Rao salvaged situation in Punjab, J&K

Rao salvaged situation in Punjab, J&K

Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi | December 24, 2004 

Former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao's role in pushing economic reforms is well-known. Another major achievement was ushering peace in the militancy-hit state of Punjab and getting a firm hand on the terrorism problem in Jammu and Kashmir

Rao became prime minister in 1991. Within six months, he brought K P S Gill, then chief of the Central Reserve Police Force, back to Punjab.

"Rao understood Punjab well. He never interfered in policing," says Gill.

Rao followed a two-pronged strategy. First, he appointed Gill as the state police chief in December 1991 and then resumed the democratic process in the violence-torn state.

After the violence was brought under control, an assembly election was held in February 1992.

"We were effective because we were allowed to do our job," Gill says. "Once people voted the Congress to power and Beant Singh became the chief minister, I hardly interacted with the Centre."

Girish Chandra 'Gary' Saxena, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing and former governor of Jammu and Kashmir, agrees with Gill. He paid handsome tributes to Rao saying, "A highly intellectual and well-endowed prime minister, Rao never kept a remote control with him."

Rao could not get the kind of results in J&K that he did in Punjab for which he was accused of dithering.

But Saxena has a different explanation. "Many times, Rao kept many decisions on hold. It could be seen as an indecisive act but to Rao the problems were not ripe enough for solutions.

"His grip on the facts about Kashmir and related issues was perfect. After comprehending a problem, Rao would say that it has to evolve till it's ready to be resolved. Till that time, the problem needs to be managed well," he says.

Saxena says Rao knew how to handle bureaucracy. "Rao was courteous and considerate while dealing with bureaucrats. He never hesitated to delegate authority. We know how he had left the responsibility of Punjab on Gill and chief minister Beant Singh."

When J&K was under President's rule and Saxena its governor, he called on Rao every two months to discuss the situation in the terrorism-hit state.

Once, Saxena went to see him at a time when J&K was going through difficult times. Saxena handed over a resignation letter to Rao saying the prime minister may need it in the near future.

Rao told him, "Gary, we have known each other since many years. I'll not take any decision without informing you in advance."

When the situation became difficult and dicey, Rao accepted Saxena's resignation but only after resisting as much as he could. And, he did keep his promise (to inform Saxena beforehand).

Saxena concluded saying, "I will remember him for giving stability to the country when it was needed most. He had a scholarly bent of mind and coherent thinking. The man had his own vision and philosophy on life."

No one can predict a tsunami: ISRO chief

No one can predict a tsunami: ISRO chief

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair on Tuesday said that there is no satellite in the world that can predict a tsunami. Similarly, there are no scientific tools to predict an earthquake either.

But satellites can provide images capturing the trail of disaster caused by a tsunami for assessment and fast tracking relief operations.

"We have positioned our remote sensing satellites on the entire affected region and are constantly updating the Crisis Management Group [based in Delhi] with images," Nair told PTI in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Images processed at the National Remote Sensing Agency in Hyderabad would also be distributed to the Union home ministry to help coordinate relief and rescue operations with the state governments.

India has three remote sensing satellites - IRS 1-C, 1-D and Resourcesat-1 and a meteorological satellite Kalpana-1 that assess climatic change.

Incidentally, all three satellites were not over the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning when the tsunami hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the southern Indian coast

But ISRO immediately positioned the 5.6 metre high-resolution cameras of Resourcesat and the panchromatic cameras of the IRS satellites to map the disaster, which claimed thousands of lives and destroyed villages along the coast.

 

'A worse tragedy brewing in TN'

'A worse tragedy brewing in TN'

A couple of days after the tsunami struck, the tragedy continues in Colachel, in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.

The body count has been increasing and doctors in the government hospital have been working ceaselessly for 48 hours now.

The Indian Medical Association has supplied the hospital with gloves, masks and syringes with medicine.

But chief medical officer Dr Thanammal is a worried lady.

She said, "One tragedy has already happened and a greater tragedy is waiting to happen. There can be a typhoid or Cholera outbreak here within a week. The incubation period for these diseases is a week. You see the flies buzzing around the corpses? They will spread the disease. We need anti-cholera and anti-typhoid injections for the entire population here. We have made a request to the government and are waiting for supplies."

People should drink only boiled water. The decomposing bodies are contaminating water everywhere, she warned.

"The media should inform the public that an epidemic is staring them in the face and they should take preventive measures," she said.

"Tetanus is an injection we normally administer injured persons; but since morning we have injected 5000 people with the drug. We did it because they were afraid of getting infected by the dead bodies. Tetanus does no harm. Further, if they take one shot now, it will protect them for the next six months. It also has a psychological effect...they feel better."

The assistant secretary of the Indian Medical Association, Tamil Nadu, Dr P R Rajan, said: "People are at a risk from not only typhoid and cholera, skin diseases can also spread. In a situation like this, all contagious diseases are likely to spread faster'.

He has been advising the public to disinfect stagnant water with bleaching powder, which is easily available.

The IMA has been providing all flood victims free medicines and treatment. The Rotary Club is engaged in distributing clothes and food in the area.

But doctors in the private sector do not seem to be doing their bit... for various reasons.

Enquiries with them revealed that they have no problems treating these poor victims but are scared of the mob.

"When a patient dies, sometimes the mob turns violent. They think it is because we administered wrong medicine or denied them some medicine because it was expensive that the patient died. In the government hospitals there are policemen to protect doctors. We do not have any such help."