E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Politics of POTO
The question of tackling and preventing terrorism should not be a matter of politics. However, going by the parliamentary proceedings this week this is what it has come to.

Handling defence matters
Of late defence preparedness has taken a beating less because of financial considerations and more because of various scandals and controversies (coffingate, Tehelka). On the one hand, there has been a clamour for more funds, and on the other, there is the unusual spectacle of the return of unspent money to the treasury.

OPINION

Bill to dismantle APM from April 1
Centre should re-examine the pros and cons
G. K. Pandey
The Administered Pricing Mechanism is in the process of being dismantled to benefit the consumers. The Minister has joked about shifting the target date from April 1, the Fools’ Day, to March 31 or April 2. The mere change of date may not, however, scare away the problems.

MIDDLE

Terrorising trifles
Rajbir Deswal
I have always wondered why some humans are so white livered and timid in mind that in attempting to avoid innocuous and trifling events they break their bones in apprehension of what might be very dangerous, while it is not.

Eating the elephant — bit by bit
Kiran Bedi
Women in the police made history of its kind a few weeks ago. Rank and file came together at a national conference held in Delhi. It took 54 years for independent India to do so. The conference was the product of more than two years of collaborative hard work by the British Council, the Bureau of Police Research and Development (Ministry of Home Affairs), the respective host partners like the DsGP, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. 

ON THE SPOT

So much of Natasha, so little of Gujarat
Tavleen Singh
Why has there been so much coverage in the Press on the death of Natasha Singh and so little on the killings in Gujarat? The question, asked in genuinely puzzled tones, came from a British journalist in Delhi last week. He said he had been astonished by the column inches the death of Natwar Singh's daughter-in-law had occupied. 

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Politics of POTO

The question of tackling and preventing terrorism should not be a matter of politics. However, going by the parliamentary proceedings this week this is what it has come to. The defeat of the POTO (Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance) Bill by 113 votes to 98 in the Rajya Sabha is a clear pointer to the fact that vote bank calculations have the better of what can be seen as a move necessary in the nation's security interests. The Congress in its new avatar conveniently overlooks that much tougher legislative provisions operate in states of Maharashtra and Karnataka ruled by it. This is very unfortunate. It does not add to the credibility of the Congress and other parties going along with it. In fact, POTO is a much less severe version of TADA. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) is prompted by its own one-point political agenda of keeping its "flock" in good humour. The CPM of today has neither ideological purity nor a principled approach to men, matters and issues. To underline these harsh fact is not meant to absolve the BJP of its sins of omission and commission. It has allowed things to drift and in the process has messed up crucial matters even to the embarrassment of some of its NDA allies. The VHP's "asthi yatra" has only added to their woes as of the rest of the country.

Regrettably, Indian politics today looks like a melting pot where logic and common sense can hardly stand the heat of political expediency. This is how one looks at the nation's multi-dimensional political spectrum on the POTO Bill in Parliament. The Congress, the CPM and other left parties may have some genuine fears on certain provisions, especially the possibility of their selective application in practice. In a democratic polity such differences can be sorted out through open discussions. The Congress is probably caught in its own shadow of Emergency days. Its anxiety to give a new liberal image to itself is understandable. But then mere posturing can hardly help the party. It could have been more specific and constructive in suggesting changes in the proposed legislation. It needs to be borne in mind that terrorism is no one's friend. It makes no distinction between BJP men and Congress men. The Indian Parliament itself had the taste of a gruesome terrorist attack on December 13 last year. But then our politicians' memory is shockingly short!

The nation has been living with terrorism for nearly two decades or so. After the September 11 attacks in the USA, there is a global awareness about its horrifying facets. In fact, the global perspective on terrorism has undergone a dramatic change, and rightly so. Still, it is disquieting to see divided opinions in this country on how to deal with the problem. True, there is never a straight line in Indian politics. That is why we give the impression of a divided nation. To say this is not to deny that some of the opposition apprehensions may be well stated. Still, opposing an important measure like the POTO Bill defies logic. The government is equally at fault. It has handled the matter clumsily. It did not do its homework properly. The ordinance was hastily drafted and promulgated. Even the Bill when it was first introduced in the Lok Sabha was full of flaws. Naturally, it created problems. The government had to beat a hasty retreat and modified certain provisions in it to meet the criticism relating to the media.

