E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Power, farmers & populism
THE decision to give free power to the farmers in Punjab was an act of short-sighted populism. It did not help former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal lead the Shiromani Akali Dal back to power. Yes, populist measures look good on paper, but in the end are self-defeating.

Disturbing signals from Kabul
THE attempt on the life of the Afghan President, Mr Hamid Karzai, on Thursday is a clear indication that peace and stability are still a far cry for this war- ravaged region as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda activists and sympathisers continue to operate with impunity.

Where are the teachers?
IT should be shocking, but it has come as no surprise that there are-15,000 posts of teachers lying vacant in Punjab, a state that also has the dubious distinction of having about three lakh children, between the ages of 6-14, who do not attend school.

OPINION

Beware of IMF’s prescriptions
Weaknesses in foreign-dependent growth strategy
Bharat Jhunjhunwala
INDIA has concluded the annual review of its economy with the IMF recently. The IMF has recommended that India should reduce its fiscal deficit, lower the import tariffs and encourage more foreign direct investment instead of portfolio investments.

MIDDLE

The woman at home
Raj Chatterjee
UNLESS you are an up-and-coming business executive with a princely salary and oodles of perks, this little piece will not be of interest to you. But if the cap fits you, you are probably heading for a complete nervous breakdown, especially if you are about 40 years of age and have built up a tension between the demands that are made on you each day in your airconditioned office and your emotional needs.

REFLECTIONS

The miracle of Dhamma
Kiran Bedi
AFTER taking the feedback of our silver jubilee Vipassana course of police officers I was about to leave the meditation hall when the teacher Sri Bhanwar Singh Sahwal who conducted the course asked me if he could share his experiences about Vipassana. I said, ‘Please do Sir’.

ON RECORD

‘My role in J&K not poll-related’
Satish Mishra
Being incharge of Gujarat as BJP General Secretary, Arun Jaitley has a tough task defending State Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his rabid Hindutva policies but he performs the job with relative ease and charm. As the chief spokesperson of the party, he is available to the media even at odd hours. Fond of debate and discussion, he puts across his point of view forcefully without rancour or bitterness. An interview...

SIGHT & SOUND

William Dalrymple’s Djinn’s
Amita Malik
FROM time to time, the BBC takes off on interesting journeys, many of them on the sub-continent. Mark Tully has done his share of train journeys, including a fascinating one by train all the way to the Khyber Pass.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Power, farmers & populism

THE decision to give free power to the farmers in Punjab was an act of short-sighted populism. It did not help former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal lead the Shiromani Akali Dal back to power. Yes, populist measures look good on paper, but in the end are self-defeating. They neither serve the interest of the category of people receiving the concessions nor the political masters. If giving free power was the key to pulling out farmers from the debt trap, there would have been no case of suicide by them in Punjab. The policy only helped the big farmers deny the cash-strapped state of the money that was needed for raising the power generation capacity. What did the policy of free power to farmers achieve and for whom? Did it help Mr Badal and SAD politically? Did it help the farmers economically? Did it help the Punjab State Electricity Board in anyway? The answer to all the three questions should help in understanding at least one aspect of the power sector mess in Punjab. The decision of the Punjab State Electricity Commission (PSERC) to impose power tariff on the farm sector seeks to address this aspect of the larger problem. It is an important move. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Will the PSERC be allowed to make the struggling farm sector pay for the electricity it consumes?

The Congress government headed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will have to show rare political courage for letting the PSERC start sending power bills to the farmers. Yes, sending bills is the easiest part of the process of making the farmers pay for what they consume. In western Uttar Pradesh Mr Mahendra Singh Tikait and his Bharatiya Kisan Union members neither pay for water nor the electricity they consume. Those who come to collect the arrears from them usually return with black eyes and swollen faces. It is easy to spoil than to reform anyone. The misplaced rhetoric about the status of the farmer in Indian society has only helped the simple kisan lose his sense of balance in articulating his genuine grievances. He talks about everything except the problems that he faces as a farmer. The farmers must be told politely but firmly that they have to choose between paid power and no power. Giving them free electricity is not possible because of the acute power shortage in the state. Of course, free power to the farmers has not caused the shortage. The power sector in Punjab, like most other sectors, is in a mess because of across the board corruption in the generation and distribution of power and the collection of dues from big consumers, who pay small bribes to ensure uninterrupted supply. Does giving small change to beggars help them get out of economic deprivation? The farmers need scientific guidance, not free power, to help them raise their standard of living to a level where they too can take pride in joining the ranks of tax-payers. That should be the long-term goal of any political party that claims that its heart bleeds for the farmers.

