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Monday,
October 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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High
politics, disadvantage farmers Bomb blasts in Bali
The future of United Nations |
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Dropping clangers
‘Who is selling the country?’ North Block
Los Angeles leaves Irish author lost for words
Girls should run like boys
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High politics, disadvantage farmers THE Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s special session on Friday was unique only for the “indictment” resolution passed against the Union Government for the inadequate and delayed paddy MSP announcement. It is not yet common for a state
assembly to resort to such a drastic or unusual practice to voice its grievances, real or imagined. But the times are changing and innovative ways of protest are emerging. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has already set an example by staging a dharna in front of the residence of the Prime Minister to show how concerned he was at the farmers’ plight and another Chief Minister has followed suit. Such “democratic” practices are going to be more common in the coming days. As for the Punjab session, there were few surprises. No one had expected the Punjab legislators, divided as ever, to rise above petty politics, use the opportunity for a serious discussion on the crisis in agriculture today and hammer out a consensus solution or at least a package to demand from the Centre to save the paddy growers in
distress. The Congress government went ahead with its Centre-Badal bashing. The Akali Dal leaders, worked up over anti-corruption cases against some of their colleagues, were more interested in blaming the farmers’ woes on the Congress government than joining hands to find a way out of the unpleasant situation. They all wasted an opportunity to unitedly work out a concrete action plan for the short-term and long-term benefit of the peasants and take it up with the Centre. With the cats fighting, the monkey is the only gainer. The Centre, which watched the whole “tamasha” with studied indifference, is guilty of worsening the crisis by first delaying, for whatever reason, the MSP announcement and then effecting a meagre increase, much below the farmers’ expectations. In the past, whatever the recommendation of the CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices), the central leadership, no matter which party was in power, would often suitably raise the MSP — even during a normal monsoon. This year despite quite a serious drought and a budgetary hike in the fertiliser prices, the Centre gave only part of what the CACP had recommended, ignoring some of its reported farmer-friendly suggestions like the rollback of the fertiliser price hike. The untimely rain on Sunday has added to the farmers’ woes. Again a liberal approach is required to procure wet paddy so that the pain is shared and the farmer alone is not put to loss. In the meantime, the Centre should immediately announce a reasonable bonus on paddy, rollback the urea price hike and start disbursing drought relief. The state governments in Punjab, Haryana and elsewhere should ensure that the arrears of sugarcane growers are immediately cleared and reduce taxes on farm inputs, wherever possible. The banks can be asked to reschedule farm loans and waive or charge the minimum possible interest. When there is a crisis at home, arguments and allegations can wait. The crisis has to be tackled first — that too on a war-footing. There is too much noise over the crisis, but little visible effort to defuse it. |
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Bomb blasts in Bali THE death of almost 200 persons in Bali, Indonesia, in bomb blasts has shocked the world since the place is almost synonymous with an idyllic resort. What is often forgotten is that Bali is a province in Indonesia, which has unfortunately been in the grip of strife and terrorism for some time. It is the home of Javanese (45 per cent), Sundanese (14 per cent), Madurese (7.5 per cent) and coastal Malays (7.5). Others form 26 per cent of this vast polyglot. Islam is the main religion of this nation. In the past, the regime of President Sukharto provided a stable government for over three decades. However, it was at the cost of regional and even democratic aspirations of the people. Since the late 1970s, there has been an acute communal tension in Indonesia. The ethnic strife that erupted against the ethnic Chinese business community soon infected the complex cultural groupings in the country. The East Timor problem has scarred the nation, even after the area gained independence on May 20. Terror has, unfortunately, not been far from Jakrata, which also reportedly has Al-Qaeda cells. Indonesia faces severe economic development problems. They have their roots in secessionist movements and corruption leading to the weakening of the system. The country has been trying to strengthen its banking system, but has strained relations with the IMF. In all this strife, Bali was seen as an island, where tourist could lead a cocooned existence. It was especially popular with Australian tourists, who are feared to have been the main sufferers in the blasts. Local people; and tourists from Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand and Sweden are also among those who have perished in this tragedy. According to initial reports, the first blast occurred at a nightclub. As dazed survivors streamed out, another larger explosion tore through the Sari Club, a major tourist destination. A subsequent fire resulted in more destruction. That another explosion occurred around the same time near an American consular office has led to speculation that these were coordinated attacks. No one, however, had claimed responsibility for the blasts. President Megawati Sukarnoputri has already been skating on thin ice over a proposed anti-terror Bill submitted to parliament three months ago. The Bill has the support of several prominent Indonesians, including the nation's military chief as well as the head of the largest Islamic body there, though other Islamic leaders are opposing it. The Bill would provide legal framework for the fight against terrorism. The latest incident, sadly, underscores the need for a focused, multi-dimensional fight against terrorism, even as hundreds of families seek to come to terms with the tragedy. |
