TERRORISM UNITES POLITICIANS AND AWAKENS THE NATIONAL SPIRIT

The spate of terrorism in different parts of our country has eroded its image at international level and our vulnerability ever than before. Though India is emerging as an economic giant with its vast market and abundant technical skills and other resources carved its own niche due to the liberalization and intertwining the business with the developed world and competing with them technologically, our inability to tackle the internal conflicts based on religion, caste and parochial chauvinism coupled with the vested interest of political parties created a complex situation to handle and resolve it easily. The regrettable scenario is the maneuvers of various national and regional political parties to capture the power at any cost or with any damn agenda by arousing the inflaming the divide of citizens and miseries of the people forgetting their role to protect and promote the interest of the citizens. Other important virus is the widespread corruption in each and every sphere of our polity and the lack of political will to curtail it with an iron hand by the Government. If we analyse the case studies of high profile politicians, we can see their emergence from rags to riches within a short span of time. All these factors including an ineffective security and demoralized police force have created a bad image about the state of affairs going on in our country and lose the faith of the common man on the leaders in view of their failure to deliver the goods or give justice and ameliorate their genuine grievances.
In view of above lighted details, we have to dwell into the depth of terrorist attacks which are being targeted and promoted due to the long standing animosity with our neighbouring countries and hidden
agenda of certain religious militant groups, ethnic leaders and underground militant political outfits quite often attack the innocent people, police force, sensitive installations without having any regard to humanity with a sole motto of creating terror as a medium to achieve their agenda. The attack on our Parliament in the past and the attack on innocent people in Mumbai and creating terror by holding the inmates of Taj and other prominent hotels as hostages and killing about two hundred people and injuring many with impunity has struck the nation with disbelief and dismay. The operation of about sixty hours to flush out 10 terrorists by police, military and National Security Guard and loss of innocent lives during the operation and also the loss of high ranking and valiant police officials belonged to Ant-Terrorist Squad made our nation has become a national shame for India. Though there were inputs regarding a possible terror plot by some militant groups from Pakistan, our police and defence personnel were unable to take any effective preventive measures due to the failure of coordination and ground level action. This has resulted in the erosion of faith on the leaders of ruling as well as opposition parties to protect the lives of the citizens and prestige of our nation. The spontaneous reaction of the citizens in various parts of the country by organizing candle light ceremonies and protest march to
mourn the death of innocent people decrying the failure of political leadership seems to be considered as a silver line amongst the clouds in Indian politics and a starting point of mass awakening against the
failure of systems and policies adopted by our Government.
The widespread condemnation of terrorist attack in Mumbai by the world community and important nations and their resolve to fight against the terrorism unitedly should be seen as a positive step to plan out
strategies and plans with multi-national and multi-force operation in the coming days. The lone surviving terrorist Kasab Ajmal is the living testimony to tell the world from where they came and whose
hands were behind the attack and if we have to believe the report from investigating agencies, the role of Lashkar-e-Toiba and other organizations operating in Pakistan with the connivance of ISI are
responsible for the dreadful attack. Further, during the course of investigation, many more
plots and the names of militant organizations and their protectors would come up. The stern and aggressive reaction from United States against the attack and the belated assertive support to India for any
decisive action by UK against L-e-T should be considered as a common concern against terrorism.
Let us hope that our politicians will unite against this evil and fight against it with our available resources and might by forgetting and setting aside their agenda of power politics and inculcating a
spirit of nationalism amongst the citizens to be the watch dog of our freedom and existence and also activating the motivating the police, defense and investigative agencies to show their might and thwart the
hawkish design of our enemies!

