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Thursday,
June 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Reform-oriented, but
harsh Budget A welcome gesture Digvijay must act |
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The war against terrorism
Shiela Gujral’s new book
Deterioration of values and its cause
Journalist owning 32 flats arrested
Handling mango can be embarrassing
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Reform-oriented, but harsh Budget That Punjab’s economy is in a precarious position is a fact which has been acknowledged and hammered at for quite some time now. Under such a situation, fears were being expressed that the state may have to brace itself for a stiff dose of taxes. But Capt Amarinder Singh’s government has refrained from doing that. Finance Minister Lal Singh has proposed no fresh taxes in his first Budget proposals presented before the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. Imposing new taxes at this stage could have been rather counter-productive. Agriculture is in bad shape. So is industry. The employment scene is bleak. In this backdrop, the government has concentrated more on the levying of user charges in the services sector. Mr Lal Singh has proposed infrastructure cess of Re 1 per litre on petrol and also to levy tolls, wherever feasible, on the road and bridge projects that are being implemented by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board. Infrastructure development has been given priority in the Budget. There is a concerted attempt to take corrective fiscal measures. Significantly, the sales tax incentives granted by the previous government are proposed to be withdrawn. The Budget shows commitment towards the tightening of the belt and the downsizing of the government. The freezing of dearness allowance of the state employees from July, 2002, to June, 2003, suspension of leave travel concession (LTC), ban on foreign tours of ministers and officials, “except in very rare cases”, and privatising the state road transport undertakings can indeed help the state tide over the financial crisis, but will not go down well with the employees. The political class and the bureaucracy are so used to living lavishly at government expense that these economy measures might be dumped quietly soon enough. The rider, “except in very rare cases”, can be twisted and misused merrily. Some disquieting signs of wasteful expenditure are already there. Measures like identification of redundant staff, shifting them to a surplus pool and to redeploy them as per requirements as part of the programme of restructuring all major departments of the government are also prone to annoying the employees. Now that the government has decided to disinvest Punjab Communications Ltd (PUNCOM), Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, the Punjab Tourism and Development Corporation and the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), it will be interesting to watch if any roadblocks are put in the way. The recession-hit industry has been looking up to the Budget to bail it out. Some attempts have been made, but it is doubtful if that will be good enough to usher in the third-generation reforms.
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A welcome gesture BY offering a 10 per cent duty concession on as many as 600 items imported from India, Pakistan has strengthened the ongoing process of normalisation of relations between the two countries. Though financially it may not mean a big gain for Indian exporters, the grant of duty concessions at a time when the armies of the two countries are deployed face-to-face on the border is a goodwill gesture. This may not, however, meet the Indian expectations. Having granted most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan and leaving it untouched despite the recent war-like situation, India expects a more encouraging response from Pakistan. This may include the grant of reciprocal MFN status. The latest duty concession from Pakistan comes under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA), which is not available to even the least developed countries under the SAAC charter. That lends weight to the gesture. Interestingly, the almost six-month-old standoff on the Indo-Pakistan border has not affected trade relations between the two countries. Instead, bilateral trade has grown impressively in the recent past. That is because freight traffic between the two countries has continued even after the suspension of the air and road links. According to figures published in the Pakistani English daily Dawn, Pakistani exports to India, which include fresh and dry fruits, rock salt, cotton yarn and leather products, have gone up by 7.38 per cent and imports from India have surged by 17.87 per cent. That trade has remained unhurt despite the belligerent postures by the leaders of the two countries is commendable. The need is to strengthen it further. It is in the interest of both countries. If Pakistan buys wheat from India, which has plenty of it, instead of importing it from countries like the USA and Canada, it can save at least $ 25 a tonne on freight alone. This was the finding of a study on development in South Asia carried out by an Indian think-tank called the Research and Information's Systems. Similarly, if India maintains normal relations with its not-so-pleasant neighbour, it can export wheat currently rotting in its overflowing godowns to Afghanistan. According to one estimate, the people of Pakistan can reduce their food bills by 20 to 30 per cent through increased trade with India. Both countries can identify more areas of trade by facilitating and encouraging interaction between traders and businessmen. It has been emphasised time and again by many well-meaning analysts that the real issue that the two countries need to focus on is the eradication of poverty, which is the mother of many problems. To enable and help the people achieve their aspirations, it is imperative for the rulers of India and Pakistan to create a congenial atmosphere where trade can flourish and dreams can be realised.
