E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Musharraf’s confessions
IN his latest controversial interview with AFP, a French news agency, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has indirectly admitted three things. One, the infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir is continuing even though at a reduced scale.

In the name of Longowal
POLITICAL opportunism was on brazen display on Tuesday when the Shiromani Akali Dal of Badal, the All-India Shiromani Akali Dal of Tohra and even the Congress outbid each other in observing the death anniversary of former SAD chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. 

Prabhu’s exit a blow to Centre
THE resignation of Power Minister Suresh Prabhu from the Vajpayee government at a time when he was seriously engaged in the ongoing power sector reforms is most unfortunate. His departure from the Union Cabinet is bound to affect the pace of reforms in this critical sector of the economy.

OPINION

Pakistan’s tirade against J&K poll
The difficult challenges India has got to face
Inder Malhotra
READ together, the Independence Day speeches of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Pakistan’s President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, underscore how fast the gulf between the two countries over the vital issue of the forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir is widening.

IN THE NEWS

New CVC a man of few words
MR P. Shankar, a seasoned administrator is yet to receive his formal orders as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). His appointment as Mr N. Vittal’s successor has been cleared at the highest level by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government and Mr Shankar is scheduled to assume office as CVC on September 3.

• Finance Ministry’s CEO

• Expatriate making waves in New Zealand

TRENDS & POINTERS

Infants can anticipate pain
INFANTS learn to anticipate pain after their first few encounters with a needle. A study found newborn babies of diabetic mothers had been sensitised to the sharp pain that comes with being jabbed in the foot with a needle after just 24 hours of life. By that time the babies had had blood taken several times so physicians could monitor their blood glucose level.

• Plastic bags for committing suicide

Booker prize: youth against age
A former 26-year-old restaurant worker will be competing with some of fiction’s most senior award-winning authors for the prestigious Booker prize, according to a list published by organisers on Monday.

Too much dieting harmful
A slimming craze is sweeping across Asia, where some women’s desire for ever thinner bodies has already cost them their lives. In Japan, five people have died and more than 500 have fallen ill after taking diet pills made in China. In Singapore, a slimming product, also from China, was linked to sickness in at least a dozen women and one death.

OF LIFE SUBLIME

Redeeming humanity to attain God
Swami Deshikatmananda
IT is a century ago that a great patriot monk Swami Vivekananda left his mortal coil i.e on July 4, 1902. But he had declared once, “It may that I shall find it good to get outside my body, to cast it off like a worn-out-garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until the world shall know that it is one with God.”

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Musharraf’s confessions

IN his latest controversial interview with AFP, a French news agency, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has indirectly admitted three things. One, the infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir is continuing even though at a reduced scale. This is one clear inference that can be drawn from the statement that “A possibility of individual small groups going across is there...”, which also gives credence to India’s stand that Pakistan is yet to fully fulfil the commitment it has made to the international community on the issue of infiltration. Two, since General Musharraf has admitted once again that now there is “no government-sponsored (terrorist infiltration) activity”, this goes to prove the reality that existed earlier with the involvement of the regime in Islamabad. The world community should take this point very seriously. It is difficult to believe what the military regime claims unless it is verified through some international mechanism. Three, General Musharraf saying that “when 700,000 Indian troops can’t block the border, how can they expect us to block it?” is not only an expression of his lack of capacity to tame the monster of terrorism but also a declaration that he will never deliver on the lines expected by the international community. In fact, wittingly or unwittingly, he has used the expression employed by the Jehad Council chief, Syed Salahuddin, after the ruling General had assured his American patrons that his government would not allow any terrorist outfit to continue its activities inside Jammu and Kashmir by using Pakistani territory as its base. Salahuddin’s Jehad Council is a powerful conglomerate comprising most of the terrorist outfits having their bases either in Pakistan or the occupied part of Kashmir. Despite all that General Musharraf claims to have been doing since his landmark speech of January 12, the Jehad Council remains as strong as it ever was. It has a large constituency of voters whose preference in the October elections in Pakistan may affect the course of politics there. The General’s statement on infiltration should be seen in this backdrop too.

