E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Political virus in defence
While scandals and controversies swirled everywhere in the country, one redeeming feature was that the uniformed forces were comparatively free from this dreaded disease. But now it appears that the protective shield has been broken. As if the Tehelka and "coffingate" onslaught was not enough, the defence forces have been wrecked by la affaire Manjit Singh Sekhon.

The jobless sufferers
Government employment is still a dream of many a youth all over the country. It is a secure, risk-free source of good income with excellent fringe benefits and social prestige attached to it. But in the post-reform scenario, government jobs are getting scarce. The government’s role itself is shrinking. The 1991 economic crisis awakened the government to the realisation that it had no funds to develop infrastructure, nurse the ailing PSUs or undertake employment-generating projects.

Kerala shows the way
The withdrawal of the 32-day-old strike by the Kerala Government employees and teachers recently was not entirely unexpected since Chief Minister A K Antony had consistently maintained that he did not have the wherewithal to give even a minor concession to them. The employees were on strike in protest against the austerity measures announced by the government on January 9.

Will BJP get out of the slump?
Vajpayee has a big challenge at hand
A. N. Dar
The election to the assemblies of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur and Uttaranchal highlights the deep freeze that has come over the Bharatiya Janata Party. It did not show earlier because of the shine and glamour that is usually associated with a party in power, especially at the Centre.

On Bill Clinton’s trail
V. K. Kapoor
The morning started on a brisk note. The old sleepy place had sprung to life. President Bill Clinton was visiting Nyala in Jaipur.

Temple, mosque or growth?
Tavleen Singh
In the week when all we have talked about is that temple in Ayodhya and at a time when religious differences turned one of our richest, most progressive states into a killing field, it is important to remember the economic backdrop against which all this is happening. Let me draw it for you through an interesting set of figures that India Today put together at its recent conclave, India Tomorrow 2002, held in Delhi two months ago.

Treadmill tells how long you live
By simply walking on a treadmill, you can know your risk of dying. The longer you walk, the lower the risk, says a report published in the latest issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

• Help your lungs to a Viagra!
• Don a thinking cap
• Improve memory with chew gum

A harbinger of cultural renaissance
S. P. Arora
The very name of Mahatma Hansraj has assumed the status of an icon in the DAV academia. Mahatma Hansraj heralded a cultural renaissance in India by launching the DAV movement. A man with boundless vision, limitless energy and a holistic world-view, he is the moving spirit behind the long chain of over 700 DAV schools, colleges and other professional institutions in India.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Political virus in defence

While scandals and controversies swirled everywhere in the country, one redeeming feature was that the uniformed forces were comparatively free from this dreaded disease. But now it appears that the protective shield has been broken. As if the Tehelka and "coffingate" onslaught was not enough, the defence forces have been wrecked by la affaire Manjit Singh Sekhon. The way the then Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Air Command, wrote to Mr Parkash Singh Badal to get a prized posting has emerged as a matter of eternal regret. Worse, the expose shows that even an officer of the standing of Air Marshal Sekhon had to stoop to the level of pleading his case with a regional leader. That he could approach Mr Badal in writing, that too on his official letterpad, is a telltale sign of the decline. Obviously, this was not an isolated case. The discovery of the confidential letter left no option before Air Headquarters but to show the discredited man the door. Sacking him is not the end of it. There is need for bringing about a drastic change in the entire system so that an officer does not have to kowtow to political masters. The timing and the motive behind the leakage are also highly intriguing. In fact, the whole episode reeks of gross improprieties. Air Marshal Sekhon was heading a court of enquiry on the issue of the transport plane being flown by Air Marshal V.K.Bhatia, AOC-in-C, Western Air Command, coming under fire along the border in the Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir. Whoever leaked the letter also tried to discredit the enquiry.

There are reasons to believe that Air Marshal Bhatia did stray into Pakistani territory and his plane came under Pakistani fire. Fortunately, the projectile did not explode and could only damage the plane. Supposing the aircraft had been shot down, it could have led to untold friction, considering that the forces of the two countries are engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. It is necessary to analyse whether this kind of brinkmanship by so senior an officer was in order during such a tense situation. To make matters worse, some air force officers alleged in interviews to certain publications that the plane was hit by the Indian Army. That created bad blood between the Army and the Air Force, which was all the more unfortunate. The cumulative damage is so overwhelming that it will be extremely difficult to undo it. The real culprits are the politicians. They trifle with even most upright and respected institutions like the defence in their blind desire to emerge all-powerful. The numerous bad precedents set by men like Mr Deve Gowda and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav have been followed by the present Raksha Mantri as well. The chain of command has hardly been respected. Mr George Fernandes needs to be made to realise that the Defence Ministry has to be run differently from a rail or taxi union. But why Mr Fernandes? The buck actually stops at the table of the Prime Minister himself.

