E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Abandoned kisan
KRISHI Bhavan is forcing paddy growers to sell their produce at a throwaway price, instead of guaranteeing them at least the procurement price of last year. Rice millers, who are the only ones present in the mandi and are making a killing, have an excuse, though a thin one. 

OPINION

Indo-Pak Dialogue 
Clogged lines of communication
by Salman Haidar
THE downward spiral in Indo-Pak relations shows no sign of ending. After an all-too-brief lull, militancy in Kashmir has become more vicious than ever, and with it relations are even more fraught. There is frustration within the country at the widening activity of militant groups. Extremist elements of the Sangh Parivar call for hot pursuit and a free hand for the army. 

MIDDLE

POINT OF LAW

DIVERSITIES — DELHI LETTER

A fashion show lacking sensibility
by Humra Quraishi
THE whole of last week the Lakme India Fashion Week hogged major news space, yet failed to generate any popular fashion sensibilities — no magic fashion mantra erupted, nor was a sensible dress code created.

 

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Abandoned kisan

KRISHI Bhavan is forcing paddy growers to sell their produce at a throwaway price, instead of guaranteeing them at least the procurement price of last year. Rice millers, who are the only ones present in the mandi and are making a killing, have an excuse, though a thin one. The Centre has not announced the minimum support price even as late as the end of August. There has been no explanation why it has abandoned its much touted decision to fix the MSP well before sowing starts, and also why it is waiting till October 1 to start procurement. This silence has hit hard those who took to the IR-80 variety of paddy (locally named Sathee) which matures in 60 days and hence early sowing has brought the grain to the market. Both Punjab and Haryana farmers, who took the government advice to try the new strain seriously, are now at the mercy of the rice millers. As opposed to last year’s MSP of Rs 520 a quintal, millers are offering slightly more than Rs 300 a quintal for this early maturing variety. One farmer has bitterly complained that the price he gets is not enough to even repay the loan he has taken. And he is not exaggerating. And one estimate is that Sathee accounts for at least one-fifth of the land under paddy cultivation. That gives an idea of the size of the financial loss the kisan community has to bear this year. Or the volume of subsidy farmers will be paying to the central government to liquidate the mountain of foodgrains with the FCI. The Centre’s complicity will become doubly evident when it buys the milled Sathee rice as levy. Will it calculate the levy price on the basis of the real purchase price or the yet-to-be declared MSP? Does it have an accurate idea or record of how much the millers have already purchased and at what price. It should ensure that mandis maintain a reliable record.

The delay in the announcement of the MSP barely hides the bitter tussle between the Finance Ministry and that of Agriculture. The latter wants to increase the MSP even by only a symbolic amount. But there is fierce opposition from the other which believes in utilitarian theory. Since there is enough grain to go round, there is no need for procurement and hence no MSP ritual. But the government is committed to continue with MSP for all the earlier lofty ideals but also a new one this year — to make exports attractive. This promise features in the recently unveiled national agricultural policy (with an appropriate acronym of NAP), which hopes to ensure an annual growth of 4 per cent in foodgrain production. Indian rice is at least 30 per cent costlier than what other Asian countries offer. To make export of rice possible, the price must crash by a hefty 50 per cent in terms of paddy. Rice millers have done their sums right, and the government cannot be unaware of this. But a low price will kill the hope of a steep climb in grain output. Seen from this perspective, the debate over the MSP between the two Ministries may be an elaborate shadow-boxing, to be reconciled at the very last minute by effecting a marginal rise. Punjab and Haryana farmers are forced to underwrite rice export by the millers.

