God keeps on saving people in history. Christmas is the beginning of this salvation history. And so, in turning once again to the episode of Christ’s birth at Bethlehem, we come not to recall Christ’s birth twenty centuries ago, but to live that birth here, in the twenty-first century, this year, in our own Christmas here in India.
The Council says humanity’s mystery can be explained only in the mystery of the God who became human. If people want to look into their own mystery – the meaning of their pain, of their work, of their anxieties, of their suffering, of their hope – let them put themselves next to Christ. If they accomplish what Christ accomplished – doing the Father’s will, filling themselves with the life that Christ gives the world – they are fulfilling themselves as true human beings. If I find, on comparing myself with Christ, that my life is a contrast, the opposite of his, then my life is a disaster.
If what the Council expects of us is true, then, no one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God – for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, the marginalized, the oppressed, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.
If God has come for the poor and marginalised then all the stuff that our culture identifies with Christmas-the trees, the lights, the shopping, the dinners and Santa himself-may be just a diversion for us. The Christmas trappings are not bad in themselves. But they may distract us from the uncomfortable truth that Christmas isn’t a celebration that the rich and comfortable can fully celebrate.
Christmas for the poor and the humiliated of our world is the beginning of a revolution that lifts them up. Mary our mother had already said why God sent the child she bore: “He has brought down the rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; but sent away the rich empty handed.” (Luke 1:52-3)
If what Mary said is true, then the hungry kids in Africa have more to celebrate than we do. The children in our slums and rural India have more to celebrate than we do. The poor can rejoice because God so identifies with them, that in Christ God entered the world as one of them. That is the real Christmas. We who are rich and powerful in the world can acknowledge Christmas intellectually, but it isn’t good news for us in the same way.
Our celebration of Christmas can grow richer and more genuine as we identify and accept in ourselves our points of poverty and humiliation. The place of our greatest weakness is the humble stable where Christ can appear in our lives. Christmas shows us that our pain and humiliation are not things to reject but are windows through which God’s love and grace can enter.
God has in his goodness, incarnated himself even to the concrete events of the injustices, tortures, humiliations, rejections of our own sad history. That is where we are to find our God.
Advent time is given to us to remind ourselves that we need to prepare for Christmas. Ample time is given to us by the Church before we could worthily celebrate the birth of the great God amidst the simplest and the poor.
But what are we going to prepare? How are we going to prepare ourselves for Christmas? I am sure there will plans and preparations for clothing, cakes, sweets, decorations and dinner with close friends. In a parish level there might be a greater preparation. There might be an elevating singing with a well trained choir, an elaborate liturgy, and there might even be a mighty crib for baby Jesus.
While all these are needed for an external celebration, do we feel the need for preparing ourselves during this advent by making ourselves simple? Do we include the poor, the simple and the marginalised for whom God planned the incarnation?
But see who is missing! In all our preparations, and later in our celebrations, the poor will be missing. We shouldn’t be surprised if Jesus himself, the protagonist of this great celebration, is missing. It might even turn out to be our celebration setting Jesus aside, to make our celebrations more comfortable and enjoyable. We can never meaningfully celebrate Christmas without including Jesus who is in the poor.Let us carefully see who is missing in
Thursday, October 23, 2008
“Ephphatha” “ Be opened”
“Ephphatha” – “Be opened” These were the repeated words in the homily of Pope Benedict XVI, which he delivered at Sunday mass on September 10, delivered before an estimated 250,000 people in Munich.
The Gospel reading he used, speaks of Jesus’s healing of a man born deaf and mute. Jesus is concerned for the suffering, those pushed to the margins of society. He obviously points out the goal of all our activity: “ To speak of God is to speak of society.”
There is not only a physical deafness which largely cuts people off from social life; there is also a ‘hardness of hearing’ where God is concerned, and this is something from which we particularly suffer in our own times. In other words, we are no longer able to hear God – there are too many different frequencies filling our ears. Along with this disability we are no longer able to converse with him and to him. We risk losing our inner senses.
Jesus’s healing the deaf man by saying “Ephphatha” – “Be opened” might be of a distant past; He continues to do the same thing, even today. At our Baptism he touched each of us and said “Ephphatha” – “Be opened”. He says the same thing for the salesians and the members of the salesian family today, “Ephphatha” – “Be opened,” through the call of the Rector Major to start afresh from Don Bosco and to be open to hear Don Bosco and the young.
We are no longer able to hear Don Bosco and the young. We are too busy with our own plans for ourselves and our institutions while the institutions meant for the young are hardly open for the young.
Pope in his homily said, “ Social issues and the Gospel are inseparable.” Surprisingly Don Bosco and the young are inseparable. That is why he had as his motto: Da Mihi Animas Cetera Tolle - Give me Souls and take away the rest. Don Bosco was willing to give all his time and energy for the poor boys. A great driving force indeed!
At a time when the west is stagnant with regard to vocations to salesian life, the call of the Rector Major comes as the words of Jesus, “Ephphatha” – “Be opened” to all of us, the members of the salesian family in South Asia.
People in Africa and Asia admire the scientific and technical prowess of the west. At the same time they are frightened of the controlling rationality behind that outward elegance. When we bring people only knowledge, ability, technical competence and tools, we bring them too little. All too quickly the mechanisms of violence and evil take over. We need to give to the young the peace and tranquility that a serene interior life can offer. The call of the Rector Major compels us to extend our support to the young who really need God and Don Bosco back.
We, the salesian family, just celebrated the centenary of the arrival of Salesians to India. We are happy about the achievements in terms of technical advancement and the infrastructural development and yet we need to achieve much in terms of the spirituality and the meaning system of the young who are so promising and yet so weak in nature.
Time is right for us to reach out to the remotest corners of the earth. Let us reaffirm this commitment we have for Don Bosco and for the young. Let all our inner sensibilities be opened for this call. “Ephphatha” – “Be opened”
The Gospel reading he used, speaks of Jesus’s healing of a man born deaf and mute. Jesus is concerned for the suffering, those pushed to the margins of society. He obviously points out the goal of all our activity: “ To speak of God is to speak of society.”
There is not only a physical deafness which largely cuts people off from social life; there is also a ‘hardness of hearing’ where God is concerned, and this is something from which we particularly suffer in our own times. In other words, we are no longer able to hear God – there are too many different frequencies filling our ears. Along with this disability we are no longer able to converse with him and to him. We risk losing our inner senses.
Jesus’s healing the deaf man by saying “Ephphatha” – “Be opened” might be of a distant past; He continues to do the same thing, even today. At our Baptism he touched each of us and said “Ephphatha” – “Be opened”. He says the same thing for the salesians and the members of the salesian family today, “Ephphatha” – “Be opened,” through the call of the Rector Major to start afresh from Don Bosco and to be open to hear Don Bosco and the young.
We are no longer able to hear Don Bosco and the young. We are too busy with our own plans for ourselves and our institutions while the institutions meant for the young are hardly open for the young.
Pope in his homily said, “ Social issues and the Gospel are inseparable.” Surprisingly Don Bosco and the young are inseparable. That is why he had as his motto: Da Mihi Animas Cetera Tolle - Give me Souls and take away the rest. Don Bosco was willing to give all his time and energy for the poor boys. A great driving force indeed!
At a time when the west is stagnant with regard to vocations to salesian life, the call of the Rector Major comes as the words of Jesus, “Ephphatha” – “Be opened” to all of us, the members of the salesian family in South Asia.
People in Africa and Asia admire the scientific and technical prowess of the west. At the same time they are frightened of the controlling rationality behind that outward elegance. When we bring people only knowledge, ability, technical competence and tools, we bring them too little. All too quickly the mechanisms of violence and evil take over. We need to give to the young the peace and tranquility that a serene interior life can offer. The call of the Rector Major compels us to extend our support to the young who really need God and Don Bosco back.
We, the salesian family, just celebrated the centenary of the arrival of Salesians to India. We are happy about the achievements in terms of technical advancement and the infrastructural development and yet we need to achieve much in terms of the spirituality and the meaning system of the young who are so promising and yet so weak in nature.
Time is right for us to reach out to the remotest corners of the earth. Let us reaffirm this commitment we have for Don Bosco and for the young. Let all our inner sensibilities be opened for this call. “Ephphatha” – “Be opened”
Gift your child reading habit
We give gifts to our friends, relatives and loved ones. Often we wonder what gift can be given to our dear ones. Particularly, when we take time to visit a family with kids, we always stop at a departmental store to buy toys sweets, toffees, pizzas etc..., to be given to their children. How many of us really pause to think for a while to buy a good collection of reading material to them? As parents you can give books for your children as their birthday and Christmas presents or when they excel well in school. Let us remember the habit of reading can be a life time gift for your child.
Remember the good old habit of traditional families to narrate the history of the family; the struggles and joys of yesteryears to their children to carryon the great legacy which the family cherishes. Impressionable minds can be nurtured and moulded in ways more than one. But books and the printed word are among the best tools used for reaching out to a child in today’s hurry burry world. Despite the deep penetrating reach of the visual media, books have a definite edge over other mediums of communication and entertainment. Child psychologists and counselors have often stressed the importance of the reading habit in modern-day children.
As we realise that reading habit is important for your family, start reading as this habit will sooner or later influence your surrounding. Spending even ten minutes a day with your children will make them love both the time for reading and the time to attach with you. If you include expense for books in your budget you and children should often visit the bookshop or book fair. Even visiting any libraries that are available in your neighbourhood, schools, universities, clubs, etc. will increase their love for books. Sharing books will increase their knowledge without costing you much. When you help your children to make their own books, it is cheap but exciting. They can draw or cut pictures from magazines and write their own stories according to their imagination. It increases their power to actualise.
There is another way that will make children interested in books. Usually children like watching cartoons like “Nemo, Lion King, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh”, some traditional legends, puppets and stories. It is very interesting if they watch the movie on show and then read the books.
Reading habit should be the example for your children because deeds speak louder than words. When your children see you reading they will know that reading is a good habit.
Do not wait until your children are able to read to give them books. Start as soon as they were born. If you often communicate with your babies and read stories for them, their language ability will increase. It is never too late for your child to start reading. Preferably, catch the child young. Bring him other colorful books, so that reading becomes a favorite pastime. The parent has also got to read enough in order to become a model for the little one. And not to forget, family reading is the best way to grow. Ever remember your initial sessions with your grandma! Bed time reading is considered the best quality time spent with a kid. Psychiatrists feel that bed time reading helps to build strong bonding with the child
Language is a gift for a child and books give this gift in abundance. Children’s brain is easier to absorb language than an adult. Hence another benefit of reading books is they can learn foreign language very easily. If a child is raised up by a couple of different nationalities, the child will be able to speak two languages of his parents. Because of children’s ability to absorb new language fast, you can use foreign language story books to introduce and teach them the languages.
Reading a book aloud can be a good exercise not just for memorization but also for improvement of speech and vocabulary.Reading sharpens the thought processes of a child It increases his or her attention span. It gives them the faculty of thinking and understanding.
So by investing your time and your kids’ time for reading good books, you invest better future for your family.
Remember the good old habit of traditional families to narrate the history of the family; the struggles and joys of yesteryears to their children to carryon the great legacy which the family cherishes. Impressionable minds can be nurtured and moulded in ways more than one. But books and the printed word are among the best tools used for reaching out to a child in today’s hurry burry world. Despite the deep penetrating reach of the visual media, books have a definite edge over other mediums of communication and entertainment. Child psychologists and counselors have often stressed the importance of the reading habit in modern-day children.
As we realise that reading habit is important for your family, start reading as this habit will sooner or later influence your surrounding. Spending even ten minutes a day with your children will make them love both the time for reading and the time to attach with you. If you include expense for books in your budget you and children should often visit the bookshop or book fair. Even visiting any libraries that are available in your neighbourhood, schools, universities, clubs, etc. will increase their love for books. Sharing books will increase their knowledge without costing you much. When you help your children to make their own books, it is cheap but exciting. They can draw or cut pictures from magazines and write their own stories according to their imagination. It increases their power to actualise.
There is another way that will make children interested in books. Usually children like watching cartoons like “Nemo, Lion King, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh”, some traditional legends, puppets and stories. It is very interesting if they watch the movie on show and then read the books.
Reading habit should be the example for your children because deeds speak louder than words. When your children see you reading they will know that reading is a good habit.
Do not wait until your children are able to read to give them books. Start as soon as they were born. If you often communicate with your babies and read stories for them, their language ability will increase. It is never too late for your child to start reading. Preferably, catch the child young. Bring him other colorful books, so that reading becomes a favorite pastime. The parent has also got to read enough in order to become a model for the little one. And not to forget, family reading is the best way to grow. Ever remember your initial sessions with your grandma! Bed time reading is considered the best quality time spent with a kid. Psychiatrists feel that bed time reading helps to build strong bonding with the child
Language is a gift for a child and books give this gift in abundance. Children’s brain is easier to absorb language than an adult. Hence another benefit of reading books is they can learn foreign language very easily. If a child is raised up by a couple of different nationalities, the child will be able to speak two languages of his parents. Because of children’s ability to absorb new language fast, you can use foreign language story books to introduce and teach them the languages.
Reading a book aloud can be a good exercise not just for memorization but also for improvement of speech and vocabulary.Reading sharpens the thought processes of a child It increases his or her attention span. It gives them the faculty of thinking and understanding.
So by investing your time and your kids’ time for reading good books, you invest better future for your family.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ten ways to strengthen your reading habit
Pleasures of reading are numerous. Reading of books magazines and news papers has a great impact on our minds .Reading makes us cultured and refined. Most people wish they read more. It is an activity that is both fun and enlightening. It can help us to be more knowledgeable and successful. However, it is an activity that many people don’t engage in very much. According to the 1999 National Household Education Survey, 50% of the U.S. population aged 25 and over read a newspaper at least once a week, read one or more magazines regularly, and had read a book in the past 6 months. What does this mean? It means that 50% of the population hasn’t read a book in the last six months!
Looking at the other end of the spectrum, research shows that if you read ten books a year, you are in the top few percent of all people as readers. Simply stated, it doesn’t take much to be well read, but we do need to know how to get started. The following are ten suggestions to help you strengthen your reading habit – ways to find and make more time for reading.
1. Always have a book around. Don’t go anywhere without reading material. Keep magazines or short stories in your bathroom. Always have something in your briefcase to read. Having things available makes it easier for you to steal otherwise lost moments.
2. Set a reading goal. Determine how much time you want to spend reading, or how many books you want to read over time. Your goal might be a book a month, one per week, or it might be to read 30 minutes a day. As your habit builds, you might set higher goals. Setting a goal is the first step towards reading more.
3. Keep a log. Keep a list of the books you have read, or keep track of how much time you read each day. You might keep these lists in your journal or your day planner.
