Vol. 74 No 12
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THE RADICAL HUMANIST (Since April 1949)
MARCH 2011 Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)
Founder Editor: M.N. Roy Paul Kurtz’ Philosophy of Humanism — Floris van den Berg A Travesty Of Election Law — S.N. Shukla Macro Design with Denmark — Uday Dandavate Better Planning & Management of Cities Needed — J.S. Chandra Rao Kashmir Policy of BJP in Various Avtars; Popular Upsurge in Arab World — Balraj Puri Unnecessary Wrangling — Rajindar Sachar
Remembering Kanhaiyalal Purohit — B.D. Sharma Editorial Comment: Contemporary Youth—Our Guide for Future! — Rekha Saraswat
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The Radical Humanist Vol. 74 Number 12 March 2011 Monthly journal of the Indian Renaissance Institute Devoted to the development of the Renaissance Movement; and for promotion of human rights, scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist view of life. Founder Editor: M.N. Roy Editor: Dr. Rekha Saraswat Contributory Editors: Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Justice R.A. Jahagirdar (Retd.), Dr. R.M. Pal, Professor Rama Kundu Publisher: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Printer: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph. 91-121-2620690, 09719333011, E-mail articles at: rheditor@gmail.com Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of ‘The Radical Humanist’to: Mr. Narottam Vyas (Advocate), Chamber Number 111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, 110001, India n.vyas@snr.net.in Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600
Please Note: Authors will bear sole accountability for corroborating the facts that they give in their write-ups. Neither IRI / the Publisher nor the Editor of this journal will be responsible for testing the validity and authenticity of statements & information cited by the authors. Also, sometimes some articles published in this journal may carry opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; but they would be entertained here if the need is felt to debate and discuss upon them. Rekha Saraswat
MARCH 2011 Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com
- Contents 1. From the Editor’s Desk:
Contemporary Youth—Our Guide for Future! —Rekha Saraswat 1 2. Contributory Editors’ Section: Suno Bhai Sadho, Kahe Kabir, Suno Bhai Sadho” 2 —R.A. Jahagirdar 3. From the Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi: Spiritual Materialism: A case for Atheism 4 4. Guests’ Section: Macro Design with Denmark —Uday Dandavate 7 A Travesty Of Election Law —S.N. Shukla 10 Better Planning and Management of Cities Needed — J.S. Chandra Rao 14 5. Current Affairs: Unnecessary Wrangling —Rajindar Sachar 16 Kashmir Policy of BJP in Various Avtars & Popular Upsurge in Arab World —Balraj Puri 18 6. Teachers’ & Research Scholars’ Section: Financial Exclusion: Concept, Nature and Extent —Mahendra Mishra 22 7. Book Review Section: Making of History:Making of Harsha Vardhana —Dipavali Sen 26 Paul Kurtz’ Philosophy of Humanism —Floris van den Berg 28 An Essay on Upanishads (A Critical Study) —Kavneet Singh 33 8. Remembering Kanhaiyalal Purohit —B.D. Sharma 36
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Did we come across an iota of the kind of complexities they are encountering? I suggest, for once, we need to make the youth our guide in the world reformation I had written in my last editorial that “we programme!! We do not have much to lose. need to help our youth to re-define his own self so that he is able to re-define the Rekha Saraswat But who knows what we may gain, in the process!! Let them form our moral code! society, the state and the world around Let them decide about the good and bad of life! him.” I had also reposed faith in his capacity to change the history of this world. And I had Let them do the balancing act between the past and proposed to discuss as to how to go about making the present; between the backward and the forward; good use of youth synergy, in this month’s between the educated and the illiterate; between the rich and the poor; between the modern and the editorial. The first, the foremost effort that we need to make traditional. is to bring about a change in our own mind-set. We, Let us for once leave them to themselves to decide particularly those from the developing world, live about their own future, their society’s future and in a ‘prismatic society’ (in Fred Riggs’ terms) their country’s future. where, with the passing of time, we begin to claim Let us stop setting principles for their acts and that our added years in age have made us seers and begin to have faith upon their ethical sense. sages and that the youth miss this experience of life. Once we give them a free hand, at least, the But we forget that the present time has changed the immediate benefit that I find is that the modern entire scenario of this world so drastically that our youth will straight away stop differentiating knowledge of past years carries little or no meaning amongst each other on the basis of class and caste, to their contemporary problems. sex and region, community and religion. I have We may try to belittle them by calling them never seen them practicing any kind of self-centered, materialistic and selfishly following discrimination when they are together in schools their own, narrow dreams but the stark reality is just and colleges, in parties and get-togethers, on face-books and twitters, as long as their elders do the reverse. Population influx, mass exodus from native places not interfere and inflict their ‘honour games’ and to unknown lands both within and without their ‘traditional-blames’ upon them. own national boundaries more in search of basic Let them remake their world to their own liking and amenities than for greener pastures, facing abject let us, for once, try to taste its flavour passively. alienation in the urban rural hiatus, watching the After all, their philosophers would be more gradual shattering of all pre-set notions and scientific and techno-savvy, who will view this pre-learnt norms both in values and in culture while world with a more pragmatic and technical eye!! fighting with scathing poverty and unemployment, They will have no choice but to make this ‘world finding stiff competition in every opportunity that their village’ by the use of the internet. seems to come their way, defining survival-tactics ‘Nation-states’ and national-boundaries would on a daily basis!! naturally wither away amalgamating into one All this, and yet not despairing; still going on; nation out of interdependence and ‘wars’ becoming simultaneously, continuously trying to find small things of the past, in the process! Who knows their moments of pleasure and relief in their fast running, Platos and Aristotles may envisage such newer slipping-by jinxed reality of existence! And we try visions and forms of states and nations where true democracy and justice may prevail ultimately!! to teach them the values of life!!
From the Editor’s Desk: Contemporary Youth—Our Guide for Future!
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Contributory Editor’s Column:
R.A. Jahagirdar
[Justice R.A. Jahagirdar (Retd.), former President of Indian Radical Humanist Association and former Editor of ‘The Radical Humanist’ is now one of the members of the Contributing Editorial Board of The Radical Humanist.]
“Suno Bhai Sadho, Kahe Kabir, Suno Bhai Sadho” words have immortalized Kabir, a These saint of 14 Century. He is not, was not, th
called “Sant” or “Sadhu” during or after his life. That is partly because he did not speak of God which would have attracted people around him. In his poems, called “dohas” he calls himself “Bhante”. He did not establish any sect. Kabir was born approximately in 1440 in Kashi, as it was then known. There are many stories of his birth. Commonly it was said that a weaver couple found him near a lake. The couple, Niru and Nima, belonged to caste known as Julaha. Though it was known as a caste, it was a sect of Musalmans. So Kabir grew up as a Musalman. As a result, neither Musalmans of that time nor Hindus accepted him. Julaha community was poor. In that community, in poverty, Kabir grew up as a weaver. Julaha community was weaver community. Normally that community was a poor community. Kabir wanted to know more about life and death.
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He was in search of a Guru. He went to Ramananda of Vaishnav sect, but Ramananda refused to accept him, maybe because Kabir was Julaha. But Kabir had great “Bhakti” in Ramananda as a guru in his mind. The story goes that Kabir lay on the step leading to a ghat. Ramananda while returning from the ghat accidentally stepped upon Kabir and said “Ram, Ram”. Kabir accepted this as Ramananda’s way of accepting a disciple. He also accepted Sufi Saint Shekhat as a guru, a fact which shows that Kabir was not a sectarian. He was growing up in poverty. He also saw the people around him. He saw the exploitation of those whom we call Dalits today. He was continuously thinking about this as also other problems. Kabir was, however, familiar about the current philosophy, sects, and rituals. He also knew about the Saints of those philosophy and sects. He was aware of the hardships of the people who blindly believed in those saints and Sadhus. People were slaves of rituals and traditions. He examined Hindu, Muslim, Vaishnav, etc. philosophies and found them devoid of true guidance. He said in one of the earliest dohas: “If they call me Hindu, I am not, Nor am a Musalman. I am a statue of a metal of this world.” To say this one required a lot of courage in those days. No one till that time had said such a thing. Nobody had opposed religion. Kabir rejected both the major religions. In another Doha he says “Only Allah is eternal. I am neither Hindu nor Turk. I do not observe any rites. I neither do any Puja nor do I say Namaz.” It was very courageous to say all this. He did not subscribe to any religion. He said that they call him a Hindu or Musalman and they fight among themselves. He did not say “Namaz” nor did he perform any Puja. For him these were only rituals. God did not dwell in them. Devotion could not be
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measured by them.
He did not believe in “Tirth Kshetra” because, according to him, they only contained water, not God. Does water lead one to God? Then, said Kabir, fish must go to heaven. On idol worship he said, idols are only stones. On the other hand, grinding stone is better because it helps to provide flour. God, ultimately, dwelt in hearts of men, neither in temples, masjids, and sanyas nor in any ritual. It must be remembered that Kabir was not an atheist. He believed in knowledge which would liberate. That is, knowledge would lead to liberation. With this he tried to educate and enlighten the downtrodden. Sultan Sikandar disapproved whatever Kabir said. He tried to silence Kabir, but did not succeed. Kabir never talked of compromise. He was clear-headed in his mind and he talked what he believed. There are many legends about Kabir. Suffice to say Kabir himself did not codify his teachings. He was
fond of oral teaching in the form of small poems which were called “bijaks”. The language of “bijaks” was Hindi which was the language of that region. Did Kabir himself write? The answer is doubtful. A disciple named Bhagwandas is supposed to have reduced to writing what Kabir preached. Kabir passed away in 1511. Both Hindus and Muslims claimed his body. When the cloth covering his body was removed, so the story goes, it was found to contain a bundle of flower. Hindus took away half and Muslims took away the other half. Till today nobody knows whether Kabir was buried or cremated. Kabir himself did not found any sect; but there are Kabir Panths. Ambedkar’s Panther was a Kabir Panth, though Ambedkar was not. Kabir’s one Doha says: “O servant, where dost thou seek me? Lo! I am beside thee. I am neither in temple nor in Kaaba.”
Dear Friends, PLEASE DO NOT SEND ARTICLES BEYOND 1500-2000 WORDS. Also, inform me whether they have been published elsewhere. And, please try to email them at rheditor@gmail.com instead of sending them by post. You may post them (only if email is not possible) at C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India. Do also email your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) as well as your small introduction, if you are contributing for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry. —Rekha Saraswat The Radical Humanist—Rates Of Advertisement/InsertionJournal Size:18cm x 24cm-Print Area:15cm x 20cm Ordinary Second Back Cover Rs. 2,500 Last Cover
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THE RADICAL HUMANIST
From The Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi:
Spiritual Materialism – A case for Atheism Translated by — Arundhati Khandkar [The book Spiritual Materialism – A case for Atheism, A New Interpretation of the Philosophy of Materialism written by Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi has been translated by his daughter, Arundhati Khandkar, who was formerly Professor of Philosophy at S.I.E.S. College, University of Mumbai, India. He passed away many decades ago but his contribution in building up the philosophical base of Radical Humanism has been no less. Roy acknowledged it in his life time and the followers of the philosophy continue to do so. I had requested Ms. Khandkar to translate her father’s major works from to Marathi to English for the benefit of the contemporary readers of RH. And to our pleasant surprise she informed that there is already the above mentioned book in English done by her. It is being serialised in The Radical Humanist June 2010 onwards. She has also promised to send us in English, gradually, more of his Marathi literature. Laxmanshastri wrote this essay with the title Materialism or Atheism in 1941. How meaningful and necessary it is, even now, 70 years later, can be understood by the following paragraph given on the cover page of the book. —Rekha Saraswat] “That religion more often than not tends to perpetuate the existing social structure rather than being reformist and that it benefits the upper classes. They perpetrate the illusions and are used for impressing the weaker sections of the society. Many taboos which might have had some beneficial effects are given a permanent sanction and these put a fetter on further progress. The argument that religion promotes social stability and social harmony is examined and rejected. Without the dubious benefit of religion various secular worldly values have been developed and they have benefited mankind more than the vaunted religious
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values. With no sops of religion men have laboured hard and the finest admirable qualities of men’s spirit have been developed inspite of religious influence – the scientists and the reformers are examples. The humility that should force itself in the presence of the infinite and the unknown is more to be seen with the scientist, the philosopher than the religious leaders and often this drives them to fathom the depths of thought in the quest for truth. Rarely does religion explain the how and why. These have become the preoccupations of people in secular fields. With a sense of self-reliance and self-confidence guiding him, man has dropped the earlier props of religion. In India too, the social order was seen as embodying moral values.” Contd. from the previous issue............ Consistent concrete reality, direct experience, practice & ideology: Tangible object or concrete reality alone is the sphere of direct experience and human practice. Sensory knowledge or experience cannot come into existence in the absence of concrete or tangible objects. All human activities are practised with the view of tangible or concrete objects in mind. Experience originating from practice should be the foundation of all the ideologies. Practice involves tenacious efforts by human beings. Philosophical theory consistent with the trident of concrete reality, direct experience and practice is a powerful weapon for the conduct of human life. The ideology that treats concrete reality as secondary and dissociates human practice from epistemology creates truly a hazard for human progress. Epistemology that disregards concrete reality and human efforts is a great risk for human progress. 17 The philosophy in which an unbroken chain of concrete reality, practice and direct experience is formed is the philosophy that becomes the true instrument of human progress. Practice: Test of Theory - Human efforts and the resulting experience do the work of cementing the relationship between an idea and an object. It
