Wednesday, March 28
Tuesday, March 13
Modi at Bhagat Singh's Memorial
Picture this! Narinder Modi lecturing at the memorial of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at Hussainiwala as Murari Bapu waits in the background to begin his Ram Katha.
For those of you in whom this has elicited any reaction akin to dismay or shock, let me tell you it didn’t matter to the Punjabis reveling in the poll carnival. It went unchallenged. Well, almost. Prof. Jagmohan Singh, who happens to be nephew of the martyr, alongwith Satpal Baghi, Hussainiwala Martyrs Memorial Trust and freedom fighter Hazara Singh submitted a memorandum to the Commissioner of Ferozepur Division who happens to be chairman of the Trust protesting this. It didn’t matter to him.
Here are some excerpts from the memorandum alleging “Violation of Sanctity of Samadhi of Martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru by allowing Ram Katha by Mr. Murari Bapu.”
It has been shocking to know that sanctity of the SAMADHI of Martyrs has been blasphemed by violating the tradition which has been followed for the last 75 years.
These martyrs earned a distinguished place , not only in the hearts of the people of Indian subcontinent but the world over because of their crystal clear and inspiring ideas.
Shahid Sukhdev, in 1931 from his “phansi Kothri” wrote a very significant letter, in which he stated “Brother, I may tell you the truth, we are not only being hanged by British Government, but our voice is being chocked by so called leaders who do not want our voice to be heard by people. The killing by British would not prove damaging to us, and it will be tolerated as we understand them. But we can not tolerate the confusion / suppression of our views by so called high class leaders. We must fight against this.“ Shahid Sukhdev further reiterated at the end of this letter the following message: “ Important- We are not worried of dying . The most painful is the suppression of our voice.”
The sacred duty of the Hussainiwala Martyrs Memorial Trust is not only to maintain sanctity of this place as has been for the last 75 years but to keep readily available the original writings of the Martyrs. But alas by this act of allowing this Katha to take place there a blunder has been committed.
Kindly give your attention to the following to understand how much damage is being caused to Martyrs memory.
Mr Murari Bapu is a controversial person with hidden motives. The following statement as published in “Organiser”, the official organ of RSS in the issue of June 5,2005 makes it clear.
It first states,” Hinduism has never been offensive”, to make it so the programme is elaborated as follows “ Presently the custodians of Hindu religion has been at two levels. The first level comprises of priests who perfom puja , arti and other religious ceremonies while the second level is that of saints like Murari Bapu, Sri Sri Ravisankar etc.”
Mr Murari Bapu has been instrumental to initiate unconstitutional controversies and had been creating social tensions in various places. One latest example has been reported by news papers. The “Organiser” has to say this, in its issue of 5th feb, 2006, referring to tension at Dang (Gujrat), where local Adavasi are objecting to planting a temple at their place. Mr. Mohan Joshi of Vishav Hindu Prashid has come out with truth about the process followed in such cases. He is quoted as saying, “A Katha was delivered by noted Saint Murari Bapu at the same place about two years back and the decision to construct a temple was taken with his inspiration.”
This will make it aptly clear that what wrong has been done to the ideals of the Martyrs and the common heritage of India, in allowing him to preach Ram Katha at the SAMADHI.
Here are some excerpts from the memorandum alleging “Violation of Sanctity of Samadhi of Martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru by allowing Ram Katha by Mr. Murari Bapu.”
It has been shocking to know that sanctity of the SAMADHI of Martyrs has been blasphemed by violating the tradition which has been followed for the last 75 years.
These martyrs earned a distinguished place , not only in the hearts of the people of Indian subcontinent but the world over because of their crystal clear and inspiring ideas.
Shahid Sukhdev, in 1931 from his “phansi Kothri” wrote a very significant letter, in which he stated “Brother, I may tell you the truth, we are not only being hanged by British Government, but our voice is being chocked by so called leaders who do not want our voice to be heard by people. The killing by British would not prove damaging to us, and it will be tolerated as we understand them. But we can not tolerate the confusion / suppression of our views by so called high class leaders. We must fight against this.“ Shahid Sukhdev further reiterated at the end of this letter the following message: “ Important- We are not worried of dying . The most painful is the suppression of our voice.”
The sacred duty of the Hussainiwala Martyrs Memorial Trust is not only to maintain sanctity of this place as has been for the last 75 years but to keep readily available the original writings of the Martyrs. But alas by this act of allowing this Katha to take place there a blunder has been committed.
Kindly give your attention to the following to understand how much damage is being caused to Martyrs memory.
