An Unconscionable Act

The news reports of the Supreme Court appointed SIT’s charges against a leading activist, Teesta Setalvad are truly disturbing. She is charged with adding morbidity to the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat by “cooking up macabre tales of killings”. One has to see the full SIT report to come to terms with how grievous the charges are. On the face of it the SIT is credible. But by all news accounts Teesta Setalvad has done the cause of justice irreparable harm. And her actions, as described, will undermine the capability of civil society to have any imprimatur of impartiality in investigating riot cases.
If true, she has not only done deep disservice to the victims of the Gujarat riots; she has also undermined the credibility of so-called secular interlocutors. It confirms the suspicion many have, that often those speaking in the name of secularism do not subscribe to the very values they claim to be fighting for: truth, justice, impartiality and the rule of law. Their secularism is in the service of beating down opponents rather than discovering the truth. “Tutoring witnesses”, concocting horror stories in a politically charged situation is a serious crime; of a piece with what the supposedly “bad” guys do. After all, their politics depends upon falsely whipped-up paranoia, tampering with the system of justice, engaging in a pornography of violence and having scant regard for the truth. The fact that this is done in the name of victims, for a supposedly just cause, does not excuse it. It makes it worse.
This story should have been a big front page story. It deserves much more coverage and discussion. Of course, this is not the first time Teesta Setalvad’s role has come under the scanner. Her role in the Zahira Sheikh case was a matter of some concern, and there has been a widespread perception in legal struggles that her advocacy sometimes makes the cause of justice more, not less difficult. One cannot speculate about the circumstances under which she engaged in this self undermining rhetorical overkill. On the face of it, it was all so needless. The events in Gujarat were horrific enough -- there was no need to spoil the case with appalling falsehoods.
The good news is that in the case of Gujarat, at least some wheels of justice are turning. But the SIT’s findings against Teesta Setalvad are a salutary reminder, that the rule of law and the cause of truth should not be allowed to be subordinated to any ideology: communal or secular.

Is punishment necessay for discipline?

WITH recent instances of corporal punishment stirring up a hornet’s nest, the issue has hit a raw nerve. While it is true that corporal punishment cannot be used as a means to enforce discipline in a civilised society, there are questions that, perhaps, need to be addressed. 
How do you handle a classroom when you have 70 students to take care of ? Even one rowdy or disobedient student can cause enough disruption to ruin a class. In such cases what are the ‘classroom guidelines’ that a teacher should go by? 
Most educators feel that punishment and discipline doesn’t go hand-in-hand. Instead, it can be achieved by re-enforcing positive qualities in children. 
To start with, Lilly Vishwanathan, advocacy manager, project on corporal punishment, Plan India, feels that there is a need to foster a primarily pro-active attitude, empathy from teachers, encouragement techniques and so on — both at the adult level and in adult-student relations. 
However, most teachers admit that initially they warn students, but when things get out of hand, they are forced to take ‘action.’ 
Monika Chopra, a PGT in chemistry from N C Jindal School, Punjabi Bagh, says, “We have a system where we write a note for parents in students’ diaries. Once the student gets three remarks in his/her diary, the parents are called. They, along with the teacher, talk to the child and arrive at a solution.” 
Sharing an instance of good practices, Chopra cites an example of a class IX student, “This child was indisciplined and never followed instructions in class. We could figure out that he had a strong desire for stage and public speaking. So, we made him the class mo nitor as well as the house prefect. This worked and we saw a marked improvement in his behaviour and academic performance.” 
On the other hand, Deepak Dahiya, a teacher with the Delhi Government School, Roop Nagar, says punishment may be necessary. He says, “I do believe in punishing students to ensure discipline, but one should know where to draw the line. Since our students are first generation learners, we have to teach them everything — behavioural issues, discipline and learning.” He adds, “But once I have punished them, I use various therapies to help the child understand why I punished him, so that he doesn’t repeat it again.” 