TERRROR AND HORROR IN SERIAL BOMB BLASTS

On 26th July ’08, Ahmedabadis experienced the worst terror and horror in their hustle and bustle life. The serial bomb blast at 21 different places of eastern Ahmedabad, including the Civil and L.G. Hospital turned it as a ghost city. The scattered dead bodies of innocent people and injured screaming for help, and wailing relatives made a frightening and horrific scene. It was an unexpected attack on the people in a most brutal manner, as they were not aware what was in offing for them. In fact it happened in a State, where its Chief Minister quite often assured the people that bomb blasts by terrorists is a remote possibility in view of the strict vigil of the Police and other Intelligence Agencies. However, the worst strike by the terrorists in recent memory of the State shell hocked the common man with dismay and disbelief. The impact of the blasts left more than 50 people dead and three times more injured many amongst them maimed to live a pathetic life during the rest of their lives. The bombings were not an isolated incident, it was well planned and executed and intended to create chaos and fear psychosis amongst the common man. This is because of the fact that on the subsequent days Surtis had to spend sleepless nights and anxious moments due to the findings of 28 live bombs in different localities on different days in the City of Surat. Not only the unexploded bombs marred the normal life in Surat, the hoax calls and terror mail put the police on tenterhooks in Baroda city. And as such that the people living in three main cities of the State and its surrounding areas for the first time felt in secured and vulnerable to threats.


The responsibility of the bomb explosions was purportedly claimed by ‘Indian Mujahedeen’, and their terror mail before the explosions to the media has made an embarrassing situation for the Government, as the same questioned the credibility and preparedness to meet their open challenge. We can not neglect the fact that the serial bomb blasts took place after the bomb blasts in Jaipur and Bangalore, and also the serial blasts in Mumbai and bomb explosions in Hyderabad, New Delhi and other parts of the country with varying intensities in the recent past. Our investigating agencies could not make a break through to pin point the real culprits and their purpose for launching these inhuman acts of bloodshed in different parts of the country. Further, the repeated bomb blasts on innocent people highlighted the failure of the Central and State Governments to formulate a fool proof preventive measures against the periodical onslaughts by the terrorist outfits. As a matter of fact, the prestige of our country has shaken at international level in view of its inability to protect the lives and property of the citizens and finding the hide outs and local networks of terrorist organizations in different parts of the country.


Amit Shah, Minister of State for Home of Gujarat State has rightly termed that the attacks in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bangalore and elsewhere are a part of international conspiracy against our country and without the local involvements, the terrorist acts would not have been possible. However, the alertness on the part of the people of the State, specially in the City of Surat prevented further bloodshed and large scale destruction, and the timely action on the parts of Police and Bomb disposal squads in diffusing the live bombs found in different parts of the City saved the situation going out of control.


Though the Government has announced certain relief measures to the victims, it is now high time to think about the permanent rehabilitation of the kin and the dependents of the dead and injured. This is because of the fact that such a strong resolve on the part of the Government will show the world as how we are serious and compassionate towards the welfare and sufferings of our citizens.


Even though the first act of rescue and spontaneous action towards their fellow beings came from the people from the vicinity of the blast sites by providing all the required possible helps in the critical first hour, the people of the State expect some concrete action from Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority to formulate emergency response plans in case of terrorists strikes too, over and above their normal functions of handling man made and natural disasters.


As regards the fixing up of blame for this dastardly and inhuman act, the general tendency is to accuse the minority community for harboring the criminals and supporting the terror outfits. However, after the serial bomb blast, the political parties and religious organizations kept maximum restraint as nobody wanted to aggravate the volatile and surcharged situation and make the things more complex and unmanageable. The Chief Minister of the State also deserves appreciation for his emotional appeal to the people of the State in maintaining peace and harmony and declaring the attackers as enemies of the nation. Further, he was also quick in requisitioning the army for flag march in the affected areas of Ahmedabad and announcing a red alert in the entire state against as a precautionary measure by exhorting the law enforcing machinery and intelligence agencies to work shoulder to shoulder in this hour of crisis, so as to instill a sense of faith and confidence amongst the shell shocked people of his State.


However, the repercussions of the blast has to be analysed by the Government with a view to take more pragmatic measures to make good of the loss of its image as a safe place for investment and peaceful living and also a good destination for the tourists to move freely anywhere in the State without feat and threat to their safety and security. In addition, the authorities concerned should also calculate the loss of production and loss of earning during the chaos after the serial bomb blasts, as the Police warned the people that they would stay indoors for their safety and closure of business and other establishments in the affected areas. Therefore, it is the onerous duty of the Government to bring out a white paper regarding the actual loss during the turmoil and also the future plan of action entailing the details of beefing up the security and intelligence networks so as to refurbish its lost image and activate one and all with a resolve to see that such terror plots may not be possible so easily in future.


