O J's Corner : Reflections

Let there be no politicking
on farmers’ woes

Amidst thousands of fraudsters, our rural farmers, who are the most honest folks in the country, are burdened with debts and liabilities beyond their control.

Thousands of our farmers, who are the real sons of the soil, have taken their lives in States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

They could not repay the loans taken from banks and private financial institutions. They have committed suicide to save their honour. In villages and countryside, family honour stands above all other issues. That they cannot repay a debt itself is unbearable for them. Their personality is conditioned to abiding by gentleman’s agreements.

Another tragedy is that the banks and other lenders would get the farmlands attached. For a farmer, loss of his farmland is unthinkable.

They are not like politicians and operators who can withstand any sordid situation.

The country, which is being reckoned as one of the major world players, cannot afford to ignore the genuine woes of the farmers. Whether they are cultivating wheat, rice, cotton, sugar-cane, oil seeds, cash crops or hill produce, they contribute to the backbone of Indian food and other requirements.

I would say farmers should be respected more than anyone else. Think of the days when because of their sheer gut wisdom and planting amidst the vagaries of nature, they replenished the granaries.

They were on the vanguard of introducing modern techniques of cultivation when scientists advised them to switch over to high-yielding varieties. Now also they are prone to accepting genetically-modified and exotic varieties.

Their intention is clear and pure. They want to produce more. It is the duty of the government to ensure sustenance to them, sot that they would not commit suicide.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, a no-nonsense man who is not a core politician, is visiting Vidarbha region of Maharashtra today. As many as 592 farmers there have preferred to embrace death to living in abject misery for failure of paying off debts and forfeiture of lands.

It is agonisingly  apprehensive that Maharashtra strongman and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is not accompanying the Prime Minister during his visit to the Vidarbha region.
There can be so many arguments and alibis, but refusing to meet the farmers when the Prime Minister himself is taking stock of the field situation will not help the ryots. The plea that Congress is set to take credit for announcing ameliorative schemes by the Prime Minister does not warrant playing truant on the occasion.

It seems a lot of bad blood has been generated in the relations between the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s party, the NCP. Standing on ceremonies when the farmers are in dire straits cannot be condoned.

It is not that the Prime Minister is addressing the problems of Vidarbha farmers alone, but similar projects can be worked out for adversesly-affected farmers of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. Think about the plight of a farmer who had chosen the office of a co-operative bank from which he had taken loan to end his life!

WTO, World Bank regimes or subsidy constraints, farmers have to be led out of the Green House effect of their lives.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Rajiv Gandhi’s killers

The confessions of Anton Balasingham, the ideologue of LTTE, that the terrorist organisation deeply regrets the assassination of Indian icon Rajiv Gandhi do not create a bit of pathos. The remarks do not generate feelings of sadness and sympathy.

On the contrary, his statement does provide moments of comic bathos. It has been a U-turn from the terrorist organisation’s assertions on the assassination. By doing so the LTTE has trivialised the most brutal elimination of the scion of a family that has been the heart-throbe of millions of people right from the pre-Independence days.

Some of Rajiv’s actions, committed out of political immaturity among the wily tribe of opportunists here and elsewhere in the world, might have been flawed.

Balasingham’s was not an outburst to the NDTV interviewer, but calculated tactics to involve India one way or other in the conflict causing conflagration in Sri Lanka these days. LTTE is at war with the Sri Lankan Government. That is its business. It thinks that this outfit alone is capable of protecting the Tamils in the island nation.

It may have its strengths, but a close confidant of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the chief of an outlawed outfit and wanted by India in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, making suggestions to draw sympathy from Rajiv Gandhi’s family and the people of India to fetch intervention for the terrorist organisation to wriggle out of the war in Lanka is far-fetched.

LTTE may want the hawks in Tamil Nadu to implead its case before the UPA Government led by Dr Manmohan Singh. That by being terribly sorry about the “monumental historical blunder” of eliminating the soul of Indian progress, it thinks that political parties in Tamil Nadu would clamour for India providing help to it.

Balasingham had said if the past was put aside and a new approach made, the possibility of India playing a positive role in bringing a resolution to the conflict in Lanka would be available.

The LTTE did not want India to intervene militarily. Neither did it want India to play a mediator’s role as long as it kept LTTE outlawed.

India banned LTTE as a terrorist organisation in 1992 and Prabhakaran is wanted in the country for Rajiv Gandhi’s killing.

India should persuade Sri Lanka politically and diplomatically to seek a negotiated settlement as made out by Balasingham.
Dr Manmohan Singh had urged Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to keep the armed forces at bay from killing innocent civilians. Also there should be ways to provide some form of regional autonomy.

Tamils’ plea for honorable living conditions in Sri Lanka cannot be faulted. That there should be or should not be armed conflict, terrorist operations and guerrilla warfare for achieving their objective is their look-out.

I don’t think LTTE would come to terms with anything short of a separate Tamil eelam in the long run, whatever its professions on the contrary when confronted with short-term solutions. It is already a country within a country.

America will not condone its terrorism anymore. On that strength, Pakistan’s  ISI cannot contribute much to its kitty.

Let us better be hands off Lanka, for LTTE cannot be trusted. Its emissaries had met Rajiv Gandhi early in May 1991. Within a fortnight, it had killed India’s most promising Prime Minister.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Criminalised politicians or
politicised criminals ?

I have been an admirer of the vibrancy of Indian democracy. Soviet Union was as diverse as India with a plethora of languages, cultures and religions. Now we know that the Soviet Union was held together by the steel hand of Stalinism.

The moment Mikhail Gorbachev followed up perestroika and glasnost, people began breathing fresh air of freedom. Then there was no going back. The people had won when the Stalinist State had lost. When a lot of intellectuals throw stones against Gorbachev for “causing the disintegration” of Soviet Union, I salute him for providing freedom for a mass of humanity. I consider him as the saviour of Soviet people.

By eulogising Gorbachev, this is not an attempt at denigrating Communism, but praising him for providing an opportunity for the Communist Party to work in a multi-party set-up. Let it exist in Russia, China, India, America and elsewhere among other parties. Let it not be a one-party monolith.

The point is the Soviet Union had crumbled, whereas India with similar multiplicity of languages, people, culture and religion holds forth as one entity. It has its strengths and weaknesses. Its people, most of them uneducated, are wise enough to boot out the no-good governments from time to time.

But that is the only thing they can do. They cannot root out corruption in public life, let alone do anything against criminalisation of politics, even though they express their strong resentment at the hustings.

Democracy has been spick and span in the country so far, but a large number of politicians don’t mind committing , condoning, abetting and suppressing criminal acts. Conversely, criminals infiltrate the political spectrum to get away with their wrong-doings.

The killing of Pramod Mahajan by his brother, the cocaine acts of his son Rahul Mahajan and the dope death of his secretary Vivek Moitra cannot be considered as mere family tragedy.

Was it not criminalisation relating to some aspects of the lives of these people that ended up in this tragedy? Dubious sources hold sway over politicians and they wield power, with someone holding the reins from behind the curtains.

Manu Sharma, son of Congress Minister Vinod Sharma, was seen shooting Jessica Lal. He, however, managed to get acquitted.

There were cogent pieces of evidence against Vikas Yadav, son of former Rajya Sabha MP, in the Nitish Kataria murder case. But he has escaped conviction.

Amarmani Tripathi, Samajwadi Party Minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government, has not been convicted for murdering his girl-friend Madhumita Shukla.

There are umpteen instances of escape of criminalised politicians or politicised criminals.

Sanjay Singh and Amita Modi went scot-free in the Syed Modi murder case.

Sanjay Singh’s present wife Amita was the wife of Syed Modi when the badminton champion was shot dead in public. Sanjay Singh was former Janata Dal Minister. Now he is a Congressman. Amita is BJP’s MLA.

