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Talks with Zardari Unwarranted strike |
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Mining mafia
Stocktaking by
Congress
Bearing beer
friends
A tale of two
hundred years
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Unwarranted strike Jewellers
across the country have called off their three-week-old strike on an assurance from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The 2012-13 Union budget proposed a 1 per cent excise duty on unbranded jewellery which can be reconsidered only when Parliament reassembles in May. The makers of branded jewellery already pay the tax but 94 per cent of the work is handled by the unorganised sector. The jewellers had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mukherjee for a review of the budgetary proposal. They say they do not mind paying the gold import duty which has been doubled to 4 per cent but the levy of the excise duty entails a lot of paperwork, which small traders cannot handle, apart from harassment by excise inspectors. The Finance Minister has valid reasons for levying the excise duty. Given Indians’ craze for gold, its prices have shot up in recent years. Parents buy gold for their children at the time of marriage as part of tradition and to give them a sense of economic security. Unaccounted money also finds its way in the jewellery market. No wonder, India has overtaken China to become the largest gold importer in the world. After oil, gold accounts for the maximum outflow of dollars, thus weakening the rupee. Mukherjee wants to discourage imports and shore up the country’s current account deficit. Besides, gold is an unproductive asset and heavy private investment in gold does no good to the economy. The real reason for the jewellers’ strike is not the excise duty, which is negligible. It is the fact that the new tax will discourage the flow of black money in gold buying as every transaction above Rs 2 lakh will require a PAN card. The VAT, already payable on jewellery, and the excise duty will require an audit and attract taxmen in case of tax evasion. Jewellers with a turnover of less than Rs 5 crore are exempted from the tax. While there is need to rein in harassment by taxmen, the jewellers have no justification for not paying tax.
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Mining mafia
Illegal
mining is rampant in the country and recently, we have had an incident in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district where an IPS officer fell prey to the people who were engaged in this activity. In Himachal Pradesh, the Minister of Industries has complained publicly against the mining mafia. In Punjab, too, The Tribune exposed the rampant illegal mining in the Sutlej riverbed in Ropar district. Illegal mining goes on with impunity, and even though it may seem obvious, it is necessary to state that it is simply impossible for illegal mining to continue without the collusion or tacit approval of powerful vested interests. It seems that there is almost nothing that can stop this unless the media highlights some particular instances, or the courts take notice of these activities in certain areas. Vast strips of land lie barren, ravaged by illegal mining. Immense environmental damage is caused by it and no matter how often the media spotlight is brought upon it and there is a respite brought in often through judicial intervention, the activity continues. It is fuelled in part by a construction boom with an insatiable need for raw materials. When a significant amount of material is extracted from illegal mining, the state loses a major amount of revenue. The consumer, too, is a loser, since cartelisation ‘fixes’ prices and thwarts competition. Besides, illegal activity on such a scale is by itself a threat to the orderly conduct of administration. Illegal miners sometimes over-exploit the areas where they have been given permission to mine, or they mine in areas where they do not have any permission to do so. They also evade taxes by resorting to unscrupulous ways and means, including intimidation. It is high time that steps are taken to bring a degree of transparency to the allotment of licences. Rules also need to be enforced to ensure that the designs of illegal miners are thwarted. A competitive mining sector, operating within the law of the land, would be an ideal which only long-range vision and persistence can help bring about.
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Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. — Anthony J. D'Angelo
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Stocktaking by Congress There
comes a time in the life of a political party, particularly in the case of one as hoary as the Congress, when it must take stock of its failings. Thus the
chintan baithak Congress style that was undertaken by Mr Rahul Gandhi on the party’s poor showing in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after he had put in much effort was in order. The result of the undertaking was in line with expectations. The significance was in what was left unsaid. In a sense, the Congress is a prisoner of its past, in many ways a glorious one. It was never a cadre-based party in the manner of the Communist parties or the cadre-based Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which provides the sinews for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Initially, it relied on the record of its independence struggle and the charismatic figure of Jawaharlal Nehru, a legacy furthered by his daughter Indira Gandhi in her own, more cynical manner. Then came Rajiv Gandhi to power in tragic circumstances. He ruled and stumbled after a spectacular victory and in turn met an untimely end even as he seemed poised for a return to power. But it was Indira who broke the hallowed connection between the party and the grassroots worker, the strength of an organisation that was fostered by a long Independence struggle. She was impatient, was fighting a party machine to assert her own power and supremacy. Having emerged victorious over the old guard, she centralised authority in the party and the government. Indira wanted results. It thus came about that she patronised wheeler-dealers and ‘doers’ who could deliver, almost to the exclusion of the methods they employed – a few of them still remain in the power structure. The cherished grassroots men and women who worked at the local level were disdained. The growth of regional leaders was stunted because loyalty to Indira was more important than a leader’s ability to garner local and regional influence. In essence, Indira transformed India’s parliamentary structure into a presidential one. Events leading