Noose tightens around Mulayam

Morals, ethics or sheer hard-core politics?

Noose is gradually tightening around Mulayam’s neck in the State and the Election Commission’s announcement of holding the elections in 7 phases is another step in that direction. This shows that the Commission has taken serious note of apprehensions of Congress, BJP and BSP regarding fair and non-partial role of administration and police machinery during the elections. The decision of the Commission not to take services of local police has come as a setback to the SP Government that was busy deploying police force of its choice at crucial police stations. Even the DGP had finalized arrangements to oversee the progress at various cities through Internet while sitting at his office at Lucknow. The decision of the Commission implies that this tested loyal force of Mulayam will sit and watch while the centrally deployed forces take care of law and order during election period.
In this regard, Congress has been largely successful in its mission of removing Mulayam from power prior to election to some extent. Though it has not been able to impose President’s Rule in the State till now, next two days are crucial for Mulayam as Congress may still wish to implement its agenda. Congress has just 25th of February to impose article 356, after which it will become more or less certain Mulayam will carry the bat till the results of the elections.
The noose is being tightened around Mulayam not because Congress has suddenly discovered that law and order has been lacking under his rule. Neither is this decision being made because of the ‘ethics’ over crossing of BSP MLAs and the subsequent Supreme Court’s decision. And if you feel, the Nithari killings or large-scale abduction of children could be the reason, you are once again wrong.
The Congress has been looking elsewhere when all these continue to happen. Not only did Congress ignore the State going from bad to worse during the last three and a half years, but also supported SP in the State. Today, if all these issues are being brought to the forefront it is because Congress has begun preparations for the forthcoming Assembly elections and Congress’s think-tank has decided that it would gain a handful of more votes and few more seats if the elections were to be held under the Governor’s rule.
That is why Congress appears hell-bent on enforcing Article 356 in the State and if there is one reason why Congress has failed to do so until now it is because of CPI’s tacit understanding and consequent unflinching support for Mulayam. CPI therefore is the only hope for Mulayam and unless CPI itself negotiates a few ‘big deals’ for itself and backs down, Congress will have some difficulty in carrying forth its agenda.
The reasons that Congress are putting forth now were all in existence all through the last three and a half years. Supreme Court’s decision that 13 MLAs came out of BSP prior to the remaining 37 may have given a boost at the moment but truth remains that Congress knew right from day one that horse-trading had taken place that resulted in the BSP MLAs deserting their party. It appears nothing but a joke now when the Congress says that it is withdrawing support because it fears further horse-trading in the house by the hands of SP.
Not only the Congress, its new ally Ajit Singh too remained with the ruling party and enjoyed the benefits of being in power all through and deserted company only prior to the elections.
If we talk of BJP, the party too has no moral right to ask for Governor’s rule consequent to Supreme Court ruling. Kesrinath Tripathi became Speaker of the House from BJP’s quota and it was he who had allowed the BSP’s breakaway factions to sit in the house. Fact is that only BSP seems to be having the right to oppose SP at the moment on this issue.
But what to say of politics, because of which all morals and ethics are being put aside in the name of morals and ethics itself. Otherwise we all are already aware of the moves that various political parties are going to take in the near future. Watch out for the political field and interests of each of them and you too may do the guesswork!

Youths beckon Rahul to lead

Youths associated with Congress in the State of UP seem to have only one demand at the moment. They, in unison, are pitching for Rahul Gandhi to take complete control of affairs in the State prior to elections.
It is believed that Rahul Gandhi spearheading the campaign will give great boost to moral of the Congress workers in the State and further consolidate the vote bank by roping in voters at the periphery and also from upper caste, scheduled castes and the minorities, thus leading to greater vote-share and more seats for Congress in this crucial election.
Hi Time assessed the mood of certain senior Congress leaders in this regard. Most of them, barring a few, were confident that Rahul’s entry as head of the Party in the State will go a long way in enhancing Congress’s prospects in the elections. However, a few leaders who opposed this cited that time was not right for Rahul’s entry and Congress should keep this card close till the time of Lok Sabha elections.
Amethi and Rai Bareilly too are jubilant at the prospects of Rahul’s portrayal as head of the party in the State. Mashan Miyan of Nasirabad whom Hi Time spoke to said that Rahul’s entry at helm of affairs will usher in the period of rejuvenation for the party at a faster pace than expected. The entire Uttar Pradesh needs development similar to what has taken place in these two districts and Rahul’s leadership will ensure that the same will happen. Judging by Rahul’s nature, it is certain that he will leave no stone unturned to carry forth the commitments.
Soniaji, the Congressmen are looking at you to release the biggest and most capable weapon in your arsenal not only for the development of party in the State but also for the development of the State of Uttar Pradesh on the whole.

