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Cheaper oil Deserved punishment |
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V-Day capers Keep away spoilsports Another Valentine’s Day has passed off, peacefully for the most part but not without the party poopers of the Hindutva brigade and some extremist Muslim outfits, too, raining on the parade.
Defence forces and pay
panels
Onion’s tale
Delhi’s Master Plan is for
vested interests Give way to the right Inside Pakistan
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Cheaper oil THE small cut in the prices of petrol and diesel, second in about three months, has come rather late in the day. Had it been taken prior to the Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur elections, it might have perhaps yielded some political dividend. But the Congress has the more crucial UP elections to fight some two months later and it would not like the issue of rising prices to spoil its prospects. The latest oil price cut is part of the series of measures the government and the RBI have been taking of late to check rising inflation. Whether the truckers’ unions agree to pass the benefit of cheaper oil on to customers remains to be seen, though generally prices once raised are seldom rolled back down the line. Last time when the oil prices were reduced, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had opposed the step on the ground that he would consider a cut only after the global oil prices fell below $50 a barrel. The prices have come down from a high of $75 a barrel to about $55 now, but given the public and political concerns over the inflationary uptrend, Mr Deora had hardly any option. What is more, he is even defending it now despite the obvious strain on the finances of public sector oil companies. Ideally, the government should slash the heavy dose of Central and state taxes on oil and leave the oil pricing to the market forces. Whether it is the ban on wheat exports and milk powder or the RBI tightening money supply, these measures will have only a limited effect. The basic reason for the price rise is the shortage of farm commodities, which is partly a result of stagnation in agriculture. Curbs on futures trading in agricultural commodities will also not have the desired effect as long as the shortages persist. The price situation may ease only with fresh arrivals from the fields. The price of onion is already on the decline. The government will have to raise public investment in agriculture, enhance productivity and build rural infrastructure to rejuvenate agriculture. |
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Deserved punishment ONE
cannot recall many instances — besides that of Dhanu involved in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination — in which a woman has been handed the death sentence. But then, one has also not heard of many cases in which a woman has killed her mother, father and other family members. That is what Sonia, with the help of her husband Sanjeev, did to former Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia, his wife and other family members. Among those done to death were three children, the youngest only 45 days old. That is why the Supreme Court has restored the capital punishment awarded to the couple by the sessions court but which was commuted to life imprisonment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It was on August 23, 2001, that Sonia and Sanjeev attacked Punia and family members while they were sleeping at their farmhouse near Barwala. Sonia, who was 21 then, had feared that her parents would give a major share of the property to her stepbrother. Driven by greed, the killers hit Punia, his wife, son, daughter-in-law, daughter and three children one after the other with an iron rod. The two convicts had congratulated each other after the killing spree and Sanjeev had, according to the trial court judgement, repeatedly said that punishment for one murder and 10 murders was the same. The Supreme Court has described the act as “diabolic of the most superlative degree in conception and cruel in execution”. It went on to observe: “If this act is not revolting or dastardly, it is beyond comprehension as to what other act can be so”. It is to be noted that the apex court has handed four death sentences in two cases in a span of 48 hours — a rarity. Besides Sonia and Sanjeev, two Karnataka youths have been sentenced to death for raping and murdering an 18-year-old girl. They had made a series of attempts to violate women of Badrenahalli village in Karnataka before raping the victim and killing her to escape attention. The message from the highest court to the criminals could not be clearer. |
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V-Day capers Another Valentine’s Day has passed off, peacefully for the most part but not without the party poopers of the Hindutva brigade and some extremist Muslim outfits, too, raining on the parade. Given the antagonisms that are worked up every year by forces like the Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal against the celebration of Valentine’s Day, one wonders if these organisations have any serious political or social programmes. If they do, then why are they so obsessed with a small section of urban India celebrating V-Day? They rant and rave that V-Day celebrations are against Hindu culture and an import from the “decadent West”; they rail against the festivities as being corrupt and immoral; and then mobilise hordes to disrupt parties, come down on shops that sell V-Day cards and target couples who dare to display their affection in public. Although the Hindutva forces no longer enjoy the support of their party being in power at the Centre, they are determined to persist with their campaign to communalise society and