Nehru vs Netaji row again
Review by Himmat Singh Gill
Subhas Bose and India Today by Pradip Bose. Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi. Pages 312. Rs 480.


Energy in India: a legal view
Review by Ranjit Malhotra
Indian Power Projects: Regulation, Policy and Finance — Volume I by Dimple Sahi Bath. Asia Law & Practice, Hong Kong.

Higher values of yoga
Review by Uma Vasudeva
Yoga for Integral Health by Vinod Verma. Hind Pocket Books, New Delhi. Pages 144. Rs 75.

Ecology and Health by K.R. Nayyar. APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. Pages 210. Rs 300.

Where enemies of state spend their days
by Surinder S. Jodhka

Political Prisoners in India by Ujjwal Kumar Singh. Oxford University Press, Delhi. Pages xvi+293. Rs 475.

Contemporary Indian society and its history could be looked at from a number of different vantage points. Each of these offers a specific perspective and helps us appreciate certain aspects of reality over others. It is through this exploration of diverse viewpoints and positions that the social sciences progress. Facts do not always speak for themselves. They often need to be interpreted and situated in a perspective.

Ujjwal Kumar Singh’s study of political prisoners in India is one such effort which attempts to explore new grounds for understanding the political history of contemporary India. He explores the changing meanings of the term “political prisonhood” in colonial and post-independence India and the implications that these meanings and constructs have for the emerging political realities in the country.

Through his study of “historically emergent layers of the politics of political prisonhood”, Singh also “hopes to identify the prison as a ‘terrain’ on which relationship between the state and its subjects/citizens could be explained”. While “the ideological and developmental role of the state in India has already received sufficient attention” where it is projected as an agent of change and a positive social transformation, the “terrain”, of prison could help us look at the “other side” of the Indian state — namely, “its ruthlessness, lawlessness and brutality”, Singh asserts.

The author makes his political position quite explicit right in the opening pages of the book. He does not look at the prison as a “corrective” or “reformist” institution. Such notions of the prison tend to camouflage and legitimise the coercive apparatus of the state. Looking at prisons from a “critical” and a “human rights” perspective, Singh argues that penal measures often get used against political adversaries of the dominant interests in the state. Following Foucault, he contends, “those in power have projected rebels as criminals”.

It was not only during the colonial period that the British rulers used prisons against their political adversaries — the nationalist activists— the post-independence Indian state has also not been very different in its approach towards those who disagreed with its vision of social order. This is reflected in the manner in which the Indian state has treated the left-wing radicals, particularly Naxalites. The use of the term “terrorist” for militant struggles in different parts of the country by diverse political formations with varied ideological orientations serves a similar political function for the Indian state. It tends to criminalise and depoliticise these movements.

What gets recognised as “political” and what gets viewed as an acceptable political activity, according to Singh, depends on the dynamics of social forces in a given historical context. Similarly, the term political prisonhood is also historically constructed depending upon the nature of democratic values a society enjoys. At a general level, the term “political prisoners” refers to those who are imprisoned because they contend for seats of power or those who voice views against or as an alternative to the dominant configuration of power.

In the colonial discourse of governance, criminality was confined to the deprived classes and was generally explained by referring to hereditary factors. However, during the nationalist struggle it was the middle class political activists and rebels who had to be arrested for their opposition to the colonial rule and they had to be distinguished from the ordinary criminals. It was in this context that the term political prisoner began to be used in India. Interestingly, middle class nationalists too shared such a view of criminality and prisonhood and demanded that they be treated differently from “ordinary” criminals.

Gandhi’s entry into the freedom movement brought in a new culture of protest. He also introduced a perspective on jail-going. Through his notion of satyagraha, Gandhi was able to pursue a novel strategy on jail-going. Singh argues that by insisting on voluntarily obeying the jail laws, Gandhi could transcend the position of colonial subjecthood and could attain the status of citizen for his satyagrahis. “A satyagrahi was not a subject because he was not compelled to obey unjust laws. Going to prison was therefore part of the exercise of the rights of citizenship”.

