 |
Tuesday,
December 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Byelection pointers Water ‘famine’ in Punjab What ails policemen |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
A Chief Minister in troubled waters
Visa office of human legs
Reforms: time for repositioning
Having a hyper-competitive mate Fish can help grow a new heart
Software that blocks porn sites
|
Byelection pointers IT appears that it is not calamities alone that come in droves. The same perhaps holds true of glad tidings as well. At least the Bharatiya Janata Party has reasons to believe that. As if the Gujarat triumph was not enough of a morale-booster, it has also done equally well in the byelections spread across six states. The euphoria generated by the performance is understandable, because it was least expecting such a swing in its favour. In the past it had been losing state after state to the Congress. A similar show this time would have broken its back before the forthcoming general election. The most remarkable has been its victory in Rajasthan where it made a clean sweep of the three Assembly seats. Its victory on the Bali seat held previously by the Vice-President, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, was expected, but the other seats are a bonus. Interestingly, the 16,836-vote margin with which BJP nominee Pushpendra Singh romped home in Bali is more than double the number the former Chief Minister, Mr Shekhawat, had as a margin in the 1998 polls. On the other hand, the Sagwara seat which the BJP has wrested this time has been a traditional Congress stronghold. The Congress does not know what hit it. Its leaders have tried to explain away the reverses by talking about the Hindutva wave sweeping the neighbouring Gujarat and also the anti-incumbency factor. Perhaps they are fighting shy of admitting that poor governance is the root cause. Starvation deaths and other failures cannot be wished away that easily. Had Hindutva been such a trump card, the BJP would not have bitten the dust in the prestigious Nainital Lok Sabha constituency. Byelection results have many lessons for the BJP as well as the Congress. The former must realise that although the ballot battle has gone in its favour for now, it cannot afford to be complacent for the real big war that lies ahead. Look at the way leaders like Rajiv Gandhi and V.P. Singh frittered away the widespread public support in a short span of time. It will have to work diligently on the byelection victories. As far as the Congress is concerned, it is time it realised that the successes that it posted in many of the states in the past were quite fragile. Just having its governments in so many states is not enough. It has to deliver also. The results have put a question mark on the vote-catching capacity of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. Congressmen admit in private that she has many handicaps but never dare to say so in public. This hesitation may become less prominent after the latest drubbing. |
|
Water ‘famine’ in Punjab THERE are at least four fresh reports which all point to the emerging water crisis and its poor management in Punjab. A few days ago eminent farm scientist M.S.Swaminathan, addressing a business gathering in New Delhi, warned that along with Rajasthan, Orissa and Maharashtra, Punjab was heading for serious water shortage in 2003. This is not a false alarm, but a warning based on the ground reality. Corroborating Dr Swaminathan’s assessment is a fresh study by a noted agricultural economist of Punjab Agricultural University. Pointing out the extent of the water scarcity in Punjab, the study says that as against the requirement of some 4.90 million hectare metres of good quality water , only 3.12 million hectare metre water is available. In the past four decades there has been a 76 per cent increase in the state’s water requirement for agriculture due to the cultivation of water-intensive crops like paddy. Unless this cropping pattern is changed, warns the study, the state can face a “water famine” in the not so distant future. The third development is the recent breach in the Kasoor Nehar, which has affected a number of villages in Tarn Taran tehsil of Amritsar district. The crop loss is extensive, apart from the inconvenience to the villagers in the cold weather. What is worse, the irrigation authorities have blamed the breach on rats. It is a clear case of negligence in the maintenance of the canal system. The irrigation staff are required to keep a watchful eye on the canals and ensure timely repair, wherever required. Rats cannot breach a canal overnight. Government machinery has moved in quickly for post-damage operations, but only time will tell whether any responsibility is fixed and punitive action taken. The fourth report carries a positive development. The World Bank, which had blacklisted Punjab for giving free water and power to certain sections of the population, has resumed its aid programme in the state. It has sanctioned a Rs 817 crore grant to provide potable drinking water to the residents of far-flung villages. This is the result of the laudable efforts of the state government. To tackle the impending water crisis, a multi-pronged approach is required. To arrest the decline in the underground watertable, it is necessary to undertake water harvesting measures to conserve rainwater. The cropping pattern has to be changed. Of late, there has been talk of shifting areas from the wheat-rice cycle to other crops, but government policy and incentives are yet to emerge. The Johl committee has gone into the issue in detail. The existing water sources has to be protected. How can a state that cannot maintain its canals properly ask for the management control of the Bhakra Dam? At the city, town, village and individual levels, everyone has to make efforts to save water and avoid its wastage. For the upkeep of the water channels, user charges will have to be levied, but the water consumer should not be made to pay for departmental inefficiency and staff incompetence. According to the Punjab Development Report, 2002, the efficiency of canal irrigation is hardly 40 per cent. With World Bank aid now available, it is time to repair the irrigation channels and undertake watershed management and afforestation programmes. |
