O J's Corner : Reflections

The left wants to win
a brownie point

The Left Democratic Front Government in Kerala is vitiating the education sector by prolonging the self-financing colleges issue without settling it on its own.

A series of court interventions have gone against the arguments of the State Government. Still it is going ahead with its rigidity. It thinks that political rhetorics can salvage them.

When the Supreme Court asked the parties concerned to have the trial of the self-financing colleges legislation in the High Court first, the left parties went all out in jubilation saying the apex court had done something in their favour. The court had only referred the matter to the High Court.

The single bench of the High Court, in its well-considered interim direction, wanted the State Government and the private managements to proceed with admission as was done last year levying the fee in the same pattern.

The government saw some loophole in the situation prevailing at that point of time. Only engineering and nursing colleges had approached the High Court against the legislation passed by the Assembly.

The government wanted to take advantage of the situation even as the High Court directive was in existence. It went ahead with counselling for MBBS and BDS admission. The students were told that those who did not respond would lose their chance. They proceeded with counselling and paid the fee in bank.

When the government challenged the order of the single bench, it tried to project the situation as though all the students have accepted the government’s action.

The division bench directed the government to get clarification from the single bench, which reiterated the fact that the earlier order was relevant to all self-financing professional courses.

Now it was the turn of the division bench to consider all aspects in detail. After hearing the issue in depth, the court issued the fiat that, in the interest of the students, admission should be made following the procedure adopted last year.

Meanwhile the larger issues can be agitated before the court in September.
Again the government is approaching the Supreme Court challenging the order of the division bench. That is fair enough. All avenues should be pursued to get at the constitutionality or otherwise of the piece of legislation made in haste challenging the very core of  rights enjoyed by minorities for the last half a century.

Some of the CPM leaders thought that intimidation would work out well to browbeat the managements. Actually that would prove counter-productive.

The fact that the medical college under the co-operative sector had demanded Rs 25 lakh for an NRI seat proved the hollowness of the government’s argument. Now it is clear that the government was taking on the private managements, particularly those belonging to the minorities.

The government wanted to bring the institutions run by the minorities under its control one way or other. It is becoming clear day by day that it is simply impossible to do so.

The financial muddle in admissions should have been treated in a different way. A new legislation was not needed to handle corruption. Instead, the government wanted to go in for sweeping changes dismantling the structure that was available with private managements for more than five decades.

In the bargain, certain silver linings in the stream of thought given out by the government relating to education also got dissipated.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Will man survive this
destructive tendency?

Science-based futurologists predict a fine moment for human kind outside of Planet
Earth. They affirm that there will be several living stations on moon, mars and some other planets.

There could be locations outside the Solar System. There would be inter-planetary community. Mankind could even transform themselves into beings without the body form we have now. These could, in course of billions of years ahead, become spirits as well, according to certain futurologists.

Futurology is a very interesting subject for the thinking beings. At the same time, it is a very difficult subject.

Various philosophies speak about the progress of  human beings in course of time, leading to ultimate destruction.

Jesus Christ spoke about men finding locations outside the Earth, while He was replying to queries by the disciples about the end of the ages. There could be destruction of the earth.

It would be worthwhile for intellectuals to ponder over the pounding of the planet by cruel people. God created the Earth as a special protective gear for mankind. The land mass, the oceans, the atmosphere all protect human beings from degeneration. The elements shelter us, but we shatter them, so much so that depletion of ozone layer and global warming would ring a death-knell for all beings.

Gradual rise in atmospheric temperature would result in the melting of icy continents. Water level in the oceans would rise and engulf coastal areas, whose inhabitants would be gobbled up. A deluge might swallow up the lands as in Noah’s time.

I sometimes think, with the sort of greed doing the rounds everywhere, the resources would be eaten away within no time, in terms of ages, and mankind would wither away.

Or maybe, pugnacious world leaders would set one country against another and in a chain reaction of a network of manoeuvres, the globe would explode with flashes of nuclear weapons pounding various continents at one stroke. All the talk of destroying missiles halfway before hitting the target might come to nought.

Would there be an end of racial culturalism? Human beings, in their wisdom, are keenly vying with each other to protect the faith of all sorts, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and what not. We think Gods cannot fend for themselves. Forces of the Universe do not need the protection of puny human beings.

God Almighty had told Job He would hand over the Universe to him for a few moments. Let him try to run the Universe. Job could only apologise for his ignorance.

When would world leaders imbibe this higher knowledge so that they would not preside over the dismemberment of Planet Earth.

Human beings have already eaten away the resources. Fossil fuels would last only for a few more decades. With the pace of quarrying of coal, iron, steel and metals, these would last for a few more years. Maybe, the oceans would be home for the homo sapiens for some more time.

But  one man cannot suffer another. He would go on torpedoing the welfare of the other. Ultimately, there would be an all-out destruction. Only God Almighty can save us. By that time, we may have become souls.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Jaswant’s   cannonball

As a former Army man, Jaswant Singh is supposed to go in for precision strike. There should be no beating about the bush. A soldier is not known to go round and round and leave the target unhit.

Jaswant Singh has been doing precisely that these days. He is cock-sure, on the basis of a letter he chanced upon, that someone in the office of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was a mole for America.

Initially, people thought he meant some junior Minister in the-then PMO. Jaswant turned around to say the fellow was a top civil servant. He is not in service now. Neither is he in the country at present. Everyone can draw his own conclusion. Or he would tell Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, if the PM invites him to do so.

Jaswant himself says information about the technology to produce a nuclear bomb can be downloaded from internet. So passing on information about concocting a nuclear device is not that important. But this mole informed his American contacts the exact schedule of Indian plans to explode a nuclear device.

Whether the mole’s trick worked or not, Americans were known to have pulled up Narasimha Rao for thinking about testing a nuclear device. Narasimha Rao had to beat a hasty retreat.

The NDA government led by A B Vajpayee, in whose Cabinet Jaswant Singh was External Affairs Minister for some time and Finance Minister later, did not give any chance for the US to trawl the secret about nuclear testing.

Close on the heels of our nuclear “blast”, Pakistan retaliated by exploding its devices.

India had an upper hand in traditional warfare with Pakistan. After both countries turned nuclear, there cannot be any more adventures. The BJP, to which Jaswant is a senior leader, used to refer to “hot pursuit” as allowed by the U N to chase and capture terrorists from their hideouts, even if these are in enemy territory.

After turning nuclear, the NDA government could not go in for hot pursuit. For Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had explained that he would not mind using nuclear weapons, if India would do any adventure against his country.

India’s nuclear device is only for safe keeping, for we have extended a noble international gesture asserting that India would not resort to first use of nuclear weapons against any country.

Jaswant knew the implications of the helplessness. As External Affairs Minister he had to escort three hard-core terrorists, got released from Indian jails, in his plane to Kandahar to secure the release of hostages from the skyjacked Indian Airlines plane. He says he had not paid Rs 900 crore ransom. Neither did he carry a red bag containing explosives to the hijackers, who escaped to the safety of Pakistan. He could not launch a hot pursuit.

After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, it was known that some of her PMO staff were passing on intelligence to our enemies. The high-profile and seemingly meticulous principal secretary, Dr P C Alexander, could not have a modicum of intelligence about the wrong-doings of people sitting right under his nose.

Jaswant’s book, A Call to Honour, might get sold like hot cakes. But India was not shining when he had to escort terrorists to Kandahar. There was no other choice. But can we pour out encomiums on ourselves for the weak-kneed disposition?

O J's Corner : Reflections

George Fernandes, the adviser

Whenever he got an opportunity, George Fernandes did not lose any time to castigate Sonia Gandhi. In a democratic set-up, political rivals should oppose prevalent policies and programmes. Fernandes has been doing more than that.

One can understand the vengeful feelings of Fernandes, who was ill-treated during the 1975 Emergency proclaimed by Sonia Gandhi’s mother-in-law, the-then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Without going into the merits of the incidents which occurred during those days, it should also be pointed out that Fernandes was involved in a criminal case.

A lot of people had suffered under the Emergency, which taught a lesson to Indira Gandhi herself. She was also arrested by the Morarji Desai regime . She was a mellowed leader after losing power and regaining it next.

Is there a semblance of the ideological, ethical, moralist views held by Fernandes of yore, compared to his postures doing the last few years? Many of the Jayaprakash Narain acolytes have become opportunists afterwards. Passage of time transforms people. Some of the sublime ones turn tainted, and a few wayward ones turn saintly.