Terrorism is a double-edged weapon. It is as much alive today as it was on December 13 and earlier. In fact, the situation now is far complex and messier because of non-governance. It is a pity that we continue to go in for soft options when harsh ground realities call for hard options. We hope that the joint session of Parliament will see through this measure. The only word of caution which must be constantly sounded is that those in power must not misuse the POTO provisions to settle their political and personal scores. We will have to be on our guard. This is the best guarantee for freedom and human rights. 

Handling defence matters

Of late defence preparedness has taken a beating less because of financial considerations and more because of various scandals and controversies (coffingate, Tehelka). On the one hand, there has been a clamour for more funds, and on the other, there is the unusual spectacle of the return of unspent money to the treasury. The sufferer has been the upgradation and acquisition programme. A major portion of the 15th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence, placed before the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, is devoted to this malaise. It has made several recommendations which may address the problem to some extent. For one thing, it has suggested the creation of a "non-lapseable" fund. This will be a major policy departure that has become unavoidable. Another stumbling block is the stink of corruption in defence deals. Several acquisitions have failed to materialise because allegations that are flying thick have deterred many from inking various deals. The committee has asked the government to ensure that laid down procedures for evaluation and selection of weapons systems are strictly adhered to.

The committee has made three other valuable suggestions. One, records regarding defence purchases must be maintained and concurrent audit of all purchases should be done to ensure accountability. That is easier said than done. Big money is involved and there are loopholes galore. It will be a highly delicate task to strike a balance between transparency and the conventional secrecy that is necessary in defence matters. Two, it should be mandatory for all members nominated to the recently set-up Defence Procurement Board to file their annual property returns and undergo vigilance clearance during and after their tenure. Third, the Central Vigilance Commission should be involved with the Defence Procurement Board. It will be interesting to observe how defence circles react to these proposals.

While lamenting that most modernisation schemes, particularly those of the IAF, have failed to materialise, the committee has warned against over-reliance on Russia. The cautionary note is very much in order. It is common knowledge that India enjoyed several long-term advantages while making its purchases from the USSR on soft terms. These have vanished after the breakup. To ensure that India gets state-of-the-art equipment at competitive prices, it is necessary to explore other avenues through global tenders. Political benefits that India gets through imports from Russia have at times been at the cost of quality. A case in point is the MiG purchase. Several influential functionaries have been rooting for a MiG trainer aircraft despite its fighter planes being exceptionally accident-prone. Now that the Russian air force itself has rejected this trainer, India too should be wary of putting too many eggs in the Russian basket. A fair appraisal of reliability, price, quality, availability and compatibility should determine the purchase of an item and not extraneous considerations. It is worth probing why certain politicians suddenly start behaving like votaries of a particular machine in spite of the fact that military experts are opposed to its induction. 

OPINION

Bill to dismantle APM from April 1
Centre should re-examine the pros and cons
G. K. Pandey

The Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) is in the process of being dismantled to benefit the consumers. The Minister has joked about shifting the target date from April 1, the Fools’ Day, to March 31 or April 2. The mere change of date may not, however, scare away the problems. A Bill has been introduced and Parliament would hopefully approve it before the target date. Experts, however, remain skeptical about any of its avowed objectives being achieved, except for brief interludes.

As for the proclaimed objective of ensuring a level playing field, this is easier said than done. The decision to grant greater autonomy to the “navaratna” public sector companies, mostly in the oil sector, announced with fanfare, is now noteworthy mostly for its breach, specially in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Controlling public sector has rarely been for the “public good”. The politicians and the bureaucrats have strong vested interests in its continuance. And these have now become firmly entrenched in the case of the cash-rich oil companies. Even the Finance Minister could not resist the temptation of mopping up through taxation the production of crude oil at a time when further large investments are inescapable if crude oil output is to be increased in the interest of national economy and security of supplies. This levy would mop up a whopping Rs 2,500 crore.

Since the camouflage of “navaratna” has not worked, the “mantra” now proposed is a “Regulatory Board” for assuring smooth transition to a market economy on a level playing field. But whom this august body would regulate? Surely not the public sector companies. The ministry does so effectively enough. Will it then regulate Reliance and Essaar or others? This too does not seem possible. For instance, if Reliance sells its refinery’s products cheaper than the public sector can in its own turf, such as in Mumbai, or in Gujarat, next to the public sector Gujarat Refinery, would the Regulatory Board step in, merely to strike at the basic root of market economics? Yet, unless this is stopped the affected public sector refineries would be obliged to cut production. This is no theoretical situation but one that could arise soon. Export realisations are often lower than on domestic sales. This provides a strong stimulus to undersell in areas of concentrated demand.

