned here symbolizes this trend very well. Medially Fishermen’s Cooperative Society (MFCS) in Calcutta is a successful fishery cooperative which has successful utilized waste water to produce fish.

It has a membership of 100 fishermen and around 300 families of fishermen are dependent on the society. The genesis of the cooperative can be traced when fishermen in Anta village of Howah had to migrate to wastelands near Kolkatta Dock in search of jobs due to drying up of Damodar River. By using the urban refuge and polluted water of the city, the society now undertakes these activities :

- Improving waste water quality

- Using waste water to produce fish, marketing fish, etc.

- Providing credit facilities to fishermen, engaged in poultry, piggery, dairy and cottage industries

The society has now ventured into developing a Nature Park which has now emerged as a hot tourist spot in the city where pollution is a big problem. The Park has attractive boating facilities and an ecosystem has been created that attracts many birds. The animal Park is another attraction having deer, rabbits, tortoise different kinds of ducks, etc.

The society has adopted professional norms in functioning by indulging in multifarious activities. The production of fish by the society has been soaring high. The example of this society indicates that cooperatives involved in preserving environment can venture into tourism activities by diversifying their operations. Commercialization of tourism may lead to neglect of ecology as economic considerations for developing a tourist site may lead to neglect of social aspects, like environment. In this scenario forming a cooperative to promote eco tourism can be highly successful.

Conclusion
The tourism scenario in India is ideal for formulating effective tourism strategies for promoting peace. Amongst the tourism strategies for promoting peace, the cooperative strategy merits consideration. The Indian cooperative movement which is the largest movement in the world is best suited for promoting peace through tourism. National Cooperative Union of India is the apex organization of the cooperative movement in the country. 196 cooperative organizations at all levels are as its members.

Being a promotional organization with emphasis on training, education, advocacy, research, publication, NCUI has worked hard to promote the cooperative movement in the country. It has always formulated effective policies to promote cooperative diversification. For example, due to strong champing of NCUI, the cooperatives were recently allowed entry into insurance. The NCUI has also taken initiatives in the new fields of insurance, electrification environment, etc. IFFCO, a major cooperative fertilizer giant, has already made effective forays in the fields of insurance, electrification etc.

The NCUI has effectively popularized the concept of cooperation amongst the rural population by its Cooperative Education Field Projects located all over the country. NCUI is in a good position to promote rural tourism in the country. Taking into account the strength of Indian cooperatives in promoting peace through tourism, the international tourism bodies like IIPT, WTO, etc. must think of forging collaborations with Indian cooperatives in the field of tourism.

Problems of Teaching English at College Level in India

By by Supriya Bhandari

English is the ‘Lingua Franca’ of the world. With the IT Revolution and most of software and operating system being in English Language, a new utility for written and oral communication in English Language has emerged. English is said to be the world’s most important language having communicative and educative value. English is used all over the world not out of any imposition but because of the realization that it has certain advantages. A very important reason for regarding English as a world language is that the world’s knowledge is enshrined in English. It is a progressive language. It is dynamic and flexible. Over and above English is universally renowned for its power of expression and its rich literature.

We are going to have children in other parts of the world besides England, speaking English as their first language. But the gap still remains like those of the haves and have-nots, developed and developing, urban and the rural. Much is required to be done by the linguists, the polyglots, the scholars and the teachers to bridge the gap between the English literate and the English illiterate population of the world. We have to go into the intricacies of the English language and simplify the methodology.

Whatever English now represents or has represented over centuries of colonization, it belongs to every one. It is a global language, the first of its kind. The Australian poet Peter Porter emphasized the point in a World Conference Welcome Poem, published in the Times Literary Supplement (28th February 1992) to the effect that:

‘Everything will be exposed in English
So delegates and lovers understand’

Education has been the primary factor in the more formal transmission of English around the world. There developed an indigenous, modernizing, reform movement in Bengal during the early decades of the nineteenth century. It was led by Ram Mohan Roy. When Macaulay in his famous 1835 “Minutes” set out the case for the intellectual improvement of the country; arguing that, while he himself had not knowledge of the indigenous languages, he had never found an Orientalist ‘who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia; and that henceforth available funds should be employed in imparting knowledge of English literature and science through the medium of English language.’ Not only were schools and colleges set up as a result of Macaulay’s initiative, but English replaced Persian as the official state language, and more gradually, English procedures and assumptions replaced Indian in law and administration.

English symbolizes in Indian minds, better education, better culture and higher intellect. In present times, English is the most preferred language. The Indians and the Indian English language press uses many words derived from Indian language. Indian accent is sometimes difficult for non-Indians to understand. Actually English has co-existed in the Indian sub-continent alongside thousands of local languages. It has remained at the heart of the Indian society. According to recent surveys, approximately 4% of the Indian population use English. That figure might seem insignificant, but out of the total population it represents 35 million speakers. It means India is the largest English speaking community outside USA and the UK. As India celebrates its 60th year of independence from British rule, English continues to expand its empire. English is virtually the mother-tongue for many educated South Asian, but for the vast majority, it remains second language. So English, spoken by such speakers is heavily influenced by speech patterns of their ethnic language.

Language learning is a natural process for the natives. The approach to this learning process is called the ‘behavioristic approach’. But for the students of other languages, deliberate efforts are required to learn a foreign language which requires a ‘mentalistic approach’. The students of rural and semi-urban areas in India face such problems because English is not their mother-tongue. It is neither instinctive nor intuitive. Language acquisition seems to be a process of both of analogy and application, nature and nurture. Teachers of language have adopted and invented a variety of methods to teach English.

Edward M. Anthony says in ‘Approach, method and Technique-Teaching English as a Second language’, “Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material no part of which contradicts and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. Approach is axiomatic and a method is procedural. “The orderly presentation of language to students is influenced by several factors. The teacher has to keep in mind the age of the student, his native language, his cultural background and his previous experience with English. The experience of the teacher and his level of English mastery are equally important. To achieve the desired effects, the goal of a course much be kept in mind-whether it is aimed at reading, fluency in speech, inculcating translation skill. All these objects shape methodology.

Students of the rural colleges face a number of problems. English is their second language. Learning a second language means acquiring a system of rules, but just as a very little is known about these rules, even less is known about how such rule systems are acquired. Students find themselves unable to express in English. They have no idea of proper sentence structure. They do not know proper pronunciation, spellings and grammatical rules. The sole objective of the teacher and the learner remain to clear the exams. The students never realize the importance of learning English as a language.

In the past, in rural areas, English was introduced to students in the fifth class. But now there is no dearth of English medium schools in such area yet the standards of English are falling rapidly. If we compare a graduate of present time with a graduate of the past, the result is shockingly amazing. The emphasis on passing the exams lies so heavy on the students that they opt for the cramming method. Such an approach helps unscrupulous elements to flourish. They help the students in achieving their goals of passing the exams. The inter-disciplinary relation of teaching and learning process brings home the fact that the problems of the teachers can be solved if we concentrate on the causes of the problem of the students.

The changing times have witnessed the growing importance of English language in all walks of life. It does not seem that we are using English language as non-native speakers or as a second language. Conscious and unconscious use of the words in our everyday conversation from the English language bears evidence to this fact. Even the English illiterates in the rural areas use such words effortlessly. May be that is the flexibility of English language to let foreign, cultural influences mould, and shape and enrich it. The result is that we have about 40,000 words from the Hindustani incorporated in the world famous dictionaries like Oxford English Language Dictionary, COD, Collins Cobuild English Dictionary. To cite a few examples of such words we may say;

‘Kachha, pucca, Thug, Thuggee, Jungle, Stations, School-bags, Computers, Television, Programme, Malls, College Convert, Dinner, Lunch, Breakfast, Airport…… and even in our own people settled in European and America Countries :

Pump, Agriculture, Medicine, Medical college, Construction Building, Readymade Garments, cupboards, Jewellery, Tailor, Master, Library, Pictures, CD, Cell phones, ………….’ We may continue to add to the common usages from the English Language as a part of our daily conversation in the rural, semi-urban areas. Even the designations of officers are political authorities are frequently used. It is quite ironical that in spite of such a good store of English Language words our students and in some cases even teachers cannot either write or speak English language properly.

Because of the rapidly increasing web of Educational facilities, the rural areas have been enjoying the facilities of the convents. But it has neither helped in raising the level of the students, nor made them learn English as a language. The infrastructure of such schools is weak. Some teachers have good accent, but they do not posses a good command over the language. Now In the rural and semi-Urban areas, study of English language begins at an early age, at the KG level, it continues up to Senior Secondary or first Degree level. Even in the Professional Courses, the teaching of English as a communication skill is an integral part of the curriculum or the course obligations.

It is quite unfortunate that whatever our English language teachers gain in the completion of their course or education as eligibility for seeking a job or an employment, it stays there and the teaching learning stagnates. The process of teaching is not updated even after the passage of years. So much so as the experience shows in many cases, they have no idea of good dictionaries meant for the students or for themselves or even for the office managers or Administrators. It may be pertinently mentioned here that to cater to the tremendously growing demand for English Language teachers and learners, there exists ”the bank of English” with an envious corpus of about 400 million words of written and spoken English.

For this purpose, they are using a wide range of different types of writing and speech from hundreds different sources: Newspapers, Magazines fiction and Non-Fiction, Books, Brochures, Leaflets, Reports Letter Radio, T.V. Airports. Informal spoken language is represented by recording of everyday casual conversations, meetings, interview and discussions.

Students of the rural areas do not realize the importance of English as a language of communication whereas this is the most important aspect of this global language. They lack the confidence to speak in English; expression in the language is weak. First reason is that they have been taught English through Grammar-Translation Method. This method makes them dependent on their mother tongue. Whatever they read, they translate it into their own vernacular. During the time of exams, they cram the expected questions because they cannot write one original sentence of their own. Because of GT Method, they have no vocabulary of English words. While writing, they depend on the cheap material from the help books.

The hackneyed, stereotyped and traditional pattern of exams aims at clearing English not as a language but as a subject. The students, therefore, are guided to practice pick and chose method from the sub-standard material available in the market. So that students merely pass the subject far from learning any level of the Language. It is more shocking to learn that even the questions that students are supposed to answer are told to learn through translation from English to their own vernacular. Poor performance in translation, lack of proper vocabulary, no knowledge proverbs all are results of a casual approach. Even after reading English for 14 or 15 years the level of the students remains poor.

To solve all the problems, a systematic approach should be followed. The teachers should aim at teaching primarily, not knowledge but skill, the different skills required for good Listening-Speaking-Reading-Writing. Teachers should find some way of helping pupils to enjoy their language activities, and of building their confidence. A teacher who tries to help his pupils in this way has rightly rejected the image of the teacher who acts as the arbitrary dispenser of all knowledge. As children learn by way of imitation, similarly, the students tend to follow the example set by their teacher. The English teacher should have the wide-ranging enthusiasm and Imagination, It can make English course ‘a sort of clearing house for ideas and interests which branch out into all the other subjects that the pupils are studying in school, and beyond them.’

To tackle with the problem of lack of vocabulary in the students, Productive and receptive Use of words should be kept in mind. The students should be made to learn simple words. This will help in inculcating a habit of learning new words in them. Their newly learnt words will become a part of their own vocabulary and they will be in a position to use those words. This is the natural process of movement at need from receptive to productive use of the words. This enhancement of vocabulary will result into better expression.

The common errors made by the students in the different usages of the same word can be cured by this technique. Normally, the students can not differentiate between Noun and Verb, adjective or adverb. They should be clearly guided about the difference between the parts of speech by practice. They can be made aware of the different parts of a word; root, suffix, prefix and how can they change the total meaning of the word by adding suffix or prefix with the root i.e.

(i) Nouns related to verbs and marked by suffix:

a) Deny (verb) Noun: Denial
b) Close (verb) Noun: Closure
c) Mock (verb) Noun: Mockery
d) Collide (verb) Noun: Collision
e) Use (verb) Noun: Usage
f) Flatter (verb) Noun: Flattery
g) Apply (verb) Noun: Application
h) Achieve (verb) Noun: Achievement

(ii) Nouns related to adjectives and marked by suffix:

a) Frail (adjective) Noun: Frailty
b) Close (adjective) Noun: Closeness
c) Capable (adjective) Noun: Capability
d) Intense (adjective) Noun: Intensity

Such practices will help them enjoying their play with words. They can understand the importance of suffixes and prefixes. They can be given exercise of making words negatives from positives by prefixes for example: dis as a prefix changes the meaning of the word : (all the following words are negative in meaning)

‘dislike, disobey, displeasure, disorder, disloyal, disprove, dishonorable’,

They can enjoy these exercise and they can also strengthen their vocabulary. It will help in breaking the monotonous routine of the class. Regular tests can be held to evaluate the progress of the students. After laying stress on their vocabulary building, students should be given exercises of Reading. Books provide most pupils with the situations in which learning take place. Reading is the core of Language learning. Students can acquire the speed and skills for practical purposes. In our literate society, professional competence depends on reading skills. Practice in exact reading should occur frequently, at least once a week and preferably twice. The vocabulary drills can help them understand the usages of words in the books. They should be made to underline the Noun, Verb, adjective, and Adverb, in the given passage of reading. Similarly, they can be taught the proper usage of Articles, Determiners, Proposition and Conjunctions.

They should be guided to mark the idioms and how the use of idioms makes the expression better. They should notice the difference between.

Put up, Put of, Put on, and Put with’
Laugh at, Laugh with, Laugh away’

By noticing all such components of the language they can enjoy the richness and flexibility of language. Once their interest is aroused, they will show tremendous improvement. Reading can also help them in making aware of spellings. When the students have practiced different uses of words and have developed habit of reading, they can avoid the common errors of Translations. In rural areas, the students tend to choose the literal way of translating the sentences from Hindi or Punjabi into English. Some examples need consideration here. Students make errors while translation of the following sentences:

1 He is my underwear friend.
2. Oh mother Ganga, send me telegram!
3. He killed my ten rupees.

Such problems arise because of translating each word of English into Hindi or Punjabi and vice versa. Whereas the students should be made aware of the fact that it is impossible to find an exact equivalent for every English word.

After the usages of all such practices in the classrooms, the students should be given exposure. There can be no learning without exposure. Group discussions can be arranged. Texts should be read loudly by the students. Simple usage of words will become a part of their speech only when they are exposed to deliver a speech and express their own ideas. The zeal for learning will help them in their own advancement. The problems of the students and the teachers are inter-related. It is necessary to assure that the learner makes a tremendous contribution in the process.

English has been successfully taught through literature for many years. But now when the students are taking their exams of other subjects of post graduation i.e. History, Political Science, Economics etc. in Hindi or Punjabi, their interest and efficiency in English is decreasing. Even those students, who have passed their post graduation in English, are not able to write and speak it accurately. Whereas the fluency in the spoken language should be stressed.

Teachers should aim at teaching of pragmatics. Pragmatic competence is central to Communication –‘the ability to use language effectively to fulfill intentions and goals’. Different languages use differ strategies. It is important that the learners of English are given such information as possible the ways in which to use their language. English should be taught as a language, not as a subject. The course material should be designed in such a manner that emphasis on language should be there. For example while teaching a simple poem like Daffodils by Wordsworth to the students, the teacher can ask the student to underline the different words used by the poet for the expression of happiness.

‘Sprightly, glee, jocund, pleasure’. Similarly cryptic, pithy, terse and valuable lines of Pope can be taught to them. Students will make those lines a part of their memory. Teaching can be enjoyed by both the teacher and the students in this manner. Students do enjoy poetry and drama provided the feed back is given in the same spirit.

The enthusiasm, the zeal and interest of the teacher can kindle the spark of learning in the students. Presentations by the students can help them enhancing their level of confidence. Teacher can change subject matter from prose to poetry, from essay writing to letter writing to prevent the class from monotonous routine. Audio-Visual aids can add to the presentation of the topic. Students can be encouraged to listen to English news and English commentaries broad cast on Radio and telecast on TV. Motivation in the initial phase, proper methodology in the next phase should be followed.

Teacher’s own personality and command over language counts a lot. Faculty improvement programmes should be held. Teachers should be made aware of the latest techniques and methods. An English language teacher should be capable of arising the interest and imagination of the students. As a seasoned teacher of English once warned a callow colleague: ‘Never forget, my, boy that the English teacher’s business is with the imagination’. If the students enjoy literature, only then they can quote from it. Literature taught in such a way will be enjoyed and remembered for a long time.

If we take into consideration the role of teacher and learner in acquiring the knowledge of a language; the problems can be solved effectively. Only then the students will realize the practical use of English language. English will be used by them as a medium of expression. They will be able to use English as a language of communication. Fluency in the speech, proper knowledge of sentence structure, confidence of speaking in the public will make them able to keep their pace with the developing world. It will also help in raising the standards of English as a language at the college level.

On the basis of suggestions given above, the critical situations in the teaching of English can be checked from further deteriorations. Decidedly one or two persons can’t do anything solid. Let everyone concerned with it take the responsibility. Only then we can create a congenial environmental & we can be able to achieve better results in the teaching and learning of English.

Thundering Sense: Bolt from the Blue

By VK Joshi

Thunder and lightening have fascinated and scared mankind since times immemorial. In the earlier days such events were thought to be God’s curse and were often described in poetic form. With development of the scientific thought things changed and human beings started to think in terms of causes of lightening and the question, ‘were there lightening in the past as well’ always haunted the minds of the scientists.

Lightening has yet another extremely important factor. It is considered to be one of the sources for creating life on our planet.

A thunderbolt produces energy around 109 Joules per flash and occurs at a rate of about 65 flashes per second. So powerful is the flash of lightening that it causes sudden flow of electrons through the atmosphere and heats the air rapidly to a peak temperature of nearly 30,000 Kelvin. Such a high temperature produces nitric oxide through a chain reaction. The place where nitric oxide is formed has been a debatable issue. Some say it is formed inside the lightening channel and some have reasons to believe that it is formed within the shock wave. But it is certain that lightening does produce nitric oxide which is a natural source of reactive nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. These nitrogen oxides are silent workers; they play a major role in the Earth’s atmospheric-biosphere systems. So much is the significance of nitrogen oxides that scientists attribute the origin of life to the nitrogen oxides. It is needless to repeat the role of lightening in this process.

Possibly a flash of lightening cause a complex photochemical reaction which caused primitive, unicellular life to be formed on this planet billions of years ago!

It means lightening is not merely a flash reflecting the nature’s ire. It is much more and needs a detailed probe.

As already said bolt from the blue produces a tremendous amount of energy in a flash. As it strikes the ground, the sand on the surface melts instantly and outcome is a vaporized hollow tube of glassy froth which is actually a melted mineral called Fulgurites. These tubes vary in size and dimensions from a fraction to several centimeters. As the lightening strikes the ground and melts and partially vaporizes the sand, air around is trapped and preserved as bubbles. These odd shaped tubes are fancied by the rich as pendants and by the scientists as witnesses of the past lightening episodes.

Gas bubbles are trapped during the process of formation of fulgurites. These bubbles are now under the scanner of the scientists, who try to extract maximum information about the atmosphere of the past and the date of lightening event. Navarro-Gonzalez of Laboratorio de Química de Plasmas y Estudios Planetarios, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, UMR CNRS 7583, Universités Paris and his team including Dr. A.K. Singhvi of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad were able to study the composition of the air bubbles of fulgurites from Libiyan desert. They published the outcome of study in the February 2007 issue of Geological Society of America’s magazine- ‘Geology’.

Elsewhere in the world, lightening events of the past have been dated with the help of fossil charcoal formed presumably due to burning of existing forest as a consequence of bolt from the blue. In 1996 W.B. Harland and J.L.F. Hackler found the first evidence of ancient lightening strike with the discovery of fulgurites which were considered to be 250 million years on basis of fossils found in the overlying host rocks containing fulgurites. Direct age determination of fulgurites has not been reported so far. The age of these fulgurites was estimated as late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene that is 15000 to 5000 years before present. However the study by Navarro et al is the first record of chemical analyses of gases trapped in the bubbles in fulgurites and also points to the fact that they were formed instantly when the lightening struck the ground in the Libyan Desert.

The leaves of pre-history book opened by Navarro and his co-workers make a fascinating study. Lightening has so much energy that it just shreds air’s oxygen and nitrogen molecules in to free atoms which create nitric oxide. Breaking of nitrogen out of its inert molecule is essential for life. In normal routine it is possible only through certain bacterial enzymes. But after the nature had decided that the Earth is going to be a planet with life, lightening was perhaps the precursor, which created the main source of life-the active nitrogen. Details of nitric oxide production still remain an enigma for the scientists, perhaps like the mystery of the creation! The air bubbles within the fulgurites also trap the air in the soil. Thus an analysis of the gases could give some clues about the conditions that existed when the lightening struck. And lastly the glass formed due to lightening could be dated with some amount of precision to find out when the event took place.

Data from satellite based sensors shows that whereas the Saharan region from where these fulgurites have been collected by Louis Carion in 1999 has been totally free from lightening flashes; the regions on the north that is Mediterranean Sea and to the south that is Sahel and further south the humid Savannas have been experiencing frequent lightening flashes currently. The satellite sensors have recorded 826327 flashes per square kilometer in these areas between 1998 and 2005. Obviously it means that the lightening struck the core of the Sahara Desert before this period.

In an event that has taken place in past there is always a curiosity about when it took place and why and how it took place. In this case too the scientific curiosity opened paragraphs of unwritten history recorded in the fulgurites. A Thermoluminescence (TL) dating of the material gave an average approximate age of 15000 years before present when the lightening struck the ground there. It means towards the end of the penultimate chapter of the Earth’s history, the Pleistocene the area was experiencing lightening strikes. This is infact the first hard evidence of such an event having taken place. Lightening means thunder and rain and it is exciting to know that the dry Sahara was experiencing rain in the days of the yore!

The material of fulgurites collected from the Sahara Desert was found to be akin to that of the Sahelian sandy soils of today. Unlike the barren sandy Sahara Desert, Sahel is covered with miles of grassland, shrub-land and woodland. The carbon atoms match the isotopic profile of plants which thrive in hot dry places. This confirms that the climate of the Sahara in that period was like the Sahel on the south. Lightening and rain are common in the Sahel region today.

Navarro and his team were lucky to be pioneers in analyzing the gases trapped in the fulgurites bubbles. The composition indicated that nitric oxide was formed within the channel of the lightening. Published records of the past climates of this region point towards a wetter northern African climate around 15000 years ago and state that the Sahara (Desert) was almost covered by annual grasses and low shrubs. The region was under a wet spell till 4,500 to 4,000 years ago.

Well this is just the beginning of unveiling the mysteries of past lightening events with the help of fulgurites, the methodology for which was developed by A.K. Singhvi and another co-worker Shanon Mahan of the U.S. Geological Survey worked with him. ‘This study provides a unique and quantitative way to develop paleo-ecological changes in semi arid regions. You can track the movement of vegetation belts in deserts quantitative. This could be the method for future quantitative paleo-ecological studies and hence useful for land use and land cover planning’ communicates Singhvi.

Rape Victims Marry Violators: Is this Welfare?

By Sheena Shafia

While the country is debating on the quantum of punishment for rapists in India, the eastern state of Orissa is witnessing marriages between rape survivors and their rapists.

These marriages are not only facilitated by jail authorities – where the alleged rapists are lodged – and the NGOs supporting the victims, but are also propagated as an exemplary gesture, a kind of atonement for the crime committed. As a result, many accused have actually used this route as a ploy to either escape punishment completely or get away with a lesser sentence.

In Baripada town, 150 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, a rape accused, who was an under trial prisoner, married the woman he had attacked in the presence of senior politicians, police and government officials. After nearly two months, the accused was released by an order passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Court allowing him to go back to his village and lead a life with his ‘wife.’

In another incident in Bhubaneswar the alleged rapist, a government official, was persuaded to marry his victim by an NGO supporting the victim. A special wedding function was organized by the NGO in the prison, to which the media was also invited.

A prison official in the western district of Jharsuguda termed such a marriage held in his jail as part of a policy of “reform and rehabilitation”. The marriage between the accused and his victim was arranged in the Jharsuguda sub-jail. The alleged rapist’s advocate approached the victim with a marriage proposal and with help from legal counselors. The two agreed to marry. “What I did was wrong,” a lawyer quoted the accused as saying after the wedding. “Now I am happy to get a chance to make amends.” The victim was also quoted as saying that she was ready to forgive her tormentor. “At the time of rape I hated him. I wanted to tear him to pieces. But I have a different feeling now. I have forgiven him because he has chosen me as his wife,” she is believed to have said. Following the marriage, a bail petition has been moved to free the accused.

In another incident, an alleged rapist was granted interim bail by a local court to facilitate his marriage with the victim in Sundergarh district. The accused and his friend had allegedly gang raped the girl while she was returning to her village after attending a tribal festival. The court, after receiving consent from the girl and the accused, granted bail to the accused for the couple to get married.

The growing practice of such unions has evoked mixed reactions. While some justify such marriages on the basis of “rehabilitating the victim”, others are strongly critical of it and label it as “nothing short of another offence.”

“Do the people who advocate such marriages ever follow-up to see if the woman is happy in her marriage? The possibility of further violence and desertion in a marriage based on the foundations of a violent act is always there,” says Bisakha Bhanja of the National Alliance for Women (NAWO), Orissa. She maintains that a marriage proposal by a rapist or a deserter is usually done to win a reprieve.

Others add that such a practice also sends signals to potential offenders that they can easily get away with their crime. Some have pointed out that those NGOs, jail authorities and sections of the judiciary which have fostered such marriages in the name of social reform are actually going against a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court had observed that if a person commits rape, neither a proposal of marriage nor any other settlement between the rapist and victim, can condone him of the crime.

However, in a recent case in Cuttack district, the Orissa High Court asked a rape accused to either languish in jail without bail or marry the victim. The accused had sexually abused the girl on the pretext of marrying her and later deserted her after she became pregnant. The victim subsequently lodged a complaint against him. “Permanent bail would be allowed only if the accused tied the knot with the victim within this two-month period and allow his name to be the baby’s father,” the Bench specified.

Lawyers and jurists argue that such cases need to be judged on the basis of the circumstances and context of each case. “If both the complainant and the accused are willing to compromise and get married, the Court has no alternative but to quash the proceedings,” says Orissa-based lawyer Bibhu Tripathy. He argues that there cannot be a straitjacket approach in such cases. But he also cautions that marriage between the accused and the victim is possible only when both parties agree and the situation is conducive to such a relationship. “What if the accused is already married and what if the victim is unwilling?” he asks.

“The practice of rapists marrying their victims may be condoned in some instances. But it should also be remembered that several such cases are based on the false promise of marriage and result in desertion,” says Sneha Mishra, Orissa State Coordinator of the “We Can” Campaign to end violence against women. She also observes that many of these cases involve couples who are already in a relationship and the man usually deserts the women or refuses to marry her upon discovering that she is pregnant. This, she believes, is also a serious offence.

Rituparna Mohanty of Orissa-based NGO, ‘Sanjeevani’, which had facilitated four such alliances recently, claims that getting the victim married to the accused “restores the lost dignity of the women.” She explains: “While some of the cases are actually based on false promise of marriage, others are actual cases of rape. But in both kinds of cases, it’s the women – especially unwed mothers – who are stigmatized and ostracized by their communities. At least through a marriage they can hope to lead socially acceptable lives.”

Mohanty admits that where there are inherent problems in such alliances, “we try and involve the families from both sides and also counsel the victim and accused intensely.”

In response to this line of argument Bhanja retorts, “Why is marriage being advocated as the only answer in such cases? Can’t the victims be rehabilitated with more dignity and economic independence?”

But there are not many who would agree with this rational response. Given the prevalent patriarchal attitudes, survivors of rape continue to be denied their rights and sense of self respect, even as justice delivery remains an arduously slow and difficult process.

Verdict 2009: Does it Make a Difference to Women?

By Kalpana Sharma

One could not escape them before, during, or after these elections. Four women dominated the cut and thrust of Election 2009 to the 15th Lok Sabha. Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Jayalalithaa. In a country where women still suffer discrimination from birth, this in itself is remarkable – that women now run four major political parties, the Congress Party, the Trinamool Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), respectively.

Apart from these four, women were everywhere – as voters, campaigners and candidates. Only 462 women contested as compared to 6,538 men. But 59 of them won, which is a much higher percentage of success than for men. And for the first time ever, the number of women in the Lok Sabha accounted for 10.70 per cent of the total. The 14th Lok Sabha had only 45 women Members of Parliament (MPs), a mere 8.7 per cent of the total house strength. But 10.7 per cent is still lower than many other parliaments around the world. And it is less than a third of what women have been demanding for the last 11 years.

While increasing numbers and a few prominent women do suggest an increase in political participation, this will not automatically translate into women-friendly policies or a government sensitive to gender concerns. Yet, the results of this election do bring with them a sliver of hope that women’s participation in electoral politics could increase and be qualitatively different from the past.

For example, this time, apart from widows, wives, daughters, daughters-in-law, sisters and mothers of male politicians standing from safe seats nurtured by the men, several women who normally would not have considered entering the fray have done so. Career women who do not belong to “political” families have chosen to either join existing political parties, or stand as independents. This represents a notable break from the past.

Take the case of one of Rahul Gandhi’s young protégés, Meenakshi Natarajan, who stood from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh and won. Annu Tandon of the Observer Research Group, who has a corporate background, won from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh (UP), again, on a Congress Party ticket. And even though she lost, well-known dancer and activist Mallika Sarabhai made her presence felt as an independent challenging the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader L.K. Advani in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The victories of women like Natarajan and Tandon do seem to suggest that women have a greater chance of success if they are supported by or are candidates of a political party, than if they stand as independents.

Unfortunately, political parties continue to pitch women against one another. So in Lucknow, for instance, the Congress fielded their state party president, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, against the Samajwadi Party’s Nafisa Ali. Both lost and the BJP candidate, Lalji Tandon won. In one of the most high profile contests, Telugu actress and sitting MP, Jaya Prada of the Samajwadi Party narrowly beat Congress’s Noor Begum in Rampur, UP.

On the positive side, although many female relatives of male politicians won from safe constituencies, not everyone succeeded. When the Supreme Court ruled that people convicted of crimes could not stand for elections, several powerful MPs in Bihar fielded women from their families. Rakesh Ranjan, or Pappu Yadav, sentenced to life in 1998 for murder, fielded his wife Ranjit Ranjan and his mother, Shanti Priya. Both lost. The notorious Mohammed Shahabuddin, convicted for four murders, had his wife Hina stand from Siwan. She too lost. Vina Devi, the wife of Surajbhan, also convicted for murder, lost in Nawada. And in Sheohar, Lovely Anand, wife of Anand Mohan convicted for murder, failed miserably.

With an increasingly discerning electorate, it is evident that being related to a powerful man will not guarantee the success of women candidates. Such a change will work in favour of women who want to contest but fear confronting criminal elements in politics.

While women getting elected from political families and safe seats undercuts the demand for a level playing field for women in politics, increasingly many such women are beginning to carve a distinctive place for themselves. The most obvious person in this category is Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. When she took office, no one believed her capable of managing India’s oldest political party. Today, no one questions it.

Even amongst the younger women, we see signs of such capability. Supriya Sule, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar’s daughter, has had an easy time entering politics first through the Rajya Sabha and now into the Lok Sabha by contesting from Baramati, a family fiefdom. Yet, Sule has already been noticed for articulating concerns such as the persistent malnutrition amongst children. She was part of a campaign by young MPs to draw attention to this problem.

Similarly, Congress’s Priya Dutt, daughter of the late Sunil Dutt, got elected from his seat when he died mid-term. Today, she has proved that she can win on her own steam, in a constituency with many new segments. In fact, she is the only one of the five Congress MPs from Mumbai who has won in all her six Assembly segments and the reason is her reputation for being accessible and involved with her constituents.

These elections have shown again that more women now want to be in politics. And not just in national politics. Thousands of women are already politically engaged at the ‘panchayat’ (village) and ‘nagarpalika’ (municipal) levels. And even if not all of them are members of political parties, it is only a matter of time before they begin demanding space. In states like Bihar, the reservation for women in ‘panchayats’ and ‘nagarpalikas’ is now 50 per cent. Political parties will not be able to resist this thrust from the grassroots and would inevitably have to field more women candidates for the assemblies and the Lok Sabha.

Even if the number of women elected has increased only marginally, their influence through the major parties has increased. Every party now routinely includes gender concerns in its manifesto. The last government instituted several policies specifically addressing women’s concerns, such as the Domestic Violence Bill and programmes curbing sex-selective abortions and encouraging female literacy. The two non-Congress Chief Ministers who have done well in their respective states, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and Nitish Kumar in Bihar, have actively pursued policies that benefit women. Thus, it is clear that addressing women’s concerns does translate into votes.

With a higher percentage of elected women in the Lok Sabha and with many newcomers who might be less prejudiced and more open to the idea of reservation of seats for women, perhaps the Women’s Reservation Bill will finally see the light of day. More women need to be in politics not because they make better politicians, which they very well could, but because women have the right to be represented in policy-making when they make up half the population.

HNN Hiring ‘Freelancers’

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In short, if your pitch isn’t related to India and / or the South Asia – at least conceptually – then we’re not terribly interested. Indo-Americans? Yes. Washington or London politics? Perhaps, if it is relevant to our readers.

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Unless you have particularly unique experience or are an expert of some stripe commissioned to do an Op/Ed piece for us, we couldn’t care less about your personal opinions. Some (slightly) opinionated analysis is good, but “campaigning” has no place – we’re looking for good stories, well told.

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Please direct any questions or pitches to editor@hyderabadnews.net with the words “HNN – Freelance” in your subject heading.

Multinationals roll out innovations from India

By M H Ahssan

In 499 AD, Aryabhatta, a 23-year-old mathematician-astronomer from Pataliputra , shook the world by introducing the concept of zero. Still, it took
a million mutinies and over 1,500 years for the rest of the world to converge to India, to seek out innovations which would serve the world at large. To tap the inventive bent of the Indian mind. To realise the potential of a civilisation that cannot be taken for granted. To start all over again… from ground zero.

Ridden by the looming economic crisis with its uncertain trough and faced with the overheated economies of the West, multinationals are now driving their look-East policy. What started off with MNCs in dire straits simply fishing around for low-cost alternatives to existing problems eventually had them stumbling upon novel ideas in India with global implications.

And so, for the first time ever, ideas are being spawned and prototypes developed in India to cater to the rest of the world. It’s a brave new approach that bears testament to the ingenuity of the Indian mind. As CD embarks on the road to discovery, it comes across technical and non-tech multinationals making hay with the Made-In-India tag.

As the burgeoning population of the subcontinent makes room for innovations with mass appeal, costs need to be pared and technology aligned to go global.

“India has this advantage of dealing with the more-for-less-for-more paradigm , and nowadays, that’s the mantra driving innovations worldwide,” contends Porus Munshi , author of the book Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen—How 11 Indians Pulled Off the Impossible.

“Most of the future customers are going to come from India and China and MNCs would rather innovate from here and take it to the West,” he adds. Interestingly, it’s not just the bottom of the pyramid innovations that are attracting MNC attention but also those aimed at the more urbane middle segment across the world.

Take the case of automaker Maruti Suzuki. For the first time since the 28 years of its inception , it developed a concept car with the AStar last year.

While 33 year-old Saurabh Singh has done the exterior job, Rajesh Gogu, 30, worked on the car’s interiors. “We wanted to showcase a concept car and bring some characteristics of India on to the vehicle—so the headlamp shape and the front of the car were inspired by Indian motifs,” says CV Raman , General Manager-R&D , Maruti Suzuki.

It took about a year from January 2007 when it was conceived, to develop the concept car. Today, it is sold all across Western Europe and is raring to go to Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. “The A-Star is the first of its kind in India to be taken global ,” adds a company spokesperson.

From cars to engines: Bosch India’s Common Rail Injection System (CRS) using Single Cylinder Pump for diesel engines, is taking the world by storm.

“There are quite a lot of engines in the market that have been upgraded to the next emission level, for which a common rail injection system is a musthave . The commercially available common rail pumps cannot be fitted into small engines . But technically, these pumps are required to fit into the engines to meet higher emission norms. Our CRS does just that,” explains R Baskaran, DGM, Product Development at Bosch India, who cracked the CRS code with less than 10 engineers in 2005. Today, the revolutionary engines are in use in Europe and South East Asia.

Meanwhile, global network management behemoth Cisco Systems, is busy integrating cities from its globalisation centre in Bangalore .

“In February, we launched one of the most important initiatives in Cisco called Smart Connected Communities with five main sub-verticals—Transportation , Energy, Buildings, Security and Citizen Services (Healthcare, Education, etc). We sensed how cities must work and what needs to be done to make them work. Essentially, we are linking digital and physical infrastructure in order to IT-enable the city,” elaborates Syed Hora, Chief of Staff at the Cisco Globalisation Centre.

A “few hundred” scientists are already at work providing technology for building several economic cities in Saudi Arabia. Besides, the team is also working with several developers in Dubai to create smart shopping malls and a futuristic city in Incheon near Seoul, where a smart, connected community is gradually coming to life.

At the US-based diversified technology and manufacturing leader Honeywell, addressing security breaches became critical. That’s when Harsha Angeri, Director–Strategy and Initiatives of the Bangalore-based Honeywell Technology Solutions, set up his honey trap with the homegrown security convergence middleware solution.

“Violations in both physical & logical security domains are quite common. Today’s access control systems & IT security systems find it tough to cope with such challenges as they are not coordinated. So we developed a security convergence middleware solution that connects these systems,” says Angeri. Given the potential for the solution globally, the product is now being offered across the world by the parent. The Bangalore centre has already filed three patents to protect and differentiate the solution.

Again, in the Bangalore-based HP Labs, about 10 engineers burnt the midnight oil for eight months in 2006 along with Dr Shekhar Ramachandra Borgaonkar, head of Affordable Access Group, HP Labs, to come up with the Gesture Keyboard—a writing tablet that enables people to write on a touch-sensitive surface in Indic languages. Now, it is easy to create such a thing in English since the language has only 26 alphabets . But each of the Indic languages has 1,500 unique codes, whereas English has only 128 of them.

“We stuck the standard template of alphabets on to the writing tablet—the innovation was to write the vowel modifiers on the consonants,” explains Borgaonkar, whose innovation bagged the Wall Street Journal and Nasscom awards in the consumer products category. Though the intellectual property of the Gesture Keyboard belongs to HP, the company is yet to market it, even though its partner, the Bangalore-based Prodigy Labs, has sold 2,000-odd pieces in Hindi and Marathi. Indic languages have a far greater appeal than the existing Indian languages, as it covers Thai, Indonesian, Sinhalese and other South East Asian languages too.

“For HP Labs, the time to market is usually 3-5 years. It’s taking long for Gesture Keyboard because 90% customers of PCs still use English . I’m not aware of a local language database but we’d be very happy to supply the Gesture Keyboard if there’s demand,” claims Neelam Dhawan, MD, HP India.

The mood at Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) is upbeat as well. The Bangalore-based team is now working on the first release of Velocity, an explicit distributed in-memory cache that enables building highly scalable applications by caching data closer to the application tier. This application cache fuses memory across machines into a unified cache.

“There is tremendous interest in the community and customer base for this technology,” says Srini Koppolu, Corporate VP & MD, MSIDC. Again, at Microsoft Research & Development Centre (MSRDC), headed by Dr P Ananadan, multipoint is making waves. A boon to rural education, multipoint makes use of multiple mice connected to the USB port with the help of an adaptor. “We shared the concept with one of the product development teams and they created what has come to be known as the ‘Software Development Kit’ .

This was made available to the Unlimited Potential Group within Microsoft , which is now evangelising multipoint by taking it to other parts of the world,” says Anandan. Also, the Windows Live Local group has taken up Robust Location Search wholly devised by MSRDC.

The technology makes use of fuzzy indexing to search for all landmarks on maps requested by the user. Standard search engines cannot pinpoint addresses as names are often in local languages . However, owing to fuzzy indexing, it approximately matches with the addresses in the database.

And IBM is already celebrating with its Spoken Web, developed by the IBM India Research Lab, with the potential of bringing the power of the Internet to the masses through telephones. The basic principle of Spoken Web lies in creating a system analogous to the World Wide Web using a technology most of us have in commonspeech . Spoken Web helps people create voice sites using a simple telephone—mobile or landline.

“Spoken Web is compelling for people who don’t have access to the Internet , or have little or no education. In growth markets, where penetration of mobile is miles ahead of that of the Internet, the Spoken Web has the potential to bring a revolution to the way people interact, exchange information or even do business. The technology can be a key catalyst in bridging the digital divide,” says Dr Guruduth Banavar, Director–IBM India Research Lab and Chief Technologist–IBM India /South Asia.

Chipmaker Intel too has attempted to bridge the digital divide in its Bangalorebased platform definition center with the Classmate PC. Conceived in 2005 and brought to market a year later, the techies used their prowess to cut down the size of the laptop and yet retain all its features.

“After extensive ethnographic research in the education domain, we came up with this innovation in the education space, which later created a whole new genre of products called Netbooks,” says Ajit Singh, Director-Emerging Market Platform Group, Intel, and one of the six members of the Classmate PC innovation team.

At the Finnish handphone giant Nokia, the bubbly will pop in a weeks’ time when it unleashes the 100% homegrown Nokia Life Tools, geared toward a non-urban consumer in emerging markets. “We realised that people in small towns have a much larger expectation from the mobile phone, such as how to speak better English or how to prepare for a better tomorrow.

These insights helped us to provide a holistic picture and build applications, such as learn-one-worda-day , with pronunciation and vernacular equivalents,” explains Jawahar Kanjilal, Head-Emerging Market Services, Nokia Corp. Nokia is now looking at South East Asia, Africa and Latin America for replication . A 15-member team worked on the Nokia Life Tools with the brainwave being provided by Kanjilal in the first half of 2008.

Even the FMCG segment is fast using India as its experimental turf before taking ideas global. HUL’s Pureit water purifiers, which run with a GermKill Battery Kit that kills and removes impurities to give safe drinking water, are an indigenous innovation . ”Pureit is a combination of unique purification technologies. It took over five years to develop this breakthrough product proposition.” Says Dr. Nikhilesh Mukherjee, Resource and Programme Director , Water, Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Clearly, the arc lights across India’s innumerable MNC labs are fuelling global innovations as players from IT, telecom, auto, FMCG and more are looking at domestic talent in the pursuit of ‘wow’ . Circa 2009, Aryabhatta would be pleasantly surprised to find a pioneering country in motion, beyond the zero hour.

India’s Political Stability Will Aid Recovery

By M H Ahssan

Pranab Mukherjee, named this weekend as India’s finance minister, will likely take advantage of the government’s stable majority to introduce measures to revive the economy amid a global slump.

The 73-year-old Congress party veteran told the Economic Times yesterday the new government’s numerical strength would encourage credit flows and boost confidence. Mukherjee has been acting in the finance portfolio since January as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 76, recovered from surgery.

Mukherjee, who ran a closed economy as the finance minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet from 1982 to 1984, inherits one that is now open and exposed to the worst worldwide recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. He earned a reputation as a trouble shooter in Singh’s cabinet since 2004 by resolving spats among ministries and coalition partners.

“He is a deliverer,” said Alastair Newton, a political analyst at Nomura International Plc in London. “He will have challenges in the economic portfolio given the political realities — market expectations are high.”

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark stock index surged by a record 17 percent on May 18, the first day after Singh’s re- election, as investors bet the resounding victory will enable the new finance minister to ease foreign investment rules and sell state assets — policies that were stalled by Singh’s communist partners in his previous term.

Congress has the support of 322 lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, with the party getting 206 lawmakers of its own. That’s the most since 1991, when Singh as finance minister abandoned Soviet-style state planning and introduced free-market policies that have helped India’s economy quadruple in size.

The victory was as much Mukherjee’s as Singh’s. As the No. 2 in the cabinet, he backed the prime minister’s policies ranging from creating jobs in rural areas and writing off farmers’ loans to closer ties with the U.S., renewing a relationship that began in the early 1980s when he appointed Singh as the central bank governor.

“Despite the strong endorsement from voters, the finance minister may have a tough job pushing through some much-needed reforms,” said Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com in Sydney. “It’s very hard for politicians, for example, to do away with subsidies, which may result in a backlash. Expectations should be tempered.”

India spends one trillion rupees ($21 billion), or a tenth of its budget, on food, fuel and other subsidies each year in a country where the World Bank estimates three-quarters of the people live on less than $2 a day. About 13 percent of spending goes to defense and 20 percent to pay interest on national debt. That leaves little for other needs, such as health, education and power plants, boosting borrowings.

The federal government budget deficit was at 6 percent of gross domestic product for the year ended March 31, more than double the target of 2.5 percent of GDP.

Moody’s Investors Service places India’s long-term local currency rating at Ba2, two levels below investment grade, and lower than the ratings assigned to Colombia, Romania and Kazakhstan. S&P has a BBB- long term credit rating on India, the lowest investment-grade level.

Investors will be looking at how much fiscal stimulus Mukherjee, who was on the boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the 1980s, can provide in his first policy statement — the budget for this year — expected in early July.

Singh’s government said before the elections that stimulus of at least another 1 percent of GDP is needed to prop up an economy that’s growing at its slowest pace since 2003.

Mukherjee, who first became a minister in 1973, estimated in February that India may need to raise a record 3.62 trillion rupees from bond sales in the fiscal year that started April 1. The central bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao said May 22 that borrowings have “already expanded rapidly” and that it goes against his efforts to keep borrowing costs low.

“The government faces a challenge to balance two conflicting issues — to stimulate the economy while preventing fiscal position from further erosion,” said Takahira Ogawa, S&P’s director of sovereign ratings. “There is a possibility for the government to implement various measures to further expand the economy and consolidate the fiscal situation.”

Singh’s administration, which doesn’t need communists’ support for a majority in parliament, could raise as much as $20 billion from sale of state-run companies, according to Rashesh Shah, chief executive officer of Edelweiss Capital Ltd.

Among the companies that could be placed on the block are NHPC Ltd., India’s largest producer of electricity from water, explorer Oil India Ltd. and fuel retailer Hindustan Petroleum Corp., according to Mumbai-based brokerage Religare Capital Markets Ltd.

Still, analysts such as Seema Desai at Eurasia Group, a London-based political-risk advisory firm, expect economic changes will be “selective and gradual.”

“There is a significant segment within the party that is suspicious of sweeping pro-market reforms,” Desai said.

Mukherjee, who last year successfully rallied China, Japan, Russia and 42 other nations to end India’s nuclear isolation and resume supplies without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, needs to bring the same acumen to gain support of his party colleagues, many of whom are still tied to the original socialist principles of the Congress party.

At stake is a bill to raise the foreign investment ceiling for Prudential Plc and other insurers to 49 percent from 26 percent, and other proposed legislation aimed at removing a 10 percent cap on the voting rights of foreign investors in non- state banks. The government also wants to allow global retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. into India.

“Mukherjee is a seasoned politician with excellent skills to bring people around,” said N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman at the Centre for Media Studies in New Delhi. “Expectations from him will be high.”

INTERVIEW WITH PRANAB MUKHERJEE
Twenty-seven years after he presented his first budget as the finance minister in the Indira Gandhi regime, and exactly a quarter century after
Euromoney magazine voted him as one of the best five finance ministers in the world, Pranab Mukherjee, Congress’ man for all seasons and for all reasons, has returned to North Block. Here are excerpts for his interview with HNN, recently.

In the first week of July, he is expected to present the first budget of the new government. He is a remarkable man whose political career has been filled with achievements at the highest level. Through a political career spanning over five decades, he has graduated from being the unsung hero to the hero for both his party and government.

Apart from finance, he has held defence, external affairs, revenue, shipping, transport, communication, economic affairs, commerce and industry portfolios. Mr Mukherjee, who headed over 50 GoMs in the last government, speaks to P R Ramesh in an exclusive interview. Excerpts:

Is the worst behind for the economy?

The global economic crisis has impacted every economy in the world. We are no exception. But our economy has not suffered like the economies of Europe, North America and Japan. But we did suffer. And it was visible in September 2008. The government took steps to contain the problem.

The prime minister attended the G-20 summit and there he made it clear that protectionism is not the answer to the problem. He emphasised the need for flow of credit. India’s voice was heard. I remember the prime minister’s speech at the London summit. Everyone agreed with his call against protectionism.

Do you believe that economy needs a fresh stimulus? You had talked about the possibility of a third stimulus in your interim budget?

On December 7, 2008, and January, 2009, we addressed the problem from the monetary side as well as the fiscal side. RBI reduced CRR, LSR and repo rate to provide adequate liquidity to the system. On the fiscal side, we also undertook a series of measures. They have started having its impact. Although there is no strong rebound there are signs of a rebound.

Is economic recovery around the corner?

I am hopeful that we should be recovering by the second half of this fiscal. There are specific indicators that give me hope.

Any sectors where you may give some impetus?

We have to pay heed to those sectors which have been impacted the most. Exports and IT are among the most.

Will political stability help the government in tiding over the crisis?

I am sure it will have greater impact because of political stability. The impressive mandate for the Congress has created confidence in the market and there is expectation that the economy will bounce back.

There is expectation that there could be more reform-oriented initiatives

The first document on the government’s action plan will be the Presidential address. This will contain the initiatives that we plan in the immediate and long run. And of course, the budget will be there before you in July.

Several sectors need immediate help. How will you step in and address their problems?

I indicated that states can spend 0.5% of GDP. But this spending was delayed because of the elections. The decision to buy 1,400 buses was one aimed at helping the automobile sector. Again this decision had to be deferred because of elections. Now the spending will begin.

Will the credit flow situation improve in the coming months?

Export sectors are badly hit by recession. But it is hit all over the world. The flow of credit has slowed down. Again political stability will work in India’s favour and credit will be available easily.

Are you not worried about the large fiscal deficit?

We have to find money for meeting the challenges facing our people. Extraordinary situations demand extraordinary responses. Fiscal prudence will have to kept aside for a while. This does not mean reckless spending. For the growth of the economy, you require money. The fiscal deficit is an area of concern.

We had to go in for large borrowings to maintain liquidity in the economy. We have had to burst the ceiling but it is not something that we can ignore.

There is a pause on the FRBM act but we will have to do bring it back on track in the near future within a year or two.

How will you address the burgeoning subsidy bill?

No developing economy can afford to say no to subsidies. They are essential. If crude prices go up to $ 140, you cannot pass it on to the consumer. But this issue will have to addressed and I will address it adequately. I repeat, my response will be adequate.

Isn’t high food inflation worrying?

Food prices inflation is a cause for concern. But some corrective measures were taken before the elections. We had imported sugar duty free. This will soften prices.

What were your challenges when you were the finance minister in the 80s? And what lessons can you draw?

The responsibilities of the finance minister were very challenging even then, although they were vastly different. On the one hand, I had to push planned expenditure which was way below the target at only 26% of the target in the second year. We were facing balance of payment crisis and we had to pay back a $5.2 billion SDF loan from the IMF.

And I had to tackle problems arising out of a low inflation rate which had been brought down to 2.4% from 17.6% by my predecessor. We have to boost public spending today as well to give the required push to the economy and the inflation rate today is also at very low levels.

Young India sees politics as a management challenge

By M H Ahssan

A year ago when Rahul Gandhi embarked on his mission to democratize the Youth Congress and NSUI, with the idea of attracting youth to politics,
hardly anyone could have said for sure that he would be successful. And yet, youth is the flavour of the season today. In the wake of the Congress Party’s spectacular performance in the 15th Lok Sabha elections, youth is at the core of our national discourse.

The world missed the significance of our baby steps in democratizing the Congress’s youth organizations. Everyone wrongly assumed young Indians were allergic to politics and change. But they are eager to be active agents of change.

The election results are scant evidence of the chord Rahul has struck with youth with his attempts to throw open political parties to the next generation. In the last few months, we held elections for our youth organizations in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The result was the new vigour seen in GenNext during the Lok Sabha elections — they took up campaigning in big numbers and turned out in hordes to vote. They seem to have backed Congress with great enthusiasm.

It is the young who can — and will — change the country and the way it is run. The basic problem arises from the simplistic assumption that the young are averse to “dirty politics”. The urban middle class may be cynical about politics but in the rural heartland there are 5.5 lakh panchayats and several lakh young men and women serving as panchs, sarpanchs and as members of zilla parishads. According to a rough estimate, 70% of these elected representatives are no older than 35.

Surely that is evidence enough to show that the young are interested in entering the system to change their village communities? If the urban young are apathetic about politics it is largely because of the system’s penchant for political institutions, the closed-door functioning of political outfits and the special status given to politicians. These are all negatives factors and breed revulsion among ordinary people.

The philosophy and purpose of Rahul Gandhi’s internal democratization of the NSUI and Youth Congress was opening them up to the common people. This has created a feeling within the new generation that there is a clean way of getting into politics and moving into leadership positions. At the moment, many young politicians belong to political families and the positions they get are passed down as legacies. There’s nothing wrong with that but there should be equal opportunity for others too if they want it.

It is not a small change. It would open up politics to all, making it possible for ordinary people to compete with the privileged few. Some may try to discourage the change, but it will happen. Ours is a long-term vision but the results of this election are encouraging, particularly because we saw huge youth participation in our campaign and the voting process.

I went to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh to contest the election. I was a first-timer in the big, challenging world of electoral politics. But the experience was phenomenal. Throughout the campaign, I would get scraps on my Orkut profile and phone calls from boys and girls who would introduce themselves as first-time voters who had cast their ballot in my favour. It was a very satisfying experience — the flight of hope among those who possibly would not have taken to it with such gusto had they not seen change coming into the closed, 60-year-old world of politics.

Through Congress’s philosophy of equality, India’s young will change the way politics is perceived in this country. Politics and elections are seen as an ideological challenge, but young people see it as a management challenge. As the young enter politics, real issues will come to centrestage and the possibility of their own being able to participate in the process would cement their faith in the philosophy of equality, opportunity and change.

It will be a boon for society as it will undercut the school of political thought that promotes divisiveness. As we gain acceptability, there will be copycats. That would be good because they will be following our path.

But this may be hard for those whose politics is based on parochialism. Divisive politics marginalizes the youth it seeks to exclude. Youth participation in such parties will decline. Simply put, divisive ideology is antithetical to greater youth participation.

New idiom for a new generation

By M H Ahssan

For Congress, the party has only just begun — all over again. This is the first time since Rajiv Gandhi reduced the voting age to 18 that Congress
is putting youth to work as a political concept.

Inside Congress, there is a new idiom now: youth. There is a new language: youthful. There are new buzzwords: internal democracy, management, equality, inclusive growth. And, because all these seem to have worked very well for the party, Congress appears to be on a roll. Alongside the internal democratization of youth outfits, there is the impending launch and spread of Aam Aadmi ke Sipahi (AAKS), literally army of, for and by the common man.

As elections in the National Students Union of India and the Youth Congress throw politics open to laypeople such as college students and professional GenNext politicians, common man’s protectors are meant to build a deep and abiding party connect with the people. These civil society soldiers are meant to do this not just through their services to the people but by popularising the UPA’s work in government. It’s a shrewd attempt to brand a whole generation with the Congress hand.

The new thinking appears to be the result of a close study of the political turf where Congress is positioned as a middle-of-the-road, pacifist party of secular hue. It also emerges from an analysis of how the BJP goes about its political business — it owes allegiance to the RSS with its own band of ‘catch ‘em young’ platforms.

Instead of the usual cut-and-paste ideas, Rahul Gandhi decided it was essential to create a young Congress team with an ideological face if rightwing rhetoric had to be blunted as a tool of mobilization. The need started to become especially urgent after the NSUI-YC’s silence during the Gujarat riots and Kandhamal carnage further eroded its standing among ordinary people.

The Congress mobilization aims to resurrect the interventionist spirit of a “secular camp” to provide a strong and active alternative platform to the saffron tune of “Hindutva nationalism”.

While Rahul chipped away at Hindutva strongman Narendra Modi despite blows barbs that would have crushed a weaker man, he was also consistent about reaching out to the marginalized in Mayawati’s dalit stronghold.

The new idiom is refreshingly frank. Instead of empty talk about social charity, there are no qualms about admitting that the political objective is strengthening the mother party. AAKS seeks to take Congress and its popularity to the panchayat level. If it works, the organization would become a propaganda tool of its government — the ideal situation for a ruling party. In this, one can see the attempt to turn the mass-based Congress into a quasi-cadre-based outfit.