to the imposition of the internal Emergency brought issues to a head and its aftermath – the emergence of the short-lived rule of the disparate Janata Party government and its many successor regimes – are a vivid chapter in the nation’s history. Suffice it to say in the present context that though the Congress returned to power and even cobbled a majority under Narasimha Rao in controversial circumstances, the party was seeking firm moorings. Even as Ms Sonia Gandhi sought to live the life of a private person after the murder of her husband, the clamour of drafting her in aid of the party grew over the years as the Congress sought the perch it was most comfortable with, power. Many Congress leaders knew instinctively that only a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family could provide the spark that would see a new dawn for the party. The relatively long period of the BJP-led Vajpayee government at the Centre left the Congress few choices except to wait and hope. And as Ms Sonia Gandhi campaigned across the country with gusto in the 2004 general election in her imperfect Hindi, she connected with people and the result was the surprising emergence of the Congress as the single largest party, which enabled it to cobble a United Progressive Alliance. Given the drum-beating by the BJP over her “foreign origin”, Ms Sonia Gandhi took the wise decision of spurning the prime ministership in favour of Dr Manmohan Singh. And she repeated the exercise five years later after getting her party a bigger majority. It is no secret that the choice for office was determined by the realisation that Ms Sonia Gandhi would continue to exercise real authority as Congress president and the Prime Minister would keep the seat warm for her son Rahul once he had completed his political apprenticeship. After the realisation sank in that the Congress had gradually lost support in the Hindi heartland over the years either to the regional parties or the BJP, Rahul’s task was cut out. It proved a tougher exercise than assumed because there was little organisational framework left and the hope that the family would serve as a magic wand to attract votes nevertheless proved illusory. The result of the UP assembly elections, therefore, presents a new dilemma for the Congress. Has the Family lost its magic? Or has the traditional configuration for success for the party in attracting Muslim and Dalit votes with the support of Brahmins become dated? The Dalits are grouped under the assertive leadership of Ms Mayawati and Muslims have other regional choices. Besides, the very compulsion of promoting Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister to aid Rahul’s future is being called into question. Dynasty politics has become a recognizable framework in the Indian scheme of things. It is being replicated in other parties and is a familiar phenomenon in the states. There was logic to the claim made by Mr Jaganmohan Reddy after the accidental death of his father that the Andhra Chief Minister’s gaddi should go to him. Denied what he thought was his due, he left the Congress to form his party. Similarly, there is something to be said for his argument that his family’s great wealth was being called into question only because he went against the Congress, not while his father was in office adding to the family kitty. The sons and, less often, daughters of leaders demand the right of succession as their due. It is taken for granted that Sukhbir Singh Badal should succeed his father Parkash Singh Badal as Punjab Chief Minister. Akhilesh Yadav has already succeeded his father in Uttar Pradesh. In Tamil Nad, two brothers are fighting over appropriating the legacy of their father, M. Karunanidhi, DMK president and former chief minister. If Rahul Gandhi has stumbled in playing his political innings in UP, nobody denies him his right to claim leadership to the family’s legacy. Rather, it calls into question his ability to win. And that in the Congress lexicon is a fatal flaw. An unwritten rule in the party is that the leader enjoys kingly or queenly authority but in exchange he or she must deliver the party victory. The compact is broken if he or she cannot deliver. No one doubts that Rahul will be fielded as the Congress party’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general election. He does not have much time to learn the ropes before
then.
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Bearing beer friends Recently, my husband got off drinks. His large circle of so-called friends has suddenly vanished. Or they seem to have banished him from their social circuit for shunning what they love the most, their muse. Not that I nurture a grouse against them, but the relationship of being friends has become one of give and take. The degree of friendship keeps varying with age. As a toddler, mom’s the best friend because she is the nucleus of a child’s existence. At ages three and four, they want to even get married to their father or mother as per their inclination. Children at the school level get the best buddies. They think them to be greater support system than even their parents. See, how human mind keeps evolving getting to differentiate right and wrong as per the development of the brain. Because the lines in the brain aren’t as developed as in a ‘mature’ man or woman, they go by the instinct. Strong instinct develops into friendship, friendship into companionship. In terms of friendship between opposite sexes, the more time you spend together, the more you get used to each other. When the mind is always preoccupied with a particular person’s thoughts, it gets obsessed. The brain gets conditioned to his or her presence. When out of sight it revolts, so there you are back to your so-called ‘love’. The moment you start seeking give and take and if it doesn’t get fulfilled, the ‘pro’ vibes turn anti and a break-up follows. Reverting back, friends are like beer mugs. Beer mugs, though big, long and ‘good looking’, if they remain unused for a longer time, you hide them in the back of beyond in the crockery ‘almirah’. If they are used frequently, you keep them casually in the front rows, you don’t really savour them. All the parties that I had hosted with so much love seem to have been wasted, waking up till the wee hours to give them company, serving fresh round of ‘chappatis’ in the middle of the night, aching shoulders, landlord’s murmurs the next morning. A few usual compliments ‘oh, how nice’, a few inquiries on recipes is all that I earned. In the cities and amongst scribes especially, nobody extends a formal invitation, just a passing ‘Come home, whenever!’ and that too when they reach out for their car door. What a waste of
time!