Criminals have crept into realms of money, power, caste and culture. The process is capable of eroding the democratic edifice, which the 100-crore mass of imageless people have kept strong and safe.

O J's Corner : Reflections

India magnified

Indian tag appears to be pre-eminent the world over these days. The picture about the country is clear now unlike in the past when the world view was confined to a hazy vision.

The foggy-eyed foreigners have to change their perception about India as the land of snake charmers, sadhus and slum-dwellers. Of course, all these elements make a mark, which actually define our multi-coloured entity.

Think about the dichotomy. When 700 million Indians are living in poverty, the country has been generating millionaires.

The number of High Net Worth Individuals in the country went up from 70,000 in 2004 to 83,000 in 2005, each worth more than $ one million, according to a World Wealth Report. The growth in this category last year was by 20 per cent. India was second only to South Korea which produced 21.3 per cent more millionaires. Russia accounted for 1,03,000 millionaires, a growth registering 17 per cent.

The millionaires club in the US registered a slump from 9.9 per cent to 6.8 per cent.
That does not mean that the Americans are pass compared to Indians. One in 100 Americans is a millionaire while only one in 13,000 made the mega buck in India.

With 700 million poor inhabiting the country, the 83,000 millionaires roaming around is a fabulous achievement.

Let us consider some of the issues which received world attention these days.

India would be factored in by the world community when the US passes legislation to endorse the US-India civilian nuclear agreement exempting India from fulfilling certain requirements.

The US House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee has finalised the draft of the legislation. It will be placed before the House of Representatives on July 4, the US Independence Day.

July 11 would be the D-day for the House of Representatives to take up the legislation to exempt India from the purview of certain provisions in the US Atomic Energy Act 1954. President Bush is optimistic about the legislation being carried.

Another important development relates to the candidature of Shashi Tharoor, a Keralite, for election as the UN Secretary-General. Three other Asian candidates from Sri Lanka, South Korea and Thailand are in the fray, with Singapore’s former Prime Minister  Goh Chok Tong poised to join the race.

The decisive moves would gain firm ground only in October since the post falls vacant only on December 31, when Kofi Annan calls it a day as UN Secretary-General after completing a two-term tenure.

Well, the fact that Shashi Tharoor could establish his candidature has thrown light to the world on India’s prospects. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have to clear the names for anyone to don the mantle. That India is in the reckoning is its strength re-inforced.

Another episode may have nothing to do with actual Indian achievement, but it has  Indian roots. Mittal-Arcelor merger to become the worlds’ largest steel venture has an Indian-origin connection. Lakshmi Mittal, the owner of the Mittal Steel Company, is an NRI. He has been living in London and his company has headquarters in Luxemburg, but he is a person of Indian origin.

Fellows, we are really a force to reckon with in the world view not only regarding physical wealth and power, but also metaphysical wealth in the form of Vedas and Upanishads.

O J's Corner : Reflections

What is crucial about
July 25, 2007?

What is the importance of July 25, 2007? That is the day when President A P J Abdul Kalam’s term of office would be over. Unless the Government gives him a second term, he might go back to his pet profession of honorary teaching. He revels in being a professor.

However, his exit from the Rashtrapati Bhavan might coincide with the entry of new and younger heavy-weights in the Indian political panorama.

What I mean to say is that Rahul Gandhi is poised to enter active service by that time.

Corridors of power in Delhi are abuzz with hush-hush tit-bits of conversation about  Dr Manmohan Singh calling it a day as the Prime Minister.

It does not need much hair-splitting about Dr Manmohan Singh only filling the gap for a while for Rahul Gandhi to groom up.

The people had given the mandate for Sonia Gandhi to rule the country. But by quirk of circumstances, on May 19, 2004, Dr Manmohan Singh was invited by the President to become the Prime Minister of India. For Sonia Gandhi had decided that if she could not become the Premier herself, the next best ad hoc choice was Dr Manmohan Singh only. On the occasion, she had mollified the party acolytes that the country was in the safe hands of Dr Manmohan Singh.

Whoever says otherwise, I don’t believe  when  a jubilant Sonia Gandhi met President Abdul Kalam after winning the elections and confidence of various allies, including the Left, she thought circumstances would turn topsy-turvy for her.

The country was boiling over during the time as the BJP had stepped up its campaign against the foreigner tag of Sonia Gandhi. Even though constitutionally there was nothing to hold her back, communal forces would have been successful in fomenting trouble.

It may be noted that in the surcharged circumstances, Dr Abdul Kalam had invited Sonia Gandhi for discussions and not for swearing her in right away.

Taking everything into consideration, and concerned about the disruption of tranquillity of the country, it was most considerate of her to have renounced the opportunity.

She had offered the post on a platter to Dr Manmohan Singh who cannot feel hurt when he would be offered senior assignments to give way for Rahul Gandhi to take over.

And it should be the bounden duty of the countrymen to compensate her sufficiently for her sacrifice. If the Congress and allies decide to bring in Rahul Gandhi, communal elements would not be able to kick up a groundswell of opposition.

But India being a vibrant democracy, the BJP cannot be flawed for its campaign against dynastic rule.

In fact, they should discharge its democratic duty and deal with the rivals politically. The Congress should do its bit to settle down.

But all should wait till the induction of another President in Rashtrapati Bhavan which would augur well for re-arrangement of spoils of office and finding space for the present incumbents.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Education, the Achilles’ heel
for Communists

Communists see red when it comes to the subject of education. Their avowed aim is to secure education for all. Rather, opportunities for all to have education, including professional education.

They vouchsafe it for a fact that the State cannot provide education, let alone professional education, to all aspirants.

I think they have come down from the age-old conviction that everything should be State provided.

Do they want private agencies to impart education to all, including professional education where the State has failed?

It is pure bravado on their part to force the private agencies to set up infrastructure, admit students and impart quality education at the rate of fee being fixed by them. Trying to do so is an extreme step.

The managements on their part should come clean on certain issues. There cannot be hanky-panky in admitting students only to corner fabulous amounts by way of fee or other pretexts.

The confusing state of affairs prevalent in the State centres round the rigidity of both the government and the managements to have their way about education. Dogmatic approach of the Communists and free-for-all demand of the managements would run on  parallel lines. Both should come to a compromise.

It appears fear of the opposite party is the stumbling block for a rapprochement. Who is there to act as an arbitrator? Or at least who will inspire both sides to take confidence-building measures?

That the government will not allow the managements to have their own common entrance test for admission of students in their institutions may not hold good before a court of law. There has not been any complaint before a court of law about mala fide in the conduct of the common entrance test conducted by them.

That the managements levying the fee fixed by Justice K T Thomas, appointed by the Supreme Court, cannot be conceded would end up in being dubbed as dialectical over-enthusiasm.

Control measures being adopted by the government at the instance of the Communists is on the premise that all professional colleges can be brought under governmental supervision considering all of them as similar players in the field.

For one thing, they are not on an equal footing. A majority of the private professional course operators are from the minority communities. They may not be running the show in all justice and fair play.

But they have the great weapon of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution guarding them. They can have educational institutions of their choice by which admission and appointments are within their purview. This has been settled by the Supreme Court umpteen times. Which means the issue has been challenged all the times in all futility.

The challenge to the minority status conferred on institutions by the Minorities Commission as demanded by the private managements concerned would only distance some sections of the society from the government.

Ultimately, who will suffer the in-equity? With the sole intention of reining in the minority institutions, the government has brought in the bridling provisions. When they get away with their affairs through the apex court, the other institutions would be left high and dry as they would have to bear the burden of government fiat on fee.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Mega Soft Bill Gates

Suppose a hard-working man works for 14 hours a day and he is worth a million dollars per hour. His worth is further computed to 300 dollars per second.

