MY VIEWS ON GOD-- II

I feel that there is nothing in this Universe that is not God. The Universe stretches in an infinite number of dimensions. Humans know only 3-Length, Breadth and Height. Even if we consider Time to be a dimension there are only 4 dimensions known to man. How much may science develop, man would never be able even visualize the ultimate reality because he does not possess the faculties to comprehend it.

I have a great analogy (this is my own idea and I have not taken it from any ones thought) for visualizing the role of man in the universe (which in turn is God or the ultimate). See the human cell, which our scientists have discovered. Cell is a part of the human body. It multiplies and therefore the body grows, it dies and the body dies. It is a part and parcel of our body and is never separate from it. It can never exist separate from the body. Similarly a body can never exist without a cell. The cell unconsciously fulfills all the functions that are required for the human body. It does not know that it is a part of the body because it cannot think like humans do. It does not have a brain. Similarly each particle in the Universe is a part and parcel of the whole. The Universe cannot exist without that particle and the particle cannot exist without the Universe. I call each particle perfect because it fulfills its function perfectly. It cannot be anything else but perfect because if this particle is imperfect, then so is God of whom it is a part. This is the reason why I do not believe in Good and Bad per se. All deeds happen within God and are again perfect by themselves. That is why I do not believe in anything called sin.

But if that is the case, then how to determine what a person should do. Good and bad can be defined in a different way without linking them to God. That is by taking society as a base. Why is the society formed? It is for the mutual benefit of the individuals that are part of it. Man is like any other animal, the only difference being his brain. In the olden times man lived in the open and in caves as animals do today. But that was an insecure life. He had to continuously hunt for food. It may be available one day and not available on another. He had to sometime fight for his food. Similarly, some other man may covet his mate and take her by force if he is stronger. There was chaos and the stronger always prevailed. Even the stronger man was not safe from attack from a still stronger man. Therefore everyone was insecure. Slowly with time man discovered that association with each other protected him from such insecurity. That is how society came into existence. Since society is formed for mutual benefit, anything that threatens to destroy the fabric of society should be termed as bad and that helps the smooth perpetration of the society as good. Seen this way, a murder is bad because it hurts an individual for whose benefit society is formed. A person helping another person is good because it will improve the security of the person who is a part of the society. Good and bad can also change as per the circumstances and are only relative the ultimate aim being the smooth continuation of the society. At the same time none of the concepts set forth by the society should be accepted unquestioningly. Everything should be questioned and inquired into to find whether it helps the smooth existence of the individuals that form its part. It should also be dynamic and adapt itself to the changing environment so that it accepts modern ideas continuously and does not hinder the development of independent thought. There was a time when people were persecuted just because they said that the earth revolved around the sun. Giordano Bruno was burnt at stake for believing in pantheism. I feel that those things are bad because they restrict the freedom of an individual and thereby harm the society as a whole.

I do not believe in a soul. Consciousness and body are never separate. Consciousness arises when certain conditions of the body are fulfilled and ceases when those conditions are extinguished. We can never find the whys and where fore’s of this because this is related to the ultimate reality and we do not have the mental faculties to even comprehend the Ultimate Reality much less find reasons for its operation.

The problem with man is, he thinks that he can understand everything that is happening in the universe. He thinks that because he has a structured way of thinking, everything should come into his thought. It never occurs to him that he is no better than a particle of sand in the universe’s scheme of things. A cell can never comprehend its significance in the body; similarly man can never comprehend his significance in the Universe either.

Man has invented God in his own model to explain away the unexplained. Man feels, so he expects the God to feel, man juxtaposes all the good qualities as defined by him on to God. Since only all the good qualities are appended to God, the concept of God is good for the society. God is in fact the ideal man who is all powerful as per society. This concept of God puts the fear of the other world into man and tempers him to an extent that he moderates his actions and controls himself. That is why I say that religion is a necessary thing for society. But it should not become so rigid as to restrict the progress of the society itself for whose benefit it has been formed.

No religion was founded with a bad intention, and the idea was to bring peace to humans. Unfortunately, religious interpreters twist religion for their own benefit with the result that the original teachings get obscured. An amazing example is Buddhism. Buddhism was founded as a reaction to the idolatry of Hinduism and Buddha was totally against idol worship. Nevertheless, his followers worship Buddha’s image now, which is totally against his own teaching. He was also made into an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

There may be some parts of this writeup that may be totally against what people believe in general. I thought I would put down to you the way I think about God. I do not claim this to be the only possible explanation for the Universe, but this is how I think. I know that nothing is final in science and philosophy. 

SPINOZA-A PHILOSOPHER WHO THINKS SIMILAR TO ME.

Before I go about writing my own views of God I felt it would only be apt to write down briefly how my favorite philosopher(along with Sankaracharya) lived. I am a great fan of Spinoza (Baruch de Espionoza) and hold him in great regard. When I read about him, I found that he thought in many ways like I do.