Significant judgement

THE rape case in which a three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the Himachal Pradesh High Court would fall in the rarest of rare category. Why? Because rarely do victims of rape receive justice due to indifferent investigations and flaws in the jurisprudence on the subject. An alarmingly high rate of acquittal in rape cases at the trial stage itself is largely responsible for an equally alarming increase in cases of sexual abuse and harassment of women across the country. Most of the victims are minors, some not old enough to move out of the cradle. The involvement of family members and friends is a new and revolting development which deserves thorough sociological analysis. In the present case the rapist was the brother of the victim’s mother. The victim could not have suspected that her own uncle would commit such a heinous crime. But the trial court came to the conclusion that it was a case of “sex with consent”. The prosecution evidently failed to establish the fact that the victim was, at the time of the commission of the crime, barely 13 years old and, therefore, her purported “consent” had no value in the eyes of the law. Besides, as the apex court rightly observed, consent to the act of sex under threat of dire consequences should not have been treated as consent of the victim by the Sessions and, thereafter, by the High Court. An equally important point which the apex court raised was that “the offence of rape being a serious one, the case should have received careful attention and the learned Sessions Judge and the learned single Judge of the High Court should have shown greater sensitivity to these types of cases”.

Lack of sensitivity in handling cases of rape from the investigation to the trial stage is a primary reason why most victims are reluctant to go to the police. However, reports from towns and cities where the administration has set up all-women police cells for investigating gender-specific crimes suggest some improvement in the registration of complaints. This fact alone should prompt the Union Home Ministry to urge the state governments to create at least one “gender sensitive” police cell in every district exclusively for dealing with complaints of crimes against women. The next logical step should be to set up special trial courts headed by women judicial officers. It is usually at the trial stage that the defence counsel raises doubts about the moral character of the victim by putting lewd and suggestive questions to her. However, in the presence of a woman judge the lawyers would have to be more careful than they usually are in arguing the case. By way of abundant precaution the hearing in rape cases should never be held in open court. However, the basic objective should be to somehow identify and remove the factors responsible for the increase in the cases of rape in the country. But can the political class which is stalling reservation of 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and the state assemblies be entrusted with the delicate job? The various women’s organisations should step up pressure on the political leadership for initiating measures for removing the sickness called rape from society along with plugging loopholes in the current system of investigation and prosecution which result in an appallingly low rate of conviction in cases of rape.

Indo-Pak Dialogue 
Clogged lines of communication
by Salman Haidar

THE downward spiral in Indo-Pak relations shows no sign of ending. After an all-too-brief lull, militancy in Kashmir has become more vicious than ever, and with it relations are even more fraught. There is frustration within the country at the widening activity of militant groups. Extremist elements of the Sangh Parivar call for hot pursuit and a free hand for the army. Normally sober voices have joined in, proposing air strikes and other measures to raise the price that Pakistan must pay for its actions.

In such an atmosphere, a continued and ever more dangerous cycle of strife seems inescapable. Yet just a few weeks ago there was a rare glimmering of hope. Hurriyat leaders were released and preparations were made to talk to them. The Hizbul Mujahideen announced a temporary ceasefire. Something seemed to be happening and there was a sense of expectancy. But it all led only to further frustration and renewed violence. It is not for the first time that such rapid shifts have been witnessed.

There are many questions about these recent events, among the most confusing being the calling of the ceasefire and its later rescinding. It was presented as an initiative by the Hizb, of its own volition. New Delhi took it up, for by putting a stop to violence, albeit temporarily, the Hizb had met the most insistent of India’s conditions. The way was opened for the Hizb to take its place at the talks towards which the Hurriyat was already inching its way. At least, that is how it seemed to many observers.

In Islamabad, the picture looked rather different. Fortuitously, I was on a private visit to Pakistan with four former colleagues from the MEA during this period. There, the Hizb’s ceasefire call tended to be seen not as an autonomous attempt to join the expanding talks but as a manoeuvre dictated by its Pakistani controllers. What the move was intended to achieve was unclear but nearly all agreed that, despite formal denial, it must have received an official green signal. Thus there was considerable scepticism about what the ceasefire could achieve.

Pakistan emphasised that it was a party to the dispute, and nothing could be achieved if it were excluded. Hurriyat spokesmen in India had already called for Pakistan to be in the talks. The Hizb adopted more emphatic means to the same end: a deadline was set for ending the ceasefire if the talks remained internal to India. In the event, this is what happened. The brief ceasefire was ended and violence once more hangs heavy over the Vale.

