|
|
|
|
|
Terror for terror
Stocks take a hit |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Hic!
Some fast, all lo(o)se
Freedom fighters of a different genre
Almost unnoticeably the ornate sophistication of Indian jewellery, expressed and evolved over centuries into an
art of fine embellishment, is replaced by straight geometrical lines and functionality. Globally, jewellery design
and production is turning into a technological feat, and lesser of an aesthetic statement
|
Terror for terror
The
charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency ( NIA) against Swami Assemanand and others for planning and executing the blast in Samjhauta Express in 2007 that killed 68 passengers including 43 Pakistani citizens, should blunt criticism that India is not doing enough to bring the culprits to book. The charge sheet at the same time will add to the pressure on Pakistan to ensure that the plotters of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai are also tried and punished. The charge sheet is significant because, contrary to popular belief that Muslims are behind terror strikes, it has established links between terrorist activities and members of the dominant community. Hindus, and not Muslims, claims the charge sheet, engineered the terror strikes at Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif, Hyderabad and at Panipat. The blasts not just killed a large number of Muslims but had also acted as a red herring and sent police on a wild goose chase, arresting Muslims on suspicion. The charge sheet casts a shadow too over the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS). For an organisation that takes pride in discipline, it is hard to understand how half a dozen or more of its pracharaks could get involved in terrorist activities without the knowledge or approval of the leadership. The RSS does need to repudiate once and for all the “bomb ka badla bomb” or ‘terror for terror’ kind of vengeance. It seems the NIA has more substantial evidence than just the confession by the Swami against the five accused, of whom one is already dead, killed under mysterious circumstances, and two are absconding. Audio recordings recovered from a laptop seem to support the contention of the Swami that the strikes were plotted in his presence. The RSS has, however, been dismissive of the allegations, describing them as a perverse diversionary tactic dictated by the policy of appeasing Muslims. It will have to do better than that if it is to counter the evidence that will now be produced before the court. The NIA, which took over the case in July last year, deserves commendation for completing the investigation without losing much time. The litmus test, however, will be how successfully it prosecutes the accused.
|
|
Stocks take a hit
Although
India’s stock markets have been on a downtrend since the start of the year, the BSE Sensex’s 364-point fall on Monday was triggered by reports of a review of the tax treaty with Mauritius. Much of foreign investment in India is routed through Mauritius, where there is no tax on capital gains arising from investments in India. Also black money generated here is sent out and brought back through this tax haven. The double tax avoidance pact with Mauritius is responsible for heavy revenue losses in India, where capital gains are taxable. The government is under political pressure to plug revenue leaks and crack down on black money. The Sensex had plunged 556 points intra-day but recovered partly after the Finance Secretary clarified that India cannot arbitrarily impose the capital gains tax on Mauritius-based firms. Foreign institutional investors are regularly pulling money from India and bad news just hastens the process. There are domestic and global factors driving away foreign investment from stocks to safer destinations like gold and fixed deposits. Emerging economies like India are faced with high inflation, which has forced central banks to tighten money supply, leading banks to offer attractive interest rates. But the rising cost of capital is weighing on corporate profitability. Companies in the rate-sensitive sectors will be affected at least in the next two quarters. India has been one of the worst performing stock markets along with Tunisia and Egypt, which have witnessed political turmoil. The upheaval in the Middle East has sent oil prices skyrocketing. After touching a recent peak of $127 a barrel oil has retreated a bit but the future is uncertain. The International Energy Agency believes that high crude prices may derail growth in India and China. The global investment sentiment has also got a hit from the shaky recovery of the US economy. Fears of debt default by Greece have worsened the global investment climate. India faces internal and external threats to growth.
|
|
|
Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Hic!