Spinoza lived an extremely simple and Spartan life. Although he is not Christian, you would find from Espinoza’s life (which I had given in brief below) that he had followed the sayings of Christ unknowingly and never coveted anything.

Espinoza’s parents came from the Iberian Peninsula in the 17th century and are Portuguese Jews They ran away to Holland as the Jews were being persecuted in all other parts of Europe at that time. Espinoza thoroughly studied the Old Testament as well as the Talmud (Jewish religious literature). He then studied the works of the Jewish philosophers Moses Maimonides, Hasdai Crescas and Ibn Ezra (These are considered to be the most brilliant of Jewish philosophers).

Spinoza lost faith in Jewish orthodoxy when the Jewish community excommunicated a skeptic called Euriel Acosta who questioned the established faith. So humiliated was Acosta that he committed suicide. This event made Espinoza lose faith in religion. When the elders of the Jewish community in Holland came to know that Espinoza was talking against the established faith, they were alarmed. They considered him to be a brilliant mind and a future light of their community. They immediately summoned him and offered him 500 dollars (remember that was a princely sum in the 17th century) if he gave up talking against the faith. Espinoza refused and was excommunicated. He was then just 24 years old. From then onwards he became a loner.

After his fathers death his sister tried to grab the property that should be rightfully Espinoza’s. He filed a suit in the court and won the case. He then gave away the property to his sister saying that he did not want the money but only wanted to prove that he was in the right. For his livelihood he polished lenses. He then contemplated and started writing his philosophical treatises and became famous throughout Europe. Some of the scientists of his time like Henry Oldenburg, Leibnitz and Christian Huygens have become great fans of his. His greatest fan was the rich Dutch businessman Simon Devries. He tried to bring Espinoza back amongst the society, but Espinoza was not willing. Devries felt bad about Espinoza’s poverty and offered 1000 dollars but Espinoza’s reply was no. After that he bequeathed his entire property to Espinoza, which he again declined.

Espinoza’s fame spread to Louis IX of France. He said he would give a handsome pension to Espinoza if he dedicated one of his works to him and as usual Espinoza refused. Heidelberg University (Germany) offered him the chair of philosophy with a rider that he should not criticize religion. Again Espinoza refused. Since he was polishing lenses, due to the dust entering into the lungs he suffered from Tuberculosis and died.

One of the terms that are frequently found in his writings is “God”(which he called substance). A philosopher described Espinoza as a “God intoxicated philosopher”. Despite that many of his contemporaries dubbed him as an atheist.

What are Espinoza’s opinions about God? He said that (God which he called substance) is the only existence and there is nothing that is not God. Its existence is not dependent on anything else. It is the cause and reason of all existence. It is infinite, eternal, self-existent, self-caused. It does not have anything called will. It does not do anything thinking of an end. If it does something thinking of an end it means it has a desire. Desire arises only when something is lacking. When there is nothing else apart from it, when it is complete by itself why would it have a desire or will?

This is just a brief glimpse of the great philosopher and I broadly agree with him on many of the things he said.

There are some things where my thinking is different from Espinoza’s. I would now write my own views about God in a later post as already this has grown too long and would tax anyone who bothers to read it.

PROBLEM OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

When India was granted independence by the British in 1947, there were some 567(sometimes stated as 562 or 565) independent states headed by Indian Maharajas. They were independent only in name though as they were totally dependent on the British for their defense and did not have any standing armies. A British resident was present in each of these states and the Maharajas had to follow the instructions of the resident. 

When the British gave independence to India they refused to merge the independent states with their Indian territories and insisted that the concerned state has to decide whether to accede to India or to Pakistan.

A ministry for the integration of the Indian states has been set up which was headed by the strongman Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Patel coerced most of the Maharajas into signing an accession with India. There were however. A few maharajas refused initially for the accession but had to fall in line when Patel threatened them. These included the Maharaja of Jodhpur, the Maharaja of Udaipur and the Maharaja of Travancore. Finally 3 states remained, and they were 1) Jammu and Kashmir, 2) Hyderabad and 3) Junagarh in Gujarat.

When India gained Independence, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir was Hari Singh. He had an ambition of making Jammu and Kashmir into an independent country by not joining either India or Pakistan. Hari Singh then requested for a standstill agreement with both Pakistan and India. Pakistan agreed and signed a standstill agreement with Jammu and Kashmir. India however wanted to negotiate on the issue and invited Hari Singh for talks. This scared Pakistan. As Hari Singh was Hindu they felt that India might persuade him to accede to India. They now panicked and armed a band of 5000 Pashtoon tribals and sent them into Jammu and Kashmir to occupy it. The tribals were clandestinely supported by the Pakistani army. As they were tribals the raiders were very undisciplined and instead of taking over Jammu and Kashmir as per the plan of Pakistan they started indulging in looting and arson.

