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Om Prakash Sharma
THE ancient Hindu way stands for liberal outlook,
constructive attitude and an accommodating spirit.
Pursuit of universal values made it possible for
world’s greatest diversity that even now comprises
more than two thousand ethnic groups, 652
languages & dialects and every major religion, to
live in harmony. India continues to be a home to
the third largest Muslim population, even after
the birth of Pakistan as a separate homeland for
them.
 It is already becoming clear that a chapter which
had a Western beginning will have to have an
Indian ending if it is not to end in
self-destruction of the human race. At this
supremely dangerous moment in human history, the
only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way.
Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make
it possible for the human race to grow together
into a single family. -Dr. Arnold J. Toynbee
British Historian.
The Ancient Hindu Way, in the above-quoted
perceptive observation, is the soul of the Indian
Nation and Democracy. Toynbee could as well say:
The chapter which had an Indian beginning in
pre-historical times will have to have an Indian
ending as well. The ancient Hindu way stands for
liberal outlook, constructive attitude and an
accommodating spirit. Pursuit of universal values
made it possible for world’s greatest diversity
that even now comprises more than two thousand
ethnic groups, 652 languages & dialects and every
major religion, to live in harmony. India
continues to be a home to the third largest Muslim
population, even after the birth of Pakistan as a
separate homeland for them.
Unfortunately, the ancient liberal creed of India
has been undermined in recent times. It is further
mired in the turbid waters of narrow politics of
pretentious secularism and intellectual
dishonesty.
There is an appalling disconnect from the Indian
heritage of the large westernized segment of the
society that tends to be more effete than elite in
outlook. The object of this paper is to make a
comparative study of the cardinal features of
Hindu spiritualism that has shaped the Hindu
Philosophy of life that went into making India a
unique nation and a vibrant democracy. India is a
dynamic democracy due to its liberal ethos and
democratic traditions at grassroots level,
nurtured over the millennia, and not because of
the British legacy, as generally assumed. British
parliamentary institutions succeeded in India
because of the receptive environment. Will Durant
rightly gives credit for this to the “democratic
traditions of India through village communities of
self-government."
Indologists like T.W. Rhys Davids and R.C.Majumdar
also endorse the view about the widespread
political culture based on popular assemblies.
Buddhism and Jainism contributed to the
development of democratic institutions. The
Buddhist Sangha was a democratic institution. The
Buddhist canons were finalized during the three
Synods of Buddhism and of Jainsm at Vallabhi in
456 AD after 800 years of Vardhman.
If the British influence was indeed a potent
factor for the success of democracy in India, then
many Afro-Asian countries that were part of the
British Empire would have been practicing
democratic values today. Nothing illustrates the
fallacy of the assumption better than the failure
of democratic experiments in Pakistan and
Bangladesh, the successor state to East Pakistan,
that were offshoots of India. Fired by fanaticism,
they partitioned the assets without sharing the
liberal Indian heritage. It is no coincidence that
out of about 50 Muslim majority countries, very
few have managed to establish genuinely democratic
form of governments. A section of the Muslim
clerics, in a recent statement to the effect that
democracy is not compatible with Islam may have
confirmed the views of many scholars. In fact,
some of the leading Islamic countries, like Saudi
Arabia, figure among the worst governed countries
in the world.
A study in contrast is quite revealing.
Christianity and Islam, two major religions of the
world grew out of Judaism. In India, Buddhism and
Jainism, two great ethical religions, emerged
against the Hindu background. But, the similarity
ends here. The two Judaism-based religions have a
long history of violent confrontation with each
other and with Judaism. One can see the depth of
their historical aversion in Dante's Divine Comedy
(Canto XXVIII), that puts Prophet Muhammad in Hell
"among the sowers of discord and the schismatics,
being lacerated by devils again and again." In
contrast Gautam, the founder of Buddhism the rival
religion to Hinduism, was merely brushed away as ‘nastika’-
an atheist (Valmiki Ramayana); as per Manu’s
definition, a non-believer of Vedas.
