The Industrial Downturn

In an announcement that shocked both the government and the markets, the CSO declared recently that the month-on-month annual growth rate of industrial production had turned negative in October 2011. The government quickly played down the evidence, seeking to talk up the markets. In this it was aided by the fact that the decline was driven to some extent by an unusual 25.5 per cent annualised decline in production in the capital goods sector. The Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council argued that the fall in capital goods output was possibly due to statistical underreporting. The message was that the numbers are likely to be corrected when the figures are revised, and therefore should give no cause for alarm.

But as the accompanying Chart displaying month-on-month annualised growth rates suggests, medium term developments are such that there still is cause for concern. To start with, the decline in month-on-month growth rates is a trend rather than a one-time phenomenon, though October is the first occasion in recent times when the figure turned negative. The ‘V-shaped’ recovery from the 2009 recession seems to have peaked and reversed itself as far back as February 2010. That was disappointing enough because the recovery had established India as one among the countries that had quickly put the effects of the global crisis behind it. To boot, since then industrial growth has slipped, stabilised for a while, and then registered the recent sharp downturn.

Secondly, while suspicions have been expressed about the veracity of the figures because of the surprisingly large 25.5 decline in the production of the capital goods sector, the October figures point to a negative rate of growth in all industrial groups in the “use-based” classification. Even consumer goods, with a weightage in the index of industrial production that is more than three times as much as for capital goods, registered a decline, even if of a much smaller 0.83 per cent. The trend, if not the magnitude, is general.

A third feature coming out of these growth figures is that, if the October figures prove to be statistically acceptable, the month-on-month growth rate is at a trough that is close to its worst performance during the 2009 crisis. If the 2009 recession was a downturn worth taking note of, so is this.

With figures as striking as these, it is difficult for both government and industry to dispute the decline, even if doubt is expressed about the magnitude of the fall. So what has followed is an attempt to dilute the significance of the downturn by attributing it largely to the effects of the Reserve Bank of India’s attempt to raise interest rates to combat inflation. In fact the RBI has even been criticised on the grounds that its response to the inflation was overdone, and yielded less in terms of inflation control than growth deceleration.

There are many advantages to this position. First, it makes the downturn and possible recession an engineered rather than a systemic phenomenon. This provides the argument for those who would not like a proactive response to the recession on the part of the government. Second, it strips the whole gamut of other policies of the government, including those referred to as the “economic reform”, of any role in precipitating either the inflation or the industrial volatility that underlie the current downturn. Third, it ignores the role played by the high growth in services, or outside the productive sectors, in creating the basis for inflation in recent years. More income and less commodity production normally implies high inflation, more imports or both. Accepting that link would amount to accepting that within the current trajectory high growth would lead to high inflation. And, fourth, since inflation divested of its relationship with growth is expected to moderate in due course, the RBI is expected to respond in reverse by reducing interest rates and easing monetary policy. This makes the recovery from the downturn seem inevitable.

There are two important relationships that arguments of this kind ignore. The first is that the inflation, the response to which is supposed to have triggered the downturn, is not an accidental occurrence. There are strong direct and indirect cost-push effects that the recent economic policies of the government have had that are substantially responsible for the inflation. To that extent, policies other than the responsive hike in interest have had an important role to play, even if the role of the latter in driving the downturn is accepted.

Second, the effects of the interest rate must work through some mechanism. Normally, it works through a dampening of demand, which reduces the degree to which the system is overheated. That is, the mechanism is one that seeks to alter the supply-demand balance by squeezing demand, in order to reduce prices. Its success is, therefore, predicated on a decline in demand and growth. Relying on the interest rate implies accepting the link between growth and inflation.

Conventionally, the perception has been that the effects of the interest rate on demand works through its dampening effect on investment. This reduces investment demand in the first instance, and by limiting the income generated through new investment curtails growth in consumption demand as well. The efficacy of the measure depends, therefore, on the responsiveness of investment to interest rate increases. This has in the past been ambiguous, and is more so now given the option of borrowing from abroad for the big corporates.

This questions the argument that interest changes have generated the recent sharp downturn. However, in more recent times, credit has financed not only productive investment by firms and farms, but a substantial volume of housing investment and consumption by households. Interest rate increases discourage such investment and consumption more than they adversely affect productive investment, making the effects of such hikes on demand much more potent.

It is for this reason that interest rate increases are likely to have had strong adverse effects on growth. The question remains as to why they have been less effective in combating inflation. If cost-push factors play an important role in explaining inflation, the dampening effects of rate increases on the price rise are bound to be lagged and limited. That seems to be the case in India today.

C.P Chandrashekhar

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Pakistan Army back in the saddle

In one fell swoop, the United States has squandered whatever gains it had made on May 2 by way of forcing the Pakistani nation to question the main arbiter of its destiny — the military establishment — and the choices it has made.

The raid that killed Osama bin Laden was a breach of sovereignty the Pakistanis were able to live with but what happened in the wee hours of November 26 along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is not just difficult to stomach but has also allowed the Pakistan Army to reclaim the national narrative.

Some of the most die-hard critics of the Pakistan Army were out on the streets protesting against the U.S. That they were also demanding a welfare state instead of a security state was lost on the onlookers who have generally been willing to buy into any anti-U.S. rhetoric, preferring to blame the outside hand for much that ails Pakistan instead of reconciling to some of the nation's own flawed policies.

This time they had good reason. The U.S. had lived up to its reputation of being a brute force by entering Pakistani airspace and strafing two Pakistan Army outposts. Two parallel narratives are emerging and given that facts are invariably at a premium in this region — particularly in matters of security and strategy — not many here believe the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) assurance of a thorough investigation.

What is undeniable, and not even disputed by the coalition forces in Afghanistan, is that 24 Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and 13 injured in the ISAF strafing on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line. The U.S., the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the ISAF were quick to regret the incident but no apology was forthcoming though there were enough indications in the Pakistani discourse that the least the coalition forces could do was apologise.

In the bruised and battered Pakistani mindscape, the writing on the wall was clear: Their lives were cheaper than western lives, particularly American. This further fuelled the anger among a people who have had their lives turned upside down by the American desire for retribution post 9/11, and what is seen as Washington's multiple ambitions in the region: military bases and a permanent presence — more than the usual diplomatic level — in Afghanistan to contain China and Iran, exploit the gas and mineral wealth in the region, and keep a watch on Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

As days passed by, positions hardened and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was quoted as telling the Senate's Standing Committee on Foreign Relations that an apology would not suffice. A day earlier, Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) Ishfaq Nadeem had described the attack as an “unprovoked act of blatant aggression” which was “not unintended.”

The Pakistani version goes thus: “After midnight on November 26, two or three helicopters appeared and started engaging ‘Volcano' post, smashing all communication systems. In response, the ‘Boulder' post engaged helicopters with anti-aircraft guns and all available weapons. The helicopter also attacked the post and communication was lost. By then all channels of coordination had been activated. We informed them about the attack and the helicopters were pulled back but they returned a while later and resumed firing that went on till 2.15 a.m.”

According to the DGMO, all Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were violated by the ISAF and the NATO. As per the SOPs, both sides have to inform the other ahead of a military operation within 10 km of the border. In fact, the other side is then supposed to block possible escape routes that terrorists may use. But that night, none of these coordination mechanisms were activated by the two distrusting allies.

Pakistan maintains that the positions of the posts had been conveyed to the ISAF through map references. They could not be mistaken for terrorist sanctuaries because the other side had been provided all available information about the number of posts and their locations. The men at the posts were uniformed and the posts well-defined. Also, the Pakistan Army claims NATO was monitoring transmissions that night and knew they had hit ‘Volcano' checkpost.

The NATO account — unofficial though — is that the incident took place when close air support was sent in on request by ground forces — a combined group drawn from coalition forces and Afghan troops — to the Eastern Kunar area of Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan after they were fired upon from the Pakistani side.

Without going into details of what kind of operation was being undertaken in Eastern Kunar — which has seen considerable crossfire this summer due to cross-border incursions by Pakistani Taliban groups led by Maulana Fazlullah (Radio Mullah) — ISAF spokesman Carsten Jacobson said the troops were operating in a very rugged part of the country. “It is in a part of the country where the borderline is not 100-per-cent clear. The Durand Line does not show 100 per cent the border on the ground. The forces were operating in Afghanistan.”

It is the ISAF's contention that the coalition forces may have been lured into attacking Pakistani outposts in a calculated manoeuvre by terrorists who use the uncertainty of the border to their advantage. However, Pakistan has countered this argument with a demand for display of casualties suffered by the ISAF.