Jammu and Kashmir, like all other Indian states at that time did not have any army worth the name. Its police were no match for the raiders. The tribals advanced deep into Jammu and Kashmir and were knocking at the gates of Srinagar. The Maharaja now grew desperate and appealed to India for help asking the Indian army to defend Jammu and Kashmir. But now India insisted unless an accession treaty is signed it cannot send in its army into J&K as that would be against international conventions. The Maharaja had no choice and had to sign the instrument of accession but insisted on some conditions which were enshrined in article 370 of the India constitution.

Article 370 of the Indian constitution: This specifies that except for Defence, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Communications,(matters specified in the instrument of accession) the Indian Parliament needs the State Government's concurrence for applying all other laws. Thus the state's residents lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians.

The Indian army then went into Jammu and Kashmir and fought with the raiders. However, before the raiders abetted by the Pakistani army could be pushed back, the Indian government appealed to the United Nations which ordered an immediate ceasefire.

By the time of ceasefire 57% of the area of J&K was in control of the raiders. Later Pakistan ceded 20% of that area to China and retained the remaining 37%. China built the Karakorum highway on the area ceded to it by Pakistan. India now has just 43% of the area of Jammu and Kashmir. As per the UN resolution, the Pakistani army has to immediately withdraw from J&K and thereafter the India army too has to be withdrawn and a plebiscite si to be held in J&K to assess its mood of accession. As the Pakistani army never withdrew from J&K, the Indian army too did not withdraw and the plebiscite never took place till now.

Unless both the armies withdraw from J&K and a plebiscite is conducted there, normalcy is unlikely to return to the valley and the Kashmir problem would persist forever.

PETROL PRICE HIKE......GOVERNMENT CHEATING THE PUBLIC.

Last time when the oil prices were hiked by the Government, a barrel of oil was quoting at 100 US Dollars. The price of petrol at that time was around Rs 70.20 in AP.

 A liter of petrol attracts the following taxes from the Government in my state AP after the price revision on 15.09.11. Prices in other states may differ slightly:

                                                                                               %                 Amount Rs.

1. Basic price including refining-------------------             49.25                  36.20

2. Excise duty 24%----------------------------------                  24.00                  17.64

3. VAT 9%-------------------------------------------                        9.00                    6.61

4. Petrol customs duty 3%-------------------------                  3.00                    2.21

5. Crude oil customs duty 2%---------------------                 2 .00                   1.47

6. Education Tax 0.75%----------------------------                   0.75                    0.55

7. Transportation 10%------------------------------                 10.00                   7.35

8. Dealer commission 2%--------------------------                  2.00                   1.47

                                         TOTAL PRICE                                                 Rs 73.50

As you can see out of the Petrol price being charged from us a large percentage of the cost is on account of taxes which are given in no’s 2,3,4,5 and 6. Together they account for around 38% of the amount being charged from us. There may be some minor variations in taxes in different states.

In the year 2009-10 around 216,000 lakh litres of Petrol is produced/consumed in India. We can assume for comparison that the consumption would be the same for 2011-12 as well. The value of this @ Rs 70 per liter would be Rs 1,51,200 crores. The tax revenue accruing to the Government on this account would be 38% of this or Rs 57,456 crores.

Out of the Rs 3.14 hike now Rs 1.19 would go to the Government coffers by way of taxes. For the whole year this would translate to a tax revenue of Rs 2,570 crores to the Government.

Last time when Petrol price was hiked to Rs 70 (May 2011) the oil price was ruling at around USD 100 per barrel. It has now come down to around USD 88 per barrel. The government should have therefore brought down the prices of Petrol from Rs 70. They have conveniently forgotten that and have actually raised the prices now by Rs 3.14 stating the depreciation of rupee is causing losses to the government. True the rupee has depreciated by around 6% since the last petrol hike in May 11, but this is more than offset by the decrease in crude prices by 12% during the same period. Despite accounting for the depreciation of the rupee the crude price has registered a fall of around 6% since the last hike and hence the prices have to be brought down, but instead they have been increased.

The oil companies have given the amazing logic that they are incurring losses on account of the appreciation of the US Dollar. One wonders whether this is a deliberate ploy by the government to raise its tax revenues by additional taxation without the people actually realizing that they are being taxed. They are using the oil companies as a front to stifle the public outcry.

It is high time the Government switches over from the ad valorem duties on Petroleum products to specific duties as the taxation on them is already too high. They should also avoid resorting to higher taxation in the guise of rise in international prices.

CORRUPTION SCANDALS IN EARLY INDEPENDENT INDIA....