All this, however, poses a serious challenge to the US-led anti-terrorism military campaign in the region. Most of the Jehad Council members have links with Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda which has reportedly enlarged its support base in Pakistan. Unless the terrorism problem is tackled in its totality, the America-led coalition’s efforts may, in the long run, prove to be an exercise in futility. India, too, has to review its options. If the Pakistan Government is unable to stop the infiltration of terrorists into India, as General Musharraf has admitted, should New Delhi take recourse to the policy of hot pursuit? Of course, the factor of American presence in the region will come in the way. But, then, a way out of this crisis has to be found. India, it seems, will have to reinforce its coercive diplomacy to ask the world community to tell Pakistan to behave in the interest of peace in South Asia.

In the name of Longowal

POLITICAL opportunism was on brazen display on Tuesday when the Shiromani Akali Dal of Badal, the All-India Shiromani Akali Dal of Tohra and even the Congress outbid each other in observing the death anniversary of former SAD chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. It was 17 years after his assassination on August 20, 1985, that the Congress remembered to pay him a tribute and to honour his sister, Bibi Sham Kaur. The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, described Sant Longowal as a “national martyr” and announced liberal help for his sister and other family members. This despite the fact that many of his party members had reservations about the last-minute decision to observe his martyrdom. The conference organised by the Congress in Longowal was attended by Lok Bhalai Party president and Rajya Sabha MP Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, despite the fact that the latter usually does not let go any opportunity to criticise the Akalis as well as the Congress. The Badal Akali Dal on its part excelled itself in making its show a grand success. It roped in several Central Ministers for the function, which looked more like a political gathering than a solemn death anniversary. The large crowd that he could gather could have acted as a morale-booster for him following his fall from power in the last elections and the subsequent expose of corruption prevalent during his regime.

On his part, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra held his comparatively modest show in the nearby Sherpur, where Sant Longowal was gunned down by terrorists. The star attraction at this function was Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, who used the occasion to castigate both the BJP and the Congress. In true competitive spirit, the RJD chief promised a grant of Rs 5 lakh to Sant Longowal’s kin, while Mr Tohra pledged another Rs 3 lakh. Ironically, while these political parties are trying to present the slain leader as a great martyr, the Bharatiya Kisan Union of Punjab and the Jamhoori Adhikar Sabha are accusing him of being a traitor because he agreed to give the water of Punjab rivers to Haryana under the Rajiv-Longowal accord. What they are forgetting is that this was done by Sant Longowal not in isolation but in the totality of the agreement. The Shiromani Akali Dal accepted the accord and even won the elections on its basis. It is another matter that the accord could not be implemented because of the differences between the Akalis and the shortsightedness of the Centre. Sant Longowal showed exemplary courage in pulling Punjab out of the political quagmire and paid with his life. His role has to be seen in the backdrop of the uncertainties that dogged the state around 1985. From this angle, it is not wrong to call him a messiah of peace. It is unfortunate that political leaders should use his death anniversary as an excuse to run each other down and to appropriate his legacy.

Prabhu’s exit a blow to Centre

THE resignation of Power Minister Suresh Prabhu from the Vajpayee government at a time when he was seriously engaged in the ongoing power sector reforms is most unfortunate. His departure from the Union Cabinet is bound to affect the pace of reforms in this critical sector of the economy. Also, there are reasonable apprehensions among industry circles that his exit may affect investment in the power sector. The 49-year-old chartered accountant-turned Shiv Sena member from Rajapur in Maharashtra is known to be one of the few reform-friendly ministers in the National Democratic Alliance government. He was a sincere and efficient minister. He had a vision, the irresistible desire to add 100,000 megawatts to the power grid by 2012 so that this vital infrastructural sector would not only ward off its problems but also improve the quality of life in the length and breadth of the country. Worthy of mention in this context are the various measures he had undertaken since October, 2000, to overhaul the power sector. Addressing the problem of resource mobilisation in the context of huge arrears of the state electricity boards (SEBs) to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is one of them. More important, he was able to act as a balancing factor between the Centre and the states ruled by the Congress or other parties. Professional to the core, he never encouraged political pressure or extraneous considerations to influence his role and functions as a minister. Sadly, he had to pay a heavy price for his refusal to kowtow to the wishes of his party supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray. In fact, if reports are to be believed, he had fallen from the grace of Mr Thackeray last year itself. Since then Mr Thackeray had been treating Mr Prabhu as a persona non grata and trying to get him out of the Vajpayee government. Last year, he did earn a reprieve, but it didn’t change Mr Thackeray’s mind. The Shiv Sena chief’s main grouse against Mr Prabhu is that he has done little to promote the interests of his party at the Centre.

