Planning to the fore
FOR those who suspect that the planned route to development has been closed for some time, there was news on Tuesday. The Planning Commission came up with a revised draft of the ninth Plan and formally presented it to the Prime Minister, who is also the chairman.

BJP: blaming others
won’t do
THERE is a great difference between running the government and playing the role of the Opposition. The BJP should have known this by now.

Higher education in a mess
THE attempt by a student of Rajasthan University to immolate himself to protest against the delay in the declaration of examination results has once again brought into focus the flaws in the system of higher education.

FATE OF THE GIRL CHILD
by T. V. Rajeswar
NATIONAL Girl Child Week was observed in India last September and the objectives were the promotion of the rights of the female child to ensure survival, protection and full development of her potential and the prevention of discrimination.

Level-playing field: the idea
by Mohinder Singh
AS the country opens up to the world market economy, a cry goes up, “Give us a level-playing field.” Industrialists asking for parity in interest rates and world-level infrastructure facilities.

India can provide moral leadership: Prof Holmes
By K.V. Prasad
PROF ROBERT LAWRENCE HOLMES, is teaching in the Department of Philosophy in the University of Rochester, New York. His research interests are philosophy of war, the ethics of nonviolence, contemporary ethical theory and normative problems in social, political and international affairs. Prof Holmes took time off his schedule which included talks and interaction with various groups on the subject, to talk to the writer. The following are excerpts from the interview.

Thank you, mother
by Sanjay Manchanda
SO much is said of the man when he retires. Nobody seems to disagree that he deserves a well-earned rest after his marathon hours of duty during working life.

75 Years Ago

Dispute about a Bunga
THE Mahant of the Malvai Bunga, Amritsar, handed over the charge of the Bunga to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee some time back. Long before that, several shops now alleged by the SGPC to belong to the Bunga, had been sold to private citizens over which they exercised all the proprietory rights.

Planning to the fore

FOR those who suspect that the planned route to development has been closed for some time, there was news on Tuesday. The Planning Commission came up with a revised draft of the ninth Plan and formally presented it to the Prime Minister, who is also the chairman. He promptly told the members to revise the revised draft and present it again within a month. From his instructions it appears that the redoing job will take some time, considering that the first revision has taken all of nine months, and considering again that the emphasis now will be on rural development. But the time available is only a month and it would be interesting to see how the commission pulls it off. The core issue remains the pace of economic growth. The draft prepared by the Madhu Dandavate-led panel plumped for a growth rate of 7 per cent based on a set of tightly worked out figures. In May this year the Jaswant Singh-led body scaled it down to 6.7 per cent by pointing out that the performance in the first year of the Plan, 1997-98, had been poor. Now the target has been further cut down to 6 per cent. This will be possible only if the growth rate during the remaining three years ending in 2001-2002 registers a 7 per cent growth. If the present position is anything to go by, it may prove to be an uphill task. A look at the related figures in the original draft brings this out.

The Dandavate team based its projection of a 7 per cent growth rate on savings being steady at 26.2 per cent of the GDP, current account deficit at 2.1 per cent, investment at 28.3 per cent, export growth at 14.5 per cent and import growth at 12.2 per cent. These parameters have gone awry. Savings has dipped, with exports falling the current account deficit is sure to inch towards 3 per cent and the government has drastically cut down budgetary support to the plan. There is another grey area. The Prime Minister wants a sharpened attack on rural backwardness, which means shifting outlays from projects to the social sector like education, health and drinking water. These never figure in the growth rate. And, anyway, the conventional method of setting apart so many crores of rupees and asking the panchayats to handle part of the problem will not do. The right thing to do is to set a target, say so many millions of students to be enrolled and retained in primary schools, and chase this goal. It is as well to remember that the cost is less in rural areas than in towns and the gain is enormous.