mindsets. This alone can explain their rabid opposition to something as harmless as celebrations of V-Day. They have invested the day with more meaning — and threat — than those who actually celebrate it. Valentine’s Day is just another excuse for young couples to have fun, celebrate their love and togetherness with parties or outings. It has no religious or political significance of any sort. In fact, if it is gaining popularity among a small section, it is more because of the marketing skills of those in the fast-moving consumer goods business. Anything suffices as a peg to sell products — from greeting cards and gifts to clothes and style accessories. It is no more of a “cultural” event than the trade fairs and melas that are held the year round in different cities. Yet, if certain Hindutva organisations have latched on to it, it is because it gives them an occasion to demonstrate their intolerance and set themselves up as a culture police. They could be laughed at if they are not such a threat to civil democracy. But since they pose a threat to traditions of tolerance, the organisations must be resisted by all right-thinking and secularist-minded people. |
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In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. — Anthony J. D’Angelo
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Defence forces and pay panels
THE
government has constituted the Sixth Pay Commission to review the pay
and allowances etc of central government employees. Many economists
have questioned the wisdom of constituting a pay commission at this
stage and phase of the country’s economy. Be that as it may, here we
are concerned with the expectations and hopes of the defence personnel
who have been persistently wronged in the past. The defence forces constitute nearly 40 per cent of the central government employees; their officers, forming the largest officer cadre amongst the central services. Consequently, better part of the exertions of a pay commission ought to relate to their case. The Fifth Pay Commission’s report runs into over 2100 pages, in three volumes, out of which, just over 50 pages pertain to the case of defence forces. The commission assembled a staff of nearly 150 officers to assist it, in working out the details of pay, allowances, etc of central government employees, and prepare the report. It took officers from Postal Service, BSF, Forest Service, etc for this
task, but none from the defence services. The committee of secretaries constituted to review the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission took an officer from the police on the committee, but none from the defence services. Besides much else, the commission gave a brigadier more pension than a major-general. A brief review of the attitude of the previous pay commissions and the government towards the defence forces would be in order. The Post War Committee, ostensibly to rationalise the pay structure of the armed forces, linked it to that of the civil services as “determined,” basing on the report of the First Pay Commission. On the pretext of simplicity, “all-inclusive” pay was introduced; withdrawing all allowances. No such reduction was introduced in the case of other civil services. This came to be known as New Pay Code, which was not applied to the King’s Commissioned Officers (KCIOs). Since they formed the top echelons in the army then, their silence was bought in this manner. Later some allowances had to be re-introduced. In the case of those below officer rank, their pay was dropped by one third. However, they were given a princely sum of Rs 5 per month to compensate for hardships of military life, but there was no such relief for officers. Surprisingly, the case of defence services was not looked at by the pay commission, but by a departmental committee of the MoD. Same practice was followed in the case of the Second Pay Commission and nothing came of it. The Third Pay Commission was, for the first time, entrusted with the task of determining pay and allowances of defence personnel. The commission wanted to hear the defence services case directly from the armed forces. However, the MoD came up with the preposterous contention that the, “requirement of discipline in the armed forces does not permit them to put up their case direct to the Pay Commission.” Further the Pay Commission was not required to go into the issue of service conditions of defence personnel but was to take these as ‘given.’ Equally unbelievable is the acceptance of this untenable and absurd stance of the MoD by the defence forces on the one hand and by the commission on the other. This methodology resulted in the creeping back of the “all-inclusive” concept with the attendant disadvantages and washing away of the corrections that had been brought in to soften the “all inclusive” character of the pay structure. The Third Pay Commission, after examinations of the advantages and disadvantages of military career, came up with the incredulous conclusion that advantages outweigh disadvantages. Truncated careers, extremely limited promotions, long separations from families, limited family accommodation in peace stations, hard living conditions in uncongenial and difficult areas, risk to life and limb and a hundred other travails, which are associated with military life and recognised the world over, were seen as great benefits of military career. In every country of the world these travails are termed as “X” factor and fully compensated through pay, perks, pensions and relief in income tax etc, but not in India. To compensate for limited promotions in the defence forces and to soften the blows of the earlier Pay Commissions, the service chiefs, at best, were able to get ‘running pay band” for officers from the Fourth Pay Commission. Further