 |
Monday,
August 13, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
Pre-poll
drama in UP Bank loan
bailout |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Significance
of the Nirupam episode
Back to
future
Chess
champ challenges computer
SC
cracks the whip, fixes time limit for pronouncing judgements
|
Pre-poll drama in UP THE disgraceful exit of Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP) chief Naresh Aggarwal from the BJP Ministry in UP offers a great lesson: in today's coalition politics if a small fish is not careful enough about its existence, it will be gobbled up by the bigger one. The former Power Minister was the least bothered about strengthening his organisational base. He was so power-drunk that he failed to realise that his position was getting weak with the Assembly elections approaching fast. The need of the hour for him was to keep intact the loyalty of his party MLAs, all Ministers ever since the days of former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. Being an assertive member of the Cabinet, Mr Aggarwal's relations not being smooth with Chief Minister Rajnath Singh was obvious. But because of his careless behaviour he had also got distanced from his LCP colleagues. Thus he is himself responsible for his plight today. With all but one of the 19 LCP MLAs having deserted him, his value in the political market is nearly zero. Even his "friend", Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, is not enthusiastic about welcoming Mr Aggarwal into his party fold. Though there is the likelihood of Mr Yadav ultimately coming to the rescue of his "well-wisher", that may be entirely on the SP leader's terms. Since Mr Aggarwal is used to dictating terms, as he did during his affair with the BJP, he will feel uncomfortable with the SP. But being in an optionless situation, he has to accept even small help that comes his way. Mr Aggarwal had not only outlived his
utility for the Chief Minister but also become a liability. He was a total failure as Power Minister. Of course, for the people in general it was the BJP-led government which was responsible for the acute electricity problem. But the gullible public may now feel that the government is concerned about its difficulties as it has sacked the Minister responsible for the power mess. If the government is successful in improving the situation on the power front soon, as the Chief Minister has promised, Mr Aggarwal's position will get more awkward. He may not be spared even by the Vaish community to which he belongs because the power shortage has almost crippled business activity in parts of UP. Mr Aggarwal can harm the BJP in only one way and that too only if he is in the company of the shrewd Yadav leader, Mr Mulayam Singh. He can present his case before the public to explain how the BJP treats those who help it capture power. After all, it was Mr Aggarwal who had split the Congress in UP to enable Mr Kalyan Singh, the predecessor of Mr Rajnath Singh, to form the BJP-led coalition government during those difficult circumstances in October, 1997. Mr Rajnath Singh may try to hold the Assembly elections as early as possible so that he remains the caretaker head of government to ensure some obvious
advantages for his party. But this may not help much. The anti-incumbency factor is likely to prove a major roadblock in the BJP's efforts to retain power. Thus if Mr Aggarwal is a loser today, Mr Rajnath may meet the same fate tomorrow. |
|
Bank loan bailout PUBLIC sector banks have been permitted (directed?) to write off bad loans to the extent of over Rs 8200 crore. This is the amount big business houses owe the banks and are disinterested in repaying them. The Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, promised to send all loan defaulters to jail but his ministry has quietly acquiesced in giving up the claims for recovery. Mr Sinha made his statement in Parliament where there is a strong sentiment in favour of safeguarding public money. The decision has come from the ministry which is under strong and persistent pressure to divert public money to prop up well-connected and powerful industrialists. For instance, IDBI, a
government run financial institution, has granted a loan of Rs 625 crore to a steel maker who has defaulted on repayment of previous loans and when the steel industry is in deep recession and is losing money. This proves that political considerations rather than commercial or economic ones influence the government decision. A sober economic analyst calls this as corrupted capitalism. Big business has developed a close nexus with the bureaucrats and political masters and has a hand in shaping and reshaping policies. The waiving of bank loans is the latest manifestation. It is now clear the loans are approved to those industrialists who have the right political connection. The banks obviously have a minor role in evaluating the risk factor. The banks have collectively to collect over Rs 54,000 crore as soured debt. Recently the government brought out a law to set up debt recovery institution. The Debt Recovery Tribunals should be the venue where this problem is resolved and not the dingy chambers of the Finance Ministry. There are other indications of political masters and bureaucratic rulers succumbing to the lure and pressures of big business. There have been a number of twists in the telecom policy favouring faceless entrants. Some believe that they are the benami holders of either political or bureaucratic investors. Curiously, black money transactions have increased manifold but the liberal media is blind to it. This accurately reflects the degree of political promiscuity in the country. |
