It would be a tragic irony of fate if India were to throw away her spiritual heritage

In this hour, in the second year of its liberation the nation has to awaken to many more very considerable problems, to vast possibilities opening before her but also to dangers and difficul­ties that may, if not wisely dealt with, become formidable. There is a disordered world-situation left by the war, full of risks and sufferings and shortages and threatening another catastrophe which can only be solved by the united effort of the peoples and can only be truly met by an effort at world-union such as was conceived at San Francisco but has not till now been very successful in the practice; still the effort has to be continued and new devices found which will make easier the difficult transition from the perilous divisions of the past and present to a harmo­nious world-order; for otherwise there can be no escape from continuous calamity and collapse.

There are deeper issues for India herself, since by following certain tempting directions she may conceivably become a nation like many others evolving an opulent industry and commerce, a powerful organisation of social and political life, an immense military strength, practising power-politics with a high degree of success, guarding and ex­tending zealously her gains and her interests, dominating even a large part of the world, but in this apparently magnificent pro­gression forfeiting its Swadharma, losing its soul. Then ancient India and her spirit might disappear altogether and we would have only one more nation like the others and that would be a real gain neither to the world nor to us. There is a question whe­ther she may prosper more harmlessly in the outward life yet lose altogether her richly massed and firmly held spiritual experience and knowledge. It would be a tragic irony of fate if India were to throw away her spiritual heritage at the very moment when in the rest of the world there is more and more a turning towards her for spiritual help and a saving Light. This must not and will surely not happen; but it cannot be said that the danger is not there.

There are indeed other numerous and difficult problems that face this country or will very soon face it. No doubt we will win through, but we must not disguise from ourselves the fact that after these long years of subjection and its cramping and impairing effects a great inner as well as outer liberation and change, a vast inner and outer progress is needed if we are to fulfil India's true destiny. [MESSAGE TO THE ANDHRA UNIVERSITY11th December 1948]

Sri Aurobindo is in no way bound by the present world's insti­tutions or current ideas whether in political, social or economic field; it is not necessary for him either to approve or disapprove of them. He does not regard either capitalism or orthodox social­ism as the right solution for the world's future; nor can he admit that the admission of private enterprise by itself makes the society capitalistic, a socialistic economy can very well admit some amount of controlled or subordinated private enterprise as an aid to its own working or a partial convenience without ceasing to be socialistic. Sri Aurobindo has his own views as to how far Congress economy is intended to be truly socialistic or whe­ther that is only a cover, but he does not care to express his views on that point at present. [CURRENT POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IDEAS 15-4-1949]

Document: Home > E-Library > Works Of Sri Aurobindo > On Himself Volume-26 > Messages

They were for national self-sufficiency in key industries

The Nationalist programme could only achieve a partial beginning before it was temporarily broken by severe govern­ment repression. Its most important practical item was Swadeshi plus Boycott; for Swadeshi much was done to make the idea general and a few beginnings were made, but the greater results showed themselves only afterwards in the course of time. Sri Aurobindo was anxious that this part of the movement should be not only propagated in idea but given a practical organisation and an effective force.

He wrote from Baroda asking whether it would not be possible to bring in the industrialists and manufacturers and gain the financial support of landed magnates and create an organisation in which men of industrial and commercial ability and experience and not politicians alone could direct operations and devise means of carrying out the policy; but he was told that it was impossible, the industrialists and the landed magnates were too timid to join in the movement, and the big commercial men were all interested in the import of British goods and therefore on the side of the status quo: so he had to abandon his idea of the organisation of Swadeshi and Boycott.

Both Tilak and Sri Aurobindo were in favour of an effective boycott of British goods — but of British goods only; for there was little in the country to replace foreign articles: so they re­commended the substitution for the British of foreign goods from Germany and Austria and America so that the fullest pressure might be brought upon England. They wanted the Boycott to be a political weapon and not merely an aid to Swadeshi; the total boycott of all foreign goods was an impracticable idea and the very limited application of it recommended in Congress resolutions was too small to be politically effective.

They were for national self-sufficiency in key industries, the production of necessities and of all manufactures of which India had the natural means, but complete self-sufficiency or autarchy did not seem practicable or even desirable since a free India would need to export goods as well as supply them for internal consumption and for that she must import as well and maintain an international exchange. But the sudden enthusiasm for the boycott of all foreign goods was wide and sweeping and the leaders had to conform to this popular cry and be content with the impulse it gave to the Swadeshi idea. Page - 31

Document: Home > E-Library > Works Of Sri Aurobindo > On Himself Volume-26 > The Leader Of Indian Nationalism

The capitalist West is not too far from creating an underclass of untouchables

Edward Berge Says: February 14th, 2007 at 7:23 am I’m not anti-business and pro-government; like all things it’s a dynamic, on-going balance. So in that sense yes, labor unions were instituted in a democracy to balance out the abuses of the owners of business. We’ve seen what business will do if left unfettered in a strict laissez-faire capitalism as witnessed by the abuses of the industrial revolution. So labor unions evolved with government legislation to balance this.

But labor unions have been eroded in part by their own corruption and in larger part by those same laissez-faire capitalists that have the most clout by buying Congressmen and women. As an earlier source noted, those with such just cause protection (government and labor unions) comprise less than 10% of the workforce, with nearly 90% working at will.

At will does not balance the scales to protect employers from predatory employees. In fact the opposite occurs with a regression to unfettered “master-slave” rules that bind employees out of fear of reprisal or whim. And when wrongful termination lawsuits do make it to court trial lawyers go for the punitive touchdown with ends up costing way more than a more reasonable, government-funded arbitration system.

Yes, corporations have instituted ethical business practices, some of out true care and some out of regulatory force. But business cannot be left to police itself just as the fox cannot be counted on to guard the henhouse (or II can be counted on to accurately judge the altitude of its critics). One of the purposes of democracy is checks and balances to protect against conflict of interest, so government plays a crucial role here...

ray harris Says: February 14th, 2007 at 4:40 pm Here’s a radical idea. If people can organise themselves into corporations to pursue profit and receive specific exemptions and privileges under law why can’t a body of employees similarly incorporate themselves into a corporation?
The fact is that US Labor history has largely been about keeping the power in the hands of the corporations. What happened to freedom of association? The freedom to form whatever collective you wanted? If you can create a church, a sporting club, a corporation, for mutual benefit then why not a union?
The bottom line is that capitalism needs a pool of cheap labour. And what this means in very plain terms is that in order for the top to enjoy wealth the bottom has to be kept poor...It is always someone else who has to be poor to make America great.

ray harris Says: February 15th, 2007 at 5:10 pm Who’s going to clean the toilets? I was watching Newshour (yes, we get it here) and there was an interview with a woman from the US Labour movement. The interviewer was pushing the free market argument as a counter-foil. He argued that the market will correct itself somehow. Those that lose jobs in manufacturing can move to higher paid ’service’ jobs. Say what? No matter what ex-manufacturing workers do next they will all need to eat, wear clothes and someone is still going to have to clean the toilets. In India they created the dalits - the untouchables, to do all the dirty work. The capitalist West is not too far from creating an underclass of untouchables, people we determine shall do the dirty work and get paid a pittance. Not my idea of justice...

Just as Rammohan Roy created the new progressive Bengali

HindustanTimes.com » Editorial » The Big Idea » A reformer for the poor Sagarika Ghose February 15, 2007

Bhattacharjee’s industrial policy is certainly the only hope for West Bengal but the policy itself must be implemented in a manner that befits Buddha-babu. After all, he is a reformer of the poor, not a reformer of the rich. His economic reforms are designed to rescue millions from poverty, not simply contribute to the coffers of industrial houses.

There is another initiative that Buddha-babu must take as he embarks on the transformation of society and mentality in Bengal. Just as Rammohan Roy created the new progressive Bengali in the 19th century through an exciting fusion of Christian thought and Indian tradition, Bhattacharjee has to create a new, homegrown ‘Leftism’, a Leftism of democratic, market-friendly rootedness. How will he do this? Reformist chief ministers generally always lose the people’s confidence. Chandrababu Naidu, SM Krishna and Om Prakash Chautala were all bundled out of office for daring to reform the economy.

