E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Stop racist attacks
AS if the madness of annihilating thousands of innocent persons through aeroplane attacks on the World Trade Center, New York, was not shocking enough, now comes the news about insane assaulting of Sikhs in the USA. The killings of a few people of Indian origin have been highlighted in the Press here, but there are many more cases of targeting of Sikhs and other Indians in isolated towns of the USA. Gurdwaras and temples have been vandalised.

Need for caution
COMPARISONS are usually odious. Yet an ill-informed section of people in India is doing precisely that. The USA is being shown as a model of how one should respond to a national crisis of the magnitude that destroyed the symbols of the country's economic and military might. No one asked President George W. Bush to resign. In fact, the Democrats and the Republicans closed ranks and backed the President's proposed line of action against those who indulged in what was described as an act of war against America.

OPINION

Terrorist attacks & India’s response
Bullock-cart age tactics won’t do
S. Nihal Singh
FIRST it was the Indo-Pakistani summit at Agra and now the reaction to the horrific events in New York and Washington. The speed with which the Indian leadership presented the country’s public face to the USA and the world suggested that we have not moved away from dusty dog-eared files with red markers routinely peppered with “immediate” and “urgent” tags.

A CLOSE LOOK

From Jeddah to Afghan hideouts
S. K. Datta
OSAMA bin Laden is the test-tube baby of the CIA-ISI combine. He came to Afghanistan in the early eighties on the call of jehad to fight against the Soviet troops which landed in Afghanistan in 1979 on the Christmas night in aid of the leftist regime. In any case the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse that the Pentagon and the CIA knew, but in its wisdom the USA decided to take revenge of its defeat in Vietnam war.

REALPOLITIK

US crisis adds to economic woes
P. Raman
ONE good thing about our economy is that it has never been short of ready advisers and soothsayers. This month the Prime Minister suddenly wakes up to the impending economic disaster and summons all his advisers to suggest the right remedies. But few outside knew that even this wakeup call has been the outcome of a diabolic move to replace Yashwant Sinha by a young, smart minister who has just got a promotion.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Stop racist attacks

AS if the madness of annihilating thousands of innocent persons through aeroplane attacks on the World Trade Center, New York, was not shocking enough, now comes the news about insane assaulting of Sikhs in the USA. The killings of a few people of Indian origin have been highlighted in the Press here, but there are many more cases of targeting of Sikhs and other Indians in isolated towns of the USA. Gurdwaras and temples have been vandalised. That underscores an alarming racial undercurrent. Apparently, these are stray instances of revenge attacks on innocent people. Some of the enraged but misinformed Americans also mistake Sikhs for Arab terrorists. But the incidents cannot be condoned simply as the folly of a fringe section. After all, the New York and Washington attacks were also the handiwork of a marginal segment. The US government must take immediate and effective steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur at all. In this hour of tragedy, the government must make the common American realise that every Indian - Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and others -- shares their agony and sorrow. After Americans, the maximum casualties in the World Trade Centre tragedy have been those of the people of Indian origin. Even otherwise, Indians have been reeling under the impact of fanaticism for the past more than two decades and know more than anybody else what mass killings mean. To target Sikhs at such a time is nothing less than sacrilegious. The cases of mistaken identity can be understandable in those countries where there are few Sikhs, but not so in America where they have such a sizeable presence. In fact, Indians have played a leading role in the progress and prosperity of the USA for long.

The Indian Embassy in Washington has taken several steps to ensure that the confusion is removed, but the Indian Government needs to take up the matter with the US Administration even more forcefully. President Bush himself should accord top priority to this burning issue lest the spark of hatred leads to a racial divide. Even if Sikhs are being hounded only because the Arabs and other Muslims also look like them thanks to the turbans and the beard, that is an unfortunate discrimination. Most of the Muslims in the USA and the rest of the world are as much opposed to terrorist acts as white Americans. Targeting them amounts to ridiculing their patriotism as well as humanity. In fact, it only strengthens the hands of the fanatics like Osama bin Laden who all along have been spreading the canard that western countries treat Muslims as class enemies. The largest democracy in the world takes pride in calling itself a melting pot. If the minorities there are to be hounded, discriminated against and even killed just because of the colour of their skin or the shape of their headdress, what is the difference between the Taliban and the Americans? Not only the government but also community leaders have to rise to the occasion.