Ironically, such are the compulsions of coalitional politics that the Prime Minister is unable to resist pressures from the alliance partners. In a parliamentary system of government under the Westminster model, it is the sole discretion of the Prime Minister to select his team of ministers. Mr Prabhu’s unceremonious exit once again brings to the fore the Prime Minister’s problems in a coalition government. Is it a crime for a minister to have a vision and strive accordingly? Is it an offence if he abides by his oath of office and secrecy in letter and spirit and performs his duties diligently and fearlessly, without bowing to pressures of any kind? The continuation of Mr Prabhu as a Union Minister was, certainly, in the national interest. Unfortunately, however, the whims and fancies of Mr Thackeray seem to have been given primacy over the national interest. It is time the alliance partners understood the “dharma” of coalition politics and conducted themselves accordingly. Unreasonable demands by the allies with a view to extracting their pound of flesh will only weaken the hands of the Prime Minister and the Centre. The nation cannot afford this politics of drift at this juncture.

OPINION

Pakistan’s tirade against J&K poll
The difficult challenges India has got to face
Inder Malhotra

READ together, the Independence Day speeches of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Pakistan’s President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, underscore how fast the gulf between the two countries over the vital issue of the forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir is widening. A concerted attempt by the Musharraf regime to “sabotage and subvert” this poll is a much stronger possibility now than before though this would be only one of the many challenges this country will face between now and the end of October and beyond.

General Musharraf spoke first, if only because Pakistan’s I-Day falls a day before India’s, and, therefore, set the tone of the exchange, among the sharpest ever. He talked of the “sacred trust” that compelled Pakistan to “support our Kashmiri brothers in their struggle for self-determination” and described the elections in Kashmir, scheduled for September-October, as “farcical”. Indeed, he added, for good measure, that this poll was “yet another effort to give a mask of legitimacy to India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir”. And he concluded his rhetoric with the declaration that there would be “no peace in South Asia until the Kashmir issue was resolved”, evidently to his satisfaction.

Atalji’s rejoinder 24 hours later was couched in courteous language but there could be no doubt about its stern content. The “neighbouring country”, he said, was trying to wrest Kashmir through “cross-border terrorism” but this would never succeed. For, Kashmir was an “integral part of India and so it would remain”. Those calling the Kashmir elections farcical, should “look within” and, in any case, India “needed no lessons in democracy” from military dictators. Kashmir, the Prime Minister declared, was not a “mere piece of land” but a symbol of Indian “civilisation and secular ethos”.

Far more trenchant than the Prime Minister’s remarks from the ramparts of the Red Fort was an official Indian statement made the previous evening, only hours after detailed reports of General Musharraf’s Independence Day address had come in. According to authoritative sources, the draft of the statement eventually read out by the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, was vetted and finalised in the Prime Minister’s Office, usually called PMO.

In this statement, New Delhi, for the first time in three years, commented most unfavourably on the nature of General Musharraf’s own regime in Pakistan and its dubious means of staying in power. It talked of the “rigged referendum and the constitutional and political manipulations that are going on before the October elections (in Pakistan)”. And it added that, in view of these, “one would have hoped that (General) Musharraf would have been more restrained in his pronouncements on the elections in J&K. Perhaps he is worried by the contrast between the free and fair elections in India and the elections conducted by a military regime”.

A key element in the official Indian statement was the public acknowledgement that General Musharraf’s diatribe showed that his regime “intends to sabotage the J&K elections”. This, in some ways, is the crux of the matter, for the present at least.

