Nationalism and free press
Some defining moments happened last week. We lost Nelson Mandela. We heard The Guardianeditor defending his paper in exposing the overreach of spying agencies before the British Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee. We witnessed Japan passing a draconian state secrecy law. Both as a journalist and as an ombudsman of this newspaper, my primary concern is about high quality journalism that is not fettered by either internal inadequacies and an external environment. My recent columns have dealt with some of the internal shortcomings. The time has come to zoom out and look critically at a new reality that has the potential to render journalism vulnerable.
While the attempts to tame the press are global, they could not take away the spirit of freedom, resistance and the commitment to tell the truth from journalists. Carl Bernstein, icon of Watergate reporting, wrote a personal letter toThe Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, hours before his deposition. Without mincing words, Bernstein contended: “your appearance before the Commons today strikes me as something quite different in purpose and dangerously pernicious: an attempt by the highest U.K. authorities to shift the issue from government policies and excessive government secrecy in the United States and Great Britain to the conduct of the press — which has been quite admirable and responsible in the case of The Guardian , particularly, and the way it has handled information initially provided by Mr. Snowden.”
Demonising truth telling
The chair of the house committee, Keith Vaz, dangerously inserted the idea of an uncritical patriotism into the narrative during the deposition. He asked Rusbridger: “You and I were both born outside this country, but I love this country. Do you love this country?” Rusbridger’s answer was at once specific and universal: “I’m slightly surprised to be asked the question but, yes, we are patriots and one of the things we are patriotic about is the nature of democracy, the nature of a free press and the fact that one can, in this country, discuss and report these things.”
One fact which emerged from the home affairs committee inquiry is that the state has no legitimate reason to spy on its citizens, that nationalism and security were invoked to gloss over the overreach and undemocratic behaviour of the state apparatus, and to demonise the act of truth telling. The sense of purpose and pride in journalism does not lie in dealing only with what is acceptable to the powers that be, but in relentlessly bringing out the uncomfortable truths. Journalists are as concerned as nation-states about the safety and security of the people.
Last Friday, Japan enacted a new law under which officials who leak “special state secrets” and journalists who seek to obtain them could face prison. The law allows heads of ministries and agencies to classify 23 vaguely worded types of information related to defence, diplomacy, counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism, almost indefinitely. Top officials in all ministries — rather than only defence officials as currently — will be able to designate state secrets for five years, renewable in five-year increments and potentially indefinitely, although cabinet approval would be required after 30 years.
According to agency reports, older Japanese intellectuals, lawyers and activists fear the country could be edging toward the sort of repression of a free press and speech seen before and during World War II which resulted in the arrests of tens of thousands of people. Thousands of protesters turned out to rally against the legislation. The law mandates prison terms of up to 10 years for government officials who leak secrets. Journalists who get information in an “inappropriate” or “wrong” way could be jailed for up to five years. It bans attempted leaks, inappropriate reporting, complicity and solicitation.
Liberal democracies shouldn’t do this
If liberal democracies like the United Kingdom and Japan are reneging on their commitment to free speech and press, and can come up with punitive legislation and infringing parliamentary practices, I shudder to think what lessons illiberal regimes may adopt over the next few years. It is in this context, I feel the passing away of Mandela has poignant meaning. The only way most of the nation states can pay homage to this extraordinary human being, who spent his entire life espousing the cause of freedom and human dignity, is to refrain from enacting any law that places restrictions on the watchdog role of the media.
This is also the centenary year of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize. It is worth remembering what he wrote on December 31, 1899:
“ The hungry self of the Nation shall burst in a violence of fury from its own shameless feeding.
For it has made the world its food, and licking it, crunching it and swallowing it in big morsels,
It swells and swells till in the midst of its unholy feast descends the sudden shaft of heaven piercing its heart of grossness .”