Since the topic of corruption is raging strong, I thought that I would have a look at the corruption cases in early India.....its is refreshing to note that in all of these cases except one the guilty were punished....I am giving below the gist of the cases....It is a tribute to Nehru and the Congress leaders of that day that people on charges of corruption are ultimately punished except in a few instances. 

.Jeeps Scandal involving VK Krishna Menon 1948

The history of corruption in post-Independence India starts with the Jeep scandal in 1948, when a transaction concerning purchase of jeeps for the army needed for Kashmir operation was entered into by V.K.Krishna Menon, the then High Commissioner for India in London with a foreign firm without observing normal procedure. Contrary to the demand of the opposition for judicial inquiry as suggested by the Inquiry Committee led by Ananthsayanam Ayyangar, the then Government announced in September 1955 that the Jeep scandal case was closed. Soon after in February 1956 Krishna Menon was inducted into the Nehru cabinet as minister without portfolio.

THE MUDGAL CASE 1951

The Mudgal case came into the open when Prime Minister Jawa-harlal Nehru moved a motion in the Provisional Parliament in 1951 for constitution of a five- member committee headed by T.T. Krishnamachari to probe the conduct and activities of one of its members, H.G. Mudgal of the Congress party itself. This case did not come out due to a media investigation like in the present but was brought out by Nehru himself.

Mudgal was accused of receiving financial and business advantages from the Bombay Bullion Asso¬ciation for "canvassing support and making propaganda in Parlia¬ment on problems like option business, stamp duty, etc".

Nehru had two meetings with the member at which he confronted Mudgal with the evidence on hand. Nehru was unimpressed by Mudgal's defence and decided to move the motion for constitution of a parliamentary committee to investigate into Mudgal's conduct.

The Speaker also brushed aside demands for the proceedings being held in camera. "The public will not know what we are do¬ing and it is no use keeping back from the public what our true colours are."

After weighing the evidence at hand and examining several witnesses including Mudgal's assistant, the committee concluded that Mudgal's conduct was derogatory to the dignity of the House and inconsistent with the standards which Parliament is entitled to expect from its members.

While the report of the committee was unanimous, four of its members chose to append separate notes on the issues that the Mudgal case had thrown up namely the conduct of the MP’s.

The Haridas Mundhra Scandal 1958

This was the first financial scandal that surfaced in free India. It was exposed by none other than Feroze Gandhi in 1958 much to the discomfiture of his father in law Nehru and his government. Haridas Mundhra is a Calcutta based industrialist and stock speculator. In 1956 Mundhra was found guilty by the Bombay stock exchange for selling forged shares. In 1957 he managed to influence the LIC into investing Rs 1.40 crores (which is large by the then standards) in his 6 loss making companies namely Richardson and Cruddas, Jessops, Smith Stanistreet, Osler lamps, Agnelo Brothers and British India Corp. This investment was done under government pressure and bypassed the LIC’s investment committee and LIC has lost most of that money. The M.C.Chagla committee was appointed by the government to investigate the matter. A public hearing was undertaken and large crowds gathered to watch the proceedings. The report was submitted in just 24 days and the Finanace Minister T.T.Krishnamachari had to resign from his office.

Haridas Mundhra was arrested and sent to prison. It later transpired that Mundhra has also cheated the government on income tax in connivance with some officials.

In the Mundhra case, the action of the government was swift and the investigation was concluded in just 24 days of public hearings and Mundhra was punished.

Charges against Pratap Singh Kairon,Chief Minister of Punjab 1963/64:

Pratap Singh Kairon and his family members were accused of corruption in early 1960’s. A judicial inquiry into the charges against Kairon was held after an indictment was handed out by the Supreme Court in a case filed by a Punjab Civil Surgeon. It was the first judicial inquiry into charges of corruption, setup against a Chief Minister, in office, by the Government of India.

The commission concluded that "There is no getting away from the fact that S. Pratap Singh Kairon knew or had ample reason to suspect that his sons and relatives were allegedly exploiting his influence and powers... In view of his inaction in the face of the circumstances here in before alluded to, he must be held to have connived at the doings of his sons and relatives, his colleagues and the government officers."

Kairon's initial reaction was to stick to his office in spite of the adverse verdict. The report of the enquiry commission came in 1964, 2 months after Shastri assumed office as PM. When the report was published, Kairon had no option but to quit. He was later assassinated by Sucha Singh.

Charges against K.D.Malviya minister:

K.D.Malaviya was a minister in charge of ministry of Mines and Fuel. There were allegations that the minister has received Rs 10,000 from Seerajuddin&Co from Orissa with which his ministry had dealings. Malaviya was a leftists in the congress party and was known to be ideologically close to Nehru. Despite that when the allegations surfaced Nehru did not hesitate in ordering an inquiry. The commission found Malaviya guilty and he had to resign from his office. His resignation was readily accepted by Nehru. Contrast Nehrus behavior with those that came after him. Would we ever be able to get leaders like him again? Many people have contempt for Nehru without actually reading much about him. Nothing can be a better eye opener than the book written by MO Mathai, his personal secretary who does describe Nehru's weaknesses...and was roundly criticized and condemned by Congressmen but Mathai also says that he has not seen any greater nationalist than Nehru.