The jobless sufferers

Government employment is still a dream of many a youth all over the country. It is a secure, risk-free source of good income with excellent fringe benefits and social prestige attached to it. But in the post-reform scenario, government jobs are getting scarce. The government’s role itself is shrinking. The 1991 economic crisis awakened the government to the realisation that it had no funds to develop infrastructure, nurse the ailing PSUs or undertake employment-generating projects. The reforms, initiated by Dr Manmohan Singh to scale down the over-staffed and inefficient public sector, to slice fat from the bloated administration, to encourage private investment and attract FDI were criticised, mostly by leftists, on the ground that these would lead to mass unemployment. Nothing of the sort happened. On the contrary, as NSSO figures reveal, jobs are increasing as fast as the work force. The reforms, which intend to shift jobs from the public to the private sector, are yet to percolate to the states. Punjab has worked out a half-hearted voluntary retirement scheme for its staff, but has done pretty little to create jobs. The two rural job-generating projects of the previous Badal government in Bathinda and Amritsar districts failed to take off. Towards the end of its tenure, the Badal government lifted the ban on recruitment, offered some jobs to unemployed youth but attracted the widely held charge that government jobs were being sold. Unemployment has seldom been an issue in Punjab and Haryana. Even the official figures of the unemployed, no matter how inadequate, are seldom made public. So none demands or expects any steps from the almost bankrupt states to generate government or non-government employment. The silent jobless sufferers leave their home and state for greener pastures, take up whatever lowly jobs are available or turn to drugs for solace.

The situation is a little different in Himachal Pradesh. The state keeps updating its unemployment figures. Job schemes are also announced, but the government remains a major source of employment. The latest figures are painfully revealing and also alarming. The jobless in the state are three times the number of those employed. As on November 30, 2001, a staggering number of 9.11 lakh jobless persons had registered themselves with the state’s employment exchanges. There were 3.03 lakh employees as on December 31, 2001, in both the public and private sectors in the state. The state government had announced ambitious forestry and plantation schemes last year to provide employment. But because of fund shortage and lack of political will, the state’s vast potential in tourism and power sectors remains untapped. Himachal is ideally placed for exploiting opportunities thrown up by the emerging biotechnology and information technology sectors. But private investment is still a trickle. On paper, the states and the Centre have numerous job schemes, some even overlapping, and there is no dearth of bank loans. But lack of awareness and vocational training for self-employment, procedural complications, bureaucratic apathy and misplaced political priorities come in the way. Moreover, the jobless have no support group or godfather. As a result, even M Sc (Chemistry) toppers like Nisha Kaura are languishing without jobs. It is a criminal waste of talent and human resources. 

Kerala shows the way

The withdrawal of the 32-day-old strike by the Kerala Government employees and teachers recently was not entirely unexpected since Chief Minister A K Antony had consistently maintained that he did not have the wherewithal to give even a minor concession to them. The employees were on strike in protest against the austerity measures announced by the government on January 9. These included the scrapping of the leave encashment facility, reduced pension commutation benefits, redeployment of over 60,000 excess staff in all government departments, a voluntary two-year off-duty scheme with reduced pay for excess staff, closure of “uneconomic schools” with less than 100 students, “careful review” of the temporary posts created so far and the scrapping of unnecessary posts. Mr Antony has agreed to accept two of the 26 demands of the employees — reduction of the discount rate of commuted value of pension, which was enhanced from 4.75 per cent to 8.75 per cent in January, by about 2 per cent and payment of full salaries to protected teachers until June. But he was firm on dies non (no work, no pay) for the employees during the strike period. In the last few years, Kerala’s finances have been under severe strain. The Antony government has inherited an almost empty treasury, a public debt of nearly Rs. 24,000 crore and an immediate liability of nearly Rs 6,000 crore. Given this precarious financial position, Mr Antony’s austerity measures were the only way out to bail the State out of the mess.

