The meaning of secularism

IF “Pakistan is a failed state”, already, as contended by Najam Sethi and M.S.N. Menon (The Tribune, Sept 3), Bangladesh cannot be far behind. The latter state is also gravitating towards fundamentalism at a fast rate. And if both these states fail, India will not go unscathed. Tremors will be felt here too.

Buddhism, Jainism and other Indian ideologies are based on the concept of “sanyas” — the thinkers and the priests renounce the world and take no active part in running the state. Krishna can inspire Arjun but will not take up the weapon himself. Islam, on the other hand , enjoins upon its followers the task of conquering as much of the world as possible for the spread of Islam, and can, thus, have no interaction with Indian thought unless it gives up its basic tenets. Hinduism could have no effect or influence, as Menon would like it to have.

And, of course, Buddha and Shanker were not secular; they were above secularism. So were Nanak and M.K. Gandhi. Calling them secular will not add to their stature.

The term “secular” has come to be used as a honorific much like the terms “Dr” and “Excellency” and the efforts made by half-literate politicians to earn this title for themselves and their parties invite pity and amusement. That even thinkers and intellectuals like Darshan Singh Maini (Secularism in Indian politics, Sept 4) should fall a prey to this tendency, is tragic. Secularism means that religion will play no part in the running of a state, and it should be allowed to mean this and this alone. Just as dictionaries define the term and as the democracies in the West are practising it, democracies that shelter Rushdie and Durrani when we banish them.

Are our parties fielding candidates selected on the principles of secularism? And do we seek votes on such principles? Let us not deceive ourselves; because self-deception can be lethal.

L.R. SHARMA
Solan

Unit Scheme-64

US-64 was once a popular name, but alas its gullible investors, mostly middle class salaried people, have been taken for a ride by the UTI over the last few years. The dividend has been dropping consistently from 26 per cent to 20 per cent to 13.5 per cent this year. Discount available on re-investment of dividend in Units has shrunk from 5 per cent to 3 per cent to 2 per cent this year. Invested capital in terms of repurchase value has depreciated from Rs 15 to Rs 14 Rs 13.50 per unit this year.

UTI continued to feed us on false hopes advising us to stay invested. We were awarded the title of “Valued” investors but were rewarded with loss in our dividend income and depreciation of our capital investment.

Total tax exemption on the dividend income granted by the government would mainly benefit the big investors only, since small investors were already covered by the existing exemption limit upto Rs 15000/- under section 80-L. In any case UTI should not have used the tax-free clause to reduce the dividend.

My accumulation of over 10,000 units, over the years, involving a capital investment of 1.5 lakh has ceased to give me comfort any more, though UTI is now claiming that the worst is already over. Could some fellow-investor share his views with us?

Wg Cdr C L SEHGAL (Retd)
Jalandhar

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Tribune website

I used to look around on the web to get some thing which can attach me to my nation and city beautiful. There are lots of sites on the web on Punjab or Punjabi culture, but every one is personalised, motivated, religiously, politically or business. Then I tried some national newspapers, they are also more tilted towards south. Finally by chance one day I found the Tribune site, which really makes me feel at home. It’s great.

Specially yesterday when I read the news about Subedar Balbir Singh who was my friend, I was moved the way you gave him a heroic regard and coverage which he really deserve. Thanks. I was out of touch with him since I came to USA in 1995.

My heartiest homage to nation’s hero are, he sacrificed his only life for the nation, now is the nation’s turn. Full military honours cremation is not the only thing he deserves, but much more than that. Also my heartiest condolence to his family. May Almighty give them strength and courage to bear this great loss.

PUSHPINDER SINGH
USA

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Self management

We are in the era of management. Management is a key to success in various fields. We find that in modern era the management is playing a vital role in every field. But do we manage our self systematically? We have to manage ourselves in such a way that we get success. The main cause of failure is our thinking. If we feel that we are weak then our mind also feels so. The result is that we cannot do any thing. This feeling of mind naturally give us failure. So, the first step in self management is to manage the feeling and control the mind. Make your feeling stronger with mind saying that you can do anything.

RAJEEV KUMAR
Ferozepore

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Ban on cell phones

The general public is grateful to the authorities for banning use of mobile phones while driving cars, which is more of a showoff in most of the cases, than a necessity for the few.

The public would be still more grateful and heave a sigh of relief if the greater bane — the musical systems of various kinds in cars — are banned too. The use of stereos, radios and other similar systems especially with blaring loud speakers in cars, which has become fashion of the day is accident prone as it can be a source of detraction for the driver leading to accident; is also a public nuisance and contributes to noise pollution besides accident.

JANAK KHANNA
Chandigarh