Disturbing signals from Kabul

THE attempt on the life of the Afghan President, Mr Hamid Karzai, on Thursday is a clear indication that peace and stability are still a far cry for this war- ravaged region as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda activists and sympathisers continue to operate with impunity. The attack on the President was launched by one of his security guards as he was leaving the Kandahar Governor’s mansion after attending the wedding celebrations of his youngest brother. Though President Karzai was unhurt, the Governor, Mr Gul Agha Sherzai, suffered bullet injuries. Three others were killed when his American bodyguards opened fire at the attacker. The assassination attempt came a few hours after an explosion in Kabul that killed 10 persons. This is not the first time that President Karzai has been targeted. In fact, he has been the prime target of the so-called opposition forces (read the Taliban and Al –Qaeda) ever since he was given a two-year term by the Loya Jigra in June this year. On July 29, the authorities had uncovered a plan to kill him using a car packed with explosives. Two men were arrested and their links with the Al-Qaeda were traced. How deep these links run can be gauged from the fact that a former Afghanistan Prime Minister, Mr Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who leads the fundamentalist Hezb-i-Islami, was accused of linking up with the Al-Qaeda to eliminate President Karzai. That the alleged axis calls the shots in the country, in more ways than in a manner of speaking only, is clear from the fact that President Karzai has lost his Vice-President Haji Abdul Qadir and Civil Aviation Minister Abdul Rahman to assassins’ bullets in the last nine months. He himself has been attacked twice in the same period. This despite the fact that a multi-nation combat force is present in Afghanistan and the leader of the war against terror, the USA, has claimed that the country has been ‘secured’ from the fundamentalists opposed to the present regime. But the brazen assassination attempt by one of the bodyguards clearly shows that Al-Qaeda’s tentacles reach the very core of the Afghan administration and it can strike at will. The timing of the attack too is more than symbolic. It took place when the country was remembering Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood who was killed on September 9 last year. It also comes during the week leading up to the first anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11. The message from the Al-Qaeda, if the first news reports from Kandahar are to be believed, is therefore clear – it is alive and kicking and has the potential to strike devastatingly. It is helped to a great extent by the highly fragmented nature of the Afghan polity in which ethnic identity and warlordism many a time supersede the spirit of nationalism and community reconstruction. Though President Karzai has been in power only for a few months, there have been disturbing reports about the divide between him and his Defence Minister Mohammad Fahim. Given these compulsions and the fact that the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda thrive most in such marshy conditions, the road ahead for President Karzai seems to be full of pitfalls.

Where are the teachers?

IT should be shocking, but it has come as no surprise that there are-15,000 posts of teachers lying vacant in Punjab, a state that also has the dubious distinction of having about three lakh children, between the ages of 6-14, who do not attend school. This is in spite of the fact that there is a government school in almost every village. Unfortunately, while the number of schools rose from 18,485 in 1998 to 18,998 in the year 2000, the number of students remained stagnant and there has not been any significant improvement in the dropout rate. It is well known that rural schools, especially those in the border areas of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Ferozepore, suffer the most because teachers would like to be posted in urban areas that cause overstaffing. That there is something basically wrong with the school system in the state is well known and oft discussed. Punjab allocates 18.5 per cent of its budget to education as compared with the all-India average outlay of 22 per cent. A resource crunch as well as ‘play-safe’ mindset cause delay in the appointment of teachers. Basically, the school system suffers from lack of accountability and bureaucratisation. Political interference in appointments and transfers of teachers also adds to the woes.

To his credit, the Education Minister, Mr Khushal Behal, has been discussing and implementing ways to improve schooling, including introducing a three-tier inspection under which principals of higher secondary schools would supervise primary and middle schools within five to seven kilometres from their institution. The primary aim of this is to check absenteeism. The Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, has also emphaised the need for revamping the school education system. His stress on introducing English from Class III and on vocational education is laudable, but much remains to be done on the ground. Besides recruiting new teachers for essential positions, he has to push those already employed to perform better. The per capita cost of educating a child in a government school is Rs 40-50 higher than in private schools. This may be because such schools pay less to their teachers and get more work from them. Indeed, the government has a definite case for better performance from its teachers.

