E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Testing time in Kashmir
POLITICAL leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including the separatists, should have no cause for complaint so far as the question of ensuring a free and fair election in October is concerned. The Election Commission has already announced that it will do everything possible so that people can participate in the coming poll without any kind of fear. The Centre’s decision to replace Governor G. C. Saxena with a more acceptable face in the valley and the indication to impose President’s rule soon show that it is prepared to take all the necessary steps aimed at an increased voter participation.

Relief in the air
IT is one arena where India figures almost on top. Air travel in the country is among the costliest in the world. You can go from Delhi to London and come back, by adding only a couple of thousands to the money that you have kept aside for your trip to Goa. If that is irrational, there is more. At times going to Kolkata from Delhi can cost you more than going to Bangkok. At last realisation is dawning on the powers that be that this is the best way to kill the golden goose called the tourist.

OPINION

Changes in Civil Procedure Code
A good beginning, but a lot more needs to be done
V. Eshwar Anand
WILL the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) help courts to dispose of all civil cases within one year and quicken the pace of justice? One would find it difficult to give a positive answer in the context of the sheer volume and the magnitude of the problem. The subordinate courts alone have a huge backlog of over 13 million cases, the High Courts 3.5 million and the Supreme Court 23,000.

MIDDLE

“Urgent, most urgent and immediate”
P. Lal
HE stood before the complaints-attendant in the maintenance office at the dead of night in the hot, sultry month of July. Earlier, from his residence, he had been trying to contact the complaints-office on telephone, but finding a busy tone each time, he had decided to drive down to the office in his car.

DEBATE

The vitality and erosion of Punjabi spirit
V. N. Datta
THERE are two basic questions to be answered for any discussion on the question of Punjabi spirit: first, its genesis and second, the elements that compose it. To put it differently, the issue in modern terminology relates to Punjabi identity, and its crystallisation. How do we characterise Punjabi spirit, and what are its distinctive features? We have to understand wherein lies the roots of Punjabi spirit, and how they grew, matured and developed and made Punjab as it is today.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Wanted: beer guzzlers for research
IN what might lead men to go thronging to research laboratories, a study is being conducted which asks men to drink a litre of beer a day, all in the name of medical research. And the aspect under scrutiny is a possible relation between a vitamin called folate, found in beer, and a reduced risk of heart disease.

• Mating shortens life expectancy

Eccentricity increases with age, flamboyance falls
RESEARCHERS at Imperial College, London, have revealed that behaviour of eccentric people becomes more extreme with age. However, flamboyant behaviour becomes less pronounced. The team of researchers followed up 202 patients with diagnosed personality disorders. The patients’ ages varied widely, with an average of 35. They were categorised into three groups. The first, “odd or eccentric” group, included people diagnosed with schizoid, schizotypal or paranoid personalities.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Testing time in Kashmir

POLITICAL leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including the separatists, should have no cause for complaint so far as the question of ensuring a free and fair election in October is concerned. The Election Commission has already announced that it will do everything possible so that people can participate in the coming poll without any kind of fear. The Centre’s decision to replace Governor G. C. Saxena with a more acceptable face in the valley and the indication to impose President’s rule soon show that it is prepared to take all the necessary steps aimed at an increased voter participation. The two likely changes formed part of the separatist leadership’s demands also. Now it is for those who claim to have been voicing the grievances of the valley’s populace to come to the electoral arena to prove their following, if at all they have it. Certain Hurriyat Conference leaders have provided a clue to what is happening in their mind. The Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, the biggest of the 23 Hurriyat constituents known for its hardline approach, has ruled out its participation in the coming poll but it may ultimately go according to the conglomerate’s final decision. Some prominent Hurriyat leaders have made it clear that they will not be influenced by the poll boycott call given by the PoK-based United Jehad Council, headed by militant mastermind Syed Salahuddin. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a former head of the Hurriyat, is reported to have said that whatever decision the multi-party amalgam takes will be “in the interest of the people of the state and the movement”, without caring for the diktats of the extremist Jehad Council. Maulana Abbas Ansari has gone to the extent of questioning the very locus standi of those sitting across the border and trying to mislead the people here. Mr Sajjad Lone, son of the slain Hurriyat leader, Abdul Ghani Lone, has reminded the separatist leaders that they have not faced any election and, therefore, do not have the people’s mandate to speak on their behalf. Hence they must participate in the electoral exercise to justify their claim of representing the Kashmiri aspirations.