Who is to blame for Samjhauta deaths?

Another train blast has taken place killing 68 people. During the last ten years, 272 lives have been lost in train blasts. This includes the seven series blasts in Mumbai trains on July 11 last year that killed 185 and wounded people in hundreds. A little before, on 11 March, 2003, 11 people died due to a blast in a Mumbai train. 33 people gave away their lives in Brahmputra Mail in Assam on 30 December, 1996.
These are just few incidents that show that terrorists have repeatedly used trains as medium to spread terror. Not just in India, they are doing the same internationally as well; blasts in London and Madrid are a pointer to this.
The Samjhauta Express train blast earlier this week was not just aimed at killing a few more innocents and spreading the message of terror; they were also aimed at ripping apart the cordial ties between India and Pakistan. This is so because this train and its name itself were symbolic of the delicate thread of brotherly relationship that hangs between the two countries and chaos.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil has gone on record saying that he was aware who was responsible for the blasts but would not like to name them at the moment as this would have adverse impact. Moreover, there are reports that intelligence agencies had already forewarned the government about likelihood of such an attack. Even general people were aware of the threat to this train, in particular, and rest of the trains in general. Why did the Government and Railway authorities in particular failed to take any preventive measures? The very fact that 12 passengers in the train, including Pakistani nationals, were traveling without passports and there were only seven security persons in the train comprising 16 coaches is an indication to this.
Moreover, the Haryana police is claiming that two persons boarded the train from Old Delhi Railway Station and alighted from it about 15 minutes before the explosions when the train had slowed down near the Deewana station. Clearly they had no valid tickets to be traveling on this train whereas people without passports and valid visas are not allowed to board the Samjhauta Express. These two even had heated arguments for 20 minutes with the security personnel on board the train. Even the sketches of these people have been released. Why were no attempts made to stop these people from getting down? Is it so easy for a person to alight from a high-security train? If people can alight midway, there are all possibilities that others can board it too.
It is worthless to claim that so and so was behind the attack? No doubt, direct hand of Jaish or Lashkar-e-Toiba cannot be ruled out. But who is to be blamed for utter failure to take care of the security. Samjhauta Express is not like any other trains which stops at every other station to take in or drop passengers. All the passengers had boarded the train from Delhi, which has been under terrorist attacks on countless occasions and a minimum amount of security is expected at the station.
What is the point of red alert now? People’s baggage is once again being screened at the stations from the day the blast occurred. The same was being done till a few days after the previous similar attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere. Terrorists are not fools like us who would plan another attack in the near future. They are sure to lie low until this ‘alert’ converts into ‘slumber’ once again.

