Cong,
BJP fighting internal war
By Arun
Nehru
The
Congress and the BJP instead of battling
each other are busy in
‘internal’ wars and this is
inevitable in the power game where there
are no ‘vacancies’ and clearly
everyone is looking at the future.
Congress
internal groups jockey for control within
the power structure and both sides are
loyal to the ‘dynastic’ leader
= majority rule is replaced with a
coalition and ‘tactics’ have
been readjusted as the Congress with 145
seats simply cannot govern without the
Left = Sonia Gandhi has power without any
public responsibility and accountability
and will not try to disturb the
‘current’ system and will keep
both sides happy! Internal battles will
continue as the Left have a ideological
agenda and Assembly elections due in 2006
and cannot agree to the reform agenda
whilst the PM/FM/Montek/Jairam Ramesh
have limited options but to pursue
reforms which attract global attention
and investment = this is a friendly fight
but in these days of
‘excessive’ media coverage
things get out of hand and some Left
leaders have taken very rigid stances and
stands to lose face with their cadres.
There are many issues from FDI to EPF and
foreign consultants and the sensible
thing will be to ‘compromise’
and continue in the ‘secular’
interest! The other factor is of the PM
who despite his ‘retiring’
nature knows the art of survival and
cannot in the power game avoid being a
‘power center’ and as he gains
in stature and confidence the wars within
will intensify as competence with a
‘insecure’ leader is often
confused with ambition and there are many
waiting in the wings to fill the space
occupied by those in the power circuit =
the ‘past’ is very relevant as
few will remember that Rajiv as PM had
Manmohan Singh in the Planning Commision
in 1985 and it did not last and then
during the term of PV Narasimha Rao when
Manmohan Singh was FM there was a revolt
within the party against
‘reforms’ and the Congress[T]
was formed headed by ND Tewari,Arjun
Singh, Natwar and Shiela Dixit . Manmohan
Singh since then has worked his way back
with Sonia and this requires a great deal
of skill and acumen but as PM despite his
better efforts the task will not be easy.
The
current controversy can also be linked to
the ‘issues’ connected to the
NDA defeat in the 2004 elections when
reforms were initiated, the economy was
booming and yet the NDA lost and everyone
can attribute their own reasoning based
on their political needs to forecast the
future. The reality is that this was a
fractured verdict and every state had its
own ‘agenda’ = ignoring
agriculture, neglect of the poor, elitist
reforms all these make little sense on
analysis as gains in MP, Karnataka,
Rajasthan and Chattisgarh by the BJP
nullify this arguments = the anti
incumbency factor accounted for AP whilst
the ‘excesses’ of the AIDMK
took their toll but for me the
‘minority’ vote in the states
of UP/BIHAR/WEST BENGAL and even in
Bombay city accounted for the defeat and
remember that a loss of thirty seats has
the effect of sixty when the fight is
between two groups of coalitions. The
reality is that reforms and economic
prosperity is always easy from top to
bottom and not the other way round and
even in the current budget whilst the
‘theory’ is correct the cost
can be crippling and we simply do not
have the infrastructure to work from the
bottom to the top. Reforms and progress
take time to filter down and they have
led to real gains but are off little use
in electoral politics as the
‘haves’ are outnumbered by the
‘have nots’.
We should
also remember that there are very
powerful economic vested interest in the
rural areas which controls the purse
strings and observe how the system works
in West Bengal and Bihar and in many
parts of UP where the party cadres are
involved. Land reforms have taken place
and agriculture has done else but there
is little else done on the economic
front. Economic sense and planning from
the view point of the banking system be
it in India or abroad cannot afford the
luxury of state resources catering to
political needs. The Left have a valid
political point on economic issues and
linked to the minority vote it makes
political sense as West Bengal and Kerala
have the highest percentage of minority
votes in the country. Inflation will
continue and so will the deficits.