Significance of the Nirupam episode IN the USA, where democracy appears to have taken firmer roots than India, the White House aides are progressively becoming more powerful than Cabinet officials. Over the years, errors of judgement and criminal practices had been more associated with the White House aides than the Presidential appointees. Thinking back on the Watergate scandal, all the illegal activities ordered by discredited Richard Nixon were carried out by his personally appointed White House aides. Leading the pack was the White House “Praetorian Guards,” Bob Haldeman and John Elhrichman. Aiding them were minor players, John Dean, Robert Mardian, Gordian Liddy and others. While Nixon escaped impeachment by resigning, the minor characters were found guilty of criminal charges and sentenced to various jail terms. When the Irangate scandal broke out during the Ronald Reagan presidency, it was once again the White House aides who were the mischief makers. The trend continued with the Clintons. When the US government investigated the Whitewater scandal, the hand of some of the Clinton cronies working as White House aides was clearly visible. One of them, perhaps bitten by remorse or feelings of guilt, committed suicide. To a certain extent, the White House aides are similar to the officials of the Prime Minister’s office which, in Indian politics and administration, had become increasingly powerful from the time of Indira Gandhi. The bureaucrats at the PMO seem to work for the Prime Minister and not the Indian nation. This was the case with the White House aides who openly admitted their primary loyalty lay with the President. The nation came a distant second. “If the President asked me to do it, I am prepared to walk over my grandmother,” boasted Chuck Colson, one of Nixon’s aides who went to jail in the Watergate aftermath. Yet, despite the White House aides running wild, the American political system retained its powers to judge right from wrong and investigate wrong doing at all levels. As indictments piled up against the erring White House aides, their Presidents did not threaten to resign. The President’s political supporters and leaders in his own political party did not come running with support and argue that the White House and the aides were always above suspicion. The President, of course, was viewed with awe and respect. But in the case of Richard Nixon, this kind of backing slowly ebbed away as damaging facts emerged one after the other. For a turbulent democracy like India, which is now under severe stress in view of being ruled by a coalition government, the American system should set an example particularly when power appears to have been misused by the Prime Minister’s office. There was no clear proof on this score, but even tinges of suspicion should be cleared at once and not treated as prestige issues. That is why it is hard to understand the hue and cry over the comments of the Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member, Sunjay Nirupam, about the alleged involvement of certain officials in the PMO in the UTI scandal. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Nirupam flaunted details of the telephone calls made to the former UTI chief, Mr P. Subramaniam, from the PMO. It was clear that Mr Nirupam and his party were targetting former PMO staffer, Mr N.K. Singh, the National Security Adviser, Mr Brajesh Mishra and the Prime Minister’s foster son-in-law, Mr Ranjan Bhattacharya. The fact that Mr Sunjay Nirupam, a comparatively newcomer to national politics came out with these charges, made one wonder whether he was put up to this job by his party boss, Mr Bal Thackeray. For every Sainik, Mr Thackeray is a kind of demi-god. Their speeches, actions and motives are controlled from Mumbai. It is difficult to believe that Mr Nirupam would have made the charges against the PMO on his own. But once the charges were made, the Sena chief clarified that they were not aimed at the Prime Minister personally and that the nation needed the services of Mr Vajpayee. Obviously, our Prime Minister was a lot more sensitive than say, the US Presidents whose aides had run amok within the system. Rather than order a full-fledged enquiry into the role of the PMO in the UTI scam, the Prime Minister sulked and threatened to resign. “Bus, ab bahut ho gaya” ( enough, this is too much) was Mr Vajpayee’s terse comment. As Cabinet ministers and allies crawled abjectly (in order to save their own positions) imploring the Prime Minister to withdraw his resignation, the