It may be an idea worth its weight in gold. The fledgling attempt at democratizing NSUI and YC has thrown up enormous numbers of aspirational young politicians and eager young voters. As many as 800,000 young people became members of the Gujarat YC and lakhs joined the Punjab chapter (see accompanying story). Meanwhile, 35,000 university students attended the NSUI session at Uttarakhand. So far, the democratization plan has been implemented only in these three states.

Insiders say the attempt to mobilize youth should not be seen as a quick fix solution but a longer-term vision for a grand revival of Congress. In the process, Indian politics could get a lot younger and more idealistic.

Inside the mind of Rahul Gandhi

By M H Ahssan

Call it software politics. After buttons on the EVMs are pressed, data from the machines fed into the national network, votes dissected on 24×7 channels and the poll pundits proven wrong, the young man responsible for the grand old party’s near-decisive victory is sitting quietly on the backbench, showing no emotion.

He betrays neither the joy and relief of victory nor the strain of possible responsibilities in the future. The Cabinet position has been declined, at least for now. With the dust of the election battle settling, the party reins have been handed back to mother. So, what’s on Rahul Gandhi’s mind now? What has he been thinking the past couple of years, when he metamorphosed from dimpled poster-boy for dynasty to Congress’s campaigner-in-chief? How does he think?

Not politics so much perhaps, as management. Masters at Doon School, his father’s alma mater and his own from 1981 to 1983, remember him as a “quiet, shy boy”. One of the masters who tutored Rahul during his stay at the school’s Kashmir House recalls, “He left the school as quietly as he came. He was grandson of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, but he rarely talked about politics.”

Rahul went on to St Stephen’s College in Delhi, Harvard, Rollins College in Florida and finally Trinity College. He collected many degrees along the way and perhaps a philosophy of management as well. It was at Harvard that he studied under Michael E Porter whose ‘Five Forces Analysis’ — a business development strategy — seems to have influenced Rahul in a big way. Porter’s model analyses the forces “that affect a company’s ability to serve its customers and make a profit”. The theory insists that if an industry is attractive, every firm doesn’t have the same profitability. “Some firms are able to apply their core competences, business model or network to achieve a profit above the industry average”. Replace Porter’s ‘industry’ with politics and ‘firms’ with parties and the analysis works well in the jumble of Indian coalition politics.

It probably helps that Rahul has been employed in something other than Indian politics. After his Cambridge M Phil, he worked as a consultant with Porter’s Monitor Group in London for three years. That was where he honed the management and analytical skills that people now say with post-election hindsight make him a good politician. But Sam Pitroda, his father’s old colleague and head of the Technology Mission predicted this when Rahul entered politics in 2004: “He has worked under Michael Porter for four years…Rahul is methodical, analytical, mature and sincere… He is extremely intelligent and at ease with cyber technology…”

Rahul’s buddies and aides say he has transferred his management skills to the Indian countryside in the year-and-a-half that he has been on a ‘Discovery of India’ tour. Jitin Prasada, Congress MP, says, “Rahul has an innate belief in the strength of rural India. When British foreign secretary was taken to Amethi, it was not as was charged by rivals to mock the poor, but it was to show the strength of rural India. He goes out to villages, connects with people and sees the reality himself. And then he analyses and conceives ideas through that first-hand experience, not by closed-door ideating in Delhi. That is his originality”.

Fawning politicians and pundits alike admit Rahul’s way of thinking is clear from all that he has done at the grassroots in Amethi. “He has a vision for the future. Rahul always thinks and talks in long terms,” says Kalyan Singh Gandhi, AICC member from Rae Bareli and long-standing family confidante. Singh describes Rahul’s management philosophy seen at first hand. He created a network of workers across Amethi — 16 blocks, 160 nyaya panchayats, 750 gram sabhas and a samooh pramukh for a cluster of 50 homes. “He organized a camp for all the workers and they were trained by top management experts from Mumbai and abroad on how to reach out to people. The samooh pramukhs are supposed to look after the people all the and take care of all their needs — from water to pension to help in marriages”.

Now, Rahul plans to replicate the Amethi model, where he has 9,000 active party workers, across the country. But some say the plan is merely a marketing strategy. “It’s really credible the way the Congress marketed itself in the past two years. But, it’s just marketing. Where are the results for the people?” says Ranjan Chaudhary, a Dalit and IIM-Lucknow graduate who quit his MNC job in Melbourne to join Rahul’s core team in 2004. “He has many good ideas but no clarity on how to go about it,” says Chaudhary, who left Rahul’s team last year and contested a UP seat as a BJP candidate. “He has no place for emotions. It’s only management”.

True or not, the management guru is reaping rich dividends.

PROFILE – YATN

‘Yatn – The Society’ is a social service organization working towards a better society. True to its name, ‘Yatn’ perseveres to bring in a positive change by uniting people who share the common vision of a developed India, and pay back to the society which helped us.

A Vision of Developed India
‘Yatn – A Society’ vision is directed at realizing the dream of a self sufficient and self reliant India, which has achieved remarkable progress in all the areas that define human achievement.

Mission Possible
All big missions have humble beginnings and so is ‘Yatn – A Society’ is endeavor. Our mission is to address issues like poverty and ignorance that are threatening and weakening our country’s progress.

We aim to achieve literacy, eradicate poverty, abolish child labour, uplift and instill confidence among the weaker sections of the society.Our NGO services focus on assessing individual strengths and needs, setting personal goals and providing an environment that encourages overall growth and development.

Yatn’s active service areas:

•Health care for poor and the disabled
•AIDS awareness programmes
•Self-employment programmes
•Drinking water and sanitation
•Old age homes and orphanages
•Rehabilitation and education for socially and economically backward children
•Child adoption through coordination with other like-minded NGOs
•Afforestation programmes

The primary aim of ‘Yatn – A Society’ is to provide the basic facilities to the weaker sections of the society. We also take up projects aimed at improving the environment. With emphasis on rural development, Yatn’s efforts are focused on ensuring healthcare, quality education, facilitating clean drinking water and rehabilitation of destitute children and old people.

Successful kick-start
Yatn’s mission was initiated with a tree planting programme held in Pulicherla village, Nagarjuna Sagar Road. With all the villagers and the Gram Panchayat Heads extending support to the afforestation drive, the event turned out to be a grand success. For more details about the event click.

Hurdles
If we can dare to dream, we can also overcome hurdles.Failure occurs only when we stop trying. We understand that hurdles are part of any pursuit and we move on with a strong belief that they can be tackled. A relentless pursuit is the answer to most of the agony we face from failure.

It is easy to share a vision but it takes more than that to realize and implement it at a grass root level. Some of us might be fortunate enough to be blessed with a good life. It becomes more meaningful when we do noble activities and give back something to the society we live in. At ‘Yatn – A Society’, we consider it our duty to help the less fortunate ones achieve the basic standards of life.

Your cooperation and support goes a long way in promoting Yatn’s cause. Yatn appeals to each and every individual to share our philanthropic vision and unite for a common cause and share the dream of a developed India. In our relentless pursuit of a better society we sincerely hope that you would extend a helping hand.

Come and be a part of ‘Yatn – The Society’
We organize and undertake various environmental and developmental programmes. If you wish to sponsor any specific task around your village/town/city, you can get in touch with us to carry out the programme. We have carried out successful campaigns on the development front. For instance,

Mr. Sridhar Reddy of Pulicherla village was concerned about the depleting trees and was ready to sponsor for a right solution. He approached Yatn. Subsequently the organization took up an in-depth study of the village and its greenery.

In addition to the problem of deforestation, ‘Yatn – A Society’ also identified infrastructural problems at schools and Anganwadis in and around Pulicherla. On behalf of the sponsor, ‘Yatn – A Society’ organized a plantation day, inviting the village Panchayat heads and local school children. This initiative not only helped in encouraging the villagers to plant more trees but also enabled them to understand the importance of trees to combat climate change. In August 2008, a total of 2000 mango trees were planted in Pulicherla village on Nagarjuna Sagar Road.

Appeal
We make a sincere appeal to join our team to banish poverty, illiteracy and ignorance. If you want to be a part of it and share a common dream of a developed India, please contact with your details to newscop@gmail.com.

Your thoughtful gesture can immensely help accelerate our mission to reach out to the needy. By making a financial donation to ‘Yatn – A Society’, you are actually supporting the well-being of the underprivileged. Further details, write to newscop@gmail.com

HNN Exclusive: A Summery Sip!

By M H Ahssan

It is no secret that summertime brings out the tippler in many of us. Most bars and lounges register a spurt in the sale of cocktails in summers as against winters, when straight drinks are preferred. Yes, there are the chilled beers and shandies too for option, but still beating the heat with a glass of cocktail is more fun. And although warm-weather sips such as pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris make the grade, those currently popping up in the best places are stuffed with fresh fruit, sweetened with simple syrups and infused with liqueurs. HNN requested four mixologists — Allspice eatery & Drinkery, Mumbai’s Shatbhi Basu; Amigo, Delhi’s Pramod MP; F Bar & Lounge’s Kamlesh Verma and Radisson MBD, Noida’s Amit Bajaj to share their fresh picks for the season…

Mexican Mix
This might tempt those who love trying out new drinks. if you like Mexican food, which has a vague resemblance to Indian food, particularly in its use of spices, you might as well try out Mexican cocktails or coolers as they are called. Amigos, the Mexican bar and restaurant in Delhi, has for the first time introduced some Mexican thirst-quenchers. Like the one that bar manager Pramod MP recommends: “Many bars experiment with water melon cocktails and come up with some new version every year, but we have a melon drink. Though a little sweet, it is definitely the most interesting drink on our menu.” Honey Dew Melon has tequila and midori (melon liquor) as the alcohol base and the pulp of fresh melon coupled with lemon juice adding to its flavour. But it is the way it is presented that makes it unique: the cocktail is served in a half-cut melon. “It’s very important that a cocktail is balanced.

It should have the right mix of alcohol and other ingredients, so that it is not overpowered by any one flavour,” he says. Like tequila. Mexico’s national drink, Pramod says is a strong spirit and one has to ensure that the other ingredients of the cocktail too are strong, or else tequila will overpower the drink. And a cocktail is not just about taste. looks matter a lot. Apart from the colour, which is of course critical, it is the garnishing that make it interesting.

Pramod’s next favourite is Todd’s Cooler. A very simple tall drink and well-suited to Indian tastebuds, this cooler is lemon-based. Gin, cream de casis, lemon chunks, mint leaf and brown sugar goes into making the cocktail a sure-shot hit. Though the drink looks similar to a mint monitor, the taste definitely is different — and quite wonderful. Mind trying it!

A Fruity Punch
A chilled glass of beer is what most of us resort to in place of the vodkas, whiskies and rums in summers. But a nice blend of alcohol with seasonal fruits and syrups can be a refreshing change. F Bar and Lounge’s Kamlesh Verma picked a few of his favourites this season. Both his picks are new entries in F bar’s menu.

Watermelon is one of his favourite fruits for a cocktail, particularly because of its cool flavour and rich colour. And so, the Red Mellow Delight has all the ingredients of satisfying your thirst and taste buds. Vodka and melon liquor form the alcohol base, while chunks of melon, mint leaves, lemon juice and brown sugar form the body of the drink. “Fruit-based cocktails sell well as they are more refreshing. In fact, people look forward to new additions during the season,” says Verma. The trick is to keep the content of alcohol low in cocktails, so that people can enjoy their drink without feeling the heat, he explains. For the ladies, he recommends Green Apple On The Rocks. A very simple drink with a tangy flavour, this cocktail has green apple liquor and chunks of crushed green apple. The drink is strong yet refreshing — perfect for a pleasant summer evening. “Green apple martini is one of the hot favourites with women. But generally martinis have a strong alcohol base, which doesn’t go well in summers, so I thought why not offer another variation of the same flavour,” Verma says. Great option, isn’t it?

Tangy Toast
This comes from an expert indeed. shatbhi basu, India’s first woman mixologist and partner in Allspice eatery & Drinkery, Mumbai, comes up with some really refreshing desi cocktails. Aam panna, considered the most effective particularly in northern India, is what Basu chose for her first cocktail. “I always go by my instincts, and whatever is readily available,” she says.

“And my favourite this season is using raw mango panna in frozen margaritas.” Basu uses cooked concentrate of raw mango and sugar, and flavours it with black salt, salt and roasted cumin powder in a frozen margarita. She suggests using lime, ginger, honey and cucumber in tall drinks and fizzing it with ginger ale or lemonade. “Also, lots of wine coolers, blonde and blush sangrias as opposed to red — my favourite being white wine and Appy Fizz with mangoes, kiwis, lichis, grapes and mint, spiked with a little orange vodka,” Basu adds. Using seasonal fruits and tasters in drinks enhances their taste and provides the goodness of the fruits as well. “Seasonal cocktails are always good for first-time alcohol drinkers, as the percentage of alcohol is very low in them,” Basu says. Now, that’s two to tango!

Cricket Mazaa
The current IPL season has given everybody a chance to innovate… So, we have IPL menus written on cricket bats, meals named after the teams and innumerable other marketing gimmicks. On similar lines, Radisson MBD, Noida, has come up with a range of summer cocktails named after the participating teams. Says Amit Bajaj, assistant F&B manager, “We have introduced cocktails that match the colour of the teams’ jerseys.”

The master’s favourite is the Kolkata Knight Riders — a blend of dark rum, carrot juice and beet juice. “Beet and dark rum give the drink the dark colour and carrot adds flavour,” Bajaj says. His second pick was Mumbai Indians, a very attractive drink. The topaz blue colour comes from blue curacoa, which blends with gin, tonic water and lime for an amazing drink. “The colour of a cocktail is a major puller for many. In fact, people often order after watching others’ drinks, so it is important that a cocktail looks good,” Bajaj adds.

TECH TALK: Technology, Science, Innovation…

By M H Ahssan

Artificial Skin Factory
Artificial skin is used not only for treating burns. Pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies need it to test their products, as testing on artificial skin is better than animal-testing. We know how to make artificial skin, but the process is painfully slow — with the result that there is not enough of it around. Companies around the world make 2,000 pieces a month, while the requirement is probably more than 10 million pieces. Now, a team of German scientists have found a method to manufacture it on a large scale.

The process is called tissue engineering. First, a human skin is cut into little pieces. These pieces are then treated with enzymes, and collected in two batches. These batches are then grown in cultures in separate dishes. What grows in these dishes is then combined to form two layers, with the addition of collagen, just like in human skin. It takes three weeks to grow a piece of skin 1 cm in diameter.

This is standard process, but scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute automated the process. Their skin factory, to be completed in two years, can produce 5,000 pieces in a month. That will be a relief for burn victims and pharma companies.

High-tech Bus Stop
Bus stops are dreary places, particularly if the wait is long. Now the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed one that is not just an interesting place, but also a place to do some work. It is called EyeStop, and has been developed by the MIT SENSEable City Lab. It was displayed at the Fiorentino festival in Florence, Italy. A more formal version will be unveiled this October. MIT developed this bus stop to showcase the potential of next-generation urban transport.

It has touch-sensitive electronic ink screens, state-of-the-art sensing technologies and a variety of interactive services. Riders can plan a bus trip on an interactive map, surf the Web, monitor their real-time exposure to pollutants and use their mobile devices as an interface with the bus shelter. They can also post ads and community announcements on an electronic bulletin board at the bus stop. Passengers can get information about the shortest route to their destination or the position of all the buses in the city. It is powered by sunlight, and also gathers information about environmental pollution. The bus stop will start its journey in Florence. Would it arrive in India soon?

Progress On HIV Research
Good news from the AIDS research front. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania report that they have found a new antiviral method that protects monkeys from SIV, the simian cousin of HIV. Their approach combines elements of vaccines and gene therapy — bypass the immune response and deliver the antibodies.

Researcher Philip Johnson and his team decided to test the idea in the monkey SIV model. They linked pieces of antibody to construct ‘immunoadhesins’. They then stitched the genes for these immunoadhesins into an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver an engineered DNA into the muscles of monkeys, spurring protein production.

Six of the monkeys — of the nine tested — did not become infected with SIV. Experts say the development could eventually lead to a vaccine-like treatment against AIDS.

VENTURE CAPITAL: Enterprising Reposition

By M H Ahssan

Tucked away on Pier 33 on San Francisco bay, KPG Ventures is among the many small companies in the area routinely eclipsed by the large venture capitalists (VCs) on Sand Hill Road. KPG makes seed-stage investments in start-ups, and had raised its second fund of $20 million in October last year. Partner David Hills, who joined the company at the same time, is as busy as ever in his career. He reads 15 business plans a week, and has made four investments already this year — three of them in new companies. The recession does not bother him and, in fact, does excite him as an investor. “I have been through five recessions, and they are always a good time to invest.”

If you talk to VCs or entrepreneurs in the US, or if you attend conferences on entrepreneurship, it is sometimes difficult to feel the world is in the throes of a recession. Mark Cannice, associate professor of entrepreneurship at the University of San Francisco, does a study of VC confidence every quarter here, based on what VCs think of the investment environment over the next 18 months. The index of this confidence has been steadily declining in the Valley for the past five quarters. It rose again for the first time in the first quarter of this year. He has also been tracking the VC confidence in China, where it did not drop in the previous quarter. Cannice has also found an interesting positive correlation between VC confidence and the IPO market. “There is now an expectation of a recovery in the venture environment,” says Cannice.

The recent news about the VC industry has been very bad. The amount of VC money invested in companies fell significantly in the first quarter of this year all over the world. In the US, it was down 47 per cent in the first quarter, according to the MoneyTree report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (see ‘Hitting A New Low’ on page 30). VCs invested 50 per cent less in international markets (Europe, Israel, India and China) as well in the first quarter, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. In the Silicon Valley, the drop was 43 per cent, and that too because of a decline of 95 per cent in investments in clean tech. Entrepreneurs are, however, as active as ever. “Entrepreneurs are blind to economic conditions,” says Brent Ahrens, general partner at Canaan Partners. “You cannot stop them.” Many VCs too like investing during a recession. “It keeps the noise out of the system,” says Vish Mishra, venture director of Clearstone Venture Partners.

Entrepreneurs are particularly active in areas that are VCs’ current favourites: consumer internet, software, healthcare and life sciences, and clean tech. VCs such as KPG are a vital cog in the entrepreneurial machinery in the Silicon Valley, as they invest in early stages and thus help many start-ups get off the ground. KPG’s recent investments include the National Payment Card Association (NPCA), Lexy and Wowd. NPCA has a technology that eliminates credit card transaction fees. Lexy provides audio content on demand on any device. Wowd, in its early stages now, is developing a platform that would help one find the best content online. Started in 2006, KPG has made 25 investments in three years. It has seen two exits last year. Hills says that as an early-stage investor, he is always on the lookout for disruptive technologies, and consumer internet — where his expertise lies — is always a good place to look.

Consumer internet is attracting the attention of entrepreneurs and VCs for several reasons. It offers a myriad opportunities in terms of technologies and business models. It also provides the opportunity to be capital-efficient. So both the investments and exits in this space are marked by smaller deals — investments are less than $10 million, and exits usually less than $50 million and often less than $25 million. It also offers an entrepreneur the opportunity to exit even before a large VC investment.

Technology is still in a state of flux on the internet. Web 2.0 companies themselves are in their early stages, and many new start-ups are now transitioning to Web 3.0, and are at a stage known as Web 2.5. New search companies offer consumers and advertisers more focused content and services. And the mobile device, led by the iPhone, is providing a new medium for the advertisers. Not surprisingly, a report recently published by the Seattle-based investment bank Cascadia Capital identifies social media and mobile applications as the areas where entrepreneurs are most likely to make money.

The fondness of the consumer for the virtual world is inexorable— entertainment is cheap. Spending hours on a video game, for example, is much cheaper than going out for a movie. In a June 2008 study, the specialised market research company DFC Intelligence predicted the global video game market to reach $57 billion at the end of this year. It is also a sector that is least affected by the recession, and is spawning new companies. For example, a deal that caught attention in the Silicon Valley this month was the $4.5-million funding of Booyah by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers. Very little is known about Booyah, except that it is founded by some gaming industry veterans and that it promises a combination of immersive experience, social media and iPhone and iPod touch.

The gaming market is undergoing a shift in at least three aspects. First, the definition of a game itself is changing as more and more people are shifting from console-based to browser-based games. Second, the distribution model is changing. Earlier they were shrink-wrapped and sold through traditional channels; now an increasing number is being downloaded directly. Thirdly, the gaming industry is shifting from an upfront payment model to a subscription model. “The next three years will see more changes in the gaming industry than in the past 20 years,” says John Borchers, general partner at the VC firm Crescendo Ventures. Gaming is thus a big opportunity for start-ups.

The gaming and consumer internet industries go in close conjunction — and often overlap — with the media and entertainment sector, another area under the VC radar now. The print media is going through a difficult phase in developed markets and may never recover, but the digital media is in the early stages of its evolution, and attracting entrepreneurs and VCs. In particular, the movie industry is adapting technology in a big way. “The merger of Hollywood and technology has only started,” says Steve Bengston, managing director of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Emerging Company Services Group, which produces the MoneyTree report.

While new areas such as these come up, old areas such as enterprise software have ceased to interest VCs. However, VCs are still interested in certain kinds of software. Prominent among them are SaaS (software as a service), cloud computing and virtualisation, and the semantic Web. SaaS, in particular, is attracting attention as a good way. “We like (in SaaS) the ability to lower costs, target the small-and medium-sized businesses, and to push out software releases seamlessly through the internet,” says Vispi Daver, partner of Sierra Ventures.

Down, But Not Out
Outside IT, and probably overlapping with it, are the sectors that are still the hot favourites of VCs — clean tech, healthcare and life sciences. For the past three years, clean tech has been attracting large investments from the VCs (see ‘The Holy Grail Called Clean Tech’, BW, 23 March 2009). The sector has seen the steepest fall in investments in the first quarter of this year, but VCs are still upbeat on the sector as it is expected to grow continuously for decades.

One of the biggest problems of the sector is that some companies require large amounts of money; a start-up may require hundreds of millions of dollars in several rounds of funding. VCs are no longer keen to fund such companies. But many of them have already invested considerable amounts of money, and would like to see returns on the investments. Since all VCs are keeping aside money to invest in their portfolio companies — one reason why total investments have come down — we could see more investments in clean tech in the future after a lull.

One associates the word clean tech usually with a firm that is developing the next-generation solar technology or a new biofuel. However, it is a large area that is as much concerned with energy efficiency as it is on new and renewable sources of energy. Innovations such as a new software system to increase efficiency or a power management chip fall under this sector, and neither requires enormous capital. Large projects, however, may need to look for debt financing.

Like clean tech, the healthcare and life sciences sectors have been the hot favourites of VCs for a while. The pharma industry in the West has traditionally been very profitable. The sector becomes more attractive as the population in developed countries starts ageing. Despite a high failure rate, the life sciences sector is attracting firms developing drugs for cancer, and cardiovascular and neurological diseases. In fact, the declining new drug pipeline of large companies is seen as an opportunity for smaller players, who may not have the capacity to take their innovations to the market. Medical devices and diagnostics are also attracting attention.

Two weeks ago, in one of the largest rounds of VC funding recently, the New Jersey-based VaxInnate Corporation raised $30 million from several VCs to develop vaccines for various diseases, including influenza. It is developing a swine flu vaccine that will be available for testing in a few weeks. While the biotech funding dropped significantly in the first quarter of this year, well-known clusters such as the Bay Area and Boston held out better. With US President Barack Obama keen on healthcare reform, the sector is likely to attract large investments.

While these areas interest VCs the world over, there are specific technology areas in specific geographies that interest them. In India, for example, education and infrastructure are hot areas. And mobile applications, one area where Indian firms can develop globally innovative technologies. “There are plenty of opportunities in mobile applications for Indian companies, but it is not easy either,” says Mohan Kumar, executive director, India, of the Silicon Valley firm Norwest Venture Partners.

Going Small Is The Way Ahead
As entrepreneurs try their best to seek VCs for financing new companies, the VC companies themselves are undergoing a big change. On the one hand, they have not been raising funds. According to the National Venture Capital Association in the US, 40 funds raised $4.3 billion in the first quarter of 2009, compared to $3.5 billion in the last quarter of 2008. However, it represented a 39 per cent drop compared to the same period last year. The number of funds that raised money was the smallest since the third quarter of 2003.

The Valley, like many other places, is beginning to be filled with “VCs walking dead”, a jargon for firms that continue to be in business but with no capacity to make fresh investments. The returns for VCs have also declined over the years. However, many VCs and entrepreneurs also feel that it is a period of structural change in the industry, including the nature of investments. So we may see the end of an era where VCs used to invest a hundred million dollars in a single deal, and the beginning of an era where they invest tens of million dollars in a large number of companies.

One could argue that VCs have been raising a lot of money in recent times, and thus did not need to do so this year. More worrying for the VCs is the lack of exit opportunities. The US saw the first zero-IPO quarter after a long time. In the Silicon Valley, the number of public companies has been declining every year for the past eight years and now stands at 261, compared to 315 in 1994 (the Valley newspaper San Jose Mercury News has been keeping track since then). It shows a change in how VCs exit companies: from IPOs to mergers and acquisitions. VCs say that two-thirds of the exits are now through mergers and acquisitions.

The VC industry is generally cyclical: it has seen five-six cycles so far. However, the present events show a far deeper trend than a business cycle. The tech industry is maturing and is thus slowing down. It may no longer support billion-dollar VC-backed companies. VCs may thus have to look at building companies of a few hundred million dollars rather than billions of dollars. Huge returns may no longer be possible, with occasional exceptions, unless a new technology wave happens.

The irony of it all: Bitter for Kumble, sweet for Gilchrist

By M H Ahssan

It was sweet-bitter irony for Anil Kumble on Sunday. In his first over, he dismissed danger man Adam Gilchrist, went on to take four wickets in one of the boldest and cleverest bowling performances in Twenty20 cricket anywhere, his batsmen had only a modest 144 to chase for victory, and yet Bangalore failed to win the title.

Kumble’s forlorn walk back to the pavilion after the final over had been bowled, shoulders drooped, head shaking from one side to another, was eloquent testimony to his feelings. Is there anything more that he could have done? Is there anything that can get more heartbreakingly cruel than sport?

Consider also the case of Kumble’s mate in several teams over the years and his steadfast friend Rahul Dravid. Sidelined from the captaincy this year, Dravid’s future in Twenty20 cricket looked insecure. But he struck good form and made a crucial 46 in the semi-final to suggest that he could be the key player in the final too. In the event, he had a match that would have left him with a sense of horror at his own errors for some years at least, one reckons.

First, he dropped a sitter at slip to give Symonds a reprieve when the batsman was on five. Dravid, as we know, holds the record for the highest number of catches in Tests and is a specialist slip fielder. Nine times out of ten he would have taken the catch blindfolded but this was that one occasion when he let the ball pop out of his hands with both his eyes wide open.

If that was not enough setback for a day, worse was to follow. Bangalore seemed to have the match in their grip with Ross Taylor and Dravid enjoined in a partnership that was looking comfortable and productive when the latter was struck by a sudden burst of madness.

In playing perhaps the ugliest stroke of his life — a premeditated sweep off Harmeet Singh — Dravid lost his middle stump, and from then on Bangalore lost the plot too. A match that should have been won easily, was surrendered in agony.

But where there are losers, there will always be winners, and while sport can sometimes be cruel, it oftentimes throws up delightful surprises too. Gilchrist, for example, was a winner despite his first-over blob and after finishing bottom of the heap last year, Hyderabad had zoomed right to the top this time.

Indeed, the topsy-turvy nature of sport serves as a microcosm of life itself. The lesson in this — for players, franchise owners, all of us — is that success and failure are transitory, but hope must be eternal.

Super Women-Women of today

By Samiya Anwar

“I am challenged when I have not mastered a situation. Until I master it, I feel pressure– and that comes from me, not any individual. I myself, I am striving to be the best.” – Super Women

Today, women are moving shoulder to shoulder with men, fighting gender stereotypes at home and at the office. The closed women are opening up. And the 21st century women are progressing in all key areas and fields undoubtedly. Here is a super woman, challenging, outstanding, excellent, exceptional, belongs to present day world. Very less know, as who is a super women.

If you think, she is a wife of Super Man. No, she isn’t. She is a human being, like all of us. If you imagine, she is having some super power. You’re at erring. She is not enchanted or wizardry. Think again. Super women lives right in our families, relatives, neighbors and our knower. Yes. She is different. She is extremely superior. She is special too.

Well, life of female species is betrothed, cannot be denied, right. And I don’t have to say, for women, the day begins with rise of sun but does not set with sun. Poor women, get up early (say 5 or 6 A.M.), pull herself to storm-full of activities. Voluntarily or forcedly, she is mixed up with number of things. Making a wholesome breakfast for family, shouting at kids to awake, sprucing them up for school, looking after husband’s breakfast, clothes, socks, even hankies, enough of, please. Need a break. But no. she is again ready to dress up perfectly for work. Sometimes with or most of the time without breakfast she reaches office. Her day at work goes hectically pressurized. Once home, the evenings are spent playing the perfect mother and wife. She is a super woman- woman of today who balances a job, kids, husband and house work. They are amazing. Really! Isn’t she?

Super women juggle number of activities at a time. They are struggling for perfectionism. Their instinct pushes and they feel burdensome unless they do everything perfectly. They are hyper-stressed, bewildered and troubled. It is not easy being a super woman. Strenuous job, labored fully because women has a tendency to say the world, “Look what I can do;” They want “appreciation”. They want “compliments”. Super women do anything to feel more wanted. At home, being a wife or mother. She wants to do all by herself. At work place she is same, hungry for praises. She craves for accolades everywhere.

Shilpa, a full-time Fashion Designer (married with two kids) says, “I do a lot of stuff. My family thinks I’m crazy (may be ‘Yes’) and my friends sadly shake their heads with pity in their eyes. Their concerns are well founded; I do way too much. But all is essential”. She is boarded in a train which probably has ‘no stops’ and ‘no station’ yet. She is just moving. There is ‘no break’. Her life is ‘break-free’. She has no time for herself. But she doesn’t agree and really don’t mean it either. This is a “super women” complex.

Fulfilling multiple roles coupled with a lack of time leads young women to neglect their own diet and health. She is expected to be successful at work, take care of the family and at the same time, still look beautiful. Moreover; there are real ‘superwomen’ who balances all tasks successfully. It is important that a woman takes care of her health whilst juggling her duties, very true.

Scientist has recently discovered a new ingredient isolated from soy beans. This ingredient is known as ‘Genistein’ which amazed many researchers with its amazing health-giving properties which many superwomen need to keep their health at the peak. Genistein is chemically similar to the female hormones, oestrogen. This similarity enables genistein to regulate any imbalances in oestrogen levels that may potentially upset a woman’s health.

Also in an online survey of work-life balance, asked women why they can’t turn down favors, the top reason was–”I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make them mad at me.” Second to that: “They’re showing faith in me and I can’t let them down.”. There are loads of statistics that show that doing things for others results in lasting happiness. However, where is a room for self? Ask yourself “what will am I doing for myself today. The answer would be “nothing’. And it is just because you’re so involved in the life of others; you forget your own purpose. There is no ‘Me Time’ or ‘My Time’ in super women’s life, sadly.

Despite multitasking is becoming the norm of present day women. Multitasking makes you slow and it is hard to do everything perfectly and be best all the time. The multitasking women are redundant. They need better balance as there aren’t any breaks in life because being working women; super women are endlessly fulfilling every obligation except the one to themselves. For mental, physical, and psychological well-being, sometimes you just need to stop. Then you need to do something you want to do. You need to take some ‘Me Time’ says a recent study on urban working women.

The Families and Work Institute (FWI) found that working mothers spend both more time at the job and more time with their kids than their counterparts did 25 years ago. Where are they finding that extra time? “It’s coming from time for them,” says Ellen Galinsky, FWI president. So, by taking a break from the same time is no big deal. Women should understand. It is not to stop work but to rest and re-think our strategy to go about it from another angle. If you shift your focus, you go back to the other areas of life with more energy. She continues saying” You’re less stressed, more satisfied with life in general.”

Nevertheless ness, it would be of no value to be called a “Super Women” if you’re tension-filled all the time. Handle stress by giving time to you as a person. Not in any way, caught up with hectic pace of every day life and be harried by screwing up everything. Rejuvenate, do what you like, involve in a hobby and see. Try it, I dare you! You’ll love life more than before. All the best!

Manmohan’s new ‘friends’ fight for scraps

By Raja Murthy

For a septuagenarian charged with leading the world’s biggest democracy for the next five years amid the worst global economic downturn in even his life time, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 76, has appeared unusually chirpy these past few days – perhaps too much so.

The parliamentary elections that ended last week in a strengthening of the mandate of the Congress party and its political allies appear to have produced a difference in Manmohan’s body language. In his initial meetings with the Indian media this week, he appeared more confident and assertive, as if casting off the more familiar look of a meek, lost, elderly professor caught in a wild Saturday night college party.

The mood of optimism as Congress emerged with a higher-than expected 205 seats in the Lok Sabha (Lower House), the most by any single party, was not confined to the free-market worshipping prime minister, the first premier in 45 years since Jawaharlal Nehru to win a second, consecutive five-year term.

“The election results are good for India,” said a happy Fayaz Ahmed munching a sandwich during lunch hour outside the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday. Like many in India, he was prepared to back his confidence in the new government with cash, as he envisages more money being ploughed into building roads, railways and other infrastructure developments.

“My investment portfolio has changed towards infrastructure – that is the best sector to invest in now.” Some politicians clearly think along similar lines.

India is expected to spend more than US$500 billion in improving infrastructure in the coming years, and share prices of companies such as GMR Infrastructure have strengthened since the election results came in at the weekend – GMR hit a 52-week high of 171.30 rupees on Thursday.

Ahmed, a small investor who works with a leading exporter of agricultural products, said he made a nice profit after India voted to give Manmohan and the Sonia Gandhi-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) another chance.

“I was very confident that the UPA would win,” said Ahmed, who was part of a larger-than-usual crowd in the searing mid-summer heat on Thursday, staring up at the electronic ticker flashing details of the BSE Sensex index, which hovered under the 14,000-point mark.

Unlike in recent weeks, no grim faces could be seen on Dalal Street, home to the BSE and the heart of India’s financial center in Mumbai. But there was no festive celebratory atmosphere either. The lunch-time crowd knew only too well that the Congress had still fallen short of a 272-seat majority in parliament and that coalition politics will continue to feature strongly.

This was already evident in the grab to get hold of infrastructure-related portfolios even before the government was due to be sworn in on Friday evening.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the 85-year-old Tamil Nadu chief minister and a Congress ally, brazenly demanded the railways, shipping, telecommunications, surface transport and power portfolios for his son, daughter and grand nephew.

This was a little too much for Congress leaders, who refused to treat India’s infrastructure as the family property of a wily old politician. The demands were politely rejected, which left open the question of whether a sulking Karunanidhi will agree to his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party being part of the UPA government or support it from outside.

Manmohan does have some leeway in his appointments. On Wednesday, he submitted letters of support from 322 members of parliament to President Pratibha Patil to retain his prime ministerial job. The cushion of 40 extra MPs gives him more room to execute controversial open-market policies, such as freeing fuel prices from regulatory control and selling stakes in profitable government-owned companies.

The probability that the government will sell some of its stakes in government-owned companies, also called public sector companies, appeared so certain that share values of 46 of these jumped by between 10% and 20% on Monday, adding another $37.79 billion to their capitalization.

India’s central and various state governments own, for instance, 80.35% of the $61 billion Indian Oil Corporation, one of India’s largest companies and a Fortune 500 listee. The oil and related energy industries are expected to be among key growth sectors in Manmohan’s second period in office.

Yet while Congress feels it can withstand arm-twisting from the Tamil Nadu chief minister and his family, only a diehard optimist would bet on the prime minister, who has no personal political base, having a peaceful five years with other coalition allies, such as the 54-year-old mercurial Mamata Banerjee and her party.

Banerjee, who heads the Trinamul Congress Party, came to international prominence this year when, in uncompromising fashion, she drove away Ratan Tata and his project to build the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, in West Bengal, in a row over the sale of agricultural land to be used as a factory site.

Mamata Banerjee is front-runner to replace the very successful Lalu Prasad Yadav as India’s next railway minister. She is also expected to replace the routed communist parties in blocking the free-market policies so loved by Manmohan. The Left Front, a key ally of the previous UPA grouping, won only 15 seats compared with 35 in the previous general elections in 2004.

“Even though this new government does not need the left parties, the fact that it depends on people like Mamata Banerjee causes us concern,” said V Satyan, assistant vice president of First Overseas Capital Limited, a financial firm whose offices are directly opposite the Bombay Stock Exchange entrance.

India’s market analysts expect Manmohan’s second term to feature fewer crowd-pleasing handouts, lower taxation, and disinvestment of public-sector companies such as Indian Oil Corporation. Selling off public-sector companies was among major issues over which Manmohan had a recurring battle with his erstwhile communist allies.

Satyan also expects the new government to generate more domestic sources of investment. “Foreign investors tend to run away whenever some bad news like a terrorist attack happens,” he said. “It’s much better for India’s long-term growth if we depend more on local investors.”

Manmohan’s lack of a political base arises in part from his bureaucratic background; with a degree in economics from Cambridge University, he had stints as professor at the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India and governor of the Reserve Bank of India, before being appointed finance minister in 1991.

In that position, he played a vital role in opening up the economy. When he took over as finance minister, India suffered the humiliation of having to sell its gold reserves to pay off foreign debt. In 2009, he continues his job with India as one of the world’s dozen trillion-dollar economies.

He was initially appointed prime minister by the Italian-born Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in 2004, to avoid controversies over her foreign origin that might have surfaced had she sought to lead the government personally. The political grandee and the learned economist have since built a strong relationship, with Gandhi remaining the center of power as Congress party leader and UPA chairperson (see India’s dynamic political duo, Asia Times Online, Nov 7, 2009).

Manmohan’s lack of political roots proved to be a strength as well as a weakness during his first prime ministerial term. While he has less need than others might have to pander to vested interests and has earned the respect of a nation, he has also showed a stubborn streak and a barely hidden impatience with democratic discussions. This was notable during his fixation with the controversial India-US civilian nuclear deal that he supported as almost an obsession.

Critics of the deal, which divided the county and nearly brought down the government in 2008, say the $100 billion of business it gives to the struggling US nuclear industry is a primary reason for the deal, rather than any scientific possibility of American nuclear reactors significantly solving India’s energy problems.

Manmohan, however, claimed to be listening to his “inner voice”, in the famous manner of former US president George Bush with whom he runs a mutual admiration society.

For a more harmonious second term, Manmohan would be advised to stick to listening to inner voices in matters regarding his personal life, but to heed the public voice in his position as a proxy leader of a coalition government in a democracy.

India and its economy now have a positive, possibly self-sustaining momentum, but woe betide leaders forgetting their place and taking the people for granted.

The Sensex Index, as if reflecting investors’ more considered thoughts since the 17% gain to 14,284 on Monday that welcomed Manmohan’s victory, fell back to 13,736 by Thursday evening.

Mango Uncut Fest @ Taj Deccan in Hyderabad

M H Ahssan

Taj Deccan in Hyderabad is celebrating the sweetness of the king of fruits in a very unique way, it is hosting Mango Uncut Fest at its all day dining restaurant, Arena. The festival is from May 22 to June 30, 2009.

Chef Sachin and his team present a menu that is exotic at the same time healthy. They have picked some of juiciest and rare varieties of Mango like, Alphonso, Dashehari, Chausa, Bombay Green, Neelum, Bangalora, Allumpur Baneshan, Cherukurasam, Totapuri and Banganpalli from across India to create a menu that is a fusion of continental and Asian cuisines.

The à la carte menu offers a wide variety of appetizers like, Mango Lobster (Lobster served with chilled mango mayonnaise), Chilled Mango & lettuce salad with lemon honey black pepper seasoning, Avocado Mango salad, Mango Sushi, Crabstick mango, Prawn mango, Aam panna and Mango Rasam.

The main course offers – Pomfret Mango (Grilled Pomfret served with mango hollandaise), Stir-fried Chicken with raw mango & basil, Mango Papa served with Raw Mango prawn curry, Chicken curry, Veg stew and Mango dal.

Guests can pick their choice of desserts, shakes and juices from the LIVE Mango counter specially started for the festival. Some of the sweet options on offer are Diced mango with fresh cream or ice cream, Black forest Mango fudge cake, Mango Elyneer payasam, Mango Rabdi, Alphonso Pastries, Mango cheesecake, Mango Milkshake and Mango smoothie.

The festival is open for both lunch (12:00 noon to 3:30 pm) and dinner (7:30 pm to 11:45 pm). For reservations, call 6666 3939 Extn. 5218/5216.

Attention Diversion- Old tactic, new robbery

By Samiya Anwar

“Crime cases hit a new high with diverse attention by unidentified youths”

Well heard, hoax and hoaxers, crime and criminals, furthermore the “Attention Diversion” and “Attention Diverters”. Not new to our ears. It is something becoming common, regular and ordinary news in newspapers, television channels and everywhere. The society is in great turmoil with old tactics doing wonders. The crime is same, distracting attention, snatching money or gold and fleeing away.

Diverted attention mainly includes a range of activities where the drivers’ attention is directed away from the primary task of driving towards events, objects or people, inside- or outside-of-the-vehicle. It is a new threat in old style. The imposters and hoaxers are at mount to fool and deceive people in more sophisticated manner. The theft of attention diversion is rising high. It is said to be a transformed modus operandi of new offenders who adopt the method of old crooked swindlers in more polished style of robbing with changing times. In big cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad the attention diversion has become a very common thing nowadays.

On Monday, the gangs from Nellore, Tamil Nadu and Beedar in Karnataka have reached Hyderabad, the officials said. The members of the gang divert the attention of a probable victim by narrating a crime incident in nearby area and ask people to deposit their valuables with them. Once that is done, they replace the handbags with stones and hand it back to the victims. There are also women in those gangs. It is reported that women stop others wearing jewelry under the pretext of alerting them about a murder in the vicinity and warning them against wearing so much jewelry. When the women remove the jewelry the tricksters pretend to help them with packing it up, only to replace it with stones.

Recently, in Cyberabad, Rs 2 lakh was stolen from a person, when a man punctured the tyre of victim’s two-wheeler. He had put the money in the boot of the two-wheeler. When he went to a shop, another gang member opened the boot and took the money. “It is a gamble for them. Sometimes they hit the jackpot. It is more a matter of chance for them,” said Mr G. Surya Prakasa Rao, the DCP (crime), Cyberabad.

The most vulnerable areas where such gangs are in operation are Jeedimetla, Saroornagar, Kukatpally and Miyapur in Cyberabad jurisdiction and SR Nagar in Hyderabad jurisdiction. Basheerbagh and the area near to Public Gardens are other spots where such gangs are active. So it is ordered to the common people to be cautioned with cash and gold.

And in Bangalore, there is a high alert on attention diverters by city police. Commissioner had earlier this month stated that anybody withdrawing huge amounts from the banks can seek help from the police by taking an armed police personnel along. But the citizens ignore to do so, and a number of them are falling prey to such tricksters. Shankar Bidari said that a book with the details of such tricksters with their details and modus operandi will be published soon and distributed among the police stations and crowded places, which would help in tracing the offenders faster.

The case of Dr. Meghna was a prank, when she was fooled by two youth on way to her clinic, that there is a leakage of petrol and on checking the petrol she noticed her handbag missing which contains her medical apparatus, cash Rs 2,000, credit cards and debit cards.

In Chennai, the theft was on similar grounds last year. A 73-year-old man, Tulasi Raman, a marriage broker, was on his morning walk when the incident occurred. He was relieved of his two-sovereign gold chain by a man on motorbike at Madipakkam. There are many chain snatchers use such techniques and make off with valuable property. It is important to be careful with strangers and to be aware at all points in time, police says. It was just another diversion case of chain snatching which is prevalent with many women traveling in buses, and walking in remote places unaccompanied.

On the same standard, thugs spit chewed biscuit, sprinkle ink in somebody’s shirt and in a split second snatch the bag and valuables right in front of our eyes. Dropping notes on floor is a common technique of deceit. Breaking the window in driver’s absence or leakage of petrol of the victim are general tactics.

But it is shameful that hoaxers are cheating in the name of God. They visit homes and ask women to perform a pooja in the house, to increase wealth and reduce fights at home. Later, put that in a bowl and escape leaving an empty one behind alerting the residents not to open the bowl for a couple of days. Moreover these people also visit homes in the pretext of polishing the jewelry and making away with the valuables, by dipping it in an acid-like solution. So, the “women in doors” are also victims of attention diversion.

The victims are mostly educated, good professionals and from a sound background. They themselves give a chance to offenders in times of hurry or ignorance. If somebody is withdrawing cash from bank or buying jewelry, they have to straight away go home. If they wander with valuables they invite the diverters who are awaiting a chance on a blink of an eye.

Though many attention diverters and their gangs arrested so far has sent in judicial remand, the modus operandi continues. It is said that these are the same people who changes the bait and cheat people in different areas. They speak fluent English which makes the victim fall for their words. It is becoming hazardous for the masses.

Particularly in these difficult economic times, no good salaries, job deficiencies in the market, rising gold rates, getting fooled by any gang of attention diversion is something mindless or careless act upon our hard earned money. We need to be vigilant and wary of our belongings, and cash otherwise such thefts will be on rise.

RAILWAYS: The grand obsession

By M H Ahssan

World over, railways have inspired the most abiding of passions. They continue to fascinate both the old and the young. Even the Web-savvy generation, born long after the steam locomotives had turned museum pieces, are united by the desire to conserve one of the greatest traditions of the mechanised world. The York Museum in London, for instance, recently launched an exhibition titled ‘India On The Move’, which shows how the subcontinent’s railways continue to be its lifeline. Even as contemporary travellers fly around in jetliners, the romance of rail travel continues to draw aficianados. Don’t have the time to go on a train journey? Worry not. Armchair travel is right at hand, chugs, hoots, rumbles and all.

Top Of The World
The highest railway in the world, hailed for its engineering feats and decried for its ecological and cultural side effects in equal parts, will chug quietly into three years of service come July. Built across some of the most inhospitable terrain ever, the highest point on the Qinghai-Tibet line is 5,072 metres (16,640 ft) at the Tanggula Pass, higher by a good 225 metres than the earlier record held by the Tren de la Sierra (‘mountain train’) from Lima, Peru’s capital, to Huancayo, 335 km away to its east. The Qinghai-Tibet line, which started operations in July 2006 after the laying of 1,140 km of new track from Golmud in central China to Lhasa, makes it possible to reach Lhasa from Beijing in 48 hours. Oxygen is pumped into pressure-sealed cabins to help passengers cope with altitude sickness, ultra-violet filters keep out the sun’s glare, and giant sunshades and ammonia-based cooling pipes have been placed in sections where the permafrost that supports the tracks is known to melt seasonally. On the Xining-Golmund sector, the train passes by the largest lake in China — Qinghai. The Fenghuoshan tunnel, world’s highest railroad tunnel, at an elevation of 4,905 metres (16,093 ft), also falls on this line. Meanwhile, travel restrictions to the Tibet region have kept the highest railway in the world as remote as its location. And as mysterious.

Steamy old times
All said and done, there is no high quite like a trip on one of India’s many grand rail routes. Some of the greatest train journeys in the world race through the subcontinent — or chug valiantly for seven hours over 88 km like the Darjeeling Hill Railway, which was built in 1881. This oldest mountain steam train climbs to 7,400 ft at Ghum, India’s highest railway station, from where the magnificent Kanchenjunga looms as a backdrop. Other unmissable train journeys in India include the Nilgiri Mountain Railway from Mettupalayam to Ooty — the steepest line in Asia, scaling an elevation of 326 metres to 2,203 metres, which runs on a unique ‘rack and pinion system’, and the Kalka-Shimla route, which does a steep, mountainous climb up the Shivalik hills through 102 tunnels. This diminutive triumvirate has each been nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage list, and the UN body describes the Darjeeling Hill Railway’s “bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty” as “still the most outstanding example of a hill passenger railway”. Then there is the 20 km-long Neral-Matheran Light Railway, which is also over a hundred years old, and the redoubtable Fairy Queen, the Guinness World Record holder for being the oldest working steam locomotive in the world, now plying between Delhi and Alwar’s tiger country on luxury weekend trips. Enjoy!

A club on rails
Train fans are as reliable as the railways they love. In 2009, the Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA), a website dedicated to the serious love for Indian Railways, completes two decades. While some members document the Indian Railways photographically, others are engaged in conservation and awareness building, still others are simply here for ‘railfanning’. Sign-up costs nothing and the site itself is a huge treasure of information that will intrigue even the lay visitor, covering everything from trivia, history and technical explanations to FAQs on rolling stock databases, signalling, operations, railway zones, loco sheds and even tracks classifications, specifications and maintenance. ‘Steam in India’ has a special following of its own. Annual conventions, the latest was held in January in Bangalore, also draw great numbers of enthusiasts. So, if IRFCA is the Indian Railways Fan Club (which, as it categorically states, is not officially affiliated to the Indian Railways), what’s the additional A for? It used to be the Indian Railways Fan Club of America, where the group first started before the rapid spread of the internet turned it global. Today, one of the two biggest contingents of Indian Railways fans is from India.

Between The Lines
When the romance and adventure of rail travel meets the imagination and creative genius of a good writer, classics are born. To really get into the groove of what a railway journey is all about, read Paul Theroux’s timeless 1975 travelogue,
‘The Great Railway Bazaar’, in which the master travel writer relives an epic train journey across Britain, eastern and western Europe, the Middle East, South and South East Asia, then all the way to Japan, only to return to Britain via Russia. Theroux followed this up with, “The Old Patagonian Express in 1979, journeying again by train across the North American plains then down to Colombia, Patagonia, Peru (including a trip on the Tren de la Sierra) and Bolivia before re-uniting with lost family in Ecuador. Wrap up the grand trilogy with Riding the Iron Rooster, published in 1988, in which Theroux takes China’s great trains, revealing a nation, its people and diverse physical geographies magnificently.

Railways have also been the backdrop of many other classics including Edith Nesbit’s heartwarming The Railway Children (1906), Agatha Christie’’s splendid Murder on Orient Express (1974), and Khushwant Singh’s haunting Train to Pakistan, reprinted as a special 50th anniversary edition in 2006 with Partition photographs by Time Life’s Margaret Bourke-White.

Bring Them Home
These enthusiasts take the passion for trains to a different scale. Live steam aficionados build working models of real locomotives, which can even take passengers. Live steam is usually a reference to a model steam locomotive. Walt Disney famously had a live steam railroad at his California home, which later inspired him to build a narrow gauge track at Disneyland. Also known as the backyard railways, these can be tracked to gardens of rail lovers. This super-specialised hobby has enough enthusiasts around the world to draw expert manufacturers who make model trains and locomotives to exacting specs. Sample some here. Accucraft Trains, a California-based company, specialises in museum-quality fine scale brass models in live steam and electric trains across four distinct product lines. Queensland, Australia-based Argyle Locomotive Works is another maker-retailer of assembly kits and ready-to-run working models of live steam locomotives from the glorious age of steam. But the finest commercial maker of live steam engines is Yokohama-based Aster — it is the benchmark which hobbyists compare models. Even Aster’s catalogue, which is rated a topnotch reference book on the mechanics of model locos, is highly sought after by avid collectors. Others like UK-based Bassett-Lowke, Backshop Miniatures, Brandbright, DJB Engineering, Finescale and good old Hornby tempt even the most resolute soul with exquisitely crafted trains that can be brought home.

The Model Man
For a hobby that draws a legion of enthusiasts overseas, there are only little-known islands of dedication to rail modelling in India. One such is Pune’s Bhau Joshi museum on miniature trains, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and also sells miniature kits, and raw stock like metal sheets and balsa wood for model builders to work with. But it is Iqbal Ahmed, a machinist and car restorer from Nagpur who holds the Guinness world record for the smallest live steam model (the size of his thumb nail) and has simultaneously won both the first and second spots in one of the world’s foremost miniature machining contests — the 2007 Sherline Machinist’s Challenge held in Ohio — in which he was the lone participant from Asia. Not only has he hand-crafted exquisite models of Mary Beam, vertical steam and Victoria horizontal steam models, his latest live steam model, large enough to carry half a dozen passengers, is that of the legendary Fairy Queen, the oldest steam locomotive in operation today. Astonishingly, most of Ahmed’s tools are indigenous and uniquely adapted for model engineering “It is such a precise job,” he says. “It only needs patience and dedication.

I want to promote this [model engineering] so much in India.” The 62-year-old has ploughed a lonely furrow for the past 40 years, supported on his occasional trips abroad by the Department of Science and Technology, but unable to participate in many other events because the government wants to know, “But why Iqbal Ahmed again and again?” Well, because there is nobody quite like him.

GADGETS: For The Road Warrior

By M H Ahssan

One need not be a statistician to appreciate the fact that the average time spent by a city-dweller travelling by road has gone up exponentially in the past few years. Growth of suburbs and a resultant shift in commercial and residential complexes to the outskirts of cities, explosion in traffic and poor quality of roads mean one ends up spending at least four-five hours on road every day. To stay in touch with work, office, friends and still emerge fresh as a lily out of your car at the end of a gruelling journey is a necessity not an option. True, you have the latest GPS navigation system, the most plush leather upholstery and an uber cool music system in your car, but all that is so yesterday. Today, a number of other smart and intelligent options are available to help you not just navigate but emerge a winner in the battle on the road.

Those with chauffeur-driven cars do not have a problem. But if you are driving yourself then juggling between keeping an eye on the road and on the mails that keep streaming in on your Blackberry or smartphone can be a Herculean task. It can even compromise your and your car’s safety. Cut that risk out. Go for an iLane. Developed by Canadian auto electronic company Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, this in-car device lets you manage your phone with simple voice commands. Once synchronised, you do not have to pick up your handset to read mails or SMSes. Through a speaker system the iLane reads out mails, news, stockmarket reports, SMSes and also takes dictations for replying to mails. Based on the company’s proprietary technologies, which combine mechanical engineering, electronic controls, detection sensors and computational intelligence, devices such as these are aimed at making vehicles safer and smarter. In fact, you will actually have to exercise some caution before speaking to this device. A simple voice command “delete” is all it will take to delete a mail from your phone. Think before you speak.

At the end of an arduous two-hour drive is a meeting that will make or break your career. You have everything at stake, including your back, which threatens to go stiff after long periods of sitting in one position. Instead of regretting having left the prayer book at home, get hold of a portable car seat massager to keep your back in shape. Your Panasonic and Layzboy massage chairs occupy too much of space even at home, but massagers meant for cars are lightweight and can be conveniently strapped on to the seat. Some also come equipped with heat option and can massage the neck, back, hips and thighs. Most of them work on vibrations and help ease tension in muscles. A hand-held remote lets you select areas where you need a massage and choose the speed of vibration. Some cushion seats come filled with special gel for that extra comfort in the lumbar region, infrared heat and memory foam apart from vibrating massage. Based on Dr Scholl’s proprietary technology, these chairs massage via six motors in three different zones and use long light waves for infrared heat to penetrate muscles. All the massagers can be plugged into the car’s lighter socket. Using advanced thermo-electric technology, some massage cushions also come with cooling options and can cool up to 40 degrees Fahrenheits below the ambient temperature to keep your back and legs cool in hot weather.

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. in between managing phone mails if you also want to tune in to your ipod or the FM radio then there are ways to manage all three together via bluetooth. A number of small handy devices from companies such as Belkin, Parrot and Venturi Mini, all costing between Rs 3,000 and Rs 7,000, are now available in the market. These can be plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter socket and they use the FM transmitter to play on unused channels. They integrate your ipod, and in some cases also your mobile phone, with the car’s stereo system so that whether it is a phone call or the music from your personal player, the audio output is via the car’s speaker system, that is, you hear the caller through the stereo system or your own ipod music through any of the unused FM channels. The entire vehicle is converted into a bluetooth zone. The music automatically stops when a call comes and all you have to do to switch to the call is press a little button. Ford is the first company that will soon come out with integrated bluetooth syncs in all its cars.