Finally, there is the basic question: how relevant planning is in a deregulated economy. With every Ministry offering manufacturing licence off the shelf and UNCTAD forecasting a greater flow of foreign capital for investment, it is the private sector and the volume of profit that will determine the areas of growth, not the government’s economic or social philosophy. Second, with every Ministry coming out with its own long-term plan delinked with the larger plan, the exercise of drafting the outlines of a five-year Plan looks a bit unreal. Will the Prime Minister’s Rs 28,000 crore roads plan and Energy Minister Kumaramangalam’s 80,000 MW electricity generation “vision” be woven into the main document or be outside it? With expenditure booming and revenue shrinking, it is going to be a nightmare for Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to finance Mr Jaswant Singh’s plan.

BJP: blaming others won’t do

THERE is a great difference between running the government and playing the role of the Opposition. The BJP should have known this by now. But its Tuesday’s statement released by the party chief, Mr Kushabhau Thakre, makes one believe that the BJP is yet to realise that it is the main component of the ruling combine. The masses who have been hit hard by the unprecedented rise in the prices of essential commodities, with most of the vegetables virtually going out of their reach, cannot buy the argument that the failure of the government on the price front has been because of the “conspiring role” of “our opponents” — which means the Congress — and also of those who have “tried to fish in the troubled waters”, a euphemism for hoarders and black-marketeers. The people had favoured the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections with great expectations. They strongly believed that a BJP-led government would consciously work to alleviate their sufferings, specially of the economic variety. The BJP too had declared that by its performance it would demonstrate that it was different from the Congress and its other adversaries. But the coalition government’s record so far has been quite contrary to the party’s claims. The common man seems to have forgotten the misrule of the Congress and others. And he never had to worry for potatoes and onions, despite the fact that the country had crop failures, and hoarders and black-marketeers in the past also. If the BJP leaders are so sure that the situation went from bad to worse mainly because of the poor crop yield, how does this explain the truth that the moment the government initiated action against hoarders, the availability of the commodities like potatoes, onions, edible salt and cooking oil became easy at many places?

Prices constitute just one front. In the areas where the BJP was supposed to be a cut above the rest, particularly the Congress, it finds itself totally exposed. First, take the plank of discipline. Periodic reports of intense infighting have been received from almost all the states where it is in command of the administration. This paralysed the governments at least in Delhi and UP for quite some time. One explanation that has often been offered is that when a family becomes large, there are bound to be skirmishes at different levels. But what happened in Delhi recently sent the message that politicians of any hue can sacrifice anything for power, even if it is the party discipline. The other major claim of the BJP was that it was the only party that abhorred corruption. But it suffered a major loss of face when it had to take the help of many leaders involved in corruption cases for the survival of the coalition. Mr Thakre’s argument that “sometimes one has to accept a lesser evil to fight a bigger evil” does not fit into the image of his party he and his colleagues had been projecting when it was the leading opposition group on the country’s political firmament. The eight-page statement released to launch the BJP’s campaign for the November 25 assembly elections mainly contains accusations against the Congress for all the ills plaguing the country. The Congress will always be criticised for its mistakes of the past. But the government of the day has to be judged by its performance. The BJP has little on its balancesheet to sustain its old image. The political advantage it had gained by taking the crucial decision on the nuclear issue seems to have become irrelevant under the changed circumstances.

Higher education in a mess

THE attempt by a student of Rajasthan University to immolate himself to protest against the delay in the declaration of examination results has once again brought into focus the flaws in the system of higher education. To say that the entire system is insensitive to the basic needs of the student community would be an understatement. The student who sustained 50 per cent burn injuries has been shifted to Delhi for expert treatment. The Vice-Chancellor should have resigned much earlier because as the head of the institution he is responsible for the delay in the declaration of results and for whatever else is wrong with Rajasthan University. The last time the university was in the news was because of the gangrape of a girl in a hostel room. The attempt by Nitish Bhardwaj, a post-graduate student, to end his life has striking similarity with the nationwide students’ unrest over the Mandalisation of the education system. Of course, the anti-Mandal agitation was against the policy of reservation of seats for certain categories of students in educational institutions. The Nitish Bhardwaj episode should not be treated as an aberration. Every student is a potential volcano of resentment. When they erupt together the result is the scale of violence witnessed during the anti-Mandal agitation. A nationwide referendum among the students would show that most of them are not happy with the present system of examination or the syllabus or the policy of reservation-based system of admission to professional and even non-professional courses.

The Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Ms Uma Bharati, has promised to unfold a comprehensive “youth policy” next month. Has the policy been evolved after obtaining the views of a cross-section of those who represent the future of India? A nation which ignores the aspirations and the dreams of the youth cannot offer a better tomorrow to anyone. The entire political class should be put in the dock for the visible flaws in the system of education. During the controversial Education Ministers’ Conference HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi was upset over the protest against the singing of Saraswati vandana. He must realise that the mere singing of verses in praise of the Goddess of Learning is not enough for raising the standard of education in the country. Will the Goddess not bestow her blessings on those who do not take her name but instead set out in search of knowledge? What the Nitish Bhardwajs of today need is a Guru who could guide them to the abode of Govinda (knowledge). Unfortunately, the principal concern of the “gurus” now seems to be to disrupt the academic calendar by going on strike in support of their demand for a pay hike. Like any other section of society, they are willing to fight for their rights but are unwilling to defend from political and bureaucratic interference the duty they are expected to discharge. After the customary expression of concern over the Nitish Bhardwaj episode, the system of education would get down to doing what it does best—making a mess of the careers of students by leaking question papers for a price and by manipulating the marks of students who have some clout to show or money to offer. Nitish Bhardwaj would become a forgettable episode until the next round of campus violence against the mess the authorities have made of the system of education.

FATE OF THE GIRL CHILD
Much talk, little action
by T. V. Rajeswar

NATIONAL Girl Child Week was observed in India last September and the objectives were the promotion of the rights of the female child to ensure survival, protection and full development of her potential and the prevention of discrimination. The empowerment of the girl child has been the favourite topic of discussion in recent years, but nothing substantive has taken place on the ground.

The talk of empowerment is meaningless unless the basic adverse factor of female illiteracy is seriously tackled. Nearly 70 per cent of the women are illiterate in India, and it is particularly so in the so-called Bimaru states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. While India’s literacy level stood at 52 per cent in 1991, the female literacy was 39 per cent. The female literacy figures for the backward states are 17 per cent in Rajasthan,19 per cent in Bihar, 21 per cent in UP and 23 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, making an average of 20 per cent in these four states against the national average of 39 per cent. It is no wonder that these states are notoriously backward in every walk of life and yet the states play such a major role in politics at the national level. Kerala’s progress in several fields is primarily accounted by the fact that its literacy percentage at present stands around 95 per cent with the female literacy rate being around 80 per cent. Kerala is closely followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab in that order. Today you will find Kerala teachers, nurses, technicians, et al, all over India as well as West Asia and several Western countries.

There have been several special schemes for educating women but with very little success. The National Policy on Education of 1986 and the National Perspective Plan for Women’s Education had spoken of giving better access to the girl child for education with free supply of textbooks and uniform mid-day meals and a few other incentives. In September, 1997, Prime Minister Gujral announced the launching of a Rs 1500 crore programme from October 2 that year which was supposed to radically alter the status of the girl child in society. The scheme proposed a one-time grant of Rs 500 at birth, a Rs 500 yearly grant for primary education which would be increased to Rs 1000 at the secondary stage. These bounties would be given to only those whose parents’ income was below Rs 11,000 per annum. It is not known if this scheme is in operation or has lapsed with the fall of the Gujral government.

The girl child in India is among the most deprived in the whole world, and this is due to a host of related factors like poverty, lack of education and health facilities and social awareness. These problems have to be tackled in a holistic manner without which any talk of empowerment of the girl child will be meaningless. Though the figures for infant mortality have come down during the past 20 years, they are still very high. Among 25 Third World and developing countries, India is at the lowest rung with 85 out of every 1000 children dying before the age of five, according to the 1996 figures. It was 173 in 1980. No doubt, considerable progress has been made since then in providing health care for mothers and infants, but the mortality rate is still comparatively high.