The BJP
continue have yet to come to terms with
the defeat and governance for five years
after forty years of life in the
opposition is quite a experience = the
coalition experience under the expert
guidance of Atal ji should have taught a
lesson or two and sadly far to many
senior leaders were carried away by
opposition weakness and the lack of a
credible leader! The reality of coalition
politics prevailed and one group was
replaced by another and the life of a
coalition varies from 24hrs to 5 years
and Atal ji managed the impossible and
hopefully Manmohan Singh will do the same
and much of this will have to do with
managing his own internal contradictions
within the coalition. All it needs is one
major ally to shift to the other side =
go by past standards and equations and
everything is possible if the
‘survival rules’ of coalitions
are forgotten. Power has to be shared,
Lalu and Karunanidhi cannot be denied
their due, the Left will prevail but
things are different with Sharad Pawar [9
mp’s], Shibu Soren [5 mp’s] and
is anyone surprised that Sharad Pawar had
to eat his words ands his pride on his
comments on Sonia Gandhi.
I
don’t think the state elections in
Maharashtra are easy for either side but
the Congress have a large number of small
splinter groups and they along with a few
independents can swing the matter in
their favor if both sides get 120-130
seats = the anti incumbency factor is
very high but the Congress/NCP have the
benefit of the recent election victory
and the consolidation of the minority
vote can be a very decisive factor
against the BJP/Shiv Sena combine.
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O’
Gandhi
TALES OF TRAVESTY
By Dr.
Jitendra Singh
"With
every breath I pray to God to give me
strength to quench the flames or remove
me from this earth." This is how
Mahatma Gandhi summed up his agony on his
78th birthday, 2 October 1947, when the
entire subcontinent was on fire and the
country lay divided by communal hated,
violence, anger, suspicion, vengeance and
mutual sceptism. Later, when Gandhi
resolved to go on an indefinite fast in
an attempt to pacify the enraged tempers,
he declared on 12 January 1948, just a
fortnight before his tragic death,
"No man, if he is pure, has anything
more precious to give than his life. I
ask you all to bless my effort and to
pray for me and with me."
To a
world lost in error and beset by the
illusions of time, can there be a tale of
greater travesty than the story of an
incredible Mahatma who sought to redeem
human race and to reassert human dignity
through faith in the eternal significance
of man's conscienceness and in the
timeless forces of Truth!
Torn
between light and darkness, between
confusion and suffering, between reason
and unreason, between selfishness and
rivalry, between love and hatred, we
masquerade today as loyal disciples of
Bapu and remember him on his birth
anniversary with the hypocrisy of those
proverbial wolves who can barely survive
on a diet of rice and vegetable, and yet
claim to be protagonists of peace and
non-violence. Very skillfully, we have
reduced yesterday's Mahatma to a mere
tool for manipulating the electoral
verdict.
In the
enthusiasm to dwell on Gandhi's
superhuman sagacity, we often fail to
appreciate his more human virtues. His
immaculate sincerity. His incredible
tolerance. His modest charm. His
childlike simplicity. His infinite
patience. And above all, his abiding
faith in Truth and non-violence. All
these virtues, together comprise the
ideal of Gandhism which is today more
exploited than emulated.
In
contemporary times, Gandhi's doctrine
assumes a universal relevance and holds
the promise of succeeding where Marx and
Lenin have failed. We often overlook the
fact that Gandhi was not simply another
"Mahatma" or a saint but a deep
rooted, farsighted philosopher who
prescribed lasting ethics for the world
in general and for an upcoming
heterogenous nation like India in
particular.
Gandhi's
creed of non-violence was an extremely
active force with no room for cowardice
or fear. Definining his ideology in 1920,
Gandhi said "non-violence in its
dynamic condition means conscious
suffering. I have ventured to place
before my people ancient laws of
self-sacrifice, for the Rishis who
discovered the law of non-violence in
midst of violence were greater geniuses
than Newton and greater warriors than
Willington."
Gandhi
could foresee the long term benefits
accruing from the practice of
non-violence when he recommended a
non-violent resistance to the physical
forces that were out to perish the
dignity of man. At the same time,
Freedom, for Gandhi, was not merely a
political goal but an absolute social
reality and truth was, to him, an
instrument of overcoming the
inconsistencies of human flesh and the
discursiveness of human nature. "To
find truth completely", wrote
Gandhi, "is to realise onself and
one's destiny, in other words, to become
perfect."
