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India's ethics-based society today far from its moorings

Sat 19 Nov 2011 8:39:20 PM GMT

India's ethics-based society today far from its moorings
Wednesday April 13 2011

By KANAYALAL RAINA

India, once known as a country with high moral and ethical standards, seems to be sinking to the depths of ignominy because of rampant corruption. It is a painful scenario that we are enlisted among the corrupt countries of the world.

This generation has brought disrepute to our great sages and savants, thinkers and preceptors who had assiduously and over centuries built a formidable structure of Indian society based on high standard of morality and ethical code. It is surprising how quickly we have fallen victim to the depths of ill repute.

While talking of corruption in public conduct, we invariably hold political leaders and activists responsible for moral turpitude and depravity. But this generalization is unjustified and unacceptable. Essentially, it is attributable to the under-developed personality that allows political leaders to exploit the situation. A nation with strong and independent personality does not succumb to moral turpitude that easy. When corruption becomes a social phenomenon, it is a signal that civil society is diseased. High standards of morality are not enforced through legislation or prerogatives; it is the gift of advanced culture and philosophy.

Abandoning traditional learning that infused austerity and contentment as virtues composing wholesome living is a big loss we inflicted on ourselves after the attainment of independence. It is sensible to separate religion from politics if we want good governance, but ethics as an integral component of faith cannot be separated from good governance. In that sense religion does have a place in functional politics.

Traditional learning of scriptures and theological fund forms the basis of standard ethical code, which in turn churns up the philosophy of good governance. Unfortunately we discarded that healthy part of our tradition under the mad rush for modern civilization. In the process, we lost our ethical and moral moorings.

How can we expect an ethics- based society to come up when the very roots of ethics, meaning religion, remain eroded? It is this scenario that has given rise to double-edged corruption - double-edged because the indicted person first denies being corrupt, and then castigates the social system for indicting him.

The range of corruption is vast, from bribery to forgery, from embezzlement to misuse of power, from narcotics trade to gun-running and what not. Hardly any sector of social and public service is left out of corruption. The contagion has spread from top to bottom. Apart from the reason of lack of a sense of social responsibility and awareness of moral and ethnical bindings, total laxity in accountability has immensely contributed to the spread of corruption.

This brings us to a debate on the question of shortening the circle of legal protection to a corrupt person. A legal fight over a corruption case is usually protracted and time consuming. Whether the indicted person is punished or not is a different matter. Prolonging the accountability to indefinite period considerably dilutes public interest and trust in the judicial process.

In all western democracies, cases of corruption are dealt with in accordance with the law of the land most expeditiously, so that a wrong signal of authorities conniving at corruption is not spread. In India we find the reverse of it, and we take shelter behind the outdated and redundant juridical intervention. Why not reform the system to meet new requirements of present-day society. Reforming the educational system by introducing tradition-based study of ethical code, simultaneously with adopting strict norms of accountability, should be the two-pronged strategy for eradicating corruption in the entire administrative and governance structure of the country.

Time and tide wait for no one. Keeping a tryst with corruption is keeping a tryst with disaster.

- Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion. At present he heads www.businessplans4all.com

The implications of globalization

Sat 19 Nov 2011 8:37:38 PM GMT

The implications of globalization
Wednesday January 5 2011

By KANAYALAL RAINA

The world economy is showing some signs of revival. The US Government made a huge $700 billion stimulus package to bailout US banks from the present crisis. The US Government has indirectly bought these loans from crisis-ridden banks. This package was successful in lessening the immediate pain but it will wholly fail in solving the long term crisis.

The stimulus package had has the consequence of artificially maintaining high wages in the United States. The cost of production for American companies continues to be more than that of Chinese companies. US companies will therefore not be able to compete with India and China, and the resulting downward pressure on wages of American workers will persist.

Globalization has encouraged the developed countries to transfer their advanced technologies to the developing countries. They no longer have absolute control of these technologies. As a result, their erstwhile monopoly on advanced goods like computer servers, rockets, nuclear reactors, etc has evaporated into the air. They are getting some royalty payments from the export of these technologies. But these decline with time. It is necessary to continuously generate new technologies to maintain the stream of income from royalty payments. This does not seem to be happening.

In the 50-odd years since World War II, many decisive technologies were developed. These included rockets, jet airplanes, computers, nuclear reactors, etc. However, there has been no such development since the internet in the 'nineties. Thus they are now receiving fewer royalty payments - but they have to compete with hi-tech goods produced in India and China.

The low cost of labour provides a deep advantage to these developing countries. Developed countries will not be able to compete with hi-tech India. As a result the problems of the developed countries will only get worse.

This is inherent in the model of free trade on which the present model of globalization is built.

