Verbatim II
1. “That goverment is best which governs least.”
– Thoreau
Verbatim
Reply
Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave – the famous Gandhian and Sarvodya leader- better known as a Bhudaan leader was featured on Time magazine in 1953 and a cover story was dedicated to him। I happened to see this while picture surfing about him on internet.
Acharya (spiritual leader) Bhave was one of the tall social leaders who tried to emulate Gandhian philosophy after Indian independence and bring about social reforms, Bhu-daan and Gram-daan being the most famous. Though his support to Indira Gandhi’s imposition of Emergency in 1977 – made him a center of controversy. It may be noted that he termed the Emergency as ‘anushashan parva’ ( a period of discipline), while it clearly was a dark period in the independent democratic India. Nevertheless, Vinoba Bhave was a man of vision and his land reforms were a big start and lent him international reputation. Individuals like Acharya Bhave and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (famously known as JP) have proved that Gandhi- inspired initiatives based upon the principles of truth and non-violence are still relevant.
His Pawnar (or Paunar) Ashram located near Wardha and Sewagram – in central parts of India- continue to carry on his legacy and philosophy. I happened to visit the Ashram many a time while I was a med student at MGIMS (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences), Sewagram, Wardha.
Sagamore Hill: Theodore Roosevelt (TR)
Today as we were free, we took the opportunity to visit Sagamore Hill National Historic site. The Sagamore Hill is in Oyster Bay, New York and about 18 miles from our residence. The location is very near to the beach (Atlantic Ocean) and is a great location.
The official website describes: “Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919. From 1902 to 1908 his “Summer White House” in Oyster Bay, New York was the focus of international attention..”
The house was built at that time at an approximate cost of 17,000 US dollars (which the guide told us would amount to 5 millions dollars in today’s era!!). The house has 23 rooms so as to accomodate his big family ( he had 6 kids). “Infact Sagamore Hill is a rambling 23- room Victorian structure of wood frame and brick”. Most of the furnishings are original pieces and very little has changed since then. It may be noted that Roosevelt had inherited great wealth and belonged to an aristocratic Dutch family.
There is a nearby museum which displays the exhibits on the this great President. It becomes abundantly clear that TR was a man of courage, vision, and liberty. He was an avid reader and infact had stated that books are the ammunition for the body. He wrote many books and contributed numerous articles. After his 2 terms of Presidency, he went to Africa and Eurpoe and thoroughly enjoyed as a voyager. After returning, he actually decided to contest for the 3rd term and when denied the Republican nomination, he formed a separate party, but lost the elections.
He died at Sagamore on January 6,1919 of Pulmonary embolism.
Hari Om Sharan
Around 1992, my friend- Kumar Mukesh -gave me a cassette of devotional songs by Hari Om Sharan ji(HOM). When I listened to them, I became an instant fan. The voice of HOM is captivating.
And 15 years down the lane, I am still equally enthralled when I listen to his songs! A few songs which I like most are: “Tera Ramji karenge beda paar..”, ” Maili chadar odh ke kaise”, ” Shri radhe gobinda, man bhaj le hari ka pyara naam hai”, ” Data ek ram, bhikari saari duniya..”, etc. Let me admit that I have not heard a more melodious narration of Hanumaan Chalisa than the one recited by HOM. I have listened to this countless times. Similarly, two collections of his songs -Premanjali and Pushpanjali are very famous. I have also seen the DVD of these songs.
Trying to gather more info about HariOm Sharan, I happened to come across a web-site dedicated to him: http://www.hariomsharan.com/. This is an excellent source of info about Hari Om Sharan ji.
And 15 years down the lane, I am still equally enthralled when I listen to his songs! A few songs which I like most are: “Tera Ramji karenge beda paar..”, ” Maili chadar odh ke kaise”, ” Shri radhe gobinda, man bhaj le hari ka pyara naam hai”, ” Data ek ram, bhikari saari duniya..”, etc. Let me admit that I have not heard a more melodious narration of Hanumaan Chalisa than the one recited by HOM. I have listened to this countless times. Similarly, two collections of his songs -Premanjali and Pushpanjali are very famous. I have also seen the DVD of these songs.
Trying to gather more info about HariOm Sharan, I happened to come across a web-site dedicated to him: http://www.hariomsharan.com/. This is an excellent source of info about Hari Om Sharan ji.
Atheism: the Way of Life
Sam Harris, the noted contemporary atheist says the following in his debate over God. The full text of the debate-in an article published in April 2007 issue of NewsWeek- can be accessed through this link:
1. “…..and it’s instructive to notice that we’re all atheists with respect to Zeus and the thousands of other dead gods whom now nobody worships.”