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A tale of two hundred years
James Joyce and George Orwell dismissed his genius. But, 200 years after he was born, and 176 years
after the publication of his first novel, Charles Dickens is still revered, criticised and widely read
There are a few writers and few works of fiction that seem to fascinate generations and generations of critics and readers. No matter how much has been said and written about them, it is never enough. Fewer still are regarded with more honour as time passes. The volume of criticism on them may be daunting, but each successive historical period offers refreshing points of view, thereby, contributing towards immortalising the author and his works. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is next only to William Shakespeare in his sustained appeal and an ever growing readership. Like Shakespeare, Dickens is larger than his critics. Working through volumes of criticism on Dickens, one realises that
most critics sooner than later refer to Dickens as 'comic
entertainer', 'inventive fantasist', 'caricaturist', 'moralist',
'responsible social realist', 'mighty preacher', 'dark symbolist' and
'social reformer'. In addition, Dickens's characterisation is praised
for its 'energy of presentation' through which his protagonists are
'larger than life' and seem to possess 'insides that are larger than
the outside.' So diverse is Dickens' style and so complex his
narrative that it is impossible to fit his works into a genre. Dickens on celluloid A number of his
novels and short stories were produced for films and TV shows,
starting 1897: Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas
Carol, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity
Shop, David Copperfield, Pickwick Papers. Great Expectations
and many more were made into films, several 'spin offs' were
produced, often lifting a character out of a novel and developing
the story around him or her. The earliest movie on a complete
novel of Dickens was made in 1903. Never out of the
news In 1854, Karl Marx
included Dickens among "the present splendid brotherhood of
fiction-writers in England whose graphic and eloquent pages have
issued to the world more political and social truths than have
been uttered by all the professional politicians, publicists and
moralists put together". 1912, on his first
centenary - "He
hardly deserves a place among the highest," James Joyce,
novelist "Why does
anyone care about Dickens? Why do I care about Dickens?"
George Orwell "[your]
ignorance of Dickens is a frightful gap in your literary
education. He was by far the greatest man since Shakespeare that
England has produced in that line." George Bernard Shaw 2012 on his bicentenary
- His works are selling like hot cakes, BBC TV and Radio are
making several programmes on him, including a new three-part Great
Expectations. His biographies march into stores one after
another-Robert Douglas-Fairhurst's Becoming Dickens, a
number of handsomely illustrated coffee-table books, and, best of
all, Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin. And, the
Museum Of London, has an exhibition titled Dickens and London
till June 10. Contradictions
of a society As a true social realist,
Dickens is primarily concerned with exploring the anatomy of society.
In order to comprehend the overarching scope of Dickens's works, it is
both imperative and interpretive to understand the society about and
within which Dickens was writing and evaluate his works as shifting
products and determinants of many historical and social forces. The
story of Victorian Britain is one of contraries. The seeming
irreconcilable binaries of industrial progress and poverty,
utilitarianism and puritanism, religious scepticism and scientific
positivism, threatened to dissolve conventional discourses on nation
building as well as challenged the integrity of the individual. While
orthodox clergymen were lamenting on the declining spiritual order,
agnostics were coming to terms with the degeneration of man into
beast. Growing political responsibility for the individual manifested
through Chartism (working class movement for reforms), universal
suffrage and the secret ballot was undercut by the extension of power
of the state as capitalist and colonial. Dickens, like his
contemporaries recognised this divide and represented the dichotomous
identity of his country in the opening lines of his novel, A Tale
of Two Cities (1859): 'It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it
was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.' In Nicholas
Nickleby(1838), Dickens juxtaposes this discriminating gap of the
rich and the poor in a fluid narrative: 'the rags of the squalid
ballad singer fluttered in the rich light of the goldsmiths'
treasures' and in the brilliant image of 'half-naked shivering
figures' staring at 'Chinese shawls and golden stuffs of India.' This
prejudice is what sustains a noxious climate of social, political and
economic hegemony. It is into this well of terrifying realities
controlled by imaginary monsters that Dickens pitches his protagonists
and maps their destiny. Society, for Dickens represents systemic
oppression, a prison within which his protagonists are enmeshed. His
extraordinary imagination personifies society into human figures with
names that brilliantly manifest their diabolic appearance: Wackford
Squeers is a brutal one-eyed schoolmaster in Nicholas Nickleby
and Daniel Quilp is a vile and hideous dwarf in The Old Curiosity