And “once the notion of imprisonment as deprivation of freedom was overcome, prison was transformed into a realm of freedom, a school or training ground for its inmates for the realisation of ideal citizens.” Thus, through his method of satyagraha, Gandhi was able to subvert a basic symbol of colonial domination — namely, the the jail.

The colonial prisons treated different sets of prisoners differently. Their class, gender and racial background determined the kind of treatment they received in the jails. Those with white skin (European) were treated differently from the ordinary Indian prisoners. Similarly, from amongst the Indians those with a privileged middle class background were given better treatment. Apart from the social background, the political beliefs also mattered. “State coercion was displayed in its starkest form against the revolutionary terrorist.”

However, the most crucial, according to Singh, was the distinction between political prisoners and ordinary or criminal prisoners, a distinction that was to have far reaching implications in terms of the rights of prisoners. This position has remained operative even in independent India, and has set the norms for treatment of prisoners. While a political prisoner was treated as a citizen with certain rights, an ordinary prisoner, in this framework of things, was automatically denied any such rights. A prisoner, if not classified as a political prisoner, can be treated in whichever way the state deems fit.

The chapter on “Political prisoners and penal strategies in independent India” looks at the continuity and change since independence. Ideologically the new regime was obviously very different from its predecessor. Its sources of legitimacy were “premised on constitutionalism and legality, planning and developmentalism, representative democracy and republican citizenship, all of which were drawn from the ideology of anti-colonial nationalism”.

However, Singh contends that the independent Indian state did not dismantle most of the structures and institutions of statecraft, which were established by the colonial regime. Its attitude towards those who did not agree with the official vision of statecraft has also not been very different from that of the colonial regime. Quite like the colonial rulers, the Congress regime too tried to criminalise movements whose vision of social and political order differed from the official one. For example, the three “enemies” of the nation that Nehru identified included the labour unions, the Communist Party and the communal organisations. This was obviously done with the intention of delegitimising their activities and delineating them as “treacherous”.

A lot of hard work and thinking has gone into the writing of this book. Apart from providing an extremely rich historical account of the politics of prisonhood during the colonial and post-colonial period, the book also provides a rather sharp and provocative perspective on the nature on the Indian state. One may disagree with the author on his approach or his framework, but reading the book would surely be a rewarding experience for anyone interested in the subject.

Info in capsule forms
by M. L. Sharma

Sterling Dictionary of Abbreviations by I.B. Verma. Pages 546. Rs 175.Sterling Dictionary of Economics by Dipavali Debroy. Pages 184. Rs 175.Sterling Dictionary of Idioms by Vijaya Kumar. Pages 520. Rs 175.Sterling Dictionary of Literary Terms by Amrita Sharma. Pages 154. Rs 75.All by Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.

TILL recently, it was a monopoly of foreign publishers to bring out standard dictionaries in English language. Now Indian publishers have started producing them.

According to experts on lexicography, a standard dictionary should follow these five norms in its preparation. It should have a definite purpose to fulfil. The lexicographer should have a clear understanding of the users of the dictionary; for example, a dictionary of idioms should define those words which are capable of expressing human moods under different conditions and should exclude those words which have no relevance whatsoever to our daily lives.

Third, a dictionary should have a fair degree of accuracy and its printing should be excellent. One with grammatical errors and printing flaws will not serve any purpose.

The fourth criterion is that the book should be handy and not tax the reader’s mind while searching for words. Last, the dictionary should be reasonably priced.

In view of the above guidelines, Sterling dictionaries are useful although they cannot claim comparison with foreign publications. Sterling has unwittingly made some superficial claims. For example, in “Dictionary of Economics” we come across the following: “There is an abundance of textbooks of economics, but dictionaries are hard to come by. This book is an attempt to fill that void.”

Collins and Penguin, besides a few other good publishers, have already brought out standard dictionaries on economics. Truly speaking, there is no dearth of dictionaries on this subject.

However, “Dictionary of Economics” is handy and useful for all students and is reasonably priced. Nearly all terms used by a student have been clearly explained, with graphs wherever required. There is hardly any mistake in the book.

