An Eclectic Faith

SHATRUGHUN JIWNANI





According to Baha'u'llah, every age has its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. He advised that we should be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age we live in, and centre our deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. Members of the Baha'i community are from all religious and national backgrounds, living and working together in harmony and peace.We believe in the principles of oneness of mankind, oneness of God and oneness of religion.To Baha'is, the prophets and manifestations of God receive guidance from the same source and their purpose is none else than to exhort humanity to follow the path of righteousness.
Followers never differentiate in the rank or status of the various prophets and accept all past manifestations of God -Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus or Muhammad -and hold their revelations as sacred as the writings of Baha'u'llah, whose vision of a united, peaceful world reflects an understanding that humanity is creating a society founded on justice and expressing trust, collaboration and compassion.
Baha'i teachings discourage any conflict or dissension in the name of religion and they believe that the purpose of true religion should be to unite Abdu'l-Baha, son of all hearts. ` Baha'u'llah, goes to the extent of saying, “If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no religion.“

Are We A Caring Society?

Pavan K Varma





Gulzar's institute for the differently abled and the episode of Dana Manjhi offer differing perspectives

Gulzar Saheb, arguably one of India's finest poets, and i have been friends for many years.I have translated several volumes of his poetry into English, and he has translated some of mine.We were recently together in Bhopal for the Great Indian Literature and Film Festival. But for me, the visit to Bhopal was far more memorable for another reason. I accompanied Gulzar to Arushi, an institution for the differently abled, that away from the arc lights of Mumbai, he has helped to lovingly nurture for several decades.
The visit was an eye opener. Every child there, notwithstanding his or her conventional disabilities, brimmed with confidence and joy , and each had a personal bond with Gulzar. In fact, one of the girls, who was earlier deaf but can now hear because of an operation that Arushi facilitated, called Gulzar `Dadu'.
Gulzar had gone straight from the airport to buy her a badminton racket for her birthday , and she proudly showed it to me. Arushi has greatly expanded its footprint over the years, but, strangely, very few people know of Gulzar's involvement with it. I asked him why.
He said that this kind of work was best done quietly , without any fanfare.Were funds a problem? He said no. Every time Arushi seemed to be running out of resources, somebody would come forward to help. There was never any need to ask the government for assistance.
Indians, he said, were capable of love and compassion. Such emotions only needed to be tapped. Such a generous view surprised me. Observable patterns of behaviour show that the relatively privileged Indian is an exceptionally insular being with little or no interest in anything beyond his immediate and personal ken of interests.
Slums proliferate at the threshold of five star hotels, and Indians drive past them as if they don't exist. There seems to be a cynical and deliberate withdrawal from a constructive interface with society based on the conviction that there can be no interest higher than one's own.
Foreigners, who are otherwise great admirers of India, have said to me that the one thing they find difficult to understand is the amazing imperviousness of intelligent and educated Indians to the appalling poverty and deprivation often literally at their doorstep. It almost seems that they don't notice the needy , leave alone taking the initiative to do something for them.
I told Gulzar Saheb that there are identifiable reasons for this social insensitivity . First, in a highly competitive society , where the ratio between opportunity and aspiration is exceptionally adverse, those who succeed, even marginally , do not want to be distracted by larger community issues. The attitude becomes one of each for oneself and the rest be damned to their karma.
Second, there is a genuine ­ and legitimate ­ disenchantment with those who claim to speak for the cause of social altruism. In particular, the `idealism' spouted by our political class is seen to be hollow and opportunistic. What is promised is not implemented, and what is implemented is riddled with corruption.
This leads to a generic devaluation of the entire project of social good, so that even when a public welfare organisation is above board, its intentions are seen to be suspect.
Third, while Hinduism is at the level of philosophy one of the most profound religions in the world, in practice it breeds an individualism that privileges personal salvation over public good. A pious Hindu will take a dip in the holy waters of the Ganga oblivious to the filth and garbage on and around the bathing ghat.
Temples in India will have their coffers overflowing with donations, but few of the donors would want to spend the same money to help the thousands of needy around them. In the Hindu's quest for personal moksha, the countervailing moral imperative to identify his own spiritual growth with the welfare of the community has increasingly become dormant.
Gulzar Saheb listened to me with attention. But his belief in the good inherent in all human beings did not change. Indians may appear to be callous, he said, and often are, but below the surface, there is a deeply embedded conviction in the importance of dana, of giving, and of `paropkar', of giving back to society a little of what it has given to us.
Once people believe that their contribution will actually reach the intended beneficiaries, their diffidence becomes easier to overcome. And then, the floodgates open. Big and small amounts come in. People come out from the blue to volunteer. Good Samaritans crawl out of the woodwork. Support comes from the most unexpected quarters.
I was influenced by Gulzar's transparent idealism. But i remembered too that only recently , Dana Manjhi, a penniless tribal in Odisha walked for miles with his dead wife on his shoulder because neither the hospital nor anybody else would help him to transport her body to the cremation ground.
That image, symbolic of so much of what is wrong with us, is difficult to erase. I hope Gulzar Saheb is right, and i am wrong. But we still need to ask: are we really a caring society?
The writer is an author and member of JD(U)
Source: Times of India, 2409-2016