This is so because Mr Vajpayee’s, and India’s, trump card at the moment is his evidently sincere determination to ensure that the forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir are not only free and fair but are also seen to be so. In this resolve the Prime Minister is greatly encouraged by the fact that the international community ---- for which read the USA that really matters ---- is supportive of Kashmir as the “first step” towards a final and political resolution of the problem.

But the other side of the coin is that the Prime Minister can in no way escape his commitment to hold elections all across J&K that are manifestly free, fair and transparent. Any attempt by any of the old bandicoots to repeat during the poll the kind of monkey tricks that were usual in the past would destroy India’s credibility and whatever international sympathy over Kashmir it has managed to muster recently.

Hence Mr Vajpayee’s resolve not to take any chances with the impartiality and fairness of the Kashmir election. Moreover, as he did in his Independence Day speech also, he has been telling Kashmiris that after the elections are over, he would talk to the elected representatives on all issues, including autonomy and “setting right the old wrongs”.

It is in pursuit of this objective that he — with full support from the normally hardline Mr L.K. Advani — is encouraging the essentially Track-II committee, headed by Mr Ram Jethmalani, a distinguished lawyer and former Law Minister, to parley with the Hurriyat, the umbrella combination of diverse separatist groups. Mr Jethmalani is a maverick and has had close contacts with alienated Kashmiri groups. He seems hopeful of persuading some Hurriyat leaders at least to take part in the poll. But he may be underestimating his difficulties.

In the first place, the time at his disposal is very short. In fact, some Kashmiri separatist leaders are already saying that it is too late for them to think of jumping into the electoral fray. Secondly, too many intermediaries talking to various groups in Kashmir over the last many months have acted like the too many cooks engaged in preparing the broth.

Overriding these difficulties is the vital factor of the fear of the gun, controlled by the Pakistani ISI. Since Pakistan, having failed to discredit the elections, is hell-bent on disrupting them, it finds it convenient to threaten Hurriyat leaders and others that, like Mr Abdul Ghani Lone, they, too, could lose their lives. The arguments of these about the lack of time of the credibility of the election are often a camouflage for the real reason. It should not be overlooked that almost all Hurriyat leaders, including the late Lone, have accepted Pakistani money.

In an article in the Los Angeles Times, Mr Selig Harrison, a distinguished American expert on South Asia, has given a graphic account of a meeting at Sharjah between the ISI chief, Lieut-Gen Ehasan-ul-Haq and seven Kashmiri leaders, including Mr Lone. At this gathering General Haq bluntly warned him as soon as he had signalled his willingness to be a candidate in the Kashmir elections. Two days after his return home, Mr Lone was assassinated.

The second element in Pakistani plans to subvert the elections is what the Prime Minister indicated at the Red Fort: the continuation of jihadi infiltration across the Line of Control and of serious acts of terrorism that would spread fear among the voting public. It does appear that this dastardly activity would be carefully celibrated, the idea being that enough should be done to terrorise the people but excessive terrorism should be avoided, lest India should be provoked into reacting precipitately. Or the international community might be appalled.

India’s own proclivity would be to avoid any action that could escalate India-Pakistan tensions to a degree that might alarm the international community. The corresponding Indian expectation is that the USA and other major countries would keep up adequate pressure on the Pakistani military ruler to desist from cross-border terrorism.

There was some satisfaction in New Delhi when, during his latest visit to the subcontinent, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, had specifically told General Musharraf not to do anything that would “destabilise” elections in Kashmir. He indeed wanted these elections to be “violence free”. The results of this plea have been so negligible as to cause this country much disappointment. Many in the foreign and security policy establishment have begun to wonder whether America can be expected to restrain Pakistan to the degree it must if a desire to end terrorism and resolve the subcontinent’s problems is to have any meaning.

That is where the lesson no nation should ever forget comes in. Not only big powers but even God helps only those who help themselves.

IN THE NEWS

New CVC a man of few words

MR P. Shankar, a seasoned administrator is yet to receive his formal orders as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). His appointment as Mr N. Vittal’s successor has been cleared at the highest level by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government and Mr Shankar is scheduled to assume office as CVC on September 3.