The government claims that it has already insulated the public sector by issuing the edict that their dealers cannot be poached. Such an edict contravenes the existing laws of the land and would be struck down. And the public sector cannot expand its retail outlet network due to the political stranglehold on dealer selection by commissions, set up for attaining social objectives. Who would believe that a retail outlet, which according to the minister costs Rs 1.5 crore each, is intended for the socially and economically backward categories? It is a pity that politicians of all hues persist in treating the public as fools.

Unfortunately, this is not the only “holy cow” serving political ends. Kerosene pricing and subsidy have similarly been given the status of a “holy cow”, even though it mostly generates black money. Perhaps, the subsidy on kerosene is also financed out of the levy on crude oil production! Many examples would show the disadvantaged position of the public sector. Government Audit, CBI, CVC and parliamentary committees are only the most visible. No regulatory system can genuinely provide a level playing field for the public sector. In all areas, be it imports, exports or domestic sales, private companies will remain ahead as their decision making does not have to negotiate roadblocks, imposed on the public sector.

The need to subsidise refineries in the North East has been accepted. While politically necessary, economic imperatives are equally strong. But why north eastern refineries only? Historically, the location of refineries, barring the three coastal refineries set up in the pre-Independence era, has been determined on political considerations. This is unlike the refineries in the free economies, which are set up on purely business considerations. This distinction will be a challenge to any regulatory authority.

Similarly, remote areas are mostly in the regions nearest to the public sector refineries. How would any regulator ask Reliance to meet the needs of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh or Rajasthan when public sector refineries are the most economic points of supply? It would have been better if the gimmicks of remote areas had been substituted by the realism of avoidance of cross movement of products by having product exchange arrangements between marketing companies. The compulsions of our infrastructure and other limitations would necessitate this. It has been in existence for a long time, including between the public sector and the then operating foreign oil companies and considerably predates the APM. It will have to be introduced or reintroduced to put it more appropriately, along with the “freight surcharge”. Who will administer it? Government audit will be disastrous at best. In the event, will OCC be reintroduced in some other form?

There will be many similar problems. Transforming a controlled economy to a free one is fraught with hazards. Japan’s economy is a case in point. Its economy has been unable to free itself from its past regulatory shackles despite going through one of the longest periods of a persisting recession that this second largest world economy has ever known.

Market forces also give shocks to oil companies internationally. These can be due to cyclical reasons, sudden changes in weather conditions, a slow down in the economy, oil price shocks, political upheavals, or a combination of these. This has frequently happened in the past. Fully integrated companies have absorbed these by cross subsidies between their up-stream, refining and marketing operations. No such integrated oil company operates in India. On some occasions, mothballing of refineries, or operating these at reduced levels has also taken place. Will Government defy market forces on occasions when importing products may be cheaper than producing these in Indian refineries?

There are also wide swings in crude oil prices in the US dollar-Indian rupee exchange rate and cyclical swings in the ocean freight rates. Even in the pre-OCC era, the consumer was protected by having a C and F price equalisation fund. True, price variations then were fewer and far between. But this only emphasises the need for such an arrangement to protect the consumer from frequent price swings. Who will administer it?

If the planned APM dismantling has to achieve its objectives, the government should consider all aspects before proclaiming high ideals like benefiting the consumer. There may be price reductions in the short run due to fall in crude oil prices. But there can also be spurt of price rise, such as for high speed diesel oil, which, if passed to the consumers, would have a large inflationary impact on the entire economy. What would the government do in that eventuality?

Our economy’s increasing dependence on imported energy needs to be arrested and even reversed. What is at stake is the national security. Finding new reserves is a very costly and time-consuming business. One is witnessing evidence of some dynamism in the ONGC. In the short term, our only hope is to raise our enhanced recovery percentage of crude oil from “proven reserves” from a dismal low of 28 per cent to an average 60 per cent, obtaining in most developed areas. This would more than double our recovery of crude oil. Our engineers perform miracles internationally. They can also do so in India, if only the problem is given the priority it deserves, and all roadblocks are dismantled, as actually happened when Bombay High field was discovered and the then Chairman of ONGC, Mr N B Prasad, performed the near miracle of laying all the infrastructure in record time, comparable to the best internationally. The new ONGC management seems to have taken up the challenge. But this needs high-power implementation teams in the government to back the ONGC as was done earlier.