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proves thereby in direct practice the appropriateness of any ideology. Logical consistency alone or even mental satisfaction given by some theory is not sufficient to establish its validity. On the contrary it is necessary that the theory must prove itself in practice. It must succeed in practice and if it does fail therein, it should be taken to be contaminated by wrong ideas and prejudice for sure. Practice is the foundation and the test of a theory. Objection to Practice as the Test of Theory - The principle that the source and the test of any theory is direct experiment or experience raises a substantial objection. There are many sciences which have no direct relation with human activities and direct experience. How can one test the science of astronomy which deals with the nature of stars and the interstellar distances, which are removed from the human world and direct experience? How does human business connect with the situation on the moon or Mars? Again there is no direct relation with human activities in respect of many abstruse concepts in mathematics. The events described by archaeology and which happened within the core of the earth, millions of years ago, cannot be the subject of direct experiment. If that is the case, we will have to say that many theories of the above sciences are useless. This objection can be overruled as follows. First, the theories that do not possess direct experimental or experiential connection do acquire inferior or secondary status. Second, those ideas which have no direct connection with experience are in fact constructed using the track of the traditional experimental or experiential theory. These ideas do possess indirect relation with the direct. There cannot exist a theory that has no traceable relationship with the direct experience, no matter how subtle or how removed from direct experiment it may be! Direct experiment is the supreme knowledge in all philosophy, because it is the mediatory authority between the general theory and the reality. Navigation and Experience - Experience is the outcome or the conclusion of a social practice. 5
Most of the secrets of nature reveal their true character through the help of continuous and long experience. Knowledge of the periodic winds and sea currents has become available to man as a result of the thousands of years of practice of oceanic navigation. Knowledge of the objects which existed in the past for unaccountable years becomes available only through relentless efforts of thousands of years. Phoenicians, Greeks, and Alexandrians spent hundreds of years in navigation by sea. They, however, did not acquire good enough knowledge of the periodic winds and oceanic currents. That knowledge reached maturity only due to the improvement and expansion of the global navigational experience of the commercial capitalists in the 15th and 16th Centuries. The growth of this knowledge is the result of the maritime experiences of the past ages. Behind the treasure of knowledge in every epoch lies the sum and substance of past historical practices. New Science of Materials - Materialism assigns the foremost position in the theory of knowledge to the experience originating in practice or experiment. There is therefore no place whatsoever in it for unknowable, the Kantian Thing in Itself. Kant has presumed the mysterious reality, inaccessible to the senses and beyond mental reach. When man creates things with efforts by his intellect, he establishes manifestly that the Thing in Itself is neither mysterious, nor forever beyond his mental reach. Industrial production is the true evidence for the knowability of a thing. Man produces not only the exact copy of an object which exists already in nature, but reformulates it into various different novel configurations. He essentially achieves material transformation. Organic compounds were essentially unknown in the first half of the 19th Century. Nowadays, these, independent of the bodily organ processes, they can be reproduced. During the developmental stages of a society, study of the prior unknown nature of a material and its growth sequence becomes the subject matter of experimental knowledge. The branches of science such as thermodynamics, chemistry and electricity
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are nothing but the newly formulated laws of matter making their debut on the modern evolutionary stage of society. Question of Objective Truth and the Agnostics The question in metaphysics of the accessibility of the objective truth to the human mind or thought does not really belong to the realm of either pure speculation or theoretical debate. What is expressed Tatvasangraha aphorism is the meaningful pursuit of object related activities regarding the nature of the objective truth and its relationship with practicality. 15 In philosophical tradition, this question is presented as fundamental! Even a great many philosophers fail to realise that this question has direct relation to human activities or practice. Hunters, fishermen, mine explorers, criminal detectives, professionals, and businessmen are engaged in the search of finding undiscovered objects. In their efforts, they get answers to their questions; they discover the things hidden before. The nature of existence of a thing, involves its potential of being explicitly real during the process of discovery. It is the fruitfulness or the successful activity that is the test of truth. Ether an aluminiferous gas of unbelievable properties was hypothesized by the mid-nineteenth century physicists. Ether was a gas invisible to human eye but of rigidity greater than that of steel. It also possessed two functions: 1) Acting as a medium of transfer for transverse waves of light. 2) Serving as a reference point to measure motion. In 1887 Michelson- Morley experiment disproved the existence of ether. Einstein’s special theory of relativity in 1905 showed that determining absolute motion was useless and search for ether unnecessary. Ether had the potential of being real during discovery effort and had a functional purpose. Nature of ether was found to be eventually fictitious. Ether, the thing had no objective truth! Philosophers who only spin ideas and discuss abstract concepts will never be able to solve the real
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issue, because they have not understood the direct relation of this issue to practice. Agnosticism of Hume and Kant is very close to speculative abstruse ideas. The successful effort is the only most important test of the world accessible to our thought. Our knowledge itself finds its expression in the form of objective reality through experiment. We embrace directly the very object itself through our productive efforts. Materialism asserts that when human efforts establish a close contact with the external world, and gradually change its nature also, and then it is proven that the truth is found and hugged. Only thereafter, objective truth, removing its own veil of mystery, is reflected in the pool of human knowledge. Truth of Mathematicians - Descartes has stated the criterion of truth. Truth is, according to him, the clear and definite nature of all our thoughts and ideas. Kant has enunciated that the ‘universal’ and ‘necessary’ as the characteristics of knowledge depict the nature of truth. It was proclaimed in the twentieth century tradition of mathematical logic, that a series of theorems logically consistent and broad, alone is the test of truth. The prominent proponents of this theory were the mathematician philosophers such as Russell, Cantor and Hilbert. All these philosophers searched truth only in the intellectual matrix of concepts outside the context of the external universe. Such a formalisation, however, could not succeed for the following reasons. 1) There exist many types of logic. 2) Goedel showed conclusively the limits of such a formalisation. 3) Epistemology explains knowledge within the sphere of science as is and this knowledge is not purely formal. Bertrand Russell finally had to abandon his approach of mathematical formalisation to truth after the publication of Goedel’s ‘Incompleteness Theorem’ in the field of mathematics in 1931. References: 15- Ludwig Feuerbach pp. 32-33 17- Columbia University Press, New York Contd. in the next issue...
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Guests’ Section: From the U.S.A.
Uday Dandavate [Uday Dandavate studies people, cultures and
trends worldwide and uses the understanding gained from such studies to inspire people-centered innovation strategies. Uday Dandavate heads up a design research consulting firm called SonicRim. He frequently writes and speaks on topics related to people-centered design and innovation in international journals and conferences.]
Macro Design with Denmark is going to establish an Denmark “Innovation center” in Asia to facilitate closer cooperation between Asia and Denmark for strategic innovation and design. Recently I had the opportunity to meet with a senior consultant from the Danish Chamber of Commerce, who is also a lobbyist for the Innovation center. We brainstormed about what might be a shared platform for strategic collaboration between Asia and Denmark. This conversation, combined with my recent involvement with various projects in Denmark, has helped me gain a fresh perspective on Denmark’s unique potential as a partner country in the global arena. Danish Design is known worldwide for simple, functional furniture. The effects of the industrial revolution reached Denmark relatively late. Denmark was able to develop its own design language that is, even today, inspired by high-quality craftsmanship. Arne Jacobsen, a well-known furniture designer, created the iconic Ant Chair in 1951. Another iconic representation of Danish design is the Sydney 7
Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. LEGO is another example of Denmark’s lasting imprint on the world. Often I cite examples of LEGO to illustrate the point that a design process is complete only when it takes on its own form in the imagination of the end-user. Good design, I believe, is one that provides users the flexibility to perceive it, use it, change it, and experience it on their own terms, rather than one that imposes how the designer wants the users to experience it. Generic LEGO blocks offer that flexibility. LEGO blocks morph into a variety of forms and scenarios within the imagination of millions of children and adults around the world. Bang & Olufsen is another example of Danish simplicity raised to a level of high design. Danish design reflects Danish values, social relationships, and the psychology of an average Dane. One cannot understand the value of innovation and design in Denmark without understanding Danish people and their culture. The 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index, which produces rankings of countries based upon factors that will help drive economic growth and produce happy citizens over the long term, has ranked Denmark second globally. Relatively, the United States, a global super power, ranks 10th on the Prosperity Index. Ireland and Iceland come in at 11th and 12th respectively, even before the United Kingdom’s position at number 13.Understanding how Danes manage their happiness and sense of well-being can help struggling countries bring prosperity to their citizens using economic tools and measurements. Danes have a deep and active involvement in political decisions, and a very responsible social and civil attitude. At 90 percent, Denmark’s voting rate is highest in the world. They subscribe to the ideal of the welfare state, which follows the principle that each member of society has equal rights and access to social support and social benefits. According to Limbistraine.com: “Danish cultural features and values are connected in a network built on relations of interdependence. The consequence of living in a society where material
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and psychological benefits are accessible and tangible is the feeling of safety and comfort. The Danish way of thinking is: It is more sensible to have a secure life than to take big risks.” “Together, with the sense of sharing and the sense of community, the feeling of security supports the ideal of the welfare state. An explanation for this respect for equality would be the sense of moral obligation: “they (Danes) share with others, if not gladly, then from a sense of moral obligation.” “The Danes detest authority. There is no bowing and scraping to anyone in Denmark. The keywords for such a system are closeness, informality, friendship, and trust. A high priority given to the development of social behavior, which is also reflected in the three fundamental constituents of Danish school” the non-authoritarian method, co-determination, and equality” has at best resulted in the allocation of equal status to the general formative aspects of education in relation to the attainment of qualifications.” (Limbistraine.com) Hygge, a Danish term that means warmth of successful informality, is considered a foundation of the Danish lifestyle, play, and freedom – essential parts of daily routines. This progressive mindset can be seen from the fact that same-sex marriage was legalized in Denmark in 1989. My belief – that we need to embrace new mindsets and new tools beyond economic measures of progress to bring quality of life and a sense of well being to our people – stems from observing small and content communities, such as the Danes. I often give examples of Scandinavian countries’ social and economic policies during arguments with conservative leanings among my friends. They often remind me that Scandinavian success – managing economic progress while ensuring social justice – is not scalable to a large country like the United States. That is when I argue that America’s focus on super-sizing everything, from French fries to its super-power status, gets in the way of using its resources responsibly and in bringing happiness to its people. America is the richest country in the
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world, is a leader in technological innovation, and has the mightiest military force, yet it is behind Norway, Denmark, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands in its global prosperity ranking. America’s obsession with scale, speed, and efficiency gets in the way of achieving what relatively smaller communities, such as the Danes, have been able to afford their citizens. One of my favorite Norwegian anthropologists, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, wrote in his book, Tyranny of the Moment, Fast and Slow in the Information Age: We are unwittingly being slaved by the very technology that promised liberation. It is impossible to applaud the current drift towards a society where everything stands still at enormous speed. (Eriksen, 2001)There is a need to return to a pace of life that affords people sanity and balance. The public policies need to be reconsidered to ensure cultivation of resourceful communities. An example of an alternative approach could be found in India’s ongoing experiment with “Panchayati Raj” (a federation of village communities), which will ultimately help develop smaller, indigenous, and self-reliant communities. The Danish sense of moral obligation for interdependent living, and its success in cultivating and encouraging innate creative talent amongst its communities, can become an inspiration for Asian countries such as China and India. The goal of such collaboration should not be just productive outputs, but building of social capital. The progress of this collaboration should be measured in terms of the trust, reciprocity, and social networks it helps cultivate within these communities through the harnessing of indigenous creativity. Ultimately, such collaboration will help establish a convivial society which affords its citizens a life of “joyful sobriety and liberating austerity.” (Illich, 73) The opportunity for collaboration between Denmark and Asia can be best summarized in the words of Prof. M.P. Ranjan, an internationally recognized design thinker, design teacher, and blogger from India. Prof. Ranjan recommended a 8
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community-centered approach in his presentation, “Inclusive Design for Development in India” at the recent World Economic forum in Devos: “We may need to make some fundamental changes in our design education approaches and widen the base for action – a shift from a focus on business and industry to the design for public good that is operational at the local community level.” (Ranjan, 2011) Denmark’s opportunity to have long-lasting partnerships in Asia will depend on its ability to
establish community-centric learning networks that benefit from alignment of values and cultures. I believe there is a natural resonance between the values Danes cherish and the lifestyles and mindsets of Asian people. While Asian countries can share their rich cultural resources with Denmark, Danes can share their experience of translating the cultural mindset into contemporary design.
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New Delhi Monthly N.D. Pancholi Indian 1183-Chhatta Madan Gopal Mali Wara, Delhi, 110006 N.D. Pancholi Indian 1183-Chhatta Madan Gopal Mali Wara, Delhi, 110006 Rekha Saraswat (Controls the selection of the matter published in the journal (as per the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1857) Indian C-8-Defence Colony Meerut 250001, U.P.
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S.N. Shukla [Mr. S.N. Shukla belonged to 1967 batch of IAS and retired as Chairman State Vigilance Commission, U.P., after serving as Industrial Development Commissioner and Administrative Member Board of Revenue. Topper of the 1964 L.L.B. Exam of undivided Agra University, he has taken to legal profession after his retirement from service in February 2003 basically to take up public issues and to procure justice for the poor. As ‘General Secretary of ‘Lok Prahri’, he has been conducting several PILs in Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court and also in the Supreme Court.]