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Digvijay must act THE establishment of panchayati raj was the USP of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. It reflected his concern for the welfare of the ordinary people. However, his initial response to the demands of the activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan did not enhance his image as a pro-poor leader. A group of andolan leaders remained on fast for nearly a month and yet the administration did not make a serious attempt to give them even a patient hearing. Their demand was no different from the demand of displaced persons elsewhere in the country. They wanted the state government to give priority to the rehabilitation of the villagers whose land was acquired for the construction of smaller dams around the Narmada project. The fast was called off on Tuesday after the Madhya Pradesh government directed the Chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority to look into the rehabilitation-related grievances of the Mann Dam oustees. But the time limit fixed for completing the process of rehabilitating the oustees indicates that the authorities are not serious. July 31 is an unrealistic deadline for completing the process of rehabilitating the oustees. The work that could not be completed at a slow pace after the project was cleared along with the construction of the main Narmada Dam years ago is expected to be finished within a period of 40 days. Is it possible? It is evident that neither Chief Minister Digvijay Singh nor the Chairman of the NVDA is serious about giving to the displaced persons their legitimate due — land for land and adequate amount of money for them to start life afresh in alien surroundings. Even if the authorities decide to work round-the-clock for the next 40 days they are not likely to make much headway in providing the trappings of a habitable township to the displaced population of Mann village that is being cleared for constructing a feeder dam as part of the larger project. The authorities should be prepared for a fresh round of agitation after July 31. Mr Digvijay Singh’s silence has added to the sense of unease among the sufferers of the massive Sardar Sarovar Project. Why is he so indifferent to the genuine concerns of the simple tribals? They may not have even raised their voice against the injustice being heaped on them had Ms Medha Patkar and Ms Arundhati Roy not taken charge of the movement for getting them a fair deal. The details of the deal that made the NBA activists break their fast are not known. Perhaps, the agitation was called off not as an expression of faith in the commitment of the state government, but to save the lives of the four tribal women and men whose condition had become serious.
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The war against terrorism As the Bush Administration proceeds with its war against terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, it has found that apart from the ever reliable British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, it also has a valuable friend and ally in Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin spared no effort to reinforce American moves to broker peace between India and Pakistan during the Almaty summit, leading to questions about why he was adopting such a high profile, despite knowing about India’s aversion to permitting the Russians any Tashkent-style mediatory role. Mr Putin is a supreme realist who knows that in today’s world he has to change his country’s past adversarial relationship with the USA into a partnership. And in forging this partnership, he knows that apart from yielding on the American Missile Defence Programme and entering into a working relationship with a NATO that is determined to expand eastwards, he will have to play ball with the Americans if his country is to have a significant say in exploiting the immense gas resources of Central Asia. The long-standing association that members of the Bush Administration have with international oil and gas cartels are well known. The Bush family acquired its wealth through its Texas links with the oil industry, including with the omnipresent UNOCAL. Mr George Bush (Senior) has links with the Carlysle Group specialising in global investments in oil and natural gas. Vice-President Dick Cheney worked for the giant oil conglomerate Haliburton before he became what he is. Haliburton has major interests in the construction of oil and gas pipelines. Ms Condoleeza Rice worked for the oil giant Chevron before she moved to Washington as National Security Adviser. Mr Zalmay Khalizad, who is now the American Special Envoy to Afghanistan, was earlier a Chief Consultant for UNOCAL. Mr Khalizad has been accused of applying undue influence to secure the election of Mr Hamid Karzai as President in Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga. This should come as no surprise. Mr Karzai himself was a UNOCAL employee not long ago. How does Mr Tony Blair fit in? Mr Blair himself was a British Petroleum (BP) executive before he took to politics!! But it is not the Bush Administration alone that has been influenced by the politics of oil and gas. While swearing by its commitment to human rights, the Clinton Administration was also significantly influenced in the conduct of its policies towards the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan by UNOCAL