Should he drop a $ 1000 bill on the ground, it is not worth his time to bend over and pick it up, assuming that it takes four seconds to bend down and pocket the bill. Of course, he can afford to hire people to pick up the bill for him.

Wonder, who would be this chap? None other than William Henry Gates III, born on October 28, 1955, who married Melinda French Gates on January 1, 1994. People call him simply Bill Gates. And they have three children.

Forbes International Rich List has ranked him as the world’s riches person for the last 12 years running.

Fortunately the richie does not think much of his wealth or time the way his moment’s worth is computed.

He is chairman, Microsoft Corporation, and its former chief software architect and  chief executive officer. He has announced his retirement from day-to-day activities at Microsoft, to take up philanthropic activities along with his wife.

He will devote his energies to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation activities for which he has committed $ 28.8 billion.

Hats off to him who has bestowed half of his personal fortunes to philanthropic deeds, including fight against AIDS, malaria, TB and other diseases in India and elsewhere.

Famously known as a Harvard drop-out, don’t think for a moment that he was a lazy absentee from classes. He was too brilliant to spend his time in classes when he could, on his own, launch software entrepreneurial venture.

He introduced Windows in the eighties and revolutionised computer applications at the click of a mouse.

Call him wonder kid, whiz kid or wizard, this software genius has proved to be mega soft to problems confronting the world such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business@the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in drastically new ways. The book has been published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries.

His speed is in terms of the frequency of thought. No wonder Gates was briefly jailed in Albuquerque for racing his Porsche 911 in the New Mexico desert.

His love of computer and software is unsurpassed. But he has also founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world’s largest resources of visual information, a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe.

Gates has turned a new leaf in the history of billionaires, for whom lust for power, riches and influence is insatiable. The more they indulge in, the greater will they lust after these. They don’t know when to stop.

But here is the mega soft moneyed man for whom money is not the be-all and the  end-all. His calling is to serve humanity now. I am sure he will prove to be the most innovative service provider.

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Depleting grain buffer

People take stock of the trends of prevailing as well as promising production to predict the futures market of any commodity.

We have stumbled upon a world situation in which food grain production is dwindling, so much so that it is a matter of concern.

Washington-based Earth Policy Institute has drawn a grim picture of world food grain production this year.

It would have a cascading effect on overpopulated Indian sub-continent and sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the world’s hungry people live.

One should not be baffled by the statistics reeled out by world watch bodies, but statistics apart, the situation would be serious in price fluctuation.

The world food grain production would be down by 61 million tonnes for people’s consumption.

At the end of the year, the buffer stock would be sufficient to feed the people for 57 days only. This is going to be a record, rather bad record, for the have-nots. When prices soar, the hungry would face serious starvation problems.

We have not faced such an eventuality since 1972, when the buffer stock had come down to 56 days. The consequences were phenomenal, the prices had doubled and inflation had shot up, forcing the people to squirm. It worked like a double jeopardy as the earnings were poor.

Thank God, India had woken up to the scenario and invited bids to import 3.5 million tonnes of wheat. The US had predicted that wheat prices would increase by 14 per cent this year.

Worried by booming oil prices which had sent shivers down the spine of   importing countries, India being in the ring, the country has to hunt for food as well. Importing both would stymie the economy. The negative potential would be far more remarkable for other importing countries.

In spite of the best efforts of providing irrigation facilities, Indian farmers have been at the mercy of the vagaries of the monsoons. It appears the total rainfall would not be wholesome for the farmers.

Rise in summer temperature during the growing season results in considerable decline in the harvest output.

Moreover, the water table in most of the grain-growing countries is depleting. This is more true in the case of India and China who harbour half of the world’s population.

One should note that India has called for a second green revolution calling for better production and productivity. We should produce more from less extent of land.

Norman Borlaug had taught us how to leapfrog into grain production when we were on the verge of starvation. Messiahs come when the people need them.

By statistics, rate of population is slowing down, but the number of people being added on earth every year is 70 million. We have to provide them food, for which production should get a boost one way or other.

The point of concern is that this additional burden of human resources would be largely confined to the Indian sub-continent and sub-Saharan Africa.

In the face of it, our estimates of wheat production this year has fallen from 73 million tonnes to 68 million tonnes.

Let us manage the situation, and manage it sumptuously, going in for better irrigation and consequent production as well as requisite import to feed us all.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Signs in the Sun,
Moon and Stars

Humanity’s pursuit of knowledge has been there from the time of Creation, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

Man must go on probing, inventing and finding new destinations.

He was created in the Image of God, who did not sit idle. In the Beginning God went to work, He created. Genesis focuses attention on the creative, hard-working God, who found every work of creation good.

Therefore, human beings should not sit idle. They conquered the land and explored the vast expanse of the Oceans before launching on the Space Odyssey.

President John F Kennedy had annuounced Man would land on Moon within a decade. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin landed on the  Moon on July 19, 1969.

Several missions followed before America called off their manned Moon missions.

Later manned missions have been taking off for exploring the space. Now there is an international space station occupied by Americans and Russians.

Unmanned missions have been sent out to Mars. Pictures have come from Mars.

In this indefatigable ingenuity of man, there have been disasters. Columbia had disintegrated in space wiping out all the crew members, including Kalpana Chawla of India.

That should not deter the “crown and glory of all creations” from probing beyond the known. What majesty it is to delve deep into the unknown?
Now it is the turn of another woman of Indian origin to be part of the next international space station expedition.

She is none other than Sunita Williams who can be dubbed as a sort of NRI. Sunita is an American citizen and was born and brought up there.

She will be the flight engineer in the three-member crew for this six-month long expedition to the international space station. She is expected to join the crew in the international space station in December.

The mission will be commanded by veteran astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. The other member is Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.

Sunita is endowed with a unique family background as being born to father Dr Deepak Pandya, who was originally from Gujarat. He lectures on neuro-science at the Harvard and Boston University medical schools. Her mother is Ursaline, an X-ray technician of Yugoslavian descent.

Come to think of her ambitions. Unlike Kalpana Chawla, she did not want to become a pilot, let alone an astronaut. In her childhood she wanted to become a veterinarian.

The gamut of her aspirations changed when she joined the US Naval Pilot School from where she graduated in 1993. The career graph rose when she was selected by NASA as a trainee astronaut in 1998. From then on there was no looking back. Brave woman, all of us are proud of you.

By now she has logged over 2770 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.

She is married to Michael J Williams, a US marshal.

Jesus Christ had said of the end of the age. There will be signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars.

Our compatriots are looking for signs everywhere floating in the space.

O J's Corner: Reflections

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam  eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Good we are in the fray
For UN post

India has told the world that it is a force to reckon with when it comes to UN  matters. We have already announced the candidature of Sasi Tharoor for the post of UN Secretary-General.

He has been working as Under Secretary-General (Communication and Public Information) of the world body.

The vacancy would arise on December 31, when Kofi Annan would demit office after a second five-year term.

The Security Council should give its recommendations to the General Assembly about the new incumbent.

Which means the five permanent members, the US, Russia, Britain, France and China, can exercise their veto power.

There is no covenant, but by tradition, the post is occupied by persons chosen from regions by rotation.

The UN has 191 member nations, of which a majority belong to African and Asian regions. They believe that now it is the turn of Asia to get the post.

The only previous Asian Secretary-General was Burma’s (now Myanmar) U Thant who served from 1961 to 1971 when Cold War was at its climax.

Kofi Annan of Ghana was chosen after Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt exited on the plea that the African had completed only one term.

Indian media have, justifiably, been concentrating on the candidature of Sasi Tharoor. Pakistan is angling to field its own candidate or seeking ways to oppose the Indian choice.

