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Monday,
December 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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USA, India & terrorism Right to information
American intervention in Iraq |
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A bull in my path
Haryana casino deal: transparency missing
Poll implications beyond Gujarat
Anorexia in adolescent girls
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USA, India & terrorism There is a serious mismatch between Indian and American perspectives on global terrorism. India has proved it by supplying incontrovertible facts and figures to influential world capitals, including Washington, that Pakistan continues to remain the epicentre of terrorism, posing a serious threat to world peace. This does not mean that the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, once based in Afghanistan, has ceased to be a major worrying factor for the international community. India, like America, does have proper appreciation of the Al-Qaeda problem and the US-led military campaign against it. The difficulty, however, is that the US policy-makers do not give the Indian viewpoint the seriousness it deserves. A large number of terrorist outfits, most of them directly or indirectly linked to Al-Qaeda, with their bases in Pakistan and Occupied Kashmir (PoK), have been involved in large-scale killings in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India. Pakistan’s ISI has been providing all kinds of support to these outfits, which have their well-equipped training centres on the other side of the border. These are part of the well-known facts and documented by India. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the USA, the super power did force Pakistan to take action against the well-organised terrorist elements in that country and President Pervez Musharraf gave a clear promise in this regard to the world community, the USA included. But Pakistan is yet to fully implement its commitments. Perhaps, Russian President Vladimir Putin did mention this ugly reality while talking to President George W. Bush on the telephone, as indicated by White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. During his recent New Delhi visit the Russian leader had openly asked Pakistan to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure which remained intact despite General Musharraf’s promise to the contrary. Mr Putin fully realises the gravity of the situation if Pakistan succeeds in misleading the world vis-a-vis terrorism. India hopes Russia will be able to convince the USA that the fight against terrorism will be meaningless unless the Kashmir-related terrorist outfits with their vast infrastructure in Pakistan are destroyed root and branch. Pakistan, perhaps, believes that the USA is not going to raise serious objection to its designs aimed at fomenting trouble in India. That is why on the occasion of Eid on Friday President Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali declared that they would not amend their destructive policy on Jammu and Kashmir — which means no let-up in Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism in India. Is the USA taking note of this? America’s silence at this juncture will strengthen the belief that it has been maintaining double standards on terrorism. As against this, the USA acts quickly when Pakistan expresses its discomfort at any Indian move even if it is aimed at strenthening relations with Afghanistan. Here the reference is to the American demarche recently issued to India to avoid its enthusiastic involvement in the economic and political reconstruction in Afghanistan. Why? Because India’s increasing presence in Afghanistan (the two have had traditionally friendly relations except for the brief period of Taliban rule) is seen by Pakistan as a threat to Islamabad’s designs for subjugating that impoverished land again. India is also America’s supporter in the drive against terrorism. Agreed that Pakistan has greater utility for the purpose owing to the locational advantages it offers. But there is a thing called fair play. The super power should not be so unreasonable as it is in pampering an ally known for its deceptive behaviour. |
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Right to information After avoidable hesitation the Lok Sabha on Tuesday took the first step towards recognising the right to information as an essential element of a free society. The House unanimously passed the Freedom of Information Bill, 2000, granting citizens the right to seek information controlled by public authorities. The initiative deserves a qualified applause. Why qualified? Because there are many a slip between the cup and the lip. The post-liberalisation era has thrown up several instances of the political will to take the country forward being sabotaged by self-seeking bureaucrats. The process of opening up began with the sweeping economic reforms introduced by Dr Manmohan Singh, himself a former bureaucrat, as Finance Minister in Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government. But the pace slowed down, and in some instances the essential elements of liberalisation were even tinkered with. It may not be fashionable to come to the defence of the political class. But the fact of the matter is that in the post-liberalisation era the bureaucrats have played a behind-the-scene role in stalling the process of long overdue economic reforms. Never underestimate the power of the bureaucracy to pit the people against the political leadership for retaining its stranglehold over the levers of power. What would the political leadership of any hue gain by denying to the people the benefits of economic and related reforms except the displeasure of those whom it was elected to serve. The bureaucracy, on the other hand, has everything to lose including the right to harass ordinary citizens without the fear of being voted out for abuse of power. The same set of bureaucrats who engineered the slowdown of the process of economic reforms because less government control would have left them with little to do except twiddle their thumbs, may not allow free access to the citizens the information they are now entitled to seek by creating avoidable hurdles. Look at what has become of the Delhi Right to Information Act, 2001. Chief Minister Sheila Dixit was not wrong in claiming credit for taking the lead in granting to the citizens the right to seek specified information from public servants after completing certain formalities. And who decides the procedures that are to be followed for parting with the information required by a citizen? The bureaucracy. The law passed by the Delhi government is reasonably comprehensive. But an element of mischief was introduced in the procedure by the bureaucrats who recommended that a fee of Rs 50 may be charged for ordinary information and Rs 500 for information of commercial importance. And each applicant has to shell out an exorbitant amount of Rs 5 for every photo-copied page. And how long does it take for the department concerned to supply the required information? It depends upon the ability of the information-seeker to please the small and big bosses in the corridors of power. Unless the top bureaucrats are made accountable and awarded suitable punishment for delay in providing information to members of the public the right to information is not likely to make the system any the more transparent than it is at present. |
American intervention in Iraq Verbal jugglery is fine when we want to confound our opponents, but it is bad when it clouds our own thinking. We are juggling with words in stating our position on American threats of armed intervention against Iraq. The other day External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha in the Lok Sabha said Mr Saddam Hussein was our friend. But, then, he went on to add that if he did not cooperate with UN inspectors he would have to face serious consequences. Earlier on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti the Prime Minister endorsed the UN resolution on Iraq, but said nothing about what we would do in the event of the USA intervening in Iraq. The Bush Administration has often said that change of the regime in Iraq is its primary objective. Even during the presidential election campaign in 1999 Mr Bush talked of overthrowing the Saddam regime by force. It is fairly clear from the numerous pronouncements of the key persons in the Bush Administration that the removal by force of the Saddam regime is Washington’s principal objective. For if its objective, as stated by the Bush Administration, is to deprive Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), then it could wait for the UN report before taking any action. Instead, the US Administration presumes that Iraq has WMDs. American President’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on November 11: “Saddam must lead the inspectors to the weapons sites rather than force inspectors to find them”, Washington presumes Mr Saddam Hussein has WMDs. Numerous such statements have come from US Administration officials before and after the UN resolution of last September. They all say that Iraq threatens world peace because Saddam rules it. Even if tomorrow it is found that Iraq has no WMDs the USA will still attempt to forcibly remove him from power. At the recent NATO meeting in Prague Mr Bush tried to frighten the European partners of the alliance by comparing Saddam to Hitler. Most Europeans found the comparison historically most inappropriate. Saddam is a typical Third World despot, lie the late Asad of Syria, Mobutu of Zaire or those rulers of the Congo or Rwanda who have butchered tens of thousands of their people. But Hitler’s dictatorship was historically unique. It made the Holocaust a reality. Most Europeans minus the British refused to accept at Prague the American interpretation of the UN resolution on Iraq: the right of automatic intervention in the event Iraq does not cooperate with the UN. This is also the position of Russia. We should remain in touch with the French, the Germans