These events, at a time when meaningful talks briefly seemed possible, showed how seriously the two parties were out of alignment with each other. India seemed to be aiming at an internal settlement through direct contact with the militants and their political organisation. No third party was to come into it. Yet Indian statements did not rule out talks with Pakistan in some linked fashion at the appropriate time. This is where difficulties arose. Hurriyat had long demanded tripartite talks, and Hizb’s ceasefire move was rapidly brought into the same mould. The eventful announcement from Islamabad that the ceasefire was being called off as Pakistan was kept out of the parleys was clearly at the behest of agencies in that country.

The revoking of the ceasefire showed that Pakistan retains the capacity and the will to derail any internal peace process in Kashmir if it regards it as damaging to its interest. Even if militant groups are prepared to explore alternative routes, Pakistan is not going to step aside and permit them to do so.

The role of the “jehadi” groups has come in for much comment. Some interlocutors in Pakistan told us that these groups are under only imperfect control. This portrait of a mindless fanaticism, a “talibanisation” if you will, is not to be brushed aside. However, there is nothing mindless or uncontrolled in what we have recently seen of Pakistan’s role in aborting a promising initiative in Kashmir. On the contrary, the cold calculation is evident enough, and the determination too. Further, the agencies in Pakistan, the ISI and its siblings, have shown their authority over their surrogates in Kashmir. They have given a reminder that they exist and that there is no chance of progress if they are to be left out.

Despite this piling up of problems, small voices are to be heard once more calling for a picking up of the pieces and yet another attempt at dialogue. A Hizb spokesman says that a ceasefire can be restored within two months. A Hurriyat spokesman repeats the proposal that his group could engage in simultaneous parleys with India and Pakistan, thus acting as a bridge. If indeed major militant groups are still looking for a way to enter into dialogue and to move away, however, temporarily, from violence, then the opportunity cannot be ignored. Attempts to revive the process deserve careful evaluation.

The impediment, as the events of the past weeks have shown, lies in Islamabad, and also in the lack of trust and confidence between the two countries. Without some real effort to improve matters, further efforts are likely to meet the fate of earlier attempts. The problem is made worse by the almost total lack of communication between the two sides. We have followed a course of cutting off all contact with Pakistan, be it in SAARC, the Commonwealth or elsewhere. Whether or not this has served a useful purpose is another matter, but what is certain is that all channels of communication between India and Pakistan are thoroughly clogged. In Islamabad, we were told rather plaintively that the ambassadors just go through the motions and are not permitted to get on with their job. At a time of rapidly evolving events, neither side knows what the other is thinking or intending. In these circumstances, an already difficult task becomes virtually impossible.

For a start, let there be an effort to unclog the lines of communication between New Delhi and Islamabad. Doubt and suspicion can only breed and become stronger in the absence of reliable communications. We have differences enough without making the task yet more difficult. We do not have to sit down across the table in full panoply to talk; much better to hold quiet, even private discussions. There is much to discuss with our neighbour and need for a serious effort to create a minimum of confidence between the two sides.

The former Foreign Secretary spent considerable time in Pakistan recently.

A “home” PC
by Bimal Bhatia

MY old faithful Travelwriter hasn’t been dusted in the past six months. That’s when I bought my computer, and the typewriter has been sulking in a corner ever since. Serves it right.

As I punched its keys, working on my middle or a more serious piece the monotonous clackety-clack would stimulate my mind. But then the untrained finger was sure to tap the adjacent “q” instead of the intended “w” making ‘when’ appear as “qhen”. You caught the mistake only at the end of the sentence while raising your attention from the keyboard to eye the emerging sheet.

Only two alternatives existed. You could use the whitener to douse the offending “q” and gather all your patience and skill to ensure that the “w” key slammed at the same (whitened) spot with pinpoint precision. Or if it was the beginning of a sheet that got spoilt you could start your copy afresh.

