E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Dabwali is not dead
The Punjab and Haryana High Court directive to the Director of PGIMER, Chandigarh, regarding the treatment of the Dabwali fire victims has revived memories of a ghastly incident. 

Games cops play
For decades sports fans have had to put up with untold suffering and humiliation at the hands of policemen posted at the venue of various matches.

Practice of parliamentary democracy
Few politicians respect norms of propriety
S. Nihal Singh
A Nehru folklore runs thus. The then Prime Minister had invited a group of Congressmen to tea at his residence. In an instance, the tables that were groaning under snacks were picked clean. Nehru upbraided his staff at the resultant embarrassment. "Didn't you know", he asked, "that I had asked Congressmen to tea"?

MIDDLE

In the company of a monarch
Trilochan Singh Trewn
During mid-summer in the Gamlastan seashore area of Stockholm, one can enjoy feeding stray ducks. We were standing near an icecream kiosk. Suddenly and with a swift move my daughter pulled my coat to tell me that the new arrival opposite on a bicycle, with his six-year-old son, was the then serving Finance Minister of Sweden.

Women SSPs in three districts
Reeta Sharma
It is for the first time in the history of Punjab that three women IPS officers have been posted to head three districts as Senior Superintendents of Police. Although, women as IPS officers had entered the Punjab cadre as early as 1993, yet none of them was ever given a chance to head a district.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Is your brain cleaning crew sleeping?
Forgot your wife’s birthday. Well, do not blame yourself, as your brain cleaning crew may be asleep on the job. A new study by scientists at the University of Houston suggests that molecular “brooms” that whisk away excess amounts of the chemical glutamate in the brain may play a key role in learning and memory formation.

• Childless couples realise dreams

EDITORIALS

Dabwali is not dead

The Punjab and Haryana High Court directive to the Director of PGIMER, Chandigarh, regarding the treatment of the Dabwali fire victims has revived memories of a ghastly incident. Who could have imagined that a school function in December, 1995, in Dabwali, Sirsa, would turn into a major tragedy? Until that fateful day the dusty little mandi township was not a known name beyond the boundaries of Haryana. However, after the initial expression of shock over the death of over 400 persons, mostly school children, in a fire, the administration did little to help the survivors cope with the heart-rending calamity. Years later, a similar accident turned the Uphaar cinema house into an inferno. But the people of Delhi did not let the administration or anyone else forget the tragedy. There are important lessons to be learned from the determination that the families of the Uphaar victims showed in bringing the culprits to justice. There is a Dabwali Fire Victims Association, but it lacks the aggression and determination that ensured speedy justice for the Uphaar cinema victims. The Dabwali case is moving at a snail's pace with the administration showing the least sense of urgency in getting justice to the families of those who perished inside an inflammable shamiana within a matter of minutes. The impunity with which the post-Dabwali directive that only non-inflammable material should be used for setting up temporary enclosures has been ignored shows the lack of interest in making safety a habit. Few tent-shop owners have bothered to invest in providing fire-resistant shamianas for functions and ceremonies. The promise to make a law against the use of inflammable material was made by the then Prime Minister, Mr P. V. Narasimha Rao. Can any of the Prime Ministers that succeeded him offer a satisfactory explanation why such a law has not been introduced for averting the Dabwali-type tragedy? The only consolation was that Mr Rao cancelled the New Year celebrations.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court directive provides enough clues about the scale of indifference of the powers-that-be towards the care and rehabilitation of the survivors of the December, 1995, tragedy. The high court issued a direction that a committee should immediately be set up under the chairmanship of the head of the department of plastic surgery to examine the patients who suffered serious burn injuries. It has taken the court seven years to issue a directive for something that any sensitive system would have done on its own within days of the occurrence of the tragedy. The court had to make a special request to the head of the department to spare some time from his busy schedule for the Dabwali fire victims. If the system did not bother to respond to the cry for help all these years, why should a request at this stage make any difference? Look at the details of the order. The proposed committee would examine whether treatment for the burn victims was available in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh or not. If the answer turns out to be in the negative, the committee would look elsewhere for arranging the treatment of the survivors of the Dabwali fire. And the patients will, of course, have to be patient while the procedure for providing them treatment is put into place, that too after the intervention of the judiciary.