India has an ancient civilization, with the
longest unbroken continuity. India had not
witnessed religious violence until the Muslim
invasions of India. "The Mohammedan Conquest of
India is probably the bloodiest story in history",
wrote Will Durant in ‘The Story of Civilization’.
Koenraad Elst, the Belgian historian, estimates
that between the year 1000 and 1525, eighty
million Hindus died at the hands of Muslim
invaders, “probably the biggest holocaust in the
whole history of our planet. Likewise, historians
write that Christianity as a group has murdered
more people in the name of ‘their God’ and wiped
out entire cultures, than probably any other group
in history. Over the course of 200 years, some 2
to 5 million persons are estimated to have been
killed during the crusades.
Muslims still consider the Crusades to be a symbol
of Western hostility toward Islam. Aldous Huxley
(1894-1963), author of ‘Perennial Philosophy’,
further writes of "Islam's black record of holy
wars and persecution - a record comparable to that
of later Christianity." Swami Vivekananda wrote:
"Mohammedans talk of universal brotherhood, but
what comes out of that in reality? Why, anybody
who is not a Mohammedan will not be admitted into
the brotherhood; he will more likely have his own
throat cut. Christians talk of universal
brotherhood; but anyone who is not a Christian
must go to that place where he will be eternally
barbecued."
A canard was spread by western historians that the
Aryans had wiped out the native non-Aryan
populations and that the Hindus had finished
Buddhism. The first charge seeks to cover up the
guilt of the imperial powers for having committed
massive genocide of the indigenous people in the
lands they had colonized. B.R. Ambedkar, a
Buddhist himself, has replied to the second
charge. According to him, “There can be no doubt
that the fall of Buddhism in India was due to the
invasions of the Musalmans." He mentions in his
book, ‘Ends and Means’; "It is an extremely
significant fact that, before the coming of the
Mohammedans, there was virtually no persecution in
India. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang, who
visited India in the first half of the seventh
century and has left a circumstantial account of
his 14 years in the country, makes it clear that
Hindus and Buddhist lived side by side without any
show of violence.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
and writer, gives an account of fortitude shown by
Hindus in the face of atrocities perpetrated by
foreign invaders as follows:
“Hinduism remains a vibrant, cultural and
religious force in the world today. To understand
Hinduism, it is necessary that we examine its
history and marvel at its sheer stamina to survive
in spite of repeated attacks across India's
borders, time and again, by Greeks, Shakas, Huns,
Arabs, Pathans, Mongols, Portuguese, British etc.
India gave shelter, acceptance, and freedom to
all. But, in holy frenzy, millions of Hindus were
slaughtered or proselytized. Their cities were
pillaged and burnt, temples were destroyed and
accumulated treasures of centuries carried off.
Even under grievous persecutions from the ruling
foreigners, the basics of its civilization
remained undefiled and, as soon as the crises were
over Hindus returned to the same old ways of
searching for the perfection or the unknown”.
Islam and Christianity wiped out Pagans and
maligned their intensely humanitarian religion. In
a fit of extreme malice towards them the Bible
created a Genocidal God that ordered the killing
of every single man, woman and child during the
conquest of Canaan by Moses and Joshua. It
concludes that all the Canaanites and Amalekites
were killed. The stated reason for the genocide
was that God wanted to prevent the coexistence of
His people with Pagans, which would result in
religious syncretism and the restoration of
polytheism. The burning of heretics by the Roman
Church on stakes has its own chapter of ignominy.
Lao Tse was closer to the Indian thought in saying
in Tao The Ching: “The Way of Heaven is to help
not harm.” The universal religion of Hinduism
urges mankind to be the sarva-mitra- friend of
every being. In the Yajur Veda, the devotee prays
to look upon all created things as friends.
