The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Forced confessions

What is the most prominent cause behind the spread of disaffection and the resultant militancy in states like Jammu and Kashmir? Separatists’ mischief, abetting by inimical neighbours and religious bigotry have all been variously cited for the development of such a situation. But what is perhaps the real cause is rarely highlighted. And that is the disenchantment among the general public with the sense of fairplay of the state machinery. Allowing nine criminals out of 10 go scot-free does not cause as much resentment as implicating one innocent. Whenever there is any mention of violation of human rights within the country, government spokesmen move their heads from left to right violently and incredulously. But the fact remains that in their zeal to show results, security forces have indeed extracted confessions through means more foul than fair. Nobody seems to bother that the silence that envelops the populace after any such excess hides behind it a cry of anguish. In any case, they no longer stay silent. After the massacre of Sikhs at Chittisinghpura during the visit of President Clinton to India in March, security personnel were told in no uncertain terms to catch the culprits somehow or the other. They proved “equal” to the job. Five militants allegedly belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen were dutifully gunned down. But the exulting police and the army had not anticipated the public outcry that would erupt. Thousands of people marched alleging that those who had been shot down were no militants but innocent villagers. Their bodies were exhumed and handed over to grieving relatives.

The police had claimed that it had raided the hideout of the “militants” following the leads provided by Mohammad Yaqoob Wagay, a local militant. Now come reports that the police has no corroborative evidence even to chargesheet Wagay. As such, the charge against him has been reduced from multiple murder to “trying to breach the peace”. He has been saying all along that he is innocent and that the confession was extracted after the police tortured him for 18 days at an STF camp. An enquiry is on into the circumstances leading to the March 20 Chittisinghpura massacre and the subsequent killing of five militants. But the residents of the area are certain that those killed by security forces were innocent villagers. Under such circumstances, will it be possible to make the populace believe that the confession extracted out of Wagay was genuine? He has been released on bail several times but re-arrested. Instead of being a militant, he is being seen by many as a victim. Police atrocities have complicated matters greatly, be it in Kashmir or in Punjab. Isn’t it time to call a halt to such a policy? The battle against militancy can be fought and won if and only if public support is with the security agencies. This kind of support has been growing recently. It will be a shame to fritter it away yet again. Terrorists may kill innocents and even get away with it. Security forces cannot and should not.

Maruti sell-off in top gear

Maruti Udyog is about to change hands, hopefully if the Japanese joint owner Suzuki does not raise legal obstacles. And it can, not so much to block the sell-off but to drive a hard bargain on the sale price of the government shares. When the original collaboration agreement was revised in the early nineties, the then chairman and managing director, Mr R.C. Bhargava, tilted the whole thing in favour of the foreign firm, and as a corollary, against the government. He increased the Suzuki’s share to the same level as the government’s, giving it an equal say in the management. More importantly, he inserted a clause vesting in either party the right to buy out the other’s share if an occasion arose. The government now claims that this is not tantamount to the right to first rejection before its own holding can be transferred to someone else. But Suzuki can challenge this and drag on the matter in a court of law, thereby tying up the proposal in legal wrangles. Even the government realises this and hence the unusual hurry in finalising the deal. A three-member committee of secretaries has been set up to negotiate with the company and report back within 15 days to the strategic management group in the PMO. Or, is it that preliminary talks have been held and only the finer points remain to be thrashed out? One thing is for sure. There will be a queue of bidders for the government holding, estimated to be worth around Rs 1,500 crore with a paid-up capital of Rs 300 crore. At one time, that is before the automobile market became crowded, the holding of the two parties put together was worth as high as Rs 10,000 crore. But competition and a sharp drop in the market share of Maruti have pushed down the value. Also, the running battle a former Heavy Industry Minister had with the company soured the relations and delayed the introduction of new models. This too robbed the auto maker of its momentum. The present Minister, Mr Manohar Joshi, hates to give up the jewel in the ministry’s crown and until the very last minute put up a fight, mostly by trying to delay a decision. The government’s growing compulsion to lay its hands on extra funds to keep the fiscal deficit under some control weakened and finally killed Mr Joshi’s bush war.