A 1966 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, he has held key appointments both in his home state and at the Centre. He was collector of Tiruchirapalli before it was bifurcated, Industry Secretary, Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Corporation as well as the southern state’s Social Welfare Secretary. During his first stint in New Delhi he was Joint Secretary (Textiles) and returned to Tamil Nadu for a cooling off period.

On returning to New Delhi for the second time, he served as Financial Adviser in the high profile Ministry of External Affairs in the rank of Additional Secretary. Then he was promoted and made member-Secretary of the Disinvestment Commission headed by Mr G.V. Ramakrishna. Thereafter, he assumed charge as Secretary (Heavy Industry) and later looked after food, sugar and vegetable oils in the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies before becoming Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

On AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa again becoming Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, she specially sought the services of Mr Shankar. He moved to Chennai as Chief Secretary for 14 months before bouncing back to the national Capital as member-Secretary of the Planning Commission. Next month he takes over as the CVC which has a four-year term.

A man of few words, Mr Shankar has virtually gone underground as far as the media is concerned. He is unwilling to outline his philosophy or speak about his upcoming assignment till he receives the orders formally. He is the younger brother of Mr P. Murari who superannuated as Secretary to the Head of State and is presently Adviser to the President of FICCI. He has varied interests like listening to Carnatic music, reading, travelling and sports, including cricket.

Finance Ministry’s CEO

After two years, the country is set have a full-fledged Chief Economic Adviser in eminent economist Ashok Lahiri. A monetary economist, Dr Lahiri is currently the Director of the economic think-tank — National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). As CEA, it will be his second stint in the Ministry of Finance, where he was earlier an Economic Adviser. He went on deputation to the NIPFP in February, 1998.

Dr Lahiri’s name has been doing the rounds for quite some time, but it is said that he was very particular about being designated as a full-fledged CEA. Though Mr Rakesh Mohan served the Ministry as an adviser, he could not be designated as CEA, as the previous incumbent, Mr Shankar Acharya, had not quit the Ministry then and had been on a sabbatical for two years which ends in September.

Dr Lahiri is one of the privileged students who had the honour of being educated by the ABC (Amartya Sen, Jagdish Bhagwati and Sukhomoy Chakravarty) of Indian economics at the Delhi School of Economics or the D’School. A graduate in economics from Presidency College, Kolkata, Dr Lahiri did his MA and PhD (on the topic “Demand for Money”) from D’School and subsequently taught at his alma mater for 13 years from 1973.

He was also a Leverhulme Visiting Fellow at the University of Birmingham during 1981-82, a visiting Faculty Member at the Indian Statistical Institute and the University of Georgetown. Thereafter, he was a Consultant to the World Bank during 1986-87 and was associated with the IMF during 1987-96 advising them on matters pertaining to Eastern Europe and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Dr Lahiri was a Director of the United Bank of India and currently is a Board Member of the Industrial Finance Corporation of India and the National Institute of Bank Management, Pune. He has been and continues to be a member of several committees set up by the government and the Reserve Bank of India for advising on issues related to deregulation of the petroleum sector.

Expatriate making waves in New Zealand

Amazing as it might seem, Ms Kelly Chal, born in Jallandhar district of Punjab, did everything to win a seat in New Zealand’s Parliament representing the United Future Party but has been forced to make an ignominious exit because she is not a citizen of that country. This has whipped up a controversy in the United Future Party (UFP) which failed to ascertain the facts before accepting Ms Chal’s candidature.

Ms Chal is ineligible to contest for Parliament and has been replaced by the next candidate on the party list. With accusing fingers being pointed at each other by the UFP leadership and the Chief Electoral Officer, the blunder was detected before Ms Chal was formally sworn in. If she had been sworn in as an MP, then that would have created another problem as it would have been left to the New Zealand Parliament to decide her fate.

In the column for candidates seeking if they are a New Zealand citizen, Ms Chal wrote that she has been a “permanent resident since 1994.” Inexplicably, she applied for New Zealand’s citizenship only after she got elected as an MP on July 27. She had described in her candidate profile on the UFP’s website that as an Indian-born Englishwoman, she is a permanent resident of New Zealand.