OPINION

Beware of IMF’s prescriptions
Weaknesses in foreign-dependent growth strategy
Bharat Jhunjhunwala

INDIA has concluded the annual review of its economy with the IMF recently. The IMF has recommended that India should reduce its fiscal deficit, lower the import tariffs and encourage more foreign direct investment instead of portfolio investments. The IMF has been advocating these policies for the last two decades. But after short run gains they have led to the decline of many an economy.

Newsweek has recently published a report from Bolivia which I take the liberty to quote at some length: “In 1985, Bolivia was in dire need of economic salvation. So Harvard economist Jaffery Sachs and the IMF advised the elimination of price controls and encouraged severe cuts in state spending, sweeping tax reforms, lower tariffs and the privatisation of some state companies. The country’s economic vital signs stabilised, it controlled its hyperinflation and the ‘Bolivian model’ — or neoliberalisation — caught on around the world.

“But 17 years later, the original supermodel has fallen on hard times. The only significant investment in recent years has been in the natural gas sector, which provides few jobs and spinoff benefits, Unemployment is soaring, and barely a dent has been made in reducing poverty.... The global market has created few labour-intensive industries in Bolivia... the traditional industries were no longer protected by high tariffs and were either closed down by the state or moved out by transnational companies.”

What went wrong? And why is it that the IMF persists in tendering such advice despite the failure of this model not only in Bolivia but also in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, East Asia, South Korea and Russia and other countries? The simple answer is that the objective of the IMF is to strangle the developing economies and make them surrogate to the rich countries.

Let us examine the IMF advice to India in this background. The Directors of the IMF, says the Press release, “supported the objectives specified in the original draft Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management bill — to reduce the Central Government deficit to 2 per cent of the GDP by 2006 and the Central Government debt to 50 per cent of the GDP by 2011.” Note the stress is on reduction of all fiscal deficit irrespective of the nature of the expenditures. It does not matter whether the fiscal deficit has been incurred for building roads or paying fat salaries to government servants.

Printing notes is an acceptable method of taxing people. The purchasing power of the people’s money is reduced due to inflation. But this is still an acceptable method if the money is used to build roads. The people get less consumption but the roads enable them to make higher incomes subsequently.

The choice before us is whether to build these infrastructure on our own by resorting to borrowing or printing notes or to rely on foreign investors to do the same. The IMF gives a blanket prescription that fiscal deficit should be reduced at any cost and borrowing too should be brought down. The implication is that India should not make its infrastructure on its own. The objective is to enhance the ability of the West to economically enslave this country.

Secondly, the IMF Director “welcomed the steps taken to increase trade openness and the outward orientation of the Indian economy. They noted, however, that the trade regime remains relatively restrictive and that further steps are needed to foster a more friendly environment for trade.” There is no doubt that foreign trade has many benefits. We can export things that we can make cheap like garments, films, software, cut diamonds and wooden furniture. We can import computers and airplanes. But this is not a one-way street.

Integration also has its disadvantages, particularly in times of global distress. Wars can cut off supply mines for critical spare parts or raw materials. The USA, for example, has been putting pressure on Israel and Russia not to transfer certain advanced technologies to India. We could possibly generate these technologies ourselves if we have, in general, created an import substitution base. But if we are dependent on the West for middle-level technologies then there is no chance of our building the advanced technologies. Therefore, one has to weigh the advantages of free trade against the disadvantages of such dependence. But for the IMF, precisely such dependence is the objective. Therefore, it only speaks of the advantages of free trade, It does not point to the fact that reliance on foreign trade for essential materials is a danger to the integrity of the country.

Thirdly, the IMF Directors “stressed that strong prudential measures should be put in place to prevent offshore banking units from becoming conduits for short-term capital flows that could increase the vulnerability of the domestic financial sector.” It is well known that sudden withdrawal of huge portfolio investments had created a crisis in East Asia.

But there is another dimension to the issue. Portfolio investment puts more money in the hands of domestic companies. It strengthens their ability to compete with the MNCs. Direct investment, on the other hand, competes with our industrialists. General Motors investing in the Mumbai Stock Exchange would streng-then Telco against Daewoo and Hyundai. General Motors making the Corsa competes with Telco’s Indica. The objective of the IMF is permanent enslavement of the developing countries. Therefore, it suggests that developing countries should invite more of FDI which is more stable. Just like the zamindar likes to give loan to one who would become bonded for lifetime rather than to him who would return the money after a couple of months, so also the IMF wants to promote FDI which kills domestic industries over lifetime. Note that the IMF does not say that the developing countries should increase their own domestic savings and investment and build more of their industries.

