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Driven to despair Fatal ragging |
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Morality fray Reprocessing Tamil culture TAMIL language and culture is a matter of pride for every Indian who knows anything about it. The language is one of the world’s oldest and the culture rich and resilient, forever evolving, be it the home of the traditional toy-maker in Tirunelveli or the plush apartment of the Tamil techie in Texas.
Court and the political question
Jago, neta jago!
“I think writing this book has definitely changed me” Defence notes
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Driven to despair
THE resignation of Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy from the post of chairman of Bangalore International Airport Ltd is seen as a blow to public faith in the widely admired private-public partnerships that are forged to develop infrastructure in Karnataka in general and Bangalore in particular. Whatever little progress the Rs 1,300-crore airport project coming up at Devanahalli, near Bangalore, has made in the last five years, much of it has been possible because of Mr Narayana Murthy’s efforts in cutting through the red tape. His clout in Delhi and Bangalore is known. He is the widely respected face of India’s excellence in information technology and is a symbol of corporate propriety. Globally, information technology is recognised as the powerhouse of India’s economic growth. In Karnataka, the state which has provided India’s answer to the Silicon Valley, the IT sector is viewed as a child of favouritism. Infotech companies have been allotted lands at less-than-market rates. Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who has questioned Mr Narayana Murthy’s contribution and blamed him for the delay in the airport project, has often accused IT companies of land-grabbing and sought a review of all land allotments. Incidentally, Mr Murthy’s company, Infosys, has applied for allotment of 845 acres on the outskirts of Bangalore for its expansion. Mr Deve Gowda’s politics revolves round peasants. Like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka has witnessed lopsided growth. The surge in the fortunes of IT companies has produced a class of high-income technocrats, who lobby for faster urban infrastructure development, resulting in remarkable public-private cooperation. The rural areas, in comparison, are getting a raw deal. A section of the politicians blames state favouritism for the selective growth in urban pockets and the neglect of rural Karnataka. But it is silly to scuttle urban development to press for rural growth. Anyway, growth has to be inclusive and spread over to avoid rural-vs-urban political eruptions. |
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Fatal ragging
NEMESIS has finally caught up with nine students of Dr Ambedkar National Institute of Technology accused of ragging a junior student who later committed suicide. Nine days after the incident, they have been arrested by the GRP on the basis of a suicide note left by Amit Gangwar who jumped before a train out of frustration allegedly because untold indignities were heaped on him in the name of ragging. They have also been expelled from the institute. The 10th person named in the suicide note, a girl, is yet to be arrested. While the boys have been picked up for their alleged crime, the authorities of the institute are equally to blame, because this was not the only ragging incident on the campus. They should have been alive to the goings-on and done everything within their power to prevent them. In fact, this is not the only institute with such dark secrets. Rather, a college or institution where severe ragging does not take place will be a rare exception. Strict laws in this regard have hardly proved to be a deterrent because implementation is lax. Victims live in terror and are in no position to raise their voice. It is the responsibility of the authorities to create an atmosphere in which nobody dares to harass the newcomers, and those who do are severely dealt with. Till now, the aggressors have been enjoying a field day. In the instant case, the suspects and their families have been pleading complete innocence, which is quite understandable. While they should be punished only if their guilt is proved, it is also true that nobody takes the extreme step of ending one’s life merely to settle scores with his seniors. Those indulging in inhuman ragging have destroyed many brilliant careers. The enquiry ordered by the Ministry of Human Resource Development must be swift and thorough. College campuses should not become unofficial concentration camps. |
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Morality
fray
