“Everyone is an avatar of God

INSIGHTS

 

By Swami Chidananda

The Core Issue

Activity brings various results that we enjoy (or suffer) but after a while we are back to square one.

   

                Our main job in life is to maintain inner order – in everything we do, small or big. When there is disorder at the centre of our life, any other thing about us – however impressive it may be – becomes irrelevant and wasteful. The confused society around us may not see it. People see us in terms of name, fame, wealth and position. The situation is like that of a man who is very well-dressed but has acute stomach pain. People see how expensive his suit is. What do they know of his stomach pain?

 

                In an interview with the British journalist Mr. Hurst and a Buddhist Bhikshu, Sri Ramana Maharshi said, “Everyone is an avatar¹ of God. The kingdom of God is within you. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Krishna – all are within you. One who knows the truth sees everyone as a manifestation of God.” The core issue in life is to get back in touch with this divinity within us, proclaimed by sages and reconfirmed by many saints.

 

                We cross the age of 50, 60 and 70 years but our list of things to do in the world outside does not get shorter. As our capacity to work decreases, we get miserable. Some of us say, “Oh, I have just begun my life. Alas, my faculties are getting weak.” Our ignorance of the vast amount of work that needs to be done inside is appalling. Think of the well-dressed man with stomach ache. How would it be if he imagines his suffering would go if he goes shopping and picks up an even better dress?

 

                By hurriedly deciding to give up work (karma), we would achieve nothing. It would not work first of all. Progressing from the gross to the subtle requires seeing

a) the sad limitations of the worldly work that engages us endlessly

and

b) the splendid possibilities of the inner, spiritual quest. Then we can (and will) detach from the less meaningful and attach to the more meaningful.

 

                “It takes time, sir,” says somebody. Such a remark seems true but actually lacks precision. What it takes is clear and intense seeing. Time is not a factor at all. Those who see, change instantly. Those who do not see, keep doing things which have no bearing on the issue. Let us take an example. You say to a friend, “Please sit down.” Your friend does not hear you properly or does not understand your language. He goes out, comes in, walks around and asks you again and again, “What do you want me to do?” You repeat, “Please sit down.” After an hour, he understands what you wanted him to do. He sits down. Going out, coming in and walking around were not necessary steps before the right thing to do, namely sitting down. An hour went by in those activities but they were not part of the implementation, truly speaking.

 

                Such is the nature of insight (jnana) in sharp contrast to activity (karma). Insight transforms us. Activity brings various results that we enjoy (or suffer) but after a while we are back to square one.

 

                The core issue is to discover our divinity through right seeing. Time (including the coming of the New Year) has no bearing on this.

 

                                                                                       Swami Chidananda

                                                                                        Varanasi, January 3, 2011 
Rajghat Education Centre, Varanasi 221 001

Data Source: Gold.org, Yahoo Finance

PM’s Address at the 98th Indian Science Congress

PM’s Address at the 98th Indian Science Congress

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the 98th Indian Science Congress in Chennai today. Following is the text of the Prime Minister’s address on the occasion:-

“I am delighted to be here in Chennai. I wish the people of Tamil Nadu a peaceful, prosperous and fulfilling New Year. I am very happy that every New Year begins with an opportunity for me to meet some of our most distinguished scientists.

Tamil Nadu has a unique place in the world of Indian science. India’s first Nobel Laureate in the sciences, Dr C V Raman, was a proud student of Presidency College, Chennai. So was Professor S. Chandrasekhar. The State has also produced one of India’s greatest mathematicians, Srinivasa Ramanujan.

The time has come for Indian science to once again think big; think out of the box; and think ahead of the times. The time has come for India to produce the Ramans and Ramanujans of the 21st Century.

This year, as we usher in the New Year, we also usher in the “Decade of Innovation”. There is no better way to do that than to salute the creativity and the genius of our scientists and engineers, our professionals, our workers, our scholars and students, gathered here today. I sincerely hope each one of you will go forth from here, dedicating your life and your work to the development of modern science and to the application of science to the betterment of the lives of the Indian people.

I am delighted that the theme of the 98th Science Congress is “Quality Education and Excellence in Science Research in Indian Universities.” I have always believed that a university is the vital link in the chain of science teaching and research. We must never forget that. Unless we strengthen the base of our educational system, we can never hope to extend the height of the pyramid of excellence. We also need to create an innovation eco-system so that innovation becomes a way of life in our knowledge institutions.

As a former university teacher, I am happy that our government in the last six years has tried to pay special attention to the growth and development of our university system. We have sanctioned funds for the creation of new universities and increased the capacity of existing ones. In the past 5 years, the Government has established eight new IITs and five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research to provide high quality education and carry out research in frontier areas of science and technology. An Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research which seeks to produce more than 1,000 doctoral and post graduate fellows every year is being established. I urge our teaching community to strengthen both the teaching and research sides of our University system.

In the early dawn after Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister told a gathering at the Allahabad University in 1947:

“A University stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for progress, for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duty adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people.”

Jawaharlal Nehru was thoughtful and precise when he drew a link between humanism, tolerance, reason, and progress. The practice of science is based on both the search for truth and on the adventure of new ideas.

What better place than a University for pursuits of both these goals? But our Universities have to be more hospitable to creativity and genius, and less captive to bureaucracy and procedure. They should be more open to talent and to the challenge of new ideas.

The growth of our economy, the health of our people and the security of our country depends on the scientific and technological competence. This is well understood and is reflected in the substantial support that all governments give to the pursuit of scientific research. This support is often swayed by the immediate needs as perceived at that time. In this way the direction of scientific effort is shaped by society at large.

But scientists are not just servants who do the bidding of their paymasters. They are driven by curiosity and seek knowledge often for its own sake. The fundamental discoveries of physics, chemistry and biology have come from this thirst for understanding rather than from any social compulsion.

But big discoveries have influenced society through new technological options which have offered generally benefits to humankind but sometimes have been used for more harmful purposes as well.

In fact, Bertrand Russell once said: “I am compelled to fear that science will be used to promote the power of dominant groups rather than to make men happy.”

Are such concepts of good and bad relevant for directing scientific effort? Science is value free in the sense that scientific hypotheses have to be accepted or rejected on the basis of facts and not on the basis of their consistency with any ethical or religious belief.

We universally now accept that the Earth revolves around the Sun on the basis of the consistency of the hypothesis with observed positions of stars, even though the belief was inconsistent with the cosmological view of some religions. That is the fundamental achievement of the scientific revolution that has separated the realm of religion and the realm of science.

But how science is used depends also on the values and priorities of the time in society. Thus the splitting of the atom led on the one hand to the atomic bomb and on the other to nuclear energy. One kills; the other has extended the bounds of developmental possibilities on a planet worried about carbon emissions and climate change.

The development of synthetic chemistry was the basis of poison gas used in wars and of agro chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Mendelian genetics provided the knowledge for the breeding of new crop varieties and also for perverse experiments in eugenics in Nazi Germany.

These examples illustrate why the application of scientific knowledge to human and social development must be value based even though science itself be value neutral.

Take modern developments in the bio-sciences for instance. We are now acquiring the capacity to manipulate the human genome. But we have yet not developed an ethical framework that defines red lines that we must not cross as we do this.

It was Isaac Asimov who said, “Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

The question is whether scientists should step beyond their discipline and at least guide the social discourse on the use of scientific knowledge. Should they develop a code of conduct that defines the limits within which they will work on the application of their discoveries? Should there be a collegial process for deciding difficult cases? I leave these as questions because the very idea of ethics for science needs further discussion.

I belong to a generation that worried about the links between science and society. Scientific temper, we believed, would help India make the transition from a traditional to a modern society. We saw the development of science as intrinsic to the advancement of modernism, pluralism and liberalism.