TIPS FOR BUILDING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHILDREN 

Teachers can use a variety of strategies to build positive relations hips with children and prevent violence within the school environment. To do so, they can: 

• Listen to children and encourage them to listen to others 

• Teach with enthusiasm. Students engaged in work that is challenging, informative, and rewarding are less likely to get into trouble 

• Set norms for behaviour in the classroom and refuse to permit violence. Learn and teach conflict resolution and anger management skills 

• Invite parents to talk about and share their children’s progress and any concerns they have 

• Encourage and sponsor student-led anti-violence activities and programmes ranging from peer education, Bal Panchayats, and mediation to mentoring and training 

• Work with school authorities, parents and children to develop and implement a `Safe School Plan,’ including how teachers and other school staff should respond in emergencies 
• Enforce school policies that seek to reduce the risk of violence.Take responsibility for areas outside, as well as inside, your classroom 

• Encourage students to report crimes or activities that make them suspicious 

Talibanization of INDIA ?

Muslim organisations are up in arms over an alleged comment on Monday by a Supreme Court judge, who reportedly cited "Talibanisation" while turning down a Muslim student's plea to sport a beard in school. Now, the debate over the Muslim beard -- commonly considered an Islamic virtue rather than an immutable tenet - has come full circle.

The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a Muslim mass organisation, filed a broader case last month in the highest court, angling for a far-reaching ruling to allow Muslims to keep beards unconditionally, like Sikhs. The Jamiat case is likely to be one of the most fascinating courtroom duels over an Islamic emblem outside the Muslim world.

Here's why. It is not often that an Indian civil case rests largely on the validity of anecdotes from the Islamic world.

Evidence in support of the beard ranges from 1,000-year-old Islamic injunctions from the Hadith (Prophetic traditions) to the Hukum ul Islam, a famous treatise in Arabic. The English translation was specially procured from London's Dar At-Tawheed Publications.

"Our contention is that it is essential for Muslims to keep a beard in the light of the texts and traditions," Anis Suhrawardy, the lawyer representing Jamiat leader Arshad Madani said. Just in case the court rules in favour of the Jamiat, India could become the first non-Muslim country to uphold the Muslim's unfettered right to sport a beard.

Few Muslims think that keeping a beard could amount to supporting the Taliban's extremist character. "I don't dispute a particular judgement but if keeping a beard is akin to being a Taliban, I am proud to be one," Jamiat leader Mahmood Madani told HT. Two previous cases over a right to keep a beard, both involving employees in the armed forces, prompted the special leave petition filed by the Jamiat.

In defence organisations, a person is allowed a beard if it was sported on joining service. Most Muslims agree that the beard has great religious significance but it is commonly treated as non-essential.

