EDITORIAL
In
the power manger!
There is fatalism
in men that may have nothing to do with fates,
destinies and divine scheme. It is simply a
disbelief that the good thing would last, almost
a wish that the worse, even worst, should happen
and happen soon. Anything that can go wrong would
go wrong, said captain Murphy making this
penchant a law, the Murphy’s Law. But even
those. who never heard of Murphy or the US Navy,
or his Law believe in it as of a practice. So
they keep waiting when the bonanza of 4-hr cut
would go and leave them to that good ol’
nine or thirteen hour ‘off’ with which
they have been pulling themselves into the
twenty-first century. Some may say that it is no
way to get into the high tech age that twenty
first century symbolizes. But then every one has
to walk with the legs-or crutches, for that
matter-that he has. So the people of this State
march into the age of light through the threat of
pervasive darkness enveloping them all around.
And lest the people should get any wrong notions
that their travails are to end, the department
has managed to make the 4-hr bonanza, look like a
12-hr blackout.
It shows the
talent and acumen of the people managing our
power supply. When there was a 9-hr cut, it was
arranged so that a whole day went blank and bare
with the electricity coming on for not more than
a couple of hours on every alternate day. So a
9-hr cut looked like a full 12-hr one. Now that
cut has been reduced by half. And the electric
supply people have managed to make it look like
another 12-hr cut. These brilliant men have so
arranged the slots that it spreads all over the
waking time of an individual. No two hours pass
without another power cut hanging on your head.
Indeed, so marvelous is the arrangement that few
have realised that there has been a reduction in
the cut-time! People are ready to swear that it
has actually been increased. Of course, they do
not blame the new Government. They understand
that the old one has spent every penny in the
State coffers on buildings and tours and grants,
leaving the new one nothing. So how can it manage
to get more power, they reason. You could insist
that the cut has indeed been reduced, but then
the lights would go away making you a liar. Thank
the insight and ability of the men standing in
the power-manger for all that.
Now, they are not
like that foolish dog in the cow’s manger
who could neither cat the hay nor let the cow eat
it. For one, they are wiser. much wiser; they are
eating the hay alright, and feeding it to other
cows too. For another they could be doing it all,
for the lasting good of public. They would not,
for example, like the people to forget that they
live in a State where the supply can go away any
day, for all days to come. It would greatly
inconvenience the people if they got used to more
electricity, came to depend upon it and forgot
all about the Murphy’s gloomy law.
So these sharp and
smart men put their heads together and made the
4-hr cut look like a 12-hr one, all for our sake.
Along the way they gave the roz-a-daars full
morning light to warm the cockles of the
hearts of new government and those of the durbaris
who have come over for the winter. How
bright these men manning and managing the power
supplies are! Who else could be so caringly, so
consistently, so meticulously, inapt?
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I
swear by God
By M J
Akbar
Why is a
swearing-in ceremony called a swearing-in
ceremony? Because everyone present at the
ceremony is swearing for some reason or
the other.
The
ministers, chief and not-so-chief, are
naturally the most open as they swear to
uphold the Constitution of India. They
want every television camera to record
their pledge. No one may remember a word
of the Constitution, or have any
intention of honouring it, but swearing
in the name of God is easy. God is not
going to punish you for prejury in this
life.
The ruling
party MLAs, sitting on chairs in neat,
and later not so neat, rows are less
ecstatic as they see their Government
being sworn in. They are, noiselessly,
swearing at the lucky gods who have been
selected by the Chief Minister to become
Ministers. Dark thoughts swirl through
their minds as they centemplate plots
that will sabotage ministers, forcing
them to be dropped so that berths can
open up for those who were betrayed by
fortune this time.
The
Opposition MLAs are swearing at their own
leaders, who are so worthless that they
lost the election and left them simmering
on the wrong side of the House. Their
boss, defeated but given a seat in the
front row as the ex-chief minister,
forced to wear a political smile that
displays all his false teeth, is swearing
in every language he knows and some he is
in the process of learning as he seethes
with silent invective. The boss is
cursing, in this order, Fato, the stupid
voter, the worthless candidates who were
too stupid to lose, and that grinning new
Chief Minister who has replaced him.
