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Tuesday,
August 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Darkness ahead Improving ties with B’desh Veerappan strikes again |
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The state of power reforms
Dyeing to live
BJP: will confrontation pay off?
Rabri knows no English?
Majority of Britons want to leave country
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Darkness ahead THERE is a lot of bad news from the Punjab power front. First, a proposal to hike the power tariff for the domestic and industrial sectors is under consideration of the regulatory authority. Second, the farmers, at least the better-off ones, may soon lose the controversial benefit of free power supply. Third, the water levels in the Ranjit Sagar, Bhakra and Pong dams are fast receding, ringing alarm bells. Unless immediate rain comes to Punjab’s rescue, says a worried Chief Minister, the state may plunge into darkness. Fourth, the coal stocks at the state’s thermal plants at Ropar, Bathinda and Lehra Mohabbat have gone below the critical level. Aganist the norm of having coal stocks for a minimum of 10 days, the current coal availability can last hardly nine days at the three plants
unless fresh supplies arrive. This possibility is remote because the coal companies have served an ultimatum on the state that unless the Punjab State Electricity Board clears their dues, which amount to some Rs 100 crore, coal supplies would be stopped. Their threat has already turned into action and the supplies to all the thermal plants have been reduced sharply. The board, which has hardly any funds, needs at least Rs 350 crore immediately to tide over the present crisis. Naturally, it has knocked at the Punjab Chief Minister’s door for a bailout. The Bhattal government had started the practice of free electricity supply to select deserving farmers. The Badal government not only extended the bonanza to all, regardless of their income and landholdings, but also added new categories of beneficiaries. The PSEB was made to bear the burden. However, the PSEB is not alone in this unenviable situation. Most of the state
electricity boards have been bled white by state-level politicians. Power pilferage with political and official connivance is a countrywide phenomenon. No wonder, the power boards
across the country have huge arrears to clear. According to one estimate, the SEBs owe at least Rs 30,000 crore to the Railways, Coal India, the NTPC, BHEL and GAIL. Penalties have failed to yield the desired results. The coal companies have, therefore, decided to use a shock therapy by stopping the supplies. The Punjab Chief Minister has hinted at “hard decisions” to cope with the situation. One hopes these will include a crackdown on corruption in the PSEB and on power theft in the entire state. A particular section should not be targeted. There may be fewer protests if the pain of reforms is shared by all concerned. Meanwhile, the PSEB must continue its own dues recovery campaign, which seems to be losing steam. The employees should expose the black sheep among them and in the management as they all have to suffer because of the corruption and mismanagement of a few. There are no short-cuts to restore health to the ailing PSEB. After reducing the power board to its present state of sickness, the Akali Dal (Badal) is now threatening to resist power reforms and trying to politically exploit the discontent, particularly among farmers, on the power front. That is unfortunate. |
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Improving ties with B’desh EXTERNAL Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha’s two-day visit to Bangladesh has not been an exercise in futility though the major irritants causing tension between the two sides still remain unremoved. The discussions Mr Sinha has had with his counterpart, Mr Morshed Khan, deliberating on issues of common concern show that India cares for its neighbour’s problems. Improved relations between India and Bangladesh are in the interest of both, with the latter bound to be a greater beneficiary. But negotiations must be held in a spirit of give-and-take. India requires cooperation from the eastern neighbour for handling the problems of terrorism and insurgency. There have been reports that Pakistan’s ISI is increasing its penetration in Bangladesh for fomenting trouble in India. In this context it is gratifying to note that the two countries, having historical relations since the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, have reached an agreement to combat terrorism jointly. They have also reaffirmed their commitment to upgrading relations through trade and commerce. This will help Bangladesh to effectively fight the problem of widespread poverty. There is, however, a vast area of disagreement between the two otherwise friendly neighbours. India has to win the hearts of the people of Bangladesh opposing the export of natural gas to this country. There were over two-hour-long discussions on critical issues like a huge trade deficit, transit and trans-shipment of goods through land ports, firings at the border and the necessity of upgrading scientific and cultural cooperation, but nothing concrete could come out. These problems require more time to understand each other’s viewpoints. It is heartening that Mr Sinha and his Bangladeshi counterpart have decided to continue to hammer the difficult issues at the official level so that it is easy to find their mutually acceptable solutions. India has to convince Bangladesh to lift the ban on the import of Indian yarn through land ports while finding a mechanism to correct the trade imbalance between them. Bangladesh is worried as its exports to India stand at a mere $ 50 million against imports from this side valued at $ 1.2 billion. It, therefore, wants Delhi to give