Among the most vocal figures not against the battle of the ballot has been Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabbir Shah. He is ready to participate in the elections but not in government formation. One wishes to ask Mr Shah: then what is the purpose of holding the polls? Nowadays he appears a little confused and has stopped speaking out what is exactly there in his mind. It seems he is under tremendous pressure from Third Front leaders, as his organisation is a member of the 14-party formation, pressing for a dialogue on the Kashmir crisis before holding the elections. The separatist leaders should remember that they cannot be accepted as the true representatives of the masses if they refuse to prove it in a democratic manner. The people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and the revival of economic activity which can be possible only when no one resorts to violence and a democratically elected government is formed again. Anyone boycotting the October elections will not be working for safeguarding the common Kashmiri’s interests. Such a leader will be accused of playing dubious games at the behest of Pakistan or the forces misleading the people from across the Line of Control. Are the Hurriyat, Third Front and other leaders listening?

Relief in the air

IT is one arena where India figures almost on top. Air travel in the country is among the costliest in the world. You can go from Delhi to London and come back, by adding only a couple of thousands to the money that you have kept aside for your trip to Goa. If that is irrational, there is more. At times going to Kolkata from Delhi can cost you more than going to Bangkok. At last realisation is dawning on the powers that be that this is the best way to kill the golden goose called the tourist. After more than half a century of open fleecing, things are changing slowly. Empty seats have forced airlines to announce special reduced fares from August to October, which is the lean season. If the public response is good, there are chances that the fares will be marked down on a permanent basis. Since there is still not enough competition, the airlines have put stiff conditions on the travellers. For instance, the tickets have to be booked three weeks in advance. If you cancel a ticket you have to pay 50 per cent damages. And a ticket has to be purchased even for an infant. But once it becomes clear to everyone that there are thousands of people willing to graduate from airconditioned train travel to air travel if only this does not mean burning big holes in their pockets, the stifling conditions will have to be eased. In any case, the concept of offering the cheapest rates to the traveller who books well in advance is prevalent all over the world and the travellers in India need to get used to it. After all, a cancelled ticket costs a lot to the airlines.

With airfares in at least some sectors coming almost level with two-tier AC train fares, fears have been expressed in some quarters that this may affect the railways. That appears unlikely considering that most trains boast of long waiting lists. Because of the tough conditions put up by the airlines, only a few travellers may change loyalty. Moreover, the hassle of reporting hours before the flight and restrictions on the luggage that you can carry also may force many people to continue to patronise the trains. And even if the railways does lose some customers, that would rather have a positive, sobering effect on its haughty officials. All along, the railways has enjoyed a take-it-or-leave-it monopoly and has been niggardly in offering value for money to the passengers. In fact, rail fares too have been excessive, particularly in Shatabdi trains. Perhaps the new competition will force the railways also to take a hard look at the whole structure. It is time it started treating the passenger as the king. So far, the poor fellow has only been maltreated as if he is a beggar.

Dark Ages revisited

A sister paid for her brother’s crime. She was reportedly stripped naked, tied to a tractor and dragged in Gideranwali village of Abohar sub-division last week. All this to “avenge” her brother’s misbehaviour with a girl whose family took out their ire against the victim. Villagers came to the rescue of the victim. After first describing the incident as a brawl between womenfolk from both sides, the police later arrested the alleged perpetrators. Equally horrifying was an incident in Pakistan of the gang-rape of a girl in Meerwala, a village in Pakistani Punjab. The rape had the ignominy of being socially sanctioned by the jirga, a local tribal court. The jirga had decided that the girl should be punished for the transgression of her younger brother, who was “involved” with a girl from a superior tribe. The girl was raped by four men, including a member of the jirga. No one protested, perhaps intimidated by the presence of armed tribals. Following extensive Press coverage and international outrage at the incident, Pakistan’s Supreme Court and government machinery swung into action and some arrests took place. The victim was also given some monetary compensation.

