Gobind Thukral

THE world is constantly on the move and so is India. Every seventh person is a migrant worldwide. Almost one billion of the estimated 6.7 billion people in the world are migrants. Out of this number, some 740 million are internal migrants — moving within various parts of their own country. Women make up for almost half of that.

One in every three Indians is a migrant. Punjabis, both Indian and Pakistani cannot resist migrating to newer lands. Name a country and we can find them there, well settled with their bag and baggage.

According to the United Nations Human Development (UNDP) Report 2009 released on October 6, migration can have a significant impact on reducing poverty. Yet the poorest segments of society, who can benefit the most by seeking a better life elsewhere, face barriers due to legal, social and financial hurdles. Internal migration should not be seen as a problem rather an opportunity and the UNDP report suggests that governments ensure ‘access and treatment’ to forced migrants. Among those who have emigrated out, just a third or only about 70 million people, have moved from a developing to a developed country. Most of the world’s 200 million international migrants moved from one developing country to another or between developed countries.

Remittances from Indian migrant workers are about 1.5 times more than the total foreign investments in the country. Additionally, remittances help reduce fertility and empower women, According to data with the Reserve Bank of India , private transfer receipts comprising mainly remittances from Indians working overseas and local withdrawals from NRI (non-resident Indian) rupee deposits, increased 9.4 percent to $13.3 billion during the first quarter of 2009-10 fiscal from $12.2 billion in the corresponding period last year.

India has about 25-30 million citizens working overseas, with a bulk of them employed in the Gulf region. The movement of emigrants from India was as follows: 72 per cent to another country in Asia, 15 per cent to Northern America and 9.7 per cent to Europe. However, nearly half of all Indian emigrants went to a country with a very high Human Development Index, the vast majority obviously to the United Arab Emirates.

Migrants, internal or international, benefited themselves, the communities they moved into and those they left behind, the report says. The gains were larger for the international migrants who earned higher incomes, obtained better access to health and education, and improved prospects for their children. And though the poorest people were the least mobile, they gained the most from emigrating out, witnessing “an average of 15-fold increase in income, a doubling in education enrolment and a 16-fold reduction in child mortality after moving to a country with more opportunities.”

The report says that contrary to commonly held beliefs, immigrants did not crowd out locals from the job market but instead boosted economic output and improved rates of investment in new businesses and initiatives: “Research in the United States found that a 1.3 per cent increase in the share of migrant university graduates increased the number of patents issued per capita by a massive 15 per cent.”

Job generation

The report argues that migration ought not to become a substitute for development in the countries of origin. Nonetheless, mobility brought new ideas, knowledge and resources besides generating jobs for local workers. In Kerala for instance, the exodus to the Gulf countries yielded a construction boom in the State.

Origin countries also benefited financially from handsome remittances, which in many countries, including India, exceeded official aid. There were social dividends to origin communities in the form of reductions in fertility, higher school enrolment and empowerment of women.

The 2009 Human Development Report (HDR), makes a strong case for removing barriers to migration within and across borders, arguing that human movement had brought perceptible all-round benefits and held the potential to improve the lives of millions of poor and low-skilled people.

The report shatters the many myths around migration, including that most of it is international and towards North America, and further that migrants adversely impact the exit and entry locations.

The Indian popular imagination has long painted migration negatively as “brain drain’ — ambitious emigrants coming good in the West, especially the United States, at the cost of their own country. The host countries have, in turn, seen the immigrants as a burden, as people who take away jobs.

According to the 2009 HDR, not only are these perceptions entirely untrue, most migration does not take place between developing and the developed countries. It does not even take place between countries: “The overwhelming majority of people who move do so in their own country.”

India has been ranked 134 among 182 countries in the latest Human Index report of the United Nations. The ranking clearly showed India has slipped in comparative terms in ensuring a better quality of life for its citizens as in the previous index, compiled together for 2007 and 2008; it ranked 128, while the position the year before was 126. The UN ranking clearly shows India has slipped in comparative terms in ensuring a better quality of life for its citizens as in the previous index, published for 2007 and 2008.

