EDITORIAL
Presidential
poem
The Prime Minister has
competition, not in the realm of political subtleties,
but the subtle forte of poetics that he had to himself so
far, at least among the politicians. And this competition
comes from the highest office of the land, the
Rashtrapati Bhavan. The, scientist par excellence, better
known as the father of Indian missile programme, who is
the head of this State too, was known to be a virtuoso
Veena player. From music to poetry is a short distance,
and with the poem on Mahatma Gandhi he has made a fine
beginning to put the visions he has scripted in metal and
rocket-fuel into action. The poem is so graphic that it
could . ....more
Laudable
role!
Politics is the soul of
democracy. It also an open invitation to politicking. It
least matters that the issues over which the politician's
bicker may be vital to the very existence of the State
and the politicians themselves. Thus while some of the
politicians are raising a hue and cry over the police
actions, especially the Special Operations Group,
they......more
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Gandhi
Ji's concepts :
Truth and non-violence
By Lt Col R K Langar
Truth and non-violence are
the two pillars on which was founded Gandhian philosophy
of life. Gandhi Ji said that if one pursued truth and
non-violence he would develop love for all. We did not
consider truth and non-violence as . .....more
Ending
manual scavenging
By Aarti
"It is a matter of
national shame that despite half a century of our
Independence, the inhuman practice of manual scavenging
continues. The required sensitivity and ......more
Gandhi
Jayanti Special
Relevance
of Gandhi Ji today
By Prof. B. L. Koul
As usual the University
was celebrating Gandhi Jayanti. A seminar on
"Relevance of Gandhi Ji in the modern India"
was held in the University auditorium which was packed to
......more
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EDITORIAL
Presidential
poem
The Prime Minister
has competition, not in the realm of political
subtleties, but the subtle forte of poetics that
he had to himself so far, at least among the
politicians. And this competition comes from the
highest office of the land, the Rashtrapati
Bhavan. The, scientist par excellence, better
known as the father of Indian missile programme,
who is the head of this State too, was known to
be a virtuoso Veena player. From music to poetry
is a short distance, and with the poem on Mahatma
Gandhi he has made a fine beginning to put the
visions he has scripted in metal and rocket-fuel
into action. The poem is so graphic that it could
only be painted and that is what the visionary of
today's Ind has got done. It speaks of the
visions of unity and brotherhood, the promises of
development and progress, the program of
transforming India that had lain under the
freedom struggle. All of that was embodied by the
Mahatma who steered India to freedom and light
from the darkness and despondency of colonial
enslavement.
Doubts have been
expressed whether Gandhi wanted a mechanized
liberation - development - for India of his
dreams. He vision of the self-sufficient village,
living in its pristine glory, with unpolluted
environs and uncorrupted ways, has been posited
as an alternate model of development, that India
could, rather should, have chosen. But it cannot
be denied that all this wisdom has come by the
hindsight, much late after the event. The
thinkers, intellectuals and policymakers half a
century ago, selected this model after much
thought; none of them saw the race for
industrialization and mechanization with the same
loathing as we do today. Or, do we really see it
as something outrightly undesirable for ourselves
or the nation? The great exponents of 'simple
ways and living' are not even ready to live in
India; they go straight to that Mecca of
industrialization, America for the goodies it
gives and the amenities it provides. They come to
protest against our dams and electricity plants,
but for themselves nothing less than the best
that the industrialized world has to offer. If
they come clad in the ethnic Indian wear, it is
only because it has been certified 'chic' there!
That was not
India, Gandhi had envisioned. And, then there is
the fact that it was Gandhi's chosen heir
Jawaharlal, whom Gandhi regarded as his truest
follower, who steered India there. It is also
widely debatable if India could have stayed away
from the industrial development then or even
today. After fifty years, India is resolved that
it is the full-scale capitalism with the market
economy, that is best suited for the country.
That too has become possible only with the sound
industrial base in the country. Whatever strength
the country has today is courtesy that
development and vision, which firmly put this
nation on the economic, industrial, scientific
map of the world? There Kalam's wish, to see his
country transformed from a developing to a
developed one, is not so un-Gandhian as it may
sound to be. It is also the express vision of
each Indian striving today. It is the second
vision that the people of this land have to
realize with their sweat and blood, just as
Mahatma achieved the first one with his sweat and
blood.