4. Keep a list. Make a list of things you want to read in the future. Ask your friends and colleagues what they are reading. Watch for recommendations in the newspaper and magazines. Once you start looking for good books, you’ll find them everywhere. This is a great way to keep your enthusiasm up. By knowing what great stuff you want to read, you will reinforce your reading habit.
5. Turn off the television. Many people say they just don’t have enough time. Television is one of our major time consumers. Make your television watching more conscious and less habitual
6. Listen when you can’t read. Use your commute and other time spent in the car to listen! There are great audio versions of all sorts of books. Whether you want to “read” fiction, the latest self-help or diet book, it is probably available on tape. Experience ideas and imagination that reading a book can.
7. Join a reading group or book club. Reading groups typically meet once a month to discuss a book they have all decided to read. Committing to the group provides a bit more impetus to finish the book, and gives you a great forum for discussion and socialization around the book’s themes.
8. Visit the library or bookstore often. You have your list, right? So you’ll have some ideas of what you are looking for when you walk in. But there is more to be gained by walking through places where books reside than just to make a transaction. Take time to browse! Let your eyes find things of interest. Let serendipity happen. Browsing will feed your mental need to read, and give you plenty of new things to read.
9. Build your own strategy. Decide when reading fits your schedule. And there is more to your strategy than just timing. Make your own decisions about reading It is ok to be reading more than one book at once. It is ok to stop reading something before you finish if it isn’t holding your interest. It is ok to skim the book, getting what you want or need, without reading every page. Determine what works best for you, develop your own beliefs and ideas - then make them work for you.
10.Drop everything and read. Many schools have introduced this concept and have succeeded a lot .When the teacher calls for ,that’s just what they do. They read now. That is my last piece of advice for you. Do it. Just get started .Make it DEAR time .Now to READ.
Let us cherish and nourish the good old reading habit.
Looking at the other end of the spectrum, research shows that if you read ten books a year, you are in the top few percent of all people as readers. Simply stated, it doesn’t take much to be well read, but we do need to know how to get started. The following are ten suggestions to help you strengthen your reading habit – ways to find and make more time for reading.
1. Always have a book around. Don’t go anywhere without reading material. Keep magazines or short stories in your bathroom. Always have something in your briefcase to read. Having things available makes it easier for you to steal otherwise lost moments.
2. Set a reading goal. Determine how much time you want to spend reading, or how many books you want to read over time. Your goal might be a book a month, one per week, or it might be to read 30 minutes a day. As your habit builds, you might set higher goals. Setting a goal is the first step towards reading more.
3. Keep a log. Keep a list of the books you have read, or keep track of how much time you read each day. You might keep these lists in your journal or your day planner.
4. Keep a list. Make a list of things you want to read in the future. Ask your friends and colleagues what they are reading. Watch for recommendations in the newspaper and magazines. Once you start looking for good books, you’ll find them everywhere. This is a great way to keep your enthusiasm up. By knowing what great stuff you want to read, you will reinforce your reading habit.
5. Turn off the television. Many people say they just don’t have enough time. Television is one of our major time consumers. Make your television watching more conscious and less habitual
6. Listen when you can’t read. Use your commute and other time spent in the car to listen! There are great audio versions of all sorts of books. Whether you want to “read” fiction, the latest self-help or diet book, it is probably available on tape. Experience ideas and imagination that reading a book can.
7. Join a reading group or book club. Reading groups typically meet once a month to discuss a book they have all decided to read. Committing to the group provides a bit more impetus to finish the book, and gives you a great forum for discussion and socialization around the book’s themes.
8. Visit the library or bookstore often. You have your list, right? So you’ll have some ideas of what you are looking for when you walk in. But there is more to be gained by walking through places where books reside than just to make a transaction. Take time to browse! Let your eyes find things of interest. Let serendipity happen. Browsing will feed your mental need to read, and give you plenty of new things to read.
9. Build your own strategy. Decide when reading fits your schedule. And there is more to your strategy than just timing. Make your own decisions about reading It is ok to be reading more than one book at once. It is ok to stop reading something before you finish if it isn’t holding your interest. It is ok to skim the book, getting what you want or need, without reading every page. Determine what works best for you, develop your own beliefs and ideas - then make them work for you.
10.Drop everything and read. Many schools have introduced this concept and have succeeded a lot .When the teacher calls for ,that’s just what they do. They read now. That is my last piece of advice for you. Do it. Just get started .Make it DEAR time .Now to READ.
Let us cherish and nourish the good old reading habit.
Interview with Mr. Fabian, Landmark
From 1987 starting the first Landmark in Nungambakkam Chennai, they went on to open in Bangalore , Bombay, Hyderabad, Kokatta and two more in Chennai alone. Here are the titbits of the interview.
Q : Have the number of readers increased or decreased compared to the past?
A : It has increased. People are reading more
Q : How do you rate the readers of the present time with the readers of yester years? any change you find with the readers?
A: Most of the readers who come are youngsters. They are not only going for fiction or literature but also for other bestsellers like philosophy, self development, business more than literature which used to be the most common topic for readers.
Q : What age group of people generally frequent your bookstall? Children, youth, Adult, research scholars.
A:Youngsters and adults. Above forty are the good customers.
Q : What kind of books they prefer?
A :Youth prefer self development books. Most of them go for particular authors. Harry potter was not a favourite of children but they prefer to watch the movie. Research oriented books…are sold better
Q : Has the sale of books increased ? You have opened two more branches in Chennai itself.
A: Yes
Q : Which is read more? Magazines, Books or Newspapers?
A : Books are read more than magazines and newspapers.
Q : Do you strongly feel that television or internet have the reduced the reading habit?
A: No they have supplemented. People instead of wasting time in the bookstore, they spend time to browse through the internet to see the basic details and the availability of the book and they come to buy. Internet is used only for reference. Reading and books were not at all replaced by the internet.
Q : Any boom in sale in the recent years, like the Harry Potter?
A: Harry Potter had a good sale. But in the recent times there was a remarkable sale with the book, “How Opel Mehta got kissed got wild and got a life” by Kavya Viswanathan, 18 years old about the campus life. She copied 40 pages from another author. But the book was banned. This had big sale even in our store. Similarly the book Da vinci Code by Dan Brown is getting sold very well even now. Anything related to Da Vinci Code also sold. For quite a long time this is being sold like hot cakes.
Q : Youngsters are going through lot of books. But are they really buying?
A : Yes. Many come and sit here and read full day and then buy books. I am positive about the reading habit of youth. They come not only to Landmark but also to Higginbotham, Odyssey, IIT books are the best sellers.
Anything for you is from IIM . Such books are sold well. Such books ate picked up by youth. Particularly the graduates.
Q : Have the number of readers increased or decreased compared to the past?
A : It has increased. People are reading more
Q : How do you rate the readers of the present time with the readers of yester years? any change you find with the readers?
A: Most of the readers who come are youngsters. They are not only going for fiction or literature but also for other bestsellers like philosophy, self development, business more than literature which used to be the most common topic for readers.
Q : What age group of people generally frequent your bookstall? Children, youth, Adult, research scholars.
A:Youngsters and adults. Above forty are the good customers.
Q : What kind of books they prefer?
A :Youth prefer self development books. Most of them go for particular authors. Harry potter was not a favourite of children but they prefer to watch the movie. Research oriented books…are sold better
Q : Has the sale of books increased ? You have opened two more branches in Chennai itself.
A: Yes
Q : Which is read more? Magazines, Books or Newspapers?
A : Books are read more than magazines and newspapers.
Q : Do you strongly feel that television or internet have the reduced the reading habit?
A: No they have supplemented. People instead of wasting time in the bookstore, they spend time to browse through the internet to see the basic details and the availability of the book and they come to buy. Internet is used only for reference. Reading and books were not at all replaced by the internet.
Q : Any boom in sale in the recent years, like the Harry Potter?
A: Harry Potter had a good sale. But in the recent times there was a remarkable sale with the book, “How Opel Mehta got kissed got wild and got a life” by Kavya Viswanathan, 18 years old about the campus life. She copied 40 pages from another author. But the book was banned. This had big sale even in our store. Similarly the book Da vinci Code by Dan Brown is getting sold very well even now. Anything related to Da Vinci Code also sold. For quite a long time this is being sold like hot cakes.
Q : Youngsters are going through lot of books. But are they really buying?
A : Yes. Many come and sit here and read full day and then buy books. I am positive about the reading habit of youth. They come not only to Landmark but also to Higginbotham, Odyssey, IIT books are the best sellers.
Anything for you is from IIM . Such books are sold well. Such books ate picked up by youth. Particularly the graduates.
Good Old Reading
To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. -W. Somerset Maugham
In an age when browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs seem to be the order of the day, reading a book in a peaceful corner of a library has become an archaic idea for most people. While technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin air. The city libraries are a mute witness to this. They present a gloomy picture of the gradual depletion of voracious readers who used to flock the libraries every evening. Apart from a few elderly people and a handful of students, the libraries wear a deserted look most of the time.
These libraries are neither stacked nor maintained well. Hundreds of books lie on the shelves gathering dust, and most of them remain ungrouped. Librarians blame it on the lack of staff and proper funds for renovation.
Much after the Internet boom, reading was almost wiped across you lives as the interactive medium of images was so engrossing that it left little room for the dotted line. With the dish antenna entering our reverie-like homes, there was literally such a hue and cry for imagery all around that somehow simple pleasures like an intelligent game of scrabble or even a small get-together of families was a lost feature!
A decade ago if someone said that he or she hadn’t read a Tagore or a Tolstoy, that person was looked down upon by others. There was a strong sense of accountability and responsibility among the youth. They were much more conscious and well read because at that time ‘simple living and high thinking’ was the dictum. But with the gradual advent of globalisation and nuclear family structures, life has become mechanical and money-oriented. Students are constantly being whipped for performance and the concept of intrinsic value addition is now a long lost idea. Despite being educated and brought up in a rational society, there are times when we fail to understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom! Perhaps it’s only when you observe and understand the world around you, do you realize that difference can be altered for increasing your pace of the learning curve.
Sadly, the reading habit is on the decline among children as well. Ordinarily kids dislike reading material that is dedicatedly made for them as their appreciation for listening skills are so honed that school sub consciously makes them listen to tales and instructions. Popeye and his gang, aided by multimedia games have drowned the shuffle of the pages. Though the Harry Potter mania gripped children these days, it could just be another ephemeral phase withering away sooner or later.
“But why blame it on the kids for all this wean-off-from-reading culture? It is the parents who are responsible for this,” says an English professor. Parents blame it on the mounting pressure on the children in schools and tuition classes.
“My son hardly gets time to read story books. In the little time he gets after finishing the home work, all he wants to do is watch the cartoon channel or play video games,” says Vijaylakshmi whose nine-year-old son ”is glued to the idiot” box whenever he gets the time. The other problem is that there is a tremendous pressure upon students to perform and excel.
The situation is no better among college students. Library for them becomes popular only before the final examination. It is then that the students, in a panic state, just browse through their course related books.
There are also regular visitors to the libraries among them, though they constitute a small minority who frequently borrow books. ‘’But more often than not, students visit the libraries for their research work rather than reading a book for their own pleasure. In fact, nowadays libraries have become common hangouts for the college students,’’ remarks another professor.
But what is the reason behind this wean-off-from-reading attitude? ‘’Parents are so psyched about the future of their children that most of the times it is they who discourage their wards from reading any other book than their textbooks,’’ the professors say.
Tough and intense competition has further deepened the insecurity among the middle class families. ‘’But they fail to understand that for an all-round development of an individual, reading habit is essential.’’ If at the primary level, the habit of reading books is not cultivated among children, then at the college level it becomes very difficult to develop the habit. ‘’That is why we feel that extra reading should be made compulsory at the school level,’’ they say.
Some assert that reading is not a diversion from serious tasks; rather it contributes to the fulfilment of those tasks. ‘’At a time when it is not rare to find students using dubious means and short-uts to pass examinations, the reading skill, if instilled in them, will make them savour learning and also increase their faith in themselves and their abilities.’’
In spite of such refrains, books continue to find their way to the right readers. Libraries in the city may not boast of good attendance, but they do attract ardent readers, who still exist somewhere in the midst of this discouraging scenario. That many contemporary writers are coming out with masterpieces on different subjects is an indicator to this fact. At a time when recreation, enjoyment and mechanical learning have become operative words, it is reassuring to find that bibliophiles are there. It does not matter whether these such booklovers access books on-line or browse them physically, before buying them.
However, reading has probably survived a plethora of distractions and has yet maintained to be some of choicest hobbies one would choose to possess! Avid readers tend to have a better grasp on realities and are known to be better judges of people. Of course the type of books you read quite generally depends on your attitude and personality! But reading as a habit has always allowed to nurture a wholesome sense of well being. Being a total book worm it wasn’t difficult to let my brother also accept this so-far genetic habit, but it did take quite a while for me to sell this idea to him! Most of us read books to lull ourselves to sleep.
Walking Tall with a Book
Perhaps we as human beings, distinct as we are from the rest of the living species need to build up this habit of reading as especially for kids it’s really difficult for parents to make the switch from a totally pictured short comic to a immensely boring book of at least a hundred pages, specifically one that has no images or diagrams. I faced that problem myself so I don’t blame any kid who’d frown at the idea.
And as we age the books also tend to age with us. With our professional lifestyles, it’s difficult to manage a non-fiction, with deadlines set for the next day’s presentation! After all who’d want a taste of the boss’s ire! Many of us miss out on reading in this very manner and sadly it is only in times of sorrow or grief that we seek refuge in reading some sensible stuff that is either in the form of a ’Live it up!’, book or some of us might be inclined towards religion!Of course all of this reading comes only next to our listening to others talk about optimism when we are down an out! From all of this I can only conclude that if you choose to make reading your constant companion, you’ll never walk alone! Besides you’ll have more to discover in life than you’d ever thought about! Think about it, somewhere, in some bright corner of the world, there’s some book waiting for you!
In an age when browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs seem to be the order of the day, reading a book in a peaceful corner of a library has become an archaic idea for most people. While technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin air. The city libraries are a mute witness to this. They present a gloomy picture of the gradual depletion of voracious readers who used to flock the libraries every evening. Apart from a few elderly people and a handful of students, the libraries wear a deserted look most of the time.
These libraries are neither stacked nor maintained well. Hundreds of books lie on the shelves gathering dust, and most of them remain ungrouped. Librarians blame it on the lack of staff and proper funds for renovation.
Much after the Internet boom, reading was almost wiped across you lives as the interactive medium of images was so engrossing that it left little room for the dotted line. With the dish antenna entering our reverie-like homes, there was literally such a hue and cry for imagery all around that somehow simple pleasures like an intelligent game of scrabble or even a small get-together of families was a lost feature!
