tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133566442024-03-17T12:15:16.687+05:30VOXINDICAA VOICE FROM THE NEW MEDIAVOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-13778172536945071292024-03-16T23:55:00.004+05:302024-03-16T23:56:45.717+05:30Advantages And Disadvantages Of Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) Drugs<p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR55lyxu10yylTEQb4zH6s_kQCWKndl1i2PS-55-llx241SDG2EaEEb-7UOzoQWhN1lvlQcMab_oLbXyGvjzeX1A_s6nnQVbYPDBgQOV0n55EaSkiR-6sGu9YVwkbMK5umPWa_2FcjDv-u80lRw0Ea9NcDqX7EbjOSJpTjZzKI85eDIMgXm_h9Mg/s626/FDC%20Visual.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="626" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR55lyxu10yylTEQb4zH6s_kQCWKndl1i2PS-55-llx241SDG2EaEEb-7UOzoQWhN1lvlQcMab_oLbXyGvjzeX1A_s6nnQVbYPDBgQOV0n55EaSkiR-6sGu9YVwkbMK5umPWa_2FcjDv-u80lRw0Ea9NcDqX7EbjOSJpTjZzKI85eDIMgXm_h9Mg/s320/FDC%20Visual.png" width="320" /></a></b></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Advantages<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">1. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Simplified
Treatment Regimen</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> One of the primary
advantages of FDC drugs is that they combine two or more active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) into a single dosage form. This simplifies the treatment
regimen for patients, especially those with chronic conditions who may need to take
multiple medications daily. By reducing the number of pills or doses required,
FDCs can enhance patient adherence to medication schedules, which is crucial
for managing chronic diseases effectively [1].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">2. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Enhanced
Efficacy</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> FDC drugs can offer enhanced efficacy
compared to monotherapy or individual drug components. The combination of
multiple active ingredients with complementary mechanisms of action can target
different aspects of a disease simultaneously, leading to improved therapeutic
outcomes. This synergy between drugs in FDCs can result in better control of
symptoms and disease progression [2].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">3. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Reduced
Risk of Resistance</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> In infectious diseases
such as tuberculosis and HIV, FDC drugs play a vital role in reducing the risk
of drug resistance. Combining multiple drugs in a single formulation helps to
prevent the emergence of resistant strains by attacking the pathogen from
multiple angles. This is particularly important in the context of antimicrobial
resistance, where the overuse or misuse of antibiotics can lead to treatment
failure [3].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">4. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Convenience
and Cost-Effectiveness</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> FDC drugs can be more
convenient and cost-effective for both patients and healthcare systems. By
bundling multiple medications into a single pill, FDCs can streamline
procurement, distribution, and administration processes. This can lead to cost
savings for healthcare providers and reduce the financial burden on patients,
especially in resource-limited settings where access to healthcare services and
medications is limited [4].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Disadvantages</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">1. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Limited
Flexibility in Dosing</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> One of the main
drawbacks of FDC drugs is their limited flexibility in dosing. Because the
component drugs are fixed in specific ratios within the formulation, healthcare
providers have less flexibility to adjust individual doses based on patient
needs or response to treatment. This can be problematic, particularly in cases
where patients require titration or personalized dosing regimens [5].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">2. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Potential
for Increased Side Effects</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> Combining multiple
drugs in a single formulation increases the risk of adverse drug interactions
and side effects. Patients taking FDCs may experience a higher incidence of
adverse reactions compared to those taking individual medications separately.
This can lead to treatment discontinuation, decreased adherence, and
compromised therapeutic outcomes [6].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">3. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Risk
of Masking Symptoms</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> FDC drugs may mask
symptoms of underlying conditions or delay the identification of treatment
failure. When multiple drugs are combined into a single pill, it can be
challenging to determine which component is responsible for specific effects or
adverse reactions. This can hinder the timely adjustment of treatment regimens
and monitoring of disease progression, potentially leading to suboptimal
outcomes [7].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">4. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Regulatory
Challenges</span></span></b></span><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;"> The regulatory approval process for FDC
drugs can be complex and time-consuming. Regulatory agencies require robust
evidence of the safety, efficacy, and quality of each component drug in the
combination, as well as data demonstrating the therapeutic benefits of the
fixed dose formulation. Meeting these requirements can pose challenges for
pharmaceutical companies seeking to develop and market FDCs, leading to delays
in availability and access to new treatments [8].</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Conclusion</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs offer
several potential benefits, including simplified treatment regimens, enhanced
efficacy, reduced risk of resistance, and cost-effectiveness. However, they
also have limitations, such as limited dosing flexibility, increased risk of
side effects, potential for masking symptoms, and regulatory challenges. When
considering the use of FDC drugs, healthcare providers must weigh the
advantages and disadvantages carefully to ensure optimal patient outcomes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">References</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">1. World Health Organization. (2004).
Fixed-dose combination tablets for the treatment of tuberculosis: Report of an
informal meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, 2-3 March 2004. WHO.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="r-36ujnk"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">2. Gabbay, J., & le May, A. (2004).
Evidence based guidelines or collectively constructed “mindlines?” Ethnographic
study of knowledge management in primary care. BMJ, 329(7473), 1013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">3. Lalloo, U. G., & Lim, L. E. (2006).
Respiratory drug resistance in tuberculosis in Africa: a systematic review.
African journal of respiratory medicine, 2(1), 8-11.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">4. Hirsch, M. S. (2007). Antiretroviral drug
resistance testing in adult HIV-1 infection: 2008 recommendations of an
International AIDS Society-USA panel. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 45(4),
457-467.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">5. Levy, A. R., & O'Brien, B. J. (2006).
Cost-effectiveness analysis of antiretroviral therapy for HIV-infected
patients. JAMA, 296(7), 769-781.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">6. Weatherley-Jones, E., Nicholl, J. P.,
Thomas, K. J., & Powell, R. J. (2004). The cost-effectiveness of
acupuncture for chronic headache: a pragmatic controlled trial. Health
Technology Assessment, 8(48), iii-iv, ix-xi, 1-35.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">7. Kaul, S., Diamond, G. A., & Weintraub,
W. S. (2006). Trials and tribulations of noninferiority: the ximelagatran
experience. JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, 9(3), 438-453.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13pt;">8. European Medicines Agency. (2009). Guideline on the clinical development
of fixed combination </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 13pt;">medicinal products. EMA.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Search Google -->
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</div>VOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-18310306900729074632023-06-15T23:04:00.014+05:302024-01-19T19:35:13.965+05:30The Formation of India’s First Government<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 14.2pt; margin-right: 14.2pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 14.2pt;"><span style="color: black;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78OaFSOpzbhcP7T5Mk2YGwL9Ghf3X6ROTQhv9bQ9xRB77k4E46Bp461H4ytgN2CSRbDIm5696daaOQnc5oDpN_iybOuXftTT4ZXhe7oT_awgVE0PXhJJLLhAJCtXu-nfQ1LFv5DlerxLYy5zZX00miNhG0ioRZXd7lYjMa85mKY4nDq5jB-E/s840/Interim%20Cabinet.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Formation of India's First Government" border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="840" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78OaFSOpzbhcP7T5Mk2YGwL9Ghf3X6ROTQhv9bQ9xRB77k4E46Bp461H4ytgN2CSRbDIm5696daaOQnc5oDpN_iybOuXftTT4ZXhe7oT_awgVE0PXhJJLLhAJCtXu-nfQ1LFv5DlerxLYy5zZX00miNhG0ioRZXd7lYjMa85mKY4nDq5jB-E/w320-h175/Interim%20Cabinet.jpg" title="The Interim Cabinet" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.</span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: black;"> … </span></b><span style="color: black;">The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it [the battle ground], far above our poor
power to add or detract. … It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us … that this nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.” — <b>Abraham Lincoln</b>, <b>“The
Gettysburg Address”</b>, November 19,1863.</span></span></div></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>For the masses of India, it
was a long-awaited culmination for a hundred-year struggle. It should have been
a “government</span><b> </b><span>of
the people, by the people, for the people” that should have been formed.</span><span>
Instead, what was formed was a government of compromise or a series of compromises
for power. As Munshi (1967:48) noted “In 1946-47, the Interim Government,
formed at the Centre, of Congress and League representatives, was a ghastly failure.”
He adds “[L]ooking back over the years … if the decision had been otherwise, the
whole country would have been at the mercy of the Muslim League.” The bloodbath
unleashed by the League on the ‘Direct Action Day’ on August 16, 1946, bear testimony
to this. </span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>According to some analysts
the INA trials of (Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army) which were held between
November 1945 and May 1946 and the [Royal] Indian Naval Mutiny between February
18 and 25 1946 convinced the British that they could no longer hold on to power
in India. The British ‘Cabinet Mission’ plan of June 1946 set a target date of June
1948 for what it called the ‘transfer of power’ to the Indian leadership. Appointed
to execute the ‘plan’, Lord Mountbatten, however advanced the date to August
1947. His unseemly haste to score a personal achievement led to disastrous
consequences, with about two million lives lost. </span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">As a first step for the ‘transfer’,
the British formed an ‘Interim Government’, which was in fact, inclusion of a
Cabinet of Indian leaders in the Viceroy’s Executive Council. A group of
ministers headed by Jawaharlal Nehru [as Vice President of the Executive Council]
was sworn in on September 2, 1946. Jawaharlal Nehru became the Vice President
by virtue of his being the President of the Congress party. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The ‘Constituent
Assembly’ too was a British creation following the implementation of the ‘Cabinet
Mission Plan’. However, the body was not constituted on the principle of
universal adult franchise but indirectly elected from the provincial
assemblies. Could a body constituted by the imperial power (which therefore it
had the right to abolish it) has the moral authority to draft a ‘Constitution’
for governance of the liberated nation? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (the Chairman of the
Drafting Committee) acknowledged the moral dilemma and the weakness inherent in
the Constituent Assembly to write the Constitution. (Deb, 1949: 1644-67)</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: times; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Indian Constituent Assembly" border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5gYEX3ufWNnbPrgs9asbFeNcxbN7EJAGlBURRqzvoZd2H12EEyLNuP5h7CRr6jxvKiNfzYypwSw-izNTE5BmR4VrG85XER2gFDc3_L5JxoRBPIKSkC5UIFNl-RUQBapnXpnFV29KUmzYMtmo_tDIMjX-TomNzYG1Tg50Cpy1pbowr65wGRYE/s16000/CA.jpg" title="Indian Constituent Assembly" /></span></div><span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Turning back to the formation
of the ‘Interim Government’, by June 1946, when the ‘Cabinet Mission Plan’ was
announced, it was clear that the president of the ‘Indian National Congress’
would be anointed the head of the government. Abul Kalam Azad who was the Congress
president did not seek re-election (as he originally intended) but stood down
in favour of Jawaharlal Nehru. (Azad, 1960:167). There were two contenders, one
was Vallabhbhai Patel and the other J. B. Kriplani, who later became president
in the same year. M. K. Gandhi made it clear that the president should be
elected unanimously and favoured Jawaharlal Nehru. As he did on several earlier
occasions (twice when Subhas Chandra Bose and once when Vallabhbhai Patel were the
favoured candidates), he contrived to nullify the election and have ‘his man’
elected! Having headed the ‘Interim Government’, since September 1946, it was
but natural for Jawaharlal Nehru to be ‘anointed’ the first prime minister of
independent India in August 1947. He thus continued to be the unelected prime
minister for another five years till the first general elections were held in
1952.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In the interim, between 1946
and 1952, the unelected ‘Constituent Assembly’ functioned as the parliament and
carried out amendments to a ‘Constitution’ it wrote! The Constituent Assembly
submitted the Constitution to the president on November 26, 1949 which was
adopted on January 26, 1950. The first amendment was enacted on June 18, 1951, i.e.,
within eighteen months of its adoption! Curiously the very first amendment of
the nascent democracy aimed at curbing freedom of speech and stalling judicial
scrutiny of legislations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">References</span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>Azad, Abul Kalam. (1960). “India Wins Freedom”. Longmans, Green & Co.
London. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">"Constituent
Assembly Debates". Vol. IX, 17 September 1949. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Munshi, K. M., (1967). “Pilgrimage
to Freedom”. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Bombay.</span></p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Search Google -->
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</div>VOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-19549731992077283682022-03-22T19:56:00.004+05:302024-01-19T19:06:07.879+05:30Kashmiri Pandits: A Forsaken Minority<div class="WordSection1">
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<p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4Gjxa7V-fwUL0NksiD9djor_10Y_hDbjnQ2doN0MFtIIxdbwr0x-ugocm3zngTjlItsmw_WU2NvmTW7H1aQmgEXeqP2gPa7mnQTcDTmU4QgCL_YDwx-iXm0nRUiBQ_fL5817rryNyEjF8tWnXghY0gnrfJSWE1nzG-guhCOjLuKPcPgoDIg/s3005/AdobeStock_309036083.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kashmiri Pandits: A Forsaken Minority" border="0" data-original-height="2003" data-original-width="3005" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4Gjxa7V-fwUL0NksiD9djor_10Y_hDbjnQ2doN0MFtIIxdbwr0x-ugocm3zngTjlItsmw_WU2NvmTW7H1aQmgEXeqP2gPa7mnQTcDTmU4QgCL_YDwx-iXm0nRUiBQ_fL5817rryNyEjF8tWnXghY0gnrfJSWE1nzG-guhCOjLuKPcPgoDIg/w640-h427/AdobeStock_309036083.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It has been a quarter of a century since the Kashmiri
Pandits were uprooted from their home and hearth and cast about as refugees in
their own homeland. Another anniversary of their exile passed us by in January
this year. India’s left-liberal intelligentsia never tire of warning us against
the dangers of majoritarianism. Strangely the Kashmiri Pandits were victims of
majoritarianism and fundamentalism.</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The tragedy and
tribulations that befell this unfortunate community for the last twenty five
years include some of the most heart-rending stories. Theirs is a story of
humanitarian disaster of unprecedented magnitude since the Holocaust, but
strangely, had gone unnoticed by the rest of the world and more importantly by
their own countrymen here in India. As K. P. S. Gill, former police chief of
Punjab put it,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“[...] one of the reasons for the apathy [of the rest of the
world] could be the non-violent nature of the community itself.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">They have stoically
suffered their fate without even a single retaliatory act of violence. Writing
in the ‘South Asia Terrorism Portal’ (SATP) K. P. S. Gill said,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;">“[…] pogroms
of a far lesser magnitude in other parts of the world have attracted
international attention, censure and action in support of the victim
communities, but this is an insidious campaign that has passed virtually
unnoticed, and on which the world remains silent.”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/KPsAFM.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: blue; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></a></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Our intellectuals
and media crib and caw about the Israeli settlements in Gaza and West Bank, and
the injustices done to Palestinians but not a whisper from them about the fate of
the exiled Kashmiri Pandits. No group of prominent public figures petitioned on
their behalf; no celebrity authors cried in their defence. Could one ask, ‘How
many awards were returned?’ Jug Suraiya gives us an insight into how the
‘secular’ media treated the tragedy in Kashmir:</span></p><p></p><div class="WordSection2">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“By then Kashmir edits had become an exercise in
somnography, or sleep-writing. They were written—or gave the appearance of
being written—in a state of deep slumber, or even a coma. And they were read—if
ever at all—by readers who were in an equally comatose state as a consequence
of reading them. [...] In short, a Kashmir edit, any Kashmir edit, never said
anything new. In fact, it never really said anything at all, really.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">What if
half-a-million Kashmiri Hindus have had to abandon their home and hearth to
become refugees in their homeland? What if they have had to undergo untold
miseries in the refugee camps? What if thousands of security personnel have had
to lay down their lives in the defence of the motherland? For his ‘exercises in
somnography’, Jug Suraiya was confirmed as Op-Ed page editor of <i>The Times of
India</i>!<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/KPsAFM.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span></a></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">They were once the elite of Kashmiri society. The
community produced artistes and artisans, poets and musicians, doctors and
lawyers of amazing wisdom. At the turn of the century there were about a
million Kashmiri Hindus in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. At the time of
independence the proportion of Hindus in the Kashmir Valley was 15% of the
population. By 1991 it came down to less than 1%. According to a press release
of the Kashmir ‘Pandit Sangharsh Samiti’ on April 7, 2010 99.14% Kashmiri
Pandits were forced to migrate out of Kashmir.</span></span></p><div class="WordSection3"><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The word ‘genocide’
has been worn out in popular usage during the last decade. It has been so
freely bandied about in public discourse that it lost its original meaning. If
ever there was a context for it to be justifiably applied, it was in the case
of Kashmiri Pandits. <span style="color: blue;">‘Genocide’ means, ‘the systematic
and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of an entire national,
racial, religious, or ethnic group’. </span>This is what happened to the ethnic
identity called the Kashmiri Pandits.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide (of December 9, 1948) defined genocide as: “Genocide
means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) killing
members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of
the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d)
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue; text-align: left;">‘The International Military Tribunal’ which investigated
Nazi war crimes in 1945 defined crimes committed on a mass scale in Article 6
of its Charter.</span><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Art. 6a. CRIMES AGAINST PEACE are defined as ‘planning,
preparation, initiation, or waging wars of aggression, or a war in violation of
international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common
plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing.’<span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Art. 6b. WAR CRIMES are defined as ‘violations of the
laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to,
murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied
territory to slave labor camps or for any purpose, the murder or ill-treatment
of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, the killing of hostages, the
plunder of public or private property, the wanton destruction of cities, towns
or villages, and any devastation not justified by military necessity’.<span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBlockText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Art. 6c. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY are defined as ‘murder,
extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed
against any civilian population before or during the war; or persecutions on
political, racial, or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with
any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation
of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated’. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The rise of Islamic
militancy was the trigger for ethnic cleansing in Jammu and Kashmir. In a way
the state too contributed to it by first releasing hard-core terrorists in the
second half of 1989 and then abdicating its responsibility in preserving public
order. Thus the state was guilty of genocide by omission if not commission. The
terrorists, who were trained in Pakistan in the handling of weapons of
destruction, were released against the advice of a three-member Advisory Committee
headed by the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. The swap of
five hard core terrorists, Hamid Sheikh, Sher Khan, Javed Ahmed Zargar, Mohd.
Kalwal and Mohd Altaf Bhat on December 13, 1989 for the release of Rubaiya
Sayed the daughter of the Union Home Minister Mufti Mohamed Sayed led to a
demoralisation of the law and order machinery and the collapse of the state
administration.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In the 1989-90
period an estimated 300,000 Pandits were forced to flee the Kashmir valley. A
total number of 700,000 Kashmiri Hindus were estimated to be displaced between
1947 and 1990. Of these 300,000 have been living in refugee camps outside Jammu
and another 100,000 in Delhi. According to the ‘Panun Kashmir Movement’ (PKM)
an organisation of the exiled Pandits some 25,000 standalone houses belonging
to the Pandits were burnt during the period. If the houses were situated in
crowded localities where it was not possible to burn them they were simply
occupied by others. Their properties were purchased by members of the majority
community at throw away prices. Even their cremation grounds were not spared
but encroached upon. PKM says the process of ethnic cleansing began in 1967 but
gained momentum after 1989 when Pakistan sponsored militants arrived on the
scene.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;">The
torture inflicted on the Pandits took several forms: strangulation by using
steel wires; lynching; branding with red hot irons; draining of blood; slicing;
gouging of eyes before assassination; breaking of limbs; slaughter; hanging;
dragging to death; dismemberment of body; drowning alive; burning alive;
impaling.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/KPsAFM.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: blue; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span></a></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The destruction of
Hindu temples which has been going on since the fourteenth century has gained
momentum in the nineteen eighties. Between 1986 and 1992 (prior to December) 79
Hindu temples were destroyed. In the immediate aftermath of the Rama
Janmabhumi-Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992, 81 more temples were
destroyed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The 1989 exodus
followed the brutal killing of Tika Lal Taploo a noted lawyer and national
executive member of the BJP and Justice N. K. Ganju of the Jammu & Kashmir
High Court. In another incident Pandit Sarwanand Premi, an 80-year old poet and
his son were kidnapped, tortured and killed. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working in
the Soura Medical College Hospital was gang-raped and beaten to death. In the
days that followed warnings were sounded to the community over public address
systems, either to flee or face death. The Farooq Abdullah government abdicated
its responsibility and all but handed over the administration to the militants.
Government offices ceased functioning, taxes were neither paid nor collected
and the militants began running a parallel judicial system.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Life in the refugee camps has been physically and
psychologically shattering for the unfortunate Pandits and may be described as
sub-human. An entire family of 7-8 people had to share a small room. There are
instances when three generations of a family were put up in one room, the room
being partitioned by bed sheets. The combined effects of the undercurrent of
terror, forced migration and sub-human living conditions made the community
prone to a host of new diseases and syndromes. These include heat trauma, heart
ailments, amoebic dysentery, tuberculosis, allergies, diabetes and sexual and
reproductive disorders. Menopausal age in women dropped from 50-55 to 40-45 to
35-40. There was a steep drop in birth rates while mortality rates climbed. In
one of the camps surveyed, which had 350 families, there were only 5 births
between 1990 and 1995 as against 200 deaths. This is not all. The community
became increasingly prone to a series of mental disorders ranging from depression,
insomnia, anorexia, anxiety states, delusions, panic disorders, manias, phobias
and schizophrenia. Women were the most affected.</span></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText2"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Even more tragic
than the suffering is the treatment meted out to the Pandits by the rest of the
Indian polity and the central government. They became orphans of history,
abandoned by their compatriots and condemned to live a life of deprivation and
suffering. Governments have come gone, both at the state and the centre but nothing
changed, not even during the six year BJP rule.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In 2004, Frank
Pallone, a US Democratic Congressman expressed his surprise and shock that the
new Indian administration did not mention the Pandits in its Kashmir policy. In
his letter of August 23 to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pallone urged him to
“include the Pandits in any negotiations with Kashmiri constituents and in
developing the future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir.” Manmohan Singh’s
government sent a team of interlocutors to Kashmir last year but the Pandits
did not seem to be on the radar of either the team or the government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The Jews have a
custom of greeting each other with ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’ at the end of Yom
Kippur and Passover feasts. They kept up the tradition for nearly two thousand
years—till the formation of Israel in 1948—even though many of the exiled Jews
never set their eyes on the city nor had a hope in the world of ever doing so.
Will the Pandits of Kashmir have to wait for 2000 years for a semblance of
justice to be meted out to them?</span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
</p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-family: times;"><br clear="all" />
</span></span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><!--[endif]-->
</span><div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/KPsAFM.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Gill, K. P. S. 2004. “The Kashmiri Pandits: An Ethnic
Cleansing the World Forgot.” Accessible from http://goo.gl/jyql6<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/KPsAFM.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Suraiya, Jug. (2011<i>) JS & The Times of My
Life—A Worm’s-eye View of Indian Journalism</i> (2011). Tranquebar Press.
Chennai. pp 307-9<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/KPsAFM.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Kashmir Documentation: Pandits in Exile” Panun
Kashmir Movement. Jammu. p.18<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">...............................................</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;">Excerpted from <b><i>Twisting Facts To Suit
Theories & Other Selections From Voxindica</i></b> (2016). Authors Press.
New Delhi. pp 386-392. An earlier version of the article was published in </span><a href="https://www.voxindica.net/">VOXINDICA</a> <span style="color: blue;">on February, 3, 2012</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</div>VOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-54087553348630971082021-04-15T23:41:00.004+05:302021-04-16T18:50:25.343+05:30The Tale Of Two First Amendments<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In a landmark judgement delivered on June 30, 1971, the US federal
Supreme Court upheld the right of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New
York Times</i> (</span><em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">New
York Times Co. v. United States</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">) to publish articles based on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pentagon Papers</i>. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 1967, Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara commissioned the
preparation of a top secret report (the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pentagon
Papers</i>) on the USA’s political and military involvement in Vietnam since
the end of World War II. The report drew its material from the archives of the
State Department, Defence and the CIA during the reigns of </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Harry Truman<span style="color: #181818;">, </span>Dwight
D. Eisenhower<span style="color: #181818;">, </span>John F. Kennedy<span style="color: #181818;"> and </span>Lyndon B. Johnson</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Daniel Ellsberg,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> a former US Marine Corps
officer and a strategic affairs analyst at RAND Corporation, was a member of
the team which prepared the 7000-page report. The report made clear that all the
administrations misled the American public and contrary to the government’s
pronouncements, intensive bombing of North Vietnam, did not break the will of
the ‘enemy’.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the initial years, Ellsberg supported US involvement in Vietnam. But by
the time the report was finalised in 1969, he came to the conclusion that there
was no possibility of the USA winning the war. An estimated 500,000 American
soldiers participated in the war and by the time it ended in a fiasco for the
US in 1973, it consumed 58,000 lives. In view of the general concern about
mounting casualties, Ellsberg felt that the contents of the report should be
shared with the public. In March 1971, Ellsberg (by then working with MIT’s
Center for International Studies) shared parts of the report with </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Neil Sheehan, a reporter of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i>. The paper began publishing a series of
front-page articles based on the report, from June 13, 1971. Articles based on
the report also appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Washington Post </i>and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boston Globe</i>.