This seems unlikely, as, while the Finance Minister is busy depriving the ONGC of the capital it requires for increasing production, the Petroleum Minister is trying to diversify ONGC’s activities to the low priority marketing sector. A sad spectacle indeed in an area where “national security” is at stake.

The move towards dismantling the APM appears to have been motivated by the recurring political problems in raising prices every time the pool account deficit became unsustainable. The plan now put forward can cause greater economic damage and political upheaval, if and when crude oil prices rise again. Even when crude oil prices fall, the private sector would take advantage much quicker and there is little that any regulator would be able to do about it. There is still time to pause and consider all this before rushing into the uncharted area, which could be full of potholes, if not pitfalls.

The writer is a veteran journalist specialising in economic affairs.

MIDDLE

Terrorising trifles
Rajbir Deswal

I have always wondered why some humans are so white livered and timid in mind that in attempting to avoid innocuous and trifling events they break their bones in apprehension of what might be very dangerous, while it is not.

Take for example an ashhill on a cigarette. The smoker might well spill soup on the bystander than let the ash break and drop on the ground. Another instance can be linked to the bathroom where while bathing and rubbing soap on your body, the cake slips out of the hands, you do a near gymnastic feat in an attempt to recover it, as if, if it was lost then you would lose the entire fortune at your disposal.

You know pretty well that, most of the times when you are “presumably” caught between the sliding doors of a lift, then they open automatically, since there is an inbuilt safety mechanism to that effect. But invariably you get upset, and an invading through is noticed, every time you are so “trapped”.

And why do people, while travelling in a motor, lean on the other side of the negotiated curve, almost reflexively in a centrifugal way, attempting to be a little safer, knowing full well that their mass is not sufficient enough to do that balancing act, compared with that of the vehicle in order to audaciously avoid the toppling angle as against the might of mother earth’s gravity.

I think the problem has a deep-rooted psychological elucidation. Remember when you were a child and your father, while shaving his chin, had planted a foam swatch, landing from his shaving brush on to your fluffy cheeks? Sure, you had shrieked and cried for mamma to lap you up and say she would beat papa for his browbeat brushes and nasty mischief played on a lovely little thing. And for the rest of your life it seems you developed a kind of fear of the terrorising trifles.

Also, remember how you reacted to the clip-clap of the barber’s scissors when your father took you out to his saloon for a hairdo? All the time you were apprehensive of your ear being chopped off and had kept sinking in that made-to-order pedestal on the chair for seating babies.

Certain ex-criminal tribes cash in on this very pusillanimity in the human beings when they devise ways and means to dupe the people at large. Their family members also contribute their bit in the manipulation. Their modus operandi is to employ their children also in the cheating-feat. They would throw the biscuit paste or some other similar substance on the clothes of the subjects who on finding a dirty thing hurled on them forget everything around and would instantaneously in a hush-hush manner desire an immediate cleansing and riddance. And in so disturbing the subject the cheats rob them of their belongings stealthily and with craft.

Well, I am envious of the painter who goes on with his creation on the canvas smearing not only his clothes but hands, face and even hair, quite unmindful of the strokes, which otherwise strike terror in the minds of others — a shade less ordinary. But don’t certain painters even wear an apron while “dealing” with colours. Is it really not for seeking a little more liberty with oneself or it is a cover for apprehensions?

Being on the defensive is perhaps a trait with noble hearted human beings, the terrorising agent being gigantic or trifling, notwithstanding.

REFLECTIONS

Eating the elephant — bit by bit
Kiran Bedi

Women in the police made history of its kind a few weeks ago. Rank and file came together at a national conference held in Delhi. It took 54 years for independent India to do so. The conference was the product of more than two years of collaborative hard work by the British Council, the Bureau of Police Research and Development (Ministry of Home Affairs), the respective host partners like the DsGP, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Also involved were young women in the Indian Police Service — Rina Mitra, Anita Punj, Charu, Malini, Tejdeep, Siridevi and a few others — who played a key role in training the women in the police. The coming together was a grand discovery.

When I say women in the police made history, I mean it in more than one way. First, by coming together vertically and horizontally. That is to say, all ranks totalling around 350 women converged without the rigid hierarchy and the traditional mindset. As many as 94 per cent of the delegates were from non-gazetted ranks. Only 4 per cent were women from the Indian Police Service.

This was history because such an intensive vertical interaction at a three-day conference wherein all ranks converged and listened to each other as equals in unusual for the police culture in our country. At least I have not seen one of this kind in my 30 years of service. This is because men are traditionally very hierarchical. Without aspersions, this has been the mindset. Men in the police service are habituated in inflexible system of command and control. Not often do the seniors participate and listen. (Exceptions, of course, are there.)

