Inimitable Business Style of Desi Entrepreneurs

While going up from Haridwar to the heights of Badrinath and coming down from there to Haridwar, journalists Hemant Tiwari, Siddharth Kalhans and I spent nearly 30 hours travelling in the same car. Obviously, we talked and discussed a range of issues and topics. We all marvel at the entrepreneurial skill of two persons- Baba Ramdev and Mahashaya Dharampal, who has passed a few days back at the ripe old age of 100 years. Mahasha ji. as he was called, was just a literate person with no academic degree. He was plying Tanga in old Delhi after migrating from Pakistan. He started grinding spices at his house to supplement his income. In due course of time, he became the shahenshah of masalas. His MDH brand spices are now sold all over the world and enjoy the status of uncrowned king.  I have met him twice with a leading lawyer HL Kumar, who recommended him to engage me for some legal cases.

There has been a striking similarity in both personalities. Both have been ardent Arya Samajis. Their personal life has been irreducibly simple. Both never possessed academic degrees. They never engaged models and other professionals for advertising their products. As a business journalist Kalhans says that both of them must be complimented for keeping the predatory multi-national companies at bay. These multinational companies do not bat even an eyelid to destroy Desi companies. They burn thousands of crores in defaming and destroying the business empires and goodwill of Desi companies. Their only morality is to establish the hegemony of their produces at any cost.

Therefore, if Baba Ramdev and Mahasha ji have been able to beat the multinational companies by giving quality products at highly completive prices, there is something remarkable in them. It hardly needs to be mentioned that it is Baba Ramdev, who made Yoga egalitarian, which was confined only to some elitists. Yoga was considered to be esoteric but thanks to Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar ji Maharaj and Narendra Modi, it has become a household pastime for the good of all.

Thousands of young boys and girls have got gainful employment as Yoga teachers across the world. Similarly, many lakhs are engaged in floriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairy farming and producing and selling of Patanjali products. Do you think if there has been any compromise with the quality of their products, multinational companies had spared from brutally slaughtering them in the broad daylight?

Most importantly, the Indian capital remains in India as they have successfully prevented its flight to other countries. They have not only faced the tough challenges of the multinational companies but have beaten them with their sticks.

Can India Progress if Uttarakhand Lags Behind?

My recent visit to Badrinath, one of the holiest shrines of Hindus, after a gap of eleven years, has been highly reinvigorating, mentally satisfying and spiritually uplifting. This time I was in the company of Hemant Tiwari and Siddharth Kalhans, two talented and gifted journalists of Lucknow, who have a razor-sharp analytical mind and possess wonderful information about politics, history, religion, spiritualism, society and social mores.

It goes without saying that Uttarakhand is amazingly beautiful; replete with high hills, deep vales, dense forests and breath-taking scenic places. It can be made the most attractive and alluring tourist destinations in the world. If necessary facilities and infrastructures are provided, Uttarakhand itself can generate many times more money from domestic and foreign tourists than even Switzerland. It can be the haven of trekkers’ delight. Lakhs of pilgrims visit the four most sacred places of Hindus, known as the ‘Char Dhams’- Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. But pilgrims are pilgrims. They are never demanding for facilities. In fact, most of the pilgrims consider that the suffering and arduousness is the concomitant with the pilgrimage.

While Badrinath is one of the original four dhams set up by Adi Shankaracharya. The other three are Jagganathpuri, Dwarika and Rameshwaram.  Badrinath presents a unique example of national integration, where Hindus from all parts of the country, nay the entire world assemble, have a dip in the icy cold waters of Alaknand and the hot water spring at the feet of the temple before the Darshan of the Lord. Kedarnath, on the other hand, is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, which assumes the highest reverence for the Hindus across the world. 