The extremes are chilling. A child born in Norway will likely live 30 years longer than a child born in Niger, in Africa. The average income in Norway is 85 times the average income in Niger. The global divide between rich and poor countries continues to be shockingly wide, according to latest data on key measures of 182 countries, released on Monday as part of the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR).

The report ranks countries according to the Human Development Index (HDI), a summary measure of well-being based on life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and GDP per capita. Published annually by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), this year’s report is based on data till 2007, before the current global downturn. Next report would present a more horrible picture. It provides comparisons between rankings since 1980.

Norway, followed by Australia and Iceland are this year’s top three ranked countries. The bottom three ranked countries are: Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. India is ranked at 134, the same as last year’s updated rankings. Where has all the boast of our achievement gone?

Between 1980 and 2007, India’s human development index indicated an increased of about 1.3% every year. But many African countries show even higher growth rates. Despite significant improvements over time, progress has been uneven. Many countries have experienced setbacks over recent decades, in the face of economic downturns, conflict-related crises and the HIV and AIDS.

Five countries rose three or more places, compared with 2006: China, Colombia, France, Peru and Venezuela. These were largely driven by increases in incomes and life expectancy and, in the cases of China, were also due to improvements in education. China showed the maximum improvement, jumping 7 places to rank 92. Since 1980 there are significant advances in human development, with an average improvement of 15% in country’s HDI scores. The strongest gainers have been China, Iran and Nepal.
 

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One third of world's child brides from India - UNICEF

MORE than a third of the world's child brides are from India. This forces children to an increased risk of exploitation. It makes this Asian giant's growing modernity and economic wealth claims look susceptible.

According to a UNICEF report nearly 25 million women in India were married in the year 2007 by the age of 18. the report released on recently noted that children in India, Nepal and Pakistan may be engaged or even married before they turned 10.

Millions of children are also being forced to work in harmful conditions, or face violence and abuse at home and outside, suffering physical and psychological harm with wide-reaching and sometimes irreparable effects, the report bemaoned.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman noted, "A society cannot thrive if its youngest members are forced into early marriage, abused as sex workers or denied their basic rights," said Despite rising literacy levels and a ban on child marriage, tradition and religious practices are keeping the custom alive in India, as well as in Nepal and Pakistan.

More than half the world's child brides are in south Asia, which also accounts for more than half the unregistered births, leaving children beyond the reach and protection of state services and unable to attend school or access basic healthcare.

Only 6 percent of all births in Afghanistan and 10 percent in Bangladesh were registered from 2000-08, the report said, compared to 41 percent in India and 73 percent in the tiny Maldives. Same way, about 44 million, or 13 percent of all children in south Asia, are engaged in labour, with more than half in India.

Children in the region have also been seriously affected by insurgency and instability, as well as natural disasters. Especially in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, past or ongoing conflicts have broken down most child protection systems, leaving children especially vulnerable, the report said.

Trafficking of children for labour, prostitution or domestic services is widespread, especially within Bangladesh and India, and within the region, as well as to Europe and the Middle East.

"Insufficient emphasis has been placed on protecting child victims of trafficking and ensuring that any judicial proceedings brought against them are child sensitive," the report regretted. Where is that brave new world of India?

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Judges under scrutiny

Gobind Thukral

IS judiciary above the people who have given unto themselves a constitution? This question is currently being debated at several levels. India’s highest court, the Supreme Court has objected to the sunshine law, the Right to Information. In a strange manner it has appealed before Delhi High Court against the order of the Chief Information Commissioner that declared office of the Chief Jussive of India within the ambit of the transparency law and made it mandatory for apex court judges to disclose their assets. Delhi High Court rejected the case of the Supreme Court and upheld the order. Now the Supreme Court has again moved the Delhi High Court saying that judged has erred and his ruling should be set aside. In a letter to Delhi resident Subhash Chandra Agrawal, on whose plea the Central Information Commission had earlier directed disclosure of the apex court judges’ assets, the Supreme Court still holds that assets should not be disclosed, although many have agreed to do it.