and the Russians to prevent American unilateral intervention in Iraq. I think we should oppose the American attack on Iraq because the American purpose behind such a move is not simply to get rid of Saddam or remove the WMDs from Iraq but also to establish American hegemony in the Gulf, West Asia and, most importantly, over the world energy market. American hegemony is not in our interests in the short or long term. Before Mr Bush came to power he had talked of vast power — military, economic and cultural — in the American hands. For him unipolarity is not only a description of the immense power imbalance between the USA and others (China, Japan, Russia, the European Union, etc) but a desirable state of affairs. He believes in unipolarity dominated by the American pole of the world. Washington under Mr Bush wants the hegemony of the Gulf and West Asia. Mr Paul Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of Defence, talked of a new political order for the region before the 9/11 event. He and his boss, Mr Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defence), and Vice-President Dick Cheney are the key makers of the American foreign and security policies. All three are hawks, convinced that America with its huge military power, which no one can dare challenge, can put a “new” political order in the Gulf and West Asia. It is not oil, as many think here, that is the main motivation behind the Bush Administration’s ultimate plan of military intervention in Iraq. Market can assure a secured supply of oil and at a reasonable price. In fact, it has, since the use of oil weapon at the time of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Only about 20 months ago the oil price had reached rock bottom: $ 20 a barrel. By permitting Saddam to increase his output of oil and lifting sanctions, the USA can easily have oil at an affordable price. For this you don’t need to wage a war against Iraq. The power of the market, which is entirely with the oil multinationals of the West, can easily keep the Gulf oil flowing to consumers. It is America’s imperial ambition that is driving its Iraq polity. It believes that the Iraqi military dictatorship, the Saudi monarchy and the Gulf sheikhdoms are all anachronistic regimes. In varying degrees Islam influences them. America believes for some good reasons that these regimes, however, politically friendly to America, are basically hostile to American values. For example, Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Kuwait, while friendly to America, are antipathic to the American ideas of individual freedom, gender equality, consumerism, etc. It is most likely that the US intervention in Iraq will result in immense political instability in the country. There will be a wave of anti-West feelings in Iraq and indeed the Muslim world from Morocco to Malaysia. As for Iraq, the American intervention is most likely to result in the dismemberment of the country. Today the country is practically divided into three zones: the Shia-majority south, the Kurdish majority in the north and the Bagdad-dominated central parts. The Shias and Kurds enjoy autonomy afforded to them by the British and American airpower. The autonomy will turn these zones into independent states once Saddam is removed. Turkey, the key ally of the USA in the region and one vital to the success of the American intervention, is certain that once this happens the Iraqi Kurds will declare themselves independent. Turkey is most apprehensive of this development because it will spur the Turkish Kurds (largest concentration in Turkey) into demanding independence. This is why Ankara is against the US intervention in Iraq. It has also warned Washington that should the Iraqi Kurds break away from Iraq, Turkey will grab Iraqi Kurdistan and incorporate it into Turkey. Iraq after the intervention will become a prey of the regional powers — Iran, Syria, Turkey and, of course, the big predators, the USA and Russia. Is it in India’s interest to see Iraq dismembered? More important for us is to study the likely implications of the self-arrogated right of the USA to intervene in any developing country in the name of liberty, human rights and good governance. The writer is a Delhi-based political analyst. |
A bull in my path An innocent visiting American seeing a huge rogue bull move majestically down Parliament Street in New Delhi — a scene to be repeated in each main street from Kashmir to Kanyakumari — concluded promptly that this ubiquitous sight had clearly a metaphysical meaning. For how would, otherwise, a famished hulk of sagging flesh and bones shuffling on a pair of warped hooves and haunches so create a right of passage in every town of Bharatvarsha, and carry everything, before him — from the cop and the law to the traffic lights, and what have you? The pedestrians yielded, and stepped out of his way; the motorists saluted him with horn music, and the traffic virtually came to a halt when this piece of “ruined majesty” standing bang in the middle of the road, and surveying the world with a lordly, glazed eye, gave