Two articles, one by Swaminathan Anklesariya Iyer in TOI (Sun 17 Aug) says give the people of Kashmir a choice and let them go if they so desire; another one in IE by Sudheendra Kulkarni laments about how Indian leaders wasted three opportunities to clinch the issue in 1947 Nehru, 1971 Indira Gandhi and in 1988 Rajiv Gandhi. Can we really give the people of the Kashmir valley the choice to secede from India and form an independent entity? Will it be viable? Will not the powerful neighbour China and its henchman Pakistan swallow it sooner than later? Who will guarantee its safety and territorial integrity? Who will defend it? How will a small vulnerable landlocked country survive? Will tourism alone be sufficient to feed its people? What will happen to India's safety and security? Will not its loss make the already strategically important but vulnerable region a play ground for other powers to bring pressure on India through, military, economic and ecological means? How will India ensure that the source of its water in the Himalayas is protected? Since Iyer is essentially talking only about the people of the valley, what happens to Laddakh and Jammu? What happens when Pakistan occupies the Siachin heights and threatens India through Laddakh? While successive Indian governments have no doubt messed up the situation in the J&K for many decades simply giving up the fight is surely not the answer.
Taking the other extreme view, can India really solve the problem simply by deploying more and more troops and police? Yes, India could have forced ZA Bhutto to agree to an honourable solution in 1972 when it held 93000 Pakistani prisoners but can we do it now? Are we in a position to force a military solution on Pakistan? What will be the Chinese role in such a confrontation? Are we strong enough to face a two-front threat now or in the future? What if anything has been achieved by the PM's inactivity? What will BJP achieve by further fuelling the wrath of the people of Jammu? How will they solve it if they were holding the reins at New Delhi? Why has the Central Government failed to convince the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the so called 'forest land' was not transferred but only diverted and that too for a emporary purpose and that there has never been an economic blockade of the Valley?
Why should the Muslims of the valley be so touchy about the ASAB being given a small piece of land for Hindu pilgrims? Finally, isnt there a strong, popular, visionary and wise Muslim leader in India that can convince his people to stop the protests? Arent there any secular Hindu leaders in the UPA that can convince the people of Jammu to drop their protests and not mix other issues such as stepmotherly treatment at the hands of J&K government and the number of their representatives in the J&K Assembly?
If we cannot find a leader young or old can we really complain?
Sunday 17 August 2008
Another Independence Day
Two days ago, another independence day, special for some but not for those who struggle to survive.
The weekly magazine 'The Week' (17 Aug issue, page 34) spoke of cases of starvation in the Bundel Khand area of MP, where due to a five-year long drought people are starving. For a woman with four children, salt and roti once every few days is regular meal and when she gets an onion it is a feast. The visuals confirm the story. What is, however, not explained is the role of the local government. The village, however remote, is still in central India, not too far from a mis-size town like Mahoba, Banda, Jhansi and Chitrakoot. I wonder what the local government machinary is doing? Where is the Zilla Parishad, the Panchayat, the District and Block Development Officers and finally the Collector. Dont they read these reports? Dont they get information from their own subordinates? How is it that the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has not touched this area? Why are the local NGOs and other well off people not helping? Will someone ask the MP CM to answer? Does he not think that the Aam Aadmi is his responsibility?
I want to do something about this; at least help a few for a month or two until their health is restored so that they can once again start searching for some employment that will give them some money to eke out a living, but how do I do it? Last but not least, the well known eighty something year old social worker Nanaji Deshmukh runs an ashram in nearby Chitrakoot and is known to have done much work to bring succour to the local people. Where is his organisation? It is difficult to believe that his people dont know the ground reality in his backyard!!
The weekly magazine 'The Week' (17 Aug issue, page 34) spoke of cases of starvation in the Bundel Khand area of MP, where due to a five-year long drought people are starving. For a woman with four children, salt and roti once every few days is regular meal and when she gets an onion it is a feast. The visuals confirm the story. What is, however, not explained is the role of the local government. The village, however remote, is still in central India, not too far from a mis-size town like Mahoba, Banda, Jhansi and Chitrakoot. I wonder what the local government machinary is doing? Where is the Zilla Parishad, the Panchayat, the District and Block Development Officers and finally the Collector. Dont they read these reports? Dont they get information from their own subordinates? How is it that the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has not touched this area? Why are the local NGOs and other well off people not helping? Will someone ask the MP CM to answer? Does he not think that the Aam Aadmi is his responsibility?
I want to do something about this; at least help a few for a month or two until their health is restored so that they can once again start searching for some employment that will give them some money to eke out a living, but how do I do it? Last but not least, the well known eighty something year old social worker Nanaji Deshmukh runs an ashram in nearby Chitrakoot and is known to have done much work to bring succour to the local people. Where is his organisation? It is difficult to believe that his people dont know the ground reality in his backyard!!
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