E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

PGI package
THE Rs 122-crore package cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will do a world of good to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), Chandigarh. It is a premier institution which has been feeling quite hamstrung of late in the absence of urgently needed modernisation and upgradation. 

Tax break in disguise 
TAX concessions have several names and for a big group of manufacturers this year it will come in the name of 100 per cent depreciation. What this means is that the entire cost of machinery and equipment purchased by a select group of industries can be set off against taxable income in the same year. At the end of the accounting year the book value of the new machinery will be zero. 

OPINION

Disorder under the guise of religion
by K. F. Rustamji
ABOUT the year 1954 Jawaharlal Nehru paid a visit to the jail in Dehra Dun where he had spent about four years. We were standing in the bare room looking out on a green courtyard where he had written his best works. I asked him:

Parsis look for ways to survive
From Shiv Kumar in Mumbai
INDIA'S minuscule Parsi community, whose numbers continue to dwindle, is looking for ways and means to keep its culture alive. The community, which traces its ancestry to the first Zoroastrians who arrived in Gujarat as refugees from Iran more than 500 years ago, is slowly dying with fewer births to replenish the population. Today, there are fewer than 200,000 Parsis in the country, most of who live in Mumbai and Gujarat.

MIDDLE

Mango mania
by O. P. Bhagat
WE do not just like mangoes: we love them. Some call it our zest or passion for the fruit. Some others call it our mango craze or mania. If you do not like the word mania, you may say magic. On old and young, rich and poor, the mango casts the same spell.

OF LIME SUBLIME

Happiness lies in giving and sharing
by Subhash C. Kashyap
THE most striking development of our times has been the digitalisation of information, leading to the building of highways and superways, e-mail and e-commerce, the Internet, cyber cafes, multi-media and the rest.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

PGI package

THE Rs 122-crore package cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will do a world of good to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), Chandigarh. It is a premier institution which has been feeling quite hamstrung of late in the absence of urgently needed modernisation and upgradation. Innovations in the speciality fields have been taking place at a breathtaking speed and the cash-starved PGI has not been able to keep in step with them. It is peculiarly placed because it is perhaps the only institution of its kind in North India and attracts patients from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and even beyond. The heavy rush tells on the services in various ways. The package may help retrieve the situation somewhat. Among the most urgently needed is a trauma centre. The facilities available at present are grossly inadequate, with patients, especially accident victims, referred to the PGI by various institutes crowding the limited space. The proposals submitted by the PGI include a 100-bed specialised eye centre. Then there is also the need for the enlargement of the cardiac centre, so that it can cater to the large number of patients who swarm the institution. These and the advanced centres for paediatrics and bone marrow transparent will comprise the second phase of facilities for which there is a crying need. Most importantly, modernisation will act as a catalyst for the R and D facilities which have not been pursued to the extent possible because of the adverse financial circumstances.

The pressure on the institute is so heavy that it is doubtful whether even this package would be adequate to take care of the most essential needs. A way has to be found so that the money flow can keep pace with the requirements of the world-class talent bank that the PGI is. It has been given out that the various projects will be completed by the year 2003, but the three-year period seems to be too short for undertaking an upgradation of this dimension. One hopes that all concerned will be able to cope with the magnitude of the task. Another important proposal cleared by the CCEA is regarding the introduction of ayurvedic medicines for promoting the health of mothers and children in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and unani medicines in the cities of Delhi, Aligarh, Hyderabad and Lucknow. Both these systems have proved their efficacy in modern scientific tests and are worthy of active support. They offer two additional advantages. One, the medicines are comparatively cheaper and, two, these do not havee is a veritable treasure trove of exotic herbs which have been found to have exceptionally good medicinal properties.