Need for caution

COMPARISONS are usually odious. Yet an ill-informed section of people in India is doing precisely that. The USA is being shown as a model of how one should respond to a national crisis of the magnitude that destroyed the symbols of the country's economic and military might. No one asked President George W. Bush to resign. In fact, the Democrats and the Republicans closed ranks and backed the President's proposed line of action against those who indulged in what was described as an act of war against America. He asked Congress for $2 billion and got $4 billion for "the war that we will win". This section wants India to respond in much the same fashion to the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington as America has done. Of course, this is not the right time to resurrect the ghost of Bhopal for reminding the nation about the American attitude to the world's worst industrial disaster for which the US-based Union Carbide was solely responsible. It is also not the right time to remind the USA about the treatment that was usually given to India's plea for waging a collective war against terrorism. The hijacking of an Indian Airline plane to Kandahar by Pakistan-based terrorists resulted only in expression of concern by the USA.

The political and other informed opinion in India is coming round to the view that the Centre should exercise caution in providing facilities to America for any unilateral military action in the region. Habits die hard, and bad habits take even longer to be eliminated. America is angry because its pride has been hurt and not because it has realised the importance of waging an honest war against all forms of terrorism in every part of the globe. At a meeting convened by former Prime Minister V. P. Singh leaders of what is called the People's Front raised valid points revolving around America's unhappy track record of selective response to calls for help against terrorist depredation from less powerful nations. Former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda and other senior Opposition leaders did well to raise the issue of the "xenophobic hysteria unleashed in the USA and attempts to communalise the atmosphere by targeting the Muslims and Sikhs". The leaders supported initiatives for the elimination of all forms of terrorism from the globe, but rightly warned India not to extend blind support to any unilateral action by the USA against any country. It would be in the fitness of things if President Bush were to mobilise global efforts against terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations. Let it be a UN-led war in which the USA should play a key role with India and other nations playing equally important supportive roles. The rhetoric being indulged in by the American leadership that "you are either our pal or our foe" is misplaced.

Musharraf’s big gamble 

PAKISTAN has taken the plunge. It has decided to ditch the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and its special guest, Osama bin Laden. Its ultimatum to its ultra-conservative neighbour to hand over Bin Laden to a third country within three days marks a sensational U-turn in several ways. The most serious is the likely repercussions in Pakistan itself. Bin Laden has grown bigger than life among all Islamic groups. They credit him with plotting the strategy that helped the Taliban capture 95 per cent of the land and establish a medieval-type Islamic republic. The Taliban is essentially a product of Pakistani-run madrasas and the Pakistan army trained and fought with the rag-tag troops to drive out or bribe smaller mujahideen groups to help Maulana Mohammed Omar to take over power. Even today Pakistan has over 3000 soldiers to train fresh recruits or maintain equipment. It supplies petrol to the land-locked country which is under severe UN-imposed sanctions. Above all, it is one of the three countries which have recognised the regime. Despite this umbilical relation, unusual between neighbours, Pakistan has disowned its blood brother at its most critical moment. Afghanistan has threatened to attack any neighbour which would assist the USA in its revenge mission. Actually this is an appeal to pro-Taliban men inside Pakistan to protest and stop their country from kow-towing to the USA. There will be protests, even violent and sustained, given the Talibanisation of Pakistan society. General Pervez Musharraf has talked to religious leaders before setting the deadline. It is not certain if they agreed to the proposal or if they have the kind of influence to sell the decision to the people.

The General has his own compulsions. If he opted to stay on the sidelines, he and his country would be isolated. This may happen even in the Muslim world with reports that many West Asian countries are ready to rally behind the USA. Inaction on his part will cement US relations with India at a higher level. This country has already offered all facilities, including air bases and refuelling. This is the last chance Pakistan has to slow down the improving relations. It also hopes to gain something from a grateful USA. It expects the dollar kingdom to lean on India to solve the Kashmir issue on its terms. It is in for a disappointment on this score. It wants the USA to cajole the World Bank and the IMF to write off a substantial part of its $ 30 billion debt. This is asking for the moon as the two lending agencies normally do not indulge in such charitable acts. Pakistan demands the lifting of economic sanctions, which lies in the domain of the US Congress. General Musharraf has tried to convert a major problem into an opportunity with less than 50 per cent success. 

OPINION

Terrorist attacks & India’s response
Bullock-cart age tactics won’t do
S. Nihal Singh

FIRST it was the Indo-Pakistani summit at Agra and now the reaction to the horrific events in New York and Washington. The speed with which the Indian leadership presented the country’s public face to the USA and the world suggested that we have not moved away from dusty dog-eared files with red markers routinely peppered with “immediate” and “urgent” tags.

