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| Thursday, April 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Bihar
in deeper distress
AMERICAN
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| Price revision: unimaginative
handling by Arvind Bhandari NOW that the hoopla over the much-hyped Clinton visit is over, an immediate issue which faces the Vajpayee government is the hike with effect from April 1 in the prices of foodgrains supplied through the public distribution system (PDS). If the allies in the BJP-led government and the opposition parties have created a furore against the hike, it is because the question of price revision, with a view to reducing the food subsidy, has been handled in a foolish, unimaginative manner.
The
saint of Tapovan
Ignored
Indian New Year
April 6, 1925
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MR Laloo Yadav in jail and Mrs Rabri Devi on bail! The description sounds rather funny but it shows the humiliation the two have brought to themselves. Mr Laloo Yadav was charged with misusing state funds worth crores, according to the charge-sheet framed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the infamous fodder scam case. There was another issue: Mrs Rabri Devi was a co-accused, along with her husband, in a Rs 22.5 lakh disproportionate assets (income-tax) matter. Now there is more trouble for both of them. The Chief Minister seldom speaks for herself. Her spokesman is her husband who says that the Chief Minister is absolutely innocent. Corruption is the sullied Gangotri from which several polluted Gangas flow into political life. For the present, we have before us the fodder scam and the unaccounted for property issue. Mr Laloo Yadav managed to form a coalition government after the last Assembly election and recrowned his wife the queen of Bihar. But there were many former friends of his who decided not to let the chargesheeted Chief Minister or him manage the top administrative office. Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Ram Bilas Paswan joined the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief, Mr Sibbu Soren, another Minister, in swearing to take revenge. They said that they would see to it that Mrs Rabri Devi was thrown out of the seat of power and that Mr Laloo Yadav was sent to the Beur jail. On Wednesday morning,
the self-styled messiah of the poor and his wife, who
headed a jumbo-sized ministry, materialised outside the
door of a special judicial officer "for seeking
protection from harassment". Mr Laloo Yadav is
disappointment personified. When Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr
Ram Bilas Paswan say that the duo have met the nemesis,
the husband-and-wife team says that Mr L.K.Advani, a
charge-sheeted person in the Babri Masjid demolition
case, was a member of the Union Cabinet. The accusing
finger was raised against Dr Murli Manohar Joshi also.
"Will they resign even now?", asks Mr Laloo
Yadav. There is no answer to this question. Mr Laloo
Yadav and Mrs Rabri Devi are being pursued by the CBI and
the chargesheets have been modified. The Governor is
watching and so is the Atal Behari Vajpayee government
doing. The public images of Mr Laloo Yadav and his wife
are not resplendent. The latest circumstances have
created a piquant situation for the Congress, which is a
partner in the Rabri Devi government. The case of fraud
against Mr Laloo Yadav has continued for too long. He is
an arrogant person who can go to the extent of saying
that he would rule even from a prison! This time, things
are not going to be easy for him because the charges
against him have been really made to look serious. His
opponents are determined to "teach him a
lesson". There can be no nautanki of Sonepur type in
the murky atmosphere. If one enacts a scene of the
theatre of the absurd obstinately, one is likely to
create a tragedy. The actual victims are the people of
the state, which keeps on getting intermittent blood-
baths. The financial situation is terribly bad. The Union
Government cannot act harshly for obvious reasons. Bihar,
thus, is in for more distress. |
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THE Lahore Process was derailed because of the Pakistan-sponsored intrusions in Kargil last year. But peaceniks on either side of the border have a reason to keep their optimism alive. Track II of the rather fragile diplomatic relations between the neighbours of 50 plus years is bustling with activity as it were. The flurry of initiatives for mending ties between India and Pakistan by writers, journalists, poets, social activists and even ordinary folks by themselves may not be enough to banish the fear of war in the subcontinent. But the renewed people-to-people interaction has once again brought into sharp focus the fact that the so-called serious differences between the two countries are figments of the "official imagination" of the leaders on either side of the border. The timing of the non-official peace overtures is significant. Those who insist that the initiatives have nothing to do with US President William Jefferson Clinton's visit to the subcontinent are entitled to mislead themselves. Before Mr Clinton's visit the leaders of the two countries were sitting in separate corners and sulking. They are still sitting in separate corners and sulking. But now their "children" have