The not-quite ‘semi-final’ and what it portends
The results of the four State Assembly elections conducted in November-December 2013 in northern India confirm one thing: the political marketplace has downgraded Congress stock to junk status. The clear message from tens of millions of voters to the party ruling at the Centre is ‘get prepared to be in the Opposition for quite a stretch’. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweep of the two largest States, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is significant but its cup of joy is not quite full. While a sterling performance by a fresh-faced debutant, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has denied it outright victory in Delhi, the knife-edge contest in Chhattisgarh has raised some awkward questions. These questions revolve round how the people of the State, which witnessed the shocking liquidation by extremists of the Congress’s top State leadership in May 2013, feel about governance, security, and the Raman Singh government’s accountability for a grave security failure.
AAP’s performance
The humbling of the Congress and the BJP’s surge in this round have been along expected lines, more or less, but the AAP’s performance has been way beyond general expectations. In fact, as far as political perceptions and portents go, it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that Arvind Kejriwal’s team of dedicated campaigners and contestants in Delhi have stolen the limelight from the architects of the BJP’s sweep of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This time the opinion, exit, and post polls can claim to have been on the right side of the popular mood and the electoral trends. However, the vote share estimates and seat forecasts (which have varied significantly and, in the case of Delhi, wildly) have been off in varying degrees, with virtually all the polls grossly underestimating the AAP.
Hindutva spokespersons have depicted the latest Assembly contests as a ‘semi-final’ in which the winner’s form portends an overpowering victory in the ‘finals’ that will be played in April-May 2014. The problem with the analogy is that the guaranteed winner of the other semi-final, which will be played in virtual space, is a constellation of regional and some other non-BJP, non-Congress players, and the finals will be played by three contestants under differential rules — with the two semi-final winners each able to play on only part of the pitch and only the guaranteed loser in a position to play on the whole pitch, more or less.
So how is the contest shaping up for the big prize?
Before we can answer this challenging question, we need to figure out some kind of basic explanatory insight into what has happened in the nine States where Assembly elections have been held in 2013 and what the outcomes add up to, quantitatively and qualitatively. The short answer to the first sub-question, based on what we can learn from the information provided by the opinion, exit, and post polls and also from journalistic reportage, is this. The price rise, the relentless pressures on livelihood and living standards, and corruption have figured high among voter concerns, and on these sensitive issues the big loser is the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance government, which has been thoroughly discredited and has clearly overstayed its welcome.
As for what the 2013 Assembly election outcomes add up to, it is interesting that five of these States, four in the north and Karnataka in the south, aggregate a hundred Lok Sabha seats, while the other four, all in the north-east, make up a combined total of six seats. So this is not quite political India: in fact, the State Assembly contests won and lost in 2013 translate to less than a fifth of the composition of the Lok Sabha. Secondly, if a trend favouring the BJP can be detected in the northern States that have gone to the polls this year, it is countered by what has happened in the south, signifying the reality that the party that speaks and functions in the name of ‘Hindu nationalism’, or majoritarianism, is not quite a national party in the sense it does not have a serious electoral presence in a large part of India. It is surely significant that these no-go regions cumulatively elect about 250 members to the Lok Sabha, which means the victor of this ‘semi-final’ will go to the ‘finals’ knowing it can play on just one-half of the pitch. And one does not need political punditry to realise that electoral victory and defeat is made by several factors, local, regional, and national, and any analysis that reduces the diversity and complexity of India’s electoral game to one or two factors will be wrong-headed and deluded.
This leads us to the question whether any ‘wave’ — a decisive and overpowering swing in the voter mood — can be detected across the country in favour of any one party or leader. The question is not irrelevant because historically there have been such electoral waves in India, notably in 1971, 1977, and 1984, under very different sets of circumstances. Modi partisans would of course say ‘yes’. But the evidence-based answer seems to be that while his prime ministerial candidacy has gained traction and momentum and has significantly strengthened the electoral stock of his party, there is no ‘Modi wave’ that the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance partners can ride straight to power at the Centre.