If, as it is commonly believed, crimes against women are an indication of the state of health of a society, then it seems there is all-round regression on this front. In Bulandshahr, UP, a village panchayat “pardoned” a rapist father after he “apologised” to his daughter and the panchayat. The victim, a 14-year-old girl, was instructed not to lodge a complaint against her father. Further, she was asked to live in the house of the man who had been raping her for a year and a half! Unfortunately, such acts are not subcontinent specific. Rather they reflect an international phenomenon. Women’s rights don’t seem to have penetrated beyond metropolises and their periphery. In Mexican villages, rape is taken as a courting ritual and in certain areas the sentence for stealing a cow is more than that for rape. It is obvious that a lot goes on without affecting our collective conscience, which is only pricked when some incident comes into the focus. Like the horror story from Indore, MP, where a woman who went to the Vaishno Devi temple with her friend, as her husband declined to accompany her, was subjected to an “agni pariksha”. She held a red-hot iron rod to prove her fidelity. Besides her in-laws, social leaders of the Sakal Gihara Samaj were involved in this outrageous incident. In all these cases social sanction of some sort, no matter how twisted, is often used as an excuse for crimes against women. This is what has to be eliminated. It would be erroneous to take these incidents as aberrations. They, unfortunately, represent a deep-seated anti-women animus that runs in all societies and needs to be recognised and then combated aggressively. There has to be zero tolerance to such incidents and the moral, legal and social weight of society has to be brought to bear upon the perpetrators of these crimes.

OPINION

Changes in Civil Procedure Code
A good beginning, but a lot more needs to be done
V. Eshwar Anand

WILL the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) help courts to dispose of all civil cases within one year and quicken the pace of justice? One would find it difficult to give a positive answer in the context of the sheer volume and the magnitude of the problem. The subordinate courts alone have a huge backlog of over 13 million cases, the High Courts 3.5 million and the Supreme Court 23,000.

There is bound to be skepticism about the effectiveness of the recent amendments even though these are timely and well-intentioned and were long overdue. This is because several attempts in the past did not meet with success. The Rankin Committee (1924), the Satish Chandra Committee (1986) and the Malimath Committee (1993) identified reasons for the accumulation of arrears. Some of these are the inevitable consequences of industrial growth, societal change and increasing legislative and governmental activity. Also, the truism that the present litigation explosion is primarily due to legal consciousness can hardly be gainsaid.

Certain other causes are, of course, due to deficiencies for which either the judiciary or the government is answerable. Inadequate staff, delay in filling vacancies, unsatisfactory working conditions for presiding judges and poor infrastructural facilities are, no doubt, some of the areas where the government has to share the responsibility.

The precise apportionment of responsibility between the Centre and the states is another matter. But, to a large extent, the lawyers and the judges are themselves responsible for the malady. The members of the Bar do know how easy and convenient it is to prolong a litigation by carrying it from one court to another under some nomenclature or the other, as would suit the litigant’s caprice. To maintain that the courts are unaware of this is to ignore the basic reality of the situation.

Sloth and insensitivity seem to have vitiated the atmosphere in our courts. The practice and procedures adopted by courts, far from clearing the backlog, are only aggravating the problem. Against this background, the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1999, and the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2002, could well be described as significant milestones in the annals of the Indian judiciary. In addition to the one-year time-limit for the disposal of all civil cases, the other changes include allowing only three adjournments in a case and costs to be levied on the party that tries to adopt delaying tactics, empowering courts to fix a time-limit for oral arguments, and, if necessary, asking parties to file written submissions, and making judges accountable through a significant provision that they will have to give their ruling within 60 days of the completion of hearing. The proposal on time-limit for a judge’s ruling is in sharp contrast to the “unlimited time” allowed by the original Act of 1908.

Equally important is the provision to allow the service of summons through private couriers. The new Act allows the use of fax and e-mail for serving summons, hitherto regarded illegal. Another important introduction is the clause to preempt avoidance or refusal to accept summons by providing that the person to whom it was issued “shall be presumed” to have received it even if the summons is returned with an endorsement that the party is refusing to accept it.