Yet, Bhattacharjee has advantages that his other chief ministerial colleagues do not. In West Bengal, the CPI(M) is a formidably well-organised party machine, a system in which in every village, almost everyone, from the postman to the seamstress, is loyal to an entity they call ‘the party’. Bhattacharjee should use this party machine to his advantage and push a ‘New Bengali’ agenda. He should embark on a programme of mass contact, in almost Gandhian style. If the CPI(M) becomes a regional rather than an ideological party, if it transforms itself (invisibly) into a Bengali DMK or Akali Dal, based on identity rather than ideology, then Bhattacharjee might find he has far more room to manoeuvre ideologically.

In short, for the economic agenda to succeed, the Chief Minister must not sing ‘ekla chalo re’. Instead, this is the time to ride out aggressively to meet the people, to encourage a range of new programmes and campaigns centred on a new Bengal and for using the party machine to embark on a whole new era of populism. Sops, subsidies and gifts to voters have never been the CPI(M)’s style. The cadres have ruled more by fear and intimidation than by generosity. But the time of economic reforms is also the time of generosity. It is a time for unleashing reforms across the board, not just in building flyovers and malls, but in the agriculture market, in police stations, in cultural festivals, in the post offices and in the bureaucracy.

The unsmiling, stern apparatchik must stand forth as a large-hearted leader of the people, a Bengali NTR or MGR, a popular hero, a subaltern who wants to make money for the sake of the village and not for the sake of the city, a towering personality who believes in pragmatism. Certain types of reformers are always popular in India, whether a Krishna Chaitanya or a Ramakrish-na Parmahansa — the reformers of the poor. Reforms have to be phrased in the language and idiom of the poor and not in the language of dry CII policy. Bhattacharjee has the votes, he has the mandate, he has the party organisation, he has the personal incorruptibility and now he has the historic moment. He has the opportunity to create a whole new language of economic reform. If he succeeds, Bhattacharjee will be the first Chief Minister to have created economic reforms in the name of the poor. And that will really be a metamorphosis. The writer is Senior Editor, CNN-IBN Email Sagarika Ghose: sagarika.ghose@gmail.com

Lucas Dengel of Auro Annam at Auroville

Tamil Nadu - Chennai Biological approach to waste highlighted Staff Reporter Incineration, land filling `do not address real problem' Chennai : The New College Department of Biotechnology and the United States Educational Foundation of India (USEFI) jointly organised a one-day symposium on waste treatment and management...Lucas Dengel of Auro Annam at Auroville made a presentation on the achievements and unexplored scope of effective microorganisms technology in India. Frederick Kaplan, Acting Consul General of the United States in Chennai participated in the inaugural function. www.hindu.com/2007/02/16

Prof Asiananda of Sri Aurobindo Chair for Human Unity

Surely, we, as humanity, are getting closer to another ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’; and the book, Normative Prognosis, 2011’ by Prof Asiananda of Sri Aurobindo Chair for Human Unity, I know, has come out of the author’s premonition that we might not have the same luck as was in 1962! That fatal bullet in 1914 in Sarajevo which unleashed the long drawn out European civil war of World War I & II followed by the Cold War turning the twentieth century into bloody landscape of a hundred million deaths may be upon us again, this time at nuclear threshold of Armageddon proportions...

This is the vision that has gone into the founding of the Sri Aurobindo Chair for Human Unity at our University which my friend and colleague Prof Asiananda has been holding now for a decade, he has remained committed to renewing and revalidating Rajiv Gandhi’s Action Plan (for a non-violent, nuclear weapon–free New World Order) enabled through the transformation of the UN Security Council in the Round Table of the New Human Commonwealth. Such a transition of the status quo Yalta Order is normative and historically inevitable, and has to be the order of the day after Huntington Fukuyama and the demise of the PNAC.

Prof Jan R. Hakemulder The writer is Chancellor, Intercultural Open University, The Netherlands. This article is excerpted from his preface to Prof Asiananda’s new book, ‘Normative Prognosis-2011’ - Syndicate Features - Posted by Marc Parent mparent7777 mparent CCNWON at 11:56 AM http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4575

Peace and a self-existent bliss

Reflections on conflict and peace: Favela Morro da Pereira Written by Damon Lynch Friday, 16 February 2007

The search for perfection, the longing for freedom, truth and pure peace has been humanity's earliest preoccupation in its awakened mind (Ghose, 1971). Humanity dreams of a state of being which is in flagrant contradiction with reality. Sages like Aurobindo suggest that life might well be a series of “transitory satisfactions besieged by physical pain and emotional suffering”, but like generations before us we still long to “build peace and a self-existent bliss”.

Their complaints are too vague to allow for rigorous analysis

Before getting into the details of LSS I will indicate what I take to be soft spots of the Frankfurt/Critical Theory program. February 4th, 2007 Rafe Champion

First of all they are committed to the replacement of what they call capitalism (under various names) by some kind of socialism and participatory democracy. Quite likely these aims are contradictory. They may have given up on revolution but instead them make do with crisis. Those who are humane and reasonable people presumably expect that the changes that they desire will promote peace, freedom and prosperity but they never (to my knowledge) come to grips with the classical liberal agenda which has the same objectives by very different means. It is hard to know whether this is a manifestation of ignorance and lack of curiosity, or whether it just demonstrates the power of groupthink among networks of friends and associates (like the 30 people who endorsed David McKnights book).

Those who write hundreds of thousands of words on methodology and cultural critiques are apparently unable to explain what actual concrete policy proposals they would like to put in place to improve the situation. Cultural critique stands in place of policy and planning, with specified targets and examples of success and failure where policies have been tried. Part of their problem is that any talk of success and failure would need to specify targets and criteria for success and that would mean coming down out of the clouds to talk about the world we actually live in. Their complaints are too vague to allow for rigorous analysis – for example we consume too much – but by what criterion? And do they think that wage reductions would help? (a prima facie excellent policy to reduce consumption).

The other soft spots that I had in mind can actually be found in LSS because they are errors of epistemology, methodology, the theory of rationality, theories of language, psychology, literary interpretation and textual analysis. And more (for another time).

To produce food with a certain consciousness that feeds us on every level

We are a small mixed farm and produce mainly vegetables and eggs. We have an educational program for eight local apprentices. As a volunteer you will become part of our 'community of learners' learning with and from each other. As a farm that is part of the spiritually orientated community/collective of Auroville our work has a spiritual orientation. We are concerned to produce food with a certain consciousness that feeds us on every level. We aim to work, learn and grow in consciousness together. We can welcome up to 10 volunteers who stay in locally made huts. For more information go to our website. Posted by Deepa Singh at 10:58 AM

Rogue aid

Help Not Wanted By MOISÉS NAÍM The New York Times: February 15, 2007 Washington

MY friend was visibly shaken...manufacturing jobs are lost to China every day. But my friend is not in manufacturing. He works in foreign aid. His story is about Nigeria’s trains. The Nigerian government operates three railways, which are notoriously corrupt and inefficient. They are also falling apart. The World Bank — where my friend works — proposed a project based on the commonsense observation that there was no point in lending the Nigerians money without also tackling the corruption that had crippled the railways. After months of negotiation, the bank and Nigeria’s government agreed on a $5 million project that would allow private companies to come in and help clean up the railways.

But just as the deal was about to be signed, the Chinese government offered Nigeria $9 billion to rebuild the entire rail network — no bids, no conditions and no need to reform. That was when my friend packed his suitcase and went to the airport. It is not an isolated case. In recent years, wealthy nondemocratic regimes have begun to undermine development policy through their own activist aid programs. Call it rogue aid. It is development assistance that is nondemocratic in origin and nontransparent in practice, and its effect is typically to stifle real progress while hurting ordinary citizens.

China is actively backing such deals throughout Africa; its financing of roads, electrical plants, ports and the like boomed from $700 million in 2003 to nearly $3 billion for each of the past two years. Indeed, it is a worldwide strategy. Beijing has agreed to expand Indonesia’s electrical grid in a matter of months. Too bad the deal calls for building several plants that use a highly polluting, coal-based Chinese technology. No international agency would have signed off on such an environmentally unfriendly deal.