Driving back home after a hard day’s work can be tiring. If you are a television freak and miss being home on time for your favourite show, then go for car television. Television in car has now become a reality with Dish TV’s direct-to-car satellite service. There are movies on demand and a whole lot of other options to choose from. But if watching movies while being stuck in a traffic jam at night is what you really want, then the best option is to get hold of a portable Blu-Ray player from Panasonic. The advantage of this player over a regular DVD player is that it is far superior in quality, with high definition capability. The Blu-Ray format also has a much greater compression capability and can store more than five times the data stored on a DVD. If a DVD stores three movies, a Blu-Ray disc will have 15. This means a much wider choice of movies on a single disc. The iconic US television series Star Trek is now available with stunning results on Blu-Ray. So are the latest movies such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Last but not the least is to take care of your dietary requirements while setting forth on what might be a long journey by road. While cold water can always be carried in a flask and sandwiches packed in a box, other beverages such as soft drinks, beer or wine require refrigeration for an optimally cool temperature. Many luxury cars these days come fitted with compact chilling, but if your car does not have one then all you have to do is to check out the various options available in the market — ranging between Rs 3,500 for a 14 litre box and Rs 8,000 for 22 litres. A 14 litre refrigerator can pack in 19 cans of 500 ml capacity or two 1.5 litre bottles — enough supply for one person for a day. The best part is that these chillers work on 12 volt DC car battery, don’t use either gas or compressors and are absolutely noise-free. Single-bottle wine and beer chillers are also available for those who cannot do without a cool mug in hot afternoons. The chillers can also be used to store essential medicines while travelling.

Who doesn’t know a laptop is not actually meant to be kept on the lap? It can inflict some serious damage to body functions if used thus. Having a proper stand to work on it in the car is not a gimmick but a necessity. Simple foldable stands that can be strapped on to the back of the front seats, and which open out much like the tables in an airplane, are one of the simplest options. Sturdier, adjustable, single-rod iron stands that can be fixed anywhere in the car are another. Strap-on lamps that help provide optimum light on the laptop are also a must. But the best in this category are Car Go Desks, which are made by a company of the same name in the US. With retractable handles and wheels, these desks open up to reveal a number of hidden compartments which can be used not just to keep the laptop, but also other peripherals, files and papers. There is a slide-out writing surface plus a 400-watt power inverter inside the desk, which can keep your laptop and other things charged throughout the journey.

ADVENTURE SPORTS: Experience The Adrenalin Rush

By M H Ahssan

As natural mood-enhancers go, there is nothing that can quite beat adrenalin. The body’s fight-or-flight response in extreme situations, whether dangerous or exciting, is exemplified nowhere better than in sports and racing. As India turned global, fitness not only grew into an industry, but also drew an eclectic range of experiences, attracting hundreds of well-informed players, and some that forged lonely paths. Featured here are some healthy, interesting and even inspirational ways in which to achieve the high that only a sweating, heart-thumping race can give. Parkour’s missing because actor Akshay Kumar probably has the only Parkour gym in India and the Mutants, a Delhi-based group-of-six, are still expanding. Crossfit, which already has a cult following in the US and takes fitness to quite another level, is yet to arrive. Meanwhile, other sources of adrenalin rush are readily available, and are no less addictive. Here’s to achieving what author Robert Pirsig evocatively called, “the equilibrium between restless and exhaustion”.

“When I was posted back to India in 2003, it hit me for the first time that there was no information on running here; running gear was hard to find and was expensive; there were few, if any, tracks, trails and parks to run on,” remembers Rahul Varghese, distance runner, columnist and founder of Delhi-based Running and Living. Varghese is among the people who have ensured that India now has running clubs in nearly every major city. Egalitarian and informal, the members of running clubs like Chennai Runners, Hyderabad Runners and Runners for Life (Bangalore) welcome newbies to their online groups and meet regularly to run together. The spirit of camaraderie that defines running is rare in athletic sports. “We have runners of every ilk, from beginners to seasoned people,” says Arvind Bharathi of RFL. “The one common thing that binds all of us is our passion for running.” In fact, Sabine Tietge, a German national, has started RunnerGirlsIndia (RGI), the country’s first girls-only running club, also in Bangalore, “to act as a support network for women runners, provide advice for women on running-related issues, and guidance and encouragement to its members”.

Bangalore is turning out to be something like a running hotspot — the weather helps. Moreover, as one of the organisers of the Hyderabad Marathon, software techie Rajesh Vetcha says, “Honestly, if you watch runners year after year, you can’t help but run yourself.”

They warn you well in advance: this is an amazing race for the clinically insane. This coming August, 40 teams won’t mind being called that, as they compete in the Mumbai Xpress, an autorickshaw rally from Chennai to Mumbai. For the past three years, The Autorickshaw Challenge has drawn loyal fans to its annual rickshaw rallies, which includes the Tech Raid (Chennai-Hyderabad-Bangalore-Chennai) and the Malabar Rampage (to Kerala and back). Software techie Aravind Bremanandam has even set up an event management firm to handle the show. The victorious world champions get, apart from ‘major bragging rights’ and ‘an outrageous trophy’, free entry into the Caucasian Challenge, a drive-anything motor rally that kicks off from Budapest every year. Says Bremanandam: “Our mission is to provide an unparalleled experience to the rallyists by combining adventure, sight seeing, fun and charity. And what better way to do it than in our own homegrown autorickshaw?” Racers who fall in love with their zany, multi-coloured rickshaws have the option of buying it. For a fee of e900 (Rs 60,000), an autorickshaw, paper maps, traffic reports, road conditions, GPS co-ordinates and even internet access at pit stops, are provided. Enroute, teams adopt-a-village and provide it with school supplies, medicines and the like. Participants are urged to think of the rickshaw as “a covered bicycle with a fuel-efficient lawn mower engine”.

Paintball is a video game come true. instead of pointing joysticks that ping with sound effects, players get to dress up in forbidding helmets and cool jackets before they take sides in this superfast team sport. Opponents are eliminated with guns powered by compressed gas or carbon dioxide, and the bullets are pellets filled with paint (therefore, paintball). One estimate of the American Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association puts the number of paintball players in the US at over five million. There, and in Australia, paintballers engage in full-fledged wars, equipped with all manner of weaponry, and even tanks — referees watch over games diligently and they are entirely safe as long as players are serious about the rules to be followed. The game, which is already played in 50 countries, made a relatively modest beginning in India three years ago. Now, arenas are available in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and, most recently, in Chennai. It is a bloodthirsty kind of make-believe — the bullets can get painful and the bruises are very impressive — but to ardent devotees of the sport, paintball works as an exhilarating stress-buster.

What sounds fairly real is the commando-style shrieking that highlights the game as players find their mark and bleed a bright orange from the paint. Nets protect ‘civilian’ watchers.

The ironman triathlon is one of the most gruelling races of the world. Participants swim 3.9 km, bike ride 180 km and complete a full 42.2-km marathon run, one after the other, without a break: the Ironman is the longest, single-day triathlon event. The only Indian who attempts this astonishing feat is Anu Vaidyanathan, the diminutive 27-year-old founder-CEO of PatNMarks, a Bangalore-based company that offers patenting solutions and intellectual property management services. She begins her day at 3.30 am with cycling, and then does a stretch of running before driving to work. After meeting tough deadlines at her office, where she heads a close-knit team of 20 staffers, she swims or goes gymming late in the evening, again as part of her preparation. Ironman athletes enjoy the sport for its own sake. As typical of most Indian athlethes, Vaidyanathan gets little institutional support and trains without the sort of infrastructure competitors abroad take for granted. Despite this, she finished 24th amongst the 12,500-odd participants at the Auckland Half Ironman of March this year. Moreover, the three-day Ultraman Canada Championships, slated for end-July, which Vaidyanathan is training for at present, rewards no prize money (all she will get is a towel at the end of it). But, says Vaidyanathan, “Be it working or sport or academia, I take pride in a job well done.

The road has not been without trials or potholes, but that is part of the adventure. Every success and failure is a leaf in my book, and above all else, my optimism and happiness in doing what I do, keeps me going. Day after day!”

Indian Aviation in Turmoil

By M H Ahssan

For over forty years after independence, the aviation industry in India was a virtual state monopoly – both Air India and Indian Airlines are 100% government owned companies. When the liberalization process started in 1991 and an open skies policy was announced, Jet Airways was among the first to commence operations. Other players entered the fray but could not develop a sustainable business model due to high entry barriers and regulations on routes.

The low-cost airline model was also tried with the advent of Air Deccan. The vision of its founder was to enable every Indian to fly. A laudable goal but one that missed the point about poor infrastructure, appalling ground handling conditions, and a regulated price for aviation turbine fuel that rendered the low-cost model meaningless. The last entrant was Kingfisher, whose founder has been compared to the CEO of Virgin Airlines. Both are flamboyant and perhaps the similarity ends there.

The first signs that none of the players had the ability to survive in the long-term became evident when Kingfisher managed to gobble up Air Deccan. With the acquisition, the low-cost model also went through the window. Kingfisher went to great lengths to highlight its service – to the point of providing individual monitors even on a one-hour flight. The perils of unrelated diversification became evident.

On Monday (October 13), Kingfisher and Jet Air announced an alliance that included code-sharing, rationalization, and some undisclosed arrangements for cutting costs. Together, they would have a 60% market-share. The fact that this was a desperate attempt to stay afloat given the huge losses each was suffering every day was not highlighted.

The next day, Jet Air gave the pink slip to over 800 of its employees, mostly cabin crew who were on probation. Today, it has decided to sack another 1000 employees, this time including flight crew as well. Kingfisher is likely to follow suit – cut the flab, to quote the airline’s founder. Both airlines have decided to return the aircraft they have on lease.

The Federal Minister for Civil Aviation has asked for a bailout package for the airline industry, adding that in its absence, the industry was doomed to failure. The minister, not surprisingly, has found support from industry circles and captains of business. It is even being argued that if the two airlines are not rescued on the lines of AIG in the US, India would come to a grinding halt.

Ordinary citizens, like their counterparts in the US, are outraged. Who invited or asked Kingfisher to enter the airline industry in the first place? Did they not know the costs, risks, and long gestation periods of the airline industry? Why should the taxpayer be made to feel the brunt of a bailout for the acts of omission and commission of the government and the promoters? If the Federal Railway Minister, once a synonym for corruption, could turn around the Indian Railways into one of the most profitable enterprises in the country, surely there was a lesson or two that the capitalists could learn from him?

A larger question is what if another infrastructure company was to declare tomorrow that it was closing down, would the government rescue it as well? Where and when would this circus end?

Lean structures, operational efficiency, service innovation, timeliness, and a caring attitude toward the customer should have been the buzzwords for these businesses if they were at all serious about creating value. Instead, they indulged in unbridled profligacy and are paying the price for it. It is time the state got out of the business of rescuing ailing companies. Be efficient, be accountable, or perish. That alone can save us from the kind of meltdown we are witnessing across the world. At the least, we need not replicate failed strategies.

How Corporate Greed Caused the Economic Turmoil?

By Sarah Williams

United States of America is the financial hub of the world operating with capitalistic approach driven by the Laissez-faire principle. Being a member and a dominant force in WTO and NAFTA, it propelled the world markets to be more open, more integrated and more accessible to drive global competition. America connected the global business to business partners with rich infrastructure and a world class SCM for importing and exporting of goods for the benefit of consumers.

With consumers at the center of attraction and housing market at boom trade flourished across all sectors pushing the Dow Jones to highest ever of 14,111 points in October 1st, 2007. Innovation peaked and capital markets confidence increased tremendously during this period and corporations started to relax the rules of trade in the absence of regulations to book record quarterly profits. Each and every country, small and big, powerful and powerless, social and economic looked up to USA for direction, opportunity and leadership in trade.

Asia witnessed some of the biggest booms in history lead by China and India. Europe stock index rose as well due to global competition. Early part of 21st century witnessed unprecedented growth in the domestic housing market of United States where the prices of the houses that were bought in 2002, 2003 increased a record 50% by 2006. As per the data released by Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the HPI (House Pricing Index) increased by 12% each year 2004, 2005 and 2006 and started to decline starting 2007 (“OFHEO”, 2006). When everything was looking rosy and green, greediness took over the corporate America sending the domestic economy to a free-fall and creating global crises.

As corporations got greedy they started lending money to people who were less than qualified to own homes. While they might have increased the customer base, the number of clients and gained in the short run, the long run yielded troubled results. Many dedicated and good citizens lost their homes and life long savings as they became prey to unethical marketers and salesmen forcing them to declare bankruptcy as the payments after ARM increased beyond what they could pay for. There were schemes designed to pay just the interest and no principle for few years to get more people to buy the real-estate. In some instances people bought more than one home out of greediness so they can make money out of price increase. Land and homes which were traditionally treated as assets were treated as liquidity items and people started investing along the lines of day trading.

As they declared bankruptcy, they lost everything including their nest egg too. Corporations on the other side started to report record losses in later part of 2008 due to increased foreclosures. Each and every foreclosure started to impact the corporate finances and with house prices dropping corporations had to sell the foreclosed homes for way less worth only to book losses. These losses were in the billions and as companies couldn’t sustain the losses they started to go either bankrupt or knock the doors of government for help to stay afloat. This was all a scheme of predatory lending or Sub Prime mortgage caused by unethical and socially irresponsible corporate executives with greed as their core business model.

Corporations in United States of America along with legislative council appear to be following the mantra of socializing the losses and privatizing the profits. Never in the history of America has the government considered stepping into market economy to use tax payers’ money to bail out private sector of a large magnitude. The much failed policies of corporations seem to be getting a second chance to charter new course. While the congress debates on how to effectively use the tax payer’s money to help the struggling companies, no one ever seems to ask what the social responsibility of these organizations is when they are profitable, rich and blooming?

The greediness of the corporations to hoard money under any circumstances got the economy to its knees leaving the responsible citizens to suffer. The CEOs always seem to make the big bucks in millions irrespective of the results posted by the company. Though it’s nice to see a responsive government that is reacting to the market and trying to avoid a financial crisis of great depression in nature, the questions still remains to the extent the government should involve in the capitalistic market and how it can be accountable to make sure tax payers money is recovered with interest.

The ethical and social responsibility of the corporations towards their shareholders, community and country has faded away when they got involved with predatory lending. Tricking the innocent citizens to deeper problems by luring them to short term gains for long term losses for their bonuses is a sickening and unethical business practice. Clearly these corporations did not have any true governance embedded into the culture. These unethical business practices that started with the housing market has now sneaked to the financial sector, banking sector, automobile sector and may even to services sector creating a big uncontrollable ripple effect.

Corporations need to understand that their role is much larger than they realize in the in the world of economy. It is the responsibility of these corporations’ executives to lay down a road map for their share holders to create innovative products in a cost efficient manner while enriching the infrastructure and careers of their employees. They share greater responsibility to their communities than they realize and they need to look after those communities and not vice versa.

While the CEOs are called upon to the capitol for hearings on why they should be bailed out, there should be separate meetings from House of Representatives on what regulations to be enforced to avoid these situations from occurring again. Only way to put a tab on unethical practices is by regulating the ethical principles of public sector. While some critics might argue that it is not the responsibility of the government to monitor ethical responsibility element of what private and public corporations do, then the same argument holds true for bailing them out as well. There is no middle ground, either government gets fully involved or steps aside for organizations to navigate their future.

Every company, every state, every school and every church that is in trouble is now looking for the government for financial assistance to bail them out. United States of America is in the verge of becoming a socialist country. While bail out may be a temporary solution, the government needs to look harder for permanent solutions so that the corrupt CEOs are put on the hook through regulations. Corporations on the other hand need should learn to be better “corporate citizens”

HNN’s Exclusive Print Edition on June 29, 2009

Dear Sir/Madam,

On 29 June, HNN will publish a special magazine :-

Confronting the Downturn: How India is Reacting to Global Economic Turmoil

India is set to be the world’s strongest region in 2009. But even so, the regional economy will change because of the downturn. In this special edition, HNN will provide an overview which looks at how the region’s economies are coping with the economic downturn, looking at which countries are performing best, and which are being hit the hardest. It will also provide an in-depth look at how different parts of the economy are being affected and what strategies are being pursued to ensure growth in the future. Detailed synopsis attached for reference.

Why advertise?

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” Excellent pass-on readership

Other reasons to advertise include:
” Promote increased business investment into the region
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Circulation: 10,00,000 copies

Advertising Rates:
Full Page Colour: INR 1,50,000
Half Page: INR 75,000
Outside Back Cover: INR 2,50,000
Inside Front Cover: INR 2,00,000
Centre Spread: INR 3,00,000
Inside Back Cover: INR 2,00,000

Agency commission: 15%
Date of publication: 29 June 2009
Booking deadline: 15 June 2009
Material deadline: 18 June 2009

For more information or to place an advertisement please contact Gitanjali Pareekh on +91 9700206014 or email advert@hyderabadnews.net

Kind Regards,

Vicky Sharma
Team Co-ordinator – HNN

India opts for continuity, stability

By M H Ahssan

India’s parliamentary election, held over a month across the far-flung country of a billion-plus people, has produced dramatic but sophisticated results.

Belying the widespread estimation of a “hung” parliament and a possibly wobbly coalition government ensuing, the voters – more than 700 million were eligible to cast a ballot – have dealt a thoughtful, mature verdict in favor of continuance and stability, electing the Indian National Congress and its allies to power for another five-year term. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is set to continue as the head of government, noted, “The people of India have spoken, and spoken with great clarity.”

It is a landmark event in many ways. With 206 seats in the new 543-parliament, Congress on its own has crossed the 200-seat mark for the first time since the “coalition era” began in Indian politics some two decades ago. After Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961, Manmohan becomes only the second prime minister in independent India’s 62-year history to remain consecutively for a second term as prime minister.

Congress, a largely centrist party, is showing definite signs of regeneration after a steady decline through the past quarter century. That alone holds immense consequences for Indian politics. Equally, the parties of the Right (Bhartiya Janata Party – BJP) and the left (communist parties) have suffered a major setback, squashing their high hopes of running a new coalition government.

As cadre-based parties, the BJP and the communist parties, though placed at far ends of the political spectrum, face a not-too-dissimilar dilemma. Their transition to cope with a rapidly changing India has run into serious difficulties. Even as they began edging away from their natural habitat – Hindu nationalism and Marxism – in recent years towards the moderate center of consensus politics or feisty indulgence in the market, disorientation has appeared amongst their traditional cadres.

There is a palpable sense of alienation among these members, compounded in no small measure by the public eruption of squabbles and personality clashes among the leaders, which have together led to an overall weakening of party discipline. For both the BJP and the communist parties, a period of serious stock-taking is at hand as regards their future direction. The task isn’t easy, since in India’s increasingly competitive political environment, the elbow room for maneuvering is shrinking, and there is the constant danger of being left behind when a society is transforming fast.

However, the triumph of the Congress is due not only to the failings of the opposition but is an aggregate of several factors. There has been an estimated 9% swing in votes in favor of the Congress, which is an affirmative message.

First off, Congress has benefited from what can only be called the “politics of fear”, endemic to uncertain times. India has been convulsed by terrorism in the recent past. This, along with a dangerous regional environment and the gnawing worries of economic uncertainties against the backdrop of the global crisis, has created an acute sense of insecurity in the Indian mind. The people have instinctively reached out to the Congress – India’s sure, tested “ruling party”.

Two, Congress is in actuality a curious rainbow coalition by itself and has been able to accommodate the growing aspirations of a wide array of interest groups or social categories – the millions of poor people, an expanding middle class and, importantly, the youth who form two thirds of India’s population.

Three, India’s 150-odd million Muslim population has flocked back to the Congress for a variety of reasons, such as the fear of the ascendance of rightwing nationalist forces, the rising curve of terrorism, disenchantment with regional parties and so forth. Muslim alienation had been a major factor behind the Congress’s decline in the past two decades.

Four, Congress has regained its capacity to “connect” with the people, thanks to the arrival on the center stage of the charismatic 37-year-old scion of the Nehru family, Rahul Gandhi.

With his dimpled smile and earnest eyes, he has tirelessly crisscrossed the vast country during the past couple of years, carrying a refreshing message of “clean” politics, inner party democracy, a generational leap in politics and good and responsive governance. It is absolutely certain that he will assume the country’s prime ministership in the near future. Of course, what he would or could deliver once in the creaky apparatus of power is another matter. But for the present, he casts an appeal whose ripples are widening.

The eclipse of the left parties, who were influential in the previous coalition government, will have important consequences for national policies. This will be most keenly felt in the new government’s economic decisions, with the stage looking set for another burst of reforms. Taking on board the lessons of the crisis emanating out of excesses of the financial system in the US and European countries, India may still opt for reforms aimed at assuring the corporate sector of long-tenure funding through pending reforms, such as further opening up of the insurance and pension sectors to foreign direct investment.

Again, the government will most certainly revive disinvestment and privatization, given the substantial financial resources needed for boosting demand and stimulating the economy. Other expected directions of reform include an overall liberalization of foreign direct investment norms, overhauling of the labor market, and opening up of the huge domestic market for retail trade to foreign chains. Singh has repeatedly stressed the imperative of catapulting the economy into double-digit growth, for which he underscores the need of large-scale investment, massive job creation and boosting demand.

In foreign policy, the hallmark of the new government will be “continuity”. In plain terms, this translates as further strengthening and consolidation of the strategic ties with the US. Washington has lost no time in taking note of the continuance of the Congress at the helm of the new government in New Delhi. President Barack Obama has hailed India’s flourishing plural democracy as “an example for us all” and has pledged to “enhance the warm partnership between our two countries”.

Manmohan will no doubt continue to place primacy in foreign policy on India’s partnership with the US. The accent will be on harmonizing India’s regional policies with the US approach in theaters such as the Indian Ocean and South Asia, Middle East and the Far East; on boosting military-to-military cooperation, and, in overall terms, on striving to become a participant in the US’s global agenda and strategies.

However, the fact remains that the new Indian government also faces a changed – even evolving – international system. Quite obviously, India is yet to digest fully the Obama phenomenon. Indeed, the US’s own global priorities are shifting. The crux of the matter lies in the US’s relationship with China.

At first glance, it may appear there is hardly any ellipsis between George W Bush’s policy of engaging China in “constructive, candid and cooperative” ties and Obama’s search for a “positive, cooperative and comprehensive” US-China partnership. But the reality is that the US today has a much greater need of strategic engagement with China and arguably to “upgrade” the partnership in the direction of an elevated dialogue on global political issues.

To be sure, China’s global influence has increased and a full-blown US-China strategic partnership – as evident from the mere talk of an exclusive “G-2″ matrix – will figure on the radars of countries such as India (or Japan) as a high probability if not an inevitability. The Obama administration will have to work hard to reassure India that it is not being relegated to a subordinate status.

An intriguing template of the new government’s foreign policy will be as regards India’s troubled relationship with Pakistan. Prima facie, an excellent opportunity is at hand to reach an understanding over the Kashmir problem. At the same time, the fallout of the US’s Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy needs to be carefully factored.

The US’s need to accommodate numerous factors – the Pakistan military, Pakistani pressure on the US to maintain balanced relationships with the two South Asian rivals and to mediate in India-Pakistan differences, any further radicalization of Pakistan’s internal situation, the trajectory of the war in Afghanistan, political accommodation of the Taliban, Pakistani sensitivities about Delhi’s influence in Kabul – all these impact on India’s core concerns and vital interests.

Indeed, the Indian establishment is peeved about the downstream Pakistani lack of response on the investigations regarding the terrorist attack on Mumbai last November. A potential time bomb is ticking insofar as the trial on the Mumbai attack has begun in the Indian courts and there have been insinuations by the Indian establishment regarding involvement of Pakistani agencies. Over and above this, there is always the real danger of a similar Mumbai-type attack by various elements with the agenda of precipitating an India-Pakistan confrontation aimed at complicating the Obama administration’s AfPak strategy.

All in all, therefore, despite the Obama administration’s urgings, a stable government in Delhi by itself cannot easily go the extra league in relations with Pakistan. Delhi – and a Congress government – will only move with great caution.

Will The Internet Escape The Retailing Downturn?

By M H Ahssan

While retailers operating in the majority of channels now concede that the global economic downturn is having an effect on sales, internet-based companies remain conspicuous by their absence in terms of complaining about a drop off in sales.

In the US, two electronics specialists that have failed, CompUSA and Circuit City, have seen their brands survive on the internet, underlining how the internet is increasingly becoming a home for famous brands that have seen their brick-and-mortar stores fail.

Ultimately, therefore, can the internet channel continue to grow in the face of the current economic difficulties?

Internet retailing still expected to advance in 2009
While red pens have been taken to many of the forecasts made before Lehman Brothers collapsed and took the banking crisis global, internet retailing is expected to be one of the least affected channels.

While grocery retailing is expected to show minimal growth in value sales in 2009 and 2010 and the non-grocery channel could shrink before showing a small increase in 2010, non-store retailing overall is likely to grow by between 3.5% and 4.5% in both years, with internet retailing playing a big part in the channel’s continued health.

Growth expected to rise …
In 2009 sales growth in internet retailing is likely to be driven by similar trends seen in recent years: convenience, competitive pricing and consumers’ ability to compare prices across a number of channels. With pricing becoming an increasingly important factor in consumers’ buying decisions, so the channel should benefit.

The notion of convenience is increasingly being linked by consumers with the idea of saving money, not only in terms of lower prices, but also in not paying for the petrol to get to the store. In the UK, growth in internet retailing in 2009 is expected to be driven by consumers outside the country’s largest cities, with people benefiting from the low cost of delivery being offered by retailers.

In established markets, like the UK and US, large-scale e-commerce and multi-channel retailers are likely to leverage their buying power in an attempt to undercut prices available at competitors. In the UK, Tesco and Asda have both pushed into the on-line environment in a big way, promoting their non-grocery product ranges.

Utilising the purchasing power inherent in their group companies (Asda is owned by Wal-Mart), they have both been able to price goods so aggressively that they are able to compete with established large-scale, non-grocery retailers like Home Retail-owned Argos.

This point becomes increasingly important as large-scale companies utilise their marketing budgets to promote their e-commerce sites and offer money-off promotions and discounted delivery charges as a way to tempt consumers on-line.

In the US, searches for on-line coupons have more than doubled since the beginning of the recession in the country, with on-line aggregators bringing together the best deals for consumers looking for an easy way to garner the best prices.

In a similar way, price comparison websites have seen strong growth during 2009. These sites enable consumers to evaluate pricing across a number of companies, thus providing shoppers with a greater level of pricing transparency.

As consumers look to save money, these sites are enabling them to do so, while also forcing retailers to compete evermore on price.

Ultimately, these trends should support the continued growth of internet retailing as a channel even after the economic downturn has passed. Consumers who use the channel become accustomed to it and have faith that it works, which leads many to use it more often.

Therefore, the downturn may ultimately prove beneficial to internet retailing as consumers are being driven towards the channel at the moment in an attempt to save money, with many of these likely to remain internet shoppers even when conditions improve.

… but so is the competition
As these various factors intertwine to the benefit of consumers, the level of on-line competition rises and swings in favour of the larger multi-channel retailers and pure e-commerce companies.

These businesses are invariably able to offer the best prices, while they are also able to ally this to a higher level of marketing and on-line advertising that places their brands in front of consumers on a more regular basis.

The increasing transparency of pricing for shoppers also means that they are able to take control of the purchasing process like never before, enabling them to remove a large number of retailers very simply without having to put in much effort. As the economic downturn lasts longer so these points will grow in importance and increasingly favour these companies.

While much attention is likely to fall initially on multi-channel retailers leveraging their brick-and-mortar stores to drive on-line growth, the downturn may also favour pure e-commerce companies which will become better able to compete more effectively with the mid-market brick-and-mortar retailers which do not have the same purchasing power or have considerably higher overheads.

In these examples, the pure e-commerce companies will be able to compete aggressively on price, undercutting mid-market retailers or causing them the pain of competing, but shrinking their margins as a result.

Some also suggest that brick-and-mortar retailers’ decision to cut back on staffing levels provides internet retailers with an opportunity to show that they can offer service that is as good or maybe even better than their store-based counterparts.

Longer-term picture looks favourable for the internet channel
If consumption patterns are changed by the present economic downturn, with people shying away from mass consumerism, underpinned by debt, then the internet channel could be one of the longer- term beneficiaries of the difficulties being felt.

If consumers continue with these their “economic downturn” buying habits once countries have returned to growth, the internet could support their attempts to check prices, save money and benefit from researching before making purchases. All these are items that play to internet retailing’s strengths and are likely to underpin the channel’s growth far beyond the present economic downturn.

India, Gandhi And Relevance Of His Ideas In The New World

By M H Ahssan

In the whole world India is a country of its own kind. It is the only nation, which for centuries has been the centre of great attraction for people of every part of the globe. On the basis of its knowledge and spiritualism, India has drawn the attention of the world. Its cultural values have left their deep impression on the whole world. India’s prosperity and the way of life of its people have attracted many to it.

Since ancient times, India has been the centre of a rich and developed civilization. Many of its centres of education and learning have been universally renowned in their respective eras. Centuries before Christ, India developed high human values, and on the basis of them it kept its flag flying high. This country has, from time-to-time, given the world mentors, who reached the highest stage of human status became philosopher guides for the entire world. Their ideas and adaptable practices, after passing of hundreds of years, are still ideal teachers for all―in general and in particular. Their work is capable of guiding the world even in the current scenario of the world if they are applied according to the demand of time and space.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, gave a new dimension to Ahimsa [non-violence]―an eternal, natural and the highest human value, in theory and practice. As the best and true representative of Indian Culture in his own time, Gandhi was a peacemaker’s mentor. Like other mentors of the world who were born from time-to-time on the Indian soil, Gandhi’s ideas and practices became equally adaptable in his own time for millions of his own country on the one hand, and on the other they proved to be the guiding force for people of many countries of the world. In particular, they have provided guidance to those working for freedom and justice. Moreover, they are fully capable of guiding the people today if they are applied accordingly and will continue to do so in the future.

How? Before knowing and understanding this, we need to consider some fundamental points, and in this chain the first one is: What are the ideas of the Mahatma? Or, in other words: What is the philosophy of Gandhi?

In brief, we can well understand the ideas or philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi in his firm belief in “mutual-dependence of man’s activities on one other” and “unity of human-life”, which is an indivisible whole. In his own words:

“The whole gamut of man’s activities…constitutes an indivisible whole. You cannot divide life, social, economic, political and purely religious, into separate watertight compartments.”

Mahatma Gandhi believed that all human activities, essentially influencing each other, build ways for a life. In this regard, many philosophies also confirm the belief of the Mahatma. Intellectuals are well aware of interdependent development. This makes life more meaningful and effective; and helps in achieving goals such as Truth. Gandhi called upon people to come forward in such a manner. He also emphasized upon adoption of Ahimsa [non-violence], which is the eternal, natural and supreme human value.

For Gandhi, non-violence is an active, pure and all-timely value. It is the best means to reach the Truth. In other words, only through Ahimsa can life be made meaningful. Gandhi had the firm opinion that except non-violence, there is no other means to reach a goal. Without Ahimsa, one cannot know the absolute Truth. In this regard Gandhi wrote the following in Young India:

“Means are after all everything. As the means so the end. There is no wall of separation between the means and the end.”

Non-violence is the nucleus in Gandhi’s ideas. In other words, his views revolved around Ahimsa. And as mentioned, it is the only means to achieve Truth, and to achieve Truth is the goal of one’s life, or to get completeness of life.
In this chain, the second point relates to Gandhi’s actions. The actions he undertook on the basis of non-violence consistently gave new dimensions to his views; they made them firm and mature. Therefore, it is necessary to know the intentions at the root of his actions.

Some people believed that most of the actions [if not all], taken by Gandhi were dedicated to the welfare of Indians. Indians were the centre of his actions in South Africa and India. To ascertain freedom of India and to accord justice to Indians was the prime objective of his non-violent actions. But this opinion is not true. The welfare of all human beings was at the root of his actions.

This reality can be understood well through the actions undertaken by the world’s other mentors, including Gautama Buddha who launched their actions from their own respective countries, but the spirit in the root of those actions remained the welfare of entire human world.

If it was not so, the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi would not have been within the scope of philosophies like “mutual-dependence of man’s activities on one other” or “unity of human-life”.

In this chain the third point relates to the refining of Gandhi’s ideas according to the demand of time and circumstances. And, this can be perceived well through the series of events pertaining to three mass actions―the Non-Cooperation [1920], the Civil Disobedience [1930] and the Quit India [1942]―launched to make India free from the British Empire. In this regard Mahatma Gandhi himself has written in one of the issues of Harijan:

“I am not at all concerned with appearing to be consistent. In my search after Truth I have discarded many ideas and learnt many new things. Old as I am in age, I have no feeling that I have ceased to grow inwardly or that my growth will stop at the dissolution of the flesh.”

It is clear that Gandhi’s ideas, in spite of staying within the domain of non-violence, and even while adhering in search of Truth, are dynamic. They can be refined to suit the present circumstances.

Two thousand five hundred years ago, Gautama Buddha had said that every creation, every object/thing―movable or immovable―was subject to constant change. Besides Gautama Buddha other great men too ratified this reality, directly or indirectly. But, it was only Mahatma Gandhi, who, after Gautama Buddha, proved this reality directly on the strength of his actions, and, thus, made his ideas relevant during his own life time, and left the legacy of them as a guiding force for generations to come.

This is the main reason that even after sixty years of his passing away when the world has changed in different ways, all spheres of human life have turned over, and due to unprecedented development a new world has emerged, Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas are relevant; they call upon the world to resolve newly created complicated problems in a peaceful manner. How? This question emerges in our minds.

We are well acquainted of the reality of those inevitable struggles and problems, which constantly emerge in all walks of life and at different levels. Without becoming indifferent to these struggles and problems we also need to accept the reality of their resolution by ourselves. By doing so in the twenty-first century if we are honestly ready to sacrifice, as sacrifice is a must in the Gandhian way, without a doubt we would come upon wonderful results.

For sacrifice firm determination is essential. In it a strong will is necessary. Chivalry is needed for it. This is the call of the Mahatma and it is also the essence of his philosophy in the centre of which is non-violence―Ahimsa.
There is a need to adopt Gandhi’s ideas in daily practices in our ever changing, fast moving world. And while doing so, there is a need to introspect that without firm determination, strong will and chivalry, no concrete result will be possible. Only by doing so, the significance and importance of Gandhi’s ideas can be perceived.
Ahimsa is the nucleus in Gandhi’s ideas. Therefore, adoption of non-violent means is compulsory in Gandhism. Gandhism calls one to Truth; it appeals to accept the real state of affairs, and without relinquishing self-respect, it urges readiness to compromise. There is no room for destruction of evil-doers. It expects end of evil not of the evil doer. It promotes a win-win situation for all the parities concerned, and not only for one party in dispute. It incorporates high morality in it and talks of good, healthy and welfaristic human behaviours.

Let us analyze the situation of the new world! These are the days of globalization. Today, not a single country of the world, does not matter how mighty or rich it is, can think of its existence in a state of isolation. When it cannot think of existence in a state of isolation , how it can think of its development? In such a situation if a country exploits the people of another country or snatches its freedom, or oppresses it, then bearing the wide interest of the people in mind and with care, if other countries of the world take the way of non-cooperation with that country, it is not possible for it to endure such an action.

Non-cooperation was one of Gandhi’s methods. It was an important part of India’s struggle for freedom. But it needs extra care during its application in the international sphere. Moreover, it demands all sincerity. Therefore, if under the leadership and guidance of the United Nations, a symbol of the Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam at the international level is taken, it will definitely prove to be effective.

Gandhi laid emphasis on non-violence, therefore, in all situations non-violence must be used. But when all such means fail, for protection of freedom and justice, if least possible violent means are applied in the larger public interest, it is not a disregard to the Gandhian approach. Freedom and justice were supreme for Mahatma Gandhi. Therefore, he always advised to protect them if possible by non-violent means and if not by Ahimsa then by violent means. But such violence must be momentary and there should not be any ill will towards the rival. Gandhi’s brief statement, ‘intent behind the act’ should remain the focus during the course of indulging in momentary violence.

Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian-born world’s mentor. Great Indian values, particularly the supreme value of Ahimsa, were the basis of his ideas. Practically, he desired solutions for all problems through the means of non-violence. His ideas based on non-violence are entirely important in the new world. They are completely relevant today and will remain so in future as well.

Voice of Adolescents- Khoobsurat Hamesha

By Samiya Anwar

“It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly”.

Little brats, boys and girls are more conscious about how they look, how they appear. Looking good is what matters to most children, today. Studies, career and hobbies takes a back seat. The growing teenagers are more concerned about their appearance. If gals want to look pretty like Bollywood beauties, the boys ape to Hollywood stars. Everyone is after one thing-beauty. That is the reason the parlors are more famous than play grounds. Books are competing with the sale of cosmetics. And beauticians are in higher demand.

To look beautiful is everyone’s dreams. It is trendy. It is stylish to look like a model. When youngsters see the killing looks of Katrina Kaif, the full lips of gorgeous Angelina Julie or the hot looks of Tom Cruise, they envy. We all want to see ourselves pretty. Right in front of the mirror, the gals spend hours in grooming, appreciating or disliking the looks. It is necessary to look beautiful in our eyes and also in eyes of others (parents, peers and knower). Isn’t so? Yes truly.

Rationally, the number of ads the growing children see daily affects their psychology The beauty creams Fair & Lovely, Shainaaz Hussian’s Fairever, and long existing Vicco, everything is tested. And the soaps, Lux- Film Star’s ka Saundarya saabun (soap), Margo, Breeze, Santoor for young looking, and the new Vivel. Also the young boys try a hand on Set Wet, Fair & Handsome, etc. not to forget the shampoos Sunsilk, Pantene, and famous Head & Shoulders are the only few names the youngsters today try and give a look, as what product, what soap or what shampoo will make them look as pretty as, as handsome as any other peer in group. No more it is only clothes young minds crave and buy for, it is the looks now. Mind it; TV is ruining the little minds. Anything to look stunning and gorgeous.

That’s not just paranoia, by the way – ironically, the adolescents who want to change the size of their stomachs, breasts, or other body parts because they see it done so easily on TV feels uncomfortable the way they look. With the development of technology, teenagers are going for cosmetic and surgical operations.

Like Sandhya, 15 year old teenager had a liposuction without the knowledge of parents because of peer pressure. She was an object of tease for her black and uneven lips. With the help of a friend she acquired a lip job done in an astonishing manner. But not a surprise to the parent, what to do they ask in a reverse manner. They say, “Sandhya is a grown girl now, she knows what is good and bad”. These are the parents of 21st century, unbiased and liberal.

It is not anonymous for parents or others that the teenagers dye hair, pierce lips, nose, navel and other body parts, tattooing is something common to hear. They don’t take it guilt. They are not ashamed. After reconstruction of face and body, they feel easy. A 17years Puja says, “When I looked in the mirror, I feel ashamed, now when I see I look beautiful “who had done face lifting this summer. While Abhinav, 15 years had a chin re built when his cousins pester him of wrong chin.

It’s well known that teens will be unhappy with the way they look. It’s the age of being self-conscious and feeling peer pressure to look a certain way. We all must have seen a teen in the family who may wish to get rid of a birthmark, a crooked nose or ears that stick out or once we were teenagers we had also such thinking patterns. But the question is, is the excessive experimentation of these teens with cosmetic good? Moreover going for plastic surgeries is a constructive decision for them. Does the skin and body parts are ready for the type of testing the adolescents try over.

A big question, right! But many adolescents go for plastic surgeries and cosmetic surgeries. It is not an easy task, very strenuous. It involves money and labor in addition to care and pain. According to some girls, there is tremendous pressure from boys who increasingly expect their girlfriends to resemble the perfect celebrity body model they’ve been fed by a looks-obsessed society. The endless parade of thin yet curvy, surgically-enhanced celebrities have made young girls obsessed with their own normal lumpy, bumpy bodies.

The cosmetic procedures these days are performed on patients 18 years of age or younger and almost 24,000 are surgical procedures such as nose reshaping, breast lifts, breast augmentation, liposuction, and tummy tucks. Four in ten teenagers have considered plastic surgery as an option to look like the celebrities.

Sometimes, the parent is the one who is unhappy with how the teen looks. The mole, or scar on face makes them uneasy to look at child. The parent may even drive the child’s decision to have surgery. Few mothers constantly complain of girls being over-weight. In a shocking incident one of my cousins had undergone plastic surgery by her mother as a “birthday gift”. Parents are cool, they belong to present day and kids financially sound with pocket money and the freedom to live life own way.

It is necessary that parents should teach teens to accept themselves and make positive lifestyle changes which may be a better option than surgery. Like eating right and exercising a bit, for example engage in swimming class, cycling, etc. Parents, TV, magazines and peer pressure results in encouraging youngsters for surgical operations and developing poor self-images.

Yet, Plastic surgery is not a better option just to look beautiful. In case of accidents and burns it is a boon. But for teenager, they need to understand that it carries a risk of complications, side effects, such as scarring, and the risk of disappointment with the results. All these things need to be taken very carefully into account. The teenage body is in growing stage and it involves potential risks. The plastic and cosmetic surgeries are better not to be performed to those who are 18 or younger though it is a personal choice and voice of youngsters to be Khoobsurat Hamesha.

Elections 2009 – Congress takes India further

By M H Ahssan

With the last batch of votes slipped into the electronic slot on Wednesday, and all the exit polls indicating a multi-fractured verdict, New Delhi looks like a busy marriage bureau.

The liaison men of the two national parties have been deputed to woo sundry regional parties to their respective folds – never mind which side they fought from – so as to bridge the deficit all of them know they will have with regard to the simple majority of 272 in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of parliament.

It’s ironic that right after the world’s largest-ever voting exercise in which approximately 58% of the 714 million voters – the combined population of Russia and the US – exercised their franchise in a month-long exercise, it could well depend on the skills of a motley crowd of political dealmakers to conjure up a government.

People in the sub-continent love to describe their polls as the “festival of democracy”, a peculiar Indianizing of a Western precept-in-action. Old, indigenous models of elected government do exist, yet this curious blend of gladiatorial politics and social-equalizing effects that we see now is a decidedly modern event. But the questions are: does the model really work? Has the system come up against a bug that it can’t delete?

The seemingly unceremonious ending to the voting – with the provincial voter often having not the foggiest about where his or her vote is ultimately headed – has rekindled a debate on whether the system needs a little tweaking. How can India guarantee a system in which the people and their votes are the final arbiter, not the political middleman armed with the dubious brief of putting together a majority any which way. (And equipped, thereafter, with the divine right to influence policymaking.)

In the face of this subversive situation, the obvious alternative has again come back for discussion. India’s political theorists are again pondering their reluctance to consider the system where the people get to directly choose the person for the top job on the basis of the policy bouquet offered by the party instead of leaving the choice on a powerful cartel or a last-minute draw of luck. If the results, due by Saturday evening, throw up a very fluid scenario – with conceivably half-a-dozen and more prime ministerial candidates – the allure of the alternative would increase.

Ever since the single-party rule of the Congress, undisputedly dominated by the Nehru family, petered away with the assassination of Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and 1991, respectively, this has been the norm in India. The sense that it’s always “someone else” who decides. Not the voter, not even necessarily the party. Thus, in the early 1990s, Narasimha Rao emerged as prime minister of a minority government, on the assumption he had the approval of Rajiv’s widow Sonia Gandhi.

From 1996 onwards, rainbow coalitions of parties whose colors didn’t necessarily match came to rule the roost. Deve Gowda, an unknown leader from the southwestern state of Karnataka, became the prime minister out of nowhere. A “humble farmer” by his own description, his arrival is still offered as a validation of pure democracy, the idea of India as a decentralized, federal space.

The truth was that the Congress, which backed his coalition from outside, thought him to be a pliant candidate. Deve Gowda, being from so utterly beyond the pale, was merely the man with whom powerful people had the least problems. The minute the intended puppet acquired a life of its own, the string was cut and he was replaced, in another draw of lots, by I K Gujral, a bearded seminarist no voter in Varanasi or Vellore would have ever heard of.

Though a popular leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a brilliant orator, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, too, became prime minister almost by fluke. He became the default candidate after Lalchand Kishen Advani had to step aside because of a legal tangle. Less of a “Hindutva” hardliner than Advani, Vajpayee was also far more acceptable to partners in their then-new National Democratic Alliance, many of whom had secular pretensions. As for Manmohan Singh, to use his own words, he became a prime minister in 2004 “by accident”. That was after the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi refused to assume the high office amid high drama.

A direct election, many argue, is a distinct improvement over this indirect system where the people have no control over or idea about who gets to rule them – about his or her credentials, or inclinations. The Indian prime minister, in theory, is driven by the cabinet of ministers, the ambit of powers circumscribed by a sense of collective responsibility, but has been found, in the unfolding of this young democracy, to have quite a lot of power vested in his or her hands.

The controversy ridden India-United States civilian nuclear deal, over which the left parties parted ways with the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government a year ago, is a perfect case in point. It stretched the idea of consensual decision-making quite a bit, but the personal preference of even a mild-mannered, non-despotic figure such as Manmohan came to have right of way.

Those in favor of the current parliamentary system, in which the number of votes polled decides who wins the elections, insist the present fragmentation is actually a salutary movement away from an often autocratic center. The emergence of regional forces and caste-based parties, they say, has helped empower hitherto electorally suppressed groups – the backward classes, the once social untouchables and the Dalits.

This, then, is a necessary corollary: the fracturing of the polity into smaller influence groups who have come to call the shots and can, according to their relative weights and tactical needs of the day, determine crucial policy directions. The flip side is, of course, that this has indeed led to the creation of a class of powerful political brokers.

It has also made elections far more expensive – and, naturally, made the role of money in elections less a matter of quiet necessity, more brazen and matter-of-fact. One has to literally go through the list of 8,070 candidates contesting this elections (of whom only 6.9% are women) with a scanner to identify candidates who are worth less than a few million dollars. The rupee, remember, is worth about one-fiftieth of the US currency.

A decade ago, the chief minister of a southern state reportedly had to mortgage his own house to fight his first election; this time his declared assets ballooned into several millions. The Election Commission has in recent years made the declaration of assets mandatory. But this has clearly not helped dissuade politicians from making money on the job. Most top leaders have doubled or trebled their already bloated bank balances in the last five years, and declared them with impunity.

The civil rights groups which have painstakingly documented this rising role of money power in elections are yet to get the due attention of those who bother with democratic theory. But the thought is deeply disturbing: what exactly does it imply if a person of modest means has no real chance of winning an Indian election?

Now to the present drama. The punters in Mumbai who are making a fast buck on the prevailing uncertainty and the political analysts enjoying their 15 minutes of fame in New Delhi TV studios are both backing the ruling Congress party as the nearest to the finishing line. But it could still be anybody’s game. The ground reports suggest the Congress is only marginally ahead of the BJP, if at all, and either way both sides are way short of 272. Hence, the race for cornering as many regional allies as they can.

The left-led Third Front, which has the biggest congregation of regional parties, is under maximum stress. Two southern satraps in its camp have indicated an open mind towards a national dispensation. In a near-farcical scenes, the son of Deve Gowda, now convener of the Third Front alternative, was caught sneaking into Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s official residence in New Delhi, his face covered in a handkerchief.

The stately Tamil Nadu leader J Jayalalitha, who’s expected to do well, admitted openly that she is being wooed by many suitors. But she would make up her mind only after May 16, when the results are out. She is not telling anyone what she’s asking for in exchange for support. The price, speculators are sure, will be the scalp of her rival M Karunanidhi and his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in the state. The state Congress is in a position to retract its support and topple the minority government and make her the queen of Tamil Nadu once again.

The BJP, too, is not far behind. It has deputed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and another powerbroker, S Gurumurthy, to convince her to back Advani for prime minister. As for the leader of the left bloc, Prakash Karat, he insists Jayalalitha is firmly clasped to its hands.

Fun and Learning with Blue Blocks

By M H Ahssan

Fostering development. Building self-esteem. Sparking imagination with loving attention and safety. Guiding children’s first steps toward a life-long love of learning.

Mission
We are the leader in child education and family solutions, which impact and inspire lifelong learning.

Vision
To develop innovative Learning Care educational solutions which enable us to grow the number of children and families served and to be recognized as the premier child and family education corporation in the world.

Through our leadership and passion we will:

- Provide a secure, caring and enriched environment that promotes learning and the development of the whole child.
- Develop lifelong relationships, create family solutions, and enhance the quality of life for our families.
- Provide a fun, challenging work environment that fosters teamwork, inspires professional excellence, and encourages contribution by all team members.
- Leverage technology to develop innovative learning products and solutions.
- Provide superior levels of support and service to our schools.
- Achieve the best financial performance in the industry, allowing us to fulfill our mission.

Values
Honesty, Trust, Passion for Excellence, Love of Learning, and Innovation

Infants are constantly growing, learning and changing. So between the cooing and cuddling, our teachers delight in your baby’s every advancement and provide endless opportunities for development and discovery. From rocking and thoughtful interaction, to storytime and naptime, to singing and talking, Blue Blocks teachers provide just what your baby needs, all in a safe, clean, healthy environment. And it’s just the beginning of our individual curriculum.

Toddlers are little busybodies. At Blue Blocks, that’s okay. We balance individual attention with group activities and ensure that your toddler is using all that energy in productive ways. From trying all the playground equipment to pouring cereal, we give toddlers plenty of opportunities to investigate, explore and play in a safe, secure, yet stimulating environment. Our unique blend of education and care meets emotional needs while promoting good social skills and learning. And in accordance with our individual curriculum new concepts are introduced when your child is ready, not on a set timeline.

There’s nothing terrible about twaddlers – they’re just beginning to test their independence, influence and control. At this age, children are making huge strides, and our specially designed program provides lots of guidance along with the independence they crave. And the exclusive Blue Blocks twaddlers curriculum is designed to nurture all the different ways that children can be smart – from building an architectural masterpiece to creating an interpretive dance.

As a Prepper, your child is transitioning from a toddler to a preschool student. Chatting with friends increases verbal and social skills. Solving shape puzzles strengthens problem-solving skills, while drawing and painting nurture creativity. Prepper teachers work to foster self-esteem during one-on-one journal time and in group activities. As preparation for moving into our exclusive preschool curriculum, we introduce one concept at a time, so your child feels proud, not frustrated. Because this curriculum recognizes that there are many different ways to be smart, your child will learn to love learning. And that means your Prepper will really be prepared.

Now is the time to truly start discovering the world. What better place to start than at Blue Blocks? Our exclusive pre-school curriculum was designed to encourage exploration and embrace all the different ways that children excel. Aligned with standards set forth by national accrediting associations, this curriculum helps children expand on their own unique gifts or “smarts.” And it works: a recent kindergarten readiness study showed that in just six months, children in our program made educational gains usually expected after a full year.

Find out more about our curriculum. Or, see how our program provides children with the developmental and educational skills needed for a successful transition into kindergarten and beyond. Grocery shopping in our school, reading and sharing stories, building models and towers, learning a new dance – all of these are ways to reinforce concepts. And while this is the time that teachers introduce a more structured environment, we still set aside plenty of time for self-directed play and experimentation.

Every kid is a SMART kid – that’s the philosophy behind everything we do at Tutor Time. At this age, the BB curriculum builds on your child’s cognitive, social and emotional needs in preparation for the kindergarten classroom. Aligned with standards set forth by national accrediting associations, this curriculum cultivates all the ways children are smart. Want proof? A recent kindergarten preparedness study showed that children in our program made substantial gains in development and had the necessary skills to enter and excel in kindergarten.

Lessons are designed to ensure that children grasp concepts in ways that are most meaningful to them. Classrooms include learning centers designed around these “smarts” to encourage independent discovery. So in addition to the 3 Rs, your child will learn to love learning.

Kindergartners are eager to explore, investigate, discover and absorb just about everything. And the exclusive curriculum can make a difference in how much they learn and grow. Our private kindergarten program introduces your child to a formal education while embracing the idea that different children are “smart” in different ways. Aligned with guidelines set forth by national accrediting associations, this curriculum is based on extensive research and the theories of child development expert Howard Gardner.

The eight “smarts” provide a framework, while encouraging exploration and discovery. Low student-to-teacher ratios allow Tutor Time’s teachers to focus on individuals. And a small, safe and secure environment provides your child with a real sense of belonging.

Our schools offer an exceptional before and after-school program that combines guidance and security with independent exploration to give school age children the freedom and structure they need. Your child can choose from a wide variety of activities:

- Arts and crafts, dramatic play
- Field trips, games, community projects
- Social interaction and teamwork activities
- Homework and study

For more detailed information regarding care, safety and education in our Blue Blocks take a Virtual Tour.

The principles of the Blue Blocks curriculum follow the guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice set forth by national accrediting associations. Our curriculum is based on extensive research and inspired by the work of respected development/early education theorists Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson and Lev Vygotsky, and inspired by Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. We’ve arranged these multiple intelligences into eight distinct ways that kids can be intelligent, or our eight “Smarts.”

- WordSmart: Likes to read, write and tell stories and excels at learning and using new words.

- MathSmart: Explores patterns and numbers, and enjoys figuring out how things work.

- BodySmart: Uses body language, loves to move and play sports, excels at dancing and other physical activity.

- DesignSmart: “The visualizer” loves to understand maps, draw, build, design and create.

- MusicSmart: Has a natural sense of rhythm, and enjoys singing, playing instruments and listening to music.

- NatureSmart: Likes to be outside and care for living things.

- PeopleSmart: “The socializer” likes to work in groups, pretend to be someone else, and is sensitive to the feelings of others.

- MeSmart: Likes to be introspective, is in-tune with their personal feelings and thoughts and enjoys working alone.

Our classrooms include learning centers full of ways for kids to explore and investigate all eight areas, and to build problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Our teachers supplement these experiences with group activities that focus on a variety of curricular themes. This curriculum gives children the tools they need to grow and develop into the leaders of tomorrow. Along with a strong emphasis on mathematics and literacy skills, our programs give children a framework they can use throughout school — they learn to love learning.

Blue Blocks is one of the few early education providers who conducts a formal assessment of its curriculum. Using Galileo—an online tool developed by Assessment Technology, Inc.—we evaluate the progress of thousands of children enrolled in our programs. Recent results showed that children attending Tutor Time made substantial gains in their learning and development and have the educational skills needed for a successful transition into kindergarten. In fact, it showed that in just 6 months, children in our programs made gains usually expected after a full year. See for yourself how children scored in Language and Literacy, Early Math, and Approaches to Learning.

Blue Blocks has child care options for every family including programs for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and school age kids. So take a look at our educational programs by age group.

Parents
Blue Blocks is passionate about children’s growth, development and achievements. We are proud to partner with educationally minded families who share these goals. We appreciate and understand the rapid pace of today’s world and work to ease the stress that modern families face. That is why we have gathered resources to help families stay involved and to provide parents with additional information and tips regarding a variety of parenting and family issues.

Childhood Block Building
Long before computers, remote controls, or even batteries, there was the simple, humble building block. And it remains a pillar of childhood fun and learning both in the classroom and at home.

The world of toys is a sophisticated place. Toys walk, talk, blink, beep, sing. Toys can help a child learn to spell, count or recognize the sounds of different barnyard animals. But long before computers, remote control, or even batteries, there was the simple, humble building block. And it remains a pillar of childhood fun and learning both in the classroom and at home.

Building blocks involve the child as a whole. Playing with blocks requires her to move her muscles, to bend and lift. With blocks she will discover the way different objects feel in her hands. She’ll need to think about spaces and shapes. She’ll need to formulate and risk thoughts, ideas and interests of her own. Building blocks stimulate the early mathematical sensibilities in a child, exposing her to angles, lines and rudimentary geometric awareness.

Blocks are made of various materials and come in many colors. The most basic ones are wood and the true Unit Block is rectangular and sized according the proportional standard of 1:2:4. Wood is a great material for unit blocks because its tough, not too heavy but heavy enough to feel substantial and accurately cut.

Well, he’s sure to eventually, but a good set of unit blocks will grow with your child. Little ones may do little more than touch and grip them, or toss them around and knock them together. As a child gets older he’ll and develops more muscle control, he’ll be able to combine blocks, stack them and line them up. As early as two years old a child may make his first attempts at building structures. This is the first step toward imaginative, creative play with blocks. By the age of three, a child may learn how to fit pieces together. He’ll build towers and bridges and experiment with enclosures. At three or four, a child will start to recognize and construct patterns, working them into his ideas for the structures he wants to make. Children in kindergarten and early primary grades use blocks to recreate structures and scenes from the world around them.

Blocks help children to learn socially. The block area of a classroom is usually alive with conversation, the sharing of ideas and the struggle for the best blocks. It’s about as complete a social experience as a small child can have. To enjoy block time, children have to make friends and cooperate.