Mr Murari Bapu is a controversial person with hidden motives. The following statement as published in “Organiser”, the official organ of RSS in the issue of June 5,2005 makes it clear.
It first states,” Hinduism has never been offensive”, to make it so the programme is elaborated as follows “ Presently the custodians of Hindu religion has been at two levels. The first level comprises of priests who perfom puja , arti and other religious ceremonies while the second level is that of saints like Murari Bapu, Sri Sri Ravisankar etc.”
Mr Murari Bapu has been instrumental to initiate unconstitutional controversies and had been creating social tensions in various places. One latest example has been reported by news papers. The “Organiser” has to say this, in its issue of 5th feb, 2006, referring to tension at Dang (Gujrat), where local Adavasi are objecting to planting a temple at their place. Mr. Mohan Joshi of Vishav Hindu Prashid has come out with truth about the process followed in such cases. He is quoted as saying, “A Katha was delivered by noted Saint Murari Bapu at the same place about two years back and the decision to construct a temple was taken with his inspiration.”
This will make it aptly clear that what wrong has been done to the ideals of the Martyrs and the common heritage of India, in allowing him to preach Ram Katha at the SAMADHI.
(also see ‘Godman insulting tricolour’)
-Jatinder Preet
Thursday, March 8
A Dangerous Divide
Political groups need to reconcile the aspirations of rural and urban population segments who appear to feel that their destinies lie in diametrically opposite directions, as Punjab assembly election results seem to suggest, writes K.P.S. GILL in the weekly Outlook
Democracy is a slow, tentative process of cumulative adjustments within a vast, organic system, whose complex interconnections remain impossible to define or accurately fathom. It is a system, moreover, that cannot be 'force marched' in a particular direction deemed to be desirable by any authoritarian vision, leader or party. This is even more the case in a democracy of over a billion people in what is the most culturally, communally and ethnically diverse nation-state in the world. Successive elections in India have repeatedly underlined this truth, and it stands out in particular relief in the electoral process and outcome in the Assembly elections in Punjab.Much ink has been consumed in analysing the 'incumbency factor' that brought the Congress party and Captain Amrinder Singh's government down, and it has rightly been noted that Punjab has a long-standing tradition of never voting the same party back to power in two consecutive elections. But this apparent continuity of electoral behaviour masks dramatic and historical discontinuities that manifested themselves this time around. The more obvious-- and consequently less significant-- discontinuities are, of course, the shift in voting patterns. The Congress made dramatic gains in rural Punjab, and particularly the Malwa region that was dominated by the Akali Dal in the past. The BJP virtually wiped out the Congress in its traditional area of dominance in urban Punjab.The real story, however, is in the very character of the present Assembly elections, in the issues that dominated the campaigns and that eventually defined voting patterns. It is useful to recall that the 2002 election was marred by the usual efforts at communal polarisation. A nasty contest between Mr Prakash Singh Badal and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra to dominate Punjab's Gurdwara politics, produced Akali campaigns that were at their divisive worst. In 2007, however, the Akalis were no longer flogging their traditional communal agenda. There was not even a faint shadow of gurdwara politics over the Assembly elections. The customary whining about 'discrimination' against Punjab and the Sikh community was not heard, nor were other divisive issues like the SYL canal and water sharing with neighbouring states raised. Indeed, the Akalis approached the present election almost uniquely on a developmental platform, with Mr Prakash Singh Badal talking of progress, infrastructure projects, and a powerful thrust to Punjab's economy (it remains to be seen whether any of these promises will be fulfilled, of course, but that is an entirely different issue).All this allowed the Akalis to augment their tally in these elections by just seven seats over their 2002 record, far from sufficient to have prised the Congress out of power. Indeed, the real reversal of fortunes was engineered by the BJP, which shot up from just three seats in 2002 to as many as 19 in 2007. Once again, the BJP strategy-- which succeeded dramatically in previously Congress-held urban constituencies-- mirrored the new Akali line, with the BJP reaching across the communal divide and beyond its Hindu constituency, to aggressively seek and secure Sikh votes on a progressive developmental platform.It is clear that the people of Punjab have little remaining patience for the petty conspiracies of communal politics. Indeed, the Congress was perhaps the only party to make the tactical error of trying to capitalise on communal politics, directly seeking the support of the Dera Sacha Sauda; this may have yielded some advantage in the Malwa belt, but probably lost them more votes elsewhere.What the people clearly want is economic growth, efficient public services, in sum, governance. Where incumbent parties are seen to fail to deliver on these parameters, and precisely where they fail, they are being brought to account through the electoral process.This is the clear message of the outcome in Punjab. The many backers of the 'incumbency factor' cannot explain why incumbency didn't work against the Congress in the Malwa region. The truth is, rural voters saw direct benefits accruing to them during Mr Amrinder Singh's rule-- an efficient procurement