Congress election slogan should be -- Jai Ho: Pub Bharo--

The survey found that nearly 44.4 per cent of Class 12 students hadconsumed alcohol in the survey period. Instead of looking at thesefacts, Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury are planning to use theso-called Mangalore pub incident as a political weapon. They don’tseem to realise what damage they are doing to India by theirirresponsible behaviour.Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reported to have said that she willfight the upcoming national elections on two issues: One concerningthe attack on a pub in Mangalore and the other concerning thedemolition of the Babri Masjid. The best advice that one can give toher is: Don’t. On both issues, she will pay for her folly. The Muslimcommunity in India will do the greatest good to itself and to itsrelations with the majority community if it graciously concedes theRam Janmabhoomi to its Hindu claimants and not stand on prestige. Allthese years the Muslims have allowed themselves to be exploited byso-called ‘secularists’ and have needlessly alienated themselves frommainstream India, reaping no benefit whichever way. It has doneneither the Muslims nor the Hindus any good. The time has come for theMuslims to change their mindset and concede graciously to the Hindus’claimand thereby win the hearts and souls of their fellow citizens. TheMuslims will lose nothing thereby.On the other hand, they will gain the eternal gratitude of Hindus towhom the Ram Janmabhoomi has tremendous emotional significance. Onepositive step and that will strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity as neverbefore. To both Muslims and Hindus it will be a win-win situation. Byattempting to widen the gulf between the two communities Sonia Gandhiwill render immense harm to the country which she professes to serve.A word to the wise should suffice. As for the Mangalore pubcontroversy, it has been plainly overplayed for political reasons andstatements have been made by Congress leaders that call for strongcondemnation.According to Renuka Chowdhury, Women and Child Development Ministerthere has been “a complete breakdown of law and order in Karnataka”.Nothing of that sort has happened and by making such highlyprovocative remarks, the Minister has only hurt her own party’schances at the forthcoming polls. Complete breakdown of law and order?Really? What happened in Mumbai during the jehadi siege? Was it anexample of high maintenance of law and order with the blood of acouple of hundred innocent people staining the earth? Mangaloreans cando without the patronage of the likes of Renuka Chowdhury and herboss. Besides, in the matter of young people visiting pubs, is theMinister aware of what is happening right under her nose in thecapital?According to a survey conducted by an NGO, called Campaign AgainstDrunken Driving (CADD) “nearly 80 per cent of those visiting pubs andbars in the Indian capital are below the age of 25 and that of theunder-age population at Delhi’s pubs 67 per cent are below 21 years ofage”. It would seem that Delhi’s excise laws ban the sale of liquor toor by anyone below 25 years and if an underage person is caughtconsuming alcohol, or if the vendor is caught, it could mean a fine ofRs 10,000. The CADD study found the laws ineffective, as nearly 33.9per cent of those below the age of 16 easily procure alcohol fromgovernment–authorised liquor shops, bars and pubs.According to a press report, the law also prohibits any person belowthe age of 25 years to be employed at any bar or pub and the offenceis punishable with a fine of Rs 50,000 or imprisonment of three monthsto be levied on the outlet. Says a report in the Free Press Journal:(February 2) “Still nearly 55 per cent of those working as serviceattendants in bars and restaurants are young boys and girls below theage of 25. The research was conducted from December 2008 to January2009 among 1,000 youth who go to the pubs and bars. Nearly 85 per centof the youth surveyed were in the age group of 14-21, even though thelegal drinking age is 25 years”.Can one believe that youngsters between the ages of 14 and 21 visitpubs and that too, in Delhi, where the government is run by theCongress party under the leadership of Sheila Dixit? How many of the youthfulpub-patrons have ever been arrested and how many of the pubs have hadto pay a fine? And what have Renuka Chowdhury and Sonia Gandhi to sayabout these revelations? According to the survey, in Delhi, annuallyabout 2,000 youths under age 21 die from motor vehicle crashes, otherunintentional injuries, homicides and suicides that involve underagedrinking. Prince Singhal founder of CADD is quoted as saying:“Underage drinking is a prelude to drunk driving and thus it isimportant to curb it in the initial stages, so that it does not end upas a habit among young individuals”.Another startling fact revealed was that the drinking age in Delhi hasgone down from 28 to 19 years since 1990. CADD estimates that inanother five to seven years, this figure may come down to 15 years.The survey found that it is not binding for liquor serving outlets orvends to verify the age of the consumer. But the survey found thatnearly 44.4 per cent of Class 12 students had consumed alcohol in thesurvey period. Instead of looking at these facts, Sonia Gandhi andRenuka Chowdhury are planning to use the so-called Mangalore pubincident as a political weapon. They don’t seem to realise what damagethey are doing to India by their irresponsible behaviour.Should we say that there is no law and order in Delhi? Obviously thereisn’t and the police look the other way when teenagers visit pubs. Wedo not have any information on how long these visitors stay at the bar or howmuch liquor they drink. Parents obviously are either unaware of whatis going on or couldn’t care less. One might damn the Shri Ram Sena toone’s heart’s content for using violence, but at least they seem tocare enough. At this point in time we have no statistics as to how oldthe girls serving drinks are and how many teenagers have beenattending the Mangalore pub.According to the CADD survey it is not binding for liquor servingoutlets or vends to verify the age of the consumer; that can onlyencourage the youngsters to take advantage of such a situation. Thatall this is happening in Delhi and under a Congress administrationsuggests not only a weak government that does not care for people buta leadership that is engaged more in talk than in action. Beforetaking up the Mangalore pub issue as a stone to hit at the BJP, SoniaGandhi would do well to set right matters within her own politicaljurisdiction. Both Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury surely know whatthe Bible says: Judge not, least ye be judged.

