E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Upholding the rule of law
DESPITE the attempt to defy the Election Commission’s ban on the VHP’s controversial yatra, the law and order machinery in Gujarat succeeded in maintaining peace in the riot-torn state on Sunday. The pointless yatra failed to take off with the arrest of the organisation’s two leading lights, Dr Pravin Togadia and Acharya Dharmendra, and a few activists here and there. 

SC on election petitions
THE Supreme Court ruling that an election petition by a defeated candidate accusing the winner of adopting corrupt practices to get elected should not be dismissed by courts “at the threshold solely on technical grounds” is just and fair. 

Making roads safe
SINCE India has an abnormally high rate of fatal road accidents it was in the fitness of things that the first International Conference on Professionalism in Driver Training Systems was held at Panjim. The conference adopted what was called the Goa Declaration for setting globally proven road safety standards and licensing procedures.

OPINION

India’s ‘Look East’ policy
SAARC failure behind new trade strategy
S. Nihal Singh
DURING Z.A. Bhutto’s days of power in Pakistan, one of his foreign policy goals was to take his country out of the subcontinent to project it westward as a West Asian power. The attempt was to counter India’s strength and population and to seek Islamic support. But geography is a cruel taskmaster and although Bhutto did receive some benefits from his exercise, he could not take his country out of its location.

MIDDLE

Air travel rumblings
Trilochan Singh Trewn
AIR was thick with rumours that all travellers to the USA had to undergo unprecedented security checks at all entry points. Therefore, our programme of carrying even Garam Masala, Namkeens, Anardana and Amritsari Papads was abandoned. My wife decided to buy even items like steel hairpins and nailcutter in the States itself to avoid hassles during the air journey. After September 11, 2001, the world seems to have a new paradigm — “Security above all”.

REALPOLITIK

Party system under siege
P. Raman
“BETTER deal”, “total cost”, “winnability” and “vote share” are some of the phrases one most frequently come across in Delhi’s political circuit these days. The circuit itself has undergone a metamorphosis to emerge as a convergence point for politicians, businessmen and their subtle lobbies and the ubiquitous all-weatherwallas.

Hostility may predict heart disease
A personality test may do a better job than standard examinations in predicting a man’s heart disease risk, researchers have said after finding a close link between hostility and heart symptoms.

TRENDS & POINTERS

What do we really know about vitiligo?
WHEN Michael Jackson famously wept on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1993, he told her that his pale skin was due to a condition called vitiligo, rather then a deliberate attempt to bleach his natural colour and put a distance between himself and his Afro-American roots.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Upholding the rule of law

DESPITE the attempt to defy the Election Commission’s ban on the VHP’s controversial yatra, the law and order machinery in Gujarat succeeded in maintaining peace in the riot-torn state on Sunday. The pointless yatra failed to take off with the arrest of the organisation’s two leading lights, Dr Pravin Togadia and Acharya Dharmendra, and a few activists here and there. No untoward incident occurred anywhere in the communally surcharged state though the VHP did everything it could to inflame people’s passions. There is a significant message in the relieving development: the system is capable of maintaining peace even under greatly trying circumstances if the authorities so desire. It is the same system which could do little to prevent the communal fire from engulfing Gujarat a few months ago. Of course, this time the situation was different. The bureaucracy and the police ignored the wishes of the ruling politicians because the Damocles’ sword in the form of the Election Commission’s directive was hanging over their heads. Besides this, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had openly disapproved of the VHP’s plan. He had, in fact, appealed to the Sangh Parivar’s uncontrollable outfit to abandon its dangerous programme in the interest of peace and sanity in Gujarat. That the VHP leaders rejected the Prime Minister’s sane advice is a different matter.

The truth is that the Prime Minister’s firmness has brought out the desired results. He took a categorical and constitutionally appreciable stand by saying that the EC’s decision might appear to be wrong as India was a secular democracy, “but given the circumstances in Gujarat, the ban order is all right.” The RSS and the BJP also fell in line so far as the EC’s order was concerned. And the result is before everybody to see. The EC stood on a solid ground as it had acted on the basis of the state administration’s report that the yatra, which was to pass through several towns before ending on December 6, was a serious threat to law and order in view of Gujarat’s past record. The organisers’ intentions could be understood from the fact that their programme was to conclude on the day cataclysmic developments occurred at Ayodhya in 1992, lowering secular India’s reputation in the comity of nations. Mr Vajpayee deserves more praise for advising his party functionaries and other politicians to make communal harmony and economic growth in Gujarat as the main plank for fighting the coming Assembly elections, and not the unfortunate events which weakened the country by dividing the people on communal lines. The time has come for all right-thinking people to launch a movement against such forces as are trying to ruin the country from within through their ill-thought-out actions. The priorities of the masses are peace and economic progress. They have every right to punish during the election time any political player who does not care for the issues dear to them.