Today,
Gandhi as also Gandhism are a part of a
fading heritage. Gandhi may appear
totally irrelevant when terrorism and
violence are an accepted way of life.
Gandhi may also appear irrelevant to the
common man who has known Gandhis of a
different genre ---- from Indira Gandhi
to Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi down to
Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi.
But, as
the struggle for human decency, for the
avoidance of physical strife, and for a
world without narrow domestic walls
becomes more intense; as we come closer
to the goal of the oneness of our
purposes and aspirations; as the dream of
civilization prevails, Mahatma Gandhi
will ultimately stand out as the
torch-bearer of a moral and spiritual
revolution which is the only hope of
peace in a distracted world, the only
path of salvation for erring humanity,
the only redemption for an unrequited Umapathy,
the only tribute to Bapu's poetic
wish for a sane world ".......Sab
Ko Sanmati De Bhagwan!"
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China-Pak
dispute across J&K LoC
By B L Kak
Things have begun
to hot up across the Line of Control (LoC) in
Jammu and Kashmir. Harsh noise is the outcome of
China's repeated protest against what Beijing
calls 'provocative' actions of Pakistan.
Precisely, it is a quarrel between the two
traditional friends over a portion of the Jammu
and Kashmir territory which Pakistan gave to
China in 1963.
Officials in
Islamabad and Beijing highlight the fact of
''cordial and cooperative'' relationship between
Pakistan and China. The relations between the two
countries have, however, refused to be very best,
with the dispute between them over Islamabad's
'provocative' actions close to the area Pakistan
ceded to China in 1963. The dispute became real
than apparent after Pakistan, in the absence of
consultations with China, offered K2 mountain to
foreign climbers at half charges.
Following the 1963
China- Pakistan agreement, Beijing made no secret
of its control over K2. This peak is located in
Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). New Delhi's
standpoint: Beijing and Islamabad are disputing
over a peak that belongs to India. It is a
different matter that Indian authorities chose
not to raise the matter, even as Chinese claim
was made public a few months ago.
There are
sufficient indications, clearly suggesting
China's unwillingness to quit the area which
Pakistan gave to it in 1963. In fact, under the
boundary agreement of 1963, Pakistan ceded 5,180
sq km of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. And the
location of K2 is of tremendous strategic
importance. The peak is on the line that divides
PoK from the ceded territory. The Karakoram Pass,
which marks the nearer and of the territory ceded
by Pakistan to China, remains common to both
India and China.
This, again, has
tremendous significance. In plain language, the
dispute over the peak has the potential to
disrupt any future attempt at hammering out a
durable settlement of the Kashmir issue.
Following the warm flirtations between Islamabad
and Washington, and following Pakistan's
willingness to grant complete freedom to the
Americans on the Pakistani soil, particularly
along the country's border with China, Beijing
has deemed it necessary to adopt the 'Big
Brother' attitude towards Islamabad.
In this
connection, the Pakistan Government's move to
encourage foreign climbers to K2 peak has served
as the stick for Beijing to best Islamabad with.
No wonder, Beijing has charged Islamabad with
ignoring the necessary formality of seeking
China's consent before granting permission to
foreign climbers.
What has irritated
the Chinese Government is Pakistan's recent move
to allow an American geological team to
reconnoitre the K2 peak and the surrounding
areas. This development was allowed at a time
when Beijing had been found opposed to the
strikingly pro-US performance and role of Gen
Parvez Musharraf. The Chinese leaders have found
it difficult to reconcile to the choice of
operations employed by Gen Musharraf vis-a-vis
the Americans. In other words, Beijing has not
liked a free run the US forces have through
Pakistani territories.
The Chinese were
forced to put in place a technological mechanism
to find out what the members of the American team
were up to. The finding was quite unexpected for
Beijing: Pakistan had started diverting, without
Beijing's consent, the course of three glacial
rivers, which were flowing into Chinese-held
territory, to its territory. Beijing vehemently
protested. Islamabad, on the other hand, took
Beijing by surprise when it chose to hit back by
asserting that Pakistan ''is entitled to a fair
share'' of the waters. This infuriated the
Chinese Government. It dash off a message to
Islamabad to tell Pakistani leaders that as the
mountain peak fell within the territory it got,
under the border agreement, in 1963, Pakistan had
no right to use the peak without prior permission
from Beijing.