Games cops play

For decades sports fans have had to put up with untold suffering and humiliation at the hands of policemen posted at the venue of various matches. They heap indignities on the paying public in the name of maintaining law and order, so much so that only a committed lover of the game ventures to watch it live. Since no one listened to their tale of woes sympathetically, the boorishness of the men in khaki has increased so much that they meted out the same treatment to ace offspinner Harbhajan Singh on the eve of the one-day cricket international at Guwahati on Monday. He was manhandled and suffered injuries because the policemen posted at his hotel first did not allow a photographer in, despite prior appointment and then tried out their rough and ready third-degree methods on Harbhajan also when he tried to reason with them. An attempt was later made to defuse the situation but the matter was so serious that at one stage the match was on the verge of cancellation. The fracas should wake up the authorities to the plight of the ordinary people who have suffered in silence for so long. The tragedy is that if at all a hue and cry is raised over police highhandedness, some senior officer tenders an apology and it is thought that the matter has been resolved. The guilty cops are either allowed to go scot-free or are let off with very light punishment. The end result is that they go back to their wicked ways, without any sense of remorse, as if nothing has happened. That is why things just do not improve for the law-abiding citizens.

Perhaps, the malaise has something to do with the atmosphere in which an average cop has to work. Since he has to deal with criminals mostly, he stops differentiating between an offender and an ordinary citizen. That is why a policeman finds it almost impossible to talk — let alone behave — decently with anyone who comes in contact with him. The unfortunate consequence is that an ordinary person dreads going anywhere near a police station. That this horrible image harms the police itself seems to concern nobody. After all, the cooperation of the public is very important in maintaining law and order. The police loutishness discourages everyone from coming forward with vital information. Then there are some black sheep among the ranks who are beyond the pale of established norms. It is they who become the cause of lawlessness instead of being its protectors. Their undesirable activities have been condoned long enough. The consequences are there for everyone to see. It is time the policemen were made to read what is written boldly on signboards near zebra lines: "Stop means STOP". 

Reverse the trend

The Railway Convention Committee’s recommendation for improving the freight transport output by decongesting the existing saturated or near-saturated routes is timely. In its fourth report presented to Parliament, the committee maintained that the Railway Ministry would have to create additional line capacity by gauge conversion, double or laying multiple lines, new alignments, electrification, upgrading signalling and interlocking, splitting long block sections, introducing air brakes, increasing average speed, adding more wagons or coaches per train and procuring high horse power locomotives. Not that these issues have not been examined by expert committees over the years. But the problem is that successive railway ministers have been too busy with politics of expediency. The reports submitted by the Paranjpay, Sarin, Prakash Tandon and Nanjundappa committees have been conveniently overlooked by the political bosses. Even regarding the Rakesh Mohan Committee report, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar is known to have some reservations. While the railways finances are in a bad shape for various reasons, it has been facing stiff competition from the roads sector in the freight movement. As the infrastructure sector will determine the pace of economic growth, the pressure to perform better has never been so intense for the railways, campared with power, telecom and surface transport sectors.