The future of United Nations IN the last few days and weeks, the United Nations has suffered blows from which its survival is doubtful. Mr Saddam Hussein, dead or alive, dethroned or defiant, might live for some time in the annals of Arab assertion or Iraqi ambition, but the UN will die sooner in the annals of peacekeeping and peaceful resolution of disputes. The UN has contributed much in many an earlier crisis. But in what is already the most serious crisis in West Asia, with the most far-flung consequences for the whole world, it has abdicated from its responsibilities so meekly as to have squandered or surrendered its greatest single asset, the public’s trust in its commitment to peace. It has been often argued in defence of the United Nations that it is only a vehicle for action by its members. It succeeds and fails where its members do so. That is true. But it is also true that the UN has a face and a voice of its own, namely the Secretary-General, who has a wide access to world opinion. Where his cause is right and he has the courage to sacrifice his job for it, he can make any member, however powerful, think twice before plunging the world into an avoidable war. In the present case, he would have the support of powerful members of the Security Council and of substantial numbers, may be even a majority, in the General Assembly. Even in the American public there is substantial support for the peace principles on which the UN is founded, may be more support than is there for any reckless course by the Bush administration. Therefore, the UN Secretary-General does not have to be passive and compliant. But such courage as he might have possibly had in his make-up has been probably drained out of him by the example which the US administration was able to make of the preceding Secretary-General, Mr Butros Ghali, who was denied another term because of the independence from the US State Department which he dared to show. Therefore, the silence of Mr Kofi Annan sounds more like complicity. This is contributing as much to the impending death of the UN as the enemy at its gate is doing, in Washington. It is also true that thanks to its leading members, the UN itself betrayed its principle of universality in the moment and manner of its creation. For half a century after that it allowed itself to be paralysed by the blight of the Cold War. But that only enhances the tragedy of the present crisis. Just as the rigours of the Cold War were abating and all countries were emerging into their due roles for maintaining peace, the UN has meekly submitted to a single country’s single-minded quest for war against a significant member of one of the most significant regions of the world. Its silence has made it a party to a war aim which appears to be focussed on an individual but in fact seeks to reorder the whole post-cold war world according to the desire of a single military power. In saying this one is not prejudging the United Nations or its Secretary-General. It is still possible that Mr Kofi Annan may yet discover his voice, or that the other powers in the Security Council or even the lesser members which constitute the bulk of the General Assembly may wake up to their duties. If they do they may still regain some of the ground lost by the United Nations. But nothing can regain the time lost since President Bush announced his doctrine, which is such a total negation of the whole purpose of the UN, and flouts that purpose with such success and impunity that it has become a powerful precedent for any country to follow suit if it can muster sufficient military clout of its own or can win a nod from the country which has set the precedent now. This can destroy the faith the world began to repose in the UN when the two super powers began to stand on the same side for peace. The purpose of the UN was to meet any challenge to peace in the only way it can really be challenged — by anticipating the causes of a discord, by persuading the disputants to work out a mutually acceptable solution, to help them discover a solution if they cannot discover it themselves, and only in the final analysis impose a solution on them, with sufficient help from the widest available network of the UN membership. With patient work spread over six decades, the United Nations has devised procedures for doing so, which have rarely failed when they have not been blocked by veto wars in the Security Council. The veto was an unfortunate invention . But in the given realities this was the only way the UN Charter could be framed after second World War II. But even then no veto-wielding power had ever proclaimed itself to be above the Charter even if its actions did not always conform to the letter and spirit of the Charter. But now one country has done so, and any other country can if it gets drunk enough with its power. That is a vast tragedy for a variety of reasons. First, this arrogance comes from the country which has been given the privilege of being the host of the United Nations for five decades. Not always a gracious host, as it must admit. From time to time the United States of America misused the visa protocol to obstruct the entry of delegates it did not approve of, and for a number of years it also violated the obligations it had to the UN, like any other member. Second, this repudiation of the Charter comes when hope was beginning to grow that the Cold War had thawed sufficiently for all the veto wielding powers to rise fully to the larger responsibilities the Charter placed upon them. And third, the repudiation is total and unashamed. Most plainly and repeatedly, President Bush has proclaimed it as a matter of