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Friday,
February 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Elections without
issues Market comes
alive |
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Hari Jaisingh
Greying, growing
and going
Knowing the mind of
Dragon
Infants can learn
sounds during sleep
Faster heart
rate may cut sleeping problems
1995, Chemistry: CRUTZEN, MOLINA & ROWLAND
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Elections without issues CAMPAIGNING in the four states where assembly elections are due later this month has picked up momentum. However, the ugly rhetoric that seems to have become part of what is called electioneering is a bit disappointing. Even a leader of the stature of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is tempted to use the language he himself would disapprove of at election rallies. Why? He is still treated as a role model by the younger generation of politicians. He should have set the tone and tenor of incisive and fair campaigning for others to emulate instead of falling to the temptation of using slogans as speech.. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has made impressive strides as an orator. But her speeches too have so far been devoid of substance. The overall picture cannot be a pretty one if national-level leaders fail to set the parameters of correct campaigning. In Punjab it is a veritable "tu tu, mein mein" between State Congress President Amarinder Singh and Chief Minister Parkash Badal. Charges and counter-charges, filing of cases and counter-cases! This is what parliamentary democracy has been reduced to. The unhappy truth is that not a single political party in the poll fray in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Manipur can claim to have shunned gimmick and rhetoric in favour of raising issues that concern the well-being of the people. No, it will not do to point to the lofty promises made in the so-called election manifestoes. The parties in power want the electorate to return them again so that they can complete the unfinished agenda. Pray, what agenda? The agenda of filling their own pockets at the expense of the development of the state? Of institutionalising corruption? Of turning the instruments of maintaining law and order into instruments of unlashing state terror against the weak and the innocent as also political rivals? After every election leaders of political parties organise joint-sessions where concern is expressed over the nexus between politics and crime, use of muscle and money for intimidating voters. However, they do not waste much time in sending out search parties for roping in candidates with criminal background for terrorising the voters during every election. These criminals have the audacity to look into the television cameras and claim " I am being victimised". In Punjab the brother of an Akali candidate has been accused of opening fire at a public rally and killing a migrant worker from UP and injuring several others. Reports from UP paint even a more grim picture. There are those who believe that the current round assembly elections may prove to be one of the bloodiest in the 50 plus years of parliamentary democracy. Of course, there will be the usual debate on the need to delink crime from politics after the results are out. And the most vociferous among them would be the ones against whom criminal cases are pending in various courts. |
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Market comes alive THE stock market is not a reliable indicator of economic reforms and changes. But this time around the market has reacted enthusiastically to the investment proposals of VSNL and IBP by boosting the share prices of several public sector undertakings (PSU). This is a healthy development inasmuch as the PSUs and banks were in the limelight on Wednesday. The more than 155 points increase in the Sensex of the BSE and an equal percentage in the NSE is a point to the robust optimism in the market. Stock markets are a barometer and a harbinger of the economic developments to come. If the stock markets react favourably and thereby support government policies, the economy greatly benefits. The reassuring development is that the Sensex has shot up because of the attraction of PSU shares that are slated for disinvestment and that of a slew of pharmaceutical companies open for FDI (foreign direct investment). The reaction of the stock market is a favourable indication of the revised disinvestment policy, which ensures a very high price for shares of PSUs, like IBP and in the days to come of BPCL and HPCL. The IBP and VSNL share price has doubled after the bidding and the demand has shot up as is evident from the market demand. For the first time PSU shares are attracting small investors who provide the backbone to market machinations. This is very good for the stock market mechanism and the country's economy. There is inevitably a controversy about the investment of IBP equity to IOC. The price being paid is admitted allround as too high and exorbitant. Reports say that Petroleum Minister Ram Naik forced the IOC to bid high and grab the IBP to strengthen his hold on the entire oil sector. A foreign buyer, if allowed, would have weakened his hands and he successfully prevented this. That explains the unexceptionally high price the IOC paid for acquiring the IBP. That also explains the sudden eruption in the stock market of the share price of BPCL and IPCL. All this proves that the disinvestment scheme has taken off and has entered the international arena and there is no stopping now. From now on disinvestment is a global issue and competition will come from outside India. |