In the Philippines, the Asian Development Bank, which lends money at low interest rates to poor countries, had agreed to finance Manila’s new aqueduct. It, too, was suddenly told that its money was no longer needed. China was offering cheaper rates, faster approval and fewer questions.

What’s behind this sudden Chinese drive to do good around the world? The three short answers are money, international politics and access to raw materials. China’s central bank has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, totaling $1.06 trillion. Beijing is increasingly leveraging this cash to ensure its access to raw materials and to advance China’s growing global influence. What better than a generous foreign-aid program to ensure the good will of a petro-power like Nigeria or a natural-resource-rich neighbor like Indonesia?

China is not the first country to make aid a tool in advancing its interests abroad. The Soviet Union and the United States spent decades giving development aid to dictators in exchange for their allegiance. Even today, American largess to Egypt and Pakistan is rooted in geopolitical calculation.

But beginning in the 1990s, foreign aid had begun to slowly improve. Scrutiny by the news media shamed many developed countries into curbing their bad practices. Today, the projects of organizations like the World Bank are meticulously inspected by watchdog groups. Although the system is far from perfect, it is certainly more transparent than it was when foreign aid routinely helped ruthless dictators stay in power.

Nor is China the only regime offering rogue aid. President Hugo Chávez has not been shy in using his nation’s oil money to recruit allies abroad. Indeed, Venezuela’s ambassador to Nicaragua, explaining his country’s large aid packages in the region, bluntly announced, “We want to infect Latin America with our model.”

Mr. Chávez’s financial aid to Cuba far exceeds what the island used to get from Leonid Brezhnev during the heyday of Soviet communism, and it has dashed hopes for Cuba’s opening as a result of Fidel Castro’s demise and the island’s bankruptcy. Because of Mr. Chávez’s artificial lifeline, Cubans will be forced to wait even longer for the indispensable reforms that will bring their society opportunities for true prosperity and freedom.

Iranian aid to Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon may have increased Iran’s influence in the region, but it is damaging to the people in those countries for the same reason that Venezuelan aid hurts Cubans. The same can be said of Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship, in countries like Pakistan, of religious schools that fail to equip students with the skills they need to get jobs.
One could argue that students are surely better off going to any school than being in the streets. But why should these be the only options? Why can’t the Saudis finance education, the Chinese pay for railroads and electric grids, and the Venezuelans help Cuba’s economy without also hurting poor Pakistanis, Nigerians and Cubans? Because the goal of these donors is not to help other countries develop. Rather, they seek to further their own national interests, advance an ideological agenda or even line their own pockets. Rogue aid providers couldn’t care less about the long-term well-being of the population of the countries they aid.

States like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have the cash and the will to reshape the world into a place very unlike the one where we want to live. By pushing their alternative development model, such states effectively price responsible aid programs out of the market exactly where they are needed most. In place of those programs, rogue donors offer to underwrite a world that is more corrupt, chaotic and authoritarian. That sort of aid is in no one’s interest, except the rogues. Moisés Naím, the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, is the author of “Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy.”

Lawmakers on freebie vacations and other junkets

Editorial: Congress and Self-Reform Published: February 14, 2007 feedback@nytimes.com

Taxpayers have been slowly discovering the bad, the ugly and, lately, a touch of good in Congress’s tight relations with the lobbying industry. Last November’s candidates promised all manner of reform, and the good was the enactment of a long-overdue ban on lobbyists’ currying insider clout by taking lawmakers on freebie vacations and other junkets. But the bad remains to be dealt with: the practice of lawmakers creating secondary “leadership” kitties to sock away extra money from lobbyists and other special-interest donors beyond the usual campaign committees.
What’s ugly are the crass ways members routinely press lobbyists for leadership donations — for things like $5,000 hunting and fishing trips, and a face-to-face cup of designer coffee that costs a donor $2,500. They use the money to cross-pollinate fellow politicians’ campaigns and, more and more, as a V.I.P. slush fund to pay for extra trips and other indulgences that are hardly the stuff of leadership.
Critics in Congress know the free-flowing PAC’s, as the next big scandal waiting in the wings, should be banned under campaign finance law. The leaders of the House Democratic campaign committee, in fact, have already canceled the committee’s annual ski weekend for lobbyists. Members should follow suit and ban the grossly misnamed leadership PACs as a step toward serious campaign finance reform.
“Only a moron would sell a vote for a $2,000 contribution,” said one typical House member preoccupied with fund-raising. The comment unfortunately raises the question of what more tempting price might eventually emerge.

Fiasco and confusion

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Aurobindo's Gandhi Bashing
I don't want to be that guy who posted a clip on You-tube imitating Gandhi. But here is a quote that was as refreshing as a cuppa Madras filter coffee.
When Gandhi's movement was started, I said that this movement would lead either to a fiasco or to a great confusion. And I see no reason to change my opinion. Only I would like to add that it has led to both. - Aurobindo June 23, 1926

However a few may argue that it led to India's independence. I see it as something that was given than earned. Your thoughts? Labels: Aurobindo, Gandhi, India posted by Rajesh @ 11:57 PM Name: Rajesh Raghupati Location: Dallas, Texas, US

Solar panels are the only source of electricity

The Vegan Commune Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Auroville By Chlo and Jesse January 27th 2007

After Mamallapuram we travelled south with Ryan and Neal to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a bizarre cross between India and France, where we stayed in a vaguely seedy hotel over a definitely seedy bar. Pondicherry is very clean and middle class and it was a nice place to relax a while. After a few days of relaxation and lots of games of cards with Ryan and Neal, they left, as they only had a week left in India.

We then headed into Auroville, "an experiment in human unity", founded on the ideas of a guru called The Mother. In Pondicherry we had bumped into a girl we had met first in Mamallapuram, who was very enthusiastic about a community called Sadhana forest so this is where we headed and where we have been staying for the past two weeks. We live in a small hut, and go to work in the forest in the morning, (the project aims to restore Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest to the area, which was all chopped down by the colonialists, oh the irony!). Everyone in the community helps cook and clean.

Its a Vegan community in a way that goes beyond food, there is a dry composting toilet (very interesting as we both had the dreaded fever-diarrhea that went round camp last week), solar panels are the only source of electricity so we only have lights on in the toilet and living room at night and thus wake up early and go to bed early. It feels really healthy. We have also been given vegan toothpaste powder (yuk!), shampoo, and soap, to use during our stay. There aren't too many mosquitos here but on the first day Jesse got three ticks, and apparently there are three cobras living in camp! We have seen two in Auroville but none in camp. Very big and very freaky!

We are getting on ok with the vegan food but have to leave for chocolate and pasta occasionally. Thus the most danger to our health is going out on the scooter we've hired, especially when we have three people on it. The scooter is good, except the petrol gauge doesn't work, (we have ran out of petrol twice, once on a random road in the dark), and the light only works when we are revving, thus when we slow to go round corners at night we are plunged into darkness. The scooter is really fun though. We went to a hippy, straight edge (no alcohol, drugs etc.) party last week, that was really fun, we danced the night away, (the point seemed to be to look stupid and not care).

Everyone is really nice in the community, there are about forty adults and ten children. It is really international though our best friends are a couple from Brighton! We are having a brilliant time here and it will be really hard to leave, but we may have to some time next week as we only have a month left. Next we plan to head to Kanyakamari, the southern tip of India.

Global modeling aspects of System Dynamics

Re: Franco Modigliani, Economics Nobelist by rjon on Sun 11 Feb 2007 05:31 PM PST Profile Permanent Link

While I was in graduate school at MIT during the mid-70s, I helped pay my tuition by working during the summers with a small house-painting company that my first wife, Susan, and I had formed with several of our Sufi friends. One of the homes we ended up painting belonged to Serena and Franco Modigliani.

I had almost no formal background in economics, so only knew that Franco was an MIT professor. We got to know Serena while painting the outside of their home, and she eventually invited us to also paint their inside rooms. This led to us being invited to lunch many times and on a few occasions to dinner with her and Franco.