Building with blocks is a physical exercise. Picking up a block, lifting it, stacking it, fitting it into place – it all builds up the strength in a child’s fingers and hands. It develops hand-eye coordination. By age two, children begin to recognize the relationships between the blocks and the spaces where the blocks will fit. This understanding of perspective is important for everything from reading and understanding maps to keeping your balance stepping onto the sidewalk while trying to read that map. Design and representation rely heavily on the skills first stimulated by playing with unit blocks.

Experience with blocks can be academically beneficial for a child. Recognition of sizes and shapes is usually followed by a desire to articulate them. This is the motive for acquiring and using vocabulary. Grouping, adding, subtracting and even multiplying with blocks is a great way for preschoolers and kindergartners to develop math skills. Older children might use blocks to make playful, early experiments with gravity, balance and geometry.

With blocks, a child gets a chance to make his own designs and experience the satisfaction of creating structures that didn’t exist before. Around two years of age a child may embark on pretend play using a variety of blocks. Blocks give a child the equipment to manifest his imagination with something tangible. The details exist in the child’s mind and heart while his hands participate, as does the space around him, through the anchoring power of the blocks. Children create drama and sculpture – the possibilities are endless.

The block area should be three-sided. This allows for easy access and it give the child walls to build against if he needs them. Also, a large open side allows for lots of coming and going. The world of blocks may quickly expand to a world of stuffed animals, pots and pans or things from outdoors. It’s good to have enough room for a number of children to work together, or have separate projects going. And it should be a reasonably secure place so block structures can be left standing for the builders to come back to later on.

An oldie but a goodie, the unit block continues to satisfy and challenge all at once. It’s longevity is testimony to its basic substantial value. Give your child a set of unit blocks and you will open doors you don’t even know are there. The mind of a child, set free to learn as it wants to, will guide itself on an exploration into the vastness of the playroom.

Child Cognitive Development from Birth to 7 Years Old
Cognitive development is the development of your child’s ability to use his mind, imagination, creativity, and problem-solving skills, allowing him to organise his ideas and thoughts and make sense of the world around him. He begins to develop an understanding of concepts – shapes, colours, time – through different methods, including playing, talking, listening to you, asking questions, and imitating. He also learns by using his senses – watching, touching, tasting, smelling, and listening. Your baby needs stimulation. Support his cognitive development by encouraging regular play activities and showing him repeatedly how to do things. He learns by copying you. Let him go at his own pace and give him plenty of encouragement and praise when he gets it right. The age at which your child acquires knowledge and understanding depends on his genetic pattern of development and how much play and stimulating activity he takes part in. However, you can look out for some milestones, which we describe in the next three sections.

From birth to 24 months
From the moment he’s born, your child discovers the relationship between his body and environment. He relies on his senses – seeing, touching, feeling, and sucking – to learn. By experimenting, he starts to develop an awareness of himself as being separate from his environment. He begins to realise that he can move things with his hands. A major breakthrough comes at around 4 months, when your baby discovers that objects are permanent and don’t disappear just because he can’t see them. After your child grasps this concept, he starts experimenting to see what happens: He may pull a pillow towards him when a toy is sat on it, or squash a teddy so that he can push it through the bars of his cot. Help your child’s development by playing games such as peek-a-boo, making him realise that you don’t disappear behind a pair of hands. Try doing the same with his toys: put Teddy behind your back and then reproduce him with a flourish.

From 2 to 4 years
At this age, your child’s speech is egocentric, relating everything to himself -for example, ‘My toy’. Don’t worry – he’s supposed to think that he’s the centre of the universe at this stage! Your child has a hard time understanding the world from any perspective other than his own – hence the temper tantrums and the ‘Me! Me! Me!’ attitude. He begins to use symbols, words, and language, but he’s not really thinking logically at this stage. By 3 years, your child’s much better at communicating and tries to use words to understand his world. He’s very imaginative and responsive at this stage. Foster your child’s intellectual development by giving him lots of picture books and reading to him regularly. Games that encourage thinking skills are a good idea – try paints, crayons, alphabet games, and jigsaws. Encourage his imagination by letting him dress up in different costumes and play in different environments such as water and sand.

From 4 to 7 years
From age 4 years, your child’s speech is more social and less egocentric. He understands logical concepts but still focuses attention on one aspect and ignores other parts of an object. He responds to your dos and don’ts and is capable of problem-solving, such as basic sums. By 4 years, your child forms complete sentences and has a vocabulary of around 1,540 words. He’s very inquisitive, questioning, and imaginative. Books, jigsaws, construction sets such as Lego, and dressing-up boxes are great ways of helping him to express himself. By 5 years, his vocabulary has grown to around 2,070 words and he can tell longer stories. He reads his own name, counts up to 20, and knows his colours and textures. He begins to question the meaning of words and understands the difference between what’s real and what’s not. He reasons, based on his experiences. Visits to museums and zoos encourage him to explore his environment at this age.

From 7 years, your child reasons logically and organises his thoughts. He can still only think about physical objects though, and he isn’t capable of abstract reasoning. He starts to lose his egocentric thinking pattern at this age. He can now do multiple tasks, for example arithmetic – encourage this by setting him sums, giving him an abacus, and choosing games and cards that encourage numerical awareness. Keep on top of the teaching methods his school uses (such as using a phonetic alphabet), and be consistent when you’re helping your child at home. There’s quite enough for him to take in at this stage, without the added confusion of different learning styles!

Dowry – A never ending social malady

By Samiya Anwar

We live in a wretched society, it cannot be denied. Since ages, it has been male-dominated and people are afraid of women empowerment. To suppress women many social practices came up. The child marriages, deprivation from education etc; women are crushed even to this day, despite of making waves around the world in every field.

It is shame that dowry still exist, furnish and garnished by most of the families. It is not a thing of past. It exhibits. It tortures. It abuses. It kills. In Europe, South Asia, Africa and other parts of the world, mostly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, daily at least two cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence are registered in every state in every police station. And on an average one Indian woman commits suicide every four hours over a dowry dispute, extremely sad but women are generally suppressed in Indian culture.

Dowry is the most talk about issue of the society. It is a blot on our face, but every day news item. It is a social malady and denied vehemently. With open eyes we see the cases of dowry in our own family and don’t stop. It continues. It develops. Like a continuous fire in the family, relatives, neighbors and friends. People are obsessed with it. Yes truly. It is a typical Hindu custom that bride’s parents give an amount of money, jewelry, plots, etc to groom on the marriage ceremony, unfortunately dowry is even creeping into Muslim marriage. It is rising among Muslims.

Islam, the religion of Muslims does not permit Dowry. It does permit Meher the reverse of the dowry. So it is unusual for a Muslim boy to ask for it. He has to pay certain amount as Mehr to his wife. There is no tradition or custom that bride should get something with her. However gifts are allowed, not dowry. If the parents of the bride and family are giving something as a “gift” on marriage to the daughter, it is accepted. The marriage alliance in Muslim is permitted only when the guy is able to take up the responsibility of the wife as a partner. She is not a “source of income” in the form of a dowry. Muslims should comprehend this.

Does education curb dowry?
No. Not really. There are mostly educated and sound people who demand dowry. People are pade-likhe-jaahil (educated illiterates). If the educated young boys wish to marry with no dowry, they are forced by parents. If they don’t listen, it is disrespect to parents. In Islam, if you disobey or disrespect parents, Hell await you threatens parents to have dowry in marriage of their son. What to do in such cases. It is not just a matter of culture. Or something I (mother) got so much amount of money in marriage and my son should also get so and so amount. It is something “a matter of status”, it is vogue sadly.

We are leaving in a society where a bride should get minimum of 5 tolas of gold, 1-2lakh rupees with whole of furniture to marry a Muslim boy. Women (mother-in-laws) are highly seen in gossiping and back-biting as whose daughter-in-law get “how much” in dowry. If somebody’s bahu gets less than you, it is a matter of shame to them or says you have got poor daughter-in-law for your laadla. It is considered insulting to have no dowry or fewer dowries.

Here goes a saying, educate your daughter to stop dowry, but how? If the young girls say “no dowry, no marriage” probably they end up with no marriage for half-of their life. Like Saba, 30 year old is a teacher in a private school who decided not to marry someone who asks dowry remained unmarried while all girls of her age crossed the stair of matrimony. No doubt, she is educated, strong and capable of earning a good livelihood on own, her parents oppose her. Will she be able to stand on her decision? If yes how long?

Her parents worry of her growing age as she is dark weighs around 70 kgs and it will be impossible for her to get good match at this time. It is said, the dowries are a blessing for girls who’re born not-so-pretty. If you are ready with the bulk some amount for your daughter, the marriage is quite easier thinks many parents.

Will “Love Marriages” bring fall in dowry acts?
Hopefully, many youngsters today feel that the only solution to stop dowry is through love marriage. If we marry someone we love, doesn’t demand dowry they say. The half of the run-away boys and girls from homes are against the old tradition parents. That is why we see, a very handsome boy marrying an ugly girl and pretty girls going for the very opposite match.

Rehana, 23 was fed up of her parents filling the demands of in-laws of her two elder sisters decided to marry someone who will not take dowry. She found Saahil, 25 pretty good with no such expectations and today they are together. According to her, “Dowry is like begging and those who beg once, will do that forever, it does not stop”. And in love marriage the term dowry doesn’t exist, very true.

But last year, a Muslim girl called Irrum Bibi who was in affair with a boy for 4years found the boy greedy for dowry and rejected him on marriage ceremony, the issue has been hyped in media for more than a month. So it is hard to say who is greedy now or who will become later. Because one of my knower had “love marriage” after an affair of 3years, they opposed parents and had marriage in court. After a year, the parents agreed and they were called back home. But the boys’ parents’ started torturing the girl for not bringing any money for their only son. This is what taking place in love marriages. Either they have to run out of homes or else they are tortured and harassed.

What about Fake dowry cases?
Surprisingly, many men and women are taking advantage of dowry system. It is ridiculous, absurd. I mean some suffer, and some laugh. Who to trust and how to stop the evil, when people are misusing the Women Protection Acts, Delhi, Bangalore and Jaipur have more of fake cases filed by both men and women.

Several cases filed under the dowry harassment act in the city (Hyderabad) recently, have been proved deceptive by the courts in Andhra Pradesh. Out of the 78 dowry cases received last year, 5-10 per cent has been found false during investigations. And more of these false dowry cases women are par from men. May be that is why men fear of women’s freedom and empowerment. So they (women) are repressed and male supremacy rules. Women are no milk-washed angels. They are at fault too.

No way to curb dowry, except religion
Dowry is a social evil but continues to be a common practice. There is no way out to limit this system. Education failed, awareness programmes didn’t work. Government, law and order could do less to delete it. Anti-dowry laws in India were enacted in 1961 but the laws themselves have done nothing to halt dowry transactions. All the efforts are merely a lip service. It has nothing to do with curb. People are least bothered. What can be done if the dowry is given willingly and accepted happily? The business of dowry is done by parents. It is forced to the young men and women to give and take dowry. It is high time to shrug of the greedy anti-Islamic traditions. If parents force you to dowry, teach them the hadiths and Quran. It is no wrong to show the right path to those who is walking on un-Islamic road, also your parents. It is not disrespect; it is evil act of devil we need to understand. Moreover endure taqwa (fear of Allah).

Remember demanding Dowry from bride or her guardian is Anti-Islamic. Dowry has no sanction in Muslim religion. Dowry is a Hindu tradition that Muslims in India are blindly following. True Muslims will not give/ demand dowry. It is wrong, what is observed in society. Further more we, the Muslims need to spread Islam and invite the people to follow the religion in correct manner, only then the society can be transformed into a dowry free marriage system by forbidding what is wrong otherwise dowry is such a malady which has no cure and no way to curb..

Nepal’s Maoists cry Indian foul play

By M K Bhadrakumar

For any Indian who ever felt intrigued as to why South Asian neighbors often dislike his country, the past fortnight offered clues. Like in a Tennessee Williams play, painful to watch as the plot thickens slowly and invidiously, as protagonists begin tearing each other apart in quiet despair after love begins to drain or threatens to flee, India and Nepal are still locked in an embrace.

Someone must do the merciful act of separating them; of making them behave as they should – as two sovereign countries. Indian papers are full of interviews by Nepal’s former prime minister Prachanda, who claims he was deposed in a concerted conspiracy by the Indian bureaucratic establishment. He repeatedly claimed that at a time when the seasoned Indian politicians who by instinct understood Nepali politicians and their native ways have been out of Delhi on the grueling campaign trail in the current parliamentary elections, the mandarins of the Indian bureaucratic establishment settled scores with him and his Maoist party.

According to the Maoists, the Indian establishment has forced them out of power in a virtual coup by rallying disparate political elements and vested interests opposed to them in Kathmandu on various counts, including the Nepalese army and Nepal’s deposed king.

The Indian establishment is not generally known for such neat planning or efficiency. But what matters is that in Nepali public perceptions, the allegation resonates. Any Indian diplomat who has served in India’s neighborhood can tell that India carries the burden of a larger-than-life profile. There is a wealth of misconceptions among India’s neighbors about its capacity to harm. The common perception is that India can be a ill-tempered, self-righteous bully.

But the ungainly truth, as often happens, gingerly lies somewhere in the middle. True, India can probably muster a quick temper and may even be capable of doing mischief if its feathers are ruffled, but then, if its neighbors are clever enough, they can pay back in the same coin.

Take Sri Lanka. In the early 1980s, Delhi took a deliberate decision to start a quarrel with Sri Lanka’s Western-oriented leadership in Colombo. Several complicated factors led to the quarrel, including vanities at the leadership level, but it overtly wore the look of a pale Indian variant of the Monroe Doctrine.

Delhi wanted the unhelpful leadership in Colombo to be put in its place – like the Maoists in Kathmandu who showed the audacity to warm up to China’s friendly overtures. Books have been written which graphically describe that Delhi fostered the Sri Lankan Tamil insurgent groups as an instrument of foreign policy to pressure the then Sri Lankan government under president J R Jayewardene.

If so, Delhi truly underestimated the tenacity of the Colombo political elite to hit back. The grit of small countries, which depend paramountly on their wits rather than muscle to safeguard their autonomy, is something too hard to believe. Before Delhi could count to ten, Jayewardene sought and won an Indian military intervention in Sri Lanka to put down the very same Tamil insurgency it thoughtfully fostered in the first instance. And, amazingly, in no time, Delhi agreed to do the unthinkable – dispatch an expedition to intervene in a neighboring country’s civil war.

But Colombo soon made yet another neat somersault and the Indian military expedition in Sri Lanka found itself to be the common target of the Tamil insurgents and the Sri Lankan security forces alike. The result was that after the loss of a few thousand Indian soldiers and the assassination of a former Indian prime minister, Delhi wound up its expedition in Sri Lanka in shame and ignominy and sailed home. But the story didn’t end there.

The Colombo elite, having tasted blood, allowed Delhi a brief respite before working on its vanities again and getting the Indian elite on its side even as another bloody chapter of the civil war was unrolling. Some say the Indian establishment was not so dumb-witted as made out to be, but was probably on a brilliant Machiavellian act in assisting Colombo to vanquish the Tamil insurgent army. Time will tell.

At any rate, if the Maoists are clever, they would do a Colombo act on Delhi. It seems they may do just that. They are reaching out to a political formation at the other end of Nepal’s fragmented political spectrum comprising Nepalis of ethnic Indian origin who are commonly seen as Delhi’s proxy on the Nepalese democratic chessboard – the Joint Madhesi Democratic Front (JMDF).

Quite possibly, the Maoists may have calculated that with their 230 members in an alliance with the 83 members of the JMDF, they can be a force in the 601-member parliament that can spike the incipient plans of a ganging-up by Nepal’s status quo parties as a new non-Maoist coalition government. At the very least, the Maoists are seeking to avoid political isolation.

But it could presage something more. The Maoists are evidently reaching out to Indian public opinion as well over the head of the Indian bureaucratic establishment. They are doing what the Colombo elite would have surely done in similar circumstances.

At the very minimum, one has to be truly moronic to miss the point that the Maoists want to play by the democratic rules; that they do not want to return to the jungles and become guerillas again; that they are pragmatic enough to cross ideological divides; and, quite probably, they want to be Delhi’s favorites in the corridors of power in Kathmandu. So, what is the problem?

The problem seems to lie in a five-letter word – China. The malaise bears a striking similarity with the early 1980s when the Jayewardene government in Colombo took to the free market with gusto, was favorably inclined to accede to the setting up of a Voice of America transmitter within earshot of India, was reportedly allowing in Israeli intelligence specialists, and was toying with the idea of leasing out Trincomalee’s fine natural harbor and its vast “oil farm” built by imperial Britain during World war II as a naval base for the Americans.

The supreme irony is that today Delhi is not going to lose sleep over any of those daredevil things that Jayewardene likely contemplated. Today, a quarter century later, India has not only taken to the market, but the current government in Delhi, which is about to complete its term, subscribed to the Washington consensus even after the Americans began losing faith in it.

The Israelis of course are all over India, with the visiting Israeli army chief taken to Kashmir last September on a counter-insurgency tour and Indian space scientists launching away Israeli “spy” satellites. India today not only desires a strong US naval presence in the Indian Ocean (as a “counterweight” to China) but aspires to be the US Navy’s preferred partner. If Indians don’t care to listen to Voice of America, it is merely because they have chosen to watch CNN.

Alas, the Indian strategic community’s ire about the Nepalese Maoist dalliance with China is a replay of the xenophobia that was prevalent in Delhi in the early 1980s. True, China is taking an excessively high degree of interest in Nepal. But that isn’t because Nepal’s biggest political party subscribes to Maoism or because Beijing wants to add yet another “pearl” to its “string” around India, to borrow the famous words of a minor analyst working for the Pentagon which have become the hot favorite idiom among Indian strategic thinkers.

The fact is that China is keen to plug the infiltration route of Tibetan militants who travel to and from India via Nepal. It is a crucial issue for Beijing. Unsurprisingly, China will go the extra mile to ensure there is a friendly government in Kathmandu that dissociates itself completely from the “low-intensity war” waged in Tibet by militants coming in from outside. Just as China pays enormous attention to its Central Asian neighbors to ensure that Uyghur militants from the outside world do not infiltrate the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

Kyrgyzstan may have a population less than five million, but when a Kyrgyz dignitary comes calling, Beijing rolls out a red carpet as if US President Barack Obama had arrived. That shows an acute sense of national priorities, as a sizeable Uyghur community lives in Kyrgyzstan.

Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that China has begun assiduously courting the democratic leadership in Nepal. Or, that the Maoist government began cooperating with China to clamp down on the activities of the Tibetan activists who operated out of Nepalese soil through the past half-century.

China will not be deterred from befriending Nepal on the crucial question of tranquility and stability in Tibet, no matter what it takes. The time is not far off before Beijing offers Nepal a berth in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Indeed, China has the political will and the financial capacity to offer to Nepal what Delhi could have offered through the past six decades and failed to do – staking a common future as partners in economic development and regional stability. China’s reach is enormous today. It has just replaced the United States as Brazil’s top trade partner.

Countering the Chinese challenge in Nepal needs imagination, a coherent game plan and a sustained approach on India’s part. Muscle-flexing is not the answer. Nor is diplomatic one-upmanship the answer or the pretensions by the right-wing Hindu nationalist outfits in India that Nepal is their sequestered pasture.

Antagonizing the Maoists will not be a smart thing to do, as they represent historical forces that are on the ascendance and they will be around as the dominant political force in Nepal, sure as the sun rises in the east. But there are pragmatic ways in which the Maoists could be made to view Delhi as their preferred partner. Arguably, the Maoists are themselves already intensely conscious that they cannot do without India’s cooperation.

Contrary to the Indian security establishment’s earlier doomsday scenario, the Maoists are not messing around with the radical left movements professing to follow Mao Zedong’s ideology which are active in something like 160 out of India’s 600 districts. That shows a high degree of sensitivity to India’s national-security concerns.

But what Delhi should scrupulously avoid is any interference in Nepal’s internal affairs. Let the Nepalese settle their squabbles themselves over drawing up a new constitution and charting out their future. Leave it to the Nepalese political parties to carve out their space on the democratic arena. Political parties begin to die when they cease to be relevant.

The forces, which Delhi might have favored when Nepal was a “Hindu kingdom”, may no more be capable of representing the people’s aspirations. India cannot resurrect them. Let them die. Of course, it will be dangerous to encourage the Nepalese army to harbor Praetorian instincts, either. South Asia has had enough of armies.

India will always enjoy a huge advantage over China in cultivating Nepal – of history, geography, culture, ethnicity, economy and social bonds and kinship. Where India loses is that it cannot get its act together as a driving force for Nepal’s emergence out of abject poverty. That is the leitmotif of China’s challenge to India. The entire sub-Himalayan region will incrementally feel gravitation toward China as Tibet surges forward at its present level of economic transformation and Beijing shows a willingness to share the cake.

India, China lead global anti-dumping dance

By Raja Murthy

A recession-souring relationship between India and China is becoming grumpier, with India filing a record number of anti-dumping cases against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“Dumping” involves an importing foreign company selling at unfair lower prices that lead to domestic suppliers of the same product suffering losses.

With the global economic downturn shrinking US and European markets, dumping complaints are increasing with large manufacturing nations such as China said to be cutting losses by dumping goods in Africa, India and other Asian countries.

Dumping complaints can be used to mask protectionist trade policies. India has to fend off such perceptions, after having filed 42 anti-dumping complaints, the most by any country in the WTO for the second half of 2008.

India’s top trade body, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), denies that the record number of anti-dumping cases the country has filed indicates India is becoming more protectionist.

“China poses the greatest threat to the Indian industry at this juncture,” the FICCI said in a statement. “In this time of global recession, dumping can become a serious issue.”

The WTO Secretariat, in a May 7 media release, reported a 17% increase in anti-dumping investigations for the last six months of 2008 compared with the corresponding period of 2007.

India appears to be getting mighty sore, particularly with China, having filed 17 WTO cases against its northeastern neighbor since October 2008, for what it terms dumping of Chinese products such as textiles, chemicals and metals.

India has already imposed anti-dumping import duties on yarn, fabric, nylon tire cord and thionyl chloride from China. On May 12, India’s Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the Commerce Ministry, further recommended imposing an additional 15% import duty on tire-making equipment from China.

Acting on a complaint from engineering giant Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), the DGAD had investigated whether China was dumping tire-curing presses – machines that give the final shape and tread pattern to automobile tires.

China can complain to the WTO, contesting India’s anti-dumping duties. China itself comes third in the WTO anti-dumping grumblers list for the second half of 2008, with 11 filings, behind Brazil with 16. Indonesia (6), Ukraine (4), Pakistan (3) and South Korea (1) are other Asian countries featuring among the latest anti-dumping complainants. The WTO has to investigate these complaints to verify anti-dumping allegations as well as justifications for imposing anti-dumping duties.

Article VI of the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Countries (GATT), the predecessor to the WTO, provides for anti-dumping investigations to see if domestic manufactures suffer losses from unfairly priced imports. If so, punitive import duties can be slammed on invading goods.

Under WTO rules, countries imposing such duties on imports have to prove that such products come under the anti-dumping bracket.

According to the WTO, a company can be charged with dumping if it exports a product at a price lower than what it normally charges in its own home market or if the import volume grows to an extent that leaves domestic manufacturers at a disadvantage. For instance, India’s Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties that investigated L&T’s complaint against imported Chinese tire presses, declared that it found that they increased to 7% of total volume of India’s domestic tire press market in 2007-08, compared with just 0.6% in 2004-5.

Is dumping fair or unfair in trade wars? Geneva-based WTO, the world’s premier trade referee, which runs on inter-governmental agreements, declines to answer this question, but says it will stick to regulating how governments can respond to dumping.

The number of dumping complaints may reflect a struggle to cope with trade deficits. India, for instance, reported a US$119 billion trade deficit for the financial year ending March 2009, with exports worth $168 billion lagging $287.75 billion in imports. The deficit for April-December 2008 rose almost 60% from a year earlier.

The rest of the world seems to be supporting India’s unhappiness with China. “China was the most frequent subject of the new investigations,” according to the latest WTO anti-dumping report.

China had 34 new anti-dumping cases filed against its exporters – in itself a 17% drop from the 40 cases filed against it for the corresponding second half of 2007.

Significantly, China’s imports to India have increased around 20% since 2008. Imports from China jumped to $24.2 billion between April to December 2008, up from $19.8 billion in the corresponding period in 2007.

Chinese government subsidies in various forms such as tax rebates are seen as helping the country’s exporters, but that does not reflect the core problem facing importing countries, said Rajiv Kumar, director of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

“For a great majority of imports from China, we must face the reality that they are cheaper because of the enormous economies of scale that are being achieved by the Chinese manufacturers,” Kumar told local media. The ICRIER, an autonomous, non-profit economic policy think-tank, has as its founding members Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and M S Swaminathan, a leading agricultural scientist.

The WTO’s refereeing on imports-duties is a thorny, developing issue. Anti-dumping agreements have been evolving since the so-called Kennedy Round anti-dumping code in 1967, and the more detailed Tokyo Round in 1980.

But like much of other long-winded WTO trade processes, the anti-dumping agreement is entangled with too many rules and few specifics on how to implement them.

The WTO committee that meets twice a year to discuss anti-dumping disputes has no specific time frames to settle such issues. Not surprisingly, anti-dumping complaints can take yeras for settlement. An anti-dumping case that Taiwan filed against India in October 2004, numbered DS318 (DS for Dispute Settlement), still awaits final settlement.

Taiwan had demanded consultations with India after New Delhi imposed anti-dumping import duties on seven imported products: acrylic fibres, analgin, potassium permanganate, paracetamol, sodium nitrite, caustic soda and green veneer tape.

In an eight-point accusation that India was violating its WTO obligations, Taiwan essentially claims India did not respond to requests to provide necessary information to back up the anti-dumping penalties.

The case of the green veneer tape – a material used for binding extremely fine wood – reflects the grey area between a country imposing anti-dumping duties on an imported product and protecting a domestic producer. The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties, India’s anti-dumping investigative body, probed the same case and supported levying additional duties.

In its final verdict dated December 24, 2003, the DGAD declared that the “Subject goods have been exported to India from subject country below its normal value” and that “The injury has been caused by the imports from the subject country.”

Yet the DGAD has accepted that the defendant in the case, M/s Waterproof Corporation Pvt Ltd, is the sole maker of green veneer tape in India. There is always the risk of protecting local monopoly and denying the consumer a cheaper and possibly better imported product.

If case DS318 reflects typical WTO anti-dumping conflict resolution where countries levying import duties ignore demands for transparency, India can nurse little hope of having its cheaper imports problems with China solved in the near future. And if the Taiwan allegations are true, India may have little cause to complain if China gloriously ignores India’s anti-dumping complaints.

‘A Race to the Starting Line’: Diagnosing What’s Holding Biotechnology Back

By M H Ahssan & Sarah Williams

New strategies will be necessary for biotechnology companies to thrive in the new era of personalized medicine, but the healthcare system itself will also have to change, according a panel of six biotechnology company representatives who participated in a discussion titled, “Emerging Technologies and the Innovation of Competitive Advantage,” at the 2009 South Asia Health Care Business Conference in Sanfransisco.

John P. McLaughlin, CEO of Anesiva, a San Francisco-based biotech firm focused on pain management drug development, stressed the growing population of senior citizens as a focus of future opportunities in biotechnology. The population of those 65 and over is expected to grow from its current 35 million to 71 million by 2030, McLaughlin said. The age group 85 and over will rise from 4 million to 7 million by 2020. Given these projections, he noted, a significant opportunity exists concerning osteoarthritis.

While the advent of antibodies used against rheumatoid arthritis has advanced to the point where therapies can now help prevent the progression of the disease in its earlier stages, treatment of osteoarthritis lags behind, according to McLaughlin. “With osteoarthritis, we’re not seeing any disease modifying agents out there. In fact, we’re not seeing any pain agents, either.”

For the 24 million people who suffer from osteoarthritis, current treatment consists of an increasingly strong regimen of pain medication. At some point, however, knee or other joint replacements become necessary to alleviate the pain. “Parts wear out,” McLaughlin said.

In 2006, about 550,000 knee replacements were performed. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons expects that number to rise to about 3.5 million by 2030, McLaughlin said. Given that the growing older population wants to remain mobile later in life, the demand for joint replacements will only grow with it. “Those procedures can be very painful — with long recovery periods — so there’s substantial opportunity there” for biotech advances, he added.

Stem Cells: A ‘Fractured’ Industry
Stem cell research and its resulting applications will unquestionably have a major impact on the biotech market, according to Robert Gould, a patent attorney with Philadelphia-based law firm Duane Morris.

He identified three central areas that create uncertainty in the stem cell arena. The first, and probably biggest, area of uncertainty concerns companies receiving approvals by the Food and Drug Administration, Gould said. “Most, if not all, of those companies performing stem cell research are not sufficiently funded to bring their technologies to market.” Such companies will need to find ways to attract new investment or be acquired by companies that have adequate financial resources.

Gould said issues surrounding patents, such as patent infringement and liability, also create uncertainty in the industry. He described that industry as “fractured,” citing a lack of cooperation among companies so concerned about guarding their patents that they essentially divert funds away from the primary goal of research and development for new therapies. “There’s not enough money in the industry as it stands, and diverting money to infringement issues, particularly when most of the activity is exempt anyway, is a waste,” Gould noted.

John Clarke, managing general partner at Cardinal Partners, a venture fund he formed in 1997 to focus on early-stage healthcare investments, described biotechnology as being “very much in the early days” in terms of products and therapies, with biotech companies essentially being in a “race to the starting line….”

Clarke, a big fan of RNA-related technologies, is “extremely bullish” about finding the value and efficiency of new technologies, models and therapies. While creating and implanting these technologies is the primary goal, it is equally important to make sure these advances are not cumbersome or too expensive for the marketplace.

According to Stuart Pollard, vice president of scientific business and strategy at Alnylam, a Cambridge, Mass.-based pharmaceutical company, one of the next major therapeutic modalities has to do with adding on to small molecules. This RNA-related technology has advanced rapidly in the past five years, but there is still a tremendous need for innovation and invention.

The overall environment of healthcare’s move toward a more individualized approach has begun to help, but more investment in biotechnology would create a more competitive arena and complement the rapid advances in technology, Pollard noted. A burgeoning number of new products is expected to enter the market over the next few years, due in part to important strategic alliances within the industry that have allowed for their development, he added.

As an example of the changing healthcare environment affecting biotech companies, Pollard cited his company’s paradoxical achievement last year: It had its fewest number of product approvals in the last 24 years while reaching far greater levels of understanding about the diseases they aim to treat.

Franz F. Hefti, vice president of neuroscience at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a Philadelphia-based molecular imaging company, said Alzheimer’s disease represents a significant opportunity for investment. In terms of technology and diagnostics, Heft described neurodegenerative diseases today as “hot,” similar to the way cancer diagnostics and treatment were 10 years ago.

Since neuroscience typically lags behind other areas in terms of technology, many technological advancements that are just now coming to the forefront will provide a much-needed better view of the human brain, Hefti said. “You have to see into the brain to see what’s happening.”

Understanding Vs Trial-and-Error
According to Kim Popovits, president and CEO of Genomic Health, a Redwood City, Calif.-based biotechnology company, improved understanding and use of medical data is an important development in the movement toward personalized medicine and away from the trial-and-error approach to diagnostics and treatment. “If we understand diseases at the molecular level, then we should be able to do better, and that’s really where personalized medicine comes in,” Popovits said. “What’s exciting right now are all of these targets that are sitting there and all the new technologies” available to help better understand them.

Another challenge for the future, she said, is to learn how to use diagnostics to improve the average time and money — 14 years and $1 billion — it currently takes to bring a new biotech product to market.

Leaving behind the “blockbuster drug” mentality, which relies on one product to provide large amounts of revenue, must be part of a new mindset for biotech companies, Popovits said. “That probably isn’t the model that’s going to work for the future.” Developing more drugs for smaller markets, shortening the timeline of clinical trials and improving patient response rates to new drugs are some of the changes necessary for biotech companies to remain competitive.

“Our healthcare system won’t tolerate where we are today in terms of response rate,” Popovits noted, adding that current response rates of new drugs range from 15% to 25%, sometimes at a cost of more than $100,000 per patient. “That’s not a good model for the future. That’s not a model that’s sustainable if all of these wonderful ideas and targets that are in the pipeline want to eventually get to patients.”

Popovits said better diagnostic tools are needed to help maximize the effectiveness of therapies by targeting patients who will likely benefit. She gave the example of chemotherapy as a relatively ineffective therapy that remains overused. “Clinical data says that only about four in 100 women who receive chemotherapy for breast cancer actually benefit.”

Better diagnostics would also help focus clinical trials by eliminating patients who are unlikely to respond during the course of the trial. “If we could get those patients out of the trial … we would reach our endpoints faster. We would certainly reduce the costs of clinical trials, and presumably develop medications a lot faster,” she said.

Other barriers to the future of biotechnology, she added, include issues like intellectual property, federal regulations and the reimbursement system. “Our regulatory system and our reimbursement system have not been designed for what you’re hearing us talk about today. We’ve really got to focus on building the infrastructure around the development of these technologies…. But I couldn’t be more optimistic about where I think we can take healthcare.”

Blockbusters and Sledgehammers
Charles Beever, vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton and the panel moderator, questioned panel members on the prognosis for biotechnology. Hefti responded that with the expected segmentation of the industry due to personalized medicine, there is no single answer. “I think the way to look at it is that for every disease, there will be one or two optimum strategies,” Hefti said, citing the example of stem cells, which he predicted will be the best route for treating spinal cord injuries but will not become a so-called blockbuster therapy applied to numerous areas.

Clarke identified “regenerative medicine” as a potential best bet for the future. “If you can do what nature does, you have a better shot at having a successful drug or therapy.” Asked about barriers to the advancement of biotechnology, Clarke noted that there must be changes in the current system of regulation and reimbursement, which is oriented toward “blockbusters and sledgehammers…. We’re really swimming against the current with this process,” he noted.

According to Popovits, the trend away from primary care toward specialized medicine should help raise the confidence of healthcare payers if therapies become more focused and effective. “Payers won’t mind paying for a drug that works.” Gould and McLaughlin added that generic biotech products might become more prevalent in order to keep costs down.

Despite the many changes predicted, some aspects of the current system are sure to remain the same. Money needed for clinical trials is significant, and big pharmaceutical companies will stay as the likely source of that funding, according to Clarke.

Also, the role of physicians who use the diagnostic tools and prescribe the medicines will not change anytime soon, Popovits suggested. “We are never going to be able to develop the one-size-fits-all tool or diagnostic. There will always be the practice of medicine and the ability to use these diagnostics and tools.”

Cost-effective Medical Treatment: Putting an Updated Dollar Value on Human Life

By Andrew Simonds & M H Ahssan

A thorny question lies at the heart of meaningful health care reform. How much is human life worth?

New research from Wharton and Stanford based on Medicare kidney dialysis data shows that the average figure — $129,090 per additional year of quality life — is higher than prior studies have shown. Perhaps more important, the study also puts a value on the cost-effectiveness of treatment across percentiles of the entire dialysis population in an attempt to develop a benchmark for health care coverage decisions.

As presidential candidates again debate universal coverage, the research could provide guidance to policy makers attempting to allocate scarce health care resources in the most effective way possible, according to Chris P. Lee, a Wharton professor of operations and information management, who co-authored the paper titled, “An Empiric Estimate of the Value of Life: Updating the Renal Dialysis Cost-Effectiveness Standard.” The paper is to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Value in Health.

“Health care costs are rising rapidly and it’s believed that much of the rise in medical expenditures is attributed to the use of medical technologies that are too expensive to be justified,” says Lee. “What we’re asking is: ‘Does the medical benefit support the kind of costs we’re talking about?’”

Dialysis for patients suffering chronic renal failure is the one service that Medicare, the national health plan for the elderly, provides for anyone, regardless of age. The program has been in effect since the 1970s and health care economists have long considered it to be a fair proxy for universal health care coverage and the value that society places on a year of life.

Lee and his co-authors, Glenn M. Chertow, of the division of nephrology at Stanford University’s department of medicine, and Stefanos A. Zenios, of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, examined records from more than a million patients. The study results show that the incremental cost effectiveness ratio of dialysis in current practice relative to the next least costly alternative is on average $61,294 per year, or $129,090 for a quality-adjusted year of life (QALY) — a measure that combines the length of time that life is extended and the quality of that life.

However, the distribution of cost effectiveness across the entire population is wide. For the lowest percentile, it costs only $65,496 to provide an additional quality-adjusted life year. For the top percentile, the figure is $488,360. The higher costs per quality adjusted life year were strongly associated with old age and additional chronic illnesses in addition to end-stage renal disease, the researchers found.

“I don’t believe that any health economist or the strongest advocate for providing coverage will argue that half a million dollars for one year of life is reasonable,” says Lee. “This would inflate health care spending by a large amount — 10 to 15 times what we currently spend. Obviously that’s not feasible.”

Lee points out that the cost to preserve one year of quality-adjusted life drops to $240,000 in the 90th percentile of expenditures. In effect, if that were to become the threshold, 90% of patients could be treated for half what it would cost to treat the sickest for whom heavy expenditures do not improve the quality or length of life very much. Coverage decisions are shaped largely by the medical community, Lee says, adding that while this community includes caring and informed professionals, they are not often focused on quantitative analysis and miss some of the subtleties that emerge in the data.

Up until now, according to the paper, the most commonly used number to place a value on a year of quality life has been $50,000. It, too, is based on a study of dialysis patients. The 1984 Canadian study used an accounting ledger for 44 patients at one center during a time span of one year. A more recent study adjusted that number to $93,500 per year, inflating the earlier number to 2002 U.S. dollars.

The new Wharton/Stanford research brings older renal care studies up to date with costs and modern practices, says Lee. “The gold standard has been $50,000, but that figure does not reflect the way dialysis is practiced and the technology we have today.”

Lee and his researchers used data from The United States Renal Data System (USRDS) for information on outcomes and costs from more than 500,000 patients initiating dialysis between 1996 and 2003, as well as from 159,616 patientswho received a transplant during the same period.

The paper also puts the value of extended life implied by medical spending on dialysis in the context of other ways in which the value of life is calculated, outside the medical field.

For example, the paper points out that the decision to work as a contractor in Iraq involved placing a monetary value on years of extended life. Assuming an annual risk of death of 0.004 and a salary premium of $30,000 per year over comparable jobs in the United States, contractors in Iraq are essentially compensated at a rate of $250,000 per statistical year of life. The study also points to a recent survey of estimates based on occupational risk that found a range from $500,000 to $21 million per statistical life year depending on how dangerous the work is.

Another approach is based on the cost effectiveness of life saving interventions in non-medical fields such as occupational health, transportation safety or environmental hazard control, the paper states. Estimates using these methods ranged from a cost-effective $56,000 per life year saved for transportation programs to a more extravagant $4.2 million per life year saved for environmental programs.

As the paper states: “While no method can definitively determine the actual value an individual places on his or her lifetime, these estimates are less prone to some of the problems faced by estimates using labor market data or personal choices involving small but finite risks, which … people tend to overestimate.”

Implicit and Explicit Rationing
When it comes to medical care, placing a value on life leads to ethical concerns, the paper acknowledges. Lee notes that when officials in Oregon attempted to introduce cost-effectiveness to state Medicaid programs, the proposal was shot down in an angry public outcry.

“In this country we’re really uncomfortable with the notion of health care rationing,” says Lee. “On the other hand, the fact of the matter is when you have finite resources — and that is the case here — you are always rationing, whether explicitly or implicitly. Using rankings of the cost-effectiveness of medical interventions to make coverage decisions is explicit. Without that, we are rationing implicitly because Medicare has a finite budget. It can’t provide coverage for everything. In the end, people will not get everything they want. It’s just that the mechanism for the rationing is a lot fuzzier.” Medicare coverage, he says, is based on a clause that states patients must receive treatments that are “necessary and reasonable.”

“This magical phrase has been the benchmark by which coverage decisions are made in this country,” says Lee, adding that without incorporating the benefit derived from the procedure, it is impossible to know what is medically necessary or reasonable. “This whole phrase is really subject to interpretation and, because of the subjectivity, we don’t even know if our decisions are based on objective notions of medical benefit.”

Lee notes that the $129,090 figure his research came up with compares to a range of $50,000 to $100,000 used in other countries, such as Australia and the UK, which run national health care systems in guiding their coverage decisions. The World Health Organization has proposed $108,609 as the value of a disability-adjusted life year, Lee says, adding that even though other countries have adopted the use of “pseudo-official” spending thresholds in coverage decisions, they do not apply them rigidly and without exceptions. And while other nations are more oriented toward universal health care, the United States has favored a market-based system. “But it has not been as successful as we might have liked. Perhaps it is time to revisit the pros and cons of this approach,” says Lee.

Indeed, debate on the cost of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit program (part D) suggests that continuing on the path where coverage decisions are based on clinical evidence alone, without consideration of costs, may not be feasible in the long run, according to the paper. The drug benefit has led several researchers to argue that coverage decisions should be based on cost and effectiveness criteria. New technologies with cost effectiveness ratios below $50,000 to $100,000 per incremental quality-adjusted life year are deemed suitable for coverage, while others with higher ratios are too expensive, the study states.

Too Little Benefit for the Cost
The paper argues that creating thresholds for treatment needs to keep with principles of social justice established by the American political philosopher John Rawls. Rawls argued that there are many different ways to define justice, including protection of the most vulnerable in society, according to Lee, who adds that because medical cost-effectiveness varies so widely, the system is never going to be able to afford to treat everyone at the most expensive level. Attempting to provide the maximum amount of medical care in a system that cannot finance that spending will inevitably leave people out.

“The Rawlsian notion of justice is noble in its attempt to protect society’s most vulnerable, but implementing it in practice is difficult,” says Lee. “If we’re to set coverage at the sickest and most cost-ineffective patient there is, it means we will be expending a lot of resources for what may be a barely detectable increase in life expectancy — an amount that is sometimes measured in hours if not minutes, especially in end-of-life situations. When resources are scarce and costs are rising fast, this would not be sustainable and it means that somewhere someone else who can benefit more from the same resources will get excluded from coverage because we have exceeded our ability to pay.

“What we realized in the course of this study is that a more pragmatic and modern interpretation of Rawls’ argument is to think about coverage in terms of the percentile of patients up to whom we will cover rather than focusing on the coverage of the last and most expensive (cost-ineffective) patient whom we can’t afford to cover,” says Lee.

The research concerns the business community in several ways, including employer and employee health benefit payments, insurance coverage and malpractice cases, according to Lee. “Health care costs are rising for employees, but employers are also paying more,” he says. “Health insurance is expensive partly because of the degree of coverage. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of medical procedures with high prices and minimal medical benefit.” When is it justified for one person to subsidize the demands and wishes of someone else? asks Lee. “So the question is, ‘How does a health plan or employer determine what is the right degree of coverage to provide, and at what point do we say this coverage produces far too little benefit for the costs demanded?”

For that, the paper “provides a practical benchmark based on renal dialysis,” Lee says. “To the extent that we, as a society, believe that renal dialysis — given its unique historical status — offers a reasonable point of reference for making coverage decisions, the findings in this paper can be used to guide those decisions. And despite the fact that the $129,090 figure is substantially higher than the often-quoted, but now outdated, figure of $50,000, using the former as the benchmark doesn’t necessarily mean we will be spending more money than we already are. What it means is we will allocate resources using renal dialysis as the reference point that defines what is cost-effective and what isn’t. It provides a more rational approach to allocating scarce resources.”

Lee suggests new quantitative research on cost-effectiveness could also be used in malpractice litigation which, he says, also has an impact on the health care costs. For example, in a case where negligence cost a patient 10 years of quality-adjusted life years, lawyers could at least use a figure of $1.29 million as a rough start for settlement negotiations. Lee was recently contacted by an attorney for a doctor who was being sued by a patient seeking more than $20 million in damages.

“The importance of providing a benchmark is that it establishes a precedent for how this compensation should be set,” says Lee. “Malpractice lawsuits in this country are rampant, and a lot of times there is no consistency in how a court awards the plaintiff.”

He argues that increasing numbers of suits have ended in higher payouts that have set new precedents. “The costs of malpractice lawsuits, which are going up and up, have hurt the health care system in the sense that physicians and hospitals pay those fees and, ultimately, the people foot the bill.” He also points out that in order to avoid being slapped with a malpractice suit, doctors and hospitals now practice defensive medicine, ordering excessive tests and treatments which, in turn, are driving up the overall cost of health care.

“As the spending on health care continues to rise unabated — right now it is growing at twice the rate of inflation and accounting for one out of every six dollars we earn — we as a society will soon come to a point where compromises are inevitable: Either we cut back other forms of spending to make room, or we spend our health care dollars more wisely. There is just no other way,” says Lee. “This paper provides guidance and the tools for making those decisions. These decisions are hard because they involve ethics and social values where there is no right or wrong. But if we can just get people to think a little more about medical value and the difficulties involved, we think we have done a good job.”

Why Economists Failed to Predict the Financial Crisis?

By M H Ahssan

There is a long list of professions that failed to see the financial crisis brewing. Wall Street bankers and deal-makers top it, but banking regulators are on it as well, along with the Federal Reserve. Politicians and journalists have shared the blame, as have mortgage lenders and even real estate agents.

But what about economists? Of all the experts, weren’t they the best equipped to see around the corners and warn of impending disaster?

Indeed, a sense that they missed the call has led to soul searching among many economists. While some did warn that home prices were forming a bubble, others confess to a widespread failure to foresee the damage the bubble would cause when it burst. Some economists are harsher, arguing that a free-market bias in the profession, coupled with outmoded and simplistic analytical tools, blinded many of their colleagues to the danger.

“It’s not just that they missed it, they positively denied that it would happen,” says Wharton finance professor Franklin Allen, arguing that many economists used mathematical models that failed to account for the critical roles that banks and other financial institutions play in the economy. “Even a lot of the central banks in the world use these models,” Allen said. “That’s a large part of the issue. They simply didn’t believe the banks were important.”

Over the past 30 years or so, economics has been dominated by an “academic orthodoxy” which says economic cycles are driven by players in the “real economy” — producers and consumers of goods and services — while banks and other financial institutions have been assigned little importance, Allen says. “In many of the major economics departments, graduate students wouldn’t learn anything about banking in any of the courses.”

But it was the financial institutions that fomented the current crisis, by creating risky products, encouraging excessive borrowing among consumers and engaging in high-risk behavior themselves, like amassing huge positions in mortgage-backed securities, Allen says.

As computers have grown more powerful, academics have come to rely on mathematical models to figure how various economic forces will interact. But many of those models simply dispense with certain variables that stand in the way of clear conclusions, says Wharton management professor Sidney G. Winter. Commonly missing are hard-to-measure factors like human psychology and people’s expectations about the future, he notes.

Among the most damning examples of the blind spot this created, Winter says, was the failure by many economists and business people to acknowledge the common-sense fact that home prices could not continue rising faster than household incomes.

Says Winter: “The most remarkable fact is that serious people were willing to commit, both intellectually and financially, to the idea that housing prices would rise indefinitely, a really bizarre idea.”

Although many economists did spot the housing bubble, they failed to fully understand the implications, says Richard J. Herring, professor of international banking at Wharton. Among those were dangers building in the repo market, where securities backed by mortgages and other assets are used as collateral for loans. Because of the collateralization, these loans were thought to be safe, but the securities turned out to be riskier than borrowers and lenders had thought.

The Dahlem Report
In a highly critical paper titled, “The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of Academic Economists,” eight American and European economists argue that academic economists were too disconnected from the real world to see the crisis forming. The authors are David Colander, Middlebury College; Hans Follmer, Humboldt University; Armin Haas, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; Michael Goldberg, University of New Hampshire; Katarina Juselius, University of Copenhagen; Alan Kirman, University d’Aix-Marseille; Thomas Lux, University of Kiel; and Brigitte Sloth, University of Southern Denmark.

“The economics profession appears to have been unaware of the long build-up to the current worldwide financial crisis and to have significantly underestimated its dimensions once it started to unfold,” they write. “In our view, this lack of understanding is due to a misallocation of research efforts in economics. We trace the deeper roots of this failure to the profession’s insistence on constructing models that, by design, disregard the key elements driving outcomes in real world markets.”

The paper, generally referred to as the Dahlem report, condemns a growing reliance over the past three decades on mathematical models that improperly assume markets and economies are inherently stable, and which disregard influences like differences in the way various economic players make decisions, revise their forecasting methods and are influenced by social factors. Standard analysis also failed, in part, because of the widespread use of new financial products that were poorly understood, and because economists did not firmly grasp the workings of the increasingly interconnected global financial system, the authors say.

One result of this, argues Winter, who is not one of the authors but agrees with much of what they say, is to build into models an assumption that all market participants — bankers, lenders, borrowers and consumers — behave rationally at all times, as if they were economists making the most financially favorable choices. Clearly, he says, rational behavior is not that dependable, or else people would not do self-destructive things like taking out mortgages they could not afford, a key factor in the financial crisis. Nor would completely rational executives at financial firms invest in securities backed by those risky mortgages, which they did.

By relying so heavily on the view of humans as rational, the paper’s authors argue, economists ignore evidence of irrational behavior that is well documented in other disciplines like psychology and sociology. Even if an individual does act rationally, economists are wrong to assume that large groups of people will react to given conditions as an individual would, because they often do not. “Economic modeling has to be compatible with insights from other branches of science on human behavior,” they write. “It is highly problematic to insist on a specific view of humans in economic settings that is irreconcilable with evidence.”

The authors say economists badly underestimated the risks of new types of derivatives, which are financial instruments whose value fluctuates, often to extremes, according to the changing values of underlying securities. Traditional derivatives such as stock options and commodities futures are well understood. But exotic derivatives devised in recent years, including securities built upon pools of mortgages, turned out to be poorly understood, the authors say. Credit default swaps, a form of derivative used to insure against a borrower’s failure to repay a loan, played a key role in the collapse of American International Group.

Rather than accurately analyzing the risks posed by new derivatives, many economists simply fell back on faith that creating new financial products is good, the authors write. According to this belief, which was promoted by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, a wider variety of financial products allows market participants to place ever more refined bets, so the markets as a whole better reflect the combined wisdom of all the players. But because there was not enough historical data to put into models used to price these new derivatives, risk and return assessments turned out to be wrong, the authors argue. These securities are now the “toxic assets” polluting the balance sheets of the nation’s largest banks.

“While the economic argument in favor of ever new derivatives is more one of persuasion rather than evidence, important negative effects have been neglected,” they write. “The idea that the system was made less risky with the development of more derivatives led to financial actors taking positions with extreme degrees of leverage, and the danger of this has not been emphasized enough.”

‘Control Illusion’
When certain price and risk models came into widespread use, they led many players to place the same kinds of bets, the authors continue. The market thus lost the benefit of having many participants, since there was no longer a variety of views offsetting one another. The same effect, the authors say, occurs if one player becomes dominant in one aspect of the market. The problem is exacerbated by the “control illusion,” an unjustified confidence based on the model’s apparent mathematical precision, the authors say. This problem is especially acute among people who use models they have not developed themselves, as they may be unaware of the models’ flaws, like reliance on uncertain assumptions.

Much of the financial crisis can be blamed on an overreliance on ratings agencies, which gave complex securities a seal of approval, says Wharton finance professor Marshall E. Blume. “The ratings agencies, of course, use models” which “grossly underestimated” risks.

“Any model is an abstraction of the world,” Blume adds. “The value of a model is to provide the essence of what is happening with a limited number of variables. If you think a variable is important, you include it, but you can’t have every variable in the world…. The models may not have had the right variables.”

The false security created by asset-pricing models led banks and hedge funds to use excessive leverage, borrowing money so they could make bigger bets, and laying the groundwork for bigger losses when bets went bad, according to the Dahlem report authors.

At the time, few people knew that major financial institutions had become so heavily leveraged in real estate-related assets, says Wharton finance professor Jeremy J. Siegel. “Had they not been in that situation, we would not have had the crisis,” he says. “We may not even have had a recession…. Macro economists really hadn’t talked about it because these structured financial products were relatively new,” he adds, arguing that economists will have to scrutinize the balance sheets of major financial institutions more closely to detect mushrooming risks.

Lessons Not Learned
Prior to the latest crisis, there were two well-known occasions when exotic bets, leverage and inadequate modeling combined to create crises, the paper’s authors say, arguing that economists should therefore have known what could happen. The first case, the stock market crash of 1987, began with a small drop in prices which triggered an avalanche of sell orders in computerized trading programs, causing a further price decline that triggered more automatic sales.

The second case was the 1998 collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) hedge fund. It had built up a huge position in government bonds from the U.S. and other countries, and was forced into a wave of selling after a Russian government bond default knocked bond prices down.

“When there’s a default in one kind of bond, it causes reassessment of all the risks,” says Wharton economics professor Richard Marston. “I don’t think we have really fully learned from the LTCM crisis, or from other crises, the extent to which things are illiquid.” These crises have shown that market participants can rely too heavily on the belief they can quickly unload securities that decline in price, he says. In fact, the downward spiral can be so rapid that it leaves investors with losses far larger than they had thought possible.

In the current crisis, he says, economists “should get blamed for the overall unwillingness to take into account liquidity risk. And I think it’s going to force us to reassess that.”

Academics also are beginning to reassess business-school curricula. Wharton management professor Stephen J. Kobrin recently moderated a faculty panel that talked about a wide range of possible responses to the crisis. Among the issues discussed, he says, was whether Wharton’s curriculum should include more on regulation and risk management, as well as executive education programs for regulators and other government officials.

Kobrin said he believes many academics share “an ideological fixation with free markets and lack of regulation” that should be reexamined. “Obviously, people missed the boat on a lot of the risks that a lot of financial instruments entailed,” he says. “We need to think about what changes are needed in the curriculum.”

SHIPPING: Battling The Spill Effect

By M H Ahssan & Chandrika Paul

At four minutes past midnight on 24 March 1989, oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska after it moved out of the shipping lanes to avoid icebergs. The impact punctured its hull — a ship’s outer shell that remains partially submerged in the sea — disgorging approximately 10.9 million gallons of its 53 million gallon crude oil cargo into the sea. The spill, widely acknowledged as the worst in terms of environmental impact (though 34th in terms of quantity of oil spilled), affected over 1,100 miles of coastline in Alaska, hurt several endangered species in the region’s fragile ecosystem, impacted the livelihood of hundreds of people inhabiting the coastline, required cleanup efforts involving thousands of volunteers over three years, and eventually had ExxonMobil shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.

Twenty years later, almost to the day, a similar accident, but a different outcome. On 6 March 2009, Norwegian tanker SKS Satilla was hit by a lost rig — blown away by a hurricane in September 2008 — near Texas, US, puncturing its hull. As the ship began to sink from the weight of the sea water rushing in, the captain dropped anchor and offloaded the cargo of 130,000 tonnes (40 million gallons) of crude oil into other ships, avoiding a Valdez-like disaster. Despite his gallant efforts, though, the hero that day was not the captain. It was, in fact, the ship. SKS Satilla was a double-hull ship, which means it had two outer shells instead of one, with ballast water in between. The impact of the hit punctured SKS Satilla’s outer hull and damaged it severely, but the inner hull was untouched, allowing the oil to remain on the ship. The Valdez, on the other hand, had only one hull, which once punctured left no place for the oil to go but into the sea.

Like Satilla, 79 per cent of all oil tankers criss-crossing the globe are now of double-hull design. In fact, since 1994 all tankers were built as double-hulled ships. After the Valdez spill prompted the US government to pass the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and more such accidents forced Europe to pass similar legislation, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the shipping division of the United Nations, initially set 5 April 2005 as the deadline for all single-hull tankers to be phased out, extending it later to 31 March 2010. Additionally, IMO also required all tankers more than 25 years old to be phased out. More than 150 countries, including India, are signatories to this order.

Now, with less than 11 months to go for the deadline, Indian shipping companies are scurrying to phase out all their single-hull ships. But it is tough going. Between them, companies such as Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Great Eastern (GE) Shipping and Mercator Lines own 27 single-hull ships (18, 7 and 2, respectively). The companies could either add a second hull to these ships, or dispose them of and buy new double-hull ships. Both options are expensive, and money is hard to come by in today’s economic environment.