Need for allies
Everything points to the BJP emerging as the single largest party, by some distance, in the sixteenth Lok Sabha. The Congress, some pollsters speculate, could be reduced to half its present strength of 206. The regional, Left, and other non-Congress, non-BJP parties and independents are likely to make up a sizeable proportion of the next Lok Sabha, well above the UPA’s total strength. So what is the threshold from which a Modi-led BJP could bid aggressively to form a government? Given the overall political picture, it needs to be well over 200 Lok Sabha seats for the NDA — which after all is a shadow of the alliance it was when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a much more acceptable political leader than Mr. Modi, spearheaded it to power in 1998 and 1999.
The essential political truth is that notwithstanding his present avatar as ‘Vikas Purush’, the Man of Development, Mr. Modi does not attract allies; he repels erstwhile allies and also potential allies. It is well established that he is a highly polarising and divisive figure, with a special notoriety rooted in his and his government’s role in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.
Interestingly, India’s newspapers and news television channels have, by and large, maintained the necessary professional distance in reporting the Modi campaign. But what they have also done is to keep the focus on the deeply troubling path he has taken to the national stage — and on what this portends for secular and democratic governance.
That this essential political truth has had an impact even at the top leadership levels of the BJP was evidenced by Lal Krishna Advani’s revolt against the installation of Mr. Modi, first as the BJP’s election campaign chief, and then as its prime ministerial candidate. Instant media analysis might have concluded that the BJP’s pre-eminent ideologue and strategist was deeply offended because he was overlooked for the top job but that reading is both shallow and simple-minded. The more likely explanation is that Mr. Advani, with his long institutional memory, is disturbed by what lies in store for both the party and the Parivar — given Mr. Modi’s political notoriety, which, among other things, repels potential BJP allies.
All this suggests that the BJP, although assured of its single largest party status, will not go into the mid-2014 ‘finals’ as the favourite, in any event not the overwhelming favourite. Interesting political moves are on, for example, the Congress’s reported attempt to strike a deal with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the alliance manoeuvres in Bihar, not to mention the Telangana drama that lies ahead, that could make a difference on the ground. It is quite conceivable, even likely, that a post-poll combination of triumphant regional parties will, with external support from the Congress and the Left, be able to form the next government.
Everything now points to the BJP emerging as the single largest party, by some distance, in the sixteenth Lok Sabha. But the
Modi-led alliance will not go into the mid-2014 ‘finals’ as the favourite, in any event not the overwhelming favourite.
South Korea expands air defence zone
South Korea on Sunday said it had expanded its Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) for the first time in six decades, in an apparent response to China’s November 23 decision to set up its first such zone over disputed parts of the East China Sea.
Underlining how Beijing’s decision has heightened regional tensions and, according to many analysts, increased the likelihood of an incident in the contested skies over northeastern Asia, South Korea’s newly expanded ADIZ will overlap with northern areas of China’s zone.
An ADIZ is not a territorial claim, but a defined area in international space within which countries monitor and track aircraft that are heading towards territorial airspace.
China’s announcement angered both Japan and South Korea, because the zone includes the disputed Diaoyu or Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which are contested by Japan and China, and the submerged Leodo reef, which is under South Korea’s control. Both countries have made clear they would contest China’s zone by dispatching aircraft to carry out patrols through the area. China last week said it had scrambled jets to intercept at least 12 Japanese and U.S. aircraft.
Seoul’s announcement on Sunday was seen as an attempt to bolster its control over parts of the East China Sea surrounding the Leodo reef, which, earlier, lay beyond the southern edge of its zone. The eastern and western limits of its ADIZ have not been expanded.
The South Korean Defence Ministry in a statement said the new ADIZ was “designed to have its southern boundary match the country’s broader flight information region, and includes airspace over the South-controlled reef of Leodo and the islands of Marado and Hongdo,” the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency said. The government said the expanded zone would go into effect starting December 15, and would not impose restrictions on civilian flights.
The Defence Ministry said it had “offered sufficient explanations to related countries”. President Park Geun-hye is thought to have briefed U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on the move during talks on Friday. Mr. Biden was in South Korea following stops in Tokyo and Beijing. His three-nation tour was aimed at boosting economic ties and reinforcing U.S. interests in the Pacific, although the visit was overshadowed by the tensions surrounding the ADIZ issue.
