1NOW!12-18 June, 2002

GANGTOK WEDNESDAY, 12-18 June, 2002 Vol 1 No2 � Rs. 5

CLOSEST YETCENTRE FINALLY APPEARS WILLING

TO UNDERSTAND SIKKIM’S

MISGIVINGS ON EXTENSION OF

CENTRAL INCOME TAX TO SIKKIM

BOOKED

PG2

The extension of Direct Tax Laws to Sikkim has already sealedthe fate of one government in 1994 and continues to be atouchy issue in the State. Few are willing to even intiate adebate on the issue and as former Chief Secretary, KS Rao,puts it in his memoirs, it remains an issue that even the per-petrators are willing to exploit should the opportunity arise.As things stand, the Direct Tax Laws have been extended toSikkim. Only the implementation part remains unachieved.All of this could now get a rethink with the Centre finally show-ing some interest in trying to understand what Sikkim hasagainst the whole idea of extending central Income Tax to the

State. Those in the know of things inform that the Centre hasoffered to constitute a “high-level” committee comprising ofState and Central government officials in a bid to first under-stand and then resolve the issue. “Income Tax is a Centralsubject and there is no need for the Centre to involve localofficers if it is looking at implementing it in Sikkim. The offerfor constituting a high-level committee with the representa-tion of officials from the State is proof that the Centre is nowfinally open to the idea of reconsidering the whole Tax issue.They want to understand it better,” a senior politician con-fided to NOW!

- TURN TO PG 4 FOR DETAILS -

IS THE BOMB TICKING?THE BIG

’C’ INSIKKIM

THE BIG’C’ IN

SIKKIMMost people

here come in

too late.

Early detection

could save

lives -Dr. Yogesh Verma, Consultant

Pathologist, STNM Hospital

ITSWATER-BORNE

ANDITS HERE

IN

rajdhani

SPECIAL WORLD CUP COMPETITION INSIDE. BUMPER PRIZES TO BE WON

2 CLASS X STUDENTS SCORE FULL MARKS IN MATHS

BAICHUNG

SCORES

WITH

TEN

SPORTS

BAICHUNG

SCORES

WITH

TEN

SPORTS

12ON PAGE

2 NOW! 12-18 June, 2002THE COMPLETE PICTURE

BOOKED

CRIME BRANCH CLAIMS

ADULTERATION,

PETROLEUM DEALERS

CRY FOUL

VINODENTERPRISECLEARSITS NAME

GANGTOK: One of the 9 FIRs registered by the Sikkim CrimeBranch on 31 May, 2002, accused Vinod Enterprise of Tadong ofhaving understated purchases while filing its Sales Tax returns. Itnow appears that the charges resulted from a “clerical” error madeby employees at Vinod Enterprise while replying to Crime Branch’squestionnaire.Vinod Agarwal of Vinod Enterprise, while speaking to NOW re-vealed that the allegation pertaining to Form C HH 151877 wasslightly complicated. It appears that the company sent the 2 Form‘C’s to Siliguri-based Darjeeling Cements Ltd when it lifted goodsworth Rs. 14,70,975 from it. The company had requested for twoForm ‘C’s so that it could split the amount into two. The numberwith Crime Branch carried a figure of Rs. 7,00,975 and the preced-ing one was filled for Rs. 7,00,000 making the total tally with theamount in question. Following a change in central policy on theamount which a single Form ‘C’ could carry, the company used

only one and returned the other (an attested copy of which wasshown to NOW). The confusion arose since the split Form ‘C’swere released before the Crime Branch approached Vinod En-terprise with its questionnaire and one of the Form ‘C’s returnedafter Vinod Enterprise had replied leading to the misconceptionthat it had understated while filing returns with the State SalesTax Department.In the second case, the employee at Vinod Enterprise left out thezero in 14,02,735 while replying to Crime Branch leading it to be-lieve that the hardware dealer had assessed for only Rs. 1,42,735.The counterfoil, attested by Sales Tax officials, bears out this storyas the figures in it are correct - the crucial zero included.Mr. Agarwal, while talking to NOW rued that the confusion andthe subsequent loss of faith in his dealership would not havearisen had the details been crosschecked with him before theFIR was filed.

THEPETROLEUMDEALERSSTAND

This has reference to the newspublished in a local weekly, underthe heading “Petrol AdulterersBooked.”We, the Petroleum Dealers,would like to clarify that we didnot hoard any POL products andneither did we resort toadulteration of petroleumproducts as per the report.The Oil Depots did not releasepetrol and diesel on the 2 June2002 being a Sunday and alsoon Monday 3 June 2002, due tonon-availability of the new rates.Also due to the tourist seasonand advance notice of theexpected price hike telecast inthe national media there was asudden rush on our pumps andwe experienced unusually highsales figures those last few daysand therefore our stocks werevery low. On 3 & 4 June 2002,we had informed the FoodDepartment that we were downto reserved stock. In fullcompliance of the FoodDepartment’s directives/regulations, we kept reservedstocks of petrol and diesel on 4June 2002 that were checkedand controlled by the FoodDepartment on that very day.The Crime Branch of the SikkimPolice had taken samples of petroland diesel from most of the petrolpumps from Gangtok up toRangpo on 28 April, 2002, andinstead of checking the density ofthe POL products which is the onlymethod of testing available in thepumps, they have reportedly sentthe samples outside the State forsophisticated laboratory testswhich are beyond the commonknowledge of the dealers.We, the Dealers, are only thedispensing mediums of the OilCorporations and retail only whatwe receive. We maintain that thequality of our POL products wereas per the prescribed density.Jigme NamgyalPresident,Sikkim PetroleumDealers’ Association

GANGTOK: Former SP, CrimeBranch, Avichal, as he left to jointhe Special Protection Group (SPG)rode out in the wake of perhaps themost sensational series of FIRs. Un-der him, the Crime Branch, on 31May, 2002, registered a recordnumber of nine FIRs on allegationsvarying from adulteration of petro-leum products to evasion of SalesTax to corruption.

A “Press Note” issued by theCrime Branch discloses that ninepetrol pumps along National High-way 31-A were raided by two teamsof Crime Branch sleuths on 28April, 2002. The teams were act-ing on “reliable” information that“owners of the petrol pumps inSikkim were indulging in largescale adulteration,” informs thePress note. Samples were collectedand reportedly sent off to Delhi forquality tests. Six of the nine pumpsfailed to meet the Bureau of IndianStandards’ quality levels, informedSP Avichal, and FIRs under section7 of Essential Commodities Act,1955 read with section 420 of IPCwere registered against them.

Interestingly, large-scale adul-teration of petrol normally involvesthe use of Naptha, available in lim-ited quantities as thinner for paintsand used extensively in the manu-facture of zealine. Sikkim, inciden-tally has no wholesale dealer forNaptha.

A Press release issued bySikkim Petroleum Dealers’ Asso-ciation informs that the only methodof testing available with the petrolpumps is for density. Petrol pumpsowners, while speaking to NOW,revealed that they have been pro-vided only a hydrometer and ther-mometer by the oil companies tocheck the “purity” of a consignmentbefore taking delivery.

“We have no other way of know-ing whether there is any impurity inthe petroleum consignment and fur-thermore, on the same day as theCrime Branch raid, mobile labora-tories of IOCL, BPCL and HPCLhad conducted surprise checks andpassed the samples of all POL prod-ucts of the dealers,” they add. Thedealers claim absolute innocence(read accompanying statement).

The dealers here maintain thatthey are only the dispensing agen-cies and that quality control is thelookout of the companies. A validpoint they raise in their defence isthat Crime Branch should have com-pared their samples with samples

by A STAFF REPORTER

collected the same day at the oil de-pots at Siliguri and Majitar fromwhere Sikkim gets its supplies. “Ifthe quality of our stocks were foundinferior than the one at the depotsthen we can be accused of foul-play,but not until it is proven that the sup-ply was pure and our samples adul-terated. If both products were adul-terated, then the depots or the oilcompanies should be booked, notus,” the petroleum dealers contend.

It might also be mentioned herethat Naptha, the usual agent for adul-teration elsewhere in the country, ismuch more volatile than petrol andsurprisingly still sells for Rs. 7 a li-tre against the Rs. 29 that a litre of

petrol costs nowadays. Consumersmight also be interested to know thatthe Bhure Lal Committee set up tolook into the problem of adulterationin mid-nineties had recommended tothe Supreme Court to allow consum-ers to sue oil companies for adulter-ated fuel since action against trans-porters and retailers proved futile.Another study conducted by the Cen-tre for Science and Environment hasrevealed that the failure rate of pet-rol samples tested for purity is seventimes more than that found duringtests done by oil producing compa-nies on the basis of which dealersrest assured that their stocks are pure.

When asked why the accused had

not been arrested since the chargesunder Essential Commodities Actconstituted a non-bailable offence, SPAvichal revealed that since most ofthe accused were permanent residentsof Sikkim and had too much at stakehere to run away, an arrest was un-necessary. He also mentioned thatsince almost all the petrol pumps hadbeen booked, there would be a short-age of fuel in the capital if the own-ers were arrested. Shortage might stillcome since the petroleum dealers arenow wary of lifting any further con-signments since the quality controlmechanisms at their disposal are stillprimitive at best.Turn to pg 3 for more on the FIRS

3NOW!12-18 June, 2002 UP-FRONT

GANGTOK: “Imagine what is theamount of loss suffered by the pub-lic exchequer and what forces areallowing it to happen?” ends theCrime Branch Press Note while re-vealing the FIR registered by itagainst Calcutta Hardware Storeswhich it alleges has “purchased,bought and sold” cement worth al-most Rs. 2 crores since 1995 inSikkim without having paid any tax.

SP Avichal, who was the SPCrime Branch at the time of regis-tering the FIRs, told NOW that theFIR against Calcutta Hardware raninto 40 pages. He also revealed thatthe investigation limited itself toonly a handful of companies whichCalcutta Hardware dealt with.

The Crime Branch communi-que claims that the dealer in ques-tion has been “evading huge amountof sales tax by (a) using CentralSales Tax Form ‘C’ which have notbeen issued to them and thereforenot disclosing their utilisation, (b)understating and/or wrongly statingthe details of officially issued Form‘C’ and (c) not disclosing the utili-sation of officially issued Form ‘C’to the Government of Sikkim forpurpose of assessment of sales tax.”

It might be mentioned here thateven the Comptroller Auditor Gen-eral’s Report for the year ending 31March, 2001, had pointed out thatCalcutta Hardware had purchasedcement worth Rs. 17.73 lakhs in1995-96 using Form C’s which hadnever been issued to it. Subsequentfollow-up by NOW with the Sales

Tax Department revealed that theForm C’s had indeed been issuedby the Department.

Making a rather serious com-ment on the existing infrastructurein place, the Crime Branch ob-serves: “There are departmentalmechanisms for physical verifica-tion of goods brought inside theState. The above evasion of salestax also reveals total failure ofcheck-posts created for this pur-pose.”

A case has been registeredagainst Calcutta Hardware undersection 420, 424, 177, 120 B of IPCread with section 23 of Sikkim SalesTax Act, 1983.

The Sales Tax Department in itsdefence claims that it is deliveringthe best possible results given theinfrastructure in place. Not only

Crime accuses hardware dealer of dodging SalesTax on Rs. 2 crore worth of procurement

does Sikkim not have a RevenueCadre, it does not even have stock-yards at the check-posts to carry outproper inventorisation of goods en-tering Sikkim.