Aadhaar not required for UGC scholarships

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has declared that Aadhaar card is not a mandatory requirement to avail its scholarships.

 “Any student who has applied or wishing to apply for scholarship/fellowship shall not be denied benefit thereof due to non availability of Aadhaar card,” UGC deputy secretary Dr Sunita Siwach said recently in a statement.

 The applicants, however, will have to provide an alternate means of verification of identity and concerned bank account to the satisfaction of the competent authority.

The statement came months after the UGC had issued notices to all the universities, colleges and institutions directing the students to provide Aadhaar card number for availing scholarship at the time of application.

“The MHRD has instructed the UGC to ensure that from the financial year 2016-17, the Aadhaar number will be used as a mandatory identifier for disbursement of all scholarships/fellowships, which are to be disbursed directly to the account of individual beneficiaries. The universities are requested to seek the details of the beneficiaries and put all information on universities/institutions website and email a copy of the same immediately to UGC deputy secretary Dr Sunita Siwach,” UGC secretary Jaspal Sandhu had said in that directive.

The notice also stated that since all scholarships that are disbursed through UGC are not under the DBT mode, it would be switched over to DBT mode for which the requisite data would be filled and verified by the host institution.

The commission even requested that in case some the beneficiaries who do not have Aadhaar cards are required to enroll themselves immediately in the Regional Offices of Unique ldentification Authority of India (UlDAl) Government of India for obtaining the same.

Source: digitallearning, 16-9-2016

Managing the Cauvery dispute

Judicial intervention often resolves questions that the executive finds too sensitive to handle. By directing the Centre to constitute a Cauvery Management Board within four weeks, the Supreme Court has created space for the water-sharing dispute to be handled in a scientific and responsible manner by a legally constituted technical body. The board, assisted by a regulation committee, is the mechanism prescribed by the Tribunal in its final order for implementing its award. It will be a technical body consisting of irrigation engineers and agronomists, and will have independent members as well as representatives of the basin States. It can formulate the manner in which water should be shared in a season of distress. The court’s intervention also exposes the helplessness of governments at the Centre in handling inter-State issues. It is part of a long historical pattern. It was at the instance of the Supreme Court that theCauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was formed more than a quarter century ago; and again, it required court orders to pave the way for an interim award to be passed in 1991, and for it to be notified in the Gazette of India later. It took another order for the Tribunal’s final award of 2007 to be notified in 2013, six years later. The court has done a significant service in nudging the Centre to provide a legal and technical framework for the equitable distribution of water.

This is not the first attempt to create an institutional mechanism. In 2013, the Centre notified the formation of a ‘Supervisory Committee’ consisting of the Secretary, Union Water Resources Ministry, as chairman, and the Chief Secretaries of the basin States as members. That the latest decision of the Supervisory Committee, which directed the release of 3,000 cusecs of water for 10 days to Tamil Nadu, did not find favour with either State shows the difficulties involved in managing inter-State disputes even through an institutional mechanism. The Supreme Court, too, has intervened to double the quantum of water to be released. All this shows that apart from permanent mechanisms, technical panels and seasonal adjudication, a spirit of accommodation is required among the basin States. Also needed is a clearer appreciation of the fact that the entire water yield in the Cauvery basin is not enough to provide for the requirements of both States. It is time for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to take a hard look at their agricultural economies: the area under cultivation, the number of crops per year and the water-intensive nature of the crops. Unless these are adjusted to suit the water availability, such disputes will keep surfacing.

