A book on spiritualism worthy to be chewed and digested

 Pithily written book ‘Dharma, Yoga aur Aadhyatm’ by Supreme Court Advocate Shri Radha Krishna Kumar is indeed like food for thought for each and everyone; regardless of his/her being a deeply religious, non-religious or even an atheist. One is amazed to find the gems of knowledge in the book. It is not merely a painstaking collection of axioms by a researcher, but it reflects the uncanny understanding, nay the subtle practices of dharma and yoga in life by the writer. The book contains four independent chapters. The first one deals with different religions of the world, and the rise of faiths.  The crux of all major religions has been given in the most succinct manner and astonishing style. The description of the Buddhist theory of Pratityasamutpad (cause and effect), Astaang Marg (eightfold path), Panchasheel(five codes of conduct) and four Arya Satya (noble truths) are like eye-openers for the human being steeped in ignorance.

  It may be noted here that births and rebirths have been the foundation of almost all religions except Islam. While Buddhism says that there is sorrow in the world, and there is a reason for it. The sorrow can certainly be overcome because there is a way to it. Jainism tells us that as long as Kashayas (passions) are not eschewed, it is difficult to get Kaivalya (liberation). Those passions are Avidya(ignorance) Krodh(anger) Ahankar (ego or false pride), Maya (illusion) and Lobha (Greed). More or less, the same canon has been said or propounded by all indigenous religions.

  The second chapter is centred on Yoga and its different forms like Bhakti Yoga, Gyan Yoga and Karma Yoga as preached by Lord Krishna, enunciated by rishis like Patanjali and Kapil. There is no dichotomy between Gyan Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Goswami Tulsidas was of the view that human being was a mere puppet. So, he/she must make total surrender to God, but it is not so easy. Lord Krishna says: Chanchalam hi manah krishna pramathi balvaddridham. Tasyaham nigraham manye vayoriv sududskaram i.e. mind is very fickle but determined and strong. Therefore, to control the mind is as difficult as controlling the air. Sant Kabir says: ‘Man ke mate na chaliye, man ke mate anek. Jo man par aswar hai, soi sadhu koi ek’. (Do not go by the dictates of mind because it is very capricious, and only rarest of the rare can keep the mind under control’).

  The third chapter is on the Aadhyatm or spiritualism. It has navigated us through the Saguna and Nirgun form of God, which exists in every scintilla of the creation. Sant Kabir has rightly said: ‘jaise til men tel hai, jyon chakmak men aag, tera sai Tujh men hai, jaan sake to jaan’ (As oil is found in seeds, stone has fire in itself, similarly God is within you, so He needs to be realised). A person performs his Karmas(deeds) in three ways namely;mun, vachan and sharir (mind, words and body). While good deeds change the fortune of the person for good, bad karma spoils his/her fate. The writer has explained the etymological meaning of the word ‘GURU’. ‘Gu’ stands for darkness and ‘Ru’ means remover. Thus, one who removes the darkness and enlightens life is a real Guru.    

  The fourth chapter contains 18 spiritual stories. The very first story and the best among all (in my consideration) narrates the reality of life. The gist of the story is that a person while going to the town had to pass through difficult terrain and dense forests.  On his way, at some distance, he found a mound of bones. He thought that any violent animal must have killed all those travellers who passed through the intractable path. To his surprise, he found that a lion was chasing a man. The man jumped on a banyan tree. The lion also climbed on the tree. Then he saw that a rope was suspended with the tree towards the deep lake, and the man caught hold of the rope. There were two crocodiles in the lake waiting for the man to fall to devour him because the rope was being nibbled by two rats. In the meantime, he started enjoying the drops of sweat and delicious honey falling in his mouth.

Then a person in the crowd quipped how foolish he was. Upon it, Lord Buddha smiled and said it was none but you and explained that mounds of bones exemplify the mortality of human beings. Lion denotes Yamraj (the God of death). Two crocodiles were like two enemies- lust and anger. Two rats were day and night busy in shortening their life. Drops of honey were like momentary pleasure. Therefore, the human being must come out of ignorance to realise the realities.

  The absorbing book has been written in a very lucid style. However, there are some printing and spelling mistakes causing eyesores.