Unfortunately, however, a look at the marketing performance of the railways indicates the rot in the system. The performance so far in identifying the high profit yielding (HPY) commodities has not been encouraging. The railway officials argue that the HPY’s diluted importance is due to the thrust on the concept of inter-model transportation which has helped the railways capture additional piece-meal traffic from road transport. Other schemes such as the Freight Forward Scheme, the Mobile Booking Scheme, the Quick Transit Scheme and the Speed Link Express Scheme too have not performed well. It is time the railways made a comprehensive and systemic study on freight traffic growth and management. The Planning Commission, which presides over the destiny of the funding pattern of the railways, has a special responsibility in this regard. The railways’ financial objective needs to be squarely defined. As of now, it seems to be in two boats — it wants to be a commercial organisation; yet it has social obligations to fulfill. The investment policy requires drastic changes to give it a commercial orientation. This entails eschewing new uneconomic projects and concentrating on investments which will yield good returns in the short and medium term. The railways should aim at getting back the freight traffic. Once the railways moved over 80 per cent of the freight. Now it has come down almost by half! Owing to the uneconomic and high freight rates, the railways has lost its share to the road transport. A reversal of this trend brooks no delay.

OPINION

Practice of parliamentary democracy
Few politicians respect norms of propriety
S. Nihal Singh

A Nehru folklore runs thus. The then Prime Minister had invited a group of Congressmen to tea at his residence. In an instance, the tables that were groaning under snacks were picked clean. Nehru upbraided his staff at the resultant embarrassment. "Didn't you know", he asked, "that I had asked Congressmen to tea"?

Nehru's contribution to the practice of parliamentary democracy is immense. Himself a committed parliamentarian, he spent much time and effort in building up the institution, both in outlining the government's policies and in encouraging the then nascent opposition to debate and oppose policies in a civilised fashion.

Whatever her other qualities, Nehru's daughter Indira never showed the same commitment to parliament and Parliamentary procedure. She was more interested in the exercise of power and sought populist policies, rather than parliamentary debate, to make her points. In fact, she sometimes gave the impression of viewing Parliament as an impediment to her concept of power and politics. Her famous move into the well of the House as an opposition leader was a symbol of her bringing populism to the heart of Parliament.

But parliamentary government — doubtless with Indian characteristics — survived Indira Gandhi's often turbulent times and the Emergency. We became accustomed to the usual quotas of adjournment motions and walkouts and the periodic shouting matches. But parliamentary business — the raison d'etre of Parliament — did get transacted. There were debates on issues.

In recent years, however, things have been getting out of hand. The Opposition parties, often led by the Congress, have paralysed the proceedings of Parliament for days on end. Whatever the provocations, Parliament was being used not as a forum for debate but as a national theatre to make political points. There have been many calculations on the kind of money spent on Parliament, but more than the money wasted, the opposition parties — and sometimes the Treasury Benches — are eroding the very institution and destroying the people's faith in it.

The late Speaker of the Lok Sabha Balyogi was sufficiently concerned with the way things were drifting to get the political parties approve a code of conduct in the transaction of parliamentary business. Alas, Balyogi is no more and the code has been observed more in the breach. In a recent instance, members of the Treasury Benches were in breach by storming into the well of the House.

What happens in New Delhi is imitated in the state capitals — the most infamous incident of all was the free for all in the UP Assembly in the 90s, flashed around the world. Other state assemblies have also often distinguished themselves. We are admittedly living in turbulent times but the question we must ask ourselves is: Have we arrived at the end of our practice of parliamentary democracy? Have the assumptions of the system — civilised debate on governments' policies before they become law — become outdated in the rough and tumble of our politics? If they have, where do we go from here?

Times change and, with them, the temper of the people and their representatives. It is, indeed, a triumph of Indian democracy that the texture of Parliament has changed over the decades. The representatives of the Independence generation, often men and women steeped in the liberal tradition, have given way to more indigenous and homespun members. They have their ear closer to the ground but are at the same time often heir to some of the unsavoury legacies of our past.

It stands to reason that the new representatives will express themselves differently from a Nehru, a Bhulabhai Desai or a Krishna Menon. Their concerns are more parochial, less worldwide, and their forms of protest can take on aspects of the street demonstration. Perhaps it comes naturally to some of them that disturbing parliamentary proceedings is a logical way to express dissent.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has much to answer for because it came to power on the strength of a cross-country rath yatra that inflamed the countryside and brought it votes. The destruction of the Babri Masjid some two years later was, in a sense, the culmination of the 1990 cavalcade of cars and trucks. It was legitimising the actions of a mob to serve a political purpose. And the proliferation of muscle men — however, they are described — attached to the various organisations of the Sangh Parivar is a far cry from the practice of democracy.