When Serena learned that I was studying System Dynamics (SD) under Prof. Jay Forrester, one of the founders of Cybernetics, she encouraged me to engage in economic discussions with Franco. Since I was studying mainly the global modeling aspects of SD (specifically what was known as the "World Model") and not the other major project called the "National Economic Model," I was blissfully ignorant of Prof. Modigliani's stellar reputation in economics.

He received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1985. Paul Samuelson, also an Economics Nobelist, said: "Franco Modigliani could have been a multiple Nobel winner. When he died he was the greatest living macroeconomist. He revised Keynesian economics from its Model-T, Neanderthal, Great Depression model to its modern-day form."

So, there I was arguing economic theory with Franco Modigliani over Serena's delightful dinners. He seemed to enjoy our conversations, enough so that we were invited back several times, and his European graciousness was sufficient that I never suspected who he really was. Talk about "fools rushing in where angels fear to tread" ... ~ ron

Rise above the Vedic and Gandhian studies in this age of modern science

Guv's remarks against Sanskrit cause students to rebel THE TIMES OF INDIA 11 Feb, 2007 VARANASI: Governor T V Rajeswar would not have imagined that his well-meaning advice to students of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University (SSU) for career building would invite their uncontrolled ire, forcing him to leave the place unceremoniously under security cover. The governor, who was addressing the convocation at SSU on Friday afternoon, had to leave the place amidst utter chaos and slogan shouting.

Protesting against his remarks against Sanskrit learning, the students not only threw chairs and shoes at the convocation venue, but also turned violent, indulging in brick-batting at the main gate targeting the motorcade. However, the governor, who is also the chancellor of the university, was taken away safely from the place. Not only students, but teachers too felt hurt with his speech and remarks therein. Everything was going on as per schedule at the convocation until the address of the Governor, who was presiding over the function. The entire audience was shocked when he described Sanskrit learning as worthless in this age of science and technology.

He said that Sanskrit learning would lead students to the bail-gadi yug (age of bullock-carts). "Sanskrit is no longer the language of God,"he said adding that the knowledge of English and science was essential in this age for a bright career. He went on to say he would take a lead for amendment in state universities regulation for compulsory education of English. He exhorted Sanskrit students to come out of the age-old confines of the language and look forward to learning modern things for development. He said that even Greek and Latin languages were out of the syllabus of western universities while Sanskrit was being taught in most Indian schools even today, he said.

He added that languages like Sanskrit and Persian had been promoted by the British to divide and rule the country. Not in SSU alone, the governor had earlier also called upon students at the convocation at Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV) to rise above the Vedic and Gandhian studies in this age of modern science to ensure their place and position in modern-day metros. "Aj zamana badal raha hai. Sirf Vedic aur Gandhian studies se aap log aage nahin badh sakate hain,"he said. He said that students should move ahead with the time, leaving out-dated traditions behind. This speech of the governor annoyed students, who were there to receive their degrees. Seeing their restlessness the function was cut short and the National Anthem hurriedly sung. However, the students created a scene at the venue, hurling chairs and shoes. They also raised slogans against the governor.

A secular phenomena with all the trappings of exotic religiosity

Re: Is India headed the right way?, by Francois Gautier by Rich on Tue 06 Feb 2007 10:44 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

I certainly agree with the author’s sentiment that India needs to develop a critical solvent to resist the streamed capitalism and cultural nihilism of the neo-liberal corporatist project of globalization. It maybe desirable to participate in a global economy and exploit the transfer of western scientific and technological know how by supplying a massive work force (standing reserve) of decently trained low paid workers and enjoy the benefits of an economy growing at 8% . (Although the actual poverty rate in India is only decreasing at a rate of 1%, so there still is a critical 7% gap) But the wholesale adoption of the most profane aspects of western cultural values is indeed troubling as is the displacement of the indigenous value systems and wisdom traditions of India. I would also agree with the author, that the spiritual traditions of India could supply one of the main ingredients in any critical solvent of resistance, to the culture of nihilism, however I am also concerned by his characterization of Indian cultural affinity.

For example in the following statement: “Instead of feeling first Indians, they feel they are first Muslims and then Indians, first Dalits and then Indians, first Christian and then Indians.“

The author’s omissions here speaks louder then his declaration. What about including in this list upper caste Hindus, who see their own groups self-determination through the vision of the chauvinist Hindu ideology of Thackeray or Modi?

The author fails to mention that it is not only the lower castes, Muslims and Christians that follow their own narrowly determined politics of self-interest, but also middle and upper caste Hindus whose identity is tied to caste or group exclusivity. In fact, as I understand it the problem with the multiple claims of self-interest groups in India is a direct result of the deficient mythological “caste system” of Hinduism.

Politics in India today is all about ones own group or caste interest, be it Yadav, Thakur or a hundred others. In fact, caste is one of the chief determining factors in casting ones vote. This is also a major reason India suffers the political chaos or corruption on a massive scale, because the politics of caste or group identity does not proceed with the national interest in mind. Rather this form of politics only concerns the specific concerns of the interest group or caste. As a result the main promise that the politics of caste makes is not for the country’s welfare, but to deliver as many government jobs as possible to their own particular caste members. V.S. Naipaul’s book called India a Million Mutinies Now (1991) explores the problems of group identity in India.

Here is a quote “The liberation of Spirit that has come to India (since 1947) could not come as a release alone. In India with its layer below layer of distress and cruelty, it had to come as a disturbance. It had to come as rage and revolt. India was now a country of a million little mutinies”

The psychology of division in India is much more complex then any definition can provide that merely equates it as a reaction against Hinduism.

Another quote that Gauthier makes which I find troubling is: "Today, even the Sikh community feels it wants to separate from its Hindu brothers and Christian and Muslims are encouraged to look down upon Hindus.”

Well is this author speaking as an apologist for Hinduism or for the nation of India?

It seems that his main assumption is Indian nationalism equals Hindu nationalism. Here I would argue that he is mixing up differing logical types of identity. India is a secular nation, Hinduism is a cluster of religious traditions. The nation of India as it exists today is as much a product of European social constructions as it is indigenous traditions (e.g. the nation of India which was created in the 20th century is not identical with the cluster of religious traditions stretching back millennia known popularly as Hinduism). It is an error to equate Indian national interest with a Hindu-centric polity.

Therefore when the author states: ”India should become the spiritual leader of the world.” The meaning for me is certainly not identical with Sri Aurobindo’s vision of India as the “guru of nations”, rather Gauthier’s statement seethes with an Orientalist sensibility which fuses what is essentially a secular phenomena with all the trappings of exotic religiosity. rc

Non-fiction writers are definitely leading the way at the moment

Traditionally, print journalism was thought to be "the first draft of history". But some of the traditional functions of a daily newspaper have now been usurped by television and the Internet. Do you think then that the role of newspapers is going to change gradually, and that we will turn to them less for the what than for the why?

I would like to think so, because explaining our complex world, rather than merely following television and the web in reporting it, really is the only way forward for newspapers. Books too are filling this important niche—explaining our complex world in a way that deepens readers’ understanding. The Indian media market is showing a dynamism that is very encouraging. When I first came to India there was a single broadcaster—Doordarshan—and the I&B minister was able to influence what news went to air. Here too, the '90s changed everything...

Many of your descriptions of locale and landscape in Inhaling the Mahatma are so rich and beautiful they seem almost out of a novelist's cupboard. Does the nonfiction writer have anything to learn from the reading of fiction?

I started my writing career in short stories, which won prizes, and that encouraged me to keep writing. But I couldn’t make a living from short stories, so I turned to journalism, not just to survive, but to gain the sorts of life experiences that I felt would help me mature and have something interesting to say. Whether we write fiction or non-fiction, we’re all writers with stories to tell, and we can learn from each other. Non-fiction writers are definitely leading the way at the moment, but the novel is not dead. I hope not anyway, because I would certainly like to write one. The Books Interview: Christopher Kremmer Chandrahas, 7:40 PM

India should become the spiritual leader of the world

Is India headed the right way? Francois Gautier Rediff Home February 05, 2007

Today, there is a sense of deep satisfaction, of gloating even, in India. The economy is booming, there are more and more cars on the roads, shares are soaring, a plane is taking off every six seconds, hotels are full, shops do roaring business. It looks as if India has moved from tamas to rajas, and has come out of its slough of depression and inertia of the last so many centuries, which was characterised by lack of self-esteem, confidence and dynamism. Today, we see a much more dynamic and self-confident India, galvanised by the liberalisation taking place at this very moment.