Let us come to the point. When Fernandes was the Defence Minister in the NDA dispensation of A B Vajpayee, he threw his bungalow open for anyone to meet him. “Acting” military stuff “wheeler-dealers” of the Tehelka sting operators could not meet Fernandes, instead they met his life-partner for help in getting orders for military equipment. The same sting operators had bowled BJP’s president Bangaru Laxman over with wads of currency.

Fernades had offered justification for the doings of Laxman and Jaya Jaitley.

The same person is now offering Sonia Gandhi seemingly wise pieces of advice. She should act on office of profit bill as desired by President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
Sonia’s no “not only blatantly insults our patriotic President” but also sets a dangerous precedent for the law-makers of the future that “the Constitution could be shamed and sullied as per their whims and pleasure”.

Fernandes would say that the President was fulfilling his paramount duty towards the country and acting as per the oath of his office by returning the bill that was calculated to defeat the sacrosanct intention of the framers of the Constitution.

Fernandes conveniently forgets that the same Constitution calls upon the President to sign on the dotted line when the returned bill is sent back to him in the same format. Is Parliament’s wisdom inferior to anyone else’s wisdom?

What is the intention of NDA and people like Fernandes? Do they want 56 MPs elected by the people to be thrown out at one go? It was true, the executive did not meticulously exempt the offices of profit held by certain MPs from time to time.

Please note these MPs have not been charged with corrupt practices when they held dual positions. Parliament had, from the very beginning, exempted a lot of MPs from holding simultaneous positions.

Was it the intention of political rivals to unseat 56 MPs so that pressure would be built on the UPA regime to quit? The natural corollary would be a mid-term election.
What if Sonia Gandhi does not heed to the unwanted advice?

O J's Corner : Reflections

Communists want an alibi
for their non-performance


By now it has become clear that the Communists want an alibi for the non-performance of their government in Kerala. They are targeting the church to deflect the negativity the government is generating from its acts of omission and commission.

It is one thing to wax eloquent on all and sundry issues while being in the opposition, and that too as Communists. It is quite another to rule the State judiciously catering to the multiplicity of interests in a democratic set-up.

The Communists-led government cannot satisfy the aspirations of various interests in the Kerala set-up. They should have called a spade a spade and apprised sections, which stand in opposite directions ideologically, that they were not able to help them.

Instead, they were acting duplicitously by giving all sorts of promises to every conceivable interest groups and persuasions.

It does not need hair-splitting arguments that the ruling party has dealt a raw deal for the church.

That the Left Democratic Front Government has defined the minorities in a different perspective than that existed hitherto is meant to browbeat the church.

Of late, the government has been trying to corner the confidence of Muslims with an eye on dividing the joint resolve of the minorities to fight the newly- enacted legislation dealing with self-financing professional courses.

The fundamental aspect of traditional Communists is that it does not aspire for economic growth.

Traditionalists among the Communists still believe that economic growth does not necessarily generate employment opportunities and eliminate poverty. It is convinced that growth is not an all-round phenomenon. Those who get rich, grows richer.

Ostensibly, Communists do not support the rich class. That is why they are not enamoured of the rubber prices crossing the Rs 100 a kilo or cash crops getting fair returns for the growers.

During the previous E K Nayanar regime, natural rubber used to fetch approximately Rs 25 a kilo. It is true international prices were low. Still the government did pretty little to draw the growers out of the mess of price-decline.

Now Communist Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac has said in the budget speech that if the Rs -100 -a –kilo price persists for three months, he would levy a cess from the rubber growers. Gains from competitive market is anathema to the Communists.

Likewise, they do not care a little bit about educational sophistication the minorities, particularly the Christians, acquire through perseverance.

Communists are not worried about private education becoming costlier every year in the neighbouring States. Students make a beeline to educational institutions to get professional degrees. Their parents pay through the nose to see that their wards get professional education, be it within or outside the State.

The rigidity relates to reining in the minority institutions in Kerala to the dictates of the government.

The church now sees the writing on the wall. It is convinced that the educational institutions it has nurtured over a long period of time are being controlled by proxy.

The church has to share the blame for the Communists’ belligerence. It thought the Communists were getting refined. For a few years now, the church has been opening its portals to the leftists betraying an aura of multi-party inclusion. Earlier, it could not think of welcoming Communist ideologies.

Now it has to learn the lesson the hard way that the Communists won’t change. The church has to defend itself to protect its educational institutions.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Dr Kalam the Great

Our President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam has added signature to his Presidency by taking actions which he thinks are morally and ethically strong. Others in his place would have thought twice before issuing directions of the sort which could not be obeyed.

The latest was his message to Parliament under Article 111 of the Constitution, not to the Union Government, to draft the Office of Profit bill differently.

He was not amenable to 46 offices of profit being excluded by picking and choosing from the office of profit relating to MPs. Exemptions should cover the whole of the country and various States, instead of offices being exempted by choice. The message was intended to be something that is morally high. The President was also not happy about giving retrospective effect to the legislation.

The Government, out of the political expediency of running a coalition regime, cannot accede to the directive of the President. Among many others, 10 CPM MPs, including Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, are covered by the bill, which has to be re-submitted to the President in its original form.

The Government does not want to seem to have shown disrespect to the directive of the President. That is why it is delegating a Group of Ministers to study the issue and to suggest ways and measures to deal with the problem.

There have been comments galore made by various sections of the people, particularly certain politicians and the media that the President is being led to sign on the dotted line.

There is nothing like that. The President has brought to the notice of Parliament the unfairness of the impugned bill.

What can the present government do other than presenting the bill, as it is, after passage by both Houses of Parliament again?

By passing it again and presenting to the President as it is, Parliament is not doing anything illegal, for the relevant provisions are clear in the Constitution. The President is left with no choice other than approving it.

Even when there was no specific provision in the Constitution barring Sonia Gandhi, a person of foreign origin, from occupying the position of the Prime Minister after the people gave her a clear mandate, there was heated debate about the morality of her occupying the post of the head of government.
Dr Kalam, in his inimitable style, had invited her for discussion about forming the government. She was not invited to form the government. After the discussions, she thought it fit to entrust Dr Manmohan Singh with the post. Which shows that Dr Kalam does not mind raising issues which can have repercussions.

Take the case of returning the bill. President Kalam would be the only President who has to sign a returned bill by the highest office-holder of the country.

Zail Singh had returned the post offices bill, after keeping it with him for a long time, to Rajiv Gandhi, who later chose not send it back to him.

President Venkataraman had returned the MPs’ pension bill. But the bill was returned after holding discussions with the Prime Minister.

The President pointed out the flaw, Parliament thought it otherwise, and now the President has to accept the political reality.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Not ripe for competitive
pricing for essential drugs

Three cheers for Minister of Fertilisers and Chemicals Ramvilas Paswan for standing firm on the proposal to cut prices of 354 essential medicines by 10 per cent to 70 per cent.

The new drug policy, being approved by the Cabinet at the earliest, has been vehemently opposed by pharmaceutical industries. They fear that their profit margin would come down to a detrimental level. Pharma pricing has always been following a progressive trend, but the present move would challenge their very existence, according to them.

The other side of the coin has also to be kept in mind. Recently, the Supreme Court asked the government to control prices of essential medicines. Even when the prices are lowered, the Government is allowing 150 per cent maximum allowable post-manufacturing expenditure.

The new policy would not result in sweeping changes, for only 33 per cent of the medicines come under price control. In terms of value, the 354 items whose prices are being lowered constitute only eight per cent of total drug production. Open market forces and competitive pricing have a free run for 67 per cent of the drugs.

Much can be said on both sides. Theoretically, the liberal would argue that once the market is opened up for global players, there cannot be protectionism. On the other side, every human society has concern for the poorest of the poor. Even capitalist perfectionists dole out freebies to the have-nots. The beauty of democracy running the show of governance lies in taking care of the deprived. Here we are not talking about whole-sale subsidy, but measures for taking care of the poor with essential drugs.

India’s peculiarity has to be noted by the world community. It harbours world’s largest number of poor people in a single country. Of the one billion inhabitants, 350 to 400 million are estimated to be living below the poverty line, of whom 75 per cent are from the rural areas.

Growth of middle class in India indicates that economic prosperity has been impressive, but distribution of wealth has been uneven. Illiteracy has been the main cause for generation of poverty.