Also, the question why did the choppers come back after being pulled out on being told they were attacking Army posts, persists.

Pakistan also maintains that the area had been cleared of terrorists following a military operation in September in the Mohmand agency in the wake of repeated attacks on security posts by militants who move across the border with ease. In fact, the two posts that were pulverised had been set up only recently to prevent Fazlullah — who had unleashed a rein of terror in the picturesque Swat Valley before escaping to the Nuristan and Kunar areas of Afghanistan — from infiltrating and attacking Pakistani outposts and border villages.

Though, according to those who attended the DGMO briefing, Major-General Nadeem did not dwell on what possible objective(s) NATO/ISAF sought to achieve with this “deliberate attack,” the understanding across the board is that this was no mistake or accident, call it what you may. As the former Ambassador to the U.S., Tariq Fatemi, asked in one of the various television discussions on the issue, how can the Americans claim to have made a mistake when they have drone technology that, according to them, can kill terrorists with very few civilian deaths? “This is not the bullock cart age.”

Another apprehension is the possibility of this being an ISAF effort to test the waters on conducting hot pursuits inside Pakistan. Sceptical about the attack being a deliberate act, senior journalist Najam Sethi pointed out that “if this was a deliberate act, then our response was also deliberate. Our security establishment seemed to have prepared for such pressure tactics and therefore the swift response in closing NATO supply lines, asking the Americans to vacate Shamsi airbase…”

This, to him, does not augur well for either side as it means “both establishments are indulging in strategic war gaming.” This is not what allies do to each other and he is apprehensive that this game can slip out of either side's hands at any point.

However, the former Interior Secretary, Rustam Shah Mohmand, who hails from the very tribal agency of Mohmand where the attack took place, is of the view that the relationship will be back on track in a few weeks. “Both countries are dependent on each other.” While Pakistan needs the aid that the U.S. provides, Washington needs Islamabad to bring some semblance of normalcy to Afghanistan.

The inevitability of getting back together is probably why Pakistan's initial steps to articulate anger were developments that the U.S./NATO/ISAF can live with. Closure of supply lines to Afghanistan does not immediately impact the coalition forces as they had built alternate routes in anticipation of such a stand-off and the U.S., according to general understanding, had stopped using the Shamsi airbase for launching drone strikes sometime back.

Questions are being raised as to why the Air Force was not called in that night to counter the attack, but the DGMO indicated that this would have “escalated the scale of the incident.” Also, given the disparity between Pakistan's military prowess and the combined strength of the NATO forces, a political response was preferred — though the civilian leadership was informed about the incident only after daybreak.

However, that line appears to be changing with Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani suspending the “command of chain system” so that any soldier or officer in a particular situation can act without waiting for orders from the top.

This ‘strike-without-permission' green signal to the rank-and-file is likely to escalate tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and is a clear signal that the civilians will be out of the loop. Not that evidence was ever needed.

-Anita Joshua

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A different drama at Grand Old Party as Anna said ‘no, no’

Happy regimes are all alike; every unhappy regime is unhappy in its own way. – Leo Tolstoy (Adapted)

As the Anna cavalcade wound its way from the dark interiors of Tihar to the ‘lights, camera, action' expanse of Ramlila Maidan, a different sort of drama was being enacted at the headquarters of the Grand Old Party in New Delhi. The ignominious defeat in the battle for hearts and minds, not to mention TRPs, by a media-savvy rival, had forced the party to recalibrate its approach to the crisis. The part-raging bull part-shrinking violet act in play, while impressively whimsical, had failed to grip the media and the masses.

“In the war of perceptions,” announced Show-All Sethi, the image consultant tasked with the overhaul, “packaging is the key. Content counts for zilch. Few in Anna's army have actually read the LokPal bill.”

Heads nodded in sympathy. Few among the party members had read it either.

“Not everyone in the world is vexed with corruption.”

Heads bobbed up and down with vigour. They had not agonised over it for a long time.

“It's all about brand positioning, eyeball-grabbing slogans and short-n-snappy sound bites.” The marketing maven's hands sliced the air ahead of him with every phrase.

“If so, then we should have been well ahead of the game,” sniffed Chide Them Boys, the party's chief negotiator. His legal mind declined resolutely to think outside the box. “We have the best brand in the business. Hamare paas Nehru-Gandhi parivaar hai.”

“Anna turned spoiler there, “lamented Show-All.” His Gandhi [an] crossed out your Gandhi.” His forehead wrinkled in a frown. “We need to inject some pizzazz into the party. Maybe, compose a theme song with catchy lyrics.”

“My mobile has just the tune,” Zero Loss Cable, the Telecom Czar, paused while juggling five handsets on two ears to join the discussion. Tilting his head to highlight his best profile — his right — he clasped his hands together and sang along with Ray Charles,

“Hard-hearted Anna, the man from the savannah

The meanest marshal in town

Leather is tough but his heart is tougher

He loves to see the government suffer.”

“Not quite the right tone, perhaps” observed Show-All mildly. “We want Youngistan to go Wow! not Ow! Maybe, India's youth icon has something to suggest?”

All eyes moved to the Little Prince seated in one corner of the room, sticking Post-It notes on various spots on a map of India. He was planning his travel itinerary for the next month.

A hand went up. A well-coiffed head thrust forward. Lips were adjusted from a perfect moue into a tight smile. “Our leader is not a parrot,” they intoned before allowing the head to fall back and the features return to default pout mode.

The marketing whiz turned to the future leader for explanations.

“Grown-ups,” the Little Prince sighed, channelling his inner Saint-Exupéry, “never understand anything by themselves. It is tiresome for children to forever explain things to them.”

Still at sea, the adman swam towards familiar territory. “The image of underdog Anna battling the graft monster must go. We need an alternative definition for corruption.”

“A notional definition?” Zero-Loss perked up like a party worker scenting power.

“Corruption is seen as a cesspool in which politicians dunk their grubby little paws and soil what's left of their conscience,” said Show-All. “Why not repackage graft as the wonder fuel powering our economy? The lubricant that sets stuck wheels in motion. The magnetic card that opens closed doors. A ticket for projects to cruise in the fast lane.”

“The question is,” asked the Regent meekly, in the manner of Alice in Wonderland, “whether you can make the same word mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” the Little Prince looked up from his travel guide, “who is to be master — that's all.”

-Sharmila Kamat

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Our sterling teacher in the prison

It was a special classroom with special students. The students had been sentenced to death and life. Yes, they were inmates of the Coimbatore central prison. They were a deeply depressed lot and some of them had not had even a single meeting with their families for more than a decade. Prison life is harsh — marked by fear and melancholy; sometimes, a telegram would herald the death of their lovable parents or a court order would uphold their death or life sentence, as the case maybe; or a dismissal of their clemency petition would arrive from the President or the Governor. Occasionally, a release order would bring joy and life back to them. .

The classroom strength was never stable — some got released by courts and others got remission for good conduct in prison. But there was a special and gifted teacher named Sister Ethu Kutty, who taught us spoken English. A brave but kind soul, she boldly entered the prison and taught the inmates whom the world feared or hated.

Our gifted teacher was a retired principal of a prestigious school; then she became a caretaker of a hostel for destitute children even though she spent her valuable time with the inmates. She never sought any publicity.

Our teacher had to cross various checkpoints and metal detectors and walk nearly 1 km from the south gate to the main gate of the prison. At the main gate, she and her teaching materials (i.e., books) would be thoroughly checked by the sentries. She fully cooperated with them without a smirk because she knew they were just doing their duty. After the search, she had to walk half-a-kilometre reach us.

She entered the classroom always with a smile and greeted us cheerfully, notwithstanding the tediousness of repeating the long-haul journey.

The class started with a prayer. We closed our eyes and raised our hearts to the Almighty. We had a special slogan: “I can do everything with the help of God who gives me strength.”

The students were many — Hindus, Christians and Muslims. The teacher exuded hope and created a convivial atmosphere in the class. The inmates always greeted one another during their respective religious festivals.

Sister Ethu Kutty was not only a teacher but also a kind guide and good counsellor. She always advised us to spread positive vibrations by cultivating positive thinking. To be positive in prison under trying circumstances is next to impossible but our teacher helped us to maintain calm. I personally know of inmates who came to her class to overcome stress. Some prisoners came even though they were unlettered. So what? They just came to listen to her soothing speech.

She taught us spoken English. When I joined the class I didn't know proper English grammar and as a person from Uthagamandalam, I only spoke “butler English!” Now I am able to write an article!

On September 5, I called my teacher and wished her. Some inmates like me got released from the prison. But till date, she is taking English class on Mondays and Tuesdays without fail.