Officials at the Departmentpoint out that the pressure for it toraise “serious” revenue has onlyincreased in the recent past and thatthey have been meeting and evenovershooting the targets set for iteach financial year.

Admittedly, there is scope forimprovement, but officials point outthat since manual checking of everysubmission is not humanly possible,a certain amount of business ethicsis also required.

The Crime Branch, in its Pressrelease highlights: “It is to be notedthat this evasion of tax is calculatedfor only one firm dealing in hardware

goods, for only one product, i.e. ce-ment, and on the basis of informa-tion supplied by only few companiesmanufacturing cement and only forthe last five years. There are severalother companies manufacturing ce-ment, there are numerous other prod-ucts sold by the hardware dealers,there are several hardware dealers inSikkim and there are hundreds ofother shops bringing and selling allkinds of goods in Sikkim for yearsfrom now.”

While Sales Tax Departmentmight not agree with the rampantSales Tax evasion racket as paintedby the Crime Branch, it has been pro-active on its part and has reportedlyissued notices to both Calcutta Hard-ware Stores and Vinod Enterprisesto reply to the allegations broughtforth in the Crime Branch FIRs.

by A STAFF REPORTER

GANGTOK: Last month sevenpersons died of cancer in Sikkim.A sample study at STNM Hospitalfor the year 2001 shows more thanhundred proven cases of cancerwhich have been referred to highercenters. Each day friends, relativesand neighbours talk of someonewho either has cancer or has diedof it. What was once mentionedsurreptitiously is now out in theopen. Cancer is commonconversation.

World estimates show morethan 10 million new cases everyyear – more than half from thedeveloping world. By 2020, one outof 6 Indians is likely todie of cancer. Thecancer bomb is tickingin Sikkim too.

Although noconcrete study has beendone to show the exactincrease in the numberof cancer cases, doctorssay they are witnessinga perceptible increase inthe number of cancerpatients reporting everyweek.

The lack of a cancerregistry system in Sikkim makescollating data a difficult task. Butthis year, under the aegis of thenational Cancer ControlProgramme, centers will be set upin district headquarters to screencancer patients making registrationmandatory.

According to Dr. IL Sharma,Programme Officer, NCCP, “Lackof trained people is the mainhindrance in providing earlydetection and care. We have tiedup with Chittaranjan CancerInstitute, Calcutta, to send usdoctors who will train our localpeople.”

Most doctors agree that amajority of cancer cases can beprevented and even cured by earlydetection. Says, Dr.Yogesh Verma,

Consultant Pathologist, STNMHospital, “In Sikkim most peoplecome in at a very late stage whenmetastasis has already set in. Thatmeans cancer has already spread.Early detection can save lives.”

Although most cancer cases aremultifactoral and cannot beattributed to one single factor,genetic predisposition and culturalfactors like diet and lifestyle impactstrongly on the disease. Doctorshere claim that certain kinds ofcancer are more common amongthe Bhutia-Lepchas. For instance,colon cancer is directly linked todiet. Among populations that

consume a diet high in fat, alcoholand red meat, colon cancer is morelikely to develop.

In 1994, The AmericanInstitute for Cancer Research, incollaboration with the WorldCancer Research Fund, examineddiet and cancer prevention from aninternational perspective. Thestudy recommended theelimination of red meat, animal fatand alcohol from the diet, among

other things. Put them together andthey are a potent combination.

Doctors at STNM, say that thelocal preference for red meat andfat increases the chance ofdeveloping stomach cancer.Smoked and salted meat inparticular is very carcinogenic andshould be avoided. Another formof cancer very common here iscancer of the Oesophagus or thefood pipe which is directly linkedto the chewing of tobacco and betelwhich is also very common.

Inspite of the rising incidenceof cancer cases here treatmentfacilities are yet not available. Says,Dr.Yogesh Verma, “Cancertreatment is very expensive. Wecan’t do chemotherapy or radiationhere because the set up will costhuge amounts of money. We also

don’t have an oncologistwho is a specialist incancer management.After diagnosis we referall the patients to highermedical centers”. Thestate governmentsubsidizes cancertreatment for theSikkimese people.According toDr.Bhandari, “that couldbe one possible reasonwhy more and more casesare coming forward. I

can’t say for sure whether cancer isreally on the rise or it seems that waybecause of more awareness andbetter diagnostic facility.”

Be that as it may, the factremains that cancer is one of thebiggest killers in town. A collectiveeffort is needed to spread awarenessabout early detection and cure. Thatwill redraw the fine line betweenlife and death. Because cancer doesnot always kill.

IS THE ‘BOMB’TICKING?

Cancer does not always kill, but it has been

inflicting Sikkim rather harshly of late. Or has

it? MEETA ZULCA finds out...

HIGH FAT DIET,

ALCOHOL &

SMOKED MEAT -

MOST

CARCINOGENIC

LAST DATE FOR BOOKING AD-SPACE

20TH JUNE, 2002

NOW!COMES OUT EVERY WEDNESDAYMARK THE DAY ON THE CALENDAR

ANNOUNCING!The

Travel Bookwhich will createpublishing history.

The first travel book in Bengalito come out of Sikkim

4 NOW! 12-18 June, 2002FROM THE SPOT

NOW! phone: 70949

RS. 1.36CRORE JANTABHAVAN FOR

GANGTOKGANGTOK: The State Cabinet,which met here last week, hasapproved a number of schemes andprojects.

An amount of Rs. 49.30 lakhshas been approved for the BulbuleyHimalayan Zoological Park here.The project will include fencing ofthe entire Park area and the settingup a veterinary hospital in itspremises.

The Cabinet also accordedsanction to the construction ofmodel villages in the State. Anamount of Rs. 20.25 crores hasbeen approved for the constructionof 25 model houses each in 27constituencies of the State.

Rs. 2 crore has also beenapproved by the Cabinet forproviding free LPG connections topoor households in the State.

The Cabinet also approved Rs.1.36 crores for the construction ofa ‘Janata Bhawan’ in Gangtok.

EDN MINISTER

ANNOUNCES

MERIT

SCHOLARSHIPSGANGTOK: Education Minister,RB Subba announced the Stategovernment’s decision to startmerit scholarships for the top threestudents of classes V, VIII and Xfrom government schools.

He also disclosed thatcomputers would be provided to29 Secondary Schools in the Statein order to promote computerliterary amongst the students. Healso called upon the teachers toensure that the standard ofeducation imparted in the schoolswas of “top quality”. Educationand health are the top priority ofthe State government, he said.

Mr. Subba said this at a functionheld here on June 7, organized bythe Sikkim United Teachers’Welfare Association.

He released the first issue of amagazine Gyan Jyoti, published bythe Association during theoccasion.

-IPR

GANGTOK: The official resultsfor the Class X and XII boardexams conducted by CBSE are inand Sikkim has not fared toopoorly. In fact, it has established anew record for itself with twostudents securing cent per centmarks in Mathematics.

About 8,00,000 students sat fortheir Class X and XII CBSEexaminations nationwide this year.The overall national results haveseen a marked improvement.According to CBSE chairman,Ashok Ganguly, “The overall passpercentage this year is 69.53,which is a jump of almost 3%.”Describing the overall CBSEresults as “very good”, Ganguly

said some 5,30,000 studentsappeared in the Class Xexaminations this year which is anincrease of 6.9%.

It would be difficult to saywhether Sikkim has fared well ornot in the exams. A look at theoverall state results seem toindicate that the performance ofour students has been slightly betterthan average. The percentage ofsuccessful candidates of theAISSCE (class XII) is at 73% whilethat of the AISSE (class X)candidates is at 45%. This latterstatistic does seem unsatisfactorybut taken with the national levelperformance in the same category,is 8% higher. The national figuresfor the same are at 37%.

According to Mrs. MamtaThapa, Deputy Director,

Examination Cell, Department ofEducation, the students have faredwell this year with the passpercentage going up from 38% theprevious year to 45% this year. Shealso added that the State toppers ofthe Class VIII board exams are doingexceptionally well in their boardexams. State government incentivesin the form of cash prizes to the ClassVIII toppers is a welcome bonus anddoes seem to have egged on ourstudents, she adds.

A total of 3,378 studentsappeared for the examinations outof which a total of 1,519 studentssecured pass marks. Some of theremarkable results have beenregistered in JNV Phodong,Lingee SS and East Point SSwhere the pass percentage ofstudents is at 100%.

Another outstandingachievement has been the scoringof maximum marks (100%) inmathematics by two of ourstudents. This feat is a first of sortsfor Sikkim. Niraj Basi from HolyCross and Bhanu Pratap Singhfrom Soreong SSS, both appearingin their Class X exams, haveproved that people from the hillsare as comfortable with the subjectas those of cities.

The first three Class X statetoppers for this year are: SambhabiRoy from Holy Cross with 88.2%,Gaurav Basu Roy from Pelling SSSwith 88% and Shradhanjali Adhikarifrom Holy Cross with 87%.

The State toppers for Class XIIare: GunjanThapliyal from TNSSSwith 88% in the Science stream,Tshering Yankee Bhutia fromPNGSSS with 75.4% inHumanities and Pravin Agarwalfrom Pelling SSS with 85.2% in theCommerce section.

Sikkim improves on its performance at CBSE; Does

better than national averageTHIS YEAR’S

RECORD -

2 STUDENTS

WITH CENT

PER CENT

MARKS IN

MATHS

JNV PHODONG,

LINGEE SS AND

EAST POINT SS

POST 100% PASS

PERCENTAGE

by SUMANLATA PRADHAN

CLOSEST YETGANGTOK: Word has it that theCentre has made the first concilia-tory gestures towards giving in toSikkim’s, now decade-old, demandfor withdrawing the Direct TaxLaws from the State. In a recent de-velopment, the Centre in a commu-nique to the State Government hasoffered to set-up a Centre-Statehigh-level bureaucratic committeeto examine thoroughly and findways and means to consider the caseas per Sikkim’s demands. The com-mittee, inform sources, has beenapproved by the Finance Ministerhimself.

A highly placed source toldNOW that the Committee wouldlook into the “expectations and as-pirations” of the Sikkimese peoplewhile unravelling the complicatedmess that the IT issue has becomein Sikkim.

The Centre’s willingness to ac-quiesce Sikkim comes as a welcomechange in times when most had re-signed themselves to being sub-jected to Central Tax laws.

The development is also note-worthy in light of the fact that itwould seek also to resolve the issueonce and for all. The grey area withinwhich Sikkim operates given the factthat the former government had al-ready accepted the implementationback in 1992, was best illustrated bythe Chief Minister, PawanChamling, in his State Day addresswhere he had pointed out that as faras legalities were considered, Sikkimwas already a defaulter in the eyesof the Centre in general and CentralIncome Tax Department in particu-lar. The Direct Tax Laws, as men-tioned earlier have already been ex-tended in Sikkim since 1989 itself,but not yet operational. Locals, in-cluding State Government officers,still get notices from the Jalpaiguridivision of the Income Tax Depart-ment to file their IT returns, and yet,few initiatives have been made to re-solve the issue.

Persistent memorandums aside,the Finance Ministry has never beenengaged in a dialogue and the lat-est development could give Sikkim

the chance to air its views to an au-dience that matters.

Income Tax remains a Centralsubject, the Old Laws notwithstand-ing, and as things stand, the Centrehas no need to involve local offi-cials if the intention is to implementthe Tax in Sikkim. “The Centre doesnot need a Committee to implementDirect Taxes in Sikkim. The latestgesture shows that it (the Centre) istrying to understand Sikkim’s case,”vouch senior officials.

