An ordeal is over
Now that the "mini general election" is over by and large peacefully, one should thank the average voter for his or her interest and faith in the process of democratic governance.

Another rail disaster
THE early morning accident involving the 2903-Up Frontier Mail and 3152 Dn Sealdah Express near Khanna was evidently caused by the indifference of the safety and maintenance staff of the Northern Railway.

Game of political survival
Economy is the casualty
By Hari Jaisingh
India’s is an allround crisis. But it is the economic crisis which can spell the doom of the present government, notwithstanding its certain bold announcements in recent weeks.

India and food security
by Vinod Mehta
SINCE the days India was forced to import wheat from the USA under PL-480, it has been our overriding concern to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.

Globalisation: demystifying a myth
By M.S.N. Menon
IS globalisation the next stage in the evolution of human societies? Certainly not. Yet we are persuaded to believe that it is inevitable, that it represents a higher stage in the evolution of humanity. We must resist these bogus claims.

Nothing to crow over
By R.P. Chaddah
CROWS the world over are known to play all sorts of pranks and tricks, may be, in order to amuse themselves. Whether they do it out of a sense of fun or it is some sort of compulsive behaviour, only a Salim Ali can tell.

75 Years Ago

Situation at Panipat
ELSEWHERE in this issue will be found an account of the deplorable situation at Panipat, which Lala Duni Chand of Ambala has gathered by a personal visit to that place.

An ordeal is over

Now that the "mini general election" is over by and large peacefully, one should thank the average voter for his or her interest and faith in the process of democratic governance. The Election Commission, under the uncompromising guidance of Dr M.S. Gill, deserves praise for making effective arrangements for a smooth and fear-free poll. The Chief Election Commissioner did have many apprehensions and worries. He looked closely at the size of the electorate. About 90 million electors were involved. They needed 95,000 polling stations manned by 4.5 lakh members of the polling staff. The borders of the sensitive states—Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram—had to be put under close watch and these had to be sealed at many places. The responsibility of the security forces was tremendous. They have matched the magnitude of the challenge with their courage and expertise. The three deaths in Madhya Pradesh and a nasty incident of engineered food-poisoning in New Delhi have put a blot on the clean electoral proceedings. However, the 638 Assembly constituencies in the four states, one Parliamentary constituency in Broach (Gujarat) and 12 sizeable pockets in five other states make up a vast geographical area and cover a large population. What happened on Wednesday has been described as a "referendum" on the performance of the rulers of the day, both in Delhi and in the election-bound states. One may not necessarily agree with this point of view politically, but the very immensity of the exercise has made it significant in politico-administrative terms. The use of electronic voting machines has begun and their performance has been satisfactory. The process is simple. Mr Gill has indicated that such machines will be used in the byelections which are due next year. "We will finally do away with ballot boxes, ballot paper, strings and sealing wax," he has resolutely declared.

Now we have to wait until November 28 to see the final outcome. The exit poll results are too tentative to be taken note of with a sense of finality. The poll percentage, however, is a good indicator of the direction in which the anti-establishment wind is blowing. The figures for various states roughly are : Rajasthan-60 per cent, Madhya Pradesh-50 per cent, Delhi-52 per cent and Mizoram-70 per cent. The Congress has ample reason to feel happy in Delhi and Rajasthan. The BJP may put up a brave face, but it cannot afford to paint a rosy futuristic picture of the shape of things to come. Its depression is understandably deeper in Delhi. But no comment need be made on the prospects of the coalition government at the Centre. As Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said, the situation is "pregnant with many possibilities". Money power has played its expected role once again. When Parliament assembles, it should pay urgent attention to this aspect of the electoral system. The 18-group motley alliance headed by the BJP at the Centre makes one think of a peculiar figure trying to walk on multiple crutches and promising to make considerable headway! Andhra Pradesh's Mr Chandra-Babu Naidu, Tamil Nadu's Ms J. Jayalalitha, Mumbai's Mr Bal Thackeray and West Bengal's Ms Mamata Banerjee continue to attract public attention. A seasoned observer has correctly commented: "With its present 'friends', the BJP is hardly in need of enemies." The final results will point to a new political arithmetic in several states and at the Centre with enigmatic potential. What the people need is good governance and a chance to survive with some hope of well-being in these days of daily dying under the dark shadow of rising prices and factional combinations and permutations.