A lot of inmates like me were released and are living a peaceful life with positive thoughts which Sister taught us. We always pray to the Almighty to bestow peace and prosperity on her. On this day, I also remember Sister Selvi who introduced Sister Ethu Kutty to us and arranged that class.

Once she said that a teacher has to be a guide, a parent, a doctor, a friend, a companion and a counsellor. She played all these roles. We are proud of our gifted teacher.

(The writer is a former inmate of the Coimbatore central prison. His email id is: ootyibu@gmail.com)

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Dear papa & mama, leave us alone!

Payal Lal, get up! Get up, now! Do you have any idea how much I studied when I was your age? I woke up at 5 a.m. every day. And look at you. Still sleeping.

This is the story of my Saturday mornings. Every one of them. On the Saturdays my parents have to work, I hear them in my dreams. My parents live in another world altogether. They get up at 5 a.m. every morning, even if they have nothing specific to do. I don't do that even if my facebook account gets hacked.

Welcome to India — a country where the parents are too Indian and the children too American.

Being part of generation Y, I can tell you, based on experience, it is a combination that doesn't go well at all. It's like having Punjabi food with south Indian food.

Allow me to tell you why.

Every now and then my mom barges into my room and says: “Sitting around on your bed, talking on the phone and whiling away time on your laptop. I knew we shouldn't have given it to you. Stupid useless distractions. I had none at all when I was your age.”

Okay, Mom, first of all, a laptop or a cell phone did not even exist when you were my age. There is no way you could have had it. You learnt how to use it about the same time I did.

Secondly, I could be doing something productive. Don't just walk into my room and assume stuff. I could be discussing the terrible conditions of the Greek economy on my phone and researching about the Middle Eastern uprisings. (I'm not. I actually am just talking to my friend on the phone and chatting with a few others on facebook.) But whatever. Don't assume stuff.

Not only do they not like the idea of a laptop or cellphone with their child but also do not know how to use it.

It's understandable considering the circumstances that existed when they were kids.

The other day, I was trying to figure out some Middle Eastern countries. So I was researching on Google.

I asked my dad who was sitting beside, “Papa, was Iran earlier called Persia?”

But before my dad answered, I had already looked up the answer on the web.

When my dad was my age, he would probably not have bothered to make an effort to find the answer to such a question. Not because, it was a stupid question, but because the effort would not have been worth it. He would have to get up, go to the bookshelf, open the bookshelf, find an atlas, open it, look through the index, find the right page number, browse through all the text and then he'd have his answer. By then, Iran would have changed its name again! All I had to do was type two words into Google.

And it isn't just the computer which had changed things, it's the cellphone as well. Commonly known to be a mania among parents, it's dearer to us than our own lives. While they take hours to send a two-word text, it takes us seconds to do the same. If they were to send the same number of texts we do in one day, that's probably all they would do that day. Babies today are probably born with their fingers moving that way. Part of evolution, you see!

Facebook is another hilarious example of the generation gap. My parents joined facebook much later than I did. And they didn't seem to like the idea that everyone could see their profile picture and all their friends could see what they wrote on people's wall. When my mom realised this she said, “What? What if Vanita sees what I wrote about her on Renu's wall? Won't she feel bad?”

They have been accustomed to emailing. One of my dad's friends, who happens to be on my facebook friends list, has a habit of writing comments in the form of letters.

I once wrote on his wall “Happy Birthday.” The next day when he logged in I had a bunch of notifications. So I clicked on them and I found that he had commented on that wall post. He had written

“Dear Payal,

Thank you for your wishes.

Hope you are doing well.

Love,

Uncle”

Anyone else would just write ‘thanks.' At most, a thank you and a smiley.

So it isn't only the age gap that creates such differences. It's also the change of trend. What our parents did at our age, we wouldn't even dream of doing. That would make us a different species altogether. I would call them Boro sapiens.

Gen Y thinks parents are impractical, overly conservative, boring. On the other hand, the oldies complain all the time that the younger generation is lazy and spoilt. We have all grown up in different environments and different mindsets. In India, the kind of change that occurred over the last 20 years makes 1 generation gap equal to 5. The generation gap does not allow us to see eye to eye on much, unless we try to think from their point of view once in a while.

Everyone is the way he or she is because of a reason. It's his/her background or upbringing that makes him/her that way. That's why we are so different from our parents. We have grown up in such diverse environments.

Next time when you talk to people who you don't see eye to eye with, be it people from the older or younger generation or anyone else, wait for a second before you pick up an argument and put yourself in their shoes. Maybe, you'll realise that they are right in their own old ways.

(The writer's email is payallal93@gmail.com)

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Why is forensic science stunted and static in India?

‘Forensic Science' is an ornamental and cosmetic utility of the investigating agencies... It is showcased and remembered only when major or sensational crimes occur to satisfy the inquisitive and demanding media and the citizens.

Though the Union Home Ministry claims that a lot of new measures are in place to meet the grave challenges posed by global terrorism by investing huge funds, there is no improvement in intelligence gathering, nor has there been progress in putting into focus the revamping of forensic science by using sophisticated technologies and changing the management policies in the forensic science sector.

As has been happening all these years, ‘forensic science' is an ornamental and cosmetic utility of the investigating agencies which completes the formality of legal process and satisfies the lay public. It is showcased and remembered only when major or sensational crimes occur to satisfy the inquisitive and demanding media and citizens. Compared to other disciplines of science and technology, forensic science is static and stunted in India. It is not being utilised in its own right with the full thrust to help the investigating law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system. The benefits of improving, regulating and reorganising forensic science vis-à-vis other technologies are obvious as it virtually assists the law enforcement agencies in criminal investigations, provides proactive assistance, enhances internal security, helps criminal justice administration and reduces the risk of wrongful conviction/exoneration.

After the 26/11 attack, based on an article ‘Revamping Forensic Science in India' (The Hindu, May 24, 2008), the Home Ministry appointed a committee to give the ‘Perspective Plan for Indian Forensics' and declared 2010 a ‘Year of Forensic Science' with fanfare. The committee report, submitted in July 2010, is said to have been accepted by the Ministry in toto. However, as it happens with the reports of most of the committees, its recommendations have not been debated widely and implemented. Except the merger of the GEsQD with CFSLS, no worthwhile step has been initiated. The three new laboratories opened in Bhopal, Guwahati and Pune have neither the requisite infrastructure nor manpower. Instead of strengthening the depleted manpower in the existing forensic science laboratories in Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata, personnel have been transferred from these units for adjustments in the new laboratories. The committee recommended the creation of a large number of posts in a conical pattern and improving infrastructure, as per a fixed schedule, but none of these steps has been taken which could bring about a visible change in the working of the laboratories. Recently, India became a laughing stock when about 30 senior scientists from the CFSLs were sent to the FBI laboratory in the U.S. to learn the latest techniques in forensic science in a week! Really, no useful purpose can be served by this kind of gimmick as nobody can learn anything worthwhile in a week; moreover, a good forensic scientist in India knows and can do what forensic scientists in the FBI laboratory are capable of doing. But what happened here resembles the frequent jaunts of herds of politicians and police officers who are sent abroad on ‘study tours.' On more than one occasion, when sensational terrorist attacks occurred in the past, it was suggested by other sovereignties that they would provide technical help in the area of forensic science, causing much embarrassment and insult to the forensic community.

The oblique suggestion given by the committee to privatise the forensic laboratories is perilous and any compromise will jeopardise the whole criminal justice system in the country. The developed countries are using the private sector to the minimum extent after their federal and State laboratories are fully developed. In India, the forensic laboratories have to first develop fully and then think about involving the private sector.

The basic thing is that these laboratories, which were under the tutelage and grip of police organisations from the beginning, have been forcibly groomed in the police culture for a number of years. Police used and continue to use forensic science if it suits them. As a result, forensic science laboratories have gone astray from the spirit of scientific culture and have never been able to encourage knowledge, creativity, innovation and research.

Forensic science has never been given the freedom to innovate, resulting in stagnation. It is not that India does not have talent. If given freedom, encouragement and infrastructure, forensic science can develop equally well like other branches of science — space, computer, atomic energy, medicine and pharmaceuticals.

In a suitable environment, Indian forensic scientists can perform and deliver as good as their counterparts in any part of the world. A suitable environment can never be produced if you look at forensic science through police spectacles. Even today, the budget for the branch is a microscopic fraction of the police modernisation budget.

There has to be a metamorphic change with the help of strategic management to bring cutting-edge technologies, scientific temperament and culture into the forensic laboratories. The linkages among forensic laboratories, academic institutions and research bodies which are so essential for any field to grow are totally lacking. There is virtually no interaction between scientists in the main stream and the forensic field. This has created an identity crisis and somebody humorously said: “Forensic scientist teaches policing to scientists and science to the policemen.”