For
evidence of this thesis, you have to do
no more than to turn to Srinagar on
Saturday the second of November, where
and when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed replaced
the Abdullah family after three
generations and a total of 32 years in
power in two spells. The Mufti himself
was doing the preferred kind of swearing,
along with the magic eight who got their
chance to become ministers. But a dozen
of his coalition's MLAs, who have
collected under the grandly titled
People's Democratic Forum in order to
strengthen their bargaining power for the
rewards of office, were already swearing
at Mufti and the deputy Chief Minister
from the Congress Mangat Ram Sharma for
not giving their group the portfolies
they wanted. The language they choose for
their swearing is naturally disguised.
How does an angry dissident curse his own
Chief Minister? Naturally, in the most
lofty terms. Sample: the head of the
People's Democratic Forum, Ghulam
Mohiuddin Sofi said, "We have
decided not to join the new Government.
We will offer issue-based support from
the outside and have asked the bigger
members (the two who got the Ministers,
Mufti's PDP and the Congress) to clear
their stand before the vote of
confidence."
This
translates into: All right, smarty pants,
or smarty shalwars, you can smile all you
want as the Governor gives you all the
fancy titles but in a couple of days when
the Assembly meets and you need a
majority of the votes in order to retain
power, you will have to cringe and come
crying to me. It is then that I will make
you thoroughly miserable. If I don't get
what I want, I will sound so principled
on every issue that you will puke.
If this is
what the ruling coalition MLAs who have
not been sworn in are saying, then we can
easily imagine what the MLAs of the
defeated National Conference are telling
each other: "Those great Abdullahs!
What type we got from them! That we would
win despite the visible anger of the
people! All our superstar Farooq did in
the last five years was build a golf
course, indulge in dramatics, holiday
around the world, party in Delhi and
Mumbai and then insisted that the
infrastructure of institutionalised
corruption he had created would pull in
the vote. Kept winking that at the st
minute the rigging angel would appear and
take us to that magic majority. Here we
are! This is our big, fat majority. And
he didn't even make a Minister the last
time...."
Farooq
Abdullah, true to style, had found the
perfect place to curse from. London. He
disappeared for a few days to play golf
in South Africa during the election
campaign, so it is hardly surprising that
the moment the elections were over he
shot off to London. He must be using the
Queen's English to describe Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed and Atal Behari Vajpayee.
But his
son and heir Omar Abdullah was there in
the distinguished audience during the
swearing-in ceremony, and you can make a
safe bet that behind his pleasant smile
he was doing everything possible to make
the swearing more colourful. His range
would also be far greater than the narrow
focus of the others at the function. The
rest would by and large have single, if
not singular, targets. Omar has the right
to swear at all sides. Where would he
start swearing? Imagine his thoughts at
the party that his father inherited from
his grandfather and what he has been left
with. Then he could take a look at all
the rigged elections that not only kept
his father illegitimately in power, but
also directly inspired a secessionist
movement that left a generation in
Kashmir and India scarred. He might find
a few words about the administration
during his father's days in power; that
would be reason for some exceptional
swearing out. But if Omar were honest, he
would also probably swear a little at
himself, for being party to such a party.
When the going was good, he wasn't going
anywhere else. Would he swear at the
ministry he belonged to in Delhi? There
would be enough reason to: if the BJP had
not got wiped out in Jammu the National
Conference's option might have been a
little more fluid. The only person he
probably would not swear at would be the
Prime Minister. Atal Behari Vajpayee
simply refuses to accept Omar's
resignation, no matter how many times he
offers it. Which grandfather would ever
be so accommodating? The more intriguing
question is: Is Omar Abdullah a Minister
of State in external affairs at this
moment or not? He said he had sent in his
resignation. Has the postal system
failed? Has the PM sent the resignation?
Is the PM resigned to the young man's
resignation?
