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Monday, March 04, 2019

As we build smart cities, let’s look at our ancestors, the Harappans

There are several reasons why the town planners and designers are unable to capitalise on our own knowledge of these advanced traditional systems.

The region of Gurugram and the state of Haryana at large present an interesting phenomenon of historical, archaeological and mythological facts that are yet to be completely deciphered and interpreted. One needs to realise that in today’s quest of making Gurugram and others smart cities in Haryana, we may need to pick up some lessons from the smartly designed Harappan (now termed as the Sindhu Saraswati) cities of this region.
Renowned archaeologist professor Vasant Shinde mentions “Excavations over three consecutive years (between 1997 and 2000) carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had uncovered evidence of a well-established road, drainage system, large rainwater storage facility, and additional city infrastructure in Rakhigarhi site.” While professor Shinde’s own excavations focus more on the skeletons excavated in the necropolis of Rakhigarhi and their DNA testing, his recent book and Pupul Jayakar Memorial Lecture at INTACH reiterate the ancient Indian knowledge system in terms of town planning principles, which are relevant for cities even today. These include basic infrastructure, accessibility to water supply and efficient drainage systems, among others.
There are several reasons why the town planners and designers are unable to capitalise on our own knowledge of these advanced traditional systems. To begin with, the hiatus created by our current colonial mindset leads us to believe that there is a total disconnect with our past and these principles cannot be applicable to the needs of the advanced societies today. Adding to this, there is a complete gap in a holistic approach towards understanding and interpreting these age-old town planning systems. The current bodies of knowledge exist in silos of various disciplines like archaeology, geology, anthropology and mythology, researching within their limited disciplinary frameworks with no attempt at convergence and absolutely no aim at linking with the current planning of cities and towns. Even though some of the later rural settlements in these archaeological areas actually existed on the footprints of the ancient Sindhu Saraswathi settlements and even though the rural- urban inhabitants of today reflect continuity in rituals from ancient times such as placing the bindi on the forehead, wearing of bangles, culinary practices, such as the use of herbs, and observance of Vedic fire rituals in most ceremonies, it is difficult for us to ascertain their connect and relevance for our future existence.
INTACH’s Haryana chapter is in the process of understanding and documenting the convergence of all the above strands of research to determine the extent, boundary and component of this ancient cultural landscape along with its alignment with the existing landscape with the aim of using this interpretation for a way forward in capitalising this knowledge for today’s planning as well as showcasing it as Haryana’s heritage for local, national and international audience.
Sudhir Bhargava, the Rewari chapter convener has mapped ‘Brahmavarta’ through detailed studies and mentions in the Vedas. Parallelly, archaeologists have traced the maximum number of archaeological sites in the state of Haryana that coincide with the Ghaggar basin, the most recent one being Rakhigarhi by Prof. Vasant Shinde, along with other sites such as Bhirrana, Farmana, Girawar earlier excavated by the ASI. More recently, excavations are being carried out in Kunal by the Haryana State Directorate of Archaeology and the National Museum. The Sanauli ‘rath’ excavations in the region by SK Manjul, ASI, in 2018 open up possibilities for dating Mahabharata period somewhere between 1100 BCE and 2000 BCE.
INTACH is also working on the awareness of the Sindhu Sarawati heritage by collaborating with various institutions, such as the internship programme of Ashoka University. Listing of works is also being undertaken by the Sushant School of Art and Architecture. A picture book titled ‘Legend of Rakhigarhi’ designed and conceptualised by the interns of Ashoka University was released in 2017 and a heritage trail for Rakhigarhi was conducted by INTACH’s Hisar chapter on February 17, 2019, with the active involvement of local villagers and Ashoka University interns. The children book on Rakhigarhi centres around ‘Rakhi’ a girl child who is the resident of Gurugram and visits her grandfather at Rakhigarhi. It concludes on how she wants her friends in Gurugram to visit the place with her next time, so that she can tell them stories about the interesting history of the region.
Working together with all stakeholders and Government organisations may help to create a deeper understanding of our past and possibly lead to some long-term, sensitive proposals for the future cities that are planned on these past foundations.
(Shikha Jain is state convenor, INTACH, Haryana Chapter and member of Heritage Committees under ministries of culture and HRD. She is co-­editor of the book ‘Haryana: Cultural Heritage Guide’; director, DRONAH Development and Research Organisation.)