off a short, snappish grunt. Of course, our American had heard endlessly about “the holy Indian cow,” but that the Indian bull had such patriarchal rights and such a metaphysical franchise had not occurred to him. That there was something more in it than the question of meat, milk and the market economy was not to be disputed; the Indian macro metaphysics could explain everything from the Creator to Coca-Cola. Now this tale of Yankee “innocence” wouldn’t have attracted me in the normal course of things, for the Americans, in general, have a funny way of seeing things when they do not fall directly in their line of vision. I often saw that happen when even an intelligent and well-meaning friend would slip into such a faux pas where India was the subject of discussion. But the bull story rang a loud and clear bell (or, shall I say, a bellow?) in my mind, for I had had some 27 years ago a somewhat similar “metaphysical” brush with a “royal” bull in the princely city of Patiala. And believe me, the story warrants a telling even when that involves a poetic licence. On that particular December morning, however, pondering the problem of evil in King Lear as I rode through the morning maze of cyclists, cattle, trucks etc, I was suddenly brought to a screeching halt. A massive dappled bull stood there like a sentinal barring the way to the college gate. My Lambretta spluttered, and backfired and stalled when that impressive intruder in my path stood his ground with complete non-chalance, daring me to try and go past him. For a moment or two, I tried to shout him away, and even waived ineffectively a large white handkerchief near his mug, but all that, as they say, was no go. I was getting late for the Shakespeare class, and I soon realised that I would have to cajole and coax him into a state of friendliness, for otherwise I could as well summon the city Fire Brigade, and wait there till, as the phrase goes, “the cows came home”. So, I parked my scooter on the kerb, and gingerly approached his “majesty” with a copy of King Lear in hand. Would his “highness” consider my situation, and let me pass? He shook his head in such a manner that I couldn’t make out whether it indicated “yes” or “no”. That was, what in literary criticism amounted to “ambivalence”, a concept that I was very much taken up with following a chance encounter with A.P. Rossiter’s book on Shakespeare (hold your breath, dear reader) called Angel with Horns. Ah, that’s it, take it now, “an angel with horns” giving me a lesson or two in “field” criticism. Dear, Shakespeare, for Pete’s sake, tell me what to do? Ah, but that’s not the end of my tale. In fact, as it turned out, it was the beginning of a long, ambivalent affair. For the bull began to wait for me precisely at the same point each morning, punctual to the minute. I had for some days an eerie feeling, but then I learnt to accept his presence as a matter of routine. After he had nodded to me, he would invariably saunter back to his abode under that big peepal tree where he would slump down all of a heap, and sit there contemplating the universe. |
Haryana casino deal: transparency missing Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is an ambitious man in a hurry. He wishes to be a front-runner among all Chief Ministers in the country and wants Haryana to be a front-runner State. Very laudable ambition, indeed! He has conceived the casino project as the legendary kamadhenu, which will provide a perpetual flow of the milk of prosperity to the state, and is leaving no stone unturned to bring it about. In the words of a prominent political commentator, Yoginder Gupta, he “pushed the Haryana Casino (Licensing and Control) Bill, 2002, down the throat of the State Assembly at a supersonic speed”. Immediately thereafter he took off for Johannesburg, accompanied by Finance Minister Sampat Singh and a battery of senior government officers, to visit the Sun City casino and entertainment complex, which is going to be the model for Haryana’s kamadhenu. On his earlier foreign jaunt, he had presided over the signing of an MoU between the Haryana Industrial Development Corporation and a London-based private company, Vistastar Leisure, which presumably owns the Sun City complex in Johannesburg. Predictably the casino project has evoked a strong protest from the tradition-bound people of the state with a predominantly Arya Samaj influence on their ethos. But to my mind, it is not insurmountable, as they are also very practical people. They had registered mass protests against the spirited promotion of liquor by a former Chief Minister whose family had set up a brewery in Hisar and had developed vested interests in its higher consumption. But when the next government, which had won electoral victory on the slogan of banning liquor from the state, clamped prohibition, its draconian implementation made them change their mindset altogether; and now there is no ripple of protest against the rising liquor consumption in the state. Casinos are doing brisk business in Kathmandu, but the common people are untouched by