The list
of swearers is not complete. There was
Ghulam Nabi Azad, clapper in polo-mock
shirt and jacket, sitting with
justifiable pride beside his leader Mrs
Sonia Gandhi. We can only guess at his
private thoughts as he watched Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed taking the oath; there
but for some good sense on the part of
Sonia Gandhi, he could have been star of
the day instead of being merely a
frontrow guest. According to the deal
between the PDP and the Congress, Azad
must wait for three years before he gets
a chance to become Chief Minister. The
word chance is used advisedly. A week, as
was famously said by Harold Wilson, is a
long time in politics: to predict that
will happen three years later is silly.
Within the next three years not only will
the rest of the States go to the polls,
but there will be general elections as
well. In any case the dynamics of Kashmir
politics will be controlled by extraneous
factors. The real test that Mufti will
face is not the survival of his
Government, but the survival of Kashmir
as a peaceful and integral part of the
Indian Union.
It is this
national consideration that persuaded
Sonia Gandhi to surrender the
arithmetical claim of the Congress in
favour of the more power wisdom of
political reality and accept Mufti as the
first Chief Minister of this coalition.
Sonia Gandhi took one small step back to
move two large steps forward in the
evolving chess game of Indian politics.
She was one person in Srinagar on
Saturday who had no reason to swear.
The time
for the people to swear has not come. It
is of course too soon. But the difference
between two soon and soon is only a small
three-letter word which will melt in thaw
of the next spring. The Government, or
durbar as it is still quaintly called, of
Jammu and Kashmir will shift now to Jammu
from Srinagar for the winter months. By
the time summer returns, people will want
to see whether the promise of good
governance has any delivery systems or
not. There are some visible definitions
of good governance, with electricity and
communication being at the top of the
list. On the political side, the people
have voted for talks with militants in
the long process to bring them in from
the outside. To draw timelines for such a
process would be irrational, and this is
a problem that can only be eliminated
piecement; it will not disappear
suddenly. But the voter will expect the
basic conveniences that have been denied
to him by misgovernance and corruption.
Understanding will not stretch to a
status quo on darkness and misery.
There is
one swearing-in ceremony that every
Government must be wary of, which is when
people begin to swear. They do it without
ceremony.
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Give
some time to new J&K Govt!
TALES OF TRAVESTY
By Dr.
Jitendra Singh
The new
Government is finally in place in Jammu
and Kashmir. The new council of Ministers
led by Mufti Mohd Sayeed has started
functioning from the winter capital of
Jammu. It is too soon to pass judgements.
It is too early to give verdicts. But,
will the cynics wait? Will the
irrepressible Media "Pundits"
hold back their pens when they go to
print and hold back their tongues when
they appear on TV news channels?
The
changing scenario in Jammu and Kashmir
calls for restraint. This applies to the
media persons as much. And, the socalled
intellectuals too!
Over a
decade long militancy in Kashmir has
witnessed an uninterrupted media and
intellectual focus on Kashmir. This was
inevitable. For obvious reasons. But,
what was disturbing was a conscious or
subconscious enthusiasm on the part of
certain self-promoting media-persons and
certain self-righteous intellectuals to
seek mileage and to attract attention
through half-churned media stories on
Kashmir and through half-baked
"intellectual" outpourings on
Kashmir. Kashmir was saleable ---
internationally, nationally and locally.
No wonder, over ten years of Kashmir
militancy enabled many a lesser known
media - persons to achieve a higher
rating and enabled many a lesser known
intellectuals to achieve a higher
credential. Incidentally, this ended up
doing more harm than good to the cause of
Kashmir which each one of them apparently
sought to espouse. Hopefully, this
mistake will not be repeated or allowed
to be repeated.
"Azaadi"
or no "Azaadi", what the common
people of Jammu and Kashmir immediately
desire is deliverance from Pakistan
sponsored militancy which has ruined
their vocation, business and children's
education besides throwing back the
Kashmir Valley by atleast a quarter
century. It is this basic ground-reality
which the media commentators and socalled
Kashmir experts would do good to
appreciate instead of putting forth vague
Kashmir solutions or remote Kashmir
formulae as they have been busy doing all
through the 1990s. The socalled Human
Rights leaders would also be well advised
to take a break from their vicious habit
of finding fault with each and every
Government decision pertaining to
Kashmir.