But then, Kerala is not the only exception. Nearer home, even though Punjab and Haryana are bankrupt, the two governments are taking resort to populist measures. It would be worthwhile if Capt Amarinder Singh and Mr Om Prakash Chautala emulated Mr Antony and introduced in their respective states most of the austerity measures at present in vogue in Kerala, despite stiff resistance from its employees. It is in this context that the Kerala strike needs to be viewed in a wider perspective as it holds out a lesson for other states too. In what sounded like an outrageous admission, former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar once candidly observed that the scope for reducing government expenditure was extremely limited since much of what is spent is on establishment. He seemed to suggest that government staff cannot be pruned, even where pruning would be entirely justified, for the purpose of reducing government expenditure in the national interest, because of our protective legislation. Several chief ministers have also admitted time and again that many employees have to be kept on the payroll even if they are inefficient and unproductive until they reach the age of superannuation or they themselves opt for early retirement. There do exist some provisions whereby inefficient government employees — at the Centre and in the states — can be retired compulsorily, but they are rarely evoked for fear of the hostility that might be provoked or status quo ante ruling from courts or administrative tribunals. The result of this enforced paralysis is there for all to see.

OPINION

Will BJP get out of the slump?
Vajpayee has a big challenge at hand
A. N. Dar

The election to the assemblies of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur and Uttaranchal highlights the deep freeze that has come over the Bharatiya Janata Party. It did not show earlier because of the shine and glamour that is usually associated with a party in power, especially at the Centre. But it came off as the results of the election trooped across the electronic voting machines on to the screens of the television sets. The defeat had not yet been overshadowed when Godhra happened and Gujarat got transformed into a communal inferno. All agreed that Godhra had started it but the BJP government in Gujarat, by all accounts, let the fire engulf the state because some elements in it were somewhat one with those who wanted revenge. If this was not enough for the BJP, Yashwant Sinha’s budget completed the doom, leaving the middle class desperate. Something that could spell a make-good feeling for the nation did not happen.

Where does the BJP go from here? Will it recoup? Will time heal the wounds, the time needed to pass before the general election? Will its leadership rise to the occasion? The man most affected, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, will have to think of ways for his party to do better. Already the talk has started that the party’s most liberal leader, the best the BJP has had, must show a more firm grip on the party and the government. A change would be worse than the disease. Doing without the man who holds the coalition together cannot be the solution if the party has to survive. His government must not only be purposeful but impartial.

Does this happen to all parties in power? In this case it came over the BJP a little sooner than expected with two years still to go, with an impatient but balanced Sonia Gandhi breathing down its neck with 14 states at her command. Of the four states with the BJP, the Goa assembly is divided and the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Narendra Modi, has a black mark across his face.

The pity also is that the BJP did not know that this was coming. In preparations for the state assembly elections, it took corrective measures like changing the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and got carried off on a swing by Mr Rajnath Singh who thought that all he had to do was politicking by dividing some of the castes into the ordinary castes and the most backward castes, thus creating “reservations within reservations”. But a dogged Mayawati cut the grass under his feet by spreading her appeal to all castes. That and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav strengthening on his old appeal, completed the picture of Uttar Pradesh as it turned out against the BJP. The party producing Shatrugan Sinha and Hema Malini to nullify the Bachchan effect for the Samajwadi Party did not change the mass vote. Men like Mr Kalyan Singh, who weeks before the polling had said that he had already done enough damage to the party, were unrelenting. Shatrugan Sinha produced good theatre but what appeal could he have had when it was known that he had also produced enough theatre to threaten that if the BJP did not want him he would walk over to the Congress?

Encouraged by the “good work” Mr Rajnath Singh was wrongly reported to have done for the party in UP, the BJP tried to double the effect of sending Mr Narendra Modi to Gujarat. He has proved to be a disaster, a dyed in the wool hardcore BJP strategist while the state needed a leader who would spread his appeal to the entire state. How much did the situation go out of control for him and how much did he let it slip into lawlessness should be determined by the BJP itself for its own sake. The inquiry already ordered would tell us what happened at Godhra. It was such a gruesome act that the people responsible for it (to be found out impartially) should be treated like terrorists. At the same time those who did not foresee (or did not want to foresee) that the anger and the desire for revenge would reach other parts of the state and they should act speedily should not be spared. Could it be that Mr Modi or the men around him did not put their weight behind the operation to save Gujarat? Is it true that his administration refused to act fast so that those who wanted to take revenge were left free to act? He has been a failure which his party will find hard to live down. One of the answers to be found is whether the army was called out on time and deployed immediately. The BJP must find the answer impartially. It must remember that its future depends on it. It seems the police looked elsewhere while the arson was on. This means that hatred has also subverted our security agencies. If this is so, this spells a hard warning for the nation. Today it is Gujarat; tomorrow it can be the Centre.