But, it is true that science has made strides even in societies that were neither modern nor liberal. It is true that the products of science have been put sometimes to illiberal uses. I sincerely believe we must guard against such tendencies, especially in our own blessed country.

In August 2010 the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister prepared a report setting out a vision and a roadmap for India to become a global leader in science. The Council has inter alia recommended measures to attract the best of talent for science. I would urge our Ministries of Human Resource Development and of Science & Technology to jointly mount efforts to attract more young people to the study of science.

The report also pointed out that while C. V. Raman won the Nobel Prize eighty years ago for the Raman Effect, most of the instruments available in India today using this principle are imported. This is not an isolated example. Many of our outstanding scientific discoveries have been converted into marketable products by technologists and firms based abroad.

Why is the translation of good science and research into products so weak in our country? How do we strengthen the link between Universities, research laboratories and industry? I would like the Science Congress to discuss these issues and come out with actionable recommendations. I believe that the scientific community should give due recognition to scientists who build advanced instruments.

I have asked our the Ministry of Science and Technology to undertake a national celebration of the birth centenary of Professor S. Chandrasekhar, one of the outstanding scientists of the 20th century.

The year 2012-13 will be the centenary year of the Indian Science Congress. I would like the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Indian Science Congress to designate 2012-13 as the ‘Year of Science in India’.

We have to make a concerted effort at building and motivating a new generation of scientific talent. To this end we had launched the INSPIRE or Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research programme and I am very happy that this programme is doing very well. More than 3.5 lakh students in the age group 10-27 years have received awards and scholarships under this innovative scheme.

Whenever I travel abroad I meet bright young people from India doing good science who tell me they look forward to the day they can continue their work back home in India. How do we draw on this talent pool? How do we make our Universities more open to such talent, including for those who seek temporary affiliation? I hope you will deliberate on these issues.

Modern cyber technology now allows trans-continental collaborative research. I would like to see more joint research projects between Indians in India and those abroad so that we can draw on this global talent pool and strengthen our own teaching and research base in our country. The high speed National Knowledge Network will greatly facilitate such collaborations.

I sincerely hope the “Year of Science in India” will unleash the energies of our young scientists and inspire a new generation of Indians to enter the world of science, cross new horizons and explore new possibilities.

I sincerely hope more young people increasingly participate in the deliberations of the Indian Science Congress in years to come. Science is ageless, but our scientists must be younger!

With these words, I wish you all well in your deliberations. May your paths be blessed!”

Gain More from Equity this Decade

A huge stock market boom lasted from 2003 to 2008

For the country’s investing population, the last decade has been one of fundamental change. Even though in ten years a great deal can be expected to change, the period of 2001 to 2010 has seen a fundamental transformation. The clue to this is not what has actually happened over the past decade, but what has not happened, and that is scandals.

Paradoxically, the most encouraging sign has not been the way the stock markets have risen, but the manner in which they have crashed. Till 2001, every major market boom ended in a sudden crash and that crash had its roots in a scam. Or rather, the boom was a scam and the crash happened when the scam was discovered or when it could no longer be hidden.

This was true of the Harshad Mehta boom that ended violently in 1992, the IPO boom of the mid-90s as well as the tech mania of late 90s. Each was the side effect of economic liberalisation that started in 1991. Basically, the economic freedom had arrived, but it was lop-sided and neither an adequate regulatory framework, nor the maturity in the investing public was there.

The 2000s were fundamentally different on both counts. There was a huge stock market boom that lasted for a big part of the decade from 2003 to 2008. It then turned into a terrible crash. However, both were different from the 1990s. There were no systemic failures. The boom was not discovered to be the result of money purloined from the banking system. Whether stock prices rose or fell, when an investor sold his holdings, he got paid. The stock markets grew bigger, became electronic instead of physical and the quality and speed of information improved, manifold.

This maturity and stability that the investment environment has gained is actually the biggest gain of the decade gone by. Till 1990s, equity investing was like playing a game in which the rules were unknown and the umpire himself was your opponent. This means for an ordinary Indian, who should benefit from equity investment, the real story starts now. 1990s and 2000s were just setting the scene, it’s this decade when you can leverage the country’s economic development. Whether it’s by investing directly in equities, or through mutual funds, or (hopefully) through innovations like the New Pension System (NPS), a larger number should now be able to gain from equity investing.

However, it is entirely possible that the coming decade may not match up to the returns generated during the 2000s. Roughly, equity markets have gone up four times in the past ten years. Can they rack up another scorching decade and make that 16 times in twenty years? The basic concept of reverting to the mean says they won’t. But I’d hate to rule it out.

-- Dhirendra Kumar

State Bank of India in BSE in 3 years

Buddha vs Confucius

bY K.C.SINGH

The year 2011 marks two decades since the end of the Cold War and a decade since 9/11 Twin Tower attack and the UN Millennium Summit’s developmental goals. The Chinese Communist Party also turns 90. F. Fukuyama’s pronouncement that the Soviet Union’s disintegration ended history and was the triumph of Western values was erroneous as seeds of future contestation were already sown.

The twin contemporary challenges are: Radical Islam and China’s rise. The first was armed and financed by the United States, in league with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to counter the Soviets in Afghanistan and the latter unshackled by the Mao-Nixon rapprochement in 1972.

On terror there was some success against Al Qaeda in Iraq, due to convergence of interests between the Sunni tribes and Iran. This allowed orderly US withdrawal from a war that candidate Obama called one of choice and not necessity. In the latter category comes Afghanistan where, despite troop surge reviewed two weeks ago, a Pakistan reluctant to act against those it views as its present or future assets i.e. Taliban, Haqqanis and associates, is delaying action hoping that a fatigued US quits. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda has replanted in Yemen, Somalia etc. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s pronouncements in New Delhi on terror were carefully wrapped in the UN Security Council mumbo-jumbo. The real challenge is China’s rise with its gross domestic product (GDP) projected to overtake the US’ in the next 10-15 years. In any calculation till 2050, India is placed third. The US has calculated that engagement alone is not working, containment is impractical and, thus, there is need to hedge. Admiral M. Mullen, commenting on Chinese military capacity building in June 2010, said that “I have moved from being curious to being genuinely concerned”. It was thus not a coincidence that US President Barack Obama’s India visit was clubbed with that to three other Asian democracies — Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.

The current international economic, trading and security order is the one devised after the World War II when the US had emerged as the hegemon, replacing Great Britain by about 1918. The transfer was orderly as it was between powers sharing values, culture and a language.

Chinese conduct so far has been paradoxical. They have subscribed to the letter of various trade and non-proliferation regimes, though breaching often their spirit. They reject neo-liberal ideas, the latest demonstration being their massive protest over the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. Despite World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership, they subsidise exports and maintain an undervalued currency.

This jostling between the entrenched and the rising powers will determine the global debate on a panoply of issues, which inter alia are: climate change; reform of global institutions like the UN or International Monetary Fund; effectiveness and evolution of new structures like the Group of Twenty; consensus on the right to protect against genocide, promotion of human rights etc; counter terrorism, human trafficking and piracy; nuclear disarmament and global zero; protection of global commons like the oceans, cyber and outer space; ensuring equitable access to minerals, metals and water etc.

The face-off is between Western neo-liberalism and the emerging Confucian-Socialist Chinese model preferring stability to individual rights and economic success to democracy. The land of Buddha, Mahavira and the Upanishads as indeed Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and B.R Ambedkar, must shape this debate. The solution lies neither in US senator John McCain’s league of democracies proposal which will create new divisions, nor can it be in accepting the cynical Chinese model. In a multi-polar world the new narrative can come from the swing powers — EU and India, combining the wisdom of the East and the West. Tang dynasty Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang in the seventh century, visiting Nalanda when told not to return to his barbaric homeland, as Buddha had chosen not to be born there, replied that Buddha would not forget those not yet enlightened. Historically, rising powers when confronting the entrenched powers have caused conflict. Can Buddha trump Confucius and wisdom prevail? The next decade shall tell.