The
former National Conference Government led
by Farooq Abdullah had allowed itself to
be alienated from people because its
autocratic rule inadvertantly led to rise
of coteries among bureaucrats,
businessmen and media persons who not
only exploited their proximity to Farooq
and Omar in order to promote their vested
interests but also flaunted their
proximity to the Abdullahs which caused
further antagonism among the common
masses. The new coalition Governments is,
mercifully, not dominated by any single
individual or family and therefore it
could be in a better position to save
itself from the antics of vague
sycophants, courtiers and hangers -on. It
would be therefore fair enough to give
some time to Mufti and his men before
they can prove themselves different from
Farooq and his men.
The
Mufti Government has pledged a Common
Minimum Programme, popularly referred as
"CMP". If even the
"Minimum" agenda of this Common
Minimum Programme gets successfully
implemented and the level of corruption,
impropriety and favouritism in
administration goes down significantly or
substantially if not wholly, the popular
mandate against National Conference would
stand vindicated. But, again the new
ruling polity deserves some time to prove
itself capable or incapable of keeping
its tyrst with the "CMP".
The
installation of new dispensation has
generated new hope. The common man has
waited too long. He is ready to wait a
little longer. He is ready to give some
time to the Mufti Government and it is
upto the latter to respect the common
man's patience. The poet articulates Umapathy's
enduring aspiration "Mana Ke Teri
Deed Ke Kabil Nahin Hoon Main, Tu Mera
Honsla Dekh Mera Intezaar Dekh!"
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Tight
rope walking for Mufti
By:
Parvaz Shaheen
At long
last the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) leader, Mufti Mohd Sayeed has
assumed the coveted throne of the Chief
Minister. His lifelong dream and desire
has come true. And for he has taken
several routes to complete his long
political odyssey. Starting with the
Democratic National Conference, followed
by the Congress, then Jana Morcha later
rechristened as Janta Dal, then again
Congress and ultimately the PDP that
launched him on the Chief Minister’s
chair.
From the
normal political calculations, the Mufti
would never have become the Chief
Minister, with just 16 members in a house
of 87. Even in a natural coalition
arrangement, it should have been the
Congress which has more (20) members,
which should have got the Chief
Minsiter’s post. Obviously there
were two prime considerations that made
his mission, of becoming the Chief
Minister, take off successfully. First he
was a Kashmiri and the second that he
enjoyed the subtle and apparent support
of the Hurriyat Conference. And in the
course the Mufti has defined the Kashmiri
identity in exclusive terms by refusing
the Doda district as part of Kashmir,
which was obvious in denying Mr Ghulam
Nabi Azad the Chief Ministership as he
belonged to district Doda.
Had it not
been Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress
would never have let the opportunity go
to install a Congress led government. But
for Jammu and Kashmir, the situation
demanded a difference. The difference of
political consensus, among all the
players, whether in the government (at
the centre) or in the opposition, given
the sensitive circumstances prevailing in
the state.
Even the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government would not have liked to
concede the government to opposition in
the backdrop of the fact that one of its
constituents, the National Conference
(NC) had emerged as a single largest
group in the assembly with 29 seats. With
so many independents having won, besides
some NC dissidents, the NDA could have
conveniently managed a National
Conference led government in the state.
All said and done, the NC government
would still be counted as NDA constituent
government like those in Andhra Pradesh
or Haryana and could have given it some
consolation at a time when it is losing
most of the states to the Congress.
However, it did not act under political
or partisan compulsions, but surely in
consonance with the need of the hour. The
national interest prevailed over the
partisan interest.
It is an
open secret that the (PDP) led by Mufti
Mohammad Sayed, a former Home Minister,
pursued almost the same agenda as that of
the All Party Hurriyat Conference with
single exception that it did not seek
secession or the right to self
determination. The demand for scrapping
of the POTA, disbanding the Special
Operations Group (SOG) the most effective
counter insurgent force in the state,
releasing the militants and unconditional
dialogue with the secessionists (read
Hurriyat leaders) does not sound in any
way different from that of the Hurriyat
agenda.