decided to try and bring them back to talking terms — the first essential step for the renewal of friendship. The upshot of the track II initiative was the visit by an all-women's delegation from India to Pakistan. It returned suitably impressed by Gen Pervez Musharraf's assurance to restore democracy in his country and peace in the subcontinent. Ms Nirmala Deshpande, a venerable Gandhian, propounded an interesting thesis on the basis of her interaction with a cross-section of women in Pakistan. Women in Pakistan are more oppressed than they are in India. But in real terms the gender situation is far from satisfactory on either side of the border. Ms Deshpande would like the women of the subcontinent to close ranks and make the rooting out of the oppressive systems in the two countries their common cause. Available evidence suggests that women in non-political roles [neither Indira Gandhi nor Ms Benazir Bhutto made any worthwhile contribution to establishing peace in the subcontinent] can make a big difference to the current initiative of making the two unhappy neighbours realise the value of peace and friendship. Even before the dust of
the women's visit to Pakistan could settle down a
delegation of writers and poets from across the Wagah
border is currently in India for promoting goodwill. On
the basis of the past record of the warmth with which
Pakistani musicians and poets have been received by
common citizens there should be no reservation about the
success of the latest effort. If and when the members of
the Pakistani delegation get to shake hands with Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, they too would carry back
tales similar to the ones which members of the
all-women's delegation to Pakistan have brought back with
them. In between the people-to-people exchange of
bonhomie the visit of Mr Niaz Naik, a seasoned Pakistani
diplomat, indicates that General Musharraf after being
rapped on the knuckles by Mr Clinton is trying hard to
put back the Lahore Process on the track which did appear
to be leading the neighbours towards a shared better
tomorrow. However, as of today, to borrow the punchline
of a popular commercial, there is "nothing official
about it". But the picture which is emerging is
indeed attractive. Against this backdrop the report of a
Pakistani poet wanting asylum in India would appear to be
grossly out of place. The poet, Mr Aftab Husain, is being
threatened by the military dictatorship for having
translated Mr Vajpayee's book of verses in Urdu during
the most famous bus journey to Lahore. Home Minister L.
K. Advani has been quoted as having said that the request
for asylum, if made, would be considered favourably.
After Ms Fahmida Riaz, who sought asylum during the Zia
era, Mr Aftab Husain is the second poet from Pakistan to
feel insecure under a military dictatorship. An honest
stock-taking of the current developments, having a
bearing on Indo-Pak relations, would show that the
private peace initiatives are still in the realm of myth
while Mr Aftab Husain's predicament appears to be real. |
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SOME analysts see in the crash of the sensex on Tuesday a technical correction, a stock market jargon meaning a temporary and brief victory of the downward pressure in its eternal battle for dominance over bullish sentiments. These are the stout-hearted ones. The nervous lot describes it as a bubble burst and are getting ready to write the obituary of the information technology (IT) shares. They are not convinced that the strong recovery in the Nasdaq index, which sets the trend for price movement across the world, will rebuild hope and lure big investors back. As it happens in such cases, the pessimists draw the first blood, and advance known and new arguments to support their prediction of doom. First the hackneyed ones. The IT, media and communication shares are scandalously overpriced. There is no rational link between the profits of these companies and the combined value of their shares (market capitalisation). Thus the investor looks to a sharp increase in share prices to make money and not to the dividend cheque. Every investor is therefore a speculator and this explains the volatility. Add to this the computer-based trading system which shuts off transaction in a scrip if there is an 8 per cent movement of price either way. When prices plummet a share-holder cannot sell his holding because the machine will not just accept the order. He feels trapped and starts the next day’s proceedings by selling below the closing price of the previous day. The market comes firmly under bear control. Two, in the past year when confidence and enthusiasm ruled the trading floor, several companies raised huge capital, much more than their need and capacity to employ it profitably. Initially this may do a world of good to its image but within years, it becomes a burden and the company moves to the oxygen tent. This is the lesson from the adventure of Mr Pawan Sachdeva and his MS Shoes. Zee TV with profits of $ 20 million hopes to raise $ 1.5 billion, or 75 times, from the market. Another company is looking to rake in Rs 200 crore while its profit is a mere Rs 40 crore. The next few weeks will
be crucial. Several private mutual funds have declared
handsome dividends based on last year’s brisk sensex
movement and have to post the dividend cheques and buy