A decade ago if someone said that he or she hadn’t read a Tagore or a Tolstoy, that person was looked down upon by others. There was a strong sense of accountability and responsibility among the youth. They were much more conscious and well read because at that time ‘simple living and high thinking’ was the dictum. But with the gradual advent of globalisation and nuclear family structures, life has become mechanical and money-oriented. Students are constantly being whipped for performance and the concept of intrinsic value addition is now a long lost idea. Despite being educated and brought up in a rational society, there are times when we fail to understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom! Perhaps it’s only when you observe and understand the world around you, do you realize that difference can be altered for increasing your pace of the learning curve.
Sadly, the reading habit is on the decline among children as well. Ordinarily kids dislike reading material that is dedicatedly made for them as their appreciation for listening skills are so honed that school sub consciously makes them listen to tales and instructions. Popeye and his gang, aided by multimedia games have drowned the shuffle of the pages. Though the Harry Potter mania gripped children these days, it could just be another ephemeral phase withering away sooner or later.
“But why blame it on the kids for all this wean-off-from-reading culture? It is the parents who are responsible for this,” says an English professor. Parents blame it on the mounting pressure on the children in schools and tuition classes.
“My son hardly gets time to read story books. In the little time he gets after finishing the home work, all he wants to do is watch the cartoon channel or play video games,” says Vijaylakshmi whose nine-year-old son ”is glued to the idiot” box whenever he gets the time. The other problem is that there is a tremendous pressure upon students to perform and excel.
The situation is no better among college students. Library for them becomes popular only before the final examination. It is then that the students, in a panic state, just browse through their course related books.
There are also regular visitors to the libraries among them, though they constitute a small minority who frequently borrow books. ‘’But more often than not, students visit the libraries for their research work rather than reading a book for their own pleasure. In fact, nowadays libraries have become common hangouts for the college students,’’ remarks another professor.
But what is the reason behind this wean-off-from-reading attitude? ‘’Parents are so psyched about the future of their children that most of the times it is they who discourage their wards from reading any other book than their textbooks,’’ the professors say.
Tough and intense competition has further deepened the insecurity among the middle class families. ‘’But they fail to understand that for an all-round development of an individual, reading habit is essential.’’ If at the primary level, the habit of reading books is not cultivated among children, then at the college level it becomes very difficult to develop the habit. ‘’That is why we feel that extra reading should be made compulsory at the school level,’’ they say.
Some assert that reading is not a diversion from serious tasks; rather it contributes to the fulfilment of those tasks. ‘’At a time when it is not rare to find students using dubious means and short-uts to pass examinations, the reading skill, if instilled in them, will make them savour learning and also increase their faith in themselves and their abilities.’’
In spite of such refrains, books continue to find their way to the right readers. Libraries in the city may not boast of good attendance, but they do attract ardent readers, who still exist somewhere in the midst of this discouraging scenario. That many contemporary writers are coming out with masterpieces on different subjects is an indicator to this fact. At a time when recreation, enjoyment and mechanical learning have become operative words, it is reassuring to find that bibliophiles are there. It does not matter whether these such booklovers access books on-line or browse them physically, before buying them.
However, reading has probably survived a plethora of distractions and has yet maintained to be some of choicest hobbies one would choose to possess! Avid readers tend to have a better grasp on realities and are known to be better judges of people. Of course the type of books you read quite generally depends on your attitude and personality! But reading as a habit has always allowed to nurture a wholesome sense of well being. Being a total book worm it wasn’t difficult to let my brother also accept this so-far genetic habit, but it did take quite a while for me to sell this idea to him! Most of us read books to lull ourselves to sleep.
Walking Tall with a Book
Perhaps we as human beings, distinct as we are from the rest of the living species need to build up this habit of reading as especially for kids it’s really difficult for parents to make the switch from a totally pictured short comic to a immensely boring book of at least a hundred pages, specifically one that has no images or diagrams. I faced that problem myself so I don’t blame any kid who’d frown at the idea.
And as we age the books also tend to age with us. With our professional lifestyles, it’s difficult to manage a non-fiction, with deadlines set for the next day’s presentation! After all who’d want a taste of the boss’s ire! Many of us miss out on reading in this very manner and sadly it is only in times of sorrow or grief that we seek refuge in reading some sensible stuff that is either in the form of a ’Live it up!’, book or some of us might be inclined towards religion!Of course all of this reading comes only next to our listening to others talk about optimism when we are down an out! From all of this I can only conclude that if you choose to make reading your constant companion, you’ll never walk alone! Besides you’ll have more to discover in life than you’d ever thought about! Think about it, somewhere, in some bright corner of the world, there’s some book waiting for you!
Globalise Justice - Globalise Peace
A reflection on international day of peace
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, who supervised the creation of the first atomic bomb, appeared before a congressional Committee. They inquired of him if there was any defence against the weapon.
"Certainly," the great physicist replied.
"And that is," Dr. Oppenheimer looked over the hushed, expectant audience and softly said: "peace."
The warring world is torn into factions and keep fighting. The unrest and bloodletting go on and on. While such wars and unrests become more common, people long for the days of peace and serenity. Seldom do they realize in this world of advertisement and attractions that all these unrests are symptoms of injustice. Behind every war, behind every tussle there is a problem of unequal sharing of wealth. There will always be wars and unrest as long as there is inequality and injustice.
Any war between nations begins from a man’s heart. Nations have no existence apart from their people. If every person in the world loved peace, every nation would love peace. If all men refused to fight one another and refuse to be unjust to one another, nations could not be unjust and as a result will not fight one another.
September 17, is the International Day of peace.
‘Justice and Peace’ is a phrase that in church circles rolls off the tongue almost as easily as ‘eggs and bacon,’ but what does it actually mean? Peace! We think we understand the meaning well enough: no fighting, no abuse, good manners. The sign of peace is the gesture of a community at peace with itself.
But real peace means much more than not fighting. Pope Paul VI once said that ‘Peace is the fruit of anxious daily care to see that everyone lives in the justice that God intends.’ "Right at the heart of the Gospel," said the bishops of the world in 1971, "lie the work we must do for justice."
We are very good at charity as an immediate response to suffering. Catholic congregations are generous indeed when it comes to appeal collections. But working for justice means trying to do something about the causes of suffering and poverty as well a relieving its immediate symptoms. It is not enough to put band – aids on the wounds of society. We need to strike it at the root and remove its causes. That applies well to spiritual realm too.
Weapons of mass destruction keep flowing to the developing nations. While the people are distracted with war the weapon supplying nations are busy having an eye on the natural resources and oil deposits of the nation. Restraining the MNCs from their exploitation of the poorer countries is today a major act of justice that will bring peace.
It is a scandal, for example, that 15 million children under the age of six die every year from starvation and disease while the world still spends about eight hundred thousand million dollars ($800,000,000,000) a year on weapons. The world is taking a path of violence to attain peace and order. A great irony indeed !
St. Peter himself came to know that, "God has no favourites." Many extreme nationalists, even committed ones, need to be reminded of these words of St. Peter. We see young men getting trained for heroism in the military, and I became determined to show that the courage of the non-violent Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, is just as powerful as that of the violent heroes. " Do not fear the words of violent people but the silence of honest ones" said Martin Luther King. Gandhi was feared not for his violence but for this refusal to budge to the British; for his non-violent satyagraha. "The only sure guarantee of peace is morality and justice," says Goldwin Smith.
History hides more than it can reveal, particularly in matters of portraying martyrs for peace and justice. These martyrs broke their image to set the image of the society right. The society basks in their glory and thrives on their justice works. So peace is yet to be built on a strong foundation. It has to be a daily affair. We need to pray God to keep sending prophets who will destroy injustice and lay foundation for peace.
No doubt peace has its victories, but what the world needs is a victory that has its peace. So, to be enduring, a peace must be endurable. A deceitful peace is more hurtful than open war. The more just we are in our dealings, the more sincere we are in our dealings, the more peaceful we will be. Amidst slogans of globalization there has to be the most prominent one; and that is: Globalise not war but justice.
There can be no PEACE without JUSTICE.
Glorious Steve
Editor
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, who supervised the creation of the first atomic bomb, appeared before a congressional Committee. They inquired of him if there was any defence against the weapon.
"Certainly," the great physicist replied.
"And that is," Dr. Oppenheimer looked over the hushed, expectant audience and softly said: "peace."
The warring world is torn into factions and keep fighting. The unrest and bloodletting go on and on. While such wars and unrests become more common, people long for the days of peace and serenity. Seldom do they realize in this world of advertisement and attractions that all these unrests are symptoms of injustice. Behind every war, behind every tussle there is a problem of unequal sharing of wealth. There will always be wars and unrest as long as there is inequality and injustice.
Any war between nations begins from a man’s heart. Nations have no existence apart from their people. If every person in the world loved peace, every nation would love peace. If all men refused to fight one another and refuse to be unjust to one another, nations could not be unjust and as a result will not fight one another.
September 17, is the International Day of peace.
‘Justice and Peace’ is a phrase that in church circles rolls off the tongue almost as easily as ‘eggs and bacon,’ but what does it actually mean? Peace! We think we understand the meaning well enough: no fighting, no abuse, good manners. The sign of peace is the gesture of a community at peace with itself.
But real peace means much more than not fighting. Pope Paul VI once said that ‘Peace is the fruit of anxious daily care to see that everyone lives in the justice that God intends.’ "Right at the heart of the Gospel," said the bishops of the world in 1971, "lie the work we must do for justice."
We are very good at charity as an immediate response to suffering. Catholic congregations are generous indeed when it comes to appeal collections. But working for justice means trying to do something about the causes of suffering and poverty as well a relieving its immediate symptoms. It is not enough to put band – aids on the wounds of society. We need to strike it at the root and remove its causes. That applies well to spiritual realm too.
Weapons of mass destruction keep flowing to the developing nations. While the people are distracted with war the weapon supplying nations are busy having an eye on the natural resources and oil deposits of the nation. Restraining the MNCs from their exploitation of the poorer countries is today a major act of justice that will bring peace.
It is a scandal, for example, that 15 million children under the age of six die every year from starvation and disease while the world still spends about eight hundred thousand million dollars ($800,000,000,000) a year on weapons. The world is taking a path of violence to attain peace and order. A great irony indeed !
St. Peter himself came to know that, "God has no favourites." Many extreme nationalists, even committed ones, need to be reminded of these words of St. Peter. We see young men getting trained for heroism in the military, and I became determined to show that the courage of the non-violent Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, is just as powerful as that of the violent heroes. " Do not fear the words of violent people but the silence of honest ones" said Martin Luther King. Gandhi was feared not for his violence but for this refusal to budge to the British; for his non-violent satyagraha. "The only sure guarantee of peace is morality and justice," says Goldwin Smith.
History hides more than it can reveal, particularly in matters of portraying martyrs for peace and justice. These martyrs broke their image to set the image of the society right. The society basks in their glory and thrives on their justice works. So peace is yet to be built on a strong foundation. It has to be a daily affair. We need to pray God to keep sending prophets who will destroy injustice and lay foundation for peace.
No doubt peace has its victories, but what the world needs is a victory that has its peace. So, to be enduring, a peace must be endurable. A deceitful peace is more hurtful than open war. The more just we are in our dealings, the more sincere we are in our dealings, the more peaceful we will be. Amidst slogans of globalization there has to be the most prominent one; and that is: Globalise not war but justice.
There can be no PEACE without JUSTICE.
Glorious Steve
Editor
Religious Divide
Men of sense are all of one religion. But men of sense never tell what it is.
India is a land not only blessed with cultural and linguistic conglomeration but also with multiple religion adding to the unfathomable riches of this nation’s heritage. Religions like Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Hinduism, Isalm, Judaism, Shintoism and various others decorate the Indian heritage.
Think of two Indian Muslims with two very different experiences of their homeland. While one chooses to serve the nation by joining the police force while the other feeling sorry about the state of affairs leading to poverty and inequality joins a terrorist organization. Both are Indian Muslims. They began their careers simultaneously. But they could hardly have chosen more different paths. While the policeman was taking his civil service exams, the other was being admitted as a full time activist in a fundamentalist group.
This may be true with every religion. But the truth is that the two share a fundamental burden: in the eyes of many Hindus, uly belong in India. The origins of this antagonism are centuries old. In essence, hard line Hindus regard as a national humiliation the Islamic influence and the Christian influence and for that matter any other religious influence other than Hinduism. This distrust of other religions particularly Islam has only increased since independence in 1947: modern India was founded in the Muslim-Hindu bloodletting of partition of the subcontinent, in which a million people died, and since then tensions have boiled over into three wars against Islamic neighbour Pakistan. Today, much of the religious tension in the region stems from India’s rule over Muslim dominated Kashmir in the face of strident Pakistani opposition. The war on terror and the 1998 election of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on a Hindu nationalist agenda, which focused debate on physically undoing the Mughal invasion by razing mosques built over Hindu temples, have lent a veil of legitimacy to India’s lurking anti-Muslim prejudice. “Muslims are a despised minority, disliked by a large section of the majority,” wrote Muslim commentator Firoz Bakht Ahmed in the Hindu news paper.
Indian Muslims do have their high achievers: President Abdul Kalam; Wipro chairman and India’s richest man, Azim Premji, and a host of Bollywood stars. But for every President or Muslim tech entrepreneur or movie star or policeman, there are 1,000 others with tales of discrimination in the workplace or the education system, harassment by wayward police officers or segregation into ghettos by Hindu landlords. Whatever the causes, there is no disputing the fact that Indian Muslims today are less educated, poorer and live shorter, less secure and less healthy lives than their Hindu counterparts. Census figures paint a bleak picture of their plight. In rural India, 29% of Muslims earn less than $6 a month, compared with 26% of Hindus; in the cities (where a third of all Muslims live) the gap rises to 40% vs. 22%. Some 13% of India’s population is Muslim, yet Muslims account for just 3% of government employees, and an even smaller percentage are employed by private Hindu businesses. Meanwhile, in the cities, 30% of Muslims are illiterate, vs. 19% of Hindus. Nor are any of these indices improving.
India’s Muslims are also far more likely than Hindus to be victims of violent attacks. In all the communal riots since independence, official police records reveal that three-quarters of the lives lost and properties destroyed were Muslim, a figure that climbed to 85% during last year’s riots in Gujarat. The Gujarat authorities even went so far as to price Muslim lives below those of Hindus, offering $2,050 in state compensation for Muslims killed but double that for the riots’ 58 Hindu victims. “There is often a tendency in India to treat Muslims as them rather than us,” says K.C. Tyagi, former leader of the moderate Hindu Samajwadi Party. “And this tendency does have terrible manifestations. Even today, by and large, Muslims have not been admitted to what we call the Indian mainstream.” The portion of the population affected by this systemic discrimination is staggering: India’s Muslim “minority” numbers 150 million people (vs. 850 million Hindus)—after Indonesia, the second-largest Islamic community in the world. Religious divide stems from the unequal distribution of wealth. It has its roots in violation of fundamental rights. Every demand for human rights is termed as a terrorism. W
India is a land not only blessed with cultural and linguistic conglomeration but also with multiple religion adding to the unfathomable riches of this nation’s heritage. Religions like Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Hinduism, Isalm, Judaism, Shintoism and various others decorate the Indian heritage.