But then, these reforms in themselves will not help matters. A wider dimension to the problem is the vacancies in courts and poor infrastructural facilities, especially in subordinate courts . As on May 31, 2002, there were 155 vacancies in High Courts as against the sanctioned strength of 647 judges: 44 in the Allahabad High Court; 11 in Madras; nine in Gujarat; six in Patna; four each in Guwahati and Uttaranchal; three in Chhattisgarh; and two in Sikkim.

As regards the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seven new judges were sworn in on July 2, taking their strength to 33 as against 40 sanctioned posts. However, one judge retired last week, another will retire in September, 2002, and yet another will be elevated as the Chief Justice of a High Court. This will bring down the strength to 30. The state governments and the High Courts are responsible for filling vacancies in the subordinate courts. As on June 7, 2002, over 1,500 vacancies existed at various levels as against the sanctioned strength of 12,205 presiding judges in the subordinate courts.

Several reasons have been adduced for the continued vacancies: the government’s failure to get the right people; slow advertisement and recruitment process; and cumbersome recommendation procedure. Former Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley admitted the other day that he used to write to Chief Justices of High Courts every month about the problem, but with no success. In 1988, the Law Commission said that at least 20,000 more judges should be appointed to clear the backlog. This may not be possible, considering the serious financial implications of the proposal. One way of resolving the problem is to fill the existing vacancies first — 15 per cent in the subordinate courts and 25 per cent in the high courts.

At the same time, the issue in question is one of competence of judges and expeditious handling of cases within a specific timeframe. Obviously, the problem lies at the entry point itself — the kind of people going to be recruited as judges. Worthy of mention in this context is the proposal for an all-India judicial service on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service. A corollary to this point is the proposal for a National Judicial Commission (NJC) to appoint and monitor the working of judges. The NJC, if constituted, will not only help attract the best talent to the judiciary but also discipline the judges and make them accountable for their acts of omission and commission.

With a view to easing the burden on civil courts, the Centre has suggested the state governments to strengthen the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms at the district level. It suggested amendments to the Lok Ayukta Act and making provision for independent Lok Adalats all throughout the week in municipalities, housing boards, development authorities, insurance companies, etc, so that they can do substantial work at their level and provide relief to litigants. While the states’ response to this suggestion, mooted by Mr Arun Jaitley, is still awaited, focus needs to be drawn on the ongoing experiment of the Fast Track Courts (FTCs). This experiment is certainly good, but the problem is one of numbers. According to the latest figures, though the Centre has set up 1074 FTCs, only 638 are presently operational in the country. Moreover, the budget of Rs 502 crore for FCTs is reported to be quite insufficient. The Eleventh Finance Commission has recommended setting up 10,000 more FTCs in the next one year. However, it is doubtful whether the Centre would sanction the necessary funds for the purpose and implement this proposal.

Given the alarming increase in the number of cases filed in courts day by day, how our judges would clear the huge backlog is indeed a big challenge before the Indian judiciary. By one reckoning, notwithstanding the recent amendments to the CPC, it would take at least 10 years for our courts to clear all civil cases. Admittedly, while our legal system, unlike other professions like medicine or engineering, is conditioned on error, the government seems to work in an atmosphere of suspicion. It is said that 60 per cent of litigation is because of the governments at the Centre and in the states. Few in the government would like to take the initiative and shoulder responsibility. For instance, there is the fear that if a case, say worth Rs 50 lakh, involving a litigant is cleared today, the official responsible for the clearance could be hauled up after say, two or three years, by the CBI or the CVC. Unless there is an attitudinal change among the officials, things would not improve.

Judges and lawyers too need to change their mindset. Their overall approach to litigation will have to change for the better. Clearly, legislative reform alone is not enough unless there is realisation on the part of the Bench and the Bar to help litigants with a humane approach. The focus should be on a speedy trial within a specific timeframe because as the Supreme Court has maintained time and again, a prolonged trial amounts to persecution of those arraigned before the court. Along with the urgent need for human resource development and improvement in judicial infrastructure, a new work ethic is required to tackle the gigantic problem. No doubt, the amendments to the CPC are a good beginning, thanks to the initiative of Mr Arun Jaitley, but a lot more needs to be done to streamline the functioning of our courts and help litigants.

MIDDLE

“Urgent, most urgent and immediate”
P. Lal

HE stood before the complaints-attendant in the maintenance office at the dead of night in the hot, sultry month of July. Earlier, from his residence, he had been trying to contact the complaints-office on telephone, but finding a busy tone each time, he had decided to drive down to the office in his car.