(The writer is a retired Director of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad, and is currently Academic Coordinator, Forensic Science, University College of Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad. His email id is trbaggi@gmail.com)

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A doctor? nay, a saviour

Medical teachers of yesteryear enjoyed a demigod status among students not merely for teaching skills but also for their inspiring personality. Clinical acumen, knowledge, experience, ethics, and demeanour in various proportions contributed to the charisma of the doyens. But the ability to inspire, an attribute of a good teacher, is not happening regularly these days. Hence, the intention to emulate has taken a beating. The concept of mentor and apprentice is not natural anymore and has to be enforced in a curriculum. I could not believe when I was told that Chief Minister Kamaraj, who came to the Government General Hospital, Madras (now Chennai), to meet Dr. Rathinavel Subramanian, waited until after he finished his class. Such stories are not only inspiring but epitomise the values of dignity and humility in great men.

A plethora of teachers

I was fortunate to be blessed with a plethora of inspiring teachers. I graduated from the Tirunelveli Medical College in Tamil Nadu in the late 1980s and we had a teacher Dr. Venugopal, fondly called by everyone VG. He must have inspired an entire generation of doctors who graduated from TVMC in the 1980s and 1990s. Dedication to the profession was so natural to him that he empathised with his patients.

I myself was a beneficiary of his empathy when I suffered from severe aphthous ulceration. Though a relatively minor ailment, the care he gave was amazing. The pleasure derived from healing others is enviable and incomparable. We have seen him giving money to very poor patients. The gesture was very natural and infectious. Such undocumented charity is essential for humanity to retain its sanity.

Once VG was heading a team of interns for a medical camp at a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee camp. Minor ailments were treated and patients needing admission referred to the medical college hospital. The last patient was a child suffering from acute gastroenteritis (diarrhoea). As an intern was about to prescribe oral rehydration solution, VG came on the scene. He quickly noticed the Bitot's spots in the eyes (vitamin A deficiency) of the child. Immediately, he told us that the child needed hospitalisation and vitamin A injection as otherwise the child would lose vision due to keratomalacia.

In normal circumstances, the mother would have been advised to take the child to hospital for admission. But VG himself took the child and the mother with us in the hospital van in spite of lack of space. On our way back, we stopped for snacks and as expected, VG paid for our gastronomical indulgence. I was moved, when I saw VG buying some biscuit packets for the mother and the child in the van. When we reached the hospital VG caught hold of me and instructed me to take personal responsibility of admitting the child. He gave me money to buy vitamin A injection from the pharmacy and ensured that I myself gave the injection without fail. He anticipated non-availability of the drug in the hospital and hence asked me to buy from the pharmacy. Such a passionate and dedicated approach to patient care was awesome and is not to be seen these days.

I understand VG has superannuated and is now rendering service in a rural hospital. He has not been decorated with any award but any TVMC alumnus will vouch for the unsung hero, our mentor.

(The writer is Professor & Head, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, SRMC&RI, Porur, Chennai. His email id is: drsshankar@gmail.com)

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Take care of the heart.... and it will take care of you

“We know what works, we know what it costs and we know that all countries are at risk.We have an Action Plan to avert millions of premature deaths and help promote a better quality of life for millions more.” — World Health Organisation

World Heart Day is an occasion to spread the message that the leading cause of death in the world is heart disease and stroke and that most of the deaths — 17.1 million lives are lost each year — could be prevented. The day was started in 2000 and falls on the last Sunday in September. Starting in 2011, it will be celebrated on September 29 each year. The theme this year is One World, One Home, One Heart.

One World

World Heart Day presents a great opportunity to communicate messages about the importance of elevating non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) up the global health agenda. Of the 17.1 million lives claimed by the global burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) every year, 82 per cent of the deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. This excessive number is particularly saddening, for, by eating a healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoiding tobacco, the majority of the deaths could be prevented.

Global leaders have recognised the urgency of prioritising the prevention and control of CVD together with the other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which include cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, by holding the first-ever United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September. However, efforts to fight CVD do not rest only with policymakers and global leaders. Individuals can also reduce the CVD burden by learning about the risk factors and taking vital steps to reduce them.

One Home

As the hub of family activities and focal point in everyone's life, the household is the perfect place to start taking action to improve heart health. That is why this year, the World Heart Federation and its members are focussing their efforts on the home.

One Heart

However, not all heart events are preventable. It is, therefore, important to know what action one should take in the event of heart attack or ischemic stroke occurring at home by learning about its symptoms and taking preventive steps.

The WHO reports that NCDs are responsible for about 70 per cent of all worldwide deaths. In India, mortality data from the Registrar-General of India prior to 1998 were obtained from predominantly rural populations, where vital registration varied from five to 15 per cent. Stroke is increasing in India with greater incidence in rural regions. Indians are succumbing to heart disease and stroke in their most productive years. And, workplace interventions in developing countries can reduce the CVD risk.

A study on industrial worksites highlights the great promise of working through organised workplaces, but we have to go beyond this sector. In India, over 85 per cent of the working population is in the informal sector — street vendors, self-employed farmers and those who work in their own or other people's homes. Most are underprivileged and very poorly served by systems of healthcare and social security. And there is an urgent need to find out how to reach them.

If we are to achieve a healthy, powerful and prosperous India, the government and non-government sectors, industries, policymakers, the media, city planners and economists all need to work together, along with the health sector, to engineer the country's growth through health.

As part of an awareness campaign, we, at the Kalra Hospital, have identified and advocated a ban on smoking tobacco, developing healthy food options, being active and making frequent visits to healthcare centres for check-up.

Our community outreach programme has covered more than three lakh people. Over 3000 volunteers have been created and trained all over the country who work as a watchdog to monitor people who are at high risk and take them for referrals. More than 45,000 critically ill patients have been given quality health care services either free of cost or at very nominal cost.

The burden of CVD and its risk factors in India calls for a sound public health approach to stem the epidemic. Efforts to put in place an intervention programme should be complemented with a robust surveillance mechanism so as to monitor, evaluate and guide policies and programmes. It has been demonstrated in pilot mode that it is feasible to establish surveillance for CVD risk factors at community levels. The future of surveillance systems lies in timeliness, systematic approach and enduring partnerships. Consolidating the gains should pave the path for the way forward.

(The writer is Medical Director & CEO, Kalra Hospital, Sri Ram Cardio Thoracic Neurosciences Centre, New Delhi. His email id is: dr_rnk@hotmail.com)

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When in Rome...

It would be ideal if a person tries to know beforehand some of the cultural differences that could avoid trouble later on. “Be a Roman in Rome,” is a fine piece of advice provided you know how to be a Roman.

It was years ago when I was waiting for a train at the Rome Central Station for a southbound train. Hours of walking in the streets of Rome in hot weather had sapped my strength as I relaxed in the station's cool waiting room.

To make my aching feet comfortable, I removed the shoes and the socks and stretched my legs. I gazed at the peaceful scene with a few passengers waiting for their trains. At the end of the hall was a statue of Virgin Mary with lighted candles in front. I had almost dozed off but when I opened my eyes I found a person gesticulating at me.

I couldn't make out what he was trying to communicate with me. In a few moments, his intentions were clearer as he advanced towards me menacingly with a clenched fist. He was pointing to my feet. It didn't take me long to figure out that my barefeet were the cause of annoyance for that person. I put on my socks and shoes in a hurry and left the place quickly before that angry man approached me.

I realised that my barefeet had upset that man. While we take off our footwear while entering a place of worship a few others demand that shoes should be kept on. While one takes off footwear while entering a temple, mosque or Gurudwara, one has to wear shoes while entering a church.

Who doesn't like to take pictures of exotic places and people? I was on a trail in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal with my daughter. I was clicking away furiously at the mountains, the valleys and the gompas that I could see. Just then a yak caravan made its appearance on the trail. I focussed on the yaks and the Sherpa men and women who were leading the pack. A stone thrown by a young Sherpa girl in the pack nearly hit me. “Hey, you stop!” was the warning as the girl charged at me angrily. I realised I had made a mistake in photographing persons without their permission. I shut the camera and muttered a “sorry” as I beat a hasty retreat and allowed the caravan to pass by. While a few persons react violently if someone takes a picture without their permission, others would like to pose for a photograph willingly while a few others expect something in return, preferably cash for allowing themselves to the photographed. The moral is: Take the permission of strangers before you take a picture.