Lik

PRESENT ANTI CORRUPTION LAWS IN INDIA LACK AN ENFORCEMENT AGENCY-- JANLOKPAL IS THE ONLY ANSWER.

Indira Gandhi once remarked that corruption is International (to justify the massive corruption that has taken root under her). Rajiv Gandhi stated that out of the 1 rupee spent by the government only 15 paisa actually reaches the public which unfortunately happens to be true. As per Transparency International India has the dubious distinction of having the largest amount of black money in the world and it aggregates to Rs 70,00,000 crores. 

The base legislation for investigation of corruption is the Indian Penal Code enacted in 1860. In the context of anti corruption legislation, the Anti Corruption Act of 1988 is important. But to prosecute a government servant or a civil servant, the prior permission of the state or central government is a must. The Benami Transaction Act also brought in 1988 is equally important. As per this act, a person is prohibited from purchasing property in any other name except that of his wife and unmarried daughter. A person violating this act can be penalized with imprisonment upto 3 years as well as a penalty. As per this act, the concerned official can confiscate benami properties in other names without paying any compensation. The Illegal Properties Prevention Act of 2002 is also an important legislation in this direction. If a person tries to legalize the properties acquired by indulging in malpractices, then he is liable to be imprisoned from 3 to 7 years and fine upto Rs 5 lacs.

Corruption cases are primarily investigated by CVC (Central Vigilance Commission), CBI and the ACB( Anti Corruption Bureau) of the states. The cases of corruption by government servants and civil servants, the investigation is taken up by the Enforcement Directorate and the Economic Surveillance Department. Both of these are under the Finance Ministry.

The cases that come under the jurisdiction of the Center or Centrally Governed areas are investigated by the CBI. The cases that come under the jurisdiction of the state are undertaken by the ACB’s. The states can also request for investigation under the CBI for cases under their jurisdiction. The CVC investigates the cases of corruption in government departments and the CBI is under its supervision. Any action on a government servant or a civil servant is recommended by the CVC, but the authority to decide the action against them lies with the concerned head of the employee.

As one sees this structure one can see the possible slippages that can occur on this account. If all these laws are enforced strictly they would have brought down corruption substantially. Unfortunately these laws get confined to the books and do not get implemented and there is no body to enforce these laws. Unless an independent body like the Janlokpal is created, these laws can never be enforced. Amazingly enough none of these anti corruption laws are applicable to the representatives of the people and they are left to their own devices to violate laws without any supervision. In the context of opening up of the economy corporate corruption has also scaled new heights and unless an effective body is created to deal with them, which should be part of the Janlokpal, high level corruption cannot be prevented.

There is a newspaper in my mother tongue Telugu called “Eenadu”. It gives excellent investigative articles and I am a great fan of that newspaper. True, enough it has leanings towards one political party. That is the reason why I totally ignore any news that appears in that newspaper concerning that party. Nevertheless, it gives great information to the reader. The matter I have written here is partly taken from one of the articles that appeared in this paper in Telugu, and part of it is my own ideas.

Lik

FACTS ABOUT OUR JUDICAIRY……UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE.

Ever wondered as to how many days our courts work. The answer to this is unbelievable. Consider the following information:

 Working days of the Supreme Court of India …. around 185 days….pending cases---around 40,000

Working days of the High Courts in states……….around 210 days….pending cases---around 39 lakhs

Working days of the other courts…………………….Same as the High Courts of the respective states---pending cases around 2.63 crores

The summer holidays and the winter holidays in courts was instituted by the British but we continue to persist with them 64 years after the British have gone.

And the courts sit on high moral grounds and pass strictures against all.

It is high time that they look at themselves and curtail their holidays. No one denies the fact the number of judges per million in India is low and that impedes the delivery of justice. Coupled to this is the antiquated justice system that consumes large amounts of time and delays justice further. At the same time, the lesser number of working days is also another important factor that adds to these delays. But will the courts ever curtail their privilege? I have my own doubts.  

GANDHI OR BOSE.......WHO DO I PREFER AND WHY.

Today I was going through a book in which there was a mention of Subhash Chandra Bose. Although I knew much about Bose I thought I should know more about him and referred to Wikipedia. Wikipedia contained a lot of information on Bose and I abridged it for myself which I have given below.

As per my opinion he had been a great leader but had dictatorial tendencies and is also intolerant. He assaulted his own professor because he made some anti Indian comments. He tried to take Hitler’s help and his Indian Legion soldiers swore allegiance to Hitler’s command. When Japanese funding of INA slowed down he imposed higher taxation on Indian populations in Malaysia and Singapore and sometimes extracted it by force. Hitler used him as long as Bose was with him and so did the Japanese.