* The author is a former secretary in the
external affairs ministry

SOURCE; dECCAN cHORNICLE

Wen Jiabao’s visit to India a flop

Wen`s India visit

BY Kuldip Nayar

December 24, 2010

ONE did not have to be an expert on China to anticipate that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s visit to India would be a flop and the one to Pakistan a success. The joint statements issued in the two countries say it all.

India refused to follow the ‘one China’ policy which meant that it did not recognise Beijing’s claimed sovereignty over Tibet and Taiwan. This was a departure from New Delhi’s stand in three earlier joint statements. PM Jiabao refused to mention in the joint statement that Kashmir was an integral part of India. He did not do so keeping in mind Pakistan’s sensitivities.

In sharp contrast, Pakistan not only enunciated the ‘one China’ policy but also condemned “any attempt to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Obviously, the swing was directed at India and to reemphasise that China had in Pakistan a “trusted and reliable” friend.

The Chinese prime minister was, however, careful not to say anything on Kashmir in New Delhi as well as in Islamabad. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani said in a speech at the banquet in honour of the Chinese premier that the solution of Kashmir would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity in South Asia. It was bait for the Chinese PM, who preferred to stay silent. Even otherwise, Beijing has maintained that it wants India and Pakistan to resolve the question of Kashmir between themselves.

However, China has from last year started issuing stapled visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir. This is a departure from Beijing’s earlier stand.

But it conveys to New Delhi that Beijing regards Kashmir as a disputed territory. The new Chinese approach also reveals that India’s problem could be much larger than the question of stapled visas. It may well be that Beijing has a question mark against India’s claim to sovereignty over Jammu and Kashmir.

Yet, before the visit of the Chinese PM, the word from Beijing was that the stapled visa was an administrative matter, not a political issue. New Delhi did not bring it up until the end when PM Jiabao took the initiative of mentioning it. He did not pursue the subject, despite New Delhi’s desire to do so. After PM Jiabao’s return to Beijing, the Indian embassy said that the matter has been entrusted to officials to sort out.

The point on which the two sides differed strongly was terrorism. India was first keen on China mentioning the 26/11 attack on Mumbai in their joint statement. When PM Jiabao refused, India wanted a reference to the word ‘terrorism’. The Chinese PM did not agree, probably because he was to visit Pakistan a day later. However, he did praise Pakistan for its efforts towards terrorism, countering criticism from many quarters that it is not doing enough. The reference was obviously to India and the US.

India should have known Beijing’s stand when it made it clear on the eve of PM Jiabao’s departure that the Chinese government would play no role in pressuring Pakistan to crack down on terrorist groups operating on its soil. Beijing reiterated its position that cross-border terrorism and Kashmir were issues for India and Pakistan to resolve.

India’s real worry is the nibbling at “its territory” by China. The media has extensively followed a story reported in one of the leading English-language dailies in Delhi. The story said that China had shown the length of the border with India around 2,000km as against nearly 3,500km it used to mention earlier.

In an interview with the Indian ambassador to China, S. Jaishankar, the Global Times — the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party — asked about reported tensions on the border. In response Mr Jaishankar said: “The reality contradicts any alarmist depiction of the situation on the border, whether in India or in China. We have a long common border of 3,488km.” The editors added in parenthesis. “There is no settled length of the common border. The Chinese government often refers to the border length as being about 2,000 kms.”

Probably, China has deducted the border along Kashmir and Tibet from the length it had mentioned earlier. This has come when India is already smarting under the Chinese ‘occupation’ of nearly 5,000 square miles of Shakigam Valley in the ‘Azad Kashmir’ ceded by General Mohammed Ayub to Beijing. The general did this in March 1963, less than six months after the India-China war that occurred in the third week of October 1962.

New Delhi’s fear is that Beijing may push itself as a party in the Kashmir problem.

It is apparent that India and Pakistan have grown still more distant. One is going towards America and the other towards China. In fact, both New Delhi and Islamabad may be sucked into the ensuing cold war between the two. America has its own designs in the region as the WikiLeaks disclosures show and China has its own interests.

When will India and Pakistan realise that South Asia is neither for America nor China to boss over? It is for the South Asians who should develop it into a common market as Europe has done, with soft borders and free trade.

India, being a relatively developed country, should ensure that the playing field is made level. There should be more tariffs on Indian goods because they are products of a country which has better economy and faster growth rate. India’s technology should be available to the countries in the region.

Beijing can, however, play a role in persuading New Delhi and Islamabad to hold sustainable dialogues for the resolution of all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. China has done well in entering into deals with India and Pakistan. Strangely the trade between the two countries is only a fraction of their deals with China.

If these deals are to yield fruit in real sense, New Delhi and Islamabad have to develop confidence in each other. This may not be possible if both continue to arm themselves — the presence of weapons indicates the absence of peace.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi.

The robust economic growth and record inflows from foreign institutional investors were responsible for the rally in Indian stock markets during the calendar year 2010. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index ‘Sensex' gained 3044.28 points to end the year at 20509.09. Though the index moved up by 17.4 per cent during 2010, it is felt that this is far below expectations that one could have anticipated.

However, in terms of absolute performance it compares quite favourably with Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC) nations. With the exception of Russia, which went up by 23 per cent, Indian markets outperformed Brazil which was up by 1 per cent and China which was down by 14 per cent. China witnessed lot of speculative money chasing Chinese stocks started exiting when the country began monetary tightening. The first such occasion was in the early part of 2010. In the last two months, China had raised its rates twice.

Best performing indices

The behaviour of Indian markets was primarily driven by domestic consumption-based opportunities. Therefore, the best performing indices were automobile, which was up 33 per cent and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) which was up 27 per cent. Healthcare, banking and information technology were other three notable sectoral performers.

“We are entering 2011 with lot of scepticism in our hearts. The pessimism on the local front is coming from politics and the global front is from economics. If we look at historical precedents — in May 2004 when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power and in May 2006 when commodity prices crashed — scepticism has normally been the formation for a rally in the markets,” said Sanjay Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, L&T Mutual Fund.

There is a consensus estimate that the earnings in financial year 2012 will grow between 18 per cent and 22 per cent. However, a major event or a radical shift in commodity prices or exchange rate can derail this growth expectation. Therefore, according to Mr. Sinha, as long as earnings growth is not at risk and the sentiment is pessimistic one can expect more structural rally to build in the Indian markets.

Currently the market is trading broadly in fair range of valuations. “At Sensex level of about 20000, the market is discounting financial year 2012 consensus estimates by about 16 times,” said Harsha Upadhyaya, Fund Manager, UTI Asset Management Company.

These valuations can be sustained if the earnings estimates going forward do not disappoint.

It is likely that the market will move up in line with corporate earnings growth (estimated at 18-20 per cent annually over the next two years) in the medium- to long-term. However, Mr. Upadhyaya said the short-term market movements were driven more by liquidity and sentiment, and “hence difficult to predict.”

While domestic inflation and hardening of interest rates and uncertain global economic backdrop are key downside risks to the market, the upside may come from re-rating of Indian equities due to sharp increase in foreign flows as India continues to be one of the high growth regions in the world.

Stock-specific approach

At current market levels, “we do not see any significant pockets or sectors of undervaluation.

“We may need to be more stock-specific in our approach as we step into 2011. As we see inflation as one of the likely risks going forward, we believe that the sectors insulated from inflation-related negatives may out-perform the broader market.”

Mid- and small-cap segments of the market usually move in spurts. The valuation gap relative to the large-cap segment was huge at the start of up-move and hence witnessed sharp rally in mid and small-cap stocks that outpaced large-cap stocks by a wide margin for about a year between mid-2009 and mid-2010.