Another rail disaster

THE early morning accident involving the 2903-Up Frontier Mail and 3152 Dn Sealdah Express near Khanna was evidently caused by the indifference of the safety and maintenance staff of the Northern Railway. It also proves as false the promise of successive Railway Ministers that passenger safety would be accorded the highest priority. Mr Nitish Kumar, accompanied by senior officers of the Indian Railways, visited the site of the accident for an “on the spot assessment of the factors” responsible for the disaster. His expression of grief and announcement of “compensation” mean little to the families of those killed or maimed in the accident. Finding scapegoats at the junior level will not do. Those at the very top should own moral responsibility and administrative lapse for the mishap — one of the worst in the history of the Indian Railways — and resign. The Railways need officers of integrity and proven efficiency and not time-servers who wake up only after a Khanna-type accident and go through the motions of “doing the needful” for avoiding similar “mishaps in the future”. It is strange that the driver of the Frontier Mail did not realise that the engine had got delinked from the train — evidently because the coupling was not properly secured or had suffered metal fatigue — somewhere near Khanna. Four coaches of the Frontier Mail were derailed and fell on the adjacent track on which the Sealdah Express was travelling at full speed. The derailment must have caused some commotion in at least the overturned coaches. One can understand why the passengers in the other coaches did not come out on a cold winter night to enquire the cause of the commotion. But what about the guard and the coach conductors of the Frontier Mail? They should have been the first to come to the rescue of the passengers trapped in the derailed coaches. They could have taken steps to warn the driver and the guard of the Sealdah Express by lighting a fire or by whatever means they are presumably trained to use in emergencies.

All these questions have been raised on the basis of incomplete information. But there is virtually no scope of contradiction in asking the railway authorities why they have not used the latest technology for avoiding such mishaps. Is it too much to expect the Railways to install equipment which could alert the driver, the guard and coach conductors in the event of the train getting delinked from the engine? Is it technically not feasible to install equipment which could help the driver and the guard of one train to establish contact with their counterparts in another train in emergencies like the one which occurred near Khanna when three coaches of the engineless Frontier Mail overturned on the adjacent track? The fact of the matter is that the necessary technologies for making rail, road and air travel relatively safe are now available in the free market. For a cash strapped country like India even “Jai Vigyan” can be asked to produce the necessary safety technology for the three “passenger movement” sectors. For all this to happen, we must remember that safety begins at home. The loosely connecting live electrical wires and lighting a kerosene lamp in a haystack are just two symbols of our indifference to the concept of safety. The Wazirabad school bus tragedy has not helped us raise the level of road safety. We allow pandal contractors to use inflammable material even after the Dabwali tragedy in which several hundred school children were roasted alive. The mention of Charkhi Dadri does not remind us of a major air disaster in Haryana a few years ago. After the initial expression of anger and anguish over the Khanna rail mishap, it would be business as usual for the Indian Railways.

By Hari Jaisingh
Game of political survival
Economy is the casualty

India’s is an allround crisis. But it is the economic crisis which can spell the doom of the present government, notwithstanding its certain bold announcements in recent weeks. Economics is not a crude political game. It is a serious business of analysis and policy, with firm targets backed up by the ability to achieve them within a set time-frame. Unfortunately, most of our politicians neither understand economics nor do they show any willingness to put it before their crude populist games.

Has the BJP an economic policy? All that we know is that it is committed to swadeshi. It has no clear stand on globalisation. Nor has it a clear policy on the public or private sector. It is in a hurry to push through disinvestment in the public sector — a long-term demand of industry. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha spends more time on disinvestment than other substantial issues that can make a qualitative difference to the management of the economy.

The BJP had a chance to shape its economic policies in this year’s budget. But it missed the opportunity. In fact, it brought out the most colourless budget that one can think of.

Buying back of shares was mooted during the Congress regime. But it was not welcome, for it was feared that companies would misuse it. The stock market continued to be in the doldrums and the ordinary investor remained indifferent. Stock values either declined or stagnated. This went against companies. That is why they wanted to buy back shares so that they could prop up the share value of their companies. And perhaps misuse the new advantage. Now all that it does is to manipulate stock prices, but for how long? So long as the basic flaws in the country’s financial institutions remain unattended to, the market will continue to be in bad shape.