The Maruti sell-off will be one of the hot points to dominate the winter session of Parliament starting today. The bill to amend the Banking Nationalisation Act is sure to set off a furore as the Congress and the other opposition parties have already promised to put up a stiff fight. By then the government should have formally announced a partial rollback of the increase in cooking gas and kerosene prices. It is a token reduction, but good enough for both Trinamool Congress and Telugu Desam Party to claim success. The Left and select regional parties are intrigued at the government’s acceptance (or, non-rejection) of the Hinduja bid for 40 per cent of equity in Air-India. The reference is to the Bofors deal and the linking of the three brothers to receiving commission. On the eve of the session, so to speak, Finance Minister has spoilt everyone’s fun by announcing that there will be no reduction in income tax rates. Earlier he had told big business that excise duty would remain more or less the same. These two items are the most eagerly awaited part of the union budget. The government has ducked an issue which could have embarrassed it no end. The Prime Minister secured the resignation of the junior Minister, Mr Harin Pathak, after his chargesheeting in a murder case. If he had stayed on, the opposition would have waded into the case with gusto and scored many political points. It has now been disarmed. December 6 will witness a rerun of the by now familiar Babri Masjid demolition outrage. The Pathak case may encourage the opposition to demand that the government apply the same principle to those chargesheeted in the Babri Masjid case, which means the resignation of Mr L.K.Advani, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and Ms Uma Bharti. The government will not budge, nor will the opposition.

Children — the Greatest Wealth
Need to lead by personal examples
by J. L. Gupta

Another Children’s Day — November 14 — has come and gone. Next day we saw a few headlines in the papers. A few pictures too. Is this enough? The children are the nation’s greatest wealth. The future of this country. They need attention. Also protection. Are we doing anything for them?

Man’s progress has brought problems. Particularly, in regard to the children. In todays’ materialistic world, man’s offspring needs to be shielded from the man himself.

This need has been recognised. In fact, it was more than a decade back, on November 20, 1989, that the UN had passed the Convention on the Rights of the Children. More than 160 countries have already ratified it. The right of the children to development, participation and protection has been accepted. Their right to life, name and nationality has been acknowledged. The need for guaranteeing attainable standards of health and nutrition has been emphasised. The need to respect their views and to ensure freedom of expression, thought, religion, privacy, etc, for the children has been recognised.

Yet, we see the children being abused and exploited. Raped. Starved. Subjected to brutality. Even maimed. Can this be allowed to continue?

Just as the morning shows the day, the children show the nation. Fresh from God, these little creatures are the hope of this world. Their protection is essential to ensure a safe future for mankind. Their care is necessary for the good of the world that we live in. Economic compulsions may not permit, especially the Third World countries, to achieve all that the UN Convention provides for. However, there are certain basic needs. These require no money. Only some effort. We need to make it.

A happy home is the first requirement. It is essential for a heart at rest. It is imperative for a healthy mind. The domestic happiness is the most delightful joy that the earth can provide. A conscious effort to make the children feel that the home is the best and the happiest place in the world is absolutely imperative. The “delicious home feeling” — a feeling of home, sweet home — must be inculcated in the minds of the children. Happy homes are the best gift that the parents can bestow on their children. I suspect that some of us are not fulfilling this basic need today. We must do so.

And then, who makes every home delicious and sweet? The mother. It has been said: “God could not be everywhere, and, therefore, He made mothers.” The word signifies an institution. She has been described as the nature’s “loving proxy”. The dignity, the grandeur, the tenderness of a mother is divine. The mother’s virtues and the father’s sins are invariably reflected in their children.

Today, a woman’s soul does not live in the love of her children. It is no more her whole existence. The club, cards and kitty parties have become more important than the kids at home. Very often the children face the cold and cruel world by themselves. They do not get the gentle hand or the love from the mother’s heart. They never hear any stories on the mother’s knee. She sings no lullabies to them. Sometimes, the mother is “deaf as a door” to the cries of the baby. She does not fashion their future. The “ayah” proxies for her. Consequently, the home has ceased to be a place for peace and happiness.

Men are mostly what their mothers make them. The children, who spend their days and nights in the arms of ayahs, miss the caresses and kindness of the mother. The years of childhood only experience the maternal indifference. They can never grow up to be confident young men. When you do not have a good mother, you do not have a good home. Inevitably, the children cannot grow up to be good men.