One would have imagined that an immediate statement from the Prime Minister on Tuesday night to what is, in essence, a straightforward issue presented few difficulties. But while the world’s leaders were facing television cameras to present their views, all that the world learnt of the Indian reaction was from a briefing by the External Affairs and Defence Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh. It took another two days for Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee to appear on television.

Ironically, the only recent occasion the Indian foreign policy establishment reacted quickly was effusively to welcome the American National Missile Defence plan when the need of the hour was for a nuanced approach. Admittedly, Mr Vajpayee wished to take the major political parties with him in spelling out India’s approach, but there was no dispute over the country’s abhorrence of terrorism, having suffered from it in Kashmir for over a decade and being at the receiving end of the Mumbai blasts in the early nineties.

The conclusion is inescapable that the Indian political leadership is simply not geared to the modern information age where speed is of the essence and sound bytes are worth their weight in gold. India’s information technology industry might propel the country into the ranks of a software superpower and there are other islands of excellence but our political leaders seem to have made little progress from the days of the bullock-cart age.

Pakistan again beat India hands down in its understanding of the information age. Instead of being amused by the predicament of General Pervez Musharraf in seeking to satisfy American demands, one should admire his going before television cameras for the second time — at the unearthly hour of 1 a.m. local time — to get his point across to the US administration. It was then afternoon American eastern time.

The terrorist attacks on the twin World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon building outside Washington are terrible tragedies for the USA and their repercussions promise to be far-reaching. Apart from the series of military responses that are inevitable, they will have an impact on a whole gamut of problems ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation to terrorist activities in Kashmir. Above all, they have dented American sense of invulnerability.

It would be foolish for the USA — or India for that matter – to confuse the retaliatory steps by Washington to get a handle on terrorism with attempting to resolve the issues that lie at the heart of the terrorist attacks, however, misguided they may be. If the level of violence can be brought down in West Asia, Washington should construe it as an opportunity to seek a fair resolution of a problem that will not go away.

Mr Ariel Sharon has construed the American tragedy as strengthening his hands inasmuch as it gives him a freer hand to employ greater force to suppress Palestinians. Indeed, this is a double bonus because President George Bush’s hands off approach had already tilted the scales further against the Palestinians. In the short term, there seems little chance that the Bush administration has the will or empathy to be fair to the Palestinians. More blood and tears are, therefore, in store for Palestinians — and Israelis.

India has a point in suggesting that the terrible Mumbai blasts and the daily carnage in Kashmir did not have an international resonance. The single-minded onslaught on terrorism now promised by the USA follows the audacious terrorist attacks on American soil. But any such campaign will benefit India because it will – at least for a time – inhibit Pakistani support for arming, training and infiltrating the militants who kill and maim Kashmiris. Reports suggest that some of the terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have been closed in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks.

It is likely, therefore, that India will receive a breather in Kashmir. Now is the time for Mr Vajpayee to show his statesmanship by initiating an era of reconciliation in Kashmir. The tragedy is that the traditional approach of the Bharatiya Janata Party is hardline and unimaginative. The only way to win the hearts and minds of the people, in the psychological warfare experts’ jargon, is to give Kashmiris the autonomy that was promised them and they once had.

Americans are understandably riled by Iraqi President Sadam Hussein’s public suggestion that the Bush administration act with wisdom in reacting to the terrorist acts. But even enemies sometimes tell the truth. No sane person can justify the terrible acts that led to the deaths of thousands of innocents in the USA, but no one can doubt that the Israeli-Palestinian cauldron was responsible for the seething rage that burns in the hearts of so many in the Arab world.

In the short term, the USA can win the war against terrorism by reducing it through striking at some of its manifestations such as networks of training camps and recruits. But as the ingenious and cynical plan to use passenger jets as missiles showed, terrorists operate at the low-tech end while American prowess is in high-tech. Second, American intelligence seems desperately short in the field of human intelligence. Tightly-knit ideological terrorist groups are very difficult to infiltrate.

The carnage in New York and Washington has angered America. It remains to be seen whether this anger is channelled for the good of America and mankind.

The writer is a former Editor of The Statesman.

A CLOSE LOOK

From Jeddah to Afghan hideouts
S. K. Datta

OSAMA bin Laden is the test-tube baby of the CIA-ISI combine. He came to Afghanistan in the early eighties on the call of jehad to fight against the Soviet troops which landed in Afghanistan in 1979 on the Christmas night in aid of the leftist regime. In any case the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse that the Pentagon and the CIA knew, but in its wisdom the USA decided to take revenge of its defeat in Vietnam war.

