Sugarcane crushing delayed again

Commenting on the ongoing sugarcane crisis, Khabroon points out that sugar mills in Sindh have suspended cane crushing for 15 days on the pretext of low supply of cane.

It says that at a meeting attended by the Sindh chief minister and agriculture and food minister, sugar mill-owners and growers and the provincial cane commissioner, it was decided that the crushing would start on October 20 and the date was later extended to November 20.

The provincial government fixed the sugarcane price at Rs43 per 40kg and directed mill-owners to pay last year's dues amounting to Rs160 million to farmers. Taking a 'seemingly' serious notice of the traditional stubbornness of mill-owners, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim directed the cane commissioner to take legal action against mills failing to abide by the decision.

However, mill-owners refused to start the crushing on time and pay the fixed price to growers, and the authorities concerned failed to take any action. Hence, the present crisis which will not only cause huge losses to farmers but will also lead to a delay in wheat sowing.

Farmers have complained that mill-owners are using blackmailing tactics to compel them to sell their produce at lower rates. This, the paper says, should serve as a wake-up call to the government which must take immediate action to ensure resumption of the crushing at the earliest.

Ibrat says that while Hyderabad awaits funds for its development package, its open drains have become death traps for children. A four-year-old girl fell into an open drain in the Mekrani Para and even her body has not been recovered.

The killer drain has already claimed lives of seven children but the cries of protests of the aggrieved families and neighbours have fallen on deaf ears. The paper says that such incidents would have shaken a government in any civilized society.

Here, neither the district government nor the federal or provincial governments can not be absolved of responsibility for the deaths. However, it is the district government which is primarily to be blamed. It should offer an apology to residents of the city and initiate a scheme to cover open drains on a war footing.

Awami Awaz takes up the issue of the kidnapping of two judges in Shikarpur district and argues that the incident was the result of police inefficiency. The judges demanded police escort but the demand was ignored. As a result, they proceeded on the journey on their own in an area infested by criminals, particularly kidnappers.

With the kidnapping of the judges, the number of people held captive by kidnappers in the district has reached 10. The situation calls for effective steps for their recovery, the paper says, adding that care must be taken to ensure that innocent villagers do not suffer during any action taken against the criminals.

Kawsish deplores that school teachers in the province have not yet received 'Best Teacher Awards' due to a slow process of nomination. Six teachers are to be selected for the award from each district but most of the districts have not yet received the prescribed form from the education department.

Moreover, the districts which have made the nominations are yet to receive any information. The inaction has caused resentment among teachers for whose encouragement the award has been instituted.

A discourse on theatre

Urdu drama and demands of the theatre were discussed at a meeting held by Irteqa Literacy Forum on Sunday. The discussion was facilitated by Mohammad Ismael Yusuf, a popular name in the world of theatre of 50s, who was founder of the National Theatre in Karachi.

He could not attend the meeting but his collection of seven plays, a brief interview and an essay on theatre published under the title of Zawal Say Pahlay were discussed.

Jamal Naqvi briefly narrated the history of Urdu drama starting from Shakuntla of Kalidas. But the real essay of the evening on the history of this art form came from the critic, Rauf Niazi, who enumerated the many requirements of the stage and the techniques of drama performance and presentation.

Another essay was read out by Shafique Ahmed Shafique who said Ismael Yusuf is a playwright as well as an expert in direction and stage management. Prof Hasan Abid observed that in present times, film was more in demand than stage plays because common people were more attracted to fantasies.

He differed with Mr Naqsh that serious literature was not taken seriously, and quoted classical writers from Shakespeare to our own writers whose works were much in demand.

Prof Shamshad Ahmed recalled the Parsi theatre, of the yore represented by a single Muslim dramatist Agha Hasher. Theatre, he said, was never a part of Muslim culture. He quoted Agatha Christy's play Mousetrap, which ran through three generations, always pulling crowds.

Wahid Bashir remembered Ali Ahmad, an eminent playwright whose stage drama Aadhi roti, aek langoti (half a bread and a rag of cloth) staged in 1956 and became very popular. So were Khwaja Moinuddin's plays, popular for their sarcastic and spicy dialogues.

He never employed female characters in his plays (with perhaps one exception). But Khwaja Saheb's dramatic art died after the death of the master. Hemayat Ali Shaer, in his presidential discourse, narrated his own experience when soon before the Partition he wrote plays for the famous Indian Peoples Theatre.

He observed that the shadows appearing on the curtain were found very effective in presenting certain situations. Since stage plays could not present the human feelings, film and TV came to do it.

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Pakistan Academy of Letters last month held a sitting to remember Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Some of the speakers, who had luckily been associated with the great master in his literary ventures, were also present. Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui presided over the proceedings and Prof Saher Ansari narrated that how he found Faiz a liberal, tolerant and humane a person.

Faiz never lost his contact with the common people. Remember his verse Aaj ke naam paying tributes to farmer, labourer, taange walla and postman. Faiz was perhaps the only Urdu poet who composed heart-warming verses for the struggling nations of Vietnam, Africa, Latin America and Iran.

At the meeting, one felt that the programme should have been held at a central and convenient place with proper announcement to allow more people to attend it.

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At the launch of the ongoing Book Mela at Urdu Bazaar (Nov 30), many suggestions came from the writers on how reading habits could be developed in people, particularly the youth.

Libraries should be opened in mohallas and equipped with current reading material, some writers advised, and the city government could play a vital role in this connection.

Others said that there should be more book melas in schools inviting children to attractive reading stuff. Also, school and college libraries should be made functional. The children's presence at teaching places should not be treated as cosmetic.

Book purchasing at bookshops on fake receipts only to be returned later to pocketing money is a known disgraceful practice at some schools. This should be discouraged. A period for book-reading during school hours is perhaps no more in vogue, which should be revived.

A writer was of the opinion that there was no decline in book-reading habits as commonly believed. Apart from fiction, poetry and other light stuff, like travelogues, books on a variety of subjects like history, Islamic studies, international affairs, computer science and social sciences (mostly in English) were published and sold more than ever, which was an encouraging sign.

Since literacy is the prerequisite of a book-reading culture, level of teaching at schools and colleges should also be improved. The whole system of teaching is in shambles these days.

Trained, or even literate, teachers (sorry for the adjective) are hard to find. Without overhauling the whole system, one should not expect a book culture in the country. Let us have more number of educated population and we will have more number of titles of books on a variety of subjects.