Two Is Better Than One
The first question that begs to be asked is: why didn’t Indian companies take action earlier, given that this has been in the offing for a while? “In boom time, most shipping companies avoided replacement of fleet for want of time (most shipyards were booked for years in advance) and flogged their existing fleets,” says Nikhil Gupta, joint secretary of Ship Recycling Industries Association of India (SRIA). Indian tankers are used across the globe by energy companies mainly to transport crude oil from the place of extraction to a refinery, and also take the refined product to the place of consumption. With many refineries situated in Asia, crude oil finds its way to places such as Singapore and India. Domestically, companies such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Reliance and Essar import crude oil for which ships are hired on long-term contracts.

Adding a second hull to some of Indian companies’ existing single-hull ships is one option, but it “requires a lot of steel renewal”, says K.S. Nair, director of bulk carriers and tankers at SCI. According to V. Ashok, director and CFO of Essar Shipping and Logistics, it takes three months and $12-14 million to convert a VLCC (very large crude carrier) single-hull tanker, the largest category of tankers.

Of course, it makes no sense converting ships that are nearly 25 years old, since they will need to be phased out in any case. For example, M.T. Premvati and M.T. Sadanand of Mercator Lines and GE Shipping’s Jag Lakshya and Jag Lamha are already at the end of the tether (20-23 years old). So, the only option is to scrap them and buy new double-hull tankers, which, naturally, is much more expensive. A new VLCC today costs around $126 million (though the price has come down from $160 million a few months ago). The cheapest tanker, a 50,000-tonne deadweight Handymax (it can carry maximum 50,000 tonnes of cargo safely), comes for $42 million.

Of course, if a company scraps an older ship, it gets paid for that, too, from the shipbreaking companies. Typically from a VLCC, 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of steel can be recovered, which can fetch — at $250 per tonne — around $7.5-$10 million. SRIA’s Gupta here points out that the scrapping is most likely to be done in Bangladesh, since India’s Supreme Court, in a September 2007 ruling, banned tankers that were not gas free (ships that do not have ‘Gas free for Hot Work’ certificates) to be broken up in the country. “Bangladesh doesn’t have such rules,” says Gupta. “This could make a difference of $25 per tonne.”

The Financing Knot
Apart from having to replace single-hull ships, Indian shipping companies have also firmed up plans to expand their fleets over the next two-three years. SCI has plans for 29 new ships (this includes replacements for its 18 single-hull ships) at Rs 6,500 crore; and GE Shipping, 10 ships for Rs 3,000 crore. Essar Shipping and Varun Shipping do not have plans to buy new ships at present. In terms of immediate buys, SCI plans to buy one VLCC and two MR product tankers, which would cost approximately $240 million (Rs 1,200 crore), and GE Shipping plans to buy two LR1 product tankers ($60 million each) and two Suezmax tankers ($76 million each), at a total spend of Rs 1,360 crore.

What might work partially in their favour are their cash levels, a part of which could be used to fund expansion plans — as on 31 March 2008, SCI had Rs 2,091 crore of cash, followed by GE Shipping (Rs 1,236 crore), Mercator Lines (Rs 853 crore), Essar Shipping (Rs 308 crore) and Varun Shipping (Rs 70 crore). At least for SCI, next year’s buys appear under control, though GE Shipping’s situation looks a bit tight. For future buys, however, they will need to leverage their net worths — Rs 5,632 crore for SCI and Rs 4,309 crore for GE Shipping — to take on more debt, which theoretically they can because their debt-equity ratios are pretty low.

Looks good, but there is a catch: credit lines have completely dried up. “Indian banks were unwilling to lend even in the past and now even foreign banks prefer to wait and watch,” says SCI’s Nair. Foreign banks on an average charge 11 per cent per annum interest for dollar loans and 14 per cent per annum for rupee loans. But with the recession on in full swing, even these rates are just on paper, and the banks have closed their fists. The desperate shipping companies are now asking the government for soft loans.

Companies that go ahead with their plans then have the challenge of earning sufficient revenues to service the loans. Take Varun Shipping, which is done with major expansions, but has ended up with the highest debt-equity ratio in the industry of 2.4. “Our biggest challenge is to deploy our newly acquired anchor handling tugs and towing supply vessels,” says Yudhishthir D. Khatau, vice-chairman and managing director of Varun Shipping.

That is because business is down. The Baltic Clean Tanker Freight Index, which tracks the transport of oil products such as petrol and diesel, is down 56 per cent in the past one year. One year time charter rate of a VLCC with 310,000-tonne capacity has come down almost 35 per cent from $73,413 a day in 2008 to $54,727 today. Hiring rates of VLCCs have taken a steeper correction than relatively smaller sized tankers such as Suezmax, Panamax or Handymax. “At current hiring rates, we are just about recovering costs,” says Essar’s Ashok. Consequently, margins, which were very high in FY08, are beginning to come under tremendous pressure.

Margins of shipping companies also typically go up once the ships are fully written down (depreciation costs become negligible). (See ‘Sailing Into The Sunset’ on page 49.) Once new ships come in and older ones are phased out, that advantage will be lost. Besides, companies such as GE Shipping (which also trades in ships) and Essar Shipping (which made money by selling ships in boom times) have to look for alternative ways to boost their earnings.

The immediate problem, though, is that of the phasing out of single-hull tankers, a problem that SCI and GE Shipping are most seized with. Under current credit conditions, they appear to be in no position to replace their entire single-hull fleets of 18 and seven ships, respectively, by March 2010. Sources in the two companies say, on condition of anonymity, that they plan to approach the government for permission to continue to ply single-hull ships in local waters post the deadline. Clearly, though, that would be in contravention of IMO’s rules. The companies need to do better than that, else they will have to face stormy seas once the deadline is past.

UNCERTAIN TIMES
Indian ship building companies are grappling with problems of their own. Typically, India’s ship builders do small-scale manufacturing jobs such as offshore vessels and rigs for the oil exploration business, patrol vessels and interceptor vessels for the Indian Coast Guard. With L&T building its first shipyard at Ennore, Tamil Nadu — with facilities to make VLCCs — things could change. On the face of it, with their order books comfortably bulging, things could not be better for ship builders. For instance, ABG Shipyard’s order book is a handsome Rs 11,000 crore and Bharati Shipyard’s Rs 5,000 crore, but some of these orders could get cancelled or deferred, thanks to the economic crisis. There is a bigger problem, though. In 2002, the government announced a subsidy of 30 per cent of the sale price for certain vessels sold to Indian firms, and for all ships sold to foreign firms, for the next five years. These subsidies — Rs 5,100 crore to be given over the next few years to the industry — effectively allowed companies to offer a 30 per cent discount to buyers. But the five-year period ended in August 2007, and since the subsidy was not extended, India’s ship builders have lost their pricing power, and the orders have dwindled. “Shipyards globally are given subsidies,” says P.C. Kapoor, MD, Bharati Shipyard. “And our govern-ment needs to continue the subsidies.”

Interview: ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar – ‘It Is Important To Preserve Legacy’

By M H Ahssan

Times are changing at ICICI Bank. The days of rapid growth and the race for market share are things of the past. It is introspection time; the operating environment has changed. It is time to play safe. “Conserving capital and liquidity are priorities”, says Chanda Kochhar, the bank’s Managing Director and CEO. That’s not all. ICICI Bank has to work hard to keep its flock together. So, Kochhar’s task is cut out — she has to steer the bank through a period of churn. Excerpts from an interview with HNN:

How do you manage legacy issues during a transition? Both N. Vaghul and K.V. Kamath created a core team, and thereby created competition. With a change in leadership, how do you keep the flock together?
Well, we have the privilege of having some outstanding leaders. And every leader creates a legacy. It is not a question of whether I can step into somebody else’s shoes, but whether I can walk in my own shoes or run in them with stability. I want the organisation to meet certain expectations and standards, and would rather concentrate on these instead of trying to compare. Of course, it is important for the new leader to preserve the legacy. And one of ICICI Bank’s legacies is bench-strength and talent, and it should be preserved. But then, continuity and change is the yin and yang of life, so there will be few changes at the organisation level. And we can use that time to restructure some of the businesses, which anyway we were thinking about. Out here, the talent pool is enormous and we can take these changes in our stride.

What kind of restructuring are you looking at?
In the current environment, conserving capital and liquidity are priorities. Also, we plan to innovate and make some of the structures more efficient. For instance, we have relied a lot on wholesale and bulk deposits in the past. Now, while we have done very well in growing our CASA (current and savings accounts), and have done so substantially, we have also been taking on bulk deposits. As a result, our CASA ratio has never been very good. Now, in a falling interest-rate scenario, you could raise one-year bulk deposit and refinance it a year later at lower rates. But in volatile times, it is not the right thing to do. As we grow our CASA, we will repay our bulk deposits, and not borrow more bulk deposits to grow our balance sheet.

When you speak about restructuring, there are a whole lot of businesses — the bank, insurance, private equity…
No, I am not talking about restructuring businesses per se. Just that within these businesses, the focus has to be on what is relevant to the current environment. For example, deposits and loans. In the past, it was OK if the client did not pay for 90 days, and we used to follow up only after that. Now, you have to be in touch with the client from day one or actually day zero. And also be present when a client has the capability to pay, as in the current context there are so many priorities on the cash flow. If you don’t get your money on time, it could be used for something else.

Has the nature of your relationship with clients undergone a change in the current downturn?
Well, until last September, the needs of clients were much different. It was all about their next project and the one after that, and our ability to fund them. Right now, they are telling us that they first want to be sure of their own cash flows before thinking of a new project. Their concern now is will the lender be there with them to meet their current needs. My current year looks very different in terms of capital utilisation and profitability. There might be some difficulty in paying back the instalments, but that is not going to be my position every year. So, will the lender treat me a bit differently? And we at ICICI Bank are responding to the revised expectations. At this point, everybody’s working capital cycles have got elongated, and we are re-assessing their needs. In some cases, we have exempted them from paying instalments for a year on say, a five-year loan. And given them the option to repay it from next year.

Are there businesses that are a strict no-no for you?
Nothing of that sort but in businesses such as SMEs, we have a cluster approach. Suppose we look at the construction industry. There may have been some clusters that we have never entered. Now, let us talk of retail. Currently, we have completely banned small-ticket personal loans. Same goes for two-wheeler loans. We are doing this only for existing customers from our branches. Not for new customers as collections are an issue.

ICICI Bank has been very aggressive, but in case of a slowdown, what does it mean from the point of view of HR?
Clearly, you got to re-orient the mindset of people to the revised priorities. So that they get the rationale behind the changes. Take collections. It is more about prevention now. You have to be in touch before a default, not after. Same goes for the corporate side. You got to find out whether they will pay on the due date, or if some restructuring is needed. So, the leader has to spell out the priorities and reskill people accordingly. We always had a policy of aligning organisational performance where at the beginning of the year, a big exercise is undertaken to make our priorities clear.

ICICI Bank has had global ambitions. Where does all that stand now?
Our rapid growth has always left people wondering — will they succeed or not? So, if we manage to pull it off, it’s ok. But if the environment changes and something goes wrong, then… When we started retail 10 years ago, people were sceptical. If we had faltered, people would have said, you only know the corporate business. But we have managed to move ahead of others, even globally, setting up a substantial business arranging forex loans. Then the scenario changed, and we had to take the impact. And since all of this was new, people could not assess what was going wrong. And that compounded the problem with some saying that the entire UK book is gone. Does all this mean that we have to stop being innovative? Certainly not.

The Rise & Fall Of Realty in India

By M H Ahssan & Kajol Singh

‘Buy land. They aren’t making it any more.’ That was the philosophy during the boom. Today, builders have the land, but no cash to develop it.

The first two results of realty companies for the Jan-March 2009 quarter— one big, one small — has confirmed the worst fears of industry watchers: property buying is a frozen glacier. On the one hand, India’s biggest real estate developer, Gurgaon-based DLF, suffered the discomfiture of seeing its net profits plummet 93 per cent to Rs 159 crore, and its sales skid 69 per cent to Rs 1,321 crore compared to the previous year’s last quarter. On the other hand, there is Bangalore-based Puravankara Projects, tiny compared to a DLF but with an uncannily similar performance — net profit fell by a humungous 81 per cent to Rs 14.6 crore, and sales fell 55 per cent to Rs 68 crore from the year-ago figure. Even compared to the immediate previous quarter of September-December 2008, which was considered the worst in a decade, sales have crashed by 18 per cent for DLF, and by 15 per cent for Puravankara. So much so that DLF’s promoters are reportedly selling 6-7 per cent stake in the company to raise Rs 2,000-2,500 crore to pay off some pressing dues.

So, it is no surprise that this is suddenly the season of new launches. Desperate builders are on an overdrive to generate some cash flow by offering huge discounts to bait buyers. Two months ago, Mumbai-based Lodha Developers launched Casa Univus, a township of 3,000 apartments, near Mumbai’s Thane suburb. Situated 14 km from the city in the middle of nowhere, the apartments came at an attractive Rs 3,000 per sq. ft, nearly 50 per cent lower than in Thane. The Lodhas claimed it was a great launch with 500 bookings in the first few weeks. That was till another builder, Everest Developers, came along and launched another project 8 km from Thane’s city centre at Rs 2,200 per sq. ft. Everest, too, claimed it had 500 bookings. But enquiries with HDFC revealed that there were hardly any applicants for home loans for these projects. Abhisheck Lodha, director of the Lodha Group, concedes: “Yes, there have been cancellations.”

Similarly, Delhi-based Unitech has launched several new projects including Uniworld Gardens II in Gurgaon Sector 47 and Ananda at North Town, Chennai, at attractive prices. Its old projects, though, are yet to be completed. It even faced street protests from 350 flat owners of its World Spa project in Gurgaon, who have paid 95 per cent of the cost but are yet to get delivery, despite a three-year delay.

A research analyst with a foreign institutional investor who recently toured several DLF and Unitech sites in Gurgaon, says she saw cows grazing at many project locations that were supposed to be underway.

Frozen Market
Despite all the claims and hype by builders, their stock is not moving. Builders depend heavily on bookings — using the initial payment of 20 per cent to kickstart projects, and leveraging the bookings to raise loans. In the absence of bookings, they are now starved of funds. According to Pankaj Kapoor, CEO of Liases Foras, a real estate rating and research agency, there are 5,115 residential, commercial and retail projects under construction, and 339 proposed projects that have either stalled, slowed down or failed to launch across six metros (see ‘Massive Pile Up’). “The commercial/office space segment is in greatest distress with 195 million sq. ft of ready and under-construction property in the market with few takers,” says Kapoor.

Consumers began withdrawing as early as March 2008, but developers took time to come to terms with it. Flush with IPO (initial public offering) money and FDIs (foreign direct investment), they thought they could hold out till the consumer blinked. That did not happen and the shakeout began last October.

The initial resistance by builders to price cuts had to do with the way the realty boom shaped up from 2005. By October 2006, the inventory for both commercial and housing stock was at its lowest. On the other hand, there was too much money chasing too little supply. New FDI norms for realty projects in March 2005 brought in an estimated $10 billion, mostly in partnership with Indian developers. Simultaneously, closely held companies took the IPO route to raise funds. In 2007, real estate companies together raised Rs 14,591 crore, 43 per cent of all IPO money raised. There was not enough stock, nor sufficient projects to absorb this money, causing a price spiral. By March 2008, though, the consumer had stopped buying as the effects of the overall economic slowdown had begun to pinch.

As consumers stopped buying and the downtrend set in, builders resorted to two rounds of price cuts. The first was last Diwali when they offered price cuts of around 10 per cent that included waiving stamp duty and offering furniture and internet connections at subsidised rates. But nobody swallowed the bait.

Second, from February 2008, there has been substantial reduction in capital values and lease rentals. For instance, in the Delhi-NCR region developers such as DLF, Supertech and JP Associates launched projects in west Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida at rates 30 per cent below what were prevailing at peak in June 2008. DLF launched a project at Rs 1,800 per sq. ft in Hyderabad, 40 per cent lower than market rates.

These tactics have not worked, except where the project is nearing completion or offers ready possession. “The buyer has tasted blood,” says Parimal Shroff, a senior lawyer with a large real estate practice. “He knows the builders are desperate to sell.” Besides, current home loan rates of 9-10 per cent, while lower than the 13-14 per cent highs of mid-2008, have still not reached 2004-05 levels of 7.5 per cent. The buyer, therefore, still sees no reason to buy.

What Is The Bottom Of The Trough?
According to Kapoor, realty prices rose three-fold over three and a half years. But the fall in prices over the past nine months has only been 31 per cent. “Prices are poised to fall by 30-40 per cent more by November,” he forecasts. “Prices may fall even below the fair value. It is only by November that we may see 2005-level trading.” This perception is backed by an Edelweiss Securities survey of visitors at a four-day property exhibition held in April. Eighty-four per cent respondents felt property prices were still too high and expected a 10-30 per cent fall.

Even as the consumer waits, projects that kicked off in 2006-07 to meet the supply shortage are now maturing, creating bloated supply. In the six metros, 53 per cent of the 930 million sq. ft of available realty stock is unsold, putting downward pressure on prices and lease rentals (see ‘Massive Pile Up’).

But how far can builders drop prices? People like Sunil Mantri, chairman of Mumbai-based developer Mantri Housing, and broking house Jones Lang LaSalle’s MD Anuj Puri say it is unlikely prices can fall any further without developers having to sell at a loss. Others like Pranay Vakil, chairman of Knight Frank Property Consultants, believe differently. “The price cuts are only for bookings for new projects,” Vakil points out. “The price reduction in near-completing projects is marginal.”

Builders also claim that the high land acquisition price in recent years has made pricing fairly inelastic. For instance, in 2005, Mumbai-based Oberoi Constructions bought GlaxoSmithKline Burroughs Welcome’s 23-acre pharma unit in Mumbai’s Mulund suburb for Rs 221 crore. This translates to Rs 2,225 per sq. ft for the raw industrial land. With development and construction costs, Oberoi would be selling at a loss if the price tag for apartments falls below Rs 5,000 a sq. ft.

How Stressed Are Developers?
Slumping sales have begun to take their toll on developers’ numbers. DLF’s full-year revenue for FY09 slid 28 per cent to Rs 10,541 crore. For Puravankara, it dropped 21 per cent to Rs 445 crore. A review of brokerage firms’ forecasts and the first nine-month performance of some top firms show that their fall in revenue is likely to be between 26 and 45 per cent. Unitech, India’s second-largest developer, which sold 7.15 million sq. ft of property in FY07 and 8.7 million in FY08, will do less than 5 million sq. ft in FY09.

As the property market plummets further, profit margins are being increasingly squeezed. DLF’s FY08 margins of 53.5 per cent slid to 42, 39 and 34 per cent for the first three quarters, respectively, of FY09. A good example is its Moti Bagh project in Delhi that it opened a year ago at Rs 12,000 per sq. ft, with a handsome margin of 60 per cent. Today, it is quoting at Rs 6,000 per sq. ft. The margin, just 22 per cent.

Most analysts are sceptical of the recent rally in realty companies’ share prices signalling a rebound. Putting a ‘sell’ on the DLF, Unitech and HDIL (Housing Development & Infrastructure) stocks, Amit Agarwal, analyst at Ambit, notes in a report: “Sales volumes are still down 80-90 per cent YoY and property prices continue to drop… Increase in cancellations has increased the pressure of already stretched cash flows for all three real estate companies.”

HDIL, promoted by Rakesh Wadhawan and the third-largest listed company by market cap, is in a particularly rough patch. So is Akruti City. Both of them have grown mainly on the back of Mumbai’s slum redevelopment projects by exploiting the transferable development rights (TDR) released from re-housing slum pockets. They now face the challenge of evaporating TDR prices that have crashed from Rs 4,200 per sq. ft in January 2008 to less than Rs 1,000 per sq. ft today. Sastha Gudalore, an analyst at Alchemy Shares & Stock Brokers, foresees HDIL pulling out of Phase II and III of the 276-acre airport slums rehab project in view of the crash in TDR prices. The possibility could become real, as Sudhakar Shetty, a Mumbai-based realty investor who holds 30 per cent stake in HDIL’s Mumbai airport development, says: “We are considering a possible exit after we complete this (Phase I) rehab component.”

Indiabulls Real Estate (IBRE), the fourth- largest builder by market cap, entered late in the game of assembling land banks and, therefore, bought land at very high prices. This restricted the company’s manoeuvrability on pricing and rentals. For instance, land for its two flagship commercial projects — in Jupiter Mills and Elphinstone Mills — in Mumbai was acquired through hard-fought auctions from the National Textile Corporation (NTC). Jupiter’s 11 acres was acquired for Rs 276 crore in March 2005, and Elphinstone Mills’ 7.75 acres for Rs 446 crore in July 2005 at Rs 7,000-8,000 a sq. ft.

With the slowdown, its estimated leasing target of Rs 300-350 per month per sq. ft has been shaved by half with deals being signed for Rs 170-190 per month a sq. ft. Gagan Banga, CEO of IBRE, however, denies the company is stressed. “When we bought the mill land, commercial rentals were Rs 100 per month a sq. ft and FSI (floor space index) was just 1.33,” he says. “Now, we have FSI of 4.0, giving us 5 million sq. ft of rentals for Jupiter and Elphinstone by 2010. At an average 185 per month per sq. ft our earnings will be Rs 1,100 crore a year from the two projects. This compares well with DLF’s annual rental revenue of Rs 700 crore.”

The Debt Trap
Many developers face a debt trap, having borrowed heavily to acquire prime land and speed up development during the 2005-2007 boom. By mid-2008, most of these realtors had drummed up high debt-equity ratios of 0.8-2.0. This would have been manageable had these companies maintained a sustained cash flow. However, with negligible sales, they are in for big trouble. Many of them would have been in serious default had it not been for the Reserve Bank of India directing banks and financial institutions to help them restructure their loans. These loans have to be ultimately paid after the rollover period; and given the current market scenario, cash flows could be worse a year later.

Unitech, for instance, availed of short-tenure borrowings of around Rs 8,400 crore to fund its telecom foray and create a land bank of 9,000 acres, for much of which only token money has been paid. Deferred liability for its land payments accounts for Rs 1,914 crore. It also used these funds to launch multiple projects in different centres, spreading itself thin.

The company now wants to reduce its debt to Rs 7,000 crore by this May-June and is hoping to restructure its short-term debt of Rs 2,500 crore maturing in FY10 through sale of equity of its telecom company Unitech Wireless to Telenor, asset sales, conversion of debt into equity and fresh pre-sales. While Rs 380 crore is expected from the stake sale to Telenor, it was hoping to raise Rs 1,100 crore from various assets sale. For instance, it sold its 200-room Gurgaon hotel for Rs 230 crore, but only part consideration has been received. Again, its bid to sell its office complex at Delhi’s Saket for an estimated Rs 500 crore has so far not succeeded.

In recent weeks, Unitech has raised Rs 1,621 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) aimed at easing the high debt burden. This has led to a 13 per cent post-issue dilution in the promoters’ stake to 51 per cent. This also represents a valuation of Rs 12,470 crore, 85 per cent down from its peak valuation of over Rs 85,000 crore in January. However, despite the funding, Unitech failed to complete its repayment of Rs 500 crore to mutual funds that was due on 19 April. Likewise, its target of raising Rs 1,000 crore from pre-sales seems far-fetched as it will have to book 10,000 flats costing an average Rs 50 lakh each to reach its target. Attempts to get responses from Unitech, DLF and Parsvnath by Bw drew a blank.

DLF presents a better picture but a closer examination shows the company may also be slipping into a debt quagmire. Loans on its books have risen 28 per cent to Rs 15,777 crore in FY09 from Rs 12,277 crore in FY08. Much of these funds have been used to acquire expensive land such as the 17.5-acre Mumbai Textile Mills in 2005 for Rs 702 crore. Also in Delhi, DLF purchased the 38-acre DCM Sriram Mills property in August 2007 for a whopping Rs 1,675 crore. The company also has outstanding payment for land acquisitions to the tune of Rs 5,962 crore. On the other hand, its sales numbers are on a downward trajectory — from Rs 2,981 crore and Rs 2,527 crore in the first two quarters of FY09 to Rs 790 crore and Rs 56 crore in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. The company, though, has managed to raise and restructure some debt. It had raised over Rs 3,000 crore from a consortium of banks. It is also attempting to raise Rs 1,000 crore from the sale of around 50 acres of prime plots in Mumbai, Bangalore, Lucknow and Gurgaon.

In the realty market, the relationship between DLF and DAL (DLF Assets Limited), the privately promoted company of DLF chairman K.P. Singh, is something of an enigma. Much of the sales booked by DLF are purchased by DAL, but little is known of how much DAL has finally offloaded to end-users. Sales to DAL form an important part of DLF’s balance-sheet with DAL contributing 43.5 per cent to DLF’s revenues and 35 per cent to the company’s profit before tax for the October-December 2008. However, analysts say the large receivables from DAL are a big concern the company and its promoters will have to address.

HDIL, too, faces the problem of mounting debt. From Rs 3,100 crore at the end of FY08, HDIL’s debt is now touching Rs 4,300 crore, of which about Rs 3,000 crore has been borrowed for the Mumbai airport rehab project. HDIL got itself a breather in March this year by rolling over Rs 2,500 crore of its maturing debt. But it is doubtful whether its current cash flows will meet the additional interest burden.

Delhi-based Parsvnath Developers is a good example of the host of over-leveraged realty companies that could turn turtle. Raising about Rs 1,000 crore from its IPO, Parsvnath locked up most of this by successfully bidding for a 123-acre housing plot at Chandigarh for Rs 821 crore in June 2006. The project has stalled and Rs 517 crore has been frozen by Parsvnath’s JV partner, the Chandigarh Housing Board. Then, in 2007, it bid for a seven-acre BEST bus depot land in Mumbai’s Kurla suburb, and announced a Rs 620-crore commercial and housing project. The project is yet to see the light of day. Today, it has virtually shut shop in Mumbai and employees have not been paid for over eight months.

Delhi-based Omaxe has over Rs 1,500 crore debt on its books. It has rolled over Rs 600 crore for a year that was due in September this year, but with sales of just Rs 735 crore for the first nine months of the current fiscal, can it meet its loan commitments? With housing and commercial property not selling, Omaxe promoter Rohtas Goel has announced a business plan to develop airstrips and jails in Uttar Pradesh!

“Those who expanded exponentially in the 2006-08 period on the back of high value purchases will find it difficult to survive,” says Shroff. “The best bet for them is to exit these undeveloped or incomplete projects at the earliest.”

Another form of debt that has not yet found its way into analysts’ reports is the money builders owe to their contractors. An investment banker says, “It could collectively be as large as the amount owed to banks and FIs.”

Regulation Needed
The real estate sector is amongst the largest revenue generators, with $72 billion in 2008 compared to IT/ITES’s $64 billion and telecom’s $31 billion. Yet, it is the most unregulated sector as far as the consumer is concerned. Funds raised for a particular project are diverted to complete other projects or square a maturing loan. Delivery schedules are seldom met and there is no way that errant builders can be penalised.

“Realty firms are like banks. They hold consumers’ money in trust; but when they violate that, there is no remedy,” says an investment banker. “In China, when private builders went out of control on delivery schedules, the state enforced regulation allowing bookings only after construction reaches the first-floor stage.”

Writes Shaleen Garg on the website Gurgaonscoop.com: “I would like to connect with fellow owners in ‘Raheja Atlantis’ who are suffering… Possession is delayed for over two years. We have paid up to 95 per cent of the price long time back. Even if the builder agrees to pay us Rs 5 psf per month, the penalty would amount to only 2.8 per cent interest on the capital deployed.”

Till the government brings in regulation to penalise such defaults, consumers such as Garg will continue to suffer.

AFFORDABLE? NOT REALLY
Demand for housing, market players agree, is unlimited — so long as the price is right. Facing close to no demand for expensive three-four-bedroom apartments, builders are taking the ‘affordable housing’ route to attract customers. For instance, Puravankara Projects, one of Bangalore’s largest developers, launched a low-cost housing subsidiary, Provident Housing & Infrastructure, promising 64,000 homes in the Rs 10-20 lakh range. But that is hardly affordable to people who need it the most and, not surprisingly, in the past three months, this segment has also seen sluggish sales.

The real demand is in low-cost housing. “The low income housing group segment, which has a monthly income in the Rs 7,000-25,000 range, is estimated at 21 million households and is a $270-billion market,” says Ashish Karamchandani, CEO of Mumbai-based management consulting and merchant banking firm, Monitor Group (India). “Unfortunately, it is underserved and uncontested.” A study of the housing market by the Monitor Group conducted for the World Bank showed that despite the high demand, builders were averse to enter the small format homes (225-300 sq. ft) segment in the price range of Rs 3-9 lakh. Those who have done so, have had good response from buyers. Karamchandani cites the case of the Mumbai-based Neptune Group that has completely sold its Phase I ‘budget’ homes — 600 apartments — at Ambvilli on Mumbai’s outskirts, pricing the one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes at Rs 4.7 lakh and 8.4 lakh, respectively.

Newscop Creations – An Introduction

Newscop Creations (NC) is a business-to-business multiplatform media group, whose brands inform, inspire and connect within the sectors they operates in. For millions of people across the globe involved in the retail, media, finance, fashion, health, education, government and automotive sectors, Emap provides essential news, analysis and access.

NC maintains an undiluted focus on content and product quality across online and offline publications, conferences, awards, exhibitions, festivals, data and intelligence services. This enables the sharing of best practice, ideas and inspiration, for better, more timely, more informed decisions. NC gives business professionals the commercial understanding and access to the people and organisations they need to do their jobs better.

NC ethos is routed in innovation, in making brave decisions for a better offering that meet and exceed customer demands intelligently and proactively. We are committed to giving those who rely on us the best in networking, information or stimulation.

We depend on the imagination and passion of our people to invent and develop our brands, and drive our business forward. Personal accountability is at the centre of NC, which means NC employees are empowered to create the kind of timely, dynamic products our customers find essential.

NC started life as a local newspaper company in 2000. Today NC is a global media group, playing a crucial role in giving the retail, media, finance, fashion, health, education, government and automotive sectors the essential news, analysis and access they need to succeed.

NC Values

Accountable
- We devolve decision-making responsibility as far as we can down through the organisation
- Because everyone plays their part
- We link reward, wherever possible, to that responsibility
- We make responsible decisions to safeguard our profits and our environment
- We invest with care and do not tolerate waste
- We treat customers, suppliers and each other responsibly
- We will reward and celebrate success but insist on excellence in our products and of ourselves
- People who do not share that value will not find lasting reward here

Brave
- We encourage innovation imagination and creativity
- We nurture ideas and recognise idea for how precious it is
- We are better at standing things up than knocking things down
- We look for opportunity beyond the incremental and give it the time and space it needs
- We are not frightened to experiment
- We learn from our mistakes but are not deterred by them
- We seize opportunity
- We run winners
- We are fast and decisive once we have the basis for decision

Collaborative
- We are a team, respecting the different skill sets any winning team needs
- We ask, listen and hear
- We research by seeking data and opinion
- We recognise our brands will be deployed in different formats by other specialists in the company
- We share our customer information
- We help our colleagues to achieve
- We make one and one make three

Decent
- We communicate openly and honestly with each other
- We are a great business to deal with
- We are consistent, fair and appropriate
- We correct our mistakes
- We say thank you and sorry
- But we are nightmare competitors and tough buyers

Essential
- We deliver reliable product that enables users to base decisions and conclude transactions safely
- We set ourselves the highest standards in our generation of content and delivery of product
- We are generators of unique product based on our own intellectual property; we are not repackagers or retellers
- We look to add value to our propositions progressively, provided we can do it profitably
- We aspire to continuous improvement, subjecting our output to regular critical appraisal
- We make mediocrity feel out of place

Career @ NC
NC is committed to attracting, retaining and developing the careers of the most talented people that work within the industry. This means we are focussed on supporting and enabling our people to achieve their potential and career ambitions, and to share in our success.

It’s true NC has world leading brands and are positioned number 1 in the market for many of our events, titles and business information services but we still hunger for more…we won’t be the best business to business media company in the world without the best people to help us achieve these aspirations.

We believe that our people need to be empowered to make and take decisions….accountability is the key to our continued success. When you come to work at NC it’s important to us that we work together and achieve together. If that sounds like something you would like to be part of, click here to take a look at our current career opportunities.

Split Personality – A myth or Reality?

In this world today, there are a lot of unbelievable diseases. One of them is the disease of human’s mind, and a split personality is counted as one of the disease. Not many of people around the world believe if this disease really exists or not, or they rather think that the person is acting.

I was on my way from Bangalore to Mumbai and on the way, as I was interacting with one person and suddenly we got this topic, “Split Personalities” and started discussing about it.

When I was in collage, I had one very good friend, by name Mr. T. Kiran Kumar. The uniqueness of our relation was our compatibility and depth of understanding. If we are with kids, or classmates or elderly people or uneducated people or females or highly intellectuals, how we will behave, was purely on the type of circle or group we were into. Believe me, our attitude, approach, behavior, and the way to react to a situation was based on the type of group we were into. Does that mean that we were having split personalities? If that is the case then all of us are having split personalities. We behave differently with our family members, with our friends, our spouse, and unknown people, right? Lets see.

Let us understand the term “Split Personality”.

Definition of Split Personality: “A relatively rare dissociative disorder in which the usual integrity of the personality breaks down and two or more independent personalities emerge”.

Explanation: There is no category or phenomenon in psychiatry called split personality. The term is commonly used in popular language to indicate a contradictory or drastically and dramatically alternating type of behavior of the”Jekyll and Hyde” type. It is often confused with the medical illness of schizophrenia because the etymology of the latter (from the Greek schizein, to split + phren, mind) suggests, misleadingly, that schizophrenia is a type of split personality. In schizophrenia, however, the splitting is within one single personality as the individual’s thoughts, feelings and emotions are seriously and confusingly disconnected from each other in a chaotic and random fashion. Schizophrenic individuals, far from having split or multiple personalities, actually have a great struggle maintaining the coherence and integrity of even a single self.

Before proceeding further lets try and understand as what do be mean by term “Personality”.

HUMAN PERSONALITY
THERE are three distinct meanings for the term “personality,” two of them general and popular and the third technical and philosophical. The first and most general meaning is that personality is the sum of the characteristics, which make up physical and mental being. These include appearance, manners, habits, tastes and moral character. The second meaning emphasizes the characteristics that distinguish one person from another. The two meanings overlap or merge into each other, as the first considers all characteristics pertaining to the individual, without comparing him with others, while the second sees the same facts in relation to the outside world and fixes attention mainly upon the features that distinguish the subject from his fellows. This second meaning is equivalent to individuality. It represents a widely prevalent conception of the term.

But the third meaning is the most important, and is the only conception of any value to the psychic researcher and the philosopher or psychologist. This conception of personality is concerned only with mental characteristics; it makes no distinction between common and specific marks. In fact it connotes mental processes rather than fixed qualities. The capacity for having mental states, or the fact of having them, constitutes personality for the psychologist and the philosopher. Personality is thus the stream of consciousness, regardless of the question whether any special state is constant or casual, essential or unessential. Physical marks will have no place in this conception, unless they may serve as symbols of mental states. It abstracts from them and denotes only the stream of mental phenomena.

This third meaning is so radically different from the other two that it gives rise to perpetual misunderstandings between the philosopher and the public. These misunderstandings arise particularly in the discussion of survival after death. The layman with his conception of personality looks for physical phenomena of some kind to illustrate or prove it. Consequently, if interested in psychic phenomena at all, he prefers materialization, which best satisfies his conception of personality. He cannot take the point of view of the psychologist or the philosopher, who neglects these purely sensory characteristics, and fixes his attention on mental states as the proper conception of the personality, which may survive. Materialization would supply the very characteristics, which the layman fixes upon to represent personality. But precisely the fact that mental states are not presented to sense, leads the philosopher to conceive of immortality as possible.

If the layman’s conception were correct the philosopher and psychologist would deny the possibility of survival with entire confidence, as a necessary implication of bodily dissolution. The day could be saved only by the doctrine of a “spiritual body,” an It astral body,” or an “ethereal organism,” supposedly a replica of the physical organism in its spatial and other characteristics. These represent personality after the manner or analogy of the physical body. The real spirit may indeed have a transcendental bodily form; but the stream of consciousness remains the same whether there is any “spiritual body” or “ethereal organism” or not. This is the fundamental element in all conceptions of spiritual reality. It is not necessary to decide the question of a “spiritual body” or “ethereal organism” as the condition of believing in the existence of spirits. That is another and perhaps a secondary problem. What we need to know is, whether the stream of consciousness survives, whether the personal memory continues, not how it continues. The fact of survival is to be considered first and the condition of it afterwards.

Historical Review of “Split Personality”
Possible cases of split personality have been reported in the medical literature since the early 19th century, and the condition was formally defined in the first years of the 20th. But until recently it was considered extremely rare–fewer than 200 cases were described before 1980. The diagnosis became much more common in the 80s for several reasons. One was the phenomenal popularity of Flora Schreiber’s 1973 book Sybil, which told of a woman with 16 personalities. Stories of “multiples,” fictionalized or otherwise, were nothing new–The Three Faces of Eve dates from 1954, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” from way back in 1886–but Sybil made a crucial innovation, introducing the idea that multiple personalities stemmed from trauma during early childhood. Around the same time, child protection advocates and feminists began arguing that child abuse, especially sexual abuse, occurred far more often than previously supposed. And in the late 70s, in a phenomenon thought to be linked to the resurgence of Christian fundamentalism, reports of so-called satanic ritual abuse first captured the public’s imagination.

Presented with, on one hand, allegations of an unrecognized epidemic of crimes against innocents and, on the other, a simple mechanism to explain why their troubled patients couldn’t remember any abuse (i.e., the personality divides in order to shield itself from horrific memories), a small but devoted group of therapists began diagnosing multiple personality disorder with alarming frequency–more than 20,000 cases had been reported by 1990. Under the influence of hypnosis and other techniques, subjects reported dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of “alters” whose behavior, age, sex, language, and occasionally species differed from that of their everyday personas. Alters were coaxed into revealing bloodcurdling stories of abuse by family members, or of sacrificing their own babies to shadowy cults. One prominent multiple personality specialist claimed that the satanic network programmed alters into its victims, which it could then trigger to act in certain ways by sending them color-coded flowers.

By the early 1990s it began to dawn on rational folk just how preposterous the whole business was. Having investigated more than 12,000 accusations over four years, researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Illinois at Chicago determined that not a single case of satanic ritual abuse had been substantiated. A 1992 FBI study arrived at the same conclusion: overeager therapists had planted horror stories in the minds of their patients. In 1998 psychologist Robert Rieber made a convincing case, based on an analysis of audiotapes, that even the famous Sybil had confabulated her multiple personalities at the insistence of her therapist. The bubble burst, and diagnoses of multiple personalities subsided.

Some real Life Examples of Split Personalities

Case-1
The first patient is a man named William S. Milligan, he was caught by the charge of rape in Ohio at 1977. As police and the psychologists examined him, they found the unbelievable fact that he had several personalities. Here are the first ten personalities they found. In The Minds Of Billy Milligan;

1. The first personality is the main personality, Billy, twenty-seven years old, blue eyes, brown hair.

2. The second personality is Arthur, twenty-two years old, British. This personality and the next one are the keeper of the “Spot”, where they can have the control of the body, or become themselves open to the outer world through the body of Billy.

3. The third personality is Leigen, twenty-three years old, Yugoslav, who knows how to fight and can use gun and other dangerous stuff, controls the hate.

4. Fourth personality is Allen, eighteen years old, talkative, only one who smoke and right handed.

5. Fifth personality is Tommy, sixteen years old, knows how to unlock chains or handcuffs, and the specialist of the electricity.

6. Sixth personality is Danny, fourteen years old, always scared to something especially man, blond hair, blue eyes.

7. Seventh personality is David, eight years old, controls pain, red-brown hair blue eyes.

8. Eighth personality is Christine, three years old, cannot talk, blond hair, female.

9. Ninth personality is Christopher, thirteen years old, brother of Christine.

10. For the last tenth personality, Adarana, nineteen years old, quiet, lesbian, female.

Those were the main ten personalities of the William S. Milligan. As if you wonder how they know their outlooks, William Milligan, Billy has a hobby of painting, or some of the personalities do. Therefore, they draw each other on the painting and that is how they get to know their outlooks.

Case-2
The woman’s name is Claudia Ellen Yascow. She was arrested by the charge of killing four people, which they found later that she was not the suspect. However, it was not unnecessary for the police to think that she was the suspect, because she had information of the scene that cannot be known unless the person has been there. Even though the information was confusing and messy because of her mental disease, police believed her and thought that she was the suspect, for she knew even where the pot and other little detail was at when the crime occurred. She was caught once but let go after few month with the check of psychologist that she has a incubation type of split minds, and the lie detector found her answer to the question that she was not at the scene when the crime happened showed what she said is true, “No, I did not.”

Her trouble is brought up mainly because of her mental disease, incubation type of split mind. Claudia is different, as she can always be herself even she is in a great pressure, but she will be losing a collect criterion to judge what kind of situation she is in. For example, when she was caught in jail, she truly thought that she was in a middle of movie taking and she was playing her rolls of main heroine. “Suddenly she put the smile on her face and said ‘I never thought that I could have a great chance like this,’ She leaned her head on the wall. ‘I’ve always thought of having a chance to do a big act like a big actress. I do have some experience of acting in few films as a supporting player, but if I play this murderess act, maybe I can be very famous.’ Dye stared at her and asked, ‘You think we are making a film right now?’ She slapped his hand softly, smiling, ‘Oh Dye, you have seen all those cameras at the corridor and those of TV’s. I hope I can have a deal with a lot of money coming in, you know it is kind of hard to act.’

As you can see above, by the shock she got from been captured by police, her mind had made an escape way from pain by believing that all the stuff going is an act and not a real deal. This is very close to what Billy has done to himself; only the difference is that fortunately, Claudia was not getting shocked when she was before teenager, but after she became an adult. I think that this is the reason why she was quite right in condition even though she had some mental problems since she was fourteen and had been looked after by a psychologist. Her case is still, with a great trouble, that in such a hard circumstance like in the police office, she would be nervous and will not be able to say what she really want to.

As she says in Unveiling Claudia, “If I am lying to you right now, that is anything but my will.”(72) She is telling the truth here that her mind is trying to protect herself by not telling the truth about the matter, and she cannot help it. It is rather an act of her instinct, to let the shock coming above her because of telling and remembering the truth softer in order to not breakdown for it.

This has been appearing in the way of making the book. As she was making the confession about the murder, she always kept telling a one big story with half lie and half-truth. As you will find later that the truth was such a hard one that it was too much for her to remember it and telling it to the person who you met one or two years ago. This can be seen in Unveiling Claudia, ” ‘Claudia, I don’t know what I should believe in you.’ She put her hand on my shoulder and looked into my eye. ‘I’m sorry Dan. I do trust you more than before. But not enough.’” This conversation was held more than two years past after they have met, and as you can see that she is very careful about telling the truth and that is why she kept telling lie, or something that she believed it was a truth and unfortunately it was not. Although she is always careful about telling the truth, she is always an easy person to make believe. If someone tells her that she has a superstitious power, she believes it and so on. This has prevented her from stopping the murder, because she had known that the real suspects of the case had planned to proceed the crime week before the murder. However, she was busy and also her weak mind was scared with the pressure what if she tell it to the victim and the what if the suspects would know about it and come after her? In the way of her mind escaping from the reality, she started to believe that it was an oracle, and she could not stop the crime. This story was one of the reason she was arrested once by the story told by her friend that she knew that the crime is going the happen a week before, and the truth was different.

The shocking truth was told on the end, and it was shocking enough for her mind to look for some escape way. On the night when crime has occurred, she was forced to go to the place with a gay, right after the murder had happened. The man was gay but he had a gun in his hand and she could not refuse to go there with him. Their car came in front of the house just in time when two suspects where killing the victim, and after they had gone away, they went to the house’s garage where there was a one dead body of a man and one body of woman laying on the floor. Claudia was forced to put her hand into the dead woman’s genitals and find a bag of drugs. Now, this is a real hard and sick experience for the twenty-six years old woman, or any other person in the world. She was shocked and her mind could not stand it and she has lost her memories in order to prevent the breakdown.

After few days she find herself knowing about that crime and could not find out why she know about it so much, she told the story to the police and they misjudged her as a criminal and put her in jail.

What They have to say
My father is a metal health counselor here in the US. He has seen only 2 multiple personality disorders in his 20+ years of private practice. In both cases patients were former participants in covens. One was a willing participant and the other was supposedly the unwilling offspring of a “breeder” program.

Neither my father or I are generally prone to believe such things for the very reasons that you put forth in your article but never-the-less both patients exhibited classic multiple personality disorder symptomology. In the case of the unwilling participant he came to the conclusion that the majority of the damage to her psyche had been done by a previous therapist, when he met with the therapist and watched him work with her he was then certain that this was the case… Perhaps this fits with your theory of therapists putting ideas into peoples heads.

Unfortunately, this leaves a difficult problem to solve… Whether or not the problem is caused by a therapist or by some other external force, what is to be done with these people? Regardless of *how* they got that way they still deserve to be whole persons which will probably require further therapy… The *cause* of multiple personality disorder is not so important to determine for these patients as healing is.

The process used by my father in his therapy sessions is called re-integration where the personalities are not taught how to *co-exist* but rather how to re-integrate with the main persona or the core identified “true self” as discovered in therapy. This re-integration can be very simple or complicated depending on the strength of a particular personality.

For instance, if a person has one major alternate and several minor ones the minor ones would be integrated first before the major etc. The difficulty arises because for each personality present there is a tremendous loss of individuality for each one and in each case this loss of an individual “persona” is often felt as a grief or loss of a friend for the true self. As each personality is re-integrated the true self becomes more in tune with its own emotions and feels this grief more keenly. For this reason it is important to take things slowly and to address only personalities that emerge rather than force anything.

In many cases a persons sense of self may be so buried under all of these layers of ‘others’ that finding the true self may be the most difficult part of the therapeutic process. Often this self is so weak and lacking in will that it presents as a smaller, other personality. It takes caring, sensitivity and insight to help these people since this true self is often a very young child.

It might sound strange and eerie and it is… The problem with your argument of is it all in their head is that of course it is… Does that make it any less real for the people who suffer from it? It is very similar to people who experience vivid hallucinations, are those things real? No. Do they cause them grief and pain? Yes.

The question then becomes not about testing the *reality* of the multiple personality claim but instead helping the person experiencing it with care. Coming from the therapeutic standpoint that, if it is real for them, it is real.

Dowry System : The Cancer of Society

By Huma Parveen

Dowry, widely known as the cancer of society, continues to be the most serious social problem. The incidents related to dowry system paint a sordid picture of diminishing moral values. Many innocent women are burnt or threw out of their homes by their husbands and in-laws.

The problem is too critical to be solved. Administration, government, parliament, law and order, social traditions all have failed rather miserably in putting an end to it. Only Islamic teachings can stop this grievous and heinous crime as Islam does not permit taking or giving dowry.

Dowry is the result of overvaulting greed. Every person wants more and more money and to achieve this, he does whatever he likes and even stoops himself down to the level of demanding dowry. He cannot even think what is right and what is wrong. When the people, who have unmarried sons, fail to meet their costly demands with their honest earnings, they follow the path of dowry system. Due to this greed, there is a steep climb in the cases of dowry. Thus this tradition has become a serious bug of our country.

In India, dowry cases have been taking place for centuries. But, in the past, there were no serious and grievous incidents of dowry. It was accepted as a social tradition of providing gifts for each other. But now it has become one of the tools of rich people to show off their richness and greedy people to fulfil their immoral demands.

Thanks to modern industrialisation and materialism, birth of new brutal, barbaric and inhuman traditions is taking place. People try to enjoy luxuries even when these are beyond the means available to them. But then luxuries know no end. The fulfilment of one demand leads one to take up another, and this vicious cycle goes on. The blackmailing of bride’s parents by the greedy parents of bridegroom for extorting dowry is an easy way of hoarding wealth. And parents of the bride stand helpless before the circumstances.

The ever widening chasm between the rich and the poor resulting in uncontrolled lust for wealth is another important cause of continuation of dowry system. In India the greatly increasing number of rich people is giving way to the new cause of dowry system. In the modern age of selfish, economical and materialistic patterns of life, the poor are not able to cross the line stretched by the rich even if they apply their full efforts to fulfil their demands.

Then, if they have an unmarried son, they find it a ‘God-given’ opportunity to become rich in a matter of days. And the social system established by the greedy people helps such poor men. The poor and needy people having young marriageable girls to be married off have to bear the brunt. Many unmarried girls have crossed their age limit of marriage due to this dowry system; some girls even committed suicide. Owing to this system not only the people who have faced this dilemma but the people who have small daughters are also suffering.

The parents of daughters, who are suffering from the curse of dowry system, are also ‘criminals’. After getting news of their daughter’s suffering from this new system, the parents advise her to live in her in-law’s house and win their heart by her good deeds. The end of this is the bride-burning, bride-suicide or at least continued mental and physical torture at the hands of her in-laws. In spite of several laws to contain the dowry system, the parents do not even gather courage to file a complaint against the perpetrators of this crime.

In the Muslim society, Islam does not permit to give and take dowry. Dowry is prohibited, and thus a sin. Dowry is a cause of utter shame and disrespect in this life and a cause of punishment in the life after death. According to natural justice the responsibility of earning and maintenance of the family is rests on the man. And as such earning wealth by means of dowry is wrong. If this practice is not stopped, human society will have to bear more serious results in the form of decreasing ratio of females.

Dowry System – Islamic Scenario

By M H Ahssan

The dowry system is so deeply rooted in Indian culture, that sometimes one feels that there’s going to be no way out – at least not for another century.

Even modern, well-educated families start saving up money for their daughter’s dowry as soon as she is born, so what can one expect from the uneducated masses, whose only form of education is tradition?

When demands for dowry are not met, the bride is subject to torture, and often even killed. The reason many parents don’t want to have daughters is because of the dowry they will have to shell out at her marriage, and the stress they go through due to never ending demands from her in-laws.

Dowry is an evil, evil system and all of us, at some level, condone it and even contribute to it.

Often the boys parents don’t demand dowry, but our culture is such that we feel we must give something to the in-laws. In such cases, give as much as you receive. When you go out of your way because you are the parents of the girl, you are contributing to this evil.

Come festivals like Diwali or Holi, and the parents of the daughter flood her in-laws with gifts. If gifts are expected – your daughter is married into the wrong family. If such giving is self-inflicted, you’re making a mistake. Give a token present to your daughter. If you want to give her something more, do so, but don’t feel pressured to give anything more than you receive to her in-laws. You don’t need to if your daughter is happily married and has a supportive husband – so DON’T.

Educate your daughters
An astounding number of parents still don’t lay enough emphasis on educating their daughters. They believe their daughters will get married eventually, and husbands will support them, so why push them so hard? Poorer sections of society would rather send their daughters out to work and earn some money, to help them save up for her dowry. Those from regular middle and upper class backgrounds do send their daughters to school, but don’t emphasise career options. They view education as a rite of passage. If their daughters do well, it’s something to brag about at kitty parties.

Similarly, very wealthy parents will happily support their daughters until they get married. Because of the family status and their ability to fork out a high dowry, they know they will get good matches for their daughter, and don’t take their daughters education very seriously.

Get serious about your daughter’s education. Encourage her to have a career of her own, no matter what your financial standing. One of the reasons parents of the boy ask for dowry, is that they often expect that their son will be earning and supporting the wife, and it is only fair that she contribute somewhat towards the household by way of dowry. If your daughter is educated and has as good a career as her husband to be, you’ve got a strong step in your favour.

Instead of giving her dowry so everyone is nice to her at her new home, give her a great career, so they can’t help but respect her. So if they treat her badly, she can walk out, as she is not dependent on them.

So they need her monthly contribution to the household expenses and dare not mess with her.

Providing your daughter with a solid education, and encouraging her to pursue a career of her choice is the best dowry any parent can ever give their daughter.

Present Muslim Scenario
QUERY: In India dowry system is prevalent among Muslims. Formally, Mahr is fixed. Before fixing the marriage, the bridegroom’s side demands certain amount of cash and other household articles etc. from Bride’s parents for making marriage. So far I haven’t seen any marriage where bridegroom has not taken any thing from bride’s parents. My question is:
(1) Is it permissible for bridegroom to demand cash and other articles for making marriage?
(2) If the bride’s parents are offering cash and other articles willingly, can he accept it? This type of dowry system prevailed because here the bride’s parents don’t give any property to their daughters after distributing their properties among their children.
(3) In Walimah, is it necessary to invite all friends and relatives residing far and near and making the feast with huge expenses.
(4) Is it permissible to invite only select friends and relatives for the Walimah in order get rid of huge expenses. Generally people make huge expenses for the Walimah feast.
(5) It has become tradition over here that after performing Nikah, the bride’s side hold a feast on the same night and again on the next day the bridegroom side hold Walimah feast? Is it correct?
(6) Is it permissible to hold Walimah feast by taking some money from bride’s parents or bearing expenses by mutual agreement?

ANSWER: Before answering these questions, let us make the following issue clear to everybody. Allah has put the responsibility and guardianship of the home on the husband. So, he is the one who must spend on the family and the one who pays the expenses. Allah Says (interpretation of meaning): {Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allâh has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means….}[4: 35]. The right customs as well as the Shariah rulings establish that the dowry (bridal money) should be paid by the man and that no woman is supposed to pay anything for that purpose. The woman is naturally weak and cannot bear the expenses of life. She usually faces more hardship in collecting money than the man. So the costs of her expenditure are the responsibility of the man who should spend on her as a daughter, a wife and a mother.

The tradition mentioned in this question – although we cannot say that it is unlawful – consists of many bad things:

1) Men would compete to marry the rich girls leaving the poor ones without marriage or forcing them and their guardians to bear what is beyond their ability.
2) Preventing the woman from the legal inheritance claiming that this is a compensation for what was spent on her wedding.
3) Such a tradition might lead some women to resort to committing Zina either to satisfy themselves or to collect money for their marriage.

So, all good people should endeavor to eradicate this tradition explaining to people its disadvantages and giving the good example in such a very important issue.
As for the Shariah rules about the issues raised in the question:

- There is no harm for the man who wants to marry or for his family to set some conditions on the woman to be married or on her parents whereby the latter will participate willingly in the marriage by providing some furniture items or giving some money. But this should be done after naming the Mahr (bridal money) and agreeing on it. Maliki and Hanafi went further by imposing on the bride to provide the equipment known in the area from her bridal money. They give details concerning this matter. The Shafi and Hanafi do not impose any equipment on the women. By equipment we mean what the woman takes to her husband’s house: (clothes, carpets, pillows, … etc.).

- So, there is no harm for the husband or his family to accept such things that the wife presents to them. But we emphasize here that it is prohibited to prevent the woman from inheriting as a substitute for what was given to her during her wedding. In fact, this is consuming alien’s belongings without their consent. If such a thing becomes a system whereby people oblige other people to give them that which does not normally belong to them, then this might lead to apostasy as it means rejecting the system of Allah and establishing a man-made one instead of it.

- It is not necessary to invite all the friends and relatives to the wedding ceremony as doing so might lead to unnecessary expenditures contrary to Shariah.
- But, it is desirable to invite some relatives and friends even if that will lead to omitting others in order to minimize the expenditures.

- There is no objection if the bride’s family prepares dinner at the time of the marriage contract and the following day the bridegroom’s family prepares the wedding Walimah. This depends on the traditions in each area.

- Similarly the Walimah expenses can be shared between the two families (bride and bridegroom’s) if there is agreement on it.

DOWRY IN ISLAM
A woman holds a very high status in Islamic faith. She is honoured and respected at all times, but many startling transgressions have crept into Islamic practice. These transgressions have been caused by cultural influence that has no basis in Islamic scripture.

Muslims living in the Indian subcontinent have slowly incorporated the act of dowry into their lives. Dowry originated in the upper caste Hindu communities as a wedding gift (cash or valuables) from the bride’s family to the groom’s family. There is nothing strange or unique about a culture influencing Muslim practice, as it is a common characteristic around the globe that when a new religion spreads in an area, people who live in that area retain some of the customs and traditions which they have been practicing for centuries. There is nothing wrong with this as long as those practices do not contradict Islamic law. The practice of dowry, however, does in fact transgress Islamic law.