A Travesty Of Election Law (6) and (7) of Section 86 of Subthe sections Representation of the People Act 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) provide as follows“(6) The trial of an election petition shall, so far as is practicable consistently with the interests of justice in respect of the trial, be continued from day to day until is conclusion, unless the High Court finds the adjournment to the trial beyond the following day to be necessary for reasons to be recorded. (7) Every election petition shall be tried as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made to conclude the trial within six months from the date on which the election petition is presented
to the High Court for trial.” Clause (c) of Section 98 of the Act provides that at the conclusion of the trial of an election petition the High Court can make an order declaring the election of all or any of the returned candidates to be void and the petitioner or any other candidate to have been duly elected. Sub Section (1) of Section 116-A of the Act runs as follows“116-A (1) Not withstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court on any question (whether of law or fact) from every order made by a High Court under Section 98 or Section 99” In the case of Green View Tea & Industries vs. Collector Golaghat1 it was observed that no Court, not even the Supreme Court, has the power to pass an order against a valid statutory provision. The present case is a glaring example of the aforesaid provisions of law being violated in utter disregard of the law laid down on the subject by the Apex Court. As brought out hereinafter, the election petition was not heard on day to day basis despite repeated oral and written requests. It was dismissed on 22.1.2010 after more than 5 years on the preliminary issues about its maintainability without even mentioning in the judgment the 33 issues framed in March 2006. To cap it all the statutory appeal under Section 116-A was also dismissed in limine like a SLP by a one line order without even mentioning any reason as to why it could not be entertained. An election petition (4 of 2004) was filed on 13.7.2004 on behalf of Madan Mohan, a Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha election in June 2004 from U.P. State Assembly constituency, challenging the farcical unopposed election of Sharva Shri Arun Shourie, Kamaal Akhtar, Nand Kishore, Smt. Jaya Bachchan, Bhagwati Singh, Ms. Mayawati, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ram Narain Sahu, Satish Chandra Mishra, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, and Lalit Suri. The challenge was mainly on the ground, inter alia, that the nomination papers
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of both the Congress candidates (the petitioner and respondent no 12) were wrongly rejected and those of respondents no. 2, 4, 5 and 10 were wrongly accepted. In the said election petition the petitioner had also made a prayer for being declared elected in terms of Section 98(C) of the Act. The respondent no. 12 also filed another election petition (No. 8 of 2004) challenging the said election. The said Election Petition, along with the office report about compliance of Section 81, 82, 83 and 117 of the Act, mandated under Rule 3 of Chapter XV –A of the High Court Rules, was laid before the nominated judge on 27.7.2004. The said office report did not point out any non-compliance of the aforesaid provisions. Originally the court copy of the election petition and its copies for the respondents had page numbering only up to page 36. This will be amply borne out by the extra copy of the election petition filed along with it in compliance of Rules 11 (e) of order 7 of the CPC. However, while hearing the election petition the Hon’ble nominated Judge, for the sake of his convenience in referring to documents filed with the election petition, asked the petitioner’s counsel to do page numbering on the documents also and indicate the same in the list of documents. The matter was passed over for 15 minutes during which the direction of the Hon’ble Judge was complied with. Upon being prima facie satisfied that the election petition was not liable to be dismissed under Section 86(1), the Hon’ble nominated judge was pleased to order issue of notice to the respondents under Rule 5 of Chapter XV-A of the High Court Rules. Before the issuance of notices the election petition was allowed to be amended to the effect that the nomination paper of respondent no. 11 (Shri Lalit Suri) was also illegally accepted as his affidavit in Form 26 was no affidavit at all as it had not been sworn since it did not say that he was making the statement on oath or even solemn affirmation. Accordingly, this amendment was incorporated in
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the respondents’ copies with the Registry before the issue of notices to them. Sensing that the petitioner had a foolproof case in view of the glaring substantial defect in the nomination paper of respondent no. 11, 8 out of the 11 respondents filed several applications to somehow get the election petition dismissed at the threshold on the basis of frivolous, contrived, and farfetched objections about its maintainability. Replies to all these were filed promptly by the petitioner. The petitioner moved an application dated 9.2.2005 for disposal of various applications including against the maintainability of the election petition and also his application for summoning of record to establish that the resignation of the respondent no. 4 from the Office of Chairperson UP Film Development Council was antedated after petitioner’s objection to her nomination. In pursuance of the order dated 15.7.2005 the records relating to the resignation of the respondent no. 4 were sealed by the Registrar of the High Court. Since the pleas in the various applications of the respondents of the election petition were already included in their written statements, instead of taking up each of the numerous applications separately, the nominated Judge proceeded to frame the issues. Draft issues were framed on 2.12.2005 but finalized on 21.3.2006. In March 2006 Mrs. Jaya Bachchan (respondent no. 4), who was re-appointed as Chairperson of UP Film Development Council after her impugned election, was disqualified by the President under Article 102 of the Constitution on the compliant of the appellant. Following this Shri Anil Ambani (respondent No. 10) also resigned from the membership of Rajya Sabha. The WP No. (C) 199 of 2006 filed by Mrs. Bachchan against her disqualification was dismissed by the Apex Court on 8.5.2006. I. Non- Compliance of Section 86(6) (7) With the dismissal of the said WP the petitioner had already won half the battle. Now he had only to
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show that the resignation of Mrs. Bachchan from the same post prior to her election was ante-dated after the petitioner’s objection to her candidature on the same ground. This would have been evident from the record sealed under orders of the nominated Judge, once the election petition was heard on merits. Soon after framing of the issues, the petitioner moved an application dated 2.4.2006 for summoning of witnesses. In the said application a request was made for summoning Dr. Ashok Nigam, Sr. Advocate (who had conducted petitioner’s matter before the Returning Officer) to dispose about the markings on the photocopy of the certified copy of the petitioner’s affidavit in Form 26 and Shri P.K. Tripathi Advocate to depose about the paging in the court copy of the election petition. Rattled by the decision of the Apex Court in the case of disqualification of Ms. Bachchan, the respondents made an all out effort to stall the trial of election petition. As a result, there was no progress in the matter. Even after the framing of the issues the election petition was not taken up for hearing and there were long gaps of even more than 2 months in the listing of the same. On the expedite application of the petitioner the Hon’ble Chief Justice was pleased to pass the following order on 19.4.2007“Heard, Mr. S.N. Shukla in support of this application. This is an Election Petition. Mr. Shukla submits that half of the term is nearly over and the petition be heard at the earliest. It is informed that the matter is at the stage of issuance of witnesses- Summon. The learned Judge is requested to hear and decide the petition at the earliest. The application stands disposed of”. However, despite the aforesaid order of the Hon’ble Chief Justice, there was little progress in the matter. Thereupon, the petitioner filed another expedite application before the Hon’ble Chief Justice, on which the Hon’ble Chief Justice was
pleased to pass the following order on 18.7.2008“Heard Mr. Umesh Chandra learned Senior Advocate with Mr. Shukla for petitioner. Matter is not on the cause list and hence the council for the respondents is not present. The petition is already directed to be expedited and the matter is listed before the concerned Judge. No need to pass any further order. Learned Judge is once again requested to take up the election petition early. Application disposed of.” Thereafter, the nominated Hon’ble Judge declined to proceed further in the matter and the case was transferred to Hon’ble Mr. Justice D.P. Singh. Subsequently, the matter was listed on 5.9.2008, 12.9.2008, 26.9.2008, 17.10.2008, 6.11.2008, 21.11.2008 and lastly on 5.12.2008 at serial no. 17 at 3 p.m. but there was no sitting of the Hon’ble Court on the last date. In between the Hon’ble Judge sat single on several dates, e.g. on 1.10.2008, 13.10.2008, 18.10.2008, 21.10.2008, 24.10.2008, 4.11.2008, 5.11.2008, 7.11.2008, 12.11.2008, 14.11.2008, 17.11.2008, 20.11.2008, but the matter was not even listed before him. Thereupon the petitioner filed an application dated 12.12.2008 for day to day hearing of the election petition. However, on this the Hon’ble nominated Judge expressed his inability to order listing of the matter for day to day hearing as he was sitting in a Bench. The petitioner thereupon, filed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice another expedite application dated 17.12.2008. However, instead of deciding the aforesaid application on judicial side the Hon’ble Chief Justice passed the following order on 19.12.2008 on the Administrative side“The learned Judge is requested to take up the matter at his convenience in January 09 by sitting singly, at the earliest possible”. The learned counsel for the respondents’ no. 3, 5, and 8 concluded his arguments on the maintainability of the election petition on 30.1.2009. He was given 10 days time to submit his written arguments. Thereafter, the matter was fixed
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on 13.2.2009 but he did not appear on that date and the matter was fixed for 5.3.2009, when the counsel for other respondents adopted the arguments advanced on behalf of respondents’ no. 3, 5 and 8. The matter was ordered to be listed in the week commencing 13.4.2009. The matter was listed on 15.4.2009 but there was no sitting. Thereafter it was listed on 27.4.2009 but was adjourned on the ground of illness of a junior to the counsel for the respondents’ no. 3, 5 and 8. On 11.5.2009 the matter was passed over in the first round and was taken up just before the rising of the Court. The petitioner’s counsel submitted his reply (along with revised index of the rulings relied upon by him) on 15.5.2009 to the written submission of the respondents no. 3, 5 and 8 about the maintainability of the election petition. The petitioner’s counsel was heard on 22.5.2009 and the matter was fixed for 25.5.2009 for further hearing. However, there was no sitting of the Hon’ble Court on that date. Upon the petitioner’s application dated 27.5.2009 for deciding preliminary issues the matter was fixed on 2.7.2009 when the respondents’ counsel sought further time to file objection to it. The said application was disposed of on 9.7.2009 as misconceived and the matter was fixed for 17.8.2009. When the hearing on the maintainability of the election petition could not be completed even in 6 months after the exchange of written arguments, the petitioner moved an application dated 12.12.2008 for day to day hearing of the election petition as stipulated in Section 87(6) of the Act and in terms of the decision of this Hon’ble Court in AIR 2004 SC 1975 and the orders of the Hon’ble Chief Justice dated 9.4.2007 and 18.7.2008.
However, no order was passed on the said application and the order in the matter was reserved on 18.12.2009. Finally, the election petition was dismissed on the ground of maintainability vide judgment dated 22.1.2010. A cost of Rs. 50,000 was also imposed on the petitioner for the reasons which formed grounds of dismissal. By another judgment of the same date the election petition filed by the respondent no. 12 was also dismissed even though these grounds were not applicable in that case. Thus, due to non observance of the provision of Section 86(6) even when the Hon’ble nominated Judges were sitting singly, even the preliminary issues about the maintainability of the election petition remained undecided for almost 4 years after the framing of issues, thus, nullifying the said statutory provision. II. Disregard of Section 98(c) of the Act In the aftermath of the office of profit controversy following disqualification of Mrs. Jaya Bachchan on the complaint of the petitioner, Shri Anil Ambani also resigned from membership of Rajya Sabha in March 2006.The petitioner immediately represented to the Election Commission not to initiate action for filling up the aforesaid vacancies and he also moved applications in the election petition for a direction to the Election Commission not to proceed with the bye-elections. However, instead of taking up the petitioner’s applications, the applications filed by the Election Commission subsequently were taken up without giving time to the petitioner to file an objection. The same were dismissed as misconceived on the ground that there was no stay against holding the bye-elections. Contd. in the next issue..................
Rekhaji, beautiful write up from the editor’s desk, February issue — “Youth Synergy at Work”! Beautifully written Editorial! Marvelous! Deepak Dave, Advocate, Ahmedabad, 91-9824040800 Dear Rékhâ, Just received the valuable articles found in this new issue, though I feel perplexed with some brainy writers’ attitude towards the sacred texts of Indian tradition: is not humility a key to understanding ("under standing")?—Prithwindra-dâ
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J.S. Chandra Rao
[Mr. J. Sharath Chandra Rao has been
contributing articles to Newspaper like “Vaartha” and “Andhra Jyothi” and other periodicals on Environment, economics and other social issues. He may be contacted at 1-2-593/40, Gaganmahal Colony, Hyderabad – 500 029, A.P. Phone: 040-27638039]
Better Planning and Management of Cities is Needed than half the people of the world More live in cities; many are disease ridden with sprawling areas of slums with poor water provision, poor sanitation and improper waste collections. These are living in high pollution with frequent traffic jams and power shortages more particularly in the cities of several under-developed countries. Several cities are bursting in its seams struggling to provide basic amenities with endless demands of vehicular automobiles and of growing population experiencing flooding, most of them lacking in basic infrastructural facilities. These cities exist in a weaving chaos of cars, belching fumes of taxies, buses, lorries and various other transporting vehicles in the process effecting the health of people. Minimum efforts like converting organic garbage waste into effective fertilizers and stopping industrial effluents into water sources of lakes, rivers etc., installing waste water treatment plants have not been properly taken up in many cities of underdeveloped countries which would
have enabled people to live in a cleaner environment and in a healthy atmosphere free of pollution. A well planned eco-city with eco-farming with zero wastage and emissions will be the future option of sustainability which can halt the spread of disease and ill health of the people. Positive policies of resource conserving and non-pollutive technologies are very much needed since fossil fuel powered industrial, farming and transport systems have damaged the cities environment and health of the people. Such an approach will enable us to avert a much more undesirable complex set of problems in future needing staggering and unbearable amounts to rectify such problems which will have to be borne by the general public making our living much more difficult. To achieve such an object, steps like effective rain water utilization, installing various water conservation systems and adopting recycling in resource and water use with intelligent land use and using renewable energy technologies can strengthen our ecosystem services of farm land, fisheries, forests valued at $ 32 trillion a year which is twice the combined global GNP of $ 18 trillion a year. Further citizens’ participation in decision making processes is never there unlike in previous civilizations where every citizen could speak, express and participate in formulating various decisions. Even basic needs like not having enough space for pedestrian walking in many cities in underdeveloped countries, not having enough road space for cycling, not running sufficient sub-urban trains carrying passengers and the need for effective functioning of public transport systems of buses all of which will reduce the consumption of oil considerably in the process reducing air pollution which is presently causing severe environmental impacts, the damaging costs being too high and often unmanageable. Further wastages being generated in cities, segregating it, reusing and recycling them can have substantial economic benefits apart from reducing landfill sites which have become breeding grounds for diseases. Establishing sufficient waste recycling
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plants, encouraging pelletisation units using organic waste will be of immense use in agriculture, coffee and tea plantations. An eco-city based on making it circular like nature’s ecosystem being circular, with one wastage becoming a raw material for the other in the functioning of industrial system will lead to minimizing the use of resources and energy, an ideal option for a sustainable and better living. Many metropolitan cities were established with large scale industrial production units without laying down limit values for emission to air, water and land generating in the process enormous pollution, often not applying best techniques and safeguards for maintaining good environment. The existence of more than one lakh widely used industrial chemicals being there in the environment with new chemicals being added every year have led to an increase in various diseases. Vast numbers of pollutants like Oestrogen like properties which exist in the environment have led to loss of sperm count in the industrial nations where sperm counts have fallen by half in the last 50 years posing fertility problems. Different studies revealed that there has been a significant fall in the healthiness of the sperm. At this rate millions of men will be unable to father their children because of this effect, more particularly in the wealthier nations. As the sperm count falls, the possibility of testicular cancer and prostrate cancer cases rising cannot be ruled out. Another major problem in the cities of the world is a generation of e-waste which has become the latest menace to the environment in both the developed and in the underdeveloped countries. Discarded older versions of computers, servers, main frames and other electronic goods which are discarded because of rapid technological changes releasing dangerous gases and toxicity can cause harm to human health because of unscientific handling of e-waste. Some electronic equipments which are made of lead which when disposed off can leak into the soil and atmosphere in the process contaminating water supplies and air. Also chip resisters, infra-red detectors and semiconductors 15
containing cadmium which is classified as toxic can cause health problems. An NGO estimated that during the floods in Mumbai 1500 tonnes which is one-third of total e-waste of Bangalore in a year was rendered useless generating in the process harmful chemicals of lead, mercury all lethally poisonous. Therefore suitable cyber laws framing and a scientific methodology to eliminate obsolete products drawing a design system to properly collect and recycle of e-waste in a scientific manner is a necessity which alone can avert the possible triggering of an e-waste time bomb in future. Many citizens in cities are often stifled by entrenched interests and unresponsive inflexible bureaucrats steeped in corruption and mal-administration with no check of municipal violations, even residential parking and green-belt areas are being used for commercial purposes in many cities of the underdeveloped countries. A failure in checking private greed allowing structures to be constructed in water bodies, catchment’s areas, tanks and lakes have led to diminishing water supplies. Such acts are unpardonable, grave violations. Several such violations of environmental laws can be reduced considerably by opening up governance arrangements at every level from individual to institutions, sharing visions and overcoming sectorial and narrow interests of a few, fixing accountability at every level will lead to better management of cities. Also there is every need to realize that there are two urban worlds, one being the wealthy urban of a tiny minority and the other being the economically deprived majority desperately working to meet both ends, both living in the same place. Expecting economic benefits trickling down from the rich to the poor, from the global to the local will be a futile expectation. Instead economic development should be tuned from the bottom deprived people to the top well-to-do people. Other factors like accountability at every level of functioning will lead to better management of cities.