|
What ails policemen THINK of a policeman — the image is almost a caricature of pot-bellied individual. Though there are exceptions, the public perception is based on an unfortunate reality. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that a recent check-up by a Mohali-based hospital found that as much as half of the policemen examined in Bathinda were afflicted with ailments that included hypertension and obesity. Many were also suffering from orthopaedic problems. The health snapshot of Bathinda has wider ramifications for the region. A report from Chandigarh pointed out similar facts a few months ago. Unfortunately, this trend is reflected nationwide. It is well recognised that the effectiveness of a police force is directly related to the level of fitness of its personnel. Tired, unfit policemen are likely to make mistakes, take shortcuts and are more likely to resort to brutality. When they are inducted into the force, the jawans and officers take tests and demonstrate a high level of physical fitness, which is further honed during their training. It is only after they have been on the job for over a period of time that their health deteriorates. This places the responsibility squarely at the door of the police department. It is no secret that policemen are on duty for long, often boring and unproductive, hours. Anyone who has seen them lined up waiting for VIPs to pass on a road would have sympathy for them. They have very poor housing facilities and face stress as part of their job. Certain studies have shown that law enforcement officers have a false sense of their fitness level and this too makes them vulnerable to various ailments. No one would dispute that preventive measures are necessary and from time to time various far-thinking police officers and others have made efforts to provide the policemen with training and exposure that would encourage fitness. The Vipasna initiative taken by top police officer Kiran Bedi set off the trend and it has been followed by other measures. There was a five-day course on stress management for policemen in Chandigarh recently. This is particularly important since occupational stress in the police force is particularly high and manifests itself in the form of alcoholism, and other serious medical conditions. Such courses include medication and yoga. The interdisciplinary approach is to be commended. However, the initiative has to come from within. While the authorities concerned should provide the infrastructure and facilities for helping the jawans and officers develop their bodies and mind, it is up to the individuals concerned also to show the will and commitment to bettering their lives. Their health is valuable not only to their own selves and their families, but also the public at large. |
A Chief Minister in troubled waters THE plight of Karnataka’s Chief Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, is a symbol of a promising politician, once viewed as of prime ministerial timbre, come to grief through opportunism and pusillanimity. At least twice, if not more often, he has demonstrated that when the big challenge came, he failed to measure up. Increasingly, it would seem, Indian politicians prefer to play safe, rather than be resolute. Take the case of the bandit Veerappan and his spectacular kidnappings for ransom. Years ago, he staged a coup by kidnapping the Kannada superstar Rajkumar. A show was made of mounting a special task force to nab the brigand only to culminate in Mr Krishna’s surrender by his agreeing to send friendly “emissaries”. And the then Karnataka chief of police, Mr C. Dinakar, has now charged in a book that hefty ransoms were paid to Veerappan through the Chief Minister’s son-in-law Sidhartha (being contested in court) and Tamil Nadu’s then Chief Minister Karunanidhi, among others, to secure the actor’s release. Mr Krishna then adopted the ploy of the weak – seeking the mechanism of an all-party consensus – for cover. One can sympathise with the Chief Minister to an extent because Rajkumar has an immense following in the state and Mr Krishna felt that leaving him to the tender mercies of Veerappan was not an option open to him. But Veerappan apparently lives in several worlds and is familiar with the murky world of politics. To the lay mind, it is inconceivable that a bandit cannot be caught for years on end, despite his kidnappings and peremptory demands made through tapes, the authorities suggesting that it is like finding a needle in a haystack. After Rajkumar’s release, Mr Krishna promptly went to sleep, preferring to attend to other matters of state. Then came the kidnapping of former minister H. Nagappa last August. Like the re-run of an old movie, a special task force was got ready, Tamil Nadu’s help was sought and received, together with some