At times the problem was not that simple. As most people who pen their thoughts in manuscript will tell you, the mind has its own route-chart. Just when you think you’ve got it all right, an inner sense starts rankling you. And then you scan your copy and realise a certain incongruity cropped up in the middle of your argument. It makes you feel uncomfortable and you have two alternatives again. Make amends with your pen or fling the ruined piece in the waste-paper basket and start afresh.

Many wasted man-hours and lost tempers drove me to the computer, although I could easily be described as the most computer illiterate being. It also implied abandoning my old faithful. A quick visit to my banker and he willingly gave me a loan for a home PC (personal computer). It was mine whenever my two teenaged daughters allowed me to use it.

I marvelled at this superhuman being, because the moment I typed ‘My dear...” a funny but helpful blurb appeared on the screen: “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?”. Not very accustomed to external assistance in my personal or professional correspondence, I always clicked the “cancel” option.

But its real worth showed up when I discovered the PC’s ability to switch and transform not only misplaced letters, but also words, sentences and even paragraphs. Until now I had imagined that a mouse was good enough only for nibbling my new woollen three-piece suit. This wonderful contraption by the same name (mouse) gave me the power to cut, copy and paste with a few clicks in the right places. I could alter the font size, style and format in more ways than crosses your imagination.

Like all good things, this fascination for the PC suffered a blow. I had this book review perfected on the screen — it’s actually in the CPU (central processing unit, say my teenaged girls). Now the print command fails to produce results — the printer groans, then blinks and does nothing else. There’s a deadline yawning and you feel entirely helpless, rummaging through the brochure and clicking frantically at the helpful troubleshoot blurb which appears on the monitor.

Appearing on the monitor now is a diagnosis: “Printer not responding. Attempting to send data and the printer is not responding. Click troubleshoot for problem solving information.”

I’m furious and curse the damned computer. Just when my wife catches up on what’s happening. “Don’t worry dear,” she defuses the situation. “It’s much like a husband-wife relationship. The wife wants to communicate but the husband doesn’t respond at times. And we don’t have a ‘troubleshoot’ fixture to help us.”

Does this explain why a home PC is really a “home” PC?

Making the best of population boom
by Bharat Lal Meena

INDIA is the second most populous country and may soon acquire the dubious distinction of being the most populous country in the world leaving behind China, should the present rate of growth continue. People are, no doubt, a national resource for a nation. Hence, they are very important. However, the essential aspects that need to be considered are the standard of their living, quality of life, longevity, and other parameters about decent living and well being. India has a population of over 100 crore. The population pyramid is bottom heavy with more than 40 per cent of the population below 15 years of age. It, in other words, means that there are more mouths to feed and less hands to work. The general feature of our economy is that of a developing country. The problems of India are further getting compounded both by the rapid pace of population growth and the inability of the state as a whole to make full use of the potential of this valuable national resource.

It is clear that political empowerment without economic empowerment would not be of much consequence. The undesirable growth of population hampers any attempts towards empowerment of the weak. It neutralises the effects of development. It is the poor who are largely affected by the undesirable growth of population as they cannot have access to the basic facilities.

The numerical strength by itself, therefore, cannot be construed as a strength of a nation unless it is able to improve the standards of living of the people. The quality of life of people is important. What really makes the difference are other parameters of life. It is important that people live better and longer. They should have their basic needs met and should not have to struggle to survive only for minimum subsistence. They must have opportunities for better education, health and working conditions.

It is in this context that in India population boom cannot be taken as a good omen. In spite of five decades of Independence, the majority of people do not have their basic minimum needs fulfilled. The problem is further becoming critical with ever increasing growth of population. The best efforts of all successive governments to provide infrastructural facilities have not been able to keep pace with the undesirable population growth. The infrastructure of health, education, roads, electricity and communication is barely adequate. The strains on these facilities and their inadequacy are evident everywhere, except may be in certain pickets of prosperity.

There is a urgent need to check the unwarranted population growth at all levels, failing which the consequences would be far-reaching affecting the lives of all people and the nation. It is not to suggest that efforts have not been made in the past or there has been laxity. However, it is a fact that in spite of best efforts things have not yielded the expected results. The strategy that has been adopted may have had certain shortcomings. Also there might be a need to take corrective and remedial measures to overcome the problems of population explosion.