Also population growth rate  far exceeded economic growth rate for the last 50 years.

Moreover, protectionist policies have prevailed in the country since 1947 to 1991, which prevented large amount of foreign investment.

World Bank has reported that the poverty rate in India has come down on account of the growth rate pegged at 6.1 per cent.

It is all good that the middle class is emerging strongly and the economy is showing signs of making a climb.

But for a country like India with multitudes of the poor struggling to make a living, the sure-shot solution is not blanket infusion of market forces at one go.

The plight of the farmers has been caused by continued disregard of their interests for the last 50 years. No particular incentive was given to them for a long period of time. In fact, fabulous plan funds should have been released to the farm sector to increase production and productivity through high-yielding varieties and new technologies.

Essential medicines should be available to the poor at affordable prices. They cannot be left to fend for themselves among profiteering vultures. In developed countries, they have fool-proof mediclaim in-built in their system. We don’t have effective mediclaim for the poor. Until then, they have to survive.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Relying on hard evidence
will not help us nab terrorists

The US has reportedly advised India to rely on hard evidence before pointing an accusing finger against Pakistan for acts of terrorism carried out in various parts of the country.

The suggestion is borne out of the good intention of the Americans to see that a rapprochement is brought about between India and Pakistan. The intention is fair enough, provided Pakistan does not conduct a proxy war, if not direct conflict.

We have no uncertainty about the source of terrorist acts executed in the country hundreds of times after partition. Pakistan had waged a war against India three times. It has been itching for fomenting trouble.

It had  futilely supported the movement to establish Khalistan in Punjab territory, to take revenge on India for the dismemberment of erstwhile East Pakistan, which is the present Bangladesh.

All the while, Pakistan has been infiltrating fidayeens into Jammu and Kashmir. All the troubles caused in J and K had not discouraged India from taking terrorism head-on.

In fact, India had gone through the travails of terrorism umpteen  decades before the US tasted terrorists’ cruelty.Alas, for the perpetrators, terrorism is an act which is propitious in the eye of God.

The US had lost no time in confronting the roots of terrorism. Iraq got dissipated at the hands of the Americans, even without relying on hard evidence. Weapons of mass destruction were simply mouthfuls of verbal vengeance spouted by Saddam Hussein, Tariq Anwar and their team.

What is in a name ? A rose is a rose by whatever name it is called. Evil is also the same. Terrorists of various hues received sustenance in Pakistan. If one outfit of a particular nomenclature is immobilised, its elements emerge out in a different gown.

Common sense judgement prevails upon the fact that all these elements are inter-connected one way or another. Lately, outfits in Bangladesh were as or more potent in their destructive activities than those in Pakistan.

Taliban, al-Qaeda, Lashkar, Jaish, Hamas, Hizbullah or ABCD terrorists, all get rejuvenated by the flush of funds being secured from the oil rich countries.

These extremist elements were not there to condemn Saddam Hussein when he captured Kuwait in 1990. With the help of Saudi Arabia, the Americans got back the kingdom for the Kuwait Emir. Earlier, Saddam was fighting against Iran, which has always been inimical to the US after the Shah of Iran had fled under pressure.

At the present juncture, America is really interested in getting India out of the quagmire of terrorist invasions. First of all, the US has to create conditions in which India can be brought under its umbrella of support. It is creditworthy that the US has gone out of the way a long distance in assisting India in the matter of nuclear co-operation.

With this, India is being brought under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime not as a de jure nuclear-weapon State, but as a de facto entity. India’s history in the matter of proliferation has been worthy of credit.

It would be futile to expect special treatment for India by Iran, Syria and other fundamentalist-Islamist conglomerates. In that context, we need help from America. Even Russia is getting assistance  from the Americans. Let the US help us, in all possible ways, so that we can deal with terrorists effectively.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Salute the court verdict

Whatever may be the faults in our system and its devious practitioners, we have a judicious judiciary, which I feel, stands towering above the other two limbs of the Constitution. I know the three limbs of the Constitution, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, are complementary and are equally important. But the judiciary does not fail even as the other two limbs fail in their duty occasionally.

The excellence in the dispensation of justice is best exemplified by the interim orders of the Supreme Court and  Kerala High Court in the self-financing professional courses case.

The Supreme Court did not show judicial activism and so it sent the issue directly to the High Court for trial of the crucial issue relating to the vires or otherwise of the legislation passed by Kerala Assembly recently.

The new piece of law was intended to bridle the private managements, particularly the minority communities, which have been on the vanguard of conducting educational exercises to the benefit of all the communities. The legislation contains tools with which the minorities could be pestered.

Close on the heels of the House passing the bill at midnight, interpolating the controversial new definition of the minorities by oral presentation of the particular clauses by the State Education Minister, the managements approached the Supreme Court for nullification of the law. Temporary redressal of grievances like allowing last year’s modus operandi of admission was also sought. The apex court justifiably remitted the case for adjudication by the High Court.

The top-most court had not gone into the merit of any issue. I wonder what was the need for the media to propagate the view that the Supreme Court dismissed the plea of the managements. The gravamen of the order dismissing the petition as withdrawn was that the High Court was the proper forum to mull over the crucial issues.

The ruling class in the State welcomed the decision saying the Supreme Court had dismissed the plea of the managements.

Now lately when the High Court issued an interim order asking  status quo ante to be restored for a year, the media highlighted the fact that the court did not allow the plea of the managements to stay the operation of the provisions of the legislation under challenge.

It was true the court did not issue a stay order. For it was not needed to have a stay order. Already the court made it clear that the procedure adopted for admission of students to professional courses last year would continue for a year more. The legality of the provisions of the law would be discussed in detail during the trial process.

The managements should follow the 50:50 ratio of merit and management quotas in admission. Last year Justice K T Thomas, as desired by the Supreme Court, had fixed quantum of fee for various courses. The same fee structure would be followed this year as well.

A close look at the demands of the managements would provide the perspective that these were the essence of the pleas of the managements. The question whether the legislation is unconstitutional or not would be decided in course of time. Moreover, whoever loses would approach the Supreme Court ultimately.Meanwhile,let us salute the court for its sagacity to satisfy all views, without vitiating the atmosphere.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Punjab showed the way
to crush terrorism

Judging by the way terrorism is getting recycled once its head is blown off in New York, London, Madrid, Baghdad or Kabul, one would think an ultimate solution would evade even the super-power.

Terrorism and the war against it are part of a vicious circle, none outsmarting the other.That is a helpless plea of the gentle public.

If one asks K P S Gill, former Director-General of Police, Punjab, he would definitely find a weapon to deal with the merchants of death. Act ruthlessly against them. That is the only thing that will work against terrorists.

Create fool-proof security measures, with careful attention to details, constant supervision of arrangements and plugging loopholes.

But what is the situation in Mumbai? There is not a single closed circuit television structure in public places, railway stations, bus stations, key installations and the like.

In London, every movement in public places is videographed. The details are there in the archives. The footage is dished out when there is a need for identification of a suspect.

One cannot breathe outside of the CCTV network in London. After the explosion on buses and in tubes, everything is supervised. Big Brother is always watching.

No wonder there has been visitations of paranoia on the police and the public alike. But the police never took a chance, even if they went wrong. One careless complacency may result in the loss of hundreds of lives of innocent people.

People sitting in ivory towers blame US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for resorting to military adventurism in the name of tackling terrorism. Sure, they were not playing to the gallery. But they were acting tough on terrorism.

Much of the harsh words come from jihadis clothed in the form of ideologues against world leadership in whose domain anyone can open their mouth and speak his mind. These jihadis do not allow anyone to say a word against them in their domain. Foreigners are outrightly condemned.

It is worse than totalitarianism that is reigning in regions controlled by holy war outfits.

In the late forties and fifties there was nobody in Punjab who could have foreseen the advent of terror. Punjab had just emerged from a nightmare of communal violence. An estimated half a million had been killed and millions of others were displaced in what was probably the largest enforced transfer of population in the history of man. These were all in the name of upholding Faith.

Finally, it was demonstrated in Punjab that no one can hoodwink the security-enforcer. The only weapon was undiluted ruthlessness in dealing with acts of terrorism.

Take the case of the Mumbai situation. A lot of wide-mouthed political bullies are keeping a low profile for now. When and if the Government acts tough, they would come out with open support for the perpetrators of violence in the name of breach of human rights. If humans are not allowed to live, where can one secure rights? Let the motto be humans first. Rights should go hand in hand with duties.