“Yes, what is it that brings you here?” growled the man in the chair with his legs sprawled on the table in front, and eyes half-closed. The handset of the telephone lay off the hook, on a side-rack, for all those to see who dared come there to lodge the complaint personally!

“There has been a power breakdown at my residence,” said Surinder (name changed) politely and meekly as he must. He was in the property business and was worldly wise. A slight annoyance from him to the all-important man, and he and his family would have to spend the rest of the night sweating and awake.

“Is it urgent?” demanded the man and looked straight into Surinder’s eyes.

Surinder understood, and looked back meaningfully into his eyes. “Urgent, sir,” he whispered into his ears.

The man put forward his right hand, and Surinder quietly slipped a hundred-rupee-note into the palm.

The electrician sitting closeby who had seen and heard everything hopped into Surinder’s car, came to his residence and fixed the fault. On the way, he had explained that an ordinary complaint with no tag of speed-money would have had to wait for the next day to attend to.

On another occasion, one of the clients of Surinder, needed an NOC (no objection certificate) from the estate office, for selling his plot of land. He had only a day at his disposal, whereas such a work normally took about a month to accomplish.

Surinder knew a commissioner rank officer who, when told of the urgency, called the Assistant Estate Officer and commanded: “This is most urgent. Surinder needs the NOC today itself.”

The AEO wrote on the application “Most urgent” and marked it down the hierarchy.

The dealing assistant understood. “Some big boss has spoken for you!” leered he, as he got into the work. “But, you cannot bring sifarish every time; can you?” he almost snubbed Surinder.

“Yes, yes,” said Surinder apologetically.

“Then,” roared the assistant regaining his momentarily lost confidence: “The commuted value of the bakshish, in view of the sifarish, would be Rs 1000.”

The deal was struck. The NOC was issued the same day. Surinder thanked the commissioner without, of course, disclosing the part that the money had played.

Once again, Surinder needed the refund of a security deposit from an office. He went to see the accounts officer. To impress the officer, Surinder wrote down, on his visiting card, the name of the AO’s boss, after his own, preceded by “c/o” (care of). He, of course, knew the AO’s boss quite well and was on friendly terms with him.

Surinder was promptly ushered in and tea ordered for him. The AO wrote down “Immediate” on the application for refund, summoned the dealing hand and commanded him to write the cheque and bring it within 15 minutes.

The official obeyed instantly and brought the cheque within 10 minutes. Handing over the cheque to Surinder, the AO implored: “Surinderji, you know my boss so well. When you see him next, please put in a word for me.”

Surinder nodded his head, thanked him profusely and walked out of the office.

Six months passed. Then, Surinder received, by post, to his utter surprise, an envelope containing a cheque with a covering letter for the refund of the security deposit. A second refund? Yes, indeed!

Surinder hurried to the AO’s office to check up the matter. He met the dealing hand who explained that he had been so much intimidated by the “immediate” nature of the command of the AO that he had forgotten to make a cross-entry of the refund in the ledger the first time, and hence the second refund in routine in the normal course!

DEBATE

The vitality and erosion of Punjabi spirit
V. N. Datta

THERE are two basic questions to be answered for any discussion on the question of Punjabi spirit: first, its genesis and second, the elements that compose it. To put it differently, the issue in modern terminology relates to Punjabi identity, and its crystallisation. How do we characterise Punjabi spirit, and what are its distinctive features? We have to understand wherein lies the roots of Punjabi spirit, and how they grew, matured and developed and made Punjab as it is today. For grasping the essentials of Punjabi spirit we have to make not its verbal but ostensive definition, which may unfold some significant developments as to provide clues to its creation and sustenance.

Linda Coley ascribes the growth of English spirit or Englishness in the 19th century to three vital factors: Protestantism, British Empire and the adoption of a democratic form of government. But I think that a single most important factor for the creation of English or British spirit was the foundation and expansion of the British empire, which left a profound impact on the social and cultural history of England.