Despite his excellent leadership qualities which fired up people, I would rather prefer Gandhi to Bose anytime.

CONCISE BIO OF BOSE ABRIDGED FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Subhash Chandra Bose was born in 1897 in Cuttack to Janakinath Bose and Prabhabati Debi. His father was an advocate. He was the 9th amongst the 14 children.

After schooling in Cuttack Bose topped the matriculation examination of the Calcutta province in 1911. He then joined the Presidency college at Calcutta for his BA but was later expelled as he attacked one professor Oaten for making some anti India comments.

He then completed his BA in philosophy from the Scottish Church College , Calcutta. He enrolled in the Cambridge University in 1919 where he did his BA in Honors but with just average marks.

He got selected to the Indian Civil Service but resigned from the appointment as a protest against the British Government. When he came back to India, Chittaranjan Das became his mentor in the Congress.

In 1923 he was elected the President of the all India Youth Congress and also the secretary of the Bengal State Congress.

He was the editor of the Paper Dehbandhu founded by Chittaranjan Das. He also worked as the CEO of the municipal corporation of Calcutta when CR Das became the Mayor in 1924.

In a roundup of nationalists in 1925 Bose was arrested and sent to Mandalay prison in Burma. In 1927 on being released from prison he became the General Secretary of the Congress party.

Bose was again arrested and jailed for civil disobedience and when he was released he became the mayor of Calcutta in 1930. During this tenure he visited Europe and saw both communism and fascism in action.

In 1938 Bose contested as the Congress president and won. This despite the fact that Bose is ideologically opposed to Gandhi who opposed his candidature. The rift also divided Nehru and Bose.

Bose was re elected as a President in 1939 over Pattabhi Seetaramayya who was favored by Gandhi. Due to opposition from the followers of Gandhi Bose ultimately had to resign as the President of the Congress. He then organized the Forward Bloc whose influence is confined to Bengal alone.

Most of the Congress leaders of that time felt it would be better to wait till Britain was through with the 2nd world war and they would get independence. Bose was opposed to this and thought that the political instability in Britain during the war should be taken advantage of. He believed that Independent India needed at least 20 years of socialist authoritarianism.

His ideas were totally against what Gandhi believed. While Gandhi said one should show the other cheek if one is slapped on one cheek, Bose believed that if someone slapped you once then you should slap them twice.

There were two cases pending against him and he felt that the British would not let him leave the country. He then escaped to Germany via Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.

He founded the Free India Center in Berlin and created the Indian legion consisting of 4500 Indian POW’s taken by the Axis powers during their fight with the British in North Africa. Its members swore allegiance to both Bose as well as Adolf Hitler. The following is the oath sworn by them:

"I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhash Chandra Bose".

Bose was also prepared for an invasion of India by Nazi troops spearheaded by Azad Hind Fouz through Russia. Hitler did not show much interest for Indian independence and Bose decided to leave Germany in 1943.

The Indian National Army was founded by Capt. Mohan Singh in 1942 at Singapore with the Japanese POW’s of Indian origin. This was with the support of the Independence league headed by Rash Behari Bose. The first INA was disbanded when Mohan Singh felt that the Japanese were using the INA as a mere propaganda tool.

The idea of INA was again revived with the arrival of Bose in 1943 and rash Behari Bose handed over the organization to Subhash Bose.

Bose was able to rekindle the idea and received a massive support from the people of Indian origin form South East Asia who not only enlisted in the army but also gave financial support. At its height it consisted of 85,000 troops including a separate women’s unit, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment headed by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan.

At a rally of Indians in Burma 1944 Bose gave the famous call “Give me blood and I shall give you Freedom”. The Azad Hind Government was recognized by the Axis powers.

The INA helped the Japanese by creating diversionary tactics when the Japanese were advancing to Manipur, Imphal and Kohima.

When the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were taken by the Japanese forces, the provisional Government with INA was established there with Lt.Col.A.D.Loganathan appointed as Governor General. Despite this the Japanese navy remained in control of the administration. Enraged with the lack of control Loganathan later relinquished his authority.

The Japanese along with the INA brigades were defeated in their effort to take the northeast. Bose expected that the Indian troops in British service would desert to INA during the battle. Nothing of the sort happened and on the contrary troops started deserting the INA . Japanese funding for the INA decreased and Bose was forced to raise taxes on the Indian populations of Malaysia and Singapore sometimes extracting money by force.

The INA was forced to pull back with the retreating Japanese army. With the fall of Rangoon the Bose’s government ceased to be a political entity. A large proportion of the INA troops surrendered when Rangoon fell. Japans surrender at the end of the war led to the total surrender of the INA.