great man obliged. This was to be expected and the drama was over. The BJP hotheads, however, were not satisfied and demanded that Mr Nirupam should apologise for his comments on the PMO. Due to some technical hitches, the Rajya Sabha did not accept the apology. In the meantime, the Prime Minister went on sulking and refused to meet a Sena delegation which was on Operation Damage Control. What was the need for such a political drama when the nation was threatened with continued attacks in Kashmir by militants and the worst ever financial scandal involving the UTI? Why should the PMO be considered above suspicion when it was an open secret that some of its officers were used for politicking? It was an open secret that the Prime Minister’s favourite in the PMO, former journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni, was often despatched as political
trouble-shooter and to negotiate with troublesome allies like Ms Mamata Banerjee and even Ms Jayalalitha when her AIADMK was part of the coalition government at the Centre. There are indications that the Sunjay Nirupam act was part of a larger drama over internal politics in Maharashtra. Having tasted power and the perks which went with it, the Shiv Sena did not like to sit in the opposition. For the past many months, the Sena leadership had claimed it had the resources and strategy to overthrow the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. But the claims remained so, no positive action emerged. The Sena apparently was irked by the BJP’s lack of interest in this Operation Topple. Worse, it feared that its poll partner in the state, the BJP, was secretly conniving with the Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress party (NCP) which shared power with the Congress in the state. Going by his past deeds, Mr Pawar was fully capable of pulling the rug from under the feet of the NDA government in the state. But will he be able to carry the majority in his own party MLAs? All over the country the Congress had not disintegrated as expected, and in fact increased its clout by winning the mid-term general elections in Assam and Kerala and was on the winning side in Tamil Nadu. The BJP star was clearly fading and Mr Pawar may not be able to motivate the majority of his MLAs to abandon the NDA government and align with the BJP. Unlike the Sena, the BJP is prepared for a waiting game. This has created tension within the BJP-Sena alliance. The BJP knows that in Maharashtra it needed the Sena more than the Sena needed it. But constant pinpricks from the Sena chief have become irksome. Time and again the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Mr Pramod Mahajan have to come to Mumbai, sit at the feet of Mr Bal Thackeray and cajole him not to abandon the Central coalition. But the Sena is still sore with the BJP for not “consulting” it on national issues and ignoring its claims when ministerial vacancies were filled. The BJP leadership has so far clearly played up to the personal ego of Mr Thackeray, without conceding much by way of plum Cabinet posts. The Nirupam episode was only the latest in embarrassing the BJP. The BJP has cut a sorry figure in the deal. The role of the PMO in national affairs has been questioned time and again. It is high time a high-level probe was ordered into the working of the PMO to find out if its bureaucrats had exceeded their briefs. The functioning of the PMO need not be a Sena versus BJP affair. It has national implications and should be handled at that level. The writer is a senior journalist and commentator. |
Back to future THE central business district of the city, glitters. You select a taxi from the fleet of Opels, Toyotas, Volvos, Mercedes, Datsuns, lining up the beautiful avenue and arrive at the shop selling the latest models of Japanese and European electronic goods. If you are not satisfied or are unable to locate the exact model of the cassette recorder you had in mind, no need to be disappointed. There’s thick catalogue offered you by the shopkeeper. You select your favourite item. It will be shipped to you from Holland, Germany or wherever. Ditto for clothes, accessories, cosmetics, household items. Theatres showing the latest Bond movies. Some of them even dubbed in the local lingo. The streets are full of magnificent physique, smartly turned out in western clothes one of the most handsome races found on this planet. The young ladies, especially, making a striking impression with their stately height, sharp features and cream coloured flawless complexion, set against a dark coloured woollen coat and skirt of the same colour and black leather stillettos. In short, a city rightfully taking its place in the sun in the 21st century. Right? Wrong!! This is Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, a quarter of a century ago, seen through the eyes of a 16- year-old. Reading the heart-wringing reports of the single minded devotion with which the Taliban set out to destroy the Bamiyan Buddhas, and the feeling of helplessness pervading the comity of nations, memories of a bygone era close to the heart flash before