and by its promises of access to the gas resources of Central Asia. The central focus of attention for the Bush Administration today is to destroy the Al-Qaeda and its allies in Osama bin Laden’s “International Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders”. But, at the same time, there are those in Washington, Moscow and elsewhere who are now working to convert the challenges of today into the economic and business opportunities of tomorrow. The oil and gas resources of Central Asia and the Caucasus far exceed those of Saudi Arabia. But these resources can be fully exploited and marketed only after the maritime boundaries of the Caspian Sea are delineated and secure routes determined for pipelines from the landlocked Central Asian and Caucasian countries. Mr Putin’s Russia has a vital interest in this endeavour. The cash-strapped Russian economy depends heavily on the stability of world gas prices. Mr Putin himself has spoken about a “Gas OPEC” to determine and fix international gas prices. And Russia has not hesitated to close its pipelines when Central Asian leaders like Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov have tried to challenge its interests. Russia has seen its traditional markets for oil and natural gas in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Armenia being taken over by American competitors over the past decade. Mr Putin will now skilfully use his relationship with Mr Bush to modernise the Russian energy Giant Gazprom — an enterprise with an annual turnover of $ 20 billion. The stage is being set for Gazprom to join American giants to exploit the gas resources of Central Asia. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda had barely been ousted from the caves of Tora Bora in Afghanistan when it was announced that General Musharraf, Mr Hamid Karzai and President Niyazov would meet to discuss the development of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to the port of Gwadar, now being built with Chinese assistance on the Baluchistan coast. The three leaders agreed during their recent meeting in Islamabad to have a fresh feasibility study commissioned for the proposed project. Not surprisingly, top executives from Russia’s Gazprom have visited Islamabad in recent days to have a finger in the rather lucrative pie of Central Asian gas. Turkmenistan after all has proven resources of 101 trillion cubic feet of gas!! General Musharraf’s visit to Moscow is, therefore, not primarily because of any unrealistic ambition of Mr Putin to be a mediator on Kashmir, but because he wants to miss no opportunity to ensure Russian participation in the exploitation of the vast resources of Central Asian oil and gas. With his warm personal relationship with Mr Bush, Mr Putin will not be averse to striking partnership deals with the likes of UNOCAL on such projects. Gazprom today has a collaborative relationship with Florida’s “Itera”. There is no reason why it cannot have tie-ups with other American partners. When the project for a pipeline to carry Central Asian gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan was first mooted by UNOCAL, the pipeline was to have been upto Multan in central Pakistan. It has now been revealed that negotiations for this project with the Taliban continued till July, 2001, even after the Bush Administration assumed office. The main reason that the negotiations failed was the refusal of the Taliban to strike a deal on handing over Osama bin Laden. Those involved in these negotiations are said to have included Mullah Omar’s personal Adviser, Mullah Sayed Rahmatullah; Leila Helms, a niece of former CIA Director Richard Helms; former Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev; former Ambassadors to Pakistan Robert Oakley and Tom Simons; and the Clinton Administration’s Karl Inderfurth. Acting as intermediary and midwife was the ubiquitous Niaz Naik of Pakistan. Determined to abort these moves, Osama bin Laden struck at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Thus, the move to use the Afghan route for exploiting the gas resources of Turkmenistan has powerful backers, who have a natural interest in restoring peace and stability and ensuring that there are “cooperative” regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it needs to be remembered that when UNOCAL initially studied the project it was found to be viable only if the gas was to be supplied to the energy hungry Indian market. Even if Pakistan tries to build LNG terminals in Gwadar, the fact that huge transportation costs would make supplies to countries like Japan prohibitively expensive cannot be ignored. New Delhi should take note of these developments. It will have to devise strategies that enable it to strike hard bargains for meeting its energy needs. It should see that Iran is not excluded from the emerging strategic scenario. The Americans and others need to know that India has multiple options to meet its energy needs. But in formulating these policies it would have to make it clear that its markets would be available only when Pakistan renounces policies of compulsive hostility and agrees to the development of wide-ranging, good neighbourly relations based on healthy economic interdependence. Quite obviously, for all this to happen, the Pakistan military establishment will have to irrevocably discard its present jehadi mindset. Time alone will tell whether this will happen.