It is time for India to realise that the objective of the IMF is to use short term crisis of the developing countries to permanently debilitate them. This is what it did successfully in Bolivia. Severe cuts in government spending resulted in the slowing of long-term growth. Lower tariffs resulted in domestic industries being wiped off. The only industry that remained was that of supplying natural gas to the industrialised countries. FDI has not created either jobs or economic growth. But the IMF policies did control the crisis in 1985. The landlord takes the advantage of a drought or death in the family of the poor labourer to give him some advance and bond him for life. So also the IMF. It has succeeded in most of Latin America and East Asia. Chinese leaders are, of their own, following the same disastrous policy the results of which should certainly appear in a few years, if not later.

We should not be taken aback by China’s so-called “spectacular” success. China has a long history of such spectacular shows — the Great Leap Forward of the mid-fifties when iron was melted in crucibles in every village; the Cultural Revolution of the mid-sixties when technicians were sent to villages to grow paddy; and now the love of exports and FDI. Any foreign-dependent growth strategy has to meet a roadblock sooner or later.

India is perhaps the lone country that has resisted such complete integration as would bond it perpetually. We can only hope that our leaders will not sacrifice our long-term interests for short-term relief.

The writer is a well-known economic commentator.

MIDDLE

The woman at home
Raj Chatterjee

UNLESS you are an up-and-coming business executive with a princely salary and oodles of perks, this little piece will not be of interest to you. But if the cap fits you, you are probably heading for a complete nervous breakdown, especially if you are about 40 years of age and have built up a tension between the demands that are made on you each day in your airconditioned office and your emotional needs.

Symptomatic of the impending catastrophe are ailments such as stomach ulcers, headaches and irregular heartbeats which have nothing to do with seeing a pretty girl.

These are the findings of Doctor Francis A (for Aristotle) Macnab of Melbourne's Cairnmillar Institute, described as a non-profit-making mental health organisation.

The odd thing about the conclusions drawn by Dr Macnab is that he began his research by collating clinical observations about women. In fact, his thesis on the subject is captioned, "The psychotherapy of emotionally isolated suburban wives."

Dr Macnab is inclined to blame the emotional isolation on her commuting husband who, suffering from the strain of work, occasionally finds relief in such morally reprehensible activities as heavy drinking and chasing other women, often his "petite" secretary.

"In the competitive society" he observes, "the executive gains a great many satisfactions in terms of growing affluence, but he is also prey to internal conflicts which produce the same sort of emotional isolations we find in suburban women". This reminds me of Kipling's ditty, "The Colonel's Lady, and Judy O'Grade sisters “under the skin!"

And so we have two emotionally isolated individuals in the family. The one adds to his prestige and his bank balance in the world of commerce, exchanges risque stories with his colleagues over a gin-and-tonic, tries hard to concentrate on the business letter he is dictating instead of his well-endowed, pearly-teethed secretary and is driven at the end of an exhausting day to be confronted by all the petty problems that have arisen during his absence such as a malfunctioning fridge, a dead telephone, a leaking cistern in the WC or a drunken cook.

The other, better half, buys herself half-a-dozen saris, cuts out the latest choli patterns from a women's magazine, gossips with her neighbour, Shrimati X, plays rummy with Shrimati Y and rushes home in time to see to the kiddies' lunch after which she has to get down to that list of guests for her next party.

All this may sound a bit sarcastic but it seems to me that the problem is not as new as Dr Macnab would have us believe.

I have in mind the suburban couple who once lived in a delightful place called the Garden of Eden where they had no neighbours to emulate or envy.

The man suffered from no mental disorders or physical handicaps except that he was minus a rib from which his wife, Eve, had been fashioned by their Maker.

Instead of loving and cherishing his wife in these idyllic surroundings, Adam left her to her own devices. In her emotional isolation she falls an easy prey to the blandishments of a snake-in-the-grass with disastrous consequences to herself, her husband and their progeny, right down to the present generation.