Another most significant aspect of developing the tourism to an unprecedented level in Uttarakhand is that five holy rivers - Bhagirathi, Mandakini, Alaknanda, Pindar and Dhauli Ganga flow from this Dev Bhoomi and confluence of these rivers are known as Panch Prayags. Prayag means ‘place of sacrifice’, where one river loses its identity after merging with the bigger one. The confluence of the Holy Ganga, Yamuna and invisible Saraswati is at the Prayag Raj, where Kumbha Mela is observed every twelve years.  Similarly, the confluence of the rivers of Uttarakhand is also named as Prayag. At Vishnu Prayag, near Joshimath, river Dhauli Ganga merges with Alaknanda, which originates from Satopath glacier and passes through Badarinath. The second one is Nand Prayag, the meeting point of Alaknanda and Nandakini.  Then comes Karn Prayag, where the Pindar originating the Pindar glacier joins Alaknanda. Fourth in the line is Rudra Prayag, where Mandakini meets Alaknanda and the last is Dev Prayag, which is the confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi.  The Holy River Ganga takes its name from this place. Bhagirathi, as the legend goes, is another name of the Ganga as it was brought on earth by the sage Bhagirath after thousands of years of Tapasya.

Needless to say, that the proper taming of the river giants for generating hydroelectricity can increase the income of the state manifold. The economy of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand can be significantly enhanced by the River Bed Mining (RBM). One can find the stone boulders ranging from few kilograms to hundreds of quintals in the river beds obstructing the free flow of waters, particularly during the rainy season, causing floods and havoc. The calamity that was caused in 2013 by river Mandakini, due to the fall of the avalanche of the glacier of lakhs of tons is too horrifying to recall. One tremble at the very thought of the disaster that was brought by the river Mandakini, which had taken the toll of thousands within a few days.

Although, such natural calamities cannot be fully prevented yet it could certainly be reduced and mitigated by clearing the path of the mighty rivers through river bed mining. The stone boulders lying on the beds of these rivers can be converted into tons of money by properly utilising them for the production and pebbles to be used all over the country. However, the mindless exploitation of Jal, Jangal and Jamin will destroy the ecology and bring more misery for the people in its wake. It is good to see the construction of all-weather roads going on in full swing. It will, without doubt, transform the state of Uttarakhand into a very vibrant one. Conservation of forests, herbal agriculture and by increasing the areas of orchards and tea plantations etc; can make Uttarakhand as one of the most developed and the wealthy states of India. There is immense scope for the development of aviation, which can provide cheap services to the remote and intractable areas of the state. The problems of far-flung areas, which are deprived of proper health facilities and good educational institutions, must be addressed with all sincerity.

The High Court of Uttarakhand is situated in Nainital, which is very inaccessible for a person from Uttarkashi or Chamoli. In view of the difficulties of the hilly people, it will be highly desirable to have a Bench of it, either in Pauri or Srinagar, which incidentally is in the Pauri district but is well connected by road. The capital Dehradun is quite distant from both regions of Garhwal and Kumayun but because of easy accessibility, it cannot be shifted for now to any other place. Moreover, gigantic expenses have been made for the construction of offices and other necessary buildings.

One often wonders why the rail connections cannot be laid out across the state for the better transportation of the passengers and goods. After all, most of the developed countries have got railheads in the hilly tracts. Indian Railways have also gained enough expertise in laying the rails in Jammu and Kashmir and Konkan regions. The same expertise can be used for connecting the different places of Uttarakhand by making deep and long tunnels in the mountains. The recent example of connecting Beijing with Lhasa by rail can be an eye-opener. China is reported to have the plans to rupture the high Himalayas for connecting Kathmandu with Beijing with rails. If this can be done, then why different places of Uttarakhand should be not connected with rails?

The development of the Uttarakhand is closely linked with the development of the country. Uttarakhand can be made the driver of the development by making proper use of the resources available in the state.

Today, unfortunately, Uttarakhand is more known for its large-scale migration and dependence on the remittances from outside because there is not much scope for employment or self-employment. This trend can be reversed with help of technology. Can the country progress, if Uttarakhand lags? Obviously not.

A Lawyer's Zeal for Constitutional Clarity

Shri Asok Pande (Yes, that is how he writes his name), my good friend, is a public-spirited lawyer and he must have filed more than 200 PILs in the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court of India. Some of the judgements on his PILs have now become an integral part of the Indian constitutional study.  His tenacity for the cause that he espouses is seen to be believed.