Bose is alleged to have died in a plane crash in Taiwan, on 18 August 1945 while an route to Tokyo and possibly then the Soviet Union. The Japanese plane he was travelling on had engine trouble and when it crashed Bose was badly burned, dying in a local hospital four hours later. His body was then cremated. This version of events is supported by the testimonies of a Captain Yoshida Taneyoshi, and a British spy known as "Agent 1189.

The lack of a body has led to many theories have been put forward concerning his possible survival.

IS A VOTE ALL THAT IMPORTANT IN INDIA.......

Votes are being counted in a few states today and the people wait with an expectation but is t really worth it? 

Jaganmohan Reddy the son of our Ex CM Rajasekhar Raddy who had showered money over all is constituency  and who has enormous muscle power is winning with a huge majority. Is this democracy...I do not know........

All the press cries hoarse about the value of our vote in our country. But is our vote really that valuable?

Vote serves a critical process in Democracy. It is the lever with which a representative of the people is elected to serve them (at least technically). Yes, it is very valuable where a democracy functions. But does democracy really function in India at all?

I think it is not Democracy but a great scam in its guise that is being practiced on the people of India. Without exception all the parties use caste and religion as a lever for electing representatives. Candidates are chosen on the basis of the caste and religion and region they belong to and how many kinsmen of their caste/religion/region there are in the constituency. Add to this the so called loyalty to the party boss, the amount of money the candidate can spend and also the muscle power of the candidate to terrorize people into voting for them.

The words called capability and the willingness to serve the people are simply buried in the dust and do not count at all. Even a party like Loksatta in my state AP which avowedly professes clean politics cannot desist from giving statements pandering to certain sections of the society.

Splitting people into caste, religious and regional groupings would only make them see themselves as a separate entity. This enhances their alienation from the mainstream rather than integrate them. Seeing them other groups also follow suit and this can only lead to tensions in the society which may lead to fissiparous tendencies. In the present day there is only one criterion to judge the people who really require state aid and that is money. In our society if a person has money no one mentions his caste or region or religion and even murder becomes acceptable. The distinctions between people should therefore be based on money and nothing else. There would then be only 2 classes, the rich and the poor irrespective of anything else. The poorer classes should then be favored by the Government. Yes, this as some people point out is difficult to implement because many people under disclose their income. In that case the law should be very strict and any wrong disclosure should be treated as a crime and made a non bail able offence. Separate tribunals should be set up to treat such cases with a set time limit to decide on the judgment. Severe punishments should be given to such offenders.

Do any of our great politicians have the guts to say that they would like to help all poorer people irrespective of caste, religion or region? The latest hot topic on the agenda of all political parties is “Social Justice”. As per them, this means helping people belonging to certain castes only and not others even if they are beggars. I call it “Social Discrimination” and not “Social Justice.” This is discrimination against the poorer sections of the OC’s keeping them outside the purview of state aid even if they are miserably poor. Does any politician (irrespective of his caste) have the guts to say that this is incorrect? Why don’t they say that castes should inter marry and with time they should be eliminated altogether? Caste has outlived its utility and the time has come to banish it from society. It is rather unfortunate that the so called intellectuals in our society do not even raise their finger against the caste system in India which is blooming day by day.

And what about sexual discrimination? I was shocked to see an article stating that the percentage of women in the Indian legislatures is a mere 8% compared to some 18% for Pakistan which is considered to be a Muslim orthodox state. Even Nepal which is economically much backward than India has more representation of women in the legislatures than India. A very sorry state of affairs indeed which does not speak very well of our democratic system. There are numerous parties based on caste, religion and region, each one trying to help their own supporters tearing the Indian society into numerous groupings.

And what about usage of muscle power, money and liquor in the elections. Is any party immune from it excluding the Loksatta which is clean on this account. Loksatta has a very minor voter base which perhaps reveals the mental setup of the society. I am sure that they would be some similar parties operating in other states and I am also sure that their voter base would be as minimal.

Is this the so called Democracy which is supposed to give equal justice to its entire people irrespective of any affiliation? Democracy is a great system if it works, but in India I think it has failed miserably. People may say that India has remained free of Dictatorship and army rule because of Democracy. But is having elections to elect your representatives alone is Democracy? Once elected the representatives then behave as bad as any dictator. People are shooed off the roads because these gentlemen are traveling, in some cases traffic is held up and they get a priority over an ordinary citizen in everything. The law and order machinery is ready to accommodate them in every way and investigations are done in a way to suit them. They then loot the public money and fill their coffers. Democracy indeed this is not, it is a dictatorship in disguise!

That is why I do not consider the vote to be all that precious. It would be precious only when we really have a choice to elect a person who is ready to serve the country, not when he is more interested in serving himself. Even the candidates of a clean party like Loksatta are not immune to this.