Kabaddi, the game that is identified with Punjab and is widely popular in California and Canada, found an ‘official’ sponsor in the government of Punjab that organised the recent Kabaddi ‘World Cup’. The term has to be enclosed in inverted commas because there are, on an average, over a dozen events with a similar title in Punjab every year, and many more in other countries where the Punjabi diaspora has spread in sizable numbers, including Italy and Germany. The game, though overwhelmingly Punjabi dominated, also has an international flavour with Iranian and recently, Irish highlights. Of course, Kabaddi is widely popular in the thousands of rural sports festivals in the state. The Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Badal, took personal interest in the event, and it would be uncharitable to assume that this was just another way of attracting potential voters, especially the NRI, who would have a significant impact in the forthcoming polls. No, it was his commendable initiative to link the tournament to his necessary and noble endeavour of combating the menace of drug abuse in the state. What better way, you may think, of weaning youth from illicit temptations than to engage them in physical activities. Kabaddi matches are always a big draw, and there is much involvement in rural Punjab in the game and its players. Even in village-level tournaments, the raiders and the “japhas” who try to grab them are richly appreciated and impromptu rewards by spectators are the norm. Liquor companies are better known for their involvement in shooting calendars with swimsuit models in the high altitudes of Ladakh, or cerulean seaside resorts. Some local ones were, however, attracted to this very kabaddi tournament. Without any obvert advertisement, lest they violate judicial strictures, liquor and tobacco companies sponsoring sports events, they altruistically gave money for the promotion of kabaddi. Why, you may well ask. According to one version, they did it ‘for goodwill’. As for officials involved with the tournament, this misadventure has certainly cost them goodwill and left them open to many barbs.
|
|
|
I like men who have a future and women who have a past. — Oscar Wilde
|
Some fast, all lo(o)se The examination and university admission cut-off marks, at least in Delhi, have reached absurd limits. Other than in exact sciences, no one can score 100 per cent. In my time, 65-70 per cent in humanities spelt distinction. Today it is almost akin to failure with poor prospect of admission to a college or subject of choice, especially in the first or even second rounds. This is a most untidy method of “rationing” effective demand for higher education to a limited supply. Many good students with high marks opt out of the rat race by seeking admission abroad. Maybe, the proposed new grading system will help rationalise student ratings but will not answer the supply and vocational bottleneck. There is a real crisis here that the Knowledge Commission addressed. Speedy poverty alleviation demands high growth; but high growth will not be possible without a huge expansion in human resource development from the secondary level upwards. Quantitative expansion is not enough. Qualitative improvement is essential if India is to be competitive and innovative. Even our best colleges and universities rank poorly if at all in the world league. Education reform and expansion are under way - but not fast enough. Community colleges are a good innovation and many new private universities are coming up, some with elements of foreign collaboration. Alas, many fly-by-night operators, unscrupulous politicians and moneyed men have also entered the field of educational entrepreneurship and spawned a number of dubious medical, engineering and other institutions. The idea that the existing colleges of repute seek autonomy to expand and innovate and even spin off as universities has not really taken off. Land and resources are issues but in some instances academic unions have become ideological obstacles to progress. All this must change. Nothing is more important than education, which has suffered enduring neglect. Could civil society activate itself here, democratically and constructively as this concerns us all. Meanwhile, “civil society” continues to huff and puff