At last, a silver line is appearing amongst the thick clouds. This silver line is the spontaneous and organized protests of the Muslim community in certain parts of the state against the cruel and mad acts of terrorist organizations and thus showing the world that they would never support any terror outfits in the name of religion or revenge. The way they expressed their sympathy, kindness and solidarity with their suffering brethren of bomb blasts has in real sense made a direct impact in soothing the tempers and feelings of a section of the society who always thought that the Muslims played a hidden role in the bomb blasts.

Although the Gujarat Police claimed to have busted the terror module of Student's Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and arrested 10 persons including the master mind behind the bomb blast from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Azamgadh in U.P., the investigation is only the tip on the iceberg and more coordinated and joint effort in the investigation is required with the support of all State Governments and Central Government to find out the larger conspiracy, involvement of international terror outfits, their strategy to destablise our country including the funding and plans for terror activities in various parts of the country. This is a herculean task and thus the Government and the people of the country should not be complacent and there is a need of continuous vigil and alertness so that such tragic and terrific acts by the enemies of our beloved nation may not be possible or easy to carryout in future.
Let us hope that a new awakening of solidarity and brotherhood may emerge very soon between the two major communities which in turn will isolate the enemies of our nation and thus they may have to pack up their bags and leave the country due to the vigil and anger of the general public and a united society against any sort of violence and terror in the name of religion or ideology!