central assistance, until the new enforcement measures were stopped in their tracks. As usual, Mr Krishna sought cover from the opposition parties and had no problem in acceding to their request for giving up the hunt in favour of sending emissaries. Unlike the last time around, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, did not humour Mr Krishna by acquiescing in his soft attitude towards the bandit. She would have nothing to do with emissaries nor release Veerappan’s friends and sympathisers in prison. And the Karnataka Chief Minister is now having to carry the can of Nagappa’s death. If it were not so tragic, it would be funny to relate that special task forces are again in action. Between these two kidnappings came the Cauvery crisis, the question of the release of Karnataka waters to Tamil Nadu when farmers of both states were suffering from acute drought. The mechanism of the Cauvery River Authority did not work because Mr Krishna refused to release any water and Ms Jayalalithaa promptly went to the Supreme Court. The court’s interim direction on the release of water was not complied with because the Chief Minister feared irate Karnataka farmers and as tempers flared between the two states, with film stars being dragooned into the dispute, he again took the ploy of running for cover through the all-party route. This time Mr Krishna thought of the innovation of seeking political advantage by undertaking a padyatra along the Cauvery basin, ostensibly to commune with farmers. For his pains, he was taken to task by the Supreme Court. Ordered to release Cauvery water, with the north-east monsoon already having set in, no Chief Minister has had to suffer the kind of strictures he invited. The Cauvery dispute is an old and complicated one and all the fault is not on Karnataka’s side, but the state has been let down by the Chief Minister’s refusal to exercise his authority and show leadership qualities in a crisis. Although Mr Krishna has become a symbol of indecision and seeking soft options, it is a malaise afflicting many members of our political class. Indeed, it has become the fashion to lay the blame on democracy and coalition governments. How often do we hear from politicians and their sympathisers that their failings are due to India being wedded to the democratic system, as if it were an albatross around the country’s neck? And the BJP-led government at the Centre never tires of seeking excuses for its inadequacies in the name of running a coalition government. The tragedy is that when politicians show decisiveness, it is of the wrong kind – a Narendra Modi employing populism and a hate platform to gather votes or a Jayalalithaa mercilessly scoring points at the expense of the luckless Mr Krishna. Yet the BJP-led government’s previous Foreign Minister flew with prize militants cooling their heels in Indian prisons as his fellow passengers to safety in return for hijacked Indian Airlines passengers. In an earlier time, in the era of another coalition government, militants were released in exchange for the then Home Minister’s daughter. Ironically, the father of the kidnapped daughter, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, is Kashmir’s Chief Minister. In both these cases, the released men have welcomed their new lease of life as militants by organising further atrocities on innocent men and women in India. And the outcome of Mr Krishna’s solicitude for Veerappan has been the death of Nagappa. There is a moral here our politicians fail to grasp. In the end, the country suffers. India cannot be run by a dictator or as a police state. But there is no contradiction between a functioning democracy and firm government. The fault lies with our ruling elite so taken up with consumer culture and the rewards of power and office. Maintaining integrity is a low priority and making money and exercising power are the new gods. If a politician’s goal is to stay in power by making as many compromises as necessary, we cannot expect firm government or his taking unpopular decisions. There is little point in seeking Mr Krishna’s head if his successor is equally prone to bend with the wind. |
Visa office of human legs THOSE were the days of communist rule in Eastern Europe. My Taxi headed towards Stockholm from Gothenburg where my ship was part unloading 4,000 tonnes of cattle feed cakes. My hosts in Stockholm, Dr and Mrs Kotnis, were having a four-bedroom luxury flat in Sollentuna area. Mother of Dr Kotnis was an elderly, conservative lady who was new to Stockholm. Early in the morning on the next day of my arrival, mother Kotnis decided to give a helping hand to her daughter-in-law and took the daily garbage bag to the chute inlet located just outside the flat entrance. Her maiden effort could open the chute cover and discharge the garbage bag into the deep hollow beneath. In doing so her loose gold-diamond ring on her right index finger slipped out and fell below along with the bag. She was stunned but there was noway to retrieve it. It cost about Rs 18,000. The deep chute into which garbage bags are dropped leads to a centralised garbage collection centre through a complex conveyor belt system. Entire collection was converted into compost for use in plants and trees. The municipal authorities did allow the family to visit the underground spot as a special case but it was in vain. This murky incident left a bad taste in my mouth in the very start of my pleasant first visit to Stockholm. After two days I returned to my ship at Gothenburg bound for east German port of