After the third instalment was published, the US Department of Justice obtained
an order from a local court restraining the papers from continuing the series,
arguing that the publication was harmful to national security. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Washington Post </i>approached the
federal Supreme Court against the order. In a 6-3 ruling the Supreme Court held
that the government was unable to justify its claim of harm to national
security, and under the protection of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First
Amendment</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>the papers had a right
to publish the articles.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Amendment</i> to the US Constitution adopted in 1791 protects
freedom of speech, religion and the press:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: #181818;">“</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Congress shall make no law</span></span><span style="color: #181818;">
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press</span></span><span style="color: #181818;">; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”</span></span></em><i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The protective umbrella of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Amendment</i> stood the test of
time and helped citizens and the press in freely exercising their freedom of
speech. While adjudicating matters related to freedom of speech, US courts generally
upheld the right, with the exceptions of libel, obscenity and sedition. For
example, in <em><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Schenck v. United States </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">(</span></em>1919),
the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Socialist Party activist Charles
Schenck after he urged young men in a pamphlet to dodge conscription during
World War I.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">While upholding the secular
nature of the constitution guaranteed under the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Amendment,</i> the courts however, generally made a distinction
between religious beliefs and civic practices. In <em><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Reynolds v. United
States </span></em>(1878), the Supreme Court upheld a ban on polygamy. In <em><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Braunfeld
v. Brown </span></em>(1961) the Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania law
requiring business establishments to close on Sundays, against the objection of
orthodox Jews. In <em><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Lemon v. Kurtzman </span></em>(1971) the
Supreme Court struck down a Pennsylvania law that allowed the state to pay
salaries of teachers in Catholic schools. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A Texas court held that Gregory
Lee Johnson, a young communist broke the law by burning a flag in a protest
against the Ronald Regan administration in 1984. The Supreme Court upturned the
judgement and held Johnson ‘not guilty’. The US Congress responded to the
ruling by passing the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Flag Protection Act</i>
(1989). </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In </span><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">United States v. Eichman</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> (1990), </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">the
Supreme Court </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">decreed the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Flag Protection Act</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #181818;"> was unconstitutional. While the rulings were generally
welcomed as a benchmark of liberal jurisprudence, Robert H Bork, former judge,
Solicitor General and professor of law at Yale Law School differed. He felt
that the </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">“<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Court’s majority failed to see
that no idea was being suppressed but a particularly offensive mode of
expression.</span>” He rejected the idea that “desecrating the flag should constitute a protected form of expression.”
</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(Batchis, Wayne. 2016. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Right’s First
Amendment</i>. Stanford University Press.p.1)</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There cannot be greater contrast between the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">First Amendment</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">to the US Constitution and the </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">first amendment </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">to the Indian Constitution. While
the US amendment explicitly protected the freedom of the press, the Indian
amendment was enacted as a peevish reaction to criticisms in the press. The
Indian amendment was aimed at ‘imposing reasonable restrictions on the right
[to freedom of speech and expression]’.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24d16q4iyjNwQQ77dxCnEau7unfcmcU3RA7CMoYaonRN1kZp38Ql5R0UmoUueDgqwl9UUaCZNL4_5bGV8ZxWm1r9X1sRYppBEZTviNba5FAayR8diSV1sj6HGey3VlVMtTcjV9w/s1396/Indian_Constitution.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="1396" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24d16q4iyjNwQQ77dxCnEau7unfcmcU3RA7CMoYaonRN1kZp38Ql5R0UmoUueDgqwl9UUaCZNL4_5bGV8ZxWm1r9X1sRYppBEZTviNba5FAayR8diSV1sj6HGey3VlVMtTcjV9w/w640-h394/Indian_Constitution.png" title="AN IMAGE FROM THE THE ORIGINAL COPY OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION ILLUSTRATED BY NANDLAL BOSE" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Strangely, it was both the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">left</i>
and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right</i> press that angered the
administration to rush in to enact the </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">first
amendment within fifteen months of adopting the Constitution. In 1949, Romesh
Thapar’s left-leaning weekly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cross Roads</i>
was banned in the erstwhile state of Madras. What was the reason for the ban?
The magazine criticised the policies of the central government, especially its
foreign policy. The Supreme Court struck down the ban in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Romesh Thapar vs The State of Madras</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (1950). Similarly in
1950, the government sought to censor the RSS weekly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Organiser</i>. What was the reason for the pre-censorship order? The
magazine criticised the response of the central government to the refugee
influx from East Pakistan. </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Supreme Court
struck down the censorship order in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Brij
Bhushan And Another vs The State Of Delhi </span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(1950</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">). </span><i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This is a slightly
modified version of the article originally published in </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voxindica/the-tale-of-two-first-amendments/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Time Of India Blogs</a></span></span></i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Labels</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">: <i>Boston
Globe</i>, </span><em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Braunfeld
v. Brown </span></em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(1961), </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Brij Bhushan And Another vs The
State Of Delhi </span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(1950</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">), </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Cross Roads</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Daniel Ellsberg</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Dwight D. Eisenhower<span style="color: #181818;">, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First Amendment</i>, </span>Harry Truman<span style="color: #181818;">, </span>John F. Kennedy,<span style="color: #181818;"> <em><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Lemon v.
Kurtzman </span></em>(1971), </span>Lyndon B. Johnson, <em><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">New York Times Co. v. United States</span></em><em><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">,</span></em></span><i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> <span lang="EN-US">Organiser</span></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, <i>Pentagon
Papers</i>, </span><em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Reynolds
v. United States </span></em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(1878), RAND
Corporation, Robert H Bork,</span><i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Robert McNamara, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Romesh
Thapar, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Romesh Thapar vs The State of Madras</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (1950), </span><em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Schenck v. United
States </span></em><em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">(</span></em><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1919), </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The
New York Times</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, <i>“</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Right’s First Amendment”</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 13.5pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> (2016),</span><i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">
<span lang="EN-US">The Washington Post</span></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, </span><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">United States v. Eichman</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">
(1990), Wayne Batchis.</span></p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Search Google -->
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-38335278489941819002020-09-17T15:20:00.006+05:302023-09-18T06:31:27.021+05:30The Story Of The Liberation Of Hyderabad<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">On this
day in 1948, Hyderabad was liberated and integrated with the Indian Union. Here
is a brief account of the liberation excerpted</span><i style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">from</span><i style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>‘Twisting
Facts To Suit Theories’ And Other Selections From Voxindica</b></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (2016.
Authors Press. New Delhi), pp. 309–318</span><i style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxABrDwUYW2Nwu5P0Xjl82T8EI0sMeVK34_37zOzKLFrWJwBgR_IV9cvY7RDmhfwm6V3--cSmo8Xk6C233xg09oBUiGMkP7DCyxNM6-tB8U1FjVnA-qQj7DHluV-_7EME7dU7ydGDCs-Hy9nCRCoEFOXiMf4O7Sp9MF0g581dhVetD03CK_B0tgQ/s300/Bharat%20Flag.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="240" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxABrDwUYW2Nwu5P0Xjl82T8EI0sMeVK34_37zOzKLFrWJwBgR_IV9cvY7RDmhfwm6V3--cSmo8Xk6C233xg09oBUiGMkP7DCyxNM6-tB8U1FjVnA-qQj7DHluV-_7EME7dU7ydGDCs-Hy9nCRCoEFOXiMf4O7Sp9MF0g581dhVetD03CK_B0tgQ/s1600/Bharat%20Flag.webp" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left;">The erstwhile Hyderabad
state is in the heart of India bridging the north and the south. Surrounded as
it was on all sides by Indian territory, it was a landlocked state with no
access to the sea. What were then known as the Central Provinces lay to its north,
Bombay to the west and the Madras Presidency to the south and east. It was
predominantly a Hindu state with Hindus comprising 85% of the population.
However, under the Nizam’s rule the bulk of civil service, police and armed
forces were almost monopolized by Muslims. In the 132-member state legislative
assembly constituted in 1946, the Muslims had ten more seats than the Hindus,
to ensure the Muslims a majority and </span><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">ipso facto </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: left;">a veto power over all
matters.</span><p></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Rejecting the June 1947
British partition plan, the Nizam demanded the status of an independent domain
and membership of the British Commonwealth. He did not send any representatives
to the Constituent Assembly. We are unable to ascertain whether the Nizam was
able to gauze the mood of the people aright, with winds of independence and
democracy sweeping across the landscape. But he was constrained by two factors.
One was that the bulk of his administration (civil, military and police) were
made up of Muslims who feared they might lose their elite position in a
democratic set up. The second was Kasim Razvi’s Muslim communal organization,
the Ittehadul-Muslimeen (MIM):</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.3in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">“The
Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen was a Muslim communal organization. Its leader was one
Kasim Razvi who combined fanaticism with charlatanry. He had organized a shock
brigade called the Razakars. The organization aimed at creating a theocratic
and totalitarian State. Militarist demonstrations were part of their routine.”<sup>12</sup></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The accession and
integration of Hyderabad was complicated by another factor, which the Nizam and
his advisers exploited to almost scuttle the process:</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.3in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">“Sardar and
V. P. Menon were dealing with the situation through me [K. M. Munshi, the Agent
General of the Government of India in Hyderabad] to secure the accession of the
State on the same terms as the accession of other States. Lord Mountbatten, the
Governor General, carried on negotiations with the Nizam’s Prime Minister, Laik
Ali, supported by Sir Walter Monckton, and was prepared to concede substantial
autonomy to Hyderabad if the Nizam only signed a document to come into the
Union. [...] Jawaharlal Nehru was averse to the line followed by Sardar.”<sup>13</sup></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The Nizam warned of
communal trouble and even bloodshed in Hyderabad, in the event of his state’s
accession to the Indian Union. As negotiations between a delegation sent by the
Nizam<sup>14</sup> and the Indian government were going on, the state was
clandestinely preparing to take on the Union. It had placed an order for arms
and ammunition worth three million pounds sterling with Czechoslovakia. It had
also been in contact with Pakistan for a possible accession.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Earlier, the Nizam’s
British legal adviser Walter Monckton (a friend of Mountbatten, whose services
he secured for the Nizam) was in touch with British Conservative party leaders
like Samuel Hoare to negotiate separate Commonwealth membership for Hyderabad.
This was even before the process of transfer of power by the British and the
dissolution of Paramountcy began. Monckton was mediating with the Portuguese
for the acquisition of port facilities in Goa and laying a railway line to the
port. He advised the Nizam to have an </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">association </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">(which could be annulled
at any time) and not </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">accession </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">(which was of a permanent nature) with India. This was probably the
reason why the Nizam was willing to arrive at an agreement with the Indian
government for his state’s association but would not sign the ‘Instrument of
Accession’. He had sent his own draft of the agreement which the government of
India was not willing to entertain.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">It was the avowed policy
of the government of India that there would be no variation in the terms and
conditions offered by it to the princely states. The rulers had to sign the
‘Standstill Agreement’<sup>15</sup> and the ‘Instrument of Accession’<sup>16</sup>
without variation and at the same time. Despite this, as time was running out
and to avoid a possible communal conflagration in the state, the Indian
government agreed to sign an ‘Agreement’ (it was called ‘Heads of Agreement’)
with Hyderabad that combines the gist of the ‘Standstill Agreement’,
incorporating in it important matters like ‘defence’ and ‘external affairs’
(from the ‘Instrument of Accession’) along with a collateral letter from the
Nizam. The drafts were passed back and forth between Delhi and Hyderabad
amended each time to accord additional concessions demanded by the Nizam’s
negotiating committee. The Nizam’s Executive Council deliberated on the last
draft for three days and decided to accept it. But the Nizam postponed signing
it again and again. In hindsight one might wonder whether the Nizam postponed
it long enough for the MIM to mobilise enough crowds to blockade the members of
the negotiating committee—which was to leave for Delhi to submit the
‘Agreement’ for countersigning and ratification.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">In the early hours of
October 27 a mob consisting of twenty five to thirty thousand cadres of the MIM
surrounded the residences of Nawab of Chhatari, President of the Executive
Council, Nawab Ali Yawar Jung, Sir Walter Monckton, which were all in the same
locality. Its objective was to prevent the negotiating committee members to
leave for Delhi for concluding the agreement. The Nizam reconvened the Executive
Council meeting. It was here his character appeared dubious. While on the one
hand condemning MIM for threatening the negotiating committee members and
physically blocking their departure to Delhi, he invited MIM leader Kasim Razvi
to the meeting! Razvi wanted the Nizam to reject the negotiated agreement and
insist on the Indian government signing the original draft provided by the
Nizam. He was sure the Indian government would not resort to any precipitate action
as its army was tied up in Kashmir. Indian troops were moved to Kashmir to
repel the (Pakistani) tribal invasion that began on October 23.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">As negotiations with the
Indian government meandered on, Kasim Razvi and his MIM were firming their grip
on the Nizam. The Nawab of Chhatari resigned as the President of the Nizam’s
Executive Council. At Razvi’s instance the Nizam appointed Mir Laik Ali a
prominent businessman and a former representative of Pakistan in the UNO as its
President. At the same time the negotiating committee too was reconstituted. While
Nawab Moin Nawaz Jung and Pingle Venkatarama Reddy were retained, significantly
Abdur Rahim a hard-core, fanatical member of the MIM was included as the third
member. The reconstitution of the Executive Council and the negotiating committee
with MIM fanatics brought about a dramatic change in the Nizam’s approach to
whole issue. In a fresh letter sent to the government of India the Nizam
threatened that if negations broke down this time, he would immediately
conclude an agreement with Pakistan. The Nizam, it appeared, was all along planning
his moves in consultation with Pakistan.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The Nizam finally signed
the two documents, the ‘Standstill Agreement’ (or the renamed ‘Heads of
Agreement’) and the collateral letter on November 29, 1947. The ‘Standstill Agreement’
was valid for one year, as agreed upon earlier. Indian leaders in Delhi had
divergent views on the agreement. Nehru thought that at last peace was bought
in the south. Mountbatten thought that he bought time to soften the Nizam and
would be able to persuade him to sign the ‘Instrument of Accession’ eventually.
Sardar with his uncanny vision was doubtful. He was right. Declassified secret
documents relating to the liberation of Hyderabad bear this out. The Nizam had
said that the signing of the agreement was just to ‘mark time.’ He was prepared
to have a European Prime Minister, if it would help him avoid accession to
India and get him membership of the Commonwealth. Intelligence reports of the
time confirm secret gun running between Pakistan and India with planes carrying
illegal arms landing in Bidar and Warangal.<sup>17</sup></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The
administration in Hyderabad was waiting for the Indian army to be withdrawn and
recoup its strength. Almost immediately after signing the agreement, which it
had no intention of honouring, it started needling the Indian government. It
issued two ordinances, one for banning export of precious metals from Hyderabad
to India and the other rendering Indian currency invalid in Hyderabad. It
appointed a Public Relations Officer in Karachi and advanced a loan of </span><strong><span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">₹</span></strong><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">20 Crore to the
government of Pakistan without consulting the Indian government. It did its
best (or worst) to make the functioning of K. M. Munshi (Government of India’s
Agent General in Hyderabad), very difficult. His movements were restricted, so
much so, he became a virtual prisoner in his own residence in Hyderabad.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">While the government of
India was lulled by a false sense of achievement, the MIM in Hyderabad was up
to its treasonable activities. Razvi began inciting Muslims and abusing Hindus
in his rabble rousing speeches. The objective of the Razakars was to terrorise
the Hindu population. Munshi kept filing reports and the government of India
was waiting and watching. Neighbouring states like Bombay and the Madras Presidency
were complaining about the attacks on their borders by the Razakars. In one
such incident, the Madras-Bombay mail was waylaid in the Gangapur railway
station in the Hyderbad state. Hooligans armed with daggers, hockey-sticks and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">lathis </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">attacked the train from
both sides, while policemen on the platform looked on. While the mob attacked
the train, armed Razakars stood by on the platform. In the incident two men travelling
in the train were killed, eleven seriously injured and thirteen were reported
missing. The law and order situation in many parts of the state deteriorated.
In Jalna, Aurangabad, Parbhani and Nanded districts looting, arson, murders,
rapes and molestation of women were reported, in which surprisingly, police
personnel joined the Razakars. In despair, Hindus sought shelter outside the
state. J. V. Joshi a member of the Nizam’s Executive Council felt compelled to
resign his position. In his resignation, he detailed the deteriorating law and
order situation:</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.3in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">“A complete
reign of terror prevails in Parbhani and Nanded districts. I have seen in Loha
a scene of devastation which brought tears to my eyes—Brahmins were killed and
their eyes were taken out. Women had been raped; houses had been burnt down in
large numbers. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">The most disconcerting news which reached us was that the
Razakars had allied themselves with the Communists. In 1943 the Nizam had
banned the Communist Party throughout the State. This ban was now lifted.
Moreover, we came to know that the Communists were being supplied with arms.</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">”<sup>18</sup> (Italics added.)</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">So much for the nationalism,
patriotism and law–abiding nature of the communists! </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">As the Government in
Hyderabad continued to violate the ‘Agreement’, Mountbatten and Nehru continued
to hope things would sort themselves out on their own. They gave more time and
more concessions to appease an administration, which was quite apparently
controlled by the MIM. Mountbatten was to retire on June 21 and would leave
India for ever. He wanted a prize trophy to take home. Nehru indulged him.
Patel willy-nilly went along, probably marking time till his departure.
Another—futile—‘Heads of Agreement’ (with obviously more concessions, beyond
which, even the pliant Nehru could not stretch) was broached, discussed,
debated, and tossed back and forth between Hyderabad and Delhi.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The view in Hyderabad,
no doubt formulated by the MIM, was that no matter what the provocation, the
Indian government would not dare send its troops into Hyderabad as it would
anger the entire Muslim community in the country. A section of the political establishment
in the government in Delhi was apprehensive of possible repercussions and hence
wanted to avoid decisive action. In the third week of August, Laik Ali
complained to the government of India about ‘flagrant violations’ of the
‘Standstill Agreement’. Even before receiving a reply, the Nizam administration
addressed a letter to the president of the UNO.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAkoIvEFWDWAfTRbnbm4wrdzOiDhTvPjd3RETColo_EBx7dysxPIudxe9kBIUxraqXIjfbmwuFQo8wb9vK1KrskgYNYdJ1dP2C3jB424RUJT_BNk8p0BerIw7W0cf3cEjkjoC-lKWpHNw8SnnS8_qOi73113sSd1y5V0yT3TuSLuTMspOvsxPqFQ/s351/Nizam%20&%20Sardar%20Patel.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="351" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAkoIvEFWDWAfTRbnbm4wrdzOiDhTvPjd3RETColo_EBx7dysxPIudxe9kBIUxraqXIjfbmwuFQo8wb9vK1KrskgYNYdJ1dP2C3jB424RUJT_BNk8p0BerIw7W0cf3cEjkjoC-lKWpHNw8SnnS8_qOi73113sSd1y5V0yT3TuSLuTMspOvsxPqFQ/s320/Nizam%20&%20Sardar%20Patel.webp" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">In the meantime the law
and order situation deteriorated further. After careful consideration of the
pros and cons, much against the wishes of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Home Ministry decided
to move Indian troops to Hyderabad. The operation to liberate Hyderabad was
codenamed ‘Operation Polo’. It was led by Maj. Gen. J. N. Chaudhuri. On
September 13, the army marched into Hyderabad along two axes: Sholapur–Hyderabad
and Bezawada–Hyderabad. There was some resistance on the first two days but it
petered out after that. The Hyderabad army surrendered on September 17.
According to Menon, the casualties on the Indian side were few but on the other
side:</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.3in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">“[..] owing
to scrappy operations and lack of discipline, the Irregulars and the Razakars
suffered comparatively more casualties. The number of dead was a little over
800. It is unfortunate that so many should have died in this action, though </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">the number is
insignificant when weighed against the killings, rape and loot inflicted by the
Razakars on the Hindus of the State</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">.”<sup>19</sup> (Italics added.)</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Menon, as befits a
former bureaucrat, gave a staid, straight forward account of the happenings
leading to partition and the integration of states, without frills and
embellishments. As it was a personal narrative there was perhaps a slight
accent on ‘I’ but he steered clear of either eulogizing or criticizing the principal
players, including Mountbatten. Therefore, there is no reason to doubt the
casualty figures mentioned by him. Why bloated figures of huge numbers of
casualties of the Razakars and the Muslims, propagated by Pakistani sources
should be accepted in India as eternal truth and etched in popular perception is
a mystery.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Maj. Gen. Chaudhuri was
appointed the Lt. Governor of Hyderabad on September 18. On September 23, the
Nizam cabled the UNSC, withdrawing his earlier complaint. The integration of
the state into the national mainstream took another three years. There is a
footnote to the Hyderabad story told by K. M. Munshi:</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.3in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">“If
Jawaharlal had his way, Nizam’s Hyderabad would have remained unintegrated and
would have become a second Pakistan in the ‘belly’ of India, an intensely
hostile State separating the North and the South—although after the success of
the police action Jawaharlal Nehru was the first to go to Hyderabad to receive
an ovation as the liberator of Hyderabad. [...] As the Hyderabad situation was
inexorably moving towards a climax, due to the intransigence of the Nizam and
his advisers, Sardar considered it advisable to let the Nizam’s Government know
clearly that the patience of the Government of India was fast getting
exhausted. Accordingly a communication to that effect was sent from the States Ministry
by V. P. Menon. [...] When Jawaharlal Nehru came to hear of this, he was
extremely upset. A day before our army was scheduled to march into Hyderabad he
called a special meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet [...] flew into
a rage and upbraided Sardar [...] He concluded his outburst with the remark
that in future he would himself attend to all matters relating to Hyderabad.
[...] The meeting [however] dispersed without transacting any business.”<sup>20</sup></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">…………………………………</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">N.
B.: End note numbers are as in original.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">12</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Menon, V. P. (1955). “<i>The
Story Of The Integration Of The Indian States</i>”. Longmans Green & Co.
London. p. 221.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">13</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Munshi, K. M. (1967). “<i>Indian
Constitutional Documents: Volume 1. Pilgrimage to Freedom</i>” Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan. p. 169.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">14</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Nawab of Chhatari,
President of the Executive Council, Nawab Ali Yawar Jung, Sir Walter Monckton,
K.C., Abdur Rahim and Pingle Venkatarama Reddy.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">15</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> It is an agreement that
assures continuance of any ‘existing agreements and administrative arrangements
in the matters of common concern’ existing between the Indian state and the
British government. It specifies eighteen administrative areas in the Schedule
attached to the agreement. It also signifies the end of Paramountcy of the
British government.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">16</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> It is an agreement
signed by the ruler of the princely state and the dominion of India subjecting
the princely state to the Government of India Act 1935. The Instrument of
Accession binds the state to the jurisdiction of the Union government for
making laws in the areas of Defence, External Affairs, Communications and some
ancillary matters.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">17</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Joseph, Josy. (2013).
“Gandhi is an old fool and his character is doubtful, </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Nizam said”. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">The Times of
India</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">.