India has a peculiar problem which most countries do not have, and this relates to female infanticide. Most of the children who die in infancy are female, and this is due to the lack of adequate medical assistance, deliberate neglect and outright killing. Some pioneering work has been done in this regard by two educationists — Venkatesh B. Athreya and Sheela Rani Chunkat — in the backward areas of Tamil Nadu. Sixteen per cent of all female infant deaths in Tamil Nadu are said to be due to infanticide, and in 1995 alone two backward districts of the state accounted for as many as 2232 female infanticide cases. The Jayalalitha government had announced scheme for protecting female infants by adopting them officially and putting up cradles outside select hospitals where unwanted babies could be left. The scheme ended in abuse later. It is still there in some form but without much success.

That poverty drives rural women to resort to female infanticide has been amply brought out. There are several cases of elderly women from Tamil Nadu coming to northern states to work as maids and earn some money to repay the loans they had taken for marrying their daughters. Even a poor bride has to be given some dowry, which includes jewellery and gifts to the bridegroom. Invariably, the bride’s parents have to depend on loans which take many years of labour for repayment. If a family has more than one daughter the risk of infanticide is even more. It is the cumulative effect of illiteracy and poverty which leads to female infanticide. This cannot be tackled in isolation.

The problem of child labour is most pronounced in India among all the countries of the world. The most exploited form of child labour includes child prostitution and trafficking. The figures compiled by the United Nations show that child labour in India counts for the largest number in the world. As per the 1991 census, there were 200 million children and a minimum of 20 per cent of them were working. One estimate puts the figure at 50 per cent, which is more likely in respect of the rural areas. Here again the contributory factors of a large child labour force in India are a high percentage of population growth, poverty and illiteracy.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in association with other UN agencies and the National Commission for Women in India had recently started a campaign to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the elimination of gender-based violence. Coincidentally, a member of the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Ms Gunesekera of Columbia University, who was in Delhi recently, commented that South Asia was known throughout the world as “the continent of missing women”. She added that no other continent denied its female population life chances from birth to death in the manner it was done in South Asia. The professor hails from Sri Lanka where the empowerment of the female child and women in general is far more accomplished than in India.

Ms Radhika Koomaraswamy of Sri Lanka, who was associated as a special rapporteur for the UN on violence against women, has commented that the militarisation of Tamil women in Northern Sri Lanka by the LTTE has drastically altered the old role of women in Tamil society. “With regard to the issues of dowry, inter-caste marriages, the seclusion of unmarried women, etc, there have been major changes in the perception as well as operation of Tamil society. These social issues, which were a major burden in the lives of Tamil women in the past, have been eradicated at least for the moment. The LTTE strategy and the imperatives of displacement have completely changed the routine and structure of a sedentary agricultural community which was once infused with stifling rituals and customary practices. Inequitable social practices which kept unmarried women at home and menstruating women in the back-garden have given the way to virile forms of mobilisation. They are compelled to negotiate terms with the real world and no longer subject to the paternal protection traditionally offered to them. Thereby the Hindu concept of Ardhanareeshwara has been somewhat realised.” There is a lesson in this unusual development in the lives of Tamil women, and girls in particular, in Northern Sri Lanka whose implications are far reaching.

(The author is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim.)

Level-playing field: the idea
by Mohinder Singh

No new light has been thrown on the reason why poor countries are poor and rich countries are rich. — Paul Samuelson (1976)

AS the country opens up to the world market economy, a cry goes up, “Give us a level-playing field.” Industrialists asking for parity in interest rates and world-level infrastructure facilities. Manufacturers wanting unrestricted access to imports and easing of bureaucratic delays and corruption. Exporters seeking help to compete with exporters of other countries.

Yet the world has never been a level-playing field. What to say of man-made structures and arrangements, even nature can be manifestly uneven. For instance, tropical countries like India are heir to many disadvantages vis-a-vis the countries in temperate zones — say, Britain or France.

To be sure, geography is only one factor in play, but one tends to overlook or underestimate its impact.