An essential pillar of a parliamentary democracy is the rule of law and if those associated with the ruling party in New Delhi frequently declare publicly that some issues such as the construction of a temple at Ayodhya are beyond the pale of law, they are striking a body blow at the institution. Is it any surprise then that men of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal can storm the Orissa Assembly and ransack it to protest against what happened at Ayodhya on March 15? The Supreme Court is bearing a heavy burden in upholding the rule of law and is compelled to act to perform functions a weak and timid executive is unwilling or unable to.

The Congress Party must also share the blame for the debasement of the institution of parliamentary democracy. Given its legacy, it must do better than the BJP and its Parivar in observing the norms of parliamentary debate and practice. Shouldn't it have devised more civilised forms of protest than to immobile the work of Parliament? Is it aware of the harm it is doing to itself and the country by preventing Parliament from exercising its legitimate functions? There is no excuse for the Congress or any other opposition party to waste the nation's money and bring the institution into disrepute.

How then are we to get out of this vicious circle of parliamentary proceedings being constantly disrupted and important legislation being passed with little or no debate? The starting point would be recognition of the seriousness of the crisis. India cannot remain a vibrant parliamentary democracy if Parliament is not allowed to function as it should. The answer does not lie in the Pavlovian reflex of a switch to a presidential system, which would be a less representative form of government in India's circumstances.

The main responsibility lies with the main opposition Congress Party. It rules 14 states although it is not in power at the Centre and, as the mother party of India's Independence, it must uphold the great legacy it has inherited. It must first resolve that it will in future try to worst the government in debate, rather than by paralysing Parliament. In a sense, the Congress is now on trial. 

MIDDLE

In the company of a monarch
Trilochan Singh Trewn

During mid-summer in the Gamlastan seashore area of Stockholm, one can enjoy feeding stray ducks. We were standing near an icecream kiosk. Suddenly and with a swift move my daughter pulled my coat to tell me that the new arrival opposite on a bicycle, with his six-year-old son, was the then serving Finance Minister of Sweden. He had come to buy some icecream cones. I was surprised but maintained my stance as if there was nothing unusual. Also we had heard that the King of Sweden himself was occasionally seen riding a bicycle to visit a nearby botanical garden and the bibliotek public library not far from the royal palace. Who has not heard that Prime Minister Olaf Palme had lost his life in a street near a cinema hall ticket counter. The much publicised informality of the monarch and his erudite scholarship urged me to somehow have a glance at him.

The bibliotek branch nearest to the royal palace, besides having a large number of books and foreign language newspapers, also maintains unusually large historical books on Swedish history with beautiful calligraphy and diagrams.

The present King, His Majesty King Carl XV Gustaf, succeeded his father Olaf Gustaf Adolf who ruled Sweden from 1950 to 1973. Olaf Gustaf Adolf was a keen archeologist and used to spend several hours daily in pursuit of this profession. He had visited several countries to study archeological sites. I concluded that it was the best to have a darshan of the present monarch in this bilbliotek only. The ever enthusiastic chief librarian, Mrs Ivanson, gave me the date and time of the King’s next visit. On that day despite chilly winds and slight drizzle I managed to reach the bibliotek premises ahead of time and waited for His Majesty’s cavalcade with horse-mounted guards to arrive by 10.30.

I had only seen His Majesty in person with Queen Sylvia once before from a distance during the Nobel Prize distribution ceremony. I took up a seat close to a large glass window facing the main entrance road. Several persons were coming and going but there was no indication of His Majesty’s arrival till 11.30; nor was there any unusual stir on the library premises suggesting any royal presence.