upto the rank of brigadiers, rank pay was added to the basic pay. However, due to some mischief, an amount equal to the rank pay was deducted from the basic pay. This continued over a span of 10 years, affecting nearly 50000 officers. While a high court has told the government to “pay-up” the amount thus deducted, the latter has taken the case to the Supreme Court and that is where the matter rests now. For the purpose of pension, defence personnel remained equated with civilian employees, consequently condition of 33 years service to earn full pension stayed, placing the former at a great disadvantage. First you retire 90 to 95 per cent after 17/25/28 years of service and then tell them, sorry you cannot get full pension, as you did not complete 33 years of service. This is Indian Government’s version of natural justice and fair play. The Fifth Pay Commission took away the running pay band and further lowered the status of service officers. It too did not accept the “X” factor. It sought views from the IDSA, an organ of the MoD, which made a host of outlandish and irrelevant recommendations. Such as reduction of strength of the army by 35 per cent, disbandment of RR units etc, and that at a time when army’s commitments in the NE and J and K were on the increase. Further the Service Chiefs were excluded from all the disadvantages introduced in the pay and allowances of all ranks: not without a purpose. Successive pay commissions, aided and abetted by the government, have made service in the military so unattractive that besides lingering deficiency of nearly 13000 officers, lower standards of intake not withstanding, there is near exodus from the service. Between 2001 and 2004, in all 2000 officers applied to leave the army. These included 2 Lt-Gens, 10 Maj-Gens, 84 Brigadiers, and the rest Colonels and below. In all 1472 were allowed to leave. The situation in the IAF is more distressing. How many from the IAS, IPS and other central services have opted to leave! Can there be a more convincing inequality between the civil services and service in the military and its unattractiveness! The Sixth Pay Commission must look at the service conditions of defence personnel and the imperatives of the applicability of “X” factor in their case. ‘Running pay band’ must be reintroduced, truncated careers should be compensated by grant of 75 per cent of last pay drawn as pension. NDA and IMA cadets should get pay and not stipend and their stay with these academies should be counted towards service, as is the practice everywhere. The Pay Commission needs to study the practices followed in the UK, the US and other democracies in respect of pay and allowances of their defence forces and relate these to India’s armed forces. Within various services, equation should be sought in the sum total of pay including allowances drawn in full length of service and to that should be added the “X” factor in the case of the military. The government must refrain from taking advantage of the good discipline of defence personnel. It must act in good faith and exercise fair play. Finally, what one gets in the military are peanuts. Peanuts will attract
monkeys.
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Onion’s tale
I
resemble
a bulb but I do not emit light — though I ignite the digestive fire. I do not have eyes but I bring tears if mashed or pierced. I am available everywhere, from a poor man’s kitchen, roadside dhaba or restaurant to a five-star hotel. I am called “the musk of the poor” but in times of scarcity I make them groan while the stockist grins. I am a liliaceous plant, Allium
cepa, available in red, yellow and white varieties and have been grown since ancient times for culinary and medicinal purposes along with my edible relatives — garlic, shallots, chives and leeks. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans considered me an essential component of food as early as 3000 BC. I kept the builders of pyramids strong and healthy. I was particularly used to allay thirst, increase libido and treat cholera and snake-bite cases. Worn as a talisman, I “protected” farmers from vampires in the Mediterranean region. I provided stamina and strength to the soldiers of Olympia and was applied as paste or poultice over bruises or wounds. In the Russian Orthodox Church architecture, the roof ending in a sharp point became popular as the onion dome. In Indian villages, my peeled bulbs were hung near burning lamps to keep off mosquitoes or used to make rosaries to safeguard children from fever and infectious diseases. Magicians, sorcerers and tantriks wrote secret messages on paper using the juice of my flesh as ink. The message became visible on heating. The Taittiriya Upanishad identifies food with Brahma. But religious men put me in the category of tamasic food (having a stimulating quality). Grammarian Panini prohibited my use among the high castes. I was never part of offerings to a priest and was shunned in ritual meals. I was believed to rouse passions and hence considered a taboo during the
Vratas. The taboo continues. My pungent smell earned me such names as durgandha (having bad smell), mukhadushaka (mouth-spoiling) and yavaneshta (dear to aliens). However, centuries ago, sages like Atreya and Dhanwantri recommended me for health benefits. Women of the Shaka tribe kept themselves fit by eating me. An ancient king of Vidisha is said to have cured himself of glaucoma by slicing me for hours at a stretch. Today, celebrated yogi Ramadeva recommends my juice mixed with that of ginger, lemon and honey as a panacea for eye ailments. In Europe, some restaurants serve the decoction of my pulp to the inebriated so that they may drive home safely. Besides my usefulness, I embody the mystery of existence — peel me layer by layer yet no one can reach my
being.
