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Strange lapses of our eminent historians -- S. Sarkar Shanmukh and Dikgaj
Strange lapses of our eminent historians
S. Sarkar Shanmukh and Dikgaj 17 Sept. 2015
A critical examination of the research of historian Prof. S. Irfan Habib regarding Jawaharlal Nehru’s association with Bhagat Singh.
Questioning the works of academic historians is often termed impudent, particularly when the questions come from those who are not considered academically qualified historians. The authors of the present article fall under the stated description. Nonetheless, it is essential to examine the same particularly since the effects would be enormous if the question turns out to be reasonable.
We examine the expertise of an eminent historian, Prof. S. Irfan Habib regarding his research on Indian revolutionaries in general and Bhagat Singh in particular.While we are on the subject, Prof. Habib is formally a historian of science and political history, and holds the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad chair at Delhi’s National University of Educational Planning and Administration. [1]
He has authored a book on Bhagat Singh and his fellow revolutionaries, hence it is safe to posit that he is an authority on the subject. It is then expected that he provides a comprehensive analysis examining all indisputable evidences especially when they appear to contradict the thesis he posits. To our surprise, we found that Prof. Habib had ignored important information available in public domain in one of his research papers on Indian revolutionaries [3], as also his book on Bhagat Singh [2].
He sought to establish that during the freedom struggle Mohandas Gandhi was hostile to the Indian revolutionaries, while his close associate and India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had not only been favourably disposed towards them but had also assisted them in different capacities. Quoting him
Mahatma Gandhi was, of course, most uncompromising in his stance against violent methods….Yet there were other leaders of national stature in the Congress who certainly had a soft corner for the young revolutionaries. Prominent among them were Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. [2]
Focusing on Bhagat Singh we found, from easily available primary sources, that Nehru was at best favourably disposed to the revolutionaries in his public statements or written pieces. However his action or rather lack thereof at critical times displayed his indifference at best and animosity at worst. We next produce indisputable evidences that establish the above assertion, drawing in part from our prior work. [4]
Section A: How Gandhi-Irwin pact sealed the fate of Bhagat Singh by excluding him from its ambit
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru assassinated police officer Saunders in December 1928 subsequent to Saunders’ possible instigation of the assault that eventually killed Lala Lajpat Rai. Subsequently, in April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt dropped a bomb at the assembly in Lahore. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were subsequently arrested, tried and executed in 1931.
During his negotiations with Viceroy Irwin prior to Gandhi-Irwin pact, Gandhi made almost no effort to have their sentences commuted despite fervent appeals from all over India. In Irwin’s own words regarding his discussion with Gandhi:
In conclusion and not connected with the above, he [Gandhi] mentioned the case of Bhagat Singh. He did not plead for commutation, although he would, being opposed to all taking of life, take that course himself. He also thought it would have an influence for peace. But he did ask for postponement in present circumstances. I contented myself with saying that, whatever might be the decision as to exact dates, I could not think there was any case for commutation which might not be made with equal force in the case of any other violent crime. The Viceroy’s powers of commutation were designed for use on well-known grounds of clemency, and I could not feel that they ought to be invoked on grounds that were admittedly political. [5] [4
Gandhi deliberately placed Bhagat Singh and his colleagues outside the agreement with Irwin. To quote Gandhi about an interview on 18/02/1931 with Irwin:
These two titbits are not worth narrating anywhere. Now the third one. I talked about Bhagat Singh. I told him: This has no connection with our discussion, and it may even be inappropriate on my part to mention it. But if you want to make the present atmosphere more favourable, you should suspend Bhagat Singh’s execution. The Viceroy liked this very much. He said: I am very grateful to you that you have put this thing before me in this manner. Commutation of sentence is a difficult thing, but suspension is certainly worth considering. I said about Bhagat Singh: He is undoubtedly a brave man but I would certainly say that he is not in his right mind. However, this is the evil of capital punishment, that it gives no opportunity to such a man to reform himself. I am putting this matter before you as a humanitarian issue and desire suspension of sentence in order that there may not be unnecessary turmoil in the country. I myself would release him, but I cannot expect any Government to do so. I would not take it ill even if you do not give any reply on this issue. [5] [4].
In Delhi, great pressure was brought to bear upon the Mahatma to save the lives of Bhagat Singh and his colleagues. On 14/02/1931, Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya made appealed ardently to the Viceroy that Bhagat Singh’s death sentence be commuted to life sentence, saying
I do so not only because I am opposed on grounds of humanity, but also because the execution of these young men whose action was prompted not by personal or selfish considerations, but by patriotic impulses…[7]
Subhas Bose, who was in jail when the pact was inked, met Gandhi shortly after his release (but before the execution of the trio) to discuss the pact. He wrote-
On this occasion, I ventured the suggestion that he should, if necessary, break with the Viceroy on the question because the execution was against the spirit, if not the letter of the Delhi Pact. I was reminded of a similar incident during the armistice between the Sinn Fein Party and the British government, when the strong attitude adopted by the former had secured the release of a political prisoner sentenced to the gallows. But the Mahatma, who did not want to identify himself with the revolutionary prisoners would not go so far and it naturally made a great difference when the Viceroy realised that the Mahatma would not break on the question. [7]
Others too made fervent appeals to the Mahatma to save Bhagat Singh and his colleagues. But Gandhi was unmoved. Sitaramayya reports the reply of the Congress to the following question, [17]
Q-Would it be fair to ask, whether the sentences on Bhagat Singh and others be commuted to transportation for life?A- It would be better not to ask me that question. Regarding this there is sufficient material in the newspapers to allow journalists to draw their own inferences. Beyond this, I would not like to go. [4]
After the execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Rajguru, on 23/03/1931, Gandhi affirmed that:
We must realize that commutation of the sentences was not a part of the truce. We may accuse the Government of violence but we cannot accuse it of breach of the settlement. [5]
On 26/03/1931, when Gandhi was asked in a press interview,
Does the execution of Bhagat Singh and his friends alter your position in any way with regard to the [Gandhi-Irwin] settlement He answered:My own personal position remains absolutely the same, though the provocation has been of the most intense character. I must confess that the staying of these executions was no part of the truce, and so far as I am concerned, no provocation offered outside the terms will deflect me from the path I had mapped out when I agreed to the settlement.”[5] [4]
The sense of betrayal that the revolutionaries felt after Gandhi’s indifference to Bhagat Singh has been expressed by Manmathnath Gupta, an eminent member of his organization:
Gandhi was always eager to show that the life of the Viceroy was dearer to him than that of say, Jatin Das, or Bhagat Singh. This was perhaps a pose and a part of his strategy, but it hurt the revolutionaries who had been rotting in jails for years. The agents of the alien government called us terrorists. This did not hurt us, but Gandhi’s attitude amounted to almost saying, `You fellows are not political prisoners’. What annoyed us very much was that Gandhi was not consistent in his denunciations. He recognised the revolutionaries of all other countries as patriots, but he was more than step-motherly towards Indian revolutionaries, as evinced by the fact that he did not press for the release of revolutionaries at all on this occasion. [8] [4]
Section B: Jawaharlal Nehru was a party to the Gandhi-Irwin pact– critical omissions by Prof. Habib
We now examine Nehru’s role in the betrayal of Bhagat Singh, with focus on if and how Prof. Habib has depicted the same. Nehru generously and repeatedly showered encomiums on Bhagat Singh, which Prof. Habib has dutifully reported. [2] [3] Immediately, after assassination of Saunders Jawaharlal Nehru wrote:
Bhagat Singh did not become popular because of his act of terrorism but because he seemed to vindicate, for the moment, the honour of Lala Lajpat Rai, and through him of the nation. He became a symbol, the act was forgotten, the symbol remained, and within a few months each town and village of the Punjab, and to a lesser extent in the rest of northern India, resounded with his name. Innumerable songs grew about him and the popularity that the man achieved was something amazing. [3] [11]
He also sent a message to Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a revolutionary organisation founded by Bhagat Singh, and assured its members that ‘many in India are full of sympathy for them and are prepared to help them as much as they can...’[3][10]. He further affirmed that the Sabha will ‘grow in strength to take a leading part in forming a national India .’
After Bhagat Singh and his comrades dropped a bomb in the assembly, Nehru informed the Viceroy that ‘it is absurd to talk of unqualified condemnation of the youngmen who did it.’ He contradicted those who connected the bombs with Moscow saying that for them everything they (rulers) do not like come from Moscow .[3] [12]
When Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and Batukeshwar Dutt fasted in protest against the plight of political prisoners, Nehru showered glowing praises:
…no Indian can refrain from admiring their great courage and our hearts must go out to them now in their great and voluntary suffering. They are fasting not for any selfish ends but to improve the lot of all political prisoners. As days go by, we shall watch with deep anxiety this hard trial and shall earnestly hope that the two gallant brothers of ours may triumph in the ordeal [3] [16]. He met the hunger strikers and wrote about them as: I gathered from them that they would adhere to their resolve, whatever the consequences to their individual selves might be. Indeed, they did not care much for their own selves….. [3] [10]
In a speech at Lahore on August 9, 1929, he said:
We should realise the great value of the struggle that these brave young men are carrying on inside the jail. They are not struggling to get honours from the people or laurels from the crowd for their sacrifice. What a contrast this is, compared with the unfortunate wrangles among Congressmen and the fighting for securing positions in the Congress and the reception committee. I am ashamed to hear of these internecine differences amongst the Congressmen. But my heart is equally delighted by witnessing the sacrifices of the young men who are determined to die for the sake of the country..
Nehru in the same speech exhorted the people to emulate them and free the country from foreign bondage by similar sacrifices . [2] [3] [10]
What is however particularly galling is that Jawaharlal Nehru’s actions were in stark contrast to his stated positions, which Prof. Habib does not mention at all. Since the Gandhi-Irwin pact sealed the fate of the revolutionary trio, scholarly works seeking to assess the relations between Gandhi and Congress and the revolutionaries ought to have focused on two things.
First, how and why the pact kept the trio out of its ambit and second, who all in Congress had a say in the pact before it was inked before the execution of the trio. It is however astonishing that, except for few brief allusions to the first point, Prof. Habib omits both facets. The brief allusions to the first point were:
1) “Thus, the Gandhi-Irwin pact indirectly helped the Government to isolate the revolutionaries and to hang Bhagat Singh and his companions.’’[2]
2) “The Congress attitude towards the revolutionaries took a new turn after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March, 1931 and the subsequent executions of ‘Bhagat-Sukhdev-Rajguru’ trinity on March 23, 1931. All hopes were pinned on Gandhi but he could not save the lives of the three revolutionaries.’’ [3]
He has documented many other aspects of Gandhi’s animosity against the revolutionaries. So the real import of the above-mentioned discussions would have been that it would reveal how much support Jawaharlal Nehru provided to the revolutionaries through his actions. At that time he had already graced the Congress presidency by then, and was an indispensable member of the Congress Working Committee which had an important role in the negotiations that led to this pact.
We will now provide cogent evidence to show that Nehru was party to the entire negotiations that led to the Gandhi-Irwin pact, and the pact was inked only after his consent (and before the execution of the trio). This would therefore contradict Prof. Habib’s conclusion that Nehru supported the revolutionaries. After he concluded the Gandhi-Irwin pact, Gandhi said on 07/03/1931 in Delhi:
But let me tell you why Bhagat Singh and the rest have not been released. Maybe, if you had been negotiating you might have secured better terms from the Viceroy, but we the Working Committee would secure no more than what we have. I may tell you that throughout the negotiations I was not acting on my own, I was backed by the whole Working Committee. We brought all the presssure we could to bear on our negotiations and satisfied ourselves with what in justice we could have under the provisional settlement. We could not as negotiators of the provisional truce forget our pledge of truth and non-violence, forget the bounds of justice. [5]
Gandhi has therefore confirmed that the entire working committee (which included Nehru) had ‘satisfied themselves with what in justice they could have under the provisional settlement’ and believed that the commutation of Bhagat Singh’s sentence was not conformant with the notions of justice under the ambit of truth and non-violence. The grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, Rajmohan Gandhi, who shares Prof. Habib’s political persuasion, has been even more specific:
Lasting from February 17 to March 4, the Gandhi-Irwin talks were held at the Indian Viceroy’s new mansion, designed by Lutyens…..The WorCom camped in Delhi for the duration. Walking five miles to the palace and another five miles back to the residence of his host, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Gandhi gave a daily or nightly account of the talks to Jawaharlal, Patel and the others and sought the WorCom’s counsel at every important juncture.’’ [9]. “The Mahatma, to quote Sitaramayya again, “put it to member after member of the Working Committee, individually, and asked whether he should break on prisoners, on lands, on anything, on everything….’’ [17]. No one was prepared to counsel a break. [9]
A member of the Gandhi-Nehru power structure in Congress, JB Kriapalani has recalled the discussions in the Congress Working Committee on Gandhi-Irwin pact as follows:
Jawaharlal’s reaction was different. He took it as a surrender and opposed it. Gandhiji, therefore, said that he would not insist on acceptance of the agreement (with Irwin) if the Working committee so decided. He had so far committed only himself and not the Congress. With some difficulty Jawaharlal withdrew his objection. Afterwards he had to admit that the Pact enhanced the prestige of the Congress even among those who were against it. [18]
Note that Kripalani, Sitaramayya, Gandhi all agree that Nehru supported the pact in its entirety before it was signed, and did not counsel a break on any issue including the exclusion of Bhagat Singh and his comrades from amnesty (assuming they were considered by the working committee which itself remains unclear).
Continuing our narrative, there is no evidence that Nehru objected at any stage to the Gandhi-Irwin pact on the ground that it did not provide amnesty to, or commute the death sentences, of the revolutionary trio. On the contrary, we know from Nehru’s autobiography that Bhagat Singh’s fellow revolutionary, Chandrasekhar Azad, came to meet him in his residence before the Gandhi-Irwin negotiations commenced:
He (Azad) had been induced to visit me (Nehru) because of the general expectation (owing to our release) that some negotiations between the Government and the Congress were likely. He wanted to know, if in case of a settlement, his group of people would have any peace. Would they still be considered and treated, as outlaws; hunted from one place to place, with a price on their heads, and the prospect of the gallows ever before them?…But I had no answer to his basic question: what was he to do now? Nothing was likely to happen that would bring him, or his like, and relief or peace.[21]
Despite Nehru’s account, Azad met him to seek reprieves for the revolutionary trio sentenced to death. This has been confirmed by Manmathnath Gupta, an eminent revolutionary of Bhagat Singh’s organization:
Chandrasekhar Azad, the great revolutionary leader, himself went to Jawaharlal Nehru to press the release or at least the commutation of their sentences. [8]
Also Prof. Habib himself, in the only sentence that he devoted for this interview:
Azad later met Jawaharlal Nehru to seek the release of his fellow revolutionaries through the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, but despite prolonged discussion he failed to convince Nehru, and came back disgusted and dejected. [2]
Nonetheless, all accounts agree that even before the negotiations for Gandhi-Irwin treaty began, Nehru had informed Azad that the negotiations will not bring any relief to the likes of Azad (which would include Bhagat Singh). It is therefore logical to surmise that Nehru would not put up any genuine road block for the pact on Bhagat Singh’s or other revolutionaries’ count. Manmathnath Gupta, has written how Jawaharlal Nehru had betrayed Bhagat Singh:
It was expected of Jawaharlal, who passed as a youth leader, that he would put pressure on Gandhi in this matter [on forcing the British to release or commute the execution sentence for Bhagat Singh while he was negotiating the Gandhi-Irwin pact]. We inside the prison expected that Jawaharlal would advise Gandhi to break with the viceroy, but he did nothing of the sort. I agree with [Subhas Chandra] Bose, who wrote “The responsibility of Pandit Nehru is very great. Besides being the President of the Indian National Congress, he was the only member of the Working Commmittee who could be expected to understand and advocate the left wing point of view and his refusal would have been sufficient to prevent the final acceptance of the pact by Gandhi and the Working Committee. Unfortunately, he gave in and so the Pact was approved by the Working Committee and the next day, March 5th, the Mahatma put his signature to it. When the publication of the Pact created an uproar in the country, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came out with the statement that he did not approve of some of the terms – but as an obedient soldier, he had to submit to the leader. But the country had regarded him as something more than an obedient soldier. [8] [4]
Manmathanath Gupta also wrote:
A garbled version of their (Chandrasekhar Azad’s with Jawaharlal Nehru’s) interview is present in An Autobiography (by Nehru), I say garbled because he [Nehru] completely misrepresented the revolutionaries, charging them with fascist tendencies. When the book appeared, it was the fashion to brand one’s political opponents as fascists. To brand a set of people as fascists it is necessary to prove them hired trigger-happy agents of the big monopolists. [8]
Indeed, Nehru has written:
I was glad to learn from Azad, and I had confirmation of this subsequently, that the belief in terrorism was dying down….Many of them, it seems to me, have definitely the fascist mentality.[21]
Thus, Bhagat Singh’s fellow revolutionary has written that Nehru considered the revolutionaries as fascists; rather than having the “soft corner’’ that Prof. Habib saw in him – Gupta cannot be blamed here as one does not usually denounce without proof as fascist those who he commiserates with.Prof. Habib did not mention Manmathnath Gupta’s or Subhas Chandra Bose’s assessment of Nehru’s betrayal of Bhagat Singh in any of his works, he also skipped the fascist characterization altogether.
The only action, if it can be called such that Nehru took to save Bhagat Singh from the gallows was to publish Bhagat Singh and Dutt’s statements in court in the Congress bulletin. Gandhi remonstrated with Nehru for doing so,
I read the current Congress Bulletin. I think that the reproduction of that statement was out of place in an official publication which is designed merely to record Congress activities. Is it not like a government gazette? On merits too, I understand that it was prepared by their counsel. It is not the outpouring of earnest souls as you and I thought it was. Nor did I like your advocacy and approval of the fast they are undergoing. In my opinion, it is an irrelevant performance and in so far as it may be relevant, it is like using Nasmyth hammer to crush a fly. However, this if for you to ponder over. [13]
Nehru defended himself, but concurred with Gandhi that the publication of their defences in court was inappropriate and sought Gandhi’s pardon for it [10] [16]:
I am sorry that you disapproved of my giving Bhagat Singh and Dutt’s statements in the Congress bulletin. I was myself a little doubtful as to whether I should give it, but when I found that there was general appreciation of it among the Congress circles, I decided to give extracts. It was difficult to pick and choose, so gradually most of it went in. But I agree with you that it was somewhat out of place. …. Have I been advocating the fast? I had not intended doing so and I do not know what statement of mine you are referring to. In Delhi, I had stated that we could not sympathise with the fast of Bhagat Singh and Dutt during their long fast. As a matter of fact, I am not in favour of hunger strikes. I had told this to many young men who came to see me on this subject, but I did not think it worthwhile to condemn the fast publicly.
Thus, faced with Gandhi’s criticism, he backtracked and disowned his statements in support of the fasting revolutionaries. [4]
Prof. Habib essentially reproduced only the first sentence and parts of the second sentence above in his works. In particular, he omitted the parts that showed Nehru beleiving the defense presented by the revolutionaries was out of place in a Congress bulletin. Prof. Habib also omits Nehru’s initial hesitation to publish the statements and his opposition to Bhagat Singh’s hunger strike.
Prof. Habib positions Nehru’s apology to Gandhi as a pro-forma one and emphasizes that ‘Nehru accepted the widespread popularity and recognition of the revolutionaries among the Congressmen.’ [3]
The more important conclusion that however emerges is that Nehru published the statements not out of any conviction, but compulsion due to pressure from Congress rank:
I was myself a little doubtful whether I should give it [extracts of Bhagat’s defence in court], but when I found that there was very general appreciation of it among Congress circles, I decided to give extracts.[10] [16]
Nehru remained completely silent in public on the exclusion of the revolutionary trio from the ambit of the pact before their execution [10], which Prof. Habib explains as ‘Jawaharlal Nehru kept quiet before the executions lest a word of his may annoy the Mahatma.‘
If that were indeed the case, then the question that arises is why did the future prime minister weigh his fear of provoking the Mahatmas wrath above his determination to save the revolutionary freedom fighters from the gallows? Could his fear have been motivated by a greater determination, that of furthering his political career in then Congress power structure where Gandhi had the last word? Or is it the case that the intention to save the revolutionaries never existed in the first place, contrary to his spoken words?
