E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Social injustice
Social justice in India means many things to most people. It is a coin that offers the solution on one side, and promises to retain its premium value if the extent of social injustice is allowed to grow on the other. The side that pays the most during election-time is not the one that has the solution.

Satyameva jayate
The Union Cabinet’s nod to a proposal to make “truth a defence” in contempt cases where aspersions have been cast against a judge is laudable, in that it can remove a gross discrepancy. So far, the contempt law has been an exception to the fundamental right to the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution.

General under fire
Gen Pervez Musharraf is under tremendous pressure to abandon the position of the Chief of Army Staff which he holds along with that of the President of Pakistan.

OPINION

Welcome move on Kashmir
Why peace must be pursued
Praful Bidwai
Whatever one’s reservations about Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s political style and his party’s ideology, one must heartily and unstintingly welcome his decision to visit Kashmir and launch an initiative for reconciliation and peace. His visit was undoubtedly a landmark: on April 18, he became India’s first Prime Minister to address a public meeting in the valley since the “azadi” militancy broke out in 1989. This is itself commendable.

MIDDLE

Pathbreaking research!
S. Raghunath
A reader writing to the “letters” column of a national newspaper has said that the principal reason for the continued brain drain from the country is that peons in India are paid more and enjoy a better status than scientists.

Sanskrit faces uncertain future in Punjab
Jangveer Singh
Imagine a college with three windowless rooms measuring 12 by 12 feet, having half-broken small wooden benches-cum tables, half of which have been placed in the lone verandah of the institution. It is housed in a building, part of which is unsafe and out of bounds for the students.

Panjab University’s low priority to top centre
Ravinder Sud
The Vishveshvaranand Vishav Bandhu Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies located at Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur, is fast losing the very purpose for which it was set up about 100 years ago on account of the indifferent attitude of the authorities of Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Of infertility & ignorance
Infertility is one of gynaecology’s growth areas — and no one’s more conscious of that fact than the one in six couples it affects. As more women delay motherhood into their thirties and even forties, and other fertility issues, such as the fall in men’s sperm count, come into play, more people are encountering difficulties in getting pregnant.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Social injustice

Social justice in India means many things to most people. It is a coin that offers the solution on one side, and promises to retain its premium value if the extent of social injustice is allowed to grow on the other. The side that pays the most during election-time is not the one that has the solution. To the authors of the Constitution ushering in social justice was an honest commitment with an unrealistic time-limit. It was this error in the original document that allowed the political class to turn the policy of job reservation into an opportunity for creating a captive vote-bank. The two-day national convention of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward communities in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party is the latest example of the scale of confusion that politicians are willing to create by making promises that fly in the face of law and logic. Of course, since every political party is now playing the Dalit card, why should the BJP not follow the policy? In the highly competitive political game of appearing to be different from the other in championing the Dalit cause, parties are constantly inventing new agendas. The BJP convention in Mhow has promised to introduce job reservation in the private sector.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh stole the Dalit thunder last year by organising a conference of Dalit intellectuals that adopted a charter of action called the Bhopal Declaration. With assembly elections round the corner, the BJP has decided to offer everything short of the moon to break the Congress’ grip over the levers of power in Madhya Pradesh. Real issues becoming “victims” of narrow and self-defeating politics have slowed down India’s march towards economic progress. Population control is a real issue, that no party wants to touch for the odium attached to it because of Sanjay Gandhi. Social justice was a low-key issue until 1989. After Mr V. P. Singh implemented the Mandal Commission report on job reservation, no leader has shown the moral courage to question the rationale of a policy that has increased the level of general tension without offering social and economic emancipation to the country’s vast underclass. Adopting a resolution is not going to make the private sector offer jobs without applying the test of merit. Creation of merit will help the Dalits join the expanding mainstream of professional excellence without having to feel small in the eyes of their colleagues. How about a policy that allows Dalits admission in the best schools in the country? That is where the foundations of academic excellence are laid. Thereafter, merit alone should be the benchmark for admission to premium professional courses. Creating social tension by expanding the size of job reservation will some day cause an explosion that would make the post-Mandal riots in the country look like a mild tantrum.