Two states linked to Ayodhya, Gujarat and UP, have given the BJP a beating for life. The day after the last general election Mr L.K. Advani trooped from one television studio to another to tell the people that the BJP was shedding some of its ideological hard points to create a good government which would work efficiently. This assurance is now under severe strain. Amazingly, it was now Mr Advani’s home state which was on fire.

Amazingly again, it was not Mr Advani, elected from Gandhinagar, who went there during the crucial days while the fire was at its worst. The Central Government sent the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, to Gujarat. Didn’t Mr Advani want to restrain and at the same time provide solace to the people who had elected him? Is the BJP just being selfish to keep its hardcore followers in communal fighting trim for the coming election or is it losing spine? Reports said that Mr George Fernandes did good work when he went there. But this was the time for Mr Advani to go there first. He went there when the riot was subsiding. Remember Jawaharlal Nehru jumping into the crowds in Bihar and Delhi during the communal riots of 1947? Do we have no one like him? Do we tailor everything according to our requirements for elections?

All this is going to tell heavily on the BJP, so much so that Mr Farooq Abdullah who depends for everything on the BJP government has in another context named it among the “enemies of the nation”. This is a sad turn for the ruling party unless some external factors take shape like, God save us, another Kargil or another December 13. The budget has failed.

The BJP Government, particularly the individuals who man it, has not added much to its glory. Many things happened which the Prime Minister could have avoided. Like bringing Mr George Fernandes back when he should have sat through the Tehelka proceedings and his sticking out like a leech to office. Mr Vajpayee should see to it that Mr Fernandes should not be the one who will put the government in the coffin. There is also Mr Murli Manohar Joshi. He may be fulfilling the RSS agenda but he has gone against all reasonable method of steering education. He allows textbooks to be changed by men whose names are not even disclosed. Is this how a governmental outfit should work?

Mr Vajpayee has a challenge at hand.

MIDDLE

On Bill Clinton’s trail
V. K. Kapoor

The morning started on a brisk note. The old sleepy place had sprung to life. President Bill Clinton was visiting Nyala in Jaipur.

The presidential limousine glided in smoothly Bill Clinton emerged. A firm handshake, a spontaneous smile. A wind sheared sunlit charm and smouldering intensity. His eyes shown like lighted windows in a dark forest. He exuded life in its full concreteness and complexity. He looked radiantly appetising.

He was garlanded and a tilak applied on his forehead. The girl had to raise her heels, the President had to lower his head. He was guided to the room, where sat small time rural women entrepreneurs. They were a bunch of tired, used, fatigued bodies with scuffed and dented flesh of middle age. The life of a rural Indian woman is a saga of toil, tears and neglect. It is rainbow of unfulfilled desires, dreams and longings. The President listened to them sympathetically and emphathised with their feelings of pain. He asked some questions. He displayed a mind as sharp as a gutting knife. The interpreter was doing a fine job.

After the interaction, the President was taken to another room to show him the computer facilities for the local people. The women had come in the courtyard. As soon as the President stepped out, women started dancing. They encircled Bill Clinton. Without any hesitation the President joined them. The drumbeater raised the octave of the beat. The President was dancing with professional ease. He had a natural sense of rhythm. His eyes were alert, mischievous, wary, and playful, like those of an actor savouring the potential of a new role, a fresh persona.

It was an inflammable mix of Hollywood style and sophistication with rustic simplicity. They had lived their lives in the winter of despair. They were dancing with the summer of hope. I felt that their lives intersected at some subterranean level, some hidden confluence of global history and personal trauma. There was something stark, and elemental about the whole scene. The most powerful man of the world dancing with women permanently relegated to the margins of life. Life is made of marble and mud. A woman threw flower petals in the air. It formed a gauze. The President laughed infectiously. A woman touched him. He clapped. Here was an eternal Ranjha dancing to the innocent heartbeats of Heers. The President looked relaxed as he enjoyed himself away from his connubial geography. The dancers were ecstatic. Time stood still.