tariff exemptions on 191 items whereas the latter has agreed to do so only in the case of 40. India may think of granting more concessions provided the other side addresses the concerns of Delhi----granting trans-shipment rights through Bangladeshi territory to goods transported between India’s North-East and West Bengal. A policy of accommodation can benefit both. In any case, India has always been willing to do whatever possible to expand trade relations with the neighbour, but there are forces in Bangladesh which have been coming in the way. That country can use its natural wealth like the availability of gas to reduce the trade imbalance considerably. But this is possible only when there is an atmosphere of trust between the two sides. |
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Veerappan strikes again THE manner in which forest brigand Veerappan has kidnapped Mr H. Nagappa, a former minister in the J.H.Patel government in Karnataka, late Sunday evening, once again brings to the fore the failure of successive state governments to bring him to book. In a daring act, Mr Nagappa and a police constable were abducted by an armed gang of seven-eight persons from the former minister’s house in a village near Mysore. The modus operandi of the abduction was almost the same as the one reported during the kidnapping of the popular Kannada filmstar, Rajkumar, in November, 2000. Rajkumar’s kidnapping hit international headlines. Even the Supreme Court passed severe strictures against the Karnataka government for its failure to catch him. While hearing a petition from a slain police inspector’s father, the Supreme Court, in a historic ruling, said that the government had abdicated its responsibility and that if it was incapable of catching this outlaw, it would be better for the ministry to quit office. It is amazing that this notorious brigand continues to remain at large. Over the years, he has become a law unto himself and every act of his dare-devilry has only evoked a mild response from the government to the effect that there is no let-up in the combing operations and that he would be nabbed soon. In the last four decades Veerappan has killed more than 120 people, most of them either police or forest officials. He has also killed over 1,000 elephants. Veerappan is very much familiar with the terrain of the Bandipur forests of Karnataka, the jungles on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border and the Silent Valley region in Kerala. His actions with clock-work precision suggest that his information and intelligence network is far more advanced than that of the government or the Special Task Force (STF). One reason why he is able to hoodwink the STF is that the villagers do not cooperate with it regarding his movements. They are scared of him and his associates and help them with groceries and other essentials. And whoever picked up the courage of informing the police about his movements has not been spared by the brigand. The precise motive behind Veerappan’s latest mission is not yet known. However, according to one local report, the possibility of the abduction being politically motivated has not been ruled out. It is said that the present MLA from Hanur, Mr Raju Gowda, who was recently inducted into the S.M.Krishna ministry, is a known political rival of Mr Nagappa. Another report views the kidnapping as a possible attempt by Veerappan to secure the release of the correspondent of Tamil periodical, Nakkeeran, Mr Shivasubramaniam. Whatever the reason behind the latest incident, it is time Veerappan was caught — live or dead — by the authorities. It is deplorable that despite the combined might of two state governments — Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — Veerappan is able to carry out his activities as a state within a state and hold the country to ransom with impunity. People are tired of occasional official claims of zeroing in on his hideouts. When Rajkumar was in the clutches of Veerappan, both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments toyed with various options, including a commando operation, to nab him. The time has come again to revive these options so as to catch him live or dead. Enough is enough. |
The state of power reforms MR Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief, is often prickly. But, for once, his description of the performance of Mr Suresh Prabhu as the Power Minister, was remarkably apt. He said that Mr Prabhu was “Alice in the Wonderland” who was happy to dream about how the power sector would look 10 years from now. There is nothing wrong in dreaming about good things and good deeds. But to be awake and not be aware of harsh reality is bad. Mr Prabhu as the Power Minister has been a zealous “ reformer”, oblivious of the havoc the power sector reforms, so-called, have caused for the critical power infrastructure of the Indian economy. He is a chartered accountant who toyed with the idea of making the power sector financially viable. But he failed grossly in realising that the sound and solid technological, engineering and management base for healthy development of the power sector has been deliberately and systematically undermined in the last 10 years of the implementation of the power sector reforms. The power sector reforms were initiated in 1993 by the minority Congress government. The Power Minister then too was a chartered accountant. But unlike Mr Prabhu, who attempted ambitions and elaborate financial management systems for power generation, transmission and distribution, Mr. Salve was satisfied with simply choking the flow of domestic investment in the development of the power sector. This was done by cutting down orders on power equipment manufacturing and power plant construction companies in the public to less than half of their capacities. Mr Salve placed his entire reliance on foreign investment and the cartel of what are called international power producers to build new power generation plants and augment power supply in India. The upshot was the entry of Enron and other foreign power producers to build in India the power sector on costly imported inputs. The terms and conditions foreign investors laid down were such that the target of 7500 MW of additional power generation in three years has just not