Despite recent concessions to be subject to Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court's attitude to the sunshine law remains a matter of concern. In an apparent climb-down, the Supreme Court agreed on 11 August 2009 to disclose information under the Right to Information Act as what action has been taken by the Chief Justice of India on a complaint against some judges of the Allahabad High Court. Earlier, the highest court had declined to provide this, claiming that such information is not available with its official registry. Its reversal of that stand is a welcome change of view.

P K Dalmia of Noida, Uttar Pradesh had sought information from the Public Information Officer [PIO] of the Supreme Court on what action had been taken on three of his complaints made in 2007 and 2008 against the judges of Allahabad High Court regarding of embezzlement. The PIO replied in negative as information relating to complaints against High Court judges were not part of the routine SC registry. Though such information was available with the 'office of the Chief Justice of India ', the PIO neither attempted to get it from there nor transferred the RTI application to that office. Dalmia appealed to the Central Information Commission, which ordered the PIO on 24 February 2009 to provide the information sought by him. At this stage too, the Supreme Court did not comply; instead, this order of CIC was challenged in the Delhi High Court.

This case has similarities to the much-highlighted case of S C Agrawal, where the applicant had sought information from the Supreme Court whether any declarations of assets have been made by the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts to their respective Chief Justices, as expected under the resolution passed by the All India Judges Conference in May 1997. The Supreme Court declined to provide this information, arguing that the May 1997 resolution was an 'in-house mechanism'. Moreover, the court took the view that assets declared by judges to their respective chiefs, were given 'voluntarily', and received in the 'personal capacity' of the Chief Justices. This implied that they were not official documents subject to RTI.

The Information Commission's view was that the Chief Justice is a custodian of the information available with him, and that it is available for perusal and inspection to every succeeding office-holder. Therefore the information cannot be categorized as "personal information" even if the CJI holds it in his personal capacity.

The proposed legislation "The Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Bill, 2009" had recently rocked the Parliament. The bill aimed at bringing transparency to the functioning of the higher judiciary by providing for declaration of assets and liabilities by the judges. Under it the judges of Supreme Court would declare their assets to the Chief Justice of India and judges of High Courts to the concerned Chief Justice, the CJI would be required to declare assets to the President. Judges failing to declare their assets or providing a false declaration would be deemed to be misconduct and misconduct is a ground for removal of a judge.

But clause 6 of the draft bill prohibited such declaration from being made public. This exclusion was vehemently opposed by most political parties and termed such a move violative of the Constitution and the RTI Act. This clause 6 reads,, "notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a declaration made by a Judge to a competent authority shall not be made public or disclosed, and, shall not be called for, or, put into question by any citizen, court or authority, and, save as provided by sub-section 2, no Judge shall be subjected to any enquiry or query in relation to the contents of the declaration by any person."

The higher Judiciary welcomed the bill in its totality. Public statements have been issued from time to time by the CJI, who has been in forefront in advocating the view of keeping the higher judiciary out of the purview of RTI. "no self respecting judge will accept compulsory declaration”, "The Chief Justice is not a public servant. He is a constitutional authority. RTI does not cover constitutional authorities" "We do not want the judges to be harassed." Since then, however, amidst views from some judges themselves that declaring their assets publicly is necessary, the Chief Justice has reversed himself owing to a unanimous decision taken by all the SC judges; now the Court will place the statements of assets on its web sites.

Indeed there is a serious question that needs examination. "Will greater scrutiny of judges affect their judicial independence, or will scrutiny become a tool of harassment by the public or by vested interests?”

Courts in India enjoy numerous protections to ensure that they are not unduly pressured, whether by other branches of government or by the public. The Constitution provides that the CJI will be consulted in judicial appointments, that judges will have guaranteed tenure; their salaries are not voted upon, their conduct cannot be discussed in legislatures, and they have absolute immunity from civil and criminal proceedings for acts done in discharge of their official duties. They also hold the power of 'contempt of court' to protect from any malicious criticism and to enforce implementation of their decrees.

All these provisions make the higher judiciary immune from interference from legislative or executive organs of the state and also from any individual. Any apprehension that judges would be harassed if their assets and liabilities are made public is only unnecessary.