Marx, money, vote & madrasas A number of complexities in today's terrorism-infested world must have been beyond the wildest imagination of Karl Marx, Lenin and, for that matter, even of Mao. Their stress was on class war leading ultimately to the withering away of the state. The state has not withered away, but the Soviet Union as a unified nation has collapsed. The communist ideology could not hold the Soviet Union together because what Marx taught failed to stand the test of human weaknesses and susceptibilities. Civilisational traits of different races, their religious preferences, prejudices and cravings for riches are part of human complexities which go beyond any set doctrine. Even Stalin's younger daughter Svetlana took to astrology while deciding to marry an Indian Marxist ideologue, Brajesh Singh, elder brother of former External Affairs Minister Dinesh Singh. Their marriage was secretly solemnised in accordance with Hindu rituals. I am giving the above information to put the Marxist-ruled state of West Bengal's ideological paradoxes in right perspective. West Bengal does not belong to the also-ran category state. It is a class apart from the other states not only for certain ideological continuity of the ruling alliance there but also for political stability which is a unique plus point in itself. Mr Jyoti Basu was the longest-serving Chief Minister of an Indian state. He bowed out gracefully in favour of Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who was the unanimous choice of the CPM Politburo. The new Chief Minister has not only established himself but has also shown certain welcome signs of flexibility both in political approach and governance of the state. He is not a rigid person. He is more pragmatic than Mr Basu was. He understands that changing times demand changing responses. I am saying this after a wideranging interaction with a number of thinking persons and leaders in Kolkata last week. Of course, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya cannot have his way in all matters. As a disciplined person, he has to be guided by the party as well as the allies of the CPM in the state. Still, within the given framework, he is a forward-looking person who wishes to make West Bengal an economically vibrant and politically ideal state. But then he is not without numerous problems. Perhaps, the CPM thrives on problems. The influx of Bangladeshis has added to his woes. What has particularly made things go out of hand is the increasing use of Bangladeshis as votebank investment. For that matter, the demographic profile of West Bengal as well as of the entire north-eastern region, including Assam, is changing alarmingly. The country is paying a heavy price for the actions of our self-seeking, visionless and petty-minded politicians. What has made all this more disturbing is the activities of ISI agents who are very much part of the groups sneaking into the region. They pose a serious threat to the country's security. The seriousness of the problem has come to the fore in the wake of the shoot-out incident outside the American Center in Kolkata on January 22. It has given a severe jolt to sensible politicians. They now talk openly of the presence of ISI agents in West Bengal and how the influx of Bangladeshis threatens the state's security and well-being. Though India as a nation is a soft state, West Bengal's is a typical case of being a soft state because of its ideological hangover. And the elements of this softness flow from a misplaced Marxist ideology coupled with a set concept of secularism, cash-and-carry vote-bank politics and low-level corruption. "You just pay Rs 200 to Rs 400 and get a ration card which entitles you to vote," a well-informed police officer belonging to the West Bengal cadre told me in Kolkata. This should be enough to understand the serious nature of political drift in the state. Unlike in this part of the country corruption in that state is a low-cost operation. Of course, political parties here are more interested in the infiltrators’ votes than their notes. I talked to Union Home Minister L.K. Advani about this infiltration. He is well aware of the problem but is very cautious in stating the truth lest he should be accused of being communal. Herein lies the Indian malaise. The question of communalism and secularism has virtually become a matter of political convenience. A Marxist probably sees no evil in Pakistani or Saudi-funded terrorism foisted in the name of Islam. No wonder, there has been a mushroom growth of madrasas in the state. There are as many as 505 government-recognised madrasas in West Bengal against over 400 which operate freely without due recognition. The madrasa tag has become a political symbol. Because of the high level of illiteracy religious leaders enjoy tremendous clout during elections and hence the political patronage. After the January 22 shooting incident the West Bengal Chief Minister is, however, a disturbed person. He has already ordered a survey of the madrasas and asked for a database. At a meeting with senior officers of Murshidabad district the other day, Mr Bhattacharya said: "I would like to see the survey findings and database within the next fortnight." Incidentally, the border district of Murshidabad has the heaviest concentration of madrasas. There are several other districts where madrasas have been set up without permission. Mr Bhattacharya's action was also prompted by the arrest of a madrasa teacher, Habibur Rehman. A Bangladeshi national, he had been teaching Arabic at a madrasa in Lalgola. He is suspected to have links with the ISI. It is no secret that ISI agents are active in the border districts with the sole aim of alienating Muslims from the mainstream. "This is dangerous. I urge my Muslim bhais not to listen to these divisive forces because this will lead to disaster," the Chief Minister told the CPM's Murshidabad district conference on January 28. The Chief Minister's order to survey all madrasas has, meanwhile, upset some of the CPM allies. They are so obsessed with their vote bank politics and corrupt practices which go with it that they do not seem