In Prof. Habibs words:
But soon after the executions, he [Nehru] came out with a statement in defence of his silence. He said that I have remained silent though I felt like bursting, and now all is over. This may be true because in some other reference he had accepted that I was being compelled by force of circumstances to do things I was in thorough disagreement with. He further said, Not all of us could save him who was so dear to us and whose magnificent courage and sacrifice have been an inspiration to the youth of India; India today cannot save her dearly loved children from the gallows …. He [Nehru] spoke: He (Bhagat Singh) was a clean fighter who faced his enemy in the open field. He was a young boy full of burning zeal for the country. He was like a spark which became a flame in a short time and spread from one end of the country to the other dispelling the prevailing darkness everywhere. [3] [10]
The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family clearly did not elaborate on his compulsions and if and how those related to his ambition for personal political power. [4] Thus, Prof. Habib’s reporting of Nehru’s sorrow at not being able to actcompelled by force of circumstances, without asking the above questions, appear to be uncharacteristically uncritical of a probing scholar who specializes in political history. To us, however, given Nehru’s inaction, his words of condolences subsequent to their execution appear ludicrous.
Section C: Prof. Habib’s academic response to specific pointers on primary historical sources
Our subsequent interactions on SM with Prof. Habib were even more astonishing. A tweep @parikramah had brought to our attention an article by Prof. Habib enumerating Bhagat Singh’s opinions on Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Bose. In this context, we pointed out that
1) Nehru had betrayed Bhagat Singh through his inaction
2) Multiple documentations show that Gandhi-Irwin discussions and treaty happened with Nehru’s consent
3) Bhagat Singhs death sentence was not commuted as part of Gandhi-Irwin pact with Nehru’s consent.
But Prof. Habib shot back: Who told you that? Have you ever read anything before making this statement?
Lest there be any confusion, we subsequently pointed out that Bhagat Singh was placed outside the ambit of Gandhi-Irwin pact. We also pointed out the writings of Gandhi and Bose and Manmathanath Gupta to establish our contentions, and that Prof. Habib omitted Manmathanath Gupta’s comments on Nehru’s role in his article. Prof. Habib once again surprised us by asking where did Manmathanath Gupta write all this? and I interviewed Manmathnath Gupta for several days, Never heard all this.
We therefore reproduce the statements of Manmathanath Gupta, from his celebrated memoir verbatim on Nehru’s inaction on Bhagat Singh:
It was expected of Jawaharlal, who passed as a youth leader, that he would put pressure on Gandhi in this matter [on forcing the British to release or commute the execution sentence for Bhagat Singh while he was negotiating the Gandhi-Irwin pact]. We inside the prison expected that Jawaharlal would advise Gandhi to break with the viceroy, but he did nothing of the sort. [8]
Under these circumstances, the most satisfactory conclusion most based on Prof.Habib’s tweets on Manmathanath Gupta, would be, that he remains till date unaware of Gupta’s memoir which was published as early as 1969. Prof. Habib’s scholarly works appeared in 1982 and 2007 respectively. Researchers usually do substantial homework on their subjects before interviewing them. Yet, if this conclusion were to hold, it would appear that Prof. Habib interviewed Manmathanath Gupta for several days, without knowing that Gupta had already published his memoir. But, even this favorable conclusion is somewhat tenuous as Prof. Habib has cited the above memoir in The Congress and the Revolutionaries in the 1920s but not entirely ruled out since the work had another author. Equally important, Prof. Habib remains unaware of what Gandhi wrote about the involvement of the Congress Working Committee (which included Nehru) as to his negotiations with Viceroy Irwin leading to the Gandhi-Irwin pact, and his final acceptance of the terms Irwin provided. He also seems to be unaware of multiple statements by Gandhi and Irwin on how Bhagat Singh was kept out of Gandhi-Irwin treaty based on mutual consent.
Gandhi’s writings are available in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG), which can be accessed online; we have provided references to the relevant parts in this article. In addition, Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, who shares Prof. Habib’s political persuasion, and a member of the then Congress Working Committee, JB Kripalani have written about the involvement of Nehru in discussions that led to the Gandhi-Irwin treaty (specific citations have already been provided).
As part of established academic practice, on 8 September, we shared our articles with Prof. Habib, where we had established the above contentions with specific references to CWMG, Manmathanath Gupta’s memoirs and Indian Struggle, written by Subhas Chandra Bose [6], and have been waiting for Prof. Habib’s academic response ever since. He is yet to acknowledge receipt of the facts he was seeking.
Meanwhile, and as an aside, he has blocked one author, Shanmukh, in our team. It goes without saying that it is his discretion as to who he wants in his TL. It is also important for us to put on record that the author who he has blocked had simply provided him verifiable facts. We also attach our co-author’s tweets for this purpose
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Section D: How scholarly is the vaunted left academic structure?
The broader contention that we have perhaps established in this piece is that among leading academic position holding historians in India there are those who are at best unaware of publicly accessible information that are crucial to their research area. This in certain cases makes them guilty of distorting history, either by selective quotation or suppression of historical sources, both actions often guided by ideological and political considerations.
The ideological considerations pertaining to Nehru and Bhagat Singh for example may well be that the former is posited as an icon of the left, or at least parts thereof, and Nehru’s betrayal of revolutionary Bhagat Singh (of leftist persuasion) who enjoys iconic status all over India and across the political spectrum, might irretrievably undermine Nehru’s legacy. The political considerations in general involve loyalty to ruling regimes which have the capability to influence academic decorations and appointments. RC Majumdar, the famous historian who refused to bow to the powers that be, has narrated his own experience in writing history – the gross interference from political and official figures and the propensity of professional historians to follow cues from their political masters-
When as a whole time Director, I prepared the draft of the `History of the Freedom Movement in India’, sponsored by the Government of India, I met with constant interference and obstruction from men in authority, having no knowledge of history….It is very sad that the spirit of perverting history is no longer confined to politicians, but has definitely spread even among professional historians. [19]
The governments of his time had a certain policy towards history and compelled many professional historians to follow their policy. But as he points out-
But history is no respecter of persons or communities, and must always strive to tell the truth, so far as it can be deduced from reliable evidence. This great academic principle has a bearing on actual life, for ignorance seldom proves to be real bliss either to an individual or to a nation. … The real and effective means of solving a problem is to know and understand the facts that gave rise to it and not to ignore them by hiding the head, ostrich like, into sands of fiction. [20]
What is worrisome is that Prof. Habib’s conduct is by no means an exception, but rather a representation of the disorder of distortion of history guided by non-academic consideration. Only a few professional historians in recent times (who are mostly of leftist persuasion), have chosen to follow RC Majumdar’s advise. Most have chosen to distort history as they saw fit, accepting dictates from non-academic quarters.
This reflects extremely poorly on the leftist academic community, who in the last fifty years had exclusive access to national resources pertaining to research in history. Additionally it also exposes the vacuity of their claim of developing a strong academic foundation. It is perhaps high time then that premier historical bodies like ICHR be populated with reputed scholars of unquestionable integrity.
Last, but not the least, the scholars with rightist persuasion would grievously err by seeking to emulate the other end of the spectrum. Instead of eulogizing specific political icons while concealing their flaws and selectively quoting history to establish their contention – they would be better advised to emulate Prof. Majumdar’s principle – for truth prevails, eventually.
Bibliography
[1] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/edit-page/S-Irfan-Habib-Modern-science-can-be-pursued-by-any-believer/articleshow/17052707.cms?from=mdr[2] S. Irfan habib, To Make the Deaf Hear: Ideology and Programme of Bhagat Singh and His Comrades
[3] S. K. Mittal and Irfan habib, The Congress and the Revolutionaries in the 1920s, Social Scientist, Vol. 10, No. 6 (June 1982), 20-37
[4] Saswati Sarkar, Shanmukh, Dikgaj, Mahatma Gandhi’s war on Indian revolutionarieshttp://www.dailyo.in/politics/mahatma-gandhis-war-on-the-indian-revolutionaries-british-nehru-mountbatten-sardar-patel/story/1/5359.html
[5] Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi Interview to the Press, 26/03/1931,http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL051.PDF[6] S. C. Bose, The Indian Struggle (1920-1942)
[7] V N Datta, “Gandhi and Bhagat Singh’’, Rupa Publishers, 2008.
[8] Manmathnath Gupta, `They Lived Dangerously’
[9] Rajmohan Gandhi Patel – A Life
[10] Report of the Congress Session, Karachi, 1931, NMML, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 4
[11] J Nehru “An Autobiography’’, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1941
[12] The Tribune, April 17, 1929
[13] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, “Gandhi’s letter to Jawaharlal Nehru’’, 01/07/1929,http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL046.PDF
[14] The Bombay chronicle, March 25, 1931.
[15] Saswati Sarkar, Shanmukh, Dikgaj, Subhas Chandra Bose’s Connections with Revolutionaries with Indiahttp://www.dailyo.in/politics/revolutionary-association-of-subhas-bose-mahatma-gandhi-british-independence-ina/story/1/4197.html
[16] Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol. 4, A Project of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Orient Longman
[17] Sitaramayya, Pattabhi, “The history of the Indian national Congress, Working Committee, Allahabad, 1935
[18] JB Kripalani , “Gandhi His Life and Thought”
[19] RC Majumdar, “History and Culture of the Indian People”, Vol. VII
[20] RC Majumdar, “History and Culture of the Indian People”, Vol. VI
[21] Jawaharlal Nehru, “An Autobiography’’
http://swarajyamag.com/politics/strange-lapses-of-eminent-historians/
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Kudos to NaMo. Stay focussed on Vikas. Also, enforce Rule of Law. Send kaalaadhanwale to Tihar.
Once a month, PM Modi steps in to revive stalled projects
PM Modi has promised to fire up India's notoriously slow bureaucracy.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally taking on India's notorious red tape to clear tens of billions of dollars worth of stalled public projects, hoping that his hands-on intervention can bend a vast, dysfunctional bureaucracy.
Once a month, Modi holds a meeting with top state and federal bureaucrats to check why projects have not got off the ground. Since March this year, his intervention has helped revive nearly $60 billion in central and state projects, according to government data through September seen by Reuters.
Modi has won plaudits for the initiative that has chipped away at a $150 billion backlog of planned roads, ports, railways, power stations and other projects. But equally, critics say, the fact he needs to personally intervene shows the level of government inertia in Asia's third-biggest economy.
"It is a systemic problem that the Prime Minister needs to work on," said Arun Maira, a management consultant and member of the previous Congress government.
The initiative, launched by Modi in March and publicised on his personal website and Twitter feed, is called pro-active governance and timely implementation, or Pragati, which means "progress" in the Hindi language.
Federal and state bureaucrats are linked by video to Modi's office for the meeting, usually held on the fourth Wednesday of each month. They are typically from the finance, law, land, environment, transport and energy ministries whose clearances are needed for many projects.
The agenda is set the previous week and usually has about a dozen stalled projects, public grievances and other governance issues.
A senior official who has attended said that when a project comes up for discussion, Modi turns to the representative of the ministry where it is being held up.
He simply asks, "Please tell me why it hasn't happened," the official said.
Several months into Pragati, the official said, a majority of the projects are cleared before they come up for discussion.
The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Akhilesh Yadav, a political rival of Modi, wrote to the Prime Minister's office requesting the inclusion of a $1 billion metro rail project in the state capital at one Pragati meeting.
It got the clearances, including a pledge of central funding, at the September meeting.
"This is a welcome move which would go a long way in doing away with avoidable delays," said Alok Ranjan, the state's top bureaucrat.
(Labourers work at the construction site of the Lucknow Metro.)
Systemic problem
Still, critics say that while Modi can quickly cut through red tape, his style centralizes decision-making and will not be sustainable in a country as large as India.
The stock of stalled projects in the country has come down, but remains high.
In the July-September quarter, projects worth 7.6 percent of India's GDP, or $152 billion, were stalled, down from a peak of 8.5 percent in the January-March 2014 quarter, according to CMIE, a think-tank. The data includes private investment plans.
"Running a country is far more challenging than managing a state," said Maira, the consultant, referring to Modi's reputation as an effective administrator when he was chief minister of Gujarat state from 2001 to 2014.
During those years, he used a similar initiative to get projects off the ground.
After taking over as Prime Minister last year, Modi vowed to fire up India's notoriously slow bureaucracy. He has set an ambitious goal of making India one of 50 most business-friendly destinations in the world by 2017.
The World Bank ranked India 130th out of 189 economies, up from 134th last year, in its annual "Doing Business" report released this week.
READ ALSO:
India up 12 spots in 'Ease of doing business' report
Modi's initiative has tried to plug that loophole.
The previous government set up a Cabinet task force to clear the backlog of projects but failed to make much of an impact because state governments were not involved.
Modi's initiative has tried to plug that loophole.
IYR. Krishna Rao, the top bureaucrat in Andhra Pradesh state, said projects are usually held up by a lack of coordination between different departments and governments.
Rao said he was pushing to get clearances for a railway line in his state. After it was reviewed by Modi, the response from the railway ministry improved substantially.
"This is a very good forum," Rao said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Once-a-month-PM-Modi-steps-in-to-revive-stalled-projects/articleshow/49590396.cms
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Nitish ji, Sonia ji bhi Bhaarat mein rehti hain, aap unko kya kehte hain? To mai "Bahari" kaise hua? - NaMo, Gopalganj (48:39)
PM Narendra Modi addressing a rally in Gopalganj #BiharPolls
People of Bihar have kept the Congress away for 25 years. This is their power.
PM on Nitish Kumar's "bahari" comment: Nitish ji, Sonia ji bhi Bhaarat mein rehti hain, aap unko kya kehte hain?
If people give you the mandate to run a government, they also deserve an account of the work you have done.
Gopalganj, this is Lalu Prasad's home district but what did the people get here? He made it a 'mini Chambal'.
Do you remember the scams in every sphere, be it transport, ration, education, recruitment, mid day meals and what not.
All levels of decency have been broken and poor language is being used by those who ruled Bihar for 25 years and 35 years before that.
PM Modi takes on grand alliance in his Gopalganj rally
The government is for those who don't have any other support: PM ModiSarkar unke liye hoi hai, jinka koi nahin hota, jinke pass koi sahara nahin hota: PM Modi
Sarkar unke liye hoi hai, jinka koi nahin hota, jinke pass koi sahara nahin hota: PM Modi
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bihar-assembly-election-phase-IV/liveblog/49590554.cms
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NaMo at Parivartan rally, Musaffarpur. NaMo, restitute kaalaadhan. Send looters to Tihar.
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Bharat Mahaan Bharat, feel proud
Psecs and naxal scientists !! It is time to listen to Dr. VK Saraswat, top scientist and feel proud about Bharat
Ram Madhav Rants of a disgruntled pro-Naxal politically savvy scientist from Hyd get so much space. India's top scientist in defence research VK Saraswat addressed RSS Vijayadashami function last week at Nagpur in d company of RSS Chief Shri Bhagwatji. No space for the views of this real scientist and many more!!!
Ram Madhav Retweeted
ANI RSS isn't a punching bag for these pseudo-secular people: Dattatreya Hosabale, RSS
Dattatrey Hosbale exclusive TT (joint gen sec-RSS)
Read: http://tl.gd/n_1snokhl Thursday, October 22, 2015
RSS: Full text of Dr.VK Saraswat, NITI Aayog at Nagpur
Dr. VK Saraswat, Member NITI Aayog was the chief guest of RSS Vijayadashami Utsav at Nagpur today. Here is the full text:
Respected Dr Mohanji Bhagwatji
On the auspicious day of Vijaya Dashami, I would like to extend to all, my warmest greetings and would like to thank Dr Bhagwatji for giving me this opportunity to celebrate Vijaya Dashami with the country’s premier Nationalist Institution “Rasthriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS.
Vijaya Dasami, a great festival, a part of Indian culture is known for the victory of Maryada Purushotham Ram, an epitome of virtues over Ravana, an asur and epitome of evil. Hence, it was a victory of virtue / goodness over evil.
Today, our country is transforming itself from a developing country to “Developed Nation” by conquering various difficulties coming in the form of evils. Its time for us to take concrete steps to overcome these difficulties and transform India into a Developed Nation.
But, before we really embark on the analysis or planning of the steps to be taken for fighting this battle, it is important for us to understand our country’s strength and weeknesses.
In ‘Following the Equator” the popular travelogue Twain published after his return, he writes:
Respected Dr Mohanji Bhagwatji
On the auspicious day of Vijaya Dashami, I would like to extend to all, my warmest greetings and would like to thank Dr Bhagwatji for giving me this opportunity to celebrate Vijaya Dashami with the country’s premier Nationalist Institution “Rasthriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS.
Vijaya Dasami, a great festival, a part of Indian culture is known for the victory of Maryada Purushotham Ram, an epitome of virtues over Ravana, an asur and epitome of evil. Hence, it was a victory of virtue / goodness over evil.
Today, our country is transforming itself from a developing country to “Developed Nation” by conquering various difficulties coming in the form of evils. Its time for us to take concrete steps to overcome these difficulties and transform India into a Developed Nation.
But, before we really embark on the analysis or planning of the steps to be taken for fighting this battle, it is important for us to understand our country’s strength and weeknesses.
In ‘Following the Equator” the popular travelogue Twain published after his return, he writes:
This is indeed India! The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of gene and giants and Aladin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of hundred nations and hundred tongues, of a thousand religious and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birth place of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legends, great grandmother of traditions …. So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man of nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that sun visits on his rounds.
There is only one India, he exclaimed “Its marvels are its own, the patents cannot be infringed, limitations are not possible”.
I think from this emerged the coinage for India in 2002 “Incredible India” with characteristic feature as an example “Unity in Diversity” with Rich Heritage of a civilization which left no stone untouched.
What is the binding force and common thread that unites this diversity. It is “Bharatiyata” or “Indianness”. Yes, it is Bharatiyata, value system which is constant, does not change with time that keeps this great country of vast diversities together. Bharatiyata in all Vedic, Budhist and Islamic writings, is derived from the cosmic character of life. It is regarded as an inherent property of an infinite, timeless and eternal universe.
Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya conceptualized Bharatiyata which means culture which unlike western thoughts sees life as an integrated whole. Bharatiyata according to him, can manifest itself through politics but not through culture. India can offer to world its cultural tolerance and a life dedicated to duty.
The building block of our country’s transformation is “Empowerment of Masses from poverty through strong imperatives for jobs, growth and effective basic services.
FROM POVERTY TO EMPOWERMENT
India’s Human development indicators suggests more widespread deprivation in terms of quality of life and access to basic services.
680 million Indians cannot meet their essential needs ~50% of public spending on basic services does not reach the people 46% of basic services are not within reach for the average household ¾ of the potential impact will come from jobs and productivity growth 580 million people can be economically empowered by 2022 115 million additional non-farm jobs needed over the next decade 70% increase needed in agricultural yields over the next decade 50% of public social spending is needed for health care, water, and sanitation, up from 20% today.A new and more holistic measure of income deprivation, the Empowerment Line is an estimate of the minimum economic cost for a household to fulfill eight basic needs: Food, Energy, Housing, Drinking Water, Sanitation, health Care, Education and Social Security. Eight basic services contribute to a minimum acceptable standard of living are –
2,100 (urban) or 2,400 (rural) calories, including 60 grams protein and 40 grams fat, per capita per day Access to clean cooking fuel and electricity for lighting needs, based on minimum energy consumption levels 215 (rural) and 275 (urban) square feet of acceptable housing 70 (rural) or 135 (urban) litres per capita per day of piped water supply Sanitary latrine in rural households, and underground sewerage with wastewater treatment in urban households Access to an essential basket of primary, secondary and tertiary health-care services Access to primary education and secondary education (substitutable with vocational training) for all children based on accepted norms Insurance to cover income loss based on 2% premium-to-coverage ratio Empowerment Line’s minimum standards of consumption are approximately 1.5 times higher than those implicit in the official poverty line.Since, majority of our population lives in villages and life support systems is Agri based, we need to concentrate on Agriculture for crossing the empowerment line.
INDIA’S Farms : Harvesting the Future
Some three hundred million rural Indian live below the poverty line, literacy is only 46% and only one in five have access to basic sanitation. Although, more than two-thirds of Indians (833 million people) live in the countryside, agriculture accounts for only 14-15% of GDP. Forty two percent of Indian’s children under five are under=weight, the second highest figure in the world.