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Alarming fiscal deficit

Vinod Anand

FISCAL Deficit (FD) is the sum total of the budget deficit, borrowings, and other liabilities of the Government. Budget deficit is the difference between the revenue receipts (tax revenue and non-tax revenue) and the capital receipts (borrowing from the market, disinvestments proceeds etc.) on the one hand, and the total expenditure (both plan and non-plan, and revenue and capital), on the other.

There has always been a difference between the ex-ante fiscal deficit (that is announced in the budget) and ex-post fiscal deficit (that shows in the following months).

It is really surprising that India’s FD has touched a 45.5 per cent mark of the full-year estimate in the first five months of the current fiscal year (2009-10), though it is slightly lower than what it was during the first five months of the last fiscal year 2008-09. The Government had projected a FD of 6.8 per cent of the GDP for this fiscal year (2009-10), but the FD has recently touched 45.5 per cent of this estimate, i.e. it has reached to about 10 per cent of the GDP. This is too high. If one extrapolates this trend, it appears that it will go much beyond the 10 per cent level by March 2010. The optimal FD has to be around 3 per cent so that it does work against growth prospects.

Many reasons can be given to explain as to why this happens? If we remember The Kelkar Task Force (KTF) under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, had given two basic reasons for the lack of fiscal discipline in the country. These are: the declining tax-GDP ratio, and the increasing non-plan expenditure.

The Government must strongly focus on revenue mobilization to bridge the deficit. It must
• overhaul personal and corporate taxation;
• impose the doctrine of proportionality;
• compact the tax slabs and remove exemptions in a phased manner;
• simplify tax procedures; and
• lay special emphasis on service tax mobilization, which has great growth potential.

It is a highly welcome proposition, but there are many pertinent questions that can be raised. These are briefly mentioned below:

1. The ruling party is normally indifferent to all such suitable suggestions because the issue is highly delicate ‘politically’, and the Government does not want to take the risk of annoying its factions.
2. How exactly the Government will improve the weak governance, inefficient government machinery, and poor law and order situation, the ultimate objective of raising tax revenue to eliminate revenue deficit, and lowering the fiscal deficit?
3. We know that the rate of economic growth gets accelerated through fiscal discipline. Suppose it happens, then will the benefits of high growth rate ever trickle down to the people?

4. There is no doubt that the proposed suggestions will surely lead to higher prices and higher taxes, and will be instrumental to a large extent in diluting the process of the ‘trickle-down’ effect, which is basic to all the equity issues in the country.

5. One may also ask another basic question: If the Government has so far failed to impose any kind of public discipline in the country, how will it impose fiscal discipline and that too within the given time-frame?

6. In terms of the recent statement of the International Monetary Organization (IMF) Asia is pulling far ahead for the rest from the deepest recession that started about a year back. Amongst the Asian countries, India and China are on the top. According to IMF the recovery has already started, and financial markets are healing. The basic reason for this upsurge, especially in the context of India, is the policy stimuli in terms of tax and interest rate concessions given to the industry and individuals to spur consumption and investment. But the basic fact is that IMF’s forecasts may not be right because of the various queries that have been raised above. Unless the Government goes into the depth of the matter, nothing mush should be expected.

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Lala Har Dayal: An enigma of a revolutionary

Bal Anand

I can vaguely recollect that name 'Har Dayal' had firstly got registered into the 'hard disc' of my memory when, soon after my joining the school in October 1948 I had started paying 'child-like' keener attention in 'overhearing' and somewhat incoherently 'co-relating' the conversations among the elderly of the family and their friends. I think that it was the reference to some 'supernatural gift of memory' - synonymous with intelligence and wisdom too - of an Indian 'who was got eliminated by the British out of fear of his 'divine' intellect!' The name of my father was also incidentally Har Dayal and he too was reputed to be a bit of an eccentric 'Vidwan', i.e. scholar, at a rather younger age, thanks to the strict discipline and dedication of Guru -grand father. This coincidence of a name inculcated a mysterious impression in my child mind that all intelligent and prescient persons, perhaps, posed some problems to the society and government! As education, modern as well the ancient has been mostly memory driven, the likes of Har Dayal - and my father - were rated to be the blessed ones.