back the units. They need crores and crores of rupees and
it has to come from liquidating the fancied ICE
(information, communication and entertainment) stock and
that will strengthen the bearish sentiments. Nasdaq is
not looking very healthy either and infected by that dark
mood, commentators in this country are flocking to the
doomsayers club. A leading economic newspaper has carried
four articles on Wednesday predicting a deluge. When the
chatterati puts on a glum face they spread darkness
around; it cannot be different now. Western newspapers
are listing the failed companies every day; a pioneer is
collapsing with no profit, no money for revival and no
support in the market. A dotcom company is very sure that
the army of new IT and Internet companies is about to
face a rout. And its name says it all. iTulip.com draws
inspiration from the great, mad Dutch mania for tulip
bulbs in 1637. Everyone thought that the demand would
never end and the price would never sag. The last man
offered 4200 guilders (in today’s price
approximately Rs 6 crore) for a flower bulb but found no
buyers. Nobody wanted to buy the red flowers; they were
merely gambling and lost. iTulip.com is waiting for the
appearance of the 4200-guilder bidder and it will then
shout eureka. |
AMERICAN
CORPORATIONS BUSINESSMEN, at all levels, talk a new buoyancy in Indian economy, following the visit of President Clinton. This is, perhaps, the only tangible outcome of the much-publicised tour of the country by Mr Clinton, whose last few months in office could have produced no other benefit for this country anyway. He could only smoothen the way for a number of American multinationals to “collaborate” with us and our own mini-MNCs who have till now been apprehensive of the “bigness” of the American MNCs which, they feared, would swamp them. America has been attracted by the size of the huge middle-class markets now developing in China, India, Brazil and Indonesia, and has been seeking an entry into them. The initial experiences of Coca-Cola, Kellogg and others seeking markets for their food products had not been very encouraging. Kellogg, for example, found that it took time to change Indian breakfast habits to find a good market for their product. Coke failed in its initial attempts by using their American advertising strategy but lost out to Pepsi, which stuck to its campaign aimed at the Indian market. The international advertising formula did not work and Coke had to work out a new strategy using popular cricket players as models and promoting a local brand of cola, Thums Up, which Coke bought from Ramesh Chauhan’s Gold Spot group in 1993. It had till then called Pepsi a “poor substitute for the Real Thing.” These conflicts and clashes are likely to increase as more and more American brands are likely to come to India. The Indian middle class is not Westernised to the extent the American MNCs would like us to be. Shampoos are being pushed into the market in sachets, rather than the “Free 30% extra” and “One free for every two you buy” which is a favourite strategy in the Western markets. It might take a long time for that concept to take roots in the Indian market. Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of the MNC Unilever, had the run for its money when it realised that a local entrepreneur with a low-cost detergent, Nirma, outsold the entire branded products of Hindustan Lever, by striking at the housewife with an imaginative advertising programme, making full use of the extensive reach of television. The Hindustan Lever-Nirma conflict could have led to serious consequences, but for the existence of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act. With increasing globalisation, even that Act would soon become redundant and will not help purely Indian MNCs to withstand the onslaught of the powerful American MNCs. Indian manufacturers of motor vehicles, particularly two-and-three-wheelers have already started feeling the pinch. They cannot, however, bring out any cheaper versions, as Hindustan Lever did — introducing their new “Wheel” brand detergent — to retrieve the Nirma market. Tatas (dealing in trucks) and Bajaj (in scooters and three-wheelers) are seeking new ways to ward off the oncoming threat. At the moment they have nothing better to offer for “Indian road conditions.”. India, no doubt, is one of the giant economic engines of the Third World, being listed among the top dozen largest national economies in the world. In 50 years since Independence, the nation’s output has shot up five-fold, from $50 billion of goods and services to $250 billion. The increase in population during this period from 360 million in 1951 to about 925 million in 1995 has left behind about 200 million people below the poverty line. In 1991, when Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister and Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister introduced a series of measures to reform the economy, there were hardly any protest from the ranks of the Congress or the Opposition parties. Even the Communist parties acquiesced in the reforms. There was not even an attempt at seriously debating the issues involved or the points of departure from half-a-century of an economic system that was overnight jettisoned. Mr Rao and Dr Singh were able to bring inflation under control and check