But if one looks closer at what is happening here, one is bound to feel a little unsettled. For what we see today is an India veering blindly, without restraint, towards total globalisation and Westernisation. Yes, there are great values in the Western world: Freedom, democracy, equality (not always though), respect for the environment, less corruption. And India must, and has already borrowed from these qualities. But since the last two, three years, it seems the Indian political and intellectual mind is pushing these qualities to an illogical extreme, as if it wants to prove to the West that 'we are as democratic, as liberal, as free as you are.'

Thus, democracy in India has been hijacked. It takes a fortune to be elected. Politicians, elected by and for the people, once they are locked in the ivory tower that is Delhi, forget all about the people. Thus we see that freedom is such an obsessive mantra in India that an artist who paints one of the most revered ancient Hindu gods doing unmentionable things to a Hindu goddess is defended by India's intellectuals. Thus we see that someone who is part of a diabolical plot to kill Indian leaders and storm Parliament gets the benefit of the doubt from the same intelligentsia in the name of judicial correctness.

This process of copying the West to the point of aping it has, of course, already happened many times in the developing world. And it killed the soul of many countries, making them just another replica of the West -- with a youth that wears the latest Calvin Klein jeans, knows the No 1 bestseller on the Time list, can quote a few lines from Dante, reads The Times of India, but knows nothing about pranayama, has never read a verse from Kalidasa and does not know who Sri Aurobindo is.

The Westernisation of India must not be at the cost of her culture and spirituality. Yet, there are signs that it is already happening here. You may notice in the Indian media, that there is a witch hunt against gurus, a deriding and mocking of Indian spirituality, a marginalising of Hinduism and Hindus, who constitute the immense majority in India and are a billion worldwide, one of the most law-abiding, religious, educated, affluent communities in the world.

More and more, Indian television particularly, but also newspapers and magazines, are casting a look on India that is not only very critical (if you open any newspaper nowadays, you can only end up depressed), but which in its very nature is a Western look -- which judges India according to Western standards. But these Western standards do not necessarily apply to this country, which has a different psyche, different culture and different standards. Why not judge India according to Indian wisdom, which is much more ancient than Western democracy and philosophy?

More importantly, some Indians are more and more divided. Instead of feeling first Indians, they feel they are first Muslims and then Indians, first Dalits and then Indians, first Christian and then Indians. This is a dangerous trend and it spells the death of the minimum unified nationalistic pride that can take a country forward. Instead, Indians today take pride in melting abroad, or adopting a 'secular' creed, which basically makes them soul-less and identity-less, however brilliantly they ape the West. What is it that which India is fast losing as you read this article?

Its culture, firstly. Entire patches in the northeast are being converted to Christianity. Tribals are told by missionaries that it is sinful to enter a temple, women are asked not to wear bindis, children are taught to look down on their culture as animist or heathen. Its communal harmony, secondly. Whatever the shocks of invasions, there was always a certain syncretism in Jain, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim communities. The ordinary Muslim in Kashmir or the Christian in Kerala, even if he thought that his or her god was the only true one, had a certain understanding and acceptance of the age-old Indian culture. Reverence for women, respecting others' festivals and customs, harmony with one's neighbours were hallmark traits.Today, even the Sikh community feels it wants to separate from its Hindu brothers and Christian and Muslims are encouraged to look down upon Hindus.

As a foreigner who loves India, I feel that this blind copying of the West's ignorant and doubting mind, the aping of whatever is has proved wrong in the West -- wild consumerism, or savage capitalism -- will be a tragedy for India. And what is India's soul? The knowledge that there is life beyond life, the understanding of the different planes above the mind, the ancient wisdom on reincarnation, karma, maya. And above all, the acceptance that god manifests himself at different times under different names and that god is one in his infinite diversity.

This knowledge, which once roamed the shores of the world from Egypt to China, is today lost everywhere. Yet it is the knowledge that humanity needs for the 21st century if it does not want to go towards catastrophe as it is now, with the world's two major so-called monotheistic religions still believing that only their god is the true one and that it is their duty to convert 'pagans.'

India must thus achieve its liberalisation and industrialisation, by taking the best of the West, but preserving what is good, pure, wise in her own culture. On a material level, for instance, there should be a revival of authentic Indian traditional forms, such as ancient medical systems like Ayurveda, or Siddha, instead of the total dependence on Western antibiotics. And what about Indian yogic sciences? Pranayama, for instance, is the most exacting, precise, mathematical, powerful breathing discipline one can dream of. It is also true of hatha yoga, a 3,500-year-old technique, which has inspired all kind of aerobic, so-called yoga techniques and gymnastic drills around the world.

Meditation is also India's gift to the world. The art of relaxing the mind and cooling the nervous system, using simple methods such as observing the breath, or repeating one's god's name. If these three disciplines were taught in a secular, scientific manner to all Indian children in school, not only it would unify them in the same knowledge, but it would provide them wonderful tools of intuition, endurance and peace of mind, which they could use all throughout their life. But what we see today instead in India are IIMs or IITs churning out scores of Western clones good for export -- the greatest cause of the intellectual brain drain of India. And this will be India's gift to this planet during this century: to restore to the world its true sense, to recharge humanity with the real meaning and spirit of life. India should become the spiritual leader of the world. Francois Gautier is the editor-in-chief of La Revue de l'Inde (lesbelleslettres.com) and the author of the Guru of Joy (India Today book Club).

Indian and South African Constitutions are models

Tamil Nadu - Others "Nations should guarantee citizens' capabilities" Staff Reporter The Hindu Tuesday, Dec 19, 2006

PUDUCHERRY: "Any nation, which says that it has been able to give a life that's worthy of human dignity, has to guarantee to give life, bodily integrity, health, the development of senses, emotional health, political relationships, the ability to enjoy nature, the ability to play and control over one's material and social environment," Martha Nussbaum, Academician, Academy of Finland said.
Delivering an address on "Towards a unity in diversity" in Auroville near here on Monday, Ms. Martha Nussbaum, who is the Founder and coordinator of the new Centre for Comparative Constitutions, said that any nation that wants to protect those through constitution or any other process must really guarantee these ten capabilities.
Having been teaching law, she said that she considered the Indian and South African Constitutions were models since they had been able to guarantee the capabilities for their citizens.
These 10 points are just a model for public persuasion and it is not going to be implemented without people who will as democratic citizens. The second thing is to make people capable to do something and not lagoon them into functioning according to that. Thirdly the local nation and region has a lot of flexibility in deciding exactly to specify what free speech and the freedoms of religion are because the nations have different histories and cultures.
Members of the Governing Board of Auroville, Aster Patel, Malini Parthasarathy of The Hindu , Srinivasmurthy of the Auroville Foundation and dancer Sonal Mansigh participated.

India is the key

Lifting the veil on a new world power Reviewed by Kelly McEvers Sunday, February 4, 2007 In Spite of the Gods The Strange Rise of Modern India By Edward Luce DOUBLEDAY; 383 PAGES; $26

The book opens with a familiar character. A Westerner -- in this case, a Frenchman named André -- is so taken with Indian philosophy that he has relocated to a small town in Southern India dedicated to Sri Aurobindo, one of India's most celebrated spiritual leaders. The community's inhabitants believe that India possesses a "moral and spiritual force" strong enough to help the world transcend materialism. India, André tells the author, is "the key to the survival of the human race."

But what, Luce muses, about the millions of impoverished people within India's borders? How will the Aurobindo community -- or, for that matter, the Indian state -- help them? The World Bank says roughly one-third of India's more than 1 billion people live below the poverty line. André insists he's not worried. India, after all, is exceptional. sfgate.com

What is true nationalism?