“This is the most positive signin a long time and comes at a timewhen people were already prepar-ing for a compromise,” said another.

The Centre’s offer, it is learnt,comes in the wake of a series ofparleys held between the ChiefMinister, the Prime Minister and theFinance Minister, which, at times,even involved the Defence and theHome Minister.

The message directing the forma-tion of this high-level bureaucraticcommittee outlines the job descrip-tion of this body as: “To resolve theissue and suggest practical solutions.”

The issue is easier said than re-solved. It has stretched too long tounravel in a hurry and this would bethe time that canards would fly.Sikkim needs to understand thateven legal advise went against it inthe Court battle to keep Income Taxat bay. The case is now withdrawn,because Courts would not decide onemotions. Emotions could, however,work at the Centre-State level; at thebureaucratic and the political level.

The discussions on the DirectTax Tax out will only follow onceSikkim’s status vis a vis the FinanceMinistry is cleared. The Commit-tee will also have to figure out howto “adjust” the period that haslapsed since the extension of theAct to Sikkim. Now is the time forSikkim to explain clearly that wehave in place an Income TaxManual of 1948 which is servingthe purpose for the present. It mightnot be the most refined of manuals,but given the passion with whichthe people want it protected, it isperhaps best left untouched.

It might be recalled that the

Government in the past, and morerecently with the petition made bythe all-party committee, has alsosuggested that a moratorium periodbe set between extension and im-plementation for Sikkim if with-drawal was impossible. Reliablesources inform that the moratoriumperiod, during which Sikkim is setfree “officially” of Central Taxes,has already been agreed upon. Noone wants to jump the gun yet be-cause much is expected of the Com-mittee, which reports have it, willbe chaired by a senior official of theRevenue Department of the Gov-ernment of India.

Now that the Centre has takena logical step, it is also perhapstime for Sikkim to tone down theemotions and weigh its optionswisely. Wasting this opportunitywill spoil any chance it has of with-drawal. The IT issue needs to re-solved once and for all so thatSikkim can move on. One hopesthat the Committee is allowed totruly advise the government on a“practical” solution.

HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE OF STATE AND

CENTRAL OFFICIALS TO STUDY THE

INCOME-TAX IMBROGLIO AND SUGGEST

A PRACTICAL SOLUTION

by PEMA WANGCHUK

GANGTOK: VK Sharma, Regional Director,RBI, Kolkata, who had been appointed theCommissioner entrusted with theresponsibility of preparing the Rumtekinventory, on May 25 filed a petition in theDistrict Court claiming the non-cooperation from those in control of theRumtek Monastery in completing his task.He also requested the court for furtherorders as to his future course of action.The matter, which came up for hearing onJune 5, saw Gyaltsab Rimpoche submit acounter allegation in Court allegedlyclaiming that the Commissioner was

biased and hence “unfit” to carry out theinvetorisation process. He further exoneratedhimself of all blame on the issue of non-cooperation on the grounds that he had nocontrol over the parties objecting andprotesting against the inventorisationprocess. The District Court has setWednesday, June 12, as the date to decide onthe Commissioner’s plea - whether to relievehim or to issue fresh orders. The High Court,in the meantime, will sit on June 18 and thereis talk of the possibility of a settlementconcerning the preparation of an inventorythen.

BLAME GAME CONTINUES AT RUMTEK

5NOW!12-18 June, 2002

You have been following the liberalisation process since its in-ception. Why is that Sikkim finds itself in the periphery of things?I think that the principles I talk about can be applied here as well. The best thing forSikkim is to invest in education and health and for the government to get out of economicactivity. It should be left to the people to create wealth. Sikkim has to its advantage abeautiful landscape, therefore tourism is the natural industry. The government should,for its part, create an environment conducive for investment. Another advantage forSikkim is that it has a rich Buddhist legacy. This should attract people from other Buddhistcountries like Japan, Korea, Thailand and China.

In fact, the government has identified tourism as a thrust sector. Do you think thattourism alone sustain an economy?Yes, I certainly think so. Tourism is enormously labour intensive and can create a hugeamount of jobs. I would be really happy to see lots and lots of hotels here. Eco-tourismwould be very good. But the main thing is the people should not expect the governmentto do it. The initiative should be taken by the people; they are the main players and thegovernment is like the coach at the side of the field.

The Tourism industry has been trying hard to convince the Centre to make Bagdograan international airport. CommentBagdogra should definitely have flights coming in from all over the world. The peoplewho are stopping are the same people who stopped Singapore Airlines and TATA fromcoming into the aviation airspace. That’s the mindset you are up against in the demandfor an international airport at Bagdogra, but in times of Liberalisation, we should keeptrying.

But Sikkim has very few resources to mobilise dependent as it is primarily on Centralaid for most projects. Should we again be looking at the Centre to help with theinfrastructure building required for investments to come in?Well, I don’t think that’s quite the right approach. I think it should try and stand on itsown feet. If the government of Sikkim spent its money wisely, on a few things whilemaintaining good law and order, like on good infrastructure, roads and even hydel projects

ON-RECORD

– you don’t need a big PWD department for this, even a small onewill do. And the government should play the role of an enabler,encouraging the people.

There is a lot of talk of trade with Tibet resuming over Nathu-La. Do you think that in the changes scenario of today, withSiliguri as the nearest railhead, that Sikkim will benefit fromthe reopening?Very good question. I am not sure I am competent enough to answerit. I believe that trading has both sides and unfortunately, we havetoo many sub-issue voices in India now; we’re afraid of beingswamped by the Chinese goods. Sometimes you feel the benefitsof trade are not very apparent. There’s no question that if you openNathula there will definitely be an impact on Sikkim. Gangtok hasbecome very lively, I have enjoyed myself here and even thoughthe railhead might be in Siliguri, Gangtok will still be the firsttown en-route and everyone will come here.

Lotteries are another source of income for the State exchequer.What are your feelings on that?I think lottery is a good idea and Sikkim lottery is well known. Ireally think it’s a good idea.

What does Sikkim need to do to attract serious investments?Investors are not really attracted by incentives. They are on thelookout for a conducive atmosphere towards the establishment andconduction of business. If you can convince them that the law andorder situation is good, that you don’t have militant labour like inKolkata – you’ll have to be a lunatic to invest in Kolkata – Sikkimstands a good chance. Especially if you focus on the new economybased on software development and computer education, callcentres and related areas which don’t require big investment andhave tremendous job potential. I think Sikkim should work on thesepoints.

How would you rate India’s Liberalisation experiment thus far?Well, you know it’s that it’s only half complete so we have to keepfighting everyday. And since we are a democracy, the process isslow. None of our Prime Ministers have been true reformers likeThatcher was for England or Deng for China. We have had todepend on men like Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram and nowpeople like Arun Shourie. Despite all that, I think we have come along way.

Given the present climate of war, how does conflict affect theeconomy?

It is bad for the economy. The greatest harm it causes is the diversion of the attentionand energy of the people and the politicians. So instead of continuing with reforms, theynow talk about war. About getting even. But we’ve had so many events adversely affectingIndia – earthquakes, cyclones, communal riots – and despite all that we seem to keepmoving on. What we seem to forget is how well we are doing economically despite allthat. We do have some good people in the government and if they follow what I haveextolled - free economy, get investors, build infrastructure, better education – I think wewill do well. The problem is that we spend so much on bureaucracy itself. I am actuallyquite surprised that despite the fact that it is the cream of society that gets into the civilservices, they could still go so horribly wrong. It is not that the intentions were bad. Itjust happened.

Given the fact that there is very little we can do about the bureaucracy, how do we stillwork within this steel frame?I think we need administrative reforms. I think we got to just keep pushing and pushing.There’s no magic formula. Given the present system, we just take longer to do the rightthings – longer than any other country. The good thing is that despite our situation we dohave some good Chief Ministers like Naidu and Digvijay Singh who are making thingshappen even in our own system. Like someone said if we got the bureaucrats to say yesand the politicians to say no, things would be alright.

You have been in Sikkim only a short while, but if you were still asked to comment onsomething that caught your notice, what would that be?What impressed me about this place was how well the traffic was moving, people arenot cutting across. Now that does not happen anywhere else in India. You must have avery good SP. It was also interesting to find a huge number of small hotels. This showsthat you are catering to the domestic traveller because obviously these hotels would notsurvive if the people were not staying there. I really liked Gangtok and would definitelyreturn and perhaps make to the interiors the next time.

GURCHARANDAS

SIKKIMSHOULDSPENDITSMONEYWISELY

Columnist with the Times of India and

the author of India Unbound, noted

authority on economic issues,

Gurcharan Das, was in Sikkim recently.

NOW caught up with him to pick on his

brains about some issues Sikkimese.

Excerpts from the exclusive interview...

India Unbound examines the highs and lowsof In dia through the prism of history andthe writer’s own experiences and those ofmany others. Defining and exploring the newmindset of the nation, India Unbound, is theperfect introduction to contemporary India...

“If our bureaucrats and politicians killed ourindustrial revolution, won’t they do the samewith the knowledge revolution? Ourbureaucrats will not prevail this time aroundbecause of our economic reforms. Also,because the business is virtual they cannotsee it or control it. Bureaucracy will find itdifficult to kill our knowledge revolutionbecause the internet creates transparency andbrings transactions into the public domain.It undercuts the bureaucrat’s power, whichis based on bartering of knowledge.”

***

BO

OK

EX

TR

AC

T

India Unbound; by GURCHARAN DAS;Viking; Rs. 495

“If nature gave to the Middle East the gift ofoil, and to Japan the sense of national devotion,to India it has given immense humanintelligence, although it has balanced this giftwith a lack of discipline and teamwork.Harnessing our human capital is our first duty.”

***“India is no longer the stable land ofcertainties. There is new energy, a new senseof freedom. The state is no longer the protector‘mother-father’ to many people. Suspicion ofthe state is a part of the new mindset. Insteadof viewing the end of old reverences as acynical condemnation of a corruptgovernment, I see it as the sign of a newmaturity in our democratic journey. Whetherthe change is due to an activist judiciary, or apowerful election commissioner, or the impactof television, or the Mandal social revolution,besides liberalization, it is hard to say.”

***“I now realise that the reforms are creating arevolution in ideas and changing the attitudesof the people. A revolution in ideas does notof course mean that jobs are immediatelysprouting or that poverty is disappearing.Heart-breaking poverty is still the pervasiveface of India. However,one day, and soonerthan we perhaps expect, the mental revolutionshould lead to a physical one.”

***“Whatever name we give to the ethic –Protestant, Confucian, Marwari - the fact isthat certain values seem to promoteeconomic development. We sometimes thinkof them as ‘middle-class values’. They arehard work, education, savings andinvestment for the future, and the ability tocooperate towards a common objective.”

- By permission of the author

6 NOW! 12-18 June, 2002

THE MAD GENERALSYNDROME

GANGTOK 12-18 JUNE, 2002

SIKKIM MATTERS

DEEPFOCUS

by RANJIT SINGH

Congratulations on the publicationof your new newspaper. It’s a greatfirst edition.

I’m an Australian citizen whohas been lucky enough to marry alocal Bhutia girl and we havedecided to spend the first year ofour marriage in Sikkim so that I canbecome familiar with her cultureand get to know her family.

In Australia I am a liveentertainment producer and as aresult am an avid newspaper reader.