Globalization has actually made things difficult for the developed countries. It has encouraged them to transfer advanced technologies to the developing countries. For example, American and French companies are excited about transferring advanced nuclear power reactors to India upon the successful culmination of the nuclear agreement. But what are the implications? It isn't rocket science. Say the cost of producing nuclear power is Rs2 ($0.05) per unit against Rs4 ($.10) per unit for thermal power. The cost of nuclear energy in the US will be Rs2 ($0.05). On the other hand India will have to produce thermal power at Rs4 ($.10) per unit, if the US does not export the technology of nuclear reactors. Consequently the cost of production of goods in India will be more, and the US can pay higher wages to its workers to that extent. But companies producing nuclear reactors will then be deprived of profits from the export of their reactors.

Corporations have an inherent tendency to make profits. They do not examine the long-term consequences of their actions. But the cheaper production in India will make it impossible for the US companies to pay higher wages to their workers.

Free trade has added to the woes of developed countries in another way. The daily wage of an unskilled worker in India is about Rs200 ($4.55) against Rs5,000 ($114) in the US. It has become profitable for US companies to produce in India and export the manufactured goods to their home economy. Wal-Mart is procuring about 80 per cent of its goods from China. The production of garments, toys and footwear has practically come to an end in the US. This has happened because China and India have got the winning combination of advanced technologies and cheap labour.

The solution for developed countries can possibly come from imposing high import tariffs. Such import taxes, when imposed on garments, for example, will lead to high cost of garments in the US and, accordingly, it will become possible for US companies to pay higher wages to the extent of the import taxes. They will also put the brakes on the penchant for exporting advanced technologies - presently American companies are transferring advanced technologies, in part, because they want to import the goods produced. Higher import duties will lead to lesser imports and correspondingly lesser incentive for the export of advanced technologies.

It is clear that present model of globalization has reached its end because there is no solace here for workers of the developed countries - particularly when the assumption that new technologies will continue to appear and provide a continuous stream of incomes to the developed countries has failed.

- Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion.

A special moment in history for Indian Muslims

Sat 19 Nov 2011 8:36:25 PM GMT

A special moment in history for Indian Muslims
Wednesday June 1 2011

By KANAYALAL RAINA

The day after Pakistan's only Christian minister was shot dead I talked to an Indian Muslim of relatively conservative disposition. He prays five times a day, fasts every day in the month of Ramadan, believes that the Prophet of Islam brought the last message from God and has lived for most of his life struggling to be a poet and writer in Urdu. Pakistan owned Urdu, and my Muslim friend did not understand what was happening till it was too late to choose another career. Often in his days of struggle he has been approached by people in Pakistan who have urged him to cross the border and try his luck in Pakistan where Urdu is not just alive but thriving. He never went, however, and the day after Shehzad Bhatti was gunned down by Taliban terrorists he said, "I thank God that neither I nor a single member of my family has ever seriously considered emigrating to that country. When I see what is happening there I can hardly believe that they are doing this in the name of Islam."

My friend is not alone in voicing these sentiments. In recent months, as Pakistan has plunged inexorably into religious violence, I have met many Muslims who have expressed similar sentiments. Till not very long ago their feelings about what was happening in Pakistan were mixed. They believed, like most Pakistanis still do, that it was entirely the fault of American foreign policy, that a wave of Islamist violence was sweeping across Pakistan. They cited the same reasons that Pakistanis do. It was American money that was poured into the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. When the war ended and the Soviet Union disintegrated the Americans simply lost interest in the cause and left the suddenly unemployed mujahideen to fend for themselves as best they could. It was from their ranks that Osama bin Laden recruited his terrorist army.

This is only half the story of what has gone wrong in Pakistan but there were many Indian Muslims who shared this view. But now, recently, I detect signs of a change.

It is as if Indian Muslims have suddenly discovered there is much more wrong with Pakistan than they had realized, and that the things that have gone wrong cannot be blamed entirely on American foreign policy. This change is very recent and can be attributed as much to the violence in Pakistan as to the winds of change blowing across the rest of the Islamic world. Indian Muslims appear to have noticed that the rebels who have brought about regime change in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired rebellions in nearly every other Middle Eastern country are fighting for rights that they already have in India.

Indian Muslims appear also to have noticed that the fanatical, violent Islam that is sweeping across Pakistan has very little to do with the religion that has existed in India for nearly as long as it has in the Middle East. In India, Islam synthesized into a more refined version of the religion that came to us from the deserts of Arabia; and although there have always existed Wahabi type preachers who want women to be veiled and Shariat laws to be imposed, they have been ignored for most of the centuries that Islam has been in India.

After 9/11, when it seemed for a while as if Islam itself was under attack all over the world, we saw a resurgence of a more rigid Islam. It was promoted by Saudi money that poured into mosques and madrassas, and a new generation of younger Indian Muslims seemed for a while seduced by the allure of fundamental Islam. This could be changing now.

This is a special moment in history for Indian Muslims. They have a choice, between choosing what's happening in the Middle East, or in Pakistan.

- Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion.

Anger Management

Sun 17 Oct 2010 1:56:48 PM GMT

Anger Management

Swami Vivekananda has rightly said that we waste much of our energy in useless emotions such as anger and if that energy is constructively used one would achieve all his dreams and projects in life.

The Holy Bhagavad Gita also says that anger leads to clouded thinking and finally to destruction. Even in our own lives, we find many occasions when anger has caused us trouble.