We find ample evidence for the manifestation of Punjabi spirit in the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who can be regarded as the maker of modern Punjab. This is not to suggest that the Punjabi spirit sprang up all of a sudden. It had worked itself up gradually like yeast due to the conditioning circumstances for over a century. Its roots lay embedded in the 18th century political anarchy when the central authority had collapsed leaving the field open to successive wave of Afghan marauders pulling down the Punjab and playing havoc with the life of the people. Inspired by strong religious faith kindled by the exemplary sacrifices of Guru Gobind Singh, people in Punjab despite their persecution and uncertainty of the times, turned all their constructive energies to the task of rebuilding Punjab by restoring political stability, and providing a structure of civil government. We find the Punjabis in this era at their most sublime, their resilience in face of defeat, their courage and defiance in face of persecution.

Ranjit Singh had built up a fine tradition of inter-communal partnership in his civil government and thereby fostered a spirit of solid pluralistic society. As a clear-sighted visionary, he made no distinction on religious grounds in his mode of governance, and roused a unique spirit of “Punjabiyat” whose distinguishing features were commercial amity, doggedness, courage and a spirit of bravado. Ranjit Singh’s period of political stability and his organisation of civil society built on goodwill proved propitious to the strengthening of Punjabi spirit. But within ten years of his death, his short-sighted and self-destructive successors animated by petty narrow interests gambled away with reckless abandon all and threw Punjab into the hands of the British.

Despite its subjection to foreign rule, Punjab still showed a remarkable courage and steadiness of purpose, took up the western challenge and embarked on an era of modernity demonstrating thereby high level of business entrepreneurship. In 1919 Punjab stood on its own and brought the country closer to the path of freedom by the enormous sacrifices that it made during the oppressive Marshal law, and Jallianwala Bagh massacre. It was the anguished cry of Punjabi spirit that awakened the soul of India to free itself from the fetters of British rule.

By appropriating Ranjit Singh’s legacy of communal harmony, the Unionist Party led by Fazl-i-Husain set up a fine tradition of inter-communal partnership in the governance of Punjab for nearly a decade and half from the 20s of the last century. Fazl-i-Husain’s successors carried on this tradition with passionate zeal. Though there were some obvious failings as no government is ever perfect, but this experiment of running a province on the basis of mutual trust and managing a pluristic society composed of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had no parallel in the country. This remarkable experiment worked wonderfully well until the narrow, sectarian Hindu politics and the virulent communal Muslim campaign for a separate homeland destroyed it. When the winds blow, the rains descend and the storms rage, the house falls!

No other province in India suffered as much as Punjab in men and material in 1947 when 47.5 lakh Punjabi refugees from western Punjab uprooted and deprived flooded the eastern Punjab and Delhi. The catastrophe did not break the Punjabi spirit. No Punjabi took to begging in the country; the Punjabis gained a commanding portion in the country by virtue of their self-reliance, fortitude and spirit of adaptability.

The Punjabi spirit was, however, thwarted due to the migration of Muslims from east Punjab to Pakistan. The Muslims had contributed substantially to the richness and vitality of Punjabi spirit. In the realm of politics and culture the Muslims were co-sharers with other communities. The splitting up of the province in 1947 fractured the Punjabi spirit, and Punjab could never be the same. History works inexorably and there is no turning back!

Due to the rise of regionalism, Punjab was further divided into three parts: Punjab, Haryana and Himachal. In my view Sir Chhotu Ram, who had a few equals in political sagacity and constructive ability was as much a staunch Haryanavi as a convinced Punjabi. Now he is hailed only as a Haryana hero. There is no incompatibility in these two postures. But, sadly enough, things have changed. The Urdu language, a symbol of common cultural heritage, finds hardly any place in the social and cultural life of Punjab.

The Punjabi language is looked on as an exclusive monopoly of the Sikhs, and Punjab history is being taught and researched as Sikh history, pure and simple. The history of Haryana is generally reduced to the study of Jats, Ahirs and Rajputs. The wounds on the Punjabi spirit are inflicted not by any foreign agency but the political arrangements made by our self-seeking political adventurers, the makers of our so-called destiny, who governed by narrow personal interests show lack of wisdom and vision in safeguarding the tradition for which Punjab has stood for centuries.