Mr. Biden was quoted by Yonhap that he “appreciated President Park’s explanation and South Korea’s efforts.” An unnamed South Korean official added that he was of the view that South Korea’s ties with China, which had also been briefed about the move, would not “deteriorate seriously.”
Chinese officials have defended their move by pointing to Japan’s ADIZ in the East China Sea.
However, doubts about certain aspects regarding how China planned to enforce its control within the ADIZ raised anxieties. For instance, the Chinese government said it would take unspecified “emergency” defence measures if aircraft entered the zone without filing flight plans. Even as Chinese officials have hit out at Tokyo for making “irresponsible remarks,” they have appeared to adopt a far more measured tone regarding concerns expressed by South Korea.
Asked how China would respond to a move by South Korea to expand its airspace, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters on Friday China was “ready to stay in communication” with Seoul “based on the principle of equality and mutual respect”. He did, also, appear to rule out talks with Japan on the issue. “The point is,” he said, “Japan does not face up to history and reality, and fails to adopt the correct approach.”
Census pegs homeless at 18 lakh, but activists dispute it
‘Rural homelessness declined by 30% to 8.3 lakh people’
Living Dangerously:A homeless man lies wrapped in a plastic bag to combat the dust on an early Mumbai morning at the Marine Drive promenade.— Photo: Vivek Bendre
India’s homeless population has declined to just 17.73 lakh people, new Census data claims. The two megacities known for their large homeless populations — Mumbai and Delhi — have just 57,416 and 46,724 homeless people respectively, The Hindu ’s analysis of Census data shows.
The number includes both those permanently without a house and those temporarily homeless like truck-drivers passing through the city, Census Commissioner and Registrar General of India C. Chandramouli told The Hindu .
Rural homelessness declined by 30% to 8.3 lakh people, while urban homelessness grew by 21% to 9.4 lakh people, the data says. Uttar Pradesh has nearly one-fifth of the country’s homeless, and Maharashtra follows with 12%. Other states with significant proportions of homeless are Rajasthan (10%), Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal (8%).
Kanpur tops list; Kolkata second
The city with the largest homeless population is Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh (80,877 people), followed by Kolkata (69,798), Mumbai (57,416), Delhi (46,724) and Surat (36,144). The official homeless population includes 2.7 lakh children. At 932 girls for over 1,000 boys, the child sex ratio of the homeless population is better than the general population (919), but has declined over the last decade, like the rest of the country. The literacy rate of the homeless population is just 44.6%, as compared to 80.9% for the country as a whole. With fewer homeless people in education, a far higher proportion is in the workforce as compared to the general population, among both men and women. However, housing rights activists disputed the data. “Delhi has at least 1.5 lakh homeless people. Thousands of homeless people were not enumerated during the census,” housing rights activist Indu Prakash Singh of Shehari Adhikar Manch: Begharon Ke Saath, told The Hindu . Mr. Singh, who said he was present when enumerators conducted the survey in New Delhi, said the Census sent too few people and they spent too little time. “In our eyes, the homeless census was a fraud and a farce,” Mr. Singh said.
The impact of undercounting the homeless was that too few funds were allocated for them, he said. In Mumbai, Brijesh Arya, president of Beghar Adhikaar Abhiyaan, pegged the homeless population at between three and four lakh.
Ecology trumps economics in Attappady
The death spiral of malnourished children in Attappady is a result of the ecological destruction of a land once known for its rich biodiversity, experts say. Since January, 40 tribal infants died in this heartland of the tribes.
Implementation of special packages by the governments could not save the children. That it happens in Kerala, known for its high health and education standards, is shocking news for the country. Many could not believe this dark face of the State, some even calling it a “virtual genocide” of the tribal population.
The tribal tragedy has unleashed a major debate on the Kerala model of development, P.A. Vasudevan, economist, says.
The 745-sq.km stretch of verdant hillockamid perennial streams and fertile agricultural lands, is inhabited by the particularly vulnerable Kurumba, Muduga and Irula tribal communities.