their functioning, as they are not permitted to play in them. A similar restriction may be placed in respect of the local people in this project also initially, if there is any conscientious protest. The storm of political protest generated by the major opposition parties of the state may, however, pose a greater problem. It may create uncertainty and doubt in the mind of the foreign investor. For even if the project is implemented at a breakneck speed, and Mr Chautala and his Finance Minister are able to play the first dice (and win a jackpot!) at the casino by way of its inauguration before the next Assembly election in early 2005. What has happened to Enron, the company which had set up a power plant in Maharashtra, is too well known to foreign investors. In the slippery political climate of India, Enron’s tryst with the Maharashtra government did not last long, like Lord Byron’s marriage, who had married in haste and repented at leisure. However, there are no signs of any reservation on the part of the foreign company, which is reportedly sending a delegation to the state to prepare the ground for the project. Although the Governor is taking his own time in approving the Bill, yet considering Mr Chautala’s formidable persuasive skills, all in all, the casino project appears to be all set for speedy implementation. But I smell a rat. It is not my wish to act like the proverbial “kabab men haddi” nor would I like to come in the way of Mr Chautala’s dream of modernising the state on Western lines. What I find objectionable about this project is its total lack of transparency. The question is: how have we stumbled on the Vistastar Leisure Company? According to the Government of India’s clear guidelines in these matters, total transparency should prevail in the manner of such selections. In the present case these crucial GOI stipulations are being flouted with impunity. The MoU route has long since been discredited and discarded by the Government of India because of being non-transparent. The approved route now is global tendering giving full publicity, ensuring total transparency. The HSIDC, which is implementing this project on behalf of the Haryana Government, is required to float a global tender incorporating all conditionalities of the project, outlining the incentives being offered by the Haryana Government as well as the eligibility requirements of the investor giving a chance to all national/international players in the field, and then select the best competitor from amongst them. As far as my knowledge goes, the global tendering process has not been followed in selecting Vistastar. Even if some defensible process was followed in their selection, I have no doubt that global tendering is required after the Haryana Casino (Licensing and Control) Bill becomes law. Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal had once signed an MoU, while visiting Israel, with a private company, Isenberg, to construct the Yamuna Nagar thermal power plant. He had defended the deal saying it was most economical, and that Isenberg was a well-known operator in the power sector, and had pushed the project with full vigour. However, the project never came up although Isenberg dragged the Haryana Government to court as the successor government challenged the non-transparent method of selection that had created the spectre of kickbacks. These questions are bound to be raised sooner than later, and may cloud the credibility of the government. It could be a scandal worse than the Bofors; for Rajiv Gandhi’s government had selected Bofors after duly notifying the purchase of Howitzer guns through a global tendering process, and the guns that were delivered have proved themselves as excellent armour in the Kargil conflict. Yet the stink of kickbacks refuses to go despite the lapse of all these years. The point is even in the global tendering process, people find ways to line their pockets. But it can at least be defended. The MoU route is indefensible, ipso facto. What surprises me is that no official adviser to the Chief Minister seems to have briefed him about this basic departure from the GOI procedure. Or it may have been ignored on the plea of saving time. Mr Chautala is a vociferous champion of probity in public life. One hopes that he wakes up to the grave irregularity, which is casting a strong shadow over the transparency of the deal. The writer is a former Chief Secretary of Haryana. |