Restock to unload the remaining cargo. Dr Kotnis had asked me to buy for him from Rostock a similar gold-diamond ring for his mother as these were quite cheap there by payment in American dollars. I, therefore, informed the ship’s agents at Rostock to arrange for my tourist visa for East Germany during four days of my ship’s stay in harbour. The agents advised that, for reasons arising out of security against emigration, such visas were now issued by the security guard allocated to each visiting ship and posted below the gangway on the ship’s jetty. He performed all functions of a visa office. He was authorised to issue tourist non-immigrant visas as required on the spot after due verification himself. That surprised me. Myself and my wife collected our passports and headed towards the gangway. Down below we could see the lone security guard in military uniform, long brown raincoat, fixed open umbrella secured on his belt, a service revolver, a knife and standing at ease with both booted legs apart. From his right and left shoulders two large bags containing documents were hanging. A sizable extended plyboard was hanging from his neck which served as a portable table. It had started snowing slightly when we approached him. We handed over our documents with a spare passport size photo to him. While accepting them he looked hard at both of us through his deep blue eyes and checked our names against the ship’s crew list he already had with him. After a quick check of our passports he issued a four-day tourist visa as requested by us orally. No forms were filled. The guard never smiled or moved away from his place of duty throughout his six long duty hours. He refused even a cup of tea from ship staff. Frankly, during my long experience of visiting various ports abroad I had never seen something like that before.
|
Reforms: time for repositioning THE biggest absurdity of the current disinvestment controversy has been a reported high-level decision to bar Indian companies altogether from bidding for the oil PSUs. This, we are told, was part of a compromise to prevent Reliance from grabbing HPCL, a point the anti-selloff lobby within the NDA has been emphasising. If the Swadeshi group has really endorsed the move, it only marks an irrational end to its own bitter ideological fight. Even if this ultimately proves to be baseless, it only highlights the ad hoc manner in which crucial policy decisions are taken in utter disregard to meaningful debates and the need for a long-term national perspective. It is 11 years and still we don’t have a national policy on disinvestment. The ministers protest and the PM relents. Then the envoy of the ‘international community’ set their terms and the PM asks the DoD to hurry up. This is how we tackle issues. Should we get rid of all PSUs, including defence? What about efficiently run and perennially profit making ones? Should they be handed to the favoured parties, i.e., ‘strategic partner’? Can evaluation of assets be left to be done secretly? Should the other PSUs and those like IFFCO be allowed to bid for the purchase? All such queries are left vague as it suits the politician, the bureaucrat and the treasurer-grabber alike. Some have suggested honestly opting for the highest bidder by opening the quotations in the glare of TV cameras. Successive governments had hardly tried for any consensus on the various reform measures. There is no unanimity within the RSS parivar, the NDA, the BJP and the Union Cabinet. No one has made any effort to discuss the issues before pushing them through. The strategy is to force decisions and please the individual disserter. The Congress, the main Opposition, is also sharply divided on the details of reform. So far the PSU disinvestment has yielded about Rs. 25,000 crore to the government. Where has this hard-earned money of the tax-payer gone? Those who object to the selloff at “throw-away” prices, both within the NDA and outside, allege that it was all used to meet the government’s profligacy and provide hidden subsidies to the rich. Had the establishment stuck to the proposal for setting up a separate fund out of the sale proceeds such allegations could have been effectively countered. Once there was an assurance to use the money for further strengthening the profit-making units and finance social programmes and
infrastructure. Many governments had done so. But all the while the ministers had avoided it on the pretext that there was no way to set up a separate account outside the Consolidated Fund of India. Now the beleaguered minister has relented as part of a stillborn compromise. Such prevarication and deceit pervade every aspect of the government’s economic policy implementation. At one time during the poll eve, there was much bravado about preserving the “Navratnas”. Then suddenly the DoD picks the best jewels to hand them to the “strategic” buyer. We have about 130 profit-making PSUs. Published but not publicised official figures say that their profit in the past ten years had shot up by four to five times. It has been such ad hocism, cunning moves and lack of transparency that had caused obstructions in the way of every sale. Not from the much maligned trade unions and the Left alone but from within the ruling party. Each sale has led to allegations of undervaluation of assets if not wanton corruption, and at least in one case the favoured buyer resold it — Centuer Hotel — soon after with a neat Rs. 30 crore profit without any value addition. So far in no case the buyer who got them at dirt cheap has made any