government spending. The foreign exchange earnings began shooting up, and there was a noticeable drop in capital spending. The reforms, however, failed to energise the economy. Controls on private investment were removed or relaxed. Several areas were opened up to private domestic investors.They included banks, airlines and telecommunications. Foreign companies were also welcomed selectively. Imports were liberalised, particularly of capital goods. Several consumer durables were removed from the list of restricted imports. In May, 1994, the Government of India officially welcomed an American delegation of about 30 CEOs of major US companies who signed deals for investment of $7 billion in power plants, oil and gas exploration satellite communications and cable television. Another 300-member Canadian delegation came in 1996 and signed commercial and investment contracts worth several million dollars. They covered areas like transport, roads, highways, telecommunications and petroleum industries. The Foreign Investments Board cleared 58 proposals from Microsoft, Motorola, Siemens, General Electric, BASF and Nokia. With this, India had, in the eyes of the American media, a hospitable environment for foreign investments. It is now the turn of President Clinton to act as the super-salesman for the American MNCs and seek to clinch deals which India had been hesitant to do since it has been wedded to the concept of self-reliance. This lobby is still active and vocal in this country and the government has at least to pay lip-sympathy to it. Slowly, but perceptibly, India’s old dread of large firms is now giving way to a new concept of bigness — the transnational corporations, where size and scale of operations could bring down prices and ensure good quality of products. As these moves are gaining ground, the warnings sounded by two American spokesmen of capitalism — Henry Kissinger and Prof J.K. Galbraith need to be remembered by us. Kissinger told The Chicago Tribune in June, 1984: “I am disturbed by the tendency to treat the Asian economic crisis as another opportunity to acquire control of Asian companies’ assets cheaply and to reconstitute them on the American model. This is courting long-term disaster.” Galbraith said in an article in Dissent (Summer, 1999): “The push for competition, deregulation, privatisation and open capital markets has undermined economic prospects for many millions of the world’s poorest people. It is, therefore, not merely a naive and misguided crusade. To the extent that it undermines the stable provision of daily bread, it is dangerous to the safety and stability of the world, including ourselves. The greatest single danger right now is in Russia, a catastrophic example of the failure of free market doctrine.” We have been warned. The
captains of our industry and business , more than the
political leaders, need to be concerned about the spread
of unchecked globalisation. Globalisation compromises
national sovereignty. The Director-General of the World
Trade Organisation had declared: “We are writing the
constitution of a single global economy.” The claim
has been derided as a “constitution for the largest
corporation to rule the world.” And what better
salesman to canvass support for the world’s largest
corporation than the most powerful man in the world?. |
Price
revision: unimaginative handling NOW that the hoopla over the much-hyped Clinton visit is over, an immediate issue which faces the Vajpayee government is the hike with effect from April 1 in the prices of foodgrains supplied through the public distribution system (PDS). If the allies in the BJP-led government and the opposition parties have created a furore against the hike, it is because the question of price revision, with a view to reducing the food subsidy, has been handled in a foolish, unimaginative manner. It is utterly foolish to increase the prices of foodgrains being supplied through the PDS to those below the poverty line (BPL), from Rs 2.50 to Rs 4.20 per kilo in the case of wheat, from Rs 3.50 to Rs 5.89 per kilo in the case of rice and from Rs 11.90 to Rs 13 per kilo in the case of sugar. This is not in keeping with socio-economic justice and, understandably, has become an emotive issue in the hands of the government’s detractors. The increase in the prices of foodgrains and sugar for the BPL families should be rolled back. Further, it is true that for those above the poverty line (APL) the price of wheat is to be increased from Rs 6.82 to Rs 8.40 per kilo and of rice from Rs 9.05 to Rs 11.78 per kilo. But this does not make socio-economic sense. The question arises as to why at all should APL families be kept within the ambit of PDS. Denying them sugar only through PDS is not enough. Their ration cards should be cancelled and they should be made to fend for themselves in the open market, so that the PDS is confined only to BPL families. I had argued along these lines in these columns earlier also. In view of their dire poverty and very limited purchasing power, an increase in the quota of foodgrains available to the BPL families from 10 to 20 kilos per month would be meaningless unless the proposed price hike in respect of them is rolled back. The increase in the food subsidy as a result of this rollback would be compensated to a large extent by taking the APL families out of the PDS. The