I’ve been disappointed with theSikkimese newspapers on thewhole. Generally speaking I find

ED-SPACE

The Economics of Freedom

Freedom remains but a concept till the people who claim tobe ‘politically’ free are also economically independent. We

see it in families everyday, but refuse to understand its import.Children wanting to become independent find a livelihood be-fore they leave the “mul” ghar. What applies to individuals ap-plies to a people too. Now lets look at Sikkim. Political freedomcame with one-man, one-vote in 1975. Political expression hasbeen relatively free ever since, but are we really free? Can aState, which actually protests the extension of Direct Taxeswith the slogan: “No income, what tax?” ever be free? Unlikely.For anyone who has tried to figure out why things have gonewrong in Sikkim in the past two and half decades, the answeris simple. Sikkim was never free to take its own decisions. Itscourse was dictated by its subservience, which in turn was dic-tated by the fact that its economy was sustained on grants - amore politically correct term for hand-outs. It is not implied thatthe Centre continually played dirty with Sikkim. We failed our-selves. No matter how stringent and violent the sloganeering inSikkim, the State lost its voice the moment it stepped out of theconfines of Rangpo. No one was keen on offending a paymas-ter who had been extravagantly good through the years. All theprofessed attachment to 371F and Old Laws were diluted intomeek memorandums which gathered dust in the powerful cor-ridors of Shastri Bhavan. What worked at the political levelpercolated down to the people. Everyone was dependent (eco-nomically) on the Government. Education, jobs, celebration,sorrow - whatever the need, it was to Tashiling that we trooped.In doing so, we as a people relinquished our right to question,debate and disagree. We also lost the interest to do so be-cause everything was paid for and we became lazy. No onesquabbled over issues because interests rarely shifted fromthe preparation of the latest list of government ‘hand-out’ nomi-nees. While we might have grown comfortable with this option,we owe the next generation to survive with some more self-respect. And, self-respect will come only when Sikkim becomesself-reliant.

Self-reliance might demand many sacrifices, but rest assuredit sets the future free. For Sikkim, with a population of barely 6lakhs, the task is easy. It does not take much to change themind-set of such few. There are enough stories of how colo-nies in Delhi (and that’s about all that our population measuresto despite the trappings of a full-fledged State) have pulled offmiracles by banding together and remaining focused for us totake heart from. But one should not look towards the State tomake us self-reliant. Such expectations go against the verygrain of the concept. And neither should the government thinkthat it can deliver self-reliance. All that is required of the gov-ernment is to Govern, not over-govern. Make the conditionsavailable for self-expression and the people will express them-selves economically too. Let us make mistakes and learn fromthem because no one, not even the government, is perfect. It’sonly when the pockets are freed that mind can be truly liber-ated. With trade comes movement of not just goods, but alsopeople and that’s when ideas are exchanged and options no-ticed and grabbed. Sikkim cannot afford to let the changingeconomy of the rest of the country, and indeed the world, passit by. Its young need to get involved in the process that hassmudged boundaries and broken walls and Sikkim has erectedmany around it which need to go. The Sikkimese need to getmore proactive and stop romanticising their laid-back attitude.But where does the government fit in? Surely it has some roleto play. It does. The Government should use its mammoth ad-ministrative weight to assist entrepreneurship, not stifle it withred-tape. The best place for governance to start is where anar-chy begins. Limit the State’s involvement to that level and restassured that the excitement that hits the market then will throwup a self-reliant Sikkim in record time.

Pervez Musharraf is playinghis role well. He is not onlyliving up to the image

projected by his predecessors butoutplaying them effectively and toIndia’s increasing disenchantment.

Military dictatorships, by theirvery nature are unstable andpatriarchic and Military dictatorsby their very nature are hegemonic,paranoic and hyperactive; theyneed to be so in order to survive.

Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-haq andnow Pervez Musharraf all playedthe same game and the greatesttragedy is that India has neverlearnt.

Dictators need to create anatmosphere of insecurity amongtheir population, instill in them thebelief of being wronged andexploited and the best would be tobuild up the threat of foreigninvasion where it does not exist.This threat perception is vital totheir survival. Then follows thepropaganda - gushing, slushing andbrain washing the people into astate of semi-hypnosis. The highideological, breast-beating and selfglorifying tone of propaganda isenough to transform its subject intoan object of veneration.

With the population knotted intension and grappling with the highpropaganda unleashed by thepower hungry generals, it is easyfor them to see in their dictator asaviour and benefactor. Andmanipulation is just by the by.

Saddam Hussein has perfectedthis art. He has played theAmerican card to such an extentand finesse that the anti-Americanhysteria in Iraq transcends hunger,cold, sanctions and just about everyhardship suffered by the people onhis account. He is hailed each timehe defies UN diktats and cocks asnook at Bush. Mercifully, he hasnot yet proclaimed himself god, butsaviour, yes. General Qaddafi hadno such qualms in declaringhimself the divinerepresentative and even hadsomething called the GreenBook issued in which hepreached his own version ofIslam and in which, ofcourse, he more thanjustified himself and hispolicies. The AyatollahKhoemini of Iran wouldonly come to power on thestrength of the Shiaconviction in his legacy asthe preacher of true Islammade easier by apropaganda of anti Americaand anti everything western.The previous regimeincidentally, was a strongally of the US. Then therewas a Sudanese dictatorwho went further anddeclared himself the Majhiwhich is the equivalent toVajpayee asking us tobelieve he is an incarnationof Ram or Krishna. And ofcourse, the east Europeanand Soviet dictators whohad found their ‘raison deetre’ in capitalism.

General Musharraf andhis predecessors neverneeded to go to suchextremes. Not when Indiaoffered them Kashmir.Usurping power to themwas a cake-walk – what

with the canny ability of themilitary establishment of Pakistanto brush aside the civiliangovernments with an air oftolerated impatience.

India in general and Kashmirin particular have been the trumpcards of Musharraf and his dictatorpredecessors and also the key totheir survival.

India is projected as a huntereyeing its prey and the prey isPakistan. Kashmir is their brotherin distress, being gobbled by thebeast called India. No one can savethem, none in civilian attire that is.

This all is for internalconsumption. The fuel for externalcombustion is provided by rogueenergy. Saddam Hussein, Zia-ul-Haq, Musharraf – patrons,propagators, royal loyalists of theMad General Syndrome.Musharraf ’s is a classic case.Impulsive, impatient, passionateand trigger happy. His speeches,actions, gestures and provocationsare all designed to suit the imageof a rogue; one that he needs toportray to the outside world and toIndia - that he is easily provokedand instigated into irrationalbehaviour. And that one way ofreining him in is throughappeasement.

It’s a win-win situation all theway. With one side so head strongand nuclear willing, the other side,invariably India, is forced into thecautious, rational and appeasingposture of a big brother dealingwith the tantrums of a spoiltyounger one. This role has beenrepeated ad nauseam but our

mandarins in Delhi, too, areincorrigible.

In spite of having defeated ourspoilt neighbour in three wars, wehaven’t been able to pin her downto submission; which in ourvocabulary means giving up onKashmir. Indira Gandhi had thechance in 1971 but mellowed downand settled for the Shimlaagreement. Pakistan now does noteven recognize it. In the follow upto the Agra Summit last year, anumber of concessions were madeto Pakistan which were seen asefforts at appeasement. So muchfor big brotherly attitude.

Despite intense diplomaticefforts at building up consensusagainst Pakistan, Jaswant Singhand Vajpayee have failed to hit thejugular of Pakistan, namely theimposition of economic sanctions.Musharraf has played his role sothoroughly and convincingly thateven the western nations are – wellnot impressed – convinced.Convinced that he is a rogue,convinced that he will drop thebomb and convinced that he needsappeasement.

The UK is worried that nuclearmissiles could be launched byPakistan. More absurd is theirbelief that such a decision “may betaken by a brigadier who willdecide whether you and I live ordie”. This brigadier will certainlynot dream of any promotions. TheBritish perception is that aPakistani corps commander “thinksa nuclear weapon is just a biggerartillery piece”. This is the ‘roguediplomacy’ at play here. The beliefthat such a rumour was plantedrather than accessed wouldn’t beentirely misplaced.

From other news reports itwould seem that Musharraf is onhis way to having the cake andeating it too. According to them,the international community has

put a price tag on GeneralMusharraf ’s willingnessand ability to stopinfiltration across the Lineof Control. The price tag isan impressive $ 4.5 billion:two thirds of the amount inrescheduling debts to theUS and the remainder of$1.5 billion in debt owed toGermany, Canada andFinland. In addition, themajor powers, includingRussia and China, aredangling the carrot of a $3billion, 1,500-km gaspipeline from Daulatabad inTurkmenistan to Gwadar inPakistan. It is estimated thatMusharraf will get $500million annually in royaltywhen the pipeline iscompleted. And all thisdespite our DefenceMinister, George Fernandesasking the Americans toturn off the tap of aid andloans to Pakistan to forceMusharraf to prove his anti-terrorist credentials.

And what does Indiawalk home with; a bloatedbelly and a deflated ego;empty promises and emptypockets. The survivors atthe end of the day will beIndia, Pakistan andKashmir. And Musharraf.And none to call his bluff.

the level of journalism quiteaverage and in some instancesembarrassing.

It is because of this that I wasdelighted to read the first editionof NOW. The standard of writingis excellent and there is a widevariety of articles to suit alldemographics.

I’ll certainly be tuning into yourpublication every week and I amconfident that if the standard ismaintained you will very quicklybecome the number onepublication in Sikkim.

NOW certainly is a breath offresh air!

Best of luck,Phil

LETTERS�

THE FIRST BOUQUET

7NOW!12-18 June, 2002

The burden of his song rings true

OPINION

reviewBOOK

WITHER GOVERNANCE:

REFLECTIONS OF AN

ASSAM CIVILIAN

by K Sreedhar RaoSouth AsiaFoundationRs. 450

When a bureaucrat who had to onceleave Sikkim because he called aspade a spade and was invited back

only when power changed hands, writes hismemoirs, one expects a dynamite. K.Sreedhar Rao, who has served Sikkim as itsDevelopment Commissioner and Chief Sec-retary in two terms, does not really deliver adynamite, but still scripts a book which everypublic servant should read as should anyoneeven remotely interested in what ails the steelframe of Indian public service.

While many have written, and rathervitriolically at that, about the need to over-haul the institution of governance, WitherGovernance: Reflections of an Assam Civil-ian, by KS Rao delivers on a different levelbecause we have here an experienced formercivil servant unloading the “burden” of his

“song” in the form of a book. Rao also doeswell to link the security concerns of the na-tion to the “inability and unwillingness” ofthe powers-that-be to address the concernsmade real and present because of a govern-ance that is “discriminatory”.

Rao might not break any new ground with hisarguments, but because we have a part of the sys-tem pointing out the cobwebs in this book, theneed for a rethink becomes even more urgent.

Admittedly in the vanaprastha stage ofhis life, Rao lavishly sprinkles his entire de-bate on governance with spiritual readingsinto life and duty. Even his final summation,where he points out that most of India’s prob-lems would dissipate “easily” if “we resolveour internal conflicts, become economicallystrong and strengthen our institutions mak-ing them more efficient and free of corrup-tion”. No earthshaking revelations here, butwhat it packs into the 338 pages preceding itthat make for interesting reading.

Rao has had a rather full career. He wascutting his teeth as an administrator in As-sam when extremists first started coming outof the woodwork there. He fills his book withminute details of what went wrong in Assamand these should serve as a list of don’ts forSikkim. But what would really interest read-ers here are the two chapters he devotes toSikkim - each on his two terms here. Eachunder different Chief Ministers.

