 |
Wednesday,
December 19, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
Hot
pursuit put on hold Distress
sale of cotton |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Two
time zones or one? DEBATE has been going on right since the time of independence but there is no unanimity on whether the country should continue to have one time zone as of now or go in for two time zones. Both systems have several inbuilt advantages and disadvantages, which will have to be weighed very cautiously by the committee that has now been formed under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Department of Technology, Mr V. S. Ramamurthy, to re-examine the issue.
Afghan
war and American gains
Sleeping
with the stars
School
for drug victims’ kids
Uttaranchal
introduces para-gliding to attract tourists
Harassed
by wives, husbands unite Mandira Bedi’s
tie-up with Lankan firm
1952 Peace: ALBERT SCHWEITZER
|
Hot pursuit put on hold FIRST two healthy developments. The BJP-led alliance government has put on hold its earlier idea of hot pursuit and attacking terrorist bases in Pakistan-occupied territory. This jumps out of Home Minister Advani’s statement in Parliament. Second, the Opposition, especially the Congress, has offered to fully back the government in all its actions. Both decisions promise a mature reaction and national unity at this hour of a grim challenge. The government had to swallow hard before rejecting the demand of hardliners to launch a military attack on suspected terrorist camps. Television channels too supported this. But military leadership, both serving and retired, was totally against this, pointing out that a commando operation based on insufficient intelligence, is a short step to a full-scale war. And, horror of horrors, both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers! The top brass of the armed forces bluntly told the Cabinet that a strike against terrorist training camps will not succeed for two reasons. One, all centres in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have been shifted out and the deadly Jaish-e-Mohammed is based in Karachi. As a security expert has argued, jehadi groups will love an armed attack against them to pin the government down and mobilise mass support in their fight against India. What is more, A precipitate Indian action will help Pakistan wriggle out of the present tight situation. As an old saying goes, India should give a long rope to Pakistan to hang itself. And the December 13 attack on the Parliament complex is the long rope. The Congress has changed its stand and pledged to stand by the government. This is a big improvement on its earlier confrontational posture. Why it waited for long to realise the situation is difficult to understand, which had hurt its standing. Other parties are reluctantly falling in line but grumbling that there is no attempt at wider consultation and consensus building. They have a point. Until Tuesday, the government had not called an all-party meeting to hear the opinion of others. A national crisis calls for a national effort and the first thing is a clearly enunciated national determination. This is a pure government responsibility. Many expected that Home Minister Advani would spell this out, and unfortunately he did not. |
|
Distress sale of cotton THERE seems to be no end to the woes of cotton growers. First, the crop suffered an attack of American bollworm which has become an annual occurrence. Then the Bt Cotton controversy erupted and cotton growers, particularly those in Gujarat, faced government threats of burning their crop because of the use of unauthorised seed. Now there are reports that farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are being forced to resort to a distress sale. This is attributed to the low demand from the textile industry which is passing through a crisis. The industry is too cash-strapped to make any fresh purchases. Increasing competition, European concessions to rival garment exporters like Pakistan and poor demand for high-priced Indian garments abroad are the reasons for the lower offtake of cotton by the textile industry. Besides, the industry has already accumulated cotton stocks bought at a time when the price was ruling high. Cotton prices have been falling worldwide for the past some months. Countries like the USA and China have lowered their production costs considerably by adopting genetically modified seed and the latest farming practices, leaving little room even in the domestic market for Indian cotton, grown with traditional methods, outdated seed and an excessive use of pesticides, which all combine to push up the grower’s costs. The American cotton prices in the Punjab market range between Rs 1,800 and Rs 1,860 a quintal against last year’s price of Rs 2,100. What should be done to cope with the crisis? The farmers have to be educated to treat farming as a business by adopting strict cost and quality control measures. They should be provided with the best available seed and unadulterated pesticides, and also taught to use them on agriculture experts’ advice, rather than follow the recommendations of sales agents of seed and pesticide companies. A futures market needs to be developed to keep watch on international prices and increase or decrease the area under cotton accordingly. This year the area under cotton has gone up in the three northern states, although the overall production is expected to be lower at 20 lakh bales, largely on account of the pest attack, compared to 27 lakh bales last year. The textile industry needs help to cope with the crisis. The