 

 

 

Law to Weed out Touts is Inadequate and Needs to be Done More

The presence of touts is ubiquitous in any court, be it district, High Court or even the Supreme Court. Why only courts- this is a common sight of any government office dealing with the public. So much so, even in the hospitals, touts rule the roost. Police stations remain hovered by the touts all the time. Even an FIR cannot be lodged without the help of the touts. As far as the courts are concerned, touts are found on all their gates itself. Many advocates depend on them because it is they who bring cases to them and in return get good commissions. Many touts have their own independent offices, and they operate by giving a façade of computer operators or typists. That is why, the Advocate Amendment Bill 2023 passed by Parliament the other day is a welcome law.

   Verily speaking, the judicial system is swamped with touts. The definition of tout that has been given in the new Advocates (Amendment) Bill of 2023 is ‘ a person, who procures, in consideration of any remuneration moving from any legal practitioner, the employment in any legal business.’ It further says that ‘who for such procurement frequents the precincts of Civil or Criminal Courts or revenue-offices, or railway stations, landing stages, lodging places or other places of public resort.’ The need for bringing in changes in India’s judicial administration was felt immediately after independence. The Law Commission was tasked with preparing a report on reforms. In its 249th Report titled ‘Obsolete Laws: Warranting Immediate Repeal’, the Commission recommended repealing the 1879 Act. Additionally, the All-India Bar Committee made its recommendations on the subject in 1953. Taking these into account, the 1961 Act was passed.

  However, this Amendment is inadequate unless the judges and advocates come forward to root this out, it will be highly impossible to get rid of this disease. The new provision, Section 45A, states that the Bill enables every HC and district judge to frame and publish lists of touts. However, no person’s name will be included in any such list until they have had an opportunity to show cause against such inclusion. Further, any authority empowered to make lists of alleged or suspected touts can send them to any subordinate court, which, after holding an inquiry into the conduct of such persons, will allow them an opportunity to show cause. After this, the lower court will report back to the authority ordering the inquiry. If proven to be a tout, the person’s name will be included in the list of touts that will be published by the authority and hung in every court. The court or judge may exclude any person whose name is included in any such list from the court’s vicinity. Additionally, this provision punishes anyone acting as a tout ‘while his name is included in any such list’ with imprisonment up to three months, a fine that may extend to five hundred rupees or both.

  Touts are, in fact, all-pervasive. They are present at the houses and offices of ministers/ politicians, who not only make money but also allow the touts to make money due to their influence and proximity to powerful politicians. The names of the touts can be published by the courts but what about touts who are Ll. B degree holders and work in the garb of advocates? These people work as middle persons for the judges and the advocates, which is monetarily and mutually beneficial to both. It may sound strange, but it is a fact that touts are operating even at the famous temples, and they swoop on pilgrims at the bus stations, inside the trains and railway stations or near the temples.

  Apart from the effective laws, what is needed is general awareness among the people. The administration has to have determination and necessary firmness in dealing with the pests of touts. But then the administration itself will have to cure itself from the infection of touts. If the senior advocates and judges do not show any leniency towards touts, more than half the problem will be automatically solved.

 The decision of the government to repeal all obsolete and superfluous laws, which have lost their utility, which is often used by insensitive officers is also a welcome step. In the process, more than one thousand laws have already been abrogated but hundreds more need to be consigned.

 

 

Death of a Shyster Subroto Roy

The Late SubrotoRoy was, no doubt, a genius, who set a new record of fraud and forgery. Millions of small investors, who were trapped by the greed and inducements of Subroto Roy; more known as Sahara Sri, never got back their hard-earned savings. Dishonest politicians of all parties had parked their ill-gotten moneywith Subroto Roy, and they vied with each other supporting and even getting close to him. Film actors and actresses used to flaunt their proximity to him. A large number of journalists, who benefitted from the largesse of SubrotoRoy sang peans during his lifetime and even after his death. Many of them did not lag behind in showing their close connections with the king of thuggery.

He was brought to books, thanks to the Supreme Court although he did not leave any stone unturned even dodging the Apex Court. When he was asked to deposit Rs. 24000crores of investors' money to the SEBI along with documents for verification, he sent 132 truckloads containing 32 thousand cartons of documents. Some were real and genuine documents, but most of them were fakes. There was no place for the SEBI to store those documents, so some space was taken on rent. However, another good order was passed by the Supreme Court that the rent amount would be paid only by the Sahara. The SEBI later got the genuine documents digitalized.

It is a general perception among the people that Subroto Roy lived the life of a super king. He is said to have spent Rupees 500 crore on the marriage of his sons, which were attended by who's who of the country. Many bureaucrats, politicians, journalists and industrialists were dying to get the invites to attend his sons' marriages. His presence was found to be in almost all fields including film, journalism, television, real estate etc. but he refused to abide by the labour laws or any other applicable laws in his establishments. He had his own set of laws and demeanour to be observed by the employees in his offices. In a nutshell, his whims and fancies were the laws and the rules.