August 1, 2013. <i>See</i> </span><a href="http://goo.gl/t22HZs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">http://goo.gl/t22HZs</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">18</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Menon, 1955. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Cited supra. </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">p. 252-253.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">19</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Menon, 1955. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Cited supra</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. p. 256.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">20</span></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> Munshi, 1967. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Cited supra</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. p. 170</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Search Google -->
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-68552891992690927932020-06-29T00:16:00.002+05:302024-02-09T18:15:30.296+05:30P. V. Narasimha Rao And The Elusive ‘Bharat Ratna’!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDnIf2IUE4EQGduPmGap2odXUvLzPQgxaZUV_QccmaJIQCP3tMwku5fvdKrvGaVrdT1cqhdPlvAX_SFlFCAGAy7n37kkH1P252Oom9cmUSyna-TpGf_oJAMGHV64Z95y5CcMXVuWLirObUce2TU1UmcjmfBNvfsaBywpC2H37nXNkInDHSakzow/s735/P%20V%20Narasimha%20Rao.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="P. V. Narasimha Rao And The Elusive ‘Bharat Ratna’!" border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="735" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDnIf2IUE4EQGduPmGap2odXUvLzPQgxaZUV_QccmaJIQCP3tMwku5fvdKrvGaVrdT1cqhdPlvAX_SFlFCAGAy7n37kkH1P252Oom9cmUSyna-TpGf_oJAMGHV64Z95y5CcMXVuWLirObUce2TU1UmcjmfBNvfsaBywpC2H37nXNkInDHSakzow/w320-h213/P%20V%20Narasimha%20Rao.jpg" title="P. V. Narasimha Rao And The Elusive ‘Bharat Ratna’!" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One may not agree with Lord
Birkenhead’s view that ‘India is a land of mobs’ (1930, <i>Turning Points
in History</i>), but it is a land of inconsistencies. However, he might not
have been far off the mark when he said that ‘more than any [other] country in
the world, single individuals of outstanding personality have been able
temporarily to impose their will upon its destiny’. A Prime Minister might be
ranked third in India’s official order of precedence but a Sonia Gandhi took
precedence over the Prime Minister for ten years of its recent history. Her
son-in-law did not need any <i>official </i>order of precedence to be
treated as a ‘more equal’ citizen at airports and for Chief Ministers to kowtow
before him.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In the official order of
precedence, No. 5A was inserted to accommodate the <i>Deputy Prime
Minister </i>(probably after Vallabhbhai Patel became the first Deputy
Prime Minister in 1950) and No. 7A after the institution of the <i>Bharat
Ratna </i>in 1954. Article 18 (1) of the Indian <i>Constitution </i>prohibits
the use of <i>Bharat Ratna </i>as a title and therefore, it cannot be
used to prefix names, <i>despite its general misuse</i>. Its recipients
are known as <i>laureates</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">As an aside it might be
mentioned that Article 18 (2) prohibits Indian citizens from receiving ‘<i>any
title from any foreign state</i>’. This precluded Sunil Gavaskar from accepting
a British <i>Knighthood </i>but it did not prevent Sonia Gandhi from
accepting the Belgian title, <i>Order of Leopold</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">However, <i>Bharat Ratna</i>,
which <i>officially</i>, cannot be flaunted as a title, accords its
recipients precedence over Ambassadors, Chief Ministers and Governors of states
who are, <i>in that order </i>ranked at No. 8.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Indians generally rue the
omission of Mahatma Gandhi from the <i>Nobel </i>roster but there
have been several notable omissions from the list of <i>Bharat Ratna </i>laureates.
One of them was Sathya Sai Baba who was passed over, presumably because he was
a <i>Hindu </i>god-man. One can say without any exaggeration, that
Sathya Sai Baba’s service to humanity was (and is) unparalleled anywhere in the
world. He established world-class schools, colleges, universities and hospitals
all of which provide free services to the poor. Thousands of devotees who flock
to his <i>ashram </i>daily are provided free food.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Under the ‘Sri Sathya Sai
Drinking Water Supply Projects’ he constructed a drinking water project at a
cost of US$ 63 million to supply drinking water to 1.2 million people in 750
villages of the arid Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Similar projects
supply drinking water to drought-prone villages in Mahabubanagar and Medak
districts in Telangana, and Chennai. His super-specialty hospitals in
Puttaparthi and Bengaluru conducted 24,473 open-heart surgeries between
November 1991 and October 2014, without charging a dime. They were all free.
They continue to do so.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The other notable exception is
that of former Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao. In order to understand the
magnitude of his contribution to national revival, the circumstances that
prevailed when he became Prime Minister should be viewed in perspective. In
point of fact, the year 1991 marks the beginning of a new epoch in independent
India’s history. Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination brought to the nation’s helm a
man who was preparing to quietly walking away into the sunset. Narasimha Rao
had been in politics since independence and served as Chief Minister, Union
Home Minister, Foreign Minister and Defence Minister.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The economic crisis that came to
a head that year was looming large on the horizon for years, fuelled by
bureaucratic sloth, economic profligacy and political myopia. The economy was
floundering on account of a depreciating rupee, billowing external debt and the
resultant balance of payments crisis. The last straw on the proverbial camel’s
back was the dramatically rising oil prices caused by the 1990-91 Gulf War. In
order to cope with the crisis, the Chandra Sekhar government had to first sell
twenty tons of gold (on which India had a repurchase option for six months) to
raise $400 million in May that year and the successor government had to pledge
a further forty-seven tons in July to raise a further $200 million loan. It was
a national shame for a culture that treats gold as goddess <i>Lakshmi</i>,
to part with family gold for daily necessities. Dr. Manmohan Singh who became
the finance minister in the successor government did not have the heart to use
words like ‘sell’ or ‘pledge’ when he informed the parliament about the
transactions in November 1991. Instead, he said ‘sent abroad’ and ‘export’!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Following the crisis, the
Narasimha Rao government initiated a series of steps to redeem the economy. The
steps were a radical departure from the pernicious ‘Nehruvian socialism’ and
set the nation on a track of progress. Those who do not want to credit the
progress to Narasimha Rao, ascribe the economic policy to Manmohan Singh’s
genius. Yes, the policy framework could be designed only by an economist with
vision but it required Narasimha Rao’s sagacity to give political cover for its
implementation. Second, he needed the boldness first to sell the reforms to his
own party which considered any departure from Nehru’s policies a sacrilege, and
then to the nation. The validity of the argument could be seen when we notice
Manmohan Singh could not continue with <i>his </i>reform policy when
he himself was the Prime Minister for ten years.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">While Narasimha Rao’s economic
policies are willy-nilly acknowledged there are two other areas of governance
in which he left an indelible stamp on the history of the nation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The first was defeating
the <i>Khalistani </i>movement, which ‘had consumed 21,469 lives
before it was comprehensively defeated in 1993’. The principal protagonists of
the operation were K. P. S. Gill who as Counter-terrorism Chief of Punjab
mercilessly and relentlessly executed it and, Beant Singh, who as Chief
Minister of Punjab and Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister gave him political
cover. Citing Julio Rebeiro, former Director General of Police, Punjab, Gill
has this to say of the genesis of the problem:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 14.2pt; margin-right: 14.2pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 14.2pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“I
regard Operation Bluestar and the November 1984 massacres as the two most
important victories for the cause of ‘Khalistan’ […] not won by the militants,
but inflicted […] upon the nation by its own government […] These two events,
in combination, gave a new lease of life to a movement which could easily have
been contained in 1984 itself.” (Gill, K.P.S. “Endgame in Punjab
1988-1993”. <i>South Asia Terrorism Portal</i>. Accessible from <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/13356644/6855289199269092793">http://goo.gl/83qUhW</a> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By the by, the <i>political
authors </i>of Operation Bluestar and the 1984 Sikh genocide had both
received the <i>Bharat Ratna</i>! Gill elaborates why stern
counter-terrorism measures were needed to eradicate the scourge: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 14.2pt; margin-right: 14.2pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 14.2pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“The
defeat of terrorism in Punjab, and I have said this before, was unambiguously
the result of the counter-terrorist measures implemented in the state by the
security forces. Moreover, the use of this coercive force was (and is) not just
a necessary expedient, but a fundamental obligation and duty of constitutional
government, and its neglect inflicts great and avoidable suffering on the
innocent and law abiding.” (<i>Ibid</i>.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Lest anyone had any doubt about
the political processes (pursued by the aforesaid <i>political
authors </i>of Operation Bluestar and the 1984 Sikh genocide) having
achieved the objective of annihilating terrorism in Punjab, Gill clarifies: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 14.2pt; margin-right: 14.2pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 14.2pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“One
of the dominant myths that these propagandists have tirelessly, and in some
measure successfully, circulated is the idea that terrorism in Punjab was
defeated not because, but in spite of the use of armed force against the
militants. No evidence is ascribed to shore up this claim, but a variety of
nebulous theories—essentially populist and politically correct slogans—are
propounded regarding a ‘people’s victory’ or a ‘political solution’ that
brought peace to the strife-torn province.” (<i>Ibid</i>.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Had the political master not had
the vision to support the stern measures to put down terrorism with an iron
hand we would have had another festering wound in the west in addition to the
ones in the north and the east, the existence of which is undoubtedly owing to
another <i>Bharat Ratna</i>! Who knows, had Narasimha Rao had another shot
at power, he would have had some out of the box ideas to contain them! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Another bold step Narasimha Rao
took was in the area of foreign affairs by establishing full diplomatic
relations with Israel. Although India recognized Israel in September 1950 (a
little over two years after its formation), it was not until February 1992 that
full diplomatic relations were established. Considering the benefits a
bilateral relationship with Israel could provide in the areas of agriculture,
defence and counterterrorism, this was inexplicable. The overt reason for India
not establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel was that it would
displease her Arab neighbours, but the unstated reason was to placate the
Muslim vote bank in India. As by the time India established full diplomatic
relations with Israel, the Narasimha Rao government was in office for just over
eight months, the decision must be said to have been taken very quickly. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><span style="color: blue;">Excerpted from ‘Twisting Facts
To Suit Theories’ And Other Selections From Voxindica. (2016). Authors Press.
New Delhi. pp. 429–434</span></i></b></span></p></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-77562401192566041402020-06-25T01:04:00.001+05:302020-09-04T13:43:54.390+05:30Re–learning Itihāsas of the Sanātana Dharma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Book Review<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Who Is Who In Hindu
Mythology</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (Vols. 1 & 2). Author: Surya N. Maruvada.
Publishers: Notion Press. Available for ordering from Amazon: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://amzn.to/2Z48Ukz" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">https://amzn.to/2Z48Ukz</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (India) </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3dr9GNS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">https://amzn.to/3dr9GNS</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (Outside India) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX1r5ArOijcnvqJK4uqh3ReHOMtqeIYjHB4fqp0VbaKXnZsxgWJzcLjPL1zwt7B_Bafy6pOWEfCIXw3XJfmOn3eP_HH4ogbn_10H8CRs0K-fOc3w8BIv2wzuKYYZzmwFOpa0Gj/s1600/SNM+-+Copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="526" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX1r5ArOijcnvqJK4uqh3ReHOMtqeIYjHB4fqp0VbaKXnZsxgWJzcLjPL1zwt7B_Bafy6pOWEfCIXw3XJfmOn3eP_HH4ogbn_10H8CRs0K-fOc3w8BIv2wzuKYYZzmwFOpa0Gj/s320/SNM+-+Copy.png" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The days when children learnt stories from Indian </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">Itihāsas </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">at
the knees of their grandpas </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">are sadly long gone. The potent, venomous mix of the three Ms—Macaulay,
missionaries and Marx had sufficiently vitiated the learning of the
intermediate generations to such an extent that they are confused and
ambivalent in their approach to matters concerning the <i>Sanātana Dharma</i>. The
missionaries wanted to uproot the <i>Sanātana Dharma</i> and supplant it with
their own religion. If Macaulay’s </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">supremacist</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"> approach to Indian thought
dictated the course of educational curricula during the British rule, the domination of the educational
system by the left–illiberal mobs post–independence finished the job. As Koenraad Elst observed
in </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3i6poBA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>DecolonizingThe Hindu Mind</i></a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">,
all Western knowledge and scientific thought (including those borne out of pre–Christian
Graeco–Roman achievements) were attributed to Christianity while the <i>Sanātana
Dharma</i> was depicted as no more than a cult order, backward and regressive. <o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">India had had its own
period of “Dark Ages” from the first Mohammedan invasions in the tenth century to
the end of the British rule in the middle of the twentieth century. The advent
of independence, instead of heralding cultural renaissance, did the opposite.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">Indian achievements in arts, culture, philosophy and spirituality, and
science and technology were deliberately expunged from school text books. Instead
schools and colleges were taught a fictitious construct called syncretic
culture. For example, Elst pointed out <o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">To describe Moghul painting (a
Hindu contribution to Islamicate culture) as a “contribution of Islam to
India’s composite culture”, as secularist discourse has it, indicates a muddled
understanding of Islamic religion and Islamicate culture.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">Marxists are adept at
co–opting pop cultural modes like song, drama, cinema and etc. as vehicles for insidious
indoctrination. After Macaulayesque education sucked out all traditional forms
of <i>Sanātana Dharmic</i> knowledge from curricula, mass media like
newspapers, magazines and cinema did the rest. As it happened, for nearly a
century Madras was the centre of arts and culture of the southern Indian
states. Exponents of Indian arts and culture who gravitated to the city were
willy–nilly sucked into the black hole fertilised by the three Ms—of Macaulay,
missionaries and Marx. It was they who did the insidious job of indoctrinating
several generations of Indian school and college children into loathing their
own cultural ancestry. The glitz and glamour of the silver screen has an
undoubted charm for the youth and its appeal has a deeper and longer–lasting
impact on impressionable minds. Therefore if movies distorted characters of
Rāmāyaṇa or Māhābhārata Indian youth were inevitably led to believe that the <i>Sanātana
Dharma</i> was an iniquitous religion, forgetting Svāmi Vivekānada’s aphorism
about <i>Sanātana Dharma</i> being a religion that is “spiritual in content,
scientific in approach and universal in appeal”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Macaulayesque
education killed the spirit of contemplation, inquiry and introspection that
were the bedrock of <i>Sanātana Dharmic</i> education and instead bred implicit
and unquestioning obedience to what was taught. Left–illiberal thought inbred
negativity. Thankfully the trend is reversing at last. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">How
do we rekindle interest in India’s ancient lore, especially after several
generations of Indians gave up on learning Saṁskṛtaṁ (another left–illiberal
conspiracy), the language in which the wealth of our knowledge is encoded? India
has such a rich repertoire of sacred texts that a lifetime may not suffice to
read the entire corpus. And then there are perversions of the texts. A
beginning could be made by reading the <i>Itihāsas </i>and understanding them
without stripping their component stories out of context. As C. Rajagopalachari
observed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“A little knowledge of the laws of
nature and the wonders of science, specially when that knowledge is acquired
second–hand, without the chastening influence of effort and investigation, acts
as a wine on some natures. Their sense of proportion is upset. The unknown is
not only unknown but ceases to exist for them.” (1935. <i>The Bhagavad–Gita</i>.
Delhi. Hindustan Times Ltd. p.6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is in this context the present <i>Encyclopaedia</i> assumes importance. It includes
sketches of all characters from our <i>Itihāsas</i> providing them context. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18px;">The </span><i style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 18px;">Itihāsas </i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18px;">were stories of Gods but they were contextualised in their human incarnations. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What
societal values changed between the times of Rāmāyaṇa and</span><b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Māhābhārata?
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">How does Māhābhārata treat Kuñti as a virgin even though
she begot a son before marriage? Why did Srī Kṛṣna who knew the outcome of the
war, and could, did not prevent it? There may be hardly anyone who wants to
know the names of the ninety–eight Kauravās but who were Srī Kṛṣna’s five
consorts apart from the well–known three? The voluminous book (in two volumes) introduces
the reader to topics ranging from the trivia to the sublime and from the
mundane to the scientific. For example while introducing the book the author observes</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 37.3pt 0.0001pt 39pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">On the world
where Brahma, the creator in the Hindu Trinity resides, the length of a day is
equivalent to many years on earth. While the huge difference may be a stretch,
the concept of a different time scale on different worlds was not known until a
few hundred years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Modern
science recognises this as the ‘theory of time dilation’ which is an off–shoot
of the theory of relativity. The author expended enormous amounts of time in
collecting and collating information from a variety of texts. One hopes that
the <i>Encyclopaedia</i> will be useful not only for the world–wide Indian
diaspora to obtain gleanings from their spiritual heritage but other scholars
desirous of understanding the rich spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of
the <i>Sanātana Dharma</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-44497850737356569122020-06-20T11:40:00.000+05:302020-06-26T11:38:11.746+05:30COVID–19 and the endless search for ‘scientific serendipity’!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt;">Many scientific discoveries were indeed <i>serendipitous</i> and medical
science is no stranger to <i>serendipity</i>. The word <i>serendipity</i> is
derived from <i>Senrendip</i> (an ancient name for Sri Lanka) and is applied
for discoveries that were accidentally stumbled upon. The word is sometimes
translated as ‘happy accident’. A number of products from <i>nitroglycerine </i>(in
its medical use, not in blasting powder); the first antibiotic <i>penicillin</i>;
the local anaesthetic<i> lidocaine</i>; several analgesic drugs, anti–psychotic
drugs, anti–cancer drugs, tranquilisers; the use of an antihistamine as an appetite stimulant; several pesticides
like <i>malathion</i> and the sticky <i>Post–it</i> have been <i>serendipitously</i>
found. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt;">We all know that Alfred Bernhard Nobel made his millions with the
discovery of <i>nitroglycerine</i> a component of dynamite, and other explosive
substances. In 1895 he developed a condition called angina pectoris and died of
cerebral haemorrhage<i> </i>in 1896. When blood vessels which supply blood to
the chest muscle are constricted, depleted blood supply and the resultant
depletion of oxygen supply cause chest pain known medically as angina pectoris.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt;">The reason for Alfred bequeathing the bulk of his estate for the
endowment of the famous <i>Nobel</i> Prizes is not clear. According to a
theory, when in 1888 his brother Ludvig died in France, a French newspaper mistaking
him to be Alfred reported, “<i>The merchant of death is dead.</i>” (The
expression used in the Indian context was not original, after all!) It was
possible Alfred wanted to make reparation for his probable posthumous notoriety.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 1944 </span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">Antoine Balard working
at the Sorbonne </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">observed that inhalation of <i>isoamyl nitrate</i> gave him headache.
Other researchers like </span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">Frederick Guthrie in Owen’s College, Manchester experimented with <i>nitrates</i>.
Thomas Lauder Brunton, a researcher who worked at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
put </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">nitroglycerine</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">to use. It was William
Murrell’s work at the Westminster Hospital (his findings were published in <i>The
Lancet</i>) that confirmed </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">nitroglycerine</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> dilates blood vessels,
reduces blood pressure and relieves pain caused by angina pectoris. In the
initial days British doctors took care to see that patients were not unduly
scared if they found out that the tablets they were prescribed were the same
compound that was used in dynamite. The longer acting form of <i>nitroglycerine</i>
(</span><i><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">pentaerythritol
tetranitrate</span></i><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">)
was introduced in 1896 on an experimental scale and its applicability was
finally announced in 1901. Had it been in use in 1896, it would probably have saved
Alfred Nobel’s life! The active form of the drug known as <i>isosorbide</i> is
prescribed (for sublingual use for faster absorption) even today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">While on the subject of
angina pectoris, the multinational pharmaceutical company <i>Pfizer</i>, which
experimented with <i>sildenafil citrate,</i> was unable to obtain desired
results. It did not reduce cardiac pain as the researchers hoped. However the
researchers were pleasantly surprised by an unintended effect the drug caused.
In some patients it caused penile erections. Enthused by a study conducted in
the </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 15pt;">Johns
Hopkins University, <i>Pfizer</i> continued</span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;"> work on <i>sildenafil</i>. An enzyme called <i>nitric
oxide synthase</i> (NOS) localised in the penis produces the neurotransmitter <i>nitric
oxide</i>, which is responsible for penile erection. <i>Sildenafil </i>was
found to reverse the action of NOS inhibitors. Thus was borne the blue pill
known the world over as <i>Viagra</i>! What is less known is that <i>Viagra</i>
is equally effective in women, in inducing clitoral erection. It is
particularly useful for women with sexual dysfunction caused by a class of antidepressant
drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvTimes;">Another drug <i>minoxidil</i>
which was originally intended to lower blood pressure turned out to have an
unintended consequence. In initial trials it caused body hair growth in some
female patients. Continued trials with the drug proved that it is useful for
hair regrowth in what is known as ‘male pattern baldness’. There are other
drugs with a similar ‘side effect’ but are limited in their use because of other
concomitant adverse effects. The advantage with <i>minoxidil</i> is that it is
available as a lotion and can be locally applied. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">What is strange
in the current scenario is for researchers trying to look for anti–viral
properties in every conceivable drug. In the absence of a preventive vaccine
for the COVID–19 virus, researchers have experimented with <i>hydroxychloroquine</i>
an anti–malarial drug, also found to be useful in the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis, <i>azithromycin </i>an anti–biotic and </span><i><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">remdesivir</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> an anti–viral drug—with varying results. As the
pandemic grips the whole world, there is prestige involved in being the first
to find a remedy for it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The latest candidate drug under experimentation is <i>dexamethasone</i>.
A group of researchers at the University of Oxford </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.0pt;">said “trial results show the drug [<i>dexamethasone</i>]
reduced death rates of the most severely-ill Covid-19 patients by around a
third.” The British Prime Minister hailed it as the “biggest breakthrough yet”
in the fight against the disease. However, as per a report published in the <i>Independent</i>,
US experts led by Dr. Kathryn Hibbert, director of the intensive care unit at
Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital expressed scepticism about the
findings of the trial. They cited the recent publication and withdrawal of a
study in <i>The Lancet</i>, the results of a trial with </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">hydroxychloroquine</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as a cautionary
tale. (“</span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-dexamethasone-treatment-uk-us-doctors-a9570591.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Dexamethasone: US doctors cast doubton UK’s coronavirus ‘breakthrough’</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">”, June 17, 2020.)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">Dexamethasone</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> belongs to a group of drugs called <i>glucocorticoids</i>.
As the name suggests the primary function of <i>glucocorticoids</i> is to
conserve glucose for use in times of stress. The <i>glucocorticoids</i> convert
carbohydrate into <i>glycogen</i> and store it in the liver. But <i>corticosteroids</i>
are also known immunosuppressants. It is for this reason they are prescribed
along with other immunosuppressive drugs like <i>cyclosporine</i> and <i>azathioprine</i>
to prevent donor organ rejection in organ transplant cases. An earlier
commentary article published in <i>The Lancet</i> (“</span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200206110703.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Steroids could do more harm than good in treating coronavirus</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">”, February 6, 2020</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt;">) </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">highlighted the immunosuppressant property
of the drug and advised caution in including it in treatment regimens for
COVID–19. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h1>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">As experts
and researchers grapple with finding a remedy for the corona virus infection
that has changed the world forever, the last word on the subject is yet to be
said!<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 15.0pt;">This is a slightly modified version of the article
originally published in </span><span style="font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voxindica/covid-19-and-the-endless-search-for-scientific-serendipity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">The Time Of India Blogs</span></i></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.0pt;">Labels</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 15.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">: Analgesics, Azithromycin, Anti–cancer drugs, Antihistamines, Anti–psychotic
drugs, Corticosteroids, Dexamethasone, Glucocorticoids, Hydroxychloroquine, Isosorbide,
Lidocaine, Minoxidil, Nitroglycerine, Nobel, Penicillin, <i>Post–it</i>, Remdesivir,
Tranquilisers, Serendipity, Sildenafil, Viagra</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-34421700018779003442020-04-13T00:03:00.000+05:302020-04-13T14:10:34.074+05:30Indian Council For Re–Writing Secular, Rational, Scientific–Tempered History (ICRH)!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Those readers who have been
following the trail of this blog would remember that it all began with the post
“Should We Re–Write Indian History?” The secular, rational, scientific–tempered
historians who have been re–writing history would have us believe that the objective
for ‘re–writing’ is to present a secular, rational, scientific–tempered (SRST)
version of India’s history and not to ‘Twist Facts To Suit Theories’ as alleged
by ever–whining Sanghi Bhakts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">In keeping with its avowed principles of
SRST, the newly elected government (in 2004) reconstituted the Indian Council
of Historical Research (ICHR) as the ‘Indian Council For Re–Writing Secular, Rational,
Scientific–Tempered History’ (ICSRSH). The ICSRSH has been tasked to re–write India’s
history as ‘secular, rational, scientific–tempered history’ (SRSTH). The
doyenne of SRST historians, Ruma Li was appointed its Chairperson with similarly
qualified and distinguished SRSTHs Irf Ha, Aud Tsk and Ran Gu as its members.