Anger may be defined as an emotion or a feeling. Anger can result as a result of-conflict between man and nature, between man and other living beings, and within one's own mind.

Whatever the source, the effects of anger can be very negative and destructive. It is a sheer wastage of energy. It can cause or exacerbate heart burns, ulcers, blood pressure and heart trouble.

How we express anger is something we learn. As children we may have learned from one or both parents that anger can be used to get attention or to get one's way. Or we may have that we should show the good emotions-love and happiness, for instance-and keep bad emotions like anger inside.

Following are the ways to manage the anger-

Admitting your anger-
The time you feel anger, admit it to yourself. Do not deny feeling angry and cover it up. Identify your anger. What happens when you get angry? Does your heart race? Does your face flush? Do you feel a surge of energy? Many of us have been taught to push out anger down as soon as it surfaces, sometimes before we can recognize it. If you have been denying anger for a long time, It may take some practice to recognize it when it surfaces. But if you attune yourself to what triggers anger, you will find many things bring out angry feelings.

Exploring your anger-
When you have identified what made you angry, stop and think about it. Then explore why you are angry-get to the source of emotion. If it is something someone said to you, ask yourself why it made you angry. Give yourself a little time to think and you may put the situation to another perspective. Anger in itself is not wrong but reacting rashly or impulsively to anger can ruin relationships or lead to violence. Count to 10 or start reverse counting, or breathe deeply slowly in and out will calm you and give you time to assess the situation more objectively. It is best to think before you act.

Expression of anger-
Expressing your anger is the next step. Once you have admitted your anger whatever the reason, express it appropriately to the right person and constructively(to solve the problem that caused the anger rather using personal attack as an expression of anger which may explode the situation. Remember that feeling of anger is not a problem. What u do with that feeling can be a problem-or the beginning of a solution. Anger can be a good guide, but try to use feelings of anger to point out problems, not to create new ones.

Dropping it-
Final and most difficult is to drop it once you have addressed the source and expressed your anger in a health way.

Take a time out
Sometimes flight is better than fight. A change in the environment can change your outlook, bringing in its wake some amount of calmness. You should not stay in the situation that makes you angry. The situation may be beyond control bur your response is completely within your control. A time out should not be used to avoid the situation altogether. Return when you feel calm enough to express yourself appropriately.

Reduce your Ego-
We labour under the misconception that world is designed to suit our purposes and that we are very important. When we find things going against our wishes, we get annoyed. If we reduce our ego and realize that world waits for none, our demands and expectations will also reduce and we shall be less irritated by adverse events

Practice Concentration when you are angry-
Anger melts away if you can distance it from the object of anger. The trick is to separate the object and the feelings for that object.

Stop pre-supposing about the person you are cross with-
Suppose you are angry with a person you start guessing and imagining various things about that person. Try to Counter anger by forcibly bringing in thoughts of love, the help you received from him and anger will subside, This is called 'Pratipaksha bhavana' in yoga scriptures.

Identifying trigger factors for anger-
Knowing specifically what makes you angry is a first step in controlling your response.
Managing one's anger helps in preserving one's energy, remain more focused on work and thereby success, Power and happiness in life.

Kanayalal Raina

Blog

www.businessplnas4all.com

Brave Lady Benazir Bhutto

Sun 17 Oct 2010 1:46:05 PM GMT

I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, especially to her young three children, who have lost their mother, as well as to those other innocent victim’s families who got killed in the bomb attack, and to the people of Pakistan. This was an abhorrent act of terror.

Minutes before she was assassinated, Benazir Bhutto told a rally in Rawalpindi: “I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger.”

Indeed she was a charismatic but controversial political leader, whose life was marked by family tragedies, political triumphs, and defeats. She was thrown out of power twice on corruption charges, yet tens of millions of Pakistanis— illiterate and impoverished— looked to her with hope, faith and love.

It’s not clear who killed Bhutto, although hers was a chronicle of a death foretold. She herself knew it coming, but being a brave lady went ahead with her agenda to give freedom to her people in Pakistan.

Whatever the criticisms, it is worth remembering this: Benazir Bhutto seemed indestructible. She survived the execution of her father, endured imprisonment, outlived exile, saw off a string of corruption cases, survived previous attempts on her life… and came out stronger.

People from her party were worried about her safety, but she was fighting to give democracy to her people in Pakistan. When news of her shocking assassination hit the world, a mere two weeks away from national elections, Pakistan’s only hope of ever becoming a truly democratic nation was murdered.

No surprise
For those Pakistan watchers who are familiar with the tragic history of their country, this latest brutal crackdown on democracy and freedom the country’s dictatorship has imposed on its citizens for most of its 60 years of existence comes as no surprise.

Unfortunately Bhutto herself was instrumental in sponsoring jihad, openly inciting militants to intensify terrorism in India. I find it very difficult to discover a single element with her relationship to India that is positive, and for the betterment of her country or the region.