N. K. Singh committee, appointed by the Union Government, is looking into its plight. The textile industry seeks a single rate of duty on all stages of the value chain like spinning, weaving, processing and garments. The point to ponder is: if the Pakistan farmer and industry can produce and sell cotton in India at competitive rates, why can’t we do it? It is another matter that after Kargil we have stopped importing Pakistani cotton. |
|
Two time zones or one? DEBATE
has been going on right since the time of independence but there is no unanimity on whether the country should continue to have one time zone as of now or go in for two time zones. Both systems have several inbuilt advantages and disadvantages, which will have to be weighed very cautiously by the committee that has now been formed under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Department of Technology, Mr V.S. Ramamurthy, to re-examine the issue. It has a member from the National Physical Laboratory and a member from the North-East, the region which raised the demand. The justification given for having two time zones is that the people of the North-East and West India will get an equal share of sunlight while working. Right now, the standard time, which is five and a half hours ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time, is based on the local time in the city of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. The trouble is that India extends over two time zones. While states like Assam in the East have an early sunrise, the sun rises late in states like Gujarat. Since work timings are the same for the entire country, it has been suggested that to save energy consumption and to put sun energy to maximum use, the country should have two time zones. Time in the eastern zone should be six hours ahead of the GMT (based on the local time in Kolkata) while that in the western zone should be only five hours ahead of the GMT (based on the time in Bhopal). In other words, there should be a difference of one hour between the two zones. The downside is that this is a psychological issue as well and having two time zones can fuel divisive and fissiparous tendencies. There are a large number of illiterates in the country who may be particularly confused by different time zones. It will be futile to look towards other countries for guidance because different countries use different models. Several countries do have different time zones but none happens to have two time zones. Russia has four or five zones while the USA has three. However, China has only one time zone in spite of the fact that it extends over several time zones. Perhaps there is need to confine ourselves to finding a better working model than to go in for two time zones. One way out is to have different office timings in different parts of the country. In fact, such a system is already in operation in tea gardens in the North-East. |
Afghan war and American gains THE first war of the new millennium, “Operation Enduring Freedom”, has led to many new paradigms and milestones. The first is the discovery by the USA and other western democracies that terrorism, like peace and prosperity, is indivisible and a nation could ignore the fact at its own peril. When the Pakistan-backed Taliban overran Afghanistan in 1996, the world hardly took notice. The USA was weary after having pushed out the Russians from Afghanistan after a 10-year-long war in which American arms and finance, CIA-directed operatives, Pakistani soldiers and irregulars and religiously motivated elements from all over the world took part. After the Russians left in 1989, there was a chaotic interlude with various tribal chieftains jostling for power. The Taliban arrival gave a false assurance to the western world that things would get back to normal. In less than two years the Taliban revealed themselves as a bunch of utterly cruel fundamentalists, no less than terrorists. Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar became the dominant characters on the Afghan scene, and the country became the international training centre for terrorists drawn from all over the world. The export of terrorism was matched only by the export of drugs, and narco-terrorism became the dominant feature of Afghanistan. When India complained about Afghanistan-trained terrorists being pushed into Kashmir by Pakistan, the USA hardly took notice of this. The world changed drastically for America on the morning of September 11, 2001. The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon marked an unbelievable event in the lives of American people. For the first time in the history of America hostile foreign elements dared to attack the most dominant and economic and political symbols of US power on its own territory. President Bush and the people of America swore that they would hunt down those responsible and punish them, and Mulla Omar, Osama bin Laden and his terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda were identified as prime targets. Subsequent events have proved that Omar and Bin Laden were shortsighted in their endeavour of terrorism on American soil. History has a way of changing course unexpectedly and it has happened in the case of the USA which will never again tolerate international terrorism. Harold A. Gould and Franklin C. Spinney, US scholars and advisers to the US Administration, have termed the Afghan war as “Fourth generation warfare”: The Treaty of Westphalia ended the religious wars known as the Thirty Years War and granted the State the monopoly on the use of organised violence. Since Westphalia three generations of war evolved out of the violent clashes of nations — classical nation-state wars culminating in the Napoleonic conflict, the industrial wars of attrition, and manoeuvre warfare based on infiltration tactics, blitzkrieg and decision cycles which emerged after World War-I. The fourth generation warfare has changed everything since it pits nations against non-national organisations and networks that include religious extremists, ethnic groups, mafias and narco-traffickers. “No longer are there definable battlefields or fronts. Indeed, the distinction between civilian and military ceases to exist. India has been the object of this evolving scenario of amorphous violence for more than a decade. Now the United States’ turn has come”. The identification of India by the two US scholars as the victim of the fourth generation warfare for over a decade will hopefully sink in the thought process of the corridors of power in America. Pakistan and its Generals, including General Musharraf and the ISI, have all been exposed as abettors of international terrorism. The New York Times reported that reliable evidence was found in Kabul on the involvement of Al-Qaeda and ISI operatives in the hijacking of IC-814 in December, 1999. If only the USA had then cooperated with India fully and gone into the ramifications of the operations of Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden it could have perhaps prevented the September 11 attacks. History is replete with several such missed opportunities. A Washington Post article on October 27, 2001, showed how the coup by British MI-6 and the CIA, which toppled the flourishing democracy in Iran of Mohammad Mosaddiq on August 19, 1953, for the narrow purpose of preventing the impending nationalisation of American oil companies operating there, changed the course of history in West Asia and the world at large for the next 50 years. Another realisation which has dawned on America is the futility, indeed absurdity, of backing military regimes and autocratic fundamentalist rulers in the Islamic world for sustaining American commercial interests. Thomas W. Friedman, a well-know columnist, says: “Those who argue that we need not press for democracy in Arab-Muslim states and can rely on repressive regimes have it all wrong. If America wants to break the Bin Laden circles across the Muslim world, the pluralistic, democratic and modernising societies like India, which are constantly being challenged by religious extremists, have to be supported. If this thinking leads to the lessening of blind support by the United States to the fundamentalist monarchies in West Asia, it would lead to a major social change in that part of the world.” A new chapter in the history of Afghanistan is beginning after many long years of turbulence there. “The Great Game” as Kipling called between the then super powers, Russia and Britain, for access to the warm waters across the landmass of Asia resulted in Afghanistan becoming the cockpit of international political intrigue. There is going to be an interim government consisting of representatives of all ethnic groups in the country under the UN auspices. After six months a new constitution will be adopted by the tribal council and a representative government would come into being. It is doubtful if monarchy has a future there as the country is clearly heading for a republican polity. All the chaos and suffering undergone by the people of Afghanistan are