Gangubai Hangal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- 22 Julen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangubai_Hangal - Cached - Similar -
Gangubai Hangal | ||||||
  | 79 min - 25 Jan 2008 -
Click www.rajshri.com to watch more concerts www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QSXeheRq4 - | |||||
Classical vocalist Gangubai Hangal dead: Rediff.com news
news.rediff.com/.../classical-singer-gangubai-hangal-dead.htm - Cached - Similar -
News results for Gangubai hangal
 | Remembering a legend - 16 hours ago Gangubai Hangal is gone. Only her music remains: timeless, pure and awesome in its grand architecture There must be thousands of music lovers scattered ... Livemint - 2 related articles »Demand in RS for Bharat Ratna to Gangubai Hangal - Press Trust of India - 4 related articles » |
fullstory
www.ptinews.com/.../185131_Hindustani-vocalist-Gangubai-Hangal-dies - Cached - Similar -
The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Gangubai Hangal
www.hindu.com/2009/07/24/.../2009072454960803.htm - Cached - Similar -
Gangubai Hangal, vocalist, hindustani classical - Rhythm n Raga.org
- 22 Julwww.rhythmnraga.org/gangubaihangal.html - Cached - Similar -
Indian singer Gangubai Hangal dies at 96
www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/07/.../obit-hangal-gangubai.html - Similar -
Hindustani music exponent Gangubai Hangal passes away - India ...
- 22 Jultimesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Gangubai-Hangal.../4801403.cms - Cached - Similar -
Gangubai Hangal MP3 Downloads - Gangubai Hangal Music Downloads ...
www.mp3.com/artist/gangubai-hangal/summary/ - Cached - Similar -
Classical singer Gangubai Hangal passes away - bollywood news ...
www.glamsham.com/.../21-classical-singer-gangubai-hangal-passes-away-070916.asp - Cached - Similar -
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Next |
Untouchable, dalits in modern India - Google Books Result
None of these explanations for the origin of untouchability are conclusively proven ... Though the Dalit voice expressed itself eloquently from the outset, ...
books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1555876978... -
Dalit Voice - The Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied ...
www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/july_a2009/articles.htm - Cached - Similar -
Dalit Voice - The Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied ...
www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/may_a2009/articles.htm - Cached - Similar -
More results from www.dalitvoice.org »
Dalit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit - Cached - Similar -
Dalit Voice: Untouchability unlimited-A REPORT FROM TAMIL NADU
dalitsvoice.blogspot.com/.../untouchability-unlimited-report-from.html - Cached - Similar -
untouchability « Meena Kandasamy
meenu.wordpress.com/tag/untouchability/ - Cached - Similar -
Does Indian Christianity Allow Untouchability? - Christian Aggression
www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type...id... - Cached - Similar -
Encyclopaedia of Dalits in India - Google Books Result
That powerful and explicit voice ended untouchability years ago. ... He is the great leader of the Dalits and is greatly extolled by them as their champion ...
books.google.co.in/books?isbn=8126120843... -
[MLL] [IT] InfoTimes.net LAUNCHES DALIT VOICE NEWSLETTER IN THE USA
www.mail-archive.com/marxist-leninist.../msg03995.html - Cached - Similar -
Dalit Voice | Palash Speaks
blogs.ibibo.com/baesekolkata/dalit-voice - Cached - Similar -
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Next |
South Africa under apartheid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_under_apartheid - Cached - Similar -
Crime of apartheid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_of_apartheid - Cached - Similar -
The History of Apartheid in South Africa
www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html - Cached - Similar -
Apartheid -- Africana
www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html - Cached - Similar -
United Nations Photo
www.unmultimedia.org/photo/subjects/apartheid.html - Cached - Similar -
Against Nuclear Apartheid byJaswant Singh - Foreign Affairs ...
www.indianembassy.org/pic/js/js(foreignaffairs).html - Cached - Similar -
Mr. Dowling's Apartheid Page
www.mrdowling.com/610-apartheid.html - Cached - Similar -
Anti-apartheid activists oppose demolition of Indian Market ...
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...apartheid.../4799732.cms - Cached - Similar -
Apartheid
africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheid/Apartheid.htm - Cached - Similar -
Apartheid funded by the Indian tax-payer- Hindustan Times
www.hindustantimes.com/.../StoryPage.aspx?...Apartheid... - Cached - Similar -
News results for Apartheid
| | Pay up for apartheid - 1 day ago She wants the multi-nationals that helped prop-up apartheid to pay so that ordinary people like her can be compensated for having borne the wrath of the ... SowetanTen Groups Tell Amnesty International: Entertaining Apartheid ... - Bay Area Indymedia - 3 related articles » Apartheid in Nigeria? - THISDAY - 2 related articles » |
Book results for Apartheid
| Searches related to: Apartheid | |||
| nelson mandela | apartheid meaning | apartheid laws | apartheid definition |
| apartheid timeline | end of apartheid | apartheid pictures | apartheid dictionary |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Next |
Untouchability
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Untouchability is the social practice of ostracising a (usually) minority endogamous group by regarding them as "ritually polluted" and segregating them from the mainstream by social custom or legal mandate. The excluded group could be one that did not accept the norms of the excluding group and historically included foreigners, nomadic tribes, law-breakers and criminals. This exclusion was a method of punishing law-breakers and also protected against contagion from strangers. A member of the excluded group is known as an untouchable.[1]
The term is commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit class in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Untouchability has been made illegal in post-Independence India. [2]
Other examples include the segregation and discrimination against the al-Akdham in Yemen, the Gypsies and Cagots in Europe and the Burakumin in Japan.
[edit] References
- ^ Untouchable definition from the Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ India's "Untouchables" Face Violence, Discrimination. Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News. June 2, 2003
[edit] See also
- Dalit, in India and Nepal
- Burakumin, hisabetsu buraku, a Japanese social minority group
- Khadem, an ethnic minority group in Yemen outside and below the three Arab tribes
- Baekjeong, a Korean outcaste
- Caste
| This culture-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Untouchability high in Gulbarga, Uttara Kannada
| BANGALORE: The shocking catalogue of intolerance of dalits — manifested in the form of untouchability — that we carried in these columns on Monday Even 60 years after independence, zero untouchability still remains a dream. "It is still the archaic way of life there,'' S Japhet, director, Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, told TOI. The old practices of dalits not being employed as priests or allowed to enter temples during common village festivals still persist. Among the most frequent forms of untouchability, dalits have restricted access to public sources of water. Another sore point is a bar on entry into non-dalit homes. In some areas, dalit homes are located on the border of the village, which is also a predominant form of outcasting. "This is a strong phenomenon in Gulbarga, though it is present in other districts," Japhet said. Untouchability has been reported from the villages of Bommanahalli and Varangere in Gulbarga and, to a lesser degree, from the villages of Karki and Morba in Uttara Kannada. The trends are similar in other parts of the state as well. Some southern districts are, in fact, stronger in their untouchability quotient compared to even Uttara Kannada district. The sample size could have been increased but for resource constraints. The survey and study was commissioned by the Centre in which Karnataka has been studied in a total of six states, 22 villages and 12 districts across the country. | ||
| More Stories from this section | ||
| Bringing Safai Karamcharis into Mainstream | |
| 15:26 IST | |
| RAJYA SABHA A lot of efforts have been made to bring the Safai Karamcharis into the mainstream to abolish untouchability in the country. This includes effective implementation of the provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act, 1989, to check instances of untouchability and atrocity, Central assistance is provided to State Governments and Union Territory Administrations for strengthening of the administrative, enforcement and judicial machinery, inter caste marriages, awareness generation, and relief and rehabilitation of the persons affected. In addition, the Government has taken following steps to bring the Safai Karamcharis into mainstream of the society: (i) Setting up of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis; (ii) Setting up of a separate National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC); (iii) Implementation of Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS); and (iv) Implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Pre-Matric Scholarship to the children of those engaged in unclean occupations, including manual scavengers and those engaged in cleaning of manholes and open drains. Sanitation, including solid waste management is a State subject and it is the responsibility of the State Government/ Urban Local Bodies(ULBs) to plan, design, implement, operate & maintain the sanitation systems in the urban areas of the country. The Ministry of Urban Development is facilitating the State Governments and ULBs in implementing sanitation schemes in their cities and towns by way of providing guidelines in the form of 'Manuals on Sewerage & Sewage Treatment' and 'Municipal Solid Waste Management'. These guidelines inter-alia stipulate that the local body should provide adequate protective clothing and health check up of the staff engaged in solid waste management, and also delineate the procedure for sewer cleaning, protection and safety measures during cleaning etc. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana was launched on 1.10.07 for providing smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 per annum to BPL families in the unorganised sector, including safai karamcharis. This information was given by Shri. D. Napoleon, the Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=51229 |
| WHY EXIST? |