SC on election petitions

THE Supreme Court ruling that an election petition by a defeated candidate accusing the winner of adopting corrupt practices to get elected should not be dismissed by courts “at the threshold solely on technical grounds” is just and fair. The apex court’s judgement, while disposing of an appeal filed against the Guwahati High Court’s dismissal of an election petition, duly reflects its concern for a free and fair election as also its desire for an objective and dispassionate examination of the charges levelled by defeated candidates by courts. It has rightly expressed its concern over an alarming increase in the number of petitions pertaining to electoral corruption and the subsequent threat to democracy as elections are sine qua non of a democratic form of government. It has also recognised the fact that an elected candidate should not be allowed to go scot-free when a complainant levels serious charges against him. If courts dismiss petitions on frivolous or technical grounds, it would not only be easier for the elected candidates to avoid the trial of the charges of corrupt practices raised against them but also deleterious to the system as a whole. The Supreme Court has said that “free, fair and fearless elections are ideal to be achieved” but it is doubtful whether this can at all fructify in the present scheme of things. Unfortunately, neither the legal provisions in the Representation of People Act are rigid nor is the politicians’ conventional behaviour helpful to ensure free and fair elections. Elections have been free and fair only in respect of procedural matters with regard to the acceptance of nominations, the conduct of the election by the government and the declaration of results. One cannot vouchesafe to their fairness as far as the substantive part of the election process is concerned. Elections have unabashedly become a fertile ground for using political, economic, social and administrative influences in a disguised manner.

The problem with the election petitions is that courts simply rely on the letter of the law and ignore the impact of the corrupt practices indulged in by ministers in the elections. The judiciary seems to be more committed to the letter of Section 123 (2) (b) of the R P Act than to the spirit of it. Distribution of government patronage by ministers was given a charitable interpretation when the Supreme Court viewed that a minister cannot be held guilty of corrupt practices unless there was a “bargain with the voters for getting their assistance at the election”. There is an enormous burden on the complainant (usually a defeated candidate) to show proof or evidence of a corrupt practice. In the Mohan Lal Sukhadia case, the apex court nearly recognised the inherent evil in practice. But it did not lay down an abstract proposition to differentiate the evil and corrupt practices. Election petitions are dismissed when the complainants fail to submit the necessary particulars about the nature of assistance provided by government officials to the minister (the elected candidate) in question, the place and the date on which such assistance was sought or received from those persons mentioned in the petition. The Supreme Court’s latest ruling should set the pace for a more realistic reappraisal of Section 123 (2) (b) of the R P Act so that courts take a broader and holistic view of the complaint and act accordingly. There is also the need for special measures to expedite the disposal of election petitions. It would be a mockery of democracy — and the judiciary — if election petitions are allowed to drag on in courts for years together with no ruling in sight.

Making roads safe

SINCE India has an abnormally high rate of fatal road accidents it was in the fitness of things that the first International Conference on Professionalism in Driver Training Systems was held at Panjim. The conference adopted what was called the Goa Declaration for setting globally proven road safety standards and licensing procedures. Hopefully, in India the declaration will help raise the level of knowledge about elementary road safety measures among those charged with the responsibility of educating other road users about the importance of safe driving. Neither the regional transport officers nor the traffic police officers themselves know much about the basics of road safety for them to educate others. Every year the traffic police organises road safety week during which half-baked attempts are made to spread “road literacy” among users. Whoever came up with the idea of road safety week forgot that the remaining 51 weeks in a year are equally important for the road users. And the rate of accidents during the safety week is not good advertisement for the efforts the traffic police puts in for spreading the message of road safety. The ignorance and indifference of the regional transport officers is equally galling. The focus of the first international conference was on introducing the element of professionalism in the driver training system. Is India prepared for such an initiative? It must be remembered that attempts are being made to sabotage the liberalisation programme by vested interests. There are far more vested interests involved in the “business” of road safety than is good for the health of the system.