Surprisingly, even governments succumbed to his crazy ideas. He never implemented the Wage Board recommendations, the Working Journalist Act or the Industrial Disputes Act for the employees of his organisations. As a result of it, some used to receive very high salaries but many of them were denied even their minimum wages. He believed in crushing the trade unions by all tricks of the trade including even by bribing the trade unionists. Every foul means was fair for him. Sycophancy was encouraged like anything by him. What will happen to millions of investors after his death, nobody knows. Corrupt politicians, journalists and bureaucrats are not going to help them. It is only the judiciary which can give some relief, but will the fatigued investors be able to knock on the doors of the judiciary after so many years?

Let SubrotoRoy's soul be in eternal peace and May God never send any such person as Subroto Roy again on this earth to cheat millions!

Like

Comment

Share

Press Council is toothless, how can it bite without strong teeth?

 National Press Day has been celebrated under the auspices of the Press Council of India on the 16^th of November every year since 1995 when it was decided to celebrate it on the day when the Press Council was enacted by the Parliament. It may be mentioned here that the first Press Commission was constituted on 23^rd September 1952 to study the state of affairs of the Press under the Chairmanship of Justice G S Rajyadhyaksha.  Many eminent persons from different streams were its members. It was set up to secure freedom of speech and expression, to curb yellow journalism, sensationalism, malicious attacks on public men, indecency and vulgarity, bias in the presentation of news and lack of responsibility in comment, to inquire about the control, management and ownership, the financial structure as well as other important aspects of the newspaper industry in the country.

  It submitted its report on 14^th July 1954. It made two very important recommendations; one was the enactment of the Working Journalist Act and the other was for the statutory Press Council of India. The Working Journalist Act was enacted in 1955 within a few months of the submission of the Press Commission's report but the Press Council of India came into existence on 16^th November 1966. In those days only the Print medium was in existence. In the name of electronic medium, the government-controlled Akashvani was there but that had nothing to do either with the Working Journalist Act or with the Press Council of India. There was no freedom for Akahvani, it had and even now it has to work as per the  policies framed  by the government 

  To cut a long story short in this year's celebration of National Press Day, the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar was the guest of honour, who exhorted the Press Council by saying that it was not 'the time to show teeth but a time to bite against those spreading the fake and false news. And the bite must be strong because those who are serving with high ethical standards must be encouraged only by those not doing so being visited with exemplary consequences.’  

  Dhankhar also said that it was the moral duty of the media to tell the truth, nothing but the truth. He cited a recent incident about a newspaper in Telangana publishing that the V-P’s Twitter handle carries a fake photograph of a parliamentary committee. He also cited another incident from the past, when as Governor of West Bengal, he suffered when a senior journalist alleged, he was summoning the Chief Minister of West Bengal to Raj Bhavan every day.

  What is, however, very surprising is that Dhankhar is asking the Press Council not to show its teeth but to bite strongly. It appears that he is blissfully ignorant about the fact that the Press Council of India is a toothless tiger. It has no teeth at all. It can only put moral pressure on the newspapers by either, warning, reprimanding or censuring the erring newspapers or journalists. It has no powers beyond that. It may be stated here that yours truly was also a member of the Press Council for two consecutive terms i.e., for six years. He and his organisation Indian Federation of Working Journalist (IFWJ) has been demanding a complete overhauling of the Press Council of India.

 The first thing that needs to be done is that the Press Council should be converted into the Media Council by the Parliament of Bharat by bringing all genres of media that are Print, Electronic, Web, Digital and social media into its ambit. Then it would be in a position to take note of the errors of all types of media. The second most important thing is that it should have enough powers to take stringent action against the erring defaulters otherwise nobody will care even two hoots for its directions/ orders/ suggestions. 

  The other thing that should be done is to have eminent journalists, trade unionists, literature and law apart from Members of Parliament and other social activists of honesty and credibility in the Press Council. But at present there is hardly any important journalist, who is a member of the Press Council. 

  The biggest crisis that the country is facing today is that of the credibility of media and this can be restored only when the Media Council possesses some powers. It should not only have the teeth to show but strong enough to bite the errants. Today the biggest problem comes from social media, which often indulges in deep fakery with the help of new technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The crisis of credibility is more because, social media, operates without any gatekeepers.  The expression ‘fake news’ has never been heard so loudly before as it is these days and social media is the main sinner.