As enlightened public we should know that there are other aspirants.

The Big five nations have so far been keeping out of the fray ostensibly because the UN was their pocket borough for all practical purposes as they have the veto power.

Now some of them are on the look-out for the possibility to corner the world body’s hot seat.

It was rumoured that former US President Bill Clinton had the inclination to try his hand. Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos was also named in various reports earlier. Lately, Clinton and Lagos have bowed out of the race.

Clinton himself  has suggested Tony Blair, the controversy-marred Prime Minister of the UK. It is public knowledge that he will have to make way for his colleague Gordon Brown before his second term ends as British PM. People are looking for a way-out for Blair.

China appears to be backing the candidature of Thai Deputy Surakiart Sathirathai, who claims to have the support of the US, Russia and most of the Association of South-East Nations.

Former UN disarmament chief Jayanta Dhanapala of Sri Lanka is also a strong contender for the post.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, Finland President Tarja Halonen and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga have set their sights on for  grabbing the post.

There is another angle about the fair sex having been denied the post all these 60 years since the inception of the UN.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director-General of WHO is touted to be a possible candidate in addition to New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and New Zealand Governor-General Dame Sylvia Cartwright.

Of course, many of the aspirants would vanish when a consensus is reached among the big powers about the Asian claim. It is certain that Pakistan would play foul with Indian candidature. But we have raised our banner high. Let us hope it will flutter atop the UN.

O J's Corner : Reflections

By all means try
alternatives

India is a vibrant democracy which can try all sorts of alternatives to the present UPA dispensation at government formation.

In fact, the Left parties have made it clear that they would try to cobble together a third front in Indian politics. They have always been fed up with the BJP and now they cannot stand the Congress.

With Left-dominated Governments formed in West Bengal and Kerala, they are itching for a show-down with the Congress at the Centre, thinking that they have renewed strength.

In the Lok Sabha, their strength remains the same at 60. The NDA has 185 MPs and the UPA conglomeration is supported by 217 MPs. The Left offers outside support. Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav has been supporting the UPA Government, in spite of Sonia Gandhi berating him in UP and vice-versa.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has, of late, been showing a tendency to browbeat Congress and its leader Sonia Gandhi by flaunting new-found friends for the Communists.

The CPM has forged an understanding with Telugu Desam Party of Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh for the ensuing panchayat elections there. Paradoxically, the CPI and Congress are fielding candidates by common understanding.

Another development is that NCP leader Sharad Pawar has fallen out with the Congress in Maharashtra over support to industrialist Rahul Bajaj in the Rajya Sabha. Congress had wanted Pawar to support its candidate, but he chose to give a helping hand to Bajaj.

There are reports that Pawar is gravitating towards Shiv Sena, the situation promising to snowball into a showdown with the Congress.

The bargaining by the Left to have a good say in the UPA affairs had not been clinched to its satisfaction. The Left has been following a carrot-and-stick policy in supporting the UPA Government led by Dr Manmohan Singh. The carrot has been its outside support and the stick its fulminations as an Opposition Party.

In opposing the Congress policies, it has been sticking to out-Herod the Herod. BJP was nowhere near the Left in opposing the Congress policies and practices with regard to foreign and economic affairs.

With the possibility of   Sharad Pawar stamping out of UPA,  Mulayam Singh Yadav and TDP offering an olive branch to the Left’s efforts, Karat thinks that an alternative could be worked out.

With its 60 votes in the kitty, the Left hopes to garner support from Pawar ( nine MPs), TDP (Five MPs), Mulayam Singh Yadav (36 MPs) and many others. Lalu Prasad Yadav has 21 MPs, Mayawati  18 and the like.

But when it comes to brass-tacks, the government is formed by sheer numbers. The Congress and BJP together have more than 270 members. If the Left cannot ensure their support, how will it be possible for forming a third front government?

Don’t lose heart, comrades. Politics being the art of the possible, there will be other alternatives. Perhaps it can think of outside support from the NDA, if it works out.

Nothing can be ruled out in the present-day politics. Who thought that a so-called secularist like former Prime Minister Deve Gowda would secretly agree to his son forming a government with the support of the BJP in Karnataka? Now he has openly sided with this coalition.

What I mean to urge the third-front gazers is, by all means deal with Congress politically. Try to forge another government. At the same time, let the Congress and the BJP pursue their policies and programmes. Let the best emerge out of the manoeuvres. This is the strength of dynamic democracy of India.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Father’s Day

Years ago I read an article in the Readers’ Digest about what the author remembered most about his father.

The family members were returning from the city after shopping. It had turned dark and they had to drive along a foresty patch. They could see a lot of glow-worms in the bushes. The children rushed towards the spot where their father also joined them. He helped them collect the fire-flies in a jar, which they carried home and frolicked with the twinkling beings.

A small incident has got etched in the hearts and minds of younglings. The gesture may be puny, but the impact is prominent.

I remember my father in our village home making coir ropes for us to be used as swings during Onam time every year. He did not have the confidence to use the coir ropes we could purchase from the store. He thought such ropes were not strong enough to carry our weights and these might break. All of us children had a gala time on the home-made swing for about a fortnight.

I don’t know what my son regards me for most. But I remember he had filled up his best-friend column in the school notebook with his father’s name. I think that is the best tribute I can get as father.

My father and I were walking back home in the dark one day when I was a kid. There was a house strutting the road from which a mongrel puppy rushed under my feet. As a matter of quick reflex I stamped on the bitumenised road. The puppy got scared and started bawling. The householder, a father figure, age-wise, came out and thrashed me verbally for no fault of mine.

I could not forget this incident whenever I chanced to see this fellow afterwards. During his old age he was milk and honey in his behaviour towards me. Even as he breathed his last, the memory lingered on. That is the other side of Father’s Day memories.

Great Malayalam literary critic M Krishnan Nair had written in his column about the ill-treatment he had received from his father who was a cop. He would not call the old man father, but only progenitor. Sad state of affairs in a family.

Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June. This year it falls on June 18.
Let us leave a trajectory of fond memories for the children.

Humour, typically, has been the language when we remember about our father. The guy always teased, cracked a joke, found lots of ways to make us laugh and never missed an opportunity to embarrass us in front of our friends.

Rarely would he have said he loved us, but the children felt the warmth in his glance, care and protection which carried us through thick and thin.

Fathers Day is an opportunity to improve a relationship, reconnect if it is ruptured and say “thank you” for all the good things he had provided us.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Tap Chinese connection

Good news has come from Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee after his visit to China that there would be space for India and China to develop the way they wanted.

For the first time, there have been indications of both the countries establishing defence ties.

As a prelude, there would be joint military exercises between Indian Army and Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Defence and military exchanges would be institutionalised.

The 2.5 million-strong PLA is double the size of Indian forces.

By establishing military rapport and an annual defence dialogue for “a frank exchange of views on all military matters of mutual concern”, the two countries are embarking on confidence building, leaving aside suspicions which had lingered on since the 1962 war.

Now it is old story that NDA’s  Defence Minister George Fernandes had portrayed China as our “potential threat number one”. That comment was made close on the heels of our detonating a nuclear device, inviting heavy objection from world powers.

Pakistan’s special relationship with China is no bar on India to have strategic ties with China.

Another piece of good news is that the border trade between the two countries would resume on June 30 through the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, after a gap of 44 years.

Resumption of trade between the two Asian giants through the Himalayan Pass would cement bilateral relations.

Another area for osmosis between the two peoples is cultural-filmy. People thought Raj Kapoor craze was confined to Russia. But Indian films were a rage in China as well, though the Cultural Revolution had squeezed out the arts from the minds of the people.