REFLECTIONS

The miracle of Dhamma
Kiran Bedi

AFTER taking the feedback of our silver jubilee Vipassana course of police officers I was about to leave the meditation hall when the teacher Sri Bhanwar Singh Sahwal who conducted the course asked me if he could share his experiences about Vipassana. I said, ‘Please do Sir’.

What I heard was a miracle. And this what the teacher said:

“I am Bhanwar Singh Sahwal, a retired Rajasthan Adminis-tration Service Officer. It was in the year 1974 when I was a teacher in the subject of Educational Psychology. I was the sole earning member of a family of six children, my siblings and my parents and siblings. Due to this I was overpowered by fear of the unknown. The fear psychosis became so strong that I almost lost my speech as compared to my fluent lecturing earlier for hours without a break. My stammer became very worrisome to me and my colleagues. I had lost hope. One day I was on my way to Ajmer to meet my parents. As I got down at the Railway Station and walked across the road to hire a rickshaw, a friend of mine approached me and told me that one Mr Satya Narain Goenka, a teacher of Vipassana is expected to be conducting a course in Ajmer at the Jain Ashram from today evening. After doing so, he went away. But I went home only to bring my essentials to attend the course. On reaching the Jain ashram I saw that the course was already overbooked and I was one of the 25 others who could not be accommodated. I decided to wait and talk to Goenkaji and personally request him if I could be somehow accommodated. After a while Sri Goenka came and on seeing the waiting group, he directed the organisers to clear the dining hall for us and convert the same into a meditation hall. The dining hall was shifted to a nearby tent”.

“I took my place in a corner. The same evening we were initiated into the technique of anna-panna i.e. breath watch. I did as per instructions. At 9 p.m. we were asked to retire for the night. At 4 a.m., the following day, we again returned to the meditation hall. As per the instructions, I continued my breath watch over the upper part of my lip. Within two hours I felt strong sensations engulfing my upper lip and gradually my whole face. Then sharp sensations spread to the palms of my hands. I was aware of them but I continued to observe my breath come in and go out”.

“After the morning meal, as per the programme, I again returned at 8.30 a.m. to the meditation hall. But now I changed my position to the second row facing Goenkaji. I again started observation of my breath. The sensations returned but along with that my body started to tremble and it became unstoppable. Tears too started to roll down my cheeks as if they were like flowing streams. As I was sitting close to the teacher, I was signaled that what was happening to me was the product of deep seated fears I was suffering from and that all I had to do was continue to observe my breath. The body tremors, strong sensations and tears came under control after full three days of meditation. I was totally at peace on the fourth day. On the evening of the third day, we were initiated into Vipassana i.e. Insight. I was now observing sensations inside my body while traveling head to toe and vice versa. The evening discourses were making me understand the happenings”.

“On the sixth day I suffered from a severe back pain. This was the pain which was lying dormant for decades and it resurfaced now. I kept observing and travelling through my body as per the instructions of Vipassana. By the next day, this too was gone. On breaking silence on the ninth day of the course I was as light as a feather. I stood up to narrate my experience before my teacher and as I did I found my stammer was gone. My speech was the same as it was when I used to lecture for hours”.

“The miracle of Dhamma didn’t stop here. On the suggestion of my colleague I took the Rajasthan Administrative Service examination. In the interview, which was expected to be exceedingly tough, there were questions, which pertained to Dhamma. For instance I was asked, ‘What do you mean by Panchsheel?’. I queried in return, ‘Which Panchsheel, the political or the spiritual?’. They said, ‘Both’. I explained the Political Panchsheel and then asked the interview board whether I could share the spiritual one in Pali language? They said, ‘Yes’ and I knew it by heart. Thanks to my learning’s in Vipassana.

During my service, I went on to do 16 Vipassana courses and wherever I worked I tried to do the maximum good in all the positions I held.”

“Narration of this personal account of the teacher was an eye-opener for 55 police officers sitting in the meditation hall. It was experienced that we do not have to wait for depressions and fears to overpower us. Solutions are amongst us here and now. We only have to seek them, learn them and practice them.

Dhamma is one of our richest heritages. It is for us to convert it from a distant archaeological monument into a holistic dwelling”.