coming to an end. It is now the responsibility of the UN and countries like the USA and Russia to ensure that a non-fundamentalist democratic government functions there. Pakistan itself is due for a drastic change. As Ms Benazir Bhutto put it, the day has come when the army Generals have to return to their barracks and leave the country to be run by the democratic process. The deadline for holding elections prescribed by the Supreme Court is about 10 months away and General Musharraf should be lucky if he lasts that long. Clearly, there is no future for army dictatorship in Pakistan. If only the western nations could realise Pakistan’s diabolic role in the terrorist transformation of Afghanistan and enforce the same remedy in Pakistan as well, it would be rendering a great service to the people of Pakistan as well as India. Pakistan has realised that the mullahs should not be allowed to dictate education for children. Pakistan cannot also continue with its abominable blasphemy laws and cannot let the Shias being hounded by Sunni fundamentalists. More than anything else, neither General Musharraf nor the ISI can anymore train terrorists and push them into Kashmir under the guise of jihad. India and the western democracies will not be silent spectators any longer. From another historic perspective, the US war in Afghanistan and the defeat of Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists marks a setback to Islamic fundamentalism and Islam itself. Analysts have tended to quote Prof Samuel P. Huntington’s thesis of clash of civilisations while President Bush and the western democracies have tried to assure the Muslim community across the world that it is not a war against Islam. Salman Rushdie came out with a typically quibbling article, “Yes, this is about Islam”. Huntington’s thesis also visualised the eventual convergence of interests between Confucian (Chinese) and Islamic civilisations in fighting a war against the Christian West. That has not happened nor is it likely to happen. China is as much against international terrorism as its Shanghai Initiative demonstrated. Finally, from the purely military point of view, America has demonstrated once again that its military power remains challenged. More importantly, America has shown that a modern war can be successfully fought from a distance, with the help of fighter planes, cruise missiles and spy satellites. This sense of overwhelming power should not, however, blind the USA and encourage it to resort to steps which will have serious consequences. Its latest decision to unilaterally withdraw from the ABM treaty, while persisting with the Nuclear Shield Defence project, will throw the nuclear policy into utter confusion. And, lastly, the US passivity while Israel is almost obliterating the Palestinian identity is fraught with long-term dangers to the USA and the West as a whole. |
Sleeping with the stars AS a child I loved Summer Nights. For one solid reason. Never mind even if it was warm. The season gave the golden opportunity of sleeping with the stars. Out in the open! And the child’s coy, colourful imagination would run wild with joy of spanning or scanning the many skies. Nursery rhyme: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... was too distant till I reached the threshold of high school. Because we were poor — with a family of seven brothers and one sister. Foreign lullabies or songs had not touched the shores of our humble moorings. Yet, we were starry-eyed kids! Sleeping with stars came quite naturally to us. Summers in the sleepy town of Sargodha (now in Pakistan) were unbearable, nights unusually warm. Living in laid back “Chak 84” village made us find refuge in God’s own way. Air-coolers, air-conditioners were still in dream world — even electricity was not there in 30s-40s. Just before sunset, we kids would romp around the open courtyard when loads of water were poured on hot earth. The emanating cool “bhini-bhini” sweet smell from freshly wetted ground had such a soothing, balming effect. Our bedding was as simple as our meagre evening meal of “dal-roti”. Beds consisted of “charpoys”, “durees”, and the white sheets, pillow and something to pull over for morning dew or shield to save from mosquitoes. Going to sleep was an event looked forward because of the cool beds and the sight of the mysterious sky. The stars held magical charisma for us kids. Grandma’s stories added flavour about them, opened and enlivened our portals e.g. “Sapta Rishi” (7-star constellation) were our seers or saints in ancient India. They constantly did “tapasya” — meditation and vigil — the whole night. They never slept — for the well-being, peace and prosperity of mankind. What a lofty idea to inspire reverence for saints and sages in kids’ hearts? My favourite story was of “Sarvan ki Vehngi” — the three-star-in-straight-line combination, its tail always pointing to “sapta rishi”. According to mythology, Sarvan was an ideal son. His mother and father were poor and blind. They always wanted to go on “Tirathyatra” (pilgrimage to holy places) but were unable to do so due to poverty and blindness. As a child, Sarvan promised to fulfil their desire in his lifetime. He did so when he grew as a young man. He fabricated a bamboo “vehngi” (pannier), with a string jute basket hanging on each side. His parents sat on either side in baskets, while he balanced the pannier on his either shoulder and proceeded on “tirathyatra”. Half-way through, he was mistakenly shot by a king’s arrow. Sarvan died; the king promised help in their journey but the blind parents died of shock. The king lost his throne for curse of depriving blind parents of son in old age. The “Sarvan” trio shot up in the sky as three-shining-star-row, still travelling remaining part of unfinished pilgrimage. And to remind the earthlings of the story of an ideal son! Similarly, the Milky Way was the pathway to Heaven (Swarg Marg), where good human beings adorned the sky, as known or unknown stars shining like jewels — having finished their “Haj” or “Kumbh Mela” to holy places. Later, in school we learnt a lot about startling scientific facts — that there were at least 3,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy. And for the light from the centre of the galaxy to reach the Sun, it takes about 27,000 years. And a bit of poetry too! My favourite lines were Bard of Avon’s famous dig on astrologers and shooting stars: “When beggars die, no stars are
seen, Heavens blaze forth the death of kings” But come what may, whether stars belonged to facts or fiction, we would happily slide into sound sleep with the slowly rising moon. And what is the position now? Brick-cement-tiled ceilings are our sky. And most of us would sing the tune: “mera bachpan guzra band tehkhanon mein” — closed stony roofs! And for darshan of the sky, we pay a visit to closed round structures popularly known as Planetariums! And lament with Hindi poet Gopal Vyas: “kehte hain yeh to kismat hai (our lot!) dharti (read Metropolitan Cities) par rehne walon ki meri dulhan jesi raton ko no lakh sitaron nein
loota!!" |
School for drug victims’ kids BY turning to drugs to escape the unpleasant reality, many men of Maqboolpura on the outskirts of Amritsar have left their children orphaned to struggle against all odds. But there is a hope for them, a modest school run by a political science teacher at the Government High School at the adjoining Pandori Sindhwan village. The school is run by Master Ajit Singh and his wife, Satpal Kaur, a lecturer, for distressed children to groom them for future. Located in Street No. 10 on the Mehta road, the school is run in two buildings and has 152 children — 52 are orphans and the rest from divorced families. They have adopted 22 other children now studying in other government schools. Four-year-old Judge is taken care of by his maternal parents. When asked about his family, he tells a bogus story of having three more sisters and three brothers and loving parents. In reality, his father, being a drug-addict, has died. His mother works as a sweeper in different houses. He likes to study and intends to become a “policewallah”. Happy (4) does not like to talk about himself and his family. His father, Arjan Singh, a former wrestler, lost his one leg due to excessive injections of drugs in the pelvic area and consequently his job in a local factory. Happy’s mother, a sweeper in the local hospital, takes care of Arjan Singh and their four children. Pinky, a 14-year-old girl, who has been adopted by Masterji, goes to a government school. She is happy to join school and helps her mother in daily chores. Her mother, a 38-year-old widow, lost her husband to smack 10 years ago. Shamsher Singh (14) tells about the horror of taking injections. He has parted company with his friends who used to take drugs and injections. He enjoys going to Masterji’s school and pulls a rickshaw in his spare time. He calls drugs to be a death-trap. Some children even deny that their fathers took drugs. Deepak (10) does not admit that his father died of taking drugs and blames his death on an accident. He has one sister and two brothers. His mother works in houses to earn a meagre amount. Balvinder Kaur, Shallu Rani and Sunny are a few other children who seem to be happy to attend school away from everyday disturbances at home. All children studying there belong to families below the poverty line. Their mothers are unable to pay for their studies. Says Masterji “Maqboolpura, which literally means famous, has become a breeding ground of thefts, drugs, gambling, drinking etc. Five of us who used to get education from good institutes, tried to remove this black spot from our locality. Nirmal Singh Gill, Jaspal Singh Gill, Kuldeep Singh, my wife Satpal Kaur and I founded the Collective Education Development Society and opened a school for the children of drug victims”. Girls face more difficulties. Mrs Satpal Kaur recalls one instance of a girl named Preeti, a national player of kho
