| |
EDITORIAL
Cease-fire's
Upshot
Pats
on the back from Uncle Sam won't defeat terrorism
 To
project the extension of the cease-fire in Jammu and Kashmir as a victory
for "moderates" at the Centre would be to miss the big picture.
A quick appraisal of India's gains and losses after two months of non-belligerence
does not tell a happy story. Terrorists have used the opportunity to move
from rural hideouts to urban areas. Next, the Lashkar-e-Toiba and its
fellow jehadis have systematically sought out National Conference workers
in an attempt to establish a monopoly on the political space. Finally,
the intelligence network has been crippled, with a sharp increase in the
number of police informers and surrendered militants killed. Each day
of the cease-fire has cost the Indian soldier that much more in psychological
ground.
That the
latest extension of the cease-fire came immediately after a new administration
took office in Washington DC is not without significance. The entire exercise
of muzzling guns has been influenced by diplomacy rather than realities
in Jammu and Kashmir. It has been a one-way street. Pakistan has shown
no inclination to respond. It remains, along with the Taliban regime it
sponsors in Afghanistan, the world's largest export house of warmongering
fanatics. Especially after the UN's sanctions on the Kabul militia, there
is a perception that international involvement in the region may not be
inimical to India. The problem is nobody in the Government seems clear
as to how far the West's role must go. After all, third-party mediation
is not a tap that can be turned on and off at will. Is India willing to
meet Pakistan in Camp David? In short, is there more to the cease-fire
than just winning good-conduct medals from the White House? America's
policy on Pakistan cannot be a substitute for India's policy on Jammu
and Kashmir.
Kleenex
Kumbha
Replicate
the civic model of the world's largest mela
 In
many ways the 1,200-hectare township called Kumbhanagar is a mini-India,
a temporary home to people from all over the country and, indeed, the
world. In many ways, the cloth-and-bamboo city that has sprung up on the
banks of the Ganga in Allahabad is everything that India is not. It is
not dirty; it does not have garbage piling up at every corner; two flies
and three mosquitoes don't keep every visitor company. In a notoriously
filthy land it is a hygienic miracle, a man-made one at that. The clean
Kumbha is a creation of 6,000 sweepers working virtually round the clock.
It has been gratifying to see workers remove trash from bathing ghats
almost as soon as it is spotted. A monumental 200 tonnes of solid waste
is trucked away from Kumbhanagar every day. Regular fogging ensures buzzing
insects are kept in exile-and epidemic denied a visa.
Despite
the traffic bottlenecks and odd brushes between policemen and journalists,
the Kumbha has been a revelation of India's hitherto hidden skills in
civic management. The 30 million pilgrims who took a holy dip on January
24 numbered more than the residents of Delhi and Mumbai put together;
to use another reference point, they equalled the Canadian population.
Failure was simply not an option for the civil servants running Kumbhanagar.
The outbreak of disease, for instance, could have proved catastrophic;
and ruined their careers. Still, it would be churlish not to acknowledge
their achievement. The question is: why can't these standards be maintained
elsewhere? As the world's largest mela proves, keeping the environment
healthy and being a good Indian are not quite mutually exclusive. For
a start, Uttar Pradesh could consider replicating the Kumbhanagar model
in its once proud but now shabby towns.
Top
|
|
METRO TODAY
If
planned well, the quake could be the Keynesian opportunity for Yashwant
Sinha to trigger growth, 