2. No society in human history has ever suffered because it has become too reasonable.
3. The thing that bothers me about faith-based altruism is that it is contaminated with religious ideas that have nothing to do with the relief of human suffering. So you have a Christian minister in Africa who’s doing really good work, helping those who are hungry, healing the sick. And yet, as part of his job description, he feels he needs to preach the divinity of Jesus in communities where literally millions of people have been killed because of interreligious conflict between Christians and Muslims. It seems to me that that added piece causes unnecessary suffering. I would much rather have someone over there who simply wanted to feed the hungry and heal the sick.
4. Pastor Warren said: A low probability? When there are 96 percent believers in the world? So is everybody else an idiot?
Sam replies:It is quite possible for most people to be wrong—as are most Americans who think that evolution didn’t occur.
Pastor Warren: That’s an arrogant statement.
5. Right now, we have to change the rules to talk about God and spiritual experience and ethics. And I’m denying that that is so. You can have your spirituality. You can go into a cave and practice meditation and transform yourself, and then we can talk about why that happened and how it could be replicated. We may even want, for perfectly rational reasons, to say we want a Sabbath in this country, a genuine Sabbath. Let’s realize that there’s a power in contemplating the mystery of the universe, and in reminding yourself how much you love the people closest to you, and how much more you could love the people you haven’t met yet. There is nothing you have to believe on insufficient evidence in order to talk about that possibility
Save unborn daughters
The voices and concerns against female foeticide are getting morea and more attention, as evidenced in this letter published in The Tribune:
“The state-level conference on female foeticide at Kurukshetra recently was one of the few conclaves organised in this part of the country. It was heartening to see representatives from the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and various religions come on a common platform on this crucial issue. The response from the public was overwhelming.
The issue of women’s empowerment and female foeticide has become the focal point for the nation to turnaround, jettison the old mindset and look at the future in a different perspective. We must save our unborn daughters at any cost. The whole nation is one on tackling this issue and would like to get on to the task of nation building from here. “
Dr MANOJ LAMBA, Radiologist, Kurukshetra
(Ref: The Tribune, Chandigarh: April 4,2007)
Non-partisan pressure Groups
The biggest challenge which India faces today is corruption in the public life. The beaurocrats and politicians are hand- in- glove; transparency and accountability have taken a back seat as far as the governance is concerned. Similarly, because of the lack of electoral reforms, politicians are making a mockery of the democracy.
What a common man (the voter) do: He or she uses the power of ballot to change the government every five years. That is the most he or she can do! One government is replaced by another. One political party is replaced by another, but the loot system and the indulgence in the corruption continue. The power game of politicians continues and the issues of developments, welfare remian the low priorities. These phenomena of Revolving Door Democracy have repeatedly been seen in many States and even at the Center!
In a democracy how do we get the relief?
A non-partisan group of people -in the form of NGO- is the best bet. There is a need to form a “pressure group“ whose only ideology is to test the government on the scale of performance! Thus such a pressure group is essentailly working as a strong opposition party: appreciate the government what is right and take the government to task were it faults. An extension of this is a “Shadow Government” where the NGOs has on its panel experts working as various ministers , like Education Minister, Finance Minister, etc and they analyse the working of the concerned departments of the government and are thus keeping the government on alert.
Thus such a movement of people is essentially participating in the functioning of the democracy and is trying to “empower” people by scrutinizing the working of the government. But these NGOs will have to evolve a strong policy and ideology and adhere to them (i,e be non-partisan) otherwise as they ‘try to participate in the governance’, they will be swayed away in the currents of controversies and allegations!
Can we begin such an experiment at a district level, to be extended to the whole State? If successful, this can be further extended.
Dr Ahuja’s untimely death
Bhiwani, March 31:Eminent eye specialist Anil Ahuja, who died of cardiac arrest last evening, was cremated here today. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. Dr Ahuja had donated his eyes a few years back. His relatives informed the doctor, who had preserved his eyes, to carry out his wish.
Local doctors, advocates, political leaders attended his funeral. — TNS
Re: The Tribune, April 1,2007
The news of the death of Dr Anil Ahuja was conveyed to me while I was talking to my friend Dr AP Mehta at Bhiwani. I was shocked to hear this! This was certainly an untimely death as Dr Ahuja was hardly 48. I remember I met him last about 4 years back when he visited Safidon for a Bharat Vikas Parishad (BVP) function. Dr Ahuja was not only a successful surgeon, he was very active socially also. He was involved in IMA in a big way and had been associated with BVP for a long time, holding senior executive responsibilities. May his soul rest in peace and may the Almighty give strenght to his family to bear this tragic loss.
Posted by Munish
Reservation Must Go !