Those who have attended get-together or a party in the U.S. learn a lesson soon. For the first time at least there is awkwardness, as the host doesn't pamper the guests. Food and drinks are kept on the table and anyone could just go there and help himself or herself. There is no ‘upachara' (hospitality) as in the Indian traditional manner where the host requests the guests to enjoy themselves.

Another matter that is followed routinely while attending a party is the guest takes something or the other to the party — flowers, sweets, wine or a small gift which is either handed over to the host or kept on the table. However, it's up to you whether you want to enjoy a party or not!

(The writer's email id is: dbnvimi@gmail.com)

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Relax, 'txt mssgng' won't doom English language

There appeared a short note on English Usage in The Hindu..

The sentence in question was — ‘Hopefully the eggs are fresh.'

Purists of the English language took objection to it and maintained that people should say: ‘I hope, the Eggs are fresh.'

Their objection was to the word ‘hopefully'. But it is difficult for the purists to stand in a market place and teach people how to ask questions. But still, The purists tried to maintain what they said was correct, The matter was referred to a Professor of English who understood their anguish and told them that their stand was correct but added that the sentence -‘Hopefully the eggs are fresh'- also can be accepted.

The purists became incensed and retorted, “You are like a priest practising celibacy for yourself but advocating adultery to the parishioners.'

When I read the article in the Open Page, September 18, “---God save the English Language” with comments “have some consideration—for someone who prefers not to butcher the English language”, I could as well understand the anguish of the purist in her.

Mobile messages have various aspects although the messages that we collect for analysis do not represent the whole range of people. We hear people say:

Language in the internet is a huge disaster.

All abbreviations in the internet are rubbish'—

If students tend to forget how to spell words particularly when they use abbreviations such as---‘C U latr'; ‘gr8' ; ‘2mrw';---- this misspelling might get into their exam also.

People feel that — spelling, punctuation and capitalisation — all the three are at stake in mobile communication. Does the language indeed suffer because of these abbreviations?

How many people use them and how do they use them?

A closer scrutiny reveals that all the words are not abbreviated. Standard English still has its sway.

Perhaps abbreviation is a crude, dramatic radicalisation. All age-groups abbreviate but surprisingly each age level has its own different ways of abbreviations. So these abbreviations are — age-level, age-sensitive and also gender-sensitive.

The question is who invented these abbreviations?

C for see; U for you—gr8 for great etc.

We can see them even in 18th century particularly in the Victorian era. For example:

ROFL—rolling on the floor laughing / RFD-request for discussion / RLF-real life friend

SWALK- ‘sealed with a loving kiss—old people did (use) it at a time when there were no mobiles at all.

Why do people abbreviate? Two factors contribute to this practice — time and money.

For a question “Is ‘txtng msgs' a revolution”, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, it's revolutionary in the sense that it deviates from the traditional type of writing. No, it's not, because nothing new happens. Sounds paradoxical.

However there are more convincing reasons to decide that it is not revolutionary for nothing NEW happens in the areas of Vocabulary, grammar, morphology and orthography.

Does Vocabulary change because of this? Yes. But the change it brought is infinitesimal because not more than 1000 words are added to the language.

Well over a million words in English a slight change in mere 1000 or 2000 words- is just a drop.

Secondly, there is no new order in Grammar — for 99 per cent of the grammar in mobiles, chat-rooms and in blogs and in the internet is the same.

In orthography the changes brought by ‘txtng' are becoming less and less in the World Wide Medium particularly in punctuation, capitalisation and spelling.

Informality standards have been extended both by mobiles and Internet. To put it metaphorically, we have some sort of linguistic wardrobe in our brains—formal to bathing costume--we choose the right one at the right time.

It has added to our linguistic wardrobe at the informal end of the spectrum.

Mobile communication is a new medium to manipulate- and to manoeuvre. However the language used is almost the same as it was before its advent.

I happened to listen to a lecture by David Crystal in Wales University-UK some time back; he discussed the ‘txt-mssgng' in mobiles and conversations in ‘chat-rooms' and concluded his speech with the following sentence:

‘Txt mssgng' does not foretell the demise of English Language. It is a myth.'

(The writer is Professor of English-EIT-Eritrea. His email id is: subra12@gmail.com)

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Making a mockery of Gandhian fast

Experimenting with Gandhiji's experiments and reinventing his principles should be premised on the immutability of the rationale behind his fast.

I have always been fascinated by the idea that the dead might see and hear what the mortals do and say. But, I really hope, for the sake of the dead, that my fascination is untrue. Otherwise, the pain caused by the distortion of his views and experiments would be more heart-rending to Gandhiji than the three bullets which pierced it. I believe that his statement, in the introduction to his autobiography, that the experiments narrated in it should be regarded as illustrations, in the light of which everyone may carry on his own experiments according to his own capacity, has undoubtedly been extended to absurd extremities. Time and again, in the garb of re-inventing Gandhiji and his principles, ‘we, the people of India,' whom he called his ‘soul children,' have been bending them to suit our vested interests. The latest example is the misuse of the concept of ‘Gandhian fast.'

In its traditional sense, fasting would imply afflicting the soul through continual and voluntary crucifixion of the flesh to harmonise the inner and outer spheres of an individual and draw him closer to God. Ideally, the logical outcome should be control of impulses, passion and temper. For Gandhiji, fasting was never devoid of this spiritual significance. But, most importantly, for him it was a way of doing both penance and ‘tapas.' Gandhiji fasted for doing penance as a way of atonement of personal faults as well as the misdeeds of others. Dilution of the line of demarcation between the self and the other was possible through ‘tapas,' which helped in diminishing the egotist sense of the self and also in its enlargement to incorporate the entire mankind. Making penance and ‘tapas' the core essence of fasting was indispensible for Gandhiji because he felt that it was the only way through which one could feel and experience the agony, pain, hunger and oppression of others and strive to inculcate the virtues of compassion, generosity, fraternity and solidarity in our less fortunate brethren.

Experimenting with Gandhiji's experiments and reinventing his principles should be premised on the immutability of the rationale behind his fast. He undertook fast for public causes and never with an intention to turn it into a political weapon. He used fast neither to destabilise the British government nor challenge its policies, despite the fact that he was up against the non-democratic government, which left no stone unturned to divide and rule. The only exception was Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's communal award, against which Gandhiji sat on a ‘fast unto death' in 1932. But, even in this case, the propelling force was not political but spiritual and moral. It was Gandhiji's belief that each and every man is created equal by God and to discriminate and debase a particular section of mankind on occupational basis is one of the greatest sins. Whether it was his 21-day fast when communal riots started in India's northwest frontier in 1924, 21-day fast in 1933, as an attempt to persuade orthodox Hindus to wipe out ‘untouchability' and to help the ‘Harijan' movement or his fasts in Calcutta and Delhi after the Noakhali riots in 1946, the protest always targeted the misdemeanours of his own people and was aimed at the purification of their thoughts and actions by appealing to their moral and ethical sense. All his political battles were fought on a different ground. He never threatened the British to leave India or else…he will die fasting! In none of his national political movements, be it the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Civil Disobedience Movement or the Quit India Movement, he ever resorted to fasting.

In the light of this understanding of the concept of ‘fasting,' the contemporary political versions seem nothing more than hollow imitations. It is unfortunate that a yoga guru's (who also has assets worth thousands of crores) histrionics, cross-dressing and retaliation against arrest during his stint of fast are likened to the self-flagellation of a man who taught the world about minimising wants and the importance of “a need-based, as against, greed-based life,” as it was inconceivable for him to accept a lifestyle higher than the lowest in the land. For Gandhiji, fast was the last weapon of a ‘Satyagrahi', the last duty which was open to him to be performed. He categorically mentioned in Harijan (18-2-33) that fasts must not be exploited in anticipation. They come in obedience to the call of Truth and not at one's whims and fancies to please the world. The self-appointed crusaders against corruption blatantly ignore this reasoning. How can someone basking in the glory of arrogance, self-righteousness and blackmail ever be related to the greatness of the man who throughout his life endorsed the view, “I disapprove of what you say but I will defend till death your right to say it” and kept emphasising that ‘means' are as important as is the ‘end.' When Chief Ministers sit on goodwill fasts on the occasion of their birthdays, spending crores to add grandiose to the spectacle, they must be reminded of the man for whom fasting and its inherent values are a way of life and not a gimmick.

I am all in for contemporising ‘isms' but not at the cost of burlesquing their foundational ethics.

(The writer is former national general secretary, NSUI and her email ID is ragini_nayak@yahoo.co.in)

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Let's bring them back from the brink

There are a lot of things in this world which make our lives enjoyable and interesting. Then why do people commit suicide?