to realise the serious implications of infiltration in the state and dubious activities of the ISI. In tackling the problem of terrorism, there must not be any ideological tilt one way or the other. What is tragic is that a progressive state like West Bengal, known for its secular credentials and progressive land reforms, should become a convenient playground for highly communal politics. It will be educative to recall some findings and recommendations of the six-member A.R. Kidwai committee which was set up to look into the working of madrasas and suggest remedial steps. (Mr Kidwai is a former Governor of West Bengal) The committee has already submitted its interim report which is now being scrutinised by the state government. It has not only admitted the mushroom growth of illegal madrasas in the border districts and adjoining areas but has also pointed out how some vested interests are encouraging people from across the border to come to West Bengal. At many places, village panchayats give shelter to them for their political gains. They are granted ration cards which help them get their names listed as voters. In some cases, the Muslim League, the Jamat-i-Islami and other communal forces are using these migrants for their communal politics. During last year alone, over 10,000 Bangladeshis crossed over to West Bengal. Of these, roughly 4,000 could be pushed back. But the rest managed to slip into the interiors and mixed themselves with the locals. Interestingly, the 1991 census reveals that in the past few years the population in nine border districts of the state had gone up by 30 per cent while in other areas the increase has been on an average of 5 to 7 per cent. It is also no secret that some terrorist outfits backed by the ISI are using Bangladesh as their hideout and spread their activities across the border. It will be worthwhile to note some of the recommendations of the Kidwai committee report. One, proper guidelines must be evolved for granting recognition by the Madrasa Board. Two, the Madrasa Board needs to be reorganised by inducting representatives from various competent bodies and drafting of appropriate curriculum. Three, corruption and corrupt practices prevailing in madrasa education must be checked. Four, steps must be taken to guard against the fanning of communalism. Five, a protective shield has to be provided against criminalisation with a view to rooting out various vested interests of communal nature. Six, no unauthorised madrasa should be allowed to function, but new rules can be framed to grant permission to more madrasas. Seven, adequate funds must be earmarked for madrasa education. West Bengal is indeed faced with a very serious problem which will require shedding of old ideological tilts and mustering of political will to nip the evil of communalism and terrorism in the bud. The Chief Minister understands the range and dimensions of the problem. But he has to act swiftly and firmly in the interest of his state and the nation as a whole. Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is not only a forward-looking Marxist but also a forward-looking nationalist. All that he has to do is to put his nationalist step forward and silence politico-ideological ragas of his partymen and allies. For this he will have to educate and reorient the mindset of his Marxist colleagues and ruling partners. He must not allow the delicate demographic profile of the state to be disturbed. Secularism is not a blind alley. It is a two-way highway where there must be free flow of ideas and concepts which are to be guided by the nation's interests. Terrorism has no ideology. Nor can distorted Islamic teachings strengthen the country's secular creed, especially when funding and directions for terrorist activities come from the enemies of the nation. |
Greying, growing and going THE president of an over-eighty club was challenged for admitting two members who were only 78, recalled my friend’s grandfather. “Well, every organisation needs some young blood,” explained the president. And the septuagenarian went on quoting chapter and verse to convince us folks that he had never been happier in life than he was now. Daniel Auber wrote “Dream of Love” in his 80’s and said: “I am not 80, I am four times 20”. Eureka! I almost shrieked. At 88, John Wesley preached daily. Benjamin Franklin went to France to serve his country and wrote his autobiography in his eighties. Sophocles wrote “Oedipus” when he turned 90. Pope Leo XIII came up with most of his enlightened policies in his seventies. Titian painted his masterpiece, the bronze doors of the sacristy of St. Mark’s, at 85. Elihu Root, one of the greatest statesmen of America continued his activities until over 90. He died at 92 in 1937. Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Dewey, Bernard Baruch, Henry Ford, Arturo Toscanini, John Foster Dulles, Dwight D. Eisenhower and many more of their ilk continued giving their best to society even after they were well past 60. Looking straight into our bewildered eyes, the grandpa with granny in two, narrated how Victor Hugo, the titan of French literature, comforted a friend entering his fifties. “You should rejoice, my friend, that you have escaped your forties, which are the old age of youth, and have arrived at the age of fifty, which is the youth of old age.” An irresistible invitation to join the greying ranks! Any takers. A man is getting old when he doesn’t care what the new stenographer looks like, just as long as she can spell well, pun (not) intended. In fact one doesn’t grow old. It is when one ceases to grow that one becomes old. Noticing that a young congressman had ridiculed him on account of his old age, John Quincy Adams remarked slyly: “Tell that young man that an ass is older at 30 than a man at eighty years.” The real tragedy is that body and mind, like man and wife, do not always agree to die together. It is bad when the mind survives the body, and worse still when the body survives the mind; but when both survive our spirits, our hopes and our health, this is worst of all. Said Charles C. Colton. In sum, life is a package deal composed of six stages viz. spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills and wills. Nowadays it is not uncommon to find our generations living contemporaneously, the first two giving company to each other. Hence, with a vengeance, keep growing, greying and going. |
