War minus...
...concentration camps

The recent killing of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj has brought to focus the vulnerability of the voice of dissent in the region. While the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) supremo V. Prabhakaran was magnanimous in conferring ‘Maamanithar’ (Great soul) on Raviraj, the highest award of his organisation, the role of his group in the killing has not been ruled out. As the blame game continues, LTTE’s deliberate cleansing of opponents and dissident voices within and outside its ranks has been intriguing. Dreaming of a ‘Maha Eelam’ spread across the northern and eastern part of Sri Lanka as also the whole of Tamil Nadu, the nihilistic terrorist organisation has been more than ruthless in silencing any opposition. Their role in annihilating the Muslim and Sinhalese population has few parallels in modern human history. It has been observed that the percentage of Sinhalese population living in the Jaffna peninsula has dwindled from 4.5% in 1971 to 3% by the 1980s.

Presently, the Sinhalese population has been reported to have been reduced to zero in the whole of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Not only that, the dictate of the organization directed towards the Muslim population in the region ensured cent percent cleansing of Muslim population from Jaffna in 1991. Since then, more than 100,000 northern Muslims have been living in refugee camps. Recently, LTTE auxiliary Thamil Eela Meetpu Padai (Tamil Eelam Salvage Force) ordered the Muslims to vacate the Muthur region and shift to refugee camps. The curious logic given here was ‘to make the Muslims understand the plight of Tamils living in refugee camps’. Designed to bring ‘ethnic purity’ in ‘Eelam’, the purported killing and forced exodus of non-Tamilians has striking resemblance to the extermination of the Jewish and Gypsy population perpetrated by the Nazi Germany. That ‘homogeneity’ seeks to add greater weight to the LTTE’s hegemony, irrespective of the cost mankind has to pay.

Hitler lives...
‘Right’ extremism ascending

“My principles are not going to die with three bullets (mere vichar teen goliyon se nahi marne wale)”. These were the prophetic words of Mahatma Gandhi in the recent Bollywood Blockbuster ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. But probably these words would have been equally appropriate had they come from Gandhiji’s biggest antithesis Adolf Hitler. At least the recent upsurge in far right extremism and ultra nationalism especially in West and Central Europe would seem to support this fact. Those think tanks of Europe who never leave a stone unturned to criticise South Asia, West Asia, Sino-Taiwan relations & the whole of Africa for all the global turmoil should see the way far right extremism is gaining popularity there. It supposedly started with the ascent of the Austrian Freedom Party led by Jorg Haider, which got 27% of the vote in 1999 in the Austrian parliamentary elections, a country where according to Euro barometer, 37% were ‘not sure’ about ever shaking hands with Jews and 50% of the population alleged that Jews were to be blamed for what happened to them. Same is the story in other countries like Belgium, France, Britain, Denmark, Hungary & Germany where the far-right parties are increasingly gaining popularity.

In most cases people are either anti-Semitic like in Hungary or hate the presence of people of other nationalities in their country, like is the case in Italy. On April 7 this year in Russia, a Senegalese student was shot dead in St. Petersburg, preceded by a similar attack on a Vietnamese student the previous day. More surprisingly, convicts of such incidents oft en get a lenient verdict, which give more impetus to such incidents. As globalization permeates the national boundaries and more jobs get outsourced to Asia, this can only rise. Who said globalization unites the world? And who said Hitler is dead? His ideals, sadly, continue to make their presence felt.

‘Scanned’ Inavia
Honesty pays in Nordic regions

Scandinavian countries seem to be practicing Gandhigiri more than the land of Gandhi. Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2006 has Finland & Iceland holding the numero-uno position followed by Denmark (rank 4), Sweden (rank 6) and Norway (rank 8). The Scandinavian obsession with honesty and integrity might have already been written off by the cynics as ‘just an end in itself ’ but if correlation and regression still has some legitimacy, then they might just have to regret their statements. Smartly correlating transparency with development, these countries also hog the highest ranks in the Human Development Index, 2006. Norway at first rank is closely followed by Iceland (2nd), Sweden (5th), Finland (11th) and Denmark at 15th position. It doesn’t end at that. These countries also stand tall in terms of per capita income (pci). Norway (pci $37,800) has the second highest per capita income in the world followed by Denmark (pci $31,100) at 6th, Iceland (pci $30,900) at 7th, Finland (pci $27400) at 18th & Sweden (pci $26800) at 20th position. Correlating transparency with wealth, these countries definitely have created examples for several to follow, especially where Gandhi was born. Who said Gandhigiri doesn’t make sense in today’s world?