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Current Affairs Section:
Rajindar Sachar
[Justice Rajindar Sachar is Retd. Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi, New Delhi. He is UN Special Rapportuer on Housing, Ex. Member, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and Ex-President, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) India. This article was earlier published in the Tribune on 17/09/2010]
Unnecessary Wrangling of the Judiciary overstepping its Scenario power of judicial Review and the sensitivity of the Executive in having its actions interfered by judiciary was again brought out sharply with the comment of Prime Minister when inaugurating the 17th Common Wealth Law Conference at Hyderabad. The broad approach of Prime Minister in this matter is not new (he has expressed it earlier also). But the sharpness and causticity this time was expressed strongly when he cautioned – “While the power of judicial review must be used to enforce accountability, it must never be used to erode the legitimate role assigned to other branches of the government.” This notwithstanding that the government itself was quite happy to let Supreme Court supervise the CBI investigation in 2G Spectrum Scam, hoping it will deflect the demand of J.P.C. Similarly the government is not opposing the
matter of foreign accounts of Indians being enquired into by the Supreme so that it can avoid having to disclose their names to the public. The sharpness, I suspect may have been induced by what and I say with all respect, the uneven sharp attack on Executive by a sitting Judge of Supreme Court (Justice Ganguly) when attending a conference of lawyers on “Gender Concern in Conflict Zone” he said, “it was shocking to see how the government allows and appreciates such ministers. Not only that, and also gives them a Cabinet post. It is not a dignified act. I would call it a shameless act.” The background as per press reports seems to have been that some time in December two Judge Bench of Supreme Court (of which Ganguly J. was a member) had strongly castigated the action of Mr. Deshmukh (who was then the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and is now a minister in central Govt.) in having stopped the police from entering a FIR against a money lender relation of Congress legislator. This action of Deshmukh was certainly condemnable and Mumbai high Court had called it gross interference from the executive in shielding a private moneylender belonging to the ruling party. The Supreme Court had justifiably in their judgment rebuked Deshmukh saying the Chief Minister should not have interfered with the criminal justice system and this act was unconstitutional and had imposed a fine of Rs. 10 lakhs fine on the State Government. I fully appreciate the action of the Bench (though I would have thought that it would have been more appropriate if fine was imposed on Deshmukh personally rather than on State because it was the individual unconstitutional action of the Chief Minister – the State is a different personality). The above action of Bench had been widely appreciated. But these strong and rather unprecedented observations from a sitting judge gave it a different contour and context more so when the judge was speaking at a seminar on a subject which had nothing to do with the
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impropriety of the politicians but was on a sober and important topic of gender justice. This was, and I say with respect, because many a time a sitting judge even if he is right fully indignant during the hearing have been advised by elders to keep cool. There is no denying that in court many occasions arise when a normal person would loose his cool and feel like shouting but the hoary wisdom of great judges is always to try and put a restraining hand on oneself. I remember an incident of Lahore High Court where a rather short tempered judge would go on interrupting the arguments of senior mild mannered Lawyer by saying “Rubbish”. So the senior counsel his patience at an end, kept his brief aside and very innocently addressed the judge and politely saying “I hope your lordship is well because nothing but rubbish is coming out your lordship mouth”. The message was conveyed strongly though put in an apologetic manner. And even outside the Court, the sitting judges are expected to keep the same restraint on their language – may be unknowingly the Lachman Rekha was crossed in this instance. Loard Atkin had long ago given a friendly warning “Wise Judges never forget that the best way to sustain the dignity and status of their office is to deserve respect from the public at large by the quality of their judgments, the fearlessness, fairness and objectivity of their approach, and by the restraint, dignity and decorum which they observe in their judicial conduct.”
Also judiciary could with some embarrassment be reminded of its own conduct in permitting a judges against whom allegation of corruption are being enquired into, are still being allowed to sit in courts. But that is no reason why the great instrument of judicial Review should be downgraded. Judicial Review is inherent in a written constitution. Wherever there is a written Constitution the Supreme law is the law of the Constitution and for even Parliament to accept that its powers are limited by the written Constitution is not in any manner to derogate from its sovereignty but only to accept that its sovereignty like the sovereignty of the executive and the judiciary is limited by the written Constitution. Politicians seem to think that the courts ought to give to the entire Parliament’s decisions automatic seal of approval. But that would mean being false to the oath by the judge who can only uphold the lawful decisions, and can not keep silent in face of illegality. It also needs repeated reaffirmation that the mandate in the preamble of the Constitution “We the People” empowers both the legislature and the judiciary equally. The transit legislature elected for particular period can not arrogate to assume the mandate of sovereignty of the people exclusively to itself. Humility in all three instrumentalities of the state and of recognition of their respective limited sovereignty will make it easier for the country to avoid any unnecessary collision.
“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair........” “...........But beneath all this load of failure I am still conscious of something that I feel to be victory. I may have conceived theoretical truth wrongly, but I was not wrong in thinking that there is such a thing, and that it deserves our allegiance. I may have thought the road to a world of free and happy human beings shorter than it is proving to be, but I was not wrong in thinking that such a world is possible, and that it is worthwhile to live with a view to bringing it nearer.........” Bertrand Russell in his “Autobiography” 17
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IRI/IRHA Members’ Section:
Balraj Puri
[Mr. Balraj Puri is an authority on Jammu and Kashmir Affairs. He is Director, Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, Karan Nagar, Jammu-180005;Phone numbers:01912542687,09419102055 www.humanrightsjournal.com] I
Kashmir Policy of BJP in Various Avtars foiled attempt to hoist national TheflagBJP’s at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day was meant to pay a homage to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, the founder president of the Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, who is hailed as a martyr to the cause of “full accession” of J&K State to the Indian Union and abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Union. The decision to this effect was taken at biggest ever show of strength of the party in Jammu on December 24 which was attended by its 70 senior leaders of the party to emphasize the importance it attached to the problem of J&K State. Its leaders recalled past (what they called) patriotic role of it leaders as against Nehru’s Kashmir policy, which created the problems the country still faces. As a personal witness to events on the eve of the independence of the country and after, when none of the present BJP leaders was around, let me set the record straight. Jammu Ekta Sammelan had also paid tributes to
Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, the leader of Praja Parishad, the Jammu affiliate of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, for his role as leader of the agitation for ‘full accession of the State in 1952.’ He, incidentally, was also the leader of the Hindu Sabha before 1947, which supported Maharaja’s aspiration for independence of the State, and opposed its accession to India. At that time, it was Nehru’s initiative and his friendship with Sheikh Abdullah, who was the undisputed leader of the Kashmiris, and whose support made accession to India possible with overwhelming popular support. *Mukerjee-Nehru-Abdullah Correspondence* Again, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, the founder president of Jana Sangh, had entered to the State to lend his support to the agitation of the Praja Parishad for “ek vidhan, ek predhan and ek nishan.” But it is not correct to say that he broke the permit system that had been imposed by the state government which Indian citizens had to obtain to enter the state. The system was imposed by the Ministry of Defence of the government of India. All citizens, whether of the state or the rest of India, had to get a permit from the Ministry of Defence to enter the State. It was relaxed in the case of Mukerjee. Mukerjee had entered into a prolonged correspondence with Nehru and Abdullah. He had said: “We would readily agree to treat the Valley with Sheikh Abdullah as its head in any special manner and for such time as he would like but Jammu and Ladakh must he fully integrated with India.” In reply the Sheikh in his letter dated February 4, 1953, said: “You are not perhaps unaware of the attempts that are being made by Pakistan to force a decision by disrupting the unity of the State. Once the ranks of the State people are divided, any solution can be foisted on them.” The Sheikh further reminded the Jana Sangh leader that he happened to be a part of the government of India when arrangement over J&K was made, including Article 370.
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Eventually, Mukerjee agreed to withdraw the agitation vide his letter to Nehru on February 17, 1953, “provided the implementation of the July (1952) agreement will be made at the next session of Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly and the principle of autonomy will apply to Jammu and of course Ladakh and Kashmir Valley.” Nehru reminded him that principle of autonomy to the three regions was a part of the July agreement. Evidently, they could not agree on a face saving formula till unfortunately Mukerjee died. But the agitation was withdrawn on the conditions suggested by Mukerjee. The Parishad leaders were released on July 2, 1953, and invited to Delhi to meet Nehru on July 3 where Parishad finally announced to withdraw the agitation as regional autonomy had been conceded. Before that the state government had sent a 40 page draft on Regional Autonomy to the underground leader of the Parishad, Durga Dass Varma which he returned after approval. However, according to Balraj Madhok, who in later years became president of the Jana Sangh, his party had to withdraw support to the commitments of Mukerjee and the Praja Parishad under a directive from Nagpur (RSS headquarters). The party and its successor the BJP, henceforth, started a relentless tirade against autonomy of the State and regional autonomy. When the State government appointed a Regional Autonomy Committee headed by me, Jana Sangh was the only party which refused to meet the committee and opposed its formation in the State assembly and outside. *Jana Sangh opposed Dogri* BJP leader in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj delighted her Dogra audience in Jammu by reciting a Dogri verse “Khund Mithi Dogrein Di Boli” (the language of Dogras is sweet), She may be reminded that we, in the Dogri movement, were criticized by the Jana Sangh for being parochial and not accepting Hindi as our language. The party had started a similar campaign at that time against Punjabi and in favour of Hindi in Punjab. A
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renowned Dogri poet, Dinu Bhai Pant, offered a compromise in his Dogri poem which said, “Hindi is our grandmother while Dogri is our mother. There should not be any clash between the two.” However, I gratefully acknowledge that Vajpayee and Advani, when they were in power, agreed to grant constitutional recognition to Dogri after a series of meetings I had with both of them. The BJP reiterated its demand for abrogation of Article 370 at the Jammu Sammelan to end discrimination against Jammu. As pointed out above that the article was included in the Constitution, when Mukerjee was a member of Union cabinet, and he had supported it in his correspondence with Nehru. Again, when the party headed the government at the centre, its leader told Parliament that it had no power to abrogate the article. But how is the problem of Jammu related to its abrogation, which cannot be solved unless the region gets share in political power that only regional autonomy can ensure which the BJP had been opposing? Lastly BJP’s contribution to alienation of Muslims of Jammu, who constitute a majority in five out of ten districts of the region and a sizeable minority in others and are not followers of the separatist leaders of Kashmir, is no service to the cause of Jammu or the country. Though the party no longer supports division of the State, its Ladakh unit demands Union Territory status for it, and separation from the State. The demand has divided the region into Buddhist majority Leh and Muslim majority Kargil districts, as it has absolutely no support in the latter district. The party has learnt and unlearnt its Kashmir policy in its various Avtars, Hindu Sabha, Praja Parishad, Jana Sangh and BJP. But it has still to go a long way to play a positive role in a vital State of India. II Popular Upsurge in Arab World February 11 was an unusual day for the Arab World when in its most important country, Egypt,
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unprecedented jubilation greeted the announcement of Hosni Mubarak to quit the office of president, shouting “we are free, we are free.” The massive continuous and peaceful protest that started in Egypt on January 25 at Tahrir Maidian (Liberty Square) of Cairo with only one demand ie Mubarik Irhil (leave) did not show any signs of fading away till its demand was met. Gradually, Hosani Mubarak, the despotic president of Egypt, and his patrons in USA and Israel, too, reconciled to his departure from the scene. Harry Clinton, Secretary of State of America, who had said a week before the protest started that the regime of Hosani Mubarak was stable, later wanted that transitional arrangement be discussed before he leaves the scene. President Obama gave a similar advice to Mubarak on phone. He himself said that he had no desire to continue in office. But if he left without alternative transitional arrangement, there would be chaos and anarchy in Egypt. Omar Sulemin, former army chief whom Mubarak appointed Vice President of Egypt, attempted negotiations with opposition leaders. But as Mohammed El-Baradei, the most known face among the rebels said, “dialogue can come only after Hosni Mubarak leaves.” Americans feared that exit of Mubarak will have a cascading effect on other Arab countries. Already a successful revolt in Tunisia where president Zina Al Abidine Ben Ali was made to flee the country after 23 years of despotic rule, was a factor that encouraged the revolt in Egypt. In Yemen, an unprecedented demonstration on February 3, demanded ouster of 30 years of autocratic rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh. In Algeria 19 years of emergency has been lifted. Ripples from Egypt have reached in Libya where revolt has started against 40 years of Muammar Gaddafi, in Baharin for political reforms. Jordan is also in the storm of trouble. But none of these revolts is as peaceful as that of Egypt. Egypt’s importance lies in the fact that, with a population of 64 millions, it is the most populous
and largest Arab country and lies close to Gaza on the border between Israel and Hamas controlled part of Palestine. Its president Mubarak had set a record of corruption. He is estimated to have amassed a fortune of $70 billions and is believed to be the richest person of the world. His corrupt and autocratic rule was supported by USA as it believed that alternative to dictatorship in the Muslim world, in general, was Islamic fundamentalism. The example of Iran is cited in this context where Mussadag’s regime was overthrown by Islamic revolution led by religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini. In Pakistan dictators had been best allies of America. But Islamic fundamentalism itself was initially encouraged by Americans to counter growing Soviet influence. In Afghanistan the Soviet supported regime was overthrown with the active help of Mujahideens who were armed and trained by America. That dictatorship is no guarantee against Islamic fundamentalism is best illustrated by the example of Saudi Arabia which has an absolute dynastic rule of Shah Abdul Aziz and where people have not even elementary democratic rights. It had supported Hosni Mubarak and given asylum to the deposed Sultan of Tunisia. It is also the source of most fundamentalist form of Islam. Its Wahabi brand of Islam, with American patronage, has undermined its liberal forms elsewhere. “Saudisation” of Pakistan, for instance, has damaged its liberal traditions like Sufi, Barelavi, Deobandi and other forms of Islam. No doubt Muslim Brotherhood was supporting the popular revolt in Egypt. But it clearly said it had no leadership aspiration. It is too weak to do so and supported the popular movement as it did not want to be completely isloated. Moreover, Christians, too, have joined the movement in full strength. The demonstrators include all shades of persons, young, old, men, women—including in Western attire. Many persons in the crowds spoke live on TV that they were secular, democrat and wanted freedom. Al-Queda, deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawabri, in his
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video issue on February 18 said that “demonstrations in Egypt were led by secular liberal activities for greater democracy in sharp contrast to the Islamic state. Democracy replaces God’s laws with man’s. Brotherhood is supporting Mohamad El-Bardei, who as pointed out above, has emerged as the most known face of the revolt. He is a Noble Laureate and was the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He began his overt opposition to Hosni Mubarak a year ago and won over a widespread following among the young and middle classes. Egyptian authorities harassed his supporters. Nor is he a favourite of America partly because he is being supported by Muslim Brotherhood and partly because he was not tough enough against Iran as head of the IAFA as USA wanted him to be. However, his own views about Islamic jehadis are known. In a recent newspaper article he writes. “The option in the Arab world is not between authoritarianism and Islamic jehadis.” He described Egypt’s revolt as of a rainbow variety of people “who are secular, liberal, market oriented and if you give them a chance, they will organize themselves to elect a government that is modern and moderate.” He wanted “independent judiciary and free election unlike the last election which was completely rigged and could in fact had a role in provoking widespread revolt of the people.” According to him “younger people in Brotherhood in Egypt are inspired by Turkish model which is more inclusive of other religious voices them elsewhere.” He criticizes the West for having bought the Mubarak’s fiction that a democratic Egypt “will turn into chaos or a religious state (New York Times, Feb 13).