The only choice we have in election is to elect a representative of A party or B party or C party. When all of them have the same characteristics with very minor differences, what choice does the voter really have? Whether it is A or B or C they are unified in one goal and that is of helping themselves and their supporters. Like all other ideas getting assimilated into the way the Indian way of thinking, Democracy has also changed its meaning in the Indian context. But the malaise seems to lie with the society and the leaders who represent it, rather than the system called Democracy.

I do not feel enthusiastic to cast my vote in such a system.

Lik

EDUCATION IN ANDHRA PRADESH........PAIN OR GAIN???

I am from AP and had all my education in AP. When we studied, education gave us sufficient time to enjoy. True, there was pressure during examinations, but once they are over, the fun continued. I was more fond of athletics than studies and was running some 10 KM a day in the morning and used to practice jumps and javelin in the evenings. And of course there was cricket to be played.

In contrast the present day education in AP till intermediate has become extremely competitive and time consuming. Children do not have any time for any extracurricular activities. Most of the colleges do not have any play grounds anyway.

I think this transition took place with setting up of educational institutions specially for appearing in the competitive examinations like IIT, AIEEE and BITSAT apart from the states own EAMCET. The pioneer in intensive coaching for IIT is the Ramiah coaching center set up in 1985. It has been very successful and each year since inception a number of students for this institution got selected for IIT. Institutions like Narayana and Srichaitanya followed suit. These institutions initially started as junior colleges that gave coaching for EAMCET( competitive exam for entering into the Engg. colleges in the state), IIT and AIEEE and BITSAT examinations. They concentrated on intensive coaching of the students . Their efforts started paying off and the number of students getting selected for IIT, BITSAT and AIEEE from the state went up substantially. They then branched off and now have a reach into every nook and corner of Andhra Pradesh. taking their lead many other educational institutions also took the same path.

Last year almost 25% of the IIT seats were bagged by students from AP. This is a great achievement considering that AP accounts only for 7% of the Indian population. I do not have the statistics about the AIEEE but in the case of BITSAT too the success rate is very high and 25% of all BITS students are from Andhra Pradesh.

Due to these institutions more and more students wanted to take up Engineering stream related courses in Intermediate (Maths, Physics and Chemistry) and to cater to those who did not get into the elite institutions a number of Engineering colleges have sprung up all over the state. Andhra Pradesh presently has some 700+ engineering colleges with a student intake of over 2,00,000 every year. This is about 18% of the total Engineering seats in India ( around 11,00,000).

Engineering is being given more preference than medicine both by the students themselves as well as the parents because engineering concludes in just 4 years and many candidates are able to get campus placements.

In the case of medicine, one has to give 5 years 6 months for its completion. But in the present day only MBBS does not hold much value and one has to MD which may take another 2/ 3 years. Moreover the MD seats would only be around 10 to 15% of the MBBS seats and every student may not be able to secure a seat. And after the MD one may go in for the super specialty which may consume another 2 years. This means one has to study for some 10 years to establish in medicine whereas for Engineering the time is much shorter. Moreover getting an Engineering seat also opens up avenues for going to the US where there is a great demand for software engineers.

That was the reason why last year only 50,000 students appeared for the entrance exam for medicine against 300,000+ for engineering. From the 1990’s many engineering students from AP have gone to the US , did their MS there and settled down. The bulk of the visas to USA from the Chennai consulate have gone to the students from AP. This also has increased the fascination for engineering. This fascination for engineering helped the students of AP substantially and this was the creation of the above coaching institutions. Therefore, the credit of making AP an engineering powerhouse goes to those institutions as well as the then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu who freely gave permission for setting up new private engineering colleges. This policy was continued by the later governments.

The institutions have also done some damage too in the process. They started drilling the students right from morning till evening holding exams every week . Their network has now spread to all over AP and they have also established many branches in India at places like Delhi, Chandigarh, Karnataka ,Rajasthan, Himachal, Jharkhand and MP. All their branches were given the same exam paper each week and their internal rank in the state and also all India is given to the students every week. For the 2nd year Intermediate students their class timings would be from 8 in the morning till 8+ in the night. This is now putting an undue stress on the students. Every parent in AP now wants to see their children in the IIT’s, BITS or NIT’s and the parents expectations are putting in further stress. Average children cannot get into the IIT’s and expecting them to do so would only bring down their morale and they may break down under pressure and even start hating studies.

While the role of these institutions in promoting education in AP is appreciated, perhaps a line has to be drawn now and some restriction of hours by the Government would be more appropriate. If the child wants to study he/she can do so at home on his own interest and keeping them in college for 12 hours a day I feel is criminal. The value of education should be understood by the student and he/she should not feel it as drudgery. Other things like sports, cultural events should also be encouraged along with studies and the student coming out should be made into an enthusiastic and fun loving individual rather than an automaton who pores over books most of the time doing nothing else.

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