Recently, he has filed a PIL for the preponing the of the swearing in of the Chief Justice-designate Ranjan Gogoi on the ground that the post of the Chief Justice of India is in continuum and it cannot remain vacant even for a few hours. The incumbent CJI Dipak Misra is retiring on 2^nd October, which is a national holiday, being the Gandhi Jayanti. Therefore, the CJI designate will take oath on 3^rd October leaving a time gap of many hours between the retiring CJI and the new CJI. 

The fate of the PIL will be known when it is heard and decided by the Supreme Court but what has impelled me to write on it is how does it make any difference in the functioning of the Supreme of India, if the post of the CJI remains vacant for a few hours? After all, the CJI is the only the administrative head of the Supreme Court. As far as his judicial powers are concerned, S(he) does not have even a whit more powers than the junior most judge of the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court and the High Courts are the constitutional courts. Acting Chief Justices are appointed in the High Courts but not in the Supreme. Article 124 of the Constitution of India speaks about the Union Judiciary i.e. establishment of the Supreme Court India and its powers etc., go up to Article147. 

To my mind, the theory of the continuum is applicable for the Prime Minister because if there is no Prime Minister, there cannot be any council of ministers. The council of ministers’ dissolves with the resignation or the death of the Prime Minister. This is the reason is that immediately after the death of the Prime Minister a new Prime Minister is sworn in. Article 74 says, ‘there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.

 The President is, therefore, merely a titular head. All powers vested with the Council of Ministers and essentially in the Prime Minister. The President and the Prime Minister do not retire on superannuation as it is in the case of the Chief Justice or the other judges.

Shri Pande has said in his PIL that Justice ND Ojha was sworn in as the judge of the Supreme at the night because he was to retire from the High Court in the midnight of that date. This could, however, not be the reason for his swearing in. Let me cite one example of Justice Fathima Beevi, who retired as the Judge of the High Court on 29^th April 1989 and was appointed the judge of the Supreme Court on 6^th October 1989, more than five months after her retirement as the judge of the High Court. Fortunately, she is still alive. She had started her judicial career from the lowest rung of the Munsif Magistrate. I have met her two times when she was the Governor of Tamilnadu along with the illustrious Justice (Retd) PB Sawant, who was the then Chairman of the Press Council of India and I was one of its members.

Indian Constitution is, as one of my teachers in the Law Faculty of the Delhi University, used to say, ‘a riddle wrapped in an enigma’. It is a conundrum. Regrettably, even the Supreme Court has not been able to settle the riddle. However, I must appreciate the zeal and vigour of Asok Pande who is trying his level best to provide finality to the grey areas of the Constitution. Kudos to you Asok ji.

Shrinand, Let Your Soul Rest in Eternal Peace

Death is inevitable, but the death of any near and dear ones is always sad and shocking. The death of my younger brother Shrinand, which occurred in the morning of 22^nd of August has shocked and benumbed me. He was nearly four years younger than me and was the youngest among all brothers. He died young at the age of only 58. He was a carefree person, particularly in his younger days. He remained almost untouched of the worldliness and that was the reason that he hardly got bothered by the damages and difficulties in the worldly life.

     He did not possess high academic degrees but due to his self-studies, he developed a good understanding of literature, social values, political ups and downs, changing trends of the society and unfortunate rupturing of the family bonds and relations. He was a good connoisseur of the qualities of others and that was the reason he was loved and respected by young and old, uneducated and highly educated persons alike. He had no foes but only friends. Almost everyone, who came into his contact was greeted by him with his infectious and disarming smile.

     When I was still a student in the Banaras Hindu University, he was an adolescent and had the wings of imaginations, which could take him high in the sky. He had ventured to write a novel but unfortunately, it met with a miscarriage and thereafter he dropped the idea of indulging into any creative writings, but one could have the feel of literary flavour while talking to him.

      An avid reader of newspapers and watcher of the news on TV channels, he had his fingers right on the pulse of the events and could predict on the future shape of things. Never a greedy person, he only aspired to get respect from those, who came into his contact. He often used to tell me that he wanted that his son to have a good education from good institutions and he got it fulfilled. I often told him that expecting too much from anybody is entirely impractical and therefore, he must not nurse very high hopes from anybody. Such expectations are harmful to both sides; i. e. to the person who pins many hopes from the other and also to the person, who is put under stress and strain to achieve expectations.