TAMIL language and culture is a matter of pride for every Indian who knows anything about it. The language is one of the world’s oldest and the culture rich and resilient, forever evolving, be it the home of the traditional toy-maker in Tirunelveli or the plush apartment of the Tamil techie in Texas. Tamil culture is not just about idli-dosa dunked in sambar. It is as much about Silappathikaram and Silicon Valley. The Tamil is ubiquitous in the fortresses of tradition as well as the highways of modern technology; and so is his love of all things Tamil, especially Tamil language and culture. Yet, if the T-word makes the true Tamil blush, if not lower his head in shame — no, it’s not because of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, or even Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. It is because of the rise of a moral police in Tamil Nadu, a force that personifies aggressive intolerance, obtrusive prying and crude persecution. Just the other day, at a private party in Chennai’s Park Hotel a lot of men and women were having a good time — wining, dining and dancing in a convivial mood of comfortable and consensual intimacies. A dirty-minded peeping tom photographs the scenes which a paper publishes for their salacious appeal along with some sanctimonious humbug about “Tamil culture and morality’, and the police crackdown on the hotel. Of course, the man who shot “kissing couples” in brazen disregard of their privacy is not held to be guilty. A little before this unsavoury episode, there was a ruckus over the popular actress Khushboo’s views on pre-marital sex; again, she was accused of defiling Tamil culture and morality. Tamils and Tamil Nadu are seen as being progressive, tolerant and open. Now, to find that “culture” is something closed, regressive and enforceable by an authoritarian police at the behest of moralitarian sections of the media and polity is, indeed, depressing. |
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Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own
joy. — R. A Heinlein |
Court and the political question
Majority order of the Supreme Court dated October 7 in the Bihar Assembly dissolution case has sharply divided the constitutional law pundits. First part of the order declares the dissolution of the Assembly unconstitutional and void. By second part of the order the court has allowed the election process (already set in motion) to continue. This order, particularly its second part, has attracted sharp comment from some quarters of legal opinion, calling the order as stillborn and inconsequential. Some constitutional law experts tend to assert that the same result would have followed even if the writ petition(s) challenging the dissolution had been dismissed in limine. Since the detailed order of the Supreme Court stating the reasons for declaring the dissolution unconstitutional and void has not yet been handed down, therefore any comment on this part of the case would be premature. However, within the scope and parameters of the majority order dated October 7, it would be permissible to examine the validity or otherwise of the criticism levelled on refusing to restore the Assembly and allowing the election process to continue. One need not shy away from the reality that the Bihar Assembly dissolution case involves a political question of first magnitude, a fact which has been glossed over in the article. This makes the author to miss the real sheen of the judicial creativity of the operative part of the Supreme Court order. Political Jurisprudence is a fascinating branch of study. Alexander Bickel, Herman Pritchett and a host of other writers have tried to study the real nature of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has variously been described “a court, not a court, and more than a court.” Nature of decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court in the cases involving political question has also been studied. These cannot be totally purged of political hue. Our Supreme Court has drawn much on the U.S. Supreme Court, though its jurisdiction is vaster. Upendra Baxi in his book “Indian Supreme Court and Politics” has tried to study a number of Supreme Court cases, analysing the issues involved, the personae, and the composition of the Bench, the dates of decision, the political climate and the final results. He has offered brilliant comments, of interest to the students of political science and constitutional law. So the simplistic view taken by these critics of a high TNT political question involved in the Bihar Assembly Dissolution case does not touch even the fringe of a very complex politico-constitutional tangle. Doctrine of Political Question is not unknown to students of constitutional law. It was in Cole Grove V/s Green (1946) that Justice Frankfurter of the U.S. Supreme Court coined an evocative phrase and warned that, “Courts ought not to enter the political thicket”. However in the sixties in Baker V/s Carr, this doctrine was drained of much of its content. This doctrine is based on the rigid separation of powers in the U.S. According to HM Seervai separation of powers among executive, legislature and judiciary in India is not as rigid as in the U.S. Therefore, the doctrine of political question is not applicable in India. So our Supreme Court does not refuse to decide a case simply because some political question is involved. The case under discussion is one such instance. Some commentators have gone to the extent of labelling the order as inconsequential and stating that same result would have followed if the court had dismissed the writ petition(s) in limine. In the opinion of this writer, there is no justification for holding this view of the matter. By merely declaring the dissolution unconstitutional and