Elementary education must get very high priority. It has to be made free and compulsory. Also vocationalisation of population is very important. The education should enable the individual to make his life better.

Employment opportunities need to be created on a larger scale. Whoever is unemployed and looking for some work must get a job. No one should suffer for want of job opportunities. The government can concentrate on creating such works that provide employment opportunities and result in creation of durable assets for the nation. More emphasis could be on creation of employment depots where people do the job and get paid for it.

Attitudes of the people also need to undergo change. It is their attitudes towards work and life that is creating many problems. The dignity of work has to be there and people should be prepared to do whatever job is available. The religious beliefs also need not come in the way of adoption of family planning methods. It is up to the individuals to analyse and accept that a small family would reduce the problems of the family and large family would add to the sufferings.

NGOs take up several issues of development. They need to accord high priority to basic issues of education and attitudinal changes in the minds of people. They being very close to the people, can convince the people and motivate them for adopting the small family norms. Since, it is not populist measure, some elected representatives and social leaders do not accord very high priority to the need to check the population growth. It is here that NGOs can show the path to others.

Collective efforts are necessary. The government departments have their limitations, NGOs have certain advantages and elected representatives wield influence over people. If all these wings join together, a lot can be done in this regard. For this sincere commitments and willingness to do the best possible are required.

If India is to emerge as a major player, it needs a helping hand from all quarters. One can only hope that things would be better in times to come and everyone would realise one’s responsibility towards the self as well as the nation.

A court, my lords, is not a seminar
by Anupam Gupta

“JUDICIAL disposition,” ruled the Supreme Court on August 10 in a major pronouncement that must be read by judges all over the country, “is definitely different from a paper presented for seminar discussion. Nor can it be equated with a dissertation.”

Flaying the High Court of Karnataka for giving vent to its dissatisfaction with the administration of criminal justice in the State as if it were presenting a paper in a seminar (rather than delivering a judgement), and quashing its observations as “absolutely uncalled for”, an apex Bench comprising Justice K.T. Thomas and Justice R.P. Sethi issued a stern reminder of the imperative of judicial restraint in judgement writing.

“It is time to remind ourselves once again (said the Bench) that a judgement should confine to the scope of the case.” Judicial decorum requires, it said, that judgements and orders must be limited to the facts and legal points involved in the cases which Judges deal with.

Maybe sometimes (it added, and mark the phrase which follows), Judges would, wittingly or unwittingly, “jut outside the contours of the litigation.” But even such a venture, intentional or incidental, must remain within the “bounds of propriety and sobriety.... Sweeping generalisations defeat the very purpose for which they are made.”

Making an issue of the large number of acquittals in criminal cases, ascribing them to the “deplorable state of affairs” in the police department, the High Court had, while disposing of an appeal against acquittal under Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder), directed the public prosecutor to forward its observations to the State Home Minister and Home Secretary.

Both the Minister and the Secretary were further directed to acknowledge receipt of the High Court’s order and to report back to the High Court within two months “as to what precisely is the reaction of the government to the observations of this High Court.”

The observations, to which the Minister and the Secretary were obligated to react on pain of contempt, swept across a wide range of criminal litigation.

Murders are committed with impunity, alleged the High Court. Atrocities against women have also sharply increased. “We have come across a series of horrifying incidents where young married women were harassed, tortured and set on fire” and another line of cases where girls and women have been “molested, sexually attacked and raped.” All because of poor investigation, followed by a total lack of interest in the conduct of the prosecution, resulting in the acquittal of the accused in case after case.

There is something seriously wrong with the police, the High Court observed, and “we put it down to the fact” that the process of recruitment to the force has been diluted due to all sorts of political considerations.

“The manner in which the recruitments are done and more importantly the considerations (it said) leave much to be desired, and if the law and order machinery, on which crores of rupees of so many tax payers is being spent, is at all to justify its existence, the government will have to take serious note of the(se) observations and rectify the state of affairs.”