the inward eye, memories made more profound by the bonhomie, Comradeship and goodwill then prevailing between our two countries. It was in 1976 that the whole family landed in Kabul for a year-long stay when my father, a career civil servant, was appointed an adviser to the Afghan Government on land reforms. The whole place was swarming with Indians. Not only were there Indian officials by the dozens advising the Afghanis in almost every field of administration, there were also the native Indo-Afghanis, the Sikh gentlemen with their saffron turbans, who controlled the trade in grains, dry-fruit, spices and currency and spoke fluent Pashtu. The most striking thing, however, was the Indian atmosphere enveloping the cityscape and the Indian influence which was manifest in all walks of the life of the natives of Kabul. I remember the first day we shifted from the Kabul hotel to a house in the posh ‘shehar-e-nav’ (the new town), our Afghan neighbours, living in a huge mansion as a joint family sent us a delicious spread of local delicacies for dinner, but were considerate enough not to include any non-veg dish lest it should offend our sensibility! Life was one long stretch of unalloyed bliss. Tennis and weekend movie at the embassy. Birthday bashes and dance parties with friends. Post school evening stroll on the beautiful “Chauraha-e-Yakub” was mandatory. Things being cheap, you could get a kebab or softy or confectionery for a few afghanis (one rupee being equal to five afghanis). All the eateries (and other shops too) kept their stock of Hindi film songs which they did not feel hesitant to play full volume, lending the atmosphere a typical Indian touch. Hindi songs were a craze amongst the locals. It was not difficult to come across a person who could not converse in Hindustani but could sing his favourite song sans a pause. Most of the cinema halls were showing undubbed Hindi movies (other favourites) were James Bond, Charles Bronson and Bruce Lee). It was quite amazing to see so many Afghanis thronging these theatres. Indeed, without advance booking, it was impossible to get tickets. Atmosphere inside the hall was even more remarkable. The audience believed in carrying on with the movie. They laughed at all the right places. They clapped and fell silent as the occasion demanded. Hindi films are known for their religious overtones and songs. Never did I hear any disparaging comment or snigger from the audience at such moments in the film. A couple of times we got called over for a meal with the Afghan families. The food used to be vegetarian. But the custom was to share the food carrying bowls in common while eating your own nan — a custom we found difficult to adjust to but impossible to avoid. We flew back in 1977. A year later the Daud government was overthrown. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The rest is history. |
Chess champ challenges computer THE most powerful chess computer is set to face the world’s most powerful chess brain in what is being hailed as the ultimate competition to decide whether humans or machines rule the world of chess. World champion Vladimir Kramnik announced in London yesterday (Tuesday) that he is to face Deep Fritz 7, the most advanced chess computer in the
world. The encounter will take place over a fortnight in October in Bahrain and has been dubbed ``the brains in Bahrain’’. The contenders will play eight games. Kramnik, (25), said he hopes to get revenge for the 1997 match when his former teacher and world champion Gary Kasparov was defeated by a computer, Deep Blue. Kramnik said: ``When Kasparov lost to Deep Blue, in the public eye the computer became king. I am keen to win and prove this is not the case.’’ Kramnik added: ``A machine does not have any flexibility of thinking. I cannot always calculate everything but I make the right move because I feel it is the right move.’’ Deep Fritz 7 has been developed by IBM and is capable of analysing 6m moves per second. Developed in Germany, it has defeated all the chess grandmasters except for Kramnik - and Deep Blue. Kramnik will collect US dollars 1m if he wins.
The Guardian
Gene may help curb breast cancer Canadian scientists funded by fledgling drug developer Signal Gene Inc. said they had identified a gene that may help protect women from breast cancer. SignalGene said a team of scientists from Quebec City’s Saint-Francois d’Assise Hospital had examined variants of a known gene in more than 700 women since 1999 and found that 15 per cent of the women carried a form of the gene, an androgen receptor coding gene known as AR. They said presence of the gene decreased by half the risk of developing sporadic breast cancer. Sporadic breast cancer, opposed to hereditary breast cancer, represents 90 per cent of all breast cancer cases. “We still have to understand why the gene does that. We would not have thought that the gene played that role,’’ Laval University Associate Professor Francois Rousseau told a packed news conference in Quebec City. The results of the study were published in the August edition of the scientific journal Cancer Research.