Today, we are looking for the fastest cars in which we can get away from our homes. Not for homes which may tempt us to stay in. The change in the value system, the breaking of home as a place for happiness, has resulted in moral degradation and devaluation of values that confront us. We cannot allow this to continue. Old values must be restored. At the earliest. Before it is too late.

Still further, the children, especially in India, used to spend their childhood in the midst of large families — amongst the great-grand-parents, the grandparents, the parents, the innumerable uncles, aunts and cousins. They used to get the love and care of all. And they imbibed what they saw. Everyone shared everything. This used to inculcate a habit of give and take. It taught sharing and imbued the mind with a spirit of self-sacrifice. The joint family system was education in itself. The house was truly a home. The home was the best school. Let us revive it.

Let us also remember that the children do not need critics. Not people who forgive nothing in others, but everything in themselves. They need the characters they can emulate. The examples they can follow. They need guides who can put them on the right path. They need dads who can be pals. Moms who can be role models. Parents who can pamper them. Make them happy. The persons who can give them a sense of security. The friends whom they can trust. With whom they can share their true and innermost feelings. In whose company they can feel totally relaxed. Be just themselves. Free to act the way they like. Not restricted by unreasonable rules. Not suffocated by an unfriendly and hostile environment. So that they can grow up as well behaved, well mannered and totally disciplined members of society.

Another aspect. Due to the changing values, gold has become more important than God. The joint family system has virtually vanished. Even family as a unit is disintegrating. The marriage itself has ceased to be a sacrament. It has become a contract. Matrimony has become a “matter of’ money”. No doubt, the man and woman even now take the oath before the holy fire or the Holy Father. But marriage is no longer a union for life. It is like a sentence of imprisonment. There is more “clamour” than “glamour”. There is more sound than music. More loathing than love. More misery than mirth. Nowadays, a marriage, which was recently “announced”, is very soon “denounced” and is before long “renounced”. The children from such temporary relationships are the worst sufferers. They are insecure. Temperamental. Temporarily mental. Mostly under stress. Very often, they become problem children. Society faces the resultant problems. The accent is supposedly on the children. The stress is on the parents.

To a degree, the unhappy marriages have resulted in not only broken homes but also in illegitimate children. These children face a variety of additional problems. Some of these are even psychological. Such children sometimes suffer mental retardation. They have been found to be in need of psychiatric help. Inevitably, these problems are not confined to individuals or their families, but have to be shared by the entire society.

The children are, normally, small. They are totally innocent. Mostly, they are not even aware of the clever and cunning that abounds in the world. Yet, they are very keen observers. Nothing escapes their eye. They notice everything around them. All that we do. The slightest defect in our character. The smallest mistake in our action. The least embellishment in our conduct. The faintest lie that we might tell. And they usually imbibe what they see or hear. Almost effortlessly.

Then, there is the economic factor. Poverty is not dishonourable by itself. Some people are known to have remained happy and virtuous in the midst of poverty. They have happily led an austere existence. However, when poverty comes from idleness, it is disgraceful. An idle mind is a devil’s workshop. In India, we have millions of these workshops. Mostly working overtime.

Poverty and idleness add to the existing problems. We see some of these in our daily life. There is crime. There are juvenile delinquents. The idle children start with small things. Soon, doing wrong things becomes a habit. Gradually, it takes the form of a well-organised crime. In the alternative, poverty leads to an unfortunate practice of child labour. The kids who should be happy, relaxed and playing are seen carrying loads much beyond what their frail frames can bear. The children who should be actually going to school either land up in jail or in a factory. The time when they should be growing and learning is sadly spent under stress. It is wasted. As a result, we ultimately have either a gang of criminals or a “surfeit of illiterate and unskilled labour”.

Would they not be happier and more useful if they were educated? We need to recognise the importance of education. There is a need to device means and methods to ensure that we are able to provide a minimum level of education to everyone in the world. So far as the children are concerned, there is no alternative. No choice. They have to be provided facilities for education. It is essential for the growth of human society. It reduces crime, increases efficiency and ensures prosperity. The states in India where the level of literacy has improved, the graph of crime and poverty has shown a definite downward trend. Such states have shown good results even in the field of family welfare. Education is necessary for progress.