Jammed Space
Space pollution reaching zenith

Next time your brand new telescope traces something in the space, don’t get elated assuming a new discovery. You might have just located an iota of garbage that has littered the space above us. Starting with Sputnik 1 in 1957, more than 4,000 satellites have been sent to space. Since then, it has been reported that more than 70,000 objects lie spread between 850-1,000 km above the Earth. With an impact speed of around 36,000 kilometers per hour in space, it is estimated that a 1mm metal chip can match the lethality of a .22 calibre rifle (a metal of the size of a tennis ball is as fatal as 25 sticks of dynamite). A National Geographic report says that NASA regularly replaces some windows of its space shuttles (as they get damaged) by small particles in space. Space debris need not remain in space and can regularly fall on earth. The Delta rocket dropped on earth on January 22, 1997 in Georgetown. Similar incidents have happened in Saudi Arabia, Argentina & Brazil. With the Centre for Defence Information stating that space debris is increasing at the rate of 5% per annum, we might someday have a huge space debris layer instead of the ozone layer surrounding the earth. And as our lives get more dependent on satellites roaming in the infinites, damages to them by the roving bullets can’t be ruled out.

Learning...
...by fighting & killing

The Hindi movie ‘Omkara’ drew accolades due to a number of reasons. In the admirable interpretation of human psychology, the storyline portrayed aptly the conflicts that lie within an individual as also within the political hinterland of the country. The inspired moments of coarseness display the political landscape with finesse. Its most striking portrayal, however, is related to the murky amalgamation of politics, crime and the student fraternity. It seems more like an anomaly. In the impressionable years when the value system is to be ingrained in the student community, politics without its virtues (it doesn’t have any in India) is practiced with impunity in the country.

Year after year, as the Universities plunge into student elections (Kerala High Court Judgment notwithstanding) the criminal activities also shoot up in same proportion. It has been reported that the Lucknow Police investigating a murder in the campus on the eve of student elections were amazed to see the usage of AK-47 bullets. The Ujjain killing of a professor by some so called ‘student leaders’ has highlighted the need for regulating not just the political but also the ethical landscape of the student community in India. Any elections held at the Delhi University, for example, are contested on every possible plank with active usage of money, muscle and even divisive caste, regional & religious considerations. Needless to add, student politics is being actively used in the country as a short cut to make an entry into active politics. Going beyond the realm of ‘conflict resolution’, student politics is in fact actively nurtured and supported by political parties to gain a formidable support base within the student community. It must be strongly recommended (despite the opposition that such a move might bring from vested interests) that the present state of student politics displayed in the country needs to be actively discouraged. The way things are going on our campuses, future generations will suffer immensely.

Dol‘phinish’ed
Save them as much as the river…

In the peaceful reign of the Mauryan King Ashoka, rock edicts dictated to the kingdom the list of animals that the citizens could kill. The same list particularly forbade citizens to kill ‘Puputaya’. That Puputaya or the Gangetic Dolphins (as we know them) are now being killed mercilessly across the basin of the Ganga. Called ‘Sons’ in local language, this ecological heritage has been listed as an endangered species by the World Conservation Union in 1996 and they are among the last four species of fresh water dolphins in the world. According to researchers (from Patna University), the numbers of these dolphins have plummeted sharply from about 3,500 in 1980 to about 1,500 now. The same research in the 506-kilometre downstream stretch of Ganga (starting from Buxar) estimated their number to go down from 664 in 2005 to 560 this year. Even in Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (the only freshwater sanctuary in India) their numbers have dipped from 95 to 83 in the same period. Experts have warned that despite all the claims on ‘Saving the Dolphin’ (WWF even has Shweta Bachchan as Dolphin Ambassador), illegal poaching (for meat, skin & oil) and high levels of riverine pollution are destroying them. It’s said that the vanishing Dolphin more or less reflects the sickness of river Ganga. If we ever intend to save the Dolphins, we must proceed to tackle the two Ps – (pollution & poaching) urgently.