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Delhi’s Master Plan is for
vested interests The Supreme Court, in its order of February 12, has stayed the sealing operations of commercial establishments on roads which have been designated as ‘mixed land-use streets’ under the new Master Plan for Delhi (2001-2021). At the same time, however, the Court has indicated that it would scan the provisions of the Plan from a practical angle during the hearings from April 7 to 10. In this connection, it has, as reported in a national daily, significantly observed: “Theoretically, it may appear to be a masterpiece and not a Master Plan. If so, then it can be hung on the wall for others to appreciate but in practice, it will have no value”. In the course of the hearings, the ground-level flaws of the new Plan may well be spotted out and exposed. It would also become clear what a wide gap our leadership, irrespective of party labels, keeps between what it says and what it does. This leadership has been incessantly talking of the need for good governance and elimination of corruption. But through the Master Plan, it has endorsed all malpractices, political as well as bureaucratic, and condoned all acts of civic corruption and misgovernance. Take, for example, the case of unauthorised colonies which have been regularised. The Supreme Court would, in all probabilities, discover how such colonies have been regularised on the eve of every municipal, state and central elections. It may also ask under what law these colonies have been regularised, what principles or norms have been followed, what by-laws, zoning or municipal regulation have been made applicable on them and who would pay for the provisions of infrastructure and civic services – the violators of laws or the general tax payers? Likewise, in respect of the serious problems of parking and circulation of traffic that would be caused by the combined effect of commercialisation of 2183 roads and raising of additional storeys in thousands of residential units, the Master Plan merely contents itself by saying that “3 equivalent car spaces” for every 100 sq. mt. of commercial area would be provided. The Supreme Court is unlikely to be satisfied by this bland statement. It may want to know where are the lands on which additional parking spaces would be created for the individuals and the community? If multi-level parking is to be built, whose lands would be acquired? If such lands belong to law-abiding citizens, would not acquisition imply putting them to hardship to give unmerited facilities to law breakers? Were the views of the traffic police sought in writing or any environmental impact assessment got done before allowing additional commercialisation on thousands of streets? It would not be easy for the authorities to provide satisfactory answers to the above questions. Already, Delhi is reckoned as one of the noisest cities in the world and has the highest rate of road accidents per one thousand vehicles. And this is what Human Development Report, 2006, has to say about Delhi’s sewerage system: “A large proportion of the city’s 5,600 km feeder sewers are silted and less than 15 per cent of the trunk sewer is functioning”. The city’s water and power shortages are well known. Today, it is extracting ground water at a rate three times higher than its replenishment capacity. Clearly, the new Master Plan is not the handiwork of professionals but of vested interests who do not understand the attributes of a city or the rationale of a Master Plan. A city is a living organism. Like a human entity, it has both a structure and a soul. Congenial, creative and constructive living requires that, while city’s soul must reflect its inner urges for peace, progress, justice and order, its structure must provide for physical, social and cultural needs of man - his need for shelter, work, institutions, community living, civic amenities etc. A good Master Plan for a city is the one which elevates its life and attempts to create a healthy structure and a healthy soul. It is a blue-print for the future, a vision document which reflects the longings of a community for a better tomorrow. It rejects what is clumsy and cruel in the past and preserves and protects what is beautiful and inspiring. It assesses the current trends and corrects them if they are undermining either the ecosystem or the general environment of the city. It ensures that the present needs are met without closing the options for an improved future. Holistic approach constitutes its inner core, and sustainable development serves as its guiding star. Its ultimate aim is to attain higher quality of life and build a more prosperous, just, secure and value-oriented city, rooted in honesty, non-acquisitiveness and nobility of mind. Against these requirements, what does the Delhi Master Plan 2001-2021 do? It treats the city like a lifeless entity, with no soul, no higher sense of purpose and direction. It makes no attempt to collect the dismembered threads and weave them into a coherent pattern. It merely dances to the tune of vested interests. It declares that ‘illegal’ would be ‘legal’, ‘foul’ would be ‘fair’, principles of town planning would be followed in breach and it would not be the ravishers of the city but their victims that would be penalised. Petty-politics is its prime motivation and short-termism its only goal. A good example of formulating and implementing sound Master Plans for cities