Australian interest in India

IT seems Australia has realised the futility of its lukewarm attitude towards India as shown in the wake of the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in May, 1998. Prime Minister John Howard made it clear during his two-day visit that ended on July 11 that Canberra did not want the past happenings to come in the way of the present and future plans and hence his efforts aimed at infusing a new life into his country's relations with India, the biggest democracy of the world. He would not admit this, but he might have realised later on that his country's reaction vis-a-vis India's nuclear tests two years ago was not in keeping with the emerging reality in the region. Moreover, it had no moral right to give sermons to India on nuclear-nonproliferation when Canberra had allowed Britain to undertake atmospheric nuclear tests spreading radioactive debris from Melbourne to Adelaide. Australia has been adopting anti-India postures at various world forums but in vain. The change of heart has perhaps come in view of the USA's growing interest in India and the atmosphere that has been created by the globalisation and privatisation policy being pursued in this country. In any case, it is good that Mr Howard has begun an exercise to lay the foundations for a new phase of India-Australia relationship which will benefit both immensely.

Though New Delhi did not give to his visit the importance he might have expected, it has provided clear indications that it will go to any extent to upgrade its relations with Canberra. India is not able to meet even 50 per cent of its requirement of lentils. Australia can help India to solve its lentils problem. The inauguration of a new era in the relations will give a boost to trading between the two countries. In 1997-98 India's exports to Australia stood at $438 million which meant an increase of 14 per cent compared to the volume in the previous year. That year Australian exports grew to $1.48 billion, showing a rise of 24 per cent. Since then the situation has not improved because of the coldness in the relations. Now Australia appears to be particularly keen on increasing its presence in India in the field of information technology. This impression one gathers from the discussions Mr Howard had with the Union Minister for Information Technology, Mr Pramod Mahajan. Over 358 joint ventures have already been given approval by the two countries during the past few years. The areas covered include telecommunications, chemicals, metallurgy and electrical equipment. If Australia's renewed interest continues to grow on expected lines, the number of joint ventures may multiply in the near future. 

Tax break in disguise 

TAX concessions have several names and for a big group of manufacturers this year it will come in the name of 100 per cent depreciation. What this means is that the entire cost of machinery and equipment purchased by a select group of industries can be set off against taxable income in the same year. At the end of the accounting year the book value of the new machinery will be zero. It is quite a radical policy as depreciation is normally spread over several years, mostly depending on how quickly obsolescence sets in. Even computers and peripherals, where technological improvements come in a rush, are changed normally once in three years. Thus a 33 per cent depreciation is adequate to help the industry keep pace with upgradation and modernisation. At present accelerated depreciation is available only to hi-tech pollution control devices and it is an incentive to adopt costly technologies to curb the menace of water and air pollution. Why improve this scheme and apply it to such industries as automobile and electronic components, hand tools and hosiery? The argument is that it will speed up modernisation but there is no evidence that any sophisticated equipment requires replacement within a year. Possibly, the second-hand machinery (of the previous year’s vintage) will be sold as scrap to minimise the capital gains tax. Even here it is not an open-ended game as the demand for one-year old equipment will soon dry up.

Then there are the right noises in favour of small-scale industries in whose name 100 per cent depreciation is thought of. They bring in Rs 50,000 crore in export earnings and are the biggest employers. These units have come under intense scrutiny. Their capital investment limit is being sharply increased to Rs 5 crore and foreign companies will be allowed to invest upto 49 per cent, up from 24 per cent. This will end the unique local character of these small industries and make them vulnerable to big business and foreign interests control. It is possible that the policy changes are being lobbied by these very interests and in view of the open-door import policy from next year. All goods, many of them at present reserved for the small scale sector, will have free access to Indian market and this has created a panic of cheap foreign — read Chinese and South Korean — goods flooding the country. Exploiting this scare, some industrial interests are forcing the government to widen concessions. And a clueless government is readily obliging.