 

Hamas does not Deserve any support for its thrashing

  

   

 Israel and Hamas war started on 7^th October and has already taken the toll of more than 15 thousand human lives. In the past, no friction with Israel has lasted for more than a week but this time it is still continuing despite the passage of nearly six weeks’ time.  In fact, it is no longer a war but a relentless thrashing of the Hamas terrorists and their sympathisers in the Gaza Strip. According to the latest reports almost the entire Gaza Strip has been occupied by Israel’s forces. Hamas terrorists are hiding like rats in the tunnels, which they have constructed mainly under the hospitals to shield themselves. Terrorists are now targeting hospitals, killing innocent people and blaming Israel’s forces to gain sympathy from the world. But no country has till now come forward to join the war against Israel. Even Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan do not have the courage to face the wrath of Israel.

  As a matter of fact, the world can learn a lesson from Israel, which has vowed to completely destroy Hamas. Only a decade ago; India was the centre of terrorist attacks. People were mortally afraid of travelling in trains and buses. Even public places like hotels, bazaars and temples were not spared by the terrorists, most of them were homegrown terrorists and were obviously surviving with the help and support of Pakistan. But presently Pakistan itself has become a bankrupt country and is going across the world with a begging bowl. Although fundamentalist and radical forces in Pakistan provide only bogus verbal support to Hamas, they have neither the courage nor strength to physically provide any help to them. In India, we often see that some people loudmouth to extend support aid to Hamas forgetting the fact that any assistance to it will amount to propping up terrorism, which is a danger to mankind.

There is no doubt that hundreds of innocent people are being killed in this conflict and it will be in the interest of humanity that it is stopped without any further loss of time. The world, particularly those who stand in support of Hamas must prevail upon them to hand over all hostages to Israel otherwise, it is almost certain that it would not stop till their total extermination.

This conflict also points out the abject failure of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, which is considered to be the best in the world. Hamas would not have launched an attack on Israel from thin air in a day. Hamas terrorists must have prepared their strategy for months together to launch the massive attack on Israel killing hundreds of innocent people in a few hours’ time but shockingly the Mossad did not have any inkling of it.

There is no gainsaying that terrorism must go lock, stock and barrel. Any sacrifice to liquidate the terrorists will be in the interest of humanity. At the same time, it is also necessary that Palestinians must also be provided all succour and land for their peaceful settlement. This is possible only when every trace of terrorism is fully wiped out and the Islamic countries must desist from sustaining them as some of them like Pakistan, Lebanon and Iran are shamelessly openly bolstering it.  

 70-Hour Work a Week Suggestion is Impractical and Illogical.

INFOSYS Chairman Narayana Murthy has stirred a hornet’s nest by throwing an idea that the working hours of employees and workers should be fixed seventy hours a week. However, a large number of workers, trade unions and even politicians are up against this idea. The opposition has erupted against this stupid idea which he has proposed. It must be mentioned here that there have been agitations across the world in the late 19th century with regard to limiting working hours to eight hours per day for six days a week.

After years of struggle in May 1886, the workers went on for complete strike in support of their demand. Many of them, around two dozen, were killed and suffered violence of various types. Now after nearly 150 years if somebody is advocating for increasing the working of workers from a 48-hour week to 70 hours a week is certainly inhuman, illogical and cruel to say the least. Even in the ‘Occupational Safety, health and Working Code’, which is yet to be promulgated although it has already got the presidential assent after being passed by both houses of Parliament, there is a provision of only 48 hours a week. For journalists, it is only thirty-six a week has been prescribed, which means 144 hours in a month. The only change that has been suggested in the OSH Code is that working hours can be increased to 12 hours a day provided it is four days a week working. Now here are some industrialists who are talking about 70 hours a week of work for the workers in the name of increasing the productivity of the country.

No doubt, increasing production is an important factor but what about the mental and physical health of the working class? 12 hours of work a day means effectively 14 hours a day because it will take at least two hours for a worker to commute from the workplace to his/her dwelling place and vice versa. He/she will have to spend at least one hour to be ready to go to the workplace. Thus, it will be 15 hours in a day. How much time the worker will be able to give to family and attend the household work can be well imagined by anybody.

A worker will have an enormous amount of physical and mental wear and tear resulting in his/her bad health and invitation to a number of diseases. Thus ultimately, what is being thought of as a measure to increasing productivity by enhancing the working hours will be disadvantageous to the working class, the society and the country as a whole. Surprisingly, the illogical and anti-worker opinion/ suggestion of Narayan Murthy has got support from business tycoons like Tech Mahindra’s CP Gurnani and JSW Chairman Sajjan Jindal. In fact, the 70-hour work week would be synonymous with that of running a “sweatshop”.