Think of two Indian Muslims with two very different experiences of their homeland. While one chooses to serve the nation by joining the police force while the other feeling sorry about the state of affairs leading to poverty and inequality joins a terrorist organization. Both are Indian Muslims. They began their careers simultaneously. But they could hardly have chosen more different paths. While the policeman was taking his civil service exams, the other was being admitted as a full time activist in a fundamentalist group.
This may be true with every religion. But the truth is that the two share a fundamental burden: in the eyes of many Hindus, uly belong in India. The origins of this antagonism are centuries old. In essence, hard line Hindus regard as a national humiliation the Islamic influence and the Christian influence and for that matter any other religious influence other than Hinduism. This distrust of other religions particularly Islam has only increased since independence in 1947: modern India was founded in the Muslim-Hindu bloodletting of partition of the subcontinent, in which a million people died, and since then tensions have boiled over into three wars against Islamic neighbour Pakistan. Today, much of the religious tension in the region stems from India’s rule over Muslim dominated Kashmir in the face of strident Pakistani opposition. The war on terror and the 1998 election of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on a Hindu nationalist agenda, which focused debate on physically undoing the Mughal invasion by razing mosques built over Hindu temples, have lent a veil of legitimacy to India’s lurking anti-Muslim prejudice. “Muslims are a despised minority, disliked by a large section of the majority,” wrote Muslim commentator Firoz Bakht Ahmed in the Hindu news paper.
Indian Muslims do have their high achievers: President Abdul Kalam; Wipro chairman and India’s richest man, Azim Premji, and a host of Bollywood stars. But for every President or Muslim tech entrepreneur or movie star or policeman, there are 1,000 others with tales of discrimination in the workplace or the education system, harassment by wayward police officers or segregation into ghettos by Hindu landlords. Whatever the causes, there is no disputing the fact that Indian Muslims today are less educated, poorer and live shorter, less secure and less healthy lives than their Hindu counterparts. Census figures paint a bleak picture of their plight. In rural India, 29% of Muslims earn less than $6 a month, compared with 26% of Hindus; in the cities (where a third of all Muslims live) the gap rises to 40% vs. 22%. Some 13% of India’s population is Muslim, yet Muslims account for just 3% of government employees, and an even smaller percentage are employed by private Hindu businesses. Meanwhile, in the cities, 30% of Muslims are illiterate, vs. 19% of Hindus. Nor are any of these indices improving.
India’s Muslims are also far more likely than Hindus to be victims of violent attacks. In all the communal riots since independence, official police records reveal that three-quarters of the lives lost and properties destroyed were Muslim, a figure that climbed to 85% during last year’s riots in Gujarat. The Gujarat authorities even went so far as to price Muslim lives below those of Hindus, offering $2,050 in state compensation for Muslims killed but double that for the riots’ 58 Hindu victims. “There is often a tendency in India to treat Muslims as them rather than us,” says K.C. Tyagi, former leader of the moderate Hindu Samajwadi Party. “And this tendency does have terrible manifestations. Even today, by and large, Muslims have not been admitted to what we call the Indian mainstream.” The portion of the population affected by this systemic discrimination is staggering: India’s Muslim “minority” numbers 150 million people (vs. 850 million Hindus)—after Indonesia, the second-largest Islamic community in the world. Religious divide stems from the unequal distribution of wealth. It has its roots in violation of fundamental rights. Every demand for human rights is termed as a terrorism. W
Civic Sense, Cleanliness and Unskilled Human Resource
One of the first things that strikes a person entering India, is the squalor and filth. What aggravates the whole situation is the apparent lack of concern among citizens. It becomes second nature to people walking on the street, to nimbly sidestep the dirt and germ filled puddles and wrinkle their noses at the stench of decaying rubbish strewn on the streets, while they carelessly flick away their own food wrappers or send streams of spit flying across the road.
The passer-by politely averts his eyes from the man at this corner who is watering a tree with his personalized brand of fluid fertiliser, while he himself finds another tree at another corner for his own purpose.
Pan chewing is a common habit among most people. What is unforgivable is the contemptible habit of sending out red liquid missiles of spit and betel juice. Not a building, wall or corner escapes this onslaught. The tell-tale signs can be seen splattered on the walls even through the grills of an elevator in motion.
Consider the scene in a private hospital toilet. Mud and dirt lie thick on the floors. There is running water (surprised?) but the toilet flush does not work. The all-pervading stench of stale urine is nauseating. Outside, the cleaner meticulously dusts the floors making sure that the broom is held a measured 6 cm away from the floor and that the dust is undisturbed.
The saddest and most ironic aspect of this state of affairs is the stock response that it elicits from the citizens, even educated ones. A general shrug, a helpless shake of the head and the comment, “You really can’t do anything about a country like India. It is too vast and the population is too massive to be controlled.” Our streets display more eloquently the state of affairs of our so called human resource about which our ministers keep boasting too often. Whether educated or uneducated, literate or illiterate all our human resource is unskilled when it comes to practice.
Perhaps I am just plain stupid, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the rising population has to do with betel spit and public defecation! Aren’t we making the population the scapegoat for everything? I honestly wonder how many people spit on the walls inside their own homes, urinate in their own corridors or throw wrappers about in their living rooms. In a bid to keep their houses clean, they dirty the streets. If we respect, understand and practice cleanliness within the confines of our own homes, why do we forsake it like a discarded jacket the moment we step out on the streets? Why does the Indian psyche find it so difficult to accept that they are the citizens of the whole country and not just the four walls of their home?
Indians, who have had the chance to visit other countries, come back time and again with tales of lands, where the streets are clean and where the “system” works. Expatriate Indians also try to maintain certain dignified standards in their behaviour in keeping with the norms of their place of residence. What impressions do foreign tourists take back about India?
The enormity of the problem makes escapism an easy response. “What difference would my effort make against the fact that millions of others are doing the opposite? say even educated people. But should that deter me from continuing to do my bit? I mean, is it necessary to join the multitude and become a litterbug just because everyone else is. It may not seem like doing much but every action does produce a reaction perhaps not immediately; perhaps only much later and after repeated attempts.
Where are all those unemployed young men who get sucked into various street gangs? They use the power of the group to propagate fear and terror among the citizens. Why don’t they use the same terror-inspiring tactics to create a clean environment in their own neighbourhood? If each gang worked for the betterment of its own area, think of the cleanliness that ‘would result in the whole city.
Perhaps I sound idealistic and my solutions simplistic but the fact remains that I feel concerned about the nature of the problem. I also know that wherever I live, I will never be able to carelessly litter a place or spit in public places or perform such other anti-social actions. I am quite sure that the same holds true for many people in India. But the civic sense of the people has perhaps been dulled by years of apathy and inaction.
Taking out processions, yelling slogans, fighting for one’s rights, initiating strikes and in general harnessing public opinion against an unjust act, especially by someone in authority , are part of the democratic process in India. We expect much from our country and the Government in power. Has anyone stopped to wonder what we return to our motherland? Mounds of dirt, rubbish and an all-pervading stink?
The passer-by politely averts his eyes from the man at this corner who is watering a tree with his personalized brand of fluid fertiliser, while he himself finds another tree at another corner for his own purpose.
Pan chewing is a common habit among most people. What is unforgivable is the contemptible habit of sending out red liquid missiles of spit and betel juice. Not a building, wall or corner escapes this onslaught. The tell-tale signs can be seen splattered on the walls even through the grills of an elevator in motion.
Consider the scene in a private hospital toilet. Mud and dirt lie thick on the floors. There is running water (surprised?) but the toilet flush does not work. The all-pervading stench of stale urine is nauseating. Outside, the cleaner meticulously dusts the floors making sure that the broom is held a measured 6 cm away from the floor and that the dust is undisturbed.
The saddest and most ironic aspect of this state of affairs is the stock response that it elicits from the citizens, even educated ones. A general shrug, a helpless shake of the head and the comment, “You really can’t do anything about a country like India. It is too vast and the population is too massive to be controlled.” Our streets display more eloquently the state of affairs of our so called human resource about which our ministers keep boasting too often. Whether educated or uneducated, literate or illiterate all our human resource is unskilled when it comes to practice.
Perhaps I am just plain stupid, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the rising population has to do with betel spit and public defecation! Aren’t we making the population the scapegoat for everything? I honestly wonder how many people spit on the walls inside their own homes, urinate in their own corridors or throw wrappers about in their living rooms. In a bid to keep their houses clean, they dirty the streets. If we respect, understand and practice cleanliness within the confines of our own homes, why do we forsake it like a discarded jacket the moment we step out on the streets? Why does the Indian psyche find it so difficult to accept that they are the citizens of the whole country and not just the four walls of their home?
Indians, who have had the chance to visit other countries, come back time and again with tales of lands, where the streets are clean and where the “system” works. Expatriate Indians also try to maintain certain dignified standards in their behaviour in keeping with the norms of their place of residence. What impressions do foreign tourists take back about India?
The enormity of the problem makes escapism an easy response. “What difference would my effort make against the fact that millions of others are doing the opposite? say even educated people. But should that deter me from continuing to do my bit? I mean, is it necessary to join the multitude and become a litterbug just because everyone else is. It may not seem like doing much but every action does produce a reaction perhaps not immediately; perhaps only much later and after repeated attempts.
Where are all those unemployed young men who get sucked into various street gangs? They use the power of the group to propagate fear and terror among the citizens. Why don’t they use the same terror-inspiring tactics to create a clean environment in their own neighbourhood? If each gang worked for the betterment of its own area, think of the cleanliness that ‘would result in the whole city.
Perhaps I sound idealistic and my solutions simplistic but the fact remains that I feel concerned about the nature of the problem. I also know that wherever I live, I will never be able to carelessly litter a place or spit in public places or perform such other anti-social actions. I am quite sure that the same holds true for many people in India. But the civic sense of the people has perhaps been dulled by years of apathy and inaction.
Taking out processions, yelling slogans, fighting for one’s rights, initiating strikes and in general harnessing public opinion against an unjust act, especially by someone in authority , are part of the democratic process in India. We expect much from our country and the Government in power. Has anyone stopped to wonder what we return to our motherland? Mounds of dirt, rubbish and an all-pervading stink?
Illetracy, who cares?
Launched by successive governments and other agencies, and you’d think India runs one of the most efficient literacy programmes in the world. Witness Operation Blackboard, Total Literacy Commission, Adult Literacy Mission, Non-Formal Education, District Institutes of Education and Learning, Mahila Samakhya, Shiksha Karmis, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan ( SSA)District Elementary Education Programmes....
Many policies, many committees, many buzzwords and yetlater, we also have many more illiterates. Having superpower dreams is not enough, every third illiterate in the world is an Indian. Unicef already predicted in ‘State of the World’s Children 1999 report’, that by 2000 India will be “the most illiterate country in the world”.A disgraceful distinction. Compounded by yet another conclusion reached by a parliamentary committee report tabled India’s education network—the world’s largest—is also the “most diseased”.
Statistics, and schools that are mere statistics: Year after year, statistics, reports, studies, committees and demographers have devoted themselves (and often the taxpayers’ money and the nation’s time) to calculating how unlettered we are. Worked themselves into a tizzy researching how a country with so many illiterates, in the Information Age, needs to invest more than a mere four per cent of its GDP on education. On how the number of illiterates in today’s India is larger than the population of the country three decades ago. How less than half of India’s children between age six and 14 go to school. How 110 million of them never do. How, more than half the children who enrol themselves into school drop out by the end of the fifth grade. How, states like Andhra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal have 94 per cent districts with female literacy rates less than 30 per cent. How, on an average the Indian spends a little over two years in school whereas the Chinese, Sri Lankan and South Korean spends five, seven and nine years respectively.
“This isn’t a school, it’s a farce. I’d like to meet the fools who thought up of starting it here—in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to teach; none to learn! I’m trying influence to be posted to Jaipur,” says Kesra Ram, primary school teacher at Bha-gwaniyon ki Dani in Rajasthan’s Barmer district where literacy rates are an abysmal 18.8 per cent; worse, at 7.7 per cent for women. A deadwood hutment, wiggly children squatting on sand, no water for over three miles, no blackboard, no table, no books—this is what the system has given Master Kesra Ram to work and educate India with. Little wonder then, he neither works nor educates. He drones out lessons that interest neither him nor his students. Unhappily he says: “It’s tough being a teacher here, tougher being a student. Tough getting them in, tougher keeping them here.”
Any ideas then on how to resolve Kesra Ram’s dilemma? Any suggestions on how best to educate the largest illiterate mass in the world? Any prescriptives on tackling the problems involved in schooling children across so many cities and small towns, over 600,000 villages, in little hamlets with no more than 150 people, children who speak over 17 major languages and more than 1,600 dialects?
Defying textbook solutions: “To begin with, we have to redefine the nature of literacy. Policies have to be geared at changing the perception of education as being merely about reading and writing; schooling being about parroting alien text-books,” says Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhyay of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). Having conducted a unique four-year-long experiment on arresting dropouts among 6,304 children in 20 villages around West Bengal’s Udang in the Howrah district, Mukhopadhyay saw dropout rates coming down to 17 per cent as against the state average of 49 per cent. “At one level it was so simple: it happened through music, sports and using unemployed local youth as resource,” says the expert.
Among other things local primary teachers were encouraged to write out lyrics and set them to local tunes on subjects as varied as mathematics and environment. Local youth were employed with the simple brief to come in, play and sing with the students. Attendance in these schools peaked to 79 per cent on the days with music and sport periods; 76 per cent on other days. “Their songs, their sports, their school, that’s what got the children into school and made them stay there. Cultural compatibility and relevance of content and activities was their uppermost consideration,” says Mukhopadhyay.
Something Prof. Anil Sadgopal, head of the department of education in the Delhi University, has been advocating for long. “Nothing will work in this vast country if our geo-cultural plurality is not recognised as the basis for decentralised and segregated curricula development,” says the academic. Further, he suggests the concept of a locally managed Common Neighbourhood school system to be introduced by an Act of Parliament. School clusters, if Sadgopal’s concept were to be operative, would through local communities decide upon their own curricula, appoint their own teachers and monitor their own management. Centralised board exams and out-of-context syllabi would have no place in this system.
“In the beginning, many such schools would enhance results to prove their merit. But over time, the quality of the outgoing students would manifest the actual worth of each cluster. What good are the board results anyway—most institutes of higher education already have their own entrance tests over and above the standardised result the country’s education system seeks to manufacture annually,” says Sadgopal. Too revolutionary? Not really. Canada works this way. So does Switzerland.