Song and dance and music shots are thrillers for them now. With China having 5000 movie halls, there is untapped potential for Indian movies to hang out there.

India and China are great repositories of wealth by way of massive stocks of human beings. Indian workers do not labour for more than the minimum essential duration.

The Chinese counterpart grabs the opportunities and contribute to massive production.

After World War II, which humbled Japan, the people, though few in number compared to China and India, toiled hard for upto 18 hours a day. The industriousness of the people made the country rise from the ashes, Phoenix-like.

That is why wealth got accumulated there.

The US and the UK also derived  wealth in different ways. The US acquired it from mass production in farms and cotton fields using the services of slaves and then growing from this wealth industrially. The first wave had given them enough resources to excel in the second and third wave phases.

The UK, with colonial grip worldwide, amassed wealth over a period of centuries. After leaving the colonies, the country, comprising small islands, could thrive on the spoils.

Development cannot happen in a cash vacuum. The developed nations had got enough resources through plunder.

Tenacity and hard work is the alternative for growth as exemplified by Japan.

China and India have the common resources of human potential. With education picking up, the two countries would soar to new heights.

This best explains the fear of the developed countries about the two Asian giants emerging to occupy the centre space of world affairs in future. So, hang on with the Red Dragon.

O J's Corner: Reflections

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam  eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

O Js Corner : Reflections

O J’s Corner

Format practice and precept

Floppies are pre-formatted to make the process of storing data easier for the end-user. If it is not formatted correctly, the computer will not be able to read the floppy. An error message will appear if we try to access the floppy.

Those who study the Contract Act would definitely know that there should be consensus ad idem, or meeting of the minds, between the parties concerned before entering into a contract.

In other words, there should be configuration for doing something efficiently.
This is precisely what the V S Achuthanandan-led LDF Government should do.
Practise what the LDF had preached during the previous UDF tenure in governance.

I should say, at least attempt to do what had been projected and the people had expected. Surely, expectations are too high for any government to meet. But the people understand  if the intentions are clear, even if the results would not be that agreeable.

Unfortunately, the LDF Government has been hamstrung by indecision of the CPM on various matters right from the start.

In West Bengal, immediately after the elections were over, the State Committee of the CPM elected Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee as the Chief Minister candidate.

The party representatives had gone to Delhi for the subsequent politburo meeting, armed with this resolution about their CM. The politburo had to only endorse the recommendation.

In Kerala, initially, the rival faction had succeeded in urging the PB to take a decision asking VS not to contest the Assembly elections. VS, his supporters within and outside the party, and neutral people expressed their desire to see him through at the hustings.

VS stood for election, was on the vanguard of  the campaign and he led the party and the front to crucial victory.

There was no resolution at the State Committee or recommendation at the State Secretariat of the CPM to make VS the Chief Minister.

The election results were announced on May 11, but VS could become the Chief Minister only on May 18 after rounds and rounds of discussions and representations at the State and PB levels.
P B member S. Ramachandran Pillai was proved wrong when he told the Press earlier that the Chief Minister would be decided within a day after the elections.

The scramble for power by the State Secretariat members of the party was unprecedented. Almost all the State Secretariat members became Ministers.

After Cabinet formation, the squabbles were for getting plum portfolios. The Chief Minister himself was unhappy about the portfolios.

The Congress, when it was in power, had to entrust everything with the high command for a decision. The state of affairs of the CPM also has whittled down to a situation in which the PB has to decide everything.

Now the State Secretariat and the State Committee of the party should discuss the people’s woes. The people by now know that the relevant fora had discussed about the undesirable tendencies that rattled the party. The role of VS in the election victory was also acknowledged. Fair enough.

Now the people want the party to attend to their needs, worries and hopes. There can be no compromise.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Admit for ailments
Get more ailments

The affable Dr V V Francis, a paediatrician  gifted with extra-ordinary amount of pleasantness in dealing with his patients and their parents, used to guardedly admit my ailing son to hospital.

Born extremely prematurely, he started suffering from wheezy bronchitis and immunity problems. But I cannot forget the extreme devotion with which the doctor has been treating him since his birth for the last thirteen and a half years. And during this period my son’s condition has been improving step by step.

Parents become anxious when the ailing children are not immediately admitted to hospital, but sent home with medicines for recuperation. I was also not different, but confident that the doctor’s services have been at hand.

I recount this with a purpose. World Health Organisation has declared 2006 as the Year of Nosocomial Infections.

Don’t worry about the word, nosocomial. It is Greek for hospital. Which means nosocomial infections are Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI).

One gets admitted to healthcare facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes for a specific disease and contracts other diseases from the place. There are pathogens which do not respond to antibiotics. If infected, the results would be costly and life-threatening.

Approximately 100,000 people die of HAI every year, according to a study conducted by a team of physician-scientists of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The findings were published in the October, 2005, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

In the US alone, there are 2.5 million HAI infections a year. Approximately 10 per cent of hospital patients contract HAI in the developed countries.

In the developing countries, the prevalence is four times higher. In India, it is estimated that there are 25 per cent of the patients suffering from nosocomial infections or HAI. This is responsible for more mortality than any other form of accidental deaths.

The prevalence of infection is in the urinary tracts, surgical wounds, respiratory tract and blood stream.

Patients with poorly developed immune systems, the elderly and young children are more susceptible to this infection.

There are 100 million procedures performed at hospitals each year. Of these, a large number of cases get HAI. Those infected would have to remain in hospital 2.5 times longer than the time needed to treat the original ailment for which they have been admitted.

The cost factor for treating nosocomial infections is huge.

There are universally accepted medical protocols to minimise transmission of infection from patient to patient or from hospital workforce to patients.

Infection would set in accidentally or on account of disregard for the accepted medical protocols to prevent HAI.

Much attention has been concentrated these days on HIV and AIDS treatment and prevention. Fair enough. The condition, for which there is no cogent cure as yet, should be dealt with on a war-footing. India is definitely sitting on a powder-keg of HIV/AIDS. So, don’t dismiss this as a phenomenon worst affecting sub-Saharan Africa.

But Hospital Acquired Infection too craves for a cure.

O J's Corner: Reflections

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam  eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

O J's Corner : Reflections

One upmanship

Political parties in the country are shedding crocodile tears for the common man in the matter of fuel prices. They are taking political mileage out of the issue of hike in petrol and diesel prices. Each party wants to present a feel-good-for-the-people projection.

Heart of hearts, everybody knows that fuel prices were to be hiked in view of the rising prices in the international market. The issue was how much should the hiked prices be.

In the normal course, the modus operandi would be that the government cut approximately Rs one per litre of petrol from the Rs four hike to accommodate the shrill voices of protest of the left parties supporting the UPA Government.

This time round, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to be adamant, for he had suffered ignominies at the hands of the left parties during the recent Assembly elections in a few states. Instead of backtracking from the election tempo during which there was an all-out attack against the Congress Party, the left parties continued to put further pressure.

Their motive is to take one pound of flesh from the government, then seek two pounds of flesh and seek more and more. They know that a time would come when it hurts grievously.

Coming to the fuel prices, the BJP has been agitating. Now the left parties have paralysed normal life by calling for a hartal. The same hartal is not there in West Bengal, where reformist  CPM Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee would have only token protest.
In Kerala, though a CPM CM, V S Achuthanandan, reigns, the agitation is day-long, hurting people.

Congress-ruled States have announced cut in taxes for fuels, facilitating slight reprieve for the people. BJP-ruled States and as well as Left-dominated dispensations would not cut taxes.

Where is the concern for the people by political parties?

O J's Corner : Reflections

Imbibe spirituality

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy
….
The Youth… still is Nature’s Priest
And by the vision splendid
…the man perceives it die away
And fade into the light of common day.