Source: Hindustan Times, 4/03/2019
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Cosmic Night of Shiva


The Dakshinamurthy Stotram describes Shiva as the youthful guru, facing southward, teaching his elderly disciples through jnana mudra. The Lingashtakam sings glories of Advaita Linga, symbol of the cosmos, Brahmananda. The Shiva Mahima Stotra of Pushpadanta sees him as the inexpressible Truth that yogis realise by concentrating their minds on the Self. Shiva is the three-eyed One whose blue-stained neck is a symbolic reminder of his capacity to remove toxins from the world. The Yajur Veda describes Him as the Master Yogin, Mahadeva, the great God. The panchakshara mantra, Aum Namah Shivaye, is a timeless chant propitiating the inscrutable invoking the easy-to-please Ashutosh. Bhishma in his discourse on Dharma to Yudhishthir in the Mahabharata, describes the observance of the Mahashivratri fast by King Chitrabhanu. In a previous birth, the king was Suswara the hunter, who one night had to seek refuge atop a bilva tree. He either cried or dropped the leaves down one by one to assuage his fear. By doing so, he unwittingly worshipped a linga that was embedded in the earth, with the bilva leaves sacred to Shiva and, so, earned merit. This allegorical story represents everyman’s inner journey, passing through the complex mind, with its conscious thinking and subconscious desires, where lust, hatred, greed and jealousy have to be overcome by rising above them, as Suswara climbed up the tree. His nightlong vigil is a call to alertness and viveka, and the dawning of day symbolises the awakening into cosmic consciousness.

Source: Economic Times, 4/03/3019
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Friday, March 01, 2019

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents


Vol. 54, Issue No. 8, 23 Feb, 2019

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Calming Arunachal


The polity must foster a civic consciousness to allow equality of opportunity for all residents

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Itanagar has decided not to act on the recommendations of a Joint High Power Committee granting permanent resident certificates (PRCs) to non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes of Namsai and Changlang districts. This decision follows violence in Itanagar, which included arson attacks on the residence of the Deputy Chief Minister. The government took this step to de-escalate tensions despite the fact that both mainstream parties, the Congress and the BJP, were on the same page on the demand to grant the PRCs. The non-APSTs include the Deoris, Sonowal Kacharis, Morans, Mishings, Adivasis and ex-servicemen belonging to the Gorkha community. Successive governments and members of these communities have said PRCs are needed to avail of job and educational opportunities elsewhere in the country, and currently the 26 tribes and numerous sub-tribes who claim to be native to Arunachal Pradesh enjoy this privilege. Members of some of the non-APST communities have been long-time residents of the reconstituted State, and to term them as “outsiders” reflects a chauvinistic mindset that denies a just demand. Previous governments, including one led by the Congress in 2010, had also buckled under pressure on the issue. The indigenous tribes opposing the move say this is one step away from providing Scheduled Tribe status for the non-APSTs, which they vociferously oppose. While this fear is overblown, the award of PRCs could ensure land rights that are otherwise denied to the non-APSTs.
The fact that the opposition to the demand took such a violent turn could be linked to a retaliation to attempts by the members of the non-APSTs to enforce an “economic blockade” of the State from the neighbouring parts of Assam last month. But these incidents suggest that barely any northeastern State is today free of the pattern of ethnic discord marked by some communities being branded “outsiders” and sought to be denied resident privileges. These include the Chakma issue in Mizoram, the hill versus valley disturbances in Manipur, the longstanding “migration” issue in Assam, the attacks on Sikh residents in Meghalaya, and even the Chakma/Hajong citizenship issue in Arunachal Pradesh itself. The pattern through all these is eerily similar, with ethnic identities trumping civic consciousness in bringing about discord that has even escalated into violence in some cases. Arunachal Pradesh has otherwise remained a peaceful State, and it is incumbent on the government and the polity to foster a civic consciousness that allows equality of opportunity for all residents in the State. This is a difficult task as identity issues persist and fester when there is inadequate economic development – which is the real bane of the Northeast today.
Source: The Hindu, 28/02/2019
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Destiny is Inexplicable