Our politicians and their unlettered voters: The commitment of our politicians to education is pathetically wanting, to say the least. In the world’s largest democracy, where even onions have made political parties lose power, few believe that the issue of education will cost them an election! Besides, educating the Indian populace would certainly not benefit the manipulative, rhetoric-gurgling politician. Where else in civilised society would a state education ministers’ conference be boycotted by state education ministers themselves as happened some time ago? The reason for the whimsical abandonment: a frenzied argument not about how we need to educate our children but whether we should teach them the Upanishads and make them sing Saraswati vandanas.
The Constitution, though, had made a commitment to educate the country. It had envisaged having every Indian child in school by 1960 through its directive to “provide free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years”. If present trends continue, this promise is still, at least, half-a-century away.
Wiping clean myths and rewriting rights on the blackboard: “Many things need to be done. Allocation of funds, teachers’ moral accountability in the system, contextualising curricula. But to begin with education has to be made a Fundamental Right. While Parliament is caught up in the discussion of trivial issues, a constitutional amendment bill aimed at making every child’s fundamental right to be educated gathers dust,” points out economist Jean Dreze, who as part of an eight-member research team brought out a Public Report on Basic Education (PROBE). Conducted in over 200 villages of north India, the survey investigates the country’s schooling situation to explode some common myths.
MYTH I: Unlettered rural parents don’t want their children in school. The survey, in fact, had a resounding 80.2 per cent demanding that education be made compulsory for all children.
MYTH 2: The overworked rural child who has no time to attend class was shown to be an empty stereotype. The study revealed that the rural boy and girl child have 71 and 62 per cent of a 12-hour day free.
A Vision and a Mission: “Somehow the vision has to expand. The focus has to change from ‘we have to get kids into school’ to ‘what do we want them there for’. There’s no point in having schools everywhere if there’s no social or gender accessibility to them,” says Alan Court, representative, Unicef’s India Country Office. Putting forth a radical suggestion, Court says a Primary School Mission should perhaps be set up with University lecturers teaching children on a war-footing on their vacations: “It doesn’t have to be a permanent solution. It can be a transitory scheme to break the cycle of ignorance.”
Because it is a vicious one, this cycle of ignorance and poverty, illiteracy and deprivation. One begets the other. Till both become humungous. And both thrive. And along with them thrives the growing number of Indian illiterates: every third illiterate in the world. People are not illiterate by choice. They are illiterate because they never had the opportunity to learn, or when they had the opportunity, they lacked the motivation to learn. The fact is that when they are motivated, they can and do learn. And revel in the new found power that the ability to read and write suddenly gives them. But then, that is what our netas are mortally afraid of.
Many policies, many committees, many buzzwords and yetlater, we also have many more illiterates. Having superpower dreams is not enough, every third illiterate in the world is an Indian. Unicef already predicted in ‘State of the World’s Children 1999 report’, that by 2000 India will be “the most illiterate country in the world”.A disgraceful distinction. Compounded by yet another conclusion reached by a parliamentary committee report tabled India’s education network—the world’s largest—is also the “most diseased”.
Statistics, and schools that are mere statistics: Year after year, statistics, reports, studies, committees and demographers have devoted themselves (and often the taxpayers’ money and the nation’s time) to calculating how unlettered we are. Worked themselves into a tizzy researching how a country with so many illiterates, in the Information Age, needs to invest more than a mere four per cent of its GDP on education. On how the number of illiterates in today’s India is larger than the population of the country three decades ago. How less than half of India’s children between age six and 14 go to school. How 110 million of them never do. How, more than half the children who enrol themselves into school drop out by the end of the fifth grade. How, states like Andhra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal have 94 per cent districts with female literacy rates less than 30 per cent. How, on an average the Indian spends a little over two years in school whereas the Chinese, Sri Lankan and South Korean spends five, seven and nine years respectively.
“This isn’t a school, it’s a farce. I’d like to meet the fools who thought up of starting it here—in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to teach; none to learn! I’m trying influence to be posted to Jaipur,” says Kesra Ram, primary school teacher at Bha-gwaniyon ki Dani in Rajasthan’s Barmer district where literacy rates are an abysmal 18.8 per cent; worse, at 7.7 per cent for women. A deadwood hutment, wiggly children squatting on sand, no water for over three miles, no blackboard, no table, no books—this is what the system has given Master Kesra Ram to work and educate India with. Little wonder then, he neither works nor educates. He drones out lessons that interest neither him nor his students. Unhappily he says: “It’s tough being a teacher here, tougher being a student. Tough getting them in, tougher keeping them here.”
Any ideas then on how to resolve Kesra Ram’s dilemma? Any suggestions on how best to educate the largest illiterate mass in the world? Any prescriptives on tackling the problems involved in schooling children across so many cities and small towns, over 600,000 villages, in little hamlets with no more than 150 people, children who speak over 17 major languages and more than 1,600 dialects?
Defying textbook solutions: “To begin with, we have to redefine the nature of literacy. Policies have to be geared at changing the perception of education as being merely about reading and writing; schooling being about parroting alien text-books,” says Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhyay of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). Having conducted a unique four-year-long experiment on arresting dropouts among 6,304 children in 20 villages around West Bengal’s Udang in the Howrah district, Mukhopadhyay saw dropout rates coming down to 17 per cent as against the state average of 49 per cent. “At one level it was so simple: it happened through music, sports and using unemployed local youth as resource,” says the expert.
Among other things local primary teachers were encouraged to write out lyrics and set them to local tunes on subjects as varied as mathematics and environment. Local youth were employed with the simple brief to come in, play and sing with the students. Attendance in these schools peaked to 79 per cent on the days with music and sport periods; 76 per cent on other days. “Their songs, their sports, their school, that’s what got the children into school and made them stay there. Cultural compatibility and relevance of content and activities was their uppermost consideration,” says Mukhopadhyay.
Something Prof. Anil Sadgopal, head of the department of education in the Delhi University, has been advocating for long. “Nothing will work in this vast country if our geo-cultural plurality is not recognised as the basis for decentralised and segregated curricula development,” says the academic. Further, he suggests the concept of a locally managed Common Neighbourhood school system to be introduced by an Act of Parliament. School clusters, if Sadgopal’s concept were to be operative, would through local communities decide upon their own curricula, appoint their own teachers and monitor their own management. Centralised board exams and out-of-context syllabi would have no place in this system.
“In the beginning, many such schools would enhance results to prove their merit. But over time, the quality of the outgoing students would manifest the actual worth of each cluster. What good are the board results anyway—most institutes of higher education already have their own entrance tests over and above the standardised result the country’s education system seeks to manufacture annually,” says Sadgopal. Too revolutionary? Not really. Canada works this way. So does Switzerland.
Our politicians and their unlettered voters: The commitment of our politicians to education is pathetically wanting, to say the least. In the world’s largest democracy, where even onions have made political parties lose power, few believe that the issue of education will cost them an election! Besides, educating the Indian populace would certainly not benefit the manipulative, rhetoric-gurgling politician. Where else in civilised society would a state education ministers’ conference be boycotted by state education ministers themselves as happened some time ago? The reason for the whimsical abandonment: a frenzied argument not about how we need to educate our children but whether we should teach them the Upanishads and make them sing Saraswati vandanas.
The Constitution, though, had made a commitment to educate the country. It had envisaged having every Indian child in school by 1960 through its directive to “provide free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years”. If present trends continue, this promise is still, at least, half-a-century away.
Wiping clean myths and rewriting rights on the blackboard: “Many things need to be done. Allocation of funds, teachers’ moral accountability in the system, contextualising curricula. But to begin with education has to be made a Fundamental Right. While Parliament is caught up in the discussion of trivial issues, a constitutional amendment bill aimed at making every child’s fundamental right to be educated gathers dust,” points out economist Jean Dreze, who as part of an eight-member research team brought out a Public Report on Basic Education (PROBE). Conducted in over 200 villages of north India, the survey investigates the country’s schooling situation to explode some common myths.
MYTH I: Unlettered rural parents don’t want their children in school. The survey, in fact, had a resounding 80.2 per cent demanding that education be made compulsory for all children.
MYTH 2: The overworked rural child who has no time to attend class was shown to be an empty stereotype. The study revealed that the rural boy and girl child have 71 and 62 per cent of a 12-hour day free.
A Vision and a Mission: “Somehow the vision has to expand. The focus has to change from ‘we have to get kids into school’ to ‘what do we want them there for’. There’s no point in having schools everywhere if there’s no social or gender accessibility to them,” says Alan Court, representative, Unicef’s India Country Office. Putting forth a radical suggestion, Court says a Primary School Mission should perhaps be set up with University lecturers teaching children on a war-footing on their vacations: “It doesn’t have to be a permanent solution. It can be a transitory scheme to break the cycle of ignorance.”
Because it is a vicious one, this cycle of ignorance and poverty, illiteracy and deprivation. One begets the other. Till both become humungous. And both thrive. And along with them thrives the growing number of Indian illiterates: every third illiterate in the world. People are not illiterate by choice. They are illiterate because they never had the opportunity to learn, or when they had the opportunity, they lacked the motivation to learn. The fact is that when they are motivated, they can and do learn. And revel in the new found power that the ability to read and write suddenly gives them. But then, that is what our netas are mortally afraid of.
Superpower dreams!
A great news had hit the headlines in the recent days: “India 12th wealthiest nation in 2005, says World Bank.” PTI had published this on Saturday, July 08, 2006. According to this news India has emerged as the 12th wealthiest nation in the world with its GDP touching 785.47 billion dollars or Rs. 35,34,615 crore in 2005, calculated by the World Bank. US was the wealthiest nation with GDP of 12.46 trillion dollars, according to a list of 15 wealthiest countries prepared by the World Bank in terms of their gross domestic product. While India was way down compared to China, positioned fourth with 2.23 trillion dollars of GDP, it was wealthier than Mexico, Russia and Australia. The United States was followed by Japan with 4.51 trillion dollars and Germany 2.78 trillion dollars. Britain, France and Italy occupied fifth, sixth and seventh ranks. Next came Spain, Canada, Brazil and South Korea. There was no African country among the 15 richest nations, while India was the only south Asian country in the list.
There is jubilation among the economist, investors, ruling elites and the upper strata. Many other surprises popped up simultaneously. With 28 states and 7 Union territories, having 16% of the world population and with a super power status, the Indian leaders nurture the superpower dreams.
59 years in the life of a nation is probably not very long, but in the life of all individuals in India it is certainly long. But finally, what is a nation after all if not the sum total of the growth of its citizens. The per capita income add up to GNP and thus if the individual has progressed, so has the nation or vice versa.
Looking back over the chequered path that our shifting developmental paradigm has traversed, one can be overwhelmed with the whole lot of bungled opportunities, shoddy growth and the continued multifarious socio-economic problems that the present generation of Indians have inherited. Not that we have not progressed, we have progressed long. But the regional and social imbalances of immense magnitude persist. The dictum “India is not poor, but Indians are poor” remained stuck.
We had inherited an India which was bereft of most developmental resources. Except some railway lines and roads and other infrastructure mainly to supply raw materials to England and to maintain the administrative apparatus in support of colonial interest were left belvind
According to government sources, some 300 million lived either below the poverty line No doubt 59 years down the line the conditions have changed in many ways. But the size of the population below the poverty line has increased in absolute terms. In 1947, it was 90% at 300 million, today it is around 35% at over 350 million of 1000 million population of the country, a reflection of our failure at redistributive justice.
If the absolute number of the poor in India has not reduced over the last 59 years, there must be profound reasons. Some clue can be had from China and other far eastern countries.
Unlike our politicians and their elite babus, people at the helm in these countries showed real concern for the fundamentals of human well being. Quietly they went about attending to primary health care, basic education and providing for gainful employment to all their people. Yes, even after 59 years we still have lot to learn from these countries. These countless have left India far behind in Human Development Index (HDI). Our meaning system simply didn’t work and failed to deliver. Could it be, as Rajeev Gandhi had said, ‘only 15 paise of the rupee reached the people and the 85 paise go lost in transit’. The classic example of our granaries being full and people dying of starvation is a sad commentary on our monumental failure to measure upto even minimum expectation in a democratic setup.
It is ironical that despite manifold increase in the physical infrastructure for primary education almost 40% of the population is illiterate. In spite of high enrolment in government schools, at any given time, some 50% of primary school children are believed to be out of school. However, in recent days, due to the programmes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day meal scheme the dropout rate has sharply declined in some stales.
After nine Five year Plans over 250 million are without safe drinking water. Over 600 million lack basic sanitation facility. Incidentally providing sanitation facility is not one of the priorities of all governments whether state or federal. Housing is another problem, successive governments have failed to address. However since last 5 years there has been a spurt in the housing sector, although a decent house for the below the poverty line (BPL) population is still a distant dream.
In India, the prevailing socio economic system, compounded by the economic liberalisation, continues to generate poverty. The political structure is either unconcerned or helpless about it. The civil servants, who are really powerful and self serving, excel in a status, as was in colonial era, loaded against the people. They continue to be masters in disguise with the politicians often eating out of their hands.
The failure of the social policy and planning in respect of human development has resulted in India’s inability to stabilise the already high population, which was mainly due to the fear among poor people of high mortality and low individual earning capacity, where every additional hand shall add in some money to the family. This increase in number only increases the low quality of population and that is a matter of concern.
The present stage of economic administration in India represents an ambiguous social philosophy which weeps for the poor but sides with the rich. Interest of the working class is sidelined in the name of economic competitiveness, as we have witnessed these days with protest against reservation policy.
Corruption is another malaise that has grown to endemic proportion as years passed by. As a social evil corruption has got a powerful entry into our delivery system. We have been bracketed among the most corrupt nations of the world by the Transparency International. This steep level of corruption had made Rajiv Gandhi to make that famous statement of 15 paise a rupee of the development money reaching the people. India Corruption Study 2005 has indicated the amount of sleaze that has permeated into the civil society.
According to the study biggest beneficiaries of corruption are schools, the schools of haves, with Rs. 4137 crores going its way, followed by Police Rs: 3899 crores, LandAdministration Rs. 3126 crores. According to Lokayukta of Karnataka Justice Venkatachala, the sub registrars’ office -the Land Registrars -across the state is the most corrupt. Study also revealed that Judiciary was also one of bigger beneficiaries of bribes with Rs. 2630 crores, so was the electricity department with Rs. 2169 crores. Thus it is very clear that corruption has really affected our developmental efforts.
Revenue and financial administration of the country is another of the shoddy dimension of our governance. Close to 100,000 crores are provided and written off as non performing assets of public sector banks, and mostly owed by private sector enterprises, where again sleaze plays its roll, so also some of the badly managed, sinking public sector units, but kept alive for political reasons. Then you have departments of income tax, excise, and other revenue departments of the state where thousands of crores are remaining to be collected, but no action initiated for reasons other than administrative and economic.