proposal to increase the price of fertilisers, with a view to reducing the fertiliser subsidy, is also encountering opposition, particularly from the farm lobby in Haryana and Punjab. There is no doubt that a fertiliser price hike would create difficulties for small and marginal farmers. What is needed is a two-tier system of fertiliser prices, a lower price for weaker farmers and a higher price for well-to-do farmers. It would not be difficult to work out the modalities of such a system. The resentment ordinary people express on being called upon to tighten their belts gets accentuated by the galling experience of simultaneously watching ministers and senior bureaucrats luxuriate in vulgar ostentation like medieval potentates. This is no idle criticism. In the wake of the Central Budget Prime Minister Vajpayee has felt constrained to send a letter to all his ministers exhorting them to eschew luxury and superfluity and practise austerity. It is a pity that the Prime Minister has made an exhortation. He should have issued a directive, spelling out in detail the economies which should be effected in the life-style of his ministers. Evidently, Mr Vajpayee wants to soft-pedal the issue lest he should offend members of his scandalously large jumbo Cabinet. Flabbiness at the top is the price the nation has to pay for coalition politics. Apart from the life-style of ministers being an eyesore, no effort whatsoever has been made in the Budget to cut non-Plan government expenditure, which has grown like a cancer.This cancer cannot be cured by applying balms and ointments. What is required is surgery, wielding the scalpel to excise the cancer. The need of the day is to slash expenditure, drastically and ruthlessly. The proposed Expenditure Reforms Commission will be too spineless to meet the needs of the situation. For one thing, its powers are to be only recommendatory. For another, the commission is to be given one year’s time before it starts making recommendations. What about the reports of the earlier Administrative Reforms Commission and the more recent Fifth Pay Commission, which has made a vast array of recommendations on the expenditure-cutting administrative reforms needed? Clearly, the government is not sincere about cutting expenditure, and only wants to buy time. The Expenditure Reforms Commission should be given vast mandatory powers, not to just make recommendations but to actually wield the axe and slash expenditure without waiting for one year to elapse. The commission should have the mandate to close down ministries or departments, to scrap programmes and activities and to cut budgets, even if these have been sanctioned at the beginning of the year. After liberalisation, many departments and sections have become redundant. These can be found in the Ministries of Industry, Commerce, Fertilisers, Chemicals and so on. Again, there is no longer any justification for a Ministry of Steel or a Ministry of Coal. These areas are no longer the monopoly of the government and can simply be regarded as two more industries, which should come under the purview of Ministry of Industry. There was never any justification for the Ministry of Civil Aviation or the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Most countries in the world do not have such ministries. As regards the scrapping of programmes, the commission should ask each minister/secretary to priortise all the spending heads under his department. The commission should then simply take a red pencil and score out the last 10 or 20 spending heads. One can vouchsafe that neither the minister nor the secretary would even notice that some spending heads have been removed: These low priority “programmes” have virtually no benefit whatsoever except to support the job of one deputy secretary, one section officer and a few assistants and clerks. Finally, as emphasised
by the Fifth Pay Commission, the Central Government
should be downsized by 30 per cent over the next 10 years
by not filling the vacancies created by retirees. In
fact, there should be a voluntary retirement scheme for
Central Government employees on the same lines as the one
proposed for the employees of the PSUs. |
The saint
of Tapovan ONE is always intrigued by the phenomenon of saintliness when it becomes a transparent, moving reality before one’s eyes. Somehow, the stories and kathas about or around such persons, though a part of our religious consciousness in the making, remain, in general, close to fables and myths, what with the modes of narration and the worked-up idiom or style. At the popular level, this kind of hagiography goes down well with the congregations everywhere, and over a period of time, interpolations, embroidery and sentiment make such stories stranger than fiction in most cases. To be sure, some authentic, recorded narratives do survive in nearly all cultures and church or temple sermons, but we tend to be highly sceptical when someone living and known to us is played up as a saint for our times. A Mother Teresa is such a rare example in real life as to compel the imagination of adoration, but it’s also a fact of life that small-time, home-grown, street-saints are still there to vindicate our faith in the goodness of man. And, here and there, we do find a godly person working obscurely in some remote place to bring a bit of sweetness and light into the