Can Indian agriculture help to plant a different kind of future, in which the rural citizens are more prosperous, its children are more robust, and the natures’ economy is stronger?
Yes, it can
We believe in successful future, because we have seen success in the past. Despite poor infrastructure, policy barriers such as restrictions on procurement and marketing and land laws that prevent land consolidation. Indian Farmers have proved admirably resilient. India has been self-sufficient in food production producing agriculture almost 260 million tons / year and is global leader in producing bananas, mangoes, papayas, milk, buffalo meat, spices, castor oil and sesame seeds.
With India’s population growing, food consumption will grow 4% per year. At the same time, consumers in India will demand high-quality, safe and healthy food.
As such, with rising economy and favorable policies in the present regime of governance, this is an important moment for Indian Agriculture. It’s the right time to launch the “second Green Revolution” and be a global agriculture power house with agriculture output rising to $620 billion by 2030 and the income of rural citizens rising six-fold and approaching that those in the cities.
1. What needs to be done?
a. Improve agriculture technology, including seeds and farming practices.
b. Create high-yield varieties of seeds suitable for different regional climates
c. Educate Farmers to adopt them
d. Promote mechanization and modern irrigation (drip irrigation, micro-irrigation) methods
e. Rain harvesting
f. Improve post harvest management to avoid crop wastage (upto 25%)
2. Make Soil and Water sustainable a priority. India need to create a better base of knowledge.
a. A national map of soil type and water availability
b. Use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to monitor various land use activities and watershed projects
c. Research on cropping practices that use soil nutrients efficiently and decrease land degradation
d. Set up mobile testing labs to provide farmers with prescription for their soil with reference to optimum use of fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and water
3. Promote Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPO), Farmer-Producer Companies and local aggregators
FPOs and FPCs can help to create the economics of scale and improve productivity by allowing small farmers to leverage their collective strength and increase their competitiveness by offering them easier access to credit and technology. These organizations can reduce the cost of distribution and provide greater marketing power and negotiation capability to farmers.
4. De-Regulate the Marketing of Agriculture produce
Allow farmers to sell their produce straight to markets. I.T should be used for accessing price information across mandis to prevent exploitation of Farmers
5. Launch a Public Private Export initiative
6. Promote Private Investment
7. Scale up Mega Hubs for processing of food through “Food Processing Parks”
8. Upgrade Extension services through private participation to introduce and integrate Science and Technology into farming systems
9. Establish world-class food and agriculture universities. Indian Institutes of Agriculture and Technology to be set up, to create a generation of agriculture and food experts.
10. Finance agri-business investment funds. Central and State governments should contribute 50% to an agri-business investment fund, with private players supplying the rest. A $500 millions fund should be professionally managed to support 40-50 projects.
This will usher in “Agriculture Renewal Revolution”.
In our imagination, we dream of a prosperous and peaceful India and that dream lives in its villages.
70 years back Mahatma Gandhi declared “India begins and ends in the villages”. Let us make his dream come true.
TRUE EDUCATION
Our present education is filled with Western ideals—the myth of modern science and techno-logy. Our ancient scientists and philosophers are being gradually neglected. None of the Scientific books mention about the discoveries of gravity, laws of planetary motion, zero, infinity, methods of plastic surgery etc., made by Indian scientists and philosophers much earlier than the western world. To fight the hegemony of the West, we need a new kind of education. In this context, the meaning of “true education” has to be explored. Perhaps true education enables one to experience the world in a unique way: it creates wisdom: a humane orientation towards nature, towards labour, towards fellow beings. It visualises a different kind of society, polity and economy. The history of post-independence India is full of betrayals. We need to educate ourselves in order to bear freedom and truth.
True education really means life experiences which should not be confined to formal education and specific training only. Above all, education means not to be a calculus, but how to calculate the real-life situations. The basic purpose of education remains the development of the human personality.
True education brings about consciousness. Consciousness brings about revolution. Revolution brings about change. Change is the law of nature. Law is the code of conduct. Thus, education without consciousness has no meaning. Education is a lifelong process. We learn as long as we live. We live to learn but we must learn to live. The traditional wisdom of India never separated learning from living.
Swami Vivekananda warned us long ago: “No amount of politics would be of any avail, until the masses in India are once more well educated, well fed and well cared for.” For that need-oriented quality education is now desirable for all-round development of the nation. Therefore, educational standards should emphasise on quality, not numbers. Certificates of education are limited only to examinations. There is no yardstick for the examination pattern. More so, marking systems vary from institution to institution. The examination is not the balance of knowledge. The examination pattern in our country is not uniform. Education is in the concurrent list of our Constitution. There is growing disparity between the state-sponsored educational institutions and private educational institutions. Growing privatisation of education and commercialisation of education has converted education into an industry without its welfare objectives—an immediate production-orientation which is accessible to very few people.
Lack of true education and self-control leads to corruption. Corruption is the result of lack of consciousness and conscience, lust for money, power and position and materialistic gains with degeneration of moral values. Corrupt tendencies turn into corrupt practices and habits owing to the prevailing ills of society—unequal distribution of land, labour and capital.
In order to acquire true education and to curb corruption, there is a need for sound and healthy living. For that purpose, incorporation of the age-old Vedic system of values of life in the human character is required for a corruption-free society. These values areachar (conduct), vichar (thought process), ahar (diet and nutrition) and vyavahar(interpersonal dealings). True education—education with consciousness, conscience, and sensitivity—will make a man conscious of the public issues and give an opportunity to root out every trace of nepotism, love of power, profiteering and black-marketeering.
HEALTHCARE FOR ALL
Let us look at the state of health care in India.
From all over the world, people needing hip replacements, cardiac by-passes, or even bone marrow transplants are increasingly flocking to India for treatment. Top-flight hospitals in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and elsewhere are performing sophisticated procedures on hundreds of thousands of ‘medical tourists’ each year thanks to the renowned skill of Indian Doctors and the comparatively low cost of hospital stay.
Considering how successful our health-care system has become at delivering effective and affordable treatment for foreigners, the prospect of decent care for all Indians might seem to be within our grasp. Unfortunately, that dream remains as distant as ever.
Take infant mortality: At forty-four per one thousand live births, the rate in India is three times higher than in china, four times higher than in Srilanka and Thailand, and even higher than in Bangladesh and Nepal. Equally discouraging are the inequities that exist within our country. An infant born in Madhya Pradesh is six times more like than her peer born in Kerala to die before her first birthday.
Forty-two percent of Indian children under five years suffer from undernutrition. India accounts for a third of the world’s measles deaths and a third of TB cases. And within India, vast inequities are apparent on all these indicators across states, and within states, across urban-rural, education, income, gender and caste divides.
Healthcare and Economy
Due to a high proportion of cardiovascular deaths occurring in the age band of thirty-five to sixty-four years, India is estimated to have lost 9.2 million potentially productive years of life in 2000 and is projected to lose 17.9 million years in 2030.
Public financing of health, at 1.04 percent of gross domestic product, is among the lowest in the world, especially when measured in per capita terms. As a result, the average Indian consumer pays 70 percent of his or her health care costs out-of-pocket – again a mark of dubious distinction at the global level.
The health workforce is also deficient in numbers and maldistributed in favour of cities. There are shortages across the board of specialist and basic doctors, nurses, allied health professionals (such as technicians and paramedics), and community health workers.
Indian Health System
Though the Indian health system was originally designed to deliver most of the services through the public sector, the private sector consistently grew in strength from the 1980s and has now become the major provider, by default. However, the care offered ranges from the unqualified solo rural practitioner to the large urban corporate hospital. The weak regulatory systems do not ensure quality or cost control. If universal health coverage is to be carried out in such a mixed health system, it is necessary to ensure that both public and private sectors work in tandem, within a well-designed and adequately regulated framework that ensures equity, access, quality and affordability.
12th Plan has initiated major programmes namely –
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) initiated in 2005 has improved access to maternal and child health services in many states Janani Suraksha Yogna offers cash incentives to enourage pregnant women below the poverty line to give birth in medical facilities rather than house Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yogna (RSBY) is a national health insurance programme that subsidises hospital care for unorganized workers and other vulnerable groupsPresent Government has converted the National Rural Health Mission into National Health Mission in order to provide Health for all.
e-Health
With the growth of ICT in the country, almost universal use of smart phones and broad-band internet connectivity reaching most of the villages, I strongly feel we need to utilize e-medicine – the main tool for rural health care. It can provide access to health care for the citizens at any time and at any place. E-Health provides remote care to people in rural areas. It can avoid patients travelling long distances to cities for treatment of even the common ailments. Even, the X-Ray Images, Pathological information, MRI etc., can be uploaded to tertiary health care units from primary health centres for diagnosis. This will also solve the problem of our doctors not willing to serve in villages.
The new Swasthya (health tablet) has been introduced in India to perform diagnostic tests (such as blood pressure or blood sugar readings) remotely, at a fraction of the cost of traditional diagnostics.
Operation ASHA has treated more than 30,000 tuberculosis patients in India and prevented millions of additional cases.
While a sound health care infrastructure can be created with investment, the success of the system will depend upon the dedication and sincerity of “Doctors” who form the nerve centre of the health care system. Only when doctors follow the Hippocratic oath in letter in spirit, the health care system can achieve high performance standard.
The oath prescribes standards of performance: the physician is enjoined to do no harm, to respond to calls without attention to personal preferences; to keep confidences, to lead an honorable life, to use medicines only for curative purposes, and to desist from exploiting the patient.
SMART VILLAGES
India has witnessed major Urbanisation in recent times, with an estimated 30 people leaving Rural India for urban areas every minute during the next 20 years. At this rate, country would need some 500 new cities in the next two decades.
By 2050 it is estimated that India’s Urban population will constitute nearly half of country’s total population. 250-300 million more people will have to be accommodated in cities. Most cities are likely to double their size
Electricity
Of the 1.4 bn people of the world who have no access to electricity in the world, India accounts for over 300 million.
Water
Only 74% of Urban households in India are served by piped water supply. No Indian city has piped water 24 hr a day, seven days a week – 4-5 hr of supply per day is the average.
Infrastructure
Despite increased investments in Infrastructure, an estimated $ 1 Trillion in infrastructure improvements will be required to meet the country’s resource need over the next five years.
Transportation
The number of private vehicles in India is expected to grow by more than three times by 2021.
Global Warming
By 2020 India is expected to become the world’s third largest emitter of Carbon-Di-Oxide (China, USA, India
Urbanisation & GDP
Urban areas contribute a higher share of the GDP. Indian Urban Population (around 31%) today contributes over 60% of India’s GDP. It is projected that Urban India will contribute 75% of national GDP in next 15 years.
That is why cities are referred to as ‘Engines of Growth’ and ensuring that they function as efficient engines, is critical for our economic development
People migrate to cities primarily in search of employment, economic activities and better quality of life.
In my opinion urbanization does not mean migration of rural people to urban areas and living a life of deprivation, joblessness and spoiling the environment and social fabric by overloading the already inadequate infrastructure of the cities.
I think the best approach would be to provide the urban facilities in Rural areas as suggested by late Dr Kalam under the scheme PURA and longback by Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya while laying down the concept of Integral Village which is self-sufficient and self-reliant.
All the basic amenities that make the population empowered viz., Food, Energy, Housing, Drinking Water, Sanitation, health Care, Education and Social Security to be provisioned in villages with strong ICT Connectivity and e-mobility.
Thus SMART VILLAGES employ innovative services and concepts to improve environmental sustainability, economic viability and citizen well being by using
(i) ICT based Technologies
High Speed Networks Sensor and Actuation technologies Advanced Analytics(ii) Non-ICT based Innovative Technologies
Renewable power generation Low Emission Vehicles Energy Efficient building design(iii) Urban Planning Concepts
Sustainability enhancing city layouts Innovation, Technology and business platformAttributes of Smart Village
Competitiveness refers to a village’s capability to create employment opportunities, attract investments, experts, professionals and people. The ease of being able to do business and the quality of life it offers determines its competitiveness
Sustainability includes social sustainability, environmental sustainability and financial sustainability
Quality of Life includes safety and security, inclusiveness, entertainment, ease of seeking and obtaining public services, cost efficient healthcare, quality education, transparency, accountability and opportunities for participation in governance
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The 20th Century has gone and 21st Century has arrived. The weakness of 20th Century man was that he was more concerned about his own generation, neglecting the interest of the future generation. His comfort oriented outlook and tendency to sow the seeds of destruction in the name of development were highly dangerous.
The present world needs a balanced mix of intellectual and spiritual growth. Only through spiritual development can the concept of development be balanced.
There are five dimensions of development: -
How does the development affect an individual How does it affect Society How does it affect various life forms How does it affect environment How does it affect the worldFor strengthening the balanced development five dimensions require effort
Ø Materialistic
Ø Economic
Ø Intellectural
Ø Moral
Ø Spiritual
In the current parlance, this is termed as sustainability. Sustainability has three main pillars namely Economy, Environment and Society. Only when these pillars function with complete overlap, then the planet earth will be liveable for future generations.
UN has set six Goals for Sustainable Development. They are –
An energy revolution – facilitating a global energy transformation (>80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050) Future Food – A Food system transformation to achieve +70% production by 2050 through Sustainable intensification An Urban Planet – Achieving sustainable urban living The rising billion – Adapting to the population transition and preparing for a world of 9 billion people Protect, Restore & Sustain – A bio-diversity management transformation Strengthen global governance – A private and public Governance transformationAs such, Ecological sustainability reduced consumption, green manufacturing, education for sustainability, sustainability institutions and sustainable leaders are to be made as integral part of all development programmes.
Four areas in which Technocrat can make positive contributions are –
ü Energy Conversation
ü Replacing Non-Renewable Energy like Coal / Oil with Renewable Energies like Solar / Wind etc.,
ü Recycling Waste
ü Find right balance between three ‘E’s – Engineering, Ecology and Economics
Finally develop Love for Beauty of Nature and deepen it into a spiritual identity with the living consciousness of nature.
ROLE OF SPIRITUALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
It is said that there are three pillars of sustainability: Economic, Social and Environmental concerns. Generally for centuries these three dimensions have been remaining in stand alone isolated mode with very little communication among them. As a result, while god created only the Biological or natural world, man has created an artificial world by misusing the technological advances. The rate at which the biological or natural world evolves or moves into new configuration is much slower compared to the growth rate of artificial world. Evidently the differential rate of growth strains both the natural and artificial because the artificial world is embedded in the natural. This inability to live together is called by Lutmann “the ecological dilemma” of the present age.
Natural world has the ability to self organize itself through the ecological and other kinds of micro-macro relationships. Artificial world also has similar characteristic but has created some codes and a hyperspace which has Society, science, technology and economy as its dimensions. We do not know how these worlds communicate within themselves. Artificial world has problems of high magnitude due to poor communication within itself, namely -
Ø Human environments are becoming increasingly turbulent
Ø Societies are becoming fragile and fractured leading to ever increasing conflicts
Ø Small perturbations at any point in the globe are causing great global disturbances
Ø Society has become generally consumerist causing tremendous pressure on natural resources and consequent environmental hazards which are threatening the very existence of humanity.
Ø Because of this, we have landed ourselves in a scary situation in our quest and relentless pursuit of happiness (materialistic).
Ø How to establish this communication within
Ø each world and between the two worlds?
Ø The man who is the common factor between the two worlds has to investigate into himself to discover the common language of communication. Here comes the role of consciousness and the level of consciousness in himself and rest of the nature. The idea of world spirit may have some consequences here. World spirit has two aspects: (a) Creativity (b) Harmonious Unity. When these are lost due to failure of internal communication, then the cycle of creation and destruction starts. Development will have a meaning only when our design processes consciously understand this need for conscious communication at all levels and societal codes like money and power do not lord over our existence.
Ø One of the simpler ways of establishing this communication is to respect nature & reduce the desire to exploit it for man’s own desire and continued enjoyment. The urge for translation of every scientific discovery into technological application should be limited. At the level of economy, it should be that its code i.e. money should create more harmony internally within the society and externally with nature.
A spiritual person can play an important role in establishing this communication between these two worlds and maintain the desired balance leading to sustainability. Spirituality along with ethics and values have to play a dominant role in the activity in this space. People think that if we follow business ethics it would be adequate. For sustainable growth this is inadequate this can be understood if we can refer to the idea of “Dharmic” behaviour in Indian philosophical approach to action and life. Dharma is law, duty and something that keeps the system together always. It can be both of individual and social significance
Since Engineers are, by and large, responsible for creation of this artificial world in isolation of Natural/Biological world, they should have the basic ingredient of spirituality i.e. ethics and values and a communion with the ultimate for taking decision to maintain and create sustainability. They should have clarity regarding higher purpose of technology in the evolutionary destiny of humanity and earth like in ancient Indian concept of SHASTRA. SHASTRA is a holistic perspective of a human or cosmic activity with three types of knowledge
Spiritual perspective Ethical or dharmic perspective and Professional perspective Finally to get this important issue of sustainability within the reach of modern man the following five principles which are ingrained into the concept of spirituality, are the panacea.
Ø Santi, Satyam, Dharma, Ahimsa and Prema. All the mahatmas of the past have been saying this and the present ones are alerting us to this. This means:
Ø
|
Ø
Ø CONCLUSION
Ø ETHICS FOR THE NATION
Ø Birth of a noble nation would need studying the challenges faced by society due to continuous process of growth and environmental deterioration and promote conflict free society for prosperity. How can the National Ethics be evolved?
Ø A Nation has to have Ethics in all its tasks for sustained economic prosperity and peace
Ø If a Nation is to have Ethics, Society has to promote Ethics and Value Systems
Ø If Society has to have Ethics and Value Systems, Families should adhere to Ethics and Value Systems
Ø If Families have to evolve with Ethics and Value Systems, Parenthood should have inbuilt ethics
Ø Parental Ethics come from great learning, value-based education, creation of clean environment that leads to righteousness in heart.
Ø PRAYER OF PEACE
Ø Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in Character.
Ø When there is a beauty in character, there is harmony in the Home.
Ø When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the Nation.
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Lead the way -- Subhash C. Kashyap asks MPs to go for voluntary salary cuts
Lead the way
Written by Subhash C. Kashyap | Updated: October 29, 2015 12:30 am
Instead of another revision in their emoluments, MPs should go for voluntary salary cuts
An Emoluments Commission for members of Parliament is under consideration. Our lawmakers, both at the Union and state levels, are the only group of people who determine their own salaries, allowances and other perks while being paid from the public exchequer. As such, they are judges in their own case. This clearly violates the basic dictum that any outgo from the public funds must be with the approval of an authority other than the one likely to be the beneficiary. The idea of setting up an autonomous salaries commission for MPs was, in principle, accepted by the government during the 14th Lok Sabha, but nothing came of it.
The members of the Constituent Assembly, some of the most distinguished men and women of their time, received only Rs 45 per sitting to cover daily (including conveyance allowance) expenditure. As a token gesture, in the context of the hard economic situation of the country, the members even voted for a cut in this paltry sum. As such, only Rs 40 per day was paid to MPs till the Parliament passed the Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, providing a salary of Rs 400 per month plus a daily allowance of Rs 21 per day. Since then, the MPs have repeatedly revised their emoluments upwards. The 1954 act has been amended 28 times. The last major revision was in 2010.
At present, every MP is entitled to a basic salary of Rs 50,000 per month, as well as Constituency and Office Allowances of Rs 90,000 per month. For days of parliamentary sittings, MPs receive a further Rs 2,000 as a daily allowance. In addition, every member is entitled to many other perks, cash immunities and subsidies. The variety of payments and perks are difficult to document in terms of what these actually cost. Also, former MPs receive pension for life, without any requirement of a minimum period of service, which, in effect, means that if one has been a member even for a day, she will be entitled to pension for life.
The late Nanaji Deshmukh, a distinguished member, wrote “with a feeling of deep anguish and sorrow but out of a sense of responsibility” that while fellow countrymen were toiling under extreme poverty and unemployment, our “so-called representatives” were “getting richer and richer” and “shamelessly piling up more burden on the country by increasing their own perquisites”. This brought our democracy “to disrepute and shame”. Based on Nanaji’s estimates, the present monthly cost of an MP must work out close to some Rs 10 lakh per month or more, which would be much higher than the per capita income of an average Indian. Any increase in the emoluments of MPs immediately impacts the states, and if the expenditure incurred on the state legislators is also taken into account, the cost of Indian legislators would be colossal.