kho, who was forced to abandon studies due to poverty. A group of eight teachers works hard on these poor children. They are matriculate or plus two pass. Miss Parveen Kaur, who is in charge of the school, is a B.A. first year dropout. Her father got injured his pelvic girdle when he was drunk and is now unable to work. She started teaching in this school to earn some money for her college admission. Now she helps small kids out of a situation she has herself been through. She has even cleared her ETT exam, but has not been able to get a job. Neelam Kaur, Sukhwant Kaur, Baljeet Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Gurjeet Kaur, Balwinder Kaur and Rimple Kaur are the other teachers who earn about Rs 400 a month for their services. Ajit Singh adds that this school is being provided help by a few NGOs and social activists like Dr P.P. Singh. The Citizens Forum headed by Mr Brij Bedi provides financial and legal help in the adoption of these children. This school is in fact named after this body as Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir. |
Uttaranchal introduces para-gliding to attract tourists WITH a picturesque landscape ranging from lush green valleys to enigmatic mountain ranges, Uttaranchal is all set to tap its rich natural resources to attract foreign tourists. The Tourism Department of the state has introduced adventure sports such as paragliding to give tourists breathtaking experiences. After a successful launch in Himachal Pradesh a few years ago, paragliding facilities are now being extended to Uttaranchal. Naukuchital, near Nainital, a popular lake resort in the Kumaon hills of the state, is being promoted as a paragliding resort. The sport which was started by a local Kumaon development committee is relaunched by a private company named Camps Himalayan Adventure. To help tourists fly, trained pilots have been called from a paragliding institute in Manali hill resort. The duration of flight ranges from four to seven minutes and covers a distance of 3.4 km the longest paragliding flight in the country. The cost of per flight comes to about Rs 750. But the high costs, notwithstanding, the sport enthusiasts travel thousands of kilometres for a joy of a few minutes of gliding. Shubha Shri, a tourist from Mumbai, said, “I think they should have more of adventure for tourists. It helps rejuvenate the spirit of the people who are busy in their city life”. Owner of the Camps Himalayan Adventure Umesh said that in order to promote this sport all over the country he is seeking government assistance. “We are going to launch a few more paragliding stations so we hope that the government will come with a well planned policy and we will be more than happy if the government helps us in promoting this sport all over the country”, Umesh said. India has some of the best cliffs and slopes in the world for paragliding but has limited takers because of the high costs involved in the sport. ANI Scientist finds oldest rain drops in Madhya Pradesh An Indian geologist has discovered
imprints of the oldest rain drops that fell on earth about a billion
years ago. Chirananda De of Kolkata-based Geological Survey of India
says the “fossil rain imprints” he found in lower Vindhyas in
eastern Madhya Pradesh could provide “insight into the atmospheric
conditions of the primitive earth” The Vindhyan mountain is formed
by 4000-metre thick layers of sediments deposited at different
periods. De found the rain imprints on the exposed surface of
sandstone sediments in the billion years old bottom layer called “Semri”
group in Satna and Rewa districts. Although the earth is believed to
have received that first rainfall around 3.8 billion years ago, fossil
evidence of this had not been recorded in the early years of earth’s
history. “The Semri rain imprints possibly constitute one of the
oldest sets of geological documents of rainfall in the earliest
sediments,” De said in a report published in the journal Current
Science. He said the imprints “are exceptionally well preserved and
are of great significance.” The rain imprints are represented by
small (3 to 5 mm diameter on average) impact craters of circular to
elliptical shapes suggesting that the rain drops fell vertically or at
an angel, De reported. Preservation of individual rain craters on
plane beds suggests that ancient rainfall was “non-torrential and
occasional in nature,” De said. “Perhaps it was brizzling as
otherwise a torrential rain on the soft and rippled sediment surface
would have polished them into small irregularities”. PTI |
|