The chairperson and members will have no fixed tenure but will be in office
till the ICSRSH completes its job of re–writing India’s history and bringing it up
to date. Other SRSTHs will be co–opted to write chapters related to specific
periods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">It is not that there was no unofficially–officially
curated history before, or that these eminences were not associated with
history–writing earlier. There was and they were. Like all quasi–government
bodies, the ICHR too was autonomous on paper but in actual practice it was the government
that called the shots. It appointed its members and controlled its purse strings.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">In the short interregnum of six
years between 1998 and 2004 a ‘reactionary’ non–left government was in power
and it attempted to make some changes in history–writing. The attempts were
unsuccessful of course. The ecosystem—fuelled by power and pelf—the previous
governments planted took deep ideological roots and it would need determined
efforts of a massed army to undo their handiwork. All that the short–lived
government achieved was a few screaming headlines denouncing its <span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">‘toxic’ </span>efforts
to saffronise history–writing and Op–Eds predicting doomsday if the trend was
not reversed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">As everyone knows, just as the history of
the USA began in the eighteenth century, so did India’s history began in the
tenth century. India had no history before then. The <i>Council</i> decided
that Ruma Li and Irf Ha would write the history from the beginning till the
reign of Shah Jehan. Aud Tsk would write from the reign of Aurangzeb onwards.
The historians have the necessary research experience into the history of the
periods. Besides they have knowledge of languages like <i>Sanskrit</i> and its allied
languages like <i>Prakrit</i>; <i>Avestan</i> and its allied languages like Old and New
<i>Persian</i>; <i>Turkish</i> and its dialects like <i>Chagatai</i>. They have acquired intimate
knowledge of epigraphy in various languages and dialects; archaeology and
architecture to be able to accurately decipher and interpret stone edicts and archaeological
relics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The <i>Council</i> also decided that Ran Gu would
write the modern parts of India’s history beginning with Gandhi and Nehru. As
Nehru was a talented cricket player—which he played with his English cohorts while
in England—it was felt Ran Gu’s intimate knowledge of the game would stand him
in good stead in interpreting the sporting streak in Nehru’s psyche. Nehru’s
classmates in Cambridge recall that he was a sportive player who played the
game not for winning but for the game’s sake. When he bowled he pitched the
balls not to hit the stumps but to fall at the feet of the opposing batsmen to
enable them to strike them off the field. When he batted he let the balls that were
pitched at his feet alone to enable opposing bowlers to score maidens. By the
by, not many know but in the field of horse racing, the word <i>maiden</i> is
used to denote a horse that never won a race! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Ruma Li began at the beginning, when
Mohamed Ghazni began distributing hoarded temple wealth to the masses. How did
Ghazni distribute hoarded temple wealth if India had no history before the
tenth century? Only bigoted Sanghi Bhakts who lack rationality and
scientific–temper (SBWLRAST) ask such impudent questions. Ghazni found the
wealth in the form of forbidden infidel idols made of gold, studded with
priceless stones. Each idol was estimated to cost several hundred thousand
dinars. He also found wealth estimated at millions of dinars, hidden in temple
vaults groaning and begging to be liberated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Ghazni was a socialist, whose heart bled
and bled for the weak and downtrodden. What? The concept of ‘socialism’ did not
exist in in the tenth century the way it was since the nineteenth century? You
SBWLRAST! The word might not have been used then but it is the spirit of the
noble thought that is to be understood and interpreted by true SRSTHs. As a
true patriot, Ghazni took away the wealth to be distributed to the people of
his country. He gifted a part of it to the <i>Caliphate</i> but it was not
because he was a bigot but because of his true allegiance to his religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background: #f5f8fa; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The noble, scientific–tempered visionary Ghazni
reasoned, quite appropriately, that if the wealth was distributed locally in Hindustan,
it would make people lazy and stunt the progress of the society. With the noble
intention of providing employment to masons, sculptors and other artisans
Ghazni ordered the Sri Krishna temple in Mathura be doused in naphtha, burnt
and razed to the ground. It was estimated that it would take two hundred years
to recreate the architectural splendor and sculptural grandeur of the temple.
The altruist Ghazni wanted thousands of masons, sculptors and other artisans to
be gainfully employed for the next two hundred years! He also understood that
any new construction on such scale would uplift the economic mood of the
society. Earlier historians missed this noble streak in the character of
Ghazni. In order to set right the imbalance Ruma Li devoted a chapter to nuance
his character. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Ruma Li meticulously chronicled the good
deeds of the subsequent conquerors. There was neither <i>Ganga</i> nor <i>Yamuna</i> before
Babur arrived in north India and of course there was no <i>Ganga–Yamuna</i> <i>tehzeeb</i>.
First Babur dug the <i>Ganga</i> and two <i>harems</i> later his grandson Akbar dug
the <i>Yamuna</i>. In between them they planted the <i>tehzeeb</i> comprising <i><span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/nazrana-jabrana-shukrana-the-many-faces-of-corruption" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">nazrana<span style="font-style: normal;">, </span>jabrana<span style="font-style: normal;">, </span>shukrana</a></span></i><span style="background: white;"> and ‘drink, dance and make merry’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 15pt;">………………</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15pt;">Disclaimer:
This is a purely fictional, satirical piece. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-56390251836305467812020-03-17T18:45:00.000+05:302020-03-23T00:11:08.561+05:30Agitprop Psyops Getting To The Judiciary?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">Jurisprudence is an esoteric subject to the laity. Judges
are demigods and lawyers their mediators! Despite this lofty public perception,
Indian courts have in the past adjudicated matters which the laity might find
frivolous and, in some cases delivered judgements which the laity might find
bizarre. Some years ago a High Court sat on Gandhi Jayanti day (one of three
compulsory Indian national holidays), to adjudicate a matter related to a
cricket board! <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">In the </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-bhima-koregaon-case" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bhima Koregaon case</a></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> in which ‘social activists associated with Maoist links’ were
accused of making inflammatory speeches leading to wide–spread violence, the
Supreme Court held that </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/supreme-court-dissent-safety-valve-of-democracy-detained-activists-can-be-kept-in-their-houses-only-1326269-2018-08-29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dissent was a safety–valve of democracy</a></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">. It was another matter
that the same Supreme Court not only refused bail to a
journalist but when his lawyer pleaded that his life was in danger, gratuitously added in an <i>obiter dictum</i>, that </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.freepressjournal.in/cmcm/supreme-court-refuses-bail-to-journalist-abhijit-iyer-mitra" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">for one whose life was in danger, a jail was the safest place to be in</a></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">!
<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">In 2015 the High Court of Punjab and Haryana decreed that </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://zeenews.india.com/news/india/punjab-hc-allows-jail-inmates-to-have-sex-with-partners_1526256.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">jail inmates have a right to have sex with their partners</a></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">!
In 2018 the Bombay High Court determined that </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-why-only-4-people-can-play-a-game-of-rummy-questions-bombay-high-court-2582293" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">limiting only four players to a table in a game of rummy was unreasonable</a></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; font-weight: normal;">!<span style="color: #191c20;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The
Supreme Court’s decision in the <a href="https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2011/36648/36648_2011_9_1503_21281_Judgement_06-Mar-2020.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) vs the Union of India (CivilAppeal No.1510 of 2020—Arisingout of SLP (C) No.33928 of 2011)</a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>makes
for curious reading. The NGO which claims to be “resisting globalization,
combating communalism and saving democracy” filed the SLP in the Supreme Court
challenging the <a href="http://legislative.gov.in/actsofparliamentfromtheyear/foreign-contribution-regulation-act-2010" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act,2010</a></span><span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">In what has become a standard template
(for challenging Indian government acts by now), the NGO challenged the FCRA on
the grounds that it violated its fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and
21 of the </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Indian Constitution</a></span><span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">. </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The Government
contended that the appellant organisation is not entitled to invoke fundamental
rights as they are guaranteed only to citizens and that the appellant
organisation cannot be considered a citizen.<span style="color: blue;"> </span>While
agreeing with the contention that being an organisation the NGO cannot invoke
rights under Article 19, t<span style="color: #00000a;">he Supreme Court has “read
down” Clause 3. (VI) of the FCRA Rules which were framed based on the Act. Here
is the relevant clause:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">“3. Guidelines for declaration
of an organisation to be of a political nature, not being a political party –
The Central Government may specify any organisation as organisation of
political nature on one or more of the following grounds: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">(ii) Any Trade Union whose
objectives include activities for promoting political goals; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">(iii) Any voluntary action group
with objectives of a political nature or which participates in political
activities;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">(iv) Front or mass organisations
like Students Unions, Workers' Unions, Youth Forums and Women's wing of a
political party;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #00000a; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">(v) Organisation of farmers,
workers, students, youth based on caste, community, religion, language or otherwise,
which is not directly aligned to any political party, but whose objectives, as
stated in the Memorandum of Association, or activities gathered through other
material evidence, include steps towards advancement of Political interests of
such groups;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">(vi) Any organisation, by whatever
name called, which habitually engages itself in or employs common methods of
political action like ‘bandh’ or ‘hartal’, ‘rasta roko’, ‘rail roko’ or ‘jail
bharo’ in support of public causes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The
<i>Court</i> nuanced that while ‘bandh’, ‘hartal’ ‘rasta roko’ etc. are
legitimate political activities, an NGO resorting to the same activities need
not necessarily be categorised as a political organisation. Did the <i>Court</i>
err in nuancing its interpretation of the law on the grounds that it was ‘vaguely’
or ‘ambiguously’ worded? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">It
is not apparent from the 23–page judgement whether the <i>Court</i> has gone
into the antecedents of the NGO or even whether the government has brought them
to its notice. Curiously, very is little is known of the organisation which
calls itself <a href="https://www.insafindia.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Indian Social Action Forum</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"> shortened as</span> INSAF with its tell–tale Arabic
connotation. Its website does not give anything away. We do not know who its
founders, directors or present administrators are. All we know is that it calls
itself ‘</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 15pt;">a national forum of
over 700 movements and NGOs in India’. Its website is full of ‘papers’, re–posted
or hyperlinked from other sources, calling for halting every project which in
anyway advances human progress from developing infra–structures to constructing
nuclear power plants. </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 15pt;">Among those
hyperlinked is a paper by Ben Hayes entitled “</span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/yw4ac89814md98c/fafp_insafrp.pdf/file" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Counter–Terrorism,‘Policy Laundering’ And The FATF—Legalising Surveillance, Regulating CivilSociety</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">”. The number of NGOs/NPOs involved in the
preparation and funding of the paper (which can be seen peppered across its
pages) tells its own story. They include ‘</span></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Transnational
Institute’, ‘Statewatch’ and ‘Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development’,
shortened as <i>Cordaid</i>. While nations across the world struggle to control
terrorist organisations, the paper calls for making the </span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="http://www.fatf-gafi.org/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FinancialAction Task Force</a></span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"> (FATF), ‘</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">the global money laundering and terrorist financing
watchdog’, virtually ineffective</span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">. It
calls into question UNSC Resolution 1373 of September 28, 2011 which requires
member nations “to criminalize the support of terrorism by freezing the assets
of suspected terrorists”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Can
judges be absolutely dispassionate in adjudicating legal disputes? Or are they
only too human to be ‘products of the times’ in which they live and work? <a href="https://www.biography.com/law-figure/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.</a> (1841–1935), a U. S. Supreme Court justice known as “the
Great Dissenter” was a study in contrast. He delivered judgments that made him
look like a product of his times, like his judgement in the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voxindica/playing-god-ungodly/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Virginia eugenics aka <i>Buck vs Bell</i> (1927) case</a>. In marked contrast in the <i>Lochner vs
New York</i> (1905) case he ruled removing the 60–hour per week work limit for
bakery workers. But his ruling in the </span><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Schenck
vs United States</span></em><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"> </span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">(1919) case is conspicuous for its interpretation of
the US First Amendment, which protects US citizens’ freedom of speech from
legislative interference. The ruling held that in times of war, national
security takes precedence over individuals’ right to freedom of speech. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 15pt;">Back home in India, are agitprop psyops getting to the judiciary?</span><span style="background-color: white; color: white; font-family: "book antiqua" , serif; font-size: 15pt;">udiciary?</span></div>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-27335451990033394712020-03-05T12:07:00.008+05:302024-03-12T13:24:30.966+05:30Anti–CAA Agitprop And Weathercock Intellectuals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoYXOXbRraFdMZ8Ccg2Q1KhJhdfXw2GwCnBqRPLGHvNCaJSbcROzF6hes6LqqV3Wk_K2U1ymAXfS0AN0FJsADBmOwIarxITH1JwKKdODPY1VZ8UhLzukl4DCEcmMK6QeWntwAwhu6goxHfsC62y6yZDscpL2KNw_7VcyKyHxTTs1zjreLxX8lGnQ/s281/Weathercock.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="212" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoYXOXbRraFdMZ8Ccg2Q1KhJhdfXw2GwCnBqRPLGHvNCaJSbcROzF6hes6LqqV3Wk_K2U1ymAXfS0AN0FJsADBmOwIarxITH1JwKKdODPY1VZ8UhLzukl4DCEcmMK6QeWntwAwhu6goxHfsC62y6yZDscpL2KNw_7VcyKyHxTTs1zjreLxX8lGnQ/s1600/Weathercock.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>Have
you ever wondered what the biggest failure of India’s intelligentsia was? </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Let
me tell you a story. It is a small anecdote from the tumultuous days of the
French revolution between 1789 and 1799. A newspaper reporter was interviewing
a leader of the </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">revolution</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> in a Paris café. As they were sipping coffee and
chatting, a wildly howling mob shouting slogans stomped by along the adjoining
street. The reporter wondered aloud what the procession was all about. On
hearing this, the </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">leader</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> shouted “Oh my God, I am supposed to lead the
procession” and ran out. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">At
times when mass movements acquire a momentum of their own, <i>revolutionary</i> <i>leaders </i>might have to <i>follow</i> the mobs while <i>pretending</i> <i>they were
leading</i>. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But the intellectuals of a society are not weathercocks but its
leading lights. They do not—and should not—sometimes follow while pretending to
always lead. They should possess the moral fibre and intellectual integrity to
pursue ideals even if they are unpopular.</span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
words <i>honesty</i> and <i>integrity</i> are interchangeable but are paired to amplify
the meaning, in a figure of speech called<i> synonymia</i>. The word <i>integrity</i> is derived from the mathematical word <i>integer</i>, meaning a whole
number, undivided and complete. There can be no <i>partial honesty</i> or <i>fractional integrity</i>. In the case of public intellectuals it is an all or
none phenomenon. Lamentably many of our <i>public
intellectuals</i> fail in this test. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As
a test of the principle, consider the idea of freedom of expression. If a
society cannot provide the protection needed for free expression of ideas, it
is the public intellectuals who should hold themselves responsible for <i>their</i>
failure to create the ambience for free flow of ideas. Is the principle of
freedom of expression absolute or are there limits to it? If the public
intellectuals champion absolute freedom on one occasion, but argue alibis for
scuttling it on another occasion for political reasons, their vacillation
cannot advance the cause of freedom of expression. It keeps the society
splintered by competitive populism. If the public intellectuals swing with
political winds they cannot expect the society to conform to abstract ideals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Consider the ongoing
agitation against the <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019</a></span>. Let
us look what <i>citizenship</i> means under various Indian laws. We will try to
explain it in plain language devoid of legal lingo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The issue of <i>citizenship</i> is
dealt with in the very beginning of the <span style="color: blue;">I<a href="https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ndian Constitution</a></span> (in Part II)
just after <i>nation</i> and the powers of the <i>national government</i> are defined. Articles
5 to 11 are related to <i>citizenship</i>. While Part II confers citizenship to
residents in the territory of India when the nation was formed, it also allowed
for conferring citizenship to those Indians who remained in Pakistan at the
time of partition and, those who went there after partition but wanted to return
to India—before July 1948. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1955-57.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Citizenship Act of 1955</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> defines natural and acquired
citizenship in clauses 3 to 7. It flows from Part II of the <i>Constitution</i>
and is enacted to amplify and encode rules and regulations for conferring
citizenship. Here briefly are the modes that confer citizenship:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 0in 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Citizenship by
birth (Clause 3)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 0in 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Citizenship by
descent (Clause 4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 0in 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Citizenship by
registration (Clause 5)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 0in 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Citizenship by
naturalization (Clause 6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 0in 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Special provision
as to citizenship of persons covered by the Assam Accord (Clause 6A)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 0in 0.75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Citizenship by
incorporation of territory (Clause 7)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There is no ambiguity about
the nature or cause of partition of the country. Pakistan and its later splinter
Bangladesh were formed as the Muslims of undivided India wanted a separate
state for themselves. Many non–Muslims remained in Pakistan after partition
either because they were complacent about their status despite the religious
nature of the newly formed state or because of an inertia that held them back
from making the long journey to India. It was also possible that they stayed
back as they reposed faith in the assurances given by leaders of the nascent
state who promised them complete religious freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What happened to them in the
subsequent decades too needs no recounting. To put it simply their populations were
decimated. Many of them had to flee to India, the only country in which they
felt they could seek asylum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">All that the <span style="color: blue;">CAA</span> does is to
provide relief to persecuted minorities fleeing Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan who would otherwise be defined as ‘illegal migrants’ under Section 2
(1) (b) of the 1955 Citizenship Act. It does not take away the rights of anyone
nor does it seek to strip <i>bona fide</i> Indian citizens of their citizenship.
It does not abrogate the Clause 6 (Naturalisation) of the principal act by
which anyone from outside can seek citizenship. There is a sunset clause in the
<span style="color: blue;">CAA</span>. It limits the ‘relief’ to those who entered India before December 31,
2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
conduct of the opposition parties has no surprises. Their objective is to usurp power,
no matter how divisive and fraught with long–term consequences their modus
could be. It is the conduct of the public intellectuals that should
surprise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Those who are making a public
spectacle of reading the <i>Preamble</i> in agitations across the country
should carefully read the wording of Article 11 of the <i>Constitution</i>.
It confers unqualified power to the Parliament to make provisions with respect
to acquisition and termination of all matters relating to citizenship. Here is
what it states:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">“11. Nothing in the
foregoing provisions of this Part shall derogate from the power of Parliament
to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of
citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship.”</span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Is
the ongoing agitation mere tilting at windmills or a machination of deception, disinformation and psychological operations (known as Dee–Dee–PsyOps in the parlance of intelligence agencies), intended to intimidate the central government against bringing in
progressive legislations like the <span style="color: blue;">Uniform Civil Code (UCC)</span> and the Supreme Court hearing petitions
against the abrogation of <span style="color: blue;">Article 370</span> and the <span style="color: blue;">CAA</span>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>VOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-86671814435496899862019-11-11T11:50:00.001+05:302019-11-11T12:28:35.155+05:30Pseudo-Experts Failed Pseudo-Seculars!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Excerpted from “</span></i><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ram Janma Bhumi In High Court–How
Pseudo-Experts Failed Pseudo-Seculars!”</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"> (</span><span style="color: blue; font-size: 18px;">pp. 362–385</span><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">) In</span><i style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Twisting Facts To
Suit Theories & Other Selections From Voxindica”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Imagine
a murder trial in progress in a court room. The prosecution introduces a
forensic expert whose testimony establishes the time and cause of death.
Imagine the defence counsel cross-examining the forensic expert, as part of
normal court room procedure. Here is a snatch of the imaginary cross examination:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Defence Counsel</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">: Would you please tell the court doctor, the exact time when the
murder was committed and the cause of death?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Forensic Expert</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">: Certainly. It was committed between 3.30 PM and 5.30 PM on the
fifteenth of this month. The cause of death was stabbing with a blunt knife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">: How could you be so certain?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
You know; I was brought in as a forensic expert in this case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
You are a forensic pathologist, then?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
No, I am not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
Have you conducted any post-mortem examinations in the past?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
I have not conducted any.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
Have you conducted any surgeries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
I have not conducted any surgeries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
Are you a surgeon?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
No, I am not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
Pardon me doctor, if you are not a forensic pathologist or a surgeon what is
your specialty?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
I am a physician.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
If you are not a forensic pathologist, how did you tell with certainty the time
and cause of death?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
You see, in the hospital where I work, doctors meet in the canteen during
breaks. I was informed by a pathologist colleague who works in our hospital and
who has read about the case in the newspapers, about the possible time and
cause of death. I have also gone through various newspapers which published
details of the case. It was based on these that I am able to tell with
certainty, the time and cause of death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">DC</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
Does it mean that you cannot specify the time and cause of death based on your
own study or your own knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">FE</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">:
No. But I am a doctor. Based on what I have heard and read, I can tell the
exact time and cause of death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The
Defence Counsel could have established that the doctor appeared as a witness in
the case only to help his ‘old boy network’. But lengthening the imaginary
‘cross examination’ would test the patience of the reader. The imaginary scene
is to help readers appreciate the type of ‘pseudo-experts’ fielded in the <i>Ram
Janma Bhumi</i> case and how their testimonies were ripped apart in the cross
examination. The pseudo-experts asserted that the mosque was </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">not </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">built on any temple
debris and in fact no temple was destroyed, not only in Ayodhya but anywhere in
the lands ruled by the Mogul invaders. Even normally reticent judges could not
help chastising the witnesses in the case.</span></div>
</div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-29550287751534382522019-10-12T03:30:00.000+05:302019-10-12T18:49:21.264+05:30Death Penalty: Inconsistent Sentencing, Political Mercy Pleas, Erroneous Convictions. Abolition, A Systemic Correction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "felix titling"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Inconsistent Death Penalties<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Had the wheels of justice ground faster—instead of at the
proverbial snail’s pace—this man would have been hanged by now. The convict
from a remote village in the Nanded district of Maharashtra was accused of
killing his wife and four children in 2007. The District Sessions Court awarded
him death sentence which was upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
His review petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2012, which it now
‘recalled’ observing that all the courts relied on an ‘extra-judicial
confession’ and ‘ignoring medical evidence’. His sentence has been commuted to
life imprisonment. (<span style="background: white;">Choudhary</span>, <span style="background: white;">Amit Anand. “SC admits mistake in awarding death
sentence, commutes it to life sentence.” <i>The Times Of India</i>.
October 2, 2019. </span></span><a href="https://bit.ly/31SNFSW" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/31SNFSW</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">In May 2019 the Supreme Court had <i>acquitted</i> six
persons whom it sentenced to death ten years before in a case involving
dacoity, gang-rape and murder of five persons of a family in Nashik in 2003.
The case escalated through the tortuous judicial processes and the Apex court
confirmed the death sentences on April 30, 2009. In its latest judgement the <i>Court</i> observed
that the accused were</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">“… from the lower strata
of society and are very poor labourers … false implication cannot be ruled out
since it is common occurrence that in serious offences, sometimes innocent
persons are roped in.” (Mahapatra, Dhananjay. “6 awarded death by SC in 2009,
acquitted in 2019</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">”. <i><span style="background: white;">The Times Of India.</span></i><span style="background: white;"> May 5, 2019. </span></span><a href="https://bit.ly/2oVJbwu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/2oVJbwu</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">)</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">A google search for “SC admits mistake”, prompted
by the first report cited above, yielded five results. Here are the remaining
three: “SC seeks Centre's reply on plea challenging mandatory death penalty
under SC/ST Act” (<i>The Times Of India. </i>May 10, 2019. </span><a href="https://bit.ly/2MmvHBH" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/2MmvHBH</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">); “Decade after awarding
death, SC commutes sentence to life imprisonment for delay in deciding mercy
plea”. (Choudhary</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">, <span style="background: white;">Amit Anand. <i>The Times Of India.</i> February
22, 2019. </span></span><a href="https://bit.ly/2LUYpuA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/2LUYpuA</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">) </span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">and “SC reverses man’s
death sentence; revives debate on extreme penalty” (Mahapatra, Dhananjay. <i>The
Times Of India. </i>November 28, 2018. </span><a href="https://bit.ly/2pTbbRP" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/2pTbbRP</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">).</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> All these cases
were reported by <i>The Times Of India</i> between November 2018 and
October 2019. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "felix titling"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>Socio–Politics Of Mercy Petitions</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">On March 8, 1993, an APSRTC bus from Hyderabad was on its way to
Chilakaluripeta in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. In the pre-dawn
hours, it was waylaid by two dacoits, Sathuluru Chalapathi Rao and Gentela
Vijayavardhan Rao, as it cleared the town of Narasaraopeta and was just twenty
kilometres from its destination. The duo brandished deadly weapons and
threatened the passengers to hand over their valuables. One of them carried a
can of petrol and sprinkled it from the back of the bus to the front entrance.