This is not the only policy change devoid of a clear direction. On Tuesday the government decided to sell wheat from FCI stocks at a price lower than what it charges at fair price shops. There are several curious conditions. Only the grains stored in the Punjab region will be sold at Rs 700 a quintal this month to be raised by Rs 50 every succeeding month. The minimum volume is one truckload, 10 tonnes, which means that only traders and flour millers can enter the auction. The government talks of the first-come, first-served policy, as though it expects a heavy rush of customers. But the reality is that in the open market wheat costs at least Rs 100 less and if a South Indian rice miller were to enter the buying, it will still cost him Rs 900 a quintal after paying trucking charges. In the Delhi anaj mandi the grain was quoted at Rs 610 a quintal on Tuesday. And Punjab has about 10 million tonnes of wheat stored in the most unscientific way and wants it to be moved out. It needs space to store the kharif paddy crop. But the latest policy changes will not make that task easy, because there is a gross mismatch between the open market price and the economic cost of the FCI grain. 

Dangers from medical wastes
Need for multi-disciplinary approach
by Rajan Kashyap

EVEN as hospitals provide solace and relief from disease, the dangerous wastes generated by them have become a serious hazard which threatens public health. Indiscriminate disposal of hospital wastes is indeed a major source of pollution and infection. Bio-medical wastes from hospitals, nursing homes and clinics include hypodermic needles, scalpel blades, surgical gloves, cotton, bandages, clothes, medicines, blood and body fluid, human tissues and organs, body parts, radio-active substances and chemicals. Some of these contain harmful organisms. Reuse of discarded syringes/needles can transmit lethal diseases like AIDS and hepatitis. Similarly, indiscriminate recycling of used cotton, clothes and medicines poses a host of health hazards.

Improper incineration of wastes, particularly chlorinated organic compounds, can result in noxious emissions, including the dreaded dioxin. Ideally, wastes must be segregated category-wise and rendered harmless through physical separation and disinfection, and disposed of in secured landfills, or incinerated. In effect such safety measures are not usually adopted by hospitals in our country. More often than not, mixed bio-medical wastes are discarded for disposal along with municipal wastes in towns. Many consumed materials such as needles, syringes and bottles are collected by rag-pickers and even recycled into the market. The consequences are horrendous. Certain studies reveal that the incinerators in a number of hospitals are neither designed scientifically nor operated properly. Certain wastes which could be segregated and otherwise decontaminated are often needlessly subjected to incineration. The persons deployed for handling hospital wastes lack the basic knowledge and technical skills for this specialised task.

It is not surprising that even with the highest level of operational skills by doctors, the incidence of post-operative complications in our country is unacceptably high. Worse is the yet unmeasured impact on public health of the exposure of the common man to these hazards.

India boasts of the highest level of expertise in many forms of high technology, including medicine. At the same time we enjoy some of the most primitive conditions insofar as basic infrastructure and safety are concerned. We have a dual economy. The widest disparities exist between the rich and the poor in society, between high technology applications and the labour-intensive methods of industrial production. Internet services are freely used in offices and homes located on potholed streets which overflow with garbage and sewage waste. The famous economist John K. Galbraith found the situation in India a combination of “private affluence and public squalor”. Fundamentally, the infrastructure needed to support development in general and medical services in particular just does not exist.

The problem of management of hazardous bio-medical wastes is not merely a matter of their physical disposal and elimination. In this day and age technology is fully capable of ensuring adequate treatment and safe disposal. Why is it failing to do? The answer is, first and foremost, that any lasting solution can emerge only from a linkage between technology and environmental management. Such linkage has to be established beyond the hospital walls. Resources permitting, hospitals can at best segregate and package hazardous materials. It may not be feasible or even safe for every medical or health care unit to individually arrange final disposal in landfills or incinerators. For the convenience of the public at large, as well as efficiency and economy, common treatment and disposal facilities should be created for all units in a town or locality. The institutions should be required to pay charges in proportion to the quantity and nature of the wastes generated by them. In developed countries, the local municipal authorities are responsible for the common arrangements. In a just and fair system, the polluter must be made to pay for such services.