drive, flourishing cotton crops, and substantial relief on the water issue, among others-- and rewarded the Congress with their votes. While there has been a marked increase in prosperity in urban Punjab over the past five years as well, there is some ambiguity and a measure of unevenness in the flow of benefits, with significant segments of the population finding themselves at a relative disadvantage. This, in combination with widespread allegations of corruption and the apparent personal unpopularity of a number of Congress candidates-- the number of senior leaders and ministers who have lost the elections, or who have scraped past the post by the skin of their teeth-- is remarkable, produced the urban tidal wave in favour of the BJP (19 out of a total of just 23 seats that they contested).Though it has in some measure been stood on its head, the one thing that did not change in the elections of 2007 was the sharp divide between urban and rural voting patterns, and this coincides with the equally sharp divide between these two critical population segments. This is a cause for deep concern. It is useful to recall that it was precisely the rural-urban polarisation of the 1970s that produced Sikh militancy and the terrorism of the 1979-93 period. To the extent that these two population segments appear to feel that their destinies lie in diametrically opposite directions, a potentially grave danger persists.There can be little doubt that an increased flow of resources to rural areas is not only a state, but a national imperative. This does not, however, imply a necessary diminution in urban resources, opportunities or growth. An economically marginalised rural sector will be-- and historically has been-- a drag on urban and industrial growth as well, and a continuing effort to transfer substantial resources to, and reinvest in, rural areas is entirely consistent with urban interests and prosperity. A failure to communicate this reality through its political campaigns is at least part of the Congress party's failure at the hustings.The BJP-Akali alliance has had a sobering impact on the shrill communal agenda of both these formations. It now remains to be seen whether this alliance can secure a comparable reconciliation of urban and rural interests. Punjab's future lies in this direction and, incumbency or no incumbency, the political groups that can reconcile the aspirations of these two constituencies, will certainly prevail in the next electoral face-off.
Wednesday, February 28
Making Sense of Punjab Results
"The script must have been familiar to the Congress. On Tuesday, it lost the state to lack of governance and corruption — the two things it had accused the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party to win the elections in 2002.
In addition to these, former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s famous inaccessibility, which many of his Cabinet members emulated, alienated many sections. Rising prices and unemployment completed the list.
But for the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, which issued an edict to its followers to vote for the Congress, the party could have suffered a rout. The dera votes seemed to have saved at least 16 seats in the five districts around Bathinda....."
In addition to these, former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s famous inaccessibility, which many of his Cabinet members emulated, alienated many sections. Rising prices and unemployment completed the list.
But for the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, which issued an edict to its followers to vote for the Congress, the party could have suffered a rout. The dera votes seemed to have saved at least 16 seats in the five districts around Bathinda....."
"THE results of the Punjab Assembly election clearly show the wisdom of the voters. They simply punished the Congress government for its sheer indifference to their woes and insensitivity to the concept of accountability to the people. They voted for the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine so that it is able to form a stable government. While being decisive they were also careful in ensuring that there is a strong Opposition in the House, which can keep the government under check. Not only that, even within the ruling alliance, neither the SAD nor the BJP can lord it over the other, critically dependent as they are on each other to run the government. The voters also refrained themselves from experimenting with many of the smaller parties that were in the fray......."
"Amarinder Singh paid a price for alienating his own party colleagues and for his allegedly high-handed ways. His push for SEZs also did not endear him to land owners and farmers. In addition, the rise in prices was also beginning to hurt the citizen. Similarly, voters in other states had their own set of local grievances......"
"When governance is poor, people ascribe any progress to their own cleverness and hard work, but all their difficulties to the government. Even in the best-governed democracies, voters like a change and often oust incumbents. In India, 80% of incumbents lose. No surprise, then, that the incumbent Congress party lost in Punjab....."
Saturday, February 17
Punjab has lowest forest cover
The forest cover in Punjab is now the lowest in the country, write Dr.G.S. BHALLA and HEMA KHANNA, from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in Punjab Newsline
The forest cover in Punjab is less than the desert state of Rajasthan that has 4.62 per cent of its total area under forests. In Punjab it is 3.14 per cent of the total area.
As per the latest report of the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the dense forest cover in Punjab has decreased by whopping 80,600 hectares. The vested interests cleverly concealed the figures that reveal the real picture of the state of the forests in Punjab.