right that if the United Nations did not toe the American line, the USA would pick up the gun and start shooting as it saw fit. Lest all this may sound like imaginary intimations of an impossible doom, consider how recent events have culminated in the proclamation by President Bush, repeated as recently as on October 6, that the USA would declare war on Iraq, never mind the worldwide preference that the weapons inspectors should be given a chance first to go to Iraq to confirm whether circumstances have arisen in which war is the only alternative. The United States President has decided that his own satisfaction is enough for him to push the world into a war which may have small beginnings but can have vast consequences. Only a few weeks ago the world rejoiced when Blix, the leader of the UN inspection team, announced that under the distinguished auspices of the International Atomic Energy Commission, the team had reached a satisfactory agreement with Iraq for free and unfettered UN inspection of all suspicious sites in Iraq. The inspectors’ report to the Security Council was eagerly awaited. But its quick adoption by the Council was taken for granted because, except Mr Bush and the always compliant Tony Blair of Britain, all world leaders were agreed that the inspectors should go back to Iraq with the powers of inspection given them by their present mandate and by the further powers given to them by their new agreement with Iraq. The American demand for a simultaneous threat of war on Iraq continued to be resisted strongly by Russia and France, two of the five veto powers in the Security Council, failed to get the consent of the fifth, China, continued to be resisted by the strongest country in the European Union, Germany, and at best bought the silence of Japan. With support for the course recommended by the inspectors growing everywhere, Mr Bush changed his tack. With or without encouragement from the Secretary-General, who continued his discrete silence on the subject, he went over the head of the United Nations. Mr Blix, a UN official on contract with the UN, was directly invited to meet the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, with no known presence of a representative of Mr Kofi Annan. When the meeting ended, Mr Powell led Mr Blix to the mike, where the latter, now out of step with what he had recommended earlier, said the inspectors needed a new and stronger mandate before returning to Iraq. This is substantially the same the position as the American, quite contrary to position of the majority in the Security Council, and clearly undermines the latter. The smile on the face of Mr Powell underlined the sidelining of the United Nations, and in retrospect could mark the beginning of the end of the United Nations as a forum which may differ from the Unites States of America. But a greater danger to the future of the UN comes from the silence observed by all members of the Security Council on a crucial issue. They have been rightly critical of America’s claim that it has the right to wage war unilaterally. But, quite wrongly, they are silent on the right claimed by the USA to go in, if necessary by force, to remove a regime because it has been found to be cruel and dictatorial. But how many countries would pass this test if it were applied honestly, and against how many then would the USA have the right to wage war ? This is a challenge the USA has thrown to the sovereignty of nations, and instead of facing it head on, the United Nations has ducked it. |
Dropping clangers “SORRY, can’t make it this time” said our American friend on the phone, “but will you give us a rain-check?” “Sure, sure” I responded but without the faintest idea of what a ‘rain-check’ meant. I had heard of blank cheques and of cheques that bounce. I had also seen a few hat-check girls in my time who had made me want to know them better, but a “rain-check?” A few days later I met our friend at the U.S.I.S. library. He slapped me on the back and said: “Say the word, fella. Any night this week will suit us fine. You gave us a rain-check, remember?” “Delighted” I said, the penny having dropped. “Wednesday night, if that’s OK with you and your wife.” And there was that time in England, more years ago than I care to remember. A fellow-student at the LSE had invited me to spend a week-end with him at his family house down in Devon. “That’s England” he said. “You don’t know what beauty is till you’ve seen the Devon countryside.” I’d heard of Devonshire cream, thick, clotted, in earthen jars, so I went. That particular neighbourhood on the moors seemed to have a surfeit of retired “koi-hais?” from India and about half-a-dozen of them were rounded up to meet me at an evening party. There was a stately dowager rather like a ship in full sail, who looked at me through her lorgnette and asked: “Well, young man, and have you seen the Wallace collection since you’ve been in our country?” “I’am afraid not” I said, “But I’ve read all his books.” There was a deathly silence in the room following my remark though I didn’t know why. Then my friend began talking loudly of the civil war in Spain which was on at the time. Later, in the privacy of my bedroom he nearly burst his sides laughing. “What’s so funny?” I asked. “The old girl meant the Richard Wallace art collection, not Edgar Wallace’s who-dunnits!” And several years later, when I should have known better, there was that lunch in the salad room of the Royal Commonwealth Society’s elegant premises in Horse Guards’ parade. Heavily silver-plated cutlery flanked my plate. How was I to know that the tender asparagus shoots that I picked up from the buffet were not eaten with fork and knife but with one’s fingers, desi style? You live, but you don’t have to grow abroad to learn. So when your teenagers call you a “square” don’t be alarmed at the description equilateral rectangle; object approximately of this shape” given in the O.E.D. Look further down till you come to the definition “Old fashioned person.” It simply means that you are a nice, homely chap, though a bit behind the times.