A whole army of crooks would go out of business if the road safety programme was to be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Goa Declaration. Who is interested in educating the road users? The traffic police personnel make a hefty amounts by not issuing challan slips to ignorant, and not so ignorant, road users. What would they do if everyone became aware of and started following the traffic rules? The licencing system is in the hands of touts and instructors of the so-called driving schools. And like most crooks they too share with the authorities the money they make by ensuring driving licences for clients without clearing the mandatory test. That the test itself is a farce is another story. Hopefully, global cooperation would in the long run help loosen the grip of touts and corrupt traffic police personnel over the institutions that deal with road safety in the broad sense. The authorities concerned will have to introduce stiff penalties for those who obtain driving licences illegally. In fact, a national online data bank can now be set up for instant information on the history of licensed drivers and vehicle owners. International experts should be involved in making Indian roads safe for all categories of users. England was able to bring down the rate of accidents from 10,000 to 3,400 per year over a period of 30 years through sustained effort. The key element in the drastic drop of about 66 per cent in road accidents was the political will to act.

OPINION

India’s ‘Look East’ policy
SAARC failure behind new trade strategy
S. Nihal Singh

DURING Z.A. Bhutto’s days of power in Pakistan, one of his foreign policy goals was to take his country out of the subcontinent to project it westward as a West Asian power. The attempt was to counter India’s strength and population and to seek Islamic support. But geography is a cruel taskmaster and although Bhutto did receive some benefits from his exercise, he could not take his country out of its location.

India seems to be following a similar policy in the reverse direction by projecting itself eastward, towards ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations. How long India will persevere in its “Look East” policy remains unclear — its previous such forays were short-lived — but the logic of New Delhi’s new activism is worth studying. Inevitably, India will talk to the Pakistanis at some stage, but there are growing indications that the country’s patience is wearing thin over the South Asian sub-region’s inability to get together to trade profitably.

The most striking indication of this frustration is India’s new stance on SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It is in no mood to pay ritualistic homage to an organisation which has failed to take off primarily, but not entirely, due to the Indo-Pakistani equation. If Pakistan does not grant even normal trading status to India required by the World Trade Organisation, what use is there of an economic grouping? it is being asked. With other smaller neighbours, it is largely a question of giving unilateral concessions, but these countries’ sensitivities are hindering such obvious economic cooperation as the export of Bangladesh gas or new hydro-electric projects in Nepal. Besides, Indian industry lobbies often frustrate the fruition of duty-free imports from such countries as Sri Lanka.

These questions have come to the fore because of the SAARC summit planned in Islamabad in January. The plain fact is that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would be making a political statement by the mere fact of going to Islamabad, and Indian official opinion is almost unanimous in its view that Pakistan has done little to indicate any flexibility in its approach to India. Besides, the quibbling over the list of items under the approved free trade arrangement will not take economic cooperation very far.

Prime Minister Vajpayee’s recent visit to Cambodia for the first ASEAN-India summit came in handy to underline India’s growing interest in deepening the country’s relations with South-East Asia. New Delhi also threw its hat in the ring in seeking a free trade arrangement with ASEAN although China’s similar approach is far advanced. India is banking on building relations with each ASEAN member country bilaterally in order to influence events.

India can hardly opt out of its geographical location, but its movement eastward is an attempt to enlarge its special trading relations with its larger neighbourhood to try to compensate for the impasse in sub-regional cooperation. New Delhi is seeking to send out two messages, one to SAARC and the other to Pakistan. At the very least, it indicates a change of stance in dealing with immediate neighbours.

SAARC grew out of Bangladesh’s initiative and India’s initial reaction was sceptical, influenced by the feeling that some of the smaller neighbours would be tempted to gang up against the biggest country. It was ultimately born on the basis of a charter which prohibited the bringing up of bilateral political disputes, a provision Pakistan has been seeking to change without success. New Delhi is now suggesting that there is little point in living in a make-believe world, with ritualised summits yielding little in the way of significant economic cooperation.

To an extent, India’s present stance is robust diplomacy in the hope that it will egg the participating countries on to greater endeavour in fulfilling the aims of the organisation. But New Delhi would seem to be prepared to let SAARC hibernate until a more propitious time. In an undertone, the point is being made that trade and economic cooperation is a two-way street and projects such as hydroelectric undertakings in Nepal or the export of Bangladesh gas would be mutually beneficial.

By its very nature, India’s new approach to SAARC is a short-term exercise. As previous SAARC summits have shown, the occasions provide a somewhat neutral setting for bilateral corridor talks among countries not always on the best of terms. Such meetings as the Benazir Bhutto-Rajiv Gandhi encounter in Islamabad or the Nawaz Sharif-I.K. Gujral discussions in the Maldives at a particularly delicate time would not otherwise have been possible.