CHANGING SCENARIO IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

The rapid automation and adoption of modern technology in industries have dwindled the job opportunities at an alarming rate. Industries on their part are also eager to reduce the manpower and select highly skilled personnel who can perform multifarious functions single-handedly. This has blocked the entry of personnel who have learnt any one skill or opted for specialization in a particular subject. Secondly, modern educational opportunities have helped a section of upper layer in our society to compete with the less privileged sections and grabbing the top positions in industries.
In view of the liberalization and globalization initiated and implemented by the Central Government has given an impetus in foreign investments in our country. This has brought in a new culture and diluted labour policy as a backroom understanding with the investors by the Government. On the one hand, employers are nowadays concentrating on higher output with less manpower and on the other hand employees are unable to adjust with the new work ethics and strings attached to their job, and they are feared about the loss of employment and welfare amenities which they have been enjoying since long. In fact, the pressure of unemployed people who knock the doors everyday is seen as a major factor for the managements in industries to opt for cheap labour which is available easily from outside sources prompt them to adopt harsher measures on the employees working in industrial organizations with a view to extract more output from them. Such tendency in industrial circle started creating friction in industries. Considering the influx of cheap foreign goods and cut throat competition between various industrial units manufacturing similar products forced the managements to change their policy towards the workers in order to survive in the competitive world of today. But, nobody is having time to ponder over the attitudinal changes of the employees, especially of middle and lower levels to find remedial measures in the existing work structure. If some one goes to the roots for the search of its cause, it can be found that the distasteful and monotonous work has made them insensitive to the needs of the organization.
What an organization should do to motivate them? The answer to this question is quite complex. However, on an experimental basis, at least there can have a rapport between the shop floor employees and supervisory cadre so as to measure the growing aspirations and frustrations in their work sphere and report the same to the higher management for corrective measures.
The other important factor is the suppressed aspiration of an employee to climb the ladder of success, which reflects in the form of dissatisfaction in the work allotted to him and expressing his anger and frustration to his immediate boss and co-workers. In order to make attitudinal changes in the employees, there should have a mechanism to understand the rising aspirations of the employees and their attraction towards higher grades and the status of the post in the hierarchy of an organization. However, the higher echelons of the organization naturally fail to judge the mood and reluctant to adopt a pragmatic approach by way of better training and human resources development for utilizing their skills and knowledge for its prosperity.
The modern management concept calls for maintaining mutual understanding between the management and employees based on a pre-fixed target of production and marketing so as to share the profits in a congenial atmosphere. Though the idealism is good, its implementation sometime backfires whenever the expected output is not given by the employees due to the unforeseen factors or stagnant market thereby resulting misunderstanding on either part due to the failure of commitment.
In the beginning of 21st century, the global recession started raising its ugly heads resulting in large scale retrenchments and golden shake hands in many large and medium scale industrial units. The investors became wary about the future due to the incapacity of the buyers on par with the quantum of production and the tendency on the part of the customers to compare the value of similar products available in the market. All these cumulative factors forced the managements in private sector either to close down their enterprises or invest the capital in profit oriented products to survive under the cut throat competition. The half hearted attitude of the industrialists to revive the existing sick units and the failure to investigate the drawbacks in attaining profits after sales demoralized the workforce to a great extent. Many of the small scale units which supplied
spares and other auxiliaries to medium and large scale units were forced to close down due to the insufficient orders for their products thereby throwing the workers to the streets, where they are now struggling to earn their livelihoods by doing one or other menial jobs. When all these developments were taking place, the Government stood as a moot spectator and the authorities concerned who were supposed to protect the interest of the workers as well as the industrialists did not made any concrete plan to help them out and come out from their miserable conditions. The industrial establishments working under the direct control of the Government also started making losses which forced them to offer golden shake hands to their employees with a view to reduce the manpower and adopt automation or diversification to other profitable areas.
There were tremendous pressures from the trade unions against retrenchment of workers and modernization. This was because of the fear that in our Indian social condition, modernization in comparison with the developed western countries may mar the prospects of employment opportunities. To some extent, this view of the trade unions is also agreed by the Government and thus there was a reluctant or forced adoption of modern technology in certain sectors. At this stage, the bargaining capacity or muscle power of the unions was eroded in view of the insensitiveness to their demands by the managements in private sector. The gradual closure of many giant industries resulted in loss of production and severe unemployment. But, there was justification for such actions on the part of their managements though trade unions blamed mismanagement and misappropriation of working capital. Moreover, the mushroom growth of professional trade unions and self-styled leaders hampered the interest of the workmen at the final stage of bargaining. There are allegations that illiteracy and unawareness of the majority of employees have been exploited by some employers, but in some cases, there were high handedness on the part of employees as they demanded excessive benefits/wages without considering its impact on the organization. Such developments and distrust between the employers and employees ultimately led to the sickness of industries because the managements failed to convince the workmen about the actual strength on which it stands. The other factors were the lack of planning in selection of products, method of manufacturing, marketing strategy, appointment of trained personnel and professionalism in management.
The erosion of the bargaining strength of trade unions resulted in the loss of faith on the leaders. The employees thought that it is because of the collusion between the management and leaders; they are deprived of their legitimate demands. Moreover, the litigation in industrial courts for fairness and justice does not provide speedy consolation or award and sometimes, such process has taken years together for final award/settlement. During such legal battles, employers and employees loss their mutual relationship and hard their attitude towards each other thereby making an adverse impact on the growth and prosperity of the organizations. However, the visionaries in management, who lead certain industries always try to understand the mood of the employees and provide them with fair wages and welfare measures with a string that they must give optimum output as per the demands of the situation. It is seen as a scientific approach in human relations in industries where non-productive persons have no place to stick on for long time. The other attraction of such mutual understanding and relationship for the prosperity of the organization is that each and every employee is responsible for his own work and the guidance of a humanist supervisor. He knows his sincere work leads the organization on the forefront of others and in turn he is going to get the share of its prosperity.
The liberalization process initiated by the Central Government, the end of licence raj, investment of foreign capital and easy import procedures have attached our economy globally, which until recently was protected by various tariff measures and rules and regulations in a closed market condition. The pioneers in private sector welcomed this change; but it is yet to be seen how they are changing their attitude towards their employees and training them to the needs of the change. Finally, the absorption of the unutilized manpower whether in skilled form or unskilled abundantly available in our country is yet another big question mark before the policy makers. Shall this change of policy of Government positively affect the growth of the existing industries or are they capable of competing technologically and qualitatively in the international market? The answer lies in shaping a realistic industrial relation in tune with the changing need of time and absorbing the unutilized manpower in various sectors. And if we fail in our attempt to emancipate the existing chaotic conditions of the workers who were thrown out from different industrial units and their plights are not heard or redressed, then a day will come that the well off sections who are in minority may have to face the repercussions and onslaught of the teeming millions crying for justice and amelioration of their social status! Still there are ample opportunities and resources on the part of the Government to study and assess the social conditions of this section of the society and adopt pragmatic approach to help them out from their existing miserable and poor social conditions and assist them to lead a decent life!

