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Wednesday,
June 13, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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A neat
operation Pilgrims’ travails |
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Such
a waste of money THE Planning Commission is on a lateral march to irrelevance. With globalisation and automatic clearance of foreign investment, its role has shrunk to nothing. Maybe its only role is to remind the hawkish Swadeshi Jagran Manch of those forgotten days when self-reliance was the national mantra and alien capital was the latter-day plague.
Musharraf’s
shrewd call to jehadis
A
backward leap
Aamir
Khan screens ‘Lagaan’ at Bhuj
Gujarat’s
roofless still awaiting relief
Yuba
City: where Punjabis thrive
Improve
Physique of Girls
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A neat operation THE siege of the Shangus mosque in Anantnag district ended on Monday. For once the terms for ending the siege were dictated by the security forces and not the militants who had turned the mosque into a mini fortress. The armed group, believed to represent the Pak-trained Lashkar-e-Toiba, had taken shelter inside the masjid in the hope that the security forces may show the diffidence they had on earlier occasions in attacking places of worship. However, those handling the sensitive assignment displayed welcome courage by ordering the Rashtriya Rifles to shoot to kill the militants even if it meant causing unavoidable damage to the mosque. On the second day of the siege the Rashtriya Rifles had gunned down at least three militants after a fierce exchange of fire. The operation gained more teeth with the arrival of the sharp shooters of the elite National Security Guard on Monday. They helped the security forces in getting the three remaining militants holed up inside the mosque. Of course, the snapping of the source of water and power supply to the captured shrine made a substantial contribution in building up pressure on the militants. The success of the Shangus operation should make the Lashkar-e-Toiba and other militant outfits in Kashmir realise that the days of obtaining the right to "safe passage" after grabbing a holy shrine in the valley are over. Had the security forces been allowed the degree of freedom they had in dealing with the Shangus episode the story of the capture of Hazratbal and Charar-e-Sharif by militant outfits too may have had a similar happy ending. It is clear that the immediate objective of the militants, who captured the mosque by terrorising local residents was to create tension in the valley. Ever since Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee sent an invitation to Pakistan Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf to visit India the hawks within the Islamic fold have tried different strategies for scuttling the proposed summit in Delhi next month. First they occupied a mosque near Shopian on May 30 followed by a similar attempt in Sopore on June 6 before settling for the shrine in Shangus The capture of the Shangus mosque was part of the same diabolical plan which had put the security forces on the back foot on earlier occasions and had caused diplomatic friction between India and Pakistan. The Rahstriya Rifles and the National Security Guard sharp shooters deserve a special word of praise for the skilful and firm handling of an extremely delicate operation. The people of Kashmir helped in the successful conclusion of the operation by not making an issue of the likely damage to the mosque in the exchange of fire between the militants and the security forces. |
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Pilgrims’ travails IT is a tribute to the religious fervour of the Amarnath yatris that despite last year's Pahalgam carnage and last week's grenade attack on the Charar-e-Sharif shrine, there has been no perceptible decline in their eagerness to undertake the perilous journey. They have been lining up in droves to register for the yatra beginning early next month. The rush is expected to increase with every passing day. The government owes foolproof security to them. Officials claim that the needful is being done, but reports from the field are not reassuring. Bureaucratic bungling is the order of the day at most places connected with the yatra. Scenes of chaos and confusion greet one. The feeble explanation that this is because of the huge rush is hardly convincing. Such a rush is not unexpected. It is just that adequate arrangements are not in place yet. Registration clerks reportedly saunter in at leisure, unmindful of the long queues before their counters. Where there are doctors to medically examine the yatra aspirants and issue them the prized certificates, necessary staff and equipment are missing. Where the equipment is available, the doctors are nowhere to be seen. This leads to frayed tempers among those waiting for hours in the searing heat. The efficiency and courtesy that can act as salve are also in short supply. While registration is being done at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, besides Jammu, there is paucity of centres in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh from where a maximum numbers of yatris go to Amarnath. This has led to unmanageable pressure on Jammu. At the same time, there is a woeful shortage of civic amenities already. Change in the location of "langar" sites and delay in the grant of permission for organising community kitchens are also causing a lot of heartburn. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board has been claiming that it is trying to build permanent structures at Nunwan, Pahalgam and Chandanwari, but these cannot come up at least during this year's yatra. Several problems are mainly because of the pressing security concerns. After the recent attacks on religious places, it has become clear that militants are determined to provoke communal clashes. The administration has to strike a fine balance between fulfilling pilgrims' basic needs and enforcing security restrictions. Security personnel at times tend to forget that they are dealing with pilgrims and not criminals. The public on its part also has to behave more responsibly and calmly. For instance, the facility of registering one's name by post is there, but few utilised it. Similarly, many of those having to wait in queues tend to act as if they are mobsters instead of being devout pilgrims. |
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Such a waste of money THE Planning Commission is on a lateral march to irrelevance. With globalisation and automatic clearance of foreign investment, its role has shrunk to nothing. Maybe its only role is to remind the hawkish Swadeshi Jagran Manch of those forgotten days when self-reliance was the national mantra and alien capital was the latter-day plague. The Planning Commission has suddenly come alive not with any sensational idea to make exciting India an economic power but with its assessment of what a colossal waste all the government-sponsored rural development and poverty alleviation programmes are. It says in the approach paper to the tenth five year Plan that often only about Rs 10 reaches the targeted population out of every Rs 100. That is, 10 per cent benefit and 90 per cent waste and graft. Mostly embezzlement. From lower bureaucracy to contractors and petty politicians all demand and get a slice of the money allotted for pro-poor programmes and enrich themselves. This observation dramatically differs from the earlier view that much of the money is lost in oiling the labrynthine administrative structure. That is not true. Actually it is plain fraud. Anyone who has anything to do with these programmes has his hands in the till and only after the collective greed is satisfied, do the needy get a look in. The approach paper has two lessons. One, of course, is the extensive diversion of funds in an illegal manner. The second is that nothing can really be done to set things right. A new coalition of corruption has emerged at the rural level and it is too late to dismantle it. For instance, the approach paper points out that it is a routine for village officials to draw more money for wages to daily workers than what they really employed. This way statistics read well but the reality is still harsh. In the public distribution system (PDS of foodgrains) alone, the diversion of wheat, rice and sugar comes to about 30 per cent. In rupee terms, it is nearly one-third of the Rs 4000 crore subsidy on the PDS. When Rajiv Gandhi said that only 15 paise of every rupee reached the intended persons many dismissed it as an overblown statement of a man with an imported look and lacking in political experience. Here is a more grim news from an organisation headed by a real professional, Mr K.C. Pant. |
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Musharraf’s shrewd
call to jehadis GEN Pervez Musharraf’s call to jehadis in Pakistan to act more responsibly so that Pakistan is not seen as an irrational state is a good and shrewd move to create a conducive environment for the Delhi summit. It is to be noted he does not call for end to jehad but only for show of restraint. A number of Indian Muslims from Delhi have met the CEO recently, most notably Akhtar ul Wasi of Jamia Millia and Ahmed Bukhari, the new Shahi Imam of Delhi. They have told Musharraf not to forget there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. I first heard Pervez Musharraf’s name in 1990, when as a Brigadier, he was attending the prestigious one-year long course at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London’s leafy Belgravia. Six years earlier I had done this very course with Musharraf’s now redoubtable Interior Minister, Lt Gen Moinuddin Haider (retd). As colleagues at Belgravia, Haider and I would refight the 1971 war over forbidden nectar ever so often so that he could avenge that shameful defeat, at least by the persuasion of his argument over the ethics of that war. Back in 1984, he warned that one day Pakistan would take revenge for India’s creating Mukti Bahini and Bangladesh. Today, Haider and his team under Musharraf’s direction are using the Lashkar-e-Toiba amongst