is provided by the manner in which, as a part of the first Master Plan for Delhi (1962-1982), large areas were acquired and a substantial portion of them were developed as huge ‘greens’ around the historical monuments - Hauz Khas (250 hectares); Siri Fort (100 hectares) etc. The objective was three-fold: (i) to protect the architectural heritage of a historic city; (ii) to create vibrant lungs for the future; and (iii) to provide long walkways and places for enjoyment of nature. The current approach is exactly the opposite. It helps the predatory elements, who are presently active in the city, be they land-grabbers, builders of illegal spaces, creators of unauthorised colonies or convtertors residential limits into commercial establishment. It jeopardise the future and does not bother to consider what kind of problems would be bequeathed to our children and grand-children. The extent of damage that this approach has caused can be seen from the fact that Delhi today is saddled with about 1500 unauthorised colonies, 1300 ‘Jhuggi-Jhompri’ clusters and thousands of individual illegal extensions and conversions. They now hang, like dead albatrosses, around the city’s neck. Ironically, behind the smoke screen of Master Planning, these albatrosses are being made a permanent feature of Delhi’s landscape and, if I may say so, of its mindscape as well. Accommodation and rationalisation of all illegalities and cover up of all acts of corruption would further pollute the soul of Delhi and make people more acquisitive and self-centred. The writer is a former Union Minister of Urban Development
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Give way to the right Chandigarh
is yet to realise fully how close it came to a calamity last week when an LPG truck overturned near the Sector 20-21 roundabout on the Tribune road. Had there been a leakage, a conflagration was a distinct possibility. Yet, the roads leading to the chowk were not declared out of bounds. The LPG truck remained lying there for nearly 24 hours, with traffic plying nearby regardless.
This kind of cavalier attitude can claim hundreds of lives but is displayed nonchalantly despite accidents taking place regularly. In fact, the truck itself overturned because of the devil-may-care approach so familiar on Indian roads. The truck was negotiating the roundabout when a car suddenly rushed in. The truck driver applied the brakes hard to avoid a collision and lost balance in the process. This was an extreme form of the drama played out at the city’s roundabouts day in and day out. It is a free for all there with people rushing in from all sides, leading to frayed tempers and totally avoidable traffic jams. Nobody seems to have any idea who has the right of the way. Perhaps the policemen are equally ignorant as they can be seen scolding those who were in the right. Roundabouts are not an Indian innovation and are found all over the world. They manage traffic efficiently everywhere except in our country. The universal law is that whosoever has entered the roundabout first has the right of the way. In other words, traffic on the right has the priority. Putting it still differently, you have to be on guard only when you are just entering the roundabout. After that, till you exit it, nobody else is supposed to cut your way from your left. But look what happens here. People can block your way from any side. Since there is no order, logjams are inevitable. Ask the police if it has ever held any drive to educate the public. There has been none. Signboards were put up some years ago but even these have vanished. Many people may have been challaned for jumping the traffic light or speeding. But I wonder if even one person has ever been confronted for entering the roundabout wrongly. The administration tries to take the easy way out, which in a way is the more difficult way out. When a particular roundabout starts having too many jams, the first thing it does is posting policemen there to direct traffic. But this can be done only for a few hours. After that, the police raises its hands in helplessness and then starts pleading for removing the roundabout or installing traffic lights there. Both these remedies are worse than the cure. Roundabouts are the pride of Chandigarh. Venice has its canals; Rome has its cobbled streets. Roundabouts are the distinctive landmarks of Chandigarh, which must not be demolished at any cost. Traffic chaos does not take place because of them but because of bad traffic management and enforcement. If the traffic is so heavy that there is no respite from the rush all through the day, traffic lights are unavoidable. But since that is not the case in Chandigarh, the administration must first go in for enforcing the traffic rules at the roundabouts. Policemen with loudspeakers should be there to guide drivers. That much should be enough to bring some order. After a few months of such education, it will be necessary to challan the violators. The rule which ordains that the traffic on the right has the right of the way does not apply to roundabouts alone. This is valid at every crossing. So, there is need for its enforcement not only in Chandigarh but all over the country. Now that the volume of vehicles has increased exponentially, it can be ignored only at great risk to human lives. Everyone who has spent hours trapped in snarl-ups – which were totally avoidable – should start a personal campaign to set things right.