RISING PRICES & CONFUSED LEADERS

The recent outbursts of political leaders regarding the rising prices of essential commodities seem to be eyewash and befooling of the general public. This is because no political party has so far suggested any practical remedy and how it can be solved. When the Finance Minister of UPA Government at the Centre states that our country cannot escape the international recession and inflationary trend, Chief Ministers blame that the ball lies in the court of the Centre to take effective steps to check the rising prices. The reply to them from UPA Government is that the States are not taking sincere efforts to curb the hoarding and unable to act against the black marketers and further points out that the States are also have its share to control the rising trend of prices. Amongst all the allegations and counter allegations, the people of the country, especially the middle class and poor people are finding it difficult to cope up with the situation. There are no leaders to take up their cause and expose the actual story behind the prices rise. They are in the run up of grabbing an opportunity to take political advantage out of the miseries and hardships of common man. One should really understand the rising cost of inputs in cultivating various crops and also the labour charges including the transportation costs which are also responsible for the cost escalation of essential commodities. Further, there are other factors such as switching over to cash crops by the farmers, which would yield them more profits and under utilization of agricultural lands due to the lack of availability of manpower and inability to bear the enhanced labour charges and also converting the fertile lands for building industrial areas and residential complexes. Though our leaders know these facts, they are not ready to tell the truth, but interested only in mudslinging and allegations against each others. One of the other important reasons is the failure of the government to take stock of the situation and making a bumper stock to collect the food grains from the farmers, so that the same can be pushed through the public distribution system, if an artificial scarcity is created by the vested interested groups to amass the profits by taking advantage of the lacunae of demand and supply situation. Moreover, the large scale export of farm products and withdrawal of active intervention in controlling the prices by the Central Government have also escalated the situation beyond control. If we look into the natural calamities in different parts of our country, it has also played havoc with the farm sector and raised the indebtedness of the farmers. On the other hand, the intervention of large scale industrial houses in farm sector to procure the essential commodities through ‘Vayada Bazar’ – a system of fixing up of prices by the buyer in advance and the agreement thereof by the farmers to sell out the farm products at the fixed up rates at the time of harvest has also made a complex situation. Such a practice quite often leads to price escalation, as the result of such a business would most probably be in favour of the buyers. From such a scenario, we can understand that the Government wanted to do some favour to the farmers in the changed atmosphere of liberated economy, but failed to understand that it actually benefited a small section of big farmers. Considering all the above factors, the natural question arises in the mind of an ordinary man is the solution to this vexed issue. When the opposition is accusing the Central Government for failure of controlling the price rises, one failed to understand the wisdom of the UPA Government for inviting all the political leaders for a meeting and taking their suggestions to sort out the issue as per the consensus arrived at in such a meeting. The political upmanship of blaming each others and washing the dirty linen shall not solve the miseries of the people and therefore, both the Central and State Government should sit together and find out a solution even by active market intervention or promoting farming with the support of cooperatives or even subsidized supply of essential commodities through Public Distribution System or through other private outlets. The ball is in the court of the Central and State Governments and they have to act in a practical manner to bring the situation under control and plan about the future without siding any vested interests or groups and see the general welfare of the people in true sense and serving spirit.. Otherwise, a day may come that all the political parties will lose the credibility and trust of the people of our country and no ventilation is provided to mitigate the genuine grievances of the people and solve the sensitive issue of availing the foods within their manageable source of income, we cannot predict what would happen tomorrow, if they express their anger and anguish against the rulers spontaneously and come out to the streets ignoring the dictates of the leaders and authorities concerned. Let us hope that such situation may not arise and our leaders should ponder over the issue of alarming price rise and find out some effective remedial measures to keep the same within the affordable limits of common man!