They threatened to set fire to the bus if their demands were not immediately
met. Whether some passengers resisted or whether the dacoits panicked was not
clear but the duo closed the door and carried out their threat. They set fire
to the bus and twenty-three sleeping passengers were engulfed in flames and
charred to death. Several others sustained serious burn injuries. The culprits
were arrested ten days later and the case culminated in the Supreme Court which
upheld the death sentence on August 28, 1996. The Supreme Court judgement which
narrated the gruesome details of the crime was reported in the India Kanoon
portal: <span style="background: white;">“Gentela Vijayavardhan Rao And Anr
vs State Of Andhra Pradesh on 28, August, 1996” (</span></span><a href="https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1517391/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1517391/</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">). George Fernandes and Rajni Kothari
filed a mercy petition. President Shankar Dayal Sharma rejected it. Mahaswetha
Devi filed a second mercy petition. The Supreme Court stayed its own sentence
in view of the pendency of the mercy plea. Finally, President K. R. Narayanan
commuted their sentence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">On August 14, 2004, Dhananjay
Chatterjee an ‘impoverished guard’ in a Kolkata building was hanged. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">“<span style="background: white;">Although bearing a Brahmin name, Dhananjay
Chatterjee was far from being a member of the Kolkata <em><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";">bhadralok</span></em>, or intellectual
elite…His execution followed a shrill campaign…</span>”, wrote <span style="background: white;">N. J</span>ayaram: “<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;">How India hanged a poor watchman whose guilt was far from established”
(<i>Scroll.in</i>.<i> </i>July 21, 2015. </span></span><a href="https://bit.ly/35d7FSe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">https://bit.ly/35d7FSe</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">). An
emerging 24/7 news channel added its bit to the shrillness of the campaign. The
misfortune of birth status added to <span style="background: white; color: black;">Chatterjee</span>’s
misery of poverty. He had spent fourteen years in jail before he was hanged.
President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam rejected his mercy plea. However, it must be
said in his defence that although the President is vested with the authority to
pardon a criminal under Art. 71 (1) (c) of the <i style="color: black;">Constitution</i>, in
practice, the President merely follows the recommendation of the Home Ministry.
The case did not arouse ‘the quality of mercy’ in the conscience of civil
rights activists. No NGO or civil rights group knocked on the doors of the
Supreme Court to open it in the small hours to hear a revision plea. No
newspaper headlined the next day <i><span style="color: blue;">“And they hanged Dhananjay Chatterjee”! </span></i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">If the frenzy of misplaced social vigilantism
took its toll in Chatterjee’s case it was the political frenzy that impacted
the Indira Gandhi assassination case. This is not to say that the assassins did
not deserve death sentence. One of the assassins, Beant Singh fired
thirty-three bullets into her body. He was killed instantly when her ITBP
security guards opened fire. A second assassin Satwant Singh fired twenty-three
bullets but was seriously injured in the crossfire with a bullet lodged in his
spine. In normal circumstances, his condition would have rendered him
ineligible for hanging. A plea to the Supreme Court to allow him to recover was
disallowed. A medical team hastily removed the bullet to ‘ready’ him for the
hanging. <span style="background: white;">(</span>Bhatnagar, Rakesh. “The
accused did not want to be defended”. <i>DNA. </i>October, 30,
2009 </span><a href="https://bit.ly/2Iw5T5c" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">https://bit.ly/2Iw5T5c</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">). </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;">Ram Jethmalani
pleaded in vain that the case against the third assassin, Kehar Singh was
flimsy and highly circumstantial and did not ‘prove guilt beyond all reasonable
doubt’. The President disallowed mercy petitions with utmost dispatch. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The partisan approach of civil rights groups, political parties,
state legislatures and the ‘intelligentsia’ in seeking mercy for convicts has
not escaped the attention of the Supreme Court. Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was
sentenced to death for killing Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, did
not file a mercy plea but the NGO ‘Lawyers for Human Rights International’
sought a review of the trial court verdict. </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Punjab state legislature
passed a resolution seeking mercy for </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Rajoana. Similar resolutions were passed
by the Jammu & Kashmir legislature in the Afzal Guru case and the Tamil
Nadu legislature in the Rajiv Gandhi assassins’ cases. On the other hand, the
Court pointed out; poor people like Dhananjay Chatterjee who does not have
societal support always got a raw deal with respect to mercy petitions. (</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Why wide disparity in
treatment of mercy pleas? SC asks” <i>The Times Of India</i>. May 27,
2012. </span><a href="https://bit.ly/31Q51jf"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/31Q51jf</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">).</span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Supreme Court, however,
agreed that there was subjectivity and it was individual perceptions of the
judges that decide whether a convict should be awarded death sentence or life
imprisonment. </span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">(</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mahapatra, Dhananjay. “Judges'
perception dominant factor in death or life sentence: SC”. <i>The Times Of
India.</i> Jan 25, 2011. </span><a href="https://bit.ly/30MffzX"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">https://bit.ly/30MffzX</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "felix titling"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>Abolition, A Systemic Correction<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is the grey areas in the administration of criminal justice
that cause these anomalies. If all are equal in the eyes of the law, why was
the mercy plea of Dhananjay Chatterjee rejected and the one in the
Chilakaluripeta bus burning case entertained? The contrast is stark. A person
whose crime might not have been ‘proven beyond all reasonable doubt’ was sent
to the gallows but the sentence of the duo who murdered twenty-three people in
cold blood was commuted. In the Neeraj Grover murder case (2008) a small time
film actress (whom Grover, creative head of Synergy Adlabs was helping to find
a foothold in the film industry) and her boyfriend were accused of committing
the crime. The duo cut up Grover’s body into 3oo pieces, packed them in gunny
bags and was carrying the body to burn it deep in a forest. Mumbai tabloids
published other macabre details of the crime and its aftermath. According to
one, after the boyfriend stabbed Grover, with the dead body lying in the next
room, the duo had sex twice before their ‘next operation’. The actress was
sentenced to three years, not for murder but for trying to destroy evidence.
She was released by the end of the trial. The boyfriend was sentenced to three
years for destroying evidence and ten years for culpable homicide, with both
sentences to be run concurrently. In the Naina Sahni murder case (2013) the
accused, Sushil Sharma cut up her body and tried to burn the pieces in a
restaurant <i>tandoor</i>. He was not awarded death sentence. In the
Jessica Lal (2010) and the Priyadarshini Mattoo (2010) cases too no death
sentences were awarded. In two ‘high profile’ murder cases in Hyderabad the
well-heeled accused, to use an Americanism, ‘walked’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">In an article in the ‘<i>Journal of Law and Criminal Justice</i>’,
Arvind P. Bhanu mentioned that fourteen retired judges wrote to the President
that “Supreme Court had erroneously given the death penalty to 15 people since
1996”. (“Arbitrariness in Capital Sentencing System: No Disappearance of
Furman-Like Challenge”. <i>Journal of Law and Criminal Justice</i>.
December 2014, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 187-199). The Law Commission Report on Death
Penalty (No. 262, 2015) pointed out that the differences in the quantum of
punishment was due to the interpretation of ‘mitigating circumstances’, such as
age. According to it, the data collected “substantiate the picture of inconsistent,
arbitrary and judge-centric application of the death penalty.” (p.149). The
following portion of the report is worth citing verbatim:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Numerous committee reports as well as
judgments of the Supreme Court have recognized that the administration of
criminal justice in the country is in deep crisis. Lack of resources, outdated
modes of investigation, over-stretched police force, ineffective prosecution,
and poor legal aid are some of the problems besetting the system. Death penalty
operates within this context and therefore suffers from the same structural and
systemic impediments. The administration of capital punishment thus remains
fallible and vulnerable to misapplication. The vagaries of the system also
operate disproportionately against the socially and economically marginalized
who may lack the resources to effectively advocate their rights within an
adversarial criminal justice system.” (pp. 223-224)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The report, however, takes into consideration concerns regarding
terrorism and makes the following caveat:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“… [C]oncern is often raised that abolition
of death penalty for terrorism related offences and waging war, will affect
national security. However, given the concerns raised by the law makers,
the commission does not see any reason to wait any longer to take the first
step towards abolition of the death penalty for all offences other than
terrorism related offences. The Commission accordingly recommends that the
death penalty be abolished for all crimes other than terrorism related offences
and waging war.” (p. 226)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The inconsistencies and vagaries in the application of law need no
further elaboration. It is a systemic failure and needs systemic correction. Is
it time the death sentence is abolished for all crimes except terror-related
cases? The most compelling argument for the abolition of death sentence is that
it is irreversible, even if at a later date fresh evidence surfaces to prove
the innocence of the accused. It is also advisable to make the definition of
‘life sentence’ not amenable to subjective interpretation. In serious crimes
like homicide, a ‘life sentence’ should mean ‘till the normal end of a life,
without remission’. In serious crimes against humanity it may be necessary to
avoid philosophical distinctions such as whether it is ‘retributive’ or
‘reformative’. The punishment should be seen only as a ‘deterrent’ till such
time the society evolves to a level when a further revision could be
considered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-62965394663439273532019-10-01T18:01:00.000+05:302019-10-01T19:45:02.122+05:30Playing God, Ungodly?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">How
would it be if it were possible to ‘order’ the birth of a baby girl who would
grow to be as beautiful as Venus and as intelligent as Marie Curie? Or the
birth of a baby boy who would grow to be as handsome as Adonis and as
intelligent as Einstein? How would it be if it were possible to choose the
colour of the eyes, hair and skin tone? Does the idea sound </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">outré</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">, utopian? Recent scientific advances indicate that the
idea of ‘designer babies’ is neither all that </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">outré nor all that utopian.
It is a possibility in the not too distant future. It is the ethics of the
issue that should worry mankind. Is genetic engineering ethical or even
desirable?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Man
‘<i>created</i>’ angels, gods and goddesses in his own image. It is for this
reason they are referred to as <i>anthropomorphic</i> gods. In his ‘<i>creation</i>’
man made gods and goddesses the most beautiful creatures; again beauty being a <i>product</i>
of his own imagination. The creation of <i>anthropomorphic</i> gods is but an
expression of man’s endless quest to replicate nature or improving upon it. It
was an enticing subject that drew artistes and scientists alike. In general the
artistes were wary of the dangers of replicating or improving upon nature. Here
are a few examples. Mary Shelly’s 1918 Gothic novel ‘</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Frankenstein or
The Modern Prometheus</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’ described the
horrors that would result in tinkering with nature. So did Aldous Huxley’s dystopian
‘<i>Brave New World</i>’ (1932) and Ken Follett’s science-fiction ‘<i>The Third
Twin</i>’ (1996), but to a less horrific degree. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But
the scientists would not be deterred. For as long as the history of science
could be traced, maverick – for want of a better word – ‘scientists’ in many
nations conducted experiments with the objective of transmuting base metals
into gold, to find a universal solvent and to find a potion that would extend
longevity. The ‘scientists’ were collectively known as <i>alchemists</i>.
Although for long they were dismissed as charlatans and although they did not
achieve the objectives they set out to do, their work had advanced science as
far as the purification of metals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In
recent times genetic engineering has been focusing on four areas of human
development. They are muscle enhancement to improve athletic performance;
memory enhancement to improve intellectual performance; growth hormone
treatment to improve physical stature and selection of sex and genetic traits
of children. The selection of sex is already a reality. It must be noted that
gender screening tests are illegal in India. There are several companies in the
USA which already offer ‘sex selection’ with certain pre-conditions that would
preclude its possible misuse. The process/product is offered to only those
couples who have one child and who desire to have a child of the opposite sex
to ‘balance their families’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The theory of eugenics
is as old as Aristotle. It appears the fourth century BCE philosopher had
suggested that ‘men should tie their left testicles prior to intercourse if
they wanted a male child’! In ‘<i>The case against perfection: ethics in the
age of genetic engineering</i>’ (2007), Michael J. Sandel discussed both the
pros and cons of genetic engineering. As societies evolve, old mores give way
to new norms. Sandel cites a character from the </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1981
British historical film</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">, </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">‘<i>Chariots
of Fire</i>’. It was the story of two athletes, </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Eric Liddell,<span style="color: #222222;"> a devout Scottish Christian and </span>Harold
Abrahams<span style="color: #222222;">, an English Jew</span><span style="color: black;"> who competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Prior to 1924,
employing professional coaches for training to compete in amateur sport was
scoffed at. It was considered ‘ungentlemanly’. </span>Abrahams defied the
custom as he felt that it was just a cover for anti-Semitism. The point being
made is that today employing coaches is an accepted norm. In fact it is unimaginable
for any athlete to go into high level competitions without a personal trainer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Much of the opposition
to genetic engineering stems from the negative connotations associated with <i>eugenics</i>.
</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
objective of <i>eugenics</i> was to increase the proportion of healthy and
intelligent individuals in the general population. Conversely the poor and unhealthy
were prevented from conceiving by forced sterilisation. </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It
is generally assumed that forced sterilisations as a measure of <i>eugenics </i>were
practised only in Nazi Germany. According to a report published in the website
PsychCentral.com, by the 1930s thirty states in the USA had sterilisation laws.
Between 1927 when Carrie Buck, the first victim of the Virginia sterilisation
law was sterilised and the 1970s, </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt;">65,000 Americans with ‘mental illness or
developmental disabilities’ were sterilised.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> When the Buck case
reached the Supreme Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt;"><i>“</i>It is better for all the world,
if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them
starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit
from continuing their kind…Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”</span><span style="background: white; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span style="color: black;">(See </span><span class="authorname"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Tartakovsky</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">, </span><span class="authorname"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Margarita. ‘Eugenics & The Story of Carrie Buck’.
July 8, 2018.</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Accessible from </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://bit.ly/2mZHs8Q" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">http://bit.ly/2mZHs8Q</span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">).
</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">To forestall genetic
engineering for ethical considerations amounts to throwing the baby out with
the bathwater. Scientists believe that the key to finding remedies for diseases
like thalassemia and cancer is in genetic engineering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">When the banking industry
introduced information technology tools in the 1980s doomsday predictors hollered
that it would lead to thousands going out of employment. We live in a world of
over the counter (OTC) remedies and food supplements for growth and beauty
enhancement. Not an hour passes when we don’t see bamboozling advertisements
about them on television. Bariatric surgery and cosmetic surgery for beauty
enhancement are fairly common with only the cost being the limiting factor. Would
it be the only limiting factor for ‘made to order babies’ too? Or are ethics
involved? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Should we in the end
accept and live with advances in genetic engineering or heed the warning of
Mary Shelly and Aldous Huxley about ‘Promethean hubris’? The last word in the
debate is yet to be pronounced! </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="background: white; color: blue; font-family: "vollkorn" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The article first
appeared in <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voxindica/playing-god-ungodly/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TheTimes Of India Blogs</a></span></i><span style="background: white; color: blue; font-family: "vollkorn" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-16487855251238447262019-09-23T16:39:00.006+05:302024-01-02T23:55:33.749+05:30 ‘The Fourth Estate’ Not ‘The Almighty’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The article
</span></i><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">attempts
to deal with the question </span></i></span><em style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; text-align: start;"><span style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">“What is the function of the media? Is it reporting facts or setting narratives?”</span></span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: black; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMS5W85yVUgXOdIjU6eJ3pOjH359zmXqNoEO1feqd6t6CevfhtbGZCtprDFsXqUe693QvObHEVgO6p_C_V437QU4l5UANR7Gmfs6f63orvNd4W-Y9roHNsYEFhEhmvL9GgNuShJ_u7Aw7FwxyMpI_yOz5o67oCA5JmNxAVreNzaab3qUWzwZMSOw/s5355/austin-distel-wawEfYdpkag-unsplash.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4016" data-original-width="5355" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMS5W85yVUgXOdIjU6eJ3pOjH359zmXqNoEO1feqd6t6CevfhtbGZCtprDFsXqUe693QvObHEVgO6p_C_V437QU4l5UANR7Gmfs6f63orvNd4W-Y9roHNsYEFhEhmvL9GgNuShJ_u7Aw7FwxyMpI_yOz5o67oCA5JmNxAVreNzaab3qUWzwZMSOw/s320/austin-distel-wawEfYdpkag-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><i>During
much of his current term President Donald Trump had to fight
accusations that he had had a secret covenant with the Russians, who helped him
rig the 2016 presidential election. There were three prime accusations. The
first was that a Russian organisation, ‘Internet Research Agency’ (IRA), which
influences poll outcomes through social media campaigns, was deployed to run
down his opponent Hilary Clinton and boost his election. The second was more
serious and was about a possible hacking of the computers in the Democratic
Party election offices by the Russian military intelligence agency,
GRU. Had this been proven it would have turned out to be not just Trump’s own ‘Watergate’
but far worse! The third was about ‘obstruction of justice’.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This
article is not about whether or not President Trump was guilty or not of the
misdemeanours he was accused of but about their treatment by the American
media. The accusations levelled by Trump’s political rivals were orchestrated
by internationally visible sections of the American media like ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">CNN,</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’ ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
New York Times</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’ and ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Washington Post’</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">. </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Times</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’
journalists won two Pulitzer prizes for the ‘Trump-Russia’ stories!</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
US Attorney General William Barr appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to
investigate the allegations. The report Mueller submitted in March
this year did not find any substantive evidence to prove the allegations. As
Byron York observed in his September 10, 2019, ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Washington Examiner</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’
opinion piece</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 14.2pt; margin-right: 14.2pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/13356644/1648785525123844726"><span style="color: blue;">‘the conspiracy<span style="background: white;">-coordination
allegation the <i>Times</i> had devoted itself to pursuing turned out
to be false … TheTrump-Russia hole came up dry</span></span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/13356644/1648785525123844726"><span style="color: blue;">’</span></a>!</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
story did not end there. Some of <i>The New York Times</i>’ readers and
its own staff were not happy. York wrote ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">many on the Left faulted
[The New York Times] for being insufficiently anti-Trump</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">! At this
point, the issue spilled out of the media domain. It is no more about
disseminating information or offering comment, however judgemental could it be.
It is now more an ethical dilemma, a reflection of the media scene back home in
India. Should a media organisation behave like a consumer goods supplier or
restaurateur and cater to the tastes of a consumer – assuming a majority of
readers the paper caters to are of a certain political leaning – or remain
steadfast to an ideal of sticking to the truth? And remain neutral till the
issue is settled one way or the other in the appropriate forums? The <i>Times</i> is
now caught between the proverbial <i>Scylla and Charybdis</i> of its
own making.</span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;">The
paper conducted an internal town-hall meeting for its newsroom staff to assuage
ruffled feelings. It was necessitated because of an uproar over a headline
about the president’s alleged ‘racism’ and tweets from the paper’s staff. ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;">Slate</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;">’
published a </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/13356644/1648785525123844726" style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;">transcript of the recording of the <i>Times</i>’
town-hall meeting</span></a><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;"> edited and curated by Ashley
Feinberg. The </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;">Times</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;">’ Executive Editor, Dean Baquet and
Publisher A. G. Sulzberger addressed the meeting.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A
defensive Baquet seemed to find fault with the readers. He suddenly remembered
that it was not the duty of the media to run political campaigns, but as an
independent media hold administrations accountable! He pointed out the
obvious: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 14.2pt; margin-right: 14.2pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 14.2pt;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“They [the paper’s critics who
want Trump’s head] sometimes want us to pretend that he was not elected
president, but he was elected president.” </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What
should be worrying in this episode is the apparent political conditioning of
the staff. Shouldn’t newspaper employees be trained to be neutral observers and
faithful reporters rather than political instruments?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Both
York and Feinberg felt that Baquet’s remark that </span><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“the story
changed”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> was
significant. </span><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">York wonders whether having spent a lot of time and
energy on the ‘Trump-Russia’ story (and failed) the <i>Times</i> would
spend the next two years on the “Trump-is-a-racist narrative”?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Fourth Estate</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’ in the headline does not refer to Geoffrey Archer’s
eponymous novel but to Edmund Burke’s laudatory reference to the press.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/unara/Desktop/New%20Microsoft%20Word%20Document.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="font-size: 13.5pt;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: TE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[1]</span></span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In
Irving Wallace’s brilliant thriller, ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Almighty</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’, the protagonist
inherits a newspaper, a fictional rival of ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The New York Times</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’. The
conditional inheritance stipulates that the paper which was way behind its
traditional rival should surpass its circulation for at least one day in the
succeeding year. In order to retain ownership, the protagonist recruits a gang
of terrorists to stage events and then scoop them as news. He sets himself up
as ‘</span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Almighty</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The
present media might not go the whole hog to stage terror incidents to scoop
stories, but they were, in the past, halfway there. The way they stoked war
hysteria for George W. Bush to bomb Iraq in the second gulf war in 2003 to
destroy elusive weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was near enough. Are
the </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Times</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’ and </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Washington Post</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">’s anti-Trump
campaigns one of a piece with their earlier war campaigns?</span></p><div>
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<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="file:///C:/Users/unara/Desktop/New%20Microsoft%20Word%20Document.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: TE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="background: white; color: #404040; font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In his 1787 speech in the British House of Commons, Edmund Burke
reportedly said “There are three estates in Parliament (the <i>Lords
Spiritual</i>, the <i>Lords Temporal</i> and <i>the Commons</i>)
but in the Reporters' Gallery yonder there sits a Fourth Estate more important
far than they all. It is not a figure of speech or witty saying, it is a
literal fact, very momentous to us in these times.”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">An earlier version of the article appeared in <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voxindica/the-fourth-estate-not-the-almighty/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Times Of India Blogs</a></span></span></i></span></p>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-59164122198532739462019-08-20T09:16:00.001+05:302019-08-20T09:18:43.670+05:30Is Hindu majority chimerical? Is Hindu ‘majority’ really ‘minority’?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is the English translation of the
Editorial of </span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ṛṣ</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ip</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ī</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ṭ</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ham, Telugu magazine, published in its
January 2019 issue. The magazine is edited and published by Brahmasri S</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">mav</span></i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ē<i>dam </i></span><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ṣ</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">anmukha
</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ś</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">arma. Brahmasri </span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ś</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">arma is
the foremost exponent of our San</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">tana Dh</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">rmic
lore. His encyclopaedic knowledge and felicity of expression that makes complex
t</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;">tvic principles intelligible to common people
attract large audiences to his discourses in India and many other nations.
Apart from public meetings he appears on several television channels to give
discourses on our ancient wisdom. He is a prolific writer and produced many
books on Sanātana Dhārmic literature. The translated version of the editorial
is published with permission. </span></i><span style="color: #1826f3; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In India that is Bharat Hindus are a numerical
majority. At least it appears to be so. A closer look would reveal how chimerical
this belief is. In point of fact Hindus are really a ‘minority’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">How? Firstly there are those who are <i>de jure</i>
Hindus but <i>de facto</i> converts. Secondly there are those Hindus who have
neither the desire nor diligence to <i>live</i> as Hindus or practise Hinduism.
They are not only oblivious to the impending peril, but sadly are not consumed
by a devotion to protect their <i>San</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">tana Dharma</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">.