Take heat and cold. In general, the debilitating effects of heat far exceed the discomfort of cold. Three quarters of the energy released by working muscles takes the form of heat, which the body must dissipate to maintain a proper temperature. The only way to cool is perspiration, especially when reinforced by rapid evaporation. Damp climes reduce the cooling effect of evaporation. Fanning oneself may help psychologically, but the real cooling effect gets largely cancelled by the heat produced in the fanning effort — unless you have someone else to fan you.

The easiest alternative is not to generate heat. This means keeping still and not working. No wonder people keep inactive during the mid-day heat. Or let their menials work for them. A loss in productivity is inevitable.

The ultimate answer to heat has been airconditioning. You have places like Singapore where offices and factories, shops and most houses, trains and taxis are airconditioned. But airconditioning is a costly technology, not affordable by most of the world’s poor. Moreover, it simply redistributes heat from the fortunate to the unfortunate — as anyone knows who has walked near the exhaust vent of an airconditioner.

Heat, especially year-round heat, encourages proliferation of insects and so also the parasites they carry, quite a few of the latter proving hostile to humans. Winter, that way, is a great friend of humanity; the silent white slayer of parasites and pests. Diseases like malaria, cholera or diphtheria are far common in hot countries.

To be sure, medicine and public health measures — clean water, expeditious disposal of waste, vaccinations, etc — have made great strides in combating these maladies. But modern medicines are expensive while preventive measures are not easy to implement. So, the poor in hot countries remain more vulnerable to diseases and ill-health.

Water is another problem. Tropical areas generally average enough rainfall, but this is all concentrated within short periods, and often the rainfall is torrential. This can mean floods, followed by spells of drought. Impounding rainwater for year-round use is costly and suffers from very high rates of evaporation.

In contrast, a temperate region like Western Europe, enjoys the geological good fortune of warm winds and gentle rain, water in all seasons, perennial rivers, and low rates of evaporation — the making of good crops, big livestock and dense hardwood forests.

Human beings in temperate climates stay more active and energetic. Even residents of tropics have this common experience of feeling reinforced and stimulated by a spell of stay in a cooler country.

Surely, it would be a mistake to see geography as destiny. Its significance can be reduced or evaded, but then there is a price to pay, plus greater reliance on science and technology. Efficient irrigated agriculture in tropical countries can rival European crop yields. But then these massive irrigation systems have a tendency to go into disrepair. And there are always the vicissitudes of floods and drought.

Nobody claims that the historical record of Europe (the West) as the prime mover of development and modernity for the last thousand years can be largely attributed to its favourable geography. A host of other factors influenced the outcome: the Greek tradition of reasoning, the spirit of empiricism and “the invention of invention”, an intense curiosity towards other peoples and countries, and eventually the Industrial Revolution. The last one transformed the balance of political power — within nations, between nations, and between civilisations; and as much changed the ways of thinking as also of doing.

Yet it hasn’t been a level-playing field among the countries in the tropics and those in temperate regions. To that extent it entails an extra effort on our part to level up with them in matters such as living standards, productivity, general health or sports.

Thank you, mother
by Sanjay Manchanda

SO much is said of the man when he retires. Nobody seems to disagree that he deserves a well-earned rest after his marathon hours of duty during working life.

Can a working mother hope for similar pretensions when it is her time to sign off? No, never! She simply cannot be allowed a single moment of rest all her life.

Indeed, mothers are a great creation. Everyone loves his or her mother and sincerely believes that there could be no other person like her. But in my case the situation has been slightly different. My mother has always been special to us (me and my elder brother) for she has performed and continues to perform the dual role of a mother and father, who passed away during our adolescence.

Though without an MBA degree, she has mastered all the management techniques, almost nonchalantly. As a short, gentle and good-humoured person, invariably dressed in a simple saree, with a small pony tail and a constant faint smile, mother was always there when we were school-going children.

She would hold regular “classes” at home at different levels for the two of us. Though we never received any spanking or were rebuked, proper discipline was maintained, “home work” and “class work” assigned and completed. Her constant refrain all this while was, “Don’t neglect your studies. You will fail your exams. If you had concentrated wholly on your studies you would have probably stood first instead of second.”