The second reason for this being a historic event is that the Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi, where the conference was held, has been traditionally a venue for two annual conferences of the Directors General and the Inspectors General. One is hosted by the Intelligence Bureau and the other by the Central Bureau of Investigations. This was the first time the junior ranks sat on the same chairs, the same hall and the same dais with their own Home Minister.

Mr L.K. Advani heard them and the women in the police in turn heard him. There was a great deal of warmth, colour and interaction which does not happen in the DsGP conferences. (I am a witness now to both and can say this with authenticity).

The third reason for the event being historic is that never ever had women in the police come together in any manner, and here they came regionally and nationally together. They had never realised they could come together and speak up for themselves and raise issues for a legitimate role in the national security. Interestingly, many travelled out of their states for the first time.

The fourth reason is that all of them came together after having participated in the regional conferences and a three-month-long personal development programme given to them by their own women officers in the Indian Police Service. It was organised by the British Council through a Britain-based and internationally renowned training group called Spring Board Inc.

The fifth reason was that the women in the police now collectively voiced what they needed to. It took them so long (54 years since independence) to say that they needed separate toilets and rest rooms in the police stations, or creche facilities in the police colonies. They collectively made known that they were “being held back”..... and were being “marginalised” in posting policy. (Ref. survey findings by Jaya Inderson, an eminent social scientist).

The sixth reason is the women in the police decided to give themselves a voice by having a forum for themselves, which will keep them knit together hereafter. An interim forum was announced and formed.

Wonderfully, the Home Minister saw this history and felt honoured for being a part of it. Recognising the power of the “convergence” he fully supported the effort and said the conference ought to be an annual event like the high-profile DsGP conference. By this he respected the need to give women in the police their due place.

One of the major highlights of the conference was the presence of the Chief Superintendent of the British Police, Suzette Davenport. She elaborated how the women in the police in Britain had covered a long distance and were now setting gender agenda for the whole service. They had organised themselves as the British Association of Women Police and incorporate sensitive men in their association as well. She said it was the vision of one woman constable, Tina Martin, who initiated the whole movement decades ago.

Suzette said: “Remember my friends you are at a stage where we were in the 1960s..... when we knew we were up against an elephant and we decided to eat it”. She was joined in by Jenny Daisely, the Springboard trainer, who said: “Remember to eat it bit by bit” to which I added in by suggesting..... “begin with the tail”. And she butted in saying “see that while you do, the elephant does not soil you or kick you”.

To which there was a chorus response....“No more. We are today trained to bite the elephant”.

Some visible and vocal history just in time for the Women’s Day.

ON THE SPOT

So much of Natasha, so little of Gujarat
Tavleen Singh

Why has there been so much coverage in the Press on the death of Natasha Singh and so little on the killings in Gujarat? The question, asked in genuinely puzzled tones, came from a British journalist in Delhi last week. He said he had been astonished by the column inches the death of Natwar Singh's daughter-in-law had occupied. Indians present, including your columnist, tried explaining that it was because of other similarly mysterious deaths in the past year or so. We mentioned the names of Jessica Lal and Nitish Katara and pointed out that in all these cases the finger of suspicion pointed to the sons of important politicians and this was probably the real reason for so much interest. Were we sure, he asked, that it was not a reflection of the tabloidisation of the Indian Press.

We said it was not but the next morning when I read accounts of Natasha Singh's funeral in the Delhi Press I was no longer sure. One venerable, old newspaper, once renowned for its investigative journalism, covered the funeral as if it were a fashion show. Read this, "Amidst what could be termed the spring-summer collection of creamy off-whites, Natasha draped in a bright pink satin cloth, was today laid to rest by her family and friends. And among the who's who of Delhi's chatterati (and even the Congress circle), it was just Natasha's immediate family and a few friends who displayed any signs of sorrow".

To treat a funeral as if it were some frivolous event is sick but this was not the only newspaper that treated it this way. Most Delhi newspapers seemed more interested in who was at the unfortunate young woman's funeral than in finding out if she had been murdered or not. Even more sickening was the prurient interest in the dead woman's love life and marital problems rather than in the causes of her suicide or murder.