Loss of true science

Excerpts from the following text, taken from the book "Harikatha and Vaishnava Aparadha" by His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj were published by the Leading Indian National Newspaper, "The Times of India", in one of their editorial columns on 19th July, 2007)The synonym of the English word 'logic' of the West is 'Tarkashastra' or 'Yuktividya' , in India. They have ascertained two methods of attaining knowledge, which have their basis of reasoning: the inductive method and deductive method. Whatever finite human beings with finite intellect may ascertain, whether inductive or deductive, is actually in the domain of the process of ascension, which in India is called Avarohavaada. Induction refers to inferring of general law from particular instances, while deducting refers to inferring of particular instance from general law. In his book Raja Vidya, His Divine Grace Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj is writing, 'There are two processes for attaining knowledge: one is inductive and the other is deductive. The deductive method is considered to be more perfect. We may take a premise such as, " All men are mortal," and no one need discuss how man is mortal. It is generally accepted that this is the case. The deductive conclusion is: "Mr. Johnson is a man; therefore Mr. Johnson is mortal." But how is the premise that all men are mortal arrived at? Followers of the inductive method wish to arrive at this premise through experiment and observations. We may thus study that this man died and that man died, etc, and after seeing that so many men have died we may conclude or generalize that all men are mortal, but there is a major defect in this inductive method, and that is that our experience is limited. We may never have seen a man who is not mortal, but we are judging this on our personal experience, which is finite. Our senses have limited power, and there are so many defects in our conditioned state. The inductive process consequently is not always perfect, whereas the deductive process from a source of perfect knowledge is perfect. The Vedic process is such a process'.In India, there are disciplic successions coming from Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Nimbarka, Vishnuswami and other great sages. The Vedic literatures are understood through the superior spiritual masters. Arjuna understood the Bhagwad Gita from Lord Krishna, and if we wish to understand it, we have to understand from Arjuna, not from any other source. If we have any knowledge of Bhagwad-Gita, we have to see how it tallies with the understanding of Arjuna. If we understand Bhagwad-Gita in the same way that Arjuna did, we should know that our understanding is correct. This should be the criterion of our studying of the Bhagwad-Gita. If we actually want to receive the benefit from Bhagwad-Gita, we have to follow this principle. The Bhagwad-Gita is not an ordinary book of knowledge that we can purchase from the market place, read and merely consult a dictionary to understand. This is not possible. If it were, Krishna would never have told Arjuna that the science was lost. It is not difficult to understand the necessity of going through the disciplic succession to understand Bhagwad-Gita. If we wish to be a lawyer, an engineer or doctor, we have to receive the knowledge from the authoritative lawyers, engineers and doctors. A new lawyer has to become an apprentice of an experienced lawyer, or a young man studying to be a doctor has to become an intern and work with those who are already licensed practioners. Our knowledge of a subject cannot be perfectionalized unless we receive it through authoritative sources. This has been acknowledged in the Bhagwad Gita.In Sreemad Bhagwatam, Lord Vamana said to Shukracharya, (the spiritual master of demons): "Your disciple Bali Maharaj is in difficulty, it will be befitting for you to perform Yajna for his benefit". Shukracharya smiled and replied, "My disciple has seen you and you have graced him by setting your Holy Lotus Feet on his head. He has performed 'Anusankirtana' , meaning that he has recapitulated about your Name, Form, Attributes, Pastimes, after hearing about these from a bonafide pure devotee. Where is the necessity of performing Karmakanda Yajna? By utterance of your Holy name and glories, all defects in the utterance of mantra and tantra (inversion of sequence) and sinister influence of place, time and articles are removed." Anusankirtana means recapitulation of the glories of Supreme Lord, heard through a bonafide preceptorial channel. Here also a condition is imposed, that the hearing should be in from a bonafide devotee, not from a professional singer.In order to establish how to sing the glories of Supreme Lord Sree Krishna and how to perform Harinama without offence, it is necessary to remember the teachings of the authentic scriptures. The scriptural evidence of Brihad Naradiya Purana gives triple emphasis that there is no other way except Harinama in Kaliyuga. Sage Veda Vyasa confirms the same in Sreemad Bhagwatam 12.13.23.Please understand that there are infinite forms of devotion, of which chanting of the Holy Name is the foremost. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given the following five principal forms of devotion: Association of sadhus, chanting of the Holy Name, hearing of Sreemad Bhagwatam, dwelling in transcendental realm of Mathura Dham, and worship of Deities with firm faith. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has emphatically said that out of these five forms of devotion, Nam-Sankirtana is the best.