A Question of Answers: Enjoying the challenges

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Health and Family Welfare Sushma Swaraj is combative and shrill on the one hand, urbane and articulate on the other. An experienced minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet - she held her first ministerial assignment when she was 25 in Haryana in 1977 - Swaraj applies herself with much diligence to the ministerial work assigned to her.

She is already at the deep end of the pool as it were with her new portfolios, tackling the business involved in the two ministries with energy and intelligence. She had taken over as minister for parliamentary affairs and health only in late January, but it has been a busy, if not taxing, first quarter for Swaraj, and she seems to be enjoying the challenges.

The Budget session turned out to be satisfying for Swaraj because there were not too many interruptions by the Opposition compared to the previous sessions. She is careful to acknowledge that it was due to the cooperation extended by leaders of the various Opposition parties that the functioning of Parliament was smooth.

Swaraj's equation with journalists has been curiously uncomfortable. There is a certain wariness and it can be traced back to the BJP national convention at Nagpur in July, 2000, where she had criticised the Vajpayee government for its Kashmir policy, or the lack of it, and it was widely reported in the newspapers. She had become a celebrated dissident overnight, a role which she did not obviously relish. And she felt that the journalists were trying to push her into something which she did not want to be.

Swaraj infuses a certain friendliness and warmth in her interaction with journalists, and she remains a hot favourite of the electronic media because she speaks clearly and effectively in Hindi and English.

In an interview with Gulf News at her Nirman Bhavan office, Swaraj talked about the measures taken to tackle SARS, polio and AIDS. And she was forthright in her views about the fate of the Women's Reservation Bill, and the idea of reservation for women belonging to backward classes and the minorities.

Excerpts from the interview:

What are the lessons from the management of SARS?
It has been a satisfactory exercise. We had set up systems at all the international airports to check passengers coming into the country from SARS-affected areas like China and south-east Asia, and hospitalised all those who were suspected of showing signs of SARS infection.

If Jamil, the passenger, had not been traced in Kolkata airport and taken to hospital, it could have caused problems. Even today 693 doctors are keeping a vigil at the international airports, and the alert will be maintained till the World Health Organisation (WHO) declares that SARS has been totally controlled.

Though we have succeeded so far in keeping a strict check, there is no room for complacency.

There have been no full-blown cases of SARS in India. Do you think it was a case of over-reaction?
It is true that none of the people suspected of SARS have shown the symptoms though the laboratory tests turned out to be positive. But there was need for that kind of alert because it could have easily spread to India as well. It is a case of what I call nipping the danger in the bud.

You have spoken about the anti-polio vaccine drive a little while ago. Then there is the issue of
AIDS. SARS, polio, AIDS are all major issues. But health is a state subject. What can you do as a
Union Minister of Health?
The epidemics you have mentioned are not local diseases. They concern the whole nation. There is a definite role that the Centre can play in coordinating the nationwide efforts in combating these diseases.

How do you plan to tackle AIDS?
I held a meeting on May 10, soon after the Budget Session ended. It was a purposeful meeting. I want to make the monitoring of AIDS integral to the health care system. It cannot be treated in isolation. There is a plan to provide AIDS testing tools in Child Health Care Centres because the virus could pass on from mother to child.

Then AIDS also leads to TB and cancer. So, there is a need to look at it in a comprehensive manner. We want to monitor the NGOs involved in AIDS because there is need for focused action. There is no use of NGOs which are involved in everything.

Is there a financial hurdle in dealing with AIDS?
There is absolutely no financial crunch. There is the $100 million of the Melinda Gates fund, and there is another $100 m from a global fund. So, money is not the problem.

Turning to the Women's Reservation Bill, is there anything the government is doing to push it
through?
I can tell you that given the composition of this Lok Sabha, the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form, will not be passed. There are two other options. First is the one suggested by the Election Commission, which entails that the political parties should reserve one-third of their seats for women. The other suggestion is that of double member constituencies. But that would mean an extra financial burden for 182 seats.

Are you doing anything to persuade and convince people who are opposed to the Bill?
Speaker saab has convened an all-party meeting on June 16 to discuss the issue.

Do you agree with those who demand that there should be reservation for women from
backward classes and the minorities?
I am opposed to the division of women. All women suffer the same discrimination as those from the backward classes and the minorities.

There is no need to divide women who are already a minority. If we are to divide women on the lines of caste and religion, where will it stop?