We usually use the word gift for something, which we give voluntarily, to a person we like. A gift is something that strengthens the friendship bond between two people. Dowry, which is usually defined as a “gift” given along with the bride, by a bride’s family to the bridegroom, is used as tool of coercion and greed in societies like India. The bride’s family must give this “gift” or the marriage will not take place. Always the price of the dowry is set higher than the bride’s family can afford and sadly, this results in the bride becoming a burden on her family. The bride’s family then struggles to pay the “gift”.

In Islam it is the the man who pays Mahr(dower) to the woman . The following verses in the Qur’an proves that it is the man who is obligated to pay the Mahr (dower) to the woman unless the woman chooses not to take it.

“And give women (on marriage) their dower (Mahr) as a free gift; but if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it and enjoy it with right good cheer.” (Al-Qur’an : Al-Nisa’ :4)

Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: Thus hath Allah ordained (Prohibitions) against you: Except for these, all others are lawful, provided ye seek (them in marriage) with Mahr ( dower, a bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) from your property,- desiring chastity, not lust, seeing that ye derive benefit from them, give them their dowers (at least) as prescribed; but if, after a dower is prescribed, agree Mutually (to vary it), there is no blame on you, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise. (Al-Qur’an :Al-Nisa’ :24)

Cultures that demands dowry from the bride’s family, are actually practicing the opposite of what Allah commanded. They have reversed Allah’s words in their practice. The bride is forced to pay a negotiated amount to the groom unless the man chooses not to take it.

When the woman brings less than the negotiated amount, she has to endure constant torture from her in-laws after marriage. When the husband or in-laws are not satisfied with the dowry brought by the bride, they even go to the extent of killing the woman after marriage. The most severe among all the dowry abuse is “bride burning”. The parties engaged in the murder usually report the case as an accident or suicide.

While dowry abuse is most common among Hindus, it is rising among Muslims too. Dowry abuse is rising in the Indian Sub continent despite a Dowry Prohibition Act being passed in 1961. The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports 6,285 dowry deaths in 2003. The official records are always under reported. It is obvious that this crime is under reported, for e.g.: In Delhi 90% of cases of woman being burnt are recorded as accidents, five percent as suicides and only the remaining five percent were shown as murder. The statistics of dowry deaths in whole of India is spine chilling

Many women remain unmarried due to this dowry. Even worse is that, when Muslim men who intend on honoring the Mahr(dower) to the bride, the bride rejects them. The women prefer to remain unmarried rather marrying some one who is not from their culture.

Another practice is that people tend to exchange their sons. In other words, they give a bridegroom (mostly their son) to a girl to be married in exchange for a bridegroom from girl’s family (the bride-to-be’s brother or any unmarried male relative) so that they can have their daughters married without dowry. This places an incredible disadvantage on the parents who have daughters and no sons. The parents of daughters end up giving money to get their daughters married!

It is a sad irony that women (mostly mothers-in-law) end up being the ones who direct oppressive attitudes toward other women (daughters- in-law). Mostly, mothers-in-law-to- be are the ones who demand dowry from the bride’s family and who end up torturing the daughter-in-law after marriage if she brings less than the negotiated amount.

Syed* (35 from Chennai, India) says, “It is difficult to find a bride who would be able afford all that my mom asks…because of this I am still unmarried”

When I asked his mother why she is demanding a dowry from the bride, she said, “We have spent so much on our son, for his education, for raising him and now we will marry him off and most of the money he earns will go to his wife. So she will be benefited from all the money we spent on him. For that they can pay some amount to have our son.”

Ahmed* (29 from Delhi, India) says” I don’t want to take any dowry but can’t stop my parents from asking as I will disrespect them if I do so.”

So in an effort to respect parents and to conform to cultural norms, Muslim youth in India are bending over backwards to follow traditions that aren’t even rooted in Islam. Demanding dowry and getting married may seem valid in the eyes of many, but will the marriage be validated in the eyes of Allah ?

Dowry is purely a matter of culture. One should not feel obliged to continue these unIslamic traditions. If a culture contains unIslamic aspects, then one should not feel any shame to break the culture’s traditional practices.

The practice of dowry has caused Muslims in many parts of the world to continue their prejudices against women despite the Islamic prohibitions against it. In the Indian subcontinent, a woman is considered to be a great burden mainly because of the dowry system. Here, it is common to see people rejoicing over the birth of a son and lamenting over the birth of daughter. In India, the reason why people prefer male children over female children is mainly due to cultural practices such as dowry. Why aren’t people listening to the message of Islam instead of following the customs of others around them?

Allah has given us warning of this in the Qur’an. Allah tells us that infanticide is a grave sin and that favor of one gender over the other has no grounds in Islam.

When news is brought to one of them, of (the Birth of) a female (child), his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on (sufferance) and contempt, or bury her in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on? (Al-Qur’an: An Nahl: 58-59)

As Muslims, we should consider, the birth of daughters to be a great blessing. In addition to the Qur’an, the Hadiths also carry the message to value women.

Malik reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He, who brought up two girls properly till they grew up, he and I would come (together) (very closely) on the Day of Resurrection, and he interlaced his fingers (for explaining the point of nearness between him and that person). [Sahih Muslim: Book 032, Number 6364]

Narrated ‘Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) A lady along with her two daughters came to me asking me (for some alms), but she found nothing with me except one date which I gave to her and she divided it between her two daughters, and then she got up and went away. Then the Prophet came in and I informed him about this story. He said, “Whoever is in charge of (put to test by) these daughters and treats them generously, then they will act as a shield for him from the (Hell) Fire.” [Sahih Bukhari :Volume 8, Book 73, Number 24]

It is so unfortunate to see the people submitting themselves to the dictates of culture than to the will of Allah who is our Creator, Cherisher and the Sustainer.
Islam stresses fairness and kindness. Islam ensures that boys and girls are treated equally. Discrimination between children because of their gender is not advocated in Islam.

Narrated Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas: I was stricken by an ailment that led me to the verge of death. The Prophet came to pay me a visit. I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! I have much property and no heir except my single daughter. Shall I give two-thirds of my property in charity?” He said, “No.” I said, “Half of it?” He said, “No.” I said, “One-third of it?” He said, “You may do so) though one-third is also to a much, for it is better for you to leave your off-spring wealthy than to leave them poor, asking others for help. [Sahih Bukhari : Volume 8, Book 80, Number 725]

Let us not succumb to the fitanh caused by culture and let us stand firm in practicing Islam by enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong!

Are our sisters and daughters for sale?

By M H Ahssan

When will the horrors of dowry and bride-burning end?

Doesn’t the love of one’s country include love for one’s countrymen? Or is it merely a fashionable thing, patriotism merely to find pride in something but not to actually strive towards a better nation? A country is her people. Years ago, Rabindranath Tagore summed it up as: Desh mrinmoy noi, desh chinmoy The country is not a chunk of earth: it is a saga of consciousness. Without the conscience of our people, this consciousness will fade. We must rouse ourselves to the daily indignities that surround us.

There are a thousand places and ways we can begin loving the people of our nation, and I offer but one here. It is a journey that each of us can begin quite easily, because the victims of this malaise – dowry – are within reach, they are our mothers, sisters, friends, neighbors. People who we normally think of as “one of our own”, who we ought to protect with our lives if necessary, and yet the normal course of things has fallen so low that indignities heaped on our women do little more than make us look away.

Let us begin, then, with the people whose suffering we have even ceased to notice, let alone empathize with. Let us begin with the women around us, those whose marriage through dowry we regard as normal when in fact it is apalling. Countless brides in India are constantly under harassment in their matrimonial homes because their fathers have fallen behind in the payment of endless dowry installments, or the dowry she did bring to her husband is regarded as too meagre.

Imagine the plight of a young woman, newly wed into an unfamiliar situation, and surrounded by those she has only just met, who regard her as a means to an end, little more than a device by which to enrich themselves. She knows only too well that a bride may be killed for lack of dowry … she too must have heard the same stories we’ve all heard … but she does not know what to do. She may have overheard her in-laws, even her own husband, talk casually about harassing her, and sometimes contemplate even killing her! the kind of fear that instills in a person is beyond our ability to comprehend. It isn’t even fear, it is terror.

The cruelest aspect of this menace is the role that brides’ parents play in perpetuating it. My inquiry at the Dowry Cell of New Delhi Police Department revealed that most of the parents of the bride do not want to take their daughters back. There is considerable social stigma in India against those parents who shelter a married daughter back in their family. In most of the cases, parents persuade the daughter to go back to her husband’s home, that is considered to be the highest form of behavior one can learn from the old scriptures.

The alternative for the scared bride is to go to one of those government shelters. However, these shelters are controlled by unscrupulous bureaucrats and their politician bosses who are accused of taking full advantage of the helpless condition of the victims who come to the shelters. The reputation and working condition of most of the shelters are so horrible that a bride will prefer to die at the hands of her in-laws than to move one of those “shelters”.

So, she stays in the house of her in-laws, resigned to her fate. Then, one evening, when she is working in the kitchen, someone throws a pail of kerosene on her, and someone else throws a burning match, and she turns into a ball of flames. Can she save herself by taking off her clothes ? There is no time. Petroleum products like kerosene or gasoline work very fast, aided by her own body heat. Once that splinter is thrown, there is no more chance of life.

Perhaps this sort of recital is gruesome, and we look away. We imagine that it cannot happen to anyone we know, that our education and money has raised us above these village truths. But that isn’t so – we merely glamorize the slavery we perpetuate, and pretend to endow our daughters and sisters with “gifts”. These aren’t dowries, we tell ourselves, this is just to help her get a good start. Conveniently, we overlook the fact that there’s more than one person getting married, we don’t ask often enough why this good start mustn’t come from both sides.

With these pretexts, we dismiss these as unimportant issues. And as we look away, an estimated 25,000 brides are killed or maimed every year in India over dowry disputes. Intellectuals pull out their calculator and say it is less than 0.003% of India’s population. They slide into research mode and throw a vast array of statistics about atrocities on women in USA, UK, Pakistan, and many other countries of the world. Foundation owners refuse to help because there are so many other problems in India like street beggars, lepers, street children, bonded laborers, etc.

So, the brides keep on burning. Except, when she burns, the “problem” is one hundred percent hers, not 0.003%. She is NOT suffering from economic exploitation like bonded labor or economic deprivation like poverty : she is instead suffering from a very complex psychological set up in the minds of most of the people, the apathy of our times, and the stench of our unwillingness to eradicate dowry.

Many intellectuals do not like to talk about this subject. They open their speech with a presentation how India is doing very good in other fields like computers, space technology, etc., as if achievements in these fields can be used as excuses to burn the brides. A nation that trades in its people, sells its daughters into ready bondage, what words can describe these horrors? What kind of progress teaches us to ignore these problems, to pretend that these can never come past our doors?

One day, our daughters too will pass into slavery, and the jewel in our eyes will lead the wretched life we choose to look away from. When will it be enough?

Child marriages persist in rural India

By M H Ahssan

“I want to go to bed,” she cried. “Please, mum, dad. Let me sleep!”

Geeta was married at the age of 10 and widowed at the age of 14. Her husband, whom she barely knew, had died while working as a migrant worker having to repay a loan to his father. This loan, incidentally, was for the child’s marriage expenses. Now, due to her status as a widow, Geeta has been shunned by all members of her family and is considered unlucky and useless by all of society.

Rita was married off by her family at age 12, became a mother at age 14, and was divorced at age 16. Although hardly cognizant of her first marriage, Rita is considered undesirable and will most likely remain alone and unmarried, having to raise her child completely on her own.

Meanwhile, the author recently met Chetram, a 56-year-old man residing in a rural village of the Surguja district of Chhattisgarh, who gleefully boasted of marrying six girls to date, all between the ages of eight and 16 years when he was 10, 14, 17, 23, 25, and finally 47 years old.

Chetram was not the only villager in the district of Surguja to have married young girls multiple times. The author interviewed 10 other men whose ages ranged between 40 and 50 years old, all of whom had been married at least four times.

These stories illustrate the crime of child marriage. Although illegal, the practice of child marriage is widespread and accepted by the majority of Indian society, especially in the many rural areas of the country.

Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, affirmed an obscure maxim: “Women should be 18 and men 37 years old when they get married.” Today 6.4 million Indians under the age of 18 are married and 130,000 girls under 18 have become widows.

In India, children are forced everyday into a relationship, of which they have only the faintest knowledge and for which they are not at all prepared. To push two physiologically and emotionally ill-prepared individuals into marriage is a compassionless way of looking at relationships. India’s Parliament adopted the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1978 (a revision of the British Child Marriage Prevention Act of 1929 and the following amendment of 1949) setting 18 as the minimum age for women to get married and 21 for men. Nevertheless, like in many other Indian social spheres, the law seems inconsequential when it comes to protecting the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society.

Women and girls are the main victims of child marriages. Sati is a Hindu practice which consists of the widow’s immolation on her dead husband’s funeral pyre. Women are seen as property with ownership rights to someone else, her parents, her husband or her in-laws. In some cases, husbands sell their wives, even their unmarried daughters, as sexual partners to other men.

Religion plays a key role in such harmful traditions and practices. Akhai Teej is an annual festival and an auspicious day for marriage in India. It is not uncommon for political leaders and government officials to attend these ceremonies to bless newly- married children and impart legitimacy to the practice. The society in turn, instead of playing a watchdog role, is an enthusiastic participant in a deliberate perpetuation of entrenched interests, including property and social considerations, all which make child marriages so common.

The origin of child marriages may be found in the Muslim invasions that began more than 1,000 years ago. Legend says that the invaders raped unmarried Hindu girls or carried them off as booty, prompting Hindu communities to marry off their daughters almost from birth to protect them. Today, these invaders have been replaced by superstition: the local view that any girl reaching puberty without getting married will fall prey to sexual depredations, some from men imbued with the common belief that having sex with a “fresh” girl can cure syphilis, gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

Tradition and superstition are further reinforced by necessity. The benefit of child marriages for poor people is that it is cheaper for the family than adult marriages, since a child marriage does not need to be as prestigious and costly as an adult marriage. It is said in Hindi that “chhota chhora dahej kam mangta” (“the younger the groom, the smaller the dowry”). Rural poverty similarly puts pressure on families to transfer the economic cost of a daughter to another family as early as possible.

The practice is particularly rampant in the populous northern belt where child marriages are most deeply rooted: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, with a combined population of 420 million, about 40 percent of all India. In Rajasthan alone, 56% of the women have been married before they were 15.

Married girls are generally separated from their immediate families, taken out of school to be “transferred” to her new-husband home, where they are expected to be used as free labor, sex objects and procreative machines. The teenagers’ health is put at risk. They are much more vulnerable than mature women when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases.

Since their bodies are often not prepared to bear children, early pregnancy leads to more extreme peril, including death, during delivery and jeopardizing the health of these young mothers as well as their babies. As first-time mothers, girls face high risk in their pregnancies including obstetric fistula. This is a disease usually caused by several days of obstructed labor, without timely medical intervention. The consequences of fistula are life shattering: The baby usually dies and the woman is left with chronic incontinence. Because of her inability to control her flow of urine or faeces, she is often abandoned or neglected by her husband and family and ostracized by her community.

Statistically, it is translated into soaring birth rates, grinding poverty and malnutrition, high illiteracy, a high infant mortality rate, and a low life expectancy, especially among rural women. According to the United Nations, maternal mortality in India (which indicates the number of women dying in childbirth or from pregnant-related causes) is 25 times higher for girls under 15, and two times higher for 15-19-year-olds.

In view of this data, we can consider these marriages crimes not only against the children to be married but also against all of humanity.

Ending child marriage is challenging because even parents who are aware of its negative impact may find it too difficult to resist the economic and social pressures as well as the heavy weight of the tradition.

To stop such child marriages, the Indian government is aiming to create stricter and more easily-enforced laws, since the current legal atmosphere is not having a widespread enough effect. Currently, the police cannot arrest the organizers of mass child marriages without applying for a magistrate’s order, which may take days. The punishment (maximum three months in prison) and fine are also not severe enough to stop the practice. Proposed changes include stronger punishment, a compulsory registration of all marriages rather than merely religious rites, the appointment of anti-child marriage officers in every state, and making a law requiring anyone who attends a child marriage to report the marriage. A further recent proposal is to administer campaigns to encourage poor families to participate in mass marriages of sons and daughters who are over the legal age to get married, in order to save costs of dowries and wedding arrangements.

However, the law alone cannot curb this harmful social practice. A change in psyche of the backward and illiterate people is required. Education and the empowerment of women are, beyond a doubt, two of the best remedies in a largely male-dominated country.

The Supreme Court, after hearing a petition filed by Forum for Fact-finding, Documentation and Advocacy, recently ordered the compulsory registration of marriages. This comes as a beacon of hope to hundreds and thousands of women and girl who are illiterate, widowed or abandoned and are unable to fight for their rights.

The development of an easily-accessible grass-level network of social workers and centers is necessary for this fight. The centers could provide emergency support for girls who have run away from marriage or from parents who are attempting to force them into unwanted marriages. Such centers were one of the key measures that lead East Asian “miracles” like Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand to successfully eradicate this practice.

We cannot ignore the vital role of the media. Indian newspapers like “The Time of India,” “The Telegraph,” “The Tribune,” or “The Hindu” are aware of their responsibilities regarding this issue.

Governmental negligence on the subject and the publication of cases of child marriages en masse should be visible and transparent to the people. If the Indian society wakes up every morning to articles discussing the fatal consequences of this senseless tradition, the perception of this barbarous practice to a huge percentage of this population will change. Since the act of child marriage is so deeply-rooted in the people’s belief systems, the seed of real knowledge and awareness must be scattered from inside the society.

The curse of the apologetic liberal

By M H Ahssan

Every time one of us (liberal, secular types) objects to some doings of the Hindutva religious right wing, several non-secular voices rise in outrage. What, you criticised the BJP but what about the terrible doings of the Congress. So, faced with this loud angry barrage, the liberal seculars are forced to become apologists for the Congress and its misdoings.

And yet, this us versus them, black versus white, one party against the other is only a manifestation of the fascist mind. It is possible, in fact, to disapprove of both the BJP and the Congress. It’s just that that disapproval is a matter of degrees.

For instance, the divisive, hate-filled, “other”-bashing character of the BJP is particularly offensive to some of us. The fact that they might build roads or bridges does not ameliorate their incipient fascism. On the other side of this right-wing hard line, you have the left wing hard line. As we saw in Nandigram and Singrur, the left did not cover itself with glory in the way it dealt either with industrialists, farmers’ pleas or workers’ rights. But lefties — though not commies — do show considerably more concern for the common man or woman and for human rights. Liberal policies to do with social causes have been pursued more vigorously by lefties than anyone else.

The Congress remains as a god-knows-what party, all things to all people. It had the opportunity to build upon what it started with after Independence but it got distracted along the way. In essence it remains an umbrella body, where the parts are at variance with the sum.

After this, we are left with a veritable rash of other political positions. Actually, they are not positions as much as lobbying groups, each clamouring to draw attention to their particular caste or creed or region or language and so on. They have no larger picture in mind.

All this leaves the liberal secular who is clearly not religious right wing or left wing, is suspicious of the middle and does not gain from belonging to a particular caste, creed, region or language, with a peculiar dilemma. She or he cannot find someone who is interested in a vibrant, strong, dynamic country which has the space for all points of view, which is not full of hate for particular communities, where society is equitable and fair and not based on a tissue of lies and half-promises and which does not have an economic policy which will take us back at least one century. And, dare I say it, someone who is interested in development for all including or especially the forgotten and downtrodden.

It sounds naïve, I know. It sounds out of sync with the reality of India, where hatred, divisiveness, parochialism, casteism and orthodoxy have more potential political virtue over boring stuff. Yet it seems to me that election after election in India, the people want the boring stuff. They want to be able to get on with their lives and the government to let them do that with some measure of comfort. The reason, the world over, why the right wing tends to better off than the rest of society is that most of them have reached a certain level of comfort, the level that gives them the time and space to look around suspiciously at everyone else, cut taxes for the rich and indulge in cronyism.

Liberals, unfortunately, being full of the milk of human kindness for everyone, end up being wishy-washy and not emphatic enough. They too are fairly well-off, but for some strange reason do not feel full of hatred for others. The right wing of course sees this as a weakness.

The fact that between numbers varying from 60 to 40 per cent across the country did not vote is, I think, a sign of progress. The non-voters could well have been people who are not hate-filled right-wingers or adamant left-wingers who don’t like the middle options because of historical wrongs and are not bothered by caste, language and regional affiliations. Maybe they’re just liberals looking for representation?

WOMEN IN POLITICS – Many more Mayawatis

They cannot compete with Mayawati, or Jayalalitha or Sonia Gandhi. But the new breed of women politicians springing up in India’s small towns will become a political force to reckon with in the years to come, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Rajeshwari Nora owns a beauty parlour by that name in the town of Narnaul in Haryana’s Mahendragarh district. Her 6 ft by 10 ft beauty parlour has mirrors on two sides and large posters of a host of popular Hindi film stars ranging from Rani Mukherjee to Katrina Kaif on the back wall. Two swivel chairs and a bench for those waiting their turn completes the furniture. All the film stars are dressed in bridal finery. Rajeshwari tells me she specialises in bridal make up. Beauty parlours are a flourishing business in this small town of under one lakh people, she says.

At home in politics
But Rajeshwari is not just in the beauty business. She is also into politics as a nominated member of the local municipal council. And she takes her task seriously, worrying about the water supply and garbage clearance. She already speaks like a veteran politician. “My family was in the BJP. I was also in the BJP. Right now I’m in the Congress. But I can change,” she tells me without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

In Mirzapur in U.P., a town on the banks of the Ganga that also hosts the carpet industry, Mamta Yadav is enthusiasm personified. This 28-year-old MA in history has been elected to the Mirzapur municipal council. She got the largest number of votes and says she won because “people thought we should vote for an educated person.” Mamta also heads the standing committee on education and she loves every minute of the importance and attention she is getting. “Rajneeti bahut achchi cheez hai (politics is a very good thing)”, she tells me as we sit in her home in Mirzapur town.

Mamta lives in a middle-income colony with paved paths and unexpectedly clean drains. Her husband, a cable operator in five wards, supports his wife’s efforts. Unlike other husbands of elected women representatives, he defers to her and lets her do all the talking. “I’m a fan of politics,” says Mamta, a mother of two children, a boy aged nine and a girl aged five. Earlier, she had considered becoming a teacher. But now she has been bitten by the rajneeti (politics) bug and intends to continue.

Mamta says she draws inspiration from Mayawati, Pratibha Patil and Sonia Gandhi. “Whatever you say, women are proud that a woman and a Dalit has reached such a high position,” she says of Mayawati. An interesting comment coming from a woman who is not a Dalit and who is close to the Congress Party.

In Rajnandgaon in Chhatisgarh, a Dalit doctor is a member of the municipal council. Dr. Rekha Meshram is a Mahar. She runs her clinic and her office as a councillor from her home, located in a colony of Mahars. Her education helps her, she says, to understand her duties and her rights as a councillor. She can read the budget and discuss it unlike other councillors, many of whom are barely literate.

But Rekha has a different spin on educated women entering politics. “I understand why educated people don’t want to enter. We need to be patient, to be articulate. Being educated is the biggest handicap in politics. You can’t get ahead on your own talent. Till you have a godfather, you can’t go all out. Women get caught, entangled in this web. Party politics is very difficult for women members.” Rekha is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Although she believes that women have a difficult time, she too is convinced she will continue to be in politics.

Education, an asset
In Madhubani in Bihar, Anuja Jha, who also has a post-graduate degree, is one of the most active members of the municipal council. Unlike Rekha, she does not consider her education a handicap. Far from it. She has used it effectively to her advantage. She is the only one from the council who is a member of the District Planning Committee. She takes on the role of a leader, even though a man is the chairman of the council. Anuja sees a future for herself in politics. “Politics is janata ki seva (serving people)”, she says. “I decided to enter because people said only men could do it. I said, why not women?”

These are just four of thousands of women who are now in local governments in thousands of small towns across India. They are educated. They could have just remained housewives or become teachers. Instead, they are in public life. Admittedly, there are also other women in urban local bodies who are not so well educated and who are mere proxies for their husbands. The latter do everything except attend the official meetings. Even fathers-in-law are proxies for elected women representatives, as I discovered in Madhubani. But the increasing number of educated women who are articulate and active needs to be noted.

So, even as the media focuses on educated women like Meera Sanyal, the CEO of ABN-AMRO Bank and Mallika Sarabhai, the well-known activist and dancer, who have decided to contest in the Lok Sabha elections as independents from Mumbai and Ahmedabad respectively, we should recognise that other women have already entered politics at the local level without drawing too much attention to themselves.

Crucial difference
The difference is that women like Mamta, Rajeshwari, Anuja and Rekha live in small towns where strong bonds between people continue to survive despite urbanisation. People know each other. They are engaged in problems that have an immediate impact on their neighbourhood. The process of devolution facilitated by the 74th Amendment, giving urban local bodies additional powers, allows these women to take initiatives that make a noticeable difference in their wards. But they are also not afraid of party politics. Many of them accept that this is the only way to advance in politics.

In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati might well be the Queen Bee who decides the shape and form of the next government. But in years to come, we could see many more women surging forward from local politics into State and ultimately into national politics. Reservation has given them a leg up. But it is their enthusiasm about the political process that will ultimately carry them through.

Its own greatest enemy

By Ramachandra Guha

The Congress remains, at least in theory, the only national party. Were it to rid itself of control by a single family, it may once more begin to contribute constructively to the redemption of the idea of India.

One of the forgotten heroes of Indian democracy is Kumaraswamy Kamaraj. This withdrawn, monosyllabic, self-educated man from a backward caste background was instrumental in building a base for the Congress in south India. Later, as president of the national party, he helped mediate between different factions of the Congress. But perhaps his greatest service to his party and nation was to successfully oversee two major transitions. First, when Jawaharlal Nehru died in May 1964, he consulted the party’s MPs before arriving at the conclusion that Lal Bahadur Shastri would be the best choice as prime minister. Eighteen months later, Shastri died suddenly of a heart attack. Now Kamaraj again moved swiftly to contain the damage, by helping choose Indira Gandhi as Shastri’s replacement.

Growing up as an only child, with a sick mother and a father frequently abroad or in jail, Indira Gandhi did not allow herself to easily trust anybody. Least of all, the Congress Old Guard. Thus, the very men who had helped make her prime minister were the men she broke away from, soon after assuming the top job in Indian politics. In 1969, Indira Gandhi divided the Congress. The faction that stayed with her was soon recognized as the real Congress, especially after it won an authoritative victory in the general elections of 1971, riding to power on the backs of the slogan of “Garibi Hatao”.

To retain control over party and government, Indira Gandhi adopted four different strategies. First, she built a core of loyal advisers outside the Congress. She increasingly took her counsel not from her fellow cabinet ministers but from civil servants and technocrats in the prime minister’s office, which was headed by her fellow Allahabadi, P.N. Haksar. Second, she disbanded the old, decentralized structure of the Congress – where district and state units had substantial autonomy – and placed individuals who were personally loyal to her at the head of Pradesh Congress committees. Third, at Haksar’s inspiration, she floated the idea of the ‘committed’ civil servant and the ‘committed’ judge, so that key positions in the bureaucracy and the judiciary were also now occupied by individuals known to be loyal and subservient to the prime minister. Fourth, at election time she appealed directly to the voters, asking them to place their trust in her as an individual rather than in her party or its programme.

The dangers of Indira Gandhi’s brand of politics had been anticipated by the chief draughtsman of the Indian Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar. In his final speech to the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar warned his compatriots against an unthinking submission to charismatic authority. He quoted John Stuart Mill, who had cautioned citizens not “to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions”. This warning was even more pertinent here than in England, for, as Ambedkar observed, “in India, Bhakti, or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be the road to the salvation of a soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.”

From the time she split the Congress in 1969, Indira Gandhi worked systematically to dismantle the institutions and procedures of constitutional democracy. This she did by privileging loyalty over competence – in her party, in her council of ministers, in the legislative and judicial branches of government. Ministers, Congressmen, bureaucrats, judges, and in time even ordinary citizens – all were encouraged to lay their liberties at the feet of this Great Woman, the submission conveyed in the slogan, “Indira is India, India is Indira”.

It is important to note that this undermining of democratic institutions was well under way before the imposition of the Emergency in 1975. By suppressing freedom of expression and jailing Opposition politicians, the Emergency completed a process begun in the late 1960s. Shortly after its imposition, Indira Gandhi introduced a further departure from democratic functioning by naming her second son, Sanjay, her heir apparent. The locus of decision-making now shifted from the prime minister’s office to the prime minister’s house.

When Sanjay died in an air crash in 1980, Indira Gandhi immediately drafted her other son into the Congress. When she was herself killed in October 1984, this son, Rajiv, was sworn in as prime minister. One of his first acts was to bring his old schoolfriends into politics. Like his mother, he could not bring himself to trust his own partymen. While promoting his friends, he behaved arrogantly towards senior leaders of the Congress, and towards senior bureaucrats. At least one chief minister and one foreign secretary were sacked at impromptu press conferences. Meanwhile, his friends from outside politics gave him the most disastrous advice, persuading him to open the locks in Ayodhya and to upturn the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Shah Bano case.

Jawaharlal Nehru did not hope or desire that his daughter should succeed him as prime minister – a fact that is not as widely known as it should be. On the other hand, Indira Gandhi worked to make first Sanjay and then Rajiv her political successor. Sonia Gandhi has followed her mother-in-law scrupulously in this respect, for she has likewise ensured that her own son would head the party, and, perhaps in time, the government. The example set by India’s greatest political party has been followed by many lesser ones. Had Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi not acted in this fashion, perhaps Bal Thackeray, Parkash Singh Badal, M. Karunanidhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav would not so brazenly have treated their own political parties as family firms.

The novelist, Gore Vidal, once remarked of his adopted homeland, Italy, that it combined the worst features of socialism with the worst features of capitalism. The Republic of India goes one step further – it adds, to the worst features of socialism and of capitalism, the worst features of feudalism. When family and kin are so influential in other spheres of social life, perhaps it was merely a matter of time before they made their presence felt in party politics. It may be that the Congress of Gandhi and Nehru was an aberration. Even if Indira Gandhi had not accidentally become prime minister, for how long would the Congress have continued as a political party with a robust organization, its top jobs open to all, regardless of birth or status? Would it not have succumbed sooner or later to the culture of nepotism and favouritism that is so ubiquitous in India?

I think that we must resist this cynical conclusion. For much of its history, the Congress was a democratic, decentralized party, with strong state units and a cadre of dedicated and patriotic workers. Its best leaders were, in terms of intelligence and integrity, a match for politicians anywhere. Before Independence, the Congress promoted a distinctive form of nationalism, that was inclusive and non-adversarial. After Independence, it united a nation from its fragments and nurtured the institutions and processes of democracy. It is only in the last three decades that the Congress has worked instead to degrade rather than deepen democracy.

A Spanish journalist recently asked me what I thought the “greatest enemy of the Congress” was. I answered, immediately and instinctively, “Itself”. The decline and degradation of the Congress do not bode well for the future of Indian democracy. For the rival parties are steeped in one or other variety of parochialism, based on caste, region or religion. The Congress remains, at least in theory, the only national party. Were it to rid itself of control by a single family, it may once more begin to contribute constructively to the redemption of the idea of India.

Congress keeps all options open

By Neeta Lal

As D-day nears, with results to India’s 15th Lok Sabha (Lower House) elections due to be announced on May 16, Rahul Gandhi, 38, general secretary of the Congress Party and fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, kicked up a political storm by announcing his party’s intentions to reach out to any and every potential ally to form the next government in Delhi. This includes the left parties which nearly toppled the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition due to differences over the India-US civilian nuclear deal last July.

In what is being termed as an “explosive” press conference in the national capital of New Delhi on May 5, Gandhi outlined his audacious post-poll agenda by making overtures to not only the left, but even to staunch allies of the National Democratic Alliance(NDA), such as Bihar’s Janata Dal (United) and Tamil Nadu’s main opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), terming them as “like-minded parties”.

The young politician simultaneously bestowed praise on erstwhile Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party, Congress’ arch rival in the state and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal United, much to the chagrin of old allies like Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party. Both Prasad and Paswan are engaged in a bitter battle for survival in Bihar.

However, in a politically loaded development, most parties remained cold to the young Gandhi’s overtures – or at least pretended to be. Nitish Kumar thanked him for the effusive praise but quipped that he was with the NDA and working hard for its victory.

The left similarly rebuffed Gandhi, stating that his remarks accentuated the ruling Congress’ “desperation” in mustering enough support to form a government. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was expectedly acerbic. “We’re not privy to the reason for Rahul Gandhi’s unfounded confidence. Gandhi’s remark vindicates the BJP stand that the UPA will emerge as political debris in the post-poll scenario, scavenging for survival,” said party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy to the media.

The UPA and the right-wing BJP-led NDA are the main contenders in the general election scheduled to end on May 13 after a month of voting in which polls have been conducted in 543 constituencies across the country. However, with a fractured verdict likely, it seems the Congress has – via Rahul – sent feelers out to just about anybody who could be an ally.

But after Gandhi’s “let’s-all-get-together” stance, Congress managers were left frenetically placating existing allies by requesting they not to read too much into his statements. The situation got particularly sensitive in West Bengal, where the highly strung Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee threatened to call off an electoral pact if the Congress expressed interest in doing business with her bitterest rival – the left.

A flurry of explanatory phone calls, including one from the office of Congress party president and Rahul Gandhi’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, failed to appease Banerjee, whose party workers spewed venom at Congress at every given platform. Trinamool seniors even expressed fears that Gandhi’s statements might jeopardize the Congress-Trinamool alliance. The party is worried that Congress just might have upset its apple cart, even as polling for its 28 party seats is yet to be concluded, while for most of the Congress party’s 14 seats it is already over.

Trouble was brewing in Tamil Nadu, too, over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks. Dravida Munnethra Kazhagham chief and state chief minister M Karunanidhi was antagonized with his open offer to AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa for a post-poll alliance. As a consequence, Sonia Gandhi – who was scheduled to have addressed a joint rally with Karunanidhi in Chennai this week – hurriedly canceled her trip to the state.

Even as this pan-India political drama raged in Congress allies’ camps, experts debated the impact of the incident at the hustings, with opinion sharply divided.

It could be that his remarks will alter the trajectory of his political career. They revealed facets of his personality – like audacity and aggression – nobody knew he possessed. Moreover, they mark his coming of age as a politician and as former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s son.

Until the Congress campaigning began this season, Gandhi had been one of the choir boys in the Congress orchestra conducted by his redoubtable mother Sonia. He was never seen as anything more than a party worker, albeit a famous one, while his mother called all the shots and his sister Priyanka Vadra symbolized the party’s media-friendly visage. But now, the tide could have turned for momma’s boy. His increased assertion in party affairs may well change the course of the Congress’ hierarchical dynamics over the next few months.

Experts feel that Gandhi’s rigorous campaigning across 23 states in which he has addressed 109 election meetings may well have contributed to his new and assertive style. This experience has also helped him emerge as the Congress’ face and voice, overtaking his mother.

This augurs well for the politician, especially because his performance in parliament has so far been nothing to write home about. His political maturity over the course of these elections has helped shape him as a leader with potential. He has even displayed traits like strategic thinking and straight talk, while his candor, say party insiders, marks a change from his mother’s opaque style of functioning.

Much to the delight of observers, the politico has even admitted that it was “undemocratic” that the Congress was still dominated by a Gandhi. “But it’s the reality … My position gives me certain privileges … It is a fact of life in India that success in politics depends on who you know or are related to,” he said at a press conference. “I want to change the system of which I am a result. It’s ironic, but that’s the way it is.”

A Relationship Par Excellence : Amir Khusrau and Nizamuddin Aulia

By M H Ahssan

About 16 days after Id-ul-fitr, many Muslims and some non-Muslims in and around Delhi take part in another festive occasion they call the Satrahvin Sharif – literally Holy Seventeenth. This is the Urs or death anniversary of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, the favorite companion of 12th century Saint Nizamuddin Aulia. Thousands of people throng the twin Dargah (tomb) and offer their nazrana (of flowers, chaadar and sweets), say the fatehas (oblation), tie threads of mannat (vow) on the tomb’s jali, or just sit there listening to ecstatic qawwalis. There is also Charaghan (illumination with lamps) inside the tomb, and outside, everyone makes merry in a colourful fete, which goes on for three to four days.

One might ask as to why someone’s death is celebrated and not mourned. According to Khwaja Hasan Sani of Dargah Nizamuddin, the death for common people could be a sad, mournful affair, but for a Sufi it is only a transition – the final step to the soul’s communion with God, a milan or wedding with the divine which the Sufi had been aspiring his/her entire life – hence the celebration. In fact the Arabic word Uroos from which Urs is taken, literally means a wedding.

There may be thousands of saints in the Indian subcontinent whose tombs become centre of such occasions at least once every year, yet the legend of Amir Khusrau and Nizamuddin Aulia is something special in the history of Indian Sufism. Amir Khusrau, according to the popular belief, was a steadfast Sufi and the most favourite disciple of Nizamuddin Aulia. However, the contemporary scholars of History and Persian language know him as a court poet who successfully managed to appease more than seven rulers of Delhi Sultanate with his charming poetry that can still be considered some of the best literature produced in the entire Persian world, apart from being a mine of source-material for historians.

Hazrat Amir Khusrau (rahmatullahi alaihi), the legendary poet, composer, inventor, linguist, historian and scholar, one of the intellectual giants of Indian history, was Nizamuddin Aulia’s most loved and devoted mureed. As an Amir (noble) in the court, Khusrau may have indulged in all sorts of material pursuits, but only in his pir’s Khaneqah he found the real love and an atmosphere for the evolution of his creative and spiritual faculties.

Khusrau who had an Indo-Turkish parentage was introduced to Khwaja Nizamuddin at an early age. There are endless anecdotes – in oral tradition as well as documented history – as to how passionately the two loved each other, right from their first meeting till the moment of their death. Nizamuddin Aulia who was visited in his monastery by thousands of people every day, used to say that he often gets fed up with every one including sometimes himself – but with Khusrau, Never ! He also wished if his religion allowed, he would have Khusrau and himself buried in the same grave after their death.

The death of the two men was also an unusual event which highlighted that Khusrau’s love and respect for Hazrat had reached its Zenith. When Nizamuddin Aulia breathed his last, Khusrau was away at Lakhnawati in Bengal on Mohammad Tughlaq’s royal mission. When he heard the sad news, he couldn’t control himself, and rushed back to Delhi. On seeing his pir’s grave, he blackened his face and rolled over in dust in utter grief, tearing his garments, reciting the following Hindi doha impromptu:

Gori sovay sej par,
Mukh par daray kes;
Chal Khusrau ghar aapnay,
saanjh bhaee chahu des.

The fair maiden rests
On a bed of roses,
Her face covered
With a lock of hair;
Let us oh Khusrau, return home now,
the dark dusk settles in four corners of the world.

After this, it is said, Khusrau’s condition started deteriorating and within exactly 6 months of his master’s death, he too expired, or rather his love met with the ultimate consummation on Friday 29th Ziq’ad 725AH/1325. This incident and the above couplet is remembered as the highest point in Khusrau’s relationship with Nizamuddin and also probably the reason for their becoming a combined legend.

For more than 7 centuries, every year the Urs of both saints is celebrated with a gap of exactly 6 months – Nizamuddin Aulia’s Urs too being called the Satrahvin Sharif. And on both occasions, qawwals begin by reciting the above Doha, before singing any other qawwali.

Following are some interesting Anecdotes in the life and times of Amir Khusrau and his spiritual master, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia :

Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia (1238-1325), affectionately known as Mehboob-i Elahi or “Beloved of God,” was born in Badayun, India, east of Delhi. His grandparents had migrated there from Bokhara. When he was a boy of five, his father died.

As a teenagar, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia distinguished himself as a scholar, a debater, and a student of the Koran. But he increasingly was drawn to the inner life of the mystic.

When he was eighteen, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia encountered a group of Qawwalis (Sufi singers and musicians) who introduced him to the Chishti Sufi order and the teachings of Baba Farid, and soon became a disciple of the group in Delhi.

Hazrat Nizamuddin quickly showed profound spiritual realization and was named a leader of the Chishti order. He soon decided to withdraw from the crowds of Delhi and retired with a group of followers to a small village outside Delhi named Ghiyaspur where he lived for 60 years.

Rivers of wealth flowed daily into the khaneqah, and there were huge donations to the poor and the needy, but the attire of Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi) consisted of a cloak and some badly torn clothes. Banquets were held every day, but Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi) subsisted on a piece of barley bread and some water for sehri – and sometimes he would not even eat that much, thinking of all the needy who could not even afford this. He loved even his most staunch enemies; once when they scattered thorns in his path, he walked over them uncaringly. Then, with his bare feet bleeding, he prayed that every thorn that had pierced him might become a rose in the grave of the thrower.

He used to recite 300 rakats of nafil salaah in 24 hours, used to fast every day, and spend the entire night in worship. His mujaheda only increased with age; at eighty years, his only rest would be the nap that is sunnah for a short while after zuhr. Even so, he used to instruct his mureeds that should anyone come to see him during this time, he should be woken immediately.

Nizamuddin taught that three essential elements were necessary for the Sufi dervish: Love, Wisdom and Gnosis (Mystical Knowledge).

Born to Amir Saifuddin, Khusrau’s father was a nobleman from Balakh. He migrated to India as the invasion of the Mongols was imminent. Saifuddin joined the court of Sultan Iltutmish and married the daughter of Imad-ul-Mulk in 1253 AD at Patiali in Uttar Pradesh.

Amir Khusrau was successfully tutored by his maternal grandfather after his father’s death and throughout his career he was regarded as a scholar, intellectual, poet, a singer and a prose writer all at once. Khusrau became skilled in Persian, Arabic, Hindi and Sanskrit languages and in other subjects at a very young age.

It was at the age of 8 years, that his mother took him to the khaneqah (monastery) of Hazrat Nizamuddin to be inducted into his spiritual group. When he reached there, he didn’t enter at once – he wanted to test him out. He preferred to sit outside and compose a question for Hazrat and to gauge his greatness, in the form of a poem asking whether he should enter or return home. He sat down at the gate and composed the following lines in his heart :

Tu aan shahi ke ber aiwan-e qasrat
Kabutar gar nasheenad, baaz gardad
Ghareeb-e mustamand-e ber der aamed
Be-yaayad andaroon, ya baaz gardad

(You are a king at the gate of whose palace
Even a pigeon becomes a hawk.
A poor traveller has come to your gate,
Should he enter, or should he return?)

It is said that Nizamuddin Aulia who was then 23 yrs of age, at once asked one of his servants to go out at the gate and narrate the following lines to a boy who is sitting there :

Be-yaayad andaroon mard-e haqeeqat
Ke ba ma yek nafas hamraaz gardad
Agar abla buvad aan mard-e naadan
Azaan raah-e ke aamad baaz gardad

(Oh you the man of reality, come inside
So you become for a while my confidant
But if the one who enters is foolish
Then he should return the way he came.)

Hearing this Khusrau decided that this was the right place for him and entered. Happy and ecstatic, he sang – there is colour today, mother, for I have found my love and my teacher – Aaj rung hai hey maa rung hai ri, Moray mehboob kay ghar rang hai ri, Mohay pir paayo Nizamudin Aulia. The search for an ideal Sufi master had ended successfully.

Nizamuddin Aulia and Khusrau sat one morning on the banks of river Yamuna looking at the people bathing and worshipping. Nizamuddin Aulia drew Khusrau’s attention to them saying :

Har qaum raast raahay, deenay wa qibla gaahay
(Every sect has a faith, a qibla which they turn to.)

Incidently Nizamuddin Aulia wore his cap in a slightly crooked way, to which Khusrau pointed and said :

Men qibla raast kardam, ber terf-e kajkulaahay.
(I have straightened my qibla in the direction of this crooked cap)

Khusrau once read out a ghazal which so pleased his pir Nizamuddin Aulia that the latter asked him if he had any wish to be fulfilled. Khusrau said he wished his verse be filled with sweetness. To which Nizamuddin Aulia said, “Ok, Go get that tray from beneath my cot”. He pointed.

Khusrau brought the tray which had some suger in it. Nizamuddin Aulia asked him to eat some and also pour some on his head. Khusrau obeyed him, and claimed that he has attained the sweetness in his poetry ever since.

A poor man came to Nizamuddin Aulia asking for alms at a time when there was nothing left in the khaneqah to be given. The saint expressed his helplessness, but pointed to a torn and tattered pair of sandals that belonged to him, saying if those could be of any help to the poor man, he could take them. The faqir, having no choice, decided to take them any way, and left. When he was on his way to some other city, he met Amir Khusrau who was returning from his royal journey with camels and horses loaded with wealth. Khusrau sensed something odd as he met this man, and told him “Bu-e Shaikh mi aayad, Bu-e Shaikh mi aayad”. (I smell my master, I smell my master). This man dejectedly told him the story about how he could only get these sandals from Nizamuddin Aulia.

It is said that Khusrau after seeing his pir’s belongings decided to trade his entire entourage of wealth for this pair of sandals, placed them on his head and came rushing to see Nizamuddin Aulia. His pir saw the sandals and asked Khusrau how he found them. When Khusrau told him about the price he has paid for them, Nizamuddin Aulia said, “Arzaan khareedi”. (Well, you ‘ve got them quite cheap).

During the sama mehfils (music sessions) at the khaneqah of Hazrat Nizamuddin, dancing was not allowed. But during one such performance, Khusrau got so ecstatic that he started to dance. Nizamuddin Aulia waved at him to sit down, and said “you shouldn’t dance, you are a worldly man.” But seeing his ecstatic frenzy, Hazrat mellowed down and requested him: “Dance in such a way that your hands are raised to the sky as if calling out to God, and your feet should hit the earth as if denouncing it.” And thus it became a practice that the Sufi Saints sing and dance, raising their arms and twirling while stamping their feet on the ground.

Sultan Jalaluddin Khilji once expressed to Khusrau his desire to meet Nizamuddin Aulia but asked him not to disclose his plan to the saint. Khusrau was perplexed in the beginning, but finally couldn’t keep his promise and told Nizamuddin Aulia about Sultan’s desire. His Pir who did not wish to meet the king left the Khaneqah for a far away place on the day of the proposed meeting. When the Sultan came to know about this, he asked Khusrau why he betrayed him. Khusrau replied that in betraying the king he risked only his life in this world, but in betraying his spiritual king he would be risking his Iman (faith), and his afterlife. The Sultan was left speechless.

One day Hazrat Nizamuddin Awlia was listening to Qawwali and in ecstasy, waving his handkerchief, said: “We regret, we have not become equal to the washerman’s son even.” At that moment no one dared to ask what he meant, but some days afterwards he was asked about it by Hazrat Amir Khusrau. The explanation of Hazrat Nizamuddin Awlia was like this: “The son of the washerman of the king, without seeing the princess, was in love with her. He used to wash her clothes with utmost care, and even mended and improved them by various means. Without seeing her, he used to moan and weep in the memory of her beauty. His parents became very worried. To speak about it is a problem and not to speak about it is a problem. We are washers and she is a princess. How can the dust of the earth be compared with the sky?

So they tricked him in order to try and change their son’s ideas. One day his mother came to him with a grief-stricken face. He asked what was the matter with her.

Then she explained “Today was the soyam (the third day after the death) of the princess whose clothes you used to wash. The boy three times asked: “Has she died?” — and then with a shriek died.

On the fourth day, the washerwoman brought the clothes back to the princess. She asked: “Who has washed these clothes today? They do not look as clean as they used to be. Their neatness used to look as if love has been involved.” Hearing this, the washerwoman became sad and started weeping. On being forced by the princess, she explained everything. The princess then wished to visit his grave. At once, when she was there, the grave cracked and the princess said: “It cracked at places. Ah! Whose grave is this? Probably a restless heart is buried in it.” Then the princess fell down and expired.

The above legends and anecdotes compiled from oral traditions and accounts of saints (Malfuzat) elucidate the intensely passionate association that Amir Khusrau shared with his Friend-Philosopher-Guide Nizamuddin Aulia. Amir Khusrau was truly a prodigious sufi poet and a god-gifted man of divine musical talent.

Born in Delhi (India) in 1253 AD, Amir Khusrau served 7 kings and 3 princes from the times of Sultan Balban to Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. His passion for his birthplace Delhi was so intense that when he was posted in Patiali, he not only lamented but completed a masanwi under the title ‘Shikayatnamah-e-Patiali’. Condemning Patiali and recalling the beauty and pleasure of his hometown Delhi, he compares himself with Joseph, who in separation from his home town Kan’an, feeling himself distressed, always pined for it.

In his lifetime, Amir Khusrau wrote a staggering 92 books including Taj-ul-fatah, Tughlak namah, Sheerin Khusrau and Laila majnoon. He served as a court poet under several Delhi rulers during 1272 to 1325. His works were recited across the country in the courts of many rulers.

In simple Hindi doshukhna (two liners) to sophisticated Persian, he also created Indian ragaas, blended Arabic and Iranian usuls and maqaans imaginatively, wrote poems, ghazals and books. A proponent of khayal and raag yemen, he was also the inventor of the Sitar and the Dholak. His greatest contributions to Indian music have been the instruments and ragas, which today make it to every music session big or small. He also created musical forms like qaul, tarana, qawwali, naqsh and gul.

“Music is the fire that burns the heart and the soul” has rightly been interpreted by Amir Khusrau. It was Khusrau who made ghazal famous, Prolific, he wrote one everyday. The basis of ghazal lies in Persian poetry, though the language was changed to Urdu and Hindavi during the 13th century, when it became the accepted language of the courts. He would sit and compose poems and riddles on the spur of the moment with words thrown in from listeners. Music formed a major part of his life and his biography. Nothing in music could be named and not found related to Khusrau, not even the mystical dance performed by the Sufis (also known as whirling Dervishes).

Sufi poetry resonates a spirit of defiance and self-sacrifice. The transformation of secular (majazi) into divine (haqiqi) love and the seeker’s attitude towards God and the elimination (fanaa) of the self for merger (wisaal) with God is the aim and object of this love. In all Sufi poetry, the central theme is Love: it overrides all other reasons why God should be obeyed. Although some Sufi orders objected to sama (music), for others, it was a means to achieve mystic ecstasy. To understand the words that are spoken, the underlying reference has to be understood. Love for God and his teacher who taught him to walk on this path of selfless love for the almighty.

For more than 7 centuries, Amir Khusrau’s name has remained unforgettable through oral traditions sung by qawwals, poets and also the common man in Indian Society.

Kaahay ko biyaahi bides, ray, lakhi babul moray,
Kaahay ko biyaahi bides……..
Bhayiyon ko diye babul mehlay do-mehlay,
Hum ko diya pardes, ray, lakhi babul……

Why did you part me from yourself, dear father, why?
You’ve given houses with two storeys to my brothers,
And to me, a foreign land?
Why dear father, why?

A song still rendered today during the bidaai (farewell) ceremony of a bride from her maternal home – still relevant 800 years later.

Hum to hain babul teray khoontay ki gayyan,
Jid haankay hank jaayen, ray, lakhi babul……
Hum to hain babul teray belay ki kaliyan,
Ghar ghar maangi jaayen, ray lakhi babul……

We (daughters) are just cows tied to your peg,
Will move on to where ever you drive us to, dear father.
We are just flower-buds of your garden,
And are asked for, in every household, dear father.

Hum to hain babul teray pinjray ki chidiyan,
Bhor bhaye ud jaayen, ray, lakhi babul……
Taaqon bhari mainay gudiyan jo chhodeen
Choota sahelin ka saath, ray lakhi babul…...

We are just birds from your cage,
Will fly off when its dawn again, dear father.
I’ve left at home, alcoves full of dolls;
And parted from my buddies too, dear father.

Kothay talay say palakiya jo nikli,
Beeran nay khaayi pachhad, ray, lakhi babul…..
Dolee ka parda uthakar jo dekha,
Aaya piya ka des, ray, lakhi babul moray.
Kaahay ko biyaahi bides, ray, lakhi baabul moray.

When my palanquin passed beneath the terrace,
My brother fainted and fell, dear father.
As I remove the curtain from the palanquin,
I see we’ve reached the beloved’s house, dear father.
Why did you part me from yourself, dear father, why?

The above Bidaai song was also immortalized in the Indian Movie : Umrao Jaan (1981) sung beautifully by Jagjit Kaur.

The greatest influence in Khusrau’s life was his Pir (spiritual teacher) Hazrat Nizamuddin, who died in 1325 AD and grieving for him, Amir Khusrau also left for his heavenly abode within six months. He is buried very close to Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia on a raised platform surrounded by jaalis (screens) in red sandstone called chabootra-e-yaar (terrace of a friend).

If you ever visit his tomb, you are likely to hear this anecdote that surrounds it and many will tell you that it is true. Any individual with a love for music, knowledge and poetry can take a thread from Khusrau’s dargah (tomb) and tie it to his/her right wrist making Amir Khusrau his/her spiritual teacher – he will surely find success.

Amir Khusrau, his full name being, Amir-Ul-Shaura Hazrat Khawaja Abul Hasan Amir Khusrau Dehlavi, also self-proclaimed himself as Tota-e-Hind (parrot of India), because he had written and composed many songs and musical tunes, propagating the beauty of truth in sublime verses.

His poem, Kaliq Bari is a lexicon composed of synonymous words, from 4 languages – Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hindwi.

Khusrau’s death is not a ‘death’ in the literal sense of the word for, he would always remain one of the very few unforgettable legends in the world of literature.

In the hearts of his admirers, he will always be a literary genius, a master poet, a spiritual mystic with a unified secular view of society and a musician par excellence.

Bahut rahi babul ghar dulhan chal tere pi ne bulaee
Khusrau chali sasurari sajni, sang nahin koi jaee

(You have stayed in your father’s home too long;
come, your beloved calls for you;
dear Khusrau, you have to go to your in-law’s alone;
no friends will accompany you now).

Sufis in the Dargah enjoy songs like this to their own end. Imagining themselves as dulhan (the bride), they interpret Babul ghar (father’s home) as the material world and pi (beloved) as God or sometimes the spiritual master – the Sasural being the final abode where they have to go alone – a true wedding with the divine.

Can Signatures affect your destiny?

By M H Ahssan

Waqt ki har shay gulaam, Time rules every person.

Man has always been a slave of time, but the nature has also given man an opportunity to make (60% of) his destiny.

How many times does an ordinary man write his signature in his complete life?

And how many times does he write his certificate name spelling?

I do not want to keep asking questions from my respected readers but just want to show them the importance of our signatures. We use our signature infinite times whereas the certificate name is used only 1000 or 2000 times in our whole life.

By now, I expect that the readers must have understood that Numerology is based on vibrations and phonetics. Every time we write something or spell it a vibration is created. This vibration has a certain impact on our life. So, it is clearly understood that our signature also plays a significant role in shaping our destiny.

Recently I corrected the name of Kumar Gaurav (the actor in bollywood), and have corrected it to Kumarr Gawrav, which will be shown in his next Hollywood venture. He has struggled a lot after his big hit in bollywood.

Do you know the cause of his failure? The cause has been his name spelling and above all his signature. The way he signed was wrong. His underlining was in the wrong direction. Even though he is blessed with a lucky date of birth, he suffered because of his incorrect name spelling and his wrong signature.

While guiding him I had to make sure that his new name spelling is not only perfectly compatible with his date of birth but also his signature was made perfect, so that the hurdles in his path of success could be removed.

In numerology we take into consideration not only the spelling that is written in the signature but also the way of writing (which is indeed a part of graphology).

Few weeks ago, a lady – Sarita Jain – approached me to get her name corrected. After analyzing her name numerologically I corrected her spelling and told her to sign as – Sariita Jain – and not as S. Jain or Sariita. I also check the way one signs, i.e. the slant of the letters, their pressure, size, breadth, height and spacing between the letters along with a myriad of other signs.

One very significant part of the signature is – the underline. How do you mark a sentence as important? : Simply by underlining it. This means that the underline has a great significance, when placed below a sentence it creates an importance. Then will it not affect your signature?

Actually, underlining is very significant in a signature and due precaution must be taken while underlining because a perfect underline might make you a millionaire but a wrong movement of the underline may ruin you. As I have already mentioned about the mishap in case of Kumarr Gawrav. But this does not mean one must not underline. What is important is a proper guidance and consultancy from a Numerologist.

Another big mistake takes place when dots are placed below the signature. Proper placement can make you whereas wrong placement might make you indecisive and aimless.

The starting and ending stroke of the signature is also of great importance. Proper care is to be taken in this regard also.