and, in some instances, to tilt with windmills. The argument that the Prime Minister, the higher judiciary and MPs must come under an omnipotent and omnipresent Lokpal is exaggerated and does not warrant references to “indefinite fasts” though what Anna Hazare is now laying down is a deadline, August 16. What the country needs is not a “strong” Lokpal but an effective anti-corruption/black money mechanism howsoever constructed. Extra-constitutionalism is unacceptable and would be unworkable. Such dangerous claptrap must be eschewed. Consultation, yes; but outsourcing legislation to self-named crusaders speaks of supreme arrogance and contempt for democratic norms. The analogy with the National Advisory Council (mark its very name) is false and to say that “people” are superior to Parliament is to advocate mob rule and anarchy. Anna’s team appears to have embraced the Orwellian theory that “some are more equal than others”. Baba Ramdev stands exposed, much as Dhirendra Brahmachari, Chandraswamy and others of their ilk earlier. Now, intriguingly, an estimated Rs 300 crore worth of gold, silver and coins have been unearthed from Sai Baba’s personal living sanctum. While drawing no adverse inference, this surely calls for a credible explanation as declared wealth of this order would normally be accounted for and deposited in bank lockers. More tragic has been the death of the young Swami Nigamanand Saraswati in the same hospital he shared with Ramdev. He allegedly succumbed after 115 days of fasting to protest unsustainable sand mining in the Ganga at Haridwar. His guru, Shivanand, however, believes that he was poisoned by/in the hospital where he died. His parents were denied the right to conduct his last rites both by Shivanand and, curiously, the district administration as he was a sanyasi, and he was buried in a grave in the Maitri Sadan ashram near Haridwar. The case is to be sent to the CBI. Neglected while he fasted, Nigamanand has become a sad celebrity in death. This fast too was a case of using wrong means, howsoever worthy the stated ends. It was “emotional blackmail”. The lack of public ”emotion” while he fasted was because of the absence of minute-to-minute media coverage with perfervid anchors, panellists and party spokespersons sermonising and screaming imprecations at one another to nobody’s enlightenment. The media needs to introspect whether it is not becoming a false trumpet. The Bombay High Court very recently chided Medha Patkar for fasting against a Mumbai slum redevelopment project. It said, “Let’s stop these hunger strikes and start democratic governance in the country”. Apt words. Another question remains. Are these so-called “indefinite fasts”, “fasts unto death” and “hunger strikes” truly fasts or gimmickry? They do pretentiously mortify the flesh. Yet, of Ramdev’s nine-day fast, three or four were on saline. Nigamanand is said to have fasted for 104 days, which is medically impossible. Dehydration sets in possibly within 10-15 days (or less) and without an intravenous saline or glucose drip, or force-feeding through tubes (as in the case of Sharmilla Irom in Manipur), none can survive. However, some political fasts have been known to have been aided by surreptitious feeding. Nigamanand was admitted to the district hospital on April 19 and to the Himalayan Institute Trust Hospital in Dehra Dun on May 2. He was on drip in hospital though it is not clear as from which date. The other facet is that in some known cases, a fasting person would like to break his fast but is not allowed to do so by his followers who have a stake in his ”cause” or in their own pious self-glorification, which might even be better served by his death or “martyrdom”. Ramdev appeared most anxious to end his fast and some of his followers were desperately looking for some gesture by the government to enable him to save face. That did not come and intervention came from Sri Sri Ravishankar, who has since spoken most sagely on the subject of protest and fasting. Euthanasia is still banned in India though “passive taking of life” has been allowed. Should attempted suicide or its abetment be also made a criminal offence? This is a complex and sensitive issue but merits debate. Society cannot be periodically held up to ransom by blackmail and
humbug.