| Whatever the regime, the Union human resource development ministry has never been very good at letting go. "I regulate, therefore I am," in some form or the other, has been the unspoken credo of every HRD minister. Is Kapil Sibal going to be any different? A few days ago, what could turn out to be a significant shift in its mode of functioning happened with the HRD ministry quietly giving up much of its hold over settling the internal disputes of the Indian institutes of technology. A new grievance redress committee will be resolving such matters when approached by any of the IITs. This committee is headed by a member of the prime minister's scientific advisory committee and has, as its members, chairmen of the IITs' boards of governors. This is good news, and it is hoped that the IITs would seldom need to be referred to this committee, and would be able to deal with most of their internal matters by themselves, as they have always been inclined to do. But a more recent revelation seems to be pointing at a different, and less reassuring, direction. Mr Sibal has promised a new, and independent, higher education accreditation authority. But its much-vaunted autonomy is likely to be seriously compromised by its members being selected by none other than the HRD ministry itself. This seems to be an alternative model to the one recommended by the Yash Pal panel on higher education, which had envisioned a regulatory body whose members would be selected directly by the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. This would leave the HRD ministry out of the selection process. But Mr Sibal's model reinstates the ministry's agency, and renders the prime minister and the other heads quite redundant. This swinging between wanting to let go and not quite letting go is a familiar pattern; once the HRD seriously starts thinking through questions of autonomy, it might find itself wondering why it exists at all.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090731/jsp/opinion/story_11301501.jsp |
| DIFFERENT HELLS - An aloof, but involved, observer | ||
THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Fourth Estate, Rs 299 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, one of the finest voices to have come out of Africa in recent years, was born in Abba, Nigeria, but grew up in the university town of Nsukka, where, by a stroke of luck, she lived in a house once inhabited by her literary hero, Chinua Achebe. Adichie was born in 1977, almost a decade after the Biafran War (1967-70) in which both her maternal and paternal grandfathers were killed. But the curse of mutual religious intolerance between the Igbo Christians (Adichie's community) and the Hausa Muslims of south-east Nigeria, which was one of the causes of the civil war, never fully went away. So Adichie spent the first two decades of her life amidst tumult and then left for the United States for higher studies. Since then, she has spent sporadic, and now increasingly longer, stretches of time in the US, which does not make the task of locating her on a literary map any easier. Adichie fiercely maintains her allegiance to Africa, especially to the Igbo community, in spite of what she calls her "complicated affection" for America. The Biafran struggle is at the heart of her Orange-Prize-winning second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2007), and the story of her repressive childhood forms the stuff of her first book, Purple Hibiscus (2003), which got the Commonwealth Prize. Her literary antecedents — from Gabriel García Márquez to Chinua Achebe — are varied, just as her style is unpredictable. She habitually mixes Igbo with English, which not only gives a fair measure of the bilingualism of the Igbo people, but also indicates Adichie's close affinity with her origins. At the same time, Adichie's prose has the cadences of James Joyce, Raymond Carver or even Charles Dickens. This makes her something of a literary puzzle: neither an outsider in America, nor an insider in Africa, not even suspended between two worlds. Rather, she occupies a unique position, that of an aloof, but involved, observer. The unremitting bleakness of Adichie's worldview comes through in its fullness in this latest collection of a dozen short stories. There is nothing maudlin or sensational about these little vignettes. In her earlier novels, Adichie had faced the horrors of life full on, as she turned her gaze to the troubled history of her native land. Since most of the tales in The Thing Around Your Neck are set in America, a nation overwhelmed by the "abundance of hope" (as one of her characters puts it), there is a superficial semblance of order in them. Anarchy is no longer merely an external reality, but resides deep within the mind; the dread of life simply becomes bitter disappointment in a foreign land. There is an edginess about these tales, even in the less successful ones, which hits the reader subliminally. Yet Adichie's prose is never heavy; if anything, it often runs the risk of being a victim of its own gracefulness. But every now and then, stray moments — when suspense is relieved by a sudden reversal, as in the traditional denouement of a short story — magically rescue the stories from the anodyne. Cruelties, confusions, crises keep shattering the prospect of a comfort zone. Adichie's seemingly placid tone keeps the reader on tenterhooks. We keep anticipating something unspeakable about to overwhelm the delicate drawing-room dramas; the best intentions end up producing the most undesirable results. In Purple Hibiscus, for instance, 15-year-old Kambili has to survive the full blast of her father's reign of terror, which, ironically, is unleashed out of the goodness of his heart and a deep concern for the well-being of his family. Men like Kambili's Papa are a common feature of Adichie's literary universe. In "The American Embassy", a Nigerian journalist rallies fearlessly for democracy, writing seditious reports on the misrule of the military president, General Abacha. Finally, as the army comes hunting for him, he goes into exile, leaving his wife and child to face the brunt of the retribution. It would be simplistic to reduce the politics of this story to 'feminism'. Adichie achieves something far more complex than feminist propaganda: good and evil, glory and misery, are inextricably connected in her work. Even the typical situation of an Igbo Christian girl given refuge by a Hausa Muslim woman during a riot exceeds its parable-like structure when the elderly lady, on learning that the girl is a medical student, pulls out her breast and says, "My nipple is burning like pepper." The best stories in the book seem to have been written in response to two pioneering chroniclers of Africa. "The Headstrong Historian" comes last in Adichie's collection. It is a succinct rewriting of Chinua Achebe's celebrated African trilogy. In Achebe's Things Fall Apart, it was Obi Okonkwo who had started writing the imperial history of his nation in a book he called The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. In Adichie's story, the historian is Grace Afamefuna, a feisty Bush-girl-turned-academic, who reimagines "the lives and smells of her grandmother's world" in her own book, Pacifying with Bullets: A Reclaimed History of Southern Nigeria. Adichie's other story, "Jumping Monkey Hill", is told from the perspective of Ujunwa, an aspiring novelist who is shocked by the racial stereotyping she faces at a writers' workshop organized by a prissy British couple in South Africa. Is it merely a coincidence that the eponymous heroine of Elizabeth Costello — the masterpiece by the South African (now Australian) writer, J.M. Coetzee — also feels a near-identical outrage as she listens to Emmanuel Egudu, a Nigerian writer, giving a sermon on the 'Novel in Africa', riddled with clichés about what Africans ought to write? In spite of their seriousness, it would be unfair to miss the glints of lightness that flash out of Adichie's stories. Humour, like fine gossamer, is ever so gently woven into these tales. Readers are left teetering on the edge of a smile. "On Monday of Last Week" abounds with brilliant passages that capture the paranoia of an American father fussing over his child. In the eyes of the little boy's nanny, Kamara, recently arrived from Nigeria, this parental dotage is absurd. Kamara decides that such anxiety must stem from "having too much food": "A sated belly gave Americans the time to worry that their child might have a disease that they had just read about... gave [them] the luxury of praising themselves for being good parents, as if caring for one's child were the exception rather than the rule." Life on the stranger shores forges strange friendships, as the one between Nkem, married to a Nigerian business tycoon, and her housegirl, Amaechi. "[America] forces egalitarianism on you"— so the mistress of the house ends up sharing her most intimate secrets with the maid. Different hells get entangled in a shared knot of sadness. Chinedu, the heartbroken gay man, Ukamaka, abandoned by her boyfriend, or Chinaza, stunned by her husband's bigamy, all hang together from a common noose of grief. It is this last image of bearing a cross, like a very special necklace, that lends the collection its title. | ||
| SOMAK GHOSHAL http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090731/jsp/opinion/story_11296321.jsp |
That great democrat and outstanding British leader, Winston Churchill, once said that democracy was the worst form of government — except for those forms of government that had already been tried out.
His witty and somewhat cynical words come to mind while reflecting on the antics of a lady who has been much in the news lately in India and who is the chief minister of our largest state, Uttar Pradesh.
I am referring to Mayawati. She is what used to be referred to in the British days as an 'untouchable', until Mahatma Gandhi renamed them harijans, which means 'children of God'.
But they later found this appellation of Gandhi's too patronising and decided to give themselves a more militant name. So they are now referred to as Dalits, which in Hindi means 'to grind down'. Initially, they called themselves Dalit Panthers, after the even more militant Black Panthers in the US. But the 'Panthers' bit was later dropped. Many Dalits, like Mayawati, have no surname.
The practice of untouchability was — and remains — a terrible blot on Hinduism. It was a product of the caste system, the untouchables being the lowest in the social order. Bluntly put, they were 'outcastes', shunned by Hindu society, traditionally given the lowest kind of menial work to do, such as scavenging, cleaning latrines or making leather from the hides of cows (which are sacred to Hindus). They were denied entry into temples, and in villages had to have their own well for drawing water. Such was the public revulsion of them that even their shadow falling on a higher-caste person was supposed to pollute. So they had to keep their distance.
The forces of modernisation changed all this to a large extent. In a train or bus, an untouchable perforce often rubbed shoulders with those of caste. Hindu reformers, like Gandhi and Ram Mohan Roy, did their bit in eradicating — by law at least — untouchability.
In his ashram, Gandhi for instance used to house untouchable devotees, whose feet he would personally wash — and make high-caste Hindus do the same. Proselytising religions like Islam and Christianity also took many untouchables into their fold, as the untouchables found they were given greater dignity after becoming Muslims and Christians.
Nevertheless, when India got its independence in 1947, a sizeable proportion of the Indian population were untouchables (officially labelled 'Scheduled castes and tribes'). In the new democratic set-up, they were an important 'vote bank'.