The BJP has no plan to improve the functioning of the financial institutions. And that is the root cause of many of the ills. Mr Yashwant Sinha’s seven-point plan for industrial growth was not a product of deep thinking. In any case, it is not likely to be implemented. These adhoc plans have only helped the BJP to lose whatever credibility it had. What can you make of Mr Sinha’s plan to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3 per cent? Is there any realism in such a proposal? And what of the 7000 - km six-lane cross- country highway project of the Prime Minister? Like the Ganga-Cauvery linkup, it is just another kite flying. Where will Rs 28,000 crore come from? There is no road fund.

Eight months is a long enough period to study the economy. The time has come for action. But the BJP has no action plan. It is still engaged in its one point-programme: how to survive!

We expected major moves on the swadeshi front. But so far no concrete move has been initiated. Perhaps realism has dawned on the BJP leadership. In any case, it had no meaningful plan to give its swadeshi credo a forward-looking thrust keeping in view the country’s grassroots realities.

The BJP had promised radical changes in the economy. But nothing worthwhile has been undertaken so far. It was against foreign investment in the consumer sector. But foreign investment in this sector is already dominant in the case of a number of items. In most of the middle - class consumer goods, it is the multinational companies (MNCs) which dominate the market.

The BJP has already shown that it can compromise with MNCs. In its handling of Enron, it went out of its way to accommodate the demands of the US multinational.

BJP leaders’ contradictory position on economic policies and approach is all too glaring. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi never fails to talk against potato-chips. Yet he and his colleagues have done nothing to curb the growth of pizza parlours. Already two MNCs have almost captured the entire soft drinks market. In short, the BJP has done little to control the stranglehold of MNCs in the consumer market. It has allowed 100 per cent equity in white goods. It has done even worse things. For example, it has invited foreign tobacco multinationals to establish their bases in India, knowing pretty well that tobacco consumption is one of the principal causes of cancer and heart-related disease!

It was thought that the swadeshi lobby would have its way in insurance. The Congress and Janata governments held their hand when it came to opening up insurance. But, without a second thought, the BJP has cleared the matter and allowed 40 per cent foreign equity holding in insurance companies. This is a clear signal to foreign institutions, which are likely to pick up anything like a 10 to 15 per cent holding. Thus the insurance sector is more likely to go under the control of MNCs. And ironically enough, it will be recalled that the BJP opposed the United Front government’s Finance Minister, Mr Chidambaram, on the insurance question!

In his Budget, Mr Sinha imposed an import tariff of 8 per cent. He had no idea then that this would hurt Indian competitiveness in a number of items. So he had to reduce it by half. The point is: the BJP has given no clear clue what its swadeshi policy implies. For example, does it want to support our steel industry by curbing steel imports or does it want to support steel users who prefer imports? Similarly, will the BJP prefer to favour consumer goods industries or the consumers? No clear-cut position has emerged so far from BJP policy-makers.

No wonder, some leading politicians in the government have started blaming the bureaucracy for all the ills. There is, no doubt, that the bureaucracy is largely responsible for many of the country’s economic ills, but then it could not have added to the distortions and socio-economic malfunctioning without the consent of the political leadership. The political leadership is smaller in number compared to the babudom. What is more, the political leadership may or may not directly exploit the common man. This is done by the babus. The common man in such cases has only one remedy against the tyranny of the babus — the corporator, the MLA or the MP. If they fail to help him, the citizen can at least punish them by denying them his vote. There is no way he can punish the Babu. There is no way to make him accountable.

The BJP leadership was against the bloated bureaucracy. But now that it is in power, it has chosen not to take any measures to curb the power of the bureaucracy. Nor has it done anything to reduce its ever growing size. Without properly managing the bureaucracy, the economy cannot be set right.

It is a harsh fact that things have gone from bad to worse. There is no point blaming previous governments, especially the Congress regime, for the disastrous course the economy has taken. The BJP leaders were well aware of the problems faced by the country. But they could never evolve correct policy options and muster courage to put the economy on the right track. Most of the time they were influenced by vested interests or petty political considerations. Despite his good intentions, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has not been able to lead his colleagues and allies effectively.

The problem with the BJP is that it can never set its priorities. Small wonder that the BJP-led coalition has bungled badly in many vital areas of the economy. Take the onion crisis. It is a typical case of bad management. The government’s failure is visible on all the fronts of procurement and distribution of essential commodities. A psychology of shortage has been created in the process to the advantage of speculative traders. How can things improve if punitive action is not initiated against known hoarders and blackmarketeers in time? This is nothing but an elementary lesson in a delicately balanced economy, still at the transition stage. We should not expect market forces to decide vital issues of price and production without a viable professional system being in its place.