lives of the abandoned and the forsaken, the stricken and the slighted of the earth. And when the recognition comes, slowly but inculcably (as, for instance, in the case of Bhagat Puran Singh) we marvel at the miracle, and bow our heads before the power of the spirit’s plenitude. My story today concerns one such person, Bhagwant Singh Dalawari, whom I have known as an urchin since our days in that winding, narrow, Byzantine street called Anderkot in the timbertown of Jhelum (now in Pakistan). The younger brother of my closest childhood friend and schoolmate, Kartar, he was frequently in my path, and despite the fog of nearly 70 years, he has remained an image of dusky innocence, quietness and affableness. This was in stark contrast to the image wilfully created by Kartar — that of a street brawler, ready to jump into any argument of fray. He too, now gone to his heavenly abode, did turn into a Gandhian recluse in the twilight years of his life, but Bhagwant, who remained out of my vision or view after the partition in 1947 for almost 50 years, emerged from nowhere, as it were, to be styled as “the saint of Tapovan”. And I realised the full beauty and truth of his graduation to saintliness when one evening four or five years ago, he suddenly materialised along with a couple of worthy admirers, and surprised me with his presence — a presence that one felt on the pulse, in the blood, and in one’s heaving consciousness. I had, I sensed, seen one of God’s great souls on a sojourn in the realm of the mortals. I had heard about him and his sewa in a leprosy ashram in a Maharashtra village or town, but it had not dawned on me that our urchin from Anderkot had in his “pilgrim’s progress” arrived. He had achieved a kind of earthly, deeply human nirvana while still in worshipful labour. He had heard, whilst in Chandigarh at a seminar, about my obscure and long illness, and he had come like a dove from heaven at my door. Such experiences leave one in some awe. Dressed in immaculate white from the scarf on his head to the robes below, an image of utter humility and godliness, he touched my feet, his “Bhapa ji”, as he called me. I was blessed, and for days and weeks I could hear the flutter of his “wings”, so to speak. Later, we exchanged letters and books and articles, and I came to know some parts of his “fairy-tale” transformation. After the partition, he had moved to New Delhi, and in course of time, joined the External Affairs Ministry at a junior level. His assignments took him and his family to countries abroad, and then in his early forties, when he was holding a responsible position in our Paris Embassy, he had, one morning, an epiphanic experience, a clear, uncoded message from his Maker to get out into the wide world of the suffering poor and the destitute. And right, there and then, he gave up his diplomatic job — and returned home to make Tapovan his last part of call. And there he has lived in the midst of his beloved “lepers” like the famed Father Damien in the Congo, and served them with all the energies of his body and soul till this day. No wonder, he was honoured with the Bhagat Puran Singh Award in Amritsar a couple of years ago. And I wrote a poem on
his visit to my place — “The Ministry of
Pain”, and dedicated it to that noble missionary. My
latest volume of verse, The Aching Vision (WW, Calcutta,
2000) carries this two-page poem, and helps sustain my
faith as an “ordained priest” in the service of
pain. |
Ignored
Indian New Year THE Bharatiya New Year dawned on Wednesday April 5. The Vikrami Samvat year 2056 ended on April 4 and next day the New Year, 2057, ushered in — on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada or the first day of the moonlit night of the bright fortnight of Chaitra (Chait), popularly known as the First Navaratra (the first day of the nine Auspicious Nights (The Navratras come twice a year, in March- April Vernal Navratras (climaxing with Rama’s birthday and in September - October the autumnal Navratras ending with Dasehra. It is called Vikrami Samvat in memory of the legendary King Vikramaditya, who should have lived over 2000 years ago. Look at the wild rejoicing and hectic merry-making on the Christian New Year on January 1; tonnes and tonnes of New year greeting cards are exchanged in all cities and towns, and the midnight celebrations are on a grand scale in hotel parties (drinks are an integral part) and general merry-making upto midnight in most Indian households. This year, January 1,2000, being the beginning of the new century and a new millennium, beat all records and we seemed to be caught in some social earthquake or emotional upheaval. The year 2000 was a very rare occasion; such a moment come once in a hundred years. or once in a thousand years. Compared to such globe-shaking celebrations, our own Vikrami New Year goes almost unnoticed —like the birthday of a poor relation. Of course, some orthodox people do make some feeble noises hogging publicity perhaps one hundredth part of its Christian rival among the upper classes. The Indian New Year is a lunar festival. Its dates are variable. It may dawn as early as March 20, or as late as April 12. It is a pity that even in the 53rd year of Independence we zealously carry on with the old colonial traditions feeling it below our dignity to switch over to the indigenous ways and festivals. If