You realise that this approach to journalism reflects a deeper sickness if you remember that crime reporting is where the future investigative journalist hones his or her skills. In the case of Natasha Singh, as in the murder last month of Nitish Katara, we saw not even the smallest semblance of investigation on the part of the Press. So why should it surprise us that there is virtually no investigative journalism into the violence in Godhra or the massacres in Gujarat that followed.

The reporting from Gujarat has been so bad that most of it sounds as if it came from government press releases. So, we know that 58 people were killed when the train was burned in Godhra and that 62 people have been arrested under POTO but we have no idea yet of what really happened. How was it possible for a mob of 2,000 people to gather so quickly? Where was the police? Where were the railway staff? Who exactly were the leaders of the murderous mob? In the absence of investigative journalism we get only the government version. Gujarat's Minister of State for Home, Gordhan Zadaphia, gets away with saying, "In Godhra, an outside agency like the ISI was involved and it was a pure terrorist act. But what took place in the state later was mob fury. It was a reaction though it was not desirable. We still can add POTO, but apparently it seems that there is no such requirement yet".

This statement was reported on the front page of one of our national dailies without even minimum efforts at analysis or questioning. Had the reporter just bothered to ask a few, small questions, the minister would have to explain what evidence he had to charge the ISI with the Godhra incident and why the people arrested for the Gujarat massacres were not being detained under POTO. At a time when the Vajpayee government is trying to push the law through in Parliament, the questions become even more important but remain unasked.

When press release journalism replaces investigation all we get are the cold statistics. We know that in Ahmedabad there were 300 people killed, 1679 houses burned, 76 shrines damaged, 1965 shops destroyed, 204 looted and 90 vehicles burned. Statistics often serve to conceal the real horror. When I tell you that 300 people were killed I tell you almost nothing but if I tell you the story of one pregnant woman whose stomach was cut open and her baby burned before she was killed I make you realise that what happened in Gujarat was the worst sectarian violence we have seen since 1947.

In Delhi in 1984 we saw similar pogroms against Sikhs but it was mostly men who were killed not women and children. In Gujarat not only was nobody spared but the barbarism and hatred was on a scale that is almost unimaginable. What kind of people cut babies out of the stomachs of pregnant women? What kind of people burn children alive in front of their parents?

The government is not going to tell us. So the only way we will ever know is if newspapers send reporters out to investigate. Ironically, it was the television networks that did just this but because the nature of the medium is essentially superficial they could not come up with the sort of investigative journalism that requires a reporter to spend some time on the story examining it from all its angles.

When newspaper editors are asked these days about why there is so little serious journalism in their papers and so much frivolity, they usually answer that it is because they now have to compete with television. This is true. And unlike in the West, where the effects of television on print journalism came gradually and over a period of time, we in India were catapulted into the television age overnight. We almost literally, woke up one morning to find that no longer were we competing with dreary, old Doordarshan but with private channels that mushroomed even as we fumbled with our remote controls.

That though was nearly 10 years ago. So newspaper editors should have realised by now that the only way to compete with the TV networks was by providing more information than television ever could and not by converting serious newspapers into tabloids.

We know more about the frivolities that go on in the drawingrooms of Delhi and Mumbai than we know about the horrors that happened in the streets of Baroda and Ahmedabad. More about Natasha Singh's love life than about why she died. That indicates a sickness in the Indian Press that needs treatment before the disease becomes terminal.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Gestures of young women

Words of giften poets

And babble of lovely children

Win the hearts of everyone.

Ruin awaits one’s wealth

if one gambles,

one’s family if one lacks character,

a woman if she has ravishing good looks,

and a king if he is aided by unworthy minister.

— Jayavallabha, Vajjalaggam

***

Happiness is precious, like a drop of honey,

while suffering is as extensive as Mount Meru,

so such a work is to be performed which is not

subject to the vagaries of old age and remains immortal.

— Svayambhu, Paumacariu (8th century C.E.), an epic, Part II, Twenty-second, II.9

***

Just as it is possible for a bird to fly in the sky only with both its wings, so also it is possible for one to reach the Ultimate Reality only with both knowledge and action.

This corporal body, composed of elements, is held together and supported by the impressions in the soul like a necklace of pearls held together by a slender thread that passes through all of them.

Worldly existence is nothing but a net of meaningless thoughts and is only an appearance. O sinless one, this illusory world gathers strength with the accumulation of ideas of bondage and liberation.

...the whole structure of worldly existence is nothing but a figment of the imagination.

This transitory world appears outside like the sea in water, even though there is only water and there is no sea other than the water.

— Yogavasishtha