Their most outstanding personality was Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of the main framers of the Indian constitution. Thanks largely to him, a policy of 'reservations' in government jobs was incorporated into the Indian system, the rationale being that since the untouchables had been discriminated against for centuries, there should now be discrimination in their favour to make up for it. This was a little like the policy of affirmative action for African-Americans in the US.
Ambedkar also converted many of his followers, particularly in the state of Maharashtra where he came from, to Buddhism. Most of the untouchables voted for the Congress Party in the days of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. However, the first Dalit politician to set up a large independent base was Kanshi Ram, who was actually born a Sikh. He was the mentor of Mayawati and died fairly recently.
Mayawati took his movement further, enlarging it to make it more inclusive, bringing in caste-Hindus and even Muslims. Her party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, recorded its biggest success in 2007 by winning the election in UP and coming to power.
But success went to her head. She had greater ambitions and talked about becoming Prime Minister of India. In the general election that concluded last May, she set up candidates, not just in UP but all over the country. Most of them lost their deposits. She was brought down to earth with a big thud. Democracy has a knack of humbling those who become too big for their boots.
However, this did not prevent her from displays of vulgar ostentation, which took the form of building scores of statues of herself and Kanshi Ram. She was also in the habit of decking herself with gold and diamonds and is rumoured to have amassed millions illegally.
A petition was recently filed in the Supreme Court, alleging that she has already spent an astounding 2,000 crores of rupees of taxpayers' money in building these statues and memorials to her glory. The Court has asked the UP government to reply to this charge. The great pity is that in many ways Mayawati symbolises the triumph of Indian democracy. She came up the hard way, from acute poverty and a caste-ridden society that looked down on her with contempt. Being a woman — and that too unmarried — was another major disadvantage.
Yet, despite these severe handicaps, she succeeded by rising to the very top in her state. That says a lot for her guts and determination. She has also benefited millions of her fellow Dalits, not just materially but in giving them pride and dignity as well. Democracy, however, demands more. It requires that the person whom it has helped to get to the top should also govern well and with integrity. Otherwise, it will bring that person down just as quickly. Mayawati, the democratically elected Dalit queen, faces her sternest test.
The writer is the former editor of the Indian Reader's Digest and Indian Express.
A three-judge Bench extended the time as sought by SIT chief R.K. Raghavan, rejecting the Gujarat government's request to defer the probe until the State filed a special leave petition against a Gujarat High Court verdict dismissing a petition by the former BJP MLA, Kalubhai Maliwad, challenging the probe.
On April 27, the Supreme Court asked the SIT to look into the complaint by Zakia Jafri, wife of the slain former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri, and submit its report in three months. She alleged that there was a conspiracy involving Mr. Modi and other Ministers, senior police officers and officials to commit acts after the Godhra train fire which would provoke and fan communal mob violence.
Earlier, Mr. Mukherjee said that "war is not a solution." India would continue to adopt the policy of "zero tolerance" of terrorism. "Events have established that we are not succumbing to pressure of anybody."
Governor held a series of consultations
Formal announcement is pending
Gujjar Leader Kirori Singh Bainsla.
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Governor Shailendra Kumar Singh on Thursday finally approved the Bill which provides for five per cent reservation to Gujjars and three other communities, besides 14 per cent reservation to the Economically Backward Classes (EBCs).
This came about after a meeting with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the evening.
The Governor's action follows a series of consultations he had with the high-ups in Delhi, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Gehlot and the representatives of the Gujjar community over the past fortnight.
A big surprise
The decision, however, came as a big surprise as what was expected was a new legislation giving five per cent reservation to Gujjars and three other communities as Mr. Singh, as well as Mr. Gehlot, had been vocal about the untenablility of the existing Bill passed by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party Government led by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
The Congress party too had supported the Bill then though it was fighting shy of owning up the legislation all these days.
The Government had initially appeared to be gearing up for enactment of new legislation on quota as the State Cabinet met here on Thursday to discuss the special quota for Gujjars and other nomadic communities. The Cabinet meeting was followed by a visit by Mr. Gehlot to the Governor in the evening.
While some action was expected from the Raj Bhavan with regard to the Bill on reservation after the previous day's successful interaction between Mr. Singh and a delegation of Ministers and Gujjar leaders, it finally came as a big surprise in the form of approval of the pending Bill.
A formal announcement on the decision is pending as it is for the Raj Bhavan to announce it. After his return from the Raj Bhavan Mr. Gehlot was joined in discussions by the special team of Ministers on Gujjar reservation — Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal, Transport Minister Brij Kishore Sharma and Energy Minister Jitendra Singh.
The next round of action for the government would be to explain its latest stand on the Bill which obviously is not acceptable under the provisions of the Constitution and Supreme Court orders.
| Obama pours beer over race row | ||||
Barack Obama, the US president, has hosted a black professor and white police officer in an attempt to defuse a simmering race row that erupted when Henry Louis Gates Jr was arrested by Sergeant James Crowley. "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart," Obama, the first African-American president, said after the chat on Thursday. "I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode." Gates, a Harvard professor who is arguably the foremost scholar on African-American affairs, was arrested for disorderly conduct on July 16 after Crowley was called to his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts to investigate reports of a burglary.
Gates said the arguments and the subsequent White House meeting have provided an opportunity "to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand." "The national conversation over the past week about my arrest has been rowdy, not to say tumultuous and unruly," he said in a statement. "But we've learned that we can have our differences without demonising one another." "I noticed this has been called the beer summit. It's a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys. This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. And that's really all it is," he told reporters. | ||||
|
Gangubai Hangal cremated with state honour
Email this story
| |
|
It was Sawai Gandharva's music, no more no less, that she was surrounded by maestros like Bada Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb and Amir KhanSaheb, whose gayakis she greatly admired, did she fall for the temptations of trying to imbibe elements from other styles. Nor did she ever singst of her guru's repertoire.Image results for Gangubai Hangal
- Report imagesReport the following images as offensive. Confirm CancelThank you for the feedback.
Video results for Gangubai Hangal
 Hindustani music vocalist Gangubai Hangal dies at 97. (TOI Photo) |
The condition of 97-year-old Gangubai, who was suffering from severe chest congestion and anemia, turned critical last night and she was put on life support system, her physician Dr Asho Kalamadani said.
Gangubai, hospitalized since June three, had returned home on July 12 but was re-admitted to the hospital two days later and shifted to a super-speciality hospital on Thursday last after her condition became serious.
"The end came at 7.10am," Gangubai's grandson Manoj Hangal said.
The frail-looking Hindustani musical genius had been ailing for sometime now.
Despite being diagnosed with bone cancer in 2002, it was her "never say die spirit" which made Gangubai battle the disease for three years and survive.
On December 15, 2005 Gangubai, affectionately known as "Baiji" among the music fraternity, gave her first concert to a select audience after recovering from cancer and had been performing since then.
Undeterred by her failing health, the renowned musician was still teaching music to her disciples who came from as far as Mumbai and Sangli in Maharashtra.
Recipient of many international accolades and national awards including Padma Vibhushan and Tansen award, Gangubai continued to keep in touch with her "gurubhai" Bharat Ratna winner Pandit Bhimsen Joshi along with Pandit Rambhau Kundgolkar, also known as Sawai Gandharva.
Revered in the music circles by luminaries like Kishori Amonkar, Prabha Atre and Lata Mangeshkar, Gangubai is survived by her two sons Narayan Rao and Babu Rao.
Her daughter Krishna Hangal, who was trained by her in classical music passed away, impacting Gangubai in a major way.
Her granddaughters-in-law Veena and Archana will carry forward the legacy, according to the family.
The doyenne of the Kirana Gharana, who died in Karnataka's Hubli town Tuesday morning at the age of 97, had often said that she made music because she felt it was her duty to hand down her music to future generations for posterity.
'I don't think she has died, but has only stopped crooning in her melodious voice. Till recently she was singing, in spite of her old age and ill health. I don't think anybody like her will be ever born again. She was a star in the art fraternity,' noted playwright U.R. Ananthamurthy told IANS.
In her musical career, Hangal was almost reborn when she lost her voice after a brief illness but returned with a new masculine one that was considered more gifted than many of her contemporaries.
'Initially, Hangal had a sweet and a high-pitched voice. But mid-career, she lost her voice after a brief illness. When she recovered, the tenor of her voice changed and it acquired a masculine timbre. She overcame the problem and continued to sing in her new androgynous voice, which was powerful than many male singers,' said veteran music writer and Hindustani classical music aficionado Kuldeep Kumar.
Born on March 5, 1913, in a small town called Hangal in Dharwad district (now Haveri district) in Karnataka, Hangal was often looked down upon by her peers since her boatman-agriculturist father Chikkurao Nadiger was from the fishermen's caste.
Hangal was also ridiculed as a 'gaanewali' for being one of the few women trying to breach the male-dominated world of Hindustani classical singing.
However, Hangal, whose mother Ambabai was a Carnatic musician, went on to become one of the illustrious members of the Kirana Gharana founded by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Other exponents like Bhimsen Joshi, Roshanara Begum (Pakistan) and Mallikarjun Mansur also belonged to the gharana.