The raging price war

Panic has gripped the Government over the sudden spurt of prices in the country. It has resulted into a series of decisions including banning export of some goods, allowing easier import of some others, reducing or eliminating Customs duties, invoking restrictive storage laws and delisting a couple of essential commodities from the bourses. Unfortunately, these steps have come as too little too late. This is so because financial analysts were already citing apprehensions from a few months now regarding the continued swelling of inflation. And the reactions when they have come are being seen as knee-jerk and topical rather than a well-planned effort to counter the problem.
As it is, it was being said that the fruits of much-touted economic growth have not reached large sections, especially in the rural areas. In fact, the fallout of rapid growth was that the pockets of multinationals and big Indian companies continued to swell, even with additional money generated from the rural areas. Galloping inflation is sure to rob the poor further and hurt the lower middle class as well, though a little less grievously. Under present conditions, the benefit of high prices paid by consumers does not flow back to primary producers, but is siphoned away by middlemen and speculators who enjoy a free run in an economy of shortages. Government has done little to better the plight of agriculture sector as well as the physical market while the manufacturing sector has been reeling under the burden of excess demand, leading to shortages of essential commodities. This demand cannot be countered with increased imports as the high global market prices have not allowed it to remain conducive for our economy.
Measures taken by the Government are not sufficient. In fact, it failed to act on time and the present inflation is courtesy our deviated policies. Otherwise, inflation is not an overnight phenomenon.
Even announcing the cut in fuel product prices is being seen more as a political ploy to dampen the BJP’s stirrings against the general price rise, rather than a sincere attempt to go to the root of the problem. Crude oil prices have as it is fallen recently, though they have started looking upwards post Bush’s fresh tirades against Iran. Once the prices will rise again, the Government can easily reverse the cut.
Clearly, the country is paying a heavy price for the omissions and commissions, primarily in neglecting the farm sector which has not allowed us to take proper remedial steps towards augmenting supplies and controlling prices. And finally when we did take some decision, it was primarily a negative one, which is not going to have any worthwhile impact in the future. Banning export of wheat and wheat products and putting an embargo on milk powder export is the buzz world whereas till only sometime back the companies from abroad were coming to India, purchasing the wheat in bulk, taking it back and then reselling it to India in times of need. That was one extreme, what we are doing now is another extreme, which is going to have only short-term impact. We are so paranoid that we are bent upon closing even the smallest window of export.
The Government has to consider a range of fiscal and speedy delivery mechanisms to tackle the current price rise that shows little signs of abating. Long-term solutions will have to be incorporated in the forthcoming Budget if we wish the situation to remain in control.
All this show that our revered saints of market economy were either not vigilant or were differentially focused when it comes to reading the signals and acting in time. Consequently, it has gone on defensive, and without any effective ammunition to fight the rise in prices all of a sudden, it is appearing to be an impotent force trying to show it is still virile.

Lead poisoning leads to impairment

Lead is a crucial component of human anatomy. But a bit more of it and there’s trouble in store. Anaemia, impairment of intelligence and several other impairments are direct offshoots of increased lead content, which is generally called lead poisoning. This was revealed by Dr. Abbas Ali Mehdi of KGMU in an exclusive discussion with HTE.
Dr. Mehdi has been involved with research related to lead poisoning for several years now. His studies on lead content level among painters have revealed that the lead content is several times higher, which could have adverse impact on the health of these painters and could even lead to renal failure in some cases.
Blood samples of 18 such painters were sent to Kolkata’s Vivekanand Institute of Medical Sciences as there is no lead analyzer presently available in Lucknow. Results have revealed lead content was 6 to 7 times more on average. “Normally 2 micrograms per dl of lead is present in blood but samples of these painters contained up to 20 micrograms of lead presence. In one case, this was as high as 27 micrograms as well,” Dr. Mehdi informed.
Consequently, Dr. Mehdi is spearheading a campaign to formulate a society that will exclusively conduct research in this area. In this regard, he has already tied up with NGO Prithvi Innovations, whose caretaker Anuradha Gupta has been involved in few researches in this field. Era Hospital, a prominent hospital in Lucknow, has been persuaded to install a lead analyzer machine in its premises.
Dr. Mehdi is hoping that once the society comes into shape, they would be able to conduct lead related research among other groups as well. These include the tannery workers, battery, lock, bangle, pottery and bulb industries and the toys that are coloured with bright colours. He fears that lead content could be as high as that among painters in several of these industries but not much can be said at the moment as there is no proper study to supplement the view.
Elaborating on the urgent need in this regard, Anuradha Gupta says that lead has a peculiar characteristic of following the calcium in the human body. Wherever there is calcium, lead goes and deposits itself. Hence high levels of lead could result in difficulty in walking and movement of limbs as well. Even lactating mothers, with high lead content in their bodies, can pass on this poison to their children. Children are particularly at risk as there have been reports of high lead content in herbal medicines, including Chawanprash.

The project is being promoted by George Foundation and St. John’s Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore who are funded by international agencies like WHO, UNICEF and World Bank and wants a UP Referral Centre to further augment their work in this regard.