While introducing Sikkim to his readers,Rao admits that the debate whether India wasright in taking the steps she took has not al-together died down in Sikkim. For him, how-ever, the matter is settled as: “The event(Merger), it appears, on balance was a casewhere India, while no doubt taking steps tosecure her northern frontiers, merely helpedalong a historically inevitable process.”

Rao also passes a backhanded complimentto Sikkim’s high society, who, he writes, dis-cuss the merger in “very elegant drawing roomsof some of the officers in gentle and dignifiedlanguage, and with great dignity, reflecting thehighly refined and civilized character of thesociety.” Sikkim’s penchant for extravagancefinds immediate mention in the words, “Finescotch was always available and copious quan-tities were consumed with gusto by all present.”

Rao, as most people who have workedwith him would vouch, is also very opiniated.His dislike for former Chief Minister, NarBahadur Bhandari, under whom he served inthe late eighties as the Development Com-missioner, comes through rather overtly in hischapter on Sikkim where he writes of hisbafflement over the word “Sangram” inSikkim Sangram Parishad because the “ex-act target and the purpose of the ‘Sangram’has been kept “rather vague”.

How this officer, who had been given a freehand to run the affairs of governance became a

persona non grata overnight makes for inter-esting reading. Appointed an election observer,Rao sent back a “confidential report” to theElection Commission with his take on howBhandari won all 32 seats in 1989. He wrotethat the overwhelming victory was due to the“quite open” way in which substantial sectionsof the government servants worked for the rul-ing party. As an example he wrote of a seniorIPS officer, whose wife was a candidate for theruling party and how this officer openly cam-paigned for her during the election process. Thereport, which was “confidential”, was sent backto the Chief Minister re-elect for “commentsand action”. Rao’s honeymoon was over. In ef-fect, the man was let down by the same steel-frame that he was part of.

While his first tenure was relativelysmooth except for the sore note it ended on,Rao’s return to Sikkim in 1997 was onepacked with much more drama. It was alsoone with many more achievements. He wasafter all, now the Chief Secretary.

He speaks of the inherent partisan natureof Sikkim bureaucracy in their conspiring tokeep the Sikkim Manipal Hospital cum col-lege project at bay and the role played by themin the tense times of the Employment Ex-change standoff of which he writes: “Somethoughtless, self-styled intellectuals with chau-vinistic inclinations, without understanding therationale behind this decision (to set up anEmployment Exchange in Sikkim), and theconcrete benefits that would flow therefrom,started expressing serious reservations andarticles were written in the local papers.”

Do you know the only man who lit acigarette from a nuclear explosion?”Sir Arthur C Clarke is fond of ask-

ing his visitors these days.The world-renowned science fiction

writer and space visionary, now 84, happilyvolunteers the answer: Ted Taylor, a leadingAmerican nuclear scientist. The man had justheld up a small parabolic mirror during anuclear test - the giant fireball was 35 kilo-metres away.

“The moment I heard this, I wrote toTaylor, saying, Don’t you know smoking isbad for your health?” Clarke adds with achuckle.

In fact, Clarke takes an extremely dimview of smoking and nuclear weapons, andwould like to see them both outlawed. Sit-ting in his home in the Sri Lankan capital ofColombo, the author of the sci-fi classic 2001:A Space Odyssey is acutely aware of height-ened tensions between neighbouring Indiaand Pakistan - and knows his island home iswithin the range of some missiles.

Yet, questioned about a nuclear confron-tation on the subcontinent, he would only say:“I don’t recognise the ephemeral tribal divi-sions of our world, so I can’t comment on theactions of specific nations.”

But he can’t resist adding: “I once coinedthe slogan ‘Guns are the crutches of the im-potent’. Similarly, hi-tech weapons are thecrutches of impotent nations; nukes are justthe decorative chromium plating.”

Clarke offers a unique perspective on thematter. British-born and now calling himselfan “ethnic human”, he has lived in thisadopted South Asian homeland since 1956,from where he has been a keen observer of

NUKES ARE 'CRUTCHES OF IMPOTENT NATIONS'

the subcontinent’s advances in science andtechnology. He has known some of the re-gion’s top scientists - Indian space pioneersVikram Sarabhai and Yash Pal, and Pakistan’sNobel Laureate Abdus Salam among them.

Shortly after India carried out nuclearweapons tests in May 1998,Clarke issued a brief state-ment saying: “Hindustanshould be proud of its sci-entists but ashamed of itspoliticians.” He chided themass euphoria that seemed,momentarily at least, to en-gulf parts of the subconti-nent. The statement wassigned as “Arthur C Clarke,Vikram Sarabhai Professor,1980”.

That was a reference toa three-month period hespent at the Physical Re-search Laboratory (PRL) inthe city of Ahmedabad inwestern India, lecturingabout peaceful uses of outer space.

Clarke’s associations with India go backfurther, when in the early 1970s he workedclosely with the Indian Space Research Or-ganisation on the world’s first large scale useof communications satellites for direct televi-sion broadcasting to rural audiences. Prepara-tions for the Satellite Instructional Television

Experiment (SITE) Project were underwaywhen India carried out its first “peaceful ex-plosion” of an atom bomb in 1974.

“I can still remember Vikram telling mehow Indian politicians pleaded with him to'build a teeny weeny [nuclear] bomb',” Clarke

recalls from conversationshe had with the space sci-entist more than 30 yearsago.

Sarabhai was more keenon using atoms and space forpeace, but some of his peershad other ideas. The exactroles played by the subcon-tinent’s top scientists in es-calating the region’s nucleararms race will one day beassessed more objectively.But Clarke does not blamescientists. “What’s most im-portant in building and us-ing any weapon is the inten-tion of those who hold it.”

Clarke’s interest in dis-armament can be traced to his youth, when hejoined the British Royal Air Force at the startof the Second World War. As a radar officer,he was never engaged in combat, but had aringside view of Allied action in Europe.

Soon after the war ended with nuclearbombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Na-gasaki, he wrote an essay ‘The Rocket and

the Future of Warfare’.In that essay, first published in the RAF

Journal in 1946, Clarke noted: “The only de-fence against the weapons of the future is toprevent them ever being used. In other words,the problem is political and not military atall. A country’s armed forces can no longerdefend it; the most they can promise is thedestruction of the attacker....”

Clarke recalled his words when he deliv-ered the 13th Nehru Memorial Address inNew Delhi in November 1986, titled ‘StarWars and Star Peace’.

Nehru’s grandson, then Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi, chairing the meeting, rejoined:“Forty years ago, Dr. Clarke said that the onlydefence against the weapons of the future isto prevent them from being used.... Perhapswe could add to that, we should prevent themfrom being built. It’s time that we all heedhis warning....I just hope people in otherworld capitals also are listening...”

Clarke no longer travels round the world,but his views are sought and respected fromWashington to Moscow, and London to Delhi.

Now completely wheelchair-bound ow-ing to Post Polio Syndrome, he has no inten-tions of ever leaving Sri Lanka. Thanks tosatellite television that he first proposed, andthe World Wide Web that one of his short sto-ries inspired, he remains fully connected tothe world.

From the comfort of his Colombo home,he continues to ponder the future of human-kind. “How do we counteract the intellectualand emotional fascination of warfare, espe-cially as embodied in today’s glamorousweaponry?” he asks. He is both alarmed andappalled by media cheerleading of warfare -calling it ‘technoporn’.

“Much though I admire it, I am afraidGeorge Lucas’s Star Wars saga is a perfectexample, with its fascinating hardware andgorgeous explosions,” he adds, pointing outthat from glossy aerospace magazines topopular culture, technoporn images have be-come pervasive.

Clarke quotes the late American PresidentDwight Eisenhower: “Every gun that is fired,every warship launched...signifies in the finalsense a theft from those who hunger and arenot fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

Tell that to the trigger-happy statesmenand generals of this world’s poorest region.If only they can hear anything above their ownwar cries.

- GEMINI NEWS

turn to pg 9

Arthur C Clarke, science fiction

writer and space visionary, takes

an extremely dim view of

smoking and nuclear weapons.

They are both crutches - and

nukes are the equivalent of

decorative chromium plating. He

wants them outlawed but doesn’t

blame the scientists who build

the weapons. Rather, it’s the

politicians, he tells NALAKA

GUNAWARDENE, who need to be

reined in...

“A country’s

armed forces

can no longer

defend it;

the most they

can promise is

the destruction

of the

attacker”

8 NOW! 12-18 June, 2002EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

N E P A L

D I A R Yby ARTHUR PAZO

The editor are jostling me to hurry up!I’m being told that there’s lots’happening here in Nepal. Perhaps

the hottest issue all over this country at themoment is the radical move made by thePrime Minister Sher Bhahadur Deuba inextending the state of emergency withoutthe approval of his party boss and members.

In Nepal, some of the finest newsreportage comes from the Himal MediaPublications; renowned over the years forits unbiased coverage and which many ofus consider as also being very intellectuallystimulating. And, the major headline inthis issue of The Nepal Times, the weeklypaper that has in-depth articles on currentaffairs is, “Dénouement -There is anominous calm. Is a storm near?” writtenby Puskar Gautam, a former Maoist cadremember and now a reformed democrat whowrites a weekly column on the moves madeby the Maoists and gives his analysis aboutthe outcome.

In this commentary, Puskar writes thatthe Maoists have benefited greatly from thepolitical disarray in Kathmandu and thatthey seem to be using the time to re-strategise while waiting for the NepaliCongress’ internal crisis to play itself out.Meanwhile, captured Maoists have beenspeaking of preparations underway formajor attacks on military or infrastructuretargets as they now require to carry outsomething spectacular to avenge theirrecent defeat in Khara where the army saysthat at least 200 guerillas were killed. Hefurther surmises that the Maoists appearto have decided that the time is ripe fortheir ‘war ki par’ (do or die) moment, andthat there is massive forced recruitmentfrom every family of one young man orwoman in remote areas that has resultedin thousands of boys and girls fleeing tothe towns and Kathmandu over the pastmonth. Even Baburam Bhattarai himselfhas hinted as much in his interview withthe Maoist paper Jana Awaj of 9 April,where he said, “It is likely that the decisiveleap forward can be taken in the next fewmonths”.

Gautam thinks that a contributingfactor to this is the political infighting, bothinter-party and intra-party resulting in thepolarization among parliamentary parties.

Also quoting an excerpt from Mao Zedong’sRed Book, “hit the enemy when it is in acrisis,” he says that Mao’s Nepali protégéshave memorized that line. He further goeson to assume that perhaps the Maoists willwait to make one last attempt to stop theescalation of the conflict to a dramatic newlevel because the Koirala faction of theCongress hasreopened backchannels with theMaoists and theMaoists, themselvesin a classic two-trackstrategy, have keptthe door tonegotiations open.Even Prachanda in amost conciliatorygesture ever made byhim, in his May-Daystatement, is said tohave hinted atnegotiations. But

Sher Bahadur Deuba’s hard-line governmentis repeatedly rebuffing these offers with thisstance being supported by the US, UK, andIndia. However, the Europeans on the otherhand now seem to think that there is noreason why there shouldn’t be secret talks.

Puskar goes on to mention that withinthe Maoists’ there is also internal pressure.

Hard-liners areimpatient, andethnic militant allieslike theKhumbuwan MuktiMorcha have splitover whether or notto stay with theMaoists. The militiais losing localsupport due toforced recruitment,extortion, andlooting. Thesefactors, he says,could indicate that

the Maoists have decided that it is now ornever.