It is a matter of alarm that the municipalities in our towns are unable to effectively handle even the non-hazardous solid wastes (garbage, etc), or to provide primary treatment for domestic sewage waste. For our local bodies, effective management of hazardous materials is a far cry. They have yet to design a system of charging their consumers in proportion to the services rendered. Undercharging consumers is a sure recipe for the collapse of the administration. And yet that is exactly what is happening in all our towns. The concept of “free lunch” prevails.

The problem in our country is compounded by an excessive centralisation of powers with the state government. The authority for directing municipal affairs must necessarily go hand in hand with the responsibility for supplying efficient service to the citizen. The 74th Amendment of the Constitution requires considerable devolution of funds as well as powers to municipal local bodies. Such devolution is yet to take place. The hazards of bio-medical wastes can, therefore, not be tackled in isolation. What is required is a strong political will on the part of the state government, backed by sufficient investments, delegation of authority to the operational level, and effective action by the local municipal corporations or councils in whose jurisdiction the hazards emanate.

For a solution, it is necessary to appraise both visible and invisible factors. A multi-disciplinary approach would have to be adopted for the management of bio-medical wastes. This must incorporate the following:

* Legal measures: The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, has framed Bio-Medical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1995. The Central Pollution Control Board has formulated guidelines for safe handling of hospital wastes. Compliance must be enforced.

* Allocation of resources of the Central government and the state government for an integrated programme of bio-medical waste management.

* Closer coordination between the Department of Health of the state government and municipal administration.

* The establishment of a commonly managed and integrated system of final disposal of medical wastes, linked to a fair debiting of costs to the generators of the hazardous waste.

* Drastic reform measures in municipal administration for raising adequate financial resources and their optimal utilisation for the management of hazardous wastes.

* Involvement of non-government agencies which are closely linked to the people who suffer the adverse impact of mishandled hazardous wastes.

* A well-directed public awareness campaign.

* Harnessing technology for achieving clearly developed objectives.

* Structured training programmes for all staff members engaged in the handling of the wastes. These could include the introduction of specific diploma or even degree level courses in medical or engineering institutions, as also some practically-oriented courses for workers.

* A strong monitoring system, which determines accountability of the polluter and of the handler of the hazardous wastes.

* Enforcement of the polluter pays principle.

(The writer is Principal Secretary, Government of Punjab).

Disorder under the guise of religion
by K. F. Rustamji

ABOUT the year 1954 Jawaharlal Nehru paid a visit to the jail in Dehra Dun where he had spent about four years. We were standing in the bare room looking out on a green courtyard where he had written his best works. I asked him:

“Did you have any doubts, when you were in this jail, that independence would come in your lifetime?” “No. At that time I had no doubt at all”, he said. “But doubts did appear later.” Before I could ask him when the doubts appeared, and why, he did a quick turn, as was his habit, and went out of the room.

There is a lot that I could read in that answer today, and it has some meaning for us. The firm belief of the Congress at that time was that Britain would never hand over India to those whom Churchill compared to a gang of thugs, unless the people rose in a massive revolt. In fact, till 1942 no Indian believed that the British would leave India willingly. We miscalculated. Only the wily Rajagopalachari felt that we must be prepared for freedom, even for Partition. We were totally unprepared for our tryst with destiny taking a wrong turn.

It was only after the arrival of Lord Mountbatten that Nehru began to believe that the offer of the British was sincere. His mistake was that he felt that we must complete the transfer of power as quickly as possible. He even accepted the advancement of the date by Mountbatten although the work of the division of assets was incomplete, and no plans had been made for dealing with disorder. The British could sense that there was disaster in the air.We could not.

We were totally unprepared for the grabbing of houses, land and factories which was the forerunner of Partition on both sides.We never expected that people would be turned out of their homes in millions by the sheer avarice of possession. India was not partitioned by religion. It was partitioned by the brigandage of those who felt it was a good opportunity to get what they could in the name of religion. It was the worst misuse of religion in history.