They go through the motions, practising Hindu rituals on auspicious or somber
occasions. They are insouciant to the perils threatening their <i>Dharma</i>
and the Hindu places of worship. They are insouciant to the political bias of
their leaders. They reason: ‘how does it really matter, whichever religion it
is?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Then there are those Hindus who boast of being
atheists and lose no opportunity to deride <i>Dharmic </i>scriptures,
traditions, rituals and temples in their social intercourse and writings. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If we exclude these three categories, there is the
residual, virtual minority that lives as Hindus and practises <i>San</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">tana Dharma</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">. <b>They are the <i>real</i> Hindus!</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The contrast with the followers of other faiths could
not be starker. There is unanimity of actions, behaviour, beliefs and thoughts among
followers of other faiths. They exhibit an unshakable faith in their religion
and the thought that no other faith is superior to theirs. They do not
denigrate their scriptures or places of worship. Their devotion to their
religion is so strong that they do not hesitate to denigrate, deride and
suppress faiths other than theirs. Men and women, young and old all learn the
ways of their respective faiths and religiously practise them. They acquiesce to
their religious leaders even if they are venal or wanton. They stand as one to
support them; to make them succeed in their collective goal, viz. preservation,
propagation and advancement of their faith. They do not criticize
organizations, which in the name of faith, resort to extremist or even terrorist
activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Thus the two principal faiths opposed to the <i>San</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">tana Dharma</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> are clear in their mind about their purpose and
assiduously and – religiously – work to achieve it. There is no ambiguity in
their thought and purpose. Their intense desire is that their faith should rule
the nation. And that the <i>San</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">tana Dharma</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">
should be stamped out in its homeland! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Their actions and efforts are focussed in that
direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Observing their unanimity of thought and action,
political leaders – although born Hindu – mollycoddle them and pander to their
every wish; they give away national wealth as largesse to pamper them. They
participate in the festivals of these faiths donning <i>their </i>traditional
attires! But no leader of the other faiths appears in a festival of Hindus. If
possible they create hurdles in Hindu celebrations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Hindu political leaders know fully well that the
myriad caste formations in the Hindu faith never unite as each caste wants to
dominate the others in wresting political power. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We have seen the bizarre spectacle of processions of
green flags and ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans of certain interest groups emboldened
by the results in the recent state elections. Neither the forces of law and
order bothered to take action nor any politician stood up to condemn the
anti-national activities. The issue is not about celebration of a certain
political party coming to power but that the nature of the celebrations signifies
an insidious threat to national security and integrity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Such incidents are not just a threat to the survival
of <i>San</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">tana
Dharma</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> but to peace, religious
harmony and national integrity. What could the virtual minority Hindus do to remedy
the situation? For the Hindus who seek peaceful, harmonious co-existence with
others it is an existential crisis. They have suffered for over a thousand years
under alien rule. Sadly the situation does not seem to be different today. In
states like Kerala, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir and the north east they
live in fear. In large tracts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra,
Telangana and Tamil Nadu they live under the hegemony of other religions. There
is a sense of insecurity among Hindus in all these areas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It is not that these realities are unknown. They are
widely shared with statistics in social media like Facebook, WhatsApp and
YouTube. They get shares, likes and forwards but just that. There is no
concrete action or reaction to ameliorate the situation or improve the status
of Hindus to the eminence they deserve. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The mainstream media conceals the facts. Worse it
projects the opposite as truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
regional media considers its job done by promoting the interests of caste,
regional or factional leaders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Thanks to the doctored history that is taught in
schools, colleges and universities today’s youth is oblivious to the atrocities
that were perpetrated on Hindus for centuries in the past. Ignorant of the
past, they are unable to view what is happening today in its proper perspective.
Instead of trying to safeguard their ancient culture and faith they resort to
NOTA peeved by the slightest inconvenience! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What should we do? Just pray the lord to save the <i>San</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ā</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">tana Dharma</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> and the nation?</span></div>
<br /></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-2105373212615213712019-07-07T22:53:00.005+05:302023-05-29T17:35:46.685+05:30The myth of Nehru and the IITs!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>The projection of Nehru as a visionary statesman was a carefully crafted enterprise and incorporated into it were many orchestrated myths. These include the establishment of institutions of excellence (officially Institutions of National Importance or INIs) like the IITs and IIMs. It is another matter though that by the time the first IIM was established in November 1961 Nehru had a job <i>explaining about blades of grass and barren lands in the parliament </i>and exactly a year before the Chinese ended his misery — of having to<i> explain about blades of grass and barren lands in the parliament</i>! </span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><span>Were there no institutions of excellence in ‘India that is Bharat’ (as the <i>Constitution</i> describes it) before the scientific-tempered Nehru waved his magic wand to fill the void? It would not please the <i>secular</i> historians if you said there were. But first let us look at what the scientific-tempered Nehru did to the ‘Ministry of Education’ itself, as the ‘<a href="https://mhrd.gov.in/" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Ministry of Human Resources Development</span></a>’ was known then. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A look at the range and sweep of functions that the <i>Ministry </i>handles is mind-boggling. To put it succinctly, it determines what we learn about our past; what we do with our present and how we shape our future. The <i>Ministry</i> has two broad divisions, the ‘Department of School Education and Literacy’ and the ‘Department of Higher Education’. The latter superintends a number of institutions which include the <a href="http://www.ugc.ac.in/" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">University Grants Commission</span></a> (UGC), the <a href="http://www.aicte-india.org/" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">All India Council of Technical Education</span></a> (AICTE), the <a href="http://www.ncert.nic.in/" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">National Council of Educational Research and Training</span></a></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-kerning: none;"> (NCERT), the Central Universities, the IITs the IIMs, the </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Central Board of Secondary Education</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-kerning: none;"> (CBSE) et al. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1726f3; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-kerning: none;">In 2014 Abhishek Manu Singhvi was ‘astonished’ to learn that the newly appointed HRD minister was “not [even] a graduate”. </span><span style="color: #1826f3; font-kerning: none;">Have you ever wondered about the educational qualifications of India’s first Education Minister, chosen by Nehru to superintend a </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">ministry that was to superintend the institutions of excellence and, research and development in <i>science</i>, <i>engineering</i>, <i>technology</i>, not to speak of <i>humanities</i> and <i>social sciences</i>?</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-kerning: none;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Nehru’s chosen Education Minister was </span><span style="color: #0e0905; font-kerning: none;">Maulana Sayyid </span><span style="color: black; font-kerning: none;">Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-</span><span style="color: #120a08; font-kerning: none;">Hussaini</span><span style="color: black; font-kerning: none;"> Azad!</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> That was a mouthful; wasn’t it? He was born in Mecca but his family relocated to Calcutta in 1890. What were his qualifications for supervising the crucial ministry of education? Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was ‘home-schooled and self-taught’! There need be no objection on that count. A ‘home-schooled and self-taught’ person could turn out to be a genius. But would Nehru have appointed a ‘home-schooled and self-taught’ ‘Shankaracharya’ as India’s education minister? </span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Azad’s activities during and after the freedom movement should leave no one in doubt about his inclinations. He inveigled Gandhi and other <i>Congress</i> leaders into supporting the Khilafat movement in far away Turkey, a movement with which India had nothing to do. It was an ill-advised <i>quid pro quo</i> by the <i>Congress</i> leaders for co-opting influential Muslim leaders into the freedom movement; a <i>quid pro quo</i> the nation would live down to regret. Azad and fellow Khilafat leaders </span><span style="color: black; font-kerning: none;">Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-kerning: none;">Hakim Ajmal Khan</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> along with others founded the </span><span style="color: black; font-kerning: none;"><i>Jamia Millia Islamia</i></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> in Lucknow in 1920. It was later shifted to Delhi. The <i>Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College</i>, the precursor of the <i>Aligarh Muslim University</i> had already been in existence since 1875. In another of those <i>secular </i>anomalies of<i> </i>‘India that is Bharat’, these two institutions of higher learning, funded by the people of India, cater exclusively to the Muslim community. Azad proposed reserving houses vacated by Muslims displaced during partition for Muslims in India. He was in favour of Muslim personal laws as opposed to a uniform civil code (UCC).</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Azad helped Nehru in 1936 in the espousal of </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">socialism</i><span face="Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> as party philosophy in the face of opposition from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Babu Rajendra Prasad and C. Rajagopalachari and in his re-election as </span><i style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Congress</i><span face="Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> president in 1937. In 1946, Azad resigned as president in favour of Nehru. All in all, Azad was Nehru’s ‘twin-soul’ and confidante; worth rewarding with a key portfolio. </span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span face="Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span face="Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"" style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDVMAp9P4vUtmn6K0Q7YRFO3dljhEha390blT269wxOcQtJfmjm3GNwcr-4ziI2uwyPa-KW_oSFDyVtPb2e7WMG3YeW-twy-IdlzPE4OXv8UfiZZ3d--yHgvaObzD6RL9c2TPJoYtDXOr7b7q1TNBZxYtqd6aZJD9EvoivAmFhxJQXH7MhZSc/s1000/India%20Wins%20Freedom%20p.179.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1000" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDVMAp9P4vUtmn6K0Q7YRFO3dljhEha390blT269wxOcQtJfmjm3GNwcr-4ziI2uwyPa-KW_oSFDyVtPb2e7WMG3YeW-twy-IdlzPE4OXv8UfiZZ3d--yHgvaObzD6RL9c2TPJoYtDXOr7b7q1TNBZxYtqd6aZJD9EvoivAmFhxJQXH7MhZSc/w400-h323/India%20Wins%20Freedom%20p.179.png" width="400" /></a></div></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Coming back to the institutions of excellence, were the IITs the <i>first</i> institutions of excellence, established by a visionary Nehru as his sycophants would have us believe? The history of the <a href="https://www.iisc.ac.in/history/" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Indian Institute of Science (IISc)</span></a></span><span style="color: #1126f3; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">does not fit into the Indian Left Illiberals’ fictitious ‘India’s founding fathers’ narrative with Nehru as its over-arching visionary. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><span>During a voyage from Yokohama to Vancouver in 1893, Swami Vivekananda impressed the philanthropist-businessman <a href="http://www.tatabuildingindia.com/New-Site/index.php/tata-world-j-n-tata" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata</span></a> with his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/swamiji.vivekanandaoureternalspirit/posts/1360046737375358:0" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">views on science</span></a>:</span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1826f3; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><span>“How wonderful it would be if we could combine the scientific and technological achievements of the West with the asceticism and humanism of India!”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 36px; min-height: 16px; text-indent: -36px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.tata.com/newsroom/jamsetji-tata-letter-to-swami-vivekananda" rel="" target="_blank">Jamsetji Tata wrote to Swami Vivekananda</a></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> five years later in 1898 about his idea of establishing an institution to promote research in science and technology and seeking his co-operation for it. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><span>A committee was constituted to prepare a blueprint for setting up the institution. Tata bequeathed a substantial part of his own wealth for funding it. Sadly Tata did not live to realise his dream project. He died in 1904. <a href="https://www.iisc.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ORIGIN.pdf" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">The Queen Regent Vani Vilasa Sannidhana of Mysore</span></a> (who ruled the princely state on behalf of her minor son Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV) donated 371 acres of land for the institute and the IISc was inaugurated on May 27, 1909. Nehru was all of twenty years when the IISc was born. Ironically, the only linkage Nehru had with the IISc was that he died on the same day in 1964!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">And now about the IITs! According to the website of the <a href="http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/about-iitkgp-history" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">IIT, Kharagpur</span></a> (the first IIT), the Honourable Sir Jogendra Singh (member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, Department of Education, Health and Agriculture) set up a committee in 1946 to “consider the setting up of Higher Technical Institutions for post war industrial development in India.” The twenty-two member committee headed by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar recommended the setting up of four Higher Technical Institutions in the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern parts of India. They were to be modelled on the lines of the <a href="https://web.mit.edu/" rel="" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span></a></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-kerning: none;"> and the <a href="http://www.illinois.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: black;">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</span></a></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">. Thus was born the first IIT in May 1950 which initially functioned from Calcutta and later shifted to Kharagpur in September 1950. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The IIT, Kharagpur began functioning in the Hijli detention camp (renamed <i>Hijli Shaheed Bhavan</i>) where many of our great freedom fighters were detained and some sacrificed their lives for the independence of the country. The hallowed history of the camp is marked by the martyrdom of two freedom fighters, </span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Santosh Kumar Mitra and Tarakeswar Sengupta, whom the British shot dead on September 16, 1931. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose came to the camp</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">, to receive the dead bodies of the martyred freedom fighters. </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>The most sordid twist in the saga of the <i>Hijli Shaheed Bhavan</i> was that a part of it was converted into the </span><span>“</span><span>Nehru Museum of Science and Technology</span><span>”</span><span> in 1990. <i>The martyrs were dumped on the wayside of history.</i></span><span><i> </i></span></span></div>
</div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-23716021788304343672019-05-25T20:03:00.000+05:302019-11-01T18:53:45.327+05:30Indian Media’s Deus Ex Machina <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-family: "hoefler text"; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<div style="caret-color: rgb(22, 38, 243); color: #1626f3;">
<i><span style="color: #1626f3; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">This piece
was written as the 2014 general election campaign was drawing to a close, and
in a way predictive of which way the wind was blowing.</span></i><br />
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ring out a
slowly dying cause,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">And ancient
forms of party strife;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ring in the
nobler modes of life,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">With sweeter
manners, purer laws.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> –</span> Tennyson, Alfred. In Memoriam [Ring Out Wild Bells].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="right" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: right; text-indent: -13.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">As the
long-drawn election season winds down to choose a new government, two distinct
aspects of it are discernible. The first is the agenda of development and its architect,
Narendra Modi that dominated this election and the second, the increasingly
distortive role played by the Indian media as it reported (or misreported) the
election campaign. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The outcome
of the election has been clear since Narendra Modi opened his campaign with a
rally in Hyderabad on a hot Sunday afternoon in August last year. The opinion
polls, grudgingly reported by a <i>biased </i>English language media
have made it increasingly clear that ‘the nation is yearning for a change’, as
BJP’s Ravi Sankar Prasad had repeatedly tried to din into the collective thick
skull of the media. Only the purblind or the myopic had any doubts about the
steadily surging possibility of the next government being formed by the NDA
headed by the BJP and Narendra Modi. There may be a tsunami rumbling under,
ready to break the surface and change Indian politics forever, but it is safe
to assume that the next government will be formed by a party formation led by
Narendra Modi. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">From the
beginning Narendra Modi tried to steer the election away from the divisive
politics of caste and creed, and election-eve largesse that came to dominate
Indian elections from its inception. He did not woo this or that caste; did not
placate this or that creed nor did he announce reservations and more
reservations for this or that section of the electorate. He sought the people’s
mandate purely on his projected development agenda. He promised the youth a
golden future that is their due. What were his credentials? His development
record in Gujarat! What did the media do? It ignored all that. It set out to
pick and choose bits and bobs from his speeches, stripped them all out of
context and wilfully <i>distorted </i>them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The media’s
‘<i>agenda of distortion</i>’ did not begin with its reportage of Narendra
Modi’s October 27, 2013 ‘<i>Hunkar rally</i>’ in Patna. It has been doing it
since 2002, as detailed in many articles in VOXNDICA. The distortion has only
sharpened in shrillness and perhaps in silliness. The rally at Gandhi Maidan
was attended by a record number of 300,000 people, not seen since Jaya Pakash
Narain.*<span style="mso-text-raise: 5.0pt; position: relative; top: -5.0pt;"> </span>It
was marred by a series of blasts in Patna, intended to subvert it. Modi came to
know of the blasts as soon as he arrived in Patna. Had he panicked and
cancelled the meeting the inevitable stampede would have killed hundreds of
people, many more than the blasts could. Modi retained his composure and
addressed the crowd in Bhojpuri and Maithili, two local dialects and in Hindi
in his oratorical style. The crowd lapped up every word. He asked the Hindus, <i>whether
they would rather fight poverty and backwardness than they did the Muslims</i>.
He asked the Muslims <i>whether they would rather fight poverty and
backwardness than they did the Hindus</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">An objective
media would have highlighted his composure in the face of an obvious terror
attack which saved many lives and the progressive vision which he tried to
project while addressing the gathering. Instead, it chose to dissect whether or
not Modi was accurate in his historical references, taking a cue from either
misunderstood, or malicious tweets from some foot soldiers of the <i>Congress </i>dynasty.
As he was addressing a rally in Bihar it was but natural for him to invoke the
pride of Bihar, the Nalanda University and as a comparison invoke the name of
Takshila the way people speak of Oxford and Cambridge. When people speak of
Oxford and Cambridge they do not mean that the two universities are in the same
place. Similarly when people speak of India’s two ancient universities Nalanda
and Takshila they do not mean that they are in the same place. Yet this was the
nitpicking that the media resorted to ignoring the central idea of the speech. <span style="background: white;">The media dissected every word Modi and his
lieutenant, Amit Shah uttered. It analysed every gesture and utterance of his
other party colleagues to find dissonance. If there were none they simply
invented and substituted it. It analysed their opponents too, but always gave
them the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes in order to balance their opponents’
misdemeanours they had to read meanings into Modi’s and Shah’s utterances. Thus
was ‘revenge’ read into Amit Shah’s speech in Muzaffarnagar. He and the BJP
tried their best to explain, what he sought was ‘<i>electoral</i>’ and not ‘<i>physical</i>’
revenge but the media simply turned a deaf ear. It had to balance Azam
Khan’s <i>seditious </i>speech and it would simply not budge. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">On the other side are ranged the <i>Congress </i>party
and the so- called Aam Admi Party, a phantom created by the media because it
did not want the BJP to walk away with the honours without a challenge. Sonia
and Rahul led the <i>Congress </i>party campaign for a large part of
it. In spite of reading written speeches scarcely looking at the <i>herded</i>,
unenthused audience, Sonia evoked a lot of media hoopla. As for Rahul he shot
his mouth off as much as he shot his cuffs. ‘<i>Gujarat has 27 crore unfilled
jobs</i>!’ This meant every man, woman and child in the state could take up
four-and- a-half jobs, which the wicked Narendra Modi was denying them! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The media realized to its dismay that the mother and son duo was
not getting enough traction to head off the challenger, Modi. It needed a <i>deus
ex machina</i>. The French phrase, <i>deus ex machina </i>(<i>pronounced </i>dā′</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">ə</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">s </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ĕ</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">ks mä′k</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">ə</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">-n</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">ə</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">) means </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">‘</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">an unexpected, artificial or
improbable character introduced suddenly to resolve a situation</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">’</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">. The media therefore ‘invented’ Priyanka Vadra. Anchors on NDTV
and CNNIBN gushed that she was ‘coming’ as if they were announcing the <i>advent </i>of
the next <i>prophet</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">She was never known to address large gatherings or displayed any
kind of vision but she would suffice. She had confined herself to family
boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareilly and <i>interacted with </i>rather
than addressed small, <i>ogling </i>groups. But going by the press
she was getting, you would think she was going to be next prime minister!
Several months ago there was an <i>engineered </i>leak that she was
going to contest this election and probably would take on Modi himself! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The media
conditioned itself to interviewing Sonia and Priyanka like royalty, by asking
leading questions, which <i>included </i>intended or expected
answers. A grunt is taken as affirmation. It makes ‘breaking news’ or a banner
headline. Thus when a journalist proffers a mike at Sonia and asks, ‘do you
think the BJP is polarising the election’ and she says ‘yes’, that is breaking
news. <i>Would you expect her to say no? </i>A paper like <i>The
Times of India </i>headlines it the next day as, ‘<i>Sonia says BJP
communally polarising the election</i>’! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">..................................................<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">*Kanwal,
Rahul. (2013). “Narendra Modi rocks Patna, record crowd at Hunkar rally”. <i>India
Today. </i>October 27, 2013. Accessible from http://goo.gl/GYAAZc <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1626f3; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Reproduced
from <b>‘<i>Twisting Facts To Suit Theories' & Other Selections Voxindica</i></b><i>
</i>(2016. Authors Press, New Delhi), pp 146-148<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-51095240073692640852019-01-11T11:26:00.000+05:302019-06-12T21:36:31.879+05:30Hinduism (Sanātana Dharma) In Peril?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(24, 38, 243); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #1826f3; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>This is the English translation of the Editorial of Ṛṣipīṭham, Telugu magazine, published in its December 2018 issue. The magazine is edited and published by Brahmasri Sāmav</i><b>ē</b><i>dam Ṣanmukha Śarma. Brahmasri Śarma is the foremost exponent of our Sanātana Dhārmic lore. His encyclopaedic knowledge and felicity of expression that makes complex tātvic principles intelligible to common people attract large audiences to his discourses in India and many other nations. Apart from public meetings he appears on several television channels to give discourses on our ancient wisdom. He is a prolific writer and produced many books on Sanātana Dhārmic literature. The translated version of the editorial is published with permission. </i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">“This is the twenty-first century. We have been progressing
technologically and scientifically. Globalization has erased national
boundaries. Is it necessary in this day and age to harbor religious chauvinism?
Does religion really matter? Let us eschew narrow-minded religiosity. What the country needs is development. Basic
necessities like food, water and infrastructure facilities like roads … these
should get our attention rather than religion.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">These are lofty ideals. As the poet said they
are “Good sentences and well pronounced!” But they are preached only to Hindus.
Or are only uttered by Hindus! There may be broadminded people in other faiths
too but they remain mute. And remain faithful to their religious institutions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">How ideal would it be if everyone practiced
their religion in individual or family settings without disturbing social
harmony! But do we see such an atmosphere in India? The intolerance of
non-Hindu religions towards Hinduism is a fact of everyday life that cannot be
concealed. It is a perilous reality that the Indian polity has been ignoring.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A few months ago the pontiff of a
non-Hindu religion clearly and unambiguously pronounced “We should elect a
leader who accords precedence to our religion. Only our religion should rule
the nation.” Another non-Hindu religion has been giving a similar call for
long. It must be noted that no Hindu pontiff resorted to such pronouncements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Does any public or media ‘intellectual’
ask “Should such calls be permitted in a nation that is constitutionally
secular?” Neither do our political leaders condemn such demands. On the other
hand they lose no opportunity to propitiate the proponents of non-Hindu
religions. They offer to construct monumental places of worship for them and
allot hundreds of acres of public land although such deeds are ultra vires of
the Indian Constitution. They are allotting hundreds of crores for their
religious festivals. While the Hindu places of worship are state-controlled and
income from them expropriated, places of worship of non-Hindu religions are
beyond the ken of common law. Governments cannot demand that income from their
places of worship be used for ‘secular’, even developmental purposes. On the
one hand Indian states grapple with deficit budgets and on the other they
shower largesse on non-Hindu religious institutions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The actions of some state governments
and pronouncements of the highest judiciary have the effect of undermining
ancient temple practices and traditions that stood the test of time for
thousands of years. Even state governments led by parties that are
ideologically atheist have succumbed to the diktats of non-Hindu religious
interests to coerce Hindu organizations. Statutes are amended to appoint
non-Hindus to temple management boards.<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Rushipitham/Rshipeetham%20Editorial%20December%202018.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In the national congregation of a non-Hindu religion recently organized in
Secunderabad, a resolution was passed to the effect that its adherents should
work collectively to bring to power a government in which their religion has a
veto. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In a recent bizarre incident,
adherents of a non-Hindu religion who went to ‘bless’ a Hindu Chief Minister
signaled that he should erase the <i>tilak </i>on<i> </i>his forehead, and he
meekly obliged! Incidents such as these should have raised the hackles of
Hindus but lamentably it did not happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A slogan painted in large letters on a
sacred hillside on the way to a famous Siva shrine in Andhra Pradesh declared
that the ‘god’s messenger’ of a non-Hindu religion was the ‘Lord of all’. When
a few Hindu devotees sought to erase it, they were arrested by the police and
cases booked against them as ‘rowdy sheeters’. The charge against them was that
they were disturbing communal harmony! What did the original slogan-painters
do? This incident shows not just the state government’s anti-Hindu approach but
how it accords preferential treatment to non-Hindu religions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Curiously the two non-Hindu religions
don’t take on each other. Their collective target is Hinduism. It is only hapless
Hindus who convert to other religions. Forgetting that their ancestors were
Hindus, adherents of these non-Hindu religions openly keep abusing Hindu gods
and goddesses. In many organizations adherents of the non-Hindu religions
coerce their Hindu subordinates to convert. If they do not obey they are
penalized. Their career progression is hampered. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In organizations in which non-Hindus
rule the roost, applications submitted by Hindus are often binned or action on
them inordinately delayed. The situation prevails even in security and law enforcement
departments. The oppressed Hindus are afraid of bringing the realities out into
the open. Many of them quietly convert succumbing to allurements or coercion. This
is not to say that non-Hindus should not occupy superior positions. All citizens
of this country should enjoy equal rights and have equal opportunities. But
shouldn’t people in positions of power discharge their duties justly instead of
using their positions and powers as coercive weapons for spreading their
religion? It is time Hindus woke up and refused to tolerate political leaders
of whichever hue, who pander to other religions and coerce Hindus. It is due to
corruption in the Hindu religious and endowments departments and aggression of
other religions that the Hindu temples are in a pitiable state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A religion based political party which
committed atrocities against Hindus before independence (but for Sardar Patel
they would have ‘ruled’ the erstwhile princely State) has been indulged by all
political parties in power in ‘secular India! It continues to spew venom
against Hindus. If anyone points this out they are labelled ‘Hindu chauvinist’.