The CIA legitimised jehad to fight a proxy war in Afghanistan. General Zia was too willing to let his country act as a frontline state to save his skin after hanging Z. A. Bhutto. The Pakistan regime got $ 6 billion from the USA and Saudi Arabia besides the money raised by way of subscriptions from rich Arabs. The Tablighi Jamaat of Pakistan spread out its wings to recruit Islamic volunteers from all over the world including the USA and Canada and Europe.

The Chinese came into the picture to teach the Russians a lesson. The Chinese Muslims were encouraged to join jehad by China in a big way. They were trained and armed by the Chinese.

Egypt got an opportunity to throw out the Muslim Brotherhood cadre to far away Afghanistan as they had organised to overthrow a moderate regime in Egypt. As a result, President Sadat was killed. The assassins left for other destinations mostly in Afghanistan. One such person was Abdullah Azzam, the spiritual guru of Osama bin Laden. The duo participated in the Afghan war in a variety of ways. Ultimately, Azzam and his son were killed in a car blast in Peshawar. By that time Osama bin Laden had acquired the image of a hero who fought “only in the name of Allah.”

Osama’s past life as a youth was like any other spoilt child of a rich father. For fun he often used to visit Beirut. He enjoyed the earthly pleasures. His outlook changed for a variety of reasons to Islamic fundamentalism. He heard the Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia for spiritual inspiration as he perceived disorder in West Asia.

While operating in Afghanistan he came in contact with jehadis from all over the world. That gave him an idea to consolidate the diverse jehadis under the umbrella of his organisation called Al-Qaeda, which means “base” in English. He had enough money to sustain the organisation. Gradually, he started receiving funds from regimes like those in Sudan and Iran, rich Arab individuals and expatriates of the subcontinent. He is always financially sound to launch big or small operations in any part of the world.

His Somalian experience of guerrilla strike against US troops engaged in humanitarian work in the wake of the famine in 1992 gave him the idea of a determined fight against the USA. He found that on being attacked the US marines went back to America as a few dead Americans were shown as exhibits of the powerless giant. In several interviews Osama admitted that the Somalian experience was the turning point in his determination to target the USA, which upholds secular democracy and a plural society. He soon left behind his US linkage in the jehad against the former Soviet Union. The ISI taught him how to use guns and Stinger missiles. It is believed that he has a good quantity of Stinger missiles with him. The heat-seeking Stinger missiles were donated by the USA to jehadis through the network of the ISI.

During the Iraq-Kuwait war he opposed the stationing of US forces on the Saudi Arabian soil as they were infidels (kafirs). He was thrown out of Saudi Arabia as he started campaigning against the Saudi ruling family on this issue.

In mid-nineties he landed up again in Afghanistan. He collected educated Egyptians and others who helped him to build up a series of fronts for worldwide jehad against the infidels. One such person is Ayaman-al-Zawahiri, a doctor by profession and well versed in English. He acts as his interpreter. He forged links with the Kashmiri jehadi groups like the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Al-Badr and the Jaish-e-Mohammed. They all had links with Osama during the Afghan jehad. There is no dearth of evidence to establish such links.

At present he has a worldwide network with more than 30 jehadi groups. This is what ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul has said. Gul is the guide and philosopher of all jehadi groups in Pakistan. Gul’s obsession against America is out of his inability to consolidate the gains of jehadi groups that fought the former Soviet Union. He was thrown out of the ISI, as the story goes, on the pressure of the USA in the early nineties.

In 1998 the USA attacked by Cruise missiles the Khost training centre of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan on strong evidence of his involvement in blasts in two US embassies, in Nairobi and Tanzania, killing more than 200 people. The US action was swift, but Osama escaped as he had shifted his location just before the strike. The missile attack killed some of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen men.

The attack on USS Cole carried out in 2000 in Aden harbour was a slap on US intelligence, its inability to anticipate such attacks. Evidence again linked this incident to Osama, but no strike could be organised due to the presidential election in the USA.

The Black Tuesday attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York and Pentagon in Washington on September 11 were manifestations of years of preparation. Logistics had to be arranged, people had to be carefully selected and trained.

Organising such an attack obviously required a huge expenditure. As evidence would indicate, the jehadis were stationed at different locations, and some got trained as commercial pilots. The ground support system was organised. At least there should be 50 to 60 conspirators in this case.