|
||||||||
Freedom fighters of a different genre The
freedom movement was fast gaining momentum and all of the military could not remain totally unaffected. During leave, members of the regiment came in contact with Congress workers and some revolutionaries. On return, they disseminated what was picked up during leave. A few nationalist newspapers too were secretly being brought into the regiment. Since all ranks, to the exclusion of British officers were in it, this development remained under warps. There were a few secret meetings where nationalist feelings were expressed openly and vociferously, by the more vocal. World War II had started and Indian troops were being moved to check the Italian offensive in North Africa. Soon this regiment too, received orders to move to that theatre of war. At one of the secrets meetings in the regiment it was unanimously decided by all personnel that they will decline to board the ship for move to North Africa to fight Britain’s war. The regiment was moved to Bombay, on way to the war zone. At Bombay it was ‘formed-up,’ by squadrons, on the railway platform to be taken by train to the dockyard for further transportation by sea. There was a light drizzle and the atmosphere was surcharged with expectations of frightful consequences, as squadrons waited to defy orders. Then the adjutant gave orders to the troops to board the train. The Dogra and Jat squadrons mounted the train, forgetting the collective decision not to go abroad to fight Britain’s war, while the Sikh squadron personnel kept standing and did not react to the adjutant’s order. The adjutant repeated the order and still the Sikh squadron did not respond. This disobedience by the Sikh squadron came as a great shock and surprise to the British officers of the regiment. The Sikh squadron had an enviable service record, spread over nearly a century, including during World War I and its personnel were considered fine soldiers, valiant, imbued with the spirit of sacrifice, loyal and true to their cause and oath. The squadron was ordered to ‘ground arms,’ which the personnel dutifully did. Thereafter they were marched off to the barracks and placed under arrest. Several court martials were held. The charge was one of mutiny. Many were sentenced to be hanged, more were sentenced to life imprisonment, some others to varying lengths of prison terms. The remaining cashiered from service and the squadron was disbanded. At the centenary raising day celebrations of the regiment in the late fifties, some from that squadron too came to join in the activities. Most amongst them had served life imprisonment and some others lesser terms, while the remaining had been cashiered from service. They had no regret for their action, nor any bitterness or rancour towards those, who had betrayed the collective decision not to fight Britain’s war, or remorse for the sufferings they had to undergo. They had acted according to their light, suffered much, lost everything and wanted no recompense for their tribulations. They too were freedom fighters, but of an altogether different
genre.
|
||||||||
Almost unnoticeably the ornate sophistication of Indian jewellery, expressed and evolved over centuries into an
art of fine embellishment, is replaced by straight geometrical lines and functionality. Globally, jewellery design
and production is turning into a technological feat, and lesser of an aesthetic statement
When
a German Company Niessing unveiled the first "Tension-Ring" in 1979, it was one of those moments when jewellery design had arrived to meet the 21st century head-on. This unique, simplistic looking engineering marvel of jewellery design was a timeless finger ring that held a gemstone under spring-loaded pressure, free of prongs, bezels or other conventional methods of setting. Exerting 12,000-50,000 pounds of pressure per square inch (psi) the alloy mixed gold and platinum rings held diamonds and sapphires as if suspended magically in mid-air. Winning multiple design awards around the world with its iterations, the ring made it into the permanent collections of prestigious institutions such as Grassimuseum in Leipzig, Kunstindustrimuseet in Oslo, Technical Museum in Vienna and the Museum of Art and Handicrafts in Hamburg in 2003. After the end of World War II, jewellery designers started experimenting with new designs, thinking outside the box and seeking abstract expressions with wearable art adornments. A new palette of materials entered the arena of design; including plastics, aluminium, carbon-fibre, Precious Metal Clay (PMC), artificial gemstones like moissanite (a diamond substitute) and cultured pearls. While the west has its waves of antique, vintage, retro and the eclectic styles, India has the depth and an unsurpassed vast richness of visual vivacity stretching back to the Indus Valley civilization, celebrating the longest continuous legacy of the body adorned through millennia.
Beauty Underlined From the adornments of temple dancers to the commissioned fineries of maharajas and their many queens, to the earthy richness of jewellery worn by tribals , India has given birth to countless forms of folk, classical, devotional and expressive styles of ornamental creativity transcending the boundaries of art and craftsmanship. Over the centuries, the solah shringars (16 adornments) have absorbed layers of international influences rendered through subtle improvisations drawing from the Greek, Macedonia, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and other European sensibilities while retaining the guild of the classical traditionalist. Polki, kundan keshri, lac, pearl, minakari, navratna, pachchikam, jadau, thalikootam, and others offer variations in ornamentation for birth, marriage, festivals, rituals, ceremonies, occult, illness, ill-effects of astrological star positions, offerings, with variations in anklets, amulets, bangles, necklaces, turban crests, rings, talismans, bracelets, scabbards, shields etc., extending into weapons and allied embellishments. Indian traditions have often extolled the virtues of the inherent power of the materials that make up the jewellery. The Vedic traditions ascribe purity to gold and channelling of energies through the medium of gems.
