Struggle without a pause

ANUPAMA Mahajan in the article "Struggling without a pause" (April 4) delved deep into the rise and fall of Tibet and Dalai Lama’s struggle to liberate Tibet from the stranglehold of an expansionist China.

China has no scruples. No wonder the Marxists’ guru Lenin said: "There are no morals in politics it is only expedience". It invaded our borders in NEFA and Ladakh, Nehru’s Hindi-Chini bhai bhai, notwithstanding. It mercillessly killed thousands of Chinese who wanted democracy in China.

There is nothing in common between Tibet and China. Tibet is a holy land of Buddhists whose creed is purity of mind and action. But Mao Zedong’s belief is: "Religion is poison".

Even though 190 heads of states gathered in New York in 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UN, it won’t be difficult to say that UN as of today is U.S.A. China with its fire-power is closer to the Americans than the righteous Tibetans, even though the whole world supports their cause.

S.S. JAIN
Chandigarh

II

It is a matter of concern that none of the world powers has the courage to offend or earn a confrontation with an equally powerful country like China. Moreover, unlike the oil-rich Kuwait, which was invaded by Iraq and immediately liberated by the NATO alliance in the devastating Gulf War, poor Tibet has nothing to pay by which it could lure any big power to come to its rescue.

Foreign policies of western countries smack of biased attitudes and policies towards countries of the Third World, whom they do not want to see united.

Loving countries like India can only provide moral support to the struggling masses of Tibet. It seems that their peaceful war to regain freedom, will continue unless miraculous changes take place in the Chinese leadership.

Conferring of the Nobel Peace Prize and various other awards on the Dalai Lama seems ludicrous as far as the cause of Tibet is concerned. Prizes cannot fulfil the dreams of the millions living in exile. Instead these awards are a mockery of the fate and deprivation of the exiled masses.

S.K. CHANDAN
Kalka

It does work

The write-up "Homoeo-pathy: How it works" by K. Dhiman (March 28), was interesting and informative. Reading eminent Chicago doctor J.T. Kent’s conversion to homoeopathy to become later a legendary homoeopath reminds me of an identical case. R.R. Sharma D.Sc. Ph.D. (Lond), former Head, Biophysics Deptt. P.G.I. Chandigarh, used to disregard homoeopathy till mid-sixties when a homoeopath cured an obstinate case of eczema that bothered his wife. This aroused his scientific curiosity enough to study the working of homoeo medicines. Twelve years of hard work and intensive study in this field resulted in the publication of a book Molecular Homoeopathy in 1984 and three dozen basic articles by him. All this research work in homoeopathy got him Albert Schweitzer Prize — 1989 and nomination for Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1996. Dr J.B.D. Castro is another veteran homoeopath with notable achievements, regarded as the Hahnemann of Punjab because of his immense popularity both among the masses and the homoeopaths of this region. He was associated with the founding of the first homoeopathic college in Chandigarh decades ago and lately the establishment of modern Postgraduate Homoeopathic Institute at Mohali. He is the author of several well-acclaimed homoeopathic books.

Dedicated and devoted doctors like Castro and Sharma and others of their ilk, have all contributed significantly towards the popularisation of homoeopathy. Efficacy of homoeo treatment, is due to its holistic approach and no side-effects. Homoeopathy has definitely a vast therapeutic potential, both curative and preventive, besides being the cheapest. It is, no doubt, going to be the prospective main medicine of the 21st century.

KULDIP SINGH
Mohali

II

Homoeopathy is cheap, safe and effective especially in chronic cases for which there are no ‘quickfixes’ in modern medicine. With a marked improvement in research, standard of education, manufacturing process and quality control, this system has found wide acceptance. A network of homoeopathic and ayurvedic institutions have been established in all the states, particularly in far-flung areas which allopathic doctors avoid. In fact, more and more such facilities should be provided in rural areas so that people may not have to turn to quacks for minor ailments.

S.S. SOOCH
Jalandhar

He is not a friend

This refers to Belu Maheshwari’s article "No, he is not my friend" (March 21). It is unfortunate that the writer should give an emotional tilt to the already controversial system of caste-based reservations. Asking a person, deprived of his well-deserved meritorious position, whether he/she would be friendly to the less qualified successful candidate is emotional blackmail. And such an approach leads only to a bigger communal divide in the society.

The system of caste-based reservations, the so-called "positive discrimination", needs to be reviewed and rationalised. In a liberal and globalised economic set-up where job opportunities are shrinking, we need to provide a level playing field. The backward and the poor may be ensured a free and good education but everyone must complete on merit for job opportunities.

The Constitutional tenets of equality, justice and dignity demand that the lower castes should be ensured justice and dignity. But why should a candidate scoring 60 per cent marks in an entrance examination be denied the seat which is given to another candidate scoring not even 2 per cent marks in the same examination? Such a compromise on merit, to promote caste, has not only led to hostile divide of the society but has also adversely affected the administration.

One wonders what does the writer wish to convey when she says, "The capability of a Dalit SP or DC is not the point". If capability is not important in the administration, then what is?

The writer is grossly ill-informed in her question, "How many people will go to a private Dalit doctor, even if he is good?" In professional fields, it is the technical skill and not the caste of the person that sells. Many successful and renowned physicians, surgeons, engineers and other professionals come from the lower sections of society. The general public is not even aware of the caste status of such professionals.

Instead of looking at caste in a biased perspective, let us face the reality that during the long space of 50 years, the policy of caste-based reservations has benefitted only a fraction of the lower castes.

Let us not allow the people to politicise the whole issue any longer and review it in the new millennium.

VED GULIANI
Hisar