Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 10, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Is a replay of the Raj by Tyler Marshall los Angeles times new Delhi just Over a year Rajiv Gandhi was a contented employee of the government owned Indian at age 3 and after 14 years of he looked Forward to Little More than a Chance to command one of the airlines growing Fleet of Boeing his brother his Mother called and his life was radically Gandhi is a Al ready acknowledged to be the second most powerful person in his every move scrutinized against the possibility of his becoming prime min i dont understand the sudden obsession about he said shortly the dramatic change in his life last others for As a result of the death of his brother in an air Rajiv was the sole surviving son of prime minister Indira Gandhi and the Standard bearer for the next generation of the family that is largely responsible for what India is unlike politically prominent families elsewhere the american the British Church ills who carefully groomed their progeny for the Nehru have dominated Indian poli tics through four generations More by Accident than by undistinguished family the an undistinguished Brahman family from drifted into on the Ganges two centuries the political As it is being increasingly began with Motilal who made his Mark in Law and in the Early served in the legislature and became president of the Congress he was followed to prominence by his son who was India first prime minister after Independence in Jawaharlal owed his Success not to his but to the father of Indian the Mahatma Mohandas not Long after Jawaharlal in the prime ministers office was occupied by his Only Indira Gandhi of the late Feroze a member of parliament and no Kin to the today the family Hopes Are pinned firmly to the erstwhile airline Nehru was elected three times and was accorded unprecedented adulation during his 17 years As prime he launched India on the path of Cen trally planned industrialization and established its International prominence among the emerging nations with his philosophy of Nehru did not pave the Way for his her Chance came when War ring political factions within the con Gress party settled on her As a Compro Mise and something of a antidemocratic but she outsmarted the party Lead ers and soon established herself As an Independent she steered India to Victory in a War with Pakistan in almost scuttled democracy in India a few years later and after a humiliating electoral defeat in reemerged 18 months stronger and More popular than for 30 of its 34 years of Independence India has been governed by either the father or cousins and uncles have served As As Gover nors and in Over the the notion has risen and spread that Only the Nehru understand India and that Only they can ensure its fun Only once have the voters turned against the rejecting it when mingle in 1977 after Indira Gandhi had Alt but suspended democracy for 21 imposing censorship of the press and ordering the arrest of thou Sands of but the old men who ruled for the next three under Morarji Desai and Charan Only served to reinforce the Nehru Halm rained Mechanic in the Indira Gandhi Brash Young son Sanjay became her chief of armed with Little Mote than an impetuous nature and an education Al background that ended part Way through a course in diesel he handpicked most of her party parliamentary controlled Access to her office and amassed tremendous personal despite his often a misted approach to there were Many who believed As a he would one Day he prime when he was the Speed with which the nation turned to the politically inexperienced airline underscored the political dominance of the s dominating Indian politics has not been particularly difficult for the Jawaharlal Nehru often encouraged his ineffectual opponents to mount at least a semblance of organized opposition to his Indira has been less charitable but rules no less after outta Noel Vring her opponents within the she systematically eliminated today she controls the party like a mediaeval with the opposition parties in her Power is virtually the Nehru Rule has Given India a continuity of policy rare in third world however much that policy May have clashed with american Nehru was basically allergic to his Durga if it is an allergy that also afflicts his both have steered India close to the soviet Many that the dominance of Nehru and his daughter has masked crucial weaknesses in India democratic especially the political party Feudal society the reasons for the Nehru dominance Are based on traditional strength of family which form the basis of political organization in Many third world but the Glamor and Aura that have accumulated during their Long reign make for a sense of dynasty and duty to and this appeals to the still Feudal nature of in Dian Many families suffered during the Independence and they re member Nehru being sent to and the tears on Little Indira face when she fulfilled her patriotic duty by burning a favorite doll when told it was the educated people of India look on the Nehru As protectors of their Middle class values in the Competition with an emerging Rural yet in the backward Rural the Nehru have exhibited a common touch that even the poorest sections of society believe that they mat even though out of Indira Gandhi was the Only National Leader who rushed to the site of a disastrous flood two years ago in such gestures Are a although Shes an Urban Shes sensitive to Rural Uma who has written two books on Indira has according to psychologist ashis the Nehru reflect the contradictions and conflicts of Indian society As a Nehru was close to secular but toward the end of his he placed a lot of Trust in Nandy both trends Are present in the whatever the basis Nehru it on june seven months after leaving the Rajiv was elected to parliament from one of India poorest at the an opinion poll conducted by the Magazine India today found that Only one out of three indians in is disapproved of his entry Ritto politics sincere and often disarmingly Rajiv is the Antithesis of what his volatile younger brother he is openly contemptuous of the sycophants who surround his Mother and he tries to shun any fanfare directed his he is the first to admit his political but he is he does not appear to embrace any when questioned on the he is Likely to 1 believe in the politics of hard Cabinet fellow members of parliament and senior civil servants often wait weeks for an audience with insiders accustomed to san jays ruthlessness feared that Rajiv might be too soft for his new but he has already been credited with bringing Down one state chief or but if Indira Gandhi survives for the next few Many observers be Rajiv is Likely to create a Power base of his armed with the Nehru he might inherit the party one the office of prime prime minister Indira Gandhi Hopes to continue her dynasty with son Rajiv left now that Sanjay above is Haven ots need new Energy sources by Jeff Endrst special to the free press new York an organized search and development of new and renewable sources of Energy will be launched by the United nations at a conference which begins in Kenya with prime minister Pierre Trudeau in the conference expects to adopt a program of action for National and International measures designed to provide Mankind with Energy for countries which do not have Gas or or cannot afford it at today there is no argument that develop