Neither ‘melting pot’ nor ‘chalk & cheese’
by T.V.R. Shenoy
ON the night of February 13 and 14, I was at a Valentine’s Day party in Mumbai. Later that day, I was in Kerala, and saw people offering “tarpan” for their ancestors on Mahashivaratri. And I ended the day by attending the Nikaah ceremony of a friend’s daughter. In a little under 24 hours I had attended three events that spring from totally different cultural roots. But the strange thing is that I didn’t really feel an alien at any of these functions.

Proving his worth wherever he goes
by Harihar Swarup
THE Planning Commission has lately become the rehabilitation centre of rejected politicians. Senior leaders or front-ranking Ministers, having been rejected by the people, get themselves nominated as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. The office confers on the incumbent the status and privileges of a Cabinet Minister. In the one-year rule of the BJP K.C. Pant, a Congress stalwart of yesteryears, is the second Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

Abolition of dowry system — miles to go
By Vimla Dang and Satyapal Dang
MASS campaigns in support of abolition of the dowry system have yielded positive results, but the impact is marginal. Yet, the evil practice continues to be on the rise, creating a feeling of helplessness in some quarters. This feeling, we think, is not justified. It is true that the situation has not improved to the desired extent. But it is also a fact that in the absence of these campaigns, the position would have been much worse. Therefore, at no cost should the battle be given up. What is needed is a serious examination of why the results have not been upto the expectations.

75 Years Ago

Imperial Bank cheated of
ten lakhs
ON a complaint preferred by the authorities of the Imperial Bank of India, Madras Branch, to the Commissioner of Police, three merchants of the city have been arrested today on charges of alleged cheating forgery, falsification of accounts and false personification.

Neither ‘melting pot’nor ‘chalk & cheese’

by T.V.R. Shenoy

ON the night of February 13 and 14, I was at a Valentine’s Day party in Mumbai. Later that day, I was in Kerala, and saw people offering “tarpan” for their ancestors on Mahashivaratri. And I ended the day by attending the Nikaah ceremony of a friend’s daughter. In a little under 24 hours I had attended three events that spring from totally different cultural roots. But the strange thing is that I didn’t really feel an alien at any of these functions.

And that reminded me of two famous — and contentious — works. Shortly after the implosion of the Soviet Union, Francis Fukuyama proclaimed an “End of History” in an article for foreign affairs. His thesis was that the victory of the what is loosely termed the West had brought an end to ideological debates. The secular-capitalist model had won, and that was that.

Almost in response to this provocative thesis, Samuel Huntington penned an essay predicting a future “Clash of Civilisations”. I have no idea whether this was a deliberate challenge, but it definitely proved that academic wrangling, and by extension ideological debate, was by no means over. But the author went further; the conflicts of the post-cold war world would, he said, be on the basis of enormous differences between civilisations, not merely those of economic models. He defined these culture-systems on loosely denominational grounds — Hindu, Islamic, Judaeo-Christian, Confucian, and so on.

Could both be wrong? Fukuyama was making an elegantly-stated plea for the famous “melting pot” view of society, one where different elements would be melted willy-nilly into a larger whole that bore little resemblance to its ingredients. Huntington, on the other hand, insisted there were insurmountable barriers, that you can’t in effect expect chalk and cheese to sit together. (The “chalk” of that cliche, by the way, isn’t the stuff used on a blackboard, but the “lime” familiar to anyone who has chewed a paan).

I think Fukuyama was wrong because it is almost impossible to impose a matrix of culture on various peoples successfully enough to make them forger their roots altogether. The famous description of the USA as a ‘melting pot’ comes from a play of the same name written in 1908, with the playwright boldly declaring that the USA was “God’s crucible” and creating a new race, “the American”. It is a nice idea, but I should point out that Israel Zangwill, the dramatist, later became a fiery Zionist, thus rejecting his own pet theory!

So is Huntington right after all? No, he too overstates his case. No man possessed of either a brain or a palate would stuff his mouth with chalk and cheese simultaneously. But don’t we enjoy some foods that offer different tastes and textures? Think of the sweet-and-sour soup offered in Chinese restaurants, or the famous bhelpuri served at Chowpatty beach, or even the salad bar in some upscale hostelry. All those make a virtue of dishing out separate flavours simultaneously.

In principle, Huntington may or not be right when he says there is a fundamental incompatibility between some sects. But in practice, how many of us bother with such matters in daily life? Just because tenets differ at some level, does it mean that we can’t interact on a personal level?

When I accepted my friend’s invitation, I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that he is a Muslim and I am not. Nor did he see me as an outsider. We saw each other primarily as friends, two human beings who like each other enough to share joys.