Satyameva jayate

The Union Cabinet’s nod to a proposal to make “truth a defence” in contempt cases where aspersions have been cast against a judge is laudable, in that it can remove a gross discrepancy. So far, the contempt law has been an exception to the fundamental right to the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. Actually, the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, is silent on whether truth can be a defence. Perhaps the law was taciturn on this issue because it was considered inconceivable that a judge could be fallible. But this silence was interpreted in some cases to mean that even if an aspersion was true, it still constituted a contempt of court because it lowered the authority and dignity of the court. While attempting to remove this grey area, the government has rather enhanced the authority of the judiciary because the judges occupy such an exalted place in society that fingers should not be pointed at them, not just because the law says so, but because the people at large actually consider them to be beyond reproach. If there is foolproof evidence against any member of the fraternity that he erred, then the person making the allegation should not be hauled over coals just because the wrongdoer happened to be a judge. This immunity was liable to be misused. One black sheep could have brought a bad name to the entire community. Even if the unthinkable did not happen, there were chances that people’s faith in the integrity of the judges would not be as unflinching as it should be.

Many countries like Australia and New Zealand already have truth as defence in contempt cases. The Cabinet’s decision that can make the judiciary more accountable without compromising its autonomy is in line with the proposals of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC). In fact, many legal luminaries have been supporting the move strongly. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer had advocated in a signed article last year that “… truth and good faith must be reinstated as sound defences, so that a judge who has something to hide may be exposed to the … light of truth”. As he had concluded in the Mulgaokar case dealing with “unsavoury” allegations against a senior sitting judge, “a benign neglect, not judicial intemperance, is the sensible therapy of contempt law”. If a political consensus develops on the proposal, the contempt law can be changed without amending the Constitution.

General under fire

Gen Pervez Musharraf is under tremendous pressure to abandon the position of the Chief of Army Staff which he holds along with that of the President of Pakistan. The principal Opposition parties like the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or the MMA of the religious groups, Ms Benazir Bhutto’s PPP and Mr Nawaz Sharif’s PML (N) have launched a vigorous campaign for the purpose. They have not allowed the National Assembly (parliament) to hold even a single normal session since its constitution last November. They have been agitating against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) promulgated by the General before he announced the holding of elections last year. The government headed by Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, virtually an extension of the President’s office, wants the LFO to be approved by parliament to make it a part of the constitution. Prime Minister Jamali is obviously trying to sell President Musharraf’s viewpoint to the Opposition leaders as he did at the all-party meetings held on Sunday and Monday. The General, who appointed himself the President of Pakistan after organising a national referendum in his favour, says that the National Assembly members have no right to oppose the move for getting the LFO ratified by the House as they have entered the hallowed precincts after the general election held under the LFO last October. Accepting the LFO as it is means allowing the General to retain both positions. This will also mean the army running an otherwise elected government. Such a situation is unacceptable in a democracy, so goes the Opposition argument. Hence the drive to force the President to resign as army chief.

The Opposition demand is quite logical and in the interest of democracy, but why should the General be interested in it? He has his own problems which he cannot be expected to ignore. The army is the most powerful constituent of the establishment in Pakistan. General Musharraf knows more than anybody else that he cannot remain what he is once the army control goes out of his hands. Hence his efforts to project his personal interests as those of Pakistan. When he announced the constitution of the National Security Council with wide-ranging powers and packed it with armed forces’ officers, he justified it by arguing that this was the best way to safeguard Pakistan’s national interests. He has been consistently voicing the view that the army must have a predominant role in governance. Thus, the Opposition leaders who believe that he can be compelled to give up the uniform are hoping against hope. If the General is pushed to the wall he may even dissolve the National Assembly, exercising the powers he enjoys under the LFO. That will, no doubt, be a worse situation. But anything can be expected from the General under attack. In any case, the world will be watching with great curiosity the outcome of the ongoing fight between the Opposition and General Musharraf’s government. 

OPINION

Welcome move on Kashmir
Why peace must be pursued
Praful Bidwai

Whatever one’s reservations about Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s political style and his party’s ideology, one must heartily and unstintingly welcome his decision to visit Kashmir and launch an initiative for reconciliation and peace. His visit was undoubtedly a landmark: on April 18, he became India’s first Prime Minister to address a public meeting in the valley since the “azadi” militancy broke out in 1989. This is itself commendable. It also speaks of a positive change in ground reality. His visit, coming six months after the largely free and fair Legislative Assembly elections, has kindled new hopes, If his overture is followed up with wise and purposive moves, we could see some real progress in resolving one of the most troubled, complex and bloody disputes in the world.