Moreover, Egyptian nationalism with a civilization of 5000 years old, which Egyptians call “Ummul-duniya (mother of the world) of which sphinxes are eloquent witnesses and Alexandria library, a rich treasure of knowledge in its time is no asset for fundamentalism. What is unique in Egyptian revolt is its non-violent character which in the words of American President Obama was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King (the latter claimed to be disciple of Gandhi). The revolt was not organized by any party and led by any leader. Twitters, face books and internet coordinated the rebels. What after the transitional role of the army? It had endeared itself to the people by the way it dealt with massive demonstrations. On first day of the revolt an old man kissed forehead of an officer of the army that had come to Liberty square and told “you are one of us.” Thereafter the army simply helped the people to maintain order and prevent stampede. The onus now is mainly on civil leadership. Its success or failure to evolve a consensus on an alternative system will have impact far beyond the borders of Egypt. India has a special reason to welcome a emergence of a democratic Egypt. For it can revive its old friendship when Nehru and Nassar, along with marshal Tito led the non-alignment movement. And also to celebrate success of first Gandhian experiment in non-violence outside India. In fact India need to relearn use of Gandhian methods from Egypt. Moreover after a few days of evacuation of Indians, 90% of them decided to stay back as they felt quite safe and at home in Egypt, which is an extra evidence of the fact that Egyptians are friends of India.
“If your facts are wrong but your logic is perfect, then your conclusions are inevitably false. Therefore, by making mistakes in your logic, you have at least a random chance of coming to correct conclusion.”— Christie-Davies’ Theorum “In every work of genius we recognize our rejected thoughts.” — Emerson’s Observation
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Techers’ & Research Scholrs’ Section:
Mahendra Mishra
Financial Exclusion: Concept, Nature and Extent Abstract: The nationalization of the commercial bank in 1969 and 1980’s shown tremendous growth in the volume of credit and geographical reach. However, despite making significant improvement in all the areas relating to financial viability, profitability and competitiveness, there are concern that bank have not been able to include vast segment of the financial exclusion population, especially the underprivileged section of society in the fold of basic banking service. This paper examines the concept, nature and extends of financially excluded people in Indian economy. Introduction: Since independence in 1947, the governments of India and RBI have made concerted effort to provide the poor with access to credit, despite the remarkable increase in the physical outreach of the formal credit institution in past several decades; the rural poor continue to depend upon the informal source of credit. Institutions also face difficulties in dealing effectively with a large number of small borrowers, whose credit needs are small and frequent and their ability to offer collateral limited. Beside cumbersome procedure and risk perception of the banks left a gap in saving the credits need of the rural poor. The nationalization of the commercial bank in 1969 and 1980’s shown tremendous growth in the
volume of credit and geographical reach. However, despite making significant improvement in all the areas relating to financial viability, profitability and competitiveness, there are concern that bank have not been able to include vast segment of the financial exclusion population, especially the underprivileged section of society in the fold of basic banking service. What is financial exclusion? Literature on financial exclusion has defined it in the context of a larger issue of social exclusion of certain groups of people from the mainstream of the society. According to Conroy (2005), financial exclusion is a process that prevents poor and disadvantaged social groups from gaining access to the formal financial systems of their countries. According to Mohan (2006) financial exclusion signifies the lack of access by certain segments of the society to appropriate, low-cost, fair and safe financial products and services from mainstream providers. Financial exclusion can mean that individuals have limited or no access to bank accounts and may have difficulty in accessing credit facilities. Many people do not have home contents insurance, leaving them more vulnerable in times of need and if they are on lower or fixed incomes find it more difficult to save. Many individuals are also unable to access jobs as they do not have the appropriate qualifications, skills or knowledge, which disadvantages them and their families from improving their financial status. The term “financial exclusion” has a broad range of both implicit and explicit definitions. Financial exclusion refers to a process whereby people encounter difficulties accessing and using financial services and products in the mainstream market that are appropriate to their needs and enable them to lead a normal social life in the society in which they belong. There is also a widespread recognition that financial exclusion forms part of a much wider social exclusion, faced by some groups who lack access to quality essential services such as jobs,
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housing, education or health care. Difficulties accessing appropriate financial services and products... Beside the fact that use of financial services makes more and more part of a standard life, the way to access and use those services may be more and more over demanding on various aspects as geographical, technical, cultural, educational or about guarantee and risk analysis criteria. This leads to a large range of access and use difficulties that are deeply related to each country's market structure. Financial products will be considered “appropriate” when their provision, structure and costs do not lead the customer to encounter access and/or use difficulties. History of financial exclusion: The term financial exclusion was first coined in 1993 by geographers who were concerned about limited physical access to banking services as a result of bank branch closures (Leyshon and Thrift, 1993). Throughout the 1990s there was also a growing body of research relating to difficulties faced by some sections of societies in gaining access to modern payment instruments and other banking services, to consumer credit and to insurance. There was also concern about some people lacking savings of any kind. It was in 1999 that the term financial exclusion seems first to have been used in a broader sense to refer to people who have constrained access to mainstream financial services. Since then, a number of commentators have added their views of how financial exclusion should be defined. These include both academics and policy makers. What to Access? Which services are to be considered essential and therefore ones to which all in society should have access? According to the World Bank (1995) four key areas;1) Banking exclusion – transactions 2) Savings exclusion 3) Credit exclusion 4) Insurance exclusion. Banking exclusion – transactions: The access to banking (transaction banking services in particular) is seen as a universal need in most developed and cashless societies. The lack of access or use of this
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financial provision has such bad effects that social inclusion is effectively damaged because: It is the most popular/generalized financial provision, lack stigmatizes. It is a key to access other financial services (credit/savings), lack disturbs market access and gives opportunity to unfair provisions to grow and may consequently increase risk of poverty. It becomes more difficult and expensive for people who can only pay in cash, lack increases risk of being stolen and risk of poverty. It leads to time consuming and somehow annoying procedures, lack reinforce exclusion. Savings exclusion: The problem related to savings is completely different. The access to a simple deposit account does not seem globally to bring many problems. In addition, a lack of access or use may bring inconvenience in day to day life, but cannot be related to social exclusion. Nevertheless, some social problems have been identified related to savings account like Lack of identification document; Lack of money to save; Lack of habit to save money in bank; Unwilling to deal with banks because of negative past experience or prejudice etc. Credit exclusion: Credit is a main financial tool to enable access to goods or expenditures that oversize the monthly budget such as equipment goods (e.g. diverse vehicles, housing, furniture, renting guarantee. It may play a significant role to smooth consumption and to protect against income shocks. Consumer credit pilot-project experiences proposed by not-for profit providers underline the positive social impact an appropriate small credit can bring for usually ''credit excluded'' household: increase on mobility, access to training and improving the quality of the housing which can lead to higher future income and wider general welfare. Insurance exclusion: Nowadays some kinds of insurance are essential in the organization of modern societies and, some of them, are therefore mandatory (for example those for the use of motor vehicles, or to carry on some kind of jobs).
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However, there is no clear definition of which types of insurance are considered essential so that anyone who lacks them might be considered financially excluded. In some countries, it is also very common for landlords to be required to take out insurance (credit life or fire insurance). In the above mentioned cases, easy access and usage should be considered part of a financial inclusion goal.
The Nature of Financial Exclusion: Many individuals struggle to gain access to basic financial products such as bank accounts, credit, insurance and financial advice. Financial exclusion or lack of access to appropriate financial products and services can arise for a variety of often inter-linked reasons. Witnesses suggested a variety of causes including: Financial Exclusion due to inappropriate or excessively high transaction charges. Financial Exclusion due to disability. Financial Exclusion due to being on lower incomes or being long-term recipients of benefits, which impacts most on the disabled, ethnic minority groups, the elderly and those excluded from the labour market. Locational exclusion: lack of access in the person’s locality to appropriate financial services. Regulatory requirements: Regulations imposed by the Government play a valuable role in enhancing consumer protection, but, where regulations are excessive or are implemented in a way which does not take account of particular circumstances faced by individuals, they might accentuate financial exclusion. Self-exclusion: Where an individual feels that there is little point in applying for financial products because he/she expects to be refused, or is unwilling to engage with the financial services industry as a result of previous experiences. Information problems: An individual may have difficulty obtaining the information he or she needs, either due to the requirements of the providers or to the challenge to the individual as consumer, who may not be able to access marketing information or may have particular
difficulty choosing between complex products. Financially Excluded People: The financially excluded sections largely comprise: Marginal farmers, Landless laborers, Oral lessees, Self employed and unorganized sector enterprises, Urban slum dwellers, Migrants, Ethnic minorities and socially excluded groups, Senior citizens, Women, The North East, Eastern and Central regions contain most of the financially excluded population. Causes of Financial Exclusion: There are various reasons for financial exclusion such as poverty, unemployment, lower income, illiteracy rate in rural area, lack of awareness about financial services, greater dependency on traditional sources of credit etc. in rural area. The causes of financial exclusion in urban area is as absence of establishing identity, lack of financial literacy and unorganized employment and self exclusion due to lower income, lower interest rate on saving deposits etc. Extent of Exclusion: According to the NSSO data, the total 45.9 million farmer households in the country (51.4%), out of a total of 89.3 million households do not accesses credit, either from institutional or no institutional sources. Further, despite the vast network of bank branches, only 27% of total farm households are indebted to formal sources (of which one-third also borrow from informal sources). Farm households’ not accessing credit from formal sources as a proportion to total farm households is especially high at 95.91%, 81.26% and 77.59% in the North Eastern, Eastern and Central Regions respectively. Thus, apart from the fact that exclusion in general is large, it also varies widely across regions, social groups and asset holdings. The poorer the group, the greater is the exclusion. Conclusion: Financial exclusion can be eliminated by extending the banking habits among the less privileged in rural and urban area and weaning them away from unorganized money market and money lenders, but path of financial inclusion continues to be discouraging, not just for India, but
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also the rest of the world. References: A report for the Commission for Rural Communities, Promoting Financial Inclusion in Rural Areas, SQW consulting, November 2007. Arora Singh Sukhwinder, Leach Jeremy (2005), “Towards Building on Inclusive Financial Sector: Lesson from South Africa” Economic and Political Weekly, April 23, pp 1726-1730. Conroy, J. (2005), APEC and Financial Exclusion: Missed Opportunities for Collective Action? Asia-Pacific Development Journal, 12(1), June 2005. Duvvuri Subbarao (2010), “Financial Inclusion; Challenges and Opportunities” RBI Monthly Bulletin, Jan 2010, pp 1-10. Dev Mahendra s (2006), “Financial Inclusion; An Issues and Challenges” Economic and Political weekly, Oct 14, pp 4310-4313. Mohan, Rakesh (2006), Economic Growth, Financial Deepening and Financial Inclusion, Reserve bank of India, bulletin, November 2006, pp 1305-1319.