others for bleeding J&K. Musharraf’s thesis that he wrote at Belgravia was: can Pakistan and India live peacefully together or are they destined to remain in eternal hostility? The findings of his study were not as pessimistic as events have turned out. Both Musharraf and Haider have doggedly refused to rein in the Fidayeen in the proxy war. The agenda is Kashmir or nothing. Musharraf’s colleagues at RCDS remember him as pleasant, affable, and an extrovert, certainly not Islamic or fundamentalist. He was fond of one or two, or even three or four, sundowners and had a roving eye but nowhere in the mould of an earlier predecessor, Gen Yahya Khan. The commandant of the college had given him an “outstanding” grade. He has achieved much more than becoming the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). He is also now the designated Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan. Amongst his many sterling qualities, one that has surprised many is the ease and skill with which he comes across the print and visual media. At the RCDS they run an excellent capsule on media handling in which Musharraf must have picked up a few tips. No other military dictator in Pakistan has devoted as much time to public relations and succeeded in extending his credibility and sincerity as he has. His interviews reflect a full grasp over matters of statecraft, diplomacy and economy. A study of his interviews shows his abiding belief in “national interest”. Whether it is the military takeover, his extension as COAS beyond October 12, 2001, or moving on to become the President or establishing a National Security Council or even telling lies - everything in his book flows from national interest. Musharraf has declared he will not retire as scheduled since his services are required for purposes of continuity and supreme national interest. In other words he has a minimum agenda for Pakistan that requires he gives himself an extension. He has therefore, revived the post of Deputy COAS and appointed the seniormost Lt Gen, Muzaffar Usmani, the Karachi-based 5 Corps commander to whom he is indebted for his present job. Lt Gen Mohammad Aziz, the intrepid Chief of General Staff during Kargil and now the 2 Corps commander at Lahore, who is seen as a contender for the job of COAS, is being made to sweat it out. Even more than 1999 (the year of the takeover), the year Musharraf likes to recall is 1993. That was the year he was appointed Director General Military Operations (DGMO). It was starting then that he became privy to the politics played by the Army - the mediatory role the COAS had to play in keeping peace between the President and the Prime Minister on the one hand and between President and the Chief Justice on the other. It used to be said at the time that the President and the Prime Minister were competing to ingratiate themselves with the COAS. Although Musharraf believes that the Army has to have an institutionalised role in the governance of Pakistan, he is no longer publicly invoking his ideal — Gen Kemal Ataturk of Turkey. This has probably to do with the mullahs’ abhorrence of the secular Turkish model. His preference is to become a Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt since 1981. The conclusion that Musharraf has drawn is that the NSC is the minimum prerequisite for the military to step aside or phase itself out before restoration of civilian rule. His predecessor, Gen Jahangir Karamat, who had called for the establishment of the NSC, lost his job doing so. Musharraf’s argument is that though NSC may be out of sync with modern times, it is a must in a developing country like Pakistan. This is the Army’s favourite line for creating checks and balances for controlling democracy. One can now get a good idea of the shape of things to come in Pakistan. The CEO has decreed that both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif will not be allowed to return to Pakistan, leave alone return to politics. They are distant entities with each having had two shots at ruling Pakistan and failing. Neither is considered a threat to the Army any more. The CEO has to be reminded that the day he was doing Haj, the King of Saudi Arabia was dining Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf is jubilant about local elections and has claimed that more than 80 per cent of those elected are first timers and are not uneducated. After October the Army will deal through the 106 elected district chiefs. The devolution plan has received acclaim and support from the UK, Germany and UNDP. The question everyone is asking is: What is the Army’s plan for restoring national and provincial assemblies? Will there be fresh elections? Musharraf has promised to go by the Supreme Court order for restoration of civilian rule by October, 2002. A Junejo-type civilian government, which will do the bidding of the President, is the likely future scenario. Musharraf has not ruled out his becoming the next President. There is no dearth of offers for electing him President, were he to restore Parliament. The Army is likely to maintain the sanctity of 1973 constitution with