It would be a very dull world if Fukuyama is right, and no less wearisome if we were constantly squabbling as Huntington predicts. Mercifully, we are not so limited. Life is neither a ‘melting pot’ nor ‘chalk and cheese’. If we must use culinary analogies, think of it as a buffet. Pick your friends and leave whatever you don’t take severely alone. That way, everyone is happy!

Proving his worth wherever he goes

by Harihar Swarup

THE Planning Commission has lately become the rehabilitation centre of rejected politicians. Senior leaders or front-ranking Ministers, having been rejected by the people, get themselves nominated as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. The office confers on the incumbent the status and privileges of a Cabinet Minister. In the one-year rule of the BJP K.C. Pant, a Congress stalwart of yesteryears, is the second Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

His predecessor, Jaswant Singh of the BJP, was yet another defeated leader, who was conveniently accommodated in the planning body till a way was found to push him in the Rajya Sabha or, as some say, he managed a backdoor entry in Parliament. His route to the Cabinet and then to the corridors of South Block was through the Planning Commission, Jaswant Singh is now India’s articulate External Affairs Minister.

In the last 10 years there have also been example of a galaxy of leaders finding a cozy berth in the Planning Commission. R.K. Hegde in 1989 and Madhu Dandavate in 1996, having been thrown in the wilderness, were accommodated in the Planning Commission. Chandra Shekhar during his short tenure as Prime Minister brought his long-time friend, Mohan Dharia. P.V. Narasimha Rao rehabilitated Pranab Mukherjee in June, 1991, till he secured a berth in the Rajya Sabha and made a triumphant entry into the Cabinet. All of them were, doubtlessly, men of standing, wide experience and competence.

The present incumbent, Krishna Chandra Pant, has been in political wilderness for almost a decade although he has the longest experience in the governments headed by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He enjoyed the trust and confidence of Mrs Gandhi and later of Rajiv. She could not believe that even Pant would desert her following the second split in the Congress in 1978 and she would repeatedly ask her aides “has Raja (Pant’s household name) also left”. This was because of Pant’s two generation long association with the Nehru family. Pant’s illustrious father, Govind Ballabh Pant, who became UP’s first Chief Minister and later India’s Home Minister was an associate and confidant of Jawaharlal Nehru during the freedom struggle and after Independence.

In a bid to save Nehru from the assault in a police lathi-charge the seven-foot-tall elder Pant covered the future Prime Minister and took a heavy lathi blow on his neck, paralysing a nerve. Consequently, Pantji’s head trembled without control; he suffered from the infirmity for the rest of his life.

Mrs Gandhi’s shock at Raja’s desertion in 1978 was, therefore, inevitable. She was gracious enough to take him back in the Congress after she returned in the 1980 elections with a comfortable majority. By that time the rival Congress had begun disintegrating; her party became the real Congress and, those who had left her, vied with each other for “homecoming”. Though Pant was a member of the Rajya Sabha at that time, Mrs Gandhi did not induct him in his Cabinet but used him for political work.

“Raja Bhai”, as Pant’s friends and admirers call him has, perhaps, the widest experience as a Minister at the Centre. It is generally said that he was rarely without office; his critics say he cannot live without office. The fact, however, remains during his long and variegated political career, spread over almost four decades, he held one or the other office. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, for the first time in 1962, from his home constituency, Nainital when he was barely 31 years old. Such was the influence of the Pants in Kumaon hills that Raja Bhai was re-elected from Nainital in the 1967 and 1971 elections and people called him “son of mountains”. Nainital is now represented in the Lok Sabha by his graceful wife, Ila Pant, who was once adjudged the beauty queen of the hill station. The couple have since joined the BJP sending shock waves in Congress circles in U.P.

Raja Bhai played a significant role in the leadership contest between Indira Gandhi and Moraji Desai following the untimely demise of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Mrs Gandhi was, apparently, pleased and inducted him in her Council of Ministers in 1967 with the rank of Minister of State and allocated him the Finance portfolio. Since then there was no looking back for him and he held a variety of portfolios and made a mark as MoS in the Home Ministry. So much so that he joined the Charan Singh’s short-lived government which was propped by Mrs Gandhi only to be pulled down after six months. He was then General Secretary of the breakaway Congress which decided to join the Congress-I supported government.

Raja Bhai’s debating skill came to the fore when as the Defence Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet he put up a stout defence of the Bofors deal which sought to implicate the Prime Minister. He stood like a rock as the Opposition launched repeated onslaught on the young Prime Minister. The charges hurled at Rajiv by the Opposition are yet to be proved and Pant’s defence of the young Prime Minister has been vindicated. Though it looks somewhat exaggerated, his supporters claim he shielded Rajiv in the Bofors affairs in the same manner as Pant’s father protected Nehru from the lathi blow.