void, the Supreme Court has sent strong signals to the gubernator and the political executive to behave. How can such a strong indictment be called inconsequential? If the case had been dismissed in limine the dissolution of the Assembly would have gone down the ages as legal and constitutional. That is not the case now. Indeed taste of the pudding lies in eating. Practically all the political parties seem to be supporting the order, though for different reasons. Admittedly the Assembly dissolution was a political question in the forefront meant mostly for the consumption of political parties. And if all of them support the apex court order there could be no better testimonial to its correctness and wisdom. For that matter neither the President nor Parliament nor indeed the Supreme Court is sovereign. Sovereignty vests in “We the people......who, adopted, enacted and gave to ourselves this Constitution”. Therefore, if the Supreme Court, a creature of the Constitution, has referred the political question to the ultimate sovereign under the Constitution, that indeed is an occasion to celebrate and speaks of the maturity and sagacity of the Supreme Court Justices. Another argument of the advocates of status quo ante is that if the Assembly had been restored, it would have offered a second chance to the Governor to correct himself. This perhaps is the weakest argument in their arsenal. Between the Governor (an unelected delegate) and the ultimate sovereign (“We the people”) the choice obviously should go to the latter, as it has. Speaking of the U.S. Constitution, Mason and Beaney observe that it was not intended to be nor in practice it has been proved to be straitjacket. Constitutional interpretation has been infinitely variable. Since judges do not live in vacuum, their decisions are influenced by inheritance, education and pressures of economic and social forces. The same can be said of the Indian Constitution and Justices of Supreme Court with equal justification. Of course in some cases the Indian Supreme Court has restrained the government and even over-ruled the legislature. However, restraining power of judiciary does not manifest its chief worth in a few cases in which the legislature has gone beyond the lines and transgressed the limit of direction. Its primary value has been making vocal and audible the ideals of Constitution which might otherwise be silenced. This task has been remarkably achieved by the court by declaring the dissolution of Assembly unconstitutional and void, thus cutting the executive to size. “The greatest statesmen,” Woodrow Wilson observed “are always those who attempt their task with imagination with a large vision of things to come.....and also whether by force of circumstances or by deliberate design, we have married legislation with adjudication and look for statesmanship in our courts”. Indian nation can surely repose full faith and confidence in its judicial statesmen adorning the Bench on Tilak
Marg. The writer is Member, Governing Council, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi
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Jago, neta jago!
Aya Ramji and Gaya Ramji were meeting after a very long time. Extensive travel from one party of the country to another had deprived them of close contact, and now that they were together, it was an occasion to talk shop in confidence and to use each other’s shoulder to cry on about matters of common interest. “I do not know about you, Gayaji, but life in politics is getting more and more difficult,” said Aya Ramji, with pathos. “There is no scope for a small entrepreneur in today’s
rajniti.” “I couldn’t agree more, Ayaji,” chipped in Gaya Ramji, “I tell you, this anti-defection law will sound death-knell of retail horse trade”. “Yes, it is patently illegal and prejudicial. It allows wholesale sale and purchase but bans individual enterprise.” “Do you think we should go to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission?” asked Gayaramji, with stars of hope in his eyes. “I don’t think the MRTPC will help. The trouble is that nobody sympathises with MPs and MLAs, thanks to the wretched Press people who just do not know the finer nuances of politics.” “Truer words have never been spoken, Ayaji,” commiserated Gayaji, “nobody seems to appreciate the difficulties of elected representatives. What is the point of winning an election by spending crores of rupees if they do not allow market forces to prevail? Leave alone international demand, there is not even an all-India market. Not only that, leadership is a perishable commodity with a strict ‘sell by’ date”. “The government must give us non-practising allowance. If it is not possible to provide subsidy, there should be at least a minimum support price, with the government providing assured intervention in the market”. “That is the only way the political trading can survive. But to bring about such reforms, it is necessary to bring MLAs and MPs of all parties under one banner. I tell you, we must paralyse Parliament and all legislatures at one go. If even that does not wake up the authorities, we must go on an indefinite all-India strike”. “Gayaji, Gayaji, don’t go that far. That will entail losing your perks, which no self-respecting MP or MLA will agree to.” “So, what do we do? Do we allow the judiciary to ride roughshod over us?” “No, we need not lose heart. We should plead our case for repealing the anti-defection law before the National Human Rights Commission.” “And if even that does not intervene?” “Surely, we can go to the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.” “Zindabad, I will explore the possibility whether the foreign trips can be arranged at state expense.” “Perfect. While you are at it, please also find out how far Disneyland is from the UN. I would like to take my family along, you