Those who call for ‘one nation, one community, one law’ are labelled ‘religious
bigots’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">All in all it is a scary scenario for the
Hindus. They should wake up; be aware of the impending danger and get ready for
self-protection. If not their apathy would undermine the nation’s progress. If
the Hindus do not act, they will be reduced to the status of second class
citizens as in Kashmir and North Eastern states. They should remember that even
if they decide to run away, there is no other nation in the world to give them
asylum!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
.............................................<br />
<div>
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Rushipitham/Rshipeetham%20Editorial%20December%202018.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In a landmark judgement, the move to appoint non-Hindus to
Hindu temple management boards has been struck down by the Kerala High Court. <i>See</i>
“<span style="background: white;">Devaswom Commissioner of
Travancore/Cochin Devaswom Board Will Always Be A Hindu, Declares Kerala HC</span>”.
2018. <i>LiveLaw.in</i>. November 25, 2018. Accessible from <a href="https://goo.gl/SGcCmG" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://goo.gl/SGcCmG</a></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-40507828675791063422018-12-14T12:27:00.000+05:302019-11-01T23:58:55.188+05:30Undermining Democratic Institutions: Fact And Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ever since
Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, the charge of “undermining
institutions” has been a constant refrain in what is popularly but not
factually known as the mainstream media. He has been accused of “undermining”
every known institution from the Indian Council of Historical Research to the
Reserve Bank of India. The raucous babble reached its crescendo after Urjit
Patel (a Modi appointee) announced his resignation for personal reasons as the
Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The crescendo reached even a higher
pitch after Shaktikanta Das a former IAS official was appointed as RBI Governor
to replace Patel. Notwithstanding the fact that he served as the Revenue
Secretary, the Economic Affairs Secretary and as a member of the Fifteenth
Finance Commission, it was his educational qualifications that became the bone
of contention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">It must be
remembered that when Modi assumed charge as prime minister he left most of the ‘steel
frame’ that he inherited in place except for a few minor changes. It is against
this backdrop, it may be instructive to look back and review who “undermined
institutions” the most. Jawaharlal Nehru ruled for nearly eighteen years since
he became the interim prime minster in 1946 till his death in 1964. His
daughter Indira ruled the nation for sixteen years, from 1966 to 1977 and from
1980 till her death in 1984. Her son Rajiv ruled the nation between 1984 and
1989. His wife Sonia ruled by <i>proxy</i> between 2004 and 2014. <span style="color: blue;">Political chicanery of that magnitude – which amounts to
nothing less than undermining the highest political office in the land – would
not have been possible in any other democracy in the world. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Deception,
Disinformation and Psychological Operations have been originally employed by
intelligence agencies but politicians caught on to them fast. The <i>Congress</i>
party has for long invested in an ecosystem of academic institutions and the
media. They come in handy to discredit and disarm political rivals by deception,
disinformation and psychological operations. Coming back to the issue of
“undermining institutions”, here is a non-exhaustive list of examples of how
institutions were undermined or worse sabotaged to suit political whims and
fancies under various <i>Congress</i> leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Jawaharlal
Nehru</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us begin
with the reign of Jawaharlal Nehru who has been hailed as an epitome of
democratic values. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Curtailing freedom of expression</span> India’s best and brightest minds toiled for about three years to craft the
longest written <i>Constitution</i> of the world. It was adopted on January 26,
1950. Even before the ink on the original <i>Constitution</i> dried, Nehru
proposed the first amendment. The Americans amended their <i>Constitution</i>
about thirty times in two hundred and forty years while we enacted a hundred
and one amendments in seventy years. Whereas the American first amendment <i>strengthened</i>
freedom of expression, Nehru’s first amendment, enacted on June 18, 1951 <i>curtailed</i>
freedom of expression. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Curtailing powers of the judiciary</span> The Indian first amendment did more. It created the
Ninth Schedule which barred judicial scrutiny of legislations included in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Downgrading
the Finance Ministry</span> Enamoured as he was of the Soviet system of governance, he
created the Planning Commission an extra-<i>Constitutional</i> body, which in
a way reduced the importance of the Finance Ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Dismissing
state governments</span> When Nehru used the Art. 356 of the Indian <i>Constitution</i>
to dismiss the Kerala state government in 1959, he set a dubious precedent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Undermining
the Cabinet and Parliament</span> Nehru took many decisions which have had
long-lasting adverse effects without consulting the parliament or his own
cabinet, thus undermining the institutions. The decisions include<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Calling
a ceasefire in Jammu & Kashmir in October 1947 when the Indian army was
winning the war.</span> <span style="color: blue;">The effect of this ill-advised decision was to lose a third of
the state and altering international borders with India’s neighbours. Had India
retained PoK, we would have retained Gilgit-Baltistan too. We would have had a
border with Afghanistan. His decision to refer the issue to the UNO was equally
inexplicable. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dilly-dallying
on Junagadh and Hyderabad against the wishes of the <i>Cabinet</i>. But for </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.voxindica.net/2018/06/patel-reversed-junagadhs-accession-to.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Patel’s timely action</span></a></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: red;">, these states would now
have been part of Pakistan.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Concealing
intelligence reports</span> <span style="color: blue;">about the construction of a mountain road network in Aksai
Chin by the Chinese.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: red;">Withdrawing
unilaterally the extra-territorial rights in Tibet which India inherited from
the British. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Sacrificing
Tibet by accepting the Chinese claim that Tibet was a part of it. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: red;">[The last two ill-advised decisions removed a buffer state between India
and China.]</span><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;">Refusing
to accept United Nations Security Council seat</span> when it was offered on a platter
to India but instead demanding that it be granted to China.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Refusing accession of Kalat and Nepal</span> At
the time of partition, a few neighbouring States wished to accede to India.
These include Nepal and the Kingdom of Kalat which forms a large part of modern
Baluchistan. Nehru rejected them. Oman which owned the port of Gwadar on the
southwest coast of Baluchistan offered to sell it to India. Again for reasons
best known to him Nehru rejected the offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
worst undermining of all was refusing to look after the needs of the Indian
armed forces in terms of manpower recruitment and training and equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Inducting
dynastic succession.</span> Nehru made his sister Vijayalakshmi ambassador to the
United Nations and the USSR. His daughter Indira was unofficially Nehru’s
personal assistant through his years as the prime minister. This made her privy
to government documents despite the Official Secrets Act. Later he made his
daughter the president of AICC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Awarding
himself the Bharat Ratna</span> The award is recommended by the prime minister. But
Nehru was the first recipient of the award in the year of its institution.
Nehru’s apologists argue that Rajendra Prasad did it off his own bat to signal
truce between them but nothing prevented Nehru from refusing to accept it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Indira
Gandhi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Revocation
of Privy Purses</span> to the former Maharajas. It was a </span><a href="https://www.voxindica.net/2016/11/abolition-of-privy-purses-betrayal-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">sovereign guarantee</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;"> given to them by the <i>Constituent
Assembly</i>. Her action amounted to undermining the authority of the
parliament.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
the late 1960s and early 1970s she had had several judicial reverses. They
include the <i>Bank Nationalization case</i>, the <i>Privy Purses case</i> and the
<i>Fundamental Rights case</i>. Unlike her father who simply amended the <i>Constitution</i>
in response to adverse judicial verdicts, she went a step ahead and undermined
the judiciary itself. Within hours after the verdict in the <i>Fundamental
Rights case</i> was delivered in 1973, she superseded several judges and
appointed a pliant judge as the CJI. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Refusing
to heed the judicial verdict</span> about her parliament seat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Declaring
the (internal) <i>Emergency</i></span> which undermined <i>democracy</i> itself.
Technically the (external) <i>Emergency</i> declared in 1962 after the Chinese invasion
was still in force. Neither her father nor she saw it necessary to repeal it! Fundamental
rights including the <i>right to life</i> suspended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Dismissing
state governments and <i>Governors</i> at will.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Her
refusal to accept a split in the <i>Congress</i> party</span> and her lust for power
led to the 1969 Gujarat riots which lasted – six months – and resulted in the
death of about 5000 people. The 1983 Nellie massacre in which 3000 Muslims were
killed occurred in Indira’s reign. By the by, more than 90% of communal riots
in India occurred during the reigns of Jawaharlal, Indira and Rajiv.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Making
her son Snjay a supra-<i>Constitutional</i> authority. </span><span style="color: blue;">Chief Ministers danced
to his tunes.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: red;">Her
propping up Bhindranwale to undermine the Akalis and her war on the Golden
temple.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Awarding
herself the Bharat Ratna</span> <span style="color: blue;">This time the fig leaf of Rajendra Prasad was not
there.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: red;">An
action that has long-lasting adverse effects was handing over the universities
and other intellectual institutions to the left-illiberal elite as a quid pro
quo for political support. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Rajiv
Gandhi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">His
reign began with the Sikh genocide</span>, in which between 8000 and 10000 Sikhs were
killed. The genocide was a blot on democracy, and the biggest undermining of
the institution of democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Sacking
his Finance Minister to alter the import policy </span>(for importing PTA and other
chemicals used in the manufacture of polyester fibre). This was to favour
Dhirubhai Ambani. The policy declaration was a replica (or was it a template)
of the 2G spectrum auction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">His
grandfather sought to control freedom of expression through his first
amendment. His mother used carrots and sticks to reign in the media. He sought
to control the media through an amendment to the Posts and Telegraphs Act, but
had to drop it due to widespread criticism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
sacked his Foreign Secretary, A. P. Venkateswaran in a <i>press conference</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Sonia
Maino</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">
(the <i>de facto</i> PM)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Creation
of the institution of ‘UPA Chairperson’.</span> <span style="color: blue;">It was an extra-<i>Constitutional </i>authority.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="color: red;">Creation
of the extra-<i>Constitutional </i>NAC which was a supra-<i>Cabinet</i>
superintending the work of the prime minister’s </span><i><span style="color: red;">Cabinet.</span><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Commissioning
social “activists” like Teesta Setalvad to draft legislation (the impugned
Communal Violence Bill) and school text books. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now
let us see the other argument about an IAS officer being appointed as the
Governor of RBI. The following RBI Governors were from the IAS: B. Rama Rau, K.
G Ambegaonkar, H. V. R. Iyengar, L. K. Jha, S. Jagannathan, R. N. Malhotra, S.
Venkateswaran and Y. V. Reddy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Finally,
let us look at the argument that only <i>economists</i> should head <i>economic
</i>institutions. In the years between 1970–1973; 1976–1983; 1985–1987;
1990–1997; 2000–2013 and 2017–2018 Americans won the Nobel Prize for economics.
India’s Amartya Sen won it in 1998 giving us bragging rights! While the
Americans won the maximum number of economics Nobel prizes or shared them with
others, the American economy has had its ups and downs. The American economy
saw recession in the years 1969-70; 1973-75; 1980-82; the early 1990s; the
early 2000s and the worst in 2007-8. The 2008 collapse wiped out life’s savings
of many Americans including Indian expatriates, making millions paupers
overnight. So much for economists!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-46190901730340963082018-08-01T19:12:00.001+05:302024-01-30T23:27:31.421+05:30Is Astrology Science Or Superstition?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUOA5KYTc4q47gfGQNLaJ0LEMpvipP81zMBjlyNm4n46VZ3ZxU-iuf5dwgCHnY27Y2iYKa2HEAYleS0cEW34hV0ZjMHvsXaOdhlEGuNw-owwUgWRdoW6aWd4J7ddlGJ-44wwvdmNyXFsAgfyvfIhVourQmYciHKzwooVC8MkUbhMvIbohy4w4IA/s626/Astrology.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="626" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUOA5KYTc4q47gfGQNLaJ0LEMpvipP81zMBjlyNm4n46VZ3ZxU-iuf5dwgCHnY27Y2iYKa2HEAYleS0cEW34hV0ZjMHvsXaOdhlEGuNw-owwUgWRdoW6aWd4J7ddlGJ-44wwvdmNyXFsAgfyvfIhVourQmYciHKzwooVC8MkUbhMvIbohy4w4IA/s320/Astrology.png" width="320" /></a></div>On the eve of the May 2014 general elections, several </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Telugu
</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">news channels conducted what they call ‘panel discussions’ on </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">astrology</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">.
It would be a mistake to expect ‘panel discussions’ on television to be
objective in which the two sides of the issues under discussion are debated and
rational conclusions arrived at. There is nothing </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">rational </i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">or </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">scientific
</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">about the debates. The subjects are selected based on their topicality to
arouse viewer interest and are subject to two limitations: the channel’s
political worldview and the political correctness of the subject. Commercial
interests of course, determine a channel’s political worldview. As for
political correctness, it depends on whether there would be a backlash. Even
the most intrepid champions of freedom of speech tread cautiously in the face
of a suspected backlash. If they are sure there would be no backlash, they would
go overboard flogging the issue. There is no need to state the converse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the discussions on <i>astrology</i>, a couple of
‘not very articulate’ <i>astrologers </i>were pitted against rabble rousing <i>rationalists
</i>and asked to predict the outcome of the elections. Despite protestations
that <i>Jyothisha </i>predictions should not be made without sufficient data
they were made to predict electoral outcomes, only to be jeered at. The anchors
saw to it that the odd articulate <i>astrologer </i>did not get enough air
time. He was simply shouted down in cacophony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The overt objection of the <i>rationalists </i>to <i>astrology
</i>is that it is <i>unscientific</i>. If the objections were really
‘scientific’, they should have objected to such disciplines as <i>craniometry </i>(measurement
of the head), <i>phrenology </i>(measurement of the skull) and <i>nasal indices
</i>as predictors of race not to speak of the wholly unscientific Aryan
Invasion Theory (AIT)—which was based not on <i>historical </i>or <i>archaeological
</i>evidence but on comparative <i>philology</i>! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Their unstated, underlying objection could be that it
is a <i>Hindu </i>discipline! The <i>rationalists</i>, with their pathological
rather than logical hatred for everything <i>Hindu </i>forget that the original
<i>Jyothisha Vedänga </i>concerned itself with <i>astronomy</i>, not <i>astrology</i>.
The primary objective of this <i>Vedic </i>addendum (of the <i>Rig </i>and <i>Yajur
Vedas</i>) was in the preparation of almanacs. The Indian almanac writers known
as <i>Siddhantis </i>have been producing <i>accurate </i>almanacs for hundreds
of years. The predictive discipline of <i>astrology </i>was a latter-day
offshoot, just as <i>psephology </i>was an offshoot of political <i>science </i>which
itself can hardly be described as <i>science</i>. The question that the <i>faux
rationalists </i>should seriously introspect is, ‘Why do they unquestioningly
believe in <i>psephology </i>while they equally irrationally disbelieve in <i>astrology</i>?’
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What logical arguments do the <i>rationalists </i>offer
in support of their contention that <i>astrology </i>is unscientific? Do they
offer cogent reasoning and verifiable proofs? No, just an arrogant and unsubstantiated
assertion that it is ‘impossible’! In the history of science, there are many
examples which disprove the theory of ‘impossibility’ when subsequent
discoveries upturned confident assertions. For example, in 1800, the English
scientist, John Dalton proposed that the <i>atom </i>was the smallest particle
of elements and was indestructible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Eysenck and Nias list several ‘impossibility’ theories
which fell flat when subsequent discoveries disproved them.<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Is%20asrology%20science.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
In 1933 Albert Einstein and Ernest Rutherford two of the world’s greatest
physicists declared that the splitting of an atom could have no practical uses.
Just twelve years later America dropped its bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Many countries in the world today harness the energy released by the splitting
of an atom for peaceful uses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Galileo, Kepler and Copernicus, all dismissed the
theory that oceanic tides were caused by the moon as ‘<i>astrological </i>nonsense’.
Johannes Muller, a very reputed nineteenth century physiologist and the author
of an authoritative monograph on the subject, declared that measuring the speed
of a nervous impulse would never be possible. Only three years later Helmholtz
had measured it quite accurately. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What is <i>science </i>and what are the criteria that
should be satisfied for a discipline to be declared <i>scientific</i>? Eysenck
and Nias suggest three methodologies. Sir Francis Bacon’s <i>induction </i>method
involves collection of facts and a theory hypothesized based on them. The
Vienna School of Logical positivism suggests that a theory is proposed which is
then verified or disproved by research. Then there is Sir Karl Popper’s
argument that no theory can be <i>finally </i>verified as, even after a theory
is verified umpteen times, one more experiment might still disprove it. The
catch in this proposition is that Popper believes that ‘a theory is scientific
if it is open, not to being proved true (which it never can) but to being
proved wrong’. The authors argue that none of these methodologies were <i>ever </i>applied
to astrology before <i>disqualifying </i>it as science. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A generally accepted criterion for a scientific theory
is that its results should be <i>replicable</i>, i.e. it should yield
predictable results and that the same results should be obtained in repeated experiments.
Let us consider the example of modern medicine to validate this theory. Medical
magazines regularly publish clinical trial reports of medical, surgical,
radiological or other procedures used in the treatment of diseases. The reports
very rarely report 100% cure rates with several trials reporting as low as
60-70% success rates. This means the results of curative procedures used in
modern medicine are <i>not </i>always replicable. In spite of this anomaly,
none disputes that modern medicine is a scientific discipline. ‘Statistical
significance’ (rather than absolute conformity) is an accepted criterion for
validation of results in ‘double blind cross over’ clinical trials used to
study the efficacy of medicines. A majority of rationalists appear to be
unaware of such nuances in <i>scientific </i>criteria. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">While Eysenck and Nias do not explicitly say that
astrology <i>is </i>a scientific discipline, they do not dismiss it as
superstition either. They argue that more data is needed to come to a definite conclusion
and more research. They cite the work of Michel and Francoise Gauquelin to
support their view. Eysenck and Nias describe the Gauquelins as ‘a rare
combination, possessing both a detailed knowledge of astrology and a genuine
scientific outlook based on a formal academic training.’ The Gauquelins were
not astrologers but professional psychologists steeped in the ways of research.
Their work in <i>cosmobiology </i>found a positive correlation between certain
personality traits (which determine professional success) and planetary
positions at the time of birth. Here is a brief account of the work of the Gauquelins
that may be instructive: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Gauquelins began their work by analyzing 576 members of the
French Academy of Medicine, ‘who had achieved academic distinction by virtue of
their research’. They found that the doctors were all born when Mars or Saturn
had just risen or just passed midheaven. In order to validate the theory, the
Gauquelins tried to replicate their experiment with another group of 508
doctors with similar antecedents. The replication conformed to the original
observation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Encouraged and intrigued by the results they extended the research
to include other professionals in Belgium, Germany, Holland and Italy and
reviewed 25,000 birth dates. When they contrasted 5,100 successful artists with
3,647 successful scientists they found quite interestingly that while the
scientists were born when Saturn has just risen or was past midheaven, the
artists tended to <i>avoid </i>being born under the planet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Similarly when they reviewed the birth charts of 3,438 military
leaders, in 680 cases (against 590 sufficient for statistical significance) they
found that Mars considered the symbol of the god of war had risen or was past
midheaven. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">In order to confirm the results the researchers studied control
groups selected from the general population and concluded that the planetary
positions as mentioned occurred only for the births of the famous and
distinguished. The results seem to indicate that these planets are ‘related to
destiny, success and good fortune’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">A corollary to the observations already made was the predictability
of certain character traits found in business leaders and successful
sportspersons. It was found that those with birth times associated with Mars
were seen to have greater determination and iron will. A study that reviewed
the birth charts of 2,089 sportspersons, 1,409 actors and 3,647 scientists could
predict personality factors like ‘extravert’, ‘introvert’, ‘unstable’ and
‘tough-minded’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The researchers made quite a few other interesting observations
in their studies. It is not possible to include them all here for want of
space. However one point deserves mention. <span style="color: blue;">Invariably
the results the researches obtained conformed to naturally occurring births and
not artificially induced ones. This means that human hand cannot design destiny.
It has to be ordained by the Gods! </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Eysenck and Nias conclude that “the time has come to state
quite unequivocally that a new science is in process of being born.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It may be apt to remember what Bertrand Russel said on
‘the value of scepticism’: “When the experts are agreed, the opposite opinion
cannot be held to be certain.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Is%20asrology%20science.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Eysenck, H. J., and Nias, D.K.B. (1984). <i>Astrology
Science or Superstition? </i>Penguin Books. New York.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Excerpted from ‘TWISTING FACTS TO SUIT THEORIES’ AND OTHER SELECTIONS FROM VOXINDICA. (2016). Authors Press New Delhi. pp. 434-439</span></i><br /></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-17454343774491489032018-07-01T11:55:00.001+05:302018-08-07T12:55:44.186+05:30Learning or Political Conditioning?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #3333ff; font-family: "vollkorn" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">If we are asked to name a singular, monumental failure of
independent India, we can unhesitatingly point out that it was our inability to
forge a national spirit. Every institution contributed to this failure
including the education system. This essay </span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #3333ff; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">excerpted
from ‘TWISTING FACTS TO SUIT THEORIES’ AND OTHER SELECTIONS FROM VOXINIDCA’
(pp. 290-298) examines the role played by text books written for school
students and how they contributed to exacerbate rather than reduce caste
schism. In particular it critiques the Class IX social science text book
published by NCERT in 2007. </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">In common understanding,
</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">learning
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">means
the acquisition of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">knowledge </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">skills</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. In terms of behavioural sciences learning implies acquisition of
knowledge, skills and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">attitude </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">resulting in permanent change in </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">behaviour</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. It is </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">attitude </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">that informs thought
processes and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">character</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. This is the reason why traditional </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Bharatiya </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">education focused on
shaping </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">attitude
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">character</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Behaviour </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">has two other modifiers:
</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">experience
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">conditioning</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Experience </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">is gained by repeated
application of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">knowledge </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">skills</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Conditioning
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">is the
result of positive or negative experiences. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Conditioning </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">is the rationale
underlying the ‘carrot and stick’ principle of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">motivation</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. However, hardened </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">attitude </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">can sometimes override </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">knowledge </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">skills </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">in shaping </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">behaviour</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. For example, erudition
may not bar a university professor from becoming a criminal; or a well-educated
highly-paid individual from becoming a terrorist. The focus of traditional </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Bharatiya </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">education on </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">behaviour </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">character </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">was to defy experiential
</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">conditioning</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. It was to tread the
path of righteousness irrespective of positive or negative experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The three dimensions of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">learning </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">are: </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">education </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">which helps in the
acquisition of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">knowledge</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">; </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">training
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">which
helps in the acquisition of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">skills </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">development </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">which implies positive </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">modification of
behaviour </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">of
a permanent nature. </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Competence </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">is the ability to selectively apply </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">knowledge</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">skills </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">behaviour </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">to suit the context, to
achieve desired results or </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">performance</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. The objective of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">learning </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">that we impart in
schools and colleges is to inculcate all three. Viewed in the light of this
preamble, how do the NCERT textbooks shape thought, attitude, character and
behaviour? The NCERT Social Science textbook for Class IX, published in 2007,
is rather grandiosely introduced to the reader: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“All too often in the past, the
history of the modern world was associated with the history of the west. It was
as if change and progress happened only in the west. As if the histories of
other countries were frozen in time, they were motionless and static. People in
the west were seen as enterprising, innovative, scientific, industrious,
efficient and willing to change. People in the east—or in Africa and South
America—were considered traditional, lazy, superstitious, and resistant to
change.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">After reading this, the
reader is likely to be confused by the introductory part of ‘Section I’, as it
interprets the ideas that shaped India’s freedom movement. The latter informs
the reader that ideas like </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">liberty </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">equality</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, products of the French Revolution and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">socialism</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, product of the Russian
Revolution, have informed anti-colonial movements in India and China. It
mirrors the Western view that Gandhi was inspired by Rousseau, the French
Revolution and Thoreau. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The chapter on
‘Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution’ (p. 25-48), written by Prof.