The Chinese have
already made many improvements of the
1,280-km-long Karakoram highway linking Kashghar
in Xinjiang (Sinkiang) in Central Asia with
Islamabad in Pakistan through the 16,000-foot -
high Khunjerab pass along the old silk route.
Apart from the straightening or strengthening the
alignments at several places, reinforcing the
bridges and providing asphalt cover to the rugged
road surface along the 480-km stretch on the
Chinese side, the link road that has been built
connecting the Aksai Chin highway through
Xaidullah and Mazar has also been improved to
provide quicker access for Chinese forces to
enter Pakistan from both Xinjiang and Tibet.
What is
significant is that the Chinese improved the high
altitude road system at enormous expenditure
because of its high strategic importance. They
have already built a new 80-km branch road from
Taxkorgan in Xinjiang along the Karakoram highway
towards the Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan where
there is concentration of American forces. In
this rooftop of the world, where as many as 33
peaks rise 24,000 feet, the borders of five
countries lie in close proximity----Pakistan,
China, India, Russia and Afghanistan.
The Indian defence
experts are, no doubt, concerned about this vast
logistical network developed by China impinging
on the country's security in the western sector
through Aksai Chin and PoK (Pakistan occupied
Kashmir). But they are not taking too gloomy a
view of this development in India's security
environment, because a good bit of the Karakoram
highway passing through glaciers and river
valleys can be blocked in times of war by
interdictory bombing attacks at some selected
points.
New Delhi is
conscious of the fact that the borders of
Kirghiz, which are even closer from Taxkorgan,
are also linked by feeder roads to facilitate
quicker movement of Chinese troops from Xinjiang
side. It is the easier accessibility to the
Wakhan corridor and the Kirghiz area, coupled
with the link up with Pakistan through the
Khunjerab mountain pass and the alternate link
road across the15,000 ft high Mintaka pass, that
have given the Karakoram highway great strategic
importance.
As there is no
comparable road network anywhere else in the
world with such a high degree of military
importance, it is not surprising that thousands
of Chinese and Pakistani troops are engaged more
or less permanently on either side of the
Karakoram to maintain it. China is in control of
a portion of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir.
Will Beijing seek
to restrain any alteration in the territorial
status quo which would call into question the
area of Aksai Chin and the portion ceded by
Pakistan in 1963? A precise answer at this stage
will not be available, as the Chinese are known
for their reluctance to be seen, a shyness
approaching secrecy.
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Lion
of Duggarland
By Ravi Rohmetra
From the very
beginning, Jammu has been known as the place of
Saints, and warriors. Jammuites are proud that
leaders like Lala Hans Raj were born here. In
1892 Lala Ji founded Mahajan Sabha. Whole of the
Mahajan community in this country is feeling
proud to have such prominent social worker and a
very good leader. He infact was the live example
of wisdom, humility and tolerance. Moreover it is
a fact that the progress of the Mahajan Community
would be possible only when they will follow the
foot steps and late Lala Hans Raj Ji. Lala Ji not
only worked for the betterment of Mahajan
Community but also for the betterment of the
country also.
Lala Hans Raj
founder of Akhil Bhartiya Mahajan Shiromani Sabha
and Dogra Sadar Sabha was a man of principles and
freedom fighter. Lala Hans Raj Ji was born on
October 2, 1866 at Hamirpur Sidhar, Tehsil
Akhnoor Distt. Jammu in a well known family. His
father's name was Lala Harish Chand Mahajan. At
that time standard of education was not so high
so he got his education at masjid of his village
from Mian Inam Aldin in Persian and Urdu. Once
Late Maharaja Ranbir Singh during his visit to
Hamirpur Sidhar saw the Young Hans Raj Maharaja
was very much impressed with Hans Raj and he took
him to Jammu for study where he got his education
from Choba Ganesh Prasad and Choba Janki Parsad.