The fact that Jinnah was terminally ill with cancer was not known or even suspected. On the Indian side, people hoped that Jinnah would settle down, forget differences and build up Pakistan as a good neighbour. The British felt he would be a useful ally in a part of the world that had the oil that the West needed, and he could be used as a foil against India.

Nehru loved the adulation that he received from the people, and in turn he bestowed a deep devotion to them. The mistake that he made was that he could not foresee that Partition would transform the land he loved into an inferno of hatred. I am too ardent a follower of Nehru to belittle the work he did to lay the foundation of our secular democracy, but I have to admit that he lacked the administrative foresight to see that the people can be transformed by agitators projecting hatred into mobs that kill and burn with brutal fury. Or perhaps he felt it would be better to suffer the frenzy of disorder rather than continue in bondage, even for a day.

Worse were the mistakes and miscalculations of Jinnah. The man who had generated hatred, and made use of it to get Partition, expected that as soon as Pakistan was formed, that hatred would be transformed into love. In his last days he saw the explosions of violence, the procession of millions walking in opposite directions on television, even shed tears over it. As Cowasji says in Dawn, he must have seen his dream turn into nightmare.

The disaster of Partition was caused by our failure to check the violence that erupted in the name of religion. It was started by the aggressiveness of those who set out to capture lands, even whole villages, houses and factories belonging to the opposite community. That was followed by revenge killings and migrations. A deadly fear gripped the subcontinent, and even affected the impartiality of the security forces. It was primarily our failure to anticipate, to prepare for violence and to deal with it effectively and impartially, that led to a law and order breakdown of continental proportions. It could happen again because we always fail to see that disorder under the guise of religion is a real danger to us.

Mango mania
by O. P. Bhagat

WE do not just like mangoes: we love them. Some call it our zest or passion for the fruit. Some others call it our mango craze or mania.

If you do not like the word mania, you may say magic. On old and young, rich and poor, the mango casts the same spell.

Whatever the word used may be, this love shows itself as soon as raw mangoes arrive. They are almost as much in demand as the ripe fruit.

Housewives buy kilos of unripe mangoes and make pickles, chutneys and several savoury dishes. Pickle shops make a variety of mango preserves, and in such huge quantities that they meet the demand until the next season.

The raw mango is put to some other uses too. Its slices are dried in the sun to make amchur. It is one of our favourite sour seasonings.

A cool drink is made by roasting raw mangoes and adding salt, sugar, one or two spices and, of course, water and ice to the pulp. It is as tonic as it is tasty. It also beats the summer’s heat.

As for ripe mangoes, people eat them before meal, after meal and between meals. If it is small juicy mangoes, they suck them by the dozen. Some individuals stop only when they have hit a century.

The last Mughal was very fond of mangoes. Once, it is said, he ate so many at a sitting that his stomach ached!

A lot of the ripe mangoes go into making jam, “ambpapad”, juice and pulp. Most of the pulp is kept for making some mango delicacies and the drinks sold in bottles and tetrapacks.

Many stalls and restaurants serve frothy mango milkshake. An energy drink has now mango flavour besides its original chocolate taste. The latest is mango glucose.

Mango is also a popular icecream flavour. Some kulfi-makers freeze mango juice itself in the conical moulds. For those who like it sweet and spicy, there is ripe mango chaat — mango cubes sprinkled over with salt and spices.

Ambpapad is our age-old mango toffee. It is made by drying mango juice in layer upon layer. Now there are mango drops and wafers as well.

Some hotels organise mango weeks or fortnights. In a room or restaurant, which has mango decor, they present many old and new fruit drinks and fruit cakes and confections and icecream.

Some States put up mango melas. There, under one roof, you see hundreds of mango varieties and many mango products from various parts of the country.

We top in producing mangoes — nearly 10 million tonnes a year. This is 64 per cent of the world production. Our mango varieties add up to about 1,000.