India, 12th wealthiest nation in the world. Is that true? Are we really getting richer? For us, India still lives in its villages and people still have little access to its vast land and water, fruits of the soil and seas, jobs in thriving factories and the improving quality of life. It is with this background the World Bank report has to be analysed. For the outsiders, India is a very attractive market. According to Huw Jenkins, Chairman & CEO, UBS Investments Banking, India is extremely bullish. It has a good merger and acquisition business and also a good equities business. But for the devoted Indians it is not a market. It is a soil where after years of toil our elders brought us meaning, peace and freedom.
Yet, India’s foreign policy and security establishment is backed by a fawning media. Meanwhile, Indian nuclear scientists and engineers have moved from sulking over the deal to condemning it outright.
Here lies a terrible irony. Just as India radically reshapes its relations with the world, it is deeply divided, public opinion is irrevocably split, even elite views are polarised. We have never before seen such a chasm on a foreign policy issue neither over non-alignment in the 1950s, nor over the friendship treaty with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the 1970s. This should make the deal’s zealous advocates pause and think.
After all, the agreement is an integral part of the global system of alliances that Washington is building in its effort to dominate the world by preventing the emergence of a rival power or an alliance of states that could challenge it in the future. There is a paradigm shift in India’s foreign and security policy posture with the March 2 agreement between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush.
In some ways, U.S. plans for India, declared overtly through its March 2005 offer to help India become “a major world power in the 21st century”, and other far reaching initiatives, are comparable to Washington’s strategy of the early 1970s to wean China away from the USSR. This, as well as the content of the deal, with its negative implications for India’s sovereignty and for the cause of world peace and global nuclear disarmament, furnishes a strong, logical, and rational ground for opposing it. But that is not where its most vocal Indian opponents come from.
The bulk of them, former and serving officials of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), and a few media commentators lack a political perspective critical of the U.S. and its global role, which on balance is negative. Some have a history of taking pro-U.S. positions. They are guided by a narrow, militaristic and chauvinistic idea of the national interest and an absolute concept of sovereignty, which must be rethought in respect of weapons of mass destruction or acts that can constitute crimes against humanity. They do not ground their criticism of the deal either in India’s declared “minimum credible nuclear deterrent” doctrine, or in principles of transparency and accountability, leave alone universal values such as human security and peace which actually makes us a super power.
There is jubilation among the economist, investors, ruling elites and the upper strata. Many other surprises popped up simultaneously. With 28 states and 7 Union territories, having 16% of the world population and with a super power status, the Indian leaders nurture the superpower dreams.
59 years in the life of a nation is probably not very long, but in the life of all individuals in India it is certainly long. But finally, what is a nation after all if not the sum total of the growth of its citizens. The per capita income add up to GNP and thus if the individual has progressed, so has the nation or vice versa.
Looking back over the chequered path that our shifting developmental paradigm has traversed, one can be overwhelmed with the whole lot of bungled opportunities, shoddy growth and the continued multifarious socio-economic problems that the present generation of Indians have inherited. Not that we have not progressed, we have progressed long. But the regional and social imbalances of immense magnitude persist. The dictum “India is not poor, but Indians are poor” remained stuck.
We had inherited an India which was bereft of most developmental resources. Except some railway lines and roads and other infrastructure mainly to supply raw materials to England and to maintain the administrative apparatus in support of colonial interest were left belvind
According to government sources, some 300 million lived either below the poverty line No doubt 59 years down the line the conditions have changed in many ways. But the size of the population below the poverty line has increased in absolute terms. In 1947, it was 90% at 300 million, today it is around 35% at over 350 million of 1000 million population of the country, a reflection of our failure at redistributive justice.
If the absolute number of the poor in India has not reduced over the last 59 years, there must be profound reasons. Some clue can be had from China and other far eastern countries.
Unlike our politicians and their elite babus, people at the helm in these countries showed real concern for the fundamentals of human well being. Quietly they went about attending to primary health care, basic education and providing for gainful employment to all their people. Yes, even after 59 years we still have lot to learn from these countries. These countless have left India far behind in Human Development Index (HDI). Our meaning system simply didn’t work and failed to deliver. Could it be, as Rajeev Gandhi had said, ‘only 15 paise of the rupee reached the people and the 85 paise go lost in transit’. The classic example of our granaries being full and people dying of starvation is a sad commentary on our monumental failure to measure upto even minimum expectation in a democratic setup.
It is ironical that despite manifold increase in the physical infrastructure for primary education almost 40% of the population is illiterate. In spite of high enrolment in government schools, at any given time, some 50% of primary school children are believed to be out of school. However, in recent days, due to the programmes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day meal scheme the dropout rate has sharply declined in some stales.
After nine Five year Plans over 250 million are without safe drinking water. Over 600 million lack basic sanitation facility. Incidentally providing sanitation facility is not one of the priorities of all governments whether state or federal. Housing is another problem, successive governments have failed to address. However since last 5 years there has been a spurt in the housing sector, although a decent house for the below the poverty line (BPL) population is still a distant dream.
In India, the prevailing socio economic system, compounded by the economic liberalisation, continues to generate poverty. The political structure is either unconcerned or helpless about it. The civil servants, who are really powerful and self serving, excel in a status, as was in colonial era, loaded against the people. They continue to be masters in disguise with the politicians often eating out of their hands.
The failure of the social policy and planning in respect of human development has resulted in India’s inability to stabilise the already high population, which was mainly due to the fear among poor people of high mortality and low individual earning capacity, where every additional hand shall add in some money to the family. This increase in number only increases the low quality of population and that is a matter of concern.
The present stage of economic administration in India represents an ambiguous social philosophy which weeps for the poor but sides with the rich. Interest of the working class is sidelined in the name of economic competitiveness, as we have witnessed these days with protest against reservation policy.
Corruption is another malaise that has grown to endemic proportion as years passed by. As a social evil corruption has got a powerful entry into our delivery system. We have been bracketed among the most corrupt nations of the world by the Transparency International. This steep level of corruption had made Rajiv Gandhi to make that famous statement of 15 paise a rupee of the development money reaching the people. India Corruption Study 2005 has indicated the amount of sleaze that has permeated into the civil society.
According to the study biggest beneficiaries of corruption are schools, the schools of haves, with Rs. 4137 crores going its way, followed by Police Rs: 3899 crores, LandAdministration Rs. 3126 crores. According to Lokayukta of Karnataka Justice Venkatachala, the sub registrars’ office -the Land Registrars -across the state is the most corrupt. Study also revealed that Judiciary was also one of bigger beneficiaries of bribes with Rs. 2630 crores, so was the electricity department with Rs. 2169 crores. Thus it is very clear that corruption has really affected our developmental efforts.
Revenue and financial administration of the country is another of the shoddy dimension of our governance. Close to 100,000 crores are provided and written off as non performing assets of public sector banks, and mostly owed by private sector enterprises, where again sleaze plays its roll, so also some of the badly managed, sinking public sector units, but kept alive for political reasons. Then you have departments of income tax, excise, and other revenue departments of the state where thousands of crores are remaining to be collected, but no action initiated for reasons other than administrative and economic.
India, 12th wealthiest nation in the world. Is that true? Are we really getting richer? For us, India still lives in its villages and people still have little access to its vast land and water, fruits of the soil and seas, jobs in thriving factories and the improving quality of life. It is with this background the World Bank report has to be analysed. For the outsiders, India is a very attractive market. According to Huw Jenkins, Chairman & CEO, UBS Investments Banking, India is extremely bullish. It has a good merger and acquisition business and also a good equities business. But for the devoted Indians it is not a market. It is a soil where after years of toil our elders brought us meaning, peace and freedom.
Yet, India’s foreign policy and security establishment is backed by a fawning media. Meanwhile, Indian nuclear scientists and engineers have moved from sulking over the deal to condemning it outright.
Here lies a terrible irony. Just as India radically reshapes its relations with the world, it is deeply divided, public opinion is irrevocably split, even elite views are polarised. We have never before seen such a chasm on a foreign policy issue neither over non-alignment in the 1950s, nor over the friendship treaty with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the 1970s. This should make the deal’s zealous advocates pause and think.
After all, the agreement is an integral part of the global system of alliances that Washington is building in its effort to dominate the world by preventing the emergence of a rival power or an alliance of states that could challenge it in the future. There is a paradigm shift in India’s foreign and security policy posture with the March 2 agreement between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush.
In some ways, U.S. plans for India, declared overtly through its March 2005 offer to help India become “a major world power in the 21st century”, and other far reaching initiatives, are comparable to Washington’s strategy of the early 1970s to wean China away from the USSR. This, as well as the content of the deal, with its negative implications for India’s sovereignty and for the cause of world peace and global nuclear disarmament, furnishes a strong, logical, and rational ground for opposing it. But that is not where its most vocal Indian opponents come from.
The bulk of them, former and serving officials of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), and a few media commentators lack a political perspective critical of the U.S. and its global role, which on balance is negative. Some have a history of taking pro-U.S. positions. They are guided by a narrow, militaristic and chauvinistic idea of the national interest and an absolute concept of sovereignty, which must be rethought in respect of weapons of mass destruction or acts that can constitute crimes against humanity. They do not ground their criticism of the deal either in India’s declared “minimum credible nuclear deterrent” doctrine, or in principles of transparency and accountability, leave alone universal values such as human security and peace which actually makes us a super power.
Religion Enters Media Mainstream
Big Public Response to Christian Message
A lot is written, said and shown about religion these days. Of course the people governing the media govern also the positive or negative religious propaganda. Religion, once hailed as a meaning system of people of all ages, seems to be at the behest of media, as it may seem after the media highlight on Da Vinci Code and Judas Gospel. All of a sudden media seem to have taken control of the religion and people’s belief system.
Obviously, the demand for religious content in the media also continues to grow. This can have its downside, as “The Da Vinci Code” revealed. Along with these a host of other earlier banned books have also come into the light. But it also means that doors are opening up for guardians of religions who want to get their message across. From the death of Jesus to the present times the Church seems to have grown and matured to handle negative religious propaganda tactfully.
A Boom in the West
Domestic sales of religious products in the United States are likely to reach $9.5 billion by 2010. The estimate comes from market research publisher ‘Packaged Facts.’ During the recent annual awards for religious television programs. The head of the judging panel, Jane Drabble, a former BBC executive, expressed her surprise at the good quality of the contestants. The winner was “A Test of Faith,” based on the London terrorist bombings of last July 7. The runner-up was an experimental series, “Priest Idol,” which chronicled the efforts of Anglican priest James McCaskill in trying to revive a dying parish. “The Monastery,” showed the experiences of five men, who spent 40 days in an abbey, won a merit award. The programme attracted 2.5 million viewers, and a sequel is being planned.
In another instant, The catholic church and the Church of England have joined forces in calling for reforms in the BBC Charter. Their prime concern is that the Government ensures that the BBC not only commissions religious programmes but that it demonstrates a real commitment to broadening religious references.
Reality shows
Television is also opening up to religious programmes. The BBC is giving the finishing touches to a project that will depict the life of Jesus and the events leading up to his crucifiction.
Reality-type religious programs are gaining popularity. ‘The Independent’ observed that in order to attract the attention of a new generation, religion needs to entertain. And the human-interestangle, typical of reality television shows is one way to do this.
Channels from London will telecast “The Convent,” portraying the experience of four women spending six weeks in a community of nuns. Channel 4 will transmit “Six Feet Under: The Muslim Way,” about a London-based Muslim funeral service.
The same is true in the United States. “God or the Girl,” a five-part series started on Easter Sunday, broadcast on A&E Television. The four protagonists had to decide whether to enter the seminary or to opt for marriage. A U.S. version of “The Monastery” is under way. Five men and five women from a variety of backgrounds are depicted as they spend 40 days in a monastery,
“We’re interested in exploring how people like us can live a good and purposeful life and what the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition can teach modern people,” explained the producer, Sarah Woodford.
Publishing Boom
In the print sector a wave of religious books is hitting the stores. Authors are anxious to ride the coattails of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code.” Offerings include Michael Baigent’s “The Jesus Papers,” which denies Christ died on the cross. Books criticizing Brown are also enjoying success; Erwin Lutzer, an evangelical minister, has sold 300,000 copies of his “The Da Vinci Deception.”
Other books include “Divine,” a parable about a modern Magdalene figure, by Karen Kingsbury, described as a Christian fiction writer. Her books have sold more than 4 million copies. And Bart Ehrman will be coming out with “Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene.” The book looks at some of the issues raised by Brown, and denies there is evidence of any marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. On a lighter note, religious comic books are also selling well. There is a project to turn the lives of the saints into comic books. It’s part of an effort to attract young people to the Catholic Church.
In Hong Kong, meanwhile, a comic book version, in a number of installments, of the New Testament is being published. Apeiron Production Company was commissioned to publish the text by Australian-based property developer Larry Lee Siu-kee.
Lee said he was spurred to do it after the recent publication of what he called falsehoods. “By stating their stories as fact, like in ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ they are poison for young people, many of whom will think it is real,” he explained. Lee said that the 6,000 copies of the first installment have been flying off the shelves, prompting him to print a further 20,000 copies.
From print to the
electronic media.
The best-selling series of apocalyptic “Left Behind” books are now being converted into a video game. The game, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces,” made its debut at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles.
It was not alone. Another producer was marketing games based on the “Veggie Tales” series of Christian videos for children. And another was pushing “Bibleman: A Fight for Faith,” reported about a superhero who stands up for the word of God.
One of the best-selling Christian based video games, “Catechumen,” produced by the San Diego-based Christian Game Developers Foundation, has sold 80,000 copies. This falls far short of such successes as the 5.1 million copies of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.”
Other initiatives to get the religious message across include a satellite radio station for New York City. The Catholic archdiocese there recently announced a venture with Sirius Satellite Radio to establish a channel. It has to be noted that of the 17,000 licensed terrestrial radio stations in the United States, 1,700 are Protestant or evangelical Christian in nature, and 130 are Catholic.
Indian Response
While we see a revival in the west with regard to the positive propagation of faith through literature and television shows, the Indian Media too is gaining momentum in a slow pace. On the one hand the protesting groups managed to ban the movie version of Da Vinci Code in some states, positive move to religious propaganda is yet to take place in a large scale. Quite a few instances of protests have captured media attention. Apart from that a few religious congregation and the laity have brought out some awareness through the cost effective e-mail and the church run magazines.
In his message for the World Commu-nications Day, Pope Benedict XVI urged the media to “contribute constructively to the propagation of all that is good and true”.
The Pope also noted that Christians are called to share God’s message with others. This call stems from recognition of Christ’s dynamic force within us, “which then seeks to spread outward to others, so that his love can truly become the prevalent measure of the world”. A force that is increasingly finding an outlet in the media.
The times are good for religion to make a positive entry into the media mainstream. The Church can not remain silent all through as a silent spectator, Instead time is ripe for religion to make the best use of the media without losing its own identity.