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Shiela Gujral’s new book Lahore-born writer and poet Shiela Gujral has carved out a timeless niche for herself in the literary world. Although her voice has begun to tremble with age, her pen is steady. Her passion for writing has resulted in the release of her another book titled “My Years in the USSR — Recollections and Revelations” by MacMillan India Limited. The first copy of the book was presented to President K.R. Narayanan at a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan recently. According to the author, the book sums up her experiences during her stay in the erstwhile USSR from May, 1976, to the end of 1980. This was the time when Mr Gujral was India’s Ambassador to the USSR before its disintegration. To go down memory lane dating back to 1960 when Mrs Gujral had visited the USSR as a member of women’s cultural delegation was not difficult. Her diaries came handy while writing the manuscript. “I maintain a diary. Thanks to Nikhil Chakravartty, who suggested this,” she said. A recipient of several awards, Mrs Gujral says she makes it a point to read and write in the morning hours. “I do not socialise in the morning.” According to the publishers, Mrs Gujral wrote a lot during her husband’s posting in the USSR. She was inspired by the country, its landscape and the weather. Her graphic description of her travels to Leningard, Sochi, Tashkent and Yalta and all parts of the then Soviet Union are the most fascinating part of the book. Her narrative skills come to the fore in her description of nature. Although she was part of the diplomatic mission, she arranged meetings with academicians, writers and artists to feel the pulse of the cultural milieu. Mrs Sheila Gujral has several titles to her credit. Several publishing houses have recognised her linguistic versatility by publishing her books in Punjabi, Hindi and English. These include collections of poems, short stories, biographies and Chinese war poems. J and K officer as CBI Joint Director Mr Raju, who took charge of his new assignment on June 18, has served as the Superintendent of Police in Kerala between 1983-89 and the DIG of the CBI’s Special Investigation Team between 1991 and 1998. For one year, between 1998 and 1999, he served as Inspector-General (Crime Branch) in Jammu and Kashmir. Between 1989 and 1990 — when there was migration of Hindu minorities from Jammu and Kashmir due to terrorist violence — he was the Senior Superintendent of Police in Jammu. From July, 1999, to November, 2000, Mr Raju held the position of Inspector-General (Jammu zone) and subsequently had a six-month stint as Director, Jammu and Kashmir Police Academy. Before joining as Joint Director, CBI, he was posted as Additional Director-General, Jammu region. Mr Raju, who is known for his leadership qualities and good investigative skills, is a native of Kochi district of Kerala. During his leisure time he prefers reading books and listening to music.
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Deterioration of values and its cause “Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah”. Dharma protects one who protect it is the truth taught in the Mahabharata, our epic. For thousands of years, our motherland and its people stood for Dharma and created a great culture i.e. Bharateeya Samskriti. Dharma, a Sanskrit word, does not have an appropriate English term. At the most we can translate it as “Righteousness:” Four purusharthas (human endeavour) are prescribed for human achievement i.e. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma or righteousness is the very foundation on which the whole structure of values has to be built. They are Artha i.e. acquiring wealth, properties, and other possessions; kama i.e. enjoyment of life or pleasures through legitimate means; by all these three means to attain moksha or liberation of the soul from transmigration. Dharma is nothing but righteous living following moral, ethical and spiritual values. Every religion teaches sublime truths to practise in the life for the harmony. Until we establish internal harmony, we cannot see harmony outside. If the mind is full of restlessness, full of passion, say anger, hatred, jealousy, selfishness etc how can we find peace outside? Men and women are searching for peace outside as the mind is of an outgoing nature. They think enjoyment will give them peace; possession of wealth and properties will give them peace etc. But the more they strive to get joy through the senses, the more they begin to suffer physically and mentally. Almost daily we come across news about scam after scam; acquisition of huge properties and wealth by illegal means by bureaucrats, politicians and by anti-socials. What is the cause of so much corruption, deterioration of values, immorality etc? We have to point at the Indian Constitution. It was the Dharma Shastra of Manu, Parashara and what was mentioned in the Shantiparva of Mahabharata which made the Hindu kings and the subjects to follow in their daily life. In the Dharma Shastra, it is very clearly mentioned about the duties of the people belonging to the four stations of life i.e. student life (Bramhacharyashrama), householder’s life (Grihastashrama), forest life (Vanaprasthashrama) and monastic life (Sanyasa Ashrama). Dharma Shastra also deals