In the context of the recent non-functioning of our legislatures, the poor conduct of MPs, the number of multi-millionaires, and increasing number of persons with a criminal background in Parliament, it is not surprising that a proposal to further increase the pay and perks of MPs is met with public disapproval. As for appropriate payment to members for the services they render, if they are paid a salary of Rs 3 lakh per month, with all special perks and free or highly subsidised facilities withdrawn, the public exchequer would gain. The frequent revisions in the salaries and perks of the members have contributed to the decline of Parliament in public esteem.
There may be differences on whether members are underpaid or overpaid but it is a legitimate public expectation that membership of Parliament should not be converted into an office of lucrative gain. It must remain an office of service. Also, if payments are really low, why the terrible scramble for tickets and their alleged sale and purchase for crores of rupees?
In a democratic polity, nothing can be sadder than public representatives losing the respect of the people by frequently seeking to increase their emoluments and perks. Something has to be done to restore public faith in the MPs’ worth to society at large. Every politician has to ask herself and honestly answer the question: Why is she in politics? With the new government claiming to be wedded to principles of good, clean, corruption-free, citizen-friendly governance, the timing is ideal to make sacrifices and make a new start in public life. One way of tackling the menace of corruption would be to make political offices and memberships of legislatures less lucrative. Let these positions attract only those who are dedicated to the nation, committed to sacrifice and service and with no personal axe to grind. Simultaneously, being in politics has to be made less expensive. Let us all agree to give up the competition in demanding and trying to extract the maximum from the nation and, instead, take a vow to give our best. All this may seem idealistic, but nothing less will do today.
It is to be hoped that the proposed emoluments commission will not be merely a ruse for justifying further increases in emoluments in cash and kind. If the report of a similar body for Delhi MLAs is any guide, there is genuine cause for apprehension. Voluntary cuts in salaries, allowances, travels, seen and unseen perks and subsidies need to be announced. It is all very well to ask ordinary citizens to sacrifice for the poor by surrendering gas subsidies, but a beginning ought to be made by the people’s representatives by surrendering many of the extraordinary perks and subsidies enjoyed by them. Sacrifice must begin, and must be seen to begin, at the top, with our honourable MPs. Their leadership is bound to impact legislators at the state level. Moreover, this will win tremendous goodwill and acclaim from the people. As the first step, a national debate is in order.
The writer is honorary research professor at the Centre for Policy Research and former secretary general of the Lok Sabha
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Pseudo-seculars are not custodians of tolerance in Bharat -- Shri Dattareya reacts to criticism by so-called frustrated intellectuals
The Three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh National Executive Meet began at Ranchi today. Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohanji Bhagwat, Sarkaryavah (general secretary) of RSS Shri Bhayyaji Joshi will preside over this meeting. The Sanghachalak (President), Karyavah (Secretary) and Pracharak (Organizing secretary) heading each Prant (state units) of RSS from all over the country will take part in this ABKM. Other than these state functionaries, the 400 participants will include prominent karyakartas from social organizations working in different walks of life in the society. The meeting will deliberate on reviewing and future planning of organizational matters and activities and some resolutions on key national issues will be passed in the meeting.
Shri Dattatreya Hosabale
RSS Sah Sarkaryavah Shri Dattatreya Hosabale addressed the media today. In his briefing he stated that, "It is a deliberate attempt of some writers/historians/Film makers to wage a superfluous discussion on tolerance/in tolerance in this country. There are no such circumstances prevailing in the country which call for this discussion. It is a naked display of subverted aspirations. Where was this tolerance when Hindus were massacred in Kashmir and burnt alive in Godhra?
Why the voices of Shyam Benegal, Vidya Balan and Anupam Kher are being neglected? This is nothing but politics.
This award returning gang is not the custodian of tolerance in this county. We condemn any acts of injustice whenever and wherever it happens in no uncertain terms.
This new found activism on part of so-called intellectual’s stems from their frustration of not being heard by masses at large. How to remain relevant is the main driving force behind their noises.
Who is governing UP? Who is governing Karnataka? There is no “communal” or so-called “RSS backed” government in those states.
When Gujarat riots happened, Modiji as head of Gujarat government was held responsible for the same. Why not congress ruled central government was put to task? Why Mulayam Singh government is not being held accountable for any law and order problem which happens in UP? Why these contradictions?
Populace is aware of all the ill intents working behind these vitiated vibes. These intellectual will be doomed if media stops giving them space."
RSS to discuss religious census and may pass resolution accordingly
Posted By VSK Tamilnadu to Vishwa Samvad Kendra - Tamilnadu at 10/30/2015 04:16:00 PM
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Nation shocked at the desecration of sacred Shri Guru Granth Sahib -- Suresh Bhayya ji) Joshi
Statement by Sarkaryavah on Guru Granth Sahib
Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal Baithak
30th October 2015, Ranchi
Shri Suresh (Bhayya Ji) Joshi
The insulting act of desecration of the sacred Shri Guru Granth Sahib which is the center of veneration and devotion for the entire Bharatiya samaj has shocked all the countrymen. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh condemns this sacrilegious act in strongest terms.
Shri Guru Granth Sahib is not only the ‘Jagat Jyot’ (Living Soul) - an embodiment of Guru but also a carrier of our eternal spirituality and is the cultural conscience that transcends the differences of caste, creed, way of worship, social status, sect, region and anscends the differences of caste, creed, way of worship, social status, sect, region and language to bring together all the Bharatiyas with a thread of oneness.
The sad incident in Bargadi village of Faridkot district followed by series of incidents in village Baath and Nijjharpura in Taran Taran district and at village Ghavandi in Ludhiana district clearly point to a pre-planned conspiracy of vested interests and national elements to disturb the harmonious atmosphere of Punjab.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh condemns above all the incidents and calls upon the countrymen to foil these conspiracies and strengthen the tradition of religious and social harmony of Bharat. RSS appeals to the Government of Punjab to take firm action against the miscreants involved in the above demeaning acts and also urge the Central Government to investigate and expose the perpetrators behind this conspiracy.
Posted By VSK Tamilnadu to Vishwa Samvad Kendra - Tamilnadu at 10/30/2015 04:23:00 PM
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7/11 Mumbai train blasts which killed 188 & injured 800: 12 accused convicted. And now, this...
Mumbai 7/11 train blasts: 5 get death, 7 sent to life in prison
- Charul Shah, Hindustan Times, Mumbai |
- Updated: Oct 01, 2015 00:58 IST
One of the 12 men, convicted of planning several blasts on crowded commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006, is escorted by police to a court in Mumbai, India, September 30. (REUTERS)
Five convicts were sentenced to death and seven others given life imprisonment on Wednesday by a Mumbai special court in the 2006 local train bombings which killed 188 people and injured over 800.
Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court judge Yatin Shinde sentenced to death Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Kamal Ansari, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan who planted the bombs in various trains.
The other seven convicts who provided materials and logistical support for making the bombs-- Mohammed Sajid Ansari, Mohammed Ali, Dr Tanveer Ansari, Majid Shafi, Muzzammil Shaikh, Sohail Shaikh and Zamir Shaikh -- were sentenced to life.
On July 11, 2006, seven blasts tore through the first-class compartments of crowded local trains in a span of 11 minutes during the evening rush hour as millions of office-goers were heading home. The blast occurred between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali.
According to investigators, around 20kg of RDX were packed into pressure cookers, placed in bags and hidden under newspapers and umbrellas. The explosions were so powerful that they ripped through the double layered steel roof and sides of the train compartments.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2015/9/gfx_7-11-blasts.gifThe serial blasts brought the lifeline of the country’s financial capital to a grinding halt for the first time.
Police said the suspects targeted local trains as they were crowded and the security was not as tight as the other surveyed sites. They divided themselves into seven teams, each consisting of a Pakistani national and an Indian national, and the bombs were taken to Churchgate station on July 11 by taxis.
There was a controversy over the investigations with the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) first claiming in its chargesheet in November, 2006 that the operation was carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba with help from the Students’Islamic Movement of India.
But more than two years later, the Mumbai crime branch arrested 31-year old Mohammed Sadiq Israr Sheikh who claimed that his organisation -- Indian Mujahideen -- was behind the blasts. The video tapes of his confession were made available to Hindustan Times.
The court allowed to examine Sadiq as a defence witness, but he later claimed that he gave his confession under duress.
The prosecution had earlier asked for capital punishment to eight of the 12 convicts and life terms for the remaning four.
Terming the convicts “merchants of death”, special public prosecutor Raja Thakare told the court that money of taxpayers should not be spent on upkeep of convicts.
After the quantum of sentences was read out, the defence team said they will move the high court in appeal.
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UT status for Ladakh: Chance for BJP to seize initiative -- Sandhya Jain
UT status for Ladakh: Chance for BJP to seize initiative
Last Updated: Thursday, 29 October 2015 3:02 PM |
Sandhya Jain
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s stunning victory in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, elections on October 17, winning 18 out of 26 elected seats (four are filled by nomination), provides the Centre an opportunity to test Article 370 and Article 371 of the Constitution of India, to fulfil its promises to the people.
The BJP’s main poll promise was Union Territory status for Ladakh, a long standing demand of the people, which is opposed by the Congress, the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party. As a result, the Congress, which won 22 seats last time and has dominated the LAHDC for 15 years, was reduced to 5 seats in the recent election. The National Conference had to be content with two seats, while one seat went to an Independent. The PDP, which forms a coalition government in the state with the BJP, failed to open its account.
Soon after the results were declared, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for promising to “dismember Jammu and Kashmir” for the sake of votes in Ladakh. The Congress state unit called the pledge “communal and divisive” and warned that J&K enjoys special status under Article 370; any change would require a Constitutional Amendment by the J&K State Legislature.
Article 370 has long been resented by nationalists. In recent years, citizens in Jammu, Ladakh, and marginalised groups in Kashmir have started grudging the complete domination of a sectarian group based in the Valley. The demand to repeal Article 370 and bring Jammu and Kashmir at par with other States of the Union in finding increasing traction with these groups.
However, with the Jammu and Kashmir High Court exceeding its jurisdiction and declaring Article 370 a permanent feature of the Constitution, the Centre will have to take a call on the continued existence of the clause, and/or how to use it to its purpose.
Union Home Minister, Gulzari Lal Nanda, opined that Article 370 did not inhibit the Centre from extending its writ to the State. He informed the Lok Sabha on December 4, 1964, “Article 370 is a tunnel… a good deal of traffic has already passed (i.e. extension of Central laws) and more will… Article 370 whether you keep it or not, has already been completely emptied of its contents.” The Education Minister, M.C. Chagla, concurred, “Through Article 370, the whole of the Indian Constitution could be applied to Jammu and Kashmir.”
Nanda further pointed out that amendment of Article 370 is very simple and requires only “a Presidential order – a mere executive order.” The President of India using powers vested in him under Article 370 can amend or revoke the clause, whereas normal constitutional amendments involve stringent conditions. Even Sheikh Abdullah stated in the assembly in 1982 that Article 370 was not a divine scripture which could not be removed. Almost all articles of the Indian Constitution have thus been applied to Jammu and Kashmir, or the State has passed identical legislation.
Given political will, Ladakh could become a Union Territory, though the BJP may need supportive legislation from the State Government in which it is a coalition partner. It may be recalled that in May 2014, the BJP won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat for the first time ever on the promise of UT status. As Congress officially opposed this, its candidate, Tsering Samphel, contested as an independent and promised UT status in his manifesto; the ruse did not work.
Failure to deliver on the promise of UT status could result in deep disillusionment. An alternative could be using Article 371, which empowers the Governors of certain States to exercise special powers and responsibilities and act according to their individual judgment. The Article aims to benefit ignored sections of society and ignored and underdeveloped regions. Beginning with Maharashtra and Gujarat, it has been amended and extended to Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Goa. The Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution grant special provisions to Tribal Areas and the North Eastern States.
Inclusion is Schedule 6 is an important demand of Ladakh, as is the inclusion of Bhoti language in Schedule 8 of the Constitution. The people also want Deemed University Status for the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies; early completion of the tunnelling at Khardung-la; opening a route to Kailash Mansarovar via Demchok; a Central University or Medical College, and a Regional Advisory Council for Leh and Kargil.
A factor in the BJP’s strong showing in Ladakh is the image of Prime Minister Modi as a leader who warded off Chinese incursions into Indian territory, which deprived Ladakhi nomads of their pastures. The intensified Army patrols along the border have raised confidence levels among the people along the remote frontier. The BJP, which is seen as having compromised to form a coalition with the PDP, has a chance to seize the initiative and redeem itself.
http://www.abplive.in/blog/ut-status-ladakh-chance-bjp-seize-initiative
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Laukika, lokottara traditions which attest the continuum of historical traditions dating back to Indus Script Cipher
Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/pndu4cu
This is a continuing tribute to Prof. Shrinivas Tilak who gave the lead on laukika and lokottara frameworks for tantra yukti or research methodology to unravel the ancient history, itihasa of Bharatam Janam.
Three traditions attested in Indian sprachbund (Indian linguistic area or language union) are presented in a framework of historical traditions which date back to the Bronze Age and Indus Script Cipher of 4th millennium BCE: 1: śankha cutting industry; 2. पोळा [ pōḷā ] festival celebrating and venerating the animal world exemplified by pōḷā bos indicus, the zebu rebus: pōḷā 'magnetite'; 3. Jejuri Khandoba festivities including the lifting of a 42 kg. metal sword.
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/indian-ocean-community-as-rastram.html This discusses an annual festivity called Baliyatra celebrated on Karthik Purnima day. This falsifies the notion that Indians have no sense of history. History is celebrated as a continuum of traditions handed down by ancestors. In this Baliyatra, the contributions made by ancient Indians who established Hinduised States of the Ancient Far East are remembered. (See excellent documentation in George Coedes' work, Histoire ancienne des états hindouises d’Extrême Orient (1944).
Simhastha is a festivity which recurs every 12 years as the Sun enters the Simha Rasi in the zodiac. About 5 crore pilgrims assemble every 12 years at Ujjain celebrating the Mahakala Siva who is adorned with a mukha. The divinity is offered bhasmarati puja every morning starting at 4 AM for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Similarly Kumbhamela held every 12 years in Prayag, Allahabad celebrates the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati rivers and about 5 crore people assemble to take a dip in the holy waters of the triveni sangamam.
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What propaganda machinery makes this world's largest assemblage of people occur at an appointed place and time? The answer is: historical tradition, the continuum of the inexorable tenets of dharma-dhamma, of duties and responsibilities of people to remember and venerate the ancestors who have given them their identity and firmed up their life-missions. Ganga is real, Yamuna is real. Both are Himalayan rivers. Why should Sarasvati alone be a mithya? Now it is know that Sarasvati was also a Himalayan river and had dried up due to river migrations caused by plate tectonics which explain the dynamic Himalayas which are rising at the rate of 1 cm. every year due to the uplift of the Eurasian plate by the Indian plate which is surging forward northwards at a majestic walk of 6 cms. per year. The youngest mountain range in the world, the Himalayas build up the world's Greatest Water Tower which is growing larger every day as monsoon rains fall and get frown into snow and ice in glaciers. The glacier-melts yield some of the greatest perennial rivers of the globe: Brahmaputra, Sindhu, Ganga, Yangtse, Huanghe, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween. With the rising and dynamic Himalayas these perennial rivers will continue to provide life-giving waters to over 2 billion people for the foreseeable future years, merging them together for abhyudayam as the Indian Ocean Community, located along the rim of the great Hindumaha sagaram, the Indian Ocean.
So, what propaganda machinery enables over 5 crore people to assemble as pilgrims for Simhastha at Ujjain in April 2016 or for Kumbha mela at Prayag? Tradition. Every Indian in every village keeps track of time as the cosmic dance is enacted on the skies. The phases of the moon are the calendar for the people of Bharatam and the people keep track of the next Purnima full moon day. So, do they keep yearning for a pilgrimage on the next Kumbhamela or Simhastha day at the auspicious confluence of the planets and stars on the dynamically changing skymap. Even a vegetable vendor knows when the next new moon day is when he or she can sell pumpkins to the worshippers who decorate the pumpkins smearing them with vermillion and turmeric as bali, as offerings to the divinities at road junctions.
Ujjain Kumbh mela is celebrated when Jupiter ascends into sun sign Leo's quarter or the Simha constellation of the zodiac, which is why it is called 'Simhastha'. Welcome to the Simhastha between 22 April to 21 May 2016 and take a dip in the holy waters of Narmada. Witness also the bhasmarati to Mahakala Is'vara performed every morning for an hour 25 minutes starting from 4 AM. This bhasmarati is a celebration and remembrance of the Bharatam Janam, the metalcaster folk who have given the pilgrims visiting Ujjain their identity and heritage of exquisite metalwork which started during the Bronze Age of ca. 3rd millennium BCE. http://www.simhasthujjain.in/
śankha bangles and ornaments are attested archaeologically to ca. 6500 BCE in a burial of a woman at Nausharo. This śankha tradition continues even today in India with śankha bangles worn by brides and married women in celebration of the continuum of śankha industry based on the resources of turbinella pyrum available only from the coastline of the Indian Ocean in places like Kizhakkarai near Ramasetu in Gulf of Mannar and in Kutch, Gujarat. The śankha bangles and ornaments are cut by shell-cutters using a bronze saw which weighs about 20 kg. This artisanal skill using a crescent-shaped bow-like saw is mentioned in the Rigveda and Atharva Veda as kṛśāna and kṛśānuḥ कृशानुः (See detailed references in the following sections).
śankha is a shell unique to Indian Ocean rim and is sacred in Hindu traditions.
Who was the ancient shell-cutter?
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This is a 1860 photograph of sankhari, 5 shell-cutters of East Bengal. Note the large curved sword held by the shell-cutter on the left. "Contemporary accounts relate that such Sankharis were generally followers of the Hindu gods Vishnu or Krishna and usually vegetarian. The shells used for manufacturing bracelets were imported from the Gulf of Manaar, a trade which is recorded in written records at least as far back as the tenth century. This print is one of a series of portrait studies of individuals and groups from Eastern Bengal (modern Bangladesh and Assam). It is possible that they were taken in response to the Government of India's call for photographs representing various ethnic types from across the sub-continent."
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/s/019pho000000124u00058000.html
शाङ्खिकः [शङ्ख-ठञ्] 1 A shell-cutter, worker in shells. -2 N. of a mixed tribe. -3 A shell-blower; त्वरमाण- शाङ्खिकसवेगवदनपवनाभिपूरितः Śi.15.72. (Samskritam)
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Mehrgarh, Period 1A, ca. 6500 BCE. S’ankha wide bangle and other ornaments, c. 6500 BCE (burial of a woman at Nausharo). S’ankha wide bangle and other ornaments from a burial of a woman at Nausharo. Tomb MR3T.21, Mehrgarh, Period 1A, ca. 6500 BCE. The nearest source for the conch-shell is Makran coast near Karachi, 500 km. south (After Fig. 2.10 in Kenoyer, JM, 1998, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, Karachi, OUP).
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At the same place, Nausharo, these terracotta toys were found with women shown wearing sindhur at the parting of their hair. Hair is painted black, ornaments painted golden and the sindhur is red vermillion mark, the same mark worn by Hindu married women even today. They also wear shell bangles.
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conch shell and carved with a chevron motif, Harappa; marine shell, Turbinella pyrum (After Fig. 7.44, Kenoyer, 1998) National Museum, Karachi. 54.3554.
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Shell-cutters at work cutting and polishing shells to make bangles for married women, photoraph of 1873.http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2011/08/men-at-work-cutting-and-polishing.html
Glyph: ‘shell-cutter’s saw’ . The bronze saw weighs over 15 kgs., it is tied to the rope with ropes and taken down to cut a turbinella pyrum, s'ankha shell as shown in this picture of a shell cutter of Calcutta. Evidences have been found of a seal made from turbinella pyrum at Bet Dwarka and of a cylinder seal made from the s'ankha columella in the Ancient Near East.
