M A I L B A G

How thoughts influence one’s actions

AS all actions of a human being are preceded by their respective thoughts, it can safely be concluded that a man’s life is what his thoughts are. Whether he is good or bad is determined by the quality of his thoughts.

How true is this, if we realise that a thought that we repeatedly entertain gives birth to an action. The repetition of an action forms a habit. Habits collectively are called the character of a man, which in turn determines the course of his life. Milton aptly says: “The mind in its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell and a hell of Heaven.”

If thought gives birth to an action, it is the food that one takes that produces one’s thoughts. A good deal of misery that a man suffers in his life comes from his wrong selection of food. There is none who can deny the effect of food on the body and the mind. Who of us can boast of controlling his mind after drinking a large quantity of wine?

A man of discrimination who wants to enjoy life in the real sense would be well advised to take only wholesome and nourishing foods which promote longevity, intelligence, strength, health and happiness. He should avoid taking insipid, putrid, stale, polluted and impure foods as these are deadly in their undesirable effects on the human body and mind.

“We are what we feed on.” Impure food can never produce happy, courageous and noble thoughts. Little wonder that those who habitually take them come only to grief, misery and pain in life.

In order to get hold of negative and impure thoughts at their very roots, before they are formed, a man has also to observe three “purities”: purity of the provisions themselves, purity of the utensils in which food is cooked, and purity (cleanliness) of the persons who cool and serve the food to him.

A word of caution may, however, be sounded here. The food which is purchased with the money that has been earned by dishonest or unfair means becomes impure at the very source and nothing can purify it at any stage of its preparation!

A. K. SURI
Chandigarh

Disregard for rules

This is with reference to the editorial "Digvijay's misplaced priorities" that appeared in The Tribune on May 10. I would like to clarify that the sacked 16,000 daily wage workers had been appointed irregularly in total defiance of the government's orders. Action has been initiated against more than 1400 officers, including four IAS and 18 IFS officers, for the recovery of the wages paid to the irregularly appointed daily wage workers. Criminal proceedings have also been initiated against some of the officers. Without such stern action, blatant disregard for rules could not have been ended.

The expenditure of the state government on the establishment has nearly touched 80 per cent of its revenue receipts after the implementation of the Pay Commission's awards. The Government of India has signed an MoU with the state government, which compels the latter to reduce expenditure on the establishment in lieu of fiscal support from the Centre.

It is absolutely wrong to say that any sacked daily wage employee committed suicide along with his family. The persons in question was employed till the last day of his life. Only three sacked daily wage workers have committed suicide and, according to available evidence, due to reasons not related to their sacking.

Incidentally, the state government will save Rs 3 crore per month, not Rs 50,000 as you have erroneously mentioned. The state government has already requested the Centre to reduce the number of all-India service officers in M.P. The facilities given to officials have been drastically reduced by disallowing the STD facility in the telephones, auctioning about 8000 official cars, banning all recruitments and transfers in the government and several other austerity measures.

The government, as Chief Minister Digvijay Singh says, cannot be of the employees, for the employees and by the employees. Other people have to find space for themselves in it.

L. K. Joshi,
Commissioner,
Public Relations
Bhopal

Spare them in sizzling hours

The heat wave has tightened its grip over several parts of the country, especially Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. In the coming days the mercury is likely to touch 48 degrees Celsius at some places. The humans make the best use of amenities at their disposal to beat the heat, but what about the fate of the draught animals toiling on the roads.

Most distressing is the sight of unfeeling cartsmen and tongawallas carrying weight exceeding the permissible limits in the scorching sun of summer months, making the victimised animals vulnerable to sunstroke, heat stroke, dehydration and exhaustion. The Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965, prohibits carrying loads by animals exceeding the prescribed limit. These rules also emphasise that in any area where the ambient temperature exceeds 37 degrees Celsius during the period between 12 noon and 3 pm, no person shall use or cause to be used any animal drawing any vehicle or carrying any load.

Callousness of cartsmen, tongawallas and the ineffective Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) keep these rules unimplemented. The crippled and ineffective enforcement staff with the SPCA have failed to make use of the powers conferred on them to apprehend the offenders of these rules.

The appalling conditions of these animals do no credit to the image of the organisation responsible for the implementation of these rules. A lot is to be done by the district administrations to make these rules result-oriented, by removing the bottlenecks and involving the police.

Policemen are on the prowl for rule-offenders but they are callously negligent to the offenders of the rules framed for preventing cruelty to draught animals. Casual checking and vigilance by the police during their routine duty on roads and crossing can deter the prevalent infringement of the rules.

The victimised draught animals should not be allowed to be kept in harness. They should be made to rest under shade in the sizzling hours of the day. Persuation is better than prosecution. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the rules under the Act must be made known to the policemen during their training.

(Dr) SOSHIL RATTAN
Amritsar