Next, Gautam refers to the views ofMulyankan, where it’s editor ShyamShrestha says that the prevailing situationactually presents an opportunity for peace,and that the run-up to the elections couldbe when the Maoists and the governmentmight reach a compromise.Shrestha’s four-step peace plan is as:1. Lift the emergency;2. Declare a ceasefire to provide space forpolitical activity and let the economyrecover;3. Start the process of dialogue forsocioeconomic reforms and lasting peace;and4. Have an all-party caretaker governmentto oversee elections, in which the Maoistsmay also participate.

Shrestha says, “These actions maybring the Maoists into the political process.Otherwise the elections may not meananything.” The Maoists however seemconvinced that the government will notwillingly create these conditions and aretherefore consolidating their forces for anoffensive.

In his concluding paragraphs, Gautamsays that the Maoists may feel that theyhave reached the ‘Strategic Balance’ phaseof their struggle. Other movements like theShining Path have failed because they letStrategic Balance drag too long. Heconstrues that the Maoists in Nepal thinka quick push when the state is vulnerablewill take them to victory but that they haveyet to reckon with some other factors suchas the psychological warfare that thegovernment has launched, and they knowthat their big push will not be successfulif the Indian government continues itscrackdown on their cadre in India. Andfinally he tells us that Nepal is nowpolarized between the revolutionaries andthe reactionaries, and that both could inviteoutside interference, but that the Nepalishave a third choice, which is to side withthe forces of democracy, and press forprogressive reforms.

So that’s Nepal in a capsule for you.Its soul, in as far as the present Maoistinsurgency has become a part of Nepaliethos, bared for all to see.

MAOISTS AT THE CROSSROADS

According to a researchgroup at PrincetonUniversity, a ‘limited war’,

that is, an attack by India onPakistan, will result in three millionpeople killed and another 1.5million injured, almost all of themin Pakistan.

Hence, it is not surprisingly allthe world leaders have spokenagainst the possible war in SouthAsia. World leaders have re-iterated the same theme ‘India andPakistan must retrain themselvesand hold peace talks.’

One has to ask what morerestraint Pakistan must do when itsbitter enemy has amassed troopsalong all of its borders ready to

attack. India is shelling for the9th consecutive day 24x7 withmachine guns and mortars. It

is estimated, forty one (41)Pakistani civilians have been killedby Indian firing and scores injuredin just last nine days! Pakistan hasnot attacked India in response forthese unprovoked assaults. Whatmore restraint Pakistan is beingasked for? Has anyone called onIndia to stop firing and stop killingPakistani civilians? Or has anyonedemanded India pulls back itstroops? The answer is a sad ‘no’.

Pakistan has repeatedly called onIndia to hold peace talks. The responsefrom India is again a sad ‘no.’

However, the pressure is onPakistan to show ‘restraint’, that is,not to fire back at the Indians. IfIndia is to invade is Pakistan

expected to just sit back and let theIndians kill three millionPakistanis? Also, Pakistan is beingasked to allow India attack sometargets of its choice. These targetsinclude Pakistan’s national securityinstallations under the guise of so-called ‘terrorist camps’. Is Pakistanexpected to ‘show restraint’ byletting its enemy invade anddestroy it?

Is the world forgetting thatPakistan is a sovereign country?Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent ismeant for precisely the situation itis in today. That is, in the face of apossible attack by its bitter foe,India.

It is about time the meaninglesspolitical slogan of ‘mutualrestraint’ is revised and the realaggressor India is demanded tostand down. This is perhaps arealistic approach to reducingtensions and saving the whole ofSouth Asia from a nuclearholocaust.

paknews.com

VERBATIM

UNFAIRLY TYING PAKISTAN’S HANDSWe know what the Indian media feels of the Pakistani

stance on the present stand-off, with this editorial

featured in paknews.com, NOW offers its readers what

people on the other side are being fed...

by this time next week, the new issue of YO! will be in the standshave you booked your copy yet?

contact

NOW!phone: 70949

email:

sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

snail-mail

NOW!

Near Ayurvedic Clinic

Gairi-gaon, Tadong

East Sikkim

Letters, opinions, suggestions, even streams of consciousnessinvited for the letters section. React. Respond

9NOW!12-18 June, 2002 DESPATCHES

He believes that the entire epi-sode was instigated by the Opposi-tion parties to ensure that Panchayatelections scheduled for later thesame year, were not held. When theopposition to the holding of thepanchayat elections was turneddown even by the High Court, Raobelieves, the Opposition had no op-tion but to whip up emotions anddestabilise the government. Himselfunder threat of “bomb-attacks” dur-

GANGTOK: This will probably be the last that the peopleof Gangtok have to suffer muddy water in the taps. Ifofficials at the Public Health Engineering Department areto be believed, Gangtok will soon have a state-of-the-arttreatment plant, which will do away with the problems ofmuddy drinking water supply.

The source of Gangtok water supply is the Ratey-churivulet, and located at an altitude of 8,200 ft. Ratey-chuoriginates from the Lake Tamze, located at about 12,500ft and more than 52 km away from the existing watertreatment plant at Selep.

The distance between the source and the treatment plantis about 17 km and the track passes through hilly andvulnerable terrains. This stretch is a sinking area extremelyprone to landslides and mud slips. Come rains and mattersworsen. Landslides often lead to breakage in the supplylines, through which mud and slush enter the distributionsystem. Most of the times, the water treatment plant atSelep is unable to cope up with the deluge of sediment.

Says Dhan Subba, Chief Engineer, PHE Department:“Whenever there is a problem of muddy water supply, weshut down the plant at Selep to let the sediments settledown. We filter the water, chlorinate it and then resumesupply. However, more often than not, the sediments findtheir way out into the distribution network, hence theproblem.” But the problem is not in the water treatmentplant itself. In most cases, the water gets contaminated asit passes through town through different distributionpoints. “We are seriously looking into this matter and doingour level best to make sure that the consumers get cleanand safe drinking water,” says the CE.

Admitting that despite the best efforts of the departmentto improve the quality of water supply to Gangtok,consumers are still having to face this problem, Mr. Subbasaid that things would definitely improve by next year.He revealed that a massive expansion project is being

ing the tense week, Rao while com-menting on the lathi-charge whichdissipated the entire “movement”writes: “The leaders, who had takencare to be well behind the others,managed to escape without anydamage except bruised egos.”

His leanings on the Rumtek im-broglio are also apparent when hewrites that the situation there hasbeen “complicated” to a large ex-tent by the “activities of Tai SituRinpoche”.

While some might find Rao’spersonal observations jarring, that is

what a memoir is all about. In Rao’scase, it offers us a chance to get in-side the head of a person underwhom many important decisions andprojects were taken. Most are com-ing to fruition only now. His com-ments on Sikkim’s youth, its workculture and babudom might offendsome, but there are no half-truths inwhat he writes. His observations areclear and the writing lucid and giventhe fact that there are such few ob-servations on governance in Sikkim,Rao’s effort is worth the buy. Andthe read. - pam dorjee

Contd from pg 7

The burden of his song rings true

GANGTOK: The Crime Branch completed its flurry of FIRson May 31, 2002, with one against a Food & Civil SuppliesDepartment ASI, who, it alleges, misappropriated rice fromthe Department’s Singtam Centre to the tune of Rs. 85 lakhsduring his tenure there as in-charge between August, 1998to January 2000. The FIR runs, inform sources, to a totalof 90 pages.

The Crime Branch Press note goes on to allege that theRs. 85 lakh mark is not the final figure because the Food &Civil Supplies Department “did not” make available all thedetails.

The Crime Branch goes on to hint at Departmental col-lusion in the “misappropriation” when it points out that:“There is a standing departmental mechanism for periodi-cal verification that astonishingly could not detect this hugeimbalance in accounts of Singtam Centre.”

Officials at Food & Civil Supplies Department could notbe contacted for comments, but sources maintain that theDepartment has taken strong objection to the slur.

The Crime Branch Press release goes on to point outthat the same period (as investigated by it) was also lookedinto by the Department which found discripancy of onlyabout Rs. 5 lakhs against the Rs. 80 lakh more that theCrime Branch stumbled upon.

“This huge quantity of rice must have been illegally sold,purchased and resold in the open market,” the CrimeBranch deduces while booking the accused under sec-tions 420/403/120B of IPC read with section 13(1)(d) of Pre-vention of Corruption Act.

90-pg FIR against

Food ASI

CORRUPTION COMPLETES CRIME CRACKDOWN

undertaken by the department to upgrade the watertreatment plant at Selep.

“The existing capacity of the Selep plant to desilt isabout 3 million gallons per day. However, the presentrequirement of Gangtok and its periphery is about 8 milliongallons. This is proving to be a real problem. Wheneverthere is a sudden rush of muddy water after the rains, theplant cannot treat the water efficiently and fast enough.But once the project is completed, the people of Gangtokcan expect much better supply,” he promised.

This project, a centrally-sponsored scheme recentlyapproved by the central government, is expected to costaround Rs. 4.5 crores, will incorporate new water treatmenttechnology to the existing Selep plant setup. Expected tobe completed by the end of this year, this new plant willdo away with the problem of muddy sediments.

“A new chlorination unit will also be installed in theplant, which will treat the water much efficiently,” Mr.Subba informed.

Despite the best efforts of the department, the reasonwhy the water that consumers get is murky during themonsoons is that in most cases, contamination takes placeafter the treated water is released into the distribution lines.Treated water is reserved in the 45.45 million litres capacityreservoirs at Selep and thereafter, transported to over 20distribution reservoirs. From here, water is furtherdistributed through a network of over 150 kms ofdistribution lines across the entire length and breadth ofGangtok. It is often in the distribution lines thatcontamination takes place. The lines often run throughjhoras and open nullahs to the households. Any leakage inthe pipes leads to mud, slush and microorganisms enteringthe network. The result - murky and in most likelihood,germ-ridden water that you receive through the taps.

The PHE department is working towards providingbetter quality water to the consumers but lack of fundswith the department is also proving to be a major hurdle.The existing water supply system of Gangtok is outdated,and in need of desperate changes. The system is not ableto cope with the fast increasing urban population ofGangtok and the faulty distribution network is also puttinga strain on the ageing system.

“The existing water supply system for Gangtok wasmeant only for the urban areas. But we are catering to theneeds of not only Gangtok proper, but the adjoining areasas well. This also puts huge pressure on our limitedresources and manpower. There is no shortage of water.The only problem the consumers are facing is seasonal,the case of muddy water. But once the upgradation of theSelep plant is completed, this problem will, hopefully, betaken care of,” Mr. Subba assures.

LAST MONSOONS WITH MUDDY WATERIf everything works

to plan, the PHE

Department is

confident of making

the murky monsoons

tap water run clean

by this time

next year.

SARIKAH ATREYA reports..

a NOW pic

Germans rate Dalai

Lama wiser than PopeThe Dalai Lama has topped the listof the wise in a countrywide pollconducted by the Germanmagazine Geo Wissen. The Tibetanleader polled 33 per cent of thevotes, more than twice the numberof votes polled by the runner-up,Pope John Paul II at 14 per cent.Nelson Mandela and Kofi Ananalso came high on the list. Themagazine came out on 31 Marchand the poll is covered under thetheme of issue “Erkenntnis,Weisheit, Spiritualitat”. Catholicschose the Dalai Lama even morefrequently than the averageGerman, 37 per cent of the time,and the Pope only 19 percent.