In Srinagar, Mr Vajpayee attempted a “double whammy”. He held out the “hand of friendship” to Pakistan, significantly, from Kashmiri soil. And he offered a dialogue between the Centre and different currents of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir. Both offers were soon hedged in with conditions. And yet, they indicate a welcome softening of New Delhi’s stance. The change of tone and tenor has outlasted the somewhat dampering effect of the qualifying statements Mr Vajpayee himself made the following day, reiterating that the talks leading to peace with Pakistan would only take place once there is an end to cross-border terrorism. Yet, the impact of the new tone and tenor is welcome.

Of the two initiatives, on Pakistan, and on domestic arrangements pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, the first is both more important and likelier to succeed more quickly than the second — for three reasons. First, Pakistan has responded remarkably positively to India’s offer of a dialogue and said it is willing to hold it “any time, at any place and any level.” It has added that it hopes to work out specific dates for negotiations “within days”. Second, there is growing recognition within both governments that they cannot indefinitely sustain their mutual hostility. They are under increasing pressure from the major powers to defuse rivalry and reach mutual accommodation.

Only six months ago, India and Pakistan were all ready to go to war. The reasons why they didn’t basically continue to hold today. The global situation emerging after the Iraq war has discomfited both by highlighting their own vulnerability on account of the Kashmir and nuclear issues. Washington, in its most aggressively unilateralist and expansionist phase today, has threatened to extend the Iraq conflict and also turn its attention to South Asia. On March 31, Secretary of State Colin Powell told The New York Times that “the whole of the subcontinent’s problems” were part of the “broad agenda” that the US plans to address soon. South Asian tensions have figured prominently in the deliberations of Russia, France and Britain too, who have all called for an India-Pakistan dialogue.

And third, a certain momentum favouring a short time-frame for an India-Pakistan meeting has been generated, with the planned visit to South Asia of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in early May. Despite the latest suicide attacks by militants, it is likely that both India and Pakistan will make some positive gestures just ahead of that visit. Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh says there is already some clarity on certain “modalities” for a possible India-Pakistan summit and its agenda. More important, Mr Armitage will probably mediate informally between the two governments and “facilitate” a future summit — just as he brokered peace between them twice last year.

This doesn’t argue that a Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting will certainly happen or succeed. After all, even one terrorist act in India, whether or not sponsored by Pakistan, can scuttle it altogether. Its success will depend on how far the two governments are prepared to move away from their stated “first positions” and explore a new detente or agenda of peaceful coexistence.

This, in the first place, means they must accept that war is simply not an option. Neither side can win it. Their nuclear capability has been a “great leveller”. Nuclear wars cannot be won; they must never be fought.

To make the summit successful, Islamabad will have to drop its traditional emphasis on a plebiscite on Kashmir and 50-year-old UN Security Council resolutions. More important, it will have to verifiably give up supporting militant violence in Kashmir as an instrument to coerce India to the negotiating table. It has to recognise that its support to terrorist militants who kill innocent civilians at will done nothing to advance the cause of the Kashmiri people. New Delhi too must do something so that the issue is opened up. The Kashmiri people must be involved in settling it.

India must take the Shimla Agreement of 1972 seriously. Under it, all bilateral issues are to be resolved through peaceful discussion. So far, New Delhi has cited the Shimla accord mainly to oppose a multilateral dialogue — but never once discussed Kashmir bilaterally with Pakistan. Changing all this won’t be easy, but if a robust beginning is made on the basis of some mutually accepted principles, the process of reconciliation could get rolling. At times like these, process is everything.

The biggest obstacles here will be the hawks in the two countries who have a stake in perpetuating a state of mutual hostility. In Pakistan, they are jehadi Islamists both inside and outside the army. In India, they are the BJP’s right-wingers who oppose reconciliation with Pakistan.

This time around, the BJP has supported Mr Vajpayee’s peace gesture, but somewhat reluctantly. Its first response on April 18 was to oppose it. Earlier, it enthusiastically welcomed External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha’s diatribe against Pakistan as a “fitter case” than Iraq for pre-emptive war. Ideological antipathy to Pakistan apart, this is an important election year for the BJP. In four major Assembly elections it is pitted against the Congress. Rather than embark on a new, uncertain, Kashmir and Pakistan policy, it might be tempted to fall back upon a hawkish line which appeals to its urban elite constituency.

Piloting a peace process in such a situation will need statesmanship. Even more difficult will be the domestic Kashmir reconciliation agenda. Here, the Centre has no clarity whatsoever, although people like Mr Vajpayee sense that J&K today offers a great opportunity because of its relatively credible election, and the installation of a state government which generates hope with its “healing touch”.