“The Sterling Dictionary of Abbreviations” offers valuable guidance and help to those students who want information about those words which are used commonly in an abbreviated form, rather than in full form. Earlier, students had to consult dictionaries to find out abbreviated words and also seek the help of general knowledge books.

With this dictionary their troubles have been reduced to a minimum.

I.B. Verma, a senior college librarian, has spent five years in preparing this . Despite best efforts, the dictionary has missed several important abbreviations, such as QED for quod erat demonstrandum, which was to be proved; P for paid; P C for police constable; per cent, personal computer, privy councillor, politically correct, R for registered trade mark; TT for teetotaller, tuberculin tested, tourist trophy; TESL for teaching English as a second language, etc.

There are a few minor inaccuracies also. The entry under U is given thus: “A U certificate is granted to films which are meant for adults only — those who are above the age of 18 years” (page 515). A “U” certificate implies universal certification, meaning the film may be shown to persons of all ages. In many cases, information provided is so exhaustive that it has made the dictionary voluminous.

Despite some minor flaws, the dictionary is useful because of its over 5000 entries providing information in lucid language. “The Sterling Dictionary of Idioms” has been printed, well, with good coverage and examples. The dictionary, however, abounds in spelling mistakes which are unpardonable. There are several words which could have been easily omitted to make room for important words which have been left out.

The author could have discarded the following words, which she herself found difficult to use in sentences: tread the boards (be an actor); lose one’s marbles (go mad); be in/go to Davy Jones’s locker (be drowned at sea); you are only young once; streets ahead (much better), etc.

Common words too should have been omitted so as to accommodate more useful words. There is no point in giving such common words as in the ordinary way, on the other day; in outline; out of order; make merry; flood the market; on the decrease; be beyond something; at present; by mistake; on condition; in any case; yes please, etc.

“Dictionary of Literary Terms” provides useful information on important terms which a reader comes across in literary works. The explanations are simple lucid with no ambiguity. While explaining Socratic irony, she has given the whole background of Socrates’s discussions with the youth of Athens.

She has, however, not explained the difference between a simple irony and Socratic irony. According to Professor Thomes Gould, “Socrates’s two favourite devices for knocking people off balance and stoking them to new desires were irony and paradox. The two had basically the same effect, they made people wonder if their whole language was not an absurd tissue of meaningless words. Irony in the Socratic sense, is a faintly dishonest profession of ignorance.”

The book has a fair number of spelling and grammatical mistakes. We find on page 132 the statement, “A simile is more tentative and ornate than a metaphor, such as Wordsworth’s ‘I wandered lonely lines as a cloud’. The last line should have read like such as Wordsworth’s line, I wandered lonely as a cloud.

“That’s newly sprung in June” appears as “that’s newly spring in June’. Soliloquies is spelt as soliloquys on the same page.

Be a non-seeker and you win
by Kuldip Dhiman

Tantra: The Supreme Understanding by Osho. Full Circle, New Delhi. Pages 272. Price not mentioned.

Having become sick and tired of the intrigues of business life, a billionaire decides to give everything up and retire to the Himalayas. He goes from peak to peak in order to free himself of his misery. Time flies, and 10-years on in spite of chanting God’s name endlessly and in spite of renouncing everything, he is still searching, he is still insecure, still restless, still suffering from insomnia; salvation is nowhere in sight.

Has sanyasa made any difference? Yes! Earlier he was a miserable businessman; now he is a miserable hermit. What has gone wrong here? The very process of liberating himself from the miseries of this world has got this wretched man more and more entangled in the net. Is there a better way out for him? Perhaps there is.

In the book “Tantra — The Supreme Understanding: Discourses on the tantric way of Tilopa’s song of Mahamudra”, Rajneesh tackles such issues in his inimitable down-to-earth style. This book, which should rank as one of his best, is supposedly based on the teachings of Tilopa, a Buddhist monk who left India and settled down in Tibet.

Mahamudra or moksha is like the illusive and mythical Shangri-La: everyone talks about it, but no one seems to know where it is and how to find it. Sometimes we wonder if it exists all. But what are we seeking and why? Because by becoming a seeker, aren’t we merely widening the gulf between ourselves and the sought?