Ms Chal was a toddler when her Sikh father and Hindu mother shifted base to the United Kingdom. She embraced Christianity and married an Englishman, and the couple have four children. After travelling a lot the family decided to settle in New Zealand because they found it a clean country and the best to raise children.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Infants can anticipate pain

INFANTS learn to anticipate pain after their first few encounters with a needle. A study found newborn babies of diabetic mothers had been sensitised to the sharp pain that comes with being jabbed in the foot with a needle after just 24 hours of life. By that time the babies had had blood taken several times so physicians could monitor their blood glucose level.

So when these babies were being prepped for routine blood collection at the one-day mark, they reacted more intensely than regular babies because they recognised the cues that went with the procedure.

The babies grimaced much more than the normal infants when the back of their hands were being cleansed in preparation for the venipuncture — in which blood is taken from the back of the infant’s hand for routine disease-screening purposes — than the babies of non-diabetic mothers. AFP

Plastic bags for committing suicide

A mercy-killing campaigner has unveiled new plastic “exit bags” designed to help terminally ill people commit suicide, amid protests from opponents who said it would push up the suicide rate among the mentally ill. Made of thick clear plastic, the “exit bag”, launched in Australia on August 20, has an adjustable elastic collar that can be comfortably tightened to slowly deprive the user of oxygen.

Dr Philip Nitschke, a physician who founded the pro-euthanasia organisation Exit, said the bags are the only option for people lacking the money or connections to kill themselves with drugs. The group is distributes the free bags only among its members who attend suicide workshops and are instructed in their use. AP

Booker prize: youth against age

A former 26-year-old restaurant worker will be competing with some of fiction’s most senior award-winning authors for the prestigious Booker prize, according to a list published by organisers on Monday.

Jon McGregor was catapulted onto this year’s list alongside 1984 Booker winner Anita Brookner and Whitbread Award winner William Trevor, one of Ireland’s most revered writers, who are both 74.

Judges for the 50,000-pound ($76,730) award produced a “long list” of 20 from an original entry of 130 books from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth. They will announce a shortlist next month before picking the winner in October.

Billed by his publishers as a novel of “exquisite beauty and power”,Nottingham-based McGregor’s “If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things” tells the story of an ordinary day in an ordinary northern street on the last day of summer.

But the peace and tranquillity of that unexceptional day are shattered when the street becomes the scene of a terrible accident.

Brookner and Trevor are seen by critics as having returned to form triumphantly with their entries, “The Next Big Thing” and “The Story of Lucy Gault”.

The prize is a source of controversy every year with critics accusing the judges of ignoring popular novels in favour of more esoteric works. But the publicity inevitably boosts sales for the winner, which becomes an international bestseller overnight. Reuters

Too much dieting harmful

A slimming craze is sweeping across Asia, where some women’s desire for ever thinner bodies has already cost them their lives.

In Japan, five people have died and more than 500 have fallen ill after taking diet pills made in China. In Singapore, a slimming product, also from China, was linked to sickness in at least a dozen women and one death.

Despite the dangers, newspapers, magazines, televisions and train stations across the region are flooded with advertisements for slimming centres that guarantee weight loss in days without dieting or exercise.

“Most of the people who buy diet products don’t appear to be overweight,” said Kenichi Naoi, whose family owns a drugstore in central Tokyo that stocks several imported diet aids. “But when you see models on television and in magazines, they are so thin. Their bodies appear to be becoming the standard.”

That standard may be virtually unattainable, and unhealthy.

“Definitely, appearances count. And the slimmer you are the more cool you look,” said a 30-year-old office worker in Tokyo, who identified herself as Yoshie. “Especially for women.”

Mumbai’s leading cosmetic surgeon Vijay Sharma, whose client list includes top Bollywood stars, says business is booming. “I’m seeing a phenomenal growth in Indian men and women opting for different procedures to look thin and beautiful,” said Sharma. “With globalisation and media hype, people are pressurised to maintain a great figure,” he said.

Former Miss World Yukta Mookhey (23), who won her title three years ago, says there’s too much emphasis on staying thin.

“Dieting too much kills you from inside,” said Mookhey, who said the constant effort to stay slim left her weak, frustrated and miserable.