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Aragonite (shell) cylinder seal with a contest scene. From Mesopotamia Early Dynastic Period, about 2400-2350 BCE Length: 2.9 cm Diameter: 1.9 cm
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Six cylinder seals of various materials including marble, shell, agate, chlorite, and steatite. N. Syria and Mesopotamia, ca. late 4th to early 3rd millennium BCE. The large shell seal, second from the left, was carved from the columella of Turbinella pyrum, the Indian s'ankha shell. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Catalog Number YPM ANT 295376
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Shell seal, Dwaraka. Hieroglyph-multiplex of 3 joined animals as a writing system to denote metalwork catalogue. Seal. Bet Dwarka. Made of turbinella pyrum. Note the characteristic Indus Script feature of faces of three animals joined to a bovine body. These are deciphered as hieroglyph-multiplex in Meluhha, Prakritam to signify metalwork: sangaḍa ‘joined animal parts’ rebus: sangara'proclamation'; barad 'bull' rebus:bharata 'alloy of copper, pewter, tin';ranku 'antelope' rebus: ranku 'tin'; kõda'young bull, bull-calf' rebus: kõdā 'to turn in a lathe'; kōnda 'engraver, lapidary'; kundār 'turner'.
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A skilled sawyer and shells ready for sawing, Calcutta. Turbinella pyrum shell bangle manufacturing process. [a to f]: preliminary chipping and removal of internal columella; [g to k]: sawing shell circles; [l to n]: finishing the shell blank; [o]: final incising [After Fig. 5.23 in Kenoyer, 1998].S’AN:KHAH KR.S’ANAH = PEARL SHELL WON FROM THE OCEAN AND WORN AS AN AMULET (AV 4.10.1)
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Lingam, grey sandstone in situ, Harappa, Trench Ai, Mound F, Pl. X (c) (After Vats). "In an earthenware jar, No. 12414, recovered from Mound F, Trench IV, Square I... in this jar, six lingams were found along with some tiny pieces of shell, a unicorn seal, an oblong grey sandstone block with polished surface, five stone pestles, a stone palette, and a block of chalcedony..." (Vats,MS, Excavations at Harappa, p. 370)
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Relief with Ekamukha linga. Mathura. 1st cent. CE (Fig. 6.2) See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/textual-evidence-that-rudra-siva-is.html The linga emerges out of the roof of the brick kiln, a furnace or smelter and is accompanied by gaNa, dwarfs with a tree in the background: The background pictorial motif ligaturing a 'tree' is a semantic determinant of the function of the brick-kiln': kuṭi 'tree' Rebus: kuṭhi 'smelter': mũh 'face' (Hindi) rebus: mũhe 'ingot' (Santali) mũhã̄ = the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace of the Kolhes; iron produced by the Kolhes and formed like a four-cornered piece a little pointed at each end; mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends;kolhe tehen mẽṛhẽt ko mūhā akata = the Kolhes have to-day produced pig iron (Santali);
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Kankali tila beam, ca. 2nd cent. BCE. A brazier and artisan working with fire near a smelter.![]()
A smith at work. Bharhut railing ca. 2nd cent. BCE. Perhaps producing rectangular pieces of ingots and metal coins.![Image result for bhuteshwar]()
Bhutesvara temple, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
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Dholavira. The elevated area in relation to the sivalingas, linga stambhas could have held a Ziggurat model within the circular and 8-shaped stone structure.![Image result for dholavira pillars]()
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Passageway. It appears to be aligned east-west. West is towards the yellow pillar and east is towards that green shrub on the top. The North Gate to the city is just behind us facing, obviously, the north.
Two stone pillars on the passageway, in the stadium, between the Northern and Eastern Gateway. Dholavira. The northern gateway of the citadel had this monumental inscribed board with Indus Script hieroglyphs detailing metalwork carried out in workshops in the citadel: The hieroglyphs are composed using gypsum pieces.![Image result for dholavira pillars]()
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S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
October 31, 2015
This is a continuing tribute to Prof. Shrinivas Tilak who gave the lead on laukika and lokottara frameworks for tantra yukti or research methodology to unravel the ancient history, itihasa of Bharatam Janam.
Three traditions attested in Indian sprachbund (Indian linguistic area or language union) are presented in a framework of historical traditions which date back to the Bronze Age and Indus Script Cipher of 4th millennium BCE: 1: śankha cutting industry; 2. पोळा [ pōḷā ] festival celebrating and venerating the animal world exemplified by pōḷā bos indicus, the zebu rebus: pōḷā 'magnetite'; 3. Jejuri Khandoba festivities including the lifting of a 42 kg. metal sword.
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/indian-ocean-community-as-rastram.html This discusses an annual festivity called Baliyatra celebrated on Karthik Purnima day. This falsifies the notion that Indians have no sense of history. History is celebrated as a continuum of traditions handed down by ancestors. In this Baliyatra, the contributions made by ancient Indians who established Hinduised States of the Ancient Far East are remembered. (See excellent documentation in George Coedes' work, Histoire ancienne des états hindouises d’Extrême Orient (1944).
Simhastha is a festivity which recurs every 12 years as the Sun enters the Simha Rasi in the zodiac. About 5 crore pilgrims assemble every 12 years at Ujjain celebrating the Mahakala Siva who is adorned with a mukha. The divinity is offered bhasmarati puja every morning starting at 4 AM for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Similarly Kumbhamela held every 12 years in Prayag, Allahabad celebrates the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati rivers and about 5 crore people assemble to take a dip in the holy waters of the triveni sangamam.
See: http://bharatkalyan97.
What propaganda machinery makes this world's largest assemblage of people occur at an appointed place and time? The answer is: historical tradition, the continuum of the inexorable tenets of dharma-dhamma, of duties and responsibilities of people to remember and venerate the ancestors who have given them their identity and firmed up their life-missions. Ganga is real, Yamuna is real. Both are Himalayan rivers. Why should Sarasvati alone be a mithya? Now it is know that Sarasvati was also a Himalayan river and had dried up due to river migrations caused by plate tectonics which explain the dynamic Himalayas which are rising at the rate of 1 cm. every year due to the uplift of the Eurasian plate by the Indian plate which is surging forward northwards at a majestic walk of 6 cms. per year. The youngest mountain range in the world, the Himalayas build up the world's Greatest Water Tower which is growing larger every day as monsoon rains fall and get frown into snow and ice in glaciers. The glacier-melts yield some of the greatest perennial rivers of the globe: Brahmaputra, Sindhu, Ganga, Yangtse, Huanghe, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween. With the rising and dynamic Himalayas these perennial rivers will continue to provide life-giving waters to over 2 billion people for the foreseeable future years, merging them together for abhyudayam as the Indian Ocean Community, located along the rim of the great Hindumaha sagaram, the Indian Ocean.
So, what propaganda machinery enables over 5 crore people to assemble as pilgrims for Simhastha at Ujjain in April 2016 or for Kumbha mela at Prayag? Tradition. Every Indian in every village keeps track of time as the cosmic dance is enacted on the skies. The phases of the moon are the calendar for the people of Bharatam and the people keep track of the next Purnima full moon day. So, do they keep yearning for a pilgrimage on the next Kumbhamela or Simhastha day at the auspicious confluence of the planets and stars on the dynamically changing skymap. Even a vegetable vendor knows when the next new moon day is when he or she can sell pumpkins to the worshippers who decorate the pumpkins smearing them with vermillion and turmeric as bali, as offerings to the divinities at road junctions.
Ujjain Kumbh mela is celebrated when Jupiter ascends into sun sign Leo's quarter or the Simha constellation of the zodiac, which is why it is called 'Simhastha'. Welcome to the Simhastha between 22 April to 21 May 2016 and take a dip in the holy waters of Narmada. Witness also the bhasmarati to Mahakala Is'vara performed every morning for an hour 25 minutes starting from 4 AM. This bhasmarati is a celebration and remembrance of the Bharatam Janam, the metalcaster folk who have given the pilgrims visiting Ujjain their identity and heritage of exquisite metalwork which started during the Bronze Age of ca. 3rd millennium BCE. http://www.simhasthujjain.in/
śankha bangles and ornaments are attested archaeologically to ca. 6500 BCE in a burial of a woman at Nausharo. This śankha tradition continues even today in India with śankha bangles worn by brides and married women in celebration of the continuum of śankha industry based on the resources of turbinella pyrum available only from the coastline of the Indian Ocean in places like Kizhakkarai near Ramasetu in Gulf of Mannar and in Kutch, Gujarat. The śankha bangles and ornaments are cut by shell-cutters using a bronze saw which weighs about 20 kg. This artisanal skill using a crescent-shaped bow-like saw is mentioned in the Rigveda and Atharva Veda as kṛśāna and kṛśānuḥ कृशानुः (See detailed references in the following sections).
śankha is a shell unique to Indian Ocean rim and is sacred in Hindu traditions.
Who was the ancient shell-cutter?
This is a 1860 photograph of sankhari, 5 shell-cutters of East Bengal. Note the large curved sword held by the shell-cutter on the left. "Contemporary accounts relate that such Sankharis were generally followers of the Hindu gods Vishnu or Krishna and usually vegetarian. The shells used for manufacturing bracelets were imported from the Gulf of Manaar, a trade which is recorded in written records at least as far back as the tenth century. This print is one of a series of portrait studies of individuals and groups from Eastern Bengal (modern Bangladesh and Assam). It is possible that they were taken in response to the Government of India's call for photographs representing various ethnic types from across the sub-continent."http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/s/019pho000000124u00058000.html
शाङ्खिकः [शङ्ख-ठञ्] 1 A shell-cutter, worker in shells. -2 N. of a mixed tribe. -3 A shell-blower; त्वरमाण- शाङ्खिकसवेगवदनपवनाभिपूरितः Śi.15.72. (Samskritam)
Mehrgarh, Period 1A, ca. 6500 BCE. S’ankha wide bangle and other ornaments, c. 6500 BCE (burial of a woman at Nausharo). S’ankha wide bangle and other ornaments from a burial of a woman at Nausharo. Tomb MR3T.21, Mehrgarh, Period 1A, ca. 6500 BCE. The nearest source for the conch-shell is Makran coast near Karachi, 500 km. south (After Fig. 2.10 in Kenoyer, JM, 1998, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, Karachi, OUP).
At the same place, Nausharo, these terracotta toys were found with women shown wearing sindhur at the parting of their hair. Hair is painted black, ornaments painted golden and the sindhur is red vermillion mark, the same mark worn by Hindu married women even today. They also wear shell bangles.
conch shell and carved with a chevron motif, Harappa; marine shell, Turbinella pyrum (After Fig. 7.44, Kenoyer, 1998) National Museum, Karachi. 54.3554.
Shell-cutters at work cutting and polishing shells to make bangles for married women, photoraph of 1873.http://www.oldindianphotos.in/2011/08/men-at-work-cutting-and-polishing.htmlGlyph: ‘shell-cutter’s saw’ . The bronze saw weighs over 15 kgs., it is tied to the rope with ropes and taken down to cut a turbinella pyrum, s'ankha shell as shown in this picture of a shell cutter of Calcutta. Evidences have been found of a seal made from turbinella pyrum at Bet Dwarka and of a cylinder seal made from the s'ankha columella in the Ancient Near East.
Aragonite (shell) cylinder seal with a contest scene. From Mesopotamia Early Dynastic Period, about 2400-2350 BCE Length: 2.9 cm Diameter: 1.9 cm
Shell seal, Dwaraka. Hieroglyph-multiplex of 3 joined animals as a writing system to denote metalwork catalogue. Seal. Bet Dwarka. Made of turbinella pyrum. Note the characteristic Indus Script feature of faces of three animals joined to a bovine body. These are deciphered as hieroglyph-multiplex in Meluhha, Prakritam to signify metalwork: sangaḍa ‘joined animal parts’ rebus: sangara'proclamation'; barad 'bull' rebus:bharata 'alloy of copper, pewter, tin';ranku 'antelope' rebus: ranku 'tin'; kõda'young bull, bull-calf' rebus: kõdā 'to turn in a lathe'; kōnda 'engraver, lapidary'; kundār 'turner'.
A skilled sawyer and shells ready for sawing, Calcutta. Turbinella pyrum shell bangle manufacturing process. [a to f]: preliminary chipping and removal of internal columella; [g to k]: sawing shell circles; [l to n]: finishing the shell blank; [o]: final incising [After Fig. 5.23 in Kenoyer, 1998].S’AN:KHAH KR.S’ANAH = PEARL SHELL WON FROM THE OCEAN AND WORN AS AN AMULET (AV 4.10.1)Are Kr.s’Anu shell-cutters working with a bow saw?
RV 1.112.21 With those aids by which you defended Kr.s'a_nu in battle, with
which you succoured the horse of the young Purukutsa in speed, and by
which you deliver the pleasant honey to the bees; with them, As'vins, come
willingly hither. [Kr.s'a_nu are somapa_las, vendors or providers of Soma;
hasta-suhasta-kr.s'a_navah, te vah somakrayan.ah (Taittiri_ya Sam.hita_
1.2.7); kr.s'a_nu = agni; purukutsa was the son of Mandha_ta_ and
husband of Narmada_, the river; the text has only 'of the young', Purukutsa
is added].
कृशानु[p= 306,1] m. (fr. √कृश् for कृष्?) , " bending the bow " , N. applied to a good archer (connected with /अस्तृ , " an archer " , though sometimes used alone ;कृशानु , according to some , is a divine being , in character like रुद्र or identified with him ; armed with the lightning he defends the " heavenly " सोमfrom the hawk , who tries to steal and bear it from heaven to earth) RV. VS. iv , 27 AitBr. iii , 26 N. of अग्नि or fire VS. v , 32 S3a1n3khS3r. vi , 12 , 3(hence) fire Sus3r. Ragh. Kum. Bhartr2N. of विष्णु VarBr2S. xliii , 54 of a गन्धर्व (Monier-Williams) kṛśānuḥकृशानुः [कृश् आनुक्; Uṇ.4.2] Fire; गुरोः कृशानुप्रति- माद्बिभेषि R.2.49;7.24;1.74; Ku.1.51; Bh.2.17. -Comp. -यन्त्रम् (= अग्नियन्त्रम्) a cannon; अथ सपदि कृशा- नुयन्त्रगोलैः ......Śiva. B.28.85. -रेतस् m. an epithet of Śiva. kṛśanamकृशनम् Ved. 1 A pearl; अभीवृतं कृशनैर्विश्वरूपम् Rv.1. 35.4. -2 Gold. -3 Form, shape.(Apte. Samskritam)
On the पोळा [ pōḷā ] festival directly connected to bos indicus (zebu) and the Bronze toys of animals on wheels of Daimabad (perhaps on processions like उत्सव बेर utsava bera) ca. 3rd millennium BCE? to prove that 3rd millennium BCE itihas is all around us, just as Baliyatra is celebrated in the east-coast on Karthik Purnima day. How can anyone say that Bharatiya lack a sense of history? http://bharatkalyan97.
http://bharatkalyan97.
Lingam, grey sandstone in situ, Harappa, Trench Ai, Mound F, Pl. X (c) (After Vats). "In an earthenware jar, No. 12414, recovered from Mound F, Trench IV, Square I... in this jar, six lingams were found along with some tiny pieces of shell, a unicorn seal, an oblong grey sandstone block with polished surface, five stone pestles, a stone palette, and a block of chalcedony..." (Vats,MS, Excavations at Harappa, p. 370)
Relief with Ekamukha linga. Mathura. 1st cent. CE (Fig. 6.2) See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/textual-evidence-that-rudra-siva-is.html The linga emerges out of the roof of the brick kiln, a furnace or smelter and is accompanied by gaNa, dwarfs with a tree in the background: The background pictorial motif ligaturing a 'tree' is a semantic determinant of the function of the brick-kiln': kuṭi 'tree' Rebus: kuṭhi 'smelter': mũh 'face' (Hindi) rebus: mũhe 'ingot' (Santali) mũhã̄ = the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace of the Kolhes; iron produced by the Kolhes and formed like a four-cornered piece a little pointed at each end; mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends;kolhe tehen mẽṛhẽt ko mūhā akata = the Kolhes have to-day produced pig iron (Santali); 
Linga worship relief. Bhutesvara, Mathura. 1st cent. BCE
Kankali tila beam, ca. 2nd cent. BCE. A brazier and artisan working with fire near a smelter.
A smith at work. Bharhut railing ca. 2nd cent. BCE. Perhaps producing rectangular pieces of ingots and metal coins.
Sivalingas, linga stambhas in relation to the two tiers of the ziggurat structure.
Dholavira.![Image result for dholavira pillars]()
![Image result for dholavira pillars]()
![Image result for dholavira pillars]()
Dholavira. The elevated area in relation to the sivalingas, linga stambhas could have held a Ziggurat model within the circular and 8-shaped stone structure.
Passageway. It appears to be aligned east-west. West is towards the yellow pillar and east is towards that green shrub on the top. The North Gate to the city is just behind us facing, obviously, the north.
Two stone pillars on the passageway, in the stadium, between the Northern and Eastern Gateway. Dholavira. The northern gateway of the citadel had this monumental inscribed board with Indus Script hieroglyphs detailing metalwork carried out in workshops in the citadel: The hieroglyphs are composed using gypsum pieces.
Model of a temple, called the Sit-shamshi, made for the ceremony of the rising sun. http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/sit-shamshi See the reading of the inscription at http://www.elamit.net/elam/sit_handout.pdf
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
October 31, 2015
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I am not a khaki chaddi. I am just proud of my country -- Anupam Kher. Sick watching nanga naach of psecs, naxals
Interview with Anupam Kher: I am not a khaki chaddi, I am just proud of my country
Kher laments that the barrage of awards being returned now are an insult to the nation and that film-makers who return awards have no right to do so without consulting their team.
Ramanathan S.| Friday, October 30, 2015 - 19:22
Anupam Kher is setting social media on fire. Be it his statement on ‘Award Wapsi’ or being attacked as ‘KhakiChaddiAnupam’, his tweets have gone viral and his views are being met with bouquets and brickbats. More recently, his online squabbles spilled over to the stage at the Tata LitLive Festival in Mumbai when he was booed down by the audience after he sparred with Shobhaa De on whether freedom of expression was in imminent danger in India.
But the tweets and headlines don’t narrate the whole story. In an interview to The News Minute, Kher laments that the barrage of awards being returned now are an insult to the nation. He says that film-makers who return awards have no right to do so without consulting their team. Excerpts.
It seems like you're being more argumentative recently. Why this sudden outburst of opinion from you on politics?
My reaction comes from my heart, thinking about my country. And this can be interpreted in any manner. Some people say that I am a nationalist or patriotic... I am happy to be called anything. I went to a municipal school, and I was taught by my teachers that the most important thing in the world is your country.
Every time I see people trying to insult the country for personal gains - and it’s not that they do not have the right to complain - the person in me wants to comment and I do that. I stick my neck out. It is important to take the risk of not being popular with certain people and say what we feel. It is not a question of right or wrong. They are embarrassing the country and the people who have given them the awards. They are insulting the people who have read their work or seen their movies. And it is selective outrage, my point is that. India has seen lots of ups and downs. We have gone through a lot of trauma. Where were these people? Did they have amnesia? ’84 riots, Kashmir genocide, Emergency, did these things not happen?
Are you doing this for publicity?
I don’t need any publicity! I have been in 491 films and have received enough national and international awards. I am the UN ambassador for gender equality. I get enough publicity without asking for it. Do you think I need it? And I did not invite the media to talk to me, I am being asked because there is a need for another point of view.
Do you think you are being targeted for speaking your mind?
Of course, and it shows the intolerance of the people who say that freedom of expression in India is in imminent danger. But that’s alright, I can fight my battles. I was taught by my family that if you fight for the right reasons, it is not important whether you are being targeted or not.
What do you make of being booed at in Tata LitFest or #KhakiChaddiAnupam trending on Twitter?
This time when I was in Bombay I realised, that the so called gentry is no different from the goons. They pretend to hide behind the garb of intellectual persona, but they are no different from other people who are walking on the streets and creating problems.
First of all it was all planned. I had major issues with Anil Dharkar framing the debate as ‘Freedom of expression is in imminent threat’. I said there should be a question-mark in it. He said a classic debate does not have a question-mark. Then I suggested that let’s have the statement as ‘Freedom of expression is not an imminent threat’, but he did not agree.