Keywords: Cauvery dispute, Cauvery water issue, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

Source: The Hindu, 22-09-2016

Money and Spirituality

KAMAL JAIN





In Indic tradition, gurus and rishis were respected more for their learning and knowledge and also because of their innate trait of not clinging to money or material objects. But today , money has become first priority for many of us. Money itself is not bad. It is a beautiful invention that has replaced the barter system and it has become a great convenience.But it is hoarding of money that makes it like stagnant water that stinks. So, it is not money but money-mindedness that is to be renounced. Possession is not wrong, but possessiveness is. This attitude of attachment destroys whole purpose of money . It has to go on moving from one hand to another hand. That's why it is called `currency'. It has to remain like a current; always flowing as an energy connection. The more it moves, the richer a society becomes.
Money by itself can't give you love, relationship or happiness.So, better love people instead of money . Money can give you things to comfort you but the objects can't give you love and affection. We don't need to be a hoarder or renouncer of money .Instead, we have to understand the mechanism of sharing it.After all, money is created by us as a tool. Having money and any belongings or not having these does not affect your journey to Self-realisation.
A spiritual person is able to see that money is our love of things and escape from persons and values, whereas spirituality lies in understanding life and love that is possible only with the attitude of non-attachment.

Nation still prefers boys over girls, sex ratio in Delhi falls sharply

India continues to prefer boys over girls and the Capital more so.

Nationwide, the number of girls born per 1,000 boys has dropped from 909 during 2011-13 to 906 for the 2012-14 period, a government survey has found.

But, the fall is steepest in Delhi -- from 887 to 876. Uttar Pradesh is next. The findings of the sample registration system (SRS) 2014, released last week, indicate that sex selection isn’t limited to the Hindi heartland but is spreading to states such as Tamil Nadu, where the number dropped to 921 from 927.

Sex ratio at birth is considered an accurate marker for girls missing at birth. Internationally, the ratio at birth is 950 or more girls born per 1,000 boys.

Noted demographer Prof PM Kulkarni said the sex ratio had been fluctuating over the last few years. “It is disappointing... We expected things to improve but perhaps there is some deterioration,” he said.

Punjab and Haryana – which fared the worst in gender equality in 2001 and 2011 census reports – are still at the bottom but have shown improvement.

The figures released by SRS, one of the major sources of demographic and vital statistics in India, are a moving average of three years.

Unlike the decadal headcount, SRS reports are based on annual changes in more than 8,800 identified localities and villages.

It would be best to wait another year to see if the decline was a trend, said Kulkarni, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor.

Prof Mary E John at the Delhi-based Centre for Women’s Development Studies agrees but says the statistics reflect what she observed during field visits and some of the census 2011 data.

There are two big takeaways from the findings.

One, the crackdown on ultrasound clinics should continue. “Sex selection, aided by these clinics, is still happening. It is as rampant as it was, in Delhi and elsewhere,” she said.

Second, the government programmes aimed at correcting the sex ratio should be holistic and not a stop-gap arrangement.

She pointed to Delhi’s Ladli scheme that gives money to poor families to encourage them to let a girl child be born and put through school.

But poverty is a criterion to get the aid though it is the aspirational working class that opts for sex selection.

John, researching sex ratio for 15 years, said the practice of gender selection appeared to have spread wider.

Socio-economic conditions and lack of job opportunities for women – and not just gender discrimination or patriarchy – might have contributed to fewer families welcoming a girl child, she said.

Source: Hindustan Times, 22-09-2016

Just 2 Indian institutes among world's top 400

Manash Gohain

New Delhi:





Thirty-one Indian institutions feature in a list of 980 best universities from 70 countries, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2016, issued on Thursday. Leading among the Indian universities, IISc has claimed a spot in the 201-250 band, its highest ever position.Second among the top Indian institutions is IIT-Bombay, which has found a place in the top 400. While there are 14 new entrants like Tezpur University from Assam and Amity University , five of the 2015 ranked universities -IIT Kharagpur, IIT Guwahati, Panjab University, Amrita University and Andhra University -saw a drop in their rankings. The country also has four new entries in the top 800, which are National Institute of Technology (Rourkela), Sri Venkateswara University, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Tezpur University.
Among the top 10, seven are from the US, while three are from the UK.
At number nine, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich) is the lone non-US and UK institution in the top 10.

Source: Times of India, 22-09-2016