we want to feel very modern, we adopt St Valentine’s Day, when we enjoy the freedom to send love letters to unknown girls and boys. Those professing to be ultra-secular would not celebrate this. New Hindu Year lest they be dubbed as communalists. They forget that all Gurparbs and other festivals are celebrated according to this calendar — the Vaisakhi as the birthday of the Khalsa, Kartik Purnamashi (full moon day) as the birthday of Guru Nanak, and Poh Sudi Saptami as the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh and so on with the birthdays and immortality days of all other Gurus. It is a truly Indian national calendar followed by most communities. The Vikrami year is both lunar and solar. April 5 is the start of the lunar year — Ekam, Dooj, Ashtami, Poornamashi, Amavasya, etc. Almost all our festivals like Diwali, Dasehra, Holi as also birthday and death anniversaries are celebrated according to the lunar calendar. The year 2057 had already begun on April 5. Baisakhi falls on April 13 like the Financial year coming in April after the year’s birth in January. The lunar year consists of 355 days; every year it lags 10 days behind. So it lags behind 10 days in the first year, 20 days in the second year and 30 days in the third year. To correct the imbalance, our every third year consists of 13 months, (the extra month is called Mala Maasa or Purshottam Maas). The year 2056 had 13 lunar months — Jeth ran for two months. Without this adjustment, it would have been like the Hijri calendar (it began in 622 A.D.). The day of the week on which the New Year falls is called Raja of the year. The day on which Baisakhi falls (April 13, Thursday, or Veer Var or Jupiter is the Mantri (Vizeer) of the year. Both planets are broadly beneficent, so we can look forward to a moderately positive year, despite doomsday prophesies of dark prophets like Nostradamas of 16th century France. The Government of India
has adopted the Saka Samvat as the official calendar (on
April 5) the Saka year was 1922 and the date was Chaitra
16. Not one man in 10000 can tell what is what, the great
Indian population has left this Saka Samvat alone. Not
one of our festivals is celebrated according to the Saka
calendar, The government adopted it, because it is
automatic. The Shakas were foreigners who conquered parts
of India and were ultimately defeated by Vikramaditya,
called Shakari (conqueror of the Shakas). Why remind us
of our period of foreign rule? Shaka apologists quote it
as an example of India’s tolerance; give even the
enemy its due. |
Chelsea
Clinton a museum buff
The exhibition is part of the grand finale of the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa and “seeks to honour the true Sikh spirit and enable a deeper understanding of Sikh history and culture.” As many as 215 art objects, drawn from various sources, including the National Museum, New Delhi; Sanskriti Museum, New Delhi; Art Gallery, Chandigarh; Sheesh Mahal Museum and Quila Mubarak, Patiala; Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum, Amritsar; Himachal Pradesh State Museum, Shimla, as well as private collections. Apart from paintings, the objects displayed include manuscripts, jewellery, textiles, coins, medals, and several historical weapons. There is also a replica of the throne of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the original being in London. “Thank you for welcoming me back to your extraordinary museum. It has been an honour and a pleasure to wander through the Sikh exhibit. I hope to come back here again! Thank you,” Chelsea wrote in the visitors’ book. The exhibition was inaugurated on March 14, 2000 and is on till April 13, 2000. Chelsea is quite a
museum buff. She earlier visited the National Museum in
1994 when she accompanied her mother, Hillary Clinton, on
a trip to the country. She also stayed back and visited a
museum in Bombay while her father was on an official
visit to Pakistan. |
April
6, 1925 WE now know the precise offers made by Mahatma Gandhi to the orthodox at Viakom in connection with his proposal to withdraw Satyagraha. One of these, as stated by him in the latest issue of Young India, is :— “They should produce Sankar’s authority in support of their contention, and I would advise the withdrawal of Satyagraha from Viakom should the learned Sastris, whom I may consult, regard it as authentic, and clearly bearing the construction sought to be put upon it by the orthodox party. It could not bind me for all places for the simple reason that even if the Sankaracharya held the view in his time, I would not be bound by what appeared to me to be contrary to religion and humanity.” The last, as our readers
are aware, is our own position in the matter. And it is
precisely because it is our position, that we have
ventured to differ from Mahatma Gandhi’s view that
the continuance of the present struggle at Vaikom itself
should be made dependent upon the failure of the orthodox
to prove that Sankara held the view attributed to him. |
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A SURPRISE visitor at the
“Piety and splendour, Sikh heritage in Art”
exhibition at the National Museum, New Delhi, was US
President Bill Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, who
skipped the scheduled shopping trip to the Capital’s
exclusive Santushti complex to visit the museum on March
21.