Nowadays, the most important reason is failure in love life. A friend of mine committed suicide because of “love failure.” When I went to his home a year after his death, his parents cried as if he died the previous day.

If suicide is the answer to failure in love life, then I should have committed suicide several times over.

When Standard X results were released a few weeks ago, I read in The Hindu that more than five students committed suicide as they did not secure good marks. Is there anything like we can't survive in this world if we don't get good marks? This is not the mistake of just students alone; it is also because of society and peer pressure and the mistaken impression that everything is lost.

Had Sachin Tendulkar thought the same way, we would have never seen a master blaster in him. Everybody has his/her own talent. The important thing is we should identify the strength and nurture it.

Depression is another major cause for suicide. Can you show me one person who is completely happy? Everybody has problems — we have to find ways to overcome them or, in impossible situations, learn to accept the reality and still be happy.

There is a famous saying that “an adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered and an inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”

Whenever we feel like committing suicide we have to think for a while: will our problems vanish if we take our own lives? will our parents be happy after our death? will your brothers and sisters be happy without you? Your friends may forget you with the passage of time. But, what about your parents? Won't they cry until they die?

Nothing in this world is more important than this beautiful life. Therefore, let's counsel our friends and people on the verge of taking their life that all is not lost and they need to pull back from the brink.

(The writer's email ID is: kannappanramanathan@gmail.com)

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Don't regret growing old, with a little effort you can cope with it

“Don't advise unless it is sought for,” is a must mantra for the aged.In view of stress, generation gap and change in lifestyle, a feeling of isolation and insecurity in senior citizens cannot be avoided.

October 1 is observed as International Senior Citizens' Day. As I am on the threshold of 70, I feel envious of octogenarians and nonagenarians who have got five or more children, with all of them or at least two or three remaining in India to lend their parents moral support in the evening of their lives. But don't think I am an anti-family planning crusader.

With the single/two-children norm coming to stay, the probability of the children remaining in India has become too remote. Initially, senior citizens can boast of their trips abroad, talk highly of their baby-care experiences, spic and span roads or perfect traffic discipline unmindful of the cultural shock obtained there. As years advance, hitherto unknown visitors like hypertension, joint-pain and high glucose levels become constant companions. The financial constraints, which arise out of frequent recessions, and pink slip threats faced by their children, result in less frequent visits abroad. ‘Skype' becomes the only mode of communication.

NRI children, who visit their ailing father, don't fail to request their mother, while packing off, not to inform them unless some unfortunate event occurs. The poor mother simply nods.

To avoid expenditure on frequent travels, some parents end up becoming ‘Green Card' holders much against their wishes. They live in golden cages, hiding their ailments for fear of huge medical expenses. For others, there is no alternative to living alone or in an old-age home considering it a reward for the right/wrong decision of giving their children a better future.

The lot of non-NRI parents is no different. I have seen an octogenarian father being shifted to places of his five sons at the end of every month. Will these children ponder for a second that they too would become senior citizens sooner or later? Don't their parents deserve a life of dignity, though not a life of luxury? The position of senior citizens suffering from serious ailments needing constant care is still more pathetic.

Advice on nutrition, exercises and correct attitudes is available aplenty on the internet and in journals. As long as everything goes on well, the senior citizen may feel proud of his success. Once there is some impediment, the entire confidence gets shattered. A man of 100 years was asked about the secret of his longevity. He replied: “I got married at the age of 21. My wife and I came to an agreement that whenever we had any argument, the loser should walk five miles to get over becoming mad. I have been benefited most by 79 years of fresh air.”

The joint family system, a unique feature of our glorious heritage, is disintegrating fast. In view of stress, generation gap and change in lifestyle, the feeling of isolation and insecurity in senior citizens cannot be avoided. If circumstances so warrant, it is better for them to get separated even while there is some attachment, so that permanent estrangement is avoided.

“Do not regret growing old. It is a privilege denied to many,” is an ancient saying.

“Aging is not ‘lost youth,' but a new stage of opportunity and strength,” says Betty Friedan.

There are children who feel guilty for not looking after their parents due to circumstances beyond their control. Elders too have a responsibility to maintain harmony and peace. They should make a sincere attempt to understand the financial and professional commitments of their children and avoid interference. “Don't advise unless it is sought,” is a must mantra for the aged.

After all, life is a small journey from the womb to the tomb. Where is the question of success or failure? Life is not a game in which someone is keeping a score of achievements. We are the persons who can give a pattern and meaning to our lives. Let us be happy and await the divine call.

Anytime ‘death' may knock at our doors. What shall we offer the guest? “All the earnings and gleanings of my busy life, will I place before him. The flowers have been woven and the garland is ready for the bridegroom. After the wedding the bride shall leave her home and meet her Lord alone in the solitude of night.” — Tagore in Gitanjali.

(The writer's email ID is: vathsalaj@yahoo.com)

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Shunning the Mahatma

We are celebrating one more Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 and at least today let's compare the India of the Mahatma's dreams with the India we made. Gandhiji said: “I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people, an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability or the curse of intoxicating drinks and drugs. Women will enjoy the same rights as men. This is the India of my dreams.”

In the India we made, we have successfully deprived the poor of their voice in its making. We have created an India where more than 17,000 farmers commit suicide every year. We have created an India in which 830 million people live on Rs. 20 a day.

We have built our country in a way that we have at least three bomb blasts in our major cities each year and the bodies of innocent people are blown apart. Gandhiji said Indian culture is neither Hindu, Islamic, nor any other, wholly; it is a fusion of all. But in December 1992 we taught him that Indian culture is wholly Hindu and we gained perpetual mayhem; we have exacerbated the already volatile communal harmony.

Intoxicating drinks and drugs are the greatest means to fill our national exchequer, did Gandhiji know it? No, he knew only how to oppose a government. He did not know how to run one. Therefore in governing our country we can learn nothing from him. We can't even imagine an India where there is no place for intoxicating drinks and drugs.

And women enjoying the same rights as men — it is not even a subject to be discussed for us Indians. We are not even ready to allow the female foetus to be born, let alone women enjoying equality. We are successful in decreasing the number of girls to every 1000 boys in the 0-6 age group to 914 in our latest census.

Our structural inequalities, state violence against the deprived and downtrodden people and the violence of religious intolerance are more intense than ever before and therefore Ghandhian principles are also more relevant than ever before. As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India, the unhappy, dispossessed millions haunted Gandhiji and everything seemed to revolve round them.

The ambition of the Father of the Nation was “to wipe every tear from every eye.” And what our ruling elites together with the haves are doing today is extracting as much tears from the dispossessed millions as they can.

While the parochial and divisive forces made us the most fragmented society, the corporate leanings of our successive ruling establishments have made us the helpless victims of the market forces. As a nation, the real India — the India of toiling masses and farmers — stands dejected and deserted. The real India today desperately needs a Gandhiji to fight communal hatred, poverty, female foeticide, the corporate onslaught, the corrupt bureaucrat-politician nexus and the ‘shining' India of the rich.

As shunning all kinds of violence is the dire need of our age, it is apt to conclude, quoting in detail an experience of Gandhiji from his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth: “Long before I undertook the education of the youngsters of the Tolstoy Farm I had realised that the training of the spirit was a thing by itself. I saw, therefore, that I must be an eternal object-lesson to the boys and girls living with me. They thus became my teachers….One of them was wild, unruly and quarrelsome. On one occasion, he broke out most violently. I was exasperated. I never punished my boys, but this time I was very angry. I tried to reason with him. But he was adamant and even tried to overreach me. At last, I picked up a ruler lying at hand and delivered a blow on his arm. I trembled as I struck him. I dare say he noticed it. The boy cried out and begged to be forgiven. He cried not because the beating was painful to him; he could, if he had been so minded, have paid me back in the same coin; but he realised my pain in being driven to this violent resource. Never again after this incident did he disobey me. But I still repent that violence. I am afraid I exhibited before him that day not the spirit, but the brute, in me.” (Chapter XXXIV. Training of the Spirit).

(The writer's email ID is: lscvsuku@gmail.com)

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Life is beautiful: live it, don't take it

Many a suicide does not happen on the spur of the moment. The thought has been brewing inside the troubled individual. But we, families, friends, colleagues and teachers, don't read the tell-tale signs which might help us prevent a suicide.

Some years ago, I was one of the judges at a poem reciting competition. A young boy, Muni, aged 11, rendered five Thirukkural verses and a Subramania Bharati poem with good diction and passion. Naturally, he won the first prize. That was on a Wednesday. On Saturday, I was shocked to read that Muni lay on the rail track and was run over by a train. What a loss of a budding poet, writer or journalist, I rued.