'After an early spell of training under exponents Dattopant Desai and Krishnacharya, she learnt music for over 15 years from Sawai Gandharv,' said Sanjeev Bharghava, a Delhi-based culture activist and promoter of Hindustani classical music.
As a child, she ran around the house trying to snatch bits of gramophone music being played around street corners.
'Gangubai had several odds stacked against her. But she smashed her way through them. She broke gender and caste barriers in music and should rather be described as the 'father of khayals'. The emancipation of women in Hindustani classical music began with her,' added Bhargava.
Gangubai was part of a group that sang to welcome Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders at the 1924 Belguam session of the Indian National Congress. She used to sing at Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations and her big break came at a concert in 1933 in Bombay.
'For my first recording, when HMV invited me to Bombay, I went because they were taking care of the journey and sightseeing. Later, they gave me Rs.400 for my third recording but my family was annoyed as my name read Gandhari Hubali on the record,' she wrote in her memoir 'Nanna Badukina Haadu' (The Song Of My Life).
Gangubai had a great sense of humour.
In her memoir, she sums up the male domination in the field of classical singing thus: 'If a male musician is a Muslim, he becomes an Ustad. If he is a Hindu, he becomes a Pandit. But women like Kesarbai and Mogubai just remain 'Bai's.'
At the age of 16, Hangal married Gururao Kaulgi, a Brahmin lawyer. Her two sons were by her side when she died. Her only daughter died earlier in 2003.
Hangal succumbed to cardiac and respiratory problems, but had been suffering from bone cancer since 2001.
'I invited Gangubai Hangal to perform in Delhi in 2002 but she could not come because of the bone cancer,' Bhargava said.
Hangal's last concert was held three years ago in Dharward, when she was 94. She held the audience in thrall.
'I remember sending a team of young musicians for festival to Dharwad three years ago. We requested Gangubai Hangal to bless the musicians. We also sent a team to Gangubai's home and recorded her voice,' Jayant Kastuar, secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), told IANS.
According to Kastuar, Gangubai was also made a fellow of the SNA - an honour given to only 30 musicians.
'There were three qualities that set her apart - respect for music and guru, devotion, hard work and warmth,' Mumbai-based Hindustani classical vocalist Padma Talwalkar told IANS on phone.
The most abiding influence in her life was her guru Sawai Gandharv. 'He would teach us one note and would not go further till we mastered it. We were taught to make most of sur and made to practise for hours,' Hangal had once said.
As a result, she had the ability to innovate on one raag for two-three hours at a stretch, recalls Talwalkar.
The musician was honoured with prestigious awards like the Karnataka Sangeet Nritya Academy Award in 1962, the Padma Bhushan in 1971, Padma Vibhushan in 2002 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1973.
She got command over Yaman, Bhairavi, Puriya Dhanshree, Miya Malhar, Todi, Multani, Darabari Kanada, and Adhana Raagas and drew the attention of music aficionados. She was one of the quartets of great Hindustani classical music exponents, the other three being Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur and Kumar Gandharva from Karnataka.
The Hindustani classical vocalist started her music career from her childhood days. She used to perform at local function and Ganesh Utsavas. When she was a schoolgirl, she sang the welcome song at the Congress session, which was presided over by Mahatma Gandhi in Belgaum. In 1936, she sang on All India Radio for the first time as a stand-in for Hirabai Barodekar. Thus began Gangubai Hangal's journey on the road to musical greatness.
Her real name was Gandhari Hangal, but a recording company rechristened her as Gangubai Hublikar. Later, another company bosses changed her name again and her name was printed on some of the records as Gangubai Hangal. Her first music was recorded by HMV.
When she was 16 years old, she was married to Gururao Kaulagi, a lawyer, but was not practicing. His business ventures flopped, which lead the family to hardship. She couldn't bear his unhappiness, which reflected on her music. As she made her name, many record companies came forward to lend her a helping hand.
Although Gangubai was shocked with the death of her mother in 1932, demise of Pandit Sawai Gandharva in 1952 and her husband Gururao Kaulagi in 1966, she continued the tradition of Kirana Gharana unhindered. Her voice was very soft and melodious earlier, but it became muscular after she underwent a surgery to remove a tumour in her throat. After the death of husband Gururao Kaulagi she married a Brahmin and had children with him.
In 2002, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. A year later, she was also diagnosed with lymphoma, a kind of blood cancer. Despite suffering from cancer, she did not feel disheartened and she continued her music journey. She wanted to write a book on cancer to encourage people as not be scared by the decease, says her grandson. She died at 7.10 on July 21 2009.
Although Gangubai was old and infirm, she was a source of inspiration to everyone and now Gangubai Hangal Music Museum and Gangubai Hangal Sangeetha Vidyalaya will keep her alive in people's minds. The chief minister of Karnataka has promised to build a music school in her name and install her statue in Hubli as well as Bangalore. The most meaningful tribute we pay to her is to promote music, as she wished.
We at Oneindia.in pay tribute to Hindustani classical music exponent and Kirana Gharana vocalist Gangubai Hangal. May her soul rest in peace.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| | This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change rapidly as more facts become known. |
| Gangubai Hangal | |
|---|---|
 Hangal with young daughter Krishna in the 1930s | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 5 March 1913(1913-03-05) Dharwad, Karnataka, India[1][2] |
| Died | 21 July 2009 (aged 96) Hubli, Karnataka, India[2] |
| Genre(s) | Hindustani classical music |
| Occupation(s) | singer |
| Years active | 1931-2006[3] |
Gangubai Hangal (Kannada: ಗಂಗೂಬಾಯಿ ಹಾನಗಲ್) (5 March 1913 – 21 July 2009) was an Indian singer of the khyal genre of Hindustani classical music, who was known for her deep and powerful voice.[2] Hangal was one of the noted exponents of the Kirana gharana.[4]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Early life
Gangubai Hangal was born in Dharwad to Chikkurao Nadiger, an agriculturist[1] and Ambabai, a vocalist of Carnatic music.[5] Hangal received only elementary education[3] and her family shifted to Hubli in 1928.[1] Initially, she learned classical music from Krishnacharya and Dattopant Desai before studying under Sawai Gandharva, a respected guru.[2][6]
[edit] Musical career
Hangal's family was considered as of low social status and for women of her generation singing was not considered appropriate employment; Hangal struggled against this prejudice and made a career.[2]
Hangal served as honorary music professor of the Karnatak University.[3] She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor, in 2002.[7] Hangal gave her last concert in March 2006 to mark her 75th career year.[3] She had overcome bone marrow cancer in 2003, and died of cardiac arrest at the age of 96, on 21 July 2009, in Hubli, where she resided.[3] She donated her eyes to increase awareness for organ donation.[3]
[edit] Works
Her autobiography is titled Nanna Badukina Haadu (The Song Of My Life)[5]
[edit] Personal life
Hangal married at age 16 to Gururao Kaulgi, a Brahmin lawyer.[8] They had two sons, Narayan Rao and Babu Rao[9] and one daughter, Krishna, who died from cancer in 2004, aged 75.[10]
[edit] Awards and honors
Gangubai Hangal received a number of awards, which include:
- Karnataka Sangeet Nritya Academy Award, 1962[1]
- Padma Bhushan, 1971[7]
- Padma Vibhushan, 2002[7]
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1973[11]
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, 1996[12]
The Karnataka state government declared two days of mourning for Hangal.[13] A state funeral was announced for 22 July in Hubli by the district commissioner of the Dharwad district.[3]
[edit] Further reading
- The song of my life. As told to Mr. N.K.Kulkarni, translated into English by G.N.Hangal[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Pawar, Yogesh (April 21, 1999). "Classic revisited". Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19990421/ile21001.html.
- ^ a b c d e "Veteran Indian singer Gangubai Hangal dies". Associated Press (Google News). 2009-07-21. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZ7NaC2MJksFCPlP08RjkZmPBOvAD99IMG500. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Gangubai's concert of life ends". The Hindu. 2009-07-21. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200907211440.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ Viswanathan, Lakshmi (2005-03-27). "Grand legend". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2005/03/27/stories/2005032700550100.htm. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
- ^ a b c Ganesh, Deepa (February 25–March 10, 2006). "A life in three octaves". Frontline. http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl2304/stories/20060310000708000.htm.
- ^ Ramnarayan, Gowri (November 29, 1998). "Where north meets south". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo9811/98110160.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-18.