materialised. The Enron power plant, the only plant built on these terms and conditions, too has not been operational and stands as a stark monument of the failure of power reform policy. Meanwhile, there has been gross under-utilisation of the Indian capacity and capability for planned and integrated power generation, transmission and distribution. There has been what is euphemistically called “unbundling” of the State Electricity Boards. Generation, transmission and distribution of power have been thrown in disarray. The large lags in reaching the targets set for the power sector show that the reforms have been totally counter-productive. The moves to compel the state governments to push forward with the reforms by laying down “conditionalities”, a la World Bank/IMF on the entitlements of the state governments to central financial transfers is reprehensible. These must be rebuffed as violations of the federal principle and norms of democratic governance. The talk of theft as the principal problem in the way of the development of the power sector, as the Prime Minister chose to do even in his address on Independence Day, is to hide the truth about the power sector reforms, which have blocked the development of the sector in the country on a sound and sustainable basis. The problem of theft of electricity has to be squarely related to increasing shortages in the supply of power and its availability at a price which an ordinary consumer cannot afford in the open market. It, therefore, tends to become a law and order problem, which no government can control by conventional police methods. To privatise the distribution of electric power to the final consumer can only make matters worse. The government in Delhi state, for instance, while retaining power generation and transmission, has transferred power distribution to private companies with guarantees of a 16 per cent rate of return on their meagre investment. Further, any addition under their management to the costs of distribution would be passed on to the consumer but 50 per cent of any saving from the reduction of theft or streamlining of the power distribution system would be retained by the companies. With increasingly tight supply and a rising price of electricity, the sale of power above board is bound to be sticky and calls for more and more active intervention by the political, administrative and law and order machinery. The cost of this intervention would be for the public exchequer and not the private companies to bear. The fact is that generation, transmission and sale of electricity has assumed crisis proportions in the last 10 years of the misconceived power sector reforms. Private investment, domestic and foreign, in the last 10 years has obstructed and overturned power policy for rapid expansion of power generation capacity and its sale to the consumer at affordable prices. The mass of the people in urban as well as rural areas have been barred from access to electric power because of its increasing short supply and high price. The bitter lesson of costly generation of electricity by Enron, breakdown of the distribution of electricity after this job was handed over to a multinational corporation in Orissa and the large-scale cuts in electricity supply in UP after the State Electricity Board was “unbundled” and the sector was “corporatised” should not be ignored wantonly. The objective of any genuine reform of the power sector must be to squarely tackle the question of the price at which power is to be delivered to the consumer. At the present skewed level of incomes in India, this objective is being sidetracked. Instead, it is argued by the vested interests in politics and business, that the availability of costly power is not important. They want “quality” power to be reserved entirely for those who can pay for it. What is given precedence by them is that return on private investment must be made attractive. But guarantees of return as high as 16 per cent has not induced private business to invest in new power plants. The sane and sensible policy for the power sector as part of the overall economic development process must be power generation with available domestic resources, financial, material and technological; its objective must be the supply of power to the consumers at affordable prices. Mr Prabhu is not the only “Alice in the Wonderland” of the so-called economic reforms. There are many who give him company. They have such a fascination to serve the interests and uphold claims of the vested interests in the power development process, indeed all development, that they disregard simple postulates of sound and sustainable development. The plea of the Prime Minister for political consensus on market-friendly economic reforms is pointless, especially in the power sector, and has found few takers. The reform idea itself has been abused and debased during the last 10 years. Reforms to be authentic must be tuned to the aspirations of the mass of the people and satisfaction of their pressing, urgent needs rather than market demand. A group of Indian experts of long experience in the power sector presented trenchant rebuttal of the power sector reforms when these were started in 1993. They offered a workable Indian alternative for the development of power generation, transmission and distribution, which would supply electricity at affordable prices to the rural and urban poor as well as industry and agriculture. Time has come to accept that alternative and pull the country back from the power crisis. |