Laudable
role!
Politics is the
soul of democracy. It also an open invitation to
politicking. It least matters that the issues
over which the politician's bicker may be vital
to the very existence of the State and the
politicians themselves. Thus while some of the
politicians are raising a hue and cry over the
police actions, especially the Special Operations
Group, they would not accept even a minute
diminution in their own security covers,
preferably from the very special group. Thus it
was that late Gani Lone's son blamed the death of
his father on a reduced security cover which, he
said, had left him open to the terrorists.
Indeed, the near-normalcy that his State saw for
the term of the last Government was made possible
by the exertions of the SOG officers and
personnel. It was this band from the police force
that started the resurrection of a subdued police
with their daring and dedication. And, only when
they became active, did the efforts of the army
and other security agencies bear fruit. For,
police with its access and information, its reach
and resources is the agency best suited to combat
the sort of insidious attack that terrorism
represents.
There may be
pitfalls here, lapses here and an excess here,
but the role of this fine force can be belittled
only at the cost of the lasting security for the
State, its people and politicians included. It is
by the fine percept of this forces goaded, of
course, by the able lead of its Director General
Suri, that the police force has taken over the
role that was primarily its. That, probably, has
fostered a feeling that the public security can
now be left to the activised general police. It,
of course, is the general police that would have
to give the final push to the terrorists. That
was how the final turning round in Punjab came
about. But, it is simply injudicious to pit the
police force against the terrorists with its
cutting edge, the SOG, broken and blunted. The
police force would need its elite group as well
as the aid and support of the paramilitary and
military to clear the State of the mercenary
marauders passing off as jihadis terrorists.
Likewise the role of the Village Defense
Committees in this effort cannot be ignored. They
have been giving a fine fight to the terrorists
in Doda, Udhampur and other areas of Jammu. It
would need the assistance of the antiterrorist
elements in the Valley too, to decimate the
terrorist ranks. For it would not do to
underestimate the terrorists. The rulers, or
those who will come to rule this, State must
remember that it is the wholesale US agencies
alongwith the Pak police and army, who are
fighting the terrorists out in Pakistan.
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Gandhi
Ji's concepts : Truth and non-violence
By Lt
Col R K Langar
Truth and
non-violence are the two pillars on which
was founded Gandhian philosophy of life.
Gandhi Ji said that if one pursued truth
and non-violence he would develop love
for all. We did not consider truth and
non-violence as separate entities but as
two sides of the same coin which had
plenty in common in shaping man's
behaviour inclined towards humanism.
Gandhi Ji called violence as untruth and
truthfulness as restraint whose
observance has to be based on the spirit
of non-violence. He emphasised that non
violence is not a meekness but a weapon
of the brave or strong and called truth
as a means to establish non-violence
because non truth or falsity harms others
and your own-self. He also said that
truth rules out all limitations like
prejudice, secrecy, deception and even
exaggeration. To him truth was a means to
establish non-violence. He called truth
as God. It is not only that one should
speak the truth but truth also means
living truthfully based on honesty,
straight forwardness, justice and
sincerity.
Bhagavad
Gita places truth above goodness. It
advises that one should transcend even
goodness to establish himself on truth
because only knowers of truth become
eligible for liberation or self
realization. It calls truthful speech as
beneficial which forms part of verbal
austerity. Patanjali exhorts the glory of
truth in his Yoga sutras. He says that an
ordinary man is said to be truthful when
his words correspond to the facts of
which he speaks. But when a man is
perfected in truthfulness, he gains
control of truth. He no longer has to
obey facts but facts obey him. Such a
person cannot think or even dream a lie
and every thing he says becomes true. If
he blames some one, that person is
blessed no matter whether the blaming was
deserved or not as per his acts based on
law of karma. Such a truthful person
performs miraculous cures by simply
telling the sick man that he is well.
When we
examine why a person tells a lie, it is
seen that the person telling a lie lacks
control over his speech and whatever
comes in his mind he speaks out without
using his judgement over his words. It is
more by a habit than any thing else that
man speaks untruth. Some of us are very
fond of exaggaration of facts which
automatically mixes untruth in truth. But
if some one pays attention to speak the
truth, lot of dirt is removed from one's
mind and he feels very comfortable in the
company of others because he knows which
is the truth and other points of view do
not disturb him.