A country can provide facilities only according to its resources. Undeniably, today, we have financial constraints. There is a deficit in the national and state budgets every year. We make promises, which we cannot keep. We take loans. We are in debt. We are in danger. Without financial assistance, we shall be in dire straits. Even our national and foreign policies are sometimes influenced and guided by our economic compulsions. Is this in conformity with our status as a sovereign nation? Have we ever realised that the single highest source of our expenditure is the cost of governance? No government can provide a policeman to every citizen for his security. No nation can provide protection to all the children. In any case, we in India do not have the resources for such a massive project. Yet, the problem cannot be pushed under the carpet for all times to come. We have to devise methods by which we can save some money for the protection of our children. We must adopt austere measures, avoid wasteful expense and save money to educate the children. Take care of their health and nutrition.

A word about the law. Our Constitution provides that “no child below the age of fourteen shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment”. There is a conscious effort to protect children from any kind of danger to their body and mind. Like Article 24 of the Indian Constitution, Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.” It has been further provided that “all children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.” By the international covenant the right of “children to freedom from exploitation” has been guaranteed. Still further, the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for a variety of ways, which are essential for the protection of the young and small.

However, we must remember a basic truth. We may sign the Juvenile Justice Act. We may promulgate the Children Act. We may hold conventions and sign covenants. Even till there is a shortage of parchment and pens in the world. And yet, we may not have done enough to protect the children of the world. We must recognise that love is a beautiful necessity of life. Everyone, even the children, need it. Consequently, we must provide them with caring mothers, happy homes, a healthy environment and a good education. We must help them acquire the qualities of head and heart. We must create a sense of security in their minds. We must convince them that they are important.

Care can give comfort. It can avoid mischief. But neglect shall certainly lead to misfortune. And we know that it is so. Fertile land when carefully cultivated gives good food and fruit. If neglected, only wild weeds would grow. So it is with children. When they get care, they grow up to be good human beings. They are a national asset. If neglected, they would, in all likelihood, be like an “honour student.” Standing in court and saying — “Yes, your honour. No, your honour.” Or a drug addict, a juvenile delinquent, a sex maniac or a violent criminal.

We must, by our conduct, set an example worth emulation. Then and only then can our desire to protect the children become a reality. We must endeavour. Shall we? I am an incorrigible optimist. I am not prepared to say die. I do not give up easily. I shall insist that we try. And try. Till the goal is reached. I am sure we shall succeed. Even effort has to be made. Even if the goal is far off. Even if it seems like a dream. We must endeavour.

Increasing inter-generational gap
by S. Saraswathi

IN the 1970s, as a fallout of the student revolts that rocked the campuses of Berkeley and Harvard in the USA and spread to European countries and had their impact on the Asian countries also, the phenomenon known as “inter-generational conflict” became an important topic for discussion in youth conferences and seminars. In India too, the decade witnessed a number of student agitations in which context, student-teacher gap, child-parents differences, and youth-adult conflicts stemming out of their age differences became factors to be reckoned with in family and social relationships.

Fast developments in the past quarter century in technology have altered the life-style even in the least developed countries. They have touched the daily life of everybody not excluding the elderly in different degrees so as to change the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and ambitions necessitating today a fresh look at the phenomenon of “inter-generational conflict” bothering all societies. The developed western nations have somewhat got over the problem; but people in the developing Asian countries in the midst of all-round changes affecting every aspect of life and undergoing an experience of adjustments to new ways of life encounter the generational differences as a live issue.

It was found that differences between generations developed where the parents did not keep pace with the changing environment and failed to respond to the call of the times to adjust their attitudes to changes around. But, even where sharp differences existed, few were manifested at the family level except in the case of a few aggressive youth and rather adamant parents. A majority of students were found meekly submissive despite differences in perceptions and attitudes.

Today, the situation is different with a lot of perceivable changes in the attitudes and life-style of the elder generation in educated families. Themselves educated and used to various kinds of changes in daily life, what they experience is faster pace of changes and newer technologies introduced in ordinary routine. So, it is not changes by themselves but the effect and speed of changes and the consequent changes in priorities and values that cause generational gap.

Several writings concerning the life of the elderly give various suggestions to remove the diffidence of the old and bind them more closely to their families. Advices are given that they can make themselves useful and keep alive their spirit and interests by involving in running the household in joint families by so many activities like cooking and experimenting new dishes, going to markets, accompanying grandchildren to schools, etc.