However, the Centre is fumbling at the level of strategy. It said it would talk to all those who abjure violence. Yet, it refused to invite the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, representing 23 different groups, to talks. But it should know that there is little political sense in talking only to “elected representatives”, for most of whom J&K’s integration with India is unproblematic. It is the others that it must win over. They include the APHC. The Hurriyat’s influence may have declined. But it still represents a significant current of opinion in Kashmir. The Hurriyat would, of course, like the government to apply the “Nagaland formula” to Kashmir: talks at a high political level; exclusively with one group; and a ceasefire. In reality, there are too many differences between Kashmir and Nagaland, and the APHC and the NSCN. But talking to the Hurriyat on a non-exclusive basis is surely necessary.

A breakthrough on Kashmir will probably have to wait upon serious progress in India-Pakistan relations. But the process of reconciliation must start, both internally and externally. Far too much is at stake — not least, the lives of millions who could turn into radioactive dust should war break out. There is simply no alternative to peace.

MIDDLE

Pathbreaking research!
S. Raghunath

A reader writing to the “letters” column of a national newspaper has said that the principal reason for the continued brain drain from the country is that peons in India are paid more and enjoy a better status than scientists.

The All-India Confederation of Peons (AICP) has taken strong exception to the tone and tenor of the letter calling it in poor taste and lacking perspective and smacking of an anti-peon bias.

Talking to mediapersons, a spokespeon said: “We peons have been at the receiving end of malicious and motivated attacks for far too long and it’s about time we took a stand. In actual fact, peons are spearheading pathbreaking research in some of the most esoteric fields and their work promises to push back the frontiers of knowledge and pure science. Let me briefly elaborate.”

“Visitors to government offices might have seen surly and ill-tempered peons sitting motionless for hours on end on rickety wooden stools. Actually, this is part of an ongoing and well-funded research in three-dimensional structural analysis and dynamics of lattice bodies whose object is the development of a one-legged wooden stool for use by peons in government offices. Just imagine the savings in scarce wood that will result from the development of one-legged stools!”

Continuing, the spokespeon said: “We peons are heavily involved in research in greenfield areas of behavioral sciences and reaction of human psyche under deliberate stress. We let visitors who call at government offices to transact legitimate business wait for hours on end, all the while smirking and giving maddeningly vague and evasive answers to the query, ‘Will I have to wait much longer to see the sahib?’ and under controlled clinical conditions, we study the stress caused by our overbearing attitude. I ask you, have Carl Jung or Sigmund Freud done any work in these fields of human psychology? We peons are doing it and what do we get in return? Only brickbats and not bouquets.”

“You’ll be interested to know that peons are also actively pursuing research in fibre chemistry and textiles. We wear the same khaki uniform for up to 11 months without washing them even once and we’re studying the metabolism of sweat glands on khaki cloth. We hope to soon achieve a breakthru’ in the development of sweat resistant artificial fibres and textiles.

“No aspect of science and research has escaped our attention and we’re heavily into medical research, too. Peons of our New Delhi chapter and working in South Block and Shastri Bhavan are engaged in studying the effect of caffeine in coffee and tea in cardiac functions of well-heeled babus and they have observed marked clinical symptoms like lethargy in disposing of important files and tying the red tape, but alacrity in demanding higher dearness allowance to neutralise the rising wholesale price index. They have submitted learned papers to the Lancet and the British Medical Journal and they are being held over for publication.”

The spokespeon concluded: “So you can see for yourself that we peons are working away from the glare of publicity and contributing our humble mite to the advancement of scientific research and progress.”

Sanskrit faces uncertain future in Punjab
Jangveer Singh

A part of the Punjab Institute of Oriental and Indian Languages in Patiala which has been declared unsafe. — Photo Subhash

Imagine a college with three windowless rooms measuring 12 by 12 feet, having half-broken small wooden benches-cum tables, half of which have been placed in the lone verandah of the institution. It is housed in a building, part of which is unsafe and out of bounds for the students.

This is the Punjab Institute of Oriental and Indian languages in Patiala. In 1963 the institute was named the Government Institute of Oriental and Modern Indian Languages, Patiala. Before that, it was known as the Sanskrit Vidyala. It is the oldest Sanskrit institution in the state having been set up as early as 1860.