Many women are going to slimming clubs that give clients pills to take or put chemicals on their body. “Stupid, foolish rich women willing to pay any amount think they can lie down on a couch and lose weight,” said Ramma Bans, an Indian fitness expert whose proteges have won top beauty pageants, including Miss Universe and Miss World.

Bans said nearly every day she had a string of clients who had suffered side-effects from various quick-fix dieting methods.

“Frauds and scamsters are having a field day,” said Bans. Reuters

OF LIFE SUBLIME

Redeeming humanity to attain God
Swami Deshikatmananda

IT is a century ago that a great patriot monk Swami Vivekananda left his mortal coil i.e on July 4, 1902. But he had declared once, “It may that I shall find it good to get outside my body, to cast it off like a worn-out-garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until the world shall know that it is one with God.” He scorned Mukti (liberation) for himself but chose to redeem the whole humanity to attain God even after giving up his body.

Many great men were powerfully influenced by Swami Vivekananda during his time and even after his passing away. Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru and many other eminent personalities of the world were among those who were influenced by Swamiji’s writings and works. Gandhiji said, “I have gone through his works very thoroughly and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became thousandfold.” Tagore said, “If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative.”

Jawaharlal Nehru said, “He was I think, one of the founders of the National movement of India. Directly or indirectly, he has powerfully influenced the modern India today. And I think that our younger generation will take advantage of this foundation of wisdom, of spirit and fire that flows through Swami Vivekananda.”

Swami Vivekananda stood head and shoulder above all the leaders that India has produced during pre-Independence period and during free India. It is he as a college student who in search of God met the god man Sri Ramakrishna and attained spiritual enlightenment through intense struggle under the discipline of Sri Ramakrishna. It is Sri Ramakrishna who, measuring the stature of this worthy disciple, wrote on a piece of paper “Naren Sikke Dibe, Jakhan ghare baire hank dibe.” i.e. Naren would teach the world, both at home and abroad with his thunderous voice. Sri Ramakrishna consecrated him for the redemption of his motherland and for the good of the world at large.

As a wandering monk, Swami Vivekananda covered the length and breadth of India and understood the pulse of the nation; the needs of the masses; superiority of the Indian culture and spirituality.

It is he who sat on the last rock at Kanyakumari at the confluence of the three seas meditated on the past, present and future of our motherland. He realised thus the glorious past, the present miserable state of India and brilliant future of India when it will become world leader as a nation in every field — science, technology, culture and spirituality. That is how he could say with certainty — “India will be raised, not with power of the flesh, but with the power of the spirit; not with the flag of destruction, but with the flag of peace and love... One vision I see clear as life before me, that the ancient mother has awakened once more, sitting on her throne rejuvenated, more glorious than ever. Proclaim her to all the world with the voice of peace and benediction.”

His participation in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, USA in 1893 and four years of lecturing tour in the Europe and America paved the way for Indian renaissance.

His lectures from Colombo to Almora during 1897-98 inspired the great statesmen, Indian youth and patriots for struggle for freedom which culminated in attaining the national freedom in 1947.

What is the legacy of Swami Vivekananda to India and the world at large? As said before, he was the foremost leader who spearheaded the modern Indian resurgence and giving the clarion call to his people to rouse themselves up from the slumber of slavery and to work for the nation’s uplift. He was the spiritual teacher of Vedanta who popularised it throughout the world for the salvation of the soul.

Swamiji, a knower of spiritual truth with high patriotic fervour, started Ramakrishna Mission for the progress of India and for the welfare of the world with the twin ideals of the realisation of god and for the good of the world.” It is spreading education among masses and women; spreading spirituality and Indian culture; organising relief and rehabilitation activities; at the time of natural calamities and spreading peace and harmony among all the communities.

Alas, what a tragedy! Politicians clubbed him among religious leaders and ignored his ennobling teachings in the name of secularism.

Om-tat-sat-om

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Gifts made in all sacrifices, ablutions performed in all sacred waters, and the merit acquired by making all the possible kinds of gifts — all these do not come up to abstention from cruelty. The penances of a man that abstains from cruelty are inexhaustible. The man who abstains from cruelty is regarded as always performing sacrifices.

—The Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva

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—Yogi M.K. Spencer, How I Found God