- ^ a b c "Padma Awards". Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India). http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php?start=0&award_year=&state=&field=3&p_name=Hangal&award=All. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
- ^ "Gangubai's journey to become doyen of Hindustani music". Press Trust of India. 2009-07-21. http://ptinews.com/news/185392_Gangubai-s-journey-to-become-doyen-of-Hindustani-music. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ >"Hindustani music exponent Gangubai Hangal passes away". The Times of India. July 21, 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Hindustani-music-exponent-Gangubai-Hangal-passes-away/articleshow/4801403.cms. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ "Krishna Hangal dead". The Hindu. 2004-09-03. http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/03/stories/2004090308120500.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ "SNA: List of Akademi Awardees — Music — Vocal". Sangeet Natak Akademi. http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist-music.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ "SNA: List of Akademi Fellows". Sangeet Natak Akademi. http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/fellowslist.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
- ^ "Two-day state mourning as mark of respect to Gangubai". Press Trust of India. 2009-07-21. http://ptinews.com/news/185525_Two-day-state-mourning-as-mark-of-respect-to-Gangubai. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
[edit] External links
| Israel defends Gaza war | |||||||
The Israeli government has said that its war on the Gaza Strip earlier this year, that left up to 1,417 Palestinians dead, was "necessary and proportionate". "Israel had both a right and an obligation to take military action against Hamas in Gaza to stop Hamas's almost incessant rocket and mortar attacks," the report published by the foreign ministry said. 'Deliberate use of force' She said that the report follows testimonies from witnesses and human rights organisations about soldiers' conduct during the offensive.
"What we've seen in the past few months since the end of the war are various human rights reports from Amnesty International, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, as well as testimonies coming out from army soldiers themselves," Tadros said. "What really ties all of these reports together is the idea that there was no proportionality and a deliberate use of force against the civilian population in Gaza." Israel says that the number killed was considerably lower, and that only 295 of the dead were civilians. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting, while three Israeli civilians were killed in rocket attacks. Independent inquiry urged John Ging, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, welcomed the Israeli report as an "acknowledgment that an investigation has to be done into what happened" during the conflict.
"The litmus test is that [any investigation] has to be credible to both sides. As is well documented, both sides have certain concerns and they have to be addressed. "We have to see the rule of international law applied and upheld, even-handedly, with the confidence of both populations." The Israeli army "used munitions containing white phosphorus" in Gaza, the government report said, but denied firing such weapons inside populated areas. International law permits the use of white phosphorus - which can cause severe burns - as an "obscurant" to cover troop movements and prevent enemies from using certain guided weapons. | |||||||
|
| Human trafficking plagues UAE | ||
|
More than one million people, the majority of them women and children, are smuggled across international borders to work in near slavery every year, the US state department says. | ||
|
| Myanmar delays Suu Kyi verdict | |||||||
A court in Myanmar has delayed its verdict in the trial of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's until August 11. Chad Jacinto, the charge d'affaires in the Philippine embassy in Yangon who was present in the court on Friday, told Al Jazeera that the judge postponed the verdict saying the court needed more time to review the case. He said Aung San Suu Kyi, who had "seemed very strong" in court, "was surprised" by the announcement. "Everyone in the room was surprised about this decision, everyone was expecting a verdict today," he said. Ahead of Friday's expected announcement of a verdict, tight security had been imposed around Yangon's Insein prison, where the trial has been held since May, and the government had warned opposition supporters against taking to the streets. 'Smart move' Jared Genser, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's legal team, said the delay to "push off the verdict until the middle of August when numerous government and UN officials around the world will be on vacation", was "in some ways a smart move".
"But it remains to be seen whether this ploy will work or if anticipation will be heightened in the run up to the issuance of the verdict," he said. Earlier Nyan Win, another member of the defence team, said the 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate had been "preparing for the worst". He said she was "physically and mentally fine, and very alert" but was gathering medicine and books in anticipation of a lengthy jail sentence. Aung San Suu Kyi has been on trial since mid-May, charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by allegedly harbouring an American man who swam uninvited to her lakeside home and stayed for two days. The leader of the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party who has spent nearly 14 of the last 20 years in prison or under house arrest, could be jailed for another five years if found guilty. 'Obvious' verdict On Tuesday, Aung San Suu Kyi had said she expected the verdict to be "painfully obvious", according to diplomats allowed into the courtroom when closing arguments were made.
The trial has been held largely behind closed doors, although selected diplomats and a handful of reporters have occasionally been allowed access. The American intruder, John Yettaw, has also been on trial, along with two female aides who have been the opposition leader's only companions during her house arrest. The opposition leader's lawyers - who have not contested the facts of the case - have consistently argued that the law used by the authorities is invalid because it applies to a constitution abolished two decades ago. They also say that government guards stationed outside her home should be held responsible for any intrusion into her property. Still, Aung San Suu Kyi is widely expected to be convicted in a country where courts are known to rule in favour of the military which has ruled since 1962. And the ruling generals are not likely to tolerate any public opposition to the court's decision. Protesters can be jailed for seven years, and while some have taken the risk outside the gates of Insein prison where she is being held, the bloody crackdown on anti-government protests led by monks in 2007 are still fresh in many people's minds. Critics have said the trial is a sham based on charges trumped up by the military in order to keep her behind bars through elections planned for next year. But neither international outrage nor offers of closer ties with the US if she is freed appear to have been able to deflect the military rulers' apparent determination to neutralise, if not jail, her. | |||||||
|
PDP covered up scandal in 2006, says Omar
Shujaat Bukhari
RELIEF AFTER TRAUMA: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hugs an MLA after Governor N.N. Vohra rejected his resignation on Thursday.
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has criticised the People's Democratic Party (PDP) for a "cover-up" of the sex scandal in 2006. He said that the PDP was frustrated at being out of power and did not allow the State to grow.
Mr. Abdullah accused the former Chief Minister and PDP founder, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, of ignoring the same scandal during his tenure as "his own people were involved."
Mr. Abdullah said he never expected the PDP to stoop so low. Holding Mr. Sayeed responsible for a "cover-up," he said "he [Mr. Sayeed] preferred to shut his eyes and never bothered how callously the daughters of Kashmir were being exploited by his own people. He should have resigned at that very time if he would have been real son of soil."
Praise for Azad
Mr. Abdullah, however, lauded the former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who handed over the investigation of the scandal to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Mr. Abdullah said that Mr. Sayeed had always worked against the National Conference and brought in Jagmohan as Governor in 1990 which forced Farooq Abdullah to resign.
The Chief Minister alleged that the PDP was indulging in destabilising the State which "I want to take on the path of peace, prosperity and development."
"They better wait for six years and face elections rather than resorting to such gimmicks," he said, adding that PDP president Mehbooba Mufti broke all records of decency when she wrenched the microphone from the table of the Speaker of the Assembly.
Stretching further his destabilisation charge, the Chief Minister said, "It is for the first time that such a massive financial support has come from the Centre under plan funds.
Apart from the Rs.5,500 crore being earmarked for the State from plan outlay another Rs.1,200-crore package has been sanctioned under the Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan and they do not want us to progress."
July 29, 2009
New Delhi
On India-Pakistan relations
Madam Speaker,
As I have said many times before, we cannot wish away the fact that Pakistan is our neighbour. We should be good neighbours. If we live in peace, as good neighbours do, both of us can focus our energies on the many problems – our abject poverty that confront millions and millions of people in South Asia. If there is cooperation between us, and not conflict, vast opportunities will open up for trade, travel and development that will create prosperity in both countries.
It is, therefore, in our vital interest to make sincere efforts to live in peace with Pakistan. But despite the best of intentions, we cannot move forward if terrorist attacks launched from Pakistani soil continue to kill and injure our citizens, here and abroad. That is the national position. I stand by it.
I have said time and again and I repeat it right now again: it is impossible for any government in India to work towards full normalization of relations with Pakistan unless the Government of Pakistan fulfills, in letter and spirit, its commitment not to allow its territory to be used in any manner for terrorist activities against India.
This was a commitment made as my friend Shri Yashwant Sinha has mentioned to my distinguished predecessor Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and it has been repeated to me in every meeting I have had with the Pakistani leadership. The people of India expect these assurances to be honoured and this government recognizes that as the national consensus.
Madam Speaker,
The attack on Mumbai last November outraged our nation and cast a deep shadow over our relations with Pakistan. The reality and the horror of it were brought into Indian homes over three traumatic days that still haunt us. The people of India demand that this must never happen again.
Over the past seven months, we followed a policy, using all effective bilateral and multilateral instruments at our command, to ensure that Pakistan acts, with credibility and sincerity, as we would expect of any civilized nation.
Soon after the attacks, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the Lakshar-e-Tayeba and its front organizations, including the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. It also imposed sanctions on four individuals connected with the organization, including one of the masterminds behind the Mumbai attacks, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
We exercised great restraint under very difficult circumstances but made it clear that Pakistan must act. On 5th January 2009, we handed over to Pakistan the details of the links to Pakistan that were revealed by our investigators. Some action followed and Pakistan formally responded to us on two occasions regarding the progress of their own investigations - in February 2009 and then just two days before my departure for Paris and Sharm El Sheikh.
The latest dossier is a 34 page document that gives details of the planning and sequence of events, details of the investigations carried out by the special Federal Investigation Agency team of Pakistan, a copy of the FIR lodged and the details and photographs of the accused in custody and those declared as proclaimed offenders. It provides details of the communication networks used, financing of the operation and seizures made in Pakistan including maps, lifeboats, literature on navigational training, intelligence manuals, back packs etc.
The Pakistan dossier states that the investigation has established beyond doubt that LeT activists conspired, financed and executed the attacks. Five of the accused have been arrested, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, and thirteen others have been declared proclaimed offenders. A charge sheet has since been filed against them under Pakistan's Anti Terrorism Act and other relevant laws. We have been told that the investigations are nearly complete and that the trial will now proceed. We have also been asked for some further information. We will provide this shortly.