Dyeing to live “LOOK my hair is greying!” I looked perturbed and pointed at the sudden grey strands on my crown that made their presence felt. Though visibly disturbed, hubby dear put on a brave front and said: “So what, as long as I live I shall not let you dye!” “But all my friends are dyeing and I too shall be dyeing to live...” I looked askance. “Never say dye!” he said half challengingly, half threateningly. “I have always been telling you to use mustard oil for your hair. Look at my hair; jet-black at this age — and you greying so soon in spite of being a year younger. Start using mustard oil for your hair from now onwards regularly — your hair will never grey.” He said as a matter of authority. I knew he was really dyed in the wool. I decided to believe him observing his black-as-ebony hair and wished I had always followed his tricks rather than having used the perfumed hair oil. The skin specialists would laugh at me, saying oil would only attract dirt and would be of no use as the hair is a dead appendage. But I have a dye-haired attitude. Episodes related to dyeing swim afore my eyes today. The boss one day gently reprimanded one colleague of mine who had started using henna for his hair: “You have a tri-coloured hair — some are white, others are black and then some are orange! Why don’t you dye your blacks into greens so that your hair looks a true tricolour?” I need hardly say that his enthusiasm for dyeing died a natural death. More than a decade earlier, in an exhibition at Louisiana, I was perturbed to find youngsters who had their hair coloured in several hues. One chap who caught my amused eyes had his hair leafy green at the roots and bright orange at the shafts. It looked like a crop of carrots standing upside down. He stood smiling at my friends and me and felt extremely proud of his hair. So far I had thought the carrot-topped Archie was a fiction figure. I realised I was wrong because he stood right in front of me! People with white and black hair are known to have pepper and salt hair. This phase is not quite charming. People with snowwhite hair are the most attractive ones. They look like snow capped mountains or just a heap of silver crowned on their heads. Some ladies are distinguished by their hair colour. A brunette is a woman with dark brown hair, whereas a blonde has her hair either too fair or just yellow. Whether they are natural brunettes or blondes is a matter of conjecture. The power of black hair is so strong that everyone is desirous to have black tresses. Once I observed the dark black hair of a senior colleague of mine and exclaimed: “Oh at this age also you have a black hair!” “Oh no!” she said, embarrassment written all over her face. “I have dyed them. Look at their roots — they are all white!” Now I am quick in picking people who have dyed their hair — roots white but black at the shafts — here the person is dyeing to live. As years passed, more grey followed on my crown. I looked pleadingly at my husband. “Okay” he said, “You may dye now, because I feel ashamed to walk along with an old woman!” He said with a twinkle in his eyes. Now that the dye was cast I decided to rush to a chemist’s shop to get the best dye available before I died of shame. When the market is flooded with all shades of black hue why should I be dithering. Even my friend’s grandmother who is an octogenarian believes that black is beautiful and is regularly dyeing the few strands of hair that are left on her almost bald pate. But then things happen to change your mind.... A middle-aged woman happened to visit a skin specialist and show the blisters on her face to him, adding that she could not see well. “Stop dyeing !” He advised without giving her a second glance. “What...” she was completely taken aback. She thought nobody would detect the dye in her hair. “Stop dyeing!” the doc reiterated vehemently and went on to attend to another patient. I realised it was better to dye in harness than dye to live. I really do not wish to be a dyeing duck any more for the sake of the commercial profiteers. Now I am living and not dyeing! |
BJP: will confrontation pay off? ATAL Behari Vajpayee: “The issue (Election Commission’s decision on Gujarat) is before Parliament. I will not comment...” L.K. Advani: “The Commission’s job is to hold elections, not stop them...” The quotes from the two life-long colleagues of the ruling BJP on the same day last week speak volumes of the way the NDA government functions. While Vajpayee, who has clearly yielded way to Advani, desperately continues with his soft line and policy of maximum accommodation that goes with it, the latter has begun boldly proclaiming his own hard aggressivism. The divergence of views is so striking on almost every decision of the NDA government since the BJP’s post-Goa political coup d’etat. Most of us have failed to recognise this crucial change in the ruling party. It is not just a case of sidelining Vajpayee and a full takeover by Advani. That has been the consequence of the shift in the BJP’s political strategy as part of an arrangement with the parivar. Even though Vajpayee continues as a patron saint, his policies and his approach to political and administrative management remain buried deep in the BJP’s survival politics. It is not a takeover by the youth as has been made out but it marked a total retreat of the moderates toeing the old line. As has been indicated in these columns a month ago, the process of heralding of a new Advani line — as in the mid-80s — to lift the BJP from stagnation, is now complete. Yes, as in mythology, the BJP too has a new “purush” to suit its new political “yuga”. Vajpayee’s passive approach, which was well suited to the early coalition era, is being found ineffective to meet the tightening siege from all sides — the rising scandals, non-performance and personal allegations. Political passivism — with its inescapable slogan of “consensus and cooperation” — as in the case of P.V. Narasimha Rao, alone could tackle difficult situations when a ruling party needs others’ support. But when it outlives its utility and things get hotting up against the establishment, new devices and game plans will have to be employed. Along with passivism, Rao and Vajpayee used minimalism as an effective tool to achieve longevity to their governments. They responded to crises only when it knocked right at their door. Over-reaction was what they detested the most. Provocation and bravado — as Venkaiah Naidus and Modis and their ilk in other parties are known for — do enthuse the committed ranks until the excitement wears off. But in most cases, they complicated matters