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‘Who is selling the country?’ North Block PRIME
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has asked, “Who is selling the country?” The answer is: North Block is selling the country. He has asked, “Who has the guts to purchase India?” The answer is: Mr Robert Blackwill, Ambassador of the United States in India. Before the last budget, Mr Robert Blackwill had given a speech to the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. He had given out his list of demands. The first demand was that India should lower its import tariffs. “India’s average tariff ranks among the highest in the world.” He was worried that while India’s exports to the USA were rising but US exports to India were “flat as a chapati”. He specifically mentioned that the aggregate duties on imported liquor and wines “range from 464 per cent to 706 per cent levels” that have lead to low imports in India. North Block followed his diktats. The peak tariff duties for all imports were reduced from 35 per cent to 30 per cent. The import duties on imported liquors were reduced to 257 per cent (182 per cent customs duty plus 75 per cent countervailing duty). Mr Blackwill had been long demanding that the Government of India should ignore the allegations of corruption and abide by the contract that the MSEB had entered into with Enron for the Dhabol project. He had said, “I hear frequent buzz from the USA that sanctity of contract may now be in doubt here, a concern that can spell death to potential investors.” Senior Advocate Shrihari Aney had strongly pleaded that fraud should be included in the civil suit that was filed against the Dhabol Power Company. The Government of Maharashtra followed Mr Blackwill’s diktat. Mr Aney was removed from the panel of advocates that were engaged to plead the MSEB’s case. North Block did not raise a finger. The MSEB had entered into a one-sided contract with Enron. This became possible because the Finance Secretary, sitting in North Block, gave economic clearance to the project though he was not authorised to do the same. As per law, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has to give a technical as well as economic clearance to such projects. The story as narrated by the Godbole Committee is as follows: The Power Secretary told the CEA that the “Finance Secretary has observed that the question of the cost of power has been looked into and it has been found that it was more or less in line with other projects in Maharashtra.” North Block gave economic clearance to a patently one-sided project leading to the Maharashtra Government becoming bankrupt. Mr Blackwill said that “the lack of a world-class WTO-consistent patent law” was a major roadblock to trade between the two countries. The rich countries are extracting huge profits for their technologies. In fact, their richness owes itself to selling advanced technologies at high prices and buying our natural resources cheap. Patents is a crucial obstruction in our march towards equality with the rich countries. The Government of India followed Mr Blackwill’s diktat. The developing countries had won a major concession at the WTO negotiations at Doha that compulsory licences for the manufacture of patented drugs could be given in public interest. This provision was not incorporated in the amendment to the Patent Act that North Block had pushed through Parliament. Mr Blackwill is anxious that the American MNCs should make large foreign direct investments in India. He questioned the need of getting government clearance for foreign investment proposals. His demand was that the MNCs should be free to come in and invest as well as exit whenever and in whichever areas that pleased them. He asked, “is investment a dangerous external threat that must be carefully limited?” North Block has again followed his diktat. In the 1998 election manifesto the BJP had proclaimed that “The BJP government will ensure that FDI flows into priority areas (like energy, roads and ports) and not in areas where the domestic industry is functioning well. FDI is welcome in non-predatory role in joint ventures rather than in 100 per cent subsidiaries. Takeovers of the existing Indian companies by foreign companies will not be encouraged.” But Mr Blackwill wanted otherwise. He won and the BJP lost, courtesy North Block. FDI has been permitted into all areas barring a few strategic ones. In fact, FDI has not come into areas like energy, roads and ports. Most MNCs have existed from these sectors, FDI has come into areas like TV sets, cars and other consumer goods. These are precisely the areas where the BJP said it would not allow FDI to come in. The BJP had opened the insurance sector to private players with the stipulation that no more than 25 per cent foreign equity would be permitted. But North Block recently brought a proposal before the ministers to increase this limit to 49 per cent. MNCs have been permitted to form 100 per cent subsidiaries even in cases where they already have a joint venture with an Indian businessman. Instead