Pant has been almost in political wilderness since 1991 but not out of office. Narasimha Rao appointed him the Chairman of the sixth finance commission and Raja Bhai did a commendable job. Congressmen wonder what spirited him away to the BJP preceded by Ila Pant whom the party leadership nominated to successfully contest in the 1998 mid-term poll from Nainital.

Pant was made chairman of the task force of national security after the BJP-led government assumed office. Having accomplished the task he has been shifted to the Planning Commission by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Whatever may be the criticism against Raja-Bhai — he may hanker after office — but the fact remains that he proves useful wherever he goes. The commission will, no doubt, function effectively under his stewardship.

Abolition of dowry system — miles to go
By Vimla Dang and Satyapal Dang

MASS campaigns in support of abolition of the dowry system have yielded positive results, but the impact is marginal. Yet, the evil practice continues to be on the rise, creating a feeling of helplessness in some quarters. This feeling, we think, is not justified. It is true that the situation has not improved to the desired extent. But it is also a fact that in the absence of these campaigns, the position would have been much worse. Therefore, at no cost should the battle be given up. What is needed is a serious examination of why the results have not been upto the expectations.

It is well known that in a male-dominated society, daughters are in fact deprived of the right to property of their parents. Laws which treat men and women on an equal footing in the matter of inheritance are defective. In any case, they remain only on paper. Parents satisfy their conscience by giving dowry at the time of marriage of their daughters. Daughters too tend to want dowry because they know they won’t get anything by way of inheritance. They also feel that, the families of their in-laws may not treat them fairly if they go without dowry. Nor is this the only reason which makes the campaign for abolition of dowry system ineffective.

It is an accepted fact that the culture of consumerism has grown in our society in a big way. Amassing of wealth has become the sole aim of life of the middle class. Whatever brings more money is “moral”. Criminalisation of politics and politicisation of criminals has made it easier to escape punishment even for the most gruesome of crimes. An essential concomitant of such a situation has been a phenomenal increase in demands for huge dowries.

Middle class going consumerist has spawned yet another negative spin-off. The phenomenon of young men pledging not to take dowry and remaining loyal to their pledges has all but disappeared. As for girls, fewer are ready to take a pledge to marry without dowry. Some of the reasons for this phenomenon have already been noted. It also merits mention that even educated and employed young women tend not to put up a fight. The reasons are not difficult to understand. Most young women getting good salaries cannot keep any part of the same for themselves. Entire amounts have to be handed over to their husbands/in-laws. The Press has reported instances in which even women magistrates get beaten up by their husbands. Economic independence is one of the pre-conditions for gender equality. However, by itself, it does not ensure that. For it to happen, the ideology of male-domination has to go, lock, stock and barrel.

The fight against the dowry system therefore has to be a prolonged one and part of a comprehensive battle.

Slogans must be: “Not dowry but equal inheritance rights”; “no beatings and no killings for dowry”; “economic independence for women”; “no-wife-beating”; “simple living and high thinking”; “down with consumerism”; “restore moral and human values in society”; “for a society in which there is equality of opportunity for all and in which there is real and genuine gender equality”, etc.

The fight against dowry system is both long-term and immediate. An immediate task is to fight to bring to book the culprits responsible for torture and death of women over dowry. A movement to persuade youngmen and women to go for dowryless marriages must be revived. In this connection, mention must be made of the good work being done by the “anti-Dowry Club” of Patiala. Members of this club pledge to marry without dowry. Yashpal Jindal, leading light of the club, told us: “I did not accept dowry when I married. I have two grown-up sons. Their marriages too will be dowryless”. When he met us, another member of the club was with him. Pointing to him, Jindal said: “He is getting married soon. He too will not accept any dowry”. One of the mottos of the club is “Dehaiz Lena Band Kar Do : Dena Apne Aap Band Ho Jawega”. (Stop taking dowry: Giving will stop automatically)”.

The club has been organising seminars on the dowry issue. It has also been bringing out literature on this evil. They also propagate the cause by means of banners, posters, and leaflets. It is an example which needs to be followed. Let such clubs spring up all over the country. Young members of the Patiala Club keep off party policies. Perhaps they don’t belong to any party. Be that as it may, young memebrs of the Left parties in the country should not lag behind them.

—IPA Service

75 YEARS AGO

Imperial Bank cheated of ten lakhs
Three Madras merchants arrested

ON a complaint preferred by the authorities of the Imperial Bank of India, Madras Branch, to the Commissioner of Police, three merchants of the city have been arrested today on charges of alleged cheating forgery, falsification of accounts and false personification.

The parties arrested were released on bail.

It is alleged that by above acts, the parties, complained against, induced the Imperial Bank to part with a sum of ten lakhs without authority from proper quarters. The matter is under police investigation.