Reuters
Drug to protect brain cells A drug sometimes used by athletes to enhance performance illegally may also protect the brain’s nerve cells from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, research published shows. Erythropoietin (EPO) is a genetically engineered copy of a human hormone that has become one of the world’s top-selling biotechnology drugs, used to treat anaemia by regulating the production of new red blood cells. It is also banned for use by athletes, who have taken it to boost the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the body. Russia’s Olga Yegorova, the world indoor 3,000 metres champion, has been chosen for tests for EPO at the world athletics championships in Edmonton, Canada, after she tested positive for it at a Paris meeting last month. But US-based researchers say they have identified a protein on the surface of nerve cells in the brain that binds to EPO, helping to protect those cells from damage. They think it could be developed to treat brain damage by injury or diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Reuters
How to reduce diabetes Adopting a new lifestyle through change in diet and going in for weight losing exercise is a relatively simple way of effectively cutting the risk of diabetes, says a US government study. The Diabetes Prevention Programme, the first large study on the subject, has found that at least 10 million overweight Americans could sharply cut their risk of developing diabetes by making these simple lifestyle changes. It is the first large study to show that losing weight and exercising can effectively delay diabetes in a wide range of overweight men and women who are just a step away from having full-blown diabetes. Previous research had already shown that diet and exercise could help control blood sugar levels in people who already had the disease — and thus reduce some complications. What the new study does is to demonstrate that lifestyle changes can actually prevent diabetes in nearly 60 per cent of those who are poised to develop the disease. The results are so overwhelmingly positive that officials halted the study one year early to make the findings widely available, an official said.
PTI |
SC cracks the whip, fixes time limit for pronouncing judgements NOTHING
that the Supreme Court of India has done for the last 50 years would compare with what it did last week. And not one of its many famous judgements handed down during the long, heady phase of judicial activism, nor all of them put together, would have contributed even one-tenth of what the judgement on pronouncement of judgements that it delivered last week is likely to contribute to the dispensation of justice in this ancient land. Condemning the “shocking state of affairs” in High Courts round the country where judgements are not pronounced for years on end, and treating delay in pronouncing judgement as a violation of the judicial oath of office, the Supreme Court issued on August 6 — for the first time since Independence — binding directions on delivery of judgements by the High Courts. Intended to remain in force “only until such time as Parliament would enact measures to deal with this problem”, the directions embody an exceptional blend of realism, creativity and self-discipline and would meet with the unstinted approval of the public at large. Fixing a compactly graded hierarchy of time-limits with firm and embarrassing sanctions for their violation, the directions — now law under Article 141 of the Constitution — fill in an area where the Constitution does not provide anything “presumably because the architects of the Constitution believed that no High Court judge would cause such long and distressing delays.” If delay in pronouncing judgements (says the Supreme Court) occurred on the part of the judges of the subordinate judiciary, “the whip of the High Court studded with supervisory and administrative authority could be used and it had been used quite often” to take action against the erring judicial officers. But what happens (it asks) when High Court judges themselves do not pronounce judgement despite lapse of several months, and even years, since completion of arguments? Judges do normally forget, says the court, details of the facts and niceties of the legal points involved with the passage of time. But sometimes the interval (between conclusion of arguments in a case and pronouncement of judgement) is so long, it adds, that the judges “forget even the fact that such a case is pending with them expecting judicial verdict.” It has been a long, long time since the judiciary has spoken so unsparingly of itself. Or has it ever? In 1961 (says the Supreme Court) a learned judge of the Patna High Court, faced with a magistrate who had taken nine months to pronounce a judgement, expressed his “judicial wrath” in the following words: “The magistrate who cannot find time to write judgement within reasonable time after hearing arguments, ought not to do any judicial work at all.” Now, says the Supreme Court (in the case before it), when two judges of the same High Court have taken two years — 24 months — to pronounce judgement in a criminal case, with the accused languishing in jail all the while, “the counsel appearing in this Court in challenge of the said judgement asked in unison whether the exhortation made by the Patna High Court in 1961 is not intended to apply to the High Court” itself? A brief look at the case which finally convinced the Supreme Court that the time for action had come, and the system could wait no longer. As related by the Supreme Court itself. A sessions court trying a murder case convicted nine persons on different counts in May, 1991. All the convicted persons filed appeals before the High Court while in jail. They patiently “waited for their turn to reach for the High Court to get time to hear their appeals. It took five years for such turn to reach.” Be assured, dear reader, that the High Court of Patna is not the only High Court where it takes so long, but let us get on with the story. Counsel engaged by the accused addressed arguments