SECRETARIES

RESHUFFLED

GANGTOK: The State Govern-ment on Monday executed a minorreshuffle in a bid to streamlime gov-ernment functioning even more.Four Secretaries were switched be-tween departments.

Secretary, Education, D.Dadul, will now head the Depart-ment of Personnel along with ad-ditional charge of Department ofInformation and Public Relations

and Printing Department. He re-places Ranjit Basnet at DoP whotakes charge of Education Depart-ment while continuing with the ad-ditional charge of Department ofInformation Technology.

Rinchen Ongmu, Secretary Ru-ral Development Department nowtakes additional charge of Secre-tary to the Chief Minister replac-ing Lobsang Bhutia, who contin-ues with sole charge of Excise De-partment.

a NOW REPORT

10 NOW! 12-18 June, 2002NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCHTHE FIFA WORLD CUP 2002 DAHAMAKAguess the winner and win goodies throughout the year

thanda matlab...

GROUP A GROUP BMay 31 France vs. Senegal June 2 Paraguay vs. South Africa1700hrs 1300hrsJune 1 Uruguay vs. Denmark June2 Spain vs. Slovenia1430hrs 1700hrsJune 6 France vs. Uruguay June 7 Spain vs. Paraguay1700hrs 1430hrsJune 6 Denmark vs. Senegal June 8 South Africa vs. Slovenia1200hrs 1200hrsJune 11 Denmark vs. France June 12 South Africa vs. Spain1200hrs 1700June 11 Senegal vs. Uruguay June 12 Slovenia vs. Paraguay1200hrs 1700hrs

GROUP C GROUP DJune 3 Brazil vs. Turkey June 4 Korea vs. Poland1430hrs 1700hrsJune 4 China vs. Costa Rica June 5 USA vs. Portugal1200hrs 1430hrsJune 8 Brazil vs. China June 10 Korea vs. USA1700hrs 1200hrsJune 9 Costa Rica vs. Turkey June 10 Portugal vs. Poland1430hrs 1700hrsJune 13 Costa Rica vs. Brazil June 14 Portugal vs. Korea1200hrs 1700hrsJune 13 Turkey vs. China June 14 Poland vs. USA1200hrs 1700hrs

GROUP E GROUP FJune 1 Ireland vs. Cameroon June 2 England vs. Sweden1200hrs 1500hrsJune 1 Germany vs. Saudi Arabia June 2 Argentina vs. Nigeria1700hrs 1100hrsJune 5 Germany vs. Ireland June 7 Sweden v. Nigeria1700hrs 1200hrsJune 6 Cameroon vs. Saudi Arabia June 7 Argentina vs. England1430hrs 1700hrsJune 11 Cameroon vs. Germany June 12 Sweden vs. Argentina1700hrs 1200hrsJune 11 Saudi Arabia vs. Ireland June 12 Nigeria vs England1700hrs 1200hrs

Group G Group HJune 3 Croatia vs. Mexico June 4 Japan vs. Belgium1200hrs 1430hrsJune 3 Italy vs. Ecaudor June 5 Russia vs. Tunisia1700hrs 1200hrsJune 8 Italy vs. Croatia June 9 Japan vs. Russia1430hrs 1700hrsJune 9 Mexico vs. Ecuador June 10 Tunisia vs. Belgium1200hrs 1430hrsJune 13 Mexico vs. Italy June 14 Tunisia vs. Japan1700hrs 1200hrsJune 13 Ecuador vs. Croatia June 14 Belgium vs. Russia1700hrs 1200hrs

ROUND SIXTEENMatch 1 June 15 First in E vs. second in BMatch 2 June 15 First in A vs. second in FMatch 3 June 16 First in F vs. second in AMatch 4 June 16 First in B vs. second in EMatch 5 June 17 First in G vs. second in DMatch 6 June 17 First in C vs. second in HMatch 7 June 18 First in H vs. second in CMatch 8 June 18 First in D vs. second in G

QUARTERFINALSQ1 June 21 Match 2 winner vs. Match 6 winnerQ2 June 21 Match 1 winner vs. Match 5 winnerQ3 June 22 Match 4 winner vs. Match 8 winnerQ4 June 22 Match 3 winner vs. Match 7 winner

SEMIFINALSJune 25 Q2 winner vs. Q3 winnerJune 26 Q1 winner vs. Q4 winner

THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFFJune 29 Losers of Semifinals

FINAL

- JUNE 30 -1630hrs

ABOUT THE COMPETITION:

All you have to do is go through the table

provided alongside, pick your favourites, sort

them and project them out of each round

through to the finals.

You are getting to predict your own course

of the World Cup and have the benefit of

playing the competition after the tourney has

already begun. The choices will become

even easier as the last date for sending in

entries is 20th June, 2002. All the major

upsets would have taken place by then and

your predictions will be supported by team

performances till then. No need to rush yet

unless you are confident of the entire

scheme of things for this World Cup.

After the first-match upset, that would be

rather tough.

Anyways, the entries, filled out on a plain

white paper and in legible handwriting should

reach our office near Ayurvedic Clinic,

Tadong by 20th June, 2002 to be counted

for the final tally.

All entries that get the prediction correct up

to the Final victor will win free T-shirts from

NOW!

The winner, to be decided by a draw of lots

in case of multiple correct entries, will win a

year’s supply of Coca Cola and special gift

hamper from Rajeev Electronics, Gangtok.

In case of no completely correct entries, the

winner will be decided by the jury as the one

that has got the predictions correct to the

closest ranking. The decision of the jury will

be final and all prizes will have to be col-

lected from NOW’s office at Tadong.

The rules out of the way, get cracking on

those predictions.

ps: the most legibly chalked out predic-

tion will win a special prize from NOW!

PREDICT THEWINNER AND DRINK FREECOCA COLA FOR A YEAR!!!

14 MT8DRZM

14 Q

ua

dra

Ma

the

ma

gicMathemagic (VideoGames/Mathemagic/Telephone Nos./Messages)

99 Memory Programmes + 1 AV S band & Hyperband

NTSC Playback/DVD/LD/VCD compatibility Auto Programming

16:9 Format Channel Scan

Electronic Programme Organizer (EPO)

Electronic Picture Stabilizer (EPS)

Personal Preference (PP) 40 Watts PMPO

Electronic Child Lock Hotel Mode

(Tuning & Volume Lock) ON & Sleep Timer

Auto stand by Programme swap AV In/Out

SPECIAL WORLD CUP PRICE RS. 6990/-offer only at: Rajeev Electronics, Stadium Road, Gangtok

Rajeev electronics (P) Ltd., MG Road, Gangtok

11NOW!12-18 June, 2002 BUSINESS

BUSINESS

NOW!by KANKANA DAS

OIL PRICES

There were some extremely angry friendsover for dinner last Monday. And they

were late. They had been driving around forhours from one petrol pump to another insearch of sustenance, even as the fuel gaugehovered dangerously close to the red “empty”zone. Most pumps had a sign saying “NoStock” with smirking attendants lazingaround. The reason: everyone knew thatpetrol and diesel prices were about to go upin a few hours. So while petrol pump ownerswere trying to hoard the precious fuel,motorists were attempting to save a fewrupees by tanking up before the price rise.

There were some who were genuinely outof fuel. They had to wait till 12 midnight onJune 3 to drive their cars once again – at acost. An extra Rs 2.40 per litre for petroland Rs 1.40 for diesel. Now, in most citiespetrol prices are dangerously close to the Rs30 a litre mark. Yes, we can scream and shoutand curse the government as usual. But itwon’t help. The days of being subsidised areover. Indian consumers will finally have topay the real price of being part of theinternational economy. Other weakereconomies already pay a higher price. InPakistan for the past 4 months prices haveranged between Rs 30 and 33. The sameholds true for Bangladesh. In both thesecountries kerosene and LPG is also moreexpensive than in India. One reason whythere is a thriving illegal kerosene trade fromIndia into Bangladesh.

In fact, the government had cushionedconsumers for a short while after April eventhough the Administered Pricing Mechanismor APM was no longer in place. BetweenMarch and May international crude priceshad gone up from around $19 a barrel to $25.During that time the excise duty was slashedby 2 per cent to ensure there was noimmediate price rise. After the price hike the

government iscalculating costs at anaverage price of $25 perbarrel. But interestingly,after hitting a high of$26.64 a barrel on May14, prices have onceagain been coming downby a dollar or so. And ifthis trend continues until the time of the nextset of oil price revisions, we might just see alowering of prices. Yes a lowering. But thenagain it might also come a little later sinceoil companies, with their buffer stocks, areusually not hit immediately by pricefluctuations.

Despite the grumblings of the averagemotorist, this is eventually a good thing. Thismight finally trigger off a complete openingup of the Indian market to much-neededinvestment in oil and natural gas, fromexploration and drilling to refinery and retail.This has to be done at the earliest to guardagainst a fuel-price driven economic crisisin the future.

With India heavily dependent on imports,oil imports currently account for the largestamount of the country’s total dollar outgo.India’s consumption of petroleum productsis growing at a rapid compounded rate of 6per cent a year. Because of this the oil importbill has zoomed from $4 billion in 1990-91to $13 billion in 2000. This amount will onlyget bigger if foreign and domestic investmentisn’t actively wooed into this sector. As it is,research shows that the sector needs as muchas $100 billion over the next 15 years to tapits potential.

With APM nowhaving been dismantledit’s time to bringcompetition intopetroleum and naturalgas. Or India will beforced to makeinefficient use of foreignexchange, which

currently stands at $56 billion, puttingadverse pressure on the exchange rate andinflation. All of which eventually boils downto lower rate of economic growth and higherprices.

So let’s face it, price revisions everyfortnight is going to be a part of our lives.We might as well get used to it quickly. Butnext time round, it would be nice if thepetroleum minister keeps the news to himselfand doesn’t announce it in advance. Noneof us really enjoy angry guests at dinner.

WANTED: A CANDIDATE

A friend called from Calcutta. He’s aformer Finance Ministry employee. He

sounded rather incredulous: “Did you knowI saw an ad looking for people for theposition of the Chief Economic Advisor ofIndia in The Telegraph?” Oh, come on! Anad? The CEA is likened to none other. He orshe (sadly there haven’t been any shes yet)is the authority on the economy, a walkingencyclopedia, a key advisor to the financeminister and the government. An economistbar none.

In fact the same advertisement alsoappeared in the first week of June in theEmployment News or Rozgaar Samachar.

Am just not sure how many CEA aspirantreally read this weekly. Wonder if the formerCEA, Dr. Shankar Acharya, ever read it. Orwhether the outgoing Rakesh Mohan does.Is the finance ministry in such a spot that itis forced to seek a fitting replacement to DrAcharya and Mohan through an ad in theEmployment News? Or is this part of aprotocol that needs to be followed?

Wouldn’t the purpose of finding the rightcandidate be served better through an insertin The Economist rather than EmploymentNews?

For a man who will manage the Rs.22,00,000-crore Indian economy this surelyseems like the wrong place to begin. But incase you are interested in applying, you dohave to be an eminent economist with adoctorate and will be paid a little less thanRs 39,000 – that includes all perks andallowance.

IPO TIME

And it seems like a good time to watchwhat primary issues are about to hit

the market. Over the past two monthsInitial Public Offerings worth Rs 30,000crores have been announced. They rangefrom nationalised entities like IOC andCentral Bank of India to Bharti TeleVentures and Coca Cola. May be this isjust what the primary markets need nowto wake them up from their long slumberand give disillusioned investors somethingto invest in. Here’s to hoping there’s nomajor India-Pakistan conflict to rendermarkets completely comatose through adelay in IPO plans.