In a striking contrast, Hu Shih, a former Chinese
ambassador to the United States, observed: “India
conquered and dominated China culturally for
twenty centuries without having to send a single
soldier across her border.” It is worth recalling
that two Chinese emperors had persecuted the
Buddhist missionaries to China. When the
succeeding emperor wanted to punish the
persecutors, the Buddhist monks magnanimously
dissuaded him from doing so. Religions of India
reached other lands through enterprising traders
and pacifist monks that promoted harmony instead
of discord. The religions that entered India
belligerently under the Imperial push could hardly
be expected to be integrative. As a defense
mechanism, Hinduism erected the walls of orthodoxy
around it with ‘hundred exits and not one door for
entrance’. This was to have a deleterious impact
on the internal harmony of Hinduism.
[Continued]
[The writer is former governor of Nagaland and a
well known commentator on public affairs]
BACK
Punjab Congress: Waiting for Godot
Gobind Thukral
EVERY Congressman in Punjab looks towards
capturing political power by early 2012. They
strongly sense that the present Akali- BJP combine
has failed on all fronts and a victory at the
polls is granted since there is no alternative
except their party. This is not a bad wish by
itself. But the way Punjab Congress leaders at all
levels have been conducting, they ought to think
twice before dreaming about power. Senior leaders
are not only at odds with each other, but have
been sputtering fire, much to the delight of the
Akalis and BJP leaders. They also provide
vicarious pleasure to their masters in Delhi as
this is their fodder for growth in the corridors
of power in the national capital.
The Congress in Punjab is so plagued by groups and
struck in confused ideological positions that at
times it becomes a laughing stock. Both inside and
outside the state assembly the party demonstrates
its pitiable position, despite some bright leaders
making well informed speeches.
Punjab is today
suffering from grave economic crisis. Poor quality
and short supply of power to all sectors; farm,
industry and domestic has hampered the production
and pushed up costs all around.
There is an ever deepening agrarian crisis.
Farmers are leaving their old and trusted
profession of farming, Punjab’s only pride on the
economic map and are moving to cities to make a
better living.
Leaving the agricultural sector to
the vagaries of free market is proving disastrous.
Despite maintaining a steady growth, every 9th
farmer has quit farming during hey days of Green
Revolution. Over 12 per cent marginal and small
cultivators have quit as well as 5 per cent of the
big farmers. 78 per cent found they were better
off after quitting the profession. One study
showed that 36 per cent small farmers have sold
their entire land and 12 per cent their part
holdings.
The farmers no longer see this as an isolated case
of political and bureaucratic misconduct or the
occasional case of overproduction. They realise
that the pride and value that the vocation of
agriculture offered them till recently is fast
thinning. There is little appreciation of the
farmers’ potential to produce more. As one expert
assessed “an abundant crop of paddy and wheat in
Punjab is today seen more as a bane than a boon”.
Indebtedness is on the rise for various reasons.
And at top the protesting small and medium farmers
routinely face hostile police and corrupt
bureaucracy.
People particularly the poor and the middle
classes groan under the impact of rising prices.
Subsidized power and Atta and Dal offer some
relief, but no solution for ever increasing prices
of all household items, particularly eatables.
There is widespread unemployment, some 30 lakh
youth, with poor education roam the streets
aimlessly. They face a hopeless future and are
taking to all kinds of drugs in a mind boggling
manner. Their number is ever rising and tearing
the social fabric apart. Hapless parents are
selling whatever to push their wards to foreign
countries for studies or jobs. Look how the police
resorted to a brutal lathi charge on the
youngsters in Jalandhar who had gone to seek visa
to go the United Kingdom. There are two cases of
rape every day and many times more molestation
cases. Crime is on the rise and as social tensions
mount it is bound to increase.
Social sectors like
health and education are in a poor shape. A wobbly
government admits shortage of doctors, medicines
and teachers but does little.
It is true that the Congress made its
‘contribution’ when it ruled the state towards the
current mess. Yet it offers no alternative
solution and one does not hear much from the big
time Congress leaders, Capt. Amarinder Singh, Mrs.
Rajinder Kaur Bhattal or the present temporary
state Congress president, Mohinder Singh KP. The
issues do not bother them and it is only the lack
of power that upsets. When did they lead any
reasonably big protest march in the state’s
capital, Chandigarh? They need not as one senior
leader admitted, “We do not have to slog in the
streets. What is the choice before the people when
elections come? The Akalis and the BJP have done
nothing and the people are sick of them. They have
already lost and we only wait for the elections to
come to power. We shall look at these problems
then.” And what he will not say is that meanwhile,
“we fight with each other and settle the
leadership issue.”