These are the lines of William Wordsworth from his Immortality Ode.

He says of the youth as having splendid vision.

The same Wordsworth, in another Ode, yearns for Milton’s presence.

We are selfish men…
Give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.

Wordsworth may not have been a practical man as our youth are being groomed to be.

I may sound an old man if I should urge the youth not to lose spirituality, cultural resilience and pearls of wisdom that got transcended from generation to generation.

It is no exaggeration to say that the youth, who have been exposed to liberal knowledge too quickly, is being spoiled.

The antonym of moral is immoral. But there is a condition under which one is not bothered about morals at all. Such a person is amoral. I am not speaking about vices. I am referring about the approach to any quality like honesty, sincerity and the like.

If a person is not just bothered about such qualities, the world would be in the worst scenario.

Values are ebbing away. India boasts about more than 50 per cent of its population coming under the youth category.

The youth are repositories of unfailing energy and drive.

Liberalisation is good. Wealth generation is all the more good. No one wants our youth to foot it to his destinations or travel in bullock carts.
But where is the feeling for others first, which was synonymous with the youth at one time?

The predicament of the youth cannot be ignored. They live in a world where he has to be extremely selfish.

In the formative age, school boys and girls are groomed in such a way that they don’t have to care for others.

If a boy/ girl was not well and could not attend classes one day, he/she would not be helped by classmates about what transpired in the classes earlier. Competition for getting a few marks more by denying an opportunity to the fellow being is gaining ground.

Now-a-days, a peculiar sort of spirituality is catching up with the youth.

One cannot say that the youth is lagging behind in spirituality. Actually, they are thriving on their own brand of spirituality.

They want to do things their way and they attribute these things as Godliness and spirituality.

They want God to be a provider of boons, which could be selfish, silly or inflicting great harm to fellow beings.

They may be immersed in a system where crude assessment is made by unworthy elders who actually should have inspired them with noble characteristics. Alas, some of them would ask for incentives for chucking out a junior from the institution and still project a brave face of an idealist!

But that is not the end of it all. Hang on, and be honest. No one can ruin you. Your real spirituality would guide you to the shining path.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Crucial UP polls

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, due in February 2007, would prove to be very crucial in the national political scene.

For decades together Congress has been drubbed badly in Uttar Pradesh. At best its performance was bright in Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies, which are set apart for the Nehru-Gandhi family.

This time also, the LS polls proved this point. But beyond that, Congress failed miserably to capture the confidence of the people in UP in the Assembly elections. Local caste and Dalit issues have been dominating the Assembly elections, resulting in being detrimental to Congress hopes.

Lalu-Rabri combine, Mayawati or Mulayam Singh have been holding the fiefdom for so long now, with no immediate possibility for Congress revival in UP.

Rahul Gandhi, who is being groomed to take over responsible positions for the Congress and being not that brilliant in politics, recently blurted out that he would take on the unenviable task of leading Congress campaign in the forthcoming Assembly elections in UP. But the trouble-shooters were successful in getting the issue deflected.

But 2007 elections would influence his debut into more important political posturing. By that time, he would have been drafted into Congress hierarchy as a general-secretary.

There are political analysts who would predict that he would become the Prime Minister after Dr Manmohan Singh completes two terms as the Head of the Government. That would be a waiting period till 2014.

Politics that long being unpredictable and present permutations and combinations not likely to remain in tact for years on end, possibilities are that he would get accommodated mid-way.

Who knows Dr Singh could be given an honorable settlement in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The present incumbent, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, would complete his term in July 2007. It is not likely that he would get a second term.

I don’t think Rahul Gandhi would become a Minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. His presence would be inconvenient to Singh as well as many other senior persons.

Until the time Sonia Gandhi makes up her mind, Rahul would work for the party and tour the country. His induction would be directly as Prime Minister.

That there are some indications of his being groomed soon, convulsions have started in the political scene.

The boiling cauldron is UP itself, with BSP, Congress, BJP and the Jan Morcha floated by V P Singh, aiming to dislodge Mulayam Singh Yadav from power.

Mulayam Singh is trying to butt out of caste campaigning by projecting the anti-people policies of the UPA Government.

It is organising pre-election campaign in all district quarters on June 13, the very day when the Left parties are observing nation-wide protest against fuel price hike.

By show-casing its Kanya Vidyadhan Yojna, it wants to emerge out of the caste conundrum, which is a very difficult task. Under this scheme, girls completing the 12th standard, from families living below the poverty line, would get Rs 20000 each. Last year, the government had disbursed Rs 300 crore under this scheme.The benefit is available to all castes, upper and backward included.

Mayawati is waiting in the wings to rule UP again. Perhaps the Congress will ride piggyback on her bandwagon.

BJP, smarting under infighting, departure of leaders like Uma Bharti, untimely death of Pramod Mahajan, and lack of charismatic young leaders, would not be able to put up a good fight against Congress for some time.

By that time, Rahul Gandhi would be projected to become the Prime Minister.

O J's Corner: Reflections

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam  eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Left veto

The Left parties supporting the United Progressive Alliance Government led by Dr Manmohan Singh from outside feel that they have the veto power over whatever issues they want to project.

They want to draw a line to tell the government to go this much and nothing beyond. That is the prerogative they have drawn from the coalition government.

The Telugu Desam Party led by Chandrababu Naidu was supporting the NDA Government led by A B Vajpayee from outside. TDP used to extract a pound of flesh from the NDA Government on many counts. But it had not gone to this extent as the Left parties are doing with the UPA Government.

Manmohan Singh was quoted as saying immediately before the recent Assembly elections that the Left would clamour for the extreme. He thought they would go to this extent only till the elections were over.

Now he appears to be convinced that the Left parties are fleecing the UPA Government. It seems Singh would not go on pleasing the Left dispensation to the extent that they want. He would like to drive the point home to them that there should be give and take.

Any government has to take measures that would balance with the world affairs. In the global village no one can cocoon himself into a vault and solve the people’s problems.

If the Left parties are ruling the country by themselves, they would not be able to go the whole hog on issues like fuel price hike, import policies, co-operation with the US and the like.

The Left appears to see the red whenever the US comes into the picture. The world is not bipolar. It is unipolar, led by the US, which has acknowledged the special status of India in nuclear affairs.

Lately, it has not equated India with Pakistan. It is not dealing with India as it is dealing with countries like Iran and North Korea on this issue. That does not mean that India should kowtow to the US. But it has to co-operate with it as with other countries or more.

This assertion does not mean that the Left parties should not raise their voice. Let them voice their protest, but governance should proceed on standards based on a world footing. That is what China is doing and Russia is trying to do.

India has immense potential by way of human resources and hard-working personnel on many fronts.

In spite of having been riding piggyback on the erstwhile Soviet Union for geo-political reasons, and the Soviet Union having collapsed head-on, India has not collapsed. On the contrary, it has been gaining strength in myriad fields.

Definitely, India’s farmers need a better deal. They should not be left to fend for themselves in the vagaries of the monsoons. They should be put on a proper financial pedestal.

The Left parties, in fact, should channel their unlimited energy through the workforce to secure a better deal for the farmers. The working class is already organised. If they go on making demands endlessly, they may secure many plums at the expense of the unorganised farmers. The study classes and training should be arranged in such a way that they should help the farmers.

Actually the problems of the farmers and the working class should not be equated. Farmers have special problems as they have no regular income like the working class. Special problems need special attention for which the working class should also contribute.

Let the bogey of stirs be dovetailed reasonably to enable the government rule the country and help the farmers first.

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Iran’s intransigence

The revolution in Tehran in 1979 had distanced the US from Iran, whoever came to power in Washington, DC, or Tehran.