After this rally, the valuation differential between the two segments has narrowed significantly and the absolute valuations of mid- and small-cap segments have also risen. The markets have already witnessed mid- and small-cap segments underperforming relatively against the large-cap segment by 10-15 per cent in the past six months or so. “From hereon, we believe one needs to be stock-specific even in mid- and small-cap segments as in the broader market,” Mr. Upadhyaya added.

In terms of sectors, consumer durables, pharmaceuticals, industrials, energy and financials are likely to do well, Mirae Asset Global Investment Group stated in a report on Market Outlook 2011. The FII stated that it continued to prefer consumption where trends remain healthy, led by rising incomes, favourable demographics and an easier financing environment.

It sees a shift beyond consumer staples to automobile, media, cable distribution, retailing, healthcare and airlines — all beneficiaries of higher income levels. Increasing rural consumption on the back of higher crop realisations, rising wages and wealth effects through higher land and gold prices, will provide a multi-year theme.

The introduction of a Direct Tax Code will provide further relief to the salaried class and boost consumption. It also prefers pharmaceuticals over consumer staples as the market for Western medicines still has low penetration rates, the domestic industry is estimated to be expanding in the high double-digits per annum, and a huge patent expiry of drugs in the developed markets remains an added demand trigger.

“We continue to like financials high RoEs (return on equity), low NPAs (non-performing assets) as a good proxy on the strong domestic economy, and IT as a beneficiary of strong offshoring trends by global companies to cut costs.” Industrials could be the dark horse of 2011 if the government gets its act together on infrastructure spending and the private sector embarks on capacity expansion after 18 months of strong demand.

“Though in the near-term, it may remain weak on European sovereign debt concerns, we believe any significant correction would be a good opportunity to increase exposure to a long-term growth story like India where demographics, entrepreneurship, free press and development-focussed governance will likely produce a golden period of returns for equity investors in the coming decades,” Mirae Asset Global Investment Group advised investors. However, it alerted that a significant rise in oil prices, a reversal of global liquidity and no up-tick in the investment cycle were the biggest risks to the India story.

Key factors

The key factors behind strong performance in 2010 were strong resilience of the domestic economy during the global financial meltdown, India's demographic dividend, strong consumer demand, less reliance on exports, benign oil prices and strong global liquidity.

Mirae Asset Global Investment Group expects Indian markets to remain strong in 2011 on robust corporate earnings, improving ROE and expectations of strong global liquidity.

A significant upturn in the investment cycle would be the key driver for continuous strong performance.

BYOOMMEN A. NINAN

SOURCE:HINDU

SOURCE:LIVEMINT

GOLDEN DAYS FOR RAJASTHAN.GUJRAT AND KARNATAKA ON SOLAR ISSUES

Standard for noise pollution

PIB Press Release

The Government has chalked out standard for noise pollution The ambient noise standards have been notified for different categories like, industrial, commercial and residential areas and silence zones.

It is 55 dB (A) Leq during ‘day time’ and 45 dB (A) Leq during ‘night time’ for residential areas. ‘Day time’ and ‘night time’ mean 6.00 am to 10.00 pm and 10.00 pm to 6.00 am, respectively. dB (A) Leq denotes the time weighted average of the level of sound in decibels on scale A which is relatable to human hearing.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) have been carrying out sporadic noise monitoring in urban areas, mainly during festivals such as Deepawali. A few SPCBs and PCCs have initiated regular noise monitoring since 2008-2009. As per available data, the prescribed noise norms for various areas are exceeded at many locations. However, a definite trend can not be ascertained since limited data is available. The CPCB has undertaken the task to establish a National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests (independent charge) Shri Jairam Ramesh in a written reply to a question by Shri N Balaganga in Rajya Sabha today.

Noise Pollution – Implementation of the Laws for restricting use of loudspeakers and high volume producing sound systems

Noise Pollution – Implementation of the Laws for restricting use of loudspeakers and high volume producing sound systems

Below given is a copy of the Supreme court of India’s judgment on restriction the use of loudspeakers.

CASE NOTE HIGHLIGHT
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Writ Petition (C) No. 72 of 1998 with Civil Appeal No. 3735 of 2005 [Arising out of SLP
(C) No. 21851/2003]

Decided On: 18.07.2005

Appellants: In Re: Noise Pollution – Implementation of the Laws for restricting use
of loudspeakers and high volume producing sound systems
Vs.
Respondent:

WITH
Appellants: Forum, Prevention of Envn. and Sound Pollution
Vs.
Respondent: Union of India (UOI) and Anr.

Hon’ble Judges: R.C. Lahoti, C.J. and Ashok Bhan,

Counsels:
Raju Ramachandran, Additional Solicitor General (NP), Jitendra Sharma (AC), N.N. Goswami, Rajiv Dutta, G.L. Sanghi, P.N. Mishra and R. Mohan, Sr. Advs., Sandeep Narain (AC), Anil Kumar Mittal, Anjali Jha, M.K.S. Menon, M.K. Michael, Indra Sawhney, Meenakshi Arora, P. Parmeswaran, Anil Katiyar, A. Francis Julian, A. Subhashini, D.S. Mahra, Ashok Bhan, Varuna Bhandari Gungnani, Vijay Panjwani, K.R. Sasiprabhu (NP), Jagjit Singh Chhabra (NP), Sanjay V.S. Choudhury, Niraj Kumar, V.K. Sidharthan, P.V. Yogeswaran, S. Ravi Shankar, Yamunah Nachiar and M.A. Chinnaswamy, Advs. for the appearing parties
Subject: Constitution

Subject: Environment
Catch Words: Abatement, Accused, Acquisition, Ad Hoc Basis, Administrative Action, Air Pollution, Air Quality Standard, Aircraft Noise, Allowance, Atmospheric Pollution, Composition, Conduct of Business, Constitution of India, Construction Site, Criminal Prosecution, Damage, Decent Environment, Definition, Discrimination, Domestic Noise, Duration, Educational Institution, Emergency, Emission, Emission Standard, Enforcement of Fundamental Right, Enforcement of Law, Environment Agency, Environmental Pollution, Environmental Protection, Existing Law, Federation, Freedom of Speech, Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Right, Guarantee, Interim Order, International Agreement, Issuance of Direction, Jurisdiction, Legal Action, Legal Aid, Legislation, Liberty, Life and Personal Liberty, Mandamus, Motor Vehicle, National Parks, Neighbourhood Noise, Noise Abatement, Noise Pollution, Non-Scheduled Premise, Personal Liberty, Pollution Control, Public Health, Public Interest, Public Interest Litigation, Public Nuisance, Quality Standard, Reasonable Restriction, Regulation, Representation, Right to Life, Right to Live, Road Traffic, Scheduled Premises, Special Area, Special Leave Petition, Statutory Nuisance, Temple, The Executive, Third Schedule, Union Territories, Writ of Mandamus
Acts/Rules/Orders:
Constitution of India – Articles 19, 19(1), 19(1)A, 19(10), 21, 25, 141 and 142; Noise Pollution Control and Regulation Rules, 1999; Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 – Section 2; Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 – Section 2; Noise Abetment Act, 1960 – Section 2; Control on Pollution Act, 1974; Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act, 1993; Noise Control Act, 1975; Noise Control (Miscellaneous Articles) Regulations, 1995; Noise Control (Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Accessories) Regulations, 1995; Noise Control Ordinance; Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 – Rule 3; Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Sections 95, 268, 290 and 291; Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973 – Section 133; Factories Act, 1948 – Sections 89 and 90; Motor Vehicles Act, 1988; Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 – Rules 119 and 120; Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 1999; Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 – Rule 89; Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) (Amendment) Act, 1987; Explosive Rules, 1983 – Rule 87; Explosives Act, 1884; Madras Town Nuisances Act, 1889