After sometime, the same young boy got the title
"Sher-e-Duggar." He passed the degree
of law in first division. He was also interested
in religious works and in 1916 he constructed the
Ved Mandir Ashram. Besides Preaching Vedas his
motive was to improve the conditions of orphans
and to stop slaughtering cow. After laying the
foundation stone of Dogra Sadar Sabha and Mahajan
Sabha, Lala Ji under the supervision of Maharaja
Amar Singh laid the foundation stone of the
Rajput Sabha for the upliftment of low caste
people. When the movement of spread from Bengal
to whole of India Lala Ji played his role in
Jammu and Kashmir. After this, he adopted Khaddar
and also urged the people to wear
"Khaddar" for the betterment of India.
For this, he started a workshop to make and dye
"Khaddar" at Purani Mandi Jammu. After
retirement from Govt job, he as a lawyer helped
people in one or another way. His most of the
time was spent in organizing rallies and helping
poor. In Oct. 1932 as Srinagar riots stated
between Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits, Muslims
attacked the house of Pandit Amarnath Kak (elder
brother of Pandit Ramchandra Kak, who was elected
as Prime Minister of (J&K). At that time Lala
Ji was at Srinagar. He came to known about this
and with the help of some of his associates he
reached Amarnath's house and saved the life of
his family members and took them to hazuri Bagh
near Amira Kadal. After on with the help of a
local Hindu leaders Mr Keshav Bandhu he decided
to held a conference in which Hindu, Muslims,
Sikhs could get united and work for the whole
society.
In the history of
Mahajan community October 2, makes much
significance. This day is also important for the
whole country as on this day two other great
leaders' of India Lal Bahadur Shastri and Mahatma
Gandhi was also born. In 1957 the birthday of
Mahajan Ji was celebrated under the benign
presence of Mahajan Sabha at Hajuri Bagh.
He was also known
as the "Dogra General". Lala Ji died in
the intervening night of Feb. 26/27th 1944 at 4
a.m. He was 77. Whole of the society was shocked
to hear about the demise of Lala Hans Raj
Mahajan. Every political and non-political party
condoled Lala Ji's demise. Lala Ji during his
left time worked for the betterment of the Dogra
Sadar and he was also successful in opening the
branch of Dogra Sabha in whole of the J&K
State. Dogra Sabha also worked for the betterment
of the people of Srinagar. He also successfully
launched magazines, newspapers like "Dogra
Gazzettee" Mahajan Niti Patra and Mahajan
Samachar, Mahajan Sabha, Dogra Sabha, Ved Mandir
and other big monuments were constructed with the
cooperation of Lala Ji. In the memory of Lala Ji
a park "Lala Hans Raj Park" in Jammu
and a big building in Delhi are used by people in
different ways, thus helping the people. On 18th
July 1936 he was unanimously elected the member
of Assembly. As a member of Assembly, he worked
for every Community especially for Kandi Belt,
that time people of Kandi's condition was very
harsh due to shortage of water.
In 1926, Lala Hans
Raj started Dogra Gazette whose editor was Daya
Krishan Gardish. Lala Ji started tirade against
the outsiders through Dogra Gazette and forced
the State Government to reserve the jobs for the
sons of the soil. The State Subject Certificate
for State Jobs came into existence. Lala Hans Raj
through his life fought against the evils which
were prevailing in the Hindu Society and strived
for the economic and social uplift of the people
of the State. He was far ahead of his time.
Prince of Wales
College was established in Jammu because of his
sustained efforts. He fought against the Dowry
system, untouchability child marriage and
smoking. He favoured widow marriage. He asked the
Jammuites to get themselves educated in Urdu
language, if they wanted to get Govt job. His
efforts forced Maharaja Hari Singh to bridge the
river Chenab at Akhnoor.
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Janani
the mother of all mankind
By Prof. Bansi L Kaul
The World Genes
Day is celebrated every year on Oct 3 to promote
research in the science of Genetics the
foundation of which was laid by an Austrian monk
named Mendel in 1865. He did a wonderful piece of
experimented work on garden peas and enunciatal
the principles of inheritance which have come to
be known universally as Mendel's Laws.