GANGTOK: SMS or ShortMessage Service is now availableto the people of Gangtok. Inkeeping with the latest trends usedby all mobile service operators, thisservice is being introduced byReliance Telecom Ltd. to Sikkimand was launched here earlier lastweek.

SMS will be available withregular connection and the servicewill be complimentary for thepeople of Gangtok till June 10,2002. Thereafter, the servicecharge will be Rs. 1 per message.The service is to be available withSmart cards; it was earlier availableonly in post-paid cards at the rateof Rs. 0.75 per message.

This is also a one-up on theprevious mode of messaging whichwas through the voice of the sender.With texts coming into the picture,more information can betransmitted and further. Throughthis facility, a subscriber fromGangtok can send text messages of

up to 160 characters to any placein India. The method of operationis to dial the select service center -+919832002222, write the textmessage and put in the destinationcode, which will be the mobilenumber of the recipient.

An interesting fall out of theprice factor – it is very cheap – isthat the service is mostly used byschool and college students andconsequently, it has become a sortof craze throughout the country.The fact that no extra connectionis needed has also added to theboom. Another advantage for thecustomers is it increases the areaof operation. The people ofGangtok will now be able to sendmessages anywhere in the country.

The response in Gangtok to thisservice seems to be veryenthusiastic. People seem to beaware of the facility but there arestill many enquiries on how to useit. That’s not the end of it. If all goeswell and with the right policies inplace, Gangtokians will also be ableto indulge in internationalmessaging in the near future.

GANGTOK: Sikkim has emerged as the leader insustainable human development with an exemplarytrack record in conservation and human developmentin the state. This was made clear at a key policyconsultation on the follow-on action on the state’sfirst ever Human Development Report. In a majorpat on the back, Dr. Rohini Nayyar, Advisor to theUnion Planning Commission, said that Sikkim waspoised to become India’s first poverty free state withthe lowest infant mortality and child malnutrition rates,along with high literacy achievements.

Addressing the workshop, UNDP Residentrepresentative in India, Dr. Brenda Gael McSweenyhailed the rapid advances made by the state towardsgender equality and sustainable livelihood. Wellknown development economist from the prestigiousJawahar Lal Nehru University, and principal authorof the report, Professor Mahendra P. Lama arguedfor safeguarding the state’s rich social and culturaltraditions in the midst of economic growth and socialchange.

Sikkim is only the third state to produce a humandevelopment report. The state Government hasalready begun the task of implementing some of themajor recommendations of the report.

SIKKIM – INDIA’S FIRSTPOVERTY FREE STATE!

FLUCTUATING PETROLEUMPRICES ARE HERE TO STAY

a NOW REPORT

SMS COMES TO TOWN

Nilesh Tawarethe first Jackpot winner

of the PlaywinSikkim Lotto

reads

YO!

have you been a lucky?

12 NOW! 12-18 June, 2002SPORTS

Published by Lt. Col. (retd) P. Dorjee and printed at Baba Offset, Tadong. Editor: Pema Wangchuk. Now! Near Ayurvedic Clinic, Gairi Gaon, Tadong. East Sikkim. ph: 03592 70949 email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

So what if we cannot enjoy the thrill ofwatching India play in the World Cup. Sowhat if we have to cheer teams from the other side

of the globe. So what if we cannot be there. So what ifour own native dribblers are forgotten in theexcitement. So what if we…. native dribblers?Native dribblers?

Hey! That’s foul! Baichung…we gotBaichung…our very own native dribbler…we haven’t forgotten..! He’s there… oh he’sthere all right. He might not be activelyinvolved but – talking about passive action -passing is what matters and the roll of histongue is doing a good enough job of passingthe ball or rather the ones who pass them.

He might not be playing in the world cup but he isdoing the next best thing – commentating on it. And that’squite a breather. PK Banerjee and Doordarshan had usteetering at the end of our patience. Now they could justrust in peace or rot to pieces for all we care. Baichung ison the expert panel of Ten Sports – owned by themillionaire Abdur Rehman Bukhatir - and Ten Sports isthe only television channel telecasting live the action ofthe World Cup in this part of the world. PK Banerjee andDoordarshan…oh we can just chuck them.

Before we go any further- the question burning withinus. (I don’t think after watching our native dribbler holdinghis own amidst the phoren variety the question of theidentity of the ultimate champions is as hot).

So here goes. Wherefrom, but from where did heacquire those chick, handsome and magnificent suits?

Baichung is courteous enough to let us know- this andother quaint curiosities itching the native scribbler. “Thesuits I had for quite some time. A few of them I bought ayear back and others more recently. All are from the UK.”

Ok, you said it. We all knew there was somethingspecial about it.

Sitting smug between the anchor and the other expertEnglish commentator Baichung makes up for his un-commentator looks but professional attitude and passionateand insightful comments. The three of them get along verywell, he says and he is thoroughly enjoying his retreat.But it is also hard work, he says. There is a lot of researchto do, net-browsing, going through the history of playersand nations, Cup traditions, foul theories and analyzingcurrent performances to put a bet on.

SIKKIMFOOTBALL

ASSOCIATIONSECOND DIVISION LEAGUE

2002

Second Division League 2002being organised by SikkimFootball Association starts from23rd June 2002. Interestedfootball clubs are advised toconfirm their participation latestby 17th June 2002. Registra-tion forms are available fromour following officials.Menla Ethenpa BK RokaSecretary, SFA Gen. Secy, SFAOffice: SIMFED Office: Police HQphones: 22429 (O) 22933 / 22055 (O)31333 / 32777 (r) 24108 (r)

“We spend half an hour before a game on analysis,and again the 10 minutes during the half-time and half anhour again at the end of the game.”

What most people will be happy about is that Baichunglooks confident on TV. He is not over-awed and nor doeshe flush or blush. It’s almost a national achievement,seriously. But Baichung knows better.

“I must say it’s a very hard job. As it is I am a quietperson so it takes a lot of effort from me to speak in frontof the camera. It’s quite obvious that I’m struggling a bit.But at the same time I am enjoying it immensely. And thebest part is that I get to see top class football and I canlearn from that as well.”

Baichung was about to sign up with the news channel‘Aaj Tak’ as their expert commentator when Ten Sportsmade it known - via email – that they were very keen tohave him on their expert panel. It was a wise move notonly for Baichung but also for the nation. We get to seethe greatest sporting event live and our best national starfootballer simultaneously and on the same TV channel.As for Baichung, he seems to be having a whale of a timein the lovely, gold studded, desert city of Dubai. He alsoseems to be completely in love with his hotel, which, hesays is beautiful. An added bonus is that his room facesthe beautiful sea.

Besides spending time in the TV studios, shooting forTV commercials is another glamorous option. And nowthat our native dribbler does look glamorous, someglamorous management companies have approached himto grace their sets, he discloses.

Well, you do seem to be in glamorous company, inglamorous clothes and having a glamorous time, Baichung.And here’s wishing you a glamorous future. We just hopeyou don’t run into the other ‘glamorous’ Indian in Dubai– Dawood whatsisname.

�

NOW! EXCLUSIVE

I’M STRUGGLING

A BIT, BUT

ENJOYING

IT TOONOW! catches up with Baichung between

takes at the Ten Sports studio in Dubai

France become the first defending champions sinceBrazil in 1966 to fail to advance to the second roundof the FIFA World Cup as they fell to a convincing

Danish side 2-0 in Incheon, Korea. Having won Group A,Denmark will take on the runner-up from Group F, whileSenegal end up second in the group and will face the winnerof the “Group of Death.”

The Danes got an early goal from Dennis Rommedahland added an insurance tally from Jon Dahl Tomasson in thesecond half. Playing five in midfield, Denmark stymied thetypical French passing style in the first half and defended innumbers in the second. The French were unfortunate thoughas they hit the woodwork twice and went close many times.

Only needing a draw to go through, Denmark came outlooking to frustrate France in midfield, and they did goodwork toward that end early on with some fine marking inmidfield.

David Trezeguet had the first chance for the French. Hismarker fell after Sylvain Wiltord fed him a pass on the edgeof the penalty area, but Trezeguet’s shot from an angle wassaved by Thomas Sorensen.

The Danes put the French in a desperate situation whenDennis Rommedahl opened the scoring. The PSV Eindhovenforward received a pass from the right and with his firsttouch put a perfect shot past Fabien Barthez and into thefar-side netting (1:0, 22’).

Trezeguet again had a chance to score France’s first goalof this final phase when Christophe Dugarry served a perfectcross from the left. The Juventus man struck a gooddownward header to the lower-left corner, but Sorensen madea fine save (30’).

Then it was Zinedine Zidane’s turn to go close. From 35metres, he tried to catch Sorensen off his line with a dipping,curling shot, but it went just high and wide to the right (38’).

France attacked with enthusiasm until the end of the half,but the Danes never seemed to miss a tackle, and whenevera French attacker did manage to put a shot on goal, Sorensenwas always on hand to make the save.

Marcel Desailly nearly had a goal for France soon afterthe start of the second half when he struck a powerful headeroff a Zidane corner kick but was forced to watch it bounceoff the crossbar (51’).

France knew that they needed more than just one goal,as a draw would do them no good, and they threw more andmore men forward. Several times they did good work in thebuild-up, only to see the Denmark defenders converge onthe ball just before the French could shoot.

France’s last hopes finally sunk when Denmark scoredtheir second goal. Thomas Gravesen played a low cross fromthe left to Tomasson, whose eyes lit up when he saw hismarker stumble and fall and the ball roll sweetly to himeight metres from goal, from where he had no trouble placinghis shot past Barthez (2:0, 67’). It was Tomasson’s fourthgoal of the tournament.

France, to their credit, did not give up after the secondgoal. Djibril Cisse and Wiltord each fired shots right atSorensen, and then destiny seemed to announced loudly thatit was plainly against France when Trezeguet had his shothit the underside of the crossbar and bounce downcentimetres in front of the goal line (74’).

Zinedine Zidane of France lays on the ground after falling, 11 June

2002 at the Incheon Munhak Stadium in Incheon, during first round

Group A action between Denmark and France in the 2002 FIFA World

Cup Korea/Japan.

JINXED

DENMARKTROUNCES

FRANCE’S WORLDCUP ’98 REPEAT

DREAMS

SENEGAL 3 : 3 URUGUAY

Needing to win, Uruguay pushed forward early andwere made to pay the price by Senegal who scoredthree times in the first 38 minutes to reserve their

place in the second round of the FIFA World Cup wherethey will face the winner of the Group F.The referee awarded El Hadji Diouf a penalty kick in the20th minute, which was converted by Khalilou Fadiga. TheFIFA World Cup debutantes added two further first-half goalsby Papa Bouba Diop, who now has three in the tournament.Uruguay stormed back in the second half, getting goals fromRichard Morales, Diego Forlan, and a penalty by AlvaroRecoba, but it was too late for the South Americans, whofinish with two points in third place.

ITALY’S DI BIAGIO OUT OF

MEXICO GAME

Italy midfielder Luigi Di Biagio will miss their decidinggroup G match against Mexico on Thursday after failingto recover from a calf injury. “Di Biagio will certainly

not play,” said team doctor Andrea Ferretti. “It’s not goingto be a short recovery. I believe that it is an injury that willrequire at least 15 days to recover.” That would rule themidfielder out of action until at least the semifinals startingJune 25, should Italy get that far in the tournament.