Home > 2008 Issues > November 23, 2008

Readers? Forum A Matter Of Economics (Organiser, 19-10-2008); Shri R Balashankar has attempted to focus on parallel appeasement of the UPA government with that of US government. But the act of benevolence on the part of finance and aviation ministers to bail out the ailing aviation industry and melting capital markets are uncalled for. Did the private airlines ever share their profits with the government and why should an Indian tax-payer recompense for uneconomical routes and poor aviation traffic? Like a modern-day Santa Claus, the finance and aviation ministers seem to assume that the central treasury is open for loot. Needless to say, to reward every Tom, Dick and Harry who lost on their own tantamount to supplementing to the avarice and greed of the speculators. The Western notion of a global market does not fit into the Swadeshi approach. The market has to be an instrument and not the master of the people. The smaller the size of the market, the better it is as an instrument. The kind of markets we are witnessing are wholly materialistic and imperialistic. Such Western doctrines do not solve our desi concept. We still love and live in villages. The cut in CRR rates by the RBI, enhancing the liquidity in the stock markets has not yielded any results. Approximately Rs 185,000 crore have been dumped already. Predominantly our economy is still based on agriculture although attempts were made to dilute to switch to services sector as prime source of revenue collection. Our economy can sustain itself without outside help. An old adage goes like this: ?When things are good, they are never as good as they seem. And when things are bad, they are never as bad as they seem.? Let FII?s go on their own, stop rewarding them by pumping billions into the stock market. Perhaps it?s time to say good-bye to unfettered capitalism and switch to protectionism to ensure safeguarding of Indian trade, commerce and industry against global recession before its too late. ?VANI NAGARAJ, 613, Boudhnagar, Secunderabad *   *   * A lot has been written on the American credit crisis but I should say that I find your argument most cogent and convincing. You have drawn the right lessons for India. Making housing affordable to all sounds like the right thing but it cannot happen until family incomes rise. America is suffering because of the same minority appeasement and populist politics that the UPA government is currently pursuing in Delhi. ?SHANKAR D, USA *   *   * Shri Balashankar is relying on reports written by Republican friendly organisations that claim that the Clinton administration pushed lending to poor African Americans. He is completely wrong. Government in this country can influence Fannie May and Freddie Mac to ?buy? mortgages issued by private lenders as part of the policy. However, these loans were entirely given by private banks. Besides, the largest number of the sub-prime mortgages were issued after President Clinton finished his terms in office. Sub-prime mortgages typically cause hardships to borrowers after three to five years. With all due respect to Organiser and to the author, there is no comparison between the ?affirmative action? programme in the USA and the ?appeasement of minority? in India. The mortgage crisis in the USA is the result of eliminating government regulations on lender institutions initiated by President Reagan in 1981 and made worse by the administration of the current President. Unscrupulous lenders are to be blamed for the crisis, not appeasement of minorities. ?SUBHASH BHAGWAT, Principal Resource Economist Emeritus, Illinois State Geological Survey, University of Illinois, USA *   *   * Shri R Balashankar rightly says that instead of retrieving failed order, it is better to switch over to new economic order, where man, not money, is at the centre. US? current financial crisis is due to fast diminishing purchasing power of the masses that keeps capitalist-haemorrhage away. The great depression of 1930, called ?Epidemic of over-production? by Marx, which triggered World War-II, is again on radar with nuclear holocaust. ?PRAN SALHOTRA, 574, Krishna Nagar, Gurdaspur The plight of Hindus in Bharat (Organiser, 9-11-2008); The ?secular? parties always adopt different yardsticks for dealing with one and the same problem?that of communal riots in the country. On the one hand, they want the government of Orissa to be dismissed for its ?failure? to protect the rights of minorities in the state. On the other, they feel that the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have taken enough steps to ?effectively? handle the recent communal disturbances in their respective states. This is in keeping with the oft-repeated stand of the ?secular? parties like the SP, RJD and LJP, which hold the view that SIMI is a ?social? organisation, and VHP as well as Bajrang Dal are ?terrorist? outfits. ?ARUN MALANKAR, G-1, St Sebestian Classic, Sunder Nagar Lane 3, Kalina, Mumbai Common nationality vs. majority, minority mindset (Organiser, 2-11-2008); I congratulate you for bringing out such an excellent Deepavali Special Issue. All the articles are very enlightening. This holy land and noble land of ours, which has traditionally been the natural habitat of our sages and rishis, where sacred hymns of the Vedas were sung with utmost piety and purity, let it shine once again with its pristine glory. Let us together not allow any hostile element to spoil the divinity that envelopes this country and makes it worthy to be the abode of the gods and goddesses. ?GN REDDY, Raghvendranagar, Secunderabad *   *   * Despite tall claims often made by politicians and orchestrated by the mainstream media, the fact remains that today India is anything but a secular democracy. The Indian political system fails to fulfil the two most important prerequisites of a secular democratic nation. First, the Indian Constitution falls short of the basic postulate of uniform application of all laws to its citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or gender. Absence of a common civil code is a glaring example of non-application of uniform laws, as mentioned rightly in an article, in the matter of marriage and inheritance. The second pre-condition for a country?s claim to be a democracy is the principle of equality before law. Articles 29 and 30 of the Indian Constitution