The solution is to give up the search. Mahamudra cannot be found; it has to be realised through self-awareness. “This is the deepest message,” says Rajneesh, “of this whole song of Mahamudra: do not seek, just remain as you are, don’t go anywhere else. Nobody ever reaches God, nobody can because you don’t know the address. Where will you go? Where will you find the divine? There is no map, and there is no way, and there is nobody to say where he is. “No, nobody ever reaches God. It is always the reverse: God comes to you whenever you are ready, he knocks at you door; he seeks you whenever you are ready. And readiness is nothing but a receptivity. When you are completely receptive there is no ego; you become a hollow temple with nobody in it.”

But what is awareness, and how many of us really want it? Over the millennia we have actually developed wonderful devices to avoid awareness, and that is because we are so afraid of ourselves. In order to escape from ourselves we have created concepts like morality, ethics, character and discipline. We are humble, polite, compassionate not because we are naturally so, but because we have programmed ourselves like a soldier. “Make a habit,” Rajneesh observes, “of always saying the truth; make it a habit, then you need not be worried about it. Somebody asks, you will say the truth, out of habit — but out of habit a truth is dead”.

The answer is not to try to be “moral” but to be “natural”, because these are two diametrically opposite concepts. “A moral person is never natural, cannot be. If he feels angry he cannot be angry, because morality doesn’t allow it. If he feels like loving he cannot be loving because morality is there. It is always according to morality that he acts; it is never according to his nature . . . . Remain loose, natural, aware, watching what is happening. By and by, you will see many things (anger, greed, lust, etc.) have simply disappeared, they don’t happen anymore — and without making any effort on your part. You never tried to kill them and they have simply disappeared.”

Because you soon realise that anger, greed, jealousy are not bad; they are just absurd. “Remember this valuation,” Rajneesh continues, “In morality there is something good and something bad. In being natural there is something wise and something stupid. A man who is natural is wise, not good. A man who is not natural is stupid, not bad. There is nothing bad and nothing good, only wise things and foolish things. . . . There is nothing like sin and there is nothing like virtue — wisdom is all. If you want to call it virtue, call it virtue. And ignorance is there if you want to call it sin — that is the only sin.”

Rajneesh later distinguishes between action and action-free work. One thing has to be understood here: there is a great difference between giving up action and becoming free of action. If you don’t make this distinction, the giving up of action also becomes an activity, an obsession. “This is what has happened to your monks in the monasteries: dropping activity has become their obsession. They are continuously doing something to drop: prayer, meditation, yoga, this and that — now this is also activity. You cannot drop it in that way; it will come from the back door.”

Once you are free from action, you realise that there was nothing actually lacking in you. Every moment of your life is complete, because when you feel complete you live spontaneously, the seeker in you becomes the sought. All sorrows, miseries disappear.

“This is the most fundamental thing in tantra,” Rajneesh elaborates, “That it says that you are already perfect. No other vision says that. They say you have to achieve it; they say you have to go, you have to struggle, and you have to do many things and the path is arduous; and it is very very rarely that somebody reaches because the goal is very very distant; and for millions of lives one has to try, and then one reaches; perfection has to be achieved. Tantra says this is the reason why you are not achieving; Perfection has not to be achieved. It has to be simply realised that it is there.”

All this is wonderfully said; however, there is one big problem: Tilopa, as we are made to believe in this book, was neither the first nor the only one to propose this concept. What Rajneesh is trying to teach here through the mouth of Tilopa is nothing but advaitavaada or non-dualism. In the Indian philosophical tradition you have two main schools of thought: dwaita and adwaita.

The dwaita (dualist) philosophers say you and the world and the Reality or God are different from each another, you have to strive to achieve what you are not — the Reality. For example, a wave is different from the ocean, and its ultimate goal is to become one with the ocean.

Adwaita, on the other hand, tells us that you and the ultimate Reality are one and the same thing, all that is required is awareness. Here the argument is that the wave and the ocean are not different but one and the same because if someone asks you to touch the ocean you would immediately touch the nearest wave. So where is the question of duality?