This institution, which was once the pride of the state, has been ignored for decades. It now houses another institution - the Government Sanskrit Mahavidyala of Nabha - which was transferred to Patiala in October, 2002. This effectively means there are three small rooms, a verandah which, on many occasions, is used as a classroom, and a library hall for the staff of the Sanskrit institution, which now goes by the high-flying name of Institute of Oriental and Indian Languages.

“The government has changed the name to give the impression that it was creating a new institution in which it was merging the Nabha college”, says one of the teachers of the institution. He adds the government has not given even a single paisa for the new institution, that shows how concerned it is even about maintaining the lone Sanskrit teaching institution of its kind. The institution does not have even a single room which can be rightly called a classroom. There are some rooms on the first floor which are used by the Government Primary and Middle School. An order to vacate the rooms was passed by a former Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jasbir Singh Bir.

The teacher says part of the college has been renovated through a Rs 1 lakh grant given by former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a Sangat Darshan programme. The amount was used to strengthen the roof of the library hall and its adjacent verandah, besides renovating two rooms, now occupied by the office staff. “This has ensured that at least the roof will not fall on our heads”, remarks the teacher, adding that part of the building seems to be beyond repairs and has been sealed off to ensure that no student steps inside.

But the four teachers at the Sanskrit Mahavidyala, Nabha, didn’t have a safe roof above. Their college was closed and they were told to report for duty at the Patiala institute in October last year. Three of the teachers joined duty at Patiala, while the fourth is fighting it out in court.

The Nabha institution was run by Acharya Sadhu Ram before it was taken over by Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha. Subsequently, it was taken over by the Pepsu government and, finally, by the Punjab Government on the Pepsu state’s merger. A teacher, Basant Lal, now posted at the Patiala institution, says the institution was upgraded to a college in 1972 and was earlier housed in the Nabha fort from where it was shifted to a government building. However, when the building was declared unsafe, it was shifted to a rented building in 1983. In March, 2002 the college management was asked not to make new admissions on the plea that the building was unsafe and the students’ strength had also declined. The college was subsequently merged with the Patiala institution to form a new institution.

The institutions may have had a tragic history, but sadder still is the fate of the Sanskrit language in the state. The student strength in the new institute has come down to an all-time low of 29 against last year’s 45. Teachers blame this on lack of any reservation for students going in for the Shastri graduate course, which is taught only in Sanskrit. They say the students have to compete for jobs with students with Sanskrit at the graduation level in which it is taught in the Hindi medium. “If this is the respect given by the government to an advanced Sanskrit course, there is little hope for Sanskrit, its teachers or Sanskrit institutions in the state”, add the teachers.

Panjab University’s low priority to top centre
Ravinder Sud

The Vishveshvaranand Vishav Bandhu Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies located at Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur, is fast losing the very purpose for which it was set up about 100 years ago on account of the indifferent attitude of the authorities of Panjab University, Chandigarh.

This world-renowned research institute, situated on the outskirts of Hoshiarpur city on the Una road and run by Panjab University, offers five-year postgraduation courses in Shastri and Acharya. There are 75 students, including 30 girls and five research scholars. They are generally from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Stipends are given to the students of oriental studies.

Dr Damodar Jha, a former Chairman of this institution, tells The Tribune that there are only 14 teachers as against the sanctioned posts of 32. Four of them are above 60 and four others are going to retire shortly. None of the posts, which had fallen vacant on the retirement of any teacher in the past, was filled.

Besides, the university authorities have shifted six posts from here to Chandigarh. This has not only adversely affected the studies of students, but also research work in Sanskrit and indological studies, including Vedic interpretation.

There is no hostel facility for girl students and the hostel for boys is run in the rented building of Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, adds Dr Jha.

This institute has a big library having 73,408 books, 2,676 hand-written manuscripts, 123 research journals and 3,093 photocopies of rare books which are out of print now. But this institution has not been developed further, he complains.

Tracing its genesis, Prof Inder Kumar Uniyal, Director, VVRI, says that in 1903 Swami Vishveshvaranand and Nityanand started an office in Shimla for preparing word indices of the four principal Vedic Samhitas and a dictionary of the texts. The word indices were issued in four volumes in 1908-10 and considerable basic material was collected for the dictionary.

In 1924 the office was shifted to Lahore where it was put under the charge of Acharya Vishva Bandhu. Under him, the scope of the institute was widened so as to include the study of different branches of indology. The institute also set up a teaching wing with classes for MA, Vidyavachaspati and Shastri in Sanskrit and Prabhakar in Hindi. Panjab University, Lahore, gave a grant of Rs 1,000 in 1936-37 and an equal amount in 1937-38.