We do remember how she was shouting her slogans earlier, of azaadi (freedom) for Kashmiris, and exhorting the people of Kashmir to cut Jagmohan, the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, into pieces, as in “jag-jag, mo-mo, han-han”. She would say this while making chopping motions with her right hand as it moved from her left wrist to the elbow, leaving nobody in any doubt as to what she meant.

Under Bhutto, anti-Indian terrorism in the Kashmir region was fostered and increased. When she was Prime Minster of Pakistan, Benazir was also directly responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir. Most people in India, especially Kashmiri Pandits, would never forgive or forget her shrieking screams about “azaadi, azaadi, azaadi” which were repeatedly broadcast over Pakistan TV in 1989, even as she pledged support to Islamic terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

She took a tough line on Kashmir during the July 1989 visit to Islamabad of the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. That visit, intended to mark a new beginning, did not achieve the intended result.

Poor track record
Pakistan basically is a political construct in which several diverse ethnic groups were arbitrarily forced together into what was supposed to become an Islamic melting pot. It’s track record speaks for itself.

Pakistan has been the home of banks that wired money for the 9/11 plot, been the chief source of illicit nuclear proliferation, offered a tribal-area haven for planners of worldwide terrorism, abetted the reconstitution of the Taliban, and educated many a suicide bomber in Islamic religious schools. Al Qaida, led by Osama bin Laden, marked the beginning of the era of regional— and global— terrorism, of which India has been a victim for more than two decades.

Pakistan-sponsored terrorists butchered more than 2,000 innocent lives of Kashmiri Pandits, and over 170,000 Hindus were bundled out of Kashmir. And it was Benazir Bhutto, who was ruling over Pakistan in 1989, when the impact of terrorism on Kashmir reached its peak. Kashmiri Pandits were fleeing the valley out of fear and frustration, even as Benazir was stoking the flames of secessionism and encouraging Kashmir-based terrorist groups to seize the valley.

Roots of the problem
The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two major regions: Kashmir, which is populated mainly by Muslims, and Jammu, which is mainly Hindu. The overall population of the state is 67 per cent Muslim and 29 per cent Hindu, with small Buddhist, Sikh and Christian populations.

Jammu and Kashmir joined the Union of India in 1947 under the Independence of India Act. The decision to join India was made by the late Hari Singh, the then ruler of the state, but Pakistan was against this accession on the grounds that Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region.

Shortly before the accession, Pakistan-backed tribal’s invaded the state. The Indian Army successfully beat back the invaders from most parts of Kashmir, but before the area could be fully cleared the Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru referred the matter to the UN. The UN treated both parties as equally aggrieved (rather than acknowledging the aggression by Pakistan), and passed a resolution calling for Pakistan to vacate from the remaining areas.

Although many questions and controversies have been raised from time to time about the legality of the accession, the fact remains that the Instrument of Accession is a legal document duly endorsed by the Governor General of India, the late Lord Mountbatten, the very next day. On October 27, 1947, the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir also endorsed the accession. The constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, while ratifying the accession, declared it was final and irrevocable.

Meanwhile, Pakistan never vacated the areas of the state that it controls, which was agreed as a pre-condition for the plebiscite to take place. Islamabad has also always claimed the terrorists there are ‘freedom fighters’ fighting Indian rule, and that it only provides moral support. However, considerable evidence shows the support has extended to financial, military and logistical support, and that the terrorists are not just Kashmiri, but from countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and even the UK.

Part of the terrorist campaign was to kill and frighten Hindus out of Kashmir, so that if a self-determination vote ever took place, it is less likely to go India’s way. The second stage consisted of imposing strict Islamic rule on the people of Kashmir. Militants have closed down beauty parlours and cinemas, and women were told they must cover their faces or face punishment.

Alas! The wheel of destiny has turned full circle for Benazir, as she has fallen victim to the very violence of the people whom she once encouraged so vehemently.

— Brampton-based Kanayalal Raina is a Kashmiri Pandit, and spokesperson of the Canada Heritage Hindu Centre

Anger Management

Sun 17 Oct 2010 1:45:26 PM GMT

Anger Management

Anger is a basic human emotion. It serves as an important function by communicating to ourselves and to others that something is wrong. We are aware that anger hurts us and the people around us. When left to escalate, anger of an individual or a community can cause family break-ups, war and even fatalities. The Holy Bhagavad Gita also says that anger leads to clouded thinking and finally to destruction. Even in our own lives, we find many occasions when anger has caused us trouble.
Anger may be defined as an emotion or a feeling. Anger can result as a result of-conflict between man and nature, between man and other living beings, and within one's own mind.
Whatever the source, the effects of anger can be very negative and destructive. It is a sheer wastage of energy. It can cause or exacerbate heart burns, ulcers, blood pressure and heart trouble.
How we express anger is something we learn. As children we may have learned from one or both parents that anger can be used to get attention or to get one's way. Or we may have that we should show the good emotions-love and happiness, for instance-and keep bad emotions like anger inside.
Following are the ways to manage the anger-
Admitting your anger-
The time you feel anger, admit it to yourself. Do not deny feeling angry and cover it up. Identify your anger. What happens when you get angry? Does your heart race? Does your face flush? Do you feel a surge of energy? Many of us have been taught to push out anger down as soon as it surfaces, sometimes before we can recognize it. If you have been denying anger for a long time, It may take some practice to recognize it when it surfaces. But if you attune yourself to what triggers anger, you will find many things bring out angry feelings.