These communities had been living in harmony with nature, pursuing traditional farming . Prior to 1950s, the Attappady hills, adjoining the rainforests of the Silent Valley National Park, had 80 per cent forest cover, providing the indigenous population a continuous supply of forest produce . Tragedy struck them with the entry of settlers in the 1950s into the highly promising terrain, searching for greener pastures. The migrants from the southern parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu flourished, but the hills, endowed with limited natural reserves, went off-balance, says P.R.G. Mathur, anthropologist and former Director of KIRTADS. (Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes).
They destroyed the natural wealth by indiscriminate cutting of trees, reckless grazing and unscientific land use, leading to desertification.
Experts say Kerala model fails to work in the face of eco-destruction
Big vote for NOTA in Chhattisgarh
It was Chhattisgarh that polled the largest number of ‘none of the above’ (NOTA) votes — an option available for the first time to voters to reject all the candidates. Delhi recorded the least number of NOTA votes until results last came in.
As many as 10,848 voters exercised the option in Chitrakot, a small constituency in the naxal-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh — declared a “liberated zone” by left-wing extremists. This was the highest number in all four States where Assembly election results were declared on Sunday. The least number of NOTA votes was polled in Mehgaon in Madhya Pradesh, with 136 voters exercising the choice.
An interesting scenario emerged in Pansemal (reserved for the Scheduled Tribes) in Madhya Pradesh, where there were only two contestants — one from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the other from the Congress. While the winning BJP candidate polled 77,919 votes, his rival got 70,537, whereas 9,288 votes were recorded under NOTA — much more than the difference between the votes polled by the candidates.
The number of votes recorded under NOTA was higher in the constituencies falling under the naxal-affected regions of Bastar and Sarguja. Raipur City (Gramin) recorded 3,521 NOTA votes, while 5,673 voters rejected their candidates in Rajim. After Chitrakot, Dantewada recorded the second highest NOTA votes at 9,677, Keshkal, 8,381, Kondagaon, 6,773 and Pathalgaon 5,533.
The least number of voters to reject all the candidates were 874 in Lormi and 969 in adjoining Takhatpur. In all other constituencies, the number was 2,000 and above.
Chief Minister Raman Singh and other candidates were rejected in Rajnandgaon by 2,042 voters, while Marwahi from where Amit Jogi — the former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s son — and others were rejected by 7,115 voters. Mr. Jogi’s wife, Renu, and her opponents were rejected by 1,074 voters. Amit Jogi won with a record number of 46,000 votes — the highest in the State.
In Kawardha, Khairagarh, Khallari, and Dongargaon, the number of rejections under the NOTA was higher than the difference between the votes polled by the winning and losing candidates.
Least in Delhi
In comparison, voters in the National Capital did not reject their candidates as the number of NOTA recorded was much less with the highest number being recorded from Gokalpuri which was 1,338, followed by Sultanpur Majra at 1,232, Nangloi Jat at 1,171 and Uttam nagar at 1,041. In the rest of the constituencies, the number hovered in hundreds. Interestingly, Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and Sheila Dikshit, both contesting from the New Delhi constituency, and others were rejected by 460 voters.
In Madhya Pradesh, the option was exercised by voters across the State with the figure ranging from 136 in Mehgaon, 189 in Lahar to 9,412 in Junnardeo. Vidisha, from where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan won, recorded 4,112 votes under the NOTA. Similarly, in Jhalrapatan in Rajasthan — the constituency of Vasundhara Raje Scindia — 3,729 people rejected all the candidates.
Interestingly, there was no constituency where voters did not reject their candidates. However, according to the Election Commission of India, NOTA votes will not be treated as valid. Under Section 158 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, it is the total number of valid votes polled by all candidates that is to be taken into account for calculating the one-sixth of votes polled by an individual for returning the security deposit. Hence, votes polled under the NOTA option will not be taken into account for calculating the total valid votes polled by the candidates for returning the deposit.
In New Delhi, where Kejriwal and Sheila Dikshit contested, 460 used the option
Bali deal a boost to exports, says industry
Associations of Indian industry have welcomed the trade deal reached at the Bali Ministerial Conference on Saturday for its potential to make the World Trade Organisation relevant in a multilateral trade regime. It will benefit India’s exports and shift the focus away from preferential trade arrangements.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Naina Lal Kidwai said the Bali outcome showed that the WTO could still deliver and the Doha development round could move forward.
Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, former Secretary, Multilateral Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, said: “This agreement will at least keep it [the WTO] on life support.” He was referring to the decade-long deadlock in negotiations preceding Bali that had led to countries opting for preferential trade arrangements (PTAs) such as free trade agreements.
Economists say that in the absence of progress on the Doha Round, 60 per cent of world trade had moved to PTAs.
During the Bali negotiations, Indian industry had backed the Centre, and the Confederation of Indian Industry termed the pact on food security “critical” to the success of the Ministerial. After the negotiations ended, the CII said the accord would not only boost transparency and predictability but also help reduce business transaction costs.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry felt the agreement on food security would ensure a fair deal to vulnerable sections in developing countries. The trade facilitation pact would improve efficiency at international trade borders.
The Bali agreement will benefit exporters, said the Engineering Export Promotion Council.
“Life would be much easier’’ thanks to the promise of uniform, transparent and efficient transactions across the world, said EEPC India Chairman Anupam Shah.
A farmers’ organisation, however, said the only possible gain was the peace clause. Alleging “deliberate ambiguity” in the text, the All India Kisan Sabha apprehended a freeze on expansion of food security or price support to farmers in developing countries and exclusion of pulses, cooking oil and crops other than those described as traditional staples by the WTO. Support subsidies for poor farmers across all developing countries get safeguards against WTO rules after the Bali Ministerial decision.
Mr. Chakravarty described the negotiations as a trade-off that led to dilution of the peace clause. It was achieved in part due to India’s position, indicating its willingness to compromise on eight out of 10 issues.
“It is a good thing we stood our ground. The whole problem is due to the approach of the developed countries which want to keep what they have and are essentially fighting a battle to preserve their prosperity.”
The former diplomat gave credit to the new WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, who held marathon meetings with both the U.S. and India to break the deadlock.
Test shows 5 p.c. pentoxide in phosphorous
An analysis by the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (NIT-K), of phosphate stored on the premises of a Baikampady-based company, has found the sample contained 5.16 per cent of phosphorus pentoxide.
However, Ullas Shetty, Chairman within KSIA on issues related to Karnataka Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (KSSIDC) and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) infrastructure, said the percentage of pentoxide in the phosphate was 18 per cent according to the company.
He said he had visited the company, Transworld Furtichem Pvt. Ltd., along with N. Lakshman, Environmental Officer, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), on November 26. Mr. Shetty said the level of phosphorus pentoxide was not dangerous but it may have an effect in the long term.
The KSIA had alleged that the phosphate dust was causing health problems among people working in the industrial area and a protest was staged some time ago in front of the industrial unit. Following this, a sample was sent for analysis to the NIT-K.
Vidya Shetty, Head of the Department, Chemical Engineering, NIT-K said, “We have to find out the ill effects of that and only then say (whether or not it affects people’s health in the long term).”
The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the members of the Association were to jointly meet with the company’s officials. However, since the KSPCB officials were not present, the visit did not take place as scheduled.
N. Lakshman, Regional Officer, KSPCB, said the company would deploy a dust-absorbing machine in three months’ time.
Vinod Gadia, one of the four directors of Transworld Furtichem Pvt. Ltd., which processes the phosphates in Baikampady, said up to 40 per cent of pentoxide in phosphates is allowed all over India. He said he could say nothing about the test results until he saw the report. He confirmed that his company had sent a letter to The Hindu signed by its “labourers and management” that “no itching or burning is reported from anybody as it does not contain any harmful elements”.
There have been health complaints among workers due to phosphate dust
‘The level of phosphorus pentoxide is not dangerous but it may have an effect in the long term’
External Affairs Ministry seeks immediate release of Indian sailor
The External Affairs Ministry officials have sought immediate release of imprisoned Indian sailor Captain Sunil James on compassionate grounds from the Togo prison, where he has been languishing since July this year.