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Rangarajan Committee (2008), Report of the Committee on Financial Inclusion, Government of India. Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2009-10” RBI Publication, pp 33-34 Sarma, M. (2008), Index of Financial Inclusion, ICRIER Working Paper, August 2008. Stephen Sinclair, Fiona McHardy, Louise Dobbie, Kate Lindsay and Morag Gillespie,2009 Understanding financial Inclusion, Friends Provident Foundation,UK. Thorat Usha (2006), “Financial Inclusion and Millennium Development Goals” RBI Monthly Bulletin, Jan 2006, pp 239-243. Thorat Usha (2006), “Financial Inclusion for Sustainable Development: Role of It and Intermediaries” RBI Monthly Bulletin, Dec 2006, pp 1523-1526. Thorat Usha (2007), “Financial Inclusion –The Indian experience” RBI Monthly Bulletin, Dec 2007, pp 1165-1172. Mr. Mahendra Mishra, is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, K. J. Somaiya Collage of Arts and Commerce, Vidyavihar, Mumbai 400077, mahendra.r.mishra@gmail.com
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Book Review Section:
Dipavali Sen [Ms. Dipavali Sen has been a student of Delhi
School of Economics and Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Pune). She has taught at Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, and various colleges of Delhi University. She is, at present, teaching at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is a prolific writer and has written creative pieces and articles for children as well as adults, both in English and Bengali. Dipavali@gmail.com] Harsha Vardhana, by Devika Rangachari, published by SCHOLASTIC India Pvt. Ltd, 2009, paperback, cover design Niranjan Mishra, pp 97, Rs. 200]
[BOOK:
The Making of History: the Making of Harsha Vardhana In the Marxian interpretation of history, the role of the individual is minimal. All human activities are essentially social, and all that happens, happens because of the society makes it happen so. The dialectical process is an occurrence between two classes – not two individuals, however powerful or colorful. But in spite of this, certain individuals do get regarded as `making history’. One cannot help wondering how far they were products of the society they were born into, and how far unique unto themselves. A certain mystery surrounds them, impenetrable through time. What
were they like, really? Why did they do what they did? How should we regard them now, at a distance of centuries? Would the world have been different if they had behaved differently? Would the course of history have been changed if they had taken steps other than they did? Harsha Vardhana, who ruled over Thanesar and Kanauj between CE 606 and 648, is one such individual. In this book, Device Rangachari has chronicled his ascent to power. Dr Devika Rangachari is a scholar of history and an award-winning author of books for children. She has written about adolescent children in contemporary setting as well as picture books and rhymes for smaller ones. But this is possibly her first interweave of history and fiction. And it is a masterly one. The book begins with Princess Rajyasri, the fourteen-year-old daughter of King Prabhakaravardhana, watching over the ramparts of the palace of Thanesar. With her are her brothers Rajya Vardhana and Harsha Vardhana. Rajya was quiet and simple, Harsha smart and teasing. “She (Rajyasri) supposed she loved Harsha just as much as Rajya, but you never really knew where you were with him. Harsha could be warm and loving or cold and distant, all in the space of a few minutes. Unlike the predictable and steadfast Rajya.”(p 5) With them, there was a cousin Bhandi too, whom Rajyasri did not like too much. Even as Rajyasri watched, two other cousins (young uncles, actually) arrived on horseback – Kumaragupta and Madhavagupta – sent by their father for refuge at Thanesar. Although Rajya Vardhana was the older of the two princes, it was whispered round the palace that it was Harsha Vardhana who would be the king. Bhandi and Madhava aligned themselves with Harsha while Kumara preferred Rajya. Soon it was time for Rajyasri’s wedding. It was a match made for political reasons with the young king of Kanauj, Grahavarman. It would make Thanesar and Kanauj allies against the might of the Guptas. Rajyasri wept at the thought of parting with all that was familiar to her. But she also began to look forward to her new life. However, a local astrologer predicted dire consequences and filled
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her with forebodings as well. The wedding was a gorgeous affair, described by Rangachari in detail. But with his daughter’s departure, the old king fell into a kind of decline. When the Huns approached Thanesar, he sent Rajya to face them. Harsha insisted that he should accompany him. Rajya was puzzled. It occurred to him that sometimes Harsha behaved as if he knew he would be the king one day. “Just as if he was biding his time…” (p 41) Rajya did take Harsha along, but left him at a camp while he went on to meet the Huns with an advance party. Meanwhile, news came from Thanesar that Prabhakar was on his deathbed. Harsha and Madhava rushed back and the dying king made Harsha promise that he would rule after him! The queen ascended the funeral pyre at her husband’s death. When Rajya came back, he confided in Harsha that he wanted to relinquish the kingdom and become an ascetic. But just then the news came that the king of Malwa had attacked Kanauj in secret and killed Grahavarman. He had thrown the widowed Rajyasri into prison but she had escaped into the Vindhya ranges. At this Rajya rushed out to face the king of Malwa and avenge Grahavarman’s death. Harsha sent Bhandi with him, even though Kumara was already with him. Preparations began for Harsha’s coronation as per Rajya’s instructions. But news came that Rajya, while he had defeated Devagupta of Malwa, had been treacherously murdered by his ally, King Shashanka of Gauda. Madhava was intrigued by the composure with which Harsha faced this news and went on with his coronation ceremony. “He sat erect and unmoving, staring ahead of him – certainly not the demeanour of a man who had been deprived of his family members, one by one, in an unrelenting sequence.”(p 58) Once, all that was over, Harsha, accompanied by Madhava, set out in search of Rajyasri. As is well-known, he found her just in the nick of time – just before she was going to immolate herself.
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What is not so well-known, and what this book subtly points out is that Rajyasri suspected Harsha’s hand in Rajya’s murder. Perhaps that is why he had sent Bhandi along with Rajya – to somehow maneuver or facilitate it. Rajyasri was also aware that Harsha had not gone out in search of her right after getting the bad news about her. He had waited for his own coronation to be over first! Rescuing Rajyasri and taking her back were also deliberate moves on Harsha’s part – to stake his claim to the throne of Kanauj as the widowed queen’s brother. “Undoubtedly, he did love Rajyasri…Yet, the fact couldn’t be denied that Rajyasri’s presence was important to Harsha in another, very different way. …Without her, he had no chance of claiming the throne of Kanauj with all its riches and power” (p 81). When Rajyasri cynically mentioned this to him, Harsha “took her face in his hands, gazing into the big, dark eyes that were deep pools of sadness. We will rule this kingdom together. It is as much yours as mine. I need your help, Rajyasri. Do you have any idea how important you are to me?’ Rajyasri made no answer but she stroked the hand that held hers in an eager clasp….He drew her to him in a heartfelt embrace and she felt all her doubts and fears crumbling to dust with the power of his love. She felt secure and loved – again” (pp 93-94). In ancient Egypt, royal liaisons between brother and sister were quite usual. In India, the Rajyasri-Harsha Vardhana duo is an unusual but prominent example. In the `Author’s Note’, Devika Rangachari cites sources to establish that Rajyasri was indeed an important element in Rajya Vardhana’s court, and had even traveled with him. Not until we come to Aurangzeb and Roshanara do we find another such brother-sister duo. Their union and the union of Thanesar and Kanauj helped northern India to hold together for full forty years. Surely, such unique individuals have a role in the shaping of the world? In deftly depicting the making of young Harsha in this book, Devika Rangachari has helped depict the making of human history.
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[BOOK: Multisecularism. A New Agenda, Paul Kurtz, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, USA, 2010, 263 pgs.] —Reviewed by Floris van den Berg
Paul Kurtz’ Philosophy of Humanism is, like religion, a human-made Humanism concept; humanists are aware of this and appreciate this fact. Books on humanism can be analyzed in three categories: 1) a descriptive (historical or systematical) outline of what humanism is (e.g. Richard Normans, On humanism, or Peter Cave’s Humanism), 2) a critique on humanism (e.g. John Gray’s Straw Dogs), or 3) a forward looking agenda setting philosophy of humanism (e.g. Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism). Kurtz’ book Multisecularism – actually his whole voluminous oeuvre – falls in this third category. Multisecularism is a collection of essays by philosopher Paul Kurtz (1925), mainly editorials from Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquiry from 2000-2008, plus some essays that have been published in others journals or books. In this book these editorials and essays form a coherent humanist philosophy. Kurtz attempts to create a comprehensive philosophy and practice of humanism, and keeps adapting and updating humanism. At present, it is no longer communism
that is a rival; religion is back on the cultural, social and political stage, and there are many new urgent problems e.g. population growth and environmental degradation. The power of Kurtz does not primarily lie in focusing on each of the building blocks of humanism but in combining all these blocks into ‘a public temple of reason’. Kurtz creates a new philosophy of humanism, which is more than the sum of its constituent parts. Kurtz thinks humanism through. He creates a humanist philosophy and at the same time he humanizes philosophy. The word ‘new’ is often used by Kurtz, because that is what he aspires: adapting humanism to the changing world. Some people find it hard to see that what Kurtz has created is something new. But that would be the same as telling an architect that she didn’t do anything new, because she used building material that was available. It is like people who look at your finger when you point to the moon, and complain they don’t see it. Kurtz’s secular humanism is a comprehensive well-rounded philosophical stance. Kurtz uses the best of human achievements – science, human rights, and philosophical concepts of reason, liberty, individuality, democracy and tolerance – and so he has created the best of best. Shopping in the ‘alley of Reason’ Kurtz has put together the best of human achievements. Kurtz project stands in the tradition of the Enlightenment. Philosophy –like science - is (or should be) dynamic and striving for improvement. Kurtz has called for a New Enlightenment (Toward a New Enlightenment (1994) is the title of one of his books). Kurtz has coined many new term in his long career, ‘Multisecularism’ is the latest. He also issued humanist manifestos, all of which have been endorsed by a long series of prominent scientists, philosophers, and writers. In these Manifestos he sets the agenda for what humanism is and how it relates to current world affairs. In 2010 Kurtz issued the Neo-humanist Statement: Our planetary community is facing serious problems that can only be solved by cooperative global action. Fresh
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thinking is required. Humanity needs to reconstruct human values in the light of scientific knowledge. We introduce the term “Neo-Humanism” to present a daring new approach. There are various forms of religious and non-religious beliefs in the world. On the one end of the spectrum are traditional religious beliefs; on the other “the new atheism.” Not enough attention is paid to humanism as an alternative. This Statement advocates non-religious secular Neo-Humanism. Multisecularism includes the essay ‘Neo-Humanism’ in which Kurtz elucidates this new concept: Neo-humanism rejects theism and affirms the secular outlook. It is broad enough to encompass atheism, agnosticism, and humanist ethical values. It is a large enough mansion to include both nonreligious humanists and those who consider humanism to function religiously in so far as it celebrates human ideals and values. Neo-humanists do not believe in God, yet they wish to do good. (p. 73). Secularism, humanism, naturalism, skepticism, pragmatism, rationalism, atheism can form a coherent package. Reading Paul Kurtz book Multisecularism one would think that to be obvious. Kurtz has managed to create a comprehensive life stance and worldview, a secular alternative to religion, a secular philosophy, an inspiring philosophy of life. Unfortunately, humanism isn’t obvious at all: most people, at all times have given in to the transcendental temptation, believing in supernatural powers upon insufficient or nonexistent evidence. Kurtz wrote a monograph called The Transcendental Temptation. A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal (1986) is about the tendency of humans to belief too easily upon insufficient evidence. We clearly have an innate tendency to be deluded – to borrow the term from Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion (2006). It is hard not to be deluded. We seem to be hard-wired to be deluded by supernatural and other delusions. In his In Praise of Folly (1509) Erasmus
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wrote already that: ‘Man’s mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood that to truth.’ – this included Erasmus himself who, though critical of the clergy, remained a roman catholic. Kurtz does a much better job in creating a coherent and consistent philosophy. Intellectually the fight over the truth claims of religion has been won in the Enlightenment. After Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781) in which he refuted all the arguments for the existence of god, religion is no longer an intellectual feasible stance. However, religion and other delusions continue to have a firm grip on many human earthlings, and this influence is a frustration in the search for truth, and an obstacle for morality. Under the cloak of religion many evils are being performed. Criticizing religion and claims of the supernatural have been tasks many philosophers since the Enlightenment have taken upon them. Humanism, as an umbrella concept for a well-rounded worldview and life stance, has been around for about 150 years and is continually adapted. Kurtz is an avowed atheist. But he is somewhat reluctant to use that as a primary label for his philosophy. Kurtz wants much more than criticizing nonsense; he wants to create a better world. Humanism, according to Kurtz, has two dimensions. On the one hand, the critical, negative dimension, the free thinking tradition of atheism and criticizing paranormal, pseudoscientific and other nonsensical and false claims. This is the Nietzschean side of humanism, which is now taken up by the so-called New Atheists, such as Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris and Grayling. But humanism, according to Kurtz is more than critique of nonsense (though it is a necessary constituent) and thus, on the other hand, Kurtz wants to create a philosophy of life, and ethic and political and social framework for a better and more just world in which individuals can flourish as individuals and be happy: ‘the main thrust of humanism is not to simply espouse the negative – what we do not believe in – but what we do. We should not begin with atheism or anti-supernaturalism but with humanism. I am a
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secular humanist because I am not religious. I draw my inspiration not from religion or spirituality but from science, ethics, philosophy, and the arts. I call it eupraxsophy; that is, the practice of wisdom as an alternative to religion. The convictions of a humanist involve both, the head and the heart, cognition and emotion. These are our rational-passional core beliefs.’ (p. 234) What is, according to Paul Kurtz, humanism, and why didn’t he put humanism in the title of this book? To start with the last question, firstly, ‘humanism’ has many meanings and, secondly, humanism might scare of potential friends among (liberal) believers, who agree with most of the humanist agenda. Borrowing a term from Paul Cliteur: Kurtz strives for a ‘moral Esperanto’, he want to communicate humanist ideas to an audience as wide as possible. It seems Kurtz’s choice to advertise Multisecularism instead of humanism, is pragmatic. In a world were there are deep clashes of worldviews and ideologies it is hard to find common ground. Secularism, adapted to cultural differences, i.e. Multisecularism, might be a more viable strategy to strive for than outspoken atheistic humanism. In a secular society people can enjoy their personal delusions, as long as they don’t harm others. The problem with Kurtz’ term Multisecularism could be that it has a ring of multiculturalism, and multiculturalism too often turns a blind eye to in-group intolerance, and thus tolerates intolerances in name of cultural diversity. This is different with Multisecularism, but how exactly is not clear. Kurtz could have elaborated on how Chinese secularism differs from Indian, American or Dutch secularism. A possible answer might be that like there are many different forms of democracy – the Netherlands have a different democratic system than the US for examples, both being secular democracies – there can also be different models of secularism, which still have as basic function the separation of state and religion. Humanism can be broad or it can be small. Small humanism is fore mostly criticizing religion and the paranormal and pleading for political secularism.