Some days later, I met his sobbing parents. “We killed him,” they said. “A couple of months ago, we told him that we couldn't afford to keep him in school; we needed him to supplement the family income by rolling beedies as all of us did. He was morose and we thought that it would pass off. We didn't think it will end this way.” I told the forlorn parents that they should have consulted someone who could help. Their reply was: “What access do we poor people have?”

We read about other suicides like that of a young bride who immolated herself because her husband and in-laws pestered her father for more dowry. More people take their own lives — farmers burdened with debts, girls or boys forbidden to marry persons of their choice, a mother killing her young girls and hanging herself, a man killing his children and wife and shooting himself, youngsters committing suicide for failing in their exams, for missing a rank or promotion. We generally don't bother as long as it doesn't affect us and happens to unknown people.

The most unexpected suicide was that of the grandniece of a friend of mine. Jayanthi (let us call her so) at 35 had a promising career, a doctor-husband and a smart five-year old daughter, a posh house near the Niagara Falls. She was so orderly that her husband used to say that she would pack his tiffin with “individually-wrapped idlies.” One day, at 4 a.m., she looked at her sleeping husband and child for the last time, left a cryptic note that read, “Let things be as they are,” and drove to the Falls and jumped off. Her body was found three days later some miles away. She was supposed to have suffered from maniac depression, which her psychiatrist-husband missed!

What a waste of life? Do you know that every 10 minutes there is a suicide somewhere in the world or that Bangalore has got the dubious distinction of being the suicide capital of India? In all these, the tragedy is not only the untimely deaths but the realisation that some of the victims could very well have turned out to be C.V. Ramans, GNBs, Abdul Kalams, top surgeons and distinguished teachers, who knows?

Religious leaders declare that suicide is a sin, governments proclaim that attempted suicides are illegal, parliamentarians couldn't care and society turns the other way. This is not the way to reduce our population and society should act to reduce, if not end, this scourge, at least the copycat incidents.

Many a suicide does not happen on the spur of the moment. The thought has been brewing inside the troubled individual. But we, families, friends, colleagues and teachers, don't read the tell-tale signs which might help us prevent a suicide.

In many cities abroad, there are “suicide helplines” which listen to the troubled souls and counsel them against the extreme step. In Montreal, I was a volunteer at one of these helplines. On a Sunday night, a teenager, Dora (not her real name) called me to say, “I am fed up with life; I am going to end it.” I asked her why. She said she was going to fail in her exam and that would upset her parents, who wanted her to become a doctor. “I don't like medicine and the course, and doctors want only to make money.” I asked her why she did not tell her parents. She said they did not listen and that she had made the decision. I told her that suicide was an extreme step and “you won't have a return ticket.” I countered her “I don't care” with: “One failure doesn't mean that you will be a life-long failure. Everyone has a unique talent in something and you should explore your strong points.”

I cited the examples of Churchill, who was a poor student, and Einstein, who was told he was “no-good” at university. “Look at what happened to them.” She called me the next week and a few more times, which meant she was listening and her mind was changing. I asked her what her interest was. She said music.

Then I suggested that she tell her parents and talk things over. Finally, she gave me the good news that although they were worried after hearing her threat to end her life, they relented and let her change her course to music saying that they would help her. Many years later, she came to see me and said, “Thank you, sir. I am now a music teacher at a school, happily married with a two-year-old daughter. One thing, for sure, I won't insist on my daughter taking to music. She could do what she likes and I would help her.” One happy ending.

Yes, suicides could and should be stopped if we take responsibility for our sisters and brothers. You don't need a psychiatrist or trained counsellors (they would help, of course) but only caring people with sympathetic ears and patience. You don't say, for example, “you stupid so-and-so, Are you mad?” Anyone can help. Since neither the government nor society bothers, it is up to every one of us to offer counsel. Every city, nay, every community, needs to set up a “suicide help” centre where troubled people can talk about their problems and find a solution. Yes, an NGO set-up, if you please, like the homes for “fallen girls” or alcoholics.

Will we do it?

(The writer's email ID is: spsundaram2003@yahoo.ca)

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Silence please, let's hear only the sound of music!

Having lived in Chennai for a little more than a year now, I have attended dozens of music concerts held by various sabhas. The aim in every such journey has been to take home one new technicality, jot down a couple of rare renditions, or learn one new rhythm from the mridangist. This, though, has seldom reached fulfilment. The reason? The audience, of course.

Cutting every rendition short with a premature round of applause, the hindrances offered by the very same audience against peaceful internalisation of concerts are a lot more, in number and kind. Each one has its unique USP, but the spoilers can broadly be sieved into the following:

The lizard

Every line sung by the vocalist evokes a lizard-like response, which goes “tch, tch, tch, tch...” and increases in loudness as it progresses.

The umpire

As the singer approaches bliss, the umpire in the audience would wave his hands to the tune, pat the swaras in the air, until the neighbour's nose comes in the way. I've been such a neighbour many a time.

The camper

He takes a seat, but behold, he would need three more. He would ask you to move a seat away, and we would soon be separated by a water bottle snugly placed on what was once my seat. Next, his bag sits in front. A scribble pad, and this being a miscellaneous section, the key bunch of the house, one mobile phone, maybe more, and a snuff box or its equivalent are all arranged on the chair to his left. I thanked my stars that he didn't bring anyone along. Eight chairs for a two-people system might just be on the higher side!

Facebook

He does just that – “add friends.” A minute after taking his seat, he would fidget, and start with the clichéd ice-breaker: “So, you came for the concert?!” Well, no, I came to ‘get added.' The ice refused to break at my end. Minutes later, the person at the other end got added. They exchanged visiting cards.

Techni-Carnatic rasika

He flips out his iPhone, checks twice if his neighbour is awestruck, and then starts viewing the concert through the gadget. And, if he sits in front of you, there isn't any option for you but to view the show through the gadget yourself. Further, he would click snaps on this mobile. Add the sound of that digital click, which is more like a tight slap, and hence interferes with thaalam (the beats).

2.50FM

So named, for when he/she arrives at the concert, it's akin to an FM radio whirring up. He would dish out the best-kept secrets one after another, all when the vocalist is straining to reach the upper echelons of his repertoire. The chatter would go on for 2.5 hours, through the duration of the concert. I was forced to hear that Hari's brother got an engineering admission only because of his father's “hold”. This sub-topic ended with a generalisation that the “present generation” was spoilt.

The critic

If being part of a concert audience was a computer game, the critic would be the toughest to oust — the last enemy the prince would have to kill, before he saves the princess and lives happily ever after! As soon as the concert starts, he would poke you like you were dough waiting to be assessed. “Did you make out the mridangam is out of tune?! And, the violinist is playing the wrong ‘Ri.' Nothing short of a punishable offence, I say!” My takeaway was but what shouldn't be?

Having said which

This neighbour never talks. He is so immersed in the songs that he dozes off. Then begins... the snore!

With an appeal that halls turn more silent, and requesting that the above classes allow only the performers on stage to “sound,” I remain. . . .

(The writer's email ID is: sarma.nitc@gmail.com)

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Philosophy of the Mahatma

October 2 is Gandhi Jayanthi. Even after all these years, we continue to find that the Mahatma is relevant.

IIn an essay titled “Gandhiji's political significance,” Gene Sharp, Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth looks at why the Mahatma is still relevant.

Prof. Sharp is known for his writings on nonviolent struggle, and which have had a bearing on various anti-government resistance movements across the world. He especially shot into the limelight during the first phase of the ‘Arab Spring'. He has also founded the Albert Einstein Institution, “a non-profit organisation devoted to studies and promotion of the use of nonviolent action in conflicts worldwide”.

Prof. Sharp quotes the Mahatma as saying: “‘I claim,' Gandhiji once wrote, ‘to be no more than an average man with less than average ability'.”

“My Mahatmaship is worthless,”, he added. “I have become literally sick of the adoration … I lay no claim to superhuman powers. I want none. I wear the same corruptible flesh that the weakest of my fellow-beings wears, and am, therefore, as liable to err as any.”

But it is an undisputable fact that Gandhiji deserves a great amount of credit in getting non-violent action accepted as the technique of struggle in the freedom movement. “Nonviolence,” said Gandhiji in 1920, “does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant …. I want India to practise nonviolence being conscious of her strength and power.” Thus, we have seen non-violence being a great weapon in bringing about change. The point is, will it work in the 21st century?