of preventing the takeover of Indian companies by MNCs, North Block has sold even Modern Foods, a PSU, to Hindustan Lever. The limits on FDIs and FIIs have been relaxed at regular intervals. More such examples could be given. It is clear that Mr Blackwill and the likes of him are determining the economic policies of the country. They have the keys to North Block. Just as the representatives of the Viceroy determined the policies that were followed in the princely states, similarly, Mr Blackwill and his advisers are determining the policies of the country. Just as the Princes nevertheless lived in the belief that they were sovereign, so also the Prime Minister may believe that he is sovereign. The hard fact, however, is that North Block is everyday selling the country and the likes of the US Ambassador have purchased it. Prime Minister Vajpayee should take a lesson from our history. The British were able to enslave the country because the Mughal Emperors gave them the freedom to enter and trade in the country as they wished. The problem was that India’s sea trade with the West was affected by attacks from the Portuguese in the Arabian Sea. The Mughal Emperors had two choices before them. They could have built their own navy and provided protection to their commerce. Or they could seek the protection from the British. They chose the latter. In exchange in 1916 they provided freedom to the British to trade in India. That led to India’s enslavement. North Block can either increase the import tariffs to protect India’s farmers and businessmen or allow them to be sacrificed at the high altar of globalisation. It can fight the Dhabol case on the grounds of fraud; or it can let Maharashtra become bankrupt. It can abrogate the patents laws, exit from the WTO, get India to develop its own technologies and give competition to the West. Or it can give protection to the patents of the MNCs. It can increase its own savings and reduce government consumption, or it can open up to foreign investment. Mr Vajpayee, the record so far has been that North Block is selling the country and the likes of Mr Blackwill are readily buying it. The writer is a well-known economic commentator. |
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Los Angeles leaves Irish author lost for words IRISH author Marian Keyes can take most things in her stride after her meteoric rise to best-selling fame, but her experiences while researching a book in Los Angeles left her slack-jawed with amazement. The feisty Dubliner, whose witty novels have sold more than five million copies worldwide, decided to base her latest book, "Angels" in Los Angeles after being flown over for film talks by Disney and "schmoozed in proper Hollywood style". But she said the city was "utter madness" and left her feeling hopelessly inadequate and out of her depth. "I felt so incredibly ugly there. I was a normal person when I left Ireland but by the time I arrived, I had mutated into this troll," Keyes told Reuters in an interview during a visit to London. "Everybody else was about eight foot tall, weighed four stone and was bright orange with lovely teeth. And the plastic surgery! Honestly, you've never seen anything like it." Petite and dark-haired, Keyes exudes a sparkling Irish charm and wit which gives no hint of the years she spent battling depression, alcoholism and a suicide attempt before finding unexpected fame as writer. After leaving college with a law degree, she drifted into office work and spent nine years trudging around an accounts office in London, gradually sinking into a mire of addiction and depression as she despaired of finding happiness. She found solace in writing short stories and one day decided to fire off a few to a publisher -- untruthfully mentioning that she also had a novel she could offer them. When the publisher replied with an urgent request to see her book, she hurriedly dashed off four chapters of "Watermelon" - the story of a woman forced to return to her Irish family after her husband leaves her on the day she gives birth. To her enduring amazement, the novel was snapped up straight away and she found herself with a lucrative three-book deal to boot. "I was phenomenally lucky really. I mean, people hate me," she says, with her eyes wide. "It was bizarre and very unusual. People who were friends of mine have decided to write books, thinking any old idiot can do it if she can." Seven years on, Keyes she still pinches herself when she thinks about the turnaround in her fortunes. Not only has success allowed her to indulge her passion for shoes and handbags, it has brought her a dream working environment. "I do all my work in bed, snuggled under the duvet with my lap-top. It's just great," she laughs. Three of her five books, including "Angels", centre around the grown-up daughters of the Walsh family in Dublin and their battles to find happiness in love and work. Her real experiences of addiction, depression and life as part of a big close-knit Irish Catholic family flavour her work, giving them a warmth and realism which her fans adore.