In desperation, I got up and walked up to the librarian who was busy. I interrupted her to ask her about the inordinate delay in His Majesty’s arrival. Madam Ivanson smiled and informed me that the King had already arrived at 10.30 and was, at that point of time, sitting in the historical reference section four rows away from the reception desk. I cursed myself for my failure to notice the event but the chief librarian, sensing my discomfort, explained to me that the King without any guard had walked into the library informally wearing long-sleeve cardigans and canvas shoes.

I hurriedly made my way to the history book section and observed two young tourists and an elderly person with a blue cardigan and wearing a pair of spectacles going through a large reference book. I advanced close to his table, wished him good morning and stood close to him. Without losing any more time, I, very hesitatingly asked him: “Sir, I am from India and am keen to see His Majesty who I believe is at present in this section.” The sober looking gentleman removed his spectacles, peered closely at me, devoid of any arrogance, nodded gracefully and spoke: “Gentleman I am glad to meet you. I am the King,”.

I had nothing else to say. I gave him my thanks and departed under full gaze of closed circuit cameras. I had discreetly noticed that he was using a pencil and a writing pad with royal insignia embossed on them. I also observed that he was not sporting any wristwatch at that time. He needed none.

FOLLOW-UP

Women SSPs in three districts
Reeta Sharma

It is for the first time in the history of Punjab that three women IPS officers have been posted to head three districts as Senior Superintendents of Police. Although, women as IPS officers had entered the Punjab cadre as early as 1993, yet none of them was ever given a chance to head a district.

The Congress as well as the Akali-BJP ministries in the past had amply displayed the feudalistic psyche of the Punjabis by repeatedly denying the legitimate right of these IPS women by appointing all their male batch mates and even their juniors as SSPs. However, during the parliamentary elections, the Election Commission had objected to the posting of SSP, Ludhiana, as it was found to be his home district. And thus by sheer coincidence, as per the directions of the EC, Gurpreet Deo, the seniormost IPS officer of Punjab, was apparently given only a temporary charge because three months later she was posted as SP, Vigilance, at Jalandhar.

However, under the present Chief Minister, Punjab is breaking out of the shackles of feudalism and conservatism by appointing three women IPS as SSPs. Gurpreet Deo, Shashi Prabha Diwedi and V (Voruvuru) Neeraja, have been directed to head the districts of Hoshiarpur, Majitha and Batala, respectively.

Gurpreet Deo was not only the topper in the IPS selections of 1993 batch but also had ranked fourth after the training. In the Punjab cadre, she was the seniormost and yet was never given the chance to head a district. It was only in 2001 she was given the much — delayed breakthrough by the Badal ministry, when she got posted as SSP, Kapurthala. A picture of poise and grace, this lady expresses her considered views in a rather dispassionate manner. Commenting on the denial of her legitimate right in matters of posting, she says, “Resistance against women police officers as SSPs has been more on account of politicians than administration. In fact, majority of our seniors did notice the injustice being done to us”.

In nine years of her service, Gurpreet, like other female officers, has discovered that the plight of women police, especially in the lower ranks, smacks of neglect, lack of compassion, consideration and understanding. “Can you imagine that women in the police do not even have separate toilets for themselves, what to speak of restrooms? And when they are posted on outstation duties their basic limitations of leaving children behind or crucial aspects like lodging, boarding are often not taken into account. I think it has never occurred to anyone to apply one’s mind to the basic needs of a woman. It only reflects society’s attitude and general apathy towards them”.

On the question of sexual harassment at work of women in the police, Gurpreet Deo was candid and forthright. “I feel very strongly over this issue. Women from lower ranks are too afraid to speak about it as they are afraid of being branded as anti-police force. Also, they fear that besides public disgrace, they will not be delivered justice. However, the Supreme Court has paved a way for them but it will take a long time to find a route to this way”.