     He was very close to me and to my another brother Harinand , who is younger to me but is elder to Shrinand. Shrinand could defy anybody but never to Harinand, even if he disagreed with him. After family partition, it was Shrinand, who looked after my small agricultural land other immovable properties in my native village of Hansapur Khurd ( Ahraula) in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. Shrinand was respectful to me and to Harinand and never said ‘no’ to whatever we asked him to do. Thus, the irreparable loss that we have suffered is indescribable.

     Shrinand during his childhood had gone to Jalandhar in Punjab and worked for some time with any medical practitioner but he was so sharp that he could correctly diagnose a patient and prescribe effective medicines to them. Many a time even highly trained Doctors were surprised by his understanding of the diseases and prescriptions. He was so selfless that he used to administer injections and provide medicines almost free. Anybody could approach him even in the dead of the night or in the wee hours for any emergency helps. Whatever little anybody gave him for his services was acceptable to him. ‘Service before self’- was his motto and that was the reason he was immensely popular in the cross-section of the society. Highly progressive in his thoughts and actions he was against superstitions.  

     He was indeed a rationalist. But to my shock and surprise, a person who used to give medicines to others was so callous towards his own health and wellbeing. For the last many years, he became diabetic but never observed the rigours of diet, which is so necessary for a person suffering from this silent killer disease. I am told that both his kidneys were badly damaged, and heart was fully clogged. He was unaware of it and by the time others knew about, it was too late. Firstly, he was taken to Azamgarh to a private doctor, who referred him to the PGI Lucknow. But before he could be admitted to the PGI of Lucknow, he breathed last on the very gate of the PGI. Medical services and facilities in Government hospitals are so poor and pathetic that one is compelled to go to a private doctor and in the name of facilities they loot the patients with gay abandon. Anyway, it is an altogether different matter. He has a journalist son Devesh and a happily married daughter Gudiya. He wanted his wife to step out of the four walls of the house, but she preferred to remain confined to the household works. Hopefully, she will now take up his responsibilities, which will be a fitting tribute to Shrinand.  

     On the day of his death, my wife Nirmala and I were in Shrishailam, a Jyotirlinga Peetha, 400 kilometres away from Hyderabad. We rushed to Hyderabad and made all efforts to join his funeral but could not because it was just not possible. I joined the family members, relatives, native villagers and friends on the ‘shudh ceremony’ on 31^st of August and got my head tonsured and moustaches shaved along with other family members as a mark of respect and homage to my dearest Shrinand. My wife and I have returned to Delhi after Terahvin. My mind, however, is still not ready to accept that Shrinand is no more.

    Your loss, Shrinand , is irreparable to all our family members. We can only pray to God Almighty to make you soul free from the cycle of birth and death. May your soul rest in heaven in eternal peace, my dear brother! We all pay our sincerest homage to you and we will never forget you.

Live-Streaming of Court Proceedings is a Welcome Step

   Live- streaming of court proceedings is a momentous and laudable decision of the Supreme Court of India. This will, without doubt, bring about transparency in the courts. Incidentally, the first step in this direction was taken in November 2017, when the bench headed by the CJI Dipak Misra directed that the proceedings of two courts in every district of the country would be video recorded. Now in the first week of July this year a bench consisting of the CJI, Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud handed down an earth-shattering decision for the live telecasting of the court proceedings and the beginning will be made from the court of the Chief Justice itself.

There are many democratic countries where video recording is allowed. In some countries like; the United States of America live telecast of some selected cases is also permitted. Thus the Supreme Court of India will be the first in the world to have allowed for the live streaming of the proceedings.

As far as the Supreme Court is concerned all judges sit in the courtrooms exactly at 10:30 am, without being late even for one minute. However, in most of the High Courts, the condition is not so good. The judges often come late in the courts. Sometimes they come late from half an hour to one hour and they retire to their chambers as per their sweet wills.

The condition of the lower courts across the country is in the total mess. The Judges come and go as and when they desire. It is an open secret that the corruption in the lower judiciary is stinking to the high heaven. A reader/peshkar takes money for the filing of the documents, giving of the dates or providing information about the next date of hearings or for the changing the dates. These employees take bribes from Advocates and their clients in the full glare of the judges.