know.” |
‘Two Lives’ is the most personal of
The meandering garden outside had a mysterious look as evening descended, inside the house shadows grew, lamps were lit throwing warm light on carpeted floors and Vikram Seth, the rather unassuming author, reclined on his peach chaise longue relaxing for a few moments before facing yet another interview after tedious weeks of interviews, book launches, book readings etc after the release of his latest book, Two Lives. Vikram’s deep obsession with his familial past continues in this massive family marathon which follows the earlier book, The Suitable Boy. An ordinary person coming across Vikram’s books does wonder at this “family history obsession.” However, on meeting the author, understanding dawns. Few authors have had the courage to delve so deeply and thoroughly into their familial history and their past. In Two Lives the author undertakes a massive introspection exercise into his own life through the lives of his Uncle Shanti and Aunt Henny, a Jewish German lady. The story spans several decades, the narrative running through the years of the holocaust and the Second World War. Through the rather interesting life of the couple, their deep love formed on friendship rather than passion, their complexities and frustrations to Vikram’s coming into their lives when he stays with them as a young student at Hendon, London. Till the final end which comes with Aunt Henny’s death and Uncle Shanti’s difficult old age. What is the quality that makes the mind of an author? The well spring of his inspiration? The passion that feeds his obsessions? It is this quest that led to a rather informative tete-a-tete with Vikram Seth. Vikram you’ve written such long books like A Suitable Boy and now Two Lives, why did the narrative tend to become so long especially ten years over Two Lives? “Well, two or three of my books have been quite long but not all. As far as taking ten years over this book goes, it did not really take ten years because I was writing An Equal Music. ” What was the kind of discipline required to write this book? “As far as discipline is concerned I would not say that I am all that disciplined but I am quite obsessional and that keeps me going and books fall asleep and then they wake up and sometimes they have bad dreams and sometimes they are very energetic and refreshed and sometimes they punch the alarm clock and go back to sleep immediately.” Now about this family obsession of yours, so much has already been said about it still….. Vikram smiles and stretches his arms on the couch. “I am very fond of my family and if I am interested in a particular story my obsession comes out and don’t forget we are a very close family, just like many others. Now what really attracted you to writing about Uncle Shanti and Aunt Henny? “I was not necessarily attracted. I was initially pressurised into interviewing Uncle Shanti by the fact that my mother was sick of hearing that I have nothing to write about, but it was really, when my father discovered a trunk containing Aunty’s post-war correspondence only then did I realise that this book was something that I just had to write because now these twin cores (Uncle Shanti and Aunt Henny) reacted with each other and also with historic events around them and the quest of a relationship and the meaning of love and a saga was born.” Vikram looks contemplative for a moment, smiling gently, “yes, this probably is the most personal of my books and in that sense….” he is in another world far away…. Was this a difficult book to write, Vikram? A wry smile and a quizzical look, “all writing is difficult and I think it would have been more difficult not to do it but I felt compelled to do it. It was not just a question of putting your finger on the emotions but also a question of what structure to give. It’s a book not just a single biography but a double biography with memoir and history and analysis and introspection and even a discussion of how the book came to be written. So deciding where to begin, how to continue, whether to introduce something or not and how to end was a complex process but I tried to make the sequence seem natural. “I feel some reservations about my use of Aunt Henny’s letters because she was a very private person but I believe this book was justified and I hope that she might have approved of the enterprise taken as a whole.” Night has fallen and the garden has disappeared, Vikram looks exhausted but alert, are you toying with something new? “As a matter of fact I am toying with something new but I cant predict that that’s what I want to do next and I have to feel impelled to do it. Well, I hope that it will be something short, maybe poetry….”