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Inside Pakistan Claims by President Pervez Musharraf notwithstanding, both the presence and influence of the Taliban have been on the increase in different parts of Pakistan, particularly the tribal areas in North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan. Obviously, it is because of Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy. That is why an editorial in Daily Times (Feb 16) bluntly tells General Musharraf to “Ditch Taliban, save Pakistan!” The popular daily was commenting on General Musharraf’s Wednesday statement that the government “will not allow the Talibanisation of Pakistani society, nor allow the Taliban to impede development and prosperity”. The daily reminded him of the signals from the United States, “where more and more functionaries are now blaming Pakistan for sheltering the Taliban raiders with details that are difficult to deny.” The editorial further says: “No one can deny that, while the government is in denial (mode) about the presence of the Taliban in Pakistan, a large part of the Pakistani territory has been lost to municipal law through the establishment of mini-governments by warlords that swear allegiance to the Taliban and in many cases may have been trained in Al-Qaeda terrorist camps. This has happened in the tribal areas, but many adjacent ‘settled’ territories, too, are falling under the Taliban authority. “President Musharraf recognises the problem and may be the only powerful voice among the politicians of Pakistan to challenge this Talibanisation, but his challenge has so far proved quite ineffective, like his prescriptive philosophy of enlightened moderation.” Vision for N-power Pakistan has been feeling uneasy ever since India signed the nuclear deal with the US for peaceful purposes. Islamabad tried for a similar arrangement with the US but without success. Now it has come out with a new idea to be able to go in for nuclear trade. There are indications that it is planning to approach the Nuclear Suppliers Group in the near future. According to a report by Arifa Rana in Business Recorder, Feb 15, “Pakistan has proposed that nuclear reactors should be treated as ‘ordinary power plants’ run under full IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards. It has also hinted at initiating research in fast breeder reactors to meet its target of 8800 mw power from nuclear technology by 2030. “Vision 2030, prepared by the Planning Commission, indicates a major shift in Pakistan’s approach to meet its electricity demand in the future. It says that nuclear power plants are attractive in the context of the future world energy scenario. The new designs are safer, but worries about waste management or proliferation still persist.” The Vision document, as the report points out, has it that “Pakistan has built up a critical base of manpower, technology and expertise in this sector over the last 30 years, with the ability to design and build small reactors. It will be necessary to expand upon the existing base and to initiate research in fast breeder reactors.” The “Energy Security Plan” envisages a target of 8,800 mw of nuclear energy by 2030. “At 85 per cent capacity factor, the demand for natural uranium will be 1,600 tonnes per year by 2030. Exploration and mining of uranium in Pakistan will be intensified to meet the projected requirement as far as possible”, the report says. Criminals in khaki Pakistan’s Punjab government has been facing an embarrassing situation for some time because of a spurt in incidents of crime involving police officials. The provincial capital, Lahore, has been the worst hit. Under pressure from various quarters, the government has constituted a committee to weed out the corrupt among the police. But will it help bring down the crime graph? A well-argued editorial in Dawn says, “The idea is a good one, but can only work if it is properly and swiftly implemented. Also here in lies the problem. Had the police reforms of 2002 been implemented in the right spirit, the Chief Minister, on whose directive the committee has been formed, would not have had to resort to such stop-gap measures to address the current law and order situation.” The paper adds, “The people’s trust in the police has nosedived. It was hoped, for example, that the decision to separate the investigative branch from the day-to-day workings of the force would reduce the torturous methods used to extract confessions. Far from it, torture and illegal detentions continue to be part of the normal police investigation methods.” This means there is no difference in the functioning of the police on both sides of the political divide.
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Buddhism allows each individual to study and observe Truth internally and requires no blind faith before acceptance. Buddhism advocates no dogmas, no creed, no rites, no ceremonies, no sacrifice, no penances, all of which must usually be accepted on blind faith. Buddhism is not a system of faith and worship but rather it is merely a path to Supreme Enlightenment. The King must employ different methods to know the true motivations of his generals. No one should be trusted blindly to carry on the cause. Age, years of servitude, friendliness are no barriers to going over to the enemy's camp.
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