Shashi Prabha Diwedi, again from the batch of 1993, was also denied the posting of SSP solely because she was a woman. During her probation period she was posted at Ludhiana and later at Gurdaspur. It was followed by her posting as SHO in Pathankot sadar police station. After performing her duties as ASP, Hoshiarpur subdivision, she was posted as SP, Headquarters and SP, Operations, at Khanna. For one year she remained SP, Vigilance, at Ludhiana, before taking over first as the Commandant of the 3rd India Reserve Battalion and later of the 5th IRB.

This ever-smiling and pleasantly open-minded woman is an ideal combination of healthy Indian traditions and challenging modernisation. A mother of two little daughters, whose husband is posted in a far-away state, has no hang-ups in accepting that mothering not only comes naturally to women but also they are blessed with instincts to rear children. “As officers, we have sufficient facilities, whether at home or on official duty out of station. But the junior rank women in the police have been given a raw deal in every respect in our police set-up all over the country. I am sure women on high-rank positions will certainly change the course in future”. She has been investing extra time and emotions in dealing with problems faced by women within the force. She got two separate toilets made at Hoshiarpur and Khanna.

Shashi Prabha’s understanding echoed in Neeraja, yet another newly appointed SSP of Batala, when she said: “If we, as women, do not think about fellow women in a wider perspective then why should men be expected to understand the plight of women. Many of the women have done well in life by sheer good luck of being born in rich families having access to best of education and opportunities often shirk from issues related with women”.

Agile and sprightly, Neeraja is extremely articulate and fits the definition of a firebrand. She has exceptionally deep understanding of gender-related problems and solutions, both within the police force as well as women at large. “Whether it is the police or any other department, policy-makers have displayed total negation of natural and extremely important sex roles that women have to play. Should women stop being mothers so that they can be as free to perform a duty or excel in duty as men? The universe has to respect the role of a woman of being a mother, while performing official duties because that is a collective need and not of women alone. But there is no clear policy and no rules were ever codified in this regard, especially in the Indian police. For instance, what uniform police women are supposed to wear during pregnancy, especially when universal medical advice is to wear loose clothes on tummy”?

Neeraja can easily smell discrimination. She was aghast to learn that in a total strength of 74,000 police cadre of Punjab only 800 were women. That there were no separate toilets for this force anywhere in Punjab. That sexual harassment was either not being reported or when reported women were being pressurised to keep it under wraps. “Take the case of a DSP against whom a lady Head Constable has accused of sexually harassing her. Instead of delivering justice to her, she is being morally pressurised not to bring a blot on the police image”.

Shashi Prabha agrees with Neeraja, who says tongue-in-cheek, “Indian men perform their duties with their wives (working or housewives) shouldering entire responsibilities of home-running and rearing of children. Since I have yet to acquire a wife for myself, so at present I have a dual charge of home and office”.

Yet another IPS officer, Anita Punj, and Neeraja were trained under “the Springboard Women’s Development Programme” in February 2000, which was launched with support from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British High Commission. The basic purpose of this training was to enable women to gain their full potential. The trained officers further trained the lower ranks in their force. This platform became the foundation of an idea of holding four regional conferences all over the country. These four conferences led to the first-ever National Conference for Women in Police this February at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The National Conference concluded on a positive and upbeat mood when Mr L.K. Advani, Home Minister, not only accepted as a policy to increase the number of women in the police force but also accepted most of the welfare demands. From Punjab the brains behind the National Conference were Anita Punj and Neeraja, who are thrilled that the state has now decided to increase the number of women in the police from 800 to 1,500.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Is your brain cleaning crew sleeping?

Forgot your wife’s birthday. Well, do not blame yourself, as your brain cleaning crew may be asleep on the job.

A new study by scientists at the University of Houston suggests that molecular “brooms” that whisk away excess amounts of the chemical glutamate in the brain may play a key role in learning and memory formation.

In the brain, several chemicals called neurotransmitters carry messages in the spaces connecting one nerve cell, or neuron, to the next, allowing the brain to function properly.

Scientists believe that the strengthening of these connections by the neurotransmitter glutamate - a process called long-term potentiation - is one mechanism responsible for the storage of some memories.