In India, the primary statutes which talk about working hours are the Factories Act, 1948 (“Factories Act’) and the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (“Minimum Wages Act”). Both the Acts are fairly uniform as to the upper ceiling of daily and weekly working hours – which are 9 hours and 48 hours respectively. The Factories Act, additionally, entitles each worker to a break of at least half an hour (not more than 5 hours of work should pass before such an interval). Both the Acts further strive to provide overtime compensation at the rate of double the wages for each hour of work undertaken in excess of the threshold of 9 hours. It is imperative to note though - that the applicability of the Factories Act extends only to Factories employing 10 or more persons and where some manufacturing process is carried on; whereas the Minimum Wages Act is majorly applicable over any employment which employs more than 1000 employees in a state.

In so far as all other establishments are concerned, their working is regulated in accordance with the Shops and Establishments Acts of each state. The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 (“Karnataka Shops Act”) is applicable to all shops and commercial establishments of the state with its provisions pertaining to working hours (both daily and weekly) being no different to the two above-mentioned legislations. Under the Karnataka Shops Act, the spread over, in any case, cannot exceed 12 hours - with the overtime payment of up to 2 extra hours. The same is also the case with the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, of 1954. Therefore, the sooner this idea of Narayan Murthy is given a go-by, the better for the country. In this age of Technology and Artificial Intelligence, why he is talking about enhancing the working hours of workers defies all logic.

Doyen of Labour Laws and Eminent Lawyer HL Kumar Passes Away

 A well-known lawyer of labour laws in Delhi H L Kumar is no more.   He was courteous to the core and enjoyed a good reputation across the country. Not only employers and their organisations but also employees, trade unions of all hues and colours, government officials and judges used to take advice and benefit from his knowledge and experiences. He was more known as Kumar Saheb to all his friends and acquaintances. He silently passed away on 24^th October leaving hundreds of admirers and colleagues to mourn his death. He was in his late eighties and was an Ajatshatru, a friend of all and foe of none. Soft-spoken and quite amiable with everybody, Kumar Saheb was always ready to help others in every possible manner. He showed no signs of any illness, except age-related weaknesses, and was found to be engrossed in works to the fag-end of his life.

Kumar Saheb used to be nostalgic about Lahore (now in Pakistan) where he was born, spent his childhood and had his initial education. After partition, he moved over to India under the tutelage of his parents, who owned a hotel in Shimla. However, he did not opt to become a hotelier or a businessman but chose to pursue lawyering. For more than sixty years he has been in the profession and must have trained scores of lawyers. Apart from being an accomplished advocate, an excellent Samaritan, and a lovely human being, he was a good journalist, an expert law teacher, a writer of nearly fifty stand books and the founder-editor of the prestigious Labour Law Reporter (LLR) for over half a century.  Yours truly has also been closely associated with this journal for more than thirty years. Kumar Saheb possessed mines of information and was blessed with sharp memory. He knew Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi besides having excellent command over English, the language of his education and profession. I requested him to write his memoirs but alas! the writer of dozens of books could not fulfil it for the benefit of the posterity.

I was introduced to Kumar Saheb by an intrepid and courageous trade union leader T M Nagarajan, who was opposed even by two-penny editors and journalists besides newspaper proprietors. He had seen that a journalist, who used to claim to be associated with a journalists' trade union body, was closer to the Management of his newspaper than to the employee’s union. Kumar Saheb has been having an uncanny sense of recognising such black sheep and always kept them at arm’s length.

Kumar Saheb knew sections of different acts and relevant case laws by heart. He used to say that Employers must be well conversant with and advise their HR managers to implement them properly for a harmonious and congenial atmosphere in the organisation. His golden advice to the employers was that they should not ride roughshod over employees. He was associated with a number of educational institutions, industrial houses and hospitals as a legal adviser. Shri Kumar was a man of simple living and high thinking. As a Guest Faculty of labour laws at Delhi University, he was immensely popular among the students. Many of his students became judges of the High Courts, the Supreme Court and the presiding officers of various Tribunals.

He is survived by his wife, who retired as a professor in Philosophy from Daulat Ram College of Delhi University. His only son Gaurav Kumar is a lawyer, and a talented grandson Yajat Kumar is a lawyer in the making. The daughter is a medico and happily married. May God give eternal peace to his soul!