The boastful CIA and FBI failed to detect early warning signals. In the USA airport checkings are minimal. There is no frisking of passengers. There is no system to identify doubtful passengers. One name that has appeared now is of the person who had deep connections with Laden. Human intelligence operatives obviously did not keep a watchful eye on strangers and suspicious characters. There are obviousily no check on immigrants or those who stay in hotels in fictitious names. No identification records are maintained in hotels as proof of their identities. The CIA and the FBI should have studied the Indian system of multiple passenger checking and baggage checking.

The USA has now declared a war against a variety of jehadi networks that sustain international terrorism. 30/40 terrorist groups need to be targeted. Osama is the chief symbol of international terrorism. Osama is assisted by thinking experts. No one knows whether he has more lethal weapons like biological, chemical or even a suitcase type of nuclear arsenal. Enriched uranium has reached the clandestine bazar of the world.

It is not easy to catch Osama and his chief lieutenants in Afghanistan. It is difficult to destroy him by missile strikes as he changes his location every now and then. He often lives in caves. The most important factor is that he is the father-in-law and also a son-in-law of Afghanistan. His daughter is said to be married to Mulla Omar, the Taliban chief, and he himself has a local Pasthun girl as his wife. By strange marriage alliances, claimed to be true, he is now a part of the Taliban regime. He is thus a very special guest of the Taliban.

The only regime which can effectively help in tackling the ticklish question is that in Pakistan. The Taliban group is the creation of Pakistan. General Babar raised this force to open the trade routes to Central Asia. He was the Interior Minister under Ms Benazir Bhutto. It is the ISI which sustains the Taliban army. Serving and retired Pakistani Generals and jawans are in the Taliban army.

If Pakistan withdraws its military advisers, Generals and jawans from the Taliban, there would be a total collapse of the Taliban army. The ISI’s logistic support to the Taliban, if switched off, may create conditions for the extradition of Osama bin Laden. The USA has clearly understood these ground realities.

The writer is a former Director of the CBI.

REALPOLITIK

US crisis adds to economic woes
P. Raman

ONE good thing about our economy is that it has never been short of ready advisers and soothsayers. This month the Prime Minister suddenly wakes up to the impending economic disaster and summons all his advisers to suggest the right remedies. But few outside knew that even this wakeup call has been the outcome of a diabolic move to replace Yashwant Sinha by a young, smart minister who has just got a promotion.

Even the Home Minister had pressed for the change which had by then gained the support of some business houses as well. The pro-changers blamed Sinha for all the economic mismanagement. Probably due to pressure from the counter lobby or Vajpayee’s own desire to avoid another controversy, the idea was dropped — at least for now. Some within the government also were suspicious about the dangers from that upcoming ministerial star and his style of work. Certain lobbies may dislike Sinha but none would charge him with arrogance.

Some also wanted Murasoli Maran to go for his non-performance and lack of grasp. He was found accountable for several WTO-related setbacks. But coalitional constraints came to his rescue. Thus, once the fierce internal lobbying for change started generating heat, the only course left for Vajpayee was to find out what had gone wrong, and seek solutions rather than change the horses midstream. All that could be done was to give a tough and bold image to the Prime Minister and launch measures to rejuvenate the economy.

With this began a series of meetings of experts and official panels — most of them had become practically defunct — to suggest ways to revive the economy. The first was a meeting of the NDC on September 1. Then came the meeting of Union ministers dealing with economic issues. Next was from the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Trade and Industry. Then Vajpayee called a special meeting of his Economic Advisory Council experts.

In between, there were more meetings with the Union ministers in charge of major national projects like highways. Added to this are solicited and unsolicited studies by highprofile institutions and each tried to push ahead its respective partisan interests. McKinsey & Company, for instance, handed the Prime Minister its own prescriptions, which suggested elimination of reservation for small units, reduction of import duties to the levels of other south-east Asian countries and removal of the ban on retail by MNCs so that they could start massive US-style departmental stores in place of our traditional counter shops.

Pedalling of such patently partisan business interests apart, the recommendations of the advisers were also similar. The only exception was Vajpayee’s suggestion for stepping up public investment as the only measure to pull the economy out of its present sluggishness. Proposals for such massive investment in infrastructure had also come from business outfits as a way to revive economic activities and boost demand. The areas included the Railways, highways and power.