Not all are good, though. Many are sour or they are not good to eat. But a lot more are delicious or delightfully juicy. Each has its own flavour.

New mango hybrids are still being developed. One is Amrapali, named after the legendary beauty of Vaishali. It is a cross between Neelam of Tamil Nadu and Dussehri of U.P. Some time back a seedless mango was in the news.

However, our mango exports are perhaps the lowest. Some blame it on the lack of export facilities. Others link it to our own zest or passion for the mango.

We eat, and also drink and use in other ways, so much of the fruit that very little is left to sell abroad.

This brings us back to mango mania. Or is it mango magic?

Happiness lies in giving and sharing
by Subhash C. Kashyap

THE most striking development of our times has been the digitalisation of information, leading to the building of highways and superways, e-mail and e-commerce, the Internet, cyber cafes, multi-media and the rest.

Information, however, is not knowledge and even knowledge is far from being wisdom. Not all the knowledge in the world can give us the power to discern and discriminate between good and evil and to choose the right course of action when faced with a moral dilemma.

It calls for wisdom which comes from insight born of profound experience, intuition and repeated reflections on the depths and heights of the soul normally inaccessible to the ordinary processes of cognition and communication.

In today's scenario, our objectives are largely centred on material wants and sensory pleasures. Each one is for self, for fulfiling personal needs and working to enjoy life and extracting the maximum possible pleasure from it.

All religions extol sacrifice but today, we are not prepared to suffer for a cause beyond self-interest or to sacrifice for others. It is difficult to find persons who want to better the world around or ameliorate the sufferings of fellow human beings. Higher values and qualities of character are not in demand.

We face the debris of our dreams of old. Competitive consumerism, hedonism, stark materialism and unabashed possessivism have become the yardstick of respect in society.

For fear of being dubbed non-secular, we do not even talk of the old ideals of aparigrah, asteya and santosham or of minimisation of wants. Since everything around seems rotten, we tend to withdraw into shells of privatism and make selfishness the only virtue. The goals become making big money quick, achieving status and living well.

Nations that lose their vision perish. Societies that fail to transmit to their children their heritage, the quintessence of the accumulated wisdom of centuries and a system of values are relegated to debris. The rubble and the shambles of history and the stories of dead civilisations are a mute testimony to many such fallen stars.

Thousands of years ago, our common ancestors, who incidentally were neither Hindus, nor Muslims, nor Christians, asked of themselves a question: “Who am I, where did I come from, what is the aim of life, what heights of excellence can a man achieve?”

It must be a cause for great concern and anguish that we are gradually getting cut off from the basic truths of our sublime past. Many of us are not even aware, for example, of the vast reservoir of knowledge in the Vedas and the Upanishads and in our old traditions.

The Upanishads represent the highest philosophy ever developed anywhere. If we get to know them we can really be proud of this heritage left by our ancestors. These works of wisdom do not belong to any particular religion, community or group, they are the common heritage of every Indian, in fact of humanity.

The Upanishads teach us that there is no high or low. Every member of society has his own place of pride and honour because behind his individuality is his soul, his Atman — eternal, infinite and immortal.

The human personality owes its creative energy and the spirit of oneness and equality to the Atman. How can such knowledge be non-secular? It only awakens the consciousness of the oneness of family, neighbourhood, society, nation and humanity at large. In every other man, the individual sees himself. He feels the pain and sorrow of every other human being as his own.

Our nation can rise to great heights if we decide to give her our best but she will, however, fall if we remain anxious only to take out the maximum for ourselves.

What is needed is a new beginning. Each individual can begin with himself once he realises that real happiness comes from giving and sharing and not from taking and grabbing, it resides not in bhog or enjoyment but in tyag or sacrifice. As the Isopanishad says, one should enjoy only through sacrifice. (Tena Tyaktena Bhunjitha).