are a flagrant violation of the principle of equality before law. ?KV MURALI, Civil Lines, Allahabad *   *   * History is an eloquent witness to the fact that the Hindu civilization has always been exceptionally tolerant and peaceful, both by scriptural tradition and ethical training. With the rich resources of Hindu civilisational traditions, all citizens of the state can identify themselves with the ancestors who have bequeathed a remarkable culture and a unique value system, a governing order in all human affairs, called dharma. Our states may be many: for example, Afghanistan, Pakistan, now Bangladesh. But the nation is one: Hindu. All the states share common beliefs and traditions?beyond family, beyond village, beyond community, beyond the state?and this commonness, this we-ness defines the nation. ?YOGESH DEWAN, Link Road, Ludhiana *   *   * It has been rightly said that presently the Indian political system is crammed full with unprincipled busy bodies who consider minority-centric vote-bank politics, deceptively woven into the fabric of secularism, as passport to power. In this moment of critical hour, the media is expected to adhere to proper norms and standards of reporting. It should not indulge in distorting, exaggerating or employing intemperate, inciting and unrestrained language or phrase deliberately meant to give wrong impressions. ?RAMDEV SAVANT, CA Road, Wardhman Nagar, Pune Conversion: Looking back to the past (Organiser, 19-10-2008); Hindus in India and Nepal are prime targets for this harvest of faith. Even if old horrors like Goa Inquisition (1560 to 1812) heaped on Hindus by the church are kept aside, what is happening now is equally horrible. The so-called ?secular? India has proved to be a disaster for Hindus. To prevent the creation of more Pakistans and Bangladeshs on Bharat?s soil by countless Pak-Bangla terrorists and infiltrators, and to prevent more Hindu lands (like North-East India) going to missionaries, ?secular India? has to be transformed into ?Hindu Bharat?. Since Bharat has forgotten its ancient Sanskrit adage, ?Shathe shaathyam samaacharet? (treat the wicked in his own wicked way), its tormentors are having a free run. ?G MENON by e-mail *   *   * Expansionist forces are waging a relentless war to demolish Hinduism and Hindu civilisation the way they have already wiped out many native religions and cultures from Europe, America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, numerous islands and parts of Asia. On August 23, 2008, just before Krishna Janmashtami, an important Hindu festival, 84-year-old Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four other Hindu sages were gunned down in his ashram at Kandhamal in Orissa. Their only crime was that they were resisting fraudulent conversions by foreign-funded Christian missionaries. At present, the worst problems faced by India are the demographic invasion by crores of Pak-Bangla infiltrators, and conversion of Hindus to Christianity through fraud and charade of charity by missionaries. ?NAVIN PARIHAR, Sankara Colony, Vadodara Muslim sympathy for terror accused (Organiser, 5-10-2008); The ironclad evidence against the jehadi proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the jehadi is a highly educated, tech-savvy Muslim flush with funds and burning with hatred for the infidel, especially martyrs like MC Sharma of Delhi Police. The infuriated underground jehadi has now opened a new front against the infidels. This deadly combination has now reared up on its hind legs. They have started a vilification campaign against the victims of terror. The jehadi has demonized martyr MC Sharma and deified Afzal Guru. ?DR AN BANERJEE, Mumbai Missing old columns: I have been a regular reader of Organiser since last 45 years. During the editorship of the late KR Malkani, the late VP Bhatia, etc, Organiser was having interesting columns like ?India That is Bharat?, ?Indraprastha Calling? and ?Periscope?. But nowadays without these columns Organiser appears to be having some sort of a vacuum. In my opinion two pages given to book reviews are useless. Day-by-day you are making this weekly only for selected readers by giving textbook-like ?lengthy? articles. Last one request to the management of the paper about the publishing of an English daily newspaper like Motherland. ?DR KK GOEL, H-2/20, Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi Nano fiasco exposes CPM misrule (Organiser, 21-9-2008); Those who swear by labour class, poor, downtrodden and others tried their best to usurp thousands of houses of economically and socially backward masses and got political bounty from industrialists. This is shame on the part of communist opportunists. As if this was not enough their cadre did take law of the land in their hands by attacking police station in Kerala and releasing culprits from the police station. All this goes to prove that in Indian political arena communism means coming to power with rowdism and when not in power behave like a professional rowdy to fulfil all their personal desires, which they do not deserve. ?PRAMOD PRABHAKAR VALSANGKAR, H.No 1-10-81, RNo 8B, Dwarakapuram, Dilsukhangar, Hyderabad *   *   * After having gone through the article I am sure that people will come to know the true colours of communists. The need of the hour is that the people in those states where CPM is in power should be made aware of the brutality and atrocity they perpetrate not only the common man but on their cadres. ?RJ KHURANA, TT Nagar, Bhopal Kashmir should join the mainstream (Organiser, 21-9-2008); In the column a proposal to form a confederation of the countries of the subcontinent to solve the problem of Kashmir has been put forward. It is a welcome proposal. To begin with the state of Jammu and Kashmir together with PoK should be jointly protected by India and Pakistan as an autonomous region for about 25 years. The borders (LoC) between this region should allow free movement for the people and commerce of Kashmiri origin. If this scheme is adopted honestly and free of political ambition, the Kashmir would surely bring about an era of peace, cordiality and fraternal relations between the countries of the subcontinent while it may also pave the way for their confederation. ?TANIVER FATIMA, Sandesh Bhavan, Lakkad Kote, Chatta Bazar, Hyderabad

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