A lot is written, said and shown about religion these days. Of course the people governing the media govern also the positive or negative religious propaganda. Religion, once hailed as a meaning system of people of all ages, seems to be at the behest of media, as it may seem after the media highlight on Da Vinci Code and Judas Gospel. All of a sudden media seem to have taken control of the religion and people’s belief system.
Obviously, the demand for religious content in the media also continues to grow. This can have its downside, as “The Da Vinci Code” revealed. Along with these a host of other earlier banned books have also come into the light. But it also means that doors are opening up for guardians of religions who want to get their message across. From the death of Jesus to the present times the Church seems to have grown and matured to handle negative religious propaganda tactfully.
A Boom in the West
Domestic sales of religious products in the United States are likely to reach $9.5 billion by 2010. The estimate comes from market research publisher ‘Packaged Facts.’ During the recent annual awards for religious television programs. The head of the judging panel, Jane Drabble, a former BBC executive, expressed her surprise at the good quality of the contestants. The winner was “A Test of Faith,” based on the London terrorist bombings of last July 7. The runner-up was an experimental series, “Priest Idol,” which chronicled the efforts of Anglican priest James McCaskill in trying to revive a dying parish. “The Monastery,” showed the experiences of five men, who spent 40 days in an abbey, won a merit award. The programme attracted 2.5 million viewers, and a sequel is being planned.
In another instant, The catholic church and the Church of England have joined forces in calling for reforms in the BBC Charter. Their prime concern is that the Government ensures that the BBC not only commissions religious programmes but that it demonstrates a real commitment to broadening religious references.
Reality shows
Television is also opening up to religious programmes. The BBC is giving the finishing touches to a project that will depict the life of Jesus and the events leading up to his crucifiction.
Reality-type religious programs are gaining popularity. ‘The Independent’ observed that in order to attract the attention of a new generation, religion needs to entertain. And the human-interestangle, typical of reality television shows is one way to do this.
Channels from London will telecast “The Convent,” portraying the experience of four women spending six weeks in a community of nuns. Channel 4 will transmit “Six Feet Under: The Muslim Way,” about a London-based Muslim funeral service.
The same is true in the United States. “God or the Girl,” a five-part series started on Easter Sunday, broadcast on A&E Television. The four protagonists had to decide whether to enter the seminary or to opt for marriage. A U.S. version of “The Monastery” is under way. Five men and five women from a variety of backgrounds are depicted as they spend 40 days in a monastery,
“We’re interested in exploring how people like us can live a good and purposeful life and what the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition can teach modern people,” explained the producer, Sarah Woodford.
Publishing Boom
In the print sector a wave of religious books is hitting the stores. Authors are anxious to ride the coattails of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code.” Offerings include Michael Baigent’s “The Jesus Papers,” which denies Christ died on the cross. Books criticizing Brown are also enjoying success; Erwin Lutzer, an evangelical minister, has sold 300,000 copies of his “The Da Vinci Deception.”
Other books include “Divine,” a parable about a modern Magdalene figure, by Karen Kingsbury, described as a Christian fiction writer. Her books have sold more than 4 million copies. And Bart Ehrman will be coming out with “Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene.” The book looks at some of the issues raised by Brown, and denies there is evidence of any marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. On a lighter note, religious comic books are also selling well. There is a project to turn the lives of the saints into comic books. It’s part of an effort to attract young people to the Catholic Church.
In Hong Kong, meanwhile, a comic book version, in a number of installments, of the New Testament is being published. Apeiron Production Company was commissioned to publish the text by Australian-based property developer Larry Lee Siu-kee.
Lee said he was spurred to do it after the recent publication of what he called falsehoods. “By stating their stories as fact, like in ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ they are poison for young people, many of whom will think it is real,” he explained. Lee said that the 6,000 copies of the first installment have been flying off the shelves, prompting him to print a further 20,000 copies.
From print to the
electronic media.
The best-selling series of apocalyptic “Left Behind” books are now being converted into a video game. The game, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces,” made its debut at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles.
It was not alone. Another producer was marketing games based on the “Veggie Tales” series of Christian videos for children. And another was pushing “Bibleman: A Fight for Faith,” reported about a superhero who stands up for the word of God.
One of the best-selling Christian based video games, “Catechumen,” produced by the San Diego-based Christian Game Developers Foundation, has sold 80,000 copies. This falls far short of such successes as the 5.1 million copies of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.”
Other initiatives to get the religious message across include a satellite radio station for New York City. The Catholic archdiocese there recently announced a venture with Sirius Satellite Radio to establish a channel. It has to be noted that of the 17,000 licensed terrestrial radio stations in the United States, 1,700 are Protestant or evangelical Christian in nature, and 130 are Catholic.
Indian Response
While we see a revival in the west with regard to the positive propagation of faith through literature and television shows, the Indian Media too is gaining momentum in a slow pace. On the one hand the protesting groups managed to ban the movie version of Da Vinci Code in some states, positive move to religious propaganda is yet to take place in a large scale. Quite a few instances of protests have captured media attention. Apart from that a few religious congregation and the laity have brought out some awareness through the cost effective e-mail and the church run magazines.
In his message for the World Commu-nications Day, Pope Benedict XVI urged the media to “contribute constructively to the propagation of all that is good and true”.
The Pope also noted that Christians are called to share God’s message with others. This call stems from recognition of Christ’s dynamic force within us, “which then seeks to spread outward to others, so that his love can truly become the prevalent measure of the world”. A force that is increasingly finding an outlet in the media.
The times are good for religion to make a positive entry into the media mainstream. The Church can not remain silent all through as a silent spectator, Instead time is ripe for religion to make the best use of the media without losing its own identity.
My Editorial
Free, to set free
In an address delivered in Hyderabad early in May, President A.P.J. Kalam spoke about his three visions for India.
The first vision he envisaged was freedom. Freedom not just for India but for everyone. He asked: “In 3,000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds, looted us and took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed anyone’s land or tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why?” His own answer to that question was: “Because we respect the freedom of others”.
The second is Development. Asserting that India is among the top five nations in the world in terms of GDP, the President said, “ it is time we see ourselves as a developed World.”
The third Vision was Strength. He said, “ India must stand up to the world. Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as military power but also as an economic power.”
The usual question about individual freedom keeps popping up very often particularly when someone bounces on us. But the great cultural history of India points out that we are individually liberated persons without any plans to keep anyone in bondage under us so as to feel superior to others. History shows that even when we waged war out of necessity we handed over the power to the respective nation and have walked out with dignity.
John W. Schroeder says, “ The more obligations we accept that are self imposed, the freer we are.” The following story is narrated by Richard Bach in the book Illusions. Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all – young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way. “Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current is what each had learned from birth. “But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. I shall let go, and let the current take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.’
The other creatures laughed and said, ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!’ But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. “Yet in time, as the creature refuses to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, ‘See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’ And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’ “But they cried the more, ‘Saviour!’ all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Saviour.”
Personal freedom does not depend on others. It is of our own making and choice. Freedom makes us more profoundly human. It sets us free and destroys the boundaries and limitations we have set within our minds. Freedom is so profound that it elevates us and compellingly elevates those around us without distinctions. Let us impose on each of us the value of freedom. This personal freedom will set the people of our nation free.
In an address delivered in Hyderabad early in May, President A.P.J. Kalam spoke about his three visions for India.
The first vision he envisaged was freedom. Freedom not just for India but for everyone. He asked: “In 3,000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds, looted us and took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed anyone’s land or tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why?” His own answer to that question was: “Because we respect the freedom of others”.
The second is Development. Asserting that India is among the top five nations in the world in terms of GDP, the President said, “ it is time we see ourselves as a developed World.”
The third Vision was Strength. He said, “ India must stand up to the world. Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as military power but also as an economic power.”
The usual question about individual freedom keeps popping up very often particularly when someone bounces on us. But the great cultural history of India points out that we are individually liberated persons without any plans to keep anyone in bondage under us so as to feel superior to others. History shows that even when we waged war out of necessity we handed over the power to the respective nation and have walked out with dignity.
John W. Schroeder says, “ The more obligations we accept that are self imposed, the freer we are.” The following story is narrated by Richard Bach in the book Illusions. Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all – young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way. “Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current is what each had learned from birth. “But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. I shall let go, and let the current take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.’
The other creatures laughed and said, ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!’ But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. “Yet in time, as the creature refuses to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, ‘See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’ And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’ “But they cried the more, ‘Saviour!’ all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Saviour.”
Personal freedom does not depend on others. It is of our own making and choice. Freedom makes us more profoundly human. It sets us free and destroys the boundaries and limitations we have set within our minds. Freedom is so profound that it elevates us and compellingly elevates those around us without distinctions. Let us impose on each of us the value of freedom. This personal freedom will set the people of our nation free.
My Editorial
Interruptions:Our real work
David Steindl-Rast once commented that we tend to be resentful when things interrupt our work until we realize that, often, the interruptions are our real work.
A.N. Wilson, the historian, in a biography of C.S.Lewis, describes how Lewis’s life as a teacher and writer was , during all of his productive years, interrupted by the demands of his adoptive mother who made him do all the shopping and house work and demanded hours of his time daily for domestic tasks. Lewis’s own brother, Warnie, who also lived in the same house refused to let his agenda be interrupted. He himself laments that Lewis could have been more prolific had he not spent countless hours shopping and doing the domestic chores. Lewis himself gives a very different assessment. Precisely because of the interruptions, he said, he was level headed unlike the other Oxford dons.
Just as steindl-Rast points out, the opposite also can happen. Instead of resentment there can be gratitude because we realize that the interruptions, so unwelcome at the time, were really salvific and, far from derailing us from our real agenda, they were our real agenda.
But we have to look always for the hand of providence in our interruptions. These often constitute the conspiracy of accidents through which God guides our lives. If we were totally in control of our own agenda, if we could simply plan and execute our lives according to our dreams with no unwanted derailments, I fear that many of us would slowly and subtly, become selfish and all too soon find our lives empty of the simple joys that come from our family and community.
As I begin my service as editor, I have myriads of things to say.
First of all, I must accept that I too had an interruption from the six years of pioneering work among the tribes of the Nilgiri Hills. It was hard to part from the beautiful landscapes, the resplendent forest cover full of grasslands and sholas and the six different types of tribal groups who became part of my life. All these enriched me with innumerable experiences. The much awaited interruption brought me back to my field as journalist and writer.
What does this interruption mean for the magazine and the readers? This again can be an interruption for the readers and the magazine. It can very well be a positive interruption that gives a change in layout, design, colour, content and perspective. I hope to make it positive for the proactive readers who point out even the failures.
Secondly, I just happened to note a piece of news that the Catholics in general have supported the reservation policy. This piece of information also has appeared in our news section. We know when sentiments are touched we make a hue and cry. Imagine the benefits this interruption of reservation policy is going to bring to the under privileged! Can we make a positive attempt to support reservation and bring about a conglomeration of multiple talents to emerge in the wake of globalisation and liberalisation threatening us at our doorstep?
Pope benedict XVI has made the following statement: “How can we not say that everywhere, even where there is no persecution, to live the gospel with coherence bears a high cost with it?” Yes indeed, to live the Gospel implies interruption that makes us pay the high, but sweet, price of loving people as they are, regardless of their faith, nationality or skin colour. Can we allow this interruption to begin from us instead of a thrust from the government?
Thirdly, Dan Brown’s issues interrupt our faith journey and charge us with frustration. At the same time, the quest for historical Jesus has been a fascinating and irresistible topic. It reminds us that there is no uninterrupted Jesus and that we are dependent on sources that historians find challenging.
For people of faith, the witness of the Gospels is more important than the historian’s Jesus or for that matter Dan Brown’s Jesus. Nevertheless, historical methods of constant interruptions can help us to see the basic reliability of the tradition about Jesus and to encounter Jesus emerging as the strong personality behind the Gospels and the traditions and truths contained in them.
We need interruptions. In fact, Interruptions are our real work. After all, Jesus interrupted the traditional system of his times. That is how Christianity came into being!
David Steindl-Rast once commented that we tend to be resentful when things interrupt our work until we realize that, often, the interruptions are our real work.
A.N. Wilson, the historian, in a biography of C.S.Lewis, describes how Lewis’s life as a teacher and writer was , during all of his productive years, interrupted by the demands of his adoptive mother who made him do all the shopping and house work and demanded hours of his time daily for domestic tasks. Lewis’s own brother, Warnie, who also lived in the same house refused to let his agenda be interrupted. He himself laments that Lewis could have been more prolific had he not spent countless hours shopping and doing the domestic chores. Lewis himself gives a very different assessment. Precisely because of the interruptions, he said, he was level headed unlike the other Oxford dons.
Just as steindl-Rast points out, the opposite also can happen. Instead of resentment there can be gratitude because we realize that the interruptions, so unwelcome at the time, were really salvific and, far from derailing us from our real agenda, they were our real agenda.
But we have to look always for the hand of providence in our interruptions. These often constitute the conspiracy of accidents through which God guides our lives. If we were totally in control of our own agenda, if we could simply plan and execute our lives according to our dreams with no unwanted derailments, I fear that many of us would slowly and subtly, become selfish and all too soon find our lives empty of the simple joys that come from our family and community.
As I begin my service as editor, I have myriads of things to say.
First of all, I must accept that I too had an interruption from the six years of pioneering work among the tribes of the Nilgiri Hills. It was hard to part from the beautiful landscapes, the resplendent forest cover full of grasslands and sholas and the six different types of tribal groups who became part of my life. All these enriched me with innumerable experiences. The much awaited interruption brought me back to my field as journalist and writer.
What does this interruption mean for the magazine and the readers? This again can be an interruption for the readers and the magazine. It can very well be a positive interruption that gives a change in layout, design, colour, content and perspective. I hope to make it positive for the proactive readers who point out even the failures.
Secondly, I just happened to note a piece of news that the Catholics in general have supported the reservation policy. This piece of information also has appeared in our news section. We know when sentiments are touched we make a hue and cry. Imagine the benefits this interruption of reservation policy is going to bring to the under privileged! Can we make a positive attempt to support reservation and bring about a conglomeration of multiple talents to emerge in the wake of globalisation and liberalisation threatening us at our doorstep?
Pope benedict XVI has made the following statement: “How can we not say that everywhere, even where there is no persecution, to live the gospel with coherence bears a high cost with it?” Yes indeed, to live the Gospel implies interruption that makes us pay the high, but sweet, price of loving people as they are, regardless of their faith, nationality or skin colour. Can we allow this interruption to begin from us instead of a thrust from the government?
Thirdly, Dan Brown’s issues interrupt our faith journey and charge us with frustration. At the same time, the quest for historical Jesus has been a fascinating and irresistible topic. It reminds us that there is no uninterrupted Jesus and that we are dependent on sources that historians find challenging.
For people of faith, the witness of the Gospels is more important than the historian’s Jesus or for that matter Dan Brown’s Jesus. Nevertheless, historical methods of constant interruptions can help us to see the basic reliability of the tradition about Jesus and to encounter Jesus emerging as the strong personality behind the Gospels and the traditions and truths contained in them.