Knowing the mind of Dragon CHINA is our neighbour. But do we know it well enough? Perhaps not. What role will China play in Asia, and in the wider world? What are its real objectives? What are the beliefs which have shaped the Chinese outlook? These are questions of great consequence. But answers are wanting. Are we any wiser after our 1962 experience? Perhaps not. We are still without a China policy! China carried the image of a country of peaceful people. This deceived the world. More so Nehru. For this, China has to thank the Jesuit Fathers. It is they who spread this image of China in the world. The mandarins promoted it, for they wanted to draw the world’s sympathy towards China. What are the facts? Peace and prosperity, wars and famines — they alternated throughout Chinese history. “Such is the everlasting law of the sequence of prosperity and decay,” says Ssu-ma Ch’ien, China’s greatest historian. “The picture I have in mind of primitive China,” writes Clennel in a thoughtful book “The Historical Development of Religion in China” is no arcadian idyll of the Golden Days of Yao and Shun, but a very hard and cruel state of society; where human life was held terribly cheap; where the interests of the poor and the helpless, the young and the dependent, were ruthlessly sacrificed; where oppression and violence, wars and devastations scourged man into submission to the caprice of tyrannical chieftains.” It is said that for every stone in the Great Wall of China, a Chinese lost his life. This wall, 4,000 miles long, was built by Chin Shih Huang-ti, the worst tyrant in Chinese history. Such were the facts. We know little of these. If there was a Confucius with his moral doctrines, there was also Shang Yang, the philosopher of militarism (4th C BC). He has been always more popular with China’s ruling class. The doctrines of Shang Yang, called the Fa-Chia School, and his legacy came to be codified in the treatise “Shang Chun Shuh”. It absolved rulers of all moral responsibilities for their actions and sanctioned any and every means in the struggle for power. Shang Yang believed that man was born evil and that wars were inevitable. Hence the need for a military state, he said. Mao was an ardent student of this school. Hence his saying: “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.” And we thought that this was Marxism! “Learn from the army,” Mao used to exhort. He wanted to militarise the entire Chinese state. This was anti-thesis of Marxism. Today emphasis is on the economic prowess of the Chinese people. But it is the military spirit that is carrying China forward. For this, China must be grateful to Mao. Nature and history made the Chinese insular. They had little interest in God or religion, or anything speculative and metaphysical. They are utterly practical. “Not yet understanding life, how can you understand death?” asks Confucius. And a Chinese told a Christian missionary that the troubles with his body were quite enough, and that he had no intention to add to these the concerns of his soul. In any case, he said, he had never seen the soul. There was no place for the contemplative life in the philosophy of Confucius. His ideal was a virtuous and active citizen engaged in devotion to his ancestors and the state. And the good ruler to Confucius was one who set a good example to his people. This explains the remarkable bonding (almost clannish) among the Chinese, and how the overseas Chinese came to the economic rescue of the mainland communists. To be in harmony with nature, this was the ultimate objective of Chinese life. The entire Chinese civilisation was, in a way, an imitation of nature. The Chinese believed in the correspondence between man and nature. When this correspondence was in balance, it was auspicious; when not, misfortune prevailed. Chuang Tzu says: “Be a companion with nature.” It was in landscape painting that the ideal of harmony was best illustrated. The Chinese looked upon it as the highest form of art. The Chinese spirit found its best abode in mountains and streams. Man was the centre of everything in China. Of even religion. God was secondary. Virtue was the determining factor in a man’s life. Emphasis was on a moral order, on how to create a state and society so that man could pursue righteousness. Study human relations, say the Chinese, in order to organise society better. Thus, Chinese philosophy was a system of humanism. Through his moral conduct, man could control his destiny. But was man capable of moral conduct? To this the Confucianists said that human nature was good. This led them to a general optimism in life. They rejected the Christian doctrine of original sin. In fact, to Mencius, the chief disciple of Confucius, a good society depended on the moral consciousness of the individual. According to him, evil arose for want of cultivation of human nature. So man was the cause of his own downfall. In complete contrast, only a law-giver was interested in Hindu society. In any case, in Hindu society, man’s relation to God is more important than his relation to man. In China, the ideal man was the sage. He was interested in everything — in man, the state and government. It was the duty of the sage to take interest in human affairs — in society. He did everything with reference to man, not to God. Between the Chous, the first Chinese dynasty, and the Manchus, the last, there is a period of 3,000 years, and China alternated