before the High Court, when their turn reached after five years, and having heard the arguments in August, 1995, the High Court adjourned the appeals sine die for judgement. That is not literally true, of course, for courts never use the term “sine die” when reserving judgement. But they hardly ever fix a date as well for pronouncing it. At least, the High Courts, if not the subordinate courts, hardly ever do. And that amounts to the same thing as a deferment sine die. And the “convicted persons while remaining in jail again waited for the ‘D’ day.” “(B)ut days and weeks and months and even years passed without anything happening from the Court.” In the meantime, one of the convicted persons died in jail. But “the judges concerned had no concern” until one of them reached near the date of his superannuation. It was then that they reminded themselves of the obligation of rendering judgement. And it was thus that the judgement impugned before the Supreme Court “came out at last, from torpidity.” Should the situation continue to remain so helpless, asks the Supreme Court. The time has come (it holds) for the judiciary itself to assert for preserving its own stature and respect. “In a country like ours where people consider the judges only second to God, efforts (must) be made to strengthen that belief of the common man.” It is true (it acknowledges) that, for the High Courts, no period for pronouncement of judgement is indicated either in the Civil Procedure Code or in the Code of Criminal Procedure. But pronouncement of judgement without delay, holds the Supreme Court, is a part of the justice-dispensation system. Any procedure or course of action that does not ensure a reasonably quick adjudication must be termed unjust. It is contrary to the maxim: Actus curiae neminem gravabit, an act of the court shall prejudice no man. Delay in disposal of a case or appeal on account of an inadequate number of judges, insufficiency of infrastructure, strikes of lawyers or other circumstances attributable to the State is understandable. “But once the entire process of participation in the justice-delivery system is over, and the only thing to be done is the pronouncement of judgement, no excuse can be found” for any further delay in the adjudication of the rights of the parties. Thus it is that the Supreme Court issued on August 6 the following directions, to be “strictly followed and implemented” as the “mandate of this Court”: One, the Chief Justices of all High Courts, on their administrative side, should direct the Court Officers/Readers of various Benches to furnish every month the list of cases where the judgements reserved are not pronounced within the period of that month. Two, on noticing matters where after conclusion of arguments the judgement is not pronounced within a period of two months, the Chief Justice shall draw the attention of the concerned Bench to the pending matter. The Chief Justice may also circulate, in a sealed cover, amongst all the judges of the High Court for their information a statement of cases in which the judgement has not been pronounced within a period of six weeks from the date of conclusion of arguments. Three, where a judgement is not pronounced within three months from the date of conclusion of arguments, any of the parties in the case may file an application in the High Court with a prayer for early judgement. Such an application, as and when filed, shall be listed for hearing before the concerned Bench within two days, excluding intervening holidays. Four, if for any reason whatsoever judgement in a case is not pronounced within a period of six months, any of the parties to the litigation may move an application before the Chief Justice of the High Court, with a prayer to withdraw the case from the concerned Bench and to make it over to any other Bench for fresh arguments. It would be open to the Chief Justice to grant the prayer or to pass any other order as he deems fit in the circumstances. From within a month (direction one) to 1˝ months (second part of direction two) to two months (main part of direction two) to three months (direction three) to six months at the outermost (direction four) — that is the graded hierarchy of limitation for pronouncement of judgements devised by the Supreme Court and imposed on all High Courts on August 6. A discerning look shows, however, that anything beyond 1˝ months or six weeks would be a date too far. For beyond that period lies the embarrassment. The embarrassment of being mentioned in the list to be circulated by the Chief Justice among brother judges. And being spoken to by the Chief Justice (after two months). And beyond three months lies the sanction. The application for early judgement, a wholly new remedy granted by the Supreme Court without precedent either in statute or in the common law. Finally, beyond six months lies the ignominy. The withdrawal of the case and its transfer to another Bench. And the bitter taste in the mouth that is left behind. One need say no more. |
Smuggling Hill Opium
Shimla |
O mind, you will repent when the opportunity has passed. Having attained this difficult human birth, Worship the feet of God by speech, heart and deed. Even Sahasrabahu, Ravana and other kings could not save themselves from (the clutches of) powerful death. Those who in their arrogance devoted themselves to wealth and progeny, also went away empty-handed. * * * * * Know that son, wife and others are but self seekers; Do not waste your affection on them. O sinner, they will leave you in the end, Why do not you give them up now? O fool, awake! love the Lord; Give up false hopes of the world from the heart. O Tulsi, as fire is not quenched by feeding it with ghee, so the objects of the world will never satisfy the desire for enjoyment. — Goswami Tulsi Das, Vinaya Patrika, song 198 * * * * * This world is like unto the sugar-coated pill of poison. Beware lest you lose in the game and pass away empty-handed. So says Farid. — From Bankey Bihari, Sufis, Yogis and Mystics of India, "Baba Farid" |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