It was in the winter in 1961 when I was a student of D.A.V. College, Jalandhar for my B.A. that I came to know about the 'real' Har Dayal. The college enormous reputation at that time for bagging top positions in the various examinations of Panjab University - the factor that made me cross over the Sutluj, to study at a distance of 80 km, without any adequate financial provsion my father could afford! I had taken up the newly introduced subjects of Sociology & Public Administration. A brand new lecturer who had just passed his M.A. in Political Science - standing Second (to the great dismay of college!) in the University was an amiable and friendly soul for a class of five - the select Panj Piare . The youthful Sikh professor, still more of a tudent and yet to cultivate the standard tricks of a seasoned - timber teacher, would try to inspire us to cultivate love of knowledge quoting from Lala Har Dayal's Hints For Self Culture. On my request, he was kind enough to provide me a copy of the book which I could read only in parts and found most of the contents rather complex!

It was in Bathinda in the summer of 1968, while teaching in a college that I could read Hints For Self Culture in its entirety. I could deeply appreciate the Olympian range and the vast perspectives of this spirited treatise of 'know all' - "to develop your personality as a free and cultured citizen". The author had invited, 'young men and women of all countries', in the preface datelined April 6934 A.H. - Anno Historiae -stating"...I may tentatively fix 5000 BC as the starting point of historical era...") ie 1934 A.D.,the year of publication of Hints For Self Culture by Watts and Company, London 'to follow the path of Rationalism' adding that if the book, "helps them in their efforts for self-improvement in the last degree, i shall be amply rewarded." I could note that the ideas of cosmopolitanism, humanism, rationalism and above all the scientific temperament were indeed the motivations behind Har Dayal's writing of this encyclopaedic Treatise. The book is available in paperback since late seventies and has run into several editions.

It was indeed a pleasant surprise for me to come across, on 2nd of September at an Open Book Stall during a Conference in Panjabi University, the edition in Punjabi, 'Swei-Vikas da Marg' translated by Prof. Achhru Singh, Nehru Memorial College, Mansa, Published by Lokgeet Prakashan, Sirhind. More surprising were the facts that the 1st edition had come out in 1991 and that the 4th edition of October 2000, 258 pages, was available at a resonable price of Rs. 100/-( P.B.) There was further a prominent report in the Punjabi Tribune on 13th September regarding the release at an impressive function at the Punjab Agricultural University , Ludhiana, attended by the Vice Chancellor & two former Vice Chancellors, of another translation in Punjabi of Hints for Self Culture. It is encouraging that the 75 year old seminal book on 'rationalism' and 'internationalism' should witness a fervour of interest in Punjab while the more open spiritual space so assiduously cultivated by Sufi Saints, Hindu Bhaktas and the Sikh Gurus has been continuously encroached upon by the practitioners of narrow sectarianism and religious hardliners!

As for my own further study of life and works of Lala Har Dayal, the book, 'Har Dayal, The Great revolutionary' by husband-wife, E. Jaiwant Paul & Shubh Paul (grand daughter of Har Dayal), Roli Books Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, 2003 was quite a revelation for me. The dazzling revolutionary and high priest of Ghadar Movement had taken a complete somersault in March 1919. In an open letter to a London journal, 'India', he publically avowed his conversion to, "the principle of imperial unity and progressive self-government ... within the Empire". This was followed by the more shocking booklet, 'Forty Four Months in Germany and Turkey', in which Har Dayal attacked the Germans as 'arrogant megalomaniacs ... unprincipled scoundrels' and praised 'British Character ... statesmanship ... historical mission in Asia'. The large circle of admirers of Har Dayal - 'a legend in India as an uncompromising revolutionary nationalist' - just could not believe all this. Frankly, I was not prepared to know from himl that, "The English are on the whole a truthful people ... England has a moral and historical mission in Asia ... British character and British statesmanship will preserve this structure for a long time ...". Har Dayal criticised the upper and middle class of India as, 'absolutely incapable and degenerate and unable to supply leadership.' There is no clear answer available to Har Dayal's strange change of mind except the conjectures of his concern for personal safety, failing health and the mention in a letter, 'I am despaired of the future of Indian nationalism; I want to work in other directions.'