All this was done in the verandah adjoining the kitchen as she moved in and out preparing the afternoon meal (and there were no cooking ranges and fridges to make her job simpler, just the good old primus stove, supplemented by woodfire).

She went to work too; not merely to keep herself busy and realise her potential as most of the middle class women do now, but to supplement the family income and beat the price rise. Even then she was always with us. Her working hours never exceeded our school timings, and we had our meals together.

Life was more demanding for her because she was not one of those lucky women blessed with a support system within the family, with a mother or mother-in-law ready to pitch in. Nor did she have a daughter to lessen her burden of responsibilities of motherhood.

Both her sons were natural “softies” who could not face a life of trials and tribulations with the same courage, grit and determination, as she did. And that just demonstrated the truth of Oscar Wilde’s observation, “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his”.

Now, mother is going to retire after putting in 34 years of service. To pro-empt the happy occasion, we bought a colourful silk saree and had it beautifully gift-wrapped for her. As we sat watching her unwrap the gift, waiting all the while for a touching and melodramatic reaction, she gave us one icy look and said: “Why, sons, did you have to spend so much?”

Retire she may from government service, but not from the chain of responsibilities that entangles her permanently. Almost unobtrusively, she gears herself up to don the mantle of a “working” grandmother, with both her daughters-in-law being outgoing. And all that we, helpless sons, can say is: “Thank you, mother. We would not be what we are today if we were not blessed with your loving care. May God bless you with a long life!”

India can provide moral
leadership: Prof Holmes
By K.V. Prasad

PROF ROBERT LAWRENCE HOLMES, is teaching in the Department of Philosophy in the University of Rochester, New York. His research interests are philosophy of war, the ethics of nonviolence, contemporary ethical theory and normative problems in social, political and international affairs.

On a visit to India for the first time, Prof Holmes will be delivering an address on November 14 at Jawaharlal Nehru University which is instituting a Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Peace and Disarmament.

Personally he feels that a great honour has been done to him by providing him with an opportunity to come to India, the land with rich tradition, civilisation and Mahatma Gandhi.

Prof Holmes who took his doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan, feels that it is time for India to provide the world moral leadership, which he felt is lacking in current times.

Prof Holmes took time off his schedule which included talks and interaction with various groups on the subject, to talk to the writer.

The following are excerpts from the interview.

Question: How do you look at the issue of peace and disarmament specially considering the fact that peace and non-violence has been part of Indian culture.

Answer: I see this visit as exploratory. I did not come to India with blueprint or solutions to problems. What I hope to do is to help facilitate perhaps some serious thinking about non-violence as an approach to many different problems. One looks to future possible transformation of society and perhaps eventually the world.

One has to work at different levels.I am a philosopher and my interest in philosophy is ethics and I focus primarily on ethical issue and values.

I see non-violence as deeply connected with morality and spirituality. But in order for it to be effective in society there must be people who are thinking seriously about it. Non-violent transformation requires the best thinking by best minds in different areas in order to develop society.

I hope to encourage people who have the expertise in the areas I don’t have and don’t pursue to have, to begin thinking seriously to achieve this aspect by the turn of the century.

Q: Considering the fact that non-violence has been an integral part of India’s freedom struggle, do you see a shift in the Indian way of thinking in the backdrop of the recent nuclear tests.

A: It is an interesting question. There could be a shift but I see the situation here as of a stage of something that is yet to come. I think things could go in different directions and could move in a direction of radical change from the traditions of what I regard as the highest values of Indian and Hindu path of non-violence. But this could provide opportunity for reaffirmation of those values. I don’t think its determined as yet of what the future is going to bring.

In one sense I think speaking of nuclear tests which drew lot of attention provide an opportunity in a way that perhaps hasn’t been recognised or appreciated as yet.

Here I refer to (Mahatma) Gandhi. One of his main points was that non-violence is not for the weak. It cannot be practised effectively by the weak but must be by the strong. Because if non-violence is from weakness it to from fear and if one is acting from fear one cannot carry it through in an effective way.