Captain Sunil recently lost his 11-month old son. His family has been awaiting his arrival for the performance of last rites.
“We have already given consular access to Captain Sunil James. On Friday, our officials met senior Togolese government officials including the Public Prosecutor and the officials of the Ministry of Justice. We have requested them that the case should be dealt with compassionately. We have also sought his early release so that he can come back home to perform the last rites of his son,” Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the Ministry told The Hindu on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the distraught family has said it will wait for the sailor to return to perform the last rites of the toddler. “We have to wait for Sunil. He hasn’t even seen the baby grow-up. How will he get a sense of closure if we perform the last rites in his absence? He will never be able to get over it till he puts his son to rest,” Rakesh Madappa, Captain Sunil’s brother-in-law, told The Hindu .
The Togolese court is to consider the sailor’s sixth application for release on Monday. “The judge does not appreciate our intrusion. The judge does not work under pressure. The judge will take his time while a family in India suffers continually and a child awaits his burial. So much for compassion. So much for human rights,” Mr. Madappa said in an email to the paper.
Congress MP to help family
The family claimed on Saturday that Congress Member MP Sanjay Nirupam has come to their aid. “He is helping us to get in touch with the Prime Minister’s Office. We are in the process of writing to the PM to grant us an audience,” Mr. Madappa said.
The family said that the Togolese police or court have not given them a single document related to the case of complicity of theft slapped on the sailor. “The lawyer we have appointed told us that even he will be unable to get the documents out of the court before the case is over. There is not a single document available with us. The shipping company has rubbished the claim of theft. We do not know the basis of the charges slapped on him and his two colleagues. This is nothing short of absurdity,” he said.
The Ministry officials said they have requested the Togolese officials to expedite the hearing of the case.
Family awaiting his arrival for performance of last rites of his child
Corporation to computerise process for water connection
There will soon be relief for those who have applied for drinking water connection from the Coimbatore Corporation.
According to sources, the civic body has drawn up proposal for computerising the entire system that will help the applicants move out of the authorised plumbers’ stranglehold.
At present, the city’s residents in need of water connection approach any of the authorised plumbers, who for a hefty fee not only provide the connection but also take care of the paper works that precedes the connection.
The sources say the applicants are left in the lurch as they do not know how much is the charge for the connection work and the fee for the Corporation.
The councillors in one the recent Council meetings alleged that the present system of granting water connection has brought a bad name to the Corporation. Following the demand, the Corporation has devised a new system wherein those in need of water connection shall submit an application to any of the zonal offices as the entire process will be computerised.
At present, the applicants are supposed to submit the papers only at the respective zonal offices.
Within a day or two of the submission of the application, the Corporation will send short service message to the applicant saying who the plumber will be and what the charge is.
The Corporation will also send a second message to one of the many registered plumbers to complete the work.
The sources say such a method will ensure that the applicants are not at the mercy of the plumbers. And the latter will get to work anywhere in the city.
After the submission of the application, the Corporation will send short service message to the applicant
The message will mention who the plumber will be and what the charge is
A forgiving spirit and an optimistic outlook mark their respect for Madiba
Sitting in her comfortable suburban living room 45 minutes east of Johannesburg, Nokuthula Magubane (18) was doing something close to unthinkable to older generations of black South Africans: She was affectionately praising Afrikaans.
Mandatory instruction in Afrikaans during apartheid was one of the sparks that set off the Soweto student uprisings of 1976. It was a seminal moment in the struggle against apartheid, and the day of the uprising, June 16, became national Youth Day in the new South Africa.
But to Ms. Magubane, “At the end of the day, Afrikaans is just a language.”
Such feelings are common among members of Ms. Magubane’s generation, known as the born frees because they were born after the end of apartheid, or just before it ended, and are too young to have many memories of it. The born frees make up a huge segment of the population — about 40 per cent, according to census figures — and their many critics among older South Africans contend that they are apathetic and apolitical, unaware of the history of the struggle that made their lives better.
But the born frees have another name as well — the Mandela generation — and they insist that their determination to look to the future and not the past is the greatest tribute they can pay him.