The suggestions coming with the educated middle class and well to do families in mind are made without realisation that in all these activities two consecutive generations today do not always agree. When pizza; fast food and cookies are the desired items, the grand-parents have to learn a lot to please their children and children’s children. Where the elderly lack the inclination and physical stamina to go with the changing tastes, the gap becomes visible.

And it is increasingly getting wider with the entry of advanced technology into the home with home PCs, internet, microwave and other gadgets and is growing fast with ever expanding ambitions of the new generation. At the same time, severe competition for progress has changed the attitudes and behaviour of the young so radically that the repercussions are felt in family relations.

This is in a way linked to economic betterment of the younger generation in middle class households with higher education, better opportunities increased pay scales, and planned families. Easy and quick money and money early in life have introduced a big gap between generations in their individual economic status governing their lifestyle, and are factors contributing to changes in attitudes and values of the coming generations.

Whether living together in a joint family because of the dependency of the parent(s), or the need of the son/daughter, or as a question of tradition or prestige, or running independent households, the generational gap manifests itself in myriad forms. The gap is seen in the lack of sharing of information by the young with the elder members and concentration of the younger family members exclusively on themselves and their children thus inadvertently perhaps creating an impression of ignoring the presence of the elders.

The young and the middle aged son no longer goes to his father and mother to tell them what happened to him that day, what all he saw when on tour, what he purchased abroad, and what he plans to do for his children. A behaviour change mostly indicating maturity and an expression of independence of the younger makes an adverse psychological impact on the elder if they fail to accept it in a sportive spirit and start nursing an avoidable grievance that they are being ignored. This may lead to a feeling of solitude in the same house or a feeling of being treated as a guest. On the whole multigeneration families seem to need the advice of psychologists and sociologists to interpret behaviour changes in proper perspective.

It is rather openly admitted by some elderly parents that they are not happy to live with any of their children and prefer to live on their own. This is also practised by many who can afford in the interest of maintaining friendly relations also. Under such conditions, it is futile to advise the elderly to adjust to the changing whims and fancies of their son/daughter, or to advise the younger to keep alive traditions and remember their duties towards their parents.

Psychological and sociological studies of the 1970s concluded that there was no conflict between generations but a certain degree of gap. The findings seem to be more true today — overt conflict if any getting less and less with affluence and advancement but the gap growing wider and wider with changes in outlook and behaviour. As long as the gap keeps increasing, contact will get lessened and collision averted. It is difficult to forecast whether the trend will continue with the passing of another generation, but young parents today seem to develop a new approach in dealing with the generation younger to them.

The situation has necessitated two types of organisational, institutional, and formal arrangements — one for the service and care of the elderly where their own off-springs are absent or fail to fulfil their traditional role or the two generations are unable to bridge the gap between them, and the other for pre-school and after-school care of children. Such arrangements, however, cannot and should not be the rule, but exceptions in the Indian society which still holds on to the family system and wants it to adapt itself to changing social conditions.

Faults of a too federal system
by Anupam Gupta

“IN order to maintain the status quo,” ruled the Supreme Court of Florida on November 18, intervening in the election to the most powerful office in the world, “the court on its own motion, enjoins the Secretary of State and the Elections Canvassing Commission from certifying the results of the November 7, 2000, Presidential election until further notice.”

That puts off, as the American nation watches with bated breath and millions of people around the globe with not inconsiderable amusement, the resolution of the US presidential stalemate by another couple of days, to say the least.

And lands the resolution, and all the thorny issues connected with it, firmly in the lap of one of the most creative institutions of 20th-century constitutional democracy — the American judiciary.

“(N)either Governor Bush (the Republican presidential candidate) nor the Florida Secretary of State nor I will be the arbiter of this election,” said Democratic Party nominee and Vice-President Al Gore last Saturday, welcoming the interim judicial order. “This election is a matter that must be decided by the will of the people as expressed under the rule of law which has meaning as determined in Florida now by the Florida Supreme Court.”

That is a bit partisan, of course, and motivated by expectations of success in the continuing legal battle. Whichever way the State Supreme Court may rule after hearing both sides, there is little hope of the battle terminating there itself. In all probability, the final decision on the Florida electoral conundrum — double-punched “butterfly ballots”, unpunched “chads”, handcount deadlines and all that —will be taken not in Florida but in Washington. By the oldest and possibly the most impressive apex court in the free world, the Supreme Court of the United States.