Yes, it is the leadership issue that hangs like a
murky cloud over the Congress party in Punjab. The
Congress presents a better team work in Haryana
and Himachal Pradesh than in Punjab. Part of the
problem lies with leaders like Capt. Amarinder
Singh and Mrs. Bhattal and second rung of leaders.
They lead delegations to central leaders, Mrs
Mohsina Kidwai, party president Mrs. Sonia
Gandhi’s all season trusted secretary, Ahmed Patel
and who not. Complaints, largely anonymous or
unsigned against each other reach these central
leaders to fill huge boxes, finally to be
consigned to the dustbins. The job of those in
charge of Punjab Congress affairs instead of
helping forge unity is to encourage one group
against the other. All this happens in the name of
the invincible Congress president and chairperson
of the UPA, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. This is pushing the
party into a limbo and the only activity is seen
to hold small meetings, protests here and there
and press briefings.
One reason for the delay in deciding the
leadership issue is the conviction that any leader
chosen much in advance of the elections will be a
spent force by that time and any new leader close
to the elections will help the party’s performance
at the elections as that means less factionalism.
But there is another more important reason and
that exposes the great secular party. It cannot
choose a non Sikh and not even a non Jat Sikh to
lead the party. When was the last time it chose a
Hindu its state president and chief ministerial
candidate? Side by side it must appease the
scheduled castes. Caste and religious
considerations weigh heavily on the party that
promised ages back to end interference of religion
in political affairs and an end of untouchablity
in all its grimy forms. What face does it have to
call others communal? Meanwhile, the Akalis and
the BJP are more than contented at the vacillation
of their main rivals.
BACK
Dear CM Stop GM
An Open letter to S Parkash Singh Badal, CM,
Punjab on GM Corn trials currently going in PAU
Campus
 To
Shri Parkash Singh Badal,
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab,
Chandigarh.
Dear Sir,
Subject: An MNC’s GM Corn field trial in the state
of Punjab – request you to intervene and stop the
trial immediately
Greetings! Your respected self might be aware of
the serious concerns that many nations and
citizens across the world have, with regard to GM
(Genetic Modification) technology in our food and
farming.
Based on a permission letter issued by the
Department of Biotechnology’s RCGM on 19th June
2009 (Ltr No.BT/BS/17/44/97-PID) for an open air
trial of Monsanto’s transgenic corn hybrid (HiShell
and 900M Gold containing MON 89034 event and NK603
event), the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) in
Ludhiana had gone ahead with the planting of this
GM corn trial in Ludhiana.
We have several serious concerns with regard to
this trial in terms of its need, biosafety issues
and the corporation for which this trial is being
conducted (Monsanto is the world’s largest seed
company and it is to further the commercial
interests of this corporation that this trial is
being conducted).
1. GM technology is known to cause various health
impacts: Genetic Engineering or Genetic
Modification is a technology that involves the
insertion of foreign genes, most often, into our
agricultural crops so that new traits that do not
exist in the crop before could be obtained with
this technology. However, given that many changes
are brought about at the molecular level due to
such forcible insertion of genetic material from
elsewhere, the results are unpredictable and
hazardous. Worse, given that we are talking about
seeds which contain their own life within, this
becomes an irreversible technology once released
into the environment – the seeds that grow into
plants have a self-propagating mechanism
thereafter and are therefore, uncontrollable.
GM foods, in various experimental studies, have
been shown to cause adverse health effects like
allergies, impaired immune systems, damage to
vital organs like kidneys, liver and pancreas,
affecting and stunting growth and development,
affecting reproductive health and causing
infertility and even bringing about
inter-generational impacts. Given the evidence
that exists of such adverse impacts on our health
with GM foods, a precautionary approach should be
deployed on this technology and no deliberate
release of any GMOs into our environment should be
allowed.