A statement by machines
Jewellery making uses different production techniques, including stamping, casting, engraving and laser etching. The last two decades have seen the deployment of computers in object recognition, 3D Scans, CAD-CAM (computer aided design/modelling) systems and rapid prototyping using biocompatible resin, titanium and stellite processing and craftsmanship, creating new collections and new possibilities of complex designs. Current CAD/CAM software systems are capable of not only providing 3D solid and surface models, but aid changing of textures, settings and 360 rotation allowing designers to produce precise tooling grade patterns ready for casting or mould-making. The late 20th century saw the blending of European design with oriental techniques such as mokume-gane (mixed metal laminate with distinctive patterns originally used by Japanese in forging samurai swords back in 17th century), hydraulic die forming, anti-clastic raising, fold-forming, reactive metal anodizing, shell forms and photo-etching, as artisan jewellery continues to grow both as a hobby and a profession. Rhino 3D is another computer-aided tool customized to aid jewellery design to produce visually stunning precision surfaces on a small scale with its ability to produce exceptionally realistic renderings using Brazil, Flamingo, V-Ray, or Maxwell, and is used extensively by the Indian designers. Rhino's STL (stereo-lithography) read/write capability with tools, for making the STL solid definition absolutely water tight makes it valuable to wax printing technologies such as those from Solid Scape. For a lay person, what it does is to create a mesh-like exterior ensuring poly-surface connectivity over joints and surface couplings. Also popular with Jewellers are desktop CNC Milling Machines from Roland DG, which have developed interfaces with Rhino. For other desktop milling machines, the G-codes that drive them can be created with RhinoCAM enhanced with added plug-ins. Stereo-lithography and hard model technologies are the future of the jewellery industry.
Display dazzle
Designed to dazzle, jewellery stores around the world have taken the power of glitter beyond the brand. Attracting customers and drawing them into the romance of remembrance has become a highly evolved exercise in sensual psychology and subtle signals. Apart from the mechanics of managing the functional requirements of viewability through UV coated glass, case lighting that does not distort the colour of the stones and pressure and laser guided security triggers, the stores are increasingly focused on the art of sparkle. From mannequins, light-boxes, art, sculpture, carpets, rich wood, textured leatherite, slat-wall panels, colour, graphics, mirrors to mood music, there has been a continued experimentation to enhance the shopping experience and to promote loosening of purse strings, stay mesmerized and perhaps return for yet another addictive buying experience that entices the senses. Even when there is no direct sale, the visual presence of a memorable brand continues to reinforce the primal magical mystery of the sparkle.
Future Trends
While globalisation and mobility of Indians travelling abroad has increased exponentially, changing the socio-economic outlook in fashion chic, the fashion jewellery industry is influenced more by the shortage in supply of raw materials and a steep hike in the prices leading to a cut-throat competition among the countries hosting polishing. This has led to a shortage in the supply of polished semi-precious stone creating a shortage for manufacturers of finished custom and retail jewellery and resulted in a noticeable shift of the industry to countries offering low labour-cost on production and polishing. Changing fashion trends towards different designs, work-place etiquette in acceptable accessories, domestic needs and college-going student population guided by western influences and branding are changing the demand equation for what is cool and passé in each seasonal quadrant. The retail sector has also been affected due to competition from other luxury jewellery and accessories with semi-precious and precious stones and metals making their mark on pendants, belts, sun-glasses, cuff-links, key-chains, shoe-buckles, hand-bags, gift-pens, watches and tie-pins, largely in the developed economies where consumer sophistication is growing steadily. (The author is a renowned museum
planner and designer whose museum assignments span 11 countries.)
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