This is the first time that Pakistan has ever formally briefed us on the results of an investigation into a terrorist attack in India. It has never happened before and I repeat this is the first time. It is also the first time that they have admitted that their nationals and a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan carried out a ghastly terrorist act in India.
Madam Speaker,
The reality is that this is far more than the NDA Government was ever able to extract from Pakistan during its entire tenure despite all their tall talk. They were never able to get Pakistan to admit what they have admitted now. So the UPA government needs no lessons from the opposition on how to conduct foreign affairs or secure our nation against terrorist threats.
But while noting the steps Pakistan has taken, I have to say that they do not go far enough. We hope that the trial will make quick progress and that exemplary punishment will be meted out to those who committed this horrific crime against humanity. We need evidence that action is being taken to outlaw, disarm and shut down the terrorist groups and their front organizations that still operate on Pakistani soil and which continue to pose a grave threat to our country.
Madam Speaker,
In the final analysis, the reality is that, despite all the friends we have, and we should have as many friends as Shri Mulayam Singh ji has said, when it comes to matters relating to our national security and defence, we will have to depend on ourselves. Self-help is the best help. There is no substitute to strengthening our defence capabilities, our internal security structures and our emergency response mechanisms. I wish to assure the House that the government is giving these matters the highest priority and attention.
Several important steps have been taken to modernize, rationalize and strengthen our defence, security and intelligence apparatus. A detailed plan to address internal security challenges is being implemented in a time-bound manner. The Government is maintaining utmost vigil in the area of internal security. Measures have been taken to ensure enhanced information and intelligence sharing on a real time basis. A policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism, from whatever source it originates, has been put in place.
In the area of defence, steps are underway to substantially improve our coastal and maritime security. Large acquisitions of major weapon systems and platforms have been approved for the modernization of our Army, Navy and Air Force. There has been a special focus to improve the welfare of the Armed Forces personnel.
We will spare no effort and no expense to defend our nation against any threat to our sovereignty, unity and integrity. This is the sacred and bounden duty of any Government of this great country.
Madam Speaker,
We do not dilute our positions or our resolve to defeat terrorism by talking to any country. Other major powers affected by Pakistan based terrorism are also engaging with Pakistan. Unless we talk directly to Pakistan, we will have to rely on third parties to do so. That route, I submit to this August House, has very severe limitations as to its effectiveness, and for the longer term the involvement of foreign powers in South Asia is not something to our liking.
I say with strength and conviction that dialogue and engagement is the best way forward.
This has been the history of our relations with Pakistan over the last decade. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a decision of political courage to visit Lahore in 1999. Then came Kargil and the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar. Yet, he invited General Musharraf to Agra and again tried to make peace. The nation witnessed the terrible attack on Parliament in 2001. There followed an extremely difficult phase in our relationship. The armed forces of the two countries stood fully mobilized.
But, to his great credit, Shri Vajpayee was not deterred, as a statesman should not be. In 2004, he went to Islamabad, where a Joint Statement was issued that set out a vision for a cooperative relationship. I must remind the House that opposition parties supported these bold steps. I, for one, share Shri Vajpayee's vision, and I have also felt his frustration in dealing with Pakistan.
In my meetings with President Zardari in Yekaterinburg and with Prime Minister Gilani in Sharm El Sheikh, I conveyed, in the strongest possible terms, our concerns and expectations. I conveyed to them the deep anger and hurt of the people of India due to the persistence of terrorist attacks in India.
I told them that the operations of all terrorist groups that threaten India must end permanently. I urged them to make no distinctions between different terrorist organizations. I said that it was not enough to say that Pakistan is itself a victim of terrorism. They must show the same political will and take the same strong and sustained action against terrorist groups operating on their eastern border as they now seem to be taking against groups on their western border.
Both President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani assured me that the Pakistan government was serious and that effective action would be taken against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage.
Shri Yashwant Sinha asked me what had changed between my meeting with President Zardari and the meeting with Prime Minister Gilani. In between came the dossier which showed progress though not adequate progress. Shri Sinha also asked me do we trust Pakistan. Let me say that in the affairs of two neighbours we should recall what President Reagan once said – trust but verify. There is no other way unless we go to war.
I was told that Mumbai was the work of non-state actors. I said that this gave little satisfaction and that it was the duty of their Government to ensure that such acts were not perpetrated from their territory. I told them that another attack of this kind will put an intolerable strain on our relationship and that they must take all possible measures to prevent a recurrence.
Madam Speaker,
After I returned from Sharm El Sheikh, I made a statement in Parliament, which clarified and elaborated not just the Joint Statement issued following my meeting with Prime Minister Gilani, but also what we discussed.
I wish to reiterate that the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan know, after our recent meetings, that we can have a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan only if they fulfill their commitment, in letter and spirit, not to allow their territory to be used in any manner for terrorist activities against India. This message was repeated when the Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries met.
I stand by what I have said in Parliament - that there has been no dilution of our position in this regard.
An interpretation has been sought to be given to the Joint Statement that we will continue to engage in a composite dialogue whether Pakistan takes action against terrorism or not. This is not correct. The Joint Statement emphasized that action on terrorism cannot be linked to dialogue. Pakistan knows very well that with terrorism being such a mortal and global threat, no civilized country can set terms and conditions for rooting it out. It is an absolute and compelling imperative that cannot be dependent on resumption of the composite dialogue. In the Joint Statement itself, the two sides have agreed to share real time, credible and actionable information on any future terrorist threats.
Madam Speaker,
When I spoke to Prime Minister Gilani about terrorism from Pakistan, he mentioned to me that many Pakistanis thought that India meddled in Balochistan. I told him that we have no interest in destabilizing Pakistan nor do we harbour any ill intent towards Pakistan. We believe that a stable, peaceful and prosperous Pakistan living in peace with its neighbours is in our own interest.
I told him then, and I say it here again, that we are not afraid of discussing any issue of concern between the two countries. If there are any misgivings, we are willing to discuss them and remove them.
I said to him that I had been told by the leadership of Pakistan several times that Indian Consulates in Afghanistan were involved in activities against Pakistan. This is totally false. We have had Consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad for 60 years. Our Consulates perform normal diplomatic functions and are assisting in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, where we have a large aid programme that is benefiting the common people of Afghanistan.
But we are willing to discuss all these issues because we know that we are doing nothing wrong. I told Prime Minister Gilani that our conduct is an open book. If Pakistan has any evidence, and they have not given me any and no dossier has been given, we are willing to look at it because we have nothing to hide.
Madam Speaker,
I believe that it is as much in Pakistan's vital interest as it is in ours to make peace. Pakistan must defeat terrorism, before being consumed by it. I believe the current leadership there understands the need for action.
I was told by the parliamentarians who accompanied Prime Minister Gilani that there is now a political consensus in Pakistan against terrorism. That should strengthen the hands of its leaders in taking the hard decisions that will be needed to destroy terrorism and its sponsors in their country.
Madam Speaker,
Our objective, as I said at the outset, must be a permanent peace with Pakistan, where we are bound together by a shared future and a common prosperity.
I believe that there is a large constituency for peace in both countries. The majority of people in both countries want an honourable settlement of the problems between us that have festered far too long and want to set aside the animosities of the past. We know this, but in the past there have been hurdles in a consistent pursuit of this path. As a result, the enemies of peace have flourished. They want to make our alienation permanent, the distance between our two countries an unbridgeable divide. In the interests of our people, and in the interest of peace and prosperity of South Asia, we must not let this happen.
That is why I hope and pray that the leadership in Pakistan will have the strength and the courage to defeat those who want to destroy, not just peace between India and Pakistan, but the future of South Asia. As I have said before, if they show that strength and that courage, we will meet them more than half way.
There are uncertainties on the horizon, and I cannot predict the future in dealing with neighbours, two nuclear powers. We have to begin to trust each other, but not blindly, but trust and verify. People say that we have broken the national consensus. I refuse to believe that we have broken the national consensus.
For the present we have agreed that the Foreign Secretaries will meet as often as necessary and report to the two Foreign Ministers who will meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The two Foreign Ministers have met even before the Joint Statement in Trieste. I met President Zardari in Russia. So in operational terms the effect of the Statement that the two Foreign Secretaries will meet as often as necessary followed by the Foreign Ministers is no more than what we are doing at present. Does it involve surrender or a sign of weakness?
As neighbours it is our obligation to keep our channels open. Look at what is happening in the world. The US and Iran have been sworn enemies for thirty years, and yet they feel compelled to enter into a dialogue. Unless we want to go to war with Pakistan, dialogue is the only way out. But we should do so on the basis of trust but verify.
On End Use Monitoring
All governments, including our Government, are particular about the end uses to which exported defence equipment and technologies are put to and for preventing them from falling into wrong hands.
Since the late nineties, the Governments of India and the US have entered into End Use Monitoring arrangements for the import of US high-technology defence equipment and supplies. These were negotiated before this agreement in each case by successive Governments of India. The Government has only accepted those arrangements which are fully in consonance with our sovereignty and dignity.