In a sense, SAARC is carrying the rather heavy baggage of history. But other groupings, most notably the European Union, have been able to surmount a very troublesome past to achieve a high degree of success in trade and economy. The difference is that the central Indo-Pakistani hostility cannot be mitigated on the basis of Pakistan’s compulsions and ambitions. Kashmir is the symbol, not the cause, of a tangled web although after more than half a century of rhetoric, the question of Kashmir has become central to Islamabad’s self-esteem and world-view.

It would be fair to assume that SAARC will take a back seat for some time as Pakistani politics evolves. But it would be a pity if India’s “Look East” policy were to lose steam merely because of a less contentious Indo-Pakistani relationship. India’s geographical spread gives it legitimacy in South-East Asia, and in view of the high level of economic development in some of the ASEAN countries, a far more productive economic relationship can be built. Surely, New Delhi can ride the two horses of SAARC and ASEAN as it seeks a place in the sun, being increasingly influenced by economic linkages.

Pakistan is perhaps banking on Prime Minister Vajpayee’s penchant for springing surprises — witness the Lahore bus journey which came to grief in Kargil and the Indo-Pakistani summit at Agra, utilised by President Pervez Musharraf for grandstanding, rather than seeking solutions. SAARC can be a less risky method of probing Pakistani intentions if there is some movement in Islamabad towards genuine economic and trade cooperation.

MIDDLE

Air travel rumblings
Trilochan Singh Trewn

AIR was thick with rumours that all travellers to the USA had to undergo unprecedented security checks at all entry points. Therefore, our programme of carrying even Garam Masala, Namkeens, Anardana and Amritsari Papads was abandoned. My wife decided to buy even items like steel hairpins and nailcutter in the States itself to avoid hassles during the air journey. After September 11, 2001, the world seems to have a new paradigm — “Security above all”.

The flight from New Delhi to Chicago via Amsterdam was late by two hours due to flaws detected in travel documents of certain passengers. It was a bad omen and it manifested itself gradually.

At Amsterdam it appeared that all flights to the USA were subject to special checks, as if the presence of skymarshals in plain dress was not enough. All passengers were asked to vacate the aircraft and go into a separate enclosure with toilet and drinking water facility. They included Japanese, British, Arab and others’. Handbags and personal belongings were again screened and physically checked before entry into this enclosure.

A youth sipping coffee from a plastic container was asked to pour out the contents in the washbasin to detect any explosive plastic tablet at the bottom. It was explained later that the September 11 alert was not only for mid-East activists but possibly also for Japanese Red army loyalists.

The special enclosure within the Amsterdam airport was then securely locked, presumably not to allow the US-bound passengers to mix with others. Gone were the dreams of some of us to shop in duty free lounges of the spacious Amsterdam airport.

As the departure time of our Chicago flight approached the uneasy passengers were abruptly informed that our flight was delayed further due to technical reasons. This appeared bizarre as passengers were already restless after 10 hours of delayed flight from New Delhi and were confronted with a more uncertain long haul across the Atlantic. Real reason became known after two hours when the only door of the enclosure was opened and a uniformed group of four staff members entered to lead us to the security check enclosure. Everyone of our total of 180 business and economy class passengers were put through a thorough recheck of our visa documents issued by various American visa offices abroad.

It was midnight when this recheck commenced. To this was added a thorough search of all envelopes, purses and medicine containers to ensure that no traces of Variola (smallox) and bacillus anthraxis were carried. Special portable machines were used for this purpose.

To confirm harmlessness of a powdery material being carried by a young lady, she had to spread out the entire contents of a fruit salt bottle on a table. Non-ink type fingerprints were taken of each passenger.

Ultimately, while bio-terror material was detected from the passengers, two young men arriving from Hamburg were found with faulty documents and consequently denied access to the Chicago flight. We thanked out stars as we reached Chicago after two and half days of hectic journey. Surprisingly, much against the prevailing rumours the immigration authorities granted us full stay as per normal American visa rules.

REALPOLITIK

Party system under siege
P. Raman

“BETTER deal”, “total cost”, “winnability” and “vote share” are some of the phrases one most frequently come across in Delhi’s political circuit these days. The circuit itself has undergone a metamorphosis to emerge as a convergence point for politicians, businessmen and their subtle lobbies and the ubiquitous all-weatherwallas.