I also told him that you are biased, and that the audience will also be your own. He said ‘no, no, no anybody can walk in’. When I walked in I saw that it was that typical audience, who sit in their drawing rooms and sip champagne and talk about the poverty of India.
When I was going backstage, there was wine and cheese around, a part of the lit-fest culture, and they were talking about freedom of India being in imminent danger. You are having wine and cheese in the middle of the financial capital of the country, and just one km away from the venue an international film festival opening is happening and people are screening movies on the backdrop of Gateway of India, so where is the danger?
Is it frustrating for you, to witness all of this?
No. When you are telling the truth, it is never tiring or frustrating. It gives you strength. I am not alone, you’ll see if you go on Twitter or on social media, the magic of social media is that everybody has a platform to talk. We can’t influence people, they have their own minds and can see what is right and what is wrong.
But don’t you think incidents such as Dadri and MM Kalburgi’s death need to be condemned? What do you think about such incidents?
Very sad, very sad. It is unfortunate, it should not have happened. It was murder. But it cannot be blamed on a party. There is a law. Such incidents should be condemned. But then, I also ask, what about Prashant Poojary’s murder? Just because he was an activist saving cows, he was killed brutally, why is there no outrage on that? Doesn’t mean anyone can justify Dadri.
But these so pseudo-intellectuals are trying to divide our society, saying this section is right and this section is wrong. This is a new crop of people who have come up and are worse than politicians. With politicians at least you know they do what they do for winning elections. But when these pseudo-intellectuals divide society, it is very dangerous.
Speaking of the FTII issue, there you took a stand against the government?
Yes, because it was wrong. I spoke very strongly about it. I am not blind. I am not ‘KhakhiChaddiAnupam’ as they claim. That’s their frustration, because there is one person who is calling their bluff.
Look at these people who have returned the national awards. They have insulted the nation and not the government. They have insulted the jury and the people who were involved in the film.
For example, Dibakar Banerjee, who made Khosla ka Ghosla. That was his first film, and I did a favour to him. He did not get a national award just because of his direction. He got the award because of me, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, the cameraman, the light-boy... We were all working in June in Delhi, without money, hotel arrangements or car arrangements. And he goes and turns this into personal glory and returns a national award without even consulting us?
And the other people, like documentary film-makers, had already signed a petition before the election that we do not want Narendra Modi as a Prime Minister. One of them even said it on national television that I don’t like the Prime Minister. And does that not mean their freedom is intact?
What are the roots to your political belief? What events have shaped your thought today?My political belief is being an Indian. My political belief is how I can be proud of my country and what my country has done for me.
I am a small town boy whose father was a clerk in the forest department. Today after 31 years I have acted in 491 films. This country has given me a lot. I have got two national awards, many international awards, I have got the Padma Shri and it is my duty to give back to my country by being loyal to it.
What have these people done for this country? They thought about their personal glory earlier, they are thinking about their personal glory now.
And many events have shaped my beliefs. More recently it was the India Against Corruption movement that I participated in, but unfortunately it later turned into a political party. And we now have a PM who we can be proud of. He is personally incorruptible and has improved the image of India outside the country. Some people in the party may say stupid things, but I look forward to what happens in the country because the PM’s intentions are right.
http://linkis.com/thenewsminute.com/Pikn0
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Wendy Doniger's racial-colonial mindset, mistranslations and fake victimhood : Shankar Sharan and Arvind Kumar
The world of Wendy Doniger's translations
by Shankar Sharan 31-10-2015
“Aldous Huxley once said that an intellectual was someone who had found something more interesting than sex; in Indology, an intellectual need not make that choice at all.”
– Wendy Doniger, When the Lingam is Just a Cigar
Preface
Wendy Doniger, a professor of religious history at the Chicago University, has engaged herself for a long time in interpreting Hindu texts and traditions in sexual terms. She spares nothing: epics, festivals, deities or folklore of Hindus are valid subjects for her seeming obsession with giving them an erotic turn.
As the above quote from Wendy Doniger[i] shows, she believes intellectual work per se on Hinduism is tantamount to erotic exercises. Strange as it may seem, this has been a kind of signature tune of Wendy Doniger.
Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism (1988)
For instance, Wendy discussed the original sources necessary to study Hinduism in herTextual Sources for the Study of Hinduism(1988). The book contains, according to Wendy, the basic information about the most significant Hindu tests.
On the ‘Contents’ page in the beginning of the book, under the Chapter ‘Vedas’, she has given the titles of themes as “Killing the dog”, “The mockery of the women”, “The king copulates with the people”.
Further, under the Chapter ‘Shastras’, she gave titles such as “Women not to sleep with”, “Married women to sleep with”, “Married women who will sleep with you”, “Married women who will not sleep with you”, “The karma of marriage: the king’s wife, the Brahman’s wife, and the ogre”, and so on.[ii]
With such subtitles, Wendy has undertaken to guide a new researcher in the West to study Hinduism.
Going into some detail of this initial enterprise of hers is useful for understanding both her approach and determination to portray Hinduism as sex and fantasies. Therefore, a whole school of Indology guided by her, aptly called ‘Wendy’s Children’ producing similar studies and competing with each other in giving anything in Hindu tradition a thick sexual colour.
Mistranslating Primary Vedic Texts
So, the Textual Sources…presents Vedas primarily as rituals. Under the rituals, sex-related rituals is the main thing one can find in her book. She has quoted from Shatapatha Brahamana extensively. However, the peculiar thing is that her quotes from it do not match the text she has mentioned in her Bibliography.
The Bibliography mentions “Shatapatha Brahmana translated by J. Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, Oxford, 1882.”[iii]
However, the extensive quotes given by Wendy in her book from theShatapatha Brahmana vastly differs from the translation given by J. Eggeling. The complete text, translated by Eggeling is available online at http://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/sbe44/index.htm. We should see a sample text, for example, given by Wendy Doniger and the same by Eggeling.
First, the text of Shatpatha Brahamana (13.2.9.6-9) as translated by J. Eggeling:
13:2:9:6. [The Adhvaryu addresses one of the attendant maids, Vâg. S. XXIII, 22,] ‘That little bird,’–the little bird, doubtless, is the people (or clan),–‘which bustles with (the sound) “ahalak,”‘–for the people, indeed, bustle for (the behoof of) royal power,–‘thrusts the “pasas” into the cleft, and the “dhârakâ” devours it,’–the cleft, doubtless, is the people, and the ‘pasas’ is royal power; and royal power, indeed, presses hard on the people; whence the wielder of royal power is apt to strike down people.
13:2:9:7. [The Brahman addresses the queen consort, Vâg. S. XXIII, 24,] ‘Thy mother and father,’–the mother, doubtless, is this (earth), and the father yonder (sky): by means of these two he causes him to go to heaven;–‘mount to the top of the tree,’–the top of royal power, doubtless, is glory: the top of royal power, glory, he thus causes him to attain;–‘saying, “I pass along,” thy father passed his fist to and fro in the cleft,’–the cleft, doubtless, is the people; and the fist is royal power; and royal power, indeed, presses hard on the people; whence he who wields royal power is apt to strike down people
13:2:9:8. [The chamberlain addresses the king’s fourth wife, Vâg. S. XXIII, 30,] ‘When the deer eats the corn,’–the grain (growing in the field), doubtless, is the people, and the deer is royal power: he thus makes the people to be food for the royal power, whence the wielder of royal power feeds on the people;–‘it thinks not of the fat cattle,’–whence the king does not rear cattle;–‘when the Sûdra woman is the Arya’s mistress, he seeks not riches that he may thrive,’–hence he does not anoint the son of a Vaisya woman.
13:2:9:9. But, indeed, the vital airs pass from those who speak impure speech at the sacrifice. [The queen consort having been made to rise by her attendants, the priests and chamberlain say, Vâg. S. XXIII, 32, Rig-v. S. IV, 39, 6,] ‘The praises of Dadhikrâvan have I sung, (the victorious, powerful horse: may he make fragrant our mouths, and prolong our lives!),’–thus they finally utter a verse containing the word ‘fragrant’: it is (their own) speech they purify, and the vital airs do not pass from them.
Related Reading
Now the same section presented by Wendy Doniger is as follows. The quotation marks in the passage are all as given in Wendy’s book. The entire passage below does notappear to be an interpretation by Wendy, because she has presented it as the translated text of the original in the Shatapatha Brahmana:
‘The little female bird rocks back and forth making the sound “ahalag” as he thrusts the penis into the slit, making the sound “nigalgal”, and the vulva swallows it up.’ Now, that bird is really the people, for the people rock back and forth at the thrust of the royal power. And the slit is the people, and the penis is the royal power, which presses against the people; and so the one who has royal power is hurtful to the people.
‘Your mother and father climb to the top of a tree; saying, “I desire to have you,” your father presses his fist back and forth in the slit.’ Now, the mother is this (earth), and the father is that (sky); by means of these two (the priest) causes (the king) to go to the world of heaven. The top of the royal power is glory, and thus he causes him to attain the pinnacle of royal power, glory. The slit is people, and the fist is royal power, which presses against the people; and soothe one who has royal power is hurtful to the people.
‘When the deer eats the barley, (the farmer) does not hope to nourish the animal; when the low-born women becomes the mistress of a noble man, (her husband) does not hope to get rich on that nourishment.’ Now, the barley is the people, and the deer is the royal power; thus he makes the people food for the royal power, and so the one who has the royal power eats the people. And so the king does not raise the animals; and so one does not anoint as King the son of a women born of the people.
But the vital breaths go out of those who speak impure speech in the sacrifice. And so they utter at the end of the sweet-smelling verse, the verse that begins, ‘I praise Dadhikravan.’ Thus they purify (their) speech, and the vital breaths do not go out of them. (Shatapatha Brahman 13.2.9.6-9)[iv]
One can compare the two texts, both said to be the exact translation of the same four stanzas of the Shatapatha Brahmana.
What makes it mysterious is that Wendy has not mentioned whether she has presented her own translation of the text or has borrowed someone else’s translation. However, as the Bibliography given at the end of her book mentions, the text is translated by the same J. Eggeling, and none other. It becomes a moot question whether she presented Eggeling’s translation intact. If yes, why this sort of enormous discrepancy, nay a huge distortion? If not, then whose translation has Wendy presented in her book? Is this translation the product done of her own fancies and erotic imagination?
This vital point should be examined seriously by Sanskrit and Vedic scholars to evaluate actual, and not the perceived worth of Wendy as a serious Indologist.
Caricaturing the Vedas
In any case, the curious choices made by Wendy to guide a Western reader about basic Hinduism is obvious.
The aforementioned instance is not an exception to her presentation of the Vedas, but a typical case. Indeed, she has herself candidly declared that
“Within each genre, I have picked the texts I like best, and these have tended to be texts about women, animals, sin, food, and sacrifice; the arbitrariness of this selection was in any case inevitable, but it does have the incidental advantage of demonstrating how certain themes run like a thread through several different genres…”[v]
This shows, at least to an Indian scholar, that Wendy’s presentation of the Vedas is at best amateur. This writer asked a learned Hindu scholar about the Shatapatha Brahmana. He observed:
A printed version of the Shukla Yajurveda.
“This is a Shukla Yajurvedian Brahmana volume, divided into two branches: Madhyandin and Kanva. It is called Shatapatha because it has one hundred chapters, though the later branch has one hundred and four chapters. The entire theme of this volume is Yajna. All kind of yajnas are described in this volume, such as bricks, their selection, formal making of yajna vedis, havan, duties, donations, repentance, self-studies, Astronomy, Devashastras, Akhyanas (stories), geographical details, cosmology, etc.”[vi]
In view of this basic information about the Shatapatha Brahmana, the selections made by Wendy and presented along with other Hindu texts and folklore in her book clearly appear to be a caricature of the Vedas. Or plain ignorance, if one goes through the commentaries written by Indian scholars from olden times to the present.
Either Wendy Doniger is not able to or she has not tried to understand the symbolic language of the Vedas. The best proof for this hypothesis is her own Bibliography given in the book. It simply misses the names of well-revered commentators on the Vedas.
Therefore, not only has Wendy selected the pieces in Hindu texts ‘arbitrarily’ and what she ‘liked best’ but she also willfully chose to ignore such authorities from whom she could not find any help in her pet project of sexualizing the Vedas.
Second Rate Minds, Third Rate Output and Politics
Can we therefore reasonably conclude that all that Wendy Doniger has done so far for decades is only to titillate the Western novices coming forward to become ‘experts’ on Hinduism? As academic history shows, Indology is a subject chosen in Western countries usually by third or second rate brains.
The best go to science and technology, followed by Russian studies, Sinology, Islamic studies, Biblical studies, etc. Only the leftovers come to Indology, where there are no strict demands for merit and impeccable research. All of Wendy’s children illustrate this.
And when challenged, all of them, along with their mentor Wendy, resort to organizational tricks, censorship, and abusing critics. Among others, Rajiv Malhotra and Koenraad Elst have documented detailed incidents that show how they were gagged and abused by Wendy Doniger and her admirers both in India and abroad.
However, the answer to this question can wait. We can next examine her other big book The Hindus: An alternative history (2009), and also her direct observations about Hindus as a people, Hindu texts and Hinduism.
Wendy Doniger has invited criticism mainly on the ground that she misled the Western public and academia about Hinduism. In fact, it did not just stop at the academic level. Wendy Doniger’s work has distorted India’s general image and specifically, the image of Hindus among Western policy-makers.
Their generous donations and politico-diplomatic support for all kind of vicious and deadly anti-Hindu political groups in India masquerading as ‘human rights’ or ‘Dalit activists’ is directly influenced by Wendy’s kind of scholarship, which continues to laboriously tarnish everything in Hinduism.
It is thus no coincidence at all that all anti-Hindu political groups in India stood united to defend Wendy Doniger irrespective of the fact that most of them never bothered to read her book. So what explains this glue-like affinity with her?
The answer is provided by Wendy herself. Her direct observations about Hindus, Hinduism and present day Indian politics leaves no doubt where her sympathies and pathologies lie. Hence the open, partisan show of unity. And this has nothing to do with academics.
Wendy’s Work not Open for Evaluation
Thus, it would be in order to evaluate Wendy Doniger academically as it is necessary to read her learned critics too.
A one-sided presentation of her books and her views have been rightly accused as being fiction, not worthy of being called scholarship. The correct and accepted method is to lay facts and arguments from both sides on the table. Wendy Doniger, till now, is not ready for this. She assumes the air of the Final and Sole Authority on Hinduism, to whom everyone should just listen and not question.
Therefore, Wendy does not seem to realize that there’s nothing etymologically or methodologically wrong to paint Hindu texts chiefly in a sexual tint. There seems to be no other explanation for why she keeps doing the same again and again.
When her controversial book The Hindus… appeared in 2009, she gave an interview to the Indian weekly ‘Outlook’ (26 October 2009). She casually repeated her observations about Ramayana as if every character in this timeless epic was nothing beyond a sexually aroused, obsessed or perverted being.
A scene from the Ramayana
According to her, Dashratha was a ‘sex-addict,’ Rama was on the verge of being a similar sex-addict when he deserted Sita. Her leitmotif of the entire interview was aptly summarized by the magazine in its title: “Ram Was Happy With Sita…Indulging In Every Way…And Then He Threw Her Out.”[vii]
None of the Ramayanas starting with the Sanskrit original by Valmiki or Tulsidas or Kamban support this characterization.
One wonders where Wendy found literary or scholarly support for this sort of arcane interpretation. The answer is available, again, in the huge bibliography given at the end of her book The Hindus… Although original sources, are present in the Bibliography, a major chunk comprises all kind of stray writings, many of them hardly related to Ramayana. Materials intended for a history of the Hindus include comments, op-ed pieces, observations, etc. by people who seem to support her line of pre-fixed conclusions.
An analogy helps in this context.
Suppose you come to a pre-decided conclusion that America is a country of murderers. Now, a la Wendy, all you have to do is to collect newspaper clippings and op-eds for a year in a dozen French and Russian media outlets and select leftist Americans’ articles on the subject of crime, law and order, etc.
By the end of a year, any year, you might have hundreds of news clippings, statements, and articles lamenting the law and order situation, and stories and anecdotes about murder, crimes, rapes, etc that occurred in the US. If you gather all of them in a thick volume, with your own ‘expert’ interpretation of all those items accumulated, and get it published in book form by a reputed international publisher, it will be a volume on par with what Wendy seems to have done in The Hindus… The bibliography at the end of this book does indicate this sort of selection of materials.
The unfortunate fact is that while no good publisher would agree to publish your ‘America is a Nation of Murders’ as a history book, in the case of India the opposite is true.
Only books portraying India negatively are lapped up by international publishers on Social Sciences. (Why this is so is a different, though a very relevant, subject.) Because of this established trend, Wendy could not only continue to write her fiction-as-history books on India, but become ‘the authority’ on Hinduism.
Familiar Marxist Tactics
And so, in the interview to the Outlook she nonchalantly reels of one outrageous claim after the other with the help of ‘probably’, ‘might have been’—Brahmans might have removed such portions in a text, etc— without giving an iota of evidence. The best Wendy could do was to redirect Indian readers to non-descript current Indian literary writers, and the good old Marxist Romila Thapar.
Thus, to claim that the Sri Lanka of today is not the Lanka described in the Ramayana, Wendy had this to offer: “We don’t even know, as Romila Thapar has pointed out, that the Lanka of the Ramayana is the Sri Lanka of today. There’s a lot of evidence that they are not the same place at all.”
This is the pet tactic of the Indian Marxists as well: refer each other, cleverly but speciously, thus try to prove the case and win the game – without actually giving any evidence at all. Now, what are Romila Thapar’s credentials for us to trust her on such a point?
She is definitely no historian of Sri Lankan history, much less of Ramayana. So quoting Romila Thapar is a deception to befuddle the reader; that since another big name also says so, it must be right. However, if you could question Romila about how she is sure about the point on Sri Lanka, the answer may be equally pointing yet someone else or just evading as she has done on numerous issues.
Romila Thapar
We don’t know for sure who learnt this tactic from whom: Romila and her clan from Wendy and her children, or the reverse? Apparently it is the later.
But the method is obvious in the book The Hindus… When in want of credible evidence on a crucial item, Wendy could not point to a single, credible, original source. She refers us to Romila or other historians. Just as Romila referred a questioner on evidence (about her oft-repeated claims of ‘Hindus too destroyed temples’, and that it was a ‘custom’ in Indian history) to refer this or that kindred professor or scholar, never herself being competent to write even an article on such stupendous claims.
Thus, flaunting each other’s “eminences” have been a ploy of Indian Marxist historians for decades: ‘Trust us, we are the authority’ seems a perfectly valid substitute for hard evidence.
It is noteworthy that Wendy Doniger, too, uses this subterfuge on crucial issues about Hindu history presented by her. The Sri Lanka instance is just one of the issues. After all, it was Wendy who took up the ambitious task of writing about the Ramayana, not Romila. And so, when cornered about evidence, why refer to a third party?
To quote her:
You have a chapter in Valmiki’s Ramayana where Rama was so happy with Sita, they drank wine together, they were alone, enjoying themselves in every way, indulging in various ways, not just the sexual act. And in the very next chapter he says I’ve got to throw you out. So I’m suggesting: what is the connection between those two things? And what does it mean that Rama knows that Dasaratha, his father, disgraced himself because of his attachment to his young and beautiful wife. So I’m taking pieces of the Ramayana and putting them together and saying these are not disconnected.[viii]
Read it closely, and the brazen academic errors made by Wendy Doniger would become all too apparent.
Distort, then Draw Conclusions
First, she wants to use Valmiki’s authority for her conclusions about what she calls an ‘alternate’ history. It would thus only be logical to show this alternate source to back up her claims because Valmiki never formulated the conclusions Wendy wants to thrust.
Although she claims to bring together ‘pieces’, she fails to mention these pieces. Imagination plus one’s own creative interpretation of Valmiki does not add up to a credible alternate history. What she tries to connect are her own wild imagination and selective parts, that too, with distorted translations. All these may become a fiction of period-literary genre, but calling it a history book is far-fetched at the least.
Please also consider: why doesn’t Wendy mention anything at all about the period after Valmiki and directly jumps to the sixteenth century devotional poets of India?
She starts from a source from a date before Christ and then fast forwards directly to A K Ramanujan and then to Romila Thapar where she gets to interpret the Ramayana as she pleases. This does not reflect a study of tradition.