Let me be very frank. Perceptions such as these, popular in genesis and character, are not confined to a few individual judges of the High Court of Karnataka. Every now and then, one or the other judge in one or the other High Court may be expected to give voice to such perceptions. Newspapers are full of them in any case and so are most of the seminars, workshops and symposia on the administration of criminal justice that are taking place today.

Influenced by such popular perceptions, criminal law in this country has already lost much of that intellectual sophistication and rigour, often mistaken as conservatism, which is the defining feature of criminal law in any civilised and enlightened legal system. The declining standards of the Bar and the Bench have contributed in no mean measure to this development.

But let us get back to the Supreme Court, speaking through one of its ablest criminal law judges, Justice K.T. Thomas.

“(T)here is no justification,” ruled the apex Bench on August 10, for the High Court “traversing so far beyond the canvas (of the case before it) to cover areas which are grossly extraneous to the subject matter of the case.”

“If the subordinate courts (it said) are also to be tempted and encouraged to follow suit by travelling far outside the scope of the lis (or litigation before them), the consequences would be far too many.”

The problems posed by the High Court, it explained, have already engaged the attention of the Law Commission. On more than one occasion, the Commission has submitted its report for consideration by Parliament.

But putting the blame (said the Supreme Court) largely on the police force of the State for all the ills pointed out by the High Court, without data or material or evidence in the case before it, is “not a course which can meet with our approval.”

In the matter of making disparaging remarks against persons or authorities, it is imperative to consider (it ruled), one, whether the party whose conduct is in question is before the court or has an opportunity of explaining or defending himself; two, whether there is evidence on record justifying the remarks; and, three, whether it is at all necessary for the decision of the case, as an integral part thereof, to reflect on that conduct.

A counsel of moderation which I am sure no one will listen to, for the temptation of being a seminarist far outweighs the responsibility of silence, or brevity, that the judicial office imposes.

A fashion show lacking sensibility
by Humra Quraishi

THE whole of last week the Lakme India Fashion Week hogged major news space, yet failed to generate any popular fashion sensibilities — no magic fashion mantra erupted, nor was a sensible dress code created.

It was more of a show put up by a small segment that has arisen this decade out of nowhere. And whereas the poor “darzi” doesn’t get a second look from us, these so-called designers (upgraded traditional darzis) do manage to get attention with their imaginative attire.

Shows put up by them (not just to these series but to the newly mushrooming ones, especially in September) could be termed by them, for them and of them.

Believe me, it is a bemusing sight to see the same faces all around and each trying to outdo each other (I never said disrobe each other), complete with designer fights and brawls.

Dangers of aliens in love with India

And the weekend saw the release of Francois Gautier’s book ‘Arise Again, O India’ (Har Anand) at IIC, with HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi sitting on the high chair of the chief guest. Gautier is one of these French gentlemen who, though born in Paris, has been in India for over 31 years and at present works as the political correspondent of Le Figaro and has been very obviously influenced by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. The book reads like a foreigner’s commentary on India and of India but some of his observations seem too generalised — sometimes dangerously so. Let me quote these lines from the chapter — Islam and The Muslim Invasions: “About Indian Muslims — They can never really be integrated into India, because of the philosophy of Islam. The essence of its message is in total contradiction with what Hinduism represents. Nevertheless, they are there to stay.”

I think these are extremely potent lines and it is a dangerously narrow minded if not mischievous viewpoint. Without instances or empirical material he has flung out his opinion and damned an entire community which lives so well-webbed with the majority community that just two days at a Muslim Women’s Forum Meet the view that was widely upheld (by lawyers and experts) was that in India the very Islamic Law has got diluted by the social customs and practices being followed by the Indian Muslims.

For instance, though re-marriage is definitely encouraged in Islam but it rarely takes place amongst Indian Muslim women because of the strong prevalence of the Hindu social customs.

There could be several such instances etc but the point I am trying to put through is that it would have been wiser for Gautier if he hadn’t come up with such or similar statements.