Once the licence raj is dismantled, we had all hoped, tycoons will get busy themselves with doing full-time business. But is was not to be. We are certainly leading towards a heady cocktail of politics and business. In the seventies it was fashionable to write about the ability of the Birlas to mop up a group of 60 MPs after himself becoming one. Now every industrialist, even the unknown ones, seems to be rushing into politics or trying to influence it.

They are invisible to the public eye and the media but omnipresent and omnipotent. They can make or break as they wished. They make their power felt at the crucial moment — like an Amar Singh could single-handed spoil a return of the Congress at the Centre in 1999. Arms dealer Suresh Nanda, “famous”, i.e. in the post-liberalisation value system, for wealth creation and the BMW episode, suddenly emerges as a serious politician and narrowly escapes being an honourable member of Parliament. He admits he withdrew from the contest in UP as a BJP rebel franchisee because it was still a “better deal”. Another got through with the official BJP blessings.

There is even talk of Dr Krishna, who has suddenly surfaced as a witness to the fake encounter with the alleged terrorists, jumping into the cesspool of politics. If there is an iota of truth in all that the police claims, he well qualifies to be a Mulayam candidate in the elections. In the Capital, every chit-chat in the drawingrooms of those who consider themselves somebody revolves round Rajya Sabha or ministerial aspirations, governorship or such other fringe benefits. The business boldly lobbies for its own favourites. If some want more imports of certain items, others seek to curb it. Both have their own business interests to push through.

Politicians and the business alone are not the gainers of this successful convergence. Often the unknown and uncared of the globalisation regime get fringe benefits from the convergence. The middle classes, the workers and the sarkari babus get tax relief and DA payments without going in for by now rather unfashionable direct action and strikes. The DA instalment was released because the business thought it will enhance consumption and raise demand for goods in the recession-hit economy.

The tourism industry will take care of the LTA cut for government employees just as the builders are pressing for the retention of the income tax exemption for housing loans up to Rs 1.50 lakh. The exemption itself was given by the former Finance Minister to increase the construction activity and thus create more demand. And whenever the influence-peddlers get the upper hand, it is the sure sign of a weakening executive. It cannot flourish under a strong leadership. Incidentally, a comfortable parliamentary majority alone cannot be equated with an essentially confident executive.

What we witness today is much worse. Developments in the past one year point to the disturbing signs of leaderlessness and a tendency for brinkmanship. In the midst of the allegations of fake encounter at Ansal Plaza, the Prime Minister himself asks for curbing the normal civil rights to fight terrorism. The establishment, whoever controls it, always seeks more and more powers for the police. Possibly, this does not necessarily be a reflection on the mindset of Atal Behari Vajpayee, who himself has the bitter experience of the midnight knocks of the mid-70s. But it certainly reflects a siege psychosis and a gravitation towards brinkmanship.

Defiance of the leadership and resort to shifting (often contradictory) political positions are just two sides of this growing helplessness. The gruesome incidents in Lucknow should put the entire political class to shame. For the BJP, by now mass desertions by its MLAs seeking ministerial posts have become routine. Such is the plight that at one stage rumours of secret soundings by the Congress side with Keshubhai Patel had caused panic in the BJP. The cancer of indiscipline and defiance of the leadership has been fast spreading to other states. Karnataka is the latest addition to the mass exodus from the BJP by the disillusioned leaders.

Two other aspects of the UP episode should cause concern. First has been the BJP coalition’s Emergency-style crude methods against the political opponents. MLAs who were under detention on criminal charges were freed after they assured to vote in favour of the government whereas cases were suddenly slapped on several of those who dared to defy it. Still worse, the Chief Minister has now directed the police to submit a dossier of all MLAs so that she could pick and choose the elected representatives for arrests and prosecution. Sadly, the BJP which has a bigger stake at the national level, ignored the fact that the same draconian measures could also be used against it by those like Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The second relates to the easy vulnerability of the legislators to the vulgar offers of money and the all-party unity to counter it with totally undemocratic methods. Suddenly, an arms dealer with flush money descends on Lucknow as a nominee of the dissident BJP MLAs for the Rajya Sabha. He never had any political role or known public background. His touts had assured him of victory and he had struck a deal with the group as a whole and individuals from other parties. This had unnerved every political party whose leaders feared that the sheer power of money could buy their MLAs in bulk.