perceptible improvement. A crusading minister with self-righteous arrogance, an indifferent Deputy Prime Minister and a please-all Prime Minister have all contributed to this chaotic situation. Pramod Mahajan says he won’t allow his PSUs to be sold out, and is striving hard to make the tele PSUs stronger to take on the private players. The DoD minister can do little about it. Even the Civil Aviation Minister with little clout is putting up a stiff resistance to the privatisation of AI and IA. India never had a genuine debate on the economic reforms which were designed and destined to be enforced without even a cursory review. The successive governments hastily formed committees of officials and ministers which gave quick recommendations for enforcement. We must realise that the business of privatisation is not just getting rid of a goose that lays the golden egg. Setting arbitrary targets for selloff essentially means distress sale where we will miss
out. on the right value. The best strategy is to strengthen the units and wait for the right time for the selloff. When the rulers resort to arbitrary short-cuts, the affected parties are left with no option but to put up resistance at the implementation stage or through ballots. This has been our way of economic management. Instead of charting out long-term policies based on genuine consensus, we take transparency and public consent as a hurdle. The whole effort is how to get over such hurdles through sheer brinkmanship. Some have even evolved such thesis like democracy is incompatible with economic progress in developing countries. Our desi pink scribes suggest that reforms should be pushed through by the governments before their fourth year in office as the last two years are prone to ‘populism’. Underneath such preposterous advice is the conviction that there existed a deep schism between what the global reformers want us to do and what is palatable to the people. True, no state can any more defy the dictates of globalisation. But the point is how well can we shape its various postulates to serve our best interests. Initially, the reformers had led us to believe that it was going to be totally a free world trade in a global village, and things would depend on real competition. Now truth has dawn on the world that free trade is not that free. Every state, including the USA, has been tightening its trade barriers and economy in its own national interests. It is time for us to question the myth that foreign capital and their control of Indian firms will lift our economy from the morass. The World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects has warned about the steady decrease in the FDI flow, especially to the developing countries. Thus it has asked for increased public investment in infrastructure, looked down in India. The IMF/World Bank have recently admitted that their remedies for the Third World had in many cases not worked. We are reaching an era of reassessment and course correction. Fed up with the worsening economic crisis, George Bush this month fired his economic aide and a new one has been appointed with the hard task of setting things right. The crisis we face is far more serious. It is the utter policy confusion and lack of institutionalised decision making that give currency to ‘only-foreigner’ speculation as we had in the case of oil PSU sale. It is time for us to reassess our own performance in the light of the 11 years of reform and reposition ourselves. |
|
Having a hyper-competitive mate YOUR mate’s hyper-competitive attitude may prove to be the thorn in your relationship, a new study suggests. Ignoring qualities such as the constant need to be right about everything, requiring constant reassurance, showing little understanding of your needs and continually trying to regulate your behaviour, may set the stage for a rocky relationship, says the lead study author, Dr Richard Ryckman of the University of Maine in Orono. Ryckman and fellow researchers studied the relationships of 240 heterosexual university students involved in hyper-competitive relationships. Nearly two thirds were in serious relationships or were married. The remaining participants were in more casual relationships. The researchers found that students with high levels of competitiveness — those who strongly agreed with statements such as “It’s a dog-eat-dog world” and “If you don’t get the better of others, they will surely get the better of you” - reported having more difficulties in their relationships. The researchers found that these students were less able to communicate honestly with their partner, admitted to inflicting greater pain on their partner, had stronger needs to control their partners and reported higher levels of possessiveness, jealousy and mistrust of their partners than their peers, says a report in The News. However, the competitive students did not report less commitment to their partner or less satisfaction with their relationship. The researchers say that signs of hyper-competitiveness in partners may not be something that the person can easily rid him or herself of and such people may even need professional help. According to Ryckman, a competitive attitude does not disappear. It is a deeply-rooted attitude that rests on a foundation of feelings of insecurity and powerlessness. He advises that these people could benefit from counselling, where they can begin to see the origins of their difficulties, take responsibility for themselves, and start to work on behaving in a more caring and loving way toward others.