Now let us
examine non-violence or Ahimsa as
preached by Gandhi Ji. Gandhi Ji called
non-violence as harmlessness of the
highest degree. He said that Ahimsa is
not to have a feeling of enmity towards
others and it is to obtain from causing
injury to any being at any time in any
manner. Ahimsa or non-violence is not a
single isolated virtue. Ahimsa obtains
strength from numerous other values like
peace, love, compassion, fearlessness,
cheerfulness and simplicity. Non-violence
is the very basis of harmonious living.
Gandhi Ji said that it is not possible to
practise non-violence unless we eliminate
selfishness, anger, hate, envy and fault
finding. He said that to the extent one
practise non-violence in a society, to
that extent the society is civilized.
Non-violence is the yardstick by which
evolution of an individual or society is
measured. According to Gandhi Ji
non-violence can only be practised when
we realises that one's own soul is the
soul of all existence that is to realise
oneness of all existence.
Non-violence
has been the guiding principle of the
Indian thought through all its ages. All
great souls have spoken about
non-violence in their philosophies. They
all have echoed that non-violence
integrates whereas violence
disintegrates. The vedantic thought
underscores that if you hurt others, you
would lose your mental health. Hence it
is essential for the health of your mind
that one should not harm others. Jain and
Buddhistic movements proclaimed Ahimsa as
they revolted against animal killing
carried out during performance of vedic
sacrifices. Ashoka gave Ahimsa the status
of state religion during his rule. Lord
Mahavira stated that the being you want
to kill is none other than you. Killing a
living being is killing one's own self.
It is a
bit easy to abstain from external
non-violence but it is very difficult to
introduce non-violence in our mind. To
eliminate non-violence from our mind we
have to cleanse our mind to get rid of
anger, hatred and jealousy from within.
In other word mental non-violence which
means non-violent in our thoughts and
feeling is superior to external or gross
non-violence. The subtle modes of
violence are finding faults with others,
using harsh language criticising others
have to be taken care of to acquire a
non-violent attitude in life. Mental
Ahimsa is achieved when our ill feelings
towards others are substantiated by good
will and friendship towards all. Big
difference between animal and man is that
while animal cannot control violence, man
can. So we have to transcend our animal
nature to acquire human nature and
finally even transcend human nature to
possess divine nature based on divine
qualities. Negatively non-violence means
not harming others by thought words,
deeds and positive aspect of non-violence
is to help and love others.
Gandhi Ji
was a great humanist who never deviated
from his two basis principles of truth
and non-violence during his life. His
unflinching faith in truth and an
attitude of total non-violence turned his
life into an open book where there were
no secrets and at the same time there was
abundance of love for all. This reflects
how Gandhi Ji mastered the principles of
truth and non-violence and displayed them
aggressively throughout his life. We as
Indians must display both the qualities
to justify our reverence for Gandhi Ji.
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Ending
manual scavenging
By Aarti
"It
is a matter of national shame that
despite half a century of our
Independence, the inhuman practice of
manual scavenging continues. The required
sensitivity and commitment is lacking to
abolish the practice."
-
Justice J S Verma, Chairperson, National
Human Rights Commission
Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's assurance
from the ramparts of the Red Fort this
Independence day to effect speedy
measures for liberation and
rehabilitation of scavengers besides
amalgamating the various schemes
presently being implemented by different
Ministries are all welcome. But such
promises need to be coupled with earnest
efforts aimed at bringing about
eradication of this social evil that is
believed to exist in several parts of the
country.
For the
past few years, the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) has been over and again
reminding the Centre and State
Governments of their responsibilities and
take steps in eradicating the inhuman and
degrading practice of manual scavenging.
Taking suo-motu cognizance of media
reports on the continued practice of
manual scavenging in certain parts of
Uttar Pradesh, the NHRC raised the matter
with the UP Government when its
chairperson and senior officials visited
Lucknow. In nearly 500 houses in the
Gandhi Gram, Kailash Kunj and other slums
of Lucknow, it was found that there was
no sanitation worth its name. Women folk
largely carried the entire family's
waste, which was cleared by hand between
2 and 3 every night to distant sites for
disposal.