Shop. Through their ogre-like disposition, individuals like the
Murdstones, Gradgrinds, M'Choakumchild and Mr Creakle suck the joy out
of the lives of their victims. In other places, society metamorphoses
into anything resembling the state apparatus. The
downtrodden hero Opinions in Dickens's
lifetime, more seldom than often, objected to his penchant for
preaching sympathy for the poor and downtrodden, the need for social
equality, softening of prejudices et al. The point of discomfort was
not so much his high moralising style, but the fact that most of what
he preached was utterly distasteful to the privileged. It was often
through his vivid but unflattering descriptions of London that he
earned the title of 'social pessimist'. London is at the centre of
most Dickens's writings. Congested, diseased and full of crime, it is
a site of appalling social conditions. It is referred to as 'suburban
Sahara', 'hot springs and fiery eruptions' and 'a heap of vapour'. In Bleak
House, he writes 'every door might be death's door.' Dicken's
London is overcrowded with buildings, railways, bridges, towers and
chimneys and is also bursting with people, poverty and squalor. In
associating London with motifs of prison, death, monster and machine,
Dickens successfully creates a sense of alienation produced not just
by the vastness of the city but by the social and economic forces that
structure Victorian capitalist society. His social conscience was
highlighted in a tribute published on his death in the ‘The Times’:
'His greatness grows upon us. He has done much as Addison, Johnson, or
Goldsmith to "correct the vices" and "ridicule the
follies," and purify the sympathy of his generation. The Abbey,
as the shrine of English genius would be incomplete without him' The
individual, for Dickens if often cribbed and confined in a gloomy and
treacherous world of corrupting institutions and devouring oppressors.
If, in Bleak House, the individual is trapped in the Judiciary
system; in Great Expectations(1860) the web is class and the
cash nexus; in Hard Times, the protagonists are caught in the
throes of mid 19th century industrialism. The
everlasting innocence Dickens's continues
to endear himself to his readers, decade after decade through his
representation of childhood innocence. His vision of childhood virtue
and purity is explicated through his favourite children - David
Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Little Nell and Florence Dombey. It is
though their wide-eyed, credulous observations of the adult word that
Dickens is at his didactic best. Dicken's innocent children are
palpably uncomfortable in the presence of adults. This results in
their frequent attempts at either dehumanising them into animals or
associating them with hard, lifeless objects. Another motif associated
with the adult world is that of a climate of dread and gloom. Adults
seem to carry bad weather with them at all times. In Bleak House
Mrs Pardiggle seems to 'come in like cold weather' and Mr Dombey is
like 'vacuous spirit' who has an eerie effect on the pastoral world.
Through child's description of the adult world as alien and barbaric,
Dickens draws upon his own childhood experiences. At the young age of
12, he was sent to work in Warrens shoe blacking factory to provide
financial assistance for his family (his father was imprisoned for
financial debt). Those months of torment and subjugation left an
indelible mark on his representation of children as victims of
systemic oppression. The power of Dickens's imagination is
consummate in his comic vision into which he incorporates everyday
misery and anguish into human comedy. His humour broadens to
incorporate wit, subtle irony, biting sarcasm and black humour as
well. His unpretentious treatment of pretensions is best seen through
the naive reflections of children who view the adult world literally
rather than falsely. Dickens's comic vision is a conscious tool of
denouncing a morally hypocritical and a socially pretentious Victorian
set up. Laughter erodes catharsis and firmly grounds the power of self
reflexivity. This welding of laughter with satire, comedy with
tragedy, damnation with redemption, and entertainment with instruction
bestowed upon him instant unrivalled fame of the kind known to the
select few in their own lifetime. And,
the optimism This recognition of the
dichotomous nature of social and human reality and faith in the
possibility of salvation has immortalised him as a true humanitarian.
Even better, is the honour that sits high upon him in being referred
to as 'England's conscience.' Unlike Thackeray and Hardy, Dickens
never abandons hope for the individual. They learn from their
mistakes, rise, and stand tall at the end of the novels. Dickens
repeatedly wrote in the preface to many of his novels that his aim was
to 'brighten the lives and faces of others,' to increase the 'stock of
harmless cheerfulness in the world' and to tell his audience that the
'world is not to be utterly despised.' Reading Dickens today,
assures faith in the restorative power of goodness. If 'reality is a
process of realisation,' then the touching lines from The Old
Curiosity Shop, 'There is nothing . . . no, nothing innocent or
good that dies, and is forgotten. Let us hold to that faith or none,'
reaffirms my conviction in Dickens as a continuing effective presence
among the living and elsewhere in heaven. (The writer is Asst.
Professor at St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi)
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