There is a conflict between the two value systems. Is the world to be seen as a global market where everything is bought and sold and there is free competition or as a family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) where there is compassion and caring for each other. The market eliminates while the family protects the weak member.

Social inequalities and tensions will keep multiplying unless we seek respite in spiritual wisdom and its quintessentials of equality, unity and integrity of all humanity. The Atman or Jyoti which is within each one of us, is the inexhaustible reservoir of energy and power. To recognise the 'I' or the Atman inside the physical body is the highest wisdom.

The writer, a former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, is a member of the Constitution Review Commission.

Parsis look for ways to survive
From Shiv Kumar in Mumbai

INDIA'S minuscule Parsi community, whose numbers continue to dwindle, is looking for ways and means to keep its culture alive.

The community, which traces its ancestry to the first Zoroastrians who arrived in Gujarat as refugees from Iran more than 500 years ago, is slowly dying with fewer births to replenish the population. Today, there are fewer than 200,000 Parsis in the country, most of who live in Mumbai and Gujarat.

The Bombay Parsi Panchayat, which oversees the community’s affairs, and UNESCO have initiated a project to trace the causes of the community’s decline and record its culture for posterity.

A questionnaire is being circulated among Parsis to seek information on the ills plaguing the community. Parsis will be encouraged to provide details about the community publications they subscribe to, the traditional dishes cooked in their homes and their changing lifestyles.

At a public meeting in Mumbai, members of the community assembled to ask some searching questions about their decline. “Not only is our population declining but the younger generation is indifferent to our heritage,” Jamshed Guzdar, Chairman of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat, said.

Though the panchayat has initiated a number of schemes to increase its numbers, it has found few takers. The community, which is well funded from endowments, has a scheme to provide funds to Parsi couples that have more than one child. However, response to such schemes is poor as younger Parsis opt for careers and small families and even marry outside the community.

The project will record the demographic profile of the community and the priesthood and religious practices of Parsis. Also documented will be the oral traditions of the community.

According to statistics provided by the panchayat, while a reproduction rate of 2.1 children is required to sustain any community, Parsis average just 1.34. There are 1,000 deaths for less than 500 births on an average. The project, which first began as an endeavour to document Parsi Zoroastrians, has been expanded to cover Zoroastrians all over the world.

The term Parsi denotes a Zoroastrian descended from the original refugees who fled Parsa in Iran. Subsequent migration from that country due to the onset of Islam saw refugees settle in the western coast of India till the 1950s. — India Abroad News Service

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

It is necessary to know the law of the area where you are located. You cannot say, “I do not know the law”. Then you cannot exist there, and if you do not know the law of the universe, you cannot exist in the universe.... You may be pardoned by the law of man but you cannot be pardoned by the law of the universe. It is just, to the very core, and you cannot escape it.

— Swami Krishnananda, Your Questions Answered, chapter 41

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Karma is one of three principal bonds of the soul, along with anava and maya. Karma is the driving force that brings the soul back again and again into human birth in the evolutionary cycle of transmigration called samsara. When all earthly karmas are resolved and the Self has been realised, the soul is liberated from rebirth.

— Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Dancing with Shiva, Lexicon

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Whosoever surrendereth his purpose to Allah while doing good, he verily hath grasped the firm hand-hold. Unto Allah belongeth the sequel of all things.

— The Holy Quran, Surah 31:22

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A being is bound by his actions and is released by knowledge. From this point of view, sages whose vision reaches far do not perform actions.

— Mahabharata, 12.233.7

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The result of all actions which have been accumulated in previous births, however, large they maybe, would be completely burnt out immediately in the great fire of true knowledge. In a great conflagration can there be anything wet?

— A popular Sanskrit adage

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All enterprises are fulfilled or become successful due to effort and not by having only mental desires, just as no deer walks into the mouth of a sleeping lion.

— Hitopadesh, 36

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Karma indeed is productive of all causes. The doer, indeed experiences the fruits of his good and bad deeds.

— The Ramayana, 6.52.7.