The BJP will have to pay a heavy price in the Assembly elections in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram. The price rise has been unprecedented. The annual rate of inflation rose to a 163-week high of 8.85 per cent for the week ended November 7 on a sustained increase in the prices of primary food articles. This is the highest rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) recorded since September 23, 1995, when it touched 9.01 per cent. At the retail level, the increase in the prices of essential commodities has simply been crushing for the common man. Indeed, the BJP leadership has not been able to properly manage the economy. It has even failed to care for the sensitivities of the common man. The results of the Assembly elections will indicate the extent of popular disenchantment with the country’s ruling elite in the four states.

India and food security
by Vinod Mehta

SINCE the days India was forced to import wheat from the USA under PL-480 in early sixties, it has been our overriding concern to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. Over the years since then India has made steady progress in this direction through the introduction of high-yielding seed varieties, especially of wheat. At the moment, India is self-sufficient in meeting its food requirements.

However, as one study points out, things will not be the same by the year 2020. In this study, prepared for the International Food Policy Research Institute, it has been stated that if food productivity continues to decline, the demand for cereals will exceed domestic production by 23 million metric tons by 2020. India by then will be a net importer of foodgrains to feed its population.

This eventuality, the study points out, can be averted if we endeavour to maintain the high growth rate in the productivity of the earlier Green Revolution years.

The available data show that in less than three decades the foodgrain output has increased from 72 million metric tons in 1965-66 to 185 million metric tons in 1994-95. Imports are negligible as of now.

However, in the past one and a half decade the growth in productivity of grain production has slowed down to a significant extent mainly because of falling public investment in agriculture. As for the private investment in agriculture, there has been no appreciable increase. Therefore, India will have to think seriously in this direction, plan and execute an agricultural policy which will help it to remain self-sufficient in grain production or even overshoot self-sufficiency by a sufficient margin. The potential is there.

A comparison of the productivity of Indian agriculture to that in other countries shows that Indian agriculture is far behind and has a long way to go to realise its goals; and to reach their levels we will have to make conscious efforts to increase our productivity and bring it at par with their levels.

Take, for instance, China which has a large population to feed. With only 100 million hectares of agricultural land, China is producing 400 million metric tons of foodgrains (in Chinese statistics, the term grain includes potatoes and around 10 to 20 per cent of grains are actually potato crop), while India, with its 146 million hectares of agricultural land, produces on an average 185 million metric tons of food; India’s aspiration is to realise the target of 200 million metric tons of grain production by the year 2000!

If we take the production per hectare of individual crops, we will find that we are much behind other countries. The average production of rice per hectare in India is around 1,756 kg compared to 5,475 of North Korea. We are harvesting only 2,117 kg of wheat per hectare compared to 7,716 by the Netherlands. Similarly, India produces 1606 kg of corn per hectare compared to 9091 of corn per hectare by Greece.

Take soyabean and groundnut, it is the same story. The production of soyabean per hectare in India is 804 kg compared to 3,453 kg in Zimbabwe. As for groundnut, India harvests only 929 kg per hectare compared to 4,600 kg per hectare harvested by Israel — it is getting five times more groundnut per hectare than India. Similarly, India produces 15,817 kg of potatoes per hectare compared to 45,349 kg produced by Belgium. As for sugarcane, India produces 65,382 kg per hectare as against 135,448 kg per hectare produced by Peru.

If we take these comparisons seriously, which we as a nation should, then India has a lot to explain and a lot to do. It may be all right to have a record harvest and overflowing granaries in a relative sense, but we are just able to meet the domestic demand for foodstuff and may have surplus to see us through one or two bad harvests. For a country which also looks forward to entering the international agricultural market, this is not enough. It is necessary to have a substantial surplus of agricultural products every year on a fairly continuous basis if we are to emerge as one of the important exporters of agricultural products in the world like Australia, the USA or the EEC countries.

The figures also show that the potential of increasing agricultural productivity is immense. If other countries can get three to five times the production per hectare of any crop, why can’t India at least double its output per hectare of the agricultural produce? The potential for such an increase exists and there is no reason why India cannot achieve this. — INFA

Nothing to crow over

CROWS the world over are known to play all sorts of pranks and tricks, may be, in order to amuse themselves. Whether they do it out of a sense of fun or it is some sort of compulsive behaviour, only a Salim Ali can tell.