and turned politically costly. Rao and Vajpayee reserved their threats and challenges to situations when the adversaries are on a weak wicket. They went ahead with the conviction that in most cases problems invariably die down on their own and a stoic silence and simple inaction could be the answer. Compare this with L.K. Advani’s aggressive style and forthright proclamations on issues which his predecessor had most skilfully handled. On the institutionalised arrangement for allotting petrol pump to the parivar activists, the initiative for their cancellation came from Vajpayee. No doubt, Advani too had endorsed the move but he also strongly defended the allocations. Later if Vajpayee had come forward to issue an Ordinance to pre-empt the Supreme Court hearing, it was not in defence of any one. The purpose was to frustrate any judicial scrutiny or panel inquiry into the murkey dealings. On the question of Narendra Modi’s “rath yatra,” the divergence is more striking. When the issue had become a controversy, Vajpayee who was still trying to exercise his authority, had stopped the provocative move. This was just on the eve of the yatra for which every detail had been worked out. Now that Advani has given a green signal for a recharged yatra in a more confrontationist atmosphere, Vajpayee is helpless to assert himself. The import of this should not be missed. It highlights the Advani-led BJP’s determination to dump the soft line and fully go along with the VHP’s religious hatred-based vote bank. The Election Commission’s decision to defer the assembly poll until normalcy returns to Gujarat, has been another instance. The BJP leaders under the new aggressive activism hoodwinked the commission much before it announced its decision. Left to him, Vajpayee might have avoided a confrontation with a view to preserving his once strong middle class intellectual constituency. But the Advani dispensation took it as a prestige issue and launched a bitter attack on the commission. Saner elements in the BJP felt that a showdown with an authority like the EC will not be in its interests and it was pointless to push beyond a certain limit. Something similar has happened in the Trinamul case. After her poor showing in elections and her own earlier bitter experience, this time Mamata was ready for any face-saving formula. She had also faced a revolt threat from within. Hence Vajpayee has been carefully working on some patchup formula when Advani suddenly came out with open support to Nitish Kumar’s claims. Here the divergence of approach is more pronounced. The former’s game plan was to tire out Mamata and force her into accepting concessions. Advani, however, has his eye on the relatively larger and more beneficial Bihar vote bank as against the loyalty of a whimsical Mamata. Thus we have two different road maps. Vajpayee’s abandoned project of preserving his government at all cost and Advani’s action-oriented programme to recharge the cadre and thus forge ahead for the polls. Vajpayee wanted the party to remain subservient to his coalition for its survival. For him, the party is an instrument to facilitate the government the success of which will ensure the party’s future. Under Advani, the government is strictly of the party — and for the party. So the overriding priority should also be for strengthening the party organisation in states rather than simply maintaining a fragile coalition. For the new BJP, Advani’s aggressivism is the best available survival option. This is the only way to resuscitate the organisation mired by scandals and disillusionment. Vajpayee’s minimalism will only leave the ranks further confused. Watch the way Advani appearing on TV every other day to curtly reassert the new BJP’s position on sundry issues. Instead of being apologetic, he strongly justifies the petrol pump and gas scams. He found nothing wrong in gifting over half of institutional plots in Delhi’s heart to the RSS and BJP outfits at throwaway prices. Advani rightly identifies the vital differences between the scams under the Congress and the BJP. Under the former, the loot was cornered by a few top men. The BJP institutionalised it by making the district and tehsil functionaries direct beneficiaries of the pump and plot dans. As “benefits” reached the “grassroots”, the crucial middle-level leaders developed a special interest in keeping up the system. While the kith and kin got the pumps and agencies, the allocation of the rest through the “pay channel” made the local units richer. There is an inbuilt contradiction between the new aggressivism of the BJP and coalitional politics. The BJP’s new leadership is well aware of this. They presume that intelligent realpolitik will take care of the NDA allies at least during the present Lok Sabha. Hence the new BJP leadership is not unduly bothered about pampering the allies. Instead their single-minded concentration is on reactivating the dormant organisation through all available means. This is the meaning of the new aggressivism. |
Rabri knows no English? A BJP leader in Bihar is under attack for suggesting that Chief Minister Rabri Devi should be accompanied on flights by someone who knows English as she does not understand the language. Rabri Devi’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has slammed BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi for his comment made after Rabri Devi accused an Indian Airlines crew of deliberately denying her a front seat on a flight to New Delhi last week. Modi on Saturday said the Chief Minister occupied the wrong seat because she did not know English and could not understand the crew’s instructions. The controversy erupted on Wednesday as Rabri Devi could not take her reserved front seat on flight number IC-809. Two Ministers of State Digvijay Singh (External Affairs) and Rajiv Pratap Singh Rudy (Commerce and Industry), however, occupied front seats, as did former Health Minister C.P. Thakur. Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, who too hails from Bihar and belongs to the BJP, later apologised for the goof-up.