The drummer slowed down. The dancers parted and made way for the President. A lady cop saluted him. The President shook hands, hugged her and got himself photographed with her. The interpreter also got the same treatment. Both the girls were visibly happy. I told them that they had been “clintonised”. One of them exulted “I feel so alive!” I said that is the “Clinton effect”. Poor Monica Lewinsky had no chance against such a lethal charm. He appealed to the anxious moonlight inside a woman.

The President while moving out shook hands with the security personnel on duty. I could see the look of amazement and delight on their faces. People had lined up behind the barricades. The President started shaking the outstretched hands. An old man shouted: “Mahabali Clinton ke jai”. The President tried to reach him, but a surging crowd pushed the old man back. The President climbed on the barricade and took the outstretched hand. The barricade shook under the President’s athletic frame, but it held. The old man grasped the President’s hand with both his hands. The expression in the old man’s eyes was of wild delight. He won’t leave the Presidential hand. Deftly President extricated his hand and moved on. A little distance away, another man with elegant moustache and a smart Rajasthani turban drew the attention of “Quintal Sahib” and saluted. The President saluted back. I thought how correctly the man had gauged the international weight of the American Chief Executive.

Bill Clinton displayed an uncanny ability to open a direct pipeline to the psyche of the people, an open circuit to the audience he desired. When the audience is with you, you are tapping the collective unconscious. The crowd was getting thicker by the minute. The President was busy shaking hands and was thoroughly enjoying it. The balconies around filled up with people in colourful attires. Finally the President came back, hopped on the footboard of his limo, piroutted, waved, and got into the car. His security detail heaved a sigh of relief.

Next morning the President came to the airport in a helicopter. The dignitaries were lined up to see him off. The Sultan of charm was his usual assured self. The dignitaries were more than respectful while shaking his hand. He briskly rode the steps to the aircraft. He stood in the door and waved. As the king of heart flew away, I thought of thieves of hearts and the thievery in hearts.

ON THE SPOT

Temple, mosque or growth?
Tavleen Singh

In the week when all we have talked about is that temple in Ayodhya and at a time when religious differences turned one of our richest, most progressive states into a killing field, it is important to remember the economic backdrop against which all this is happening. Let me draw it for you through an interesting set of figures that India Today put together at its recent conclave, India Tomorrow 2002, held in Delhi two months ago.

If India grows by 6 per cent a year, it will take 104 years to reach the current per capita income levels of the USA, 73 years to reach the current per capita income level of South Korea, 50 years to reach the current per capita income level of Malaysia, 36 years to reach the current per capita income level of Thailand and 14 years to reach the current per capita income level of China.

If you keep in mind that China, Thailand and Malaysia were considered pretty much behind us 20 years ago, the horror of how backward we have remained becomes more obvious. And, it becomes more important to ask ourselves whether we have the time to worry about building yet another temple? Does it matter really?

Do we as a country need to waste time on a temple when there are much more serious economic issues that should be hogging space on our front pages? Why is our economy no longer growing at 6 per cent? Why, despite the Prime Minister’s repeated promises of 9 per cent, are we still barely making it to the mind-fives? Why is electricity still considered a luxury item for most Indians? Why are there still villages that do not even have adequate supplies of clean drinking water? Why is diarrhoea still the biggest killer of Indian children? Why do we still have one of the worst infant mortality rates in the world?

Are these not the real questions that ordinary Hindus and ordinary Muslims should be asking and why are they not asking them? To this there are many answers given. Ordinary Indians say that they would like to think of issues of rozi-roti (jobs and bread) put political leaders mislead them.

So why do they get misled? What made ordinary Muslims transform themselves into brutal killers in Godhra? What made ordinary Hindus transform themselves into brutal killers in the streets of Gujarat’s towns and cities? And, if hatred is so important to them, then can we ever hope that they will start thinking of more important things like 6 per cent economic growth?