Exploring your anger-
When you have identified what made you angry, stop and think about it. Then explore why you are angry-get to the source of emotion. If it is something someone said to you, ask yourself why it made you angry. Give yourself a little time to think and you may put the situation to another perspective. Anger in itself is not wrong but reacting rashly or impulsively to anger can ruin relationships or lead to violence. Count to 10 or start reverse counting, or breathe deeply slowly in and out will calm you and give you time to assess the situation more objectively. It is best to think before you act.
Expression of anger-
Expressing your anger is the next step. Once you have admitted your anger whatever the reason, express it appropriately to the right person and constructively(to solve the problem that caused the anger rather using personal attack as an expression of anger which may explode the situation. Remember that feeling of anger is not a problem. What u do with that feeling can be a problem-or the beginning of a solution. Anger can be a good guide, but try to use feelings of anger to point out problems, not to create new ones.
Dropping it-
Final and most difficult is to drop it once you have addressed the source and expressed your anger in a health way.
Take a time out
Sometimes flight is better than fight. A change in the environment can change your outlook, bringing in its wake some amount of calmness. You should not stay in the situation that makes you angry. The situation may be beyond control bur your response is completely within your control. A time out should not be used to avoid the situation altogether. Return when you feel calm enough to express yourself appropriately.
Reduce your Ego-
We labor under the misconception that world is designed to suit our purposes and that we are very important. When we find things going against our wishes, we get annoyed. If we reduce our ego and realize that world waits for none, our demands and expectations will also reduce and we shall be less irritated by adverse events
Practice Concentration when you are angry-
Anger melts away if you can distance it from the object of anger. The trick is to separate the object and the feelings for that object.
Stop pre-supposing about the person you are cross with-
Suppose you are angry with a person you start guessing and imagining various things about that person. Try to Counter anger by forcibly bringing in thoughts of love, the help you received from him and anger will subside, This is called 'Pratipaksha bhavana' in yoga scriptures.
Identifying trigger factors for anger-
Knowing specifically what makes you angry is a first step in controlling your response.
Managing one's anger helps in preserving one's energy, remain more focused on work and thereby success ,Power and happiness in life.
Swami Vivekananda has rightly said that we waste much of our energy in useless emotions such as anger and if that energy is constructively used one would achieve all his dreams and projects in life.

Yoga

Wed 2 Jun 2010 9:27:57 PM GMT

Albert Einstein was neither an atheist nor a believer. Yet he found Nature overwhelming

“Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble”.

Cosmic awareness subtly pervades the universe as butter is latent in milk. In particle physics, an analysis of organic and cosmic evolutions points towards an upcoming cognisance that our future is ‘kicking in the golden womb of the cosmos’ as expressed in the Hiranyagarbha of the Upanishads.

The cosmic journey of the universe, in many ways, impacts all that is in it including our karma, their fruition, free will, destiny, purpose, consciousness, and known as well as yet unknown natural forces. All phenomena are embedded in the wheel of futurity or the kaal chakra, and they are both future tools that shape our present as wells as an intrinsic part of the present.

In the early phases of atmospheric evolution, the ratio of various gases appears to have been determined by futuristic design so that life could originate and survive on earth. For example, oxygen constitutes 21 per cent of all gases; if increased or decreased even a bit, a high oxidation and spontaneous fire, or a reduction of metabolism would have destroyed the earliest pulsating single-celled life. So is the case of critical balance in cell-content in plants as well as animals, their acidity and alkalinity, chemistry of living and non-living material, temperature, humidity, ratio of matter and antimatter, equilibrium in the pull-and-push between stars, and the dance of atoms and their constituents. |All this is being played out in energy, concealed or otherwise. A slight change at any stage might not have made the universe as we know it today.

And the show goes on...

Currently atomic physicists are looking for those fundamental particles which dispersed through the then newly-created space, immediately after the Big Bang, the point of origin of the universe. The expensive experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, is being carried out inside a colossal tunnel near Geneva (CERN). In this huge underground passage, protons of atoms will smash together. Scientists expect that a virtual yet mathematically proved Higgs-Boson particle will be produced by such a collision; this particle is supposed to be a mother unit of all ‘matter’ that makes our world. However, several physicists are sceptical about such a venture, and apprehend that this could create a black-hole which may suck and digest our solar system, including earth.

Nonetheless, other high-energy physicists are of the opinion that the particles thus produced at CERN will be so abhorrent to nature that their creation in the tunnel will never be allowed to happen by the positive forces of Nature. That could mean Nature will stop the collider before it can make one Higgs-Boson particle. It is interesting to note here that the collider has already faced such a breakdown -- scientists Holger B Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya say that Nature seems to be halting the project.