ON RECORD

‘My role in J&K not poll-related’
Satish Mishra
Tribune News Service

WHEN the Bharatiya Janata Party high command removed K. Jana Krishnamurthi from the post of the party president and decided to give youth a chance by bringing in M.Venkaiah Naidu to lead the party, a generational change had been effected. Naidu said he would have only those in his team who had ability combined with mobility. Used to wearing many hats, Arun Jaitley eminently fitted the bill and was asked to resign from the Union Cabinet. He was pulled into the party and was made the General Secretary and the main spokesman. Representing the post-independence generation, Jaitley, a leading lawyer of the Supreme Court, never fumbles for words and has a ready reply for every inconvenient or penetrating question. Taking up the work of the party organisation for the first time, Jaitley, former Delhi University president, was in prison during the Emergency.

Discipline, being his strength, he has been fulfilling his legal as well as party responsibilities with equal zeal and commitment. Because of his legal expertise, he was appointed Additional Solicitor General by the V.P.Singh Government. Being incharge of Gujarat as BJP General Secretary, Jaitley has a tough task defending State Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his rabid Hindutva policies but he performs the job with relative ease and charm. As the chief spokesperson of the party, he is available to the media even at odd hours. Fond of debate and discussion, he puts across his point of view forcefully without rancour or bitterness.

A: My role as Government interlocutor is not election related. I am discussing the devolution of power. The issue is squarely within the framework of the Constitution of India as to what the power sharing between the Centre and the States ought to be. This dialogue would continue independent of elections.

A: The Kashmir Committee is a citizens’ initiative of well-meaning persons. Their initiative involves talking to various organisations and involving them within India's constitutional and democratic framework. The areas which I am concerned with is independent of the area that they are concentrating on. Even if it overlaps, it makes no difference.

A: I don't think that Jethmalani's work is at cross purposes. All initiatives in Kashmir supplement one another.

A: The BJP and the Jammu State Morcha agree on several issues such as discrimination of the Jammu region. On the one issue relating to trifurcation, we have different perceptions. Electoral adjustments are possible with those with whom you substantially agree and even partly disagree. The National Conference supports the NDA agenda even though the BJP and National Conference differ on several issues.

A: I am first speaking to the State Government. I had two meetings with them. The third meeting has been deferred because of the elections. After completing the discussions with the State Government, I would be holding discussions with different political groups etc.

A: I am enjoying my new role in the party. In the Government I had only one role that related to the Ministry. Today, I am the Spokesman and one of the party General Secretaries. I have to undertake several organisational activities. A lot of it is new education to me.

A: The strength of the BJP is the cadre support and its commitment. Its strength also lies in its national moorings. We try and avoid weaknesses but at times political problems such as excessive ambitions and putting one ahead of party get reflected in individuals. In our party, it is much less. However, whenever it does appear it is indeed a weakness.

Q: There has been a generational change in the party recently. How is the party leadership going to meet the aspirations of the younger generations?

A: The generational changes is not only to meet the aspirations of the new generations. That is only one of the objectives. It is also intended to give a new vibrance to the party itself. The party must feel young and be very active.

A: We have indeed brought certain changes in some State units. If there is a change required in any other State unit we announce it only after the party takes a decision. Presently, no such decision has been taken in this regard.

A: The situation in Gujarat is most conducive for elections. Punjab saw elections during insurgency. Kashmir is having elections under the threat of militant guns. Assam had elections where voting was 2-3 per cent. Gujarat is now normal for more than six months. If the Congress can take out a Yatra, I think the BJP can hold its own programmes.

A: We respect constitutional authorities but if we feel they are going wrong in their interpretation of the Constitution, pointing out the error strengthens both the Constitution and the constitutional set-up. It may appear to be a conflict but it strengthens constitutionality.

A: I am not aware of any such proposal.

A: I look after a large number of States. I participate in the policy and organisational decision-making of the party. I represent my party on various forums including the media. I am a part of the team headed by Venkaiah Naiduji.