We need interruptions. In fact, Interruptions are our real work. After all, Jesus interrupted the traditional system of his times. That is how Christianity came into being!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Interview with L. Ganesan, the Tamilnadu state unit president of the BJP.
Following Orissa there is a widespread violence against Christians in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The secularism of India is under question again and again. With religious freedom on one hand and the threats against conversion on the other, the Christian community is at crossroads as it is targeted for some sporadic conversions in some parts of the country. While there are political questions behind every heinous attack, even more serious issues irritate the BJP, RSS and VHP groups. L. Ganesan, the Tamilnadu state unit president of the BJP, opens his heart for the first time about the background of the anti-christian violence and issues that lead to constant friction and violence between Hindu and Christian religious groups in this Interview to the editor, Glorious Steve.
What is the background against which this continuous violence against Christians is set?
Swami Lakshmanananda, an 82 year venerable man had been working for the upliftment of the tribals and dalits in that region for many years. The Christian missionaries were trying to convert the hindus. But, there was no support from the hindu harijans. Similarly, many harijans who became Christians were constantly rubbing shoulders with the tribals. This constant friction was created by the Christian missionaries and particularly the priests. Swami Lakshmanananda opposed this. So the Christians missionaries were angry with him. Prior to the killing of Swami Lakshmananandna there were four attempts on his life. Every time the missionaries were behind the attempt.
Is in’t it true that there were news reports saying the Maoists were behind the murder and that they had accepted that they were responsible for the act?
That is a wrong presupposition. Generally, governments, government servants, and the police used to be the target of the Maoists. How can a swamiji who was serving the people become the enemy of the Maoist? So, Maoists have no part in the murder. In fact, a news was passed by the district collector to all the Christian run schools to safeguard themselves some hours before the incident took place. How can this happen? This is a planned murder. And Christian missionaries are behind the murder.
There is so much of anger against Christians because they have become like the multinational companies. They set target and work. How can you work for conversion with targets. It is to do with conscience.
What about Karnataka? It is BJP that is in power in Karnataka...
The reason is politics. It is planned to bring down the image of the ruling BJP. be hind these attacks there is Congress party. The police dogs have gone straight to the house of a member of the Congress party. This is to fool the Christian community to get their votes. Christians are being treated as fools.
Generally Hinduism practices tolerance. At the same time, many people miscalculate our tolerant behaviour. How long can we tolerate this? People say that in Orissa and Karnataka there is BJP rule that is why Christians are attacked. But in Kerala only the Communists are ruling. How is that Christians are attacked there? In fact, Communism propagates atheistic principles and is just opposite to Christianity which believes in God. Even there Christians are attacked for political reasons. Christians must make an effort to understand who is good and who is evil.
There are many denominations within Christianity? How is that most of the Catholics and catholic institutions are targeted when such attacks take place?
The one who indulges in violence will not differentiate between who is a Lutheran, CSI or a Catholic. All of them appear to be the same. During an emotional outburst he will not be looking for the differences. There is so much of anger against Christians because they have become like the multinational companies. They set target and work. How can you work for conversion with targets. It is to do with conscience. How can this be right? I am not blaming all the Christian institutions. I am referring to the many new churches and organisations emerging in the name of Christians. Such organisations are to be banned and this business in the name of religion has to be stopped.
Observing the recent violence all these, it looks as if the BJP run states seem to follow the style of Modi in Gujarath, thinking that taking a violent path will fetch them success politically. Is it true?
It is a wrong perception about Modi. Modi never indulged in such politics. People are happy about the rule of Modi. It is true that he controls every religion with an iron hand. He is very strict everyone. Many women happily say that they are able to walk even at night without any fear. You must understand fully what modi has done there. Media propagate a word called ‘Modithva.’ I say, modithva is not bad. We are proud about that and Modithva must spread.
Aspects of Christianity you like and aspects you dislike...
I like the unity that is evidently seen among Christians. Yours is an organised religion. You feel for each other. Otherwise how is it possible for you to close down schools condemning the attacks in Orissa? The second aspect I like is their service mindedness. This is nurtured in every Christian. Even women and nuns go with courage to serve the people even at night. I shed tears reading the news about a girl who wanted to serve Jesus as a nun but was denied the opportunity who eventually went on to commit suicide.
I dislike the sprouting of new organisations without proper motive. We condemn churches that attract people with money from abroad.
Do you differentiate between Islam fundamentalism and Christian fundamentalism?
There is no point in that. But, Christians are behind the separatist movements of the north eastern states. We condemn that. Conversions are going in a grand scale in the north east.
In the last 20 years Christian population has not even crossed 2%. How can you say there is a lot of conversion?
The problem is they begin to demand separate status after becoming a majority. Even if they have not grown in number ideologically they are united and fight against the rest. What is important for us is nationalism. The nation is more important for us than anything else. We cannot tolerate regionalism or separatism.
What is the background against which this continuous violence against Christians is set?
Swami Lakshmanananda, an 82 year venerable man had been working for the upliftment of the tribals and dalits in that region for many years. The Christian missionaries were trying to convert the hindus. But, there was no support from the hindu harijans. Similarly, many harijans who became Christians were constantly rubbing shoulders with the tribals. This constant friction was created by the Christian missionaries and particularly the priests. Swami Lakshmanananda opposed this. So the Christians missionaries were angry with him. Prior to the killing of Swami Lakshmananandna there were four attempts on his life. Every time the missionaries were behind the attempt.
Is in’t it true that there were news reports saying the Maoists were behind the murder and that they had accepted that they were responsible for the act?
That is a wrong presupposition. Generally, governments, government servants, and the police used to be the target of the Maoists. How can a swamiji who was serving the people become the enemy of the Maoist? So, Maoists have no part in the murder. In fact, a news was passed by the district collector to all the Christian run schools to safeguard themselves some hours before the incident took place. How can this happen? This is a planned murder. And Christian missionaries are behind the murder.
There is so much of anger against Christians because they have become like the multinational companies. They set target and work. How can you work for conversion with targets. It is to do with conscience.
What about Karnataka? It is BJP that is in power in Karnataka...
The reason is politics. It is planned to bring down the image of the ruling BJP. be hind these attacks there is Congress party. The police dogs have gone straight to the house of a member of the Congress party. This is to fool the Christian community to get their votes. Christians are being treated as fools.
Generally Hinduism practices tolerance. At the same time, many people miscalculate our tolerant behaviour. How long can we tolerate this? People say that in Orissa and Karnataka there is BJP rule that is why Christians are attacked. But in Kerala only the Communists are ruling. How is that Christians are attacked there? In fact, Communism propagates atheistic principles and is just opposite to Christianity which believes in God. Even there Christians are attacked for political reasons. Christians must make an effort to understand who is good and who is evil.
There are many denominations within Christianity? How is that most of the Catholics and catholic institutions are targeted when such attacks take place?
The one who indulges in violence will not differentiate between who is a Lutheran, CSI or a Catholic. All of them appear to be the same. During an emotional outburst he will not be looking for the differences. There is so much of anger against Christians because they have become like the multinational companies. They set target and work. How can you work for conversion with targets. It is to do with conscience. How can this be right? I am not blaming all the Christian institutions. I am referring to the many new churches and organisations emerging in the name of Christians. Such organisations are to be banned and this business in the name of religion has to be stopped.
Observing the recent violence all these, it looks as if the BJP run states seem to follow the style of Modi in Gujarath, thinking that taking a violent path will fetch them success politically. Is it true?
It is a wrong perception about Modi. Modi never indulged in such politics. People are happy about the rule of Modi. It is true that he controls every religion with an iron hand. He is very strict everyone. Many women happily say that they are able to walk even at night without any fear. You must understand fully what modi has done there. Media propagate a word called ‘Modithva.’ I say, modithva is not bad. We are proud about that and Modithva must spread.
Aspects of Christianity you like and aspects you dislike...
I like the unity that is evidently seen among Christians. Yours is an organised religion. You feel for each other. Otherwise how is it possible for you to close down schools condemning the attacks in Orissa? The second aspect I like is their service mindedness. This is nurtured in every Christian. Even women and nuns go with courage to serve the people even at night. I shed tears reading the news about a girl who wanted to serve Jesus as a nun but was denied the opportunity who eventually went on to commit suicide.
I dislike the sprouting of new organisations without proper motive. We condemn churches that attract people with money from abroad.
Do you differentiate between Islam fundamentalism and Christian fundamentalism?
There is no point in that. But, Christians are behind the separatist movements of the north eastern states. We condemn that. Conversions are going in a grand scale in the north east.
In the last 20 years Christian population has not even crossed 2%. How can you say there is a lot of conversion?
The problem is they begin to demand separate status after becoming a majority. Even if they have not grown in number ideologically they are united and fight against the rest. What is important for us is nationalism. The nation is more important for us than anything else. We cannot tolerate regionalism or separatism.
My Editorial
And then...they came for the christians...
While the whole nation was just trying to recover from the economic crisis, a fresh political storm has set in in the name of religion. It looks as if the words ‘religion’, ‘God,’ ‘Swami,’ and ‘priest,’ can easily set fire to the whole nation more than any other fire accidents. While the former sets fire and rifts people apart the latter only destroys the property and not so much the people with flesh and blood; people with heart and soul and conscience.
The great nation that claimed that it was tolerant for centuries towards any religion, kings and empires, proves now that such tolerance and goodness are over with the bygone ages. This seems to be a new era. Intolerance is the order of the day. Anything can kindle fire to appease the political thirst of the parties particularly the BJP, RSS and VHP that use religion for political gain.
The recent attacks on Christians and churches come as a retaliation for the killing of swami Lakshmanananda and outside Orissa and practically in many parts of India as a retaliation for conversions to Christianity. No BJP leader has as yet condemned or even regretted the attacks on churches.
In an article, ‘It’s time to act, Mr Advani,’ written by Raghu Krishnan that appeared in THE ECONOMIC TIMES on 21 September, 2008 commented like this: “Those of us Hindus who studied in convent schools and continue to be Hindus will know how irrational the argument is that the recent attacks on churches in Orissa and Karnataka was a response to an attempt at forcibly converting members of the majority community. Even if the Bajrang Dal activists claim they were upset by what they perceived as forcible conversion, the logical response should have been to bring this to the notice of the state governments.”
He continues, “If its governments in Karnataka and MP cannot even prevent attacks on churches while investigating complaints of forcible conversion, then how can the party keep claiming that a BJP-led national government will protect the entire country from serial blasts by diabolical terrorists!”
And if there are recent reports that some Christian missionary somewhere is involved in an attempt at forcible conversion, it should not take too long for an experienced national leader like Mr Advani to have things sorted out through administrative measures, especially in BJP-ruled states.
Just nine years and two months ago, when the BJP-led NDA ruled the nation, its leaders inspired young soldiers of all faiths to fight and die for the country while evicting armed cross-border intruders from the frozen heights of Kargil.
Surely, some 110 months later, it should not be too difficult for a national leader like Mr Advani to ensure that the unity and integrity of the country is not harmed by unruly activists who think that vandalising a church or any other place of religious worship in a BJP-ruled state is what 21st century India is all about!
While the BJP, RSS and VHP groups have lost the control of their senses, there is still another question that deeply arises: What is quietly happening to the Christian community that is known for its unity?
Not many years ago Muslims were attacked. Mosques were demolished and Christians kept quiet about it. They thought that Christians will never be attacked. We wake up to see the Christian Community under attack in many parts of India.
This immediately reminded me of the poem “First they came…” which is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group:
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
Times have ripened for attacks on Christians. We have been studying about the various attacks in history on Communists, Muslims, and Jews. This time they came for the Christians… Unfortunately, to their astonishment, they found them divided. Our divisions based on language, caste, creed and greed are killing the Christians more than any external force. The pity is that we are not united when they came for the Christians.
Glorious Steve
While the whole nation was just trying to recover from the economic crisis, a fresh political storm has set in in the name of religion. It looks as if the words ‘religion’, ‘God,’ ‘Swami,’ and ‘priest,’ can easily set fire to the whole nation more than any other fire accidents. While the former sets fire and rifts people apart the latter only destroys the property and not so much the people with flesh and blood; people with heart and soul and conscience.
The great nation that claimed that it was tolerant for centuries towards any religion, kings and empires, proves now that such tolerance and goodness are over with the bygone ages. This seems to be a new era. Intolerance is the order of the day. Anything can kindle fire to appease the political thirst of the parties particularly the BJP, RSS and VHP that use religion for political gain.
The recent attacks on Christians and churches come as a retaliation for the killing of swami Lakshmanananda and outside Orissa and practically in many parts of India as a retaliation for conversions to Christianity. No BJP leader has as yet condemned or even regretted the attacks on churches.
In an article, ‘It’s time to act, Mr Advani,’ written by Raghu Krishnan that appeared in THE ECONOMIC TIMES on 21 September, 2008 commented like this: “Those of us Hindus who studied in convent schools and continue to be Hindus will know how irrational the argument is that the recent attacks on churches in Orissa and Karnataka was a response to an attempt at forcibly converting members of the majority community. Even if the Bajrang Dal activists claim they were upset by what they perceived as forcible conversion, the logical response should have been to bring this to the notice of the state governments.”
He continues, “If its governments in Karnataka and MP cannot even prevent attacks on churches while investigating complaints of forcible conversion, then how can the party keep claiming that a BJP-led national government will protect the entire country from serial blasts by diabolical terrorists!”
And if there are recent reports that some Christian missionary somewhere is involved in an attempt at forcible conversion, it should not take too long for an experienced national leader like Mr Advani to have things sorted out through administrative measures, especially in BJP-ruled states.
Just nine years and two months ago, when the BJP-led NDA ruled the nation, its leaders inspired young soldiers of all faiths to fight and die for the country while evicting armed cross-border intruders from the frozen heights of Kargil.
Surely, some 110 months later, it should not be too difficult for a national leader like Mr Advani to ensure that the unity and integrity of the country is not harmed by unruly activists who think that vandalising a church or any other place of religious worship in a BJP-ruled state is what 21st century India is all about!
While the BJP, RSS and VHP groups have lost the control of their senses, there is still another question that deeply arises: What is quietly happening to the Christian community that is known for its unity?
Not many years ago Muslims were attacked. Mosques were demolished and Christians kept quiet about it. They thought that Christians will never be attacked. We wake up to see the Christian Community under attack in many parts of India.
This immediately reminded me of the poem “First they came…” which is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group:
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
Times have ripened for attacks on Christians. We have been studying about the various attacks in history on Communists, Muslims, and Jews. This time they came for the Christians… Unfortunately, to their astonishment, they found them divided. Our divisions based on language, caste, creed and greed are killing the Christians more than any external force. The pity is that we are not united when they came for the Christians.
Glorious Steve
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