ment Hopes of much of the third world depend on available and affordable in the controversy is about the Means to redress the current hard so the conferees have failed to agree on How to finance the costly research and development of alternative Energy also unresolved is the problem of adaptation of available technologies and their Transfer to the needy prices they could a typical North South Issue be fore the Nairobi conference is How to ensure mobilization of funds and inter National assistance to provide Energy for every Hearth now and in future the Man Date of the Nairobi conference excludes Coal and atomic the sources which Are the foundation of economic Tion will be on such alternatives As solar biomass wind in May give required push to finding alternatives to increasingly expensive Oil fuel Wood and geothermal Ocean Oil shale and tar and the use of draught animals for Energy compared to most Canada is extremely Well endowed with Energy resources although it is now in fact a net importer of barrels of Oil a in a paper submitted to the Nairobi Canada explains Why its Energy policy now centres on the reduction of this import dependence through the development of indigenous sources such As natural nuclear and a variety of unconventional Energy Overall Canada will say at is to eliminate Oil imports by and to lower Domestic Oil consumption from 43 per cent of total Energy use at to 27 per the Nairobi conference represents a response to a Broad International consensus that something must be done about the Energy the Cost of Oil has resulted in rapid degradation and depletion of biomass resources in third world countries where fuel Wood is so scarce that experts now talk about the second Energy crisis As a in the Nairobi conference is de signed to translate existing Energy concerns into Concrete plans for the How to translate Hopes and plans into reality is the of 133 developing 90 have no Oil at while 13 others have to rely on imports for As much As half of their Oil the in has estimated that in order to achieve minimum Levels of economic and social development in the coming the have not countries must not Only maintain their present Levels of Energy but in crease them by at least 300 per but decisions at Nairobi should affect the daily lives of people around the world besides responding to the needs of Industry and they should relate to the woman in Rural Guate Mala who must trudge Miles after a Long Day of work in the Fields to gather enough firewood to Cook the evening they should affect the elderly couple in the United states who cannot afford to pay mounting heating and the Small Farmer in Thailand who spends much of his Day carrying water to the Fields on the Back of an of because he does not have the knowl Edge or the right tools to use animal Power for building an irrigation sys the in Points out that for two billion most of whom live in Rural areas of the third Char Coal and farm residues Are the Predom if not the source of Avail Able they include 800 million chinese who depend to a Large extent on Energy from burning human and animal wastes in tanks which con Vert biomass into methane and Carbon providing Light and cooking heat for Rural in experts believe that this if could Supply Energy equivalent to one tenth of the worlds current hydropower is usually associated with but experts believe that future generations will depend for Energy on the Power of undulating Waves and the currents of the Long discarded As a wide spread Means for generating electric Are being rediscovered for third world Rural use such As pumping water for humans and to irrigate like the 1972 Stockholm conference on the Nairobi will above All generate International awareness of the Energy crisis in the Hope that pragmatic solutions to it will does Uncle Sam want to buy Canada cheap As we Are All ers in a country with assets that have been conservatively and to be Worth in the neighbourhood of that Means that in the form of natural productivity potential and the the country is Worth about million apiece to every woman and child in like shares in most the shares in the country Are valuable Only if management is efficient and at is suffering from bad the present management has been in effective control of Canada almost As Long As Adolf Hitler was in control of the results have not been As disastrous Here As they were but with an Energy policy that verges on a Dollar that is dropping in value daily in the world Money mar interest rates that make big ticket purchases risky and Home owning nearly and an Ever Widen ing Gap in inflation rates Between us and our nearest neighbor and largest trading our management can not be described As or even As sound Fred Cleverley As we should seek new not a shuffling of known players in the Ottawa Little but an outside How Many times have we read that if Cana Das potential was available to the the West germans or even the americans there could be no hold ing this country As shareholders we should be Pratti it is quite possible that of the management available in the the japanese could Best develop our shareholders must often balance what May be the most desirable economic solution against the practical disadvantages of bargaining Only for not too Many canadians would want to become japanese for the same it is unlikely that As could get a majority agreement to turn manage ment Over to the West this leaves the americans Are used to buying their Way into manage Back in 1620 they pulled off quite a coup by getting Manhattan Island for Worth of beads and about two centuries in they paid France about million for the territory of Lousia Nathe year Canada became a nation the Ameri cans picked up another paying or about four pets an to Russia for in each of these the americans initiated be Back in those it made sense to buy what was wanted today things have change the americans have too much control of our Economy to be but not enough to exer Cise management we Are sub Uke it or to Many of their National and International but never get a Chance to vote for or against the politicians by these affect our we Are in a our present management has policies that seem to be made up As time goes and Are directed by a prime minister who puts National economic concerns on his but Only behind his concerns for the third the repatriation of the the National language and the desire to grab provincial our present management allows our National postal system to grind to a manages to deliver pension Che ques and maps pay but allows businesses that used to pay taxes to go our present management makes a mockery of our armed and hides under the defence umbrella of our our present management tells the shareholders to tighten their belts so that management personnel the members of parliament and the Federal enjoy outrageous in creases in their we would lose the Queen and the Royal but would be free to show them As much on their future As do the americans who have no worries about regional objections to the our cars that ire built in Windsor would Cost the same in Winnipeg As they do in grand North and Pur com flakes boxes could be Fead easily no matter which Side faced the could we realistically get million apiece not we would be exchanging shares in Canada for shares in the we could expect additional Cash for our a few people hive suggested that they would Settle for As Little As As Long As it was paid in not in our present funny doonesbury ;