I feel that life and times of Har Dayal need be understood in the more appropriate perspective. He was born on October 14, 1884 in the heart of old i.e. Mughal Delhi, near Chandni Chowk, next to what is still called Parathan Wali Gali. He was the sixth of the seven children of Gauri Dayal Mathur, a reader in the Delhi court & Bholi Rani. After schooling in Cambridge Mission School, he graduated from Saint Stephen college obtaining the second position in the Panjab University. He did M.A. in English from Government College, Lahore topping the University and followed it by doing M.A. in History. He was considered a rare phenomena for his extraordinary memory and excellence in scholarship. He was awarded state scholarship - Pound 200 per year for studying in England. As per practice at that time, he was married in 1901, while still a student, to Sundar Rani, daughter of Lala Gopal Chand,a wealthy Session judge in state of Patiala. Har Dayal left for England in 1905 to join Honours courses in Modern History in St John's College in Oxford. He impressed his teachers but also started visiting London to attend political meetings of Indian nationalists including Dadabhai Naoroji and Shyamji Krishna Varma, an associate of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Meanwhile his wife had joined him and Har Dayal tried seriously but unsuccessfully to convert her into a political missionary. He became a close associate of Vir Savarkar & Shyamji.The 50th anniversary of 1857 was hailed by Savarkar as War of Independence and Har Dayal worked out a document , 'A Sketch of a Complete Political Movement for the Emanicipation of India'. Har Dayal resigned his state scholarship in mid 1907 and 'freed' himself by refunding voluntarily to the India Office 'the tainted money' - Rs. 485/- representing the amount the government had spent on on his passage to England! He gave up wearing English clothes and started moving about in Kurta and Dhoti, catching pneumonia and frequent bronchial disorders - "we are helpless before the fantastic obstinacy of Har Dayal", said Vir Savarkar. Har Dayal returned to India in January 1908 with the sick and pregnant wife by promptly encashing the single second class ticket sent by her father and instead buying two third class tickets!

During his seven months sojourn in India, Har Dayal met Bal Gangadhar Tilak who predicted that, 'he will soon develop into a major nationalist leader'. Based in Lahore, he tried 'to develop a broad base of political missionaries ... to carry on nationalist and revolutionary work'. He expressed disagreement with Lala Lajpat Rai over Arya Samaj stating that, 'our only religion is service of mankind ... either be a reformer or a revolutionary'. Though he never met - or even wrote about him - he was forerunner of Gandhi ji in stating, 'A nation ceases to maintain its entity and integrity if it begins to ape the manners ... of its masters ... the British educational system is one huge octopus which is sucking out the moral life blood of the nation'. It would appear that, 'in his quest for disassociation from the British, some of Har Dayal's actions bordered on the eccentric'. He had also turned anti-Christian and 'refused to see (Indian) people in European dress or communicate in the English language.' The British C.I.D. had put him & his group under strict Vigilance, particularly in the wake of killings by Khudi Ram Bose and P.C. Chaki in April 1908. Meanwhile, he was disowned by his father-in-law 'for destroying the life of his daughter' but remained closer to his brother Krishan Dayal. He was also in good relation with Dr Tara Chand (an eminent historian later), who was married to Sundar Rani's sister and acted as guardian of Sundar & daughter born on 8th of August. Though unwilling, Har Dayal had to leave India suddenly on 3rd August; slipping to Colombo, he managed to sail on an Italian ship to Naples.