Skepticism and concerns apart, we need to be conscious of the probability that the future may well determine our present in a curious twist of evolution. This is being borne out by the way biological, cosmic and material evolutions along the path of existence are playing out in the present, with future scenarios playing catalyst for current realities

Anger Management

Sun 25 Apr 2010 12:00:00 AM GMT

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Buying Peace in Afganistan

Mon 1 Feb 2010 12:00:00 AM GMT

Buying peace in Afghanistan

The London Conference of January 28 went along with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s proposal to set up a $ 500 million trust fund to buy “peace and integration” with the fighters who are engaged in violence for economic rather than ideological reasons. The intention is to reintegrate “low and medium level” Taliban fighters through offer of jobs for defectors and the promise of protection of American-led special forces. However, British Prime Minister warned that for those insurgents who refuse to accept the conditions for reintegration “we have no choice but to pursue them militarily”. This springs from a realisation that the hard core elements, who matter in so far as insurgency is concerned, will not accept the amnesty offer.

The latest Western move in Afghanistan, born out of the desire to start pulling out troops from mid-2011, is based on an erroneous assumption that a resurgent Taliban will fall for allurement and abandon their goal of re-taking the country, which they think is achievable. The disarray in the camp of the United States and its allies and US President Barack Obama’s reluctant decision on a short-term surge of some 40,000 more soldiers, is far too evident to be missed by Taliban in the battlefield and their patron, Pakistan, which has flatly refused to evict Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents from its tribal areas after a show of military action in Swat and south Waziristan that led to the insurgents moving to safer areas without losing many fighters.

President Hamid karzai, sullen and soured with the US that understandably wants to get rid of him, is in no position to resist the new strategy but insists that only those Taliban will be pardoned who do not belong to Al Qaeda, join the mainstream and work within the democratic Afghan constitution. He is being repeatedly insulted by parliament, which has so far refused to approve the full complement of his Cabinet ministers, forcing him to administer oaths in instalments -- there still being a dozen vacancies to be filled.
A hasty US withdrawal will spell disaster for war-ravaged Afghanistan and pose a grave threat to regional security and stability. India, which is fully involved in Afghanistan’s reconstruction -- which is disliked by Taliban and openly objected to by Pakistan -- will face increased terrorist threat once Taliban and Al Qaeda somehow manage to take control of the country.

US special representative Richard Holbrooke argued the new reconciliation policy is solely guided by the consideration to prevent further American and other casualties. An opportunity was being offered to get the shooters off the field so that they do not kill soldiers and civilians. Last year was the worst so far for the foreign soldiers and Afghan civilians -- with the highest casualties so far. US officials believe that the majority of Taliban forces do not back Al Qaeda or embrace extremist goals, nor are they ideological supporters of Mulla Omar or Osama Bin Laden. At least 70 per cent of them are not fighting for any of the causes and majority of the people blame Taliban, and not the US forces, for their misery.

Yet, there are “red lines” that could not be crossed during negotiations with Taliban fighters and those who back Al Qaeda or support the group’s harsh treatment of women, would not be recommended. By making them stop fighting future casualties would be prevented. There still is no clearly defined plan on reconciliation and reintegration of the Taliban within the establishment. In a sign of how serious the West has become, the United Nations removed five top Taliban commanders from its sanctions list to facilitate reconciliation.

These include former foreign minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakil, former deputy Foreign Minister Faiz Mohammed Faizan, an official under the Taliban Shams-us-Safa and Mohammad Musa. They were under travel ban and assets freeze. In the initial stages of the war, the US and Pakistan had tried to utilise the services of Muttawakil to argue with the Taliban leadership to halt all military action and agree to reconciliation. But his efforts did not bear fruit and the Taliban leadership refused to negotiate with the US and its allies. Mulla Omar has repeatedly said that attempts to divide the Taliban would not succeed and that peace was possible on the condition that all foreign forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan and the people allowed to choose for themselves the form of government they wanted, without any outside interference. There are no indications so far that Omar and his associates have changed their stand.

In the changed policy of the US, Pakistan sees an opportunity -- to reassert its influence in shaping the future set up in Afghanistan after foreign forces have withdrawn in a couple of years. Islamabad supports a differentiation between Taliban segments, including being soft towards the Afghan Taliban, which was sponsored by Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

A-vast majority of the Afghan do not want the Taliban back and their country being pushed again into the dark ages. But little security is available to them. The risk of Taliban retribution is so great that few are prepared actively to resist the insurgents. Hence the need to deal with hardcore Taliban militarily and defeat them, while simultaneously building effective governance, providing security to the people, intensifying reconstruction and strengthening secular and democratic institutions. There is also need for a regional agreement to ensure peace and neutrality in Afghanistan after foreign forces have left.

Another Swadeshi

Sun 3 Jan 2010 12:00:00 AM GMT

Another Swadeshi! Why not?

My six-year-old daughter wanted a pichkaari and water-balloons for Holi. So, I took her to a neighbourhood kiryana shop, where Holi-special playthings like gulal, pichkaari and water-balloons were displayed.