Poll implications beyond Gujarat Now that the Gujarat elections are drawing to a close, there is more speculation about their wider political consequences rather than the outcome itself. What we have witnessed in Gujarat has not been an ordinary election. It has been a meticulously planned societal engineering worked out on the basis of well researched material aimed at creating an artificial election wave in favour of the ruling party. It has been a continuation of the successful experiment during the last assembly poll. Narendra Modi is a great planner, and this time he had begun his job in the right earnest soon after he replaced Keshubhai Patel. It was in tune with the BJP high command’s theory of putting an “election man” — Sushma Swaraj in Delhi, Rajnath Singh in UP etc — at the helm of things. Modi is not an ordinary leader. He had worked out his own elaborate plans to endear himself to Gujarat’s majority community, step by step, under simulated conditions. His mobilisation techniques based on whipping up the average Hindu’s religious sensitivity in the laboratory atmosphere of social psychology is comparable only to L.K. Advani’s experiments on Ayodhya frenzy. Thus success or failure of this massive experiment will have relevance to every kind of its end user. It is not confined to the BJP alone. Political outfits which essentially rely on divisive vote banks — caste or parochial — will take cue from the Modi model of precipitating pre-poll tension to beneficially polarise society . Since 1991, caste and religious separatists have realised the limitations of vote polarisation as a means to wrest electoral majority at the state level. This has been due to the dialectics of social combination within a region which makes it necessary for the vote seekers to woo rival sections. Thus if the
Gujarat experiment succeeds, caste-based parties will also draw appropriate lessons. The social scientists, public opinion engineers and political analysts have all been keeping a close watch on Gujarat. The latter envisage two different scenarios depending on the electoral outcome. Even if Modi fails to retain the present BJP tally, not to speak of a defeat, it will have long-term implications on both the BJP and the Opposition. First, it will prove that an election plank based exclusively on religious hatred and engineered riots utterly non-profitable. Gujarat has been the best suited Indian province for experiments in simulated conditions of bigotry. For some time, a tradition of communal disharmony had existed in the state. The BJP had put this to the best use during the last two Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. While the party professed adherence to the NDA policy, the VHP and its ‘sants’ were encouraged to run parallel campaigns during the polls. The party could take advantage of both. Now if this most potent post-Ayodhya religious frenzy turns out to be an electoral flop, the BJP’s power centre at Delhi will have no other option but to rely exclusively on the strength of the provincial allies in future elections. This is so because the BJP itself has suffered jolts in state after state and its presence elsewhere has shown little improvement. Second, the BJP, like the Congress, will now realise the harsh truth that there is no alternative to good governance. There is no other explanation for the repeated defeats suffered by the BJP in assembly elections. Indian voters are no more swayed by the old style national “waves”, whether Indira or Janata variety. They may not bother much about privatisation or globalisation but do about their direct effects on them. Instead of emotional issues and idealism they have now become more assertive on local problems like water, electricity and such facilities. Third, if the Modi model fails to click, the Congress too will have to derive ample lessons. It is a warning to the party that if its 14 state governments fail to perform they too will face similar doom. Ten states, mainly those ruled by the Congress, are going to the polls in 2003. In many of these states the Congress had wrested power due to the popular disenchantment with the previous regimes. Record of some of the Congress governments has been awful — at least that has been the public perception. This will also have its impact on the Lok Sabha elections soon after. Will the other scenario — a better performance by the Modi dispensation which seems highly unlikely — means immediate changes in the BJP’s political strategy? Not necessarily. Here one has to take into account the inherent clash of interests and hence a clash of strategy, between the BJP’s power centre in Delhi and the Modi model. India is not Godhra, and an altogether different virtual political reality exists elsewhere. For the right societal engineering to recreate the Modi model elsewhere, the VHP-BJP will have to adopt a “Godhra” with an all-India appeal. Sadly for the VHP, neither Godhra nor other Gujarat incidents had any effect outside the state. Also, any attempt to create such an atmosphere of hatred at the national level will come in direct conflict with even the most loyal allies. They may have tolerated Joshi’s saffronisation as it does not affect them on the ground, in any case, it takes lot of preparations and action plans by the VHP to create Gujarat-like atmosphere before the Lok Sabha elections. There is an inherent incompatibility between the present coalition path of Vajpayee and the Modi model which essentially means go-it-alone. Can a victorious Modi overshadow the national leadership? This widespread belief seems unrealistic. True, here is an election which was totally dominated by Narendra Modi and the VHP’s Togadia. National leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani looked playing only second fiddle. He had made some concessions on abusing Sonia Gandhi under the high command’s pressure and agreed to drop Godhra as an election issue. But on the latter he broke the promise. He flatly spurned the entreaties of Advani and the RSS leadership to give the ticket to Haren Pandya. The RSS leadership had despatched a special emissary for the purpose. He also forced the central leadership to declare himself as the future CM. On both issues, Modi threatened with resignation. Despite all such show of brazenness, Modi, even if he wrests a two-thirds majority, will not be in a position to challenge the high command. He may be taken round as a Hindutva hero. He may also use his new halo to impose his own nominees for ministership. But he may not go beyond a certain point because both Modi and the high command needs the support of each other. If in case a swollen-headed Modi tries to cause problems for the high command, the latter still has the levers to instigate the dissidents against him. With Keshubhai and many others waiting in wings, the task is going to be much easier for the Centre. However, if Modi decides to force a confrontation with the high command, he will prove to be a tougher nut to crack then Kalyan Singh or Shankarsinh Vaghela. Unlike the latter, Modi with his closer rapport with the VHP hotheads, can be expected to give an ideological twist to the confrontation. This will make him formidable. But with a wafer-thin majority, a realistic Modi may not cross the
Lakshmanrekha. |
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A new American study suggests that perfectionism and unhealthy eating habits together can put adolescent girls at risk of anorexia later in life. For the study, in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, the researchers interviewed 157 predominantly white, middle-to- upper class girls attending private school in New York City. The girls were interviewed when they were between the age of 12 and 16 and interviewed once again when they were 14 to 18 and also when they were 20 to 24 years old. Girls who were perfectionists and had symptoms of anorexia nervosa in their younger years were more likely to develop full- blown anorexia nervosa by the time they reached their early 20s, the study found. These girls felt they were failures if they weren’t able to meet unattainable goals they set for themselves. That includes goals in general, not just body image goals. It may be that the girls feel their bodies are one thing they have more control over and they can meet their body goals, even if they’re extremely unhealthy, suggests researcher Julia Graber, a University of Florida psychology professor, in a statement. About 20 per cent of adolescent girls and young women have signs of eating disorders. There can be serious consequences if they develop into full-blown eating disorders. Anorexia can lead to the deterioration of heart muscles and development of severe heart problems. The constant vomiting associated with bulimia can cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract.
ANI |
We call the Goddess by different names depending on the aspect of her power we wish to invoke. Shakti is called Saraswati when she gives knowledge and wisdom, when she gives inner experiences of the truth. She is called Shri Lakshmi when she takes the form of good fortune and abundance. She is called Radha when you experience great devotion because Radha is the personification of devotion. She is called Durga or Kali when she destroys all that must be destroyed in you, all that is holding you back. —Swami Chidvilasananda, “Creating a body of light”.
*** Homage to Him who paints the picture of the three worlds, thereby displaying his amazing genius: to Shiva who is beautiful with the hundreds of appearances laid out by the brush of his own unique, subtle and pure shakti. —Ramakantha, Spandakarika
Vivritti.
*** O youthful spouse of Shiva! You are the mind, ether, air, fire, water and earth. You have transformed yourself into the universe. Beyond you, there is nothing. In your play, you manifest your consciousness and bliss in the form of the universe. —Ananda
Lahiri.
*** O Supremely beautiful and effulgent Kundalini! Through your grace, even an ordinary person becomes blessed and is able to see the Supreme Principle within himself. —Kundalini Stavaha
*** We pray to the supreme goddess united with Shiva whose substance is the pure nectar of bliss, red like vermilion, the young flower of the hibiscus, and the sunset sky. Having cleft her way through the mass of sound issuing from the clashing and the dashing of the prana in the midst of the sushumuna, she rises to that brilliant energy that glitters with the lustre of ten million lightning flashes. May She, Kundalini, who quickly goes to and returns from Shiva, grant us the fruit of yoga! When she is the wish-fulfilling cow of all things desired for those who worship her. — Sharada Tilaka Tantra 35:70 Compiled by Satish K. Kapoor |
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