Another explanation for the madness that afflicts India is that it is our lack of prosperity that causes ordinary people to behave in such barbarous fashion. But, having often mingled with murderous mobs let me tell you that the surprising thing about them is that they are usually not the poorest of the poor. Most tend to be lower middle class shopkeepers, or in any case people who by Indian standards would not be counted as poor. This time in Gujarat we saw riots spread into the villages but, by and large, they have been an urban phenomenon. Why? The truth is that nobody knows because despite hundreds of books on the subject and hundreds of accounts of hundreds of riots nobody has come up with any real answers. And, answers, no longer matter much. We do not have the time to waste on more commissions of inquiry that serve mainly to provide jobs to retired bureaucrats who extend them as long as they can to keep their officials houses and cars.

We no longer have time either to waste on wondering when our politicians are going to stop exploiting religious differences for their own evil ends. They are not going to until ordinary Indians realise killing each other off solves nothing. The violence from Gujarat could easily have spilled over into Mumbai which in 1993 witnessed the last major communal riots. Why did this not happen? One, because the Shiv Sena decided not to participate in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad bandh the day after the Godhra massacre and two because ordinary people decided that they did not want violence. Citizens’ committees went instantly into action to stop any possibility of it.

Ordinary Indians — both Hindu and Muslim — also need to start realising how important it is for us to make religion a private affair and concentrate our public energies on more important things like economic growth. The media can help marginally be emphasising more on economic matters than it currently does but in the end it is ordinary Indians who will make the difference.

If they decide that 6 per cent growth is more important than temples and mosques then politicians and religious leaders will be forced to change their agenda. As long as we continue to fool ourselves that religion is more important than anything else, we will continue to be one of the poorest, most pathetic countries in the world.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Treadmill tells how long you live

By simply walking on a treadmill, you can know your risk of dying. The longer you walk, the lower the risk, says a report published in the latest issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

The study found that the fittest men had a MET of 10 or higher. The relative risk of death for men with the lowest MET, five or less, was four times greater than for men with the highest MET. ANI 

Help your lungs to a Viagra!

Viagra to treat high blood pressure? Sounds strange? Well now, for the first time ever, the erection- enhancing drug would be tested for purposes other than erectile dysfunction, courtesy Australian researchers, who are all set to test its effectiveness in treating high-blood pressure in the lungs, reports Daily Telegraph.

The three-month study by St Vincent’s heart-lung transplant unit in Sydney will test Viagra’s use in treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a condition caused by high blood pressure in the arteries which feed blood circulation in the lungs.

PAH can be devastating for sufferers and causes a range of symptoms including fluid retention, breathlessness and tiredness. It can also lead to heart irregularities and heart failure.

Traditionally therapy for PAH has been invasive, painful, expensive and long-term. In some cases, transplants are necessary.

But Viagra could now offer a prolonged life expectancy and significantly improve quality of life for sufferers, says Dr Keogh. ANI 

Don a thinking cap

Creativity at its best, now it is within grasp for even the most artistically uninclined people. Unbelievable but true, scientists have made a device mankind has always wanted — a machine that makes the brain work better. Two Australian scientists — Professor Allan Snyder and Dr Elaine Mulcahy, have devised a cap which uses magnetic pulses to stimulate certain brain waves and increase such creative abilities as drawing or writing.

“We had a breakthrough,” Professor Snyder said. “We were aware that certain types of brain-damaged people have extraordinary skills in art, music, mathematics, memory, and I wanted to know if we could give rise to those extraordinary skills.”

It bypasses the “executive centres” or front part of the brain to access the creative areas. “Most of the ‘eureka’ moments come from the non-conscious parts of the brain," Professor Snyder said. ANI 

Improve memory with chew gum

While students are going through the exam season, researchers have found a method for them to improve their memory, all they need to do — chew gum.

The research carried out by Lucy Wilkinson and Dr Andrew Scholey at the University of Northumbria claims that chewing gum can help students do better in exams. It has been found that chewing gum improves short-and-long term memory by up to 35 per cent. The gentle exercise of chewing may be enough to raise a person’s heart rate and increase the flow of oxygen to the brain. Chewing may also trigger the release of insulin in the body, which could increase the uptake of blood sugar by the brain. UNI

A harbinger of cultural renaissance
S. P. Arora

The very name of Mahatma Hansraj has assumed the status of an icon in the DAV academia. Mahatma Hansraj heralded a cultural renaissance in India by launching the DAV movement. A man with boundless vision, limitless energy and a holistic world-view, he is the moving spirit behind the long chain of over 700 DAV schools, colleges and other professional institutions in India.