ANI
|
|
Fish can help grow a new heart A
tropical fish’s ability to “grow a new heart” may help scientists find a way of aiding the recovery of human patients. The zebrafish is one of the only vertebrates whose heart can recover, even when a fifth of the organ’s tissue is removed. In humans, even minor damage to the heart leaves a trail of scar tissue, which makes full recovery difficult. Experts from the USA hope that the secrets of the zebrafish’s scar-free regeneration could be harnessed in human patients. They have found a gene in the zebrafish, which appears to play a role in this remarkable healing process.
ANI
|
Software that blocks porn sites PARENTS concerned about the ease with which children can access pornographic material on the Internet often turn to filter software that aims to spot unsuitable content and bar children from opening it. However, it was feared that health websites, with their reliance on anatomical words and often tackling issues related to sex, might also be blocked. But researchers have suggested that software designed to protect children from Internet porn manages to do it without harming access to genuine health websites. The study found that while the software successfully blocked nine out of 10 porn sites, this was at the expense of only one in 20 health-related websites. This rate was achieved when the software was put on its least restrictive setting. Conflicting reports on HRT confuse women Recent studies and their revelations on the effects of Harmone Replacement Therapy (HRT) have led to confusion among women. According to a poll, more women are asking questions and suggests doctors need to be prepared to discuss implications of the research, giving consideration to a woman’s own risk factors and preferences. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is typically prescribed to prevent symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. However, some physicians have also prescribed it for perceived disease-prevention effects. In July, however, researchers stopped a part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study that was employing the commonly used combination of estrogen and progestin because it showed an increased risk of heart disease, breast cancer, blood clots and strokes. Since the WHI bombshell, the public has been deluged with yet more studies concerning HRT. Among other things, it appears that the type of progestin used and the dosing intervals may have an effect on health risks. No wonder the new survey found that just as many women felt confused about HRT (24 per cent) as felt better informed (27 per cent). Leptin doesn’t trigger weight gain Smokers who try to kick the habit usually experience those extra pounds pile on within the first few weeks after quitting. Though it is still unclear how smoking affects body weight, a new research has found that the culprit is not leptin, a protein implicated in weight control. Leptin levels are not significantly related to a person’s smoking status, according to the study by Kenneth A Perkins and Carolyn Fonte from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The researchers compared leptin levels between groups of male and female smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers, as well as a smaller set of the smoking group that quit for at least three weeks. Leptin helps manage body weight by reducing food uptake and increasing energy expenditure. Some researchers have suggested that smoking may abnormally boost leptin levels and could be part of the reason why smokers tend to have lower body weights and experience weight gain when they give up cigarettes.
ANI |
Greetings to you such a God so rare, for all the worlds to have. Salutations to the God who wears a black snake as his girdle around his waist Salutations to you, the first one who presides over the sages who are so rare Greetings to you the soldier who has killed our fears. Greetings to you who would daily push us along and made us your own Salutations to you who would grant to those who reach your feet, the most delicious drink and food of the Gods. Greetings to you who would bend and dance in thick darkness. Greetings to you who is the lover of the Lady with bamboo-like shoulders. Hail to you our king who is nothing to those who are the enemies to you. Hail to You who is the treasure-house of help to the men in need who love you most. — Hallelujha (Songs of Praises to Shiva). From Thiruvasagham recited by Saint Manickavasaghar *** Lust, thou native of hell, That goadeth man into the cycle of births, Enchanter of hearts, wielding power on the earth and below and above it. Thou who destroyeth meditation, austerity and virtue, And offerest in return but a petty and a passing delight, Thou who lordest it over high and low, In the company of the holy, men lose their fear of Thee; I seek the Lord as a stronghold, saith Nanak. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Slok Sehskriti, 46; page 1358 *** Wrath, pitiless and seed of strife, Thou enthrallest even the great, and they dance like monkeys. And in Yama’s kingdom of the devils punish them. To frequent thee depraveth man. Nanak saith: The Lord only, who disperseth the woes of the humble, Who is ever Merciful, can protect from thee. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Slok Sehskriti, page 1358 *** He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. — Bible I John 4.8 Compiled by Satish K. Kapoor |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