However, his more hard-headed Economic Council feared it would mean a return to the old regime of direct state role in the economy. They opposed it on the ground that it would lead to higher government borrowings and increased fiscal deficit. A confused Prime Minister now seems to have abandoned this only innovative proposal in the entire bunch. Another change in emphasis relates to the total elimination of subsidies.

The rest of the recommendations were recitations of the “om reform mantra” by the same official experts and business. Notably, no effort was made to seek the views of other affected sections. Thus, it was the same old tune — curb fiscal deficit, downsize the government, introduce labour law reform, privatise PSUs, expedite financial sector reforms and that of the state electricity boards, end protections to small units which substantially contribute to the exports, revive stock market sentiment and boost housing.

All these have been repeated ad infinitum. They were all contained in several old reports, especially the ones submitted by the task forces of the PM’s advisory council. However, no one in the government has made any serious move to implement them in the past. In some cases, the Prime Minister himself has been a party to the subversion of the grand government policies. Take the case of cutting government flab, something every adviser has been emphasising all the while.

During the NDA rule, there has been a surge in the number of senior officials at the Centre. The formation of new states as a political bonanza has led to increased financial burden. With as many as 77 ministers and their staff, Vajpayee has given a wrong signal to the nation. Unwarranted appointment of political favourites as parallel ambassadors with huge perks does not give the Prime Minister any moral right to appeal to others to tighten the belt. Rightly or wrongly, the hike in the MPs’ perks has not been welcomed by the electors.

Even economic advisers and business outfits are not free from such rank hypocrisy. Business is never tired of hailing the virtues of competition and insists that workers who cannot improve and attain global standards should perish. But when a similar principle of competition in the form of global tariff rates are imposed, they begin complaining. We are repeatedly reminded of ours being the ‘highest taxed nation’ and that reduced taxes lead to higher compliance. But when Chidambaram tried it, there were more massive tax evasions by the rich.

The middle classes want commercial rates for utilities but when it comes to gas and petrol prices they get worked up. Lawyers oppose opening up of the legal profession for foreigners, and so does the insurance staff. Last week, computer hardware producers opposed cheaper imports. The list is endless. Within a month, the food stocks with the FCI will cross the 80 million tonne mark. The Centre obfuscates the issue by blaming the states for not lifting the stock. Who will buy government stocks when the issue prices and market rates are almost the same? The whole debate on starvation deaths looks futile when the declared policy is to eliminate food subsidies and wind up the FCI.

The undue emphasis on allowing a free hand to sack labourers falls in a similar category. Even the McKinsey study says labour reform affects barely 4 per cent of the organised employment. Already, most new units and all modern offices are run on contract labour. Even the staff finds it more attractive. The US-style “pink slips”, voluntary salary cuts and downsizing, etc have become common in India. All such conventional cures will have only marginal effect on the emerging economic crisis.

The good news about the economy is that it is not plagued by uncontrolled price spiral. This may be due to free imports and better availability. Foreign exchange reserve, though due to foreign institutional investors who do not add to any manufacturing, is fairly comfortable. But there is all the reason to fear that the real implications of the developing US crisis on the Indian economy can be serious. The world economy is already experiencing recession. If it turns sour, it can rob much of the advantages India now enjoys.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

THE rules of duty prescribed by great rishis, each depending on his wisdom, are many. The highest among them all is self control.

Self control increases energy. Self control is highly sacred. Through self control a man may become purified of all his sins and gifted with energy, and therefore acquires the highest blessedness.

We have not heard that there is any duty in all the worlds equal to self control. Self control... is the highest virtue in this world.

The self-controlled man sleeps in happiness and moves through the world in happiness. His mind is always cheerful.

The man who is without self control always suffers misery. Such a man brings upon himself many calamities all begotten of his own faults.

Forgiveness, patience, abstention from injury, impartiality, truth, sincerity, control of the senses, alertness, mildness, modesty, firmness, liberality, freedom from anger, contentment, sweetness of words, benevolence, freedom from malice all these combined make for self control.

— Bhishma Pitamaha in the Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, chapter CLX, 6,9,10,12,13,15-16

***

Acharya Shankara had a disciple to whom he had not given any instruction. Once while seated alone, Shankara heard someone’s footsteps from behind.

So he called out, “who is there?”

The disciple answered, “It is I”

The great teacher at once said,

“If this “I” is so dear to you, then either expand it to include the whole universe or renounce it altogether.”

— Editorial, Parabuddha Bharata, August 1971

***

When shall I be free?

When “I” shall cease to be!

— The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, page 890