certain amendments that were steamrollered by Nawaz Sharif to give unfettered powers to the Prime Minister being removed and possibly new ones inserted, especially about the NSC. Trying to rein in the Army turned out to be Nawaz Sharif’s nemesis. Twelve years after RCDS, Gen Pervez Musharraf is shaping into the mould of an illustrious predecessor, Gen Zia-ul-Haq, who took an indefinite extension as COAS and whose career was suddenly terminated by a mysterious air crash. While two of Musharraf’s mentors — Ayub and Yahya — had to relinquish their office of President due to failures on the battlefield, Musharraf is the only General to have won the top job despite, rather due to, the failure at Kargil. The lesson on Kargil from Pakistan if one was needed is the pre-eminence of the Army in decision-making. Because there is no power sharing arrangement between the elected and non-elected institutions in Pakistan, there is frequent disequilibrium. The political class needs the Army for its survival. The military in turn has made its own interests coterminous with national interest. The two RCDS trained Generals are forgetting that Pakistan is hemmed in between the Taliban in Afghanistan and Jehadis in J&K. These extremist forces, as many in Pakistan will tell you, are not fully under Army control and enjoy a degree of autonomy that even the ISI resents. The Pakistan Army’s zeal to possess J&K by jehad can only fuel the secessionist zeal among the non-Punjabi provinces in Pakistan. Fighting a jehad against India for the happiness (? ) of three million Kashmiris at the cost of 140 million Pakistanis is certainly not good strategy. Gen Musharraf Sir, this is against your national interest. Pervez Musharraf’s visit might break the
ice. Obtaining a commitment from him on ending crossborder terrorism will now seem a big achievement. The writer is a retired Major-General. |
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A backward leap I’m no antiquarian to delve into the origin of places but the name of Jhakolari, a nondescript rail station on the outskirts of Pathankot, has always fascinated me. I have often asked several learned people in Pathanti, the cultural zone girdling this place, about this unusual name but no one has come out with any plausible answer. Despite their limitations I couldn’t have left the matter there and forgotten about the spot that unfolds the album of my childhood memories. First, my guess about the name of the place. In simple words, “Jhako” means “look at”, and “Lari” could be a cluster of huts, or a hamlet, since there are a large number of small villages around with the suffix — Preetlari, Kesholari, Matalari, etc. The rail station — just a dot in the track between Pathankot and Amritsar — doesn’t deserve much visual contact, much less a “jhako”. But there is one shack on the road parallel to the rail track that warrants all the attention. May be this shop during those colonial days gave the name to the station. Outwardly the straw hut may not fascinate you but once you get close to its interior you would like to sample all those sweets, like peras and laddoos, that have lent a special status to Panditji, the proprietor of this outlet. In the blistering heat of June, for instance, people from the nearby villages, and some even from towns like Dinanagar and Gurdaspur, visit this shop to slake their thirst with Panditji’s aromatic and frothy pera lassi. I first discovered this wonder-joint when I joined a city school with a hostel. For the first time I stopped there waiting for a bus when Panditji asked me who I was and from where. He looked pleased at what he heard and said that whenever I returned from school I could have leave the baggage with him and later get it collected by one of our bonded labourers from the village. For six years — two in school and four in college — that sweet-shop was my safest cloakroom. In the heat and dust of summer I would dream of Panditji’s watering hole while negotiating the treacherous patches in the marshy land stretching between my hamlet and Jhakolari. In the rainy season numerous waterways appeared to hamper the pedestrians. Occasionally, at two or three points, I would leap across the ditches to continue my journey to reach the bus stop right opposite the life-aiding thatched hut. Without asking me what I would like to drink or eat, Panditji would straightway pick up four or five peras from the pan, drop them in one bronze container, add a few chunks of ice, crush the contents with a wooden contraption and then give a furious spin to the stuff inside the container, of course after adding a tumbler of water from his earthen pitcher. Within a couple of minutes he would transfer the cool lassi into a tall metallic glass and sprinkle a few drops of keora and then ask me to drink the magic potion. The very first sip would transport me to a fairyland without the scalding loo and sand storms of my village which in those days survived without electricity. To retrieve my energy I would invariably have some sweets along with pera lassi, hoping that my mates in the hostel would marvel at my palpable freshness-despite those athletic feats between my tiny hamlets and the tinier salvation post called