The PDP
won 16 seats with the whole hearted, yet
subtle, support of the Hurriyat. The
Hurriyat had its own interest also as it
feared the NC and its leader, Dr Farooq
Abdullah the most. Dr Abdullah holds
decisive influence over the decision
making process at the centre. Besides,
for all these years, whether in power or
out of it, he has always pleaded
India’s case strongly at various
national and international fora. He has
always been uncompromising on the issue
of accession. He has always been
asserting that the Hurriyat leaders
should be entertained for talks only as
long as they do not involve Pakistan in
the dialogue.
Had the NC
returned to power this time, Dr Abdullah
would have enjoyed all the moral, legal,
constitutional and political legitimacy
to deal with the Hurriyat and other
separatists. Because this time, nobody
could accuse him of coming to power after
manipulating the elections, as these were
held in most transparent manner in total
contrast to 1996. The Hurriyat could no
longer describe him as "New
Delhi’s representative in Kashmir
and not the Kashmiri’s
representative in New Delhi", as
former Hurriyat chairman, Moulvi Umar
Farooq would say. He emerged successful,
although to a partial extent only. The NC
emerged as the single largest group in
Kashmir valley securing more seats than
others put together. Nobody can write off
Dr Abdullah or his NC as far as Kashmir
is concerned. Moreover, it is the NC
which has suffered the worst at the hands
of the militants, with hundreds of its
cadres having been gunned down across the
valley. In fact it was the Jammu region,
which failed the NC this time.
Now that
the Mufti assumes the mantle of the Chief
Minister in Jammu and Kashmir, there is a
growing hope that he may manage to
involve the Hurriyat and other
secessionists in the dialogue to pave the
way for finding out a solution to the
problem. One this is sure and certain, he
enjoys total support of the Hurriyat
Conference and its leadership.
Significantly enough, while the
negotiations were on between the Congress
and the PDP to form the government, the
Hurriyat chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat
issued a statement saying that they (the
Hurriyat) had great expectations from the
Mufti, obviously a tacit indication to
the political establishment in Delhi that
they wanted Mufti to be the CM. And
another senior Hurriyat leader, Mr Javed
Mir also corroborated Mr Bhat’s
statement by welcoming the Congress
decision letting the Mufti to become the
Chief Minister. These factors weighed
heavily in favour of Mufti, while
negotiations were going on between his
PDP and the Congress.
The Mufti
has a very difficult task ahead. He has
to draw a balance between the aspirations
of the Hurriyat and other secessionists
and the expectations of the people who
have supported him directly (the
Congress) or indirectly (the NDA
government) to become the Chief Minister.
Moreover, he has also to confront the
reservations within the Congress against
his being given the Chief Ministership.
Most of the legislators have already not
just expressed displeasure and
disappointment, but have threatened a
rebellion. It would certainly be a tight
rope walking for the Mufti in his new
avatar as the Chief Minister, his
lifelong dream come true at long last
after a long and hard bargain. Will he be
able to reconcile the contradictions he
is riding on, only the time will tell.
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Coercive
Diplomacy: A failed mantra
By Wg Cdr (Retd) Sharad
Dixit
Ten months to the
day after military mobilisation was ordered, the
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met to decide
on the 'Redeployment' of the forces. On 16th
October, 'strike and other formations' in Jammu,
Punjab Rajasthan and Gujarat along the
International Border (IB) were ordered to
redeploy without impairing their ability to
respond decisively to an emergent situation.
Status quo is to
be maintained along the Line of Control (LoC).
Much analysis has been done, and a new mantra
seems to have been discovered - 'Coercive
Diplomacy'.