These peshkars/ ahlmads supply milk, bread, butter, vegetables and groceries to the houses of presiding deities. The situation is not so bad in Delhi and many other cosmopolitan towns but in districts it is rampant. The judges have become so shameless that they do not feel anything bad in it. Many times even if the bail has been granted, the papers will not be prepared till the palms of the concerned Ahlmad are not greased. Peons and employees openly demand money as if it is their right.

The live telecasts of the Court proceeding will certainly help curb the corruption to a large extent. This will make lethargic and incompetent judges more alert and at the same time save the clients from extortion by the non-judicial employees. Sunlight, as they say, is the best disinfectant. This will largely cure the infection of corruption and help the ordinary people in getting the justice relatively fast because the conduct of the judges, advocates, court employees and others will always be in the public scanner. This will also ensure the judges and the advocates to remain prepared during the hearings of the cases because their conducts will be in the surveillance of thousands of people.

No doubt, what has not been achieved by the strictness of the administration will be achieved by the modern technology. Almost everybody knows that there are many advocates, who only seek adjournments to delay the cases. Clients also indulge in highly unethical practices to get the justice delayed. The live-streaming will also go a long way in controlling the witnesses to behave properly because it has been found that they often turn hostile for some considerations.

However, the presiding Judges will be to ensure that the courts' rooms are not converted into the places of theatrics. There are no dearths of such advocates who may adopt the recourse of dramatics to get the cheap popularity. We see that even the live telecasting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has not been able to inject a sense of responsibility among the members of parliament. Therefore, the judges will have to take extra care to ensure that some advocates do not hijack the court discipline for cheap publicity.

The technology has come as a boon for the eradication of corruption and we must salute and welcome it with open arms to make the country a better place to live in. This move will also instil a new faith in the judiciary.

Phoney Intellectualism of Congress Pampered Muslims

How can a scientist, a philosopher, an intellectual be prefixed with the community that he or she belongs to? When we say a Muslim/ Hindu/Christian scholar it connotes that the person has the depth only in that particular religion. It is an oxymoron- a contradiction in terms. But when a person is called a historian, then he/she cannot be branded as a Hindu/ Muslim or Christian historian. That is why, it was shocking to know that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi recently met Muslim historians, journalists, economists and intellectuals. 
As a matter of fact, it is the so-called intellectuals of the Muslim community who themselves should have objected to being prefixed with the word Muslim because that makes them narrow-minded. They cannot even pretend to be intellectuals. Their shameless behaviour has totally exposed them that they have been working more on communal lines than indulging into any dispassionate intellectual exercise. If Rahul Gandhi met them for seeking their advice on the religious matters, it is all the worse. The so-called intellectuals cannot arrogate to advise a political leader on the religious matters and if they are doing so, then they would have to cast off the mask of intellectualism, which they wear to get the respectability by dubious means. Verily speaking they are not intellectuals at all but frauds. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Their agenda is not to serve the society but to operate for the furtherance of their sectarianism.
These dubious intellectuals reportedly questioned Rahul Gandhi’s visit to different temples during the recent elections. What right do they have to ask about the religiosity of a political person? They did not stop only there but they told him that the perceived image of the Congress has been of a Muslim supporting party but his visits to temples have sent a wrong message among Muslims. This is the height of their hypocrisy. However, what is more, baffling was the apologetic behaviour of Rahul Gandhi towards those dyed-in-wool communal persons masquerading as intellectuals and scholars.
The less said about the despicable conduct of Rahul Gandhi the better. But what has happened to the Congress Party, which is so brazenly alienating the majority community i.e. Hindus without any sense of remorse? Almost at the same time, another ‘intellectual’ Shashi Tharoor declared that if Modi comes to power in 2019 India will become Hindu Pakistan.
Nobody knows the basis of his idiotic prophecy. If it is based on his intuitive feelings, then nothing can be said but the facts speak otherwise. In Pakistan there were17 per cent Hindus in 1948 now it has been reduced to two per cent while in India there were 8-9 per cent Muslims but now their population is more than18 per cent. The number of mosques has increased manifold in India but the temples and gurdwaras have disappeared in Pakistan with incredible speed. The number of Hindu women being raped and converted to Islam is alarmingly high in Pakistan but there has hardly been any case of forcible conversion of Muslim women to Hinduism.
On the contrary, even in India Hindu women are given allurements to marry Muslim men and convert to their religion. It is called Love Jihad that is going unabated even during the Modi regime. So, the prophecy of the writer of ‘why I am a Hindu’ is not based on any empirical facts. The Hindus are, therefore, rightly disturbed by the irresponsible statement of Tharoor. The least that the Congress Party can do is to publicly apologise to Hindus to soothe their frayed tempers for the preposterous statement of Tharoor.