between peace and war, between expansion and contraction. But mandarins remained for ever. They told the Chinese emperors what they should know: about China’s true interests. This is what accounts for the remarkable continuity of Chinese policies and traditions. It also accounts for China’s continuing ambitions. By the end of the T’ang period, Buddhism came under attack as a “foreign” religion. Under the Sungs, who followed the T’angs, Buddhism ceased to be a force in China after a millennium of influence. Why? Because Buddhism went against the military spirit of the Chinese state. China never accepted its conquerors with grace, but always exulted in the glories of their conquests. Both Mongols and Manchus were great conquerors. They brought much land to China. The proper limit of Han China (3rd C BC) was the boundary now known as the Great Wall of China. Today, beyond the Great Wall lies more than half of China. And China escaped the decolonisation process. The process of China’s expansion was called “tsan shih”, which means “to eat gradually (the neighbour’s land) as the silk-worm eats a leaf.” China continues to “eat” its neighbour’s territories even today. |
Infants can learn sounds during sleep BABIES as young as two or three days old can be taught to distinguish similar vowel sounds while they are asleep, Finnish researchers have said. After just one night of repeatedly hearing three sounds scientists at the University of Turku in Finland have said infants are able to differentiate them in a finding that shows it may never be too early to start teaching
babies. "We could use these results to begin to teach infants more effectively when they are very young," said Marie Cheour, the head of the research team. The psychologist who specialises in infants and language said early learning could help to diminish problems in children who have a high risk of learning difficulties and to teach foreign languages more effectively. "Babies can learn while sleeping. It only takes them about one night to distinguish sounds," she said. Using a technique called mismatch negativity, which records mental activity associated with the brain’s learning centres, Cheour and her colleagues measured the infants’ responses to the vowel sounds once they had woken up.
Reuters Anti-obesity “miracle pill” round the corner Scientists in the USA have developed an “anti-appetite” drug that has successfully been tested on mice and could become the latest potential treatment for obesity. The research, carried out at the drug firm Merck’s laboratories in New Jersey, USA, has reported a reduced fat intake by 20 per cent in rats, which, if reproduced in humans, would be very significant. The drug works by acting on receptors in the brain which are normally sensitive to the hormone insulin as part of the mechanism which controls appetite, says a report on BBC. Insulin cannot be given as a drug to trigger this mechanism because, if injected into the bloodstream, or taken in pill form, very little, if any, of the active hormone would ever make it to the brain. The Merck scientists have developed a tiny protein which has a similar effect on the receptors as actual insulin. However, this protein is not broken down in the gut, and can get into the brain. This holds the promise of an “anti-appetite pill”, if future tests suggest the “mimetic”, or mimicking, molecule, can work in humans as well as rats.
ANI |
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Faster heart rate may cut sleeping problems FORCING
the heart to beat faster during sleep significantly relieves sleep apnea, the common but potentially dangerous condition in which a person stops breathing during slumber, a team of French doctors reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. In tests on 15 people, a team led by Dr Stephane Garrigue found when the heart rate was 57 beats per minute, breathing stopped nine times per hour. But when the pace was increased to 72 beats per minute, the number of apnea episodes each hour dropped to three. "Regardless of the severity of the sleep apnea syndrome," the researchers said, "there was a reduction (in the number of episodes) ... in every patient." The Garrigue team, which said it was still trying to explain the finding, said the technique could relieve sleep apnea in people who already have an adjustable pacemaker. Whether pacemakers should be used as a treatment for apnea "remains to be determined." Estimates vary on the number of people who suffer from sleep apnea, where breathing ceases and the sufferer is forced to wake up to resume breathing.
Reuters |
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Anger must stop but what can we do? Start looking within and try to be cool Let go of the past and live in the now Realise that anger hurts you Do not be a fool Treat others as souls See only their good points Not just their holes Fill yourself with power from above And instead of hatred give out love Spread smiles all around And get rid of your frown Claim the heavenly kingdom And wear your crown Let the light shine from your eyes Give peace to all and say goodbye To the thoughts that made you cry. — B. K. John.
From The World Renewal, Volume 27. August 1996 *** By renunciation of the self and surrender to the Guru. The chain of birth and death ends. He who when performing an action desires no fruit of action His dharma is stable. Without desire, devoted to God *** Cultivating loneliness Having made sorrow and joy the same, unaffected by good or evil, In the light of the True Guru's teachings, Such a person is not caught by the noose of death. — From the Sukhmani Sahib *** Obedience to His order amounts to the acquisition of all virtue and knowledge. Just as the water birds and the lotus float on water, without getting moist, So the devotee, hearing only God's Name, crosses the sea of life. — Siddha Gosht |
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