The clarion call of Aurobindo Ghose on what is true nationalism becomes totally relevant. He declared all the time that our nation is not a piece of earth or a figure of speech, nor a fiction of the mind. It is a mighty Shakthi, composed of the Shakthis of all the millions of units that make up the nation, just as Bhavani Mahisha Mardhini sprang into being from the Shakthi of all the millions of Gods assembled in one mass force and welded into unity. That Shakthi we call India, 'Bhavani Bharathi', is the living unity of the Shakthis of over 1006 million people today... Aurobindo Ghose convincingly, categorically and clearly declared that Indian nationalism can be raised only on the foundation of Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma. newstodaynet.com/ V SUNDARAM

In memory of Monnet

If there has been peace in Europe for the last six decades, it is largely owing to the fructification of the dreams of Monnet and others who shared his vision of a united Europe. For, it was from that central idea of a Franco-British union - one to which Winston Churchill reacting favourably said, "In this crisis we must not let ourselves be accused of lack of imagination" - that the European Union eventually materialised...

Why is the memory of Monnet being invoked now? French writer and thinker living in India for the past 30 years, Claude Arpi and his friends and associates are holding an exhibition on Monnet at IIC (Annexe), which has drawn some of the leading ambassadors, public figures and officials. The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, which established the European Economic Community (EEC), and has been organised jointly by ICCR and the Pavilion de France (Auroville). daily pioneer.com/gautam siddharth

Sri Aurobindo Health Card

Aurobindo launches health card for poor HT Correspondent HindustanTimes.com » Cities Indore, February 3, 2007 2000 rural families to benefit

SRI AUROBINDO Medical College and Hospital launched Sri Aurobindo Health Card for poor persons in a function on Friday to enable them to avail of the best medical facilities at subsidised cost.
Sanver Janpad president Vishnu Prasad Shukla was chief guest at the inaugural ceremony held at Sri Aurobindo Medical College. Speaking on the occasion, Shukla praised the pioneering efforts of Dr Vinod Bhandari for initiating an independent survey to identify the weaker sections and extending medical facilities for them. Around 2,000 rural families would be provided this card in the first stage of this scheme.
Bhourasala Village Sarpanch Ramratan Chouhan and Hospital Superintendent Dr P K Bajaj were present at the function.The card will help Below Poverty Line persons avail of free OPD check-up, free stay in general ward, food for patient and 50 per cent discount on operations for the cardholder.
Dr Bhandari said that these benefits were apart from the privileges given to weaker sections under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Scheme launched by the Centre. Chitra Khidwarkar conducted the programme and proposed the vote of thanks.

India overheats

The world economy Feb 1st 2007 From The Economist print edition

THE Indian tiger is on the prowl. This week, in an apt piece of symbolism, Tata Steel, which dates back to the days of the Raj, leapt into the league of top producers when it bought Britain's Corus, which includes the steelmaking remnants of the old imperial power. Nor is Tata alone: younger Indian companies such as Infosys and Wipro are storming international markets.…

Jamsetji died in 1904, years before the first steel ingot was manufactured at the Tata Iron and Steel Company in 1912

SWADESHI STEEL
GIP Railway Chief Commissioner Sir Fredrick Upcott had famously said that if Indians ever made steel to British standards, he would eat every pound of it. Presenting the story of India’s first steel mill
For a boy born into a family of Parsi priests, Jamsetji N u s s e r w a n j i Tata’s material ac complishments were rather impressive. Cotton, textile, ho tels and steel. But for the founder of India’s largest in dustrial house, the material acquisition was only the half of it—wealth, he said, had to be created for others, not one self, and built not on the back of slave labour but by a labour force whose dignity and de velopment was just as important as their financial welfare.

He wanted “well-ventilated spaces’’ for the workers and parks for their children. In his instructions to his son Dorab on the setting up of the steel township later called Jamshedpur, he put down his wishes in four simple lines on an ordinary postcard: “Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of a quick-growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens. Reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks. Earmark areas for Hindu temples, Mohammedan mosques and Christian churches.’’

The Tatas are today reaping the harvest of that man’s vision, for what is a company’s core but its employees? In 2002 Jamshedpur was the first In dian town to get an ISO 14001 certificate for municipal and town services. Jamsetji died in 1904, years before the first steel ingot was manufactured at the Tata Iron and Steel Company in 1912. It was a momentous event, for Tisco epitomised Swadeshi The hyper-nationalist mood in the air today and the orgy of coverage of the King-Kong sized deal may make Corus sound like the crowning glory but it was those early years that were really pioneering The British had only scorn for Jamsetji’s steel dreams—the chief commissioner of the Great Indian Peninsular Rail way, Sir Fredrick Upcott, even swore he would eat every pound of steel if Indians ever managed to make steel to British standards.

Every step therefore was a giant leap. The plant was built against near impossible odds in a poorly connected but mineral-rich tribal settlement called Sakchi, later rechris tened Jamshedpur. It was an all-Indian enterprise: financed by Indian capital, built by In dian hands. If India’s Thum ba space centre was built by rocket parts ferried to the site on the backs of bicycles, as captured in the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph India’s first steel mill was built with material brought to the site on a fleet of bullock carts. http://epaper.timesofindia.com 4:52 PM

The New Iron Industry initiated by the late Mr. J. N. Tata and now placed on a sound business footing

Document: Home > E-Library > Works Of Sri Aurobindo > Bande Mataram Volume-01 > The Stateman In Retreat True Swadeshi

The Times of India like other Anglo-Indian journals of its class loses no opportunity for discrediting the Nationalist movement in Bengal. In the issue to hand it has an appreciative leader on the New Iron Industry initiated by the late Mr. J. N. Tata and now placed on a sound business footing as a Joint Stock concern with a handsome capital subscribed by the people of India. The Times has been constrained to admit that Indian capital is no longer shy and the spirit of enterprise too is much in evidence. The Times would not be itself if it omitted to mention that the Government has been doing its best to help the new industry thus giving a proof of its substantial sympathy with the true Swadeshi.

But the sting is in the tail. While praising the public spirit and enterprise of Bombay, it concludes with the customary fling at Bengal where agitators are absorbed in mouthing sedition in the Beadon Square. The Times should remember that but for the dissemination of so-called sedition in the Beadon Square the recent striking industrial activity of Bombay as evidenced in the erection of new mills and the addition of new looms would hardly have been possible. The impartial observer must also admit that Bengal is also waking up to her industrial needs. The "true" Swadeshi of the Times draws its vitality from the larger Swadeshi which Bengal has made its own. Bande Mataram, October 4, 1907 5:13 PM

From Cannibals to Cannabis

Living (for a while) in India in the 21st century

Anand Rangarajan 11.30.2006 permalink

I decided to spend a few months in Bangalore, India this year - hence the lack of blog updates. Basically, I wanted to check out for myself what the fuss was all about. I've been visiting India every two years or so but only for a couple of weeks and so hadn't really absorbed all the changes that have been happening over the past fifteen years or so. (I grew up in India but have lived in the US for the past twenty two years.)My conclusion: This place has gone nuts. Absolutely frigging bonkers. India in the early 21st century is like an acid trip - good and bad - mainly because all human achievements and foibles over the past 8000 years or so are preserved in living color. India never throws anything away - and I mean that - nothing is thrown away.What you have then is hunter gatherers living side by side technogeeks. I exaggerate obviously but one quick scan of the TV channels reveals this juxtaposition.

You have ancient Rig Vedic incantations on one channel, a tango and salsa influenced Bollywood dance on the next and a discussion of the Indian IT scene on third and so on. The Indian mind of the 21st century is a highly contextual filing system. Every moment invokes a particular context and perspective. One moment you're praying to the fire gods, the next moment you're debugging your cell phone.I think India is striving for completeness in a way that makes the US's earlier attempt look like a joke. In religion, you have a baby Jesus shrine on a major intersection, the Muslim call for prayer at 5AM every day, and innumerable Hindu temples, Sikh shrines etc. all over the place. All the religious forces are here clamoring for attention. On one channel you have GOD TV, the next one is MAA TV etc. In music, you have hip hop fused with Indian ragas with some rap and salsa beats thrown in.