One perspective
suggests that all diplomacy is coercive. In the
anarchic world of international affairs power and
self-interest are the defining criteria. There
are no free lunches. No nation would sacrifice
its own aspirations or benefits without
commensurate returns. The power may be economic,
political, military or a combination thereof. The
coercion may be bilateral or multi-lateral,
although the trend towards international policing
by the developed nations is increasingly
promoting the latter.
The term 'coercive
diplomacy' however, seems to negate the above
understanding. It is widely construed to mean the
progression of dialogue under the implicit or
explicit shadow of military power. This is not
strictly correct.
Tools of coercive
diplomacy are recognised today to include
economic incentives or sanctions, humanitarian
aid or its restriction, propaganda - both
international and within the target nation,
public 're-education' and emphasis on diverse
points of view, the exercise of financial
controls, both target specific and international,
the injection of personnel to perform various
intelligence functions including the gathering of
vital Human Intelligence (Humint) and even covert
operations.
The primary
requirement of any strategy is the enunciation of
the aim. So is it with coercive diplomacy. The
task is complicated by several imperatives. In
the subject case, Gen Padmanabhan said on Jan 11
that the mobilisation was for war.
Three months
later, the forces were still pressurising a
distracted political establishment for directives
on what was expected of them. The Defence
Minister in June and the Prime Minister in July
at Almaty, ruled out war. The situation remained
hazy.
Limited war has,
in any event, been seen to be inadequate in
countering irregular forces as amply demonstrated
in Israel and in Afghanistan. War to be effective
must be total, aimed at subjugating and
containing all hostile elements. This must
include those who harbour, fund, encourage or
otherwise support the militants.
Such definition
would include entire populations in both cases as
neither Palestine nor Afghanistan has any
elements sympathetic to Israel and the West
respectively.
Limited war with
Pakistan could thus be detrimental to the Indian
cause. The Lord knows that the Pak military are
no friends of India. But they do exercise a
restraining influence on the fanatical,
unpredictable and covert forces of
fundamentalism.
Domestic reasons
pit the two against each other although their
India-specific objectives are common. War would
apply pressure on the formal establishment and
any degradation of its power would strengthen the
hands of the fundamentalists. It would therefore,
neither contain militancy nor inflict costs that
would discourage further establishment
interference in India’s affairs.
Total war, on the
other hand, is beyond our political resolve.
Domestic pressures would not permit the conduct
of a protracted campaign that would demand
long-term commitment from citizens and
restrictions that would pinch.
Our huge
dependence on foreign sources for our war waging
capability and economic welfare would similarly
restrict our freedom of action. Militarily, our
forces have been trained and modelled according
to the classic norms of chivalry, honour, concern
for war victims and such other antiquated,
precepts. One wonders whether they would have the
ruthless streak necessary to indulge in the
savagery demanded by a terminal ethnic conflict.
Other tools of
coercive diplomacy are necessarily multilateral
in nature. It is not possible for any nation to
exercise political, economic or financial control
over another in isolation. In this area too,
India stands virtually alone.
Experience has
shown, that despite lip service paid by some
nations to India’s rationality and
restraint, the Islamagainst terror have revealed
further aspects that demonstrate the impotence of
diplomacy minus the explicit and punitive
application of force. The ambiguous approach of
the US in Afghanistan is a case in point.
The gesture of aid
in conjunction with the application of force has
little relevance to fundamentalists. It indicates
a lack of understanding of the third-world
psyche. The antipathy to the rich West is too
basic to be swayed by baubles that may be on
offer. Perhaps they are meant to pacify domestic
dissidents rather than the recipients of the aid.
The West’s
dependence on Pakistan has resulted in the
dispersion of militants, the creation of
independent cells and the promotion of the
actively hostile elements in erstwhile regions of
calm.
Somalia has
emerged as a major base for fundamentalists of
all hues. Indonesia and the Philippines have seen
an unprecedented upsurge in violence. Unrest in
Europe is polarising populations along ethnic
lines.
The recent
explosions in Bali and Spain, the suicide
bombings in Palestine and the Moscow fiasco -
purportedly engineered in conjunction with Arab
extremists, are indicators of the rapid rate of
vertical and horizontal escalation.