Hari Vasudevan of the Calcutta University, describes the origins of the Russian
Revolution in glowing terms: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“The political trends were signs of a
new time. It was a time of profound social and economic changes. It was a time
when new cities came up and new industrialised regions developed, railways
expanded and the Industrial Revolution occurred.” (p. 26)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">To say that the chapter
is economical with the truth would be an understatement, as what it does </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">not </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">mention about the
Russian Revolution is perhaps at least as important as what it does. For
example it bypasses the more fundamental question that strikes anyone
interested in the history of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">: “Why did a doctrine
premised on proletarian revolution in industrial societies come to power </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">only </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">in predominantly
agrarian ones, by Marxist definition those least prepared for ‘socialism’?”<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor does it mention that “Communism’s recourse
to ‘permanent civil war’ rested on the ‘scientific’ Marxist belief in class
struggle as the ‘violent midwife of history’, in Marx’s famous metaphor”. (</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Ibid</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. p. xix)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The one party rule which
suppressed democratic rights, the reprisals, the forced labour camps, the
executions all get passing mention as if they were minor, insignificant
details. The chapter mentions the severe reprisals, deportations and exiles
meted out to those who were opposed to Stalin’s collectivization programme. But
there is no mention of the suppression of the right to free speech, an issue so
dear to the ever-agitating Indian communists. There is also no mention that an
estimated 100 million lives were sacrificed at the altar of the ‘class struggle
that was the violent midwife of history’, the world over, and about 20 million
deaths in the erstwhile Soviet Union alone. The Chinese version of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Marxist Communism</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, to which a majority of
Indian communists owe allegiance, consumed a staggering 65 million lives in its
class struggles. (</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Ibid</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. p. 4) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The introductory part of
‘Section I mentions in passing that ‘[t]oday Soviet Union has broken up and
socialism is in crisis ...’ But the chapter on Russian Revolution was not
revised to reflect these changes in the 2007 edition, brought out a good
sixteen years after the implosion of the Soviet Union and the larger </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communist </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">world. The following
passage almost gives the impression that socialism (or </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">) continues to rule
about half of the world, as it did earlier and that the USSR is alive and
kicking:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“By the end of the twentieth century,
the international reputation of the USSR as a socialist country had declined
though it was recognised that socialist ideals still enjoyed respect among its
people. But in each country the ideas of socialism were rethought in a variety
of different ways.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Is there a deliberate
attempt to downplay the excesses of the Moguls and the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communists</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, and the decline of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">on the one hand and
magnify social distinctions in the Hindu society on the other? The two
anecdotes ‘Caste and cricket’ (p.151)<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
and ‘Caste Conflict and Dress Change’ (p. 168)<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
are pointers. ‘Caste and cricket’ is about the Indian cricketer, Babaji
Palwankar Baloo (1876-1955). It repeatedly says he played for ‘Hindus’ and
despite being very talented, never made captain of ‘Hindus’ because of caste
discrimination. In point of fact he played for the Hindu club, </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Deccan Gymkhana<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> in Pune. In those days
there was the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">European Gymkhana</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Parsi Gymkhana </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">(the first non-European
club), the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Hindu
Gymkhana </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and
the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Muslim
Gymkhana</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">,
as the British refused to recognise India as a single national entity. The four
played the ‘Bombay Quadrangular’ tournament which eventually expanded to the
‘Bombay Pentangular’ with the inclusion of the ‘Rest’. Palwankar was initially
rolling, watering and tending the pitch in a European sports club. The
Europeans used him in net practice where his bowling talent was noted. He
recounted that the Europeans never allowed him to bat even in the nets.
Eventually he was included in the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Deccan Gymkhana </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">team. Palwankar later
moved to Bombay and played for the ‘Parmanandas Jivandas Hindu Gymkhana’ club.
The anecdote omits several important facts which would have put the ‘caste’
issue in its proper perspective. There was a tussle between the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">conservative </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">progressive </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">members of the Hindu
Gymkhana for the inclusion of Palwankar in the team and the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">progressives </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">eventually prevailed. It
would be more appropriate to point out that Palwankar’s talent prevailed. At a function
to honour Palwankar, the well-known freedom fighter Mahadev Govind Ranade, a
Brahmin, garlanded him and chided his teammates for their caste discrimination.
At about the same time, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (another Brahmin) praised him.
There was a tussle (again) between the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">conservatives </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">and </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">progressives </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">in the Hindu Gymkhana
when it was time to appoint a new captain for the team. What was left unsaid
was there was a valid cricketing reason<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
at least in those days, for not making him captain:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“[Palwankar] Baloo was the team’s
main bowler, and it has traditionally been thought that batsmen make better
captains than bowlers. Bowlers, it is thought, have to think about their own
bowling while on the field while batsmen do not have any personal
responsibility and can thus focus on the broader </span><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">game.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">progressives </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">won again and
Palwankar’s brother Vithal was eventually made captain in 1924, by which time
Palwankar retired. The Hindu Mahasabha fielded Palwankar in an election to the
Bombay Municipality in 1933, against an upper caste candidate. The </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Congress </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">party fielded Palwankar
against B. R. Ambedkar in the Bombay Legislative Assembly elections in 1937. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">On page 145 there is
another boxed anecdote, about </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Tom Brown’s Schooldays</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, a novel published a
hundred and fifty years ago. The anecdote has been included because there is a conversation
about cricket in it. The book has been prescribed as a non-detailed text for
high school students for decades, as a legacy from colonial pedagogy; just as
sections of the Bible were included in syllabi for university students pursuing
masters in English. The excerpt of the conversation between Arthur and Tom
discussing the virtues of cricket is perhaps understandable. But it is
difficult to comprehend the objective with which the following introduction of
the novel was included:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Thomas Hughes (1822-1896) [...]
wrote a novel, </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Tom Brown’s Schooldays</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">. The book
published in 1857, </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">became popular and helped spread the ideas of what
came to be called muscular Christianity that believed that healthy citizens had
to be moulded through Christian ideals and sports. </span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">[...] In this
book Tom Brown is transformed from a nervous, homesick, timid boy into a
robust, manly student. He becomes a heroic figure recognised for his physical
courage, sportsmanship, loyalty and patriotism.” (Italics added.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">What is the effect of
these lines on young, impressionable minds? If one were to put it bluntly, does
it or not promote ‘muscular Christianity’? If the authors wanted to introduce a
cricket anecdote from literature there are many to choose from. A funny,
satirical account of the game “A Village Cricket Match” appeared in A. G.
Macdonnell’s ‘</span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">England, Their England</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">’ (1933). In fact, the book became immensely
popular because of the description of the cricket match between a village
cricket team and a London team. Christopher Nicholson wrote in 2004:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“No other account of a cricket match,
or indeed any sporting occasion, has been as amusingly described nor is as </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">replete
with historical, social and political allusions</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">.” (Italics
added.)<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">The history that is
taught in our schools appears to be replete with inaccuracies, flawed,
incomplete or politically slanted narratives. The syllabus does not seem to
have been revised, going by the information available in the NCERT website. The
rewriting of history in India does not have the brazenness associated with the
rewriting of history envisioned by Orwell in his dystopian </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Nineteen
Eighty-Four</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">.
It is far subtler and for that reason more insidious. In the novel, the
function of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Minitrue
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">(ministry
of truth) was to constantly rewrite history to suit the </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">current </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">philosophy and
objectives of the rulers. One should remember, Orwell wrote about the rewriting
of history in </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Oceania</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">, a nation with a one-party rule. If India were ever to come under a
one-party rule, well, the mind boggles to imagine the consequences! It would be
naïve to dismiss the writing of history in contemporary India does not have
anything to do with such an objective! Fortunately, there is no need to wrestle
with a boggling mind about the consequences of one-party rule under </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. Betrand Russell summed
it up for us, eight decades ago and about six-and-a-half decades before the religion
called </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism
</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">imploded:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Communism is </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">not </span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">democratic.
What it calls the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ is in fact the dictatorship
of a small minority, who become an oligarchic governing class. […] </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">To suppose
that it will always act for the general good is mere foolish idealism, and is contrary
to Marxian political ideology</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">.” (Italics added.)<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Russell disabused the
gullible of any mistaken notions they might harbor about </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">being some kind of
democracy in which all citizens would have a say:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">“</span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Communism </span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">restricts
liberty, particularly intellectual liberty, more than any other system except </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">Fascism</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">. </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
complete unification of both economic and political power produces a terrifying
engine of oppression, in which there are no loopholes for exceptions.</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 13.5pt;">” (Italics
added.)<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">As if he was answering
the snake-oil salesmen who have been extolling the virtues of </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communist </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">dogma, he unequivocally explained
why there would be no progress under </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communist </span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">rule:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">“Under such a system, progress would soon become
impossible, since it is the nature of the bureaucrats to object to all change
except increase in their own power. All serious innovation is only rendered
possible by some accident enabling unpopular persons to survive. Kepler lived
by astrology, Darwin by inherited wealth, </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Marx by Engel’s ‘exploitation’ of
the proletariat of Manchester</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. Such opportunities of surviving in spite of
unpopularity would be impossible under </span><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Communism</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">.” (Italics added.)<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Bhattacharya, Neeladri. “History and a Changing
World” In </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">India and the Contemporary World—I </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">(Textbook
in History for Class IX. (2007). Publications Department, NCERT. New Delhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Courtois, Stéphane, Werth, Nicolas, Panné, Jean-Louis, Paczkowski,
Andrzej, Bartosek, Karel and Margolin, Jean-Louis. (1999). </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Black Book of Communism—Crimes Terror Repression </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">(Translated by Murphy, Jonathan and Kramer, Mark. Consulting Editor:
Kramer, Mark). London. Harvard University Press. p. xix<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Kesavan, Mukul. “History of Sport: The Story of
Cricket” (pp. 141-158).The chapter is drawn mainly from: Guha, Ramachandra.
(2002). “</span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">A Corner of a Foreign Field</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">: </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">The
Indian History of a British Sport</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">.” Picador. Chapter VII.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Nair, Janaki. “Clothing: A Social History” (pp.
159-178) (Textbook in History for Class IX. (2007). Publications Department,
NCERT. New Delhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Guha, Ramachandra. “Cricket and Politics in
Colonial India”. </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Past and Present</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">. No. 161.
Nov. 1998. (pp. 155-190). p. 170. Accessible from </span><a href="http://goo.gl/FUq6Rc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">http://goo.gl/FUq6Rc</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Ansari, Muneeb (2011). “The Bombay Quadrangular:
Cricket as a Political Forum in India.” May 2011. Accessible from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="https://goo.gl/FXB9ox" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://goo.gl/FXB9ox</a></span> p. 11 </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">Footnote.</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Nicholson, Christopher. (2004). “The Funniest Cricket Match Ever”.
Accessible from <a href="https://goo.gl/UqoXVN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://goo.gl/UqoXVN</a></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Russell, Bertrand. (1935). “IN PRAISE OF
IDLENESS AND OTHER ESSAYS”. Sixth Impression (1970). Unwin Books. London. p. 70</span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond-Italic;">.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ibid.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="line-height: 18.0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Learning%20or%20Political%20Conditioning.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ibid.</i></span></div>
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</div>VOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-86143879184176506592018-06-04T00:47:00.001+05:302023-12-07T18:50:53.176+05:30Patel Reversed Junagadh’s Accession To Pakistan And Reintegrated In India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWcN6bb_3zQoSiVtTZwpePnW81yHNYZ4EO492BagJeXXJs65aZJko1PXdvaJhSLRSIUJvUM7zXiCMvlNiemQwlYvyltPp6yFc9A3Ce0jHa1E6f4KzTv-obAe_VEJ2DazINHHTFWJjPxy9k-5o9B285xd4-_YGCGpB0ErwjITWw15osRB3RRG_EQ/s330/Somanath_mandir_(cropped).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="330" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgWcN6bb_3zQoSiVtTZwpePnW81yHNYZ4EO492BagJeXXJs65aZJko1PXdvaJhSLRSIUJvUM7zXiCMvlNiemQwlYvyltPp6yFc9A3Ce0jHa1E6f4KzTv-obAe_VEJ2DazINHHTFWJjPxy9k-5o9B285xd4-_YGCGpB0ErwjITWw15osRB3RRG_EQ/s320/Somanath_mandir_(cropped).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Did you know that Prabhas Patan, where the famous Somnath temple
is located would have been in Pakistan had not Sardar Patel acted with dispatch
and decisiveness in October-November 1947? Thanks to the history doctored by omission
and commission by the left-illiberal historians few people in India today know
the story of Junagadh. As everyone knows, the British gave 565 princely states
the option to join India or Pakistan in August 1947. Of these two could not
have joined India because of their geographical location. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A third, Kalat which constitutes a major part of
Balochistan wanted to join India but Nehru’s political myopia prevented that.
Jinnah moved swiftly to annex the mineral-rich State. Jammu and Kashmir
was not the only state which Pakistan sought to occupy by force. Whereas
Pakistan could only partially succeed in its designs on J & K, it fully
occupied Kalat. Thus Pakistan which was founded based on religion had a violent
streak in its national psyche since its inception although peace lowers on the Indian
side delude themselves that the leopard would someday shed its spots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Some would argue that agreeing to the accession of Kalat
to India would have attenuated the arguments for the integration of Hyderabad
in India. However, Pakistan advanced the same arguments to annex Junagadh as
India could for the accession of Kalat but did not, and did for the accession
of Jammu and Kashmir but still lost a third of its territory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Of the remaining princely states Sardar Patel seamlessly
integrated 560 states into the Indian Union, including a recalcitrant Hyderabad.
Nehru who handled Jammu and Kashmir made a dog’s breakfast of it. There was
another state, Junagadh which while pretending to join India secretly planned
and joined Pakistan on August 15, 1947. Read why its accession would have been
disastrous for India and how Sardar Patel reversed its accession to Pakistan
and brought it back into India’s fold. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The princely state of Junagadh is at the south-western corner of the
Saurashtra peninsula of modern Gujarat. It was an important state of what was
known as the Kathiawar group of states in pre-independence India. Junagadh was
deep inside and surrounded on three sides by India and on the south and
southwest by the Arabian Sea. It has no overland route to Pakistan. The
distance between the nearest ports Veraval (Junagadh) and Karachi (Sind,
Pakistan) is about 300 miles. Another complicating geographical factor about
the state is that throughout its borders either its territories jutted into
neighbouring states like fingers or their territories jutted into it. Spread
over 3,337 square miles, it had a population of 6.71 lakh according to 1941
census of which 80% were Hindus. Its famous Jain and Hindu temples including
the famous Somnath temple attracted pilgrims from all over India. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">While giving the impression that the state would accede to India,
Junagadh secretly negotiated and on August 15, 1947 declared its accession to
Pakistan. This was not acceptable to India for strategic reasons and the
possible cascading effect it would have on the delicate negotiations with
Hyderabad that were under way. On Pakistan’s right to accept Junagadh’s
accession to it, Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan informed Nehru that </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">‘a ruler had the absolute right to accede without reference to
the moral or ethnic aspects of accession’</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In a discussion with Jinnah, Mountbatten read out the full statement
of the Pakistan Prime Minister as reported by the </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Statesman </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">of September 21, 1947: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“</span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The correct position is that the Indian Independence Act of
1947 has left all Indian States completely free to join either one Dominion or
the other or to enter into treaty relations with either. Legally and
constitutionally there can be no question of putting limitations on this right
of the States</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">. Muslim League leaders before 15 August and the
official spokesman of the Pakistan Government thereafter have publicly declared
their agreement with this view; and have since rigorously stood by it. No
objection has been raised by Pakistan to any State acceding to the Dominion of
India.” (Italics added.) <a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Junagadh.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">This was exactly India’s case regarding Jammu and Kashmir then and
all along. Jinnah agreed that it was the legal position. Thus there appears to
be unanimity on the subject of accession of Princely States in both India and
Pakistan. Despite this, Mountbatten suggested that the matter of Junagadh and
later, Hyderabad, and Jammu and Kashmir should be referred to the United
Nations Organisation. <span style="color: blue;">In the case of Junagadh, Sardar
Patel vetoed the proposal saying that there was grave danger in being a
plaintiff before the UNO.</span> As we will see later, the decision was taken
out of Patel’s hands in the case of Jammu and Kashmir with disastrous consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">After futile negotiations with the eccentric Nawab of Junagadh and
Pakistan, the cabinet decided to move a brigade of the Indian army to the
Kathiawar states surrounding Junagadh which have already acceded to India for
their protection and to assist their forces. It was designated as the ‘Kathiawar
Defence Force’ (KDF). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The landlocked Junagadh state was dependent on the surrounding
Kathiawar states for its economy and food grains. But as Junagadh now joined </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">enemy </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Pakistan, in view of the uncertain
political conditions, traders in the adjoining states refused to do business
with it, resulting in a virtual economic blockade. There was utter chaos and a
hundred thousand Hindus fled from the state. Realising the situation was going
out of control, the Nawab took flight to Pakistan taking with him the entire
State treasury. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">One of the factors that precipitated the crisis was the peculiar
situation of two tiny states, the principality of Babariawad and the Sheikdom
of Mangrol in relation to Junagadh. In the pre-independence period Junagadh had
jurisdiction over Babariawad and a portion of Mangrol. The two tiny states
declared independence as soon as the British Paramountcy ended and signed
instruments of accession with India. An angered Junagadh sent its troops to
occupy Babariawad and Mangrol. India considered this an act of aggression and
was forced to move its forces to liberate Babariawad and Mangrol. Mountbatten
was informed of the move only after the army was already on the march. It was a
move that pre-empted him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the meantime, the Kathiawar Congress leaders formed a provisional
government (Arzi Hukumat) with Samaldas Gandhi as its President and with its
headquarters at Rajkot. After the Nawab’s flight, the forces of Arzi Hukumat
began dispersing into various parts of Junagadh. Sir Shah Nawaz, the Dewan of Junagadh
opened negotiations with Samaldas Gandhi requesting him to take over the
administration and restore law and order in the state. Despite protestations
from Pakistan, the state’s request to accede to India was accepted. When Sardar
Patel visited Junagadh on November 13 he received a rousing reception. As per
earlier promise India conducted a referendum in Junagadh on February 20, 1948.
Of the 2,01,457 registered voters 1,90,870 exercised their franchise and all
except 91 voted in favour of the state’s accession to India. In a similar
referendum conducted in Mangrol and Manavadar, Babariawad, Bantwa and Sardargarh,
of the 31, 439 votes cast, only 39 favoured Pakistan. A year later on February
20, 1949 all these states were finally and fully integrated with the Indian
Union. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/NAGENDRA/Desktop/Junagadh.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Krishna, Balraj. (2007). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">India’s
Bismarck Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel</i>. India Source Books. New Delhi. p. 205.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Excerpted from ‘TWISTING
FACTS TO SUIT THEORIES’ AND OTHER SELECTIONS FROM VOXINDICA pp. 306-309</span></i></div>
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</div>VOXINDICAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05166460700565635327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-49391662501752099462018-05-08T23:39:00.000+05:302018-05-08T23:39:33.827+05:30Viagra Is Not Just For Men!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">There was a time when the profession of <i>medical representatives</i> (called <i>drug reps</i> in the USA) held an enigmatic
charm for those outside looking in. They were considered to be articulate, charming,
suave, well-paid and well-informed. As with other (often erroneously)
generalized stereotypes, the ‘bohemian’ quality of their lifestyle that was
often whispered about was neither more nor less on an average than for any
other profession. The opening up of information technology jobs in the middle
1990s, which offered astronomical salaries by the existing standards and
international exposure disrupted many existing orders and changed many social
paradigms. As the industry attracted articulate and intelligent youngsters, pharma
selling jobs lost much of their sheen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">C. Northcote Parkinson's <i>In-laws and Outlaws</i><span class="textexposedshow"> (1962) teaches
enough tips and tricks to those interested in scaling the corporate ladder,
from first entry, right up to the top – without actually working hard.
Parkinson warns the reader that his book is not like other self-help books that
</span>“urge you to be a little more intelligent; a little more hard working; a
little more painstaking.” He wryly observes that if a reader was all that, he
would probably not need a book! Jamie Reidy’s <i>Hard Sell: Love & Other Drugs</i> (2005)<i> </i>may be less classy, as it was written by a first-time writer but
it teaches enough tips and tricks for drug reps to beat the system, despite the
industry’s sophisticated surveillance systems to check on its field sales
people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">There were several works on the fascinating profession
of pharma sales reps. Sidney Sheldon’s <i>Bloodline</i>
(1977) is the story of a giant pharmaceutical company. Sheldon called the
company Roffe & Sons, similar to the real life Hoffman-La Roche. The novel has
a drug rep character and gives an account of the profession. The plot of Arthur
Hailey’s fictional work <i>Strong Medicine </i>(1984)
is based on the career of a drug rep who eventually becomes the chairperson of
her company. Robin Cook’s <i>Mindbend </i>(1985)
puts in perspective the lengths to which pharma companies go to – literally – “bending
doctors’ minds” and the role played by drug reps in the manipulation. Douglas
Farrago’s <i>Diary of a Drug Rep </i>(2017) gives
an interesting and realistic peep into the seamy side of the enigmatic
profession in manipulating the medical profession. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Hard Sell:
Love & Other Drugs</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> is however a first person
account of a drug rep and reads like memoirs. The book is witty and hilarious,
especially the <i>Viagra</i> tales! It lists
quite a few maneuvers drug reps have tried and capers they pulled to beat the
system. For some Indian medical reps there could be a sense of <i>déjà vu</i> in reading the memoirs. But
there are quite a few that they could not even imagine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Jamie Reidy disproves <i>Pfizer</i>’s assumption that former army men are malleable to
organizational discipline, which was why the company recruited its drug reps
from the army. After a career in the army, Reidy joined <i>Pfizer</i>'s paediatric division as a drug rep and then moved on to the
urology division that marketed <i>Viagra</i>
the breakthrough drug for erectile dysfunction. Many would be surprised to know
that the drug is not just for men! Reidy’s first inhibition when he sought to <i>detail</i> the drug to a lady doctor – as he
explained how it worked in women – and how he she reacted makes for hilarious
reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Reidy was with <i>Pfizer</i> for five years from 1995 to 2000 and then spent another five
in <i>Eli Lilly</i>'s oncology division. <i>Eli Lilly</i> sacked him after he published <i>Hard Sell: Love & Other Drugs</i> in
2005. Naturally! What he revealed was enough for pharma companies to see the
need to scrutinize the work of their drug reps and probably sack half of them! He
explained how he did his ‘best’ to beat the system: from bulging expense
accounts to buy dinners for self and friends to scooting work and filing false
reports. In any case, Reidy must have found that <i>cancer</i> was more macabre and less interesting than erectile
dysfunction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The book has been adapted into a major motion
picture starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. The success of the book and
the motion picture set Reidy on a new course, as a writer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13356644.post-4043484475014883772018-01-31T10:59:00.001+05:302020-12-15T08:38:49.513+05:30Some Republic Day Thoughts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">About 380 of the best
and brightest minds assembled for nearly 3 years to discuss, debate and arrive
at a consensus to draft for 'India that is Bharat' the longest written
constitution in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">The draft was approved
by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 and it was officially adopted
on January 26, 1950.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">However every time the
rulers found a part of it inconvenient, they went about amending it with gay
abandon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">The first amendment
was enacted on June 18, 1951 that is within 18 months of adoption of the
original document. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">The modus for carrying
out a Constitutional amendment was introduction of the amendment bill; first
reading, second reading and third reading after which each clause </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 18px;">was </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">discussed,
debated and voted. At least three fourths of the members of the house were to
be present and two thirds of them should vote for it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">Fortunately for the
first amendment, there was only one house then (the Constituent Assembly), as
otherwise the process would have had to be repeated in the second house. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was then sent to
the states for approval by at least 50% of the them and Presidential approval.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">Taking into
consideration the entire process, the first amendment must have been introduced
at least three to six months before its enactment in June 1951. This means it
was introduced just twelve months after the adoption of the Constitution
drafted by the best and brightest minds in the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">What was the first
amendment which was piloted by Jawaharlal Nehru himself? It was to place
‘reasonable’ restrictions on the freedom of speech. Thus was born Art. 19 (2).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was all the
precedence needed. After that, every time a Congress government felt
inconvenienced by a provision in the Constitution or a court order, it went
ahead and amended the Constitution.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the last 70 years
more than a 120 amendment bills were introduced and about 100 of them were
actually enacted, most of them by the Congress governments. So what if
Anantkumar Hegde proposed or envisaged some changes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Constitution is
not etched in stone. It is a dynamic document (like the Manu Smriti) and can be
changed or amended according to the needs of the time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFZJYW-yaiw2ZIfiRVgrB7_VZol5wPH47WMxse71-thx5hZJzeevO5IbEqoUgrzr8pylgONg97bFOyY29q9tLuHi05C5LlaIMcjhJluArYiRKM_Fipmtt-WvsElh1xBDqoX2q/s1600/JLN-CA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="304" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFZJYW-yaiw2ZIfiRVgrB7_VZol5wPH47WMxse71-thx5hZJzeevO5IbEqoUgrzr8pylgONg97bFOyY29q9tLuHi05C5LlaIMcjhJluArYiRKM_Fipmtt-WvsElh1xBDqoX2q/s640/JLN-CA.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JAWAHARLAL NEHRU ADDRESSING THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY</td></tr>
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