Just to prove the point that Tilopa was not the first one to propound adwaita we can trace the seeds of non-dualism way back to the Rig Veda, and later to the Chandogya Upanishad where we come across the words — “tat twam asi” which means “you are that” (Reality, Absolute, God) and again “sarva-mukhavidam brahma” — verily all this is that Brahman; “chetnaschetnanaanaam” — the one consciousness in many consciousness; and as mentioned in the Isa Upanishad, “aatmaanam sarvabhuteshu sarvabhutaani chaatmani” — the Self existing in all things and all things existing in the Self. Elsewhere you come across ideas like: “nityo nityaanaam” (the one eternal in may transient) “so ham” (I am He), and “aham Brahma asmi” (I am Brahma, the eternal). The entire Bhagvadgita is nothing but the quintessence of adwaita.

Thus it is unfair to credit Tilopa or the Buddha himself with adwaita because it was not a part of the Buddhist tradition in the first place, although many centuries after the Buddha, some monks did incline towards adwaita. So what is Rajneesh talking about?

Rajneesh often gave us the right answers but the methods he employed to arrive at them were very questionable. He used to arbitrarily pick up the work of an ancient thinker or saint to base his discourses on, but in the process would unscrupulously distort the original work beyond recognition. End seemed to justify means to him. Well, you have the right to modify the existing systems of thought to suit your convenience, but is it right to attribute your own concoction to someone who is not here to defend himself?

It is a pity that Rajneesh, who was once an academician, should adopt such a flippant attitude towards facts. He got away with it most of the time because of his personal charisma and extraordinary oratorial skills, and the fact that not many of us have the time or the desire to read and understand the original. So, read Rajneesh, benefit from his discourses, but don’t ever take him for granted.

Nehru vs Netaji row again
by Himmat Singh Gill

Subhas Bose and India Today by Pradip Bose. Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi. Pages 312. Rs 480.

Pradip Bose, a political analyst and author of the well-received, ‘‘Growing Up in India’’, has now written a definitive and painstakingly researched book on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. One may not agree with Bose’s thesis that the only way for steering India to its ‘‘salvation’’ lies in the country’s leadership imbibing the nationalist spirit of ‘‘Jai Hind’’ and ‘‘the unity, faith and sacrifice’’ call by Netaji. Much more would have to be done but it would not be wrong to say that social reconstruction has to be based on the twin principles of equality and justice.

We will come to Netaji Bose a little later and talk about his contribution to the Indian nation in the dying days of the British Raj. Bose writing with candour and insight into the working of the Congress in 1937, catches the eye when he highlights the tactical error made by the party (read, by Nehru) in the formation of the Congress Ministry in the United Provinces. In UP, the 64 Muslim seats had been shared among the Muslim League 26, independent Muslims 28, the National Agricultural Party 9 and Congress Muslim 1.

Abul Kalam Azad was in favour of a coalition with the League and two prominent League leaders, Chaudhury Khaliquzzaman and Nawab Ismail Khan, would be appointed ministers. In a signed note, the League had said it would ‘‘work in cooperation with the Congress and accept the Congress programme’’.

Congress President Nehru wanted only one of them as Minister and also insisted that the League in the Assembly would cease to work as a separate group but become part of the Congress. In due course the League Parliamentary Board would be dissolved, and it would not fight any byelection.

As a sequel to this development, Frank Moraes wrote, ‘‘Pakistan might never have come into being’’ had the Congress handled the League more tactfully. Pandrel Moon thought that “the prime cause of the creation of Pakistan was the Congress failure to cooperate with the League in 1937”. Azad too, lamented that, “Mr Jinnah took full advantage of the situation and started an offensive which ultimately led to Pakistan”.

Pradip Bose is no fan of Mahatma Gandhi either. Writing about the go-by given to the ‘‘well intentioned values of non-violence, along with the concept of nationalism and complete independence’’, the author regrets the failure of the Mahatma to act when the going got tough. In Bose’s words, Gandhi declared that partition could come only over his dead body. But he endorsed the partition proposal at the AICC on June 14, 1947. He explained that there was no other practical alternative.