Cases Referred:
Free Legal Aid Cell Shri Sugan Chand Aggarwal alias Bhagatji v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Ors., MANU/DE/0654/2001; P.A. Jacob v. Superintendent of Police, Kottayam, MANU/KE/0001/1993; Om Birangana Religious Society v. State, 100 CWN 617; Kirori Mal Bishambar“ Dayal v. The State, MANU/PH/0003/1958; Bhuban Ram and Ors. v. Bibhuti Bhushan Biswas, AIR 1919 Calcutta 539; Ivour Heyden v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1984 Cri LJ (NOC) 16; Rabin Mukherjee v. State of West Bengal, MANU/WB/0058/1985; People United for better Living in Calcutta v. State of West Bengal, MANU/WB/0025/1993; Burrabazar Fireworks Dealers Association v. Commissioner of police, Calcutta, MANU/WB/0078/1997; Appa Rao, M.S. v. Govt. of T.N. , (1995) 1 LW 319 (Mad); The Supreme Court in Church of God (Full Gospel) in India v. K.K.R. Majestic Colony Welfare Assn., MANU/SC/0537/2000; Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India, MANU/SC/0285/1990; M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, MANU/SC/1081/2003; Moulana Mufti Syed Md. Noorur Rehman Barkati v. State of West Bengal, MANU/WB/0211/1998

Casenote
Environment – noise pollution – Articles 19, 19(1), 19(1)A, 19(10), 21, 25, 141 and 142 OF Constitution of India , Noise Pollution Control and Regulation Rules, 1999, Section 2 of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Section 2 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Section 2 of Noise Abetment Act, 1960, Control on Pollution Act, 1974, Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act, 1993, Noise Control Act, 1975, Noise Control (Miscellaneous Articles) Regulations, 1995, Noise Control (Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Accessories) Regulations, 1995, Noise Control Ordinance, Rule 3 of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 – petition seeking stringent implementation of laws pertaining to noise pollution – Apex Court considering gravity of matter issued following direction – firecrackers to be evaluated on basis of chemical composition – Department of Explosive (DOE) directed to conduct study for this purpose and to specify composition of chemicals allowable in firecrackers – firecrackers to be divided into light emitting and sound emitting category – complete ban on bursting sound emitting firecrackers between 10 pm and 6 am – manufacturers of firecrackers directed to mention on box of firecrackers the components used in it – manufacturers to be held liable in case formulae used by them does not match with specification of DOE – manufacturers permitted to export firecrackers with higher noise level subject to strict control – regarding use of loudspeaker Court directed that noise level at boundary of public place, where loudspeaker or public address system or any other noise source is being used shall not exceed 10 dB(A) above ambient noise standards for area or 75 dB(A) whichever is lower – beating of drum or tom-tom or blow of trumpet or beat or sound of any instrument or use of any sound amplifier at night (between 10. 00 p.m. and 6.a.m.) except in public emergencies prohibited – peripheral noise level of privately owned sound system restricted to dB(A) – blowing of vehicular horn in residential area at night hours prohibited – State directed to add chapters in text books regarding ill effects of noise pollution -State directed to specify ambient air quality standards in different areas – State also directed to seize loud speakers and amplifiers making noise beyond permissible limit.

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Other useful readings:

1. http://www.elaw.org/resources/text.asp?id=1835

Conditions for grant of loudspeaker licence, as set out by the Bench, are as follows

(1) Amplifiers can be used only between 9 A.M. To 10.30 P.M. and for
3 hours at a time. The duration of 3 hours is relaxable under special circumstances. (2) No extension speaker should be put up outside the premises for which the licence is issued. Relaxable in the case of temples, churches and mosque on some occasions. (3) Only Box type speaker should be used. (4) The volume should be such low that it is not heard outside the premises.
(5) If any misuse is noticed licence will be cancelled. (6) The installation of loudspeakers and mike sets for which the licence is issued should be done only by an electrical contractor having at least a valid “B” Contractor’s licence issued by the Electrical Licensing Board of the State and operated only by a person having a wiremen competency certificate issued by the Electrical licensing Board. Non compliance of the condition is not only punishable under the Madras City Police Act but also under the Indian Electricity Rules, 1 956 for violation of Rule 36 thereof.
(7) No sound amplifier shall face and no person shall use a sound amplifier, within (prescribe) the limits of hospital, place of worship or an educational institution.
(8) Any Police Officer on duty above the rank of Head Constable may require any party to stop using or remove any sound amplifier the using of which, may be a nuisance or cause obstruction and it shall be stopped or removed as the case may be immediately.
(9) Any Police Officer on duty above the rank of Head Constable may seize any sound amplifier or other instrument used in amplifying which has been or appears to have been used in contravention of any of the conditions stipulated.
(10) Loudspeakers should not be allowed to be installed on towers and temple walls, churches and mosques, so as to face the surrounding streets and areas, should be installed within the precincts and turned inwards so that the music is audible only within the precincts of the temple/church/mosque. Exemption will be given during the month of Ramzan when the calls of the Muazzine for prayers is traditionally made from the mosque tower.” This decision has been approved by the Supreme Court in CHURCH OF GOD IN INDIA v.. K.K.R. MAJESTIC COLONY WELFARE ASSOCIATION [AIR 20 00 SC
2773 : 2000 (7) SCC 282].\

http://www.tattamangalam.com/newsite/2008/04/06/noise-pollution-implementation-of-the-laws-for-restricting-use-of-loudspeakers-and-high-volume-producing-sound-systems/
source:

An Excerpt from
The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale

George Bernard Shaw said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, they make them."

Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry - his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing... he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision.

We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant.

Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand- one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds-one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

As it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

Remember the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants - one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...success...or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal...or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.

Tourist inflow marks 7 lakhs in Sikkim

source; sikkim reporter

Gangtok: More than seven lakh tourists including twenty five thousands foreign tourists, visited the small but beautiful state, Sikkim, during 2010, said Mr. SBS Bahadauria, Secretary, Tourism Department, Government of Sikkim on December 31. One lakh more tourists have visited the state this year, he informed.

Mr. L Rasaily, President, Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS) said that around three thousand tourists are visiting everyday the spots like Nathula, Baba Mandir, Tsomgo Lake in East and Lachen, Lachung, Chungthang and Yume-Samdong in North, Pelling and Bersey in West and Rabong and Mainam in South Sikkim. ‘The hotels in the state are having seventy percent occupancy at the moment, with the New Year knocking at the door, though it is also a lean period of tourism industry in Sikkim’ he informed. The fact illustrates that “Sikkim has become a tourist destination for national as well as international tourists”.

POWER OF MANTRA

By Santhanam Nagarajan

Do you want wealth, Health, Good Progeny, Property, Living Place? Do you want Good knowledge, Victory over enemy or over all Success? All things are possible through Mantras.
If properly selected, and initiated by a Guru and recited as prescribed with correct intonation all the above and much more could be achieved. The Sanskrit word mantra means potent sounds or words.
Mantras are ‘heard’ or ‘seen’ by the great sages and hence unwritten. Vedic Mantras are innumerable and the correct mantra is to be used as per the correct intonation to achieve a desired result.
One interesting incident is described in Hindu Scriptures. Where the object of a sacrifice was ‘to generate such a person as is capable of killing Indra (God of devas or Angels), and for that purpose, the invocation should be ‘svahendrasatrurvadhasva’ the chanting of this invocation with a wrong intonation on the first syllable ‘Indra’ produced the contrary result, for a person was generated, but he was killed by Indra. The compound Indra-satru means either ‘destroyer of Indra’ or ‘one that can be destroyed by Indra’ according to the intonation used on the syllables.
That is why it is recommended that the mantras are to be initiated properly by a genuine Guru. Every Mantra has six aspects: a rishi or Seer, a raga or melody, the Devatha or the presiding Deity, a Bija or seed sound, the Sakthi or power and a kilaka or pillar.
The Mantras were transmitted from generation to generation from Guru to disciple. The successful use of mantras was and is simply a common part of Indian mentality.
In the great work Rajatarangini, it is indicated that in twelfth century Kashmir, the crops in the fields were protected by ‘Mantrikas’ or guards who exercised their function by means of mantras. Mantras are many-sided instruments. They may be understood in many ways. There are more than fifty thousand mantras or so to say mantras are countless.
OM is a powerful, simple mantra which could be recited by anybody. Mantra Sastra or Mantra Scripture says that OM could be chanted in 170 different ways.. Madam Blavatsky has quoted some ancient Indian text that it can be chanted in 250 different intonations and that the siddhis or results attained by each method is different and good.
It is also said that the belief one has in the mantra chosen by him or initiated by Guru also has a bearing on the result.
Sri Suktham for acquiring wealth and all round prosperity, Medha Suktham for gaining knowledge are being recited in Indian homes. All round success is sure with mantras, if one could select a proper Guru!

