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Caring for the differently-abled...

Thanks to Mrs Neelu Sarin, coordinator of the Chandigarh chapter of the Special Olympics, Bharat, I had a moving experience last Friday morning.

Caring for the differently-abled...

Illustration: Sandeep Joshi



Harish Khare

Thanks to Mrs Neelu Sarin, coordinator of the Chandigarh chapter of the Special Olympics, Bharat, I had a moving experience last Friday morning. Mrs Sarin was kind enough to invite me to inaugurate the annual athletic meet for the differently-abled children. She has been dedicating her time, energy and affection for the cause of such children since 1993.

It was a heart-breaking as well as a heart-warming morning. Heart-breaking to see what physical and neurological deficiencies nature can inflict on those we love. Heart-warming to see so much human kindness at work among those who care for and look after these special boys and girls. Meeting some of the parents was very painful. It is just not possible to understand the pain a father or mother of a disabled child feels, day after day. The need to feel normal about their children who cannot spend a normal life must be the most taxing and frustrating experience. Each day the parents have to summon their inner reserves of patience and love and affection, to climb out of despair and depression to attend to the needs of these wards.

It is civil society initiatives like the Special Olympics and activists such as Mrs Neelu Sarin who help ease that pain. There is solace and comfort in the solidarity that such initiatives create. Special schools are there to provide professional help and eight such institutes were associated with last Friday’s athletic meet. Nearly 400 boys and girls took part in the events. It was very thoughtful of the Chandimandir brass to send a band to liven up the proceedings. 

From Mrs Sarin, I learnt what a difficult and an almost lonely enterprise it was to carry out the Special Olympics activities. It is admirable that women and men like her remain undaunted and un-frustrated. I think their efforts need to be recognised and saluted. Chandigarh needs to show a little generosity.   

A few months back, Mr SK Rai, that formidable presence of Ludhiana, had suggested that it would be worth it to spare some time for a fellow citizen, a gutsy man named UK Sharda, also from the Cycle City. I could not say no to Rai sahib. But for weeks, it was not feasible for Mr Sharda to travel to Chandigarh. Finally, we got to meet last week.

Though for more than two decades he has been editing and publishing a publication called The Egalitarian Fortnightly, Mr Sharda calls himself a “social catalyst.” The Egalitarian is designed to be the “voice of human dignity and people’s empowerment.” His publication stands for its simplicity in this age of sleek, glossy publications. What it lacks in production qualities it makes up in the editor’s zeal and sincerity. Mr Sharda’s single-minded mission seems to be to shake the authorities out of their organisational sloth and insensitivity.

Mr Sharda takes pride in having performed the role of a social catalyst in raising such issues as the prevention of beggary, healthcare for the poor, health and safety of safai karamcharis, better conditions for maidservants and water conservation. Ludhiana is fortunate to have such a sincere voice. So uncompromised and so uncontaminated a conscience does he command that Mr Sharda dares to argue that ‘voluntary action’ is often underutilised, even misutilised. It would seem that Mr Sharda carries on his shoulders the burden of civil society.

It is natural that Mr Sharda has not found many patrons. His penchant for speaking up for the interests of the ordinary citizens does not earn him many friends. He will not take funds from the government. But I am inclined to believe that India is changing, our citizens who want good governance are beginning to understand the importance of raising their voice and demand dignity and empowerment. My counsel to Mr Sharda is: carry on the good work and reward, recognition and satisfaction will follow.  

Can a “bad” politician inflict his badness on people without the active connivance of a bureaucrat? Can a competent, upright IAS or IPS officer tell the minister that a particular line of legality and morality need not be crossed? Such questions are at the core of the crisis of governance in our country.

And a kind of answer may be available in the distinguished record of service of Abid Hussain, the quintessential public servant, who passed away in 2012. A charming, utterly open and transparent man, Abid saheb was a civil servant dedicated till his very last breath to issues of public welfare. He was a man who commanded respect and affection on the strength of his integrity, commitment and intellect. That is why so many respected public intellectuals came together to honour the memory of Abid Hussain, in a recently published book, Shaping India’s Future.

The contributors to this volume give a glimpse of the changing relationship between the political leaders and civil servants. There was a time when the founding fathers of our republic — Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad — inspired the bureaucrat. As Nitin Desai notes, there were these “Midnight’s Adults” — such as Abid Hussain, Lovraj Kumar, George Verghese — who were young adults, around 20 years of age at Independence, who joined public life, inspired by “Nehru’s vision of a secular, rationalist and democratic India.”

That generation of bureaucrats had the privilege, in partnership with the political giants, of “shaping India’s future.” Abid Hussain’s own chapter in this volume gives an idea of an elevated relationship between the political leadership and the bureaucracy in the early years of our national consolidation. Nehru and Patel showed “practical wisdom and pragmatism” in retaining the edifice of “those very instruments of administration and police that the British had earlier employed to crush the independence movement.” The post-Partition violence, disruption and dislocation had overwhelmed sanity and idealism; stability, control and consolidation were the need of the hour. The bureaucracy was the only instrument available.

On their part, the bureaucrats imbibed a sense of mission and national journey in the early years. The good bureaucrats — the PN Haksars, the Abid Hussains — inspired others. Public service beckoned the likes of Vijay Kelkar, Yoginder Alagh, Nitin Desai, Montek Singh Ahluwalia into the portals of the government. This volume celebrates Abid Hussain’s clarity of vision. He was among the early “reformers”, among the first to comprehend that the ‘licence raj’ had run its course. He was among the few who could network the best in the government, industry, media, academia and society.

Would an Abid Hussain have been able to survive as a chief secretary in the Chautalas’ Haryana or Parkash Singh Badal’s Punjab or Jayalalithaa’s Tamil Nadu? Perhaps not. Because, Abid saheb was clear: “Bureaucrats must also let their conscience, as Adam Smith said, raise the voice of moral reasonableness without which a man becomes thoughtless and has no qualms in perpetrating injustice.”

When VP Singh offered Abid saheb ambassadorship in Washington, he told the new prime minister that he was fond of the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and would continue to remain in touch with him. VP Singh was big enough to countenance that. Today, we are in the age of extreme partisanship. There are no VP Singhs. Nor do we have Abid Hussains. 

Professor Chaman Lal of JNU  has drawn attention to the stupidity of some sangh hotheads, wanting to make February 14 as the execution day of the greatest martyr, Bhagat Singh. It appears that some organisations are determined that we should not be observing or celebrating Valentine’s Day (February 14) and are trying to reinvent that day as the day of Bhagat Singh’s shahadat.

Prof Chaman Lal, who has researched and written extensively about Bhagat Singh, wants to remind everyone that it was on March 23, 1931, that Bhagat Singh’s petition got dismissed in the Punjab High Court at Lahore. The execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev was set for the morning of March 24, 1931. 

Granted that we are in the post-truth age, yet history cannot be totally falsified. The right-wing fanatics would need to come up with some other ploy to prevent young men and women from enjoying Valentine’s Day.

Well, enough of these unhappy notes. Time to brighten up, with a cup of coffee.

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