The worst affected districts in terms of forest cover depletion are: Ferozpur that has witnessed 111 per cent depletion, Amritsar 106 per cent, Hoshiarpur 84 per cent, Bathinda 76 per cent, Gurdaspur 21 per cent and Ludhiana 55 per cent during the period extending from 2001 to 2003. Hoshiarpur district comprised of 22 per cent of the total state forest cover as per the 2001 forest survey report. However, in just two years the percentage of forest in the district has gone down to 18 percent. The dense forest areas in Hoshiarpur have gone down by 51 sq km. INTERESTINGLY, on the World Environment Day, 2005,the Department of Forests, publicized in leading newspapers, claiming that the forest cover in the state increased from 1,387 sq km in 1997 to 1,580 sq km in 2003.
However, the department deliberately concealed the figures as regards the forest cover in 2001. As per the Forest Survey of India report, the forest cover in the state in 2001 was 2,432 sq km. It included 1,549 sq km dense forest cover and 883 sq km open forest cover.
Another interesting fact available from the data is that the entire forest that has vanished formed the dense forest cover. The dense forest cover in the state reduced from 1,549 sq km in 2001 to just 743 sq km in 2003. The open forest cover remained almost the same at 837 km. The forest cover loss in the state was also the highest in the country. It was even more than Madhya Pradesh, the biggest state of the country in terms of geographical area. ( The figures have been quoted from the latest Forest Survey of India report published in 2005).
The dense forest cover has depleted despite the fact that the state had raised a loan a Japan bank for plantation. More than Rs 600 crore has been spent under a Japan aided scheme for afforestation in Punjab in the past one decade. The department had claimed that 20,000 sq hectares area had been brought under plantation under a Japanese project. A large percentage of the said amount has been mostly spent by the state on plantation in kandi forest ranging from Ropar to Gurdaspur. However, if such a large area was brought under plantation, how the dense forest cover in the state went down by more than 55 per cent.
In view of it environmentalists demanded that instead of claiming false accolades, the department should order an inquiry into such large-scale depletion of the dense forest cover in the state. Further, in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in Punjab and Haryana high court, certain persons from the forest department had demanded a high level probe into the large-scale depletion of forest cover in the state.
Unconfirmed sources reveal that the sum of rupees 600 crores taken as loan from a bank in Japan had gone down the drain. This is said to have been usurped by the officials responsible for plantations with these funds borrowed from a foreign land. When the departmental enquiry was ordered, it is believed that the forest officials and the powers that be maneuvered to shield the scam and the enquiry officers and the concerned were made to believe that no misutilization of funds had taken place. However, they failed to escape the vigilant photographers who showed that only few unplanted tree saplings were lying abandoned at the place where the funds would have created a dense forest cover. It's a matter of shame.
We understand and feel worried about the low rate of economic growth, fiscal deficit, huge foreign and national debts, but what about the mounting ecological deficit that the country accumulates year after year.
The protective life line is turning fragile. The world is looking ahead in this twenty first century towards growth and development. Indeed, the development is possible, but only when the earth's natural environment and resources are well protected, conserved and thoroughly managed. Ironically, this has not been the case so far, for most of the natural environment has witnessed a heavy toll on account of excessive development activities, that have not only degraded our natural resources drastically even, the major renewable resources- forests, groundwater, agricultural soils and marine fisheries among others- have been polluted to the extent which poison the living beings. Unique and irreplaceable species are becoming extinct at rates estimated at up to 30,000 a year- the fastest destruction to have occurred in the last 65 million years. The agricultural soil of every continent is being destroyed more quickly than nature can restore them. The basic resources are under intense pressure from increased displacement of soil particles from land surfaces, has also become a serious problem.
Now the excessive human dwelling, growing industrialization and neglect of forestry is driving animal and bird population off. In fact, this is causing not only death of many species, but resulting into draughts, floods and global warming as well. The decaying twigs and tress are making soil porous and ultimately barren. Forests are also the home and heaven for wild life. Their constant degradation is causing misery to the wild life and our ecosystem. India's woods, once dark and deep, now are a living example to man's savage destruction. The saying that man finds forests but leaves deserts, could not be more true to India. Trees known as mother of rivers act as depositories for water resources, are unable to sustain their own existence. In such a pitiable situation, how can they be expected to sustain others?
Under the prevailing conditions, it would be in the fitness of things to give exemplary punishment to those who are digging the graves of the civilization by indulging in scams to the detriment of our ecology in which hangs the future of the world and for the cause for which people laid down their lives.
As per the latest report of the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the dense forest cover in Punjab has decreased by whopping 80,600 hectares. The vested interests cleverly concealed the figures that reveal the real picture of the state of the forests in Punjab.