The most intriguing expression I’ve ever come across in life is: this was destined to happen (ye toh hona hi tha). Being a lifelong non-believer having no faith in intangible phenomena like godhood, divinity, destiny, fate and all that, I never had any belief that an individual’s life could be preordained on certain counts, if not on all. But you keep learning as life unfolds itself. There’s no getting away from the fact that there’s something we call destiny or fate. Believing in destiny doesn’t make a person fatalist. But its direct or indirect influences on an individual’s life cannot be discounted either. In Latur’s earthquake in September 1993, five labourers somehow survived. They fled and came to Bombay. They were sleeping on the footpath when a truck ran over all, killing them on the spot. If they hoodwinked death in Latur, they couldn’t dodge it in Bombay. What should it be called and how will you account for it? Why do some people fail to get both the ends to meet despite working so hard throughout their lives, and why do some people never do anything worthwhile yet they live luxuriantly? You may call it premonition, gut feeling, hunch or by whatever name you like. Yet, there is an English couplet that says, ‘It’s fate that flings the dice and when it flings/ Of kings makes peasants and of peasants makes kings.’ Our efforts and endeavours can make a whale of a difference to our lives and future, but the subtle, nay insidious, role of destiny cannot be ruled out. Some unknown influences can never be fully gauged.

Source: Economic Times, 1/03/2019

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‘4,500 immigrant kids claim they faced sexual abuse at US camps


The US government received more than 4,500 complaints in four years about the sexual abuse of immigrant children who were being held at government-funded detention facilities, including an increase in complaints while the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the border was in place, the justice department revealed this week. The records, which involve children who had entered the country alone or had been separated from their parents, detailed allegations that adult staff members had harassed and assaulted children, including fondling and kissing minors, watching them as they showered, and raping them. They also included cases of suspected abuse of children by other minors. From October 2014 to July 2018, the office of refugee resettlement (ORR), a part of the health and human services department that cares for unaccompanied minors, received 4,556 allegations of sexual abuse or sexual harassment, 1,303 of which were referred to the justice department. Of those 1,303 cases deemed the most serious, 178 were accusations that adult staff members had sexually assaulted immigrant children, while the rest were allegations of minors assaulting other minors, the report said. “The safety of minors is our top concern when administering the UAC programme,” Jonathan H Hayes, acting director of the office of refugee resettlement, said in a statement, using an abbreviation for unaccompanied children. “None of the allegations involved ORR federal staff. These allegations were all fully investigated, and remedial action was taken where appropriate.” The records do not detail the outcome of every complaint, but they indicate that some accusations were determined to be unfounded or lacking enough evidence to prosecute. In one case, a staff member at a Chicago detention facility was accused in April 2015 of fondling and kissing a child and was later charged with a crime. The report did not state whether that person had been found guilty. The documents, first reported by Axios, were made public by Democrat Representative Ted Deutch the night before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday about the Trump administration’s policy of family separations at the southern border. That policy, which was put in place last spring, resulted in more than 2,700 children being separated from their parents under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting anyone caught crossing the border illegally, including those with families seeking asylum on humanitarian grounds. For most of the four years covered by the report, the number of allegations made to the office of refugee resettlement stayed about the same from month to month. But the number of complaints rose after the Trump administration enacted its separation policy. From March 2018 to July 2018, the agency received 859 complaints, the largest number of reports during any five-month span in the previous four years. Of those, 342 allegations were referred to the justice department, the report showed. NYT NEWS SERVICE

Source: Times of India, 1/03/2019

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IITs, DU, JNU on QS list of global top 100


The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay figures among the top 100 institutions in engineering and technology and art and design in the latest subject-wise QS rankings announced on Thursday. The other institutions from India to have made it to the top 100 in various subject lists include IIT, Delhi, Madras and Kharagpur as well as Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Quacquarelli Symonds, which is one of the academic ranking agencies, released the lists of the global ranking of university across 48 different subjects. While institutions from the US dominate the list with 28 first ranks, most of the lists didn’t have Indian institutions in the top 100. IIT, Bombay is the top ranked Indian institution in engineering and technology at 53, with two more IITs (Delhi and Madras) finding place at 61 and 95 respectively in the same list. IIT, Bombay and Delhi find mention with both standing in the 51-100 bracket in the list for best global institutions for civil and structural engineering. They also feature among the top 100 in computer science and information systems, while IIT Bombay and IISc, Bangalore share the 51-100 bracket in chemical engineering. IIM Bengaluru is the only Indian institution which figures in the list of the top 100 places for business and management studies. While no Indian institutes could make it to the top 100 in the category of social science and art and humanities, in the subcategory of development studies Delhi University has been placed 37 th . DU also figures in the top hundred in anthropology. JNU has been ranked in the 51- 100 bracket in sociology and history. IIT-Bombay is the top ranked Indian institution in engineering and technology at 53, with two more IITs (Delhi and Madras) finding place at 61 and 95 respectively

Source: Times of India, 1/03/3019
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