What we have now agreed with the US is a generic formulation which will apply to future such supplies that India chooses to undertake. By agreeing to a generic formulation, we have introduced an element of predictability in what is otherwise an adhoc case by case negotiations on each occasion.
I should add that we need access to all technologies available in the world for the modernization of our defence forces. The threats to the country are growing and we need to have the capability to deal with them, and to be ahead of them. Our Armed Forces are entitled to the best equipment available anywhere in the world. It is also in our interest to diversify to the maximum extent possible the sources of our imports of defence items and equipment.
You have my assurance that the Government has taken all precautions to ensure an outcome that guarantees our sovereignty and national interest. Nothing in the text that has been agreed to compromises India's sovereignty. There is no provision for any unilateral action by the US side with regard to inspection or related matters. India has the sovereign right to jointly decide, including through joint consultations, the verification procedure. Any verification has to follow a request, it has to be on a mutually acceptable date and at a mutually acceptable venue. There is no provision for on-site inspections or granting of access to any military site or sensitive areas. This is the position in regard to the end use monitoring.
On Climate Change
The Major Economic Forum Declaration adopted at L'Aquila is not a declaration of Climate Change policy by India, nor is it a bilateral declaration between India and another country or a group of countries. It is a declaration that represents a shared view among 17 developed and developing countries, the latter category including China, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico. Therefore, the formulations are necessarily generally worded to reflect different approaches and positions of a fairly diverse group of countries.
It has been argued in some quarters that the reference in the Declaration to a scientific view that global temperature increase should not exceed 2ºC, represents a significant shift in India's position on Climate Change and that it may oblige us to accept emission reduction targets. This is a one-sided and misleading interpretation of the contents of the Declaration.
It is India's view, which has been consistently voiced at all forums, that global warming is taking place and that its adverse consequences will impact most heavily on developing countries like India. The reference in a document to 2ºC increase as a possible threshold reflects a prevalent scientific opinion internationally and only reinforces what India has been saying about the dangers from global warming. True, this is the first time that India has accepted a reference to 2ºC as a possible threshold guiding global action, but this is entirely in line with our stated position on global warming.
Drawing attention to the seriousness of global warming does not automatically translate into a compulsion on the part of India or other developing countries represented in the Major Economic Forum to accept emission reduction obligations. I would like to mention that our position and the Chinese position are nearly identical, and we have been coordinating with that country. Quite to the contrary, the greater the threat from global warming, the greater the responsibility of developed countries to take on ambitious emission reduction targets. That is why, 37 developing countries including India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia, have tabled a submission at the multilateral negotiations, asking the developed countries to accept reduction targets of at least 40% by 2020 with 1990 as the baseline.
The Major Economic Forum Declaration reaffirms the principles and provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in particular, the principle of equity and of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. As is well-known, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change imposes emission reduction targets only on developed countries. Developing countries are committed to sustainable development. The full incremental cost of any mitigation by them must be fully compensated by transfers of financial and technological resources from developed countries. This is fully reflected in the Major Economic Forum Declaration.
Furthermore, at the insistence of India, supported by other developing countries, the Declaration includes an explicit acknowledgement that in undertaking climate change action, the "first and overriding priority" of developing countries will be their pursuit of the goals of economic and social development and poverty eradication. This should allay any apprehension that India will be under pressure to undertake commitments that may undermine her economic growth prospects.
On the G 8 Statement on nuclear issues
Some Members have raised the issue of the Statement issued by the G-8 countries on Non-Proliferation at their L'Aquila Summit in Italy earlier in July, and the references in it to the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items and technology.
The concern appears to be as to whether an effort is being made by certain countries to prevent the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items and technology to non-NPT countries, i.e., countries like India who have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Madam Speaker,
The government is fully committed to the achievement of full international civil nuclear cooperation. Consistent with this objective, in September last year India secured a clean exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, one that was India-specific. At that time also attempts were made to make a distinction. The NSG has agreed to transfer all technologies consistent with their national laws.
The 'Statement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation with India' approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group on September 6, 2008 contains India's reciprocal commitments and actions in exchange for access to international civil nuclear cooperation. It is our expectation that any future decisions of the NSG relating to the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items and technology would take into account the special status accorded to India by the NSG. The NSG has given us this clean exemption knowing full well that we are not a signatory to the NPT.
Prohibition by the NSG of such transfers would require a consensus amongst all the 46 countries. This does not exist at present. The exemption given to India by the NSG provides for consultations and we will hence remain engaged with that body, so that any decisions take into account the special status accorded to India by it.
As far as the G-8 is concerned, the fact is that we have no civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the G8 bloc per se. We have, however, signed bilateral agreements with France, Russia and the United States. As I have said before, and I repeat it here, when I raised this matter with President Sarkozy, he was gracious enough to tell me that as far as France is concerned, there will be no restrictions. He also said that if we want him to go public on this, he will do so. Therefore, there is no consensus in the NSG to debar India from such technologies. We expect that the countries concerned will honour and implement their bilateral commitments.
Madam Speaker,
In the course of the discussions, some Hon'ble Members have raised the issue of our accepting pre-conditions for transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items and technology. I wish to once again state that pending global nuclear disarmament, there is no question of India joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon State.
I would also like to clarify that the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items and technology has no bearing whatsoever on India's upfront entitlement to reprocess foreign origin spent fuel and the use of such fuel in our own safeguarded facilities.
Finally, I would like to bring to the attention of this august House that India has full mastery of the entire Nuclear Fuel Cycle, and this includes enrichment and reprocessing technology. We have a well entrenched E&R infrastructure as well. Our domestic three-stage Nuclear Power Programme is entirely indigenous and self-sustaining. Our indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor Programme and linked technology puts us in the league of those very few nations which today possess cutting-edge technologies.
The transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items and technology to India as part of full international civil nuclear cooperation would be an additionality to accelerate our three-stage programme.
Opinion - Op-Ed 
India and the Baloch insurgency
Hamid Mir
| Pakistan is protesting against the alleged Indian involvement in the Baloch insurgency in a careful, calculated and "limited manner." |
Question of provincial rights: Islamabad cannot get away with blaming India for the unrest in Balochistan.
Why is Manmohan Singh under fire in India? Many Indians, including the Opposition, are not happy about the reference to Balochistan in the joint statement released at Sharm-El-Shaikh, Egypt, after the meeting between Dr. Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned summit. Some feel Dr. Singh stabbed them in the back by accepting the claim that India interferes in Balochistan. There are reports that Mr. Gilani pressured Dr. Si ngh at Sharm-El-Shaikh by handing over a dossier of evidence alleging Indian involvement in cross-border terrorism in Balochistan and that was how the Prime Minister was forced to accept the reference to Balochistan. I was present at Sharm-El-Shaikh. Many Indian journalists were shocked on reading the joint statement. They asked me why Balochistan was mentioned in the statement. In fact, many of them, like many common Indians, were not aware of what was going on in Balochistan. Within a few hours, I started receiving calls from many Indian television channels asking what evidence Pakistan showed Dr. Singh of the alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan.
While Mr. Gilani did mention Balochistan to Dr. Singh, he never handed over any dossier. The situation in the province came in for detailed discussion during the first meeting of the Foreign Secretaries at Sharm-El-Shaikh in the evening of July 14, two days before the meeting of Dr. Singh and Mr. Gilani. Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told his Indian counterpart, Shiv Shankar Menon, that India must delink the composite dialogue process from action on terrorism, otherwise Pakistan would be forced to produce before the international media at least "three Indian Ajmal Kasabs" who were directly or indirectly part of the terrorist activities in Balochistan. He added that Pakistan would easily establish that the Indian Consulate in the Afghan city of Kandahar was actually a control room of terrorist activities organised by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). The three Indian nationals were arrested in Pakistan in the last few weeks. According to Pakistani officials, they have undeniable evidence of the links of these Indians with Baloch militants.
Mr. Bashir told Mr. Menon that Pakistan and India could not afford a blame game. If Pakistan were to come out with evidence of India's involvement in the attack on Chinese engineers in the Gwadar port city, not only would India's credibility be damaged but also more anti-India feelings would spread in Pakistan. The extremist forces would be the ultimate beneficiaries, Mr. Bashir said.
One must understand why the Pakistani authorities are very careful in exposing the alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan. First, this new blame game will only help the extremist forces who successfully organised the attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 to derail the India-Pakistan peace process. Secondly, it will harm Afghanistan-Pakistan relations. The U.S. does not want tensions between Islamabad and Kabul at this stage because the NATO forces are trying their best to conduct a presidential election in Afghanistan in a few weeks. Thirdly, the PPP-led coalition government is aware that Balochistan is not a serious dispute like Jammu and Kashmir; it is a problem of provincial rights. Instead of internationalising the issue, therefore, Islamabad should address the problem realistically. It cannot get away by blaming India alone for the unrest in the province. It has engaged many Baloch militants in talks behind-the scenes. Good news is expected soon.
Pakistan is making noises about the alleged Indian involvement in the Baloch insurgency in a careful, calculated and "limited manner." The U.S. magazine, Foreign Affairs (March 2009) published the report of a roundtable discussion on the causes of instability in Pakistan. Christine Fair of RAND Corporation said, "having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan."