Therefore, in the Iran-Iraq war, the US had supported Saddam Hussein by all means. Saddam out-did the US in politics and invaded Kuwait in 1990. The US, under the-then President George Bush, Sr, recaptured Kuwait and handed it back to the Emir, with the help of Saudi Arabia. From then on it was operation Armageddon to dislodge Saddam Hussein.

In Afghanistan, the US had assisted the Taliban regime to deal with the erstwhile Soviet incursion. Ultimately, the Taliban hit back at the US by helping Bin Laden and company.

Many Saudis had helped Laden in his terrorist activities against the civilized world.

The world had gone topsy turvy for the US after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

After tackling Afghanistan and Iraq, the US had identified Iran and North Korea as the “axis of evil”.

Hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been elected recently as the President of Iran, has gone ahead with uranium enrichment plan, disregarding the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The US has been unwilling to talk to Tehran directly. Its friends and allies have been doing the service all these past weeks. Russia offered enrichment facilities in its terrain exclusively for Iran, but the Islamic nation would have none of it.

Now the European Union and the Nuclear Suppliers Group have assured Iran that they would help the country meet its energy needs, but there should be no weapons-grade enrichment.

The latest is reassuring, for the US has expressed its willingness to talk to Tehran directly.

Iran had warned the US that it would not brook any attack from outside, for it will destroy the oil facilities. The US would not take the bait. It wants solid action.

Iran should perceive the new line pursued by the US. It has come round to abandoning its three-decade-long unwillingness to deal directly with Iran.

Iran should grab this opportunity to improve its image before the civilised world.
Iran cannot afford to remain a rogue state. Pakistan, which has nuclear capability, has accepted the US line of thinking and obliged its mentor in its fight against terrorism.

The US knows that Pakistani territory has been harbouring terrorists. If Pakistan had not obliged the US, it would have faced the music. Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan’s clandestine propagation of nuclear technology to rogue states and individuals has already been acknowledged. This had taken place with the blessings of the rulers. When everything is transparent before the world, no one can hide behind a façade of fiction and hide-and-seek.

In the prevailing circumstances, underscored by the fact that Iran’s nuclear bomb, if any, would be used as an Islamic bomb, the US and its allies are not going to leave it alone.

Iran should, therefore, shed its intransigence and co-operate with the big powers to enrich its energy needs. Other countries are now willing to go all the way to help Iran. Loud-mouthing will not lead anyone to live peacefully.

In the wake of the US having suffered attacks from terrorists, it will not deal kindly with threats. The US’ offer of direct talks with Tehran is the last resort to sort out the issue. Everyone has his limits. Iran is no exception. For the sake of posterity, it should listen to reason. Oil is there for bargaining only for a few more years. Mankind has to go on living.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Vicious circle

Oil is the ultimate weapon for mankind until it is completely exploited and wiped out. Date palm-oriented economies in West Asia suddenly found themselves economic giants in the nineteen seventies when oil cartels were formed.

Cartels worked out the modalities for dealing with the outside world oil-wise, including its price per barrel. Wars have been fought and king-emperors decimated over matters oil.  It is an irony that oil money had found its way to terrorists as well. Too much money brings mischief, wherever it is. Anyway, that is another matter.

In India, oil import bill is booming as civilian and military uses are sky-rocketing.
Import bill has to be compatible with the prices being levied from consumers.

Oil companies may have been mismanaging or diverting money at the whims and fancies of political regimes or otherwise. Still, the country does not want to be out of the totem pole of the oil scenario, for which there should be a balancing act.

The government says there should be a huge increase in the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, if the prices have to be balanced. The oil companies had proposed that there should be increase in prices of certain items by Rs 100 per litre.

The government, of course, could not have thought that steep, for fear of inviting the wrath of the common man, who is compared to a mule, which carries the burden irrespective of its body strength.

To cut the story short, the government has increased the price of petrol by Rs four and diesel by Rs two per litre.

The left parties are in turmoil saying, they are opposed to any hike. They are observing a nation-wide protest day on June 13. The BJP also has not welcomed the price increase.

In democracy, one should expect a lot of cacophony, for without it only totalitarianism would prevail.

However, the left parties are a lucky lot. True, they committed a “historic blunder” by turning aside the invitation by sundry parties to Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister.

But they are in an enviable position by supporting the UPA Government from outside. It bestows on them  power without responsibility. They can have their way in many matters without being in the government.

In the present state of affairs, the left parties are the de facto Opposition, even as the NDA is the de jure one.

Oil tactics call for long-term planning. For example, China and other countries are in the oil market scouting for their oil requirements during the next 15 years or so. Suppose there is a war situation in which oil does not flow freely in the international market, the country should not feel harmstrung.

Iran has already sounded out the prospect of destroying oil supply, if it is attacked by the US or its allies.

In the wake of Iran’s intransigence on enriching weapon’s grade uranium, nothing can be ruled out in the international sphere.

History is made not by the people of any country, but by one or two leaders. The dismemberment of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh, ouster of Saddam Hussein from Iraq, end of Taliban regime in Afghanistan have all been created by the handiwork of particular leaders.

Bin Laden could be the causative figure for a complete re-working of world affairs.

Domestic prices would be on the rise no matter what the international situation is. That is the hard fact. We have to live with an expanding market in all ways.
Politics would not supplement the role of prices. To ensure stability we need firm leaders.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Vicious circle

Oil is the ultimate weapon for mankind until it is completely exploited and wiped out. Date palm-oriented economies in West Asia suddenly found themselves economic giants in the nineteen seventies when oil cartels were formed.

Cartels worked out the modalities for dealing with the outside world oil-wise, including its price per barrel. Wars have been fought and king-emperors decimated over matters oil.  It is an irony that oil money had found its way to terrorists as well. Too much money brings mischief, wherever it is. Anyway, that is another matter.

In India, oil import bill is booming as civilian and military uses are sky-rocketing.
Import bill has to be compatible with the prices being levied from consumers.

Oil companies may have been mismanaging or diverting money at the whims and fancies of political regimes or otherwise. Still, the country does not want to be out of the totem pole of the oil scenario, for which there should be a balancing act.

The government says there should be a huge increase in the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, if the prices have to be balanced. The oil companies had proposed that there should be increase in prices of certain items by Rs 100 per litre.

The government, of course, could not have thought that steep, for fear of inviting the wrath of the common man, who is compared to a mule, which carries the burden irrespective of its body strength.

To cut the story short, the government has increased the price of petrol by Rs four and diesel by Rs two per litre.

The left parties are in turmoil saying, they are opposed to any hike. They are observing a nation-wide protest day on June 13. The BJP also has not welcomed the price increase.

In democracy, one should expect a lot of cacophony, for without it only totalitarianism would prevail.

However, the left parties are a lucky lot. True, they committed a “historic blunder” by turning aside the invitation by sundry parties to Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister.

But they are in an enviable position by supporting the UPA Government from outside. It bestows on them  power without responsibility. They can have their way in many matters without being in the government.

In the present state of affairs, the left parties are the de facto Opposition, even as the NDA is the de jure one.

Oil tactics call for long-term planning. For example, China and other countries are in the oil market scouting for their oil requirements during the next 15 years or so. Suppose there is a war situation in which oil does not flow freely in the international market, the country should not feel harmstrung.

Iran has already sounded out the prospect of destroying oil supply, if it is attacked by the US or its allies.

In the wake of Iran’s intransigence on enriching weapon’s grade uranium, nothing can be ruled out in the international sphere.

History is made not by the people of any country, but by one or two leaders. The dismemberment of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh, ouster of Saddam Hussein from Iraq, end of Taliban regime in Afghanistan have all been created by the handiwork of particular leaders.

Bin Laden could be the causative figure for a complete re-working of world affairs.