Meanwhile, global curiosity and concern about the nature of the US presidential election, its impartiality, rationality and fairness, continue to mount.

As Thomas L. Friedman noted in the New York Times on November 15, “for foreigners, the most important aspect of this American election is not who wins, but how he wins.

Whoever becomes President now, India’s Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill wrote in The Hindustan Times on November 12, raising a whole lot of pertinent queries, there will be this question hanging over him: did he really win, does he really have the backing of the people? The time has come, he said, not without a tinge of pride in his own achievements at home, for electoral reforms in America.

Another important observer from the Third World, former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda excelled in acerbic irony.

“They have always sent,” he said, the International Herald Tribune reported him on November 13 as saying, “former Presidents, like Jimmy Carter, as election monitors to Africa. Perhaps it is time for Africa also to send former Presidents, like myself, to monitor the (US poll) process.”

Introduced for the first time to the frailties of the world’s most powerful and didactic democracy, foreigners may, in the suddenness of their reactions, miss the fact that neither the controversy nor the criticism is at all new. Or extra-territorial.

“No feature of the American constitutional system,” one of the leading historians of American presidential politics, Richard P. MacCormick wrote in 1982, “has been more subjected to criticism, more unstable, more open to improvisation, or less regularised, than the method of selecting the chief executive.”

The reference to instability and improvisation covers inter alia the amazing lack of uniformity in the American poll scene which ultimately underlies the Palm Beach ballot crisis.

Every US state has its own election laws and every county draws up its own style of ballot, as University of Missouri professor Paul Wallace pointed out some days ago in a HT interview. Something that is unthinkable by Indian standards.

Recommending an Indian-style Election Commission for the USA, Wallace suggested that such a commission could start out with a “single, simple, unambiguous style of ballot for the whole country.” With due apologies to Wallace, however desirable that may be, it is unthinkable by American (federal) standards.

At the heart of the controversy lies, however, the extraordinarily baffling institution devised by the founding fathers of the American Constitution for electing their chief executive — the Electoral College.

“Each State may appoint,” reads Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution (adopted in 1787), “in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress, but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.”

“The Electors (it adds, and as amended by the 12th Amendment in 1804) shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President..... The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed....”

Writing in the latest, November 20 issue of the Time magazine devoted to the presidential election, eminent American historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr describes the Electoral College as a “last-minute addition to the Constitution...”

That is apt to create a misleading impression. The Electoral College was amongst the last matters to be decided upon by the American constituent assembly, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 — more precisely by the so-called Committee on Postponed Matters set up by the Convention to resolve outstanding issues — but it was the product of a conscious and careful compromise.

The compromise does not appear on the surface, writes Prof Max Farrand, the leading authority on the framing of the American Constitution, but no doubt attaches to it.

If after the Electoral College has voted, Article II, Section 1 goes on to provide, no candidate gets a majority and no winner emerges, the House of Representatives (the lower House of the US Congress) shall proceed to select the President by ballot. The House shall choose from amongst the three candidates highest on the list. But in so choosing the President, each State delegation in the House of Representatives — or the totality of members representing a particular State — shall have one vote. The candidate who receives the votes of a majority of States thus cast becomes the President.

It was at that time, says Thomas E. Cronin, a former White House Fellow, political scientist and highly respected author on the presidency, an “ingenious and original compromise”.

Everyone got something: large states (like California, New York, Texas and Florida) got votes in the Electoral College based on their population; small states got an assurance of a contingency procedure (selection by the House of Representatives) based on the one-state-one-vote principle; those who feared the “tyranny of the majority” got an indirect method of electing presidents; and those who feared the national legislature got a method in which the States could play a major role.

The major defect of the Electoral College system — that all the votes of a State in the Electoral College are awarded to the winner of the State’s popular vote regardless of whether his margin of victory is just one or one million votes — is not, as Cronin perceptively points out, a part of the American Constitution.

This winner-take-all formula, underlying the present nail-biting crisis in Florida, is merely a State practice first adopted in the early 19th century for partisan purposes and gradually accepted by all the States to ensure maximum electoral weight for their State in the presidential election.

More next week.