Moreover several independent researches world over
clearly indicate that Herbicide resistant crops
will intensify and increase dependency on
herbicide use in agriculture rather than lead to
any significant reductions. A variety of
herbicides will have to be reintroduced to control
glyphosate resistant volunteers, feral populations
of crops and resistant weeds.
2. Herbicides will leave their adverse impacts on
our health too: In addition to the evidence on
adverse health impacts due to the technology of
genetic engineering, there is a growing body of
evidence that shows the adverse impacts of
chemical herbicides like Glyphosate on our health
including on reproductive health. An increase of
chemicals in our farming is not desirable at all
from a health and environment perspective and we
are sure you would agree on this, Sir, given the
severe environmental health crisis related to
pesticides that Punjabis are reeling under.
3. Monsanto is a seed corporation known for its
anti-farmer policies: Monsanto is known to have
criminalized farmers in America for saving their
own seeds. The company is reported to have sued
and jailed many farmers for this “crime” of
“saving their own seeds”. This company is known to
have bribed officials to get regulatory clearances
for its GM crop elsewhere and is known to have
suppressed biosafety information from public
scrutiny. A recent documentary from France has
documented the antecedents of this giant
corporation seeking more and more profits and has
shown that Monsanto controls the regulatory bodies
in the USA through systems like “revolving doors”.
This profit-hungry corporation, which is reported
to have announced that “No food shall be grown
that we don’t own”, has also been seen to have
avoided accountability and liability time and
again through a variety of strategies including
using Indian corporations and public sector
agencies as the front. Why should such an
anti-farmer profiteering company be allowed to
advance its commercial interests through hazardous
technologies in the state of Punjab?
4. No SBCC that is functional: It is not clear
that the state administration is aware of this
trial, as laid down by the Environment Protection
Act’s 1989 Rules. The State Biotechnology
Coordination Committee is apparently not
functional from the reports we obtained.
5. Contamination from such trials is inevitable:
The fact that illegal Bt Cotton proliferated in
this country on thousands of acres much before a
formal approval was provided by the regulators and
the fact that a GM rice trial a few months ago in
Jharkhand is found to have contaminated rice
plants in the vicinity of the trial are
testimonies to the fact that contamination (both
physical and biological) from such open air trials
are inevitable and therefore, the Punjab
government should step in to stop such trials from
taking place in its jurisdiction.
6. Agriculture and Health are state subjects: Sir,
the Constitution of India vests the state
governments with rights and responsibilities over
two very important subjects concerning their
citizens: Agriculture and Health. Other states
have exercised such a constitutional right and
responsibility by disallowing GM crop trials and
cultivation in their state. A prominent example
includes Kerala which has declared itself a
GM-Free and Organic state. Punjab, under your
leadership should take such a stand too, in
pursuance of the authority vested by the
Constitution of India.
7. We question the very need for this
herbicide-tolerant, pest-resistant GM technology
that is being tried out here: Herbicide tolerance
trait inserted into our agricultural crops would
mean that millions of poor agricultural workers
will not find employment through de-weeding, one
of the main sources of employment in rural India
today. It does not make sense for the State to
decimate existing employment opportunities in
agriculture and then increase the state financing
burden with regard to programmes like NREGA.
Herbicide tolerance might be a technology suitable
for countries like the USA where only 2% of the
population live off farming but not in India.
When it comes to traits like insect resistance
through Bt crops, it is obvious that this is not a
sustainable solution since the pests will develop
resistance to the Bt pesticide now being produced
from within the plant and that pest management
cannot rest on Bt genes being inserted in all our
crops! There are hundreds of practices that are
safer, affordable and natural that can be used by
farmers to control pests in their farming and
there are lakhs of farmers who are successfully
proving it on the ground too. In such a case,
where is the need for this technology in the first
instance?
State governments and state agriculture
universities: The Punjab Agriculture University is
supposed to adhere to the policy directions
provided by the state government, especially on
matters like this and not just take up trials as
per the decisions of the Central Government.