Where is Zahedan? It is the capital of the Irani province Sistan-o-Balochistan bordering Pakistan. More than two million Balochis live on the Iranian side of Balochistan. Iran is building a big port of Chabahar in the same area with active help from India. Top Iranian leaders have repeatedly alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency is supporting the Iranian Balochis to destabilise the Islamic Republic. American journalist Seymour Hersh admitted in July 2008 that the Bush administration gave millions of dollars to the separatist Iranian group, Jandallah, which is responsible for violence in the Iranian part of Balochistan.
If Pakistan plays the India card in Balochistan, many anti-U.S. forces in Pakistan will demand to know why it is silent on the CIA's role in Balochistan.
Keeping in view the sensitivity of the problem, it is difficult for India to openly support the Baloch insurgency because it may harm its relations with Iran. If Indians come out openly in support of the BLA, anti-Indian elements in Pakistan will quickly bracket New Delhi with the alleged great game of the U.S. against Iran.
The Balochis are Kurds of South Asia. The Kurd population is distributed in Iran, Turkey and Iraq, while the Balochis are spread over Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Separatist groups in Pakistan and Iran want the Baloch areas unified. This is not acceptable to both countries. Balochistan has huge quantities of natural gas and unexplored oil reserves and is the largest Pakistani province in terms of area, covering almost 48 per cent of the country. But it accounts for only five per cent of the total population. A tribal society, it is the most underdeveloped province.
The first military operation in Balochistan was launched by General Ayub Khan in the late 1950s. The second was launched in 1974 when Iraq tried to destabilise Iranian Balochistan with the help of pro-Soviet Afghan ruler Sardar Daoud in collaboration with some Pakistani Baloch leaders. Daoud tried to exploit the slogan of independent Balochistan, on the one hand, and Pashtunistan, on the other. Afghanistan's interference in Pakistan forced Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to use Ahmad Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against the Kabul regime. The two Afghan rebels became guests of the Pakistani security forces in 1975. Later, General Zia-ul-Haq used them against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Pervez Musharraf gave Gwadar to the Chinese for development in 2003. Three Chinese engineers were killed and nine injured on May 3, 2004 in a remote-controlled car bomb attack. Two months later, Pakistan claimed for the first time that India was involved in the attack. Locals were not happy over the employment of non-Balochis in the main development projects of their province. They also wanted a fairer share of royalties generated by the production of natural gas. Instead of addressing their grievances, the Musharraf regime launched a third military operation against them in 2005, further aggravating the situation.
Why must India discuss Balochistan with Pakistan? For, it will be the transit route of at least two multinational gas pipelines — one from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan and the other from Iran to Pakistan. India could be a beneficiary of both pipelines, which could be extended from Multan to New Delhi. A stable Balochistan will, thus, ultimately benefit India.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China and India should join hands, and stop proxy wars in Kashmir and Balochistan. They can then change the fate of the whole region.
| SERVING IN THE WILDS - Backward districts need the presence of senior IAS officers | |
| ASHOK MITRA | |
The pattern is more or less the same in state after state: the more backward districts lag way behind the more advanced ones in both quality of day-to-day administration and implementation of welfare and development projects. Whether it is supply of minikits on the eve of the kharif season or providing work under the rural employment guarantee scheme or preparing the list of persons below the poverty level, the least developed districts have the worst record of performance. This is, in everybody's reckoning, an absurd situation. Awareness of what is horridly wrong does not, however, lead to any measures of rectification, which possibly provides one rationale for the sobriquet, Unchanging India. Not surprisingly, the backward districts become principal targets of insurgency groups. They cannot be blamed for taking advantage of a situation that persistent deprivation tailor-makes for them. Sums are allocated by the state government, funds flow under this or that Central scheme, every other day new projects enter the pipeline. The so-called 'delivery system' does not work though. Either the money allotted does not arrive, or does not arrive on time; even when it finally arrives, most of it is not spent, or disappears without reaching the intended destinations. The objective reality therefore remains unaltered: the poorest districts, largely peopled by Dalits and adivasis, stay the poorest and the distance between them and the relatively prosperous continues to widen. The reason for such a denouement is not far to seek. A particular administrative culture is pervasive all over the country: the juniormost civil servants, with barely a few year's experience at the sub-divisional level, are usually despatched to take charge of districts that are not only the most remote from state headquarters but economically the most backward as well. The greenhorns are expected to be jacks-of-all-trades, do their magisterial chores as well as assume responsibility for guiding and monitoring the development process in the districts. They have to establish rapport with the people's representatives in the panchayat bodies, coordinate the routine activities of the 'line' officers such as the district executive engineer, the district health officer and the district educational officer, and supervise numerous welfare and development projects already on or at the point of being initiated. The 'line' officers, too, happen to be as raw as the district magistrate himself. It is a collection of novices who are expected to set in motion the district's development engine, which will supposedly transform the Indian countryside and, at the same time, usher in 'inclusive growth'. To be effective, these young officers have to be adept at public relations as well. In addition to liaising with political elements in the panchayats, they have to interact with local leaders of the political parties active in the district. The officers may be full of good intentions, they may be as earnest as earnestness can be. But they lack the background of experience to cope with situations arising from time to time that call for tact and the simultaneous presence of both firmness and flexibility. Given their lack of seniority, they are also at a disadvantage while dealing with problems needing to be sorted out with officialdom in state headquarters. If funds granted under certain schemes fail to reach by the scheduled date or a fresh proposal prima facie worthy of consideration has to be pushed through, the district magistrate has to get in touch with the powers-that-be in the state capital. He often fails to make much of a headway because in the hierarchical system entrenched in the administration, junior officers generally lack the courage to assert themselves. In spite of such a state of affairs, talk continues, incessantly, on the theme of 'inclusive growth' that programmes like the national rural employment guarantee scheme are assumed to ensure. Perhaps those most vociferous in the matter do not actually mean it, their class interest militates against everything the concept of inclusive growth implies. Even so, electoral compulsions can hardly be laid aside. To be in power, it is imperative to secure at poll time the support of substantial sections of the poor. If developmental projects do not get implemented, if construction of roads and irrigation channels is delayed, if campaigns for total literacy and universal primary education fail to take off, if the most deprived are unable to find work or cannot be provided with a minimum quantity of cereals at subsidized rates, if nutritional standards are stuck at an abysmally low level, the outcome is bound to be unwholesome for the governing classes. The balance of advantage therefore lies in improving the delivery system in the poverty-stricken districts. The series of development programmes, ongoing as well as contemplated, even if implemented in full, will change only marginally the structure of income distribution in the country, the rich will continue to grow richer. Still, the chances are that the poor will be a shade less discontented. Under the present administrative dispensation though, even such a modest turn of circumstances is beyond the pale of rational expectations. It is in this context that one dares to sow a wild idea. Instead of sending the juniormost officers to take charge of the least developed districts, why not experiment with a topsy-turvy arrangement? An officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service cadre gets the opportunity to move to the Centre, as secretary or additional secretary, after serving in the state administration for a period of 25 years or thereabouts. To most officers, this transfer to a Central ministry is a much-cherished goal. They arrive in New Delhi as mature administrators equipped with a rich fund of experience. Why not insert a rule that even when an IAS officer has completed more than two decades in state administration and has gone through the mill of serving as secretary in a number of departments, the officer will not be allowed to migrate to the Centre until he completes a tour of duty as administrative head of one of the most backward districts in the state. With the experience accumulated over the years and the clout his seniority provides, the officer will be ideally placed to give a badly needed extra thrust to the overall developmental effort in the district. The question of incentives and disincentives cannot, of course, be brushed aside. It should be laid down as a general rule that a senior civil servant will be considered for a major appointment at the Centre — or for a superior position in the state itself — only after spending a minimum of two years as chief of administration in the backward districts. But there should be sweeteners. While posted in a hitherto backward district, the officer could be offered the salary and emoluments a secretary to the Union government is entitled to. In addition, he may also be offered a special allowance as compensation for inconveniences caused by displacement from an urban milieu at an advanced stage of his civil-service career. As officers sent to poverty-ridden districts get content with the postings and apply themselves to the assignment they have been called upon to undertake, who knows, the entire administrative set-up could feel the impact. In the early 1930s, Mahatma Gandhi shifted himself to the wilderness of the then semi-village, Wardha, right at the dead centre of the country. He was always a bit of an old fox. He had a purpose in mind: to force political eminence seeking his darshan to undergo the drudgery of travelling to Wardha; they would thereby come to comprehend the dire plight of the nation's overwhelming majority and be awash with noblesse oblige. Leaders in the post-Independence era missed the point of Gandhi's message. Having paid some lip service to the cause of the underdog, they chose to concentrate on developing an intensely class-skewed metropolitan culture. The consequences of their decision are now gradually being revealed. Despatching hard-boiled civil servants to the countryside is no guarantee that things will change, but it could at least have one, not insignificant, spin-off. As the civil servants begin to travel to the country's god-forsaken interior, ruling politicians might feel compelled not to be far behind. |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment