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Friday,
July 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Preparing for Agra Saving trust of UTI
By Hari Jaisingh |
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How to prevent female
foeticide
On changing the course of
history
‘Let them have temples!’
Conmen strike star-struck teenagers
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Preparing for Agra BOTH
India and Pakistan are making the right moves to ensure that the mood even after the July 14 Agra Summit remains that of love and bonhomie. The token gestures of goodwill that the two sides have made thus far suggest that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf will literally leave no stone unturned for giving to the people of the subcontinent the rare opportunity of building bridges of friendship and trust. As of today, it is a beautiful dream which has been kept alive by the people and the poets on either side of the border. However, the lack of political will, primarily among leaders in Pakistan, has proved to be the main stumbling block. It has prevented the people, who share a common culture and heritage, to live as one family. However, the latest writing on the wall is different. Of course, the credit for breaking the ice would go to Mr Vajpayee who stunned his friends and foes in equal measure by inviting General Musharraf to India. However, in the end history will recognise the contribution of both Mr Vajpayee and President Musharraf for giving importance to the issues which bind us rather than those that have caused avoidable bitterness on both sides after the creation of Pakistan. India's decision to speed up the release of all civilian Pakistani prisoners is based on the realistic assessment of the dilemma of the non-Punjabi Muslim of the subcontinent. There is hardly a non-Punjabi Muslim family which does not have blood relatives on either side of the border. Most Pakistani civilian prisoners are those who had over-stayed their visas without permission. The gesture has evidently been made keeping in mind the fact that President Musharraf himself is a member of what can be called the Muslim divided family of the subcontinent. Diplomatic and political calculations must have taken notice of the fact that General Musharraf has a far greater stake in ensuring success of the Agra Summit than the non-Mohajir Pakistani leaders had while going through the motions of discussing peace with India. In a manner of speaking it is his "own people" in India who become the target of unjustified suspicion and humiliation whenever Pakistan creates direct or indirect tension with its secular neighbour. When Pakistan gets a pasting scapegoats are found among the large Mohajir population. Credit should go to Mr Vajpayee for initiating a series of similar gestures for preparing the ground for the meeting with General Musharraf. The decision not to arrest Pakistani fishermen who stray into Indian waters is one. The other concerns the award of 20 scholarships to Pakistani students for studying in Indian technical institutes. Add to these gestures the decision to remove duty on 50 items imported from Pakistan and the picture that emerges is that of India playing the role of the "patriarch" who usually gives more than the junior member's due share for keeping the family together. The scholarships for students and withdrawal of duty on 50 items, to begin with, are also India's token investment in creating among the people of Pakistan at least two reasons for mending bilateral ties. It is hoped that Pakistan too would expedite the release of the Indian prisoners of war as also the civilians languishing in Pakistani jails for minor trespasses. India has done its bit for preparing public opinion in Pakistan in favour of the success of the Agra Summit. General Musharraf still has a few more steps to take for matching, if not exceeding, India's gestures of goodwill. |
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Saving trust of UTI OPERATION
Salvage has started in the UTI with the virtual sacking of chairman P.S. Subramaniam as a prelude to revamping the board of trustees. Now the government proposes to have a nominee as it used to have until the mid-nineties. This is the price the old team of fund managers has to pay for the sin of not restructuring the prestigious and hugely popular US-64. The good news is that the Finance Ministry has more or less decided on three steps. One, it has asked the interim UTI chairman K.G.Vassal and his advisers to draw up a plan to cure the many ills of the scheme. Hopefully, it should be ready in two weeks. Even before that there may be a bale-out of about Rs 5000 crore to help the UTI to reinstate its suspended redemption and repurchase plans. Simultaneously, the Trust is also being advised to reconsider the announced proposal to sell off a large block of shares it holds in several blue chip companies. The old management had hit on this idea to raise enough funds to repurchase units. This had scared the companies as much, if not more, as the closing of the repurchase window had the small investor. Unloading a large number of shares would have depressed the value of the worth of the UTI holdings. There is also the danger of management change of at least a dozen of old economy companies which are run by promoters with slender equity control. For instance, Tatas hold less than 7 per cent but they run a giant conglomeration. A lower price and easy access will tempt multinational corporations to have a go at hostile takeover. That will be a lethal blow to Indian industry. Of interest to the common man who owns the US-64 stocks is the ending of the freeze on redemption. The more than two crores of them can breathe easily although they will receive less price once the US-64 is calibrated to its real value. The Deepak Parekh committee has recommended two steps to stabilise the scheme. Since it is an income fund, and not a growth fund, a bulk of its investment should be lent at around 12 per cent interest. This will have the twin benefits of insulating the US-64 from the volatility of the stock market and assuring the investor a regular income. Actually the committee suggested a ceiling of 30 per cent for equity holding and the rest as debt. This was in 1999. Even now the UTI has locked up 65 per cent of US-64 deposits in company shares. This is inexcusable since the stock market has witnessed wild swings in the past two years. The 1998 US-64 crisis was sparked off by a spectacular plunge of share prices and it was only prudent to prevent a repetition of the same sad story in the first three months of this year. The woes of the UTI are rooted in its obsessive love for information technology stocks and its lethargy in unloading them when they were shedding their value at an alarming rate in February and March this year. Every other fund manager fled the market while the UTI stayed steadfast. The US-64 made a profit of more than Rs 3000 crore last year and perhaps a loss of equal amount this year. This is the mystery and misfortune of the US-64. |
Using police as CMs’ private army THE
barbaric show put up by the police in Chennai in the wee hours of last Saturday at the prompting of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha carries far darker shades than we saw during the 1975 Emergency. The June 30 crackdown on former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, two Union Ministers and other DMK leaders and workers was a naked display of the politics of vendetta at its crudest form. Tamil Nadu is, of course, notorious for such maliciously motivated politics. Ms Jayalalitha was obviously paying the 78-year-old former Chief Minister in the same coin in murky games of using the state power for settling personal and political scores. Still, Ms Jayalalitha was shown due courtesies when the police came to arrest her on December 7, 1996. Mr Karunanidhi was the presiding deity of the state then. But on that black
Saturday the Tamil Nadu police threw all norms of decency to the winds. Seeing is believing. The live television pictures (Sun TV) speak for themselves, notwithstanding the softer version of the events shown by the state police cameras. The cameras do not lie. But they can be selective in presentation. Anyway, the police highhandedness could be seen through. And here the advantage was that in Mr Karunanidhi and Mr Maran, citizens saw in the police behaviour their own sufferings at the hands of the guardians of law and hence they sympathised with the VVIPs. In this country even police excesses require VVIP blessings for proper focus and right responses in right quarters! The damage is done. Ms Jayalalitha's arrogance of power is seen to be believed. Her installation as Chief Minister, for that matter, was in itself an act of impropriety, though it might be justified legally. The seeds of her "sins" were actually sown by Ms Fathima Beevi as Governor. It is a pity that the country's ruling establishment everywhere allows things to drift as a matter of political convenience, forgetting the basic truth that one wrong leads to another and that two wrongs do not make one right. Democracy demands strict adherence to constitutional norms. But who cares? The practitioners of politics build their images on falsehood shamelessly and misuse power for personal ends. We have also been a mute witness to dirty "badla" politics which ultimately kills political openness and the norms of fairplay. We have actually allowed a veritable host of illegal and semi-illegal practices to puncture the democratic institutions and destroy the system. The rulers adopt immoral and illegal methods and use the police as an instrument of coercion and intimidation to achieve their dubious targets. It is conveniently forgotten that most senior police officers are part of the all-India Police Service. They are supposed to protect law, and not the ruler. Facts are horrifying. As Mr B.K. Nehru once put it: "The police today has been reduced to the level of a private army of the respective Chief Ministers”. Small wonder then that the system is crumbling as the ruling nexus of politicians, bureaucrats, policemen and criminals is busy minting money. There is a sharp decline in the quality of IAS and IPS officers, barring some exceptions. In today's atmosphere, most of them will be willing to crawl before the powers that be even if they are just asked to bend. It is a pity that the entire police force has been politicised and vulgarised simply because a handful of officers look for short-term gains and are ever willing to become part of the ruling nexus. I don't know how we can reverse this trend. This poses a serious challenge to the polity. All those who have stakes in the future of democracy must think and find answers. Looking back, it won't be an exaggeration to say that India is always in danger of succumbing to a cynical authoritarian ambience which allows arrogant use of power in the name of democracy! The Jayalalithas and the Laloos do rule without any semblance of democratic sanctions with a view to turning illegality into legality. Such aberrations create conditions for a "totalitarian" state. Viewed in this light, the conduct of the Tamil Nadu police with the blessings of Ms Jayalalitha is unpardonable, notwithstanding the selective TV footage of Saturday night's happenings. Take, for instance, the knock at the door of a former Chief Minister at 1.15 a.m. He is not a fugitive or a criminal in hiding. He deserved certain courtesies from the police. What was the provocation for behaving the way they did? How did their initial bonhomie disappear? Perhaps, the instruction from the boss was to teach DMK leaders a lesson or two. This is not the way we want our democracy to function. We have conveniently forgotten the warning lesson from certain Western examples which clearly tell us that tailoring democracy to suit misplaced demands and needs of rulers is a highly dangerous game which goes against the equality and dignity of citizens. Besides police "excesses" against the former Chief Minister, an equally serious aberration in the police conduct was the arrest of two Union Ministers, Mr Murasali Maran and Mr T.R. Balu. This put Centre-state relations under terrible strain. Never before in the history of free India, two serving Union Ministers and a former Chief Secretary were arrested without prior permission of the Central government. They were treated worse than criminals. Criminals these days, for that matter, are treated with more care and awe than law-abiding citizens. They are shown all considerations by the police and their collaborators because of their money and muscle power. Indeed, the criminalisation of the police that Mr N.N. Vohra talked about so candidly in his report on the Mumbai blast is total. Policemen are supposed to be custodians of law. They are expected to follow the rules of professional conduct, and not the whims and fancies of the ruler of the day. I hope other Chief Ministers will not take the cue from Ms Jayalalitha and let loose a reign of terror on their political opponents and the journalists who refuse to toe their line. Seen in this context, the arrest of a large number of journalists in Chennai is a direct assault on the freedom of the Press. This clearly exposes Ms Jayalalitha's dictatorial traits. India's is a democratic polity and freedom of the Press is its very soul. Any attempt to curb free functioning of journalists and the Press cannot and must not be tolerated. Ms Jayalalitha has apparently forgotten the lessons the Emergency raj had taught us all. Curbs on the Press do not pay. Such tactics become counter-productive in the long run. The moral is crystal clear: it is absurd to play "thought controller". Genuine flowering of democracy, after all, depends on the ability of the ruling elite to free the mind from the "prisons" that hold it captive. But we seem to be losing fast our capacity to live and let live. To create the right atmosphere, much will depend on whether the police and courts function decently and as required under the law. We are surely not helping the cause of democracy and dharma if the police and political vested interests make people feel insecure. It needs to be appreciated that the rules of conduct in public life take their inspiration from dharma which establishes the identity of the socio-political order with the natural world. Here it may be worthwhile to quote Dr S. Radhakrishnan: "Dharma is a code of conduct supported by the general conscience of people. It is not subjective in the sense that the conscience of the individual imposes it, nor external in the sense that the law enforces it. Dharma does not force men into virtue, but trains them for it. It is not a fixed code of mechanical rules, but a living spirit which grows and moves in response to the development of society." It is a pity that the ruling elite has not set the standards of right conduct. In fact, society is going to the dogs because of the failure of the persons who control the levers of power. The latest Tamil Nadu events give us yet another warning on how and why the rulers must not misuse power and authority as a personal fief. Power has to be used for the good of the people as also for enhancing the quality of our democratic polity. It is for the people to assert themselves and call a spade a spade whether guilty persons are in Chennai, Chandigarh, Mumbai or New Delhi. |
How to prevent female
foeticide EVER since the publication of the Census 2001 Provisional Report highlighting the decline in the child (0-6 years) sex-ratio from 945 in 1991 to 927 female child per 1000 male child in 2001, there has been much hue and cry against this worrisome and despicable feature of the demographic change in India. The Press, the intellectuals and the women organisations have been quite vocal in raising alarm and protests against this horrible trend caused mainly due to female foeticide, and even female infanticide. This malady of the worsening child sex-ratio has indeed become quite widespread in the country. Of the 28 states and seven union territories, only four states — Kerala, Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim — and only one union territory, Lakshadweep, are free from this degrading and socially harmful phenomena. The worst affected states and union territories are Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttaranchal, Delhi and Chandigarh. And all these five states and the two union territories are ironically quite high in total as well as female literacy rates. This decline in the child sex-ratio, as highlighted by the latest Census figures, has also led to renewed protests and indignation against the intrauterine sex-determination tests. Women activists have very strongly condemned the medical practitioners who conduct foetus sex-determination tests despite these having been declared illegal. High incidence of induced abortions in India and the decline in child sex-ratio clearly prove the rampant misuse of sex-determination tests to abort female foetuses. As per the latest data available, there were 6.7 million induced abortions in India in 1991, which is about one-fourth of the total births in the same year. So, the condemnation of the medical practitioners for conducting, albeit clandestinely, these illegal sex-determination tests is quite understandable. But what is not understandable is that why nobody is questioning even now the justification for the liberalisation of the right to abortion in a society like ours where there exists a strong male child preference. It is both the sex-determination tests and the liberalisation of the right to abortion that together have led to the practice of female foeticide in India. Let us realise that female foeticide is a natural though undesirable corollary of the liberalised right to abortion; and female infanticide is an inherent though criminal extrapolation of popularisation of abortion that has happened since 1971. So, it is high time women activists in particular and society in general realised that liberalisation of abortion has proved to be a highly anti-woman measure. Prior to the passage of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in August, 1971, induced abortion was a criminal offence except for the purpose of saving the pregnant woman’s life. But the MTP Act liberalised abortion to the extent that it became permissible even in the case of a pregnancy following the failure of contraception. Again, the government has not only liberalised abortion but has also facilitated it by making provisions for paid abortion leave of about three weeks to working married women who underwent medical termination of pregnancy. These measures have, in fact, given rise to two major problems. With the growing access to the intra-uterine sex-determination tests in the prevailing societal preference for a male child, the liberalisation has led to the widespread practice of female foeticide. It is almost impossible to argue that a woman can abort a pregnancy caused due to the failure of contraception, but she cannot do so if the foetus is a female one. Also, once we approve of foeticide (i.e. abortion) even on such trivial grounds like contraception failure and also go for the popularisation of the medical termination of pregnancy, as is happening in India, then female foeticide is also bound to get people’s acceptance. Liberalisation of abortion had led to another problem. Even though it is always asserted from a public platform that abortion is never to be used as a method of family planning, the reality is that abortion has de facto become an accepted method of family planning in India. These are all very dangerous consequences of liberalisation of abortion in a country which is also plagued with the serious problem of excess population necessitating to have small families. The mushrooming growth of abortion clinics and their extensive and unabashed advertisements should be a matter of serious concern for the entire nation. Hence the women organisations and activists who champion the cause of “Right to Abortion” resulting in the MTP Act (1971) must now realise their mistake and start a movement to rescind the MTP Act. Or else their protests against the declining child sex-ratio is likely to be viewed as shedding of crocodile’s tears. It may be highlighted here that the National Population Policy (NPP)-2000 lays stress on “strengthening and expanding facilities for safe abortion” as a “promotional and motivational measure for the adoption of small family norm”. There are several eminent women activists who are members of the National Population Commission set up last year as required by the NPP-2000. Do they approve that abortion should be used as a population control measure? I think this is most atrocious and anti-woman and must be condemned and opposed by all and by women activists in particular for obvious reasons. However, if it is not possible to put the genie of liberalised abortion back into the bottle, I have another plausible suggestion. Amend the MTP Act to the effect that the medical termination of pregnancy will be permitted only if the husband too undergoes vasectomy simultaneously. I believe this suggestion is most logical, pro-woman and pro-family planning. But, above all, this amendment in the Act will significantly reduce the evil of female foeticide. Secondly, this measure will also discourage men from using abortion as a normal method of family planning. Thirdly, the step will significantly bring down the pre-marital abortions as well which is reported to be increasing in India. Medical termination of pregnancy should, however, be permissible in exceptional cases like threat to life or rape, etc. It is most deplorable that the government itself is encouraging people to use abortion as a method of family planning. This is being done in two ways. First, by providing paid leave to married women who undergo abortion; but without any check on the husband to prevent him from enabling his wife to earn this abortion leave again and again. Second, the NPP-2000 asserts to “expand and strengthen the facilities for safe abortion” as a promotional and motivational measure for the adoption of the small family norm.” This is proving to be detrimental for society. But, surprisingly, no woman organisation or woman activist or intellectual has, to the best of this author’s knowledge, objected to these governmental measures to promote abortion as a measure for population control. The writer, a professor at the IIT, Delhi, is a frequent contributor on population issues. |
On changing the course of
history A
World Bank report says that South Asia is the poorest region of the world. It was the richest for two thousand years. Who is responsible for its present debacle? Pakistan. It has turned the lives of the nearly 1300 million peoples of South Asia into a misery. But on this later. President Musharraf says that his mission in India is to change the course of history. Sure, it can be changed. But has he the will? Has he the mandate? And knowledge, too, to change the course? Freeing the flow of life in South Asia from political interference is one way to change the course. But this will not be easy. Politics has dominated the life of the people for almost a century. True, it has been a disaster. It is, therefore, time to reduce the role of politics in South Asia and enhance the role of economics. I say this because the political process in this region is not amenable to change. There are millions with a stake in this politics. It should be overwhelmed by the compulsions of economics. In our day and time, when we are thinking of genetic engineering, to take over the realm that God has been occupying so far, I think it is a small change to reduce the power of the politician and enhance the power of the economist. History and circumstances have made our politicians what they are. For two reasons: (1) because of the culture of touching the feet of rulers and (2) because we have set them up above us. Is there any wonder then that they look down on us both physically and metaphorically! Our tragedy is that we are not even aware of these. It has been said by historians that if the decadence of a country goes beyond the point of no return, then salvation will have to come from outside — through foreign subjection. Our case is not that bad because we have just come out of foreign subjection. Our memories are still fresh. In our case, the corrective will have to come from a combination of external pressures and internal reforms (steady opening up of South Asia) to a free flow of investment (from foreign as also domestic sources) and trade. In short, the time has come to free SAARC from the political prejudices of member states. This will change the course of South Asia history. It is not my intention here to draw up a new economic plan for South Asia. In any case, it cannot be done in an article. My only purpose is to draw attention to the fact that if we must change the course of history, there is only one way and that is to reform. We must apply more or less the same principles of liberalisation to inter-state relations which we applied in the case of each nation state. In other words, we must free South Asia from political and bureaucratic control. It is a fact that liberalisation (de-regulation) has done a lot of good all over the world. But relations between nations continue to work in the same old groove. For example, Pakistan has refused to give MFN status to India in all these long years! This is because nations are still holding on to their sovereignties. But to go back. It was Muslim separatism which created the crisis in South Asia. To say now that partition was “the greatest blunder of history” is no doubt wisdom. But South Asia paid a heavy price for this late wisdom. Musharraf must acknowledge this and control the hounds which continue to bay at India. And, first of all, he must change the course of Pakistan’s history. If the unity of South Asia is the goal he has in mind, then fundamentalism and jehadism must have no place in South Asia. If people cannot see that SAARC is a joke when its members are all addicted to theocracises and fundamentalism, it is because our thinkers are mostly myopic. It is this distraction from the main thing — the economic salvation of our peoples — by introducing divisive politics, which is responsible for the poverty of South Asia. And there is a good reason for this distraction: divisive politics is emotional; it creates vote banks, whereas economics stir up little emotion. In other words, politics confines itself to matters of the heart and economics to matters of the mind. The politician’s interest is in the vote bank, not in economics. Not this alone. By playing the politics of the cold war (including in Afghanistan) and then the politics of China in South Asia and by waging a proxy war, Pakistan has kept South Asia in a state of perpetual crisis and away from its economic tasks. In doing so, it has done the greatest disservice to the region. All for what? For Kashmir? Well, Pakistan will not get Ladakh and Jammu. This must have been obvious in 1947 and must be today. So, what has Pakistan got for all its intransigence? Nothing that it could not have got by other means. Another “great blunder”? Perhaps. Thus in the pursuit of its separatist “two-nation” theory, Pakistan has done the greatest damage to South Asia. But has it done any good to itself? Today, the greatest enemies of the concept of Pakistan are precisely those — the Muhajirs — who were its greatest advocates! The greatest irony? Yes, such things happen. What is more, today the Sindhis, Balochis, Pathans and Saraikis are all up in arms against Punjabi domination. And the Sunnis are at the throat of the Shias. And what can we say of Pakistan’s economic achievement? It has brought the most prosperous region of South Asia to bankruptcy! If South Asia has failed to solve its problems, it is because of the contradictions of its life. Imagine, all countries except India are theocracies! They hanker after a mono-culture. Yet, they are all members of SAARC, committed to a free trade areas! So, what has SAARC achieved in 15 years? Practically, nothing. Legal intra-regional trade is no more than 3-4 per cent of the total trade of all countries put together. It is said that India acts like a bully to neighbours. But how rational are India’s neighbours when, even while being members of SAARC, they play China against India! But, strangely, they take full advantage of the “big” Indian market. The small countries want India to throw open its market fully and bring down the barriers. But it is all a one-way traffic, for when it comes to India sharing the resources of the small ones — for example, hydropower resources of Nepal, gas resources of Bangla and energy resources of Pakistan — they are not willing to do so. Such is the picture. We can change it. We can indeed change the course of history. But we must know what course it is to take. As Prime Minister Vajpayee has said the problem of South Asia is its poverty and that is the real enemy. Anyone who says nay — and the fundamentalists are saying so — is a traitor to South Asia. |
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‘Let them have temples!’ A
combination of missile technology and spirituality (our ancient remedy for all the ills of mankind) seems to be the driving force of our nation. Or at least that’s what I think. Take a morning newspaper. On the front page a zooming missile takes off in all its glory; on the editorial page is a pious sermon on how to achieve anything you want through prayer and meditation. Missiles, bombs and spirituality leave me cold. They remind me of Gandhiji’s much-quoted advice: “When you wish to know if anything you want to do is good or not, imagine the face of the poorest man in the land and ask yourself whether your proposed act will be of any gain to him.” In the last few years almost everything that our rulers have done is to turn this famous dictum on its head. And the rich and the well-to-do have done exceedingly well. They don’t want to see the faces of the poor. It is difficult these days to engage someone in a discussion on the country’s economic progress. As soon as you raise the subject, he or she will launch into a discourse on globalisation and information technology and the share market. You ask about the condition of the poor — the hunger, the illiteracy and the lack of health care, and you’ll be told it is all because there are too many people. It is the old story; eliminating poverty can only be done by eliminating the poor. You say China has a larger population yet they have done better in terms of literacy, health care and even population control, which may have something to do with the fact that female literacy in China is 75 per cent as against 44 per cent in India. They will say but China is not a democracy. End of conversation. France, Russia and China organised revolutions much before they found themselves in our kind of situation, but we are content to stagnate and wait for our spirituality to redeem us. Other Asian countries — Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia are spearheading industrial and scientific revolutions while we are trying to prove that in Vedic times we were very advanced in science and technology. Our new cultural leaders, the Hindu right, are busy creating a new mythology about our ancient culture. Whether in science or history or the arts, they are attempting to rid our institutions of left-wing poison. By recreating Ram Rajya, they propose to bring India into the 21st century. Speaking at a seminar in Thiruvananthapuram the other day, a young Indian Vedic scholar and “scientist” Subash Kak asserted that Indian culture had effected “sweeping changes” in western societies. “The West has realised that Indian culture offered the only remedy to deal with the challenges of modern living. Several US churches were offering yoga classes.... In future medical research, the relation between the body and the mind will be taken into account. This relation formed the very basic concept of the Indian system of medicine...” Despite all this wisdom, why does India continue to be a poor country? The young scientist has a ready answer. “This is because the country is not yet liberalised from the shackles of the bureaucracy created by the Westerners. When the country is freed of the shackles it will emerge as a major power.” To be a major power is the obsession of our Vedic chauvinists. Pokhran and Ram Temples are two sides of the same fantasy and delusion. Where there are no schools or hospitals, we give the people temples. Where there is no drinking water, we give them weapons of mass destruction. When I look back over the last two years of the BJP coalition, I feel that the real slide in the country’s economic and social life began with Pokhran. It distorted our priorities, reversed them in fact. It also messed up our foreign relations. Instead of non-alignment, we have alignment. Instead of creating an area of peace in the sub-continent, we are beset with insurgency on all sides. We have antagonised our neighbours. And whatever influence we had in the world is fast diminishing. While in the rest of the world alliances are shifting, this is the worst time for India to move away from its traditional path. To keep the ship of state steady is the task of men and women of vision, but where are they? |
Punjab Council THE Punjab Legislative Council met today at 10:30 a.m. In the Assembly Chamber with poor non-official attendance. K.B. Chaudhari Shahab-ud-din presided. After questions the Finance Member read a lengthy important statement on the financial situation. As the members had no time to consider it, the consideration of demands was postponed on Pandit Nanak Chand's motion on the government's demand No. 1 and on the Finance Member's acquiescence. The House accordingly adjourned for the day after a brief one hour's sitting. |
Conmen strike star-struck teenagers THAT teenagers enamoured by glamorous professions like acting and modelling are increasing being duped by conmen posing as agents. Phoney agents walk up to attractive teenagers in shopping centres and other busy areas and introduce themselves as agents representing modelling agencies or film producers. They offer to shoot a roll of film for which the aspiring model has to pay some money. If the girls fall for this, they are set for a bigger rip-off-a bigger photo shoot. This time the charges are significantly higher. Once the money has been paid, the agent disappears and looks for new victims. Those who get off by just losing their money are the luckier ones. Some young girls have also been assaulted and forced into compromising acts. Some agents manage to convince the young girls to pose in revealing costumes and postures claiming that these are necessary for the modelling assignment. At least two girls were then blackmailed into having a relationship with the photographer. “With a single room and a mobile phone, anyone can claim that he is a modelling agent. But you can never know if they are conmen or abusers,” says Keatipong Thampanyawat, a modelling agent working with the Bangkok Models Agency.
WFS
An affair with alcohol Boozers like a laugh, and something that makes us laugh extra hard is pretending to consume far more than we actually do. We’re the bragging fishermen of hedonism, forever with our arms outstretched: `Last night, I drank... this much.’ Junkies wouldn’t do this. They would never say: `The syringe was... this full.’ And that’s because, unlike alcohol, their poison of choice rots the soul, robbing a person of everything, leaving their sense of humour up on bricks, like a nice car in a bad neighbourhood. One thinks of all this when one reads last week’s hand-wringing, lip-chewing studies about the `new breed of young professional females’ who have the audacity to drink too much, get all lairy in wine bars, and then evade work, suffering from near-death hangovers. Time was, when every generation thought that they’d invented sex, now they’re trying to do the same with drinking heavily, and they’re not going to get away with it. All those complaints about hen party riots, and all-female groups kicking it up over their Baileys and potato skins, are just a smokescreen. What seems to be the main problem is that women are richer, more independent, more `visible’ these days. Some would have it that groups of females are becoming as intimidating as groups of males. The
Observer
Women keep their wits about them Women keep their wits for far longer than men, according to a study of ageing at a Dutch University. In word and number tests among 85-year-olds, women showed faster and more accurate responses than men. Women also fared better than men on memory tests. These results were obtained despite the fact that the men in the study were better educated than the women. Researchers at Leiden University have concluded that biology rather than sociology contributes to the difference. They said that women live longer than men, therefore their brains must remain more actively alert.
WFS |
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Sympathy is closely related to Helpfulness; it is that which gives soul and sweetness to helpfulness. A machine can help but it takes a living, loving personality to
sympathise.
**** Much of sympathy is lost because it is not quick enough; it is like a slow organ which does not respond at once to the touch. We need to warn ourselves so that our sympathies are instantly aroused at the sight or sound of suffering. Sympathy sometimes is daunted because she has a kiss to offer, but no gift to bestow.... At other times sympathy is withheld through fear of criticism; then it is that self esteem is not willing to stand on one side. — Charlotte Skinner, The Marks of the Master
**** What use is melody in an unmusical song? What use are eyes that express no sympathy.
**** A compassionate glance is the eye’s true ornament. Without such kindness, eyes become unsightly sores. — The Tirukural
**** Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul. — Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength to Love
**** From the dark I go to the coloured, From the coloured to the dark. Shaking off sin as a horse shakes off dust from its hair, freeing myself from the body as the moon frees itself from the mouth of Rahu, I enter into the unmade world of Brahman (the Absolute Reality) with a fulfilled atman. I enter into the world of Brahman. — Chhandogya Upanishad
**** May the word, the mind, the eye, the ear, the tongue, the nose... the intelligence, the intention, and the will be purified in me! I am light! May I be purified from all stain and sin. — Mahanarayana Upanishad, 441
**** Just as the earthen pots are not different from the earth, the cause and effect, both are and the same. The cause is inherent in the effect. Therefore, the Atman, the cause, is inherent in the appearance of the world. — Impossibilities Challenged, 1201 |
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