Elsewhere, state governments like Orissa have not
allowed field trials of GM food in their
agricultural institutes. The Mahatma Phule Krishi
Vishwa Vidyalaya, a state agriculture university
in Maharashtra, last year announced that it will
not take up transgenic crop field trials any more
given the various unresolved and unanswered
concerns with regard to this technology and the
Vice Chancellor announced that the University
would rather invest on latest technologies of crop
breeding like Marker Assisted Selection. Your
coalition partner, BJP, in its manifesto had
clearly laid down the potential of Indian
traditional farming and had taken an express stand
against approvals of GM crops in the country
without full scientific data on long term effects
and this is precisely what is missing right now in
India even as field trials are being allowed which
pose a distinct threat of contamination and
irreversible leakage of seeds as has been seen in
the case of Bt Cotton in Gujarat.
It is in this context that we hope that you would
concede to the demand of farmers’ organizations,
people’s movements, consumers and other civil
society organizations to immediately intervene
with regard to the GM Corn trial of Monsanto being
conducted in open air conditions in Ludhiana and
stop it.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours
Dr Inderjeet Kaur Dr L S Chawla Prof Jagmohan
Singh Prof Sucha Singh Gill
Chairperson Former Vice Chancellor President Professor of Economics
All India Pingalwara Baba Farid University of Association for Democratic Punjabi University
Society Health Sciences Rights Patiala
Dr G P I Singh Gobind Thukral Dr Daljeet Singh Umendra Dutt
Director - Principal Journalist Eye Surgeon and Executive Director
Adesh Medical College Chandigarh Professor
Emirates Kheti Virasat Mission
Bathinda Amritsar
For details contact:
Dr G P I Singh, Convener, Environmental Health
Action Group; 9815542987; sgpinder@yahoo.com
Umendra Dutt, Executive Director, Kheti Virasat
Mission, Jaitu 9872682161; umendradutt@gmail.com
BACK
Ive Children stories: Tripta’s ‘braille’ of Life
Pearl V.Jasra
 THIS essentially is the story of Tripta,
who is 50 something. Born and married into poor
families, like millions of women out there,
poverty their perpetual shadow. Despite poverty
everything seemed to go on very well with her life
in a dingy, dark-lit room for many years. And
then her married son died. Soon after her young
daughter-in-law ran away leaving behind her
4-months-old twin daughters. With her unstoppable
tears and a massive burden on her heart Tripta
somehow went on courageously looking after her
twin grand-daughters, with the support of her poor
husband.
The tiny twin sisters were barely a year old when
on a Holi day somebody threw acid on her. She lost
both her eyes and her face was disfigured beyond
repair. The poor husband pleaded to the doctors if
one of his eyes could be transplanted but no, not,
that was just not possible. There was complete
damage inside her eye-sockets, which were later on
stitched. Tripta’s dark and dingy room, as if in
vengeance, chose to sit permanently in her
stitched eye-sockets. Her husband, made poor and
miserable by repeated surgeries conducted on
Tripta couldn’t continue anymore and died.
Tripta’s darkness was finally complete.
 Without her son, without her husband, blind Tripta
alongwith her twin grand-daughters chose to do the
never-ending fast course about the braille of her
life where she keeps adding new pages, new
chapters in the actual book of Braille for the
blind.
The real Braille Book has no chapters as to how to
start a kerosene stove, make chapattis, fry things
and how not to burn fingers. It also has no
chapters how to comb and plait her twin
grand-daughters’ hair, leave them at nearby
schools, bring them back, bathe and feed them.
Sadly the Braille Book teaches no Tripta to
differentiate between a 10, 20, 50 rupees note.
Tripta, in her darkness has mastered this Braille.
Well folks, I spent a day with Tripta in that dark
and dingy room and I was totally humbled.
p.s.
I asked Tripta,” Do you get any blind-age
pension?” She stops pumping the stove (tea for
me),” Mainu pata hai tu vi kalli hain, par tu hi
meri pension hai.” (I know you are also alone but
you are my pension). And she starts pumping the
stove again……
— to be continued
[Tript/Tripta means satisfied, satiated, name of
Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s Mother also]
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