Jhakolari. |
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Aamir Khan screens ‘Lagaan’ at Bhuj AAMIR Khan has fulfilled his promise to the people of Bhuj district, where he shot “Lagaan”, by screening his dream project for them much before its worldwide release. “Lagaan” was shown to a large number of enthralled locals who had helped in the making of the movie. The three-hour-40-minute-long film, set in a small village under colonial rule some 100 years ago, was canned in Bhuj, a region that was devastated by an earthquake in January. “They (locals) were so happy to see us back as we had promised. They really loved the film,” a very moved Aamir said after the screening, which was followed by a buffet attended by 600 people. “The show had nothing to do with the unfortunate earthquake which occurred in the region. When we were shooting ‘Lagaan’ in the district, we had promised we would bring the film to them when it was ready. “They had all contributed to the film in one way or another. They clapped right through the film. They’re part of ‘Lagaan.’ It’s their film,” he said. Transporter turns media mogul An Indian media mogul accused of allegedly cheating state-run Doordarshan of Rs 100 million began his career as a humble transporter in a coal belt in the country’s east in the 1980s. Ramesh Gandhi (45) struck it rich soon, reportedly capitalising on his wide contacts with top officials of public sector coal companies in Dhanbad region of Bihar state. He turned into a successful contractor. Gandhi was arrested in February this year on charges of colluding with company officials and illegally transporting coal, causing huge losses to Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL). But he was released on bail and has since March 1 been admitted in a Kolkata nursing home. The CBI has not been able to question him even after the raids on Sunday at his houses and offices in connection with the Doordarshan case. CBI officials said after making it big in the coal business, Gandhi set his eyes on television. He setup two companies: Rainbow Productions and Aarambh Advertising and Marketing Pvt. Ltd. He became a household name in the West Bengal capital after Rainbow produced Bengali-language “Khas Khabar”. The CBI says Aarambh was fraudulently awarded commercial and marketing rights of Sunday feature films telecast from Doordarshan’s Kolkata centre. Gandhi might have struck gold with the deal, but the government lost Rs 100 million. On Sunday, the CBI registered cases against four Doordarshan officials who had allegedly showed him undue favours. Cycle-rickshaw as a way of life In the small village of Chalakhdih in India’s Jharkhand state, no man is considered complete unless he has driven a cycle rickshaw for a living. The boys at the village, on the outskirts of Jamshedpur city, cherish only one dream — of some day driving a rickshaw. Parents of girls refuse to marry their daughters off to men who don’t ride rickshaws. Though frail, nine-year-old Mano is confident he will soon learn to ride one as well as his father Nimani Behra. “I will become a good rickshaw-puller in one year,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. The villagers don’t know when the rickshaw tradition began. According to some, their ancestors drove the chariots of a local king, who gave them land and christened the place Chalakhdih (drivers’ enclave). When the dynasty declined, the villagers took to hand-pulled rickshaws and later to cycle rickshaws. But the love for the rickshaw leads to dropouts in schools.
IANS Remote control “telesurgery” Using surgical robots and computers, experienced physicians can conduct surgery anywhere in the world. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore said on Monday at a meeting of the American Urological Association in Anaheim, Calif. that they have successfully conducted 17 “telesurgeries” on patients in Rome. “Eventually this could be miniaturised and made just like ‘Fantastic Voyage’,” Dr. Dan Stoianovici, Director of Robotics Lab at Johns Hopkins, told Reuters. He was referring to the 1966 movie about a surgical team inserted into a dying man. Between September 1998 and July 2000, the Johns Hopkins team used a combination of computers, telecommunications, videoconferencing and advanced surgical robots to guide operations actually being conducted at Rome’s Policlinico Casilino University. Surgical robots augment a surgeon’s ability by scaling down range of motion, providing three-dimensional vision and eliminating hand tremor. The robotic systems consist of a surgeon’s viewing and control console and a cart with robotic arms that sits next to the patient. Fourteen of the long-distance surgeries were laparoscopic, meaning a thin fiber optic scope was inserted into the body. Eight of the procedures involved ligation of spermatic veins while nonfunctioning kidneys were removed from three patients and two kidney biopsies and one kidney repair were done. The three other procedures involved access to the kidney.
Reuters |
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Gujarat’s roofless still awaiting relief FOUR months after the tragedy, the quake-hit people of Gujarat are still struggling for survival. Here is a first-hand account by The Tribune reporter. The world is a conglomeration of shreds and patches, every morning a miracle, brought to life by the morning sun. And yet, ironically, the first rays of the sun bring to light gory reminders of the ravages unleashed by the quake on January 26 — the debris of buildings which reduce life to rubble still occupy centrestage while hope and happiness lie buried underneath. Brimming with life not so long ago, the old towns are dead. They haven’t, however, given way to new ones and life has become a long, dreary battle with activity confined to sleeping and eating. While the fight carries on day after day, the Gujaratis have nothing to cheer about. On the horizon, doom looms large. Reflecting on what they have seen, heard and felt in the last four months, the Gujaratis can hardly persuade themselves that all hurry and bustle, and pleasures of the world, had any reality. To them, they seem more of dreams of a restless night. Having spent the post-quake period huddled in tents outside the remains of their homes, memories of the quake are vivid and continue to haunt the people. Laxity with regard to rehabilitation on the part of the state government is only rubbing salt into the wounds of the people. After promising them the moon in the guise of a rehabilitation package which came nearly three months after the quake, all the public could gather was stardust. Caught napping even in the face of a calamity of such magnitude, the “delayed and deplorable’’ package was another nail in the coffin of the Keshubhai Patel government which “successfully’’ mismanaged the relief operations where the government took a drubbing for a non-co-ordinated effort to distribute relief material. Failing to prove its mettle in crisis and judicious disposal of aid pouring in, the government had its back against the wall yet again even as the public outcry against the rehabilitation packages grew. The masses joined hands to not only wage a battle for survival in the post-quake times but to “extract’’ their due from the tight-fisted government, a mission they accomplished on the eve of the Prime Minister’s visit . Their threat to boycott the Prime Minister’s visit finally paid off and they managed to secure a modified, tailor-made plan to suit their needs. Even as the government tried to placate the agitated public, complaints of relief material not having reached the quake-affected pockets began pounding the authorities. While as many as 8,000 were received from Jamnagar alone, similar complaints flowed in from Kutch and Surendernagar as well. The government, however, is unwilling to accept such “allegations’’ and shrugs these off. With all this behind them, now the question staring the government in the face is that of inadequate facilities to meet the challenge of the monsoons. The very people who looked to the skies to satiate their parched lands are living in mortal fear of the rains this year. With nowhere to go, the reign of fear is gradually gaining ground . While the government deals with its share of responsibilities, the public is at its wits’ end on account of implementation of the approved rehabilitation packages. While clarity on the future course of action in this case is amiss, people are irked by the fact that all operations are being remote-controlled from Gandhinagar. It is common sentiment that the exercise of rehabilitation can be better achieved provided the government is willing to delegate powers to local administrative officers who understand the pulse of Kutch better. Moreover, agitation is writ large on the faces of the Kutch residents who are particularly skeptical about the way the distribution of finance is to be handled. They contend that the government is trying to satisfy its vote bank with the aid received for reconstruction of Kutch rather than pump in money at one place. Their threat to take to the streets in such an eventuality is real. With money to Kutch coming essentially from NRIs settled in West Asia and the UK, the economy is not shattered. Businessmen are having sleepless nights, saving pennies for the rainy day as they prepare to setup their businesses from scratch. The four worst-hit towns of Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar hardly show signs of building up or rising from the rubble. Instead the picture is that of rows of canvas tents lining the roads or tin sheets for shelter. While a lot of thought went into providing temporary shelter, the public is disgruntled that none was spared for interim housing till permanent structures can come up. The state government, in its package, has sought two years for handing over of permanent structures while assuming that the people would spend the months in between in tents and temporary shelter, a fact which has earned public wrath. The officials entrusted with the task of rehabilitation, however, are on a different wavelength altogether. They claim that while debris removal is swiftly progressing, the financial aid given to every family would suffice for the interim period. |
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Picking up the threads