SIGHT & SOUND

William Dalrymple’s Djinn’s
Amita Malik

FROM time to time, the BBC takes off on interesting journeys, many of them on the sub-continent. Mark Tully has done his share of train journeys, including a fascinating one by train all the way to the Khyber Pass. And now, one of the best contemporary travel writers, William Dalrymple who spent a year in Delhi, has converted his best-selling book, City of Djinn’s, into a two-part TV travelogue, a loving and scholarly walk-about into every conceivable corner of the Capital. Mr Dalrymple will forgive me, because I mean it as a compliment, when I say that I found his TV programmes even more interesting than his book, compressed though it was, because the visuals brought Delhi to life in a way even the best writing cannot conjure up. Dalrymple ventures, mostly on foot, to every corner of Delhi, his main thesis being that basically it is a very tolerant city, and always has been, and that, in a way, the key to this is Sufism. When he takes us into the heart of Nizamuddin, and lets us listen to the qawalls at their most passionate, and the look of quiet devotion and, at times, ecstacy on the faces of those lost in the music, including people from all religions, he also takes care to make these people explain what they find in Sufism. Later, in the old city, he talks at length to Persian scholar Dr Yunus Jaffrey, who also talks about the qualities of Dalrymple’s favourite Djinn’s which seem to roam freely around Delhi, their only distinctive feature being that they do not cast shadows.

Yet, in the middle of a good deal of philosophising and historical analysis, Dalrymple manages to fit it a lot about contemporary Delhi, the 1984 riots, he shows us an RSS Youth rally marching through the Muslim quarters of old Delhi, and, with a good deal of wit, a typical page 3 gathering with all the familiar regulars present, where a well-known loud-mouth socialite accuses a well-known editor of a weekly of being RSS and the resultant dog-fight. It is amazing how much history and the finer nuances of the several cities of Delhi Dalrymple packs into less than half an hour. And without that underlying, patronising koi-hai tone which usually stamps such programmes by foreigners. The second part will be telecast on Tuesday September 10, at 10 p.m. on the BBC and I strongly recommend it to viewers who complain that serious programmes are hard to come by on TV.

It is sad how some programmes begin with a bang and end with a whimper. Not that this one has ended, but it threatens to lapse into the worst kind of boredom. When I remember Naseer Shah in Jeena Iska Naam Hai, and even more recently a lively one with Kiran Bedi, I wonder why the programme got bogged down, to begin with, in the all too familair filmi duniya of Indian TV, descending at times to the most minor or dull personalities when there are artistes from many fields, musicians, painters, scientists, even politicians when they are as entertaining as Laloo Prasad. Not to forget our many articulate sportspersons and literary personalities with star qualities. Then sometimes, as in the last edition with Sharmila Tagore, the programme became scrappy. Apparently not a single one of her many heroes or Mumbai directors other than Shakti Samanta could be rustled up, not even to record a message. Whatever happened to Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor and the rest? Of her family only Tiger Pataudi was interesting and the only critic present could only say he had “slammed” her. Worst of all, the Kolkata contributions were technically so poor and unworthy of NDTV, that it was only because I recognised his voice that I realised it was Soumitra Chatterji speaking, and I am still wondering if I failed to recognise Rituparna Ghosh. And I certainly missed Goutam Ghosh. Also Sharmila herself mostly confined herself to “How nice of you to come,” as if it was a garden party. She is capable of being much more interesting. Both she and the viewers deserved better and if the programme is to continue, it has to widen its scope, rev up its production and provide better subjects for Faroque shaikh, who also deserves better, because it is flagging badly at the moment, because of what seems to be complacency and lack of intelligent planning.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Righteousness is not that ye turn your faces towards the East or the West; but righteousness is, one who believes in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the Book, and the Prophets, and who gives wealth for his love to kindred, and orphans and the poor, and the son of the road, and beggars, and those in captivity; and who is steadfast in prayer, and gives alms; and those who are sure of their covenant when they make a covenant; and the patient in poverty, and distress, and in time of violence; these are they who are true, and these are those who fear.

— The Quran 2, 172

There are four kinds of charitable offerings: where the gifts are large and the merit small;

where the gifts are small and merit large;

where the gifts are large and the merit large and

where the gifts are small and the merit also small.

— The Dhammapada, sec 16, v. 2 (Sameul Beal’s translation)

Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting point. Existence without limitation is space. Continuity without a starting point is time.

— Chuang Tzu. 23

If death comes at eve, may healing come at a daybreak! If death comes at daybreak, may healing come at night! If death comes at night, may healing come at dawn! Let showers shower down new waters, new earth, new trees, new health and new healing powers.

— Vendidad, 21,3

Though for a lifetime the fool keeps company with the wise, yet does he not learn righteousness, as spoon gets no taste of soup. If but for a moment the thoughtful keep company with the wise, straightway he learns righteousness, as tongue tastes soups.

— The Dhammapada, 64-65