As Bose points out, partition could have been avoided had better statesmanship prevailed at that time.

There is another interesting point Bose makes. Explaining why he sometimes went back on his principles during the pre-independence days, Nehru said, ‘‘The truth is that we were tired men, and we were getting on in years too. Few of us could stand the prospect of going to prison again — if we had stood for a united India as we wished, prison obviously awaited us.... The plan for partition offered a way out and, we took it.’’ Not one leader had a thought for the millions of Punjabis and others who perished in one of the most avoidable migrations of all time!

Netaji Bose’s drive, independence of thought and action and the ability to take risks come out convincingly in this narrative. In fact, Netaji is termed as ‘‘India’s first international statesman’’, in a chapter putting him alongside Nehru, the only two who understood international affairs. Bose quotes from historian Michael Edwards from his, ‘‘The last years of British India’’: ‘‘Only one outstanding personality Netaji of India took a different and violent path and in a sense India owes more to him than to any other man.’’

Netaji’s journey from Calcutta on to Peshawar, Kabul, Moscow, Berlin, Rome, Tokyo and South-East Asia marks a daring ‘‘mobile diplomacy’’ during World War II. The audacity of Netaji’s reach and planning is amazing. One oft-repeated view is that finding himself suffocated by Nehru and his colleagues and expecting little from Gandhi, he started operating from abroad.

Pradip Bose touches on another contribution of Netaji. He says ‘‘Thus, unlike Nehru, Bose was not enamoured by the ideological slogans and stances either of communism or fascism, and was not prepared to put the cause of India’s freedom on a back-burner during the second world war, as Nehru did.’’

It must be said for record that Nehru was not much impressed by Bose’s ‘‘external’’ efforts in attaining freedom. Pradip Bose quotes Nehru on Netaji: ‘‘But I do realise that the way he has chosen is utterly wrong, a way which I not only cannot accept but must oppose, if it takes shape. Because any force (Indian) that may come from outside will really come as a dummy force under Japanese control. It is a bad thing psychologically for the Indian masses to think in terms of being liberated by an outside agency.’’ Nehru had said it all. He wanted the attainment of India’s freedom to be an act basically of the Indian people led by the Congress Party.

Coming generations and unbiased historians owe their thanks to Pradip Bose for his account of those times, and it is books of this kind which will continue to raise the question whether Netaji died in the air crash many decades ago.

It is time we resurrected Netaji and honoured him with what was always his due.

Energy in India: a legal view
by Ranjit Malhotra

Indian Power Projects: Regulation, Policy and Finance — Volume I by Dimple Sahi Bath. Asia Law & Practice, Hong Kong.

This is the first significant book on regulations and policy regarding privatisation of power projects in India. It is helpful to foreign investors and professionals acting on behalf of domestic private operators. It packs facts, statistics and analyses.

The book has been published in Hong Kong by Asia Law and Practice. The author is a trained lawyer both in India and England. She is a practising solicitor in the energy and projects group at London law firm Ashurst Morris Crisp. This book condenses her rich across-the-border experience in infrastructure projects in the Indian subcontinent.

Chapter one starts with a brief introduction to the political and legal system, market potential and industrial policy. She then highlights the various domestic and international policies which make India a viable and attractive market for the foreign investor.

The structure of the power industry in India is examined in detail in the second chapter. The focus is on the government’s attempts to woo private power producers and how this initiative has affected power production and the development of new projects. These two chapters discuss the regulatory regime and the policy structure of the power sector in India, its effects, shortcomings and the scope for further reform.

The next chapter examines in detail the power policy. There is also mention of the guidelines for competitive bidding for power projects. Incentives available to the licensees have been well brought out.

The poor financial performance of the state electricity boards, based on a case study of several states is the subject of chapter four. It is interesting to note that these boards are not in a position to meet their operating expenses, including payment of interest on capital borrowed from financial institutions. This chapter also points out that the cost of generating power is nearly Rs 1.50/kwh whereas the actual average return from the sale of power is around Rs 0.96/kwh, which adds to the accumulating losses.