Har Dayal reached Paris, where he met Bhikhaiji Cama; headed back to Oxford for over six months and was again in Paris to edit Bande Matramin in September 1909. He briefly went to Algeria and later moved to Martinique, a French island colony in the Caribbean. Bhai Parmanand, his old friend and fellow revolutionary from Lahore, went all the way to Martinique to meet Har Dayal.He could persuade him to go to Harvard University and make it centre for his work. Har Dayal reached the USA in early 1911, planning to study Buddhism at Harvard. Bhai Teja Singh, a prominent Sikh missionary, came down from California and was able to convince him that '... huge number of Indians needed leadership ... not only for social acceptance and economic equality in the U.S.A., but also as a force for India's national cause'. Har Dayal, however, headed for Hawaii to live an austere life of renunciation and 'preoccupation with Gautam Buddha and Karl Marx'. It was again Bhai Parmanand who reminded Har Dayal of the task awaiting him on the West Coast. The 'moody, needy and unfriendly Har Dayal', according to Emily Brown,the author of,' Har Dayal,A Hindu Revolutionary', found 'a compatible milieu in a university community in the United States ...' becoming friendly with with various celebrities lke Jack London, Irving Stone and Sanskritists like Dr Arthur W. Ryder.

Har Dayal, still just twenty eight year old, had a brief affair with a Swiss student and co-worker, Freida Hausworth but it was no diversion from the cause of 'Indian Nationalism'. The news of the bomb attack on the procession of Lord Hardine on December 23, 1912 made Har Dayal ecstatic and he wrote in Yugantar (New Era) calling bomb, 'Harbinger of hope and courage ... our resurrection ... triumphant cry of freedom on the Soil of Hindustan'. The founding of the Ghadar Party and the saga of Komagata Maru and Har Dayal's activities in the U.S.A. till July 1914 are well documented. After bitter experiences of 44months stay in Germany and Turkey during the war, he stayed in Sweden for nine years from October 1918. Based on an assurance by the Home Member that Har Dayal would not be prosecuted (for crimes on other soils), he, accompanied by the long live-in-companion Agda Erikson, arrived in London on October 10,1927. He steered clear of any political controversy and 'the man who had twenty years earlier spurned the state scholarship', studied for and obtained Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1930 for his thesis, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature.

Hints for Self Culture followed three yers later. Har Dayal's friends including Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru were still working hard for his safe return to India though Har Dayal himself had never requested for a trip to India. Finally, on October 25,1938, a letter was sent to Har Dayal granting permission to return to India. He and Agda were travelling to the U.S.A. for a series of Lectures by him and were scheduled to return in April 1939. Har Dayal died in sleep on March 4,1939, aged 55 years ... 'the evening before, he had ... concluded (his last lecture) with the words, 'I am at peace with my self ''.

For me, Jaiwant and Shubh Paul's book has long last put at rest many myths and doubts about the cult figure of Har Dayal. After my retirement, I had mentioned to my Professor of D.A.V. College days referred to earlier that time has indeed come to bring out an updated, New Hints For Self Culture. My class fellow of D.A.V. vintage and dedicated scholar of lives of revolutionaries of india, Prof Jagmohan Singh, enlightened me how Har Dayal had become a votary of 'Hindutava Nationalism' and a 'comrade in arms' of V.D. Savarkar. I also came across a lengthy quote of 1925 attributed to Har Dayal in B.R. Ambedkar's article on Pakistan declaring, "that the future of Hindu Race, of Hindustan and of the Panjab rests on four pillars: Hindu Sangathan; Hindu Raj; shuddhi of Muslims and conquest and shuddhi of Afghanistan and the Frontiers ... At present English officers are protecting the frontiers; but it cannot always be ...". Bhai Parmanand had talked much earlier of a separate area for all Muslims of India beyond river Sindh with Hindu population coming out from there! Why so much fuss over Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah - the Question is much larger than lives of Gandhi, Patel, Nehru, Jinnah and Rajagopalachari or Ambedkar! The distinguished modern historian Shahid Amin calling Har Dial, "The Good Terrorist" asks: how do we reassess our "our good terrorists of the colonial period? He himself says that 'the power of successful nationalisms explains it all!

Let Har Dayal, once a volcano of ideas about future of India, rest in peace in the distant Swedish soil of Agda! My father Har Dayal, no lesser a proud scholar and tragic figure in his own right, had also successfully courted death at the age of 58: all human brilliance ultimately gets reckoned in the balance of Destiny !

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