There's plenty of jazz-raga fusion going on and there's also a fairly nascent rock scene emerging. I got a chance to play with a roadside band in Bangalore a few weeks ago to promote the standingonfish blog which was a lot of fun. If all goes well - and this is a big if - India should have a developed full spectrum culture in about 100 years with unimagined levels of mixing and fusion of disparate world cultures. Imagine a newly constructed cybertech village with postmodern gurus next door to a premodern village from 6000BC which practices cannibalism - and you get the idea. From Cannibals to Cannabis - now that's a nice slogan for India of the 21st century. Tagged with: Bangalore, India, Rig Veda, premodern, jazz, raga, fusion, fundamentalism, mystics, Bollywood, context

Parliamentary democracy is not a matter of choice before us, it is a necessity

Time to introspect: Speaker Chatterjee Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Bhubaneswar: The visionaries who drafted the Constitution crafted a unique scheme of governance in which parliamentary democracy was cemented as the corner-stone of our constitutional edifice. They also amalgamated the principle of separation of powers underlining the primacy of the people and at the same time reinforcing the principle of constitutionalism, said Lok Sabha Speaker Mr Somnath Chatterjee.
Delivering the Mahatab Memorial Lecture here today, Mr Chatterjee said the centrality of the will of the people finds its best expression in the Preamble itself, which also is the very source of all institutions of governance.
“Parliamentary democracy can be strengthened only when all our institutions perform at their best keeping the interest of the people and country in mind. The executive has to be seen to be functioning to address concerns of the people, the legislature reflecting the urges and aspirations of people and larger national causes and the judiciary as an independent arbiter dispensing speedy and inexpensive justice to every section of people,” he said.
No institution should try, directly or indirectly, to undermine the strength of any other institution of our democracy. There is no super-organ to control and dominate the others, he said. The institutions of governance, particularly the legislature, executive and the judiciary, along with a watchful media, public spirited civil service and vigilant civil society should be collaborative partners in the endeavour to strengthen parliamentary democracy.
“To my mind, democracy cannot be sustained unless everyone associated with its functioning demonstrates a democratic spirit,” he added.

Mr Chatterjee said it was time to introspect about the quality of democracy that has been achieved and to see as to what extent democracy facilitated development in the country. “Today’s India presents a contrasting picture of affluence and deprivation and we have to concede that we have not been able to take fullest advantage of democratic governance in the past six decades. We need to recognise that India lives in her villages and city-centric development alone will not help emancipate a substantial majority of our people who have not been effectively touched by the developmental initiatives of the past.”
It is in this context that all of India’s institutions that constitute governance structure need to perform at their very best in the interest of the people and nation.
People are justifiably, getting impatient with the way the democratic institutions are functioning. Debates and discussions are being overshadowed by disruption and confrontation. The people’s representative bodies at different levels should be concerned about it and endeavour to restore true democratic culture into their functioning, he said.
“The growing sense of public disapproval of the manner in which our representative institutions are functioning should remind us of both the public anger as also the need to apply correctives by all concerned.”

Mr Chatterjee, however, felt that such aberrations should not lead to the conclusion that parliamentary democracy had failed in the country or had become irrelevant today. One ought to address the causes rather than target the institutions.
The media has an important role in strengthening democracy and it ought to function with a great sense of social responsibility. Unfortunately partisan politics is also influencing the media reporting and the dividing line between news and views is fast getting blurred, he noted.
Another imperative for strengthening parliamentary democracy is to create conditions for secular politics to flourish unhindered in our country. A modern and progressive education system also plays a crucial role as an informed electorate is one of the most factors for a vibrant democracy. On another plane, the achievement of true democracy requires a balanced participation of men and women in our political life, he added.
The Lok Sabha Speaker also urged for measures to ensure that the negative public perception of politics and of those in public life does not cloud the minds of the younger generations. Parliamentary democracy is not a matter of choice before us, it is a necessity for us as a nation, he said. Mr Bhatruhari Mahatab, MP and eminent jurist Mr Gangadhar Rath also addressed the gathering. orissadiary.com

Human beings are a bundle of contradictions

Mr Chidambaram, however, admitted that there may be some contradictions in what “I said then and what I am doing now. But that is only natural. After all, human beings are a bundle of contradictions. So am I.” The Economic Times> WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2007

But the question is - does good economics really work for everyone? "It's partly right, while good economics works for everyone, it doesn't work for everyone at the same time," says Chidambaram. Shereen Bhan CNN-IBN Posted Tuesday , January 23, 2007

Significantly, Chidambaram said those who benefited from the reforms policies rolled out in the last 16 years must yield part of their wealth and space for the development of the poor. The rich, who were the beneficiaries of the reforms process, are often unwilling to yield part of their wealth and space, he added. “While we show concern for the poor and fashion economic policies in the name of the poor, we do a lot of good things but also commit great crimes,” Chidambaram said. financialexpress Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Speaking on the occasion, Chidambaram said that the “view from the inside was equally interesting” and that if anyone noticed contradictions between what he had written and his current policymaking, he wished to be “forgiven.” He highlighted the challenges of dealing with a section of the political establishment and society that doesn’t agree with what the government does. Penguin chairman Makinson said the book was a testimony to the exciting ferment of ideas in India as being a crucial aspect of its democratic process. And that Chidambaram symbolised what Amartya Sen called “the argumentative Indian” at its finest. Indian Express Wednesday, January 24, 2007

‘Economics is the science of the possible made to look like the art of the impossible’ is a definition that would strike a chord with any finance minister of India who, every year, has to perform the great Indian hope trick...The issues are all the more important as they hold the key to sustaining the economic growth witnessed in the last few years. In addition, this collection can also be seen as notes from one FM to another when the two are on opposite sides of the fence. penguinbooksindia.com

The machine of meta-capitalism

Baudrillard & Bangalore by Rich on Wed 17 Jan 2007 08:38 PM PST Permanent Link

Well maybe things are getting better in Baglaore. The economy is bursting at the seems and the .025 of 1% of the total Indian workforce , who are in IT, and who are driving the whole economy seem to be mostly headquartered here. Undoubtably many have benefited here because of the IT industry. Still last night when we were stuck in traffic for two hours coming into town through the area where most of the IT firms are located, - and understanding that many of the folks who work in the industry have to put up with this ungodly traffic on a daily basis - made me think that the Indian IT industry is the fulfillment of Heideggers idea of the standing reserve.

According to Heidegger - in the 1930s - human beings were already in danger of becoming simply a huge army of surplus labor, to be left standing to await their turn to be exploited by the machine of meta-capitalism. Well with often as many as a thousand people applying for just one IT job here and with the hordes of technicians in wait for the opportunity to serve the Virtual Class of global technicity, the leap to Heidegger's vision is not so large.

But the vision of the French post-modernist Jean Baudrillard is also easy to glimpse. In his work "Simulation and Simulacra" Baudrillard outlines the disappearance of reality since Plato, But especially as it manifest in the 20th century through the use of simulation (images). He says. that first images reflected reality, then they masked reality, and finally they hide the absence of reality all together.

Well in America its certainly easy enough to see the progression over the course of the last three major wars. For example in Vietnam the images on the TV reflected the aweful reality of the conflict and subsequently an outraged public demanded its end. However in the first Gulf War, the images on CNN of smart bombs being dropped in Iraqi cities and the sanitized killing which resulted , along with the newspeak of Collateral Damage to refer to civillian causualties "masked the realitty" which was happening.

Now fast foward to Colin Powell before the United Nations preceding the second Gulf wars, in which he cleverly used images to hide the fact that no such reality e.g. weapons of mass destruction, actually existed., or a month or so after the war began there was George Bush on the aircraft carrier announcing mission accomplished!

Well I opened the Bangalore edition of the Indian times today to find the headline was about a British Reality TV show. The images in the newspaper of half clad sexy starlets were very similar to ones you see on the billboards around town advertizing all manner of global brands of products "we simply must have". I should mention that last night we also took a detour through the slums of Bangalore, some of which house up to 100,000 people who share maybe ten working toilets. (see my review of Mike Davis book Planet of Slums). Its almost as if one could say about Bangalore, that it is where "High Tech meets the Flintstones".