The courage of living on
Q How about love and relationships? “I’ve always written in my poetry on relationships and love but through Aunt Henny’s letters that talked of love of country and friends and love of Hans her fiancée who married someone else…….. it is all these emotions that fall under the rubric of this simple word love and enter the texture of this book and the same could be said of the word courage.” Q What of courage? “There’s the physical and psychological courage of overcoming pain and the loss of one’s arm and the potential loss of one’s profession and then there is another kind of courage of living on and of coming face to face with overwhelming grief and surpassing it for the sake of one’s family.” Q: Do you think the experience of writing this book changed you? “When you discuss relationships, marriages, love and ask yourself whether this applied or has applies or will apply in your life and when you talk about the moral and psychological decisions that people make under intolerable pressure such as whether to help your friend thereby risking your family. You wonder how you would react? Would you take a risk like that? And then in respect to Shanti Uncle’s old age and not just physical but mental degeneration one is bound to see it in the light of one’s own life. So, yes I think writing this book has definitely changed me.” Q: After this massive introspection through Two Lives, are you left with any regrets? “I feel some reservations about my use of Aunt Henny’s letters because she was a very private person but I believe this book was justified and I hope that she might have approved of the enterprise taken as a whole.” Q: What made you make the switch from poetry to prose? “I think it was the Golden Gate that did it because it can be seen either as a long poem or a novel in verse. It can be seen as bridge from poetry to prose.”
— CS |
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Defence
notes
The Chief of Army Staff, Gen JJ Singh, recently launched a website to deal with computer emergencies developing on the Army Intranet, which provides data-connectivity from Army Headquarters to the formations and units, including those deployed along the borders. The Computer Emergency Response Team website will provide helpdesk, incident-response, advisories, guidance, patches and updates to all users of the information technology infrastructure. The website has been developed and hosted by the Army Cyber Security Establishment to strengthen the information security of the Army computer network. Gen JJ Singh said the Computer Emergency Response Team will be the nodal agency for addressing cyber security concerns of the Army.
Army’s loss is AIFF’s gain Lt Col BMR Mehta, who was functioning as Additional PRO (Army) since December 2002 on re-employment in the Army, has taken a new assignment with the All India Football Federation (AIFF)as its Director (Media). With over 30 years of active service in the Army, Col Mehta volunteered for public relations in 1990. He was a regional PRO of the Ministry of Defence at Tezpur during Operation Bajrang, Operation Rhino and Operation Sahyog before shifting to Jodhpur in 1993. As Deputy Director (Publicity), NCC, he was the most sought after person during the Republic Day parades for seven long years. Coming back to Delhi on re-employment, he provided support to three Army PROs with whom he served. Now it may seem that the Army PR’s loss may be a gain for the AIFF.
Base jumps in Kuala Lumpur Squadron Leader Kamal Singh Oberh and Squadron Leader KBS Samyal created a record of sorts for the Indians by carrying out 10 successful base jumps each from the Kuala Lumpur Tower during the Air Force week celebrations, which also coincided with the ninth anniversary of the tower. The jumps were carried out on September30, October 1 and October 2. The base jumps were carried out using parachutes. This was the first time ever that Indians have jumped from the KL Tower. Describing the jumps, Sqn Ldr Oberh said: “Though I have over 700 skydives to my credit, including the jump over Northpole, this was the most challenging jump. The challenge was of jumping with no standby or reserve parachute on a concrete jungle”. Sqn Ldr Oberh now plans to base jump from the world-famous cliffs of the Kjerag mountains in Norway. Sqn Ldr Oberh is keen on popularising the sport of base jumping in the country. |
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From the pages of Hoarded wealth of
India
In noticing the report of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies in Bengal the “Englishman” observes that it is satisfactory to learn that during the last year six insurance companies, two banks, one railway, one tobacco company, two dairy concerns, two leather tanning concerns, one engineering and one furnishing company, all purely Indian, were started. All these go to show that the hoarded wealth of India is being drawn upon. This will remove to some extent the taunt that they have no confidence in the integrity and honesty of their own people. It cannot be said, however, that the system has not appealed to the people to any appreciable extent. Outside Bengal province it received a considerable impetus after the Swadeshi propaganda was started and if such enterprises are only conducted with proper safeguards, there appears to be no reason why the movement should not spread to the great benefit of the country whose industrial development should thus be greatly helped. |
Whoever has good character is the greatest of all. He is the mine of all jewels; the wealth of the three worlds is merged in good character. — Kabir Progress comes to those who work
hard. — The Upanishadas |
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