Broad humanism is about how we should live the good live, of course without religion. Kurtz emphasizes the importance of broad humanism. Humanism is positive, about how we humans can make the best of it, of our lives, our society, our world, our future. Humanism is about striving for to good live, on an individual level and on the social level. Humanism according to Kurtz is firstly a method of critical inquiry. This method of critical inquiry has to application. On the one hand, humanism is about criticizing mistakes and misconceptions; criticizing religion and claims of the paranormal. On the other hand critical inquiry should be applied in order to find the best possible knowledge, and to look for the best moral guidance and theories. ‘The best guarantee of morality is to cultivate within human beings concern for other human beings.’ (p. 40) Kurtz elaborates on what kind people moral people are: ‘Such people are well-intentioned and well-meaning, striving to be cooperative, beneficent, empathetic, and altruistic.’ (p. 41) Kurtz makes an important remark about the scope of our moral circle: ‘[Persons of good will] are thus considerate, thoughtful, caring; every effort is made to reduce suffering and pain whenever they can; not only for other human beings but other sentient beings in the biosphere.’ Here Kurtz seems to move away from the anthropocentric speciesism of humanism towards sentientism. For sentientists, like Peter Singer, the criterion if an entity has moral value is its capacity for suffering. Humanists have a tendency to care for fellows humans in the here and now. A fundamental question is, can humanism be expanded from anthropocentrism towards sentientism, or should the concept of humanism not be stretched that much? One could argue: ‘Humanism, as the word makes clear, is about humans, so if you want a worldview and ethics which is broader than that, don’t call it humanism.’ But as I started out, humanism is a human-made concept and it can be reinvented all the time, in the light of reason. Paul Kurtz seems also to take this
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stance, that it is possible to expand the moral circle within humanism. However, Kurtz does not elaborate this point, he only indicates towards this new direction. This is a direction that probably will alienate some of those who call themselves humanists. The problem with organized humanism and humanism as an intellectual movement is that when you take it seriously and thus include (new) atheism and sentientism, the people who are sympathetic towards humanism will decline. If you want to market humanism, it is better to mind your language. It seems Paul Kurtz is concerned about the marketing, but at the same time, he is too much a philosopher as to water down humanism. This tension between ideas and pragmatic concerns is visible in many of the essays in Multisecularism. One that is hard to solve. With the title Kurtz seems to have been chosen for the marketing strategy, but his fierce critique on religion, unreason and his widening of the moral circle, show his reluctance to submit to a marketing strategy. Kurtz points out the dangers of religious ethics, which are heteronomous. Answering the question ‘What is good?’ believers ultimately refer to a supernatural entity, god. Humanists want to have good reasons for what is good and what is evil. Kurtz looks for inspiration at the western philosophical tradition. He finds many theories, which he finds useful: virtue ethics, utilitarianism, Kantianism, pragmatism, liberalism. Though, at first sight, this moral eclecticism seems like Kurtz has not made up his mind, he acknowledges that there might be more than one good theory and that we should try to make use of them as best as we can. The moral axiom Kurtz uses to calibrate ethical theories is: does it help to make the word a better place, including me? Multisecularism is a political term, coined by Kurtz. As Paul Cliteur in The Secular Outlook, and myself in Philosophy for a Better World, point out, there is a distinction to be made between political secularism (to separate state & religion) and moral secularism (liberating ethics from religion). Kurtz addresses both: separation of church and state 31
(political secularism), and the secularization of values (moral secularism). Religion regretfully still has political and social power in many parts of the world and hampers individual liberty and, often, social and penal justice. ‘Secularism needs to be adapted to diverse cultural conditions if it is to gain ground. Multisecularism seems to be the best way to pursue: that is, adapting secular ideas and values to the societies in which they arise.’ (p. 1). Kurtz points out that there are many ways ‘away from Rome’, away from religion. Perhaps, but this is speculative, Kurtz utters an indirect critique on USA attempts to spread one model of democracy in those countries that have a special relation with the USA. In the last section of essays ‘Personal Reflections’ Kurtz reflects on his life. The book is thus also somewhat an intellectual autobiography and a memoir. Center for Inquiry (the transnational secular humanist organization established by Paul Kurtz) organizes educational cruises. One of these cruises went to Alaska to see the melting ice (for the ‘disbelieving Thomas’ kind of humanists’). A board ship Kurtz started to revisit his edifice of humanism, adapting it to the environmental problems. Though it seems humanism can and should urgently rephrase itself toward eco-humanism, being more aware of the fact how fragile we are when we trespass the biophysical limits of our habitat, planet Earth. Kurtz ponders: ‘It is difficult to deny the reality of global warming, though some scientists and politicians, financed by powerful oil companies, have attempted to do just that.’ (p. 135). ‘While aboard ship, we read aloud the following pledge of allegiance, which sets forth our ethical obligations to our planetary abode. Planetary Allegiance We pledge allegiance to the planetary community of which we’re all part: one planet, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We recognize that all persons are equal in dignity and value. We defend human rights and cherish human freedom. We vow to honor and protect the global ecology and
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biodiversity, not only for ourselves but for generations yet unborn.’ It seems that a problem with Kurtz’ humanism as he defines it, is that it is too anthropocentric. Well, it is in the name: human-ism. In contrast to any other life stances, humanism is cosmopolitan, and, as noted in the ‘Planetary Allegiance’ it also takes future generation humans into account. Philosopher Peter Singer has taken the lead in trying to expand the circle of morality by moving away from anthropocentrism towards sentientism, taking as criterion for moral standing (not being a living member of the Homo sapiens), the capacity for suffering. This goes back to the famous adagio by Jeremy Bentham: ‘Can they suffer?’ It seems that despite its name, humanism can be adapted and expanded away from anthropocentrism towards
sentientism or even biocentrism. Humanism is not just an intellectual position; humanism is humane. It is about being friendly, living the good life. This is what Kurtz ponders when in the hospital with serious heart problems: I say that I am a humanist, meaning by that, that we should strive as best we can to do good, to try to help where we can, to compliment other persons wherever possible. By this I mean that we should express an affirmative attitude all the time, to try to improve the situation, if we can, to look at the bright side.’ (p. 254) Mr. Floris van den Berg is a philosopher and co-executive director of Center for Inquiry Low Countries. In 2011 his book ‘Philosophy for a Better World’ will be published at Prometheus Books.
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[BOOK: An Essay on Upanishads (A Critical Study): V.R. Narla (1989) [87P] Published by Narla Institute of New Thought] —Reviewed by Kavneet Singh (Contd. From the previous issue..) Chapter 14 – Killing the Mind: And yet, what the Upanishads enjoin you is to still your mind, to smother it, to kill it…..the Upanishads decry the mind. They enjoin you to aim, and to achieve a state of mindlessness….Pantanjali tells you, can “still the mind.”…When a whole people still their mind, which results in killing it, how can civilization avoid crumbling at the first onslaught of an invader….The two evil legacies of the Harappan civilization were Priest-craft and Yoga…..were all united in advocating the stilling of the mind. For the most effective way to prevent the growth of all new and dangerous thought….. [Pages 275-277] The incredible foresight, vision and what extreme lengths the Brahmins went to, in order to plan these diabolical ‘holy terror texts’ is just mind-boggling. No wonder Brahmins were able to control the ‘people’ for over two millennia and get rich in the bargain. Chapter 15 – Abracadabra: The primary meaning of “meditation” is no doubt, “deep concentrated thinking.” How can it, then, help to kill thought? Well, meditation actively promoted by the Upanishads is not life or the universe of the forces that are behind either of them……the Upanishads actually warn you against it….What then should you mediate on? On the sacred syllable Om…the mystic syllable par excellence…it stands for Brahman. As the Chandoyoga (1.4.2) tells you, Om is superior to the three Vedas; it is the immortal refuge of the gods…….By its pervasiveness, Om is making us all irrational, superstitious, sanctimonious, and hypocritical. If a person goes on meditating on it constantly, as the Upanishads direct him to do, it can make him mindless, if not insane…..[Page 276-280] ‘Om’ is akin to Abracadabra being repeated incessantly with the
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end result being zero gain since one is repeating nothing, thereby dulling the mind senseless. Instead of creatively using the brain to help in the betterment of mankind, lulling it through a mindless ‘mantra’ makes no sense whatsoever. Chapter 16 – The Fourth State: When you kill the mind, you develop indifference and impassivity to the world around you, and by degrees you lapse into a state of daze, of torpor, of stupefaction…..that is to fall into a deep sleep a sleep without dreams…… [Page 280] To lull and still the mind to complete emptiness is impossible, since the brain is working all the time teeming with information. Further it is unheard of that deep sleep can be dreamless. Yet the great Yajnavalkya contradicts himself as follows: When he departs, on dying, he leaves evils behind. Verily, there are two conditions of this person: the condition of being in this world and the condition of being in the other world. There is an intermediate third condition, namely, that of being sleep. By standing in this intermediate condition one sees both these conditions, namely being in this world and being in the other world. (Brihadaranyaka,4.3.8 & 9)…..[Page 281] First the great Yajnavalkya wants you to still the mind when you are alive, but on the other hand when you are just dying one observes both the seen and unseen world. Reverting back to normal sleep he suggests dreamless sleep to conquer the fear of bad dreams. This seems more like dream psychology-‘fourth state’ than the realm of achieving oneness with the Almighty! Chapter 17 – Death as Deliverance: It maybe dreamless sleep, a sleep in which one is liberated from all care…..in the end you are back in the wakeful state, back in the wretched world. How to prevent this? How to enjoy eternal bliss? For that the only logical step you can take is to die. Yajnavalkya does take this step…..deathbed scene: ‘He is becoming one.” They say; “he does not see.”….. “He does not see”…as he goes out, the life (prana) goes out. (Brihadaranyaka, 4.4.2 & 3)…. [Page 284] To any wholesome lover of mankind, nature and life in general this would be a death
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warrant. Glory in death, yet mourning life. Praising gods and denigrating humans. There seems to be utter contempt for womankind, without which there would be no mankind. These are not passages of accident but well thought out statements in the heart of the Upanishads. Chapter 18 – License to Murder: The Upanishads have yet another shock for you. You receive it from their ethical systems, or more properly, from its absence…. “There are here and there moral maxims enunciated, but they are of no consequence and rise in no way above popular morality.” Indeed, ethics is one of the branches of study totally neglected in India…. [Page 286] The absence of ethics stares you in the face in every page of the vast Upanishads. If a religious system has no ethical foundation then it can be called anything else, except a religion. Because, without ethics, man is worse than an animal. The Upanishads have been cunningly written with a master design to be supplanted into the puny brains of all the lower castes. Once you are in possession of true knowledge, you can steal and be unsullied, you can kill an embryo and yet be unsullied; you can murder your father and mother or both, and yet be unsullied. Indeed, however heinous, however demonical, your acts are, nothing – absolutely nothing -can touch you. You are above good and evil; you are above reproach….taught by Indra, the King of the gods, to Pratardana Daivodasi (Kaushitaki, 3.1)….And as the Brihadaranyaka emphasizes, not only do you get absolved although you commit “very much evil”, but you will become “clean and pure, ageless and immortal.” (5.14.8)….. [Page 289] Ultimate knowledge of the divine absolves a human from all crimes permanently. This is the ultimate license to kill with impunity and what a way to earn it. I would not be surprised if Hitler actually read Max Mueller’s translations of these texts and decided to carry out his (un)holy deeds because he was not committing any sin according to the Upanishads. After all Hitler’s ‘swastika’ and his Aryan pure-blood philosophy was borrowed from the Hindu-Aryan
philosophy! Chapter19 – Uddalaka vs Yajnavalkya: Though tradition attributes the Brihadaranyaka wholly to Yajnavalkya, in its text itself, as it has come down to us, we find other teachers beside him. And in view of certain inconsistencies in the teaching of Uddalaka Aruni, it is presumed, and rightly, that interpolators attributed their views to him…..Yajnavalkya would have an answer at the tip of his tongue. Uddalaka was differently made…… [Page 290] Some say that Yajnavalkya was Uddalaka’s pupil (Brihadaranyaka, 6.3.7) yet their views and writings differ widely. Fact and fiction collide leaving the reader bewildered and lost in the Upanishadic jungle. It’s hard to figure what makes sense and with mostly nonsense. Chapter 20 – Hollow Men: Apart from Shourie’s book, I own nearly a dozen books exclusively devoted to the Upanishads and they show how scholastic they are, how verbose and vapid… [Page 293] From Ranade to Patwardhan all the experts on the Upanishads seem to be bellicose and illogical. Trying to explain the unexplainable and inventing something out of a void which is hollow and indeed shallow. But the Indian (Hindu) establishment continues to sponsor umpteen studies on Vedanta in the Western countries hoping for a miracle. Chapter 21 – “It is hereby certified…..” On what basis did Schopenhauer thus come to venerate the Upanishads? On the basis of their third-hand version? What he read was the Latin translation of the Persian translation done at the instance of Dar Sukoh…says Max Mueller, in an “utterly unintelligible style”…It shows that Schopenhauer was one of the Germans bitten by the Aryan bug…Racisim is, thus, not the exclusive affliction of Hitler and his Nazis; it is a virus that has deeper and wider spread when you go to the bottom of it……… [Page 298] Western scholars most have showered adulations on the Upanishads, Vedas, etc, without really critically examining the same texts from a humanistic, logical and ethical angle. Further even today Hitler is revered as a great
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leader in the state of Gujarat in western India where he is mentioned in school text books. At the heart of it all is good old racism at work overtime. Chapter 22 – A Last Word: We Indians have stood “almost apart from the general movement of human intelligence.” Why? Because of our distrust of intelligence. Because we denounce the mind which is the seat of intelligence. Because we place intuition above intelligence, because we hanker after that zero, the atman, and its merger with that bigger zero, the Brahman..[Page 299] Why? Because of our distrust of intelligence. Because we denounce the mind which is the seat of intelligence. Because we place intuition above intelligence, because we hanker after that zero, the atman, and its merger with that bigger zero, the Brahman.. [Page 299] Narla is right, yet on the same token it was the intelligent Brahmins who very cleverly created these texts to stop all the other classes from using their brains, in case a strong enough group does rebel and tear down the brahminized edifice of religiosity, which really was a way to govern and control the population for eternity. Even a callow young man today knows a lot more than the senior most of the Upanishadic rishis….and so, if the Upanishads are read at all, they should be read not for acquiring knowledge but for tracing the history of ideas by going to their tentative, confused and faltering beginnings. Furthermore, it should not be
forgotten that the Upanishands are the work of the two upper castes of ancient Indian society. They had certain vested interests. To safeguard them, they advanced certain ideas, concepts, postulates, etc. They are not only of no use in the present age but positively harmful…. [Page 299] Narla has summed up the essence of the Upanishads beautifully. The Upanishads restrict and handicap the mind of man in order to retard it from free thinking and critical examination of everything that he confronts. It is nothing short of digressively disabling diabolical drivel. Narla has read and referenced practically all the well known authors and translators of the entire spectrum of Upanishads. He has left no stone unturned to critically examine, without using kid gloves and dispassionately stated the truth within the vast literature of the Upanishads. Brutally honest and bold he stands apart among many who are too afraid of the repercussions and consequences to themselves. Religious studies on Hinduism will not be complete without reading all of Narla’s books. A must read for anyone seriously interested in researching the Hindu religion. Mr Kavaneet hails from India and is now settled in USA. He is a voratious reader and regularly writes reviews of books in various journals. He is a rationalist and secular thinker.