NHRC
Chief, Justice JS Verma, had written to
the Prime Minister last August and again
this January. In yet another letter dated
12th August, he had specifically
requested the PM to make an announcement
in his Independence day speech so that a
general awareness was created among the
people and concerned authorities.
Various
studies indicate that notwithstanding
over 50 years of Independence, democracy
and progress, the lives of one particular
section of our people who are engaged in
manual scavenging has not changed. Manual
scavenging involves removing human
excrement from dry toilets with bare
hands, brooms or metal scrapers and
carrying it in baskets to dumping sites
to dispose it.
In some
places, female workers using a broom and
tin plates clean public latrines on a
daily basis. The excrement placed in
baskets is carried by head to a location,
which can be up to 4 kms away from the
latrine. Especially during rainy season,
the contents of baskets drip onto the
scavenger's hair, clothes and body.
According to some estimates, over 11 lakh
people are working as manual scavenger's.
They are exposed to the most virulent
forms of viral and bacterial infections,
which affect their skin, eyes, hair,
respiratory, and gastrointestinal system
and TB is common among the community.
With a
view to provide respite to manual
scavengers, the Employment of Manual
scavengers and Construction of Dry
Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 was
enacted in the Parliament. It was
notified in the Gazette on 5 June 1993
and became applicable to Andhra Pradesh,
Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tripura,
West Bengal and the Union Territories
(UTs) with effect from 26 January 1997.
It was also adopted by the Assemblies of
Orissa, Punjab, Assam, Haryana, Bihar and
Gujarat. In case of failure or
contravention of the Act, the penal
provisions include an imprisonment up to
1 year with or without fine which may
extend to Rs. 2000/- or both. Repeated
contraventions would attract a fine to
the extent of Rs. 100/- per day for the
entire period of contravention.
The
National Commission for Safai
Karmacharis, constituted under the
National Commission for Safai Karmacharis
Act 1993, in its latest report for the
years 1998-99 and 1999-2000 has indicated
the existence of manual scavenging in
certain parts of the country. 100 per
cent elimination of manual scavenging was
envisaged during the Eighth Plan period.
But even during the Ninth Plan period
efforts by the Central Government to
provide total sanitation has not been
fully achieved, though a number of
programmes are under implementation. As
per the existing policy, subsidy under
the rural sanitation programme is given
to people below the poverty line for
construction of individual household
latrines and conversion of dry latrines
into sanitary latrines. Such subsidy is
also extended to the Panchayats for
exclusive sanitation complexes for women,
in areas, where adequate space is not
available for individual household
latrines and other sanitation facilities
in the villages/habitations.
Interest-free loan is provided to
entrepreneurs/Panchayats to set up
sanitary marts and link them to
production centres for facilitating easy
availability of the materials required
for the sanitation programmes. Notably,
the centrally sponsored scheme of Urban
Low-Cost Sanitation for Liberation of
Scavengers was an important Eighth Plan
scheme for urban sanitation. It was first
operated through the Ministry of Home
Affairs and subsequently implemented by
the Ministry of Welfare. It is being
operated through the Ministry of Urban
Affairs and Employment (earlier Ministry
of Urban Development) since 1989-90. .
With the objective of liberating and
rehabilitating scavengers, the Union
Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment provides financial assistance
to scavengers for their training and
rehabilitation in alternate dignified
occupations. The training is 100 per cent
centrally assisted and the financial
assistance for rehabilitation of
scavengers is provided for a project cost
up to Rs. 50,000 per scavenger. This
includes 50 per cent subsidies, subject
to a ceiling of Rs. 10,000 per project
and 15 per cent of project cost is margin
money loan, which is shared between the
Central Government and State Government
in the ratio of 49:51.
Measures
that merit immediate consideration are
100 percent conversion of dry latrines,
elimination of manual scavenging and
total rehabilitation of the liberated
scavengers. Since a number of factors
including official apathy seems to be
contributing to the continuance of this
inhuman practice, it is imperative that
municipal bye laws are suitably modified
to ban construction of dry latrines and
States legislate, on the lines of the
Central legislation, to prohibit
employment of manual scavengers.