As I picked up a pack of water-balloons, the words “Made in China” on it caught my eye. I enquired the shopkeeper about it, and pat came the reply: “Sirji, aajkal sab China ka chalta hai”.

Though we have become pretty used to seeing (and using) Chinese CFLs, toys, showpieces, decorative lights, utensils and other such knick-knacks, I guess the China-made water-balloons proved to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back.

Questions like “When we have natural resources and manpower in abundance, why can’t we get indigenous quality products at reasonable rates?” kept on drumming in my mind, but who to put these to was the biggest question.

Eventually, I found myself face-to-face with the person who was most likely to have the answers to my questions.

The Mahatma - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - was working on his charkha and humming “Vaishnav Jan to Teine Kahiye…” when I approached him.

Hearing my footsteps, he looked up and said “Aao, beta”, a wry smile playing on his face. I just bowed my head and stood there with folded hands.

He offered me a seat and I settled down, still not knowing what to say and how to begin. The Father of the Nation came to my rescue as he asked: “What brings you here, son?”

Er…Bapu…you know…things in India today are not as what you had dreamt…” I mumbled.

“I know…this is not the India of our dreams…but in our times, who could have imagined things would turn out this way?” he observed.

Encouraged by his assent, I went ahead: “Thanks to our government’s liberal policies, multi-national companies are dominating our markets…It’s so ironical that country’s own artisans are workless while the government is encouraging global trade…”

The Mahatma was nodding his head, and so I continued: “The fad for anything western - or foreign - is on the rise in our youth. While the affluent society is smitten by the American-European bug, the cattle class — this is what they call the lower and middle class these days - is being targeted by Chinese manufacturers…”

The Mahatma interrupted “That’s sad, but true; what exactly do you want to do?”

At this, I came to the point: “Bapu, can’t we have another Swadeshi movement?”

His eyes lit up. “Why not, son? Go ahead, and the Almighty will help you…”

“But, Bapu, who would lead the movement?” This infuriated him. “Why do you always want to be led? Why don’t you take the initiative yourself?”

“But…I mean…how can I…”

“If I could do it, why can’t you? Today’s youth needs to understand this. I, too, didn’t have any supernatural powers. I just followed my conscience, started alone and grew from strength to strength. What is needed to be done today is to rekindle the flame of Swadeshi in the hearts of our countrymen.”

I don’t know whether it was a dream or I was daydreaming, but to quote a Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - which would be towards Swadeshi, right?

Can India be world's next industrial hub

Tue 29 Dec 2009 12:00:00 AM GMT

Appreciable economic growth
Can India be the world’s next industrial hub?

A Chinese scholar recently asked me how long it would take for India to reach China’s level of manufacturing. Indeed, India leapfrogged a revolution in manufacturing to become a service industry leader in the world with its rapid progress in ITC (information technology and communications). India’s service sector contributes 53 per cent to the GDP while Chinese service sector’s share is 40 per cent.

India’s manufacturing industry has, however, lagged behind and contributes only 16 per cent to the GDP while China’s manufacturing contributes 33 per cent. China is a world leader in manufacturing, which is not surprising considering that until the nineteenth century it had been a leading manufacturing nation for over a millennium. Since India’s manufacturing sector has not flourished as compared to China’s, it has not been able to absorb the growing number of people migrating from villages to towns in search of jobs.

The growth of IT in India has brought Indian technical personnel into the global arena, but entry into this sector has been restricted as it requires knowledge of English and secondary education. Only the manufacturing sector can absorb the bulk of migrants.

Recently India’s industrial growth rose to 11.7 per cent, signifying a resurgence and revival of manufacturing because this sector has the biggest weight in the index of industrial production.

Manufacturing growth suffered a lot after the global financial crisis and recession in 2008 and 2009, as it hit the exports. But China has come out of the recession more quickly than India and though it has faced a severe problem of exports decline and a consequent increase in unemployment, the sustained growth in manufacturing has created fresh demand for migrant labour. In fact, there has been a shortage of migrant labour in China recently. The jobless have also found employment in infrastructure projects because in its huge fiscal package comprising 14 per cent of the GDP, the Chinese government went for the construction of capital-intensive projects, which proved to be very labour intensive.

Recently, China’s GDP registered a high growth rate of 10.7 per cent. It has been aided by high manufacturing growth, which was at its highest in five years in December 2009. Manufacturing activity has been aided by high labour productivity, government subsidies to buy appliances like refrigerators, huge investments in infrastructure and the availability of disciplined and skilled labour force. The supervision of manufacturing activities at the shop floor level is also meticulous and the Chinese are able to produce almost zero-defect products valued by quality brand name importers like Ralph Lauren.

The value addition in Chinese manufacturing in 2000-2007 was $751 billion whereas it was only $34 billion in India. Obviously, the Chinese work on low-cost raw materials and through their expertise in manufacturing transform them into high-value products. No wonder, the Chinese demand for raw materials has helped to push up commodity prices the world over.