A great feature of the 20th century, and as we have seen in the 21st century, says Prof. Sharp, is to follow how the technique of nonviolence has developed. It includes forms such as non-violent resistance, satyagraha, strikes, boycotts, political non-cooperation, civil disobedience and non-violent obstruction, to name a few. It also derives its strength from the truth.

Recently, the enormous success that Anna Hazare enjoyed in leading a fight against the issue of rampant corruption, led many to compare him to being a modern-day Gandhian in his technique — a non-violent fight against an issue.

There was no violence at any phase, and the government finally took notice of what he was trying to highlight. In the end, what is the significance of this movement of non-violence? Perhaps, a part of that answer, says Prof. Sharp, lies in the point that by choosing to be non-violent, it increases the strength of a mass movement by giving it “an aura of moral superiority. It becomes morally more uplifting to society and to each participant in the movement.”

It would be right to look at what Jawaharlal Nehru said, says Prof Sharp. “After seeing the movement of non-violence, I feel more and more convinced that it offers us some key to understanding and resolving conflict. Gandhiji's way has shown achievement,” said Nehru.

That may be the final answer.

-Murali N KrishnaSwamy

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Shaming Numbers

Among the many forms of gender inequality, perhaps the most insidious is the one related to the sex ratio. India ranks high among countries having an adverse sex ratio, with fewer women than men. The 2011 Census revealed a small improvement in the overall sex ratio, from 932.91 females for every 1000 males (in 2001) to 940.27, but a steep fall in ratio for the 0-6 age group, from 927.31 to 914.23. Now the World Bank’s ‘World Development Report 2012’ has come up with more shaming numbers. After China, India has the highest number of “missing girls” at birth, that is, the numbers that should have been born in keeping with the average world sex ratio at birth. It is small consolation that in India, the number of girls missing at age zero has come down marginally since 1990. The report, titled ‘Gender Equality and Development,’ notes that were it not for these two countries, an additional 1.2 million girls would have been born in the world (1 million in China alone). In both countries, the son preference — a clear cultural preference for boys — combining with the easy availability of technology to discover the sex of the foetus has resulted in sex-selective abortions, a phenomenon Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen terms “natal inequality.” The high numbers in India show that attempts to tackle female foeticide through a ban on sex-determination tests, imposed under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, have been largely ineffective.

China and India also account for the highest excess female mortality after birth, that is, the numbers of girls and women who die prematurely. The disproportionate mortality of girls during infancy and early childhood is the result of discrimination and a lack of access to water, sanitation, and health facilities. In India and some other countries, complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the cause of excess deaths of women in the reproductive age. The World Bank report makes the telling point that “despite stellar economic growth in recent years, maternal mortality [in India] is almost six times the rate in Sri Lanka.” On the other hand, in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 1.1 million missing women — a majority of them in the reproductive age group — the report notes the “dramatic” impact of HIV/AIDS on the increase from about 639,000 in 1990. From these and other numbers presented by the report, it is clear that, while more women are getting educated and entering the labour force, the gender gap stubbornly persists in vital domains. These gaps cannot be addressed unless it is first realised that gender inequality is not a women’s issue — and that it affects the well being of both men and women.

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More colleges, less quality

Nearly one-third of the students enrolled in many of these private self-financing engineering colleges in Kerala end up never taking the university degree — they remain Bachelor divorced from Technology (for life).

It took me by surprise and shook me to the core to read the news item – B. Tech pass percentages fall sharply ( The Hindu, August 28, 2011) , with only 46 per cent of the candidates clearing the final year examination of the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, this year; last year, it was 56 per cent. It gives examples detailing how only three out of 67 students passed this year in an engineering college, whereas it was 12 out of 61 last year. There is another case of only one out of 64 passing this year in another engineering college. The list goes on.

What ails our technical education? This is not an attempt to bring out the malaise that has set in; but only aims to trigger healthy discussions about the rot, ultimately leading to a sensible answer.

Todate, there are nearly 150 engineering colleges in the small State of Kerala (exact number cannot be arrived at any point of time, since the powers that be sanction a new engineering college almost every other day) out of which about a hundred are private self-financing colleges. Altogether, all these colleges offer nearly 60,000 seats in an year, out of which more than 10,000 fall vacant.

The reasons for the proliferation of engineering colleges (also medical colleges) have to be found in the Malayalee psyche, which somehow wants to see their children become engineers and doctors, notwithstanding their merit.

Taking advantage of liberalisation, many people have turned to the field; now that education is deemed to be an industry with more glitter and glamour, all and sundry flush with cash have started investing in private self-financing institutions, which they expect to bring good returns laced with the sheen of social acceptance. This is not to deny the fact that there are educational agencies and religious congregations committed to providing quality education; institutions run by them, what with their social commitment and treating educational services as social mission render sterling services; but they are a minority amid the cacophony and chaos. Also, the old generation engineering colleges and the REC (now NIT) serve the community well.

Unfortunately, at least some of the private self-financing engineering colleges do not have the bottomline requirements — lack of infrastructure, physical and human; along with the absence of proper academic atmosphere. Some of them had recently given out the notification for sale.

The pathetic side of the story is that, nearly one-third of the students enrolled in many of these private self-financing engineering colleges end up never taking the university degree — they remain Bachelor divorced from Technology (for life). Those without even the basic mathematical sense succeed in sneaking into some of the private self-financing engineering institutions, only to fail all the way accumulating back papers semester after semester. Certainly, the money their parents dish out, by way of loans, nay mortgage, contribute to the overall liquidity and provides employment and business opportunities to many. Beyond that social function, what becomes of the family from which the forlorn student hails is the moot question.

(The writer's email id is asradhakrishnapillai@ yahoo.co.in)

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How campus recruitment norms are changing

Software companies do away with written tests for top scorers

Spending a major part of the last three years immersed in books was not, after all, a bad idea, feels J. Anusha, as she proudly flaunts the confirmation of her employment by an IT major recently. “I wanted to maintain an overall CGPA of 8.5. The grading which was introduced as many universities abroad insist on it has also come in handy for the recruiting firms,” says the final-year student of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering.

With many software companies doing away with written tests for high scorers, there is a renewed emphasis on academic credentials, say college students and teachers. Scores in college have increasingly become a major filter during the recruitment of hundreds of students in two days, and sometimes, even in a day.

This year, TCS exempted students of top engineering colleges who have scored over 80 per cent in their course from the written test, while Cognizant has been doing the same with toppers in colleges for a few years now, say sources. “In reputable engineering colleges, there are often at least 50 students in a class of 120 that score over 80 per cent. But the interviews for students who were exempted were quite gruelling. Companies want to reduce their procedures, but won't compromise especially on the communication skills,” says R. Rajakumar, who got recruited in TCS.

“We know the companies are in a hurry so we give them a shortlist of eligible students who then undergo the recruitment procedure. It takes intelligent planning and partnerships by both placement officers of colleges and company personnel,” says Sathish Kumar, placement officer, St. Joseph's College, which placed around 591 students in Cognizant, and about 121 in Wipro this week.

Companies now have panels that have a mix of technical and HR personnel, so the student is tested on all areas in a short time. “Most companies that are allowed to come first often have a large recruitment plan,” says R. Samuel, a senior HR consultant with IT firms.

However, sources say that companies try not to rope in the top-rung performers (those who score 90 per cent and above), especially if they are among the first to recruit. “They know that these students would opt for core companies that come later,” says Amritha Srinivasalau, an engineering student. This is in the context of many colleges following the policy of dual placement that allows a student to appear for the recruitment tests of core companies, even if he/she is selected by an IT firm. Core companies are slated to start their procedures in most colleges only in December.

The eligibility criteria of companies are revised every year after studying the trends, says Mr.Samuel. Group discussions, once a part of the recruitment procedure of many companies, have been done away with by firms, though some, including Accenture and Capgemini, still lay stress on them.

Similarly, companies initially were reluctant to relax their requirement of a minimum of 60 per cent in every degree.

Now they do and some companies, including Wipro, allow one standing arrear and some even allow two. A minimum of just 50 per cent in class X and XII is acceptable too. “And a few including Cognizant offer a relaxation of five per cent in one degree, excluding the one that the student is pursuing, if he/she has secured over 60 per cent in all other areas,” says Mr.Samuel.

These relaxations, however, do not apply to graduates who apply to companies in off-campus procedures. “Even if the bulk recruitment paints a good picture of the industry, it involves only around 1.5 lakh engineers, just 20 per cent of the number of engineers who graduate every year. The others might have to undergo all of the tough procedures,” says Santanu Paul, CEO and Managing Director, TalentSprint, which trains unemployed graduates to make them employable in the IT industry.

-Vasudha Venugopal

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