IANS Farm animals pose E. coli threat to kids Children who have contact with farm animals run the risk of being infected by a deadly E. coli bacteria if they do not wash their hands before eating. Medical detectives have reached the conclusion after studying an outbreak of E. coli illness among preschoolers who visited a Pennsylvania farm. Tainted food and water are seen as the usual causes of E. coli O157:H7 infection, which each year kills about 60 Americans and sickens more than 70,000. However, there is concern that contact with animals such as cattle, which are known to harbour the bacteria, may cause people to develop the bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting that are common symptoms of the infection. The new study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, began after 16 people fell ill in the autumn of 2000, most of them after visiting a petting farm that housed cows, sheep, goats, pigs and llamas.
Reuters |
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Majority of Britons want to leave country MORE than half of Britons would like to emigrate from their homeland, fed up with the price of living and terrible weather, and would prefer to live in the United States or Spain, a survey published on Monday said. Fifty-four per cent of Britons surveyed by pollsters YouGov for the Daily Telegraph newspaper said they would like to settle abroad if they were free to do so. Similar polls found just 42 per cent wanted to emigrate in 1948 shortly after World War II, and only 40 per cent in 1975. Of those wanting to leave Britain behind, the United States was the most popular destination followed by Australia. However, if language wasn’t a barrier — Britons are the worst linguists in Europe according to an EU poll — then Spain would be their preferred country of residence followed by France, with the U.S. pushed back into third place. The survey found that being able live more cheaply and the chance of new opportunities were cited as the main reasons for moving abroad. Unsurprisingly the notoriously wet and shifty British climate was the next most popular reason for leaving. However, the much maligned British cuisine was less of a problem with only 25 per cent citing it as a problem. The biggest draw for staying in Britain was being with family and friends, whilst the second most common reason was Britain’s proud history.
Reuters |
Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of the plain living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. —Mahatma Gandhi, Harijan
*** Simplicity is the essence of universality. —Mahatma Gandhi, Harijan
*** Luxurious living is an impossible proposition for any society as a whole. And when there is no limit to luxury, where shall we stop? All the scriptures of the world have taught the exact opposite — “Plain living and high thinking”. —Mahatma Gandhi, Harijan
*** The unbuttered cereal of the saint is a treasure; one cannot remain naked with a torn blanket of the saint. —Sri Guru Granth Sahib
*** One achieves one’s objectives Through one’s own efforts. — Rig Veda
*** The dedicated men offer love and respect To the cosmic divinities; But remember offering love alone is not enough; Constant hard work and diligence are essential for success. Then alone the Lord Supreme Showers His blessings upon them. — Rig Veda
*** May we, with honest efforts And no consciousness of guilt, Ascend day by day Higher and higher summits of Eternal glory and bliss. — Rig Veda
*** The dawn comes knocking at your door; Arise, Awake, O Divine men, The glorious sun has risen, the radiant glow is flowing from the east, dispersing the darkness of the night. The new bright rays bring in renewed hope. A new day is ushered in, full of zest and zeal and life progresses on its path of glory, Each dawn brings a bright ray of hope and a happy day. — Rig Veda |
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