One chapter lists the statutory and non-statutory clearance required for setting up a power project. The role of the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority has been highlighted, which is responsible for developing a sound and uniform policy for the control and utilisation of power resources. The issue of counter-guarantee, which is very important from the point of view of the private operator, has received sufficient attention. Two chapters are devoted to power generation options.

In sum, the book is well researched. This pioneering study is easily superior to the FICCI handbook “Power: Who’s Who in India,” both in content and scope. The only downside is the prohibitive price and in dollars. The book is not seen much in India. Oddly enough, I came across the book in Tokyo, Manila and London and not in India.

This resourceful study deserves wide publicity as it serves more than overseas readers, foreign institutional investors and international lawyers.

Higher values of yoga
by Uma Vasudeva

Yoga for Integral Health by Vinod Verma. Hind Pocket Books, New Delhi. Pages 144. Rs 75.

Many books have been written on yoga by Indians and foreigners giving the different meanings of it. Yoga has been presented in different forms, the most common being a kind of physical exercise with a mystic touch. Sometimes it is associated with acrobatics and at others with religious meditation and concentration for “bhakti.”

Actually, yoga is neither gymnastic nor acrobatic in orientation. According to the author, the metaphysical meaning of yoga clearly shows that this practice leads one on the path of realisation and consciousness. Yogic exercises are taught progressively starting with physical and mental exercises. Traditional postures and concentration practice (meditation) come after the body and mind are trained. The Yoga Sutras or aphorisms of Patanjali (200 BC) is the first text which elevated yoga to a philosophical discipline.

A course of yogic practice is fundamental and is designed to maintain good physical and mental health. The author says that no spiritual path is possible without physical well-being. The body is holy becaue it houses the soul, which according to the yoga tradition, is part of the absolute truth.

Today’s fast moving life style has made our body and mind behave differently. There is no unison between the two. We use our body as a commodity and do not care for its inner needs. Yogic exercises presented here should meet the physical demands. The author has first explained the easier mental and physical exercises. For every asana, the author has brought out the funciton of the limbs, then the whole exercise and finally the benefits of each asana.

Verma has covered all aspects of daily living, body conditions and the psychological state of human beings. He has suggested a few natural and herbal therapies for common ailments. Though this book does not deal with the cure of diseases through yoga, it does give yogic exercises for good physical health and mental robustness.

A large number of illustrations help the reader understand each yogic exercise. It is a nine-week programme for a practical and easy way to do yoga exercises for total mental and physical well-being.

*****

Ecology and Health by K.R. Nayyar. APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. Pages 210. Rs 300.

With the advent of high technology and phenomenal scientific progress, ecology has suffered a great deal and that is dangerous to mankind. This book unravels the socio-economic and public health dimensions of ecological degradation in the Indian context.

The author has carried out research on the ecosystem of Kuttanad in Kerala. Kuttanad, famous for its natural beauty, is today a man-made paradox. Its natural splendour is not so much exploited as the material splendour. The dissonance in the human-environment relationship largely arises from this material bias.

The book tries to present the environmental and health concerns of the agrarian sector by taking the case of Kuttanad region, which is a major rice-growing area but faces different problems. Water surrounds the landmass where people live and work and this is an environmental hazard. Salinity and flood are a permanent feature. Changes in agricultural operations and construction of physical structures has created unforeseen hardships for the people. Capitalist development of agriculture has resulted in a sharp polarisation of agricultural classes and agrarian relations has become tense demanding frequent intervention from the state.

The author has analysed not only the relationship between variables within the subsystems but also found out a new relationship and new insight into human-environment relationship. These inter-connections can be established within our conceptual and theoretical framework and perhaps they would offer a clue to sustainable developmental initiatives and for maintaining health and ecological balance in the region.

By examining the natural, physical, socio-economic, and perceptual components of environment, this book has also highlighted the need to consider the environmental concerns of different sections of society to minimise the impact of techno-centric biases in the developmental programmes.