A tribute to Professor Kotha Satchidananda Murthy Professor Kotha Satchidananda Murthy died on 24 Jan. 2011 in Hyderabad. He was an outstanding philosophy professor in Andhra University, Waltair, from where he wrote Evolution of Indian Philosophy. M.N. Roy contributed very lengthy introduction to that critical book which was later incorporated in his book Materialism. Prof Murthy later served as Vice Chancellor of Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Nagarjuna University, Gunture, where he developed a Buddhist Study Center. Prof Murthy was also Chairman of UGC. He toured extensively and lectured in famous universities on philosophy and thought. He published several books in English. Prof Murthy wrote introduction to essays of A.B. Shah published by N. Innaiah (in Telugu) during 1968. He was a close associate of Justice Avula Sambasivarao, Chairman of Indian Radical Humanist Association. Many students were trained by Prof Murthy in Budhism and Logic. —Innaiah. N
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Mr. Kanhaiyalal Purohit, an Remembering Kanhaiyalal Purohit public meetings, old Radical Humanist from conferences held at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, breathed Jaipur and Jodhpur his last on 6.1.2011. He had served for in the years 1980 to 1990. I often feel nearly 36 yrs. at Shri Sumer Pushtikar fortunate enough to have had his High School, Jodhpur as Mathematics continuous assistance in running a teacher. For the last 20 yrs, after his small cooperative society at Jodhpur retirement, he was leading a quiet life, for distribution of wheat, commodity mostly confined to his house, because wheat that was in great scarcity in of a paralytic attack on his leg; still he those years in 1961 and 1962. Mr. was very fond of reading especially on Purohit was ever ready to help me in radical humanism, democracy, free the distribution of slips/ration cards society, etc... for taking wheat at the cooperation store, turn by turn. Once we did not He had been associates with the Radicals in the city of Jodhpur from the good old get the supply of wheat for about two weeks and days when Mr. Harish Joshi, Dr. P.L. Vyas, Mr. Raj when we received it, it could be given to only one Nana Vyas, Prof. Chandmal, Ugamraj, seventh of the card holders. Most of the card Shyamsunder Vyas of Lokjeevan etc, were actively holders had gathered at the ration shop and wanted propagating the ideas of M.N. Roy for not only to be given wheat on that very day, which was not getting independence from British but also for a possible because the supply was very short. Few happy life for all Indians, in matter of removal of card holders were very much agitated. However poverty, industrialization, economic prosperity, with folded hands I requested them to go silently to non-exploitation of man by man i.e. for a their houses without wheat and then I would see how each one of the card holders would get his due. democratic society based on the dignity of man. All along his life Mr. Purohit has been participating The shortage of wheat took a week to be fulfilled. in meetings, seminars, study camps and group My appeal had a magical effect upon the agitated discussions where issues of public importance, crowd. They dispersed at the moment of crisis. Mr. related to removal of superstitions, systems of K.L. Purohit willingly came to my rescue and he cruelty upon women, child marriage, wasteful not only started preparing shops’ names’ list for expenditures in marriages, purdah system illiteracy one seventh of the consumers for that day/but also etc. were taken up. He devoted much of his time in went from door to door to hand over the shops’ teaching these to those who could not afford to pay names so that they could go there and purchase for private tutors, and took great pains in wheat. This went on for 7 days and all the card campaigns for spreading education among the holders could get their due share of wheat within a women folk. During his young age he was always week and thus I succeeded in redeeming my pledge seen going to various Freshers and students to give justice to the agitated members of the persuading them to read M.N. Roy’s literature, society. It was possible because of the unstinted such as Independent India, later Radical Humanist, and self-less service of dear Mr. K.L. Purohit. and pamphlets and books written by M.N. Roy and Mr. Purohit is no more but he has left behind him his indelible marks on the minds of many persons to other radicals. We, who had the good fortune to have Mr. K.L. spread his message of working for the welfare of Purohit in our midst cannot forget his sincerity of mankind, without caring for his own comforts. —B.D. Sharma, President, IRI purpose and dogged perseverance at the time of
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Humanist News Section: I
Radical Humanist Centre, Inkollu, Prakasam Dt., A.P. Study Camp: A two days Rationalist and Humanist study camp was organized by the Radical Humanist Centre (RHC), Inkollu, Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh on 12th and 13th February, 2011 on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary Celebrations of the Centre. Sri Kurra Hanumantha Rao, Chairman of the Rationalist Association of India (RAI) presided over the morning session on 12th February. Sri Gumma Veeranna, President and Sri Vutla Ranganayakulu, General Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Rationalist Association (APRA) delivered lectures on the subject “The Threat of Religious Fundamentalism and the Need of Renaissance”. The 90th Birthday of Ravipudi Venkatadri, a veteran Radical Humanist and the President of Rationalist Association of India was celebrated in this session. Dr. T. Mahesh felicitated Ravipudi Venkatadri. All the participants expressed their best wishes to Ravipudi Venkatadri. Smt. Rekha Saraswat, Editor, The Radical Humanist, Meerut, India and Dr. N. Innaiah from USA also sent wishes to Ravipudi Venkatadri on this occasion. The collection of editorials written by Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri in “Hetuvadi” Telugu monthly published from 1982 to 2010 were released in two volumes (13th and 14th) by Sri K. Ram Mohan Roy, Lecturer, JKC College, Guntur with an excellent review. Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri spoke on Rationalism. Sri Gumma Veeranna, President of APRA, presided over the afternoon session. Sri Kari Haribabu, General Secretary of RHC, Inkollu explained “The Nature and Evolution of the Universe”. Sri Meduri Satyanarayana, General Secretary of RAI, spoke on the subject “Science and Religion”. Interesting discussion took place on the above subjects.
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Under the Chairmanship of Sri Gumma Veeranna, the Executive Committee meeting of APRA was held. Several problems were discussed in the meeting including the necessity of spreading Rationalism and Humanism in the society. Sri Vutla Ranganayakulu, General Secretary, reported the activities of the association conducted during the last year. Sri Meduri Satyanarayana, General Secretary of RAI presided over the morning session on 13th February, 2011. Dr. K. Vijayalakshmi, Retd. Lecturer, Rajahmundry spoke on “The Problems of Women and Rationalism”. Ex. President of APRA Sri Chunchu Seshaiah spoke on “Rationalism” and Sri Shaik Babu, Joint Secretary of RHC spoke on Humanism. A Title “INGERSOLL OF ANDHRA PRADESH” was awarded to Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri in recognition of his life time dedicated service to Rationalist and Humanist movement, by the “Centre for Inquiry”. Dr. Narisetty Innaiah from USA sent a message to this effect to Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri. The 15th volume on “Questions and Answers” written by Sri Ravipudi Venkadri which was previously published in “Hetuvadi” magazine was released by Prof. N. Anjaiah, Centre for Scientific Socialism, Nagarjuna University, Guntur with a critical review. The 20th anniversary meeting of RHC was held in the evening. Sri Kari Haribabu, General Secretary of the centre presided over the meeting. The activities of the centre and the history of the centre were reported by Sri Kari Haribabu and Meduri Satyanarayana. Sri Gumma Veeranna, Kurra Hanumantha Rao, Sri Chunchu Seshaiah and Sri Vathsavayi Narayana Raju, President, RHC also spoke on this occasion. Prizes were distributed to the students who won in the district wide competitions of essay writing and elocution organized by RHC, Inkollu. Nearly 100 members attended the study camp from different places in Andhra Pradesh including
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Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Nizamabad, Guntur, Prakasam, East Godavari, West Godavari and Kadapa Districts. Rationalist and Humanist literature (nearly 100 titles) was sold on reduced rates during the study camp. Free boarding and lodging facilities were provided for two days to all the participants by the centre. The meeting was concluded with a vote of thanks by Sri Nallabothu Radhakrishna, Treasurer, RHC, Inkollu for successful completion of the 20th Anniversary Celebrations and the study camp. News sent by G. Veerana, President, APRA, Hyderabad II Mere membership of banned outfit won’t attract criminal action:
Be wary of torture-induced confessions before police: Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence, the Supreme Court held on Thursday. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra gave this ruling, setting aside a designated court judgment which convicted Arup Bhuyan under Section 3 (5) of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act of being a member of the United Liberation Front of Asom. Justice Katju quoted a U.S. Supreme Court judgment which said: “Mere advocacy or teaching the duty, necessity or propriety of violence as a means of accomplishing political or industrial reform, or publishing or circulating or displaying any book or paper containing such advocacy, or justifying the commission of violent acts with intent to exemplify, spread or advocate the propriety of the doctrines of criminal syndicalism, or to voluntarily assemble with a group formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal syndicalism is not per se illegal. It will become
illegal only if it incites to imminent lawless action.” Another U.S. Supreme Court judgment also held that a member of a communist organisation could not be regarded as doing an unlawful act by merely obtaining employment in a defence facility, the Bench noted. “We respectfully agree with the decisions, and are of the opinion that they apply to India too, as our fundamental rights are similar to the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution.” Arup Bhuyan was convicted under the TADA Act of being a member of the banned ULFA, on the basis of a confession which is admissible evidence under the TADA Act. Allowing the appeal against this judgment of the Designated Court, Assam, in Guwahati, the Bench said the appellant denied that he was a member of the banned outfit. “Even assuming he was a member of the ULFA, it has not been proved that he was an active member and not a mere passive member.” On confessional statements, the Bench said “Torture is such a terrible thing that when a person is under torture he will confess to almost any crime. Even Joan of Arc confessed to be a witch under torture. Hence, where the prosecution case mainly rests on the confessional statement made to the police by the alleged accused, in the absence of corroborative material, the courts must be hesitant before they accept such extra-judicial confessional statements.” Weak Evidence:
The Bench said: “Confession is a very weak kind of evidence. As is well known, the widespread and rampant practice in the police in India is to use third degree methods for extracting confessions from the alleged accused. Hence, the courts have to be cautious in accepting confessions made to the police by the alleged accused.” The judges said: “Unfortunately, the police in our country are not trained in scientific investigation (as are the police in western countries), nor are they provided the technical equipment for scientific
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investigation, hence to obtain a conviction they often rely on the easy short cut of procuring a confession under torture.” In the instant case, “the prosecution case mainly relies on the alleged confessional statement of the appellant made before the Superintendent of Police. We are of the opinion that it will not be safe to convict the accused on the basis of alleged confessional statement.” Section 3 (5) of TADA could not be read literally; doing so would be violative of Articles 19 (right to freedom) and 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution. The Bench acquitted the appellant of all charges.—Circulated by J. Venkatesan III
People’s Union For Civil Liberties, (PUCL), Gujarat Harassment to the human rights activist, lawyers and media persons PUCL delegation meets the Governor Memorandum 7 February 2011 To, Her Excellency, Smt. Kamlaji, The Governor of Gujarat, Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar, Sub: —Attempt to intimidate witnesses towards derailing trials connected with carnage of 2002 and harassing Human Rights Activists, lawyers and media persons— Respected Madam, We, the concerned citizens of Gujarat, want to bring to the notice of your Excellency harassment suffered by the human rights activists, lawyers and media persons seeking justice for the victims of the carnage of 2002.
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We notice that one by one witnesses are manipulated by intimidation, coercion, bribes and such other heinous means which is manifest in Zaheera (Best Bakery Case, Vadodara) or Rais Khan (Panderwada-Lunawada case) turning hostile. We understand that human rights activist Ms. Teesta Setalvad, advocates like Mr. Sahil Tirmizi, Mr. Mukul Sinha, Mr. Amrisha Patel, Mr. S.H. Iyer, Mr. Shamshad Pathan and journalist Rahul Singh of Sahara Channel face threats to their lives. As we all are aware Ms. Teesta Setalvad through her NGO, CJP, and advocate Mr. Tirmizi with the help of the kin of the victims could get the High Court’s order in 2006 and that of the Supreme Court in 2008 respectively for dignified burial of the mortal remains of the massacred victims. Through these efforts decent burial was provided. Moreover, through these legal battles, the activists and advocates have been hindered by the disturbing nexus of the State’s police, the administration and politicians. Whistle blowers and defenders of human rights are persecuted. Gujarat Government’s mala-fide allegations seem to aim at derailing the course of justice and come at a time when the apex court is poised to hear a complaint of conspiracy to commit mass murder, subversion of justice and destruction of evidence. We see this as Gujarat Government’s ploy to influence the courts before its imminent judgment in the cases pertaining to the carnage of 2002. Under these circumstances we demand the following: 1. Police act independently of politicians. 2. Witnesses be given proper Protection. 3. The activists, whistle blowers and the lawyers must have freedom to work without any intimidation and coercion. Thanking you, Yours, Gautam Thaker, (Gen. Sec., PUCL Gujarat), Prakash N. Shah, (Editor, Nirikshak), Ila Pathak, (AWAG),
THE RADICAL HUMANIST
MARCH 2011
Manishi Jani, (Lok Adhikar Sangh), Gautam Thaker, (General Secretary), (079-26641353, M. 98253 82556); Minaxi Joshi, (All India Mahila Sanskrutik Prakash N. Shah, (Working President), (M. Sangathan) 9879919421) Persons to be contacted: Prof. J.S. Bandukwala, (President), Correspondence Address: 4, Sanmitra Society, Jivraj Park Area, Opp. Malav (0265-2783338); Talav, Ahmedabad-380 051. GUJARAT.
Important Announcement
Encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists To be loaded on the RH Website (http://www.theradicalhumanist.com) Dear Friends, This is to request you to send in your personal details, contact numbers etc. (along with your passport size photographs) as well as a brief account of how you got associated with M.N. Roy/Radical Democratic Party/Radical Humanist Movement directly or indirectly through the philosophy of New Humanism. This is also a request to all those friends, whose deceased parent/parents were involved in or were sympathetic with Radical Humanism and its Movement, to send in accounts of their parent’s/parents’ association (as much as they can recollect and recount). This will be a loving and emotional tribute to their memories from your side. All this effort is being made to form an encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists right from the days of the beginning of M.N. Roy’s social and political activities in India and abroad. All this information will be uploaded and permanently stored on the RH Website in the Profile section for everyone to read and come in contact with one another. This will be a historical check-list to connect with all the crusaders who worked or are still working for the human cause on the humanist lines. —Rekha Saraswat
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