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

Tinkering with the basic structure
Of minority status

Ingenuity of humanity calls for innovation, testing new ideas and being amenable to changes. New situations engender evolution of new tools to tackle new-found enlightenment.

However enterprising and avant-garde the new generation might be, there can be no tinkering with the basic structure of entities. There would be extreme pleas on both sides, but the fundamentals remain the same. Otherwise, the State, the society as a whole would wither away.

Kerala  has pioneered several moves in the social, educational, health, labour and many other sectors.

Now it is futilely attempting to serenade a socialistic scenario in the education sphere by browbeating the minorities. In fact, the Communists-led Government has given a new definition to minorities.

By moving this definition, unthinkable in the light of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution, which forms part of its basic structure, the LDF Government, in effect, would be jettisoning even the socially-salubrious provisions contained in the new legislation.

Its think-tank was on a moral high to seemingly appease the poor among the minorities. It is the bounden duty of the minorities themselves to spearhead a movement to cleanse the slush  in establishments run by them.

The State is now shedding crocodile tears for the marginalised among the minorities without the administration doing anything to lift the poor in all communities by setting up more institutions for professional education. The State is forcing private institutions to discharge the duty, where it had failed.

Whatever the Indian Medical Council and All India Council for Technical Education aver, the State should increase the seats in medical and engineering colleges by providing minimum facilities. If these bodies are standing in the way, the Centre should be coerced to amend the rules governing them.

The title of the new law passed by Kerala Assembly is interesting for its long-winding nature. Its provisions contain measures for prohibition of captitation fee, regulation of admission, fixation of non-exploitative fee, measures to ensure equity and excellence in professional education.

Because the minorities cannot protect themselves otherwise, Article 30 (1) of the Constitution empowers them to run educational institutions of their choice. This fundamental right cannot be taken away by circuitous way of redefining minorities.
The concept that if minorities are running more educational institutions than other communities they cannot be construed as minorities-run is archaic.

By issuing veiled threats, the attempt to confer non-minority status on Christian educational institutions smacks of ulterior motives.

The attempt should have been made in the society to unravel the corruption and undesirable practices in these institutions, instead of bridling the whole community by law, which would boomerang on the perpetrators themselves.

The Oommen Chandy-led UDF is not above blame for bringing out this legislation. The UDF leaders say they opposed the legislation when it was discussed in the Assembly. But the de jure scenario of the Assembly having unanimously passed the legislation does little for them to bandy about as pro-minority.

Just one provision, that is Section 8, should have spurred them to call for division in the Assembly while the bill was being voted in. The plea that the UDF did not want the admission procedure to go helter-skelter this year would be unpardonable for eternity.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Abandon theatrics, go in for hard
bargaining at WTO rounds

I would advise India’s Commerce Minister Kamalnath to dispense with pious rhetorics, go in for hard bargaining and fleece a pound of flesh from the developed countries at the informal meeting being held again after the failed conclave at Geneva the other day.

Leftists in India might have a sense of déjà vu at Kamalnath’s walking out from the Geneva meet, frustrating an agreement. We have given a handle to world leaders to fix the blame on India. Developed nations would not be amused by theatrics, but they understand hard, intelligent bargaining.

So please get ready to hand over Plan I, II, III and the like when one scheme fails. Let them be muddled with choices. That is what the Jews do, and so they get away with a pound of flesh.

The Leftists in India did a monumental mistake by blatantly opposing our joining the World Trade Organisation, formed on January 1, 1995. Before and after our joining the world trade bandwagon, they blindly opposed it.

There was no harm in opposing unpalatable pacts. Arguments presented by them to win political plaudits from the proletariat and approval from the intellectual pariah had well-meaning points, though.

The beauty of functioning in a democracy, with the intention of helping the downtrodden, should have prompted the think-tank among them to simultaneously evolve ideas to deal with the beastly colonialists. All parties in India have failed to project proper line of thought to conquer the economic giants.

Mind you, the West had absorbed the ideas ingrained in the Vedas and Upanishads and Eastern philosophy to benefit from them in all possible spheres, including missile technology and possibly even digital dynamics. Sankaracharya had put into practice the idea of journeying at the speed of thought.

Where are our enlightened  souls? Can’t they offer ways and means to provide succour to the farmers and small-traders by squeezing through the rigidities of the WTO pacts?

Now World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has advised the powerful  industrialised and developing countries to break the impasse at their proposed conclave at St Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.

The Group of eight developed countries (the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia) and the five developing countries (China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa) which are meeting there along with African Union and other organizations to sort out the issue by give and take.

Differences persist over trade in farm and industrial services and goods, and State measures to protect those sectors.

Richer countries should first open their agricultural markets before the developing nations opened their services industrial and services markets, according to their long-standing demand.

Another concern is that local industries would suffer irreversibly if fragile markets of the developing countries are opened up.

China had been going after the developed nations to admit it into the WTO from 1995, but they got the green signal only in 1999, after much of democratic processes, freedom of dissent and human rights have been conceded.

Our intelligentsia should devise extra-WTO ways to make the poor farmers wriggle out of the economic mess they are in. Bank loans can be liberally granted to them. When they are not able to pay up on account of poor crops or poor prices, repayments should be waived. Banks should be supported in various other indirect ways.

No one can say that loans should not be issued to farmers. Even the IMF and World Bank had waived fabulous loans issued to various countries when they were not able to pay up. So cheer up and be part of the pack of cards, if we cannot be the trump-card.

O J's Corner Reflections

Cops’ shock and awe

The serial blasts in Mumbai which shook the megapolis by surprise have, in fact, been a shock and awe for the cops.

By any stretch of imagination can the complacency of the police be condoned.

In spite of umpteen units of a variety of intelligence agencies trawling the Mumbaiscape, particularly after a series of monstrous blasts from 1993, it remains a mystery how nothing, not even shreds of suspicion, could be gauged before-hand.

It was public knowledge that the buildings belonging to Dawood Ibrahim in Mumbai were slated for auction on Tuesday, by now known as 7/11 (July 11). The horrendous RDX explosions ripped open the heart of Mumbai precisely the same day.

No one can deny the fact that earlier on several auction occasions there were no takers for Dawood property, simply for fear of the global terror-operator carrying capability to decimate the would-be title-holder. No one can fault the reluctance on the part of the bidders to corner this slice of property belonging to the dreaded don. The police top-brass is feigning ignorance of this development? Tad difficult to decipher this mind-block.

Little solace is it that the shaken Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy confided to scribes that the explosions have taken the police force off guard. The Mumbai police had not received messages from the intelligence agencies about any looming threat. Any slum-dweller would have felt a hunch about unfolding property developments relating to the don.

Commissioner Roy is reported to have said: “We have a good intelligence machinery, but this time the terrorists took us by surprise. The police force had to pay a heavy price for one failure.

Previously, the police had unearthed a huge haul of 50 kilos of RDX. The police had raided various places in Mumbai, Nashik, Malegaon and Aurangabad.

The city police head knows it too well that nobody will appreciate the earlier work as people are shocked by the explosions.

Well, let us be aware of the magnitude of the difficulty in having clairvoyance of terrorist attacks in a city where multitudes of populace wriggle about like worms in a cesspool. There are skyrises for the wealthy, flats for the middle class and bungalows for the upper class, but the poorest of the poor have their habitations in dilapidated hutments and makeshift shelters. How could anyone differentiate a genuine denizen from the dubious death-bringers?

Is it possible for the authorities to give an assurance that there would be no more blasts in Mumbai, the hub of frenetic economic activities spurring people to make giant strides in the growth quotient one way or other, from the measly wage-earners to dealers of diamonds? Not at all. Assurances would be hollow. The need of the hour is to catch the culprits and show it to the world that we are as good as anyone in the West to smoke out the hideous terrorists from their burrows.

In New York, London, Madrid and similar cities, a second attack has so far been impossible for the terrorists. The law-enforcing agencies are waiting with bated breath to keeping a close watch on anyone moving around in suspicious circumstances. Let us not lag behind in caution.

O J’s Corner

Punjab showed the way
to crush terrorism

Judging by the way terrorism is getting recycled once its head is blown off in New York, London, Madrid, Baghdad or Kabul, one would think an ultimate solution would evade even the super-power.