In fact, I am tempted to quote another one of this generalised views and it is equally shocking, to put it in mild terms”. Nowadays, the greatest adversaries of an Indianised and spiritualised education are the descendants of these ‘Brown sahibs’: the ‘secular’ politicians, journalists, top bureaucrats, in fact the whole westernised cream of India. And what is even more paradoxical, is that most of them are Hindus!”

Now one realises the underlying dangers of foreigners ‘falling in love’ with us or with our country. For sometimes they leave no stone unturned in attempting to stereotype us, in turn serving only to further divide us.

Latest danger to kids

Just received from UNESCO a booklet entitled ‘World Movement of Citizens to Protect Innocence in Danger’. And it highlights the new threat to children and the youth, in the form of child pornography and paedophilia on the Internet.

Some shocking facts pour out. I quote from this report: “The child sex predator or obsessive paedophile or man-boy lover uses Internet technology to track down and lure children. They enter some 40,000 popular chat rooms to talk to their future prey. But they also want to appear as normal members of the society. So they have designed their own sites with essays, stories, photos and even legal advice and research studies — some 23,000 of them. They are less concerned about making money on adult pornography or even on child pornography for they are more interested in making friends and meeting new potential victims. That is why they prefer to swap these images in the chat rooms or sometimes for very trusted clients. They give passwords to illegal sites..” (Rachel O’ Connell, University of Cork ).

And Agnes Fournier De Saint Maur of Interpol writes that “1000,000 still images, 67 gigabytes of children in pornographic circumstances, 62 hours CD-Roms, 38 computers and 3227 floppy discs were all seized when Interpol and law enforcement agencies of 12 countries launched `Operation Cathedral’ on September 2, 1998. “It is utterly unacceptable that children should be treated as sex objects, as consumable goods intended to satisfy the criminal sexual urges... It is all the more unacceptable that, by their silence and inaction, modern society condones this murderous trade”.

“Innocence In Danger” is hosted on the UNESCO web-site (www.unesco.org/webworld/innocence) to provide information, safety tips, teaching kits, links to key organisations, results of studies and surveys, especially on reinforcement of laws.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

The greatest mystery in life is not life itself but death. Death is the culmination of life, the ultimate blossoming of life. In death the whole life is summed up, in death you arrive. Life is a pilgrimage towards death .... From the moment of birth, death has started coming towards you, you have started moving towards death .... And death comes in many ways. When you die that is only one form of death. When your mother dies, that is a death to you too — because ... she was occupying a great part of your being .... Even when your enemy dies something will die in you because the enemy was also involved in you. When your childhood disappears ... you have died as a child. And then one day the youth moves into old age: he has died again. There are a thousand and one deaths.

— Osho, The Revolution

*****

No mahatma can give you happiness or peace of mind with his puff of mysterious charm. It is your own deed, your own intention and your own practical life that shall give you happiness and peace.

— Param Sant Param Dayal Faqir ji Maharaj, True Religion of Humanity, Chapter I

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Truth, righteousness, peace and love — these are the four pillars on which the mansion of happiness is built.

— From the discourses of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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Happiness can be built only on virtue and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.

— S.T. Coleridge (1772-1834), English poet and critic

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Man wants happiness. He shuns pain. He moves heaven and earth to get the happiness he wants from sensual objects, and lo, gets himself entangled in the inextricable meshes of maya. Poor man! He does not know that these objects are perishable and evanescent, finite and conditioned in time, space and causation. And what is more, he fails to get the desired happiness from them. Sensual pleasure is tantalising. There is enchantment so long as man does not possess the objects.

Real happiness is within you .... The musk is in the navel of the deer, but it runs here and there to smell it .... The precious diamond is within you, but you run after the broken glass-pieces in vain .... The ocean of bliss is within you ... and yet you run here and there in search for it. The Sun of suns is ever shining in you, but your blind eyes cannot behild it. The eternal sound is ringing within you, but your deaf ears cannot hear it.

— Swami Shivananda, Bliss Divine, Chapter 25