Trends and pointers
Have govt job, get bride
From Raman Mohan

THE marriage market in Haryana has been thrown into overdrive with over 10,000 youths attaining the status of “most-eligible bachelors by getting government jobs in the recent months and an equal number waiting to join their ranks in the coming months.

The lucky families belonging mostly to the rural areas have been flooded with matrimonial proposals. The great matrimonial rush has completely redefined the rules of the game. Sensing an opportunity, the families of the newly employed youths are looking for proposals in which the prospective bride’s sister can be married to one of the boy’s unemployed brothers as part of the deal, lest the less fortunate one misses the bus.

Much to the chagrin of those owning 20 acres or more of land who were much sought-after until now, the focus has shifted to those holding government jobs. This is because over the years, farming has lost its charm because of uncertain weather and rising cost of electricity and other inputs. Against this, a government job, even that of a peon, is preferred over a landholding.

The most sought-after are the 2,000-odd police constables who joined the Police Training College at Madhuban last month. Though the urbanites may scoff at it, a policeman is held much in awe in the rural areas mainly because of the help he can render in times of need. Besides, a large number of them are graduates who hope to qualify departmental examinations in time and climb the ladder. The other obvious reason is that he has the potential to earn through the “notorious police ways.”

Next in the order of preference are teachers, including JBT teachers, followed by PTIs. About 8000 of them were recruited over the past few months. Teaching in Haryana has been a popular vocation with rural people because it enables them to look after their lands and families. Postings near home are a major attraction.

The male-female ratio in Haryana (939 females for every 1000 males) had tilted the matrimonial scales in favour of eligible girls in the past few years. However, since an overwhelming majority of those recruited are males, the scale has tilted back in the favour of boys albeit temporarily. The boys’ families are, therefore, calling the shots once again.

The race for marriages is changing the face of villages literally. One can discern the house of an eligible bachelor from its freshly painted façade. The living quarters have been given a facelift as well. In some cases cheap new sofas adorn the baithak. A few pieces of stone metal crockery or an odd pressure cooker can be spotted in kitchens. The entire exercise is aimed at projecting the newly elevated status of the family.

Many teachers have already tied the knot since the marriage season is currently in full swing. However, the constables will have to wait as they cannot marry until they complete the training. There will be marriages galore in the coming summer.

But all is not lost for the rest of the youth. The government plans to recruit about 1,900 more constables before the year-end. Besides, about 3,000 posts of project teacher on fixed pay under the district primary education programme are to be filled within the next few weeks. These posts are certain to be regularised once the centrally-sponsored scheme ends. On the higher strata, the HCS (executive) examination will also be held shortly.

It is learnt that there are several vacancies in the police and if all goes well about 2000 posts of constable will be filled every nine months for the next few years.

Spiritual Nuggets

They read and read,

Bud do not bake the mind,

The more they turn the pages,

Father they go from the Self.

***

Understand the primordial Word,

Forgetting all the books,

Illumine yourself within,

How many books will you read.

— Hazrat Sai Qutab Ali Shah

***

One may read cartload of books,

With caravan loads of books to follow;

One may study shiploads of volumes,

And heap them pile on the pile in his cellars;

One may read for years and on years,

And spend every month of the year in reading only;

And thus read all one's life,

Right upto his last breath.

Of all things, contemplative life

Is really what matters,

All else is the fret and fever

of the egoistic minds.

— Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Asa ji di var, 2.

***

If God could be found by bathing in holy waters,

frog and fish would find him.

If God were realised by cutting off your hair,

sheep and goats, which are shorn for their wool,

would realise him to,.

If God were found through nightly vigils,

bats and owls would find him.

If God could be found through celibacy,

castrated bulls should also discover him.

God is realised by those, O Bahu,

who are pure of heart, noble of intent.

— Abyaat-e-Zaahoo, Bait 63

***

Wrong is wrong; the wise man never

Wrong as right will threat:

None would drink, however thirsty

Water in the street.

***

Do the right, the right, the right,

Till the breath of death;

Shun the wrong, although the right

Lead to death of breath.

***

Who saves from vice is truly kind;

True wife is she who shares your mind;

True acts are free from every blame;

True joy, from avarice's shame;

True wisdom wins the praise of saints;

True friends involve in no restraints;

True glory knows no haughtiness;

True men are cheerful in distress.

— The Panchatantra, Book I