Terrorism and the war against it are part of a vicious circle, none outsmarting the other.That is a helpless plea of the gentle public.

If one asks K P S Gill, former Director-General of Police, Punjab, he would definitely find a weapon to deal with the merchants of death. Act ruthlessly against them. That is the only thing that will work against terrorists.

Create fool-proof security measures, with careful attention to details, constant supervision of arrangements and plugging loopholes.

But what is the situation in Mumbai? There is not a single closed circuit television structure in public places, railway stations, bus stations, key installations and the like.

In London, every movement in public places is videographed. The details are there in the archives. The footage is dished out when there is a need for identification of a suspect.

One cannot breathe outside of the CCTV network in London. After the explosion on buses and in tubes, everything is supervised. Big Brother is always watching.

No wonder there has been visitations of paranoia on the police and the public alike. But the police never took a chance, even if they went wrong. One careless complacency may result in the loss of hundreds of lives of innocent people.

People sitting in ivory towers blame US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for resorting to military adventurism in the name of tackling terrorism. Sure, they were not playing to the gallery. But they were acting tough on terrorism.

Much of the harsh words come from jihadis clothed in the form of ideologues against world leadership in whose domain anyone can open their mouth and speak his mind. These jihadis do not allow anyone to say a word against them in their domain. Foreigners are outrightly condemned.

It is worse than totalitarianism that is reigning in regions controlled by holy war outfits.

In the late forties and fifties there was nobody in Punjab who could have foreseen the advent of terror. Punjab had just emerged from a nightmare of communal violence. An estimated half a million had been killed and millions of others were displaced in what was probably the largest enforced transfer of population in the history of man. These were all in the name of upholding Faith.

Finally, it was demonstrated in Punjab that no one can hoodwink the security-enforcer. The only weapon was undiluted ruthlessness in dealing with acts of terrorism.

Take the case of the Mumbai situation. A lot of wide-mouthed political bullies are keeping a low profile for now. When and if the Government acts tough, they would come out with open support for the perpetrators of violence in the name of breach of human rights. If humans are not allowed to live, where can one secure rights? Let the motto be humans first. Rights should go hand in hand with duties.

O J’s Corner

Let an in-house cleansing
lead Muslims away from Jihadis

The ultimate aim of the human kind is to make the world a safe place for their sojourn. At the level of the present strife burning in key spots, capable of escalating into a global threat, the world would not be a safe place for man.

And we are yet to establish habitable shelters in space where at least specimens of homo sapiens could be made to survive.

Hundreds of years into the future, maybe we would set up self-contained colonies deep in space where some people can establish colonies. The planet called Earth would be decimated by self-inflicted nuclear race and its fall-outs.

All jihadis are dreaming of a time when they would be able to secure nuclear arms from rogue States which are trying to go nuclear. If they have the ultimate weapon, they can bargain with the super-powers and blackmail their opponents.

By now it is clear that Pakistan became nuclear with the help of allies not amenable to India. Once it got the know-how, other Islamic States were after the experts to snatch the formula.

Countries like Iraq, Libya, Iran, and the like were all flush with ideas of having the ultimate weapon.

Iran, which has been the patron of Hizbullah, the Party of God, out to decimate Israel, is on the threshold of gaining nuclear know-how. Iranian President Memoud Ahmadinejad would not stop short of enriching weapons-grade uranium, come what may.

It does not care anything about the warnings of US President George Bush about serious consequences. The developed nations have been urging Iran to find a way-out for its energy needs. Russia has been prepared to enrich uranium at its soil and hand it over to Iran, which is not amenable to it.

Any way, the day of reckoning is coming for Iran, when it would have to pay a price. But in the name of jihad, the fundamentalists would be retaliating in places where it thinks it can browbeat the US.

Likewise, North Korea has already fired missiles capable of carrying nuclear war-heads right into the heart of Alabama in the US, in spite of the super-power doing everything to dissuade the renegade Communist country.

Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and various other countries have furtive formulations to help each other in matters of arsenal stocks.

Various organisations are there like Hizbullah, Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Authority, Lashkar-e-toyiba, Simi and master terrorist al-Qaeda of bin Laden to protect Islam, which does not need the violent support of any of these outfits.

Islam, like other faiths, is held in high esteem by millions of people all over the world. A majority of the faithful are, by any stretch of imagination, non-violent. They are most friendly people. They can relate with people of other faiths without any qualms. They are God’s creatures.

But they are not being allowed to live in peace by violent jihadis who do not comprehend the fact that their own brethren are put to trouble by their acts.

Well-meaning intellectuals in the Muslim community the world over should instil in the minds of ordinary Muslims the spirit of non-violence so that they as well as others can live in peace. The world should be a safe place for all human beings.

O J’s Corner
Reflections

Testing US’ patience

Years ago, during the Cold War, the world’s newspapers used to run pages-long advertisements of the achievements of “the great leader Kim Il Sung of North Korea”. The Cold War is over, Kim Il Sung is no more, but his son and present North Korean leader Kim Jong II is giving the jitters to the world’s only superpower, the United States of America.

Despite the commando-like appearance and affirmations of President George Bush, North Korea and Iran, which he described as part of the “axis of evil”, are taking him for granted.

President Bush had warned North Korea against testing long-range missiles which can carry nuclear war-heads. Leader Kim Jong II did not care two hoots about the warnings of President Bush.

He test-fired not one, but seven missiles, one of them long-range which can strike Alaska in the US. But that one miscarried and did not reach striking distance. Leader Kim Jong II did it on a day which he thought was auspicious for him. The D-day was July 4, the Independence Day of the United States of America. This was definitely intended as the height of provocation for the Americans.

Another leader who is giving terrible jitters is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, the fire-brand Islamic fundamentalist who does not mince words in condemning the US. He is hell-bent on enriching uranium,which he euphemistically refers to as for the purpose of power generation. Everyone the world over knows that his intention is to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

Reacting to the pressure put on him for abandoning the move, initially he gave a terse reply saying nothing of the sort would work out. Later, he appeared to come round to a package offered to him by the European Union. Lately, he appears to be listening to no one, even to International Atomic Energy supremo Elbaradei.

In June, President Bush had said North Korea would face even greater international isolation (than Iran) if it carries out its threat to test-fire its long-range missile. “It should make people nervous when non-transparent regimes, who have announced that they have nuclear warheads, fire missiles. This is not the way you conduct business in the world”, Bush had retorted.

He had warned Iran and North Korea not to test his patience. About Iran President Bush had said in June that it should act within weeks, when President Ahmadinejad expressed his willingness to consider the package in August.

“Diplomacy takes time, while acting alone, you can move quickly”, President Bush has quipped. He is giving time for diplomacy to act on the intransigent regimes.

Both the regimes speak like Muthavakil in Afghanistan and Tariq Ahmed in Iraq before these two countries were conquered by American-led forces. They were speaking daggers and using none. Ultimately, both the regimes fell like ninepins.

Now it seems President Bush is speaking daggers and using none about Iran and North Korea, both of which are having a field day, thinking that US will not strike the countries during the final term of Bush. They think they are safe till 2008 when another President would rule the US. An enraged America would be dangerous to both of them.

O J’s Corner
Reflections

Abandon theatrics, go in for hard
bargaining at WTO rounds

I would advise India’s Commerce Minister Kamalnath to dispense with pious rhetorics, go in for hard bargaining and fleece a pound of flesh from the developed countries at the informal meeting being held again after the failed conclave at Geneva the other day.

Leftists in India might have a sense of déjà vu at Kamalnath’s walking out from the Geneva meet, frustrating an agreement. We have given a handle to world leaders to fix the blame on India. Developed nations would not be amused by theatrics, but they understand hard, intelligent bargaining.

So please get ready to hand over Plan I, II, III and the like when one scheme fails. Let them be muddled with choices. That is what the Jews do, and so they get away with a pound of flesh.

The Leftists in India did a monumental mistake by blatantly opposing our joining the World Trade Organisation, formed on January 1, 1995. Before and after our joining the world trade bandwagon, they blindly opposed it.

There was no harm in opposing unpalatable pacts. Arguments presented by them to win political plaudits from the proletariat and approval from the intellectual pariah had well-meaning points, though.

The beauty of functioning in a democracy, with the intention of helping the downtrodden, should have prompted the think-tank among them to simultaneously evolve ideas to deal with the beastly colonialists. All parties in India have failed to project proper line of thought to conquer the economic giants.