Reuters
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Girls should run like boys SINCE female athletes are 2-8 times more likely to tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the major stabiliser of the knee, they should train to run, jump and pivot like males in order to cut the risk of serious knee injuries, says a new study presented recently at the meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr Letha Griffin of the University of Georgia and Dr Bert R Mandelbaum of the Santa Monica Orthopedic and Sports Research Foundation in California devised a training programme for female soccer players that involved a special 20-minute warm-up that concentrated on running, jumping and pivoting with knees bent. Dr Griffin and Dr Mandelbaum say that's because girls don't move with the kind of flexibility needed to relieve pressure on the knee."Girls run and pivot in a stiff-legged, upright posture. Boys, on the other hand, have knees bent and can play low to the ground. Boys can touch the ground from their running position. That's not true of girls," Dr Griffin, who is head physician for all sports teams at the University of Georgia, was quoted as saying by HealthScout. ANI Chip implant may restore vision US scientists are developing a light- sensitive chip that will be implanted into the eyes of blind people to restore some of their vision. The goal is to allow people suffering from certain forms of blindness, such as age-related mascular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, to see 1,000 points of light through 1,000 tiny electrodes positioned on their retinas. These diseases damage the rod and cone cells that convert light into electrical impulses, but leave intact the neural paths to the brain that relay those signals. By stimulating those cells, scientists hope that patients will be able to perceive light and have some useful
vision. ANI A gadget tells whether baby is hungry A Spanish inventor, intrigued by his son’s incessant crying, has designed a detector that he says will tell harassed parents within 20 seconds if their baby is hungry, bored, tired, stressed or uncomfortable. Electronic engineer Pedro Monagas said on Tuesday the gadget called “Why Cry” would go on sale at pharmacies in Spain by the end of the month for 95 euros ($93). “I started (studying) the different kinds of cries of my son. Then I continued on 100 babies,” Monagas told radio station Cadena Ser. He said he identified five distinct crying types, which the noise-sensitive gadget is able to recognise. The device, the size of a calculator and powered by batteries, has five faces on a screen on the back representing the possible reasons why a baby is crying.
Reuters Relief plan for diabetics More diabetics will soon benefit from a programme which trains them to adjust insulin doses to suit their lifestyle and eating habits, giving them more freedom from the constraints of the illness. A programme called DAFNE (Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating), which was developed in Germany, lets diabetics adjust their insulin injections to fit around their eating habits, instead of organising meals around treatments. "You have to be sensible about what you want to eat but if you want to miss a meal or eat extra food this shows you how to control your insulin," said Simon O'Neill of the Charity Diabetes, UK. Diabetes affects about 130 million people worldwide and kills 2.8 million a year. Experts estimate the number of sufferers will increase to 220 million by the year 2010. The illness can cause kidney failure, strokes, heart attacks, blindness and nerve damage. Patients with Type 1 diabetes, do not produce insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. Those with Type 2 diabetes, the more common and milder form of the illness, cannot metabolise insulin properly.
Reuters Court go-ahead for birth scene A high court judge in New Zealand has ruled that an actress can be filmed giving birth for a pornographic film so long as there was no footage showing the baby. Justice Heath ruled Vixen Direct owner Steve Crow can film the woman — known only as Nikki — in labour and giving birth, but he banned the use of the footage showing the baby for the film entitled Ripe. Justice Heath declined an application by Child, the Youth and Family (CYF) to be given wardship of the unborn child and has instead appointed Nikki an agent of the court. Waikato Hospital sent a letter to Nikki three weeks ago banning the filming of her labour and birth in its delivery suite for “unlawful
purposes.” AFP |
Find the eternal object of your quest within your soul Enough have you wandered during the long period of quest! Dark and weary must have been the ages of your searching ignorance and groping helplessness At last when you turned your gaze inward suddenly, you realised the bright light of faith and lasting Truth was shining around you. With rapturous joy, you found soul of the universe the eternal object of your quest The searching mind at last finds the object of his search within his own heart His inner vision is illuminated by purity of his mind. — Yajurveda *** In the solitary chambers of my heart, slumbers Thee O Lord. Still my limbs are mysteriously changed with Thy cosmic magic. Unto Thy hands I surrender all my thoughts and deeds Blessed by the grace present in my soul I become pure and strong to face all the miseries of life. And fortified by the presence in my conscious realisation I bear all the pains with calm and confidence. — Rigveda *** Come, let us turn our faces towards the altar of light, let us lay the foundation of a new Kaaba with stones from Mount Sinai The walls of the Kaaba have fallen and the foundations of Qibla have given way. Let us lay the foundation of a faultless edifice. — Faizi, the poet laureate of Akbar’s court. *** Faith is one thing and the religion of love another. The prophet of love is neither from Iran nor from Arabia — Abu Said Abul Khair
*** The people of love are different from all the world; the religion and society of lovers is God. — Maulana Rumi *** What is humanity? To feel pain at the sorrows of our neighbours, to feel humiliated at the humiliation of human beings. — Attar |
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