Soon the political foes ranging from the leaders of the BJP and the BSP to the Mulayam party ganged up and began physically roughing up the moneybag from Delhi until he agreed under threat to withdraw from the contest. Nanda may have resorted to highly unfair means. But the way to fight the money power should have been through fair means like raising objections to his nomination and guarding the respective flocks from political poaching and kidnapping. Such dirty tricks in UP highlight not only the failure of the entire spectrum of political leadership but also the insensitivity of the intellectual class as a whole to condemn the vulgarisation of the democratic process.

The BJP is fast getting itself under a siege of its own spin doctors. In Kashmir, while the Centre, by and large, is going by the state coalition on the issue of releasing the prisoners, the BJP as an organisation takes the RSS hardline. The contrast is more visible in Gujarat where the local BJP and its government are fully with the VHP on the issue of its banned hatred yatra. It is only the fear of a constitutional fiat that makes the state government comply with the commission’s order.

But knowing well the defiance of a constitutional authority would tend to alienate itself from the middle classes and intellectuals, the Vajpayee government adopts a different position. In the process, a ridiculous situation has emerged in which not only the BJP and its parivar cousins differ but also the ruling party and its government adopt a diametrically opposite position. The whole party system is coming under challenge.

Hostility may predict heart disease

A personality test may do a better job than standard examinations in predicting a man’s heart disease risk, researchers have said after finding a close link between hostility and heart symptoms.

Men who suffered heart attacks, chest pain or other incidents of heart disease were much more likely to have scored high in hostility on a personality exam, the team at Brown University, Harvard Medical School and Boston University found.

The team examined 774 men with an average age of 60 for their study. Fortyfive men had at least one heart-related medical event during three years of follow-up.

High blood pressure, total cholesterol levels, fasting insulin, measurements of being overweight and even smoking did not predict a man’s risk of heart disease in the three years the study lasted.

Of the physiological measurements, only levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol accurately predicted a man’s risk of heart disease, the team, led by Raymond Niaura of Brown University’s Centre for Behavioural and Preventive Medicine, found.

But hostility, as measured by a standard personality test, also predicted who would develop heart disease symptoms, Niaura’s team reported in the American Psychological Association journal Health Psychology.

“Furthermore, older men with the highest levels of hostility were at the greatest risk for developing CHD (coronary heart disease), independent of the effects of fasting insulin, body mass index (a measurement of obesity), waist-to-hip ratio, triglyceride levels and blood pressure,” the researchers wrote.

“Hostility may influence health behaviours that themselves confer risk; hostility may be associated with sociodemographic characteristics that are, in turn, associated with increased coronary heart disease risk; and hostility may be associated with aberrations in physiological states that hasten atherosclerosis,” they added. Reuters

TRENDS & POINTERS

What do we really know about vitiligo?

WHEN Michael Jackson famously wept on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1993, he told her that his pale skin was due to a condition called vitiligo, rather then a deliberate attempt to bleach his natural colour and put a distance between himself and his Afro-American roots. Some people, confused perhaps by his enthusiasm for radical facial surgery, didn’t believe him and, even ten years later, whole websites are dedicated to debating this single issue Vitiligo is a non-infectious skin condition that affects at least one in every hundred people. It can occur to anyone, regardless of gender or age, though about 50 per cent of sufferers develop it before the age of 25. Patches of skin, mainly on the face, hands, armpits and groin, turn white because of an absence of pigment cells called melanocytes. The new skin is of a completely normal texture and appearance, except for the absence of melanin. Streaks of white can also appear in the hair.

No one knows the cause of the condition, but there are various theories, including the possibility of abnormally functioning nerve cells making toxic substances which attack and destroy melanocytes. Another theory is that vitiligo is a genetic defect, while others think the cause might be environmental factors such as viral infection or damage to skin caused by sunburn or trauma.

Dr Amala Raman of King’s College London, who has been developing new treatments for vitiligo says: `The trouble is that none of the treatments currently on offer are specifically for vitiligo. They are offered simply because they work for other skin conditions such as psoriasis. The Guardian

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

In the forge of continence

Let patience be the goldsmith,

on the anvil of understanding

Let him strike with the hammer of knowledge.

Let the fear of God be the bellows,

Let austerities be the fire,

Let the love of God be the crucible,

Let the nectar of life be melted in it.

Thus in the mint of Truth,

A man may coin the Word,

This is the practice of those

on whom God looks with favour.

Nanak, our gracious Lord

With a glance make us happy.

— Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Japji Sahib

***

—Guru Nanak Devi Ji, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Sri Rag