YOGA for mind development

By Santhanam Nagarajan


Sri Aurobindo , the sage of Pondicherry, India once narrated his experience thus: "While I was practicing Pranayam, I was doing it for about five to six hours a day, three hours in the morning and two or three hours in the evening. I felt there was a great accession of light and power in the mind. I used to write poetry in those days. Earlier, I could sometimes write only about 200 lines a month. After I began practicing Pranayam I could write 200 lines in half an hour. My memory was rather dull before. But afterwards I composed whenever I had inspiration and remembered ad seriatum the whole, till I committed it to paper at leisure"
R.R.Divakar has recorded this experience of the great sage in his book Mahayogi Shri Aurobindo.
By practicing yogic disciplines one could attain exalted mental state and high inspiration so that his/her creative power knows no bounds. Pranayama means practice of breathing exercises to get control over vital forces.
This is the fourth limb of Yoga, the other seven being Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pratyahara,Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. The equivalent English meanings for these Sanskrit words are ethical restraints, ethical observances , physical poses for the practice of meditation, withdrawal of senses, concentration of mind, meditation and super consciousness, respectively.
One should learn all these yogic disciplines from a true Yogi. Doing on one’s own will lead to disaster. If properly practiced as prescribed by the Yoga sutra , one could attain eight psychic powers.
They are

• Anima : Minuteness (one can become small)
• Mahima: Heaviness (one can become big and heavy)
• Laghima : lightness(one can become light)
• Prapti :Attainment (one can approach distance objects)
• Prakamya :Infallible desires ( one can have immense will power)
• Ishittwa : Lordliness (one can get the power to create)
• Vashittwa : Control (one can control all objects)
• Kamavasaittwa : Highest Bliss ( one can attain the highest bliss)

Mind Development can be ensured by simple breath control exercises.
Pranayam ensures:

• Increased efficiency
• Functioning of both left and right brain.
• Creativity
• Enhancement of memory power
• Positive mental attitude
• Good health
• Longevity

Daily practice of pranayam will be the first step to learn Yoga..

Millennium Celebrations: Padma Subrahmanyam (fourth from right) and 1,000 artistes perform the Bharatanatyam as part of the Millennium Celebrations of the Big Temple, an architectural wonder built by King Rajaraja Chola I, in Thanjavur on Saturday. The dance was a tribute to the temple, which has withstood the test of time for over 1,000 years, and to the king who built it.

Tamil Nadu is making an attempt at setting a Guiness World Record out of the grand spectacle that was staged as part of the millennium celebrations of the Big Temple It was a challenge to make everyone feel that there were 1,000 dancers on the floor. After all, the event could make it to the Guinness book of records and had to be verifiable. K.S. Sudhakar of Swathi Soft Solutions and S.B.Khanthan, director, had to meet theorganising challenge. Now that the event is over, they have filed an application for the mammoth dance event, marking the completion of 1000 years of Brahadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur, for listing as a Guinness achievement.

PM's address to IPS Probationers

December 24, 2010
New Delhi


I think the Director, Mr. Mathur has already summed up what I was going to say to you today. So, may be I can be very brief. This is probably the 7th time that I am addressing the IPS Probationers. It’s a proud privilege of mine as Prime Minister of India to interact with Civil Servants. You belong to a very privileged Service, along with the IAS, and the Forest Service you are three All India Services. We have found a unique way of dealing with the diversities of our country and yet not lose sight of the value system on which our Republic was founded and is now being sustained.

India lives in the States. Therefore our young officers equip themselves with knowledge, wisdom and experience about what is happening in various States of our Union and that is the unique privilege that both the IAS and IPS have. At the same time, the unity and integrity of our country is a prime concern and it must be a prime concern of all prominent services of the Union. The fact that our founding fathers of the Constitution designed this structure for the IAS and the IPS which while working in different States we must not lose sight of the value system and of what critical importance it places on strengthening the unity and integrity of our country. When I talk about unity and integrity of our country, we have to reckon with the fact that law and order maintenance is a prime requisite for even sustaining a reasonable pace of development. And without law and order there will be a question mark on the cohesiveness of our nation. And therefore it is your privilege to ensure while working in your respective States all of you will get a chance to work at the Union. Overall wider perspective that while India lives in States and the problems are often not the same from one State to another. But in dealing with those problems, we must not lose sight of the fact that India is one large common market. Our Constitution makers gave us this unique privilege of being a vast common market, that people can move freely from one part of our country to another where goods can move freely from one part of our country to another. In other countries, Europe, people have struggled to create common markets. This is a gift that has come to us from the founding fathers of our Republic and you must be always be mindful of preserving, building on and nurturing that concern for the unity and integrity of our country.

With development, there are also tensions. Because the capacity for development is not uniformly distributed to all our citizens. There are variant capacities. There was the old system, the old caste system when a person was left behind, he could always blame it on his birth. But now we teach in our schools that we are citizens of a unique Republic which prides itself on providing equality of opportunity to all our citizens. But that’s the norm. But whether it is in fact the case or not, I think very often reality is very different from norms, even then we are getting growth rates of 8-9% per annum, there are people who believe they are left out. When they are left out, I think the grievances against the system multiply and some of them take the form of challenging the authority of law and order. The crime rate goes up probably it is inherent in processes of urbanization that incidents of urban crime will be a problem for quite some time to come and it may be an increasing problem.

Mr. Mathur has already mentioned we are trying to come to terms with the harsh realities of living in a society which has to cope with diverse types of concerns and among the concerns which are foremost right now in my mind, and should be in every civil servant’s mind, is how do we deal with the communal virus. We are fortunate that our country is blessed with citizens belonging to all the great religions of the world. This sometimes causes tension which are in turn exploited by anti-social elements, so the first and foremost responsibility of public servants in any part of our country must be to preserve communal harmony. And we must make every effort that anti social elements do not exploit the situation to promote and nurture their evil designs.

In the same way, our Constitution gives certain fundamental rights, positive, affirmative action in favour of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes. You should also know that atrocities on Scheduled Castes are a matter of great concern. It is the responsibility of the law enforcing authorities to pay special attention to protect the vulnerable sections of our society, be they people belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, be they minorities, be they people belonging to other under-privileged castes. We must make a good study of the social and economic aspirations of people belonging to vulnerable sections of society. And all the other wings of the Government must have a strategy of development which addresses those aspirations and those concerns. I think as I said law and order enforcement is the fundamental prerequisite of any civilized society’s capacity to maintain reasonable pace of development. Therefore your role is crucial to ensure that in processes of development, atrocities on Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other vulnerable sections are not allowed to get out of hand.