Besides
providing alternate employment to those
who have been liberated from manual
scavenging, political commitment is vital
to uproot this social evil.
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Gandhi
Jayanti Special
Relevance
of Gandhi Ji today
By Prof.
B. L. Koul
As usual
the University was celebrating Gandhi
Jayanti. A seminar on "Relevance of
Gandhi Ji in the modern India" was
held in the University auditorium which
was packed to full capacity. The Advisor
to Governor (Education) was the chief
guest, Commissioner - Secretary
(Education) was the guest of honour,
while the Vice Chancellor presided over
the function. Speeches were made by the
learned professors and students
eulogizing Gandhi Ji for his simplicity,
philosophy and role in the freedom
struggle. Some speakers felt that Gandhi
Ji was still relevant to the present day
India while others said that his ideology
did not appear to be relevant in a
changing world. I was sitting in the
audience and felt that there was
something that had not been said about
Gandhi Ji. So I sent a chit to the
organising Secretary requesting him to
let me also speak. He personally came to
me politely said that the Vice Chancellor
would not give assent at that late stage.
The matter ended there. The chief guest,
the guest of honour and finally the Vice
Chancellor also spoke but none amongst
them spoke about Gandhi Ji's unique
quality namely his managerial skills.
Actually
in the year 1994 my younger son Kuldeep,
then a B. Tech. final year student at
BITS Pilani was selected as a trainee
Engineer by a Pune based firm. He was
required to join the firm on Ist of July
the same year. Since my wife and myself
would be having vacations them, so we
decided to accompany our son to Pune for
two reasons. One there was a long
standing invitation from my wife's
brother then residing at Pune, to pay a
visit to the famous city. Secondly, we
also wanted to visit Bombay and Goa.
During out
stay at Pune, we got an opportunity to
attend a lecture on "Management
skills" delivered by an eminent
American Management experts at the
University of Pune. The management expert
started his lecture by addressing the
following questions to the audience:
"Ladies and gentlemen before I speak
to you on the topic assigned to me by the
organisers, may I know from you who you
think was the greatest manager of the
country?"
There was
a hushed silence. To be honest I had not
the least idea about it. None from the
audience seemed to know either. The
speaker then went on "Ladies and
gentlemen, I can give a hint. He was an
Indian."
Again no
one gave the answer. The speaker then
himself gave the answer. He said,
"you have been wondering who is in
my mind. Well, he was none other than Mr
Gandhi, the father of modern India".
"Mahatma
Gandhi? The speaker must be joking".
This was my first impulse. A frail Dhoti
clad, be spectacled half starving Gandhi
Ji father of our nation, the greatest
manager of the twentieth century!
Seeing
surprised looks on the faces of the
audience the speaker went on to explain,
"Yes Mr Gandhi was the greatest
manager of the century and managers all
over the western world including the
United States of America are following
him as role model. Gandhi gave the world
a great management concept. The concept
is a very simple one. Do not expect from
others what you do not to yourself. He
never asked anybody to do what he did not
to himself. We, managers in USA follow
his example and as a matter of principle
and policy do not expect our subordinates
to do anything that we do not do
ourselves. For example I expect my
juniors to come to work on time because I
am punctual myself. A senior manager sets
an example by doing things himself first
so that his juniors my emulate him. This
has helped us do miracles in our country,
in the sphere of management."
The point
made by the speaker had gone home to the
audience. This is what I wanted to talk
about in the seminar on Gandhi Ji's
relevance. Unfortunately I did not get an
opportunity to do so.
It is a
paradox of our times that while we in the
land of Bapu are still debating whether
he is relevant, the world outside India
is following his ideas in letter and
spirit. It is rather unfortunate that an
average India today lives a double life.
He does not do himself what he says.
There is a growing belief that seminars
and lectures are always meant for for
others consumption. This hypocritic
attitudes will have to be given up if we
want to reach the heights where Bapu
wanted to see us. If we are able to do
so, it will be our greatest achievement
and a tribute to the frail and gentle
Gandhi Ji who indeed walked like a
colossus on the earth during the
twentieth century.
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