“Yes, we were oppressed by white people; yes, it happened; yes, it hurt,” Ms. Magubane said while Nelson Mandela was still clinging to life. “But let us forgive each other so that we can move on fully and contribute fully to the South Africa we want to see in the future.”
Different issues
Akhumzi Jezile (24), a producer, television personality and speaker, says the born frees are portrayed as apathetic because they do not respond in the same way as the Soweto generation does during Youth Day marches and similar remembrances.
“It’s not a matter of not understanding apartheid; it’s just a matter of us having different challenges,” he said. “I think the feeling that the born frees are ignorant comes from an older generation that sees a youth that doesn’t react the way they do. But that is normal. We didn’t live it, but we have a vibrancy. We are fighting our issues.”
He pointed to education campaigns to fight the scourges of substance abuse, crime and HIV infection.
Many of the born frees’ attitudes differ markedly from those of older South Africans because their experiences are so sharply different.
Young people, for instance, are more likely to socialise with people of another race, according to the Reconciliation Barometer, a yearly gauge of public opinion.
“It seems young people may be developing deeper relationships across historic dividing lines, beyond just interaction,” the 2012 Reconciliation Barometer reported.
They are also less likely to have faith in political leaders, and less likely to blame apartheid for South Africa’s current economic and social inequality, according to the Reconciliation Barometer.
Born frees are also overwhelmingly optimistic, the Barometer and other surveys have found. Even young people from impoverished townships display a heady enthusiasm, though for many life has changed little in material terms since the end of apartheid, and unemployment is worse.
As for Mandela, Ms. Magubane said: “We have seen his example and now we’re going to follow it. We’re going to take it one step further into the future, and we’re going to build the South Africa that he would have loved to see.” — New York Times News Service
Having seen Mandela’s example, the born frees are determined to build the South Africa that he would have loved to see.
USFDA clears breakthrough drug for hepatitis C
The nod represents a significant shift in treatment paradigm
The U.S. has approved a breakthrough therapy for treatment of chronic hepatitis C that is expected to offer a more palatable cure to millions of people infected with the liver-destroying viral disease.
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the pill, Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) is the first drug that has demonstrated safety and efficacy to treat certain types of HCV infection without the need for co-administration of interferon, an official announcement said on Friday.
“Today’s (Friday’s) approval represents a significant shift in the treatment paradigm for some patients with chronic hepatitis C,” said Edward Cox, director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Sovaldi is the second drug approved by the FDA in the past two weeks to treat chronic HCV (hepatitis C virus) infection.
On November 22, the FDA had approved Olysio (simeprevir).
Sovaldi is marketed by Gilead, based in Foster City, California. Olysio is marketed by Raritan, New Jersey-based Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Clinical trials
The FDA said Sovaldi’s effectiveness was evaluated in six clinical trials consisting of 1,947 participants, who had not previously received treatment for their disease (treatment-naive) or had not responded to previous treatment (treatment-experienced), including participants co-infected with HCV and HIV. Hepatitis C is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the liver that can lead to diminished liver function or liver failure.
About 3.2 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CNN said.
Symptoms
Symptoms may include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay—coloured bowel movements, joint pain and jaundice, according to the CDC. — PTI
Reuters reports:
The once-a-day pill is the first approved to treat certain types of hepatitis C infection without the need for interferon, an injected drug that can cause severe flu-like symptoms. Hepatitis C, which is often undiagnosed, affects about 3.2 million Americans, killing more than 15,000 each year, mostly from illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Most patients will be treated with the $1,000-a-day drug for 12 weeks, resulting in a total list price of $84,000, according to Gilead spokeswoman Cara Miller.
Last year, the CDC recommended that all baby boomers, born from 1945 to 1965, be tested for the virus. Introduction of blood and organ screening in the 1990s has dramatically lowered infection rates for younger generations.
The Gilead drug's approval was supported by several studies showing that it helped to eradicate the virus in significantly more patients, with fewer side effects, than the current drug regimen.
Drug’s effectiveness was evaluated in six clinical trials consisting of 1,947 participants