Now, for the first time, researchers have determined that levels of transport molecules for glutamate - chemicals that latch on to and “sweep away” glutamate - increase during learning, suggesting that this molecular cleaning crew has an important role in the process.

The National Institutes of Health funded the study, published in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience.

In experiments with rats, the UH team found that glutamate transport molecules increased by more than 100 per cent in a region of the brain called the hippocampus 30 minutes after the onset of long-term potentiation - the memory-forming process.

One of the authors of the study, UH biochemist Arnold Eskin, said, “These results suggest that the regulation of glutamate uptake by the transport molecules may be important for maintaining the strength of connections among the neurons in the area of the brain associated with memory”.

“We imagine that the way the nervous system stores information in rats is similar to the way it might work in humans,” he said, adding that may be there are people who cannot learn as well because their transporters are out of whack or have memory problems because there are deficiencies in their glutamate transporters.

“We knew that glutamate is involved in learning, but our study is the first to investigate the role of glutamate transporters and glutamate uptake in the learning and memory formation process,” Eskin stated.

In the rat studies, which have been successfully reproduced, Eskin and his research team first trained the animals repeatedly over a period of time, which produced a change in behavior in the rats. They then examined the transporters in the animals’ hippocampus region.

“The way you know that the animal remembers what you’ve done is because its behavior has changed as a result of experience, which is the definition of learning. Its nervous system remembers that event and we know there have been changes in the system because the animal gives us a different behavior”, Eskin explained. ANI

Childless couples realise dreams

The population explosion notwithstanding, another ‘baby boom’ is underway in the country — but this one will bring a “contented smile to the lips and a joyful tear to the eye” of childless couples.

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), or test tube babies in layman’s language, has brought hope and cheer to scores of couples desirous of having their own babies.

At a press conference in Delhi on Monday, Dr Anoop Gupta, infertility specialist said medical science had advanced significantly and now with the help of latest advances in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) infertile couples can have their wish granted.

He said initially IVF was confined to women with tubular blockage. But now IVF has diversified and patients with “all types of problems can be helped,” the doctor said.

“All females below 35 years can be helped to conceive,” he said.

Earlier, male infertility was not focused upon but now — with 50 per cent of cases being attributed to male sterility — this was also being attended to successfully. According to the doctor, “90 per cent” males can definitely father their own children. UNI

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Violence, hatred, envy and selfishness are the animal qualities. As long as they remain, one cannot experience divinity.

— From the discourses of Sathya Sai Baba

***

When the mind is torpid

rouse it;

when it is distracted,

bring it back to calmness;

when it becomes attached

be aware of it;

when it is established in equipoise

do not distract it any more.

Do not linger onto the bliss

that comes through savikalpa samadhi (attended with self consciousness)

but be unattached through discrimination.

— Gaudapada-Karika 3.44.45

***

As a lamp sheltered from the wind does not flicker, so is a yogi’s controlled mind.

— The Bhagavadgita, 6.19

***

It is the mind that makes heaven of hell. Control of the mind requires skilful handling. It is by concentration and meditation that a man can become the master of his mind and control it to perfection. When man reaches the stage of having controlled his mind, he becomes a sage, a seer. Once the mind is controlled he can then go into the interior recesses of God’s mysteries.

Control of the mind leads to illumination. It is a subtle, spiritual force, higher than the intellect. It is called intuition, the third eye, the mystic passage, the ladder to godhead. It is a spiritual artery which supplies spiritual food of the highest type... It is God’s gift and a token of his grace.

— From How I found God by Yogi M.K. Spencer, Discourse No. 19

***

The sense pleasures keep man away from God-realisation. The senses are dominated by the mind. The mind is subject to will. If the mind be curbed and the will trained to submit itself to the Universal Will, it is only then that the Reality can be perceived.

— Yogi M.K. Spencer, “God Realisation” in S.P. Ruhela (ed) God Realisation: What and How