Decentralisation
of the command structure is now reinforced by a
new haven created post-elections in Pakistan. The
absolute majority gained by the coalition of
Islamic parties in NWFP and Baluchistan absolves
the central establishment of direct culpability.
The portents are alarming.
India must realise
this and must steel its resolve to take the
lonely, hard option. It has to call the Pak bluff
if it is not to be bled indefinitely.
‘Coercive
Diplomacy, must be recognised to be a failed
mantra, and eschewed in favour of realistic but
difficult options. The notion that India is a
hotbed of cold feet must be debunked. Freedom
costs - each generation needs to learn it the
hard way.
(PTI Feature)
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Rediscovering
India through Aliens
By Aditaya Sharma
Indians have made
immense progress in the field of Science and
technology since time immemorial. Recently
discovered bridge between India and Srilanka by
the NASA research centre of the USA fully
corroborates this fact to all those who used to
call these facts as myths. Although these kinds
of discoveries not only restrengthen the faith of
ardent followers of Hinduism but it also
complacents those pseudo-religionists who follow
Hinduism with lack of pride, sense of shyness to
be called Hindus in public especially there where
majority are non-Hindus and worship without
complete faith in it. When proof comes from
foreign authorities, only then a pessimist
section of Hindustanis start believing on the
subjects which were originally founded by the
Indian sages (Rishis). The word Hindustani in its
modern sense comprises all the citizens of India
whatsoever caste, religion or creed they belong.
Hinduism transpires in its followers a sense of
respecting all other religions and places them on
equal dias with no discrimination.
The great scholars
of the primitive times occupy a high place in the
field of Sciences not only in India but also in
the world and now the scientists of the world are
bowing down to the facts proved by our sages and
intellectuals millenniums ago. Their researches
in arithmetic, astronomy, astrology and medicines
guided scientists in foreign lands for centuries
and exercised a direct influence on scientific
thought in Arabia and other Islamic countries and
indirectly in Europe. Among the notable
astronomers and mathematicians, Aryabhata stands
out as the most prominent. He was the first to
treat mathematics as a distinct subject. His most
epoch making achievement was the discovery of the
principle of the place value of the first nine
numbers and the use of zero which simplified the
arithmetical calculations. He was the first
Indian astronomer to declare that the earth was a
sphere; that it revolved round the Sun and
rotated round its axis. But it was recognised
only when Galileo rediscovered it almost one
thousand years after Aryabhata. Aryabhata was
also the first to describe the true causes of
solar and lunar eclipses and the methods of
calculating them precisely. His calculation of
the size of the earth is very near to that
estimated by modern astronomers. Like Aryabhata,
Varhamihira was a man of such a comprehensive
mind that there was hardly any branch of natural
Sciences to which he didnot make any
contribution. Some years later, Brahmagupta wrote
his Brahmasphuta and Khandakhayaka. His works
deal with ordinary arithmetical equations, square
and cube roots, rules of three, interests,
geometry, elementary mensuration and simple
algebraic identities. He taught easier method of
compilation of the longitude of planets. He
anticipated Newton when he declared that all
things fall to the earth by a law of nature, for
it is the nature of the earth to attract and keep
things. But these facts got authentication when
rediscovered by Newton and consequently became
laws.
Medieval Indian
mathematicians understood the importance of
positive and negative quantities, evolved sound
systems of extracting square and cube roots, and
could solve quadratic and certain types of
indeterminate equations. For Aryabhata gave the
usual modern approximate value of 3.1416,
expressed in the form of fraction 62832/20000.
This value, much more accurate than that of the
Greeks was improved to nine places of decimals by
late Indian mathematicians. The mathematical
implications of zero(shunya) and infinity, never
more than vaguely realized by classical
authorities, were fully understood in medieval
India. Earlier Mathematicians had taught that
x/0=x but Bhaskara proved that it was infinity.
The Sciences of
metallurgy, chemistry and physics also
flourished. The famous Mehrauli pillar stands out
as a silent witness to proclaim the excellent
skill in working metals of metallurgists. It is
so skillfully manufactured that in spite of its
exposure for centuries to Sun and rain, it shows
the least sign of rusting and corrosion.