L’affaire Tanvi Seth: MEA Must Come Clean

      Caesar’s wife must be above board but what would you say when the judge pronounces the judgement without hearing the arguments? This is what has happened L'affaire Tanvi Seth. By releasing the report of the so-called enquiry after fifteen days after the incident, the External Affairs Ministry has not inspired any confidence in the public. The report has held the passport official of Lucknow guilty of misbehaving and asking irrelevant questions from her, but it leaves many questions unanswered. It may be recalled that hurt by the searching questions of the passport officer regarding her different names and different addresses, the passport seeker Tanvi Seth twitted to the External Affairs Minister Ms Sushma Swaraj, who immediately swung into action and virtually in a jiffy took two decisions. One; the lady concerned was called the next day and the passport officer handed over her passport and apologized for the alleged misbehaviour of the official. And the second was that the concerned passport officer was transferred from Lucknow to Gorakhpur without any enquiry. Although the 'transfer' under the employment law is not a punishment yet the way it was effectuated was certainly humiliating and highly injurious to the honour and dignity of the officer.

Now after a fortnight, it is being told that the passport officer Mishra was at fault, but if it was so, why the country was kept in dark for more than two weeks? This gives enough doubt that the enquiry report is manufactured one to justify the hasty action of the Minister. Such types wishy-washy enquiries erode the credibility of the government and cast serious doubts about its functioning in the eyes of the public.

Even the cursory reading of the report which has appeared in newspapers leads to serious apprehensions. While it tells that the passport officer asked awkward questions from Tanvi Seth but it is absolutely silent on the facts as to why there was hanky-panky in her conduct right from the beginning? Therefore, if some people are raising doubts that she could be used as a pawn in the hands of terrorists, then it cannot be outrightly dismissed and discounted.

There are innumerable examples where Hindu girls have been roped in by the Muslim boys and used for undesirable activities in the country. The case of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat, is a burning example of the nefarious design of the anti-national forces. She was born as Pranesh Kumari Pillai, seduced and married to a Muslim extremist and thereafter made to work for the Laskar-e-Toiba. The similar case has been witnessed recently, when Akhila, the only daughter of Ashokan was cajoled and converted to Islam, with the help of PFI activists. This issue has come into so much public glare that now there is little possibility of her becoming a tool into the hands of terrorists. However, the report of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted to the Supreme Court cannot be glossed over, which has said that the girls of other faiths are being systematically converted to Islam, which some term it as the ‘Love Jihad’. Who knows that the way Tanvi Seth behaved herself would not be misused for the purposes that are dangerous to the country? Therefore, this matter should not be swept under the carpet but needs to be thoroughly investigated.

It is also very strange that some people who have voiced against the action of the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj are being dubbed as trollers. Every criticism cannot be trolling. Every public figure should be prepared to face the scrutiny of the public. So, if there is a criticism of her hasty action, she should try to rectify it instead of playing the victim card. Of course, abusing, slandering and making inflammatory statements against her must be denounced by one and all but she should show by her action that if 'justice' has been done to the lady, no injustice should be done to the passport officer.

Social media has now become enormously powerful, which can be trenchant in its criticism of the public figures but, in all fairness, she must give a convincing explanation of this episode instead of becoming unnecessarily touchy.

She must also tell the country as to why she took the unilateral decision against the passport officer without giving him an opportunity to tell his side of the story, which flies into the face of the canons of the natural justice?