The caste-based reseravtion or caste based quota system in India is a constant cause of social conflict. The Hindu society continues to be divided over it and agitations have resulted from time to time. Under the reservation policy, ‘so-called’ lower catse Hindus get reservations in jobs, and educational institutes and ‘so-called ‘ upper caste Hindus collectively compete for open seats or general quota for admissions and jobs ( I use the term ‘ so-called’ beacuse I am against the caste system. Caste system is a bane for the Hindu and Indian society). Thus, this policy of reservation is against the spirit of open competition and free market. This reservation policy was included in our Constitution so as to provide opportunities to lower caste Hindus to uplift themselves. This policy was to be re-vised in 1990s, but the Parliament instead of taking steps to abolish or efface it, has continued it. Among our political establishment, who has the spine to touch a sensitive issue such as this!
The reservation in last 60 years of our independence has not solved the problems it was intended to: Those who became benefitted by it, they (only a few percentage of lower catse people) continue to enjoy the benefits and it has not ‘transcended’ uniformly over the target group to benefit them. At the same time, it has continued to build up resentment in the upper class youth as many of them despite having required qualifications have not been able to get admissions or jobs because many a seat were ‘usurped’ by reserved class! Therefore, reservation system has not actually been able to produce an equitable society and the currrent trends of reservation are unlikely to even if it is continued for another 100 years!
I am of the resolute opinion that reservation system must go as it creates a divisive society and is against the spirit of free competition. Reservation must be effaced out gradually, but must be supplemented with a sense of social responsibilty. If we try to efface reservation without the element of social justice, it will serve no purpose and will give rise to another set of social problems.
I suggest following measures which will help us get rid of reservation system while not disturbing the balances of the society.
1. Government must announce that reservation system will be gradually scrapped off over a period of say, 30 years.
2. Identify families of lower catse Hindus: Each family will be given reservation for one or two times only: either in the job or admission into a acadmic instiute. once that benefit has been given, the family will no longer be able to enjoy the fruit of reservation. This also implies that all reservations for promotions in the jobs and admission for higher studies will be scrapped immediately.
3. Identify citizens on the basis of economic status (irrespective of caste and creed or religion) and provide economically backward citizens better opportunities for education and health.
These are oft-repeated measures which are nothing new. They are good measures, but to make them socially more justifable, I have a few more suggestuons:
4. Each so-called upper caste Hindu is urged to take up/adopt the case of one lower caste Hindu: For example adopt one kid for his upbringing until he or she is meaningfully employed or settled in life. This is what upper castes owe to lower castes who have been exploited for generations. This measure will result in less hostilities and more social harmony when we think of long-term plan of abolishing reservations.
5. On a long term plan, encourage inter-caste marriages and inter-state ‘socialization’ (encourage taking jobs at distant places, moving for distant places): this will result in a broader vision and outlook towards the society and the nation. This helps us coming out of our ghetto mentality! We suffer badly from caste and ‘biradri’ (community) affinities and this hinders us from looking towards the open skies with open minds.
6. And as Avinash Yadav has suggested in his write-up, “(eradication of reservation) could be easily done if we drop our surnames”. For a link to his write- up, click . Or start using surnames in a way that they loose their identifications.
Another pleasant result of abolishing reservation system will be that our Christian and muslim brothers will drop the demands of reservations for them. It will become much more difficult for the casteist and pseudo-secular politicians to inflame the passions of reservations in our so-called ‘minorities’ (is it not ludicrous that in a secular country we divide citizens as majority or minority based upon the religion!). Is not it il-logical that first our dalits are lured into Christianity -by the ambassadors of social upliftment- saying that they will be liberated form the stigma of being low-castes and then the same ambassadors cry hoarse to provide reservations to ‘Dalit Christians’ !!
While the then Prime Minister VP Singh unleashed the poison of “Mandalization” over the Indian society, it is time to do the things right way: ‘Empower’ the Dalits to liberate them from the shackles of ‘reservation’ !
God Versus Science
This letter was published in NewsWeek magazine. The dabtae is the usual religion versus science:
“In her article on evolution, Sharon Begley acknowledges that many readers will want to believe that the “hand of God” was instrumental in guiding evolutionary change. Actually, that’s not a wise choice for the theist subscriber. Supreme beings who have the ability to create whole universes out of nothing are by definition omniscient and omnipotent. Evolution, on the other hand, is a disorganized process of “fits and starts” with thousands of dead ends and mistakes leading up to the flora and fauna of today. Omniscient deities don’t make mistakes. So a God who guides evolution is a supreme bumbler, not a supreme being”.
David Werdegar Naperville,
Illinois, USA
(Source: NewsWeek, April 2,2007)