Mind you, the West had absorbed the ideas ingrained in the Vedas and Upanishads and Eastern philosophy to benefit from them in all possible spheres, including missile technology and possibly even digital dynamics. Sankaracharya had put into practice the idea of journeying at the speed of thought.

Where are our enlightened souls? Can’t they offer ways and means to provide succour to the farmers and small-traders by squeezing through the rigidities of the WTO pacts?

Now World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has advised the powerful industrialised and developing countries to break the impasse at their proposed conclave at St Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.

The Group of eight developed countries (the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia) and the five developing countries (China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa) which are meeting there along with African Union and other organizations to sort out the issue by give and take.

Differences persist over trade in farm and industrial services and goods, and State measures to protect those sectors.

Richer countries should first open their agricultural markets before the developing nations opened their services industrial and services markets, according to their long-standing demand.

Another concern is that local industries would suffer irreversibly if fragile markets of the developing countries are opened up.

China had been going after the developed nations to admit it into the WTO from 1995, but they got the green signal only in 1999, after much of democratic processes, freedom of dissent and human rights have been conceded.

Our intelligentsia should devise extra-WTO ways to make the poor farmers wriggle out of the economic mess they are in. Bank loans can be liberally granted to them. When they are not able to pay up on account of poor crops or poor prices, repayments should be waived. Banks should be supported in various other indirect ways.

No one can say that loans should not be issued to farmers. Even the IMF and World Bank had waived fabulous loans issued to various countries when they were not able to pay up. So cheer up and be part of the pack of cards, if we cannot be the trump-card.

O J's Corner
Reflections

Tinkering with the basic structure
Of minority status

Ingenuity of humanity calls for innovation, testing new ideas and being amenable to changes. New situations engender evolution of new tools to tackle new-found enlightenment.

However enterprising and avant-garde the new generation might be, there can be no tinkering with the basic structure of entities. There would be extreme pleas on both sides, but the fundamentals remain the same. Otherwise, the State, the society as a whole would wither away.

Kerala has pioneered several moves in the social, educational, health, labour and many other sectors.

Now it is futilely attempting to serenade a socialistic scenario in the education sphere by browbeating the minorities. In fact, the Communists-led Government has given a new definition to minorities.

By moving this definition, unthinkable in the light of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution, which forms part of its basic structure, the LDF Government, in effect, would be jettisoning even the socially-salubrious provisions contained in the new legislation.

Its think-tank was on a moral high to seemingly appease the poor among the minorities. It is the bounden duty of the minorities themselves to spearhead a movement to cleanse the slush in establishments run by them.

The State is now shedding crocodile tears for the marginalised among the minorities without the administration doing anything to lift the poor in all communities by setting up more institutions for professional education. The State is forcing private institutions to discharge the duty, where it had failed.

Whatever the Indian Medical Council and All India Council for Technical Education aver, the State should increase the seats in medical and engineering colleges by providing minimum facilities. If these bodies are standing in the way, the Centre should be coerced to amend the rules governing them.

The title of the new law passed by Kerala Assembly is interesting for its long-winding nature. Its provisions contain measures for prohibition of captitation fee, regulation of admission, fixation of non-exploitative fee, measures to ensure equity and excellence in professional education.

Because the minorities cannot protect themselves otherwise, Article 30 (1) of the Constitution empowers them to run educational institutions of their choice. This fundamental right cannot be taken away by circuitous way of redefining minorities.
The concept that if minorities are running more educational institutions than other communities they cannot be construed as minorities-run is archaic.

By issuing veiled threats, the attempt to confer non-minority status on Christian educational institutions smacks of ulterior motives.

The attempt should have been made in the society to unravel the corruption and undesirable practices in these institutions, instead of bridling the whole community by law, which would boomerang on the perpetrators themselves.

The Oommen Chandy-led UDF is not above blame for bringing out this legislation. The UDF leaders say they opposed the legislation when it was discussed in the Assembly. But the de jure scenario of the Assembly having unanimously passed the legislation does little for them to bandy about as pro-minority.

Just one provision, that is Section 8, should have spurred them to call for division in the Assembly while the bill was being voted in. The plea that the UDF did not want the admission procedure to go helter-skelter this year would be unpardonable for eternity.

O J's Corner Reflections

Cops’ shock and awe

The serial blasts in Mumbai which shook the megapolis by surprise have, in fact, been a shock and awe for the cops.

By any stretch of imagination can the complacency of the police be condoned.

In spite of umpteen units of a variety of intelligence agencies trawling the Mumbaiscape, particularly after a series of monstrous blasts from 1993, it remains a mystery how nothing, not even shreds of suspicion, could be gauged before-hand.

It was public knowledge that the buildings belonging to Dawood Ibrahim in Mumbai were slated for auction on Tuesday, by now known as 7/11 (July 11). The horrendous RDX explosions ripped open the heart of Mumbai precisely the same day.

No one can deny the fact that earlier on several auction occasions there were no takers for Dawood property, simply for fear of the global terror-operator carrying capability to decimate the would-be title-holder. No one can fault the reluctance on the part of the bidders to corner this slice of property belonging to the dreaded don. The police top-brass is feigning ignorance of this development? Tad difficult to decipher this mind-block.

Little solace is it that the shaken Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy confided to scribes that the explosions have taken the police force off guard. The Mumbai police had not received messages from the intelligence agencies about any looming threat. Any slum-dweller would have felt a hunch about unfolding property developments relating to the don.

Commissioner Roy is reported to have said: “We have a good intelligence machinery, but this time the terrorists took us by surprise. The police force had to pay a heavy price for one failure.

Previously, the police had unearthed a huge haul of 50 kilos of RDX. The police had raided various places in Mumbai, Nashik, Malegaon and Aurangabad.

The city police head knows it too well that nobody will appreciate the earlier work as people are shocked by the explosions.

Well, let us be aware of the magnitude of the difficulty in having clairvoyance of terrorist attacks in a city where multitudes of populace wriggle about like worms in a cesspool. There are skyrises for the wealthy, flats for the middle class and bungalows for the upper class, but the poorest of the poor have their habitations in dilapidated hutments and makeshift shelters. How could anyone differentiate a genuine denizen from the dubious death-bringers?

Is it possible for the authorities to give an assurance that there would be no more blasts in Mumbai, the hub of frenetic economic activities spurring people to make giant strides in the growth quotient one way or other, from the measly wage-earners to dealers of diamonds? Not at all. Assurances would be hollow. The need of the hour is to catch the culprits and show it to the world that we are as good as anyone in the West to smoke out the hideous terrorists from their burrows.

In New York, London, Madrid and similar cities, a second attack has so far been impossible for the terrorists. The law-enforcing agencies are waiting with bated breath to keeping a close watch on anyone moving around in suspicious circumstances. Let us not lag behind in caution.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Abandon theatrics, go in for hard
bargaining at WTO rounds

I would advise India’s Commerce Minister Kamalnath to dispense with pious rhetorics, go in for hard bargaining and fleece a pound of flesh from the developed countries at the informal meeting being held again after the failed conclave at Geneva the other day.

Leftists in India might have a sense of déjà vu at Kamalnath’s walking out from the Geneva meet, frustrating an agreement. We have given a handle to world leaders to fix the blame on India. Developed nations would not be amused by theatrics, but they understand hard, intelligent bargaining.

So please get ready to hand over Plan I, II, III and the like when one scheme fails. Let them be muddled with choices. That is what the Jews do, and so they get away with a pound of flesh.

The Leftists in India did a monumental mistake by blatantly opposing our joining the World Trade Organisation, formed on January 1, 1995. Before and after our joining the world trade bandwagon, they blindly opposed it.

There was no harm in opposing unpalatable pacts. Arguments presented by them to win political plaudits from the proletariat and approval from the intellectual pariah had well-meaning points, though.

The beauty of functioning in a democracy, with the intention of helping the downtrodden, should have prompted the think-tank among them to simultaneously evolve ideas to deal with the beastly colonialists. All parties in India have failed to project proper line of thought to conquer the economic giants.

Mind you, the West had absorbed the ideas ingrained in the Vedas and Upanishads and Eastern philosophy to benefit from them in all possible spheres, including missile technology and possibly even digital dynamics. Sankaracharya had put into practice the idea of journeying at the speed of thought.

Where are our enlightened  souls? Can’t they offer ways and means to provide succour to the farmers and small-traders by squeezing through the rigidities of the WTO pacts?