Yet another issue Mr. Mathur has mentioned and I emphasized in my talk to your predecessors last year is the growing problem that we face of terrorism, sometimes supported by forces outside our countries, but we must also recognize that today I think there are dangers that terrorism can become an internal intruding problem as well. This is one area which requires very sensitive handling and I would urge you to devise credible effective strategies to deal with this very sensitive issues. If it is terrorism driven by outside forces or sent to our country it is in some way it is easy. But if the terror modules are to be found in our country and some misguided elements of our society take to that path, I think we have to tackle this problem with all the sensitivity that it requires.

Naxalite violence is yet another problem and naxalism today afflicts the Central India parts where the bulk of India’s mineral wealth lies and if we don’t control naxalism we have to say goodbye to our country’s ambitions to sustain growth rate of 10-11% per cent per annum as we all need and as we all aspire that that is the only way that we can rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease that still afflict millions and millions of our citizens. So, the tribal areas are today in the grip of Naxalite menace. What causes this disaffection, why some elements of the tribal societies take to that path, they become an easy prey to the Naxalite propaganda, I think there are social and economic causes which are at the roots of this disaffection. And we have to handle this problem both as a law and order problem as also a development problem. And therefore it is very important that if you want various strategies to deal with this menace, you must have the sensitivity to recognize the social and economic roots of disaffection among tribal societies. And this requires an in depth study as I said last year and I repeat we are living in a world where human knowledge is increasing at a pace which was unthinkable even two decades ago. And therefore our Civil Services have to equip themselves well. They must operate on the frontiers of knowledge. And that’s where the knowledge of social and economic conditions, social and economic causes of disaffection should be high on the agenda of training and retraining modules.

I would say that with urbanization and the growth of metropolitan cities, crime assumes special forms. We find for example in metropolitan cities, violence against women is growing. Violence against elderly citizens is growing in intensity. And therefore the problems of managing urban complexes, metropolitan complexes and maintaining law and order in large metropolitan cities, it requires an indepth knowledge and experience of how we can combine the knowledge of science, knowledge of economics, knowledge of sociology to devise strategies which will help us to control threats to law and order and at the same time, we will do so in a manner which does not lead to any serious disaffection among large sections of population.

Law and order enforcement machinery must use technologies and techniques which do not have recourse to third degree methods. I think as citizens of our country, we must devise ways and means of conducting our enquiries by the police and other entities without use of third degree methods. We must respect the rights of our citizens. Until people have been convicted, they should be regarded as innocent. That’s the basic philosophy of our system. These are some of the concerns that I have. So to repeat terrorism, naxalism, communalism, management of law of metropolitan cities, they have thrown up immense challenges to law and order machinery in all parts of our country. Questions are the same everywhere, answers must be location specific. And I sincerely hope that trust that what you have learnt at your Academy will enable you to grapple with these challenges to our national unity and integrity and the law and order machinery of the Union and the States with great aplomb.

I wish you all the very best in discharging your onerous responsibilities and belonging to the one of the most privileged service of the Union. God bless you in every possible way.

INDIA REMAINS IN S.ASIAN BOTTLE

by Rajeswari Rajagopalan


The biggest success for China insofar India is to derive maximum advantage from her emerging economy status while at the same time keeping India tied down in sub-continental squabbling. The Wen visit achieved just that.

Premier Wen Jiabao’s three-day visit has produced mixed results, with the business community somewhat satisfied with Wen’s promise to open Chinese market for Indian products, although there was no progress on major political issues that were of critical importance to India. On the other hand, this visit was not expected to result in major breakthroughs. Rather, it seems to have been designed to cool temperatures after a series of face-offs between the two countries. But it may not have achieved even this limited objective because the visit appears to have led to even greater wariness in Delhi about China.

From the Chinese perspective, the focus was almost exclusively on economic and trade issues, evident in the 400-member business delegation that accompanied Wen. But contrary to what many have argued, strengthened economics ties have not contributed to better relations on the political front. If the last few years have seen a dramatic increase in trade, so has been the increase in tension on a range of political issues.

India’s focus, on the other hand, was on several political issues, on which the Indian leadership wanted some resolution from Beijing: the changing Chinese policy on Jammu & Kashmir, China-Pakistan nuclear cooperation and terrorism.

From a neutral approach on J&K in the 1980s through 1990s, China has in recent years adopted a more aggressive and partisan role, questioning even the territorial integrity of India. China’s attempt to carve out areas out of the western sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is reflective of the Chinese intent in rewriting history and redrawing geographical boundaries. How far back would China go into history to make new territorial claims is something to be watched out for. While the recent deletion of about 1,500 km from the boundary is a new phenomenon, the Chinese questioning of Indian territorial integrity has been evident in a series of recent Chinese actions. The issuance of stapled visas to people from J&K, denial of travel permits to senior military officers commanding the region are but two instances. Chinese unwillingness to exchange maps of the western sector at least for a decade is reflective of the Chinese intent to question India’s territorial integrity on J&K. While these may be tactical and minor pricks, India should not lose sight of the strategic thinking behind these tactics.

Second, China-Pakistan nuclear and missile cooperation of the 1980s and 1990s has had lasting geopolitical effects on India. The recent Chinese proposal to sell additional nuclear reactors, grandfathering the agreement as it were in total defiance of the international regime, is a dangerous development. This has implications not just for the India-Pakistan military balance but for the global community. Pakistan is on the threshold of being a failed state, and breeding a dangerous cocktail of terrorism and WMD proliferation. The global non-proliferation regime and the US seem unable or unwilling to put the necessary pressure on China not to go ahead with the proposal.

Third, terrorism should have ideally formed an issue of commonality between India and China given that both countries have been victims of terror. But the Chinese selective approach to fight terrorism places New Delhi and Beijing at two ends of the spectrum. More importantly, Beijing refuses to come on board in acknowledging and putting the onus on Pakistan when the Pak-based terror groups have been actively promoting terrorism in India. The best evidence was the post-Mumbai terror attacks, when China refused to be party to UN action against Pakistan-based terror groups like let for their role in the Mumbai attacks. Selectively fighting terrorism in Xinjiang alone will hurt China in the long-term.

It must be borne that these are rather tactical issues in the bilateral relations to keep India embroiled in the Indian neighborhood. The larger question is whether Beijing recognizes the fact that India is also a rising power that needs its strategic space.

The new policy approach towards India is part of a well-considered, clearly articulated and well-orchestrated policy to deny India the space and potential to move beyond South Asia. In 2005, the Chinese leadership had got an internal study done on India, written by the top South Asia specialists including Prof Ma Jiali, who used to frequent India in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The study recommended, among other things, that China take steps to maintain its strategic advantages over India and try to keep India bottled within South Asia. While the study may be a bit dated, the conclusion of the study appears to have been taken to heart by the Chinese policy elites.

India has been admirably careful and diplomatic in handling Chinese provocations so far. India has little need to open up a northern front while it continues to have trouble from Pakistan. But New Delhi also has limitations, especially in justifying its passive policies domestically. Thus, its forbearance may not last. Hopefully, Beijing will realize that its hardline policies towards Delhi will be counter-productive and that India and China have complementary goals that require cooperation rather than confrontation.

South Asia beckons China

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar beating drums during the New Year celebration at his residence in Patna. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

It thrives by tapping tools for arts

Ramya Kannan

  

The Hindu .

Kalakendra showcases all that India is synonymous with

K.S. Sudhakar could have done a number of things when he returned to India in the late 1990s, but was seduced by the options technology was throwing open for entrepreneurs.

That was when he decided to use information technology applications in fields where it was not really explored. With the idea firmly established, Mr. Sudhakar launched a company that would see the huge potential in the area of arts. A Bharatanatyam dancer complained of insufficient teaching and training tools, and it seemed one of the first tasks of the organisation: produce visual content for students of the dance form.