Recently I was at the receiving end at their hands when I went out for my daily round of morning stroll. I had hardly gone a few yards from my house and was busy breathing in the morning breeze when all of a sudden a pair of crows appeared out of nowhere, swooped down and, after a harsh peck at my head, flew to a nearby tree to exchange their notes.

This disturbed me for a little while, but I failed to fathom the reason for their ire against me in particular, because the pair never came down again to peck at other heads moving on the road.

Why me? With this question in my mind, I continued my walk. On my way back, I had all but forgotten about this incident. However, the pair still remembered my face and, I think, they had a different design this time. The moment I came near their area of operation, the two-some together aimed savagely at my head, and just in the nick of time I was able to avoid their concerted attack.

Again, I stopped and stood aside the road just to see whether the pair is going to mete the same treatment to other walkers. They never did anything of that kind. I had a strong desire to hurl stones at them for their impertinent behaviour towards me so early in the morning, but I checked this impulse of mine to avoid becoming the laughing stock of other walkers.

After reaching my house I started thinking all about crows, their behaviour patterns, their nature, their importance in the present-day scheme of things.

Crows are grim-looking, ominous ebony birds. They are unlovable and unloving, solitary beings and yet surviving. That is why Ruskin Bond calls them the world’s great survivors. He says that they are capable of living at any height and in any climate. Ted Hughes has written a good number of poems on them. R.K. Laxman has found his leitmotif in the crow for his famous cartoons, and he calls it his favourite bird.

A bit of serious thinking revealed that though the crow’s claws are in everything, his mind, I think, is torn by the simple will to survive. It witnesses and what it sees is more powerful than what it does — may be its will is weaker than its nature. To impart some importance to its being, it always warns other birds to fly when some cat is around the corner, because a crow’s IQ is a way above that of other birds.

Bond’s observation that elephants never forget and crows never forgive might have been the outcome of an experience like that of mine. But I cannot be sure.

A chance reading about the nature of the crows found in Japan made me get even with myself after this outrage done to me by that particular pair of birds. The story goes like this: the police there has videotaped crows in the act of placing stones on the train tracks, and they do it regularly. What would have happened had this pair in their wildest imagination thought of putting stones on my think-track, my mind shudders to think!

Globalisation: demystifying a myth
By M.S.N. Menon

IS globalisation the next stage in the evolution of human societies? Certainly not. Yet we are persuaded to believe that it is inevitable, that it represents a higher stage in the evolution of humanity. We must resist these bogus claims.

What are the facts? It all began with the oil crisis in the early seventies. High oil prices led to high debts. High debts led to a debt crisis. Many banks faced bankruptcy, including the World Bank. The issue before the IMF and the World Bank was how to make the debtors solvent. It was in response to this that the structural adjustment policies (SAP) were announced. It was claimed by the IMF and the World Bank that SAP would help the developing countries overcome their debt problem. Major elements of the SAP were: reduction of the state sector, promotion of private enterprise and the opening up of the economy to western MNCs.

The debt crisis paved the way for the large-scale entry of foreign companies, especially if they promised export promotion. These foreign enterprises were in search of cheaper costs. Naturally, there was local resistance to the intrusion of MNCs. This was what led to the call for globalisation and level playing fields by the MNCs.

Globalisation was neither a well thought out system nor was it a higher stage in the evolution of man. SAP was the real basis of globalisation. It was centred on the integration of international markets for goods and services, investment, technologies, finance and, to some extent, labour blurring national borders and curbing the autonomy of nations to shape their future.

Let us not forget that all these were undertaken to prevent the bankruptcy of western banks through default by debtors. This was the case when the US mobilised a massive aid programme for Mexico. The idea was to save the banks from bankruptcy. This was the case during the recent Asian crisis, when Washington mounted a massive aid programme.

We will be making the greatest mistake if we infer from these that these were all part of a natural evolution. Far from it. Instead, these were crises made by men. Nothing inevitable about them. In the process, America has been able to open up the nearly closed economies of the developing countries, a major objective of Washington.

Today the demand is for free movement of capital and companies, and unhindered access to any and every space in the economy of developing countries. This they call the new world order.

Should we succumb to such pressures? What is America’s locus standi to impose a new world order? And that without a discussion among all nations!

There are two distinct opinions in regard to the new dispensation. It is said that as America has won in the competition of the two systems — capitalism and socialism — the capitalist model be acceptable to all. Others feel that there are cultural and civilisational peculiarities among nations which should be respected.