The whole experience last night brought my thoughts back to the reality on the ground,: the Bangalore infra-structure juxtaposed against the images proliferated in the media and the billboards around town singing the joys of all the global name brands, and off course to Baudrillard. rich Previous: Stephen Hawking warns re "catastrophic dangers of climate change"

To turn client’s brand into a religion

Former Executive Creative Director of BBDO Singapore, Francis Wee, has a new faith – His own creative agency christened Religion.
As Francis explains, there are no wider reach or better communications than the four main religions – Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. If they were brands, their consumers go by billions. Yet, they engage no advertising or public relations agencies to spread their faith. So why shouldn’t our advertising follow similar doctrine?
Rationale and Beliefs
His reason for starting his own agency is well argued: There isn’t one local ad agency that succeeds to become a global player. Yet there are many successful local brands like Creative Technologies, Tiger Beer and Singapore Airlines that grew exponentially, local and global. It’s about time a local ad agency takes the lead and shine locally, regionally and internationally.
Religion’s practice is to turn client’s brand into a religion, and convert its consumers to die-hard followers.
“Like any religion, our ideas should connect and own a space in a consumer’s heart and mind, not just blatant messages in various media.” ham@adoimagazine.com

Blogging grows out of a nihilism of strength

Blogging, the nihilist impulse mutable67 Jan 10, 2007 at 5:30 PM

Blogs bring on decay. Each new blog is supposed to add to the fall of the media system that once dominated the twentieth century. This process is not one of a sudden explosion. The erosion of the mass media cannot easily be traced in figures of stagnant sales and the declining readership of newspapers. In many parts of the world, television is still on the rise. What's declining is the Belief in the Message. That is the nihilist moment, and blogs facilitate this culture as no platform has ever done before. Sold by the positivists as citizen media commentary, blogs assist users in their crossing from Truth to Nothingness. The printed and broadcasted message has lost its aura. News is consumed as a commodity with entertainment value. Instead of lamenting the ideological color of the news, as previous generations have done, we blog as a sign of the regained power of the spirit. As a micro-heroic, Nietzschean act of the pajama people, blogging grows out of a nihilism of strength, not out of the weakness of pessimism. Instead of time and again presenting blog entries as self-promotion, we should interpret them as decadent artifacts that remotely dismantle the mighty and seductive power of the broadcast media.

Bloggers are nihilists because they are "good for nothing". They post into Nirvana and have turned their futility into a productive force. They are the nothingists who celebrate the death of the centralized meaning structures and ignore the accusation that they would only produce noise. They are disillusionists whose conduct and opinions are regarded worthless.[25] Justin Clemens notes that the term nihilism has been replaced by such appellations as "anti-democratic", "terrorist", and "fundamentalist". However, over the past years there has been a noticeable renaissance of the term, though usually not more than a passing remark. Significant theorization of the "condition" was done in the mid-twentieth century, which included reworking sources from the nineteenth century like Kierkegaard, Stirner, and Nietzsche. Existentialism after the two World Wars theorized Gulag, Auschwitz, and Hiroshima as manifestations of Organized Evil that resulted in an overall crisis of the existing belief systems. For those still interested in Theory, Arthur Kroker's The Will to Technology & The Culture of Nihilism (2004) is a must read as it puts Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Marx in a contemporary, techno-nihilist perspective.

We're faced with an "accomplished nihilism" (Gianni Vattimo) in that bloggers have understood that the fulfillment of nihilism is a fact.[26] Gianni Vattimo argues that nihilism is not the absence of meaning but a recognition of the plurality of meanings; it is not the end of civilization but the beginning of new social paradigms, with blogging being one of them. Commonly associated with the pessimistic belief that all of existence is meaningless, nihilism would be an ethical doctrine that there are no moral absolutes or infallible natural laws and that "truth" is inescapably subjective. In media terms, we see this attitude translated into a growing distrust of the output of large commercial news organizations and the spin that politicians and their advisers produce. Questioning the message is no longer a subversive act of engaged citizens but the a priori attitude, even before the TV or PC has been switched on.

Nihilism designates the impossibility of opposition – a state of affairs which, unsurprisingly, generates a great deal of anxiety. Nihilism is not a monolithic belief system. We no longer "believe" in Nothing as in nineteenth-century Russia or post-war Paris. Nihilism is no longer a danger or problem, but the default postmodern condition. It is an unremarkable, even banal feature of life, as Karen Carr writes is and no longer related to the Religious Question. Blogs are neither religious nor secular. They are "post-virtue". The paradoxical temporality of nihilism today is that of a not-quite-already-Now. Following Giorgio Agamben, Justin Clements writes that "nihilism is not just another epoch amongst a succession of others: it is the finally accomplished form of a disaster that occurred long ago."[27] In the media context this would be the moment in which mass media lost their claim on the Truth and could no longer operate as authority. Let us not date this event in time, as such an insightful moment can be both personal and cultural-historical. It is the move from the festive McLuhan to the nihilist Baudrillard that every media user is going through, found in the ungroundedness of networked discourse that users fool around with.

Translating Karen Carr's insight to today's condition, we could say that the blogger is an individual "who lives in self-conscious confrontation with a meaningless world, refusing either to deny or succumb to its power."[28] Yet this does not result in a heroic gesture. Blogging does not grow out of boredom, nor out of some existential void. Carr rightly remarks that "for many postmodernists, the presence of nihilism evokes not terror but a yawn".[29] Compared to previous centuries, its crisis value has diminished. If bloggers are classified nihilists, it merely means that they stopped believing in the media... Based on a lecture given at Berlin Institute of Advanced Study, the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, March 27, 2006. [1] For regular updates on this figure, go to www.blogherald.com.

Unlike British Parliament, Indian Parliament is not sovereign

BENCH: CJI Y.K. Sabharwal, K.G. Balakrishnan & D.K. Jain DATE OF JUDGMENT: 0/01/2007 That the Constitution is the Supreme lex in this Country is beyond the pale of any controversy. All organs of the State derive their authority, jurisdiction and powers from the Constitution and owe allegiance to it. This includes this Court also which represents the judicial organ. In the celebrated case of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala [(1973) 4 SCC 225], this Court found certain basic features of the Constitution that include, besides supremacy of the Constitution, the republican and democratic form of Government, and the separation of powers between the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The principle of supremacy of the Constitution has been reiterated by this Court post Kesavananda Bharati in case after case...

That the parliamentary democracy in India is qualitatively distinct from the one in England from where we have borrowed the Westminster model of Government, is also well settled...

In the constitutional scheme that has been adopted in India, the Legislatures play a significant role in pursuit of the goals set before the nation and command the position of grandeur and majesty. The Legislatures undoubtedly have plenary powers but such powers are controlled by the basic concepts of the written constitution and can be exercised within the legislative fields allotted to their respective jurisdiction under the Seventh Schedule. They have the plenary legislative authority and discharge their legislative functions by virtue of the powers conferred on them by the relevant provisions of the Constitution. But, the basis of that power is the Constitution itself...

The judicial organ of the State has been made the final arbiter of Constitutional issues and its authority and jurisdiction in this respect is an important and integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India...

There was virtually a consensus amongst the learned counsel that it lies within the powers and jurisdiction of this Court to examine and determine the extent of power and privileges to find out whether actually power of expulsion is available under Article 105(3) or not. Having regard to the delicate balance of power distributed amongst the three chief organs of the State by the Constitution of India and the forceful assertions made particularly with regard to the limitation on court's jurisdiction, we decided not to depend upon mere concession of the learned counsel as to our jurisdiction. We thought it prudent to examine it fully even in the context of primary question about the judicial authority to go into the question of existence of a particular power or privilege asserted and claimed under Article 105, so as to reassure ourselves that we were not in any manner intruding into a zone which is out-of- bounds for us. Fortunately, the subject at hand is not a virgin territory.

BENCH: R. V. Raveendran DATE OF JUDGMENT: 10/01/2007 Unlike British Parliament, Indian Parliament is not sovereign. It is the Constitution which is supreme and sovereign and Parliament will have to act within the limitations imposed by the Constitution.