That was how it began, eight years ago. And today, Mr. Sudhakar says, the company has grown 10 times, both in page views and the number of artists it accommodates. Easily www.kalakendra.com, the online venture of Swati Soft Solutions, had become that virtual aggregator of culture in the intervening years.

“Kalakendra is a small but significant effort to explore the hitherto un-projected facets of India's vibrant tradition,” he says. As a portal, it has begun to showcase all that India is synonymous with — Yoga, Vedas, Bharatanatyam and other forms of Indian dance, Carnatic Music , Ayurveda, Hindustani or the musical traditions of northern India, or simply any form of Indian art.

There is also an active blogging component to the site that Mr. Sudhakar is rather proud of. A wide range of works (audio and video), including content on classical music, Tamil plays, yoga demonstration in DVDs, are on offer. “We have our own label that produces these DVDs, but we even display and sell labels that are not our own. The point is to provide artists with a platform to take their content to the world outside,” Mr. Sudhakar explains.

A digital downloading platform is also on offer for audio content, for subscribers. The video downloading platform is on its way too. Work on providing streaming options to customers who pay a monthly subscription is under way.

Taking the call on the types of content, the company decided to stay ‘Indian,' ‘classical' and the ‘stuff that you can listen to, or watch with your kids.' About 40 per cent of the business comes from India, and the bulk (60 per cent) from outside the country. “We've had people tell us that they copied songs in violation of copyright primarily because they were unaware that copyrighted material on the classical arts was available at a reasonable price on the web,” Mr. Sudhakar says.

Kalakendra's biggest moment came recently when it coordinated and webcast live the dance performance at the Big Temple at Thanjavur on the 1000th anniversary of the temple.

Jati, Varna, and Adhikara to speak

It's about time the Hindu economic elite combined resources and marshaled the gumption to confront the age-old caste conundrum.
One of the first honest attempts was made recently in the United States, and it met with predictable condemnation ­ from within

In a September 2010 report in a Bengaluru newspaper readers were told about the distribution of ministerial portfolios in the Yeddyurappa cabinet. It said, "The Lingayat community, to which Yeddyurappa belongs and is viewed as the BJP's vote bank, dominates the Cabinet with as many as 11 representatives. The Lingayats are followed by six ministers who belong to other backward castes and SC category. There are four ministers from the Brahmin and three from the Vokkaliga communities. Two ministers represent the ST category and two are from minority communities." If this represents one end of the caste dynamics spectrum in India, the other may be seen in a report from a national newspaper, also in September, which said: "A mongrel brought up in an upper caste home in Morena was kicked out after the Rajput family members discovered that their 'Sheru' had eaten a roti from a Dalit woman and was now an 'untouchable'."
In so many ways, caste casts its shadow on Indian society, and caste has been used as the hook to hang the Hindu portrait in most of the modern discourse on Hinduism. Christian missionaries in the West use it all the time to raise funds for their churchplanting activities in India; the evangelical-led Dalit Freedom Network lobbies US Congressmen to initiate inquiries on caste-based discrimination; the UN's Durban Conference sought to equate caste with race; and Muslims, without fail, assert that Hindus are bound by caste. LeftMarxists have taken much pleasure in demonising Hinduism because a birth-based hierarchy is essentially discriminatory. Most college courses on India, not just on Hinduism, taught in US universities highlight caste as an intrinsic feature of Hinduism. Worried Indian-American parents wonder how to explain to their children the complexities of caste as the children come home from school shame-faced after listening to simplistic presentations of Hinduism as caste-bound and elitist.

In this context, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), after due diligence, released a report on caste, titled "Not Cast in Caste: Seeking an End to Caste-based Discrimination." The report argues that while caste-based discrimination and violence is an ongoing human rights problem in India, the solution to the problem lies within Hinduism itself. The report reiterates that many Hindu scriptures and commentaries extol the inherent divinity and spiritual potential of all, and that caste-based discrimination therefore represents "a lamentable gap between the Hindu teaching of recognising and respecting the divinity in all beings and the practice of this precept in the treatment of many fellow Hindus."

The report urges Hindus to acknowledge that the varna and jaati system, that even today confers benefits of social mobility for many, has become perverted, and that Hindus should consider the situation objectively and compassionately so that they can be the leaders in reframing and reforming caste dynamics. HAF takes a clear stand against a birth-based hierarchy. It also bemoans caste-based discrimination leading to violence against the Scheduled Castes, the exploitation of women, the denial of entry into temples, and other forms of abuse and shaming. These violate the dignity and divinity of fellow citizens, the report opines. Arguing that the jati and varna identities calcified and warped over the centuries of exploitative foreign rule, predatory proselytism, and bureaucratic classification of jatis by colonial administrators, the writers of the report point out that the current Indian political dynamics have contributed to the strengthening of caste identity, thus making reform difficult.

Self-criticism and introspection are inherently difficult, and a minority of vocal internet warriors pounced on HAF. Perhaps they did not read the full report in which it is clearly pointed out that caste-based discrimination has survived despite considerable Hindu attempts to eradicate it. But who would not acknowledge that caste-based discrimination evolved in Hindu society? Or that some Hindu texts lay down laws and codes that support caste-bias and a birth-based hierarchy? The HAF consultants for the report all pointed out the complexity of the caste conundrum.
The experts, well-versed in the Hindu texts as well as in Indian history, weighed in with their advice, support, and cautionary notes.

Within half an hour of the report going online, there was a flurry of email activity and postings on discussion boards. HAF was sought to be driven into a corner by some Hindus who found the report objectionable for a variety of reasons.
They asserted that HAF does not have the "adhikara" or authority to present such a report; that HAF had not consulted with the pontiffs of the traditional Hindu temples but only "jet set" and "dollar swamijis"; that HAF's report played into the hands of "Marxists", "Christian missionaries", "white people", "jihadists", etc. It was alleged that HAF's report was not scholarly; that HAF's report conflated jati and varna with caste; and that HAF has no right to "apologise".

Why not acknowledge what is wrong, and go on to strengthen Hindu society, as many Hindus have done in the past? HAF therefore wisely argued that birth-based hierarchy goes against modern tenets of equality, and that caste-based discrimination, especially in its egregious forms, is the denial of dignity and divinity of fellow Hindus.
HAF consulted experts who have decades-long grass roots experience working with Dalit groups, and who have observed first-hand the shaming and the marginalising, if not the dehumanising aspects of caste-based discrimination.

What is evident from this experience, ironically, is that caste continues to shape modern discourse about Hindus and Hinduism. It also shows that the various social and religious movements over the past 2500 years from Buddhism and Lingayatism to the Dasa Sampradaya, and from Sikhism and Arya Samajism to the Self-respect and the Dravidian movement have sought to engage and deal with the excesses or anachronisms in Hindu society with varying degrees of success. Great social reformers, from the Buddha to Basaveshwara, from Kanaka Dasa to Narayana Guru, from Swami Vivekananda to Mahatma Gandhi, as well as influential men like Periyar have churned Hindu society.
All of them faced challenges, and posed challenges. Therefore this report by the Hindu American Foundation is just another and small contribution to the debate, but is a necessary one in a new, fast-paced, globalised world. India is changing, and many young Hindus have begun to distance themselves from what they consider anachronistic and archaic.

Hindus now live, work, and play around the world. Many do not know that Hinduism, the "rolling caravan of conceptual spaces," could provide the world a new lead encouraging pluralism, respect for one another, and support for diverse cultures to flourish.
Monotheistic and monopolistic religions and ideologies rely on standardization. They cannot sustain diversity. But Hinduism, which sustains diversity, is burdened by birth-based jati assignments. We can renew the grandeur of this ageless "religion" if, and only if we are all willing to take another critical look at caste-based discrimination and birthbased hierarchy.

(Ramesh N. Rao is Human Rights Coordinator for the Hindu American Foundation, and professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies and Theatre, Longwood University. The views expressed here are his own.)