with Administration, (Raja Neeti), legal matters, education, about work and its implication (law of karma) etc. That was how Dharma was ingrained in society. But, our present Indian Constitution, which replaced the Dharma Shastra, is completely silent about moral, ethical and spiritual values; there is no single word about ‘Dharma’ in the whole Constitution for which our motherland and the people stood for thousands of years. In the name of secularism, all ennobling stories from our epics and scriptures have been removed from the textbooks of schools and colleges. The word secularism has also developed so much controversy between minority and majority educational institutions. Our scriptures say ‘Matri Devo Bhava, Pitri Devo Bhava, Acharya Devo Bhava, Athiti Devo Bhava; Satyam Vada: Dharma Chara: Ekam Sad Vipra Bahudha Vadanti; Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ etc i.e. Look upon mother, father, teacher, and guest as god, tell the truth, practise righteousness, there is one Truth the wise call it by different names; universal family of god etc. All these ennobling truths are not taught in our schools and colleges. Even during the Muslim rule and the British rule they were taught. That is why there is so much deterioration of values and in the character of youth and the old. When there is no constitutional support for the teaching and practice of spiritual values, naturally there will be scams, illegal possession of wealth and properties, rapes and killings and wickedness in society. Even in the USA and European countries, yoga and meditation have become one of the curriculum in the educational institutions. A recent article on the theme, “Spirituality is moving into the corporate world” in a leading newspaper maintains that spirituality is the quintessence of all religions and the core values of the different religions were all the same. A quiet spiritual revolution has begun among leaders of the global economy, in many corporations around the world. They have identified the need for a re-definition of progress to include spirituality as a context of individual and organisational development. But, in India, until we are allowed to teach the noble values i.e. moral, ethical and spiritual, based on the truths taught in our scriptures, in the homes, schools and colleges, there is no hope of re-deeming the whole country which is in the grip of the Asura like people, anti-social, anti-national, mafia gangs and corrupt politicians. For that, the word ‘Secularism’ in the Indian Constitution should be re-interpreted. Om-Tat-Sat-Om |
Journalist owning 32 flats arrested This “crime reporter” in New Delhi is now making headlines himself as a master swindler. Ram Mani Pandey is in the police net for owning 32 apartments in an east Delhi neighbourhood on the basis of forged papers. It was easy for Pandey, who ran two little known local newspapers on crime — Vigilance to City Crimes and All India Crime Reporter — from his house, printing just 50 copies. His journalist-cum-newspaper proprietor status would get him easy assess to higher-ups, whom he used to swindle money and build 32 flats without anyone being any wiser. Well, almost. After the 32 flats were constructed, Pandey (38) started living in two of them and planned to sell the others. His dream run in crime ended when CBI sleuths raided his Dilshad Colony house on Friday. Officials found that he had swindled PNB Housing Finance Limited of Rs.22.8 million to build the 32 flats by submitting forged documents of non-existent employees. CBI spokesman S.M. Khan told IANS that Pandey got help from Edison John, a marketing agent of Kerala Associates, a financing agency of the bank. John introduced him to the bank’s Vice-President, Devinder Singh Rawat. “Raids were conducted at the homes of Pandey, Rawat, his colleague Anila Singh, who processed the loan papers, John and Vinod Kumar Chaddha, the owner of Sewa Builders which had constructed the houses,” Khan said. “Pandey and Rawat were arrested. Rawat has been booked for corruption. Pandey reportedly conspired with Chaddha, John and Rawat last year and cheated the bank of Rs 22.8 million by obtaining loans on the basis of fake salary slips, birth certificates and residential proof of his non-existent employees, who were shown to receive handsome salaries. Officials said documents showed that while Pandey and his wife owned two flats, the rest were owned by the fictitious employees. “We are still investigating Rawat’s family. It seems they were also beneficiaries of the commission Pandey is believed to have paid to obtain housing loans,” Khan said. IANS US N-plants can survive plane attack
A hijacked commercial airliner loaded with explosive jet fuel like the one that hit the Pentagon on September 11 cannot penetrate a U.S. nuclear power reactor and release deadly radiation, according to a nuclear industry study. The report’s conclusions are intended to calm a nervous public and nuclear industry critics worried the nation’s 103 nuclear reactors, especially those near big cities, are susceptible to a September 11 type of attack. The study was commissioned by the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group, which hired independent consultants to analyse what damage would occur if a Boeing 767 airplane filled with fuel crashed into a nuclear power plant.