Now World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has advised the powerful  industrialised and developing countries to break the impasse at their proposed conclave at St Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.

The Group of eight developed countries (the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia) and the five developing countries (China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa) which are meeting there along with African Union and other organizations to sort out the issue by give and take.

Differences persist over trade in farm and industrial services and goods, and State measures to protect those sectors.

Richer countries should first open their agricultural markets before the developing nations opened their services industrial and services markets, according to their long-standing demand.

Another concern is that local industries would suffer irreversibly if fragile markets of the developing countries are opened up.

China had been going after the developed nations to admit it into the WTO from 1995, but they got the green signal only in 1999, after much of democratic processes, freedom of dissent and human rights have been conceded.

Our intelligentsia should devise extra-WTO ways to make the poor farmers wriggle out of the economic mess they are in. Bank loans can be liberally granted to them. When they are not able to pay up on account of poor crops or poor prices, repayments should be waived. Banks should be supported in various other indirect ways.

No one can say that loans should not be issued to farmers. Even the IMF and World Bank had waived fabulous loans issued to various countries when they were not able to pay up. So cheer up and be part of the pack of cards, if we cannot be the trump-card.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Muslims must take the initiative
To root out terrorism

Mumbai blasts on Tuesday, which killed nearly 200 people and injured about 600 others, have been condemned by every human being except terrorists.

Terrorism alone has a one-world domain now. Not even the super-power, with all sophisticated arms and ammunitions everywhere, can effectively control terrorism, which has no face, no emotions and no image. They just kill for so-called religious and political ideology.

They unleash acts of terrorism on innocent people, who are helpless. Terrorists have no compassion. Their brains are formatted for killings.

Precision strikes are their brand. Some of them get killed, but others of their ilk take over with more vigour.

Their bosses sit in carefully-carved hide-outs, which could be in the caves of Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Waziristan in Pakistan or in New York and London disguised as technocrat, doctor or management honcho.

Take the case of attacks in Mumbai, Delhi, Srinagar, Varanasi and Bangalore in India, and New York, London, Iraq, Madrid, or Beslan, the acts of terrorism were precise, and co-ordinated in full, with no failure quotient.

The mystery about how terrorists could brain-wash young people educated in good disciplines such as engineering, medicine, science, management and the like remains unsolved.

The painful fact is that a majority of the recruits belong to Islamic faith. Osama bin Laden may be hiding in places where even the bunker-buster ballistic devices could not smoke him out. But he manages to communicate with the underworld of terrorism effectively. Experts believe that once in a while when he releases videotapes there are hidden signs embedded in the video clippings meant for his followers.Signs are not confined to Monalisa painting alone. Whatever it may be, bin Laden manages to survive, only to kill innocent people.

Faith is needed, but violent faith should be anathema to one and all. Ordinary mortals among Muslims the world over shun violence and do not take part in terrorism. But there are more violent types in Islamic faith than in any other faiths. They may not agree, saying Jews are more violent than them. An overall view should catch up with ordinary Muslims to see the writing on the wall that no sane person in the world can differ. The reality is that terrorist elements are cajoling, cornering and sometimes forcing the moderate elements to take up arms or collude with them in the nefarious activities.

The world should be a livable place, not only for the present generation, but also for posterity.

Islamic terrorists might be under the impression that President George Bush of the United States may not resort to direct action during the second term of his Presidency which lasts till 2008. It is yet to be seen how he reacts to present explosive situations.

Close on the heels of Mumbai blasts, particular vigil is being clamped in New York, Washington, London etc. One may not know where the devil is lurking.

Mumbai, where six million commuters depend on local trains daily and people wriggle about like worms, is a soft target for terrorists. No one can ensure safety at every nook and corner of the metropolis.

But there should have been an alert on the day when four buildings belonging to Dawood Ibrahim in Mumbai were being demolished on Tuesday.

Authorities everywhere, act tough before the world rips apart by the volleys of terrorists.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Testing US’ patience

Years ago, during the Cold War, the world’s newspapers used to run pages-long advertisements of the achievements of “the great leader Kim Il  Sung of North Korea”. The Cold War is over, Kim Il Sung is no more, but his son and present North Korean leader Kim Jong II is giving the jitters to the world’s only superpower, the United States of America.

Despite the commando-like appearance and affirmations of President George Bush, North Korea and Iran, which he described as part of the “axis of evil”, are taking him for granted.

President Bush had warned North Korea against testing long-range missiles which can carry nuclear war-heads. Leader Kim Jong II did not care two hoots about the warnings of President Bush.

He test-fired not one, but seven missiles, one of them long-range which can strike Alaska in the US. But that one miscarried and did not reach  striking distance. Leader Kim Jong II did it on a day which he thought was auspicious for him. The D-day was July 4, the Independence Day of the United States of America. This was definitely intended as the height of provocation for the Americans.

Another leader who is giving terrible jitters is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, the fire-brand Islamic fundamentalist who does not mince words in condemning the US. He is hell-bent on enriching uranium,which he euphemistically refers to as for the purpose of power generation. Everyone the world over knows that his intention is to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

Reacting to the pressure put on him for abandoning the move, initially he gave a terse reply saying nothing of the sort would work out. Later, he appeared to come round to a package offered to him by the European Union. Lately, he appears to be listening to no one, even to International Atomic Energy supremo Elbaradei.

In June, President Bush had said North Korea would face even greater international isolation (than Iran) if it carries out its threat to test-fire its long-range missile. “It should make people nervous when non-transparent regimes, who have announced that they have nuclear warheads, fire missiles. This is not the way you conduct business in the world”, Bush had retorted.

He had warned Iran and North Korea not to test his patience. About Iran President Bush had said in June that it should act within weeks, when President Ahmadinejad expressed his willingness to consider the package in August.

“Diplomacy takes time, while acting alone, you can move quickly”, President Bush has quipped. He is giving time for diplomacy to act on the intransigent regimes.

Both the regimes speak like Muthavakil in Afghanistan and Tariq Ahmed in Iraq before these two countries were conquered by American-led forces. They were speaking daggers and using none. Ultimately, both the regimes fell like ninepins.

Now it seems President Bush is speaking daggers and using none about Iran and North Korea, both of which are having a field day, thinking that US will not strike the countries during the final term of Bush. They think they are safe till 2008 when another President would rule the US. An enraged America would be dangerous to both of them.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Private money-lenders

Private money-lenders have become a menace to the society as more and more cases of harassment are being unravelled in many parts of the country.

Reasonable transactions would have been all right, but in almost all cases they fleece the loanee. Worse, they harass the borrower to their wits’ end.

In Kerala, the situation has climaxed to an extent that an organisation has sprung up to offer help, physical and moral, to the borrowers who are suffering from the onslaughts of the gangs employed by the lenders. No wonder in local parlance the private money-lender is known as “blade”.

The other day, the “blade-virudha samithi” ( Forum against unscrupulous money-lenders) organised a rally to the Gandhi Square at Kottayam, a small town in Kerala. Their main demand was to amend the Kerala Money-lenders Act and the Negotiable Instruments Act to provide legal cover to the money-lenders so that their functioning would be germane before  law. The mafia activities should be controlled and misuse of cheque facility by them should be banned.

The private money-lenders are now a law unto themselves. They retain gangs, or felons, known as goondas in native expressions, to recover unpaid dues. The situation is such that the capital amount would always remain unrecovered in their argument even as the borrower goes on making payments which would be treated as interest.

Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan have made it cleat that “blade mafia” would be clipped. The revised Goondas Act, which is in the pipeline, should have provisions to mercilessly deal with “blade operators”.

Don’t be under the impression that the menace is confined to Kerala. A gruesome incident reported by The Times of India, Mumbai edition, refers to farmers hacking to death a local money-lender politician and his henchman in Chambhar, off Akola, in Maharashtra. Of course, the reporter has erroneously treated the case as Maharashtra’s Naxalbari act.

Reading the full story, it is clear that no Naxalbari element was involved in the retribution by farmers of a whole village against these two fellows. They were hit with an axe and their heads smashed. The bodies lay in the fields for two hours before the police arrived and pursued the matter.

The farmer-borrower had taken Rs one lakh from the lender a few years ago on an interest rate of five or seven per cent. They paid him close to Rs 1.40 lakh. The lender would not give their plot of land back to the borrower. They took another loan and promised to pay him Rs 4.5 lakh more in the presence of the police and the panchayat leaders. The lender was agreeable to it. When the borrower’s children went to the field in question, they lynched them.