Harassed by wives, husbands unite IT all began when Dasharath Devada was arrested along with his parents for allegedly torturing his wife for dowry. He claims his wife and in-laws used loopholes in the anti-dowry law to tie him down with litigation. The danger, Devada says, lies in the fact that a woman’s husband and in-laws are put behind bars as soon as dowry charges are made, without even a preliminary investigation. This prompted Devada to form the “Patni Atyachaar Virodhi Sangh”, or Organisation Against
Harassment by Wives, in Gujarat. Devada claims his front is gaining popularity in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, with 13,000 husbands having joined it so far. “We are not male chauvinists, nor we are misogynists. But we certainly oppose the arbitrary attitude of wives who take their husbands for granted and make them suffer at home,” Devada told IANS. Devada related his own alleged harassment: “I married a Rajasthani woman. After marriage my wife had come with me to Ahmedabad to live with my parents. But my in-laws wanted me to stay with them. “Since I was not in agreement with them, there began a series of harassment, one after another. My wife lodged a dowry case against me. First I, then my parents were put behind bars. “More than the case, it was the pain of betrayal that was hard to bear. Within three months my parents died of cardiac arrest,” Devada said. “I went to the Himalayas in search of peace. When I came back I found that I had lost everything. Though the process of acquiring divorce was another torture, it was the time I decided to fight against the crime perpetrated by the fair sex,” said Devada. Front Secretary D.P. Patel, too, claims to be a victim. “I was in Kuwait for 25 years. There I fell in love with a woman and married her. So deep was my love for her that I remained oblivious to the fact that she was promiscuous.
IANS |
|
|
Mandira Bedi’s tie-up with Lankan firm INDIAN television star Mandira Bedi’s tie-up with the manufacturer of exclusive porcelain tableware could poise the Sri Lankan company for a big marketing push in the subcontinent. Bedi has signed a one-year contract with Dankotuwa Porcelain Limited, a leading producer and exporter of fine crockery, which will see her endorsing its products while exploring openings in India where the brand graces many tables. “We have been exporting a bit haphazardly to India till now,” said Manik Fernandopulle, Dankotuwa’s export manager. “Now we think the Indian market is a good location to venture into.” Not only will Bedi be plugging the Sri Lankan product to her compatriots, but Dankotuwa expects the advertising to be equally effective in the island where she is already a popular television star.
IANS |
Genuine Gillette Safety Razor, American Made, Gold plated in valvet lined case large size with Golden case for blades superior quality. Price Rs 4. Order to The Royal Business Co., Post Box No 78, Lahore.  |
||
|
We receive the reward as per our actions. Why blame others? — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Asa M 1, patti, page 433 *** One who performs virtuous actions is known as virtuous; the one who commits sin is a sinner. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Var Majh, M 1, shlok M 2, page 138 *** The Body is the field of action; One eats whatever one sows. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib? Sri Rag, M 5, page 78 *** Whatever you have done cannot be effaced. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Asa M 5, page 460 *** Acquisitiveness which grips a person’s mind is like the fetters on one’s feet. — Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Maru M 5, page 1004 *** Keep away from - Impure listening, Impure acts, Impure words, Impure thoughts. — From the discourses of Sathya Sai Baba *** Nothing can sprout forth without a seed. No one can obtain happiness without having accomplished acts capable of leading to happiness. The Mahabharata, Shanta Parva, CCXCI, 12 *** By his Karma may a jiva become an Indra, by his Karma, a son of Brahma. By his Karma he may become Hari’s servant and free from births. By his Karma he may surely obtain perfection, immortality. By his Karma he may obtain the fourfold (Mukti) Salokya and the rest, connected with Vishnu. Godhood and manhood and sovereignty of a world empire may a man obtain by Karma, and also the absolute state of Shiva and Ganesha. — Devi Bhagavat. IX.xxvii., 18-20 *** Karma cleanses the mind if it is done as a dedicatory act, the consequences being left to the will of God. — From the discourses of Sathya Sai Baba *** He that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent. *** He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack. *** A fool uttereth all his mind. *** A man’s pride shall bring him low; but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. — The Bible: Proverbs, XXV, 27; XXVI, 5, 11, 27; XXVII I, 2,5,6,7,10; XXVIII, 20, 27; XXIX, 11, 23 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