The university accorded recognition to the work done by the institute by publishing “A Vedic Word Concordance” and a complete etymological dictionary.

After partition, the institute got uprooted from Lahore. After much suffering and loss, it was restarted on its present premises at Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur.

In 1957, at the instance of the institute, Panjab University opened its Department of Devanagari Transcription of South Indian Manuscripts.

Earlier in 1950, Panjab University had extended affiliation to the institute for starting various courses of study in Hindi and Sanskrit and the University Grants Commission began to give liberal financial aid to the institute. The same year the institute extended its academic activity to Chandigarh by setting up a research centre there.

In the beginning of 1965, Panjab University made a proposal that the institute, while continuing to function from Hoshiarpur and maintaining its entity, should integrate itself with the university. This proposal was accepted. Accordingly, a part of the institute was taken over by the university under the new name Vishveshvaranand Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies (VISIS).

At present 12 research projects, including the compilation of a dictionary of Vedic interpretation, are being pursued. There is a long list of 49 research works in various fields of indology published by this institute.

The Manuscript and Text Editing Section has a collection of more than 10,000 ancient manuscripts, of which 8,360 were catalogued descriptively in the volume and were published in 1959. A supplementary catalogue dealing with the remaining manuscripts came to light in 1975. However, with the transfer of the Lal Chand collection of rare books and manuscripts to DAV College, Chandigarh, the institute now has about 2,300 ancient manuscripts.

The VVRI has published 16 volumes of Vedic Concordance of more than 1,1000 pages. The compilation of the dictionary of Vedic interpretation, which was started by the late Acharya Vishav Bandhu in 1965, is yet to be completed. 

TRENDS & POINTERS

Of infertility & ignorance

Infertility is one of gynaecology’s growth areas — and no one’s more conscious of that fact than the one in six couples it affects. As more women delay motherhood into their thirties and even forties, and other fertility issues, such as the fall in men’s sperm count, come into play, more people are encountering difficulties in getting pregnant.

Some couples will have had unprotected sex for a year without conceiving — the standard definition of ‘infertility’ — before rushing off for tests or to their local IVF clinic for treatment. But, according to Toni Weschler, an American expert on fertility and author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility (a bestseller in the US), they could be doing so rashly and needlessly. ‘There are many couples whose infertility problem is so minor that the Fertility Awareness Method (Fam) alone would facilitiate a pregnancy,’ she says. Weschler has been a champion of Fam since the 80s. It has a lot recommend it — especially to holistic junkies, being a natural, non-invasive form of pregnancy achievement and birth control. It uses no chemicals, has no side-effects and increases a woman’s knowledge of her own sexual and gynaecological health.

But Fam has suffered a bad press, owing to it’s being mistaken for the Rhythm Method - the obsolete (and ineffective) technique that uses the woman’s past cycles to predict future fertility. Instead, Fam is based on daily observations of a woman’s three primary fertility signs: her waking temperature, cervical fluid and cervical position (the last is an optional sign that corroborates the other two).

A couple’s first port of call is fertility awareness, nutrition and acupuncture, to eliminate common hormonal imbalances that prevent pregnancy, such as absent or late periods, or occurrence of miscarriage, or even psychic resistance to pregnancy (a problem that is apparently rising among professional women). You can train yourself in the Fam basics, but many women need specialised help with assessing their lifestyle and habits. Medication, for example, can mask symptoms or affect cervical fluid and temperature. In the end, it’s about education. Weschler believes doctors are often not taught fertility awareness in medical school. The Guardian 

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Let mercy be your Mecca!

Instead of fasts use humility:

Seek no other paradise than abiding by the word of your Guru.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Maru, page 1083.

Let your praying-hour be

at no set time,

but all times;

Let your constant prayer be remembrance of God in the heart;

use meditation instead of rosary;

and instead of circumcision Let chastity check your desires.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Maru, page 1083

Let purifying the impure be your holy Hadith,

And complete integrity be your turban; 

A true Muslim should be tender-hearted And wash the impurities in his heart.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Maru, page 1083.

On whom the Lord is merciful

His desires are fulfilled.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Sarang, page 1226

What you give to another is alms;

what you gain for yourself by that alms is bliss.

— Tamil Proverb