Despite this sad note this writer still nurses much hope for the vitality of Punjab. The Punjabis seldom look back. The future is in their bones. Agility, hard work outrageous frankness, practical ability, fortitude and impulsiveness are all found in them.

There is also still much zest for life. It is the combination of these qualities that should enable them to face the future with confidence despite the dismal picture that we see of the state of society in Punjab today.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Wanted: beer guzzlers for research

IN what might lead men to go thronging to research laboratories, a study is being conducted which asks men to drink a litre of beer a day, all in the name of medical research. And the aspect under scrutiny is a possible relation between a vitamin called folate, found in beer, and a reduced risk of heart disease.

The only hitch in the otherwise perfect experiment being that the supplied beer is non-alcoholic. Being carried out at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, BBC reports project leader Dr Paul Finglas as saying that people suffering from heart disease generally have high levels of a chemical called homocysteine, which has been linked to blocked arteries and heart disease and a high intake of folate vitamins is associated with low homocysteine levels, so scientists are keen to investigate it as a way of reducing heart risk for men. ANI

Mating shortens life expectancy

Sex is not good for health if a new British study is to be believed, which says that it can cut short one’s life. Although scientists have for long known that mating in insects can shorten life expectancy, two researchers from the University of Sheffield have for the first time uncovered the reason behind it.

Dr Jens Rolff and Dr Michael Siva-Jothy examined mealworm beetles and found that a hormone released after mating adversely affected an enzyme vital to keep the immune system functioning. When the immune systems are depressed, the insects become more susceptible to parasites and infection, and are, therefore, less likely to live as long, reports BBC.

“Those organisms that mate the most, and are, therefore, more successful in evolutionary terms, reduce their own life expectancy in the process,” said Dr Siva-Jothy. Scientists believe that the same principle might hold true for other living beings, including humans. In fact, by exploiting the depressed immune system when humans have sex, the research could help explain how sexually- transmitted diseases (STDs) evolve. STDs also lead to the possibility of a reduced life expectancy in humans. ANI

Eccentricity increases with age, flamboyance falls

RESEARCHERS at Imperial College, London, have revealed that behaviour of eccentric people becomes more extreme with age. However, flamboyant behaviour becomes less pronounced.

The team of researchers followed up 202 patients with diagnosed personality disorders. The patients’ ages varied widely, with an average of 35. They were categorised into three groups. The first, “odd or eccentric” group, included people diagnosed with schizoid, schizotypal or paranoid personalities.

The second, “flamboyant”, were anti-social or histrionic. And the third, classified as anxious or fearful, had been diagnosed as having strong obsessional or avoidant personality traits. Twelve years later, the team re-assessed 88 per cent of the patients (the others had died or refused reassessment).

The findings, published in Lancet and also reported in New Scientist, revealed that there was significant change in personality status over time. The personality traits of patients in the flamboyant group had become significantly less evident, whereas the personality traits of the odd or eccentric and anxious or fearful groups were more pronounced.

Peter Tyrer, Professor of Public Mental Health at Imperial College, who led the study, said, “The tendency to be a little odd or eccentric can often be kept under control in younger people, as they modify their behaviour to social norms. But as people get older there is evidence of reduced plasticity of the nervous system, which makes them less adaptable and increases expression of their odd personality traits.”

However, it is not clear why anti-social or histrionic people become less flamboyant as they get older, he says. ANI

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

That man really enjoys his food who feeds also the poor emaciated beggar that goes about oppressed with hunger begging from door to door. He will have plenty of wealth as a result of such philanthropic deeds and his charity will secure him friends in his own need.

— Rigveda

***

A strong man who can afford to help the weaker seeking for help, should surely succour the latter. He should, in doing so, look to the long road he has still to cross on the journey of life during which no one is sure what way happen, for riches go on revolving like the wheels of a chariot — now going to one owner now to another.

— Rigveda

***

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?...

There are those who give little of the much they give — and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all...

There are those who give with joy,

and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain,

and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and have not pain in giving,

nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;

they give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance in space.

Through the hand of such as these,

God speaks, and from behind their eyes

He smiles upon the earth.

— Kahlil Gibran

***

From the wicked, my Lord, one should always keep aloof and avoid them as one would avoid a dog.

— Shri Ramacharitamanasa, Uttara Kanda