The worst affected districts in terms of forest cover depletion are: Ferozpur that has witnessed 111 per cent depletion, Amritsar 106 per cent, Hoshiarpur 84 per cent, Bathinda 76 per cent, Gurdaspur 21 per cent and Ludhiana 55 per cent during the period extending from 2001 to 2003. Hoshiarpur district comprised of 22 per cent of the total state forest cover as per the 2001 forest survey report. However, in just two years the percentage of forest in the district has gone down to 18 percent. The dense forest areas in Hoshiarpur have gone down by 51 sq km. INTERESTINGLY, on the World Environment Day, 2005,the Department of Forests, publicized in leading newspapers, claiming that the forest cover in the state increased from 1,387 sq km in 1997 to 1,580 sq km in 2003.
However, the department deliberately concealed the figures as regards the forest cover in 2001. As per the Forest Survey of India report, the forest cover in the state in 2001 was 2,432 sq km. It included 1,549 sq km dense forest cover and 883 sq km open forest cover.
Another interesting fact available from the data is that the entire forest that has vanished formed the dense forest cover. The dense forest cover in the state reduced from 1,549 sq km in 2001 to just 743 sq km in 2003. The open forest cover remained almost the same at 837 km. The forest cover loss in the state was also the highest in the country. It was even more than Madhya Pradesh, the biggest state of the country in terms of geographical area. ( The figures have been quoted from the latest Forest Survey of India report published in 2005).
The dense forest cover has depleted despite the fact that the state had raised a loan a Japan bank for plantation. More than Rs 600 crore has been spent under a Japan aided scheme for afforestation in Punjab in the past one decade. The department had claimed that 20,000 sq hectares area had been brought under plantation under a Japanese project. A large percentage of the said amount has been mostly spent by the state on plantation in kandi forest ranging from Ropar to Gurdaspur. However, if such a large area was brought under plantation, how the dense forest cover in the state went down by more than 55 per cent.
In view of it environmentalists demanded that instead of claiming false accolades, the department should order an inquiry into such large-scale depletion of the dense forest cover in the state. Further, in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in Punjab and Haryana high court, certain persons from the forest department had demanded a high level probe into the large-scale depletion of forest cover in the state.
Unconfirmed sources reveal that the sum of rupees 600 crores taken as loan from a bank in Japan had gone down the drain. This is said to have been usurped by the officials responsible for plantations with these funds borrowed from a foreign land. When the departmental enquiry was ordered, it is believed that the forest officials and the powers that be maneuvered to shield the scam and the enquiry officers and the concerned were made to believe that no misutilization of funds had taken place. However, they failed to escape the vigilant photographers who showed that only few unplanted tree saplings were lying abandoned at the place where the funds would have created a dense forest cover. It's a matter of shame.
We understand and feel worried about the low rate of economic growth, fiscal deficit, huge foreign and national debts, but what about the mounting ecological deficit that the country accumulates year after year.
The protective life line is turning fragile. The world is looking ahead in this twenty first century towards growth and development. Indeed, the development is possible, but only when the earth's natural environment and resources are well protected, conserved and thoroughly managed. Ironically, this has not been the case so far, for most of the natural environment has witnessed a heavy toll on account of excessive development activities, that have not only degraded our natural resources drastically even, the major renewable resources- forests, groundwater, agricultural soils and marine fisheries among others- have been polluted to the extent which poison the living beings. Unique and irreplaceable species are becoming extinct at rates estimated at up to 30,000 a year- the fastest destruction to have occurred in the last 65 million years. The agricultural soil of every continent is being destroyed more quickly than nature can restore them. The basic resources are under intense pressure from increased displacement of soil particles from land surfaces, has also become a serious problem.
Now the excessive human dwelling, growing industrialization and neglect of forestry is driving animal and bird population off. In fact, this is causing not only death of many species, but resulting into draughts, floods and global warming as well. The decaying twigs and tress are making soil porous and ultimately barren. Forests are also the home and heaven for wild life. Their constant degradation is causing misery to the wild life and our ecosystem. India's woods, once dark and deep, now are a living example to man's savage destruction. The saying that man finds forests but leaves deserts, could not be more true to India. Trees known as mother of rivers act as depositories for water resources, are unable to sustain their own existence. In such a pitiable situation, how can they be expected to sustain others?
Under the prevailing conditions, it would be in the fitness of things to give exemplary punishment to those who are digging the graves of the civilization by indulging in scams to the detriment of our ecology in which hangs the future of the world and for the cause for which people laid down their lives.
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