Medical Sciences
were also widely studied. The Indian surgeons
were well versed in the art of dissection,
plastic surgery, veterinary surgery and even in
such specialised branches of surgery as that of
eye, ear and nose. The physicians also knew the
symptoms of many diseases. Few years ago many
Indians didn't use to believe in Ayurveda. But
now many have started believing upon its efficacy
as seemed to get countenance from the facts that
even westerns have started showing their
proclivity for Indian Sciences including
ayurveda, astrology, astronomy, Yoga spiritualism
and many others and these things have been
furnished to the world as a largesse from India.
India has also got the patent for turmeric,
Tulsi, gomutra (urine of cow), Neem and many
others. The import of ayurvedic medicines to UK
and USA has gone so skyhigh that UK had to
increase import duties over it and USA is also
looking forward to follow the suit. Although it
is no denying to the applications of other
medications like allopathy and homeopathy. It was
also predicted centuries ago in the vedas that
there will be scarcity of water in Kalyug and all
rivers will get dried up excepting river Narmada
at the advent of ghor Kalyug (most intensified
form of Kalyug). The people have started getting
glimpses of it as the water level is getting
down.
Numerous
educational elite and erudites have given their
views on Indian culture, philosophy and
spiritualism with open heart. Historical figures
like Darashikoh, an elder brother of Aurangzeb,
Taj (wife of Akbar), Annie Besant and many other
were not only influenced by it but also practiced
it.
According to
priest Laidwritter (a saint of theosophical
society), "Before the study of Indian
culture, I didn't get inner peace. I felt respect
for Christianity and Islam but not contentment in
discretions for peace. In western philosophy I
found discretion but with unquenched thirst for
emotions and doubts. But in Indian philosophy I
found the combination of both, it is in fact an
omniscient".
According to
Shopenhover, a well known German philosopher,
"The study of any philosophy among all the
eruditions of the world it not as useful and
uplifting for the progress of mankind as
upnishads. I found the peace after diving in its
sea and will get the same at the time of
death".
A well known
historian of France, Victor Kazeen, has said,
"It cannot be denied that primitive Hindus
were having real knowledge of God. Their
philosophy, their thoughts are so preponderate,
high, accurate and true that comparing them with
their western counterparts is like comparing a
midday sun with a small fraction of Promethean
fire".
According to
western philosopher Shelagal, "In comparison
to Hindu philosophy the best of best European
philosophical ideas is like comparing the
universal soul with a pigmy of fiftytwo
fingers".
Jesus Christ,
father of Christianity, had come and stayed in
India for seventeen years to learn Yoga from
India ascetics and saints. The word 'calendar' is
the transmutation of Hindi word 'Kalantar'
meaning change of time'. According to Hindu
system, first month of the year is Vaishakh
(April) and therefore Xth(tenth) month is Posh
(December) and 'deca' of December also means xth.
Also x-Mas (Chrismas) is celebrated in December
which according to Gregorian calendar is the
XIIth-Mas (twetfth month) of the year. But if we
start counting from Vaishakh (April), only then
December is the Xth(tenth) month and that is why
the name X-Mas. One more eye opening fact is that
'Month' in Hindi means 'Mas'
The above facts
are just few among numerous and are for those
narrowminded people who trust the facts when
reproved by the foreign agencies with themselves
doing no mental calisthenics except criticising
and missiling Hindu religion, culture and its
assets. Such people are unreasonably scientific
and reasonably spiritualistic. The veneer to
cloak their ostentatious and hypocritic knowledge
has started to strew and so many among them have
started accepting the facts as I have noticed
that decades old stubborn atheists overnightly
becoming theist and non followers of Jyotisha
(astrology) are seeking the help of jyotishis
(astrologers) for various reasons.
Hindustan's
greatness cannot be contained and expressed in
words and also due to purview of time and space I
have to succinct the facts. But why is it that
few of the Indians trust upon their forefathers
after aliens stamp over it.
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