But where was the victory of capitalism? If socialism failed, it was the failure of the socialists. The fact is: the US model has not been a success even in America! It has failed to overcome the age-old problems of hunger, poverty, disease, ignorance, unemployment etc. The US model is primarily responsible for the growing inequality between the poor and rich nations. How can the US model be acceptable to the poor in these circumstances?

If we go by growth models, then Asia has a better claim for recognition. China, South Korea, for example. Even India can claim to be a good model of mixed economy. It has a good record of being free from crises. The Russians take the Indian model ideal for their purpose.

In any case, the USA is no more the supreme economic power. Today the European Union is far more important to the developing countries than America. The EU has a GDP of $8 trillion, a quarter of the world’s GDP, with a per capita of over $20,000. This represents enormous purchasing power, rivalled by only North America and Japan.

In the past 50 years, Asia has been the most dynamic economic region. And it has been guided by its own experience, not by the US model. If Asia keeps up its growth, China will emerge by 2020 as the supreme economic power. The USA will be second, Japan third and the fourth will be India, followed by Indonesia, South Korea, Germany, Thailand, France, Brazil in that order (World Bank estimate). Do these facts give America the right to shape the world’s future? On the contrary the time has come to introduce democracy in the shaping of the world’s future economy. As a first step in this direction, the developing countries should hold their reserves in Euro and not in US dollars. Once the role of the dollar is reduced in the world, the USA can be brought to its senses.

But this is not the only factor going against the USA. With the collapse of Russia, it was felt that there would be no force to checkmate the USA. Russia has just recovered from its illusions about the market economy. The Russian people have lost all their social gains. Corruption and criminalisation have overwhelmed their society. They have been reduced to poverty and hunger and the economy has been reduced to half its size. It will take years before Russia can restore the conditions it enjoyed during the best days of socialism. The experience of Russia and CIS countries shows that it is dangerous to apply the US model. Russians say that their culture and traditions are so different that they cannot imitate foreign models.

One of the cases made against Communism in Russia is that the Russians paid a heavy price for the promises of Communism. But haven’t they paid a higher price already for the mirage of abundance under market economy?

Today, the Russians regret their wrong decisions. They are no more enamoured of the free market. They may not want a Stalinist regime, but they certainly will not embrace the US model. In fact, they want to oppose the hegemony of the USA. And they want a strategic partnership with China and India.

As for South-East Asia, it has had a bitter experience with free market experiment. With this one crisis, America has damaged its position for a long time in Asia. It is difficult to say where the South-East Asian countries will go, for they are not truly democratic countries. This explains why they fell into the trap of speculators. But it is difficult to believe that the millions of people who have been pauperised will ever allow repetition of free market experiments.

Both China and Japan are more likely to be cautious in opening up their economies to the Western MNCs or in permitting unregulated conditions.

The destruction of the bipolar world is a major factor affecting international relations. For all practical purposes, we live in a unipolar world, in which the USA maintains the world order. But as it plunges from one crisis to another, it is evident that the system it is trying to impose on the world is faulted. And what is more, the future of America is itself uncertain. More the reason, why it will try to impose its will on the rest of the world. Globalisation is a means for this purpose.

We must have faith in our mixed economy. We must try to make it more perfect. This will be in keeping with our resolve to maintain our political independence. If we are serious about promoting nonalignment, we cannot blindly support globalisation and the new world order. This is to accept American hegemony over the world.

75 YEARS AGO

Situation at Panipat

ELSEWHERE in this issue will be found an account of the deplorable situation at Panipat, which Lala Duni Chand of Ambala has gathered by a personal visit to that place. For the last 8 days Hindu shops of the locality have been closed for fear of being looted; and as the result of the riot that took place a few days ago, 26 Hindus and one Mussalman have been injured.

The cause of the disturbance is said to be Mussalmans’ objection to Arti being performed in Hindu temples, while the call for prayers (Azan) is being made in mosques. The Hindus urge that while they do not object to the Mussalmans giving Azan in their mosques while Arti is being performed in Hindu temples, a similar liberty of action should be conceded in the matter of their own religious observances.

The fact must be recognised that neither the time of the Azan nor that of the Arti can be altered by any secular authority, as both are fixed by religious ordinances of the two communities.

It is, therefore, extremely improper and mischievous for the members of either community to quarrel over such religious practices, which have gone on without let or hindrance for centuries. To break each other’s heads over such an affair is to make a laughing stock of ourselves, and give a handle to our enemies, who alone benefit by creating a cleavage between the two great communities of India.