Over 1,000 villagers ran to the field where the money-lender and his henchman were reigning supreme and hacked them to death.

Further, all of them made a beeline to the district collector and requested him to arrest all of them as they were collectively responsible for the act.

The incident speaks volumes for the revenge the farmers would take when they are driven to the wall.

Those who have availed of loans from private banks for purchasing vehicles and other gadgets also now-a-days face the wrath of the gangs retained by such banks and financial institutions. A visit to common liquor bars would reveal the presence of gangs almost everywhere.

There would be a time when the harrowed borrower would strike back.

O J's Corner : Reflections

O J’s Corner

Tinkering with the basic structure
Of minority status

Ingenuity of humanity calls for innovation, testing new ideas and being amenable to changes. New situations engender evolution of new tools to tackle new-found enlightenment.

However enterprising and avant-garde the new generation might be, there can be no tinkering with the basic structure of entities. There would be extreme pleas on both sides, but the fundamentals remain the same. Otherwise, the State, the society as a whole would wither away.

Kerala  has pioneered several moves in the social, educational, health, labour and many other sectors.

Now it is futilely attempting to serenade a socialistic scenario in the education sphere by browbeating the minorities. In fact, the Communists-led Government has given a new definition to minorities.

By moving this definition, unthinkable in the light of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution, which forms part of its basic structure, the LDF Government, in effect, would be jettisoning even the socially-salubrious provisions contained in the new legislation.

Its think-tank was on a moral high to seemingly appease the poor among the minorities. It is the bounden duty of the minorities themselves to spearhead a movement to cleanse the slush  in establishments run by them.

The State is now shedding crocodile tears for the marginalised among the minorities without the administration doing anything to lift the poor in all communities by setting up more institutions for professional education. The State is forcing private institutions to discharge the duty, where it had failed.

Whatever the Indian Medical Council and All India Council for Technical Education aver, the State should increase the seats in medical and engineering colleges by providing minimum facilities. If these bodies are standing in the way, the Centre should be coerced to amend the rules governing them.

The title of the new law passed by Kerala Assembly is interesting for its long-winding nature. Its provisions contain measures for prohibition of captitation fee, regulation of admission, fixation of non-exploitative fee, measures to ensure equity and excellence in professional education.

Because the minorities cannot protect themselves otherwise, Article 30 (1) of the Constitution empowers them to run educational institutions of their choice. This fundamental right cannot be taken away by circuitous way of redefining minorities.
The concept that if minorities are running more educational institutions than other communities they cannot be construed as minorities-run is archaic.

By issuing veiled threats, the attempt to confer non-minority status on Christian educational institutions smacks of ulterior motives.

The attempt should have been made in the society to unravel the corruption and undesirable practices in these institutions, instead of bridling the whole community by law, which would boomerang on the perpetrators themselves.

The Oommen Chandy-led UDF is not above blame for bringing out this legislation. The UDF leaders say they opposed the legislation when it was discussed in the Assembly. But the de jure scenario of the Assembly having unanimously passed the legislation does little for them to bandy about as pro-minority.

Just one provision, that is Section 8, should have spurred them to call for division in the Assembly while the bill was being voted in. The plea that the UDF did not want the admission procedure to go helter-skelter this year would be unpardonable for eternity.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Divestment issue more vital
than people’s woes?

All the newspapers and the media led with the piece of news on Thursday and Friday ( June 6-7, 2006 ) about Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s decision to put on hold all proposals for disinvestment, including those for sale of shares of Nalco and Neyveli Lignite Corporation( NLC).

The Prime Minister was forced to take the decision by the rigid stance of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s DMK that its two Union Ministers would pull out of the UPA Government.

DMK was sore that the shares of NLC were being sold out. Actually the party had sounded out initially that the shares being divested  should be sold to the employees. Later, when the Union Government was amenable to the demand, the party gravitated towards the die-hard position of no divestment.

CPM and CPI were coaxing the DMK to drive the Manmohan Singh Government to the wall. The Left parties had their pound of flesh last year when it forced the Government to put on hold divestment of ten per cent of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL).

I was always wondering why the employees could not have the shares and be a party to the company’s management so that they would be responsible allies to their employer. If there is any mismanagement, they could air their grievances at the management level and try to correct undesirable practices. Then they cannot treat the employer as mere milch-cows.

Well, the Left parties provide critical support of 60 MPs to the UPA Government. DMK’s influence centres round its 16 MPs supporting the Union Government, besides the party heading the Democratic Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu, of which Congress is an ally. In the political process, parties have to be flexible for being part of governance especially in a coalition set-up.

Should it be the core issue to confront the government, when thousands of farmers are committing suicide, the food security is being undermined owing to shortfall in the production of wheat, people are faced with the stark reality of mounting figures of unemployment, prices of essential commodities are soaring, and petrol and diesel prices are poised to go up any time?

The world is witnessing slump in wheat production this year as had happened in 1972. During 1972, prices of grain items had doubled even as income levels remained static. Private operators, black-marketeers and hoarders had a field day.

Confronted with a common problem, political parties should have advised the government to take far-sighted preventive measures. Instead, some have gone to the extent of blaming the government for ordering import of wheat, saying the shortage plea was an exercise by the West to compel developing countries to resort to import.

Such arguments are fickle-minded and parochial, disregarding the real problems the people will have to face. When a buffer stock is kept in place, private parties cannot squeeze a fast buck arising from a situation of food shortage.

Gentlemen politicians, wake up to the clarion call of the times to cater to the real needs of the people, particularly the average and poor people. They need help.

O J's Corner : Reflections

Women’s worship

Women are venturing into places of worships where they are not allowed. And so they get brickbats from traditionalists. With the kind of worldly wisdom and trappings of women’s emancipation, enthusiasts try to get the better of conservative thinkers and steal a glance at gods and goddesses.

Approaching the issue with logical thinking and common sense, women cannot be faulted for attempting to appease gods and goddesses. But rational reasoning has no place in matters of faith. No one can bid for giving a go-by to traditions that have been followed for hundreds of years.

Kannada actress Jaimala revealed recently that she had touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala Sannidhanam, at the sanctum sanctorum of the hillshrine. Maybe, she was compelled to reveal everything for her foray into the forbidden place on account of  guilt feeling.

The divination rituals held at Sabarimala recently had pointed an accusing finger about entry of a woman in the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Ayyappa who does not like women of impregnable age to appear before him.

Now another actress has revealed that she too had worshipped at the Sabarimala temple in 1987, the same year Jaimala was pushed in the stampede into the sanctum sanctorum where she touched the feet of Ayyappa’s idol.

The worshippers being Kannadiga women, the Karnataka Assembly could not leave the matter as such. It did not want anyone to castigate Kannadiga women. Criticism in Kerala about the worship of these women, against tradition, could not be tolerated in Karnataka.

This has become a gargantuan problem. A lot of rituals are held before the idol of Lord Ayyappa every day when the temple is thrown open to the public. What are the propitiatory rites that have to be done for appeasing Lord Ayyappa?
Is it necessary to repeat all the rituals that have been conducted after these actresses defiled the idol and the temple premises?

Perhaps another divination has to be held to seek the mind of Lord Ayyappa. No one can assume that Ayyappa would put perdition on these women who wanted to worship him.

A devotee from Salem has revealed that what Jaimala touched was an idol he took to Sabarimala in 1987 for rituals at the sanctum sanctorum. A woman had prostrated before it in front of the sanctum sanctorum. She had touched the idol he held in his hand. He also offered a flower to the woman devotee. What she had touched was not the original idol inside the sanctum sanctorum, according to this devotee.

Meanwhile, actress Meera Jasmine, a Christian, had worshipped at the Rajarajeswara temple at Thaliparamba in Kerala. People of other faith are not allowed to worship there. She has offered financial support for the temple to undertake propitiatory rites.

A general question that arises from these episodes would be of interest. Is there any point in blaming these women?

If places of worship are not open to particular sections of people, the authorities there should make proper arrangements to dissuade such people thronging the portals of such religious places. Preventive measures are better than punitive ones.

Can one proceed against them as though they have committed a criminal offence? Is there any provision in the Indian Penal Code to clamp them under its provisions?

The move to question them and make criminals out of them would appear to be pre-posterous.