When people ask me: Can I carve (make) my destiny? My answer to them is: You are already carving your destiny, whenever you use your name spelling or make a signature. The risk involved is that one wrong stroke of your chisel might ruin your creation. So, please consult a specialist before you take any significant move. Because, as I always say- everyone knows to walk I just guide him where to move. And I think that is what each and everyone wants.

More the Merrier or Single the Better

By Nidhi Dawar

This is one of the hot beat dilemmas which young couples are facing nowadays, and I feel this question is bothering almost every couple from all sections of the society.

- Whether to have one child or two?
- Will there be sibling rivalry then?
- What if we can’t give the best to both of them?
- What about our Personal growth and development, whole of our life we just can’t stay at home and take care of kids?
- Will my maid be responsible and trustworthy enough to take care of my babies in my absence?

The questions goes on and they are endless, with my near and dear one’s around, who are married and already have one child, this is the topic that takes out its way from somewhere or the other somehow every time we meet. And this topic is not only bothering the couples but it’s of much more concerns to their parents and oldies also. Both the parties have their own logic to support their stand, and I feel both have enough reasons to justify their sides too.

We are four siblings and were brought up in a joint family with cousins all the time around us. No one ever told us to share or to divide one chocolate into say 6 or 8 pieces but we knew that that’s the way we need to do, as this is how our elders did. Even if we had one chocolate for each we would still share and eat them one by one. We had common clothes to wear, one set of nappies were used at least for 4 to 5 babies, having been passed from one to another till they were almost torn or there was no more baby in row, whole day just playing on mud and sand, playing endless make- believe plays sometime I became a doctor, or sometime a mother, or a police …

But when I see the present trend where we are moving towards nuclear families, our paying capacities are increasing many folds, desire to give the best and no way settling on second best in ascending trend, and even if I don’t have time to sit with my kid at least the new PS 3 would make my child happy.

The other day I was out for a walk in the park and I overheard a group of young children talking about new game CDs, iMac computer, PS 3, gadgets and I could not see any of my childhood games been played in the park by any of the groups. It made be even little nostalgic as I started wondering that whether they even know what is ‘hide n seek’, ‘chain -chain’, ‘crocodile –crocodile what color you want’, ‘hit the ball’, ‘up down’, ‘stapoo’ etc, And for me even when today, I think of these games I go back to those beautiful memories.

Yes I agree with those parents also those who believe that we need to be really prepared emotionally, financially and physically when ever we want to get into parenthood. As true as it can be, quality and quantity both are very important for development of the child. I really don’t understand this new line that sounds more like a cliché “I am spending good quality time with my children”. I want to ask these parents, can good little delicious bite of any food take away your hunger, or can a small sip of water take off your thirst, similarly quantity is also equally important.

There were and are times when I could share my thoughts with my sister but not with my parents, there were times when even though I wanted to talk to mum and dad; they were busy in something, but either my brother or my sister one of them was always around me, and there were also times when everyone was around and I wanted time out only for my self. During time of emotional breakdowns I don’t remember I was ever alone, there was someone may be my mum or my dad, or my sisters or my brother, someone used to be there and their presence made a lot of difference.

Thus when I say this, I am not saying that one child is better or two are better; what I want to say is that in today’s fast moving times and notice the breakdowns in young children and adolescents, we need to see and feel what is it that is leading today to all this. May be we are happy under the cover that I am their for my child in best of the ways but the child perhaps doesn’t feel so. Keep the channels open and if the child doesn’t have siblings be his elder sister or brother and if there are siblings then don’t give your parental duties onto them as they have their own roles to do anyhow.

Therefore I would just like to end by saying that instead of struggling between the best and the worst and on that loosing the beautiful time, what we need to do is to be around our children, make them know that they are special to us and lastly but not the least its always better to have “Children by choice and not by chance”, plan a family when you are ready emotionally, physically, and financially.

Mind: The Double-edged Sword

By M H Ahssan

It is paradoxical that the very faculty which raises us to the level of humans from being mere animals, is also the foremost impediment in realizing our own divinity. This is the message repeated by enlightened beings time and again, be it Shiva, Buddha or Patanjali: drop the mind. But how can something that elevates us to consciousness stop us from reaching the super-conscious state? It doesn’t seem logical.

The answer lies in the mind itself. It is in fact absurdly logical. By its very nature, the mind collects, questions, analyzes, dissects and even fabricates information. The tool most often used is logic, which again is a creation of the mind. Now, to understand our true nature, the very essence of our being, it is necessary to look in. Surely I am not just the body, there is something beyond, something more subtle, which is so obviously missing in a dead person. What is this quality which makes a living person different from one who has just ‘died’? The next stop on our so-far logical journey inwards becomes the mind. Most of us if asked what makes us different from at least other living people, would tend to identify with their mind, in all its various manifestations: hopes, dreams, thoughts, opinions, beliefs, values. So mind seems to be a likely candidate: it is very personal, very individual, and infinitely more subtle that the gross body. Here starts the problem.

We are so identified with our minds, and so convinced with our logic, that we start to use our logic to analyze our mind. How can something, which itself is a part of the mind, even begin to understand the whole. Therefore, our very logic tells us that logic is ineffectual when it comes to understanding the mind. It can take us no further. Ramana Maharishi, an enlightened master, presents another beautiful conclusion produced by logic: if I can see something, then surely that something is separate from me. The seer cannot see him or herself. Therefore, if I can observe my mind, then surely my mind cannot be me! Mind is not the observer, but the observed!

As soon as we realize this simple rationale, the role of the mind becomes clear. That which I thought is me, is actually just something the real ‘me’ is using to process information received through the senses. Who then is the real ‘me’? Who is the observer? If this question gets answered, the spiritual journey is over. But the problem is that our logic and our mind refuse to accept defeat so easily. We become caught in circular logic, and again and again try to reach the core of our being by using the mind. This is like trying to fly using a car! It is simply not possible !!

There comes a point in every seeker’s inner journey, where he/she realizes the complete futility of the mind. It is good to be curious, logical, even skeptical if it takes you further on the spiritual path, and helps to develop discrimination. This can really help to keep one on the straight and narrow, and not get lost in the maze of materialism. The only requirement is that the sight not waver from the goal, then logic can be used to distil valuable lessons from experiences in life, and to realize what we want versus what society would have us believe we want. Logic in the hands of a mature person can be a great asset. However, there inevitably comes the point where you realize that any growth that is happening is only incremental, that experiences fail to furnish any new lessons and there doesn’t seem to be anything more to be done. Instead of a mountain to be climbed, life has become a plateau. Instead of a waterfall, or even a river, life has stagnated into a lake.

This is the point where a decision needs to be made: to become a river and meet the ocean, or continue living as a lake in isolation. But to flow, to fly, to reach beyond what we think is possible for us, it is necessary to shed the mind, and it accomplice, logic. Only when the inner space is cleared of everything else, can bliss and consciousness flower.

A Legend of Lustful Lungi

By Faiz Al-Najdi

Lungis are generally worn in most parts of the Indo-Pak Subcontinent; that is in almost all parts of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In Pakistan, however, it is mostly donned in the Punjab (and in some parts of Sindh), where it is generally called Dhoti. In the Indian & Pakistani parts of Punjab, unlike other places of the Subcontinent, Lungis are worn by both the genders. Men wear a vest like piece at the top, while women wear a blouse over Dhoti, which is the other name of Lungi in these regions. Men’s Lungi is normally of plain or checked cotton while the women Dhoti & blouse are usually multi-colored with some fancy embroidery on it. Now days, some trendy new fashion designs of women Dhoti & blouse, in very appealing & attractive style, are also in vogue.

Nonetheless here in Saudi Arabia conspicuously prominent amongst all, sported with Lungi, are the Bangladeshis and the Keralite Indians. For both thee people, Lungi is a National Dress sort of thing. The Keralites are from Kerala, a southern State of India on the Arabian Sea. They are also known as Malabaris or Malyalees and even Mallus, as their short title; because of Malyalam language that they speak.

Lungis are also seen clothed by both men & women folks in the South East Asian countries namely: Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. However, in these regions, Lungis are called “sarong”. They are kaleidoscopic in color & design having Batik touch; are also very attractive to look at, especially those dressed by the young women. Some special brands are even worn by the Yemenis in the Arabian peninsula.

For those of you who don’t have the slightest idea as to what really is a Lungi, it suffices to say that it is like ankle-length skirt sort of dress (stitched & enclosed or unstitched & open), that is tied & tucked around the waists. Men normally wear the same in combination with a shirt and/or a cotton vest or simply topless, especially during the summer. Women wear a blouse or a bush-shirt on top. By the way, a lungi is a very versatile attire; when worn in full it is a formal dress acceptable in the society at all places including parties, offices or alike. Nonetheless, it can be lifted & folded & tucked-in easily to convert it to a mini-Lungi or a short for use in the sports, or for any other purpose wherein shorts would be forthcoming. You can also pull/raise the ends of the Lungi around and pass them between your legs & tuck them up into the part that’s tied around waist already, making it a kind of ballooney-shorts. In short, Lungis can be worn in a number of ways & combinations as the occasion may demand.

The Malabaris are known to be immensely passionate about their Lungis. It is an old maxim that a person is known by the company that he keeps, however, a Malabari is known by the way he wears his Lungi. If a Malabari is holding the rim of his Lungi folded by raising it (to make it like a short), its time to part with him; for it is clearly a danger signal. A Pakistani drama writer/actor Umar Sharif once stirred a furor in Dubai when he picked on this issue of Malabari vis-à-vis Lungi. According to him, it is quite a sight seeing a Malabari with his Lungi on, especially during summer time in the Gulf.

The summer season in the Gulf & Arabia is a unique experience and is best described by a western amateur writer, Lucy Beney in her article “Sun Scream in Oman” published in Destination – the on-line magazine for Shell families. She remarks, “we know summer is on the way when the water coming out from the cold water tap is hotter than that coming from the hot water tap”. According to her (a British herself), “sun here is searing and unforgiving, from early morning until sundown”. She further continues in a candid expression, “forget the midday sun, in here; only mad dogs and Englishwomen (and ok, Dutch women too) go out in the sun after 8:00 am”. Given the narration above, it should not be difficult now to imagine what havoc is unleashed when heat plus humidity conjoin together here in Dubai; it should be one hell of experience, surely.

Coming back thence to Umar Sharif’s surmise on the Malabari & Lungi issue. According to him, as the mercury rises in the thermometer so does the lungi of a Malabari. One litmus test of heat outside is the temperature of water coming out from cold water tap (as described by Lucy Beney above) and the other, more reliable so, is the consequential raising/lifting of the Malabari Lungi. So much so, the Emirate (purportedly by Umar Sharif) issues a caution wherein it is prohibitive to look towards a Malabari during June/July. This is the time of the year when the summer heat in the region is at its peak; often crossing 50 degree Celcius. This caution is for obvious reason, as according to CNN, “the ensuing images, of a Malabari with Lungi rising above forbidden limit, could be very disturbing for some”.

Lungi is supposedly a barometer of the mood of a Malabri as well. When the mood mellows a Malabari starts to lift/raise his Lungi. Interestingly enough, he does the same thing in case of otherwise also. Nevertheless, the question remains, “how do you know what is really actuating a Malabari when you see him lifting/raising his Lungi. Is he doing this in good gesture or something turned him off”? I asked this from a Malabari friend of mine. “You got to live with them for quite sometime to understand that”, he replied. Nonetheless, he continued, “it’s a matter of speed only; if its being done out of some anger, it will be lifted in no second and incase of otherwise it will take a little while before Lungi gets lifted, its done slowly or gradually so to say”. My friend gave an example to help me understand this very delicate & sensitive issue. He said, “in a village if you scorn a child, he would immediately lift his Lungi, beyond permissible limit, show his bottom and run away”. On the other hand, he continued, “if you demonstrate some affection towards him, he will start to giggle & chuckle while simultaneously his lungi continues to be lifted slowly & gradually; to a decent level this time, of course”. The same goes for the elderly; be it a Keralite in his native Kerala or overseas. Sounds interesting, no?

There is much water in the lowlands of Kerala and many rivers pass through it coming from the mountainous western Ghats flowing into the Arabian Sea. Both hot and moist climate & water make it possible for mosquitoes to thrive in here. In the villages therefore, many use “mosquito net” to ward off the deadly mosquitoes during the nighttime sleep. Those who can not afford a “mosquito net” have a handy alternative available to them. They simply lift their lungis and cover the face for a peaceful nighttime slumber, sans company of unfriendly mosquito, of course. Moreover, it is a common sight to see a Keralite, while taking a stroll, to loosen the knot and wave the ends of the Lungi thus using it as a fan to get little breeze in the sultry environ.

Lungis are also used to express jubilant emotions during a football match. Elsewhere, when a goal is scored the players & the fans alike remove their jersey/T-shirt as an expression of joy. The Keralites simply lift their Lungis (some times beyond the permissible limit) and start hopping out of jubilation at the same. In addition, occasionally a streaker takes to the ground by lifting his Lungi (right up to his head) to the joy & applause of the crowd, some of whom are also seen skipping with their Lungis lifted already, beyond the permissible limits. I have seen this striking display of emotions in Bangladesh also during the Agha Khan Gold Cup football match in Dhaka. In Arabia, however, they lift their Thob (a long one-piece shirt) for the same purpose; this is characterized, as “within permissible limit” for luckily, unlike the Lungi, there happens to be a Pyjama under the same. So guys, luxuriate in the lust of a lustful Lungi!

Shivaji: Looking Beyond Prejudices

By Saurav Basu

The lack of a critical reading of Shivaji has plagued the Indian scene since for centuries. Right from Aurangzeb’s court historians, to the British, then the nationalist, dalit and recently subaltern and Marxist have painted Shivaji in contrasting colors. At their hands he has easily been molded into beliefs; he never stood for; ideals, which he never represented; clothed of such character that he never possessed. The result is a too obvious uneasy equivocal figure for any unbiased reader of Indian History. The attempt of this short essay is to set to rest some of these glaring contradictions in Shivaji’s assessment by ideologically differing historians.

Personality of Shivaji
Shivaji, is described by his contemporaries to be physically to be non-conspicuous except his quick and piercing eyes, overflowing with the gift of reading the characteristics of both his friends and foes. Cosmo Da Guarda noted him to be not only quick in action but lively in carriage also, for with a clear and fair face, nature had given him the greatest perfections, specially the dark big eyes were so lively that they seemed to dart rays of fire. To these was added a quick, clear and acute intelligence.

Shivaji’s personal characteristics are astonishingly anachronistic. Shivaji had been brought amidst the age of decadence. For instance; Shireen Moosvi (Economy of the Mughal Empire) informs us that Shahjahan tyrannized the masses while indulging in lavish ostentatious lifestyle; when almost 3/4ths of the GDP of the richest nation of the world was restricted to 700 of its predominantly Muslim nobles

Shivaji in contrast adopted a severely Spartan lifestyle, which has often been touted as being one of his several humane assets by his hagiographic historians. Shivaji in the same vein had a natural aversion for alcohol. [which could be put down to his leanings towards the Hindu orthodox religious traditions where alcoholism was considered one of the five deadly sins] While he himself maintained no harems; he did nothing spectacular to improve the lot of women of his land. Despite this, he reserved the greatest respect for his mother. More importantly, he set a new example in the medieval age by respecting the modesty of captured women and refusing to treat them as spoils of war. One popular example would be the exceedingly beautiful daughter in law of the House of Kalyan instead of being reduced to the status of a concubine was restored to her family escorted by his royal guard. Even Khafi Khan, his most virulent critic admired the respect he allotted to female prisoners of war.

But as the historian, Jadunath Sarkar reminds us; simplicity was a typical Maharashtrian trait. Life in these parts of the country did not warrant too many luxuries. Simplicity was a necessity of the times; not an extraordinary example of renunciation amongst riches. It is for this reason that the Marathas have left us with no fantastic examples of architecture, art or music. They ushered a period of Indian History which is artistically arid. Yet, to his credit Shivaji maintained his frugal standards of living even when he was at the height of his powers and made no attempt to degenerate into the effete life of ordinary Hindustani nobles and kings at its first touch.

The intelligent critic cannot help notice that all these qualities, which Shivaji represented, are abundantly found in his archrival Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb, was as Spartan, as unostentatious, as artistically apathetic [as evident from his run of the mill Moti Masjid], a hater of the arts and music in the orthodox Sunni mould. If a writer like Balakrishna (Shivaji the Great) considers Shivaji’s religious devotion as proof of his disengagement from any nefarious activities then the Mughal emperor was definitely no second when it came to displaying religious fervor!

Shivaji: Murderer or Messiah?
Two controversial murders on the part of Shivaji stain the spotless attire he had been decked in by modern 20th century nationalist historians. The first relates to the capture of the strategically vital city of Javli.

Jadunath Sarkar, the most impartial Indian historian of his age declares the acquisition of Javli as a result of deliberate murder and organized treachery on the part of Shivaji. [Shivaji and His Times] Unfortunately some modern nationalist historians like G S Sardesai (History & Culture of the Indian People, Volume VII, Mughal Empire), attempted to exonerate the national hero through the age-old rhetoric of necessity of the act to establish Hindu swaraj. However, Shivaji’s contemporary historians made no attempts to whitewash Shivaji’s conduct. Shivaji never excused himself on the pretext of establishing Hindu rajya, and the only redeeming feature in this otherwise dark episode is his absence of hypocrisy.

In this context, Shivaji’s character is no different from ‘Akbar the great’ or the mercurial Sher Shah Suri who sanctioned several political assassinations. Nothing prevented Shivaji from being as brutal and ruthless as the Muslim kings of India. He was a man on a mission to assert Hindu independence and for him the ends justified the means. Shivaji was a man of his times, where only the fittest survived and he just couldn’t afford to follow idealistic deontological dictums.

The second murder was that of Afzal Khan during their dramatic one to one meeting.

Jadunath Sarkar conscientiously proves through the letter of the English factor record (Rajapur letter, 10 Dec. 1659 ) that Afzal planned to murder Shivaji through pretending friendship. Also, the contemporary Maratha historians who had no hesitation in charging Shivaji with murder in the case of More, all are unanimous in stating that it was Afzal who struck the first blow in the interview. This evidence rips apart the claim of Grant Duff that Shivaji had effected a pre-medicated political murder. The Englishman Burke is more considerate in couching it as a defensive murder. Some Muslim critics, question Shivaji’s motives behind carrying the claw hand in the first place but this petulant suggestion is oblivious to Afzal Khan’s reputation even amongst contemporary Muslims as a treacherous and deceitful man. Against such an enemy, it is improbable that the wily Shivaji would not have taken due precautionary measures.

Thus, Shivaji surely betrayed his enemies but history is mute on him betraying any friends.

Bandit or Constructive Nation Builder?
We may note how Shivaji has often been accused by several colonial authors of being a robber and blackmailer who had ushered unmitigated sorrow on thousands of people. Stanley Lane Poole considered Shivaji to have converted an easygoing race of peasants into a nation of bandits, fired by a universal love of plunder. General Todd believed them to drain the very lifeblood whenever the scent of spoil attracted them. Vincent Smith denounced him as a robber chieftain…. who inflicted untold misery on hundred of thousands of innocent people

Undeniably, Shivaji followed a policy of loot and plunder. But to reduce him to a petty chieftain is making a caricature of the historical process. Justice Ranade rings home the truth that “freebooters and adventurers never succeeded in building up empires which last for generations and permanently alter the political map of a great continent” The barbarians who ushered the eventual fall of the Roman empire did not build any new superstructure on its crumbling edifice. But the fall of the Mughal empire, scripted by Shivaji easily supplanted it with a vibrant new period of Maratha renaissance.

Prof A R Kulkarni (Explorations in the Deccan History) reminds us that these obnoxious epithets are equally applicable to any ruler or invader of medieval period of world history…when plunder or spoils of war was considered as a source of income with a budgetary head.

Peasant Friend or Foe?
Shivaji’s taxation policy have been unduly criticized in no uncertain terms; principle amongst them Chauth and Sardeshmukhi his twin instruments of oppression

Chauth was protection money, but it was not a new concept introduced by Shivaji but already prevalent in the Maharashtrian area. It was contingent to stopping the depredations of other raiders. Steward Gordon [New Cambridge History of India, the Marathas] informs us that the Portuguese offered chauth to the Ramnagar raja, but discontinued on the latter’s failure it and instead offered it to Shivaji subject to his stopping the Koli raids. Balakrishna makes a startling discovery that even Aurangzeb had demanded chauth from the people of Daman in 1639. Shivaji defined it as one fourth of the total revenue of the area.

Sardeshmukhi was more interesting; which Shivaji charged as head of the deshmukhs; the dominant family in the parganas. It was 10% of the government taxation. These audacious taxations were basically a challenge to the authority of the extant ruler of those parts and an indication of the extent of Maratha influence. The writer Balakrishna makes a valiant attempt to disencumber Shivaji from being the originator of Sardeshmukhi system. But even he agrees that it was transformed from a cess to 10% taxation in the later part of his regime.

Shivaji on his part maintained a moral highground for charging chauth; a peremptory epistle of his subsequent to second sack of Surat read “I demand for the third time; which I declare shall be the last; the chauth of the king’s revenue under your government. As your Emperor has forced me to keep an army for the defense of the people and country, that army must be paid by his subjects. If you don’t send me the money speedily; then make ready a large house for me; for I shall go and sit down and receive the revenue and custom duties as there is none now to stop my passage.”

Sarkar is right when he says that while such a plea might have been true at the beginning of his career and in relation to Mughal territory but it cannot explain his raids into Bijapur and Golkonda, Kanara and Tanjore. Of course, it fails altogether as a defense of the foreign policy of the Peshwas. Those 19th century nationalist apologists who discovered anticipation of Wellesley’s ‘Subsidary alliance’ in Maratha Chauth protection gloss over the fact that the latter merely involved immunity from Maratha raids and did not warrant protection from attacks by other powers.

Most importantly, such a policy of repeated sacking of an economic enclave like Surat ultimately dried it up a source of supply. This denies the Maratha state any stable basis, no normal means of growth within itself.

What effect would such a rapacious policy have upon peasant and tillers of the soil? Ranade is guarded in his response but admits that Shivaji’s policy inevitably caused great hardships to the peasants situated in the border areas of neighboring states. (Rise of the Maratha Power) This assessment was found unacceptable to the lower caste leader, Jyotirao Phule who believed Shivaji was leading a peasant revolution. In his support, one may cite Shivaji encouraged taqqavi loans, low settlements to repopulate devastated areas and carefully commanded his army when they were in monsoon cantonments not to disturb tax collectors; uncultivable wastelands were usually excluded from assessment. While Shivaji did his best to undermine the power of the large landed families of Maharashtra, the deshmukhs, the reasons were purely out of political stability and not sympathies for the peasant.

The fact is that peasants were heavily exploited long before the advent of Shivaji. The story was the same in Golconda and Bijapur as evident from Dutch records. But Shivaji’s rise invariably led to the further deterioration of their already precarious condition due to continuous warfare and lack of governance in several areas.

Bhimsen’s memoirs betray the mode of peasant exploitation by the zamindars in Maharashtra; the latter’s exploitation had no limits. They gave not a dam or diram from their own purse but pay it after extracting it from the peasants. Due to their being two zamindars at many places [One Mughal, Other Maratha]; sometimes no produce reached the cultivator’s house. The peasants were absolutely ruined.

Shivaji exploited the aggrieved mindset of the peasants and entrusted them into his army as the naked starving rascals. They were strictly brought up under the maxim “no plunder, no pay!” Aurangzeb urged his officials to reduce peasants to waste for this very reason. Also, some of the Maratha officials tried to save the peasantry from illegal exactions.

However, Irfan Habib, the Marxist historian debunks any view of Shivaji leading a peasant revolution. He believes the fiscal and political practices of the Marathas bearing the deepest imprint of its Zamindari origins. (The Agrarian System of Mughal India) According to a contemporary; Fryer’s account, the peasants in Shivaji’s domain had only that much left as to keep life and soul together.

Yet, it is overindulgence on the part of Habib to register the rebellion of the peasants as solely out of economic interests. The Indian peasant was infinitesimally more religious than revolutionary, or else you would not find them to this day in Maharashtra, religiously committing suicide rather than revolt. It was principally, the religious impulse, which had enveloped the common-folk during Afzal Khan and later Shaistra’s brutalization of the Hindu temples, which led to the former, developing an inveterate hatred for the latter.

Radical or Conformist?
Abraham Eraly [Last Spring, The Lives and Times of the Great Mughals] is convinced that the Marathas were not “rebelling against exploitations and oppression; rather they wanted to be the oppressors and exploiters themselves; and were generally worse in that rule; even against fellow Hindus; than Muslim rulers.” One wonders, whether Eraly, with his class sensitivities will now pin the blame of the agrarian crisis in Mughal India on the Marathas too? Such a sweeping generalization ends with the lamentation that Shivaji was a typical orthodox Hindu leader who did nothing new.

In contrast, Balakrishna the early 20th century writer is convinced that Shivaji ushered in a true renaissance movement in medieval Indian History with strong roots in egalitarianism, equal opportunities for all and Hindu Swaraj if not raj.

Today, there are Maratha brigades, which ransack prestigious academic institutions only because they aided research of an international scholar who made certain mischievous remarks on Shivaji’s paternity. Sadly these followers of Shivaji behave more like Aurangzeb. Others perceive in Shivaji an anti-brahmanical leader, a messiah who wielded his sword to overthrow the power of the corrupt Brahmanas and liberate the exploited Shudras. The roots of these movements invariably lie with the Satya Shodhak Samaj founded by Jyotirao Phule in the 19th century, who was known for his virulent attack on Aryan brahmanical culture.

In contrast, the early 20th century V K Rajwade, a very learned Brahmin scholar who did some pioneering work on the Marathi language was propounding the concept of Maharashtra dharma founded by the bhakti saint Ramdas. He is also said to be Shivaji’s religious mentor, although recent research has shown that Shivaji came to know him only in the final years of his reign. Also, there is nothing to suggest that he meant to Shivaji anything more than a spiritual teacher; certainly not a political guide. Rajwade was attempting to paint a scenario where Shivaji was constantly surrounded by his Brahmin advisors and heeded their advice on all matters of jurisdiction.

There is an undeniable attempt made by both modern Brahmins and Shudras to appropriate Shivaji as being favorable to their own position, although he himself didn’t belong to either of the castes. A letter of Shivaji refers to Shivaji believing himself to be a Rajput even before the case of his coronation came up. This is consistent with the cultural milieu of his times.

Undoubtedly, both had their doctrinal axes to grind. Shivaji’s ideal of Hindu Swaraj rested on orthodoxy. A prerequisite for that was winning over the approval of the Brahmins. In his coronation ceremony, Shivaji spent more than a crore and half on feeding and gifting the Brahmins. This was not an exception rested in propaganda but neither a norm. He continued indulging brahmanical orthodoxy as is evident at Shri Shaila close to his death where he built a monastery, a rest house, fed a lakh of Brahmans and gave away large sums to them.

The Brahmins themselves interpreted him in ambivalent modes. While some like the great poet Kaviraj Bhushan considered him to be no less than a living avatara of Shiva; born solely for protection of the Brahmana; for in his absence they would all have been circumcised there were others who brazenly interfered in his coronation ceremony on the charge of his raids having inadvertently caused loss of life and property of Brahmin families; and according to Hindu dharmashastras; killing a Brahmana was one of the five most deadly sins. There are several other instances where Brahmanical help aided Shivaji as in the case of his entry into Hyderabad which rested solely on the administrative skill and diplomatic tact of its Brahmin Ministers Ragunath and Janardhan Hanumanta Yet, close to the end of the 19th century a Brahmin would feel insulted if he was referred to as a Maratha.

Shivaji did make measured checks on Brahmanical power. At one point he even considered punishing these intolerant Brahmins by removing them from lucrative secular duties like the command of armies; and instead limit them to the work they know best – ‘worshiping god’. But nowhere do we find any hint of him being endowed with a natural aversion to Brahmins, leave alone hatred for the same.

If Shivaji was battling against Brahmins it was restricted to upholding the merit of the Kayastha caste. The Brahmins felt great professional jealousy against the Kayasthas for they were their only rivals in education and government service. Balaji Alvi won a brief approval through Gaga Bhat but even that failed to convince his bigoted casteist contemporaries.

Shivaji’s administration did envisage a society free from caste based exploitation and which granted equal opportunities where each could be self-reliant. It advocated toleration and justice towards all its members. But nepotism, corruption and inefficiency could not be weeded out in the absence of education, unification of the masses, and organized communal improvement.

Shivaji’s ideas of organization were not revolutionary but reformist. Shivaji made a bold and radical investment in his army organization. He was able to appreciate the importance of a navy, albeit the Maratha navy was a coastal, not a blue water navy which explains the embarrassment they repeatedly faced at the hands of the Siddi of Janjira which remained an unconquered principality. Steward Gordon also observed that Shivaji’s early administration was directly inspired from his neighboring Muslim kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur; but slowly he formulated an idea of freedom and kingship totally antithetical to Muslim states.

Shivaji: Secular King in Islamic India
Most modern historians deny any nationality or even Proto-nationalism in Shivaji’s vision. This requires uncritically transplanting theories of origins of European nationalism to the Indian situation. Moreover, the criterion of political unity of the modern nation state is given undue emphasis while ignoring the Dharmic bonding of Hindu India. The denying of Hindu agency to Shivaji rests on dubious grounds, as his tolerance and acceptance of Islamic traditions including patronization of Muslim saints like Baba Yaqub is certainly not a divergence from his proto Hindu nationalistic position.

In fact, the verification of his vision of a dharmic Hindu state which accorded religious freedom to all its citizens is contained in the letter which he wrote to the Mughal emperor where he invoked Akbar’s liberalism in contrast to Aurangzeb’s tyranny. Recent letters of Shivaji addressed to his commanders contain unimpeachable references like ”I take oath to establish Hindavi Swarajya to liberate all the holy places and rivers of Hindu Sthaan from Mlenccha (Muslim) dominance” The only difference was Shivaji did not believe in persecuting innocents irrespective of their faith to attain his goal of freedom. As Vincent Smith perceptively remarked “Aurangzeb was far too intelligent to be blind to the political consequences of his actions.

He deliberately threw away the confidence and support of the rajas in order to carry out his religious policy, thinking the spiritual gain to outweigh the material loss.” [Oxford History of India] All in all Shivaji is denied a Hindu identity only because his conduct towards Muslims and Islam in general was not a mirror image of Aurangzeb’s attitude towards Hindus. But that is what perhaps makes him in Jadunath Sarkar’s words “The last great constructive genius produced by the Hindu mind”

Pre-Marital Sex: What Kids Must Know

By Swapna Majumdar

It took Sweden 50 years to do it. In India, it might take even longer to include sexuality education in the school curricula, if the ongoing debate is any indication. Indian parliamentarians have just recommended that sex education for the young be banned, and indeed several states in the country have already done so. But, as a new Indo-Swedish collaborative study points out, the longer there is resistance to equipping adolescents with information associated with puberty and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), the greater are the chances of an increase in premarital sexual curiosity and its associated health risks.

The study found growing evidence from across the country that a significant proportion of young boys and girls had become sexually active before marriage. According to research conducted by MAMTA, a Delhi-based NGO working on SRH, and the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), there has been an increase in the percentage of unmarried young Indians becoming sexually active in the past five years. The study, which focused on urban and rural areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka over a five year period beginning 2003, found that in 2004, 5.8 per cent unmarried young people had sexual intercourse. This figure increased to 7.4 per cent in 2006 and 7.5 per cent in 2008. More unmarried males (9.3 per cent in 2004 and 10.2 per cent in 2008) reported having a sexual experience compared to unmarried females (0.5 per cent in 2004 and 3.2 per cent in 2008).

What is worrying was that very often they did not use protection, either because of lack of information or lack of access to the means to gain it. “Considering the sensitivity of the subject and the taboos associated with it, it was important to adopt an approach that would be culturally acceptable. On the other hand, we also needed to measure their knowledge, attitude and practice on sexual health to be able to design strategies to address their needs. This is why we sought the support of RFSU, as it has expertise on SRH and sexuality education,” said Dr Sunil Mehra, Executive Director, MAMTA.

According to Maria Andersson, International Director, RFSU, even though people as young as 16 years were sexually active in Sweden and premarital sex was not considered taboo there, it is a proven fact that increased sexual knowledge had prevented unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) there. She believed that even though the two countries had different cultural beliefs, with Sweden being a more open society than India, there was no reason to think that the same approach would not work in India. “Good sexuality education enabled people to find joy in their sexuality and gave each individual an opportunity to make decisions about his or her own body. Our strategy is to support and encourage young people to make their own decisions and not let anyone else, including friends, group pressure or expectations, influence them. Providing relevant facts was important, but it was not enough. We also support responsible behavior that includes using contraceptives and allowing them to discuss and reflect on the importance of this knowledge that contraceptive use should not be the responsibility of women alone, a strategy easily adaptable to Indian conditions,” she contended.

Building on RFSU’s experience that investing adequate and quality time in understanding the gaps was critical before implementing any strategy, 32 villages in Bawal Block of Rewari district in Haryana, 31 villages in Pindra Block of Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh and four urban slums in Kormangala in Bangalore, Karnataka, were chosen to identify the key areas of health needs associated with puberty. They included menstruation, personal hygiene and contraception, a less talked about issue.

At the same time, it was decided to study the impact of imparting adolescent education to 5,000 school children in four schools – two of girls and two of boys, in urban Rewari and rural Bawal – to assess whether this changed their perceptions on premarital sex, unwanted pregnancies, STIs, HIV-AIDS, sexual abuse and equity in decision making powers of girls and boys.

“Unlike in India, in Sweden sexuality education is compulsory in schools and has been since 1955. The right to sexual and reproductive health services and sexuality education is the key to ensuring gender equality. RFSU sees openness on sexuality as the point of entry of health promotion and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS. This is why the strategy for India was also to break the culture of silence and let young people open up on these sensitive subjects,” pointed out Andersson.

After spending time with young people, their parents, teachers and community leaders, MAMTA found that in addition to interventions like training peer educators, it would be more useful to adapt RFSU’s concept of youth clinics where information on SRH could be accessed without fear or embarrassment. Thus was born youth information centres (YIC).

Since young people, particularly girls, were more vulnerable to STIs, YICs facilitated information sharing; and also worked closely with community and religious leaders and sensitized Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members on issues of education and school retention. The most important outcome of this strategy were attitudinal changes.

In all the intervention areas, age at marriage was delayed among young people. The percentage of girls that married below the legal age of marriage fell from 61.2 per cent in 2004 to 45.2 per cent in 2008. For boys, the corresponding figures were 79.5 per cent and 76.2 per cent, respectively.

By 2008, the perception that education was important for girls led to 38.5 per cent young men whose sisters had dropped out of school, to argue that they could share some household chores with their sisters and help them get more time for studies. Nearly 26.9 per cent young men felt that they could convince their parents to allow their sisters to continue studies as external candidates.

Using RFSU’s technical expertise in gender sensitization, the sexuality education curriculum under the adolescent education programme (AEP) was developed for students of Classes VIII, IX and X based on an assessment of their knowledge and needs. At the end of three years, a comparison was made between students of Class 10 who had been through the sexuality education curriculum and Class 11 students of the same school who had not experienced it. Irrespective of the location of the school, boys and girls who had been through the programme were able to identify and reject common misconceptions about nocturnal emissions, masturbation and myths related to HIV transmission. Girls in Class X were able to understand that the oral pill did not protect them from STIs and HIV, while a significant number of urban and rural girls said they would decline to have sex without a condom and oppose sexual abuse.

The evidence clearly is that increased sexuality knowledge decreases risky behavior and boosts gender equality. MAMTA is now hoping that its research findings will influence policy makers in India to formulate a more rational and relevant national policy on sexuality education.

Multiculturalism in Indian Society

By M H Ahssan

Multiculturalism is a term that is akin to Indian society. With diverse cultures, languages, religions and communities, multiculturalism has its reflections in every sphere of social life in India. However, as can be seen throughout, there are counter voices to multicultural existence, as was raised, for instance, under the leadership of the Thackeray clan in India’s economic nerve centre, Mumbai.

Living with multiculturalism and diversity has now come to be a fact of life. Like a beautiful garden, with flowers of varied hue, Indian multiculturalism comprises the harmonious coexistence of diverse groups of people, without crossing any established line or rules. At any point in time, if a cultural intrusion or crossing of the cultural border occurs, there might be a possibility of quick darkening of the clouds leading to an atmosphere conducive to the falling of flowers in the garden, as happened recently in Mumbai and in other parts of the country on several occasions in the history of post independent era.

However, Indian multiculturalism is indeed an experience, something that Indians have to live together, as Hindus (80%), Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%) and Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and others constituting the rest. Also on caste lines there are divisions within the majority religion as Scheduled Castes (SCs) (16.2 %)and Scheduled Tribes (STs) (8.2 %) as well as 37 to 40 % Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Above all, there are linguistic minorities and majorities.

Though we are aware of India’s demographic profile, as above, no sufficient data is available for a multicultural profiling of Indian work forces and work sites, especially within the private sector, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, where majority of Indians work. When it comes to diversity at worksites, we are fed with gender data and women participation that stands at 13. 31 % on an all India level, as per the 3rd census of Small Scale Industries by the D.C of SSI, 2001-02.

However, multiculturalism is something that we could drew strength from, especially in the context of our contemporary global market, which is in an ever expanding mode, with the proliferation as well as increased application of Information and Communications Technology; faster and cheaper connectivity in terms of travel, transport; easier and faster movement of people; easier and reduced restrictions for international business, export and import. It is the treaties agreed upon by the nations under the aegis of World Trade Organization (WTO) that facilitated an enhanced economic integration at a world level, leading to possibilities for more and more cultural interactions at all levels. This being the background of the recent spurt of interest in multiculturalism, it is to be noted that India stands poised at the top of the spectrum with the length and breadth of its diversity, than any other country in the world, and multiculturalism is a much celebrated aspect of the Indian social fabric.

Though we talk much about unity in diversity and our rich diverse cultural heritage since the ancient days, we need to see it more realistically, how far is this so called diversity rooted to the ground and tested by fire? How can we make our multicultural existence more meaningful and strong? How can we nurture it in a better way? How far is multiculturalism reflected in our offices, workshops and other worksites as well as in in boardrooms? We also need to carefully analyse aspects like discrimination in work places due to the ‘different’ cultural background of an employee? Being a multicultural society with several centuries of experience living with it, do we have a policy on handling issues related to multiculturalism? If we don’t, is it because we don’t want to address this issue since we fear we would be opening a Pandora’s Box as we did, with caste based reservation-quota policy?

Though this article does not try and answer all of the above, it would touch upon some of these aspects, at least partially. Especially the more practical and relevant ones, like managing diversity at small and medium enterprise levels, it being the largest employment generating sector that absorbs around 90 percent of the working population in the country.

The Indian psyche is conditioned to be doubtful of the unfamiliar and see outside social groups as a threat. Therefore, it’s a real challenge to manage a society with such diversity. But we need to note that this social reality, multiculturalism, if managed well, could be an asset with immense potential and could be transformed into an opportunity.

The caste, creed, community and language proclivities of an employer are often reflected in the recruitment and HR policies of an organization in India. It comes often to our notice that, caste and community prejudiced Indian mindset, even in this 21st century pre-occupied and bonded with a Hamara Jati Vala or Gaon Vala approach which is something that we could not do away yet, may be we would never be able to, is a real threat to national integration, peace, progress and development.…. Modern education and exposure have not really empowered us. Is it that we have not progressed or grown up beyond caste, community, religious differences? This narrow mindedness has its reflections at all spheres of life. Be it politics, society, government, modern organizations and as well wherever Indians migrate? Are we a free and an empowered group of people and can be called as a nation?

These clutches that bound our progress – feelings of caste, religion, language etc – have its ramifications even in the smallest of the small units of industrial productions units, enterprises, businesses and trading houses. Nobody is exempted in this case. The Indian mindset that we mentioned above is applicable across all sectors – large scale industries (LSEs), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Social Enterprises or NGOs.

Caste system has a significant role in limiting our workplaces as less multicultural. Occupations are organized on the basis of caste. Majority of the work in areas where physical labor, construction, sanitary related, cleaning, sewage removal etc often left to those at the bottom of the pyramid, SCs, STs and others. Traditionally, some of the sectors such as leather, recycling industries, bidi labor etc and in some of the craft industries such as brassware, glassware, cotton and silk embroidery and the making of perfume etc are considered to be dominated by Muslims. Promotion of clusters in recent times need to be seen if they are an extension of caste and community oriented isolated development, where there is less multiculturalism at workplaces? Obviously, then knowledge based enterprises would be dominated by those at the top of the pyramid. This is not an attempt to establish that everything is wrong with Indian worksite and they are multicultural, as one cannot deny the changing equations at the worksites with the spread of educational opportunities for people across all spectrums.

As mentioned, social enterprises are too no exception, but indeed more stringent to continue with the models of the past as a number of them wants to keep- on going with traditions and practices that they are used to be. Most of them came up as societies or trusts as per the requirement of Societies registration Act 1860 or Indian Trusts Act for setting up as social enterprises or not-for profit organizations. Large number of these religious and community run enterprises, indeed, has to ensure that their people should manage, work and get benefited from their social /religious/ community enterprise, there may be exceptions. But by and large the Indian mindset does not willingly embrace multiculturalism, unless or until situation so demands. For instance, when a suitable candidate fulfilling all requirements, especially ethnic and religious, is not found, someone from another caste sub-caste or community or linguistic minority would be preferred. Influence of community or caste aspects on our electoral politics is not an unknown thing.

But today when we look in to the question of multiculturalism we need to focus at the challenge of global market, which is indeed a multicultural entity. Hence, students of business study managing multiculturalism in various contexts such as mergers and acquisitions, migrant labor management etc for instance. The global market however, is multicultural, as are modern consumers. Therefore, it is needless to say, customers would enjoy dealing with a company or organization equipped with employers who can deal with a diverse and eclectic customer base, as they would understand diversity better, communicate accordingly and work things out effortlessly in such a way as to benefit the company and the customers. This context is particularly relevant to companies, since the challenges of a global market are many and multicultural is one of them.

Knowledge based enterprises, IT and ITES companies, technical and technological companies often can have a multicultural workforce than others. An IT or an ITES industry for instance, which is currently focused in the cities which could draw its workforce from cosmopolitan set , can often have a population mix, which would be multicultural in nature. There may be exceptions, but most such companies hire people on the basis of the work that they can do, and the skills they have. So here, the ability to work, and not narrow considerations, becomes paramount. While this could be possible scenario, however there are studies suggest differently, for instance, Vigneswara Ilavarasan’s study titled “Is Indian software workforce a case of uneven and combined development?” observes that The Indian IT workforce appears homogeneous as an average worker would be a male, comes from urban or a semi-urban locality and mostly follows Hinduism, and belongs to the upper socio-economic stratum of Indian society.’ But to further substantiate any of these as a general case, there exist a lacuna of sufficient data since, profiling of Indian workers on religious, caste or linguistic lines are not available. Hence, we cannot really say anything particularly as a conclusive statement regarding how far Indian companies are a real multicultural locations.

As the Indian companies interact with global companies, a large number of mergers and acquisitions are happening in these times. Upto 25% of foreign Investment is also permitted in Indian MSME sector, which opened up further possibilities for more cultural interaction on a massive scale. A number of Indian companies have acquired MNCs and vice versa. These would be a typical case of managing a multicultural labor force and HR management practices come into play. It is to be noted that with globalization with the current communication revolution propelled by Information and Communications Technology (ICT), opened up an avenue for people from around the world to communicate with each other more easily at a very economical way. Today, there are non-Indians working in Indian IT companies around the world as well as with migration, a large number of them working around the world in diverse cultural environment.

An Indian company, Tata Consultancy Services, a leading IT and IT Enabled Services provider has more than, 100,000 workers as of first quarter 2008 from 64 different nationalities. And 9.2 per cent of all of them are foreign nationals. Similar is the case for other Indian IT & ITES giants like Infosys, WIPRO etc. Infosys for instance initiated a program called Global Talent Program (GTP), through which it recruits citizens of other countries from wherever it operates.

The trend of foreign nationalities coming and working in Indian IT, Pharma, engineering, telecom, finance, FMCG, automobile, steel and host of other high end technology driven sectors as experts, consultants as well as full time workers is the trend today . A large number of companies in the above fields including Small and Medium sector, not just LSEs alone, could employee and use the services of other nationals.

It is also to be noted that a large number of students coming as interns in different Indian companies of all sizes is another phenomena. If hiring from abroad is something that is happening for quite some time in India and thereby a growing multicultural workforce in the IT and ITES sectors primarily and within internet economy enclaves such as Bangalore or Hyderabad, whereas within India since long there exists a heterogeneous labor force coming from diverse cultural background.

With every passing day, Global market is getting extended and possibilities and opportunities that it throws open are also growing. With Information and Communications Technology, for instance, reach of the market is also getting expanded. With that customers are becoming more multicultural. When a company, small or big that may be, as it can reach out to the global market, is indeed serving a multicultural clientele. Hence a company that has a multicultural workforce could be at an advantageous position than the one which doesn’t have.

There is a great need to make Indian workplaces more multicultural and extend them beyond IT, ITES, technology oriented and knowledge based enterprises. We must seriously think about how could a reflection of multiculturalism be brought about in the worksites, offices etc.

Maitreyi Bordia Das in her study on minority status and employment outcomes brought forth her observation regarding minority and ethnic enclaves by Muslims and Dalits in India to avoid labor market discrimination. This study is pointing towards a reality that we all know lack of openness to embrace multiculturalism at every level. Housing policy, industrial policy, HR, education policy etc all should address the need to promote multiculturalism.

But for making MSME worksites more multicultural, the key is to make employers aware of the need for multiculturalism, so they can implement it voluntarily. To do this, the government must, of course, provide incentives to industry, trade and business establishments. In India, 25 million workers are part of the MSME sector, as per the 3rd census of small scale industries conducted in 2001-2 by the Development Commissioner of Small Scale Industries. This figure does not include Own Account Enterprises, Non-Directory and Directory enterprises that provide employment to around 65 million people. Thus, the MSME segment of the economy is a force to be reckoned with. With foreign collaboration and tie-ups are possible with up to 25% foreign investment in MSMEs, multiculturalism has now become an issue that we need to give prime focus. It is to be again noted that as Indians often more show extra courtesies and considerations to foreign nationals often could be a cause for rankles among the local workers. In addition, anti-diversity and developments as mentioned in the beginning of this article, i.e., Thackeray clan’s recent anti North Indian activities, and such other tendencies would send wrong signals in companies that are planning for tie-ups and investments in India.

As far as Multiculturalism to be really successful, the policy strategy should be directly oriented towards MSMEs, without which it would be meaningless. It is not just the industry that needs to be targeted. State should also target Social enterprises or not for profit organizations which are registered under various societies’ registration Acts. According to available data there are more than 1.2 million not for profit organization in India and they also should make their job sites more multicultural.

How could we address the challenge of an inclusive labor market within MSME sector as an opportunity? It is not an easy task. We need to look at international best practices, policies in other countries such as Canada, Australia as well as European Union. Encouragement and promotion of companies that practices an inclusive labor policy may be given priority and preferential treatment while dealing with the regulatory agencies. And for NGOs , including religious or faith based societies, in addition to those secular NGOs, it have to be made mandatory, before they are being granted projects, that they follow an inclusive labor policy. Also, for MSMEs, positive incentives like tax exemptions can be considered. In addition, loan disbursals can be made at better terms for those abiding MSMEs. Most importantly, propagation of this concept at extensive manner through trade, industry associations and chambers has to be done as a priority since this would make an impact. It may be considered that collection of labor data for making appropriate multicultural profiling of organizations, MSMEs can be done while 4th census of MSMEs being conducted in a couple of years time by the DC of MSME ministry.

However, the benefit the nation would gain from such an initiative, promoting multicultural labor force, would be, in the long run, something that one cannot imagine.

Age matters only to one half in Bollywood?

By M H Ahssan

It is the last day of the year and there are two big Bollwood blockbusters ruling cinema halls across the country. Yes they are both Khan starrers ( Aamir Khan’s Ghajini and Shah Rukh Khan’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), yes they are both vehicles for these men to reclaim their position as Bollywood reigning deities, but if you look closer they also are major pointers to a trend that takes our cinema back to neolithic times.

Some three decades back a 50 plus Rajesh Khanna in a hideous wig would romance teenaged heroines like Padmini Kolhapure, Poonam Dhillon and Sridevi in films like Souten, Dard and Masterji, and we would snigger. Today a 40 plus Shah Rukh Khan discards the Ranis and the Prietys to find an arm candy in a 19-year-old Anushka Sharma, and we don’t even bat an eyelid. Aamir Khan’s love interest in Ghajini is good 20 years younger than him, but that doesn’t make the perfectionist Khan question the credibility of the venture. Considering the fact that both these men stand for progression in the Hindi film industry, their blatant endorsement of ageism is disturbing indeed.

And to think that the year started with a lot of promise. With Nishabd and Eklavya, Amitabh Bachchan was finally playing his age. Aamir Khan made a sensitive film on child psychology called Taare Zameen Par and middle class India found a voice in Dibakar Banerjee’s Khosla Ka Ghosla.

But 2008 hardly took the story forward. Actually, it took a step backward and stumbled into a pigshit of ageism and sexism. This isn’t a criticism but an observation, the truth is that Bollywood has done precious little to portray progressive female lead roles. Instead it has reinforced those very stereotypes that we have tried to shrug off for all these years. Be it the simpering mother of a kidnapped daughter (Vidya Malvade in Kidnap) or a vivacious girl who finds love in a man twice her age simply because she is married to him (Anushka Sharma in Rab Ne …) leading ladies in Bollywood proved to be just sexed up versions of their much-neglected predecessors.

Glance over the year and see that apart from the odd Fashion, Sorry Bhai! and Rock On hardly any other film gives a lady a chance to show some brain power on the screen. Bollywood producers might be paying the Priyanka Chopras and Kareena Kapoors millions, but it’s pretty evident that they are destined to play second fiddles to the Khans and the Kumars for most of their acting career.

Closer home in Tollywood, things aren’t much better. A 40 plus Prosenjit continues to romance women half his age in films like Juddha and Rajkumar, while Jeet dominates action flicks where lead actresses are little more than arm candies. Even in romantic films like Chro dini tumi je amar (the biggest hit in Tollywood for the past decade), the heroine is a mute victim who has no other choice than to marry the guy of her parent’s choice.

But if you thought Hollywood stands for progression then think again. It’s quite a patriarchal set -up there too. The blog “Women and Hollywood” features telling statistics: last year only five of the top 50 films of the year had major roles for women. Only 15 per cent of directors, producers, writers and high-ranking staff are women. Thelma Adams, film critic for US Weekly, tells the site, “The point here is can women open movies there? Meryl Streep can’t. Jodie Foster can’t. Julianne Moore can’t. Julia Roberts can’t”. So there.

FAKE CURRENCY MEANCE GRIPPING INDIA

By M H Ahssan

A country’s currency is one of its cornerstones. Its value against other currencies reflects the strength of its economy and is also a matter of national pride. What it buys is of great importance to its citizens. Consequently, its effective management is a great concern for any government.

Today this pillar of our country is under attack from an insidious and invisible enemy. A proliferation of fake currency over the last three years has grown to dangerous proportions.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 2,204 cases of counterfeiting were reported in 2007. Small states like Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh witnessed an average increase of 185 per cent in counterfeiting cases between 2006 and 2007.

Today this pillar of our country is under attack from an insidious and invisible enemyThere have been seizures of fake Indian currency in Colombo, Bangkok and Nepal. There are reports of fake currency notes now being dispensed by banks and ATM machines.

As India grapples with a financial downturn, the spread of counterfeit notes leads to greater uncertainty, undermining a country’s confidence in its financial system and the strength of its currency. Counterfeit currency has always been used to fund criminal activity, be it drugs or arms smuggling. Today it is being used by India’s enemies, namely by Pakistan’s ISI, to carry out what can only be called economic terrorism against our country.

Indian intelligence agencies have traced the routes used by counterfeiters, all of which lead back to Pakistan. The money is printed across the border, stocked in Dubai and then shipped out to our neighbours, from where it is moved into the Indian market through our porous borders. These fake notes spread through the economy and are also used to fund the operations of terrorist groups. Today it is estimated that eight or nine notes of every thousand in circulation in India are counterfeit.

HNN story on fake currency was put together by Senior Editor Malini Bhupta along with our correspondents from all across the country who spoke to officials at the Reserve Bank, private and public sector banks as well as intelligence sources. Bhupta found that the impact of the fake currency racket was being felt at all levels. Staff at a bank told her that they get about a dozen dud notes in a day. The owners of very small shops were investing in currency detection machines, tired of having their earnings destroyed by banks because the notes had turned out to be counterfeit. Our story tells you how to recognise a fake note from a real one and what to do if you happen to be given a counterfeit currency note.

Everyone in the Government understands just where this problem can lead. In the course of our investigation, we found that just like in our response to conventional terror, there was no co-ordination between various agencies involved in this case. It is an appalling state of affairs.

Our economy, the foundation of India’s strength and confidence, is under attack and this situation requires an intelligent and swift response. The currency notes may be fake but their consequences are very real.

Fake Currency: Terror’s Tool
When a thief enters a house the watchdog barks. If the inmates do not wake up, it barks again, and then again. If the inmates still do not awaken, should the watchdog stop barking? This scribe is facing a similar dilemma. According to official sources the threat of terror has reached new heights. The amount of fake Indian currency in existence today is huge. According to one national daily, in UP alone over Rs 40 crore is estimated to be in circulation.

The CBI has confirmed that two sets of currency notes with the same serial numbers have been seized in branches of nationalized banks. It has claimed that the fake notes were brought into India through Nepal by Pakistan’s ISI. The CBI has also confirmed that the fake currency notes are of such fine quality that they are indistinguishable from genuine notes. That is why branches of the State Bank of India can pass off fake notes as genuine currency. But, all said, can this happen if some bank officials are not complicit with anti-national elements? Elements that use the fake currency for crime and terrorism?

Every single element of this information has been written about explicitly and repeatedly by this scribe: he wrote these facts in March 2000, in June 2000, in March 2002, in July 2004 and in August 2006. All this time, the fake currency racket was expanding, but had not reached its present dimension. It was pointed out that fake currency greatly facilitated terrorism – that it was masterminded by foreign powers. Indeed, it was pointed out that the sheer volume of fake currency, indistinguishable from genuine notes, could destroy India’s economy without terrorism! It was pointed out, too, that the Reserve Bank’s admission that it could not authenticate currency notes in a particular fake currency police case meant that, for all practical purposes, there was no legal tender in the country. Finally, it was pointed out that using the same machines to print currency notes and stamp paper was a procedure followed for both fake currency notes and fake stamp paper. The money thus generated in both scams was of course exploited by terrorists.

This scribe’s involvement in the subject originated in 1995. A section of the bureaucracy made available to him information regarding the government’s decision to purchase inferior and unreliable printing machines for manufacture of currency notes, thereby replacing machines of a tried and tested firm which had served the country well for over a hundred years. He filed public interest litigation against the RBI in the High Court of Judicature in Mumbai to prevent use of the new machines for printing currency notes. His plea was that the proven record of the new machines, Komori of Japan, endangered national security because fake notes not distinguishable from genuine notes could be easily manufactured for deployment by terrorists. To cut a long story short, the RBI accepted every single argument of the petitioner. It conceded that Komori machines presented “a risk factor” and “teething troubles”. It admitted that the earlier machines, Giori of Switzerland, which printed currency for ninety per cent of the nations in the world, were markedly superior. It confirmed that the use of Komori machines in Russia had ended in disaster. The machines had to be abandoned for printing currency.

Despite these admissions, all on record, the court rejected the petition. RBI’s main argument was that the monopoly of Giori needed to be ended! Without a thought for national security, and the facts marshaled by the petitioner’s counsel, the court rejected the petition.

An eminent lawyer argued for RBI. This scribe was acquainted with him. The lawyer impertinently suggested that this scribe’s petition was in some way linked to those who were contesting the award to Komori on behalf of its Swiss rival, Giori. When the national security angle was drummed into his ears he said: “Why did you not approach me earlier?” Had that been done would he have changed his view of the case? Was that all that the case meant to him – a clash of sordid commercial interests? My respect for him fell many notches. The judiciary and the legal fraternity failed miserably in this case.