At any rate, Wendy hardly has any material except present-day opinion articles, observations and interpretations of like-minded girls and boys.
In the course of that interview, Wendy did more surmising than informing. To the question “If whatever you say about the Ramayana is all there in the texts, why don’t we recognize it?” she responded, “It happened over the centuries. After all, the oldest Ramayana is well over 2,000 years old. Over the years things have happened, Hinduism has changed a lot. It probably started with the Bhakti movement —in the sense of the passionate worship of a single god.”
The crucial part is over the years things have happened. But it’s clear that Wendy was unable to give an example of what actually happened, and how one can learn about it. Blanking out at least eighteen centuries, without mentioning one native source, story, anecdote, even foreign travellers’ accounts over such long eras, she clutches at the Bhakti movement and that, with a probably.
Her whole answer to the vital question is simply a restatement of the question in an affirmative way, a bland assertion and mere proclamation that what she wrote about Ramayana must have been so. You don’t recognize it because the evidence could have been faded, destroyed, erased, etc. It is but plain begging the question.
The question precisely is: how she wrote what she wrote? Is it on the basis of specious conjectures?
Like our Marxist “historians” who wrote histories of ancient India on the support of just a theory of historical materialism. That the past must be an age of slavery, what else it could be? Plus, some imagination gained from the present.
As Wendy said: “Well, in order to have a temple you have to have a real movement. You have to have a lot of money, land, a whole system of building temples, which the Hindus did not have at first.”
This is the error of gross presentism (amply found in Romila Thapar as well), that is, projecting today’s perceptions and reality and customs onto a distant past. That since this is logical today it must be the same ages ago, too, although we have nothing at hand to ascertain that in order to build a temple what they required two thousand years ago. Land, money, license, etc are today’s requirements. Ergo, the same must be two thousand years ago goes this infantile logic.
This “logic” and plenty of surmise is thus more prominent in Wendy Doniger’s scheme of writing history than hard, corroborative, verifiable evidences. Apparently she learned this easy way from her Indian Marxist friends.
In the same interview, Wendy says,
“Then you have other stories that say that in fact Lakshman was really in love with Sita , which of course Tulsidas doesn’t say, and neither does Valmiki. And you have stories in which Sita is the daughter of Ravana. Until recently, there was no one who said there was only one way to tell the Ramayana. Everyone in India knew that the stories were told differently…”[ix]
In this instance too, Wendy Doniger did not name any identifiable ‘story’ to support her astounding claim though she knows very well the weight of even a single evidence. The point is: her titillating, provoking statements are invariably supported by nothing in particular.
To counter the narratives of Valmiki and Tulsidas, her refuge is either in unnamed ‘stories’ or some Ramanujam, who again was just another Marxist claimer like she is. Ramanujan hasn’t written any Ramayana belonging to any period—7th century or no. He too just made claims similar to Wendy that there had been hundreds of Ramayanas. Clutching to stories of doubtful credibility claimed by another is at best a purveying of claims, not writing a history.
The last sentence in the Outlook interview again confirms the use of presentism. Because different persons narrate an incident today in different ways, so the story of Rama, Sita, Ravan, etc. must have been different. And one version might have been what I like to imagine. This is the “probability theory” she seemingly resorts to in a haughty fashion. And so, if I ‘like best’ imagining all manner of intercourse, incest, etc. why can’t I interpret and explain texts of Hindu epics in such terms? If Hindus object, it is nothing new. The Hindus keep objecting anyway, don’t they?
Obsession with Sex
The central fallacy in Wendy Doniger’s entire project of writing an alternate history of Hindus is that she presents her imaginary interpretation not as hers, but as coming from the ‘people’ of India centuries ago. Otherwise, she could have honestly mentioned details: at this time, in that area, according to this source or folklore it was said that Sita was a lover of Lakshman, or the elephant-trunk of Lord Ganesha is but a ‘limp phallus’.
This last piece of wild imagination is found in a Ph. D. study done under Wendy’s guidance. Have a look of this study by one of Wendy’s children, Paul Courtright:
…there is a meaning in the selection of the elephant head. Its trunk is the displaced phallus, a caricature of Shiva’s linga. It poses no threat because it is too large, flaccid, and in the wrong place to be useful for sexual intercourse… [Ganesha] remains celibate so as not to compete erotically with his father, a notorious womanizer, either incestuously for his mother or for any other woman for that matter. … Ganesha is like a eunuch guarding the women of the harem. In Indian folklore and practice, eunuchs have served as trusted guardians of the antahpura, the seraglio. “They have the reputation of being homosexuals, with penchant for oral sex, and are looked upon as the very dregs of society” (Hiltebeitel,1980, p. 162) … Like the eunuch, Ganesha has the power of bless and curse; that is, to place and remove obstacles.[x]
This then is the ‘alternate’ ‘interpretation’ of Lord Ganesha, which according to Wendy Doniger, merited a PhD. By now it is becoming obvious what she likes best. Obsession with sex fantasies seems to be on the top of her list. Evidence or no, even a psychoanalytical conjecture into the past is considered history in her books. More about this later.
Indeed, it is conjectures galore in Wendy Doniger.
In her enthusiasm of giving alternative narratives, she little cares about contradictory stances. For example, on the one hand, she invokes Valmiki for claiming certain things, and then doubts if there was any such person in history. In her words, “we don’t know who Valmiki was. It’s unlikely that one person wrote the whole Ramayana. Certainly unlikely that Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata—it was too great a book for a single author.”[xi]
Related Readings
Please note the strange basis of denying an author’s existence. As if standardizing one’s limited inability, a great book cannot be written by a single author.
Contradiction is also glaring in her presentation of Rama, Sita, Dashratha, etc. in various hues, because at another place she also says that Ramayana is a fiction. So, portraying colourful sexual fantasies about them is history but if Ramayana is taken as an indicator of the cultural greatness of India ages ago, then the same is mere fiction!
This is no consistency in academic outlook.
Ideology Trumps Academics
Then again, this is very similar to the Marxist historians’ approach. Picking Shambuka-vadha as evidence of caste oppression at the hands of Brahmins, but denying Ayodhya as a land of happiness and absence of sorrow in the same narrative. This pick-and-choose is never done out of any academic considerations, but to solely satisfy ideological imperatives. Wendy Doniger also belongs in the same basket.
There are other defects in Wendy’s observations on Hinduism.
First of all, what is called ‘Hindu religion’ is not a faith and ideology, based on a fixed book and official instructions. Theoretically, Wendy too, has in a way, recognized it. In her Textual Resources… she has noted that, “Hinduism as a whole has been well characterized as orthopraxy rather than orthodox: Hindus define themselves by what they do rather than by what they think.”[xii] Still, her interpretations and judgments choose more from books than the deeds of Hindus. And that, from books, with significant omissions and ideological slants.
Her decisive statements about present day Hindus are sweeping and not supported by empirical data. For example, “Mainstream Hinduism is the Hinduism of the Sanskrit texts, the Hinduism that supports caste laws and orient itself in terms of Vedas; this is the Establishment that establishes the rules of the game in India.”[xiii] Who is the ‘Establishment’ she is referring to? This is an arbitrary imposition, unsupported by evidence or the practices of Hindus today.
One of the biggest drawbacks of Wendy Doniger’s controversial book,The Hindus … is its reliance on tertiary, not even secondary, sources.
She has taken stray observations, opinions of all manner of writers giving them the same weightage as to a serious historian or to a solid, primary text. The bibliography of this book comprises 50 pages, with about two thousand books and articles.
The fact to note is that 90 per cent of this material is non-Hindu and non-Indian.[xiv] In other words, by their very nature, all those articles and books, and observations therein, cannot be considered primary material to know about Hindu history, people, religion and culture. They are secondary-tertiary, many of them irrelevant, and highly selective only to suit Wendy’s proclivities. Since the beginning of her career, she has made attempts to conceal these proclivities.
Conclusion
It is her predilection to sensuous conclusions that has determined her selection of materials. That is why we see no attempt whatsoever to verify or weigh a material supposed to help writing a history book.
Unlike fiction, history is made of evidence and not opinions that Wendy has used so liberally. Such a frivolous style, and collection of materials would not be acceptable in similar studies on Christianity, Islam or Judaism.
That Wendy did so with regard to Hinduism is also reflective of her conceit and racial-colonial mindset. It is quite reasonable to deduce that she considers herself way too superior to Hindus to brook even academic objections from them.
Whether this emanates from the high chairs coming her way at a very young age or from being called ‘the queen of Hinduism’ by sycophants almost throughout her career, we do not know. But she’s undoubtedly arrogant, a fact that she herself confirms from her various statements about the Hindus.
[i] Wendy Doniger, “when a Lingam is Just a Good Cigar”, Jeffrey Kripal and T H Vaidyanathan (ed.), Vishnu on Freud’s Desk (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 279. Quoted in Krishnan Ramaswamy et al (ed.)Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America (New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 2007) p. 485
[ii] Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, ed. and trans. Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism (Manchester: University Press, 1988), pp. v, 15-17, 103-106
[iii] Ibid, p.189
[iv] Ibid, pp. 17-18
[v] Ibid, p. x
[vi] Rameshwar Mishra ‘Pankaj’ provided the description about theShatapatha Brahman. He is a distinguished scholar.
[vii] An interview with Wendy Doniger, by Sheela Reddy, Outlook (weekly), New Delhi, 26 Oct. 2009
[viii] Ibid
[ix] Ibid
[x] Paul Courtright, Ganesha Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), quoted in Krishnan Ramaswamy et al(ed.) Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America (New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 2007) pp. 53-54
[xi] Outlook (weekly), New Delhi, 26 Oct. 2009
[xii] Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, ed. and trans. Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism (Manchester: University Press, 1988), pp. xi
[xiii] Ibid
[xiv] Wendy Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (New Delhi: Penguin Viking, 2009), pp. 929-79
http://indiafacts.co.in/the-world-of-wendy-donigers-translations/
Wendy Doniger's fake victimhood
by Arvind Kumar Feb. 13, 2014
The withdrawal of a book by Penguin Books has made the author of the book feel bitter and portray herself as a victim. This strange attempt at self-martyrdom does not hold any water and is a lame effort on her part to weave a romantic tale of being oppressed.
The publishing house voluntarily withdrew the book in the face of a police complaint against them. The fact that it is a voluntary withdrawal is clearly stated in the settlement document, and therefore, this issue is nowhere close to being a violation of anybody’s free-speech rights. This is especially the case as the government in India is one that is friendly to the author Wendy Doniger’s views. If she truly believes that she is a helpless victim of oppressive forces in India who violated her freedom of expression, she is delusional.
Among the charges listed in the complaint against Penguin Bookswere charges of plagiarism, false claims in the book, and that it was written with a Christian missionary zeal. For example, the complaint alleged that the book falsely claimed that the image on the jacket of the book was from a temple in Puri in Odisha even though that was not the case. If true, such false claims would at least violate consumer protection laws in India.Making false claims to sell a book, that too on the cover of the book, is an unethical practice.
Big business houses typically have a legal cell with a large number of lawyers just to ward off lawsuits and they constantly deal with multiple lawsuits at the same time. The fact that the publisher chose to withdraw the book instead of fighting out the case means that the publishing firm probably assessed that they would lose this case as the claims in the complaint were accurate.
The withdrawal of the book is a victory for those who turn the tables against the creators of oppressive laws and their cheerleaders by using the same laws against their proponents. We need more such cases that cause pain to whoever is responsible for the draconian laws in India. This is the only way to keep up the pressure to modify the legal system and protect the freedom of expression of everyone. Hindus have always opposed such laws and have started using them only as a retaliatory measure after the laws were applied in an unequal manner for several decades putting Hindus at a disadvantage.
India would have been a free-speech state instead of a state subject to “public order” if Jawaharlal Nehru had not targeted Hindus and amended the Constitution curtailing free-speech rights in the country. Nehru and his family members have been guilty of many transgressions in the past sixty five years and they have received support from faculty members in American and British universities. These faculty members have routinely attacked the opponents of such oppressive laws and branded them “fascists.”
This episode involving Wendy Doniger’s book is a lesson for the opponents of free-speech and their cheerleaders around the world, especially in American universities. As they say, what goes around comes around. Wendy should have supported Hindus who have always fought for free-speech laws in India and elsewhere.
This is not the first time that either the creators of draconian laws or their supporters were hoist on their own petard. MF Husain was a cheerleader for Indira Gandhi’s censorship laws during her Emergency era and was also directly responsible for banning books as he was a Member of the Parliament when books like the Satanic Verses were banned. When the same laws were applied to him after decades of his victims remaining silent and tolerating his shenanigans, he and his supporters started their organized wailing sessions in the media and Western academia. American professors have been making the false claim that Husain was in exile from India when in fact he actively maintained his property in India.
Within the US, Wendy Doniger is known to support a political party which advocates a policy that they call the “fairness doctrine.” According to this policy, political opponents will be targeted and compelled to be “fair” by presenting opposing views that are not in agreement with their actual views.
Apart from support to the violations of free-speech rights, racism is another rampant phenomenon in American universities and the number of racists is usually proportional to the intensity with which faculty members announce themselves as “liberals” or “progressives.” At the University of Chicago’s Divinity School where Wendy Doniger is a senior professor, there are just two Black faculty members among the thirty four listed on theirwebsite despite Blacks forming 13.1% of the American population. Of the two, one is merely an Assistant Professor, and all named chairs and ‘Distinguished Service Professor’ titles are with Whites, while the lone Black person who is a full professor, Dwight N. Hopkins, seems to have earned his spot as a full professor after publishing something entitled ‘Loving the Body: Black Religious Studies and the Erotic.’
According to Macmillan Publishers which published this book, Hopkins was only an Associate Professor at the time of publication of this book. The book criticizes the Black Church for ignoring sex in religion which, coincidentally, happens to be Wendy Doniger’s pet theme! As for the lone Chinese person listed as a member of the faculty, he is not even a professor of any kind and his job is limited to “Field Education and Community Engagement.” It should surprise no one that the Professor of Chinese Religion is another White person who can control the narrative on China and the Chinese people. With an ethnic Chinese professor in charge of this subject, the chances are low that he or she will demonize the Chinese civilization and stereotype the Chinese people in a negative manner whenever it is demanded.
Scroll down the list on the website and you will find that appointments at the Divinity School have nothing to do with formal qualifications when Whites are involved. They actually seem to get a free pass when it comes to qualifications. The website shows that a professor named Stephen Meredith, who is listed as an associated faculty member at the Divinity School, has no formal degrees in Religion but is trained in the fields of pathology, biochemistry and molecular biology. This is the ugly truth about the racial composition at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School.
No one should be surprised by these facts in Wendy Doniger’sworkplace. After all, Wendy herself has donated money to a group in which important leaders were members of the racist organization Ku Klux Klan. An online search also shows that she figures in a discussion thread on stormfront, a website run by neo-Nazis, and one member suggests using her works to belittle Indians. Besides, the now defunct Microsoft Encarta pulled her article on Hinduism after investigating complaints that the article had a racist tone.
American universities, particularly the humanities departments, have a very poor record when it comes to protecting free-speech rights and opposing racism. Not long ago, former Commerce Minister Dr. Subramanian Swamy was prevented from offering his course at Harvard University after Diana Eck, a White professor, organized a campaign to oust him in response to an article Dr. Swamy wrote in an Indian newspaper articulating his views on fighting terrorism and removing friction between Hindus and Muslims. She organized no effort that kept Irish poet Tom Paulin out of Harvard University when he was invited to the university after articulating much stronger statements such as calling for a genocide of jews. As a friend used to repeatedly point out, different strokes for different folks.
In another recent case, the students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School were pressured into withdrawing an invitation they had extended to Narendra Modi. The culprits were the university’s faculty members who disagreed with Modi’s views and they were led by, according to Hindustan Times, the university’s President Amy Gutmann. Ironically, Gutmann’s family found a safe haven in India when they fled Hitler’s holocaust against Jews.
Opposition to unpalatable views is par for the course in American academia. Martha Nussbaum, who is Wendy Doniger’s colleague at the University of Chicago, has even attacked the concept of freedom on the internet and has edited a book entitled ‘The Offensive Internet.’ The book calls for government controls on the Internet because views expressed on the internet can hurt one’s feelings and make people cry. Perhaps, she wants a “peer reviewed process” to control the ideas published on the net.Wendy Doniger, who according to her university’s website is also on the Orwellian sounding “Committee on Social Thought,” would be a great fit on such a Censorship Committee to control “social thought.”
The internet can be a cruel place for people like Martha Nussbaum. When the state of Arizona tried to pass an internet censorship law which was in line with some of the ideas in her book, and which was supposed to criminalize online speech intended to “annoy, offend, terrify, threaten, intimidate, or harass” others, the internet group Anonymous mocked the law by responding with a campaign to send a hilariously worded form to the Arizona legislators. Click here to read about this incident and see a copy of the form.
Wendy Doniger can certainly fill out this form. In 1990, she wrote, “The authors of the Rig Veda, the invading Indo-Aryans, highly valued their freedom and abhorred any constraint.” She now denies the Aryan Invasion in her more recent publications. What happened in the intervening period? The Internet became popular and Hindus on the internet won the debate on the Aryan Invasion Theory.
These days, it is not uncommon for professors in American universities to dissociate themselves from the discredited theory. Wendy should check the box in the form that says “I lost an argument in a chat room” since that comes closest to losing the debate with “internet Hindus.”
University professors are also targets of the thought police in academia. Stefan Arvidsson points out in his book ‘Aryan Idols’ that Bruce Lincoln, who is a professor at the the University of Chicago, was punished with a boycott by the mainstream academia and citations to his works dropped after he pointed out that the research work of Geirges Dumezil, who contributed to the development of the Aryan mythology, was influenced by Fascism.
Wendy’s description of prevailing views of the Aryan Invasion Theory too does not use proper citations and is hence a deceptive one. She does not credit any Hindu for schooling her on this topic, but instead goes on to bash them. She cites some person named Martin West, presumably a White person, without mentioning the contribution of Hindus active on the internet in demolishing the theory. Using an idea without properly citing the people who first came up with the idea is generally considered plagiarism.
What is worse, Wendy even claims that some Hindus would want to get Christians and Muslims out of India based on the argument that Vedic people originated in India. That is stretching the truth because Hindus have never claimed that the Muslims and Christians of India are of Arab or European extract and not converts to their faiths. Such xenophobic allegations which are not based in facts should have no place in any civilized discourse. These allegations put her book in the fiction category as no Hindu has ever claimed that Muslims and Christians must leave India because one view of the Aryan Invasion Theory was proved right and another view was proved wrong.
As for the quality of scholarship in Wendy Doniger’s book, there really is none. The word ‘Alternative’ is typically used by Communists in the West as a euphemism for ‘Communist opinion’ rather than a scholarly opinion. Like in the case of bad scholars, if her claims are not based on ‘Christian missionary zeal,’ they clearly must be based on Pavlovian conditioning to unquestioningly accept mythological claims as historical facts simply because such ‘facts’ were fed by people like her teacher whom she probably perceived as an infallible and authoritative figure. When the book first came out, I asked Professor Joe Barnhart, a noted scholar, to opine on the following description in Doniger’s book which treated fictional events as historical facts and even assigned dates to them.
When Jesus appeared to him in a vision that night, Thomas said, “Whithersoever thou wilt, our Lord, send me; only to India I will not go.”Jesus nevertheless eventually indentured him, for twenty pieces of silver, to an Indian merchant, who took him to work on the palace of the ruler of Gandhara, sometime between about 19 and 45 CE. After a second voyage, in 52 CE, Thomas landed in Kerala or Malabar and there established the Syrian Christian community that thrives there today; he then traveled overland to the east coast, where he was martyred in the outskirts of Chennai. As usual, the interchange went in both directions; in exchange for the goods and ideas that the Christians brought to India, they took back, along with Kerala’s pepper and cinnamon, always in demand in Rome, equally palatable stories – elements of Ashvagosha’s life of the Buddha (in the second century CE), such as the virgin birth and the temptation by the devil – that may have contributed to the narratives of the life of Christ.
Professor Barnhart responded by stating that if Wendy Doniger did not make the distinction between a narrative and a reliable report of events that actually happened, “… she’s in Woo-woo Land where she might meet the Wizard of Ozz. I don’t know anyone in the Society of Biblical Literature who would take this Thomas story as a description of historical events. Good fiction borrows from real-life events but doesn’t pose as a historical account.”