He (Gandhi) pointed out the experience of Badshah Khan (Frontier Gandhi) and his tribes in whom courage and valour form an important part of their thinking and culture. Yet Badshah Khan and they were able to transform into a non-violent army. Non-violence really requires courage and strength.

Coming back to the nuclear tests, India has proved it can chose to become a nuclear power or perhaps even a super power along with the nations of the world that have staked their future and interest.

This seems to me an opportune moment for India to lead the way in promoting the cause of non-violence now that it has shown it strength. In the light of Gandhi’s teachings now is the time for a reaffirmation of solid tradition and values.

Q: From what you state, there are two parts to your interpretation. One that India chose to go nuclear looking at the situation all around, and second now that it has done it, the country can go on the path of non-violence which is perhaps linked to the Gandhian way of thinking.

A: That’s right. If one just looks at the issue from the standpoint of geopolitics and international relations, then one does not look at the broader implications in the historical context of India, traditions of non-violence and experience of Gandhi. But if we open our perspective to take a broader view than one can see in this development new opportunities that are not recognised by those who view it (nuclear tests) simply in terms of international politics.

Q: Considering that the USA is attempting to influence world opinion and that you come from the USA, how much of this viewpoint can be conveyed there that nuclear tests is not just flexing of muscles but could have deeper implication if one looked at it on a broader canvas.

A: The USA is of course the leading military power which is exerting its influence trying to extend it to Asia and wants to control the Persian Gulf. The United States can of course provide military leadership but it is not providing moral leadership. That it seems to me could come from a country like India.

Through example India could provide moral leadership to the rest of the world and world opinion could begin to shift in a way that the United States will have to take notice of that.

Right now there is a vacuum and it seems to me India is uniquely positioned to be able to do that both because of history, tradition, civilisation and the experience of Gandhi. This is the time to begin to do some thing different as to how human beings relate to one another.

Q: As someone who is into philosophy and considering the fact that there have been great thinkers in India, do you consider that despite being there its inability to come to the fore has led to the absence of moral leadership, specially in India.

A: It’s still there and probably to a greater extent in India. I think it exists as I call it in sub-terranean. Now it is not it the forefront but the vast resource that is within the history and traditions of India is what the world needs and India can tap it.

Q: How do you think educationists can awaken this consciousness which in turn can reach the political leadership and then on to the world.

A: Right now there is a movement under way that 23 Nobel Peace Prize winners proposed that the United Nations declare the first decade of the 21st century as decade of non-violence. The Indian Ambassador had been requested to present it to the U N General Assembly which is currently on and support it.

This is a way to try to get the notion of nonviolence through the vehicle of the United Nations. What I could do is to expand the concept and not doing it just through an institutionalised mechanism such as the United Nations but appealing directly to the people of the world and not just governments.

The United Nations is dealing with governments who can do something but are sometimes not imaginative, typically governments are not open to fresh thinking on basic problems and I think you need to go to the people at the grassroots.

This kind of transformation of thinking has to come through education. You need to educate children at an early stage and teach nonviolence because it is violence they are exposed to all the times. When we counterbalance by exposure to nonviolence they will come to appreciate the values lost in violence and successes of nonviolence.

75 YEARS AGO

Dispute about a Bunga

THE Mahant of the Malvai Bunga, Amritsar, handed over the charge of the Bunga to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee some time back. Long before that, several shops now alleged by the SGPC to belong to the Bunga, had been sold to private citizens over which they exercised all the proprietory rights.

On taking over charge, the Secretary, SGPC, issued notices calling upon all who held possession of the alleged property to make it over to the committee within a week, failing which the notice stated that the committee will resume possession.

Alarmed at this notice two persons, Hira Singh and Kirpa Ram, have filed complaints under section 145 Cr. P.C against Bhagat Jaswant Singh, Secretary, SGPC, alleging apprehension of a breach of the peace concerning the shops in their possession.

The trying Magistrate, Sirdar Sahib Bhai Hardyal Singh, recorded the statements of the complainants and sent the same to the police for investigation and report.