Born on April 19, 1864 at Baijwara, a laid-back town near Hoshiarpur which also enjoys association with Sant Harivallabh and Baijju Bawra, the great musicians. He spent his sickly and invalid childhood in abject poverty with troubled and interrupted schooling. Hansraj lost his father while he was still in his teens. It was his brother, Mulkh Raj, himself a poor youngman, who took the onus of providing him education.

Hounded by poverty, the family moved to Lahore where Hansraj joined a missionary school. The watershed in his thinking came when a Christian teacher made a derogatory reference to Hindu gods and goddesses, and the Hindu faith. Hansraj was angered. By the time he graduated from Panjab University, he had got attracted to Swami Dayanand’s appeal to rejuvenate Aryan Hinduism. Mahatma Dayanand’s supreme sacrifice of quitting his home and hearth in search of the real Shiva held him in thrall. It is here that the search for the self starts.

Though born in Gujarat and nurtured in Maharashtra, the Arya Samaj founded by Maharishi Dayanand took deeper roots in Punjab due to a dedicated band of devotees like Lala Lajpat Rai, Pt Guru Dutt Vidyarthy and Lala Sain Dass. When Maharishi Dayanand surrendered his soul to the Almighty, his followers were in a quandary as to how best they could perpetuate his hallowed memory and the ideals for which he had lived and died. It was decided to start a DAV school at Wachhowali in Lahore. The young beardless Hansraj, lean and skeletal and a fresh graduate with enormous prospects made a supreme sacrifice by offering to serve the school as its honorary head for whole life. His sacrifice was all the more great and exemplary as he was the poorest of the poor.

While at school, he took classes in history, politics and religion. On Sundays, he took the boys out to the banks of the Ravi and taught them in the middle of elements; sun, space and serenity. He took to wearing khadi kurta and payjamas and wrapped a loose turban round his neck.

He had only one pair of shoes from Hoshiarpur, and a loose coat made of ordinary pattoo. His office had no chair and he sat on the floor with our old-fashioned low desk. Charismatic yet reflective, commanding yet restrained, he worked for synthesising the advances in science with our indigenous knowledge and cultural ethos.

Apart from reviving interest in Hindu sacred texts, he involved his staff and students in relief, work during earthquakes at Quetta, Kangra, Avadh, Garhwal and during riots at Multan and Kohat; plague at Jammu and the floods in the Indus.

Following a strict and austere regimen, he had a very busy schedule of work which told upon his health. He believed in the healing powers of the waters of the Ganges and spent some days in Haridwar every year. It was in Haridwar that he was taken seriously ill. He returned to Lahore and foresaw that the end was near. He sought solace in prayers.

The end came on November 14, 1938, at 11 p.m. His sons, daughters, grandchildren, numberless students and friends were around him. His body was brought to DAV College, Lahore, which was his real “karambhumi”. The funeral procession, which wound through Anarkali, terminated on the banks of the Ravi for the rest eternal.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Given plenty of what is given to you,

And listen to pity’s call;

Do not think the little you give is great

And the much you get is small.

— Phoebe Cary, A Legend of the Northland. I, stanza 8

***

Our service in the world gets us a seat in the court of the Lord.

He whom the Lord enables to work under His Hukam (Divine Order) is the real sewak (servitour)

Compassion (daya) is the mother and righteousness (dharma) is its son.

Truth never gets old.

Truth is the Lord of all and he alone attains it who is blessed by Him.

Ramkali, M3, Shalok M1, page 955; Ramkali M3, Anand, page 992

He alone can merge in the Truth who looks upon the Lord as Truth.

One who hears the true Word

Is rid of pain and sorrow;

It is obtained through the kindness of saints,

As has been revealed to me by the Master

Blessed is the Lord of the Master;

For the Word of the Master rests in Truth.

The Word of the Master,

Life-giving as nectar,

Dwells in the heart of His grace;

The devotees coming and going ceases,

And he is ever blessed.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib

This dharma stands unchallenged changelessly, That I should sorrow when my fellow-beings May sorrow and rejoice when they rejoice.

— The Bhagavad Mahapurana

What I do not wish others to do to me, that also I wish not to do to them.

— Confucius, Analects, 5.11