It may sound
incredible but is true that the same principles
of inheritance apply to mankind as to peas and
even to cats and flies. The inheritance of
characters in sexually reproducing organisms
follows the same Mendelian principles. And man is
a sexually reproducing organism.
Research in
Genetics all over the world encompasses varied
fields. It is being pursued with results of great
consequence for mankind in the fields of
agriculture, horticulture, microbiology,
medicine, animal and plant sciences to name only
a few.
The word
"Genes" has become fairly common in
usage. Most people now understand that genes have
something to do with traits. So there are good
people with good genes and bad people with bad
genes. A cobra has poisonous fangs because it
gets such genes from its parents. That is so
simple.
Now what is it
that makes up genes? Genes are segments of an
organic chemical substance called DNA
(Deoxyribonucleic acid). This substance is found
in Chromosomes in the cell nucleus and also in
Mitochondria [small particles found in cells].
Both the types of DNA pass from the parents to
their offsprings.
Research in human
genetics has lately come up with the revelation
that every human being alive today carries DNA
that can be traced back to a single woman [Janani
or Eve] who lived in the Eden of Africa about
150,000 years ago.
Stephen
Oppenheimer has now come out with a book
"Out of Eden: The Peopling of the
World" [Constable,£18.99, 440pp] tracing
the roots of mankind. His book refers to the well
documented and published work of Rebecca and her
fellow geneticists in America who had isolated
one tiny portion of our DNA, our mitochondrial
DNA-which we inherit solely from our mothers and
which unlike chromosomal DNA, is kept intact in
shuffling of genes that happens at
reproduction-and track it back through the female
line to a single population of pre-historic women
in Africa.
The work of
Rebecca et al has at one stroke solved the
long-running debate about whether the present
human race had originated in Africa and spread
out from there or whether they had evolved
separately from different populations in
different places. Oppenheimer pieces together the
story in his book. Through a vivid synthesis of
DNA studies with archaeological, climatic,
anthropological and other findings, he comes to
the conclusion that not only are all humans
descended from one African mother line, but that
all non-African people derive from a single
daughter of that mother.
The question as to
why, how and when did our ancestors leave this
original motherland in Africa to populate the
whole globe. Oppenheimer claims that instead of
heading for Europe they headed by a southerly
route, about 80,000 years ago, already equipped
with language and an array of technologies.
Hopping from
island to island across the Red Sea to the
southern Arabian peninsula, this daughter of
"Eve" and her genetic family then went
around the coast of India to South Asia. Within
10,000 years descendants of these colonists had
reached Australia, 20,000 years before the first
modem humans arrived in Western Europe. In the
meantime offshoots from that original
coast-trotting group pushed inland, using river
valleys to penetrate the mountain ranges that
block off Central Asia and the Middle East. At
the same time, other adventurers spread north
from South-East Asia into china, Japan, Mongolia
and ultimately America.
Drawing on
evidence from the other part of our DNA that is
passed on intact-the Adam-line, or
non-recombining DNA of the male Y-chromosome-to
bolster his theory, Oppenheimer unravels in
fascinating detail a complex history of
progressive colonisation and cultural evolution.
There is a
question that many may ask. Why is it that the
major races of mankind differ so much in their
features, if they have come from a single mother?
The story of the evolution of races is closely
knit with the vast reaches of time and space. As
continents shrunk and swelled and ice caps
advanced and retreated, the array of human
possibility evolved and our faces changed shape,
our bodies grew lighter or longer and our skin
colour lightened or darkened. What seems to us a
mass of differences is in fact an ever-shrinking
pool of genetic diversity. As we are the children
of one mother, we are dangerously placed in this
ever-evolving world. For example we are
ill-equipped to fight new diseases like SARS and
HiV/AIDS. In a brave new world there is need of
forgetting minor conflicts of race, religion and
territory and work towards greater welfare of
mankind bound together by the bond of being the
sons and daughters of a common mother- Janani or
Eve, whatever name you may like to give her.
In United Kingdom
3rd. October is celebrated as "Jeans for
Genes Day". In the otherwise formal British
Society everybody is allowed to wear informal
jeans at places of work if they donate just one
pound sterling for research in genetics. What a
nice way to collect money for a noble cause!
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