The reference to fiction fits in neatly with another description currently doing the rounds on the Internet. Apparently, the publisher’s promise to reduce all remaining copies of Wendy Donger’s book to pulp has finally helped in correctly categorizing the book: pulp fiction.
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RSS not a 'punching bag' for pseudo-secular people: Dattatreya Hosabale (2:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXUz1RYM5os Published on Oct 30, 2015
Ranchi, Oct 30 (ANI): RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale on Friday said that Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is not a 'punching bag' for the pseudo-secular people. He added that RSS is not against reservation and has never voiced any opinion against reservation. Earlier in the day, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat asserted that the current reservation policy should be reviewed.
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Scintillating NaMO speech in election rally in Gopalganj. Listen to the ghotala list of Jungle Raj..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HrcLv9rWFk (37:54) Published on Oct 30, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Speech at Parivartan Rally in Gopalganj, Bihar
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Where did the $35 billion USA charity of 2014 go?
Here’s where the U.S. sent $35 billion in aid last year
HowMuch.netThe U.S. spread about $35 billion in economic aid across 142 countries last year. In some cases, where it went may come as a surprise. In others, not so much.
Cost-estimating website HowMuch.net put the figures in perspective by using the numbers to create a map showing the relative size of each country by the amount they received. The color indicates gross domestic product per capita. The map includes the top 40 by total aid sent, along with 37 others, such as Portugal and Malta, just to show geographic diversity.
Israel is the clear leader with $3.1 billion, which was used for military financing. Egypt was next with $1.5 billion, most of that also used to fund military activity. Afghanistan, Jordan and Pakistan round out the top five, and the bulk of the money there was used for economic development,according to government data. In total, a quarter of the funds went to these countries.
Breaking down the $35 billion by category, $8.4 billion (24%) went toward global health programs, $5.9 billion for military, $4.6 billion for economic support and $2.5 billion for development assistance.
All told, 76% of the world’s countries received financial help from the U.S. last year, most of that taking place within Africa and the Near East.
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Electrical engineering graduate of IIT, Delhi, when did Raghuram Rajan become an economist, financial expert?
A person who is waiting for his Green Card from USA to become a citizen of that country was made RBI Governor. Govt. should rethink since Raghuram Rajan is talking of Prime tolerance rate instead of doing his job to review the Prime lending rates of financial institutions to speed up the economic growth.
So, the question is when did Raghuram Rajan become a financial expert after graduating from IIT Delhi in Electrical Engineering? I have gone through his CV at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghuram_Rajan I don't see any expertise in banking excepting for an essay he wrote in MIT Sloan School of Management. I think the nation needs an Economist to take charge of RBI.
He has also failed to ban the PNotes which are the principal conduit for hawala routed kaalaadhan and failed to implement the recommendations of RBI Tarapore Committee.
When did RBI Governor become the guardian of tolerance? Govt. RBI should do his job as guardian of then nation's finances and talk about kaalaadhan restitution.
S. Kalyanaraman
Prime tolerance rate- The Rajan doctrine |
 Rajan (File picture) Tolerance, the hot-button issue of the times, featured prominently in Rajan’s convocation address at the IIT where he studied once. Indeed, the speech was titled “Tolerance and Respect for Economic Progress”. His observations were phrased and structured in a manner worthy of a true-blue economist and could be viewed as addressed to all sides. A favourite joke of Arvind Subramanian, who succeeded Rajan as the chief economic adviser to the Union finance ministry, goes like this: An economist’s wife asks him: “Honey, do you love me?”The economist responds: “Relative to what?” Perhaps, one of the ways to read Rajan’s speech is to place it near “relative” statements made by others. The Telegraph lists some samples, without any suggestion whatsoever that Rajan was replying to the persons or organisations mentioned here or that he is aware of some of the wilder statements below:  Rajan at IIT: Tolerance can take the offence out of debate, and indeed instil respect. If I go berserk every time a particular button is pressed, rebels are tempted to press the button, while mischief-makers indeed do so. But if I do not react predictably, and instead ask button pressers to explain their concerns, rebels are forced to do the hard work of marshalling arguments. So, rebels do not press the button frivolously, while the thuggish mischief-makers who abound in every group are left without an easy trigger. Tolerance and respect then lead to a good equilibrium where they reinforce each other. For example, rebellious youth in the United States used to burn the American flag. It was calculated to upset the older generation that had fought in America’s wars, for the flag was a symbol of all they had fought for. And the police, many of whom were veterans, used to react with violence, which was precisely the reaction the rebels sought to further their cause. Over time, though, US society has become more tolerant of flag-burning. Because it no longer triggers a reaction, it is no longer used as an instrument to shock. In sum, if group sentiment becomes more tolerant and less easily hurt, the actions that try to hurt it will diminish.  Rajan at IIT: Should ideas or behaviour that hurt a particular intellectual position or group not be banned? Possibly, but a quick resort to bans will chill all debate as everyone will be anguished by ideas they dislike. It is far better to improve the environment for ideas through tolerance and mutual respect. Actions that physically harm anyone, or show verbal contempt for a particular group so that they damage the group’s participation in the marketplace for ideas, should certainly not be allowed. For example, sexual harassment, whether physical or verbal, has no place in society.  Rajan at IIT: Excessive political correctness stifles progress as much as excessive licence and disrespect. Put differently, while you should avoid pressing the buttons that upset me to the extent possible, when you do push them you should explain carefully why that is necessary so as to move the debate forward, and how it should not be interpreted as a personal attack on me. You have to tread respectfully, assuring me that a challenge to the ideas I hold is necessary for progress. At the same time, I should endeavour to hold few ideas so closely intertwined with my personality that any attack on them is deemed an intolerable personal affront. Tolerance means not being so insecure about one’s ideas that one cannot subject them to challenge — it implies a degree of detachment that is absolutely necessary for mature debate. Finally, respect requires that in the rare case when an idea is tightly associated with a group’s core personality, we are extra careful about challenging it. …As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The golden rule of conduct is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall always see Truth in fragments and from different points of vision.”  time who got an elephant’s head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery Rajan at IIT: So what does an educational institution or a nation need to do to keep the idea factory open? The first essential is to foster competition in the marketplace for ideas. This means encouraging challenge to all authority and tradition, even while acknowledging that the only way of dismissing any view is through empirical tests. What this rules out is anyone imposing a particular view or ideology because of their power. Instead, all ideas should be scrutinised critically, no matter whether they originate domestically or abroad, whether they have matured over thousands of years or a few minutes, whether they come from an untutored student or a world-famous professor.   Rajan at IIT: Protection, not of specific ideas and traditions, but the right to question and challenge, the right to behave differently so long as it does not hurt others seriously (is essential). In this protection lies societal self-interest, for it is by encouraging the challenge of innovative rebels that society develops…. Fortunately, India has always protected debate and the right to have different views. Some have even embedded these views in permanent structures. Raja Raja Chola, in building the magnificent Brihadeeswara Shaivite temple at Thanjavur, also incorporated sculptures of Vishnu as well as the meditating Buddha thus admitting to alternative viewpoints. When Shahenshah Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar invited scholars of all manner of persuasion to debate the eternal verities at his court, he was only following older traditions of our Hindu and Buddhist kings, who encouraged and protected the spirit of enquiry. (The RSS is commemorating the millennial anniversary of Raja Raja Chola’s son Rajendra I this year.) |
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Opium eaters of the world: Afghan heroin and tripled opium production
The opium eaters 1868
The real Afghanistan surge is in heroin production and tripled opium cultivation
| by Meryl Nass | on 19 Sep 2015 | 1 Comment |
Recently I worked in another Maine city and was astonished at the number of patients I encountered who were using heroin. I had never seen anything like it, during a lifetime practicing medicine. In New Hampshire, it was said, deaths from heroin now exceed deaths from car accidents. Nationwide, CDC noted, “Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled, and more than 8,200 people died in 2013.” Massachusetts (population under 7 million) had 1,000 deaths related to (all) opioids in 2014, “the highest ever recorded.”
I’ve heard stories on NPR about insufficient state funding of heroin treatment facilities. I’ve heard about plans to make Narcan injections available to IV drug users, for overdoses. Another popular angle I’ve seen repeated multiple times (and one currently pushed by the US Drug Enforcement Agency) claims prescription narcotics became harder to get, so users switched to heroin, instead.
However, the DOJ-DEA 2014 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary notes that cocaine availability “remains stable at historically low levels throughout most domestic markets along the East Coast.” So users are switching to heroin, but not switching to cocaine from prescription narcotics. Hmmm. Might this be because we have no large military-CIA presence currently in cocaine-trafficking areas, as we did during the 1980s Contra war in Nicaragua, when cocaine use was at high levels? (Coca leaves are only grown in Latin America.) According to a 2010 UN document, “Based on seizure figures, it appears that cocaine markets grew most dramatically during the 1980s, when the amounts seized increased by more than 40% per year”. (See this 1987 Senate hearing and this for evidence of CIA and State Dept. connivance with cocaine trafficking by the Contras.)
You can frame stories about the current heroin problem in many ways. But the real heroin story isn’t being discussed – which is that since the US military entered Afghanistan in 2001, its opium production doubled, per the UN Afghanistan Opium Survey, 2014 , p.34. The area under opium cultivation in Afghanistan tripled. And the resulting heroin appears to more easily make its way deep into our rural, as well as urban communities. The graph (above – Ed.) is from the 2014 UN Opium Survey:
The world supply of opium increased 5-fold between 1980 and 2010, according to the UN. “Afghanistan account[s] for around 90% of global illicit opium production in recent years. By itself, Afghanistan provides 85% of the estimated global heroin and morphine supply, a near monopoly.”(see pp 37-38).
“The narcotics trade poisons the Afghan financial sector and undermines the Afghan state’s legitimacy by stoking corruption, sustaining criminal networks, and providing significant financial support to the Taliban and other insurgent groups,” John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan reconstruction, said in an October 2014 letter to the heads of the Departments of Defense, State and Justice, which have all played major roles in the failed drug intervention effort. “Despite spending over $7 billion to combat opium poppy cultivation and to develop the Afghan government’s counter-narcotics capacity, opium poppy cultivation levels in Afghanistan hit an all-time high in 2013.”
Despite the (now) US $8.4 billion spent to defeat this trade, it just keeps growing. The costs of US reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan total “$110 billion, after adjusting for inflation, [which] exceeds the value of the entire Marshall Plan effort to rebuild Western Europe after World War II” according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, speaking in May 2015.
The Special Inspector General noted elsewhere that, “US reconstruction projects, particularly those devoted to “improved irrigation, roads, and agricultural assistance” were probably leading to the explosion in opium cultivation.”
Only 1.2% of the acreage used for Afghan opium production (est. 224,000 hectares) was eradicated in 2014, according to the UN. Also according to the UN, Burma is the world’s second largest producer of opium, currently growing only about 10% as much as Afghanistan. But Mexico has been increasing production.
According to the UN World Drug Report, in the 1990’s Afghanistan supplied opium that was converted into half the world’s heroin production. By 2010, it supplied 90% of the total.
But the DEA, White House and other official US sources claim that US heroin derives almost entirely (96%) from Latin American opium (based on seizures of shipments); the DEA in 2014 claimed that Latin America was the source for the vast majority of US heroin, with southwest Asia (i.e., Afghanistan) accounting for only 4% of US heroin in 2012.
This is highly unlikely. In 2008, the UN estimated that the US and Canada accounted for 13% of global heroin use. With about 95% of global heroin derived from Afghanistan, Burma, Thailand and Laos, Latin America (mainly Mexico with a small amount from Colombia) does not produce enough to supply the majority of US heroin, let alone 96%. In fact, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy undercuts this claim when it says Mexico had 10,500 hectares under poppy cultivation in 2012, while Afghanistan alone had 154,000 hectares in 2012 and 224,000 hectares in 2014, per UN estimates.
This DEA claim, based on heroin interdiction, suggests a different explanation. Perhaps heroin shipments from Afghanistan are at lower risk of being seized than heroin coming from Latin America. Might some be entering through government channels, when so much material and so many personnel (soldiers, aid workers, diplomats and contractors) fly directly between the US and Afghanistan?
Putting aside the issue of the provenance of the US heroin supply for the moment, surely we can look at heroin as we would any other global commodity.
Congruent with the US occupation of Afghanistan, Afghanistan expanded its opium production, and the global supply of heroin increased dramatically. The price dropped as a result. New buyers entered the market. And the US now has several hundred thousand new addicts. Russia and Europe have even more. The resulting social problems are hugely tragic and hugely costly for millions of families, and for our societies as a whole.
If we start being honest about why there is a major heroin epidemic, maybe we can get serious about solving the problem with meaningful eradication and interdiction. Aerial spraying of crops with herbicides or similar methods has been prohibited in Afghanistan, but it works. In 2014, Britain’s former Ambassador to Afghanistan (2010-2012) called for legalization and regulation of illicit drugs as one means of attacking the problem.
Looking beyond the Mexican border for heroin, and inspecting all flights from southwest Asia, including military and CIA flights, could have a large impact on supply as well.
Serious measures are needed. Total world production of opiates always gets consumed: historically, the market for opiates has been extremely elastic. Land under poppy cultivation (in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle and Mexico) continues to increase. Without meaningful efforts to reduce opium production and entry of narcotics into the US, the epidemic of heroin addiction may become a considerably bigger problem than it is today.
UPDATE: From the Sept 7 Wall Street Journal, we learn that a US “friendly fire” airstrike in southern Afghanistan on Sept 6 “hit a 30 member elite counter-narcotics police unit as they were on a mission…”
At least 11 died in “one of the deadliest friendly fire incidents in the country in recent years.” Here is the Reuters story. The US denied the strike in Helmand province, but admitted to airstrikes in the adjacent province of Kandahar. According to the Guardian, “The US is the only member of the NATO coalition known to have carried out bombing raids in Afghanistan this year.” The AP/WaPo on 9/8/15 reported that, “Brigadier General Shoffner [Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications in Afghanistan] said ‘based on information we received [on 9/8], we feel it is prudent to investigate the airstrike our forces conducted in Kandahar.’”
The airstrike killed approximately as many people as died in counternarcotics efforts in all Afghanistan throughout 2014.
I will have more to say about the subject of heroin in a later post.
Courtesy Washington’s Blog
Meryl Nass, MD, is a board-certified internist and a biological warfare epidemiologist and expert in anthrax. Nass publishes Anthrax Vaccine.
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Award-returnees and sour grapes Arun Shourie are frustrating people's will -- Virendra Kapoor. NaMo, restitute kaalaadhan.
Award-returnees are frustrating people’s will
By Virendra Kapoor | 31 October, 2015
Creating artificial barriers in the path of an elected govt is an assault on people’s rights.
The Real Fascists
Whatever the outcome in Bihar — and it is so close, it is impossible to call — the Prime Minister will have a tough time running the government. Because whether his party wins or loses, there is no way the Opposition will play ball. Modi will have to learn to press ahead with vikas, in spite of the dogged and desperate obstructionism of virtually everyone who was rendered jobless by his spectacular victory last year.
In this context, one is utterly disappointed with the conduct of writers and artists who have rushed to return their awards alleging failure by the government to defend the republican values of free speech, individual rights, freedoms, etc. For, creating systematic roadblocks in the path of progress, in wilfully preventing the creation of a conducive environment for growth is in effect a bigger assault on the people than a stray act of violence by a few mad-caps lacking modern education. The poor can gain only if the country is able to grow at, say, 9% to 10% on a sustained basis for the next decade or so. This alone will help banish poverty from the land.
However, those making a splash about returning the shop-soiled trinkets after having duly encashed them by way of higher sales of their works, ought to know that creating artificial barriers in the path of an elected government is a bigger assault on the peoples’ rights. It violates the founding principle of the republican system predicated on transmitting the popular will through the aegis of Parliament. Has any of these award-returnees mentioned even in passing the vicious attempt to undermine parliamentary democracy by making its functioning impossible?
Let us face it. These fellows are no friends of the present regime, having been patronised in myriad ways by the Congress, which has ruled the country for the longest period. The party had put in a place a three-tier system of patronage for sustaining itself in power. At the top was the supreme leader who relied on the second-rung state apparatchiks, who, in turn, patronised constituency-level criminal-mafia gang leaders to deliver votes on election time.
The supreme leader could rely on the support of the two tiers below so long as she/he allowed them to rake in the big bucks through all sorts of licit and illicit operations. Unfortunately, the Mandal and Kamandal movements broke this system, leaving the Gandhis high and dry. Now, all they can do is to put ever new spokes in the wheel of the popularly elected government and thus thwart the country’s onward march to progress.
If the above is clear to the ordinary people, the award-returnees, presumably blessed with superior cognitive powers, would have realised the real agenda of those stalling the wheel of democracy. How is it that not a whisper has been heard from these high-minded people who, otherwise, have latched on to a horrendous criminal act in Dadri and a few silly remarks by people associated with the ruling party to make it out as if the entire country is about to slip into fascism? If the truth be told, the real fascists are those who appear determined to do anything and everything to stall the functioning of the duly elected government.
And while still on the ersatz anger of the not-so-celebrated artists, where was the rationale for them to return the awards after the Sahitya Akademi had officially spoken against the attacks on rationalists and others?
A long-forgotten scientist seemed to be in a hurry to remind the world of his existence, making headlines in a section of the media, which anyway, is known to be unfriendly towards the present regime. It is notable that while the Akademi resolution hardly merited mention, return of awards a couple of days later was front page news. A case of “damned if we do, and damned if we don’t”, such being the ingrained prejudice of the class of people who had lost their fount of patronage with the marginalisation of the Congress.
A durbari reveals it all
Whatever the reason for M.L. Fotedar to tell it the way it was when he was an integral part of the Indira and Rajiv Gandhi durbars, he seems to have spoken most candidly. In his book, The Chinar Leaves, Fotedar has confirmed what was widely known in the political circles. That Ottavio Quattrocchi, the main bribe-taker in the Bofors deal, was in and out of the Rajiv Gandhi household. That both Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi were friendly with Quattrocchi children and often stayed over their house in the capital’s Friends Colony. And that the Gandhis, that is Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, wife, Sonia and their children often went on family holidays with the Quattrocchis.
However, what Fotedar has failed to mention is that Bofors was not the only deal in which the Delhi-based Italian middleman made tonnes of money. He brokered practically every deal during the time the Gandhis were in power, especially after the death of Sanjay Gandhi. Now, Sonia Gandhi could not be facilitating Quattrocchi’s business unless there was something in it for her as well. This probably explains why the Quattrocchis and the Maino family in Italy were so close. Which is why successive governments went to ridiculous lengths to ensure that no harm came to Quattrocchi.
And in a most disgraceful act, largely forgotten by everyone due to equally huge scams like the coal and the 2-G, Manmohan Singh dispatched a senior law officer to London to unfreeze the Quattrocchi bank account and, thus, put over 20 million British pound sterling of loot in the dalal’s pocket. The account was frozen at the behest of the V.P. Singh government.
Fotedar was ignored by Sonia Gandhi, who denied him a position either in the party or in government. Indeed, she took no notice of the entreaty made on his behalf by the then political editor of a major English daily, who had argued that Fotedar could be immensely useful to her. This was an unusual thing to do, but the senior journalist, who now edits a major regional paper, probably thought he owed it to a useful news source to help him regain relevance in the Gandhi durbar.
A case of sour grapes
Predictably, Arun Shourie stole the headlines. And thus took the focus away from the reason why so many noted economists, public intellectuals, policymakers and senior journalists had gathered that evening. Unusually for him, even the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the audience. The occasion was the launch of the celebrated economic editor, T.N. Ninan’s book, The Turn Of The Tortoise, at the capital’s India International Centre. Arvind Subramanian, the economic adviser to the Finance Ministry, Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary, and Shourie were to discuss the book, with a well-known television anchor conducting the proceedings.
But from the word go, Shourie vent his angry spleen. Hardly a word about the well-crafted and well-reasoned book. He just went hammer and tongs at the government, how it had made a mockery of the mandate, how people were now missing Manmohan Singh, (Ha, ha!), etc, etc.
http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/1720-award-returnees-are-frustrating-people%E2%80%99s-will
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