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Handling mango can be embarrassing Of all the pleasures that lie in wait for us in the kitchen, few can equal that of catching a fruit at its moment of perfect ripeness. Imagine a mango, its golden flesh so soft and full of juice it is almost too slippery to hold. Or a peach so perfect you must bite and suck at the same time to stop its rose-scented syrup running down your chin and arms. Ripeness may, in the case of a pear, be quite fleeting. Others, tomatoes for instance hold well for a few days, giving us time to hunt out a supply of decent basil and the best mozzarella di buffala to go with them. I must admit to being obsessed with the whole business; even more so now that the melon, mango and tomato season is upon us. It is easy to miss the moment. Currently for a few glorious weeks, it is the Alphonso mango season. There is no fruit in which ripeness — and our attention to its progress — is more important. I look forward to these fruits from Maharashtra in western India as much as I do the asparagus or wild salmon whose season they share. Mangoes are an embarrassing fruit to tackle even among mates. Peel them instead and serve them with a small fork stuck in each end, then there might be takers. There is talk of untimely rains in India this year, which might explain the vast barrow of cut-price fruits I saw in central London’s Selfridges department store the other day, a member of staff tempting passers-by with a wedge of deep golden flesh on a cocktail stick. I went back three times. Melons are less reliable. I had several last summer that never ripened at all. They were mostly Honeydews, the ones that look like a bright yellow rugby ball. The smaller, green-striped Charentais and the larger Ogen are easier to gauge. Ogen melons have juicy green flesh and a greeny-yellow skin that is covered with an intricate, rough webbing. This ‘netting’ can be used as a sign of ripeness. The more pronounced the netting the riper the fruit. But all this is rather academic. The soundest way to suss out your Charentais is with your nose. A ripe melon is a deeply fragrant melon. Its skin should give a little at the fruit’s North and South Pole. Colour and smell are little use when it comes to assessing the ripeness of an avocado. Again, there will be some dulling of the skin, but the real and only test is to use your hands. It makes me laugh when greengrocers refuse to let you pick out your own, and yet ask most of them to find you a ripe avocado and they will poke at them like they are trying to wake a sleeping teenager. What works for me is to hold the pear in my right hand and give it a slow, gentle squeeze using the whole hand. The thumb should barely come in to it. That is why I like the Hass Variety. Clumsy customers can do it less harm than the thin-skinned green Fuerte. I used to curse the shops for not selling fruits ripe and ready to eat. I know better now. You will get a mango, a pawpaw or an avocado home in better condition if it is underripe. It is then up to us to nurture it towards spot-on softness. A cool room will do. Fruits need to be kept apart, especially thin-skinned pawpaws which will turn to slush where they touch one another. I still meet people who don’t believe the paper-bag trick. Take a ripe fruit — a banana is the most efficient for this — and warp it in a large brown paper bag along with the unripe fruit. Leave it for a day or two and by that time the unripe fruit should be well on its way. Better still, is to give your fruit time to mellow naturally, sniffing and fondling it as the days progress, each one bringing you a step closer to that brief moment of perfect, sublime ripeness.
The Observer |
O Guruda, Rama makes all men dance even as a juggler would make his monkey dance — so declare the vedas. He who is not transfixed by the shaft of a woman's eye, he who remains wakeful through the dark night of fierce passion and who lets not his neck be encircled by the noose of covetousness is your equal, Sri Rama. —Shri Ramacharitamanasa, Kishikindhakanda *** Perish the pleasures, the actions and duties in which is found no devotion to Rama's lotus feet! —Shri Ramacharitamanasa, Ayodhya Kanda *** Silence is the language of eternity. It is a gateway to Godhead. It is the impulse of God in man. Its arch is sublimity. Its base is fearlessness. It is a key to all knotty problems of life. Man learns more through silence than from desultory reading and writing. Silence is the flower of the heart, the amber of life, the fragrance of the mind, the jewel of the deep sea. Sit in silence and commune with God and nature.... Watch the stars and the spheres in the firmament in the still silence of the night and the music of God would flow in you with a mystic spell. Make silence your joyful companion. Disdain and keep away from the shouts and shrieks of your dizzy world. —Yogi M.K. Spencer, How I Found God. Discourse No 35. *** We are frail human
being. We do not know very often what we say. If we want to listen to the still small voice that is always speaking within us, it will not be heard if we continually speak. Experience has taught me that silence is a part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth.... A man of
few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. —Mahatma Gandhi. Young India, August 6, 1925; Autobiography |
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Lahore-born writer and poet Shiela Gujral has carved out a timeless niche for herself in the literary world. Although her voice has begun to tremble with age, her pen is steady. Her passion for writing has resulted in the release of her another book titled “My Years in the USSR — Recollections and Revelations” by MacMillan India Limited. The first copy of the book was presented to President K.R. Narayanan at a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan recently.
One of the key officials in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI, which probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Mr R.V. Raju, has been appointed to the hot seat of Joint Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). An IPS officer of the 1975 batch (Jammu and Kashmir cadre), Mr Raju has served in several important positions in the CBI as well as in Jammu and Kashmir before his appointment as Joint Director. This will be the his third stint in the CBI for the Jammu and Kashmir cadre officer, who had also headed the investigation into the sensational murder of former member of Parliament Subbarama Reddy.