The politicians fared no better. Even before the public interest litigation was filed, Parliament had discussed the government’s proposal to buy these new untried machines for printing currency. Among the several MPs who criticized the government’s move was Somnath Chatterjee. But once Komori got the award the MPs lost interest. It seemed that they were interested mainly in the commercial aspects of the case. A Kolkata based industrialist was rooting for Giori to get the award. Dr Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister when Komori got the contract to print currency notes. He maintained silence throughout the controversy. When a few years later it transpired that fake notes with the same serial numbers as genuine notes could not be differentiated even by the RBI, rendering the notion of legal tender defunct, Yashwant Sinha was the Finance Minister. He too remained silent on this affair. So, regardless of party affiliation, the politicians as a class failed miserably in this case.

During the decade or so when this scribe fought the case in court and wrote about the danger of fake currency in the media, not one newspaper highlighted the scandalous manner of awarding the contract to Komori for printing currency notes, and how this endangered national security. This scribe personally phoned and requested colleagues better placed than him, and occupying key positions in the media, to take up the matter. Not one obliged. So, in this case the media also failed miserably in this case.

The National Security Adviser has revealed that there are over 800 terrorist cells operating in the country. With the kind of easy money floating around, should that cause any surprise? And with the easy attitude evident in the establishment to matters related to national security, as revealed by the fake currency scam, was not escalation of terrorism inevitable? The government took security steps to prevent exact replication of currency notes. These steps became effective after 2005. The fake currency notes therefore are dated before 2005.

Politicians, experts, retired bureaucrats and media pundits favor the enactment of tougher new laws to fight terrorism. They sound pathetic. Considering the approach to fighting terror revealed by the fake currency racket, do they seriously believe that new laws would help solve the problem of terrorism?

Fake currency notes, new mode of terrorism?
Barely weeks have passed since we lost hundreds of innocent lives in Ahmedabad and Bangalore terror blasts. In the recent days, several live bombs have been found in the ’diamond city of India’, Surat. Terrorism is changing its face; sometime, it’s in a radio, sometime it’s in a pressure cooker and sometime it’s on a bicycle.

Indians are being terrorised by such acts. People are killed and probes are done. Our economy is hoped to reach the eight to nine per cent growth. But, what will happen to an economy, which is being flooded by fake currencies? Somebody has termed as ‘economic subversion’ while others call it as ’economic terrorism’. When ‘legal tender’, the ‘fiat money’ of a country is quietly being replaced by good quality ‘paper’ but sometimes have the same numbers and series (as real one), who can question the ‘legality’ of those ‘papers’, which are in huge circulation in this country?

An estimate suggests that stupendous more than Rs 1,69,000 crores of fake currencies are in wide circulation in our country and out of which more than Rs 40 crores may be in Uttar Pradesh itself.

Recent acts of economic terror has been found in Abid, in Doomariaganj of UP where from a bank’s currency chest fake notes have been seized. Though quantum of currency note is officially seized is not more than Rs 5 lakh, the deadliest part of this seizure is the modus operandi of this conspiracy, which is having enough potential to derail our bugging economy.

Look, the serial numbers on the fake money lying in the currency chest of the bank were the same as that of genuine notes. This establishes the two facts, the gang members would have known the number of currency notes lying in the currency chest of the bank and at their ‘printing press’ these numbers would have been informed. Second fact is more dangerous that there must be collusion between these gang members and the bank officials handling cash of that branch. If the hands of terrorists are spread to an institution which is nerve of economy, the catastrophe may not be far away.

Apart from that it has been told that the quality of papers, the quality of printing are of such a fine quality that it is not possible to differentiate between a genuine and a fake one. It also highlights the facts that advanced technology is being used to print such fake notes.

The fake currency notes are certainly posing grave threat to the Indian economy and the government is also aware of these facts.

Fake Currency: A Threat
More than a quarter of the currency in the hands of the public in India currently may be counter-feit. Intelligence Bureau (IB) estimated that fake currency amounting to a mind-boggling Rs 1, 69,000 crore is floating in India. It appears that this fake currency is being pumped in through the official banking system. In Uttar Pradesh in the first week of August, fake currency amounting to nearly Rs 3 Crore was found stashed in chests of the SBI and ICICI Bank.

The banking system is now being used by insiders to circulate fake currency. This was corroborated by what the suspects held in Uttar Pradesh had told police. The central bank has been largely ineffective in monitoring the banking system to check the circulation of counterfeit currency. They have not been able to put in place any comprehensive mechanism to check the entry and spread of fake currency.

Intelligence inputs that Pakistan’s Infer Services Intelligence (ISI) pumps in over Rs. 13 crore annually to fund terrorist activities in Mumbai alone has startled the city police. The fact that this funding is being carried out by dumping fake India currency has put both the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and the crime branch on alert. Obviously the ISI is cleverly fighting a proxy war in India, that too with Indian money, bleeding our financial system while spilling blood on the streets. The counterfeit currency smuggled in by air and land is handed over to local agents for distribution.

This money is used to finance terror-related activities and make payments to cadres of terrorist organizations and underworld outfits close to the ISI. According to the crime branch, small amounts of fake currency are smuggled in by Bangladeshi nationals through India’s porous eastern borders from places like Murshidabad and Bashirhat. The larger quantities arrive from Dubai, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Karachi and Kolkata.

The entire terrorist network is sustained using genuine currency acquired from within India. A key sector where intelligence and security officials believe that large amounts of fake currency have entered the system is the property market. Unless the property market is regulated it is very easy for an individual to pump a few lakh rupees into the official economy every few days. Many of the officials are now calling for immediate measures to flush out fake currency from the system. Random checks across India in currency chests and bank branches should be the first step. Simultaneously state governments have to put in place a system to curtail the movement of large amounts of cash into the system and from the system in the form of, say, property deals.

The amount of fake currency being pumped in overland has come down over the years. But the state is still to take strict action at sea. The Jhakhau and Mendhi stretches near Kutch are considered the most vulnerable sea routes. These counterfeit notes are hard to identify and come in handy for terrorists while arranging logistic like rented accommodation and vehicles for travel. The money is being pumped in from almost all over the country which is a big threat to the country and need to be checked.

Maoist movement on the wane?

By Ayaan Khan

The inability of the Maoists to strike and disrupt the election process in the state has given a reason for the police to believe that the endgame of the naxalites is near, irrespective of which party or coalition comes to power in Andhra Pradesh. “The number of Maoists in the state is now down to 400. Even though they want everybody to believe that they are lying low and will strike at an opportune time, such a possibility is becoming remote,” an analyst said. “Occasional strikes in Vizag, Khammam and East Godavari are no cause for worry,” he added.

The police claim that it was a combination of political and tactical strategy that shut out the naxals from striking during the elections. Since the breakdown of talks with the naxals in August 2005, the ruling Congress did not show any sign of relenting its pressure on the naxalites.

But what really turned the tide against the naxals was the ambush on the police party in Balimela on Andhra-Orissa border in June last year in which 30 Greyhounds had lost their lives. Even before this incident, rural youth was weaned away from joining the Maoists by the lure of education, training and employment. It is claimed that the police too were restrained from wholesale harassment and torture of those villagers who were not involved in the movement directly.

But the hardcore naxals were not spared, and in a series of combing operations, men were flushed out, forcing the others to either flee the state or abandon the movement altogether. This multi-pronged policy paid good dividends with the majority of the districts particularly in Telangana and Rayalaseema reporting negligible number of Maoist-related violence.

Against this background, if the Congress retains power or forms the next government seeking support from some smaller political parties, it would ensure that the process it has consolidated against the Maoists should reach a logical conclusion of finishing off the movement.

The TDP too has been at the receiving end of Maoist violence with their president N Chandrababu Naidu having a close shave in 2003. Therefore, indications are that if the TDP emerges as a strong partner of the Grand Alliance and forms the government, it would continue with the policy pursued by the Congress and finish off the Maoists from the state soil. But if the Mahakutami partner TRS, which is known for its sympathetic disposition towards the naxalites, emerges stronger within the alliance, the TDP might not have such a free rein.

As against the Congress and Mahakutami, the newly emerging political force in the form of Prajarajyam Party demonstrated its softness towards the Maoists. It allowed many former extremists into its fold and is said to be maintaining good relations with several front organizations of the movement. Sensing the mood in the PRP, the Maoists wanted it to tie-up with the TRS so that they get a party in power that would allow them recover their lost ground. But somehow, this did not happen. Now in the post-election scenario, as predicted by many surveys, PRP on its own would not be in a position to form the next government. The chances are that in a hung assembly, the new party might go with the Congress in forming the government. In that case it would not be able to influence a change in the Maoist polity.

The People’s Princess?

By M H Ahssan

Once upon a time there was a young woman who walked with kings but had the common touch. She was easy on the eye, had money, charitable instincts and delighted in being a mother. That was Diana, the late Princess of Wales. And you thought we were talking about Priyanka Vadra…

For years, she was seen as inheritor of the family crown. But Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has made it known that she would rather make cupcakes for her children than make political hay of her lineage.

Strange in a country that regards anyone bearing the Gandhi name as royalty? No, says Rizwan Qaiser of the department of history, Jamia Millia Islamia University, who has tracked Priyanka’s career for years. “She walks with kings and yet keeps in touch with the common people,” he says. Does that make her a “people’s princess” a la Princess Diana?

Image management expert Dilip Cherian says, “Diana’s focus was to make the monarchy more charity-oriented but Priyanka is a ‘people’s princess’ in a more political way. While Diana’s focus was distinctly outside the monarchy, Priyanka’s focus is out and out political.”

Qaiser adds that “Diana was into charity without being political. Priyanka is into hard politcs without seeking power. They belong to different worlds, different contexts.”

But it is undeniable that Priyanka’s refusal to join active politics has added to media and public interest. Qaiser points out that “she has personal qualities that attract media attention, apart from her looks and resemblance to Indira Gandhi. She also tends to appear unconcerned about politics and that creates a mystery about her that keeps them guessing.”

Add to that the paradox of being Priyanka, “in politics and yet in a state of denial. It worked like magic for Mahatma Gandhi,” says Qaiser. The Congress party is seen to have realized the public response Priyanka evoked as she appeared in Rae Bareli and Amethi wearing Indira Gandhi’s saris. “She’s extremely articulate and very measured for her age. She holds a lot of potential for the Congress in her own right and not just as Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter,” says Qaiser.

But Cherian sees her as playing second fiddle right now. “She’s the archetypal image of one playing a supporting role and she does it impeccably. Her two props include, first, confining herself to the two constituencies in UP and second, when she’s there, harking back to the past, drawing upon the image of Indira Gandhi and providing a link to the previous generation.” That’s seems a long way off from the girl who wore “Janpath ke kapde”, remembers Kamal Aggarwal, a former Hindi professor from Delhi’s Jesus and Mary College, where Priyanka studied in the early 1990s. “She was a normal, well-behaved girl, with no pretense, sitting in the college canteen like everyone else, though her securitymen would get paranoid.”

Priyanka recently said she would be an ordinary person but for her family name. Qaiser see the confession as a sign that she is “conscious of what capacity she has while chatting with the media. She knows what works.”

Diabetics more prone to Swine Flu infection

By M H Ahssan

A crucial finding by clinicians in Mexico, the country where the deadly H1N1 flu virus originated, could have India worried.

Initial observations made by the World Health Organisation, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mexican clinicians, who studied the first 40 deaths in Mexico, show that people with underlying conditions like asthma, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), immunosuppressive illnesses like HIV, diabetes and TB appear to be at greater risk of hospitalisation or death if infected with H1N1.

India, which is yet to report a positive H1N1 infection, and is presently testing the throat sample of a Jet Airways ground staff in Delhi for H1N1 infection, has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of people with such illnesses.

India diagnoses 1.8 million new cases of TB every year with 370,000 deaths. The country is home to 2.35 million HIV positive people and has 15 million asthmatics. CVDs have become the leading cause of death with heart attacks projected to kill 2 million by 2010.

Even though experts said the finding was preliminary, they agreed that a few trends had begun to emerge. Dr V M Katoch, ICMR’s director general, told TOI, “People with HIV, TB and CVDs are in the high risk group. Uncontrolled outbreak of H1N1 could pose a problem, specially to this community. They have to be better looked after in case of a positive infection.”

Dr Sylvie Briand, project leader of WHO’s global Influenza Programme, said, “We reviewed all the severe cases that Mexico had and were able to differentiate two types of people that are at risk of severe illness. One group had previously healthy people, who got sick and experienced rapid deterioration of their health with most of them having died of acute viral pneumonia. The second group had people with chronic underlying conditions such as diabetes, TB, cardiovascular diseases. In these people, viral pneumonia progressed into acute respiratory distress. So they died mostly of respiratory and major organ failure.”

Dr Briand added, “These findings are interesting because in earlier pandemics too, we have seen two types of complications, one being viral pneumonia caused by the virus and the second one being bacterial pneumonia.”

Experts say viral pneumonia may be a result of the cytokine storm, in which the body’s own immune reaction to a new virus floods the lungs with fluid. It can progress faster and be harder to treat than bacterial pneumonia.

Earlier, scientists had made some other interesting findings about the H1N1 virus. The average age of those who got infected by the flu was around 25 while its incubation period was 1-5 days. Over half of those infected with this virus suffered from increased bouts of diarrhoea besides leading to severe respiratory distress like pneumonia. In India, samples of 36 suspected cases of swine flu have been tested and found negative.

H1N1 flu now in 29 countries
The number of confirmed H1N1 swine flu cases in humans jumped by nearly 1,000 cases in one day, with the deadly virus now found in 29 countries across the globe. On Sunday, the World Health Organisation said the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 — the virus that has brought the world on the brink of a pandemic — was 4,379. It was 3,440 on Saturday. The virus has killed over 50 people till now with Costa Rica reporting its first death. The victim was a 53-year-old man who was suffering from diabetes and had a chronic pulmonary condition. The virus has also infected eight other Costa Ricans.

When will politicos selling masks take off theirs?

By M H Ahssan

Politicians’ face masks have been a big hit during this general elections. Photographs of children, women and men wearing these masks at poll rallies got noticeable space in newspapers. Going by photographs splashed in media, most of these masks bore the faces of Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Narendra Modi and L K Advani.

None of the four needed their masks to be worn by people to feel good about their own popularity. These masks were needed by local politicians to hide the failure in governance or their duty as elected representatives and divert the attention of people, who now had once-in-five-years chance to fasten accountability.

India has achieved much in the last 62 years since gaining independence but the ills of casteism and poverty continue to plague it and cast a shadow on most of its developmental strides.

The main architect of the Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar, participating in one of the debates in Constituent Assembly, had poignantly said, “Henceforth, the politicians cannot blame the colonial power for the ills of the country, but only themselves.”

Whom can people blame for the ills of casteism and poverty having a vice-like grip on society and the masses? Politicians? Could be.

Politicians across party lines have always worn the mask of eagerness and professed their commitment to decimate casteism and the social division it has caused. But they have indefinitely carried forward the provisions of reservation that was meant only for a very limited period. They have also e n g i n e e re d many horizontal expansions of reservation to broadbase its benefits.

If that is true, why have parties selected candidates for this election on the basis of their caste so as to enable them to reap a good harvest of votes? Why have political parties attempted to mask the candidate’s individual standing by his caste?

Is it permissible for politicians to talk about high ideals in Parliament and Assemblies and do just the reverse. Probably this is why, the Supreme Court in Ambika Prasad Mishra vs State of UP [1980 SCC (3) 719] had said, “Legislatures must act on hard realities, not on g l i t t e r i n g ideals which fail to work.” A year later, in its judgment in Akhil B h a r at i ya Soshit Karmachari Sangh (Railway) vs UOI [1981 SCC (1) 246], a fivejudge constitution bench of the SC said, “The politics of power cannot sabotage principles of one man, one value.”

It went on to quote from the famous book ‘Asian Drama’, in which author Gunnar Myrdal wrote, “At election times, caste groups function as political vote banks whereby the ballots of their members are joined to the candidate with a party label. For this reason alone, local political bosses have a vested interest in preserving the social and economic status quo and exploiting it as a matrix for political action.”

How far our political system has addressed the root cause behind continuance of casteism, except for carrying forward reservations, does not need an honest field survey by a sociologist. As long as political parties do not get over this obsession with caste and its relevance in the electoral battlefield, there is little that can be done at the macro level to free this country from the vice of casteism. That is, when will they take off their caste masks and perform as true believers in the country’s capability?

Indian Housewives- Awesome or Troublesome?

By Samiya Anwar

Are we traditionally bound or at default. Most people argue. The stereotypes continue everywhere. We, the women get a raw deal all over the world especially the ‘Housewife’ has always been a negative term. People (including men and women) consider it outdated And to be a housewife means something unfashionable, even retrogressive, though it is not anonymous that several women over centuries have been admired and honored as ideals of femininity for their deep devotion to their husbands and families. The ubiquitous of Sitas and Savitris still continue. Is this sound good or conflicting?

I was appalled to notice even the young girls I know in many countries give up their jobs after they get married and they are proud of it too. It is not easy. Stay-at-home is not worry-free. It is effortful. But still they choose to be at home and to them being a housewife means, being original and “you’re your own boss”. There are options of doing and managing house in our own way says my Reshma, 20something, a housewife. I wonder as to how. Is being housewife awesome or troublesome?

If we see, with increasing educational qualifications and economic independence, many women are breaking free and asserting their right to their own choices. It cannot be denied, right. But this rising self-determination is at a price. Very sad, marriages are breaking up. Divorces are on the rise, extremely bad and children are traumatizing, very awful. So I say there is no wrong being a housewife by choice. It is no shame and not by default in particular. All stereotypes are ridiculous because according to research by academics at the University of Virginia, 52% of modern housewives describe themselves as “very happy” with their marriages compared with 41% of working women

Housewives constitute a large section of the population, yet they have received very little attention. Talking about our country, India the housewives here are dressed in saris as traditional outfit and some put on shalwar-kameez. They are happy with the life they have and LOVE to spend the day cleaning house and cooking. Their world is limited to toddlers, grocery stores (tarkaari-bhaaji), day-time TV, and gossips with neighbors and moreover husbands. And mind it, most husband loves their wives to be housewives.

From a 3-year multi-site survey of India’s urban and rural women it is concluded that 2 in 3 women living in India’s cities are overweight. Surprisingly 66% urban women are obese. And why not, confined to four walls more women spend hours watching popular saas-bahu sagas. Thanks to Star plus Indian housewives are well-liked. They are addicted to television and in 8 out of 10 houses housewives feel a compulsion to watch the television. If not they feel bore and stressed with housework, it’s sad. But a lot of these women sense loneliness. So, it is troublesome too.

Kavita, a housewife says, television is a great stress-buster. While, Nandani opines that Internet provides a large number of stress-free activities like blogging, gaming and chatting. And importantly Indian housewives are more religiously devoted to prayers and worship daily. Moreover, 80 out of 100 housewives are positive and don’t think they are burden to their male counterparts or as servants. They call themselves “homemakers” not housewives.

However other countries paint the world of housewives in a different way. A few, get married, without realizing what life in the West really involves especially U.S, Spain, Mexico, Canada, France and Germany – being a housewife is not the same as being a housewife in India – no family to call or visit, no friendly bai to chat or neighbors to gossip with, few places you can walk to, in larger cities. So most housewives spend time on home-made business, work-from-home jobs, etc. which becomes essential to beat boredom.

And nearly 55% of housewives involved in parenting as 24*7 job. They portray a complete different lifestyle from Indians. Largely, the time spent of Am-ree-kans is on computers, and gadgets. But they exercise and keep fit for the sake of husbands who hate to look at fluffy women. And the same when those women (housewives) return to India after spending a portion of life, it is a challenge to live in motherland. In the west the ladies half-of-their-life disburse wearing trousers, tank tops, and spaghettis, short skirts, slacks, etc. and find India backward and crummy.

They don’t like saris any more. These are the same ladies who once had a culture shock in U.S and other countries, now sport the western look in a confident manner. Though others in India often goes embarrassed with the talk and walk of those housewives and their alter ness. They start thinking contrary. Revealing skin and showing-off body is thought as hot and sexy. So, it causes trouble quite uncomfortable for them to live in own country after migration, they end up returning to abroad soon

And in the Gulf countries like Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen the housewives are more pious and strict observant of religious laws and practices. The women migrating from other countries find the life there very different.

The housewives are not allowed to go out without husbands, so more and more women become housewives forcibly. If allowed, it is only in teaching profession the men support. By choice or default, women in gulf remain housewives raising children and performing religious acts. The housewives particularly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and UAE spend their leisure more in sleep and develop fat very easily. Sleeping becomes their hobby.

They also tend to become lazy in few years of stay which men and others in the family abhor. Unexpectedly, the young girls in 20-something look like aunties after a comeback, they are usually in double weight and more inactive. It is annoying and irksome. It was reported in a recent survey that the housewives spend 12-14 hours in sleeping as there is less to do in house, family members are also limited. Most of the housewives find the Indian families large and work tedious compared to the life of Saudi Arabia, truly.

Not surprisingly even to this day, housework is perceived by many societies as the natural role of women. Though some housewives say, working women are smarter and appealing as their life is not restricted. And some don’t feel for either growth or development, mostly those are rural housewives. Because today, it is seen that many housewives has managed to build career from homes. The hobbies of sewing, crafting, designing, writing, cooking has appreciated the “women in doors”.

A housewife is more like a “Domestic Engineer”, “Domestic Designer” who does a job of household. However, “To be a housewife is a difficult, a wrenching, sometimes and an ungrateful job if it is looked on only as a job. Regarded as a profession, it is the noblest as it is the most ancient of the catalogue. Let none persuade us differently or the world is lost indeed”. Well, being a housewife is awesome, not troublesome!

Girl Rag Pickers: Struggle for Survival

By M H Ahssan

The process of industrialization in India brought about fundamental changes in the mode of production and in the relationship of productive factors. The mechanization made agriculture capital intensive. Those with small and non-viable land holdings had to give up their lands and work for the richer farmers in the village or migrate to cities for their survival. The industries could not absorb the whole displaced labour, unemployment and poverty compelled the whole family, including the children to work. The profit motivated to traders and businessmen began to look for cheap labour. Child labour was found to be cheaper and easily available. Thus began the exploitation of child labour market, not only in India, but also in most of the developing countries.

The children engaged in the survival battle and that too, for a virtually subhuman existence, especially in unorganized sector. In this sector children have very limited occupational mobility, because of lack of education, skills, training and guidance, and have no occupational choice.

Their day begins with uncertainties and their work is irregular, some time it’s depend upon season. The job they do show a wide range depending on availability of work- carrying load, vending, shoe shining, cleaning cars, and rag picking which require hardly any skills. It is one of the most common occupation in which thousand of children are engaged. It is estimated that six out of every ten children involve in this work to eke out their living. Motivations for the children to pick up this work for economic support is easy availability of rags in and around the towns without spending money and this work does not involved employers for employment.

Therefore, their work is either controlled by their own interest or by their family. They are called as such though they pick anything but rags. They collect scraps from streets, market places, garbage bins and waste dumps, picking up material such as paper cardboard, plastic, iron scrap, tin containers, and broken glass, in fact anything thrown away by households, shops, workshops, or other establishment that can be sold to dealer who buy these for the recycling industry.

Undoubtedly, the present work expose them to the several types of health hazards like infection form coming into contact with foe cal contaminants, dead animals and hook worm, gastrointestinal infections and danger of accidents; injuries and disease through contacts with sharp material and poisonous substance as they scrounge with bare hands and sometime even bare feet. Such kind of situations become worst in the case of “girl child”, when they are exposed to the risk of sexual harassment and physical exploitation by the people of outside world. Because of which their moral and psychological development is at stake.

The participation of children in economic activities reflects the socio economic status of the nation. The poorer the nation, there is likelihood the large number of its children are found more in work places rather than in schools. Children are required to work supplement their family income or acquire skills to become self employed or independent persons. While child labour is a product of poverty, illiteracy and ignorance of parents, girl child labour is the result of many complex issues. There is discrimination amongst male and female starting from their conception. Most of the female fetuses are brutally killed even in their embryonic life.

The misery does not end there, even if they survive some how, they are discriminated at home, school, social places and place of work. As soon as the girl child starts walking and is able to understand language, work is entrusted to her as a routine affair. The girl child has to understand a variety of tasks in and outside the house. There is a strong sex typing of roles as regard to the work that female and male children do. The burden of household duties falls largely upon the female child. At the same time female children are also faced to work and earn for the family.

Without realizing the consequences the girl children are made to shoulder many responsibilities. They are groomed to behave in a different way from the boys. By the time they are 11 or 12, they generally become docile, obey the order of elders in the family and are destined to do whatever is entrusted to them. Girl child labour is not only deprived of their education and recreation, but their overall development also gets affected. A study shows that the female child labour in rural areas is 6.9 million and in urban areas is 7.94 million. In fact in many places of work, they out number their male counterpart (Jawa, 2000). These female child workers earn less wages and work for more hours, both at home and at work place.

Girls are the most unprotected among street children and are more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, especially those who have crossed puberty. They have no guidance on the changes that take place with puberty and on sexual matters. While engaging in rag picking they come into contact with several types of health hazards like skin infections, cuts, T.B, malaria and develop other social evils such as gambling , drug abuse, prostitution and different kind of exploitation-physical, sexual which effects their over all development.

It is a matter of great concern that majority of girls (69%) start rag picking at the age of 6 years and work continuously for long hours without any rest. Thus they are deprived of opportunity for any active and organized play, which could provide some leisure and psychological satisfaction to them. Because of their dirty and shabby appearance they are not allowed to use recreational parks and other places, hence they find satisfaction in seeking excitement by way of indulging in addiction and other social evils. It has been reported that 80% of girls are addicted to one or other type of drug, in which tobacco chewing is the most common drug i.e., 60%. It is evident form this that the children between the age group of 13-16 years and above are most vulnerable to addiction of one or the other and need focused intervention.

As far as concern about duration of working hours, the children working in the “informal sector” are not governed by any regulation. It is ironical that, while the society has not accepted children to work, no such body of rules for those working in the informal sector has been constituted. Nor is there any supervision by the government of the kind of “informal sector” in which the children are engaged. The consequence of which is that majority of girls 63% work 11-12 hours a day and some works more than 12 hours a day, which is more than the working hours prescribed under the factories Act and that too is for adults. A study(bose,2001) reported that 70% girls faced problem of eve teasing, physical abuse and also sexual abuse by the outside people which include watch men, guard, , shop keepers, tea shop and other general public.

Health is one of the basic human needs and access to health services is right of everyone. Health has a broader meaning referring to “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”. In other words, health encompasses psycho-socio-somatic development in medical science and improvement in provision of health services, but this has not occurred every where and benefits have not percolated to everyone. The rag picker children constituted that section of population who has not benefited form these advancement and services. The social conditions in which these children live have often precluded them from actual enjoyment of the right to have access to health facilities at per with other sections of the society. The situation turns out to be further worse due to neglect towards the health of the girl child in our society. In addition, shortage of health facilities and functionaries in the localities where they live adds to the neglect of their health needs. Added to this is the greater degree of malnutrition due to poverty. All these handicaps on health front combine together to affect the health of the rag picker girls. It is an important point to note that rag picker girls did not get regular meals or got only one meal in a day. It is unfortunate that they worked long hours and walked 10-15 miles each day virtually on empty stomach. The major circumstances responsible for malnutrition and addiction are “environment” in which they work and live. Most of the girls have cuts, injuries, joint pain, skin infections, stomach pain, body pain and the possibility of STD, AIDS and other infectious disease are also prevalent among this group(Khan, 2006).

Undoubtedly, numerous effects have been made by the government with the help of voluntary welfare agencies to promote general health status of women and children. But, by and large, the health status of women and children, especially girl children, remains unchanged among the rural poor, urban slums and tribal areas.

A matter of great concern is that with the urbanization, and the increase in volume of throwaway packing and waste material, the numbers of such children are growing. The present work exposes the children to health hazards and they also develop social evils and different kind of problems, which affect their overall future development. Moreover rag picking has not even been recognized as an occupation by the census. Since most of the children draw their livelihood out of rag picking work and it has got all the components of an occupations defined by Webster’s encyclopedia unabridged Dictionary of English language, which says that “occupation is an activity in which one regular devotes oneself, especially one’s regular work, or means of getting a living,” therefore it should be considers as an occupation so that plight of all those who are involved could be improved.. The future holds no promises for them. They are thus who are denied the joys of childhood, a favorable living environment, and opportunities for stable adult life.

A sad story of Indian Ragpickers

By M H Ahssan

She only knows at the end of each day whether there will be enough money to survive tomorrow. Does this woman have rights, the right to produce a child? Or should someone else decide what her rights are, and conclude that sterilisation is the only option.

Every morning, as I walk down the road where I live, I see a young woman rag picker. She stands in a mountain of garbage, generated by a housing colony of Central government officials, and rescues from it anything that can be recycled. She wears no gloves or protective gear.

Some months ago, I noticed that she now has a young child. He is a cute little boy with dark bright eyes and a mop of curly hair. Most days, the child is deposited on the pavement across the road as the mother sorts through the garbage. Quite often you see him crying inconsolably. He is hungry. Strangers and friends of the mother sometimes drop off food for the child — a packet of biscuits, or a banana. For a short while, the child is distracted and stops yelling. One day when he was particularly inconsolable, I called out to the mother. “Why don’t you feed your child?” I asked. “I have,” she yelled back, “but I also have to work to be able to feed him tomorrow.” I was effectively silenced.

No plan for such children
Millions of Indian children are conceived, born and just grow up, like this little boy of the rag picker. There is no plan for their future. The mother does not know what she will feed him, when she will feed him, whether he will go to school or not, for how long he will stay in school, what clothes he will wear, whether he will have any clothes to wear. And if he falls sick, she doesn’t know what she will do? Will her child live or die?

It is a terrible story. But it is real. And in some ways, it exemplifies what some people like to call the “population problem”. This young woman works bent double in a pile of garbage for many hours, risking her health. She sleeps in the alcove of an old wall that once formed the perimeter of a Maharaja’s palace. She only knows at the end of each day whether there will be enough money to survive tomorrow. So does this woman have rights, reproductive rights, the right to produce a child? Or should someone decide for her what her rights are?

For middle class India, it is women like this who are seen as “the problem”. They can hardly earn enough to survive, we are told, and yet they have babies. No one bothers to ask why they end up having babies, whether there was a choice, whether a woman sleeping on the street can fend off unwanted attention, and whether as a consequence of an unwanted encounter, she can choose what to do. Can she have a safe abortion? Is there someone who will advise her? Does she know about contraception? Does she have access to affordable health care? Does anyone care?

I think of this woman each time I read or hear about the “population problem”. It is now 10 years since the International Conference on Population and Development was held in Cairo where India was a signatory to a document that acknowledged that women had reproductive rights and choice. In other words, they had to be viewed as people who had rights, including the right to choose how and whether they control their fertility. For this, their ability to access health care for themselves and their children was as important as fertility-related health interventions.

Yet, although this has been accepted as policy, in fact there is little by way of rights, or even basic health care that comes the way of millions of poor women like this rag picker.

In practice, the only choice they are given is to get sterilised. “Stop having any more babies. That is best for you and for the country”, they are told. As a result, despite the rhetoric, reproductive health still consists of sterilisations, mainly of poor women. Even if women accept tubectomies as the only way out of situations where they cannot control their fertility, the process places them at huge risk. A recent study of the situation in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, by Healthwatch, a network for action and research on women’s health, tells many horror stories. For instance, the norm established by the government for the number of tubectomies that should be done in a day in a “camp”, that is a temporary facility that is established specifically to perform tubectomies on women, is 20 cases per day per camp. The Healthwatch survey of 11 camps revealed that the average number of operations per camp was closer to 100 per day with doctors taking just three minutes to conduct a tubectomy.

Terrifying tubectomies
Women were lined up, administered anaesthetic and then left to wait until their turn came. Often the anaesthetic would wear out by the time they were placed on the table or rather an operation station designed for the doctor’s comfort. The woman would have her head hanging down, her sari petticoat covering her face as the doctor used the laparoscope to get to work on her reproductive tract. The activists could hear women moaning and crying out in pain.

What happens to these women once the operation has been performed is well documented. They have practically no access to health care if complications arise, as they must given the conditions under which these operations are performed.

Reports last year had revealed that bicycle pumps were used in these camps to pump air into the abdomen while conducting laparoscopic tubectomies. Sreelatha Menon’s essay in The Unheard Scream: Reproductive Health and Women’s Lives in India, published by Zubaan, gives a terrifying account of this method.

Yet, even as we come to the end of 2009, the thinking behind such callous treatment of women, just because they possess the ability to create human life, continues virtually unchanged. Women activists have expressed legitimate concern about the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre wanting to launch a “sharply targeted population control programme” in the 150 odd “high fertility districts”. For the women in these districts who have been the “targets” for decades, life will continue as before. My rag picker should thank her lucky stars that she is not one of them.

Sun’s dippers raise riddle storms

By M H Ahssan

“Now there’s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.”

A quieter sun is sporting fewer black eyes, and we could have reasons to be concerned. The fewer sunspots, the hole-like dark blotches seen on the solar face, means the sun has been its least active in the past 100 years, scientists say.

Sunspots are considered the best available indicator of solar activity. A prolonged phase of a more internally peaceful sun could cause significant climate changes on Earth. Cooler weather will affect crop patterns, or even cause a “Little Ice Age”, scientists theorize.

In an increasingly inter-connected world, Asia, as the world’s largest populated continent, is unlikely to escape geographic or economic side effects.

Not surprisingly, prominent Asian solar scientists such as Arnab Rai Choudhury of the premier Indian Institute of Science have invested over a quarter of a century of time studying sunspots.

Sunspots are riddles giving new twists in a 4.6 billion-year-old story (the estimated age of the sun). Question marks over sunspots reflect the continuing mystery of this ordinary little yellow dwarf star, one of millions of similar nondescript stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Yet the sun contains 98% of the total mass of the solar system, and its interior is so vast it can hold over 1.3 million Earths.

Sunspots offer clues to internal solar mood swings. The number of sunspots indicates the intensity of nuclear reactions deep within the solar core, at mind-boggling temperatures of between 15 million to 20 million degrees Celsius.

These inner solar upheavals eject energy, heat and light that keep us alive. But like many things in life that come as double-edge swords, the sun’s inner turmoil could also cause catastrophe on earth. More sunspots would mean more violent solar storms that can destroy satellite-dependent communication systems and electricity supplies for millions of people.

The laws of nature of course apply equally to all animate and inanimate matter. Just as very disturbed people will inevitably disturb others, a very internally disturbed sun suffering excessive inner turmoil will disturb the Earth.

While more tangibly felt disasters, like the swine flu, can hog obvious headlines, any abnormal solar mood swings could be no less significant given earth’s dependency on the sun. This is why sunspot-watching could gain more importance than ever before.

Scientists have used sunspots to track the approximately 11-year cycles of intense solar activity. In the ongoing sun cycle, year 2008 should have been relatively inactive and 2009 was scheduled to have a cyclic upsurge in solar activity, according to some scientific estimates.

But fewer sunspots have been seen this year than expected. In 2008 the Ulysses space probe detected fewer sunspots, say scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Seventy-eight of the first 90 days of 2009 have been without sunspots, pointing to the dimmest solar activity in a hundred years. “Even the sun appears headed for a recession,” wryly observed the National Geographic journal on May 4.

The riddle is whether the current lesser number of sunspots is good or bad news, or a mixture of both. “Fewer sunspots means lesser solar activity and solar storms,” said Professor Arnab Rai Choudhuri, a leading physicist in the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science. “Solar storms can damage human-made satellites and also trip power grids on earth, particularly in geopolar countries like Canada.”

Solar storms are bursts of charged particles churned out from the sun’s inner nuclear upheavals, hurtling earthwards carrying billions of watts of power at speeds of millions of kilometers per second.

Excessive nuclear turmoil within the sun, as indicated by higher numbers of sunspots, can unleash potentially destructive solar storms. The last major solar storm 20 years ago blew out the power grid of Hydro-Quebec, one of North America’s largest electricity suppliers. At 2:44am on March 13, 1989, a magnetic storm hit a single transformer grid and caused a catastrophic collapse that brought down the entire grid in just 90 seconds. Nearly seven million people suffered without electricity and the Canadian government was left with a US$10 million repair bill.

But the downside of a quieter sun could be a colder climate. Scientists are debating the possibility of a “Little Ice Age”, like the one between 1645 and 1715 in Europe that caused glaciers to swallow entire villages and water to remain frozen for a year in Iceland in 1695. The National Geographic article of May 4 discussed the chances of this.

“Overwhelming evidence is building up that the sunspot cycle and related activity are correlated with global climate and temperature,” said a research paper [1] available at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

The authors said sunspots can affect the sea surface temperatures of the Earth’s three main oceans – the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian – as well as cloud cover and Indian monsoon rainfall.

But not all scientists are convinced sunspots can influence climatic patterns, and therefore dependent essentials such as food crops. “How much sunspots affect climate is still a subject of debate,” Professor Choudhari told Asia Times Online.

Choudhari, a leading Indian astrophysicist, developed his academically well-known “solar dynamo theory” to explain the inner workings of the sun. “I and my students have developed a code named Surya [a Sanskrit word meaning the sun] for solving the basic equations of solar dynamo theory,” he said.

Interestingly, Choudhary’s celebrated research paper “Sunspots and their cycles” had already predicted that the current sunspot cycle would be the weakest ever. This 2007 research paper, with his two PhD students Piyali Chatterjee and Jie Jiang from China [2], received the rare honor as “Editors’ suggestion” in the Physical Review Letters (PRL) of the American Physical Society. The PRL, considered the world’s foremost physics journal, ranks among leading scientific journals in any discipline.

More crucially, Choudhuri predicted that the next sunspot cycle will reach its peak in the years 2011-2012. If accurate, earthlings can expect increased solar storms.

“Not all sunspot cycles are of equal strength. Some are weak and some are strong,” said Choudhari, “A stronger cycle is more likely to cause these disturbances. Hence it is important to understand why different cycles are of unequal strength, [in order to] predict the strength of a sunspot cycle in advance.” An early warning can limit damage, such as reducing power loads on electric grids in solar storm prone regions.

Choudhari has been studying the sun for the past 25 years. “I was inspired after doing my PhD in physics from the University of Chicago under the supervision of Eugene Parker,” he said. Legendary physicist Eugene Parker is credited with path-breaking theories such as the existence of a solar wind – the stream of charged electronic particles, or plasma, ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun.

“More than 99% of the material in the universe exists in the plasma state – often called the fourth state of matter,” said Choudhari. “The sun, our nearest star, is an enormous plasma laboratory in which we observe many puzzling phenomena.”

In 1844, German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe discovered one such puzzle. He noticed that sunspots appear on the sun’s surface in a cyclic phase – in a period of 11 years in which they wax and wane by appearing in a higher number and a lower number.

The sunspot cycle nearing its peak unleashes violent solar phenomena such as gigantic explosions, called solar flares, or Coronal Mass Ejections, in which billions of tons of charged particles are hurled out of the solar surface at speeds of millions of kilometers per hour.

Sunspots are considered the oldest pointers to such spectacular solar activity. Scientists like Galileo have been monitoring sunspots since the 17th century. The earliest recorded sunspot dates back to 28 BC, in the 100-volume encyclopedic work, Book of Han, in China.

Leading sunspot trackers of today include the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center (SIDC) – the solar physics research department of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. The SIDC releases the International Sunspot Index, with daily sunspot data stretching back from today to 1812.

Sunspots are evolving chapters in the enigmatic story of the sun, a revered object of worship in ancient India, Egypt and Inca civilizations. Surya Namaskar, or a ritualistic salute to the sun, continues to be part of a daily morning routine for millions of Indians.

A relationship becomes less disturbing with acceptance of the unavoidable reality that everything changes and evolves. This includes the billion-year Earth-sun relationship. Having lived 4.6 billion years, the sun has enough inner fuel to burn for approximately another five billion years. On its deathbed, the sun will start fusing heavier elements such as helium and begin to bloat in size across the solar system. Ultimately, the expanding, dying sun will swallow the Earth and other planets in the solar system.

Then, after another billion years of life as a dull red giant, the sun is expected to suddenly collapse into a white dwarf, the final corpse for a star its humble size. Scientists estimate it would take a trillion years to fully cool off from its internal inferno. The sunspots reflect the trillion-year death throes in the making, with humankind as a little footnote.

Real-time live updates of sunspot images, now available online through observatories such as the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center, tell this daily story of how the sun, the giver of life, will one day take away life on Earth. Nothing lasts forever, including the sun.

A nearer hour of reckoning possibly beckons. The year 2011-2012 for maximum solar activity would mark the first time ever that detailed predictions were made in advance for a sunspot cycle, according to Choudhari. “We now have to wait for a few years for the sun-god himself to give a verdict on our debate,” he said. Hopefully the verdict will not be another catastrophic solar storm from this enigmatic diamond shining in the sky.

‘Preying on Patients’ – Private Hospitals scenario

By Samiya Anwar

Like education, private health care has also become a purely commercial activity. As private hospitals were typically founded by physicians and were profit-making enterprises. They are privately funded by medical services through patients in the form of payments are preying patients for profits.

After independence, it is said that 15% of the people used to go to the private sector, and now the World Bank has found that 80% of the people go to the private sector and not to the public sector. Amazingly, the private hospitals have shown tremendous success because of more environmentally sound and responsible compared to public hospitals who works dysfunctional and develops with a low pace. In a government hospital, for a blood test to determine if our condition is serious enough to be warded, we have to wait for hours, and then join a queue of hundreds waiting in line for dispensation of medicine and wait up for months to have further treatment. That is why it is observed that there are 70% of the patients who are very satisfied in private hospital. There are only 30% who are dissatisfied. And those 30 % are the poor and middle class masses who have either less or no money to spend on medical care.

Cost of medical spun higher
In the last few decades there has been a huge development in technology. Earlier there was great difficulty in diagnosing diseases. But not today, now we are able to treat most of the diseases, diagnose them very fast because of the diagnostic facilities available only because of advancement in technology. Therefore, when it comes to technology, the cost also has gone up tremendously, and this is one of the reasons put the light on most of the private hospitals charging too much. Moreover these days we have more of investigative facilities like ultrasound, CT scan, MRI and angiography, diagnoses have become easy but costly.

The bottom line of every private hospital is profit. They have no intention to treat those who cannot afford to pay. They feel that the government should bear the responsibility for health care of ordinary folks who cannot afford or are unwilling to pay (for instance, poor people if on death bed do not get a deceased’s body until a certain amount is paid by the family. The patients suffer, the family too is endured. The phrases “No money, no treatment and “No money, no body” are commonly heard in the hospitals. How could one diagnose an ailment that requires sophisticated medical equipment is the question? For detection of disease and scan when there is a need to undergo expensive machines and equipments the private hospitals covers that amount from the payments of patients. It is obvious, if the costly equipments are used into any operation the charge of surgery is likely to be highly expensive in lakhs.

Preying on patients
For just a talk with the doctors in clinics they take not less than Rs. 50. And if there are symptoms of fever and cold, number of tablets were given and alarm the patient to come for thrice in a week. The patients are not treated in a day or two for small illness. The doctors drag the patients with their words. People fall for their prey and keep going to doctors especially the patients of diabetes and high BP.

It is well-known. It is not surprising that private hospitals make money through many ways. It is not just with the fees of patients, the more income is from those who are admitted for prolonged illness say (surgeries). The non-surgical patients don’t make profit to the hospitals. The surgical patients say diagnosing for cancer requires long procedures, testing and medication. The hospital is likely to receive more money in the ailments of such patients suffering from life threatening diseases.

Vanita, complained of head pain and dizziness to the family members and rushed to hospital suddenly. She was admitted in a local private hospital in Hyderabad where she had undergone every test which they are aware and unaware of. But when the family had no money for further investigation of doctors she was moved to CARE Hospitals, Nampally where it was said that she is perfectly fine. It was just a prolong headache due to stroke. The doctors made money only for the pain the head due to the heat of summer.

Also another cash receiving road is insurance. If the people don’t have enough money right at the surgery period, the insurance companies pay the bills. The people are more impelled by the insurance companies as life is surprising. In times of hardship the insurance plays pivotal role. It is something that “a third party” does payments on your behalf. And in the case if patients stay for a shorter period of time generate more money for the hospital. Because, the insurance companies offer rewards for the hospitals that have shorter stay times for their patients which makes the hospital discharge the patient quickly. If the person has done insurance the hospitals has to go with the guidelines provided by the company. The length of time of patient’s stay counts for diagnosis in the hospital. Yet many people join the private hospitals to make money.

Although, Association of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes (APHNH) on Tuesday 5th denied recent media reports saying that the Private hospitals defaulted blood money and making large profits over selling of blood.

The allegation that the private hospitals earn large amount of money by selling blood for Rs 50,000 a pint which they receive free is unfounded. Despite the fact that the NBTS obtains blood free of charge from the public they charge the Private Hospitals for group matching, various laboratory tests, processing and for the blood bag depending on the blood product issued and these charges vary approximately from Rs.575/- for a normal unit of blood to Rs.18000/- for a pack of platelets prepared by apheresis process.

The statement that Private Hospitals sell blood which is given free by the NBTS was proved totally incorrect and misleading as Private Hospitals incur expenses to send their staff once to place the order, then again to collect, provide facilities for safe transportation, storage and transfusion by competent staff. Private Hospitals has to recover these costs from the patient depending on the blood product used .and certainly not Rs.50, 000/-for a pint of fresh blood as quoted.

Nevertheless ness it would be wrong to say that doctors make only profit out of patients. Yes they do prey. But for specific reasons;

- have to pay high rentals for clinics
- have to show budget in form of bills to authorities
- have to make a healthy profit for running their hospital successfully

However, it cannot be denied that the doctors in private hospitals work for profit; it is witnessed several times that the doctors in private clinics make rounds at different clinics for the sake of profits. For them, money matters most than the health of the patients as it is hard to pay attention because of the shuffle of timings at different locations. . They are unlike government doctors who work in rural and remote areas selflessly. The doctors take advantage of patients for their own goal in private hospitals really.

Time with her on “Mothers Day”

By Samiya Anwar

To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.

A guardian angel gifted by god, one who takes care of everything from tree to pod, who taught speech when we could hardly speak with syrup of affection and love, she taught what life is. Her scolding, her chide, contained with love she could barely hide. In failure her faith makes us strong, she cannot be replaced, she is full of grace. She is next to God, really. She is the most precious gift given to us. She is mother.

With mother’s day (Sunday May 10th) right around the corner, there are billions of people wondering how to make it special because this is the day to celebrate, to show love and appreciation to mothers. It is not a festival but occasion, an opportunity to do something, something for the one who is reason of our smile, for our lives. She not only carries us in womb for nine months, but loves unconditionally. There is no limit to her love. Nothing there is in the world that gives you joy of mothers love, the grace of mothers care and a world in mother’s eyes.

What special thing can you give her? She is special indeed. Mothers have a special capacity to love and to give of themselves. They never expects, they only knows “to give” whether it is just a small hug or their precious time, they always gives off everything. Isn’t so? Yes. They are special and only the mothers have that special skill of making things special in life. They turn a sad day into happy. Our holidays and birthdays are made more memorable because of the things they plan and do. They know just the right presents to buy for us. They know how to make us happy. They add their touch of love to everything they do. So it is really hard for any child to give something in return to mothers who don’t expect anything. It is in their very nature. Still we want to show some appreciation in the form a gift to the most loving person on our lives. There is no better way to show mom that you care than giving her a memorable gift that she will cherish forever, we all think. Right!

And most of the countries have already started feeling the air of this special occasion. Billions of people are excited. But I am not. They must be thinking to buy a gift, to take mother on shopping, etc, not me. It is not that I am cutting down expenses with recession hit round the globe; I just want “to appreciate”, “to talk” and I wish “to spend time” with her. But I don’t really have it. In a quarter months I would fly to Australia living her behind in India. It is fortune and I have to be away from her. So it’s ok, I am not just happy for this event, I am sad too because it’s going to be my last Mothers Day with her celebrating in the family I am really gonna miss her and don’t really know how will I be leaving without her. Only a few hours with Mom is all it takes to make her feel loved and special. She will love it.

So don’t think of money or budget. Stop pondering what mom should I take for mom? What she will really like it? Is this good for her? She I take her to this place or that? Will this be she liking? Enough, you can give her something without purchase. Something which has in no shop, give her “your time”.

What you can do on Mother’s Day?

- Pray for your mother (if dead or alive, it is important)
- Surprise her with your visit (if not staying together)
- Send her an e-card or wall-paper of flowers (it doesn’t cost you)
- Switch of your cell-phones and shun all appointments with friends and colleagues
- Talk to your mother about your lives, dreams and goals
- Let the mother speak her mind
- Watch a favorite movie together or read a book (she will like it)
- Cook her favorite food instead of taking her outside (she will love it)
- Clean the house, help her in work.

These are the few ideas which moms will love and you don’t have to spend anything on expensive gifts from the markets. Money spent on your mother cannot replace time spent with her. At this time of economic slowdown, if you gift something pricy say chic cell phone, an electronic device, a diamond or gold jewelry, mothers aren’t gonna like it. They will never want there children to spend huge amounts on gifts. Mothers knows your financial bills, your use of credit cards, etc. “Mothers Day depresses me when I see my children spend money on gifts that I know they really can’t afford” said Asiya mother of two children who loves to gift mom on the day special. But if I am not wrong nobody will really put forgo to the thought of not celebrating it or not doing something different for their mothers including myself.

So all the more, it will be nice if you could spend some time with them – something they don’t “expect from their children now-a-days. Like Sheela Dixit, who didn’t see her son for last years when went US soon after studies and settled down there? Forget about the celebration, he doesn’t even greet his mothers on festivals. It is disappointing but true. The one gripe many moms share is that their kids don’t spend enough time with them.

For some “Mothers Day” is a big event, and for others it is morose, the children who lost their mothers at different ages of life miss them the most. It really touches me when my mother misses her mother (my grand mother) on seeing a movie of daughter-mother relationship or may be because the mother’s affection is in no other relation. Her love is countless and meaningful. Nobody can take her place. Her deep parental kindness in bringing us up and the hardships she has gone through will never be repaid as they are priceless. Her love is endless and indescribable!

Yet, what counts is you’re thought not any gift. If we spend few hours with our mother on this mother’s day it would the best thing we could give. The perfect idea of making a mom happy is “time with her”. Appreciate her and make her feel special. She needs our attention and love like we need hers. Happy Mothers Day all!

Geeta Krishna’s ‘Koffi Bar’- a definite boxoffice ‘hit’

By M H Ahssan

Ace Director Geetha Krishna, known for making some of the meaningful and trendsetting movies like Sankeerthana, Kokila, Keechurallu and Time, is directing another movie after a long gap. He has started his own production house – Blue Fox – and under this banner he is producing and directing a new flick titled Koffi Bar (aka Coffee Bar). Geeta Krishna’s Koffi Bar, starring Shashank and Biyanka Desai in lead roles, has completed its 50 per cent of the shooting in different locales in India. Geeta Krishna of Sankeerthana, Kokila, Keechurallu and Time fame is directing and producing the film under his new banner Blue Fox Cinema.

Speaking about his film, Geetha Krishna told HNN that he believes in five elements for the success of the film. They are, a good story, good screenplay, good music, good lyrics and good cinematography. With all these elements the film gives a good feeling to the audience. Regarding his film, he does not want to reveal the story and the artists because they are the most prominent ones which would also be the main attraction of the film.

Lyrics: Vanamali; Cinematography: Prakash; Music, dialogues, screenplay, production and direction by Geetha Krishna.

Directed and produced by Geeta Krishna on the banner of Blue Fox Cinema, ‘ Gita Krishna Koffi Bar’ is presently busy in regular shooting.

AdLabs of Anil Ambani group of Reliance, signed an agreement with the banner for distribution of the film overseas (US). Gita Krishna says, ‘We are shooting the film with digital camera. Almost 50 per cent shooting was complete and it would be wrapped up by the end of April. It is a complete youthful film. At the same time, we touched several problems faced by the present day society and there will be several thrilling scenes in our movie.’

AdLabs head of operations Udaykumar says, ‘AdLabs has over 390 screens in India, the US and Malaysia. We had distributed several Telugu films across the globe in the past six months. As part of promoting the Telugu films across the world, we signed an agreement with Gita Krishna to distribute ‘Koffi Bar’ in the US.

DigiQuest CEO Kishori Basireddy says, ‘We are providing the entire digital work of the movie.’ Murali, who is making his debut as cinematographer through this movie says, ‘I was trained in the New York University in cinematography and I am very happy to work for this movie.’

Geetha Krishna stated that he believes in five elements for the success of the film. They are, a good story, good screenplay, good music, good lyrics and good cinematography. With all these elements the film gives a good feeling to the audience. Regarding his film, he does not want to reveal the story and the artists because they are the most prominent ones which would also be the main attraction of the film.

Opinion: The futility of apology

By M H Ahssan

Last Monday, when the Supreme Court asked the special investigation team to probe Narendra Modi’s role in the Gujarat violence of 2002, his political rivals were quick to demand his resignation or apology, or both. Why not ask for the moon when you know you win either way? If Modi obliges, you have achieved your political goal of getting him to eat crow. If he doesn’t, you have proved that maybe he has something to hide.

Modi did not oblige. A sensible decision, for political apologies make no sense unless you are prepared to confess to everything and accept the relevant legal consequences. You can apologise if you are personally keen to turn over a new leaf. Doing it out of political expediency is not only insincere, but foolish.

Apologies work best at the individual level. If I have wronged you and say sorry, you may forgive me. Even if you don’t, I can feel better for having been honest with myself.

In contrast, political apologies — whether they are demanded or given — serve only a political purpose. They don’t assuage the feelings of those affected by your actions or guarantee non-repetition of the sins committed. Worse, often they don’t serve the political purpose for which they were intended.

In the case of the Babri Masjid, LK Advani said its destruction was the saddest day of his life. Now you may not believe this constitutes an apology, or even that it is an adequate expression of contrition, but he did say it quite soon after the event. Did it do him any good? His reputation as a Hindutva hardliner remains. The secular mafia continues to condemn him, and the Sangh parivar looks at him with suspicion. The apology only served to leave him politically isolated.

Next came Manmohan Singh’s apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. But look at it closely: who apologised for whose crime? A Sikh PM who had nothing to do with the riots said sorry while his party continued to live in denial. The party invested faith in the same people who were the prime accused in the rioting — Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar — till Sikh anger erupted again. The apology was probably given because Manmohan Singh could not have served as a Sikh PM in a party that killed Sikhs by the thousand. But has it served any purpose beyond that?

The key question is: what exactly are you apologising for? Did the Congress apologise for aiding and abetting the murder of over 3,000 Sikhs or just that such a sad thing happened during its watch? If it’s the former, many Congressmen should be in jail, and Rajiv Gandhi should have been publicly censured for his insensitive comments in this case.

Back to Modi: what should he apologise for? Inability to control the bloodletting? Or standing by, and possibly covertly supporting, the massacre of Muslims by Hindu mobs infuriated by the Godhra train fire? Saying sorry for the first crime displays ineptitude which no politician in Modi’s position would do. A mea culpa uttered for the second should land him in jail — if that’s what he has done. Demanding an apology from him is thus a political trap.

The history of public apologies suggests that politicians say sorry only when they don’t have to pay a huge price for it. Nixon didn’t say sorry, and when he resigned, his successor Gerald Ford immediately pardoned him for Watergate. Barack Obama said sorry for the CIA’s tortures, but he has ensured that no American will face the International Court of Justice for flouting conventions on torture. French politicians, who are believed to have looked the other way when the Hutus massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda in the 1990s, are unlikely to express regrets. The Israelis will not apologise or pay a price for atrocities against the Palestinians, who, they believe, are plotting to exterminate the Jews.

Emperor Ashoka, author of the Kalinga genocide, may seem to be the exception to this rule, but is he? He went unpunished for his crimes. He may have sincerely regretted his actions, but would he have done so publicly if there were a possibility of his being tried and hanged by the Kalingas for his atrocities? Victors do sometimes apologise, but only when they need not fear retribution.

Apologies by those in power rarely satisfy anybody for they do not often come from within. When they do, it’s because there is no downside to it. (Ashoka is the best example.) Most politicians who have sins on their conscience go in for a real apology only when they have no option or when they do not care: they may be too old or about to retire.

The best apology one can expect from those in power is a gradual