Domestic prices would be on the rise no matter what the international situation is. That is the hard fact. We have to live with an expanding market in all ways.
Politics would not supplement the role of prices. To ensure stability we need firm leaders.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Life arrived from space?

The earliest forms of life arrived on Planet Earth from space. It has not evolved spontaneously from inorganic chemicals. Biologists are quick on the uptake of this theory again.

At the same time, astronomers are stepping up their search for life on other planets. The objectives are the same, but the results have been apparently contradictory.

Why do I mention theories about life on earth and life on other planets?
There were “red rains” that poured out in many parts of the State last year.

Scientists have been pursuing the contents of the “red rains”.

It appears they have found out something, but not very cogent as of now. Samples of “red rains” contained cells, but DNA was conspicuously absent in these cells. Of course, further studies have to be conducted on the structure of these cells.

If it is conclusively proved that these are from life forms sans DNA, then these are not life forms existing on Planet Earth. Also, these are life forms existing elsewhere. Where are these from? Are these from other planets like Mars in the Solar System? Or are they from planets outside the Solar System?

The findings will have far-reaching repercussions on the theory of evolution.

Did the “red rains” bring life forms from other planets through comets?
Was there a message from extra-terrestrials or alien life forms for earthlings?

Bharat is the land of Vedas and Upanishads from which much knowledge emanated as having been unraveled through sages.

Is the same Bharat now about to delineate the real genre of human beings and the relation between humans and aliens?

The theosophical movement had developed a cosmology which said the benevolent beings from other planets were highly evolved adepts who periodically visit Earth and who continue to be interested in human welfare.

Are our forefathers from heavenly bodies?

It was Guy Ballard who claimed that he was able to make contact with the extra-terrestrial masters, including the Venusian Lords of the Flame.

Ballard apparently encountered 12 Venusians inside a vast cavern in Northern California.

Williard M Magoon was taken to Mars by some “unseen force”, where he saw highly-developed technology, together with forests, parks and gardens.

On the 24th of June, 1947, man’s view of the skies was forever changed. Kenneth Arnold, a pilot out looking for a crashed plane, spotted nine UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) flying in formation near Mount Rainier in the State of Washington.

Michael Wolf in his book, “The Catchers of Heaven”, speak about the US Government as having retrieved two extra-terrestrial spacecraft in 1947. These had grey extra-terrestrials in the fourth planet of the star system, Zeta Reticuli.

The US has other captured extra-terrestrials as prisoners within secured underground military, scientific installations in Nevada and New Mexico. Imagination staggers.

Our own Justice V R Krishna Iyer says he is in regular communication with his dead wife.

Are the heavens revealing a little bit of the vastness of the Cosmos to puny humans?

O J's Corner: Reflections

O J George, the creator of this blog, is the Executive Editor of Nattupathram, a local Malayalam  eveninger, which is akin to a county paper.

As part of digression, he writes a column in English titled, O J’s Corner, every day.

Nattupathram is different from other Afternoon papers and eveningers. It follows the edict, “Facts are sacred, Comment is free”. It is a no non-sense newspaper. It does not flourish on murder, rape and other sensational stories.

It stands for people’s welfare through positive journalism.

More than meets the eye

High-profile families often find themselves as the butt of attention compounded by personal tragedies. Such public faces of marvel expose themselves as hideous undercuts in real life. In certain cases, of course, people are helpless by circumstances.

Some tragedies have resulted from the puerile behaviour of spoilt brats. Often they are born with a golden spoon in their mouths. They are always spoon-fed and so they like to be spoon-fed. Otherwise, they will go off hook.

The latest in this category is Rahul Mahajan, son of the late all-powerful Pramod Mahajan of the BJP. Pramod Mahajan was shot dead by his younger brother Praveen Mahajan, who is counting his days in the jail.

Rahul Mahajan was to have carried the ashes of his father to be interred in the Brahmaputra on the Asom side. The previous night he, Pramod Mahajan’s secretary, Bibek Moitra, and other carousers were having a hell of a time in the official bungalow that was allotted to Pramod Mahajan in Delhi, the same bungalow that was occupied by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee before his elevation as the PM.

Moitra died of the drinking drama. In the autopsy, traces of poison have been found. Rahul Mahajan was lucky, though it was a close call from the drink. The private hospital medical team has been providing him with help to escape damnation.

The callous revelers were snorting some white powder wrapped in
Rs 500 currency notes, the night before Pramod Mahajan’s ashes were being immersed.

Well, that is their business, though one can never condone such nefarious activities.

Think about this. Rahul Mahajan was being elevated to some posts in the BJP or its feeder organisations! The man who was one among the party-hoppers in Mumbai night clubs and elsewhere could never have dreamt of “serving the people” come what may. Apparently, interested persons were pulling the strings to induct Rahul Mahajan into position so that some of the suspect-associates of Pramod Mahajan could commute the corridors of power.

Personal tragedies have occurred to many other leaders. Natwar Singh’s daughter Ritu Singh and daughter-in-law Natasha Singh had committed suicide. Now Natwar and his son Jagat Singh are in the boiling cauldron of the UN’s Volcker Committee Report indicting several persons and institutions of having spirited away money from Iraq’s oil-for-food scheme. Natwar has already paid the price by quitting the powerful post of Minister for External Affairs.

What the people want is a proper unraveling of the mysteries surrounding many of the tragedies.

There must be something more-than-meets-the-eye in what is perceived as Pramod Mahajan’s family affair.

The assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi have not been properly accounted for in their finality. Sanjay Gandhi’s plane-crash was not properly investigated.

Governments from time to time speak with bravado of exposing the mysteries and the guilty being brought to book, but often the investigations get halted half way and the mysteries remain myths.

We are not living in autocratic anticipations where anything can be cooked up. Political expediency of suppression and distortion should not cloud the silver lining of the rainbow of democracy.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Natural rubber

The property of rubber is its elasticity. It stretches and returns to its base. Rubber prices have been bloating recently. One hopes its present peaking prices would not plummet and boomerang on the growers subsequently.

All right, Australian aborigines had used a weapon called boomerang when they were hunting.

The weapon was nothing but a curved flat piece of wood that they throw, that can fly in a circle and come back to them after hitting the target.

There are several reasons for the booming prices. Monsoon times are off-season for latex production, as there cannot be universal rubber tapping.

Of course, our growers, who can afford it, set up plastic shades just above the tapping groove so that the rains would not spoil the latex collection.

It is beneficial for them, as the net prices, after taking care of added expenses, would not be that scant.

A price of Rs 107 for a kilogramme of natural rubber is not bad, and that has been the highest ever fetched by the grower.

Coupled with the scarce availability here during the off-seasons, the international natural rubber production has come down substantially.

The main producers are Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Moreover, China has stepped up launching rubber-based ventures, consuming natural rubber substantially.

And there is no let-up in the consumption of natural rubber by the US and Japan.

This does not mean that in the market-driven world economy, potential growers are sitting idle. There is a concerted effort in Vietnam to raise rubber plantations. The labour is cheap, cultivable land is available, blessed by conducive climate.

Coming to India, the Rubber Board itself has been propagating cultivation in the North-Eastern States. Already, the pitch has been laid well in Tripura, Asom, and Meghalaya. The farmers own lands, measured in sizes of hills and not hectares, where cereals and pulses are grown by way of shifting cultivation. They grow these in some patches of lands a year, reap the crop and abandon it. Next time, they grow it in different plots and patches.

The Government of India has been encouraging rubber cultivation in these areas through the Rubber Board. Within a few years, availability from the Seven Sisters (the seven North-Eastern States) would be substantial. The output would maroon the Kolkata market. Keralites’ sale in Kolkata market would come down.

However, since the world market is growing substantially, the demand-supply ratio would be irregular, and conducive to the growers for now.