India’s manufacturing industry suffers not only from the problems of inadequate infrastructure but also owing to the bureaucracy’s style of functioning and red tape. For example, the subsidies that the government gives to exporters take a long time to reach them. On the infrastructure side, the main lacuna is power. India will be short of 50,000 MW of power in the next two years. Captive power plants are keeping the private sector factory units going but they are expensive to run. Shortage of water also is increasingly surfacing as a major problem for industry. The main problem in the future will be how to increase the supply of clean energy to industry as India has committed itself to reducing green house gas emissions by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020.

Despite so many problems, India is striding ahead in manufacturing as can be seen in the case of automobiles --- earlier it had specialised only in auto parts. India has age-old skills and traditions in gem cutting, jewellery and textiles. Yet China is able to capture the mass market because it can deliver huge orders on time.

The factory sector in India contributes 65 per cent to the industrial output and the rest comes from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). They are not capable of handling huge orders and they are usually cash-strapped and lack the latest technical knowhow and have poor access to markets. Only 15 per cent of the factories use high-tech and have a low expenditure on R&D as compared to China. The textile mills in China are highly computerised and production is uniform, defect-free and cheaper.

The privately owned SMEs have grown faster than state-owned industrial units in China throughout the economic downturn because they had the advantage of more flexibility in response to the crisis. They were also able to get finance through the banking system due to new policy initiatives. The stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan on the whole has sustained manufacturing growth. The pace of manufacturing growth, however, would ultimately depend on strong income growth and consumption growth, which depends on the recovery of the world economy.

Around 50 per cent of the SMEs in India have been adversely affected by the global recession. Apart from power and infrastructure, the availability of easy credit is a major constraint. Land acquisition for setting up clusters of small and medium enterprises and SEZs has been a problem in India as compared to China. In an authoritarian regime, it is easier to acquire land for industrial use than in India where problems of resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons take time.

The availability of foreign exchange, knowhow and technology through foreign direct investment is also important in making China the industrial hub of the world. As compared to India, China has been receiving more than four times foreign capital than India. (Between 2000 and 2007, India received $17.1 billion as compared to $78.1 billion by China). Only recently, India started receiving more FDI than before but the global crisis has led to a slowdown.

Yet India does have the potential of becoming a manufacturing hub of South Asia (if not the world) and more and more MNCs are coming to set bases in India for export to third countries.

India has a skilled labour force and a large pool of scientists and engineers (it possesses the second largest pool of such professionals in the world). But in the case of business climate, it is far behind China, especially in investor-friendly policies. Naturally, businesses coming from industrial countries find it easier to open their branches in China than in India.

A recent survey has ranked India 124th in terms of “economic freedom”, which includes freedom from corruption, business freedom and monetary freedom. Obviously, there is a lot of catching up to do.

Beware Wives

Mon 2 Nov 2009 12:00:00 AM GMT

Beware wives!

One day Buddha visited the home of famous gahapati of Shravasti. There was noise in the home created by his unruly daughter-in-law, Sujata. The gahapati requested Buddha to counsel her who told her about the seven kinds of wives.

First is the vadhak (slayer) who always quarrels and kills all joys of the home by total neglect. The Bible also names such wife as “a dripping tap on a rainy day”.

Buddha moved to the other categories as “the chorsama (thief-like) who spends extravagantly without caring for the hard ways of earning and thus impoverishes the household; the ayyasama (mistress-like) is lazy, loves gossips, wastes time and money, talks in loud tones; the matusama (mother-like) takes good care of the entire family as a mother takes care of her children; the bhaginisama (sister-like) gives respects to each member of the family as a sister to her elder brother; the mitrasama (companion-like) is faithful, happy with and helpful to the members of the family; the dasisama (slave-like) is calm, patient and obedient.

Buddha concluded that the first three types go to hell when they die and the rest go to heaven. The liberated woman, today, disregards six of these seven categories and wants to be “mitrasama” provided the entire household is also “mitrasama” to her but my fear is if that comes true then path to heaven would be too congested.

I am ignorant of the texts classifying husbands but Lyndon B. Johnson, the former US President, giving advice to the male spouses had said, “I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. First, let her think she’s having her way. And second, let her have it.”

I do not know where the late Claudia Alta “Lady Bird’ Taylor Johnson is but with caprice, greed and adultery on the increase among wives, if the TV serials are to be believed, then I am relieved that with Lyndon’s advice my earlier fear is unfounded and I foresee a crowded hell — but that is hell.

What type of wife, of the seven categories, would you like to have? The “Sunday People” of England conducted a survey and most people ignoring the Buddha’s ways wanted a wife to be “a cook in the kitchen and whore in bed”. And woe fell on those whose wives were whores in the kitchen and cooks in the bed!

I am willing to tolerate the ire of women by not asking from them the type of husband they would like to have because I know that they want one who plays a lead role on the wedding day and supporting role for rest of the wedded life. A bureaucrat friend tired of playing a supporting role got a chance of going to Paris on an official tour. I asked him why he was not taking Bhabhiji along, he replied, “You do not take paranthas to Governor’s dinner, do you?” Beware wives!