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Yuba City: where Punjabis thrive WITH sturdy hands and deep resolve, early Sikh immigrants from India planted their seeds of success in the rich agricultural community in this Yuba City in California. Located in Sutter county, 2,360 of Yuba City’s 36,758 residents are Indians. Indeed, Sutter county boasts of the highest percentage of Indians in any U.S. county. Nearly 9 per cent of its 79,000 residents are Indian Americans. Families of many of its Indians date their presence to a century ago when their ancestors arrived from Punjab to work on the railroads and then stayed on to farm the land. “The early Indians did not have education, the new ones who go to Silicon Valley do, it was a different generation that came here,” said Sarb Johl, a farmer. His family has been growing peaches in the Yuba-Sutter area for 36 years. When the first Indian settlers from Punjab arrived, it was an ideal setting — the climate and the land being reminiscent of the fields in their home state in India. Since then, the scene has been changing considerably. According to 1997 U.S. Department of Agriculture, farm acreage increased by 9 per cent to 348,349 acres from 1992 to 1997. Farm sizes increased by 13 per cent during the same time to 265 acres. But competition, an oversupply of peaches and bankruptcy of one of the peach processors, Tri-Valley Growers, has meant grim times for growers in recent years although those like Johl are a resilient lot. He admits business is changing. “It isn’t as lucrative as it used to be. But I’ve done this all my life, I’m committed to farming,” says Johl, who has an engineering degree. Many new residents in Sutter county now commute to high-tech jobs in Roseville and Sacramento, but agriculture continues to be king. According to the USDA census figures from 1997, there are 849 farms in the county. Recent arrivals like Amarpreet Nijjar, a member of the Yuba-Sutter National Sikh Women’s Group, is happy to be in the community. Her husband is a software engineer with Hewlett-Packard in Sacramento. “It is good to be in this small town where the children are exposed to the Sikh community,” she told IANS. Others in the Indian community have embraced changes whole-heartedly. Pastor Om Pegany converted from Sikhism to Christianity in 1991. His congregation has grown to 200 people. Although his siblings have followed Pegany, his parents remain devout Sikhs. “We combine Punjabi culture with our religion,” Pegany explained. “The Bible is not a white man’s religion.” The Sri Narayan Hindu Temple too is an example of Yuba City’s cultural assimilation. The temple has framed pictures of both Guru Gobind Singh and Guru Nanak Dev alongside 12 life-sized marble models of Hindu deities. Also, by this summer, the Islamic Centre of Yuba City should hopefully open its doors for service, said board member Hameed Bath. “It will be a big relief,” said Bath, who came to Yuba City 30 years ago from Pakistan when he was eight. For years he and other Muslims travelled to Sacramento or prayed with other members of their faith at a makeshift mosque at a devotee’s home.
IANS |
Improve Physique of Girls
Under the auspices of the Punjab Social Reform Association, the adjourned session of the Conference on Women’s Education was held this afternoon at the S.P.S.K. Hall. It was in continuation of the session held about a month ago at the same Hall, when a number of resolutions, emphasising the importance of females education, were adopted. Mr Manohar Lal, M.A. Bar-at-law, presided over this afternoon’s meeting. Mr Manohar Lal, presiding, read the electoral rules, containing qualifications for voters to the Council; and asked the women upon whom the right had been conferred, to exercise it in a proper manner. |
Deep within I heard the rhythm of in and out movement, Thanks my Lord, The bliss of inhaling and exhaling was fixed within, Thanks my lord. **** Bring up the breath from navel, Reach the throat, Lose the Self at trikuti, Realise the True form, Do not reveal to others The Secret Word of the formless. —
Sai Hadi Baksh. **** Water is held by the vessel, without a vessel water could not be held; Mind is held in by knowledge Knowledge cannot be acquired without a teacher. **** He whose heart is pure, he is universally respected. He who treasures God' Name that one is blessed. He in whom abides discrimination and the name of God, Such true Guru is the friend of all, he loves all. By wise contemplation as explained by the Guru, The all-pervading God himself is found. **** Call him the true Guru by whose contact the mind attains bliss. All doubts of the mind disappear, the highest path leading to the Lord appears. **** The one who night and day is devoted to God, Know him to be the abode of God. There is no difference between God and His devotee; Know this Truth. —
Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Var Asa M 1, Var Vadhans M 3; Gauri M 4, Shalok M. 9 **** You may be able to convert (a person) by love, forbearance and tolerance but not by petulance and peevishness or disagreement. If... people criticise the Faith, you should not get offended for they are uninstructed and ignorant, but you are the knowing one. —
Sardar Bahadur Maharaj Jagat Singh, The Science of the Soul, Part III.42 **** God hath not left Himself without witness in any land. —
The Holy Bible, Acts 14:17 **** The best creed we can have is charity towards the creeds of others. —
Josh Billings |
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